The 2019 Fall Wild Turkey Season opens this weekend for a two-week period from Nov. 2 through Nov. 16 in WMU 2D and from Nov. 2 through Nov. 9 in WMU 1-A.

The reports from the Pennsylvania Game Commission look promising for the 100,000-plus fall turkey hunters in the state as the population of fall birds appears plentiful.

I know that in my travels, the sightings of flocks of birds seem to be abundant and spread out across the region. Either sex of turkeys are legal game birds for the fall hunt, but Game Commission biologist Mary Jo Casalena emphasizes that it is far better to harvest gobblers or jakes which are young males than the hen turkeys. Harvesting too many hen turkeys has a direct negative impact on the overall turkey population.

There are a few changes in the fall turkey hunting rules this year that are important to note. The most significant change in the fall turkey season is that the requirement to wear fluorescent orange clothing is eliminated. It also applies to archery hunters throughout their six-week season.

The Game Commission stresses that the decision to wear or not wear orange remains a hunter choice decision. Considering that the fall turkey season also allows for the use of rifles makes it clear to me that this hunter will be wearing some kind of orange safety material when fall turkey hunting.

If you want to walk about, it is a really good idea and if you want to post up in a single location, you can always take off the cap or vest. Time has shown that safety orange makes hunters more visible and it does save lives.

The Game Commission caved into hunter pressure to remove the orange from the fall hunt, but I repeat this comment to all of my friends that “no turkey is worth the incident of a single accidental shooting.” I have hunted turkeys with many types of hunting implements from shotguns to rifles to bows and I have had many opportunities, why the concern now is beyond my comprehension of common sense.

There are always situations of mistaken kills because a hunter makes a mistake or misses a safety consideration. Why compound it with the taking away of mandated fluorescent orange safety materials?

The Game Commission reminds hunters that the best places to locate turkeys is to scout out likely food sources. Turkey spend their entire day feeding, searching, walking and feeding! The best areas are those with mast, grain, fruit or berries which the turkeys are sure to target in on.

Turkeys usually have a feeding routine and a range that they like for food, water and roosting. Once they are spooked from a site, they will generally avoid that area again. They have keen memories and recall safe places and danger zones.

The wild turkey possesses terrific eye sight (which is a reason that hunters do prefer camo clothing), sharp hearing (which makes calling them from afar a valuable skill set) and can run or fly with a burst of energy that makes a challenge for any hunter.

Wild turkeys are curious and will study any suspicious activity intently and warn the flock with sharp clucks and then the jig is up!

Most hunters use 12- or 10-gauge shotguns or small caliber rifles for turkey hunting. I used to hunt with a over and under Savage chambered in the .22 Hornet and the 12-gauge shotgun. I was always torn between carrying the rifle or the shotgun, so I decided to make the most out of both worlds. Sure enough, in the short time that I tried this experiment I screwed up royally twice!

Once I was hunting with my buddy, Jimmy B, and a beautiful gobbler flew out of a roost and came gliding right over me while hunting near Barkeyville. I pulled up and had him dead to rights when I made my shot. It was the rifle that went off and I missed what would have been an easy shot.

The other time I was hunting in GL-95 and a gobbler came in but hung up out of shotgun range … easy enough, I would just use the rifle.

When the shot was made, I was rocked with a shotgun blast as I had the selector wrong again. One dead sapling and a turkey scooting over a hump was all I got to see for my effort. A trip to a gun shop and the combo was on the trading block for some other hunter to experiment with!

So, get ready for the fall turkey hunt, but remember to be sure of your target and come home safe!

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.