Thousands of Arkansans have been waiting on pins and needles for the last few weeks to find out if they were one of the lucky few who drew a chance at harvesting an alligator in Arkansas this year.
This week, 101 individuals got the good news, including men from Mountainburg and Van Buren. Paul Lovell of Van Buren drew a permit to allow him to take a gator in Zone 3 on provate land and Demarius Zacarias Van Buren gets to try his hand at Millwood Lake.
The permit draw was held up due to some unforeseen issues with the process, and officials with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission apologize for the inconvenience it may have caused some hunters.
Arkansas’s 2017 alligator season is Sept. 15-18 and Sept. 22-25, and hunting is only allowed at night.
All permit winners must attend a hunter orientation class before being issued their temporary tags.
Mandatory orientation classes for permit holders will be held August 19 in Hope and Monticello and August 26 at the AGFC Headquarters in Little Rock.
Successful private land at-large applicants must provide written landowner permission and a map of their proposed hunt area.
Alligator hunting isn’t for the faint of heart. Hunters scan the surface of the water with spotlights from a boat, pinpointing alligators before easing up to them with a harpoon or handheld snare.
Permit winners are allowed up to three assistants during the hunt, but only the permit holder is allowed to snare, harpoon and dispatch the alligator.
Arkansas alligator hunters must completely subdue the gator before finishing it with a shotgun or shotgun shell-loaded bang stick using shot no larger than No. 4 common shot.
Once dispatched, all alligators must be tagged with a temporary possession tag and may be checked online. Additional hunt details will be provided at the mandatory hunter orientation classes.
2017 alligator permit winners:
Zone 1 (Private Land At Large)
William Aitken, Texarkana
Josiah Allen, Lewisville
Floyd Bell, Conway
Landon Bryant, Texarkana
Floyd Clark, El Dorado
Michael Clark, Jacksonville
Carter Coates, Greenbrier
Allen Counce, DeWitt
Matthew Davis, Conway
Paul Deloney, Texarkana
Ryan Dewey, Cabot
Tony Dinger, De Queen
Mark Fielding, Horatio
Michael Foster, Hope
Bobby Gentry, Pine Bluff
Michael Hale, Mineral Springs
Ashley Hale, Nashville
Justin Harman, Texarkana
James Hill, Dumas
Charles Hines, Texarkana
Daniel Hollinger, Conway
Jeremy Jeane, Texarkana
Aaron Lawrence, Texarkana
Samuel Leamons, Arkadelphia
Charles Mattox, El Dorado
Taylor Moody, Hope
Phillip Neill, Magnolia
Brian Ratliff, Conway
Martin Siems, Scott
Marlin Terry, Ashdown
Zone 1 (Dr. Lester Sitzes III, Bois D’Arc WMA)
John Call, Ward
Jimmy Perkins, Lonoke
Zone 1 (Lake Erling)
Seth Jean, Magnolia
Zone 1 (Little River)
Lakota Hoover, Murfreesboro
Amy Miller, Hope
Zone 1 (Millwood Lake)
Cynthia Blankenship, Ashdown
Elizabeth Chastain, Malvern
Kenneth Crumpton, Texarkana
George Dixon, Magnolia
Cody Friday, Ashdown
Jason Glass, Taylor
Philip Redfearn, Ashdown
Beau Redfearn, Texarkana
Leslie Smithpeters, Arkadelphia
Marvin Weido, Magnolia
Ryan Whitlow, Foreman
Randi Young, Texarkana
Zone 3 (Private Land At Large)
Christopher Beller, Batesville
Lauren Bryant, Hampton
Rodney Chastain, Jonesboro
Brian Corcoran, Bella Vista
Richard Crawford, Paragould
Carol Doolittle, Eudora
Kyle Elkins, Fayetteville,
Wesley Fletcher, Monticello
Richard Gore, Little Rock
Virginia Haynes, Star City
Jody Hibbard, Star City
Michael Hill, Little Rock
William Jones, Pine Bluff
Brooks Joseph, Conway
William Lassiter, Monticello
Andrew Ligon, Stuttgart
Michael McFadden, Lonoke
Patrick McGarity, Sheridan
Kelly Mitchell, DeWitt
Christopher Morgan, Stuttgart
Andrew Norwood, Little Rock
Robert ONeil, Wilmot
Cory Rowe, Lake Village
Mary Simon, Monticello
Hunter Thomasson, Fayetteville
Burtis Walker, Paragould
Martin Walt, Dumas
Mary Weatherly, Wilmot
Paul Williams, Rogers
Zone 3 (Lower Arkansas River Wetland Complex)
Jeffrey Atwood, Star City
Charles Brenke, White Hall
Raymond Doering, Pine Bluff
Blake Downen, Tillar
David Gates, Newport
Michael Gillion, Beebe
Jordan Gosverner, Roland
Keaton Howard, Pine Bluff
Steven Isom, Greenbrier
Bryan King, Pine Bluff
Charles Lanehart, Wilmar
Donovan McFadden, Roland
Ian McReynolds, Jonesboro
William Monagle, Little Rock
Arthur Pattin, Ravenden Springs
Hannah Smith, Marion
Louie Smith, Marion
Ronald Tedford, Rogers
Bobby Webb, DeWitt
John Williams, White Hall
Zone 3 (Mercer Bayou/Sulphur River WMA)
Jesse Howard, Jonesboro
Zachary Kiser, Fayetteville
Chirstina Shaw, Vilonia
