TWEAKING THE REGULATIONS
After several decades of agreement following the guidelines established by state biologists, a few years ago AGFC began tinkering with the season structure and harvest guidelines. A result of this tinkering was the so-called "jake rule." Basically, the regulation states that a hunter can take only one sub-adult gobbler per spring, even though the annual gobbler limit is two birds.

This feel-good regulation mirrors the thinking of most veteran turkey hunters, who generally pass up short-bearded gobblers anyway. Yet there’s absolutely no research to back up the commissioner’s claim that restricting the jake harvest will improve the quality of the hunt in future years.

From a biological standpoint, a gobbler is a gobbler is a gobbler, regardless of the age at which he’s killed. The argument for the jake rule is that every jake removed from the population this spring is one less gobbling turkey that will be out there next spring. However, the same is also true for any gobbler removed from the population. Therefore, the jake rule is a case of meddling that, fortunately, doesn’t amount to much harm.

Slightly less benign was the shift to an earlier opening day and a longer season, both of which took effect in 1999.

Throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s, Arkansas hunters had a 37-day spring season. The season opened April 1 and went through May 7. But when research studies in the early ’80s revealed that the peak breeding period for turkeys in Arkansas is the first week of April, the commission agreed to delay the opening of the season for a few days. The change, it was thought by the commission, would allow more time for nature to take its course before a mob of hunters entered the woods.

There’s absolutely no research to back up the claim that restricting the jake harvest will improve the quality of the hunt in future years. From a biological standpoint, a gobbler is a gobbler is a gobbler, regardless of the age at which he’s killed.

The measure worked -- something did, anyway -- and the second rapid increase of turkey numbers began in the late 1980s. But in 1999, with the season opening earlier and lasting longer, the upward momentum in turkey harvest numbers begin to taper off. In 2004, the Arkansas turkey harvest took a sharp dive, retreating 15 percent from the record harvest of 2003, when nearly 20,000 birds were taken. These figures marked the first decline since 1981.

Fortunately, the commissioners took note, and for 2005 the season the season opens April 9 in most parts of the state. The change in season structure will, everyone hopes, send things back in the right direction.

WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE?
If you’re one of the many turkey hunters who have come into the sport during the past 10 years or so, you honestly don’t know how good you’ve got it. Where turkey hunting is concerned, things aren’t what they used to be -- and that’s a very, very good thing.

If you’re one of the many turkey hunters who have come into the sport during the past 10 years or so, you honestly don’t know how good you’ve got it. Where turkey hunting is concerned, things aren’t what they used to be -- and that’s a very, very good thing.

When I started hunting turkeys in the late 1970s, I had to travel more than 125 miles to find decent public land on which to hunt the birds. Last spring, I killed two gobblers and watched three more die within five miles of where I sit writing these words. One was less than 300 yards from my back door.

There’s still room for improvement in both our statewide turkey population and in the quality of the Arkansas turkey hunting experience. But there are now a thousand turkeys in the state right now for every one that was alive when that scrawny 5-year-old kid stared bug-eyed at the two gobblers in the back of that pickup truck more than 50 springs ago. That’s a heck of an accomplishment for the state.

(Editor’s Note: Autographed copies of Jim Spencer’s 336-page book, Turkey Hunting Digest, are available for $24.95 plus $4 shipping from the author at P.O. Box 758, Calico Rock, AR 72519.)