Turkey permits

[Spinach]

Nearly 500 kids under 12 received Minn. turkey licenses this season
About 826 applied and 485 received licenses


MINNEAPOLIS (AP) ? Children under age 12 were allowed to apply for turkey licenses for the first time this year ? and 485 received them under the turkey license lottery system.


The wild turkey season, which opened April 12, was opened up to youngsters in an effort to encourage more young people to take up hunting.


?We?re very concerned about the recruitment of hunters,? said the Department of Natural Resource?s Bill Penning. ?Studies have shown that if you don?t get kids involved by the time they are 14, you lose them to other activities.?


About 826 children under 12 applied for turkey licenses and 485 received them. Most are 10- and 11-year-olds, but 166 kids 9 and younger also received licenses, including some 5- and 6-year-olds.


The Legislature changed the law last year at the urging of the National Wild Turkey Federation and the DNR.


?We know that the younger a person starts hunting, the more avid they are for the rest of their lives and the better likelihood they?ll stay hunters,? said Ryan Bronson, the DNR?s youth hunter education coordinator.


Bronson said youths under 12 can hunt small game if accompanied by a parent or guardian. But until now, turkeys had been considered ?big game,? meaning youths had to be at least 12 and pass a firearms safety course.


?All we?re doing is treating turkeys as small game,? Bronson said. ?We thought turkey hunting lent itself well for youths,? he said. ?You?re usually stationary, sitting against a tree. It?s pretty easy to have a kid sitting right next to you so you can control them.?


The law says turkey hunters under 12 must be ?accompanied? by a parent or legal guardian. But DNR officials acknowledge the definition of ?accompanied? is fuzzy. Officials are seeking to clarify the law and require mentors to be within voice and visual contact.


Bronson said he suspects the parents of some very young applicants didn?t intend for them to hunt this spring, but were instead hoping to boost their kids? odds of getting licenses in future years. The limited number of licenses are distributed through a preference system, so hunters who don?t get selected this year can earn preference for next year?s drawing.


One man applied for a license for his 1-year-old granddaughter to show that the new law made it legal for infants to hunt and that the system could be abused by adults seeking hunting permits. The girl was drawn for a license.


The grandfather said the girl obviously won?t hunt. DNR officials said adults accompanying youths can?t hunt unless they also have a license. Also, party hunting for turkeys is illegal, so an adult can?t fill out a child?s tag.


?What we?re trying to do is allow the parents the opportunity to make the decision of when the child is ready to hunt, rather than us dictate,? Penning said.

NWTF Minnesota Works for North Star State Residents
NWTF Reports
In 1976, turkey hunters gathered in Minneapolis to discuss the future of North America?s largest game bird. These hunters wanted to help the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) reintroduce wild turkeys in The North Star State.

?This was a group of forward thinking hunters and conservationists getting together to bring wild turkeys and turkey hunting back to Minnesota,? said Dave Malhke, NWTF national board member from Minnesota. ?Within 25 years the population had grown from a few birds to more than 30,000 across Minnesota. Today, more than 5,000 wild turkeys are harvested every spring.?


To accomplish this feat, the hunters formed Minnesota?s first chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation - the Metro Chapter. Three years later the second chapter was formed in Winona, Minn.


The early years of NWTF Minnesota consisted mostly of helping fund the MDNR?s wild turkey trap-and-transfer program. Every cent the chapters could raise was used to relocate wild turkeys.


Even today, the Minnesota chapters continue to help improve turkey populations by funding the MDNR?s turkey trapping program, and by donating $5,000 from its Hunting Heritage Super Fund to a MDNR study determining how far north wild turkeys can survive.


As part of the study, the MDNR released 80 wild turkeys, 59 of them hens attached with radio transmitters, in two locations in northern Minnesota. The releases near Thief River Falls and Red Lake Falls are the northernmost turkey releases in Minnesota.


?We?re struggling with the limit of where turkeys will survive,? said Bill Penning, MDNR Farmland Wildlife Program Leader. ?We?re going to monitor the birds for two years and conduct supplement releases next year to keep at least 25 hens in both areas.?


NWTF Minnesota chapters also worked to remove barriers to youth hunting by eliminating age restrictions for turkey hunters who are accompanied by a parent or mentor. Since the law passed in 2005, more than 800 youths 12 years old and younger have applied to turkey hunt during Minnesota?s 2006 spring gobbler season.


In addition to turkey restoration and research, the 100 NWTF chapters in Minnesota conduct numerous other projects that benefit Minnesota residents.


Over the past decade, NWTF chapters have helped purchase 3,134 acres for public hunting, donated 3,385 domestic frozen turkeys to families in need through the Turkey Hunters Care program, contributed $35,000 to the National Archery in Schools Program and provided $107,000 worth of scholarships to high school seniors.


The Minnesota chapters also conduct outreach events designed to introduce women, children and people with disabilities to conservation, hunting and the outdoors. The events provide outdoor activities such as shooting, archery, fishing and hunting from expert instructors in a safe, controlled environment.


?The NWTF is more than a conservation organization,? said Rob Keck, NWTF CEO. ?It?s a group of people who care about their country, state and local communities and who give back to those communities. The Minnesota chapters are excellent examples of the best of the NWTF.?


For more information about the NWTF or its Minnesota chapters call (800) THE-NWTF.

[kenhuntin]

I know this is old but it still applies and I wanted to put out a little reminder that spring Turkey hunt permit applications are due by this Fri. Dec. 7, 2007 Dec. 7 is an easy day to remember but that is a whole different subject.

[Auggie]

    I might be opening up an old can of worms here but I don't care.The Government should not have the right to tell us when a kid is old enough to hunt. Period. I have seen young children handle guns better than some adults.
I agree that the lottery system needs to be tweaked, but any kid, no matter the age, should be able to hunt if they are ready. Yes they need to be with an adult at all times and within reach of the adult that chooses to bring them. I know some will abuse the system and take turkeys for the kids but I believe most will not. We need to get these kids involved as early as possible to keep our great outdoor heritage strong in numbers. I have been bringing my son into the out doors since before he could walk. He enjoys coming with me fishing, waterfowl hunting, deer hunting, and just walking in the woods. He really enjoys shed hunting and is quite good at it (maybe because his eye level is closer to the ground)! . He is just a couple months shy of his 4th birthday and already is better than some adults I have seen in the great outdoors. I have missed some birds and scared some deer with him along. I have lost some fish and cut some trips short. But that is OK.Yes, sometimes the outcome will not be as good for YOU, as if you were not with a child, but the point is getting them started and keeping them interested. You will have plenty of chances to go on your own. You have limited chances to teach a young person about the outdoors with all of the other distractions and activity of todays world. Take advantage of that as often as you can. You will not regret it.