Asking other Hunters and Farmers in the area you intend to hunt often can be helpful. They may be able to provide information on where the turkeys are located and what they were feeding on. Fish & Wildlife Department Biologists are always a good source of information as well. They are usually more than happy to help you.
The key to finding turkeys is to determine their primary food source, especially during the fall. At this time of year there are not many grasses or insects to feed on, so turkeys will eat beech mast, wild grapes, dogwood berries, and acorns depending on the region you are hunting. Check the listing in the second article of this series for more detailed food sources by region. Knowing what turkeys are eating enables you to find them faster. When you locate an area with turkeys and have a good idea of what they're eating, look around mud holes for tracks. Also check for droppings. Once you find droppings, you need to know whether they're gobbler's or hen's. The gobbler's dropping is shaped like a question mark, the hen's like a little curlicue. Also turkeys molt a great deal, so look also for wing, tail, or breast feathers.
Turkey tracks are most easily found after a rain in soft ground such as in washes, gullies, or fields, or around waterholes.
Another good place to look for sign, especially in national forests, is around watering holes. During dry spells in the fall, these holes are an excellent source of fresh water for turkeys. Many times a whole flock will come to a watering hole early in the morning, to get that first drink after coming off the roost.
When you've found sign, go into your hunting area late in the afternoon and listen for turkeys flying up to roost. The best places to listen are ridges. Be alert for the sound of wings beating the air. Often you'll hear an old hen cackling as she flies up, a few hens yelping to each other, or young gobblers doing the kee-kee run.
