Despite not being considered a top whitetail state, William L. Loyd took this big buck in Arkansas that scored 202 3/8 in 2015. (Photo courtesy of the Boone and Crockett Club)
October 14, 2024
By Darron McDougal
This whitetail hunting forecast for the state of Arkansas is part of Game & Fish’s “Great States" project identifying the best deer-hunting states in the country. Read more: America's Top Whitetail States Arkansas Hunters Should Be Happy This Season Arkansas is known for more than being the birthplace of legendary singer/songwriter Johnny Cash and the home of Walmart’s headquarters. In addition to its rich history, caverns, lakes and state parks, if you’re a DIY deer hunter, you’ll find millions of public-accessible acres on which to roam.
Ralph Meeker, the Deer Program Coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, detailed how the management of those acres is divided up. “Arkansas has several different types of public lands by ownership,” he began. “The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission owns and manages about 300,000 acres. The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service owns about 300,000 acres that make up the state’s National Wildlife Refuge system. There are some smaller ones such as the Nature Conservancy too, but the dominant public-land owner is the U.S. Forest Service with nearly 3,000,000 acres of public access.”
DID YOU KNOW?
OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND Arkansas’ whitetail season of 157 days gives hunters plenty of opportunities to get afield.
Although good deer hunting can be found statewide, Meeker outlined some tracts that hunters might consider checking out during their hunt in the Natural State. “In the Ozarks are the White Rock WMA and Piney Creeks WMA as well as the Ouachita Mountains,” he said. “That region contains the state’s largest concentration of public land, most of which is easily accessible.”
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If you’re wondering where public-land hunters are the most successful, wonder no more. “Hunters harvested more deer from the Piney Creeks WMA in 2023 than any other public piece,” Meeker shared. “The Dale Bumpers National Wildlife Refuge’s south unit came in second, and the White Rock WMA was third. These are large acreages with easy access, and hunters have lots of success while hunting on them.”
As far as habitats, “White Rock and Piney Creeks WMAs are both upland hardwoods,” Meeker explained. “They’re quite mountainous. The Dale Bumpers National Wildlife Refuge is bottomland hardwoods along the White River in eastern Arkansas. Those two regions are comparatively very different. Arkansas is pretty diverse in general. We have what we call six different physiographical regions, making it a pretty unique whitetail state.”
Oaks are the primary hard-mast producer in Arkansas including post oak, white oak, tons of red oak and black oak. (Shutterstock) Meeker said that south-central Arkansas is popular among hunters because the region has the highest deer densities. “We do have some counties popping up in northwest Arkansas that are catching up,” he said. “A lot of that is due to urban deer populations where it is harder to legally fire a firearm. Our top harvests in the state were in Bradley, Cleveland and Saline Counties, respectively.”
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THAT'S A FACT
LAND ACCESS Of Arkansas’ 34,035,449 total acres, more than 3 million are open to public hunting.
Meeker mentioned that the trophy potential is highest in eastern Arkansas’ Delta Region due to soil quality, land-use patterns, etc. “There are larger hunting clubs, and the management mentality is much different there. Boiled down, fewer landowners own large percentages of the region’s acreage. Bucks are allowed to reach the older age class, and buck-to-doe ratios are more balanced.
“Oaks are the primary hard-mast producer in Arkansas,” Meeker continued, “and we have lots of them. We have post oak, white oak, tons of red oak and black oak. In southeast Arkansas, there are also sweet pecans. For soft masts, the main one is persimmon followed by muscadine. Those are all good food sources for hunters to focus on. Soft masts are generally more productive early in the season, while hard masts are more productive from mid-season through the end of the season. There are also food plots on most Game and Fish Commission lands, and we work cooperatively with the forest service to plant food plots on their lands.”
Deer diseases in Arkansas include CWD, which Meeker said was detected in 2016 and has since been detected in 20 of the state’s 75 counties, although the CWD Management Zone includes 29 counties. EHD is another disease that occurs in Arkansas, but it typically doesn’t happen at a population-impact level, so hunters have little to worry about there.