News & Notes from the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission

News & Notes from the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission

Hunters help track spread of chronic wasting disease

AGFC Media Director LITTLE ROCK – Deer hunters in Arkansas voluntarily provided more than 6,300 biological samples from harvested deer to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission during the 2018-2019 hunting season, helping AGFC to continue monitoring the distribution of chronic wasting disease in the state. With almost a month of the firearms deer season and two additional months of archery season left, new samples are still coming in on a daily basis.

“This is a huge increase over samples collected during last year’s deer season,” said AJ Riggs, wildlife health biologist for the AGFC’s Research, Evaluation and Compliance Division. “For comparison, this same period for 2017, a total of 3,607 hunter harvested samples were collected.”

Riggs says the testing is all voluntary and free to hunters in the vast majority of cases.

“If a person takes their deer to one of our cooperating veterinarians, they may charge a fee for their time,” Riggs said. “But all of the other options for testing, which have received 99 percent of our samples, are totally free to hunters. It’s important that we’re offering this service to people who want to be sure about the deer’s status before taking it to a processor.”

The increase in samples has come despite a reduced number of manned testing locations during opening weekend of modern gun deer season this year. In 2017, the AGFC operated 17 temporary CWD sample stations on opening weekend, which garnered 459 samples to help investigate the prevalence and spread of the disease. This year only five such sites were manned by AGFC personnel, all in areas which recently had been added to the agency’s CWD Management Zone.

“We felt the amount of manpower used to staff those stations could be better used to gather samples through a different method,” Riggs said. “But it was important to have a place for staff to be able to talk one-on-one with hunters who arrived to turn in a sample or ask questions. That’s why we continued the stations in a few areas that recently were added to the CWD Management Zone. Our staff has really come together to communicate with the public and gather samples through every means possible.”

A large portion of the samples collected came through the agency’s new system of unmanned CWD testing drop-off containers placed throughout the state.

“Staff are operating 44 freezers, mostly located inside the CWD Management Zone, but we do have locations throughout the state,” Riggs said.

“We worked through the offseason to create partnerships with local municipalities to provide freezers where hunters could drop off samples throughout deer season, many of which are available 24 hours a day.”

The freezers are monitored to prevent vandalism or theft, but there have been no major issues so far and the response from the public has been excellent.

Dr. Jenn Ballard, state wildlife veterinarian for the AGFC, is very happy with the response from hunters and the quality of the samples submitted.“It’s been incredible,” Ballard said. “People are using the freezers and we’ve received a lot of great responses from hunters about the convenience.”

Ballard hopes the AGFC can add additional drop-off containers in the next year to cover even more areas of the state.

“We have pretty well saturated the CWD Management Zone with drop-off locations,” Ballard said. “But we have already added four additional freezers this year.”

Ballard says the added drop-off locations came after a recent positive case of CWD appeared in Oregon County, Missouri, northeast of Arkansas’s CWD Management Zone.

“Dallas Harrell, one of the local AGFC biologists, worked with agencies in Fulton, Sharp and Randolph counties to establish four new sites for freezers and we’re trying to get the word out about those locations to hunters.” As of Nov. 30, 155 new cases of CWD have been detected in the state from the increased sampling effort, which is consistent with previous years results if the increased volume of samples is taken into consideration. So far this year, one positive case of CWD came from an elk that was targeted because it showed signs of CWD, but no elk taken during this year’s elk hunts tested positive for the disease.

“So far, we have not detected any new positive cases outside of the existing CWD Management Zone,” Ballard said. “But the drop-off locations and other sampling methods will all be available until deer season ends at the end of February.”

Ballard says the results of these free CWD tests can take two to three weeks to process. As results are collected, they are listed on the AGFC’s website in a secure location and may be viewed by the person who submitted the sample.

“If a positive case of CWD is found in a new county and confirmed, we will issue a press release, but we’ve been fortunate so far this year,” Ballard said.

Visit www.agfc.com/cwd for a full list of available CWD testing options or to check your results.

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Make your own European-style mount from this year’s trophy buck

JONESBORO — The Forrest L. Wood Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center will host a special workshop on how to prepare your own European skull mount of your deer from 1:30 to 3 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 15.

Although there’s no substituting a professionally prepared mounted head of a trophy deer from a taxidermist, many hunters like the look of a cleaned skull mount, commonly called a European mount because of its popularity with biggame hunters overseas.

Skull mounts also cost a fraction of a traditional shoulder-mounted deer from a taxidermist. In fact, hunters willing to put in a little sweat equity can create their own works of art at home with minimal equipment.

“We will have a seminar and a demonstration to show people first-hand how to make their own mount,” said Cody Walker, education program specialist for the AGFC. “We’ll take folks from a harvested deer all the way through the process of skinning, cleaning, boiling, bleaching and sealing their trophy.”

Walker says people are welcome to bring photos to share with the group, but the center has already procured a few deer heads to use in the demonstration.

Attendees will not be able to bring their own trophy to the workshop, but will leave with all the knowledge to finish their own mounts independently.

“We had this workshop last year, and a few people were really shocked at how simple it actually was to do,” Walker said. “The trick is to do a thorough job at every step.”

Walker says even once the skull has been whitened, it’s important to seal it if you want your mount to last the test of time.

“Bone is a very porous material, and using peroxide on it will really clean it up, but dust can gather in those pores,” Walker said.

“Anything that sits in your house will gather some dust over time, and that dust can give the mount an off color and be impossible to clean out. So the sealing helps preserve your trophy.”

Taxidermy is only one of many classes that revolve around hunting and angling at Crowley’s Ridge Nature Center. Since its establishment in 2004, the center has prided itself in focusing on conservation and how hunters and anglers are part of the big picture.

“We do several different taxidermy seminars for different types of animals during the year,” Walker said. “We also really try to put on as many ‘Hunting 101’ or ‘introduction to hunting and angling’ workshops as we can.

Recruiting the next generation of hunters and anglers is part of our mission, and it’s one of the things we enjoy doing most at the center.”

Walker said one of the most recent successes was a full-day workshop for area schools devoted to trapping and its importance in conservation. Students spent a whole day learning how to set specific types of traps to humanely take furbearers and even created their own trap sets under the supervision of an experienced trapper.

“It was so popular, we had to have two different days of workshops, and we plan to do another one soon just on handing the furbearers to get the most out of the furs they provide,” Walker said.

The European antler seminar is free but registration is required. Call Walker at 870-336-6787 or email at cody.walker@agfc.ar.gov to register.

*** AGFC adding special gifts to holiday stockings

LITTLE ROCK — Thousands of rainbow trout have been stocked around the state in the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Family and Community Fishing Program locations. Among these fish, 300 will be fitted with special fluorescent pink tags that can be redeemed for a special prize in addition to the good meal they provide.

“We’ll be tagging the fish with pink tags that have “Community Fishing” printed on one side and “1866-540-FISH” on the other, said Clint Coleman, FCFP assistant coordinator for the AGFC. “Anyone who catches one of these fish can return the tag for one of many randomly selected gifts we have available.”

Coleman says the gifts range from tackle boxes and tackle to much larger items. The prizes are limited to one per angler.

“They’ll win that prize, and they’ll be entered into the grand prize drawing at the end of the winter stocking season for much larger items,” Coleman said. “The big prize for the year will be an overnight stay and fishing trip at Rick Evans Grandview Prairie Conservation Education Center. They have fishing lakes with monster bass in them as well as trap and skeet shooting and other fun outdoors activities. It’s a great family getaway.”

All tags must be mailed to the AGFC and postmarked by Feb. 28, 2019, to be eligible for the drawing. For more information or to find a location near you, visit www.agfc.com/familyfishing or call the stocking hotline at 866-540-

3474.

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Northwest Arkansas nature center construction underway

SPRINGDALE — Construction of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s latest nature center will begin next week. Contracts were signed last week with Branco Enterprises of Neosho, Mo., to begin construction of the center located in Springdale.

The facility will be built on a 61-acre site along Spring Creek, near the intersection of Interstate 49 and Wagon Wheel Road.

Fennell Purifoy Architects of Little Rock is the architectural firm for the 32,000 square-foot facility. It will focus on the unique natural features and ecosystems found in the northwest region of the state.

Construction is expected to be complete by summer 2020.

Proposed facility highlights include a state-ofthe- art educational facility, indoor and outdoor classrooms, education pavilions, traditional and 3-D archery ranges, watchable wildlife walking trails, wildlife habitat areas, native gardens, and many other conservation education and outdoor recreation amenities. A portion of the property will be restored to native grassland that will provide important wildlife habitat and serve as a model for future restoration efforts.

Studies have shown that similar projects are key economic drivers that increase nearby residential property values, reduce the amount of stormwater to be managed and increase air quality. These projects also improve quality of life and boost local economies by attracting businesses and residents.

The addition of a new nature center will add to the AGFC’s services, habitat work, conservation and enhancements to the natural resources of the area for decades.

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AGFC’s Kinion elected to Arkansas Environmental Educators Association board

LITTLE ROCK — Tabbi Kinion, chief of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Education Division was elected to the board of directors for the Arkansas Environmental Education Association last week.

Kinion has been chief of education for the AGFC since July 2018. Before coming to the AGFC, she worked for Colorado Parks and Wildlife, and has more than 20 years of experience in conservation education. She has served at the national level on committees to support environmental education programs and coordinate them with academic standards to enable natural resources to be taught in schools throughout the country.

“I’ve met with many members of the organization as I’ve familiarized myself with educators and agencies in the community, and I was able to attend a meeting recently in Northwest Arkansas where many groups were coming together on how to better promote natural resources education in that part of the state,” Kinion said. “I was approached by the executive director of the organization, and it seemed like a great way to network and create new partnerships helping the AGFC’s mission and the people of Arkansas.”

The AEEA is an affiliate of the North American Association for Environmental Education, and works with educators, students, business, government and the general public to increase the awareness and knowledge about the environment.

“I worked with the Colorado affiliate of the parent organization of the AEEA while I was there, and it was instrumental in many partnerships I was able to work with there,” Kinion said.”The Arkansas Department of Education has recently rewritten the standards and will be rolling those standards out soon. Organizations like AEEA help all of the nonformal educators such as nature centers, zoos, parks and land trusts connect with the teachers in schools and best serve their needs.”

Kinion’s three-year term on the board will begin next month.

From Randy Zellers