BOWHUNT FOR THE FLORIDA OSCEOLA
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Opening Day's Eve | Opening Morning | Opening Day Afternoon

Opening Day Afternoon Hunt

For the afternoon hunt Mike Purser came with me. MIke lives nearby and is helping David Mills with the group of Woodhaven turkey hunters. I'm always glad to listen to another turkey hunter's calling technique I was pleased that he came along this afternoon.

We were in the blind at 3:30 and Mike waited half an hour before his first call.

MIke Purser comes with me and calls them in with a Woodhaven Cherry Slate.

Mike called twice in the first 30 minutes and a hen walked out of the trees ahead of us and walked all over in front of us. I had decoys out but they were blocked from view from where the hen was.

The hen started yelping and cutting and hung out by us for 20 minutes. The hen left and then a second hen arrived.

The second hen walked around looking for the source of Mike's calls. Then she noticed something back in the trees and scooted out of town.

Three gobblers came out of the woods and Mike worked them over closer to us. But they stayed in the tall dried up, woody, weeds near us. Twice Mike had them within 15 yards but there were just too many weeds between us for me to take a shot. I made a mental note to clip some of those weeds and make some shooting lanes.

Later on a gobbler came down the opposite side of the fence in the orange grove where I took pictures on Friday. The bird stood around for quite a while. Mike called and I waited, ready to draw when it hopped through a big hole in the orange grove fence. But it had a different plan and flew up into a nearby tree. We heard a few more fly ups and once it was dark enough not to be seen we slipped out.

Back at David Mill's home Woodhaven Sting Team members Kindell Keeton and Brett Berry had a double set of longbeards. To Their Hunt...

Opening Morning - The birds are talking

David Mills looks around after our Opening Morning hunt.

David Mills and I were in my ground blind long before daylight when the hens and gobblers started talking. Three cows browsed into our area and when they got 30 yards away a big 350 pound black wild boar stood up 8 or 9 yards away and walked to the right, which was where I would be able to shoot. I drew and held. 

But the big boar turned and moved out. It was very foggy and we didn't hear a bird fly down until after 8:00. They talked to us some but didn't come in sight.

When we were done with the hunt I wanted to move the blind. We repositioned it 25 yards further along the fence between fence crossings with turkey fluff on the barb wire ... and wild hog hairs. Then I noticed a hog wallow that the boar had been in earlier. It was less than 10 yards from us and the hog had not heard us come in.

When we drove into David's yard we saw Woodhaven's Billy Yargus (the 2006 NWTF 3rd place Grand National Calling Champion) and he had a longbeard with him. To Billy Yargus's Hunt...

Opening Day Eve

David Mills sent everybody out to look and listen for roosting gobblers. I think he sent me to a pretty good spot. Check out the Pics... I set up a ground blind and am ready for tomorrow's opener. A bunch of serious turkey hunters from the Woodhaven Sting Team are here for opening day. We might have stayed up kinda late shooting the breeze. But that's a part of the hunt, a good part too..
 

In Florida we are hunting with David Mills of Zolfo Springs, Florida in Central Florida's Osceola wild turkey country. David is an immediately likable guy and makes you feel at home from the get go.  David has thousands of acres available to hunt Florida Osceolas. He understands this unique species of wild turkey and knows his extensive area like the preverbal back of his hand. David is now part of the Woodhaven Sting Team and is hosting them on this hunt. To contact David about Osceola hunts, bow or shotgun, phone 1-863-990-9087.

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