Youth hunters can apply for reserved turkey hunts during the special youth wild turkey hunting season, April 21 and 22, on selected DNR properties.
Youth hunters must be younger than age 18 on the day of the hunt.
Participating Fish & Wildlife Areas are Atterbury, Chinook, Crosley, Deer Creek, Fairbanks Landing, Glendale, Goose Pond, Hillenbrand, Hovey Lake, Jasper-Pulaski, Kankakee, Kingsbury, LaSalle, Pigeon River, Roush Lake, Sugar Ridge, Tri-County, Wabashiki, Willow Slough and Winamac. Two participating reservoir properties are Mississinewa and Salamonie.
A limit will be placed on the number of youth hunters allowed to hunt a property on each hunting day. Registration begins March 19 and runs through March 30. Interested hunters or an adult representing them must register in person or by phone during office hours for the property they wish to hunt. Hunters can register for only one property.
Those wanting to sign up for Chinook or Wabashiki hunts should do so at Deer Creek FWA. Those wanting to sign up for Fairbanks Landing or Hillenbrand hunts should do so at Goose Pond FWA.
At properties where the number of registered hunters exceeds the spots available, a drawing will be held on Monday, April 2. A youth hunter may be drawn for either one or both hunt days, depending on the number of applicants. All applicants will be notified of drawing results by mail.
Applicants must possess a 2018 youth consolidated hunting & trapping license, a 2018 non-resident youth spring turkey license with a gamebird habitat stamp privilege, or lifetime comprehensive hunting license. Apprentice hunting licenses of the types named above also may be used.
To register a youth for one of the hunts, the following information is needed:
—Hunter’s Name.
—Type of license and license number.
—Date(s) in which applying.
—Mailing address.
—Phone number.
—Parent or guardian’s name, address and phone number.
Hunts will be conducted one-half hour before sunrise until noon at properties in the Central Time Zone, and one-half hour before sunrise until 1 p.m. on properties in the Eastern Time Zone.
Youth hunters who are selected for the hunt may check in at any time each day until the end of legal hunting hours for that property. Properties will not have a daily “no-show” drawing. Hunters interested in possible unfilled quotas at a property should call that property for more information before showing up.
During youth wild turkey season, hunters younger than age 18 on the day of the hunt can take a bearded or male wild turkey. The youth must be accompanied by someone 18 or older.
The youth hunter may use any legal shotgun, bow or crossbow. The adult accompanying the youth hunter must not possess a firearm, bow or crossbow while in the field. The adult does not need to possess a turkey hunting license unless the youth is using an apprentice license, or unless the adult is calling turkeys.
Phone numbers for information or to register at a specific property:
1. Atterbury 812-526-2051
2. Crosley 812-346-5596
3. Deer Creek 765-653-0453
4. Glendale 812-644-7711
5. Goose Pond 812-512-9185
6. Hovey Lake 812-838-2927
7. Jasper-Pulaski 219-843-4841
8. Kankakee 574-896-3522
9. Kingsbury 219-393-3612
10. Pigeon River 260-367-2164
11. Roush 260-468-2165
12. Sugar Ridge 812-789-2724
13. Tri-County 574-834-4461
14. Winamac 574-946-4422
15. Willow Slough 219-285-2704
16. Salamonie 260-468-2125
17. Mississinewa 765-473-6528
18. LaSalle 21-992-3019
To purchase a Youth Consolidated or Turkey license go to wildlife.IN.gov/5330.htm.
For wild turkey hunting regulations go to eregulations.com/indiana/hunting/wild-turkey-hunting.
For turkey hunting safety tips go to wildlife.IN.gov/2710.htm.
SOURCE: News release from Indiana Department of Natural Resources