{"id":38540,"date":"2023-04-13T15:39:01","date_gmt":"2023-04-13T19:39:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=38540"},"modified":"2023-04-13T15:59:04","modified_gmt":"2023-04-13T19:59:04","slug":"maryland-spring-turkey-hunting-season-set-to-open-for-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2023\/04\/13\/maryland-spring-turkey-hunting-season-set-to-open-for-2023\/","title":{"rendered":"Maryland Spring Turkey Hunting Season Set to Open for 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Junior Hunt begins April 15; regular season starts April 18<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 397px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/4643\/38536361335_c518afe359.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of turkey in flowered field\" width=\"387\" height=\"290\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Photo by by Erik Yetter, submitted to a previous Maryland Department of Natural Resources Photo Contest.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/Pages\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maryland Department of Natural Resources<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0announces that the statewide spring wild turkey season will kick off April 15 with\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/huntersguide\/Pages\/JrHunters.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Junior Turkey Hunt Day<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. All hunters can try to bag a bird during the regular spring turkey season, April 18 through May 23.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u201cWild turkeys can be found in all counties and populations are at all-time highs in some areas,\u201d Acting\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/Wildlife\/Pages\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wildlife and Heritage Service<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0Director Karina Stonesifer said. \u201cHunters should have ample opportunity to encounter a gobbler wherever they choose to spend time in the spring woods.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The annual Department of Natural Resources\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/wildlife\/Documents\/wt_observe_survey.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Summer Wild Turkey Observation Survey<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0documented moderate to high reproductive success the past two summers, particularly in the central and western parts of the state. This should translate into more turkeys and higher hunter success.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Junior Hunt Days\u00a0allow licensed youths, age 16 years and younger, to hunt if they are accompanied by an unarmed adult, age 21 or older, who holds a valid Maryland hunting license. The Junior Turkey Hunt is April 15 statewide and continues April 16\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eregulations.com\/maryland\/hunting\/turkey-seasons-limits\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">in select counties<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For the first part of the regular hunting season, April 18 through May 9, hunting is allowed from one half-hour before sunrise until noon. Throughout the rest of the season, May 10 through May 23, and during the Junior Turkey Hunt, April 15-16, hunting hours are one half-hour before sunrise until sunset.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The daily bag limit for the spring season is one bearded turkey, with a season bag limit of two bearded turkeys. Hunting is permitted on Sundays in certain counties. Complete regulations, including Sunday hunting dates and check-in procedures can be found\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eregulations.com\/maryland\/hunting\/turkey-seasons-limits\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">online<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Hunters are also urged to keep safety in mind when turkey hunting. The Department of Natural Resources advises hunters to keep decoys out of sight until ready to use at a safe location with good visibility from all directions; and also not to hide directly behind decoys nor use them to stalk closer to birds. More\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/wildlife\/Pages\/hunt_trap\/WildTurkeyHuntingSafety.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">turkey hunting safety tips<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0can be found on the department\u2019s website.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Junior Hunt begins April 15; regular season starts April 18 The\u00a0Maryland Department of Natural Resources\u00a0announces that the statewide spring wild turkey season will kick off April 15 with\u00a0Junior Turkey Hunt Day. All hunters can try to bag a bird during the regular spring turkey season, April 18 through May 23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,3172],"tags":[4960,4350,3122],"class_list":["post-38540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-hunting","tag-hunting","tag-spring-turkey-season","tag-turkey"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38540"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38540\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38541,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38540\/revisions\/38541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}