Wisconsin is divided into 7 turkey management units. Units 1,3, and 4 are covered in this post. According to a consensus of retired turkey biologists and dedicated hunters who are year round turkey observers Wisconsin has one of the largest turkey populations in the nation numbering in excess of 500,000+. In spite of a severe winter across the
northern third of Wisconsin the turkeys seem to have survived intact. There are some localized reports of dead turkeys being found and these may have started a perception of a higher than average die off. Every winter results in the death of some individual turkeys due to disease or for whatever reason entering the winter in a weakened state. In actuality Vic the turkey dog and I have not found any evidence of massive turkey die off nor have any of my fellow turkey hunting buddies.
2014 Spring Turkey Forecast for Wisconsin Turkey Management Unit 1, 3 & south unit 4
Turkey hunters should expect to have solid turkey numbers. The 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. Also consider the spring 2013 weather was horrible keeping hunters on the sidelines staring out their windows in disbelieve of all the May snow. 2013 gobbler harvest was down 30%. Most of these toms survived adding above normal 3 and 4 year old gobblers to the total 2014 spring population.
Bad news here is spring 2013 did not have good recruitment. 2013 Fall hunters encountered fewer birds of the year.
2014 Forecast summary for Wisconsin Spring Turkey Units 1, 3 and 4 –
2014 Wisconsin spring turkey hunters will find more 2-4 year old gobblers and fewer jakes than in past spring turkey hunts. At the right times 2 year gobblers are the easiest
turkeys to call in, sometimes referred to as the bread and butter of spring turkey hunting. With more of those2 year old turkeys available hunter success rates should increase significantly over spring 2013. Perhaps there will be fewer hunters afield due to the perception of hard winter effects on turkeys. Considering the suppressive effect on hunter numbers due to the misguided WDNR reduction in unit 4 permits. 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.
At this time judging by the slow sale of OTC permits and the lackluster conversion of drawn permits into turkey license purchases; Wisconsin’s spring 2014 turkey hunt will see a higher population of gobblers with fewer hunters out chasing them. What’s not to like?
The above forecast is based on my extensive 2014 field observations along with other hunters who have been putting on miles scouting turkeys. All of us get out of your trucks to hike miles of turkey habitat, glassing distant ridges and fields while taking notes of our observations. I digest all this “data” and come up with my gut instinct based on decades of turkey hunting and observations.
Feel free to get back to me with reports of your hunts and observation. Above all have fun and good hunting.
turkey man says
This is just what I’ve been thinking. Hope we’re right.
Brian Otten says
Thanks for sharing! I’ll post a link to this among Wisconsinoutdoorfun.com’s hunting headlines.
Chunz82 says
I hope it’s real good. We have had a silent spring here in North Louisiana …. I’m hunting zone 4 in may and I can’t wait!
WrC says
So far this spring the birds are on fire, responding to calling very well. They are getting broke up from their winter flocks and starting to disperse through out the wood lots. A lot of gobbling going on, on the clear mornings so far in the first week of seasons. Good luck to everybody hunting WI. this year.
charlie elk says
Season B hunting was excellent. Read about my hunt here Looking Gift Turkeys in The Beak
Kerry J Calton says
I hunted 2nd period Zone 3 and through my observations of the area I was in there appeared to be a lot of sign and no hunters. I hunted public land (I have private land in the area to hunt also)and I saw one other vehicle in area with 2 hunters. I had 5 or 6 gobblers on the 26th gobble for over an hour. I called a few times after fly down but they appeared to move off a bit. I stayed put as the spot I was in had tracks and drag marks from the day before. At about 7 am one of the toms seemed to be gobbling closer so I made a few calls and 15 minutes later I tagged a nice bird. 11″ beard, 7/8″ spurs, but I did not weigh it. It felt over 20lbs or so.
I drove around to some of the other public areas and not one other parking area had vehicles in them.
charlie elk says
Thanks for your report Kerry and a big congratulations on your nice bird. Are you going out again? There are still OTC permits available in unit 3, it would be a shame to let them go to waste.
Kerry says
I most likely will hunt again the 5th week in zone 3 and again in zone 1 the 6th week. I only can hunt Sat. afternoons and Sun. those 2 time periods because of work. I enjoy going out anyway for the few hours I get. My brother in law is coming in from Denver to hunt with my brother so I will join them for a couple days. I will be on private land but if I see nobody hunting on the public land I will surely go there. The report from southwest Wisconsin where my friends hunt was lots of gobbling in time period 2 and 6 out 6 on big toms. This was on private land and they saw groups of turkeys with 4 and 5 toms in the groups. A 350 acre farm so all the action on one farm. Also in the Fond du Lac area another friend had lots of turkeys around but all hens. Only heard 1 gobble on the 30th so hunted there on the 1st and heard a lot of gobbling where she was on Wed. Oh well some times we out think ourselves.
Good luck to all and be safe.
charlie elk says
Sounds good, Have a good hunt Kerry.
I did not see any other turkey hunters on public lands during season C in unit 1. Gobbling has tapered off a bit but late morning they became responsive and another met his end to meet my oven.
John jensen says
Hi Charlie:
Your post is really encouraging! My dad lives in Delta (Bayfield Co.) and I FINALLY got drawn for a hunt (May 21-27), flying up from Georgia. I was really bummed about the harsh winter and the possible hit on the local population. Hopefully there will be some there. Have you gotten any reports from that particular area? Any guidance about good areas on the Chequamegon NF would also be appreciated!
JJ
charlie elk says
Unit 6 is an area no one expected turkeys to survive. However, the turkeys dispersed into the area on their own and have managed to survive quite well. 2014 Registered turkeys in unit 6 so far is 354 last year 2013 the total was at 344. 2014 is a bit better than 2013 at this point of the season indicating the turkeys survived the winter better than anyone expected.
Gobbling was strong the last couple of weeks and as with most other areas has been tapering off due to the hens being ready to breed.
Due to WDNR cutting permits by 25% you’ll see fewer hunters during your hunt.
Good hunting. Let us know how your hunt goes John.
later,
charlie
John jensen says
Thanks so much for the info Charlie – very encouraging. I’ll try to get in tight on any roosted gobblers so they wont have a chance to find a real hen before finding me. I will definitely send you a report after my hunt week..
turkey man says
Hunting has been so good. I got a nice 11.5″ bearded tom in 3 hours in northern part of 4. Got more tags starting tomorrow.
charlie elk says
Congratulations on a nice bird and good hunting.
Joe says
Wow, all of these stories baffle me! I hunted with my son 3 rd. Season and the birds gobbled off the roost then quit. I never heard a hen yelp and gobblers were all together. I bought a tag for 5 th. Season as did he, the birds are still exhibiting the same behavior and don’t seem interested in hens. Yesterday and today 2 hens together and no gobblers to be found anywhere! Then I walked up on 1 hen by herself! Tough here in zone 1
charlie elk says
Keep at em Joe please take all that follows as encouragement.
As of a few minutes ago Unit 1 has registered 10,463. I’ll have to look it up when time allows but I think that is a record kill for unit 1 at this point in the spring.
I hunted unit 1 last week, 4th season in the Mississippi refuge due to high water the birds were challenging and managed to get an at the buzzer bird.
These next 2 weeks I’m hunting unit 4 and the birds are doing what you described. This morning a group of toms were quietly strutting together in an open field. I broke them up as I would in the fall, setup and called one back at point of break to fill a tag. Yelped and purred as a gobbler rather than as a hen.
Also I’ve been finding nests and yesterday saw the first freshly hatched poults so it is possible the gobblers are starting to form up their summer time bachelor groups.
Ag operations are in full swing and these usually temporarily displace turkeys from their usual haunts.
Don’t get discouraged, keep hunting and remember there are lots of 6th season unit 1 tags available.
Good hunting.
charlie
Common sense hunter says
Looks like that misguided tag reduction was right huh? Get a clue. I’m so sick of our DNR throwing around the word “opportunity” and now this article. This was horribly written. It is nothing more than an inside job trying to get people to waste more money on tags. How can you explain that Zone 4 hunters only killed half compared to the other Zones? Just because the birds weren’t killed during last spring doesn’t mean there’ll be more gobblers than ever. You forgot about one of the worst winters of all time, and you seemed to write it off like it’s not a big deal. What a joke! I think basing an article on your “gut instinct” in a zone you obviously spend zero time in is a crock. Look at the statistics from the past turkey seasons, including the success rate and number of birds killed, and then come up with at least some sort of logical explanation why there is such a steep decline in Zone 4.. Half a decade of poor hatches, two bad winters and an over abundance of extra tags that lowered the population to near extinction here. Don’t believe me? Look at the deer kill starting from 2000 with all the extra tags. This article is trash….
charlie elk says
common sense hunter wrote-
Simple math my friend; unit 4 only had 34,920 permits available in 2014. Unit 1 for example had 74,400 permits available in 2014. Unit 4 had less then half the permits as did unit 1. For simplicity let’s assume the hunter success rate is 20% in each unit-
Unit 4 available permits 34,920 x 20% = harvest 6,984
Unit 1 available permits 74,400 x 20% = harvest 14,880 As a result unit 1 hunters kill 7,896 more turkeys in unit 1 because there is more hunting opportunity there.
For the last 20 years I have lived and hunted in unit 4. I know it very well. In addition I correspond with other hunters who are out studying turkeys all 12 months of the year. These are men and women who get out of their trucks to see things for themselves. My forecast was based using “on the ground” reports. Many us went to investigate the supposed large turkey die offs. None of the ones checked were creditable. Yeah, there were a few dead turkeys that happens every winter but those same properties had large viable populations of turkeys in the early spring.
If you know of any documented large scale die offs of turkeys please let me know, I would be very interested in photos and other evidence.
The misguided tag reduction was nothing more than a PR ploy and not based on any wildlife science (WDNR admits this). Turkeys live about 2 years whether you hunt them or not. They can not be stockpiled for future years.
What does the deer population have to do with turkeys? Sorry I miss your point.