Quote from: lmbunch69 on February 29, 2020, 01:20:22 PM
I'm pretty new to the game and was wondering when I should start going and listening for birds in the morning. Im in southern Indiana
As others have stated, gobblers will gobble any time of year under the right conditions. What you really want to know is when they will reliably be gobbling on the roost (or thereabouts) due to the onset of breeding. Once they do that, you can be relatively certain that there are gobblers that have set up shop in an area by your early morning reconnaissance.
So, if you start going out and listening too early,...that is, before your gobblers have gotten into their routine such that they are doing some gobbling on most mornings,...you may miss locations where there are gobblers. Bottom line is you want to have a reasonable level of certainty that they have started gobbling well (good) when you start seriously looking for them prior to the spring season.
Most states set up their seasons a bit after breeding onset,...perhaps two or three weeks afterward. So, in answer to your question, hitting the woods to listen for gobbling a week or two in advance of your season starting date will generally assure you that your gobblers will be gobbling on the roost in the morning,...and probably a bit during the day, as well.
Again, if you start going out and listening too early, you are more likely to miss gobblers that will begin gobbling a bit closer to your season. You want to be as certain as possible that there are, or are not, gobblers in any particular area so focus on hitting the woods as close to the start of your season as possible. Locate gobblers a week or less away from your hunting season and they are probably going to be very close to that location when you start hunting.