Are you looking to travel to hunt wild turkeys this spring? Joe Martino with Bowhunting.com has put together the top 12 states you should consider traveling to.
Diehard turkey hunters are a passionate bunch. Myself included. I’d think twice about driving six to eight hours to only deer hunt for a day or two, but I routinely drive that far, if even to only have the time to turkey hunt for a day. Sure, I have plenty of birds around the house, but if I can lengthen my season by hitting a nearby state with a season that opens earlier, or is open later than ours, I’m in.
So, with most states now offering up pretty decent hunting, here is a list of the top twelve that seem to do it best. That’s right, twelve. It would have been too cliché to name the top five or ten, and the list just happened to come down to a dozen when evaluating them all. These are in no particular order since, depending on what you are looking for, it can be somewhat subjective. One thing is for sure though; in terms of accessible land, bird populations, species offered, location, timing, scenery and opportunities, these states tend to be the best on earth.
Pennsylvania
Like Michigan, Pennsylvania offers a turkey season that runs through May. But that’s not the only reason that makes PA a must-hunt place for turkey hunters. The Quaker State has a deeply rooted turkey hunting tradition, with harvest numbers that are always near the top in the country each year. PA hunters take this spring-time ritual as serious as anybody.
Like Missouri, PA turkey hunters mean business. They’ll be out in full force. Roughly 250,000 hunters hit the woods each spring, and they are successful in killing nearly 36,000 gobblers.
2018 spring season: April 27th – May 31st / Non-resident license – $101.90.
New York
Why does New York make the list? Easy. Yes, it has phenomenal turkey hunting for one, but just as importantly, it is, by far, the best state on the eastern seaboard to hunt them. It doesn’t jump to the front of your mind when thinking of top picks, largely due to location, but the Empire State churns out hunting opportunities much like the Midwest. For those in the Northeast, this is a blessing.
New York has seen its turkey numbers rise in recent years, sporting about 200,000 birds now and 90,000 hunters take about 20,000 birds annually. Season: (TBA) / Non-resident license – $120
South Dakota
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South Dakota harbors populations of Easterns, Rios and Merriams, but it is the Merriam’s it can thank for making our list. And get this, South Dakota may not be your best bet overall to kill one, but in the Black Hills specifically, well, there just may not be a better place. Besides the impeccable scenery, this area boasts some pretty downright impressive numbers.
While turkey numbers are low in the state a s a whole, don’t let that scare you. Success rates are higher here than any other state on the list. Yet another reason for it being here.
Want another reason? When in prairie areas, even though numbers can be low, if you are in an area where there are turkeys, hunting them can be pretty easy. A combination duck/pheasant hunt years ago, proved that. We weren’t even there for turkeys, but seeing dozens of them making their way to a tiny woodlot – the only timber around for miles – each evening roost made it pretty obvious to us that perhaps we should get a license and give it a shot. We did the following year and the hunting was fantastic.
2018 spring season: April 13th – May 20th / Non-resident license – $100-$125 (varies by area)
Wisconsin
Depending on you ask, some devout turkey hunters may tell you Wisconsin will make the cut if you count the top states on one hand. It is good, there is no doubt. A huge population of birds and tons of public access to them are two reasons why. There are roughly 350,000 birds in the state, and depending on which area of Wisconsin you are hunting, you may find locally outstanding concentrations of them.
In 2017, over 212,000 Badger State hunters killed over 43,000 turkeys.
2018 spring season: there are 6 different 7-day hunting periods, ranging from April 18th – May 29th – Non-resident license – $55
Alabama
Just as it the case with its deer, ‘Bama is loaded with turkeys; somewhere between 400-500,000 of them in fact. That’s a lot of birds. And there is ample public land to chase them around on too. With these high numbers also comes high harvests, and that’s a good thing. Hunters take over 42,000 birds here each year.
2018 spring season: The spring season opens as early as March 15 (in select zones) and runs until April 30 / Non-resident license – $189.20
