“Our program is different than in a lot of states,” said Ryan Bronson, hunter recruitment and retention program coordinator for DNR. “We don’t have plans for a special youth-only season, although we might in the future. Instead, we are trying to identify specific places with a substantial turkey flock where hunting is not normally allowed.”

Special permission is then sought to hold controlled youth hunts in those locations.

This program is another shining example of the partnership between DNR and the NWTF. NWTF chapters across the state are approaching managers of public and private lands where hunting is not normally allowed — such as select state parks, ski areas and corporately-owned lands — and lining up permission, then filing a plan for each hunt with Bronson. Each hunt has to be approved after the specifics are studied.

Youth hunters are being recruited and selected through a separate youth lottery system. Every young hunter must pass firearms safety training and hunt with an adult mentor, most of who come from the ranks of NWTF volunteers. Certified instructors are holding special classes, where needed, to train youngsters without a firearms safety certificate. This extra effort is required, for example, when youngsters who express an interest are encouraged to apply even though they have no experience in hunting, and often no parents or other adult mentors in their lives with hunting experience.

Hunts are being mainly set up for weekends to avoid conflict with school. Each young hunter gets two full days to hunt, “and we are trying to create the camaraderie of a turkey camp,” said Bronson. “We try to get all the kids and adult mentors together for a lunch, and have the kids get back together at the end of the day so they can tell their hunting stories. That socializing factor is important for all hunters, but especially kids. They need to know there are other kids who are interested in hunting, too, and need to discover how much fun it is to hunt even if you don’t get a turkey.”

Candidates for the youth turkey hunts must be 12 to 17 years old and cannot have hunted turkeys before or even been drawn for a Minnesota turkey permit. “Our goal,” said Bronson, “is to give kids a chance to get started in the sport in the first couple years they are eligible.” Announcements are being made in the media, and posters being placed by Boy Scouts, FFA and other youth groups. Kids apply at any ELS location, just as other applicants do.

The state is sensitive to not having youth turkey hunts overlap with regular hunts. Most or all youth turkey hunts will take place during the regular season, but in locations where regular permit holders are not allowed to hunt. As hard as it is to believe, there are adults who have personal objections, for example, to the youth waterfowl season, which occurs before the regular opener. Apparently, there are adult hunters who complain because of the potential that youngsters with first crack at the ducks might impact their chances for success.

Two separate pieces of legislation made the expanding youth turkey hunts possible. Minnesota Statute 97B.112 authorized the Minnesota DNR to oversee and hold the special hunts. Plus, an earlier law making it illegal to assist a licensed turkey hunter if you did not also possess a valid permit for that same zone and time period was thankfully changed. Now, it’s still against the law to charge for such services, but legal to go call in a bird for your buddy who is just getting started, or a youngster in the youth hunts.

“Becoming a hunter is a learning experience,” said Bronson. “We are trying to take away the barriers that make it harder than it has to be.”

THE BOTTOM LINE

No matter how you study the blossoming sport of turkey hunting in Minnesota, it’s a story of barriers coming down. The birds are being introduced into areas we didn’t think could sustain them. And hunters from every age group are discovering that it’s getting easier every year to get a license.

Spring turkey hunting is a grand old sport throughout America, with expanding roots that now extend deep into Minnesota. Get in on the action!