Turkey nimrods love the pursuit of gorging clunkers. It really doesn’t matter where in the country the game takes place, they simply want to hear catcalls ingurgitate, use their calls, and play the game one further time. And the great thing about lemon stalking is that openings pullulate throughout the U.S. with affordable options making a lemon quest one of the stylish bargain hunts you ’ll ever do.
The Turkey Grand Slam stalking involves killing each of the four species of plants across the U.S. (Rio Grande, Merriam’s, Osceola, Eastern). Bagging all four species of the wild lemon will no doubt involve trip as these catcalls inhabit different corridors of the country, north, south, east and west. But it’s a fun and addictive bid that keeps avaricious lemon nimrods on the road season after season.
But with the pursuit of the turkey grand slam comes the question, “Which species of turkeys is the toughest?”
Just be careful where and when you ask such a question. Hunting camp debates continue to rage each spring when this lemon content comes up. It seems like everyone has their own opinion on which baby turkey is the toughest. But let’s take a nanosecond to look at the data on each of the different species as we constrict down which lemon species truly is the toughest.
Rio Grande Clunkers
Plant in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and scattered across a number of western countries, the Rio Grande species is a fun raspberry to pursue. Turkey nimrods annually make the passage to the Lone Star state to take on this raspberry in the flat country they call home. They’ve a distinct yodel ingurgitate that sets them piecemeal from the rest, as well as some of the longest spurs you ’ll find anywhere in the country. They frequently respond well to the call all day long making them a lot of fun to quest. Their buff colored feathers and addict make them really enough raspberry to videotape, snap, and of course, display on the wall. Suitable roost trees are frequently limited in the places Rio’s call home, so it’s not uncommon to find every raspberry in the city roosted in a single tree. It makes for one of the coolest flydowns you ’ll ever encounter.
Merriam’s Turkey
The Merriam’s species can frequently lap areas that also hold the Rio. And the two can fluently be incorrect for each other depending on where you are. I ’ve called in catcalls in Montana that strutted side by side, one with snow-white feathers and addict that was a Merriam’s through and through, while strutting right next to him was a further buff colored gobbler that you would have fluently incorrect for a Rio.
Merriam’s clunkers can be a lot of fun to quest. They’re clearly not the brightest catcalls in the bunch. In fact, some would call them dumb.
After living in Montana for a number of times, I ca n’t say that I would differ. You can get down with effects when hunting the Merriam’s that you ’d noway pull off with the other species. Heck, the hardest part of hunting Merriam’s clunkers for me was chancing catcalls in wild places. Further times than not, you ’ll find these catcalls roosted near to small granges and houses where they can take advantage of what’s left before in the way of grain and grub on the ranch. These are the catcalls to come pursue after the other species have whipped your tail and you ’re demanding a lemon fix to feel good about your lemon stalking chops formerly again.
Osceola Turkey
Some would snappily say that the Florida raspberry, the Osceola, is the toughest raspberry on the menu. And because of the fact that Florida is the only place you ’ll find him, that clearly plays into the equation. But the toughest thing about hunting the Osceola species isn’t the fact that the catcalls are so tough, but rather the fact that terrain is so limited. Public land holding clunkers is generally overrun with nimrods, making the public land option the toughest part of the game. Still, when you gain private land access, or quest with an outfitter, you ’ll generally find Osceola clunkers to be some of the most call-friendly catcalls you ’ll ever pursue. They just do it right. They respond to the calls like they ’re supposed to. Aggressive relations with the baits seems to be the norm rather than a perk. Osceola clunkers have stations. You ’ll hear it in their voice and see it in their body language the first time you play the game with these super cool swamp gobblers. They look much like the Eastern lemon, with longer legs, slimmer bodies, and a different sect color pattern.
Eastern Turkey
The Eastern species covers the most real estate across the country. You ’ll find him from north to south across the easternU.S., and indeed scattered into some western countries. Whereas the Merriam’s species has a high pitched ingurgitate and lyrics, the Eastern raspberry is a hard- gorging monster of a raspberry with station in nearly every sound he makes. The Eastern’s are the loudest catcalls of the bunch. On a crisp, clear morning you can hear their gobbles a afar down. The ingurgitate of a Eastern lemon will literally rattle the forestland when he gets up in your business. You may hear the ingurgitate of the other species, but when it comes to the
Eastern, you ’ll feel him ingurgitate. It ’ll change your life, no mistrustfulness.
It’s enough safe to say that the Eastern wild lemon is the toughest of the four catcalls. He ’ll beat you up day after day and just when you suppose you ’ve got him figured out, he ’ll make it clear that he’s actually got you figured out.
The growing struggle of hunting Eastern clunkers is changing him lonely and looking for love. Growing figures of hen populations over the times seems to help keep these catcalls busy all day servicing the ladies. 10 times ago if I heard a raspberry ingratiate admit-day, I ’d go ahead and start notching my lemon label. He was as good as dead. Currently it’s a different game. Lonely hens are quick to block these catcalls. And further lemon nimrods in the forestland than ever ahead means these catcalls have had ample calling pressure applied.
But sooner or latterly that gobbler will find himself lonely and that’s when you more be in the forestland. And although times have changed and clunkers are tougher to kill than ever, that 1000-200 timeframe is still the deadliest time to be in the lemon forestland.
No matter which of these four clunkers you decide to hunt this season, you can be sure you ’ll be in for one of the funnest hunts of the spring season. When you match head with a knuckle- headed gobbler this spring you ’ll realize that he’s called the “ master” for a reason. He ’ll drive you crazy … but he ’ll always make you wan na come back for further.
Also related: Baby Turkeys: How To Raise, Feed & Further
