Scouting

[SilentTom]

Hey so I am a newb hunter and Im on my 3rd season and haven't had any luck yet. Anyways, Im wondering what time of the day should I scout? And what do I need to look for on google earth? I live in Florida so the terrain is kinda swampy, lots of pine forest, and scrub. Ive had success finding strut marks and tom tracks. Set up on them but no birds. Almost wondering if I should have stayed longer.

This season I'm using a cheap trail cam and I'm about two weeks away from opening day. Anyone got any tips on how far into the bush i need to go, or time of day, preferred way to get them to shock gobble, anything else I should do? Ive been using a crow call

I saw the tracks and strut marks on a jeep trail but the day before there were some atvs on the trail and I'm wondering if they scared them away.

[avidnwoutdoorsman]

I don't live in Florida but I'll tell you what I did to scout when I hunted there.

Find burn maps and walk the burn lines to look for sign. Owl calls work better in Florida then crow calls IMO.

I scouted all day everyday. Florida is flat compared to where I come from which is nice. I would slip in every morning well before the sun came up and position myself between as many good looking cypress groves as I could. Like you said its a swamp and Turkeys like the high ground. So in flat swampy areas I looked for any topography changes or buldges that had cypress (eScouting). Marked them and then sat in the middle. Alternatively if where your hunting has a river bottom sit at the top of the slop and listen. If I located a bird gobbling off the roost I pinned it. The rest of the day was when I walked the burn lines looking for sign to find where I might want to stand that night or the next morning. At night it was the same drill. I'd get in a 2-3 hours before sunset closer to the bird I heard gobble or in a new area I wanted to listen in.

Day or night if I didn't hear a gobble than I would walk and try to shock gobble birds. In the morning if you here song birds the turkeys should be talking soon. Hold your spot until a half hour approximately before sunrise then walk and shock call. Night time was the opposite. Bird where on the roost as the sunset. If you dont here anything shock call your way out. I called every 5 min or 300-ish yards. You know by now it gets dark quick. I got turned around once and that was interesting. Carry a gps/compass or make sure you know your route in or out.

How deep should you go? The further the better. Now I got back into places no one else did, but I saved those for after the opener because I had a bird pinned (I though). You can walk into the WMA's pre-season. (or bike in was my method). I didn't see another person when I scouted wed or thur before the opener. I also got a head start on everyone on friday becuase they don't open gates until like 8am or something. Was it more work yes. But did I know the area? Very well. But on Friday it was a mad house. And by Friday night two other hunt parties where on the bird I had been within 8yds of the day before. Saturday and Sunday were a mad house but by Monday things had died down and even the following weekend. IF I did it over I would get back deep early. Granted where I was a local even said "You either grew up in the woods or were in special forces to brave coming here and going through what you have without local knowledge of a local woodsman. You have my highest respects". Did I cross a creek known to have gators, yes. Did I see another soul where I was hunting after Monday nope. Where there birds. Yes. Once you figure it out, it gets fun. I'm excited to come back and I think I would only hunt public land if I did.

Good luck.