Why do some hunters feel it necessary to go in the woods where turkeys are strutting and gobbling before the season? If you can see the turkeys in fields and hear them gobbling on roost from a road, why would you want to mess things up? With topo maps and satellite photos available (on line too) I see no reason for entering the woods before the season for turkey hunting.
Sorry if I offend anyone with this comment but it' s stupid[:@] A month+ away and today! this morning at 6am! I' m seeing in two different spots[:@] hunters walking around the field edges where turkeys have been roosting and strutting! Why?

I agree with you. I do scout but in areas where you can' t tell what is going on from a road. When I do enter the woods I don' t take any turkey calls with me I usually carry a crow call. If I hear any sounds of turkey I stop and back out very carefully so as not to spook them. As a matter of fact I saw 30 turkeys yesterday while scouting and they never knew I was there.

my spots are way back there but i never go into the area they are in..i use ridges to hear them gobbling and locate them...then sneak back out or listen to see where they are going...ive never been busted scouting...what makes it worse is the same guys go in and call to them with every call possibleand educate them like they want them to learn the calls....i cant stand doing my homework properly and go in and have the birds run away from my calls because they were called to many times before season....i think its the growth of turkey hunters not knowing what to do and figure they wont know if the turkeys are there if they cant call them in......i dont know how else to explain it...but its a problem in alot of areas..thats why i hike farther and farther each season....

I' ve never understood this aswell, I' ve killed my fair share of birds and do most of my walking after the opener...BT

I do some walking prior to hunting, but that' s mostly in new areas. And alot of the places I hunt mushrooms are also places I hunt turkeys. I usually listen to birds from afar and rely on prior knowledge of the area when season rolls around.

What really p****s me off is the idiots who go out before season and call birds into their cameras and end up boogering them. I don' t care how cool the footage is your getting, your jacking up the hunting for yourself and others. [>:]

PBB

They must be looking at a deer hunting point of view where I feel it is necessary to scout in the woods to a certain extent. I personally (like you bosstom) prefer to fine tune my scouting after I' m hunting and in the woods (for turkey and deer).

In one of the areas I saw the guys this morning I don' t hunt and hearing him call then seeing him in camos just made me mad and good in a weird way. Mad, that he' s educating the turkeys and maybe running them out of the area. Good, that his guy probably won' t be hurting the turkeys population in that area. The other area I do hunt in and at least this guy wasn' t calling to them. I did talk to him and asked him not to walk around the fields or woods until the season starts. He said he would, I just hope he didn' t spook them to bad.

I just need to vent this morning and must admit, I' m feeling better

Nit - Wits.

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As long as they are not calling to them I see nothing wrong with it.You can' t learn the lay of the land,the way the creeks run,potential hang-up spots,etc... standing on the road.We have a five day season here in Wisconsin so you need to have your scouting done before the season starts.

As long as you don' t call them and you are careful not to disturb them I don' t see a problem. I alway leave the calls at home and wear camo when scouting.

Especially in states with very short seasons. Here in MN I get 5 days to hunt. I don' t have a lot of time to get to scout new territory. I best know the lay of any land I' m gonna hunt before the season starts.

Also I often end up getting drawn for late season hunts. To be honest. Scouting is far more important to harvesting a bird in late May than any calling you might do. You better know where the birds want to go or you' ll going home empty handed.

Certainly I understand where you are coming from. I' ve had people mess things up for me to(before and during the season). But it' s not as black and white as some make it sound.

Good Luck this spring!