Wildlife officials make major changes to wild turkey hunting

OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) – The Oklahoma Wildlife Conservation Commission made significant changes for wild turkey hunting season dates and bag limits.

The Conservation Commission approved the changes on June 28. Those changes go into effect in the fall 2021 wild turkey season, according to an Oklahoma Wildlife Department news release.

Those changes are as follows:

• Restricting fall archery harvest to one tom only statewide; the fall seasonal limit is one tom only for gun and archery seasons combined.
• Restricting fall gun season method of take to shotgun only in all counties currently open to fall turkey gun hunting.
• Setting spring turkey season dates as April 16 to May 16 statewide.
• Restricting spring turkey harvest limit to one tom only statewide.
• Setting spring youth turkey season as the Saturday and Sunday before opening day of the regular statewide spring turkey season.

Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation Director J.D. Strong said the turkey season rule changes were extremely difficult decisions.

“I’m confident that the proposal passed today gives us the best chance of improving our wild turkey population while at the same time providing our hunters with the most opportunity possible,” he said. “I am really grateful for all the great work by our biologists in providing the best data available, the unprecedented amount of public comments from passionate hunters, and the thoughtful deliberation by our Wildlife Conservation Commission. We can always review and adjust as we closely monitor reproductive success, hunter harvest and other measures going forward.

“We’re also excited to launch over $1.3 million in new research projects that will help augment our understanding of the complex dynamics that go into a thriving turkey population.”