by Dr. Nick Rauber
Marsh & Bayou Outfitters
E
ach spring brings the beginning of a
new growing season and if you’ve never been
to Florida in the Okeechobee swamp orange
groves, it’s unbelievable. There are hundreds
of thousands of trees with oranges still in
the process of being picked or ones that
have been picked and are in full pollencoated blooms. As we drove down the
dirt roads, interlacing these groves, it
smelled as if you were in a warehouse of citrus air fresheners. Although this fragrant indulgence was a great sensory seduction, our
main purpose was to hunt the subspecies of
wild turkey native to this region, the Osceola
turkey. There are many “hunting slams” nowadays, but I think the world slam for turkeys is
still one of the best there is. The world slam includes six wild turkeys in total, the four U.S. subspecies (Eastern, Osceola, Rio Grande, and
Merriam) as well as the Gould’s (found in Mexico
and Southwestern US) and the Ocellated (found
in Mexico and Central America).
They do not all have to be taken in a single
year, which allows for planning of fun annual trips
for each of the species. For Keith Luminais, Jr.,
Ross Wolkart, and myself, this Osceola turkey
hunt was the 2016 three amigos annual hunt.
The flora and fauna of this region combined
beautiful live oaks with swaying moss, endless
rows of orange trees, patch-worked cattle
fields, alligators, egrets, hogs, millions of pollinating bees, deep drainage ditches lined with
native flowers, and the beautiful dark feath-
54
May 2016 www.marshandbayou.com