Spring gobbler season looks very promising
HARRISBURG – A mild winter and fantastic wild turkey population have set the stage for good to excellent hunting in the state’s spring gobbler season, which will run from April 27 to May 25.For the past several weeks, many Pennsylvanians have been waking to the sounds of wild turkeys as gobblers call for mates and hens respond. Every morning, shortly before sunrise, gobblers begin calling for prospective mates. This activity usually starts in mid March. But if the weather is cold or rainy, calling may be delayed a week or two. “There’s a tremendous population of turkeys out there,” said Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Vern Ross. “In fact, most hunters can expect to find turkey numbers similar to or greater than last year’s, except in Turkey Management Area 7B, where the population has been suppressed for some time. Throughout much of the state, turkey sign might be easier to find, but the gobblers will be just as challenging as ever.”According to recent turkey surveys conducted by Game Commission Wildlife Conservation Officers, the statewide population has remained relatively stable for several years with the exception of TMA 7B.
“Over the past three years, we have been fortunate to have normal to mild winters, abundant food sources, and successful reproduction due to excellent spring weather,” explained Mary Jo Casalena, Game Commission wild turkey biologist. “All of these factors contribute to sustaining and augmenting a wild turkey population.”
An estimate of last spring’s harvest places it at a preliminary total of 39,471 gobblers, which is up from 2000’s preliminary spring harvest of 36,300. The final 2001 spring and fall harvests will be reported at the conclusion of the agency’s annual Game-Take Survey, which currently is being conducted. For comparisons, the 2000 preliminary spring harvest went from 36,300 to a final spring harvest of 43,815 following review of the Game-Take Survey. Since 1995, Pennsylvania has maintained a spring gobbler harvest of 30,000 or more birds annually.
The preliminary 2001 fall harvest was 39,060. (For a harvest breakdown by Turkey Management Areas, please go to the agency’s website – www.pgc.state.pa.us – and click on “Hunting Information,” then select “Harvest Reports,” and choose “2001 Turkey Harvest.”)”It’s a great time to hunt wild turkeys in Pennsylvania,” said Ross, an avid turkey hunter. “Turkeys are quite plentiful. And for those who scout, there are wonderful opportunities. But don’t think for a second that taking a gobbler is easy. Behind almost every successful turkey hunter are countless hours of preparation.”
Pennsylvania’s first spring gobbler season was held in 1968. An estimated 1,600 gobblers were taken in the six-day season. In 1972, spring gobbler season expanded to two weeks; in 1975, three weeks; in 1984, four weeks.
About 250,000 hunters head afield during the spring gobbler season. Success varies for these hunters, depending upon which turkey management unit they hunt in.
“On average, about 17 percent of spring turkey hunters took a gobbler last year,” said Casalena. “That’s down slightly from 18 percent in 2000. In Turkey Management Unit 7A, only nine percent of hunters took a bird, while in TMA 8, 23 percent of hunters harvest a spring turkey.”
Hunters are encouraged to scout for turkeys before season. Key on areas providing food and cover and then look for turkey sign. Areas with residual acorns on the ground; spring seeps where vegetation greens up early; southern slopes; hemlock thickets and woodlots bordering farms are all worth checking. In agricultural areas, gobblers like to work along the edges of fields feeding and displaying for potential mates. However, hunters are reminded to obtain landowner permission prior to scouting or hunting.
The three-year wild turkey project in TMA 7B, which comprises Adams, Cumberland and Franklin counties, is nearing completion. Biologists have been studying the reasons for the low turkey population with hopes of reversing that trend. During the study’s two and a half years of fieldwork, they have monitored 163 female wild turkeys with backpack-style radio transmitters. Through radio telemetry, they have learned that survival of young turkey poults from hatching to four weeks of age is one factor that is limiting population growth. Biologists also are looking at the habitat to determine if habitat improvements may help the population. Final results will be available next fall. Turkey hunting is permitted in the study area.
While taking birds with radio transmitters or leg-bands is legal- in fact, mortalities from hunting are an important part of the study – hunters are encouraged to contact the Game Commission at 877-877-9107 (toll-free). Hunters may keep the leg band, but must return the transmitter. The Pennsylvania State Chapter of National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) provided major funding for the study. Also participating have been Pennsylvania State University, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ Bureau of Forestry, local chapters of the NWTF, Safari Club International’s Lehigh Valley Chapter, and the Sables of the Lehigh Chapter.
For more on this study, visit the Game Commission’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us), click on “Wildlife,” then choose “Wild Turkey in Pennsylvania.”During the spring season, hunters are permitted to harvest one gobbler, or bearded bird. The beard must be seen on the bird’s chest. Legal hunting hours are one-half hour before sunrise until noon. Hunters should be out of the woods by 1 p.m.
Legal sporting arms are: shotguns plugged to three-shell capacity in the chamber and magazine combined; muzzleloading shotguns; and bows with broadhead arrows of cutting-edge design. Shot size can be no larger than No. 4 lead, bismuth-tin and tungsten-iron, or No. 2 steel. Rifle-shotgun combinations also may be used, but no single-projectile ammunition may be used or carried.Carrying or using rifles, handguns, dogs, electronic callers, drives and live decoys is unlawful. The use of blinds is legal so long as it is an “artificial or manufactured turkey blind consisting of all manmade materials of sufficient density to block the detection of movement within the blind from an observer located outside the blind.”
Hunters are required to wear a minimum of 100 square inches of fluorescent orange material when moving through the woods. The orange may be removed when a hunter reaches his or her calling destination, but it is recommended that hunters wrap an orange alert band around a nearby tree when calling and/or using decoys.
Successful hunters must properly tag harvested turkeys and report their harvest to the Game Commission in Harrisburg within 10 days, using the postage-paid report card provided when they purchased their hunting license. On the report card, hunters must identify from which Turkey Management Area the bird was taken, as well as the township and county.
Coyotes may be harvested by turkey hunters. However, turkey hunters who have harvested a spring gobbler may not hunt coyotes or any other species prior to noon Monday through Saturday during the spring gobbler season.