The permit costs nothing. But you must read it, sign it and have it in your possession, and you must conduct your hunt in accordance with the rules and regulations on the permit. The permit also has an excellent map, which shows roads, streams, boundaries, trails and other points of interest. With only the permit in hand, any hunter has the basic tool for planning a successful hunt.

However, finding a permit during turkey season was difficult. Most hunters obtain the permit for deer hunting during the fall, and few permits remain by spring. During fall, they are usually available at the Bankhead Ranger District office, located on State Highway 33 just north of Double Springs, and at nearby sporting goods stores. But my hunt for a permit took most of a day, ending at the Double Springs courthouse, where I found a stack. It was disappointing upon reading the rules on the permit to discover that I would not be able to hunt that day because turkey hunting is only allowed until 12 noon.

Spring gobbler season in the counties where Bankhead NF is located is open April 1-30. The statewide bag limit is one gobbler per day and five gobblers per season. Decoys are not permitted for the fall season but are allowed during the spring season. Turkeys may be taken with shotguns of 10 gauge and smaller with shot sizes of No. 2 or smaller.

After reading the rules and regulations, I headed to the Bankhead Ranger District office. Forest Service biologists Tom Counts and Joe Brewer were helpful in describing locations of food plots, prescribed burns and recent timber operations. They also told me where they had recently seen turkeys.

Bankhead NF has a very dense wild turkey population, so a hunter might find a gobbling bird almost anywhere. But the manmade anomalies throughout the forest attract the most turkeys. Also, logging roads, trails, burns and firebreaks provide easier foot travel than the expanses of old-growth forest.

Many trails provided easy hiking for that first afternoon's scouting and on subsequent hunts. The Sipsey Wilderness Trailhead, off road 6, provides access for freebooting hunters as well as for those who have canoes. The parking area requires a small fee. Envelopes and a drop box are provided for paying the $3 fee.

Sixty-one miles of the Sipsey River are designated Wild and Scenic. However, while most springs are wet enough to provide canoe access to the Sipsey Wilderness, water levels can be too low for canoes. Hunters can call the district office for water level information. The best canoe runs are between the Sipsey River Picnic Ground and State Highway 33. Another good place for canoe access is Brushy Creek in the Black Warrior WMA.