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Gene Kroupa

Follow the food for squirrels; that means knowing your oaks

Featured, Features, Home Page News, Hunting, National Hunting, Wisconsin /

No doubt about it, squirrels love oak trees because of the gut-filling acorns they produce. The nutritious nuts also store well as winter food reserves.
Wisconsin is fortunate to be home to two major groups of native oaks: white and red. They are easy to tell apart simply by checking the lobes on the leaves – rounded for whites; pointed for red. The red group, which includes the red, black and pin oak varieties, are most common in the northern half of the state.

Follow the food for squirrels; that means knowing your oaks Read More »

A plan that came together on what turned out to be my final turkey hunt

Featured, Features, Home Page News, Hunting, National Hunting, Wisconsin /

Sooner or later, it was bound to happen – my final successful spring turkey hunt. That final gobbler hit the deck in April 2025, unbeknownst to yours truly at the time that the strutting bird would be my last after 44 years of hunting turkeys in Wisconsin coulee country and beyond.
You can imagine it came as quite a shock to learn last fall that I have interstitial lung disease (ILD) that landed me in the hospital in November.

A plan that came together on what turned out to be my final turkey hunt Read More »

Can curiosity kill a reluctant gobbler?

Featured, Features, Home Page News, Hunting, National Hunting, Wisconsin /

Sometimes a gobbler might know better, but his curiosity overcomes natural caution. Take the hefty tom bagged during the 2017 third season in Wisconsin as an example.
When the alarm jangled at 3:30 a.m. the wind was blowing hard, dark gray clouds hung heavily over the horizon, and rain drops had just starting to dribble. So, I did what any sensible person would do; I went back to sleep.

Can curiosity kill a reluctant gobbler? Read More »

When it comes to late-season toms, it’s time to change tactics

Featured, Features, Home Page News, Hunting, Hunting, Illinois, Iowa, National Hunting /

What would you do when faced with an attacking force and you are outnumbered six to one? If you are a spring turkey hunter, you’d smile and wait for the leading edge to enter your decoys.
That was the enviable position I was in shortly after two big toms and four jakes first appeared as a formidable phalanx on the eastern horizon. In perfect alignment like mounted cavalry, the birds were evenly spaced apart as they approached my setup from a half-field distance.

When it comes to late-season toms, it’s time to change tactics Read More »

Copycat and cover calling can close the deal on spring gobblers

Featured, Featured, Features, Home Page News, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Hunting, Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, National Hunting, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin /

Copycat and cover calling will put more toms on the ground than any creative sounds you might conjure up to close the deal. Getting a boss hen hopping hot and heading your way is a prime example. If you’ve ever witnessed two hens trading barbs, you know what I mean.
Your calling job is to pull in the hen so that she is almost in your lap, i.e. close enough so that you can shoot any trailing tom.

Copycat and cover calling can close the deal on spring gobblers Read More »

‘Trifecta’ of tactics helps hone in on poult survival rates for Wisconsin’s wild turkeys

Featured, Home Page News, Hunting, National Hunting, National News, News, Wisconsin /

Wisconsin wildlife biologists now have a new tool to measure turkey production thanks to an innovative study using trail cameras to track nesting hens and their poults.
“Our 2025 results confirmed what a smaller scale pilot program in 2024 signaled as being the likely outcome,” said Chris Pollentier, Department of Natural Resources (DNR) research biologist.

‘Trifecta’ of tactics helps hone in on poult survival rates for Wisconsin’s wild turkeys Read More »

A deer hunting formula that works in Illinois

Featured, Features, Hunting, Illinois /

Lots of farmland firearm bucks are shot accidentally on purpose. In most cases, the hunter plunks down in a favorite ground blind or climbs up into a box stand and waits. Or the misinformed hunter pulls guard duty for drives to drop any attempted escapees.
Some seasons Lady Luck smiles and delivers antlers and venison. Other years the hunter draws the joker and goes home with an unfilled tag. How will your season go? Here is a winning formula to make sure whatever season you hunt there is a rack or meat to show for it: Stop and think.

A deer hunting formula that works in Illinois Read More »

Black walnuts are a squirrel’s kryptonite

Featured, Features, Home Page News, Hunting, National Hunting, Wisconsin /

The telltale black stains around its mouth told me that the squirrel I had just shot was hitting the walnuts. Finding the motherlode black walnut tree or stand can provide the lucky hunter with some season-long action. Hungry bushytails will start working on the walnut’s green skin and dark hull as soon as the meat inside is fit to eat.

Black walnuts are a squirrel’s kryptonite Read More »

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