If it is an either/or situation, go April. If it is an opportunity to go now and go 2014, do both. You will find out how the late season hunting is as well as the earlier season.

Personally, I like the late season hunting. By the middle of April the woods have started greening up good. The crappie are biting so there is less pressure. The weather is getting warmer and more hens are nesting. I took my only bird last year on the last day of the season. There were 4 toms together gobbling their heads off and another a few hundred yards off that was gobbling good too.