I just went back to the woods to do a little looking around and found absolutely NO turkey sign. I did notice its pretty wet back there. A lot of puddles and standing water. Will turkeys still walk in this woods? How about wet , muddy fields? My season starts in a little over a week and my confidence is about as low as it can get.

oh shoot...didnt mean to put it on the contest board.

Muddy fields dont really bother them if they were using them before it was muddy. Sounds like they just arent using the timber. small amounts of water doesnt seem to bother them too much. I would imagine that if there was enough it would prevent them from finding food so they might not be there because of that.

Hey is there any way this can be moved to the Turkey Hunting board? Again, my apologies for posting it on the wrong one. It was an accident.

kb not a problem and I will move it
JW

I don't think they avoid wet areas. In fact, they seem to prefer roosting over water. Harder for predators to get to them I guess. I've seen them cross marshes that were hard to walk through with knee boots. Around here the the low swampy woods have the best roosting trees. It's still early. If you've had turkeys in there before and there is food, they'll be back.

Turkeys love to roost over water. The famous Alabama turkey hunter Ben Lee said that a turkey always feels safe if he can hear his droppingssplash thewater underneath him.

I prefer to hunt around ground you describe, swampy low ground. This is typically the first thing to green up in early spring because it's wet. They can find snails, slugs, and other critters to eat. Fresh buds and bugs are always attractive to turkeys. Creek bottoms are also out of the wind and turkeys will congregate there on windy days.

Turkeys will wade streams, standing water, and mud. I've personally watched them wade standing water up to their knee joint. They go where they want to go without any problems.

I hunt Michigan in the upper portion - I have shot turkeys deep in a cedar wet swamps - water all around and I was soaked. I have seen turkeys come wading at me right up to the beard level!

Had to get out my hair dryer so I could take a few dry pictures!

Water forces them to find dry spots deep in - someof those dry spots become great Strutt zones jsut very tough to get to.

JW

On a footnote - do wash the mud off to get an accurate weight!

It just seemed like there was absolutely NO turkey sign. I remember a few years ago id walk in and see a strutting tom, or hear them gobble, and things like that. Now i hardly see ANY turkey sign where im at. Its not a good feeling.

Sounds like you have a few days left to figure out where they went. They shouldn't be too far unless there have been some major changes to the habitat. Try listening at dawn or locating after dusk.