How far will a turkey roam during the day?

[Brillo]

In cyber scouting for spots to focus my scouting/hunting efforts in a new area I am prioritizing water and food then open areas in close proximity.  How much of a radius around those three elements makes sense?  A mile?  Less? More?  I have about 400 square miles I can cover so I have no need to spend time where probabilities are low.  Another way to ask this is...how far from the roost will a turkey travel in a day?Thoughts?   

[Paulmyr]

To many variables to say for sure. Some will travel far, some not so much. Many things can effect the travel habits of turkeys. Time of year, hunting pressure, food sources, roost trees, the personality of the turkey, the list goes on.

[Brillo]

For sure there are variables but there must also be a norm.  I am trying to figure out how much and what kind of territory I should invest time into and what I can "usually" omit.

[aclawrence]

I think right off you should specify what species of turkey you're hunting. I've only hunted  Easterns but I hear Merriams cover tons of ground.  I don't have near as much experience as many guys here but where I'm at in the south the birds seem to hang around creek bottoms a lot. And they tend to hang around in what I would consider a fairly small area. It amazes me I can go to these places and there's that same old gobbler  gobbling away where he's been the whole season.


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[lacire]

I only know a tom without hens will travel a lot further than a tom with hens.

https://www.nwtf.org/hunt/wild-turkey-basics/behavior

[Yoder409]

So many variables to that equation.............  Sub-species, terrain, point in the breeding cycle, hen population........

My best guess for my Eastern "home birds" on the property I hunt is about a mile a day give or take.  I've seen Rios, Merriam's and Gould's do a mile in the first half hour after flydown.

[fmf]

Late in the season I've followed easterns for miles before pulling the trigger.  One time it was over 4 miles, I got on the birds at first light, and when they flew down they just gobbled at each other until they got together and took off.  I kept getting in front of them and just couldn't seal the deal, and finally connected on one mid afternoon and measuring from where  they were roosted to where I pulled the trigger was over 4 miles (straight line measurement).  There is zero chance those gobblers would have been anywhere close to the same area to roost that night.  I've had a few other times where I've followed them over 2 miles before pulling the trigger, and it was always late season.

[Brillo]

I am hunting Easterns and it sounds like I am going to try to penetrate as much ground as possible and not be eliminating non roosting zones.  Good to know.

[deadbuck]

I have seen Easterns that will fly down and not travel 300 yards in 4-5 hours before, but that is later in season when it gets hot and they are in shady woods

[Happy]

I think it depends on habitat more than anything. Turkey that don't have good habitat have to roam more to get what they need

[Marc]

The Rios I hunt probably travel about 0.5 to 1 mile daily.

Merriams will travel considerably further routinely.

Bachelor toms will put on some miles, and might change roosts by miles (especially if they locate a willing hen in a new area).

As happy points out, habitat can change the game as well...  If good roosts sources are not close to good food/water sources birds might travel further as well.

[Turkeybutt]

There are so many other variables that come into play that put turkeys on the move. You have to take into consideration habitat, predators, food and water source, other dominate birds, weather, etc, etc, etc.
There is no rhyme or reason to what a turkey does, they move on turkey time.  It is very different than Eastern Standard Time or turkey hunter time. We have watched them take 30 minutes to cover 40 yards slowing moving; watching, listening, each step calculated, and we have seen them cover 100 yards in no time at all.   
He has to be perfect every day, you only need to do everything right one day.  When you think you have a turkey, or turkeys in general, figured out - you are wrong.  They are random and wary with excellent hearing, excellent eyesight.  The chink in their armor is they really, really want/need to breed.  They are not intelligent, but they can and will learn.
Each hunt, each bird is different so ask yourself what you could have done differently and hopefully learn from it.