Youth hunters can apply for reserved turkey hunts during the special youth wild turkey hunting season, April 23 and 24, 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.
Mississinewa and Salamonie lakes also are participating.
A limit will be placed on the number of youth hunters allowed to hunt a property on each hunting day. Registration begins March 21 and runs through April 1. Interested hunters or an adult representing them must register in person or by phone during the normal office hours for the property they wish to hunt. Hunters are allowed to register for only one property.
Those wanting to sign up for the Chinook or Wabashiki hunts may do so at Deer Creek FWA. Those wanting to sign up for Fairbanks Landing or Hillenbrand hunts may do so at Goose Pond FWA.
At properties where the number of registered hunters exceeds the spots available, a drawing will be held on April 4. A youth hunter may be drawn for either or both hunt days, depending on the number of applicants. All applicants will be notified of drawing results by mail.
Applicants must possess a 2016 youth consolidated hunting & trapping license, a 2016 non-resident youth spring turkey license with a game bird habitat stamp privilege, or a 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) for 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 phone 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 and arrow or crossbow. The adult accompanying the youth hunter must not possess a firearm, bow and arrow 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:
Atterbury (812) 526-2051
Pigeon River (260) 367-2164
Crosley (812) 346-5596
Roush (260) 468-2165
Deer Creek (765) 653-0453
Sugar Ridge (812) 789-2724
Glendale (812) 644-7711
Tri-County (574) 834-4461
Goose Pond (812) 659-9901
Winamac (574) 946-4422
Hovey Lake (812) 838-2927
Willow Slough (219) 285-2704
Jasper-Pulaski (219) 843-4841
Salamonie (260) 468-2125
Kankakee (574) 896-3522
Mississinewa (765) 473-6528
Kingsbury (219) 393-3612
LaSalle (219) 992-3019
To purchase a youth consolidated or turkey license go to IndianaOutdoor.IN.gov.
For wild turkey hunting regulations go to eregulations.com/indiana/hunting/wild-turkey/.
For turkey hunting safety tips go to wildlife.IN.gov/2710.htm.
To view all DNR news releases, please see dnr.IN.gov.
