May has to be one of the best times to be outdoors in Pennsylvania if you like, fishing, turkey hunting, looking at wild flowers, observing birds and the young of the year of wildlife.

The statewide Spring Gobbler Season opens up on this Saturday and continues through May 30. Make sure that you pay attention to the legal shooting hours as they do change at the half-way mark of the season from a noon ending to a full day ending. We would also be amiss if we didn’t remind anglers that the statewide walleye season opens up as well on May 6. The Pa Fish & Boat Commission just announced that the 41-year-old record from 1980 was finally beat on Oct. 28, 2022.

Richard Nicholson, 62, of Connellsville took the new record walleye from the banks of the Youghiogheny River with a live creek chub. The old record was 17 lb. 9 oz., and caught from the Allegheny Reservoir in Warren County by Mike Holly in 1980. Nicholson’s walleye weighed in at 18 lbs. 1 oz. and was 34 inches long with a girth of 21.5 inches.

Nicholson completed an official Pennsylvania State Record Fish Application and submitted it for review and the record was verified. WCO Scott Opfer made a visual inspection of the fish at the angler’s residence and the fish was weighed to a local grocery store and weighed the fish on a certified scale.

New state records must be at least two ounces heavier than the previous record fishes. Nicholson says he will keep the fish frozen until a taxidermist can produce a molded replica of his record catch, and after that he intends to share the fish with friends and family. A list of State Record Fish, official rules and application can be found at www.fishandboat.com.

Most turkey hunters will admit that there is a big learning curve when you are learning the ins and outs of Spring Gobbler hunting. I was not any different in learning the best ways to hunt spring turkeys and to also be successful. Failures can lead to success and hopefully lead you to avoid the same mistake twice.

When I was a youth, there weren’t too many wild turkeys to get excited about in my hunting areas. Moving to Butler County after college changed my opportunities as I discovered that Butler County and north had plenty of birds to gain experience with. I was fortunate enough to meet some fellows that had much more experience than I had and were generous with sharing their knowledge about hunting turkeys.

My first lesson was in picking a shotgun and turkey hunting ammunition. There were plenty of offerings in this department, but I needed to pick a shotgun that would be good for turkey hunting, but also for other hunting pursuits. Money was tight in those days and I settled on a Remington 870 pump in 12 gauge. Ammunition was available in 3-inch shells from 4 shot to 6 shot, I eventually went with duplex shells in the 4-6 combination.

The fellows insisted that we pattern the shotgun on some nice turkey targets with the bullseye being the neck-head areas. Often times, a pattern spreads out with the wrong choke size and you have a perfect open area in the target. A full choke muzzle set improves your chances of closing those open spaces and placing more shot in the critical zone.

The next issue to consider is the distance that you can shoot to make a clean and ethical kill shot. Turkeys are incredibly tough birds and taking a shot that is too far will result in a miss or injured bird. Turkeys can run or fly very efficiently and in the spring season, you cannot stalk a gobbler.

The use of calls and decoys can be an effective hunting technique or not. Once I was practicing a call as I walked back along a farm field with a brush line. This wasn’t the best choice of using a call, but I wanted to get a few calls in before I made it to a back field that I had chosen to set up in for the hunt.

I had only made a few calls when out jumped a gobbler from the brushy edge right in front of me. I don’t know who was most surprised … me or the gobbler! Just as quick, he jumped back into the thickets and my well-planned hunt was sunk.

Whatever you decide to do in this month of May, enjoy it! My biggest challenge is to decide what adventures that I want to try and then how I can fit them all into my plans. Until we meet again, enjoy Pennsylvania’s great outdoors!

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle