Pre turkey season scouting

[trad bow]

What's your preferred method of pre season scouting?  I ride the back roads a lot because that's where I live. I also walk thru the woods looking for sign and marking area I find sign on my gps. I don't make any calls while out scouting or take any with me.  I hunt public land.
I see and here all amounts of calling from roads before season and have even came across people set up in the woods calling and trying to make gobbler sound off and actually come in and strut.  Weekends have a lot of road scouting going on past my house so how much is too much when you combine everyone who scouts by calling looking for birds or like me just slipping thru the woods?

[Tom007]

Great post. Like you, I do not call in any woods before the season. I walk logging roads/paths looking for tracks,  j-shaped you know what, and I listen. Early before light, I will get to high vantage points in my area and listen for gobbling. Basically, observe, listen, and walk getting in shape for days of Runin-gunnin. Be well, good luck.

[fallhnt]

I've one spot that I shed hunt and listen for gobbling on public,maybe two times before season.  Birds don't roost on another spot,no trees, so why bother. The last public spot I hunt is out of state, so I don't waist time or fuel.

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[StruttinGobbler3]

I hunt mostly private farm land, and I'm blessed in that regard, in that I don't have to deal with the many Elmer Fudds that inhabit public land. That's a blessing I certainly don't take for granted. I like to do what I call "low impact" scouting, or non invasive scouting to put it another way. Basically I scout from the outer fringes. I will go to a place at daylight that I would ordinarily never set up and call from when hunting, a good long distance from roost areas. Here's where I will shock many of you. I will make use of a turkey call if they're not talking or a hooter won't make one sound off. Usually a fast series of cutts will tell me what I need to know. Then I get out quickly and quietly and totally leave the area. I make a mental note of where each bird gobbled, and drop pins on my ONX map. If I hit a stretch just right I can hit two or three separate farms in a morning and cover a few hundred acres. Understand I do this sparingly; I don't get out there every morning. Usually I try to hit each farm about three different mornings each before the opener. That intel gives me a good idea of where individual birds are roosting in a general location, as well as how many birds. Aside from that, I'll prowl the edges of fields in mid to late morning in my truck. If the birds are there I just ease on by. They're used to farm equipment and trucks and it doesn't give them much cause for alarm. I may slip around in a couple bottoms looking for scratchings or tracks, but I do little of that. I don't want these birds to know they're being hunted until I have the gun in my hand, so I try to keep unusual sounds and disturbances at an absolute minimum. Unlike some, I do not consider hitting a call a couple times to be unusual. They're just turkey sounds; the same sounds those gobblers hear every morning. Where people screw up is by hammering the call until the bird actually starts coming to them, or doing it every single morning. One to two gobbles is all I need, then I beat feet out of there. Been working for me a long time.


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[Tom007]

Great post, good strategy

[GobbleNut]

"What's your preferred method of pre season scouting?"
This is another one of those "it all depends" situations....

It all depends on where you hunt:  Are you hunting a small tract of private land or a huge tract of public land?  ....Makes a BIG difference.

It all depends on the turkey population and its density:  Is the gobbler density high enough that you can reasonably expect to find birds by scouting a small area,....or are you talking about highly scattered flocks of birds over a large area?  ....Makes a BIG difference. 

It all depends on hunter numbers:  Are you competing against a small number of other hunters on a private parcel,...or are you competing against a large number of hunters on a public parcel?  ...Makes a BIG difference.

It all depends on how much scouting you can do:  Are you hunting five minutes from your house,...or are you hunting several hours from your house?   .....makes a BIG difference.

...There are other factors that come into play, as well.

Bottom line there are efficient scouting methods,...and there are inefficient scouting methods.  There are scouting methods that will benefit you once the season starts,...and there are methods that will make it harder for you when it starts.  Both of them depend on the conditions under which you YOURSELF hunts. 

Preseason scouting,...and how you go about it,...can make or break your turkey hunt.  Proper and efficient scouting based on your own circumstances can make all the difference in the world.

[hotspur]

These days I'm pretty much going back to spots I know well,,I really don't want to walk around in the woods in hunting before season. But my main way of scouting is riding the road looking for tracks. Once I find tracks I park sit on the tail gait and listen.

[ddturkeyhunter]

No pre season scouting for me, the private land I hunt is only 86 acres so any movement scouting I feel is pressure. Thats where I plan to hunt to that where I will be in the early morning. As long as I am sitting somewhere in the woods watching the birds all wake up in the morning I am happy.

[Greg Massey]

"What's your preferred method of pre season scouting?"
This is another one of those "it all depends" situations....

It all depends on where you hunt:  Are you hunting a small tract of private land or a huge tract of public land?  ....Makes a BIG difference.

It all depends on the turkey population and its density:  Is the gobbler density high enough that you can reasonably expect to find birds by scouting a small area,....or are you talking about highly scattered flocks of birds over a large area?  ....Makes a BIG difference. 

It all depends on hunter numbers:  Are you competing against a small number of other hunters on a private parcel,...or are you competing against a large number of hunters on a public parcel?  ...Makes a BIG difference.

It all depends on how much scouting you can do:  Are you hunting five minutes from your house,...or are you hunting several hours from your house?   .....makes a BIG difference.

...There are other factors that come into play, as well.

Bottom line there are efficient scouting methods,...and there are inefficient scouting methods.  There are scouting methods that will benefit you once the season starts,...and there are methods that will make it harder for you when it starts.  Both of them depend on the conditions under which you YOURSELF hunts. 

Preseason scouting,...and how you go about it,...can make or break your turkey hunt.  Proper and efficient scouting based on your own circumstances can make all the difference in the world.

Amen, preach it brother .. great post..

[LaLongbeard]

They call them Gobblers for a reason. If there's Gobblers in the area you'll hear them no need to stomp around the area or call from the roads. I scout new areas in the Winter to get an idea of the terrain etc. I go back when the season is close and listen...silently. If I'm hunting an out of state area I'm there during the season so I'm hunting not scouting.
     What I don't understand but have seen quite often is someone repeatedly crow calling or hen yelping  at a Gobbler that is Gobbling on his own? He is located nothing good is going to come from repeated calling to the Gobbler.
    In Louisiana for some reason 99.99999% of the population believes you can use a box call to call a Gobbler up to your running truck while you stand at the door with the radio on before or during the season?  They also believe a turkey cannot see or hear a vehicle. I have a theory it is inbreeding that has caused this phenomenon.
    Sounds like you are doing it the right way and not aggravating the turkeys before you can hunt them. Some states and public areas don't allow calling before the season... they have the right idea.

[mhamby]

I'll locate with owl hoots, crow calls, etc, but I do not throw any hen talk into the mix. I try to find a few general areas with lots of fresh sign and then come back just prior to the season to listen for where the gobblers sound off from their roost tree. Most of my spots tend to have birds in them from year to year, so it doesn't take much to narrow it down to where I'll be at come daybreak opening day.

[MK M GOBL]

I'll just go with my home state as when I travel it's a bit different strategy.

I do a lot of visual scouting (Truck and Binos), I'll run the gravels looking for birds as they start winter breakup. I don't use "Turkey" Calls for scouting/locating before season. I'll use my locator calls and if I get a hit, mental note. I'll be able to scout a farm or two on my way to work in the AM & PM.  I'm looking for them birds as they move to/from roost, by seasons start I'll look to have 20-25 gobblers located. Now I have been hunting these farms for years and mostly those "Spots" hold from year to year, but can depend on crop rotation, what's been planted and in case the dairy/beef farms where cattle are/have been.

I scout from about 2 weeks out of seasons start right to seasons end, knowing where we have taken birds, age class (dominance) and how many birds. I'll also be looking for doubles/triples and note what I am seeing for jakes for next years hunts. Yup year round


MK M GOBL

[catman529]

Try to be as non intrusive as possible, check field edges and hardwoods for sign, try not to bump birds all over the place. Just need to know they're there at this point. I'll sit and watch em come off roost some mornings just to hear the turkey talk and watch em do their thing. As long as I can slip out without spooking the flock I'm good.


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