Preliminary and unofficial estimates by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission indicate the buck harvest in Northwest Arkansas could have dipped by as much as 30 percent during the 2005-06 hunting season.
If so, the decline would be attributed mostly to a one-buck limit in a region where the deer herd has been growing in number for the past couple of years.
Ironically, a big drop in the buck harvest last season means good news for hunters during future seasons, according to Bob McAnally of Russellville, regional wildlife supervisor for the commission.
"I think the one-buck limit protected a lot of bucks to carry over for [next] deer season," McAnally said Friday.
He explained that the carryover should mean not only more bucks this fall and winter, but also more older bucks with bigger antlers.
McAnally's enthusiasm has only grown through the summer.
In late June, McAnally e-mailed a photo his cousin had recently taken while driving through the Ozark National Forest Wildlife Management Area.
The photo showed four bucks in velvet, two being eight-pointers with spreads reaching outside their ears. And this was at a time when the bucks still had about two months of antlergrowing to go.
His e-mail also stated his cousin had seen four other bucks he didn't get pictures of but he described as "the biggest he has ever seen."
On Friday, McAnally reported more big-buck sightings in the region and had photo proof of one exceptional buck.
"On the Fourth of July, I saw seven different bucks, including five of them in one group, and all five of them had [antler] spreads wider than their ears," he said.
A better and more recent report came from a friend of McAnally who had recently opened a business in Fayetteville and had been commuting into town along Arkansas 16.
"He was on Highway 16 one morning here recently and was approaching the Crosses area when the car ahead of him skidded sideways to miss a deer running across the road," McAnally said. "When he stopped to see if the deer had been hit, he looked in a pasture beside the highway and saw seven bucks standing there in a group.
"He said three of the bucks were 150-class bucks, and he knows 150-class bucks because he had killed them before in South Texas," McAnally related.
The term "150-class buck" refers to trophy bucks with antlers capable of measuring 150 points on the Boone & Crockett Club scoring system.
"I've been hearing these kind of reports from all over [the region]," McAnally said.
The biggest buck reported won't be seen this season because it is, unfortunately, already dead, having been killed in the Ozark foothills of Pope County while it was supposedly "depredating" a pea patch.
A wildlife officer is holding the antlers pending an investigation that may or may not involve a violation of game laws, but a photo of the horns in velvet shows the rack of a typical 10-pointer with a 20-inch spread, extra-long brow tines and lots of extra "kickers."
"These horns had 22 scorable points, and bearing in mind this buck still had a month of antlergrowing left, it could have easily been a 160- to 170-class buck," McAnally said.
All the reports considered, McAnally has high hopes of the 2006-07 deer season being one to remember.
"I predict we could see more good bucks killed this year than we've ever seen in recent history," he said.
Regarding the success of the spring turkey hatch in the Ozarks, the poult production was not as good as hoped.
Although the hens came through the winter in good shape and got started early with their nesting season, the early nesters appeared to fare poorly. However, the hens nesting later, as well as the ones making second nesting attempts, did better.
"I'd have to say the turkey hatch is not great, but it is a little better than we've had during the past four years," McAnally said. "I've already seen more poults than I saw last year."
ROCKEFELLER LEGACY
The legacy of Lt. Gov. Win Rockefeller's lifelong service to the state includes his support for conservation.
His important roles, for example, included serving on the boards of The Nature Conservancy and Ducks Unlimited in Arkansas, according to a recent news release.
Nancy DeLemar, former director of the conservancy in Arkansas, said Rockefeller's interest especially benefited the Arkansas Delta and the Big Woods area of the White River National Wildlife Refuge.
"Win loved the wetlands of east Arkansas," DeLemar said.
He helped the conservancy work with communities in the Delta region to develop a plan for local businesses and residents to benefit from nature-based tourism. He also helped strengthen wetlands conservation programs, such as the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Wetlands Reserve Program.
Rockefeller also was wellknown for his long-term devotion to the Boy Scouts and its outdoors programs.