The best place to hunt turkeys depends on the subspecies you want to pursue. This list isn’t comprehensive, but will get you started in your planning:

• Eastern turkeys: Missouri, Tennessee, Kentucky, Pennsylvania.
• Rio Grande turkeys: California, Oklahoma, Oregon.
• Merriam’s turkeys: Montana, New Mexico, North Dakota (Residents Only), South Dakota, Washington
• Osceola turkeys: Florida (only place they exist).
• Gould’s turkeys: Arizona and New Mexico (only place they exist outside of Mexico).
• Hybrid: Kansas and Nebraska.

States with strong populations, long seasons, and public land access tend to offer the best overall opportunities.

According to the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) and state wildlife agencies, turkeys thrive where nesting cover, brood habitat, mast production, and winter roosting areas overlap.

• Easterns favor large hardwood forests interspersed with openings, logging cuts, and agricultural edges. States in the Midwest and Appalachia often offer a strong mix of habitat and public land.
• Rio Grandes are closely tied to riparian corridors, creek bottoms, and agricultural fields in more open country.
• Merriam’s inhabit ponderosa pine forests and mountainous terrain, often at higher elevations.
• Osceolas prefer Florida’s flatwoods, palmetto prairies, and cypress systems.
• Gould’s occupy mountainous, oak-pine habitats in the Southwest.

The United States is home to five distinct types of wild turkeys: the eastern, Rio Grande, Merriam’s, Osceola, and Gould’s. North America’s sixth turkey subspecies, the ocellated turkey, lives in Mexico and parts of Central America. There’s also the hybrid wild turkey, which is a catch-all name for turkeys resulting from different subspecies reproducing.

Technically, the five U.S. types are subspecies of the wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo). They are genetically distinct regional variants that evolved based on geography and habitat.

Roosting birds, setting up near roosts, using calls (mouth, box, slate), and employing decoys all have their place in your turkey strategy. Head to onX Hunt’s and Mossy Oak’s Turkey Academy to learn when to use which techniques.

Florida’s spring turkey hunting season typically runs in March and April, with dates varying by zone. Florida is the only state where Osceola wild turkeys are found, and many hunts require permits, limited-entry draws, or private land access. Always check current Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission regulations before hunting.

Florida divides the state into zones with staggered openers to distribute pressure and protect breeding chronology. South Florida seasons typically open earlier than northern zones because breeding activity begins earlier in the peninsula’s subtropical climate.

Each wild turkey subspecies is known for certain characteristics, including specific coloring or barring on their tail fans and wings, their size, their behavior, and their gobbles. In certain areas, hybridization is increasingly common, resulting in less certainty over which subspecies a hunter has harvested. In these cases, a genetic test may be the only true way to discern the subspecies. A few common physical characteristics include:

• Easterns: Chestnut tips on their tail fans and white and black bars on their wings.
• Rios: Tan tips on their tail fans with equal amounts of white and black barring on their wings.
• Merriam’s: White tips on their tail fans with more white barring on their wings.
• Osceolas: Dark brown tips on their tail fans and predominantly black wings.
• Gould’s: Similar to Merriam’s in appearance, Gould’s also have white tail fan tips, but they’re a larger bird with longer legs and have more of an iridescent body.