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Started by Mossberg90MN, May 19, 2020, 06:41:00 PM
Quote from: AppalachianHollers on May 19, 2020, 11:41:55 PMIn areas with lots of ridges you usually can find an area that flattens out; it's often worth checking for patterns in the leaves to determine if any strutting/scratching has taken place recently.Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quote from: Marc on May 20, 2020, 01:06:23 AMI have noticed that there are some places in which birds strut year after year within a few yards... Other times it changes from day to day, or hour to hour.A tom will strut when he feels that a hen might react to his strutting (and drumming). Sometimes this is an area where hens have been the last few mornings, sometimes it is where he sees or hears a hen that might be interested in their displays...I feel like birds like to strut and breed in open areas... Partly due to being visible to hens, and partly due to the difficulty of predators sneaking up on them.Some things I have noticed:*In hunting rolling foothills, turkeys seem to prefer grazed areas with low grass over un-grazed areas with taller grass (probably due to predators). * The peak of a saddle with an open area, where a tom can be seen and heard from some distance, where it would be difficult for a predator to sneak on him is a good area.*Bowls surrounded by woods are prime areas. They can be seen by hens for a long ways, and it is tough for predators to sneak on them... Also tough areas for a hunter to set up without being seen. I know of a couple of bowled areas that are popular strut areas right after fly-down. Large open areas in a depression surrounded by woods, and all but impossible to approach without being seen/heard. Hens can be seen from the roost by toms (and vice versa), as can predators or hunters.And on dirt roads, or grassy knolls with heavy strutting, you will sometimes be lucky enough to see what looks like bicycle tracks from a drunk guy doing donuts.... Wet grass in the morning, you can sometimes see the walking trail of birds, with intermittent areas of bilateral disturbance from strutting on either side of that trail...
Quote from: Mossberg90MN on May 20, 2020, 10:18:56 AMQuote from: AppalachianHollers on May 19, 2020, 11:41:55 PMIn areas with lots of ridges you usually can find an area that flattens out; it's often worth checking for patterns in the leaves to determine if any strutting/scratching has taken place recently.Sent from my iPhone using TapatalkYea I did key in on benches on the ridges to look for sign, it's getting so thick in the late season it's hard to tell. I may just have to hope one turkey accidentally gobbles!Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Quote from: WPA Bowhunter on May 21, 2020, 01:37:48 PMand always remember to check the small interior finger ridges that run off the main ridge if there is any amount of hunting pressure.
Quote from: Marc on May 20, 2020, 01:06:23 AMI have noticed that there are some places in which birds strut year after year within a few yards... Other times it changes from day to day, or hour to hour.
Quote from: ChesterCopperpot on May 21, 2020, 04:44:31 PMQuote from: Marc on May 20, 2020, 01:06:23 AMI have noticed that there are some places in which birds strut year after year within a few yards... Other times it changes from day to day, or hour to hour.I think that's absolutely right. Sometimes they'll keep using one place all season, sometimes they'll move day to day following hens. And some of those places will happen year after year, but most probably won't. The places I've seen that become sort of annual/habitual strut zones are areas where there really aren't that many prime places to use. I think about a place I hunt in South Carolina, super thick hardwoods with little topography, and when you find elevation changes, small knolls and then especially the saddles between two knolls, there's always gobblers strutting there year after year. There's not much high ground to be had and that high ground is a hell of an advantage for those gobbles to carry. Then in the mountains of North Carolina where I live I've had some birds roost in the same tree day after day. Might wander a quarter mile and always find his way back to that same tree of an evening. Then I've had them move all over the place like gypsies. Usually when I find a good strut zone I find it when a bird hangs up. He gobbles at one end, struts to the other side, gobbles at the far end, you just hear that back and forth of him covering that space. Occasionally I've found places, particularly in old logging roads up here, where you'll see marks from them dragging their wings. I think for the most part it all just depends on the bird. About as many personalities in turkeys as there is in people--loud mouths and folks that wouldn't say boo to a goose, homebodies and wanderers, etc.