Spring Gobbler Season opened up for all Pennsylvania hunters this past weekend and, just as the PA Game Commission predicted, the birds were out in numbers.

I was able to do some scouting around a few of my favorite gobbler locations and was not disappointed as birds were in full fan and showing off their tail feathers at each location.

The gobblers have been chasing the hen turkeys for the past month or more and the dominant gobblers have started to isolate the hens and drive away the challengers.

One such challenger looked very promising in his early season plumage and size to be a dominant bird. However, when I located him, he was missing the majority of his beard with only a few wisps of beard remaining.

I suspect that he ran into a tougher gobbler and ended on the short end of a fight that caused his beard to be raked off by the spurs and claws of that bird.

I have witnessed other gobbler fights and they can be highly aggressive encounters as the gobblers fight for the breeding rights of the hens in his locality. Once the challenger is vanquished, they will follow at a respectable distance with the other bachelors. Many gobblers won’t even try to challenge the dominant bird and lurk around the edges of the flock.

A few relatives wanted to try their hand at spring turkey hunting. I warned them that it wasn’t an easy task and that they would likely have to pay their dues before they had some success.

This hunt wasn’t just another hunter doing the calling for a gobbler and the novice taking the shot. Rather it was all about being put in a good location and seeing what you could do with taking your own chances of bagging a mature gobbler.

The weekend started out with a turkey safety talk, clothing requirements, sporting arm choices as well as ammunition, shot location and finally set ups for blinds and decoys. When you think that you have covered everything you soon find out that there is always something that you have missed. The first item that I sort of covered during safety issues was adequate, but I guess I messed up when I did not specifically cover what to do with the orange cap once you were on your location. Turkeys have great eyesight and that fluorescent orange hat certainly stood out in the dull woods edge.

It was like a light house in the fog! A gobbler was working its way into my nephew until he spied the cap. He was on an immediate alert spun around and headed north.

The other issue was that you always need to pay attention to your firearm and ammunition. Picking the right tool for the job will help make you much more successful.

My brother is not a detail man and gets irked at me when I run any check lists past him. Early in the predawn hour I asked him if he was ready to go out to his blind. Our rule is if the song birds are singing you are getting a late start. I thought that I heard a note or two from the song birds and urged him to get going.

The last thing I asked was do you have the ammunition you want for your shotgun. Somewhere along the hunting timeline he decided to take his older Winchester semi-automatic 12 gauge.

The Remington pump he normally takes is chambered for 3” shells while the Winchester is chambered for 2¾” shells. Although the Remington can take either shell length the Winchester will only take the shorter shell length.

As luck would have it he settled into his spot and tried to load a shell into the Winchester and then discovered his blunder. His decision to switch shotguns at the last minute would be a costly one. He heard a turkey fly down from its roost and then another and then more. He was stuck in place with no way to do anything but watch the show.

The boss gobbler soon escorted himself and three hens right past my brother at an estimated 15 yards. Off on the edge of the clearing stood two more gobblers in full strut trying to get some attention as well. All my brother could do was watch them walk away from him and put on an awesome display of fanning their feathers.

Neither hunter was able to harvest a turkey even after driving 300 miles to get the opportunity.

They were able to gain some valuable experience and learn from their mistakes with nothing hurt but their pride. I explained that it was nothing new to most turkey hunters and if we all admitted it that is learning about turkey hunting by paying your dues! Until we meet again I am wishing all mothers a most wonderful Mother’s Day.

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.