Hunters Tag Over 47,700 Turkeys During Wisconsin’s Spring Season

   Wisconsin hunters registered 47,704 turkeys during the state’s six-week spring season, the seventh highest harvest in modern turkey hunting’s 44-year history.

   Though this year’s kill fell short of the past two spring hunts — with harvests of 50,734 in 2024 and 50,287 in 2025 — it still exceeded the five-year average of 46,040 by 3.6%, surpassing 2022’s kill of 39,035; and 2023’s of 42,439.

   The state’s most successful turkey seasons remain the three 2007-2009 hunts that averaged 52,630 kills, including a record 52,880 in 2008.

   This spring’s two-day youth-only hunt April 11-12 recorded its third highest harvest in its 17-year history, with 3,480 turkeys. The season is restricted to youths 15 and younger. This year's harvest fell 501 (12.6%) short of the record 3,981 turkeys that youths registered during their 2025 season.

       Wisconsin hunters registered 47,704 turkeys during the Spring 2026 season, the seventh highest total in the season’s 44-year history. — Patrick Durkin photo

“Generally speaking, the numbers show Wisconsin had a good spring turkey season,” said Taylor Finger, the Department of Natural Resources’ gamebird ecologist. “I’ve heard more complaining this year than the past two years, but a harvest above 47,700 fits reasonably into what’s normal for annual fluctuations.”

   In fact, since Wisconsin registered 38,686 turkeys during the 2000 spring hunt – a state record at the time — the annual spring season has exceeded that mark every year except three, including a kill of 37,266 in Spring 2021.

   “The reintroduction of wild turkeys in Wisconsin has been a remarkable success,” Finger said in a DNR press release, noting that 2026 marks 50 years since the DNR first released wild turkeys brought here from Missouri.

   Most hunters appreciate Wisconsin’s unique turkey season, which controls hunting pressure while allowing hunters to buy leftover permits for $10 to hunt multiple one-week periods. A DNR survey of 10,000 randomly selected hunters in 2025 found only 16.4% rated the quality of last year’s spring hunt as low. As usual, most hunters — nearly 70% — were OK with the 2025 season’s 22% success rate. Of the respondents, 28% rated the season’s quality as “average,” while 19% rated it “fairly high” and 21% rated it “very high.”

   The annual survey’s results have varied little since 2010, maybe because success rates vary little, ranging from 17% (2021) to 22.6% (2024).

   It’s too soon to know how hunters rated the 2026 season, but surveys the past two decades suggest they’ll give it about 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. Annual ratings have ranged from 6.6 to 7.3, no matter how low the harvest: 37,266 in 2021 (6.6 rating), or high, 50,734 in 2024 (7.3 rating). Hunters rated 2025’s spring hunt a 7.2 after registering 50,287 turkeys.

   Finger attributes recent increases in hunting success to mild winters and average to above-average nesting and brood-rearing conditions the past few years. “Wisconsin’s turkey population is very healthy, and we continue to see stable harvest trends across most of the state,” he said.

   Finger also said hunting conditions were “generally good” throughout the season across southern Wisconsin, but hunters across the Northern Forest experienced cold, windy weather the first two weeks, with temperatures below 20 degrees in some areas. Even so, Northwoods hunters killed more turkeys this spring than a year ago, up 3% in Zone 5 (2,446 in 2025, 2,524 in 2026); up 2% in Zone 6 (1,362 in 2025, 1,389 in 2026); and up 3% in Zone 7 (726 in 2025, 749 in 2026).

   Hunters farther south killed fewer birds than in 2025, down 5.3% in Zone 4 (8,472 in 2025, 8,026 in 2026); down 10.35% in Zone 3 (12,324 in 2025, 11,048 in 2026); down 4.4% in Zone 2 (11,024 in 2025, 10,541 in 2026); and down 3.5% in Zone 1 (13,813 in 2025, 13,330 in 2026).

   -- Hunters shot 42,162 adult toms this spring, or 88.4% of the season’s harvest. They also shot 5,171 jakes (1-year-old males), or 10.8% of the kill; and 371 bearded hens, 0.8% of the kill.

   -- Adult toms made up 90% or more of the harvest in Zones 4, 5, 6 and 7.

   -- During the youth-only season, hunters shot 2,937 toms, or 84.4% of the two-day harvest. They also shot 520 jakes, 14.9% of the kill; and 23 bearded hens, 0.7% of the kill.

   -- The youth-only season accounted for 7.3% of the 2026 total harvest. Meanwhile, the Period A season produced 23.1% of the overall harvest, while Period F produced 8.2%.

   -- The DNR reported two shooting incidents but no fatalities during the spring hunt. The first involved a 3-year-old shooter on a mentored hunt April 12 during the youth-only season in Racine County on public land. The shot wounded a father and son hunting nearby. The second incident occurred May 11 on private land in Columbia County, when a 75-year-old man shot his 76-year-old friend. In both incidents, the shooter mistook the victims for a turkey.

   -- The DNR offered a record 254,226 permits for the spring hunts, and allocated 146,664 of them through its December application process. The agency then offered the 107,583 leftovers online as $10 tags starting March 16.

   -- By the season’s final day May 26, the DNR sold all but 19,274 (18%) of the bonus tags. Zone 1 had 2,304 leftovers for Period E, and 8,544 for Period F; and Zone 3 had 1,512 unsold tags for Period E, and 6,914 for Period F.

   -- The DNR resolved its March 16 online-sales snafu that left thousands of potential buyers stranded for over 90 minutes. Finger said the DNR offered a tag to everyone stuck in the queue that morning, and about half the buyers accepted. The others declined, having already bought an extra tag.

   -- Finger said the DNR received over 12,000 more applications than in 2025 for this year’s tags before the Dec. 10 deadline. That extra interest, however, meant fewer hunters received their first choice.

   -- Hot tip: When applying for a spring turkey tag before this year’s Dec. 11 deadline, don’t choose periods A or B as your second or third choices. All those tags get allocated to hunters during the drawing’s first round. Unless you just want a bonus point, put periods C, D, E or F as your second or third choices.

   -- Although permit numbers differ by zone, the statewide total for each hunting period is always the same. Including bonus-tag sales, this year’s distribution was 42,371 tags per periods for A, B, C and D; 38,555 for Period E, and 26,913 for Period F.