Salt Lake City — Thanksgiving is a time centered around all things turkey. From cute home decor to deliciously prepared main dishes, turkeys are a big focal point of the holiday. If you like the idea of harvesting your own locally sourced turkey — instead of fighting the crowds to buy one at your neighborhood supermarket — you can start planning now for next year’s Thanksgiving feast, and apply for an opportunity to hunt turkeys in Utah next spring. .
The application period for the spring 2026 limited-entry turkey hunt opens at 8 a.m. MST on Tuesday, Dec. 16. You can apply online, by calling or visiting the nearest Utah Division of Wildlife Resources regional office or by calling the new hunt-drawing helpline at 855-UTDRAWS (855-883-7297). To be included in the permit drawing, you must submit your application by Tuesday, Dec. 30 at 11 p.m. MST. (But if you are calling a DWR office to submit your application, the deadline is 5 p.m.) The deadline to withdraw an application is also Dec. 30 at 11 p.m. MST.
The results of the drawing will be released by Jan. 8, 2026. You'll be notified by email, but you can also find the drawing results online or by calling 855-883-7297 (855-UTDRAWS).
Hunters should note that there is a new Utah draw application system, so the website will appear different than it did in previous turkey application periods. Visit the DWR website to learn more about the new system and its easy-to-use features.
The spring limited-entry turkey hunt will be held April 11-30, 2026. The following number of permits are available for each of the limited-entry turkey areas:
- Northern Utah: 500
- Central Utah: 600
- Northeastern Utah: 347
- Southeastern Utah: 250
- Southern Utah: 542
Turkey hunting seasons
If you don’t draw one of the limited-entry permits, you can still hunt turkeys in Utah in the spring. After the limited-entry hunt is over, the general statewide turkey hunt takes place from May 4-31. Permits for the general-season hunt are not limited — although each hunter can only obtain one permit — and they are sold over the counter or online, so you’ll have no problem getting one. Permits for Utah’s general statewide spring turkey hunt go on sale at 8 a.m. MDT on March 10.
Utah offers spring turkey hunts (limited-entry and general-season, which are for male birds only) and also a fall turkey management hunt (which offers beardless and either-sex permits). The spring hunts provide more opportunity for hunters across the state, while the fall management hunt was implemented in 2014 as a way to address ongoing nuisance turkey issues and depredation that result in damage to private property.
“Because the fall hunt is specifically designed to eliminate conflicts with landowners, turkey hunting in the fall is administered primarily to alleviate these conflicts, and secondarily to provide more hunting opportunities, which is why the number of permits offered may be low, depending on the density of turkeys in urban areas each year,” DWR Upland Game Coordinator Heather Talley said. “This is why the fall hunt encompasses mostly or entirely private lands.”
Fall turkey hunting boundaries change annually to target specific nuisance or depredation areas, and the fall management hunt is not available in all parts of Utah. An individual may obtain up to three fall management harvest permits, which may include up to two beardless permits and one either-sex permit per hunter. These hunts are almost entirely on private land. This hunt began Oct. 1 and runs until Feb. 28, 2026 in select areas of Utah. Contact the nearest DWR office for a permit.
You can find more information about Utah’s upcoming spring turkey hunting seasons in the 2025-26 Utah Upland Game and Turkey Guidebook. The free guidebook is available on the DWR website or you can pick up a copy at a DWR office or from hunting and fishing license agents across Utah.
History of turkeys in Utah
There are currently between 30,000-35,000 wild turkeys throughout the state.
“Turkey populations have fluctuated in recent years, due to drought conditions for multiple years and then the severe winter conditions in 2022-23,” Talley said. “Subsequently, we experienced some optimal precipitation patterns, conducive to production and recruitment for turkeys, but now we have observed drier weather patterns since last year. We hope to receive more precipitation this winter and spring to provide those optimal brood rearing circumstances next year.”
There are two turkey subspecies that live in Utah: Rio Grande and Merriam’s, and they hybridize in places where both subspecies exist. Turkeys have a long history of being in Utah, but while today’s populations have remained stable through recent decades, that wasn’t always the case.
“Based on historical and archeological evidence, it’s clear that Native Americans and turkeys coexisted in Utah,” Talley said. “That evidence includes pictographs, petroglyphs, blankets made from turkey feathers, and turkey bones that have been found at places where Native Americans lived historically.”
However, until the 1950s, established turkey populations hadn’t been seen in Utah in 100 years or more. Except for a failed reintroduction in the 1920s, no records exist of turkeys being in Utah from the time Europeans started exploring the state to the successful reintroduction of the birds in the 1950s.
During the 1950s, biologists with the Utah Department of Fish and Game (the agency’s name was later changed to the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources in 1967) successfully released Merriam's wild turkeys in Utah from Colorado and Arizona. These transplants established turkeys in Grand, Garfield, Kane, Iron and Washington counties. Turkeys from these populations have since been trapped and relocated within the state.
Beginning in 1989, the DWR began a wild turkey trapping and transplanting program within the state, using mostly Rio Grande turkeys and occasionally Merriam's turkeys from Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.
