Scouting Difficulties

[nhand87]

First season is about a month away here in southern illinois so I started doing some scouting. I picked a particular area to hunt based on a friends previous experience there. I have gone out 3 times in the general area and so far have only found possibly two scratches, maybe one piece of scat and one track...... no feathers. I am new to this but that does not seem terribly promising. It has been pretty wet and even a little swampy in some of this particular area and I have noticed small holes in the mud along field edges, I'm not sure if this is turkeys feeding or not. Next time I go out I'll try to get pictures of it. Should I continue to persue this area or move on to another area? This is probably an area of at least 50 acres. Sorry for the big pictures

[nhand87]

i've been mainly attempting to find where they are roosting, but with no apparent success

[charlie elk]

Even if you found turkeys in the area now they may not be there come hunting season.
During my early scouting I look for-
Good nesting areas; that is where the hens will be and by default the gobblers.
Areas that will have new plant shoots-flowers, clover and grasses, place that will hold insects; number one spring time food source for laying hens.
Roost trees that will service the above.
Turkeys are wide ranging I would recommend trying to find additional areas to hunt because 50 acres is rather small. Since buddies report good hunting in the past I would not give up on the current area just add more to provide additional options during your season.

[turkey junky]

yes try to locate about 2-3 other areas near by if possible as you dont want to putt all your eggs in 1 basket come hunting season... like charlie says the birds just mite not be there come season even if they are using the land now... id focus on roost sites food for the hens & nesting habitat close to the roosts & food sources... you should be able to get out & see turkeys feeding in open crop fields if they are in ur general area... also get put early in the A.M. & listen for gobbles or turkey talk in the mornings to get a idea of the turkey activity in your area...

stop & ask a few local farmers/landowners if they are at least seeing birds in ur area & u mite score another peace of land to hunt??? also ask some of the other locals if they are seeing birds & if so wear??? mail carriers, bus drivers, trash men, local convenience store workers if they live/travel threw rual areas mite/could help you out big time...

[stankyolgobbler]

my main property is 700 acres. I talked to the deer hunter and he said that he never sees turkeys in the fall and winter. The property is perfect spring habitat and up to March 4th, there wasnt a turkey track on it. not a scratch, not a feather, not a gobbling bird. I have 4 trail cameras set strategically along 7 agricultural fields and giant old growth timber and have no human interference except for a tractor or 2 once or twice every week and still got no pictures.....March 8th I went to listen and had one bird on my main road (the last place i expected one) and he gobbled 35 times on the limb and on the way out I saw strut marks and lots of tracks just down that one road. Its amazing how the trigger in the amount of daylight and warmth in the days can just make the hens find their spring ground and the gobblers to start doin their thing. One minute my property is a ghost town, the next....its a sanctuary for long legged swamp chickens. my season starts march 15 so basically it only happened in a little over a week right before season. being that your season is a month away and that state biologists set seasons based on spring breeding activity of the wild turkey....id say you need to just keep this place on lock, keep looking for sign and eventually you will wind up knowing your turkey populations exact habits and their fall to spring transition period. they ARE there! Good luck!

[kygobbler]

First off welcome to the forum nhandy87. I have to agree with what everyone said above. If your friend told you that the place does have turkeys I would wait untill either two weeks before the season or the weekend before and do your scouting. Try to go to the highest point on the property undetected and listen. Just try your best not to bump the the birds and get them spooked. Just like stankyolgobbler, I have one place that is a complete ghost town untill spring time and then I have a few gobblers passing thru.

[Turkeybuster]

I have been cutting fire wood on my lease the last three weeks and found no tracks or scratching or heard any birds. Last night I was coming out with a load and saw 9 gobblers traveling together. That does not suprise me as we have a good six weeks until the season opens.

Jon

[Cut N Run]

I have been cutting fire wood on my lease the last three weeks and found no tracks or scratching or heard any birds. Last night I was coming out with a load and saw 9 gobblers traveling together. That does not suprise me as we have a good six weeks until the season opens.

Jon

Wish I could say that I'd seen that many gobblers hanging around where I hunt. I hope some of them stick around for you Jon. Good luck.

I have started finding a lot more scratchings and droppings around one of the horse farms I hunt. It was like someone turned on a switch. I'm heading out there tomorrow morning to listen back by the swamp.

Jim

[Turkeybuster]

I hope those birds werent just on a forced march Jim but it is still early for us. Things should start to open up here soon the weather is getting warm and we are in for a early green up. Good Luck down there hope you have a good season. One thing we have a lot of this year is TICKS %#%%.

Jon

[Cut N Run]

I hope those gobblers stick around long enough to fill your tags Jon.

I heard no gobbles yesterday morning, which is a little troubling. I did see where a few places were kicked up in the woods near places I like to hunt. I found a few hen droppings and one left by a jake. I need to go listen at the other farm and see what's happening there.

Jim