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[ticklishtompro]

Some great discussion here, I wish the DNR would read it all. My biggest concern with an open 6 week season is where I hunt in zone 2. It is the most densly populated zone and the highest hunter densities. I think this would be a big mess here. Sure the later weeks would probably be good after the weekend warriors gave up and the true die hards are all that are left out hunting. The other thing is the 4 bird limit. It just makes me keep thinking about the deer screw up when they just kept giving out so many doe tags. I guess maybe I have lost a lot of faith in the DNR. I work closely with one of our local wildlife biologists for my learn to hunt, I will have to start asking him some questions, he is usually pretty straight up with me.

I just hate to think they could screw up this awesome turkey hunting we have. I remember the days when it was a huge deal if you saw a turkey, cause there weren't many there! Time will tell.

TJ- I hear your pain with the out of state thing, but the main thing is we pay the taxes here just as you do in your state, therefore the residents should have first crack at the tags, at least that is my opinion. I am not just saying that for WI residents, I feel that way for every state, no matter what you are hunting. I actually think WI NR hunting tags are pretty resonable compared with some other states.

[turkey junky]

oh im not complaining about the price of the tag in WI that is great that they are 65 for a license & 15 after that for each tag... i hunt all over the country & there is only a handfull of states handle a draw/apply system the way WI dose with the residents get n all there choices 1st then all the non residents 2nd that is the only prob i have... in that case they should just do a resident only season for the first 1-2 time periods & or a residents only draw/apply... then lump us all into together for a draw? just dont not let non residents not be able to draw a tag for the first 1-2 seasons but we can go ahead & spend the 3 bucks to apply for them seasons...

i think that the residents have n 1st crack thing & bordering states uping the tag prices just to take advantage of non residents the way they is wrong... especially when non residents are giving much more $$$ yr in & yr out to improve habitat in these states??? in WI that may not be the case IDK??? but in ND,SD,NE,KS,IL,OK non residents all give much more then the residents do to protect & improve wildlife habitat... im sure FL is the same way... NE,KS,IL,OK have no non resident rules not allowing them to not hunt opening days/seasons for general game species the only thing they limit is say a elk tag to resident witch i agree with...

i just never thought of it as its my state my game F non residents i mean it sucks for me to drive all the way to canada border in MN & drive all the 20+ miles back on a dirt road to our buddys deer hunting area in a N.F. & see 95% wisconsin plates on the road & parked/camped in every damn parking spot we pass but it never dawned on me to say hey maybe we should limit the amount of WI deer hunters come over here to hunt deer on opening day NEVER... i do think as of now that would be a great idea let the WI hunters wait till our 3rd WK-END to hunt deer that is WI opening WK-END i bet a bunch of wisconsin hunters would complain about that...??? & or dont let folks from wisconsin come & fish our fishing opener till 2 WKs after it opens??? the state of MN welcomes non resident hunters & the $$$ they bring into there state/economy WI dose also just after they have maid the residents happy guess u cant blame them for wanting to have there cake & to eat it 2... same goes for SD...

[ticklishtompro]

I understand why you are bitter but we all have our opinions. It is probably because just within the last 5 years we didn't even all draw tags. Res or NR. So after many years of that we finally have good bird numbers. Did you come hunt WI back then? I guess probably not. Now in the last 2 years is when we just started seeing the over flow of OTC tags. This is all a new thing in WI to be able to even get more than one tag. This year was the first year I was able to get any extra tags in my unit. Before there were some left for the final period and when they went on sale they sold out in a few minutes. So that is what drives me in my thoughts. I still think residents should take precident in any drawings including turkey and our bear tags. As far as NR they still get a chance to get tags, it is not like you can't get one. So I guess we will agree to disagree which is what makes the world go round. If it goes to an open turkey season, then it all changes anyways.

[turkey junky]

yup i mentioned in a early comment that even WI residents complain of not drawing season A-B so im not alone... my 1st season hunting WI turkey was this season but my father had hunted WI prior like 10+ yrs ago & drew a tag with a resident as a group his 1st time ever applying... i also have been told since roughly 2007-2008 from a family friend that has/had hunted wisconsin for years to just head down to unit 1 named some other unit B4 that & get a tag OTC as there is plenty left over tags here for non residents & residents alike so??? charlie elk has also been let n us MN boys know there is plenty of tags & turkeys to be had over in WI for 2-3+ yrs... & with harvest numbers in the 40,000s+ range the last what 10 yrs? WI has been a eastern turkey power house for more then a few yrs... last yr MO only harvested like 38,000 you guys did better then that this season & last season so you guys are doing better then the traditional eastern turkey capital of the mid west the show me state of missouri...

also was not complain n about not being able to get a tag in the state of WI i was just saying the draw in WI is not really a draw for everybody just a draw for WI residents the way they have it set up... i could do what charlie mentioned about drawing a season C tag & trying to double that tag up & or a season D tag & double up on that... i realize that you WI residents have it maid & can hunt damn near all season the way the draw is set up & we non res can hunt about the last 3-4 seasons & i hope that dose not change in the future i would just like the chance to draw a season A-C tag like everybody else in the draw reguardless of res or not??? but???

[ticklishtompro]

I should clarify what I was talking about. In our zone 2 there haven't been a lot of surplus tags till the past 2 years. Zones in the western part of the state and south west have had more OTC for a few years, that is why we used to go hunt unit 3. And I think it was about 5 years ago, maybe 4 that they changed the zones in WI. There used to be 50+ zones, can't remember the exact number, and the tag situation was totally different. By making the new zones, that totally changed the OTC tag situation.

Just want to say, I don't want you to think I have a problem with NR coming over hunting, there are plenty of turkeys to go around, and TJ I wouldn't have given you the info I did if I thought that way. Heck, you can have the first season, I never apply for it as the weather is usually to iffy and it seems like half the time it snows that season. The earliest I apply for is the 2nd. And I usually get it!

[turkey junky]

me i dont need to hunt the 1st couple wks of the season to tag turkeys i just think it would be fair if NR have a shot to at least draw a tag in the 1st-3rd seasons in the state of WI i also dont really like to hunt the early seasons as i hate snow hunting turkeys...

i do appreciate the info you passed along tickleishtompro & after looking into it ill most likely just stick to my unit 1 areas as them MFL lands confuse me & i dont/wont need to buy a plot map to hunt them & like i mentioned B4 wisconsin posts there public/private lands very poor & i dont want to have any probs with land owners & trespassing issues so ill most likely be missing out on good hunting but i have to like wear im hunting 1st off... also not a lot of crop lands in the area from the on-line pics mostly woods so but thanks again...

we will just have to agree to dis-agree on this topic take care en-joy the summer