Is all-day spring turkey hunting good or bad? Yes, no and maybe?

Quick personal note: I'm just in from New Hampshire spring turkey camp. Shooting hours close at noon daily, and after a string 3:30 a.m. risings (and midnight bed time), half a day of Granite State turkey hunting was cool with everybody. We killed some birds and had some fun.

In fact, I asked the checking station owner if they'd had many turkeys brought in so far this season (it began May 3, following the two-day youth weekend April 27-28, which averages around 14% of the total spring turkey kill), and he said: "We had a lot during opening weekend, but we won't see many after this. Yours is the first one today." I digress . . .

Here in the Northeast there's always been a long-standing notion breeding and nesting activity might be disrupted with all-day hunts. In other parts of the country, all-day hunting is often standard, with some regional exceptions to this rule. At any rate, things changed a few years ago when my native Pennsylvania opted to expand opportunities. Here are some recent insights on why, how and if it has affected Pennsylvania turkey hunting, and it's straight from the source of management, the PA Game Commission (PGC):

Pennsylvania turkey hunters are permitted to hunt from one-half hour before sunrise to one-half hour after sunset, beginning Monday, May 13. The expanded hunting hours continue through the last day of the season, Friday, May 31.

All-day hunting during the second half of the spring season began in 2011 to provide interested hunters with more time to be afield.

"By the second half of the season, hunter participation decreases significantly and nesting hens are less prone to abandon nests," said Mary Jo Casalena, Game Commission wild turkey biologist. "All-day hunting during this portion of the season has had minimal impact to nesting."

Casalena said the overall spring harvest since 2011 has not increased from previous harvests.

Since 2011, afternoon and evening harvests have comprised 6 percent of the total reported harvests and 22 percent of harvests during the all-day portion of the seasons. In other words, even during the all-day portions of the season, 78 percent of the harvests have occurred before noon.

Casalena said the majority of the afternoon and evening harvests have occurred between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Last year's latest reported harvest was 8:50 p.m., about 20 minutes before the close of hunting hours in the western part of the state.

Casalena said the Game Commission will continue to monitor the afternoon harvest in relation to population trends and age class of gobblers to gauge the impact of all-day hunting. Among the 49 states that conduct turkey seasons, Pennsylvania is one of the 34 that conduct all-day hunting for all or part of the season, she said.

Does your state offer all-day turkey hunting? Do you think it affects nesting hens?

Still hunting turkeys as the season winds down? Check out our turkey hunting tips and tactics.

Steve Hickoff is Realtree's turkey hunting editor and blogger.

To kill a spring turkey, get tight to the roost before fly-down time.

I found vocal gobblers in a white pine Maine roost yesterday, sounding off before the false dawn, without hens and in a position where I could move on them. It felt like a gift after a week of hard hunting. Truth is, I had to earn it the way we all do . . .

As with some of the public access places you no doubt hunt, this first week has seen some pressure locally. I’ve added plenty myself, hunting every morning until noon. I’m writing this today with plans for turkey chili this weekend. That’s the good news and here’s how I got one by the feet.

FIND THE ROOST

The birds made it easy, gobbling at 4:45 a.m. It’s the first time I’d found them there, possibly due to hunting pressure, or maybe that’s just where they finished their day. Knowing the land helped me figure out what to do next.

MAKE YOUR MOVE

Vocal gobblers, put simply, tell you where they are. What you do with this information makes or breaks the hunt. You’ve got to be in there early enough to slip in quietly to an area where you think they’ll fly down. Maybe you’ve seen birds do it there before. Maybe you’re guessing based on the looks of the land. Either way, every second you take thinking about it, the turkeys are getting closer to flying down.

ROOST SETUP

Instead of hustling directly to the roost, I did a wide half-circle using terrain, understory and trees to hide my approach — yes, even though it was still a half-hour or more before fly-down. Truth is, I could have been in there even earlier if I had roosted these turkeys the night before. I was cutting it close but it would all work out. Now, within 150 yards or so, I’d try to get under a football field away. Vocal gobblers helped and I was able to gauge where they were to move closer, and then even closer. I was now maybe just 50 yards from the nearest turkey and maybe twice that from the farthest. Game on.

WHEN TO CALL?

Here’s the tricky part: If you tree call, making the soft waking clucks and yelps of hen, chances are they’ll all look your way to see the turkey you’re imitating. No turkey? Well that might put a little doubt in their hyper-wary heads. I didn’t call, fighting the urge. I would eventually, but only when it seemed right. When one gobbler hit the ground, I softly tree called as others still sat on limbs. The bird with pine needles under his feet hammered. I’d timed it right. The rest gobbled too.

YELP ‘EM UP

Wings flapping, branches breaking, and it was clear they were all flying down. I still hadn’t heard any of the hens that had been in there. That’s a good thing. The birds in front of me gobbled on the ground, but I couldn’t see a single turkey — even though they were close enough their vocalizations thundered through the canopy. I slowly lifted my pot-and-peg, and ran a series of soft clucks and yelps, followed by more on my mouth call, mixing the two to make like several birds in the piney woods. They hammered. They turned and I knew they were coming in.

MAKE THE SHOT

Even after all these years when turkeys appear in the woods, and they’re hunting my calling down, it gives me a thrill like no other. You too, no doubt. My shotgun had been on a raised knee all this time, so I simply eased it in the direction of the gobbling. They appeared: a glowing bronze strutter in the early morning light led by three henchmen jakes. They looked, studied the ground around me, bore holes through my position, and turned. I had a window of shooting as three birds walked through it, then the turkey I wanted. At thirty steps, he never knew what hit him.

Go here for more turkey hunting tips and advanced roosting strategies.

Steve Hickoff is Realtree’s turkey hunting editor and blogger.