Landowners ask IDFG for extended turkey season

Landowners who call foul on the damage wild turkeys do to their property have asked Idaho Fish and Game for relief.

They want to be allowed to chase the birds on their private land in two extended seasons that run from September to March in units in southern Idaho.

Idaho Fish and Game in turn wants hunters to comment on the proposal.

In recent years, turkey populations in many parts of Idaho have expanded and created problems on private lands. Landowners in controlled hunt areas north of Boise who have not drawn a controlled hunt turkey tag are frustrated that they aren’t able to bang birds that damage their property.

“Landowners who provide turkey habitat in controlled hunt areas have expressed frustration at being unable to hunt turkeys on their own property because of low controlled hunt drawing odds,” Roger Phillips of Idaho Fish and Game said.

The latest proposal would allow for “Landowner Permission Hunts” for turkeys in an effort to resolve ongoing depredation problems, Phillips said.

To learn more about the specific hunts and to comment, residents can go to the Idaho Fish and Game website and search under the turkey hunting tab.

The landowner turkey hunts would help alleviate turkey depredation issues. If adopted, the landowner hunts would give wildlife managers the leeway to direct hunters to problem areas where landowners would distribute permission slips for hunters to chase birds on their property, according to Fish and Game.