MOCVD and MBE grown GaN were implanted with Ar, Mg, Si, Be, C, and O, and annealed in a conventional oven under flowing NH3 or N2 gas. Absorption measurements confirmed that implantation damage was annealed out after 90 minutes at a temperature of 1000 °C. Surface damage caused by NH3 annealing was evident in absorption and photoluminescence measurements for annealing temperatures of over 1000 °C. Although most of the implants showed no unique luminescence peaks, systematic changes in the relative intensities of the exciton, donor-acceptor pair, and yellow peaks were noted. The Mg implanted samples showed evidence of the acceptor bound exciton line at 3.44 eV, and a unique peak at 3.3 eV possibly due to a Mg free-to-bound transition.