Committee suggests hike in spring turkey \u2018tag\u2019 numbers in Wisconsin<\/a><\/p>\nIf drastic measures are needed to reduce crowding and hunting pressure, it makes sense to prioritize resident hunters first.<\/p>\n
As expected, the change has been largely supported by Missouri\u2019s resident hunters, but some of them want the state to go even further. Among the additional steps mentioned is doing away with the two-gobbler limit, something that has been suggested in various forms in Pennsylvania as well.<\/p>\n
But here in Pennsylvania we\u2019ve been told that gobblers are \u201cexpendable,\u201d and the second tag won\u2019t hurt the population.<\/p>\n
But South Carolina has something to say about that.<\/p>\n
Starting with its 2025 spring season, South Carolina reduced the bag limit from three to two gobblers \u2013 a move that was supported by that state\u2019s chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation.<\/p>\n
In another move made by South Carolina effective 2025, hunters can no longer shoot jakes, which are defined as having a beard less than 6 inches in length.<\/p>\n
The changes were made in response to declining turkey populations, which, when you bring Pennsylvania into the mix makes it confusing.<\/p>\n
As mentioned, Pennsylvania\u2019s turkey management approach considers gobblers to be expendable and the harvest inconsequential to the overall population.<\/p>\n
But South Carolina took steps to limit its gobbler harvest because turkey populations were declining.<\/p>\n
So does the spring gobbler season have an impact on overall turkey numbers in a state? Apparently South Carolina thinks it does, but Pennsylvania doesn\u2019t.<\/p>\n
In my opinion, any time you kill a bird \u2013 male or female \u2013 it has an effect on the population to varying degrees. I like the fact that South Carolina recognizes this and reduced its gobbler limit. As for the prohibition on harvesting jakes, I think that\u2019s an interesting step that should be debated here in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
I am fine with allowing the harvest of jakes for youth hunters \u2013 similar with how the antlered deer harvest is regulated (juniors and mentored hunters are exempt from antler restrictions). And I would be OK with a ban on harvesting jakes. After all, no one is out there in the spring gobbler season for the sole purpose of putting meat on the table.<\/p>\n
The spring season is essentially a trophy hunt where weight, beard and spur length are what matters.<\/p>\n
If hunters aren\u2019t allowed to harvest jakes, they\u2019ll live, and so will the turkeys. That\u2019s a good thing if the population is weak.<\/p>\n
Another interesting gobbler season approach enacted in both Missouri and South Carolina is even though each has two-bird limits for the spring, only one can be taken during the first week of the season.<\/p>\n
When it comes to pressure, I think this is a great idea that needs to be considered in Pennsylvania. Allowing two gobblers to be harvested at any time of the season makes it a free-for-all. Blast one bird and get right back out there and do it again.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s not an ethical way to hunt, and such an approach just increases the hunting pressure which is a major factor why gobblers go quiet.<\/p>\n
Again, if gobblers are expendable, does it really make a difference if the opportunity to harvest them is limited just a bit? What is it going to hurt?<\/p>\n
There\u2019s no doubt that Pennsylvania is at the top of the list among states for turkey hunting. If we want to keep it that way, perhaps it\u2019s time to consider what other states are doing with their spring season and if it can be beneficial here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania is a top turkey hunting state, but we\u2019re not alone. And one of the other hotspot states…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":72860,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[9649,28,30,29,19287],"class_list":{"0":"post-72859","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-hunting","9":"tag-pennsylvania","10":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","11":"tag-pennsylvania-news","12":"tag-turkey"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72859","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=72859"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72859\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72860"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=72859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=72859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=72859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/1766552914694b7552272c6.jpg\")
<\/a>Specifically, Missouri has reduced the spring gobbler bag limit for nonresident hunters<\/a> from two to one for the 2026 season.<\/p>\n