Texas
504,298
Wild Turkey Population
Rios and Easterns
Turkey Subspecies
About 60,749
Number of Licenses Sold Annually
$25 (hunting license)
Cost of Resident License and Permit
$126
$126, nonresident spring turkey license.
Cost of Non-Resident License and Permit
Photo by Russell Graves.
On the upside, Texas has one heckuva lot of turkeys. Current estimates put the number more than 500,000. In Spring 2025, Texas hunters took 37,247 turkeys.
On the downside, when it comes to hunting, Texas is a pay-to-hunt place. Or you have to have some well-earned connections and visit as the guest of other like-minded turkey hunters. Yes, there’s some public ground, if you consider less than 1% of the state’s total landmass being publicly accessible as “some.” But there are wildlife management areas and federal ground in eastern Texas that could be worthwhile in spring. For the most part, residents lease ground or have a buddy who leases land. Nonresidents typically use the services of an outfitter, which, of course, is more expensive than a traditional DIY gobbler hunt but far less costly than booking a Texas deer hunt. If you’re booking with a Texas outfitter, do some research, find the money somewhere, and get yourself down there. And we're guessing you'll go back the next year, too.
