Turkey Season Summary - Arkansas Game and Fish Commission

2 0 0 6 - 0 7 T U R K E Y S U R V E Y S U M M A R I E S2006Brood survey summaryThe average statewidehatch date for 2006 wasJune 7. Photo courtesyof the NWTF.Reproduction was better in2006 than it was in 2005, butstill remains below average ona statewide basis.Turkeys are relatively short-lived animals.Because of this short lifespan, annual reproductionis very important to the total population.Several years of good reproduction canresult in abundant turkey numbers, while severalpoor years can result in falling turkey numbers.Long-term data collection in Arkansas has shownthat turkey harvest is strongly related to annualpoult production.The AGFC hasworked with manyorganizations toconduct the annualWild Turkey BroodSurvey since 1982.The survey evaluatesturkey stockingsuccess, examinesspread and growth ofexisting populations, and determines trends inturkey numbers. Five hundred twenty-five surveyforms were returned to the AGFC in 2006.One thousand individual turkey observationsfrom 259 respondents were recorded, down fromthe survey record of 1,305 observations in 1998.Reproduction was better in 2006 than it wasin 2005, but still remains below average on astatewide basis. 2006 was the first year since2001 in which more than 3,000 poults werereported (Figure 1). However, 4,000-5,000poults were reported during the above-averagereproduction years of the late 1990s and early2000s. The poult/hen index of 1.81 (Table 1) for2006 was much better than the 1.39 recorded in2005, but remains below the long-term averageof 3.28 poults/hen. In 2006, 46 percent of henswere seen with poults, down from around 60percent in above-average years.Gobblers reported on the survey were downfrom the previous year, with 668 reported in2006 and 746 reported in 2005. The gobbler/hen index has declined steadily since 2001,and is the lowest it has been statewide since1995. This index is especially low in the Ozarks1 0 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