Restoring habitat, reaping a wild benefit
LYNXVILLE - As dawn’s first light filtered in Wednesday, calm had descended on the coulees of Crawford County.
Drops of dew gathered on the budding branches of white oak trees. Dried stalks of big bluestem stood stock still on a ridge-top prairie.
After recent rains, the soft, windless landscape was embraced in a hush.
Seated in a hardwood stand adjacent to the prairie, ears straining for bird song, the loudest noise was my heartbeat.
Truth be told, I was excited. This was no ordinary hump day — it was the first day of the 2017 Wisconsin spring turkey hunt.
At 5:40 a.m. the chorus started with a bang.
“Gil-obble-obble-obble!”
When it comes to music composition, the male wild turkey is prone to fireworks in the first stanza.
It’s just one of the reasons I, and so many others, love the big, native birds.
Gobbles rang out over the next half hour from every direction. I knew that somewhere at the base of the ridge to the west, my friend and host, Tim Eisele of Madison, was hearing at least some of the same turkey talk.
And to the north, Larry Keith of Eau Claire, the third member of our hunting party, also was being treated to one of nature’s finest a cappella performances.
Raspy hen yelps and flydown cackles were peppered into the rattling chorus of toms.
How many were on the same ridge, adjacent valleys or distant woodlots? Who knew. At least one bird was on the ground and seemingly drawing closer to my yelps on a slate call.
This much was clear — the morning was shaping up to be the stuff of a turkey hunter’s dreams.
All most of us want, surveys consistently show, is the chance to hear gobbling and “work” a bird without interruption from other hunters.
Such quality hunting has been a hallmark of Wisconsin’s turkey hunting season since its modern inception in 1983. The Badger State system, devised by the Department of Natural Resources in consultation with hunters, spaces permits over six time periods and seven geographic units.
The two other essential components for successful turkey management are birds and habitat.
The former was solved in Wisconsin starting in 1976 by bringing in wild birds from Missouri. With some additional translocation assistance by the DNR and National Wild Turkey Federation, the turkeys went forth and multiplied and eventually reoccupied all 72 counties of the state.
The latter has been addressed in a variety of ways, including by state and federal agencies on public lands and by dedicated private landowners such as Tim and Linda Eisele.
The Eiseles purchased the 100-acre parcel east of Lynxville in 1990.
“I wanted to be near the Mississippi for waterfowl hunting and I wanted to have turkeys,” said Tim Eisele, 70, an award-winning freelance outdoors writer and former DNR public information officer. “This is what I consider God’s country, I really do.”
Eisele named the parcel “Gobbler Ridge.”
Eisele and I met 25 years ago at a meeting of the Wisconsin Outdoor Communicators Association. Eisele was a founding member of the group; we both have served as WOCA president and as a board member.
We have a shared love of wildlife conservation and things that gobble and quack.
To that end, Eisele is a sterling example of putting his beliefs into practice.
When he and Linda purchased the property, Tim Eisele said he didn’t know anything about managing land. But he was aware the parcel presented a big habitat restoration challenge. Like many ridgetops in the Driftless Area, this one had been farmed intensively for corn. Then a previous owner planted white spruce in the clearing.
By 1990, it was studded with out-of-place trees and weeds.
Eisele consulted experts, including Dan Desseker — a certified wildlife biologist and longtime director of conservation policy with the Ruffed Grouse Society who lives in Rice Lake — and Mark and Sue Martin, resident managers at the Audubon Goose Pond Sanctuary in Columbia County, to assist with habitat improvement ideas and planning.
Work ensued to restore a 20-acre prairie on the Crawford County ridge. By cutting trees and planting native wildflowers and grasses, the opening now sings with blooms and birdsong each year.
In addition, the prairie is maintained regularly with prescribed burns.
In summer, it hums with insects, too, providing turkey poults and other young wildlife with a protein-rich buffet.
“If you want turkeys, you’ve got to have woods and openings,” Eisele said. “It takes work to maintain them, but it’s so worth it.”
The Eiseles strive to increase biodiversity throughout the property, including efforts to plant native prairie species and to remove invasive plants such as garlic mustard and buckthorn.
The hardwood stands include red and white oak, hickory and walnut.
A professional forester is guiding timber management on the parcel, which includes periodic cutting.
Tim Eisele fondly recalls his first successful spring turkey hunt on the parcel.
“I had shot a gobbler on my own land,” Eisele said of the 1991 hunt. “And I loved it.”
From bats to bluebirds, wildlife has benefited greatly by the Eiseles’ work and investments in habitat restoration.
On Wednesday, Tim Eisele had another close encounter of the gobbler kind.
A longbeard heard Eisele’s sweet yelps on a box call and strutted and gobbled to within 25 yards. A shot rang out at 6:50.
Next our walkie-talkies sounded: “Eisele reporting.”
It was a characteristically understated post from an esteemed colleague. An hour later I saw him hiking along the top of the ridge with a 24-pound tom bobbing over his shoulder. The bird had an 11inch beard and 1-inch spurs.
No bird presented a shot for Keith or me the rest of Wednesday or all Thursday.
Friday morning dawned still, too, with seemingly perfect conditions for gobbling. But not a bird was heard.
How turkeys decide whether to gobble or remain silent is a mystery to us two-legged hunters. All we know is the turkeys are the experts.
I sat near the top of the ridge and called sparingly. At 6:45, a red head periscoped to the east, searching for the source of the hen yelps.
Five minutes later, the jake moved silently to within 30 yards and raised its head again. Moments later, I was filling out my tag. The bird weighed 22 pounds, had a 4inch beard and nubs for spurs.
After more than 20 years of turkey hunting in a dozen states and Mexico, a young bird has become my turkey of choice. The 1-year-old male was the answer to this hunter’s wishes and will make excellent table fare.
This time I reported by radio to Eisele and he met me to celebrate the harvest at the edge of the prairie.
The fruits of habitat restoration can be measured in many ways, including diverse, healthy wildlife populations and pounds of free-range protein.
“We aren’t wealthy by many measures,” Eisele said. “But to be able to work to improve the land, and to be able to derive and share benefits like this on our property, makes us feel very good.”
“If you want turkeys, you’ve got to have woods and openings. It takes work to maintain them, but it’s so worth it.” TIM EISELE, CRAWFORD COUNTY LANDOWNER, OUTDOORSMAN