Get ready for Idaho's spring turkey season
Idaho hunting map feature
Turkey are a success story in Idaho, with their numbers growing each year.
These big, tree roosting birds avoid the ground predation that's a problem with pheasants, quail and small game.
Although 90 percent of the stocked birds are Merriams, there are also Eastern and Rio Grande stockings.
The liberal spring general season runs April 15May 25. Fall season starts Sept. 15 and closes from early to late October, depending on the area.
While you don't want to wear red, white or blue, it's wise to try an orange banner and put your back against a tree; unfortunately, hunters have shot other hunters by accident.
Given the need to spot a beard and/or spurs to ensure a legal tom, one wonders how this happens.
It's not unheard of for two hunters to be calling and answering each other. So if you don't get results, use a "shave and a haircut, two bits" call.
Setting up is vital. Set up a caller with the gunner out front in an area without streams, wire fence or other hazards that hang birds up.
Large shot and a shotgun sighted in to deliver a small pattern is also important.
A turkey head is quite small and you may need three or four shots in the bird to kill it.
Four major areas — Panhandle, Clearwater, Southwest and Southeast — offer varied options and success rates, with some special seasons, like the General Youth Spring Hunt and a number of area controlled hunts most in the south and southeast with varied access suggest early applications after, in some areas, access to private property. Success varies, with spring the choice except for the southeast.
Panhandle
Distribution runs along Highway 95 from the Northeast Corner around Bonners Ferry down around Lake Coeur d'Alene.
According to Don Kemer at Fish and Game,
"There's not enough people hunting turkeys up in Units 1 and 2."
So there's lots of birds without much hunting pressure.
The east side of the lake and the ground up the Clark Fork get less pressure than the wide stretch of land that runs south of I-90 all the way down to the area boundary just north of Potlatch.
The east side of this area runs more to woods than grain, and birds concentrate along the water and along the edges of cultivated areas.
Much of this land is on Indian reservations and access can vary.
There is, however, some CRP ground and a decent slice of grain country along the Washington border.
Permissions to hunt on lakefront property are hard to come by.
Clearwater
The area to the east of Highway 12 between the South Fork of the Salmon River and the Kelly Creek Area is mostly heavily wooded with the action, and roost trees, along the water.
The east side of the range is at least at the Washington border where the key is ridge roosting trees and feeding areas in the grain along cover lines usually keyed to creeks.
The Palouse area between Moscow and Moscow Mountain — increasingly limited access — and a line from Harvard through Deary and south is mostly cultivated, so turkeys roost along the edge of the grain fields off the edges of American and other ridges.
As a rule, hunting is better east of Genesee than in the limited cover to the east.
There are some turkeys in the most heavily wooded canyons that break down into the Clearwater River.
Cruising the ridge edges early and late and calling can locate birds. Close attention to the canyon north of Lenville Road can produce birds too.
Down around Dworshak there are a few Eastern birds, but as elsewhere, Merriams are the rule.
Merriams also lurk along the Snake River to the south. Some hunt these birds from boats — see the power boating regulations.
Most of the big canyons on the east side of the river have birds that too often fly cross canyons — hunt both sides, and leave a gunner on the beach in case birds cross into Washington.
The area from Grangeville to Snake River is solid, if difficult to access in parts, and another good area runs along the east edge of the range about halfway to Elk City.
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Fishing and Hunting News What: Spring turkey hunting in Idaho When: April 15 to May 25 Who: Idaho DFG: Clearwater Region Panhandle Region Southwest Region Southeast Region |
Southwest
Good, but rough access turkey hunting runs from the Snake River up to McCall and Cascade lakes west of Highway 55, and extends in agricultural country down the North Fork of the Payette River at least to Horseshoe Bend.
There are spots of turkey hunting south of Highway 84 and Nampa along the Payette and Boise River where Rio Grande were stocked, but most of this is in the controlled hunt Unit 38 that closes Feb. 15. This area gets lots of pressure, so access is the key.
'Getting on" in some of the best agricultural land that's also prime pheasant country can be difficult.
Open ground around Arrowrock and Anderson Ranch reservoirs offer some access, but the land closest to Boise is mostly posted.
The best bets are pockets of wooded cover near irrigated ground.
Southeast (Zones 73, 74, 75, 77 and 78)
This is the first general season for turkey hunting in the high desert and mixed woodlands on Forest Service Land between Bear Lake, Soda Springs and Malad City.
This area offers a chance to take turkey in the lava beds and along the fringes of the Curlew National Grassland.
According to Don Kemer, it's a question as to how many will buy tags out of Boise and such.
Much of this area is private, but permissions to hunt turkey should be easier to get than antelope access.
The state land between Lava Hot Springs and Downey is a good bet as is the National Forest Service ground just east of the Bear River.
Access through Thatcher and Mink Creek off Highway 34 is a good deal, as is Highway 36.
Bring binoculars and plan to spend a lot of time scouting. Key on waterholes and streams and keep an eye out for scat around potential roost trees.
Material from Fishing & Hunting News
published 24 times a year.
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