Submit Sample to AGFC & Hunt and Fish in Arkansas for FREE for LIFE
Tomorrow is the day folks. For what you might ask? Well I’ll say It’s NOT the day to dress up as a deer and be found in the woods. Starting Saturday for those within Zone 13, which is most of Howard County, the Modern Gun season opens up. Hunters will be allowed 5 deer, with no more than two of those being bucks for the 2021 hunting season. For zone 13 dogs are allowed for use while hunting. The season boasts approximately 36 days to fill those tags via modern gun, ending December 19th. The season will once again open December 26th-28th to allow for any new toys santa might bring to be used. And if you’re lucky enough to put some brown down consider this…
Getting your deer tested for chronic wasting disease is not only free through the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, it might now even land you a free hunting and fishing for life. Thanks to a donation from the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation, every Arkansas resident who has their harvested deer tested for CWD this year will be entered to win one of two gift certificates for a free Resident Sportsman’s Lifetime Combination License and Permit. Hunters who submit multiple deer for testing will have increased chances of being selected. AGFC employees and immediate families are ineligible to win.
Cory Gray, chief of the AGFC’s research division, said the giveaway is meant to show how much the agency appreciates Arkansas hunters who help in the work to manage this disease.
According to Gray, the drawing for the two gift certificates will be conducted after the 2021-22 deer hunting season has concluded. Winners will be selected from all hunters who submit a sample, regardless of the test results.
There are more than 100 locations for hunters to have their deer tested for CWD for free during the 2021-22 deer hunting season, and at least one testing location is available in every county in the state. A network of drop-off locations also are available where hunters can drop off the head of their deer with the antlers removed and have results back within two to three weeks. The AGFC collects these samples regularly and has them analyzed by the Arkansas Livestock and Poultry Commission laboratory.
Anyone who submits a positive sample will be notified via phone as soon as the results come back, so it is important to fill out all necessary paperwork at the drop-off location when you leave a sample.
The AGFC collected 7,824 CWD samples last year, and 95 percent of those samples were voluntarily submitted from hunter-harvested deer. Of those 261 were positive for CWD.
All CWD testing drop off locations will remain open until Feb. 28, the last day of the archery deer season.
While CWD has not been detected in our part of the state, wildlife officials nonetheless ask hunters to stay vigilant against the disease’s spread by assisting in the testing program. Scott County is the most southern county in Arkansas to have reported CWD.
A list of official testing locations is available at www.agfc.com/cwd as well as the latest regulations and news about the disease in Arkansas. A full list of drop off locations is available at www.agfc.com/cwd.
