The Department of Natural Resources is seeking public input as it begins a periodic process to revise the state’s wild turkey management plan.
Wisconsin’s current turkey plan was adopted in 2015 and designed to guide and inform management of the species for 10 years. The update is intended to cover the next decade.
As part of its revision process, the DNR has convened a Turkey Management Plan Committee “to better understand the various interests and perspectives related to Wisconsin’s turkey season,” according to the agency.
The committee is comprised of DNR staff as well as representatives of federal and tribal agencies, hunting organizations, conservation partners and the Wisconsin Conservation Congress members.
To assist the committee in its work, the DNR is seeking public input via an online tool through Dec. 18.
The wild turkey was native to Wisconsin and found throughout the prairie and oak savanna habitat of southern Wisconsin, according to the DNR.
But in the 1800s the removal of vast areas of timber from southern Wisconsin that took place concurrent with the conversion to intensive agriculture, high turkey harvests supported by active markets for wildlife, and the disappearance of source populations in Illinois led to turkeys becoming rare in Wisconsin by 1860, according to the DNR’s document titled “Ecology of Wild Turkeys in Wisconsin.”
The last wild turkey in Wisconsin’s original flock was killed in 1881 near Darlington, according to the DNR.
Several attempts to reestablish a population of turkeys in the wild in Wisconsin failed. All attempted to use game farm or other captive-reared birds.
But a 1976 change in strategy and source birds proved dramatically different. That project, a partnership between the DNR and Missouri Department of Conservation with assistance from the National Wild Turkey Federation and University of Wisconsin-Madison, transferred wild turkeys from Missouri to southwestern Wisconsin.
Leveraging wild instincts, the state’s new turkey flock took hold so well that within a few years, the DNR began an in-state trap and transfer program.
The Wisconsin population of wild turkeys burgeoned over the subsequent decades as the birds expanded into unoccupied habitat. Wild turkeys are now found in all 72 Wisconsin counties.
A limited spring hunt was initiated in Wisconsin in 1983; a fall turkey hunt was added in 1989.
Wisconsin is widely-regarded to offer among the nation’s best wild turkey hunting for the Eastern subspecies.
In 2025, hunters registered 50,291 wild turkeys in Wisconsin, the fifth time the spring harvest exceeded 50,000. The hunter success rate was 22%, slightly lower than 2024 but about three points higher than the five-year average.
Wisconsin has long used a lottery followed by over-the-counter purchases of remaining permits to help spread hunting pressure across geographical zones and time periods for the spring hunt.
The system allows any interested hunter to obtain at least one permit in areas of the state with the highest turkey numbers.
Wildlife managers acclaim the season format for its moderating affect on turkey harvest, especially early in the season, and its role in reducing hunter conflicts and increasing the quality of the hunting experience.
Hunters have also shown very good support for the system in annual surveys. In 2025, 4,164 hunters responded to the DNR survey and gave an average satisfaction rating of 7.2 (0 being the worst, 10 being the best) of wild turkey hunting in Wisconsin.
An online public comment tool and more information are available on the DNR’s Turkey Management webpage for submitting comments. The DNR encourages anyone interested in turkey management in Wisconsin to participate.
The agency “values public input and believes that it is essential for Wisconsinites to provide feedback for the committee to consider and discuss,” it said in a statement.
Individuals may also submit comments via email to Taylor Finger, DNR Game Bird Specialist, at Taylor.Finger@wisconsin.gov.
Comments through the online tool or via email will be accepted through midnight Dec. 18, 2025.
After the public input period, the Turkey Management Plan Committee will convene to review the feedback and commence work on developing a first draft of the updated Turkey Management Plan.
The draft will be made available for public review and comment, likely in late winter or spring. Feedback from that round of public input will then be reviewed, and the DNR will make any appropriate changes before presenting the draft plan to the Natural Resources Board for final approval in 2026.
Information on the timing of future steps in the process will be announced by the DNR, likely in early 2026.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: DNR seeking input on update to Wisconsin wild turkey management plan
Reporting by Paul A. Smith, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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