Deer dog use proposal
May 20th, 2006 by Administrator
AGFC turns down deer dog use proposal
LITTLE ROCK - A recommendation to create a new deer hunting zone in the Ozark Mountains that would be open to the use of dogs was rejected Thursday by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.
The recommendation came from the agency’s wildlife management staff in April after it was proposed by state Rep. Roy Ragland, R-Marshall. The suggested area was mostly in southwestern Newton County, with small areas in Pope, Johnson and Madison counties. Most of the land is in the Ozark National Forest.
The area has been closed to the use of dogs for deer hunting for many years. The proposal was for a permit system to use dogs in deer season, with private land permits requiring a hunter to have written approval for an area of 500 or more acres.
The commission unanimously voted down the proposal with little discussion after commissioner Sheffield Nelson expressed reservations even as he made the motion to approve the recommendation.
“I do this with some trepidation,” Nelson said. “The U.S. Forest Service gave us a letter against it (opening the area for deer dog use), and our legal counsel recommends not relinquishing anything we have gained. We have looked into this as a courtesy to a state representative.”
Ragland attended the meeting and left without comment after the vote.
In another deer hunting issue, the commission approved raising the seasonal buck limit to two in six zones and in several wildlife management areas.
The two-buck rule will be effective this fall in Deer Zones 1, 2, 6, 7, 8 and 10, and in Cherokee Prairie, Dardanelle, Fort Chaffee, Frog Bayou, Galla Creek, H.E. Flanagan Prairie, Mount Magazine, Nimrod, Ozark Lake and Rainey wildlife management areas.
The commissioners also approved a staff recommendation to alter the boundary between Deer Zones 12 and 14 in Hempstead County in southwest Arkansas. An area between Little River and Arkansas Highway 355 was moved into Zone 12. The wildlife staff said deer numbers and habitat were good in the area, and Zone 12 has more liberal rules.
In other action Thursday, commissioners:
-Raised the cost of nonresident annual all-game licenses to $300 and five-day nonresident licenses to $150. The increases were the first since 1999 for the annual license and the first since 1994 for the five-day license, bringing Arkansas closer to what surrounding states charge for nonresidents to hunt, according to AGFC fiscal chief Ray Sebren.
-Banned the import of waterfowl into the state as a precaution against the spread of avian or bird flu.
-Approved creating a DeGray Lake Wildlife Management Area under a 25-year agreement with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
- Named a new fish nursery pond on Bull Shoals Lake in Boone County for Dr. Ralph Bowers of Harrison, a former AGFC commissioner, and for Tommy Donohoo, former mayor of Diamond City. The two men led the campaign for building the pond, which took a number of years to gain federal approval. By Joe Mosby
Arkansas News Correspondent