Special Canada Geese Hunt Proposed
LITTLE ROCK - Wildlife managers for the state Game and Fish Commission on Thursday proposed a special hunt to reduce the number of Canada geese in parts of the state.
The commission decide at its August meeting whether to approve the proposal, which calls for hunting Sept. 1-5 and Sept. 29-Oct. 8 in the northwest quarter of Arkansas, the Ozark Mountains and the Arkansas River Valley.
A hunt Sept. 1-15 is also proposed for the southwest quarter of the state, the Ouachita Mountain area.
Thirty-five counties are in the two designated hunt areas. The commission staff proposed a daily limit of five Canada geese.
Also Thursday, the commission approved a natural gas lease on 2,500 acres of the Gulf Mountain Wildlife Management Area in Van Buren County that was expected to produce an upfront windfall of close to $3 million.
The lease is to Chesapeake Exploration Co., a firm with major activities in the Fayetteville Shale natural gas play in North-Central Arkansas.
For the past few years, Game and Fish has authorized a special Canada goose hunt in Northwest Arkansas for about nine days in late September and early October, but with a daily limit of two birds.