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Turkey Hunting
2024 Georgia Turkey Season Dates
Kids, Mobility Impaired: March 23-24
Public-Land: April 6 – May 15
Private-Land: March 30 – May 15
* Two gobbler per season limit; one-gobbler-per-day restriction.
As a 19-year-old turkey hunter in just his second season, Grant Tucker was just hoping to finally claim that he had killed his first turkey. Killing a gobbler that was one of the rarest in history wasn’t even in his wildest dreams. “I had been chasing this bird on my father’s blueberry farm for two…
Talbot County’s Michael Barnes was just looking to get his first turkey of the season last Sunday morning. He never dreamed he’d get a turkey that even the experts say the likes they’ve never seen before. “When I shot it and got to it, the first thing that I noticed was that it didn’t have…
The 2023 Georgia turkey season marked the second year for the state’s shorter, more restrictive season structure, and according to WRD’s Game Check data, the statewide harvest increased more than 21% from 2022. That sounds like great news for turkey hunters, but don’t start celebrating a return to the good old days of Georgia turkey…
Season dates and regulations have been set for the 2024 Georgia turkey season, and the season structure and regulations are nearly identical to last season. The 2024 Georgia turkey season will open Saturday, March 30 on private lands and Saturday, April 6 on public lands, and will wrap up May 15 statewide. Keep in mind…
With WMA quota-hunt drawings being held a few weeks ago, some hunters have already put in for a vacation day or two in preparation for warm weather and hopefully gobbling birds. However, as low turkey populations across the Southeast continue to get the focus from biologists and researchers, there’s a big question mark on how…
It was Thursday morning before opening day of the 2023 season. I stood in the pre-dawn darkness in anticipation of the first gobble of the season. I did not have to wait long as the horizon started to lighten and a barred owl awakened the woods followed by the first gobble of the season. After…
Deer season has come and gone. Bradley Carpenter had a typical season harvesting a couple of does and one nice 3.5-year-old 8-pointer, all on public land in north Georgia. It was a mild Saturday morning in the middle of February, and Bradley was out walking on Lake Russell WMA. He was there before daylight, listening…
It had been a half hour since my last call. I had no idea if the bird was even still in the neighborhood or not. He hadn’t given me any reason to believe he was, and when he had last gobbled, he was still in the same vicinity as he had been when he first…
Turkeys sure do have a tough time. It’s a wonder that they can survive at all in the wild, with the ongoing habitat destruction, the seemingly endless predation, Mother Nature’s unpredictable hazards and conservation-oblivious humans. But then, there is more that we may not necessarily think much about in our native turkey flocks. For me,…
The drift of smoke from a chimney somewhere distant instantly grabbed my attention and caused my mind to rewind to years a long time ago. It reminded me of my boyhood as I walked this very logging road I was now on, but I was a kid then, likely still shy of my teens, and…
Turkey Recipes
Applewood Smoked Turkey Breast If you’re looking for a recipe to show off that gobbler you took this season, here’s a good ’un! 1 turkey breast, bone in 3 cups salt 2 cups white wine vinegar 2 cups red wine Garlic salt Seasoning salt Apple wood chips 3 gallons water Soak applewood chips in water…
Turkey Salad Don’t waste those turkey legs, thighs and other dark meat. Make them into this delicious sandwich spread. 1 medium-size jar pimentos1 tablespoon sugar5 eggs, boiled, peeled and chopped1 bell pepper, diced1 stalk celery, diced1 small onion, diced1 cup mayonnaise2 salad pickles, dicedSalt and pepper, to taste Boil turkey pieces until done. Scoop off…
This month’s recipe matches the home-cooked goodness of a pot pie with mostly canned ingredients which you can easily take to hunting camp. If you don’t roll your gobbler this weekend, just leave the ingredients at camp for next weekend. Gobbler Pie: Wild Turkey Pot Pie 2 wild turkey breasts (diced)1 can cream of…