LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- For those who hunt waterfowl in Arkansas, the Natural State's Game & Fish Commission recently released the dates for this fall's duck and goose hunting seasons.
Straight to the point, nothing really has changed except the Light Goose Conservation Order will have four splits instead of the three it had last year.
The duck season dates are similar to last year's, with three statewide splits again. The first split will run Nov. 17-25, followed by another on Dec. 6-23. The third and longest split will run Dec. 26-Jan. 27.
The daily limit will be six ducks, and species limits haven't changed (Arkansas decided to keep the daily limit of pintails at one, while Missouri moves back to a two-pintail limit this fall).
If you hunt close to the state line, be sure you know exactly where you are because Missouri and Arkansas have different daily limits not only on pintails, but also on black ducks and canvasbacks.
Arkansas' youth waterfowl hunting dates will be Dec. 1 and Feb. 2.
The concurrent seasons for white-fronted, Canada and light geese (snow, blue and Ross's) will have three splits as well, running Oct. 27-29, Nov. 17030 and Dec. 2-Jan. 27.
The bag limit for white-fronts remains three daily, and for Canadas, it is two. For snows, blues and Ross's, the regular season daily limit remains 20.
The final waterfowl season in Arkansas will be the annual Light Goose Conservation Order for snows, blues and Ross's geese. The four splits will run Oct. 6-26, Oct. 30-Nov. 16, Jan. 28-Feb. 1 and Feb. 3-April 25.
During the conservation order, there will be no daily limit and hunters will continue to be able to use electronic calls and unplugged shotguns.