turkeyhuntinfool
Senior Member
Looking good ! Good luck !
Jim
Jim
Welcome Guest!
Turkey Hunting in Florida
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Glenn
Senior Member
The kind that doesn’t pay enough…What kind of work u do Glenn ?
Apalachicola is a pretty big place.
flatsmaster
Senior Member
We’ve had several “guides” reach out offering $700 for everyone killed on our property and I politely said not interested
billy336
Senior Member
Pretty solid on private ground in Martin county. I trap the coons hard and also trap/shoot every pig coyote and bobcat I see. Hawks and owls are ROUGH on our poults. Can’t do anything about that . Local public ground is thankfully quota only, they’re around there as well.
. Local public ground is thankfully quota only, they’re around there as well.BigBass123
Senior Member
Me and you must do the same type of work
I read your page after. I’m from tally. Worked in construction there forever.
Good luck hunting.
Glenn
Senior Member
I work for the State of Florida like a lot of others here in Tallahassee. I hunt Apalachicola NF usually when I don’t have any quota permits, but it is pretty tough figuring that place out.
Did get on a few birds out there last year and I’m hoping they will still be there this year. I’m still amazed by the amount of out of town people I come across out there.
Did get on a few birds out there last year and I’m hoping they will still be there this year. I’m still amazed by the amount of out of town people I come across out there.
Fieldglass
UGA
I killed one below 70 and will probably never go back. Id say it damaged my turkey hunting momentum more than it fueled it, sadly.
I paid for someone to give me access to their land and spots, a key to the gate essentially. Turned out the "acreage" i had paid for was a farm which had zero birds on it...gar hole...thus the next day was just like others have said here, bouncing from orange grove to orange grove with a random friend of the contact in a small suv....very sketchy. I killed a tom and left that evening feeling like i hadnt even gone turkey hunting, id just killed some small acreage, bottlenecked bird like a suburban backyard buck. It made me feel guilty to be honest.
As to the the OPs ask, the amount of turkey hunters down there was astounding to me, I cant imagine how bad it must be now. This was 4 years ago or so. How can they continue to get hammered and hunted from literally any parcel size? It was sad at how many small acre lots had wrapped trucks, dudes with cameras, or trucks with 3-4 hunters getting out to hunt a 15 acre lot.
Wont be long til the lowest facebook asking price shoots to 5k for one of those magical hwy 70 osceolas.
jmo the state should reign it in a good bit for out of staters below hwy 70 and in turn convert some of the north zone quotas into general public land, this could balance or slow some of the pressure maybe?
I paid for someone to give me access to their land and spots, a key to the gate essentially. Turned out the "acreage" i had paid for was a farm which had zero birds on it...gar hole...thus the next day was just like others have said here, bouncing from orange grove to orange grove with a random friend of the contact in a small suv....very sketchy. I killed a tom and left that evening feeling like i hadnt even gone turkey hunting, id just killed some small acreage, bottlenecked bird like a suburban backyard buck. It made me feel guilty to be honest.
As to the the OPs ask, the amount of turkey hunters down there was astounding to me, I cant imagine how bad it must be now. This was 4 years ago or so. How can they continue to get hammered and hunted from literally any parcel size? It was sad at how many small acre lots had wrapped trucks, dudes with cameras, or trucks with 3-4 hunters getting out to hunt a 15 acre lot.
Wont be long til the lowest facebook asking price shoots to 5k for one of those magical hwy 70 osceolas.
jmo the state should reign it in a good bit for out of staters below hwy 70 and in turn convert some of the north zone quotas into general public land, this could balance or slow some of the pressure maybe?
BigBass123
Senior Member
On public land, I think there’s only one non-quota area below 70. At least on public, the pressure is fairly well managed. In general, pretty much every Florida WMA is quota during Turkey.
I know some locals want to limit tags and bump up tag prices to where it becomes a once in a lifetime hunt. Personally I’m pretty against that, but I know guys that feel that way.
flatsmaster
Senior Member
Son had a good hunt this morning… took 2 buddies and the birds were gobbling and showing off right up to trigger time … the 3 are headed to South Dakota soon … good luck to all chasing the gobble 
Gadget
Senior Member
Three units in Big Cypress are still open with no quota, Bear Island turned quota for first time this year; but All private land owners within Big Cypress can hunt according to state rules and are allowed to bait and shoot Turkey over bait which most all of em do. They don’t follow the federal hunting regulations of Big Cypress. Most of the Turkey killed in Big Cypress are killed in these private camps with bait. And since your only allowed to own a maximum of three acres pretty much they’re all killed over bait
flatsmaster
Senior Member
State rules allows baiting for turkeys ?
I believe in fla must be 100 yds from it. Don’t quote me. Not sure but on private land only
Years ago they could use 22s in south fla on WMAs and center fire on north fla. think the law has changed now.
Not sure on that either.
That’s the way it was back in the 90s I believe.
Back in the 60`s and 70`s I had an Uncle that lived in Palatka who was a big turkey hunter, both spring and fall. He used a 221 Remington Fireball pistol and an Ithaca Turkey over n under shotgun-rifle as his main weapons for turkeys in those days.
Gadget
Senior Member
100 yds on private land is the rule but hardly anyone follows that rule. They can and do sit inside their cabins and shoot them out the window with rifles over corn piles.
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Gadget
Senior Member
Guys in Big Cypress were using rifles up until just a few years ago. Ran into guys carrying a scoped deer hunting rifle on one shoulder and a shotgun on the other.
On the 1-3 acre private camps inside Big Cypress I think they are still allowed to use scoped rifles. Scoped rifles and bait, a sporting combination….muahaha
billy336
Senior Member
Killed a few with a rifle in the fall, no corn tho
Glenn
Senior Member
We used to use muzzleloaders instead of shotguns on WMAs until they changed the rules. Never shot one over 40 yards with them and the turkeys never ran off wounded.
Still use them on the couple of primitive only WMAs.
I new a guy that only used a 22 mag.
Still use them on the couple of primitive only WMAs.
I new a guy that only used a 22 mag.
Swamprat
Swamprat
22 mag, 22 Hornet, .218 Bee were all turkey killers back in the day.
turkeykirk
Senior Member
Years ago, I was calling in a gobbler on the Green Swamp WMA. The bird was getting closer when all of a sudden a guy I didn’t know was around shot it with a high powered rifle. About messed my pants.
