Usually this time of year finds me having to make tough decisions about fishing or hunting in April and May.

The streams are ridiculously high and in many places over the banks due to the record rainfall. The lakes are a foot or more higher than normal as well with the docks of many launches under water, which plays havoc with the boaters as well.

That leaves me clear to focus on the opening days of Spring Gobbler and the excitement the gobble of a Tom turkey brings to hunters in Penn’s Woods.

The irony of the unpredictable weather and thunder and lightning storms is that it proves to be a helping aid to the hunters. The other morning I was waiting out a thunder storm and every time that the thunder cracked a loud boom, a gobbler responded right back in defiance.

I’ve heard of shock calls before, but not this kind of shock!

Pennsylvania will have 200,000 hunters try their luck on the wily turkey over the next month as the Spring Gobbler season runs from April 30 through May 31. There is a one-bird limit unless you applied for and purchased a second gobbler tag.

The tag must be purchased before the season and is not available after the season opens. Regardless of how many tags you possess, the limit is one bearded bird per day.

Beards are strands of hair that the turkeys display from the center of their breast area. A very small beard can be found on young gobblers known as jakes and the beards can become very impressive on mature birds.

Thick beards of 9-12 inches are sometimes known as paint brushes and highly sought after as a prize gobbler. Unique birds may have double or triple beards, but these are exceptions and not the norm.

Hen turkeys do not normally sport a beard and are exempt from being harvested by hunters, but every now and then a bearded hen does make an appearance and is legal quarry.

My father-in-law, Darrell Daubenspeck, harvested a bearded hen a few years back and he was pretty excited as he has been hunting for nearly 70 years and it was his first.

Hunting Spring Gobbler is by calling only, stalking the birds is not allowed.

You must be out of the woods by 1 p.m. and the shooting is over by noon from April 30 to May 14. The season expands to all day from May 16 to May 31, which is a new change in the hunting regulations for 2011.

There are a lot of regulations that you should be aware of and follow or you may risk receiving a citation from the Field Officers of the PA Game Commission. The No. 1 violation in the Spring Season is that blinds made by piling rocks, logs, branches are unlawful.

The fluorescent orange requirement for the fall season is no longer required in the spring season. It may not be required, but it is highly recommended while moving through the woods.

I personally would never be caught without some orange on me, especially on my head while entering and leaving my hunting areas. I normally won’t make a political statement about a regulation, but this is one that I don’t think I will celebrate.

Remember to do some scouting and you will increase your odds of having a successful hunt. A neighbor of mind does a lot of outdoor scouting for both deer and turkeys and Greg Fitzingo told me an interesting story while we were trout fishing.

It seems that he was taking his son out for the Youth hunt and they had been scouting the movements of a large gobbler. Each day he would skirt a tree line and so in anticipation they set up a blind.

Wouldn’t you know it, the turkey chose to take a different route last Saturday. Hunter, Greg’s son, told me the story and added: “I told Dad where I would have placed my stand and the Turkey stood right on the spot!”

Greg claims that the turkeys are getting wise to blinds and avoid them more often than in the past, when they weren’t so commonly used.

I can believe that as now I see deer looking up in tree stands, which they never did before, as they recognize danger can come from above.

Until next time, be safe and bring home a triple bearded - 25 pound – 3 inch spur gobbler!

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle