How early do ya'll start scouting? Finding different places to hunt? Utilize scouting camara's?

I pretty much make it a year around activity. You should be finding your hunting spots now, and asking permission early. I'm always checking out my spots and talking to farmers/landowners asking about turkeys and hunting. During deer season I'm always looking and listening for turkeys. I'll start hitting my spots around the middle of March to listen for gobbles and start pinning down some possible volunteers. By the time the season opens in April I like to have at least 15-20 vocal gobblers located. I will get out every morning starting a couple weeks before the season, listening, and learning what turkeys are where and what they like to do.

Live and breathe it!

i NEVER KNEW i HAD QUIT? EVERY DAY , all day -most of the night. On a more serious informational note, the p laces birds winter are not necessarily where they choose to spend the spring...for several years I have had birds move from across the mtn in to spring habitat in the week before the season opened...it just happens every year...I think the greening up of the north slopes has al ot to do with it.2 cents

do ya'll set out your scouting camera's on ridgetops, flats, fields?

One other idea. If you can get out to walk some of your places now you will learn alot more about them than after they start to get covered in vegetation this spring.

i never stop

A camera would be good to pattern gobblers you know are there. However, you should be able to find turkey to hunt by sight , sound or sign in any area you go.

I scout through deer season and will head out to do some more soon. You need to keep an eye on the flocks. They will start to move a bit as spring approaches so know where the food is and where they like to roost. Also understand where hens like to nest. This will hep you find them as the season goes on.

I am in the woods with grouse dogs a lot through the winter. I see more turkey indications by watching where I am walking than anything else...a foot print , droppings, scratching etc...the size of some ofthe footprints tells you the size of the gobblers that are around the area...plus, the dogs point some every once in a while..and in some cases if it is just over the edge o f t he hill when they fly, I get a real giood look at them ...spending time i n the late winter woods is a real treat for me...

I agree with GN, spending time in the late winter woods is a great time of year. I've found several areas that seem to consistently hold turkeys by walking the woods in January/February. If we ever get snow here in SW VA, it's a great time to get out and see sign.

Like many of the others, I'm always on the look for birds and places to hunt them. But usually in March after we've had a few days to a week of fair weather (mostly sunny) I'll slip out early on a frosty morning and climb to a high point. I'll await daylight and hopefully hear my first gobble of the year. I have a favorite spot where I always do this ritual. The birds winter in the area but it is also a great listening spot in the middle of April as the birds there don't move far. You can hear a long ways. After a morning or two of this I can find concentrations of gobblers (assuming they are talkative) since they are still in their winter flocks. This gives me an idea of how many birds are in the area. I'll move from place to place each morning and make a note of the number of birds I hear in each location. As the spring greenup progresses I fine tune my scouting to more than just listening by walking a lot of ridges and covering as much ground as I can. From the morning that I hear my very first gobble, I'm usually out there, somewhere at daylight listening. On rainy mornings I may drive around and look for strutters in fields. But even on mornings that I have to work early, I still try to listen from the truck somewhere. If I can put in a couple days in a row in a spot I can pretty much tell the patterns of the birds. Where they roost, where they go after flying down, etc. This year I have implemented a new scouting method. I put my trail cam back up after deer season and already have about 6 longbeards on film. This is in an area that I don't usually scout so it's already been worth it and it's still January