mhowerton

Also check the Trading Post on ktlo.com. Usually a boat or two on there.

Newer Royals fan here. Is it too early to start looking at wildcard standings? Or is it just a pipe dream?

Will be hitting up Norfork or Bull for teal if anyone wants to tag along. Also got drawn for South Dakota Ducks. Can't wait to head up there first of November.

Great fishing and scenery on that section of the river. Water can be skinny in June.

A group of 4 of us floated from Carver to Tyler Bend two weeks ago. Only saw 4 other boats the whole trip. Great scenery on this section with the Nars, and Skull Bluff. Fishing was great also. Grubs, Lizards and Gitzits. Not sure on shuttles. We ran our own. I would contact any of the outfitters over on Hwy 65.

I have a cabin near Knobel and hunt the upper island mainly then all over when the water gets up. Mallards dropping into the timber is a special sight to see. Look me up next season.

Thanks for yalls input and feedback. I try to learn something new every year. In the past couple of years I have really tried to better understand and keep notes of when ducks are using certain areas. I spent alot of time hunting the flooded timber on the Black River and found a couple new places that the ducks use better than others depending on river levels. The ducks will follow the new water (rising river). They find those newly flooded woods fast. Without a good knowledge database it is hard being a weekend only hunter. You are flying blind on Saturday. I usually cut the hunt very early if they arent flying and spend time trying to find them for Sunday. Would love to keep the conversation going through the long hot summer. Hit me up next year if anyone wants to try to come down to NE Arkansas and chase them in the public timber.

One thing I have noticed in Northeast Arkansas is that ducks prefer flooded fields to dry fields. Unless the flooded fields are frozen then the ducks will hit the dry fields hard. They will work in fields with just sheet water, but totally dry fields are not productive unless everything is frozen. Not sure it is the topography in the Delta more flat versus hilly country. But there are several corn fields where we hunt that stay dry, but nothing uses them. Just a sample size of one persons observation.

Sounds like a great end to the season. Love to see piles of mallards. Was this all dry corn field hunts?

Great picture of the dog and grey ducks.

Here is one of our most memorable hunts. On Arkansas WMAs you can hunt the afternoon on the last 3 days of the season. This was a very dry year and Petit Jean WMA had a moist soil unit pumped up, but it was a long walk. No one else wanted to make the death march so Hank and I loaded up 3 dozen floaters and a dozen full bodies on a deer cart and started the 1.5 mile march. We got set up about 2:30. 10 minutes after getting settled a group of 200 mallards worked the decoys. I rose up shot two greenheads and Hank brought them back. Three minutes later another group of 200 came over the decoys with the same results. We then proceeded to pick up the decoys and marched back to the truck. A hunting partner that never complains about the length of the walk, the temperature being too hot or too cold or the wind blowing too much or not enough http://s1321.beta.photobucket.com/user/Matt_Howerton/media/Picture056_zps8a946127.jpg.html

That hunt turned out to be Hanks last. He had a massive stroke last night and passed away. I will try to post some pictures of some of our adventures later this evening. Sad at our house today. Hard to explain to my 22 month old daughter that He is gone. Good dogs are gone too soon.

Old Hank has been around longer than I have known my wife. I have to lift him up into the truck now. He won't retrieve anything but a duck anymore. Don't try to get him to fetch a training dummy he is done playing that game. It will be a sad day when he passes away. I am going to try to take him as many times as I can in January because he might not be able to go next season.

Went out for a short hunt this morning on Norfork. Ended up with a GWT drake and a drake gadwall. Should have killed my limit. Several missed opportunities. Layout blind on the mudflat is a quick way to get all your stuff mudded up. Always good to ring in the year with a duck hunt and get my 11 yr old lab a couple more retrieves. Don't know how many more seasons he has in him.

I have heard that same theory about ducks keeping the water open and not flying out until they believe it will not freeze up. In South Dakota this year we had the same experience with ducks hitting the dry fields right before dark. In Northeast Arkansas I only see ducks use dry fields when all the ones with water are frozen. You would think with a college degree you could figure out these durn ducks, but they have fooled me many times this year. Scouted a creek on Norfork that had a couple hundred ducks on it Firday Next morning only about 40 came back. Who knows where they went.

I totally agree on Hevi Shot number 6s being the best duck load I have shot. I started duck hunting after lead was banned so I can't compare to lead, but they are way better than any steel load. When I was single that is all I used, but now with a wife and kid I went back to steel. No worse feeling than trying to quickly load your shotgun and you far finger it and hear the splash of a 3 dollar shell hit the water. I have been shooting Rio shells this year and have had good results.

I have hunted South Dakota the last three years with some friends that have a farm near Colome, SD. We hunted first week of November and averaged right around 2 birds per person each day. Also had to hunt alot longer than a typical year. The drought really hurt the area we were in. We also got drawn for waterfowl this year and had some great duck hunts in the NE part of the state. South Dakota is a wingshooters paradise. Already looking forward to the trip next year.

I do hunt the lakes when it gets cold. I will try hunt every day between Christmas and New Years up here. Just shoot me an email. howerton.matt@gmail.com.

Arkansas always opens the week before Thanksgiving due to the Duck Festival in Stuttgart over the Thanksgiving week. They want people to be able to hunt when they come for the " World Championship Duck Calling Competition". Mid Missouri opens way too early. We were shooting ducks last week in South Dakota when Middle Missouri opened. My buddys in South Dakota are still shooting ducks and Middle Zone has been open for 1.5 weeks now. It hurts Arkansas when after Jan 4th. everything above South Missouri is a rest area.

Can you send me the taxidermist contact info. Brought a couple pheasants back from South Dakota to get mounted.

Headed to Black River for the opener. Smart move would be to stay around here and hunt the lake, but need to go work on some blinds in the rice fields. Hope everyone has a great season.

That is a little early. Had some luck on Norfork this morning. I forgot that Goose opened back up today for NW Arkansas. We had a pair in the decoys, but didn't shoot. Also had a flock of 40 pelicans land just outside the decoys 30 minutes before sunrise. The great Migration has begun.

Justin, I will probably hunt Norfork some during teal season. I might venture up above the Missouri line If you want to meet up. Have all the gear (layout blinds, decoys, dog and boat) ready to roll.

Only a couple more weeks. Went though my duck hunting stuff this weekend.

Question for F&F on the long lines. What type of line do you use? Just typical tangle free decoy line? I am going to rig some up for hunting Norfork and Bull this year. Thanks