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A great advertisement from Trumpler and Dabbs, outdoor dealers in Little Rock. Everyone needs a Bowie Knife! Look at the range of goodies that people can purchase. September 28, 1872. Daily Arkansas Gazette, Sep 28, 1872

In 1895, the Osceola newspaper published an advertisement for a complete listing of the various state game and fish laws. If someone was headed out of Arkansas to hunt, they needed to know those laws. You could send FIVE 2 Cent stamps to the American Field Magazine, and they would send you the current listContinue reading “On this Date in Arkansas Wildlife History: September 9, 1895”

On this date in 1908, William E. Jameson advertised that his Pine Bluff meat market had game and fish for sale in addition to domestic meats. Before 1925, it was quite common to sell wild game and fish in Arkansas meat markets.

Little Rock citizens could buy game fish from the local meat market lawfully. Millions of pounds of Arkansas fish went to the markets and most restaurants served wild fish in their establishments.

Earnest V. Visart was on the job for about two months before he decided to take the decision to pass wildlife protection laws to the people of Arkansas. Before he died, Visart fought a decades-long battle to protect the game and fish in the state. On July 1, 1911, he was circulating a petition toContinue reading “Today in Arkansas Wildlife History: July 1 Petitions”

One of my favorite nicknames that Arkansawyers used back in the day to describe fish was “Finny Tribe.” I guess they got tired of writing “fish.” When I first saw this term, it had no real reference, and I had to look it up. We don’t see this term used much anymore.

Illinois Representative R. B. Kauffman visited Arkansas in 1879 on a visit. He felt compelled to write a letter to his local newspaper describing what he experienced during the trip. Besides claiming that Arkansas had received an undeserved reputation, he said the land was good and cheaply acquired, wildlife filled the woods, and the waterwaysContinue reading “Today in Arkansas Wildlife History: May 31 1879”

Ever since Arkansas conservationists came on the scene around 1900, they have argued that birds ate the insects that damaged crops. It was their mission to get the farmers to assist them in protecting birds. If bird protectors could show agriculturalists that bird protection helped stopped the ravages of insects on crops, then the farmersContinue reading “Today in Arkansas Wildlife History: May 27 Save the Birds”

In 1904, enforcement of game and fishing laws lay mainly in the hands of the local sheriff and his deputies. The editor of the Southern Standard in Arkadelphia pointed out on May 26, 1904, that the fish coming into the market there warranted investigation.

As early as 1873, some observers argued that Arkansas wildlife was disappearing. Some even suggested that authorities should preserve the game and fish somehow. Most Arkansawyers, however, dismissed the notion.