Turkey Plan Revision Survey Results

[turkey junky]

i think it has alot to do with the average joe hunter out there the average joe hunter dosent even harvest 1 mature gobbler more then say 20%-35% of the time so them same 80%-65% of unsuccessfull hunters feel that a 1 turkey bag limit should keep us turkey hunters happy as it keeps them happy when they finealy do manage to bag a turkey...??? state game agency want to keep the masses happy i guess???

as for the 2 bird limit that would just be dumb in a state that now basicly has a unlimited OTC tags available for the last 2-3 season in WI??? if there is no probs now how can they justify make n drastic changes for no real good reason??? to be honest i feel that i could of easily harvested at least 1 if not 2 more gobblers in WI this past spring season i mean there was birds at every WMA or state forest we hunted it took my father and i 3 days to bag gobblers on 2 different state peaces of land & they were both completely new to us & we even maid a trip back home for a day or so it was some of the best hunts we had last season i sure hope they dont change anything for next spring man that was a great system kept many hunters happy i still dont get the reason to fix things that are not broke...

as for pheasants in WI charlie elk seems to find plenty of ring necks??? i also have seen many pheasants in the swamp/farmlands around grantsburg WI & all the way back to I-35 to the MN side of things so pheasants in WI are very hit or miss... i also herd & seen many in & around the la crosse area of WI last season so many i was thinking of take n my new hunting dog over to WI to harvest a few EZ pheasants for the new pup... & these lands were not state areas wear they release pen raised pheasants into the area... in them areas of WI or some of them any way it is legal to shoot hens??? them areas are the areas in the state of WI wear they releases pheasants to be hunted by hunters later in the yr/season!!!??? kinda lame if you ask me... but many private guides & ranches or hunting outfits in SD do the same to try & keep bird numbers high they release pen raised hens into the wild pheasant population in hopes the wild roosters will breed the hens & the hens will produce young chicks that are seeming wild so each to there own???

also i seen more deer dureing 4 hours of wisconsins opening day deer season then i did hunting 2 wks in MN you guys have it very good in WI for both deer & turkey so if the new changes keep that in place then i guess i can handle changes but to me they are needless changes as of now...

[charlie elk]

Does WI publish how many turkeys are harvested with a hunters first tag, second tag and so on? I would think that the number of hunters that harvest more than two turkeys is very small.

Yes, they know these stats, no they have not made a decision to publish them on WDNR website.
23% of spring hunters accounted for 42,612 birds.
According to WI Outdoor News 33,614 hunters registered one bird, 3,015 hunters registered two birds, and 611 registered three birds. Two hunters registered nine birds each. As with many things published in WI Outdoor News I question their accuracy in reporting. The numbers I have from the WDNR are a tad different, not sure anyone is interested in that debate.

On a more current news front. WDNR sent out a press release a few minutes ago making it sound like there will be no spring changes. The fall is a different story, changes are being discussed; if the only change is the fall drawing elimination keeping the OTC sale going until tags are sold out I'll be a happy camper. I am concerned about a different limit being placed on fall hunters. Which was my concern at the beginning of this post.
Only 5,433 turkeys were shot last fall and only 400 of those were adult hens. According to turkey biologists and studies WI fall harvest can go as high as 60,000 birds without impacting the population. We are no where near that so there is no reason to pass a limit different than we have now. At this point all a limit would do is decrease the number tags sold thereby decreasing funds available of turkey habitat restoration.
I think WI is the only state that has turkey depredation hunts, the population is that high. Vic and I will be participating in that this fall using a farmer's shooting permits.

[turkey junky]

guess thats good to hear to me that they will keep things the same for spring turkey... hope it all works out for you this fall charlie it is still crazy to me that u guys have that bad a over population of turkeys that they allow land owners just to blast turkeys they see due to crop damage... its hard for a MN boy to comprehend... all the farmers in SE MN cry about the number of turkeys destorying crops its hard to think they damage that much more in WI but i seen the numbers of turkeys in person last spring so it must be true...

[Treerooster]

According to WI Outdoor News 33,614 hunters registered one bird, 3,015 hunters registered two birds, and 611 registered three birds. Two hunters registered nine birds each. As with many things published in WI Outdoor News I question their accuracy in reporting. The numbers I have from the WDNR are a tad different, not sure anyone is interested in that debate.

They missed me...I don't any of those categories mentioned.

I think WI is the only state that has turkey depredation hunts, the population is that high. Vic and I will be participating in that this fall using a farmer's shooting permits.

Not really a depredation hunt, but Colo came out this year with a new late fall season (Dec 15th to Jan 15th) in a very limited area. The tags are OTC but only good on private lands. I think the tags are limited to beardless turkeys in this late season and a hunter can only have 2 of the late season tags in addition to the 3 other possible tags (spring & fall) he can get in Colo annually. The reason for the late season is conflicts between turkeys and farmers.

[charlie elk]

They missed me...I don't any of those categories mentioned.

Yeah, you and me both. Those might have been preliminary numbers reported. I'll be getting all the detailed raw numbers soon.

Not really a depredation hunt, but Colo came out this year with a new late fall season (Dec 15th to Jan 15th) in a very limited area. The tags are OTC but only good on private lands. I think the tags are limited to beardless turkeys in this late season and a hunter can only have 2 of the late season tags in addition to the 3 other possible tags (spring & fall) he can get in Colo annually. The reason for the late season is conflicts between turkeys and farmers.

The good news is there are plenty of turkeys. However, I would debate the turkey damage basis. But it is what it is and a hunter might as well go out and take advantage. Much better than a landowner shooting the birds indiscriminately.

[dewey]

According to WI Outdoor News 33,614 hunters registered one bird, 3,015 hunters registered two birds, and 611 registered three birds. Two hunters registered nine birds each. As with many things published in WI Outdoor News I question their accuracy in reporting. The numbers I have from the WDNR are a tad different, not sure anyone is interested in that debate.

Only 5,433 turkeys were shot last fall and only 400 of those were adult hens. According to turkey biologists and studies WI fall harvest can go as high as 60,000 birds without impacting the population. We are no where near that so there is no reason to pass a limit different than we have now. At this point all a limit would do is decrease the number tags sold thereby decreasing funds available of turkey habitat restoration.

Those stats indicate that changing the bag limit from unlimited to 1 or 2 would decrease the potential harvest by about 7-20%. The thing that makes me shake my head about this is if they are concerned about depredation than why even discuss lowering the bag limit . That would make the depredation worse, right? Maybe the WI dnr is just trying to gauge what the public opnion is on the matter but if the population continues to increase with this springs hatch and mild last winter the overall population could get even bigger. Heck pretty soon in WI if you buy one tag you will get another free just to try and control the population.

It appears as though they are trying to fix something that isn't broken?

Dewey

[Gopherlongbeards]

Maybe the WI dnr is just trying to gauge what the public opnion is on the matter
Dewey

This would be my guess. I suspect they are looking for data indicating that the majority of WI turkey hunters support the way turkeys are currently managed, as something they can point to when Joe Schmoe congressmen tells the state legislature that changes need to be made "because the people of WI want it". Some of these alternative proposals are likely on the survey so there can be an official record of them being rejected by the public. Unfortunately, the biology typically takes a back seat to special interest groups when these issues become more and more political. If it were up to the biologists, I don't think there would be any changes made that over regulate harvest or opportunity.

[charlie elk]

The hunters who participated in the survey suggest lowering the bag limits. It is my hope WI Turkey Task Force Committee does not recommend a change. Whatever plan they ultimately come up with will be open for additional public comment in the summer of 2013 then it goes to WDNR for their final recommendation then to the Conservation Congress for approval. If a law needs to be changed the legislature votes and Gov signs. If a reg then legislative committee and Gov office sign off. There are a lot of layers here. The earliest any changes would take effect would be 2014.

[ticklishtompro]

Some good disscussion here and I think Charlie you nailed it by comparing it to peoples fears of what happened to the deer population. But as I looked over the survey and the number of surveys returned from each county I have another conclusion. If you notice a large number of the surveys were done in the eastern counties, which are unit 2. I know a lot of you hunt the western part of the state, but it is different over here. Unit 2 has the highest population density and has more hunters. The tags go fast and the leftover tags sell out. This is the first year I have ever gotten more than one spring tag in zone 2. So some of you are not correct in your assumption of unlimited OTC tags. I understand in other units there are unsold tags, but not all units. Over in the Eastern part of the state there are a lot of birds, but more limited hunting areas because of more urban ares. I think I have some of the best turkey hunting in the state, and I have hunted all over the state, but the competition for tags is fierce. Just wanted to throw in my 2 cents worth and shed a little light on it.

And TJ, no you can not shoot hens pheasants, and yes birds are raised and released every year before hunting season. Most fall to predators or don't make it through the winter, and a lot get hit by cars as the get grit along side the roads.

Gopher, great post on carrying capacity.

So time will tell what they do with the system. I don't see a need for much change, but they don't listen to me anyways.

Randy

[Gopherlongbeards]

Interesting point about the differences in pressure between east and west TTP, I had forgotten how much quicker those unit 2 tags went. In that case, unit 2 hunters might see a season limit of 2-4 gobblers as an INCREASE to their potential harvest over the current system.... To me, this is a perfect example of why the current system is the best way to handle this. tags are equitably distributed in areas of high demand (i.e. unit 2) while areas with surplus opportunity (units 1, 3 and 4) are still able to provide those opportunities to hunters that want them. It's worth noting that the vast majority of hunters who took the survey felt that tags are distributed fairly under the current system.