Scouting for Turkeys prior to the season?

[vartz04]

Is there any real pointers to doing this? any pictures of what to look for?

Also im assuming this shouldn't be done until a couple weeks before hand cause turkeys are always changing habits as the weather changes.

[cwanty03]

ya normally dont scout more than 2 weeks be4 even then ya never know. but scouting is great 2 do...look 4 strutting zones/marks. hen holes. crap.

[huntnma]

I'd wait until the groups started seperating.....

[Wingbone]

Since you're hunting individual birds, you'll increase your chances of success a great deal by knowing where they roost, where they go during the day, what routes they take, where the travel barriers are, etc. Otherwise you'll spend a lot of time calling to an empty woods. The more you know about your turkeys and where they live, the better your chances.

[Screamin Steel]

SERIOUS scouting should be done immediately before the hunt...as patterns change a lot between now and then, and continue to change throughout the season as well. But, hey....who doesn't like to be in the woods whenever they can? Its a great time to look for sheds, evaluate rut sign from last fall while it's still visible, atleast locate flocks of birds and keep an eye on them...and I always look forward to hearing those first gobbles in early spring. I would never pass an opportunity to be in the woods....just don't put all your faith into what the birds are doing right now, because its WAY to early for that. Just enjoy yourself and try to learn something out there. It's time well spent!

[mouthcaller]

Originally Posted by vartz04

Is there any real pointers to doing this? any pictures of what to look for?

Also im assuming this shouldn't be done until a couple weeks before hand cause turkeys are always changing habits as the weather changes.

Here you go: http://www.nwtf.org/for_hunters/

[RIStrutStopper]

Just don't use a turkey call to locate birds before the season. You don't want to educate them on what to not come in to when you're ready to fill your tag.

[JoeA]

A lot depends on the terrain. If water is a limiting factor, check for tracks to get an idea of where they're watering. The scouting I've done usually tells me more about where they ain't than where they are, but that too helps.

[huntrfishr]

Any day is a good day to be scouting.
One way of knowing the Tom population in an area is to go out in the morning and listen for them. The more areas you have the better quality hunt you have as you can move depending on what the birds are actually doing the time of the hunt.The hen has usually an area of up to 3 Km sq., the tom will move amongst the hens and stay with the one that is responsive during that time.Just keep your scouting info current and you'll even know which Toms is good enough to take in a given area.In summary, gas spent driving around looking for good spots are well worth it.