There’s a chill in the morning air. It will be nearly an hour before the sun starts to light the eastern sky.

All is quiet, except for an occasional owl in the distance. He calls again as stars still twinkle overhead. Another hunter of the night answers somewhere off behind us.

Time slowly passes. I am underdressed on this morning, but it will warm up soon.

Suddenly, it was like an alarm went off. Little songbirds whistled all around us as the forest came alive with the sunrise.

It remained quiet on the hill above us, but I knew the roosted turkeys would be up in a few minutes. I saw them leave the field and head into the tall stand of white pines the previous night. They roost there quite often, safe and undisturbed.

"There, hear them?" I whispered as the tree talk of the hens softly began, almost undetectable. As the sky brightened, the volume of their calls increased. A crow called in the distance, and the big boss tom’s gobble thundered across the tree tops.

We waited silently in the shadows against the dark tree trunks. We soon heard the flapping of wings, and the chorus of turkey talk continued. It wouldn’t be long before the birds were out here in the meadow, feeding and strutting around.

The turkeys wandered out of the woods just over the knoll from our location. A soft hen call got an immediate response from the big gobbler, who echoed his call across the valley two more times. He was coming closer but stopped to strut just over the ridge. We could hear his wings vibrate like a snare drum as he hissed and spit. We called again and he gobbled.

He was close. My heart pounded and a chill went up my spine. It’s such a thrill when a big, old tom comes strutting in to your call.

Then, someone said: "Don’t you think they should open the turkey season a little earlier? I’ve seen birds strutting for some time now."[an error occurred while processing this directive]

True indeed. Despite an absolute blizzard on my hill this past Monday, two toms were in full strut with a small group of hens nearby.

I told my companion that he could hunt turkeys April 21-22 _ a week-and-a-half before the regular season opens _ but only if he took the next-door neighbor’s kid with him. That weekend is set aside for the Spring Youth Hunt, which has been very successful over the years despite a low number of participants.

Let’s face it: Today’s youths are the future of hunting. We’ve got to get the kids away from the computers, televisions and video games long enough to realize that there’s something else out there that they might enjoy, such as hunting.

For kids who have no one to show them how to hunt or fish, remember that hunters can be good mentors, too. Check out the rules and regulations for the youth hunt and get involved.

Imagine how great you’ll feel when you pry the Game Boy from a kid’s fingers and call in his first turkey. Better yet, imagine how great the kid will feel.

Rick Brockway writes a weekly outdoors column for The Daily Star. E-mail him at robrockway@hotmail.com.