Topographical maps are the best choice for actual in-the-woods hunting use. These are available from the Arkansas Geological Commission, 3815 West Roosevelt Road, Little Rock, AR 72204; phone, (501) 296-1877. The AGFC's Web site is www.state.ar.us/agc/agc.htm. Topo maps (both paper maps and CD-ROM map sets) are also available from several dot-com companies, including TopoZone, MapTech, National Geographic, DeLorme and MyTopo. Run an Internet search to find these companies online; each has an easy-to-navigate Web site. Overall their products are reasonably priced and of high quality.

START WITH THE BASICS
Assuming you've done your pre-season scouting and located birds to hunt, there are other things that need attention before the opening of the season. Let's talk first about guns.

In most cases, a turkey hunter will be best served by using a 12-gauge shotgun chambered for 3- or 3 1/2-inch shells. Small-framed women, children, and elderly or disabled hunters may opt for the lighter and less punishing 20 gauge, and veteran hunters seeking an extra degree of difficulty and challenge may go to blackpowder shotguns or even archery tackle. But for most turkey hunters of average stature and health, the Magnum 12 is the proper medicine.

Some sort of repeating shotgun is best for most of us. The majority of hunters of my acquaintance use pump guns, and looking over my own inventory of turkey guns, I spy five pumps and two autoloaders. The idea is that a repeating gun gives you more firepower, and while that notion is true enough, it still doesn't travel well when you try to put it to practical use. In the vast majority of cases, a successful turkey hunt is a one-shot hunt, anyway: If you don't kill your bird with the first shot, the followups are usually just noise, so a single-barreled shotgun is in most cases plenty of gun, and it's lighter besides. Even so, most hunters prefer pumps and autos.

Whatever your personal preference, don't make the mistake of hunting without patterning your gun. Almost every shotgun handles one shot size, load and/or brand of shells better than it will the rest, and the only way you're going to find out which is the one for your gun is to try different loads and shot sizes. Try several; shoot several times with each to make sure you're getting an accurate idea of the pattern.

While a few turkey hunters prefer size 7 1/2 shot, the vast majority of today's turkey hunters shoot size 4, 5 or 6. Any of these three will deliver adequate power out to 40 yards, which is about as far as most shotguns will hold a good lethal pattern.