2/9/2007

Nebraska Offers Excellent Spring Turkey Hunting Opportunities in 2007
Tom Keith

LINCOLN, Neb. – Biologists are predicting another outstanding Nebraska spring turkey hunting season this year and, for the first time ever, hunters will be allowed to purchase three permits rather than two, as in previous years.

“During the 2007 spring turkey archery and shotgun turkey hunting seasons, hunters should have the best opportunity they’ve ever had to take a turkey in Nebraska,” said Kit Hams, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission’s (NGPC) big game program manager.

“There are more turkeys than ever in this state. We had a record number of birds in 2006, in fact, statewide, we have had a record number of birds each year since 2000,” Hams said. “ Last spring’s hatch appears to have been very good. It’s a wonderful time to be a turkey hunter in Nebraska.

“We offer a high-quality hunting experience,” Hams said. “We have a large turkey population, and there are unlimited numbers of permits available for both archery and shotgun seasons. This spring we again have a long seasons for both archers and shotgunners -- eight weeks for archers and five weeks for shotgun hunters. Just as last year, there are no hunting zones for the spring turkey seasons, which makes all permits valid statewide.”

There are a number of subspecies and hybrids available in Nebraska. In the Pine Ridge you can take a true Merriams’ turkey, Eastern turkeys can be found in the southeast corner of the state, and in the southwestern part of Nebraska, Rio Grande hybrids are available.

Hams said he hopes Nebraska’s 2007 spring season will be a near carbon copy of last year’s spring season, when 44 percent of archers and 56 percent of shotgun hunters enjoyed record-high success.

The 2007 statewide spring archery season will be March 25-May 20. The statewide shotgun season will be April 14-May 20. This year a hunter can have three turkey permits of any type for the spring season and take one bearded turkey on each permit.

Hunters are encouraged to take a young hunter with them. Nebraska’s youth turkey hunting permit makes it possible for hunters ages 12-15 to hunt statewide during both the archery and shotgun seasons. The youth permit also allows youngsters to use shotguns during the week prior to the regular shotgun season, making the youth shotgun season April 7-May 20. Youths age 16 may hunt on a youth spring turkey permit provided they are age 15 on the opening day of the archery turkey season.

Hams recommends that hunters do preseason scouting by driving roads along riparian or wooded area. Turkeys are often seen feeding in open fields. If public land is in the area, that would be a good place to start. If the land is private, see if you can locate the landowner and acquire permission. The next step is to get on the area before sunrise and listen for turkeys.

Although roughly 98 percent of the land in this state is privately owned, there are some 300 state and federal public areas encompassing about 800,000 acres where public hunting is allowed. There are also some 180,000 acres of Conservation Reserve Program- Management Access Program (CRP-MAP) land where hunters may hunt private ground. The free CRP-MAP Atlas, which explains CRP-MAP and has maps showing the locations of lands enrolled in the program, is available at all NGPC offices, from permit vendors, and on the NGPC Web site at www.OutdoorNebraska.org. In addition, many rural landowners will allow turkey hunting on their property, but it is imperative that the hunter receive the landowner’s permission.

Before heading out to hunt turkeys, you can purchase a 2007 Nebraska spring turkey hunting permit and Nebraska Habitat Stamp online from the NGPC Web site at www.outdoornebraska.org, or from a NGPC office. A Nebraska Habitat Stamp is required of all resident turkey hunters 16 years and older and all nonresidents regardless of age. The resident turkey permit costs only $21 and the nonresident turkey hunting permit costs $86. The Nebraska Habitat Stamp is $13.