Archives for January 2013

6,933 Wisconsin’s 2012 Fall Wild Turkey Harvest

January 22, 2013 by Charlie Leave a Comment

Wisconsin fall turkey hunters harvested 6,933 wild turkeys in season 2012. This is an increase of 1,500 wild turkeys from 2011 fall total of 5,433 turkeys.

Due to a mild 2011 winter and a drier warmer 2012 spring, turkey nesting success was indeed excellent leading to a 28% increase in the fall harvest. In the final weeks of the 2012 season many hunters reported large flocks of jakes which should indicate an excellent 2013 spring wild turkey season.

The total 2012 harvest summary break down is:

3,896 female turkeys which includes 2,399 hens and 1,496 jennys

3,037 male turkeys which includes 1,913 gobblers and 1,124 jakes.

Here is a chart of Wisconin’s 2012 fall wild turkey harvest numbers by management zone, age and sex.

Interested in talking more turkey?
Then don’t miss the Talk’n Turkey Expo in Howards Grove, WI.

Wisconsin 2013 Spring Wild Turkey Permit Drawing Completed

January 15, 2013 by Charlie Leave a Comment

Great News–This is the earliest Wisconsin DNR has ever completed the wild turkey spring drawing. Kudos to those at WDNR for making this happen. Sure will make spring turkey hunt planning easier. You can check your spring turkey application results at Wisconsin’s Online Licensing Center.

Turkey licenses not claimed by drawing will be sold OTC. The availability of OTC 2013 spring turkey tags will announced later.

Good luck.

Update 12:50 1/15/2013 from WDNR press release today:

Leftover spring turkey permits go on sale March 18

The 99,612 remaining permits for the 2013 spring turkey hunting season will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis starting Monday, March 18 at 10 a.m. Leftover permits will be first issued for sale by zone, one zone per day, with each zone having a designated sales date.

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 in which they wish to hunt.

The following zones have leftover permits, and the scheduled sales dates are as follows:

Zone 1 – Monday, March 18

Zone 2 – Tuesday, March 19

Zone 3 – Wednesday, March 20

Zone 4 – Thursday, March 21

Zones 5, 6 & 7 – Friday, March 22 (due to the low number of permits left in these units, sales have been combined into one day)

There are no leftover permits for time periods A or B in the regular turkey management zones listed above.

Wisconsin Mississippi River Backwaters Turkey Hunt

January 13, 2013 by Charlie Leave a Comment

At least they were there

2011 Spring, unit 1 Wisconsin Turkey Hunt somewhere north of La Crosse on the Mississippi River

Hunting some flat lowland was a treat after all the snowy, wet slippery hill climbing of season 2. I could only hunt the weekend of season 3 and still had the snow mixed with rain plus a little high wind just to keep things interesting. I found a sheltered area where the turkeys were hanging out in very good numbers and responded well to lost hen yelping. Truth be told I whiffed on a bunch of gobblers Saturday they just kept picking me out and walking off before I could shoot. Apparently I was wearing the wrong tree so I vowed to change camo for tomorrow’s hunt.
Even though I was damp and cold Saturday I stayed until a gobbler roosted, marked the spot on the GPS and arrived back at the boat landing just darkness settled in.

Oh dark something Sunday morning:

The choppy waves banging on the jon boat’s front made enough noise that I was sure would scare away all the turkeys before I setup. He flew down Sunday in the early dawn light at 5:30 gobbling like crazy in the 20+ mph wind and sleet. He circled to my right side within 6 ft where there was no way to shoot, then circled back around the fallen tree top to the front. At 8 feet he was head on gobbling at me non-stop for what seemed an entirety, my gun drooping from the sling hanging on my knee. He was so close turkey spit was soaking my headnet with each gobble. No chance to even blink. Finally he raised his head up turned it sideways with a branch blocking his eye, my gun was mounted as he juked his head for a better look; the wad never had a chance to open.

Gun Show in a Wisconsin School

January 12, 2013 by Charlie 1 Comment

“For this town, no big deal to have gun show at school”

This is an AP headline from yesterday that is a spot of sanity in the insane world of gun control hype.

The AP reporter Dinesh Ramde writes:

Wisconsin — where children as young as 10 years old are encouraged to
grab a gun and shoot a deer — one community is embracing its hunting
heritage by gearing up to host a gun show in a high school gym.

Most people think guns are simply banned in schools however according to Chippewa County District Attorney Steve Gibbs “Federal and state law bars guns in school settings under most circumstances, but there are provisions in federal law that allow guns with the permission of school administrators”

AP reporter Ramde continues:

Paul Schley, Cornell School District superintendent, said he received
emails from five Wisconsin residents living outside Cornell who
expressed disappointment that the show was taking place on school
grounds.

2012 was my 52nd year hunting and thereby my 52nd year since being taught to shoot. During my time in high school it

52 years ago there were no minimum age requirements to hunt or learn to shoot. charlie was shooting a Red Ryder BB gun at age 3 by the time he turned 6 charlie was profiecent with 22 rifle and successfully hunted small game.

was common for schools to sponsor student shooting teams, skeet, trap and rifle. The school I attended even had an indoor shooting range. We would keep your guns in our lockers and get them out when Phy Ed time came for firearm training and proficiency.Perhaps some will be surprised to learn there were no school shootings then. Firearms were really nothing special just the equipment of another sport and the results of the school’s shooting teams were read over the P.A. system right along with the baseball, basketball or football scores.

2012 Wisconsin Fall Turkey Harvest Up

January 4, 2013 by Charlie Leave a Comment

WI wild turkey taken during a winter snowshoe hunt

Wisconsin’s 2012 fall turkey harvest is up over 2011 as of December 12, 2012 5500 turkeys had been registered. This compares to 5433 wild turkeys registered at the end of 2011 fall season. The final 2012 fall turkey harvest numbers will be released shortly. Given the mild December weather and increase in the reported turkey population Wisconsin fall turkey harvest should increase more.

Share your experiences and observations if you hunted fall/winter turkeys.

How Do You Setup for Winter Turkeys?

January 2, 2013 by Charlie Leave a Comment

Even though Wild turkeys can only see in two dimensions they have good eyesight, no make that excellent eyesight. Any wild turkey hunter knows this after only a few encounters with this king of birds which is why camouflage is so popular among hunters. Although there are a few die-hard traditionalist do not wear camo.

So how do you hide from a turkey’s keen sight in a snow covered landscape?

Snow camo is a big help when a hunter is out in the open or open brushy terrain. This is a typical setup I use for winter turkey hunting.

One snowshoe is used as a backrest, the other is laid flat with a cushion on top for a seat.

Add in the hunter dressed in snow camo and you can see the human lines are nicely broken up. Notice the shotgun is also taped with white first aid tape to break up its outline.

If I were to have picked any of the larger trees in this area the snow camo would have stood out against the dark trunk and the turkeys may have likely been out of range. Turkeys can see in color just like us.

In case a more traditional tree setup becomes required I wear an outfitter camo vest under my snow camo jacket and then zip open the outer jacket so my chest will blend with the tree trunk.

The Sun Sets on 2012 Wisconsin Fall Turkey Season

January 1, 2013 by Charlie 2 Comments

I have a personal tradition of hunting the last day of a season to reflect and say “good bye”. This is the sunset of the final hunting day of 2012. Vic and I had just flushed a flock of 50 turkeys, the last we saw they were flying off into the sunset; a fitting end indeed.

What a great season 2012 was and many of us are sorry to see it end. There are high numbers of game birds across the landscape especially turkeys. After an easy 2011/ 2012 winter followed by a spring with just right weather recruitment was outstanding.

I think the wild turkey in Wisconsin has not only recovered from the devastating losses suffered during winter 2010 but also significantly increased above the population level of 2009. There is no official census just my gut feeling after fall hunting turkeys over 3 months’ time in units 1, 3, and 4.

Vic became much more polished in 2012 I am very proud of his progress I lucked into a very fine turkey dog, in October he earned his turkey dog diploma with pair of unit 1 turkeys.

Vic did a text book scatter, barked to call me other to the break area where we setup. I called in the first turkey on a hen wingbone made from a turkey we killed last year. Vic laid low next to me as the turkey approached within gun range and waited for the “get turkey” command. We retrieved the first turkey and called in the second. Both times Vic lay very still next to me, waited for the shot and “get turkey” command.

This was the first time Vic had done it all right; usually his excitement would get the best of him causing movement or noise at the wrong time whereby saving the turkeys life.

Back to the day of the last sunset we started morning hunting in unit 1 and killed a turkey at 9 in the morning after a very cold setup. Back in unit 4 we killed another turkey at 3 in the afternoon after a slightly warmer setup.

With one 2012 tag remaining we watched the sun set on 2012 hunting.