PADDY CREEK WA
Sylvester Paddy logged this region in the early 1880s. Many of the trees were floated to St. Louis for the booming housing industry. After the logging era passed, homesteaders moved in and used the lands for grazing until the 1930s. Today, second-generation forests of shortleaf pine, white and black oak dominate the landscape, providing plentiful food supplies for wild turkeys.

Randy Adey, of Licking, has spent most of his life in the area and knows Paddy Creek WA well. "Paddy Creek is made up of typical Texas County terrain," he began. "Long, rough ridges and steep hollows cover most of the area. A few old farm fields border the wilderness area, but they are still on Forest Service property. Turkeys sometimes feed in them. The terrain gets increasingly steep as you approach the creeks and Big Piney River. There are some spectacular scenic views from the bluffs along the river.

"Burning a little boot leather will get you away from the perimeter hunters. It is possible to get away from everyone by hiking a couple of miles into the area. Most people don’t like to walk that far, or they have fears of becoming lost. Hunters who do their homework by scouting ahead of time and getting their hands on a good map can turkey hunt under truly wild conditions here." --Randy Adey on

Paddy Creek WA
"Many of the old logging roads through the area still serve as trails that allow a hunter to traverse some of the ridges quickly. We like to use them to travel the ridges. The ridges are good spots to stop and listen for a gobbler or to call from. Sound travels a long way from atop a ridge."

Many hunters drive the perimeter gravel roads around the wilderness area and hike in short distances to hunt. "Burning a little boot leather will get you away from the perimeter hunters," Adey advised. "It is possible to get away from everyone by hiking a couple of miles into the area. Most people don’t like to walk that far, or they have fears of becoming lost. Hunters who do their homework by scouting ahead of time and getting their hands on a good map can turkey hunt under truly wild conditions here."

Paddy Creek WA is in Texas County 17 miles east of Licking off state Route 32. Texas County finished second in the spring 2007 turkey harvest with 790 gobblers checked.

Missouri Department of Conservation turkey biologist Jeff Beringer reported that the state’s turkey population is in good shape. "Hunters will not find the density of turkeys in the wild areas of southern Missouri like they will in the northern part of the state, but the walk-in areas offer hunters the opportunity to hunt with less competition from other turkey hunters."

Beringer also suggested that hunters might want to check out some of the other walk-in turkey hunting areas that do not have wilderness designation. "We try to create openings in the large expanses of forest. These openings allow for the growth of a variety of plants and insects that turkeys use," Beringer said.

The resurgence of the wild turkey population in Missouri came about as a result of birds being trapped in some of the most remote and wild areas of the Missouri Ozarks and being released in suitable habitat across the state. It’s no coincidence that the opportunities to hunt Missouri’s wildest turkeys still exist in the most rugged and scenic sections of the state.

Find more about Missouri fishing and hunting at: MissouriGameandFish.com