Preseason turkey scouting

killNgrill

Senior Member
What do yall think is the best sign you can find when preseason scouting for turkey? i.e. roosts or feeding areas. What will help you the most come opening day?
 

Jody Hawk

Senior Member
I look for scratchings, droppings and tracks in logging roads. Big gobbler tracks let me know he is close by.
 

Thunderbeard

Senior Member
Jody Hawk said:
I look for scratchings, droppings and tracks in logging roads. Big gobbler tracks let me know he is close by.
DITTO Same here
 

Randy

Senior Member
Hearing a gobbler. If I know the land has birds. I don't much waste my time until they start gobbling. I only scout early seaon, like now, to see if the place has birds and to learn the terrain if it is new propery. What helps most is knowing the terrain. Tracks, roosting areas, and other sign found today does not mean anything in a couple more months.
 

alex30808

Senior Member
I agree with Randy...I have birds on my place and because I know where they are...I know where they are going....I know this from terrain scouting...knowing the areas around my lands...fields, creeks, swamps, and such...I have feeders out from January to first of March....I do this to keep the birds from haveing to go very far for food sources....This also lets me get my game camera working overtime...Nuthin like opening a photo folder at Wally World and hootin' an' holleran' cause u gots a fat rat on film!!!!!
 

beginnersluck

Senior Member
Randy said:
Hearing a gobbler. If I know the land has birds. I don't much waste my time until they start gobbling. I only scout early seaon, like now, to see if the place has birds and to learn the terrain if it is new propery. What helps most is knowing the terrain. Tracks, roosting areas, and other sign found today does not mean anything in a couple more months.
Agreed. I don't "scout" until right before the season so I can see where they primarily stay. Granted they move from place to place, but the turkeys on my land roost in the same general area (which I say is because of the terrain).
 

Gadget

Senior Member
killNgrill said:
What do yall think is the best sign you can find when preseason scouting for turkey? i.e. roosts or feeding areas. What will help you the most come opening day?


The best for me is watching em all blowed up in the fields the day before season starts, I think that's a good sign!
 

Dudley Do-Wrong

Senior Member
I'll start 1 month before the season, go out early to see if I can hear them coming off the roost. There should be some gobbling by that time and that will give me a start. Later in the morning, I'll watch a few food plots from a distance. Hopefully, I can link the roosting birds and there feeding areas which will give me an idea for early morning setup. If I have identified the food plots and open areas they are hitting, I'll have some blinds set up before the season starts at those locations (for blind calling).
 
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