Plan Ahead for a Successful Spring Turkey Season Opener - P 2
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Plan Ahead for a Successful Spring Turkey Season Opener - Continued


Submitted by:  Backcountry Press Outdoor News 
Posted on: 01/30/18


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SCOUTING, SCOUTING, SCOUTING - Continued
I like to take this scouting concept further depending on whether I’m hunting public land or private.

In the case of public ground, I’m scouting not only the birds I hope to hunt, but the people who will most likely target them as well. As I scout, I’m making note of the popularity, or lack thereof, of parking areas and access points into the parcel. 

Using technology like Google Earth, I search for hard-to-get-to parts of the property. A 30-minute walk leaves 50 percent of my competition behind; 90 minutes, and I’m often alone. 
Why? One, after several months of silence, I wanted to hear the birds. And two, we’d been surprised in the past walking in on opening day, only to find the landowner had over the summer selectively harvested a roost, bulldozed a favorite log blind, or otherwise changed the topography sufficiently to alter the birds’ patterns. Oh, we improvised; however, improvisation doesn’t justify a lack of preparation on my part.

Successful turkey hunting is comprised of several different variables, each one working in conjunction with the next and the next and so on to, hopefully, create the ultimate outcome of that old longbeard standing in the decoys at 25 yards.

However, calling a gobbler to the gun is but a single element of the whole. One act of the entire performance.

It’s everything that takes place before legal shooting time on opening day – patterning, gear readiness, equipment selection, and scouting – that often makes or breaks an outing.

Article and Images courtesy of  M.D. Johnson at gameandfishmag

Better yet, is there water access to a far-flung section of the management area? If so, that might be an excellent opportunity to use my Aquapod or kayak. Or how about a mountain bike?

With public ground gobblers, the more challenging the hunt, the fewer people you’ll likely encounter. And fewer people leave you more time to concentrate on what matters – the birds themselves.

It’s easy to grow complacent when hunting private ground. For years, my wife and I started our season on the same farm seated next to the same tree — the Cow Rubbing Tree.

Each year, almost without fail, the birds would be roosted in the same general area, and either come or leave via the same general route. Still, I did my pre-season scouting each spring.

Plan Ahead for a Successful Spring Turkey Season Opener