Here are the rules to this years turkey contest. If you want to sign up go to:http://www.iowasportsman.com/forum/viewtopic.php?showtopic=485836

RULES

1. (2)two person teams. You can choose your teammate or just be randomly placed with and individual. Please let me know if you want to chose your teammate and team name if you want one. All teams will be announce on the HARVEST page under the Turkey Forum. You don't have to hunt with with your teammate.
2. All participants must be an Iowa Sportsman Website Member.
3. A limit of 3 birds will be scored.
4. Teams that score 3 birds have to have harvested birds by both members. (One teamate can't shoot all the birds.)
5. You can cull birds.
6. Only bearded birds, obviously.
7. Out of state birds ARE allowed.
8. NWTF scoring will be used. Here is the link to score your bird: http://www.nwtf.org/all_about_turkeys/turkey_score.html
9. Report score at HARVEST page under the Turkey Forum.
10.. A picture of the harvested bird must be posted with beard visible.
11. No bonus points for archery kills or any other reasons.
12. Multiple bearded birds will be scored by the longest beard/Same goes for spurs.
13. Last day to sign up is March 31st.
14. Contest begins April 1st and end May 16th.
15. If it is your child, son or daughter sign up is allowed as a team. Updated 3-3-2010

Teams will be announced in the harvest page. If you are waiting for a teammate I will update them daily so make sure to check out the harvest page. If by chance we have an odd number I will join the competition...this may hinder your chances of winning though

Prizes will go to:

Top Scoring Team
Top Scoring Bird
Top Scoring Bird Harvested By A Youth (18 and under)

If there are any questions please send me a PM. This is a contest but the main thing is to HAVE FUN! Thanks for participating.

By Lowell Washburn
Iowa Department of Natural Resources



“Their eyesight is keen. Their vision extraordinary. If they could smell, you’d never kill one.” Richard Bishop, Iowa Wildlife Biologist, Feb., 1979

When it comes to pursuing the wild turkey, a truer statement was never spoken. Those words, which rapidly became the catch phrase of turkey hunters statewide, were first uttered by Bishop as he addressed a packed audience of turkey hunter wanna bes during an Iowa Conservation Commission sponsored turkey hunting seminar held at the Mason City Public Library. Hunting buddy Steve Schutte and I were among those wild turkey wanna bes.

Although turkey hunting was a time honored tradition in America’s Deep South, the sport was brand new to Iowa. At that time, most of us had never even seen, let alone hunted, the eastern wild turkey. But recently transplanted populations were expanding, and Schutte and I planned on taking full advantage of the growing opportunity to pursue this legendary gamebird.

By Lowell Washburn
Iowa Department of Natural Resources



The first segment of this year’s five part, spring turkey hunting season begins Friday, April 10 with a special three-day, adult mentored youth hunt. The first segment of the regular gun/bow season begins April 13. Although wild turkey populations may vary between regions, hunters can expect to encounter good to excellent numbers of spring gobblers statewide.

“Western Iowa’s Loess Hills have absolutely great turkey numbers right now, and populations are also strong in the Northeastern Region,” reports DNR Forest Wildlife [Turkey] Biologist, Todd Gosselink. “Central Iowa also has good turkey numbers and populations there are currently above the 10-year average.”

All successful turkey hunters must report each turkey they harvest, including the length of the spur, if the bird was harvested on public or private land, and in what county the turkey was harvested.

For length of spur, hunters will need to know if the spur is less than 1/2 inch, 1/2 to 3/4 inch, or greater than 3/4 inch. Hunters will be asked for their nine digit harvest registration number when reporting. The number appears under the heading "Step 2:" on the Harvest Report tag. Each tag has a unique harvest registration number.

Strutting Their Stuff ----- A pair of yearling wild turkeys [jakes] show off for a group of hens. As this year’s round of spring turkey hunting seasons begins, DNR Wildlife Biologists predict that hunters will see a somewhat fewer number of jakes this spring, but will encounter overall good to excellent numbers of adult gobblers. Although the wild turkey is considered to be the most challenging of all forest game, Iowa turkey hunters enjoy some of the highest success rates in the nation. On average, one in four Iowa hunters manages to bring home their turkey dinner.



By Joe Wilkinson
Iowa Department of Natural Resources

Cold temperatures, even a threat of snowflakes yet, keep winter hanging on. For Iowa’s 40,000 turkey hunters, spring is as close as this Friday morning. That is when the three day youth season opens. The rest of us will wait until Monday, or one of three other ‘mini’ seasons circled on the calendar. Resident hunters can hold up to two turkey tags. Most are shotgun hunters, selecting one of those seasons. A second tag can be used only in the fourth season. A growing number of archery-only hunters can hunt across the four seasons, given the degree of difficulty in luring a wary gobbler into bow range.

Over the last three decades, Iowa’s turkey ‘deficit’ has become a surplus, as stocking, woodland management and the big bird’s breeding proficiency have wild turkeys as a prevalent game species again. Still, that leaves the hunter with the task of getting a gobbler close enough to set sights on him.

“Find where they’re roosting. That’s where you want to be first thing in the morning,” advises Todd Gosselink, forest research biologist for the Department of Natural Resources. “Scouting is great; getting out there before the season, looking for scratch signs, feathers.”
With a good mix of upland timber and crops, northeast Iowa has been a gobbler stronghold over the years. However, you may want to ‘Head West.’ “Western Iowa, the Loess Hills, is probably one of the stronger regions. There is a great mix of habitat there, with crops and timber,” assesses Gosselink. “Typically, it gets less rainfall so you get good recruitment and good survival.”

From the IDNR

Since Nov. 1, resident fall turkey hunters could purchase one additional paid combination gun/bow license in any zone where the quotas have not filled. Zones 4, 5, 6 and 7 have licenses remaining.

For a listing of zone with licenses available, go to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources website www.iowadnr.gov then click on Licenses in the navigation column on the left, then click on Current Availability of Limited Quota of Deer and Turkey Licenses, then on Resident Fall Turkey.


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By Joe Wilkinson
Iowa Department of Natural Resources

Winter wants to hang on, with snow flurries and morning temperatures in the 30s. There’s no better evidence of spring, though, than Opening Day of Iowa’s first turkey season.

The strutting and gobbling are underway already. As hunters step into the woods, though, Monday, April 14 (Friday the 11th for the special youth season) the chase is on. “It’s been a slow start for spring. A lot of the birds are still grouped up; large groups,” observes Todd Gosselink, forest research biologist for the Department of Natural Resources. That creates quite a sight for the hunter; watching a dozen turkeys up close; four or five of them fanning and strutting in a preseason breeding display. However, it also provides lots of extra eyes to detect the slightest twitch in the turkey woods, with virtually no vegetation yet, to mask your movement.

From the IDNR

Hunters, hikers, bikers and morel mushroom fans, should plan to wear blaze orange while walking into and through the woods during spring turkey hunting season. The brightly colored orange will help announce to others that you are not a turkey. The different shades of brown, and the red, white and blue of a turkey head are all colors to avoid.

Hunters 4 Iowa, Inc. is looking for 4 youth hunters (<18) to participate in a FREE, all-inclusive 2008 spring turkey hunt (State hunting permit and transportation not included)*. If interested, please email or call Lynn Buswell at lbuswell@southslope.net (319)622-6259 or Greg Neyman at docneyman@aol.com (319)227-2043. Dates will be coordinated with participants and hunts will take place in Iowa County, Iowa by professional guides. Lodging, meals and shells provided. Shotguns available for use if needed.

Don't forget- 2008 Spring Turkey Tags can now be purchased.

Residents:

Gun/Bow Combo

Youth Season April 11-13
Season 1 April 14-17
Season 2 April 18-22
Season 3 April 23-29
Season 4 April 30- May 18

Archery Only April 14- May 18

The good news is the tags didn't go up this year- still just $23.00.