It’s almost time for spring turkey hunting in Vermont. Youth and novice turkey hunting weekend is April 23 and 24 this year, and the regular spring turkey season is May 1-31.
Vermont Fish & Wildlife re-established our native wild turkeys when it released 31 wild birds from New York in 1969 and 1970. Today, Vermont has an estimated wild turkey population of more than 45,000.
“The youth and novice turkey hunting weekend provides an excellent opportunity for experienced hunters to teach young or new hunters how to safely and successfully hunt wild turkeys,” said Chris Bernier, Vermont’s wild turkey biologist.
To hunt turkeys on April 23 and 24, a youth must be 15 or younger and must have completed a hunter education course and possess a hunting license, a turkey hunting license and a free youth turkey hunting tag.
A person who has purchased their first hunting license in the past 12 months and is 16 or older may hunt turkeys as a novice on April 23 and 24. They must have a hunting license, turkey hunting license and a free novice tag.
The youth or novice must be accompanied by an unarmed licensed adult over 18 years of age. Shooting hours for the weekend are one half hour before sunrise to 5 p.m. Landowner permission is required to hunt on private land during youth-novice turkey hunting weekend.
The youth or novice may take one bearded turkey on the weekend and two bearded turkeys in the regular May hunting season.
Shooting hours during the May 1-31 turkey season are one half hour before sunrise to noon, and two bearded turkeys may be taken.
A shotgun or archery equipment may be used to hunt turkeys. Shot size must be no larger than #2.
A successful hunter in Vermont’s spring turkey seasons must report their turkey within 48 hours to the Vermont Fish & Wildlife Department. This can be done at a local big game reporting station or online at Vermont Fish & Wildlife’s website: vtfishandwildlife.com.
Last year, youth and novice hunters took 708 and 35 turkeys, respectively during the April weekend hunt and hunters took 5,024 gobblers during the regular spring season.
“Combined with the 426 turkeys taken during the fall season, hunters harvested in excess of 140,000 servings of locally sourced, free range turkey meat in 2021,” added Bernier.
