How Not To Get Arrested During Turkey Season

Every turkey hunter should check certain boxes before going out to hunt. This includes understanding turkey hunting regulations and turkey season structures. As such, here’s a guide to both important topics.

Editor’s Note: This is not legal advice. Consult the hunting regulations book and guide for your state. Contact officials that represent your state and area.

There are many different regulations for turkey hunting—too many to completely cover in one article. These vary greatly from state to state and region to region. These can even be unique to specific counties or public lands. To see the complete list of turkey hunting regulations that apply to your area, consult your state's Department of Fish & Wildlife.

Baiting & Feeding: In most areas, baiting is not allowed during, or for a period before, spring and fall turkey seasons.

Pre-Season Calling: Some states regulate when you can and can’t call turkeys outside of turkey seasons. For example, many states do not allow calling to turkeys a certain amount of time leading up to turkey season.

Use of Dogs: Some areas allow the use of dogs for fall turkey hunting. It’s a small niche within the turkey hunting community and is regulated with specific rules.

Calls & Decoys: In some instances, calling and decoying are regulated. For example, most areas do not permit electronic calling methods. Likewise, some areas do not permit decoying, or the use of electronic or live turkey decoys.

Legal Weapon Types: As with all wild game, most states decide what weapon types can be used to harvest wild turkeys. Generally, it’s bows, crossbows, shotguns, and sometimes muzzleloaders.

Minimum Shotgun Gauges: Most states regulate the minimum gauge that turkey hunters can use. This is done to maintain the effectiveness and ethicality of turkey shotguns carried in the field.

Shot Sizes: Similarly, shot sizes are regulated as well. This is done for the same reason as the minimum gauge requirements. It’s to ensure the tools being used are effective enough to ethically harvest a wild turkey.

Number of Shells: Destinations tend to limit the number of shells in the shotgun. Oftentimes, that number is three. Furthermore, the shotgun must be plugged so that it can hold no more than three shells.

Legal Shooting Hours: Legal shooting hours is the window of time during the day when turkeys are allowed to be harvested. Usually, this is 30 minutes before sunrise or sunrise until sunset or 30 minutes after sunset. In some cases, turkey hunting might end at 12 P.M. or 1 P.M.

Harvest Recording: It’s commonplace for turkey hunters to record their harvests. Each state does this differently, but it tends to require tagging in either online or phone-based reporting.

Daily & Season Bag Limits: The daily bag limit is the number of turkeys you’re legally allowed to shoot in one day. Generally, that number is one, but not more than the season bag limit. (Most states limit the daily bag limit to one turkey.) The season bag limit is the number of turkeys allowed for harvest in one season (or total between spring and fall).

There are multiple layers of game laws. Generally, these come in various forms and apply under certain situations, such as statewide, zones, units, counties, and specific public lands.

Statewide Game Laws: Statewide turkey hunting laws apply to everyone who hunts in the state. It’s a large, overarching set of hunting regulations. This is the macro level.

County-, Unit- or Zone-Based Game Laws: County-, unit-, or zone-based turkey hunting laws tend to be more focused on microelements. Bag limits, season dates, season lengths, and more, are examples of this.

Public Land Game Laws: Turkey hunting laws specific to certain public lands are even more drilled down. These are determined in a manner to help maintain turkey populations at the localized level.

Most turkey hunters need to have certain documents on hand. In some instances, special requirements might be in place. Hunter’s Education completion (with the card on your person), turkey hunting license, turkey hunting tags, habitat stamp, and WMA permit are common examples.

In some states, some hunters might be exempt from purchasing a hunting license. For example, in Kentucky, youth hunters under the age of 12, resident owners of farmlands (and their spouse and dependent children), tenants (and their spouse and dependent children) living on farmland where they work, and certain military personnel scenarios, are not required to purchase hunting licenses or tags.

All hunters should properly identify their target. The same is true for turkey hunters. Always determine your target, and be confident in verifying it, before pulling the trigger.

Each state is different in what it allows hunters to shoot or not shoot. Generally, a state permits one of the following as legal turkeys to harvest:

• Any male turkey (jake or tom)
• Turkeys with a visible beard (jake, tom, or bearded hen)
• Adult gobblers only (visible beard and/or full tail fan)

Read your state and local hunting regulations to determine the definition of a legal turkey to harvest. Of course, it can also vary by zone or county, but especially by specific public land designation.

Because the definition of a legal turkey harvest varies, it’s crucial to properly identify turkeys. Male turkeys have red, white, and/or blue heads. The dewlap and major caruncles are more pronounced. These have a long snood, white crown, darker plumage around the base of the neck, etc. Of course, adult gobblers have long beards, sharper spurs, and a full tail fan. Jakes have short beards, short, blunt spurs, and an uneven tail fan. In contrast, hens have grayish-blue feathered heads and brownish-gray plumage around the base of the neck. Additionally, hens have shorter caruncles, dewlaps, and snoods. They do not have spurs, but approximately 10% have visible beards.

Turkey hunters should always implement crucial turkey hunting safety measures. The following are just a few examples of putting safety first.

• Treat each gun as if it’s always loaded.
• Never cross fences or other obstacles with a gun in hand.
• Point guns in a safe direction.
• Keep the muzzle clean and clear of any debris.
• Only load a gun once in position to hunt.
• Lean against a tree wider than your shoulders.
• Only take off the safety when ready to fire.
• Identify the target.
• Study the background beyond the target.
• Wear gloves when processing a turkey.

Turkey season dates vary greatly by state, unit or zone within the state, weapon type being used, and who’s hunting.

Oftentimes, the spring turkey hunting season is set up by youth weekends (or longer seasons) and regular seasons. Some states regulate it by weapon type. A few states even support disabled hunter seasons.

Likewise, fall turkey hunting seasons are scheduled similarly. However, in addition to seasons by hunter classification and weapon type, seasons that allow the use of dogs are common, too. It’s especially popular in the Northeast.

Turkey season dates vary by location. So do hunting regulations. Of course, turkeys inhabit all U.S. states except Alaska. Check out the links below for your state. Study all turkey hunting laws and season dates before heading afield this year.

Connecticut (portal.ct.gov/DEEPHunting)

Delaware (dnrec.alpha.delaware.gov/fish-wildlife)

Maine (maine.gov/ifw)

Maryland (dnr.maryland.gov)

Massachusetts (mass.gov/masswildlife)

New Hampshire (wildnh.com)

New Jersey (njfishandwildlife.com)

New York (dec.ny.gov/things-to-do/hunting/turkey/seasons)

Rhode Island (dem.ri.gov/programs/fishwildlife)

Vermont (vtfishandwildlife.com)

Alabama (outdooralabama.com)

Arkansas (agfc.com)

Florida (myfwc.com/hunting/turkey)

Georgia (georgiawildlife.com)

Kentucky (fw.ky.gov)

Louisiana (wlf.louisiana.gov)

Mississippi (mdwfp.com)

North Carolina (ncwildlife.org)

South Carolina (dnr.sc.gov)

Tennessee (tnwildlife.org)

Texas (tpwd.texas.gov)

Virginia (dwr.virginia.gov)

West Virginia (wvdnr.gov)

Illinois (dnr.illinois.gov)

Indiana (on.in.gov/turkey)

Iowa (iowadnr.gov)

Kansas (ksoutdoors.com)

Michigan (michigan.gov/turkey)

Minnesota (dnr.state.mn.us)

Missouri (mdc.mo.gov)

Nebraska (outdoornebraska.gov/hunt/game/turkey)

North Dakota (gf.nd.gov)

Ohio (wildohio.gov)

Oklahoma (wildlifedepartment.com)

Oregon (myodfw.com)

Pennsylvania (pgc.pa.gov)

South Dakota (gfp.sd.gov)

Wisconsin (dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/hunt/turkey)

Arizona (azgfd.com)

California (wildlife.ca.gov)

Colorado (cpw.state.co.us)

Hawaii (dlnr.hawaii.gov/recreation/hunting/bird)

Idaho (idfg.idaho.gov)

Montana (fwp.mt.gov)

Nevada (ndow.org)

New Mexico (wildlife.state.nm.us)

Utah (wildlife.utah.gov)

Washington (wdfw.wa.gov)

Wyoming (wgfd.wyo.gov)

Spring is here, and it’s time to hunt wild turkeys. We hope you have a safe and successful turkey season—without getting cuffed by a game warden. May each dawn bring fresh sounds of spring and may the mighty longbeard sound his thunder anew at point-blank range each morning. Good luck out there!