Early Season Turkey Scouting Report

For the past two mornings I've been doing some turkey scouting here in Sulphur, Oklahoma. I'm not sure I'll be doing a ton of hunting here in the Chickasaw National Recreation Area, but I'm going to use it as a back up for the days I can't get out of town so I wanted to get a good idea of where the turkeys are.

Saturday I went to an area that is a 7 mile long by 3 mile wide strip of CNRA that runs along the east side of Arbuckle Lake. I was there at 0600 hours that morning and started along the trail. A creek runs along the west side of this strip that is open to public hunting. There are numerous tall trees along the creek, and the further you go east the more uphill it gets. The whole area is basically lots of ridges and some open fields, bordered by the creek to the east. There is a trail that goes from the north end of this strip all the way to the south end. Not many hunters bother with this area because there is no vehicle access and if you kill something, it's a long way back along pretty tough terrain.

I hiked about 1.75 miles south, and around 0740 started hearing some gobbles. It was pretty light out, but they sounded like they were still on roost. About 0745, I heard a call down and assembly call from some hens, along with some light yelping. At one point, I ducked into the woods because I could clearly hear some soft yelps, and expected the birds to top over a little ridge towards me at any time. I stayed hidden for awhile, but didn't hear anything else. I got out and started moving a bit, and blew my owl hooter and my crow call, but didn't hear any other gobbles. Not too surprised however, because when these toms are with hens in the early spring, they aren't going to be too vocal after fly down.

This morning I went to another area of CNRA, that gets pretty heavy deer hunting pressure. My father and I have also hunted nearby for coyote. After walking along a sandy creek bed in the dark for 30 minutes, the sun finally came up. I scouted some of the most promising looking areas today but couldn't buy a gobble. I was pretty windy after daylight, so I don't know if it was the wind or there just weren't any turkeys around.

Tomorrow morning I'm sleeping in, but Tuesday morning my dad and I are heading down to Tishomingo, Oklahoma for some scouting. At the very least I know there are actually turkey in Murray county, and I know where to get at them if I have to.