Steve Piatt: Add Sunday to the youth turkey hunt in Pennsylvania

I’ve always been a follower of science-based wildlife management, and over the years have generally been supportive of the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s decision-making when it comes to season setting, bag limits and other regulations.

But I have to admit that when the commission announced its lineup of Sunday hunting dates on the heels of Gov. Shapiro’s signing into law legislation that put the decision rightfully in the hands of the commission, I did scratch my head a bit.

I’ve always been under the impression – and still am – that, just as the deer population is driven by fawn production and the doe harvest, so, too, does hen harvest, nesting and brood-rearing conditions largely dictate wild turkey numbers.

Hunter take of whitetail bucks and tom turkeys play a very minor role in the overall population.

So, I was surprised when Mary Jo Casalena, the Game Commission’s wild turkey biologist, stopped short of recommending the addition of Sunday hunting during the 2026 spring gobbler season, including during Pennsylvania’s popular mentored youth turkey hunt, currently a one-day, Saturday event a week ahead of the regular season.

That decision, however, is expected to be further discussed in January when the commission meets to consider season and bag limits for the 2026-27 seasons.

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At the same time, however, Casalena stated she has “no biological concerns” with adding Sunday hunting during the state’s fall turkey seasons, when hens are available for harvest – and are typically taken in greater numbers than gobblers.

Back in 2021, the Game Commission shortened the fall turkey season in some wildlife management units, and completely closed the season in some units, in response to a downturn in turkey numbers and in an effort to protect hens from harvest.

A ban on rifle use for fall turkey hunting also took effect.

Adding Sundays to fall turkey hunting will mean a couple extra days in most units and just one in a couple others, while fall turkey hunting remains closed in wildlife management units 5C and 5D.

But the decision does make hens eligible for harvest on additional days at a time when the commission seemingly remains concerned about wild turkey numbers.

But the commission, when it meets in January, shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to add a Sunday at least during the youth turkey hunt, where in the past the one-day, Saturday-only opportunity on occasion has been a washout due to lousy weather conditions.

Trust me on that one: I’ve always headed afield with a kid during the youth turkey season, and in some years we’ve sat in a blind while the rain pounded down, the highlight of our morning a trip to McDonald’s or the local diner.

Fortunately, my geographic location – I can see New York State as I type this – has allowed me to hunt the entire youth weekend, since the Empire State has a two-day youth offering in the spring.

In some years we’ve salvaged the weekend with a Sunday hunt in better weather; in others we’ve been blessed to harvest a gobbler in Pennsylvania before hustling across the border for a second round in New York.

I can’t believe adding a second youth hunting day in the spring would impact wild turkey numbers more than allowing hens to be taken on additional Sundays in the fall.

What it would do is give kids a better chance of hunting in ideal weather conditions, and maybe double the fun out there. And it would further the odds of creating lifelong hunters in the Keystone State.

Isn’t that why the youth hunt was established in the first place?

(Steve Piatt can be reached via email at stevepiatt04@gmail.com)