The longtime status of Pennsylvania wild turkeys as "big game" might soon change.
Last spring hunters--in an effort to legalize the tradition of turkey dogging--approached the PA Game Commission regarding this issue. The strategy, which employs a trained dog to find and flush flocks, is prohibited by current Keystone State hunting rules (and has been since 1987), which state that it's illegal to use dogs to "pursue, injure, or kill big game." For the record, turkey dogs do pursue. Injure and kill? Well, that's never been a factor with my dogs during legal New York State and Vermont fall hunts over the past ten seasons. I pull the trigger, but yeah, I guess they're important accessories to the, um, harvest . . . (don't you just love semantics).
As a longtime turkey dogger, and Pennsylvania native living in New England (where the tactic is not yet legal; for that, I road-trip), I can tell you the move is appropriate. Word has it the PA wild turkey may be "declassified" (the word brings to mind a Bond film) as big game this month, and become "small game," making turkey dogging as legal as grouse hunting with canines in my native state.
As I write this, turkey dogging is legitimate in 23 states, with other proposals to legalize the tradition underway around the country.
--S.H.
(Steve Hickoff photo)
