What a year this has been for Northeastern Arkansas! Three to four weeks prior to the season opener, our rest fields started loading up. As usual for that time of year, we were seeing a wide variety of ducks. There was little doubt in my mind; this was going to be another fantastic season ….. then the rain started.
Once it started raining, I didn’t think it would ever quit. People were trying to trade their big RVs in for arks! Well, maybe it wasn’t that bad, but it was a lot of rain. Rain we didn’t need. With the late planting season, also the result of an unusually wet spring, most of the area’s crops were in the fields. Nevertheless, Mother Nature decided it was time to flush out all the rivers and that’s what she did.
It rained enough that all the major rivers were well above flood stage and most of you know … ducks like rising water. While I’m not sure why, I can’t remember a time when the rivers got out like they did, that the ducks don’t shift to them, but something was different this time. Many, if not most, of the crops were still in the field. Picture a 300-acre rice field that had not had a combine in it. It’s not uncommon for hybrid varieties of rice to produce 200 bushels of rice per acre. A 300-acre field, times 200 bushel per acre, equals 60,000 bushels of rice. A bushel of rice weighs approximately 45 pounds. Multiple 45 lbs. times 60,000 bushels and you should get a visual picture of what enticed the ducks. And we’re only talking about a single field, with 300 acres under water. Now envision miles and miles of farmland, along numerous rivers in the area, all under water and you should understand what we were facing. To put things in better perspective, I took my first clients hunting in the late 70s. To date I had never seen this happen, to this magnitude.
One friend of mine lost a field of soybeans, to the ducks and geese that was 320 acres. Another fellow lost three fields of rice, totaling just over 800 acres. They were fully mature crops, with an entire growing season of labor and expenses put in to raising the crop. While some farmers had crop insurance, many did not and there’s little doubt, some operations may not recover from the loss. While agriculture is a driving force in our area, we’re here to discuss ducks and the unbelievable amount of food they had access to this fall!
One afternoon my wife and I drove to the edge of the floodwaters, off the Black River. Our season was due to open in a week and our rest fields were holding no birds. I don’t mean a few birds … I mean ZERO birds, which was another first for me, at least for that time of year. I was in a panic and didn’t know what to do. I just wanted to see how many birds were in the area, hoping I could reassure myself things would be OK. What I saw reminded me of the stories I had heard, about the early years of rice farming in Arkansas.
I’m a firm believer that the massive increase in rice acreage in the Grand Prairie Region of Arkansas, during the late 40s, changed the entire Mississippi Flyway and impacted other flyways as well. Some of the old timers would talk about the sky being black with ducks, as far as you could see … and that’s what I saw the week before our season opened. Believe me, I’ve seen a lot of ducks in my life, but nothing like what we had along the river then. The ducks that loaded up the area and raped the farmers’ fields, had to have skipped over some of the states to our north, to get to all the grain. If nothing else, I know the floodwater had to have hurt the opening week in Louisiana and would imagine it did the same for central and southern Arkansas. The river areas looked like the entire flyway had decided to come to that area.
As far as our opener went, I called all of the folks we had booked and explained what was happening and admitted to them; “I have no idea what to expect, we were holding no birds!” Since all were repeat customers, they all thought I was worrying over nothing and most made comments like; they’re always there and they will be this year, but they weren’t!
With eyes glued to the Internet, watching the flood flow charts on the Black and White River basins, we counted down the days. As luck would have it, the Black River at Black Rock, fell below flood stage the day before we opened and the ducks congregated in smaller areas of the floodwater. When the hunters unleashed their opening day furry on the birds, the ducks scattered. The rivers falling back in their banks saved our opener, with all but one group taking full limits. What a relief it was.
Then again, it’s always something. As I’m writing this piece, it’s the opening day, for our second session of season. With the cold weather blasting through the country, the highs in the Dakotas only reached the teens and we had another major push of birds earlier this week. If there’s any mallards left to our north, it would surprise me, there’s just that many still in our area. The fields have been full of birds, but I must have made the old lady mad! No, I would never call my wife an old lady; I’m talking about Mother Nature. First she cleanses us with torrential rains, now she gets Jack Frost on us, a month early.
Last night we were near record lows for this time of year. 15 mile an hour winds and morning temperatures in the teens. Shallow water rice fields and lows in the teens are a recipe for disaster. From massive numbers of birds in our rice fields yesterday, to heavy ice today. It’s always something, but once again we managed to pull it off! Instead of breaking up the ice and attempting to keep a hole open, we slipped down the field levies, breaking as little ice as possible. Once to the pits, all the staff put out 6 Mojo spinning wind decoys and slid a few full body decoys out on the ice. When the ducks hit the air, looking for opening water, they sucked in to the Mojos like they had never seen one before. The results shocked us, to say the least!
Who knows what Mother Nature will throw at us next, but I’m sure she’ll pull something else in a few days, or weeks. Until then, we’re just proud we’ve managed to hold our on with the birds, not to mention all the birds are staying in the area. As far as the problems with icing goes, I’m just glad we decided to try … Flocking Up The Mojo’s … another first for me!
Charles “HammerTime” Snapp
www.arkansaswaterfowl.com snapp1@sbcglobal.net
