Timing is everything.
For example, writing an every-other-week outdoors column can get tricky with hunting and fishing seasons, state and county meetings and providing enough advance notice for readers to react without giving them too much notice so they forget.
Hopefully you were able to buy a bonus turkey license or two if you either forgot about the Dec. 10 initial application deadline (in today’s computer age, this is still a silly and random deadline) or if you just wanted a few extra chances at a gobbler.
Because I always buy a patron license, I am applying for a 2027 turkey tag when most of you are checking your mail for one of those yellow DNR postcards that signal you drew a 2026 tag. This is one nice feature of buying a patron license, which includes most hunting, fishing and trapping licenses, stamps and even a state parks admission sticker voucher.
I usually apply for season C (April 29 through May 5 this year), and that’s what I got in the drawing. I also bought a bonus tag for season D (May 6-12), because getting a bird with one tag is never a sure thing (the more tags, the better, in theory).
Then again, timing is everything. In 2018, when I luckily avoided the earlier seasons, Mother Nature dumped a weekend blizzard on us April 13-15, with up to 35 inches of snow in some areas (Green Bay had about 2 feet).
Turkeys don’t go indoors, of course, but many of those early-season hunters found conditions more like late deer season.
Trying to fool a tom by imitating the calls of a hen is the game in spring, when only bearded birds (adult gobblers, jakes or even bearded hens) can be harvested.
After about 40 years of turkey hunting in two states, I’m a better-than-average caller, especially with a diaphragm call, but my Old Trusty box call (usually my made-in-Davenport Ol’ Hess) works just fine. Never forget that turkeys are birds and their brains are tiny, but their eyes are sharp, so keep movement to a minimum. Ground blinds are great for turkey hunting, especially if you have young or new hunters with you who are sure to fidget.
Some gobblers come in readily to calling while others come in silently. In nature, the hens typically come to the strutting toms, so it takes persistence to wait out a gobbler that may initially gobble, then hang up out of range.
I know several successful hunters, including my older brother, Brian, who never use a decoy, but I think decoys do work most of the time. If you can add real feathers to your decoy, or even bring a mounted bird afield, go for it. Just be sure to carry your decoys in an orange or camo bag so some careless hunter doesn’t take a pot shot at you as you walk through the woods.
Speaking of safety, never wear red, white or blue while turkey hunting, because these are the colors of a tom. Tuck your bird in an orange bag when you carry it out (the same as the one used for decoys). My friend, Darrell Bartell, of Flatline Your Bird Decoys makes a dandy turkey carrier from heavy orange rope and a pool noodle that I hope to try this season.
I’ve never been a morning person, but turkey hunting is almost always best in the first few hours of the day. In some states, it’s even illegal to hunt them in the afternoon, which is crazy.
I have a hard time sitting much past 10 a.m. After the birds fly down from their roosts and head for open cornfields and pastures for early breakfast prior to 8 a.m., I’ve noticed that a second wave of turkeys sometimes shows up around 9 or later. Late sleepers? Distant visitors? It’s hard to say.
I almost never hunt the afternoons, mainly because they don’t seem to call much after 10 a.m.
If I could sit all day in my blind, I’m sure I could increase my success rate, but when it stops being fun, it’s time to go home. I don’t love wild turkey meat much anyway (all that running and flying makes wild birds much tougher than the fat barnyard variety), so just seeing and hearing turkeys is most of the fun. Time in the woods is time to think, unwind and bask in the calls of spring warblers and the welcome sight of blossoming trees and flowers.
Learn more about conservation efforts that have expanded wild turkey populations and improved or conserved 22 million acres of habitat at https://www.nwtf.org/our-impact.
For turkey hunting information, go to https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/hunt/turkey.
Be sure to share your hunting knowledge with a new hunter this season. There are plenty of kids and even older folks who may not have a place to hunt. You can call or otherwise mentor for a young hunter as long as they have a valid tag.
Ross Bielema is a freelance writer from New London and owner of Wolf River Concealed Carry LLC. Contact him at Ross@wolfriverccw.com.
