Typically im on the lazy side. Youth is this weekend so in the morning we are simply going to hed out to some public hunting area and listen for gobbels and mark them and move on. Will check a couple pieced of public land and should have several birds marked for the boys to go after by the weekend.

How do you do your scouting.

Cameras, and in the week leading up to opening day I try to roost a few birds in the evening if I have time.

I like to find stut zones with fresh wing drag marks, but I have a lot of sandy roads and openings to be able to see the tracks and wing drags. Grassy areas or heavy leaf little this may be impossible to find.

The final scout is to hear them on the roost...morning or evening...in relation to those strut zones.

If I dont hear any gobbles I set up near those strut zones and wait patiently...calling sparingly.

I use cameras too, but more to reveal time of day of travel/movement on the logging roads.

Most of my scouting was when I was a kid, (20-35 years old) I know a sht ton of spring gobbler roost areas that don't change much, but may change from year to year, I also know a few places they like to strut and a few places they hang out when it's windy and other's if it's unseasonably warm. Around here it doesn't change a lot, but saying that they still are a challenging query.

For out of state trips and even local WMA’s I use OnX. I mark spots I think turkeys “should” be and it’s boot leather and phone calls to local DNR after that. Tracks, scat, scratchings, etc. If I have access before season or the hunt it’s a lot of mornings and evenings listening. My out of state trips generally have the first day or two scouting vs hunting.
First trip to Montana had me scouting 4 different properties on day 1. I got one gobble at the last place I scouted. I planned to hunt there the next morning, but decided to go back to each spot right at dark to listen. Glad I did, the first spot I’d scouted and wasn’t impressed turned out to be the motherlode of gobblers. Killed before the sun peaked over the mountain the next morning.

Find where they are roosting in the evening. Then find where they are feeding hunt between the areas.

Ride around and glass areas but I have access to a ton of area

Find them in the evening using an owl call.

Slam my car door in the evening in my driveway

They gobble every time

Been hunting same area for years. Sometimes they're there sometimes not. Never roost birds-never worry about being too early. Nothing more fun than walking ridges calling in each direction and getting cut off by a gobble.

Same as DWC. The area I hunt is 250 miles from home so pre-season scouting isn't an option.

I do make note of gobbling locations and sighting the last week of March when I'm up there trapping beaver. I heard lots of gobbling and drumming every day and saw four different gobblers with harems.

That doesn't have a whole lot of bearing on where they'll be a month later when the season starts but it at least tells me there are birds in the area.

I do my "scouting" after the season opens as I'm hunting them. I know at least a dozen spots that consistently hold turkeys so I can usually locate birds pretty quickly.

I just get on google. See which grocery store has the best price. They are all cheaper than a turkey tag. Already dressed also.

LOL, I open my slider and they come running, best call ever,

Sorry that doesn't answer your question but I couldn't help myself.lol

I just look out our back french door or kitchen window and scout them that way. They seem to route thru our place every year. Or I just have to listen and they will let me know they are close.

They have a favorite dusting area or two that they like to frequent. Our wood ash dump pile is one favorite site and the base of one of my old Arkansas cedar trees along our drive. The dirt is always very dry under that old cedar and now they have a good size wallow hole there after years of dusting. I put some diatomacseous earth in their favorite spots each Spring and Summer to help with the mites.

We located 3 or 4 birds on one property. Drove to another saw birds in fields strutting on the way but didnt hear any on the 2nd place. Im guessing it got a bit late and they went quiet by then. Will probably hit the 2nd place to listen in the morning.

I don't. I have not for the last 10 years. I set up two blinds on the edge of a small field with a creek on one side and woods on the other 3. I have got 6 toms there and goofed up twice. Two years no toms in shooting range. I have
seen real swings in the numbers over the decade. It seems like a lot is dependent upon what crop residues are near by based on rotation. The one thing that is always a stable is the pine grove next to the field. The turkeys love roosting in those pines.
Prior to this last 10 years I was in several places with minimal results and making a lot of mistakes.
Bryce

I do all my scouting from my F150. Drive to a location open widow and listen. Early mornings when they are still on the roost.