We love hunting photos from our readers, and we have a new, more immediate way for Arkansas Democrat-Gazette subscribers to share them with the state.
Our print edition has limited space for reader photos, but the online edition has unlimited space, and we can post them all in color.
To post your photo, click arkansasonline.com/deer. Include the hunter's name, age, hometown, the general location of the hunting trip, a description of the game or fish taken and any other information that will tell the story.
Deer hunting book
A few months ago we reviewed a new book by Morrilton author Calvin Marlow titled Ten-Point Memories. Tales From an Arkansas Deer Camp.
It is the most authentic Arkansas hunting anthology I've read, and I highly recommend reading it.
Marlow originally printed a small number of books. He did not anticipate the large demand, and he quickly exhausted his inventory. A second printing was recently completed, and copies are available locally at Wordsworth Books, 5920 R St., in Little Rock.
Fish Doc
It's a classic image, the bass angler standing all day in the front of his boat with one leg hiked up on a trolling motor pedal.
Maintaining that stance among swells and waves comes with a heavy cost in the form of chronic back and neck pain. The beatings anglers take slamming into waves at 70 mph exacerbates it.
To address this particular niche of the sporting world, Grant Dennis will open a new chiropractic and nerve therapy clinic today that is geared to help fishermen and hunters. Dennis' practice, called The Specific, attends the neck area.
Grant Dennis is the son of Bobby Dennis, the famous lure designer for Luck-E-Strike Lures.
Appearing at the grand opening will be Bassmaster Elite Series pro Cliff Crochet and Shane Michelli, former president of Easton Archery. Michelli is a bowhunting and food plot authority.
There will also be drawings for books autographed by Jimmy Houston and Steve Bowman, rods and reels, and an autographed tacklebox and smallmouth lure assortment from ESPN personality Mark Zona.
More drawings will give away game cameras, a master seasoning assortment from Tony Cacheres and signed lures from Crochet, Bassmaster Elite Series pro Chris Lane, and four-time Bassmaster Classic champion and Bassmaster Elite Series pro Rick Clunn. Lure assortments from Net Bait and Luck-E-Strike will also be given away, along with soft drinks and food.
The Specific's address is 8201 Ranch Blvd., Suite B, in Little Rock.
Duck futures
Luke Naylor, the waterfowl biologist for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, told the members of the commission Wednesday that conditions are very dry in the state's greentree reservoirs right now, and that there aren't many ducks in the state.
If those two factors don't change, the first part of duck season is going to mighty lean for duck hunters that rely on public land.
"It's really dry, as dry as anybody has seen it in a really long time," Naylor said. "It's the same north of us, too. It's more a delayed fall."
Conditions could change quickly, of course, with a high-volume rain. Naylor said that forecasts call from 1/2-inch to 1 ½-inches of rain Friday, but the ground is so dry right now that a half-inch rain will only soak into the soil in the greentree reservoirs.
"There are guys in air taking photos," Naylor said. "At Bayou Meto and the lower White River basin, there's a pile of green. Those trees aren't even thinking of losing their leaves. They're not dormant."
Until the trees go dormant, Naylor said he's worried that flooding the greentree reservoirs now will damage timber, and that steps might have to be taken to protect timber if flooding occurs too soon.
To educate hunters about the management methodology at the greentree reservoirs, Naylor said he is considering publishing the entire GTR management digest in the 2017-18 Waterfowl Hunting Guidebook. That information will replace the waterfowl identification section.
Also, the AGFC will conduct a WMA use survey this season at Dave Donaldson Black River, Bayou Meto, Henry Gray Hurricane Lake, Petit Jean River and Bois d'Arc WMAs.
It will be similar to angler surveys done at selected lakes. AGFC employees will interview hunters at access points at the aforementioned WMAs to get information about how hunters use the areas.
Sports on 11/17/2016