By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Thanksgiving is months away but Kansas residents can now purchase tags for turkey hunting that begins in April. Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Manager Jason Wagner reminds hunters of a big change this year.
"As a reminder this year, we've reduced our turkey tag allotment," he said. "It's one bearded bird statewide now. Last year, in certain units, you were able to get a second turkey."
The Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks uses an adaptive management strategy to determine the number of tags that will be available to hunters and the dates for the season.
"Two years of declining resident hunter success is what kind of determines the number of tags," Wagner said. "It's dropped down again below the threshold so then we reduced our tag numbers for residents to one."
For the first time in years, non-resident turkey hunters were entered into a lottery system. Statewide, there were 11,838 applications submitted and KDWP issued 9,621 tags. The goal of reducing the number of tags is to help future turkey populations.
"It sounds like some places in eastern Kansas have noticed a little bit of a rebound," said Wagner. "It's still pretty light on the turkey numbers, especially around here. They're just now starting to break up. I've seen a couple of small spring flocks but it's still a far cry from what it used to be."
Spring youth and disabled turkey hunting season begins April 1. The archery-only season begins April 8, and the regular rifle season begins April 17 and runs through May 31.