By Rob Moritz
Arkansas News Bureau
LITTLE ROCK — Flooding along the Ouachita River has forced cancellation of the 2009 modern gun deer hunt in the Felsenthal National Wildlife Refuge in Southeast Arkansas scheduled for two weekends next month, wildlife officials said today.
The hunts were set for Nov. 14-15 and Nov. 19-20.
“At the current levels there is not available area that is not flooded to conduct these hunts safely,” the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service said in a news release.
Permit holders were being notified of the cancellation.
David Goad, chief of the Fish and Wildlife Management Division of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, said rain and flooding has caused problems for hunting in several areas of the state and canceled two permitted hunts last week.
The Oct. 17-21 muzzle loader hunting in the Henry Gray Hurricane Lake Wildlife Management Area near Bald Knob, and the Rex Hancock Black Swamp WMA near Augusta, were both canceled because of high water.
Goad said modern gun deer hunts scheduled for Nov. 7-11 in Henry Gray Hurricane Lake WMA and Nov. 14-18 in the Rex Hancock Black Swamp WMA both could be canceled if flood waters do not recede.
