The Mountain Eagle
WHITESBURG WEATHER

Struttin’ time





Our most favorite time of the year is here again. Spring turkey season opens April 4 and runs through the 5th, for our youth, and the general season runs April 18 to May 10.

You can walk outside almost any morning and hear the gobblers. What a thrill, it makes your heart skip a beat, and we know spring is near.

I missed a slam this year by not killing a Osceola in Florida, but have already killed my Rio. I got that on March 16. He was a nice two-year-old bird.

I think most of my turkey-hunting buddies knows about the different subspecies of turkey, but I will take time here to explain to the ones who might not know. There are six subspecies recognized by the National Wild Turkey Federation. The one we have in the Commonwealth is the Eastern; the one located below Levy County, Fla., is the Osceola; the Meriam is in the West; the Rio is in Texas, Kansas, and those states; the Gould is Arizona, and New Mexico; and there is also the Ocellated.

If you kill four of the six, you have completed a grand slam, all six a world slam. I have two grand slams.

Please take a youth hunting on Youth days; remember they are our future.

I will be hunting in North Carolina starting April 11 before returning to my beloved Letcher County to hunt on opening day. Please ask permission before hunting on our neighbors’ land. Please be safe. You cannot recall a shot, no matter how much you might like to.

You need to apply, only online, for your elk lottery before April 30.


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