Fowl season not dampened by foul weather

Despite a heavy winter that’s blanketed much of the state, Fish and Game biologists are optimistic about expectations for this year’s spring turkey hunt.

“Idaho continues to provide some of the highest turkey hunting success rates in the country,” said Jeff Knetter, Fish and Game's Upland Game & Migratory Game Bird coordinator. “While above-average winter conditions will have likely impacted turkey numbers regionally, the general outlook for turkey hunting this spring is positive. Abundant turkeys and a wide variety of public and private land access make for excellent wild turkey hunting opportunities in Idaho.”

Youth turkey season opens April 8 and the general turkey season and many controlled hunts open April 15. Hunters can see which units have general hunts in Fish and Game's turkey hunting rules, in addition to details about the seasons.

Hunters will find most general hunting opportunity in the Panhandle, Clearwater, Southwest and Southeast regions, while most other areas are limited to controlled hunts. In each of the regions with general hunting opportunity, turkey populations are faring well, and the hunting outlook is as good as or better than recent years.

Fish and Game wildlife managers from each of the state’s seven regions have been monitoring regional turkey populations throughout winter and share some insights into how each region’s turkey population is looking so far this year.

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Connor Liess is a public information specialist for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

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Panhandle Region

Despite low-elevation snowfall that occurred earlier and persisted throughout the winter, we expect overwinter survival to be good. Panhandle turkey populations are often associated with lower elevations including agricultural areas where food resources tend to be available. Hunters should see plenty of turkeys again this year.

While all of the Panhandle Region is open to general season turkey hunting opportunity, hunters will find the highest concentrations of turkeys in the lower elevation Units 1 through 5. Hunters may want to look toward the lower Priest River and lower Coeur d’Alene River drainages, as well as the lower elevations adjacent to the Kootenai River for higher densities of turkeys.

As a reminder, there is now an archery turkey hunting opportunity within the Farragut State Park/WMA complex. This archery-only season, which occurs April 15-30, is only open to the use of archery equipment and all other turkey hunting rules must be followed. There are certain areas within the state park/WMA that are closed to hunting, and archery hunters should stop by the Farragut State Park visitor center during normal business hours to learn more about this opportunity and to pick up a map of the hunting area.

As always, please remember to respect the land and the landowner, and to ask permission prior to hunting private lands.

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Micah Ellstrom is a Panhandle regional wildlife manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

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Clearwater Region

Overall, the 2023 spring turkey hunting outlook for the Clearwater Region is looking good after mild winters the past five years. Turkey numbers this hunting season should be comparable to recent years.

Turkeys are present throughout all forested portions of the Clearwater Region with the highest densities found in and adjacent to the Clearwater River drainage up to the confluence of the Lochsa and Selway rivers, the Snake River drainage up to the confluence with the Salmon River, the lower Salmon River drainage up to White Bird and the Dworshak Reservoir area.

Good turkey hunting opportunities can be found on Craig Mountain Wildlife Management Area, south of Lewiston, state and federal property, private property and corporate timber lands such as Potlatch Timber Corporation and Bennett Lumber Company. For information on corporate timberland, visit Fish and Game’s Large Tracts Access Program which provides public access to thousands of acres of private timberland.

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Jana Ashling is a Clearwater regional wildlife manager for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.