Deer hunting eclipses other outdoor sports
Joe Mosby

Among Arkansas outdoor pursuits, all else takes a back seat to deer hunting.

True, there are fervent practitioners of duck hunting, turkey hunting and bass fishing, but the ranks of deer hunters far and away are greater than those of any of the other activities.

It is understandable that ears will prick up with the announcement of a new Strategic White-tailed Deer Management Plan by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

You can imagine some of the reactions. "It's about time. They need to stock more deer in this part of the county." Or, "they need to open up those club lands behind the locked gates."

And this and similar opinions are off-base.

It is not- repeat, not - a

deer hunting plan. It is a deer management plan, meaning a written strategy on handling the Arkansas deer population and seeking to improve it where desired.

One of the tools to be used is the setting of deer hunting regulations, including bag limits and dates.

The idea of a management plan is not novel in Arkansas either. The AGFC has been in operation with a 1999 Deer Management Plan, and there were others before then, going back to 1951.

Plentiful, healthy deer in stable numbers are the objective of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's new Strategic Deer Management Plan that goes into effect this month.

The newest plan was approved by AGFC commissioners at their February meeting in Dumas.

It did have a unique feature in that several dozen private citizens were selected for idea and planning sessions, and their influence is reflected in a number of the plan's objectives.

Just one example here is under "Communication Goal" - making regulations easy to understand. That's an obstacle at present for outdoors-interest people.

The many and varied regulations, well intended and justified as they may be, are complicated and have turned off some hunters.

The new deer management plan, the AGFC said, was developed to provide long-term, strategic goals using public input in conjunction with scientific wildlife management principles.

The plan will be evaluated and updated on a five-year cycle.

It was developed with a great deal of input from the deer hunting public, AGFC deer program coordinator Cory Gray said. "Public input was critical to this plan. We held numerous public meetings around the state to gather valuable information from hunters," Gray said.

Commission chairman Sonny Varnell of St. Paul said that he foresees positive changes on the horizon arising from the implementation of the plan. "I look forward to good things coming out of this plan. There will be lots of positive changes in the future," he added.

Other highlights of the deer management plan:

- The Resource goal to "manage and maintain a healthy, stable deer herd appropriate for the habitat."

- Sociological goal: Be responsive to public concerns."

- Education goal: "Improve education and promotion of deer management and deer hunting in Arkansas."

- Habitat goal: "Enhance and improve deer habitat."

- Enforcement goal: "Enhance enforcement efforts to ensure compliance with AGFC regulations."

The plan divides Arkansas into six deer management units, and each of these contains several deer hunting zones.

The management units are Ozark Mountain, Arkansas River Valley, Ouachita Mountains, West Gulf Coastal Plain, Mississippi Alluvial Valley and Crowley's Ridge.

The simple term Delta is what most Arkansas would call that Mississippi Alluvial Valley. West Gulf Coastal Plain is the timberlands of South Arkansas.

The plan will goes into effect this month. The entire plan can be found online.

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On the Net: www.agfc.com/hunting/ deer.aspx

Joe Mosby is the retired news editor of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Arkansas' bestknown outdoor writer. His work is distributed by the Arkansas News Bureau in Little Rock. He can be reached by e-mail at jhmosby@cyberback. com.