Flooding closes deer season for more hunters

LITTLE ROCK - The AGFC has expanded the deer-season closures enacted late last week because of flood conditions. Effective Tuesday, Jan. 25, Arkansas land bordering the Mississippi River from Helena to the Louisiana state line will be affected.

The closed areas include:

·  All lands south of U.S. Highway 49 and east of Arkansas Highway 44 until it joins Arkansas Highway 85. From here the western boundary will extend south on Arkansas Highway 85 to Snow Lake, along the Missouri-Pacific Railroad to the White River and along the established southern boundary for Flood Prone Zone F until it connects with U.S. Highway 165. It continues south to Arkansas Highway 1 and follows it to U.S. Highway 65 in McGehee. The western boundary continues south along U.S. Highway 65 until it reaches U.S. Highway 82 at Lake Village. These lands will be closed when the Mississippi River level reaches 41 feet on the Helena gauge and will remain closed until the same gauge recedes to 39 feet.

·  All Arkansas lands south of U.S. Highway 82 and east of U.S. Highway 65. This area will be closed to deer hunting when the Mississippi River gauge reaches 48 feet at the Greenville, Miss., gauge, and will remain closed until the same gauge reads 46 feet.

Originally, it was thought that the area south of U.S. Highway 82 and east of U.S. Highway 65 would be sufficient to protect the deer from overharvest, while allowing as many hunters as possible to have a full season. Unfortunately, the flooding is much worse than anticipated, calling for more land to be closed to protect the wildlife resource.