Good for the Woods and Your Freezer: Wisconsin's Spring Turkey Hunt

Good mornin' cheeseheads! This is the Wiscampsin Weekly - the email that gets you in the know on the Wisconsin Outdoors in less than 5 minutes.

The 'pecking' order for today:

• Feathered fellas for your freezer 🦃 

• Trading labor for beer 🍻 

• Bald eagles are back in MKE county 🦅 

Spring Turkey Season: Good for the Woods and Your Freezer

Turkeys? Like, Thanksgiving? But I'm still digesting mom's green bean casserole from LAST year!

Don't worry Ryan, it's not THAT turkey season. We're talking Wisconsin's Spring Turkey Hunt.

Turkey Hunting? Each spring, over 130,000 hunters take to the woods and fields to harvest roughly ~40,000 wild Wisconsin turkeys.

Facts to 'gobble' up

• Turkey hunting is the second-most popular season behind whitetail deer

• There are about 350,000 wild turkeys in Wisconsin

• Of the two hunting seasons - spring and fall - spring is more popular

• Turkeys are harvested with shotgun, crossbow, or bow and arrow. Or car, if you're not paying attention to the road...

Curing 'turkey fever'

You may not know this, but after our dairy, beer, and niceties at 4-way stops, we're actually pretty famous for our turkey hunting.

It's easy to see why:

• Plenty of Eastern Wild Turkeys (about 350,000)

• Tons of public land (roughly 7.1 million acres)

• Liberal tag limits at a low cost (AKA - very inclusive)

But the real reason we're known for gobble glory is our historic conservation of the wild turkey.

Hunting = Conservation

Kill turkeys?! I thought we're enemies with the Chicago Bears, not the Wisconsin Turkeys...

Wisconsin's wild turkey population was essentially non-existent until its 1976 reintroduction. Thanks to the efforts of the Department of Natural Resources, conservationists, and hunters, we now boast one of the strongest flocks in the country.

The equation is fairly straight forward - hunters plug money into the system through the purchase of licenses, and the DNR uses it to conserve the turkey population.

Turkey Stamps - not for mailing

Each year, over $750,000 is raised through the purchase of our storied Turkey Stamps (licenses), the money of which used for “conserving, restoring, and maintaining the wild turkey population within the state." (Think: planting trees and shrubs for foraging/brooding, maintaining grassland areas, etc).

Cripes that's a lot of dough!

From 1996-2013, over $11.7 million has been raised through the sale of Turkey Stamps to keep our flocks a-flockin' in Wisconsin.

But it gets even more methodical than that. What a cliff hanger, keep reading folks.

Seven zones to hone in on a gobbler

We got some smart cookies at the DNR - they've masterfully structured Wisconsin’s spring turkey hunt into 7 management zones and 6 time periods, starting in April and ending in May.

With staggered dates (read: each 'tag' is valid for 7 days) it's possible to hunt a turkey in one zone, then travel to a new part of the state for a different period/zone.

Most importantly, it helps sustain the turkey flock throughout the spring season.

This uncommon system is why so many non-residents hunt turkeys in our state every year. The good beer helps, too.

Feathers for the freezer

Now that you're convinced, you're probably itchin' to get out 'der and and try your luck, huh?

Turkey hunting ain't like shooting fish in a barrel, though here's a good list to get you started.

1. Safety first. If you're unfamiliar with firearms, bow and arrows, etc, a Hunters Safety course might be a good idea. Make your ma happy, too.

2. Purchase a hunting license + Turkey Stamp: The application deadline for spring turkey harvest authorizations is always Dec. 10, so if you're reading this, you probably missed that. But you might be able to get a leftover tag here.

3. Here's the gear that is absolutely crucial, and here is a list of "nice to haves" ;)

4. If you're not like Uncle Paul and miss every g-dang thing you shoot at, you will successfully kill a Wisconsin gobbler.

5. Celebrate, you've just participated in Wisconsin's conservation efforts.

6. Register your turkey (a crucial step in the conservation equation).

7. Then it's time to field dress the turkey (fancy term for cuttin' it up) to get all the delicious meat into your freezer.

If you're thirsty for more knowledge, read this article. Now get out 'der and be safe!

Hipcamp find of the week ⛺️

Cabin with room for the whole family (or group of friends)? Check. Lake access? Check. A secluded, northern WI getaway? Check. Act now, Sheryl - Cabin 3 Camp on North Twin has your name all over it!

Nuts and Seeds 🌰 

🍺 Will work for beer: Some Milwaukee breweries are willing to wet your whistle (*give you free beer*) for helping with Earth Day cleanups around Milwaukee River on April 2nd.

🦇 WI Bats are striking out: Authorities are proposing moving the long-eared bat to the endangered list. Wisconsin's population of bats is being threatened by a deadly fungus. This fungi is not in fact fun.

🦅 Bald is back, baby: Not the hairstyle though - sorry fellas. Since 1972, there had been no active bald eagles' nests in Milwaukee County - until now! We now have eagles nesting in every county. And Ben Franklin wanted the turkey to be the national bird...

Well, how'd we do this week?

• 🧀🧀🧀🧀🧀 Better than a finely-aged cheese

• 🧀🧀🧀 Still better than Illinois, but could be better

• 🧀 Boo. This made me lactose intolerant