According to county forest and park administrator Doyle Richards, more turkeys are being seen on Chippewa County lands than were previously.

“I’d recommend the lands west of State Highway 27 in the county forest for turkey hunting,” Richards said. “The forest in this area is located on gently rolling terrain with a mixture of aspen, oak and northern hardwoods. County Highway E and County Highway M provide the main access to this block of the forest.”

According to Richards, hunters should do well near the areas being actively farmed around the public property or in the oak timber around Townline Lake. Most of the land in this area is county forest or on the state-owned Chippewa Moraine Ice Age SRA, which can also be hunted. “I know there are other areas on the forest that probably have just as many turkeys and they are certainly worth taking a look at and doing some pre-scouting on,” Richards said.

“The turkey numbers seem to be increasing, but we don’t really know how dense the population is.”

County Road M provides access from the east and west through the forest. County E runs from State Highway 64 north to the Rusk County line and provides access from the north and south.

For more information, contact the Chippewa County Forest and Park Administrator at (715) 726-7881 or the West Central Region at (715) 839-3700.

Marathon County Forests
“The Marathon County forest covers 29,767 acres in central Wisconsin, all available for public hunting,” said Tom Lovlien, the Marathan County forest administrator. “All of our forest units have turkeys and the most popular units to hunt are the Kronenwetter and Ringle forests.”

Bagging a spring gobbler requires plenty of skill and much of being in the right place at the right time. There may not be another creature in the woods that is more wary than an old tom, and anyone who can talk him into shooting range has earned some bragging rights.

Consider practicing your calling before going afield. Gobbler hunters can get plenty of help from the National Wild Turkey Federation’s “Spittin’ Feathers II” CD, a recorded collection of various clucks and gobbles that allows callers to improve their skills. Match your calling to the real thing.

Improvements are always being made on manufactured calls, said calling expert and manufacturer David Hale of Knight and Hale. The new Hammer Series offers slates, glass and aluminum components that are designed to match specific weather conditions and personal preferences.

According to Lovlien, the Kronenwetter and Ringle forests offer the most diverse habitat and the largest percentage of mast-producing hardwoods. The forests have a nice mix of aspens, oaks, pines and hardwoods.

For more information, contact the Marathon County Forest Administrator in Wausau at (715) 261-1584 or the West Central Region at (715) 839-3700.

Vernon County Forest
The Vernon County Forest is another of Wisconsin’s turkey hotspots. The prospects for locating a gobbler in the various tracts of the forest’s 880 acres are excellent.

According to Vernon County forest administrator Adam Zirbel, the largest section is the 707-acre Duck Egg tract in the west-central part of the county. Oak dominates the scene and the turkeys love it. The rugged terrain consists of steep slopes and thick timber. Most of the woods are at least a mile from designated parking spaces.