Pike County hunter Tim Hilsmeyer started the season with bow and arrow. However, after failing to tag a bird, he took out his trusty shotgun on the last day of the five-day season. Not long into the hunt, he encountered a gobbler along an agricultural field where he had spotted turkeys on several occasions. He wrapped up the season with a bang!

As for the better public-land oppor­tunities, Backs suggests the Hoosier National Forest as a great place to try. Abundant forestlands are found in portions of nine counties. There are also several state forests adjacent to the national forest lands. He recommends Pike, Martin, Jackson-Washington and Clark state forests. Backs also mentioned that harvests have increased at the Deam Lake State Recreation Area in Clark County. Another good possibility is Yellowwood State Forest in Brown County.

Although not open to fall gun hunting, Backs said that Pigeon River FWA located near the northeastern corner of the state in Lagrange and Steuben counties, offers one of the best opportunities for archery turkey hunters.

Other primary public areas for wild turkeys can be found in north-central Indiana in LaPorte, Marshall and Starke counties. Within these counties, hunters should consider Kings­bury and Winamac FWAs.

Although the northern half of the state is open only to archers, Backs does hope to add gun-hunting opportunities there in the future.

Although much of the fall hunting statistics reported in this story don't appear promising, I would like to pass along yet another tidbit before wrapping up. In 2008, resident fall turkey hunters who purchased a license (135) accounted for 23 percent of the harvest. Whereas, comprehensive lifetime hunters (347) made up 48 percent of the total number of birds taken. Landowner, youths, non-resident hunters and military folks also contributed to the harvest. However, when you consider that the largest percentage of harvest came from lifetime license holders who have owned them for many years (I'm included), we could assume that there are few new hunters taking an interest in fall turkey hunting.

Indiana has made it a point to see just how many hunters participate in fall turkey hunting. A questionnaire was sent to spring turkey hunters, asking if they participated in fall turkey hunting. Officials knew this could tell them what kind of interest hunters had in fall hunting.

Interestingly, the results showed that in 2006 that our fall participation was less than 14 percent of what we see in the spring. Officials noted that about 7,500 folks actually participated in fall turkey hunting. However, about 5,000 of those hunters participated in the archery-only season. Officials added that participation was highest with the comprehensive lifetime license holders (58 percent), probably because it involved no extra cost.