Locating turkey roosts/ general turkey hunting (I have no experience)

[brett2014]

I'll start by saying I literally have zero turkey hunting experience, so any tips or input help. I hunt pretty much in smack in the middle of Texas. I've read to locate turkey roosts, use an owl call to shock gobble them right at dark or before first light (which works better?). The problem I'm having is that I hunt on 600-700 acres, so I don't even know where to start? Should I just pick some good places and run some trial and error by walking and listening? Or on a property this big should I drive a car/atv and try to call from the main road? I know to look for droppings, feathers, scratches, etc. to help locate, but like I said this is a large property so is there any other tips that could help me narrow my search? (for example, the type of trees, or if they like being on a woodline, or deep in the woods). We deer hunt here and have about 5 feeders and blinds, and have been seeing a lot more turkey on gamecam the past 2 years (at each stand). When I finally find a roost, what would be the best method to call them in? I will most likely be hunting them in the spring and next fall, not sure I'll get everything figured out by the time fall turkey season is still in swing.

Thanks for any help at all. I'm really looking forward to turkey hunting.

[jblackburn]

I'm going to assume that where you hunt is mostly brush and maybe some draws with some big cottonwood trees in that part of texas?  If so, that's where I would start. Glass those trees in the evening to see if they are flying up and/or just be close in the mornings and those Rios will gobble.  Walk the property during the day and look for sign, feathers and droppings under a tree are a sign of a roost tree.

Beyond that, look for where the birds like to hang out after they fly down. I usually have better luck after 10:00 am than right off the roost when the hens are everywhere.

[Kylongspur88]

I don't know what kind of terrain your hunting, but I would get up as high as I could before sun up and just listen. Don't use turkey calls before the season, you'll educate birds. Hold off on the shock gobbles and see if they gobble on their own first.

[brett2014]

Thanks. There is a quite a few hills and draws. It's mostly mesquite trees and I think oak. There are some heavily wooded areas, areas with a lot of brush and not so much trees, and there is also some wide open terrain. It's in the hill country if your familiar with that area of Texas. Most of our deerblinds are basically on the edge of a woodline and we've been seeing them on camera at them. Would it be more likely they are roosting in a tree on the woodline or deeper in the woods?

[jblackburn]

Likely in the bigger trees in the draws.  There is an area I have hunted in NW Kansas that is somewhat similar in topography, but with less brush.  The bird there roost in the big trees in the draws or in the small patches of woods along the creeks.  I don't know why, but I have found that turkeys love to roost near water.  I guess the want a drink soon after flydown

[redleg06]

The great thing about hunting Tx is that there arent usually a ton of areas that they prefer to roost so it naturally narrows things down for you.

If you have mostly brush and mesquite then try to find live oaks or cottonwoods. In some areas of Tx that had almost exclusively mesquite or cedar, I've seen them roost on top of shooting houses or anything else they can find that's sturdy enough to hold them off the ground.

In big open country, get to an area close to some of the larger concentration of the live-oaks and listen for them. You can generally hear them for a LONG way off in that kind of country in my experience.