WHERE TO GO?
“Just about any public or private lands in the fall firearms (turkey) zones have the potential for some good fall firearms hunting,” Widner advised. Here again, he said, the numbers show the way for those wanting to bag a bird.

“The 2007 fall turkey harvest figures are not available at present. In fall 2006, Izard County led the state with 28 turkeys checked with firearms, followed by Sharp with 24, Randolph with 23, Fulton with 20 and Garland with 14. Most of these counties are in the eastern Ozarks, which normally leads the state in spring kill,” explained Widner.

As for spots that provide some archery/crossbow action on fall turkeys, he listed Sharp County as the 2006 winner with 12 turkeys harvested. Cleburne County checked in with 10 birds, while Pope tallied nine, and Fulton and Randolph accounted for seven each.

As far as public grounds go, the already familiar zone numbers of 3, 5B, 6 and 17 are home to many of them.

The most recent harvest figures for public hunting areas are from spring 2007, but, as Widner explained, they do provide a good assessment of what fall turkey hunters could expect.

The top turkey-taker was the Ozark National Forest Wildlife Management Area. The area provided hunters with 91 birds. Ozark stretches across 12 northwest Arkansas counties, from Washington to Searcy.

Next up were the western and north-central Arkansas destinations of White Rock WMA and Sylamore WMA, with 71 and 68 birds checked, respectively. The former encompasses 280,000 acres and is found in Madison, Franklin, Johnson and Crawford counties, roughly 25 miles southeast of Fayetteville and 13 miles north of Ozark. The latter is sandwiched between Mountain Home and Mountain View, 12 miles south of the first community, six miles north of the second. Marion, Searcy, Stone and Baxter counties are all touched by Sylamore’s reach.

From there, the next four WMAs were in a logjam with 58 turkeys noted at Winona and Piney Creeks and 56 each from Mount Magazine and Muddy Creek. Winona, as the highest rated public area in the Ouachitas, covers 160,000 acres in Saline, Perry and Garland counties about four miles south of Perryville.

Piney Creeks adds another Ozarks hot spot in Newton, Pope and Johnson counties. It is 16 miles north of Russellville, 15 miles northeast of Clarksville.

Both Mount Magazine and Muddy Creek are found in the Ouachitas. Mount Magazine is across the river from Russellville near Dardanelle. The WMA covers ground in both Logan and Yell counties. Meanwhile, Muddy Creek also is found partly in Yell County, as well as in Montgomery and Scott counties. Its 150,000 acres lie about 10 miles northwest of Mt. Ida.

Finally, with the eighth slot, a physiographic region east of the state’s capital city of Little Rock slips into the list. White River National Wildlife Refuge hunters tallied 45 birds during the spring 2007 hunt. Also in eastern Arkansas, St. Francis National Forest WMA chimed in just one behind that at 44.

White River NWR calls 90 miles of the lower White River its home. Covering parts of Desha, Monroe, Arkansas and Phillips counties, it totals 160,000 acres running in a north-south corridor along the river from the Clarendon area nearly to the Arkansas and Mississippi confluences.

In Lee and Phillips counties, between Marianna and Helena-West Helena, St. Francis National Forest WMA provides 20,946 acres of outdoor recreational opportunities.

Moving back to the west, the former turkey stronghold of the Ouachitas provided the tenth public area in terms of number of birds harvested. Lake Greeson WMA had 19 birds. Four miles northwest of Murfreesboro, Lake Greeson WMA covers 35,000 acres in Pike and Howard counties.