Wild turkeys displaying in an Allegheny County backyard in 2023 (photo by Kathy Saunders)

13 January 2026

Because wild turkeys are hunted in Pennsylvania their population is well studied by the PA Game Commission. Over the years, studies revealed that the population peaked statewide about 25 years ago then declined for a long time and now stabilized at the lower level. To parse out why, PGC added GPS tracking to their annual wild turkey surveys in four Wildlife Management Units starting in 2022. This makes the annual Winter Turkey Sighting Survey a lot more interesting for us in western PA

During the Winter Pennsylvania Wild Turkey Sighting Survey, 31 December through 15 March 2026, PGC asks the public to help find turkey flocks to trap and release on site for their ongoing turkey studies.

Of particular interest to us in southwestern Pennsylvania is this: The Game Commission will attach GPS transmitters to a sample of turkeys in WMUs 2D, 3D, 4D and 5C (circled below), approximately 150 hens and 100 males in total.

WMU 2D is in our region. For detailed boundaries see PGCs ArcGIS map.

PA WMUs for wild turkey tracking study (map from PGC)

The 2024 results reported here, PGC ANNUAL PROJECT REPORT: Wild turkey population and movement dynamics, 14 June 2025, provides nesting success rates for the GPS tracked birds in WMUs 2D, 3D, 4D, 5C. Though this is just a small sample, the big takeaway is that wild turkey hens and their poults (chicks) have a hard life.

The study started with 199 tracked hens of which 193 nested (6 probably died). About 69% of the 2024 nests failed (no eggs; no hatched). From the successful nests 113 poults survived at least four weeks.

Table of wild turkey breeding success in WMUs 2D,3D,4D,5C in 2024 (from PGC’s Wild turkey population and movement dynamics report)

It’s clear from this table that — even in a small statewide sample — our turkey population cannot sustain itself in just one breeding season. Turkey hens must participate in multiple breeding seasons to keep the population stable.

Help the turkey survey by reporting turkey flocks here: PGC Turkey Sighting Survey.

p.s. Why such low success? more study needed.