From a low-water mark in 1970 when the statewide flock had dwindled to around 2,000 birds, North Carolina now has approximately 130,000 turkeys picking their way through woods and fields. The commission released almost 1,000 turkeys on restoration areas through the 1980s, and from 1990 through 2005, it stocked more than 4,000 birds. Regions where birds were relocated had closed seasons for a period of years while the birds acclimated themselves to their new surroundings, and when the population reached a suitable level, spring hunting was allowed.

The statewide bag limit for the spring season is two birds, with a daily limit of one. Only bearded turkeys may be taken. Any hunter who took a turkey during the winter season will be allowed to take only one turkey during the spring season.

Seamster said that the excellent hatch that spread across most of the state in the spring of 2004 should put more 2-year-old birds in the woods this year. Those birds typically make up the largest percentage of the harvest.

The great hatch of 2004 will also promote the further expansion of turkeys, especially in the eastern half of the state, into areas where there have traditionally been none or very few birds.

"We do have a number of counties that still have rapidly growing populations," Seamster said. "I think they will continue to grow like that for several more years. Typically, those counties that are open for the first time have a surplus of gobblers because we've protected them during the four or five or six years when the counties were closed to hunting (after restocking). The first year, you see a very high harvest of gobblers. They're relatively easy because they've never been hunted before. You see that initial high harvest, then it drops back a little bit because you've killed all the surplus gobblers and (you've) educated the ones that survived. Then, you see steady improvements for several years after that."

Seamster said that at least a dozen counties fill that profile, and he's encouraged by the trend of an expanding flock and increasing harvest.

"We just opened Wilson County, and we stocked six sites there. Like a lot of counties in eastern North Carolina and the eastern Piedmont, the flock is really beginning to grow," Seamster said. "Currituck County has gone from 12 birds in 2002 to 40 in 2004 and 67 last year. Franklin County has gone from 37 birds in 2002 to 80 birds last season. Randolph has gone from 44 to 58, Harnett from 38 to 70, Moore from 56 to 101, Onslow from 38 to 58 to 95, Richmond is at 115, Sampson from 66 to 98, Scotland from 28 to 49.

"Cabarrus County is a fairly populated area, but the harvest is still beginning to go up pretty rapidly, from 20 in 2002 to 45 in 2004 to 60 last year. Those are still fairly low numbers compared with some of the real popular turkey-hunting counties, but you see a lot of counties growing rapidly like that. They'll probably never get to the level where their harvest is equal to something like Alleghany, Ashe or Caswell, but they can conceivably get up to between 100 and 150 birds a year."

In the western Piedmont, Lincoln County's harvest has increased from 48 to 68, Rowan from 115 to 158, Davidson from 40 to 50 to 60.