State of Wisconsin spring turkey hunt
February 9th, 2006 by Administrator
State of Wisconsin spring turkey hunt - Spring turkey hunt drawing - If you were one of the 160,000 spring turkey hunting permit applicants who were drawn for the spring hunt, you should have received the post card indicating that you have been selected. There were 40,000 spring turkey permits not applied for.
Those permits, of course, are for those hunting periods not considered prime times and in a few cases, zones that are not considered holding many turkeys. The entire state is open to turkey hunting this spring. Those 40,000 permits will be sold over-the-counter starting at noon on March 10.
In the past, the remaining permits not applied for were issued through a preference drawing to applicants who indicated on their permit applications that they would take a permit from the less popular times and zones.
There were 193,316 permits issued for the 2005 spring season, and hunters harvested 46,159 turkeys for a success rate of about 24 percent. That figure could have been greater if those hunters would have taken the opportunity to shoot a jake, the yearling male turkey, waiting for a big gobbler. Many of us have gone turkey-less for that reason.
And when you think about how much better the yearling would have been on the table - and the opportunity to take a turkey, especially a jake, should be excellent this spring due to exceptionally good winter survival. Although it has been proven that the wild turkey can survive anything a Wisconsin winter can hand out. It’s a cinch that survival will be about a good as it can be this winter.
The spring hunting season will run from April 12 through May 21. The season is divided into six five-day (Wednesday through Sunday time periods. A total of 46 zones, 12 state parks and Fort McCoy will be open for hunting.
Hunters who do not receive an approval to hunt turkeys through the state drawing in a Wisconsin turkey hunting zone for the 2006 spring season are eligible to apply for a spring permit at Fort McCoy by calling (608) 388-3337 or visiting their web site http://www.mccoy.army.mil/ Fort McCoy runs a separate spring turkey hunting season, different from the State of Wisconsin spring turkey hunt.