From there, the meteoric rise of the Indiana turkey population and hunting takes on legendary proportions, with all or parts of 90 counties giving up 10,765 birds for an estimated 46,000 permit holders during the 2004 season.

Steve Backs, wild turkey/grouse biologist for the DFW since 1981, put this success story into perspective by pointing out that when he walked into the picture, there were only about 1,000 turkey hunters in the state.

"Now we have more than 50,000 turkey hunters," Backs said, emphasizing that this is turkey hunters, not turkey-hunting efforts.

"I can remember when the naysayers said we would never kill more than 300 turkeys (in a season)," Backs said. "Then they said we would never kill 500, and when we killed 1,000, it was like big news."

Backs can't be sure about the role our public forests play in the success of the wild turkey harvest. In terms of numbers, he said this facet of the picture could be gauged, at least partially, by the size of the public lands in comparison with the total size of the various counties. Backs also points out that state and national forest holdings often offer the best turkey habitat, in both size and quality. He added that many birds are taken on private land, which is adjacent to or near public land.

Established in 1903, Indiana's Division of Forestry is made up of 13 properties that total roughly 150,000 acres. Turkey hunting is allowed --even encouraged -- on all of the 11 state forests, and Starve Hollow State Recreation Area, which is adjacent to the Jackson County holdings of Jackson-Washington State Forest.

The Hoosier National Forest covers roughly 193,000 acres in nine counties, almost all of it south of state Route (SR) 60. It extends all the way to the Ohio River in Perry County.

Neither state forest properties nor the Hoosier National requires hunters to check in or out while hunting turkeys or any other species of game birds or animals. Thus, it is difficult to say how many hunters avail themselves of these prime habitat areas, or how those hunters fare in terms of harvest.

Still, autos and pickup trucks parked along the back roads during hunting seasons speak volumes about the popularity of the state's public lands. Further evidence that state forests and the Hoosier National are extremely popular spots for turkey hunting will be seen in county-by-county turkey harvest figures.

The three most popular and productive state forest properties are Harrison-Crawford, Jackson-Washington and Green-Sullivan. And each of these areas is so big that they cross county lines.

Harrison-Crawford, 26,000 acres, is about 10 miles west of Corydon south of SR 62, via SR 462. Additional details on turkey hunting at the Harrison-Crawford property are available by calling property manager Dwayne Sieg at (812) 738-8234. Hunters in Harrison County reported taking 387 birds in 2003 and 381 birds in 2004. In Crawford County, the two-year total harvest figures were 320 in 2003 and 306 last year.