Made the long drive to hunt a WMA quota hunt in South Florida this weekend. Got down there Thursday night so I could scout around on Friday. I heard one bird Friday but quickly found out that area is where almost all the hunters would be heading too so I started looking for alternatives. Both Florida quota hunts I have been on have been insane and make me wonder why I keep applying 
People were lined up at 3AM vying for a good spot in line. Drag racing once the gate opens, bringing along kids that don't care about hunting so the dad can use the guest permit, drinking beer waiting on the gate, way too many permits for the habitat, etc. Anyway, I found a spot with a nearby private pasture that had some hens in it of an afternoon, and a creek about 2 miles deep on the public. On opening morning, my guest and I worked our way down the fence line toward the creek and heard one start hammering back toward the truck and private pasture. We hustled back and got between the gobbler and the pasture and lightly called, getting a gobble back most of the time. During that, another hunter worked in on the other side of the gobbler. We closed the distance some out in the palmettos and the gobbler went silent. After just a few minutes we saw two red heads poking over the palmettos practically running looking for us. I shot one first and my buddy picked up the spare. With that, we walked out, broke camp and headed back with one morning of hunting. That was the limit for this WMA quota.
People were lined up at 3AM vying for a good spot in line. Drag racing once the gate opens, bringing along kids that don't care about hunting so the dad can use the guest permit, drinking beer waiting on the gate, way too many permits for the habitat, etc. Anyway, I found a spot with a nearby private pasture that had some hens in it of an afternoon, and a creek about 2 miles deep on the public. On opening morning, my guest and I worked our way down the fence line toward the creek and heard one start hammering back toward the truck and private pasture. We hustled back and got between the gobbler and the pasture and lightly called, getting a gobble back most of the time. During that, another hunter worked in on the other side of the gobbler. We closed the distance some out in the palmettos and the gobbler went silent. After just a few minutes we saw two red heads poking over the palmettos practically running looking for us. I shot one first and my buddy picked up the spare. With that, we walked out, broke camp and headed back with one morning of hunting. That was the limit for this WMA quota.
. Been there done that for 35 yrs . Them osceolas are fun to hunt
