Turkey Advice Needed

[Hogcoots]

Found several flocks of birds in January and February.  Lots of signs and tracks around mud puddles at that time as well.  Now, I can't cut a new track, haven't heard the first gobble and haven't seen a bird since last Tuesday.  The area is approximately 1500 acres with good hardwoods, some pine, 200 acres of old pasture, a few food plots of clover mix, small streams and a powerline.  The property is bordered by a railway and the adjacent properties are cattle pastures and more hardwood/pine tracks.

I walked the soles off my boots this morning from sunrise until 10:30 a.m.  I was primarily walking the interior trails in the hardwoods sticking to the ridges.  Nothing except 4 deer and more squirrels than you can shake a stick at.  Did they just vanish?  Tomorrow is opening morning and I used to worry about can I make the shot with my recurve.  Now, I would be happy to see something to shoot at.  Any advice from you experts?  Should I just find a ridge and hope for the best?

[straitera]

They roost in trees. If the've been disturbed they'll move to another roost. Ground is likely scratched bare with smaller underbelly feathers around. Get out before dawn & use a hoot owl call to locate them. They'll gobble when they hear an owl near. Take your turkey call too for when the sun is up you can call them in.

[RunninWild77]

Find the pines, big knarley lookin pines that are on a  EAST FACING ridge or hill that border fields or open hardwoods is prolly your best place to start, this is in my experience where they like to roost. Not always but usually.

 Another good place to start, especially if you've missed the fly down, is to go to water. The birds usuallly go down to water right from the roost, the hens group up. Then head on to wherever they wanna feed. Its hard to pattern turkeys in the spring because they change up habits usually every 3 days give er take, sometimes every day. BUT... you need to find their roosting area, that usually stays the same. Look for turkey skat on the sides of trees, and on the ground. The more skat, the that tells you he's comming to this particular area every night.  
Once you find their roost, its much easier to find where their gonna be headed to.

[Overspined]

they like to walk up hills in the evening so they don't have to fly so far up...lazy birds...so they will usually gain elevation and then fly to the treetops from the bottom. so look around the base of hills for the scat

[kbetts]

Based on the amount of area you describe, those turks could really travel.  If its as nice there as it is in DE right now, they should show themselves in an open area sometime during the morning.  If not, they'll be back.

[Hogcoots]

Here is the update.  I went to a hardwood ridge that overlooks the railway.  It is a 30 foot straight drop from the woodline to the railway.  On the other side of the railway is a small stream and then a cattle pasture.  My son and I sat up before daylight and waited and listened.  The sky started to become lighter and all of a sudden he gobbled from within 75 yards of us and pitched to the ground.  I never had to hit a locator call or tree call or anything.  We just got in on him and were set up perfectly.  If he gobbled once, he gobbled 50 times.  An owl hooted down the hollow and he gobbled...a squirrel threw a fit and he gobbled.  I soft called to him and he gobbled but he would not come in.  I couldn't figure out why.  Then a hen pitched down from the trees and away they went.  He just wouldn't leave a sure thing to stray after another.  Well, tomorrow is a new day so I will get after him again.

[Traditional-Archer]

Black Ghost,Red headed #%$@&%^ when they catch you moving. LOL      

[Hoyt]

When that happens to me I always go back to the same spot about 10:00 and setup and start calling again. Killed many gobblers that way.

Many times they will breed the hen and she will slip off and he will come back looking for the one (you) they heard earlier.

[Don Stokes]

Good advice from Hoyt.

It's normal for the winter flocks (Jan. and Feb. sightings) to relocate when breeding season comes. Turkeys can range as much as six miles in a day while feeding, so even if they're not roosting in your hunting area they may show up later.