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Fly into Spokane, stop by a store, and buy a license. Right now, the turkey tag is included with the Small Game license. They are proposing a change that would seperate the tag from the license, requiring you to purchase a $40 turkey tag(non-resident) in addition to the Small Game license at ~$60(3-day NR). This won't be decided on until early April though. For information on locations of the different species' and harvest data, contact the WDFW at www.wa.gov/wdfw or the NWTF at www.nwtf.org.

The Merriam's are located primarily in Stevens, Ferry, and Pend Orielle counties, with the heaviest populations along the Columbia River basin in Stevens Co. You can obtain a Colville National Forest map to get a better idea of land access in Stevens, Ferry, and Pend Orielle Co., but there is definitely no shortage.

Rios can be found starting south of the Spokane River, with the greatest concentration starting at the base of the Blue Mtns and continuing south. The season runs April 15-May 15, and there is a ton of public land that holds lots of birds in the eastern part of the state. There are a few guide services, but you really don't need them. The birds are plentiful, and most of the residents are very helpful with a starting point. If I can offer more assistance, e-mail me at [email protected]. Good luck.

Hunt hard, live right, and tell your kids you love 'em!

Correction to slee's post... this year the turkey tag will be sold seperately it is a done deal. Kind of irks me a bit - and unfortunately WDFW latched on to some of the turkey hunting elitist attitudes that came from the NWTF chapters... It came down to WDFW will be able to get more $$$ from selling them seperately. The rest of Slee's post is right on... You can check out www.wanwtf.org for information on the birds in WA as well

http://www.wanwtf.org

Well WANWTF, I guess I was one of those elitists that wanted to seperate the tag from the Small Game license. While I'm all for increasing interest in the sport, it seems that more and more people were just showing up without learning anything about how to hunt them because they had a tag. I know of several "near catastrophies" over there from people trying to stalk birds. My only problem with the seperation and fee increase is that it won't all go to turkey restoration and habitat improvement. I was under the impression that it would be earmarked, but I guess it was a given that it wouldn't stay within the program. One can hope.

Now from a population control issue, I hope that it won't drastically decrease the number of hunters over there. They are on the verge of a serious problem that thus far hasn't been addressed very well with the special fall tags. Hopefully that is going to change too. Have you heard what the resident tag will cost? I'm guessing $10-$15 extra. I just hope they don't increase the cost for additional tags by the same amount, bumping it to around $30. That would make people think twice about harvesting a 2nd bird to help control the population. I think I'll e-mail them and voice my opinion. I'm sure they are interested in what I have to say at this point.<img src=icon_smile_big.gif border=0 align=middle>

Hunt hard, live right, and tell your kids you love 'em!

I don't think you remove the idiots by selling the tags with the small games - When they were seperated I saw people out there with turkey tags trying to hunt them like pheasants - orange vests and all. Plus, there are a lot of people out there who stalk birds regardless of how you sell the tags... the end point is WDFW thinks they can generate more revenue this way, and that is the bottom line. Now, if they could just earmark that money for WDFW instead of the general fund, we might even start to improve our hunting experiences over all.

The price of the first tag I think is $12, each tag after that is $18... 16 and under, their first tag is free with each additional tag costing $18... As far as the population control - they are talking about opening up the fall season which would help considerably - but that is a different bird to hunt all together - talk about how crazy it will be with new people trying to fill their tags...

http://www.wanwtf.org

$40 bucks for a Non-resident WHAT A DEAL, compared to everywhere else thats a bargin.

Turk Man, that's $40 for the tag in addition to the ~$60 for the license. While it isn't an outrageous amount, it is still too much to up it just to fund our state's budget shorfall. It's not the sportmen of WA's position to foot the bill for idiots in Olympia.

WANWTF, I see your point. Thank you. I wasn't here pre-1999 when it was a seperate tag, so I don't know how it was before. I just know how the numbers have increased in the last 3 or 4 years. I don't mind the slight increase, but I don't support funding the General Fund's deficit. I e-mailed the commission earlier today and said just that. I also spoke against such an increase in NR fees, since it could adversely affect the local economies in NE WA. There are many monsters involved in this issue. Man did we get off topic.

Hunt hard, live right, and tell your kids you love 'em!

Okay... Guess I need to eat some crow... The WA regulations for turkey hunting 2003 are out, and they didn' t seperate the tags as I was informed. Sorry for the bad info... feel like a heel... anyhow, here is the run down

[[size=3]Wild Turkey License Fees[/size=3]

Small game license**
Resident - $32.85
Non-Resident - $164.25
Youth * - $16.43

Small game, with proof of big game package purchase
Resident - $17.52
Non-Resident - $85.60
Youth * - $8.76

Three-day small game.
Resident - N/A
Non-Resident - $54.75
Youth * - N/A

Additional turkey transport tags.
Resident - $18.00
Non-Resident - $60.00
Youth * - $9.00

*Youth hunters are defined as residents or non-residents under the age of 16 at the time of license purchase
**One turkey tag is included with a small game license

Turkeydestroyer are you getting my e-mails? I' ve been responding to your questions, but judging from your last e-mail it didn' t sound like you got the info I sent you on local contacts, pictures, etc. Let me know if you got them ok. I' m still checking on the outfitter you booked with. Get back to me so we can take this back to private e-mails, or did you accidentally block mine?

Here is the page for the Turkey pamplet. You can email me too if you like. Most of the Turkeys are in areas other than central WA so I' m no expert but I' ve bagged a couple of longbeards.

http://www.wa.gov/wdfw/wlm/game/water/turkey/

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