LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — This season, Arkansas hunters brought in 181 alligators, making this the second-highest harvest on record in the Natural State.
This year's harvest comes in just under last year’s record-setting 202 alligators, and Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) Herpetologist Amanda Bryant said they're pleased with the higher-than-average success rate.
“Typically we see about one-third of public land tags filled, but this year we had a 54% success rate on public land,” Bryant explained. “And 96% of the private land quota was filled.”
AGFC officials believe that this year’s weather may have increased the harvest, adding that Hurricane Helene may have caused hunters to check an alligator rather than holding out for a larger one.
“Most unfilled alligator tags are because people hold out for a larger alligator than what they’re seeing, but maybe some of the forecasted rain had people more willing to take a little smaller alligator,” Bryant said. “Then the last weekend turned out pretty nice after all, and we continued to see decent numbers taken throughout the end of the season.”
Cody Gourley of Amity was one of the lucky hunters who scored a 12-foot, 6-inch beast on Millwood Lake during the second weekend of the hunt.
“We went out the first weekend and saw 70 to 75 gators per night, but we just couldn’t get close enough to a big one to make it happen,” Gourley described. "The second weekend, I was getting to the point that any alligator would have been good for me. At about 9:30, we saw this one and knew it was in that larger category.”
Gourley said he was in a 14-foot boat to reach harder-to-access backwaters.
“When the gator came up and I saw just how big it was, I was shocked,” Gourley said. “We couldn’t even get it in the boat, so we had to float it beside us as we made our way back to the ramp. It was unlike any hunt I’ve ever been on.”
The alligator harvest seen in Millwood encouraged the AGFC, who have received some calls from local anglers concerned that the area's population had grown too large.
“We had eight public tags for Millwood this year, and six of those were filled,” Bryant said. “It’s great to see so many of the tags being filled here, and hopefully it’s a step toward reducing the perception of human-wildlife conflict in this area.”
Bryant attributed an increased harvest, especially on private land, to fewer nuisance calls in south Arkansas over the last few years.
“We see a strong relationship between the added harvest opportunity and lower nuisance calls,” Bryant said. “Some of it may be because people are more accustomed to seeing alligators now than they did 20 to 30 years ago, but a lot has to do with the private land hunt enabling landowners to handle the nuisance alligator on their own during the hunt.”
This year, two zones tied for most alligators harvested at 87 each: Alligator Management Zone 1 (southwest Arkansas) and AMZ 3 (southeast Arkansas).
