You could say it's a romance language — but don't go looking for lessons from Rosetta Stone.

This one is perhaps best learned in the woods and fields, within earshot of native speakers.

At least that's the formula that has helped many become fluent, including one of the Wisconsin's pre-eminent turkey callers.

"Lots of ways to learn, but nothing can beat listening to the real thing," said Scott Wilhelm of Chippewa Falls, Wis.

When Wilhelm was growing up near Viroqua, Wis., he often would hear turkey talk as he waited for the school bus. Birds would yelp from roost sites, long-beards would spit and drum through his yard.

Even before he hunted, he'd listen to the many sounds of the local flock — the tree yelp, the cluck, the fly-down cackle, the kee-kee run, the gobble — and try to imitate them.

"I clearly remember the first time a bird responded to me," said Wilhelm, 28, a manager at a sporting goods store who, not coincidentally, helps customers down the path of enlightened turkey hunting. "It wasn't a bird that I ended up tagging, but it was certainly memorable."

Wilhelm and perhaps 175,000 other hunters are looking forward to making more memories in the 2010 Wisconsin spring turkey season.

Though turkey hunting is still relatively new to Wisconsin, the Badger State now ranks among the national leaders in turkey hunters and harvest.

Last year, hunters in Wisconsin registered 52,581 turkeys in the spring season, just shy of the record 52,880 in 2008.

The state harvest now regularly tops even Missouri, perhaps the most storied turkey hunting state in the nation and the source of wild birds for Wisconsin's hugely successful reintroduction.

In the 2009 spring season, hunters in Missouri registered 44,712 turkeys, according to the Missouri Department of Conservation.

The forecast is good for the spring hunt in Wisconsin, according to Sharon Fandel, acting upland wildlife ecologist for the Department of Natural Resources.

"From the information gathered during annual surveys, the wild turkey population continues to be healthy and in good numbers," said Fandel. "While the results of the 2009 10-week brood survey indicate a decrease of 11 percent in number of broods, it was still well above the statewide long-term mean."

With the recent warm weather, turkeys are well into courtship displays and battles for dominance.

Thanks to the birds' resourcefulness and the well-executed reintroduction, turkeys are now found in all 72 Wisconsin counties.

That gets Wilhelm even more excited.

"We have always had a huge deer hunting tradition," said Wilhelm. "Now the turkey hunting is getting to the point that many hunters look forward to spring as much as they do to the fall.

"In my opinion, we have the best turkey hunting in the nation. I really like the season structures, the careful management and ability for someone who really wants one to get an extra tag or two."

You could attribute the popularity of turkey hunting in Wisconsin to its relative "newness." You could chalk it up to a challenging, keen-eyed quarry that provides excellent eating. You could say it's due to the vibrant appeal of the spring woods.

But none of that would account for the unique, vocal nature of this game bird.

"It's the gobble," said Wilhelm. "It makes the bird something special."

Wilhelm knows a little about the vocabulary of the turkey.

He's a perennial qualifier and top finisher in the "Super Bowl" of turkey calling competitions, the Grand National held each year at the National Wild Turkey Federation's convention.

This year alone, Wilhelm placed third in the gobbling division, fourth in the Rare Breed Champion of Champions contest, 12th in the Grand National Friction Calling Championships and 13th in the Owl Hooting Championships.

The success didn't come immediately for Wilhelm. It took him three years to tag his first turkey.

"I think you always learn more from your mistakes," said Wilhelm.

Wilhelm said he'd seen too many turkey hunting videos that led him to believe the birds would come in after a few yelps.

Now he relies on scouting as much as calling.

"You can't have too much information about turkeys," said Wilhelm.