2012 Spring Wild Turkey Hunting Seasons

 

Youth-Only Season

The youth-only hunting weekend opens on the first Saturday in April. This year the season dates are April 7-8.

The youth-only hunting weekend is open to hunters 15 years of age or younger.

General Statewide Season

The general season opens on the Saturday closest to April 15 and lasts 23 days. This year the season dates are April 14-May 6.

Shooting Hours

Shooting hours for the spring turkey seasons are one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset. However, hunters may be in the field before and after shooting hours.

Bag Limits

A hunter may take a male turkey or a turkey with a visible beard. No more than one (1) bird may be taken per day. No more than two (2) birds may be taken per season.

Any combination of male turkeys, or female turkeys with visible beards, may be included in this two-bird season limit.

Turkeys taken by youth during the youth-only season count toward the spring turkey bag limit.

Feeding of Wildlife

March 1 through May 31, it is illegal to feed wildlife with grain, seed or manufactured animal feed outside the curtilage of the home (the area immediately surrounding a home or group of homes). This regulation does not apply to normal agricultural practices or food plots, or municipal areas not open to legal hunting or trapping.


Pre-Season Calling

Beginning March 1, and until the opening of the youth-only and general spring seasons, it is illegal to mimic the sound of a turkey in an area open to hunting if turkeys are reasonably expected to occur. But locating turkeys with an owl, crow, coyote, or woodpecker call is permitted when scouting.

 

 
2012 Spring Squirrel Season

The spring squirrel season in Kentucky, which started as an experiment on four state wildlife management areas in 1994, went statewide in 1999. The season opens on the third Saturday in May, is 28 days long, and continues through the third Friday in June.

This year, the season dates are May 19-June 15.

A hunting license is required unless the hunter is license exempt.

Squirrels are Kentucky’s most stable and abundant small game species.

The spring season opens after the first of two nesting periods. Young squirrels leave the nest after 45 days, to venture off on their own. Litters are typically three to four squirrels.

The gray squirrel is the dominant species in the eastern third of Kentucky, with a higher percentage of fox squirrels in far western Kentucky. Gray squirrels are most often found in large tracts of forest lands. Fox squirrels prefer small woodlots and wooded fencerows of agricultural areas.

Shooting Hours

Shooting hours for the spring squirrel season are one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset. However, hunters may be in the field before and after shooting hours.

Bag Limit

Daily limit is 6 squirrels; possession limit is 12.

Hunting Seasons for Coyotes and Other Wildlife

Coyotes, groundhogs and wild pigs may be hunted statewide, year-round, with no bag limit. A hunting license is required unless the hunter is license exempt.

Shooting Hours

Shooting hours are one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset. However, hunters may be in the field before and after shooting hours.

Coyotes

Coyotes may not be hunted at night. Hand or mouth-operated calls, and electronic calls that imitate wounded prey or coyote calls are legal. It is also legal to hunt coyotes over animal carcasses.

Wild Pigs

Wild pigs out-compete native wildlife for food, damage crops, and carry diseases. Landowners are strongly encouraged to remove wild pigs from their property. Trapping, which is legal year-round, is the most effective method of removal. Wild pigs must be killed at the trap site, and not released. It is illegal to possess, sell or transport wild pigs in Kentucky.

Report sightings, illegal activities related to wild pigs, and get advice on trapping by calling Kentucky Fish and Wildlife at 1-800-858-1549.