Arkansas: Migratory Bird Seasons Set, Mechanical Decoys Banned on WMAs

By Justin Stakes

Little Rock, AR -(AmmoLand.com)- Although chronic wasting disease has garnered most of the attention from the media during the last few Commission meetings, Commissioners continue to work toward providing higher quality waterfowl hunting in Arkansas’s public areas and many new regulations speak to that dedication.

The prohibition of all motion decoys except jerk strings on all Commission-owned wildlife management areas and national wildlife refuges likely would have made headlines had chronic wasting disease not reared its ugly head. Commissioners heard many times from the public about improved hunt quality on Bayou Meto and Dave Donaldson Black River WMAs this year after spinning-wing decoys were banned in these areas. The decoys have been a source of controversy with duck hunters on public land since the AGFC lifted its previous statewide ban in 2008.

“Evidence at that time indicated that the public wanted spinning-wing decoys back, so the ban was lifted,” said Luke Naylor, AGFC waterfowl program coordinator. “However, many hunters on public land, in particular, felt like their hunting was being unfairly impacted by the decoys. There are a lot of things beyond our control when hunting, but spinning-wing …Read the Rest

Source:: AmmoLand