Hello all, I've been lurking on the forums here for about 2 months now and can't tell you how grateful I am to absorb so much knowledge from everyone. I have all of my equipment ready to go, a pretty good strategy (as far as I know), hunting safety course out of the way, and I'm ready to hit the woods. The one piece I am missing is where the heck to go! . I'm new to Massachusetts, and don't know the land at all. Is there anyone from Massachusetts, or even New Hampshire (where I got my hunter ed course) that could point me in a good direction for public land? I've read a lot about going out the night before and locating (roosting is the term, right?) the turkey and then going to that spot in the morning and start with a "fly down" call. My question is, where do I start to look? I've looked at some topographical maps, but I'm really clueless in this department. Should I just drive to some random location one night, walk around the woods and use my crow (or other) call? Are there turkey populations in just about any strech of forest? Seems that this is going to be the biggest learning curve... the actual scouting and tracking... Any suggestions?
First.. welcome to the site! Second.. just give this thread a little time. Lots of knowledge here and I'm sure someone will answer your q's soon. It's the off-season right now so things are a little slow here.. but return often and pull up a chair.
Most dnr offices have wma(wildlife management area)maps free of charge but worth it if you have to purchase.Next is the topo maps.Sites such as google earth can reveal a lot.But once you locate an area you can't beat spending some time on foot to actually see the lay of the land. Hope that helps.
I'm no expert but the night before the opening day or whenever your hunting, go out that evening and listen for the turkey's to gobble because they usually gobble when they go to roost. If you can tell which direction the gobble came from then try to sneak in the next morning in the dark before they fly down and set up. Listen for when they fly down and get ready to call and maybe even whack one. Good luck and good shooting
Here is a start B A..this is your state's game and fish website with links to all the public land. http://www.mass.gov/dfwele/dfw/habitat/maps/wma/wma_maps.htm
Thanks everyone sounds good. Virginiashadow, those maps are awesome. A lot of them even list the prevalent wildlife in the area! I’ve noticed on some bow hunting shows that a lot of those pros will pick out a spot on the edge of a forest. It looks like the turkeys are coming down off their roost in the morning from the trees to the field. Could anyone tell me what type of vegetation it is that turkey eats so I can look for that in the field? Or do their feeding habits not matter as much when they are in mating season?
Welcome to the site Turkeys are very funny. Sometimes they just do whatever they want, even if it doesnt mean any sense to you at all. Turkeys are constanly picking at the ground. They are eating what they can find in that certain area. Something that I have found with turkey hunting, is that around 9:00am and 10:00am they seem to be very responsive if you have missed that first morning action. You can read about it and watch it all, but you just have to get out there and try it. Best of luck.
Once you've located some land, a walk around looking for droppings & tracks might help. If you can get in contact with the local wildlife officer sometimes they will point you in the general area. I don't have much luck roosting birds. If you can get out a morning before your season to listen, that might be better. Otherwise if yo uare going on the fly, that morning get to a high spot & listen. Hopefully the birds will gobble & you can make your plan from there.
