As of Monday, with six days left in the season, hunters checked 12,666 wild turkeys in Arkansas.

That’s a increase of 1,334 gobblers, approximately 12%, checked during the 2025 spring season. The 2025 official tally of 11,332 gobblers was a 24% increase over 2024.

These stats are noteworthy because they illustrate a consistent uptick in hunter success, which should represent corresponding growth in the statewide turkey population. The growth trend also rebuts complaints that Arkansas intentionally suppresses hunter success by opening its spring turkey season too late, after gobblers are reputably less vocal.

Anecdotal observations are situational and specific to a particular time and location. They are not scientific, but field reports are all we have to evaluate turkey behavior in the field. Two hunters in northern Grant County told us on Tuesday that they worked vocal gobblers on the last week of the season in turkey management zone 2. One of the hunters, Alan Thomas of Conway, said that a strutting gobbler, with a subordinate in tow, hung up about 75 yards away.

“I had my gun up for 27 minutes,” Thomas said. “I needed him to come about 12 or 15 more steps, but he wouldn’t do it, and I wasn’t going to shoot that far.”

Thomas said he might have considered taking the shot with tungsten super shot loads. Nevertheless, he said he was satisfied with the experience because he gets more satisfaction from working a bird in close than merely tagging a bird.

Thomas said he hunted in a small section of hardwoods where the open ground story created very long sight lines.

“Turkeys love it,” Thomas said. “That kind of habitat is great for turkeys, but it’s not great for hunting. They can see a long way.”

Thomas’s hunting companion worked a different gobbler that bellowed for a very long time. The companion abandoned the effort after the bird went silent. He gathered his gear and found the gobbler strutting in the middle of a nearby road.

Our point is that for every hunter who is disgruntled over what they believe to be unfair season dates, there are at least 12,666 other hunters who are happy. Others, like Thomas, worked birds that they didn’t kill.

Still, it’s easy to see why some hunters resent our spring turkey season structure. Before our season opens, many Arkansans hunt in states that have more liberal seasons. They hire guides and kill three gobblers in Texas in March. They have success in Mississippi and Alabama in March. March is the peak of breeding season, when it is easiest to work a gobbler.

Then they come home and get humbled.

The spring season in south Arkansas opens April 13. It opens April 20 in north Arkansas. That is after the peak of the breeding season. Arkansas doesn’t have as many turkeys as other southern states. That combination makes Arkansas a harder place to kill turkeys. Many hunters are proud of that because killing a turkey here is quite an achievement.

Missouri, the gold standard for turkey hunting, opened its spring season April 20, on a Monday. That is the standard to which Arkansas aspires. It is achievable on a smaller scale because we are a smaller state with a fraction of the turkey habitat that Missouri has.

I wish I could make sense of turkey gobbling behavior. I have had some epic hunts with very vocal gobblers late in the season, including on the closing day. I’ve had them slip in silently on opening day, and I’ve had them walk up so loudly crunching sticks and leaves that I was initially alarmed that another hunter was stalking my calls.

Once, at a camp in southeast Arkansas, Sheffield Nelson and I watched a gobbler stroll through the middle of camp gobbling non-stop in the middle of a hot day. Mostly, my experience in Arkansas involved one or two gobblers traveling apart from hens. They are generally not loquacious birds, and they only gobbled after I provoked them with aggressive calling.

That frustrates hunters who are accustomed to working multiple gobblers in other states. Some feel entitled to that degree of activity.

For turkey hunting, Arkansas is the big leagues. The birds themselves are a big reason for that, but our late season structure contributes to the difficulty level.

I haven’t killed a gobbler this season, but I tip my cap to the many others that did.

A Delaware bill creating a film production tax credit cleared its first hurdle May 6, advancing out of the House Revenue & Finance Committee.

Several states offer film and television production tax credits and other incentives to lure projects, often to boost jobs, tourism and visibility.

Delaware does not – at least for now.

The proposal mirrors a recommendation in Delaware’s 5% operational spending growth and accompanying revenue plan, released alongside Gov. Matt Meyer’s proposed fiscal year 2027 budget, and would put the state in line with most of the country.

ICYMI: Delaware looks at $10M film tax credit. Will it bring Hollywood money?

What does the bill do? 

Backed by House Majority Leader Kerri Evelyn Harris, this House bill would create a new film production tax credit for the First State.  

Delaware remains one of a few states that does not already have a film tax credit or a similar incentive in place, according to the Dover Democrat.  

This means that spending in these sectors – from hotel stays to equipment rentals – is going to other states.  

And while other revenue streams have served and continue to serve Delaware well, Harris said, it is also crucial to ensure the state is positioned “for the next generation of economic growth.” 

The bill would offer eligible productions – including films, TV shows and video games — a nonrefundable tax credit equal to 30% of qualified expenses, usable against personal income and corporate taxes.

ORLANDO, Fla. – Over the past couple of years, experts have noticed a heavy decrease in lovebugs across Central Florida.

However, that trend may have just been reversed.

Lovebugs are known for flying through the air while getting “stuck” together during their explosive breeding seasons, causing plenty of splatters on the front of people’s cars.

But in recent years, Florida natives have noticed a stark drop in the number of these pests flitting about.

During a 2024 conversation with Dr. Norman Leppla — a professor at the University of Florida specializing in pest management — he explained that lovebugs’ disappearance was part of a larger trend.

“I really don’t know why, but we’re having a crisis globally with the loss of insect species and all kinds of other organisms just plain disappearing. And we’re quite worried about it,” he said at the time.

[ Where did all the lovebugs go?]

But this week, News 6 reached out for a follow-up after several members in the newsroom noticed more lovebugs in the air this year.

“Your newsroom members are correct in noticing more lovebugs than last year,” Leppla wrote. “I have seen some in North Central Florida during the past couple of weeks where there were none last year. They certainly aren’t abundant, however.”

According to Leppla, the number of lovebugs you see flying around depends on the survival of larvae, which in turn depend on continuous moisture to feed and develop.

Female lovebugs can lay hundreds of eggs, but if the environment is too dry or submerged for too long, the larvae end up dying — resulting in fewer lovebugs.

Typically, lovebug season pops up twice per year in Florida: in April to May, and August to September.

Per Leppla, lovebugs actually reached nuisance levels last month down south in places ranging from the Florida Keys up through Ft. Myers.

“They probably occurred in swarms along the lower east coast, as well,” he continued. “They will continue to be relatively abundant in local habitats where larvae can develop. Lovebugs will exist as far north as the climate will enable the larvae to survive.

However, lovebugs aren’t originally from Florida.

They actually hail from the Yucatán in Mexico, having traveled into the Gulf Coast through Texas during the early-to-mid 1900s. In the Sunshine State, they weren’t seen until around 1950.

That means that even if lovebugs really did disappear from Florida, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’re gone for good.

“They live in that tropical habitat, and they came here as our habitat became more conducive to lovebugs,” Leppla previously explained. “That’s usually what happens. And so they spread, and they can certainly just recede right back to the tropics.”

[ Don’t touch these fuzzy Florida bugs!]

But that begs the question: what are the impacts of lovebugs possibly disappearing from Florida?

The short answer? Not much.

In fact, lovebug guts reportedly contain an enzyme that can eat through the clearcoat of a vehicle, which can damage the vehicle’s paint. As such, it could be good news for drivers.

“It’s not going to cause a lot of issues for the folks here in Florida,” Leppla stated. “Only the car wash people.”

Leppla gave News 6 a few tips to keep the pesky insects away. Here’s what you should know:

• Lovebugs are attracted to light colors, so you can avoid wearing light-colored clothing and being near light-colored walls to not draw them in

• They are also bad flyers, so you can use a fan to blow them away

• Lastly, lovebugs don’t fly at night and take a break around noon, so if you limit outdoor exposure during the morning and afternoon times you may be able to avoid them