DEADLINE TO APPLY FOR SECOND SPRING GOBBLER TAG APRIL 1

HARRISBURG - Pennsylvania hunters interested in applying for a second spring gobbler tag have until April 1, according to Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe.  Applications are available on page 38 of the 2006-07 Pennsylvania Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations, which is provided to each license buyer, or by going to the agency's website (www.pgc.state.pa.us), and clicking on "Spring Turkey Tag App." in center of the homepage under "The Outdoor Shop."

Fees for the special license are $21 for residents and $41 for nonresidents.  Mailed applications for special wild turkey licenses must be sent to: Pennsylvania Game Commission, Special Spring Gobbler License, P.O. Box 61317, Harrisburg, PA 17106-1317. 

Applications also are being accepted over-the-counter at any of the six Game Commission region offices and the Harrisburg headquarters.  Applications will be processed and mailed from the Harrisburg headquarters. 

The spring gobbler season is set for April 28-May 26, and the daily limit remains one bird. Hunters are allowed to submit only one application for the special wild turkey license during a license year.   So far, the agency has received applications for more than 3,100 second spring gobbler tags.

Roe stressed that hunters still are able to take one spring gobbler as part of their general hunting privileges.  However, the special license enables the agency to afford those hunters interested in this additional opportunity to take a second spring gobbler in any Wildlife Management Unit. 

According to Mary Jo Casalena, Game Commission wild turkey biologist, research has shown that properly timed and implemented multiple-bird spring limits have not caused population declines in other states. 

To monitor hunter success, Casalena reminds hunters who receive the special spring gobbler license that they are required to submit a report, regardless of whether they harvest a second spring gobbler.

Revenues from the special licenses could be used to implement and fund the Game Commission's turkey management plan and further educate turkey hunters, thereby promoting additional recreation and safe hunting practices.

Created in 1895 as an independent state agency, the Game Commission is responsible for conserving and managing all wild birds and mammals in the Commonwealth, establishing hunting seasons and bag limits, enforcing hunting and trapping laws, and managing habitat on the 1.4 million acres of State Game Lands it has purchased over the years with hunting and furtaking license dollars to safeguard wildlife habitat.  The agency also conducts numerous wildlife conservation programs for schools, civic organizations and sportsmen's clubs. 

The Game Commission does not receive any general state taxpayer dollars for its annual operating budget.  The agency is funded by license sales revenues; the state's share of the federal Pittman-Robertson program, which is an excise tax collected through the sale of sporting arms and ammunition; and monies from the sale of oil, gas, coal, timber and minerals derived from State Game Lands.

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