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Spring gobbler season has potential

HARRISBURG — Excitement is starting to build for the start of spring-gobbler seasons.

There’s good reason for the increasing interest among hunters, said Mary Jo Casalena, the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s wild turkey biologist.

A light turkey harvest last fall and a mild winter have set the stage for what could be a fast-starting spring gobbler season.

“Fall mast last year was spotty and turkeys responded by moving to those food sources, which in some cases meant they moved away from areas frequented by hunters,” Casalena said. “The fall turkey harvest dropped as a consequence. And while that might have been bad news for fall turkey hunters, it’s likely good news for spring turkey hunters because unfilled fall turkey tags typically lead to increased availability in the spring.

“Add to that the fact that mild winters, like the one we’re coming off, are easier on turkeys and help prepare them for spring breeding,” Casalena said. “That should lead to a healthier turkey population and might put gobblers on a timeline to be exceptionally fired up when the season begins.”

Last spring, hunters took 35,966 spring turkeys in Pennsylvania, which is lower than the previous two spring harvests of about 41,200 each. But the 2016 harvest still was similar to spring harvests from 2010 to 2013.

Casalena said poor weather through much of the season, including nagging drizzle on many mornings, played a part in the reduced harvest last spring.

“Warm weather also set gobblers on fire early,” Casalena said. “But then the weather turned nasty again and hens struggled, with many losing their first nest attempts. Their renewed availability at the start of the season led to gobblers chasing hens, instead of coming in to hunters’ calls.”

About 67 percent of turkeys in the 2016 spring harvest were adult gobblers, 23 percent were jakes, 2 percent were bearded hens and 7 percent were males of unknown age.

It compares with the previous long-term average of 71 percent adult gobblers, 19 percent jakes, 4 percent bearded hens and 7 percent unknown-aged males.

Pennsylvania hunters again this year are able to purchase a license to harvest a second gobbler in the spring season, but only one gobbler may be taken per day. This license must be purchased no later than April 28 — before the statewide season begins.

“So hunters who want to ensure their best opportunity to hunt as many days of the season as they can need to buy the license soon,” Casalena said. “There’s promise for a great season.”

Hunting hours begin one-half hour before sunrise and end at noon for the first two weeks of the statewide season (April 29 through May 13). Hunters are asked to be out of the woods by 1 p.m. when hunting hours end at noon. This is to minimize disturbance of nesting hens.

From May 15 through May 31, hunting hours are from one-half hour before sunrise until one-half hour after sunset. The all-day season allows more opportunity at the point in the season when hunting pressure is lower and nesting hens are less likely to abandon nests.

During the spring gobbler season, hunters may use manually operated or semi-automatic shotguns limited to a three-shell capacity in the chamber and magazine combined. Muzzleloading shotguns, crossbows and long, recurve and compound bows also are permitted.

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