“There is no limit to what a person can accomplish if he doesn’t care who gets the credit.”

Witt Stephens, Jr., may not have been the model for this old adage, but he fits its parameters. The Little Rock resident has quietly lent a hand in a myriad of Arkansas outdoor projects, with many of his efforts unknown except to a handful of others associated in the undertaking.

Stephens acquired a keen interest in hunting and fishing as a boy on visits to his father’s family farm at Prattsville in Grant County. He learned about wildlife and he wanted to know more. He is still learning, especially firsthand with his ranch where he puts into practice improvement projects for deer and other wildlife.

He saw that by being selective in hunting, a land manager could use proven conservation practices to make a difference. Let the young deer grow up. Keep the ratio of bucks and does in balance. Wildlife biologists have long preached this lesson, often to deaf ears of non-believers, but Stephens saw what could be accomplished within just a few seasons.

A member of the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation for years, Stephens served a seven-year term on the Game and Fish Commission from 1993 to 2000. He was only 25 years old when appointed.

He said, “I was too young to be nervous about my age when (Governor) Jim Guy Tucker appointed me. That was a big risk the governor took.”

Two major problems were evident to Stephens and his fellow commissioners at the time. The Game and Fish Commission was in dire financial straits, and the Arkansas deer herd was badly out of balance with its buck-doe ratio. Hunters were taking bucks before they matured.

Stephens was a key figure behind the scenes in the strenuous 1996 campaign to pass a Conservation Sales Tax. “This took a huge group effort,” he said. It passed in November 1996, and the new money began flowing in July 1997. Repairs could be made, vacancies filled and needed projects launched.

The goal was to let the bucks get older and the route chosen was to inaugurate a three-point minimum rule for bucks. “The (AGFC) staff was not enamored with this,” Stephens said, but he had seen it work on his own ranch, and it had been successful many other places.

The rule went into effect in the 1998 hunting season, and in just a few years, hunters saw the results. By passing up spike and forkhorn deer, they were seeing better antlered bucks. More importantly, doubters of the three-point rule joined the bandwagon of quality deer management for the state.

The three-point rule was not a cure-all, but it was a vital first step for Stephens and other AGFC leaders.

Today, Witt Stephens’ interest and enthusiasm in the outdoors has not slackened. He is an avid hunter of deer, ducks, dove and turkeys, and he also enjoys fishing.