When Does Fall Turkey Season Open in Ontario? Dates by WMU

Two Octobers ago I drove ninety minutes to a farm I had permission on, got set up before light, and realized around 7 a.m. that I had the wrong week entirely.

I had circled October 15 because that was when the shotgun season had opened the year before. That year, it opened on the 10th. I had already burned five days of a thirteen-day window sitting at home, and I only caught the mistake because someone at the shop mentioned he had tagged out on the second morning. The Ontario fall turkey season dates can move from year to year, and there is a reason for those changes, even if it is not always clearly explained.

Ontario’s Two Fall Turkey Seasons

Fall turkey is not one season. It is two overlapping ones with different weapons and different rules, and hunters who treat it as a single block regularly miss half their opportunity.

Here’s how each one runs:

The bow season, October 1 to 31

Archery hunters get the longest window and the most consistent one. The fall bow season opens October 1 and closes October 31 in every open WMU, every year, with no calendar drift. If you want the most days afield, this is the season to plan around.

The shotgun season, with dates that move

The shotgun and muzzleloading shotgun season opens the Tuesday after Thanksgiving Monday and runs to the second following Sunday. Because Thanksgiving falls on the second Monday of October, the opener slides between roughly October 8 and October 14 depending on the year. In 2026, Thanksgiving Monday lands on October 12, which puts the shotgun season at October 13 through October 25.

Why the dates shift and how to check

Ontario ties the shotgun window to a floating holiday rather than a fixed date, so last year’s dates tell you nothing about this year’s. Confirm them in the wild turkey section of the Ontario Hunting Regulations Summary before booking time off.

Which WMUs Open for Fall Turkey

Fall turkey runs in a narrower set of units than spring, and the list sits well south of the Shield. Hunting a unit that only holds a spring season is a straightforward offence, not a technicality.

Here’s where the fall seasons apply:

The open units

Ontario currently opens fall wild turkey in WMUs 59, 60, 63, 64, 65, 66A, 67 through 70, 72 through 78, 80 through 82, 84 through 87, and 89 through 94. Ontario added seven of those units in 2022 after mandatory hunter reporting showed the populations could support a fall harvest.

Confirming the unit you plan to hunt

Unit boundaries decide this, and they follow roads, rivers, and shorelines rather than anything obvious on the ground. Our guide to Ontario hunting zones and how to find your WMU walks through pinning down exactly which unit you are standing in before opening morning.

What You Need Before Opening Day

The paperwork for fall turkey is lighter than big game, though it still has three separate pieces. Missing any one of them ends the hunt at the first check.

Here’s the full list:

Licence, card, and tag

You need a valid Outdoors Card, a small game licence, and a fall wild turkey tag. Gun hunters must also carry proof of firearms accreditation. A resident fall turkey tag costs $26.33 and a non-resident tag costs $30.33, both before HST.

One tag, one bird, either sex

Ontario allows one fall turkey tag per hunter, and that tag covers one bird of either sex across both fall seasons combined. Filling your tag with a bow in early October means you sit out the shotgun season. That differs sharply from spring, where hunters may buy two tags restricted to bearded birds, as our overview of turkey season dates in Ontario sets out.

The Fall Rules That Catch Spring Hunters

Plenty of hunters arrive in October running their spring playbook. Three differences matter enough to cost you a bird or a charge.

Here’s what changes:

Legal hours run later

Fall hunting runs from half an hour before sunrise to half an hour after sunset. Spring closes at 7 p.m. regardless of daylight, so fall gives you a genuine evening hunt that spring never does. Roosting birds late is a fall tactic for exactly this reason.

Party hunting does not apply

Ontario does not permit party hunting for wild turkey in any season. You may call for another hunter after filling your own tag, though you must not have a firearm in your possession while doing it. Every hunter fills their own tag or goes home empty.

Bait, decoys, and calls

Hunting turkey within 400 metres of any place where bait has been deposited is illegal unless that spot has been free of bait for at least seven days. Live decoys and electronic calls remain illegal in Ontario in both seasons. Reporting your fall harvest is mandatory, and the deadline falls in November.

Getting Ready for the Fall Opener

Fall birds behave nothing like spring birds. They travel in flocks, and a late-October afternoon sit rewards patience more than aggression.

Victory Ridge Sports is a Canadian hunting and target sports store in Barrie, Ontario, at 431 Bayview Drive. We stock shotguns and turkey loads, chokes, decoys, box and slate calls, blinds, camouflage, and the boots and layers that make a cold October sit bearable.

Most of the people behind our counter chase turkeys themselves, so the conversation starts with which unit you plan to hunt and how. Visit the Barrie showroom Monday through Saturday, call 1-705-252-4400, or order online with free shipping over $250.

Frequently Asked Questions

When does the fall turkey season start in Ontario?

The bow season opens October 1 and closes October 31. The shotgun and muzzleloading shotgun season opens the Tuesday after Thanksgiving Monday and closes the second following Sunday, which places it in mid to late October depending on the year.

How many turkeys can you shoot in the fall in Ontario?

One. Ontario issues a single fall wild turkey tag per hunter, valid for one bird of either sex across both fall seasons. Once you notch it, your fall season is finished regardless of which weapon you used.

Can you shoot a hen in Ontario in the fall?

Yes. The fall tag covers either a male or a female bird, unlike the spring tag, which restricts you to bearded turkeys only. That either-sex rule is the biggest single difference between the two seasons.

Is fall turkey season open across all of Ontario?

No. Fall seasons run in a specific list of southern WMUs, a shorter list than the spring season uses. Confirm your unit appears on the current fall list before you hunt, since spring access does not imply fall access.