 LITTLE
ROCK – For the 10th consecutive year, Arkansas waterfowl hunters will
get 60 days of waterfowl hunting. Commissioners with the Arkansas Game
and Fish Commission last week unanimously approving the liberal season
along with a six duck bag limit for the 2006-2007 waterfowl season. A
proposal presented last month to split the state into two zones was not
adopted.
Duck hunters will be allowed no more than four mallards of which only
one mallard may be a hen. The daily bag limit may also contain
one pintail, three
mottled ducks, two scaup, two wood ducks, two redheads, one black duck
and one canvasback, but no more than a total of six ducks.
The waterfowl season will again be split into three segments. The first
portion will open on Nov. 18 and continue through Dec. 18. Following a
7-day Christmas break, the season will reopen on Dec. 26 and continue
through Jan. 7. Duck season will reopen again on Jan. 13 and continue
through Jan. 28, 2007.
Canvasback season will be the same as the waterfowl season. The popular
youth waterfowl hunt is Dec. 23-24 with bag limits the same as the
regular season.
The Commission also approved closing all state-owned waterfowl rest
areas during the duck season. The closure includes the youth waterfowl
hunt and the last three days of the duck season. A 15-shell restriction
was also approved on Bell Slough, Camp Robinson, Shirey Bay Rainey Brake
and Seven Devils wildlife management areas.
 A
change in the rules regarding decoys left overnight on three wildlife
management areas was approved by the Commission. Under the regulation,
decoys may be left overnight only from the first day of duck season to
the last day of duck season on St. Francis Sunken Lands, Big Lake and
Dave Donaldson Black River WMAs.
In other business, the commission:
*Approved several fishing code regulation changes.
The changes can be found on the AGFC Website at
http://www.agfc.com/fishing/approved_fishing_regulations.html.
*Approved a budget increase of $47,000 for watchable wildlife
projects at Gulf Mountain Wildlife Management Area.
*Approved an alligator management plan for
the state. The plan will now be submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service for their approval.
*Approved a land swap at Dagmar Wildlife Management Area. The land swap
involves three properties in the WMA. The land is owned by Mallard
Pointe Lodge in Brinkley. The AGFC will swap 145 acres to Mallard Point
for 109 acres and $28,000 in cash. The AGFC land was an outlying tract
that was only accessible by an abandoned railroad right-of-way.
*Approved an increase in the minimum fine for non-resident
hunters who do not have a non-resident license from $300 to $500. The
minimum fine for a non-resident possessing a resident license would also
be raised to $500.
*Approved the consolidation of the non-resident waterfowl permit on the
state's 25 wildlife management areas that possess waterfowl hunting
grounds to a single $100 annual permit and a single $10 five-day permit.
In the past, non-resident waterfowl hunters were required to purchase a
permit for each WMA |
