News and Notes from the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission

News and Notes from the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission

By Randy Zellers

AGFC Communications AGFC and AFC partner with local landowner to benefit habitat through prescribed fire LITTLE ROCK — People west of Little Rock may have seen smoke plumes in the air over local landowner Ray Vogelpohl’s land near the Perry-Pulaski county line, but the small flames producing that smoke were a good thing for the future of wildlife on Vogelpohl’s property Thanks to a partnership between Vogelpohl’s , the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and the Arkansas Forestry Commission, the 24-acre burn was conducted safely and efficiently, hopefully setting the stage for many more to come.

According to Jason Honey, private lands biologist for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, this sort of small controlled burn is fairly common among Arkansas landowners wanting to restore and maintain wildlife habitat on their property.

“Fire can knock back all the woody stems and heavy underbrush that can build up on property and stimulate annual plants that produce abundant seeds and forage for wildlife,” Honey said. “Many of our native warm-season grasses that northern bobwhite thrive in require some sort of disturbance like fire.”

Honey says Vogelpohl has most of the resources needed to conduct prescribed bums on his own, but wanted to enlist the help of AGFC and AFC to be sure he knew all the proper steps to do it correctly.

“Instead of one 24-acre burn, he could break it up into smaller 5- and 6-acre burns to keep things manageable for a smaller crew,” Honey said.

The 24 acres where the burn was conducted was only a small portion of Vogelpohl’s holdings, and is primarily used as pasture land for horses and cows.

He also owns forested acreage that is in native timber production as well and has conducted many practices over the years to enhance his property for wildlife.

“The landowner has planted warm-season grasses and added buffer strips near portions of his property that border the Maumelle River as well,” said Brooks Willhoite, AFC forester for Perry and Pulaski counties. “In addition to creating food and ground cover for native wildlife such as quail, he has helped benefit the water quality of the Maumelle River, which flows into Lake Maumelle, the water-supply reservoir for much of central Arkansas.”

Willhoite says the Forestry Commission works with many landowners to conduct these sorts of prescribed bums as part of an overall management plan, just as private lands biologists from the AGFC do, but they focus mainly on forested lands.

“Fire is still one of the most efficient and costeffective ways to create and regulate wildlife habitat when done properly,” said Willhoite. “It’s only about $32 per acre for us to conduct burns like this, and that includes all of the technical assistance, planning for weather, materials and heavy equipment needed to create firebreaks and prevent the fire from escaping.”

Honey says the bum is an ideal example of how AGFC private lands biologists and county foresters work together to accomplish much more than either could do on their own.

“Both agencies are here to benefit natural resources, we just cover different facets of the bigger picture,” Honey said. “But the desired result is very similar, and when we work together, we can do a lot more for a lot less cost.”

Tragic accident reminds hunters to keep guns unloaded until needed LITTLE ROCK — It was big news for college football fans as well as hunters in south Louisiana and Mississippi when it was reported that former LSU offensive lineman Matt Branch survived being shot while hunting ducks in late December.

Branch, who played for LSU in 2009-11 before injuries ended his playing career, was inadvertently shot by his dog on a duck hunt with friends near the Eagle Lake oxbow northwest of Vicksburg, Miss.

The group had hunted through midmoming and was planning to move a few hundred yards to another hunting spot, so Branch had put his loaded 12-gauge shotgun in the bed of a Polaris Ranger ATV. His Labrador retriever jumped into the back of the vehicle, stepped on the weapon and not only clicked the safety off but hit the trigger with a paw.

The gun was facing at about a 90-degree angle to the cab. Branch was standing on the passenger side of the vehicle, and the blast sent shrapnel as well as shot into Branch's left thigh. Luckily, he was with other hunters who immediately tended to his wounds, summoned emergency medical services, and got him out to a nearby road where the medical personnel could tend to him. Still, it reportedly required dozens of units of blood and several surgeries to keep Branch alive, and doctors at a Jackson, Miss., medical center eventually had to amputate the injured leg. Branch was expected to make a full recovery, though, according to a GoFundMe page, he has required additional complex surgical procedures with more planned.

While this seems like a near-impossible event, accidents involving dogs triggering shotguns and injuring, if not killing, hunters have happened in Arkansas. Joe Huggins, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission hunter education coordinator, has found records over the years of three such accidents, including one in 1977 that resulted in a fatality. In successive years, 2000 and 2001, a dog-shoots-hunter accident occurred, but those hunters were fortunate to hunt another day.

“It’s just a situation of being safe in the field,” Huggins said.

“These incidents are just proof that hunters need to know that when they aren’t actually hunting, or if they are moving from one location to another to hunt, they need to unload their guns before putting them away.

There never should be a shell in the magazine, and certainly not the chamber, when a hunter isn’t hunting. All of these accidents were preventable.”

Luckily for everyone involved, no incidents in recent years have involved dogs discharging loaded shotguns and striking hunters in Arkansas.

But, in December 2001 in Lawrence County, two Arkansas hunters and their dog had been out hunting ducks, according to the filed incident report, and were moving the boat through water back to their trailer to head home. One hunter was pulling the boat and the other was pushing, while the dog was riding in the boat. The dog began moving around, stepped on a loaded shotgun and caused it to discharge. The shot penetrated the side of the boat and then struck the hunter pulling the boat.

And just a year earlier in Little River County, two hunters were taking down a blind that was set up around their boat. Their dog was tied up at the rear of the boat. One hunter’s firearm was leaning against the gunbox of the boat between him and the dog, and the animal knocked over the firearm and stepped on it, releasing the safety and pulling the trigger. Again, a hunter was struck in the leg at close range. In both cases, the hunters survived.

In Pope County in 1977, a teenage rabbit hunter was driving a car with a loaded firearm in the backseat. A dog in the backseat caused the fireami to discharge, fatally striking the driver in the head.

The AGFC’s Huggins said, “When hunting with your four-legged hunting companion, remember they don’t know the difference between a stick and firearm. Fireami safety has to be the top priority.

Unload your fireami anytime you are having to deal with your dog. Never leave it laying unattended when your dog is around. Know the location of your dog while out hunting. Many hunting dogs are household pets and it is important to know their location before taking a shot. While hunting, fireami safety should always come first in all situations.”

The Washington Post reported that at least 10 people around the nation were shot by dogs in hunting accidents between 2004-2015.