Moose Droppings

A Bit of Spring Fever

Feb 22, 2007 @ 10:12 pm by Moose

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Driving down the road I noticed a tree in full bloom that looked a lot like a red bud. The red bud blooming to me tells me it’s time for turkey season. Of course I’m sure that it wasn’t a red bud but then again with this crazy winter who knows. Needless to say time is getting short… well ok maybe not but it is only 7 weeks from Saturday.

It’s still a bit early to scout for them because they are still in their winter patterns but time walking around the woods is not wasted time. You can get any idea about the numbers of birds in your area as well as prime roosting spots. Seems to me that they roost in a few spots year round. I’ve been told and it seems to be true that gobblers like to find roost trees over water. This gives them some security from predators.
Check out field edges and places you may want to set up to ambush your Tom. By doing it now you’ll at least have some familiarity with the area prior to setting up in the dark. Look for obstacles that can cause a gobbler to hang up like fences and streams and have some idea how to neutralize them. I’ve taken a bottom wire off in places where it would not cause a problem with a landowner and the birds can more easily enter the field. Look to see what is growing in the field and if it will mainly be a place they’ll come to bug or if there is crops they’ll feed on.

I find that there is certain areas I hunt that are almost guaranteed to have a gobbler hanging around every year. Just like bass if the structure is right and you take one out of there chances are good that shortly there after another one will move into fill the void. I check these areas out and I make sure the trails I’ll use to get in there in the early morning hours are debris free so I can sneak through as silently as possible without wakening any sleeping gobblers.

Lastly the predator season is still on so now is a good time to wack a yote or two. This is mating season for them and with the population exploding around us taking a few out will help small game as well as the turkeys. Bobcats are in till the end of February so there is a little time to work on them still. Do they like turkey dinner? They sure do many of turkey hunters have been surprised by one coming into their turkey set up.

The weather for this weekend is suppose to be nice so get out and enjoy it.