Turkey's

[Europe]

having a ball sailing with my daughter and granddaughter.

Granddaughter wants to one-up her grandmother and I am all for it.

I was able to hunt the Gould, Rio Grande, Merriam, Easter, and Ocellated, but never got to Florida for the Osceola ---she wants to do all six and to date has only hunted the Rio Grande, Gould and Merriam. Been a long time for me and we hunted the Ocellated in Mexico and from memory Mexico and Belize were the two places where one could hunt them

All you turkey hunters, please bring me up to date on the best places to hunt the Osceola, Eastern, and Ocellated ?

Plus do we have any "slam" turkey hunters on the forum ? do we have any turkey hunters at all on the forum ? Do we have any turkeys, besides Charles and Scotty on the forum ?

 

[c. schutte]

:? :wink: :lol:

 

[Africa Huntress]

Charles, you will always have a special place in my parents heart and if for no other reason, with everything you have going on in your life right now, you have not lost your sense of humor;

April, I am not a Turkey hunter and it looks like nobody else on the forum is either, but do you remember Tico from a different forum. He would definitely know as I think he completed his slam. From memory he had only the hunt in Mexico to complete before our friend who was supporting him passed away. I can tell you that another person we both know who hunts turkeys, has used a company called Tall Tine from Florida, and I think they arranged a trip for him to hunt the turkey from Mexico and the one from Florida ( Ocellated and Osceola ).

Best Regards

Jamila

 

[Anonymous]

I've only hunted Easterns in Tennessee back in the dark ages. Modern populations there are very good, much higher than when I hunted them. From what I understand, turkeys in the East are doing pretty well.

 

[elkhunternm]

I hunt spring turkey on occasion. Fall turkey more often as the season is all of November. So,I can hunt deer and turkey at the same time,for the whole 5 day deer season.

Never hunted turkeys anywhere else,other than here in New Mexico.

 

[mjcmichigan]

Kinda the same here. Michigan spring if work is not crazy...


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[truck driver]

I use to be very big in hunting eastern turkey till I became the hunted and felt the muzzle blast from a hunters shot gun whom I almost beat to death for his stupidity and haven't hunted turkey since.
To make a long story short he miss took me for the turkey I was calling in and thought there was two birds but could only see the one I was calling and shot that bird while standing behind me on a rainy nasty mourning as I had set up behind some down logs with a tree too my back for protection and to break up my silhouette.
When hunting public areas you can run into some real stupid people.

 

[c. schutte]

I use to be very big in hunting eastern turkey till I became the hunted and felt the muzzle blast from a hunters shot gun whom I almost beat to death for his stupidity and haven't hunted turkey since.
To make a long story short he miss took me for the turkey I was calling in and thought there was two birds but could only see the one I was calling and shot that bird while standing behind me on a rainy nasty mourning as I had set up behind some down logs with a tree too my back for protection and to break up my silhouette.
When hunting public areas you can run into some real stupid people.

Looks like you have hunted East Texas...................... :lol:
And for that and other reasons I avoid public areas like the plague.

 

[truck driver]

I use to be very big in hunting eastern turkey till I became the hunted and felt the muzzle blast from a hunters shot gun whom I almost beat to death for his stupidity and haven't hunted turkey since.
To make a long story short he miss took me for the turkey I was calling in and thought there was two birds but could only see the one I was calling and shot that bird while standing behind me on a rainy nasty mourning as I had set up behind some down logs with a tree too my back for protection and to break up my silhouette.
When hunting public areas you can run into some real stupid people.

Looks like you have hunted East Texas...................... :lol:
And for that and other reasons I avoid public areas like the plague.

It happened in Maryland but finding private land to hunt here anymore is almost impossible due to housing developments taking over all the farms and those that are left don't want the hassle that comes with the liability since there has been several sued by hunters who were stupid.
I have wild turkeys feed threw my yard on occasion threw the winter months and enjoy seeing them though I don't shoot them.

 

[mjcmichigan]

Wow. Glad you are ok.
Sad you are leaving the birds alone now. They do taste good, and it's really good fun!

I generally don't hunt deer or turkey on public land. I do hunt squirrel and bear on public.




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[truck driver]

Wow. Glad you are ok.
Sad you are leaving the birds alone now. They do taste good, and it's really good fun!

I generally don't hunt deer or turkey on public land. I do hunt squirrel and bear on public.




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Thanks but that happened a long time ago back in the 1980s when I was a lot younger and the turkeys were first making a good come back. All the sports hunting rags were pushing how easy it was to hunt them along with all the hunting seminars and every idiot that could buy a gun and get a license with out taking a hunter safety course were out looking for an easy trophy.
April I didn't mean to high jack your post but as we all know hunting is a dangerous sport.

 

[DrMike]

I use to be very big in hunting eastern turkey till I became the hunted and felt the muzzle blast from a hunters shot gun whom I almost beat to death for his stupidity and haven't hunted turkey since.
To make a long story short he miss took me for the turkey I was calling in and thought there was two birds but could only see the one I was calling and shot that bird while standing behind me on a rainy nasty mourning as I had set up behind some down logs with a tree too my back for protection and to break up my silhouette.
When hunting public areas you can run into some real stupid people.

Rodger,

Reminds me of when I lived in NYC. My landlord had gone upstate for a deer hunt. He was nearly tagged by a Nimrod who mistook him for a buck as he sat under a tree. I mentioned that he looked a bit horny, so it was understandable. I've avoided places with large crowds of hunters since. I recall a hunt in the Big Bend area of Texas on one occasion when I observed three separate hunting parties in the valley as I awakened on opening morning for mule deer. The parties were stalking one another. Still gives me the willies. :shock:

April,

From the title of this thread, I though you were expressing disgust with some of those posting here! Sure glad you didn't name names (well, 'cept for a couple, which is understandable and appropriate). :lol:

 

[Europe]

I use to be very big in hunting eastern turkey till I became the hunted and felt the muzzle blast from a hunters shot gun whom I almost beat to death for his stupidity and haven't hunted turkey since.
To make a long story short he miss took me for the turkey I was calling in and thought there was two birds but could only see the one I was calling and shot that bird while standing behind me on a rainy nasty mourning as I had set up behind some down logs with a tree too my back for protection and to break up my silhouette.
When hunting public areas you can run into some real stupid people.

Rodger,

Reminds me of when I lived in NYC. My landlord had gone upstate for a deer hunt. He was nearly tagged by a Nimrod who mistook him for a buck as he sat under a tree. I mentioned that he looked a bit horny, so it was understandable. I've avoided places with large crowds of hunters since. I recall a hunt in the Big Bend area of Texas on one occasion when I observed three separate hunting parties in the valley as I awakened on opening morning for mule deer. The parties were stalking one another. Still gives me the willies. :shock:

April,

From the title of this thread, I though you were expressing disgust with some of those posting here! Sure glad you didn't name names (well, 'cept for a couple, which is understandable and appropriate). :lol:

This works for me LOL

Rodger, no worries, thanks for the story.

Jamila, thank you.

O.K. guys we will not discuss turkeys again since nobody here seriously hunts them however I will continue to encourage my granddaughter to fulfill her dream of getting a turkey slam, I will just tell her not to post her results here LOL

Hodgeman, Dr Mike, do you run into any "turkeys" when hunting the far north and I use that word loosely

 

[DrMike]

The farthest north turkeys are found in BC is in the Kootenay region, about 1000 km south of us. Well, I know a few turkeys, but the RCMP would be quite interested if anyone shot at one. Funnily enough, I nearly wrecked my truck one fall about seven years ago when I came across a flock of turkeys on a hillside. I imagine they were domesticated birds that had escaped someone's pen. They won't survive the winters here, however.

 

[elkhunternm]

When I go spring turkey hunting,I like to go on the tail end of the season. Not very many people hunting and I have the woods to myself.

There's nothing like calling in a tom turkey IMO. Never got a shot at him,but by dog,it was exciting watching/listening him come in!

 

[truck driver]

April please don't discourage your granddaughter from posting her hunts about turkeys here on the forum since they will be appreciated by quite a few of us and will defend her right to do so.
Hunting the wild turkey can be very rewarding and trust me sometimes as hard or harder than other game we hunt. The old saying of Make like a turkey in tall corn seldom seen and long gone is know joke. They would rather run then fly and like most birds have incredible vision and can spot the slightest movement making total concealment a must. Pre scouting in the spring is a must and putting them to bed at night increases your chances of success. They feed at an average of 5mi a day so they can be here today and gone tomorrow.
A good 12ga that shoots tight patterns out to 50yds is a must or a target grade bolt action 222 Rem where rifles are allowed will extend range.
I would reload all my shot shells and could cut a soda can in half with my reloads at 25yds.
I used to use both box and mouth calls but mostly mouth calls since I could keep my hands free. I won a few calling contest back in the day and would use domestic birds to practice on imitating the sounds they made. My neighbors when I lived in town once reported me for keeping live stock which wasn't allowed and when the LE arrived to investigate they couldn't find any animals. :grin:
As they left I placed a call in my mouth and gobbled at them which didn't make them very happy. :roll: :lol:

 

[Nimrod84]

I'm afraid I don't have any data on where to tag the Osceola, Eastern, and Ocellated Turkeys... You might check with the National Wild Turkey Federation.

Michigan does have zones and a draw system for spring Eastern Turkey, but later in the spring season you can pretty much get an over the counter private land tag (unit ZZ and hunt 0234). We also have a fall Turkey season, and I've never applied for a tag as I hunt the during the late private property season. Public land is typically over-run with hunters like Truck Driver encountered, I have a friend who had such a hunter intrude onto his private property and nearly shoot him.

The problem with Michigan Eastern Tom's is that the beards tend to top out around 10-12", due to the tips freezing and breaking off during the winter (per my uncle). I think if she is looking for long beards, then the southern states would be better for the Eastern.

We do have some Smokey Grey's which I have seen and harvested one of. We do get some good spurs though in southern Michigan and my family seems to get one or two Turkey's a year when we put the time in. About 2.5 months ago up-until two weeks ago, there were three Eastern Tom's strutting in my parents yard a couple times a day along with 8 hens. Red headed Heron's migrated in and two weeks ago we noted the Heron youths scampering around which coincides with Turkey's moving out of the area.

Personally I would be interested in hearing how your granddaughter bests her grandmother. Also, I guess I should own up to being known as a Turkey to some...

 

[wisconsinteacher]

I love to turkey hunt but have never left WI to hunt them. I can try to help you but if you need more info PM me. My buddy just completed his world slam this spring.

Osceola=mid to south Florida (guided is the best option)
Eastern=from Maine to north Florida and west to the Mississippi River
Ocellated=Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico

I had a great season and was able to shoot 5 birds this spring.

Let me know if you have any questions.

 

[tddeangelo]

I hunt them.

I'm not good at actually killing them, but I hunt them!

 

[Cleveland48]

I'm an avid turkey hunter, but only have experience hunting easterns in Mississippi and Alabama. Wisconsin teacher is correct as far as I know on the range of the three species your after


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