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Archives for March 2015

Preconceived Notions Hamper Turkey Hunt

March 29, 2015 by Charlie 1 Comment

Wisconsin turkeys laughing

Are these turkeys laughing or snickering?

A frequently asked question;  What is the one most important thing that makes a great turkey hunter?

I can’t speak to the great part, not sure what that exactly means.  Great is probably defined differently by each person.  Let’s assume great is not a video star; instead, they’re a successful turkey hunter who enjoys the hunt and bags some birds.

For most turkey hunters Preconceived Notions are the number one impediment to killing wild turkeys.

Pick up most any hunting magazine or read online articles this time of year and you’ll find a plethora of expert advice:

  • About where the turkeys will fly down to,
  • you must be there early, in the dark.
  • How they’ll travel certain routes,
  • respond to individual calls,
  • Only call once every 20 minutes or whatever period of time the author made up. All of these examples assume turkeys are creatures of habit that show up, fly down and act according to preset rules or as I’ve learned to understand this advice as Preconceived Notions.

When I started turkey hunting, I heard all the advice above and assumed it was correct.  After five turkey hunts during which I was out somewhere in the dark woods setup by a preselected tree in an area that should hold roosted turkeys.  Only to discover as the sun rose the gobbling turkeys were everywhere I was not.  There I would sit making a call every 20 minutes, after all, I surely did not want to make the turkeys call shy.  This setup had everything a turkey could want an open slightly elevated strutting area, with drag marks and scratchings all over, and this is a classic example of a preconceived notion.  This type of planning and setup works for deer, not usually turkeys.

The turkey hunting light bulb burst on in my head one day when my hunting partner was too sick to leave camp early in the morning.  Upon my return to camp, he told me about a hunter who drove into the parking area then just sat there until a turkey gobbled.  He slipped out in the turkey’s direction.  In short order, there was a shot, and this mystery hunter returned to his truck with a fine gobbler.  All of this happened while I was much further away in the dark at a preplanned location.  At that point, I was a lifelong deer hunter, and now the epiphany hit.  Turkeys are random in action.

The next morning found me on the ridge not far from camp listening with no intention of moving until the gobbling started.  When it did, I walked towards that area in the light after the turkeys had flown down.  My calls answered almost every sound the turkeys made.  Shortly a magnificent strutting turkey appeared.  My heart raced, and I forgot to shoot until he was down the ridge out of sight. Those iridescent feathers catching the multi colors of the sunrise mesmerized me, in all my years of hunting I’d never seen a more hypnotically beautiful display.  Without more thought, I propped the gun on my knee and called.  Nothing, call again, nothing called a lot, not loud just persistent and that Tom reappeared to become my first turkey.

There was no looking back since that time some 33 years ago I have filled a tag during every season.  Nowadays some hunting units allow more than one tag, in those cases, I have not always filled all the tags in my pocket but filling just one is perfect ably acceptable.

Some preconceived notions to avoid:

  • You must be somewhere in the woods before first light. Entering an unknown hunting area in the dark when you have not put a turkey to bed risks bumping the birds off their roosts before a hunter can set up.
  • Restraining your calling for fear of making turkeys call shy;   Experience teaches you when to call how much and at what volume — not an arbitrary rule established in advance of the real-life hunting situation.
  • Assuming a turkey will only travel through an area one way or that he must pass by a particular spot.  Remember turkeys have wings they can and do fly across the water, valleys and from tree to tree.  During late season hunts, gobblers have come into my calls using leafed out trees to find the hen/ me on the ground.
  • Believing turkeys have left the area due to hunting pressure, weather, etc. The turkeys are always there even when they can’t be seen or heard. Turkey dogging has taught me turkeys will lay on the ground unmoving and unseen as a hunter passes by.  However, a turkey dog finds those birds, and in the fall I’m shocked at how hard it is to see one laying on the leaf-strewn ground a few feet away.

Filed Under: Spring Turkey, Think Pieces / Opinion, turkey hunting tips Tagged With: hunting, Turkey Hunting, turkey hunting story, Wild Turkey

CWD Infects Bucks Twice the Rate of Does

March 7, 2015 by Charlie Leave a Comment

courtesy Green Bay Press Gazette

CWD-infected buck. Courtesy Green Bay Press Gazette

The rate of CWD infection continues to increase in Wisconsin’s deer herd.  Whitetail bucks 2.5 years old and up have a higher rate of infection according to the most recent sampling.

Statewide in 2014 5,400 deer were sampled for CWD.  324 deer were found CWD positive mostly in Wisconsin’s southern endemic area this is a 6% infection rate.

The infected deer by age and sex-

  • 25% – adult male white-tailed deer (2.5+ years-old)
  •   8% –  yearling males
  • 10% – adult female deer
  •   7% – yearling females

Since the beginning of sampling in 2002 CWD infection have continued to increase mainly among bucks 2.5 years and older.  The best hypothesis regarding the spread of CWD is that it is spread via body fluids containing the prion.  Many researchers believe this is due to the natural behavior of the adult buck.

  • Creating and maintaining  scrapes,
  • Licking branches to leave a scent that is then licked by other bucks and some does.
  • Adult bucks wander a wider geographic area which risks spreading CWD to new areas.

So far, research indicates the best thing to do to contain or at least slow CWD’s  progress is reduce the herd density while removing as many 2.5-year-old bucks as possible. The problem with implementing this strategy is hunter opposition. During the last couple of decades, hunters have come to believe they should let small bucks pass in order to grow them up for bigger antlers, referred to as Quality Deer Management  (QDM).  When CWD was first discovered in Wisconsin, the DNR set in motion a deer extermination policy in the believe they could eliminate all CWD-infected deer in what has become known as the CWD Zone.   During this failed effort a system known as Earn a Buck (EAB) was instituted.  However, according to the documented infection rates an Earn a Doe (EAD) should have implemented instead.  Assuming the infection rates by age and sex above it makes more sense to push down the buck population. A lower population of bucks may keep bucks in the area.  When bucks become crowded in an area, some move-out or are pushed out by dominate bucks.  Causing a certain number of bucks, some which could be infected to move on and infect new areas.

According to Tami Ryan, DNR wildlife health section chief.

“Long-term monitoring of disease patterns is crucial in understanding the dynamics of this CWD, and it’s also important to make sure we keep the public informed, prevalence continues to increase within the department’s long-term monitoring area in Southwest Wisconsin, and remains higher in males than females and higher in adults than yearlings.”

“The department is very grateful for the cooperation that hunters and landowners have provided over 13 years of sampling, they are helping monitor the health of Wisconsin’s deer herds and providing information that is of interest to many.”

WDNR statements regarding CWD monitoring.

Monitoring efforts also included ongoing surveillance within a 10-mile radius of the each new positive found in 2012 in Juneau, Adams and Portage counties in central Wisconsin. Four additional positives were found in 2013 in Adams and Portage counties, while two additional positives were discovered in Adams County in 2014.

Surveillance was also conducted surrounding a CWD-positive captive deer farm in Marathon County, with no wild CWD deer detected.

Following the 2012 discovery of a CWD-positive adult doe near Shell Lake, 2014 marked the third year of surveillance efforts in Washburn County in Northwest Wisconsin. Following recommendations from a local community action team, local landowners and hunters helped the department sample more than 1,900 deer in the area over the last three years. No new positives have been detected. Based on three years of sampling, all information has indicated CWD is not widespread in the Washburn area, and occurs at a very low prevalence rate.

 

CWD infected Doe. Courtesy WDNR

CWD-infected Doe.
Courtesy WDNR

Filed Under: Deer Hunting, News Tagged With: Chronic Wasting Disease, cwd, hunting, news, Wisconsin deer

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