"But those areas are subject to flooding, and you take that chance at that time of the year. You may get drawn for a hunt and run into a big release of water from the reservoirs upstream or heavy rain, and what you are supposed to hunt may be underwater. Not all of it is underwater, but it's hard to get back into much of the swamp."

Permit hunts are offered on all of the various tracts that make up the Roanoke River Wetlands, from the Urquhart tract along the river near Lewiston and the Boone tract near the Route 258 bridge north of Scotland Neck, downstream to Beach House Swamp, Town Swamp, Broadneck Swamp, Company Swamp, Deveraux Swamp and Conine Island tracts on the river from Hamilton downstream to Williamston, the Conoho Farms tract inland near Williamston and the Hampton Swamp and Great Island tracts near Plymouth.

Hunts will be held Thursdays through Saturdays every weekend of the month-long season. Applicants must pay a $5 fee, and if chosen, they can bring two other hunters with them. The number of hunters allowed varies based on the size of the tract, ranging from 10 acres on the Beech House tract to 60 acres on the Broadhead, Conine/Askew and Deveraux Swamp tracts.

Biologist Chris Turner of Edenton handles much of the commission's game management in the northeastern corner of North Carolina, and he sees nothing but good things in the future for turkey hunters in his neck of the woods.

"We have much to look forward to in this state; turkey hunting is a whole new ballgame to a lot of people," Turner said. "I'm very excited at our progress; there is a lot of potential on the Coastal Plain as far as turkeys are concerned.

"We have a lot of flexibility up here as far as managing the habitat because it's more stable compared with, say, the Piedmont, when it comes to things like urban growth. Turkeys can handle many things, but not living in the middle of a subdivision."

Turner's territory includes the lower end of the Roanoke River, plus the counties to the north of the Albemarle Sound and counties that border the Chowan and Meherrin rivers as they head for the sound. He said that the best turkey habitat is in the northern and western edges of his region, and that a percentage of the habitat has undergone a great deal of upheaval over the past 18 months.

"Turkeys are expanding in all of our counties, but as you start heading east to Washington, Tyrrell and Dare, you start winding up with lower densities. In Gates County, most of our restocking areas are thriving. Bertie seems to be doing pretty well all across the county. When you go north and west from there, you get some of the best habitat," Turner said. "There is much habitat not being exploited yet. There are areas we stocked five or six years ago where the birds are still expanding to other areas."

Turner likes the potential of Chowan, Gates and Hertford counties, in particular. He said the best habitat in the northeast corner of the state is probably in the northern section of Hertford County, close to the Virginia state line. It's not quite a match for the habitat of the Roanoke River bottomlands, but it's still good.