Arkansas elk hunt winding down

Weekend youth hunters enjoy success across state

Arkansas hunters have killed 53 elk during the 2017 regular elk hunts.

More may be killed by the end of the hunting season because of regulations passed to help contain the elk herd to Boone Carroll, Madison, Newton and Searcy counties.

Eighteen of the elk were killed by hunters who drew permits for public land during this year’s Jasper Elk Festival in June. Another 33 elk were taken on private land during Elk Management Assistance Program quota hunts.

Two elk were killed by deer hunters outside the Core Elk Management Zone. All permit-based public land hunts and private land quota hunts are complete.

Wes Wright, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission elk program coordinator, said young hunters have taken full advantage of the early youth season for the second year in a row, with seven of the elk killed during youth hunts.

“The weekend youth hunts let the kids get out and enjoy the elk hunt without missing any school,” Wright said.

Game and Fish biologists took biological samples from all elk killed during the hunt to track DNA of the herd and test for chronic wasting disease. This protocol was responsible for the first detection of chronic wasting disease in Arkansas, even though it had possibly been in Arkansas for many years prior to its discovery.

Three elk so far this season were confirmed with the disease, Wright said.

“All hunters who turned in a positive sample were notified, and we incinerated the meat for the hunters in the cases where they wanted us to dispose of it,” he said.

“The weekend youth hunts let the kids get out and enjoy the elk hunt without missing any school.”

— Wes Wright, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission