tracks and scouting

[eckum54]

Here are a couple of pictures of some tracks I believe to be from a turkey...now that it is only a couple of weeks from the becoming of the season, how beneficial is it to scout with this snow on the ground?

[Shoot2Kill]

If they are there now, chances are some of them will be there when the season rolls around. If this snow EVER breaks and it starts getting warm the big flocks will break up and you'll start seeing turkeys in more areas.

Best scouting you can do IMO - about the 1st weekend in April I'd be out where you plan to hunt at daybreak and listen for those gobbles, they'll get fired up as soon as we get some warmer days and then it will be ON! Spend as many mornings on the edge of the timber or just on the road close to where you're going to hunt as possbile and nail down where you hear them on multiple occasions. Go back in at mid day and poke around and look for areas you could sneak into quietly on opening morning within a couple hundred yards of where you heard them and go back and smoke that jellyhead on opening morning!

[Code-Man]

I have my cameras out to scout but I also know when we have snow the turkeys will be on the neighbors side of the NO TRESPASSING Signs but once it melts I know they will be on our side of the NO TRESPASSING signs. For some reason the turkeys like their land during the winter ours during the spring through fall. But that is because the snow gets deep on our side and brown dirt on theirs. I put cameras out before the snow storm and we had 12-20" of snow still on the ground. SO I'm hoping by the time the snow melts they will be back on our side of the fence!

[Wanderer]

I like what shoot2kill says about scouting and being in your hunt area early to listen. A mock hunt the week before your season can tell you alot!

One thing to add though: Leave your turkey calls at home. Don't practice calling in your hunt area. You'll only educate your birds to your calling. Take a locator call if you like but don't talk turkey!

[bullzeyez61]

how much longer till they start gobbling on the roost?

[Shoot2Kill]

I like what shoot2kill says about scouting and being in your hunt area early to listen. A mock hunt the week before your season can tell you alot!

One thing to add though: Leave your turkey calls at home. Don't practice calling in your hunt area. You'll only educate your birds to your calling. Take a locator call if you like but don't talk turkey!

Yes, DO NOT do make a peep in there, not even the locator calls if it's before your season.

Start going out to listen as soon as you can, it’s fun to be out there a lot and be able to identify when new birds have moved into the area that weren’t gobbling the day or two prior. I’ve also heard them gobble like crazy for a solid week from one side of the timber and for one reason or another they move to the other side for a few mornings and then back again. Crazy birds. They’re just following the hens. Right before your season starts if you have some consistency in where you’re hearing them, you’re set. A lot of people talk about roosting birds the night before a hunt…that’s easier to do in some timbers than others I think. I’ve never had much luck trying to roost them in the timbers I hunt and have found my time spent in the morning scouting works very well.

This weekend if it warms up into the 50s like they say it might, those gobblers should start sounding off. You’d be surprised at how early they start gobbling…they know it’s about time to start tappin’ those hens. Last year right now I was already hearing them from my bedroom window but it was in the mid 50s and 60s at this time last year during the day, lows in the upper 30s and low 40s and not in the single digits!