Spring turkey harvest on pace to surpass 2023 and be Wisconsin's highest in more than 10 years
Turkey hunters registered 39,867 wild turkeys through the first four periods of the 2024 Wisconsin spring turkey hunting season, a 16% increase compared to the same time last year, according to preliminary data from the Department of Natural Resources.
The season is on pace to produce the highest spring turkey harvest in more than 10 years.
Last year hunters registered 42,439 turkeys, including 2,972 in the youth hunt.
This year 3,963 birds were taken during the youth hunt, portending the increases in the regular seasons.
The higher turkey harvest so far in 2024 follows last spring when the birds "experienced good nesting and brood rearing conditions," according to the DNR's Wild Turkey Update.
Wisconsin has offered a spring turkey hunting season since 1983.
It consists of a two-day youth hunt followed by six, seven-day spring hunting periods. The final time period this year concludes May 28.
Wild turkeys are native to Wisconsin but were extirpated by unregulated hunting in the 1800s. After several unsuccessful attempts in the 20th century, a wild turkey restoration effort in 1976 took hold in southwestern Wisconsin.
The project was a partnership of the DNR, the Missouri Department of Conservation and the National Wild Turkey Federation.
The work involved trapping wild birds in Missouri and releasing them in the Bad Axe watershed in Vernon County. Subsequent trap-and-transfer work of the growing Wisconsin flock helped seed more areas of the state.
Today, wild turkeys are found in all 72 counties.
The Wisconsin wild turkey population showed strong growth as the birds filled unoccupied habitat.
The spring turkey harvest reflected the population trend, with annual increases reported in all but two years from 1983 to 2008. The state record spring turkey harvest was set in 2008 with 52,880 birds registered.
Since then the turkey population and spring harvests have settled in a range below the peak.
But as many states including Missouri documented substantial declines in their wild turkey populations over the last couple decades, Wisconsin's flock merely showed fluctuations, including notable increases over the last two years.
Final spring 2024 harvest results are expected to be available in late May or early June.
Wisconsin's Free Fun Weekend
Anglers don't need a license and visitors to state parks are admitted without charge June 1 and 2 as part of Wisconsin's Free Fun Weekend.
This year marks the 12th year the Department of Natural Resources has offered the program.
State Park admission fees, fishing licenses and trail passes are waived for all visitors.
Wisconsin has 50 state parks, 15 state forests, 44 state trails, 84,000 miles of rivers and streams and approximately 15,000 lakes, according to the DNR.
In a statement, Steve Schmelzer, DNR Bureau Director of Parks and Recreation Management. said the weekend provides the "perfect opportunity to explore the outdoors in our state."
Free fishing clinics are planned during Free Fun Weekend at some state and municipal properties to instruct beginning anglers. Visit the DNR’s Events Calendar and Wisconsin State Parks webpage for a list of events and more information on state properties.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Spring turkey harvest on pace to surpass 2023 in Wisconsin
