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The first of the state's six spring
turkey hunting seasons will be held April 16 to April 20 with
high expectations.
Some fear this year's severe
winter could damage the population, but local wildlife
biologists with the Department of Natural Resources expect
another banner year.
Brian Glenzinski, a biologist for
Waukesha and Walworth counties, said the severe winter hasn't
affected birds in our area.
"I have not heard of any
people finding dead birds and no one has called in about
it," he said. "We did have a rough winter, but the
turkeys seemed to make it through it."
One of the nice things about
turkey hunting in the Waukesha County area is that there are
strong populations of birds found even on public ground.
"The Kettle Moraine offers
the perfect mix of habitat for turkeys," Glenzinski said.
"We have about 50 percent woods, 35 percent agriculture,
and 15 percent fields. That is just what a turkey needs to
thrive. The oaks are key because they offer the turkeys both
roosting ability and a food source in their acorns."
The birds are there and thanks to
six separate seasons, hunting pressure is kept more at bay then
the gun deer season when public hunting grounds in Waukesha
County are covered with people.
Still, Glenzinski said hunters
should do their homework if they want to succeed.
"There is hunting pressure
of course," he said. "The main thing I can say is to
get out and scout. The more birds you can locate or roost, the
better chance you'll have if pressure from another hunter
changes things."
In Washington County, birds get a
bit more pressure, DNR biologist Tom Isaac said.
"We have public properties
up here and each of them have wild turkeys," he said.
"Those grounds are the Allenton Marsh, the Theresa Marsh
and the Jackson Marsh. If you hunt them, a person can expect to
bump into another hunter, but there are good
opportunities."
Dense populations also exist
around the Holy Hill area, but Isaac said there's a good chance
that if a farmer allows turkeys hunters, there already are
people hunting the spot.
"But getting permission to
hunt turkeys is still a lot easier then getting someone to let
you deer hunt," he said. "The population is very
strong up here and there haven't been any problems with birds
dying from the winter."
One small concern is that if we
have a really wet spring, nesting could be negatively affected.
Marshy areas can be the most seriously threatened.
"We had a real wet spring a
few years ago and nesting wasn't as good as it usually is,"
he said. "The next year you could tell because there
weren't many jakes running around. The birds won't start nesting
until the end of the month so we'll know more then."
Glenzinski and Isaac agreed that
the only way to get on private land is to get out there and
knock on some doors.
"There are still people who
will let you hunt their land," Isaac said. "But a lot
of hunters are afraid to simply get out there and ask."
Turkey hunting can be considered
one of the more dangerous types of hunting because hunters are
in full cam, and are calling turkeys often with decoys around
them. So Glenzinski suggested extra caution.
"Of course you go by all of
the standard hunting rules with No. 1 being knowing what you are
shooting at and what is behind it," he said. "We also
suggest that hunters put on some blaze orange when they are not
hunting. If you're walking back to the truck, at least have some
orange on."
* * *
In this year's spring turkey
hunting rule book, the DNR had an error in the southern
timetable. The book indicates hunters can hunt 20 minutes AFTER
sunset. That is incorrect. Hunters can hunt just to sunset.
(Dan Durbin writes a weekly
outdoors column for The Freeman. Call Durbin at 644-7940, or
e-mail him at ddurbin@bastdurbin.com
if you have a story idea.)
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