DES MOINES — Coming off record harvests in 2020 and again in 2023, Iowa’s spring turkey hunters could be living in the “good ol’ days.” And with three straight years of good hatches across much of the state, roughly 35,000 hunters are ready to hit the woods.

“Two-year-old birds drive the population, do lots of the gobbling and tend to move more than the older toms, which is what hunters like,” said Jim Coffey, forest wildlife biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. “Hunters like to hear a lot of birds and not see other hunters.”

Iowa’s spring turkey hunt is spread among four seasons, allowing hunters to have a unique experience. Season one is April 8-11; season two is April 12-16; season three is April 17-23; and season four is April 24 – May 12. Hunters may purchase up to two tags with at least one being in season four.

“It looks we will have an early leaf-out this spring, which will get the birds disbursed to their breeding areas soon, so it will be a good opportunity to do some scouting,” he said.

Last spring, hunters reported a record harvest of nearly 14,850 turkeys, with birds harvested in all 99 counties.

“We have seen good production in the north central part of the state, which isn’t an area that most people think of when it comes to turkey hunting,” Coffey said. “The Loess Hills, northeast and southeast Iowa are more traditional turkey spots and also have good populations. We have documented good production in southeast Iowa, which is nice to see as the population in that area had been down in recent years.”

Iowa has become a bucket list turkey hunting state for many nonresidents who apply for an opportunity at a large Midwestern bird. Applications are taken in January for a limited number of tags based on four seasons and five zones.

“We want to provide non-resident hunters an opportunity to explore our state and see what Iowa has to offer, knowing there are many Iowans that enjoying traveling to new states to hunt as well,” he said.

Nonresident hunting is limited to 2,148 tags annually.

Youth-only season is April 5-7

Youth turkey season is designed to provide a strong mentoring experience for the youth hunter. It is restricted to Iowa residents only.

“Turkey hunting is an intimate sport and mentoring is a way to learn from other’s mistakes,” Coffey said. “With only about one-in-five hunters tagging a turkey, failure is part of the process. A successful hunt should be gauged on the adventure and experience of being in the woods not placing a tag on a bird.”

Youth tags are sold through the end of youth season on April 7. Youth tags are valid for youth season and each of the four regular seasons until filled or when the season four closes on May 12.

Licenses are not sold after the youth season closes. Youth tags have been steadily increasing, with nearly 6,200 sold last year.

Report your harvest

Successful hunters are required to report their harvest by midnight of the day after it is recovered through the Go Outdoors Iowa app, by going online at www.iowadnr.gov, calling the toll free phone number printed on the tag, at any license vendor during regular business hours, by texting your registration number to 1-800-771-4692.

DES MOINES — Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig today commented on the announcement made by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) regarding the detection of Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza in dairy cattle in Texas and Kansas:

“Our team is actively monitoring this evolving situation regarding the news that dairy cattle in Texas and Kansas have tested positive for Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza. We are communicating with USDA, other states and industry stakeholders while we learn more and as there are new developments. Protecting Iowa’s livestock farmers from foreign animal disease has been and will continue to be one of my top priorities as Secretary.”

Report Sick Cattle

We are strongly encouraging industry partners, farmers and veterinarians to report cattle illnesses quickly to the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship at 515-281-5305 so that we can monitor any potential cases.

Food Safety

At this stage, USDA believes that there is no concern about the safety of the commercial milk supply or that this circumstance poses a risk to consumer health. Dairies are required to send only milk from healthy animals into processing for human consumption. Milk from impacted animals is diverted or destroyed so that it does not enter the food supply. In addition, pasteurization has continually proven to inactivate bacteria and viruses, like influenza, in milk. Pasteurization is required for any milk entering interstate commerce.

By Pat Powers (Radio Iowa)

This is Severe Weather Awareness Week as Iowans are reminded about some of the risks we may see during springtime, including thunderstorms, floods and tornadoes.

Meteorologist Chad Hahn, at the National Weather Service, says it’s the ideal time for a refresher.

“This is the climatological time of year that we average, and of course it varies from year to year, but on average, this is when we start to transition out of the winter season,” Hahn says, “and then start to anticipate and look ahead to the severe weather season and thunderstorm season and all the hazards that come along with that.”

Anyone who’s recently moved to the state may not know how to react when the sirens sound and warn of an approaching twister.

“We’ll talk about tornado safety,” Hahn says. “We’re going to talk about and share on our social media the proper things to do when tornadoes threaten your area. You know to get into the basement as your number-one location. If you don’t have a basement, then of course an interior room without windows is the best spot.”

A statewide tornado drill is planned for Wednesday at 10 AM as Iowans are urged to think about where they’d go at that moment, should a Tornado Warning be issued. Hahn says Iowa averages about 50 tornadoes a year, but last year, we had almost 70.

“We’re comparing a lot of apples to oranges to some degree, because the way that we detect and are able to identify tornadoes is different than it was 30 years ago,” Hahn says, “because we have the advancements in technologies both on the radar scale but also on satellite, and we’re able to detect tornadoes a lot better after the fact today.”

Other days during the week will include information about hail and wind safety, as well as lightning, thunderstorms and flooding.