Youth hunt -Stevens County

[baldopepper]

Well, did'n't have anything better to do Saturday morning so I took a fair drive around looking at birds.  They're really breaking up now but mostly still fairly close to their winter hangouts.  Still saw a couple of very large groups hanging around the winter haunts, but not nearly as many as just a couple of weeks ago.  Tom's and Jakes are strutting their stuff, but the hens are only showing minor interest.  Did see one flock of about 40 birds and at least half were Jakes,  going to be a lot of them pestering you.  High roads are in great shape for this time of year, but still sloppy in the shaded areas, shouldn't have much trouble getting around. .  I honestly did'n't see any birds up in the higher elevation spots where I usually see them, so I think if I were taking a youth out I'd stay a little lower down.  I don't use the call when I'm out looking around like this, but I did yelp at some hanging around the house and they did'n't get to excited.  Appear to be a good number of birds around and I found birds pretty much  everywhere I expected to see them except the higher elevation spots. They way they appear to be moving they could be up higher by next week.  Haven't had any tick problems around the house yet, but I'd still get those kids sprayed down.  Last year was very bad for them..Good luck, hope to see some kids in the area sporting tail feathers!

[Seatown5]

Thanks for the info. I'm always so curious about what's going on over there. But it's just to hard to get away from the family anymore to scout for a weekend.

[bearpaw]

A friend had kids outside playing last week and they found 4 ticks on the kids afterwards! Earliest I've ever heard of ticks in NE! 

[GreyIC]

I will be taking my daughter out this weekend on our first hunting trip (for either of us).  We're both really excited!

I did scout around Colville over the weekend of the 21st-22nd.  I did flush a few birds, which scared the crap out of me.  The birds I saw were above 3,000 feet but they weren't very vocal.  I did not try calling.

We'll have fun regardless but, obviously, I'd like for my daughter to have a successful trip.  I am curious to know what "low" and "high" altitudes mean in the context of hunting turkey.

Thanks!

[benhuntin]

Low is the valley floor. High is the tip top of any hills around. I would stay as low as possible. Private if you can get it

[baldopepper]

To me, it means the birds were mostly still down in the greener, cultivated areas as opposed to the more forested upper areas. They like the newly sprouted greens that are showing down at the somewhat lower elevations and usually move up when the higher elevation areas start greening out. Bad part of that is that the lower cultivated areas are invariably private ground as opposed to the higher Natl. forest or state land. As an example, there are a couple of spots near the summit of Addy/Cedonia road that normally have birds but I didn't see anything up that high.  Grass was just barely starting to green up there while the cultivated areas below the summit held birds in all the normal spots. Think of it from a turkeys point of view, why go up where it's colder at night and there's no new greenery to graze on when you can stay down lower where it's warmer and plenty of new green stuff to munch on. Deer are still pretty much down low too, tons down around the lake but not many up higher. You might keep that in mind when driving early or late, I had several deer run out in front of me but I was driving slow enough to avoid them. 

[bearpaw]

In the fall the birds flock up in large flocks and go to farms and ranches in search of winter food. When grass starts growing and breeding gets well underway in April they start to break up and move away from lowland private farms toward higher elevations as snow melts and higher areas green up. When insects come out that quickens the breakup of the birds as they scour the countryside feasting on bugs. Due to spring being a month earlier than usual the whole process is happening earlier, I expect early season to be better than usual for the hunters on public land. 

[Gobble Doc]

My last youth season was last year as my son turned too old.     Youth season was the most fun of the whole year.  I do have 6 year old that I'll need to start prepping here before too long.  Good luck everyone with the younger bunch.  It's a great time regardless if you end up with bird.  Hopefully the weather will be good to you. 

[GreyIC]

Thanks for the feedback folks.  Learning a lot.  Getting excited for this weekend!