Surplus turkey permits available

There’s still a chance to get a permit to hunt some of Arkansas’ most popular areas for turkeys. All leftover permits will be available at www.agfc.com on a firstcome, first-served online sale beginning 8 a.m. March 12.

The drawing for all wildlife management area turkey hunt permits occurred Feb. 20. All applicants were notified via email of their permit status. Each applicant’s status still is available through the Game and Fish licensing site.

Hunters interested in purchasing a leftover permit also can visit the licensing site. Applicants should click on the “Buy a License, Check Game” button in the top right of the page and then click “WMA Applications.” Once they have entered their personal information, they will be able to choose from the remaining permits and complete their purchase.

With nearly 3,300 applicants for the turkey permits and more than 250 applicants for the youth turkey permits, there always are some people who do not draw for the limited hunts. There also are a few hunts that don’t receive enough applicants to fill their quota.

Just because there weren’t enough applicants for a hunt doesn’t mean the area is a poor hunting location. Some wildlife management areas that have excellent success rates often fly under the radar because all the attention is placed on one or two standout areas. In some cases, very good areas are left as a fallback option, in case hunters don’t draw the more popular hunts.

Most of Arkansas’ wildlife management areas with the highest turkey harvests do not require drawn permits because they are large enough to accommodate many hunters at a time. The Ozark National Forest area, Mount Magazine area and Winona area typically rank in the top five wildlife management areas for harvest. All are open to hunting without a specially drawn permit.

Each leftover permit requires a $5 processing fee. Each hunter may purchase one permit for each of the remaining wildlife management area permit hunts. There is no limit to the number of permits a person may buy, but many of the hunts are on the same days, so hunters should pay attention to the hunt dates as well as the location before purchasing.

Visit www.agfc.com/turkey and click on “WMA Turkey Hunt Permits” to see the list of remaining permits.