All posts in Outdoors

HERMITAGE, Ark. – Anglers are gearing up for the 1st Annual Hermitage Fire Department Catfish Tournament Fundraiser, set to take place at Moro Bay State Park on June 1, 2024. Organized by the Hermitage Fire Department, this event promises an evening of fishing fun while supporting a worthy cause. The tournament welcomes two adults per…

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and U.S. Department of Agriculture need the public’s help collecting sightings of black vultures outfitted with special tags fitted to their wings. The birds are part of a multi-year study to better mediate conflicts with black vultures. Birdwatchers, livestock owners and landowners are encouraged to report…

MONTICELLO — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is hedging its bets with bringing trophy-class bass fishing back to Lake Monticello with today’s release of roughly 9,000 special fish. These fish are the first segment of a stocking totaling 22,000 Florida largemouth bass from Red Hills Fishery in Georgia that are the offspring of fish…

LITTLE ROCK – Many species of wildlife have their young in spring, and many well-meaning Arkansans regularly call the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to report deer fawns and other young wildlife that look abandoned. But moving these animals can actually cause more harm than good. Most wildlife cannot be with their young nonstop. They…

Springtime and fishing in The Natural State go hand-in-hand. Whether you’re wading a trout stream or jigging for crappie on an oxbow lake, be on the lookout for a migratory raptor that may cause a bit of envy with its fishing prowess. Top photo: Osprey are the only Arkansas raptor that plunge into the water,…

LITTLE ROCK — Thousands of young hunters took to the woods last weekend for Arkansas’s annual youth turkey hunt, taking advantage of a bright, sunny opening morning followed by a moderately cloudy Sunday hunt, and the birds seemed to cooperate in stellar fashion. By the time the pollen settled Sunday night, hunters aged 6 to…

LITTLE ROCK — Arkansas’s turkey season is kicking off with the annual youth turkey hunt April 6-7, and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has a few helpful tips to keep young new hunters chasing longbeards instead of asking when it’s time to head to the truck. Initiated in 2004, the annual Arkansas youth turkey…

LITTLE ROCK — Commercially prepared birdhouses shaped like cabins and decorated like a Hilton may be nice yard ornaments, but many go unnoticed by the songbirds people are trying to attract. The best bluebird houses often are crafted by hand, and rarely take more than a single 6-foot board, a handful of nails and some…

WARREN, AR – The anticipation is building as Bradley County Park prepares to host the annual Great Outdoors Youth Day on May 4, 2024. Organized by Bradley County 4H and the Cooperative Extension Service, this event promises a day filled with outdoor adventures and memorable experiences. Starting at 9 am, participants can register for the…

Maylon Rice, a feature contributor for the Saline River Chronicle, recently attended the award ceremony for the 2024 Arkansas Turkey and Quail Stamp artwork winners. His exclusive report provides insights into the talented artists and their captivating works. The 2024 Arkansas Turkey Stamp was claimed by Chris Goins, pictured above third from the left in…

LITTLE ROCK — The Simmons First Foundation has joined with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation to sponsor a new initiative to make the outdoors more accessible to all Arkansans. Representatives from Simmons First Foundation donated a check to the AGFF for more than $60,000 to sponsor a new…

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is spying on a lot of “talking turkey” throughout the state, but they’re not eavesdropping on conversations at local coffee shops and gas pumps. The chatter they’re capturing is coming from male eastern wild turkeys making their presence known to hens before breeding season begins.  Each…

LITTLE ROCK — March Madness has an entirely different meaning for many parents in The Natural State. The big college basketball tournament will tip off just as most Arkansas schools dismiss their students for a week for spring break. According to Eric Maynard, interim chief of Education for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, parents…

Arkansas waterfowlers have until Friday, March 15, to have their voices heard on a number of proposed regulations for the 2024-25 season as well as other items on which the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission seeks comment. Regulations proposed for change from recent waterfowl seasons include reducing the number of goose hunting days from 74…

LITTLE ROCK — A night-time stroll may reveal one of Arkansas’s coolest, but rarely seen creatures. The diminutive southern flying squirrel weighs in at a few ounces but makes up for size with style. By Kirsten Bartlow Top photo: A flap of skin stretching between the front and rear legs allow flying squirrels to glide, and…

LITTLE ROCK — In the final aerial survey of the 2023-24 waterfowl season, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission biologists estimated a Delta mallard population that was more than a half-million mallards below the 2009-2024 late January long-term average and the lowest late January survey estimate on record since the 2010 start of transect-based surveys. Also,…

PINE BLUFF — Every February, duck hunters gather up their decoys and pack them away for another long off-season. Some dekes are sealed in padded compartments and slotted bags as carefully as a Faberge egg, but others that have been shot or have faded to the point of obscurity are destined for the landfill. The…

LITTLE ROCK – A mountain lion recently was found dead on Sylamore Wildlife Management Area in northern Stone County by a U.S. Forest Service employee. A necropsy was performed on the adult male Thursday. There was no evidence that the mountain lion died of a bullet wound and there were no injuries consistent with being…

BOGART, Ga. – The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, in partnership with the National Deer Association and the Southeast Deer Partnership, is proud to announce the release of “Wildtail: America’s Wildest Conservation Success Story,” a new documentary focused on the role of white-tailed deer to the economy and conservation community. The feature-length documentary, now available…

HOT SPRINGS — The number of people who died in boating accidents in Arkansas dropped to a five-year low last year, according to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s 2023 Boating Accident Year-End Report. Only nine fatalities resulted from the 61 boating accidents compiled by Cpl. Sydney Grant, Boating Law Administrator in the AGFC’s Hot…