Any good last minute advice?


killer711

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This will be my first year turkey hutting and I have been studding real hard over the winter.

I seen about 10 birds while deer hunting last year but it was last year and i know they have moved.

I have not went and scouted yet but I’m going to tomorrow when i get home from school.

Any advice for scouting? What kind of trees do they like?

Tall ones or short ones?

Should I bring a call to locate them?

if anyone has good advice from experience it would help thanks

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as a general rule for my area, turkeys will generally roost in the hemlocks or pines...but with that being said, they will also roost up in a big ol oak tree...

a good turkey hunter is hitting the woods right now as you said you were going to do and locating those birds NOW! spot them from a distance if you can first thing in the morning after you have located them to see what their habits are. Turkeys tend to be like deer with their habits this time of year. for example... a flock i have hunted for the past few seasons roosts across the river on a steep mountainside and then flies across the river to feed in the crop fields.. the strutters would strut and follow the hens around a wooded peninsula into an adjoining field... if the toms were henned up, then, because i knew their patterns, i would cut them off at about the point of the peninsula because that is where they would be in range.

keep an eye out for any clear cuts or fields close to where the birds are roosting... spring toms like to be in the open when they strut so they will be seen... set up about 5-10 yards into the woodline of the field if you can to break up your outline and hide any movement... and remember.. sometimes calling less is "more"... i like to get a tom fired up and then shut up... he still knows where the sound came from and could come in sneaking...

good luck! hope any of this helped.

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I'm not sure what state you'll be hunting in or what the terrain is like. Where I hunt here in MS it's mostly timber so most of my hunting is in the timber. There's not really a particular type of tree a bird will choose to roost. They will usually choose large, mature trees though.

If you take a call to scout, I'd limit those calls to locater type calls...crow & owl calls. I hate to use hen or gobbler calls until I'm hunting the birds. During the season I have had birds answer cutting on a box call near last light.

The best time to scout to me is when they start gobbling on the roost early in the morning. If they continue to gobble after flydown you can get a feel for where they are going. From that information, along with other information you'll discover from multiple scouting trips and actually hunting the birds you'll get a feel for preferred patterns. You may also hear hens and learn a little about where they roost and what they do coming off the roost. The more you learn about the patterns of the birds your hunting, the better your chances of picking a place to set up between where a gobbler chooses to roost and where he wants to go.

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