Spring Turkey Season.....over but not forgotten

Despite our best efforts the Spring Osceola Turkey season ended without a dead gobbler (the photo above is from a few years ago). We hunted them with dedication and came very close a couple times but the never were we able to squeeze the trigger.


A few lessons learned:

• Weather can and will make it difficult. Windy days can make it hard or impossible to hear a gobbler and a falling barometer can shut down gobbling completely.
• The swamps are the most challenging habitat to hunt the Osceola turkey. The thick cover, water, creeks, etc. require careful movements and strategy. 
• The gobblers were quiet. When we did hear them gobble it was often one gobble, two if we were lucky then complete silence. Quite a few days we heard no gobblers.
• A few of our set ups and the turkeys we were hunting were busted by bald eagles and wild hogs. A few areas we hunted were thick with sounders of wild hogs that at times came within fifteen feet of us before running off.

All in all we learned a great deal, discovered some very promising deer and hog hunting areas and had a great time.