Outdoors: Turkey season begins with youth hunt

Last Friday morning I drove to the Harlem Valley for an early celebration of Earth Day held at Dover High School. On the way out, I saw several lone turkeys and one flock of 8-10 birds, about half of which were toms. I have had a few reports from around the county of gobblers sounding off and I have seen a few birds myself, but that was the first courting activity I've observed myself.

The spring season for turkeys opens on May 1 and remains open all month, but this weekend is the official Youth Wild Turkey Hunt weekend for junior hunters 12-15 years of age. The annual youth hunt is held at least three days prior to the opening of the regular hunt.

The hunt is a great opportunity for the youngsters to get over there with an adult family member or some other adult authorized by their parent or guardian. The adult cannot hunt during the weekend and his or her attention must be focused on the junior hunter. The adult has to be licensed to hunt, as does the youngster.

The rules for the weekend hunt are very straightforward:

• Eligible hunters are 12-15 years old, holding a hunting license and a turkey permit.

• All youth hunters must be accompanied by an adult, as required by law for a junior hunter.

• Hunters 12-13 years old must be accompanied by a parent, legal guardian or person over 21 years old, with written permission from their parent or legal guardian.

• Hunters 14-15 years of old must be accompanied by a parent, legal guardian or person over 18 years old, with written permission from their parent or legal guardian.

The accompanying adult must have a current hunting license and turkey permit. She or he may assist the youth hunter (including calling), but may not carry a firearm, bow or crossbow, or kill or attempt to kill a wild turkey during the youth hunt. Crossbows may not be used by licensees who are under 14 years old.

The youth turkey hunt is open in all of upstate New York (north of the Bronx-Westchester County boundary) and Suffolk County. Shooting hours are from a half-hour before sunrise to noon.

The bag limit for the youth hunt is one bearded bird. This bird becomes part of the youth's regular-season bag limit of two bearded birds. A second bird may be taken in upstate New York (north of the Bronx-Westchester County boundary) beginning May 1.

All other wild turkey hunting regulations remain in effect.You will note that unlike the fall youth hunt for deer, there is no requirement for either the adult or the junior hunters to wear hunter orange. I hope that, rules aside, any kid you are taking afield will be sporting a hunter orange hat and/or vest when you take him or her in to and out of the woods. Once you get them set up, just hang an orange item overhead to serve as a signal that you are in the area. You can buy a hunter orange band to wrap around a tree near your setup.

During the 2014 spring turkey season, there were no Hunter Related Shooting Incidents (HRSIs). I consider the spring turkey season to be the highest risk for HRSIs.

It is very easy to be fooled by another hunter who is imitating a gobbler. The bird you hear may not be a bird at all. If you have the foresight to identify where you are set up by hanging something blaze orange near you, the odds of a case of mistaken identity are greatly reduced. Taking that extra step with a young hunter in your care is just common sense.

Last year there was just one fatal HRSI in New York. Hunting is a very safe sport. The fact is based on 750,000 hunters in New York, that fatal incident is one forty-sixth of the fatalities cased by auto accidents per 100,000 population in the state. But that still doesn't absolve any of us of the responsibility we take on when we take a kid hunting.

Bill Conners of the Federation of Fish and Game Clubs writes on outdoors issues in Players. He can be reached at conners@billconners.net