Fish and Wildlife Almanac, Feb. 24 (published February 24, 2025)

Turkey hunting licenses are on sale March 1

Turkey hunters can purchase their licenses for the spring 2025 season starting Saturday, March 1. Licenses may be purchased online, by telephone at 888-665-4236 or in person wherever hunting and fishing licenses are sold. Hunters can hunt statewide and buy licenses for any time period (A-F) over the counter.

Hunters will be asked which permit area they plan to hunt, so hunters are advised to know that information when they buy their license. The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources will use this information for research purposes to help inform management of the state’s turkey population. Importantly, hunters who identify their permit area when purchasing their license will not be restricted to hunting in only that area.

Season dates and hunt rules can be found on the Minnesota DNR’s turkey hunting webpage. Permits for firearms hunters 18 and older to hunt the popular Carlos Avery or Whitewater wildlife management areas in the A season were distributed already by lottery. The lottery application deadline was Feb. 21 and results are available on the turkey hunting webpage of the DNR website. While a license is required for all seasons, hunters do not need a permit to hunt Carlos Avery or Whitewater WMAs during the B, C, D, E or F seasons. In addition, this year a permit will no longer be required for firearms hunters during any season to hunt Mille Lacs WMA, but a license is still required.

Minnesota DNR announces spring webinars

The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources invites people interested in wildlife and outdoor skills to check out the spring program schedule for the Minnesota Outdoor Skills and Stewardship webinar series.

Spring series webinars are scheduled about poison ivy and other noxious plants, ticks, bluebird recovery in Minnesota, canoe fishing in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness, trout fishing in southeast Minnesota, preparing a harvested turkey for the table, exploring spring ephemerals, Minnesota’s Scientific and Natural Areas, state fish hatcheries, how to be Bearwise, agates, and otters.

Next up on Wednesday, Feb. 26, Bryan Wood, executive director of Osprey Wilds Environmental Learning Center, will teach the concepts of how to read a landscape, from making observations about the patterns and outliers people see, to thinking through the possible factors at play, including human and natural disturbances and ecological changes.

Then, on Wednesday, March 5, Emilie Justen, a noxious plant expert with the Minnesota Department of Agriculture, will discuss poison ivy and a few other plants that can make a day out in nature unpleasant if people encounter them. Justen will share how to identify and avoid these plants and things to know about controlling or managing them.

The Minnesota Outdoor Skills and Stewardship Series webinars are free and offered year-round, though registration is required. Visit the Outdoor Skills and Stewardship webpage of the Minnesota DNR website for the registration portal, more information about upcoming webinars and recordings of past webinars.