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 SThe conservative seasonstructure was responsiblefor only about one-thirdof the harvest decline.Photo courtesy of theNWTF.Weather conditions may have played a minorrole in the harvest decline in spring 2007.Temperatures during the youth hunt April 7-8,were as much as 20 degrees below average withlows around 15 degrees in portions of Arkansas.Table 2. Top 10 spring turkey harvest counties and WMAs in 2007.CountyWMASharp – 419 Ozark NF WMA – 91Fulton – 392 White Rock WMA – 71Baxter – 325 Sylamore WMA – 68Independence – 317 Winona WMA – 58Randolph – 315 Piney Creeks WMA – 58Izard – 314 Mt. Magazine WMA – 56Cleburne – 283 Muddy Creek WMA – 56Union – 280 White River NWR – 45Boone – 279 St. Francis NF WMA – 44Searcy – 277 Lake Greeson WMA - 19Temperatures on opening day of the regularseason were as much as 15 degrees below average.Harvest declined about 10 percent for the specialyouth hunt and about 38 percent on openingday of the regular season when compared to2006. Reduced hunting activity because of thecold may have contributed to the decline, butgobbling surveys suggest that turkeys gobbledat “normal” levels during this cold period, with asecond peak of gobbling in mid-April when theregular season opened (Page 14).Unfortunately, recent trends in Arkansas’s lowspring turkey harvest will probably continuefor at least a couple of years, as 2006 broodproduction was only average or above in theeastern Ozarks and along the Mississippi River.2007 brood production appeared fair in mostof the state. However, the ratio of gobblers tohens in the preliminary findings of the 2007Brood Survey (Page 11) increased significantly.Conservative spring turkey seasons are stillneeded to stabilize and manage spring turkeyharvest in Arkansas well into the future.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 Y