I agree..hardly any comments at all. I usually check in every other day but the other site is bursting with life. Kinda sucks too that there's now so little activity going on here now. I've met a lot of good guys on this site. Went on my first duck hunt with rfishin and now hunt with several other guys who are also committee members of our nwtf chapter. Hopefully some changes are made on here pretty soon and it livens back up....

Well there are several things that factor in. You have predators, hogs, and if the place grows up too thick turkeys tend to avoid those areas. They've released over 300 turkey in SHNF since the 90's but in order to disperse them all over the whole area they split the birds up and released several in different locations several miles apart. These birds were easterns from northern states which were used to more open areas and cornfields. SHNF grows up pretty quick and there has been a few periods since the last releases that they weren't burning on a regular basis. There is a new supervisor now who burns on a more regular basis, and there are plans in the works for another release in a couple years. Most of the turkeys that were released and did well in other parts of east TX were birds from states that were dense and similar to east TX like Mississippi and Alabama. If you've ever been to Angelina, there are a lot more open area and it's not quite as dense as Sam Houston. They do a lot of burning, and the turkey population is fair..we almost always see birds or sign. A lot of the areas in Angelina look more like the wildlife viewing area in SHNF off 1375 where the colony of red cockated woodpeckers are nesting. Turkey need open areas as well as a few dense areas for retreat cover. They also need mature stands of hardwoods for roosting and acorns to feed on in the fall and winter. Were there's a good population of turkey you will usually find them roosting at the head of a creek in a big hardwood, and you'll almost always find them traveling creek beds. If you have solid stand of pines and no hardwoods they don't do well, and if there's not a decent supply of water they won't do well either. The regular burning that's done in the forest not only creates more green open areas, but it also knocks down the number of fire ants and snakes. NWTF has invested a lot of money along with TPWD and the National forest service on this recent enhancement project at SHNF and a couple of other forest, so things should be good for the few remaining turkeys, and the ones they release in the next couple of years. The turkey biologist for east TX told me that he didn't think they released enough turkeys out there in the first place because that's a big area, so the next time around we're going to have super stocking which will be a lot more birds released at each site.

According to this study Cass County has wild turkeys.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_w7000_0827.pdf

There might be some NWTF contacts here that can help

http://www.nwtf.com/in_your_state/lists.php?STATE=TX

Will do...If I drive I'll be in a black ram 1500 2 door...NWTF logo on the back window. 

Well the first couple of weeks of season theres going to always be a crowed on any of the public areas where there is a good population of turkeys. Your best bet is to go during the week or later in the season.  My nwtf regional director, Charles Stockstill told me they get birds every year up in the grasslands. Our chapter has a mid-season hunt planned up that way. Just talk to some people up that way who are familiar with that area and someone can probably put you on some birds.

Terrance, please add this event and any others to our Calendar. You will earn points there too. You can also include the NWTF logo if you want. Thanks for the information!

Great post! I totally agree!!!!