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Old 03-14-2019, 11:49 AM
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Strut&Rut
Nontypical Buck
 
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Join Date: Feb 2003
Location: SW Michigan
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Pull up the area on Google Earth maps and then look at topo maps on https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/

In addition to looking for streams and ridges, try to locate taller trees they might use for roosting. Also look for small open areas inside a larger area of woods - the toms will use these secluded spots as strut zones.

I've never hunted Maryland, but in general, you want to identify the transition zones - where timber meets field, swamp meets timber, pine grove meets hardwoods, etc. - you will find more sign in those areas and can generally increase your odds of success by trying to move them from one zone into another (rather than making them move through acres of timber, etc.).

Be on the constant lookout for sign - tracks, feathers, droppings and dusting bowls. Turkeys will occasionally do something to make you scratch your head, but for the most part they follow the path of least resistance - so look for signs on logging roads, deer trails, river banks, etc. Early in the spring they dig for bugs, pick at any remaining mast left from the fall/winter and eat young shoots of grass - so look on the edges of those fields/open areas on your maps.

Importantly, remember that it is almost always more productive to try and call a turkey up a hill than it is to call a gobbler down a hill. If the hen is at the top of the hill and not moving - then the tom is more likely to take a chance and eventually walk up the hill to see a potential new girlfriend at the top. On the other hand, they get very nervous when going down a hill, and 9/10 times they mostly flat out refuse to walk down a hill - they'll strut back and forth at the top and gobble their brains out for hours. Even with a decoy, at least in my experience, pulling them down a hill (which let's face it, sometimes is your only chance due to property borders, etc.) is at best about a 1/5 chance they move in your direction.
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