Tom Tatum: Time to talk turkey as spring gobbler season approaches

Few things can quicken the pulse of a Pennsylvania hunter as much as the sound of a Tom turkey’s gobble both near and far.

With opening day of the state’s spring gobbler season less than two weeks away, serious turkey hunters are practicing their calling techniques, patterning their shotguns, and scouting their favorite turkey woods in anticipation of the opportunity to bag one of those prized big bronze birds.

The 2025 spring gobbler season is just about here. It starts with a one-day hunt for junior license holders and eligible mentored youth on April 26, from one-half hour before sunrise until noon. The regular statewide season runs from May 3-17, when hunting hours also are from one-half hour before sunrise until noon, and May 19-31, when hunting hours run from one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset.

Hunters are allowed one gobbler with their general license. Those who purchase a second spring gobbler tag by May 2 can take a second bird, though not more than one per day.

Pennsylvania hasn’t always had a spring turkey hunting season, simply because it didn’t always have enough turkeys to sustain one. Unlike decades ago, plenty of birds await.

In the decades before May 1968 – when Pennsylvania established its first spring turkey season – turkeys were scarce, here and throughout their range. Habitat loss and unregulated, commercial market hunting drove down the number of wild turkeys to only about 30,000 nationwide, according to estimates.

In 2019, the last year for which data is available, there are perhaps 5 million birds across the country. Pennsylvania’s spring harvests alone over the last three years have averaged 38,000 annually. That will likely be the case again this year, thanks to some good news on the turkey front.

According to the Game Commission’s annual summer turkey sighting survey, which tracks turkey reproductive success over time, turkey populations have lucked out with above-average reproduction during the last four years. And in 2024, summer reproduction was good in all 22 Wildlife Management Units, for the first time since 2019, when the nationally standardized turkey sighting survey began.

That’s more than just a blip on the radar screen, too, said Mary Jo Casalena, the Game Commission’s wild turkey biologist.

“We have seen a general increase in the statewide reproductive success over the past four years,” Casalena said.

Hunters have been taking advantage of that. Last spring, they harvested 39,200 gobblers, more than the previous three-year average of 34,500. They were efficient in going about it, too. Last spring’s harvest per 100 days – the Game Commission’s standard for measuring the effort needed to bag a gobbler – was the second-highest ever recorded.

That might be tough to beat this year, especially because the statewide flock contains a lot of three-year-old and older gobblers, the toughest kind to fool. But Casalena is excited and thinks the rest of the state’s 170,000 or so turkey hunters should be, too.

“I can’t wait for the season to begin,” she said. “There are a lot of different signs of spring, but for me, there’s none like the enthusiastic call of a gobbler making his presence known to all around.”

Casalena said hunters are well served to scout for birds, listening at daybreak for gobbles, or using shock calls like owl and crow calls – though sparingly – to locate them. Start by looking in good turkey habitat, which means places with a 60/40 mix of woods and more-open habitat, be it agricultural fields or grassy openings. If turkeys are in the area, they’ll leave signs of their presence: tracks, feathers, droppings and scratchings in the leaf litter and dirt. Find that and you’re at least in the ballpark. Then, the real game begins.

“Turkeys can be tough to fool, especially if they’ve already survived a season or two,” Casalena said. “So it’s not easy to take one. But that’s what makes the season so enjoyable, the challenge behind getting an opportunity to harvest a bird and put food on your family’s table.”

For insight into current research projects that will help shape the future of wild turkey management, tune in to the latest episode of Call of the Outdoors. Watch on YouTube, listen on the Call of the Outdoors website, or find it on your favorite podcast listening platform.

In-season trout stockings this week

Pennsylvania’s trout season is still going strong as the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission continues to supply fresh batches of trout to the state’s approved trout waters. Waters in our region set to get more stocked trout this week are as follows:

Berks County: Maiden Creek, Perkiomen Creek (week of April 21); Ontelaunce Creek, Tulpehocken Creek (April 22); Swabia Creek (April 23); Antietam Creek, Antietam Reservoir, Willow Creek, Hay Creek, Scotts Run Lake (April 24).

Chester County: East Branch of White Clay Creek (April 22).

Delaware County: Darby Creek (April 21).

Lehigh County: Ontelaunce Creek (April 22); Cedar Creek. Little Lehigh Creek, Monocacy Creek, Swabia Creek (April 23).

Montgomery County: Perkiomen Creek (week of April 21); Wissahickon Creek (April 21); Skippack Creek (April 22); Unami Creek (April 28).

Trout rodeo

The Kennett Area Park Authority and Brandywine Red Clay Alliance will host their annual Trout Rodeo in Anson B. Nixon Park from 8 a.m. until noon this Saturday. Ponds will be stocked with trout up to 22 inches in length. An accessible fishing dock is located at the edge of the pond. Tickets are available now! Adults age 16 and over are $20 each, and a PA fishing license is required. Youth tickets for ages 5 to 15 are only $5 each. Children under the age of 5 are free. Anyone 15 years of age or younger must be accompanied by an adult at all times. Email Info@AnsonBNixonPark.org for more details.

Tom Tatum is the outdoors columnist for the MediaNews Group. You can reach him at tatumt2@yahoo.com.

Source: Berkshire mont