This is on public hunting land

If turkeys are bumped from hunting pressure.
Will they return the next spring to the same spot ?
Or will they leave the area ?
They were close to a feeding area and a small creek.

And if turkeys don't use smell to detect danger.
How do they find there food ?
Do they just go to the same spot the mother hen took them to,
When they were polts ?
Or just walk around and scrach till food is found ?

And when is a good time to sit up to watch there movements ?
When the spring season starts May 8 - 2006 ?

Thank You

wild turkey

Ah man, you are asking questions that have been turned and turned again on this forum, but I will help you out. In many situations, if the flocks have been squeezed out of their area, some will return, giving into remembering their flock roosting and picking areas. I had the unfortunate thing happen to me, where one of the many flocks of turkeys that would walk through this field into my ranch and open fields, was built on. But low and behold, they found their way through all the construction and still to this day will go through that property to mine for their food plots.

And the smell thing. This was a great debate, as a lot of hunters thought this, thought that, but never really got into the biology of the whole thing except a handful of us like myself. Turkeys have a real weak, I mean weak sense of smell, yet they have evolved into a perfect glass telescope of ocular senses. They see color, they see differences in design, and recogonize terrain all within their sight program, a trichomatic vision just like humans. They have even put studies to work and found that turkeys can even see ultraviolet light, even in low light conditions where humans cannot. That is their uber-sense, where they can detect predators, other birds, and food, like insects, snails( snails are a great calcium supplement for the hens, so make sure you can find some aside of your plot), and certain grains that are hard to find in manures and scats. Althought, depth perception is lowered, because of the spacing between the eyes, so when you see turkeys wlaking with their head back and forth, that is how they can determine short distances. But for the weak sense of smell, both the hearing sense, which turkeys have developed, and their sense of sight keep their food plots, predators, roosting areas, nestings, and other familiar sites at bay and in their memory banks.
And to scout. I would scout at least two weeks if you can before opening season, and gather as much intel on flock migration throughout the designated areas, what kind of weather factor makes them move into what direction, look for tracks of predators and other humans, and locate their food sources and roosting areas. That will give you so much direction on where to ambush and stalk, and what type of ammo to use twoard weather conditions. Yet, with all your scouting, do not over scout the area and let the turkeys be TOO aware of your presence. That could ruin all your homework for the big day!

One thing is for sure if they return so will the hunters... But to answer your ?. Yes they will prob return this spring. But if I was you I wouldn't put all my eggs in one basketI would go back a couple weeks before the season to lisen for gobblers. If you hear them then look for a couple of back up spots...

Were abouts in NC do you hunt???

This very thing is what caused major problems at the last club I was a member of. The turkeys on this club came back to THE VERY SAME spot year after year. No matter how many you shot out of the flock the year before. And I don't mean, just one flock. I mean EVERY flock on the 5,000 acres would be in the SAME spot they were the year before, come Spring.

Well, knowing that, people practially fought over these spots come opening day. It lead to one guy killing three our four jakes out of the same flock. Which earned him a good bitching out from me and the club to vote in a "jake rule" and a rule that said once you killed a bird in a certian spot, you couldn't go back to it for a certain amount of time.

I think this certain situation was due to the large amount of turkeys AND the food. Most of the turkeys on that land roosted in the same place, THAT was close to water and soy bean fields.

Alright, heres the very opposite. I had this other tract of land that I never knew where the turkeys would be come spring time. I think its the food. Here in the south, if you find a good acron crop close to water, theres your turkeys.

If you hunt in pines then they could be anywhere. I have seen turkeys roost in a plot of planted pines that were only about 10ft tall OUT IN THE MIDDLE OF A FILED. About 10 ac of pines, slap dab in the middle of a 200ac field. They would be there in the morning, during the day, and at night. Talk about a perfect defense against hunters. Theres no way you could sneak up on them.

But to answer your question. From my experince, if the turkeys were there for the food, then yes they will probably be back. BUT like mentioned, if its only public land. Good luck.