The lucky turkey quarter that currently resides within my turkey vest.

Mr. Weatherman, what is your forecast? I need a major change. I can’t stand no more rain…I need some blue skies and sunshine. I need a good forecast tonight.” – Hank Williams Jr., “Weatherman”

For much of my life, I was a weather-induced worrier. I believe it was a genetic trait passed down to me by my father, who, having survived a tornado during his youth, came by his weather fears honestly.

If it thundered, we headed to the storm shelter. However, when you picture that shelter, don’t have in mind the prefabricated structures that sit alongside many rural homes today.

These modern safe harbors resemble the “storm house” of my nonage in name only. Ours was a poured-concrete structure that, aside from the crown of its roof and the air vents on each end, was underground. The inside was dark and damp and featured old wooden church pews along each wall.

The crypt (at least that’s what it felt like to me as a child) also held a wealth of creepy, crawly creatures whose “creepy-crawly-ness” was taken to another level by the aged coal oil lamps that were used to light the cave-like structure.

I would like to say that entering that shelter made me feel like Indiana Jones exploring some long-hidden tomb. However, the truth is that the boy going into that place felt more like Don Knotts’ character Luther Heggs in “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken.”

As I’ve grown older, my weather fears have abated, and while I don’t spend time panicking over storms these days, I do often find myself playing the role of amateur meteorologist, especially during turkey season.

When I became a traveling turkey hunter years ago, my weather obsession was taken to another level. For example, I now regularly check the “45 Day” forecast in advance of any upcoming trips.

Prior to my “have gun, will travel” days, I would have never been concerned with how much rainfall South Florida received over the winter months. This year, however, the Sunshine State’s plentiful precipitation was on my radar (no pun intended) around mid-December.

The recurring rainfall in the Alligator State had caused flooding in the area we planned to hunt and not just a little—our turkeys were underwater (or at least their habitat was).

Fortunately, the flood waters receded prior to our hunt and that fact, along with much cooler temps than in seasons past, made for perfect conditions during our sally into the swamp.

I don’t mind the hot, humid days we normally have while hunting in the swamplands, but I do prefer cool nights, particularly when sleeping in a tent. This fact gives me another weather stat to ponder when hunting (and camping) in Florida—nighttime lows.

On that note, here are a few other bits of weather data that I check daily throughout turkey season. Before leaving each morning, I make it a point to check the barometric pressure. For many years, I’ve kept a turkey hunting journal and, based on my data, gobbling activity seems to be greatest when the pressure is on the rise.

If a magic number exists for barometer readings, I will say, if pressed, that the closer the pressure is to 30 inches of mercury, the better the gobbling (published studies support this as they point to a range between 29.90 and 30.20 for the best gobbling activity).

I’ve also noticed that while wind direction doesn’t have much effect on gobbling, wind speed certainly does. Perhaps the birds still gobble but can’t be heard due to the increased wind noise, or maybe they just gobble less when the wind blows harder. Either way, the result is hearing less gobbling.

One more weather-related consideration I always take to heart each morning during turkey season is the amount of dew. I began to take note of this many years ago after my initial reading of “East of the Slash” by Wade S. Wineman Jr.

In his story “Going in Circles,” Wineman writes, “The dawn of that day was christened with heavy dew, something that serious turkey hunters have appreciated since the Alabama Game & Fish Department concluded after a field study many years ago that gobbling activity closely parallels the heaviness of the dew.”

I’ve taken note (and notes in my journal) since reading Wineman’s words and my entries show that the correlation between heavy dew and heavy gobbling certainly exists. However, let the record show that I still go hunting every time that I can, heavy dew or not.

Turkey hunters are a curious lot, and I certainly fit that bill. Yes, I’m superstitious and, yes, I may carry a few lucky charms in my turkey vest.

Yes, I always check my quarters each time that I get change in hopes of getting a 2015-D Kisatchie National Park Quarter from Louisiana (which features a wild turkey in flight) and, yes, there’s one of those in my turkey vest right now.

Yes, because it was threatening rain this week on the one morning that I could hunt, I may have fallen asleep the night before with the words to Hank Jr.’s “Weatherman” running through my mind.

None of this makes me weird, it just makes me a turkey hunter. Until next time, here’s to the turkey hunters, here’s to their quirky ways and their weather analysis, and here’s to seeing you out there in our great outdoors.