To best manage the commonwealth's wild turkey populations, the Game Commission breaks the state up into 22 separate wild turkey management units. Factors such as geology, elevation, vegetation, climate, amount of privately and publicly owned forestland, and human population were taken into account when the wildlife management units were created several years ago.

Casalena's comments on past harvest numbers and predictions for the coming hunt are based on these WMUs. Maps showing the locations of WMUs are found in the 2005-06 Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations supplied with each hunting license.

Unit maps may also be viewed on the Game Commission's Web site by logging on to www.pgc.state.pa.us. Click on "Hunting and Trapping" on the left side of the page, then click on "Wildlife Management Units" on the lower right side of the page.

"The highest 2005 harvests were in WMUs 2D (3,006), 4C (2,831), 4E (2,508) and 1B (2,427), accounting for 6.7 percent, 6.3 percent, 5.5 percent and 5.4 percent of the statewide harvest," explained Casalena. "As expected, the smallest harvests occurred in WMUs 5D (101) and WMU 5A (512), where we are restoring turkey populations. Because the spring season opens after breeding has occurred and we harvest only the males, we can maintain a spring turkey season while restoring the population.

"The average statewide harvest density that year was 0.86 turkeys harvested per square mile," Caselana said. "WMU 4C exhibited the highest spring harvest density (1.56), followed by WMU 2B (1.49) and WMU 4E (1.44)."

Looking at 2004 harvest numbers in greater detail, Casalena explained exactly where the best areas were.

"The highest 2004 harvests were in WMUs 2D (4,004), 1B (2,959) and 4C (2,629), accounting for 9.8 percent, 7.2 percent and 6.4 percent of the statewide harvest. As expected, the smallest harvests occurred in WMUs 5A (506) and WMU 5B (553), where we are restoring turkey populations.

"The average statewide harvest density was 0.91 turkeys harvested per square mile. As with the fall harvest, WMU 2D had the highest spring harvest density (1.61), followed by WMU 2B (1.46) and WMU 4C (1.45). We don't have estimates of hunter effort or success rates.

"The final 2004 fall turkey harvest was approximately 25,868 turkeys statewide. This was 6 percent below the preliminary fall 2003 harvest (27,413) and 21 percent below the previous 10-year average (32,560). The highest harvests were in WMUs 2D (2,246), 2G (1,933) and 2C (1,767), making up 8.7 percent, 7.5 percent and 6.8 percent of the statewide harvest, respectively. The smallest harvests occurred in WMUs 5D (19), WMU 5C (417) and 3D (884). The fall season was closed in WMUs 5A and 5B. The average statewide harvest density was 0.57 turkeys harvested per square mile. Harvest densities were highest in WMUs 2D (0.90), 4B (0.90) and 4E (0.87), and lowest in WMUs 5C (0.02), 5D (0.19) and 3D (0.40)."

What follows is a by-WMU prediction of spring turkey populations for the coming spring hunt, as supplied by biologist Casalena. Keep in mind that these predictions are based on existing harvest and population estimates and don't allow for winter mortality.

WMU 1A
In most of this WMU (except Beaver County), expect to continue to see a decline from the peak harvest in 2001 of 1.9 gobblers harvested per square mile. The unit will still show a good harvest and should still be above the statewide average. Two-year-old gobblers should be abundant in Beaver County, due to the excellent hatch in 2004, but there will fewer jakes, due to the lower predicted hatch of 2005.