Florida to hold youth turkey hunts on upcoming weekends

The Youth Spring Turkey Hunt Weekend in Florida is Feb. 28 – March 1 south of State Road 70, and March 14-15 in the rest of the state. This Saturday-Sunday hunt, which occurs the weekend prior to the opening of spring turkey season, was first established in 2011 on private property. It was such a huge success that the following year the two-day hunt was expanded to include many of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission’s (FWC) wildlife management areas. This year, 79 WMAs will hold youth spring turkey hunts.

During the hunts, only youths 15-years-old and younger are allowed to harvest a turkey while supervised by an adult, 18 years or older. No license or permit is required of the youth or supervising adult, unless the adult plans to help “call-in” the bird or otherwise participate in the hunt. In that case, the supervisor will need a hunting license and turkey permit. And, if the youth will be hunting on a wildlife management area, the participating adult supervisor also will need a WMA permit.

To prevent overcrowding, most of the 79 participating WMAs require a youth spring turkey quota permit. There are still youth spring turkey quota permits available for some areas, and they can be obtained by those youth hunters on a first-come, first-served basis at License.MyFWC.com or at a license agent.

There also are 23 WMAs that do not require a quota permit. Those areas are Apalachicola, Aucilla, Big Bend – Spring Creek Unit, Big Bend – Tide Swamp Unit, Blackwater, Choctawhatchee River (only the south portion of the area), Escambia River, Herky Huffman/Bull Creek, J.W. Corbett, Joe Budd, Jumper Creek, Kissimmee Chain of Lakes, Kissimmee River, Lake Monroe, Lochloosa, Log Landing, Lower Econfina River, Middle Aucilla, Osceola, Richloam, Steinhatchee Springs, Three Lakes and Upper St. Johns River Marsh.

For all of these hunts, it is important to note that adults are not allowed to do the shooting; only the kids may harvest a bird. And on WMAs, the only firearms that are allowed to be used during spring turkey season are shotguns and muzzleloading shotguns, using shot no larger than No. 2.

2015 Florida Turkey Hunting Season