2022-23 deer harvest up from 2021-22 season

2022-23 deer harvest up from 2021-22 season

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas’s 2022-23 deer season concluded Feb. 28, and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s deer program coordinator expects the final harvest totals to finish higher than last year’s 181,379 total, but likely down about 15,000 deer from where the state has averaged during the last decade. “I’d expect around 185,000 deer harvested…

More rain should spread out waterfowl as season winds down

LITTLE ROCK – Heavy rainfall passing through Arkansas on Wednesday should put flood more waterfowl hunting areas as the duck season hits its final stretch with 14 days to go. Mild springlike temperatures since Sunday could have ducks thinking it’s time to migrate north. This weather pattern comes just as Arkansas Game and Fish Commission…

Follow important safety guidelines to enjoy outdoor activities

Follow important safety guidelines to enjoy outdoor activities

LITTLE ROCK — During the cooler months in Arkansas, there are many opportunities for outdoor fun, such as hunting, camping and riding all-terrain vehicles. While enjoying these activities in the Natural State, it’s important to follow safety guidelines to avoid accidents and injuries. Jesse Bocksnick, extension 4-H outdoor skills coordinator for the University of Arkansas…

With deep freeze over, hunters have uninterrupted hunting

With deep freeze over, hunters have uninterrupted hunting

LITTLE ROCK – Arkansas waterfowl hunters endured a deep freeze leading into last weekend, and now temperatures will take an upward trend as the state’s 60-day season has reached its midpoint. There are no more splits left in the season as it runs uninterrupted through Jan. 31. Long-range weather forecasts indicate temperatures ranging as high as 68…

Duck season opens with water concerns throughout State

Duck season opens with water concerns throughout State

LITTLE ROCK – An abnormally dry late summer and fall figure to play a part in the nine-day opening section of Arkansas’s 60-day duck season, which starts statewide Saturday morning, 30 minutes before sunrise. Several of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s public hunting areas have had good amount of available food and cover for migrating waterfowl,…

Free CWD testing available for Arkansas deer hunters

Free CWD testing available for Arkansas deer hunters

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is offering a variety of options to have harvested deer tested for chronic wasting disease for free throughout the 2022-23 deer hunting season. This year, the AGFC will continue its extensive system of drop-off containers throughout the state, as well as its work with taxidermists and…

South Arkansas deer hunting open house and virtual meeting address regulation changes, management assistance

South Arkansas deer hunting open house and virtual meeting address regulation changes, management assistance

LITTLE ROCK – The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is encouraging hunters in Ashley, Bradley and Union counties to participate in one of two special meetings this week devoted to deer hunting regulations and deer herd health in south Arkansas following the detection of chronic wasting disease in Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge during the 2021-22…

Apply for an Arkansas elk hunting permit beginning May 1

Apply for an Arkansas elk hunting permit beginning May 1

LITTLE ROCK – The application period for Arkansas’s public land elk hunting permits is open from 8 a.m., May 1 until 11:59 p.m. June 1. Hunters interested in pursuing Arkansas’s largest big-game animal can apply beginning May 1 at https://ar-web.s3licensing.com and select the Special Hunt Applications button to begin the process. Eighteen public land elk…

Comment on proposals for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 hunting and fishing seasons

Comment on proposals for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 hunting and fishing seasons

LITTLE ROCK — Commissioners with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission heard proposals for regulations changes during three days of committee and commission meetings held last week at the Witt Stephens Jr. Central Arkansas Nature Center in Little Rock and the University of Arkansas at Monticello. Now the AGFC would like to present those same…

Habitat conditions falling into place for Strong finish to season

Habitat conditions falling into place for Strong finish to season

Little Rock, Arkansas – With a deep freeze headed toward Arkansas, snow expected to be covering southeast Missouri, and with the recent rainfall that has filled the public hunting areas in state, habitat conditions for duck hunters should this weekend be the best they’ve been all year long. Friday and Saturday morning, waterfowl hunters may…

Dry conditions still prevail with Saturday’s restart of duck season

Dry conditions still prevail with Saturday’s restart of duck season

LITTLE ROCK – Duck season restarts for waterfowl hunters on Saturday, Dec. 11, and those hunters maybe facing worse conditions than when the 60-day season officially opened Nov. 20.  “It’s doing nothing but getting drier on the landscape,” Luke Naylor, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission waterfowl program coordinator, said Wednesday. “Conditions may be declining,…