My daughter is coming to Harding to start fall of 2016. Anything a Dad (and Mom) really needs to worry about in that area? She has been there twice and said she felt safe.  Also, what kind of hunting opportunity is there for a non-resident? A big hog is on my list. Thanks in advance for any responses!

Dry county, one of the most conservative areas in the state.

You're an hour from great duck hunting in Jonesboro area, 30 min from trout fishing on the Little Red, and I beleive there's a hog ranch nearby in Letona

Very conservative, sheltered part of the state. There are plenty of meth heads out in the trailer parks, but the largest populations of FSA are an hour away in either direction.

I live in the area and my SIL is a cop in Searcy , nice place and only one small area to stay out of.

Educate her on situational awareness! I spend 4.5 years at Harding and loved every second of it. I was an RA for three years and friends with some local police so I got to see the "darker" side of Searcy/Harding. There isn't anywhere near the level of stupidity and date rape as UA or other campus that is alcohol friendly. But that lulls a lot of girls into a false sense of safety. They get caught up in "everyone in Searcy or Harding is a Christian and a good person" and let their guard down. And people are more likely to give money to beggars and or make contact with sketchy folks thinking taking extra chances is the Godly thing to do. Again it is a great area but there are dirt bags that feed on overly trusting girls.



If you have any questions feel free to P.M. we can trade numbers and chat about the area.



Bottom line, I loved Harding and it is a safer than average area in general if you are smart about your choices.

Thanks for the replies. I am going to get her into a self defense class and we keep telling her about situational awareness.

Searcy is probably one of the safer cities in AR for a single woman to live.

When I lived in central AR, in the clubs and bars you would see all these Searcy gals that drove to Little Rock to party.  I don't know if underage serving is a problem in LR, but the fact is a lot of these gals were on the road at night to get to the "doin's"--Hwy 67/167 can be dangerous and it's an hour's exposure.

Can't get everything 100% safe, but it's just a thing to brief her up on.

As far as hogs, depends on how far you want to drive from Searcy.  I don't believe there's a lot of opportunity around there, except for a pay hunt like somebody said.  I live in NW Arkansas in the middle of the Ozark NF and we have hogs.  I hosted my out of state BIL this past for a hog hunt, he had to pay $50 for a one-day license and we saw nothing that day.  They don't let you hunt them at night except on your own (private) land.