By Joe Mosby
Arkansas News Correspondent
LITTLE ROCK —
A sharply divided state Game and Fish Commission voted today to cancel the fall turkey hunting season in Arkansas.
The commission’s 4-3 vote came just a week before archery and crowbow hunters were scheduled to take to the woods Oct. 1. Gun turkey season was scheduled for later in the month.
The panel also voted to limit boat motors to 50 hp in the Henry Gray/Hurricane Lake Wildlife Management Area and expand the trout fishing catch and release area on North Fork River to about 2 miles, short of the originally proposed 2.6 miles.
Commissioner Emon Mahony of El Dorado proposed closing the fall season. He voted for the closure, along with commissioners Craig Campbell and Rick Watkins, both of Little Rock, and commissioner Ron Pierce of Mountain Home.
Commissioners George Dunklin of DeWitt and Ron Duncan of Springdale voted against the measure, along with commission chairman Brett Morgan of Little Rock.
Supporters of closing the fall turkey hunting season pointed to declining numbers of birds taken. Last year, 522 turkeys were checked by hunters in the fall hunting season, about 5 percent of the total taken in all turkey hunting. The spring season is the main event for turkey hunters.
Game and Fish staff said poor reproduction in many areas of the state caused the decline in numbers. Turkey biologist Mike Widner predicted declines in numbers next spring and the year after.
Widner gave staff proposals that also included closing the 2010 fall season and four options for season dates, some with a slightly fewer number of days than were open for turkey hunting in 2009. The commissioners will set the 2010 turkey season at their October meeting.
The cap on outboard motors on Henry Gray/Hurricane Lake followed commission votes last month to put a 25 hp limit on a number of other management areas used by waterfowl hunters. The larger limit on Henry Gray/Hurricane Lake is because boats must travel on the White River at times.
A similar limit on boat motors for Rex Hancock/Black Swamp WMA did not get a motion by the commissioners.
The catch and release issue on the North Fork River has festered for at least two years with the commission and with trout fishermen and area businesses.
Several catch and release areas were established a number of years ago on Arkansas trout waters with the goal of letting trout grow to larger sizes under this protection. This has not been achieved in many areas, according to the AGFC’s fisheries staff.
North Fork River is five miles from Norfolk Dam to the junction with the White River, but it is a highly popular trout fishing hotspot.
Some anglers, especially fly fishermen, have wanted the entire river made a catch and release area. Others, including live bait fishermen, have wanted the current catch and release rule removed.
Watkins, Pierce, Campbell and Mahony voted for the new designation for the catch and release area. Dunklin and Duncan voted against it.
Under the action taken today, the new catch and release area will be “from the downstream end of Long Hole to the Bill Ackerman/River Ridge Walk-in Access as indicated by signs.”
Only artificial lures with barbless hooks can be used. Natural or scented baits are prohibited. Chumming (putting out food to attract fish) is prohibited. The change is effective Jan. 1.
