Ford:
Glad to have you aboard the ranks of us turkey hunters!
As for the question, there’s lots of sound advice here, esp. regarding urgency in the scouting/permission game. Esp. in your zone, depending on which portion of 601 you choose to hunt, you’re fighting a rapidly dwindling supply of hunt-able habitat.
My advice to you would be the same as I follow when scouting in the early season. Locate several groups of different birds. Not the same birds that range to different places, but a completely different set of birds, at least a mile or more apart.
This will be difficult in the suburbs, hence the time crunch. Become well-versed in your surrounding city’s ordinances regarding firearms. You’ll have a leg-up on the competition by choosing to bowhunt, but make that decision soon. Taking a turkey with a bow is a challenging affair, and probably not best attempted on your first hunt. If you’re a proficient bowhunter already, this may open doors and full-cities that otherwise may not have been available.
After you find some groups of birds, secure what land you can, including all adjacent available chunks that look like good habitat – even if you don’t see them there during the winter. Public lands in the cities can be relatively un-hunted, but be careful when doing so. What hunters are there, will usually be locals that are coming from a home or other location where you can’t readily tell whether or not you’ll be alone out there. In other words, don’t let your hopes hinge on one group or even two of public land birds here.
Ideally, find groups of birds towards the very outer edges of the zone that are less populated, with larger private land blocks, gaining you maximum access for minimum effort. This will allow you the luxury of having several groups of birds to hunt.
As for the hunting, find a mentor and continually question him/her. It’s the single quickest way to attain knowledge, as long as you don’t become a pest. Be willing to pay for the knowledge. Whether it be a gift card or some other token of your appreciation. I was lucky enough to be tutored by a true turkey hunting professional and guide of over 20 years. Though the road to a harvested turkey will never be an easy one, his experiences saved me hundreds of hours of frustration, and truly heightened my excitement for turkey hunting. The more I learn about turkey hunting, the more I value the countless experiences of which I will always be indebted to him for.
Joel