Capt billy, you are a very generous and kind man we appricate your generousity to turkey hunters for hooking them up with some osceola hunts, it is nice of you, but one word of caution it is very crowded down here ,I have noticed these tyes of posts on the internet before, and they bring throngs, of eager hunters to south florida in the hopes of finalizing a slam, only problem is that these hunting spots aredangerously crowded allready

there has been a largeinflux of traveling guides from other states marketing osceola hunts on public land, often times from out of state, charging very profitable rates , not that there is anything wrong with that, this is America , not Russia.They are talented turkey hunters, but they are capitalizing on a critical situation here,At my best estimate the total harvest for Osceola turkeys in the southern penisula of Florida ,south ofOcala{on public WMA's "public land} is less than 700 osceolas!!!!} then you get guides and , out of state hunters, and we are in big trouble!! no the enemy isnt our fellow turkey hunters, but the bulldozer.

Time will tell, and somethings got to give...years ago the limit what 3 per season, then 2, ill bet the farm that if the current pace keeps up we will be down to 1, then you will need a permit to attempt to hunt them, similar to Elk, or Ram hunts in the west.This looks to take place within 10 years time

A gifted veteran Florida turkey hunter is very lucky to kill 1 gobbler every 2-3 years, things are bad down here

and no it is not "easy" to get a permit for florida osceola birds, I have set a record for 10 consecutive years of being unable to be picked for a florida quota hunt

The only way to turn the tide, is to mobilize turkey hunters into a lobbying group NWTF and take on the issues and try and open up some more public land for turkey hunters , then have the NWTF go in and assist with a program to manage some of the land that is not propery maintained, possibly a no jake harvest law--

good luck-you will need it