strut zones

[deersled]

What type of terrain features are you looking for when looking for strut zones? How do you recognize them in leaves? Obviously, drag marks and tracks are easily recognizable in sand or dirt, but what about the forest floor?

[Spring_Woods]

In hill country it can range to just about anywhere that is up high ridges to down low in creek beds. Generally speaking, the birds around here prefer open woods, low cut fields, cattle farms, and trees big enough to hold 18-29 pounds.

As far as the forest floor goes look for heavy scratching, or use MRI. (most recent information.) For example a guy I work with lives a mile from my farm and drives by there everyday and I check in with him every now and then on what is going on out there. It's nice because I live about 35 minutes from there and can't always find time to go see for myself.

[rotalley]

I would like to know the answer to this one myself.

[Garrett Trentham]

Some things to consider when looking for strut zones:

First off, what is a strut zone? Strut zones are the areas that gobblers like to strut with hens during the mid morning hours.

Strut zones are usually the first place a gobbler heads to after flydown in the morning. Because gobblers like to to see and be seen while strutting, strut zones are often open, flat areas. They also don't like to be bothered, so the more secluded / protected, the better. Being that turkeys love to eat, strut zones are also often oriented around a food source.

If you know where the turkeys like to roost, and have a good lay of the land, you can often locate likely strut zones by process of elimination.

Another great way to find strut zones is to listen for gobbles during the mid morning hours. Mark their location in your head and go back later to investigate and pinpoint exactly where the gobbler was.

Some common examples of strut zones are:
- small food plots
- ridge saddles and shelves
- open creek bottoms
- agricultural fields
- mowed power lines
- open pine stands
- logging roads
- old cemeteries

A particular gobbler may use a different strut zone on any given day, but really good strut zones will be used almost daily during the spring breeding season.

Now that you have located some strut zones on your property, how can you use them to your advantage?
When setting up on a gobbler before daylight, try to determine which strut zone he will likely want to use, this is often the closest strut zone. Try to get set up between that turkey and the strut zone to intercept him.
Strut zones are a great place to set up a blind and try to wait a turkey out. This is a deadly tactic when the birds aren't gobbling.
Be careful sneaking up on strut zones mid morning. Being that they are often open areas, either the gobbler or one of his hens are sure to spot you if you get too close. If you find a gobbler using a strut zone with hens, back off and wait for the hens to leave later in the morning. Calling in a lonely gobbler is much easier than calling one away from his hens.

[deersled]

great information, guys.

[tomstopper]

Where I hunt they are the logging roads and power lines. This is mostly due to the very thick woods that surround them.....

[870FaceLift]

Old logging roads and high, open areas where I mostly hunt.  We have two pastures on hilltops near a roosting area that birds love to strut in.  As mentioned in the post by Garrett, the toms are trying to attract attention, so they will purposely choose a spot where they'll be seen by other birds.  In other words, you shouldn't worry about thickets and dense spots in the woods.

[headbanger]

Don't pass up checking out loading docks at cut overs close to roost sites. Often draws em in like a magnet.

[gobblerguide]

In cattle pasture country out west,near  hay ring feeding spots where the ranchers feed cattle all winter.The birds will visit these piles of hay and cow poo sometimes multiple times a day to scratch and eat bugs,seeds and such.Shouldnt tell this awesome place to kill multiple birds ,day after day.Good hunting.

[Burney Mac]

Don't pass up checking out loading docks at cut overs close to roost sites. Often draws em in like a magnet.

^^^^This. A couple years ago I killed a bird right off the roost. I was at the farm messing around and my brother calls. He wanted me to come over to the property he was hunting and help him kill the bird he was after. He was hung up on the edge of a little block of timber next to some 8-10 year old pines. He would answer me but wouldn't budge. I knew what was going on and just let me go on about his business. After things calmed down I walked across to where I thought the bird was.I had never been on the propert before and found the old loggin deck. Looked down at the sandy ground and it looked like a milliion worms had been crawling around (wing marks). He took my advice and went back that afternoon and killed that bird in the loggin deck, strutting his rear end off. My brother couldn't understand why I was so excited to find the strut zone, but he figured it out.