CACHE RIVER NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
This federal refuge, established in the 1970s primarily as a wintering area for mallards and other waterfowl, recently received national attention as the site of the rediscovery of the ivory-billed woodpecker. The area provides deer hunters with a lot of recreational opportunity as well. Cache River NWR is a long, narrow checkerboard of public land stretching along both sides of Cache River from Clarendon to Grubbs, and along Bayou DeView to McCrory. The refuge acreage is growing, as additional tracts are purchased from adjacent landowners.

The northeast Arkansas delta country has long been known for quality deer, and Cache River NWR is no exception. The fertile bottomlands and adjacent row crop fields produce some of the biggest body weights and antlers in the state. Access points are too numerous to mention here, but the refuge map and use permit (free and unlimited, but required for all hunters) shows you how and where. Contact refuge headquarters at 26320 Highway 33, Augusta AR 72006, phone (870) 347-2614 for a map/ permit and other information.

CANEY CREEK WMA
Caney Creek WMA lies in the rocky, folded country of the southernmost Ouachita Mountains, and it’s rough and steep. Fortunately, most of the better deer habitat is in or near the bottoms of the valleys, and an observant bowhunter can locate plenty of good stand locations that don’t require an arduous climb.

Caney Creek WMA lies 15 miles south and east of Mena, between Arkansas highways 246 on the south and 375 on the north. The area can be reached from either highway, but there are only a few developed interior roads. There are, however, numerous logging trails and hiking trails that provide walking access.

Caney Creek WMA is owned by the U.S. Forest Service and managed by the AGFC. Its 85,000 acres provide perhaps the best chance for a trophy deer on public land in the Ouachita Mountains -- particularly in the 14, 433 acres in the southwestern corner designated as Caney Creek Wilderness Area.

Caney Creek WMA has two developed but primitive campgrounds within its boundaries, and a third campground (Albert Pike) on the eastern edge. However, as on other Forest Service lands, primitive camping is allowed anywhere in the forest, except where signs tell you otherwise.

FELSENTHAL NWR
At 65,000 acres, Felsenthal is the second-largest of Arkansas’s federal refuges. It lies at the confluence of the Saline and Ouachita rivers in south-central Arkansas, not far west of Crossett. The refuge consists mostly of bottomland hardwoods, although there’s also a piney-woods component where refuge lands extend into the surrounding upland pine forest.

Felsenthal’s deer herd is good, but the open nature of the overflow bottomlands sometimes makes for difficult bowhunting conditions. The best bowhunting is usually along the edge between bottomland and upland, where open hardwoods begin to give way to brushy piney woods. Permits are required, but are unlimited.

There are several access routes into the refuge -- off Highway 82 west of Crossett, off Highway 129 at Huttig, off Highway 275 north of Strong, off Highway 160 west of Vick. Camping is allowed at any of the designated campgrounds, but nowhere else on the refuge. The nearest motels are in Crossett, eight miles east.