That goes back to the very first spring season of 1966 when only 12 gobblers were bagged statewide. And that's a mighty relative perspective to expand from. That's right, there's not a whole lot to complain about today when you look at it in going from the 12 gobblers then to the present day's 10,000 per year.

But we still haven't addressed the rather recent decline this decade in going from the lofty high 18,000 to that hovering 10,000 annual harvest level. In response, Evans talks about the classical population growth curve. That's when those freshly trapped and transplanted turkeys were restored to their former haunts. They had all the food and habitat resources to themselves.

The turkey population exploded and exploited those available resources. As time lapsed, the ever more numerous flocks of birds start competing with their own kind, and food becomes more limited. At the same time, a host of predators started to figure out that turkeys make some mighty fine eating.

That skyrocketing population growth curve then falls back to some sane and sustainable level with Mother Nature keeping things in check. That's about where we are now as the state's wild turkey population is saturated or at near capacity.

To approach record levels again, those lined-up stars we initially referred to would include the likes of consecutive, two of three, or three of four super brood years. They in turn would likely be the result of average winters, excellent mast and warm, dry hatching weather, the stuff of good health, vitality and survival rates for poults.

We can also throw in the autumn bowhunter and spring gobbler hunter survey reports to the pool or shall we say lack of available turkey flock monitoring information. It should come as no surprise that these surveys confirm the down a few notches from record turkey population status.

However, Evans and I both agreed that it was a great time to be alive and to see firsthand the explosive re-establishment of the West Virginia wild turkey during those roaring 1980s. The abundant flocks here there and yonder were a remarkable sight.

Another bright spot to the non-record level turkey flocks is that hunting pressure is down at least in my perspective for that reason alone. The stated abnormally high gas prices (since back down to more reasonable levels) and rainy weather are merely compounding the situation. Nothing douses a kill forecast more than a rainy spring.

Another positive factor for spring turkey hunting is the literal statewide nature of our state's turkey flock. Turkeys are found in every county. Thus, there is decent hunting close to everyone. For another, gas prices are plummeting along with the stock market as this is being penned.

The fairly stable statewide harvest is also holding steady on the regional or county levels to boot over the same span of the last five years. Sure, there are differences in county kill levels, but a lot of it can be explained by the size of each county, available habitat, hunting pressure and the amount of public land. All things remaining the same, a decent size county is going to produce a decent turkey kill.

As a result, no further in state trapping and transplanting is anticipated or needed in the Mountain State. The flock has been saturated for some time, though biologist Evans believes that a few of the southern counties may still be in an expansion mode.

Nevertheless, there are always some hotspots and counties to wet your curiosity. If you were at a loss and looking for a hot county, the best advice would be to look at the list of counties open to the one week of non-traditional fall either-sex turkey hunting the prior fall.