Turkey harvest increases
Hunters checked 9,193 gobblers during turkey season which ended May 7, a 21% increase from 2022 and the first time since 2017 that the harvest topped 9,000.
Last year's brood survey also indicates good reproduction, which should translate to more mature gobblers next year.
Numbers are trending up thanks to favorable weather in some areas during the nesting seasons since 2020. Gobbler carryover appears to have been good last year thanks to the "No Jakes" harvest regulation and continued efforts by agencies and private landowners to put good habitat on the ground.
More turkey habitat
With the help of the Arkansas State Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation (NWTF-AR), the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has added or opened 3,206 acres of land for public access since 2018.
Through sales of its state license plate, which was created in 2015, the NWTF-AR board of directors direct revenue toward conservation and education across Arkansas. These efforts include land acquisition, habitat enhancement, scholarships and mentored hunting programs.
In partnership with the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission and The Nature Conservancy, NWTF-AR helped procure the 1,376-acre Huttig Pine Flatwoods Natural Area in Union County. Purchased to preserve open pine-hardwood flatwoods that can host the federally endangered red-cockaded woodpecker, this area was added to the Beryl Anthony Lower Ouachita Wildlife Management Area. It has received numerous habitat improvement awards from the Wild Turkey and Northern Bobwhite Habitat Cost Share Program to improve nesting and brood rearing habitat for wild turkeys.
NWTF-AR donated $100,000 from its license plate fund in conjunction with help from the Trust for Public Land, to purchase the 975-acre purchase of the Red Cut Slough Tract at Cypress Bayou WMA in White County. An additional 140 acres to this WMA also has been authorized in the last month, thanks to a $58,500 commitment from NWTF-AR.
Also, NWTF-AR assisted in helping the Game and Fish Commission purchase a 550-acre inholding that was added to Madison County WMA in 2022. The Nature Conservancy sold the inholding, which had seen substantial conservation enhancement work, at a heavily discounted price. NWTF-AR added an additional $100,000 in funding toward the $1.6 million purchase price to secure this property for Arkansas hunters and Arkansas wildlife.
-- Arkansas Democrat-Gazette