wis_bow_huntr

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.

cwanty03

same here

Northport buckslayr

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.

wis_rifle_hunter

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

Wingbone

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.

Ihuntandfish

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.

Wingbone

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.

earnabuck

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.

Bowexpert

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)

learningturkeys

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.