Arkansas Turkey Hunting Tip #2: Preseason Turkey Scouting
kevin March 23rd, 2009
Arkansas turkey season opens in less than a month. And while it’s still to try and bag that big Arkansas gobbler, it’s not too early to get out in the woods and do some preseason scouting.
Check out these turkey scouting tips and use them when scouting over the next few weeks.
Roosting: In season or out, roosting is the single best turkey scouting tool. Try to get to high ground before daylight and listen for gobbling. However, there are other ways of roosting turkeys, including looking for droppings and feathers, discussed further below.
Calling: There is one simple rule to calling in the preseason: don’t! A lot of hunters are tempted to include a little preseason calling along with their turkey scouting. It’s fun to get a tom working. But leave the calls at home until opening day. Turkeys learn quickly when they hear calls but never find a hen.
Feathers - Turkeys will typically knock feathers loose from their wings as they fly up to and down from their roosts. Look for likely roost areas such as creek bottoms and wooded ridges.
Tracks – While tracks are a basic form of turkey scouting, they can tell you a couple of important things. First, it will tell you the amount of turkeys in the area. Second, the amount of hens and gobblers on your hunting grounds. Gobbler tracks are large with three toes and the middle toe on an adult male is around 4 inches in length. Hens tracks, on the other hand, are much smaller with the middle toe being 3 inches in length.
Due to technical problems, the online turkey permit payment deadline has been extended to Feb. 22.
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