 LITTLE
ROCK – To no one’s surprise, the top deer-producing area in the state
remains a 10-county chunk of south Arkansas.
The statistics from the 2005-2006 hunting season compiled by the
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission show the leading 10 counties in terms
of deer checked by hunters are in the Gulf Coastal Plain. The next 11
roughly surround the leaders but with a string extending through
northeast and east-central Arkansas all the way to the Missouri border.
The top county hasn’t changed in recent years. It is Union, with El
Dorado the county seat. In the past season, 6,144 deer were checked in
Union County.
For the state as a whole, hunters checked 128,995 deer. By method, there
were 103,641 taken with modern guns, 13,911 taken with muzzle-loaders,
7,793 taken with archery and 3,650 taken with crossbows.
The statistics do not include illegally taken deer – not checked or
stolen (poached) – nor do they include accidental kills on highways and
roads in vehicle-deer collisions.
Ranking in the top 10 behind Union are (counties and county seats):
2. Dallas (Fordyce), 5081.
3. Cleveland (Rison), 4,791.
4. Clark (Arkadelphia), 4,720.
5. Ouachita (Camden), 4,687.
6. Ashley (Hamburg), 4,631.
7. Bradley (Warren), 4,620.
8. Drew (Monticello), 4,382.
9. Grant (Sheridan), 4,179.
10. Calhoun (Hampton), 4,073.
These 10 counties have been the deer leaders in Arkansas for several
decades although the order of the top 10 has changed a number of times.
The next 11 counties in the 2005-2006 deer statistics are:
11. Columbia (Magnolia), 3,732.
12. Nevada (Prescott), 3,587.
13. Saline (Benton), 2,999.
14. Arkansas (DeWitt), 2,995.
15. White (Searcy), 2,535.
16. Hempstead (Hope), 2,520.
17. Howard (Nashville), 2,323.
18. Lincoln (Star City, 2,274.
19. Jefferson (Pine Bluff), 2,130.
20. Hot Spring (Malvern), 2,105.
21. Sharp (Ash Flat), 2,099.
And the other counties:
Baxter, 1,218.
Benton, 1,085.
Boone, 603.
Carroll, 591.
Chicot, 982.
Clay, 847.
Cleburne, 1,538.
Conway, 906.
Craighead, 275.
Crawford 1,043.
Crittenden, 194.
Cross, 545.
Desha, 1,921.
Faulkner, 957.
Franklin, 784.
Fulton, 1,766.
Garland, 1,875.
Greene, 1,107.
Independence, 1,786.
Izard, 1,424.
Jackson, 311.
Johnson, 913.
Lafayette, 1,183.
Lawrence, 652.
Lee, 431.
Little River, 1381.
Logan, 876.
Lonoke, 1,103.
Madison, 1,278.
Marion, 814.
Miller, 1,084
Mississippi, 116.
Monroe, 1,142.
Montgomery, 853.
Newton, 718.
Perry, 873.
Phillips, 433.
Pike, 1,932.
Poinsett, 313.
Polk, 1,528.
Pope 1,108.
Prairie, 1,882.
Pulaski, 1,381.
Randolph, 1,185.
Scott, 763.
Searcy, 393.
Sebastian, 881.
Sevier, 1,422.
St. Francis, 530.
Stone, 635.
Van Buren, 934.
Washington, 1,641.
Woodruff, 925.
Yell, 1,271. |