The Department of Natural Resources, to avoid the bottlenecks of the last several years, is changing the way in which leftover spring turkey permits will be sold.

The DNR has completed the lottery drawing to award permits to successful applicants for the 2009 season, which begins April 15.

There were 225,414 permits available to be issued for the spring season, 162,679 applications were received and 71,000 permits remain to be sold. That means that about 8,000 applicants did not receive a permit through the lottery system.

The 71,000 permits will be sold, beginning at 10 a.m., March 23, by telephone, over-the-counter at license outlets, and online. But instead of all permits for all zones being offered simultaneously, only permits for one zone will be available when the process begins March 23.

Zone 1 permit sales will be held from 10 a.m. to midnight on March 23; Zone 2 permits will be sold from 10 am to midnight March 24; Zone 3 permits go on sale March 25; Zone 4 on March 26; and zones 5 and 6 on March 27.

There are no permits remaining for Zone 7.

Once the first round of sales is completed, at midnight,  March 27, all leftover permits for all zones will go on sale, beginning Saturday, March 28.

Hunters can purchase one permit-per-day, at a cost of $10 for residents and $15 for nonresidents.

“We had lengthy discussions about whether someone who purchased a permit for Zone 1 on March 23 could purchase, for example, a permit for Zone 2 on March 24 and we ended up agreeing that was the most fair way,” Scott Hull, DNR turkey ecologist said. “Anyone wanting to purchase a left over permit will need to have purchased their turkey hunting license for the spring season.”

Postcards are being mailed to all hunters who were selected by the lottery drawing. Successful applicants can go to the DNR web site, http://dnr.wi.gov and find the results of the drawing, too, by going through the turkey permit application process.

New hunting and fishing licenses go on sale March 4.

Permits that were issued in the lottery will be issued to hunters when they purchase their spring turkey license or new patrons license.

Permits remaining in zones 1 to 6 are as follows: Zone 1 — 30,452 permits for periods D, E and F; Zone 2 — 4,382 permits for Period F; Zone 3 — 24,766 permits for periods D, E and F; Zone 4 — 8,761 permits for periods E and F; Zone 5 — 2,452 permits for periods E and F; and Zone 6 — 66 permits for Period F.

The new zone structure of dividing the state into seven major zones instead of 47 zones, which was put in place during last fall’s turkey season, will remain.

The 2009 youth turkey hunt is April 11 and 12 and precedes the first regular hunting period, April 15 to 19. The five remaining five-day hunting periods open consecutively from April 22, April 29, May 6, May 13 and May 20. These hunting periods are designated A through F, beginning with Period A (April 15 to 19).

Youths hunting April 11 and 12 can use any valid permit they have, regardless of the time period for which it was issued.

By JERRY DAVIS
For the State Journal