Welcome to the Arkansas Wildlife Podcast, the official podcast of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

We are talking hunting, fishing and conservation with engaging guests and in-depth discussions with game and fish staff.

It's Arkansas Wildlife, the podcast for all things outdoors in the natural state.

Welcome to the Arkansas Wildlife Podcast.

My name is Trey Reed.

I am the host of this podcast and assistant chief of communications at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

Appreciate you all tuning in.

We're joined today by Sidney Grant, who is one of our Arkansas Game Fish Commission game wardens.

Welcome, Sidney.

How are you?

I'm good.

How are you?

I'm doing good.

We just wrapped up the Memorial Day, holiday, which is, a big boating week, and it's kind of the kickoff to boating season.

And one of the reasons we have Sidney in here with us today is the Sidney is is sort of the, Well, she's not the boating law administrator yet, but she will be soon.

Captain Stephanie Weather ington is retiring in October.

And so Sidney is sort of the boating law administrator, in trading or waiting in the wings, so to speak.

And so, a perfect person to talk to us about boating safety and things to remember.

But before we get into that, as we kick off boating season in Arkansas, let's just get to know you a little bit.

Where are you from, Sidney?

I'm originally from Glenwood, Arkansas.

Okay.

I currently live in Hot Springs.

All right.

So so from from from West Arkansas, west central Arkansas.

You spent some time on the Caddo River, as a kid every year.

Yeah, yeah, it was a big deal going down and floating with dad, fishing on the Caddo and floating every year.

Do you still like to get out on the Caddo, or is that.

I mean, it's still in your blood.

The paddling and fishing, creek fishing and that kind of thing.

Exactly.

I was, actually baptized in the Caddo River, so I really.

Oh, yeah.

So I love the Caddo.

I love the buffalo.

Anywhere we love to float and whitefish for brownies.

Oh, that was all I was going to ask you.

What?

What you that you the you're you're after my own heart there because I there's nothing I enjoy in Arkansas more than getting about waist deep in a creek and and, trying to catch a smallmouth.

It did it last weekend actually was not very successful, I should say, but.

But it was fun nonetheless.

What else do you like to do in the outdoors?

I love to hunt.

Recently got into fly fishing.

Got my own flies.

Oh, nice.

Nice.

What?

Tell us about some of the.

What?

What are you.

What kind of flies have you been tying?

Like foam crickets.

Pets.

Rubber legs.

Okay.

Brownies.

Small mouth.

They eat them up.

Okay, okay.

I like it, I dig it.

So.

So, top water presentation, some top water, and then, put a little LED or not led the lead free wire around the, shaft on the pads.

Rubber legs.

Okay.

They kind of suspend.

Okay.

Nice.

Nice.

Well, you'll have to I want to I want to see some of those flies.

Maybe even get a few off for some point.

Where's your.

Is Caddo still sort of your your favorite smallmouth stream?

Probably.

So, yeah, we, first time I floated the the buffalo was a few years ago, so really, I mean, it's gorgeous.

It really is pretty.

But I tell you, for smallmouth kiddos up there, I put it up there and, you know, it's it's in the it's in the top tier, along with maybe Crooked Creek, Kings River, for for catching and catching.

Good.

Yeah.

We've got some good, good smallmouth on the Caddo.

There's some good ones there.

Well, so how did you get into, how did you how did you end up at the Arkansas game and Fish Commission?

You know, growing up hunting, fishing, which is, you know, the same story everybody tells, but just, you know, always love the outdoors.

Originally went into the field of respiratory therapy.

So I worked in the medical field and realized I didn't want to do that the rest of my life.

And went back to school for natural resources management and got an internship with the game wardens and fell in love with it.

Right.

So.

So, did you know, like, as soon as you did that internship there?

Like, I want to be a game warden.

Yeah, pretty much.

Yeah.

I was like, this is it.

And so how long have you how long have you been with the agency?

Since 2016.

Okay, okay.

And what where all have you worked?

I mean, because we're talking really to you about boating law, to today and boating safety, but you've been doing other stuff before.

I was stationed in severe County for, like, the first seven and a half years of my career.

Okay, the clean locks, work ratio and then help out and all that I-4 district.

Okay.

Now there's some pretty, like, not well known, but pretty good small mainstream.

Oh, yeah.

Part of the world to see Secret String.

Yeah.

That's why we will not mention any names.

That's right.

Okay, I will keep that.

Keep that a secret and then we'll talk about it after we off the pike.

That's right.

Well, let's let's shift gears and talk a little bit more about, about boating safety, because that's the message we really want to get out there today.

And, you know, we talk about this every year.

This time, you know, may especially as we, as we're leading into it, and, you know, yet we, we still see accidents.

And you were telling me we're basically on about the pace we were last year already, at this point, which, it's not like a super big spike, but, I mean, we're, you know, there's one accident is too many, especially when there's a fatality.

So.

And we don't want to come across as preachy, but we hope you'll, you know, take some of this stuff to heart and listen to the, you know, and just use you some common sense.

What?

You know, what are we seeing?

What?

What's the, I know we had a big influx of new boaters in 2020 with the pandemic, and, you know, boat manufacturers couldn't keep up the boat, boating retailers couldn't keep up.

And, those folks are probably still out there.

They bought those boats.

And what what what kind of influence or impact has that had on, on on boating and accident levels and that sort of thing?

I want to say that year of 2020, there was a spike in boating accidents, and it's really attributed to operator inexperience.

So you have a bunch of those new operators coming out.

They're inexperienced.

They don't know the kind of the rules of the road per se in boating law.

They're operating in attentively so they're not paying attention what they're doing.

And yeah, they're calls and accidents.

So you talked about this recently when we were shooting some some public service announcements.

But is is operator inattention still kind of the that that's the number one.

Yeah.

Every year it's one of it.

The last almost like the last 2 or 3 years it's been the number one calls.

Yeah.

We say it every single year.

What happens typically I mean, what are you what do you know?

You're compiling these accident reports.

I mean, what are the what are some of the leading causes of that inattention?

You know, they're doing something to where they're just not looking to where they're either they're not looking, you know, in their intended path ahead.

They're looking down at their phone, looking at their graphs.

Just something's causing them to not paying attention.

Whether they're fiddling, putting their killswitch on or getting their lifejackets out or putting, you know, their coke in a cozy, or they're just not paying attention.

They're distracted by something else.

Yeah, you were telling me to.

Speaking of the, technology, a couple of things that stuck out when we were shooting those pizzas with you.

Was that the same issues that we see with automobiles?

People looking at their phones are really kind of creeping into the boating side of things now.

Exactly.

Yeah.

I want to say we had three early on this year.

It might have fell into last year or two.

But like I said, looking down at their phones, running into docks and everything else.

Wow.

Yeah.

And the other one that really jumped out to me and I it it makes sense.

I mean, when you as a cause when you think about it, we've got you look at some of these bass boats today and I mean the graphs are larger than like my laptop.

I mean, yes, they're small 15 and 17 inch screens, you know, and you said that, that, you know, especially like in low light early morning, late evening, the brightness of those screens can be a distraction.

That that's becoming another area, a problematic area, you see.

Exactly.

More and more graphs, you know, better technology, more technology.

You have to have the biggest and the best.

Unfortunately, the biggest and the best is getting in your way of seeing how they're, you know, operating the boat.

Excuse me.

We're talking with Sydney Grant, who will soon be boating law administrator for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, replacing Captain Stephanie Weatherton, who is, going to, sail off into a much deserved retirement.

In October, Sydney, let's talk lifejackets a little bit.

Probably the number one thing you can do to, ensure your safety in the unlikely or unfortunate event that you are in an accident.

Exactly.

And, you know, that's something we saw with our boating accidents last year.

All of our fatalities, they were reported to not be wearing lifejackets.

Every single fatality was there was no lifejacket involved, I believe so, yeah.

I think I remember looking at the report I believe that's right.

I mean that that just stack I mean, you know, of course there could be trauma or something like that a little bit more due to trauma.

But yeah, but, but, but they weren't wearing a life jacket.

And even you know, that's you know, you hear people say, well, I can swim.

Well if you're unconscious, you can, you know.

Yeah.

And that, there's so many types of life jackets.

One of the other things we discussed in our public service announcements was the, improper use of life jackets.

Like, you know, everybody you required to have one on the boat for everybody, everybody, under the age of 13 has to wear one when the boat's underway.

Those are laws.

But if you don't.

But sometimes people can find themselves running afoul of the law, even if they've got the life jackets, because they're counting the wrong kind for their total.

You explain that for us.

Exactly.

And, you know, they recently changed all the labels on the life jackets.

So instead of having, like, the top one, top two, top three, it's that level rating.

So I think it goes from 50 to 150.

Correct.

I think we saw that on some of the life jackets.

Yeah, yeah.

And that's new to me.

I didn't even know that.

And so I mean the old ones are still approved as long as they're serviceable.

But you really have to look at what that intended.

Approval.

You know, whatever.

The Coast Guard approved that lifejacket for now.

So it's not just, you know, you have to have this type of life jacket for this.

It's it's whatever that lifejackets rated for.

So I a great example and we use these all the time on our, our video shoots because they're not cumbersome.

They're comfortable.

They're not hot.

But but the inflatables you know, the suspender type that's actually one of the brands suspender.

Suspender.

And there's, there's Mustang.

There's a lot of them out there, but if you've got one of those life jackets, it's not okay to just have that in the boat and count.

That is like it actually must be worn.

Yeah.

Most.

Yeah.

Typically they do.

You'll have to like I said, you know, look at the look at the labeling.

But yeah, a lot of people don't know.

They actually have to be worn to be, considered a valid loss.

They're not an approved valid.

What you like, if it's under the seat of the boat.

Yeah.

It's that you'll still get it.

Exactly.

Exactly what we're trying to say.

Yeah, yeah.

Or can exactly put that thing on.

So.

Yeah.

Gotta have those.

But yeah, it all just goes back to whatever that US Coast Guard approval is.

Yeah.

And again, like the the inflatables are not approved for, for good reason for like being towed.

Like on a tube or water skis or, on jet skis.

You can't have the inflatable style either.

So.

Yeah, those wouldn't be very practical.

I don't think that's because they're water activated.

If you've not if you're not familiar with them, you hit the water and these things, I had one of them scare me to death on Warrigal Creek a number of years ago.

That was in the bottom of the canoe.

We were on the bank, but got just enough moisture.

Just out of nowhere.

I jumped like, three feet in a match, because I was not expecting that, life jackets.

We we've covered life jackets.

We've, covered operator in attention.

What are some other, common, factors in our boating accidents that we're seeing?

Alcohol is always one, you know, and it's a big cause of death.

Typically are fatalities or are alcohol related.

Got that?

We've got, people hitting underwater obstructions, you know, that they didn't know was there, the operator inexperience.

Well, let's get back to the the, we alcohol and impaired boating.

I don't think a lot of people realize what the penalties are for that.

Can you explain like.

Yeah.

I mean, you lose your driver's license.

That's not your boating license.

No, not your boating license.

Your driver's license to drive a car.

I believe the first offense, it'll be suspended for up to six months, and then each penalty on, you know, it carries a greater weight, and it's a set point.

Zero eight is the same as the blood alcohol level.

Same as operating a motor vehicle.

108 and then .02 for under age.

Yeah.

So wow.

So I mean, it's the laws.

Got some teeth in me for sure.

And speaking of that, you all do an event and I see all the game wardens, but other you know, water patrol, sheriff's departments and county, you know, county level and what have you do a big event every year.

But I know our our team has been doing it for wow, I don't know, probably ten, 12 years at this point if not longer.

Operation Dry Water.

Tell us about that.

What is that and when's it going to happen this year.

Yeah.

Operation Dry Water.

It's a national awareness campaign now has blown the Coast Guard put it on as well.

The National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, they put it on, I believe all 56 states and territories throughout the U.S.

They have agencies from everything.

Participating in it.

Pretty much it's just an awareness campaign and an enforcement, an increased enforcement effort to deter blue eyes.

And yeah, I mean, it's kind of like the like the of some folks might be familiar with the, you know, drive sober, get pulled over campaign that Arkansas State Police and other law enforcement agencies around the country do.

But it's kind of like that except for the water.

Right.

So you're raising awareness and raising I mean, there's going to be a much bigger presence than like, say, a normal weekend, right?

Exactly.

Because, you know, 4th of July weekend.

And that's when it runs a fourth through the sixth, I believe, of July.

Yeah.

It runs through that.

And, you know, that's our most populated weekend on the water, probably nationally.

Got more people out.

So it's probably the best time to do it, to kind of push that effort.

You're reaching people.

Yeah.

We'll keep that in mind, folks.

If if staying safe and, protecting yourself and others is not reason enough to, to, keep keep the boat.

At least the captain, the operator dry.

Remember that Operation dry water is coming up 4th of July weekend.

You mentioned that being the peak of the season, I've.

I've always found it interesting.

Sidney, when you look at, the the graphs, the charts that come that y'all put in the, in the boating accident reports, and it looks just like that 4th of July.

I mean, like early July every year.

That's the that's the peak of accidents.

And then it starts, you know, it's it's it looks like a roof on a house every year.

Yeah.

You know, Memorial Day is busy.

But I mean it just really kicks off that weekend.

Yeah.

And what are some of our lakes?

And I don't want to say that are more dangerous because they're not.

But where are we seeing accidents more?

I mean, I know it it shifts around from year to year.

People talk about Lake Hamilton.

I mean, it's a I mean, it's surrounded by development.

There's docks everywhere.

So there are boats everywhere.

It's not a huge lake either.

Beaver has been ruled become real popular.

Are those still kind of a in addition to those, what are some of the lakes where we're seeing the most traffic and therefore corresponding numbers.

Yeah.

So accidents Hamilton, Beaver Greers washed all the Arkansas River.

I want to say they're all, kind of pretty pretty similar as far as the number of accidents and traffic, I guess it's it's not like, again, I don't want to suggest that one lake is more dangerous than another just because you hear it's a bigger like you have more more people.

Yeah, yeah, more more folks around.

And of course, the Northwest Arkansas growth has just been, you know, amazing and continue and some more, more folks are going out on the lake and and playing up there on Beaver Lake.

So it certainly wouldn't be surprised to see, you know, growth and accidents up there, I guess.

What what what what have we not covered, Sidney?

What else?

What else do we want to talk about here?

What?

As some as the up and coming boating law administrator who I mean, really, you know, one of your missions, one of your main responsibilities is to remind people to be safe out there.

What?

What do you want to tell people?

As we head into the thick of boating season?

You know, another thing I think we could touch on is our voter education.

You know, this year, absolutely.

Every year, you know, we see that there's a a trend, you know, of the 40, 50 year olds that fall outside of the requirement to have to take boater education.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, you know, I'll be 54 this summer and I don't have to have it right.

You know, I I'm not required to have it by law.

Yeah.

You're born after 1985.

So January 1st, if you're born on or after January 1st, 1986 and on, you got to have it.

So it it's kind of it kind of contradicts something we were talking about earlier, but but it stands to we gotta mention it is that yes, we saw a lot of new boaters come in in 2020 and that inexperience led to.

But but truly if you look at the act, it's usually people like me who midlife, ish and who have a lot of experience.

I mean, a lot of I mean, it's not just, I guess the point I'm trying to make.

It's not not younger generation, younger generation, inexperienced boaters who are involved in accidents.

Correct.

Right.

Exactly.

And, you know, you can think of two.

There's a bunch of people reaching that stage in their life, and they're probably at a, a spot to where they can afford a boat, more discretionary income.

And so, it may be their first times out on the water and, they're not really experience.

So, yeah, I mean, if you haven't taken a boaters education, you can get it in a day online, about 34 bucks, $35.

And, go ahead and take it.

Increase your awareness and your skill level on the water.

Yeah.

It's amazing to me going out on the water with people, you know, some of the just common things, you know, like what, a red bui or a green bui, you know, or marker means.

And, you'll learn all that stuff about it.

And now and Sidney mentioned the online courses you can knock out in a day.

And there's, there's like another version that's kind of like, more like there's a dub for game, like, almost like a video game or an interactive version.

I think it's about $10.

Yeah, it's a little a little bit more.

You got kids with, you know, low attention, you know, spend levels.

Yeah.

And you can always take it for free, from an in-person course.

And you can go to Ofcom.

And, I think what I think there's, we've got a whole list.

There's multiple ways.

Yeah, but but you just go to the website and there's.

But I'll just type voter education into the search function.

Probably the easiest way.

Yeah.

And you can actually do we had or you finally had it developed this year.

The idea of SI.com forward slash voting okay.

So voting well you do it.

I should just ask you, for us tally, our producer behind the camera over there, was just commenting.

We got a whole list, from some of our colleagues the other day of all those all those different URLs and and force comments like, I've often wanted one of those for next time.

We just need to and I need to tape one to the desk here.

So whatever work, whatever we're talking about, I'll have the I'll have that direct URL.

But yeah, so I have SI.com slash boating and that'll, that'll get you there.

And there again you can take a free class.

It takes a day.

I mean, and you can sometimes we'll split it up over 2 or 3 nights, and sometimes it's an all day class on a Saturday or something.

But, there's always that free in-person option.

And in person is really a good way to do it, too.

You get is you a little more hands on the hands on in that interaction.

What do you think are some of the things that people, get away from causes of accidents, but what are what are some of the most common mistakes you see new boaters make?

You know, just simple operation stuff, and stuff that you'll learn in the boater education courses, like how to approach docs and, you know, come coming upstream versus downstream when you're approaching docks and other boats and just simple something like which, which, which which side do I pass on exactly?

Yeah.

The simple no violations that you'll learn through the course.

Before we wrap things up, I want to talk about something that I, and I know, I know, you and Stephanie get probably a hundreds of calls, a year, if not a month on is boat registration.

Yes.

You you said that with an inflection in your voice.

It tells me that's, it's something that people struggle with, and it's like, it.

And I don't want to say it's a difficult process, but it can be if you're not prepared for it and you don't have everything you're supposed to have.

We've all been there at the revenue office, whether it's registering a boat or a car or whatever, like.

Well, you got to do this first.

You gotta go assess.

And, you know, so we're all familiar with that frustration, but sometimes it seems like it's magnified on the boating side.

So what are some what are some pointers or tips you would give to our listeners to avoid, you know, potential setbacks and obstacles and multiple trips to the revenue?

Yeah.

You know, we see people buying boats every day and they have no paperwork.

They don't know what the manufacturer of the boat is.

So main thing is just make sure their seller is the last registered owner.

They're able to provide you with the proper paperwork, a copy of their registration that contains, you know, the make the model, all the boats information and check to make sure that boat has a whole number, make sure it hasn't been altered.

And, yeah, the whole number.

I mean, that's basically like a vehicle.

I. Yeah, it's a van pretty much.

Yeah.

Like a van on a car or so.

So yeah.

But you know, we'll say oh I mean yeah.

Bill sale from the last registered.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And did unfortunately, we, we talked about technology, the proliferation of online, sales.

You see, tell me has sort of like that's what we're seeing.

A lot people are buying stuff online on these online, either social media sites or online sales places, and they're just not getting the proper paper.

And there's sometimes some people are unscrupulous and they're selling.

Yeah.

Stolen.

Stolen.

Exactly.

They have altered this stuff for a reason.

They've taken those templates off for a reason.

So that needs to be a number one thing.

If you, you know, you you encounter some of these boats and you're looking at a boat to buy and that you can see where that hand plates, been removed, that should kind of go off in your head, you know, be cautious of that.

Yeah.

Why is it that never should have been taken?

All right.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, it's a major violation to alter those or remove those plates.

Well, boating is a lot of fun, and it it's, you know, it's it's not inherently dangerous or hazardous, but there are some things you got to keep in mind, and we hope you'll do that this summer.

Enjoy.

We are blessed in Arkansas to have so many great streams and so many Great Lakes big everything from, you know, big core of engineer lakes like Washita and, Bull Shoals and Beaver, to, you know, little small game and fish lakes and oxbow lakes, you know, off the Mississippi, Arkansas rivers.

And then, of course, our many, many streams that that city now both enjoy smallmouth bass fishing in, so a lot of water to enjoy.

We just want you to do it safely and, you know, come back and do it again next year or the next year or the year after that.

So, heed this advice from, from our friend Sidney Grant here, our soon to be boating law administrator.

And, have a good time, but be safe out there.

Sidney, thank you so much for, for sitting in with us on the podcast.

And looking forward to working with you.

And hopefully, it's it's more of these type of stories and not not the not the tragic tales of, things gone wrong.

Exactly, exactly.

Appreciate you.

Sidney.

Thank you.

For Sidney Grant, I'm Trey Reed.

We'll talk to you next time on the Arkansas Wildlife Podcast.