George Morgan BENTON – George Morgan has faced a number of challenges in his 91 years. The latest is Arkansas elk hunting.
The Benton resident is one of 26 people who won the coveted elk hunting permits for 2008. Morgan’s permit is for the December season in Elk Zone 3, which is mostly the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Gene Rush Wildlife Management Area along the Buffalo River.
Morgan will be the oldest person to participate in the elk hunts, which will be in their 11th year this fall. They began in 1998 after elk were restored in the state beginning in 1981. The public land permits are free, except for two used in fundraising activities by the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Several thousand Arkansans apply for the permits each year.
Morgan’s son, Charles, also of Benton, said he has applied for a permit nearly every year. He sent in the application for his father too.
George Morgan has a hunting background all right, going back to his first deer. It was taken in 1933, a Columbia black tail deer he got in Oregon.
He’s a World War II veteran and went ashore on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day in 1944. He was a sergeant in the 635th Tank Destroyer Battalion and saw action all the way into Germany. “Dad was rated an expert rifleman in the war,” his son said.
After the war, George Morgan settled in North Little Rock with the wife he met at Camp Robinson. He had a long career with the Timex Corporation in Little Rock.
For the elk hunt, his son and a nephew will be helpers. Charles Morgan said, “Dad has a Savage .250 lever action rifle that he used for years deer hunting, but I think he’ll use my .30-06 for this elk hunt. We are going to do a lot of scouting before the hunt.”
This year’s elk hunt is again in two segments – Sept. 22-26 and Dec. 9-12. Four hunters with bull permits will be in the field in September. Twenty-two others will hunt in December, some with bull permits, some with antlerless or cow permits and two youths with either sex permits.
Applications for the permits are accepted each year during the month of May, then a public drawing is held in late June at the Buffalo Elk Festival in Jasper. Except for the two auctioned permits, only Arkansas residents are eligible. There is no cost to apply, although a number of persons send along donations to be used in the state’s elk program.[/b]
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