Editorial

Into the woods

The opening day of deer season, technically modern-gun deer season here in Arkansas, isn't just an annual holiday in these parts but so much more:

Hunting in Arkansas isn't just a pastime but a tradition in this Natural State, just as it used to be a necessity on the frontier. Nor is it only recreation but a way of conserving, protecting, expanding and enhancing the natural environment, which has fewer better friends than hunters, ranchers and farmers. For they well understand their responsibility for the land and water on which all of us vitally depend. And if they don't, a myriad of laws, rules and regulations will remind them. With the help of ever-vigilant game wardens if necessary.

Our hunters and fishers are more than good stewards of this state's environment; they're a natural part of it as much as the deer and crops, another of Nature's blessings and protections.

Nor is hunting only a big sport in a state like Arkansas; it's big business. Some half a million hunters were expected to be out in the state's woods and fields last weekend, according to Keith Stephens of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. "It's a huge thing," as he put it, for deer hunting generates more than $212 million in retail sales here in Arkansas, contributing $12 million just in state sales and motor-fuel taxes. Deer hunting was credited with creating 4,363 jobs in this state, generating $89 million in wages and $4.3 million in annual state and federal income taxes. But if you should tire of slogging your way through all those fiscal statistics, just go out onto the state's roads this beautiful fall and note how full of hunters they are.

Nor is the thrill restricted to private lands. Arkansas offers more than 3 million acres of public hunting in the Ouachita and Ozark National Forests, with a quarter of the state's deer hunters taking advantage of public land.

So happy hunting, all. But take care. Scarcely a hunting season passes without a fatal accident affecting the lives of family, friends and all of us left behind. We'd miss you. And surely you would miss this finest time of year with all its autumnal splendor and memories to gather and pass on from generation to generation. Hunting in this state isn't just a tradition; let's keep it a living tradition.

If deer season in Arkansas isn't heaven, surely it'll more than do till the real thing dawns like a November sunrise, spreading its glory near and far.

Editorial on 11/24/2015

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