"Part of the Chowan River bottomland has good numbers of turkeys, but not like the Roanoke," he said. "There are some areas in Hertford County, up toward the Virginia line, where there are good numbers of turkeys. I think Pasquotank and Camden counties have probably done better than a lot of people thought they would.

"In some areas, it depends on exactly where you're talking about. We had some areas that were stocked a number of years ago that are doing very well -- some are doing better than others. Much of the success in some areas has had to do more with the weather. If we had good reproduction for the first couple of years after stocking, the birds did better."

Last year, the Coastal Plain had the best reproduction rate of any area in the state -- that's not saying much, since overall it was the second-worst brood survey on record. But hens hatched and raised an average of two poults each last spring -- enough to at least keep the population levels constant.

The upheaval in habitat in the northeastern corner of the state came about when a very impolite lady named Isabel roared ashore in September 2003. The hurricane that did extensive damage on the Outer Banks also tore through a great deal of the timber, and the resulting salvage operations have changed the nature of much of the land.

"One problem along the Chowan River is that Isabel changed the forestry on a good deal of the land. It didn't knock the bottom out of the turkeys, but it made much of the land less accessible," Turner said. "Many areas were clear cut after Isabel to salvage timber, and those were areas that supported turkeys well. Now you have plenty of good brood habitat, a large amount of openings, but it will grow back into denser stands that will preclude turkeys. At least we know they're good at moving.

"The whole district, particularly the eastern part, sustained much timber damage, and around the Chowan, you have a different kind of bottomland from the Roanoke -- it's more of a black gum and tupelo swamp. It doesn't have the topography the Roanoke does. But turkeys are still expanding all over this area of the state.