Preseason Scouting and Calling

[Dhamilton1]

What's the consensus on calling at dusk to roost a bird when preseason scouting to try to pattern them as best as possible?

For calling I'm imagining locator calls - owl, crow, coyote


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[redwad]

I'll owl hoot or use a crow call. I never use a turkey call unless I am actively hunting.

[Davyalabama]

Preseason.  Dusk.   I'm listening for him to fly up. 

[GobbleNut]

One thing I have noticed about every spring gobbler hunter that has spent much time doing this is that there is one pretty consistent fundamental rule...do NOT call to the turkeys you are planning on hunting before you start hunting them. That is, don't use the "turkey sounds" you are going to use to call them in when you start actually hunting them.  If you do that enough times, you will eventually learn why that rule exists. 

For me, locator calls of the ilk mentioned...owl, crow, coyote, etc...are in a different classification altogether. They can be a very effective tool for finding gobblers. However, there are limitations in using them. From my experience, repeatedly using a locator call in an area can "burn" gobblers. That is, they will become prone to stop gobbling at a locator...even a good one...if it is repeatedly used such that their shock response is suppressed. A good rule of thumb: use whatever locator you might decide to try sparingly.

Here's another important consideration. If you KNOW somebody else is hunting in an area, DON'T use a locator call there! Nothing is more irritating to someone that is on a gobbler than to hear somebody stop next to their truck and blow on a locator call. Respect your fellow hunters. Move on to another area where nobody else is already hunting. THEN, blow that locator if you want to. 

[Gooserbat]

Using a call before season is only lowering the odds.  I don't want to do anything that would cause a yom to become conditioned to calls or even call shy.  If anything use a locator and use it sparingly.

[nyhunter]

So your saying turkeys can identify certain turkey calls when called to in the pre season but not crow or owl calls? that's very interesting to me.

[Gooserbat]

So your saying turkeys can identify certain turkey calls when called to in the pre season but not crow or owl calls? that's very interesting to me.

I'm saying that anything that causes pressure on birds that you intend to hunt is foolhardy.  There's a couple of states that it's illegal to have a turkey call a field before season on public lands. (Tennessee is one). I wish more would adopt it.

[Zobo]

My only advice is to be patient while scouting and use your ears/eyes more than anything else. A very moderate use of short shocking sounds can help occasionally, don't overdo it. Scout windless nights/mornings.

[Greg Massey]

Leave all those type calls at home, so you want be tempted in using them.

Listen from a distance to not put any pressure on the birds. in other words slip and slip out of the area.

People don't realize, they can pickup pressure from MORE traffic on a road / gravel road just by all the vehicles.

During the season I just let mother nature wake the woods up... I carry a crow call and might use it twice during the season. Don't over think all those locator calls ... IMO

[jmart241]

Look and listen

[Bowguy]

So your saying turkeys can identify certain turkey calls when called to in the pre season but not crow or owl calls? that's very interesting to me.

Brother, youve got to consider...
A locator call if used to walk up to a bird until it sees you will def condition it to not act positively to that locator. Most guys locate than walk off. Keeping the area fresh.  Keep bumping them period they'll move anyhow more than not.
A turkey call gets them to move to you or at least look in your direction. Preseason is mostly open woods. Keep doing it you'll get caught. Your birds, your hunt but nothing about it be helping you.

[GobbleNut]

So your saying turkeys can identify certain turkey calls when called to in the pre season but not crow or owl calls? that's very interesting to me.

It is not so much that turkeys identify certain turkey calls, preseason or not. It is that if they see (or otherwise suspect) the source of those sounds is a human, they very much have the ability to then associate those sounds with humans and may become reluctant to approach those sounds. Conversely, humans who call to the birds they are going to hunt before they hunt them will eventually learn that, many times, the gobblers they call to preseason are harder to call in. There is a learning curve on both sides of the equation.   

Of course, there are exceptions and I am sure there are guys out there who hunt turkey utopia and repeatedly call in lightly-hunted turkeys who will scoff at the suggestion that they are capable of putting two and two together about humans and turkey calling. Unless those guys hunt turkey utopia for the rest of their lives, they are eventually going to "get" the human side of that equation. However, even lightly-hunted turkeys will eventually learn about humans and turkey calls. I know this because I have seen it first-hand a number of times.

Your point about locator calls is a valid one, as well...but that is another discussion all together. Suffice it to say that using non-turkey sounds for locating gobblers does not have the same effect as using the turkey calling that one would use to call turkeys to you. Locator calls CAN have an impact, for sure, if not used judiciously and when needed...but that impact is not the same in terms of how turkeys respond to it and how it impacts your chances of calling them in. As I often say, however, my opinion and about ten bucks will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks...   

[WV Flopper]

I totally understand the desire to get out in the woods.

I personally have never had good luck roosting birds, never have. Went out several times and only have heard my local birds a hand full of times.

OOS hunts I will try to roost turkeys and have had a lot better success doing so in other states. ?

I can say even then, I am really only doing it to show my presence to other hunters.

I am very fortunate to have some great local places to hunt that hold turkeys. So, I don't worry one bit with it when playing in my home range.

[Ihuntoldschool]

I dont call before the season simply because it's not necessary. Just listen for them to fly up or gobble/yelp whatever in the scenario you mentioned.

However it's an absolute myth that a turkey somehow becomes "call shy"
No such thing exists. Hunters like to use this as an excuse when the tom doesn't come in or do what they want. But there's never been and never will be a gobbler that's actually shy of an authentic sounding call of a real hen.

They will certainly become shy of people that's a totally different matter but never shy of the sound of a hen turkey.

[silvestris]

At dusk,if I use anything it will be a one oooahh owl if in season, or a fly down cackle, not either unless I am planning to hunt the area the next morning.  Any sound I make must be realistic.