WMA Quota Turkey Hunt Deadline Is Feb. 15

Brian Wood killed these two gobblers during the first hunt at Blanton Creek WMA. On the WMA’s first hunt last year, 100 percent of applicants were drawn with two priority points, but only 29 percent were selected when they applied with just one priority point.

Feb. 15 is the last day for hunters to apply for a 2016 WMA turkey quota hunt—both the general quota hunts and the adult/child quota hunts. You’ll need to apply online at www.gohuntgeorgia.org. Just click “Hunting,” and scroll down to “Quota Hunts.” It’s a simple process.

If you just want to earn a priority point (PP) so you can use points in a year or two to gain access to the more difficult WMAs to get on to, you can do that, too.

This year’s quota-hunt choices are listed on page 52 of the February issue of GON. These are the same choices you’ll see when you go online to apply. Some of these hunts require no PPs, while others require several. In this online article, we’ve included a listing of all last year’s quota hunts and how many PPs it took to gain access to them.

Reading the 2015 WMA Quota Turkey Selection Data is pretty simple. For example, you will see that at Arrowhead WMA, it took four PPs to guarantee a spot to hunt last year, but 33 percent of applicants who applied with three PPs were drawn.

Although numbers and popularity could shift when applying for the 2016 hunts, last year’s numbers are a good indicator of how many PPs to use when applying for a particular hunt.

For full coverage of last year’s WMA turkey data, including hunt results and success rates, refer to the February issue of GON magazine. If you’re not a subscriber, GON is available at most convenience stores across the state.

Use the 2015 WMA Quota Turkey Selection Data to figure out how many priority points to use when applying for a 2016 WMA turkey quota hunt.