 COMPTON
– Patrick Gilligan of San Francisco was the closer for the September
2006 Arkansas elk hunt, and he took a heavyweight who apparently had
lost a bout the day, or night, before.
Gilligan killed a 6X10 bull elk, meaning six points on one side of its
antlers and a whopping 10 points on the other side. He took it on the
Gene Rush Wildlife Management Area of the Arkansas Game and Fish
Commission near the Buffalo River. The bull weighed 750 pounds.
The hunt ended with its permits and quotas filled. There were four bull
permits on the public land portion of the hunt and a quota of five elk
in the private land portion.
Gilligan, who is in the commercial real estate business, won his permit
through an auction of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, a partner with
the AGFC in the Arkansas elk program. A long-experienced elk hunter in
western states, Gilligan observed, stalked and finally put down a trophy
bull. He had seen it previously in the vicinity of a herd of cow elk
bossed by a 9X9 bull.
 Gilligan
called the 9X9 the Caribou elk for its tall but narrow antlers. He
guessed the larger 6X10 bull would do battle with the 9X9 and take over
the group of cows. They did fight, evidently, but the 6X10 wound up with
a deep cut on its forehead and was off with just a single cow. The 9X9
the next day lay comfortably in grass amid the larger group of cow elk.
When an opening for a shot at the 6X10 appeared, Gilligan took it with
his bolt action .300 Magnum rifle. He was accompanied by Bert Haralson
of Augusta who is knowledgeable of the Gene Rush WMA country.
Russell Brown of Dardanelle hunted hard for three days with his bull elk
permit. Near sundown on the third day, he made a decision when a young
bull came within range. It was a forkhorn, two points on each side.
Brown downed it with his .30-06 rifle.
The young bull was good-sized – 490 pounds. Brown received his permit
through the regular application and public drawing process, and it was
the second time he had won an Arkansas elk permit. He killed a cow elk
in 2003.
On the first day of the hunt, Walton Short of Magnolia took a 6x6 bull
and Charles Platt of Sherwood killed a 5x5 bull. On private land, Ken
Reeves of Harrison shot a 4X5 bull, Josh Rutledge of Elkins and Allen
Jackson of Witts Spring each took 5x5 bulls, and Charles Magness of
Omaha and Steve Cavender of Harrison killed cow elk.
The second segment of the 2006 elk hunt is scheduled for Dec. 4-8, when
16 other hunters will pursue elk – three with bull permits, one with an
either-sex permit (youth permit) and 12 with antlerless permits.
The application period for Arkansas’ 2007 elk hunt will be the month of
May. There is no cost for applying, nor do the permits cost anything for
the lucky persons whose names are drawn.
 The
applications are available in May on the website
www.agfc.com, at license dealers,
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission offices and other outlets across the
state. The Arkansas elk hunt is limited to 20 permits, with 18 available
though the public application process. The other two permits are issued
through fund-raising activities of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation,
with most of the money received returned to Arkansas for elk program
work.
The private land elk permits are a separate process. They cost $35, and
hunters must have signed permission from a landowner in Elk Zone A to
apply. The Zone A application period will run open through July 15. |