Hawaii's spring gobbler season begins March 1, for instance. Maine's, the latest in the country, ends June 2.
We, the hardcore turkey hunters of the world, will do some traveling, and yes, hunt right out of home. I'll start in Texas come April. Some 600,000 wild turkeys make that a good place to begin. Other seasons I've flown to Alabama or Florida spring gobbler camps in March, but this year it looks like deadlines and commitments will keep me here in this chair. So be it. Work is a good problem to have as the writing business goes, and the Lone Star State always fulfills its promise.
After the Texas hunt, I'll bear down and hammer some more deadlines for a few weeks (and even trout fish a little), before all the fun commences again in May.
I'll border hop to New Hampshire for Opening Day (May 3), then take another trip, this one to northeastern Wyoming, within view of Devil's Tower. After my Merriam's hunt, I'll return holding tags to Maine (B season; even birth year), possibly NH if I don't take one on Day One (which is likely the case), as well as Vermont, and New York State.
Six states total.
I dub some of these gravy hunts (particularly those here in Maine and across the border in New Hampshire), as a few trips for mesquite and mountain turkeys always seem to satisfy and last into summer . . . of course then we immediately begin thinking about fall trips.
--S.H.
(Steve Hickoff photo)
