March 19, 2024

Iowa turkey hunting season begins April 13

Online atlas available of state’s hunting grounds

With the spring Iowa turkey hunting season beginning April 13, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources is offering tips and seminars on better ways to hunt the very observant bird. This type of hunting can be a bit frustrating at times, as the bird isn’t spotted as frequently as other wildlife.

The thrill of the difficult hunt is what makes a kill all the more rewarding.

Iowa’s spring season begins formally Saturday with a two-weekend provision for licensed hunters younger than age 16. The first of Iowa’s four regular spring turkey sessions is April 13-16, with the other three being April 17-21 and 22-28 and April 29-May 17. An archery-only license is good from April 13 to May 17.

Jim Coffey is forest wildlife species technician for the Iowa DNR. He said Iowa is 98 percent private land, with so many millions of acres devoted to farming, but there are still plenty of excellent riparian hunting areas — especially in southern Iowa.

“There are turkeys in all 99 Iowa counties, but more in the timber of the south than in the more grassy north,” Coffey said. “Turkey hunting has a high (steep) learning curve, but the patience learned from it is very valuable. It can be a very rewarding form of hunting.”

Coffey said Iowa’s turkey flock had an excellent hatch in 2014, leading to the possibility that hunters should see increased opportunities to harvest a bird during the 2015 spring turkey season. The younger birds, called jakes, are often more vulnerable, responding to calls in groups and competing among themselves to see which one can get to the call first. The older “toms” can be more cautious and reluctant to respond to the loud temptations.

“We’re still seeing good groups of turkeys in winter flocks, but they will be breaking up soon as we head into the breeding season,” said Coffey.

Coffey, who participates in spring turkey hunting seminars geared toward first-time and novice hunters, said confidence is key. That confidence comes from talking to other turkey hunters and mentoring partnerships, spending time in the woods and learning from successes and failures.

“The No. 1 piece of advice I can give is to pattern your gun before going out,” Coffey said. “This is the sport of one shot; you need to know what that shot will be when you pull the trigger.”

Coffey said there is such a thing as over-calling the bird. “Don’t get hung up on calling — but understand when to call,” Coffey said. “A common mistake is calling too much. You want to tease the bird. Once you call, stay put, because he knows where you are.”

Learning when to move and when to stay still, and about the biology and habits of the bird, will out a hunter in the right position. Turkeys have excellent vision.

“Some guys want to simply go out and find game,” Coffey said. “But it saves time and other resources to know where turkeys go, and what they do.”

Only about one-third of spring hunters actually bag a turkey, but most don’t use that as a measuring stick for success, Coffey said. “The experience in the woods with your kids or with friends; watching the timber come alive with wildlife and the newness of spring — that’s what it’s all about,” Coffey said.

The wildlife technician encourages hunters to use the Iowa hunting atlas — an interactive DNR map that shows all 680,000 acres of public hunting land that is owned by the state, county or federal governments. The atlas is available online at www.iowadnr.gov/hunting.

A mobile version is also available. A click on an area will show basic information like zone and open season, and links to maps, if available.

Hunters may purchase two spring turkey licenses with one license for the fourth and final session. Resident spring turkey licenses are statewide. Hunters participating in the youth only season may also purchase a fourth-session license. Shooting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to sunset. Successful hunters are required to report their harvest by midnight of the day after it is tagged. The easiest way to report is to log on to www.iowadnr.gov.

The youth season, which runs over the weekends of April 4-5 and April 11-12, allows for development of future hunters, Coffey said.  They must hunt one-on-one with a mentor who is 18 or older at all times, and the mentor must have a valid turkey hunting license for one of the spring seasons.

There will be no more than one youth for each licensed adult mentor, and the mentor may not carry a bow or firearm. An unfilled youth license may be used in any other spring season. Here are some more turkey-hunting effectiveness and safety tips offered by Coffey:

• Hunters should make a loud statement like “Hey — hunter over here,” if they see someone coming into the same area. One loud noise shouldn’t scare a bird too much because loud noises happen in the woods. However, don’t make motion or throw something to get the other hunters attention.

• Set out a distance stick for reference points. This allows hunters to know exactly how far away a bird is and if it’s within the weapons range.

• Consider going out later in the morning. “Rather than try to get out in the woods for the first gobble, go out a little later, like around 9 a.m., you may have the area all to yourself,” he said.

• Avoid wearing patriotic colors — red, white and blue. These colors are also shared by gobblers.

• Bring a blaze-orange game bag or turkey vest to use to carry the harvested bird out from the woods. Avoid using a gobble call. Using a hunting blind can be helpful if taking a young person on their first hunt, or for hunting companions to use.

• Make sure you and others have permission to be on the land. Just because you had permission a few years ago, does not mean you have permission this year.

For more information, call Coffey at 641-774-2958.