LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission is inviting everyone to grab their hunting gear and join the fifth annual Umarex Big Squirrel Challenge.
The event kicks off Friday at noon and runs through Saturday, with weigh-ins from noon to 1 p.m. at 13 locations across the state.
Participants can compete in various categories, including gray and fox squirrels, and hunt in teams of two. Those who take part in the Big Squirrel Challenge can only bring up to three squirrels.
“Squirrel hunting is a lot of fun,” said Eric Maynard, Game and Fish Assistant Chief of Education. “It’s a great opportunity to get kids out.”
The challenge offers gold and silver medals for top hunters, door prizes sponsored by Umarex in Fort Smith, and air guns for statewide winners.
When asked about the inspiration for the competition, Maynard said, “So small game hunting is a great way to introduce people to hunting, and over the years, people have kind of migrated away from that. You hear a lot about deer hunting. You hear a lot about water fowl hunting. You don’t hear as much about squirrel and rabbit hunting as we used to.
So it was a good way to kind of put it back on the forefront and remind people about squirrel hunting, small game hunting, and how easy it is.”
