By Don Heckman

The Pennsylvania State Chapter - National Wild Turkey Federation is moving forward with a plan to seek Legislative approval for a spring turkey hunting license.

The benefits of a turkey hunting license will have a positive effect on the ability of professional wildlife managers to manage the wild turkey resource well into the next millennium. The wild turkey has the ability to adapt to its environment and to thrive through the good and the bad times. Continued development and improvement of management tools will help the wild turkey continue to cope with its ever changing environment in Pennsylvania.

Generally, these benefits will be realized in wild turkey management, turkey hunting safety, and wild turkey information and education.

Wild turkey populations and turkey hunter success are currently at all time highs in Pennsylvania. Through the wildlife management efforts of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, the wild turkey success story can be used as a shining example of wildlife and people living together in the same environment.

The previous twenty-five year snapshot of this wildlife management success story can be told in these terms:

1. PGC biologists and wildlife managers agreeing to implement a wild turkey management strategy in the 1960’s and 1970’s.
2. Seasons and bag limits were established, and broadened as the wild turkey resource populations improved.
3. Wild turkey trap and transfer program begin in Pennsylvania during the early 1980’s.
4. Wild turkey management areas [TMA’s] were developed to manage the resource.
5. Abundance of and improvements made to wild turkey habitat.
6. Sportsmen and women coming together to support wildlife management and conservation practices that benefit the wild turkey resource.
7. The Pennsylvania State Chapter - National Wild Turkey Federation taking a very active leadership role in support of wild turkey management; improving habitat on state game lands, state forest lands, and land in private ownership; working with the PGC and DCNR on conservation and education programs; providing additional resources, volunteers and money, to improve all aspects of wild turkey management; working to improve turkey hunting safety, hunter information and education; promoting ethical hunting techniques; and taking a leadership role in promoting the need for an information database for wild turkey management.

While wildlife professionals know a great deal about wild turkeys, there is a vast array of technical and social data to be learned in Pennsylvania. Learning this information will improve management of the wild turkey resource in Pennsylvania and will better the position of wildlife managers to address future issues and resolve minor problems before they become major social and wildlife management problems.

Turkey hunting license will provide additional funds enabling wildlife managers to:

• Conduct research to determine optimum turkey population densities. Turkey populations in some Pennsylvania Turkey Management Areas are probably below optimum carrying levels.
• Conduct research to determine how to best increase turkey population densities.
• Conduct research on the changing environments and forests, woodlots, and farming diversity in wild turkey management areas and what the impact is on wild turkeys.
• Collect more meaningful data by Turkey Management Area relating to harvest sex and age composition, mortality rates by sex, age and factor, and recruitment rates and factors affecting hen and brood populations.

Turkey hunting license will provide a mechanism to identity turkey hunters in Pennsylvania. This will benefit PGC wildlife managers, and subsequently the wild turkey resource and those that enjoy it, by:

• Efficiently providing accurate data on the number of turkey hunters.
• Enabling wildlife managers to efficiently collect more accurate data on turkey harvests and hunter success rates.
• Enabling managers to efficiently collect data on hunter habits, number of days afield, spring or fall hunting preference, counties hunted, etc.
• Enabling managers to efficiently provide hunter safety material, wildlife management information, and turkey populations trends for turkey hunters.
• Enabling managers to efficiently solicit input from the turkey hunter on management practices and proposals.
• Enabling managers to efficiently target the turkey hunting public with general information of interest to hunters.

Turkey hunting is a safe and enjoyable sport. But, turkey hunting safety can be, and needs to be, improved. Making turkey hunting a safer sport should be of primary concern to every licensed hunter. Lives are shattered, both victim and offender, every time a turkey hunter is shot be another hunter, and our sport suffers as well. Such incidents can and should be prevented by hunters using common sense, safe gun practices, and ethical hunting behavior.

Benefits to Wild Turkey Hunting Safety from a Turkey Hunting License:

• A turkey hunting license will provide a mechanism to identify who the turkey hunters are in Pennsylvania. This will enable the PGC to efficiently communicate and target all Pennsylvania turkey hunters with safety material and information.
• A turkey hunting license will provide funds to develop, evaluate, prepare, and utilize safety related material and training tools.
• Wildlife managers will be able to develop and evaluate changes to the existing Hunter Trapper Education course to improve wild turkey hunting and safety material.
• Wildlife managers will be able to identify and address areas of game law violations, firearms safety violations, and unethical behaviors amount turkey hunters. This information will lead to reducing turkey hunting incidents.

Wild turkey information is documented by the Pennsylvania Game Commission and distributed through the "Pennsylvania Game News", "Hunting and Trapping Digest", PGC home page, wildlife notes, field notes, brochures and flyers. Turkey hunters can get volumes of information and educational material through hunting videos, hunting magazines, and through the actual hunting experience. Our non hunting public is just as important to the future of our sport as turkey hunters are. Together, the license buyer and the non license buyer will play a very important role in developing and supporting our hunting heritage in the future years.

Turkey hunting license will provide additional funds enabling PGC wildlife managers and educators to inform and educate the non hunting public of the need for wildlife management and conservation efforts. By providing new and improved continued education to the non hunting public on why and how professional wildlife managers and sportsmen work together to improve all wildlife, we will be generating a support network for current and future generations of sportsmen and wildlife managers.

• Enable wildlife managers and educators to produce additional material for school age children and young adults, and teachers, that promote wildlife management and conservation.
• Enable wildlife managers and educators to provide new and improved public service announcements for all sport hunting and wildlife management programs.
• Enable wildlife managers and educators to develop new programs and strengthen existing programs that explains wildlife management to all hunting license buyers, conservation organizations, and public officials. This will enable the PGC to research and develop changes to wildlife management practices, identify and collect the data and material required, and use effective methods to inform and educate the public.

Send mail to panwtf@go2pa.com with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2000 Pennsylvania Chapter- National Wild Turkey Federation
Last modified: November 20, 2003