Moose Droppings

Turkey Scouting Originally posted 3/06

May 27, 2006 @ 08:18 pm by Moose

Photo by Billy Mosley

Opening of the North Carolina Spring Turkey Season is 4 weeks from yesterday. All this week I will focus on Turkey Hunting Tips. On Saturday March 18 I will be helping out at a free Turkey Hunting Day in the Mountains of NC that everyone is more then welcome to come and learn and have some fun. Here is a link to the information. http://quail-hollow.net/outfitters-frameset.htm or you can email me for more information.

This is the first part of a series of posts I will make about turkey hunting and getting started. For you novices I hope that it is helpful as you try to bag your first bird and for you experienced guys I hope it’s a great refresher and you do learn something.
Lets start talking a little bit about the turkey itself and some of the gobblers characteristics in specific.

Turkeys by nature are very skittish from the time they are born till the time they die there is always a predatory after them, be it fox, bobcat, owl, hawks, coyote, or man to name a few, this means it does not take much to disrupt their routine. Routine? Yes of all creatures turkeys have a routine and if undisturbed there movements are fairly predictable.

Turkeys like other game we pursue leave sign that can help us determine areas they are using and moving through. Turkey tracks are easy to find on dirt roads and field edges if the track is 4inchs or longer it was left by a gobbler.

Another important sign is scat. Turkey scat is easy to determine whether it’s from a gobbler or hen, gobbler scat is usually shaped like a J and hen scat looks more like popcorn. A concentration under some large trees may tip you to a roost area. Besides scat and tracks Breast feathers may be found and if it’s colorful with a black tip is from a gobbler the duller brown tip ones are from hens. Some other signs you may come across is scratching where the turkeys use their legs to rake back the leaves to find food most often acorns. You’ll find places all tore up and if you look closely each scratching will have a v formation to it. The base of the v will show you the direction of travel because the birds rake the leaves towards them selves as they move along feeding. Besides scratchings for food you may find dug out dirt depressions that are dusting bowls. Dusting bowls are found both in fields and woods where the turkeys cover themselves with dust to kill mites that are on them. A dusting bowl is a bare depressions a little bigger then a football but that general shape. You will often find a few together in the same area and there is often breast feathers around that get knocked off in the process. Strut zones are another important thing to look for and these are usually in open areas where the gobblers can strut to attract hens. They will use fields, logging roads, fire lanes, old homesteads, creek bottoms, just about any opening that allows them visibility so the hens can see them. In the more dusty of these areas especially farm roads field edges you may find where you can see the lines in the dirt from the gobbler dragging his wing tips as he struts for the ladies.

Now that we’ve talked about the turkey lets talk about how to pick a place to scout and hunt. For some that maybe easy because you have the place already established for others you may have a number of options including public grounds. I would pick the place with the least amount of pressure and the most amount of birds but that’s too easy I know. If you know the area you are a head of the game if not you got to learn the terrain so get out some topo maps and aerial photos and that will be a good starting point. You want to note where fields, water, logging roads, trails, and if there will be pressure where it will come from. Turkeys like to roost over water when they can so that is where I focus my initial efforts. I look for ridges especially above creeks and swamps as places to check out. Fields are places that are usually easy to observe without to much disruption. Talk with landowners and farmers they can tell you where they see the turkeys and lots of times you’ll find you can practically set your watch by them. As long as they are not disturbed they should continue on with their routine. If the turkeys are in the fields shortly after sun up they must be roosting close to the field edge.
Now that you have some ideas on where to begin to look make a couple of predawn trips into some of these areas and listen. Leave your calls at home, calling a turkey prior to the season is one sure way to program him not to respond during the season. Based on the information you have on hand pick a listening post that is easy to get into with out to much noise and you have some cover to keep yourself from being noticed. As the day begins to break listen for the gobblers to begin sounding off and note each distinct one and where you think it is located. Listen for birds flying down if you can here them fly down you are fairly close and note which direction they head. If your lucky enough to have turkeys working around you when your scouting pay close attention to how they sound this will help you as you try to master calling as well. Walking through the woods looking for some of the signs we talked about you should have a pretty good idea of how and where the turkeys are using your land. You really want to be cautious not to disrupt them to much especially the closer to the season we get because if you do it could alter their routine before you get a chance to hunt them. If you have fields in the area you are hunting watching the direction they enter the field and the time is important too so you can plan an ambush.
Lastly if you really can’t get out for an early morning scout then go one evening after work and slip in there and listen for the birds flying up. They will gobble some but not nearly as much as they do at the breaking dawn. Next Up will talk about Shotgun and Ammo for taking your bird.

Links of Additional Reading
http://www.kdfwr.state.ky.us/springmag04d.asp

http://www.bowhuntingnorthamerica.com/Turkey%20Scouting.htm

http://www.outdoorlife.com/outdoor/scouting/midwest/article/0,19912,1151913,00.html

http://www.buckfax.com/turkey_scouting.htm

http://www.bowhunting.net/eMagazine/TRMichels/TRMichels-052.html