“I had a hunter last year who called up the biggest gobbler he’d ever seen,” Kingsbery said. “He had set out a decoy and that old gobbler headed straight for it, his heart full of love.”

The hunter, admiring the big boy’s long beard, eased the safety off his gun and put his finger on the trigger.

At that moment, Kingsbery said, a gust of wind toppled the lovely rubber hen. Startled and frustrated to boot, the gobbler wheeled around and disappeared back into the brush before the hunter could get off a shot.

These two cases, as any savvy sportsman will tell you, demonstrate why they call it spring turkey hunting and not spring turkey shooting. Even so, statistics collected by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department wildlife officials show a high hunter success rate when it comes to spring gobblers. Is this so because a substantial number of spring hunters are very experienced? Or is it just a matter of Texas harboring a lot of turkeys? Either way, it’s academic.

The point is that chasing spring turkeys can prove to be some of the most exciting hunting you’ll ever engage in. An estimated 60,000 hunters harvested more than 25,000 gobblers last spring. While that’s a lot of white meat and drumsticks, the state’s estimated population is some 600,000 birds.

The spring season for Rio Grande turkeys, Texas’ dominant subspecies, gets under way in the 101 North Zone counties on March 29 and continues through May 11. (Special youth seasons are March 22-23 and May 17-18.) In the South Zone, which includes 54 counties, the season runs March 15 to April 27, with youth hunts set for March 8-9 and May 3-4. The season in both zones runs for 44 days.

Those who like to track the state’s ongoing success with turkey management will note that Rio Grande turkeys may be hunted in a total of 155 counties this spring, two more counties than in 2007.

In 43 East Texas counties, hunting for the eastern subspecies extends from April 1-30. That includes one new county not huntable for turkeys last year. If you intend to hunt in any of the national forests in that part of the state, most of them require a Parks and Wildlife annual public hunting permit at a cost of $48. The permit also is needed for several thousand acres of public hunting areas in East Texas. Be prepared to show your tagged eastern at a mandatory check station within 24 hours of taking it. Call 1-800-792-112 or check the Parks and Wildlife Web site for locations.

Hunters may only take one eastern gobbler, with weapon choices restricted to one of the following: shotgun, lawful archery equipment or crossbow.

Rios can be taken with scattergun, rifle, pistol, legal bow and arrow and crossbow, though landowners have the final say-so on the type of weapon they will allow for turkeys on their property. Wildlife management areas also may restrict certain weapons. No matter what you use to bring down a long-bearded gobbler, the general bag limit is four turkeys per license year. Obviously, that means if you took some turkeys in the fall, you have only the tags remaining on your license to use this spring.