I have been "scouting" all winter while in the woods woodcock and duck hunting, and also driving around areas I've seen turkeys.
I'm going to be in the woods this weekend actually scouting for turkey sign on public land that I don't know as well. Manly just ready to get back into the woods.
I'm curious if there is a week/month that you've designated in our mind on when you like to start walking to woods hard.
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Every season, I start my exercise/scouting regiment on or around Feb 1st. I do not call, I go to my spots, look for sign and listen. I never want to be seen by a bird. I use bino's to identify them at long distances. Last year I had a few Jake's that I saw that will be targeted this season along with a few Older birds. I wear camo, have a cup of Java, and do a whole lotta walking. I pick the most consistent birds in the best terrain for my openers. That's my schedule every year, been workin pretty well for me....good luck......
I'll be out every morning it's fit to be out once they start gobbling. But only because I love the sound to the core of my being.
If I were purely scouting for the purpose of killing a bird, I'd start 3-5 days before I planned to hunt.
Quote from: Tom007 on February 16, 2023, 06:01:24 AM
Every season, I start my exercise/scouting regiment. I do not call, I go to my spots, look for sign and listen. I never want to be seen by a bird. I use bino's to identify them at long distances. Last year I had a few Jake's that I saw that will be targeted this season along with a few Older birds. I wear camo, have a cup of Java, and do a whole lotta walking. I pick the most consistent birds in the best terrain for my openers. That's my schedule every year, been workin pretty well for me....good luck......
Good info! Do you like to start any particular month, or just when you can?
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To me, finding turkeys to hunt during the spring season is fundamentally about understanding that the gobblers will generally start reliably gobbling on the roost in the mornings about a week or two before the season starts. Personally, I always concentrate on that time frame, if I can, in my scouting.
To me, a few good mornings of being out at the first hint of daylight (not sunrise) and covering as much country as I can for that first hour or two of daylight listening for gobbling birds is a key component in my success wherever I have hunted. The gobblers you find doing this will likely be roosted in the same vicinity pretty consistently, giving you the information you need on where to hunt when the season actually starts.
One thing for sure, if I am not hearing gobbling turkeys on the roost in my early morning scouting, I am marking those places off of my list of where to hunt. For me, it is as simple as that. :icon_thumright:
Yup, like Gobblenut I use my ears a lot, especially two weeks prior to opening. But I use my eyes all year long.
Usually around the second week of March ... no calling just scouts, listening, binocular watching and talking with the local neighbors that don't turkey hunt... LOL...
Quote from: ETXhunter93 on February 16, 2023, 07:06:45 AM
Quote from: Tom007 on February 16, 2023, 06:01:24 AM
Every season, I start my exercise/scouting regiment. I do not call, I go to my spots, look for sign and listen. I never want to be seen by a bird. I use bino's to identify them at long distances. Last year I had a few Jake's that I saw that will be targeted this season along with a few Older birds. I wear camo, have a cup of Java, and do a whole lotta walking. I pick the most consistent birds in the best terrain for my openers. That's my schedule every year, been workin pretty well for me....good luck......
Good info! Do you like to start any particular month, or just when you can?
Sorry, I try and start Feb 1st. I will add that. Be well...
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Am already seeing flocks of hens with couple gobblers among them strutting, so any time now will be hearing gobblers sounding off. I usually start this time of year covering some ground in early mornings.
Hunted a new area last year and started my scouting much earlier. When I am hunting new ground and it is possible, I like to look at the lay of the land as much as look for turkey sign. I hunted it all last year and have a good feel for the terrain and where the birds want to be, so this year I will start a week before. If I had more time, I would scout earlier.
I think its mostly dependent on where you will be hunting, and how well you know the land. I'm lucky in that my primary 2 spots I hunt are private, and I've been hunting each for years. Cameras and deer hunting let me know year-round whats around, and by turkey season I've got a good idea of what I'm dealing with. Down here the birds usually start gobbling by the end of deer season and that also helps. I'll go a couple days before youth opener and see if i can pinpoint where they are roosting this year, but it will be one of the same places they always do.
If I'm hunting a new place, I like to visit it to get the lay of the land and any time is a good time to do that. Then a week or a few days out, I'll go listen.
Unfortunately I am not allowed to scout the land I hunt.
Quote from: Sir-diealot on February 16, 2023, 02:45:04 PM
Unfortunately I am not allowed to scout the land I hunt.
Lease rules, or what?
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Quote from: ETXhunter93 on February 16, 2023, 03:10:03 PM
Quote from: Sir-diealot on February 16, 2023, 02:45:04 PM
Unfortunately I am not allowed to scout the land I hunt.
Lease rules, or what?
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I am not sure why, never wanted to push it, only place I have to hunt and if I lose it I won't ever be able to hunt again. I wonder if it has something to do with me being partially disabled, they may be worried I could fall which is a possibility, I fell in front of the one owner last year taking down a blind.
I hunt mostly on our deer lease so I'm always seeing birds from October to December. January and February, my hunting buddy and I are getting ready for the upcoming deer season putting lime on our foodplots, trimming shooting lanes and watching the winter flocks. With our opener on the 8th of April, we will earnestly start our early morning scouting several days a week, around the 15th of March. By this time, the gobblers will be gobbling, hens will be receptive and we can watch their early morning activity. We will glass and try to see what their travel routes are at this time. A week before our opener, we will have a good idea of where the birds are and going and we'll develop an opening day plan. Once the season gets into high gear, we adapt to where we hear and see birds.
I'm always on the look out. Mid March is when I really start tracking around looking.
General scouting starts in March for me up north, start to get more serious mid-March, and it's on last week of March. I'll have 25 some Gobblers located by this time, scouting continues right through to the end of season.
Scout, Scout, Scout
MK M GOBL
Quote from: MK M GOBL on February 17, 2023, 03:48:37 PM
General scouting starts in March for me up north, start to get more serious mid-March, and it's on last week of March. I'll have 25 some Gobblers located by this time, scouting continues right through to the end of season.
Scout, Scout, Scout
MK M GOBL
Shoot that'd be nice. We don't have the luxury here in ETX. At least not on the public land I'll be on.
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Quote from: ETXhunter93 on February 17, 2023, 06:48:43 PMWe don't have the luxury here in ETX. At least not on the public land I'll be on.
From what I hear, public land in east Texas is a pretty tough place to hunt. Good luck!
I'll cover ground in February to find sign, roosts, and where birds are spending time (and look for shed antlers). I also look for downed limbs with leaves on them to add to the low brush blinds on the private land I hunt. There are places turkeys consistently move through and I like to have a bit of cover there ahead of time, so I can get out ahead of them and be set.
By mid-March, I spend more time listening from high ground and watching favored areas with binoculars to see which gobblers are using what areas. I fine tune early season hunting locations from there.
Jim
I don't scout. I don't Roost birds. I believe every time I go in the woods there will be turkeys.
Sometimes I'm wrong. :TooFunny: :TooFunny: :toothy12:
I start looking for winter flocks in Feb, by March it intensifies. I've got video of birds strutting, gobbling for weeks already. It has again now slowed some. Throughout March until season starts I'll keep tabs on these big flocks. As they break up into smaller breeding flocks I know where to concentrate. It's gotten tough around here. Not as many birds as once was so knowing where to try is important. Even when there were lots of birds that was my method. Some guys wait til last second but there's no guarantee they'd gobble just before season around this area, so that would be a possibly limited chance at gaining info.
Once it starts hitting 50F, I'm out every day I can make it.
I spend from 1 March to the Opener in mid-April out with my umbrella mic trying to record sound for my podcasts. I do everything I can to stay concealed from the turkeys. However, the occasional busts don't seem to scare them much.
For me at least, the need for scouting, and the amount of time needed for it, is basically a function of three things:
1) How well I know the property or area I am hunting and the habits of the turkeys that reside there.
2) How much country I am possibly looking at hunting.
3) The density and distribution of the turkey population.
For the properties/areas that fit #1, if I scout at all, it is usually just because I want to confirm that the turkeys are where they usually are,...as well as have an excuse to get out in the woods.
Depending on the circumstances relating to #2 and #3, the bigger the area and the lower the turkey numbers, the more scouting I want to do. There is no substitute for knowing as many locations that have turkeys as you can before opening day, and especially on public land where you may have to continue to move to find less competition and less-pressured birds. Trying to identify those places after the shooting starts makes that process a lot more complicated.
You know Gobblenut brought up a good point. If you had one or two areas that were controlled and all you hunted you def could shorten this. In areas where you have competition you do need as many located as possible