Like many of the state's best spring gobbler counties, Monongalia offers a variety of turkey habitats. Depending on their whims, hunters can hunt fertile river bottoms one day, rolling farmlands the next day and heavily timbered mountain ridges the day after that.

Given the varied terrain, it's not surprising that the county harbors a fine turkey flock. Hunters took 0.94 birds for every square mile of habitat last year, the state's sixth-highest average. The county's total harvest of 292 gobblers was good for seventh in the statewide rankings.

Monongalia's public hunting is found at Cooper's Rock SF and Snake Hill WMA. Most of the 12,698-acre forest is located just outside of Morgantown on the west slope of Chestnut Ridge. Some of the best hunting can be found on the north side of the rugged Cheat River canyon, but only for hunters who are in good enough shape to traverse its steeply sloping walls.

The 2,000-acre Snake Hill WMA near Dellslow lies on the south side of the Cheat canyon and is just as rugged. Fifty miles away to the south, Upshur County is another easy-to-reach turkey destination.

U.S. routes 33 and 119 meet with SR 20 in the county seat, Buckhannon, and roughly divide the county into quarters. Getting to prime hunting land isn't very difficult. Gaining permission to hunt on it is the trick.

A small corner of the 3,000-acre Stonecoal WMA constitutes the only public hunting in the entire county. For outsiders, the best place to find hunter-friendly private land is in the upper reaches of the Buckhannon River watershed. Much of the land belongs to mining companies, whose absentee owners sometimes don't post their properties.

The lack of access didn't seem to discourage hunters last spring. They bagged 271 toms within the county's borders, good for 11th place in the state rankings. The county's average of 0.81 turkeys per square mile ranked ninth statewide.

Upshur's next-door neighbor, Lewis County, ranks next on the best-bet list. It yielded 279 gobblers last season, good for ninth in that category; and it yielded a respectable 0.73 birds per square mile, 13th in the state.

Were it not for the intense hunting pressure Lewis receives, it might well be the state's best spring-gobbler county. Its low, rolling hills are a deer-attracting blend of oak-hickory hardwood forests interspersed with old, mostly abandoned farmsteads.

What's more, Lewis is home to two of the state's most productive public hunting areas. The Stonewall Jackson Wildlife Management Area (WMA) near Roanoke encompasses more than 18,000 acres of prime turkey habitat. Barely a shotgun blast away to the northeast, the aforementioned Stonecoal WMA beckons to sportsmen.

Both WMAs surround good-sized lakes, and savvy hunters have learned to cruise the lakes in boats, calling and roosting gobblers before returning the next morning to hunt them.

Both areas are easily accessible by car. Interstate 79 passes within two miles of Stonewall, and U.S. Route 33 passes within a similar distance of Stonecoal. Stonewall Jackson Lake Resort State Park, nestled inside the Stonewall WMA, is the local center for accommodations with a luxury lodge, rental cabins, a first-class campground and boat rentals.

Of all this year's best-bet gobbler areas, Mercer County would have to be classed as the real "up-and-comer."

Mercer's hunters were models of consistency in 2004, ranking 12th in turkey harvest at 269, and 12th in productivity at 0.73 birds per square mile.

Despite the county's rugged topography, getting around isn't terribly difficult. Interstate 77 bisects the Mercer countryside from north to south, and U.S. Route 460 traverses its southern limits. Routes 19 and 52 and SR 20 also cut well-paved paths through the steep-sided hills.