“Of course, birds are the best way to tell that you have found a good spot,” Staten continued. “Watch to see what type of holes the birds are using. Are they using shallow bays, big, open flats, coontail flats -- or just sitting in the creek channels? Look for what they might be feeding on. There are many aquatic plants that the birds do use as food on the river, and if you look for those, you will find the ducks.”

Furthermore, this river valley hunter believes that good duck hunting times are based not just on the weather, but also on both the point in the season and the time of day. “The early-morning shooting can be good on the river, but the best time is midmorning,” explained Staten. “By this time, the 'big ducks' like mallards and such have gone to feed and are returning to the river to loaf for the day and find some safe place to hang out. Times between 8 and 9 in the morning are usually our best times. The best time of the season is later in the year. The best weather for hunting the river is sunny and windy.”

But, this member of the Zink Calls Field Staff and Avery Pro Staff is also quick to point out that the river can bring six-foot rollers on some of those windy days, so safety should unceasingly be a hunter's first thought.

Like Brittain, Staten likes cold, cold temperatures for river duck hunting.

“The colder the temps, the better,” he said, noting that birds will look for a sanctuary out of the wind. “If the temps really drop out of the bottom and the fields begin to freeze and the woods start to lock up, then the river is the hot spot. The deeper and more open water is the last to freeze, and the birds have to have water. I love it when the shallows freeze with all the fields, the sun is bright and the wind is up. I know that we are going to really get them on the river.”

THE PAYOFF PITCH
When the ingredients of the recipe fall into perfect portions, the result can be awe-inspiring. This is when the ducks on the pond -- both divers and dabblers -- produce the hunter's grand slam.

“All species of ducks congregate on the river at different times,” Brittain stated. “When it is really cold or really dry, you can harvest as many puddle (dabbler) ducks as you do divers. In normal situations, you can expect more divers than big ducks.”

That's not to say that the list of divers doesn't include some sizable members, such as the redhead.

While Staten's hunting time is not as lengthy as Brittain's, he concurs about the diversity of a hunter's potential bag, saying, “On the river, I have taken a wide variety of birds. Mallards, gadwalls, teal -- both bluewing and greenwing -- shovelers, widgeons, pintails, wood ducks and various divers. Canvasbacks, bluebills, buffleheads and ringnecks are the most common divers on the river. We do sometimes manage to take a goldeneye or redhead from time to time.”

Yes, it's possible to get a limit of ducks and not have a single one be the same kind of bird. Arkansas may well be known more for its mallards and greentree reservoirs, but the allure of man versus nature at its extreme, the adventurous journey of a river ride and the opportunity to harvest species of birds on which many Natural State hunters never draw a bead make the Arkansas River a must-see duck hunting destination.