The area lies in White County and is subject to state hunting regulations as well as federal regulations.

For more information, contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at (870) 347-2614.

OVERFLOW NWR
"Overflow NWR is the best spot to be on in this area because of the more open fields on the refuge," Forester Ruth McDonald said. "The snows and blues come in regularly, plus a lot of the farmers will give hunters permission to set up on their property because the geese are on their fields."

Wildlife biologist Lake Lewis is in agreement but points out that there seemingly aren't as many geese as there used to be, most likely due to the Goose Conservation Season.

"Ducks show up first in the fall and then the snow geese move in," Lewis said. "Some folks drive up and down the roads and then sneak up on them in the fields. The problem is that the snows will roost either out on open water or in the middle of harvested fields where they feel safe. So, there really isn't a lot of goose hunting on the Overflow NWR even though there's a lot of geese in late November and December."

Overflow is in the Mississippi Flyway and migrating geese make regular stopovers. It's a recent development as far as federal refuges go and was set up in 1980. At present, it contains over 12,000 acres in Ashley County. Seasonal flooding for geese and ducks is a given and the 2,620 acres of crop fields are snow goose magnets.

Overflow NWR is east of Parkdale and Wilmot on U.S. Route 165. Access to the area is from the east on state highways 8 and 173 and from the west on County Road 342.

A special regulation is that waterfowlers can only be in possession of 25 shotgun shells. The refuge hunt ends on Jan. 31.

For additional information, contact the AGFC at (870) 473-2869.

MILLWOOD LAKE
Canada geese are king at sprawling 29,200-acre Millwood Lake. Unlike other public areas, many goose hunters descend on Millwood and there's a good reason for it.

"Millard Lake is the spot to go for Canadas," wildlife biologist Griffin Park said. "This is our best concentration of resident Canadas in southwestern Arkansas."

The Little River inflows the giant reservoir on the western side and that's where most hunters score well. Moving up the river to the oxbows and sloughs provides much open-water shooting and plenty of habitat to support the burgeoning population of resident geese.

"A normal duck boat with a 25-horsepower motor should get you upstream without a problem unless the flow is really strong," Park said. "The Little River is stump-filled in what's known as the upriver section of Millwood and is notorious for taking out boats, so you'll have to be careful. Just put out some duck and a few goose decoys and hope they fly over, and be willing to move if you need to."

The shooting is admittedly opportunistic. A little scouting to find the roosting areas on the open water is a good idea. There's ample room for both hunters and geese to spread out and the birds can be just about anywhere.

Almost all of the shooting is done from a boat.

Access is from Highway 32. The lake is located on the Little River 16 river miles from the confluence with the Red River, about seven miles east of Ashdown.

For additional information, contact the AGFC at (877) 777-5580.

BULL SHOALS LAKE
"Bull Shoals offers some limited waterfowl hunting," wildlife biologist Barry McArdle said.

Impoundment and river hunting are both hit-and-miss propositions, but the geese do utilize the vast acreage of open water to roost where they have a sense of security from predators. In the morning and evening, they'll fly out onto surrounding fields, which is when they're the most vulnerable.