Anyone hunt the Arkansas Ozark National Forest?

[32drawlength]

Driving north up 49 from Fort Smith & looking at these big vast woods & mountains.

What kind of success of you experienced?

[lovemylegacy]

In for whatever.

[Saltaholic]

Anyone hunt the Arkansas Ozark National Forest?

I’ve hunted it several times got family up there. It’s crazy how much accessible land there is but it would be very tough to hunt without local knowledge. I saw some deer but never a shooter, crazy how you can hear them walking from so far away in the leaves. Lots of pressure from locals and obviously lots of “activity” to keep wardens busy lol.

Beautiful area though and could definitely be successful if you get deep enough from the roads

[HighwayHunter]

I know a guy who’s from Arkansas and says they have some big deer on public land on the west side of Arkansas. I’d be interested in checking it out myself. In for more info


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[Hills of Texas]

I’ve killed two bears in the national forest outside of Mena. Yes, there are done great whitetail up there too.

[MUZZYSLINGR]

I’ve always wondered about the hunting in Arkansas. Lots of pretty country there.

I’ve only spent time in the Hot Springs area though.


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[Hammer-1]

Just looked at some trail cam pictures from a customer at work today. Big bucks around Mena. Sad to say I'm stuck down in SW Arkansas this year. We don't have any deer here [emoji12]


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[lovemylegacy]

I was looking at Arkie to hunt in next year.

[MadHatter]

It's everything you think it might be. 800,000k plus acres, and tons of access. Not to mention the Quachita trail cut's right through the middle of some of the best parts, and itt offers easy access, if you are willing to pack in. I grew up outside of Mena and it's as good as gets in this part of the world. You can hunt for a week in some parts and never see another hunter. It's a lot like Colorado. Lot of people riding around, not may people getting very far off the beaten path.
It's also beautiful, and for the most part, pristine nature.

[Bluesman]

I go to Mena several times a year to visit kin.
If I were to hunt I'd head north to Waldron and then west on Old Poteu Rd. Good deer, but the Black Bear are incredible.
National Forest but difficult to deal with locals.

[Hills of Texas]

I’ve always hunted just north east of Mena. I’ve met several locals but never had any problem. In fact, a few even offered to let us hunt their private property for bear. Everyone had always been extremely accommodating to us.

[Bowdark]

In.
AR has been a bucket list hunt believe it or not. Visited and all, but always told myself "Self, we need to hunt up here".

I mean, it is so dang close, why have I not done it?

[Hills of Texas]

It’s a great place to hunt. I killed the first bear with my recurve and the second with a compound. Word of advice. Take a good gps. It’s easy to get turned around in that country. With all the tree canopy, it’s hard to get bearings with land marks.

[acearrow]

Use to hunt east of ft. Smith around mount magazine. Deer numbers seemed low in that area. At least the reported kill ratio was very low. You can go onto Arkansas parks and wildlife and they give stats for all of their public land hunt areas. All deer have to be reported in Arkansas so the have a wealth of info you can look up by county or WMA. We moved to SW Arkansas for our yearly trip about 8 years ago and have seen noticeably more deer. Go up once a year in February for an archery hunt. Try to get a group together and camp out on public land for 4 days of hunting and fishing.

[tps7742]

I know of a few people that have leases in Arkansas. A couple of them go specifically because they can still use dogs to deer hunt is what am told. Not 100% sure of the use of dogs though.