I know that all turkeys are relatively the same, but I am from MO and all i have hunted are Easterns. I was wondering what species was the hardest to hunt as far as terrain and other variables that may make a certain bird tougher to kill?

sucessfully and consistantly taking Pennsylvania easterns on state game lands.....thatll make a turkey hunter out of anyone. turkey huntings getting more popular than deer hunting i think!!

I would have to say, the Osceola!

I'm going to agree with Reb because not only the terrain but the availability etc...

Although I only hunted Eastern's , I would say of all the subspecies the Gould's and Rio Grands would be hard to hunt.
Reason being , you would have to go to Mexico for the Goulds and the Rio Grands really don't populate that much of an area geographicaly speaking.
On the other hand The Osceola in Florida whould be a challenge for any hunter in hopes of a Grand Slam.
As for the Merriam's in the Mid West , I've been told that it's easy to hunt them ... I maybe wrong about that thou.

I believe it all depends on the particular birds your hunting. You will encounter some birds that will run to your call and some the will run away, it doesnt matter which species you hunt. And some of them live at the top of mountains and other in the middle of a swamp. Pick your poison.

I'd have to say easterns Gobblers just for the pressure factor

LB, this is why I said Oseolas and FL is alot larger than many Eastern States. We have our thousands of turkey hunters and all ofthe out of state Slam hunters. Plus the Oseola is smaller than the other Species and our woods are covered with Palmettos which makes it difficult.



.Eastern Subspecies: 5.1 to 5.3 million wild turkeys [*]Osceola (Florida) Subspecies: 80,000 to 100,000 wild turkeys[*]Rio Grande Subspecies: 1,022,700 to 1,025,700 wild turkeys[*]Merriam's Subspecies: 334,460 to 344,460 wild turkeys

I would have to say the Easterens this is what the studies show at least.

I hunted many states and all of subspecies for turkeys. By far the toughest bird I hunted were easterns in PA. I think its because of all the hunting pressure. So to answer your question... Its the 5th subspecie in the US. I call him the pressured gobbler!