Gearing Up For Southern Spring Turkey

I promised I'd try to put some information together about hunting the wiley turkey out-of-state. If you didn't know, spring turkey seasons come in first in the most southern states, and Hawaii! The southernmost part of Florida normally begins around the first week of March. The remainder of Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, and Georgia come in typically March 15th each year. The low-country of South Carolina likewise comes in on that date.

You must consider that as a rule, this early spring time of the year has very fickle weather. Many times I've traveled south from North Carolina and had my dreams of harvesting an early gobbler be literally washed out or blown away by rainy, windy, fronts... This seems to be more the norm that the exception. However, turkeys can be killed in less-than-perfect weather. They must feed and walk about everyday!

The above mentioned states all have good turkey populations and public lands to hunt them. Florida is probably the worst state to hunt public land as the Osceola subspecies is so sought after for those wanting to complete their Grand Slams. Last spring I journeyed to Florida and harvested my Osceola. I didnot hunt public land, but stayed and hunted with people who were camping and hunting WMA's.

In the last two years or so, Florida has changed their permit process for hunting WMA's. Used to anyone could transfer drawn tags, but that is not the case at most public spots now. The state really limits the number of nonresident permits for each WMA, so much so that I felt like it wasn't worth the time and effort to wait year-after-year drawing unsuccessfully. My guided hunt was a success on my first trip to Florida, and cost me more than $1500.00, the average rate for private hunts today.

One hot tip I can give you that I found out while there was that just because a WMA is a "draw" WMA, it's often only "draw" for the first few days! Remember this....If you find out which WMA's allow anyone after the "draw period", most times you can hunt uncrowded and unmolested after the first week! When I go back, you can bet I'll not pay $1500.00 for another hunt.

Stay tuned as I plan to talk more about Osceola turkey public spots. I learned alot last spring I wished I'd known earlier....I met some friendly and somewhat famous turkey hunters there who taught me much about the Osceola experience.