The month of March can be a noisy time in the woods or at least hunters hope so while they are attempting to harvest a turkey. Silent birds can signal tough hunting for turkey hunters. The spring turkey season in Georgia begins this Saturday, March 23 and runs through May 15 statewide.

Hunting fever occurs twice in the state of Georgia. The first outbreak occurs in the spring with the opening of the turkey season and then occurs again each fall when the deer season arrives. I am not sure which fever is worse but turkey hunters have been anxiously anticipating the arrival of the spring turkey season.

There is a third kind of fever that I get each spring and that fever is fishing fever. The turkey season runs head first into the spring fishing season and fishing fever usually gets the best of me. I know the crappie are biting and the largemouth bass are moving to the shallows to spawn and I just cannot pick up my gun and instead pick up my fishing poles and head off in the boat to do some fishing.

The surrounding area is in the Piedmont region of the state and the prospects for bagging an old tom turkey are good this year in the Piedmont region. “Hunters will hear some vocal 2-year-birds in the Piedmont region of the state thanks to good production in 2011,” says Kevin Lowrey, Georgia Wildlife Resources Division (GWRD) wild turkey project coordinator. “Overall statewide reproduction declined by 30 percent in 2012 and hunters may notice the effects in 2014.”

Most hunters will hunt private land but several WMAs offer very good turkey hunting and that is where approximately 20 percent of turkey hunters will go in their attempt to harvest a turkey. In addition to your other licenses, you will only need a $19 WMA stamp to hunt on a WMA. Locally the Cedar Creek WMA is a good choice for hunters. The Cedar Creek WMA covers over 37 thousand acres and with 78 turkeys harvested there last year it ranks as one of the best WMAs in the Piedmont region of Georgia.

When the first settlers arrived on the shores of the United States, it is now estimated that over 10 million birds roamed the eastern United States. Early reports from those first settlers talked of huge flocks of turkeys that unlike today’s wild turkeys were easily approached. The wild turkey was considered for the official seal of the United States but the bald eagle eventually won that honor.

The wild turkey was hunted and trapped almost into extinction and only 30,000 birds remained in the entire United States in 1920. Thankfully state and federal agencies have spent large amounts of money on wild turkey restoration projects with the National Wild Turkey Federation alone spending over $412 million to conserve 17.25 million acres of turkey habitat. Because of those efforts now over seven million wild turkeys roam every state in the continental United States.

In 1973 there were only an estimated 17,000 wild turkeys in Georgia. Georgia subsequently began restoration efforts to increase the turkey population. Those efforts included the restocking of wild birds throughout the state and now over 350,000 birds populate the state. Wild turkeys can be found in every county in the state and as a result of those earlier restoration projects; Georgia hunters can harvest three gobblers and can enjoy the longest turkey season in the United States.

There are only two species of turkeys in the world and five subspecies are found in North America. These five subspecies include the Eastern subspecies which is the most widespread turkey (over 5 million) in North America and is also the subspecies found in Georgia, the Osceola subspecies which is only found in South Florida, the Merriam’s subspecies which habitat the western U.S., the Rio Grande which can primarily be found in Texas and the south central plains and the Gould’s subspecies which can be found in the mountains of New Mexico and Arizona.

Turkey hunting participation nationally is increasing at a time when the numbers of hunters overall is decreasing. The increase in the numbers of turkey hunters can be laid squarely on efforts by organizations like the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF) and on the challenge that hunters face in attempting to outwit the turkey and have a successful harvest. No other type of hunting requires the hunter to be more knowledgeable of his quarry.

So if you decide to take up that challenge and set aside everything else to do your best vocalization of the wild turkey, I wish you good hunting throughout the turkey season. I guess I will once again pass it up to hopefully do battle with some of the fish that populate area lakes. Spring is a beautiful time to be either in the woods attempting to harvest a turkey or on the lake trying to outwit a largemouth bass or a finicky crappie. Good hunting and fishing and see you next week.

Bobby Peoples can be reached by e-mail at brpeoples@windstream.net.