Lang_0687

Westbronco is right, and I should have said something about scouting, too. Scouting is very important. I usually spend several days in the woods before the season, when hunting new or unfamiliar territory, to get the lay of the land and to monitor the birds' daily habits. Last spring, on a whim, I hunted unfamiliar territory in NE MO and got burned by my unfamiliarity with the habitat, to my dismay (which dismay continues to this day). But I don' t think monitoring the fall or winter flocks is necessarily beneficial to spring turkey hunting, except to give you a general sense of the bird population. For years a flock has " wintered" at my mother-in-law' s country home woods, but they always moved off to another location come springtime until recently, when (I think) the population grew so large they outgrew their spring habitat and now can be found in both locations.
Yet, if you have time in the fall and winter to scout, it can' t hurt, and it is fun, and you might learn something about the birds. For instance, you might discover year-round roost sites, you' ll learn to read sign, and you will learn the terrain.

I also agree about getting a pushbutton. My son called his first bird with a pushbutton, when he was 13 years old. They are easy to master, produce quality sound, and, obviously, they work!!

Good luck in the draw!!