Photo by Kelly Adams/ODWC

We want to help you have the most exciting turkey season yet! We’ve compiled some of our best turkey hunting resources here, but it all starts with your hunting license. To hunt turkeys, you need a valid hunting license and spring turkey license, unless exempt from either.

Every spring, just before opening day of turkey season, the Wildlife Department releases its annual Gobbler Report, a slate of biologists’ insights on turkey activity across the state by region. You won’t want to miss it! With turkey season opening later than it has in recent years, a biologist’s input might be just the extra information you need to lay hold of a successful hunt. This year’s Gobbler Report is expected to drop a few days before opening day, April 16. Make sure you’re signed up to receive our “Hunting Updates” to ensure the Gobbler Report lands in your inbox.

One of the best actions any aspiring hunter can take is to complete the Wildlife Department’s free hunter education course. It covers a variety of topics such as firearm safety, wildlife identification, wildlife conservation & management, survival, archery, muzzleloading and hunter responsibility. Hunter education helps equip hunters for a lifetime of enjoying and making the most of the outdoors. Additionally, the Wildlife Department receives up to $20 each time a person completes the hunter education course, thanks to federal aid provided to state wildlife agencies through the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

This spring, you can learn about turkey hunting through a series of virtual courses offered by the Wildlife Department in partnership with the National Wild Turkey Federation. There will be three courses offered, and if you attend all three, you’ll be entered in a drawing to win an NWTF turkey hunting vest:

With all the receipts and schedules and stress, tax time can get a little wild. But Schedule 511-H of the state’s Income Tax Return allows Oklahomans to put that wild energy to good use when they donate a portion of their refund to the Wildlife Diversity Fund. The Wildlife Department can then turn those donations into field surveys of our state’s rare and declining species, including the rough and tumble swift fox.

Schedule 511-H provides tax filers with the opportunity to make a financial gift from their refund to up to eight organizations, including the Wildlife Department’s Wildlife Diversity Fund. Forms can be found at the Oklahoma Tax Commission’s website, oklahoma.gov/tax. Income taxes may also be filed online for free. The deadline for tax year 2021 returns is April 18.

The Wildlife Department does not receive general state tax appropriations. License sales and federal Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration Program grant revenues are the main funding sources. Every license dollar spent by sportsmen in Oklahoma is used to fund the Wildlife Department’s user pay/public benefit conservation efforts.