Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Director Mike Knoedl said the commission will appeal a decision from the Arkansas Court of Appeals that ruled routine inspections of hunters and fishermen by Game and Fish wildlife officers to be unconstitutional. The comment came Thursday at the AGFC monthly meeting.
The Court of Appeals decision overturned the conviction of Jimmy Pickle, who was arrested on a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm and for drug charges during a routine field check by wildlife officers in 2012 while Pickle and others were duck hunting in Craighead County.
Knoedl was quoted in a story that ran Thursday in the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette as saying the Arkansas Court of Appeals ruling will hurt enforcement of state laws and regulations by barring his agency's customary practice of field checks.
"This is huge," Knoedl told the Democrat-Gazette on Wednesday. "What they're saying is: We need a written plan before we can actually check someone, or see that person commit a violation, before we even approach them. That renders our wildlife officers ineffective."
Knoedl said Thursday he had no further comment.
Commissioner Steve Cook of Malvern, chairman of the Game and Fish Commission's law enforcement committee, said the ruling could affect the commission's ability to protect the state's fish and wildlife.
Fred Spiegel, the only non-voting member of the commission, suggested that Arkansas could follow procedures used in states like Wisconsin, New Jersey and New York where hunters are required to wear tags on their backs that denote they are licensed.
"The easiest way to handle this is to require hunters and anglers to wear their licenses on their clothes, in full view," Spiegel said.
Cook said the commission isn't currently considering such a proposal.
In other business, the commission approved the second lease payment of $333,000 on the Maumelle River WMA. Central Arkansas Water and the AGFC agreed to a 99-year lease for 18,861 acres that form the WMA. The lease cost is $1 million to be paid over a three-year period.
The AGFC also voted to restore regular daily creel limits for game fish at Lake Chicot and Cane Creek Lake. Water levels in the lakes were reduced for repairs and during that time, limits for game fish like crappie and bass were reduced to avoid overharvest.
The normal limits will go into effect Jan 1, 2015.
In law enforcement business, the commission voted to donate six surplus dog tracking collars to the Arkansas Department of Corrections for use in its K-9 operations. The Garmin tracking collars cost $612 at the time they were purchased.
Sports on 12/19/2014