Douglass Oster, Post-Gazette
	A tom turkey walks through the woods in Ross Township. Listen In: Tom Neumann, of Penn's Woods Products, demonstrates different turkey calls. Waterproof Wizard Box Call Twistin' Hen Call Glass Call Penn's Woods Gobble Call Plunger Mouth Diaphragm Call Real live turkeys -- for comparison

Throughout the winter, Pennsylvania's wild turkeys were flocked, moving together through the woods -- sometimes straying into backyards -- in search of food.

But by this stage of spring, the bands are disbursing. Hens are heading out on their own to find areas to breed, nest and lay clutches of eggs, and gobblers are spreading out in search of hens.

Today's opening day of spring turkey season beckoned hunters to the woods carrying all kinds of turkey calling contraptions. Most are designed to contradict a mating ritual that's as old as time.

"The natural process in the spring is for a gobbler to gobble to let a hen know he's around," said Tom Neumann, co-owner of Penn's Woods Products, a Delmont company that has developed and marketed turkey calls since the 1960s. "A hen's going to go to a gobbler if she's ready to be bred. As a hunter, you're trying to reverse that natural process [by imitating a hen and] trying to get the gobbler to come to you."

Camouflaged and crouched against tree trunks wider than their shoulders (to disguise the human form and provide protection from errant shots), turkey hunters attempt to call in gobblers near enough to get a shot.

American Indians sucked on turkey wing bones to effectively imitate hens, but modern hunters have a wide variety of calling devices to choose from. Friction calls, including the common box call, rely on the sound made by rubbing wood on wood, glass or slate. Tube calls use forced air, and mouth diaphragm calls require users to sit back and blow. The trick is getting a sound that says "come hither" in turkey-ese.

"It's been documented that a turkey makes more than 30 different vocalizations, all meaning different things," said Neumann. "As a hunter, you primarily want to be concerned with five or six main calls."

The Cluck. "In turkey language, that means, 'Hey, where are you? I'm looking for you and I'm over here," Neumann said.

The Purr. "It's more of a contented sound that a turkey will make, particularly when it's feeding through the woods," he said. "A cluck and a purr [used together] are nice contentment type vocalizations to put a gobbler's mind at ease that [what it hears] is just a hen walking around trying to find a mate."

The Yelp. A general communication or assembly sound.

The Cut. "The cluck when speeded up in cadence is called a 'cut.'" said Neumann. "It's an excited sound a hen will make maybe when she's approaching another turkey, and that's really what gets a gobbler excited and fired up."

The Tree Yelp. A soft, contented sound made by a hen when she's high on a roost.

The Fly-Down Cackle. "When a bird's flying down off the roost, she'll make a series of a few clucks running into a few excited cuts and cackles," said Neumann.

"The yelp, cluck and purr are basically your three main calls," he said. "But if a hunter can master all of these, that's all you really need to be successful."

Neumann says occasional use of a crow or owl can startle a tom into revealing his location, and imitating a gobbler can lure in a bird intent on defending his turf, although he recommends that less-safe tactic only on private property where there are no other hunters.

"People often ask us what's the best [turkey call]," Neumann said. "Every call on the market, whether its ours or somebody else's, has a different sound. First of all, a person has to be confident in the call that he's using. Is one sound better than another? Maybe to your ear or to mine, but the bottom line is, what appeals to that gobbler?"

Learn more about turkey calling on "Hunting with Penn's Woods," which airs 8:30 a.m. Sundays on Fox Sports Pittsburgh.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission has high hopes for this year's spring gobbler season. Nearly a quarter million hunters are expected to participate. The season runs through May 26, and shooting is permitted a half hour before sunrise until noon.

Game Commission wild turkey biologist Mary Jo Casalena said last year's turkey population and spring harvest were up, following subpar reproduction in 2004 and 2005. More than 42,500 were taken in the general 2006 season, plus about 1,500 were killed with a special license permitting the harvesting of a second gobbler. About 39,000 were shot in 2005.

Last year, as a result of a mild winter, turkey hens entered breeding season in good health. Their young enjoyed generally warm, dry weather and abundant food supplies. Casalena predicts more jakes and 2-year-old birds than last year, but fewer in the 3 to 4 year range.