Roth's assessment of production in 2003 is that brood counts are up a bit in southern Monterey County and they're high (as usual) in San Luis Obispo County.

Hunting guide Eldon Bergman, who has lived in the area for more than 60 years, reports seeing lots of turkey hens with poults. Bergman said the hens were averaging more than five nearly grown poults apiece, which is good anywhere.

Farther north, outdoor writer and veteran turkey hunter Terry Knight spoke highly of prospects for the upcoming spring season. "Last year I think 90 percent of the turkey hunters I talked to around here got their gobblers," Knight said. "In 2003 we had another outstanding hatch in Lake and Mendocino counties. I saw lots of hens with seven or eight poults each. Plus, there was a good carryover of jakes and adult toms.

"What's surprising are the reports about turkeys I'm getting from the Fort Bragg area - lots of birds up there now. Sonoma County is just full of birds, too, but virtually all hunting there is on private land."

Tom Stone visited the area around Willits, in Mendocino County, and saw five groups of hens with poults in his travels right from the road. "I counted as best I could," Stone reported, "and I figure there were at least six pheasant-sized poults with each hen. That's better than average."

Knight said that there are public-land hunting opportunities near Fort Bragg on the Jackson State Forest, and other opportunities on the Mendocino National Forest. The Cache Creek Wildlife Area in Colusa and Lake counties and the Knoxville Wildlife Area in Napa County also have birds. For information on the wildlife areas, contact the DFG at 707-944-5500. There's also some Bureau of Land Management land in the region with turkeys. For maps, contact the Ukiah BLM office, 707-468-4000.

Across the valley, El Dorado County hunting guide Aaron Brooks reflected on conditions last spring. "Basically we had a very successful season in 2003," said Brooks, who lives in Diamond Springs. "The weather wasn't great so there wasn't the usual amount of gobbling on the roost, but I found that later in the morning the birds turned on better. I got one of my own gobblers on the El Dorado National Forest, which proves that you can succeed on public land around here if you stick with it."

Aaron's assessment of the 2003 production throughout the region is glowing, "Poult survival was good in Sacramento, Amador and El Dorado counties, and besides young of the year, there's no shortage of carryover longbeards out there right now. Hunting should be fantastic in 2004."

Speaking of public land, Brooks and Knight stress that national forest ground is big and the turkeys aren't just anywhere. Get maps and scout the lower areas by road, and you should locate some birds. It's a fact of turkey hunting life that no one is going to put you in the vicinity of a roost tree. You've got to do your footwork as part of the learning process.

Stone went on a short drive during deer season and saw two groups of birds in the eastern part of the county. One consisted of a hen and nine poults; the other had a hen and five young.

In southern Trinity County, Jim Schaasfma of Arrow Five Outfitters, reports mixed sightings with five or six poults per hen in a couple of places and just two poults per hen in other spots. Jim lives in higher country where production is rarely better than what he saw this year.

The spring season starts March 27 and runs to May 2. The limit is one bearded turkey per day, three per season. (Editor's Note: Autographed copies of John Higley's book, Hunting Wild Turkeys In The West, with 154 pages and 75 photos, are available for $16.95 postage paid. Order from: John Higley, P.O. Box 120, Palo Cedro, CA 96073.)