ScoutingOur approach to do it yourself wild turkey hunts gets the hunter to the right spot to park his truck for the better turkey hunting in Kansas, Missouri and Iowa. That by itself is a big step for the hunter. However, that is all it is, one more step. Regardless of how good our recommendations may be as to where to hunt and regardless of the hunter's skill, there is not any way around the fact that only the hunter can pay the price of time or boots on the ground. Spring season hunts demonstrates this far more readily than any of our other hunter disciplines. The do it yourself turkey hunter is within in the most skilled of all our hunters as most know the spring toms will quickly separate out those hunters lacking in discipline or experience. What the spring season hunter shows is that he more likely than any other type of hunter will plan the first part of the hunt to be scouting first and hunting second. That one difference between the spring season turkey hunter and fall deer hunters for example seems to make far more difference than most will first recognize. Our hunter tracking demonstrates this difference. 
| Habitat ranges across our three states from thick to thinly wooded tracts. Both of these aerials is of a 1/4 section or 160 acres of land. Those new to Kansas, Missouri and Iowa must put away preconceived habitat notions as each of these properties, both the wooded and the open produce good spring season toms. The open one below has accounted for as many as 6 toms harvested in one spring. | | This farm held the roost and feeding areas while the neighboring farm in fallow pasture and another in tall prairie grass CRP held the hens for nesting. | 
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Hunting Success DifferenceThe spring turkey hunter knows success comes from finding the roost above all else. That one aspect quickly and very definitely focuses the early part of the hunting trip on scouting. The part to key in on is that same hunter knows the only way to find that roost is to spend the first morning, evening and maybe a morning more listening for gobbles and watching the return to roost. Once pinpointed the hunt enters the next phase of setup, decoy and call to interdict flydown, strut, feed, nest and return to roost movement. The deer hunter takes a different approach. Deer hunters seek to have their scouting complete before leaving home. They then plan to setup a stand and hunt from the first morning. At this point we ask the reader's patients and remember we are discussing the stereotype hunter and do not intend to classify all into this behavior. The deer hunter armed with his aerial photos, moon charts and lifetime of magazine article reading finds the funnels, day/night movement corridors, loafing areas and most likely his stand locations from images on paper or screen. He plans his hunt, organizes his equipment and at first opportunity travels to his hunting spot, puts up a stand and hunts. Typically, the belief is that more stand time and stand time above all else makes for better success. | John, sending you this picture of Mondays hunt. What a way to start a new season. After making two trips down to scout I set up before light and had six gobblers come by at 8:00am, this one made the mistake of stopping eight steps away from the blind. Your club is everything you've claimed it to be and with two turkeys this spring, one turkey this last fall, a nice buck and now this late season tom I'm proof of the good hunting opportunities that you provide to your members. Thanks Again Steve | 
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ProofAt this point our simplified descriptions of these two stereotypes illustrate the difference we are pointing out. Proof of success has been the 1.2 to 1.4 toms per hunter per spring season compared to a far less success rate for deer hunters. We also recognize there are probably a lot more 2 ½ to 3 ½ year old toms than there are trophy whitetails. However, the success rates of the turkey hunters and their overwhelmingly similar approach to scout first and scout immediately before the hunt with boots on the ground compared to the typical deer hunter approach of hunt first must be taken into account. 
One of the Association signs with Member's Gary P from Pennsylvania with last tag filled. |
Wonder WhyIn the case of self guided wild turkey hunts there does seem to be enough evidence that immediately before the turkey hunt boots on the ground scouting is the key to the most success. The deer hunters seem far less likely to include this type of scouting. This is true even for the same hunter that hunts both fall deer and spring turkey seasons. 
Example of the turkey hunting & scouting feedback we get Turkey habitat Turkey Gallery 1 Turkey Gallery 2 | 
