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Scouting a new hunting area

Started by paturkeyhntr, February 27, 2012, 11:39:30 AM

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paturkeyhntr

I am trying to find some new turkey hunting areas and don't really know how to go about scouting an area for signs of turkeys. Is it just a matter of walking and walking and walking smile.gif and looking for scratching, droppings, etc. Or, are there some things to look for that will help narrow down a turkey's area?

TauntoHawk

Are you talking about big woods public, farm country, or just locating properties that will hold birds to go ask permission on?

I start before I ever get to the property with aerial photos and look for several things in close proximity to each other. Naturally like deer and most game animals Food, water, shelter are the 3 things their lives revolve around.

I start by looking for all open ground on the property, fields, pasture, clearings, and low cut power lines, the more secluded the better. Then look if any of those open areas are near water, creeks, streams, ponds. If I get both of those I look for the nearest open hardwoods ridge and that's where I'm going to start my search for roosting sites. (droppings under large trees and lots of nearby scratchings).

I also look on the property for stands of Pines especially in places protected from the wind. The shield the birds during the winter and heavy snow as well as shade in the summer and offer easy scratching in dead pine needles.

Large stands of Oaks are just as important to turkeys as deer as they offer food, great roost trees, and generally the woods are more open because of the lack of light reaching the forest floor.

Nothing beats early mornings and hearing gobblers sound off, or glassing the actual birds but knowing the terrain is just as important as know the birds are there when it comes time to chasing them on their turf. If I know roost sites, food sources, where water is, and areas that offer protection from the wind and elements as well as the open places to strut then it becomes a lot easier to pin down where that bird you heard in preseason is going to be spend a lot of his time. I try and use maps and glassing to minimize the amount of time on foot I need to spend scouting but I still try and get a solid day of hiking the property and becoming familiar with things. Ditches, stone walls, fences, steep bluffs, thickets can be tough to see on a photo map but will affect how the birds move on a property.
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TennLongspur

I agree 100 percent with what TauntaHawk said and only add this: Once you determine and area of the property that has all those things, then but boots on the ground. I like to walk an old dirt or sandy road looking for tracks and travel areas they frequent. if the property has several fields, spend some time looking for droppings that will indicate if there are some fields they prefer over the others. It has been my experience that there will be some they use alot and for whatever reason, others they won't use as often. Other than that, TauntaHawk explained it pretty good. Look for turkeys and what they are doing at certain times of the day. A trail cam can help with that too. Good luck.
"The wild turkey possesses the remarkable ability to turn arrogance into hopelessness." - Tom Kelly

Ebby

You can always put out some corn and a trail cam and look for pics/tracks.

paturkeyhntr

Quote from: TauntoHawk on February 27, 2012, 03:30:46 PM
Are you talking about big woods public, farm country, or just locating properties that will hold birds to go ask permission on?

Sorry, I should have given that info...Public land, all woods,...mostly medium to large hardwoods, no fields.  Some scrub oak brush patches. 

Thanks for the great info TauntoHawk.  It gives some some good starting points.  I have been on the property several times and found a small pond in the middle of the woods.  I guess a mile or so from any other water source (other than mud puddles).  I found old scratching in the area and some hard used trails into the pond...probably every animal in the woods coming in to drink.  This track of ground  contains several thousand acres of public land as sell as some private land that boarders it.  There are old sandy logging roads all over the property.  I tried to find tracks, but couldn't make out any turkey tracks...just some deer tracks.  The game commission mowed off 30 - 40 acres of scrub oak brush last fall.  Probably a good place to start watching with a game camera.  Very few pines on the ground.
Thanks again for the info guys.....