All You Need to Know About the North American Turkey Slam

Our unique and successful North American Model of Wildlife Conservation gives us access to millions of acres of public hunting land. Many Americans don’t need to own land or travel to have a good place to hunt. Culturally, this is why many of us do most of our hunting close to home for locally available game. Whether mule deer in the West or whitetails everywhere else, we take fall deer hunting for granted. In the spring we hunt turkeys, often with little thought to which kind of turkey lurks in the local woods.

Which bird roams your area depends on where you live. There are four distinct subspecies of the wild turkey in the United States: Eastern, Osceola, Rio Grande and Merriam’s. Several spill over into Canada and Mexico. Plus, two more types of turkey are essentially confined to Mexico: the Gould’s and ocellated.

Several states and provinces in all three countries have more than one breed of turkey, and a few have three. During the heroic efforts to bring back the wild turkey, some states got stock without undue concern about which bird might have been native. California is a perfect example, because turkeys were never native there. During the introductions, most stock was Rio Grande but Merriam’s were introduced at higher elevations. California’s Central Coast, where I’ve hung my hat for 30 years, has great turkey hunting. We think of the birds there as Rio Grande turkeys, but who knows.

I grew up in Kansas without backyard deer or turkeys. (That probably has something to do with me never minding traveling to hunt.) Today, we have plenty of turkeys on our Kansas farm. The Sunflower State has two varieties: Eastern turkeys in the eastern quarter—largely birds that have expanded from Missouri—and purposefully reintroduced Rio Grande turkeys in the west. The various U.S. races are genetically close enough that they will happily cross. Between Eastern and Rio Grande, Kansas wildlife managers reckon there’s a broad hybrid zone.

My Kansas farm sits dead in the middle of the hybrid zone. If I want to hunt an Eastern gobbler, I need to go 20 miles east. For a Rio Grande, 20 miles west. For all other turkeys, I need to cover some ground, and I have. The National Wild Turkey Federation keeps tabs on this stuff. Hundreds of hunters pursue the “turkey slam” with the goal of tagging all four U.S. subspecies. Adding the two turkeys in Mexico earns them the “world turkey slam.” Some do it for the challenge, others because it’s human nature to believe the grass is greener (thus the hunting is better) on the other side of the fence. In my case, having not grown up with turkeys and now having backyard birds that are hybrids, I find it fascinating to hunt turkeys in different places.

The feathering among the races is distinct, and their habitat and habits differ. You must adjust hunting and calling techniques. The good news: compared to taking, for instance, the four North American wild sheep, turkey hunting is inexpensive. And in the U.S., there is good turkey hunting on public land. I have indulged in guided turkey hunts in the U.S., and there are almost no opportunities for visitors to hunt DIY in Mexico. However, guided turkey hunts and licenses are affordable compared to big-game opportunities.

I’ll be honest: Tone deaf (almost stone deaf) and impatient, I consider myself the world’s worst turkey caller. Still, I’ve taken all four U.S. birds on DIY hunts. For me and many other hunters, it’s just a matter of researching areas and allowing enough time to learn the country and how to hunt it.

THE EASTERN: Common But Cautious

The Eastern gobbler has the largest range. At their best, they are the heaviest turkeys, with their broad tail feathers ending in bronze tips. Eastern birds may not be naturally the wariest, but because their woods have America’s greatest hunter density, they are the most hunter-educated. I have not pursued them in the hard-hunted Northeastern woods, but I’m pretty sure they’d beat me there. I have hunted them in the Southeast, Kansas and Missouri, and I have been both beaten and successful.

The birds on my Kansas farm are essentially Eastern, with no hint of cream or white at the tips of their tail fans. I just don’t tell anyone they’re Eastern because they’re in the hybrid zone. I have got the best of some … and some have got the best of me.

Adding to my shortcomings as a turkey hunter, a gag reflex keeps me from using a diaphragm call. I use box calls and slates, and I’ve called in gobblers in multiple states. With Easterns (and all turkeys, really) the biggest sin is overcalling, which is where my lack of patience hurts. Turkeys aren’t deaf like me. If there’s a gobbler within earshot, he heard me. Maybe he’ll come, maybe not; it depends on what he’s doing (and who he’s with). Lecturing him doesn’t help.

Last spring, at buddy Zack Aultman’s place in southern Georgia, I got my ultimate comeuppance. Ben Pickering, the 13-year-old grandson of a friend of mine, and I popped into a ground blind in the early afternoon. Ben wanted to call, and after hearing his first series, I let him. This devil went down to Georgia and knew when he’d been beat. We saw a wonderful gobbler with some hens down a long cutline. In fact, we saw him four times. Ben called little; the gobbler knew where we were. We sat tight and baked in the early April sun for three hours before the gobbler finally came our way. I shot him at 20 yards with a little 20-gauge Benelli.

THE OSCEOLA: Swamp Ghost

Found only in central Florida and southward, the Osceola turkey has the smallest range. The bird is smaller than an Eastern and has a similar bronze-tipped tail, but its body is darker. The Osceola season is one of the earliest turkey seasons, opening the first week of March. South Florida is tropical country, and it seems to me these tropical birds are very quiet. When they talk, they sound like other turkeys … but they just don’t have much to say. Much of their habitat is swampy, and there’s an axiom that especially applies here: You can’t call turkeys across a water obstacle. In Florida swamps there are lots of alligators; turkeys aren’t brilliant, but they’re not suicidal.

I’ve only taken a couple Osceola gobblers. For me, the Osceola was by far the most difficult of the six turkey breeds, requiring the most hunting days before I took my first. The second bird came easy. Skill is good, but luck is even better!

Ages ago, I attended an invitational hunt on the Deseret Ranches of Florida. Though it was a long hunt, 10 full days, I hardly heard a gobble. In 1998, I was assigned to MacDill Air Force Base near Tampa as interim commander of Marine Forces Central Command. I started just before turkey season, and my friend Jack Bierly had a good place to hunt turkeys not too far away. We hunted almost every weekend, and somebody in the party always got a gobbler. Except for me. I never had a chance.

Years later I gave a presentation to the African Safari Club of Southern Florida, where I met Rob Barton, who invited me to hunt turkeys. Turned out to be one of my better speaking fees.

On the first morning we set up pre-dawn. As usual I heard no gobblers, but we heard hens. Rob gave a couple hen clucks, but nothing answered. It was easy for me to think he was wasting his time, but Rob knew his country. Twenty minutes after legal light, still dim and shadowy, a big gobbler flew down right behind me and strode up a little opening over my left shoulder. I’m left-handed, had no shot that way, and it was impossible for me to turn. That was the first gobbler I shot right-handed. Almost everyone has a strong side. Somehow turkeys sense this and will come in totally wrong if they can. Practice shooting from your weak side.

THE RIO GRANDE: No Pushover

I don’t think Rio Grande turkeys are naturally dumber than Easterns. In their range—most of Oklahoma, Texas and the Great Plains—they are numerous, gather in large droves and are generally subjected to less hunting pressure than birds farther East. They respond well to calling, even from inept callers like me. In agricultural areas they can get big, but not as heavy as the largest corn-fed Eastern birds. A Rio’s tail tips are cream, almost white.

I’ve taken more Rio Grande gobblers than all the rest, in Oklahoma, Texas, Kansas (west of my farm) and in California’s Central Coast. Some of the very best Rio Grande turkey hunting I’ve seen was in western Nebraska, but be careful about characterizing subspecies there. Nebraska is a three-turkey state: Easterns in the east and Rio Grande birds in most of the state, but get too far west and you run into Merriam’s turkeys.

If I must be honest, I’ve taken a number of Rio Grande gobblers in the fall season, incidental to deer hunting and very much not by proper calling. Although abhorrent and barbaric to the turkey hunting purists reading this, I’ve killed several Rio Grande gobblers with rifles, which is perfectly legal in several states they call home. Sorry, folks, the rifleman in me gets a huge thrill out of legally sniping a turkey with a .22 Hornet.

Last spring on my son-in-law’s Texas ranch, after several days when I couldn’t put things together, I had two awesome gobblers coming to me through some scrub oaks. They were too close to each other to shoot. When they separated, I focused on the left-hand bird with a slightly longer beard. I put the bead on his neck where the feathers stopped, pressed the trigger … and heard a sickening click. The pump gun hadn’t picked up a shell from the magazine. So much for an easy Rio.

THE MERRIAM’S: Mountain Monarch

Turkey hunters more experienced than I reckon some liberties (not including empty chambers) can be taken with Rio Grande turkeys. Because of less hunter pressure, this applies at least as equally to the Merriam’s turkey, the bird of the high plains, Rocky Mountain Front and the West. The Merriam’s is slightly smaller in body and has pale tan or off-white fan tips.

Under ideal conditions, any of the turkey subspecies can be taken through spot-and-stalk or ambush. With Merriam’s turkeys, I’ve stalked as many gobblers as I’ve taken “properly” by calling from one location. This is largely because the broken terrain and scattered vegetation of the West is in the hunter’s favor. The last Merriam’s gobblers I’ve taken were in Idaho. I had a group of gobblers working, glassed them, called to them and then stalked over a little edge. I shot a nice tom, and then an unseen gobbler of the same size rushed in to pounce on him. I had two tags, and it was the only time I got a double on gobblers.

It’s important to watch the weather anywhere, but especially in the West when hunting turkeys. My wife Donna went on a Merriam’s hunt in Wyoming last April and made the mistake of believing the weather forecast. She took a marvelous gobbler … while nearly freezing to death in an unpredicted spring blizzard. Years ago, during my first try for a Merriam’s turkey, I hunted Colorado at supposedly the “right” time. There was 2 feet of snow on the flats. I had no idea where the poor turkeys went, but they weren’t any place where we could find them.

THE GOULD’S: Mexican Monster

Recently almost extinct north of the border, the Gould’s turkey has been re-established in some units in southern Arizona. Generally, however, this is a Mexican bird, found all the way down the spine of the Sierra Madres and only readily hunted south of the border. The Gould’s is a tall, imposing bird. It’s not so heavy because of its harsh, arid habitat, but it’s a giant in height with a luxurious, white-tipped fan.

I’ve seen a lot of Gould’s turkeys while hunting Coues deer in Sonora and while hunting the Central Plateau whitetail in Zacatecas, a thousand miles south. I have shot just two, however, both on the same hunt with Ted Jaycox on Rancho Mababi in the northern Sierra Madre, south of Douglas, Ariz.

My hunt with Ted was the most memorable turkey hunt of my life. With all turkeys, you must hit it right. Planning matters, but you also need luck with weather. That year, we got it exactly right. The population was high, conditions were perfect, and birds were gobbling like crazy. I don’t have enough experience with Gould’s turkeys to know if that was normal, but I sure enjoyed it. The birds responded and came in well. Ted had a mounted bird for a decoy, and that poor thing got pummeled and abused like nothing I’ve ever seen.

Let’s not forget, northern Mexico is not Georgia or Kansas. Add the ambience of a remote rancho in northern Mexico (great for me, I love Mexican food) and the beauty of the Southwestern mountains. Apart from being serious about shooting a bird, I got some of the best turkey photos I’ve ever taken.

I shot my first bird in an open valley, and we saw several jakes and smaller gobblers come and go before making a decision. My second gobbler was exciting. We set a pop-up blind in a tight, shaded valley, and placed the Judas decoy 20 yards out. At daybreak, multiple birds responded. A half-hour later, a no-brainer dragging a big beard came in.

THE OCELLATED: A Different Bird

With all the U.S. turkeys, there are trends in feathering, primarily in tail fans. However, hybrid zones are broad and individual birds vary. But no one can question that the ocellated turkey of Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula (and Belize and Guatemala) is a completely different bird.

The American wild turkey is Meleagris gallopavo, and the five subspecies have much in common. Males have beards and make their signature gobbling call during spring mating season. The ocellated turkey is so different that science has had a tough time. It was once placed in a separate genus, but general agreement today seems to be that Meleagris ocellata is a distinct species but still a North American turkey. The bird is much smaller and much more colorful, more like a peacock than a turkey. Ocellated, meaning “of the eye,” comes from the circular patterns on the feathers in the tail fan. Although males tend to have exceptionally long and sharp spurs, they have no beard.

The most distinct difference, especially from a hunter’s standpoint: the ocellated turkey male does not gobble! Local hunters describe its call as “singing,” starting with bass thumps and working up. Fortunately, hen clucks are similar to Northern birds; you know you’re hearing turkeys.

Ocellated turkeys are often ambushed from blinds and over waterholes, but the standard tactic is to roost them at last light, or listen for their singing before daybreak, then stalk the roost as dawn approaches. Turkey purists are flinching. Let’s understand, the ocellated turkey is a unique bird. The capercaillie, Eurasia’s giant grouse, is traditionally hunted the same way.

My first ocellated turkey was taken in a pre-dawn stalk. Gorgeous bird and I was happy to have him. Despite legend, they can be called. For a decade, jungle hunter Hector Arias and I have followed each other around Mexico’s Yucatan, outfitter to outfitter, area to area. He was the guide for my best brown brocket deer, my red brocket and my white-lipped peccary. In 2023, he gave me an amazing turkey hunting experience.

Trying a stalk, we’d spooked a tom off the roost in the morning and went into the same area in late afternoon. Using escalating “thumps,” Hector started calling. Amazingly, we got a distant response. Even I heard it.

We picked up our makeshift blind, advanced 50 yards to better ground and set up again—almost too late. Within seconds a big tom approached. At first sight I was blocked by brush and couldn’t shoot. Then the bird stepped clear, and I dropped him.

Those of us who have turkeys in our backyards may not be interested in pursuing other birds in unfamiliar places. I understand that; it’s not for everyone. Although I can’t even claim middle age anymore, I keep learning, and hunting different turkeys in different areas has been a great learning experience. All turkeys, hybrids included, have taught me much. Just maybe if I keep working at it, I won’t feel compelled to classify myself as “the world’s worst turkey hunter.”

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• This article was featured in the February 2025 issue of Game & Fish magazine. Click to subscribe.

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