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 SWhen the data from all 17 sites was combined,two distinct peaks of gobbling appeared in2007. The first peak was around April 1, and thesecond, almost-identical peak was around April15. The peaks are almost identical to those foundin the late 1980s and early 1990s in northernArkansas.Very little gobbling occurred before March22. After April 18, gobbling decreased to half ofpeak activity, but still well above early March.Gobbling dropped April 5-11. This was thesame time temperatures plummeted 30 to 40degrees across the state. Average temperaturesduring that period were about 20 degreesbelow normal. This dip in gobbling activitymay have been influenced by the temperature.Similar declines from the 1980s and 1990s wereattributed to the gobblers being surrounded byhens, breeding instead of gobbling.Northern and southern Arkansas had verysimilar results during spring 2007 (Figures 2 and3). Both areas had two gobbling peaks. Moregobblers were heard in southern Arkansas duringthe later peak, but individual gobbling activitydiminished slightly.Of the test sites only White River NWR andPoison Springs WMA showed any trend oflow gobbling activity after early April. In fact,many areas showed better gobbling rates duringhunting seasons than before the season. CampRobinson and Choctaw Island WMAs are twoexamples. Turkeys were still gobbling well atboth these sites when the survey ended onMay 23.Figure 2. Northern Arkansas (north of Interstate 40) gobbling chronology results for non-,lightly and moderately harvested areas combined for six sites, spring 2007.654321March 1April 1May 1Average Gobblers/StopAverage Gobbles/StopAverage Gobbles/Gobbler0Mar 1-7Mar 8-14Mar 15-21Mar 22-28Mar 29-Apr 4Apr 5-11Apr 12-18Apr 19-25Apr 26-May 2May 3-9May 10-16May 17-23Figure 3. Southern Arkansas (south of Interstate 40) gobbling chronology results for non-,lightly and moderately harvested areas combined for six sites, spring 2007.43.532.521.510.50March 1Mar 1-7Mar 8-141 6 2 0 0 6 - 0 7 T U R K E Y S E A S O N S U M M A R YMar 15-21Mar 22-28Mar 29-Apr 4April 1Apr 5-11Apr 12-18Apr 19-25Apr 26-May 2May 1May 3-9May 10-16May 17-23Average Gobblers/StopAverage Gobbles/StopAverage Gobbles/Gobbler