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…
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Arkansas State Parks introduces Club 52 program
(LITTLE ROCK, Ark.) – Arkansas State Parks is introducing Club 52, a rewards program that encourages people to visit all 52 state parks. Club 52 is an extension of the Arkansas State Parks Passport Program, which helps guests document trips to state parks by receiving a stamp (or stamp rubbing) in an Arkansas State Parks…
State’s December mallard estimate highest since 2018
LITTLE ROCK – Despite challenging weather conditions that delayed flights for a week, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission waterfowl staff last week completed its December 2022 aerial waterfowl surveys for the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (Delta), the Arkansas River Valley and southwestern Arkansas, with the report issued this week by Luke Naylor, the AGFC chief…
AGFC, partners offer new experience for birding community
LITTLE ROCK — Birders and other wildlife-watching enthusiasts have a great new way to participate in outdoor recreation, thanks to the creation of a special Natural State-specific online gateway to Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s eBird birdwatching system. According to Karen Rowe, AGFC nongame bird program coordinator, the eBird tool has been available for years, but…
Cool water changes complexion of bass, other sport fish
TEXARKANA — According to Dylan Hann, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission fisheries supervisor for southwest Arkansas, some anglers have called with reports of red dots on the skin of some bass they’ve caught. He stresses that there’s no cause for alarm. “We have seen some bass with these spots ourselves during routine sampling on Dierks…
Long break, more water encouraging for second portion of waterfowl season
Arkansas’s waterfowl hunting season will resume 30 minutes before sunrise Saturday, Dec. 10, and ducks and geese will have had nearly two weeks of mostly quiet on the Arkansas landscape. With this week’s nasty wet weather and ducks perhaps finding more habitat, this 14-day portion of the waterfowl season will open with more promise than…
Get more from your ground venison
Arkansas’s deer season is well underway with more than 120,000 deer harvested so far. Freezers across the state are filling with venison steaks, roasts and, of course, ground venison. Typically the loins and the tenderloins are the first cuts cooked up at home or camp, leaving a generous portion of ground venison at the bottom…
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,…
AGFC asks hunters to report signs of avian influenza
LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is asking waterfowl hunters heading to the field this weekend to remain vigilant for any concentrations of sick or dead birds they find in the wild that may be the result of avian influenza. The risk of humans contracting the disease remains low, but hunters can…
Arkansas youth hunters take more than 9,000 deer in two-day hunt
LITTLE ROCK — According to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s online harvest totals, hunters aged 6 to 15 checked 9,153 deer during last weekend’s annual youth modern gun deer hunt. Ralph Meeker, AGFC deer program coordinator, says the first youth weekend typically results in a harvest between 8,000 and 11,000 deer statewide. “This year’s…
Celebrate ‘Troutsgiving’ with the AGFC
LITTLE ROCK — Stores and shopping centers may try to coax everyone with low prices for Black Friday the day after Thanksgiving, but the AGFC has an even better opportunity to enjoy some fast action, and it will only cost you the price of a fishing license and trout stamp. AGFC hatcheries and the Family…
AGFC sets table for future Monticello monsters
MONTICELLO — Hatchery staff and biologists from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service worked together to load more than one-quarter of a million forage fish into the rising waters of Lake Monticello in October. Approximately 180,000 fathead minnows, 111,900 golden shiners, 78,840 bluegill, and 82,056 redear sunfish were stocked.…
Motorists, be on the lookout for deer on highways
LITTLE ROCK — Deer are on the move in The Natural State. That means hunters and motorists in Arkansas should keep a watchful eye out, particularly at dawn and dusk. In addition to the increased deer activity, the shortened days place rush hour during the peak times of day when deer are on the move.…
South Arkansas Natural Areas offer veterans deer hunts Nov. 12-13
WARREN – Bradley County in southern Arkansas has been renowned for years for the private land hunting and quality deer available to hunters. The public has access to significant acreage and deer as well in the form of Warren Prairie Natural Area Wildlife Management Area, east of the city and the Saline River. The Arkansas…
Special week provides chance to better understand, appreciate bats
LITTLE ROCK – Bat Week, an annual international celebration of the role of bats in nature, runs all this week and, naturally, through Halloween, Oct. 31. It also affords the opportunity for Arkansans not only to think about these creatures and their role in our outdoors, but what people can do to reverse some dangers…
Good news from Arkansas’s wild turkey population highlights northwest Arkansas meeting
SPRINGDALE — Commissioners with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission heard some good news about Arkansas’s turkey population during a presentation at today’s monthly meeting held at the J.B. and Johnelle Hunt Family Ozark Highlands Nature Center. AGFC Turkey Program Coordinator Jeremy Wood gave some preliminary results of the 2022 Wild Turkey Population Survey, which…
Autumn in Arkansas
Arkansas State Parks and the Arkansas Natural Heritage Commission’s natural areas are great places to experience the fall season no matter your activity level or interests. The ANHC’s natural areas are specifically set aside to preserve, and sometimes restore, species and habitat types that have become rare in the state. Photo: Warren Prairie Natural Area…
Arkansas Wildlife podcast debuts October 26
LITTLE ROCK — People love to talk, so much so that the ubiquitous podcast format has been entertaining and informing listeners for about 30 years. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is entering the podcast realm with its version, tagged with the Arkansas Wildlife name to sync up with the AGFC television program, magazine, weekly newsletter,…
Celebrate conservation with the AGFC at the Wetlands and Wildlife Festival
PINE BLUFF — The Gov. Mike Huckabee Delta Rivers Nature Center will again host its annual Wetlands and Wildlife Festival from noon to 5 p.m., Oct. 29. This family-friendly celebration of conservation is a great way to enjoy an afternoon with family and friends learning about all the outdoors has to offer. Formerly called “Boo…
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…
Two new wildlife officers assigned to Bradley County
LITTLE ROCK – Some new faces will be joining the ranks of Arkansas Game and Fish Commission wildlife officers this fall. The latest class of wildlife officer cadets celebrated graduation from the AGFC’s training program Friday at The Church at Rock Creek. The process to become a wildlife officer began May 16 when 21 individuals…