By Todd Fugitt
Special to The News-Leader
DELIGHT— In 1958, Bob Fugitt of the Bowen community south of Delight harvested an 8-point buck with a distinctive notched right ear and a tag. This buck may have been an ancestor of the deer harvested this season.
A half-century ago there was not the deer population we have now in Arkansas. Deer hunting was with dogs and there were not many harvested. Back in the deer restoration days, Arkansas Game and Commission operated 44 deer farms or refuges. Most were on leased or rented land or sometimes just land worked through a handshake. The AGFC owned little land during the late 1920s to the late 1950s. This was the era of the deer turnaround – from a low of an estimated 500 deer in the entire state to today’s abundance. It took time and habitat – the same essentials cited today by wildlife biologists.
1958 was before the onset of fancy stands and tree stand deer hunting. You were on the ground hunting deer. This buck was a big one, Fugitt recalled. “We had a time getting it out and back to the farm.” Fugitt’s buck had an 18-inch spread and later scored a Boone & Crockett 147.
Some research turned up facts. Deer stocked on AGFC refuges in the restoration era were notched and tagged for identification. Four does and two bucks were stocked on the Clark County Deer Refuge, so the buck Fugitt harvested in the Little Missouri River bottoms was “probably” one of those two bucks put on the refuge just after World War II. Another possibility is the buck could have come downstream from Howard County Deer Refuge 30 or so miles away.
The Fugitt farm has an old house festooned with antlers – memories of past hunting successes, but none of the other racks came from deer with notched ears and wearing tags. Perhaps this was the deer you see, beside the roads, grandsire.
(Submitted story by Avonne Petty)
