FARMINGTON, W.Va. — Over the course of five weeks those who participate in the West Virginia Spring Gobbler hunting season will experience the state’s landscape transformation. As the season opens up on April 21st much of the state is still waiting for leaf out to begin. There are a few buds on trees, especially in the warmer lowlands of the southwestern counties of the state. However, it’s still almost winter dormancy at the high country.

The change will impact calling effectiveness during that five week time span. The more leaves on the trees, the more muffled the sounds of the woods. Hunters may be able to hear a gobble thunder through the hollow from a great distance on opening day. By the final days of the season a gobble with that kind of audio level should freeze you in your tracks since that gobbler is likely fewer than a hundred yards away and very well might be looking in your direction.

Mike Peters is the game bird biologist for the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. He said that change in forest audio during the course of the season is part of the allure of spring gobbler hunting. Peters has been spending a considerable amount of time searching for turkeys in the preseason as part of an ongoing research project.

“We’re hoping to get a better understanding of nesting chronology, how many nests are successful, reproductive rates, and brood survival,” said Peters of the ongoing research work.

They are placing transmitters onto female birds to track the movements.

“It’s a statewide project, but we have five areas across the state,” he explained. “Up here in district one I’ve been working in parts of Barbour, Marion, and Monongalia County and I’ve been seeing good numbers of birds in those areas.”

An abundance of turkeys is not unusual. The population has remained fairly stable for the past decade or so. The biggest impacts on populations anymore seem to come from cicada hatches. When the 17 year creatures emerge, turkeys feast. The huge infusion of protein into the diet helps significantly with survival and reproduction wherever they occur. Some of the southwestern counties are due for a hatch this year.

For years, the DNR has based its projections for the spring gobbler on brood reports and previous year harvests. As the numbers of turkey hunters are dropped, the harvest data is not now as reliable of an indicator as it once was. Still, Peters said the brood hatch from two years ago is where he goes to make the prediction. A two year old gobbler will be the most vulnerable to hunters’ calls and potentially to the hunters’ shotguns.

“Two years back our brood production was up a little bit from the previous year, so I don’t expect a big change. Honestly, from year to year our annual harvest ranges from 10,000 to 12,000 birds annually with most years being around 11,000. That’s pretty typical and that’s what I expect this year, a pretty typical year,” he said.

The season stars with two youth hunting days on April 19-20. The statewide season opens up Monday, April 21 across all 55 counties and stays open for five weeks through May 25.