Turkey Seasons Expanded for 2009

Nebraska Games and Parks Commission
Source: www.ngpc.state.ne.us
Published: Oct. 31, 2008

LINCOLN, Neb. – Turkey hunters will have unprecedented opportunities in Nebraska in 2009, thanks to a growing turkey population. More than 70 days have been added to the hunting seasons.

A spring rural mail carriers’ survey shows the turkey population has grown 500 percent in Nebraska since 2002. Kit Hams, big game program manager for the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission, said that population now can withstand additional harvest.

Additional harvest means more chances to take to the field, bag a bird, and put food on the table and in the freezer. It also presents more opportunities for young hunters, first-time hunters, and one-time hunters who may want to return to the activity.

The Nebraska Game and Parks Board of Commissioners approved the 2009 turkey seasons Thursday at their meeting in Alliance.

The new season dates for the 2009 season:

-- added 10 days to the spring archery and shotgun seasons,

-- added 25 days to the fall archery season,

-- added 41 days to the fall shotgun season, and

-- allowed for turkey hunting during the November firearm deer season.

The 2009 turkey hunting season dates are:

Spring – shotgun, April 18-May 31; archery, March 25-May 31; youth archery, March 25-May 31; youth shotgun, April 11-May 31

Fall – archery and shotgun, Sept. 15-Dec. 31

Three permits, with each having a bag limit of one male or one bearded female turkey, are allowed per hunter during the spring season. Two permits, with a bonus tag, are allowed per hunter in the fall season.

Turkey hunting had been prohibited during the November firearm deer season because the Commission believed the bird population wasn’t able to support it. Now, with that restriction gone in 2009, hunters can take advantage of a mixed-bag opportunity of turkey and deer. Hunter orange is required for all fall turkey hunters during the November firearm deer season.

Turkey hunting is prohibited during the 2008 November firearm deer season.

Turkey hunting in Nebraska is a hot ticket. Fall 2007 permit sales were a record 12,283, while spring 2008 permit sales were a record 33,922.

The harvest also is at record levels, 9,429 in fall 2007 and 19,896 in spring 2008.

Despite the record fall harvest, turkey hunting in the autumn can sustain much more harvest, Hams said. “The birds are underutilized in the fall, so we expanded the opportunities,” he said. “The birds can withstand the harvest biologically.”

Hams said the Commission will monitor hunter success, hunter satisfaction and turkey populations to ensure that the fall harvest does not hurt the quality of the spring hunt.

For more on turkey hunting in Nebraska, or to buy permits, go online to OutdoorNebraska.org.

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