High water on the White, Cache, St. Francis and Black rivers has forced the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission to temporarily close deer season in portions of eastern Arkansas.
Cory Gray, deer program coordinator for Game and Fish, said many areas susceptible to flooding offer excellent habitat and large deer populations. When water forces them to leave their normal range, they can become concentrated and vulnerable to overharvest.
"The primary intent of closing flood prone regions is to protect those deer displaced by floods," Gray said. "These closed zones not only include land that is flooded, but also high ground that serves as sanctuaries from the rising water."
Flood-prone regions not only include public hunting land, but also private land within those zones. The closure only applies to deer hunting.
"Game and Fish conducted a hunter survey in 2014 to gauge people's opinions on flood-prone regions," Gray said. "It showed 79 percent of hunters who hunted in these regions were in favor of flood-prone zone management."
A description of all flood-prone regions and criteria for closures are available on pages 56-57 of the 2015-16 Arkansas Hunting Guidebook.
Sports on 12/15/2015