Pennsylvania hasn’t always had a spring turkey hunting season, simply because it didn’t always have enough turkeys to sustain one.

Things are sure different than decades ago.

The 2025 spring gobbler season is just about here. It starts with a one-day hunt for junior license holders and eligible mentored youth on April 26, from one-half hour before sunrise until noon. The regular statewide season runs from May 3-17, when hunting hours also are from one-half hour before sunrise until noon, and May 19-31, when hunting hours run from one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset.

Hunters are allowed one gobbler with their general license. Those who purchase a second spring gobbler tag by May 2 can take a second bird, though not more than one per day.

Unlike decades ago, plenty of birds await.

In the decades before May 1968 – when Pennsylvania established its first spring turkey season – turkeys were scarce, here and throughout their range. Habitat loss and unregulated, commercial market hunting drove down the number of wild turkeys to only about 30,000 nationwide, according to estimates.

In 2019, the last year for which data is available, there are perhaps 5 million birds across the country. Pennsylvania’s spring harvests alone over the last three years have averaged 38,000 annually. That will likely be the case again this year, thanks to some good news on the turkey front.

According to the Game Commission’s annual summer turkey sighting survey, which tracks turkey reproductive success over time, turkey populations have lucked out with above-average reproduction during the last four years. And in 2024, summer reproduction was good in all 22 Wildlife Management Units, for the first time since 2019, when the nationally standardized turkey sighting survey began.

That’s more than just a blip on the radar screen, too, said Mary Jo Casalena, the Game Commission’s wild turkey biologist.

“We have seen a general increase in the statewide reproductive success over the past four years,” Casalena said.

Hunters have been taking advantage of that. Last spring they harvested 39,200 gobblers, more than the previous three-year average of 34,500. They were efficient in going about it, too. Last spring’s harvest per 100 days – the Game Commission’s standard for measuring the effort needed to bag a gobbler – was the second-highest ever recorded.

That might be tough to beat this year, especially because the statewide flock contains a lot of 3-year-old and older gobblers, the toughest kind to fool. But Casalena is excited and thinks the rest of the state’s 170,000 or so turkey hunters should be, too.

“I can’t wait for the season to begin,” she said. “There are a lot of different signs of spring, but for me, there’s none like the enthusiastic call of a gobbler making his presence known to all around.”

Casalena said hunters are well served to scout for birds, listening at daybreak for gobbles, or using shock calls like owl and crow calls – though sparingly – to locate them. Start by looking in good turkey habitat, which means places with a 60/40 mix of woods and more-open habitat, be it agricultural fields or grassy openings. If turkeys are in the area, they’ll leave signs of their presence: tracks, feathers, droppings and scratchings in the leaf litter and dirt.

Find that and you’re at least in the ballpark. Then, the real game begins.

“Turkeys can be tough to fool, especially if they’ve already survived a season or two,” Casalena said. “So it’s not easy to take one. But that’s what makes the season so enjoyable, the challenge behind getting an opportunity to harvest a bird and put food on your family’s table.”

Licensing and regulations

Junior licenses holders and eligible mentored youth may participate in the one-day youth hunt. Hunters under 16 must be accompanied by an adult.

An adult accompanying a mentored youth may not supervise more than three hunters total, and must carry the sporting arm at all times when a mentored hunter is moving.

Mentored hunters 7 and older receive a spring turkey harvest tag with their required mentored hunting permit. Mentored hunters under 7 who harvest a turkey must receive a harvest tag through transfer from their mentor. Hunting hours during the youth hunt end at noon.

During the youth hunt and the rest of the spring season, hunters may use manually operated or semiautomatic shotguns limited to a three-shell capacity in the chamber and magazine combined. Muzzleloading shotguns, crossbows and long, recurve and compound bows also are permitted.

Only bearded birds may be harvested during the spring season. Hunters are encouraged to refrain from knowingly harvesting bearded hens because they do nest and raise broods.

There is no requirement for hunters to wear fluorescent orange during the spring turkey season, though wearing it is recommended, especially while moving.

Blinds used while turkey hunting must be manufactured with manmade materials of sufficient density to block movement within the blind from an observer outside the blind. Blinds must completely enclose the hunter on all four sides and from above. It is unlawful to hunt turkeys from blinds made of natural materials such as logs, tree branches and piled rocks.

Blinds that represent the fanned tail of a gobbler do not hide all hunter movement and are unsafe, and therefore are unlawful to use in Pennsylvania.

It is unlawful, as well as unsafe, to stalk turkeys or turkey sounds. When in a stationary position, a hunter should sit with his or her back against a large tree, rock or other barrier that shields movement and offers protection from others who might approach from the rear. All hunters are to wait and properly identify their targets prior to pulling the trigger.

A spring turkey harvest tag is included with any adult or junior general hunting license. Additionally, hunters can purchase a license to harvest a second gobbler in the spring season. Sales of this $21.97 license ($41.97 for nonresidents) end May 2, one day before the regular statewide season begins.

Because the second spring gobbler license includes a harvest tag, it cannot be printed at home. Licenses and harvest tags are mailed when purchased online, but hunters who might need any license sooner rather than later likely are better off buying it directly from an issuing agent.

For more information on spring turkey hunting rules and regulations, pertaining to the youth or regular hunts, check the 2024-25 Pennsylvania Hunting & Trapping Digest, which is provided with a hunting license and is available online at https://www.pa.gov/agencies/pgc.html.

Turkey hunting safety

Hunting is safer in Pennsylvania now than at any other time in history. That applies to spring turkey hunting, too.

Overall, hunting accidents, or Hunting Related Shooting Incidents (HRSIs) as they’re called, have declined by 80% since 1959 when measured in number of incidents per 100,000 hunters. It was about that same time that the Game Commission began offering hunter education courses to improve safety.

Still, even one accident is one too many. So when you go into the turkey woods this spring, remember these safety tips:

• For safety, turkey hunters should not wear clothing that contains black, like the color found on a turkey’s body, or red, white or blue, like those on a turkey’s head.
• Sit against a large stump, tree trunk or boulder that is wider than your shoulders and higher than your head. This hides your movement from turkeys and offers protection from other hunters who might approach from the rear.
• Positively identify your target. Before pulling the trigger, be absolutely certain it’s a legal turkey and that there’s nothing in your line of fire or beyond it.
• If you shoot a bird, put your gun’s safety on and approach the downed bird with your firearm pointed in a safe direction. Never run with it.
• If you see another hunter, do not move, wave or make turkey sounds. Rather, remain still and speak in a loud, clear voice to announce your presence.
• Leave an area if you suspect there’s another hunter already working the same bird.
• Finally, while there is no requirement to wear fluorescent orange while turkey hunting, it is recommended to wear it while moving.

Reporting harvests

Successful turkey hunters must immediately tag their bird before moving it from the harvest site and are required by law to report the harvest to the Game Commission within 10 days. Those reports are key to managing turkeys, as they allow the Game Commission to estimate harvest and population trends.

Hunters can report turkeys in three ways: by visiting https://HuntFish.PA.gov and clicking the “Report a Harvest” button near the top of the home page; by calling 1-800-838-4431; or by filling out and mailing the harvest report card in the digest hunters get when they buy a license.

Have your harvest tag in front of you when reporting to be sure you can provide all the requested information.

The public also is asked to report any turkeys harvested or found with leg bands or radio transmitters. Not only does the person reporting learn when and approximately where the bird was banded, but the information received on those birds – which are legal to take – helps estimate spring harvest rate and annual survival rate by Wildlife Management Unit, Casalena said. Those are critical pieces of data for the state’s turkey population model.

Radioed turkeys are part of ongoing research studies. Leg bands feature a toll-free number, website and email address for reporting.

Handling turkeys

Though their habits and comparatively small flock sizes limit a wild turkey’s risk for contracting Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI), turkeys can get it.

Hunters harvesting a turkey should follow some routine steps to protect themselves and reduce the risk of spreading this extremely contagious disease, which appeared in Pennsylvania in 2022. Namely, when handling or dressing harvested wild birds:

• Have dedicated footwear, clothing and tools used only for that purpose.
• Wear gloves.
• Do not eat, drink or smoke.
• Wash your hands with soap and water or an alcohol-based hand sanitizer immediately after.
• Wash all tools and work surfaces with soap and water, then disinfect with a 10% household bleach solution. Allow to air dry or rinse after 10 minutes of contact time.
• Change footwear and clothing before coming in contact with any domestic poultry or pet birds.
• Dress harvested wild birds in the field.
• Double bag any offal and feathers that will be removed from the field.
• Do not handle or harvest wild birds that appear sick or are found dead.

While influenza viruses can infect humans, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the viruses circulating in the United States currently “are believed to pose a low risk to the general public.”

Anyone finding sick or dead wild birds, though, should report those to the Game Commission at 1-833-PGC-WILD. Sick or dead domestic birds should be reported to the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture at 717-772-2852.