Rain stay away

Wet springs have diminished Natural State turkey numbers

Jackie Rauls of Rison started his quest for his ninth North American Grand Slam by killing this Osceola turkey in Florida while hunting with Wayne Richardson of Rison.
Jackie Rauls of Rison started his quest for his ninth North American Grand Slam by killing this Osceola turkey in Florida while hunting with Wayne Richardson of Rison.

Turkey season is almost here, but trends don't portend widespread success.

The statewide youth turkey season will take place next Saturday and Sunday, and the statewide regular season will run April 9-24. For adults, the season limit is two adult gobblers. For youths ages 6-16, the limit is two gobblers, no more than one of which may be a sub-adult gobbler, or "jake."

For many years the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission prescribed a 16-day spring turkey season that opened in late April and ended in early May. The framework was designed to reduce the harvest of gobblers because it opened the season after most breeding activity was believed to have occurred.

Hunters believed that gobblers were less vocal in late April and complained that the late opener diminished the quality of hunting.

The 2017 spring turkey season ran April 10-23, but hunters killed 1,798 fewer turkeys than they did in 2016. That includes the youth season in which hunters under age 16 killed 958 gobblers, including jakes. In 2016, youth hunters killed 1,336 birds.

Jason Honey, the Game and Fish Commission's former turkey biologist, and his predecessor Mike Widner, reported declining turkey numbers for more than a decade. In 2002, hunters killed slightly more than 20,000 birds, a record. It has fallen steadily and precipitously ever since except for a temporary uptick in 2011-2013.

More than anything, a string of poor reproduction years depressed turkey numbers, Honey said.

Turkeys by the Numbers

The Ozark Mountain region was our most productive turkey hunting area last year. Hunters killed 4,446 gobblers, compared to 5,546 in 2016 and 5,431 in 2015.

The Gulf Coastal Plain was second with 2,922 gobblers. That's almost identical to 2015, when GCP hunters checked 2,996 gobblers. There was a small spike in 2016 with 3,085 gobblers.

Hunters checked 1,745 gobblers in the Ouachita Mountain region. That's a big drop from 2016 and 2015, when Ouachita hunters checked 2,161 and 2,177 gobblers, respectively.

In the Mississippi River Alluvial Plain, hunters checked 953 gobblers last year, but again, it was almost identical to 2015 (957 gobblers). In 2016, hunters checked 1,072 gobblers.

Our top turkey hunting county was Fulton County, where hunters checked 380 gobblers, followed by Cleburne County (345), Stone (337), Baxter (326), Sharp (284), Izard (278), Newton (272), Union (267), Van Buren (256) and White (252) counties.

Except for Union and White, all of those counties are in the Ozarks. Half of White County is in the Ozark foothills, and half is in the Delta. It's a safe bet that most of the turkeys were killed in the Ozark half.

Union County is in the Gulf Coastal Plain. It's always in the top 10, but it is a very large county with a lot of good turkey habitat.

Our top public hunting area was the Ozark National Forest Wildlife Management Area, a huge area where hunters checked 155 gobblers. Next was Sylamore WMA (104), another subdivision of the Ozark National Forest (104).

Muddy Creek WMA, a subdivision of the Ouachita National Forest, which contributed 87 turkeys, followed by Winona WMA (87), also a subdivision of the Ouachita National Forest.

Piney Creeks WMA, another subdivision of the Ozark National Forest, contributed 56, followed by White Rock WMA (53), yet another subdivision of the Ozark National Forest.

Rounding out the Top 10 were Mount Magazine WMA (50), Buffalo National River WMA (47), Cherokee WMA (38) and Casey Jones WMA (27).

The Science

Brood survey indices in 2017 indicate reproduction was below the previous 5-year average across the state. The statewide poult/hen index of 0.66/1 was the lowest on record.

Honey attributed it to a string of cool, wet springs that adversely affected turkey reproduction.

"A cool, wet spring during brood--rearing season can kill poults," Honey said. "These weather events after poults have hatched can decimate populations whether there was great mast production, excellent hen health, and any number of other positive factors."

The poult/hen ratio is an indicator of poult survival. Statewide, 22 percent of hens were observed with at least one poult. That's down from 29 percent in 2016, suggesting lower nest success in 2017.

The average number of poults per brood was 4.4 in the Ozarks, 4.7 in the Ouachitas, 5.1 in the Gulf Coastal Plain and 5.2 in the Delta.

The stats don't reflect well on adult birds, either. The 2017 gobbler-to-hen index remained identical to 2016 at 0.5-1.

The observed gobbler/hen ratio indicates the level of carryover of gobblers from the previous spring turkey season. Before the commission outlawed killing jakes in 2011, gobbler carryover was below the 0.5 gobbler/hen threshhold. It has stabilized, which Honey attributed to a prohibition on killing jakes and opening the season in late April.

These numbers are compiled from actual sightings. It is an imprecise method of collecting data, but it is statistically reliable because the data is compiled in a consistent fashion from year to year.

In 2017, an additional 30 individuals submitted brood survey forms, which increased the data set from 171 submissions to 201.

"Despite this increase, fewer hens and poults were observed," Honey said.

When compared to the previous five-year average, reproduction in 2017 was lower. In recent years, the poult/hen ratio in the Ozarks, Ouachitas and Gulf Coastal Plain was near 1.7/1.

"Since the beginning of the survey in 1982, if reproduction was low, then harvest would decrease two years later," Honey said. "Conversely, if reproduction was high, harvest increased."

Based on poult production in the Ozarks, frequent early spring rains might have hurt production, Honey said.

"The effect will not be fully known until the 2019 turkey season, when these turkeys will be 2 years old," honey said. "The Ouachitas and Gulf Coastal Plain observed decreased reproduction, but not to the extent of the Ozarks."

photo

Photo submitted by Wayne Richardson

Wayne Richardson of Rison started his quest for his ninth North American Grand Slam by killing this Osceola turkey in Florida while hunting with Jackie Rauls of Rison.

photo

Photo submitted by Grant Westmoreland

Grant Westmoreland of Sheridan started his turkey season in Texas with these two longbearded gobblers recently.

Sports on 04/01/2018

Upcoming Events