Winter Musings on Places to Hunt Turkeys

[wvlimbhanger]

I started my research for my grand slam in the summer of 2014 looking for the right place for my Osceola.  During my search I came across a comment that didn't make a connection to me at the time, I was just wanting to kill my slam. "The quest for your slam is about more than just the birds.....it's about the places you hunt them."  The long drive home from Okeechobee, FL to West Virginia in March 2015 gave me a lot of time to think about that comment.  It was in the back of my mind when I went to Kansas last spring to hunt the big open ag land and small patches of cottonwoods in the creek bottoms for Rios.  Now that deer season is just a fond memory I'm constantly day dreaming of the pines and creek bottoms of Northwest Nebraska and the Meriam I need to complete my slam.

In the spirit of that above mentioned comment, "the quest for your slam is about more than just the birds.....it's about the places you hunt them." 

Where are the places or regions that a person just has to turkey hunt?

I'm not asking anyone to divulge a secret spot, just what terrains and regions does a turkey hunter need to experience to understand it.

Depending on locality I know we are all missing out on something.

For those of you up north, you owe it to yourself to hunt Florida in March.  Watching birds fly off roost from a live oak and walking through palmettos is a thing of beauty.  You need to experience the bugs and how great a thermocell is.  You need to be in the darkness of the bogs and swamps, hear the sounds of night give way to the sounds of day.

[Tail Feathers]

The places are great, the people I've run across are even better.
The kindness shown to strangers in E. Tennessee, the down-home hospitality of south and central FL, the small town feeling of OK and the unique sense of humor of the great folks in NE all bring as many memories to mind as the varied terrain. 
I love seeing the new places and walking new ground too, but the people along the way make those memories even better.

[MK M GOBL]

We have had some great hunts in the Black Hills of South Dakota and filled some tags there too! The landscape was amazing and hit the Merriam's leg of our SLAM there.

MK M GOBL

[born2hunt]

I get what your saying about differences in region and  terrain. As a native Florida boy the swamps, palmetto flats and bugs are the norm for me. Just another day in the woods.

Now the first time I hunted turkeys in the hills of middle TN ( which I figure is very similar to your local ground  ) was like entering a whole new world. The volume and shear intensity of a gobble as a bird comes up a "holler" is nothing like I had ever heard before. The up and down hills and  wading through what seemed like 2 feet of noisy  leafs while trying to get close to a bird was tough.

I'm sure each region has that special beauty and unique  challenge that the locals take for granted or become used to. So yeah, it's not just about the Gobbler, experiencing the hunt in different places is a huge part of the success.

[turkeyfoot]

Top of my list will always be the Appalachian mountains I never feel more at home anywhere than on a hardwood ridge waiting on daylight to break hearing an old barred owl sound off and the blood gets pumping. Born and raised in the mtns of Va. it heaven on earth to me I've hunted places with tons more birds but they are no comparison. I do love the Blackhills as well just some of the prettiest  country a person could ask for. I've killed lot birds in Ks and Neb farm country but I won't say the scenery is all that great but all the gobbling makes up for it the cottonwoods are nice and the people are great as well.

[buzzardroost]

You have to go to Florida. I think you have to go to Tom Kelly country In South Alabama as well. The rest is on my bucket list for someday. Really want to go west.


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[Happy]

Top of my list will always be the Appalachian mountains I never feel more at home anywhere than on a hardwood ridge waiting on daylight to break hearing an old barred owl sound off and the blood gets pumping. Born and raised in the mtns of Va. it heaven on earth to me I've hunted places with tons more birds but they are no comparison. I do love the Blackhills as well just some of the prettiest  country a person could ask for. I've killed lot birds in Ks and Neb farm country but I won't say the scenery is all that great but all the gobbling makes up for it the cottonwoods are nice and the people are great as well.

Same here. Just a little further north. Course some day I wouldn't mind sneaking down south and giving a few southern turkeys a little howdee do from a northern boy. But honestly I am perfectly happy hunting them right here in the Appalachian mountains.

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[BowBendr]

Being raised south of the Mason-Dixon line in the Appalachian Mtns. I have always wanted to hunt any other place I could that wasn't straight up and down. Love my mountains but it can be tough. For southerners I guess it's mandatory to go to places like Alabama and Florida, but I have a hankering to hunt the New England states. I've been there visiting in-laws but never hunted it. Beautiful country, rolling land, rock walls, the whole bit.

But if we are talking about enjoying the trip, the scenery and the experience as a whole, I say go big or go home. I want to hunt rio birds in Hawaii. Trying to figure out how to get there, I am TERRIFIED of airplanes...guess I could swim.....