PREDICTIONS for turkey hunting in New York this fall have been on the positive side, but all the rain this week won’t help hunters trying to bag a bird for the dinner table.
You can hunt turkeys in almost every part of the state except for New York City and Long Island, and while the season is little more than a week old, there is plenty of time since turkey hunting will last until Nov. 18 through much of the southeastern portion of New York, including the Catskills
There are always conservation officers lurking about, so be sure that after you get that bird, you complete the carcass tag, fasten it to the turkey and keep it there until you get it home and get ready to cook. If you give it to someone else, make sure you have a tag on it with your name, address, hunting license and turkey permit numbers, and the name and address of the person you’re giving it to; hunters are often bagged for these infractions.
After several years of average or below-average wild turkey production, close to 12,200 turkeys were taken during the hunting season in New York last fall. Wildlife experts expect the harvest to increase again because it was a hot and dry this past spring and summer – excellent conditions for the survival of young turkey poults.
The DEC says it doesn’t have the numbers available from the hunt this past spring, but reports from hunters themselves suggest that the harvest was similar to the 26,300 birds taken in the spring of 2004.
The 2005 spring hunting season featured New York’s second youth hunt for wild turkey, held April 23-24. Approximately 6,800 young hunters (ages 12-15) participated in the hunt and they took close to 1,160 birds.
Also remember that you are required to report any turkey you shoot within 48 hours through the DECALS phone reporting system (866-GAME-RPT).
A couple of safety reminders: do not stalk turkeys – it is too dangerous. Most turkey hunting injuries happen when one hunter stalks another; never wear turkey colors – red, white or blue, and assume anything that sounds like a turkey is another turkey hunter.
