PA Launches Spring Turkey Hunting Season Saturday

PENNSYLVANIA — The state's spring month-long turkey hunting season kicks off on May 1. The outlook for Pennsylvania's only big-game season is good, according to the state Game Commission.

Although the 2020 estimated spring population of 196,200 turkeys was below average, commission officials said last year’s good summer reproduction and light fall harvest sets the stage for a good population this spring.

“A strong base of adult toms is strutting in our forests and fields in their annual quest for companionship, followed by a healthy population of high-spirited jakes,” Mary Jo Casalena, the commission's wild turkey biologist, said in a news release. “And, there’s an above-average supply
of 2-year-olds roaming. So hunters stand a great chance this spring of bringing home one – maybe even two – of these cabin-fever-chasing birds.”

Licensed hunters can harvest two bearded turkeys during the spring turkey season. A general hunting license provides spring-turkey hunting privileges and a tag that can be used to harvest one bird. An additional license can be purchased to harvest a second bird.

In 2020, second-tag sales set a new record, with 25,524 hunters buying these licenses. It was the fourth consecutive year second-tag sales topped 20,000.Those second tags led to 3,731 harvests, making for a 15 percent success rate for those with a second tag.

Last spring’s overall estimated harvest was 34,500 turkeys. Sixteen percent of turkey hunters were successful in filling their first tag.

Hunting hours begin one-half hour before sunrise and end at noon for the first two weeks of the statewide season through May 15). Hunters need to be out of the woods by 1 p.m. when hunting hours end at noon.

From May 17 through May 31, hunting hours are from one-half hour before sunrise until a half hour after sunset.