Spring Scout to Hunt

[qbaker]

Could someone be kind enough to provide a quick brief scout to hunt outline for me? Scout tips, Spring Hung tips for a first-time hunter? (Call types, engaging flock etc.) Thanks!

[Happy]

I will try and keep this brief but you asked for a lot. First off dont ever think a turey wont do something. There are general rules of thumb but very few absolutes.The only thing i havent heard or seen a turkey do is swim. Here are a few suggestions though. Find an area with turkeys first and foremost. Where you find them in the fall may not necessarily be where you will find them in the spring. But they won't be to awful far off in most instances. Learn the area well. Pinpoint water sources, open areas that will green up early and good mast trees. Also locate thickets and brushy areas close to a food source. If you find turkey scratching note the direction of travel, if it is hilly, or mountain terrain learn how to move through the woods using the terrain to your advantage. A turkey is amazing at picking up movement. As winter gives way to spring get out to your areas and listen. Tom's will start to gobble in early spring allowing you to pinpoint roosting areas. Listen and make note of the direction of travel from the roost. I wouldn't personally spend to much time in the woods walking around the woods in early spring and I definitely wouldn't use turkey calls. That's just my approach for the most part. No use putting birds on edge before hunting season. As far as calls go I would recommend a box call or pot call for starters. Both are fairly easy to learn on provided your willing to spend a little time practicing. Get some good audio recordings of real turkeys and get to work learning how to mimic their calls and understanding  the general meaning of each call. You don't have to sound like a world championship caller to kill turkeys, but the more realistic you sound the better.
As far as hunting goes there are many different ways and styles to go about trying to kill a turkey. You can get a blind and and some decoys, plop them in a field and sit and call till one comes and investigates or you can go ninja style and slip through the woods calling and maneuvering to try and get one to come to you. Or any area in between, dealers choice. That's up for you to decide. (within the regulations of the state you hunt in anyways). Your hunting style will dictate a lot of different scenerios so i won't get into to much detail there. Do lot of research and practice with both a call and your weapon of choice. Assume you going to make mistakes and be confident you can figure it out and learn to be successful. I hope this helps some. Good luck

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[compton30]

Agree wholeheartedly with the above post.

A lot of folks consider calling to a turkey with a hen turkey call BEFORE the season to be an absolute thing you must NOT do. I tend agree and don't do it, but I have heard Denny Gulvas, a guy who probably knows as much as anyone who's ever lived has ever known about turkeys and turkey vocalizations, say that it doesn't make any difference.

Another thing I'd recommend is being aware of what you see around you when you find turkeys in the Spring. I've noticed that though the landscape is not always the same, the elements tend to be similar. This is piggybacking off what Happy said when he was talking about locating water sources, open areas, green up, and mast trees. If you can locate an area that fits the formula, your odds of finding turkeys goes up.

Lastly, I'd recommend buying the best set of binoculars you can afford. A lot of guys think they're only necessary for big game hunts, but I personally wouldn't go after any game without them. Your ability to shred the landscape at a distance is obviously increased, but also you just have an enhanced view of things that are closer to you. I know that when I started carrying binos with me every single time I hit the field, I started seeing even more game. Up close and far away.

Put your time in pre-season, and it'll pay dividends when it's time for Opening Day.

[GobbleNut]

Good information given so far. As the others have stated, we could write a book to completely answer your questions.  I will focus on the "finding gobblers to hunt" part of the equation here. If I am correct, you are located in New York, which means you will be hunting Easterns,...and according to the distribution map, there are turkeys pretty much scattered through the entire state.  As such, finding turkeys to hunt should not be much of an issue.  On the other hand, finding a GOOD place to hunt,...a place that you are not going to be overrun with competition,...might be.

In finding such a place, I would begin by getting as much information from other sources as I could.  Those sources would include contacting your DNR/Game Department, looking over all sorts of maps (especially land-status maps), and contacting your local chapter of NWTF to find turkey hunters that might be willing to help you.  You should be able to glean enough information from those sources to get you pointed in the right direction, both in terms of where to hunt,...and also how to hunt and call.

If your research suggests that hunting public land might be difficult due to too much hunter competition (I know nothing about NY hunting and the amount of pressure there), right now would be a good time to start looking for some private land access.  In terms of what you can be doing in the next few months that would be most beneficial to you, that would be right at the top of the list as far as I am concerned.  If you will be in a position where you must hunt public land, then you want to focus on looking for out-of-the-way places that you might be able to get away from other hunters (studying good maps will often greatly aid in this endeavor).

In terms of actual hunting when the season rolls around, you should have already narrowed your choices to a few select areas and you will now be in the stage of finding specific gobblers to hunt,...and as many of them as you can.  That is most often best accomplished by HEARING them when they are most likely to gobble,...which is when they are on the roost in the early morning (and sometimes in the evening).  Hearing gobbling turkeys can be done both passively (quietly listening from locations you can hear well) or aggressively (using locator calls to entice gobbling).  Although some folks prefer the passive approach, my experience suggests that using good "locator tactics" greatly enhances both your ability to find gobblers,..and also your enjoyment of the hunting experience.  However, I will qualify that last remark by stating that, if you are hunting a very small tract of land, the passive approach is likely as good or better. 

If you have done everything correctly, when opening morning comes around, you will be sitting somewhere in the pre-dawn darkness listening to one or more gobblers sounding off in the trees around you.  Therein is the essence of spring gobbler hunting.
 

[saverx]

I'm simple minded so here are my simple scouting tips I use. In early Feb start riding the roads or walking roads where you plan to hunt. Look for turkey tracks in any bare dirt spot you can find. Gobblers start walking in Feb in the south. If up north maybe a little later. Find as many spots with tracks as you can. Note these spots and return at daylight a couple of weeks prior to hunting. Listen for gobbles without calling. Give each spot a good hour after daylight especially if tracks are still being seen. Keep doing this as many days as you can until you can hunt. By opening day, you will know where they all are at. Do not waste time hunting areas where you have not seen/ heard the above. Lastly, if during your scouting you see a long beard, hunt there!