AGFC offers permit dove hunts
Dove season begins Sept. 1, and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will provide four permit-only hunts on private land.
The application period began Thursday and will run until midnight Aug. 15. A computerized draw will be held Aug. 16.
The hunts will return to the leased, privately farmed 20-acre field in Lonoke County near Blakemore. More than 1,100 hunters applied for that hunt in 2017, prompting the AGFC to find additional private-land opportunities for permit dove hunts.
Additional fields for the permit draw are in Prairie, Washington and Benton counties. The fields will be listed by county on the application form on agfc.com. A licensed hunter is allowed one application. The application fee is $5, nonrefundable. Hunters who are selected may bring one additional hunter of any age to the hunt, but both must hunt from the same station.
An array of land prepared for dove hunting is available on a nonpermit basis on wildlife management areas. Two fields are being prepared in a partnership between the AGFC and the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in east central Arkansas. The WMA lands available for dove hunting will be announced in the coming days and will be listed at agfc.com by mid-August.
Limits removed at Lake Monticello
MONTICELLO -- The director of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission removed all daily sportfish limits and length limits on Lake Monticello on July 29 as a result of the recent decision by the city to drain the lake for repairs to its dam.
"With the water level dropping and high water temperature, we will see a fish kill at Lake Monticello," said Jason Olive, assistant chief of fisheries for the Game and Fish Commission. "We want people to be able to use those fish instead of them going to waste."
Anglers still will be required to have a fishing license and obey all fishing regulations other than daily limits and length limits.
Olive said that undesirable nongame fish species will be removed from remaining standing water, and that the commission will improve habitat while water is absent.
For more information, contact the AGFC Monticello Regional Office at (877) 367-3559.
AGFC schedules bear-hunting seminars
Myron Means, large carnivore program coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, will host a series of seminars throughout Arkansas dedicated to hunting black bears during August and September.
Means will present every aspect of hunting The Natural State bears from scouting and bear behavior, to preparation for the hunt and care of harvested bears.
"Bear hunting really is all about finding food," Means said. "They don't have a rut during the fall like deer, but are about to go into their den cycle so they're focused on one thing -- eating."
Means will help hunters use this knowledge to increase their chances of harvesting a bear, with tactics developed for private and public land hunters.
The seminar also will address what to do if you kill a bear.
Seminars will be held at the following times and locations.
• Little Rock
Aug. 15 -- 6-8 p.m.
AGFC Little Rock Headquarters
2 Natural Resources Drive
• Russellville
Aug. 22 -- 6-8 p.m.
Lake Dardanelle State Park
100 State Park Drive
• Hot Springs
Aug. 27 -- 6-8 p.m.
National Park College
101 College Drive
• Fort Smith
Aug. 29 -- 6-8 p.m.
Janet Huckabee Arkansas River Valley Nature Center
8300 Wells Lake Road
• Fayetteville
Sept. 3 -- 5:30-7:30 p.m.
Fayetteville Public Library
401 W. Mountain St.
Sports on 08/04/2019