That said, Ryan also emphasized that on the hunt he and I took last May, it was still the first week of the season and we didn't encounter any other hunters nor saw cars parked at pull-off sites. Of course, to be fair, on other visits to the Mon during the first week of the season, I have come across other individuals. Still, on most of my expeditions into the Monongahela, I have had the woods to myself.

Ryan also said that several management activities are currently taking place on the Monongahela's units.

"The DNR personnel in charge of the WMAs do an outstanding job managing the national forest. One of the things wildlife managers do that really benefit turkeys is creating and maintaining brood habitat. A major way this is accomplished is by mowing or bushwhacking openings. Our goal is to prevent woody stems, which are trees or shrubs, to take over an opening."

Every year or so, DNR personnel will mow an opening. Or they'll mow part of an opening one year and the rest the next year in order to create more variety in the habitat. Another advantage of the mowing process is that it creates new growth.

Ryan relates that each WMA within the state has a primary species for which it is managed. Interestingly, the species that is most often the primary one in the Mountain State is the wild turkey. The biologist said this emphasis on the turkey makes sense, as management activities that benefit turkeys the most also promote the well-being of other game and non-game species.

Another management activity involves foresting.

"Timber cutting is based on a forest management plan," Ryan said. "Each component within the forest service, small or large, has an individual prescription or objective. An area in the Monongahela could be listed as wilderness and thus would have no cutting or management practices, for example. Or a component could be listed as being possibly suited to have a certain number of acres timbered.

"I urge hunters to go to meetings when forest management plans are discussed. After all, the Monongahela National Forest is as much their land as anyone else's. And other user groups certainly make their presence known at these meetings."

Generally, a variety of timbering practices are implemented. These include the cutting of single trees to clear cutting blocks of forest up to 25 acres in size. Approximately 1,300 acres are cut yearly out of more than 909,000 acres that the Monongahela encompasses.

Ryan informs that a major wild turkey project is going on right now in conjunction with Virginia. In each of West Virginia's six districts, and the Monongahela is an important part of the land mass in several of these districts, personnel are trapping 12 gobblers per district and outfitting each tom with a transmitter. This project features several goals.

"A major objective is to learn more about gobbler survival. We also want to develop a better understanding of gobbling intensity and behavior. The two states are attempting to develop a transmitter that can tell how many times a bird gobbles."

The other units within the Monongahela are: the Beaver Dam WMA (37,674 acres) in Randolph County; Blackwater WMA (58,978 acres) in Tucker and Preston counties; Cheat WMA (80,771 acres) in Randolph County; Little River WMA (124,483 acres) in Pocahontas County; Otter Creek WMA (68,782 acres) in Randolph and Tucker counties; Potomac WMA (139,786 acres) in Randolph, Pendleton, Grant and Tucker counties; and the Tea Creek WMA (67,919 acres) in Pocahontas, Randolph and Webster counties.

For more information on the Mon, contact the Monongahela National Forest, Forest Supervisor, P.O. Box 1548, Elkins, WV 26241; or call (304) 636-1800. The Web site is www.fs.fed.us/r9/mnf. Statewide, the daily limit is one bearded bird, two per season. The season begins April 25 and ends May 21.