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Game and Fish Commission sets hunting seasons Friday, Mar 21, 2008 By Joe Mosby Arkansas News Correspondent LITTLE ROCK - The state Game and Fish Commission set regulations Thursday that will make the deer hunting season longer for much of the state. The commission set seasons, bag limits and other regulations for the 2008-2009 hunting period. Most of the changes were recommendations by the commission's wildlife management staff, though some were modified by the commissioners. Highlights of the deer changes: Persons 65 and older can hunt during the statewide youth hunt, which will be Nov. 1-2 this year. Both the seniors and youths - boys and girls under 16 - can kill up to the season limits of deer in the zones where they are hunting. Previously, a youngster could take only one deer during the youth hunt. Non-hunting adults can accompany the seniors and the youths during the two-day hunt. Modern gun deer season for Zones 16 and 16A in southeastern Arkansas and Zone 17, which is land inside the Mississippi River levees, will be extended through Dec. 25. The split seasons for the modern gun hunt in much of northern and western Arkansas will be eliminated. Continuous seasons were set for Zones 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 10 and 11. Taking out the split that was closed to hunting means three more days of deer hunting for these zones. Other hunting changes: Elk Zone 4 will be extended over about 9,000 acres in the Richland Creek area of Searcy County. Elk Zone B, which is private land opened to hunting last year, will have its quota and days of hunting changed, along with the way bull elk permits are issued. Three bull permits will be issued by random selection of three different landowners. The quota of five used last year will be changed to 10 for 2008 - the three bulls plus seven antlerless elk. Hunting will be five days in December, compared to three days in 2007. Hunting for other species will be the same as last year in most cases, allowing for calendar adjustments. In other action Thursday, the commission: -Abolished the three-year residency requirement for 65-plus lifetime hunting and fishing licenses and the one-year residency for lifetime sportsman's licenses and disabled licenses. The new requirement is 60 days as Arkansas residents, the same as is required for general hunting and fishing licenses. -Approved relinquishing a reversion claim to a 4.5-acre tract at Mountain Home acquired in 1925 for a fish nursery pond. The land was deeded to the city of Mountain Home in 1978, and the city wants to turn the land over to a nonprofit corporation for a community center. -Approved giving up claim to nine acres on the Black River in its Dave Donaldson/Black River Wildlife Management Area in exchange for an access easement through 200 acres of private land. The nine acres were acquired in the 1950s base on an 1821 map, but changes in the river's course put the land on the opposite side of the river. -Renamed Dagmar Wildlife Management Area as Sheffield Nelson/Dagmar WMA in honor of the former commissioner from Little Rock whose seven-year term ended last June. |
