Arkansas Timber Hunt

by James Staten
Zink Calls Pro-Staff
18 December 2009

In duck hunting there are many time-tested traditions. Depending on where you live, many traditions, habits, and ways of life in the duck hunting world hold on from generation to generation. In Arkansas, one of those very storied traditions is hunting mallards in the flooded green timber.

Living in the western portion of Arkansas I don't have as much of an opportunity to hunt the flooded woods as much as the eastern portion of the state does. As many Arkansas duck hunters can tell you, having mallards come through the big tree tops is unlike anything else you can experience in duck hunting and even though we don't have the large area of flooded woods in my home area, it doesn't stop me from loving any chance I can get to get in the woods myself.

This year fellow Zink Calls Field Staffer Jared Hunt and I had been invited to go and join a good friend of ours, Justin Bennett, for a hunt in his hometown where they hunt the timber almost exclusively. We jumped at the chance and the plans for a weekend hunting trip were put into action.

We all met at my house on Thursday night and loaded the truck, boat, supplies, and my dog Ace for the trip. Friday morning we awoke and met some of Justin's friends at a local gas station and duck hunter's meeting place. Another tradition in this part of the state is a lot of guys meet at the coffee shops or donut shops and visit and get the morning scoop on who's shooting birds before heading out to the woods.

After getting the boat fueled up and full of snacks, we headed to the boat ramp. As usual in Arkansas the boat ramp was as busy as most shopping malls and we quickly got my boat in the water and everyone loaded up for the ride. We had plans to follow one of Justin's good friends on the boat run down the river and through the flooded woods since we were not familiar with the area. It made for a very interesting and fun ride and we arrived at our hole in the woods, set our decoys, and picked out a good big oak to hide next to for the action time.

The shooting began slowly but it wasn't long before we had tons of mallards working our hole in the woods. The first group we got into the trees was around thirty or so and we did our best to pick out the drakes. The next group did just like the last dropping into the hole and even landing a few before the shot was called. The sight of mallards swooping, parachuting, in snapping limbs, and landing only a few feet from me was incredible. It didn't take long before my retriever Ace and the rest of us had gathered up the ducks and we were well on our way to a limit out morning in the woods.

We ended up finishing up with five limits of mallards with a bonus pintail and some awesome memories that will not be forgotten. After the hunt on the boat ride out I made a comment to Justin that it had been too long since I had hunted the flooded woods and that I now remember why I loved it so much!!