After scudding down the western ridge and up its eastern counterpart, I ran along the ridge until I came to the fourth finger. By then, I could tell that the gobbler was only about 150 yards away. So I walked quickly but quietly down the fourth finger ridge until I came to a saddle. I then began to call and soon glimpsed a turkey marching toward me. Unfortunately, the bird was a hen, which moved to within only a few yards of me before putting and flying away.

Over the next two hours, I made numerous moves on the still gobbling tom and tried a variety of setups, but the old boy would simply not commit. Instead, he continually made wide circles around my various positions, gobbling constantly but never coming to within shooting range. I finally had to leave the still gobbling bird and head for school. Interestingly, I lost a three-hour-plus duel to an ever-circling gobbler two years ago on that same finger ridge; perhaps the male from this past spring was indeed the same bird.

Sportsmen have two camping facilities to choose from on Rimel: Pocahontas and Bird Run. They also may find accommodations at the Seneca State Forest and Watoga State Park. I have spent a number of pleasant nights at Watoga. This state park also offers cabin rental. For the Neola WMA, camping is available at the Lake Sherwood Recreation complex and the Blue Bend Recreation area.

Visitors to the Rimel also should know that Cully McCurdy has been hard at work in recent years creating savannas. These grasslands offer essential nesting and bugging areas for wild turkeys and are excellent places to duel with longbeards in the spring, as well. The Rimel also features an extensive network of old logging roads that make for great travel ways for humans and turkeys.

OTHER MONONGAHELA MANAGEMENT UNITS
I have also hunted turkeys in the Cranberry WMA (158,147 acres) in Nicholas, Webster, Pocahontas and Greenbrier counties. I usually use SR 39 to access this public land, but sportsmen can also reach it by means of SRs 150, 7, 48 and 46. Sportsmen who relish a backcountry experience should also know that the Cranberry Wilderness Area (35,864 acres) lies within the WMA. No motorized vehicles are allowed. I know hunters who walk or horseback ride into the Cranberry backcountry.

The Cranberry is famous, or infamous, for its upper altitude hunting. Elevations range from 1,900 to 4,600 feet. And if you are at elevations closer to the latter than the former in the spring, be prepared. Snowstorms have been known to happen in April and even in May. Camping areas are situated at Summit Lake, Bishop Knob, Big Rock and Cranberry.

As is typical of many hunters, the reason I have hunted the most in the Neola and Rimel WMAs is not because they offer better turkey hunting than the other Monongahela units. It's simply because the duo is closer to my home. And the reason I have gone afield in the Cranberry WMA is that every sportsman should experience this high-country hunting at least once. My point is that the other seven Monongahela WMAs all can offer excellent spring gobbler hunting.

"West Virginia hunters can't go wrong with visiting any of the Monongahela's WMAs," Chris Ryan said. "If a turkey hunter has a good pair of boots, is in shape and is willing to walk, he will find turkeys. You probably won't find a gobbler at the first place you stop at and call. But, again, if you do some walking, you will encounter a gobbler and sometimes multiple birds.

"I also think that after the first week of the season, your chances of seeing another hunter really decreases. And by the late season, a hunter could well have large portions of the Monongahela to himself."