A PROFESSIONAL'S PERSPECTIVE
“In dry years and cold weather, I turn to the Arkansas River for duck hunting,” noted Todd Brittain, owner of Stuttgart's Black Dog Hunting Club. “Under these scenarios, river hunting can be fantastic.”

Brittain has been duck hunting almost as long as he's been walking and talking. He began guiding part-time in 1984 and opened Black Dog two years later.

“I remember my first duck hunt,” the 45-year-old waterfowl guide recalled. “It was in the afternoon on Christmas day. I was seven or eight years old, and we hunted off the end of a levee in what is commonly referred to as 'the cemetery brake.' It was all green timber at the time. My father would only shoot the ducks that would land on the levee because we didn't have a way to retrieve them.”

When Brittain's father passed away later on in Todd's youth, one of his father's friends picked up the torch and kept Brittain in the hunting game.

Brittain joked that the friend was trying to keep him out of trouble by taking him “duck hunting morning, noon and night,” then added, “It worked -- for the most part. I have been duck and goose hunting ever since.”

That first hunt, though, is the one that planted a seed in Brittain's mind about the steps needed to become a better duck hunter -- like getting a well-trained retriever. He's never lost sight of such necessities associated with being a better Natural State waterfowler, including learning how to hunt the Arkansas River.

“Green timber is naturally my favorite duck hunting spot, but the weather and the ducks tell me where to go and where to hunt,” Brittain said. “I tried for years to tell them what to do, but they don't listen.”

Sometimes, listening to those ducks leads Brittain and his Black Dog guides to the river. Periods of parched weather or subfreezing temperatures can make the Arkansas River a duck hunting hotspot. But, there are other occasions when he hears and answers the river's call.

“The river can be productive when least expected,” Brittain explained. “Sometimes, hunter pressure alone can bring the birds to the river.”

Of course, there's a trick or two to be learned when it comes to duck hunting the Arkansas River successfully.

“Dry weather and the lack of fresh water will push the birds to the river also. In dry years, we try to locate large rafts of birds in the main channel and set up between them and their feeding areas,” he said. “We first locate a large group of ducks and then determine from which direction they arrive and depart. We then set up between the raft and bank. The areas that prove to be the most successful are the back bays and the large bends of the river.”

The hunts on the river also require some equipment and tactical changes, Brittain explained.

“When hunting the river, I like to call long and hard at birds at great distances and then try to finish with a whistle and a few chuckles. As far as blind location is concerned, you have to take what the wind and the river give you. I know hunters in layouts who hide under 'fast grass' on sandbars and do really well.