Two sizable towns, Bluefield and Princeton, offer plenty of places to eat and to hole up for the night. They provide a fine jumping-off point for hunters headed for the surrounding turkey woods.

The county's only true public hunting area is the 5,200-acre Camp Creek SF, located just off I-77 near the forest's namesake town. Coal and timber companies own large parcels of land west of I-77, and many of those tracts have never been posted against hunting. Local sportsmen have treated them as public lands for decades.

Ritchie County has been one of West Virginia's most reliable turkey-hunting spots for more than 10 years, and last spring's performance only enhanced its already sterling reputation.

Ritchie's rolling landscape yielded 293 gobblers, the state's sixth-best total. Productivity had always been one of Ritchie's strong suits, so its 18th-best average of 0.67 birds per square mile came as a bit of a disappointment.

Two large public tracts lie within the county's borders, and both are popular when the dogwoods start blooming and the turkeys start gobbling. About one-third of the 10,000-acre Hughes River WMA sprawls across the county's western end near Elizabeth. Leased by the state from a timber company, the tract's habitat is a patchwork of mature oak-hickory forest interspersed with young pine stands of pines and hardwoods. The other piece of public land, the 2,300-acre Ritchie Mines WMA near Macfarlan, includes a patch of low, rugged hills once mined for asphalt.

Access is mostly along twisting country roads, but U.S. Route 50 provides a four-lane east-west corridor for hunters heading into Ritchie from the population centers of Parkersburg and Clarksburg.

Though some distance away, both cities offer plenty of motel rooms and dining opportunities. Hunters who like to stay a little closer to the action should check out North Bend State Park near Cairo.

Harrison County is heavily populated and heavily industrialized, but it nevertheless ranks among the state's best turkey producers.

Gobbler hunters fared well there last spring, ranking 10th in harvest with 276 toms and 16th in productivity with 0.71 birds per square mile.

About the only thing keeping Harrison from jumping into the same class as nearby Lewis and Monongalia counties is its relative lack of public hunting. The 974-acre Center Branch WMA near Stonewood is the county's only designated public tract. The reclaimed strip mine is covered with oak-hickory forest that ranges from pole-timber to early saw-timber stage. Hunters who venture onto the property need to look for the many strip-mine high walls that interrupt the terrain. A fall from one of those manmade cliffs can quickly ruin anyone's day.

One of the biggest surprise entries to last year's list of top gobbler producers was Roane County. Though it's always been considered a fine place to hunt, last year it leaped into the ranks of the elite.

Roane's hunters bagged 294 birds, the state's fifth-highest total. The county's productivity ratio of 0.62 gobblers per square mile ranked 21st statewide.

Interstate 79 provides the best jumping-off spot to reach the county's public hunting spots. All three units of the 11,757-acre Wallback WMA lie within a mile or two of the four-lane superhighway, and the B.J. Taylor WMA is just a stone's throw from the pavement's edge.

About three-fifths of the Wallback tract lies within Roane County. Its hilly topography is mostly mature hardwood forest with a few grown-over farmsteads and wildlife clearings.

The Taylor WMA encompasses just 141 heavily wooded acres, but is usually good for at least a couple of turkeys.

So there you have it, a look at many of our state's best places to seek turkeys this spring. Remember to always be sure of your target before shooting and never assume another hunter knows you're there. It's always better to be safe than sorry. Good hunting this season in our wild and wonderful state!