Turkey season opener October 27

Wild turkeys abound throughout much of the region as the fall hunting season opener nears. Turkeys are legal game in all of northcentral Pennsylvania from Saturday, Oct. 27, through Nov. 17.

Game Commission field officers report that summer turkey sights in Management Area 2G -- covering all of Cameron County and the southern half of Potter County, are almost twice that of last summer.

The situation is even brighter in Management Area 3A, which covers the territory north of Rt 6 in Potter, McKean and Tioga counties.

Game officers say turkey sightings there over the past three years are more than twice the long-term average, including both juvenile and adult birds.

Mary Jo Casalena, Game Commission wild turkey biologist, said the same abundance is present in many aprts of the state.

"This is a welcome change after successive wet or cold springs that hampered poult production and survival in recent years," she added.

Turkey hunters are coming off an average 2007 spring gobbler season. Preliminary harvest estimates indicate 41,000 bearded turkeys were taken, down from about 44,000 in 2006.

Turkey hunters must wear a minimum of 250 square inches of fluorescent orange material on the head, chest and back, visible in all directions.