Where To Hunt Gould’s
The Gould’s wild turkey has the largest body frame of any of the subspecies. There aren’t many of them (some estimate under 2,000 birds total in the U.S.), and they are not part of the traditional Turkey Grand Slam. They appear in parts of Arizona and New Mexico, but most of their home range is in Mexico. They have very long legs and wide tail feathers with white tips. Since they are not hunted often they are not studied often.
Arizona
The Gould’s turkey population in Arizona is a hallmark of reintroduction success. Through good management, the population of this subspecies now number 1,500, which is a 50% increase from just a few years ago.
Arizona is a limited-license state, so getting in the drawing for one is a must. On average, over 13,000 hunters apply for turkey tags each year and only half are successful. After that fact, the actual hunter success rate can be between 18-30%. So apply often and hunt hard when you head to Arizona.
Local Intel:
Information on Gould’s in Arizona is slim. We canvassed many well-connected folks in the turkey world and largely came up short. If you end up on this page and have hunted Gould’s in Arizona, we’d love to hear about your experience.
