Turkey Season Opens Saturday

Pennsylvania's turkey-hunting season opens on Saturday, Oct. 28, with a mixed forecast for Cameron and Potter counties.

"Healthy-sized wild turkey flocks are present, but will be well dispersed," according to Mary Jo Casalena, Pa. Game Commission wild turkey biologist.

Surveys indicate that turkey recruitment was slightly higher than in the past few years. Cold, wet spring weather once again influenced nesting. Also helping turkeys was the abundant food supply and warmer, drier weather last

winter. Coming into this spring's nesting season, turkeys were in good shape.

Turkey hunters are coming off a strong spring gobbler season. The harvest increase is attributed to more favorable weather conditions and a strong two-year-old age class of gobblers present this past spring. Two-year-old birds are particularly vulnerable to hunters' calls.

Casalena said the key to finding wild turkeys is identifying an abundance of the forest foods they prefer. "It's pretty hard to miss the signs

turkeys make looking for food," she added. "Once you find the general area, try to pattern their movements through daily monitoring. Look for fresh scratches, tracks and feathers."

Season lengths vary by Wildlife Management Unit (WMU). In Cameron and Potter counties, the season runs through Nov. 18. The southern part of Potter County and all of Cameron County are in WMU 2G, where game officials list turkey populations as "fair." "Harvest density and sightings

are beginning to show slightly increasing trends, indicating a slightly increasing population," the Game Commission reported. "Fall hunter success last year was 10.1 percent, which is still below the threeyear average for this WMU." Things are more promising in WMU 3A, which includes the northern parts of Potter and McKean counties. "Summer sightings over the last two years in 3A were as good as in 2001 and 2002," the agency reported. "Fall hunter success last year was 13.9 percent, still below the threeyear average."