We are a month away from opening day of spring turkey season, which runs April 9-24, and I can hardly wait.
People often ask me what kind of hunting I like best. My answer is, "Whatever I'm hunting at the moment."
If the good lord told me that I had to choose one, though, spring turkey hunting is the one I would keep. I would, however prayerfully ask for a longer season.
Reports from turkey hunters around the state are mixed. Eddie Horton of Camden, a builder of fantastic turkey box calls, said there are a lot of turkeys in south Arkansas, and gobblers are already establishing their pecking orders. Birds are concentrated in that part of the country right now because of flooding, Horton said.
Gobbling activity decreases as you proceed north, but when you get out of flooded country, the hunting prospects are good to excellent.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission produces an annual turkey harvest report that estimates reproductive success in the state's distinct geographic regions from the previous spring. That part of the report includes the number of adult gobblers that observers saw or heard during the summer, the number of poults per hen they saw, number of jakes they saw, etc. That data offers a baseline projection for regional turkey numbers this spring.
The Gulf Coastal Plain has been enigmatic for AGFC turkey biologists for at least 20 years. So much land is behind locked gates, and observers can't access most of it. That creates a data void covering nearly one-third of the state.
Mike Knoedl, the former director for the Game and Fish Commission, hunts leased land in south Arkansas, and he always bristled at the turkey data from the Gulf Coastal Plain because they were so wildly inconsistent with what Knoedl personally observed.
That is my experience, too. Except for the rare occasions when I draw a controlled turkey hunting permit for a northern wildlife management area, I have hunted almost exclusively in south Arkansas for 13 years, mostly in Grant County. Even during the darkest days of our turkey drought - which still continue according to the data - I killed a mature gobbler almost year.
In the years I didn't kill a gobbler, I saw gobblers and usually got to work a gobbler or two. I always saw hens and jakes.
Those comments aren't intended to criticize. Biologists' estimates are only as precise as the data they collect, and it's no secret that south Arkansas is a difficult place to collect comprehensive data except in small areas that might not accurately represent the entire region. Biologists tend to err cautiously. They can only evaluate data they have, not data they don't have.
It all works out in the end. Short seasons like those to which we've grown accustomed in Arkansas translates to light hunting pressure where birds are fairly abundant. That should translate to good reproductive success and good gobbler carryover, which translates to good hunting year after year.
I'm looking forward to hunting some other states this spring. Oklahoma is always a highlight, but I also want to hunt Nebraska. There's nothing like calling up a mature eastern gobbler in Arkansas's piney woods, but I very much enjoy hunting Rio Grande and Merriam's gobblers in open country, too.
Jackie Rauls and Wayne Richardson of Rison will begin their quest Thursday to bag their ninth Grand Slam, the accomplishment of bagging all four wild turkey sub-species in the United States. Their first stop is Florida to pursue Osceola gobblers.
Grant Westmoreland of Sheridan, who serves on the board of directors for Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry, will begin his season in Texas.
Westmoreland recently joined Sheridan's roster of esteemed turkey call makers by turning out his first pot calls. His inaugural production comprised 10 signed, numbered and dated calls. They are made of black walnut with engraved texturing that ensures a solid grip. The wood to slate finish is precise, and the lacquer finish is even and dark.
He sent me No. 8, and it sounds fantastic. I called up a big gobbler last spring with another box made by David Taylor, also of Sheridan. Don't forget Bill Rhodes, another Sheridan master who makes distinctive box calls.
I believe in Arkansas calls for Arkansas turkeys, but they worked pretty darned good everywhere I've tried them.
Sports on 03/11/2018