2022 Pre-Season Scouting

[catman529]

Now, or any time you get the chance. I've already been locating birds in new areas the past couple weeks. I'll continue checking out new places in the next month or so, and as season gets closer I'll go to some more familiar ground to listen for roost gobbles and fish for prespawn smallmouth in the creeks.


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[catman529]

Teach me. Why do you think "Now is the answer"?

Typically, now, birds are in winter flocks, shortly they will start dispersal. Meaning, those 10 gobblers you see grouped together now may be scattered 40 miles apart 3 months from now, or more.

If you scout known spring season areas and expand from there you will have more success. Just before your spring season, throughout your season, and shortly after is the time to scout areas you can access to hunt.

Turkeys do travel, they do flock, and they do disperse. I do not stop scouting for turkeys.

From my experience, there's always a few birds around in the spring where the winter flocks were. And even though they disperse, seeing a winter flock gives you a starting point and tells you there are gobblers in the area. I saw about 13 Longbeards in a field recently, on property I can't hunt. I could ask permission if I can find way to reach the landowner, but there is also public property in the surrounding area, so it's likely there will be a bird or two on public come spring time. Just seeing the turkeys in winter flocks tells me there are birds around, which is step 1 in scouting for turkeys.


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[compton30]

"Scouting" can be a very wide encompassing term.

I use OnX to scout new places year round. Picture a place that in the Spring time, you've seen birds, heard birds, or killed birds. Think about how the terrain looked, what kind of timber was in that area. Now look at the maps, aerial and topo of that same area(s). Now apply those same features to other pieces of ground you think might hold turkeys.

Now once I've isolated these types of areas, I'll go put some boot leather on it. Can you imagine turkeys being there in the spring or can it be crossed off? I would never cross a place off in January because I didn't see any sign when I was there, especially on a good looking piece of ground. The turkeys where I am might be there now and 3 months later, but they also might not be there now but will be there when they break up in a month or two. If it looks good, I'll be back when the breeding season rolls around and I can listen for gobbling. I like going in January/February because there's no foliage and you can really see all the nooks and crannies that you might miss with leaves on the landscape.

You'd be amazed how you can isolate roost locations just by staring at maps. Showing up to a place you've never hunted before in the preseason and hearing a gobble on a spot you stared at for months on a map is immensely rewarding.

So I guess I'm always scouting, but I'm only searching for direct evidence (tracks, scratching, gobbling, birds themself) of turkeys in the areas about a month before season starts.

[FLTurkHntr]

My 14 yo drew a youth permit for a South Florida WMA. Only one month out now. We've never turkey hunted without someone who knows how to turkey hunt lol. I'm going to get out there and start walking around scouting. Should be interesting. Hope I can find a few birds.

[paboxcall]

I will also add don't forget to talk with your rural mail carrier, this person can help you a lot in telling you were they have been seeing turkeys. These people are on the same county roads everyday except one.

My UPS guy lies to me all the time. "Nope, never saw a turkey anywhere in this part of the state" he says.

[Tom007]

I will also add don't forget to talk with your rural mail carrier, this person can help you a lot in telling you were they have been seeing turkeys. These people are on the same county roads everyday except one.

My UPS guy lies to me all the time. "Nope, never saw a turkey anywhere in this part of the state" he says.

He shot 4 Tom's last year...lol

[GobbleNut]

"Scouting" can be a very wide encompassing term.
I use OnX to scout new places year round.
You'd be amazed how you can isolate roost locations just by staring at maps. Showing up to a place you've never hunted before in the preseason and hearing a gobble on a spot you stared at for months on a map is immensely rewarding.

I agree on the use of OnX and the like as great scouting tools.  Unfortunately, they are as much of a bane as a boon.  We complain about YouTube, FaceBook, and social media in general and how it has impacted hunting.  These mapping apps are just as guilty.  Anybody can run around the woods with a phone and easily identify access points and umpteen details about the area they are hunting without ever stepping foot in those areas.

Personally, I long for the days when folks had to use paper maps and topos to actually figure out how to access a place and then have to go do some on-the-ground research to sort it out.  Those days are long gone...and it ain't all for the good.  Then again, I am the first to admit that I use those apps extensively nowadays...

[Greg Massey]

"Scouting" can be a very wide encompassing term.
I use OnX to scout new places year round.
You'd be amazed how you can isolate roost locations just by staring at maps. Showing up to a place you've never hunted before in the preseason and hearing a gobble on a spot you stared at for months on a map is immensely rewarding.

I agree on the use of OnX and the like as great scouting tools.  Unfortunately, they are as much of a bane as a boon.  We complain about YouTube, FaceBook, and social media in general and how it has impacted hunting.  These mapping apps are just as guilty.  Anybody can run around the woods with a phone and easily identify access points and umpteen details about the area they are hunting without ever stepping foot in those areas.

Personally, I long for the days when folks had to use paper maps and topos to actually figure out how to access a place and then have to go do some on-the-ground research to sort it out.  Those days are long gone...and it ain't all for the good.  Then again, I am the first to admit that I use those apps extensively nowadays...

AMEN AMEN AMEN.. WELL SAID ...

[Greg Massey]

I will also add don't forget to talk with your rural mail carrier, this person can help you a lot in telling you were they have been seeing turkeys. These people are on the same county roads everyday except one.

My UPS guy lies to me all the time. "Nope, never saw a turkey anywhere in this part of the state" he says.

He shot 4 Tom's last year...lol

WELL at least it better than waiting on phone app to help you kill a turkey ... at least you got to talk with someone UPS OR USPS.. LOL...

[compton30]

"Scouting" can be a very wide encompassing term.
I use OnX to scout new places year round.
You'd be amazed how you can isolate roost locations just by staring at maps. Showing up to a place you've never hunted before in the preseason and hearing a gobble on a spot you stared at for months on a map is immensely rewarding.

I agree on the use of OnX and the like as great scouting tools.  Unfortunately, they are as much of a bane as a boon.  We complain about YouTube, FaceBook, and social media in general and how it has impacted hunting.  These mapping apps are just as guilty.  Anybody can run around the woods with a phone and easily identify access points and umpteen details about the area they are hunting without ever stepping foot in those areas.

Personally, I long for the days when folks had to use paper maps and topos to actually figure out how to access a place and then have to go do some on-the-ground research to sort it out.  Those days are long gone...and it ain't all for the good.  Then again, I am the first to admit that I use those apps extensively nowadays...

I wholeheartedly agree, Jim. Given the choice to have OnX exist or not, I'd probably choose not. But as someone who doesn't have the luxury of hunting private, I feel like it's a necessity if I'm gonna maximize my spring hunts.

[compton30]

I will also add don't forget to talk with your rural mail carrier, this person can help you a lot in telling you were they have been seeing turkeys. These people are on the same county roads everyday except one.

My UPS guy lies to me all the time. "Nope, never saw a turkey anywhere in this part of the state" he says.

He shot 4 Tom's last year...lol

WELL at least it better than waiting on phone app to help you kill a turkey ... at least you got to talk with someone UPS OR USPS.. LOL...

Imagine wanting to interact with other people 

[Greg Massey]

I will also add don't forget to talk with your rural mail carrier, this person can help you a lot in telling you were they have been seeing turkeys. These people are on the same county roads everyday except one.

My UPS guy lies to me all the time. "Nope, never saw a turkey anywhere in this part of the state" he says.

He shot 4 Tom's last year...lol

WELL at least it better than waiting on phone app to help you kill a turkey ... at least you got to talk with someone UPS OR USPS.. LOL...

Imagine wanting to interact with other people 

It's not a problem, just wear your mask...

[Kyle_Ott]

Going to try and do some pre-season scouting this year after coming up short last season. WV Spring Season starts April 18th. How soon should I start scouting? All my hunting is done on public land, if that matters.

Scouting for turkeys now is purely wasting time.

Start listening 2 weeks before the season to identify groups of birds and then familiarize yourself with those particular areas.

As the season draws closer, pay more attention to which direction the birds head after they fly down and any clues regarding their social dynamics such as vocal lead hens, dominant toms that shut all other toms in the area up, satellite groups on the perimeter of the flock, etc.

Best of luck this spring.

[WV Flopper]

 In my surrounding area, bottom land is river bottom, pasture and ag fields. Now and in the next few weeks they will be LOADED with turkeys. They will stay that way till about mid March, then dispersal will begin.

The public ground close to me GWNF is mostly behind locked gates. Alot of those turkeys have moved to the river bottoms, or are on East facing slops/ridges as all other areas are under 2" or heavily crusted snow currently. Turkeys are not able to feed well on heavily crusted snow.

Driving around will give you an inventory of turkeys in the area and I do agree that some of those turkeys will stick around in those bottoms and along the ridges above the river along it. Absolutely they will. In Hardy county that's all private property.

Mr. Hamilton, I believe you stated last spring you found some turkeys later in the season and just didn't quite know the lay of the ground enough to capitalize. Hopefully my memory isn't tricking me.

Turkeys use good habitat, generation after generation! If you can get to this area now and learn the land that is awesome, if you can map scout the land that is good, if you can scout it from a mapping app that's good as well. But, nothing beats boots on the ground and with the help of the mapping apps it is even better. You will not cover all of the NF land in Hardy County in a year walking it on weekends! Other counties in WV have huge tracts of land as well. You can not possibly cover it all on foot.

Do what you can to learn the area you were in last year, then go to another area, repeat. But, I will stick to what I said. I scout year around, the first two weeks of season in my home state of WV is about my 4 or 5th week of hunting. Those two weeks are all about killing turkeys. So the third week of WV season I am trying new places "Scouting". I watch for turkey ever time I am in a vehicle, it drives the lady crazy. She actually now reports sightings to me as does my son. But, they don't go anywhere, I know those turkeys are present.

So, as TRIVIAL as it may sound, if there are turkeys present from spring turkey season opener until mid June I am willing to bet "Without a mass habit change" there will be turkeys present in the same exact area next spring. As a matter of fact, the places I hunt the first two weeks of season (WV) I will not scout and haven't stepped foot on since last spring. I will ride by to see if the timber has been clear cut, but that's it. I know there will be turkeys there if there are trees still standing.

If you would like to discuss further PM me some time and I will try and help you if I can.

[Tom007]

I will also add don't forget to talk with your rural mail carrier, this person can help you a lot in telling you were they have been seeing turkeys. These people are on the same county roads everyday except one.

My UPS guy lies to me all the time. "Nope, never saw a turkey anywhere in this part of the state" he says.

He shot 4 Tom's last year...lol

WELL at least it better than waiting on phone app to help you kill a turkey ... at least you got to talk with someone UPS OR USPS.. LOL...

I will confess, my UPS guy gives me good info on deer sightings. I am hoping it's legitimate, so far it's been pretty accurate. My wife and I always leave him a Christmas gift, lord knows he earns it dropping off all her stuff. Lol