Optimal Trail Camera Placement for Turkey Hunting

Trail cameras are an excellent tool for scouting your next turkey hunt. Here are a few suggestions to fine-tune your trail camera setup for tracking turkeys. When positioning cameras for turkeys, focus on several key areas.

• Strut Zones
• Roosting Areas
• Food Sources
• Fence Crossings & Natural Funnels

Trail Camera Placement for Turkeys #1 - Strut Zones

Strut zones are typically open spaces that serve as both feeding areas and places where hens gather. Toms often strut here to attract hens or stay close to a nearby nesting hen. If a tom isn’t already with a hen, this is a spot he will likely visit soon after leaving the roost. In large open fields, look for pinch points or trails that turkeys commonly use to enter the field. Using multiple cameras around these zones can greatly increase your chances of tracking turkeys and identifying specific trails they may use. Sometimes, groups of birds will spend the majority of their day in these large, open fields. If a tom is busy with his group of hens, he may ignore your decoy setup. In this case, your best opportunity might be to position yourself where he enters or exits the field.

Trail Camera Placement for Turkeys #2 - Roosting Areas

I prefer placing cell cameras near roosting areas for several reasons. One of the few reliable elements in turkey hunting is knowing where turkeys roost. While turkeys might not roost in the same spot every night throughout the season, there are usually a few reliable locations where they gather. By setting up multiple cameras in these areas, you can potentially pattern a particular bird or group of birds, similar to how you would track a mature buck. At the very least, you’ll know there are turkeys in the area.

Trail Camera Placement for Turkeys #3 - Food Sources

During the spring season, turkeys feed on a variety of plants, insects, and seeds. Early in the season, before the new growth begins, turkeys primarily feed on harvested agricultural fields like corn or soybeans. In wooded areas, you can spot places where they’ve been scratching through leaves in search of acorns and other nuts. On south-facing slopes, turkeys will seek out the first green shoots of legumes and grasses. As the season progresses and temperatures rise, they move to hayfields, pastures, and disturbed agricultural fields, where they feed on insects, grass shoots, and seeds. Cattle pastures are another hotspot, where turkeys flip over old cow patties in search of bugs, worms, and even "recycled" grains in the manure.

Clover food plots attract turkeys year-round. Placing trail cameras around food sources can be tricky if the area is large, but the more cameras you set up, the better your chances of patterning their behavior. Some hunters place a t-post in the ground or use a camera holder to position cameras in the middle of the plot. While turkeys may be cautious of the camera at first, they’ll quickly get used to it. Just avoid setting the camera in the middle of a field right before you plan to hunt that location.

Trail Camera Placement for Turkeys #4 - Fence Crossings & Natural Funnels

How many times have you had a turkey approach your setup, only to get stuck at a fence line? For reasons unknown, turkeys often hesitate to fly over fences. Any prominent gap, fence crossing, or open gate can be an excellent spot for a hunting trail camera, as it will capture turkeys moving between food sources or roosting areas. Other natural or man-made travel corridors, such as logging roads, creek crossings, and saddles, also make great camera locations.