LITTLE ROCK — If you hunt at one of the state’s “Sweet 16” wildlife management areas, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission wants your input on how to manage the areas better.
On Sept. 1, the AGFC required anyone who uses the WMAs to obtain a free permit. That includes nonhunters who walk nature trails where they exist. You can apply online at www.agfc.com and print the permit from your home computer.
The AGFC selected the areas based on their locations and their superb deer management potential. The permit is a way to solicit more complete and more detailed feedback from hunters about their perceptions of the hunting experience, management and habitat on the areas.
David Goad, chief of the AGFC’s wildlife management division, said deer hunting on these areas is largely regulated by randomly distributed hunting permits. The AGFC gets valuable information through that system, Goad said, but it’s limited to the perspectives of modern gun and muzzleloader deer hunters and, to a lesser degree, turkey hunters.
The AGFC’s wildlife managers want a broader base of input from a broader base of users. That includes archery deer hunters, who do not require randomly drawn permits to hunt these areas.
“It’s an effort to better communicate with hunters,” Goad said. “We want to know who’s hunting, how they’re hunting, what they’re hunting, what weapon they’re using. With bowhunters, we really don’t know how much pressure we’re getting on those WMAs. We don’t know how many squirrel hunters or rabbit hunters are out there, either. I suspect it’s more than we think.”
Specifically, Goad said, the AGFC wants to enhance the habitat on the Sweet 16 WMAs, to allow deer on those areas to live longer, and to balance the buck-todoe ratio. Part of that, he said, will be an intensive effort to eradicate feral hogs on the WMAs.
Goad said hunters can submit input electronically by sending e-mails to [email protected]. ar.us. In return, Goad said the AGFC will send back information and updates about the WMAs in terms of habitat management and other useful information about specific areas.
If input shows heavy usage from other kinds of hunters, Goad said it could influence the way the AGFC manages a WMA or parts of a WMA.
“If we found out a particular area had more of one type of hunter than another, it might change the way we manage some of those areas,” Goad said. “It sure could.”
Permits are required, but Goad said he doesn’t expect wildlife officers to write tickets to hunters who don’t have it. He said it’s just a way for the AGFC to interact with a greater diversity of hunters and be more responsive to their concerns.
OUTDOOR HALL OF FAME
The Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation will induct three new members into the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame on Friday at the Statehouse Convention Center.
This year’s inductees will include former Arkansas Game and Fish Commissioners Bill Bridgforth of Pine Bluff, Rick Evans of Calion and Witt Stephens Jr. of Little Rock.
Bridgforth served on the commission from 1994-2001 and helped guide the agency through a time of increased revenue after voters passed the conservation sales tax in 1997. Evans served a partial term from 1994-1998 and helped establish Arkansas’ first regulated elk hunt in 1998. Stephens served from 1993-2000. At age 25, he was the youngest appointee to a state agency. He was a strong advocate for modern deer management and was instrumental in passing the statewide three-point rule to regulate killing bucks.
Steve Smith, president of the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation, said 1,600 tickets have been sold to the event. Attendees will be able to bid on a multitude of hunting and fishing items, including shotguns and boats, as well as guided hunting and fishing trips and even a youth eithersex elk hunting permit.
Smith said 20 youngsters will sell raffle tickets for a War Eagle boat and a lifetime hunting and fishing license. Proceeds will help fund the AGFC’s youth shooting sports program and youth archery program.
Tickets cost $100 each. More information is available by calling (501) 223-6468.
Sweet 16
The Arkansas Game and Fish Department is asking hunters and nonhunters who use the following WMAs to obtain a free permit, designed to increase feedback and help the AGFC manage the areas better: Ed Gordon Point Remove Hope Upland Wattensaw Moro Big Pine Natural Area Bayou Meto Choctaw Island Harold E. Alexander Spring River Shirey Bay Rainey Brake Bois D’Arc, Dagmar WMA Grandview Prairie, Gulf Mountain Trusten Holder Hurricane Lake Dave Donaldson Black River Madison County
Sports, Pages 22 on 09/06/2012