The calendar says turkey hunting season should be open all over Arkansas.

But Mother Nature - and officials from the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission - say no.

Heavy flooding and limited access have forced the AGFC to close spring turkey season within certain boundaries of the state.

Most of the trouble is in Turkey Zone 17 - the very area many of our Mid-South hunters often choose to hunt.

The AGFC issued a release Thursday, saying all turkey hunting must cease on private and public lands “lying within Turkey Zone 17.” The closure will remain in place until further notice.

“We waited as long as possible to close these areas,” said Ricky Chastain, AGFC assistant chief of wildlife management, in a statement to Mid-South news media Thursday night. “The last thing we want to do is take away opportunity for the hunters. But the conditions in the closed areas are too dangerous to hunt and we don’t want to place additional stress on wildlife in the flooded areas.”

The cancellations will include:

All permit hunts on Rex Hancock Black Swamp Wildlife Management

All hunting on the:

North and South Units of White River NWR

Cache River National Wildlife Refuge

Pond Creek National Wildlife Refuge

Permit holders of cancelled hunts will have their money refunded and have their preferred hunts made available when conditions allow.

The AGFC is urging turkey hunters to use extreme caution when accessing a flooded area by boat. Strong currents and large chunks of floating debris can cause accidents. Those accessing their hunting areas by boat are urged to wear their personal flotation devices while on the water.

The AGFC also reminds hunters that it is illegal to hunt turkeys from a boat or other floating object. It is unlawful (and pretty lousy, if you ask me) to kill animals, including turkeys, that are fleeing from a flood.

Just wait til the floods recede.

It’s not worth breaking the law or getting yourself killed to bag an Arkansas longbeard.

I’ve been in sports TV exile over the past 2.5 days. I have avoided ESPN, FSN, read any websites or anything else that would be considered sports. I just couldn’t take it. Yes, I know that’s probably a bit overboard but, as Cal would say, “it is what it is.” You saw the game I don’t need to talk about it. It speaks for itself.
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A couple nuggets today culled from conversations with people close to the Memphis program.

– Assistant coach Chuck Martin will interview Thursday for the head coaching job at Marist. It’s a good job in the MAAC and would be a great opportunity for him.

– No word yet on whether Derrick Rose and Chris Douglas-Roberts will declare for the NBA Draft. Though clearly they are expected to, there’s no rush. For Rose, the only issue is his maturity. The whole tummyache thing because you like to eat Twizzlers and Sour Patch Kids is cute when you’re in college. Not so much when you’re a pro. For CDR, the issue is where he’s going to be selected. If he comes back for his senior year, he’ll probably go higher simply because next year’s draft is so much weaker. John Calipari will help him get all the information possible before he makes a decision.

– Things are progressing as far as John Calipari’s contract. This isn’t like a couple years ago, when Calipari was so upset about the negotiations that he nearly went to N.C. State. R.C. Johnson and others in powerful positions have been very proactive this time around. People in the Memphis administration understand what they have and what they stand to lose if Calipari gets away. The going rate at the top of the profession is somewhere between $2.5 and $3 million, and at the end of the day, I believe that’s what Calipari will make at Memphis next season.

All day yesterday, I fully expected to be covering the 9 a.m. press conference for the national champions. At about 10:25 last night, I would have bet the farm on it. Instead, I’m ready to get home and begin a very long offseason in which we’ll probably be re-living and writing about what happened Monday night countless times. How can we not?

It was a historic collapse, something that won’t ever be forgotten. Any time a team is up 7 or 8 points in a national championship game with the clock winding down, Memphis’ 2008 loss will be talked about.

Was it free throws? Sure, Memphis could have won it once and for all at the line. If Derrick Rose makes 2-of-2 intead of 1-of-2, the Tigers win. If CDR doesn’t tense up with 16.8 left — and he was tense — the Tigers likely cut down the nets. But the play of the game was the inbounds pass Sherron Collins stole from Antonio Anderson. If Anderson gets the ball safely to Rose, he goes to the line with about 1:45 to go up by seven points. Maybe he makes both; maybe he just makes one. Either way, the Tigers probably would have put enough distance between themselves and Kansas right there to clinch it. Instead, a 9-point lead turns to 4 in a matter of 10 seconds. That changed the entire strategy in the final 1:40. Suddenly, every dribble and free throw was huge. If Rose goes to the line with a 7 point lead, he probably makes both simply because the pressure isn’t as great.

Joey Dorsey’s fifth foul with 1:23 to go was also another major mental error. It’s bad on three levels. 1) It stops the clock. 2) It fouls Dorsey out. 3) It allows Kansas to cut it from six to four on free throws.

The third gaffe belongs to John Calipari, and he will forever have to own it. He says he was trying to foul before Mario Chalmers got off the tying shot. But he should have called timeout after Rose made the second free throw. You have to call timeout there. Make sure everybody knows what is going on. Calling timeout is a no-lose situation. You let your defense get set up. You make Kansas inbound the ball. If you want to, you can even foul on the inbounds. If the Tigers foul, they win. Simple as that. Amazing.

Not fun to write about it, but it was a great season. Lots of things will be percolating in the coming weeks. We’ll do our best to have them for you first. Enjoy the offseason, as best you can.

Crappie USA held an event on Arkabutla Lake this past weekend that was miserable in almost every way.

The water was mudddy and high, and the fish just weren’t biting.

As evidence of that, Tracy McIntosh of Dyersburg and John Woods of Newbern took first place with seven crappie that weighed 9.16 pounds. Second place went to Tammy and Dennis Waters of Moro, Ill., with just 5.55.

Can you imagine driving all the way from Illinois for that?

In third place was the Iowa team of Ronald Giberson and John Simmons with 3.34. Again, that’s quite the drive for very little reward.

In the amateur division, Dan Scott of Raytown, Mo., and Gary Ficenic of Blue Springs, Mo., took first with 5.79.

What a dismal tournament.

On the other end of the spectrum, Paul Elias won the Bassmaster Elite Series Lone Star Shootout on Falcon Lake with a four-day total of 132-8. That’s an average of almost 7 pounds a fish and a new four-day record for BASS.

On Alabama’s Smith Lake, Californian Michael Bennett (pictured) won the FLW Tour event with a final round weight of 27-08. He edged Scott Canterbury of Odenville, Ala., who placed second with 24-5.

On Grenada Lake, Tim Blackley and Jackie Van Cleave won the Crappie Masters event with 15.28. Jim and Barbara Reedy were second with 14.62.

It’s five minutes to tip-off. I can only imagine what it’s like right now in the Tigers locker room. Are they destined to do this? Will they really be national champions in two hours? Not much to say. I believe they will.

Jesse Jackson and Gov. Bredesen are in the house tonight, as are assorted other dignitaries. But all the focus tonight should be on Memphis and, with a little luck, something big to celebrate tonight.

5 down, 1 to go.

Anyone who doubts this team now is just stupid. This team has justified themselves as one of the elite teams in college basketball. I’d like to say it doesn’t matter if they win tomorrow night or not. The truth is the Tigers must do win this or it goes down as just another season in most people’s eyes. We Tigers fans will always remember this team. When we’re old and gray we’ll tell our grandchildren about this team and season. But for a fan in another part of the country to remember this team, they have to be standing alone on the floor for “One Shining Moment.”
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