LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (KATV) — Applications are now open for the 2026 Arkansas alligator hunting season, Arkansas Game and Fish (AGFC) announced in a release on Monday.

Anyone interested must apply for one of the nine hunting locations within Arkansas’ three Alligator Management Zones. You can apply by CLICKING HERE. Applications are open until midnight on July 31.

The following locations have been approved for the 2026 season:

Alligator Management Zone 1

Millwood Lake — 13 permits available (harvest quota of 9 alligators)Dr. Lester Sitzes III Bois D’Arc Lake — 5 permits availableLittle River WMA — 2 permits availableLake Erling — 1 permit available

Alligator Management Zone 2

Bragg Lake — 1 permit availableLake Columbia — 2 permits available

Alligator Management Zone 3

Lower Arkansas River Wetland Complex (Arkansas River backwaters near Arkansas Post) — 11 permits availableYellow Lake (Pine Bluff Arsenal) — 2 permits availableDelta Wetland Complex — 5 permits available (Lake Wallace, Lake Enterprise, Lake Chicot, Grand Lake and Wilson Brake Reservoir)

Each permit allows for the harvest of one alligator, which must be at least 4 feet long. Hunting is allowed 30 minutes after sunset and 30 minutes before sunrise between Sept. 18-21 and Sept. 25-28.

Permit holders must have 3 assistants on the hunt, but only the permit holder is allowed to snare, harpoon and dispatch the alligator.

Millwood Lake again will have a harvest quota instituted in addition to a permit draw.

“We are allowing more permits on Millwood, so more people have an opportunity to hunt, but as soon as the quota of nine alligators is reached, the hunt will end,” AGFC Herpetologist Amanda Bryant said. “We are hoping people will be more incentivized to harvest their alligator instead of waiting too long and wasting the tag. Most cases of unfilled tags aren’t that the hunter didn’t have opportunities at legal alligators, but that they held out for something bigger until it was too late and the hunt ended.”

Hunters on private land must dispatch alligators using a shotgun, but the alligator may initially be restrained using either a snare, harpoon or an arrow shot from a bow with at least 35-pound draw weight. The arrowhead must be able to detach from the shaft and have at least 50 feet of 300-pound break-strength line and a minimum 5-inch diameter float attached to the line.

“This request has been received from the public for a while, and we want to offer it as an option during the private land hunts,” AGFC Herpetologist Amanda Bryant said. “We will evaluate results closely during the next year or two.”

For more information, CLICK HERE.