Pennsylvania State Chapter

                                                                       RD#5 Box 201

                                                                       Brookville, PA 15825

                                                                       April 25, 2005

Pennsylvania Game Commission

2001 Elmerton Avenue

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17110-9797

 

Commissioners, Executive Director Ross, Ladies and Gentlemen:

 

Thank you for the opportunity to comment on proposed regulation changes affecting hunting and trapping seasons in Pennsylvania. The members of the Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation are pleased with the fine working relationship between the employees of the Game Commission and our chapter. We hold in high regard the professional biologists, technicians, land managers and law enforcement officers with whom we regularly work. Their dedication to the wildlife resources of the Commonwealth is apparent in the quality of their work.

 

Our members continue to support the management of all the wildlife resources of Pennsylvania based on quality data collection and sound scientific principals. The Game Commission has based its recent decisions and current regulation change proposals on good information and good science. The Pennsylvania Chapter is pleased to support reduction in the lengths of fall turkey hunting seasons in certain Wildlife Management Units as recommended by the Bureau of Wildlife Management. This proposal based on summer brood surveys and spring harvest population indices is a wise choice given the series of below average hatches and severe winters experienced in the past few years.

 

The institution of an additional license for the taking of a second spring gobbler will provide new recreational opportunities with minimal affect on the wild turkey resource. Our chapter requests that the Commission not consider issuing any licenses for the taking of an additional fall turkey until adequate population data is available to support such a change. The sale of these spring licenses will generate much needed income for Game Commission programs including reaching some of the objectives of the Management Plan for Wild Turkeys in Pennsylvania.

 

Our membership supports this regulation change including closing the sale of the licenses before the opening of the spring season. Our members would, however, be more comfortable with the proposal if the additional licenses were valid only for the last two weeks of the spring season. In addition, the Pennsylvania Chapter requests that mandatory reporting be required for all purchasers of the second license. This reporting should include the reporting of a kill or no kill. Successful hunters should report the WMU in which the bird was taken, the township and county of kill, the age of the gobbler (juvenile or adult), beard length and spur length. We would ask that the commissioners consider these minor changes to the proposal.

 

The Bureau of Wildlife Management is in the process of updating the Management Plan for Wild Turkeys in Pennsylvania to provide guidance for the management of this important game species for the next five years. The Pennsylvania Chapter supports the revision of the management plan and commends the Game Commission for establishing this document in 1999 and using the plan to address decisions on managing this valuable wildlife resource. The plan is an example of forward thinking by the commission and has allowed the agency to begin to be proactive in wild turkey population management. Lack of funding for the implementation of the management plan has prevented the completion of some important strategies and objectives of the plan. Adequate funding for the strategies and objectives in the plan would help Pennsylvania to continue to be a leader in the field. This is a biologically sound management plan that will, if properly funded and incrementally implemented, help to prevent problems and controversies such as those currently being experienced by the commission in the area of deer management. Our members urge the commissioners to have the revised plan completed and ready for signing by June 30 of this year.

 

The need for harvest rate data, survival data and more detailed information by management unit is addressed in the existing plan. Establishment of a low cost turkey hunting license would help fund the initiatives of the revised plan and enable the Game Commission to be more proactive in the management of wild turkeys. We certainly don’t want to wait until there is trouble on the horizon to learn more about the wild turkey population. A recent member survey indicated that there is support within our membership for such a low cost license to help fund the needs of the plan.

 

In an effort to address the strategies of the Management Plan for Wild Turkeys in Pennsylvania, the Pennsylvania Chapter requests that changes be made to the existing harvest report cards. The existing cards should be modified to include the sex and age of any wild turkey harvested in the spring or fall season. This change would require very little space and could easily be accommodated on the existing card. The addition of these two bits of data would provide commission biologists with information useful for proper management of the wild turkey resource.

 

Thank you again for the chance to comment on regulation changes affecting turkey hunting and the management of other wildlife species. Our chapter members sincerely appreciate the cooperative work of various bureaus of the Game Commission in the area of wild turkey management. Increased hunting opportunities for spring hunters and youth participants will benefit hunters and encourage them to remain active in the sport. We are pleased to support turkey habitat and population management and the preservation of our hunting tradition through our Hunting Heritage Super Fund.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

David Burdge

President, Pennsylvania Chapter-NWTF