Re: Pennsylvania bans rifles for fall turkey season

[WildTigerTrout]

Pennsylvania has a long tradition of using rifles in the fall for turkey hunting.  Safety concerns have nothing to do with this change in the law.  The statistics do not support that thought at all.  The reasoning put out by the Game Commission is that rifles are more effective and by eliminating their use they could reduce the overall fall harvest.  What a bunch of bull$$it.  In the past, fall turkey harvest has been adjusted by season length. Want more harvest make it longer.  Want less, make it shorter.  Want no harvest close the season in certain areas.  This approach has worked for decades.  Now this bull$$it move by the Commissioners who are by the way nothing but appointed political hacks by the governor.  They rammed this through by adding it to their spring agenda at the last minute without much notice to the public.  It was a done deal from the beginning.  Now my Ithaca/Tikka O/U 222 Rem.-12 ga. TURKEY Gun that I have used for many fall seasons is as worthless as those idiots setting on the board of the PGC.

[knifeshark]

Pennsylvania has a long tradition of using rifles in the fall for turkey hunting.  Safety concerns have nothing to do with this change in the law.  The statistics do not support that thought at all.  The reasoning put out by the Game Commission is that rifles are more effective and by eliminating their use they could reduce the overall fall harvest.  What a bunch of bull$$it.  In the past, fall turkey harvest has been adjusted by season length. Want more harvest make it longer.  Want less, make it shorter.  Want no harvest close the season in certain areas.  This approach has worked for decades.  Now this bull$$it move by the Commissioners who are by the way nothing but appointed political hacks by the governor.  They rammed this through by adding it to their spring agenda at the last minute without much notice to the public.  It was a done deal from the beginning.  Now my Ithaca/Tikka O/U 222 Rem.-12 ga. TURKEY Gun that I have used for many fall seasons is as worthless as those idiots setting on the board of the PGC.

He gets it!        Well said , brother! This is exactly the point here, not if you are more of a man , for using a shotgun. It's about freedom and tradition!


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[randy6471]

 Lifetime Pa resident and long time turkey hunter. Although I never liked the idea of rifles for fall turkey hunting, I felt that it was legal, so who am I to decide how someone chooses to hunt.

I'm with WildTigerTrout, because this is just another example of the poor decision making and ineffectiveness that the Pa Game Commission is known for.

Back in the late 80's turkey hunting accidents were off the charts and everyone at the game commission was scratching their a$$ trying to figure out exactly what to do. The reports from these so called "accidents " showed that there were actually very few "accidents", (1% or less) and in most cases the true cause was the shooter simply failed to identify their target or verify their surroundings. Basic hunter/gun owner/gun handling responsibilities weren't followed.

Very few of these "accidents" were every treated as a crime and prosecuted. Basically it seemed like, if you shoot someone on the street it's called assault or even murder, but if you shoot someone while turkey hunting, it's called a hunting "accident". You get a fine and maybe your hunting privileges revoked for 5 years. So around 1992, they crammed the BS fluorescent orange law down our throats, raving about how effective it was in the reduction of turkey hunting accidents. Then in the mid 2,000's, they rescinded the law, again raving about its effectiveness and failing to mention that the overall population of turkeys was down and the number of turkey hunters had decreased by 30-40% during that time, so it made sense that the number of hunting accidents had also decreased.

And don't even get me started about the "special spring turkey tag" that they added a few years ago.... for an extra $20.00!

Although the turkey numbers in my area are down probably upwards of 50% from where they were 20 years ago, we still have a good population of birds to hunt for 2 reasons.....

1. Many, many less hunters than there were 20 years ago, so harvest numbers are down.

2. I live in an area where habitat improvement, food plots and supplemental feeding for deer and turkeys is extremely popular. I know many, including myself, who spend countless hours and tons of $$ trying to enhance their property strictly for hunting, This past winter we had an usual amount of snow/ice for weeks and in some areas it definitely had a negative impact on the turkeys, but in my area they are fine...no thanks to the politicians that control the Pa Game Commission!!






 
 

[jaredmccullough]

Am I missing something... I can quite vividly remember when they added Rifles to be an allowable weapon for fall turkey. Before that we once used to simultaneous hunt the extinct grouse and turkey of which the goal was to always bust a flock up and call them back in. This obviously being with a shotgun.

I have shot a few with it and as many stated don't understand why we try to limit how people hunt.

I guess what I really struggle with is how they justify that Rifles in Fall Turkey hunting is having any meaningful impact on the population. That is one of the more whimsical things I have heard in a while. This state like many others has become a "Deer" focused state. Spend some time in the woods and you will see that there are very few people that actually fall turkey hunt. Couple that with the ever increasing lack of ground I would really like a PGC rep to show me just how they made this observation.

This is a huge scapegoat to addressing the real problems that are impacting turkey populations and coming up with sound solutions to address them. What those are will be very opinionated depending on who you ask but I can most certainly without a reasonable doubt say that it is not hunters having the greatest influence on the turkey population.

[7shooter]

Rifles should be banned in every state for turkey - spring or fall.

Amen, I agree 100%

[28roper]

Pennsylvania has a long tradition of using rifles in the fall for turkey hunting.  Safety concerns have nothing to do with this change in the law.  The statistics do not support that thought at all.  The reasoning put out by the Game Commission is that rifles are more effective and by eliminating their use they could reduce the overall fall harvest.  What a bunch of bull$$it.  In the past, fall turkey harvest has been adjusted by season length. Want more harvest make it longer.  Want less, make it shorter.  Want no harvest close the season in certain areas.  This approach has worked for decades.  Now this bull$$it move by the Commissioners who are by the way nothing but appointed political hacks by the governor.  They rammed this through by adding it to their spring agenda at the last minute without much notice to the public.  It was a done deal from the beginning.  Now my Ithaca/Tikka O/U 222 Rem.-12 ga. TURKEY Gun that I have used for many fall seasons is as worthless as those idiots setting on the board of the PGC.

Bingo.  For those unfamiliar with PA and our game commissioners...who are complete hacks, this was nothing more than a political play.  One of the recently appointed commissioner's has a long tradition with the NWTF and is the party who proposed the legislation, which was then rammed through as WildTigerTrout mentioned.  I'm all about conservation and boosting turkey numbers, however, those who are familiar with PA and our bass-ackwards legislation are aware that this has very little to do with conservation. 

[BigSlam51]

Pennsylvania has a long tradition of using rifles in the fall for turkey hunting.  Safety concerns have nothing to do with this change in the law.  The statistics do not support that thought at all.  The reasoning put out by the Game Commission is that rifles are more effective and by eliminating their use they could reduce the overall fall harvest.  What a bunch of bull$$it.  In the past, fall turkey harvest has been adjusted by season length. Want more harvest make it longer.  Want less, make it shorter.  Want no harvest close the season in certain areas.  This approach has worked for decades.  Now this bull$$it move by the Commissioners who are by the way nothing but appointed political hacks by the governor.  They rammed this through by adding it to their spring agenda at the last minute without much notice to the public.  It was a done deal from the beginning.  Now my Ithaca/Tikka O/U 222 Rem.-12 ga. TURKEY Gun that I have used for many fall seasons is as worthless as those idiots setting on the board of the PGC.

Bingo.  For those unfamiliar with PA and our game commissioners...who are complete hacks, this was nothing more than a political play.  One of the recently appointed commissioner's has a long tradition with the NWTF and is the party who proposed the legislation, which was then rammed through as WildTigerTrout mentioned.  I'm all about conservation and boosting turkey numbers, however, those who are familiar with PA and our bass-ackwards legislation are aware that this has very little to do with conservation.

Kinda like ohio limiting it to one bearded turkey on public land next year. Wtf is that going to do to help the rest of the state? The majority of the public is in the central and southern part of the state, so it's not at all helping the whole state.

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[tracker vi]

[/quote]Kinda like ohio limiting it to one bearded turkey on public land next year. Wtf is that going to do to help the rest of the state? The majority of the public is in the central and southern part of the state, so it's not at all helping the whole state.

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[/quote]    +1

[chow hound]

The sad part of this change to me is for the turkey hunters that have been carrying the traditional PA "turkey gun" - a savage rifle/shotgun O/U combination for 50+ years or in many cases handed from one generation to the next.

[fallhnt]

If flock survival is the goal ,when a hunter can't use a rifle, they will just switch to a shotgun which is just as effective. No real impact on flock survival.

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[wvmntnhick]

If flock survival is the goal ,when a hunter can't use a rifle, they will just switch to a shotgun which is just as effective. No real impact on flock survival.

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You've hit the mail on the head. And I believe it's been stated similarly above. The weapon of implementation means little in the grand scheme of things. If they want to improve the flocks, they need to focus more on habitat or limit the total number of birds killed. The Sleepy Creek WMA has done some work to improve the habitat for grouse in the past. I've got no clue how well it worked personally but several guys have seemed to notice good things and at least they tried. Locally and back home in the club it's as if no one can handle seeing trees anywhere. Everything gets leveled for new homes, businesses or pulp wood. It's a true shame. But, such is life I guess.


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[rifleman]

I noticed and understand the disdain for the state wildlife management practices.  The folks appointed to these jobs are buddies with some national wildlife federation or another.  Once in place they follow the respects of those organizations just like most who have ties to any cause.  National orgs. should not be mandating what the DNR or legislature does with respect to game management.  A little common sense goes a long ways but they $$$$ comes into play also.  They do surveys here in WV and on occasion the results are put into practice (such as a longer spring season).  The surveys kind of remember me of the "dream sheets" that we experienced in the military.  I live and hunt in WV but prefer to hunt in VA for their common sense simplicity.     

[silvestris]

Rifles are banned in the states I hunt.  However I would like to hunt turkeys with a rifle.  Same ethics, 35 yards and in.

[Will]

Maybe the same person making the game laws is your health secretary.....they are just confused....

[knifeshark]

The X health secretary of Pennsylvania is now the assistant federal secretary of health, so she is now all of our Country's assistant secretary of health. She was promoted to the federal level by Joe Biden. Now that is scary!


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