looking for recommendations:

[FIJI]

I'm looking ahead to next year and beyond in the pursuit of an eventual grand slam. I have the Eastern taken care of (and hope to add another soon !)

But I'm looking for recommendations for possible locations and/or guides for Osceola, Merriam's and Rio Grande. For now I'm going to put the Gould's on the back burner.

I'm considering self-hunts - under the right circumstances- and guided hunts. Nothing 5 Star or too expen$ive.

mahalo

[Nulle]

For the Marriams hit Western South Dakota Butte or Mead Counties or the Black Hills will get you a bird. We have tons of them.

[petey]

Of the 4, Osceola will be your hardest to obtain on account of their location. You're pretty much gonna have to pay to shoot one, unless you got frinds or family in Florida with sizable amount of land. Average fees are running around $1500 for just the hunt. Tack on your license and transportation and no bird is worth that to me I think IL is outragous at $125 per non-res tag.

Of course if you're heart is set on the Grand Slam then put away some money since it will cost ya probably close to minimum of $5000 hunting on your own. Just looking at travel and licenses that is. Tack on about $500 per day if your going the guided route.

It's definitely not a poor man's goal.

I've hunted in 9 different states killing more than probably 3 people would in a lifetime, all Easterns....and I'm happy with that. If I get the opportunity to take another sub-species I'll do it, but not at today's rates. That being said, I got plenty of contacts in ND, SD, IA, IL, IN, NY, OH, WV, MD, MO, VA, FL, WY, CO, MT, ID, NM, TX and a few more if you're interested? I have open invitations in each state, but yeah right, when do I have the time?

[FIJI]

Travel is not a problem. My work "territory" is all the of the US & Canada ! I drove from MI to Iowa today, headed to NE, KS, MO, AR, IN over the next ten days - 3,000 miles. Then back to MI to try to tag my bird before my own season is over.

Timing is another issue. I seem to rarely be in the right place when the seasons are open, but I hope to change that with some better advanced planning. I have a couple of southern contacts but not sure if the areas are great for turkeys (seem to be full of boars and deer though). I prefer doing things solo/on the cheap (mostly out of necessity) but realize that sometimes its just foolish not to call in the pros.

I should be out Nulles way again sometime soon

Any and all referrals, contacts, "avoid lists", etc are welcome

mahalo