LITTLE ROCK — The permit-only duck hunting issue was a controversial topic at an Arkansas Game and Fish Commission board meeting in Little Rock yesterday.
As a result of those discussions and feedback from the public, the Commission has scaled back its original proposal to reserve about five miles of the lower portion of the St. Francis Sunken Lands Wildlife Management Area.
The amended version, approved yesterday, would create a smaller permit-only area after Game and Fish Commissioner Phillip Tappan of Little Rock suggested an amendment creating no fewer than five and no more than nine permit-only zones.
According to Commission staff, the final number will depend on the size of the permit area, with the zones to be chosen by area staff before duck season.
The original proposal also limited the number of hunters in a permitted party to four. The new proposal allows as many as eight.
