by Jerry Lannen
There is nothing better than the sun coming up, the woods coming alive and long beards gobbling on the roost.
But there is more to filling your spring gobbler tag than finding which tree the tom is gobbling from.
When I start preparing and scouting for gobbler season, I want to know what the gobblers are doing throughout the day.
I will start out on a high point, a location where I can hear a lot of ground. I will listen and start pinpointing gobblers and mark the locations on my phone using onX Maps Trophy Tracks.
Once I have roughly eight to 10 birds located and a good bead on where they are roosting is when the investigating starts.
I will ask myself: where are they going to? Do they have hens with them? Is there a particular spot they head towards every morning?
This is when I start putting the boots on the ground and answering these questions.
I will pick a bird out and start getting answers to these questions. I will get closer to where the gobbler is roosting and try to keep tabs on what his mornings consist of.
There are a variety of calls to get that long beard to give up his location, crow, owl hoots and even calling to the tom with some cuts, and some fast-paced yelps.
I know calling to a bird goes against traditional scouting. If owl hooting, or the crow call doesn’t yield a response, I will call to the bird, only to get him to gobble to give up his location.
Then, there is no more calling once he is located. It’s all to find out his location, and where he is traveling.
If I find that the gobbler has a good number of hens with him, I will start scouting the hens.
I will start trying to figure out the flock’s daily routine, try to find out where they are feeding and where they are going to get water.
Once you put a bead on what the hens are doing, the gobbler is sure to be close by. This method can be quite time-consuming and depending on the woods, or terrain, can be quite difficult. This method works great on field turkeys.
On the other hand, scouting hens in the big wood can be a challenging task. Sometimes their daily routines can be sporadic.
It definitely will take more time and effort, but well worth the effort if that’s the gobbler that you want to put your tag on.
One of the easiest ways to figure out a gobbler’s routine is to talk to the landowner or the farmer.
They will be able to tell you where they are hearing them or where they are seeing them throughout the day, which will cut down on a lot of scouting time for you.
They can give you great info, like that gobbler is always coming out at 9:30 a.m., in the back corner of the pasture field or I’ve been seeing him late morning on the power line with four hens. This information is a huge help when you are trying to figure out your bird.
There is a lot of time and energy that goes into killing a tom year in, and year out. You definitely get out of it what you put into it.
To me, scouting is all a part of the hunt. It’s all for that one gobble you hear and you know that gobbler has committed to the call.
Any second he is going to show up and you will get that shot that you put all the work into.
Good luck, hunt hard and shoot straight,
Jerry Lannen
Jerry was born and raised in Clearfield County and has been hunting for over 30 years. He is currently a pro-staffer for H3 Games Calls. Jerry has been featured in many hunting periodicals and is a regular presenter at the Central PA Outdoor & Sports Show.