Decoys and some calling ability are important for Arkansas River hunting. You might find a place that provides some pass-shooting, but usually the big-water situation means you must attract ducks to your position to do much shooting. Small spreads can be effective at times, especially in small open-water areas surrounded by dense cover. Generally, though, the bigger your spread, the better -- five to six dozen decoys should probably be enough, but twice that many won't hurt anything.

Look for sheltered areas, especially during bad weather. (Bad weather, incidentally, usually provides the best action on the Arkansas.) Likely spots are the lee sides of islands, brushy areas and shorelines; wind-protected areas behind breakwaters and levees; and small openings in brush or standing dead timber.

The entire run of the Arkansas River within the state's boundaries provides duck hunting opportunities, and it's hard to say whether the hunting is better in the portion upstream from Little Rock, or the downstream portion. There's excellent hunting in both stretches of river, and it's all open for hunting except in Corps of Engineers parks, within the city limits of cities along the river, along the stretch bounded by Holla Bend NWR near Dardanelle, and a handful of other select locations. You'll find a lot more shallow backwater areas in the lower ends of the navigational pools, nearer the upstream side of the dams.

There are numerous boat ramps scattered along the river, and these are shown on a series of free maps published by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and available from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission; go online to www.agfc.com or phone (501) 223-630). However, the Corps also sells at reasonable cost a bound set of navigation charts of the river that show much more detail. Contact them at (501) 324-5551 for ordering information.

This isn't the easiest type of duck hunting you'll ever try. It can be cold and miserable and downright dangerous for a hunter who's not adequately equipped. But it can also be some of the best duck hunting you'll ever experience.

ST. FRANCIS SUNKEN LANDS WMA
The St. Francis River runs along the wet boundary of the Missouri boot-heel and down the east side of Crowley's Ridge, joining the Mississippi River not far upstream from Helena. The geography of the east Arkansas delta, the St. Francis channel and the visual barrier of Crowley's Ridge makes the St. Francis a popular flyway for mallards and other ducks migrating south into Arkansas.

Much of the St. Francis basin is swampy and almost impossible to negotiate, except by boat, and even that can be difficult. Much of the area was impacted by the New Madrid earthquakes nearly 200 years ago, when thousands of acres of this already swampy bottomland fell six to 10 feet and filled with water. This area is now known as the "St. Francis sunken lands," from whence the wildlife management area takes its name.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission currently owns or leases more than 26,000 acres along approximately 30 miles of the St. Francis in Craighead and Poinsett counties. The public land is an irregular checkerboard interspersed with private lands, and the public parcels extend as far north as the southeast edge of the Missouri bootheel and south almost to Marked Tree.

As with all Arkansas public duck hunting areas, the Sunken Lands receive a lot of hunting pressure. Even so, it's possible for a hunter skilled at navigation and map-reading to find uncrowded hunting because of the checkerboard pattern of public ownership.