Help a newbie find turkey land

[fx]

I'm a tech person, so I have onx maps and good ol' google maps. So far I've put in some 40+ miles of hiking in three general areas, where I figured I'd have _some_ chance of spotting a turkey.

I've cheated a little and even used birding maps to see where people have spotted turkeys to narrow it down, but alas, zero turkey.

Now this is SoCal, so chances are pretty low in general, or so I've been told. I've seen a hen or two walk across the street while driving around Lake Henshaw, but they weren't even close to public land.

My general strategy, with the limited time I have (only weekends, Saturday afternoon, all-day Sunday) was to find areas on the maps that I thought could yield turkey, drive there, hike around looking for sign, hopefully stumble upon a bird. I'm terrible at calls, being a newbie, and I don't like sitting around -- especially when I haven't the slightest whether there's even a bird within a hundred miles, because I have no idea what I'm doing.

I _think_ I've seen sign. So I'm pretty sure I saw some scat, likely saw tracks, but these were either literally in the mountains (I gained 1100ft of elevation that day, even just walking the dirt roads, nevermind trying to cut into the woods somewhere.. too steep, too rough) or near private land (where I then tried my terrible calling for a while, but never heard anything back, or saw anything.)

So here I am, finally asking for help.

Without someone just telling me their spot or paying for a guide -- how do I identify a piece of land that has potential, so I can narrow down where I spend my time?

What I've done so far is:

1. Looking for acorns, oaks. Figured where there's no acorns, there's no turkey.
2. When I find oak trees, I try to see where the water is, and possibly pine trees.
3. Try to hike the area in between. Logic being that they get off their roost in the pines, going to the water or food.

This was mostly in 3500+ft elevation so far, because it seemed like I have more spots that look good there. Internet tells me Merriam's are in the south, and they like to stay up high, so I thought that's a good match.

What now? I feel discouraged to just keep driving out there and hiking around, because this season is going to be over soon. Thought about going north of Fresno instead, which seems to have MUCH more turkey, but that's a 6+ hour drive. If it's me, and I just suck at figuring out where the turkey lives, having slightly more turkey but much less time to find them isn't going to help.

(P.S.: this is my first hunt, of anything, ever.)

[Marc]

I know nothing about SoCal...  But I might give a call to the local Department of Fish & Wildlife and see if there is a biologist that can point you into some areas...

Go to local sporting goods shops and ask...  Some sporting goods shops post pictures, and on the back of the pictures people will write where they shot the birds (which really surprised me).

Even in the Central valley there is limited public land (although there is some around) that holds good populations of turkeys...  Nobody that turkey hunts will ever speak of such if they find good areas (as they are tough to find).

I look for areas of rolling oaks and digger pines...  Be out early to hear turkeys sound off in the morning (although I can tell you that the birds have really shut up in the past week or so in the central valley).

[Paulmyr]

Get to high place were you can hear a long way early in the mourning before it starts getting light out and listen as it starts to get light out. This will be your best time to hear turkeys gobble. They are on roost and are trying to call hens in to breed. They will start to fly down from roost when it gets light enough to see good. Generally as the sun starts to rise. Sometimes they hit the ground earlier and sometimes later but generally around sunrise. Eastern facing slopes where the sun shines 1st are a good place to start. They also like to roost at the ends of ridgelines and finger ridges that shoot off the main ridgelines. It easy for them to just glide off the hillside and land on a roost tree with little effort. Alot of the time they go quite after flying down from roost. But be patient you may hear a sporadic gobble or 2. As it start to reach mid to late mourning say 9-10am the hens will start to leave the Tom's after being bred and go to nests to lay eggs. You may start to hear gobble again. This is the second best time to listen. Sometimes turkeys will be around and you won't hear a sound. Keep your chin up and don't get discouraged.

[Paulmyr]

Hens like to roost in pines but I find most of my turkeys in deciduous trees. They like trees with horizontal branches with limbs a size they can dig third claws into. And maybe strut around a little. Don't go walking around trying to find good roost trees instead listen for roost areas early in the mourning.

[Paulmyr]

Also pay close attention when you hear an owl hoot or crows caw as this can cause a Tom to shock gobble. Any loud noise can pull a gobble from a Tom. Thunderstorms are good for hearing Tom's gobble. Now I'm not recommending you stand on a hillside during a thunderstorm but sitting in your truck with a window down and listening a thunderstorm approaches or leaves the area is a good way to find toms.

[fx]

Thanks for the replies!

I know nothing about SoCal...  But I might give a call to the local Department of Fish & Wildlife and see if there is a biologist that can point you into some areas...

I read this before, but for some reason I didn't feel like I'd get a response. Everytime I called ranger stations/forest service, they were super hostile as soon as I mentioned hunting and I figured even DFW wouldn't actually give me pointers for some reason. I'll give this a try today in the areas I already covered, see how far off they think I was.

Go to local sporting goods shops and ask...  Some sporting goods shops post pictures, and on the back of the pictures people will write where they shot the birds (which really surprised me).

I had this fantasy that there's a way to get the the probably single turkey flock living in the Lake Isabella bird preserves ..asked the barkeeper if they ever see turkey, almost got laughed at

In Julian, I even had one of the bed and breakfast people ask us what we're doing and got really hostile when we walked in in camo. So my experiences w/ trying to approach locals are ...not optimal.

Even in the Central valley there is limited public land (although there is some around) that holds good populations of turkeys...

So if I want to maximize my chances, I really have no choice and should be driving as far north as I can I suspect? Maybe I should think about flying to SF or Seattle?

Thanks for all the pointer Paul, I'll try to get out earlier and do more listening than walking next time, in a spot that resembles what you describe more. Still hard to identify from google maps, then walking in blind when it's dark. Wish there was good places down south so I could scout ahead, instead of walking in blind in the darkness. Maybe I should give the CNF another try.

[Paulmyr]

Are you hunting mountainous regions. When I was around the Stanislaus river area a couple years ago there were plenty of turkeys. Lots of national Forest land. I wasn't there turkey hunting but that's more central/no central CA. Oh and there's plenty of pioson oak there too. Actually seen a couple turkey hunters. They stopped and asked if we seen any birds.

[Paulmyr]

One thing I like to do when I drive along gravel roads is drive slow and look for tracks along the shoulder. It's usually softer there you may spot some tracks.