florida turkey quota draw
 

Could someone explain the turkey draw in florida? Preference points in particular. Also is there anywhere I can see draw odds and harvest data for each wma. Thanks

bump this up

I looked into this some years ago. Quite a joke in my opinion as the way I understood the regs, I had to have a license # in order to just apply for a preference point. Meaning, I had to buy a nonresident license just to put in for a chance to actually hunt eventually?? Maybe I misunderstood or things could have changed by now. From what I gathered, you really have to have the down low on a honey hole to do any good on public and pressure is intense. Stinks to pay an outfitter for a hunt on private but that's the route I would go if I needed an Osceola. I was fortunate to hunt a couple huge ranches of private through friends and it was great experience.

I recently looked into FL public land turkey hunting too. I have a brother in the panhandle, south of Thomasville GA. He doesn't hunt.


The system seems to make it hard to hunt public land w/o any information. Good scouting is great, but not always possible for non-res hunters. It's almost like the system drives non-res hunters to guides & outfitters.

Found out today I drew a turkey permit on lake George wma. Anyone else draw or have any info on lake goerge?

Basically if you don't draw in a year you get a preference point. Meaning you boost your odds of drawing the next year as you get lumped into the group that has a perf point and so on and so on until you draw.

Sorry i don't know anything about Lake George.

Here is the link for Harvest reports, but not all WMA's report.

http://myfwc.com/hunting/harvest-reports/

I do not know of anywhere you can get draw odds numbers. I can tell you it would probably surprise you how poor the odds are for a lot of the good WMAs the only reason I know this is because of how many pref points it takes to draw them.

I hunt lake George There a lot of turkeys there. That was 6 years ago.

Don't know much about Turkey hunting in FL but I've hunted deer and hogs on public land there numerous times. Even though it seems confusing, its not once you figure it out. One thing I know is there is NO baiting allowed in public land but I do believe you can hunt turkeys on baited property but you need to be at least 100 yds from bait (You need to check, this is the way I understand it). If your into that, look for private property or go with an outfitter. As far as preference points, again I don't know. I hunt public land and even though I haven't yet hunted turkeys, I've seen them and even mouth called them to within shooting distance. One of the many WMA's I hunt is Green Swamp and am currently reading the GS WMA brochure as I write this (every WMA has it's own brochure which cam be read and downloaded from the FWC web site). You need to look at the specific WMA you plan to hunt because they are all a little bit different and that's where it can get confusing. Here's what it says about Green Swamp and Spring Turkey (bearded birds only). first 2 days, 200, no cost, quota permit. seems confusing to get and that's why I don't hunt quota days. AFTER first 2 days, 200, no cost, quota permit available first come first served at check station (at each entrance gate). Like I said earlier I've not hunted turkey but have gone through this procedure with deer and never had a problem especially during the week. I'll repeat I was always nervous about this but never had a problem. Green Swamp turkey season 2018, Mar. 17 to Apr. 22
As for hunting license and permits, here's what I do:
License, from Walmart, 10 day non res., $46.50
WMA permit $26.50 (good for 1 year); hunt turkey in Mar/Apr come back in Fall/Winter hunt hogs and deer (deer permit $5 and another 10 day license)
The big cost, non res. turkey permit $125 (not really if your hunting osceolas for 10 days).
Hope this wasn't to confusing and helps some people out. If anyone has a different opinion or I've messed up somewhere, please post or reply. If anyone wants to talk please send me a PM with phone number or I'll be glad to give you my number and we can talk, I hate typing....this is my second attempt somehow deleted the first.
Good Luck
PS: FL is awesome in the winter when it's cold and snowy in the north.

I turned the permit back in after talking to the local biologist. She referred to the hunt as a tuff hunt because of the late dates. That was all I needed to hear so ill take my preference point and try for the early hunt next year

"Also is there anywhere I can see draw odds and harvest data for each wma"
No. They will probably never divulge this information

Sad but true. I'm pretty sure they also report harvest data in terms of 100% effort (meaning it assumes 30 of 30 permit holders show up and hunt all 4 days) WHICH in my experience is NEVER the case.

Off hand I can tell you the fewer quota permits per hunt, and the fewer hunts, the more difficult the draw. Seems obvious, but you can expect some of the places with 2 or 3 hunts and only 5 permits to hunts to require 3 - 7 preference points.

Believe me, the system seems confusing, but it is no worse than many other states. Sounds like you do your homework and calling the state can clear a lot of the confusion.

The system has been completely a couple times in the last 5 to 10 years. IMO it has become more difficult to get drawn especially for opening day anywhere good, but it has also cut down on a lot of abuses by people bent on exploiting loopholes...that said, scouting is key no matter where you hunt, and FL turkyes, at least the ones I' hunt with are between 27 degrees north and 29 degrees north don't gobble worth a darn after flydown or if they do you have to be within a couple hundred yards to hear them. Land access can be tough even if you live close in terms of scouting. PM me if you'd like...I hunt just about all on public and pretty much all in FL