|
 LITTLE
ROCK - Time is running short for applying for one of Arkansas’ biggest
bargains - a free permit to hunt elk in the Buffalo River country.
The application period for Arkansas’ 2006 elk hunt permits is the month
of May. Applications must be postmarked by May 31. There is no cost for
applying, nor do the permits cost anything for the lucky persons whose
names are drawn.
The applications are available 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 habitat work.
The drawing for the public land permits will be Saturday, June 24, on
the Newton County Courthouse Square in Jasper, near the Buffalo River
and center of Arkansas's elk country. Persons applying for permits don’t
have to be present, but many attend each year, joining in the
festivities and activities.
Arkansas’ elk restoration, which began in 1981, is one of the nation’s
more outstanding wildlife success stories. The carefully controlled
hunts by permit only started in 1998, and the 2006 hunts will be the
ninth. From 112 elk brought to Arkansas from Colorado and Nebraska, the
herd has grown to a conservatively estimated 450 and is holding steady,
according to Mike Cartwright, elk program coordinator for the AGFC.
Improving elk habitat in the Buffalo River country is another benefit of
the permit process. Many who apply for the permits send along voluntary
donations to the elk program, and this money is used for food plots,
prescribed burning and other work in the elk area. A donation to the
AGFC for the elk program is not a requirement for permit application,
nor does a donation improve anyone's chance of being drawn for a permit.
 Applications
each year number into the thousands. But winning a permit doesn’t mean
quick success when the hunt time comes. The elk country is rugged, the
animals are wary now after several years of hunting, and advance
preparation is a necessity for all the permit holders.
Any Arkansas resident can apply for a permit - men, women, young people,
elderly citizens. Several youths have been successful in recent years,
and in 2005 both women who had permits scored with elk.
The elk hunt dates this year are Sept. 25-29 and Dec. 4-8.
The 2006 elk hunting will be in Elk Zones 1, 2, 3 and 4 along the
Buffalo River in northern Arkansas. These zones are mostly public lands
of the Buffalo National River and the Gene Rush Wildlife Management
Area. The dates for Zone A are also Sept. 25-29 and Dec. 4-8 for
private lands in Boone, Carroll and Newton counties, where some
landowners view elk as nuisances.
 Five
permits will be issued for hunting in each of Zones 1, 2, 3 and 4 -- one
for the September hunt and four for the December hunt. Only Arkansas
residents may apply for them. One youth permit is designated for the
December hunt, and this hunter can take either a bull or cow elk. The
elk permits won't be given to anyone who has accumulated 12 violations
points in the commission's point system for hunting and fishing
violations. Duplicate applications won't be accepted either.
The Zone A elk permits are a separate process. They cost $35, and
hunters must have signed permission from a landowner in Zone A to apply.
There will be a quota of five elk for the September hunt and five for
the December hunt. The Zone A hunts end at sundown when the quota is
reached. The Zone A application period is open through July 15. |
