Photo by Paul Tessier

By Bruce Ingram

As a high school English teacher, my hunting is generally relegated to Saturdays and afternoons after school. So when I found out on the first Monday of West Virginia's fall turkey season that I would not have to report to work until 12:30 p.m. because of a parent-teacher conference day, I had no doubts about where I would be at dawn that day - the 18,526-acre Potts Mountain Wildlife Management Area (WMA), which is part of the Jefferson National Forest.

Potts Mountain WMA, which lies in Monroe County, has long been a favorite of mine, and I have hunted it for some 15 years. Plus, I had some unfinished business to attend to there. I had called in and killed a national forest gobbler during the previous spring, but I had also unsuccessfully hunted five other gobblers that were infamous for flocking together, roosting together, and generally doing tom impersonations of the "Five Musketeers," one for all and all for one. Would they still be roosting on the same flat where they had often greeted the dawn with their lusty gobbles? And would their beards be even longer than they were in the spring?

Ten minutes before sunrise, the answer came to the first question - old habits are hard to break - and loud gobbler yelps erupted from the flat. I was at a listening post above the flat and immediately charged down the mountainside and across the terrain feature, scattering the quintet. Placing out a decoy and positioning myself against a red oak, I settled back to wait.

If there was one constant to my fall turkey hunting season last autumn, it was that on almost every outing rain fell. And so it was that soon torrents began pelting the flat, and I was thankful that I had stowed a rain suit in my daypack. No matter how miserable I became, I was going to wait out those birds.

Mature gobblers are rarely in a hurry to reassemble and thus it was no surprise that 90 minutes had elapsed before my yelps were answered. For 45 minutes or so, the toms and I engaged in a dialogue with little progress being made on their coming toward my position. But, suddenly, for some reason, the longbeards started to move toward me from several different positions, as their yelps were noticeably louder.

When the lead bird, which was to my left, was within about 50 yards and just below the flat, I repositioned my body in that direction. Two more toms were coming in from my right, but they seemed farther away. Two more seemed to be directly in front of me, but farther away still. I was very confident, perhaps even cocky.

But then the rain, which had been falling steadily, really began to harshly strike the forest. And the red-hot answering yelps of the gobblers immediately ceased. The longbeard to my left walked past me and out of range, as did the two at my right. And goodness knows how the duo in front of me slipped by. And I ended up reporting to conference day, sopping wet (Is there such a thing as a camo rain suit that actually keeps out moisture?) and no turkey tags punched.

Last year, a lot of Mountain Staters experienced similar frustration. The harvest was 2,808, which was 20 percent lower than the 3,505 birds that were checked in during the 2001 season. Paul Johansen, assistant chief of the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (DNR) wildlife resources section, explains what the reasons were behind the lower kill.

"The decline in the fall kill was largely due to wet and cold weather during the spring of 2002, which reduced nesting success and survival of young birds and resulted in fewer birds being available for hunters to harvest," he said. "The wet weather during the fall season affected hunter effort and was also a contributing factor."

The lower turkey numbers were obvious just about everywhere in the state, as all districts endured lower harvests. Of the 30 counties open to fall hunting, 23 experienced lower harvests. The seven counties that enjoyed upticks were Hancock, Marion, Taylor, Morgan, Greenbrier, Monroe, and Pleasant. The top six counties (with harvest numbers in parentheses) were Greenbrier (308), Preston (238), Monroe (203), Randolph (197), Nicholas (161 and Pocahontas (161).

Last autumn, I noticed a lack of hard mast in a number of places where I hunted. When mast is abundant, turkeys are typically harder to locate because flocks can be just about anywhere foraging on acorns. Usually, a poor hard mast crop means that the birds are more concentrated and easier to find - once hunters locate the few trees that have engendered nuts. Such was not the case last autumn, though, relates Chris Ryan, a wildlife biologist in the Charleston office of the DNR.

"In the 32 years that the DNR has been tabulating the amount of mast present, the fall of 2002 was the worst year," he said. "In many counties around West Virginia, a late spring freeze resulted in most, if not all, of the acorn crop being wiped out."

So although the lack of hard mast should have made turkeys easier to encounter, since fewer turkeys were present because of the hatch failure, hunters were unable to take advantage of the paucity of acorns. Quite simply, weather can play a huge role in the number of turkeys present in any given season. And the effects of weather can trump the management skills of biologists and the woodsmanship skills of hunters.

A concern for the season ahead is the relatively harsh winter and the considerable amount of snowfall that blanketed the Mountain State last season. The previous few winters had been fairly mild, and turkeys, deer, and other big-game and small-game animals had not experienced a great deal of winter-related mortality.

A friend of mine in Randolph County told me that he recorded over 100 inches of snow, and the snowstorm that occurred on Valentine's Day weekend hit southern West Virginia hard. Central West Virginia, particularly the mountainous counties of Pocahontas, Randolph, Nicholas and Webster, all recorded prodigious amounts of the white stuff.

Jim Pack, turkey project leader for the DNR, told me that the inclement weather might well have a negative impact on the flock.

"Yes, there was some additional turkey mortality in the high mountain counties of West Virginia because of the extremely deep snows," said Pack. "However, this effect can be nullified with a good brood year."

The reproductive efforts of the state's turkey hens will not be known until sometime in mid to late September. That is when DNR biologists will have had time to tabulate brood reports from around the state and prepare information for the public. Contact your nearest district office at that time and ask if brood reports are available.

Even though I had an encounter with mature gobblers last autumn, most hunters, myself included, target young-of-the-year turkeys. These jakes and jennies make up the majority of the harvest every year, not only in West Virginia but also in any state that has a fall season. Wildlife biologist Chris Ryan agrees and offers this advice.

"Turkey hunters should be very aware of two factors that greatly influence the fall turkey harvest: brood production the previous spring and mast conditions," he says. "While hunters can't help the brood production that year, they can learn what food sources are available before the season begins and therefore may influence turkey movements.

"Turkeys are easier to locate during a mast failure when the birds are more concentrated around the available food sources. However, during a good mast year, hunters will have to walk farther to locate the widely dispersed birds. Hunters who are willing to do their homework before the season will have a better chance of success. Another tip I would like to offer is that hunters should check the 2003-2004 hunting and trapping regulations to find out which WMAs will be open in nontraditional counties."

As many Mountain State sportsmen know, the state has counties that have traditionally been open to fall turkey hunting and other counties that, under the classification of nontraditional, have only been open in recent years. The former category consists of 15 counties that basically lie in southern West Virginia, the southeastern portion of the state, and part of the Eastern Panhandle with Monroe County being the farthest south and Berkeley the farthest east. All of the counties in the Northern Panhandle and scattered counties in northern and western West Virginia constitute the nontraditional ones. With all that in mind, following are the top counties per district.

The best bet in Preston is to obtain permission to hunt on one of the numerous farms or wood lots that make up the county. Scores of family-owned farms dot the country roads here, and the mix of wood lots, pastures, agricultural fields and the occasional orchard produces fantastic turkey habitat.

I would also encourage District I sportsmen to consider Tucker County when the season opens on Oct. 25. Tucker is one of the traditional counties, which means that it will have a four-week season that ends on Nov. 22. Preston's season traditionally lasts for only the first two weeks. Tucker ranked second in the district with 80 birds.

Also of note is that the county that led this district, Hampshire (139), also is the home of one of the top public lands in the state, the Wardensville WMA (55,327 acres), which also spills over into Hardy County. The Wardensville WMA of the George Washington National Forest accounted for 24 birds last year, and biologist Chris Ryan lists it as a great bet for this autumn.

The Wardensville WMA is typical of much of Hampshire County. Oak/ hickory forest is the norm and mountainous terrain is something that hunters will have to contend with. Other counties followed close behind Hampshire in the harvest tally; among them were Grant (136), Hardy (119) and Pendleton (110).

Randolph is lofty in another way, as it also possesses some of the highest mountain ranges in West Virginia. Steep, rugged uplands are the norm here on both private and public lands such as the Beaverdam WMA (37,674 acres) of the Monongahela National Forest. Beaverdam accounted for a respectable 11 birds last year, but in 2001, 25 turkeys were checked in, as poult reproduction was better that year. As one would expect, Beaverdam features huge expanses of upper altitude environs with mixed hardwood stands.

If you live in or near Lewis County, and are interested in a real sleeper choice for fall turkey hunting, consider the Stonewall Jackson WMA (18,289 acres). Last autumn, Stonewall led all state-owned or leased wildlife management areas with 13 birds checked in. I hunted this public land one Saturday last October and was into birds all day long. That night, my wife and I stayed and had dinner at the new Stonewall Resort - a great place for couples to spend time together.

For more information, on the Stonewall Jackson Lake WMA and its namesake resort, dial 800-CALL-WVA. The fall season in Lewis County only lasted a week, but a very impressive 77 birds were checked in during that time, which compares quite favorably to the 197 turkeys checked in over four weeks in Randolph County.

"We have some terrific public-land opportunities for fall turkey hunting," he said. "With the vast amount of national forest land, hunters have quite a selection of properties to choose from each season. Our wildlife managers do an excellent job of maintaining and developing wild turkey habitat."

Ryan offered the Neola WMA (97,928 acres) in Greenbrier and Pocahontas counties as an example of that fine public land sport. Last year, this WMA totaled 48 fall birds, making it the state's leader in that regard. Some 90 percent of Neola is forested, and it contains vast expanses of upland oak-hickory forest.

Wood lacks a WMA that is large enough to mention in an article, but what this county does offer are the rich bottomlands of the Ohio River and its many tributaries. Gain access to a farm that lies along any of these waterways and you may well find success.

I love fall turkey hunting in West Virginia and have not missed an opening day in many years. If the spring weather is favorable for poult production, the drop in the turkey harvest last year will be just a temporary thing.