Tell your significant other that you need to go scout your turkey area this weekend. Next weekend, too. And the two after that. Get out in the field every weekend from now until the turkey season starts in April to increase your chances of bringing home a bird. That’s your excuse to shake off the cobwebs accumulated over a winter spent inside. Tell the better half that you need to do your homework so you don’t waste the license fee.
Of course, if your spouse is like mine, you probably won’t have any trouble getting away for a few days. This time of year, my wife is more than ready to get rid of me for as long as possible.
But once you get out there, don’t spend the whole time trying to figure out where the turkeys are. After all, they’re fairly mobile creatures, and they’ll probably move around a bit before the season opens. The more you know about the birds, the better your odds will be of getting one, for sure. But the best part of turkey scouting is the fishing.
You heard me right. Fishing. Turkey scouting is actually about 10 percent looking for birds and 90 percent looking for fish.
March is the real spring fishing season. If you’re a turkey hunter, you’ll be too busy chasing birds around the hills to wet a line, so you’ll miss the official beginning of the open-water fishing season. You might as well get all the fishing you can before the turkey season starts.
You have to do it right, though. Remember, your reason for being out in the woods is to try to find out where the turkeys are. Between casts, pull out your call and give a gobble or two. Listen a minute for a response. If you hear something, make a mark on your map.
The next weekend, explain that you need to see if the birds have moved. Get back out there, and gobble between casts again. You’ll get to go fishing several times, and as an added bonus, you might actually have an idea of where the turkeys are when April rolls around.
