Scouting help - what to look for???

[ts_hunter]

This will be my 5th year turkey hunting, and I have yet to pull the trigger. I have approx 500 acres of farmland in SE MN to hunt and I want to/need to scout in March before the season. Obviously I am looking for turkeys and roosting areas, but if I don't see any turkeys in the field, it is kind of hard to find the roosting areas. What else should I be looking for in order to narrow in on the 'home areas'????

[Dave S]

If you have any number of oak trees or any other "nut bearing" trees on the property, that would be one place to check for sign. Also, this time of year, turkeys will be working the hill sides scratching for food in the wooded areas.

I saw a flock of birds a few miles outside of my area (442) that were in a field on the Northwest face of a hill scratching for corn. This was the shallowest snow depth and they were 1/2 mile from the nearest trees or road. Any area that is windswept with little snow is another place to key in on.

[leech~~]

This will be my 5th year turkey hunting, and I have yet to pull the trigger. I have approx 500 acres of farmland in SE MN to hunt and I want to/need to scout in March before the season. Obviously I am looking for turkeys and roosting areas, but if I don't see any turkeys in the field, it is kind of hard to find the roosting areas. What else should I be looking for in order to narrow in on the 'home areas'????

What area and season are you in? I'll come down and help you out on that nice 500A! I have been hunting in 349 A about 6-7 times now. I have only one time had one actually come gobbling into the calls. The ones I have gotten have all snuck in without making a sound! Some times I think guys are giving up a little to early on a spot if the birds don't come running in all puffed up like they do on the videos. We hunt mainly on the tops of the big hills and I look for short saddles where they will be coming up one hill and trying to sneak down to the other.

[DonBo]

Your best bet is to get out there as close to your time period as possible. Get out early morning and listen. Those toms will give away their location just about every morning that time of year. If you can see or hear where they fly down to, boy oh boy, then you're in the game!

[Musky Buck]

Don is spot on again. Do your scouting close to when you plan to go. Do both an early morning scout/listen and the same the last hour before sundown. Hope for a calmer day so you can really hear the gobbles especially on 500 acres. In my area I'm hoping the turkeys just wintered someplace else. I have 4 birds that I see almost daily, 2 winters ago there were about 80, last winter about 40. I did notice the hens last fall had very few chicks running with them compared to other years. This ice mess ? I'm hoping for the best !

[duckhuntr21]

I agree 100 % with the guys above on listening to them in the morning and putting them to bed at night. You can cover alot of ground in the early morning by hitting up a few different spots and letting out a few yelps with your call or just a gobble call to get them to gobble. After it is daylight for a while, you can go back to somewhat close to where you heard them and see where they came from or where they went. If your property is somewhat close to a road where you can see from your car , the turkeys already may have been scared out of sight by another vehichle watching them.