ARKANSAS SPORTSMAN

Conservative seasons could hurt turkey hunt

In February, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission approved the state’s turkey management plan for the next five years.

The AGFC will closely follow the season structure and bag limits that have been in place since 2011. However, an addendum will give the commission some latitude to modify key elements, such as opening the season earlier if turkey numbers justify it.

Jason Honey, the commission’s turkey biologist, presented the five-year plan Feb. 20 during the commission’s monthly work meeting. At that time, Commissioner Emon Mahony noted that since 2007, turkey seasons have gotten progressively shorter and opened progressively later. From 2007-11, spring turkey seasons lasted about three weeks and began about April 10, Mahony said. The 2011-12 spring turkey seasons lasted 16 days and started April 14 and April 20, respectively.

The commission reduced the season length and opened seasons later to reduce hunting pressure on a flock that was not producing enough turkeys for statewide growth. Mahony noted also that the commission eliminated the fall turkey hunting season in 2009. This, Mahony said, eliminated the legal killing ofturkey hens and reduced the amount of time that hunters could legally kill a turkey by 150 days per year.

If seasons remain unnecessarily conservative, turkey hunting could become irrelevant in a state that was once a national destination. However, turkey numbers should determine hunting opportunity, not hunter preferences. We are on track to have two consecutive good hatch years, but two good years of reproduction do not constitute a recovery.

“We have radically become more conservative in our approach to seasons over the past six years,” Mahony said. “That is appropriate given the decline in turkey population. However, it is generally accepted that hearing turkeys gobbling is a huge factor in the enjoyment of a hunt. The recruitment and retention of hunters will be more difficult if little gobbling is heard during the season.”

Hunters generally believe that by late April, breeding season has ebbed and male turkeys have stopped gobbling.

“We need to remain more flexible on this issue,” Mahony said. “While I agree on the need for five-year evaluations in general, the potential costs are very high on this one.”

Mahony noted that spring turkey season opens later in Arkansas than in any of the surrounding states. Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas, Tennessee and, at times, Mississippi have high-quality turkey hunting. Missouri, Texas and Oklahoma are also national destinations, but only Missouri is famous for eastern wild turkeys. The eastern subspecies inhabits Arkansas. Texas and Oklahoma are famous for Rio Grande turkeys, which inhabit the western areas. However, successive droughts have done severe damage to Rio Grande flocks, too. In east Texas, eastern wild turkeys have vanished. Easterns also experience extreme peaks and busts in eastern Oklahoma.

Mahony said there is little scientific documentation about the effect that spring hunting has on turkey populations. Spring turkey hunting is unique, though, because it occurs at a time when turkey numbers are lowest. In the fall, game populations are highest because natural winter mortality hasn’t occurred.

Mahony said the AGFC isattempting to gather dependable data by putting radio collars on a number of turkeys. He said this should tell biologists when turkeys nest, when their broods hatch and when they die. It’s not many turkeys, he cautioned, but it’s a start.

“We have surrounding states with significantly different seasons for comparative evaluative purposes,” Mahony said. “Finally, there are so many independent variables at work here that even if we kept the latest opening date, its impact could be very difficult to evaluate.”

The rest of the commission did not elaborate on or dispute Mahony’s remarks. Its members also accepted his recommendation that it evaluate opening day of spring turkey season every year.

Sports, Pages 31 on 03/17/2013

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