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During the fall of 1996, a friend and co-worker of mine, Steve, made plans for us to go to South Florida on an Osceola turkey hunt. Steve found a fair-priced hunt on a small ranch about 80 miles north of Miami in orange grove/swamp country. We drove about 12 hours to a small town where we met a ranch hand who took us to a small “swamp cabin” on a cattle ranch. This was on a Saturday, the first week of March. In Florida, you can only hunt until 1:00 pm so since we had already missed the morning, we spent the afternoon just driving around the ranch hoping to spot a few birds. The weather was clear and hot with the highs in the daytime around 95 degrees. The cabin was small with screen walls and it was in the middle of the swamp. This was an unguided hunt, but the ranch hand, Billy Joe, did show us around. The first morning, we parked in the middle of a huge pasture with swamp all around and waited to hear that first bird. We heard a faint gobble from the swamp to the north and started that way. When we got to the wood line, we could hear the bird gobble, but he was still a good ways back in the swamp. The swamp was so bad there was no way for us to close the gap. We set up at the edge of the pasture and called, but the turkey never gobbled again. We finally got back into the swamp later that morning by using a dried-up ditch. We were walking the ditch calling now and then, but we heard nothing and it was getting late. About 11:00 we had stopped and were re-thinking our hunting method, when we saw a deer walking towards us in the ditch. The deer looked like it was going to walk within a few feet of us, but turned to our right going towards the swamp. At the time, the deer was only a few yards away and Steve said to call to see what the deer would do. As I started to yelp on a glass call, the deer stopped and looked, and a turkey gobbled about 100 yards away! Since Steve had set up the hunt, he was going to shoot the first bird. I set him up in front of me about 20 yards and I called again, but no gobble. About five minutes later with no calling, two long beards came in to our left in full-strut. I was laying down between the fork of a tree with my gun under my shoulder, call in hand and those two toms were about 20 yards out. Steve had not shot, so I was thinking he was giving me time to get on one of the birds. So I started getting my gun in my shoulder. When I got on the bird to the left, still in full-strut, Steve had still not fired a shot. Now I’m thinking that he’s going to let me shoot first, that way he knows I’m on the second bird. After about two minutes the birds came out of strut and got uneasy-looking. I finally shot, taking one bird and the other ran off un-harmed. Steve had never seen the birds come in and moved without knowing the birds were there, which is what spooked them. He did see the other tom run off, but was unable to get a shot. My bird was a nice tom with a 10-inch beard, 1 1/8-inch spurs and weighed 18 ˝ lbs. By this time, it was about 95 degrees or more, so we took the turkey back to the truck and put him on ice. We hunted the rest of the day (till 1:00 pm) with no luck. This was only a 3-day hunt and Steve did take a nice bird late the last day. Fuel for Thought Osceolas on my trip were not very vocal and gobbled very little. I think if a tom gobbles a lot, call a lot. If he doesn’t gobble much, don’t call much. This worked in Florida for me. Florida’s season opens early, but it is very hot down south. You will work hard for an Osceola and that is that. Take long-sleeved shirts and rubber boots. It is very easy to get ripped off when buying one of these hunts. Steve and I got lucky but we hunted hard. These birds were a good test for my “Bud & Betty” Glass call and it worked! Other Stories: |
Osceola in Southern Florida