Monday, April 27th, 2026

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Monday, April 27th, 2026

Breaking News for

Sportsmen Since 1968

Migrating bluejays disrupt even the best-planned turkey hunt

Squawking bluejays can drown out all other sounds in the spring turkey woods, but then they can go quiet or perfectly imitate the calls of red-tailed hawks and other raptors. (Photo by Patrick Durkin)

The DNR questions a random sampling of turkey hunters each summer to learn important stuff like how often they hunted that spring, and whether they shot a yearling “jake” or mature “tom.”
Toward the survey’s end, the DNR asks them to rate the quality of their hunt, based on a five-option scale of “very low” to “very high.” Next it asks which factors most influenced their “quality” rating. Those factors could include weather, shot opportunities, turkey sightings, gobbles heard, gobblers shot, time spent with friends and family, and conflicts with other hunters or morel thieves.
What about getting harassed by noisy, foul-mouthed bluejays?

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