Online applications available through Arkansas Game and Fishing Commission for annual alligator hunt

Applications for the 2019 Arkansas alligator season will be available at www.agfc.com through midnight, June 30.

After a slow start in last year’s hunt, Alligator Zone 2, composed of south-central Arkansas, will again have a private land at-large opportunity for alligator hunters.

Zone 2 was closed to all alligator sport hunting from 2007 until last year to help analyze the impact hunting had on alligator populations in the two open zones (southeast and southwest Arkansas). That comparison is no longer needed.

Mark Barbee, assistant regional wildlife biologist in Monticello for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, says Arkansas’s alligator population has shown that it can support a hunt at the current permit level. The addition of new zones enables more hunters to enjoy the sport and possibly address some nuisance issues with alligators on private land.

The 2019 alligator permit draw will have 100 permits available for public draw.

Alligator hunt permits will be available on the following publicly accessible areas:

Millwood LakeDr. Lester Sitzes III Bois D’ArcLake Little River WMAMercer Bayou/Sulphur River WMALake ErlingLower Arkansas River Wetland Complex (Arkansas River backwaters near Arkansas Post)

Private-land-at-large tags also are available through the regular draw application process. Hunters drawn for at-large permits must provide written landowner permission and a map identifying their hunt area at a mandatory orientation.

Each permit authorizes the harvest of one alligator, which must be at least 4 feet long. Alligator hunting is allowed 30 minutes after sunset until 30 minutes before sunrise during the approved alligator hunting season dates – Sept. 20-23 and Sept. 27-30. Each permit holder may have up to three assistants with them on the hunt, but only the permit holder is allowed to snare, harpoon or dispatch the alligator.

Applicants must be at least 16 years of age the day the hunt begins, and only Arkansas residents or holders of an Arkansas Lifetime Sportsman’s Permit may apply. Applicants with 12 or more AGFC violation points are ineligible to apply. Alligator-hunt applicants must pay a $5 nonrefundable processing fee at the time of their application.