Arkansas Wildlife

Host Trey Reid talks with Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Wildlife Management Assistant Chief David Luker about how Arkansas’ extreme, multi-year drought may affect the upcoming waterfowl season. Luker explains that the winter from November 2025 to March 2026 was the driest on record since 1895 and that the state may need 18–20 inches of rain just to get out of drought, with more needed to restore runoff and surface water. They detail limited flooding capacity on public lands: only 76 of 167 moist-soil units have adequate water, rainfall-dependent units are currently unusable, and only 2 of 43 green tree reservoirs could potentially be pumped. They discuss why pumping is constrained by low rivers/lakes, why groundwater wells aren’t feasible or responsible, costly extended pumping, and similar shortages on private-land programs. They end noting some habitat-management and tree-regeneration benefits from drier conditions.

Arkansas Wildlife Podcast host Trey Reid talks with Arkansas Game and Fish Commission Wildlife Management Assistant Chief David Luker about Arkansas’s prolonged, extreme drought as hunting seasons approach. They note the period from November through March was the driest on record since 1895 and explain that being about 8.5 inches below normal for the year doesn’t reflect the larger multi-year deficit, requiring roughly 12–20 inches of rain to break the drought. They discuss how scarce water and reduced green vegetation may change deer movement and hunting tactics, spotty acorn production with potential multi-year impacts on red oaks, and possible declines in deer body condition. The drought has limited prescribed burning amid widespread burn bans and increased wildfires (over 1,700 fires and nearly 40,000 acres burned). They also cover drought-related benefits, including improved access for specialized bottomland timber harvests and construction/drainage projects, while emphasizing habitat goals and minimal hunter disruption. A follow-up episode will focus on waterfowl impacts.

Host Trey Reid talks with Arkansas Game and Fish Commission fish ecologist Chance Garrett about his statewide work on species of greatest conservation need, threatened and endangered fish monitoring, and why non-game species matter to food webs and conservation. Garrett highlights Arkansas endemics like the strawberry darter and Ouachita and Caddo madtoms, then focuses on the leopard darter, endemic to the Little River system. He explains how reservoir construction in the 1960s–70s fragmented prime habitat, leading to extirpation in the Cossatot and Rolling Fork rivers and leaving a stable population in the Mountain Fork. The episode covers propagation with Conservation Fisheries Incorporated, releases of nearly 400 fish into the Cossatot with more planned, monitoring results showing overwinter survival, plans to scale propagation in-house, and the species’ narrow spawning window and unique early life stage. Garrett encourages listeners to snorkel local clear streams to see native fish diversity.

Host Trey Reid welcomes Dr. Craig Harper (University of Tennessee), Ronnie Ritter (Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry), and Arkansas Game and Fish Commissions Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) coordinator Jeremy Brown, to discuss deer management. Brown explains DMAP’s free, site-specific data, habitat guidance, and herd-balancing recommendations for large private lands, noting the program’s 25-year Arkansas milestone and the need to reduce deer densities in some areas. Dr. Harper outlines common habitat shortcomings and emphasizes improving native forage—especially forbs—through field and woodland management, prescribed fire, herbicide, and selective tree removal. The group connects increased doe harvest to donation efforts, highlighting DMAP’s refrigerated trailer program and last year’s 700+ donated deer. Ritter describes expanding venison distribution, snack sticks for schools, and how to support Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry via arkansashunters.org.

Host Trey Reid welcomes Dr. Craig Harper (University of Tennessee), Ronnie Ritter (Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry), and Arkansas Game and Fish Commissions Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) coordinator Jeremy Brown, to discuss deer management. Brown explains DMAP’s free, site-specific data, habitat guidance, and herd-balancing recommendations for large private lands, noting the program’s 25-year Arkansas milestone and the need to reduce deer densities in some areas. Dr. Harper outlines common habitat shortcomings and emphasizes improving native forage—especially forbs—through field and woodland management, prescribed fire, herbicide, and selective tree removal. The group connects increased doe harvest to donation efforts, highlighting DMAP’s refrigerated trailer program and last year’s 700+ donated deer. Ritter describes expanding venison distribution, snack sticks for schools, and how to support Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry via arkansashunters.org.

Host Trey Reid talks with AGFC Conservation Support Division Chief Cory Gray and Wildlife Health Biologist A.J. Riggs about chronic wasting disease (CWD) in Arkansas. They discuss the two new counties for the 2026-2027 season (Grant and Sevier) and how the detections will effects hunters this season. They summarize a five-year research project (2020–2025) in Newton county with the University of Georgia, SCWDS, and Colorado State University, concluding CWD can drive deer population declines, with about 34% of monitored deer deaths attributed to CWD alone and a projected annual population loss of 14% in the study area. New Deer Zone 2 regulations aim to protect more females and stabilize herds. They explain Arkansas’ voluntary, free whitetail testing program (mandatory for elk), freezer and taxidermy sample networks, carcass transport rules, baiting/feeding restrictions, and efforts to contain spread while encouraging hunters to keep hunting and get deer tested.

Host Trey Reid talks with Jessica Feltz of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Conservation Support Division about how social science informs hunting, fishing, and conservation decisions. Feltz explains the “three-legged stool” of conservation—species, habitat, and people—and why understanding human behavior is essential for effective management. She describes tools like facilitated public meetings, interviews, focus groups, and scientifically designed surveys, including the biennial regulations survey, emphasizing it is not a vote but a way to predict how changes may affect public behavior and experiences. Feltz details the intensive process of coding tens of thousands of public comments for themes and shares examples such as focus groups on trout permit fee increases, a multi-year bear hunter study, and trends like younger waterfowl hunters and older trout anglers.

Host Trey Reid talks with Deke Whitbeck, president of the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation, about how the 501(c)(3) nonprofit supports the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission through fundraising and public engagement. They preview the 35th Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame banquet on August 29 at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock, which draws roughly 1,500–2,000 attendees and includes an online silent auction. They also discuss support for the Generation Conservation Summit, a new Legacy Lunker Banquet on October 29 in North Little Rock, and planned giving highlighted by Arthur Henderson’s 150-acre green-space gift in Northwest Arkansas.

AGFC’s Trey Reid talks with southeast Arkansas district fisheries supervisor Ryan Mozisek about Lake Monticello’s rapid rebound after the city drained it in 2019 to fix levee issues. They cover major habitat work starting in 2020 (brush piles, pallet A-frames, Georgia and porcupine cubes, and nearly 2,000 trees cut for structure), ongoing additions like mossback trophy trees, and the lake’s slow refill due to a small watershed and drought conditions. Ryan shares how stocking forage and bass has produced exceptional growth rates, with anglers regularly catching 7–9 pound fish and multiple 10+ pound bass, plus strong redear and crappie reports. The episode also highlights the 2024 stocking of 22,000 Titan Max fingerlings and how genetics work ties into the Legacy Lunker program, along with practical fishing insights on depth, habitat locations, and spawn timing.

Trey Reid hosts Congressman Bruce Westerman, Arkansas’s 4th District representative and chair of the Natural Resources Committee, to talk hunting, fishing, and forest conservation. Westerman shares his rural Garland County upbringing hunting squirrels, rabbits, quail, dove, turkeys, deer, and raccoons, his introduction to duck hunting in Stuttgart, and why turkey hunting is his favorite, including filling his limit during Arkansas’s highest turkey harvest in 20 years. He discusses crappie fishing on Lake Ouachita and how habitat like brush piles attracts fish. Westerman explains why timber harvest, thinning, and controlled burns create early successional habitat, improve biodiversity, and reduce insects, disease, and catastrophic wildfire, citing Forest Service restoration work and red-cockaded woodpecker habitat. He describes losing 20% of giant sequoias to wildfire, outlines the Save Our Sequoias Act and Fix Our Forest Act, and emphasizes healthy forests for clean air, clean water, and outdoor recreation.