12-02-2025
Winter wild turkey survey goes a long way to a successful spring season
I really don't want to complain, but I'm going to do so.
This year, we have just 24 days to hunt spring gobbler because of a glitch in the 2024 calendar, this year the season will not open until Saturday, May 4. With the season ending Friday, May 31, there are just 24 days to hunt spring gobbler this year.
From now through March 15, however, hunters can help the Pennsylvania Game Commission better manage these magnificent birds by participating in the Turkey Brood Survey by locating turkey flocks to trap for ongoing turkey projects. Information is beingcollected online at , and visitors to the webpage are asked to provide the date of the sighting, the location and the type of land as to public, private or unknown where birds were or are being seen.
'The data gives us information on annual survival rates and annual spring harvest rates for our population model and provides the person reporting information on when and approximately where the turkey was banded,' PGC turkey biologist Mary Jo Casalena said. 'We're studying turkey population and movement dynamics, disease prevalence and other aspects that may limit populations.
'It is the largest turkey project we've ever conducted, with the hope of answering many questions regarding current turkey population dynamics. The public was so helpful the last two years, and some even helped with monitoring sites and trapping, and we look forward to continuing this winter.'
When reported sightings are made, PGC crews will visit sites to assess them for the potential to trap turkeys.
Turkeys will not be relocated, but simply be leg banded and released on site, and in four Wildlife Management Units some also will be outfitted with GPS transmitters, then be released back on site, to be monitored over time.
Trapping turkeys during winter is part of the PGC's ongoing population monitoring and provides information for a large-scale turkey study as well. Just like the last four winters, the agency will put leg bands on male turkeys statewide.
Hunters who bag one of these turkeys, or people who find one dead, are asked to report the band number by either calling toll-free or reporting it online. The PGC is also attaching GPS transmitters to a sample of turkeys in WMUs 2D, 3D, 4D and 5C on approximately 150 hens and 100 gobblers.
The four study areas have different landscapes, turkey population densities and spring hunter and harvest densities. These studies are being done in partnership with Penn State University and the University of Pennsylvania's Wildlife Futures Program.
The population and movement portion of that work is looking at how landscape and weather impact hen nest rates, nest success, poult survival, predation, habitat use and movement. The disease portion of the study is examining how disease prevalence varies based on landscape and impacts things like the survival and nesting rates of hens of different ages.
This is accomplished by collecting blood, throat swabs, feces, etc. from turkeys that receive backpack-style transmitters at the time of capture. The study will continue next winter for females, so that, in the end, the PGC will monitor 400-plus hens and 200-plus gobblers.
Researchers from Penn State University and the University of Pennsylvania's Wildlife Futures Program will interpret the data collected. Maryland, New Jersey and Ohio joined the study as well.
Trapping turkeys during winter is part of the Game Commission's ongoing population monitoring, and provides information for large-scale turkey studies, as well.
Hunters who harvest these marked turkeys, or people who find one dead, are asked to report the bandnumber and/or transmitter, either by calling toll-free or reporting it online.
'The data give us information on annual survival rates and annual spring harvest rates for our population model, and provides the person reporting the information on when and approximately where the turkey was banded,' Casalena said. 'In the four WMUs where hens are getting the GPS transmitters, we're studying turkey population and movement dynamics, disease prevalence, and other aspects that may limit populations.'
The field study will conclude at the end of December 2025, so that, in the end, the Game Commission will have monitored 500-plus hens and 200-plus male turkeys. Males were equipped with GPS transmitters from 2022-2024 and also are being monitored through 2025. These studies are being done in partnership with Penn State University and the University of Pennsylvania's Wildlife Futures Program. Finding birds to trap is the key to accomplishing the work, and that's where the public comes in. Fortunately, Pennsylvanians have a history of helping in this way.
'It is the largest turkey project we've ever conducted, with the hope of answering many questions regarding current turkey population dynamics,' Casalena said. 'The public was so helpful the last few years and some even helped with monitoring sites and trapping.
'We look forward to continuing this winter. Helping with the project could help in tagging a gobbler during this year's too-short season.'
(Dietz is a member of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association) Contact the writer: outdoors@
