AGFC sets 2018-19 hunting seasons, Gov. Hutchinson proclaims Free Fishing Weekend

LITTLE ROCK – Commissioners unanimously approved a group of regulations today, effectively setting the season dates and bag limits for the 2018-19 hunting season for all species. The 2018-2019 Arkansas Season Dates are:

Deer

Archery:
Zones 1,1A, 2 3, 4, 4A, 4B, 5, 5A, 5B, 6, 6A, 7, 8, 8A, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 16A, 17 – Sept. 22, 2018-Feb. 28, 2019.

Muzzleloader:
Zones 1, 1A, 2, 3, 6, 6A, 7, 8, 8A, 10 and 11 – Oct. 20-28 and Dec. 8-10, 2018.
Zones 4A, 5A, 14, and 15 – Oct. 20-28 and Dec. 15-17, 2018.
Zones 9, 12, 13, 16, 16A and 17 – Oct. 20-28 and Dec. 29-31, 2018.

Modern Gun:
Zones 1, 1A, 2, 3, 6, 6A, 7, 8, 8A, 10 and 11 – Nov. 10-Dec. 2 and Dec. 26-28, 2018.
Zone 4 – Nov. 10-11 and Dec. 26-28, 2018.
Zone 5 – Nov. 10-11, Nov. 17-18 and Dec. 26-28, 2018.
Zones 4A, 5A, 14 and 15 – Nov. 10-Dec. 9 and Dec. 26-28, 2018.
Zones 4B and 5B: Nov. 10-18 and Dec. 26-28, 2018.
Zones 9, 12 and 13 – Nov. 10-Dec. 16 and Dec. 26-28, 2018.
Zones 16, 16A and 17 – Nov. 10-Dec. 28, 2018.

Private Land Antlerless Only Modern Gun Deer Hunt:
Statewide on all private land – Oct. 13-17, 2018.

Special Youth Modern Gun Deer Hunt:
Statewide – Nov. 3-4, 2018 and Jan. 5-6, 2019

Waterfowl

Early Teal Season:
Statewide – Sept. 15-30, 2018.

Early Canada Goose:
Statewide Sept. 1-30, 2018.

Duck, Coot and Merganser:
Nov. 17-25, Dec. 6-23 and Dec. 26, 2018-Jan. 27, 2019.

Canada, White-fronted, Snow, Blue and Ross’s Goose:
Oct. 27-29, Nov. 17-30, Dec. 2, 2018-Jan. 27, 2019.

Special Youth Waterfowl Hunt:
Dec. 1, 2018 and Feb. 2, 2019.

Bear

Archery:
Zones 1 and 2 – Sept. 22-Nov. 30, 2018.
Zones 3, 4, 5, 5A, 6 and 7 – closed

Muzzleloader:
Zones 1 and 2 – Oct. 20-28, 2018.
Zones 3, 4, 5, 5A, 6 and 7 – closed

Modern Gun:
Zones 1 and 2 – Nov. 10-30, 2018.
Zone 5 – Nov. 24-Dec. 2, 2018.
Zone 5A – Nov. 17-Dec. 2, 2018.
Zones 3, 4, 6 and 7 – closed

Special Youth Modern Gun Bear Hunt:
Zones 1 and 2 – Nov. 3-4, 2018.
Zones 3, 4, 5, 5A, 6 and 7 – closed.

Mourning, White-Winged and Eurasian Collared Dove

Statewide – Sept. 1-Oct. 28 and Dec. 8, 2018-Jan. 15, 2019.

Wild Turkey

Zones 1, 2, 3, 4B, 5, 5B, 6, 7, 7A, 8, 9, 10 and 17 – April 8-23, 2019.
Zones 1A, 4, 4A, 5A and 9A – April 8-16, 2019.

Special Youth Turkey Hunt:
Statewide (except WMAs): April 6-7, 2019.

In addition to season dates, many regulations were changed to offer more access and opportunity to hunters for 2018-19. Air rifles are now legal to hunt deer during modern gun deer season, as long as they fire a single, expandable projectile .40-caliber or larger, are powered by an external pump or tank and produce at least 400 foot-pounds of energy at the muzzle.

“We have really worked hard to simplify and liberalize regulations as we can to make hunting less intimidating and allow people to focus on what’s important when they’re out in the woods,” said AGFC Director Pat Fitts.

Waterfowl hunters on wildlife management areas again will have an extra hour after shooting time ends at noon to be off inundated waters, in response to massive public support. Also the daily bag limits for all WMAs will match the statewide bag limit of six ducks.

Many changes also have liberalized seasons or limits on individual WMAs during deer season, and the process to apply for a private land elk permit has been simplified to run through the same online system as other drawn permits. The alligator hunt tagging and checking process also saw some major streamlining, and Alligator Zone 2, comprising south-central Arkansas, will be opened for the first time this year. A complete list of changes and justifications for those changes is available at https://www.agfc.com/en/resources/regulations/code.

Andy Goodman, chief legislative aide for Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s office, read a proclamation signed by Hutchinson declaring the time period from noon, June 8 until midnight June 10 as Free Fishing Weekend in Arkansas. During this time, all license and permit requirements to fish in the state are lifted, allowing anyone to get out and enjoy fishing without the purchase of a license or trout permit. All other fishing regulations, including bag limits and size requirements for certain bodies of water are still in effect during Free Fishing Weekend. Information on fishing regulations are available in a current Arkansas Fishing Guidebook.

In other business, the Commission:

• Signed a memorandum of agreement with the Arkansas Department of Transportation to bring 640 acres of ARDOT wetland mitigation property into the AGFC’s system of wildlife management areas to open access to public hunting.
• Accepted a land donation of 7 acres of waterfront property upstream from Rim Shoals from Hugh McClain of Mountain Home.
• Approved the purchase of 0.68 acres near Winkley Shoals on the Little Red River for a future public fishing access.
• Approved the removal of outdated and obsolete inventory with an original cost of $575,940 and a current net book value of $52,966.

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Public meetings, survey on CWD available online

FORT SMITH – More than 250 concerned hunters filled the seats at two meetings held in northwest Arkansas last week focused on the most recent information and possible regulations changes concerning chronic wasting disease in The Natural State. The meetings, held in Fort Smith and Springdale, offered people a chance to hear and speak firsthand with biologists tracking the disease in Arkansas and attempting to slow its spread.

“The forum gave us an opportunity to speak directly to concerns hunters had and get feedback,” Jennifer Ballard, state wildlife veterinarian for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said. “People may be very nervous about CWD and what it means for our deer herd and for our hunters, so we’re trying to let people know everything we can about this disease and how our research is progressing.”

Prominent questions involved what to do with deer while waiting for CWD results to be returned and what to do to decontaminate any tools or processing equipment that may have handled CWD-infected animals.

“We are working to speed up the testing process as much as possible for hunters,” Ballard said. “And we are working with the Arkansas Department of Health to distribute as much information as possible to hunters and processors before the next deer season on best practices for handling wildlife and the latest information on the disease.”

In addition to the public in attendance, thousands of people have viewed the meeting via Facebook Live. Comments submitted through that channel also were answered by a panel of experts as the meeting took place. A link to the meetings is available at https://www.facebook.com/ARGameandFish/videos/10156327056788234/.

Key messages at the meeting centered on the recent suggestion from biologists to the Commission to add more counties to the CWD Management Zone, and to divide the zone based on the amount of positive cases found within that county. Boone, Carroll, Madison and Newton counties would encompass Tier One, from which no cervid (deer or elk) carcass other than deboned meat, hide, antlers, teeth, cleaned skulls and finished taxidermy products could be removed. Benton, Crawford, Franklin, Johnson, Logan, Pope, Searcy, Marion, Sebastian, Yell, Washington and Van Buren counties would become the second tier of the CWD Management Zone, from which the same products could not leave unless going to a Tier One county.

“Some counties have had only one or two positives, or have not had a positive, but are within 10 miles of one,” said Cory Gray, chief of the AGFC’s Research, Evaluation and Compliance Division. “We want to prevent deer carcasses from the hotter counties spreading the disease more quickly to those outer reaches of the zone.”

Anyone interested in reading these suggested changes and making a comment are encouraged to take the AGFC’s public comment survey at https://survey.agfc.com/index.php?r=survey/index&sid=479677&lang=en.

Visit www.arkansascwd.com for the latest information on chronic wasting disease in Arkansas.

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Mississippi discovers first case of chronic wasting disease

VICKSBURG – A tissue sample collected Jan. 25 from a free-ranging white-tailed deer in extreme southern Issaquena County, Mississippi, returned the first known positive test of chronic wasting disease in the state.
The 4½-year-old buck died about 8 miles north of Vicksburg and was reported to the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. The buck was found about 45 miles south-southeast of the southeastern corner of Arkansas.
According to a Feb. 9 press release, MDWFP implemented its CWD response plan, although the release did not go into detail about specific steps. Supplemental deer feeding was immediately banned in Claiborne, Hinds, Issaquena, Sharkey, Warren and Yazoo counties.
Issaquena County is across the Mississippi River from East Carroll Parish in Louisiana. Issaquena County, East Carroll Parish and Arkansas’s Chicot County meet in the southeastern corner of Arkansas and the northeastern corner of Louisiana. The northern boundary of Issaquena County is almost directly across the Mississippi River from the Arkansas-Louisiana state line.
Cory Gray, chief of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Research Education and Compliance Division, says biologists from Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana are already planning to meet and discuss future actions so each state can be on the same page.
“The discovery came at a difficult time to gather samples, as hunting season is nearly over in Arkansas with only a few bowhunters still looking for a deer,” Gray said. “We are reaching out to hunting clubs in the southeast corner of the state to keep a sharp eye out for any deer showing signs of CWD and to report it immediately.”
Gray says the AGFC plans to collect more hunter-harvested samples from the southeast corner of the state during the 2018-19 deer season. Other samples will come from target animals from public reports and roadkills.
“We are about to enter another season of collecting roadkill samples, and have already spoken to local biologists to increase that effort as much as possible,” Gray said. “From February 19 through April 1, we ask anyone seeing a road-killed deer to report it to our hotline at 1-800-482-9262. Anyone seeing any deer that shows signs of CWD should be reported to the same number immediately, day or night.”
For details about CWD developments in Mississippi, visit mdwfp.com.
For information about CWD in Arkansas, visit http://www.agfc.com/cwd.

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Hunter takes first deer at 77 years old

You’re never too hold to harvest your first deer, as Ron Goza proved late last year.

Goza is 77, and the button buck he took recently allowed him to receive the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s certificate for “My First Deer.”

“I’ve hunted with my son-in-law the past few years and tried to get one and just never did, year after year, just never did. But I always say, maybe next year, maybe next year,” he said.

“Next year” finally arrived for Goza on a cold morning a few weeks back. “I was out there again with my son-in-law and I told him when we saw a deer, ‘Son, this is it, or not at all.’ About two seconds later, I took the shot.”

Goza says he fired a shot from his .30-30 rifle that appeared to pass through one shoulder of the buck and out the other. The deer began to run. Goza’s first thoughts: “Oh, no.” But then after a few yards, the deer dropped near a creek.

“I was happy, really happy, honestly happy,” he exclaimed with such excitement apparent in his voice even a few weeks after the event.

Goza said he grew up getting to hunt some with his grandfather, but mostly for squirrels around his native Cleburne County. His granddad let him hunt with a .22 rifle. He remembered later taking three squirrels on one trip with a single-shot 12-guage. But he said he never had a chance for a deer when he was younger. He says it wasn’t until he was in his early 60s that the chance for a deer arrived. He now lives with his youngest daughter and son-in-law in Louann in southern Arkansas, where this deer was taken.

“I’ve just enjoyed it, I love hunting, just love it very much,” Goza said. “This looks like it was a young deer, really. It was a good, nice-sized deer. The meat was real tender. Our pastor and my son-in-law dressed it and I’ve got it in my freezer, though we ate some already.

“I’ll be looking for the big buck next year. But this was a dream come true. I couldn’t hardly believe it, that I actually got one, I really got one.”

Hunters of all ages can memorialize the unforgettable experience of a first big hunting or fishing moment with a full-color AGFC certificate: first deer, first fish, first turkey and first duck. Visit www.agfc.com/freepubs, scroll to the bottom and choose the certificate you want to display to commemorate the accomplishment. Fill out the Portable Document File (.pdf) online and print on your color printer, or download the photo placement version to customize the certificate with an image of the lucky hunter and their harvest.

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Deer harvest surpasses 200,000 for sixth straight year

      LITTLE ROCK – There’s still a month and a half left in deer season for archery hunters, but Arkansas’s deer harvest already topped the 200,000-mark at the conclusion of the second modern gun youth hunt held Jan. 6-7. This is the sixth straight year Arkansas hunters have reached this milestone.

Arkansas record harvest came in 2012, when hunters harvested 213,487 deer. Although this year’s harvest likely will fall short of that number, the season is fairly consistent with last year’s total harvest of 202,070.

Ralph Meeker, deer program coordinator, says the consistent harvest numbers from recent years are a good indication that Arkansas deer populations are beginning to stabilize.

“Balancing and stabilizing the state’s deer population are two of the goals of the AGFC Strategic Deer Management Plan,” Meeker said. “We want to balance the deer herd with the available habitat and the people who live in Arkansas. We’ve seen good growth for the last few decades, and now it’s time to maintain our deer where they are abundant for hunters, but not so much that they outgrow their habitat or people’s tolerance of them throughout the year.”

Meeker says one noticeable bright spot in this year’s season is the amount of deer being checked from Zone 12. Last year saw a noticeable decrease in harvest, particularly does, in that zone.

“So far, we’re back to similar harvests from the four or five years prior to last,” Meeker said.

Meeker says he’s also seen pictures of some impressive deer and heard about many more trophy-size bucks being taken this year than usual throughout the state.

“Last fall we had a great mast crop in much of the state, followed by a wet spring and early summer that allowed for good growth of natural vegetation. That combination provides a lot of good nutrition for developing antlers and weight gain,” Meeker said. “It will be interesting to see what comes in at this year’s Big Buck Classic.”

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