Do you call while scouting?

[DBuck90]

Depends if it's before season heck no ain't getting myself a ticket it's illegal to call before season in my state now during season yes if it's been a tough morning with little gobbling and I know they have several hens then around 10-11.30 I will go on a troll I will soft yelp and cluck a few times every 50 yards killed many of birds that way and if I hadn't called wouldn't have known they was around I mean why not it's not like hens don't constantly talk

[GobbleNut]

during season yes if it's been a tough morning with little gobbling and I know they have several hens then around 10-11.30 I will go on a troll I will soft yelp and cluck a few times every 50 yards killed many of birds that way and if I hadn't called wouldn't have known they was around I mean why not it's not like hens don't constantly talk

Good strategy when hunting,...but I think the intent of the original question was about scouting prior to the hunting season. ...just clarifying....

[WildTigerTrout]

I never use any kind of turkey call when scouting even in areas that I have not hunted before.  I will sometimes use a locator call(hawk, owl or crow).  I rely on woodsmanship more than anything else. Look for tracks, feathers , scratchings, roost trees , scat etc.  If there are turkeys in the area you will find some sign of them.  You don't need to call!  They are hard enough to hunt without giving them an education.

[Greg Massey]

Again , no calling while scouting before season.. NO NO NO...

[dzsmith]

absolutely not!

[High plains drifter]

Yes, Yes, Yes.  I already know where the birds are, I want to SEE what they are.  If he/they aren't what I'm after, I'll go elsewhere.  I hunt particular birds.

I agree,  I hunted this 30 pound bird for 2 years. I never did get him.I think  a coyote,  or a wolf got him.

[bbcoach]

NO! NO! and NO!  BINOS PERIOD!  Don't let them know you are there until they are staring down the barrel of your gun!

[Sir-diealot]

I have been trying to get some pictures of some turkey, want to get some quite badly and have even brought some calls with me to try to bring them closer but I have always been told to NEVER call before the season starts or you will educate the turkey so I have not been able to bring myself to do it.

[eggshell]

Many years ago I would argue that it did not hurt your hunting or educate the birds. Every year I would call in birds and see where the "big ones" were, or just for the fun of it. Many years I would struggle with hung up birds or birds that would go silent. Then I decided to  not do any preseason calling and minimum scouting one year. Holy cow I killed my two birds in 3 hrs of hunting the first two days. The next year repeated that success and I was sold. Pressure changes birds behavior. It's not only the calling it's the moving around in the woods and human presence. You spook way more birds than you ever realize. Now I walk one high ridge road along the family farm once about two weeks before season and the once 2-3 days before season and don't ever take a call. So my answer is NO.

The only exception is if I am in a completely new area for a short hunt of 2-3 days I will call from listening points to scout, because my time is so limited that I need to know about as many birds as possible.

[GobbleNut]

Many years ago I would argue that it did not hurt your hunting or educate the birds. Every year I would call in birds and see where the "big ones" were, or just for the fun of it. Many years I would struggle with hung up birds or birds that would go silent.

Pretty much my experience in the early years, as well.  It was fun calling gobblers in prior to the season,...and it was pretty easy.  After a few years of doing this, I began to see a pattern developing.  Gobblers that would come marching in to my calling one week would almost invariably hang up well beyond shooting range the next. 

By the same token, gobblers I hadn't messed with before the season were much more likely to willingly approach my calling.  It took a few years, but my feeble brain finally put two and two together and figured out that calling birds in before the season was, without question, resulting in them being more difficult to call-in close enough to shoot them later.  (I must pause here and qualify this by stating that I do not use decoys.  Using them would likely change the results witnessed above)

Now, I am not certain how much calling it takes or how close a gobbler has to come before that little Einstein brain of his clicks in, but there is no doubt in my mind that some sort of learning process occurs.

I will also readily admit that I am contradicting myself here a bit when I also state that there are times and circumstances where I will use a turkey call for long-distance locating prior to the season.  That is a very effective locating tactic for finding gobblers to hunt where it is applicable,...but there is a very big difference between doing that and actually calling those gobblers in like you would when hunting them.

[bbcoach]

Many years ago I would argue that it did not hurt your hunting or educate the birds. Every year I would call in birds and see where the "big ones" were, or just for the fun of it. Many years I would struggle with hung up birds or birds that would go silent.

Pretty much my experience in the early years, as well.  It was fun calling gobblers in prior to the season,...and it was pretty easy.  After a few years of doing this, I began to see a pattern developing.  Gobblers that would come marching in to my calling one week would almost invariably hang up well beyond shooting range the next. 

By the same token, gobblers I hadn't messed with before the season were much more likely to willingly approach my calling.  It took a few years, but my feeble brain finally put two and two together and figured out that calling birds in before the season was, without question, resulting in them being more difficult to call-in close enough to shoot them later.  (I must pause here and qualify this by stating that I do not use decoys.  Using them would likely change the results witnessed above)

Now, I am not certain how much calling it takes or how close a gobbler has to come before that little Einstein brain of his clicks in, but there is no doubt in my mind that some sort of learning process occurs.

I will also readily admit that I am contradicting myself here a bit when I also state that there are times and circumstances where I will use a turkey call for long-distance locating prior to the season.  That is a very effective locating tactic for finding gobblers to hunt where it is applicable,...but there is a very big difference between doing that and actually calling those gobblers in like you would when hunting them.

Let's keep this going!  Here's my 2 cents and thought process.  If we ALL called before the season starts, most of us utilize the same calls, tempo and cadence that we do during the season.  If you get a gobbler to gobble and comes to investigate that call and doesn't find that hen or you spook him, you just educated that bird to your call or calls.  What happens when the season starts?  Most of you that use your calls are saying I want to see him, well use locator calls, woodsmanship and binos, to put eyes on from a distance.  During the season, I hear this argument, "The gobblers have Lock jaw!" or "Their henned up!"  Did you every think it could have been you that educated them before the season actually started?  You are using the same call during scouting trips and during the season.  Personally I have 4 pots, a dozen strikers, several mouth calls and 1 box with me all the time during the season and I won't hesitate to use them all sounding like different hens.  I also switch them out during the season to give me different sounding hens.  I personally don't want to educate birds until they are 25-30 yards away with a load of Hevi 13 7's in their head and neck.  Just Something to ponder!         

[howl]

No, nor do I scout. I don't even get up early enough to get under the roost in the dark. What? Do you wanna tag out the first day?

[Paulmyr]

No, nor do I scout. I don't even get up early enough to get under the roost in the dark. What? Do you wanna tag out the first day?

I've been dragging my feet down here Ga not hunting as hard as I normally would because after the last isTag is filled I have no more excuses to stay.
Guess I'll be heading home tomorrow.

[paboxcall]

Let's keep this going!  Here's my 2 cents and thought process.  If we ALL called before the season starts, most of us utilize the same calls, tempo and cadence that we do during the season.  If you get a gobbler to gobble and comes to investigate that call and doesn't find that hen or you spook him, you just educated that bird to your call or calls.  What happens when the season starts? Most of you that use your calls are saying I want to see him, well use locator calls, woodsmanship and binos, to put eyes on from a distance.  During the season, I hear this argument, "The gobblers have Lock jaw!" or "Their henned up!"  Did you every think it could have been you that educated them before the season actually started?  You are using the same call during scouting trips and during the season.  Personally I have 4 pots, a dozen strikers, several mouth calls and 1 box with me all the time during the season and I won't hesitate to use them all sounding like different hens.  I also switch them out during the season to give me different sounding hens.  I personally don't want to educate birds until they are 25-30 yards away with a load of Hevi 13 7's in their head and neck.  Just Something to ponder!         

I'll ponder it. I'm in no way advocating disturbing birds anymore than necessary in or out of season, but I don't follow the logic above.

For example, following that logic one couldn't possibly kill a bird after opening morning when we "all" go out and call to the birds with guns in hand, spooking, shooting, killing (or at least deafening them) sunrise to quitting time. Again, following that logic, hunting the second day of any season should be useless; we should just quit, put up our calls and camo and guns because the day before, opening day, the birds all got "educated."

By definition, isn't calling on opening day just more "pre-season" calling if hunting the second day? Why bother hunting day two?

Yet, many will argue late season is better than early, despite "ALL" having called to the birds with the same calls and tempo and cadence day after day after day. I don't run around the woods calling before the season, and I don't advocate it. But I do think its become an easy excuse to explain away quiet mornings and birds that hang up without looking at ourselves or the way we hunt first.

Just another point to ponder.

I however do agree 100% - stay distant, use the binos, tread purposefully, and switch up the calling in season. All good stuff.

[eggshell]

I don't think they become unkillable, but they become more challenging. Every gobbler has the day his horny brain over rides his survival instinct and what intelligence a gobbler has. Kind of like a teenage boy. I have seen birds get more active later in season when hens leave them. Hunters have also left them alone more. My experience has been the first three days are the gravy after that the dumb birds are dead and the rest have wised up and it becomes markedly more difficult to call birds in. This is when the quality of calling skills and woodsmanship start to shine. Find the guy that consistently kills late season birds and I'll show you a guy who can run a call like a turkey and be part of the woods and one of the flock. I'll also bet you he makes very few calls. He can figure out were that old gobbler wants to be and will use just a slight bit of coarsening to get him there. I know I drop the tone of my calling by several decibels as season progresses. I also use way less yelps.