Hunters aware of low water levels ahead of peak season

Low water levels might trigger issues for Arkansas duck hunters this season.

Arkansas is named the duck looking capital of the world, with Stuttgart as its epicenter.

From late November by January, a number of species will be discovered flocking by the cool air in search of touchdown websites. This yr, water levels in Arkansas wetlands like Stuttgart have dropped because the season approaches.

Trey Reid works for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and is an assistant communications officer and a lifelong duck hunter.

“Obviously it was pretty dry all through late summer and even into the fall,” Reid stated. “Which isn’t entirely unusual for a relatively dry period in Arkansas. It was exceptionally dry this time.

When there is no water for ducks to land in, they move elsewhere.

“I think most duck hunters would agree we wouldn’t mind more rain,” Reid said. “It was really cold, which is great and one of the things that drives waterfowl migration. However, the big problem is water, and we didn’t have much of it starting until the solstice and we usually get more rain in Arkansas in December and January.”

Although the hunting areas in Hot Springs aren’t as extensive as in the Arkansas Delta region, there are still prime spots to be found.

Lake Ouachita features natural hardwood ridges around the lake where public hunting is permitted on Corps of Engineers property.

“I would say mid-December through January is historically one of the best hunts in Arkansas, but it varies,” Reid said. “We had an incredibly cold November. We’ve had three snowfalls in northern Arkansas and I’m 52. I don’t remember that ever happening in my life.”

Mallards, pintails, wood ducks, gadwalls and green-winged teals are common in this nature lover’s paradise.

Mallards are the favorites of most duck hunting enthusiasts.

“I’ve hunted ducks my whole life,” Reid said. “The peak time is mid-December and mid-January. Many factors play a role. We’re #1 in Arkansas. We are the duck capital of the world. We are the national leader in the number of mallards caught each year. The other thing that’s so appealing about waterfowl hunting is that the setting for it is a great place and there’s just a lot of action. It’s quite a social way of hunting.”

For some, duck looking is a manner of life.

“Arkansas has great public land hunting opportunities,” Reid stated. “We sell duck tags to people in all 50 states and numerous other countries. We are known to be an incredible target for public land duck hunting.”

Arkansas Game and Fish owns 300,000 acres of land and manages an extra 3 million acres with different firms.

“A lot of our areas like this are in the delta,” Reid stated. “There are some in the River Valley and some in the southwest corner of the state. They are specifically managed for waterfowl hunting, where we control water levels to create habitat and hunting opportunities for waterfowl.”

Lake Ouachita has 20,000 hectares marked with yellow paint for looking.

“The next public land from Hot Springs will be public water and the zone around it,” Reid stated. “Lake Ouachita, DeGray, but our closest waterfowl game and fish wildlife management area to Hot Springs would be the Harris Break Wildlife Management Area in Perryville, about 30 miles as the crow flies.”

There are another laws on Lake Hamilton and Lake Catherine that for security causes an individual might not hunt from a ship or inside 1,000 ft of occupied buildings similar to properties.

These lakes have particular areas the place nature lovers can safely hunt their favourite migratory birds.

“There’s a lot of national woodland there,” Reid stated. “You will find some wooden ducks. Most of the traditional duck hunts will take place locally around the Red River and Ouachita River.”

DeGray Lake is simply outdoors of city. However, the world boasts some of the higher looking grounds of the Ouachita Mountains, that are on the base of the mountain ranges.

The Fish and Wildlife Service publishes an annual sport catch report, however it isn’t region-specific.

“The eastern third of the state, in the Mississippi Alluvial Plain, the Valley or the Delta, is where probably 90% of the state’s duck hunting occurs,” Reid stated. “There are more ducks there. There is hunting in the Arkansas River Valley north of Hot Springs, and some people hunt at some of the lakes like Ouachita and DeGray.”

The geese’ migration route follows the mighty Mississippi River down into Louisiana and South America.

“We’re geographically blessed at the neck of the migration funnel,” Reid stated. “You come down the Mississippi and you have this covalence of rivers like the Arkansas, White, Cache, Black and St. Francis rivers. All these rivers in eastern Arkansas all come together and it brings a lot of ducks here.”

Hunters are allowed to reap six geese per day as a bag restrict, giving hunters extra alternatives to get their sport. When looking deer, hunters can solely harvest 5 in a season.

The waterfowl season for Arkansas opened November 19 and can final by Sunday and can embody three distinct segments. It will reopen from December tenth to December twenty third, and the final phase can be from December twenty sixth to January thirty first.

Reid described the explanation for the splits.

“Waterbirds are regulated at both the federal and state levels because of international migratory bird agreements with different countries,” Reid stated. “The Fish and Wildlife Service is giving states up to 60 days and says you can’t start your season before that date and can’t go past that date, which is January 31.”

This course of permits states to increase their seasons to take benefit of some early migratory birds and in addition to cycle by the length of the season’s time restrict.

“One benefit of doing the splits is that it also allows the ducks to calm down,” Reid stated. “There isn’t any looking stress. It offers them a break of kinds to construct up and behave extra naturally. They do not get as nervous as they do on lengthy hunts.”

To be legal, a hunter must have a hunting license, state and federal duck stamps, and a hunting information permit. Game and Fish can help with all of this.

“Duck looking is nice,” Reid said. “It’s positively my favourite factor to do. I actually get pleasure from it. If you have stuffed your mark in deer season, you have had 5 hits. In duck looking, you possibly can bag six geese a day. There’s simply a lot extra likelihood, motion and alternative. “

Ducks are divided into categories including dabblers, which can only feed in 18 inches of water, and divers, who spend more time in the open water of large lakes like those in Hot Springs. They go deep into the water to feed on mollusks.

Some hunters are even lucky enough to bag a banded duck.

“It’s clearly a thrill,” Reid said. “As with anything involving rarity, encountering one of these is exciting. Researchers attach these small aluminum bands to the legs of waterfowl to track where they are harvested or otherwise recovered. It helps us keep track of population and migration. If a bird is ringed for a year it may not be hunted for several years and that is many migration miles it has travelled. It’s a thrill for hunters. It is a wildlife management tool to better understand our waterfowl. “

Whether a hunter is on the lookout for redheads, ringnecks or canvasbacks, Arkansas is the place to seek out waterfowl.