Charlie Elk

pseudonym of a man

Life Beyond a Screen

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My rowboat slipped quietly to the dock, as usual, the dogs were excited to disembark and get about the most critical of dog business,

Sunrise on the lake is relaxing even for a husky.

checking to see who left new scents during their absence.

The husky, Jaz,  whined while Vic snorted as they both scramble out onto the dock claws scratching on the dock boards as I held their leashes in check. The low water level makes it a bit of a challenge for me to get up on the dock and as I straighten up to look around for any incoming dog company, none to be seen so we start clomping down the galley-way only to pull up short to take in the weird sight confronting us.  It appears time has stopped!

No one is moving at this ordinarily bustling village boat landing.   There are tourists scattered about, but they are all frozen in place staring at these odd small rectangles held in the hands.  Even their small designer dogs are stopped stiffly at leash end.  Did I row us into another dimension or perhaps a Twilight Zone where time stands still?  My head snaps a look back from where we came, and to my relief, all appears normal.  The beautiful sunrise glistening on the rippling blue waves, gulls circling on the thermals, and pelicans are fishing. Other bird songs are dripping like jeweled droplets all around.  Yet, all these folks appear oblivious to sights, smells and sounds all around them.  Are all these folks unaware of the surrounding real world or is it distasteful causing the life in the screen to be more comfortable?  I do not know, except to accept the old cliche “to each their own.”

During my youth before screens became so ubiquitous an old, philosophical sage warned that screens would become windows of reality to those who spend too much time looking through them.  The human mind and eye would lose interest peering out of real windows.  A few years ago I thought of him and his insight again while turkey hunting with a buddy.  A blabbermouth gobbler was sounding off nonstop on his to our set up.  As usual, the tom was coming into my calls from behind, but no problem, my buddy is sitting at the backside of the tree.

As the gobbles sent sparks of excitement deep into my hunting soul, surely a shot will ring out soon.  The turkey was very close and moving around to my weak side, his head pulsing the colors of mating excitement.  Still, no gunfire.  What the heck, did my sidekick fall asleep, enjoying the moment or is he being generous, letting the shot come to me?  OK, whatever I am ready.  The strutter finally gets clear in front of my gun barrel.  At the roar, in my peripheral vision, I see something odd flying in the air, and my fellow turkey hunter lets out a shriek. It turns out he had earbuds in while watching a turkey hunting video.  He thought all the gobbling was from the video and never looked up from the screen.  Viewing a hunting video while hunting!?  As I have come to understand watching a phone has become a standard hunting procedure.

“To each their own…”

 

Wisconsin Turkey Hunt Forecast 2018 Spring

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With a wild turkey population of 660,000+ birds, Wisconsin turkey hunting is easy to predict – very good to excellent every spring.  The harvest each spring is controlled by the limited number of authorizations and hunter effort.  Based on in the field observations and previous harvest data Wisconsin turkey hunters kill 43,000 gobblers if hunter effort remains about the same as in past seasons.  If on the other hand spring hunters put in more time and effort during the 2018 spring season, Wisconsin could record more than 50,000 gobblers going into the cook stove.

I have personally been out extensively scouting zones 1,3,4, 6 and 7.   Also, some volunteer folks regularly provide updates regarding what they have seen while hunting, trapping, and fishing the more remote areas.

In zone one there is an abundance turkey reported during the fall hunting season continuing through spring 2018.  During summer and fall, there were areas along streams and rivers that experienced flooding, some of which was extensive.   Most of this highwater happened after the nesting season, so the turkeys just flew out of danger and seemed to be returning late in fall and wintered over well.

Nice long beard called in a while scouting for spring 2018 turkey hunt.

All across zone one, more turkeys are present than in years past, and it appears there are slightly fewer jakes than usual, so this points to a spring harvest with more adult gobblers than jakes.

The zone 3 turkey population appears to be stable, about the same as last spring, although due to the large blocks of big timber isolated land it is harder to get a good handle on the turkey population here.  Backcountry trappers and snowshoers report encountering more turkeys than usual with a decent mix of jakes and gobblers.  On average this zone has a lot more room to roam than our other zones.  Plus it is under hunted.

Zone 4, a mix of hardwood forest and agriculture, maintains a high population of turkeys.  This zone should have 25-30% more harvest authorization than it does.  Many farmers would like to have more turkeys killed on their land; sadly, there are not enough hunters available due to the limited issuance of permits.  This fact will keep the turkey harvest equal to past years.

Zones 6 and 7 are the big surprise for this spring.  These zones are the most northern turkey habitat in Wisconsin, and due to marginal habitat, no one thought turkeys could live here let alone prosper and prosper they have!  So much so, the WDNR has issued some farms turkey shooting permits because the turkeys are too numerous and causing damage.  On my trips through these zones, I saw large rafts of turkeys out and about. Apparently; the hunter harvest authorizations need increasing if farmers are granted permits to shoot wild turkeys outside of the season framework.

Zone 5, I don’t get there, nor do I have any informants who are out during the offseason.  Those whom I am familiar with always get their turkeys during spring, and they go fishing in the fall instead of turkey hunting — no accounting for tastes here.

Zone 2, is a mix of urban and farmlands with some woodland country.  I tease my contacts here about how easy it is to shoot a turkey.  Last fall while turkey dogging in the northern part of the zone Vic and I killed two birds in two days of hunting.  But I must admit we hunted hard during those days.  All indicators are for a great spring hunt in this unit.

2018 Wisconsin Spring Wild Turkey Hunt Drawing Completed January 5, 2018

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Hat tip to Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Wild Turkey department for completing the 2018 spring wild turkey hunt authorizations.  Starting in the fall of 2017 WI now refers to license permits or tags as authorizations.

Eventually, hunters will receive a notification postcard via snail mail, USPS.  To check your success go to the Go Wild Site, Login, click on “Current Licenses,” if successful notice under “product name” click the “Spring Turkey Eligible” link, a message will say “Batch post to winners.”   Spring turkey license can be purchased starting in March.

For the first time, both of my grandson and I have been selected for the second season, Yahoo! We get to hunt together. In the past, we were always drawn for different time periods.

Next step: Hunters will wait for the leftover authorizations posting which will go sale March 19, 2018.  Spring turkey authorizations can be purchased one per day until sold out.

When Do the Eggs of Hen Wild Turkey Start Developing?

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On December 23, 2017, I shot a wild turkey hen.  While dressing out the carcass, I found these tiny egg clusters that were attached to the inside of her lower backbone.  Apparently, these are the beginning of egg formation.

Wild Turkey eggs recovered from a hen shot on December 23, 2017

Until I found these tiny egg packets the question of when eggs begin to develop in a wild turkey had never occurred to me. And since I usually try not to shoot adult hens during the fall hunt, this is the first December hen I have dressed out in preparation for the table.

Also, see When do Turkeys nest in Wisconsin?

It is legal to shoot any turkey during Wisconsin’s fall season so why do I  try not to take a hen?

An adult hen (brood hen) is a proven breeder, so I choose to focus on the jakes and jennies, thinking turkey biology, they are the most likely members of a turkey flock not survive the long cold winters. In other words, they are more likely to perish so why not put those excellent eating turkeys on the table?

In December most turkeys are approaching the same size, except for some late in the season hatched chicks.   Documented turkey nests with incubating eggs have been located as late as mid-August. Over the years, on three occasions, I have discovered broods of flightless poults at the end of August.

These eggs located in Wisconsin mid-March

Other interesting observations from the hen.

Pictured are the contents of a Dec 23rd hen’s crop. Temperatures were in the low teens and single digits.

 

This insect was found alive in the hen’s crop.

I do not know what kind of insect it is.  Even when temps are subzero, these bugs can be found moving around at the base of trees and in the bark when the sun warms the south side.

Winter Turkey Hunt; makes for the seasonal slam completion

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The first question; What is a seasonal wild turkey slam? It’s the taking a wild turkey during each season of the year; spring, summer, fall, and winter.  Wisconsin turkey hunters are lucky to have a turkey season open during all yearly seasons. Usually, the most challenging bird to bag is the winter turkey.  In 2017 the first day of winter was December 21, in Wisconsin, the turkey season closed December 31 this gives a hunter ten days to complete their seasonal slam. During winter visibility is excellent against the snowy white background, everything is frozen so that all things from the ground up to your equipment makes a lot of noise that is easily heard by the turkeys.  Not to mention setting up for some “cold calling” takes on an entirely different dimension, if you are lucky some days may rise above zero with minimal wind.

Because the turkeys are in large 50+ member flocks, they can be hard to find but when located the excitement is such a hunter will forget about the cold, at least for a while.  Vic the turkey dog and I searched many empty fields and woodlots with no success in locating the turkey flocks.  Even after being invited on a “there are turkeys there for sure hunt,” we found no turkeys, lots of sign that they had been there.

During the next few days, we continued searching for turkeys, no success until, as usual, when, my attention started to wane as my mind

River’s current if flowing fast and icy.

wandered around random thoughts.  As we trudged up an old logging trail along the river Vic begins sniffing and looking towards the river below.  Some rabbit and squirrel tracks were leading into decaying treetops felled by a tornado a few years ago.   I glanced down towards the ice chunked river and seeing no turkeys continued, leaving Vic to have some fun with the rabbits.

Suddenly the crystallized air exploded with the sounds of scattering turkeys.  Earing aids under ear flaps make it very hard to hear directionally and the sounds of excited turkeys and Vic’s barks echoing off the hillsides all around… I tore off my hat; clearly, the commotion was coming from behind me and down towards the river.  Hastily as I could with the heavy insulted boots clomping along, I headed back towards Vic just in time to watch perhaps seventy-five to a hundred turkeys rising above the standing timber then soaring off in all direction including some flying across the river.   Stunned does not begin to describe how I felt about strolling past that many turkeys.  What the heck?

All the years I have hunted this area and hiked this trail I did not know there was a nearly flat bench tucked in the hill out sight from the path.  While above on the trail you can see the river just beyond what appears to be a very steep drop straight to it.  The bench is not visible, and the turkeys were enjoying a smorgasbord of acorns.  The snow cover on about five acres of ground was scratched away with all the leaves turned around and over.

Vic gave me the most exasperated look, after all the pheasant hunting we had been doing he, no doubt, expected to hear gunfire and watch some wild turkeys fall from the sky.

During Wisconsin gun deer season Vic and I frequently go pheasant hunting.

But he should know I am not real keen on shooting turkeys in flight; it’s time for us to setup and get-to calling some back before the sun sets.  Vic chose a nicely sheltered setup area; I spread out his closed cell foam pad and insulated blanket for cover he snuggled close to my side as I leaned back on my new Alps Grand Slam turkey vest.  (A very thoughtful friend gave it to me for Christmas)  I love this vest.

When it gets cold friction calls do not seem to work as well, perhaps this is due to my stiff fingers, losing the feel through mitten covered hands or the snow dust that is attracted by the call’s surface.   After sitting quietly for about 12 minutes, I begin sending out some inquiry yelps and kee-kees.  Sometime later a distant yelp answered the trumpet which I quickly answered by series of loud yelps breaking a the end as if the turkey was losing its voice, that’s my best imitation of a lost turkey.  I did that a few times and got no answer, except the 40-yard gobbler starring at us from our right and behind us.   He had not made a sound and of course as it always seems to happen this bird came in from behind on my wrong side to shoot.  When he moves behind a tree I cluck once and raise the gun while pushing Vic down,  I hate to shoot this close over his head, so we wait as the tom moves parallel along the river below.  Seems like forever before he steps into the shooting lane, at 45 yards the prototype number 9 Federal Premium TSS (tungsten super shot) dropped him dead.  Vic is released to hold the gobbler down until I get there.  No matter if the turkey does any moving or not that is one of Vic’s favorite part of the hunt.

There is still a half an hour before sunset, so we set back up to resume calling.  Two turkeys fly back from across the river and land down along the bank a bit out of range.  Vic sits up to see better; I have to pull him down and lean my body over him, the movement caused one of the turkeys to move closer in range, my last #9 TSS drops the bird.  Incredibly at the shot, the second bird moves towards us into range, one of my regular turkey loads drops him flopping on the ground.  I released Vic to race down on the flopping bird, and he gets on top it quickly holding it down until the first turkey starts twitching then he races onto that turkey.  I am moving as fast as I can to help contain the turkeys.  Before I can get there the turkey, Vic released flips over off the edge falling twelve feet down onto the river’s shelf ice, in slow motion slides off the ice shelf into the fast current and is swept away out of reach.  I had to scream to stop Vic from attempting a retrieve in the icy river, we both hate losing birds.

Damn it; the other bird is not laying there!  Where in the heck did it go?  While trying to stop the flopper, the “dead” turkey slid off onto the ice shelf below.  As insurance, I immediately shot this bird in the head again even though it showed no sign of life.  No way are we going to lose two turkeys.  It’s a beautiful hen lying dead on the ice sheet much too close to water’s edge.  The bank is twelve feet straight down; I kept from falling by grabbing roots and rocks.  Fortunately, there is a pebbled place to stand off the ice, the ice cracks as soon as I put any weight on it, the turkey is 17 feet out of reach.  I climbed back up to find branch or sapling long enough to hook the turkey with to drag it within reach.

Winter hen and gobbler called in after an excellent scatter.

I can’t recall a time when having a turkey firmly in hand felt as good as this one did but I still have to climb back up which requires both hands.  The bank was too high to throw the turkey up.  No, of course, there was no rope handy, so I did the next best thing; slung the turkey over my shoulder and clamped the leg in my teeth.  It worked.

Vic wanted a vanity shot of him with the hard-won wild turkeys.

Anyone who has hunted with me when the game requires follow up to retrieve knows I did not give up easily on the bird swept away in the river.  Vic and I walked along downstream until the light of day gave way hoping to find the turkey pushed up somewhere we could retrieve it without risking life.   We returned the next morning to resume searching further downstream; sadly we never saw that turkey again.

 

 

 

Vic and Charlie Turkey Dogging Video

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Shane Simpson, Vic and I have been trying to get a turkey dogging episode completed for a few years.  Either the weather, the turkeys or life’s turns have not worked out until now.  Many times I’ve told Shane it is the jinx of the camera; seems like whenever a camera is on one of my hunts…Well, things don’t go as planned.

After several days of hunting, it finally came together.

Let us know what your thoughts are on this video.  Visit Shane’s website Calling All Turkeys.

Wisconsin Summer Hunting Season 2017

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The opening day of hunting season always dawns with the excitement of high expectations and a healthy dose of optimism thrown in for good measure.   More often than not reality begins to set in as the temperature steadily climbs to water gulping levels and all forms of flesh-eating insect life start its daily routine.  As it was on the opening weekend of Wisconsin’s fall turkey season, sometimes this makes hunting feel more a slog than a fall hunt in the north country.

No matter, dedicated hunters do not quit over such trivial discomforts.  Even with the success of the federal government’s efforts to increase the Massasauga Rattlesnake population; who the heck thinks that’s a good idea!?  Vic the turkey dog and I continued hunting.  Although, considering wild turkeys may be the snake’s number one predator I did consider pursuing something else. Nah.

We use ravines and dry washes to “sneak” on likely turkey locations.

After all the years of turkey hunting, one would think Charlie would be ready for the early fall birds who spend nearly all day in the treetops.  These tree walking turkeys make it hard for a turkey dog to find and scatter and during a setup, it is tough to determine if an approaching turkey is on the ground or coming in via tree limbs.  If they are in the full foliaged trees taking a clean shot is also problematic at best.

Over several days of hunting; burning high quantities of Therma Cell fuel, repellant pads, drenching the hunting clothes and Vic’s fur in permethrin.  A healthy dose of deet applied around out face and ears; a few really close calls at getting a shot on a turkey, I started to wonder if a 2017 Wisconsin Slam was within reach.  A Wisconsin Slam consists of killing at least one turkey during each season of the year; spring, summer, fall, and winter.  Official autumn is September 22nd, so Vic and I had better figure out how to get our summer turkey of 2017 season.

Vic’s tongue was hanging to the ground and sweat pouring down my back we figured it was time for water and a rest.  Vic had coursed  12 miles so far for the day while me, the lazy human only did about 4 miles.  These are known distances thanks to the Garmin Astro 320 tracking GPS.

As the late morning was about to turn to afternoon, we sat together to refresh with water and perhaps a nap.  As is my custom whenever there is a pause, I make some turkey noise on a wingbone to which a turkey promptly responded with a gobble!  Not a full gobble, rather a jake of the year gobble and his gobble was answered by two more gobbles.  A group of jakes is a fall turkey hunter’s dream because they are the easiest to birds to call in, and these birds were not an exception.  They came trotting right to us in spite of me not having my face net down nor were my hands covered by gloves.  There was a feeling of nakedness and exposure that would cause them to bust before coming into gun range.  Must have been all the insects hovering between them and us.

A nice plump Wisconsin Summer jake of the year.

Happy turkey dog Vic on a hot summer day during Wisconsin fall turkey season in 2017.

Here is what this turkey was eating. Crops tell the story.

 

 

Wisconsin 2017 Fall Turkey Drawing Complete; Estimate of leftover permits Updated with final stats

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Update: 5:00 PM 8/18/17 the official leftover fall turkey permit numbers are posted. Scroll down the page for table and link to WDNR page.

The 2017 fall turkey hunting drawing has been completed by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.   Notification cards will be mailed very soon.  In the meantime, hunters can check their Go Wild account for their application status; look under “current licenses.”

Leftover fall turkey hunting tags will go on sale Saturday, August 26 at 10a.  Turkey hunters may purchase one permit per day until all permits are sold out.

Estimated Leftover Permits for Fall 2017 turkey hunt:

Zone 1 – 15,000+

Zone 2 – 5000+

Zone 3 – 18000+

Zone 4 – 8000-

Zone 5 –  150

No permits are leftover in zones 6 or 7.

When the leftover permit statistics are verified the exact number will be posted on the;

2017 Fall Turkey Hunting Leftover permit availability page. 

Update the final leftover turkey permit numbers are posted. Here is a copy of the WDNR table.  Click the link above to visit the WDNR page.

Zone Remaining Permits
Zone 1 15,486
Zone 2 5,073
Zone 3 18,531
Zone 4 7,936
Zone 5 180
Zone 6 0
Zone 7 0

Permits are $5.00 for 10 and 11-year-olds, $10.00 for residents, and $15.00 for nonresidents.

Please note that at the time you purchase your permit you will be required to purchase a fall turkey license. If you did not buy a spring turkey license, you would also need to buy a Wild Turkey Stamp.

2017 Wisconsin wild turkey fall season dates;

Zones 1-5  – Opens, September 16, 2017, Close December 31, 2017

Zone 6 and 7 – Opens, September 16, 2017, Close November 17, 2017

Grandkids and Puppies Go Together; especially if the puppies are Vizslas!

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Some questions don’t have to be asked twice-I’m going to visit Vic’s breeder and he has a litter

A basket of puppies. Life is good.

of Vizslas; “Would you like to come with?”  Heck, I don’t remember hearing an answer but the Jeep had both the grandkids sitting in it ready to go. Clearly, those kids had puppy fever which was betrayed by all their quivering as we drove the 200 some miles to Lone Oak Vizslas in Hutchinson Minnesota.

I have to admit this trip could have turn out to be “dangerous” for me, Vizsla puppies, particularly those from a strong hunting line are very, very tempting to a man with an empty

Please get off me!

place in his heart. However, I am not known as a fellow who would pass on an adventurous trip due to any type of challenge being involved.  Besides, the main reason for this trip was to talk to Marc about breeding Vic.  We had planned to do this a few years ago but Mrs. elk’s cancer put those plans on hold.

Vic will be seven years old in December 2017, it’s getting time for him to work with an apprentice. Turkey dogging requires a dog to learn a specialized skill set and to know the difference between turkey hunting versus other upland birds.  For example, Vic knows he must range out 200 to 400 yards to find a flock of turkeys then charge in to scatter those birds rather than point them.  If I have heard the turkeys scatter Vic finds me and leads me back for a setup.  While on setup during the call back he needs to be still and hold steady at the gun as the turkeys come into range.  On command, he goes out to hold the bird in place rather than retrieve as he does with the traditional upland game birds.  As regular readers of this blog know when Vic and I are hunting the upland birds like grouse, pheasant, and woodcock he works the traditional pointing style hunt.  That is he finds the bird, points holds steady to the gun and retrieves to hand.  Assuming I have done my part in that equation, if not, I become the recipient of “the look.”

Vic chatting it up with the ladies.

All that is easy to write and with the right bloodline in the dog, training in all those different skills is achievable.  With Vic, it was remarkably easier than I had anticipated.  Marc is a good breeder who loves his dogs who have good hunting pedigrees.

As of a couple of weeks ago, there were a few puppies not spoken for from this litter so if you have an interest you can contact Marc or Kerri at Lone Oak Vizslas.   Also, there was another litter born last week with some puppies not spoken for yet.

We plan to breed Vic late October – early November, so his puppies will be born in December and ready for pickup early February 2018. There is never a guarantee, hopefully, Vic’s offspring will continue his hunting pedigree. To say I am excited about training up another hunting companion is an understatement.

Enjoy all the pictures.

Papa to be Vic.

 

Am I cool or what?

 

What you want now?

 

Super heroes are boring.

Take me home with you?

I can point.

Seriously? I know I can hunt.

A Sensational Turkey Hunter Goof Up

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Luck is an indispensable asset during any successful turkey hunt.  Not just luck at the beginning but it requires luck at every intersection of the hunt.  Take for example one of my recent hunts during Wisconsin’s last spring season.   I had a surefire plan, also known in turkey hunting parlance as a preconceived notion.

The previous day I had a six and half hour calling duel with a blabber beak type of gobbler who did not have the good manners to come and show himself.  We introduced ourselves at 8:45 A and chatted back and forth until 3:15 P. Tried the silent treatment on him several times, needed a break from all the noise not to mention the old fingers were in need of rest.  Plus the wingbone pucker needed to ease off my face. But each time he matched the silence while moving off 100+ yards to then give that nana you can’t get me gobbles, this only made me more determined to kill him.  No luck, so all that night as I slept, I dreamed up – The Plan.

After the three miles foggy Mississippi River boat ride, the tedious wet slog to Mr. Babbler Beak’s haunt begin.  The determination to get this particular bird was dominating my thoughts even though a wrong step could have frigid water pouring into my knee boots.  Swamp turkeys can be most provoking.

Less than a quarter of the way into the plan an urgent gobble erupts.  An unaccounted for occurrence in the hunt is an intersection; the hunter must decide to continue or change of mind.  An easy decision, change of the plan.  I figured out a doable setup on a relatively dry finger of land, a few soft tree yelps and settled in for fly down.

Air swooshing through feathers followed by a dull thud marked his landing.  Scratching out the most urgent yelps I could muster brought a robust series of approaching gobbles.  Down went the slate and up with the gun, just in time he’s right there in strut with two hens flanking him.  When he moves clear, the blast swirls the fog, and I launch up to claim my prize.

Except, there is no prize laying there.  What the heck?  I saw him go down, after searching the area I turn around to go back to the setup, perhaps I’m looking in the wrong spot. Uh, no, that ripped down sapling caught all the shot.  The tom is unscathed.

I Swear there really was a turkey there, while sitting against this tree.

Here  I am at another intersection, is this a sign to go on with the original plan or stay in the area and pursue this lucky gobbler.

Working my way in the direction the hens went pays off.  They flush, rising straight up above the oaks heading different directions, excellent they are out the picture.  The tom should miss them at some point and call out for his ladies.  I grin when he does – I’ll do the answering.

One of the hens had a nest on an elevated piece of ground to keep it out of the coming flood.

Like the hands on a clock, I move forward listening carefully.  At different points, a couple of does break cover crashing off leaving behind their well-hidden fawns. Who can pass up taking those pictures?

Need to be careful where a hunter steps today.

Another one! I really have to watch my step.

Gobbling begins in earnest somewhere up ahead, can’t pinpoint it exactly as I continue moving forward until I realize he is on another strip of land to the east.  The water is too deep to cross so backtracking is required to a more amicable crossing point. Dang river has been at flood stage all spring making stealthy approaches on longbeards difficult at best.

The woodland is open, full of mature maples and oaks with good visibility on the strip he chose.  This is good news in that I have a better chance of seeing him and bad news, he has an even better opportunity to see me.  Move down a bank to sneak along the water’s edge, slipping on the mud occasionally but this breaks up my outline while allowing to see.

The tom’s course yelps carry through the mist to my ears telling me it is time to pick a spot and start talking turkey. Of course, these spots are never perfect, my seat sinks down, no matter it is showtime.  My first calls are answered with robust gobbling that is closing in.  And, of course, he is across the water from me as he walks by out of range.  I amp up my calling as soon as his head goes behind some trees this causes him to spin back and walk his back trail right past out of range.  My calls continue every time he can’t see me, his gobbles start to fade with distance.  My hope is he is going cross back to my side somewhere up ahead.  Taking advantage of the pause in action I reposition into a convenient blow down which provides me better cover and good visibility.

There’s a white/blue head bobbing its way towards me, stopping to look for danger and hens.  At fifty yards he goes behind and large maple,

Turkey hunting is great if for no other reason plans change

seemed like he stayed there for an eternity.  When a gobbler is searching like this silence is a turkey hunter’s friend.  His juking head preceded him as came out trotting in full strut facing my position.  At thirty yards dropped out of strut to start yelping.  I won’t claim to know

The shot caught him mid yelp.

what he was saying in “turkey speak” but those were his last words.

 

 

 

Video of Wisconsin Wild Turkey Hen with Poults; Video added

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Here is another hen with her brood this morning. A beautiful hatch, despite that it has rained 15 out of the last 17 days here. Either it’s an old wives tale that getting wet will kill poults when less than 3 days old, or Wisconsin turkeys have evolved to tolerate it.
I count 13 poults. Only saw the one hen, but I suspect her cohort(s) was/were nearby. Two or more related hens will often lay eggs in the same nest, take turns setting, serving as sentinel and raising the brood, with adjacent barren hens and male turkeys announcing danger in the neighborhood.
Notice this hen has a slight beard – never shoot bearded hens.
How old do you think these poults are on June 29, 02017?
At 44.27° N Latitude in Wisconsin.

Update June 30, 2017 – Next day video

Going the other direction today. Four poults flew 3′ off the ground, by tonight they’ll roost in the trees.

More video July 1, 2017

Waited a long time for them to cross the road, to get a good count on the 13 poults (believe there’s 7 in the first group). Haven’t seen another hen yet in the last 3 days, so they must be all hers. It’s rained 16 out of the last 18 days here too. Join the AWTHDA, members receive access to exclusive content.

How does she protect 13 little ones by herself?!

To Protect the Young – Sassy Hen Sashaying in The Corn Video

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Courtesy of  American Wild Turkey Hunting Dog Association

Accidentally got too close to a hen turkey with poults and she didn’t like it. Flew at my head twice before the video started. Then she acted like a Killdeer with a broken wing, so I’d follow her and get away from where she told her babies to hide. She was indignant and fearless, determined to make me leave – I did! She had a slight stubble of a beard – don’t ever shoot bearded hens. Wisconsin – June 2017

Hard to Stop Turkey Hunting

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The last day of Wisconsin’s 2017 wild turkey hunt dawned quiet, very quiet; at least as far as turkey sounds are concerned.  The usual bird rush hour was in its normal fine form, but on this morning the turkeys apparently had other plans.  The season has been rewardingly long this spring from the first week in April hunting Colorado Rios, moving up to Wyoming Black Hills for a snowy Merriam and back to

Take time to teach the next generation of hunters.

Wisconsin for some youth hunt mentoring until my first Wisconsin tag validation the last week of April.  Not a morning missed, rain, shine, or somewhere in between and now here I set wearily reflecting on it all to the sounds of silence, the 30th of May with no complaints or regrets.  Yeah, I missed a turkey or two and zigged when a zag was needed more often than I care to remember.  It’s not good to focus on negative thoughts because if you do, they become self-fulfilling prophecies.

As the morning birdie rush hours fade into memory, I stand, stretch and give thanks.  Wild turkey season has come to an end for me…Until later while walking the dogs, a lone gobbler takes to flight out of the VPA field and glides lazily to the opposite woodlot.  It’s 1:30 in the afternoon, the season is still open, and I have two unpunched tags left.  VPA is private land that the Wisconsin DNR leases for public access, the field is open for hunting but as is so typical the woodlot is not enrolled, so it is closed to hunting without permission of the landowner.

The internal debate heats up; tiredness makes its nagging request just to forget him and rest.  While the prey drive says “two open tags and several hours to hunt a gobbler you can call out to kill.”

I feel sorry for the poor dogs after promising them on my return this morning that my hunt was over until the fall season and Vic would get the hunt the next time.  Funny thing about plans, they are subject to change, and here I am setting up in some long grass barely able to see the freshly planted corn field, calling on a tongue teaser to what seems like wide open empty spaces.

2017 spring’s most effective call for me

As 3:00 rolls around my sanity in some quarters would be questioned and the of quitting continues to grow in appeal.  The sun seems searing in intensity; you’d think the biting gnats would have their wings burned off, sadly it just appears to energize their bloodlust.

Time crawls to only 3:15; Has my watch stopped?  Ok, enough for one spring; as I roll off the gobbler lounger to take a final 360 look around a neon blue spot moves on my right…How in the heck did he get that close without being seen? And, as always, these birds come in from the direction least expected.

Rarely, is movement helpful when a standing tom is staring at you at close range.  However, he must have thought another turkey was moving around in the long grass causing him to up periscope for a better look-see, a fatal mistake.  I rose to my knees and looked at the twitching gobbler through the shot-tunnel in the grass.  Must be a mirage! Another tom is closing fast, heading directly to the dead bird and the end of my barrel.

Two toms, side by side.

For a moment I thought it was just a dream, so I waited for the empty field to rematerialize.  But you know, the weight of 40+ pounds of turkey over your back brings reality into focus.  On the half mile stroll back to the truck there was a moment or two when the memory of turkey tags still available and the season does not close until 8p something…hmm.

Wisconsin 2017 Spring Wild Turkey Harvest – with all the details

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Here are all the 2017 spring wild turkey harvest/kill stats you could ask for from Wisconsin.  The first chart is the kill by county, sex, and age. Scroll down for the number bagged by the number of hunters and continue scrolling down for all the harvests/kill from 1983 to 2016.

An interesting number 384 bearded hens were taken during spring 2017. Sauk County had the most, 20, bearded hens taken.

  Type of Turkey Total (ALL)
Hen Tom
Age of Turkey Age of Turkey
Adult Juvenile Adult Juvenile
Kill Kill Kill Kill Kill
County Of Kill 9 . 664 144 817
ADAMS
ASHLAND . . 85 16 101
BARRON 2 . 311 92 405
BAYFIELD . . 149 23 172
BROWN 2 . 518 92 612
BUFFALO 6 1 524 130 661
BURNETT 1 . 211 49 261
CALUMET 1 . 236 63 300
CHIPPEWA 5 . 546 117 668
CLARK 5 . 591 164 760
COLUMBIA 15 1 988 226 1,230
CRAWFORD 4 . 751 122 877
DANE 13 2 1261 245 1,521
DODGE 10 . 762 151 923
DOOR 2 . 554 63 619
DOUGLAS . . 111 28 139
DUNN 5 . 636 133 774
EAU CLAIRE 2 . 539 101 642
FLORENCE . . 86 21 107
FOND DU LAC 10 . 667 166 843
FOREST 1 . 83 13 97
GRANT 8 . 864 148 1,020
GREEN 8 . 612 115 735
GREEN LAKE 2 . 394 115 511
IOWA 27 2 971 132 1,132
IRON . . 30 9 39
JACKSON 8 . 571 146 725
JEFFERSON 4 . 597 134 735
JUNEAU 6 . 614 108 728
KENOSHA . . 49 12 61
KEWAUNEE 7 . 465 63 535
LA CROSSE 4 1 477 85 567
LAFAYETTE 8 . 422 46 476
LANGLADE 2 . 284 61 347
LINCOLN 2 . 360 87 449
MANITOWOC 14 . 786 160 960
MARATHON 12 1 1036 246 1,295
MARINETTE 1 . 504 141 646
MARQUETTE 6 1 709 153 869
MENOMINEE . . 2 . 2
MILWAUKEE . . 4 1 5
MONROE 7 . 780 163 950
OCONTO 9 . 690 165 864
ONEIDA . . 154 40 194
OUTAGAMIE 3 . 540 124 667
OZAUKEE 4 . 268 59 331
PEPIN 3 . 212 49 264
PIERCE 4 . 573 123 700
POLK 3 . 359 105 467
PORTAGE 2 . 669 147 818
PRICE . . 220 56 276
RACINE 2 . 82 16 100
RICHLAND 17 . 704 125 846
ROCK 6 1 595 105 707
RUSK 1 . 293 70 364
SAUK 20 . 1019 175 1,214
SAWYER . . 103 25 128
SHAWANO 9 . 1006 136 1,151
SHEBOYGAN 16 1 642 132 791
ST CROIX . . 492 139 631
TAYLOR 1 . 553 105 659
TREMPEALEAU 5 . 521 123 649
VERNON 4 . 711 163 878
VILAS . . 74 23 97
WALWORTH 4 . 350 91 445
WASHBURN 1 . 185 52 238
WASHINGTON 4 . 607 114 725
WAUKESHA 1 . 494 142 637
WAUPACA 21 . 1155 228 1,404
WAUSHARA 7 1 525 183 716
WINNEBAGO 2 . 308 91 401
WOOD 4 . 492 131 627
Total (ALL) 372 12 35400 7521 43,305

 

Below is the number of hunters who each bagged the number of turkeys.  

Example from the chart 32,476 spring turkey hunters bagged one turkey each.  215 hunters bagged 4 turkeys each, etc.

Bagged By number of Hunters
1 32476
2 3368
3 761
4 215
5 79
6 36
7 18
8 5
9 5
10 7
11 2
15 1
21 1

 The historical number of permits issued, harvest and

permit success for spring turkey hunting, 1983-2016.

Year Permits Harvest Permit Success
1983 1,200 182 15.2%
1984 1,950 303 15.5%
1985 2,025 496 24.5%
1986 3,675 793 21.6%
1987 6,040 1,478 24.5%
1988 11,070 2,486 22.5%
1989 21,280 4,400 20.7%
1990 29,877 6,465 21.6%
1991 37,414 6,846 18.3%
1992 43,925 8,798 20.0%
1993 61,767 12,316 19.9%
1994 71,420 12,637 17.7%
1995 68,588 15,323 22.3%
1996 75,812 18,000 23.7%
1997 92,734 20,992 22.6%
1998 101,141 28,338 28.0%
1999 112,256 33,168 29.5%
2000 132,318 38,686 29.2%
2001 151,522 39,211 25.9%
2002 160,101 39,336 24.6%
2003 169,277 42,970 25.4%
2004 186,608 47,477 25.4%
2005 193,826 46,183 23.8%
2006 200,869 46,662 23.2%
2007 205,306 52,428 25.5%
2008 208,972 52,880 25.3%
2009 218,133 52,581 24.1%
2010 214,356 47,722 22.3%
2011 210,384 40,133 19.1%
2012 201,984 42.612 21.1%
2013 217,798 37,804 17.4%
2014 210,496 41,815 19.9%
2015 208,250 40,975 19.7%
2016 212,772 45,501 21.4%

Are Turkey Hunts like Chess Match or Card Game of Chance?

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What do you think?  Is a wild turkey hunt more like a game chess in the woods or is it more like the card game solitaire?  

Something, perhaps mostly unknown about charlie elk is the fact it took him five wild turkey seasons before he finally killed a gobbler.

What took him so long?

After all, he helped Minnesota catch grouse for the Minnesota/Missouri turkey/grouse exchange release program so he should have learned something about turkeys during that long restoration period.  Well, not so fast.  Charlie was an accomplished big game hunter who frequently stalked within longbow range of bedded cervids across the North American Continent.  And then, in the early eighties along came the wild turkey opportunities.

After finally being drawn for a Minnesota turkey license in the zone where a band of turkey nuts, including Charlie had released turkeys from Missouri years before; the young, cocky, self-assured Charlie was humbled by a bird with a brain about the size of a walnut.  It is amazing how a feathered bird-brained creature could be so elusive.

He planned all his hunts so carefully, doing research to determine in advance where the turkeys roosted, where they would want to go from roost and how they would get there, all to no avail.  Then late one morning he saw a truck with plates from Missouri pull into the parking area, an elderly gentleman stepped out walked around surveying the area and then did some cutting on a long box call.  Answered by a robust gobble, not more than 100 yards down the trail Charlie had just walked back to camp.  The veteran hunter headed down the path and soon a there was a gunshot.   The fellow came walking back with a very nice turkey over his shoulder.

The mistake Charlie had been making, in his humble opinion was that he’d been hunting turkeys using many of same tactics as he used for hunting big game.  Big game animals do things for reasons that are quite apparent to an experienced hunter.  Whereas the wild turkey does things that are apparently done for well, maybe no clear reason at all.

A lot of turkey behavior, if not most, is random, much like the shuffling of a deck of cards.  For example, if a turkey is flushed and somewhere different with suitable habitat and maybe an available hen during the spring— that turkey is likely to be just as content in the new location as he was in the previous one, he’ll just roost in whatever tree is convenient as it gets dark. Once this randomness soaked into charlie’s sometimes, most times, dense head, he has killed a turkey in every season he has hunted over the last 40 years.

 

Wisconsin Turkey Season Winding Down

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As this is written there are only three hunting days left to Wisconsin’s 2017 spring turkey season.  For the most part, the toms have stopped gobbling to tip off their locations and they have started forming their summer time bachelor groups.  This is the moment some hunters eagerly wait for because when the toms are properly motivated with gobbler talk, deep sounding clucks followed by a slow raspy yelp or two. Make sure it’s just one or two yelps clearly separated and not run together.

The added challenge much like in fall hunting is finding the turkeys.  When turkeys form groups there will be more areas without and the other areas will have more birds.

After sleeping in until 5:00 a, sleep deprivation is taking its toll on me; a gobbler who has irritated me since early April by consistently strutting in the middle of a field I can’t hunt. Worse, no one else has hunted him either so all he does is strut at me nearly everytime I drive by.  This morning he was in the middle of the dirt road strutting as beautiful as a peacock with the rising sun glinting off his feathers.  I did feel a temptation to stop and shoot him or just run him over, but clearly, those thoughts were just symptoms of sleep deprivation, I just blew the horn instead.  That tom tipped me off to his roost location as he flew off.  I had a good feeling the next morning I’d get him.  He was clearly callable onto some land I have permission to hunt by a farmer who likes to have a lot of turkeys removed from his land.

 

I continued on my way to check out a hillside pocket that is only reachable by boat and since the rivers were above flood stage the turkeys should be in the “pocket”.  Sure enough, I settled in called with a few clucks, noticed a black stump that looked very much like a turkey staring at me, red-headed and all.  Figured it was a stump with a cardinal sitting on it.  There have been a lot of cardinals and scarlet tanagers this year causing excitement here and there.  Lack of sleep does that to you sometimes, so I lowered my eyelids to check for leaks.  When I opened them a few minutes later the black stump was gone; I clucked and there he was not quite 30 yards standing at attention in the wide open woods staring at the lump that was me.  Fortunately, my gun sling is always hooked on my left knee holding the barrel level out front and this tom is standing right in front of the gun barrel.  All I needed to do was raise it up and one tag for the last season was filled.

Tongue Teaser call brought em in again.

That left two tags in my pocket for Friday.  The determination to bag that most irritating strutter in the county rose to an obsessive level. That is, until Friday morning, when I forced myself out of bed, shooting that poor turkey did not seem as important as it did yesterday.

At 6:10 am I found myself laying back in a grassy field wash using the folds of the field to hide me. Lying back when you need sleep is not conducive to remaining alert.   However, the chain gobbling that answered my first tongue teaser yelp sure did get my full attention and when that yelp was followed up with some walking clucks and a single yelp to be answered by near constant incoming gobbling from two sides—sleep just slid way down the priority list.

During late seasons my Willow Ridge Tongue Teaser – Gobbler Pine Box is the call I turn to, Scott made this special for me to use in the fall for calling in gobblers.  It works whenever, the need to make gobbler calls arises.

In about 20 minutes the five toms converged on my location, marching as if on a mission to either recruit the lonesome gobbler (me) or kick his butt.  I do not which it was, for they did not get any time to explain. At mid-gobble my gun commanded silence from the first one at 15 yards.  The other four turned around marching away single file when a single cluck stopped them and turned em around for the gun to silence the second one mid-gobble at 30 yds filling my last two tags for the final season.

Late season turkeys are challenging to find, but when you do it might be double the fun.

You’d think, the season would end there…  Not in Wisconsin, there are still thousands of OTC tags left and two of those are now in my pocket.  Heck, sleep is overrated, I have all summer to catch up on it.

 

 

Patterning Board Surprise!

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Yesterday evening while performing one of the most important spring rituals – patterning the turkey guns, three gobblers sounded off at each shot.  How is that for incentive?  Yes, I do the patterning ritual every year because there are always new turkey loads and a hunter can never get enough practice. Those loud-mouthed gobblers on the hillside who kept me entertained weren’t the biggest surprise of the evening.  It was the Improved Modified (IM) choke tube that performed better than the turkey full chokes.

The gobblers flew up to roost with a lot of shooting light left so; I assume they must have decided to study this situation more in-depth too.  As I continued firing away, checking and double checking the patterns on the targets at varying range, those toms would purr, cluck, yelp and gobble in apparent “turkey deep thought”.

A few years ago Federal Prairie Storm, and their Mag-Shok turkey loads, both use flightcontrol wads with copper coated lead got my attention because the good folks at Federal recommend using an improved cylinder (IC) choke. Using IC choke makes it easy to change from regular upland bird hunting and turkey hunting in the fall.  Patterns are very good for the specific game out my 20 or 12 gauges without needing to swap choke tubes.  These loads raised my awareness of using a more open choke for better performance and accuracy. Still, for spring gobbler hunting my head stayed stuck on a turkey full choke.

Last year a good friend gave me a case of Federal 3rd Degree shells, thank you very much, good friend.  This gift allowed me to test them without spending $4+ per shot.  While patterning the 3rd degree through a variety of chokes from cylinder to turkey full, I discovered the Benelli factory improved modified shot the best pattern from 10 – 50 yards.  The 3rd Degrees put the scatter back into scattergun.  A turkey will need to be standing by himself, at least two feet from another bird or there will be collateral taking involved.  At 50 yards it’s common for all shotshell patterns to be spread out.  The good thing about 3rd Degrees is they are consistently spread into a nice pattern all the way.  Nine to twelve pellets were delivered into the kill zone at 50 yards.  I might try these during this spring’s hunt.

Thinking about the difference in shot metallic hardness of heavy shot, steel, bismuth, copper plated lead and nickel plated lead a light came on regarding the choke effect on each shot type.

Vicker hardness of shotgun shell metals

  • Nickel 638
  • Copper 360
  • Iron 608
  • Tungsten 3500

For decades my turkey shell of choice has been Fiocchi nickel plated Golden Turkey because they pattern well, inexpensive and efficiently kill turkeys.  Plus with the moderate price a hunter can practice without breaking their wallet.  The thing is my head got stuck on the turkey full choke is the better concept and until now.

Nickel plated shot is almost twice as hard as copper, meaning the nickel should perform better out of a more open choke, in the same manner, steel shot does, this is why I was at the range yesterday with an audience of gobblers testing standard factory chokes from Remington V3 and Benelli M2.  With the V3 a modified choke shot best and the Benelli’s improve modified shot best, this was the patterning board surprise. Actually; the second surprise in that I should have thought of this a very long time ago.

 

Carlson Turkey Choke at 50 yards

 

 

IM choke Benelli 50 yards

 

IM Benelli choke 25 yards

I have no plans to shoot turkeys at 50 yards, my personal limit is 30-35 yards. It’s just more fun to call them in close.

As for the gobbling gobblers, well that is just pared for the course here in Wisconsin.  Heck, sometimes they have the audacity to walk in front of me while I’m shooting.  Not to worry, though, that reckless behavior ends come hunting season.

 

Wisconsin 2017 Spring Turkey Hunt Forecast

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Spring 2017 is going to be good turkey hunting.  After all, this is Wisconsin, home of 500,000+wild  turkeys the only thing that keeps Wisconsin turkey hunters from harvesting more turkeys than any other state is the licensing scheme.  The licensing process here is exclusionary by design it prevents a large number of its hunters from taking part in the spring hunt during the first 3 weeks of the season when the toms are most actively gobbling.  In any case, for those with tags in their pocket hunting will good and the harvest will be in the Wisconsin average range.

During my pre-spring wanderings, I have found turkeys in some really unlikely areas such as this-

Are turkeys really around here in this desert like area?

Yes, apparently

There are a lot of wild turkeys in Wisconsin, it’s all good, bring on the spring hunt.

The first 2017 spring hunt season is starting about a week later than usual so late start could hamper the harvest of hunters who must hear gobbling in order to be successful.  If the later start causes hunter effort to drop off then the harvest will be lower perhaps in the low 40 thousand range.

This forecast is not, in any way related to the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources rather it is based on charlie elk’s experience, observations and fellow turkey spies across the great turkey state of Wisconsin. The first charlie turkey forecast was done in 2014 and was the opposite of WDNR dire forecast, they had forecast bad spring turkey hunting with low harvest due to the worst winter severity index ever.   WDNR even cut permits by 25% at the last minute.  In spite of the spring permit reductions, charlie took an opposing view and predicted a higher than average harvest. This was based on the incredible number of turkeys across the landscape during the fall of 2012 and even considering the tough 2013 winter there were very few dead turkeys reported.  Turkeys are not deer so you can not apply deer management theory to turkeys.  The winter severity index was developed for deer managers, not turkey managers.  Turkeys have wings and when local conditions get bad they fly out of the locale for better areas. 

 

Wild Turkeys See In Color; But Will Pink Spook Them?

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New for the 2016 Wisconsin fall turkey season: A whole lot of gun deer hunting is going to be going on.  In my area, a month of the fall turkey season will feature a concurrent gun deer hunting season.   Wisconsin game regulations require all hunters and trappers to wear blaze orange or pink while afield during any open gun deer season.  Turkeys can easily see blaze orange and are spooked by this color, a serious problem for the state’s avid turkey hunters. But what about them seeing pink?

The eyesight of a turkey is nothing short of amazing.  Not only can turkeys see in detail that is equivalent to humans with eight-power binoculars their color vision is outstanding and includes the ability to see UVA light.

Turkey retinas have seven different types of photoreceptors.

Human retinas have only four different types of photoreceptors, 1 rod, and three single cones.

There is one well-known chink in the armor of a turkey’s eyesight, and that is it’s only two-dimensional sight, not the three-dimensional view humans have.  Turkeys compensate for this by consistently juking their heads to focus on objects at differing distances.  An example of a hunter exploiting this vulnerability, if you can call it that, occurs while setup calling from brushy fallen treetop.  The turkeys approach expecting to see movement, and a well-camouflaged human is only allowing a small portion of their figure to move tricking the turkeys into thinking there are more of them feeding in that hide away.

Back to; Can turkeys see fluorescent pink?  On the UVA spectrum, definitely.  Considering turkeys have six types of cones they can probably see pink.  However, pink is sort of present on their heads depending on a particular bird’s mood.  So if a turkey hunter is on a setup while wearing a pink camo vest only bits and pieces of pink are going to be seen by incoming turkeys who are expecting to see other turkeys.  Might just work out better to wear pink versus the orange.

I know, I know, we all laughed when Wisconsin became the first state to legalize the wearing of fluorescent pink.  As a matter of fact Wisconsin became and may still be the but of jokes in the national hunting community, and here I am thinking about this as a solution to replace wearing the ugly hunt messing up orange.  Is pink ugly?  Not on ladies but… Personally, I have lived with a pink allergy all my life mostly because I think of it as a girly color.   During the pink legalizing debate, the whole purpose was to make ladies more comfortable hunting by allowing them to wear pink; there was no talk of real men wearing these girly outfits.   Women felt this law was condescending, and men, for the most part, made jokes. Now in all seriousness, I am wondering if this is a viable solution for turkey hunting, where can a fluorescent pink camo vest be purchased and can I work past my pink phobia to become comfortable wearing one?

pink-hunting-vest

Wisconsin Hunting and Trapping Forecast

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Wisconsin DNR’s annual Wisconsin Hunting and Trapping Forecast is published and available.  

The downloadable PDF is here:

2016 Wisconsin Hunting and Trapping Forecast

Download Wisconsin 2016 Hunting & Trapping Forecast

Some of the highlights inside include

Find a place to hunt in Wisconsin

Pocket Ranger App has been downloaded 210,000 times for Apple and Android phones.

  • Places to hunt
  • Deer registration locations
  • Rules and regulations
  • License and permit information
  • Safety communication tool
  • Advanced GPS mapping features
  • Trophy Case, join a community of anglers and hunters
  • News and alert feature.

Public Access Lands (PAL) Atlas

Finding Open Lands – A mapping tool shows the approximate location of all MFL–Open and FCL lands in Wisconsin – here, you’ll find landowner info, acreage, and enrollment information.

Voluntary Public Access VPA and Habitat Incentive Programs HIP

Provides financial incentives to private landowners who open their property to public hunting, fishing, trapping and wildlife observation and improve wildlife habitat.

FFlight the Fields and Forest Lands Interactive Gamebird Hunting Tool

Features available within the program will help hunters locate DNR public parking areas, overlay township descriptions, and provide access to maps and aerial photos of prospective hunting areas.

Deer District Forecasts

  • West Central
  • Northern
  • Northeast
  • Southern

Migratory Game Birds

  • Ducks
  • 2016 Changes
  • Canada Geese
  • Mourning Doves
  • Woodcock

Upland Game

  • Wild Turkey
  • Pheasant
  • Ruffed Grouse
  • Sharp-tailed Grouse
  • Bobwhite Quail
  • Rabbits & Hares
  • Gray & Fox Squirrels

Furbearers

  • Raccoon
  • Coyotes
  • Gray and Red Fox
  • Beaver
  • River Otter, Muskrat, and Mink
  • Fisher
  • Bobcat

Black Bear Forecast

  • Northeast District
  • Northern District
  • West Central District

The folks at WDNR did an excellent job producing a thorough overview of the upcoming 2016 fall hunting and trapping seasons. I highly recommend you download this document; there is lots of useful information.  You will not be disappointed.  Good hunting.