§ 15-41-301. Title
This subchapter shall be known and may be cited as the “Arkansas Hunting Heritage Protection Act”.
CREDIT(S)
Acts of 2005, Act 1377, § 1, eff. Aug. 12, 2005.
§ 15-41-302. Findings
The General Assembly finds that:
(1) Recreational hunting is an important and traditional recreational activity in which some fourteen million (14,000,000) Americans sixteen (16) years of age and older participate;
(2) Hunters have been and continue to be among the foremost supporters of sound wildlife management and conservation practices in the United States;
(3) Persons who hunt and hunting-related organizations provide direct assistance to wildlife managers and enforcement officers of federal, state, and local governments;
(4) Purchases of hunting licenses, permits, and stamps and payment of excise taxes on goods used by hunters have generated billions of dollars for wildlife conservation, research, and management;
(5) Recreational hunting is an essential component of effective wildlife management, in that it is an important tool for reducing conflicts between people and wildlife and provides incentives for the conservation of wildlife, habitats, and ecosystems on which wildlife depend; and
(6) Recreational hunting is an environmentally acceptable activity that occurs and can be provided for on state public lands without adverse effects on other uses of that land.
CREDIT(S)
Acts of 2005, Act 1377, § 1, eff. Aug. 12, 2005.
§ 15-41-303. Definitions
As used in this subchapter:
(1) “Commission” means the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission;
(2) “Commission-leased lands” means those lands over which the commission holds a possessory interest under lease or other written agreement that has a term of at least one (1) year and includes public recreational hunting rights;
(3) “Commission-managed lands” means those lands that are either commission-owned lands or commission-leased lands;
(4) “Commission-owned lands” means those lands to which the commission holds title in fee simple; and
(5) “Hunting” means the lawful pursuit, trapping, shooting, capture, collection, or killing of wildlife or the attempt to pursue, trap, shoot, capture, collect, or kill wildlife.
Credits
Acts of 2005, Act 1377, § 1, eff. Aug. 12, 2005; Acts of 2025, Act 817, § 1, eff. Aug. 5, 2025.
§ 15-41-304. Recreational hunting
(a) Subject to valid existing rights, commission-managed lands shall be open to access and use for recreational hunting except as limited by the Arkansas State Game and Fish Commission for reasons of fish or wildlife management or as otherwise limited by statutory authority of the commission.
(b)(1) The commission shall exercise its authority consistent with subsection (a) of this section in a manner to support, promote, and enhance recreational hunting opportunities to the extent authorized by law.
(2) The commission is not required to give preference to hunting over other uses of commission-managed lands or over land or water management priorities established by state law.
(c)(1) To the greatest practicable extent, commission land management decisions and actions, including decisions made by private owners to close commission-managed lands, shall not result in any net loss of habitat land acreage available for hunting opportunities on commission-managed lands that exists on January 1, 2025.
(2) This subchapter does not apply to commission-owned lands under contract to private persons or entities.
(3) Acreage lost from commission-leased lands due to the expiration or termination of the lease or agreement on the commission-leased lands shall not be counted in the net loss calculation.
(d)(1) The commission shall expeditiously find replacement acreage for hunting to compensate for the closures of any existing hunting land.
(2) To the greatest extent possible, the replacement land required under subdivision (d)(1) of this section shall be:
(A) Located within a reasonable distance from the closed land; and
(B) Consistent with the hunting discipline that the commission allowed on the closed land.
(e) On or before July 1 of each year, the commission shall submit to the House Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs and the Senate Committee on State Agencies and Governmental Affairs a written report describing:
(1) The number of acres of commission-managed lands that were closed during the previous fiscal year to recreational hunting and the reasons for the closures; and
(2) The number of acres of commission-managed lands that were open to recreational hunting during the previous fiscal year.
(f) This subchapter does not compel the opening to recreational hunting of national parks or national monuments administered by the National Park Service.
(g) This subchapter does not prohibit a private landowner from making otherwise legal decisions regarding access to his or her privately owned commission-managed lands.
Credits
Acts of 2005, Act 1377, § 1, eff. Aug. 12, 2005; Acts of 2025, Act 817, § 2, eff. Aug. 5, 2025.