Arkansas hunters harvest over 11,000 turkeys during the hunting season
According to Arkansas Game and Fish, more than 11,000 turkeys were harvested in the state during Arkansas’s turkey hunting season which just ended on Sunday.
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — According to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC), there were over 11,000 turkeys harvested in the state during Arkansas’s turkey hunting season which recently ended on Sunday.
In total, hunters reported 11,332 turkeys harvested during the state’s turkey hunting season — this number acts as a 22% increase from what Arkansas saw in the 2024 season and is the best turkey season since 2016.
“This is the fifth year in a row of increasing turkey harvest, so it wasn’t done overnight,” said David Moscicki, AGFC Turkey Program coordinator. “The vast majority of the birds hunters harvested this year hatched at least two years ago. Annual turkey harvest variability is highly linked to weather, both during the hunting season and during the brood-rearing season two years prior.”
Moscicki attributed the rising number to two key factors: great weather and more birds that were out and about. He also said that Arkansas has had a good string of turkey hatches over the last four years, which has helped 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.”
For the hunters and outdoors enthusiasts that are interested in reporting, you can sign up and report turkeys you see throughout early summer through AGFC’s Wild Turkey and Northern Bobwhite Population Survey.