Spring Turkey Scouting

Spring Turkey Scouting
by Jason Herbert

The “boom” of my shotgun startled the otherwise quiet spring woods. The old tom came in silent, and neither of us made a sound until I coaxed one obligatory gobble out of him. I didn’t want the season to pass without hearing at least one sweet call of spring.

As I hoisted the old bird over my shoulder I couldn’t help but reflect on how my turkey hunting style has changed. When I first started chasing spring gobblers, it was all run-n-gun, covering as many acres each day as possible, hoping to find a bird or two to work. Now a lot more people are turkey hunting and I’ve lost lost access to some of the bigger properties. These days I tend to scout a lot more, and move a lot less.

Turkeys can be hunted like deer. All game animals have the same basic needs, food, water, shelter, as well as the desire to breed. I like to pattern my turkeys, and simply get between point A and point B at the appropriate time to kill one as he walks by. It’s not that I don’t like calling, decoying, chasing and crawling. It’s just that I think properly scouting an old tom is a much more efficient way to kill him.

When scouting, I first look for a roosting area. In my neck of the woods, birds tend to roost high in steady old oaks or seek shelter from the weather in mature pines. Turkeys also like to roost off hills, allowing them to get safely high in a tree with little effort. The terrain I hunt is relatively flat, so anytime a bird has a chance to roost off of a hill, he usually takes advantage of it. The best way to confirm the location of a roost area is to sit and listen from a distance, in the wee early morning hours or at dusk. During both of these times, toms will usually gobble. If time wont allow for an observation, suspicion of a roosting area can be confirmed by locating piles of droppings, feathers, and scratch marks in the leaves. I’ve noticed that the birds tend to fly down into the wind, and also away from the sun. Generally, the turkeys will leave the roost and then head off to who knows where, leaving a trail of scratch marks behind. The scratches will indicate the direction where the birds traveled, with the pile of leaves being pushed behind them as they walk away.

Once I’ve located a roost area, and have a rough idea of where the birds will head next, I try to find a decent place along the way to setup. I like to get against a big tree, in a thick pile of brush, or in some cases, set a pop-up blind. When bowhunting a turkey, a pop-up or permanent blind is almost essential. A turkey will almost always pick up on a bowhunter trying to draw on him, unless his movements are concealed in some sort of blind. The setup needs to be easy to access, without a lot of noise, and the hunter needs to be in it really early.

After a few hours I’ll either have a dead bird in my truck or have moved to another location. I like to move to a strut zone. A strut zone is where a lonely tom will usually be found mid morning, showing off in the bright sun, looking for a hen. Usually strut zones are open fields, river bottoms, ridge tops, or anywhere the bird can be seen and see from a distance. A strut zone is a good place to use a decoy, make sure to face it toward the hunter. When bowhunting a strut zone, remember to get a blind in place ahead of time, just in case.

I spend the rest of the day, moving from farm to farm until I’ve killed a bird. If I don’t kill one, I at least have a good idea where to start the next morning. Be sure to check the state hunting regulations because not all states allow for afternoon or evening turkey hunting. With a little pre-season scouting and homework, the odds of killing that wise old spring longbeard will increase.