Tomorrow (April 27) marks the traditional fourth Monday of April opening day of spring gobbler season. It’s the 44th year since the 1966 gala when only 12 birds were bagged.

Even so, a forecast of 10,000 gobblers for this rendition comes with a lack excitement.

From that historical perspective, there should be a few more smiles out there.

But believe me, I can certainly relate to and feel their pain. When the turkeys “ain’t gobblin’ too good,” the hunters thereof are more than just kind of sad, they’re plumb despondent!

No surprise, last year’s documented gobbling rates and days with no gobbling were both on the grim side. All that per the several hundred hunters that take daily notes and turn them over to DNR for analysis.

Per this team of DNR folks, even the hunters surveyed were kind of mum last year! Usually more willing to provide comment and recommendations, they were as silent as the flock was.

The trick to turning things around is a couple of good years of brood production. Both turkeys and grouse have been struggling for just that reason.

In fact, the same turkey hunters report on a myriad of other wildlife observations, grouse flushing and drumming rates, for example. No surprise, they were at record low and “silent” levels last spring too. It just can’t seem to get much worse and some dry, chick friendly hatching weather come late May and early June is long overdue.

Lots of young turkeys and grouse for a change could quickly put some smiles back on those faces. And before you get to blaming them blasted coyotes, our hunters reported seeing then in numbers well below the five year average! So these big dogs may have topped out and scaled back a notch for good measure too.

Another silent angle at present, I’ve hear nary the call for an earlier opening of season. It’s been a pretty cold and late spring with folks clamoring for some more warmth and the sooner the better. That’s a major change in attitude for our southern Mountain State readership.

Getting back to those gobblers, I’d like to see the record kill broken which would take some 18,000 birds brought to bag. You’d have turkey gobbling music to the tune of shaking the trees down again. That’s when you don’t know which bird to tempt calling.

Yeah, that’s the ticket, a cacophony of gobblers.

Gobbler heaven on earth.

Happy hunting grounds levels of gobblers... Why, I’m feeling better already or could it be that annual malady called turkey fever in long anticipation of the opening day has finally let up …