Biologists help score young guns’ trophies during wild game supper

MCGEHEE – Each year, Arkansas Game and Fish Commission staff volunteer to take part of the annual McGehee Wild Game Supper held at the First Baptist Church in McGehee. In addition to providing information to people interested in improving their property for hunting and improving their hunts on public land in southeast Arkansas, the biologists help with a special deer-scoring contest.

AGFC staff collect antlers brought in from area youth before the supper and score each deer using Boone and Crockett scoring methods. Once scoring is completed, the young hunters are presented with door prizes donated by local merchants.

“The supper and scoring contest just add one more element to the hunt we can celebrate,” said Mark Hooks, wildlife management biologist for the AGFC’s Monticello Regional Office. “We’re happy to lend a hand wherever we can to help pass on the rich tradition of hunting in Arkansas.”

Hooks says the staff from the AGFC look forward to each year’s event, and love spending time with the people who organize it and the hunters who attend.

“The chairman of the event, David McNeely, and many others from the McGehee area volunteer their time for the supper,” Hooks said. “They secure many door prizes to make sure that each youth attending leaves with a nice gift. Other volunteers spend several hours cooking wild game dishes that are second to none. I’d like to thank AGFC biologists and technicians Allen Clawson, Michael Shepherd, Andy Van horn, Drew Green, David Luker, Jason McCallie, Bubba Groves and Mark Barbee for their help working to keep hunting traditions alive in our corner of Arkansas.”