The Florida Chapter is gearing up for Turkey Season and encouraging sportsmen and women to get outside and give back to conservation through the Gobblers & Garbage Initiative!

Gobblers & Garbage provides a great opportunity for old and new hunters alike to visit new locations to scout turkeys and haul out unsightly items left behind by less courteous users of our public land.  Participation is easy!  Visit your local ‘turkey accessible’ WMA or public land, try out your call and pick any trash and debris you see.  Post the pictures of the trash you collect and the gobblers you harvest on on the Florida BHA Facebook Page to collect points.  The more trash collected the more points accumulated for prizes. 

To help folks get off to a big start and make a big statement the Florida Chapter will be hosting a cleanup in the Ocala National Forest at 8:00 AM on Saturday, March 13^th.  Volunteers will rendezvous at the Pitman Visitors Center located at 45621 FL-19, Altoona, FL 32702  Google Maps:  (29.0124077, -81.6417003).

Please bring water, garbage bags, boots, work gloves and appropriate clothing for a day in the wood.

Take pride in your efforts and post those pictures; show the world that Florida BHA and the hunting community cares about our public land!  See the detailed rules for participation below.

It’s that time of year again! Turkey season is coming up quick. This year, we are continuing with our annual Gobblers & Garbage public lands cleanup initiative. Competition starts March 6. Full rules can be found below. Here are this years prizes:

1st place – Garmin GPSMAP 64st https://buy.garmin.com/en-US/US/p/140024

2nd place – Headbusta custom friction call, Headbusta T-shirt & hat

3rd place – BHA Public Landowner T-shirt & BHA First Lite Cipher hat

Style prize – Natural Gear SC II Turkey Vest (awarded by either Board decision or public vote for most creative, imaginative, or epic trash pickup ie. Tires, mattresses, washing machines, etc.)

Pro tip: Some major points can be earned during the cleanup event in Ocala National Forest on March 13. https://www.backcountryhunters.org/gobblers_garbage_ocala...

Rules:

- Participants must be members of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.  Join here:  https://www.backcountryhunters.org/newberg

- Competition begins February 27th and ends April 25th. Entries are due NLT midnight of April 25th.

- Participants must conduct activities on public lands open to spring turkey hunting in order to qualify for points.  Scouting on public land during the statewide season, but before the WMA season is allowed.

- To receive points, participants must provide photos of trash and turkeys. This can be at the check station, in front of the WMA sign, on a non-descript forest service road, at the kill site, etc.

- In addition, to the photo(s) above, participants must provide a picture of the beard next to a measuring device.

- Pictures and a text description of how many bags and beard length must be posted to the FL BHA Facebook page. An admin will monitor the page for entries and periodically post updates of the scoreboard.

- One point will be awarded for each gallon of trash collected

Examples:

o 1 gallon (grocery) bag = 1 point

o 13 gallon (kitchen) bag = 13 points

o 40 gallon bag = 40 points

- If a turkey is killed, multiply the point total FOR THAT DAY by the total beard length in inches. To use the beard multiplier, at least one bag of trash must be collected on the day the turkey is killed.

o Example 1: John hunts opening morning and doesn’t even hear a gobble but fills one Publix bag during his hunt. He ends that day with 1 point. The next day he goes out, John kills a gobbler with a 10 inch beard and removes two grocery sacks of trash. He ends that day with 20 points. His total for the season so far is 21.

o Example 2: Anne goes scouting for her quota permit prior to the dates of the permit. Even though she is not yet hunting and her area is currently closed, the state season is open. She picks up a kitchen sack (13gal) worth of trash and ends her scouting mission with 13 points. When her quota opens up, she kills two birds within the first hour and picks up two gallons of trash. The birds’ beards total 18 inches. She ends that day with 36 points for a season total of 49.

- If you limit out, you may still pick up trash for points, but ONLY on public land open to spring turkey hunting.

- Youth hunters are encouraged and are allowed to start during the youth weekends. However, their points are their own and may not be pooled with any other hunter.

- Hunters may not pool their points.