Rogers hunter harvests trophy elk

Five of the eight permitted hunters killed an elk last week during the first segment of the 2016 Arkansas elk season.

Duane Dickey of Rogers, the recipient of one of the on-site permit drawings at the Buffalo River Elk Festival, hung his tag on a 5-by-6 bull elk on Oct. 5.

Two of the five successful hunters were youths who took bulls on Oct. 1, the first day of the two-day youth hunt.

Pierce Moss, a 15-year old from Stuttgart, killed a 6-by-9 bull on Gene Rush Wildlife Management Area in Newton County. Olivia Hasley, a 13-year-old from Redfield, took a 5-by-6 bull on Bearcat Hollow Wildlife Management Area in Searcy County.

The adult hunters began on Oct. 3. Garry Sanders Jr. of Fort Smith filled his antlerless elk tag in Richland Valley that day.

The biggest bull of the hunt came on Oct. 6 when Doug Young of Malvern shot a 6-by-7 bull that gross scored 361 inches.

“There’s a mandatory drying time for antler scores,” said Wes Wright, elk program coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. “We’ll have to see if it holds up, but it looks like Young’s elk may be a new state record.”

Wright said the turnout and harvest was excellent this year, despite warmer than usual weather, which may have delayed some of the rutting activity.

“It’s also very encouraging to see everyone’s excitement for the hunt has not faltered with the recent detection of chronic wasting disease in Arkansas,” Wright said. “All of the elk taken were very healthy looking, and we’ve submitted samples for CWD testing, which we hope to hear about within the next few weeks.”

The last elk hunt of the 2016 season will be Oct. 29-Nov. 4, with Oct. 29-30 being youth only hunting days. Twenty-four hunters have drawn permits for that hunt.

Any deer hunters who kill deer near Tyler Bend or the Ponca Elk Education Center from Oct. 31-Nov. 4 can bring the head to the Game and Fish elk check stations at those locations to voluntarily submit them for chronic wasting disease sampling.

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