Chapter #1

A force as big as all outdoors:

Meals: $165  Fishing license: $30   New boat and trailer:  $52,000   ATV: $6,000

Motel: $69.95 x 5 nights   Boat registration: $60   Hunting license: $50   Gas: $75

Two weeks’ groceries: $300  GPS and walkie-talkies: $295    Gas $115

Polarized sunglasses: $90  Fish finder: $360   Boat winterization: $300

New rod and reel: $295   Flowers for my wife for letting me go fishing: $45

New rifle: $785   Cabin: $25,000  Property tax: $4,200  Hunting land : $115,000

Chain saw: $189     Trolling motor: $280    New boots and coat: $325

Taxidermy (with any luck): $450

A  dollar here .  A hundred dollars there .   It adds up to more than you might think.

America’s  34 million hunters and anglers are an  economic  powerhouse , driving  the  economy.  They’re  passionate about their pastimes and  they  spend passionately too.

Multiply individual  spending by those many millions of  people , and  you’re  talking  a major  force in our economy, through  booms as well as  recessions .  They directly  support 1.6 million jobs .  They  spend more than a billion dollars  just  on  licenses,  stamps ,  tags   and  permits, and  they generate  $25 bi l l ion a year in  federal , state and local  taxes .

By  any  measure , hunters and  anglers are among  the most  prominent  and  influential of all demographic groups. Hunters and  anglers  support  twice as  many  jobs  as  the combined  civillian  payrolls of  the Army, Marine Corps , Navy and  Ai r Force .

$208 million a day. $1.5 billion per week.  Annually hunters and anglers  spend  $9 billion to  lease and purchase land for their sports . That’s  enough  to purchase  27,000  new homes or rural  acreage larger  than  the states of  Rhode Island  and Delaware  combined.

No mortgage crunch here. Without  hunters and anglers, our economy would be a lot   smaller. $76 billion smaller, in fact. That’s how much they spend  each  year on their pass ion for the outdoors.  If a single corporation grossed as much as hunters and anglers   spend,  it would be among America’s  20  largest ,  ahead of  Target , Costco and AT&T.  Buthunters’  and  anglers ’  influence  goes   even  further.  They  create an economic “ r ipple effect “.  They keep people working: not  just   in  typical  hunting and  fishing  jobs ,  but also in ga s stations,  retail , restaurants  and hotels  throughout  every  state and  congressional  district of  the  USA.

There  are  other  numbers ,  too.  For   instance ,  Americans  spend more   time  hunting and  fishing  each  year  than days  spent running  the Federal  government   (737 mi l l ion days vs . 486 mi l l ion) . Together, hunters and anglers are a significant voting bloc. In fact, their voting potential was 31% of all votes cast in the 2004 presidential election. Eighty percent of sportsmen are “likely voters,” far more than the national average. They can change the tide of elections. And, as you might guess, they tend to favor pro-sporting candidates.

$8.6 million an hour. Spending by hunters  and anglers  is  more than the revenues of  Microsoft , Google, eBay and Yahoo—combined                                 (76 billion vs . 73.6 billion)

Higher earnings than high-tech. (34  MILLION VS . 27  MILLION ) More  people  hunt and fish  than watch the  nightly newscasts of  the three major  networks—ABC,  CBS, and  NBC.  Breaking news.  Hunting  and fishing  Americans  out  number motor- sport  fans  by more  than 2 to 1.   In  fact ,  they could  fill  every NASCAR  track 13  t imes over.

Racing ahead. If  the $76 billion that  sportsmen  spend on hunting and  fishing were the Gross Domestic Product of  a country,  sportsmen as a nation would rank 57 out of  181 countries .

On  lodging  alone,  hunters spend more than the annual  revenues of  Comfort  Inn, Comfort  Suites, Quality Inn,  EconoLodge,  Rodeway  Inn and Sleep  Inn  combined. Sleep on it.

Spring Gobbler Strategies
Early Morning Early Morning Calling Midmorning Afternoon
Roosting Birds Decoy Setup
Turkey Hunting Weather Conditions

Calm Days Windy Days Rainy Days Snowy Days Hot Days

Early Morning Setups    

Listen for gobbler thunder from a ridge top, knoll or similar high spot at dawn. The higher you hunt the easier it is to hear and course faraway gobbles. If a bird roars on a nearby oak flat or just off the point of a ridge, great! Sneak quietly down into calling position.

The first time a turkey gobbles, don’t tear down the woods running to him. Keep cool; slip 25 to 50 yards in the direction of the gobble; and check up. A tom will usually gobble 2 or 3 more times, and hopefully more than that. Listen to those calls and draw a solid line to the bird’s roost tree.

Using ridges, hollows and foliage for cover, you should have no trouble sneaking within 200 yards of a roosted turkey. Whenever possible, try to cut the distance to 125 or even 100 yards. The less terra firma between you and a bird, the better the odds that he’ll pitch down and drift to your calls at daybreak.

For some strange reason, most toms are reluctant to pitch from their limbs and strut downhill to calling. Try to position above a roosted bird, or at least on the same gradient plane with him.

As you approach a gobbling turkey, scan the woods for a fence, creek, gully or strip of thick brush, and maneuver to take any hazard large or small out of play. Strive to set up where the terrain is gently rolling and fairly open, which makes it easy for a tom to strut toward your calls.

The best strategy of all is to anticipate where a gobbler will go to gather hens, then set up to block his way. Is there a field, food plot, clear-cut, burn or open creek bottom within a half-mile or so of a tom’s roost tree? If so, beat feet over in that direction and settle in. When the turkey flies down and heads for his strut zone, you’ll be in good position to cut him off and coax him with calling.

Early Morning Calling      

Let’s say you do it right and slip within 100 yards of a roosted turkey that is gobbling hot and heavy. The more the bird roars, the more you feel an uncontrollable urge to cluck and yelp. But be careful! Too much calling at first light can hang a tom on his limb as he waits for the hot “hen” to sail or walk beneath his roost tree. And the longer he sits up there and fails to see a girl, the more he smells a rat. When the bird finally flies down 30 minutes later, there’s a good chance he’ll run the other way.

So fight the urge to call too early. Wait until pink illuminates the sky. Then give a bird some pillow talk to let him now you’re there. A couple of sultry tree clucks and yelps are about right.

If the turkey bellows shut the heck up! He has honored you as a hen, he likes what he heard, and he knows where you are. Let him fly down and come looking for you. But if the tom fails to gobble, cluck and yelp a little louder to focus his attention in your direction.

If he still doesn’t talk, it’s no big deal. Listen for the bird to fly down, then hit him with a spirited hen cackle. Try flapping a Primos turkey wing against your leg to sound like a hen pitching to the ground. If the tom gobbles and steps your way, you might not need to call again. But if he hangs up after 5 minutes or so, cluck, yelp and purr a little louder. As long as the turkey hangs around and gobbles keep playing the game. Most hunters move too quickly on toms that might eventually strut to their calls 30 minutes or so after fly-down time.

Midmorning Tactics Back Up

Turkeys might gobble like crazy on the roost. But for an hour or two after daybreak the woods may fall as quiet as a mausoleum. That’s because the hens and toms are courting and breeding. Toms strut and drum but gobble little if at all as they have their fun. The so-called “gobbling lull” is the toughest time of day to hunt.

But along about 9 o’clock some hens begin to leave some of the gobblers. Some girls simply lose interest in the boys, while others slip off to lay eggs. Lovesick toms are driven to be around hens all the time in the spring, so they immediately begin searching for more company. Some rowdy 2-year-old males may start gobbling hard in hopes of attracting new hens. Older long beards strut and drum intensely, and they are stoked to shock gobble.    

“Gobblers strut around all morning, and suddenly they look up and their hens are gone,” says my friend Harold Knight of Knight and Hale Game Calls. “They almost fly into a panic. If you slip around the woods and call, those lonesome turkeys will hear you and gobble. If they gobble a couple of times at your calls, they’re generally pretty easy to call in.”

There’s another big reason the midmorning hours are hot. You’ve got plenty of elbow room to do your thing. “Most hunters have gone home or to work,” notes Knight. “A lot of the gobblers that were called to and maybe spooked first thing in the morning have settled back down. The woods have calmed down and the turkeys are back on their normal routine. If you’ve got the day off, hang in there. You’ll have the woods to yourself as you call to those lonely gobblers.”

Beginning around 9:00 a.m. walk old logging roads, field edges, foot trails on ridges…you get the idea. Pause often and listen for gobbles. Try to strike toms with calls. ”

I like to blow a hawk or crow call,” says Knight. “Lonely turkeys have so much pent-up energy that they’ll often shock gobble at those sounds. The minute a turkey gobbles, I move in, set up in a good spot and switch over to soft hen calls.”

If locator calls fail to produce, turn to turkey calling. “My favorite calls are loud yelps and especially cutts,” says Knight. “If a gobbler’s hens have left and he’s strutting around by himself, he’ll nail a sharp cutt most of the time.”

Knight offers one exception to the rule of calling aggressively to strike toms. “When I hunt a public area late in the season, I figure most of the gobblers are call shy,” he says. “So I tone down my calling. I still cover lots of ground and call down into hollows and around fields, but I yelp and cutt softer and not as much.”

Afternoon Strategies      

Combined, more than 25 Southeastern, Midwestern and Western states permit all-day turkey hunting in the spring. If you live in or travel to one of these states you can experience some great action beginning after lunch and continuing until roosting time. Most of the early-morning hunters are out of the woods. But the gobblers are still there, most of ’em deserted by hens and stoked to gobble at your locator calls or hen cutts.

But keep this in mind. You can’t expect a turkey to gobble 50 or more times in the afternoon like he might first thing in the morning. Most birds won’t even gobble as much as they might around 9 or 10 a.m. You need to crow call or hen cutt and listen closely for a faint gobble or two. Then move in and listen for softer sounds, like a turkey strutting or walking in the leaves. A lot of turkeys, especially old Easterns, will gobble only once or twice in the afternoon, but they’ll come to your calls fast and silently.

Afternoon hunting generally peaks from around 2 to 4:30 p.m., but you might as well hunt right up until dark some days. Gobblers love to roost within 50 to 200 yards of hens. If a turkey hears you yelping and cutting late in the day, he might come in to roost in the area. Better yet, he might run over to check out the hen before he flies up.

Roosting Toms Back Up

One of the oldest tricks in the book in to “put a gobbler to bed.” On spring evenings hit the woods and listen for a turkey to gobble when he flies up to roost at dusk. If a bird doesn’t roar on his own, owl hoot, crow call or hen cutt. Hopefully one or more birds will gobble and give away their roost trees. Even if no toms talk you should listen for heavy wings thumping up into the treetops.

If you hear a turkey gobble or fly up, you know where to hunt the next morning. Slip into the area well before first light, set up 100 to 150 yards away from a turkey’s roost and wait for tom to roar. Then give him your best calling.

“A roosted turkey sure ain’t a roasted turkey!” goes an old Southern saying. That’s right. You might come back the next morning and a turkey you roosted won’t gobble. Or he might gobble his fool head off, fly down and run straight away from your calling. You just never know. Still, you should try to roost a few birds each spring. It sure never hurts to plan a morning hunt in an area where you put a gobbler to bed the night before.

Decoy Setups

We’ve developed a love-hate relationship with decoys over the years. Granted, some lovesick toms run to fakes. But we’ve watched far too many birds stop 50 yards out, explode into strut and wait for the “hen” to walk the rest of the way to them. Here’s a good way to cut down on some of those hang-ups.

Stake a fake hen 20 yards past a calling setup. This puts you smack between the decoy and the gobbling turkey you’re yelping to. If the bird works in and stops 50 yards from the imposter, great! He’s 30 yards or so off the end of your shotgun barrel.

A few final notes: Pack two foam hens and a foam jake (from Feather Flex or Carry Lite) in your vest. Set the trio on their stakes; they’ll spin enticingly in the breeze to catch the eye of a gobbler. Setting a jake (or strutting Tom) with a hen or two is important, as a mature gobbler will sometimes see him and come in to kick his butt (the old guy thinks the jake is courting a hen). Decoys work best in fields, logging roads and other open areas where gobblers can spot them a long way off.

If the turkeys wont come to your calling, try letting the decoys do the talking for you. Just setup two or more decoys in an open area and wait.

Turkey Hunting Conditions Back Up

Calm Days     

As a rule turkeys gobble best on clear, calm, high-pressure mornings in the spring. Stand on a ridge or bluff at dawn and you’re apt to hear birds gobbling a mile or more away in all directions.

Not only can you hear well on a nice day, your calls also ring true and carry far. Any mouth or friction call works well. Since yelps and cutts carry nicely, you don’t have to hammer away on calls. Soft to moderately loud calling is most realistic.

In the fall flocks are vocal on calm days. Pause on a hardwood ridge and you might hear birds clucking, yelping and purring 200 to 400 yards away. Listen for birds flying down from a roost, or scratching in the leaves for feed.

About the only down side to a calm day is that turkeys might hear you coming and spook, especially when the fallen leaves are dry and deep in October or November. In this case try to walk along field edges, logging roads and the like. Pause often to call and listen for turkeys calling back or scratching.

Windy Days Back Up

Wind is the bane of turkey hunters. For one thing birds don’t gobble very much after they’re been whipped around in trees all night. Same thing in the fall; birds don’t feel like roost clucking or yelping much after windy nights. Even if birds gobble or yelp a few times you probably can’t hear those calls because of a stout breeze.

Here are a few ways to fight the wind. ·

Hunt early in the morning. The wind often dies at dawn and stays down for an hour or so before it starts to whistle again.
Check for single birds or flocks roosted on the lee sides of ridges, hills or points.
In midmorning and afternoon, check for strutters or flocks loafing in hollows, draws, creek bottoms and other low, wind-broken habitats.
Use friction calls. High-pitched box and pot-peg calls seem to pierce to wind better than diaphragms.
If a turkey gobbles back at your calls, set up quickly and be ready. Since the wind limits your hearing a tom is likely closer than he sounds.

Rainy Days Back Up      

Turkey hunting is poor in heavy rain. The birds are neither vocal nor active, so there’s really no reason to get out there and get drenched. But say one morning a low front passes through. The sky brightens and the sun pops out after a night of downpours or storms. Hit the woods! In the spring many toms start gobbling for hens. And in the fall flocks begin to move around and feed.

If it’s misty, foggy or raining lightly put on a rain jacket and go hunting. Some toms gobble great on gray days.

On rainy mornings in the spring turkeys tend to stay in their roost trees longer than normal. I’ve called to gobblers that didn’t fly down until 7:30 or even 8:00 a.m. Same thing in the fall, flocks linger in trees well after first light. Keep this in mind as you walk around and call.

Fields, food plots, power line rights-of-way and similar open areas are great places to check for single turkeys or flocks on rainy days. Many turkeys don’t like to hang around in dripping woods, largely because their hearing is impaired. They move out into openings where they can hear better. Also the birds try to avoid water-soaked brush and saplings.

Forget about using wooden box calls or natural slates with wooden pegs-they won’t ring true on rainy or misty days. Use a diaphragm or an aluminum or glass pot with a carbon striker. Of course diaphragm or tube calls work okay.

Snowy Days Back Up

Snow is not uncommon if a state’s fall turkey season runs into December. And every once in a while you might run into some white stuff on a spring hunt in the Midwest, North or West. A couple of years ago I hunted in New Mexico in May. One night it snowed a foot, and the next morning the toms gobbled like crazy!

Expect turkeys to roost in warm, sheltering evergreen trees on cold, snowy nights. Pockets of pines or cedars on the lee sides of hills or ridges are great places to check for birds. The next morning the turkeys will stay in the trees longer than normal. When they fly down, toms often linger beneath the conifers to strut or feed where the ground is bare.

Try tracking turkeys in snow. Look for fresh tracks and upturned leaves where birds raked for food. Keep a sharp eye ahead. Turkeys are easy to see against a canvas of snow. But then so are you! To keep roosted or feeding birds from spotting you, move slowly and use ridges, draws and other terrain breaks for cover.

If it’s still snowing lightly when you hunt, use a diaphragm, tube, aluminum or glass call. Keep wooden calls and strikers in your vest because they’ll be affected the moisture.

Hot Days

In the spring the sun is intense and the days heat up rapidly, especially in the South. Whenever I hunt in Texas, Mississippi, Florida, etc., I key on shady cover beginning around 10 a.m. or so. When the temperature soars into the 70s or 80s and the sun shimmers on the black backs of toms, they often move into cool, shadowy creek bottoms, oak hammocks, live oak mottes and the like. Sneak close to these strutting/loafing areas and crow call or cutt-you’re likely to make a turkey shock gobble.

Illinois Sportsmen Against Hunger

Hunters are encouraged to donate their entire deer harvest to food banks and charities. Participating meat processors will grind the venison into two-pound packages of burger. Hunters MUST properly field dress the deer before delivering to the meat processor. Any questionable deer will not be accepted by the processor. Road kill deer may not be donated based on the inability to determine time of death of the animal.
With the start of deer season, the program will offer $50 to assist with the processing cost of whole deer donations only.
Your tax-deductible donation to assist with the cost of the processing can be made by noting on your check, “Illinois Sportsmen Against Hunger” in the memo section, payable to the Illinois Conservation Foundation. Our address is: One Natural Resources Way, Springfield, IL 62702-1271.
The hungry of Illinois welcomes your involvement in the Illinois Sportsmen Against Hunger program. Consider volunteering to help the program feed the needy in Illinois. Here is a list of the Meat Processors.
For more information you may call 217-785-5091 or write to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Illinois Sportsmen Against Hunger, One Natural Resources Way, Springfield, IL 62702-1271. Email: tracy.shafer@illinois.gov.
Visit this page to hear our Target Hunger Now! September Event

LAPEL PIN COLLECTORS

You can order your 2010 Turkey and Big Buck pins by mailing a check for $5.00 (each) to ILCF- PINS, One Natural Resources Way, Springfield, IL 62702-1271 – PLEASE MARK YOUR ENVELOPES ATTN: PIN DEPARMENT

His gobble about scared me to death! I sure wasn’t expecting to hear a turkey already very close to the spot I intended to set up — especially after spooking three deer on the way in that headed precisely in his direction just a few minutes earlier.

But he was there.

After relocating, I let things settle down for about 30 minutes before offering some plaintive yelps that immediately elicited a gobble. For another 40-or-so minutes, I’d yelp and he’d gobble — but neither one of us appeared to be moving. Rather than being patient, I tried to move again — to see if I could get a look at him — and he shut up. Frustrated at my own lack of patience, I slipped quietly out of the woods and headed home.

Listening to a calling tape on the way home, the host mentioned that he found turkeys to be creatures of habit. “If you see them at a given spot one morning, they’ll be somewhere close by the next morning about the same time.” That sentence hatched my plan for the next day. Instead of getting up a 3 a.m. to make an hour-long drive and be in the woods before sunrise, I decided to be in that same spot at the same time — about 8:30 a.m.

I slept in, arrived in plenty of time.

The previous morning, he’d answered my call around 9 a.m. It was 8:30 as I walked up to the tree I intended to sit against and heard him gobble before I’d even made a sound.

He was on the ground at 8:45.

Luck undoubtedly played a role, but so did preparation. That’s what this story is all about. You can have the best spring turkey season ever by preparing to have the best spring turkey season ever.

From here, three elements are more important than any others in preparing to have a great gobbler season — scouting, shooting and sitting. That might sound strange, but what follows will help you understand the importance of each.

SCOUTING

No hunter can downplay the importance of scouting. Many hunters consider it a rite of spring to “put gobblers to bed” by spending time in the woods near sunset, looking and listening for turkeys to learn where they’re going to spend the night. Carry a pair of compact binoculars, and try to find some spots that will enable you to glass fairly large chunks of land in search of turkeys.

You don’t need to — and shouldn’t — get close to turkeys when you’re scouting. Good binoculars will help you to locate birds and pattern their movements from a distance. You won’t be disturbing them or the habitat they’re using.

Another form of scouting involves predawn trips to the edges of the turkey woods with locator calls. Crow calls and owl hooters often will elicit shock gobbles from toms that are still on the roost. Once again, the concept with this kind of scouting is not to get on top of the birds, but rather to gain a general idea of the areas they’re using before the season opens.

A turkey has numerous advantages: good eyesight, the ability to fly, familiarity with the terrain, etc. However, a prudent hunter has skills he can employ, too, like preparation, woodcraft and timing. Photo by John Higley.

Spring turkey hunting is upon us again, and with opening day comes the usual variety of situations hunters must overcome to optimize their time in the woods. Understandably, hunters with years of experience make the right moves most of the time, but newcomers are often frustrated in their efforts to call a wary wild tom turkey into take-home range. With beginners in mind, here are five common keys to more productive turkey hunting.

Stick It Out

The hunter looked at his watch. It was only 7 a.m., but the woods were already quiet. The tom turkey he heard gobbling like crazy from his ponderosa pine roost a half-hour ago was now on the ground with hens, and silent. The hunter knew the feathered Romeo would be nearly impossible to call as long as the ladies were with him, so it was time to weigh his options.

Being experienced in the ways of turkeys, the hunter knew he still had a chance. It was the middle of the season, a time when many hens jilt the toms sometime during the day to visit their nests and lay another egg. Knowing this, our hero reckoned his best bet was to hang around for awhile. Indeed, a lot of gobblers that suddenly find themselves henless are harvested during mid-day by patient hunters who don’t depart from the woods too early.

Tuck Him In

Mid-day is definitely a good time to score on a gobbler but hunting at daybreak, while different, often is even better, especially if you know where to start. If you can, take the time to scout the evening before your hunt, and you may hear a gobbler sound off as he approaches his roost tree or after he flies up. Pin pointing such a bird makes it possible for you to move into realistic calling range in the dark of early morning, without advertising your presence and possibly spooking Mr. Turkey off his branch.

Sit quietly once you’re in position, and see if the tom will gobble on his own. When that happens, answer him with a few soft hen yelps to let him know where you are, then wait and see what he does. Lots of toms come in as soon as their feet hit the ground, and that sometimes happens even when there are real hens in the vicinity.

Use Woodsmanship

One thing that many hunters don’t give much thought to is how to proceed when a tom gobbles over yonder and you have to get closer to call him in.

Be Flexible With Your Calling

No one can tell you how much to call to an individual tom turkey, either to keep him interested or bring him in. A good rule of thumb is to start by calling sparingly. If a gobbler responds strongly, keep at it. However, if the bird doesn’t react favorably, try a change of tactics. Call aggressively and more often, and see what happens. Who knows, that may really fire him up!

Analyze Each Situation

There are so many things that affect the outcome of a turkey hunt that it would be impossible to cover all of them here. Some common things that might foil your best efforts include (as always) the presence of hens, a physical barrier between you and the turkey (fence, stream, brambles and so on), or a predator that shows up unexpectedly. Of course, there are always a lot of unforeseen problems to deal with and that’s part of the fun. If you analyze each situation as it occurs, and adjust to it as best you can, your odds for success will increase accordingly.

Spring turkey hunting is an addictive pastime partly because there are so many elements to deal with. The five keys listed here are basic, and one or all of them may be applied in some phase of every hunt. As such, they should be part of every turkey hunter’s bag of tricks. Just don’t let a tom in on what you’re up to until you’re ready to give him a ride home with you.

Wild Turkey Hunting in Wisconsin

The wild turkey is truly one of Wisconsin’s wildlife management success stories. A key role in the success of the wild turkey management program can be attributed to hunters through their purchase of the Wild Turkey Stamp which provides vital financial support in providing for future opportunities for turkey management and hunting in Wisconsin. Since wild turkeys were first successfully reintroduced into Wisconsin in 1976, population levels continue to increase and expand statewide. Successful restoration of the wild turkey resulted from tremendous hunter and landowner support, good survival, and high quality habitat.

Turkey stamp funds have been providing opportunities for turkey management in Wisconsin since 1995. Sale of the turkey stamp currently brings in over $750,000 annually for developing, managing, conserving, restoring, and maintaining the wild turkey population within the state.  

Plan to attend one of the FREE Turkey Hunter Education Clinics listed below to either brush-up on your skills or to learn new techniques to help you hunt the elusive wild turkey. Typically lasting 2.5-3 hours, the clinics are designed to cover turkey biology and behavior, hunting methods, regulations, safety precautions, and landowner/hunter ethics. You can also look forward to information on in-depth hunting techniques, scoring trophy birds, and a few ideas on preparing your trophy once you get it home. Advance registration is not required.

The Wisconsin DNR is on the lookout for new instructors – if you are interested in teaching a Turkey Hunter Education Clinic in the future, please call (608) 264-8963 or email to learn more.

How do I get a spring or fall turkey permit?
To receive a turkey permit you must apply by application. Applications cost $3 and are available at any DNR Service Center, Licensing Agent, or through our Online Service Center. The application deadline for the spring hunt is December 10th. The deadline for the fall hunt is August 1st. Successful applicants will be notified via mail. After the lottery drawing occurs, remaining turkey permits will be sold over-the-counter on a first-come, first-served basis.

What do I need to participate in the turkey hunt?
To hunt wild turkey in Wisconsin, you need a valid permit (carcass tag), turkey license, and a Turkey Stamp. Permits are distributed using a preference drawing. If you receive notification via mail that you were successful in receiving a turkey permit you will need to purchase a spring/or fall turkey license and a wild turkey stamp (except Conservation Patrons and Senior Citizen Recreation Card holders). Because the ALIS system prints your turkey stamp “privilege” on your license, the actual stamp is no longer required. The actual stamp is available at DNR Service Centers for collection purposes. A carcass tag will print out at the time of the license and stamp purchase.

How do I know if I successfully drew a permit in the spring or fall turkey permit drawing?
The preference drawings for spring and fall turkey permits take place in late January and late August, respectively. Following the preference drawing, postcard notifications are sent out to permit winners and are typically received a couple weeks after the drawing is conducted. Customers who do not receive a postcard or simply would like to know their permit status sooner can check their permit application status online by using the Online Licensing Centeror by contacting a DNR Service Center, or the DNR Call Center at 1-888-WDNRINFo (1-888-936-7463).   

Are the Spring zones the same as the Fall hunting zones?
Yes, however, some zones open during the Spring season are not open during the Fall season. (Example: State Parks).

What is landowner preference?
Residents that own 50 or more contiguous acres within an open wild turkey management zone are eligible for first preference in that zone. If more than one individual is the landowner of a single parcel, only one individual may be considered a qualified landowner for the turkey drawing. A qualified landowner may assign his or her first preference status to an immediate family member, to a resident farm operator, to a family member of the operator, or to a minor for that particular zone. After this assignment, the landowner who assigned his or her eligibility may not apply for a turkey permit using landowner preference.

What state parks are open to Spring turkey hunting?
Governor Dodge (1A), Devil’s Lake (1B), Wyalusing (1C), Wildcat Mountain (1D), Mirror Lake (1E), Buckhorn (1F), Newport (2A), Interstate (4A), and Willow River (4B).

What areas are disabled Spring turkey hunting only?
Natural Bridge (1G), Nelson Dewey (1H), Belmont Mound (1J), New Glarus Woods (1K), Rocky Arbor (1L), and Loew Lake Unit-Kettle Moraine State Forest (2B).

What is the bag limit?
For the spring season it is one bearded or male turkey per tag issued. For the fall season it is one turkey of any age or sex per tag issued.

Do I need a license for assisting other hunters?
No license is required to call turkeys if you do not possess a firearm or bow. A guide license is required if you are charging a fee for your assistance.

Can I shoot a turkey for another hunter?
No.

Can I hunt turkey with the aid of dogs or bait?
Please contact Wildlife Services (Department of Agriculture) for information about abatement techniques:

• Bait may not be used to hunt wild turkey.
• Effective for the Fall 2010 Turkey hunting season: hunters with a valid turkey permit, stamp, and license may use dogs to hunt wild turkey throughout the state of Wisconsin

How do I register my turkey?
Bring the tagged turkey to any designated turkey registration station no later than 5 PM the day after it is harvested.

Fish need homes just like people do. Some can build their own fish habitat house and some hire a fish habitat builder .Here’s a little bit of background on how this idea to create artificial fish habitat has developed, as well as where we see it going in the future. Installing and creating additional fish structure has been going on for many years. We simply feel we have come up with a better way to save the fish and the environment.

Growing up in Northern Illinois, my dad started me fishing at a very young age. Although his father fished, he has never considered himself an avid fisherman. An Architect by trade, he was simply exposing his son to new things outdoors.

At age 7 Jacques’ Cousteau had my undivided attention saving the oceans and sea life, and there my passion lies, these 40+ years later.

Fast forward 20 years,  I’m president and owner of a General/Carpenter contracting business. Be your own boss they all say. Surely it would give me more time to fish right?

Housing in our area exploded, followed by steady commercial growth. We enjoyed what Dad and I agree, was some of the best 15+ years to be a builder. It was here in the trades, I worked with the materials that would come to be fishiding.com, Reclaimed Artificial fish habitat. Building houses for fish came next called artificial fish habitat.

As the recession took hold, our workload diminished. It was time to find another way to pay the bills. (and, did I mention still  fish around the world, bow hunt 90 days/season,Turke…)

As a builder, we had leftover vinyl material in every color, never enough for another job. Made us angry, taking up so much room in our expensive dumpsters. Then it hit me, this stuff would work great underwater and it’s keeping it out of the landfills. Algae will grow. Win-win right?

Next it was off to the professionals (and patent office), to see if it would be accepted into the industry as a safe product, and as widely used as we saw the potential. The wonderful news is the fish love it, with products now in 29 states and counting.

What started with the simplest idea and one fish crib model has turned the industry’s focus in the direction of reclaimed artificial fish habitat products, lasting for many years to come. Install fish habitat that doesn’t decay and break down, it only has to be installed once.

Trial and error, lots of siding, and more fishiding fish structure units in Wonder Lake. We continue to test and develop new textures, sizes and shapes of fish attractors for all types of needs. We film under water to see how the fish structure is being used, and what type fish habitat and size fish prefer different PVC habitat  layouts.

The biologists asked for something more dense, with fine strands to protect the smallest fry and larvae.

Something easy to transport and fit in the boat without the need of tools, weights or chains.

Products that don’t add to energy and pollution concerns.

Wide limbs to create maximum shade benefits.

These concerns have been addressed and resolved with utmost care and consideration.

This is only the beginning. This is Fishiding.

The market is vast, from saltwater to aquaculture, freshwat

er to aquariums and beyond. Fishiding.com will continue to reshape fish habitat, one bend at a time.

www.fishiding.com

Offering the most cost effective solution to artificial fish habitat. Helping save our waterways and fisheries, all the while being conscious of leaving no footprint from manufacturing. This is what we believe. This is for the fish.

Get involved, do your part in reducing our nation’s dependency on fossil fuels. Help America strengthen by buying and supporting products made here in the states.

Reclaimed fishiding artificial fish habitat is made in America with only American made materials. Support your local sportsman/women, for all God’s creatures in our woods and waters they work to protect.