HARRISBURG The Pennsylvania Game Commission is expecting hunters to encounter a sizable wild turkey population during the fall turkey season.

Mary Jo Casalena, game commission wild turkey biologist, said the turkey population is excellent, but some hunters will face the challenge of locating flocks if they don’t do their preseason scouting.

Turkey season in Butler County is Nov. 13 to 19 and Nov. 25 to 27.

The widespread abundance of acorns this year likely will keep turkeys and flocks dispersed throughout the woods, making them harder to hunt, according to a game commission news release.

However, an above-average turkey population and an open season during the Thanksgiving holiday should improve hunter opportunities.

“The statewide turkey population this past spring prior to nesting was above average, at about 360,000 birds, rebounding from its low in 2005 of 272,000, so there’s a bountiful population of turkeys in Penn’s Woods,” Casalena said in the news release.

“The state’s wild turkey population is above the five-year-average thanks to good reproduction the past three springs and generally conservative fall season lengths, which minimizes the overharvest of hens.”

Locating a flock is only part of the hunt, Casalena said. Properly setting up and bringing a turkey within range is another challenge and is what makes turkey hunting simultaneously tricky and enjoyable.

This challenge is revealed with a look at hunter success rates, which ranged from 12 to 16 percent in the past five years.

“Overall, I expect turkey hunters to enjoy success rates similar to last year when 13 percent of fall turkey hunters harvested turkeys because of similar turkey reproductive success and abundant mast crops,” Casalena said.

Last fall’s overall turkey harvest was below-average, 20,934, which is 20 percent less than the previous five-year average of 26,082, the news release stated.

Fall harvests have been declining steadily for eight years, mainly due to a decrease in the number of fall turkey hunters and shorter fall season lengths to protect from overharvest.

To view maps of turkey harvest by wildlife management unit, go to the agency’s website at www.pgc.state.pa.us, put your cursor over “Hunt/Trap,” then click on “Hunting” in the drop-down menu listing, and select “Harvest Data and Maps” in the “Big Game” section.

“Please remember to report any leg-banded and/or radio-transmittered turkeys harvested or found,” Casalena said. “Leg bands and transmitters are stamped with a toll-free number to call, and provide important information for the research project being conducted in partnership with the Pennsylvania Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit at Penn State University, with funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Wild Turkey Federation.”