"Wherever they choose to hunt, hunters who live in southern Michigan who can't make the trip up north shouldn't have any problems finding good numbers of turkeys right around home to pursue," Stewart said. "But these hunters do need to remember that the Unit 234 tag, which is now available over the counter during the months of January and February as well as through our annual spring turkey hunting lottery, is not valid on public lands in southern Michigan as it is in northern Michigan. So they should be sure to have permission to hunt private lands ahead of time."

Although it looks like we had a good hatch last spring, southern Michigan may not offer just a closer hunting experience, but also one with better hunting opportunity.

"Although it looks like we had a good hatch last spring, our turkey count during the winter of 2004/2005 showed another drop in numbers in Area J, which has always had one of northern Lower Michigan's highest densities of wild turkeys," said wildlife biologist Brian Mastenbrook from his office in Gaylord. "Whereas we had 12,000 birds in 2004, still down from our high of some 16,000 a few years ago, our 2005 winter count showed just 10,000 birds."

Area K has also continued to decline in wild turkey numbers, due to a combination of several years of mediocre to poor spring nesting and increased predation.

In northeastern Lower Michigan, the news is especially disheartening, said George Kerschenheiter of the DNR's Mio office.

"We conduct a brood count from this office every year, and the 2005 count indicates that our wild turkey numbers will stay about the same as they have been for the last few years, which is down quite a bit from what they were 15 years ago," he said. "Even around the Fairview area -- which touts itself as the 'Wild Turkey Capital of Michigan' -- you hardly see any birds anymore. There used to be 3,000 to 4,000 birds just around town there. Now there's only about 2,000 in all of Oscoda County."

Kerschenheiter pointed to Alcona County, with an estimated 2005 wild turkey population of 4,000 birds, along with portions of Alpena County as offering the best opportunities for northeastern Lower Michigan turkey hunters. He blamed an increase in predators and confusion over the ban on feeding deer in the area as well as a poor nesting season in 2004 for the continued decline in northeastern Lower Michigan's wild turkey numbers.

Highs and lows are always going to occur in any wildlife species after a population has stabilized, Al Stewart pointed out.

"Everything depends on the weather -- the spring breeding season, hatch, poult viability, fall food supplies, predation and winter flock survival. Wild turkeys, with their susceptibility to weather -- especially cold, wet, wintry weather -- are particularly vulnerable, and that's very apparent in Michigan," Stewart said.

But he is optimistic about this spring's season.

"I think we'll have another good season, just as all of our seasons have been," said Stewart. "There's plenty of birds out there, and I'm sure that many turkey hunters will enjoy the hunt of a lifetime this spring."