Arkansas Green Timber and
Rice Field Duck Hunting

• Guided or Un-Guided Hunts
• 2, 3 or 4 day hunts available
• All hunts are on private ground
• Over 25 years guiding/outfitting

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Once again we finished last season with outstanding bag numbers. It’s not to say we didn’t have a tough day every now and then, but with a duck limit of six and a per hunter/per day bag average between 4.3 and 4.4 ducks per day/per hunter … we are well pleased.
Maintaining a per-day bag average between four and five ducks per hunter, for the past five or six years is a new record. Jackie and I, along with our staff, are proud of this accomplishment. Certainly a part of that success comes from a professional staff, who knows how to read and work the birds. Another factor in our continued success is our voluntary “Rest Days Program”, described in more detail below. Rest days and resting locations have long been used by various state and federal agencies and we’re proud to have been able to implement such a program on our private hunting ground.
In addition to our voluntary “Rest Days Program”, we added numerous rest fields for last season. Since the beginning of last season was relatively dry in this area, having plenty of rest fields for the birds to use during hunting times helped keep more birds in our immediate area. Since several of the rest fields are adjacent to or less than a mile from our flooded timber, I feel confidant the rest fields helped increase the number of flooded timber hunts we conducted last season, not to mention the high success rate on those timber hunts. In fact, the improvement in our timber hunting has resulted in the addition of a rest area within the largest tract of timber, for this coming season.
Hunting in the south provides different opportunities than many of the northern states and provinces. I know when I have an opportunity to travel north for a film shoot, I always try to work in a dry field hunt while I’m there. However, once those ducks make it to the wintering grounds, they seek out water. Be it a dietary change the ducks go through or the fact they have grains available in the south that aren’t available to them in the north, seldom do we ever have an opportunity to hunt dry fields for ducks in Arkansas. In fact, water is crucial to a successful duck season in the south and with the high price of diesel fuel, needed to power the deep well pumps; you can count on there being less surface water than ever before.
Certainly there’s a chance Mother Nature will have it rain and create a massive flood. However, the season before last saw flood after flood, after flood. Late this past winter, after the last season was over, much of the south flooded again. These floods lasted through early spring and were so severe that some farm operations were forced to change the crops planted in some fields that normally hold rice. Having seen the past two years with heavy flooding, I would think the odds are in favor of an extremely dry hunting season.
A dry hunting season, with diesel fuel hitting record high prices, means less surface water. Less surface water throughout the south means increased opportunities for those of us that do have plenty of water. Last season, even with a couple of some timely rains, we used just under 7,500 gallons of diesel fuel to pump our ground. Do the math. That’s expensive water and it’s going to cost even more this coming season … but we do plan on pumping the water we need to provide the best possible opportunities for our clients.
As mentioned before, water is crucial to a successful duck season in the south and we’re going to pump what we need to. Add adequate surface water to our voluntary “Rest Days Program” described below, then top off the “Rest Days Program” with the addition of our rest fields and a rest area that we never hunt and I feel confident we can continue to provide quality hunting opportunities, even when faced with higher and higher pumping cost for water.

So what is our “Rest Days Program” and why is it so important?

It's really simple to understand. Ducks migrate south looking for different food sources and open water. When a duck makes the migration flight they burn up a lot of calories and body fat, similar to a person that runs everyday or works out in the gym. Once the migrating ducks arrive at a given location, they need time to rest and eat, to take in the calories needed to replenish the body fat they used in flight. If every time the ducks try to land someone shoots at them, they don't have a chance to relax or rest and they will keep moving until they find a place where they can rest. State and Federal agencies have used rest areas for years and their success in helping and holding ducks has been well documented. With our "Rest Days Program" we take things a step further. Instead of having one area the ducks can sit and never have to leave, we try to let all of our ground rest, without hunting, for three days a week. Then we select the best locations for our arriving hunters. This program cost us a lot in available days we can book, but as a hunter would you rather try your luck and hunt in a location where the ducks have had a chance to rest or a location where they have been shot at, day in and day out?

NOAA and the Farmers Almanac both show possible indications of a drier than normal year for the wintering grounds of the Mississippi Flyway. If they are correct and with fuel prices still on the rise, we feel like there will be a severe shortage of surface water for the ducks to use. Thus hunting pressure becomes a tremendous problem. Based on the overwhelming success we experienced with our “Rest Days Program” and in preparation for the real possibility of a much drier season than normal, we are working hard to complete a major expansion for the “Rest Days Program” for this (07/08) season.

Our expansion is focused on a substantial increase in the number of rest fields we will pump up. Like the rest field or two we’ve used in the past, these fields do not have pits or blinds in them. They will be designated for resting purposes. We will have water on part of these fields by mid October, allowing early migratory birds a chance to feed up and get fat and happy. Our current plans call for all of the rest fields to be pumped before the end of October, providing ample time to establish our pre-season bird numbers, without stressing available food sources in the fields we do hunt.

Additionally, since six of the nine rest area fields, planned for this season, will be within one to two miles of a large portion of our timber ground and no more than four or five miles from the remainder of our flooded timber, we expect the rest areas to provide additional benefits for our timber hunting as well. In fact, current plans call for a minimum of one rest field for every field we have pits in for this season.

To say the least, we are very excited about the benefits this expansion will provide to our current “Rest Days Program” and to our clients as well. Thanks to all that consider Arkansas as their waterfowl hunting destination and wherever you hunt this season, “May all the birds land at your feet!"

For the 2007-2008 season we expanded our voluntary “Rest Days Program”, by including several Rest Fields and a Rest Area that we never hunted. The Rest Days Program has provided our clients with increased hunting opportunities for several years and the rest fields/area help provide even more opportunities last season. For the 2008-2009 season, we plan to continue the use of rest fields and the rest area and with expectations of less surface water in the south, we hope the benefits or the rest fields/area will be obvious to those of you hunting with us.