Chenry21

I'm doing research on hunting Osceola turkeys. I live in PA and want to hunt turkeys in Florida. All the outfitters and guides want to pretty penny for a turkey hunt. Does anybody know of a good public place to hunt them or land that I could get in contact with to hunt them?

Thanks for any information

Uncle Nicky

Any public land that may hold Osceolas is going to get hammered. If you are just in it for the experience and a chance, I would say go for it. But, if you don't want to come home empty handed, if you think of what it is going to cost to keep trying to kill an Osceola on multiple trips on your own, it's probably better to bite the bullet and pay an outfitter.

Either way, if you want the contact info. for a great guide, I can send that to you, I also can give you a start on public land, send me a PM, I don't like putting this out for everyone else to see.

shemp

Most all hunts are booked on private property I'd imagine

FL land in 'true' Osceola country costs a fortune generally.

If you'd like info on how to go about accessing public, feel free to PM me.

Reckon you're intending for 2019 season.

With my limited PA experience, I'd say FL is not too different in terms of pressure from PA but the turkeys are going to be a whole heck of a lot kookier, as they are in any state/latitude where palmettos grow

shemp

FWIW it can cost only a couple/few 100$s to hunt public as a non-res. How long it takes to pull it off depends more on the amount of time you're willing to put into it / length of trip than anything else.

Most private hunts I've heard of are about guaranteed and are 2-4 days commitment.

Climbing the walls in the Tampa metro at the moment cause non-hunting obligations are interfering with my habit in a big way this week (got out this weekend for the opener...a couple close calls but the gobblers tricked me again)

DTC

Bite the bullet and go with an outfitter. Osceolas are tough to hunt and not real vocal from my experiences hunting them. I did my homework and was able to kill my eastern, merriams, and rio cheap enough to justify spending the money to complete my grand slam.

younggun308

Does the lack of visibility from the palmettos make them more wary of what might be "around the corner," and therefore also less likely to vocalize?

shemp

Yep. That's the theory at least. A lot of the time on overgrown public they'll hang in the tree till they see a hen. Have bumped them on the limb an hour after sunrise. It depends and I'm sure varies greatly. I used to make a point of hunting all corners of the state but largely stick to the same 4-6 WMAs nowadays so that's the foundation of my experience.

I'll say an Eastern in the Osceola hybrid zone (low country SC through bottomlands of Tx where it's flat, hot and brushy) is notoriously tougher than a new england or midwest turkey. One thing I love about the yankee turkeys is how big they are (easier to see), how much they'll gobble on the ground (if an Osceola is doing that get your gun up cause he's hot) and how happy they are to pop up in the open (usually I can't help myself and face a pasture or burn, only to hear brush moving and putts from behind me)

Central PA Sportsman

check out FWC.com
Read, study, learn then go and enjoy; that's what I do, luv it. Also look into Floridasportsman.com always seem to find good and interesting advice.
Good luck.