No jakes rule in Arkansas working for better turkey hunting

CRC

Old Mossy Horns
Douglas C. Osborne, University of Arkansas; Jason P., Honey, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission

Recruitment of sub-adult male eastern wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo silvestris; hereafter, juvenile) into the 2-year old male age-class is vital to maintain sustainable population dynamics, hunter harvest rates, and hunter satisfaction. In Arkansas, statewide spring turkey harvest has declined at an annual rate of 23% since 2003. To alleviate this declining trend and increase adult male turkey carryover into the spring hunting season the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission eliminated the fall turkey season during 2009 and implemented a statewide no-jake harvest regulation during 2011 (youth hunters are exempt and allowed to harvest one juvenile male turkey annually). The annual spring harvest rate of adult male turkeys has increased 15.7% since changes to the hunting regulations. We estimated survival rates of 41 juvenile male turkeys in Arkansas during 2013–2014 using satellite Global Positioning System (GPS) transmitters. We tracked juvenile male turkeys in 2 distinct physiographic regions of Arkansas that exhibited differing spring turkey harvest strategies including the Ozark Mountain region with unrestricted hunting access and the Gulf Coastal Plain with permit-only access. Juvenile survival appeared to be greater in the upland mixed hardwoods of the Ozark Mountains (0.71) compared to the short-rotation pine (Pinus spp.) plantation landscape of the Gulf Coastal Plain (0.51). However, survival rates of those juveniles that lived to become adults (>14 months of age) was greater in the Gulf Coastal Plain (0.75) where permit-only hunting for spring turkey is practiced compared to the Ozark Mountains (0.21) where hunter access was unrestricted. Overall, recent changes to turkey harvest regulations have been perceived positively by Arkansas turkey hunters as they report seeing and hearing more gobbling males while hunting during the 2014 spring season. We suggest the no-jake harvest regulation was an effective management tool for improving adult male carryover and subsequently turkey hunter success and satisfaction in Arkansas.
 

hawglips

Old Mossy Horns
I wonder what "juvenile survival" (of .71 and .51) actually means - from what age to what age?
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
I think they mean that those are numbers that were able to live to at least 2 years When you population drops like theirs was especially the fact that it was ongoing trend and jut not couple seasons good the state took some measures. I know across the country the no jake rule except for youths is not popular but I have personally seen it work as far as putting more older birds in woods we have few thousand acres in VA that no one shoots jakes on and it stays loaded with mature birds. And really its no brainer if you numbers are dropping year after year the fall season has to go got to have hens before you can hope for population to rebound. Not every state can tolerate fall season. I think the big think is did they figure out the reason for the decline to start with of course they aren't the only southern state that is having declining turkey issues
 

Firedog

Old Mossy Horns
Contributor
I think I would be ok with a no jake rule if you could show me allowing them to get older actually improves flock numbers. Putting older birds in the woods is not a change to flock just to the age structure and therefor I am not sure I support the extra restriction.
 

turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
No jakes not necessary for our state fortunately our population is fairly stable except for normal up and down of hatches. For Arkansas it was case of just have to do something truthfully doing away with fall season probably did more than anything to help them older hens will have better chance of getting poults through the year and one way to have more and older hens is not kill them in fall who knows there could have been other factors that helped them to
 

hawglips

Old Mossy Horns
And how do you "estimate" the survival rate of 41 specific birds who have gps tracking devices on them?
 

hawglips

Old Mossy Horns
And what does it mean to say that the harvest rate of adult males has increased by 15.7 %?

I have no idea what this article is saying. Very poorly written.
 

wolfman

Old Mossy Horns
Says >14 months is what they consider an adult. Therefore, if a jake survives hunting season it is considered having lived to be an adult. Juvenile survival rates must be like our poult survey.

But if (.21) 21 % are making it to adulthood in the mountains, I don't see how you can blame hunting when only youth can shoot jakes. You have GPS tracking devices abut have to estimate survival rates? And if you have GPS tracking devices, you should be able to determine most of the ways a turkey has died. Anyone with a GPS shot by a hunter should have been reported to the Arkansas wildlife commission with some sort of reward like a duck band.

41 birds spread across an entire state is an awful small sample as well. I also didn't know Arkansas had a "Coastal Plain".
 

hawglips

Old Mossy Horns
So, if "juvenile survival rates" means those that survive to get counted as juveniles, did they count eggs or something? No, they just put the GPS devices on 41 jakes. It would be interesting to know how they got that rate - from when to when. And what would it have to do with hunting, given they have the survival rate to past hunting season (>14 months of age) with totally different numbers.

And if their number of 21% survival of jakes past hunting season is right - I'm with you - how can they blame hunting for anything? Not sure how one could think that no-jakes rule has done anything to help anything at all based on such thin and contradictory data, and given that the no-jakes rule was only one of several changes that have been made to AR's regulations.
 
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turkeyfoot

Old Mossy Horns
41 is tiny sample most likely the study is limited by funding just my guess, I would still say the doing away with fall has more to do with it than no jake rule and who knows could just be chance of some good hatches that has improved the flock hard to say without keeping up with it year after year. I hope they do rebound well Ozarks is on my to do list one these days as well as some trout fishing while I'm there pretty country
 
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