Below is a news release from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation has a long history of supporting elk, conservation and hunting in the state. Since 1992, RMEF and its partners completed 112 conservation and hunting heritage outreach projects in Arkansas with a combined value of more than $5.4 million. These projects conserved or enhanced 80,664 acres of habitat and opened or improved public access to 514 acres.
The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission drew the names of 18 Arkansans at the Buffalo River Elk Festival to participate in this fall’s annual public land elk hunts.
More than 6,600 applicants applied for elk permits online during the May application window, and 15 of the permits allotted for public land were drawn from those entries. An additional 620 people applied on-site at the festival for three additional permits reserved for attendees of the event. Permits were drawn from a squirrel cage in front of an anxious crowd throughout the day. Winners of the three on-site permits had to be present to win during the final drawing of the festival.
Hunters are allowed to choose their weapons from archery (including crossbows), muzzleloaders, modern rifles, modern shotguns and handguns.
All public land hunts occur on the Buffalo National River, Gene Rush Wildlife Management Area and Bearcat Hollow Wildlife Management Area. Hunters are assigned specific zones within these public lands. Public land permit holders are encouraged to attend an orientation before the hunt and will be notified of the time and location.
Arkansas also holds private land elk hunts, managed through a quota system, for hunters who have landowner permission in Arkansas’s Core Elk Management Zone.
(Photo source: Arkansas Game and Fish Commission)