As part of a license vendor change, the call center for checking game has a new phone number successful spring turkey hunters need to use to report their harvest: (844)527-4868.
Successful turkey hunters still must tag their turkey with tags provided on their license.
“Anyone still hunting with the license they purchased last year will have the old phone number on their license,” said Tony Davis, chief information officer. “But any new licenses purchased or reprinted after April 1 will have the correct information.”
Instead of opening the regular season the weekend after the youth turkey hunt, this year’s regular season opener is April 10, the Monday directly after the youth hunt.
This allows an earlier opening day, and spreads out some of the pressure and active gobbling throughout the week.
The 2016 Arkansas Wild Turkey Brood Survey reported the second lowest reproductive success since the survey began in 1982. However, hunters may not see the impact of that poor hatch until next season.
Jason Honey, turkey program coordinator, says most turkeys harvested are at least 2 years old, because of a fairly recent regulation change banning the harvest of jakes.
“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 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 number of gobblers that survived to be available during the next season.
“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 are special log books volunteers carry to record the amount of gobbling, birds seen and successes each day of the season. Over the years, the entries can reveal larger trends in the population.
To volunteer to participate in the 2017 Turkey Hunter Survey, call Jason Honey at (501)470-3650 ext. 1214, or email Jason.honey@agfc.ar.gov.