At 13 feet, 1 ¼ inches and 680 lbs., this behemoth was caught on private land near Arkansas Post in Arkansas County on 09/19/10.

View the full size picture over in the Arkansas Hunting Photo Gallery. Have a gator hunting story of your own? We’d love to hear about it in the forum.

Arkansas gator hunting has taken off in recent years. This year, there will be 47 permits issued for the fall 2010 alligator season. Thirty-six of these permits will be available through the public drawing process.

Check out the release below…

LITTLE ROCK – Last week, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission discussed dove season, the unofficial opening of Arkansas’s fall hunting season.

Early-season migratory game-bird season selections must be reported to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service by Aug. 1. Approval for the seasons will take place during the Commission’s July meeting. Changes from last season are minor.

• Mourning Dove and Eurasian Collared Dove – Sept. 4-Oct. 19 and Dec. 11-Jan. 5
• Teal Season – Sept. 11-26
• Early Canada Goose Season – Sept. 1-15
• Northwest Canada Goose Zone Season – Sept. 25-Oct. 4

Stay tuned for the proposed Arkansas duck season dates for 2010-2011, be sure to sign up in the Arkansas Duck Hunting Forum for exclusive information for Arkansas duck hunters.

What to Hunt With: Your trusty 12 or 20 gauge shotgun will do just fine. An automatic is preferable since dove are fast fliers. And because dove are small in size, you’ll only need to hunt with a small load, such as 7 1/2 or 8 shot. If you’re new to the sport, or a bit rusty, you’re going to waste an embarrassing amount of shells, so buy several boxes. But, that’s what dove hunting is all about. Just have fun.

What to Wear: Dove have good eyesight and are very sensitive to movement, so matching your clothing to your surroundings is very important. Early in the season, If you’re going to be on a treeline or in green fields, that Mossy Oak or Realtree camo will do just fine. If you’re planning to hunt in harvested stalks or grain fields (especially later in the season when all the green has faded) then a duck hunting pattern may work a little better for you such as Shadowgrass/Wetlands/MAX 4.

Where to Hunt: Generally, dove avoid tall vegetation. Try recently harvested fields, along power lines and fence rows, around barns or other similar structures and even gravel spots, as they eat gravel to aid in digestion) Dove will also hold-up in small groups of trees for shade. Anywhere near a water-hole in these environments is a good bet, especially at dawn, as dove fly from the roost to the closest water source. The opposite is true at dusk.

If you don’t have a good place to hunt, you may be able to score a spot on AGFC dove hunting fields (see link below.)

Check out the Arkansas dove season dates, limits, regulations and contact info to inquire about AGFC-provided dove fields in the Arkansas Hunting Forum.

While I personally have never hunted Ed Gordon I do know people that have hunted it and hunt it exclusively. They do kill ducks there as it is one of the few areas I believe that offers good Arkansas duck harvesting in the River valley. The WMA is very well maintained and is an example of what happens when hunting groups get together and work for the same common goal.

MORRILTON – A long-standing belief among Arkansas outdoor enthusiasts is if the state’s varied interests could join together, they could move mountains for the benefit of wildlife and outdoor recreation by the state’s citizens.

Continue reading this story of Ed Gordon in our Arkansas Hunting Forum.

• antler restrictions in zones 16, 16A and 17 moved from 3-point rule to a 4-point rule
• zone 6 was split into 3 zones and zone 8 into 2 zones, new zones will be 1A, 6A and 8A
• 2 more days were added to the youth modern gun deer hunt on Jan. 2-3
• A proposal to add telephone checking also was approved by the commission

The new telephone checking option starts with the October bow season. Along with the phone checking, on-line checking will still be available as will the check sheets at DMAP camps. The change allows more real-time, accurate data for the AGFC biologists, which is beneficial to gauge the deer herd’s health in Arkansas.

The commission also announced the 2010 opening hunting season dates for deer season. Arkansas Bow season will open on Oct. 1, 2010 followed by muzzleloader season on Oct. 16, 2010 and modern gun season on Nov. 13, 2010. The 2009-2010 public meeting dates for various wildlife were also announced. The 2009 Arkansas waterfowl meetings will be held June 2 from 7-9 p.m., spring turkey on Aug. 25 from 7-9 p.m. and the 2009-2010 general hunting public meetings on Jan. 5, 2010 from 7-9 p.m.

For the full read up on this newsletter from the AGFC head over to our forums and check it out. Post your opinions or any thing you want to add that we may have missed.