JASPER - As in previous years, the highlight of the eight annual Buffalo River Elk Festival was the drawing for 18 elk hunting permits awarded by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. Two other hunters obtained permits through fund-raising activities of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.

As in past seasons, this year's elk hunting will be on public lands of the Buffalo National River and the AGFC's Gene Rush Wildlife Management Area, as well as adjacent private lands within Elk Zones 1 through 4. The two-segment season will be Sept. 26-30 and Dec. 5-9.

Just four of the hunters will be in the field in September. The other permits are for the December hunt, when weather will be cooler. One of the 18 permits for hunting in Elk Zones 1 through 4, mostly public land, was earmarked as a youth elk permit for a hunter under 16 years old. This is the fourth year for the youth elk permit.  Commissioners of the AGFC continue to look for chances to involve and encourage young people of the state to participate in hunting and fishing.

This permit is unique in another way, too. It specifies either-sex elk, meaning the hunter can kill either a bull elk or a cow elk. Since Arkansas elk hunting began in 1998,  permits other than youth elk permits for elk hunting zones 1 through 4 have specified which kind of elk could be taken. The youth permit will be for the December segment of the 2005 elk hunt.

To be eligible to win the elk permit, youths must have successfully completed a hunter education course.

The September hunt will be by four winners of bull permits, two drawn Saturday and two others who were high bidders at fund-raising events sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, which donates most of the proceeds to the Game and Fish Commission for elk program work.

Public lands permits for 2005:

Youth Elk Hunt Permit (December Hunt)

Cole Ellison, Winslow, Zone 3, Either - Sex

September Bull Elk Hunt Permits

Jason Rose, Conway, Zone 1
Roy Brann, Brinkley, Zone 2
Bob Wood, Monitor, Washington, Zone 3

December Bull Elk Hunt Permits 

Kenneth Oliver, Rosston, Zone 1
Brian Smoke, Bismarck, Zone 2
William Smith, Texarkana, Zone 4

December Antlerless Elk Hunt Permits 

Zone 1
Larry Fletcher, Timbo
Leslie Johnson, Mammoth Spring
Mark Zimmerman, North Little Rock

Zone 2
Edgar Hill, Warren
Paula Scott, Waldron
Gerald Yanker, North Little Rock

Zone 3
Ronnie Doyle, Diaz
Kevin Sears, Jacksonville
Manny Sepulveda, Rogers

Zone 4
Charles Gann Sr., Clinton
Celeste McCollum, Alma
Claude Glen McCool, Prattsville

Permits purchased through auctions by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation

Bob Wood, Monitor, Washington, Zone 3, Bull (September Hunt)

Walton Short, Magnolia, Zone 4, Bull (September Hunt)