Perhaps even more important than the actual harvest is the kill per square mile of forest. A county with a high harvest could attain that tally simply because the county itself is large. A county with a high harvest and a high kill per square mile of forest would be an outstanding place to go this spring, but so would a small county with a high harvest per square mile.

The following is the kill by square mile of forest by region: Tidewater (0.91), South Piedmont (0.73), South Mountain (0.75), North Mountain (0.57) and North Piedmont (0.43). Statewide, the figure was 0.69.

Alphabetically, here is every county in the state that attained a kill per square mile of forest harvest of 0.90 or better. If your home county is in this list, chances are good that this domain has a history of providing quality spring hunting and that the same will likely hold true this year.

The counties are as follows: Amelia (0.93), Carroll (0.94), Charles City (1.00), Clarke (1.09), Cumberland (0.91), Floyd (1.28), Franklin (1.20), Frederick (1.09), Gloucester (1.02), Grayson (1.24), Isle of Wight (1.35), Lancaster (1.77), Lee (0.91), Matthews (0.93), Middlesex (1.13), Northampton (1.52), Northumberland (1.89), Prince George (1.09), Pulaski (0.90), Richmond (1.45), Scott (0.94), Southampton (1.13), Surry (1.25), Westmoreland (1.61) and Wythe (1.22).

Several tidbits become noticeable after examining these lists. First, Franklin, Southampton, Scott and Grayson made both lists, confirming that this quartet offers outstanding turkey hunting. Second, a number of small, especially Tidewater, counties offer underrated sport. These flatland domains include Charles City, Gloucester, Isle of Wight, Lancaster, Matthews, Middlesex, Northampton, Northumberland, Prince George, Surrey and Westmoreland, among others. If you can obtain permission to farms in this group, chances are very good that you will hear plenty of gobbling on opening morning.

One of the most interesting aspects to me is the percentage of Virginia spring turkey hunters that actually kill a bird.

“Our most recent estimate was that 25.4 percent of spring gobbler hunters are successful,” Norman said. “That’s slightly higher than previous years. I think we’re on par or ahead of most other states in the region. Another way of looking at this statistic is how long does it take to harvest a gobbler. In 2004, it took 13.3 days to harvest a bird. In 1993, it took 25.6 days on average to harvest a bird. So clearly, things are getting better for spring gobbler hunters.”

There are more of us in the woods chasing birds, too. In 1993, only 43,000 Virginians sought spring gobblers. Today, the total is 73,000 and has been holding steady at that figure.

Another interesting aspect is the kill per week. The Commonwealth has offered a special youth opener for several years now on the first Saturday in April. Last year saw a harvest of 341 birds on that day. The harvest by time period was as follows: Opening day: 13 percent; week 1: 32 percent; week 2: 18 percent; week 3: 13 percent; week 4: 12 percent; and week 5: 10 percent.