I don't get out much or do much traveling, but I do go to the Ozarks on occasion for a weekend, just haven't had the time in the last couple years. I would love to see the Elk population here in Arkansas as I have never seen one in person.
I live in a part of the state that is mostly rural river bottom farm land. In places you can see for miles. The rural part gets to be more and more every year as the smaller towns that were supported by farming in the early years slowly dry up. When I was a kid, wildlife in these parts was scarce, if someone saw a deer track they would call everyone to brag about it. Well being rural has its advantages, but most rural people love to hunt and fish for food and recreation and when there is nothing to hunt, that is a big disadvantage. I was lucky growing up as my father saw to it my brother and I had a place to hunt, and took us to other areas of the state that had deer and turkey, although they were not over populated by any means. I can distinctly remember a deer season in 1982, in Arkansas County, that there were 10 of us hunting a 2400 acre lease, and there was one deer taken for the whole season.
There are plenty of deer here now and the turkey are making a remarkable comeback, and it is mainly because of the purchase of land by the Dept. of Parks and Tourism. In the last several decades advances in farming practices have increased yields to the point that the least productive land is being taken out of production and being reforested. This to has had a big impact on the wildlife populations in our part of the state. I can and do understand some peoples animosity toward wildlife because of the damages they can do and living in an area that has a good deer population I have seen it personally. But, having lived with out any for so long, there are very few complaints in our area.
I thank the Lord for Teddy Roosevelt having the foresight to see where we were headed.
