Pennsylvania Game News - November 2018 - 26

small hens, which leads to more nest
predation and abandonment," explained
Casalena. "A cool, wet spring also
causes insects to emerge later - even
lighter - limiting the nourishment
they'd provide poults."
For the past two nesting-and-rearing
seasons, Pennsylvania has had wet,
largely disagreeable weather for turkey
reproduction. Pennsylvania's precipitation in July was the wettest in 124 years
of records, according to the National
Regional Climate Center at Cornell
University. May and June also were
well above state monthly averages.
Much of Pennsylvania also had
above-average spring rainfall in 2017.
"Wet, cold springs surely have hurt
turkey reproduction in some areas,"
Casalena said. "Populations are below
our management goals in most WMUs.
"But two consecutive falls of considerable mast crops, and several mild
winters have helped turkeys," she
said. "Add to that a couple of years of
reduced fall harvests and it's not hard
to see why this resource remains strong
and continues to provide great hunting
opportunities."
Hunter success was up in the 2018
spring turkey season, with a harvest
of 40,303. That represents a 6 percent
increase over 2017's 38,101 birds. The
harvest likely was stimulated by record
sales of 20,925 second spring gobbler
licenses.
About 21 percent of hunters afield
took at least one gobbler. There were
4,062 second-gobbler harvests.
However, hunter participation again
was below 200,000 in the 2018 spring
season; an estimated 175,000. In 2017,
an estimated 168,242 hunters partici26

pated; down from 214,706 in 2016 and
216,908 in 2015. The previous 10-year
average was 220,000.
In national surveys, fall-turkey
hunter declines have been attributed
to competition for a hunter's time.
Casalena also noted the mean age of
Pennsylvania's fall turkey hunters in
2017 was 54; in 2016, 53. Finding time
to hunt and being over 50 apparently
can be strong limiting factors.
Fall turkey hunter surveys indicate
most hunt because they enjoy hunting
turkeys and for tradition. Other reasons
included spending time with family/
friends; scouting for deer or bears; and
hunting turkeys while bowhunting deer
or hunting small game.
But even with reduced participation,
Pennsylvania still has higher hunter
densities than most states. Although
that probably makes hunting turkeys
here more challenging, it also means
the crowd's thinned some. That's
almost always good in fall turkey hunting, unless you're counting on someone
else to bust up a fall flock for you.

Locating Birds
Last fall's reduced turkey harvest,
coupled with another relatively mild
winter, paved the way for more hens
to make it into nesting season healthy.
"What hurt was the cold weather
that came right when hens began laying
eggs," Casalena explained. "It led to renesting and smaller clutch sizes, which
have been recurring problems for years
for Pennsylvania turkeys in many areas.
"But last fall's heavy mast crop and
a mild winter ensured many hens at
least had the energy resources needed
to re-nest," she said.
Pennsylvania Game News - November 2018

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