Headline News
| Spring 2008 Oklahoma Turkey Season: April 6- May 6, 2008; Statewide |
| Gobbler season opens April 6; hunters allowed multiple birds a day |
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Gobbler season opens April 6; hunters allowed multiple birds a day
April 6 marks the first day of spring turkey season in Oklahoma, and thousands of hunters will make their way in to the woods for another year of hunting. The season runs through May 6 and is open to shotgun and archery equipment. Youth spring turkey season is open March 29-30, giving youth a unique opportunity to hunt during their own season. For regulations, specific firearms and archery requirements and a state map showing individual county bag limits, consult the current “Oklahoma Hunting Guide.” Oklahoma is home to two main subspecies of wild turkeys — the Rio Grande and the Eastern — but occasionally the Merriam subspecies can be found in the far western edge of the Panhandle. According to biologists with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation, hunters should be successful during turkey season in areas across the state. “Rio Grande turkey populations are in really good shape,” said Rod Smith, southwest region wildlife supervisor for the Wildlife Department. “In most parts of the state, last summer’s flooding didn’t impact turkey populations like we thought it would, and hunters should be able to find plenty of birds to hunt.” According to Smith, though, hunters should not rely on areas where they saw turkeys during deer season to be successful this spring, but instead should pay attention to what the birds are doing now. “Now is the time to start watching for birds, because the areas where you see them now will be the same places you will find them during turkey season,” Smith said. Jack Waymire, southeast region senior biologist for the Department, said a good approach for hunters in southeast Oklahoma is to look for turkeys in the same places they saw them last spring. “The birds have been in larger flocks and are just now breaking up for the breeding season,” Waymire said. “Turkey hunting makes for a great experience, so hunters need to get out and enjoy this spring season.” The wild turkey in Oklahoma is part of an enormous conservation success story. In the 1920s, wild turkeys were very rare in Oklahoma and all across the nation. Overharvest from market hunting, timbering for construction of homesteads, land use changes and market logging in Oklahoma’s early years took a toll on the wild turkey, but a stocking program by the Wildlife Department in the late 1940s helped re-establish the wild turkey to its former range across the state. Today, turkeys are so plentiful that huntable populations exist in all 77 counties. Every county in Oklahoma has either a one- or two-tom season limit, and an eight-county region in southeast Oklahoma has a combined two-tom season limit. However, persistent hunters can harvest up to their season limit of three tom turkeys in one day, but individual county limits still apply. To hunt turkeys, sportsmen need an appropriate state hunting license and fishing and hunting legacy permit as well as a turkey license, unless exempt. Upon harvesting a turkey, all annual license holders are required to complete the “Record of Game” section on the license form, and all hunters, even lifetime license holders, must attach their name and hunting license number to their turkey as soon as it is harvested. Only toms, or bearded turkeys, may be taken during the spring season. First-time hunters who purchased an apprentice-designated hunting license for deer season can do the same thing for the upcoming 2008 spring turkey season. They simply need to purchase their 2008 apprentice-designated license, a turkey license and a fishing and hunting legacy permit, then be ready for the April 6 turkey season opener. Apprentice-designat |
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- Broken Arrow Chapter -
May 16, 2008 (6:00 pm - 10:00 pm)
(Super Fund-raising banquet) Clarion Hotel - BA Room
Broken Arrow, OK 74012
Jesse Hardcastle 918/557-1083 - JAKES Grand Gobblers -
May 17, 2008 (9:00 am - 9:00 am)
(JAKES Field Days) Just south of Grove Oklahoma
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Margaret Baughman 918/652-4888 - Creek County Cutters -
May 31, 2008 (6:00 pm - 10:00 pm)
(Super Fund-raising banquet) Creek County Fairgrounds
Kelleyville, OK 74039
John Longacre 918/224-7700 - Choctaw WITO -
June 07, 2008 (9:00 am - 9:00 am)
(WITO) Choctaw Creek Park
Choctaw, OK
Beth Ann Amico 405/519-5227
