Turkey hunters may see slightly increased harvest despite poor hatch

LITTLE ROCK – According to the 2016 Arkansas Wild Turkey Brood Survey, last year had the second lowest reproductive success since the survey began in 1982. However, hunters likely won’t see the impacts of that poor hatch until next season.

Jason Honey, turkey program coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, says most turkeys harvested are at least 2 years old, because of a fairly recent regulation change banning the harvest of jakes (immature gobblers).

“The no jakes rule and conservative seasons have allowed us to carry over a larger percentage of gobblers each year,” Honey said. “The season structure we had made it a little harder to kill a gobbler, but the conservative starting date also allowed gobblers to breed before hunters entered the woods and increased the amount of gobblers that survived to be available during the next season.”

Honey says the conservative regulations can increase breeding success, but many factors, such as hen health, predators, poor habitat and bad weather can influence how many poults actually survive to the time brood surveys are done.

This year’s turkey season will follow a little different structure than in years past, however. Instead of opening the regular season the weekend after the youth turkey hunt, the Commission moved the regular season opener to April 10, the Monday directly after the youth hunt. This would allow an earlier opening day, but perhaps spread out some of the pressure and active gobbling throughout the week.

“According to our hunter surveys, we are seeing a marked increase in gobblers seen and more gobbles per bird in the last few years because of the increased carryover,” Honey said. “In terms of harvest, I would expect it to increase somewhat this year.”

The hunter surveys Honey refers to are special log books volunteers carry with them to record the amount of gobbling, birds seen and successes each day of the season. Over the years, these entries can reveal larger trends in the population.

“By analyzing that data, we can keep tabs on peaks in gobbling as well as get a little better picture of the overall population structure,” Honey said. “We’re not only seeing more mature gobblers lately, but we’re also seeing more jakes while the number of hens seen has been stable. That indicates that the population isn’t really increasing, but our regulations have allowed us to let more jakes survive to become mature birds. “

Anyone who would like to volunteer to participate in this year’s Turkey Hunter Survey may call Honey at the AGFC Mayflower Field Office, 501-470-3650 ext. 1214, or email Jason.honey@agfc.ar.gov.

Visit http://www.agfc.com/resources/Publications/TurkeyBroodSurvey2016.pdf to view the latest brood survey report. A full list of scientific reports is available at http://www.agfc.com/resources/Pages/ResourcesScientificReports.aspx.