Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, October 23, 1995                   TAG: 9510230108
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PLENTY OF GOBBLING ABOUT TURKEY CROP

But that's what hunters have been reporting, the spotting of huge flocks of young birds and groups of mature gobblers.

Even with hefty, new restrictions on hunting dates, the 1995 fall turkey season is destined to be a productive one for hunters.

You can get an idea why by looking back to 1993 and 1994, said Gary Norman, the upland game biologist for the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries.

``We had very good hatches those years, and to go with them we had two good mast crops,'' he said.

It's too soon to tell what kind of reproduction success turkeys had this year, but Norman believes it was decent.

Along with what appears to be impressive numbers of birds is a spotty mast crop that will concentrate the flocks. When mast is scarce, turkeys tend to gather around food sources, and become more vulnerable to hunters, he said.

This makes Norman grateful for the new regulations that shorten the fall season by two to three weeks. Hunting pressure can be tough on turkeys during years of low mast, he said.

``One of the big things we wanted to do with the new regulations is to be in better control of the impact of this very type of season, when we have poor mast crops,'' he said.

The new regulations will remove turkey hunting from the first two weeks of the firearm deer season. The split season will be open Oct. 30-Nov. 11 and Dec. 11-Jan. 6.

That amounts to a week earlier start for the season, something Norman believes will be popular with avid turkey hunters. During recent seasons, the turkey and muzzleloading deer seasons have opened the same day, causing hunters to make a choice of which sport to pursue. Most often, they have selected muzzleloading, he said.

``I think hunters will really appreciate the early week,'' Norman said. ``They will get some time in the woods before muzzleloading starts.''

The new regulations are designed to lower the fall turkey kill by 49 percent. Wildlife biologists say that will send more birds into the spring breeding season and boost populations in the future. Biologists predict that this will result in a 74 percent increase in the fall kill and a 292 percent increase in the spring kill over the next 10 years.

The hoped for 49 percent drop in the annual fall kill probably won't be realized this year, in view of the the low mast situation, Norman said. He expects a 30 percent to 35 percent decline.

``It probably will be lower in years of mast failure and higher in years of mast abundance,'' he said.

Norman isn't certain how many hunters will be caught by surprise by the regulation changes, especially those that separate turkey hunting from the deer season.

``We did as good an effort as we could trying to get the word out, but certainly there will be people who aren't aware of the change and may be surprised by it,'' Norman said. ``Overall, I believe people are understanding when given a justification for the change.''