Going to try and do some pre-season scouting this year after coming up short last season. WV Spring Season starts April 18th. How soon should I start scouting? All my hunting is done on public land, if that matters.
I started scouting for 2022 spring season about the third week of season last year. I haven't stopped.
I am not joking. If you haven't started, well your a little behind and it doesn't matter if it's public or private, in-state or out of state.
Now is the answer. Knowing the ground you're on is probably the most important part of hunting turkeys. Being where they want to be helps too!
I am scouting all the time. Deer Season while in the woods I'm looking for turkey sign and potential food sources. I'm also looking at good hides and thinking about roost sites. When I am turkey hunting I am scouting for deer. I killed one of my best P&Y bucks from a rub line I found coming out of a bedding area while turkey hunting. I even walk the woods during the summer so I guess you can always learn the woods you hunt any time of year or season. To answer your question, you can scout any time and always learn. I do it constantly.
Heck for the last six weeks they've been fanning and advertising their whereabouts off most of the county roads like all get outs! Seen anywhere from 7 to 70 at a time. And after a rain....Mercy!!! Come shooting time they'll be more purple paint and posted signs up to keep folks at bay than ever before. The rest of the farms are gonna have some real educated birds real fast like.
Teach me. Why do you think "Now is the answer"?
Typically, now, birds are in winter flocks, shortly they will start dispersal. Meaning, those 10 gobblers you see grouped together now may be scattered 40 miles apart 3 months from now, or more.
If you scout known spring season areas and expand from there you will have more success. Just before your spring season, throughout your season, and shortly after is the time to scout areas you can access to hunt.
Turkeys do travel, they do flock, and they do disperse. I do not stop scouting for turkeys.
Quote from: WV Flopper on January 26, 2022, 08:55:11 PM
Teach me. Why do you think "Now is the answer"?
Typically, now, birds are in winter flocks, shortly they will start dispersal. Meaning, those 10 gobblers you see grouped together now may be scattered 40 miles apart 3 months from now, or more.
If you scout known spring season areas and expand from there you will have more success. Just before your spring season, throughout your season, and shortly after is the time to scout areas you can access to hunt.
Turkeys do travel, they do flock, and they do disperse. I do not stop scouting for turkeys.
Heard an AL quote a few weeks ago that hit home on this... they don't fall where they spring from.
John H., Omicron survivor
I'm not so much scouting birds right now as I'm scouting places to go. I'm 50/50 private public. The public spots I look for are either hard to access or over looked. Lots of map time then boots on the ground. Once mid March hits I'll be listening for birds but not doing as much tromping around keeping my distance. This is also a good time to see who else is out scouting and make note of where there will likely be pressure on birds. If your in WV use those hills to your advantage. A hill climb on public ground right out of the truck will seperate the men from the boys
Agreed WV Flopper, in South GA a lot of what you'd "learn" now about some flocks would be useless information in a matter of weeks. And when it changes it seems like it happens in days. I hunt river swamp bottom turkeys btw, not even fields to see turkeys in where I live and hunt
Quote from: WV Flopper on January 26, 2022, 08:55:11 PM
Teach me. Why do you think "Now is the answer"?
Typically, now, birds are in winter flocks, shortly they will start dispersal. Meaning, those 10 gobblers you see grouped together now may be scattered 40 miles apart 3 months from now, or more.
If you scout known spring season areas and expand from there you will have more success. Just before your spring season, throughout your season, and shortly after is the time to scout areas you can access to hunt.
Turkeys do travel, they do flock, and they do disperse. I do not stop scouting for turkeys.
Because waiting till spring is kinda late. Why not start now learning the lay of the land? No time to start like the present.
Thanks for the replies, I assumed "now is better than later" was the answer but still wanted to ask.
I hunt mostly private, but I do have some remote public spots. I have a list of parcels I have been hunting since 1984. I do all my scouting from March 15th (snow cover dependent) through my opener in April. I know these parcels so well, I only visit them pre-season to listen. I never call or use locators. I don't even let them know I'm there. I have noticed over the years that they do roost mostly in the same patches, but they do use different roost trees from time to time. I have several tree (set-up) sites that I use year after year. They are always well trimmed, some have flat rocks set up against the trees. In the few open ares that I use decoys, I put a stick marker exactly where I want to set up my Jake and hen. I do this because I do not use a flashlight ever when I walk in to set up. These marker sticks are visible in the dark. Scouting lets me plan my attack for opening day. I usually start with the most vocal, solo birds and leave the henned up gents till later on. Yes, the solo guys tend to be 2 year olds, not saying that I don't run into a solo 3-4 year old. Sometimes the old men want to roost alone. One important tip I have learned I want to share is that I find most my birds on the southern (sunny) sides of the ridges in early spring. This is where the new sprouts pop up, and I find my early scratching here. Moral of the story, do your homework. Yes, pre-season calling practice is important, but all the other scouting, planning and over all strategy preparation is equally, if not more important than calling. Learning your terrain layout will help you know where to set-up on a gobbler. You want to make sure there are no obstacles between you and him that may cause him to hang up (stream, fence etc.) This is my pre-season regiment, I want to wish everyone a safe, fun, and successful season....
As usual, everybody is correct in their response to the question...even though it sometimes seems contradictory. Everything we discuss is often relative to the specific place that each of us hunts. The basic elements are generally the same, but the application of all the various tactics and approaches can vary a bunch based on where you hunt.
As for the question at hand as to when and where to start scouting? The basic two-word response you will see a lot in these debates is "it depends". Assuming you already have some idea of where turkeys live in your part of the world, my two fundamental comments on this subject would be 1) when looking for turkeys to hunt, it is always better to be out somewhere that you think turkeys live, regardless of the time of year, than it is to be sitting on the couch; 2) for spring gobbler hunting, you are much better off trying to find your gobblers a couple of weeks prior to, and during, the season when they have reliably started gobbling in response to the spring breeding urge, than you are any other time of the year.
Again, these are general comments. Applying my own experiences where I live and hunt, I have places that I can walk in the first morning of the season and know there are going to be gobblers there and know pretty much where they are going to be. I also have places that I need to confirm prior to the season if there are gobblers there because sometimes they are...and sometimes they aren't. Regardless of those two circumstances, that confirmation is based on hearing turkeys gobbling more than any other factor...and the very best time to hear them gobbling is after they have gotten into "breeding mode" in the spring (and furthermore, the very best time to hear that gobbling is at first light in the morning).
Having said all of the above, there are a lot of "if's, but's, and and's" that complicate matters. Each of us must sort those out for ourselves based on our particular circumstances. Bottom line is, scout when you can but if your time is somehow limited, focus on those times when those gobblers will be reliably telling you EXACTLY where they are at (as noted above). :icon_thumright:
Quote from: GobbleNut on January 27, 2022, 08:32:41 AM
As usual, everybody is correct in their response to the question...even though it sometimes seems contradictory. Everything we discuss is often relative to the specific place that each of us hunts. The basic elements are generally the same, but the application of all the various tactics and approaches can vary a bunch based on where you hunt.
As for the question at hand as to when and where to start scouting? The basic two-word response you will see a lot in these debates is "it depends". Assuming you already have some idea of where turkeys live in your part of the world, my two fundamental comments on this subject would be 1) when looking for turkeys to hunt, it is always better to be out somewhere that you think turkeys live, regardless of the time of year, than it is to be sitting on the couch; 2) for spring gobbler hunting, you are much better off trying to find your gobblers a couple of weeks prior to, and during, the season when they have reliably started gobbling in response to the spring breeding urge, than you are any other time of the year.
Again, these are general comments. Applying my own experiences where I live and hunt, I have places that I can walk in the first morning of the season and know there are going to be gobblers there and know pretty much where they are going to be. I also have places that I need to confirm prior to the season if there are gobblers there because sometimes they are...and sometimes they aren't. Regardless of those two circumstances, that confirmation is based on hearing turkeys gobbling more than any other factor...and the very best time to hear them gobbling is after they have gotten into "breeding mode" in the spring (and furthermore, the very best time to hear that gobbling is at first light in the morning).
Having said all of the above, there are a lot of "if's, but's, and and's" that complicate matters. Each of us must sort those out for ourselves based on our particular circumstances. Bottom line is, scout when you can but if your time is somehow limited, focus on those times when those gobblers will be reliably telling you EXACTLY where they are at (as noted above). :icon_thumright:
Well said, good advice...
I will also add don't forget to talk with your rural mail carrier, this person can help you a lot in telling you were they have been seeing turkeys. These people are on the same county roads everyday except one.
Now, or any time you get the chance. I've already been locating birds in new areas the past couple weeks. I'll continue checking out new places in the next month or so, and as season gets closer I'll go to some more familiar ground to listen for roost gobbles and fish for prespawn smallmouth in the creeks.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
Quote from: WV Flopper on January 26, 2022, 08:55:11 PM
Teach me. Why do you think "Now is the answer"?
Typically, now, birds are in winter flocks, shortly they will start dispersal. Meaning, those 10 gobblers you see grouped together now may be scattered 40 miles apart 3 months from now, or more.
If you scout known spring season areas and expand from there you will have more success. Just before your spring season, throughout your season, and shortly after is the time to scout areas you can access to hunt.
Turkeys do travel, they do flock, and they do disperse. I do not stop scouting for turkeys.
From my experience, there's always a few birds around in the spring where the winter flocks were. And even though they disperse, seeing a winter flock gives you a starting point and tells you there are gobblers in the area. I saw about 13 Longbeards in a field recently, on property I can't hunt. I could ask permission if I can find way to reach the landowner, but there is also public property in the surrounding area, so it's likely there will be a bird or two on public come spring time. Just seeing the turkeys in winter flocks tells me there are birds around, which is step 1 in scouting for turkeys.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
"Scouting" can be a very wide encompassing term.
I use OnX to scout new places year round. Picture a place that in the Spring time, you've seen birds, heard birds, or killed birds. Think about how the terrain looked, what kind of timber was in that area. Now look at the maps, aerial and topo of that same area(s). Now apply those same features to other pieces of ground you think might hold turkeys.
Now once I've isolated these types of areas, I'll go put some boot leather on it. Can you imagine turkeys being there in the spring or can it be crossed off? I would never cross a place off in January because I didn't see any sign when I was there, especially on a good looking piece of ground. The turkeys where I am might be there now and 3 months later, but they also might not be there now but will be there when they break up in a month or two. If it looks good, I'll be back when the breeding season rolls around and I can listen for gobbling. I like going in January/February because there's no foliage and you can really see all the nooks and crannies that you might miss with leaves on the landscape.
You'd be amazed how you can isolate roost locations just by staring at maps. Showing up to a place you've never hunted before in the preseason and hearing a gobble on a spot you stared at for months on a map is immensely rewarding.
So I guess I'm always scouting, but I'm only searching for direct evidence (tracks, scratching, gobbling, birds themself) of turkeys in the areas about a month before season starts.
My 14 yo drew a youth permit for a South Florida WMA. Only one month out now. We've never turkey hunted without someone who knows how to turkey hunt lol. I'm going to get out there and start walking around scouting. Should be interesting. Hope I can find a few birds.
Quote from: Greg Massey on January 27, 2022, 10:46:54 AM
I will also add don't forget to talk with your rural mail carrier, this person can help you a lot in telling you were they have been seeing turkeys. These people are on the same county roads everyday except one.
My UPS guy lies to me all the time. "Nope, never saw a turkey anywhere in this part of the state" he says.
:TooFunny:
Quote from: paboxcall on January 27, 2022, 08:04:40 PM
Quote from: Greg Massey on January 27, 2022, 10:46:54 AM
I will also add don't forget to talk with your rural mail carrier, this person can help you a lot in telling you were they have been seeing turkeys. These people are on the same county roads everyday except one.
My UPS guy lies to me all the time. "Nope, never saw a turkey anywhere in this part of the state" he says.
:TooFunny:
He shot 4 Tom's last year...lol :fud:
Quote from: compton30 on January 27, 2022, 12:35:11 PM
"Scouting" can be a very wide encompassing term.
I use OnX to scout new places year round.
You'd be amazed how you can isolate roost locations just by staring at maps. Showing up to a place you've never hunted before in the preseason and hearing a gobble on a spot you stared at for months on a map is immensely rewarding.
I agree on the use of OnX and the like as great scouting tools. Unfortunately, they are as much of a bane as a boon. We complain about YouTube, FaceBook, and social media in general and how it has impacted hunting. These mapping apps are just as guilty. Anybody can run around the woods with a phone and easily identify access points and umpteen details about the area they are hunting without ever stepping foot in those areas.
Personally, I long for the days when folks had to use paper maps and topos to actually figure out how to access a place and then have to go do some on-the-ground research to sort it out. Those days are long gone...and it ain't all for the good. Then again, I am the first to admit that I use those apps extensively nowadays...
Quote from: GobbleNut on January 28, 2022, 08:40:34 AM
Quote from: compton30 on January 27, 2022, 12:35:11 PM
"Scouting" can be a very wide encompassing term.
I use OnX to scout new places year round.
You'd be amazed how you can isolate roost locations just by staring at maps. Showing up to a place you've never hunted before in the preseason and hearing a gobble on a spot you stared at for months on a map is immensely rewarding.
I agree on the use of OnX and the like as great scouting tools. Unfortunately, they are as much of a bane as a boon. We complain about YouTube, FaceBook, and social media in general and how it has impacted hunting. These mapping apps are just as guilty. Anybody can run around the woods with a phone and easily identify access points and umpteen details about the area they are hunting without ever stepping foot in those areas.
Personally, I long for the days when folks had to use paper maps and topos to actually figure out how to access a place and then have to go do some on-the-ground research to sort it out. Those days are long gone...and it ain't all for the good. Then again, I am the first to admit that I use those apps extensively nowadays...
AMEN AMEN AMEN.. WELL SAID ...
Quote from: Tom007 on January 28, 2022, 08:04:01 AM
Quote from: paboxcall on January 27, 2022, 08:04:40 PM
Quote from: Greg Massey on January 27, 2022, 10:46:54 AM
I will also add don't forget to talk with your rural mail carrier, this person can help you a lot in telling you were they have been seeing turkeys. These people are on the same county roads everyday except one.
My UPS guy lies to me all the time. "Nope, never saw a turkey anywhere in this part of the state" he says.
:TooFunny:
He shot 4 Tom's last year...lol :fud:
WELL at least it better than waiting on phone app to help you kill a turkey ... at least you got to talk with someone UPS OR USPS.. LOL...
Quote from: GobbleNut on January 28, 2022, 08:40:34 AM
Quote from: compton30 on January 27, 2022, 12:35:11 PM
"Scouting" can be a very wide encompassing term.
I use OnX to scout new places year round.
You'd be amazed how you can isolate roost locations just by staring at maps. Showing up to a place you've never hunted before in the preseason and hearing a gobble on a spot you stared at for months on a map is immensely rewarding.
I agree on the use of OnX and the like as great scouting tools. Unfortunately, they are as much of a bane as a boon. We complain about YouTube, FaceBook, and social media in general and how it has impacted hunting. These mapping apps are just as guilty. Anybody can run around the woods with a phone and easily identify access points and umpteen details about the area they are hunting without ever stepping foot in those areas.
Personally, I long for the days when folks had to use paper maps and topos to actually figure out how to access a place and then have to go do some on-the-ground research to sort it out. Those days are long gone...and it ain't all for the good. Then again, I am the first to admit that I use those apps extensively nowadays...
I wholeheartedly agree, Jim. Given the choice to have OnX exist or not, I'd probably choose not. But as someone who doesn't have the luxury of hunting private, I feel like it's a necessity if I'm gonna maximize my spring hunts.
Quote from: Greg Massey on January 28, 2022, 09:49:57 AM
Quote from: Tom007 on January 28, 2022, 08:04:01 AM
Quote from: paboxcall on January 27, 2022, 08:04:40 PM
Quote from: Greg Massey on January 27, 2022, 10:46:54 AM
I will also add don't forget to talk with your rural mail carrier, this person can help you a lot in telling you were they have been seeing turkeys. These people are on the same county roads everyday except one.
My UPS guy lies to me all the time. "Nope, never saw a turkey anywhere in this part of the state" he says.
:TooFunny:
He shot 4 Tom's last year...lol :fud:
WELL at least it better than waiting on phone app to help you kill a turkey ... at least you got to talk with someone UPS OR USPS.. LOL...
Imagine wanting to interact with other people :TooFunny:
Quote from: compton30 on January 28, 2022, 12:46:24 PM
Quote from: Greg Massey on January 28, 2022, 09:49:57 AM
Quote from: Tom007 on January 28, 2022, 08:04:01 AM
Quote from: paboxcall on January 27, 2022, 08:04:40 PM
Quote from: Greg Massey on January 27, 2022, 10:46:54 AM
I will also add don't forget to talk with your rural mail carrier, this person can help you a lot in telling you were they have been seeing turkeys. These people are on the same county roads everyday except one.
My UPS guy lies to me all the time. "Nope, never saw a turkey anywhere in this part of the state" he says.
:TooFunny:
He shot 4 Tom's last year...lol :fud:
WELL at least it better than waiting on phone app to help you kill a turkey ... at least you got to talk with someone UPS OR USPS.. LOL...
Imagine wanting to interact with other people :TooFunny:
It's not a problem, just wear your mask...
Quote from: Dhamilton1 on January 26, 2022, 05:36:43 PM
Going to try and do some pre-season scouting this year after coming up short last season. WV Spring Season starts April 18th. How soon should I start scouting? All my hunting is done on public land, if that matters.
Scouting for turkeys now is purely wasting time.
Start listening 2 weeks before the season to identify groups of birds and then familiarize yourself with those particular areas.
As the season draws closer, pay more attention to which direction the birds head after they fly down and any clues regarding their social dynamics such as vocal lead hens, dominant toms that shut all other toms in the area up, satellite groups on the perimeter of the flock, etc.
Best of luck this spring.
In my surrounding area, bottom land is river bottom, pasture and ag fields. Now and in the next few weeks they will be LOADED with turkeys. They will stay that way till about mid March, then dispersal will begin.
The public ground close to me GWNF is mostly behind locked gates. Alot of those turkeys have moved to the river bottoms, or are on East facing slops/ridges as all other areas are under 2" or heavily crusted snow currently. Turkeys are not able to feed well on heavily crusted snow.
Driving around will give you an inventory of turkeys in the area and I do agree that some of those turkeys will stick around in those bottoms and along the ridges above the river along it. Absolutely they will. In Hardy county that's all private property.
Mr. Hamilton, I believe you stated last spring you found some turkeys later in the season and just didn't quite know the lay of the ground enough to capitalize. Hopefully my memory isn't tricking me.
Turkeys use good habitat, generation after generation! If you can get to this area now and learn the land that is awesome, if you can map scout the land that is good, if you can scout it from a mapping app that's good as well. But, nothing beats boots on the ground and with the help of the mapping apps it is even better. You will not cover all of the NF land in Hardy County in a year walking it on weekends! Other counties in WV have huge tracts of land as well. You can not possibly cover it all on foot.
Do what you can to learn the area you were in last year, then go to another area, repeat. But, I will stick to what I said. I scout year around, the first two weeks of season in my home state of WV is about my 4 or 5th week of hunting. Those two weeks are all about killing turkeys. So the third week of WV season I am trying new places "Scouting". I watch for turkey ever time I am in a vehicle, it drives the lady crazy. She actually now reports sightings to me as does my son. But, they don't go anywhere, I know those turkeys are present.
So, as TRIVIAL as it may sound, if there are turkeys present from spring turkey season opener until mid June I am willing to bet "Without a mass habit change" there will be turkeys present in the same exact area next spring. As a matter of fact, the places I hunt the first two weeks of season (WV) I will not scout and haven't stepped foot on since last spring. I will ride by to see if the timber has been clear cut, but that's it. I know there will be turkeys there if there are trees still standing.
If you would like to discuss further PM me some time and I will try and help you if I can.
Quote from: Greg Massey on January 28, 2022, 09:49:57 AM
Quote from: Tom007 on January 28, 2022, 08:04:01 AM
Quote from: paboxcall on January 27, 2022, 08:04:40 PM
Quote from: Greg Massey on January 27, 2022, 10:46:54 AM
I will also add don't forget to talk with your rural mail carrier, this person can help you a lot in telling you were they have been seeing turkeys. These people are on the same county roads everyday except one.
My UPS guy lies to me all the time. "Nope, never saw a turkey anywhere in this part of the state" he says.
:TooFunny:
He shot 4 Tom's last year...lol :fud:
WELL at least it better than waiting on phone app to help you kill a turkey ... at least you got to talk with someone UPS OR USPS.. LOL...
I will confess, my UPS guy gives me good info on deer sightings. I am hoping it's legitimate, so far it's been pretty accurate. My wife and I always leave him a Christmas gift, lord knows he earns it dropping off all her stuff. Lol
Quote from: Kyle_Ott on January 28, 2022, 05:33:22 PM
Scouting for turkeys now is purely wasting time.
I pretty much agree with you here, Kyle. Anybody that "knows their turkeys" where they hunt probably has little need to be looking around this far in advance of the season. However, for those that are new to the game and/or don't have a clue where to start looking, it may be a good idea to spend some time familiarizing themselves with the potential turkey habitat in the vicinity of where they plan on hunting.
The real "getting down to business" period is always going to be a couple of weeks prior to the start of the season. Experienced hunters know this, but I can see where new and inexperienced hunters would need a clarification on this point.