Spring is in the air. And, according to poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, it’s a time when a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love. But today for our purposes at least, if we’re talking about love, we’re talking about love of turkey hunting. That’s because Pennsylvania’s spring gobbler season is right around the corner, set to open this Saturday, May 4.
Technically the state’s spring gobbler season actually began last Saturday on April 27 with a half-day hunt for junior and mentored hunters 16 and under. The regular season runs May 4-31, with hunting hours going from one-half hour before sunrise until noon from May 4-18, then from one-half hour before sunrise until one-half-hour after sunset from May 20-31.
And if that general opener seems later in spring than usual, it’s because it is simply due to the calendar. The regular season opens the Saturday closest to May 1. In some years that’s the last Saturday in April. In other years, like this one, that’s the first Saturday in May. The difference between the two can be almost a week. Closing day of the season, meanwhile, is May 31. That gives hunters 24 days to chase gobblers, including four Saturdays.
Whether you happen to be a mentored hunter, a junior hunter, or a seasoned veteran, matching wits with wily gobblers is what turkey hunting’s all about. And the folks at the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) are confident that opportunities will be there, often in large and vocal fashion. Rest assured, they tell us, the birds will be out there, thanks to three consecutive years of good reproduction.
The PGC’s 2023 summer turkey sighting survey – an annual, long-term measure of productivity – found 2.9 poults per hen statewide. That varied by Wildlife Management Unit (WMU), of course. WMU 4E, for example, saw 4.51 poults per hen last summer; that was highest in the state. WMU 5D here in our corner of the state saw 1.39; that was lowest.
But the statewide figure, if down from the record high of 3.1 seen in both 2021 and 2022, was still above average and significantly more than seen in 2019 or 2020. That should mean plenty of gobblers – jakes, 3-year-olds and, best for most hunters, 2-year-olds. As a general rule, 2-year-olds are more vocal, noisier than both younger, more-timid gobblers and older, warier ones. Having more of them around typically is good for turkey hunters.
“There’s nothing more exciting than sitting in the woods in springtime and calling to a gobbler that answers with his emphatic gobble,” said Mary Jo Casalena, the PGC’s turkey biologist. “So take advantage of what’s available, even if you’ve never turkey hunted before. Just being out there is fun and the more time you spend in the turkey woods, learning about these amazing birds, the better hunter you’ll become.”
About 172,000 people, on average, hunt spring turkeys in Pennsylvania every year. Last season, those hunters harvested about 39,500 gobblers. That was up from about 35,700 in 2022 and about 28,100 in 2021.
Casalena said hunters who want to up their odds of taking a gobbler this spring should concentrate on areas with good turkey habitat. That’s typically a 60/40 mix of woods and shrubby areas, with either agriculture or, in big woods areas, openings of emerging vegetation or nut-producing trees that still have nuts remaining from last fall.
Then, she said, look for turkeys in those places. Try to determine how many different gobblers are gobbling, where their typical roost areas are, and what areas they may switch to on rainy, windy, cold mornings. It pays, too, to figure out the age structure of local flocks, something that can be done by observing gobbler tail fans (adults have even fans, whereas jakes have a “bump” of longer tail feathers in the center) and watching for displays of dominance. Scout, too, by looking for gobblers’ preferred strutting areas and searching for sign on the ground, such as scratchings, droppings, feathers and tracks.
Just don’t call to those birds to make them reveal themselves. Casalena limits any preseason calling to using shock calls like owl and crow calls, and, even then, sparingly.
“This knowledge will help as the season progresses, to keep track of birds and search for them in their more secretive areas,” Casalena said. “But whatever it takes, just get out there. So long as you’re in the woods, you’ve got a chance.”
AREA TROUT STOCKINGS THIS WEEK
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission continues its in-season trout stocking here in our neck of the woods. Streams set to get fresh batches of trout here: Berks County – Manatawny Creek (4/30), Antietam Creek, Antietam Reservoir, Mill Creek (5/1), Sacony Creek (5/2), Furnace Creek, Hay Creek (5/3). Chester County – East Branch White Clay Creek, Pocopson Creek, White Clay Creek (5/2), French Creek (5/3). Delaware County -Chester Creek, Ridley Creek, West Branch Chester Creek (5/6). Montgomery County – Kepner Creek, Pennypack Creek, Stony Creek (4/30), Manatawny Creek (5/6).
TROUT RODEO
The West Chester Fish, Game, and Wildlife Association will host the Chip Gibson/Dave Dempsey Trout Rodeo on Saturday, May 4, from 8:30 to Noon. The event is free to all kids age 15 and under and includes free lunch and refreshments and free door prizes and raffle. For more information visit their website at wcfgwa.org.
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Tom Tatum is the outdoors columnist for the MediaNews Group. You can reach him at tatumt2@yahoo.com.
