Lewis County (267) led the way in District III, which finished fifth overall, and was followed by Braxton (224), Upshur (206), Nicholas (173) and Randolph (118). Interestingly, DNR biologist Chris Ryan told me that he saw "a bunch of broods" while trapping bears in Randolph County in August and that the mountain counties "appear" to have had a good hatch.

However, Ryan cautions that such observations do not necessarily proclaim that Randolph and the District III counties experienced a good hatch. With turkey poults, all hatch results are local. A cold, poult-killing rain may occur in one part of a county and wipe out most of a year-class, while five miles away, a hollow that escaped that precipitation may contain many birds come next spring.

DISTRICT IV
District IV, which encompasses much of southern West Virginia, finished third in the turkey harvest. As noted earlier, Summers, Raleigh, Mercer and Greenbrier all landed in the top 10 and Fayette (260) and Monroe (216) had very respectable harvests. Overall, the harvest was up 136 birds from the 2004 tally of 1,966.

Southern West Virginia also hosts a number of quality public lands. Among them are Berwind Lake WMA (18,000 acres) in McDowell County, Bluestone Lake WMA (18,019 acres) in Summers, Mercer, and Monroe counties, and R.D. Bailey (17,280 acres) in Mingo and Wyoming counties.

Biologist Colin Carpenter said that Summers County is a real up-and- comer as a spring gobbler destination. From 2001 to 2005, the tallies have been 368, 302, 254, 316 and 388, respectively. While many counties have been experiencing harvest declines, Summers' turkey flock seems to be consistently increasing.

DISTRICT V
District V, which covers part of southern West Virginia and most of the western part of the state, held down place No. 4. Top 10 counties Mason and Kanawha led the way, but impressive harvests also took place in Wayne (244), Putnam (239) and Lincoln (229). Overall, the district's kill increased 156 birds from the 2004 tally of 1,847.

Biologist Chris Ryan said that during 19 days of fieldwork in June and July, he only saw one brood in Boone, Kanawha and Fayette counties. Fayette, of course, lies in District IV, but the other two counties are in District V. Again, as noted earlier, all poult results are local and preliminary.

District V features some fetching WMAs. Among the possibilities are Amherst/Plymouth (7,061 acres) in Putnam County, Beech Fork Lake (7,531 acres) in Cabell and Wayne, Big Ugly (6,421) in Lincoln, Chief Cornstalk (11,772 acres) in Mason, East Lynn Lake (22, 928 acres) in Wayne, Fork Creek (7,000 acres) in Boone, and Laurel Lake (12,854 acres) in Mingo.

DISTRICT VI
Finishing this story with District VI could be definitely a case of saving the best for last. This northern West Virginia domain paced the state with a harvest that was up 231 toms from the 2004 tally of 2,106. Top 10 finishers Ritchie, Jackson, Roane and Wood, of course, led the pack, but Wirt (234), Doddridge (214), Tyler (199) and Gilmer (183) boasted solid harvests as well.

District VI contains a few quality public-land options. Now is the time to scout out the Hughes River WMA (10,000 acres) in Ritchie and Wirt counties, Ritchie Mines (2,300) in its namesake county, and The Jug (2,065 acres) in Tyler. Except for Hughes River, these public lands are not overly large, so the least pressured hunting is likely to take place during the week. Obviously, the majority of turkey hunting in District VI takes place on private land.

In the fall, if someone asks me when my favorite time to turkey hunt is, I always say the autumn. Come early spring, if someone asks me the same question, I always say the spring. West Virginia's turkey hunting enthusiasts will soon be able to partake of the latter pastime.