Arkansas hunters bag 157 gators

JONESBORO, Ark. (KAIT) – Hunters took an enormous chew out of Arkansas’s alligator inhabitants, bagging greater than 100 of the large reptiles.

The Arkansas Recreation and Fish Fee mentioned Wednesday that throughout the two-weekend night-hunting-only season, hunters reported and tagged 157 alligators.

In accordance with an AGFC information launch, Alligator Administration Zone 3, positioned within the southeast nook of the state alongside the Mississippi River, noticed the best harvest, with 87 alligators taken.

Zone 1, close to the Texas-Louisiana border, got here in second with 64 gators harvested.

The AGFC issued 43 public searching permits, with searching allowed solely in designated areas of the Dr. Lester Sitzes III Bois D’Arc WMA, Sulphur River WMA, Little River under Millwood Lake, Millwood Lake and the Decrease Arkansas River Wetland Advanced.

“The entire public land hunters I’ve talked to just about noticed gators,” mentioned Mark Barbee, assistant regional supervisor within the AGFC’s Monticello Regional Workplace who coordinates the hunt. “However they have a tendency to carry out for slightly bigger one. Many have advised me prior to now that they handed on 8- and 9-foot gators, hoping for a 10-footer or higher, and time ran out on them. However they all the time say that they had an awesome expertise and a possibility to reap.”

The season was not restricted to simply public lands. AGFC acknowledged those that owned or had permission to hunt on non-public lands additionally bagged quite a few gators.

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