Turkey season opened yesterday for youth in the state of Iowa, while the main hunting season is set to begin on Monday.

April 11-13 is youth-only season, in which only Iowa residents under the age of 15 are eligible to purchase tags. The youth-only season was designed as a mentoring program to provide young hunters with experience according to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Youth tags can only be purchased during the youth season, but are valid through each of the four main seasons until filled..

The main season dates are as follows:

Season one: April 14 through 17;

Season two: April 18 through 22;

Season three: April 23 through 29;

and Season four: April 30 through May 18.

Jim Coffey, Forest Wildlife Research Biologist with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said in the release that with the start of turkey hunting season overlapping with mushroom hunting season, hunters needed to be especially aware of their surroundings, ensuring they know if there are other people nearby while hunting.

Successful hunters are required to report their harvest by midnight of the day after it is recovered by going online at www.iowadnr.gov, calling the toll free phone number printed on the tag, at any license vendor during regular business hours, by texting your registration number to 1-800-771-4692 or through the Go Outdoors Iowa app.