The fall turkey season isn’t far away, October 30 is opening day, and you can bet most serious turkey hunters have at the very least been keeping their eyes out for flocks of turkeys. When it comes to fall turkey hunting, there are a couple of approaches that hunters often take. One approach is to scout out a flock and be in position and ready first thing in the morning when the birds come down from the roost.

The scouting part can start off with nothing more than paying attention to field edges as you drive through turkey country; that’s why I prefer my wife do the driving so I can keep a better eye on the field edges and woods.

Over the past couple of weeks, I have located two separate flocks of about a dozen birds each. At one point, I thought it was one flock that I was simply spotting on one side of the road and then spotting the same flock a day or so later on the other side but recently, I encountered both flocks on the same morning. Knowing the lay of the land, I have a pretty good idea where both of the flocks are likely roosting.

Of course, locating birds while driving isn’t always successful either since eventually high weeds and planted fields obscure most of the turkeys, with sometimes only a couple of heads sticking above the plant growth. One of the reasons field edges are good places to look is simply because turkeys are in those spots looking for food. Knowing where turkeys are scouting for food is a good place to start your own scouting, and that might mean putting some feet on the ground.

All turkey hunters know, of course, that entering the turkeys’ backyard must be done quietly and carefully and not too frequently. You can probably narrow down scouting areas some by knowing what the turkeys are feeding on if you aren’t seeing them in open areas. As fall approaches, you can bet that turkeys will seek out one of their favorite foods — beech nuts — and acorns as well; if you know where there’s a good beech nut crop, I would certainly want to check it out.

Another approach to hunting fall turkeys is to break up a flock. Now it helps to know where there is a flock in the first place, and that’s where some of the things mentioned earlier in this piece come in handy. But even if you haven’t had a chance to scout much, you can still roam a piece of woods that may offer an opportunity. I’ll never forget the first time I saw someone break up a flock. I was with a friend; it was one of my first turkey hunts. When he spotted a flock off in the distance, he took off in a dead run, scattering turkeys in every direction. It wasn’t long after we got settled that those birds started calling to each other-they wanted to get back together, and this is especially true of hens and the young of the year. It wasn’t long, and we had a turkey — now I understood. Some years later, I took my wife on her first turkey hunt, and the scenario was repeated. I scrambled the flock, and a very short time later, my wife bagged her first turkey.

One of the keys to remember when breaking up a flock is that you need a good break-up. What’s a good break-up? When birds scatter in different directions. If they all take off in the same direction, they are not likely to be that far apart when they settle down. If you don’t get the break-up you hoped for, it may be wise to circle out around and try again; the better you scatter them, the better chance of calling them back in.

It’s two different approaches, but the bottom line is whether or not you bring home a turkey at the end of the day.