Clean up the decoys to help prevent the spread of invasive species
Oct. 14, 2020
LITTLE ROCK – With fall colors beginning to show, many duck clubs and duck hunters are busy organizing, packing, repacking and reorganizing their gear while they wait with anticipation. Some avid hunters also are beginning to plan a few early scouting trips to check out new locations before the season. Biologists with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission urge all hunters and anglers alike to take the extra time to clean all their equipment of mud and vegetation before bringing it to the wetlands.
Waterfowl guidebook available online
Oct. 7, 2020
LITTLE ROCK — The 2020-21 Waterfowl Guidebook is at the printer and will be arriving in AGFC regional offices, nature centers and local sporting goods stores and license vendors soon. An electronic version also is available for those who want to carry a copy on their electronic device, or simply want to get a sneak peek at what’s new for the season.
Bird banding laboratory celebrates 100 years of science
Oct. 7, 2020
LITTLE ROCK — There’s something about the thrill of harvesting mallards in a greentree reservoir that has put it at the top of many waterfowl hunters’ bucket lists. If one of those birds is sporting a band on its leg, that small piece of aluminum is likely to go into a keepsake box to be handed down to children with stories of Arkansas’s famous flooded timber. But bird bands are much more than mementos or status symbols; they’re one of the first “citizen science” projects ever developed for conservation.
Zachary finds his place at diverse Ed Gordon/Point Remove WMA
Sept. 30, 2020
One of the most diverse regions in all of Arkansas for wildlife is the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Region 7, a vast area of land in the Ozark Highlands and Arkansas River Valley that includes two major wildlife management areas, Ed Gordon/Point Remove WMA and Galla Creek WMA. Alex Zachary is a veteran biologist in Region 7 on Ed Gordon and Galla Creek WMAs. Zachary, who turned 33 late in the summer, began work with the AGFC there in November 2011 as a technician and moved up to his current role as biologist in 2014.
Bokker deals with the ups and downs of water at Raft Creek
Aug. 21, 2020
GEORGETOWN – It’s been an interesting summer around the Steve N. Wilson Raft Creek Bottoms Wildlife Management Area. In June, with the White and Cache rivers running over their banks, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission habitat biologist Jacob Bokker and his crew couldn’t get into the oversaturated bottoms to get to their moist-soil preparation for the upcoming waterfowl season.
More than 3,800 acres added to waterfowl hunting opportunity in Arkansas
Aug. 12, 2020
LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will offer an additional 3,828 acres of prime waterfowl hunting opportunity during the 2020-21 waterfowl season, thanks to the expansion of the Waterfowl Rice Incentive Conservation Easement Program. The program allows rice producers to enroll fields to increase waterfowl habitat near popular public waterfowl-hunting areas and to offer limited public hunting opportunities on private rice fields through an online drawing.
Harvest Information Program registration sees changes in Arkansas
Aug. 12, 2020
LITTLE ROCK — Beginning this year all hunters who wish to pursue doves, ducks, geese and other migratory birds in Arkansas will need to register for the Harvest Information Program either online at agfc.com, through the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission smartphone app or at an AGFC regional office, nature center or shooting range. In an effort to improve the quality of data being submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Arkansas HIP registration will no longer be offered at license vendors such as sporting goods stores.