No matter whether you’re hunting on private or public lands, use caution. Dressing in camouflage and imitating the sounds of the prey you’re after is almost an invitation to an accident. If there is any chance that other hunters will be hunting near you, make sure they don’t mistake you for a wild turkey and send a swarm of shotgun pellets in your direction.

If you hunt much, you’ll see how unobservant and oblivious some hunters can be.

A couple of seasons back, I had already killed a nice gobbler and was sitting in my pickup truck, watching through binoculars as my son, backed up into a tiny clump of shinnery oak on a WMA with his compound bow, waited to ambush a flock of turkeys that sometimes walked a nearby path.

Two shotgun-toting hunters laden with hunting stools and a turkey decoy and other gear came walking down the trail and stood right by my son -- within 6 feet of him -- for several minutes, then strolled up over a ridge and disappeared.

Later I asked my son what the hunters were talking to him about.

“Nothing,” he said. “They weren’t talking to me. They were just looking for turkeys. They didn’t even know I was there.”

The statewide dates for spring turkey season are April 6 through May 6, 2008. But because there are many variations in bag limits, open dates, means of taking, etc., from one county to the next and from one public-land tract to the next, it’s always a good idea to pick up a current copy of the Oklahoma Hunting Regulations booklet, or to go on line to check the specific regulations that apply to the county or area you will be hunting.

Resident hunters need a current hunting license and a $10 turkey permit for each bird harvested. Hunters visiting from outside of Oklahoma must purchase an annual non-resident hunting license ($137), as well as a $10 turkey permit for each bird taken. (The short-term small-game hunting license available to non-residents at a lower price isn’t valid for turkey hunting.)

Find more about Oklahoma fishing and hunting at:

But spring turkey season is like an oasis in the desert for many of us hunters. Last fall’s deer, duck, quail, rabbit, squirrel, dove and all those other seasons are ancient history at this point in the year, and for quite a while before spring turkey season opens on April 6, not much is available in the way of hunting opportunity.