Turkey hunting ambassador offers tips
When Loren Voss of Fond du Lac was making a living as a machine tool serviceman, his work took him all over the world.
His vocation was key to developing his favorite avocation: turkey hunting.
"If I hadn't traveled, I might have not gotten such early exposure to this great sport," Voss said.
In fact, Voss hunted gobblers in another state — Missouri — before Wisconsin even had a season.
Now 69 and retired, Voss' travels these days have retained a turkey hunting theme. But in addition to hunting, they are often to give seminars — he gives at least a dozen in Wisconsin each year — and to mentor new hunters.
Voss has acquired the moniker of "Wisconsin's Turkey Commander." For all practical purposes, he serves as a Wisconsin turkey hunting ambassador.
Over the last 48 years of turkey hunting, Voss has pursued longbeards in 20 states.
He has the experience necessary to put the Badger State's turkey hunting in a national perspective.
"I'm pretty happy to be a Cheesehead," Voss said. "Wisconsin has the best turkey hunting around."
With spring turkey harvests averaging more than 40,000 birds, Wisconsin annually ranks among the top states for kills.
And through its season structure that spreads hunting pressure out over six periods, Wisconsin regulations also reduce hunter conflicts and produce arguably the highest quality spring turkey hunting experience of any state.
Wisconsin rules also allow hunters to purchase multiple authorizations and hunt in more than one period.
For Voss, who was raised in Wisconsin at a time the landscape was devoid of wild turkeys, the spring hunt is a treasure not to be taken for granted.
"I feel like a kid on the night before Christmas," Voss said of the upcoming season.
The 2018 Wisconsin spring turkey hunt begins April 14 and 15 with the youth hunt, then the first regular time period (A) starts April 18, with the final one ending May 29.
The 2017 Wisconsin spring turkey hunt resulted in a kill of 43,305 birds, a drop of about 5% from 2016.
As with many reintroduced species, the state's turkey population grew rapidly as the animals spread into unoccupied habitat, peaked in number and declined slightly.
Wisconsin turkey numbers will fluctuate year-to-year due primarily to variations in recruitment, winter kill and potential disease outbreaks, but have settled into a relatively stable population size.
Kills in the low to mid 40,000s are the norm now, down from the record 52,880 birds in 2008.
The DNR made more authorizations (244,218 versus 241,153) available for the 2018 spring hunt, mostly due to about 3,000 more in Zone 2 (eastern Wisconsin) where demand has been consistently high.
Leftover authorizations remain on sale at gowild.wi.gov; the cost is $10 for residents and $15 for nonresidents.
Voss said he is a fan of the system and purchases several extra authorizations each year.
"When you're like me, you want to be out there as much as time allows," Voss said. "Yes, I'm insanely crazy for turkeys."
When it comes to advice for hunters, Voss recommends a handful of keys: scouting, patterning your shotgun, using high-quality concealment and not calling too much.
"I'll usually use each of my favorite four calls, a different one every 10 minutes," Voss said. "And if a bird is working in to me, I shut up."
Voss typically uses decoys, and said it's important to face the dekes toward the hunter.
He's also a resourceful hunter and prefers to craft some of his hunting equipment.
Two examples: He skins turkeys he's killed and, after treating them with borax, drapes them over hard forms to create realistic, feather-covered decoys.
And he makes wing-bone calls from birds he's killed. The sound of a wingbone call, Voss said, is different enough from most other calls that it can be effective when others fail.
You don't need materials from a bird you've killed to fashion turkey hunting gear, however. Voss often shows a trick he learned from a 12-year-old Wisconsin hunter - making a friction call from an aluminum soda can.
"This sport is so much fun," Voss said. "And it gets even better when you help someone get their first bird, or you do it with gear you've made yourself."
Turkey season notes: Wisconsin turkey tags were updated in 2017 and are now called turkey harvest authorizations. As a result of a law passed last year, hunters are no longer required to validate their turkey tag, attach a tag to their turkey or keep the tag with the meat.
Turkeys still must be registered by 5 p.m. the day after recovery at
or by phone at (844) 426-3734. Hunters will need their harvest authorization number to register their bird.
While in the field, hunters are required to carry proof of their turkey license, stamp and harvest authorization. Valid forms of proof include a printed paper copy, a Go Wild conservation card, a Go Wild authenticated Wisconsin Driver's License or an original Go Wild digital file on a mobile device.
For details on Wisconsin turkey hunting regulations, visit