Turkey Season Summary - Arkansas Game and Fish Commission

2 0 0 6 - 0 7 H A R V E S T S U M M A R I E Sseven turkeys, followed by White Rock WMA(five), Caney Creek WMA (four), Winona WMA(three), Ed Gordon Point Remove WMA (three)and Shirey Bay Rainey Brake WMA (three).Thirty-six percent of the fall gun harvest wasmale turkeys; 64 percent was female. Juvenileturkeys made up 47 percent of the harvest, upfrom 37 percent in 2005. Juvenile hens andjuvenile males made up 29 and 18 percent ofthe harvest, respectively. Adult hens and adultgobblers made up 36 and 18 percent of theharvest, respectively.Fall archery turkey seasonThe season ran Oct. 1, 2006-Feb. 28, 2007,with a limit of one turkey (either sex). Nearlythe entire state was open to fall archery turkeyhunting.A total of 145 turkeys were checked in thearchery harvest. This harvest declined 44 percentfrom 257 turkeys checked during 2005-06.Sharp County led the state with 12 turkeyschecked (Figure 2), followed by Cleburne (10),Pope (nine), Fulton (seven) and Randolph(seven) counties. No turkeys were checked in 32of the 75 counties in Arkansas. Turkeys werechecked on 11 WMAs or NWRs, led by FortChaffee WMA and Bald Knob NWR with twoeach.Sex of birds harvested was the reverse of thefall gun season: 59 percent were male and41 percent were female. Thirty-nine percentwere adult gobblers, followed by adult hens at27 percent, juvenile males at 20 percent andjuvenile females at 14 percent.Figure 1. Arkansas 2006 fall gun season turkey harvest by county.Figure 2. Arkansas 2006-07 fall archery/crossbow season turkeyharvest by county.Comments on fall seasonsSeveral factors probably contributed to thedecline in fall turkey harvests in 2006-07.Abundant mast over most of Arkansas scatteredturkeys and made them more difficult to hunt.Continuing declines in turkey numbers frombelow-average reproduction since 2002 alsoundoubtedly contributed to the decline in fallharvest. Lack of interest in fall hunting becauseof decreased turkey numbers also played a part.Based on criteria in the Strategic Wild TurkeyManagement Plan, several more turkey zones areslated for closure to gun hunting in fall 2008.2 0 0 6 - 0 7 T U R K E Y S E A S O N S U M M A R Y 9