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Maine Toms

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FrozenNorth

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A stretch of warm weather has melted much of our snow up here in Maine and has me itching for Spring turkey season. I usually start scouting about this time to find the general area of our Winter flocks, but recently I have been getting a lot of guff from people saying it is wasted effort at least this far North. I know the have flocks broken up by May, our season, but I feel that I at least know their general routes and preferred paths they will be on come Spring which should help me get on some birds this season.

Just wondering what you all think about late Winter scouting in your areas and if it helps you come season opener.
 
It's always valuable to know a turkey's general area, IMO. Especially Easterns, since their home range tends to be fairly small. Where I started turkey hunting in college (Central and SW Wisconsin), birds would be born, live and die on the same farm in some cases.

Here with our Mountain Merriam's, the birds may range a LONG way from winter concentrations, but you can still get an idea of routes and areas they will migrate to. When I hunted near you in Vermont last Spring, I asked the outfitter a similar question. A lot of the birds never strayed more than a mile from a given 'centroid' area the whole year.
 
My birds here in MT don't stray terribly far from where they are now. Where we have birds in Western MT, they are in high densities, so I don't know if they are the exact same bird or just more doing a circuit. Doesn't really matter to me. There's only ever been one bird that I specifically targeted, a smoke phase, but never connected.

With birds breaking up the dispersion will be greater, but its seems like where they are now are the epicenter, and they fan out from there.
 
I grew up in NH, hunted easterns there for 10 yrs. They can have some pretty significant dispersal (relative to back east) especially if they had a tough winter. But most should be within 5 miles of where they wintered, a few birds will prob stay on the same farm. I personally wouldn't focus on a specific winter flock and expect them to still be there in May, but they should be in the general area. Once the snow melts they spread out pretty fast.
 
I appreciate the input. I'm hoping all of my scouting will pay off with a big Tom, but only time will tell. Chasing turkeys is insanely addictive.
 
Personallyt, I never put in a lot of effort this time of yr scouting. I always waited till mid/late april and took drives with the owl hooter or crow call at 1st light to find them
 
On the farm in Va there around the lake all year. No need to scout. Just need to listen in the evening to figure out which bird to get on in the morning.
 
One of the farms I have permission on here in Iowa is a wintering area. It loads up with a ton of Turkeys and most years the majority of the birds are still there when youth season opens in early April. As it warms up and the birds disperse the ones that stay still use the same roost areas and travel routes if they're not pressured to bad. A good winter roost is a good spring roost.
 
It is really cool to get input from people from around the country and seeing how tactics and animal behavior is different from region to region. As an update, I have been following a flock of hens and last years poults for a few weeks. As the weather continues to warm I am seeing more movement from their roosts in the pines to the now mostly snow free fields. A bachelor group of toms that was in a different pine grove and clearing have slowly been working their way towards the hen group's travel and feeding route. The bachelor's route is growing wider and wider day by day. If this pattern continues the paths of the hen flock and bachelor group should intersect about late April, and if that holds true I will be watching and waiting come opening day in May.
 
Interesting to see how you do for turkeys up there in Maine. I have a turkey tag for Wisconsin's northwoods and will be hunting state and national forests in the far northeastern part of the state. The big job is going to be just finding the turkeys. Once the ice fishing season ends I'm going to spend some weekends camping up there and scouting some areas I've found birds in the past. Should be a good time
 
I am not sure I am a good representation of Maine turkey hunters, or Maine hunters in general. I didn't have any real mentors (family doesn't hunt), so my style is good ol' fashioned trial and error and research online.

Wisconsin seems like a wicked fun place to hunt, well all of these places you all are posting seem wicked fun to hunt. I hope that you all come back to this post and let us know how your hunts go.
 
The birds are already strutting around central Maine. Seems like it happens earlier and earlier, but maybe I'm just noticing more! Seems like they're always flocked up when the season starts. Was that way last year for me. I was able to find an area that (seemingly) had a lot more toms then hens, which is when things happened for me.

My experience is that they have multiple roosting areas, so you can't really bank on them being in an area. It seems like they seem to have a few core roosting areas and rotate through. I've been able to consistently find them, but can never really pattern them. Always a bit too random for me. Adds to the fun!

What part of Maine are you in?
 
I am in the Central part as well, around the China Lake region. It is a great area for me because there are plenty of turkeys, a good number of deer and some decent racks, lots of opportunity for waterfowl of all kinds, snowshoe hares and partridge (no, not huns that you Western guys reading this are used to, Mainers call ruffed grouse partridge), I even have tracks on both moose and bear.

I definitely agree that these birds seem to be strutting much earlier, but if we're lucky it might just keep them from being henned up come opening day!
 
I hunted turkeys in NH for about 15 years. I used to start my scouting in the beginning of April but still found the turkeys to be still in some what of there winter flocks and areas. Seemed like usually around the middle of April is when they would have spread out and be settled into there spring time area and patterns once things started to green up a bit. After that, unless pressured, they would stay in those same general locations into the season.
 
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I may have to keep you in mind, Hunter/nh2mt, for advice this turkey season. 15 years chasing longbeards, you must have some awesome tricks up your sleeve!
 
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