Missouri, Tennessee, or elsewhere for first eastern?

[James gang]

You bet not quite that hardcore myself but i understand why they do it we have plenty of crazy hillbillies around here also .Most are very good people but you go out of your way to mess up someone's turkey hunt ( park on top of them because they got a bird gobbling try to intercept) your asking for it arkansas or not last year worse ive seen it watched a local take a shotgun away from an arkansas hunter unload it grabbed it by the barrel and smashed the stock across a tree then toss it on the ground in front of him ended up with a broke gun and a nasty shiner no one cares who comes here to hunt but everyone is fed up with the bs not trying to scare anyone off just telling what i saw im sure it will get worse before it gets better anyone could come here have a good hunt with no problems all it takes is a little common sense and respect for other hunters

[762hunter]

I'm in Memphis and cover quite a bit in W Tn.

The more you get towards mid TN the better the numbers.

I have gone to the boot heal of MO and was successful.
I would suggest MO as the terrain and size of the birds are incredible.

Good luck


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[deltastrutter]

Missouri.  Tennessee public land gets pretty crowded the times I've been. 

[JMalin]

Walking a mile in the dark is nothing to me.  I would honest expect to have other hunters around if I was working a bird within a few hundred yards of easy access.

[Meadow Valley Man]

I'll try this again.  Maybe the newly priced Missouri non-resident license will have an effect. It was $55 when I started in 1986, $224 this spring.  I've had a couple shot out from under me in those years, but mostly if you want to walk you can hunt unmolested.  I made a few lifelong friends from Arkansas-they don't hunt the way some have described. There's a few bad apples in every bunch, I guess.

I used to put on 6-7 miles some days, but next week I'll be 68, so  I've cut it to 4-5.

[James gang]

Sounds like you got to hunt mo in its prime i can remember hearing more birds in one morning than i hear all year now

[Fullfan]

Oh man back in the early 1990's it was nothing to hear 30 birds on the roost, and to have 5 birds answering your calls coming from diff directions. It was something...

[turkey harvester]

It was awesome back then. A person could find birds everywhere. They've cut more timber just north of me in the last 2 years than they have the last 15. Ive hunted Mark Twain my whole life and the numbers just aren't there anymore. A lot of my honeyholes are tore up with hog sign instead of scratching.

[James gang]

I know right have to keep changing positions tyin to figure out which ones gonna get there first lol the good ol days of mo turkey hunting sure hope im still able to chase them when im 68 im sure you got alot of good stories good luck

[turkey harvester]

When you find some, you've found a wad of em. But you better get there super early to secure a spot. Then that's no guarantee some lazy jack wagon wont try to slip in on ya, lol. I love hunting those big holler gobblers.

[James gang]

Yep harvester makes me sick seeing my favorite spots destroyed been hunting out there all my life all up j through to c never be the same hard to belive what they have done to it

[Meadow Valley Man]

Thanks, James gang, same to you!  Two of the nicest memories involve my late father.  In 1987 we tagged out on Monday of week two, and he was 69 then.  I carried 49 pounds of longbeards back to the truck in 85 degree weather.  The other one is in 2001, when Dad killed his last Missouri gobbler when he was 83. I carried that one out from the very ridge we had first hunted in 1986, as the tears ran down my cheeks.  I knew it was the last time he'd fire a gun in the Ozarks. That morning was like the old days, as we heard double digit gobblers all around us. He passed away in March of 2002, and that spring I hunted his favorite ridge on the first day and killed a bird at fly down  I think that bird was guided to me.

[James gang]

83 that is awesome good stories and memories no doubt that bird was guided to you lost my grandpa couple years ago sometimes i hunt with his old browning shotgun feels like he is sittin right there with me

[cuttinAR]

You bet not quite that hardcore myself but i understand why they do it we have plenty of crazy hillbillies around here also .Most are very good people but you go out of your way to mess up someone's turkey hunt ( park on top of them because they got a bird gobbling try to intercept) your asking for it arkansas or not last year worse ive seen it watched a local take a shotgun away from an arkansas hunter unload it grabbed it by the barrel and smashed the stock across a tree then toss it on the ground in front of him ended up with a broke gun and a nasty shiner no one cares who comes here to hunt but everyone is fed up with the bs not trying to scare anyone off just telling what i saw im sure it will get worse before it gets better anyone could come here have a good hunt with no problems all it takes is a little common sense and respect for other hunters

Holy run on sentence Batman!!  I'm sorry that you've had troubles with some of the arkansans.  I'm not sure why many of my fellow hunters act the way they do but don't paint us all with the same brush.  I can assure you I treat others as I would like to be treated.  We have a bad rap in all states.  Keep dolling out those shiners!

[James gang]

LOL im not sayin everyone from arkansas is the same.There is a group of guys that camp a couple miles from us from arkansas every year.I look forward to talking to them they are good guys.We haul each other back to our camps all the time.They get just as frustrated as everyone else with the other group from arkansas .I didnt dish out any shiners lol just pulled up as it was going down