If you’re a wildlife lover, you may want to check out the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s online Elk Cam, the state’s most majestic animal.

The Elk Cam went live on Aug. 1 and it will bring the sights and sounds of bugling elk to your computer/iPad or phone screen.

Elk Cam is located in the heart of Pennsylvania’s elk range, an area says the PGC, totaling more than 220,000 acres that includes State Game Lands 311 and Elk State Forest. And it will all be livestreamed at www.pa.gov/pgc. On the site, viewers will not only see elk but deer, turkey, coyotes but other wildlife as well. And it will get even more interesting and vocal as bull elk will be competing with other bulls for available cows during the mating season.

The Elk Cam will run until the first elk firearm season which begins in October. The top times, says the PGC, are mornings and evenings.

The livestream is provided by HDOnTap in cooperation with the North Central Pennsylvania Regional Planning and Development Commission. The stream can be accessed on the PGC’s website at www.pa.gov/agencies/pgc/wildlife-viewing-cams.

WILD TURKEY

SIGHTINGS

The Game Commission is once again asking the public’s help to report sightings of wild turkeys. The annual survey started July 1 and runs through Aug. 31.

Participants are asked to report the number of wild turkeys they see, their county, township, date of sighting and if known, the Wildlife Management Unit. Plus, whether the turkeys are gobblers, hens with broods, hens without broods or even turkeys of unknown sex and age. Reports can be sent in on the PGC’s website, https:/pgcforms.pa.gov/TurkeySightingSurvey.

The PGC says the data provided is used in a population model to track trends in wild turkey numbers. And data reported is for the survey, not law enforcement and is not shared publicly.

The statewide reproductive success index from last summer – the average ratio of young turkeys (poults) seen per hen was 2.7, which was down a bit compared to the average productivity observed across the previous 5 years (3.0) poults per hen from 2020-2024). At the WMU level, the number of poults per hen ranged from a low of 1.7 in 5D (for example) to a high of 4.8 in 4D (for example) during the 2025.

TROUT

MINIMUM SIZE

LIMIT CHANGED

At their July 27 meeting, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission approved the minimum size limit for trout in stocked trout waters open to year-round fishing to nine inches, up from seven inches. This includes the Extended Trout Season as well. The new regulation will go into effect January 1, 2027.