Mixing deer season with various Arkansas sports what makes state special

Youth able to experience something after hunting this evening not felt by Arkansas Razorbacks fans since Nolan Richardson

Early November is a prime time to see deer, especially older bucks, moving throughout the day as they enter the breeding season known as the rut. | Brian Whipkey trail camera/USA TODAY Network / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Covering SEC sports often means deer season in Arkansas can sneak up on you and go completely unnoticed — at least for the first couple of hours.

Before we could even get the first story of the morning up, my mother hit me up with an entire portfolio's worth of photos of my dad with an 8-point buck he took down amid the South Arkansas fog barely a few minutes into daylight.

Such is the story down in those parts. The locals tend to lock in that first tag almost immediately while outsiders heading to spend deer season eve in an old trailer or crumbling old house that serves as the main building for one of the many deer camps leave a trail of dead deer with headlight imprints along the side of the road on their way in.

Arkansas’s modern gun deer hunting season begins Nov. 8
LITTLE ROCK — An estimated 290,000 people, enough to fill Donald W. Reynolds Razorback Stadium in Fayetteville more than four times, will be headed to the woods this year in search of a deer, and ...https://t.co/JxnNpH557m pic.twitter.com/AVJ31a5NAD

— Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (@ARGameandFish) November 5, 2025

In Warren, it definitely can't sneak up. The town's economy booms in the week leading up to deer season as men and women pour in searching for fleeting minutes of light to shore up their deer stands, replenish feeders, cut down any limbs that might deflect a bullet and drop rye grass seeds here and there.

They come back and fill local restaurants and picnic tables shoved into gas stations and bait shops with stories of bark rubbed off limbs and large scrapes dug into the dirt where pine straw once piled high. Surely there's a big one waiting to be had.

Then, on Friday nights, especially when Warren has a home game, the stands, at least back in my days there before the turn of the century, are filled with men and women in cammo and bright orange vests, representing the convenient primary uniform color of the home team.

With playoffs settled across the state by 10 p.m., hunters rush back to their camp for the yearly meeting to talk about dues and make sure everyone knows which stands others are hunting to ensure there are no disputes and everyone is safe the following morning.

That's followed by a sleepless night where all the senses needed for the following day's hunt fire so fast there's little chance to get rest. For those who are fortunate, there's at least a little fellowship around an open outdoor fire while sipping on what is typically the worst coffee ever made by man.

At one point in time, the goal was to bag a deer in time to make it home or back to camp in time to catch the Hogs' football game should they be fortunate enough to land the slot on Raycom or Jefferson Pilot. Lunch would be provided by an army of wives who made the late morning trip while children ran around excitedly checking out each deer brought in and listening intently to the tales of the hunt while the carcasses were hung for skinning.

After the Razorbacks game was determined, it was off to the woods again, many looking to use up their last buck tag on what they hoped would be a monster worthy of such an honor. Because of this, smaller bucks were usually passed over and the day would end with a trek through the cold darkness.

At the end of rugged overgrown roads cut out by logging skidders or a mile of slightly overgrown, no longer used railroad tracks, was always a truck that, during my childhood, always required letting the engine heat up.

While the truck ran, the cabin would warm and the initially frigid wait was always tempered by a search for one of what seemed like 1,000 tiny radio stations out there carrying Arkansas Razorbacks basketball. Once one was coaxed into clarity through meticulous turning of the radio knob, the warm tones of Mike Nail and Rick Schaeffer filled the cabin.

Their voices let us know whether Nolan Richardson's Hogs had come out hot or would eventually get hot soon. One or the other was definitely going to happen, though both were likely to take place.

Considering deer season is in November, the odds of it even being close were low and the chances of a loss were basically zero. It was a feeling of certainty not felt since until this particular basketball season.

Youth who turned roughly eight years old in Year 2 of Eric Musselman are experiencing a borderline copy of my childhood. They're only missing a Final Four appearance complete with commemorative mini basketballs from Pizza Hut depicting the Final Four back when walking into one of their restaurants to eat while dropping quarters into the Street Fighter II and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade games and the jukebox was a big deal.

This evening there will be a chance to duplicate at least a portion of this unique experience from back in the day. It's possible for those who have never experienced it to walk out of the woods and turn on the radio to listen to Chuck Barrett lay out the picture moving left to right on your radio dial as John Calipari's Hogs try to take down Michigan State on the road.

Sure, warming up the engine isn't really necessary anymore, but sitting in the glow of the dashboard while a father cues up the game for his child and lets the heater warm up, magic can be had on the edge of the deer woods this evening.

That's a big part of what makes Arkansas special. All those sports moments, the slowing down of life and the shared life experience with multiple groups of people is something that can only be harnessed when mixed with the arrival of deer season this time of year.