Turkey Hunting Nation: Top 3 Turkey Hunting States in May
Posted 2017-04-24T13:22:00Z
These May Turkey Hunting States Won't Disappoint
Spring turkey hunting season is never long enough. These three turkey hunting states will give you the chance to finish out the roughly three-month campaign with a bang.
Yep, there are other states, for sure – many of us turkey hunt these places, too. When pressed to only select three, here are our Turkey Hunting Nation state picks for May.
Turkey hunting in Nebraska often goes like this . . .
We had maybe a half-dozen guys in camp. Most everybody had killed a couple turkeys, and one guy had three, all legal. We walked into a local diner, giddy with success. Some of the local farmers saw us, struck up a conversation.
"You boys get any birds?"
"Yes sir, we did."
"Do you want some more?"
Laughter all around. You see, those hard-working guys, with plenty of land to tend, and from which they make their livings, don't care all that much for the gamebirds we love and travel for and live to hunt.
Nebraska turkey hunting is tough to beat.
(Tes Randle Jolly photo)
Wisconsin had long been a sleeper state for turkey hunting, but folks are finding out about it.
Kill data often reflects the effort and surely the results.
The Badger State put up good 2012 spring wild turkey kill numbers (42,612 birds), though it dropped off some in 2013 (37,740); some will remember a lingering winter well into the hunting season back then. In 2014, 37,804 turkeys were taken. The 2016 kill totaled 45,501.
That's some pretty consistent wild turkey management there.
Kill totals might account for the "A" grade, but there's more.
Non-resident hunters will find the license/stamp affordable.
Also an almost ideal mix of habitat across the state's southern two-thirds: hardwood forest, farm fields, pasture land, river and creek bottoms, grassland and wetlands.
It's a diverse mosaic and wild turkeys thrive in Wisconsin.
(Tes Randle Jolly photo)
The last day of this spring's Maine turkey season is June 2, 2018.
And of course you're wondering, can you still work a bird this time of the year?
Yes, in fact a buddy of mine killed one last spring on the last day of the season. Gobbling birds, one eventually coming to the calls, the whole deal.
As we drove to the checking station – required here along with a transportation tag placed on your turkey – I thought his might be the only bird registered that final Saturday.
I thought wrong. Several other turkeys had been that morning, too.
So what else do you need to know about the longest running spring turkey season in the country?
With an estimated population of 60,000 birds, a five-week spring turkey season and low hunter pressure in the northern two-thirds of Maine, it makes sense to work the Pine Tree State into your schedule.
(Tes Randle Jolly photo)
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