Suggestions for Southeast in 2017

hobbes · Post by **hobbes** » May 8th, 2016, 4:25 pm

We are considering a family vacation flight to Florida next year in the early spring. Spring Break for Isaac will likely be March 25 to April 2. The two younger kids have a shorter break (really a long weekend), so Isaac and I may have 6 days to ourselves to hunt one of the states that start in March.

I've considered FL, SC, AL, and MS. It would be a public land hunt.

FL sounds good because we've not killed Osceolas, but we'd have to draw a decent WMA. I like the idea of "low country" gobblers in SC but I'm not surewhat I envision is reality. I've hunted AL years ago successfully once and barely saw evidence that turkeys existed the next, so I feel I'm owed a turkey there. I scouted northern MS a couple days years ago but never hunted it.

Any suggestions for which state to hunt and why?

guesswho · Post by **guesswho** » May 8th, 2016, 4:43 pm

In order.

1. SC
2. MS
3. FL
4. Never Al, no turkeys.

davisd9 · Post by **davisd9** » May 8th, 2016, 4:45 pm

SC has a great diversity of environments you can hunt in. I love hunting it but I am biased as it is my home state. Alabama and Mississippi is pretty country. Florida hunting is a bit different but fun. I have to go back cause it is the state I have not killed that I have hunted, that miss hurt!

Sent from the Strut Zone

ccleroy · Post by **ccleroy** » May 8th, 2016, 4:45 pm

guesswho wrote:In order.

1. SC
2. MS
3. FL
4. Never Al, no turkeys.

Contrary to what Ronnie said I'd head to AL rather than SC.......our pop is down and AL in on the uptick.....lol

howl · Post by **howl** » May 8th, 2016, 5:28 pm

I'm from SC, but I do not miss the public hunting there. There's a reason everyone joins a local hunt club. When I lived in FL I liked hunting week days on nondraw wma better than draw hunts. Maybe I never got a good one, but it was on Honduras that I was finally able to get away from people and kill a bird. And FL swamp is generally prettier than the tangled mess of the Francis Marion.

And if you want the Osceola experience, do not look much further north than Tampa.

pccutter · Post by **pccutter** » May 8th, 2016, 7:39 pm

Just a heads up, SC public will not be open til April 1st

davisd9 · Post by **davisd9** » May 8th, 2016, 7:44 pm

SC has great public land, you just need to put some rubber in the dirt.

Sent from the Strut Zone

trkykilr · Post by **trkykilr** » May 8th, 2016, 7:57 pm

Message me when you head this way. I know you have a ton of info that may be useful to me in the northwest, and I always like to carry someone on a great swamp hunt. I'm in SC

hobbes · Post by **hobbes** » May 8th, 2016, 9:38 pm

pccutter, Now that you mention it, I remember reading that a couple weeks ago. I was hoping that I was mistaken but apparently not. We do have friends that now live near NW SC, but April 1st will not work unless they bump his break to the next week.

honker22 · Post by **honker22** » May 9th, 2016, 10:55 am

The only state I am familiar with is MS. With those dates posted, I'd say try AL or GA. MS opens up March 15 and most of the public will be hammered fairly hard by then... may be the same for the other states too. If you narrow it down, I have some contacts that may offer some guidance in the other states, privately.

hobbes · Post by **hobbes** » May 9th, 2016, 11:06 am

I didn't realize that Georgia was open in March. I'll have to look into the details for GA also.

honker22 · Post by **honker22** » May 9th, 2016, 11:30 am

I believe GA season typically opens the last week in March (Mar 26 this year), so you may be timing that one just right.

Gar Commander · Post by **Gar Commander** » May 9th, 2016, 11:45 am

https://gamecheckresults.olspassport.co ... ounty.aspx
Georgia started a telecheck requirement this year to call in kills on turkey. I heard their estimate was that 26,000 birds were being killed annually, however less than half that have been called in so far this season. Broken down by county like Missouri. May help.

howl · Post by **howl** » May 9th, 2016, 2:16 pm

GA bird numbers are way down in most areas. They'll be up slightly next year relative to this year, but it won't be anything like it was even a couple years ago. If the rain lays off here some we might start looking normal in 2018.

People who had no birds on their deer lease made crowds on national forest this year. It was nuts. If it's swamp you're looking for, Burke and Screven counties still have decent numbers and a goodly amount of public. If you've got a youth shooter I would look at the nonquota youth only hunts on some of the WMAs.

Jamey · Post by **Jamey** » May 9th, 2016, 5:54 pm

Gar Commander wrote:https://gamecheckresults.olspassport.co ... ounty.aspx
Georgia started a telecheck requirement this year to call in kills on turkey. I heard their estimate was that 26,000 birds were being killed annually, however less than half that have been called in so far this season. Broken down by county like Missouri. May help.

This is the first year for this system and many folks simply aren't using it yet and quite a few hunters don't even know about it so I wouldn't put too much weight on those numbers that have been reported. Still the hunting has not been as good as previous years. There is really no way of enforcing the reporting with turkeys but it should be better utilized when the deer hunting starts this fall.

GA always opens on the first Saturday AFTER March 19 so could be anywhere from the 20th to the 26th depending on how the calendar falls that year. Opens on the 25th in 2017.

hobbes · Post by **hobbes** » May 9th, 2016, 7:14 pm

GA numbers may be down, but the season dates sound good. Thinking big.......maybe a FL and GA hunt then fly back home out of Atlanta. I've never been too worried about a slam but Isaac and I both just need an Osceola.

MS and AL both have some appeal also. Although......those are both close enough to home, especially the northern parts of those states, that I'd be in real trouble if I didn't visit my sister in Dyersburg, TN and the rest of my family in Southern IL. Not that I don't love to visit, but there isn't a lot of time for that if I'm going to truly hunt.

We'll see how the time off and the finances for such a hunt work out. I'd prefer to just hunt the whole time plus a week and hit three or four of the states mentioned.

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