Post by Woody Williams on Apr 27, 2006 9:32:26 GMT -5
PA Spring Gobbler Hunters can Use Crossbows
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Wow, this is great news guys. PA is going to allow hunters to use a crossbow this year for turkey hunting..... THIS SPRING!
Release #51-06
April 26, 2006
For Information Contact:
Jerry Feaser
717-705-6541
PGCNEWS@state.pa.us
SPRING GOBBLER HUNTERS WILL BE PERMITTED TO USE CROSSBOWS
HARRISBURG - With the scheduled printing of this Saturday's "PA Bulletin," Pennsylvania's official registry of statutory and regulatory changes, spring gobbler hunters can add crossbows to the list of legal sporting arms from which they may choose.
In January, the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners gave final approval to a regulatory change to permit the use of crossbows with bolts tipped with broadheads of cutting-edge design during any turkey season. Previously, only those disabled hunters with a permanent or temporary permit to use a crossbow instead of a bow had this option. However, the process that the Game Commission must follow requires that any regulatory change does not take effect until it is published in the PA Bulletin.
Other legal sporting arms that spring gobbler hunters may choose to use are: shotguns plugged to three-shell capacity in the chamber and magazine combined; muzzleloading shotguns; and bows with arrows tipped with broadheads of cutting-edge design. Shot size can be no larger than No. 4 lead, bismuth-tin and tungsten-iron, or No. 2 steel. Rifle-shotgun combinations also may be used, but no single-projectile ammunition may be used or carried.
Carrying or using rifles, handguns, dogs, electronic callers, arrows or bolts tipped with field points, drives and live decoys is unlawful. The use of blinds is legal so long as it is an "artificial or manufactured turkey blind consisting of all manmade materials of sufficient density to block the detection of movement within the blind from an observer located outside the blind."
Hunters are required to wear a minimum of 100 square inches of fluorescent orange material on the head (a hat) when moving through the woods. The orange may be removed when a hunter reaches his or her calling destination. While not required by law, agency officials recommend that hunters wrap an orange alert band around a nearby tree when stationary, especially when calling and/or using decoys.
Successful hunters must properly tag harvested turkeys before moving them and report their harvests to the Game Commission within 10 days, using the postage-paid report card provided when they purchased their hunting license. Hunters are reminded that if they can't find one of the harvest report cards that came with their license, they can tear out and use the harvest report card found on page 33 of the Pennsylvania Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations.
Coyotes may be harvested by turkey hunters who have an unfilled turkey tag. Turkey hunters who have filled their spring gobbler tag or tags may not hunt coyotes or woodchucks (groundhogs) prior to noon Monday through Saturday during the spring gobbler season.
For more information about the upcoming spring gobbler season, please see News Release #037-06 in the "Newsroom" of the Game Commission's homepage (www.pgc.state.pa.us).
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Wow, this is great news guys. PA is going to allow hunters to use a crossbow this year for turkey hunting..... THIS SPRING!
Release #51-06
April 26, 2006
For Information Contact:
Jerry Feaser
717-705-6541
PGCNEWS@state.pa.us
SPRING GOBBLER HUNTERS WILL BE PERMITTED TO USE CROSSBOWS
HARRISBURG - With the scheduled printing of this Saturday's "PA Bulletin," Pennsylvania's official registry of statutory and regulatory changes, spring gobbler hunters can add crossbows to the list of legal sporting arms from which they may choose.
In January, the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners gave final approval to a regulatory change to permit the use of crossbows with bolts tipped with broadheads of cutting-edge design during any turkey season. Previously, only those disabled hunters with a permanent or temporary permit to use a crossbow instead of a bow had this option. However, the process that the Game Commission must follow requires that any regulatory change does not take effect until it is published in the PA Bulletin.
Other legal sporting arms that spring gobbler hunters may choose to use are: shotguns plugged to three-shell capacity in the chamber and magazine combined; muzzleloading shotguns; and bows with arrows tipped with broadheads of cutting-edge design. Shot size can be no larger than No. 4 lead, bismuth-tin and tungsten-iron, or No. 2 steel. Rifle-shotgun combinations also may be used, but no single-projectile ammunition may be used or carried.
Carrying or using rifles, handguns, dogs, electronic callers, arrows or bolts tipped with field points, drives and live decoys is unlawful. The use of blinds is legal so long as it is an "artificial or manufactured turkey blind consisting of all manmade materials of sufficient density to block the detection of movement within the blind from an observer located outside the blind."
Hunters are required to wear a minimum of 100 square inches of fluorescent orange material on the head (a hat) when moving through the woods. The orange may be removed when a hunter reaches his or her calling destination. While not required by law, agency officials recommend that hunters wrap an orange alert band around a nearby tree when stationary, especially when calling and/or using decoys.
Successful hunters must properly tag harvested turkeys before moving them and report their harvests to the Game Commission within 10 days, using the postage-paid report card provided when they purchased their hunting license. Hunters are reminded that if they can't find one of the harvest report cards that came with their license, they can tear out and use the harvest report card found on page 33 of the Pennsylvania Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations.
Coyotes may be harvested by turkey hunters who have an unfilled turkey tag. Turkey hunters who have filled their spring gobbler tag or tags may not hunt coyotes or woodchucks (groundhogs) prior to noon Monday through Saturday during the spring gobbler season.
For more information about the upcoming spring gobbler season, please see News Release #037-06 in the "Newsroom" of the Game Commission's homepage (www.pgc.state.pa.us).