SOUTH-CENTRAL REGION
Moving on to the South-Central Region, currently ranked No. 1, you'll find it contributes the highest percentage of the total statewide harvest. It made up 30 percent of the state's harvest in 2006, with hunters taking 3,946 turkeys. Only 10 percent of the harvest was jakes.

The Hoosier National Forest is found within the boundaries of several counties in the South-Central Region. However, additional public lands also offer hunting opportunities on state forestlands. You'll also find there are two Corps of Engineers reservoir properties that provide turkey hunting -- Monroe and Patoka -- that are leased by the DNR.

"The South-Central Region is blessed and probably has the greatest proportion of public land than any other region, with the Morgan-Monroe State Forest, Yellowwood State Forest and Hoosier National Forest in the northern portion. Then you move south into Harrison, Perry and Crawford counties. Besides more of Hoosier National Forest, you've got Harrison-Crawford State Forest," Backs said, claiming that Martin State Forest is producing plenty of birds on the eastern side of the region.

Backs also mentioned Crane Navel Depot in the South-Central Region. It's about 100 square miles and does not offer public turkey hunting, but he claims this area is somewhat of an epicenter. It holds a number of birds that filter into surrounding counties. Crane is also the first place in Indiana where wild turkeys were released in 1956. I should also mention that it was a few select counties in this region that first opened to turkey hunting in 1970. Although restoration work occurred early in the region, it continued into the early 1990s.

Perry County, which ranked No. 3 with a harvest of 470 birds in 2006, and No. 2 with a harvest of 445 in 2005, is not that far ahead of other South-Central counties. Consider neighboring Crawford, where hunters took 376 turkeys in 2006. To the northwest, you'll find Washington County that reported a harvest of 372 birds. Just north and east of there, Lawrence County hunters took 354 birds.

The region does contain superb habitat, some of the best in the state, as well as an abundance of public-land hunting opportunities. Every county reported a harvest in the triple figures, except for Johnson and Morgan at the northern tip of the region.

SOUTHWEST REGION
Although I've been fortunate to hunt throughout much of the state's prime turkey land over the past 30 years, I've always been fond of the Southwest Region. After all, this is where I learned to turkey hunt, and for that matter, still do. Nevertheless, I've also watched the region's turkey populations grow in the past couple of decades, and harvests steadily increase in many of the area's counties. However, the growth of the turkey population in this region has not been a shock to biologists.