Everywhere I hunted in central Al was awful this year. Absolutely the worst I can remember it. Little to no birds in places that always held a good population. Usually I could convince myself they just werent ready or gobbling good because I could always find gobbler tracks, strutting areas, etc. Little to any sign this year. They were just not there.

I can see the argument about the number of hunters in the woods today. However, I also wonder how many of those hunters are newbies. In general terms, newbies don't put a real hurting on the public population of birds. Clubs with little pressure maybe so. I don't know what happened this year, I am just hoping and praying next year will see a rebound.