I'm not sure if I agree with the slant of the now-famous turkey legend surrounding one of our founding fathers. Supposedly, and there's said to be some documentation to back this up, Benjamin Franklin preferred the wild turkey to the bald eagle as the national symbol of our United States.

Thankfully, Franklin didn't get his way in that alleged line of thinking. Otherwise, we might be dining on eagles every Thanksgiving and holding up turkeys as the regal standard bearer of our nation. Besides, I'm not so sure just how eagle would taste on the dinner table.

While history has a way of changing with time, Arkansas' turkey hunting picture has changed little in recent years. In fact, only two changes were implemented for this fall's turkey seasons.

First, the fall gun season for these birds was shifted by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. And second, Turkey Zone 1A was closed to archery/crossbow hunting.

Otherwise, the song being sung is a familiar tune for Arkansas outdoorsmen. It is one that involves poor reproduction, spring cold spells and heavy rain from storm systems that ravaged the state during nesting seasons in recent years. There are also problems involving predation and habitat destruction by other species, such as feral hogs.

But there is hope for those wanting to bag a big bird this fall, according to Mike Widner, the turkey program coordinator for the AGFC. Much of that hope resides in the Ozark Plateaus of northern and western Arkansas.

WHERE TO GO?
"Currently, Zone 17 along the Mississippi has the densest population." Widner began. "But a great deal of that land is tied up in private farming operations, meaning there is little public access there."

Next on the list of geographic regions, though, are the eastern and central Ozarks. And the Arkansas River Valley that separates the Ozarks from the Ouachita Mountains to the south also ranks high in turkey population density.

Unlike Zone 17, the opportunities for hunting public ground abound in the Ozarks. There are several AGFC wildlife management areas, with many of those being surrounded or touched by some parcel of the Ozark National Forest's 1.2 million acres.

"The eastern Ozarks have some of the best turkey numbers in upland areas of Arkansas because habitat conditions are better there than in many other areas," Widner said. "It has a good mix of large-block areas of mature hardwoods -- and some mixed-in pine, open areas for broods, old fields and brushy areas for nesting and some agricultural crops in bottomland areas. Many other areas in the rest of the state are either too heavily wooded -- both national forests and south Arkansas -- or too open -- agricultural areas in the Delta or the Arkansas River Valley."

Widner noted that only zones 3 and 6 will be open to fall gun turkey hunting this year in the Ozarks, with the remaining open zones -- zones 1, 2 and 7A -- allowing only archery and crossbow hunting for the birds.

Regarding gun hunting in those former two zones, he said, "Of the two, private and public lands in Zone 3 should have greater opportunities than most areas in Zone 6, although there may be exceptions. With regard to the public lands, Harold E. Alexander Spring River WMA, Shirey Bay/Rainey Brake WMA and Norfork Lake WMA should present good opportunities for fall turkey harvest."

Taking a closer look at those areas, we find Harold E. Alexander Spring River WMA in Sharp County, about six miles south of Hardy and five miles east of Highland. The WMA is on the eastern edge of the Ozarks and encompasses more than 13,000 acres.