Straight Wall or Smokepole? Arkansas’s Alternative Firearms Season Opens Oct. 17

“Last year was a down year, with about 186,000 deer harvested,” Meeker said. “It’s way too early in the year to make any predictions on the final harvest, but the deer herd is in good shape, numbers-wise.”

Meeker says hunters can help balance the herd by removing a few more does than in recent years.

“The added opportunities of early buck archery and straight-wall firearms has shifted some of our buck harvest to earlier in the season,” Meeker said. “If we skew the numbers too far to the female component prior to the rut, then those rutting activities hunters enjoy will be less pronounced. I encourage everyone to try and harvest a doe early to help balance this out. If your target buck doesn’t show up, take a doe; and if you get that buck, go back out and get a doe anyway. If you don’t need that much venison, you can donate that second deer to Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry to help needy families. Harvesting the right amount of does is the key to a healthy and productive deer herd.”

Meeker says the drought may have affected portions of the state, but the effects have not been as pronounced as originally expected on a statewide level.

“We really thought we’d have a decimated acorn crop, but it’s been pretty variable, and we’ve found pockets here and there that still have fair to good acorn production,” Meeker said. “We’ve seen several trees still holding onto persimmons.”

According to Meeker, red oak species produce acorns that take two years to mature, so last year’s acorns will be available; acorns of white oak species mature in one year and are a bit more spotty.

“We’re still seeing some places where post oaks and even some white oaks have acorns, mostly in areas near more permanent sources of water that had at least some water throughout summer,” Meeker said. “It’s not what it’s been the last two years, so get out and find an acorn tree around any place that has held water and focus on that. This cool weather and maybe a little rain will get those acorns to start dropping, and the deer will find them quickly.”

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