Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

I hunted real hard the second week of the Wi. Turkey season and to say the least, it was very unpreductive. Birds did very little talking and responding. The fourth week was a little better, started seeing more birds but they still werent responsive, my cousin hunting the fourth with no success and he is huntin the 5th week and I have another tag for the last week. So whats with all the birds? Did the winter kill most of the off? Did they breed early? I still like to think my chances are there yet, since we are starting to see some more birds but they seem to be flocked up. I do know where there is a good sized flock with a few big toms and they seem to be keeping their same pattern. So I think im going to hunt that flock and see what happens, yet I still beleive the season is a bust.

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

same here

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

Some one else I talked to commented that whole season seemed to be happening later in the year than usual. The fourth week I saw birds but it seemed the gobblers were very henned up for the most part, and ususually by that week the hens are nesting and the gobblers are looking. I have been seeing turkeys (not as many as a few years ago) but I think the first few weeks the breeding season was just barely going, and now is at its peak where in years past the peak breeding was in the 2nd to third week. I know the walleye run was late getting underway this year to.

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

i had the 2nd season also and no birds were responding at all. it was really bad. the past year and this year have been terrible. hopefully its better next year

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

I was out the 2nd week and the 3d week too. The weather sucked most of the time. Cloudy mornings, windy, rain. There didn't seem to be as many birds either. They were absent in many of the "go-to" places we have. I think the winter must have got a number of them. Anyway, out of 6 guys, one bird in 2 weeks.

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

I don't think that the winter got so many of them, but it sure seems like there's not as many young birds. I don't know if its because of the wet springs we've been having, but I used to see lots of flocks of jakes where I hunt, and the last two seasons, I haven't seen a single jake. Usually I can call in at least a few of them. I would think that there isn't many around by me, except I saw lots of toms when I went scouting the week before first period. They were gobbling like crazy, and I saw lots of them out in the fields. My dad had fourth period, so I went along with him to help call and just for the excitement. Well, there wasn't much excitement. In two mornings of hunting, we didn't hear one gobble, and only saw three hens out in the field one day. He did end up shooting a tom eventually, but it came in quiet. I have fifth period, so I hope they start gobbling and being more active by then. Sounds like its supposed to rain a lot on Wednesday though. I know quite a few people who had the early seasons, and most of them who had first and second period, heard turkeys, and several of them got one. I'd say that the chance is still there that these later seasons could be good, but only time will tell. Good luck.

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

I agree that the cold wet springs have hampered reproduction. But I did see a fair amount of birds last fall that don't seem to be around now. In any case, weare hunting a progressively older, wiser and smaller group of birds. No one in our group has shot a jakefor the last5 yr's.

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

I had the 4th season as well and experienced very similar circumstances. I heard no gobbling in the mornings, granted the weather wasn't real great but Sunday morning was quiet and nicer and I still heard nothing. I saw no birds in the am and hunted the afternoons. I could always count on a few hens and jakes making there way across the field but they showed no interest in my decoys. My dad shot a Jake during the second period in the afternoon, we heard more gobbling but they were unresponsive. I think they were very henned up during the 4th period.

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

Hunted zone one (WI)with alittle luck,, 4th time period , called in several toms @ mid day ,no gobbling...find the food........patience...patience (in the morning very few gobbles)

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

I agree that it's been tougher this year, I think that the past two winters have been very hard on the populations in some areas. In 2007, two of the areas I hunt had late winter flocks of around 75 birds, 2008 it seemed like about half that, and early scouting this year showed less than 30 in both areas. I also agree that there are fewer jakes this season than in recent years, of the five hunters we had in the woods week 4, and 7 hunters total this season, we saw only one jake.

One of our areas in central wis. had only 2 hensroosting near 3 toms week 3, and the hens were gone week 4. One of our group talked to a hunter who found a nest of 15 eggs one week ago. I called in a tom with a hen Sat. evening, and we had seen those two birds together all week, all day long. The hen came in to 25 yds., but the tom stayed behind a tree, in range but no shot, just wouldn't take one more step!

Good luck the rest of the season, we are out of tags.

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

Thelate spring is constant issue from when I started south to home here in WI. 1st season was like no birds around. But spend your time and you saw a few. Mostly in flocks. 4th season tho I worked birds each day they became unresponsive for most of the day. One trick that did work good for locating most of the afternoon was an owll hooter. I could not beleive that but it worked. I could locate get sort of close as I had to move on them as they where not callable. So it is off to 5th which starts today but will hunt tomorrow and then the next day. And it does look like 6th season this year ought to be better than last yr.
What I did witness 4th - gooble good from the roost if the barometer did not drop and the temperature stayed the same - but then with hens and after 6 to 7 am all went silent.
I did see the majority of my birds late day after 5 PM if you could stick it out......

JW

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

So what are your tips for a 6th season newby? i did take a decent Tom 2nd week, 2nd day, but I myself do not have a call, decoy, or anything. I do have access to a blind and my landowner says there is a tom on the property(different woods from 2nd season), so who knows. Work is busy, so I can sit til 6:30AM, then not til 4:45 or soPM.
Thanks
Dandbuck

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

Go get a box call - IMO easiest to use to cluck and yelp.

Really don't need a decoy but a hen decoy may help. A Strutting Tom has been disatourous for me in all the WI seasons I have been out so I leave that in the truck.

Be ready to move if need be and start close to where Ole Tom gobbles fromt he roost. An Owl hooter will get them going early if you want to shock gobble. Use it only to locate so you can sneak in much earlier in the low twilight. I try to get less than 100 yds. and try to pick an areayou have seen Toms come to. Most birds have shut-up 4th season by 7:00 AM -

Sitting late at night till 7:30 PM or later you should see birds come back out to the field to feed before fly-up. And then you know about where to be the next morning. Spend a night or two before the start of the 6th and you will learn a ton! Now in scouting I do not call at all - I just sit and watch and listen. that blind would be a good option to sit and learn from.

Be mobil - Trust your camo and sneak in close to where they flew-up. Now birds are going to roost /fly-up from 8:00 Pm to a bit later....but I have been seeing birds from 5:00 PM on more so that early morning in WI.this late at night I know where to be in the morning and gives me a bit more sleep time too.

If you find a constant area you see a hen,then wait that area out. Note that area well!A singlehen now has a nest and is visitiing it regularly. They have been coming out several times during the day to evening. She comes out to feed and go back to the nest. Ole Tom knows that area also and will stop and visit from time to time just in case he gets lucky with that hen.
Spend your time - and learn how the birds are using your area. The more pre-scouting you can do the better chance you can score a nice Tom!

JW

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

Thanks JW!
All info appreciated!
Dandbuck

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

cant get 1 if not out there, some time better than none

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

Hunted this a.m., got in about 80 yards from Tom. He was very talkative as a group of hen's and I had a call-off. Two Jakes came in to my decoys but from the wrong side so I couldn't pull up the gun without being seen. 10 minutes later the tom comes running in, 40 yards he hit the brakes and turned around and ran out. Not sure what was up....
No other gobbles or calls through the noon hour. Weather sounds better for tomorrow a.m. hopefully....

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

Handles did you have a Jake decoy out? If so get rid of it pronto!

And if you had a strutter decoy out get rid of that too!

Or are your decoys to close together? Put then apart at least 6 to 10 yards.

JW

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

Well here we go again! My girlfriend and I are back at it in central wisconsin (wisconsin rapids). No luck during the 3rd season, bagged some nice ticks tho! We couldn't stay out long enough to put them to bed tonight because of lightning so tomorrow we're going to try something we've never tried and see if we can get a shock gobble. Not exactly sure how to do this but it'll be a learning experience. Will this front that just came through mess stuff up or will the clear day tomorrow (thursday) be a benefit? If they were roosting in a set of trees a couple weeks ago do you suppose they'll at least be in the same general area? I know where some hens have their nests, any value in sitting near those at all?

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

I've generally found that they will be vocal on any clear morning, so listen near your spot. I've hunted the Wis. Rapids area for the past 8 yrs since I began turkey hunting. Are you hunting public land? Yes, the nests tell you that there will likely be a tom in the area at some time during the day, but figuring out when is difficult.

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

I'm hunting private land...I'm not actually in Rapids but at my uncles place off 87th street. I saw three hens this morning but didn't hear any gobbling and couldn't figure out where they were roosting. I'll set up my trail cam by the nesting spot maybe and see if a Tom makes his way over there. I've seen him there once (thats actually how I found out it was a nesting area) hopefully he'll come back at some point.

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

87th street? Huh, i live on 80th, small world.
Dandbuck

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

Really?! Very small world! Any tips for hunting this area at all? I'm not having much luck at all and can't seem to get on a Tom. Seems to be a real tough year for my first year of turkey hunting. Like I said I felt like I learned a lot during the 3rd period but now I still don't know where they go during the day so I find myself giving up at about 9:30am or so on most days, then go out about 4 hunt for a while, and try to find where they roost that night.

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

This was my first year also, so no tips here. My turkey hunting "career" has been 3/4 day and 1 AM sit. We ended up in Rome off Hyw 13 on the firelanes in public land and did see quite a few birds. Hit and miss i would guess, but better than sitting in the tavern, lol.
Good Luck
Dandbuck

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

Well I did not sit the middle of the field this morning as I had planned- it got too light out and with no gobbles I went for broke and went to where I last heard them gobble early last Thursday.

AND I was correct - had a hen in @ 5:35 to 5:47 and @ 5:56 Am whacked a nice double beard 26 lb 6 oz - spurs 15/16 and 1" - is a 3 yr old or better!

And I saw a bigger one!

Although very very windy - really a good morning - wish I had a second tag for this season but will be back out next week!
3 hrs there - 2 hr wait for it to get light - 40 minutes or so work out - then had the rest of the day to find a place to live in the summer -and home by 3:44 PM

Am turkey tired!

JW

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

I don't know what it is with this these turkeys, but I have yet to hear a single gobble. Do any of you think that I could get a turkey to gobble by using a rabbit distress call, or do you think I'd scare them off? I'm running out of ideas, and it makes it very hard to hunt them if they don't come out in the fields and they don't make a peep. What do you guys think?

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

Ihunt... Be patient man. If the birds are there, they'll gobble sooner or later. I wouldn't spent much effort in trying to force them to gobble, it'll just frustrate you more. We have't had a lot of really good gobbling mornings.


JW, congratulations. Nice bird.

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

Well late in the day - what has worked for me and I found it by accident - is a Owl Hooter used real hard! One long Whoooooooooo!

I thought I had some yahoo come into my area blowing a owl call. Sounded terrible and then I saw the pair of owls doing it! It was late afternoon too!

Low and behold a tom would answer - so I tried it as I snuck to an area I was going to walk a bit - the Tom who was answering it was quite a way from me - so I hooted and had anotherr answer - I was too dang close - bird gobbled not more than 20 yards from me and it was thick - I got busted!

Long story short - I tried that for grins before I left - bird was still there! Inow have a back-up area to go to next week.

JW

Ps - thanks Rock! Good luck to you out there! Late spring for sure nd 6th looks very promising and far better than last yr. Hens are on nests - some of them - those not I do think are the ones whose nest got destroyed. Talked to quite a few in my area who have been finding destroyed nests more so than ever. I do think it is because of the slow growing cover - late spring growth - and man have I seen the yotes, skunks, and coons!

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

Congrats JW! That's awesome! I'm still going after my first bird. This morning I set up perfectly about 50 yards from a roosting tom. He was gobbling his head off on the roost. When I heard him fly down I hit him with a couple quick clucks and he came over. He was making a really deep noise ( Is that was drumming is?) and my heart was pounding. He got about 40 yards away but there was just enough undergrowth that I didn't feel comfortable taking the shot. I saw him clear as day, but as it got lighter my suspicions were confirmed and my pattern would have been full of holes. Then another tom came and the first instantly shut up and they both walked off together....WHY IS THIS?! Neither seemed interested and neither gobbled at all the rest of the morning.

10 minutes later I heard a hen calling so I called back to her and got her about 10 yards from me just staring at me, then she enjoyed a nice breakfast out by my decoy and after about a half hour slowly walked away. The whole time her and I were clucking and purring and still no tom would show up to check out the ladies. Any reason why that might be? It was a fun morning, but no bird.

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

Nice morning eh? Sounds like a great hunt. good Luck!
Dandbuck

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

Well, I went four out of the five days without hearing a single gobble, and now I went out this morning for my last day on some other land that I got permission to hunt out of desperation. It was a totally different story. Either these birds were more vocal, or it was finally a good morning for gobbling, but I heard gobbling around me all morning, for about two hours after shooting hours. I thought I was set, when I had a tom gobbling about 75 yards in front of me, but it ended up being with about ten hens who started cutting like crazy, calling a lot. The tom never left the hens, and the hens eventually left the area, but it was a great morning to be out, and even though I didn't get anything this season, it was a great way to end the season.

RE: Wisconsin Spring Turkey Season a bust?
 

After hunting 4 days with no luck and limited gobbling, Sunday was just as you said Ihuntandfish, clear skies, low wind, high pressure had the toms going, and the hens were nuts, yelping,cutting, fighting all within 80 yards in the woods. The toms (4 of them!) were set as hens were all around them making a racket. I was able to watch for the first time ever a tom breed a hen. Unfortunately they wouldn't come my way and the hen's lead them down over the opposite side of a rise from me. I was bummed, but not out. I thought that I have two options, stalk through fairly open woods, or back out and try to cut them off. I chose to stalk, figuring if I got busted I could scatter the flock and try to set up on them later.
I was lucky enough that the hens kept talking, and I could hear the toms drumming (yes, that was the sound you heard), to get an idea where they were. I was spotted at about 50 yardsby a tom, but the sun was in his eyes so while he knew something wasn't right, he couldn't totally figure me out, but he kept watching me while the other 3 kept strutting. After waiting about 5 minutes they strutted around to a small opening and I was able to pick out one bird and took the shot. He dropped right there. I realized after that shot that I never put my turkey choke in this spring. I had in my modified choke from duck hunting last fall, it must be a good pattern at that distance, cause he was peppered. Oh, and I NEVER buy "turkey loads" I can buy the exact same thing in a box of 25 for less money than a box of 10. Heavy Pheasant Loads.;)