Phone call I received last night from an acquaintance made while turkey hunting in Florida, looking for advice on a good area to plan a spur of the moment hunting trip to the NC or VA area, prompted me to post this item to get your thoughts and responses. He very much wants to extend his hunting season, but it was obvious from our conversation he is apprehensive about hunting an area (such as National Forest) that he hasn't had time to thoroughly scout. Sensed he felt like his chance of success was practically nil without having thorough knowledge of the area that could only be obtained through extensive scouting. Reading past post on the board, we all talk about scouting and the importance of knowing where birds roost, travel, feed, strut, and loaf throughout the day as well as features of the land such as fields, fences, creeks, ridges, thickets, etc. While hunting season progresses, we talk about how birds tend to change the areas they are frequenting....prime example of this is in the mountains as greenup occurs in the higher elevations. Think we'd all agree, it's all great information to have!

My question is this;
Going to an area for the first time...sight unseen, given you know the area you are in has birds, good habitat, and plenty of ground you can hunt (let's use National Forest, and 3 consecutive days to hunt for an example), do you feel your chance for success dramatically decreases without the chance to scout the area prior to hunting?

Great question. I have a sister that lives in the Durham area. I keep thinking about going down there to hunt, but each year I back out due to no time to check out the area before hunting there. I am afraid of waisting valuble vacation time for a stab in the dark.

on the contrary, I seem to do better in areas where I have never seen or hunted before than I do in ones I hunt regularly...I think I tend to be more aggressive in my set-ups and calling in the new areas, and tend to hold back on the local spots as I do not want to"psuh" the birds...my rate of kills on out of state hunts in totally new spots is far far higher than on the local birds that I have scouted or on territory where I am very familiar. I spect this will be the out-lying opinion on this subject though. Freddy, on the other hand, scouts birds to the point that he knows what they are going to do before they do it , and a bunch of them go him with him or his guests as a result. One thing that I guess qualifies as scouting, and I have it every time I get out of the truck, is topos of the area I am going to be huntin, whether i have been there or not...I cannot tell you how many buirds I have killed "off the map", strictly from reading the maps for likely areas....

GN, my response to my own question is much the same as yours..... I have been fortunate over the years to hunt numerous new areas, in multiple states and a vast array of environments, many times without any chance to see it until the first crack of dawn while standing there waiting for a gobbler to announce his presence. If nothing is heard, I begin the scouting process with gun in hand, expecting around ever corner to encounter Mr longbeard. I have found that while hunting new areas, in unfamiliar territory, that I do a much better job of thoroughly searching out the big picture. There are times that I've wished for more knowledge of the local terrain, or obstructions that kept a turkey from coming to the call, but believe those are equaled out by the turkeys I have taken in "bad" areas that are overlooked by the local hunters...I was simply there because I knew no better. Once you have an understanding of turkey behavior, and develop woodmanship skills, you can apply these in any area and have a very good chance of being successful. Believe turkey hunting draws a lot of similarity with pro-bass fisherman...by saying that I mean, these guys fish different lakes under different conditions and manage to figure out how to catch fish wherever they go. One more parallel that I have been guilty of numerous times.... local fisherman rarely win a big tournament, this is due mainly to the fact that they know the lake so well they tend to fish "favorite spots" with favorite "lures" where fish have been caught in the past, while the touring pro has no preconceived idea from years past so he fishes the "fish", not spots... and finds the areas fish are currently using and ways to catch them that many locals overlook. In turkey hunting on areas that I am intimately familiar with, I catch myself eliminating places that haven't produced in the past much to quickly, in turn for those where turkeys have frequented in years past. While on areas I'm not familiar with, tend to do a lot more "current" inventory of what's there and what's happening. In summary, would prefer to have knowledge of the area and had a chance to scout it prior to the hunt, but in no way feel overly handicapped to start a hunt on unfamiliar ground. Worst case, feel like my chance for success may be 10% less due to not having had a chance to pre-scout.

I too tend to hunt more aggressive in public areas. Therefore get more action from the birds. I also get more mistakes on my part, still learning. But I think if you know the area holds birds historically then the chance is just as good as any. Just this year I went to a spot that I had not scouted and heard two birds. Worked them hard but didn't get a shot. The next morning I killed one. It took 2 days to get a bird.

I would certainly like to have any knowledge possible while hunting an area. However I have gone on many hunts where all I had was a map or someone telling me where there may be a few birds. Some hunts I was very luck and got some good info. I have also seen areas for the first tim eas the sun comes up. If I dont hear a bird as Earl says I scout with gun in hand. I look at the first day as scouting and then try to find some god spots to frequent the next few. I personally love to go check out a new piece of land that I have never been on. It is always an adventure.

I always scout all I can.

I'd say just about every bird I've killed on public land was the result of extensive scouting. I'd consider scouting to be an indespensible part of turkey hunting.

Hal

I wouldn't let not being able to scout stop me from hunting a strange area. It makes it more of an adventure and puts a little spice in the hunt!
Maybe you can power scout the lay of the land after the morning excitement wares off. Good luck.
GS...

Don't let the lack of scouting time prevent a hunt. You can't kill them from the couch. As most of you know, TScott and I hunt almost exclusively on National Forest here in VA. I will agree it has taken us a number of years to locate a few areas that seem to consistently hold birds. However, each year we strive to hunt/scout atleast one new area. It's both fun and productive. We've struck birds and struck out during these adventures, but I can tell you that the woods time was invaluable. Learning the lay of the land first hand has killed more birds for us. That and the willingness to walk. I certainly wouldn't let the lack of knowledge about an area prevent the opportunity to hunt.

It seems to be that success is certainly possible if the birds are there, especially if they're hot.... I'd be more concerned about getting lost, especially going in the dark, in the mountains. It's always best to have an idea of the lay of the land first.