LITTLE ROCK — Arkansans hoping for a chance to chase Arkansas’s largest reptile species this fall will have some new hunting lands to apply for during this year’s alligator permit hunt application period. Applications for the 2024 hunting season are available at www.agfc.com from 8 a.m. June 15-11:59 p.m. June 30.
Hunters will be able to choose one of 10 hunting areas spread across south Arkansas on their application. Two new hunting areas are available in Alligator Management Zone 3 this year, with one permit available at Yellow Lake in the Pine Bluff Arsenal and six permits available for the newly formed Delta Wetland Complex (Lake Grampus, Lake Wallace, Lake Enterprise, Lake Chicot and Grand Lake). Two additional hunting areas were added to Alligator Management Zone 2 for the 2024 hunting season, marking this as the first year for public opportunities in AMZ 2. One permit will be available for Lake Columbia and another will be possible to obtain for Bragg Lake.
“Hunters applying for the Yellow Lake permit should also note that Pine Bluff Arsenal has special regulations to access the area,” Eric Brinkman, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission assistant chief of fisheries, said. “There are several other bodies of water on the PBA but alligator hunting will only be open on Yellow Lake. Since a firearm (shotgun or shotgun-headed bangstick) is used to dispatch the alligator, permit holders will have to go through the PBA background check which is administered by their personnel. Only permit holders and their designated assistants will be allowed access onto the PBA, and everyone has to go through a checkpoint before entering or leaving the PBA.”
The following hunts are available for the 2024 hunting season:
Alligator Management Zone 1
eight permits for Millwood Lake
four permits for Dr. Lester Sitzes III Bois D’Arc WMA
five permits for Little River
one permits for Sulphur River WMA
one permit for Lake Erling
Alligator Management Zone 2