PRATT – The Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism (KDWPT) reminds hunters not to discard their2018-19 Kansas Hunting Atlases. Unlike past years, there will be no spring atlas printed in 2019. All fall and spring Walk-in Hunting Access (WIHA) tracts are included in the atlas printed and distributed last August.
Additional copies are available from KDWPT offices and will be distributed as needed to license outlets this spring in time for the spring turkey season. But hunters should also go to www.ksoutdoors.com, under “Where To Hunt,” to find maps that include tracts that were enrolled after the printed atlas was completed. Due to a late-summer push for new enrollments, more than 20,000 acres were added and are included on these electronic maps.
The atlas’ legend shows color codes that designate tracts open only in the fall, tracts open in both spring and fall and tracts open only during the spring turkey season. Again this year, more than 1 million acres are enrolled.
The WIHA program was initiated in 1996 when 36,000 acres were enrolled. The program was popular with hunters and landowners and quickly grew, reaching the million-acre mark by 2004. That level of access has been sustained ever since. The newest part of the program is called iWIHA and is designed to increase enrollment in urban counties and provide high quality experiences by limiting access to a certain number of hunters on an area on a given day. Hunters can check an area’s status the night before and check in, knowing that access will be limited. For details on the iWIHA program, go to https://ksoutdoors.com/Hunting/Hunting-Programs/iWIHA-Limited-Access-Hunts
Hunters looking for quality turkey hunting opportunities should also apply through the Special Hunts program, which provides limited accessed through a lottery drawing to designated tracts of land. The 2019 Spring Turkey Special Hunts should available Feb. 2 at www.ksoutdoors.com under “Special Hunts.”
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