Fall turkey season looks promising
HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania Game Commission officials expect hunters who get their pre-season scouting in before the season opens Oct. 28, to fair better afield than those who don’t. “Healthy-sized wild turkey flocks are present, but will be well dispersed so hunters really need to get out in the woods before the season starts to see first-hand what’s going on,” emphasized Mary Jo Casalena, Game Commission wild turkey biologist.
Turkey summer sighting surveys conducted statewide by Wildlife Conservation Officers indicate that turkey recruitment was slightly higher than the past few years.
“There’s no doubt that cold, wet spring weather once again influenced nesting, but not as seriously as in 2003 and 2005,” Casalena said. “Also helping turkeys was the abundant food supply and warmer, drier weather on tap last winter. Coming into this spring’s nesting season, turkeys were in good shape.
“Turkey hunting prospects will be good in most areas, but an abundant supply of fall foods make preseason – as well as in-season – scouting crucial. Being consistently successful in turkey hunting is often directly related to the time a hunter spends afield. Of course, no hunting offers guaranteed results. But you can improve your chances when you have the insider information scouting provides.”
Turkey hunters are coming off a strong 2006 spring gobbler season. Preliminary harvest estimates indicate 44,000 bearded turkeys were taken – including almost 1,500 birds taken on the 8,041 second or “special spring gobbler season licenses” hunters purchased. The 2006 preliminary spring harvest compares with a final 2005 spring harvest of 32,600 (the preliminary 2005 spring estimate was 38,800). Preliminary harvest estimates are developed from harvest report card returns; final harvest figures are a product of the agency’s Game-Take Survey of hunters.
“Early indications are that hunters had a great spring gobbler hunt this year,” Casalena said. “The increase in the spring harvest from 2005 to 2006 seems to be attributed to more favorable weather conditions and a strong two-year-old age class of gobblers present this past spring. Two-year-old birds are particularly vulnerable to hunter’s calls.”
Casalena noted that hunters should follow basic scouting techniques to improve their chances of finding wild turkeys.
“The key to finding wild turkeys is finding an abundance of the forest foods they prefer,” Casalena said. “Talk to farmers, hikers and other hunters if you don’t have leads for areas to scout. Look for scratches in the leaves, and know that it’s pretty hard to miss the signs turkeys make looking for food. Leaves are dropping or have dropped in many areas, so scratching for food will become more pronounced on the forest floor.
“Once you find the general area turkeys are working, try to pattern their movements through daily monitoring. Look for fresh scratches, tracks and feathers. Sort out what the birds are eating. It takes about a week to pattern a flock. Once you have, wait until the opening day and capitalize on your preseason fieldwork.”
In both spring and fall turkey seasons, it is unlawful to use drives to hunt turkeys. Hunters may take only one turkey in the fall season.
Season lengths vary in the state’s other WMUs for fall turkey hunting: WMUs 1A and 1B (Shotgun and bow and arrow only) – Oct. 28-Nov. 11; WMUs 2A and 2B (Shotgun and bow and arrow only) – Oct. 28-Nov. 18; WMUs 2C, 2E, 4A, 4B and 4D – Oct. 28-Nov 11; WMUs 2D, 2F, 2G, 3A, 3B, 3C, 3D, 4C and 4E – Oct. 28-Nov. 18; and WMUs 5C and 5D (Shotgun and bow and arrow only) – Oct. 28-Nov. 3.
Turkey hunters, in most parts of the state, must wear a minimum of 250 square inches of fluorescent orange material on the head, chest and back, visible in all directions, while moving. They may remove the orange at a stationary calling location, if they place a 100-square inch orange alert band within 15 feet of their location.
In WMUs 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, 5B, 5C and 5D – where fall hunting is limited to shotguns and archery equipment only – hunters must wear a hat containing a minimum of 100 square inches of solid fluorescent orange (no camouflage orange) when moving. The hat may be removed when the hunter is at a stationary calling location, and no orange alert band is required. For additional information, please consult page 80 of the 2006-07 Digest.
Shot size is limited to No. 4 lead, bismuth-tin, tungsten-iron or No. 2 steel. Turkey hunters also are required to tag their bird before moving it and to mail the postage-paid harvest report card – provided with all hunting licenses – within 10 days of taking a turkey. A replacement harvest report card is on page 33 of the 2006-07 Digest.
Select turkey forecasts follow:
WMU 2A – Fair to poor compared to the harvests and population this WMU had in 2000 and 2001. Although harvests and summer recruitment are above the statewide average, they are still below average for this WMU. Hunters in this WMU had the third highest hunter success last fall, along with WMU 4E, at 15.2 percent.
WMU 2B – Variable. Hard to predict because of the lack of public land. For hunters who secure access to hunting areas, prospects are excellent; hunters in this WMU had the highest hunter success last fall (20.4 percent). Harvest density last fall also was above the state average.
WMU 2C – Fair, but better than last year. Turkeys are on the rise again in this WMU, in part because of the shorter, two-week fall season that has been in place since 2004. Spring harvests and summer sightings still are below the state average, but when compared to previous years in this WMU, they are above-average. Fall hunter success last year (11.6 percent) was slightly below the statewide average (12.3 percent).
WMU 2D – Harvest densities are above the state average, but remain below average for this WMU. Summer sightings were below average and similar to last year. I expect the harvest to be similar to last year. Fall hunter success in 2005 was the seventh best in the state (14.4 percent).
WMU 2E – Very good for hunting juvenile birds. Summer sightings were more than twice as high as the previous three-year average, and even above the long-term average. Spring harvest densities are still below the statewide average. Fall hunter success in 2005 was well below average (8.5 percent), but prospects are better for this fall. The shorter two-week season may be helping to improve this WMU’s turkey population.
WMU 2F – Poor to fair. Harvest density and summer sighting indices continue to be below-average for this WMU and below the state average. However, hunters continue to enjoy hunting this WMU. Fall hunter success last year was 9.6 percent compared to the previous three-year average of 19.1 percent for this WMU. But fall hunter success fluctuates considerably, especially in this WMU.
WMU 2G – Fair. Harvest density and summer sighting indices are beginning to show slightly increasing trends, indicating a slightly increasing population. Fall hunter success last year was 10.1 percent, which is still below the three-year average for this WMU.
WMU 3A – Prospects look promising. Summer sightings over the last two years were as good as 2001 and 2002. Fall hunter success last year was 13.9 percent, the eighth best in the state, but still below the three-year average for this WMU.