If a husband has to find his wife on a Saturday morning, should he look for her at a shopping mall, at her best girlfriend's house, or at a power tool sale at the local hardware store?

He'll do best to seek her out in the places that provide her with the things that she wants -- that make her feel comfortable.

Veteran turkey hunters follow the same strategy on scouting trips in preparation for spring turkey hunting season. Experienced turkey taggers scout for places rather than for birds.

"Scouting specifically for birds in late winter can be deceiving," said Jim Jansen, a wildlife biologist who has more than 20 years of turkey hunting experience. "They may spend the winter feeding and roosting in certain areas, then just about the time spring turkey hunting season opens, warmer weather changes their food sources, and breeding season changes their behavior.

"I know guys who watched and followed turkeys all winter, figured out exactly where they were feeding and roosting," he continued. "But when they went out to hunt in the spring, the birds were gone.

EVOLUTIONARY SCOUTING
Jansen and other savvy turkey hunters expect turkey behavior to evolve as spring weather develops and breeding season progresses. Jansen does minor scouting during the winter to confirm that turkeys are in a general area, then temporarily ignores the birds and focuses on identifying and locating food sources and habitats the birds will use once spring arrives.

"If I'm hunting in a new area, where I'm not familiar with the terrain, I'll get a topographic map and identify the major ridges, because gobblers generally prefer to be on higher terrain," he said. "If I can, I'll get an aerial photo of the area, and look for openings in the timber along the tops of those ridges, maybe see if I can identify some brushy areas near the openings. Brush or heavy cover near an open area on a ridgeline is a good thing."

Jansen explained that in the spring, toms want to strut in open areas so they can see and be seen. During that same time, hens look for good nesting habitat. So heavy habitat near open areas makes both toms and hens happy, and therefore a prime location to find springtime turkeys.

"Even if they aren't using those strutting and nesting areas in late winter, if turkeys are in that general area come spring, they'll use them once the weather changes," said Jansen. "After while you get so you can look at maps and walk through timbers and just feel the sort of places that turkeys will use once spring arrives."

Jansen also factors in the availability of food sources. "If you're in farm country and there are cornfields nearby, that's great," he said. "Corn is king when it comes to turkey food. They'll feed on waste grain in crop fields all through the winter and into spring. Those fields won't necessarily be the places to hunt in the spring, but they're good to identify because they'll keep turkeys in the general area."

Another food source in agricultural areas that can encourage turkeys to linger, or even attract them, is manure from beef cattle or dairy operations. Jansen noted that cattle manure often contains large quantities of undigested or partially digested corn. Turkeys aren't squeamish -- they happily feed in fields where cattle manure has been spread atop snow in the winter, or on bare fields in early spring.

Greg Schmidt is another wildlife biologist and avid turkey hunter. He agrees with Jansen that the key to spring turkey-hunting success is to scout for turkey habitat rather than turkeys.