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Scouting

I have been watching some wintering flocks daily but I wont go out to listen for roosted birds till mid to late march. Then I rock and roll!
 
Usually a waste of time until the week before the season starts. Then things change rapidly as green up begins. Where birds are right now, they may not be when the season opens, and where they are 2 weeks into march may not be where they are when the season opens.

Also, messing with them on the roost is a sure fire way to spook them permanently off a place if not done correctly. Early as all will know there are no leaves, and they can see for an extremely long distance.
 
i just have a general idea of where they are and will park in a high spot on top of the mountain a few days before season opens and see what i hear. i try to leave them alone as much as possible
 
Shed season.... I mean a week or two before turkey season, I will find some birds. I only scouted once last year and I found some birds right at dawn and hunted those birds for the rest of the season. But this year I want more options since it is public land and my goal is a longbeard not just a jake. I hope to find at least a couple good roosts and learn as much about the birds as I can every day that I scout and then get up at 3am on opening morning and try to beat everyone to my spot. :grin:
 
Setterman said:
Usually a waste of time until the week before the season starts.
Click to expand...

i agree with the rest but not the above. I typically start to keep an eye on them from a distance about 3 weeks before season and for where i hunt it will lead to some good data of where they head after fly down or a general area of where the hens are. Again this is just the places i hunt though, these spots generally have a very close winter to spring range shift so that helps. I just never feel a day in the woods learning something is a waste of time is all im getting at. You can always learn something.

I never bother with getting close to birds prior to season though, i just listen from a distance or glass from a long way off.

I do agree that things change rapidly the first few weeks of season though. I had a spot last year that for 3 weeks I had 75 birds (more then 25 toms) flying down into one spot. first week of season less then 10 would fly down to that same spot each day, they broke up that fast from the big groups.


IMO the purpose of my scouting is not really finding where they roost as it is finding where they go after they fly down, that is where you will kill them. The main thing to remember when scouting is you need to go into with the purpose of learning every square inch of the area you are hunting...fences, downed trees, creeks, ditches, thick cover, open woods, fields, areas you can use to sneak around fields, dips, knolls, old logging roads ect....the more you know about the area the more successful you will be in the long run.
 
I am useally so busy I dont get out but a day or two before season starts. Some years I dont even get a chance to get out before opening morning so I just wing it. I go to areas I have killed or hunted turkeys in the past and have gotten on to birds fairly quick. But I still would rather scout than go in blind. I found a flock of turkeys this fall and If I dont get out till hunting season I will start my hunt in that area early that morning and listen for birds. But nothing beats knowing were a couple are gobblers are roosted and which way they flydown and the direction they like to go.
 

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