EAST
St. Francis Forest WMA: At about 21,000 acres, St. Francis Forest WMA is by far the smallest of the AGFC/Forest Service cooperative wildlife management areas in the state -- but don't let that fact discourage you: St. Francis Forest WMA sits atop the southern end of Crowleys Ridge, and this odd landform provides excellent turkey habitat and good turkey hunting.

Proximity to Memphis and a location amid the turkeyless farmland of the Arkansas Delta combine to guarantee that this WMA receives a lot of weekend and early-season hunting pressure. However, hunting during the week and later in the season allows a hunter to avoid much of this pressure.

St. Francis Forest WMA, split more or less equally between Lee and Phillips counties, is traversed north to south by one main road; only a few lateral roads branch off the main road or enter the WMA from its flanks. The loess hills are steep but not high, and hunters who want to get away from the crowds can usually do so by bushwhacking cross-country across one or two ridges.

Hunting by boat at the WMA is also possible at 625-acre Bear Creek Lake, on the north end of the forest near Marianna, and at 420-acre Storm Creek Lake, on the south end near West Helena. There's a 10-horsepower outboard motor limit on both lakes.

Here, as with most national forest lands, camping is allowed pretty much everywhere. Developed campgrounds are present at the above-mentioned lakes.

White River NWR: Established in 1935, White River National Wildlife Refuge is not only the state's oldest federal refuge but, at 165,000 acres, also the largest. The area has recently attracted national attention after the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker just to the north of the refuge, but veteran refuge-roamers have long known what the rest of the world is just now hearing: This place is one of the best and most valuable remaining chunks of bottomland habitat in the world. The bears that live here are old original-stock Arkansas bears, not imports from the north like the bears of the Ozarks and Ouachitas; likewise, the turkeys that live here are of the native bloodline, saved from extermination by the fastness and remoteness of the river bottoms.

Most of the refuge isn't quite as hard to reach today as it was when it was the last stronghold of bears and turkeys -- and ivory-billed woodpeckers -- but it's still pretty tough going in many places: They don't call these "the Big Woods" for nothing. Hunters wanting a near-wilderness turkey hunting experience should check this place out.

Likely hunting areas for turkeys are the Jacks Bay area on the lower west side, the East Lake area on the upper east side and the Prestons Ferry area on the central west side. Boat hunting is also possible anywhere along the lower White, from Clarendon all the way to the barge canal near Tichnor (more than 100 river miles.)

Bottomland hunting is a different ballgame. Those accustomed to hill-country turkey hunting often find the immense flatwoods of the river swamps baffling. A compass is a necessity here; go to the bottoms on a cloudy day, and you'll soon learn why. Other must-have items for WRNWR turkey hunters: waterproof boots (knee-length rubber boots are favored here) and mosquito repellent. The ability to walk long distances in boot-sucking conditions is mandatory.

Camping, all of it primitive, is restricted to designated sites. However, there's a Corps campground at Merrisach Lake near the lower west side of the refuge, and motels and campgrounds are available in DeWitt, Stuttgart, Marvell, Clarendon and other nearby towns.