When do y’all get serous about scout?

[TrackeySauresRex]

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I’m always on the look out. Mid March is when I really start tracking around looking.

[MK M GOBL]

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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

[Lone Star Eastern]

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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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[GobbleNut]

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We 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!

[Cut N Run]

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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

[West Augusta]

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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. 

[Bowguy]

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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.

[shaman]

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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.

[GobbleNut]

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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. 

[Bowguy]

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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