"We (the wildlife managers and biologists within the division) shared the concerns of local and state chapters of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF), in that as much as turkey hunters in New Jersey wanted a fall season, no one wanted to harvest too many adult turkeys, fearing the taking of large numbers of birds (especially hens) would negatively impact the following spring season's reproduction numbers," said Herrighty.

"Consequently, we implemented certain regulations that would limit a fall turkey hunter to one bird per season, and the season would last only one week."

In a similar manner, Maryland's contingent of fall gobbler gunners may take one bird per season, but that one bird counts against their coming spring limit of two birds, according to biologist Long.

"We also shared concerns about overharvesting birds in the fall. But in Maryland, we have a two-bird limit during the spring season. Hence, if a hunter takes a bird during the fall, that bird will be deducted from the coming spring limit, thus limiting that successful fall hunter to one bird during the spring season," Long said.

MARYLAND'S FALL SEASON
Starting with Maryland, what can autumn turkey gunners expect this season? And for those hunters who have yet to secure a choice piece of private property to hunt, where would be their best bet to down a bird? And on those public lands, what can hunters anticipate in the way of hunting pressure? Let's take a look.

During Maryland's spring turkey season, hunters may take advantage of the turkey population statewide. In fall, however, they are restricted to Garrett, Washington and Allegany counties only.

Long has some hotspots to suggest, as well as some observations concerning hunting pressure.

"For starters, our fall turkey hunting has seen a decline in hunter participation during the last few years. But I do not feel that decline has anything to do with the popularity of the fall turkey season. Instead, small- game hunting nationwide has been declining during the last few years, as deer hunting becomes more and more popular. The fall turkey season falls into the small-game category. In addition, many turkey hunters would rather opt out of the fall season to take advantage of the two-bird limit during the spring," said Long.

Thus, the hunting pressure should not be as great this fall. Nonetheless, Long's suggestions as to the best public-land areas are based upon turkey harvest rates.

"Harvest rates for the fall season in the three counties includes last year's figures, which we recently compiled. The results are a harvest total of 137 birds, with Allegany County tallying 54, while Garrett County came in second with 46, followed by Washington County with a total of 37. Despite the hard data, however, some of the best spots would include Savage River State Forest in Garrett County and Green Ridge State Forest in Allegany County. Those are two of the top turkey producers. But hunters also have several choices of wildlife management areas in each of the three counties," said Long.

Last fall's harvest rates are down somewhat compared to the 2004 fall season in two of the three counties, according to Long.

During the 2004 fall season, according to Maryland's DNR Web site, hunters tallied 107 birds in Allegany County, while Garrett County accounted for 67 birds and Washington County registered 33 birds.

"The decline during the 2005 fall season can be partially attributable to poor spring reproduction rates as well as a significant decline in hunter participation," Long said.