If hunter success is an reliable gauge, the 2013 turkey season suggests turkeys are slowly recovering in Arkansas.
Jason Honey, turkey biologist for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, reported results of the 2013 turkey season at the commission’s meeting July 18 in Little Rock.
Like 2012, the 2013 season lasted 16 days, compared to 18 days in 2011. The 2013 season started April 20, very late compared to neighboring states. The statewide youth season was April 13-14.
Adult hunters were allowed to kill no more than two bearded turkeys. They were not allowed to kill immature gobblers, or “jakes,” with beards shorter than 6 inches. If strutting, jakes are also distinguishable by their central tail feathers, which are noticeably longer than the other tail feathers. Youth hunters were allowed to kill no more than one jake.
Overall, hunters killed 9,122 turkeys this year, compared to 8,928 turkeys in 2012. That’s an increase of 2 percent. Of those, youths killed 1,282 turkeys April 13-14. Hunters killed 638 jakes, or 7 percent of the total. That’s also 2 percent more jakes than in 2012.
“We had excellent weather for the youth season,” Honey said. “Decent weather, a no-jakes regulation and additional gobbler carryover from the previous season resulted in a statewide harvest similar to 2012.”
The increase in hunter success was modest. Honey attributed it to good weather, especially during the youth season. Better success was probably not because there are significantly more turkeys in the woods than last year. Honey suggested that it is premature to consider lengthening the season or opening it earlier.
“It seems like turkeys are on the upswing at this point, but I caution that it’s majorly dependent on the weather,” Honey said.
He explained that a good hatch this year will be the major factor that drives turkey recovery around the state.
“We need to be vigilant to have consistent regulations so we can evaluate season structures on three- to five year intervals,” he said.
April 20 was a beautiful day for hunting, so it’s no surprise that hunters killed 2,250 birds - 25 percent of the total - on opening day.
As usual, hunters had the most success in Sharp County, where they killed 341 birds. Fulton County was right behind with 313 gobblers, followed by Union County with 278 and Van Buren County with 264.
Muddy Creek WMA was our best public option for turkey hunting last season. Hunters killed 79 birds there, but they also killed 70 gobblers in the Ozark National Forest. Winona WMA, west of Little Rock, yielded 63 gobblers, and hunters killed 60 gobblers in Mt. Magazine WMA.
Citing field observations from hunters, Honey said there could be a modest abundance of 2-year old gobblers in the woods for the 2014 season.
“According to a hunter survey that 260 to 280 hunters filled out, they indicated seeing a lot of jakes, so we should see an increase in 2-year old birds next year,”Honey said. “That depends on what happens that spring and the spring two years prior.” SHARK HUNTER
There’s an exciting video on YouTube of Alan Mc-Guckin of Skiatook, Okla., catching and landing an 8-foot hammerhead shark recently at Panama City Beach with his friend and neighbor Robert Henderson.
McGuckin is a dear friend and a successful product representative in the outdoors equipment industry. I featured him in a two Bassmaster articles about Lake Skiatook and the Verdigris River years ago, and he was also my model for a photo that Falcon Rods used on the hangtags of their Cara rods in the early 2000s.
McGuckin took 22 minutes to land the shark amid a throng of more than 70 rowdy onlookers. He fought the fish some 400 yardsd own the beach. Henderson grabbed the shark by the tail and hauled it ashore. After posing for a few photos, McGuckin ordered the shark returned to the water. A woman in the crowd shouted, “Ya’ll are crazy?” The rest of the crowd cheered as the shark swam away.
The video is jerky and shortened to about f ive minutes. My favorite part occurred at about 1:30. Mc-Guckin appeared to have the shark on the beach when it tore out on another run. You can hear McGuckin’s spinning reel buzz loudly as the spool strains against the drag. McGuckin sunk to his knees and buried the butt of his rod in his belly with a look of pure anguish.
“It’s starting all over, man! It just took 30 yards of line,” he said sadly.
You can see the video at www.youtube.com/ watch?v=Swf7TK_AdXc.
Sports, Pages 35 on 07/28/2013