When and Where?

[ManfromGreenSwamp]

How is your boys scoutin/homework coming along?? Any ctazy rituals/traditions you do before opening day??

When it comes to scouting, I typically do the same stuff at the same places or the same stuff at new places! Haha
I never really stop scounting all year really until the turkeys disappear for several months(I still don't think anybody knows where they really go). They gobble here in Florida early, many times around Christmas on so I'm already in the woods looking for artifacts or deer hunting, I find a lot of roosts this way. On private land, I do a bunch of windshield scouting around pastures.


Far as rituals, I have a hat that I have to have or nothing works right. And used to be I had to have McDonald's steak egg and cheese bagel on the way to the woods or things didn't work out right... But now with the crappy "covid"menu, they don't have that option. All bets are off.


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[leaf shaker]

As for scouting I also hunt most the same places year in and year out so the most I usually do is listen for mornings in a row before season.

As far as rituals go I have an old logging corp. hat I found at the thrift store and thought it was cool. Long story short the person who wears it tags out before 8:00 am. I never have never questioned it since 

[GobbleNut]

Like others have said, I know the places I hunt here in NM well enough that scouting really isn't necessary, although I will usually try to get out a time or two just to get fired up.  The nearest turkey hunting to where I live is a two-hour drive, so it's a little bit more than just stepping out the door or making a quick drive to have a look. 

When hunting a place I haven't been to, I always try to allot at least one full day to looking around for birds, and especially to have one morning at first light to find gobblers on the roost.

As for rituals, I have none.  However, I do have one "superstition", if you will.  In 1975, the morning I killed my first "called in" gobbler, I was driving before daylight to the spot on the edge of the Gila Wilderness.  The last song I heard on the radio before I arrived was Tiny Dancer by Elton John (yes, I realize I am dating myself).  For years after that, if I randomly heard a song by Elton John on my way to a hunt, I knew I would kill a gobbler that morning,...and it worked every time!  Since then, I have killed a lot of gobblers without hearing an Elton John song,....but even now, if I hear one, I know I am going to have a real good morning and a gobbler is likely to have his snood snatched.   

[Southernson13]

I suspect some of our team members are about to get rolling,...if they haven't already.  So, when is your first hunt, and where will you be hunting this spring?

Here in New Mexico, our spring hunt doesn't start until April 15th.  Right now, I have plans to head up to Oklahoma for their April 6th opener.  That will be my first opportunity.  Other hunts planned are a three-state swing in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota in late May, and I may try to squeeze-in another hunt in Colorado in Early May if time allows.  I am also on a "waiting list" for a reservation hunt if all goes well. 

How 'bout you guys?...

How are the OOS'ER opportunities in New Mexico. I tried to do some reading on the state page the other day but it was a little confusing.

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[Sir-diealot]

How is your boys scoutin/homework coming along?? Any ctazy rituals/traditions you do before opening day??

One unfortunate thing about hunting my landlords kids property is that I am not allowed to scout it at all, they seem to think I will scare all the turkey away. I also can't trap there before deer season because they think we will scare all the deer away.

Crazy traditions? Spend money all year long on new turkey calls.

[avidnwoutdoorsman]

It wont be me but youth weekend up here is this weekend and I am pumped pumped pumped. Probably more excited then my hunts to come. Great opportunity to get out the woods and do some pre-season scouting no doubt with some hopeful live action of a kid getting his first bird and father there to watch. Mind you I aint the father but taking out a member from a local form who has no idea what he's doing to aid in the kill of his sons first bird. Formulating a plan A of finding them their own chunk of land that I've never hunted in hopes that it can be "theirs" for years to come. Take them through the whole process of why I chose it, why I scouted it how I did, etc. etc. Plan B of course will be to take them to hunt my property and land behind it and plan C will be to take them to one of my honey holes cuz hey its a youth hunter! Really hoping for plan A because I feel the best thing for mentoring new hunters is not taking them out to kill something but taking them through the process of getting to the kill. The AirBnB they are staying at is within a mile of some really really good turkey country. Probably going to be woken up by gobbles.

Do you guys hunt the same spot? Or do you always finding yourself looking for the next spot? I've only killed a handful of birds in the same spot over the years....always looking for the next spot. Dont get me wrong...most spots (not all) I have dailed....can tell you were each roost tree is...where if the birds aren't there right now...where they are instead. I think that is what gives me the confidence to keep looking for the next spot, that I can always go back to plan B or plan C which are really plan A.

[GobbleNut]

Do you guys hunt the same spot? Or do you always finding yourself looking for the next spot? I've only killed a handful of birds in the same spot over the years....always looking for the next spot. Dont get me wrong...most spots (not all) I have dialed....can tell you were each roost tree is...where if the birds aren't there right now...where they are instead. I think that is what gives me the confidence to keep looking for the next spot, that I can always go back to plan B or plan C which are really plan A.

Pretty much the same scenario for me, too.  You and I are fortunate that we have hundreds of thousands of acres of public land to hunt and can do that.  As I have said in other discussions here on OG, I could hunt a different spot every day for the rest of my life and never have to hit the same location twice. 

That is a luxury that I realize most other folks do not have, although I also believe a lot of turkey hunters "pigeon hole" themselves in hunting the same places day after day when they really don't have to.  For me, exploring and finding new places to hunt, and accepting the challenge of trying to kill a gobbler in a spot I am not familiar with, is something I always look forward to doing.  ...Not that I always kill a bird in those situations, but when I do, it is much more personally rewarding to me than killing a gobbler in a familiar spot where I know my odds of success are generally much higher. 

[notsure]

I primarily hunt on small/medium sized farms (250-500 acres), so although I might setup 100 yards this way or that from the spot I hunted the pervious season, my hunting's pretty much limited to a handful of locations.

[Kdp1080]

Well boys and girls season starts here Saturday!!! THE COUNTDOWN has begun!!!! We have a bad cold snap here now but supposed to warm back up tomorrow afternoon. Heard birds gobblin this morning it was 28* this AM. Lets get a rollin and lets see some toe curlin and snatch Some Snoods!! Good luck and be safe

[GobbleNut]

Go get 'em!   
I'm headed to Oklahoma on Sunday myself.  Hunting public areas where the reports are that the turkey numbers are way down and hunter numbers are way up, so I don't have a lot of confidence,...but I've got to give it a go anyway.  Besides, I like that kind of challenge!   
Jim

[Happy]

Have fun. Was in Oklahoma not so long ago myself. All I saw were buzzards.

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[boomer]

Good luck in Oklahoma guys!!

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[avidnwoutdoorsman]

Youth opener today. Kid was tagged out by 9:40. First bird down at 7:00. Cleaned it, moved, and got him the second at 9:40.





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[ManfromGreenSwamp]

Youth opener today. Kid was tagged out by 9:40.




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Nice!!!!!!!!!
Buddy missed one this morning lol
Must have gobbled 50x in the cold strang season that is our Florida turkey season thus far. What a dumb year lol


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[RiverBuck]

Nice job on youth opener!
That's a fine looking bird too