Wild Turkey – Page 3

First Canadian Who Turkey Hunted in Wisconsin

May 27, 2016 by Charlie 13 Comments

First Canadian Hunts Turkeys in Wisconsin

The gobbler raucously ushered in the sunrise causing the Albertan hunter to shiver. It had to be excitement because it’s a lot cooler from where he came, so considering this was the first turkey he’d ever heard no turkey hunter would think there any other reason for the quaking.

All the way from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada; Kody came to West Central Wisconsin for his first-ever wild turkey hunt. To my knowledge and that of the turkey Maven within the Wisconsin DNR Kody is the first Canadian to attempt the spring turkey hunt here.

Kody and Charlie met each other seven years ago as contributors on the Outdoor Life forum. At first, they exchanged good-natured jabs and humored filled stories then moved on to email exchanges and phone conversations. There are those who think it odd or even a bit dangerous to hunt with someone you only know via “technological conversations.” However, I have not found that to be the case rather when someone is or thinks they are anonymous the real person is on display for all to see. Whereas, in person, we are all more careful to maintain the veneer of respectability.

The adventure started as soon as Kody arrived to pick up his rental car, incredibly customs was not a problem rather as events were to unfold it was the map provided by the car rental folks. Since Canadian I phones don’t work in the states, Kody would need to rely on this sketchy map, in the dark as he attempts to navigate to Charlie elk’s humble, very rural adobe.

Kody stops at the local BP station in “town” to inquire with the young lady minding the store if she could fix his Apple phone. Older folks always think any young person can fix anything tech, but in this case, the poor lass was helpless to help, so she offers the use of the station’s landline to call me. After giving Kody detailed direction a feeling of what could go wrong stuck with me. In hindsight, I realized he would likely miss seeing the sign for my road and drive to who knows where. Sure enough, he has Kim call me from her house in a neighboring micro-village. After I convinced Kim this was not a con, Kody really was from Alberta here to turkey hunt she agreed to keep him there so that I could personally retrieve him.

Finally, Kody and I are shaking hands slapping each other on the back; that is after I pull Kody away from showing Kim all his grandkid and horse pictures. Later as we sit in the trophy room drinking introductory adult beverages, Kody remarks about how friendly everyone is so late at night. Of course, that is because Wisconsinites are the most heavily armed folks in the nation, so everyone has learned to be very polite. “Even more than Texas?” Yes indeed, Wisconsin has more CC permits issued per capita than anywhere else and a strong castle doctrine to boot. At 9:30p we’d roll up the sidewalks, that is if there were sidewalks. “She might have had a gun under her table as we talked…” Very likely so Kody.

Knowing Kody was coming to hunt I had tried to avoid killing the gobbler at the start of this post. He is one of those birds that roosts in the same general area every morning gobbling his head off; this is not to say he would have given me a chance to kill him if I’d tried. Rather it’s the temptation to a veteran turkey hunter is hard to resist. Kody had never hunted or for that matter seen a wild turkey. Whenever I mentor a new hunter, right or wrong, I try to arrange a full flavored hunt; there is so much more to a turkey hunt than a kill. Now we are about 50 yards from the roost tree of a very robust gobbler and his henchmen who are ushering in the morning with all the fanfare any veteran turkey hunter appreciates; we are what is called “tight” on these birds. Getting in this close was not hard because Kody is a veteran of many other species, so he is nimble and quiet while on the move. There is nothing between these birds and us, turkey hunting mornings like this are intoxicating. For a good 45 minutes as the sun starts to crest the ridgetop, I’m starting to think a turkey for the new guy on the first morning is a real possibility. As happens more often than not the turkeys begin pitching off roost flying to wherever they hear hens. The real hens had beaten my calling.

Time to move, we started trolling our way through the valley and busted a few turkeys still on roost an hour and a half after sunrise. We spent the morning on setups working some birds here and there. At one point as I led the way up a field crest, a couple of gobblers were strutting within gun range. I immediately dropped back below and motioned Kody to sneak up; he got a good look at those birds as they impressed him with their getaway speed. Turkeys run 35 mph, fly 50 mph, see like us with eight-power binoculars, and they can see 358 degrees around. The only chink in that defense is their sight is only two-dimensional requiring them to juke their heads constantly to focus.

Kody checking the most visited area tourist attraction.

After lunch, a trip to see some tourist attraction and the gun range were in order so that Kody could shoot my Benelli M2. He shot it well, and he was deeply impressed with the tight pattern produced by the Carlson turkey choke with Fiocchi nickel plated lead shells. Kody is a guy who relishes new, different things. The lush green woodland with all the sounds of life. Northern forests are generally very hard to move through and devoid of all the noisy small critters operating on the

Kody is reading the history posters.

background canvas, some locals take it all for granted. Kody noticed it all, asked lots of questions making him a real delight to hunt alongside.

We set up in the afternoon on a wooded point that extended into a corn field we called, snoozed and called some more. Of course, all turkey hunters know what happen when we stood up to leave. That’s right, three turkeys crested the horizon and busted us. Another 5-10 minutes of sitting still while staying awake may have produced a shot.

The next morning we had to set up further away from the gobbling birds due to thin aerial cover and they had moved their roosts to the tree we had called from yesterday. A rushed or forced set up rarely makes an ideal situation but once you are there with the gobblers right uphill, few choices remain. Besides turkey hunters are almost always optimistic, that is until 20/20 hindsight kicks in as the birds leave going straight up the hill away from you.

As we snuck up that hill, Kody whispers “this is real hunting, I understand why turkey hunters are so addicted.” Just then it happened again, three gobblers in strut right in front me. In my mind, Kody came

all the from Alberta, so any possible shot is his to take. I back away and down for Kody to get into position, again they vanish in a blur of feathers. Many times disturbed turkeys are easier to call in, with Kody in the lead we move up the rest of the way to the previous day’s afternoon setup.

Within ten minutes of settling in and laying out a set of kee kees and lost yelps, a very nice gobbler comes running towards us. A stern cluck stops him to turn and look at the decoy; he takes a couple of steps towards us then abruptly stops with neck extended straight up. Kody’s heart must have been beating overtime because his shoulders, head, and gun were bobbing like a cork in some big waves. The tom stood there stationary for quite some time studying the situation; this was the first time I ever wished for a turkey gun capable of shooting 60 yards. It was tempting to have Kody take the shot and hope for the golden BB, but that is not the way I hunt and happily not the way Kody hunts. The gobbler sauntered off in spite of my purr-clucking pleas to come 15 yards closer.

During the close encounter, my phone kept vibrating this is why I hate cell phones while hunting. However, I have continually carried it afield just in case mrs. elk needed me back quickly. This time, it was not mrs. elk rather it was Shane who had wounded a tom at 8 am inquiring if I would drive up with Vic the turkey dog to help him recover the bird. Vic and I have provided many successful turkey recoveries to bowhunters. My only hesitation, this time, was one a turkey was on the way in and two Kody only had 2 and half days to hunt so I did not want to burn up any of his hunting time. When asked Kody did not hesitate to agree to help find that bird, besides, we were tired of sitting in the same place watching a dirt field without any turkey life in visual range.

When we met up with Shane Simpson, founder of Calling all Turkeys and Joe Slaton—Linden, CA 2015 NWTF national gobbler calling champion. Kody was duly impressed with my pro turkey connections. Shane brought us up to speed with the day’s earlier event by explaining and show video of the shot. The gobbler being hit hard probably had not gone too far after reaching the woods. Took Vic to the last blood, he immediately scented and went after it. The cover was thorny and think with several fallen trees. As I typical of turkeys under stress they usually hunker down tight in stuff like this and rely on staying still to keep them out of sight. Vic’s tracker showed me that he went directly to what turned out to be the turkey squatting against one of those fallen tree tops. However, Vic is a pointer, and I could not lay eyes on him nor could he see me due to the thick cover, so he came back. I made what I consider an operator error; Vic pointed that tree with me standing there and the turkey hiding on the other side. We walked around all through all the brush and brush piles; a few rodents darted about so I thought Vic may have just pointed them. The offseason is hard on Vic as I train him not to grab turkeys he finds spring and summer, come the fall season I train him back to holding turkeys. When Joe spotted the turkey, I repeated the mantra to myself “trust your dog,” I knew better but failed my dog. Gosh, darn it. I’ll do better next time Vic.

Those few days flew by and too soon it was Monday noon with Kody thinking more about how to find his way back to the airport and less concerned about the gobbler sounding off on the opposite hilltop. As with all the good times in life they eventually they end, it’s one of those bitter-sweet things.

Kody is a great hunting partner and guest. He is a good hunter who is polite, considerate and came bearing healing flowers for mrs elk. He took the time to visit with her to bring extra joy to her day. We are both grateful he chose to visit us.

Grandson on The Wisconsin Youth Hunt

April 28, 2016 by Charlie 9 Comments

“Grandpa I see turkeys coming.”

“Where son?”

“Coming down the hill behind us.” Boy, does he have a good game eye, a gaggle of turkeys was weaving its way downhill in our direction.

As excited as we were to get started turkey hunting on Saturday it seemed life was conspiring to keep us from it. The game of turkey hunting is supposed to commence in the early morning dark and span the day, and that was not the way the 2016 Wisconsin spring wild turkey hunt began for us.

10:00- Found us set up in a small woodland bordered by some Ag fields. A lot of hunters would prefer setting up a blind and spread of decoys in an area like this. My grandson, like most young hunters, prefers to be outside a blind rather than in one. Within a half hour, the craggy bark of that old tree bit into our backs making the idea of moving very appealing. Or was it the lack of the turkeys? We moved, several miles away.

Nugget the turkey decoy. Keeps it interesting for the young ones.

10:45- We left the parked truck to hike across a prickly pear littered sand barren field, clearly an area that did not look like it would hold any turkeys, at least to the casual passerby. Down an embankment along the edge of a swamp with too much water for easy walking we headed up to a hillside step and for no other reason than there were fresh turkey scratchings everywhere we setup Nugget, (yes, he named the new decoy). We situated ourselves in a decaying blow down. Walker on my left.

A tom like this gets the most seasoned hunter’s heart beating overtime.

11:10- Walker’s picked those turkeys out, and he knew immediately they were gobblers with a gang of jakes bringing up the rear. With all those turkeys meandering a line towards us his excitement was quite contagious. I must admit my heart skipped a beat or two when it becomes clear exactly how big the lead gobbler was, and he was heading directly towards Nugget.

For some reason, turkey decoys don’t usually work for me. In spite of all those past failures a few days ago I purchased a Scheel’s decoy that had been on sale for $17.89 figuring Walker would like it. Apparently, the lead gobbler liked her too because his focus was on Nugget and seemed not to care in the least there was a trembling 13 year old trying to get a bead on his pulsing head only 12 yards away.

For me, it was an eternity from the time that old gobbler stopped, extended his head high to get a better look at Nugget and the roar of Walker’s 20 gauge. Then inside the scream, NOOOOO… as those big wings clawed air carrying that very large turkey up above the trees and out of our lives. Shots at turkeys do not come much more perfect than that, how could he miss? Outwardly, I whispered, “your turkey nuggets flew away, stay still and be ready.”

The following turkeys had scattered at the shot. Turkeys have short memories and can’t rationalize what happens, they just react. In short order, my calls calmed them down, and they started to stroll back to us. Now you must understand the turkeys have calmed, but my grandson is still shaking from the first encounter, there is no doubt he is rationalizing the situation.

They’re back…

Four turkeys move back into shooting range if Walker was shaking before; this time, it’s an earthquake allowing the turkeys to bust our position and retreat. Again I call to them, for some reason, my turkey calling calms the turkeys but still does very little to calm Walker. Six turkeys come back in range to mill around clucking and purring their contentment. But as turkeys are prone to do given too much time they bust us and fade away again. At this point I remind Walker about how much fun this is, he agrees grinning ear to ear. I ask him if he is hungry for some turkey nuggets, of course, he replies. Then let me know when you are calm, and I will call those turkeys back, again.

After about 15 minutes Walker assures me he is ready to try again. Soft yelps and purrs waft thru the woodland soon the turkeys eagerly answer, and I amp up the calls causing the toms to do about faces and march in; who can blame a 13 old for all his excitement, we had no blind, so there was nothing between the turkeys and us. We were sitting on the ground, so when those birds were in close, they looked down on us. Heck, I know some veteran turkey hunters who’d crack too.

It was important to figure out why my grandson missed that first gobbler, so I measured the distance, exactly 12 yards. Later at the gun range he never missed a turkey target at that range and then it occurred to me; the target was just a turkey head, not the whole bird. I forgot to tell him to make sure he picks out only the head when he shoots at a live turkey.

Wisconsin 2016 Spring Turkey Hunt Forecast

March 30, 2016 by Charlie 2 Comments

The following 2016 Wisconsin spring turkey hunt forecast or if you prefer “prediction” is based on observations reports from my network of year-round turkey hunters. Not only do we hunt spring, summer, fall and winter; During the offseason, we explore all 7 of Wisconsin’s turkey units noting habitat condition, flock composition, and numbers. We get out from behind the windshield to hike and glass the areas.

Admittedly this preview is subject to a lot my perception based on the field reports, experiences and years of turkey hunting. Before the 2014 Wisconsin spring turkey hunt, I wrote a forecast based on my hunter network field reports. At that time nearly everyone, including the current WDNR Wildlife managers were predicting a horrible spring hunt, it was supposed to be so bad they cut tags by 25%; this was the first time in state history the number of available turkey tags slashed. I stuck my neck out as a contrarian with a forecast of an above average hunt. Wisconsin’s spring turkey harvest was the second highest in the nation.

2016 Wisconsin turkey habitat is about as full of turkeys as it can get. No one “counts” turkeys in Wisconsin so it’s left to a variety of opinions. I think a reasonable estimate of statewide turkey numbers is around 600,000 birds perhaps approaching 650,000; this makes Wisconsin the number one turkey state in the nation based on population.
Wisconsin appears to be at carrying capacity statewide and is some southern areas turkeys may be over their carrying capacity. Wisconsin has experienced back to back mild winters followed by excellent springtime nesting conditions making excellent recruitment.. 2015 fall turkey hunters found high numbers of bird groups with diverse age structures.

2016 Spring Turkey Forecast for Wisconsin Turkey Management Unit 1, 3 & 4

In particular, these units have abundant turkey populations. With the exception of northern unit 4, turkeys numbers may be over carrying capacity. Carrying capacity is the number of a species the habitat can support during worst case conditions. i.e. severe winter.

Active fall turkey hunters reported encountering unprecedented bird numbers. Official WDNR kill stats show a decrease in the harvest. I believe this is due to hunter effort. The number of fall turkey hunters has been in steady decline for several years; perhaps there are only 27,000 fall turkey hunters statewide. My point is fall hunter harvest is not a reliable indicator of the turkey population.

2016 Spring Turkey Forecast for Wisconsin Turkey Management Unit 2

I have no experience hunting in unit 2. Tags are limited there versus the population of turkey hunters, so I leave the available tags for those hunters. The network reports nearly the same abundance as the 1,3, and 4. So it will be an excellent spring hunt in zone 2.

2016 Spring Turkey Forecast for Wisconsin Turkey Management Units 5,6, & 7

Again reports are indicating unprecedented high numbers of wild turkeys. There are so few tags available in these units that I have not tried to get any. For the most part, it appears residents are the primary purchasers of these rare turkey tags. Hunters should see excellent success this spring.

charlie elk’s 2016 Wisconsin Spring Wild Turkey Hunt Forecast Summary

Can’t wait to start hunting! This spring 2016 is set to be a record-setting season. Unless there is significantly bad spring weather that keeps hunters out the field, the total ’16 turkey harvest will exceed 51,000 turkeys.

If you’d like to join the charlie elk turkey reporting network please fill out this form. Even if you don’t want to join the network please leave a reply regarding your thoughts.

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2 year old turkeys are the bread and butter of spring hunting. There should be more of turkeys found this spring.

2 year old turkeys are the bread and butter of spring hunting. There should be more of these turkeys found this spring.

Wisconsin 2016 Spring Turkey License Procedure is Changing

February 2, 2016 by Charlie 2 Comments

Regular phone call will no longer work to purchase a license or permit from WDNR starting March 2016

Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources is changing the way hunters and all outdoor users buy their permits and licenses. The first test of this new system Go Wild will debut for the 2016 spring turkey licenses. Beware this includes the purchase of leftover over the counter tags which go on sale March 21, 2016 on a first come first serve basis. Starting spring 2016 The leftover spring turkey tags and turkey license can only be purchased online or at license vendors. Telephone sales are no longer available except via the phone app which provides online access for smart phones. All permits, licenses and tags must be purchased at the new gowild.wi.gov starting in March 2016. The site is not active yet there is just a coming soon landing page.

The Go Wild system replaces the current Automated License Issuance System (ALIS) that has served Wisconsin’s outdoor enthusiasts since 1999. As most longtime avid turkey hunters remember the ALIS system has not been perfect. In its early days it crashed system wide during the over the counter turkey permits sale period. The current system needs updating but it has been working well during spring turkey OTC sales. So it would be nice, I think, to have waited until after the spring turkey permit sale. Just call me paranoid.

There could be one advantage to the new Go Wild system for those who are very dedicated turkey hunters paying attention to any and all new developments. A certain number of hunters will not be made aware of this change until they are on their computers scrambling to purchase a leftover permit. Those precious seconds they spend trying find the new deal will give those in know a critical advantage to land one of the more hard to get permits. However, because there is a phone app available there could a lot more folks able to join the buying rush. So who knows?

That assumes of course that this new Go Wild system works as advertised. Sure hope it does. I will be testing it as soon as it opens on March 2. I always purchase a Conservation Patron license and apply for my fall turkey license and spring 2017 license early March each year. That prevents me from becoming busy thus forgetting to submit application. Once an application is submitted it can be edited up until the deadline has passed.

What do Wild Turkeys Eat? Crops tell the story

January 17, 2016 by Charlie 5 Comments

Turkeys have sometimes been referred to as feathered goats when it comes to their eating habits. The wild turkey’s diet is very diverse. It might be easier to list what they don’t eat rather than trying to come up with a list of things they do eat.

When I kill a turkey, I always inspect its crop contents. Sometimes referred to as the craw by our southern friends. The crop clearly shows what turkeys are feeding in a given area. The crop is an enlarged muscle area of the esophagus near the gullet or throat.. See #4 on A.E. Shipley’s diagram.

OK you’re on the ball the diagram is a pigeon, that’s fine because almost all birds have crops. One exception that may be of interest to hunters are geese; they do not have a crop. I continue to be surprised by the number of bird hunters I meet who do not regularly open the crops of harvested birds to determine what they are eating.

Images of wild turkey crops and their contents.

From one of the gobblers who was feeding on watercress in a creek. Story here.

Same turkey crop as above cut open. All those roots are watercress and some grasses apparently from feeding on the prairie.

Bird of year. Soybeans and some grass. Grass is one of the wild turkey's staples. Courtesy of www.turkeydog .org

Bird of year. Soybeans and some grass. Blades of grass is one of the wild turkey’s staples. Courtesy of Jon Freis www.turkeydog .org

Jake crop Oct. 15 Full of grasshoppers and crickets along with a few berries, waste corn kernels.

Jake of the year Sept. 18 a summer bird. Stuffed with clover and grass seeds.

A lot of hunters assume turkeys eat primarily agricultural crops and focus their hunting efforts on these fields; this is understandable since field turkeys are the easiest to see. Unfortunately, hunters who primarily focus on fields are missing out on a lot good turkey hunting in all the other out of sight areas.

Many assume wild turkeys primarily eat agriculture crops. They do, but it’s the waste they go after not the standing crops. Think feathered goat.

How can you say turkeys eat the waste grain when I see them feeding in fields before harvest?

Even when turkeys are feeding in green agriculture fields, they are feeding on waste from the previous season, or they’re eating insects. Proof of this is in the crops of dead turkeys. A few years ago WDNR with volunteers from NWTF tracked a brood flock of turkeys on a southern Wisconsin farm that had requested a turkey shooting permit to stop the depredation. In other words, this farm believed the turkeys were eating their growing crops. The volunteer shooters monitored the brood flock all day as they fed. As the flock begins moving to roost the shooters moved in and killed the entire flock; this was in the name of science. The turkey’s crops were then dissected to see what they had consumed all day. All the crops contained primarily insects and small amounts of waste grain, and this affirms what I see in the crops of turkeys. I have never shot a turkey that had any recently planted grain; this includes the turkeys I’ve killed on farms with WDNR shooting permits for depredation.

Pheasants to a Last Minute Gobbler on New Year Eve

January 12, 2016 by Charlie 9 Comments

December 31, 2015, found Vic and I coursing through a likely pheasant field. Wild pheasants in Wisconsin can be very hard to find especially on the last day of the season. Most pheasant hunting here is a put and take proposition. The DNR’s yearly stocking is usually done by the 2nd week of December. The last pheasants released are anemic and short lived due to predators getting easy meals before the onset of severe winter.

Vic learned to hold turkeys by the neck so figures all birds should be held by the neck.

Turkey dog Vic has turned out to be an accomplished upland game dog. He can change tactics to match the requirements of hunting conditions. For a couple of afternoon hours, Vic coursed around me in his effort to force a pheasant or 2 to rise at my feet. One rooster nearly ran into my legs before flushing a few yards in front. Pheasant number 1 of the 2 daily limit.

Tired and wind burn we headed back to the truck. There was a brush line containing some bulldozed brush piles. Vic earnestly began working a scent trail that I thought was the most likely rabbit. He came to a rigid point at one of those piles. He had worked hard so I thought I’d humor him by kicking the pile to flush the bunny.
Well, these “bunnies” had multicolored iridescent feathers, long tails and all 6 of them cackled as they broke off heading to different points of the compass. So startled was I target panic set in as I fired three rapid shots to no effect. “I can’t miss all these pheasants of last season flush” raced to my mind. “dang it, pick a target you fool!” Luckily I did and the biggest and final rooster of the year crashed to the ground. With a limit of pheasants in the bag, single digit temperature, a brisk wind, and an hour & half of daylight left I pondered whether or not to try for a turkey at the buzzer, and this was the first year in decades it looked like we were not going to get a Wisconsin Slam.

Super secret Wisconsin wild pheasant location

The Wisconsin Slam sounds easy, just get a turkey each season of the year; spring, summer, fall and winter. Due to mrs. elk’s chronic health condition my time afield was more limited than normal. And mrs. elk prefers eating pheasants, so we spent more time out pheasant hunting than turkey hunting.

On the way to our super secret pheasant field, a small pod of gobblers had crossed the road onto private land just before the old creek bridge. First time I’d seen turkeys in that area so what the heck, time to investigate. It was only a 5-minute drive back there.
As I drove slowly across the bridge, I scanned the fields, no turkeys, when I looked into the creek valley black blobs were moving in the water. What the heck? I cursed myself for not having the binoculars in the truck. Stopped to study those blobs with squinted eyes. The blobs materialized into a flock of turkeys wading in the water. Not exactly where they’re expected to be.

Turned around to park the truck about a half mile at the public parking area. Vic and I dumped the orange to change into snow camo jackets, slipped on the turkey pack and headed towards the creek keeping Vic on a heel. A glance at my watch revealed about 45 minutes of 2015 season time left.

The turkeys were there, in the creek heads submerged much like feeding ducks. They do this in the spring to eat invertebrates, first time I’ve seen this behavior in the winter.

The 2015 turkey season continues ticking down as we stalk in closer. As Vic catches their scent as he becomes more eager by the second to do his job. On release, he tears down the ravine in a blur snow powder and yipping. The turkeys take to winged frenzy cackling and clucking as they go water drops are clearly visible dripping off their beards while others have icicles hanging causing a mirage of diamond spears protruding from their breasts.

The beard is ice covered from feeding in the creek.

This late in the day I feared the gobblers might just go to roost. However, in late season turkeys prefer roosting together and with toms on opposite sides of the creek, one group would most likely want to rejoin the other before roosting.

Half of the turkeys flushed out the creek

Half of the turkeys that flushed out the creek, the other half went the opposite way.

Picking a setup was tough, the wind was icy especially for Vic; he has very little hair, so something sheltered was a must. That put us below the field sitting against a tree on the slope towards the creek below. Visibility to see any incoming turkeys was more limited than I like.

After 5 minutes, of course, aggressive calling Vic started trembling. At first, I thought he was cold but no, he was on point, head laying across my lap staring intently to my right. Then I heard it- prrt putt, prrrrrt putt, if I can hear that sound the turkeys are close. Slowly I turn my head and came eyeball to eyeball with a frozen bearded gobbler. He backed away putting; his head darted behind a tree, and my body twists to get the gun on him just when another gobbler sticks his head up to see what all the putting was about- Boom!

Vic charges to our prize and flushes more previously unseen gobblers. It always surprises me when the gunshot does not scare them. About 15 minutes left of season 2015 so we reset to end the season with a nice gobbler in the bag, a leftover tag for tag soup and best of all memories of gobbling, yelping and roosting turkeys against the red sky sunset.

The last gobbler of season 2015 on Dec 3, 15 minutes before the buzzer.

Wisconsin 2015 Spring Turkey Harvest Down 1.29%

May 15, 2015 by Charlie 1 Comment

Wild turkey hunters across Wisconsin continue to enjoy the hunt of 2015. See table below. As of the end of the 4th mini season (D Season), 2015 harvest is down 1.29% from the same period 2014. Unit 4 hunters have experienced a turkey increase of 5.12%, unit 6 & 7 increased 23.6 %, 36%. WDNR cut the permits in these units by 25% in 2014 so with the permit numbers back to normal this year increase was expected.

All other units have decreased harvests. Likely this is due to hunters holding out for a mature gobbler rather than taking a jake. According to hunters, jake numbers are much higher this year, and fewer adult toms are being seen than in 2014.

Preliminary 2015 Spring Turkey Harvest, by Turkey Management Zone, through time period D.
Zone	2015	2014	% change
1	9,732	10,273	-5.56%
2	7,701	7,793	-1.19%
3	8,584	8,916	-3.87%
4	4,645	4,407	5.12%
5	1,565	1,569	-0.26%
6	576	440	23.61%
7	430	275	36.05%
FM	70	59	15.71%

Statewide Summary
	33,303	33,732	-1.29%

Wild turkey hunters across Wisconsin continue to enjoy the hunt of 2015. The weather has been cool and until recently dry. Rains have been moderate setting the stage for excellent nesting conditions. If the weather trend continues to be favorable poult recruitment will be excellent providing for a superb 2015 fall hunt.

Spring 2015 hunters are seeming more jakes than adult gobblers.

Spring 2015 hunters are seeing more jakes than adult gobblers.

Pearled Head Gobbler

April 28, 2015 by Charlie Leave a Comment

Dang it anyway, I had just moved towards a hard gobbling turkey which I thought was the conversational turkey that abruptly left me to chase those four late departing hens. As gobbler and I conversed, I had missed detecting the four hens still on roost above our heads until they flew down at 7:00 yelping their way off in the opposite direction with my tom in tow. And now! I hear gobbling coming from my original setup spot. So much gobbling that surely if I had not gotten seduced into moving a beautiful turkey would be wearing my tag right now.

Here I am on day 3 of my hunt during Wisconsin’s second mini-season. The morning dawned quiet and still even though the evening before I did a lot of audio baiting so I knew there would be birds nearby.

From some of the treetops on the opposite ridge, I heard what I thought were feet shifting on their roost branches and the ruffle of feathers. No response to my owl hoots. Gobbling has been sparse so far this spring in spite of the beautiful weather.

I setup down the ridge from the turkey sounds then around 6:00 a turkey gobbled in answer to my soft clucks. Soon the sound of a dull thud as the tom apparently just let go and fell to the ground. A series of walking clucks got him fired up gobbling and strutting as he moved towards me. As I prepared for the anticipated upcoming shot, those hens mentioned earlier sailed off their roost, and my gobbler turned in pursuit gobbling his merry way after them. Moving seemed a reasonable strategy, it always does until 20/20 hindsight takes effect, like gobbling coming from where you just left.

As I called more, gobbling started up all around. A real turkey hunter’s dream morning, still, clear, mild and turkeys coming to life everywhere. Picking the correct side of the tree in anticipation of which gobbler would arrive first was my most pressing issue.

The first group of 3 toms fought, strutted and picked their way along the top of the ridge to my right. The offered shots were marginal and quickly became worse when a fourth unseen turkey busted me causing all them to move out and spooking the rest of the incoming turkeys.

All that action and now I’ve one more chance if I can get the left behind turkey to come in. He was hung up gobbling his head off. I moved around the to the other side of the large oak placing my back to him hoping my calls would sound like a hen giving up and walking away with the other turkeys.

Turkey noise stopped, and the only thing I heard was rustling in the leaves to my right. Ever so slowly I turned my head just enough to see the tom in my peripheral vision, he was mere feet behind at 4 o’clock. No breathing or blinking for me as he suddenly cut loose a thunderous gobble and walked past in the wide-open woods.

Nothing but air between us, I dared not move as he slowly continued to amble past me. His feathers audibly rustled with each step that finally took him behind a large tree trunk out of sight.

Being right handed I had to turn for the shot, gun up at the ready for the tom’s reappearance. It took forever; I started to think he’d heard me and walked straight away keeping the tree screening us. Oh No!

Oh yes! His pearly white head emerges 12 yards off the end of my barrel, his eye straining to pick form out of the gnarled tree bark. My gunshot sounds as slides his neck out, beard dangling in the opening.

Preconceived Notions Hamper Turkey Hunt

March 29, 2015 by Charlie 1 Comment

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.

Double Tongue Gobbler

February 16, 2015 by Charlie Leave a Comment

The height of the red oaks provided the turkeys a long glide path.

The wild turkeys flew down before shooting light this morning in Wisconsin’s unit 3 area. First the hens pitched off their roosts at 5:15 hitting the ground running like they had somewhere to be. They must have nests they needed to tend to. The gobblers sounded off and pitched off roost shortly after and that’s where things got interesting. Their fly downs were more like long range glides carrying them well out my sight and hearing range. In the “big” woods of areas of Clark County this makes for a challenging hunt because the toms just keep ranging further out all day long while giving the hunter little indication of where and which way they are heading. These toms had a lot of altitude off their red oak roosts so I figured they would have glided out a ways, I took a compass bearing and headed in the direction they went.

A lone gobble slices through the morning silence, distant, as in, across 2 creeks and in the middle of the swamp. There are dry islands in the swamp but the water is too high for causal wading out to them. The trolling box call is put away and replaced with a Tongue Teaser. After a couple of yelps and bionk clucks a gobbler joins me on the trail staring intently in my direction about 40 yards away. Oops, busted and game barely started. Big wings clawed for air as he took flight to parts unknown. Where there’s one turkey usually/sometimes there are more and now it’s past time to get setup.

I select two different Willlowridge tongue teasers calls one built from purple heart and the other made of chestnut are placed in the go position ready for some very robust aggressive calling. On mornings in the big turkey woods I have learned aggressive calling works best to bring in turkeys. Once they get interested a hunter needs to keep them hooked with no slack in the audio line, for if slack is allowed toms will usually get distracted and throw the hook. At this point in the game I’m thinking that distant gobbler or the one who flew away are the best chance.

Alternating between the calls I cast out course yelps, aggressive purrs and clucks for about 15 minutes elicited a gobble which I answered immediately and continued cutting his gobbles off midway at each gobble. The gobbles were getting closer and I must admit I was playing around more than really expecting the turkey to travel all that way across the two creeks to me. Before I knew it, not only did the gobbler arrive but he brought a gobbling buddy. Both turkeys went in and out of strut as they closed the distance, I continue to cluck whenever they could not see me. Only one turkey gobbled the other just strutted along silently.

As the toms cleared brush entering the open red oak woodland they did their final strut and pirouetted. When the fans blocked their heads the tongue teaser gently slid onto my lap as my Remington rose to target… Unfortunately for his buddy, the silent buddy offered the first clear headshot and I took it.

Purple heart and chestnut tongue teasers closed the deal.

Sunrise Wild Turkey

February 13, 2015 by Charlie 6 Comments

Moon giving way to morning.

Every hunt has a certain ebb and flow, plans are made, altered and when it comes to wild turkey hunting altered again. Turkeys are random birds being there one day and somewhere else the next. A turkey hunter is never sure… this was the case last night when a good buddy called to tell me about a gobbler he heard while fishing on the Mississippi that afternoon. When a turkey’s location is offered during the last week of Wisconsin’s turkey season you’d be wise to pay attention and change plans accordingly. An active late afternoon gobbler is likely going to roost nearby.

My buddy got fed up with Wisconsin’s licensing scheme and quit turkey hunting a few years ago. He has no desire to turkey hunt after the first 2 weeks for which, he was never drawn or he’d forget to apply. A late season turkey tag would just interfere with his beloved fishing.

During the fall this buddy loves to bow hunt deer so I had given him GPS coordinates to a particular spot where I figured he’d have a chance at a dandy buck. While fall turkey hunting Vic the Turkey Dog and I would see this 12 pointer, after just a couple of hours my buddy killed his first trophy class buck.

He felt he owed me something in return and knew I would be interested in his turkey report including the coordinates. Besides he figured I was the only one crazy enough to climb that huge bluff in the dark from river level.

My hunting plan ebbed and at 4:40 AM: I found myself at the base of a 500 foot bluff thinking just maybe my friend was playing with me. There was no turkey talk going on, a beautiful but silent morning in an area my boots had never before trod. Up the old logging path, hooting and cawing. At the top- the woods was open, 5:45 not so much as a cluck.

To catch my breath and figure at things I setup on the most comfortable tree of the season, the sun just a red beam peeking over the horizon at my back. Fighting off a bout of tree trunk narcolepsy I made my first calls quiet yelps, rising to cackles and into fighting purrs. Nothing. Let out a series of lost yelps and kee-kees. Quiet.

The most intense sunrise ever?

About 6:10 burning red light reflected off the morning clouds, the sunrise light is filtering and dancing in all around throughout the woods, magically gorgeous and I know not from where he came, the most outrageously beautiful strutting turkey I have ever seen; bathed in the glow of sunrise. His feathers caught and shimmered those colored rays of light back at me as he pirouetted on his toes in a manner that would make any ballerina jealous. I gazed intently over the barrel, usually a natural thing at times like this, but it seemed so out of place on this morning…..

There are times when the quarry has conducted itself admirably and you’ve hunted well. Isn’t that reward enough?

Wisconsin 2015 Spring Turkey Permit Drawing Completed

January 19, 2015 by Charlie 2 Comments

2016 Drawing Update

January 16, 2015 – Wisconsin has completed and posted the results of spring turkey 2015 permit drawing. Notification cards are being mailed to successful hunters. Turkey hunters can login Wisconsin Online License Center to check the status of their spring turkey application.

103,516 Leftover Spring 2015 Turkey Tags

Remaining permits will be sold on a first-come, first-served basis. Each zone has a designated sales date starting at 10:00 a.m. and running through midnight each day. These sales will be held for five consecutive days with hunters able to purchase one permit per day. Remaining permits for all zones will go on sale on the sixth day (one permit per day). Saturday, March 28, 2015 at 10 a.m.

The scheduled sales dates are:

•Zone 1 – Monday, March 23

•Zone 2 – Tuesday, March 24

•Zone 3 – Wednesday, March 25

•Zone 4 – Thursday, March 26

•Zone 5 – Friday, March 27

Table of leftover Wisconsin Spring 2015 Permits

Time Periods A April 15-21 B April 22-28 C April 29-May 5 D May 6-12 E May 13-19 F May 20-26

Zone

1 0 0 4304 10,605 11,763 12,163

2 0 0 0 0 4485 6,810

3 0 0 4376 9069 10,063 10,292

4 0 0 128 4196 5225 5,554

5 0 0 0 257 1674 1805

6 0 0 0 0 0 289

7 0 0 0 0 30 428

Ecology of Wild Turkeys in Wisconsin a 2015-2025 Plan for Their Management

January 6, 2015 by Charlie Leave a Comment

Here is the draft of Wisconsin’s new turkey management plan. There is a lot good turkey information included in this document that all turkey hunters and anyone with an interest in wild turkeys should read. You can click the image to download a PDF of the entire plan.

Ecology of Wild Turkeys in Wisconsin

A Plan for Their Management 2015-2025

Click to download all 116 page draft plan

For the most part it appears the current spring season scheme will remain in place for the foreseeable future. A majority of active turkey hunters will be very happy about this. However, those who would like to turkey but do not know their schedule and family commitments months in advance will likely continue nonparticipation. These potential turkey hunters are not surveyed about their thoughts. In a time when hunter recruitment has all the buzz these potential hunter’s opinions are left out.

A few glaring problems regarding future turkey management in this draft plan:

Any change to future season and licensing will require a 70% approval of turkey hunters. How will this be determined? Currently there are no scientific surveys taken. Yes the DNR sends a random survey to licensed turkey hunters each year and they do some online surveys. These are interesting but in no way representative of hunters as a whole, only those who choose to respond. What about considering the opinions of hunting organizations. This is another problem; few hunters are involved in any hunting organization less than 3% of all hunters are members of hunting or conservation groups. Many groups pretend this is not the case but that is for another post.
There is some discussion about eliminating the fall drawing. If the fall drawing is eliminated these same flawed surveys indicate a majority of hunters support only a 1 bird limit. There are very few fall turkey hunters in Wisconsin the net number is around 26-30,000 statewide per year. There are more permits sold and many of the DNR numbers reflect permits as hunters.
Oak regeneration for improving turkey habitat. Be careful here. Unlike deer and grouse, turkeys require open mature oak woodlands. Turkeys do not like to hang out in brush or dense new growth. In west central Wisconsin where many “mature” oak woodlands are being clear cut including state owned wildlife management areas, the turkeys have moved out. Many of what were the finest turkey woods in the nation are no more. This strategy of clear cutting mature oaks was done in the Missouri Ozarks during the 1950’s to such an extent turkeys nearly vanished for a generation. Don’t believe me, then ask Ray Eye or any other old Missouri turkey hunter.

The plan as written contains good wild turkey ecology information and is a must read for all Wisconsin turkey hunters. However, it is, perhaps intentionally vague about specific future management strategies. This may be because turkeys in Wisconsin don’t require active management. So long as their habitat is not destroyed. But even then urban / suburban turkeys are doing quite well in many areas.

A Thought about Learning Turkey

September 29, 2014 by Charlie Leave a Comment

Learning about turkey hunting is not to know everything about turkeys – It’s to enjoy life more.

This popped into my head while turkey dogging the other day. For those who don’t know about turkey dogging- that is when you hunt with a dog to flush and scatter flocks of turkeys in order to call them back. Anyway, I read and talk a lot about turkeys and their hunting so I’m not sure if this is something I read somewhere or an original random thought that flowed in from the spirit of the hunt. If someone knows who wrote or said that quote please leave a comment to credit them. Good hunting.

Take your dog turkey hunting. You’ll both be the better for it.

Charlie Answered Turkey Dog Questions on Outdoor Life

August 15, 2014 by Charlie Leave a Comment

I’ve enjoyed participating in Outdoor Life’s forum over the last 5 years. Because I get a lot of questions about turkey dogging like Turkey Hunter 39 asked on one of the OL Answers Thread. So I thought I would publish it here for other would be turkey doggers to enjoy.

Turkey hunter39 started by asking-

Q: Anyone planning to use a dog for fall turkey hunting this year? If so, what breed?

Charlie elk could not resist helping out a turkey dogger to be. The thread contains a lot of good information so I decided to reprint it here.

I love turkey dogging it only took one season that would be last year to get me hooked. My dog is a Vizsla there are some of his puppy pics in my profile. There would be more of him and his turkeys but OL will not let me load them up without a Facebook page which I don’t have.

If you Google “turkey dog hunting with charlie elk” a wide variety of my posts and pictures on this subject will come up.

Turkey39–

Charlie, thanks for the reply. I am a member of the American Wild Turkey Hunting Dog Association, new member, and have talked to Jon several times. Jon was very helpful in helping me choose a dog. I will be picking up Steve Hickoff ‘s book, it is on my literature list. You are absolutely correct that fall hunting makes you a better spring hunter. In the fall, you get to hear the turkey’s full vocabulary. The fall is a great time to practice your calling, and more importantly, how to match the call to the situation at hand. Turkey dogging is a small world, but almost everyone that I encounter is interested in it. The common response is….”I have never heard of that.” I don’t know that I want it to go mainstream, but it would be nice to have additional resources available for the new guys. Keep posting the material and I will keep reading, maybe even contribute some of my own. If my pup isn’t ready this year due to age, he definitely will be next year. If anyone else is interested, don’t sit on the fence, just ask. Turkey meat is even sweeter in the fall!

Sometimes we get a little off subject, that’s OK too as JM chimes in-

A few years ago I drove 16 hours out of state to bring a friend of mine who was in college archery hunting for the first time (first time hunting at all for anything besides rabbits). Since we were too far away from my farm and he did not know anyone with private land, we decided to go to public land. It was a 2500 acre property (all woods) and for three days straight the same three people had 6 dogs running around barking throughout the entire property looking for a turkey. On the second day we caught up with them at the parking lot when we went in to eat lunch and asked them if they could leave an area alone for me and my friend to hunt. They seemed nice, and showed us an area on the map that they would leave for us (was a nice big area, so we just agreed and headed straight out without even going into town to buy lunch). About 45 minutes later all three of them walked right past us (in the area they said they would leave alone), and when we walked up to them all they would say was “public land.” On the third day we thought we caught a break because they were not in the parking lot that morning…but nope. 30 minutes after it got light they drove down a trail in 4 wheelers (It was illegal to ride them on this section of public land). We just gave up and called the police and they contacted a game warden who came out. Turns out all three of them weren’t even supposed to be hunting (warden wouldn’t tell us why they lost licenses). Needless to say we did not see a single deer (or turkey) and I have been unable to get him to try it again since….hopefully there are some respectful turkey hunters that use dogs (I know Charlie is one), but sadly this was the only encounter I have ever had with one.

charlie elk-

JM those you describe were obviously lawbreakers and or poachers. We should take great care and never refer to them as hunters.

Turkey doggers do not use packs of hounds. The vast majority use one dog maybe 2 (an older trained dog and a younger being trained) that work closely together to find a flock. Then they charge for the break, hopefully they bark to let the hunter know the exact location so they can all setup and call the birds back in.

Welcome to the American Wild Turkey Hunting Dog Association! Glad to have you as a member. I am sure Jon has given you a lot of very sound advice. When I was debating whether or not to get a turkey dog and what kind he was most kind, open and helpful. As a member you have access to a lot of very good information in the member section of the website. Make good use of it.

What state will you be hunting in?

Turkeyhunter39-

I have been all through that website and it is great. Read the pamphlet that Jon sends out as well. Most of my fall turkey hunting will be in KY and TN. Jon has extended an offer to come up to Wisconsin and I plan to take him up on it. I was very interested to read how versatile Vic is as far as hunting turkeys and upland game. That is what I am hoping to accomplish as well. Kentucky has two very short fall turkey seasons, 6-7 days in both October and December. Tennessee also has a short fall shotgun season, but a more liberal bag limit. My ace in the hole is a public hunting area that has a really long fall season and an amazingly liberal bag limit. All combined, I could run my Brittany for about 4 months…which is fantastic. I have access to some wild quail as well, so we are going to go the double duty route. It is funny to me how welcoming the turkey dogging community is, and how passionate the hunters are about their sport. Everyone has been unbelievably helpful. I feel like I have stumbled onto the best kept non-secret ever.

JM, I hate that you had a bad experience with some questionable hunters. I would say that conflict would most likely occur during archery season as the seasons will undoubtedly overlap. I will be hunting both public and private ground. The private ground is a non-issue, but I don’t believe I would turn my dog loose on just any Wildlife Management Area (WMA). The public area that I will hunt is more regulated and it is not very likely that I would run into anyone else, if I do, they will be turkey hunting also. I also lease ground from time to time, and didn’t renew a lease this year because of their dog policy. No harm, no foul. There is enough space for all of us. I wanted to do something different than the crowd, and so it wasn’t a good match anymore. All forms of hunting has its time and place, and I have no desire to ruin someone else’s hard earned hunting time. Hopefully your next encounter will be more positive. Happy Hunting.

JM-

As Charlie stated, I shouldn’t have even called them hunters. Just 3 selfish poachers who thought they were more important than anything around them.

-I wish you and your dog luck in the upcoming hunting seasons. I hope someday I will the time to train a dog to hunt with me. I just do not think I could give a dog enough attention right now (I Work 60hrs/week over the summer and still working on my degree).

charlie elk-

Turkey hunters are arguably the most considerate sharing easy to get along with hunters of them all. That goes double for turkey doggers.

TH39, WI has no limit on fall turkey hunting you get as many as you have permits for and the season is 3 1/2 months long. Should you find your way to WI drop me a line and perhaps our paths will cross. To contact me just make a comment on my website or PM me on the other sites you see my posts on.

Check out the January turkey hunt at Fort Campbell, they allow dogs. Also some states allow dogs for spring hunting too. Jon has those posted on the turkey dog site.

You are right on about fall turkey tasting so much better.

How old is your pup?

At 4 months old I started getting Vic accustom to gunfire. A turkey dog must endure very close gunfire more so than any other hunting dog.

Turkey doggers don’t usually interfere with bowhunters. Turkey dogging is a mid-day activity and the vast majority of bowhunters have already left the field by the time we start. Although they should stay on their stands because I see more trophy bucks within easy bow range when Vic is with me than I do sitting on my butt during “prime time”.

But some bowhunters are upset about anyone else doing anything else in the woods because–

The scent control salesmen and inexperienced outdoor writers have too many deer hunters so freaked out about leaving scent in the woods that they think if anyone walks around without a has-mat suit on; the area is contaminated making it impossible for them to kill a deer let alone a trophy.

Oh well what I can say about these guys. Except you need to get out more. 😉

JM–

What do you expect Charlie? Have you seen hunting shows lately? I saw one where the “hunter” said that the hunt was the hardest of his life. He spent three hours in a stand and passed on more than 20 bucks (all within easy bow range) that 90% of hunters would have called the biggest deer of their life. Yeah, real tough hunt.

Turkey39–

I do hunt Campbell and it is loaded with turkeys. The fall season has two segments, so you can run ’em early and late season. The funny thing about Campbell is access, you have to call in and get a unit. I tried all spring to get a unit and couldn’t, it was full every day. They allow you to take 4 bearded turkeys in the spring, so I ate 4 tags. I haven’t had any problems, knock on wood, getting in units during the fall season, very few people fall turkey hunt…it is tough hunting. Campbell is one of the reasons I started investigating alternatives for fall turkey hunting, as it is so vast. I hunted multiple days without seeing or hearing a turkey, and I know they are there. So it got me thinking that there had to be a better way, and that is when I came across Jon’s website. I started doing research, decided it was something I wanted to do, verified I could use a dog on Campbell and the rest is history. My pup is four months old now and he is definitely interested in birds, he just seems to not be quite ready yet for any real training. I am reading a lot about Brittany’s and they don’t seem to mature very early. He has taken to yard work very well and has no problem plowing through the brush, but he still seems too hyper to really focus on the task at hand. Could be my training as well. He has the pedigree and seems to have a good nose, he is just very puppyish. I don’t want to rush him and we are keeping it fun. The weather hasn’t really cooperated with me either. It is either 100+ or thunderstorms. My tentative plan is to continue the yard work for another month or so, mix in as much live bird work as I can, introduce the e-collar around 6 months of age, and take him with me in October for the early KY season. It is private ground and we can just go out and hunt. No pressure and lots of birds. I am very familiar with their fall habitat on that piece of land, so I can help focus his efforts. I am working on getting him to settle down next to me and I will introduce him to the bag in the next two weeks. I am definitely seeing progress, I just don’t want to push him too hard. Let me know what you think. Did Vic mature early?

charlie elk-

Come August the turkeys of the year will be old enough to take some chasing. Turkey hunter 39, you should get your pup out in some turkey areas so he can get a nose full of the good stuff. If you have some wings, tails or feathers introduce them into his play routine. Pups have short attention spans but when they like the smell of something coupled with your strong approval; well that is the start of something good.

Vic was about 3 1/2 months when I was leading him in charging across March’s frozen fields yelling turkey, turkey; those flocks broke with cackling, wing flapping pandemonium and the strong scent left behind for him to inhale. Soon he was spotting and beating me to the turkeys though I’m not too tough to beat. Then we did practice setups, I’d call for bit and maybe spend 5-10 minutes kind of still. A couple of times the turkeys came back that quick and he learned to point at them as they came in. He is rigid while pointing.

We did these exercises until my spring season opened 3rd week of April. Vic was allowed to nose the dead gobblers over good and I would direct him to grab their heads and drag them to me. He really like that game. Then we went for a hike to the kill spot where I had left some feathers lying about. Vic would go crazy sorting out the trail the gobbler approached on. All great fun and I let him be like a kid on his first hunt, but Vic did seem to realize there was something very serious going on.

In August we pursued turkey flocks, scattered them and practice setups. During all this training I should mention I used a blank starter pistol to shoot around Vic including on our practice setups. From there we graduated to 22, a 410 and then 20 gauge. The first time he heard a 12 was on opening day when a nice gobbler rolled over dead in front of him.

Some trainers tried to discourage me from taking him hunting until the next year. Said I was rushing him too much. But like you I did not put the screws to him very hard rather just let him develop at his own pace while giving him plenty of exposure to what counts. All the while letting him know what I liked and disliked.

BTW, Vic does not know what an e-collar is, my training methods are very old school.

You are in for more fun than you can imagine.

Turkeyhunter39-

Charlie Elk, I laughed when I read your last post, as I too have been waiting for the poults to get big enough to handle some pressure. I want to train my dog, but not at the expense of the animal I love to hunt. I am conflicted about the e collar and if I was just hunting private ground, I might not go that route. I am looking at the e collar to keep him honest and out of harm’s way. Also, the fallout of not bringing the family pet home from a hunt would be unbearable. He follows me everywhere I go, but there is always that chance that temptation could end up in a lost dog, especially with a young dog like him. So I plan to use an e collar and a gps collar. I do some traveling to hunt, so those items give me some piece of mind. I have some wings that I am cleaning up…they were treated with Borax as I make wing bone yelpers. I want to make sure I have the Borax off them before he plays with them. I think the time of year they were born in makes a difference. I got him at 10 weeks old in the dead heat, with poults everywhere. Oh well, I am a patient man…lol. Have you had any issues with Vic getting on a scent and heading to parts unknown? I have read about the old timers leaving their jacket on the ground so the dog could find it and they would pick them up the next day…which isn’t a situation I want to find myself in.

charlie elk-

I have never lost a dog in afield. Good basic obedience is critical. Does Vic cross property lines while in hot pursuit? Yes. Do I wish I could really teach him a lesson then? Yes. Like with an e collar? Yes, let his hair smoke.

Fortunately it now seems we are past this due to whistle training. We use a very shrill whistle that seems to cut through his excitement of the moment. Once I have his attention he has a strong desire to please so he comes back.

I have never used any training collar so I have no way to give a meaningful opinion. Guys who use them swear by em. Except one friend of Jon’s who thought his dog was chasing a deer so he zapped his dog. Oops, it turned out to be a turkey. The dog never pursued a turkey again for him, he used it to hunt other birds but remained confused as to why this dog refused to chase turkeys. Until he loaned his dog to friend who reported back the dog was the best turkey dog he had ever hunted with. Hmm… Guess you have to be careful with those collars. You might have read about this one I think it is in Jon’s booklet.

A turkey dog must be able to operate independently out to 200-300 yards, this is one of the tough parts of the hunt. Where we hunt there are bears, coyotes, wolves and rattlesnakes; I worry about Vic when he is a little overdue for check in. A GPS locator might be in his future.

Turkeyhunter39-

“Have you had any issues with Vic getting on a scent and heading to parts unknown?”

charlie elk-

Not so far. Should he, I am prepared to stay afield overnight in the last place we parted company.

To prevent this I used Jon’s technique of showing great displeasure and dislike of things like deer. The idea is to get the dog to think you hate deer or whatever he should not chase.

In my area the deer are more numerous than rabbits. Of course as Vic and I hiked around preseason they would run, what great fun for a pup. My reaction was oh an awful smelly deer, no like deer. Vic would then bark at the deer and bluff charge them a few yards to chase them away and come back for his reward. Now he does not care about deer at all, they are just something on his way to the target birds.

I will never forget the look of betrayal on his face when I came home with the first dead deer he ever saw. He sniffed it over real good and looked at me as if to say you LIAR! But he still does not have any interest in deer while we are hunting.

This is good, in addition to turkeys I arrow a lot of deer each year too. But sitting on deer stand is getting really boring compared to all the excitement and action of turkey dogging.

Turkeyhunter39-

Charlie Elk, The e collar is definitely something you have to be careful with. I haven’t even bought one yet, as I am still reading over the various training techniques and how to introduce and use one properly. I am with you on the overnight vigil if the dog would run off. Private ground, no problem. Fort Campbell, they are going to start looking for you if you don’t sign out. Sign out and stay in the unit to find your dog……? Guess it depends on who finds you, and what kind of day he/she is having. I need to go back and read about the avoidance training…my shoes could definitely use a break. LOL. He likes to carry them around. We still have some basic obedience training to work on as well. He responds well to basic commands, but we seem to have a little bit of a focus problem. Any tips on helping to deal with distractions and increase focus would be much appreciated.

charlie elk-

In a Fort Campbell situation it might be prudent to leave the field early with your dog in order to avoid that lost dog scenario. An old fashion leash would be a good idea, allowing the dog off leash only when turkeys are encountered.

When Vic gets overly spun up I leash him to keep him close until he settles back down. An inexperienced pup encountering all the rich turkey scent…well who can really blame him for getting all excited?

The leashing helps focus attention and keeps the master in command. I keep telling Vic there is a reason I wear the whistle and he wears the collar. 😉

A pup’s attention span is that of a gnat so look for the moments of focus and capitalize training on them at that moment. I believe a trainer of a young dog must be very careful to not crush the spirit of the dog. For example Vic still points and dashes after butterflies, perhaps embarrassing if anyone else sees, but an important part of the desire and drive. As Steve Hickoff reminds desire must be there it is the one thing you cannot train into a dog. So if you stop the dog constantly from chasing he might lose interest.

Turkeyhunter39-

Charlie Elk, Good tips. Do you have a suggestion on leash length? I have a 20 foot check cord that I let him explore with, especially when we’re someplace new. That really isn’t conducive for a hunting situation though. Of course, I have a 6 foot leash as well. I have found that he does calm down when I leash him, so that might very well work. I guess in my mind, I am having trouble imagining the scenario. I still don’t know if he will point, then flush; point only; flush only. In the leash scenario, are you putting the dog on the leash after the flush, so he calms down for the calling? I know Jon will leash his dogs until he gets to a promising area, and I can see leashing the dog for the walk out when the hunt is over. Can you give me a scenario when you would put Vic on a leash during the hunt?

charlie elk-

I have never used a check cord, too long in woods and as a turkey dog first, Vic needs to range wide. We just use a 4′ leash. My favorite for turkey hunting is the Mendota British-Style Slip Lead in 4 foot length, do a search on Cabela’s to see it. For Vic and I this is just the right size on turkey setup and when necessary for spin down time. It is fast to put on as it slips over his head so you don’t have to find the clip and loop on his collar.

During Vic’s first season, hopefully only because of his youth, he would get over stimulated (spun up) and start dashing about, obviously not hunting just going through the motions at a high rate of speed; this is an example of leash time for spin down. I don’t treat this as punishment, I talk to him a sympathetic soothing tone telling him what and how we need to hunt. When he sees this lead in my hand he now comes over and sticks his head through the loop as it signifies something really good might be getting ready to happen like a turkey becoming dead or I’m taking him to a more game rich area.

The lead was used to teach Vic to “sneak”. Sometimes turkeys are feeding on the other side of a field; if the dog just charges across at the turkeys they flush as a group. The better strategy is heel the dog and sneak in as close as possible ideally so Vic can run into the center of the birds to scatter them all directions. My command to Vic for this is “sneak”, he knows the difference between heel and sneak. It is cute when he sneaks, he crouches down with me and pads lightly.

Another leash scenario is when hunting private land you must be careful of the property lines in order to maintain good neighborly relations. So Vic gets leashed when we are getting close to the lines. I preferred hunting large tracts of public land during Vic’s rookie year in order to avoid these.

Trust me, when you need to leash your pup, you’ll know it.

Yesterday, Vic and I went out scouting we encountered a flock of about 20 feeding in hayed barley field. Told Vic to sneak, we did the crouch to the end of an adjoining cornfield. On command “Turkeys Get Em” – Vic slipped 2 rows into the corn and charged down the row until he was opposite the turkeys, turned into them…

It was a beautiful heartwarming sight all those turkeys, surprise putting & cackling, flying to different areas.

The kee-kees and assembly yelps started before we left the area, clearly those turkeys would have been callable to the gun.

Turkeyhunter39-

Charlie Elk, I will check into that leash. Thanks for the nuts and bolts. I like the idea of “sneak” and will see if Max will take to that. I have been contemplating the command for charging the flock and will probably try “bust ’em.” Any thoughts on what you wish you had done for your first “dry run” or what you did do that worked very well?

charlie elk–

Each dog has a different personality and they each seem to understand our language and inflections with differing levels of comprehension & excitement. So as long as the dog comprehends what is necessary the chosen command does not matter. As long as the master is consistent in its use.

Usually Vic busts the flock on his own. Only when I spot the field flocks do I take control. Otherwise I trust Vic will sniff em out and charge on his own, just wish I could figure out how to get him to bark and let me know about it.

I do like to use different commands than those in the “book” for safety reasons. Like “kennel” I use a different word when its time to get in the truck. Around here there is an unusually high incidence of hunting dog theft. Also, I allow Vic to be a little aggressive toward strangers, I ask companions to not give him any commands.

That way, hopefully if someone stops and orders Vic to Kennel he’ll bark and find me or bite them if they try to grab him.

Turkeyhunter39-

Charlie Elk, Do you use a bag for Vic? Max is white, so we have to use the bag. Any suggestions for getting him to like the bag?

charlie elk–

Vic is deer colored, he blends in really well so he usually wears a wide reflective orange collar or orange vest which easily slips off for setup. During cold weather, because of his short hair mrs elk made some camo vests to keep him warm. Vic has quite the wardrobe, snow, brown, gray, green camo and orange vests both nylon and fleece. Depends on the weather and where we are going to hunt.

Glad you asked, I have been meaning to post some pics of him in his camo on my website. I’ll try to get that done this weekend.

In Steve Hickoff’s book he describes how to get a dog blind/bag tolerant.

Turkeyhunter39-

Charlie Elk, I really need to order that book. Thumbs up to Mrs. Elk for making the vests. My wife also sews and is making some custom bags for me. I need something really lightweight for early season and a fleece one for late season. I checked out that leash you recommended online and I think it is available at my local Bass Pro Shop so I will check it out in person. There is one thing in particular that I haven’t decided on and that is water transport in the field. Max drinks a ton and I am not sure a couple of bottles of water in my vest is going to be enough. I will be dealing with warm weather for a lot of my fall turkey season, and a good water source isn’t always readily available in some of the areas. How much water do you carry and how do you do it? At this point, as I go through the mental checklist, I feel like I need to take a mule with us. LOL. Water, blind bag, leashes, calls. Have you encountered the same problem or do you have a minimalist approach you would like to share?

charlie elk–

Minimalist while turkey dogging? Let me know when you figure that out. 😉 My vest gained at least 30 pounds and doubled in bulk when Vic joined me.

I have my calls down to 2 wing bones and a slate.

Water is heavy and necessary for an extended warm weather hunt. I carry 2 one quart water bottles, mostly for Vic I don’t drink much.

Tried one of those bladder type re hydration things too cumbersome to operate.

On really hot days we woodlot hop with a couple gallons of water in the truck or boat.

As far as container I just lug the proper size plastic juice bottles and when they get icky throw em away.

Turkeyhunter39-

Charlie Elk, I am laughing because I keep looking at the gear and I am wondering just how I am going to haul it all. Glad to see that I am not alone. I have actually been thinking about how I can divide up some of my hunting so that we circle back to the truck. I am also considering carry a tub with water in it as a dunk tank for Max on really warm days…I might see 90 plus degree days. Circle back to the truck, hydrate, and dunk him to cool him off. For the fall, I use wing bone calls, mouth calls, and a tube call, so they are not that bulky. I basically need shells, calls and a therma cell. No blind, no decoys. Realistically, how long do your hunts average? Some of my places we could cover in an hour or two, some we couldn’t cover in a full day. Do you feed Vic between wood lots when you are putting in a long day? Have you ever tried to run Vic and harvest a turkey with a bow?

charlie elk–

Well TH39, Jon uses a backpack, he carries all the stuff we do plus a pop up blind and chair.

On really hot days I plan a series of shorter hunts and return to the truck or boat. Many hot day hunts take place in river valleys. Not only does Vic need resting, I need resting more than he. 😉

If I need food on a hunt then I offer Vic food too.

No on the bow; I have killed numerous turkeys with arrows and have found I just don’t care for it. This may sound strange but I do not find any extra challenge in taking a turkey with a bow. For it is about the same as shotgun, so I just use the shotgun. Plus with a shotgun the turkeys do not flop away requiring tracking. Although, with a turkey dog tracking is no big deal.

Last spring a neighboring hunter arrowed a gobbler but it got back up and ran away. He mentioned this to me, I told him about my turkey dog. In about 10 minutes Vic found the turkey dead 250 yards away from point of shot. The hunter had thought the turkey survived.

Forgot to answer your question about how long does hunt last.

Vic was a pup last season, his attention span was short so at first a couple of hours at a time or less depending on his attention. Sometimes we just leash timed out, spun down, while we practiced being setup with some cold calling. Other times Vic would start hunting for himself rather than with me.(very bad habit for a hunting) Then it was back to the truck, until he recovered and settled down.

Typical day last season; I would go out bow hunt deer early morning until 10. Come back get Vic and hunt until 3-4 in the afternoon. Then Vic spent resting time with mrs elk while I went back out deer hunting

Turkeyhunter39–

Thanks for all the helpful advice. I have noticed a change in Max over the last week or so, it seems he is starting to understand what I want him to do. Not perfect mind you, but he seems much more focused when we are going through exercises. I have noticed from your comments that you really focus on Vic having fun along with getting down to business. I decided I would relax some and Max has responded well. I mentioned bow hunting for turkeys due to season length. With the exception of Campbell, both of my typical states have really short shotgun seasons. With a bow, I have months. I have considered just taking Max and putting him in a blind with me, a little bonding, and let him get good and excited over a fresh kill. I plan to take him out in a week or so and see if we can’t get on a flock…see what he does with it. I have roughly 6 weeks until we could potentially start chasing birds on Campbell. I am planning to run him, carry a gun, keep expectations low and see how he does. A lot of trial and error headed my way. I guess I am a little unsure and don’t want to mess him up, as he is a good dog.

charlie elk–

TH39, this has been an enjoyable exchange, thank you.

If a bow was the only way I could turkey hunt, well then bow hunt it is. Please do not let my comments about that discourage you and anyone else who is reading. I am not against bow hunting turkey. In WI we are blessed with a 3 1/2 month fall season, bow or gun, I just choose gun.

If you would like to write about Max and your experiences, Jon would love to post them on www.turkeydog.org and of course www.charlieelk.com complete with any pictures you would like to share. The more turkey doggers the merrier.

Turkeyhunter39–

Charlie Elk, I too have enjoyed the exchange. I have learned a lot. It has been nice to get practical advice. I plan to post our adventures as the season progresses. I will keep you posted on the training and Max’s antics. I hope others who are interested will come across these posts and join in on the fun of turkey dogging. Good luck this fall. Check back periodically, as I am sure I will need additional advice. LOL.

charlie elk–

Oh yes Th39 there will some Max antics and I will love to hear about them.During hunting season I become what the OL editors lovingly refer to as a ghost. So if you have a story or two you could also email me at elk@charlieelk.com Good hunting and have a grand time building a relationship with Max.

Full Outdoor Life thread can be viewed here –

2014 Wisconsin Fall Wild Turkey Permits Stable

August 1, 2014 by Charlie Leave a Comment

Wisconsin 2014 wild turkey permit status:

After the last minute spring turkey permit reduction fiasco that very few knowledgeable hunters thought was a good idea. Fall turkey hunters were concerned those same few complainers would manage to convince the WDNR to reduce fall turkey permit availability in 2014. Thankfully, wildlife management based on science prevailed and the fall turkey permit numbers will be equal to the number offered during the 2013 fall season. Statewide 96,700 permits will be available with permits allocated to specific turkey management zones based on the amount of habitat available.

Fall permit levels are set by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources after review by the Turkey Advisory Committee, a group that includes representatives from the department and numerous partner organizations with an interest in Wisconsin’s wild turkey resource.

Zone-specific fall 2014 permit levels are as follows:

Zone 1: 27,500

Zone 2: 18,000

Zone 3: 30,000

Zone 4: 15,000

Zone 5: 3,800

Zone 6: 1,400

Zone 7: 1,000

Scott Walter reports:

“We certainly heard from hunters who were concerned that this past winter might significantly impact our northern turkey flock,” said DNR upland wildlife ecologist Scott Walter. “We do know from research in the Midwest that prolonged periods with deep snow and cold can lead to increased mortality, and with up to four feet of snow on the ground and weeks of bitter cold in some areas this year, those concerns were justified. However, when the snow finally began to melt and winter flocks broke up, folks began to see turkeys in large numbers across the north.”

Fall either-sex harvests can impact turkey populations if hen harvest is excessive, but the number of hens harvested in Wisconsin is very low. Biologists are not concerned that fall harvests will influence turkey populations. Given these low hen harvests and indications from the spring season that turkeys came through winter in decent shape, the advisory committee decided to maintain fall permit availability at 2013 levels.

“In northern zones 6 and 7, hunters harvested just one hen for every 50 to 100 square miles of forest cover last fall,” said Walter. “In some counties, total registered hen harvest was in the single digits – these very low hen harvests are well below the level capable of influencing population abundance.”

According to Scott Walter,

since all permits are utilized in the northern zones, every permit not allocated would lead to one hunter that would not be able to pursue turkeys in that zone in 2014. A permit reduction would provide no benefits for the turkey population, so a reduction in hunting opportunity is not necessary.

In layman terms think of turkeys this way; Turkeys live about 2 and half years whether you hunt them or not.

Most turkey hunters do not realize toms gobble and respond to calls in the fall too.

So even if you did not apply by August 1st for a fall turkey permit you can still purchase over the counter tags when they go on sale August 23. Successful applicants will be notified by mail the week of August 18. Hunters who did not apply for the drawing will not a receive a tag with their turkey license, they will need to purchase a tag over the counter.

Wisconsin 2014 Final Spring Harvest/Kill Stats

June 8, 2014 by Charlie 6 Comments

We’ve all been waiting for these. Well all of us serious turkey hunters. Scroll down for the final, complete 2014 Wisconsin Spring Hunt Wild Turkey Stats.

2014 Wisconsin Wild Turkey Spring Harvest/Kill

2014 Spring Turkey Harvest
Zone	A	B	C	D	E	F	LTH	Youth	Total
01	3,300	2,446	2,090	1,737	1,260	607	155	545	12,140
02	2,016	1,865	1,700	1,356	1,421	1,149	285	571	10,363
03	2,669	2,181	1,955	1,452	1,032	569	192	467	10,517
04	1,187	1,050	926	907	725	626	99	238	5,758
05	386	416	361	266	261	183	56	84	2,013
06	122	122	101	75	73	31	5	15	544
07	61	77	74	54	51	28	2	7	354
01A	2	4	4	1	1	12
01B	6	4	6	1	17
01C	3	1	0	4
01D	3	1	0	4
01E	0	1	0	1
01F	3	5	0	8
02A	0
03A	1	0	1	2
04A	0
04B	3	1	1	5
04C	0
01G	1	1
01H	0
01J	1	1
01K	0
01L	0
02B	0
FM	29	22	1	7	2	10	0	0	71
Unks		0
	0
Total	9,790	8,198	7,218	5,856	4,827	3,203	794	1,929	41,815

2014 Wisconsin Spring Wild Turkey Kill by Age and Sex Ratio

2014 Turkey Kill by Age and Sex.
Zone	Toms	Jakes	Hens	Total	% of Adult Toms
01	10,978	1,058	104	12,140	90.4%
02	9,258	1,008	97	10,363	89.3%
03	9,581	867	69	10,517	91.1%
04	5,340	396	22	5,758	92.7%
05	1,828	174	11	2,013	90.8%
06	489	54	1	544	89.9%
07	306	45	3	354	86.4%
FM	64	5	2	71	90.1%
Total	37,844	3,607	309	41,760	90,6%

Wisconsin 2014 Spring Wild Turkey Success Rates by Unit and Season Time Period

2014 Spring Turkey Success Rates
Zone	A	B	C	D	E	F	Total
01	27%	20%	17%	14%	14%	14%	19.3%
02	27%	25%	23%	18%	19%	15%	23.0%
03	25%	21%	19%	14%	16%	17%	20.3%
04	20%	18%	16%	19%	16%	14%	18.4%
05	19%	21%	18%	13%	16%	12%	18.1%
06	16%	16%	13%	10%	10%	5%	12.6%
07	10%	13%	12%	9%	9%	8%	10.6%
01A	17%	33%	31%				32.4%
01B	40%	27%	40%				37.8%
01C	38%	13%	0%				15.4%
01D	25%	8%	0%				11.1%
01E	0%	20%	0%				6.7%
01F	14%	24%	0%				12.7%
02A	0%	0%	0%				0.0%
03A	0%	17%	0%				10.5%
04A	0%	0%	0%				0.0%
04B	38%	13%	0%				20.8%
04C	0%	0%	0%				0.0%
01G	0%	0%	0%				20.0%
01H	0%	0%	0%				0.0%
01J	0%	50%	0%				16.7%
01K	0%	0%	0%				0.0%

02B	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0%	0.0%
FM	35%	22%	3%	18%	8%	25%	21.9%

Wisconsin 2014 Spring Wild Turkey Mail Issued tags

*2014 Mail Issued Spring Turkey Permits*
Permits Available	Applicants	Period 1	Period 2	Period 3	Period 4	Period 5	Period 6	Total
74,400	36,109	12,400	12,400	8,438	1,872	623	245	35,978
45,000	35,981	7,500	7,500	7,500	7,500	2,487	651	33,138
63,000	29,649	10,500	10,500	6,851	1,397	432	163	29,843
34,920	20,785	5,820	5,820	5,821	2,123	560	242	20,386
12,000	9,047	2,000	2,000	2,000	2,000	371	166	8,537
4,500	4,936	750	750	750	750	751	576	4,327
3,600	3,594	600	600	600	600	600	348	3,348
36	128	12	12	13	37
45	78	15	15	15	45
24	46	8	8	10	26
36	66	12	12	12	36
15	23	5	5	5	15
63	89	21	21	18	60
18	26	6	6	6	18
18	54	6	6	7	19
6	23	2	2	2	6
24	68	8	8	8	24
15	24	6	4	5	15
6	4	2	2	1	5
6	4	2	2	2	6
6	21	2	2	2	6
6	22	2	2	3	7
3	1	0	1	0	1
18	80	4	3	3	3	4	2	19
415	324	84	101	36	39	24	40	324
238,180	141,182	39,767	39,782	32,108	16,284	5,852	2,433	136,226

OTC Tags/Permits Wisconsin 2014 Spring Wild Turkey

2014 Spring Turkey “Over-the-Counter” Permits
Zone			Period 1	Period 2	Period 3	Period 4	Period 5	Period 6	Total
01	3,960	10,521	8,445	3,999	26,925
02	5,011	6,851	11,862
03	3,647	9,102	6,008	3,226	21,983
04	2,771	3,946	4,184	10,901
05	1,219	1,376	2,595

Wisconsin 2014 Spring Wild Turkey Total Permits

2014	Spring	Turkey	Total	Permits
Zone	Permits Available	Applicants	Period 1	Period 2		Period 3	Period 4	Period 5	Period 6	Total
01	74,400	36,109	12,400	12,400	12,398		12,393	9,068	4,244	62,903
02	45,000	35,981	7,500	7,500	7,500		7,500	7,498	7,502	45,000
03	63,000	29,649	10,500	10,500	10,498		10,499	6,440	3,389	51,826
04	34,920	20,785	5,820	5,820	5,821		4,894	4,506	4,426	31,287
05	12,000	9,047	2,000	2,000	2,000		2,000	1,590	1,542	11,132
06	4,500	4,936	750	750	750		750	751	576	4,327
07	3,600	3,594	600	600	600		600	600	348	3,348
01A	36	128	12	12	13		0	0	0	37
01B	45	78	15	15	15		0	0	0	45
01C	24	46	8	8	10		0	0	0	26
01D	36	66	12	12	12		0	0	0	36
01E	15	23	5	5	5		0	0	0	15
01F	63	89	21	21	21		0	0	0	63
02A	18	26	6	6	6		0	0	0	18
03A	18	54	6	6	7		0	0	0	19
04A	6	23	2	2	2		0	0	0	6
04B	24	68	8	8	8		0	0	0	24
04C	15	24	6	4	5		0	0	0	15
01G	6	4	2	2	1		0	0	0	5
01H	6	4	2	2	2		0	0	0	6
01J	6	21	2	2	2		0	0	0	6
01K	6	22	2	2	3		0	0	0	7
01L	3	1	0	1	0		0	0	0	1
02B	18	80	4	3	3		3	5	2	20
FM	415	324	84	101	36		39	24	40	324


Total	238,180	141,182	39,767	39,782	39,718		38,678	30,482	22,069	210,496

Wisconsin 2014 Spring Wild Turkey Learn To Hunt Harvest/Kill

2014 LTH and Youth Turkey Harvest

Count of Harvest		HARV_SEX	HARV_AGE
		F		M		Grand Total
Zone	Period	A	J	A	J
01	LTH	1		136	18	155
	Youth	5	2	475	63	545
1A	YH	.	.	1	.	1
1B	YH	.	.	1	.	1
2	LTH	5	.	245	35	285
2	YH	3	.	506	62	571
3	LTH	5	.	162	25	192
3	YH	3	.	428	36	467
4	LTH	1	.	87	11	99
4	YH	1	.	221	16	238
5	LTH	.	.	52	4	56
5	YH	1	.	71	12	84
6	LTH	.	.	5	.	5
6	YH	.	.	13	2	15
7	LTH	.	.	2	.	2
7	YH	.	.	7	.	7
Total		25	2	2412	284	2723

A lot of wild turkey stats here. Appears to it was a fantastic spring turkey hunt. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comments section.

2014 Wisconsin Spring Turkey Harvest, Results

May 28, 2014 by Charlie 11 Comments

Update for 2015 Spring Turkey Drawing and OTC tag availability.

Wisconsin’s preliminary 2014 spring wild turkey harvest or if you prefer the number of gobblers killed during the spring of 2014 hunt:

Unit 1 – 12,147
Unit 2 – 10,313
Unit 3 – 10,490
Unit 4 – 5,727 (OTC permits were unnecessarily cut 25%)
Unit 5 – 2,000
Unit 6- 541 (OTC permits were unnecessarily cut 25%)
Unit 7- 354 (OTC permits were unnecessarily cut 25%)
FM- 86

Statewide Total- 41,659

If WDNR had not cut the OTC permits Wisconsin’s turkey hunters would have had more opportunity to hunt in what was one of the best turkey springs ever.

2014 Wisconsin spring turkey hunters will find more 2-4 year old gobblers and fewer jakes than in past spring turkey hunts. 2012 spring recruitment was excellent due to near perfect spring nesting conditions. 2012 Fall hunters regularly encountered large numbers of jakes of the year. There is no reason to think many of these birds died off making them 2 year olds for spring 2014 hunt. All of the negative news stories could take a toll on hunter attitudes and suppress their efforts. For those hunters that do not let that negative narrative discourage them and go out hunting will find a spring woods with more mature gobblers than ever before.

According to active spring turkey hunters, there were more encounters with mature gobblers this spring than in any previous year. The bad news is the small number of jakes due to the low recruitment in spring 2013. What is most irritating to veteran turkey hunters who understand the population dynamics of turkey populations was having the number of permits cut during a year of unusually good gobbler numbers.

What about spring turkey season 2015?

Of course, it depends on spring 2014 recruitment numbers and so far that is looking good. Even though spring temperatures have been 10-15 degrees below average rainfall has been moderate with no snowfall to speak of. Cool temps have reduced springtime insect numbers a valuable high protein food source of freshly hatched poults. Warmer temps are better than cooler temps for wildlife, especially birds. A couple of weeks ago while hunting, I found the first poults of the season and even if they don’t survive due to early hatching their hen will have plenty of time to re-nest. Usually, during the last two Wisconsin turkey seasons gobblers are forming into summertime bachelor groups. Not so this year, reports of henned up gobblers right to the last day of hunting season were common. Indicating either the hens are re-nesting or due to cooler temps causing a late snow melt are breeding later.

Early 2015 spring turkey hunt thoughts

If 2014 recruitment is good with fall hunters finding a large number of birds of the year, then the 2015 spring hunt will feature few adult gobblers and plentiful numbers of young jakes.
If 2014 recruitment is poor, well then be ready for some tough 2015 spring hunting.
Wild turkeys live about two years whether you hunt them or not. Meaning most of the spring 2014 “surplus” gobblers will not be alive come spring 2015.

Will Wisconsin Beat Missouri Turkey Harvest?

May 17, 2014 by Charlie 1 Comment

Just in Missouri’s 2014 wild turkey season has come to an end with a total 2014 wild turkey harvest of 43,273 birds. This is Missouri’s third year in row of increased harvest numbers, very good news. Congratulations Missouri hunters.

At the time of this writing Wisconsin has a statewide harvest of 35,882 with 10 days of hunting season remaining. If Wisconsin hunters register another 7,391 wild turkeys we will tie Missouri.

Why does this matter you ask? Well it really doesn’t- Just interesting because Missouri is considered a turkey hunting mecca, a turkey hunting powerhouse of t he nation. On the other hand Wisconsin ranks low on the turkey hunting community’s radar. How many turkey hunters dream of making a trip a Wisconsin in the spring. Heck a lot turkey hunters I know travel out state seeking to find the promised land of turkey hunting.

Perhaps, my fellow Wisconsin turkey hunters we are living in the turkey hunting promised land. The turkey population is high, depending on who is estimating the range is somewhere between 500,000 – 600,000+. No one counts turkeys in the state and harvest data has no mathematical bearing on the actual numbers. There are only about 85,000 turkey hunters in the entire state and the hunters are spread out over 6 weeks. A single hunter may buy as many permits over the counter as they choose and there are still thousands left that will likely go unsold. The terrain is varied from big northern pine woods, big central hardwoods that cover both flatland and steep bluffs, farmlands, rivers, swamps and prairies. Allowing a turkey hunter to select the type of hunt they feel like without driving large distances out of state. Without all that windshield time a hunter can spend more time in the turkey woods. What’s not to like?

Hunt on to end of the last season. Remember it’s a long wait to spring 2015.

Sometimes It’s Easy

May 7, 2014 by Charlie Leave a Comment

It was one of those rare magical turkey hunting mornings yesterday, when the weather is beautiful & the turkeys are loud & suicidal.

Morning alarm set at 3am, 70 mile drive to northern unit 2, in the woods before 5am, turkey down at 5:30am. Nice size, 22+ lbs. 5+ pounds of turkey breast to be smoked at Maplewood Meats.

I had planned to hike in about a mile, most of it no-trail, to a wooded ridge. But turkeys gobbled nearby while I was getting out of the car. Set up just a few hundred yards in, 100+ yards from two competing gobblers. Then I fixated on a bunch of brush about 8 yards in front of me, worrying that I wouldn’t have a clean shot. So I stupidly crawled forward & snipped branches. Bad move. I never heard the two gobble again. But somebody must like me, since a third soon lit up 200+ yards out in a different direction. I only ended up calling twice to bring him in, soft yelping & clucking. He came in quiet the last hundred yards, stopping to strut every half dozen steps. While I was tagging him & taking photos another nearby tom began gobbling & was still gobbling as I walked out.

It was the 3rd day I hunted, & the first decent weather day. The other hunts had several non-turkey critter adventures involving a fox squirrel, multiple deer, & a coyote. Had one turkey near-death Thursday. The tom was 60 yards out, coming uphill gobbling to me when a doe & two yearlings stepped out between us. Never saw them until they were in front of me. Incredibly they lingered for 15 minutes 15-20 feet from me while the tom gobbled & plucked on the other side of them. A lot more to that story, but the ending was no turkey.

Interesting thing about the online harvest count. I looked at the Zone 2 number when I registered just before noon yesterday. Then at 5pm I refreshed the page. The count went up ONE, me I assume, from 6249 to 6250. Later at 9pm a refresh added 95 more, where it stays this morning.

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