RE: Found Them!! LOTS!
I know what you mean Wingbone, I was out for a hike the other day and the dog flushed up a flock of about 25 birds. They were flying everywhere!! In another few weeks those 25 will be spread out across the river valley where I ran into them. I get out alot to areas that don't allow hunting in April to call them in and take pictures and observe but I don't scout.
Huntermann, there can be some differences in where a person hunts and whether they scout or not. Where I hunt in MN and Wisconsin, it's farm country (All private) and the birds pretty much seem to be there year after year. Being that I live about 3 hours from there I don't bother scouting. Competition to hunt getsheavierevery year and getting permission isn't alway guaranteed due to landownership changes, etc which happened to us this spring in both states. Luckily we had backup plans so we are setup to hunt. In alot of the southern states I'm sure it's different as there is probably alot of public tracts where competition from other hunters is intense and scouting definitely gives a person an edge.