Ouachitas
Although things don't look particularly bright in the Ouachitas, either, this region showed the smallest decline in harvest from 2004. Last year's tally, as mentioned above, was 3,360 birds, down only 3.7 percent from 2004 -- a figure that's within the standard deviation and therefore not statistically significant. However, the other figures for the region this year aren't so easily dismissed: a poult-per-hen ratio of only 1.05 and a gobbler:hen ratio of .45, both well below desired levels. Although the 2004 poult-per-hen ratio was the highest in the state at 2.21 (those birds are this spring's 2-year-olds), the 2005 data indicate that many of those potential 2-year-olds left the woods last year as harvested jakes riding on the shoulders of successful hunters.

In the Ouachitas, as in the Ozarks, some rugged and relatively roadless areas that hold out the prospect of uncrowded hunting conditions and, potentially, slightly more workable gobblers await hunters with the desire and the ability to get "back in." Caney Creek WMA, south of Mena, is one such place, as is the Ouachita National Forest land along both the north and south slopes of Rich Mountain and Black Fork Mountain northwest of Mena near the Oklahoma line. Muddy Creek WMA, north of Mt. Ida is also a likely area, as is Winona WMA, west of Paron. However, since Winona is the nearest large public area to Little Rock, it receives heavy early-season and weekend pressure. Look to the west side of this large area for the least-crowded hunting conditions.

THE START OF THE SLIDE
Though the slightly gloomy tone of this piece so far might suggest that we're running out of turkeys in Arkansas, we're not. We are, however, allowing liberal hunting regulations to reduce both the number of available gobblers and the overall quality of the hunting experience -- at least, that's what the statistics indicate.

"Turkey brood survey data from 1992 through 2003 indicates that the peak breeding dates for turkeys in Arkansas lie between April 10-15," wrote then-turkey biologist Brad Carner in a handout for a public meeting in September 2004.

Carner went on to say that according to brood survey analysis, 85 percent of all hens successfully nesting during that 12-year period had been bred on or after April 10, and that little difference could be discerned in the timing between peak breeding dates in each of the four major physiographic regions reviewed above.

And that's why the opening day of Arkansas' spring turkey season was pushed farther into April in the mid-1980s. Biologists recommended the delay to give turkeys time to go about their reproductive business before hunting season arrived. It worked, and turkey populations -- not to mention annual turkey harvests -- increased dramatically from the late 1980s through 2003.

However, in 1999, the stage was set for an eventual retreat by the seven commissioners of the AGFC. That year, they decided to open the spring season earlier and lengthen it as well -- from 24 days in 1998 to 39 days in 2004 (counting the two-day youth hunt), thus putting hunters in the field before peak breeding. The decision made for excellent hunting, it but also affected both breeding activity and gobbler carryover from one year to the next. Granted, the earlier season opener didn't seem like a drastic measure, as it only averaged a week or so earlier than was the case before 1999. That particular week, unhappily, just happens to be very critical in the breeding cycle.