This will be my first turkey hunt here in good ole NC. The area where I hunted deer, I was told that there were turkeys there also. So for the last 3 weeks I have been scouting. I know that we are about a month away from the season opening and by this time, I had really hoped that I would find some sure signs of them. So far I've found no feathers, not sure if the poop I found was from them and haven't seen a single print around areas were there is soft ground and the dirt is exposed. So my question is this....... If you were to go out into the area that you are going to hunt, would you find signs that they are there? I've been looking in trees and even thown out an owl call here and there but have heard nothing. Today it was 68 with overcast skies and a bit of misty rain but after staying until dark... the only thing I saw were more deer that caught my scent. I do see some areas where big patches of moss have areas were clumps of the moss has been turned over but don't really see signs of scratch marks. About a week ago I put out some crushed grains and 3 days later all the grains were gone except for the crushed corn so I know it wasn't deer. But today even the corn was gone. Just wondering if I'm putting in too much time in this area and need to look else where. Thanks for all your suggestions and comments.
Well I went to the spots that I'll be hunting and had some great feedback from some gobblers. There are 5 areas to go to in the area we are hunting and the first spot we did not see any birs but got 3 gobbles from about 200 yds...2nd spot we saw about a dozen turkeys...mostly hens 1 jake and 1 tom...3rd spot we saw about 20 turkeys...3 jakes and 5 toms and the rest hens. What was funny is that where we have to park we didn't walk 20 yards before seeing a turkey! So I guess we got lucky drawing a permit for opening day. As far as gettin them to gobble my hunting buddy used a slate call and I was using a mouth call...and it was raining and windy.
You guys can obviously do what you want.......but I'd be VERY leery of calling to birds this time of year. If you do it, though, I'd be sure they didn't see me. Again....just my opinion. As to the OP's main question.......if I wasn't seeing actual birds on the property I was planning to hunt, I'd find somewhere else to hunt. Personal opinion. The birds I hunt get hunted HARD. By the end of the 1st week, they'll have heard 20 people calling to them (200ac). The only "experience" I have.....is seeing what pressure can do to them. It ain't pretty!
