Deep South turkey hunting is infamous for hard-to-hunt gobblers. The Turkey POSSE heads to Mississippi where they get schooled and can’t scratch out a gobbler to save their lives. They move over to Georgia for opening day and continue to struggle, but eventually a lone gobbler caves and slips into range for the Savage Renegauge. This hunt also brings us on a flashback to much more promising turkey hunting in Minnesota, where the POSSE runs into a pile of northern longbeards.
Drilling down on our hunt destinations, Mississippi is a great state for wild turkeys. It has a flock that’s about 250,000 strong, and only has about 60,000 hunters. You can’t shoot jakes here, which has boosted the state’s percentage of 2-year-old turkeys in the population.
Georgia is a solid turkey state, too. Its turkey population total falls somewhere around 275,000-300,000, which fell from 350,000 in the mid 2010s. Still, with less than 40,000 turkey hunters, hunting pressure is moderate but not overbearing on the turkeys. Plus, both resident ($25), and non-resident ($225) hunting licenses are reasonable. Of course, cheaper options for a limited number of days are offered.
Finally, Minnesota is a good turkey hunting state, too. Its turkey number estimates are unknown, but there are almost 60,000 hunters here, which puts moderate pressure on the population. On the upside, it only costs residents $26 and non-residents $96 to chase thunder. That’s excellent pricing. It even has an abundance of public lands, and some great limited lottery hunts are found here.
Scouting for Turkeys with Cell Cams
