Live Hunts - northern Virginia Turkey hunt - April 24

Live Hunts - northern Virginia Turkey hunt - April 24 - Day 1

Monday - April 24, Day 1 - northern Virginia Turkey hunt

We're hunting northern Virginia public land for Spring Turkey. I am hunting with my 2 brothers-in-law, who live in this area, and are first-time turkey hunters. I started out this morning by myself (both of them had to work today), mostly with the intent of scouting, as I've never hunted this area before for Turkeys.

I regret to say that these few photos are the only ones I have right now. They were taken this evening with my digital camera about 45 miles from where I hunted first this morning. However, the mountains in the photos are pretty representative of the country I was hunting. Being that I was on National Forest the habitat was 99% forest, no fields or such. I ordered a digital camera last week, but it just got here today (I'm writing this on Tuesday), only after 2 days of hunting. I took a bunch of photos with my 35mm, and they are being developed right now. I will put some of them on here tomorrow after I pick them up. Until then, kick your imagery system into overtime.

This morning I was scouting an area of the George Washington National Forest in Frederick County, that was recommended to me by a forest ranger as a traditionally good spot for turkeys. I did go ahead and get in my camo and take my gun since season is in and I had my license, but my primary intent was to scout for Tuesday and Wednesday's hunt. I got to the area about 5:15 a.m., following a forest service road several miles back along a stream valley between two very large mountains. I parked at a closed gate, walked about 1/2 mile, and then set off into the woods. I decided it would be a good idea to cross over the stream and get at least 1/2 mile or so away, because the stream made quite a large amount of noise and I was concerned that it would greatly impede my ability to hear birds gobbling on the roost. I set down on top of a ridge in a likely looking spot for awhile until it started to get light enough that I could see my way well and what the country looked like. I noticed an area of open hardwoods that looked like good country and made my way over there. I sat for awhile listening for gobbles, and heard none. It was a very cool morning, probably 45 degrees, and bright and sunny. To make a long story short, I sat for awhile then walked, sat for awhile then walked, and never heard the first peep of a sound from any turkey. I also did not see much scratching at all, and saw nary a track, though it was fairly muddy on the logging road and any turkeys crossing would surely have left tracks.

I stayed in this area till about 9:00 a.m., walking probably 2-3 miles in a big circle, calling and trying to discover some sort of sign that turkeys were in the area. I did see lots of boot tracks, but it's possible they were trout fishing as the stream was stocked by the VDGIF. No sign of turkeys, though. I encountered a local hunter, who said in the last few weeks he had hunted the area several times and heard not a single gobble. He had been hunting this area for years and had killed some nice birds in years past but said this year the turkeys really seemed to be acting strange.

I left this area and went to the nearest forest service office to get a map and some ideas on other possible areas. I did get some ideas on other areas to check out, but after I visited them they showed no more promise than the first area.

I went back to my pre-hunt research and decided I would check out a WMA in Fauquier County, southeast of Frederick County. I got there in early afternoon and immediately saw that it looked like much better turkey habitat. It was mildly rolling hills with a nice mixture of fields and hardwoods. Within a few hundred yards I saw a good deal of scratching in the leaves. That was encouraging. I still did not see any tracks, though, which made me think that perhaps the scratching wasn't very recent. I walked a ways further and saw enough of the habitat to decide for sure to come back the next morning.

I drove approximately 350 miles today and probably walked 5-7 miles scouting, and so far all I had seen to indicate the presence of turkeys was some scratching, no actual birds and still no gobbles.

Go to Day 2

e-mail Joshua Flournoy

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