CDFW Press Release: CDFW is offering 91 separate special turkey hunting opportunities throughout the state. Application for these special hunting opportunities must be made through CDFW’s Automated License Data System (ALDS).
Hunts are grouped into four separate drawings: Junior hunts, General Opening Weekend hunts, Archery-Only hunts and Balance of Season hunts. There is a $2.42 application fee and only one application per hunter is allowed for each drawing. Applications allow hunters to select their top three hunt choices in order of their preference. Hunters may only be drawn once per application. The application deadlines for these hunts are as follows:
- Junior Hunts: Saturday, February 29, 2020
- Opening Weekend General Season Hunts: Saturday, March 7, 2020
- Archery-Only Hunts: Sunday, March 8, 2020
- Balance of the Season Hunts: Wednesday, March 11, 2020
To apply for these hunts, please visit our online sales site, sign into your account, select the “Purchase Licenses” link and select “2019 – Hunting” from the menu on the left side of the page. Spring turkey hunt application items will be available under the “Drawings” section on the right side of the page. After submitting your application, checking out and completing payment, you will be able to download a receipt confirming your entries into the drawings.
For more details and descriptions of these hunts, please visit www.wildlife.ca.gov/Turkey-Hunts.
California’s 2019-20 general spring turkey hunting season opens statewide on March 28 and extends through May 3. The archery-only hunting season follows immediately afterward, running from May 4 through May 17.
Young hunters will have additional opportunities to bag a spring tom turkey. Junior Hunting License holders may hunt the weekend before the general opener, March 21 and 22, and the two weeks after the general season closes, May 4 through May 17, using shotguns or any other legal method of take.
Shooting hours for spring turkeys are from one-half hour before sunrise to 5 p.m. Both a hunting license and an upland game bird stamp validation are required to hunt wild turkeys, although an upland stamp is not required of Junior Hunting License holders.
Nonlead shot is required when taking wild turkeys with a shotgun anywhere in the state including on all public lands, private property and licensed game bird clubs. This requirement does not apply to hunting with pellet rifles because pellet rifles are not classified as firearms. Turkeys may be taken with pellet rifles provided the pellet is at least 0.177 caliber. For more information on nonlead ammunition regulations, please visit wildlife.ca.gov/Hunting/Nonlead-Ammunition.
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