Years ago, as a young man just getting into hunting and fishing, I was always eager to be out on the first day. Like a lot of other hunters and fishermen, I was under the impression that you had to score early or you might as well kiss your chances of success good-bye. I never missed the first day of trout season or the first week or two because I thought that was the only time you could have any real success — boy, was I wrong. In those early years, I felt the same way about hunting; if you couldn’t score on a buck or a turkey the first week, your season was about over — I was wrong again.

Obviously, over the years, I have come to realize that success does not have to be a “first-day” thing, and this is true of turkey hunting as well.

Several years ago, while hunting spring gobblers on the opening day, I spotted a big tom with hens about 75 yards out in a field. If you are into spring gobbler hunting, I’m sure it comes as no surprise that I was unable to pull that tom away from his harem. I know it’s always possible that my calling skills were not up to par, but why leave a group of hens to chase after another one-off in the distance?

I hunted that same area several more times over the next few weeks, and I saw or heard what I think was that same gobbler several more times, but I could not bring him into gun range. Finally, on the last day of the season, I spotted the big tom along the edge of a fence row late one morning — he was alone.

I began calling with some hen yelps, and he immediately began coming in my direction, and a half-hour later, I bagged one of my finest gobblers.

A couple of years ago, I was able to call in several gobblers to a decoy set-up, and my granddaughter bagged her first ever gobbler; it was the last week of the season. The point is the latter part of the spring season can still produce.

Pennsylvania’s spring turkey season this year runs from May 2-30, so there is still time to bag that bird. Sure, there are advantages to hunting the first week or so; one big one is that hopefully, the gobblers have not yet been disturbed too much by other hunters calling and moving through the area.

Better yet, if you have been able to locate a roosting site and you can get within calling distance early in the morning, your chances are probably pretty good. Don’t rule out the last weeks of the season either, however, since that same scenario still holds true even later in the season.

I suppose if you’re looking for any kind of advantage to hunting the latter part of the season, the one thing you could cite is that many of the hens are catering to their nesting site duties, so they are not as available to gobblers still looking for mating opportunities. I suspect that’s why I was successful on a couple of my spring hunts. I suppose too, as the season progresses, there are probably fewer hunters heading out; some already had success, and others just gave up, so the latter part of the season likely sees less hunter movement and calling.

The bottom line is, don’t give up; there is still time to bag a gobbler even though as things green up, it may be harder to spot your quarry.