MARKED TREE – Duck blinds are coming down along the St. Francis River in east Arkansas to enforce a state rule preventing permanent structures on public hunting lands.
State prisoners and crews from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission worked Monday to tear down walls, flooring and ceilings from the illegal blinds at the Old Donnick Access near Marked Tree.
The Jonesboro Sun reports the commission in 2011 issued a directive that ordered removal of blinds in several hunting areas. Last year, the agency ordered the blinds to be removed in Big Lake and St. Francis Sunken Lands Wildlife Management Areas. Permanent blinds weren’t allowed elsewhere in public lands managed by the commission.
The agency wanted the blinds removed last October, but an unsuccessful lawsuit by hunters delayed imposition of the order.
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