LITTLE ROCK — Registration for Arkansas’s 2024-25 Urban Archery Deer Hunts is open. Bowhunters looking for an extra opportunity to enjoy their sport can help control Arkansas’s urban deer populations, feed the needy in the state and bring home some venison for themselves thanks to AGFC-endorsed urban archery hunts held in towns across The Natural State.
Urban archery hunts are more than an added opportunity for hunters, they’re a sound technique to manage deer populations where they have become too abundant and have caused conflicts with people.
Ralph Meeker, the deer program coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, says certain wildlife populations have flourished in the last five decades, but you can have too much of a good thing, especially when too many deer and people try to coexist in the same area.
“All wildlife have what is known as ‘biological carrying capacity.’ That’s the wildlife population level that the available habitat can sustain. Urban deer hunts are also helping to manage ‘social carrying capacity,’” Meeker said. “That’s the wildlife population level that people can peacefully coexist with.”
Urban hunts are the most effective and cost-efficient tool wildlife managers have to reduce these deer populations to those acceptable social levels.
“Most deterrents devised for wild animals don’t work in the long term, and the few methods that do work can be very expensive to a community or landowner,” Meeker said. “We have hunters who want to help, and the harvest helps control the deer’s numbers.”
Meeker works with bowhunting organizations and city officials to coordinate hunts throughout the state. Hunters who participate in the hunts must attend an orientation where they must pass a proficiency test with the archery equipment they intend to use during the hunt. An orientation fee is collected, which covers the insurance policy for the hunt most cities require.
All urban hunts follow stringent guidelines to ensure the safety of hunters and local landowners is maintained, some of these guidelines differ from hunt to hunt. In addition to orientations and shooting proficiency tests, all hunters must have passed the International Bowhunters Education Program course to participate.
In addition to helping control wildlife populations, all hunters participating in urban archery hunts are required to donate their first adult deer to Arkansas Hunters Feeding the Hungry.
“We’ve been able to supply thousands of families over the years with fresh protein through these venison donations,” Meeker said. “And deer meat from the hunts has been used extensively in the Hunters Feeding the Hungry snack stick backpack program to specifically help school-aged children in underserved communities.”
Deer harvested during urban hunts do not count toward a hunter’s seasonal limit. There are no limits to the number of deer that can be harvested in urban hunts and all antler restrictions are lifted. All deer harvested must still be checked to the appropriate urban deer zone.
