There are two public hunting areas in the county with the Wallback WMA (9,872 acres) being the largest. Wallback is located in the southeastern corner of the county and is broken up into four tracts all of which can be accessed off Interstate 79 at the Amma, Newton or Wallback exits. The spring gobbler kill on this WMA has been low the last two seasons. I suspect that this is mostly due to minimal amounts of hunting pressure.

One county that I always enjoy turkey hunting in is Lewis. Although the spring gobbler kill has dropped off fairly dramatically over the past four years, this is a county (given the habitat it has), when it does rebound, will probably increase rather substantially. Even with several years of poor brood success, the kill per square mile in Lewis is .65 for 2006.

The county is easily accessed via Interstate 79 and U.S. Route 33. There are restaurants, lodging and other amenities readily available at Weston, Buckhannon and Burnsville. In addition, there are two excellent public-hunting areas in the Stonecoal (3,000 acres) and Stonewall Jackson Lake (18,289 acres) wildlife management areas. The spring gobbler hunting at both of these WMAs is good to excellent.

If you are looking for somewhere to combine a little gobbler hunting with some afternoon bass or crappie fishing and a round of golf, Stonewall Jackson WMA is a great choice. One pretty effective way to hunt both of these areas is by using a boat to get you into one of the numerous coves that splinter off the primary course of both of these impoundments.

I know of several friends who, when they are done hunting for the morning, will fish their way back to the campground or marina. Another way to hunt both of these areas is by use of a mountain bike. There are old logging roads that circumvent much of the area that surrounds both of these lakes. Any healthy gobbler hunter can get himself/herself back into the more remote areas of both public-hunting areas.

Another county that has had good to super hunting for many years, but does not get much publicity, is Summers. This is a county that had a kill of 387 in 2004, which works out to 1.05 gobblers killed per square mile but dropped back off to 289 birds (.78 gobblers per square mile) in 2005. This is a county that has had stellar turkey hunting going clear back into the mid- to late ‘80s.

This county offers some rugged areas to hunt. For those hunters who are willing to put in a little time in their scouting efforts, the gobbler hunting can be just this side of extraordinary. Summers County also is home to the Bluestone WMA, which contains a whopping 17,632 acres of prime turkey habitat.

Much like Stonewall Jackson, which is described above, Bluestone WMA surrounds the lake of the same name and the fishing for five different species of bass (largemouth, smallmouth, spotted, white and striped) is phenomenal to say the least. Bluestone has a lodge and several public campgrounds at Bull Falls, Indian Creek, Shanklins Ferry and others.