If you have found
some consistent roosting areas on your pre-season scouting trips, be near one an hour
before sunset.
If you haven't scouted, slip
onto a high ridge where you can hear all around.
Wear camouflage, move quietly
and avoid the temptation to use hen calls if hunting is not allowed in the
afternoon. I prefer to stay on logging trails and out of the brush.
You don't want to spook
turkeys that you plan on hunting the next morning. Turkeys will go to roost within a
few minutes of sundown, earlier on dark, overcast days.
Listen for wing flapping,
occasional cackles or clucks of hens as they fly up and settle down. The wing beats
of a turkey going to roost are a subtle sound many novices miss, but you can learn it if
you stand quietly and listen carefully.
With experience you can
sometimes distinguish the heavy flapping of a gobbler from the lighter sounds produced by
hens.
You can use these sounds to
tell if turkeys are in an area even if a gobbler refuses to sound off. If hens are
around, a gobbler will be near by.
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