Quote from: djrcm7 on February 21, 2018, 09:01:49 PM
I went down last year to a popular wma and was astonished by the number of hunters and the poor quality land. If you want an Osceola save your money for a couple years and pay an outfitter that can put you on private land.
If your only goal is to say you GOT an osceola then it MIGHT be cheeper going with a guide sometimes. Because in my case it took me two trips down to get my first bird. Nonresidents get ten days on there license tag to seal the deal, but that is only hunting till one o'clock each day, where on private land you can hunt till dark. That is one negitive thing to me of Florida public land turkey hunting. But in them afternoons I walked and checked out every corner and every Island I could figure out how to get on and into every day I was there. And during my scouting in mid day I could have shot multiple birds, but I learned there habits. And I say I learned THERE habits because I mean just that. I learned how the hunters moved around, and how the turkey reacted to all that pressure. The first year down there, I missed my opportunity on my 10th day of hunting. The next year I had to go back down again because I now knew the land and shoot my first Osceola. I started out in the cheep in 2009 gaining any information I could on the WMA, sending a tent down early to a UPS store for in store pick up. Got on a plane flew down rented a small SUV (car's don't like florida sugar sand nor do small SUV's, more story's) drove out there put my tent on the ground and started to walk. So it cost me two trips down and two years of vacation days, where with a guide if you don't get your bird on private land in 3-10 days you got ripped off. I go back down every couple of years now, and the last time I went home with my two public land Osceola's. But I am going home with more then just a couple of Osceola turkeys (shot south of a line from Tampa to Orlando) they are hard hunted Public land birds. After the first year down there and I found out I didnt have to worry about them southern boys feeding this Yankee to the gators, and I made good friends. Now each night I have great southern stile cooking and terrfic stories around the camp fires , because of the good friendships I have made. It comes down to how much time we all have with every thing we do, so as long as there is public land to try to hunt on I will try the hard way first. Go for the ADVENTURE.
