MADISON – Remaining permits for the 2010 spring turkey hunting season will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis starting March 22. Leftover permits will be first issued for sale by zone, one zone per day, with each zone having a designated sales date.

In total, 225,729 permits were available for the spring 2010 turkey season. More than 149,000 permits were issued to hunters who applied for permits by the Dec. 10 application deadline, leaving more than 76,000 permits available after the drawing.

Hunters should check the turkey zone map [PDF] to verify where they want to hunt and then check the turkey permit availability page to see if permits are available for the period and zone they want to hunt in.

Sales will start at 10 a.m. March 22 and continue through midnight each day or until permits are all sold. These sales will be held for five consecutive days with customers able to purchase one permit per day. Any remaining leftover permits for all zones will go on sale Saturday, March 27 and will continue until sold out or the season ends Permit purchases are limited to one permit per day until each zone and time period is sold out.

The following zones have leftover permits. The scheduled sales dates are as follows:

· Zone 1 – Monday, March 22

· Zone 2 – Tuesday, March 23

· Zone 3 – Wednesday, March 24

· Zone 4 – Thursday, March 25

· Zone 5 & Zone 6 – Friday, March 26 - Due to the low number of permits left in these units, the sale has been combined into one day.

There are no leftover permits available for Zone 7 after the initial drawing. There are also no leftover permits for time periods A or B in the other zones.

A limited number of disabled-only turkey permits for state park areas is available among leftover permits. Disabled hunters who have been issued either a Class A or Class C Disabled Hunter Permit should visit a DNR Service Center or call the DNR Customer Call Center at 1-888-WDNRINFo (1-888-936-7463) beginning on Monday, March 22, 2010 after 10 a.m. to purchase one of these permits.

The fee for turkey permits is $10 for residents, and $15 for nonresidents. All hunters will also be required to pay the spring turkey license and stamp fee, unless they have previously purchased the license and stamp, or are a 2010 Conservation Patron License holder. Residents and nonresidents will have equal opportunity to purchase over-the-counter permits. Purchasing these permits will not affect preference status for future spring or fall turkey permit drawings. A select number of disabled turkey permits for several state parks are also available for leftover sales. Disabled hunters should note that these permits will only be available through DNR service centers.

Leftover permits can be purchased over the Internet through the Online Licensing Center; by calling toll-free 1-877-WI LICENSE (1-877-945-4236); at license sales locations; or DNR service centers during the time they are open for counter service. Hours are service centers were recently reduced. Please check dnr.wi.gov for a list of service centers and days and hours of operation (DNR Service Centers are not open on Saturday). Hunters should have their DNR customer ID ready. Hunters with any questions about when or how to buy permits may call the DNR Customer Call Center from 7 a.m. through 10 p.m. seven days a week at 1-888-WDNRINFo (1-888-936-7463).

The spring 2010 turkey hunting season runs from April 14-May 23. The season is divided into six 5-day (Wednesday through Sunday) time periods