Scouting For Turkey's Old Way / New Way

[austinc]

I spend most of the year map scouting and marking spots of interest, but I try to scout them out sometime in February or march and then I can eliminate spots that doesn't have birds.

[bbcoach]

I'm Old School.  Starting in March for our April opener, it's boots on the ground, listening early most mornings and using binos from afar.  By our opener, I have multiple areas that hold birds and I know their travel patterns.

[Yoder409]

If I've never been there before and I intend to hunt the first morning I'm there........ Google Earth or Google Maps satellite view.  Did this on a couple places that were 1000+ miles from home.  Beyond that, the first day or two of hunting are my "boots on the ground" days learning the place.

The only "hunting app" that I have are the state-specific micro SD cards from OnX that go into my Garmin 65.  They just show property lines and owners' names.  Never relished the thought of a ride in the sheriff's car 1000+ miles from home.

[Crghss]

Both, was working in area new to me. Saw turkeys every morning on way to job site.

Pulled out phone to look for public hunting opportunities. Went back and scouted. Now have new hunting location.

Pulled out my paper state map and recorded the information. Have notes in Onx too. But love my paper maps. Alotta notes on that map.

[dzsmith]

Maps and mapping tools help me pick a spot , only to then put boots on the ground and use my ears . Mostly ears as I try not to disturb anywhere i potentially will hunt unless necessary.

[The Lung]

I spend aa good deal of time scouting public land on my phone, but nothing beats putting boots on the ground.
I honestly think getting out in the woods and fields to look at places I've never been is a big part of the enjoyment of hunting. I've explored old town sites at WMAs, found old gravesites, items long lost by other hunters and much more.
These are some of the countless things that keep me doing this thing we love so much.

[g8rvet]

Potentially picked up a new spot today.  First thing I did was look at overhead.  Will go tomorrow and poke around a little (have to wait to walk around until deer season is over).  Will likely take great nephew for youth weekend to add to the knowledge base. 

[Cut N Run]

I prefer to see what I'm dealing with before I hunt there.  I like to go listen and scout with binoculars or a spotting scope where possible.  I use maps to identify property lines and high spots.  I park my truck where it can't be seen by other hunters and deep mudholes don't show up on maps.  Boots on the ground helps locate downed trees, rocks, or other natural terrain changes I can use as cover to my advantage when it counts. 

Knowing ahead of time where turkeys like to go has helped me notch lots of tags or to call birds for friends to take.  Knowledge is a key to hunting success.

A lot of things have changed with time, but not all for the better.

Jim

[WV Flopper]

 Different process for different folks!

My local turkeys are 200 yards from the house all winter, you can see them from the highway daily.

The turkeys I enjoy hunting are there. In VA they are there, for now. Solar coming soon. In WV timber gets cut hard and fast on my hunting club. This club is 60,000+ acres, when they cut they clear 200 acres a week! Amazing!

In VA I do 0 scouting, will be there before daylight first day and trudge through the darkness to my listening spot. I usually don't move from this spot.

In WV I do try and drive the areas I plan to hunt a day or two prior just to see if trees are still standing. This area is 60 miles from my house.

Out of state I OnX the heck out of it. Have been looking at N.D., S.D., and WY for a full year now. Planning on going this spring. I like and enjoy the OnX maps scouting.

Not all situations fit every single person.

[Dougas]

Boots on the ground and Google Earth arial view to get a sense of land marks and what is around that my boots could not reveal.

[Upfold99]

Both.  Boots on ground checking areas I've hunted in the past.  I do look at maps daily while hunting one, if he doesn't come to me straight off the roost.

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[Old Swamper]

No amount of technology will out hunt "trial and error", boots on the ground, experience.

[quavers59]

   I was out Scouting around in New York for nearly 3 hours today. Definitely  the old way for me. I am not into Trail Cameras or any of the new App Technology.
   So,I am out on Public adding to my Woodsmanship Skills by Boots on the Ground and keeping my Legs and Lungs in Shape checking out the Land at this point.

[Lone Star Eastern]

We don't have enough turkeys where I'm at to not be scouting the old fashioned way year round.


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[GobbleNut]

We don't have enough turkeys where I'm at to not be scouting the old fashioned way year round.

Excellent point.  If you hunt somewhere that turkeys are sparse, you can use all the mapping systems you want to try to identify areas where there might be birds only to end up going there and finding out there aren't any...or are very few.  As one who hunts new places I can't physically scout just about every year, I use mapping systems religiously to try to "speculate" as to where I am going to find birds beforehand. 

There are lots of benefits to "map scouting" an area, but actually identifying places where you think you will find birds by looking at a map (in any of its various forms) is a crapshoot.  I have gone on numerous hunts where I used maps to identify places I thought I would find birds only to get there and find out there were not any there.  Conversely, sometimes my "guesses" have turned out to be accurate, as well.  Regardless, it is always fun to look at maps prior to hunting a new area and "speculating", and then going to that place and seeing if you guessed correctly.