At the end of the last week of the 2023 turkey season, hunters checked 9,193 checked birds, an increase of 21% over 2022, and the first time since 2017 the harvest topped the 9,000-bird mark.
Last year’s brood survey also indicates good reproduction for more mature gobblers on the ground next year as well. Arkansas numbers are trending up thanks to favorable weather. Gobbler carryover was good thanks to the No Jakes harvest regulation, and continued efforts by agencies and landowners to put good habitat on the ground.
With the help of the Arkansas State Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, the AGFC has been able to add or open 3,206 acres of land for public access since 2018.
Through sales of its state license plate, 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.
The NWTF is only one of many partners the AGFC has in procuring public access for hunting, fishing and watchable wildlife efforts. Other partners, such as Central Arkansas Water, TNC, The Arkansas Forestry Commission and ANHC all have played vital roles in increasing hunting opportunities in Arkansas.
Austin Booth, AGFC director, spoke of these partnerships during his address at the April 20 Commission meeting in Little Rock. Proposals to add Goat’s Beard Bluff Natural Area (540 acres), Sugarloaf Mountains-Midland Peak Natural Area (1,191 acres) and Hot Springs State Forest (2,975 acres) to the AGFC’s WMA system and provide more than 4,706 acres of new public hunting opportunity were proposed at that same meeting. A new long-term lease agreement with Central Arkansas Water in January expanded the Maumelle River WMA in Pulaski County by 2,395 acres.
“We formed The Natural State Tomorrow last year to be our guiding document for the next five years,” Booth explained. “We said that we would add at least 5,000 acres of priority habitat for wildlife and public access in five years. Thanks to partnerships and planning, we’re on pace to meet that goal in less than a single year.”
Thanks to the continued efforts of the AGFC’s network of partnering agencies, and with help from Mother Nature, the future continues to look bright for turkey hunting in The Natural State.