All posts in Outdoors

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has partnered with Nativ, a leading Arkansas-based outdoor apparel brand, to launch a limited edition collection of apparel benefitting the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation.  Article by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. The new clothing line, featuring a retro version of the AGFC’s logo, is…

LITTLE ROCK — For the second year in a row, dry conditions throughout most of The Natural State have led to many lakes and ponds sitting at lower water levels than anglers and boaters experienced throughout spring and early summer. The cooling, lower water of fall can concentrate baitfish and bass, making for great fishing…

LITTLE ROCK — Jacob Cain was 10 years old when he went on an impromptu squirrel hunt near Arkadelphia in November of 2004. His father, Larry Cain, was nearby clearing shooting lanes for deer season. After an hour or so on a tractor, Larry decided to check on the boy. He shouted his son’s name…

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas hunters managed the second-highest harvest of alligators on record during the last two weekends in the sloughs and swamps of The Natural State. The 181-alligator harvest falls short of last year’s record effort of 202 alligators checked, but maintains the overall upward trend in what is still a relatively new opportunity…

LITTLE ROCK — Hunters may be consumed with questions of when the ducks will arrive; avid birders know there’s more to migration than mallards. Songbirds, wading birds and a variety of other species constantly flow through The Natural State; many make their fall travel plans well before the temperature clues us humans into the changing…

MORO BAY, Ark. – Visitors to Moro Bay State Park were recently treated to an impressive sight as a variety of large wading birds made a stop at the park’s small pond near the entrance. According to a recent announcement from Moro Bay State Park, species spotted included Great Egrets, Wood Storks, a Great Blue…

LITTLE ROCK — Nearly 12,000 additional acres of wetlands will greet waterfowl in The Natural State this winter, thanks to the successful implementation of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Conservation Incentive Program. The program was funded through special set-aside funds by the Arkansas General Assembly. Throughout spring and summer, AGFC staff worked with private…

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas bowhunters harvested 1,231 deer during the state’s first statewide early buck hunt earlier this month. The jump-start to deer season was added during the biannual regulations-setting process this spring to offer hunters the opportunity to pursue a buck still “in velvet.” Ralph Meeker, deer program coordinator for the Arkansas Game and…

MORRILTON — Commissioners with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commision heard an update on the agency’s Deer Management Assistance Program during today’s commission meeting at the Dr. T.W. Hardison Visitor Center at Petit Jean State Park. The program has existed in some form since the 1990s, but was formally named in 2001. It provides customized…

UMPIRE, Ark. — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission last week released 80 leopard darters into the wild thanks to the help of many partners at the state and federal level, as well as Conservation Fisheries, LLC, a private hatchery specializing in propagating rare and threatened species. According to Chance Garrett, fish ecologist for the…

CONWAY — United States Magistrate Joe Volpe Friday swore in seven new members of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s enforcement ranks at the official graduation ceremony of the 2024 agency’s game warden training program at the Antioch Baptist Church. This year’s graduating class was smaller than typical years, which is a testament to the…

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas waterfowlers received some good news recently. Mallards showed an increase of 8 percent in the May breeding population survey over last year’s count in the northern U.S. and Canada breeding areas, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Waterfowl Breeding Population and Habitat Survey released late last month. Before everyone gets too…

JONESBORO — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will host two meetings in September to familiarize hunters with some new regulations for the upcoming deer season and update hunters on chronic wasting disease regulations in Cleburne, Craighead, Mississippi and Sharp counties, which were all added to Tier 2 of the AGFC’s CWD Management Zone earlier…

JONESBORO — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will host two meetings in September to familiarize hunters with some new regulations for the upcoming deer season and update hunters on chronic wasting disease regulations in Cleburne, Craighead, Mississippi and Sharp counties, which were all added to Tier 2 of the AGFC’s CWD Management Zone earlier…

WABBASEKA — The removal of trees from the Government Cypress portion of George H. Dunklin Jr. Bayou Meto Wildlife Management Area may be a bit more visible to hunters and other recreationists accessing the area within the next few months. A staging area is being created near Long Bell Road to help transport trees involved…

LITTLE ROCK — With a cooldown expected this weekend and dry conditions enabling Arkansas Game and Fish Commission staff to prepare dove fields on wildlife management areas, this year’s opening weekend may be one of the best in years. According to David Luker, assistant chief of the AGFC’s Wildlife Management Division, local staff on many…

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas hunters will be able to hunt many private and public properties for deer earlier this year than anytime since the AGFC was established in 1915, thanks to a new buck-only archery season scheduled Sept. 7-9. Top photo: Col. Brad Young of the AGFC Enforcement Division with a trophy velvet deer he…

LONOKE– August is usually associated with the final trek of summer; the last stretch before school begins and the heat finally breaks. For the AGFC Fisheries Division, it’s time to tag alligator gar. For the second year, excess fry from the Private John Allen National Fish Hatchery in Tupelo, Mississippi, were shipped to the Joe…