We are a week away from the start of the turkey hunting season. I have been doing lots of scouting and found some good sign. When scouting for turkeys you don't want to call. This will only educate the turkeys about you and your calling. When looking for sign you want to take note about what the turkey was doing when the sign was made. Sign can tell you what the turkeys were doing and how many turkeys are in your hunting area .
When scouting for turkey in the spring you have to scout just a couple weeks before the season starts. When scouting you are looking for fresh sign. Turkeys do a lot of moving this time of year and you don't want to hunt old sign when the turkeys are miles away. I look for tracks in the mud. The tracks below are only a couple of hours old. You can sill see the creases from the turkey feet in the tracks.
The track will tell you if it is a Hen or a Tom. The difference between a Tom and a Hen is that a Tom's middle toe will be a lot longer than the other two. Also when looking at the tracks we can tell what the turkey is doing. In the above photo this turkey is walking along like he is going no where fast. The reason that I say that is the tracks are close together. When a turkey is walking fast or running the tracks will be much farther apart. By looking at the track we can tell that he is a very large turkey that knows the lay of the land and what to watch out for. He could be a very hard turkey to kill.
This turkey didn't only walk though here, he also scratched at the ground.
The scratch will also tell you how big the bird is. The bigger the scratch the bigger the bird. This is a big bird! I have also noticed that he is by himself. This is a turkey that lived a long life by his wits. He has seen a lot and knows what to stay away from. Going after a turkey like this one could take a lot of time and prove to be impossible to kill with a bow. He also could be the biggest bird that I have ever killed. (Guess where I plan to do a lot of hunting.)
The only thing that I have to remind myself of is that he is not the only turkey in the woods. When hunting a big old bird like this one I will have to let a lot of other birds walk by. I don't want to make the mistake of passing birds that I would be happy to shoot later in the season.
When looking at scratching on the ground you can tell the difference between a Hen and a Tom by how and where the scratch happens. The photo below has a log that the scratch is right up to. This could be a sign of a Tom because with that long middle toe they can get closer to trees and logs.
I would also keep my eyes open for deer sign. I found this rub about 150 yards away from where I was setting up for most of last year.
The hunt starts next week and I will be in the woods finding the best place to hunt. It is time to go into the woods and get ready for the hunting season.
Good Luck