Wild Turkey Hunting in Wisconsin
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Posted by Rosemary Drisdelle Dec 29, 2006 |
Wild turkeys used to be common in southern Wisconsin; however, by the late 1800’s they were completely gone – hunting, land clearing, and disease had killed every last one. In the years that followed, a number of small efforts at reintroduction of wild turkeys failed to establish a self-supporting population.
In 1976, a well-planned restoration attempt began, which involved the release of wild turkeys brought from other states. Over the next nine years hundreds of wild turkeys were released in the southern two thirds of the state. This time, it worked – it worked so well that, by 2000, there were more than 200,000 wild turkeys in Wisconsin.
With a healthy population of wild turkeys thriving in Wisconsin, the state began to allow hunting in the 1980s, and in 2006, the fall hunt took almost 12,000 wild turkeys. In the spring, hunters can take only bearded male turkeys; in the fall, any turkey is fair game. Though hunting’s not to everyone’s taste, this is a case where hunting has actually benefited the species: revenues for the restoration program came from, among other things, hunting licenses.
Sources:
Lee, Jim. “Fall Turkey Harvest Nets Nearly 12,000 Birds”. Gannett Wisconsin Newspapers
Wild Turkey Ecology and Management in Wisconsin. “History of Wild Turkeys in Wisconsin.”
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