scouting

[daniel ripley]

what is your advice for a newbie in terms of scouting strategies? thanks, Daniel

[Gobblerman]

Hi Daniel. Welcome to the site. Effective scouting is often a function of where you are hunting. You should tell us a bit about yourself and where you are from and will be hunting. It will make it easier to give you good advice that is applicable to your situation.

You will get lots of good advice here from a variety of knowledgeable turkey hunters.

[daniel ripley]

ok, i'm 13 from central new york i've been hunting for 2 years now and have yet to kill my first turkey. Daniel

[daniel ripley]

also i will be hunting on privite land that we own. that has more than 1,000 acres to hunt on, Daniel

[retranger]

Daniel when I first got into chasing birds I bought a book "Turkey Digest" by Jim Spencer. It was the only book I bought on turkey hunting. (not to say others aren't good) Has all the info you need to get started. In the field look for turkey tracks in sandy areas and turkey droppings and feathers. Check along the edge of fields and wood roads. If you have power line right a ways can be a great spot. Don't know where in central NY you are but you should be in some good country. I am from up in Northern NY (Lake Placid)

[dewey]

Sounds like you have lots of land and scouting can certainly increase your chances of harvesting a gobbler. I would recommend using Google Earth, not Google Maps, to look for open areas that gobblers can strut in and be seen. Then feet on the ground work depends on Tue type of land you are hunting. If it is a mix of woods, swamps and agricultural fields I would look for turkeys on the edges of the fields noting where they are, what time they are there and if you have time not in which direction they are heading. If you can figure out where they are going you might he able to figure out where they roost at. A roosting site will have lots of feathers and crap on the ground. If you have a copy of the April 2013 turkey and turkey hunting magazine there is an article on how to determine the sex of the turkey by looking at feathers, tracks, poop and some other signs.

Good luck this spring and feel free to ask as many questions as you have as we all started as a beginner.

Dewey

[daniel ripley]

hi, i am located in the cortland-homer area (don't know if you know were that is) on a farm with a mix of feilds, woods, creeks, and mabye some swamps to, Daniel

[daniel ripley]

also what do you do when scouting? i have decided that i want to start scouting if i am going to get a bird this spring. and would like to know everything there is to scouting. also tips on roosting and locating gobblers. and i have ordered 3 books on turkey hunting (2 of them are pretty new but 1 is kind of old but ray eye wrote it so...) from the library. thanks, Daniel

[dewey]

also what do you do when scouting? i have decided that i want to start scouting if i am going to get a bird this spring. and would like to know everything there is to scouting. also tips on roosting and locating gobblers. and i have ordered 3 books on turkey hunting (2 of them are pretty new but 1 is kind of old but ray eye wrote it so...) from the library. thanks, Daniel

I made a post under your thread for roosting. I created links to about 5-7 links on roosting turkeys and I searched through the entire 'Strategies' folder for anything relating to roosting turkeys. I was a great refreshed for me so I am pretty sure it will help you.

Dewey

[dewey]

Here is a thread about scouting that may help you.

viewtopic.php?f=5&t=7661&p=66551&hilit=scouting#p66551

Dewey