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Game and Fish approves 23-day spring turkey season Friday, Oct 19, 2007 By Joe Mosby Arkansas News Correspondent LITTLE ROCK - Turkey hunting in Arkansas will continue in a restricted mode next spring, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission decided Thursday at its monthly meeting. The season was set at 23 days, less in some turkey zones of the state, and the later opening date plan used in 2007 will be followed in 2008. The production of young turkeys, poults, declined this year for the sixth consecutive year, said Mike Widner, AGFC's turkey program coordinator. "There is no guarantee that a later opening date will result in more hens being bred and more poults being produced," Widner said. The season dates set are April 12-May 2 in Turkey Zones 1, 2, 3, 4B, 5, 5B, 6, 7, 7A, 8, 9 and 10. Zone 17, which is land inside the Mississippi River levees, will have a season of April 5-27. Turkey Zones 1A, 4, 4A, 5A and 9A will have a season of April 12-25. A special hunt for youths will be held before the regular season, April 5-6 in most of the state and March 29-30 in Zone 17. The commissioners voiced concern over the ongoing turkey decline. Predators are a factor, Commissioner Freddie Black of Lake Village said. Predators are chiefly raccoons, with some predation from possums, coyotes and bobcats. "Predator reduction by trapping in our area has made a huge difference with the turkeys," Black said. Commissioner Craig Campbell of Little Rock again said he was opposed to a fall turkey hunting season. The 2007 fall season opens Monday on turkeys for muzzle-loader and modern guns. A five-month bowhunting season on turkeys runs from Oct. 1 through Feb. 28, but comparatively few turkeys are killed with bows, commission officials said. "Our research on Muddy Creek (Wildlife Management Area in the Ouachita Mountains) showed that not a single turkey hen was killed in the fall, Widner said. "The Coastal Plan (in South Arkansas) is closed to fall hunting for turkeys, and it is going down too (in turkey numbers)." Widner also said the commission staff likely would recommend closing fall turkey hunting in more of the state in 2008. Also Thursday, the commissioners set minimum lengths for paddlefish for commercial fishing on the Mississippi River. They had set a minimum of 37 inches for the rest of the state last month. Beginning in January 2009, the minimum will be 36 inches in waters shared by Arkansas and Mississippi. In waters shared with Tennessee, the minimum will be 34 inches, with Arkansas awaiting a possible increase to be made by Tennessee. The commissioners also appropriated $31,250 for expansion of shotgun shooting ranges at Rick Evans/Grandview Prairie Conservation Education Center in Southwest Arkansas west of Hope. The ranges will be used in the commission's rapidly growing statewide Youth Shooting Sports program. |
