Turkeys thrive especially well at lower elevations and flatter slopes where more timber operations are conducted. Clearcuts make excellent strutting, bugging and loafing areas in their first three years of regeneration. They also attract nesting hens, and this is a key to holding gobblers, especially as the hunting season advances and the hens stick closer to nests.

Prescribed burns also attract and hold turkeys while providing an open forest understory where hunters can see. In the mountains in spring, finding a spot from which to call while being able to see a gobbler coming at 40 yards can be all but impossible, especially after the deciduous tree leaves begin growing. Finding a tree to rest against on ground level is the other problem. I have sat above a tree on a steep slope with my feet against the tree to keep from sliding many times while hunting Pisgah. Sometimes there is a small hollow uphill from the tree that provides extra concealment and good seating. Some mountain hunters never sit. They stand and move around the tree while calling, keeping it between themselves and an approaching gobbler until they can make the shot.

Moving to the Piedmont, Uwharrie National Forest also has excellent turkey hunting. Totaling 50,000 acres, this game land looks like ink splotches across the map of Davidson, Montgomery and Randolph counties. The patchwork ownership helps space out hunters. But it still gets heavy pressure from its proximity to Greensboro and Charlotte.

Uwharrie hunters have much better access than high mountain hunters. A good road and trail network and less severe terrain make getting close enough to call a roosted gobbler before fly-down time easier. More open forest and timbering operations create excellent turkey habitat and hunting conditions. Food plots are scattered throughout, which attract turkeys as a secondary purpose to providing brood habitat. Controlled burns are conducted routinely and turkey sign, such as dusting areas and tracks, are easy to spot in the firebreaks of the clay soils.

At the coast, the 160,000-acre Croatan National Forest was the site of one of the first stockings of turkeys in the East. It took some time for success, but efforts eventually paid off. While Croatan is located in Jones, Craven and Carteret counties, a check of N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission statistics show that the harvest is about evenly distributed among these three counties.

Lowlands like Croatan are distinct from Piedmont and mountainous hunting areas, with flat terrain characterized by low wiregrass ridges, dense bays and hardwood swamps. Turkeys roost in the swamps and fly down to the more open ridges to spend the day, although if the weather is dry, the bottomland hardwoods can hold turkeys all day long. Turkeys spend time in the more open habitats. Clear-cut areas, controlled burns and planted openings attract them while providing nesting and brood habitat.