Pennsylvania Game News - April 2021 - 20

BE VISIBLE
Use of fluorescent orange material -
100 square inches - in Pennsylvania spring
turkey hunting began in 1992, in response
to unacceptable numbers of hunters being
shot in mistake for turkeys. Today, as a
result of safety education, better informed
hunters and a decrease in participating
spring turkey hunters, fluorescent orange
no longer is required to be displayed.
However, the Game Commission still
urges hunters to wear some fluorescent
orange, particularly while moving and
calling. It's also a good idea to protect your
back when calling by sitting up against a
big tree, and to assume every noise and
movement you detect is another hunter.
As you contemplate these safety suggestions, remember that turkey hunting is
recreation, a pursuit that doesn't require
you to take unnecessary risks or measure
your success by how many turkeys you
take. It's a time to get closer to nature
and, hopefully, turkeys. But it's important
to be alert, to hunt defensively and to
enjoy yourself.

The importance of scouting can never
be overstated in afternoon hunting. It's
hard enough to hunt turkeys without
wasting time hunting in places where
the birds haven't been in weeks. Scout
field edges, woods roads, clearings and
even water sources. Try to get in as much
early morning or late evening listening
and watching time as possible, whether
before or after work or getting the yard
ready for summer.
One secret to turkey hunting success is
being involved daily, because everything
and anything can change with turkeys in
a day or two. And the best way to know
something's up is to pay attention.
So do your due diligence. Locate
those birds and then take that bebopping
20

tom as he struts in to your call.
Rest assured that your taking a
tom won't jeopardize the local turkey
population, because by the time the
spring season opens, at least 50 percent
of your WMU's hens already are
incubating their nests. The season is
designed that way to protect nesting
hens. And it's been working to benefit
turkeys and spring turkey hunters for
more than 50 years.
Gobblers don't assist with nest
incubation or raising the young. And
there are plenty of other local gobblers
just dying for their chance to be the
boss tom, even if they're not 3 years
old. Youthful exuberance, after all, has
helped build populations from time
immemorial.
So if you have the urge to go turkey
hunting, by all means go. But go where
you did some preseason scouting if
you're interested in working birds.
If not, just get out there and enjoy
the awakening and splendor of Penn's
Woods. The hibernators and the migrants
all are coming back as green-up ensues.
It's a time you don't want to miss!

H A R V E S T S
Tag it immediately. If you have orange
material, display it while taking your turkey
back to your vehicle or home. Check to see
if your turkey has any leg-bands. If it does,
please report your harvest to the telephone
number on the band, or send an email to
pgccomments@pa.gov using " Turkey Band
Report " in the subject area. And remember,
banded or unbanded, all wild turkey harvests still must be reported via an official
postage-paid 2020-21 turkey harvest report
card found in the Pennsylvania Hunting
and Trapping Digest or through internet- or
telephone-reporting.
Pennsylvania Game News - April 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - April 2021
