The mild conditions last winter made for an easy time for wildlife, but it wasn’t much help for biologists.
In January, the Pennsylvania Game Commission launched a pilot study to help gauge the harvest and survival rates of gobblers. With the statewide spring season set to begin on May 2, the agency hoped to capture and band 10-15 jakes and another 10-15 adult gobblers in each Wildlife Management Unit for a goal of 690. Data collected from reported bands through birds harvested by hunters and those found throughout the year would provide insight into survival rates and population size.
Hunters who harvest a bird with a leg band are asked to report it to the PGC via the phone number or email address on the band.
In order to band birds for the study, the PGC baited locations with cracked corn to entice gobblers and used a net propelled by explosive charges to capture them. However, a mild winter with little snow on the ground took away the incentive for gobblers to flock to the bait. Statewide, just over 500 gobblers were banded, including 48 in the northeast region – far short of the quota.
Kevin Wenner, biologist for the PGC’s Northeast Region, said the low capture numbers aren’t indicative of a declining turkey population.
“It’s not that the turkeys weren’t there, we just couldn’t get them to come in to the net,” he said. “With a mild winter and no snow, turkeys were able to feed on acorns and in crop fields. The need for them to feed at a specific spot like a baited location wasn’t there.”
Mary Jo Casalena, wild turkey biologist for the PGC, said the mild winter coupled with a late start to the project – just after the muzzleloader season – made it difficult to entice birds to the bait. She said next year’s study will be moved up to begin in early January when gobbler flocks are larger and, hopefully, the winter a bit colder.
“We found plenty of flocks,” Casalena said. “They just wouldn’t come in or they wouldn’t come in consistently. They’d be there for a day or two and move on.”
Some WMUs did produce, however, as the quota of jakes and adult gobblers was met in 2C. On the flip side, not a single bird was trapped in WMU 4B.
In WMUs 3C and 3B, which includes northern Susquehanna and Wayne counties, biologists had little trouble capturing birds due to the presence of snow on the ground, but Wenner said they just couldn’t get the numbers in WMUs 3D, 4C and 4E where conditions were milder.
According to Casalena, of the approximate 500 birds that were banded in the state, and 159 were jakes along with 143 adult gobblers. In the northeast, 31 jakes were banded along with 17 adults. Wenner said the study will be conducted for a number of years in order to gather sufficient data and identify trends with harvest and survival rates.
“By looking at different age classes in this study, t will give us a good sense of what the following spring’s gobbler forecast will look like because those banded jakes will become two-year-old birds,” Wenner said. “That’s the age when they have beards that hunters look for.”
As far as trophy birds in the area, Wenner said hunters will have an opportunity to harvest a big gobbler. There weren’t any disease issues present in the captured gobblers, he said, and body weights were good.
“There were plenty of nice gobblers and impressive spur lengths and beards. Things look good,” Wenner added.
Interestingly, PGC personnel did capture 10 bearded hens in the northeast, some with beards as long as 8 inches, according to Wenner. Approximately 10 percent of all hens produce a beard, which is usually shorter and thinner than those found on gobblers.
As far as the upcoming season, which runs from May 2 to May 30, the state’s turkey population is expected to be similar to last year’s figure of 212,170. Casalena said the population is staying strong due to good reproduction last year, declining participation in the fall seasons when hens can be harvested, and the mild winter.
“A strong base of old toms is strutting in our forests and fields in their annual quest for companionship followed by a healthy population of high-spirited jakes,” Casalena said. “There’s also a good supply of 2-year-olds roaming in some Wildlife Management Units (WMUs).
Last spring, hunters took 37,300 turkeys, which was down from 2018’s 40,300. The harvest generated a spring hunter first-turkey success rate of 19 percent and has ranged 19 to 21 percent for the past three years.
A record number of hunters again bought second gobbler tags – 22,517 – marking the third consecutive year second-tag sales topped 20,000. Those second tags led to 4,811 harvests, making for a 21 percent success rate for those who purchased a second tag. Interestingly, only 13 percent of spring-turkey hunters bought a second tag.
The start of this year’s season couldn’t have come at a better time, Casalena said, as the May 2 date corresponds with the time hens begin nest incubation.
“Having the season opener at the time incubation is beginning, it protects the hens,” she said. “They’re busy incubating nests and won’t be called in and accidently harvested. And if they’re flushed off a nest, they’re less likely to return if it’s the egg-laying stage as opposed to incubation.”
For hunters, there’s yet a bigger benefit to the season corresponding with incubation.
“The hens are busy incubating and not available for gobblers, and as a result you’ll see an increase in gobbling activity,” Casalena added.
