Ark. Game & FIsh Commission Hears Proposals for Early Migratory Bird Seasons

First posted on 06-24-2008

FORT SMITH – The unofficial opening of Arkansas’s fall hunting season was one of the main topics at today’s meeting of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. The opening of dove season is the date many Arkansans point to for the fall hunting seasons in the state.

Biologists presented two early season migratory bird frameworks for consideration. Final approval for the seasons will take place during the Commission’s meeting in July.

Two season proposals were presented to the commission:

Mourning Dove and Eurasian Collared Dove

Saturday opening:

* Sept. 6 to Sept. 28
* Oct. 4 to Oct. 19
* Dec. 13 to Jan. 2, 2009

Sept. 1 opening:

* Sept. 1 to Sept. 23
* Oct. 4 to Oct. 19
* Dec. 13 to Jan. 2, 2009

Season length and bag limit:

* 60 days, 15 bird daily bag

Special Early Teal Season

* Option 1 (9-day Framework): Sept. 13 to Sept. 21
* Option 2 (16-day Framework): Sept. 13 to Sept. 28
* Daily bag limit: 4 birds

The Commission also was presented with a proposal to open the special early Canada goose season for the entire state. If approved, the dates would be Sept. 1 to Sept. 15 with a 5 bird daily bag.

In other business, the Commission:

*Approved a regulation to address the issue with feral hogs on the state’s Wildlife Management Areas. AGFC Chief of Wildlife Management Doyle Shook said that feral hogs are causing a number of problem on the WMAs. “They’re causing widespread habitat damage and destruction. A recent survey of WMA managers highlighted the significant amount of effort that is being expended to attempt to control these animals,” Shook said. The regulation change requires that hunters only kill hogs during the day on WMAs during an open hunting season.

*Approved a regulation that a zone doe quota permit not be required to harvest a doe during the Christmas holiday hunt in deer zones 2, 3 and 6. The proposal is a result of concerns about increasing numbers of deer observed in the area. The regulation will go into effect for the 2008 Christmas deer hunt in those zones.

*Approved renaming the Glenwood City Lake to honor former commissioner John Benjamin. The new lake will be called the John Benjamin Glenwood Community Fishing Lake.

*Approved a project to improve the road leading into the Potlatch Conservation Education Center at Cook’s Lake near Casscoe in Arkansas County. Arkansas County will do the work on the roadbed and place culverts under the road while the AGFC will contract for the base material and asphalt. The 1.5-mile road will be 20 feet wide and will including paving parking lots at the facility. Projected cost of the project is $125,000.

*Elected Freddie Black of Lake Village the new chairman of the commission to replace Sonny Varnell of St. Paul. Varnell’s term on the commission ends on June 30. Brett Morgan of Scott was elected vice-chairman.