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Ask 100 land owners if they will let you hunt deer on their property and you will probably get 99 no's. Ask 100 land owners to turkey hunt on their land and your odds improve to about 50/50.
Finding Land To Hunt Turkeys
For some reason farmers and land owners are much more willing to let hunters on their land to chase gobblers. In addition to knocking on doors most states have a vast amount of public land to hunt on, but not all public lands are equal when it comes to turkey hunting.
Your first stop when searching for a good public land hunting spot should be your local department of natural resources or state wildlife agency.
These government organizations are usually able to give the hunter detailed information on state forests and wildlife management areas in your neighborhood.
Another often overlooked location for turkey hunting is Military bases. Many military bases have programs that allow hunters to obtain permits to hunt on the military base.
Another upside to Military bases is that they usually limit the number of hunters allowed on the base. If you don't have a military base near you you may also want to consider Paper company land. Depending on what state your in, this might be another low pressure hunting opportunity.
Scouting Your Land Choice For Wild Turkeys
So you found a place to hunt, now we need to find the wild turkeys. Turkeys are very much creatures of habitat. and it is not uncommon for them to roost in the same areas each night. Start scouting pre season and keep track of where you are seeing the turkeys. If you see a turkeys in a field about the same time each day try and arrive at that field early and get set up. If you find some roosting areas look for locations close by where you can sneak in predawn and set up.
You will want to be with in 100 yards of the roosting trees, but you need to be sure that you can reach this area with out bumping the birds off the roost. Pick out a few different locations close to known roosting ares that will allow you to slip in predawn and use a locator call to check if the turkeys are on roost. Make sure you can find these areas again in the dark with out having to wander around the woods. Finding roosting ares can be done after sundown or predawn a few weeks before the hunting season.
Find the food sources for the time of year that you will be hunting turkeys. Turkeys change locations depending on the time of year and food source available. Just because you see a large group of turkeys every day during the winter in a certain area doesn't mean that they will be there in the spring. The best time to scout is a few weeks before you actually are going to go hunting.
Find the Hens
Just because you can't see the gobblers in a group of hens you shouldn't rule out the spot. In the spring if you find the hens the roosters are sure to be close by as well.
Using A Turkey Locator Call Video
A great informational video from Greg Litterl on how to find turkeys using a turkey locator call.
