I've been applying for non-resident turkey tags in WI the past few years with no success, gaining a preference point each year. I dug into the tag allocation process a little further, and learned that non-residents have basically no chance of drawing anything but leftover tags (basically the later spring seasons) under the current system. There is no separate R/NR pool of tags. One pool, and the NR applications only are addressed after all resident applications have been processed. WI has almost 250k spring turkey tags this year, it is a shame that 1% can't be allocated to a separate non-resident tag pool to give us a chance at better units during more desirable seasons. I submitted a comment to the DNR and will continue to voice my displeasure to the DNR on this topic. WI is a great turkey hunting state, but this is an area that I feel is an oversight on their part. Just wanted to post as an FYI for anyone else applying to WI as a NR for spring turkey.
WI Turkey Non-Resident Disappointment
- Thread starter Carlin59
- Start date
Horse
Active member
OK....but don't let the later seasons hold you back from buying a left over tag when they go on sale. Some of the later seasons are just as good, as the hens are nesting and the Toms are still looking. Do you have a part of WI you want to hunt? Zone 1 has a lot of turkeys and good hunting throughout. Access isn't usually an issue for turkeys.
Topgun 30-06
Active member
Listen to Horse. I don't even mess with the draw here in MI every year for April tags. I just buy our guaranteed OTC 234 tag that's good almost the entire month of May and the Toms are still more than willing to get shot!
OhHeyThereBen
Active member
These guys are right. The critters are like rats and unless you time it really poorly you have a good chance at a bird. My entire family is from WI so I have an edge on land, but if you knock on doors or go public you shouldn’t have a problem.
I appreciate the suggestions and i know the later seasons can be productive as well (my dad gets a bird on a leftover tag every year), but my schedule doesn't allow for any hunts in May unfortunately. I've been applying in hopes of joining my Dad's "Turkey Camp" (his buddies and a few of my buddies) again, which is always the first season. Growing up, we always hunted the State Parks for turkeys with great success (got a tom every year from 12-22, when I moved away). Loved being able to run and gun on 1000s of acres of public instead of 10s of acres of private. Under the new regs, the state park hunts are no longer their own specific draw, but you can't hunt them past the first Tuesday in May. So in effect, since you can't draw a first or second season tag as a non-res, you can't hunt the state parks as a non-res. I'll start researching other options for next year for the later seasons. Just bummed about missing the main turkey camp under the current regs. I'm guessing this isn't really on the DNR's radar as a problem, so maybe they will listen. I could see if turkeys were a limited commodity that they would basically exclude NR from the desirable tags (similar to how Nebraska doesn't allow NR rifle antelope hunts), but with 1000s of tags per zone per season, I would like them to offer some opportunity to NR for the early seasons. Anyway, appreciate the responses!
NEWHunter
Well-known member
Yeah that’s too bad. I think a good solution would be to throw the nonresidents with points into the same pool as residents, that way you could have a shot at the season you want every other year.
If you want to try and get the system changed you have to do it at the legislative level. I went through the process to raise the price of nonresident WI bear preference points to $35. At the spring hearing 90% of the citizens voted for it, but until a representative picks it up and puts it in a bill it’s going nowhere. Based on how much every other state charges nonresidents, I can only assume the 10% that voted no voted that way because they thought the preference point fee should be higher.
Anyways, lots of things for WI to fix about the game regs. Hope you find a silver lining in your problem.
If you want to try and get the system changed you have to do it at the legislative level. I went through the process to raise the price of nonresident WI bear preference points to $35. At the spring hearing 90% of the citizens voted for it, but until a representative picks it up and puts it in a bill it’s going nowhere. Based on how much every other state charges nonresidents, I can only assume the 10% that voted no voted that way because they thought the preference point fee should be higher.
Anyways, lots of things for WI to fix about the game regs. Hope you find a silver lining in your problem.
Good info on the process to change it, thanks NEWHunter. To your point of raising the NR bear preference point fee, I have no problem paying more as a NR as long as it gives me a shot in the draw. I find it strange that the bear draw treats NR and R the same (same pool of tags, but NR points apply the same as R points). Seems weird that NR have an equal shot in the bear draw, but in the turkey draw (where they give out 21x more tags than the bear draw), NR go to the back of the line despite points.
LopeHunter
Well-known member
You can always go back and help call in a turkey for you father. States get to manage wildlife and some offer no non-resident tags for certain species while others prevent non-residents from accessing certain public land open to residents and some require you use a guide to access certain land as a non-resident. Sure is a lot of hurdles and some seem spiteful more merely wanting to help out residents have more opportunity.
Oh I totally get and respect a state's right to manage its wildlife how it wants to. It just seems strange that WI is so limiting (NR excluded from basically 4 out the 6 turkey seasons) on a species with so much opportunity (244k spring turkey tags). Most states that exclude NR entirely from a hunt type do so on hunts with very limited total tag availability (ex. must have 10 R tags in a unit to issue 1 NR tag). It's also strange since for bear (the only other draw tag NR can apply for), NR and R are treated exactly the same in the draw. Hoping to get some answers from the DNR, maybe it is just an oversight or maybe there isn't much NR turkey demand. We will see.
F
fwagner
Guest
Since I am a wisconsin resident and I already have a first season tag and will also be buying a 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th season tag, I'll weigh in here. Wisconsin is the most out of state friendly state that I know of. They offer 50% off your first time purchase and you can get 2 deer tags for under $200 with every doe tag after that only costing $10!! Missing out on your family turkey camp shouldn't be a topic that the WI DNR should consider. Go the later seasons if you want to hunt that bad or just tag, pun, along with your family during camp. If you want to find out about getting the shaft as a non resident hunter go hunt big game out west.
Fwagner, WI’s deer tags have nothing to do with this discussion. Neither does the cost of the tag (no one has even brought that up yet and for the purpose of this discussion it’s irrelevant). I agree, those NR deer tags are a great deal and I’ve purchased a NR WI deer tag every year since I moved away. WI is also very friendly to NR bear hunters, as we have the same chance as an R to draw. I’m very familiar with NR fees as well. I’ve hunted Wyoming as a NR for 20 years (live in CO now), and have zero problem paying 10x as much as Residents do for the same tag. That’s the game and I get it. My only beef with the WI Turkey situation is that NR are relegated to the leftover list when there are over 120k tags in the first, second, and third seasons that we can’t draw. Can you imagine the uproar if CO limited NR elk tags to the leftover draw? The point is that WI has an incredible turkey population, with a huge amount of tags available, and NR are locked out of over half the season/zone combinations. Some others on this thread have offered helpful suggestions on here or via PM, gratitude to those folks.
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Northwoods Labs
Well-known member
As a resident, I hold no idea Wisconsin's draw worked that well. I understand your gripe. Although I think you did exaggerate it a tad-there are tags leftover in most areas to be able to hunt 3rd and 4th seasons
Northwoods, the numbers might be surprising but I didn't exaggerate: 7 hunt zones x 6 seasons= 42 hunts available statewide. 23 of those hunts didn't have leftovers, so 55% of the turkey hunts are off limits to NR. None of the zones had 1st or 2nd season leftovers. I know you can kill birds in the later seasons, but by definition of tag demand the first two seasons are more desirable overall and those are unavailable to NR. Anyway, I started this thread as an FYI to others to make them aware of a peculiar draw system where your NR preference points are only used to battle it out among other NR after the residents have taken their pick of the first 135k tags. Hopefully some non-Wisconsin residents found it useful regarding planning WI turkey hunting opportunities. Basically, if you are going to apply as a NR for WI turkey, don't waste your application choices on any 1st or 2nd seasons tags if you want to hunt. Focus on the 3rd or 4th seasons tags where at least you will have a chance to draw (depending on the zone). Or skip the draw altogether and plan on picking up a leftover in March. Good luck to those able to hunt WI turkeys this year, it's certainly a fun hunt!
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The first couple seasons go mostly to those with landowner preference. Unlike the west, a large portion of good turkey hunting is private land and they give preference to the landowners to get first choice of the season they want to hunt if they own over 50 acres. I put in for an area that I live in without the landowner preference for the first 2 seasons and I did not draw. Instead they gave me a 4th season for my second choice unit where my land is. No skin off my back because the later season are just as good. I have friends that hunt on my land, but I tell them to avoid the first 2 time periods because I have been burned too many times with snow storms on those. Bottom line, those 4-6th period tags are just as good as the early tags most times and the only downside is the damn ticks are out in full force.
Schmalts, I'd be curious to know if any of the zones draw out for 1st season entirely on the land owner pass. I know for sure that zones 1 and 3 do not (meaning, R non-land owners with preference points regularly draw zones 1 and 3 first season). Maybe some of the northern zones with less tags available draw out on the 1st season on the land owner pass? For those zones that don't draw out 1st season on the landowner pass, the preference point system assures that a R will eventually draw that first choice first season tag. Funny you mention the early snow storms. I shot a first season tom once the morning after a few inches of snowy-sleety mix. He came in and tried to strut, but didn't fan which i thought was weird. I shot him, and the reason he was strutting but not fanning was that his fan was a frozen solid in a block of feathers. Anyway, I think all the relevant points have been made in this thread. If you are a NR of WI, do you homework and identify which units you can realistically draw. Currently, over half of the hunt zones/season combinations are out of your grasp regardless of preference points you may have. You can still get tags as an NR (multiple even when you include the leftovers, which is great), and still experience good hunting in the later seasons. Of note, you likely won't be able to hunt the state parks since they shut down to hunting around May 1. The state parks are a fun option to hunt since they represent some of the larger accessible chunks of public land in southern Wisconsin. The driftless area parks are especially fun places to hunt and explore. For me, based on what I've learned this year, i'll just skip applying in the future and join my Dad's camp as a caller/filmer. Not a big deal, i'll just drop the expectation of drawing a tag in April unless the application process changes in the future. The later seasons are good too, they just never work for my work schedule. Good luck to you all this year, hope this winter hasn't hurt the bird population too bad, I know it has been a rough one.
Good point, the Toms will respond in the snow and I have killed them but after a long winter I just can't get excited about sitting in the snow getting a wet ass. As far as the landowner thing, I think a lot of the farm country units fill a good portion of first season tags with them. I am in unit 4 and I have a neighbor who didn't get his landowner preference choice. Not sure if that means anything or not. If it was up to me, I would have only 2 seasons that lasted 3 weeks long.
Cheese Curd
Well-known member
I'll just add that as a resident non-landowner, I have not drawn 1st or 2nd season twice in recent years in Zone 2. Could just be bad luck but I can get leftovers. So even residents don't draw once in a while in the regular draw for 1st or 2nd season.
Schmalts, zone 4 is tough in terms of tag numbers. I’m familiar with 1 and 3, 1000s of tags available per season. Cheese, totally agree that Residents aren’t guaranteed to draw first season every year. However, with preference points you have a path to draw first or second season eventually (for zones that don’t draw out on the landowner pass). Non residents do not have a path to draw 1st or 2nd season, regardless of preference points accumulated. Now that I understand the system it’s fine, I’m just hoping to educate other NR about their chances in the draw.
1100RemingtonMan
Well-known member
My advice cross the river and come to Iowa & Northeast Iowa has the Yellow River State Forest and all the Turkeys you could want. Or any other public hunting area with timber is good.
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