When is the best possible time period to hunt turkey?
We recently received our notification on what time period and what zones we drew for the Wisconsin spring turkey hunting season. That is, if you remembered to get your application in before midnight on Dec. 10.
If you didn’t, then you’re waiting for the excess turkey tags to go on sale later this year. And there are usually a lot of tags available.
Last October the Wisconsin Sporting Freedom Act was introduced in bill form for consideration in the legislature. One of the proposals in this legislation would change the turkey hunting season. It would combine hunting zones and seasons to just two zones and two seasons instead of six time periods like it is now.
The sponsors said that the current structure is restrictive and makes it diffi cult for many hunters. I was a little perplexed by this, but it was in the prime of hunting when this came out so I just kept on hunting, and like I said, I already know what and where I will be hunting this year. Right where and when I requested.
A small, very vocal group of turkey hunters have wanted an over the counter license, and an open season for a long time, like a decade or more. Other states have seasons like that, so it’s not reinventing the wheel, and they want that in Wisconsin.
The current season structure was set up to create a high quality hunt on minimally pressured birds. I know hunters that hunt several time periods in Wisconsin each year. To me, that kind of questions what the supporters of this legislation say about restrictive structure.
I was expecting a lot of support for this new proposal and didn’t find any, but most I talked to said they wouldn’t mind a few changes. Mostly they would welcome a change in the starting day of the time period.
Most would like it to start on a Saturday instead of a Wednesday. Their reasoning is simple, understandable and logical. Since our ancestors first picked up a spear, hunting has always had a sociological component. So does this.
To hunt all seven days of a hunter’s time period they would have to take a week’s worth of vacation, and they get two less days off then they normally would if they were able to hunt Saturday to Friday. Some hunters can only take vacation per work week. For them, they would have to take two weeks of vacation to hunt seven days and they feel like this wastes valuable vacation time. “If it started on Saturday, I could hunt two time periods instead of one for the same amount of vacation,” said one hunter. When the turkey hunt was established the time period ran five days and hunting hours were from first light to noon. Now the time period is seven days from sun up to sun down. So changing the days of the time period makes perfect sense and would make the hunt more enjoyable. Some I talked to said that they wouldn’t mind the periods running two weeks instead of one, but others said that a week of hard turkey hunting goes a long ways. They are ready for a break when they get done with their week.
Many hunters buy additional tags for other time periods to hunt more. Some harvest more than one turkey with this opportunity. Some purchase a left over tag if they forgot to apply and hunt on that.
Some hunters worried about their spots being crowded with the proposed change because everyone will be in a rush to hunt the first five days of the first half of the season. Some said they would worry about being shot.
One guy said that the guys that forget to apply won’t be getting a tag for the first period on the new proposed structure so what do they care anyway.
A lot of hunters said they didn’t care because they don’t turkey hunt. Those that did turkey hunt said they would continue hunting turkeys if this proposal passes. But a couple said they would most likely only hunt the years they drew a tag in the early time period.
I could see where hunters from different parts of the state feel differently. I could see how this could be argued from both sides.
Maybe it’s the just the devil we know verses special interest, but no one I talked to felt that the politicians cared about what they thought.
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CHUCK K OLAR LOCAL OUTDOORSMAN
