The new regulation sets the season to begin the second Saturday of April, which means this year's beginning is the earliest it ever can be. That's yet to be seen, and can depend on the weather, but it's probably not. We had snow in Catawba Wednesday, but the spring green up appears to be ahead of schedule. Many hunters who have scouted are hearing birds. What I am hearing and what most others are telling me, the woods aren't on fire with gobbling.
Toms seems to be sounding off a time or two, then quitting.
That can make for challenging hunting. The word challenging is about as good as any preseason term to describe the 2000 season. Turkey hatches in 1997 and 1998 were the lowest on record, and these are the classes that provide the bulk of the toms that hunters will deal with this spring. Virginia's spring gobbler kill has increased the past decade, but not at the pace wildlife officials had predicted following more restrictive fall regulations five years ago. Poor hatches certainly haven't helped.