Midwest Turkey Report
 

Who's been out in the woods so far? What did you see? Get one?

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I got out Saturday and a little Sunday morning on public land in northern Illinois. Heard a fair amount of gobbling Saturday morning. Less on Sunday. A friend I was hunting with saw 4-6 hens. Neither of us got eyes-on any toms though. No tag this coming weekend, but will be heading to Wisconsin the one after that.

Very few birds in my area in Wi. This is the second year in a row we have had a severe winter. Lots of winter kill. Usually I have dozens of sightings by this time. So far on my farm I have seen 6 birds. Very little gobbling even on warm days. So far this spring I have found the remains of 3 turkeys and 4 deer. Good luck?

Most of what you are seeing it has been so cold and with lots of snow the feeding areas are limited.

But the birds are there. I have been in three different areas of WI and found birds in each.

JW

Either of you been out in the south-west corner, by chance? We tend to hunt Lafayette County mostly.

My place is in Buffalo County

They were gobbling like crazy last weekend (5/3 & 5/4) in southern Wisconsin. They started early on Saturday and were pretty vocal through midmorning. (Unfortunately for me, the only one that came in to me came in silent, and I ended up spooking him.) Some hens were obviously tending nests.

Very quiet here compared to most years. Going up north 180 miles to the cabin today to see if I can change my luck!

Yes the birds were real active in the morning and were quit in the afternoon, They would come in with no warning here in the Sunshine state. We managed to get it done though. Try a ground blind.

I believe the weather this year had the birds screwed up in their regular habits.

Across the river in N.E. Iowa
 

We are Knee deep in Hens in the hills and valleys along the river but not a lot of Toms.Some of the cattle feeders have told me this is the 1st time that they have seen turkeys in their confinment yards.Our winter was really hard with streches of below zero temps that lasted for a week or more and snow cover that around my area stayed at 40 in or more all winter
I had a few hens up on my deck eating out of my automatic dog feeder for a few days.A few pheasants spent most of the really bad days in my round bale stack and picked around in the manure piles all and all a really tough winter on the bird population, although more doves than I have seen in years
Gunny

This for Dubuque and Clayton counties

Took this one last Sunday morning in south-west Wisconsin:

http://i634.photobucket.com/albums/u...630/Turkey.jpg

Had another one 15 yards in front of me the day before, but couldn't get off a shot. All in all, I'd say it was one of the better years in terms of the birds being active and gobbling, in both northern Illinois and southern Wisconsin.