Toughest Birds to Hunt

[ildrhntr]

For those of you who travel around to hunt turkey. Where do you think the toughest birds are to hunt?

[Strut10]

PA public land birds are downright ignorant and get my vote.

[maytom]

Pressured birds are tuff no matter what state you hunt. Turkeys are turkeys, and most will submit to your calls. It's the other "caller's" in the woods that make things hard!!

[toddyboman]

Pressured birds are tuff no matter what state you hunt.

I agree:rolleyes:

[okiedog]

Where I live we have hybrid's. I can go west for Rio's, and east for Easterns. Between the two I think the Eastern is a harder bird to hunt.

[Leo]

Hands down Osceola's.

I've hunted turkeys from here to south Texas. And even an unpressured Osceola is an obstinate bird.

The birds we have here absolutely have Osceola blood in them. Some are more pure Osceola than others. Dark wings, green feathers they are dead ringers for pure Osceola's. Even unpressured, these birds are ridiculously call shy and decoy shy. The average time it takes to get a bird in range here is just over two hours. If you don't want to set for hours here to get a bird then go home. It ain't happening for you. I've sat in one place for 12 hours and worked seven different gobblers (I could see them) and still didn't pull the trigger.

Eastern's (even public land Alabama birds) are easy by comparison.

Rio's are by far the most vocal birds I've ever hunted. I've only got an afternoon and a morning under my belt hunting them but holy cow they are blabber mouths. I called in four jakes the first day hunting them and let them walk waiting for big boy.

[Covehnter]

Any bird can make a hard bird to kill.

But overall i'm puttin' a vote toward the deep swamp south florida Osceola. The terrian is unforgiving and so are the birds. Tote a public land Osceola out over your shoulder then come talk, cause you've just killed the toughest of the tough. Gaurantee.

And i've hunted them all.

[Strut10]

And i've hunted them all.

Ever hunt a Pennsylvania State Game Lands??

[Guest bebout]

I know here in N. GA they were quiet all spring. I didn't get any replies back from Mar. to May.

[Rhino]

For those of you who travel around to hunt turkey. Where do you think the toughest birds are to hunt?

My vote goes to the Osceola too.

Ever hunt a Pennsylvania State Game Lands??

Nope and have no desire to spend $X,XXX.00 to go that far to hunt Eastern turkeys just because they might be harder to hunt than some places around here Don. Why the heck would I want to do that?

Just my honest opinion but anybody who decides to hit the road to try to hunt birds that are the hardest to hunt simply for that extra degree of turkey hunting difficulty (excluding reasons for bagging grand slams) needs psychiatric help. I can certainly see the reasons for wanting to bag the different subspecies of birds but not hit the road to just go find birds that are harder to hunt somewhere else.

[huntinguide]

ive hunted a few and a pen raised white gets my vote, hands down

[Dakota]

I'd have to say South Dakota public land fall turkeys w/ either a bow or shotgun. I've missed them @ a yard away from me, folks!

Dakota

[pendog]

Well i have three of the species on the wall at home, only missing that expensive Osceala:mad:.

Kansas birds were a dream with our group of 3 taking 6 gobblers in 2 days of hunting, numerous other called in but mostly jakes.

South Dakota found our group of 3 taking 5 gobblers in 3 days, my revenge will come this spring as my gun was malfunctioning and i kept missing.

So to answer the question, any stubborn bird is hard to kill, we had alot in Kansas and SD that did not want anything to do with us. Mostly though i have found that where i mostly hunt here in NY and PA they have been the toughest of the three species for me. Mostly hunting public land in PA and some public land here in NY.

[Adjam5]

I have hunted Rios in West Texas and chased Easterns here back home in NY.

IMO...Easterns are the hardest due to the heavy cover they live in. They can just pop up on ya.

The Rios I hunted in the Texas desert , you can see and hear them from a mile away.

Oceola and Merriams are on my list and maybe one day Good Lord willing... I'll get down to the Yucatan to hunt them Ocellated birds:)

[Strut10]

Nope and have no desire to spend $X,XXX.00 to go that far to hunt Eastern turkeys just because they might be harder to hunt than some places around here Don. Why the heck would I want to do that?

I give up. Why?????

If you're spending the $X,XXX.00 to come this far to hunt Easterns you'd wanna come hunt my birds here on the Strut10 Ranch. They're eeeeeeasy to kill.

[Rhino]

If you're spending the $X,XXX.00 to come this far to hunt Easterns you'd wanna come hunt my birds here on the Strut10 Ranch. They're eeeeeeasy to kill.

:rolleyes::rolleyes::D:D:D

Turkeys and easy to kill are words that don't go together anywhere.

[HuntnMa]

I guess i should be extra thankful i live in Osceola country, i'm getting all of this experience for when i can actually go elsewhere and apply what those swamp birds have taught me somewhere else.

[Covehnter]

Ever hunt a Pennsylvania State Game Lands??

When i said All, i was referring to all the subspecies in the states. . . . havent gotten to PA yet i'm sure i will, gotta friend who oos it in PA every year, he has asked me to join him in PA for the past 2 seasons just cant fit it in the schedule so far. He's killed out the past 2 years i'm sure.

If i was going to place a bet, i'd place money that more birds are brought outta the mtns of PA public lands than the swamps of S. Florida public lands.

But i agree, if somebodys' going to hunt a place b/c its suppost to be tougher to kill a bird there just for the added difficulty then. . . . have at it.

[Strut10]

If i was going to place a bet, i'd place money that more birds are brought outta the mtns of PA public lands than the swamps of S. Florida public lands.

I'm sure of it.

PA has a wealth of public access. Waaaaay more than Florida. There's bazillions of acres of state game lands, state and national forest, etc....especially if you're not afraid to walk a long way in tough terrain. Just by virtue of that fact, there's gotta be a lot more public land kills here than there. My loose point anout PA public birds being hard to kill has to do with the fact that PA has more spring turkey hunters than most states have hunters. The shear volume of folks heading to public lands puts the full-court press on those birds in a big way.

I'm sure any public land Eastern is a rotten cuss to deal with.