Turkey Hunting Slowing Down

It would appear that turkey hunting seem to slowing down in Wisconsin....Or there are a LOT more turkeys.
Kinda make you wonder if this is another turn down in hunting interest.

Back in the early 1990's drawing were held...you had about one in 3 chance of drawing a permit...for the first three seasons....about the middle of April.....I consider these the prime time.
After that the foliage fills in and the Tom's aren't so horney....makes it a bit harder.

I hunt Zone 1 and have my permit.....but there are a LOT of permits available all over the state.
From the e-mail I received for the DNR....Zones and number available.

Quote>
Spring Turkey Tag sales will begin at 10 a.m. on the following days:
• March 20 – Zone 1; 39,473 permits available
• March 21 – Zone 2; 12,938 permits available
• March 22 – Zone 3; 34,273 permits available
• March 23 – Zone 4; 15,031 permits available
• March 24 – Zone 5; 3,537 permits available
• March 24 – Zone 7; 211 permits available (no permits available for zone 6)
• March 25 – All remaining tags for any zon

If there are any left, ..in the past we were allowed to buy additional permits if you scored early on your season.

KY does not use a lottery or draw, your turkey permit is included with the big game stamp. For us old folks it is a $5 expense.

Most of the dedicated deer hunters are also turkey hunters and it is a popular activity since all you need is the shotgun you already own and a turkey call.

I switched turkey guns this year for the first time in a decade. I went to a 12ga automatic w/aimpoint instead of the pump with forward mounted scope.

Turkey are one of the miracle animals which I give the WMA a lot of support over. When I was a kid they were extinct in my state, and they started a seed program with turkey from the Missouri Ozarks back in the 1960s. By the 1990s I was kicking wild turkeys off the back porch to get into the house and had a flock of over 100 in my barn lot every evening.

For some reason I would rather watch wild turkey feeding in the fields than deer. Not that I have anything against my resident deer heard.

Yeah story here as well...our came Missouri as well....
Our season started in the 1990's...and was BIG.

Seemed to have settled down lately.
Was funny watching deer hunters, trying to "drive" turkeys or hunt from tree stands.
Those methods don't work very well.
Whole new hunt.

Buddies and I went to a state sponsored "Turkey Hunting Course"....that was outstanding!...
Got a book and a call for a Turkey Hunting company...as well as 4 hours course...for $20 bucks.

I once sat on the back porch calling a turkey across the fields for several hours before I gave up. We were having quite the conversation for a long time.

Next day I was driving down the road and realized I have been calling a penned domestic bird someone had been fattening for Christmas.

It would not have been so bad except it was my son that pointed the bird out to me.

The National Wild Turkey Foundation is bigger around here then Ducks Unlimited. We are not near a flyway and the turkey are just a short drive to any WMA. Since the WMA only allow archery for deer and rimfire and shotguns for small game, the turkey are the only "big game" we can hunt on the WMA using shotguns, plus they are everywhere on private land. Since we use shotguns the land owners are more likely to give permission to turkey hunters than they are to deer hunters.

I actually enjoy hunting from a ground blind for turkey more than climbing my old bones into a tree stand. I have not fallen off a ground blind and hurt myself yet. I have one of those neat camo-umbrella things that pop up and are big enough for a lawn chair inside. I lean a couple of limbs against it and it looks like a brush pile.

LOL...
You mean like this?
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...psdgkmr55f.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...psiknfj1fu.jpg

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...ps499up80g.jpg

People do let you turkey hunt....and will even stop by your table in a restaurant and ask if you got your bird yet.....then invite you to come to their farm.

OR

Shoot them out the living room window.

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y13...psbzwcpmis.jpg

The shotgun and chair are about like mine but my blind is as big as a dome tent and you get inside. It has windows on all sides to shoot from. I do not have a picture.

I do have shots of part of the resident flock out the back window. I wl see if I can find the shots.

Here's the blind. I got it from the Guide

LOL...Yeah have two of those....PITA to take those circles down like trying to putting a fart back in your...well you get the picture.
I set them up for the season... on the property for bow/gun hunting hunting...



I love that umbrella, folds up and breaks down to about 18" long.
Sets up in seconds.....

Have actually used it as a up against a tree in a down pour.....but your knees still get wet if you sit.

Everyone seems to have version.....shop around

That and full camo...one decoy about 30 ft away to draw eyes away...sit still....work great.