TEXARKANA MAGAZINE
Hunters looking to bag an alligator in the Natural State may apply for permits for public land hunts from June 15-30 each year. Scan here to visit the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission website for more information.
his decoy for the dog to retrieve, a gator got his dog, drowned it, and ate it, leaving him in utter devastation,” he said. “This has happened multiple times.” Thankfully, no children or humans have been hurt. “Praise God, no, but are we going to wait until something catastrophic happens before something is done?” Siefert and the five guides who work with him have been on the lake since the 1990s. He has been a fisherman on the lake since he was a child in the 1960s. He said alligators regularly sabotage the trotlines and yoyo fishing efforts. Fishermen have to stay within sight of their gear to try to prevent that from happening. AGFC research says since 1984, alligator populations in Arkansas have become “stable” enough to support a regulated sport hunt. But now, even with a legal, highly regulated hunt implemented, Siefert, who has volunteered for the AGFC for 30-plus years, emphasizes more may need to be done. “The alligators are at the top of the food chain. One problem combats another with this situation, and there has got to be a balance.” Seifert, along with agencies involved in the care of wildlife management of lakes across South Arkansas, have discussed the possibility of more tags being issued for hunts or pursuing a mass relocation effort to get the population back down to a healthy percentage for the bodies of water. Over the last ten to 20 years, the population has just exploded. Thirty or 40 alligators can sometimes be counted in one area. Without the nutria consuming the vegetation, when winter hits and the vegetation dies, it creates silt and sedimentation at the bottom of the lake. In the 1990s, the U.S. Geological Survey installed
sedimentation stakes in the lakebed and marked them with GPS. When they returned several years later, they could not even find the stakes with GPS technology. The sedimentation occurred at a rate much higher than anticipated, and the study had to be abandoned,” Siefert stated. “The entire ecosystem becomes more and more unbalanced every year.” Millwood Lake fishermen and surrounding residential citizens have called for a solution. Many have suggested the alligators be captured and relocated back to Louisiana, where they aren’t so concentrated. There are teams from Louisiana who bring airboats out to do this for a living. Keener said the AGFC recently made an agreement with APHIS, the Animal Protection and Health Inspection Service. He said they are working closely with this agency to teach the relocation and capture process. The current alligator sport hunt is the result of a six-year effort by AGFC to offer Arkansans another sport hunting opportunity. A hunter must apply and then be chosen from a drawing to register a tag. Shooting an alligator without the proper registration and training is only legal if it’s in self-defense. More interest in hunts could mean a push for more tags to be issued. For those who have been considering going on an alligator hunt adventure, learn the procedure and follow regulations. That could be a small part of helping secure a natural habitat and saving an ecosystem or a life.
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COMMUNITY & CULTURE
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