JASPER — Twenty elk were harvested during Arkansas’s 2024 season, including some impressive bulls, according to Wes Wright, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s elk program coordinator.
By Jeff Williams
Editor, Arkansas Wildlife Magazine
Of the 20, 14 were taken on private land and six from public land. Nine were bulls and 11 were antlerless. All nine bulls had racks of 5×5 (number of points on each antler) or greater, including a 7×7 and a 6×7. The hunts were Oct. 7-11 and Oct. 28-Nov. 1; youth hunts were Oct. 5-6 and Oct. 26-27.
James Wray, 32, experienced an amazing day of hunting on Richland Valley Elk Conservation Area, part of the Gene Rush Wildlife Management Area. The cotton, corn, rice and soybean farmer from Jonesboro took an elk in Utah a few years back but had not had a chance to chase them in Arkansas until last fall.
He began his Arkansas elk quest by scouting with a friend, Mason Young, about a week before hunting. He returned Oct. 27 with another friend, Spencer Pruitt, to hunt the next day. They happened upon a hunter and his helper the morning of Oct. 28 who were about to hunt the assigned unit next to Wray’s. They exchanged cellphone numbers in case one or the other needed help, and it’s a good thing they did. A while later, Wray heard a shot, texted the other hunter and found out he had bagged a bull. Wray and Pruitt helped cape the elk and haul out meat.
With all the commotion and celebration after shooting the elk, Wray figured the herd, and the bulls, would be scattered.
“There’s two draws that led from where we were with (the successful hunter) back to the meadows,” Wray said. “We sat that afternoon where we could see both of those draws so I could shoot (along) both of them.”
With little hope, they heard a bugle, another, then a third.
“We looked at each other – ‘Was that closer?’ ” Wray said. “It sounded closer.”
About 15 minutes later, a bull “charges off the side of that mountain, crosses that road and then starts trottin’ out across one of those wheat fields.”
As he turned broadside at about 6:20 p.m., Wray took him with a 28 Nosler from 78 yards.
A taxidermist friend put together a shoulder mount of the 6×6, which Wray hopes won’t be his last.
“I will be putting in for the draw and going to (the Buffalo River Elk Festival) every year probably for the rest of my life, and hope that the stars align again,” Wray said. “I had my hands on two dead Arkansas bulls in one day – that’s absolutely crazy.”
