Blake Hortenstine, a wildlife manager who oversees more than 20,000 acres in Shackelford and Stephens counties, also shared his thoughts on the 2006 turkey crop. “On the large ranch I manage in Shackelford County, I don’t remember seeing any poults this past summer,” he reported. “It was very dry. That ranch still has a large population of adult birds, so spring hunting should still be good in 2007, but there won’t be much recruitment of young birds. On the Stephens County property we saw just a few poults, but it was also very dry during the nesting period.”

Judging from those two experts’ observations, the prospects for young turkeys is poor, but there should be enough 2- and 3-year-old gobblers to keep things interesting. Some of my best-ever spring hunts have taken place in counties in the western half of this region like Shackelford, Tom Green and Irion.

SPRING TURKEY SEASON IN TEXAS
I’m not sure which I enjoy more, reflecting on great turkey hunts from years past or the anticipation of a new season.

Like fine wine, tales of hunts from years gone by tend to get better with age. In stories of 9-inch toms that got away, the escapees suddenly become 12-inchers when the tale’s retold among friends.

In such reveries I tend to forget the clouds of mosquitoes, the hot, sultry afternoons and the buzzing of a rattlesnake encountered in the dark. Instead, I remember the good things: the mornings full of numerous longbeards gobbling their heads off from a roost tree in the gray gloom of first light; the drumming of a strutting tom, and the sound of his stiffly bent wings dragging across the rocky ground as he danced ever closer. Fond memories like those call me back to the turkey woods every spring.

Of course, we all know that the outcome of hunts in years gone by can’t be changed -- but the prospects for a new season are endless, and promising. What will be the story to tell after this next season?

DROUGHT YEAR TURKEYS
In the spring and summer of 2006, some parts of Texas experienced a terrible drought. How does that lack of rainfall affect turkeys? I asked my friend Ty Bartoskewitz, a wildlife biologist with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department in South Texas, for his thoughts.

“Drought is particularly hard on turkeys because the lack of rainfall creates poor nesting conditions due to lack of cover,” he told me. “That lack of cover increases the risk of predation, but it also decreases the body condition of the hen as she goes into the egg-laying season because of a shortage of food, particularly insects at this time, which aid in the elements used for egg production.

“And the poults, if they do hatch, need small greens and insects to make it the first few weeks of their life cycles, which are usually absent without a little moisture. Fall and spring moisture are extremely important in setting up prime conditions that will benefit turkeys.”

Here’s a closer look at what to expect across Texas this spring.