There were over 40,000 leftover permits for sale last spring, and not all were sold. Excluding state parks, only zones 24, 32, 33, 35, 44, 46 and Fort McCoy were completely sold out in the initial drawing last spring. The rest had permits available for sale. Some had leftover permits for several hunting periods.

One way to gauge where there could be more birds and a better chance of buying leftover permits is to compare available permit numbers for this year and last year. These zones show an increase (in parentheses) in available permits over last year: Zone 24 (300), 25 (600), 37 (300), 38 (300), 40 (300), 423 (600), 43 (600), 44 (600) and 46 (60). Zone 45 is the only zone with fewer permits than last year -- 900 compared with 1,200. All other zones, including state parks, will have the same number of permits available this year as last season.

Fifteen state parks offer spring hunting. Newport, Interstate and Willow River state parks are open to hunting this year for the first time. Six state parks -- Natural Bridge, Nelson Dewey, Belmont Mound, New Glarus Woods, Rocky Arbor and the Loew Lake Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest -- have a limited number of permits reserved for disabled hunters only. All of them had leftover permits available and none sold out, so disabled hunters who want to try turkey hunting will likely be able to purchase a permit for one of these hunts this season, regardless of whether they applied in December, as long as they have a Class A or Class C disabled permit.

NEW FOR 2007
Several new wrinkles will greet Wisconsin turkey hunters this spring. They are all spelled out in the regulations booklet, but here they are in case you wait until the last minute to read the rules!

Perhaps the biggest change is the move to a sunset closure to spring hunting hours. When Wisconsin initiated its modern spring turkey hunt back in 1983, shooting hours ran from a half-hour before sunrise until noon, as is the case in a number of other states. Ending hunting at noon pulled hunters out of the field so they would not disturb nesting hens, it was argued. And since most turkey hunting is done on private land, a noon closure meant less interference with farmers during spring planting.

In 1999, hunting hours were extended to 5 p.m. to accommodate young hunters who wanted to go afield after school and workers who had afternoons off. The sunset closure was proposed during last spring’s Conservation Congress Hearings, where it got a good reception from hunters, so it is being instituted this year.

“It’s another way to simplify things,” said the DNR’s Scott Hull.

Hull acknowledged that some hunters may shoot turkeys off the roost in the evening, but points out that that is already an option on morning hunts. The practice is legal, although frowned upon as unethical by most traditional turkey hunters. One result of afternoon, and now evening, hunting is that hunters can be actually hunting when they were simply scouting in the past. While the 5 p.m. closure has not resulted in an increased success rate, it will be interesting to see if the sunset closure will.