AR Opener

[sondance]

One word: SUCKED

Hunted SE AR for the opener. I personally didn't fire a shot. Didn't hear many shots fired in surrounding areas. Saw very few. Primary concentrations were around the MS river due to no water in surrounding areas. But "concentration" is being used loosely. Even the bar pits are dried up. We pumped up some timber with millet planted in it and some WRP areas with millet so we had water but no ducks. Most farmers in surrounding area have cut, disked and rowed up ag fields. A few geese started to come in after the cold front in low numbers. If you have a paid hunt coming up in the area after Thanksgiving I would suggest calling ahead to see if any birds have moved in or get the mindset that you are going to enjoy nature. My contacts in NE AR saw very few birds as well

I did speak to someone in MN this morning and they are forecasted to get some cold weather this week so maybe by the 2nd split we will start to see some birds in the area

[Smoke68]

Thanks Sondance. Nice to see a little talk about duck hunting. You carry your springer with you?

[sondance]

Yes I did he was ready to go but wound up sleeping in his Mo Marsh

[Smoke68]

Take plenty of pics this season and keep them posted!

[sondance]

Good news, I had another conversation with someone in MN. High today is going to be in the 20"s. Water is starting to freeze but it will take awhile. In the past I have seen everything locked up there with 3 feet of snow on the ground and there will still be Mallards in the spring fed ponds.

[GAHEEL83]

A hunting buddy of mine killed 6 man limit by 7:45 Sat am off of the White River.

[southernmallard]

We hunted our place in SE Arkansas for the opener as well. We killed 6 birds. Normally, the opener is a dove shoot but this year was by far the worst opener we have had. It doesn't help that half of our fields do not have water. We have the ability to pump from wells on one side of the property but the other half is normally pumped from a bayou and it is dry as a bone.

Ugly, ugly start.........

[Trip]

Had a good opener but lack of water made it tough. Still managed to work ducks and get them in close to finish. My one gripe though...who the hell walks around with 10 + guys in the dark and asks to join your party? 1-2 guys I can see. Yeah, ya'll grab a tree...but 10 + come on.

[Plainsman04]

Sucked for us but I know of a couple groups that whooped on them Saturday and Sunday. Really dropped off after that. Little water in the woods, few ducks, and they really wanted in a handful of places and if you weren't there you might as well have been calling at wood ducks. Learned a lot. Not a totally wasted trip at all. Just sure would've liked to pull the trigger a little more.

I think I saw 2 flooded fields and neither one had a duck on it. Just about everything is bare dirt.

[JCA]

Hunted at our place Saturday through Monday and we were able to kill ducks every day. The number of ducks we saw Monday morning compared to Saturday was a drop in the bucket. More specks around than I ever remember seeing this early in the year though.

[booger]