The Pennsylvania Game Commission believes the turkey population is declining in parts of the state, and to reverse the trend, the board is considering banning the use of rifles in the fall season and cutting back on the number of days to hunt.
None of it is necessary.
There’s another option – one that has yet to be mentioned – that could cut the fall turkey harvest without reducing the season length or prohibiting rifles. It’s an option that, according to past statements made by the PGC board and members of the National Wild Turkey Federation, would reduce the harvest of hens simply by putting hunters at a disadvantage against the keen-eyed turkey.
But why does the agency want to cut the season and prohibit rifles?
The agency believes turkey numbers have dropped in numerous Wildlife Management Units, and it’s a concern echoed across the eastern U.S.
According to PGC turkey population data, numbers peaked in the early 2000s at over 275,000 birds, and then plummeted to below 200,000 in 2005. After another upswing in 2008, turkey numbers have primarily ranged between 200,000 and 225,000 birds each year.
That seems more like a population that is stable and not in serious decline, but the problem, according to the PGC, is specific to WMUs as opposed to statewide.
While I’m not a biologist, I am a fall turkey hunter and I can offer a firsthand account of the turkey population in a few regions. In the four northeast counties and two southwest counties where I log plenty of time during the fall and spring seasons, I rarely have a day that I don’t see turkeys, hear a gobbler or, at the very least, see a few scratchings on the forest floor. I’m not saying the PGC is wrong in claiming the population is in decline, but in the areas I hunt – at opposite ends of the state – turkeys seem to be doing pretty well.
However, when the PGC moved to cut the fall season, I didn’t like the idea. The season has already be reduced enough over the years, we’re in constant competition with archery and small game hunters and, frankly, there just aren’t that many of us anymore. I don’t remember the last time I encountered another fall turkey hunter in the woods.
When I heard about the agency’s plan to prohibit rifles as a possible way to reduce the fall harvest and potentially restore the season length, I was all for it.
While cuts to the season impact me, banning rifles wouldn’t.
But then I heard concerns from those hunters – the 14% – that do use rifles in the fall. They weren’t happy and they offered some good arguments against the proposal. Apparently, while the prohibition on rifles could reduce the fall harvest, it would limit hunter opportunity as well, particularly for those who are physically unable to trek for miles and bust up flocks. Take away rifles and you take away their opportunity to hunt in the fall. That’s something to carefully consider.
If banning rifles isn’t a fair proposition and cutting the fall season is overkill, yet the PGC believes the turkey population is declining and reducing the fall harvest is the only way to turn things around, what can be done?
There is a solution: Bring back fluorescent orange.
In 2019, the PGC board removed the fluorescent orange requirement for fall turkey hunters. For a season which allows the use of high-powered rifles, this never should’ve been done. Hunters pursuing woodchucks in the summer and deer in the two-week firearms season have to wear orange because rifles are used, so what makes the fall turkey season any different?
Since the early 1990s, whenever orange regulations for turkey hunting was debated, those against the idea believed it wasn’t necessary because, among other reasons, it interferes with the hunt. Wearing orange would make it easier for turkeys to spot hunters, and harder for the latter to harvest the former.
When the PGC board removed the orange regulation in 2019, one commissioner said wearing orange “takes the fun out of hunting turkeys.” Another added that blaze orange negatively impacts the hunting experience.
To me, that sounds like they’re saying it’s harder to harvest a turkey if you wear orange.
But don’t take my word for it. The National Wild Turkey Federation has ardently opposed orange regulations over the years because, among other reasons, it makes it harder to harvest a turkey.
I found this quote from former NWTF Turkey Call magazine editor Gene Smith in an old Field & Stream article about Pennsylvania’s plan to implement orange regulations for the fall and spring seasons: “Blaze orange regulations reduce the possibility of success and detract from our enjoyment of the sport,” Hill said.
Plus, there are plenty of experts who believe turkeys can see colors, including the Game Commission itself. This is from the wild turkey page on the PGC website, in response to a question about the bird’s ability to see color: “The structure of a turkeys eyes indicate that they see better in daylight than in the dark and that they are quite capable of seeing colors.”
So, you have PGC board members stating that fluorescent orange impacts the turkey hunting experience negatively, the former editor of the NWTF’s official publication telling us that blaze orange regulations “reduce the possibility of success,” and the PGC itself admitting that turkeys do, in fact, see color.
If the agency wants to reduce the number of hens harvested in the fall, there’s no need to cut the season length or prohibit rifles.
Make turkey hunters wear orange. It’s no longer just a safety benefit.
If wearing orange makes it harder to harvest a turkey – as several experts have claimed over the years – it means fewer birds will be killed.
That’s the ultimate goal the PGC wants to achieve, and it could be accomplished without banning rifles or cutting the fall season into oblivion.
- This article originally appeared in PA Outdoor News.
