MOUNTAIN HOME — Freddy Penka has the key to capturing students’ imagination and attention, and it’s something he’s willing to share with any teacher wanting to deliver an elective to students they’ll be excited to attend. Penka’s Outdoor Adventures Class at Pinkston Middle School in Baxter County combines real-world outdoor knowledge with state-approved curriculums to teach students skills they rarely experience in a school setting.

Be sure to apply for one of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s 11 permit-based dove fields by Aug. 15 if you’re looking for a fun way to kick off hunting season this Labor Day Weekend. Applications are available at the AGFC’s licensing site https://ar-web.s3licensing.com under the “Special Hunt Applications” tab.

WEINER – Greentree reservoirs in Earl Buss Bayou DeView Wildlife Management Area in Poinsett County are getting the full attention of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Ducks Unlimited with major renovation work planned over two phases. Phase One began in early June with heavy machinery bringing in modern infrastructure to be installed in the WMA’s Thompson Tract GTR.

Myron Means, large carnivore program coordinator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is looking for leads into likely research candidates to wear GPS collars during Arkansas’s inaugural bear season in south Arkansas this year.

The Wild Science Webinar is a monthly series featuring Arkansas Game and Fish Commission staff presenting research and projects about Arkansas fish and wildlife. In this month’s webinar, Maurice Jackson, Family and Community Fishing Program Coordinator, will present “Family and Community Fishing Program: A Recruitment, Retention and Reactivation (R3) Approach to the Outdoors” and Jeremy Wood, Turkey Program Coordinator, will present “Keeping Track of Wild Turkeys in Arkansas”.

LITTLE ROCK – The Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation will induct five conservationists into its highly acclaimed Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame Saturday, August 27, at the Statehouse Convention Center in Little Rock.

LITTLE ROCK – Ben Batten belies the upper Midwest background that directed him on the path of outdoors and conservation work some 18 years ago. Rather, even with less of a Southern twang than most of his fellow Arkansas Game and Fish Commission employees possess, one still might mistake him for a native Arkansan in the way he seems to know every nook and cranny of this state, every fish in its waters, or the best spots to find deer, ducks and other “critters,” as he calls them.

The break in triple-digit temperatures may inspire many outdoors enthusiasts to pick up their hiking, cycling and camping adventures, and many hunters’ minds already are centered around improvements they can make in their favorite hunting location or scouting a new piece of public land for fall. If you happen to scare up a covey of quail or see a turkey during your adventures, the AGFC wants to know.

Contractors with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission will begin the first stage of forest management and recovery on George H. Dunklin Bayou Meto Wildlife Management Area in Arkansas County this week, thanks in part to abnormally dry conditions this summer.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has eleven opportunities throughout the state this year for hunters looking to hunt doves during the Labor Day Weekend opener. Four of these managed fields are on AGFC Wildlife Management Areas and seven are privately-owned fields the AGFC has leased from farmers to offer additional opportunities for the public to enjoy the kickoff to hunting season.Applications will be accepted Aug. 1-15 at www.agfc.com.