New to hunting the Long beard unit 20

[istahill]

Hey guys,
I'm planning on going after spring turkey for the first time this year. I live outside of Longmont CO so I'm thinking I'm going to hunt unit 20. I've done a little internet scouting, even put boots on the ground this past weekend, but I'm not sure I'm looking in the right area. I didn't find any sign of turkey whatsoever. If anyone would be willing to give me a general area to start scouting I'd really appreciate it! You can PM if you don't want to display it publically. Again, I'm not looking for anyone's sweet spot just a general direction for this first time turkey hunter. Thanks!

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

What I do is first look for roost trees. Look for lots of white droppings on the ground. Usually pretty big evergreens, not too far from good feeding areas. Once I've found a promising area, I wait until late evening and see if they are actively using the roost. If not, just keep looking!

 

[CoHiCntry]

Where they are now during winter probably isn't where they'll be come spring so don't worry about not seeing any sign this time of year. They will usually follow the snow line (usually), so start looking there. I'm not familiar with unit 20 so no help there, sorry.

 

[tim]

Not much of a turkey hunter, just someone who lives with the turkeys.
I don't see much migration with turkeys. maybe a half mile from one house to another. Honestly look for private propery and than start knocking on the doors of the homeowners. Maybe put an add in the local paper asking for someone who wants the nuisance birds off of there property. I am serious about that last part. Once word got out that I had a friend that wanted to shoot turkeys, all the neighbors where inviting him over. tags cost to much for me to deal with it. I am in Idaho and we are allowed 5 a year.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Not much of a turkey hunter, just someone who lives with the turkeys.
I don't see much migration with turkeys. maybe a half mile from one house to another. Honestly look for private propery and than start knocking on the doors of the homeowners. Maybe put an add in the local paper asking for someone who wants the nuisance birds off of there property. I am serious about that last part. Once word got out that I had a friend that wanted to shoot turkeys, all the neighbors where inviting him over. tags cost to much for me to deal with it. I am in Idaho and we are allowed 5 a year.

I've been shooting them in Texas..$120.00 for 4 tags for NR. Always fill all my tags. Hunting here in SW Colo is really tough. Lots of walking and looking....unless you know someone that has a flock on their land.

 

[tim]

$120 for 4, wow! I am complaining about 5 for $50. I guess it is all relative. We had one tom that all he did was fight his reflection in the window.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

$120 for 4, wow! I am complaining about 5 for $50. I guess it is all relative. We had one tom that all he did was fight his reflection in the window.

I usually go down there the first week of April for turkey opening and also shoot a couple of hogs too. I have a friend that has lots of land and he hunts elk with me and I go down for turkeys and hogs. I just can't bring myself to spend the $250.00 (or about that much) to hunt those small whitetails down there. If I remember you get 5 or 6 tags, shoot 2 bucks(I under 16"wide; I over) and the rest does. Lots of deer, but my Lab is as big as most of the deer down there!

I did get a gobbler that weighed #23 (with the guts out). Had a 10" beard and 1 1/2 spurs a couple of years ago.

 

[istahill]

I did a little bit more interent scouting through the DOWs hunting atlas last night. Found a couple more areas to scout out. Prolly head up tomorrow and do like you said Colorado Cowboy look for roosting trees/droppings with any luck I'll locate some birds then just try to keep track of their movemonts until season opening. Thanks for the tips, I'm quickly learning that turkey hunting (pre-season at least) isn't much different than elk hunting, nothing substitutes boots on the ground and time in the field getting to know the area!

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Here in the west, the birds move around lots and sometimes can be down right impossible to find. The comparison to elk hunting is spot on!

 

[tim]

good luck on your hunt.

 

[istahill]

Went out scouting more areas yesterday. Seems like the floods have cut off access to the areas I thought might be best. I have found a couple other areas that I'm going to take a look at this weekend. The thing I'm becoming concerned with is I have really found any sign of turkeys. I "think" I may have found some droppings but not a lot. I'm beginning to think that I might not be at the right elevation. I know the birds probably haven't startting moving to highh yet but as for the hunt what elevations should I be conncentrating on? So far I've mainly scouted between 6200-6800, but I've read that they tend to roam a little higher 7 to 9000 feet. Is that correct? Should I try to get higher up? Also I've heard that around Heil Ranch can be good, anyone have any experience in that area?

 

[tim]

I heard a tom gobbling the other night, and this morning a tom was all fanned out looking good for the ladies.

 

[Colorado Cowboy]

Went out scouting more areas yesterday. Seems like the floods have cut off access to the areas I thought might be best. I have found a couple other areas that I'm going to take a look at this weekend. The thing I'm becoming concerned with is I have really found any sign of turkeys. I "think" I may have found some droppings but not a lot. I'm beginning to think that I might not be at the right elevation. I know the birds probably haven't startting moving to highh yet but as for the hunt what elevations should I be conncentrating on? So far I've mainly scouted between 6200-6800, but I've read that they tend to roam a little higher 7 to 9000 feet. Is that correct? Should I try to get higher up? Also I've heard that around Heil Ranch can be good, anyone have any experience in that area?

Down here in SW Co, the birds usually follow the snow line up. Look for scratching under the oak brush on the ground as they look for acorns. When it warms up a little more they start searching the meadows/grassy areas looking for insects.

 

[swampokie]

Wow! 5 birds for 50$ is probably the cheapest ive heard of. Very liberal bag limit also. You would think the wolves would take out some of that vermin and leave the big money species alone!

$120 for 4, wow! I am complaining about 5 for $50. I guess it is all relative. We had one tom that all he did was fight his reflection in the window.

 

[browngold]

I second on following the snow line

 

[tim]

Wow! 5 birds for 50$ is probably the cheapest ive heard of. Very liberal bag limit also. You would think the wolves would take out some of that vermin and leave the big money species alone!

you don't see turkeys in the woods, only in people yards. or more correctly said, the turkeys seem to do very well in the wildland urban interface. they don't seem to be many in the "wild". wolves are around the house, but in a very super small way. In the wildland urban interface, the wolf has not been an issue. in the "wild" yes, but that seems to be more talk than reality. atleast what I have seen. but with that said, I don't hunt elk in the wilderness anymore. just outside the wildland urban interface and have done well.

 

[Knappy]

See if you can get out into the woods early in the morning, well before the sun comes up. Try to locate the birds by listening for the toms to gobble while on the roost. If the birds are easily found in the residential area, they are more than likely roosting further up in the hills/mountains and then coming down into the housing after the hit the ground. Try to locate the roost and sit in between the housing/feeding area and the roost. I grew up hunting in Missouri and now I'm living in the great turkey area of Northern California. I absolutely love chasing big toms!! Another thing you can do... If you have a general idea of where the roost is but you don't know exactly, try using a fall tactic. Walk through either late after the birds have flown up into the roost or real early in the morning long before they fly down. Just take off walking in the area you think the roost is at. You'll find the roost after you bust a couple of birds out of there. Just don't bust their roost too much. They like to roost in the same general area as long as they don't get pushed off the roost too often. Good luck this spring season guys.....

 

[swampokie]

Thanks knappy and good luck to you also. Im headed to western ok this weekend in pursuit of rios.