Proposals heard for bird seasons

SPRINGDALE -- The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission heard proposals for early migratory bird hunting seasons and approved a new bear management plan at its monthly meeting Thursday.

The commission will approve early migratory bird seasons at its next meeting July 16.

The proposed dove season will be in two segments running Sept. 5-Oct. 24, and from Dec. 19 through Jan. 7, 2016. The proposed daily limit will be 15 mourning doves, with a possession limit of 45. There will be no daily bag or possession limit for Eurasian collared doves.

Dick Baxter, chief of the AGFC's wildlife management division, said he expects the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to prescribe a 16-day early teal season. The proposed dates will be Sept. 12-27, with a daily limit of six teal.

Dates for the early Canada goose season will be Sept. 1-15 statewide, and Sept. 19-28 in the northwest Canada goose management zone. Early Canada goose season will be closed at Holla Bend National Wildlife Refuge. The daily limit will be two Canada geese, and the possession limit will be six.

The commission approved a black bear management plan that emphasizes the monitoring and research of black bears in the Gulf Coastal Plain. Myron Means, the AGFC's biologist specializing in large carnivores, said the new management plan will facilitate opening bear hunting seasons in bear management zones 3 and 4, which encompass most of south Arkansas.

"We have a real intention of having a bear season in the Gulf Coastal Plain when the evidence supports it," Means said during the commission's work meeting Wednesday. He also said the plan will maintain current bear populations in the Ozark and Ouachita mountain regions.

In other wildlife management business, the commission added the new Jack Mountain WMA in Hot Spring County to its leased lands program and established hunting seasons on the area. The permit to hunt on the WMA will cost $40.

Another regulation will enable hunters to use boats to access the West Fork and East Fork of Point Remove Creek from 1-6:30 p.m. during the regular duck season.

The commission also opened hunting seasons for squirrel, rabbit, doves and crows on the Camp Robinson Special Use Area except when bird dog field trials are in progress.

In fisheries-related business, the commission approved buying 10 acres near the confluence of Georges Creek and Crooked Creek. The total cost of buying and developing the property will be $280,000. The funds will come from federal grants from the Marine Fuel Tax and the Federal Aid in Sportfish Restoration Act.

In law enforcement business, the commission approved amendments to the wildlife code streamlining the administrative process for suspending licenses.

As part of this package, the commission approved new boating regulations applicable to wildlife management areas. A negligent boating conviction will be a Class 2 violation, and a reckless boating conviction will be a Class 3 violation. Anyone convicted of negligent or reckless operation of a boat on a WMA will be banned from the WMA where the violation occurred one year from the date of conviction.

In property management business, the commission approved a budget transfer of $39,877 from existing obligated funds to fulfill a contract for repairs to Dam No. 3 at the Spring River Fish Hatchery. The total cost of the contract was $3,189,877.

Sports on 06/19/2015