An All-Day Approach

Until a few years ago, spring gobbler hunting in my state ended at noon daily. Now, we can hunt all day in the last couple of weeks of the season. Some states allow all day hunting during the entire season. Why the difference?

Most states have a defined regulation-setting process with seasons and bag limits, and permitted tools and techniques sometimes changing as new information comes in, equipment evolves, and science affords new insights.

In some Southeastern states – especially ones where wild turkeys were not entirely extirpated – all day, spring gobbler hunting is a tradition. Several Northeastern and Midwestern states, though, had no wild turkeys until restoration efforts using wild-trapped turkeys bore fruit through the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s. Many mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states eased into spring hunting in the 1960s with limited hunting days and only portions of the states open. Missouri began a three-day season in 1960. Virginia began limited hunting on certain public lands in 1962. Ohio opened part of the state in 1966. Pennsylvania and New York established spring seasons in 1968. Several mid-Atlantic states, those where wild turkeys had declined but not disappeared, such as Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia, established fall hunting seasons in the 20th century.

Meanwhile, as population restoration work continued nationwide and turkey numbers increased in all the states, interest in spring gobbler hunting grew. Most biologists and managers felt that gobblers could be taken in the spring without undue impact on overall numbers, with the provision that season dates were set properly when hens were actively laying and incubating nests. That belief was borne out as mid-Atlantic and Midwestern states with viable populations joined the more traditional spring hunting states in the South and experienced multiple years of spring hunting opportunity. Still, the caution flag was out as research indicated there might be a threshold where overharvest in the spring could affect hunting quality, with less likely impacts on overall population levels.

In the last few decades, ardent spring gobbler hunters have traveled around the country, with many experiencing all-day hunting. Upon returning home, they often wondered why their state restricted hours. This all-day hunting interest prompted wildlife agencies to examine the issue and assess how it might affect gobbler harvest rates, hunt quality and wild turkey populations. While it might seem like an easy decision to simply change regulations affecting hunting hours, multiple social and biological factors must be considered. These factors vary by state due to hunter numbers, land ownership and even topography.

In Virginia, for example, trees and other plants from the tidewater and piedmont regions of eastern Virginia to the western mountains, where considerable public land exists, leaf out over an extended, varied period. Habitat conditions in the eastern part of the state can vary greatly from those in the western mountains. This vast acreage of open access public land in the western part of the state receives heavy hunting pressure. These factors were weighed in limiting all-day hunting to later in the season.

In Pennsylvania, where more than 170,000 spring hunters hit the woods, hunting pressure is heaviest in the early weeks. The aim there is to reduce the potential for disturbing nesting hens. Longer hunting hours are tacked on the second half of the season.

These short examples help illustrate just a couple of the many social and biological factors that are considered into the decision-making process that results in regulatory changes. In the end, biologists are responsible for designing season strategies that are in the best interest of the wildlife resource, in this case wild turkeys. A conservative approach may limit recreational opportunity, but until the data within a jurisdiction indicates that relaxing seasons, hunting hours and bag limits is justified, it remains the wise route to take.

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