Is their any use in putting a trail camera out for turkey's?Do you learn anything besides how big they are?Also if I want a turkey on my camera what do I put out to attract it?I have no clue where they roost etc...I have just seen em' in a field once or twice.
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Mossberg 12 GAUGE
3 inch Turkey Mag
if you bait the turkeys in you don't really learn a whole lot other than there are turkeys within the general area. but to bait them in i would use whole corn or cracked corn scattered or in some sort of feeder.
leave out a pile of apples they have been eating the apples ive been leaving out for the deer in my yard but you really can only tell that there in the area.. if you can figure out there traviling route maybe they have a certain time of day there going past the camera...
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Like the others have mentioned, IF you bait then it won't do ya much good.
However, under normal situations, they can really help you nail down when the birds are using strutting and feeding areas. It certainly gives you a ton of confidence when you know the birds are pitching down and then standing in front of your blind every morning by 7:30.
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An "archer" tries to see how far away he can get from his target and still connect, a BOWHUNTER tries to see how CLOSE he can get to his!
You don't need a trail cam to scout turkeys. Unlike deer turkeys are quite vocal. You can hear them fly up to roost and fly down from the roost. The hens are especially vocal before and after flydown. Gobblers gobble and can be heard a long way. You can certainly use your trail cam to take nice pictures of them, especially if you pour out some corn or scratch feed, but I don't know what you will learn that will help you kill a turkey.
I don't start scouting until a couple of weeks before the season, and that consists of basically riding or walking around the property listening for gobbles at daybreak, finding where they are feeding and determining the general location of roost sites and movement patterns. Turkeys don't roost in the same spot every night but they might use the same general area and move in a general direction after flydown and then later in the day. Knowing that is important and can be very helpful.
My preferred method of hunting is going to a gobbling turkey and calling him in, so extensive preseason scouting really doesn't help me a whole lot because I am going to the gobbler wherever he his. I does help me to know where the hens are likely to be going, however, because wherever they go he will go too.
__________________ Captain, Team 1 - The Last Gobble 2009 HuntingNet.com Spring Turkey Contest Champions
Chasing turkeys since 1981
Last edited by mouthcaller; 01-10-2010 at 08:06 AM.
Reason: Mistake
I like to put out cameras for turkeys just for the enjoyment of seeing the pics. It can show you whats out there. The one way it could help, is looking at the time of day they are in the area. If you get the same time day after day go sit there. Good Luck
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You can learn how many are in a flock and get some good ideas where they roost if you get late evening pictures. They will roost wherever they find themselves in the evening, not always in the exact same spot but often in the same general area. Being in the woods sitting quietly in the evening you can learn much more from the sounds they make going to roost. Once they fly up they cackle and cluck and make a lot of noise as they fly from tree to tree and until they all settle down at dark. This period of settling in for the night can take 30-45 minutes or more and you can really zero in on them. Then be there in the morning and listen and watch as they fly down to strut. As long as a gobbler has hens coming in to him, he will strut the same field day after day. Maybe in different parts of the field, depending upon where the hens are answering in the morning. A gobbler may roost anywhere around the field, but still strut the same field for days until the hens don't come or he hears more hens answering somewhere else, and then he will try and move into some other Toms' field. Anyway if you know they are in the area there is no point spooking them more than you have to, so start looking for roost sites just a few days before you hunt, or locate a flock the night before you hunt. They will usually strut near a water source and the hens, once bred will nest within 30-50 yds of water so that they don't have to leave the nest long to drink. I have often called birds accross the creek and found them strutting right up to the creek banks and have shot them across the water. Of coarse this may not be the case with all turkeys everywhere, these are just experiences I've had for 25 years in a very small area of the world.
Trail Cam for turkey's?
