For Scouting ,,Where do you start ?
 

As I start to scout in the Fall for Spring Turkey , I like to cover the food source first. Any fields near a good stand of woods that farmers leave till sping to til or plow has a good chance to have a Gobbler in the area come spring. This is where I like to keep a keen eye thoughout the winter months into the spring for feeding turkey's. Where do you like to start?...BT

RE: For Scouting ,,Where do you start ?
 

It is hard for me to scout the area I hunt. It is 6 hours away. Normally before the spring season I make one trip out there and poke around, but I relay heavily upon the farmers that allow us to hunt their land. They are happy to let us know where they have been hearing and seeing them. They even give us names to other farmers that might be open to allowing us to hunt their land. We make sure to keep in touch with them through out the year - cards and such, and a call just to see how they are doing.

http://www.wanwtf.org

RE: For Scouting ,,Where do you start ?
 

BT,before I even take to the woods to start looking for sign I find out as much about the land I intend to scout.Topo's,word of mouth by landowners or friends,driving roads,all can tell you where your best bet is on finding birds before you even begin to look for turkey sign!I know the country around here well enough to know what turkey country looks like and often times have a good idea if there is birds there or not just by looking at the area I intend to hunt!Food sources and if you come out west water sources are great places to start,but the key is knowing where there at! <img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

Monarch isn't a butterfly it's the King of the Spring!

RE: For Scouting ,,Where do you start ?
 

I've been blessed with a spot that is crawling with turkeys. I scouted this place from head to toe and hunted all over it. Called in and shot turkeys at each location so I've finally sat back and said &quot;just go in and hear then off the roost and go from there&quot; the last two years.

Where I often started was looking for tracks on roads, signs of them scratching through the woods, feathers, poop, calling to each other, and just spotting them.

RE: For Scouting ,,Where do you start ?
 

As far as spring gobbler hunting goes, I don't get into the woods until the season starts....I drive out to vantage spots and do alot of listening in evenings and mornings......during fall turkey season, I'm scouting for spring....I find areas that hold turkeys, and inside that find places that look like strutting areas...then head back to do some listening as the spring season approaches.......BUT, I've always got 2 or 3 &quot;Honey Holes&quot; that I consistantly hear and take birds....

In our line of work, we must be able to play Dixie and the Battle Hym of the Republic, With Equal Enthusiasm.

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RE: For Scouting ,,Where do you start ?
 

Like Fullback mentioned in his post, we all have some honey-holes tucked away. These are the places that produce each year. Since we are all familiar with the lay of the land, the roost sites, and the strut zones in these areas from past hunts, I'm always on the lookout for new spots to hunt all the time. During the months of late March and into April, I drive the back country looking for turkeys out in the fields to pinpoint areas where they &quot;are&quot;. At this time I will start asking for permission to hunt these areas, once obtained, I'll get into the woods to see the lay of the land. Fences, creeks, logging operations, etc. all come into play here. Then when the season starts getting closer, I'll get into the woods before light and just listen for that wake up gobble. I'll try to do this several times to pinpoint his roosting site and then form a game plan for opening day. As most of you know, spring season just trips my trigger, I love it 10X more than fall hunting!!<img src=icon_smile_wink.gif border=0 align=middle>

&quot;Spring Season....the Best&quot;!!!

RE: For Scouting ,,Where do you start ?
 

i usually hunt the same general areas...so i just go in and know turkeys are around there somewhere and listen to them off the roost and later in the afternoon when they are gone i go and find their bedroom and find the quietest way in there and set up inbetween their roost site and where they went when i hunt them....thats about all the scouting i do unless im in a new area..then i go in at dawn and go where i find scrathes and wait for a gooble off the roost then locate the roost site like before...

RE: For Scouting ,,Where do you start ?
 

I was thinking about this scouting thing....sometimes you can scout and not even drive out to the country....listen for the loose lips...&quot;I heard one gobble while trout fishing&quot;.....&quot;I seen one struttin out in field here&quot;.....and so on....another thing....I've had some great luck hunting places the first time....I attribute that to not hunting the area like other hunters....do something different, maybe just sounding different....I don't know.....one thing is certain, you can't get em by laying in the bed.

In our line of work, we must be able to play Dixie and the Battle Hym of the Republic, With Equal Enthusiasm.

RE: For Scouting ,,Where do you start ?
 

Like I said in my &quot;first time&quot; post I am a newcomer to Turkey Hunting this year I know nothing about it. You may laugh at this but when you say listen for Turkeys do they gobble when they roost and when they come down? and what does an owl call do?

RE: For Scouting ,,Where do you start ?
 

Bucky10, visit turkeyhuntingsecrets.com for a wealth of free articles that will bring you up to speed on spring turkey hunting. Armed with a bit of knowledge, you still have to get your boots dirty a few seasons. Experience and the turkey himself will be your greatest teacher. Hope this helps.

RE: For Scouting ,,Where do you start ?
 

Being that I live in the big city, it takes considerable time and gas expense for me to drive 1.5 hours away and scout new areas, primarily public land. My biggest source of information to find new turkey areas this year are the people I associate with daily such as workers that live in the country, truck drivers and fellow deer hunters who see flocks of birds in the fall. I am builing a topographic map library of the general areas to get a picture of the geography before I will head out and search for turkey activity. I will then slip into the woods early spring moving quietly and concealed in camoflage searching for dusting areas, scratchings, droppings, prints ect. to verify that turkeys are using the general area. In one area I hunted the past couple of springs, the turkeys will gobble a bit on opening day and then completely shut up after the bombardment shock calls and hen calls that follow before and especially after the season starts. Sometimes I wish shock calls weren't sold as I think they make public land hunting harder. My tactics this year is to push deeper into the woods searching for birds that don't get hammered by calls close to convenient spots such as logging roads. I will try and get out onto high vantage points early and listen for gobblers on roost areas and maybe try alternative gobbler locators later in the day before the season starts such as my goose flute, gobble tube, coyote howler and my mallard drake whistle to recreate the screech of the red tail hawk.
God help me find more turkeys this spring as turkeys are strutting, haunting me in my dreams!!!

RE: For Scouting ,,Where do you start ?
 

I guess my complete list would be something like this:

1)landowner information
2)visual sightings
3)physical obstacles (fences, etc.)
4)water sources
5)roost sites
6)dust bowls
7)strut zones
8)food sources

Hunting in the NorthEast, the breeding season is well underway. Food sources are changing daily in May, as new vegetation sprouts and new insect crops emerge. The other physical aspects are pretty constant.

If I can combine the roost sites, dust bowls and strut zones with known sightings and landowner information, then I can usually map out a pattern.

Once I develop a pattern, I start developing a plan. Living in CT, many of the parcels I hunt are small, therefore I probably only have access to a few of the physical needs. I must therefore plan accordingly.

Following example. I only have access to a clover pasture that serves as a food source and primary dusting spot. The roost site is a large mixed hardwood/hemlock grove 2 properties over. The adjoining property has some nice strut zones and a small creeklet running through the open oak/beech forest. The landowner routinely observes the turkeys dusting in his pasture around 10am.

Is there any sense in getting out of bed at 3:30 to sit at the pasture edge by 5 a.m.? Nope, I'll hunt this property mid-morning after going to the spots I can roost hunt.

More than likely, I'll personally save this spot for some late-season hunting when the birds are call shy, but headed in this general direction via their daily routine. I'll take a temperature and either wait one out or start hammering late in the morning, when most of the hunters are home taking a nap.

I've learned that honey-holes are great, but if I'm taking newbies then new properties are the only way to truly teach.

To me, taking the time to teach them how to thoroughly scout is probably the best advice an experienced hunter can give a rookie.

RE: For Scouting ,,Where do you start ?
 

I hunt the same farm every year so things don't change much from year to year. The turkeys there roost and strut mostly in the same places each year. That is the advantage of hunting the same piece of property each season. I realize not everyone can hunt the same place all the time so that makes it all the more important to pre-season scout. My scouting consists of going out starting about 6 wks. or so before season opens and sitting in spots around the edge of the property where I can here good at daylight and listening for gobbles. I mark the spots I heard gobbles from on an aerial photo from Terraserver. When the gobbling quits, I try to get to a vantage point where I can see with binoculars and see if I can see birds strutting. All this is marked on the map or mental notes are taken to use later when the season opens. I check my aerial photo the day before the season opens and generally sit on opening morning closest to where I have heard the most gobbles. This type of scouting works well for me and by doing it from a distance, few if any birds are spooked. MTT