Do most gobblers seem to use the same fields as their main strutting area all spring long or do they change up as the spring progresses. My reason for asking is on one of the properties I hunt, I have been seeing several toms strutting with about 10 or 12 hens in the same field every morning about an hour or two after first light. Here in Kentucky season doesn't start for about another month. Is it likely the birds will still be in the same pattern using the same field to strut in every morning in April when season rolls around?
I'll bet they will still be there.
Send me the coordinates and ill check it out for you....
while the breeding phase will progress before your season opens, the field will still be important because its not only a strut zone because gobblers like the open view it provides, its also a feeding area for the hens, rich with insects giving them the protein they need for laying. The gobblers strut there because the hens are already going there to feed. They are accustomed to seeing hens go there and theyve made it part of their routine. U can bet it wont be hard to call a gobbler to that field when the season opens. Take your scoiuting a step further and determine where they enter and exit the fields, how long they linger in the am's, and i like to determine if there are any secondary strut zones such as a saw clearing just inside the woods where a bird may pause and strut awhile before or after leaving the field, similar to a whitetail staging area. These can be deadly places to intercept a gobbler before he ends up in the middle of a big field with hens and out of range.
I know of a few of those "secondary" strut zones or staging areas adjacent to fields, and they produce year in and year out. Of course, i guard their locations with my life.... :p
Thanks everybody for the responses. I'm glad to know that they will probably still be using that field when season comes around and redleg06 I might be able to give you the coordinates of that property to check out but while your doing that I'll need the coordinates to a few of your properties so I can observe how your birds use strutting zones.... ;D
Sounds like a fair trade to me. :funnyturkey:
Flyrodder