Hoopengarner on Outdoors
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Turkey season on the horizon
Of all the obstacles facing spring turkey hunters - especially those new to the sport - perhaps no other is as frustrating as finding a place to hunt.
Perhaps a spot where camo-clad hunters don't lurk behind every tree, or somewhere besides all those properties posted with "No Hunting" signs where it seems every turkey in the county resides.
And, with the April 15 start just over a week away, many hunters are still fretting.
But don't despair, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife - in cooperation with landowners around the state - is working to open those game-rich private lands to hunters, while improving upland wildlife habitat.
Since 1991, the state quietly has been signing up landowners and a large chunk of prime hunting real estate under its federally funded Upland Wildlife Restoration Program.
While the primary goal of the program is to improve habitat for game birds such as turkeys, pheasants, quail and chukars by providing year-round food, cover and water - many more species benefit from the partnership.
"The reality in Washington is that the majority of game species are reared and live on private lands," said Ted Johnson, a state Fish and Wildlife biologist in Walla Walla who oversees the program in Southeastern Washington.
In Southeastern Washington, much of the land under the restoration program is set aside under the federal Conservation Reserve Program. While landowners enrolled in the CRP do not have to join the state's program, many do so to gain the state's help in controlling animal damage and hunter access issues on their property.
Lands enrolled in the program are posted by the state and patrolled by Fish and Wildlife agents. And those lands are protected by state law limiting landowners' liability for accidents and injuries to sportsmen using their lands.
For turkey hunters and others, another key part of the program requires participating landowners to allow some sort of hunter access through the state's programs such as Feel Free to Hunt, Register to Hunt and Hunting Only By Written Permission.
In Columbia, Walla Walla, Garfield and Asotin counties - known as the Blue Mountain District, about 400,000 acres of private land is available to sportsmen, Johnson said. Statewide, nearly 4 million acres are open to hunters.
Just this year, the state purchased 2,000 acres in the Hartsock Grade area east of Dayton. That more than doubles the size of its Hartsock Unit, which now connects the prime Blue Mountain property to the 12,000-acre Wooten Wildlife Area.
While wildlife officials do not provide details on the location of all these lands - at the landowners request - they are willing to point hunters in the right direction, depending upon what species they are hunting.
"The best way for hunters to find these open areas is to drive around in the places they like to hunt and look for our signs, including the square red or green Feel Free to Hunt signs. More than half of the land available is Feel Free to Hunt," Johnson said.
So now that you longbeard hunters have a possible game plan, Tom Keegan, upland bird manager in Olympia, said last year's statewide turkey harvest was up about 9 percent.
"We sold about 18,000 tags, and I'm sure many went unused, but the number of turkey hunters is growing as turkey numbers continue to grow," Keegan said.
Last year, 1,757 birds were taken during another record year. In 1999, just over 1,600 gobblers were tagged.
Although wildlife officials have no firm numbers, turkey populations statewide probably exceed 35,000 birds.
Stevens County remains the top turkey spot in the state with 827 birds tagged last season. A distant second was Lincoln at 202.
Keegan said hunters also should be aware that this season they can bag three turkeys of any subspecies, and that there is no turkey tag sale cutoff. However, only two birds can come from Eastern Washington and only one of those can be taken from Chelan, Kittitas and Yakima counties where wildlife officials are trying to establish healthy populations.
For more information on lands in the Upland Wildlife Restoration Program, call 509-527-4418 or visit www.wa.gov/wdfw/
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