Preliminary elk harvest figures are in and Pennsylvania hunters managed to take 118 elk that allowed 82 percent of hunters to fill their lottery-won elk tags. That’s out of 144 elk licenses the Pennsylvania Game Commission awarded over the three seasons. Of that number, there were 59 bulls and 59 cows taken.

According to the PGC, the average hunter success rate for bulls are in the 90 percent range while cows average between 60-80 percent. Of course bulls are the most cherished for their beautiful and massive antlers.

The season breakdown began with the archery season where 17 of 18 bull hunters and five of eight cow hunters bagged an elk. During the general season, 29 of 30 bull hunters and 31 of 42 cow licensed hunters managed to score. As for the late one-week season that ended Jan. 6, 13 of 17 bull hunters and 23 of 29 cow hunters were successful.

The PGC says that there are 1,400 elk in the commonwealth, with most of them residing in Elk, Cameron, Clearfield, Potter and Centre counties.

WINTER WILD TURKEY SIGHTING SURVEY

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is once again asking the public’s help in finding turkey flocks so they can trap and band them for continuing turkey propagation projects.

Beginning this week, the PGC asks Pennsylvanians to report the location of any turkey flocks they see. And their findings can be reported by going online to http://pgcdatacollection.pa.gov/TurkeyBroodSurvey. The program will run until March 15.

Visitors to that page will be asked to furnish the date of sighting, the location, and the type of land (private, public or unknown) where they spotted the birds.

Once this data is received, PGC crews will visit those sites to see if they can trap the turkeys. Those trapped turkeys will not be moved as they’ll simply be leg banded and released on site. In four Wildlife Management Units (WMUs) some will be fitted with GPS transmitters, then be released to be monitored over time by the PGC. This effort will provide information for a large-scale turkey study. And if anyone who should find a dead banded turkey, they’re asked to report the birds’ leg band number to the PGC via their toll-free number or online.

The PGC will attach GPS transmitters on a sampling of turkeys in WMUs 2D, 3D, 4D and in local 5C. They’ll be placed on 150 hens and 100 males. These areas were selected because of their different landscapes, turkey population densities, and spring hunter and harvest densities says the PGC.

The tests are also aimed at studying turkey movements, disease prevalence and other aspects that may limit populations.

Once captured, the PGC will collect blood samples throat swabs, feces and etc. from turkeys that receive backpack transmitters. The program is being conducted with researchers from Penn State and Pennsylvania’s Wildlife Futures Program who will share data with Maryland, New Jersey and Ohio.

According to Mary Jo Casalena, PGC’s wild turkey biologist, “This is the largest turkey project we’ve ever conducted, with the hope of answering many questions regarding current turkey population dynamics.”