Rookie Advice

[P12483]

So I am completely new to turkey hunting. I live in Central Florida so will be hunting the Osceola on public land.I am completely internet taught. I need some pointers on what to look for what how long to stay put. So far I've hunted twice once at Bull Creek WMA and another at Green Swamp WMA. Both are mostly scrubs with some mixed hardwoods here and there. I have yet to see or even hear anything. I have seen plenty of tracks indicating turkeys are moving around the area. I had found what i believed to be a good spot where 4 trails converged and saw some tracks. To me this seemed like a good spot for an ambush. We sat on that area for about 45 minutes calling prob every few minutes. From what i've read we called way to much. I was not able to do any prehunt scouting and have no idea where they are roosting. Is it imperative that i find the roosting spot? Am i most likley to find this in the swampy areas of the WMA? I have been setting up decoys and been using a box call. Am i best to just walk trails all day and wait to hear them? Or is it best to find an area and sit on it for several hours? Any information would be helpful.

Peter

[WillowRidgeCalls]

Hi Peter, Welcome to T&TH forum. You will need to find out where the roosting areas are, before you set up, you don't want to be too far away from them. Try and get within a couple hundred yards away for starters, not much farther. Then you will be able to tell what the birds are doing and which way they are going from their roost. When your learning an area don't worry to much about tree calling, wait until the birds are on the ground before you start. When you hear, Less Is Better when calling, that doesn't mean that you only call a couple times an hour, it means you call less, your calling sequence is short, instead of using 7-8 yelps, you use 2-4 yelps. That is so miss understood, you maybe calling quite a bit, but it's in a short series, it depends on what the birds do and how they react to your calling. Keep most of your calling on the soft side, don't blast a call out, they can hear you just fine, but don't get hung up on just soft calling, give them a verity of sounds, some soft some louder, if you don't, your telling every birds in the woods You Are A Hunter. Fine ONE BIRD and work him, don't worry about the rest of them gobbling. work one bird, answer him and only him.

[turkey junky]

hey peter one thing you have to learn is not to name drop the exact WMA you are hunting them south/central florida WMAs dont need any more hunters on them then they already get each & every yr!!! i mean guys travel from all across the country to hunt them WMAs & they get beat down really hard they are the hardest public lands in the country to try & tag a bird on public lands & the OSCEOLA sub species is also the most difficult to obtain out of all the sub species besides the osolated!!!

i hunted public land florida a few yrs ago & never herd a gobble in 6 days of hunting on 2 WMAs id say pack your car & take a road trip & find a more simple place & sub species to hunt even the pro turkey hunters will get the butt handed to them on public land south florida osceola hunts... killing a osceola on public land is a very low % thing
not many are taken off public land each yr compaired to private lands wear guides control the lands & amount of hunter pressure... them guided hunts are the most productive osceola hunts available there just isnt that good of odds to tag a public land osceola... especially for a rookie give n away his spots on-line... good luck peter...

[lxtagle]

You will get (maybe) tons of advice. I've never hunted that area, but I hunt pressured birds in public lands, with a bow. I know about eating turkey tag sandwitches. You are already spending time afield....., spend it wisely. Besides calling and setting decoys for a hunt, spend it in "locator" calling, scouting, knowing your area and its turkeys. If I read correctly, you did not do much scouting. That is SO IMPORTANT, especially in public lands. I see that area is well known for tough hunting. Stick with it, don't pack up and go hunt an "easier" area...., or are you just wanting to kill a bird. (That's another topic). The old cliche stands true for me - "that's why it is called hunt'n, not kill'n". Happy hunting, good luck, and welcome to our world. You are now crawling, and before you know it, you will be running,

[1Morgan]

Turkey hunting ain't deer hunting. Turkeys move all day long.

Ditch the decoys on public land, they'll get you shot in the face. Especially on main paths. Be careful, there are other people out there getting just as frustrated as you that they are not hearing or seeing anything.

If you are going to sit a travel route for an ambush, ditch the calls and just sit it all day. I mean all day(no fun)!!

Get near the swamp edges around 11am (until 2pm), they will feed in the open areas until they get hot then they will move into the swamps for a while. It also gives them a quick escape over the water if needed. Call kinda hard during this time of day (hard not long, fast raspy cutts).

[P12483]

Thanks for all the info guys. I really appreciate all the friendly info this forum offers.

[bamabirdbuster13]

those places r hell 4 shore time,effort,and a lot of luck will get you thru tho. i used to live in melbourne so i know how hard it is to hunt em. all i can say is take a hike before dawn walk as far as u can down the trails and listen. everything is kinda connected throughout there so its hard to get lost. find cypress heads with standing water under with long roads nearby. PM me for more info