Fall turkey season ends Sunday

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The calls for turkeys are coming to a close — at least for the fall season.

The weather in North Dakota usually plays a strong influence on hunting seasons and turkey season is no different.

North Dakota fall turkey closes on Sunday and the weather, so far this season, has been fairly mild.

“Weather always plays a big part on how enjoyable the hunting season can be,” said Aaron Robinson, North Dakota Game and Fish upland game biologist. “When you have a mild weather that allows you to get out more and enjoy the outdoors.”

Dickinson’s Curt Glasoe, an avid turkey hunter, agreed with Robinson.

“It’s been a nice fall and winter,” Glasoe said. “When there’s snow on the ground, they can hear a little better and you can’t camouflage up as well.

“Now if I could just hit them,” he added with a laugh. “I missed a couple easy shots.”

The fall season is used for population control as hunters can shoot any turkey, while in the spring season hunters can only shoot males.

Robinson said a majority of hunters use the fall turkey season as an opportunistic hunt. If a hunter has a turkey tag and sees a group of turkeys while hunting deer, they will try to fill their turkey tag.

He said between 15 percent and 20 percent of turkey tags are filled during the 14-day season, while 22 percent of the tags are filled later on in the season.

“A majority of the people go out and shoot turkeys as an opportunistic hunt,” Robinson said. “If they are out hunting deer and see a group of turkeys, they get out and hunt.”

But like many hunting seasons this year, turkeys can be tough to find. Glasoe said the turkeys are out there.

“There aren’t as many birds,” he said. “There’s more driving, but the birds are out there. I think the Game and Fish have the numbers right.”

Tags: turkey season, outdoors