Folks,

I will be traveling down to Orlando, FL in a month or so and try to find an Osceola bird to bring back with me.

I am pretty new to turkey hunting, but will have another friend of mine along thats a turkey killing machine. Problem is, he is a killing machine that lives in Colorado.

So, do any of you have any recommendations on where to look for some public hunting land within the vicinity of Orlando? We are not afraid to drive a little, but will be staying in Orlando with a friend of mine.

We don't have a lot of time, maybe 3 hunting days around the weekend of Apr. 7th.

thank you for any input.
John

I thought of trying this a few times since my dad lives in Orlando.....I found it prohibitively difficult in terms of DIY logistics(and I'm not paying $2k+ for a turkey anytime soon). I'll be watching this thread closely.

How abpout cpontacting Florida Game & Fish and see what info they have.

Despite what I said above, I'm gonna give it a go next year I think, provided I can get a decent WMA permit. It looks like the quota permit is the way to go if you want to be in an area that's not crawling with rabid turkey marauders.

The Florida F & W site is very well-constructed and full of helpful content.....much more so than the last time I looked into this. Good luck and I look forward to your report and pics.

John, as Norton said, they are expensive, but I can highly recommend Osceola Outfitters. While I have never hunted turkeys with them, I have hunted deer and hogs, but saw lots of turkeys while doing it. They are first rate in my book. They are about 45 minutes drive from Orlando. Hoppy will treat you right.

Osceola Outfitters

Public land hunts are hard to come by. Osceola's are far more difficult than Merriams to hunt. While not impossible , it is not probable.

Can you tell me exactly when you are headed this way?

The season in this zone starts weekend after this coming weekend. We are at one of my places shooting birds and hogs. The gobblers are going off right now! I saw many strutting today.

thanks folks for the replies.

Unfortunately today i got an email that killed the trip. the only weekend we all 3 had was 7Apr weekend, and my buddy just got his vacation denied at work due to a rescheduling of a project.

Looks like it'll have to be next year for us.

Larry i will let you know next year when we are headed down. i greatly enjoyed your lion video, thank you for sending that out.

I was stationed in Pensacola for a little under 4 years with the Navy. I tried to get one of the quota hunts for Osceolas while I was there but never pulled it. Most of the really good Osceola habitat is on private land and like others have stated, hunts there are pricey. There is no way I'd pay $1500-$2000 for a turkey. But the guys that are seeking a slam have driven the price that high. Public land tags are hard to come by for Oscelas.

But, I did get into some easterns less than 3 miles from my house. While they weren't Oscelas I never knew the difference when they came out of the oven. There is some surprisingly good hunting if FL.

There is some outstanding Osceola hunting on public land. The trick is getting drawn on one of the limited entry hunts. A couple of prime areas are Tosahatchee, Three Lakes and????? Damn, I am drawing a blank.

Most of the prime hunting is on private land. it is expensive to hunt down here. It is nothing for a lease to be $10,000- $12,000 per year. On the right private land, you can't imagine how many turkeys there are.

Trust me, Osceola's are far and away the most difficult of the species to take. The are more wary by far than the others.

I have just spent the last 2 days hunting birds and hogs with my youngest on private land. The gobblers are going off right now. I saw strutting birds everywhere. I am headed up for opening weekend a week from tomorrow.