No. 4 on the total harvest list was Chester County, with a total of 604 turkeys harvested. The breakdown here was 442 adults and 162 juvenile birds. The percentage of juvenile birds in the total harvest was 26.8, very close to the statewide average. Chester County, too, has a long history of being a very productive and consistent turkey-producing county. Look for this county to be good again in 2006.

Rounding out the top five in this category was Berkeley County. The total harvest was 590 turkeys with 490 adults and 100 juveniles harvested. The percent of juveniles in the total harvest was 16.9 percent.

These counties, you'll notice, are not simply clumped together in one part of the state. Taking a quick look at the next five counties, it rounds out the statewide leaders are even more widely distributed. At No. 6, with a total of 582 turkeys, is Fairfield County; finishing in seventh place was Orangeburg County, with a total harvest of 548 turkeys harvested. In eighth place was Newberry County, with 493 turkeys harvested. Very close behind in ninth was Bamberg County, with a harvest of 490 turkeys. Rounding out the top 10 was York County, with 478 birds harvested.

According to Charles Ruth, another way to understand turkey harvests, and perhaps a more accurate measure, is to look at the number of turkeys harvested in that county to the amount of land available for turkey hunting. Essentially, this measure tells you how many acres of land in a county were required to produce each harvested turkey. As you'll see, some of the counties you saw on the above listing will appear again. When you see the same county names in both lists, you've got a winner, my fellow turkey hunters.

The top county on this list was Bamberg County (No. 9 on the total harvest list). There were 401 acres of land per turkey harvested in Bamberg County in 2005. In addition, this figure represents a 25.6 percent improvement from the previous year. This county made both top 10 lists and showed a big percentage increase in harvest. It will rank high on my list for sure.

The second county on this list is Union County, with a total of 422 acres per turkey harvested. Union County also had a 14 percent increase in harvest from 2004 from this "acres per turkey harvested" perspective. Union County is No. 2 in this list and was No. 3 in total harvest. That combination should make this county a prime spot to target for sure.

Another hotspot for 2006 has to be Chester County. Chester finished third in the acres per turkey harvested category with a figure of 498 acres per turkey. This also reflects a modest 6.9 percent improvement from the 2004 season totals. Ranking fourth on the total harvest as well, Chester County is also a win-win choice based on this information.

Anderson County ranked fourth with a total of 509 acres per turkey harvested. This data is up 12.9 percent from the previous year, which reflects modest growth here, too. While Anderson County did not make the top 10 list on total harvest, it was a very respectable 12th place with a total of 430 turkeys harvested.

In the fifth spot in this category was another repeat from the previous top 10, York County. York finished 10th in total harvest and fifth here, with a total of 579 acres per turkey harvested. This reflects a whopping 60.9 percent harvest increase in 2005 over 2004 totals. That's very impressive.

If you're keeping track, you're seeing that much of the Upstate had an exceptionally good year in 2005.