Every year in early to mid-June, I start to fret about the welfare of freshly hatched poults. And the past few years, heavy rain appears as if on cue, adding to my worries.
However, some recent words of wisdom from renowned turkey biologist Lovett E. Williams Jr. tempered my apprehension.
“It’s useless to try to gauge reproduction in spring or early summer,” Williams wrote. “I gave that up a long time ago. Most hunters start out the poult season pessimistically and wind up satisfied with hatch before the summer is finished.”
Maybe I’ll wait until September before passing judgment on the class of 2011. With any luck, my fears will vanish, and good-sized broods will be picking grasshoppers in every field.