LITTLE ROCK – The heat of summer often leads anglers to large rivers and the promise of large catfish and an extended period of fish activity thanks to current keeping surface water moving and slightly cooler than in backwaters and reservoirs. But traveling on a river like the Arkansas can be a daunting task for…
LITTLE ROCK – Timber companies play an important role in Arkansas’s economy, and the partnerships established between the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and these firms positively affect fish and wildlife species on the lands that they own and manage. It is important to remember that managing properties for timber production or for fish and…
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas annual hunting licenses expire June 30 each year. If you have not yet renewed your license, all it takes is a few minutes to make sure you’re ready for another year in Arkansas’s great outdoors. A hunting license is more than your ticket to another great year chasing deer, ducks, squirrel…
HOT SPRINGS — With Independence Day falling on a Monday this year, many people are taking full advantage of an extended stay at their favorite lakeside retreat. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is asking that everyone enjoying the revelry be aware of the dangers brought about by drinking while aboard a boat. To help…
With more than 800,000 visitors a year, the Buffalo National River is one of the leading tourist destinations in Arkansas. This year, the Buffalo National River celebrates its 50th anniversary as a unit of the National Park Service. Former Congressman John Paul Hammerschmidt and former Senators J. William Fulbright and John L. McClellan introduced the…
LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Director Austin Booth applauded the passage of the Recovering America’s Wildlife Act on Tuesday by the U.S. House of Representatives. Booth compared HR 2773 as the modern-day equivalent of the Pittman-Robertson and Dingell-Johnson Acts. These two pieces of legislation have funded the conservation efforts that fueled the…
It’s always a good time to subscribe to Arkansas Wildlife, the bimonthly magazine produced by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, although this may be the best time of year. The July-August issue of the magazine is the calendar edition, full of information about the Arkansas outdoors such as hunting dates and sunrise/sunset times, and…
Turtles are on the move all over Arkansas, and many can be found alongside roads in rural and suburban areas thanks to a wet, relatively cool spring that created excellent foraging areas in ditches and grassy areas beside the hustle of daily traffic. Many turtles are finishing up their annual breeding and egg-laying cycles, which…
Applications for the 2022 Arkansas alligator season are available at www.agfc.com from 8 a.m., June 15 through midnight, June 30. Anyone interested in pursuing alligators on public land in Arkansas must apply for one of the six hunting locations within two of Arkansas’s three open Alligator Management Zones. The 2022 alligator permit draw will have…
As summer approaches in the Natural State, many Arkansans will take to hiking trails, campgrounds, lakes, rivers and favorite swimming holes to enjoy time outdoors. While doing so, it’s important to be aware of Arkansas’ native snakes – including six venomous species – and how to avoid them. Arkansas has 39 native snake species. Six…
STUTTGART — Set among a backdrop filled with the sounds of soft greeting calls and the smells of a duck blind breakfast, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson joined the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation and Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to unveil the 41st annual state duck stamp in front of the crowd gathered in Stuttgart…
LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas is blessed with an abundance of wildlife and their offspring. Throughout the spring and summer, it is not uncommon to come across unattended baby wild animals. But alone doesn’t mean orphaned when it comes to wildlife. Many people discover apparently lost or abandoned wildlife young and take them in, thinking they…
LITTLE ROCK — The application period for special deer hunting permits on many wildlife management areas in Arkansas is open until 11:59 p.m. July 1, and hunters will notice many new opportunities, thanks to regulations passed during the May Commission meeting. Many WMAs managed by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission are open during fall…
LITTLE ROCK — As temperatures warm up and the school year winds down, Arkansas families are preparing to spend more time outside during the summer months. While the Natural State offers plenty of opportunities for fun in the sun, it’s important to practice sun safety by using sunscreen, avoiding prolonged sun exposure and wearing protective…
LITTLE ROCK – The Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial beginning of summer for Arkansas’s boating fraternity. It’s one of the busiest times on the water, but can be one of the most dangerous if proper precautions aren’t taken. “Thousands of people hit the water for a day in the sun, but many do so…
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Planting strawberries in the fall to get a robust crop the following spring is typical with growers. But how late is too late for fall planting of strawberries in Arkansas? The Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station, the research arm of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture, conducted a three-year study to provide…
LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is offering scholarships for any student interested in a conservation career. Applications will be accepted until June 15 for the fall 2022 semester. Scholarships are available for any Arkansas resident paying in-state tuition with a declared major related to conservation or agriculture. A complete list of…
LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission today unanimously approved a package of regulations changes that included the adoption of a new waterfowl season structure, beginning with the 2023-24 seasons. The upcoming waterfowl season will follow the same format as last season, with the following dates: 2022-23 Arkansas Waterfowl SeasonsDuck, Coot and Merganser…
LITTLE ROCK — Natural State turkey hunters saw an uptick in checked birds during this spring’s three-week turkey hunting season, which ran from April 18 to May 8. Hunters checked 7,578 turkeys, an 8 percent increase from last year’s 7,013-bird total. That number also includes harvest totals from the state’s youth hunters who enjoyed a…
SPRINGDALE — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, will host a free one-day workshop for anyone interested in learning about wildlife rehabilitation and the rules concerning rehabilitating native animals in Arkansas at 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. May 21 at the J.B. and Johnelle Hunt Family Ozark Highlands Nature Center. This workshop was originally planned for February…