He thinks the turkeys act a little differently on Bankhead because they're descended from the original birds that inhabited North Alabama.

"This is a population that was never extirpated," he said. "A few hunters were killing turkeys here back in the 1920s and 1930s when they weren't killing them many other places. The same is true for the mountains where I live in New Market in Madison County. There were always a few turkeys around there, too."

In the 1980s, Goldsby moved to Marshall County to start his business, Aquaservices, which specializes in treating problem aquatic vegetation in both public and private waters, as well as managing fishing lakes. He leased a farm on Yellow Creek near the South Sauty community of Marshall County and had a fine time hunting turkeys there.

"My brother, Stewart, and I killed a lot of turkeys on that property," Goldsby said. "It was good."

The switch from public land to private land was such a good one for Goldsby that he still does most of his hunting on private land today. He leases a number of hunting locations in Marshall, Madison and Jackson counties especially for spring gobbler hunting.

He still has the Marshall County lease on Yellow Creek, but it's not what it once was.

"There aren't a lot of turkeys on that property today," Goldsby said. "Something changed. I don't know if it was poaching or predators or whether the turkeys just changed their patterns, but it changed. That's something that happens from time to time, and we hunters have to adjust."

Turkey Land Is New Challenge
One of the big challenges for an aspiring turkey hunter in the Tennessee Valley these days is just finding a place to hunt. More and more people are hunting now than when Goldsby first started, and there's more competition for the prime spots.

Goldsby has a few farms in Jackson County and a few in Madison County where he's found turkeys and made arrangements for exclusive hunting rights. He always has his eye open for a new place to hunt turkeys.

"Turkeys can't take a lot of pressure," he noted.

In the northern end of the state, it's a big-time problem for small hunting clubs with a few hundred acres and a lot of members who either turkey hunt or want to learn the sport.

That's why most serious turkey hunters chose to either hunt on the big WMAs and learn to deal with pressure, or make arrangements for private lands like Goldsby has. One advantage to hunting the WMAs is that there are thousands and thousands of acres to roam.

An 800-acre deer club that supports five to 10 deer hunters gets real small in a hurry when more than one or two people are chasing the turkeys on it.

Goldsby is not bashful about approaching people if he thinks it will lead to a new turkey hotspot.

"I don't mind stopping and asking someone about hunting if I see turkeys on a place," he said. "You never know what might happen. I got told no three times just this past spring. But I also found that place where I killed the three turkeys the last week of season."