This past Saturday’s sunny and relatively warm day was the perfect venue for Pennsylvania’s one-day spring turkey youth hunt for junior hunting license holders and mentored hunters under 16 years old. 

This Saturday, May 1, the regular statewide spring turkey season opens for all hunters and will run until May 1. At that time there will be yelps, gobbles and purrs filling Penn’s Woods with hunters attempting to call in a wary gobbler. 

And the hunting prospects fairly look good according to Mary Jo Casalena, Pennsylvania Game Commission’s wild turkey biologist. 

With a 2020 estimated spring turkey population of 196,200 birds, Casalena said this total was slightly below average as last year’s good summer reproduction and light fall harvest set the stage for a good population this spring. 

Said Casalena, “A strong base of adult toms followed by a healthy population of high-spirited jakes are prevalent. And there’s an above-average supply of 2-year olds in many Wildlife Management Units. So hunters stand a good chance for bringing home one – maybe two – of these wary birds.” 

As for her latter statement of two birds, that’s permissible provided a licensed hunter purchased - prior to the season - a second Special Spring Turkey License for a second bird. 

Last year’s second-tag sales set a new record of 25,524 hunters buying these licenses. It was, says the PGC, the fourth consecutive year second tag sales topped 20,000. As a result, those second tags resulted in 3,731 birds taken that made for a 15 percent success rate for those with a second tag. 

Casalena goes on to say that last spring’s estimated harvest of 34,500 turkeys had a success rate of 16 percent. 

For this season, Casalena reminds hunters of the following: 

*Only bearded birds may be harvested by calling and sportsmen should refrain from knowingly harvesting bearded hens because they do nest and raise future broods. 

*Blinds have become popular in hunting not only deer but turkeys as well, but they must be manufactured types that enclose the hunter on all four sides and from above. It’s unlawful to hunt turkeys from blinds made of natural materials such as logs, tree branches and piled rocks. Also, blinds that represent a fanned tail of a gobbler do not hide all hunter movement and are unlawful to use in Pennsylvania.

*It’s unlawful to stalk turkeys or turkey sounds. 

*Legal firearms include manual or semi-auto shotguns limited to a three-shell capacity, muzzleloading shotguns, crossbows, long, recurve and compound bows may be used. 
*There’s no need to wear fluorescent orange while hunting, but it’s recommended while moving to and from your hunting spot. 

* Hunting hours are one-half hour before sunrise until noon for the first two weeks (May 1-15). Hunters are asked to be out of the woods by 1 p.m. This, says the PGC, is to minimize disturbing nesting hens. From May 17-31, hunting hours are one-half hour before sunrise until one-half hour after sunset when hunting pressure is lower and nesting hens are less likely to abandon nests. 

*Don’t forget to report your harvest by calling toll free 800-838-4431. The number in the Hunting/Trapping Digest is no longer in service. 

*If you get a banded turkey, report that as the PGC leg banded nearly 500 birds this winter. In return, the agency will provide details of when and where the bird was banded. 

Above all, be sure of your target. Make positively sure it’s a beaded gobbler before pulling the trigger, and not another hunter, a situation that has unfortunately happened in the past.

Oh yes. Don't forget to spray your clothes with a tick repellent as those nasty bugs will be looking for a meal. 

    Pennsylvania hunters followed up 2019-20 hunting seasons’ highest overall deer harvest in 15 years by topping it when they took an estimated 435,180 deer in the 2020-21 hunting seasons, which closed in January, the Pennsylvania Game Commission reported today.

    The 2020-21 estimated deer harvest topped the previous license year’s harvest of 389,431 by about 12 percent. Since 1993, Pennsylvania hunters have harvested more than 400,000 deer in a license year 10 times. Twice during that period, deer harvests exceeded 500,000, first in 2000 and then again in 2002, when the state’s record overall deer harvest of 517,529 was set.

    The statewide buck harvest -- 174,780 – set a new record for buck harvest in the antler restrictions era. The buck harvest also increased 7 percent over the previous license year’s buck harvest of 163,240. In the 2018-19 license year, 147,750 bucks were harvested.

    “About a quarter of the state’s deer hunters took a buck in the 2020-21 deer seasons,” noted David Stainbrook, the Game Commission’s Deer and Elk Section supervisor. “It’s a trend that hunters have maintained over the past three license years. The fact that we can maintain such high success rates on bucks year after year demonstrates the sustainability of the deer population in Pennsylvania.”

    The antlerless deer harvest for the 2020-21 seasons was 260,400. It exceeded the 2019-20 antlerless deer harvest – 226,191 – by 15 percent. The 2018-19 harvest was 226,940. The last time the antlerless deer harvest exceeded 2020-21’s was in the 2004-05 license year, when 284,910 antlerless deer were taken.

    In the 2020-21 deer seasons, the Game Commission set the antlerless allocations at levels to reduce the deer population in Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) where chronic wasting disease (CWD) has been documented, as part of its ongoing effort to limit the spread of the disease, and the antlerless harvest increased in these WMUs as intended.

    “Obtaining an adequate deer harvest is essential in the WMUs in and surrounding the state’s Disease Management Areas (DMAs),” noted Andrea Korman, CWD biologist. “Deer hunters remain the first line of defense in Pennsylvania’s continuing efforts to manage CWD. The harvest illustrates the cooperation we hoped hunters would provide to help where CWD threats are at their greatest in Penn’s Woods.”

    Unlike in 2019-20, when antlerless harvests decreased in almost half of the state’s WMUS, in 2020-21, antlerless harvests either increased or were similar to the previous year in all but one WMU – WMU 3B. This decrease was expected as the allocation was reduced in 2020-21. 

    WMUs posting the largest antlerless deer harvest increases were the western Pennsylvania WMUs of 1A, 1B, and 2B. In WMUs 1A and 1B, the antlered harvest increased substantially as well.
    Buck harvest estimates increased by more than 1,000 deer in six WMUs: 2A, 2F, 3A, 3B, 3C, and 4E. The largest increases in antlered deer harvest were in WMU 1A and WMU 1B, where the buck harvest increased by about 3,000 deer in each WMU.

    The percentage of older bucks in the 2020-21 deer harvest remained high. About 64 percent of the bucks taken by hunters were at least 2? years old. The remainder were 1? years old.

    “The Commonwealth’s antler restrictions have succeeded in providing more older bucks for Pennsylvania’s deer hunters,” said Game Commission Executive Director Bryan Burhans. “In place since 2002, they have transformed the smaller bucks that once dominated our deer harvests into a buck population that is the envy of deer hunters everywhere.

    “Anyone who hunted deer before antler restrictions can see the results. But it’s important to recognize that these bucks are a product of a well-managed deer herd and their existence hinged on the willingness of deer hunters to support antler restrictions.”

    About 68 percent of the antlerless deer harvest was adult females; button-bucks comprised 17 percent and doe fawns made up 15 percent. The previous license year’s breakdown is similar.
    Bowhunters accounted for over a third of Pennsylvania’s 2020-21 overall deer harvest taking 160,480 deer (80,130 bucks and 80,350 antlerless deer) with either bows or crossbows. The 2019-20 archery harvest was 145,908 (74,190 bucks and 71,718 antlerless deer). 

    The estimated muzzleloader harvest – 28,260 – was down slightly from the previous year’s harvest of 29,604. The 2020-21 muzzleloader harvest included 1,140 antlered bucks compared to 1,260 bucks in 2019-20.
​
    Total deer harvest estimates by WMU for 2020-21 (with 2019-20 figures in parentheses) are as follows:
     
    WMU 1A: 9,000 (6,400) antlered, 18,000 (13,200) antlerless;
    WMU 1B: 11,700 (8,700) antlered, 17,800 (12,700) antlerless;
    WMU 2A: 8,100 (6,900) antlered, 11,800 (9,900) antlerless;
    WMU 2B: 6,200 (5,500) antlered, 15,000 (10,400) antlerless;
    WMU 2C: 8,400 (9,400) antlered, 15,700 (14,069) antlerless;
    WMU 2D: 12,000 (13,000) antlered, 18,700 (18,888) antlerless;
    WMU 2E: 6,500 (6,400) antlered, 11,300 (9,473) antlerless;
    WMU 2F: 10,700 (9,000) antlered, 10,000 (9,724) antlerless;
    WMU 2G: 7,500 (8,100) antlered, 6,800 (6,105) antlerless;
    WMU 2H: 2,900 (2,400) antlered, 1,600 (1,100) antlerless;
    WMU 3A: 7,000 (5,700) antlered, 6,700 (5,700) antlerless;
    WMU 3B: 9,100 (7,600) antlered, 8,500 (10,300) antlerless;
    WMU 3C: 10,800 (9,400) antlered, 14,500 (12,800) antlerless;
    WMU 3D: 6,200 (6,000) antlered, 6,400 (4,900) antlerless;
    WMU 4A: 5,200 (6,000) antlered, 10,800 (7,924) antlerless;
    WMU 4B: 5,000 (5,700) antlered, 10,800 (8,285) antlerless;
    WMU 4C: 7,000 (7,000) antlered, 8,100 (8,300) antlerless;
    WMU 4D: 9,100 (8,700) antlered, 12,300 (10,955) antlerless;
    WMU 4E: 8,600 (7,300) antlered, 11,200 (9,500) antlerless;
    WMU 5A: 3,500 (3,400) antlered, 6,100 (5,000) antlerless;
    WMU 5B: 9,600 (10,200) antlered, 16,400 (15,345) antlerless;
    WMU 5C: 8,400 (7,600) antlered, 15,200 (14,427) antlerless;
    WMU 5D: 2,200 (2,500) antlered, 6,500 (6,700) antlerless; and
    Unknown WMU: 80 (340) antlered, 200 (496) antlerless.
     
    Season-specific 2020-21 deer harvest estimates (with 2019-20 harvest estimates in parentheses) are as follows:
    WMU 1A: archery, 4,720 (3,240) antlered, 6,180 (4,320) antlerless; and muzzleloader, 80 (60) antlered, 2,020 (1,680) antlerless.
    WMU 1B: archery, 5,160 (3,960) antlered, 4,180 (3,230) antlerless; muzzleloader, 40 (40) antlered, 1,520 (1,170) antlerless.
    WMU 2A: archery, 3,540 (3,140) antlered, 3,000 (2,540) antlerless; muzzleloader, 60 (60) antlered, 1,200 (960) antlerless.
    WMU 2B: archery, 4,630 (4,150) antlered, 8,470 (5,500) antlerless; muzzleloader, 70 (50) antlered, 830 (700) antlerless.
    WMU 2C: archery, 3,860 (4,230) antlered, 3,630 (3,939) antlerless; muzzleloader, 40 (70) antlered, 1,570 (1,854) antlerless.
    WMU 2D: archery, 6,080 (5,800) antlered, 3,560 (4,085) antlerless; muzzleloader, 120 (100) antlered, 1,740 (2,701) antlerless.
    WMU 2E: archery, 2,660 (2,540) antlered, 2,070 (1,944) antlerless; muzzleloader, 40 (60) antlered, 1,130 (1,252) antlerless.
    WMU 2F: archery, 4,100 (3,340) antlered, 2,090 (2,006) antlerless; muzzleloader, 100 (60) antlered, 1,810 (1,534) antlerless.
    WMU 2G: archery, 2,470 (2,540) antlered, 1,780 (1,381) antlerless; muzzleloader, 30 (60) antlered, 1,420 (1,321) antlerless.
    WMU 2H: archery, 970 (690) antlered, 380 (230) antlerless; muzzleloader, 30 (10) antlered, 220 (170) antlerless.
    WMU 3A: archery, 2,470 (2,080) antlered, 1,630 (1,400) antlerless; muzzleloader, 30 (20) antlered, 980 (800) antlerless.
    WMU 3B: archery, 3,470 (3,160) antlered, 2,110 (2,590) antlerless; muzzleloader, 30 (40) antlered, 1,190 (1,710) antlerless.
    WMU 3C: archery, 3,570 (3,370) antlered, 3,480 (2,860) antlerless; muzzleloader, 30 (30) antlered, 1,820 (1,740) antlerless.
    WMU 3D: archery, 2,670 (2,250) antlered, 2,240 (1,470) antlerless; muzzleloader, 30 (50) antlered, 760 (830) antlerless.
    WMU 4A: archery, 1,650 (1,610) antlered, 1,880 (1,696) antlerless; muzzleloader, 50 (90) antlered, 1,120 (1,313) antlerless.
    WMU 4B: archery, 2,260 (2,350) antlered, 2,870 (2,551) antlerless; muzzleloader, 40 (50) antlered, 1,030 (1,070) antlerless.
    WMU 4C: archery, 3,260 (3,550) antlered, 2,890 (2,960) antlerless; muzzleloader, 40 (50) antlered, 1,010 (1,240) antlerless.
    WMU 4D: archery, 3,550 (3,120) antlered, 3,020 (3,287) antlerless; muzzleloader, 50 (80) antlered, 1,280 (1,618) antlerless.
    WMU 4E: archery, 3,850 (3,420) antlered, 3,420 (2,750) antlerless; muzzleloader, 50 (80) antlered, 1,280 (1,250) antlerless.
    WMU 5A: archery, 1,680 (1,580) antlered, 1,920 (1,880) antlerless; muzzleloader, 20 (20) antlered, 480 (620) antlerless.
    WMU 5B: archery, 5,840 (6,420) antlered, 7,730 (7,400) antlerless; muzzleloader, 60 (80) antlered, 1,470 (1,438) antlerless.
    WMU 5C: archery, 5,810 (5,330) antlered, 7,410 (7,075) antlerless; muzzleloader, 90 (70) antlered, 990 (1,042) antlerless.
    WMU 5D: archery, 1,790 (2,180) antlered, 4,310 (4,460) antlerless; muzzleloader, 10 (20) antlered, 190 (240) antlerless.
    Unknown WMU: archery, 70 (140) antlered, 100 (164) antlerless; muzzleloader, 0 (10) antlered, 60 (94) antlerless.