DCNR 2022 Turkey sightings survey reports due
HARRISBURG, PA – The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s two-month survey on wild turkey sightings has ended, and participants are encouraged to report their July and August sightings through Monday, Sept. 5.
Reports must be filed through the Game Commission’s website https://pgcdatacollection.pa.gov/TurkeyBroodSurvey. The mobile app is no longer available.
Participants should report the number of wild turkeys seen from July 1 to Aug. 31, along with the general location, date and contact information if agency biologists have any questions.
Please note, your specific location information is NOT shared or stored; it is used solely to help determine the county, township, and Wildlife Management Unit (WMU) of each sighting.
“The turkey survey, which is part of the National Standardized Brood Survey, enhances our agency’s internal survey, which serves as a long-term index of turkey reproduction and is used in our turkey population model,” explained Game Commission Turkey Biologist Mary Jo Casalena. “By reporting all turkeys seen during each sighting, whether it’s gobblers, hens with broods, or hens without broods, the data help us determine total productivity in each WMU and compare long-term turkey reproductive success across the country,” she added.
Many factors affect wild turkey productivity, including spring weather, habitat, previous winter-food abundance, predation, and last fall’s harvest. Weather across Pennsylvania during late spring and summer 2021 were relatively warm and dry but varied by WMU, as well as the other factors that affect reproduction. For example, WMUs that experienced the 17-year Brood X cicada hatch tended to have excellent recruitment. These included parts of WMU 2C, WMUs 4A, 4B, 5A, 5B and 5C. Cicadas are an excellent source of protein for turkeys and predators that might otherwise prey on turkey poults.
This above-average statewide reproductive success last summer (3.1 poults per hen), coupled with more conservative fall 2021 turkey hunting seasons (shorter seasons in most WMUs and elimination of rifles) resulted in higher turkey survival into the 2022 spring breeding season. At the WMU level, reproductive success in 2021 improved in 15 of 23 WMUs compared to the previous three-year average. It was similar to the previous three-year average in two WMUs (2F and 4E) and was below-average in six WMUs (3A, 3B, 3C, 4C, 5D and a slight decline in 2D and compared to 11 WMUs in 2021).
“Remember, every summer turkey-sighting reported to the Game Commission helps to improve wild turkey conservation in the Keystone State,” Casalena emphasized. “Since public involvement began in 2016, the number of turkey sightings reported each year have doubled. Public participation enhances our agency’s internal survey by increasing the sample size and providing broader coverage of turkey reproductive success across all WMUs,” Casalena added.
