Georgia

Photo by Bill Konway

Home to Realtree's headquarters, Georgia has a great turkey hunting history. Management of its turkey hunting populations is strictly a spring-oriented deal. No fall turkey hunting seasons are offered in the state.

Georgia turkey populations, like those through much of the Southeast, are in decline from successful post-restoration numbers, and the state has tweaked its season structure in response. All said, the state still earns a B Turkey Hunting Nation ranking.

Another aspect of Georgia turkey hunting worth noting is the variety of habitats. From sprawling flatland pinewoods to red-clay farm country, classic Southern swamps and big-woods/Appalachian-style mountain hunting in the north, Georgia is a mosaic of good turkey spots. Plus, you can find walk-in places to hunt gobblers. Georgia has decent public-land hunting potential, with almost a million acres of good wildlife management area spread across 90 properties.

You can also find plenty of good turkey hunting outfitters in Georgia. Do your homework (double-check references) and look for a reputable operation, of which there are many. Sometimes a turkey hunting insider can connect you with another person.

Editor’s Note: Articles about public hunting are always popular with Realtree.com readers, but we’re public-land hunters, too, and we recognize that technology has made it more difficult than ever to keep a great hunting spot secret. With that in mind, we have made some edits to this piece to trim out specific mentions of some public tracts. The information is still out there and easy to find for anyone who wants to do the research, but we’ve decided that with a platform of our size, it’s best not to share all the secrets. — Team Realtree