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S P O R T I N G C L A S S I C S 1 3 8 S pring comes gently to the woods. Sun lights the crowns of trees and seems to flow down each trunk and into the ground. Camo-colored spikes of trout lily leaves poke up from the damp forest floor followed in a week or so by their gay yellow flowers. The redbuds have just furred their branches with tiny clumps of fuchsia flowers. Dogwoods will follow. Sounds are mostly subtle— the twitter of small birds, perhaps the drilling of a woodpecker, the clucking of a hen turkey and, if you're lucky, the purring of a tom walking, maybe not so far off. When hunting wild turkey, you see with your ears. Sitting absolutely still is essential, along with stealth and being in just the right place. Drab, shaggy ghillie suits, designed by gamekeepers in Scotland in the late 1800s to resemble brush piles and now favored by military snipers, are de rigueur as is a camo 3-inch, full-choked 12 gauge loaded with shot no smaller than #4. Take your choice of box, slate, or diaphragm calls. Many hunters carry all three. Today, wild turkeys can be hunted in every state, including Hawaii. The national population has grown from around 30,000 in the early 1900s to more than 10 million birds. One of America's greatest wild game restorations, there are no downsides like there are with the resurgence of white-tailed deer that prune our gardens and shrubbery and Canada geese and their greasy green droppings that litter our golf courses and and states east of the Mississippi, they can be hunted from Maine to Alaska and as far south as northern Florida. Smaller and darker than its northern cousin, Osceolas are prevalent in swaths of palmetto scrub and on hammocks in swamps in Florida. Osceolas may be the most dangerous turkey to hunt because their steamy habitat is favored by alligators, rattlesnakes, water moccasins, and coral snakes, Adapted to its native grasslands of mid-America's central plains, the Rio Grande turkey has legs that tend to be longer than the Eastern variety. Though typically encountered in the Southwest, restoration programs have planted populations in New England, Oregon, and Hawaii, among other states. Merriam's turkeys are mountain birds, found throughout the Rockies and neighboring highlands. Preferring somewhat thick but not dense or damp forest, they've taken up residence in the rainy shadows on the east slope of Mount Hood and on arid slopes along the Oregon-Idaho border. Another denizen of the mountains is the Gould's, the biggest and rarest subspecies. Its rump and tail feathers are tipped with pure white, distinguishing them from Merriam's. The birds are most prevalent in northern Mexico, but can also be found in the southern fringes of Arizona and New Mexico. They prefer to hang out in ponderosa pine forests above 6,000 feet in elevation. A climb of a mile or more is often required to reach their habitat. Arizona has the largest population of Gould's turkeys in the U.S. and holds an annual lottery for permits to hunt them. A number of American outfitters offer hunting for Gould's, usually on private No matter where you travel come springtime, there's a sub-species of wild gobbler just waiting for you to talk turkey. John Ross r a v e l T school practice fields. Biologists recognize five sub-species of wild turkey: Eastern (Meleagris gallovapo silvestris), Osceola (M.g oceola), Rio Grande (M.g intermedia), Merriam's (M.g merriami), and Gould's (M.g Mexicana). By far the Eastern wild turkey is the most broadly distributed in the U.S. Densely populated in the Midwest RicaRdo ReitmeyeR/thinkstockphotos.com