Wow
https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/wisconsin-turkey-hunt-harvest-20-year-low
well, we did push the opening back a week
a HUGE percentage of birds in WI have always been shot first week in blinds in front of decoys. most people don't hunt if they don't have that initial success
maybe adjusting the season dates will help protect birds at their most vulnerable.
Looks like a very long season.
How many harvest authorizations can one person get ?
Did 2020 , with the (covid) extra time to hunt increase the harvest significantly and leave gobblers in a shorter supply? Looks like 2020 was up 17%.
Looks like the harvest in the fall has been in a downward trend for over 10 years.
How do the hatch rates look, population trends, are they decreasing ?
I've looked at the data back to 2017. Found it pretty interesting that zone 1 (southwest WI) saw the largest single year decrease (23% from 2020 - 2021) for any zone during that time frame. Zone 1 was absolutely raped and pillaged in 2020 thanks to a YouTuber putting it in the spotlight. The amount of hunting pressure in zone 1 during 2020 was silly. And plenty were non-residents, a pile of them there for the first time. Can't help but wonder if lack of carryover (compared to normal) played a part in the larger decrease compared to other zones.
(https://i.imgur.com/mPiDMkO.png)
While there were fewer bonus harvest authorizations sold in 2021 versus 2020, that decrease does not totally account account for the decline in harvest. Wisconsin is seeing the same trend as many states. There are fewer turkeys on the landscape .We can't expect the boom years of 2007 and 2008 to ever occur again, because those were the peak post reintroduction population years. Predators had not yet keyed in on a new food source, but they certainly have now. Wisconsin has an overabundance of raccoons, and a surprisingly high population of opossums and bobcats. Add coyotes and ravens and crows to the mix, and turkey poults face large odds to survive.
I have always felt that we hunt too early in Wisconsin, in many cases earlier than some southern states. Folks on this forum have already discussed the recent research indicating that hunting too early may impact breeding success. I tend to agree with that.
I tend to agree with the later starts in spring, however states like Wis. IL. and MI. spread the wealth so to speak and spread out the harvest and pressure with their season structures.
Wisconsin has a-f seasons, Illinois has 5 seasons and MI. has multiple hunt codes they use for different time frames.
Ask around to those who harvested birds this year reaping them too? I've heard of several individuals who shot 3 and 4 birds all by reaping. What fun is that?? None IMO.
That's another problem we face. Over the last couple years the amount of birds that has been reaped vs called in and played on a level playing field is ridiculous. Before we end up like some other states declining populations, our DNR needs to fix this now before it gets to out of control. Band reaping and stop selling so many damn extra bonus tags.
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Jan. 2021 Hunter participation and harvest were up sharply during the 2020 Wisconsin fall turkey hunting season, according to the Department of Natural Resources.
Hunters registered 4,600 birds during the fall season, a 21% year-over-year increase. And the 81,710 harvest authorizations issued for the season represented a 9% increase from 2019, according to the agency.
The data are consistent with a trend of increased participation during the coronavirus pandemic of most forms of outdoor recreation.
They also highlight the state's turkey population and good hunting opportunities, according to the DNR.
"Fall turkey hunting license sales were no exception (to the trend), and hopefully, this sparked interest and recruited new hunters who will participate for years to come," said Alaina Gerrits, DNR assistant upland wildlife ecologist. "We are fortunate to have such a robust and healthy turkey population that can support both a spring and fall harvest season in Wisconsin."
Since 2018, the fall turkey drawing has been waived. Anyone with a fall turkey license and stamp was awarded one harvest authorization for the zone of their choice.
In addition to the harvest authorization included with a fall turkey license, a total of 14,000 bonus harvest authorizations were available for purchase in zones 1-4.
The harvest success rate in 2020 was 5.6%, up slightly from 5.1% in 2019. The success rate is calculated based on the number of harvest authorizations sold
Visit dnr.wi.gov
Quote from: whitetaildonky on June 15, 2021, 09:44:55 PM
Ask around to those who harvested birds this year reaping them too? I've heard of several individuals who shot 3 and 4 birds all by reaping. What fun is that?? None IMO.
That's another problem we face. Over the last couple years the amount of birds that has been reaped vs called in and played on a level playing field is ridiculous. Before we end up like some other states declining populations, our DNR needs to fix this now before it gets to out of control. Band reaping and stop selling so many damn extra bonus tags.
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Ok , just how many extra bonus can 1 guy get in a spring season?
They do boast 350,000 turkeys in the state.
2020
Spring harvest 44,963 + 4,600 in the fall = 49563
Quote from: owlhoot on June 15, 2021, 10:02:50 PM
Quote from: whitetaildonky on June 15, 2021, 09:44:55 PM
Ask around to those who harvested birds this year reaping them too? I've heard of several individuals who shot 3 and 4 birds all by reaping. What fun is that?? None IMO.
That's another problem we face. Over the last couple years the amount of birds that has been reaped vs called in and played on a level playing field is ridiculous. Before we end up like some other states declining populations, our DNR needs to fix this now before it gets to out of control. Band reaping and stop selling so many damn extra bonus tags.
Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk
Ok , just how many extra bonus can 1 guy get in a spring season?
They do boast 350,000 turkeys in the state.
2020
Spring harvest 44,963 + 4,600 in the fall = 49563
You can buy one a day starting in late march when they go on sale, with no cap on the number you can have.
They are capped. There are only so many that they will sell and when they are gone nobody can buy any more.
Quote from: Shiloh on June 16, 2021, 08:55:54 AM
They are capped. There are only so many that they will sell and when they are gone nobody can buy any more.
they have an allotment for each of the six seasons broken down into different zones
as long as there are tags available for any season, once they go on sale you can buy one a day until gone. so in theory one could have upwards of 70 tags
Am I missing something? From what I'm seeing in the chart wasn't the 2018 harvest worse than 2021?
On another note and I maybe mistaken. If remember correctly in 2019 wasn't zone 1 in Wis hammered pretty much all year with torrential rainfalls. I tried to find historical data on the matter but didn't have much luck.
Quote from: Paulmyr on June 16, 2021, 06:18:43 PM
Am I missing something? From what I'm seeing in the chart wasn't the 2018 harvest worse than 2021?
On another note and I maybe mistaken. If remember correctly in 2019 wasn't zone 1 in Wis hammered pretty much all year with torrential rainfalls. I tried to find historical data on the matter but didn't have much luck.
Good eye. I made a keystroke error and hit a '6' instead of an '8' for zone 3 in 2018, making the total 2,000 less than it should have been. Corrected in my original post and below:
(https://i.imgur.com/mPiDMkO.png)
It makes the Zone 1 decrease from 2020-2021 the largest in that time frame.
Quote from: Chad Gus715 on June 16, 2021, 08:43:08 AM
Quote from: owlhoot on June 15, 2021, 10:02:50 PM
Quote from: whitetaildonky on June 15, 2021, 09:44:55 PM
Ask around to those who harvested birds this year reaping them too? I've heard of several individuals who shot 3 and 4 birds all by reaping. What fun is that?? None IMO.
That's another problem we face. Over the last couple years the amount of birds that has been reaped vs called in and played on a level playing field is ridiculous. Before we end up like some other states declining populations, our DNR needs to fix this now before it gets to out of control. Band reaping and stop selling so many damn extra bonus tags.
Sent from my SM-A716U using Tapatalk
Ok , just how many extra bonus can 1 guy get in a spring season?
They do boast 350,000 turkeys in the state.
2020
Spring harvest 44,963 + 4,600 in the fall = 49563
You can buy one a day starting in late march when they go on sale, with no cap on the number you can have.
Wow that's almost unbelievable.
I have a feeling some guys are getting the wrong impression by the meaning of bonus tags. Each tag you purchase is only good for a 7 day time frame not the whole season. So in order to be able to hunt the whole season you need to purchase a bonus tag for each of the time frames. You can if you like purchase more than one bonus tag for any 1 week time frame if tags are still available.
Quote from: Paulmyr on June 16, 2021, 06:18:43 PM
Am I missing something? From what I'm seeing in the chart wasn't the 2018 harvest worse than 2021?
On another note and I maybe mistaken. If remember correctly in 2019 wasn't zone 1 in Wis hammered pretty much all year with torrential rainfalls. I tried to find historical data on the matter but didn't have much luck.
Yes that is correct. I was out there in Zone 1 during 2019 and it was bad. It dumped rain nearly all day of my season (D) all of that week. Some spots I went to had completely flooded roads and I couldn't even drive through.
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Looking at the the chart it seems the numbers are similar for all zones in years prior to and after covid restrictions in every zone except zone 1 with The exception of zone 2 in 2017. If the rainfall that I believe I remember had negative impacts on recruitment I think it would go along way towards explaining the poor numbers posted on zone 1 this year.
I tried to find polt survey numbers for Wis in 2019 and was unsuccessful using Google. Could the poor numbers be explained by a bad hatch/polt survival due to bad weather? Wish I could find the info on weather and brood surveys for 2019.
Quote from: Paulmyr on June 17, 2021, 10:18:43 PM
I tried to find polt survey numbers for Wis in 2019 and was unsuccessful using Google. Could the poor numbers be explained by a bad hatch/polt survival due to bad weather? Wish I could find the info on weather and brood surveys for 2019.
This is likely why you couldn't find anything for 2019 brood survey data. It seems they didn't collect enough data to publish it.
(https://i.imgur.com/iQ2CwO8.png)
But yes, a bad hatch DEFINITELY affects harvest 2 years down the road. We see it all the time in southern states where a higher percentage of the standing crop is killed each year, especially on public lands. Having some carryover helps make up for those poor hatch years. But with the increased popularity of turkey hunting and "advancements" on killing efficiency, carryover is as worse as its ever been.