Remaining spring turkey licenses go on sale Monday

As I chopped away at the melting mountains of snow in my driveway Sunday with my Polaris Sportsman 500 6 x 6 and 5-foot snow blade, I couldn’t believe turkey season was about a month away.

I’ve hunted turkeys in the snow on several occasions, and it just doesn’t fit that traditional image as portrayed in the outdoors magazines. You know, a green meadow with three or four strutting gobblers, a couple $100 Avian-X decoys and a hunter in full camo, who is aiming his $2,000 turkey shotgun and trying to decide which gobbler has the longest beard.

It almost never goes like that for me, especially here in the frozen tundra of Northeast Wisconsin. In fact, I haven’t killed a gobbler in years, and feel strongly that 2020 is going to be my year for redemption.

The trick to more turkey opportunities isn’t to buy more or better equipment. It’s not found in lessons on how to finesse a diaphragm call, nor is it done by reading more turkey hunting articles or watching more of those frustrating fantasy hunting shows that always end with a hunter crouched behind a 25-pound gobbler, posing behind a tail fan just before the product commercials come on.

The real trick is to hunt more, and that’s done by buying more turkey licenses.

Starting at 10 a.m. Monday, remaining turkey licenses go on sale for Zone 1. You can buy one license per day, using GoWild.WI.Gov, or at a license vendor. During that week, one zone’s remaining licenses will go on sale per day (Tuesday is Zone 2, Wednesday is Zone 3, etc.) until March 20, when licenses from Zones 5-7 go on sale. On March 21, all remaining licenses still left can be purchased at the same one-per-day rate.

The cost is $10 for residents, $15 for non-residents.

There are 35,423 permits remaining for Zone 3, which includes most of Shawano County and all of Waupaca County. Visit dnr.wi.gov/permits/springturkey.html to see the season dates and zones available.

If you go online, there may be a wait, depending on demand. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources advises to log in about 9:45 a.m., and a “virtual line” will form until the official 10 a.m. sale starts. Those in line will then be randomly selected for licenses. If you log in after 10 a.m., it’s first-come, first-served.

After the April 11-12 youth turkey season, the regular season dates are: Season A, April 15-21; Season B, April 22-28; Season C, April 29-May 5; Season D, May 6-12; Season E, May 13-19; and Season F, May 20-26. Hunters are allowed one bearded bird per license (most bearded birds are toms, but the last bird I harvested was a bearded hen — the only one I’ve ever seen).

Spring turkey hunters killed 38,576 birds last year, with about 213,000 licenses sold, for an overall success rate of about 18 percent. Just a bit over 30,000 licenses went unsold. The same number as last year, 245,443, are expected to be available in total, including those issued in the annual drawing and sold over the counter.

All-white deer protection

I recently read about a hunter in Missouri who shot a trophy buck that was completely white, and the harvest was completely legal down there. There’s no biological reason to protect white deer (In fact, some argue that too many white or albino deer can weaken the gene pool), and Missouri doesn’t. There are some aesthetic reasons to protect them, just as we protect songbirds for their beauty and song.

I was driving home from work Tuesday night on Highway 45 near Winchester, and lamenting how I hadn’t seen white deer in an open field on the east side of the road for a year or more. They were a fairly common sight there for many years. And suddenly, two white deer appeared as plain as day.

I didn’t have my camera, but will bring it soon and stop for some photos, now that I know they are back. More likely, they never left.

I’ve seen dozens of deer in the brown, open fields along my country road, and wonder where all these deer were hiding most of the winter. Deer are masters of camouflage, even white ones. White deer are at a definite disadvantage in their daily fight for survival, so maybe they do deserve a bit of an edge against human predators. Am I getting soft in my old age? Probably.

Area sturgeon success

Hats off to five “frozen chosen” sturgeon spearers from Shawano County who were among the lucky ones who harvested fish this season.

Tim Jacobson, of Eland, Duwayne Vangheem, of Cecil, Randall Radloff, of Bonduel, Jonathan Laude, of Leopolis, and Bryce Gagnow, of Shawano, all did what this outdoors writer could not. Congratulations.

Ross Bielema is a freelance writer from New London and owner of Wolf River Concealed Carry LLC. Contact him at Ross@wolfriverccw.com.

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