Arkansas turkey season ‘best since 2016’ according to Game and Fish Commission

Written By Apo May 16, 2025 Add Comment

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – Officials with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission said the 2025 season was the largest in the state in nearly a decade.

Officials said hunters harvested 11,332 turkeys during the season, which ended Sunday. This is a 22% jump from the 2024 season and the state’s largest harvest since 2016.

David Moscicki, AGFC Turkey Program coordinator, says the increase is likely the result of good weather and more birds on the landscape from previous years.

“This is the fifth year in a row of increasing turkey harvest, so it wasn’t done overnight,” Moscicki said. “The vast majority of the birds hunters harvested this year hatched at least two years ago.”

Moscicki said weather is important in setting the stage for the season, both during the hunt and during the brood-rearing season two years prior. He said Arkansas has had a good string of turkey hatches for the last four years, which has fed the steady increase in harvest.

“Two years ago was a good hatch, and fortunately, last year’s hatch was excellent in many areas of the state, according to brood survey data,” Moscicki said. “We hope to see the trend continue as there should be a good amount of carryover from those Jakes to adult gobblers for next spring.”

Easton Begoon harvested this rare Erythristic turkey during the 2025 Special Youth Turkey Hunt. Photo courtesy Hunter Begoon.
AGFC Private Lands Biologist David Graves and Chad McFadden show off two public land gobblers taken on opening morning. Photo courtesy David Graves.
AGFC Biologist from Northeast Arkansas, Zack Yancey, with a good tom taken this season. Photo courtesy Zack Yancey.

Fantastic weather throughout this year’s hunting season also played a key role in the excellent harvest.

“There were very few days of rain or cold in the season, which led to good activity from birds and increased participation from hunters,” Moscicki said. “We’ll be compiling all of the Spring Turkey Hunter Survey data and remote gobbling recorder data at the end of the month, but it won’t surprise me to see a good increase in hunter activity from last year.”

The record year for Arkansas turkey hunters was 2003, when 19,934 were harvested.

from KARK https://ift.tt/oJut2n7