Yeah Arkansas has some crazy deer harvest rules... The zone I hunt in you can take 6 deer but only 2 can be bucks. It's been that way for a long time in what we call Zone 12 which is about half the bottom of the state. I guess we have a LOT of deer...lol Up North it's only 4 deer but 2 bucks still.
Not as crazy as Indiana.
Bonus antlerless deer bag limits are set on a county by county basis. Keep that in the back of your mind....
Archery season: 2 does or one buck and one doe
Firearms season: One antlered deer if one was not shot in archery season plus 4 bonus antlerless deer
Muzzleloader season: One antlered deer if one was not shot earlier and one antlerless deer, plus any bonus antlerless deer that weren’t shot during firearms season
Special bonus antlerless season: Whatever bonus antlerless deer that you have not shot already.
So, in this county I can legally shoot 7 does and one buck.
If I go to a different county I can legally shoot as many bonus antlerless deer that is allowed in that county. So theoretically I could legally shoot another 344 antlerless deer in this state in addition to what I can legally shoot in my county.
I'm glad I'm old, have a lifetime Fishing/Hunting license, only hunt on my own property, and usually want just one antlerless per year.
Our regulations are so complicated I don't know how anybody can figure them out.
Below is a sample of part of our deer hunting regulations. But, our county is one with CWD, so we have a whole bunch of extra hunting days. Just try to make sense of the alphabet-soup of hunting license classes.
I just lucked into getting a Class XS lifetime license, which seems to give me lots of extra hunting, trapping, and fishing privileges -- until I get questioned by a young game warden who has absolutely no idea what my license privileges give me!
West Virginia Resident Deer Hunting
License Privileges
Annual Classes X, XJ, and AHJ, Lifetime Classes
A-L, AB-L, and XS*, Military, Disabled Veteran,
former POW, Senior Citizen and Underage:
entitles a hunter to take one deer during the archery or
crossbow seasons, one antlered deer during the buck firearms
season and one deer during the muzzleloader season.
*Class XS License holders refer to page 32.
Additional stamps must be purchased:
• to hunt an additional antlered deer in the buck firearms
season: Class RG
• to hunt an additional deer during the archery or crossbow
seasons: Class RB
• to hunt antlerless deer in antlerless season: Class N
• to hunt an additional deer in muzzleloader season: Class RM
• to hunt with a handgun: Class A-1
Annual Class A and AH
(must also have a Class CS):
• entitles the hunter to hunt one antlered deer during the
buck firearms season.
Additional stamps must be purchased:
• to hunt an additional antlered deer in the buck firearms
season: Class RG
• to hunt deer during the archery or crossbow seasons:
Class BG
• to hunt an additional deer during the archery or crossbow
seasons: Class RB
• to hunt deer in muzzleloader season: Class BG
• to hunt an additional deer in muzzleloader season: Class RM
• to hunt antlerless deer in antlerless season: Class N
• to hunt with a handgun: Class A-1
Resident Landowner Privileges
West Virginia resident landowners may hunt on their own
land without obtaining a license. See definition of resident
landowner privileges on page 9.
A resident landowner hunting on his/her own land without
a license can take the same number of deer as a licensed
hunter. A hunter (licensee or landowner) cannot take more
than the number of deer allowed in the respective seasons.
After killing a deer as a landowner, a person cannot take
another deer by use of a license for which the privilege has
already been used.
