Photo by Kenny Bahr.

Duck hunters should expect good duck hunting opportunities again this fall, with duck numbers lining up again pretty much the way they did last fall: So reported Luke Naylor, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s waterfowl program coordinator in Jonesboro. If early spring in the breeding areas of Saskatchewan, Canada and the pothole areas of North Dakota was any indication, shooting should be fast and furious in the Natural State this fall.

“Our duck hunting in the fall is entirely dependent on the spring nesting conditions in the floodplains in Canada and North Dakota, as well as on the rains in the early fall that flood our areas,” said Naylor. “The vast majority of our public hunting areas depend on natural rainfall, so it’s impossible to predict with certainty which areas will be good for the opener. Most of our wet areas in northeastern Arkansas provide good hunting year after year as a general rule.

“Last fall it was extremely wet in the northeastern part of the state, and we had good numbers of ducks. If there isn’t any water, there may not be ducks until Christmas. But in general, there are a lot of good fall public-hunting areas in this part of the state.”

Last season the overall duck numbers in Arkansas were slightly above average, while the numbers of mallards, the most abundant species in the country, stayed about the same. “Mallards are the duck of choice in Arkansas and we shoot a lot of them in flooded timber,” said Naylor. “Most of the hunters you see in the field are targeting mallards, though there’s plenty of gadwall, green-winged teal and wood ducks finding their way into the marshes and flooded timber, too. The east Arkansas sloughs, creeks and flooded timber offer up some of the best duck hunting in the country.”

Mallards, woodies and green-winged teal lead the way in the green timber, but if open fields with water on them are available, waterfowlers will enjoy opportunities to take a few pintails and gadwalls as well.

According to Naylor, the mallard count totaled 165,270 ducks during this year’s January aerial survey. Numbers showed a 2 percent increase over mallard numbers in 2006. A point to keep in mind this fall is that although the northeast region had been loaded with mallards during November and December of 2006, by January they had begun to spread out more evenly throughout the Delta. It’s too early to tell, but ducks may be arriving in out-of-the-way marshes in higher numbers than usual.

Note where it’s been raining in September and October and then follow the rain, said Naylor. The areas with flooded timber are going to be the hotspots.

Here’s a look at six of the areas recommended by Naylor this fall.

BAYOU METO WMA
Very few places in the country draw more ducks than does the 33,832-acre Bayou Meto Wildlife Management Area in Arkansas and Jefferson counties.

Water is everywhere there, said Naylor, and Meto provides excellent waterfowling in most years. Over 1,000 acres of water are divided into six lakes, the largest of which, at 600 acres, is Halowell Reservoir. The 53-plus miles of streams crisscrossing the area can make moving around on foot a bit tricky.

The green-timber duck hunting can be phenomenal, and as a result, it sometimes proves difficult to get a lot of privacy. The AGFC estimates that between 1,500 and 2,000 hunters are on the area during the first few days of the season, after which the hunting pressure dies down considerably.

About 13,000 acres of the area are flooded every fall by the AGFC to create additional habitat.

Vehicles are allowed on the 16 gravel roads that provide over 17 miles of interior access. Nearly 41 miles of non-graveled roads provide access by foot, but no vehicles are allowed on them, owing to road conditions.

Access is from highways 79, 88, 152, 165 and 276. Additional information is available from Bayou Meto WMA at (870) 873-4651.