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Spring season for fickle gobblers rises in popularity

According to Mary Jo Casalena, the Pa. Game Commission wild turkey biologist, another great spring season is in store for gobbler hunters. The season starts Saturday.

Pennsylvania Game Commission Photo

Mountain Top resident Jim Eckenrode has a unique approach to hunting gobblers – he calls the hens.

Sure, there are plenty of times when Eckenrode hunts the spring season the traditional way – by simply calling to gobblers directly. But his other method – of calling a hen in first – has proven effective just as often.

“You really go nuts with the calling and cutting and get the old boss hen really mad,” Eckenrode said. “She’ll come in thinking she’s going to kick another hen out of her area, and a lot of times right behind her comes the gobbler.”

Calling to a hen is certainly one tactic Eckenrode might use when he hits the woods for the opening day of the spring gobbler season on Saturday. The spring season has risen in popularity through the years and, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, there are more spring gobbler hunters (239,000) each year than those who hunt turkeys in the fall season (183,000). As a result, since 2001 spring gobbler harvests have exceeded fall turkey harvests.

For Eckenrode to harvest a gobbler, it has to be big, he said. He passes on jakes and smaller bearded birds waiting for a mature gobbler. But even if he doesn’t get to pull the trigger, Eckenrode said every day spent hunting in the spring season is special.

“To me, it’s the greatest time to be out. It’s a thrill to hear a gobbler, watch the sun come up and see the woods come alive,” he said. “It’s the time of year that brings me out.”

It’s also the unpredictable nature of the bird, Eckenrode said, that helps fuel his passion for gobbler hunting.

On some mornings a gobbler will sound off from its roost, at which time Eckenrode will lightly call with his slate call, and the bird will fly down and make a beeline for his location.

“But that’s the exception,” Eckenrode said.

When things don’t happen fast, Eckenrode has another tactic he employs – patience.

“A lot of times when a gobbler flies down off the roost, it will go right to its hens and want nothing to do with you,” he said. “So I’ll leave and hit a few other areas, and then return a couple hours later when the hens are gone. I’ll call a little bit and the gobbler will sometimes run right for you.”

Last year, according to PGC estimates, hunters harvested 43,677 gobblers (which included a harvest of 41,397 using the spring gobbler tag attached to all general hunting licenses, and 2,280 using the special spring gobbler license) from an estimated statewide spring population of about 345,000.

When the PGC held the first spring gobbler season 42 years ago, the population was estimated to be more than 60,000. Considering the state’s turkey population peaked at 410,000 in 2001, it’s safe to assume that the bird is doing well in Pennsylvania’s woods.

“Pennsylvania began to establish its well-respected presence in the annals of America’s wild turkey management history back in the ’60s through the efforts of two biologists who made their peers stop and look at what was going on here,” said Mary Jo Casalena, Game Commission wild turkey biologist. “Gerald Wunz and Arnie Hayden refined turkey trap-and-transfer techniques and multiseason frameworks to help turkeys reclaim their former range throughout the state.

“With each passing year, the turkey population grew, and ultimately compelled the agency, in 1980, to close its turkey farm, which had produced more than 200,000 birds over its half-century of operation.”

So what can hunters expect this spring? According to Casalena, another great spring season is in store for hunters.

“The reason for the optimistic outlook is due to the excellent summer reproduction two and three years ago, which has provided for a higher proportion of adult (2- and 3-year-old) gobblers in the population,” Casalena said. “Reproduction last spring was below average due to the cold, wet spring, so that may impact next year’s spring harvest.”

Eckenrode said he has been hearing a good number of gobblers in the woods where he hunts in Mountain Top, and he said the population is always strong at his second hunting location in the Red Rock area.

Still, there’s a twist, he said.

“Years back they would really carry on and you would always hear them double-gobbling,” Eckenrode said. “Today, it seems they often are silent and will sneak in on you while you call.”

That’s one reason why it’s illegal to stalk turkeys or turkey sounds during the spring gobbler season.

The Game Commission encourages all spring gobbler hunters to wear fluorescent orange clothing and wait until the bird – and it’s beard if there is one – is completely visible before pulling the trigger.

“Safety must be the foremost consideration of every turkey hunter,” said Keith Snyder, Game Commission Hunter-Trapper Education division chief. “If every hunter followed the state’s hunting regulations and positively identified his or her target as legal game before squeezing the trigger, we could nearly eliminate hunting-related shooting incidents during the spring gobbler season. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work that way.”

Spring gobbler season facts

• Legal sporting arms are: shotguns plugged to three-shell capacity in the chamber and magazine combined; muzzleloading shotguns; and crossbows and bows with broadhead bolts or 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.’

• Youths under the age of 12 years may participate in the spring gobbler seasons through the Game Commission’s Mentored Youth Hunting Program.

• Hunters are encouraged to report all leg-banded turkeys they take to assist the Game Commission in ongoing research by calling the toll-free number listed on the leg band. Hunters may keep the band; the agency just needs the information on the band.

• Pennsylvania hunters who would like the opportunity to harvest a second spring gobbler can purchase a second spring gobbler tag until the spring gobbler season begins on Saturday. In fact, thanks to the new Pennsylvania Automated License System (PALS), hunters can purchase a second spring gobbler tag at any issuing agent or through the agency’s website.

PGC’s spring-gobbler projections for area WMUs

WMU 3B – This should be a banner harvest year for this WMU and well above the statewide average. Summer turkey sightings here have been above average during the last two summers translating to a high proportion of juveniles (jakes) and the vocal 2-year-old adult gobblers, which typically is the most sought-after age class.

WMU 3C – Below-average reproduction during the last two springs will result in a lower spring harvest than last year, but expect the harvest to remain above average for this WMU and well above the state average. There remains higher than average proportions of 3-year-old and older gobblers, but these present the most challenging age classes to harvest.

WMU 3D – Expect a similar harvest to last year, which was average for this WMU, but above the statewide average. Although there are fewer juveniles (jakes) in the population due to below-average summer reproduction last year, the average proportion of 2-year-old gobblers will provide an enjoyable spring season.

WMU 4C – Second-best 2009 spring harvest density (harvest per square mile) in the state and hunters should expect a similar harvest this year. This WMU continues to maintain one of the highest spring harvest densities in the state, even though the summer turkey sighting index trend remains below the statewide average. With the above-average populations of juvenile (1-year-old) and 2-year-old males from above-average reproduction during the past two summers in this WMU, hunting prospects again will be excellent.

WMU 4E – Like WMU 4C, this is another turkey hotspot. Highest spring 2009 harvest density (harvest per square mile) in the state. Also, summer turkey sightings show a record number of jakes (juvenile males) and 2-year-old gobblers in the population. Expect this year’s harvest to be even better than last year’s.