Beginning July 14 at 8 a.m., nearly 200 leftover WMA deer hunt permits for Arkansas wildlife management areas are available for purchase.
Permits cover modern gun, muzzleloader and mobility-impaired hunts that weren’t awarded through the annual WMA deer permit drawing earlier in July. Each permit will be sold for $5. The leftover permit sale is on a first-come, first-served basis, and the purchase may be made online.
A hunter may purchase one permit for each of the remaining WMA permit hunts, and there is no limit to the number of permits a person may buy. However, many of the remaining hunts are on the same days, so hunters should pay attention to the dates as well as the location before purchasing.
Hunters interested in leftovers should act quickly. Leftovers for muzzleloader and modern gun hunts usually are claimed within a half an hour of the sale opening, and this year has seen more demand than ever for the drawn permits.
The following permits will be available for purchase July 14:
Modern Gun Hunts: Dr. Lester Sitzes III Bois D’Arc WMA, Nov. 14-22 — 10 available; Muzzleloader Hunts: George H. Dunklin Jr. Bayou Meto WMA Oct. 17-21 — 85 available; Dr. Lester Sitzes III Bois D’Arc WMA, Oct. 17-25 — 67 available. Mobility-Impaired Modern Gun Hunts: Freddie Black Choctaw Island WMA East Unit, Oct. 17-19 — 34 available.
AGFC Chief of Wildlife Management Brad Carner says that although these leftover permits are for less-sought hunts, they still offer WMAs with excellent success rates that often fly under the radar because all the attention is placed on one or two standout areas.
Brad Carner, chief of the AGFC’s Wildlife Management Division, says this year saw a drop in overall permits as well as an increase in applicants, leaving fewer leftovers available than years past, but a few options still are open in the leftover draws.
“We had about 30 percent more people apply this year than last,” Carner said. “And we had to decrease the number of permits available on one cooperatively-managed area due to the owner preparing to sell a portion of the property by the time the permit hunts will take place. But there are some leftovers at WMAs where we didn’t have enough applicants for the total number of permits allowed.”