He named longtime wildlife biologist and AGFC assistant chief Garrick Dugger as the man who will lead this effort as the agency’s new chief of Private Lands Programs. In accordance with the AGFC’s new strategic plan, The Natural State Tomorrow, Booth announced the elevation of the AGFC’s Private Lands Program to become a major division at the agency. Habitat management across Arkansas’s landscape was a main focus of AGFC Director Austin Booth’s address to the Commission. “We can’t control weather, but the shorter later season sets the stage for our turkeys to take advantage of good weather like we had this year.” “The thing we have the most control over is our season structure,” Carner said. “But we’re just starting to move the needle and we hopefully will see increased response from the turkey population when those factors we can’t control line up.”īrad Carner, deputy director of the AGFC, also thanked commissioners for their continued support in setting conservative turkey season frameworks and continuing to support habitat improvements through the turkey program. “A lot of the habitat work we’ve done has really been small fish so far, relatively speaking,” Wood said. Woods credits good weather conditions during nesting and brood-rearing seasons for the observed increase in poult-per-hen ratio. We are seeing some decreased participation per observer, and we want to figure out a way to get more observations from each participant, but we are getting increased awareness overall.” “Five years ago about 50 percent of our turkey survey participants were in seven counties, but we’re seeing more widespread reports thanks to increased efforts to recruit observers. “We also continue to see increased participation throughout the state in the survey,” Wood said. Gobbler-to-hen ratios saw a decrease, but Wood explained that this is common during years of high reproduction. The ratio ranged from a high of 2.21 poults per hen in the Delta to a low of 1.46 poults per hen in the Ouachita Mountains. The survey ratio varied by region of the state, but overall the numbers were consistently positive. “Historically what biologists want to see is in the ballpark of 1.8 to 2 poults per hen,” Wood said. AGFC Turkey Program Coordinator Jeremy Wood gave some preliminary results of the 2022 Wild Turkey Population Survey, which indicates some of the best reproduction in parts of Arkansas since 2012.Īccording to Wood’s presentation, participants in the survey recorded an average of 1.79 poults per hen throughout spring and summer. and Johnelle Hunt Family Ozark Highlands Nature Center. SPRINGDALE - Commissioners with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission heard some good news about Arkansas’s turkey population during a presentation at today’s monthly meeting held at the J.B.
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