Editor’s Note: Osceola turkey season arrives earlier than any of the other turkey hunts in the U.S.   These birds are limited to Florida – generally from central Florida to the southernmost tip of the Florida peninsula. Any turkey taken in the counties of Dixie, Gilchrist, Alachua, Union, Bradford, Clay and Duval is considered by the National Wild Turkey Federation and the Florida Wildlife Commission to be an Osceola subspecies. Florida’s 2024 turkey season opens March 2 and runs through April 7 on lands outside the WMA system. North of State Route 70, spring turkey season opens March 16 and continues through April 21. Keith Kelly, the general manager of Dee Dot Timberlands throughout the state of Florida, hunts two different areas of Florida for Osceola turkeys.

Decoys: Keith Kelly reports that, “Something else we do on these wounded warrior hunts is build a good blind on the edge of the field about where we think the turkey will fly out to from our scouting. We’ll usually put a jake and a hen decoy out in front of the blind. When a gobbler flies out in the field and sees a jake over there with a hen, he won’t like that.

“I’ve learned that early in the year, a jake decoy and a hen decoy work well to pull in a longbeard. However, later in the year, the jake decoy doesn’t work very well with Osceolas. That’s when I’ll just use a hen decoy. However, on opening weekend when we’re hunting Osceolas, I’ll put a jake decoy and a hen decoy out in front of my hunter. Even if the gobbler has hens with him, he’ll often leave his hens and come running toward that jake decoy to run the jake off. Many times, all I have to do is soft call, and the hens and the gobblers will come over to the decoys.”

Turkey Fans: Another technique that Kelly has used very effectively is a turkey gobbler fan. “I’ll hide in the brush, stick a gobbler fan out in front of my blind and move it some. Then those toms with hens will come and try and run me off – thinking another gobbler is trying to take their hens. I’ve been very successful, even with gobblers with hens, at pulling the gobbler away from the hens and to me by using a turkey gobbler fan. A lot of times, when I pull that fan out, my hunter will ask, ‘What in the world are you doing?’ I’ll try to explain to him what I do when hunting Osceolas, and why I do it. I try to tell my hunter what I believe the turkey’s thinking when he spots that turkey fan.”

Looking for more content? Check out our YouTube channel and watch “Why I Rest My Hunting Regions” by John E. Phillips.

Check out John E. Phillips’ 12th book: “Turkeys: Today’s Tactics for Longbeards Tomorrow“

Expert Guidebooks on Turkey Hunting: Best Sellers

Turkey Hunting Tactics
This turkey hunting audiobook has entertaining chapters like: “How to Miss a Turkey”, “Hunting with a Guide”, and “The Turkey and the New York Lady”.

You’ll learn about all the subspecies of turkey across North America, how to use a turkey call, how to scout before turkey season, how to find a turkey to hunt, and what hunting gear you’ll need to put the odds in your favor to take a wily gobbler.

VERSIONS: AUDIBLE, KINDLE & PRINT

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How to Hunt Turkeys with World Champion Preston Pittman
You easily can take a turkey if you don’t make any mistakes, but you have to know what the deadly sins of turkey hunting are to keep you from making those mistakes. If you understand how to hunt a turkey, you’re far more likely to take a gobbler than if you just know how to call a turkey.

Of course, calling is important, and if you want to learn to call a turkey, Preston Pittman will teach you how to call turkeys with box calls, friction calls, diaphragm calls, and other turkey sounds.

You’ll also learn why Preston Pittman once put turkey manure all over his body to kill a tough tom.

When you have turkeys that strut and drum in the middle of a field, when you know there’s no way to get close enough to get a shot, Pittman will show you some weird tactics that have worked for him to help you hunt tough ole toms.

But the main thing you’ll learn in this book is how to become the turkey.

Using what he’s learned while hunting wild turkeys, he’s also become a master woodsman who can take most game, regardless of where he hunts. To learn more secrets about how to be a turkey hunter from one of the world champions of the sport, this turkey-hunting book with Preston Pittman is a must.

VERSIONS: AUDIBLE, KINDLE & PRINT

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The Turkey Hunting Guides’ Bible
The quickest way to learn how to turkey hunt successfully is to either hunt with a turkey hunter with years of experience or a turkey-hunting guide. These two types of turkey hunters have solved most of the problems turkey hunters ever will face. 

Just as one size of shoes won’t fit every person, one style of turkey hunting doesn’t fit each hunter.  Each turkey-hunting guide interviewed for this book has his own style of calling, hunting, and outsmarting turkeys.  

While listening to this book, make a list of the new information you’ve learned, take that list with you during turkey season, and try some of the new tactics. Then you’ll become a more versatile turkey hunter and prove the wisdom from The Turkey Hunting Guides’ Bible.   

VERSIONS: AUDIBLE, KINDLE & PRINT

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Outdoor Life’s Complete Turkey Hunting (2nd Edition)
This Audible book will help you learn how to call turkeys with two of the nation’s best, longtime and well-known turkey callers, Rob Keck, formerly with the National Wild Turkey Federation, and Lovett Williams, a wildlife biologist who recorded wild turkeys giving the calls that you’ll learn how to make on various types of turkey callers.

VERSIONS: AUDIBLE & KINDLE

Tomorrow: Enjoying an Osceola Turkey Hunt