No water on our place. Landowner never got pumps running and no rain. Gonna be a bad first split...possible bust for the season. For those of you with water it oughtta be a great opener!
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No water on our place. Landowner never got pumps running and no rain. Gonna be a bad first split...possible bust for the season. For those of you with water it oughtta be a great opener!
Plain Dealing?Quote:
Originally Posted by marketdawg
Yep...can't get Chuck to call me back either?
paying that guy is like giving to charity, except you don't get the warm feelingQuote:
Originally Posted by marketdawg
Tuyrned out it was a glitch in his phone..had me down as a blocked caller. He got pumps up a couple weeks ago and put a dam dividing the wrp into two halfs. That way at least the east side will flood first. The rain helped as well. Looks like we're gonna make a go of it.
Good luck!Quote:
Originally Posted by marketdawg
hope everyone has a good'un. got out of the lease i had been in for four years, gonna see how happy i can be driving 30 minutes or less and hunting darbonne creek, 'Damona and beaver ponds.
A couple of woodies and an occasional gadwall or mallard will probably be just fine.Quote:
Originally Posted by Choudawg86
Our group limited on specks this weekend at our place. Fields are almost pumped up for youth weekend and opener. Lots of birds in the Jones/Bonita area.
Tons of birds are down. Mallards and greys by the hundreds and woodies everywhere. Can't hardly wait for Saturday!
My dad also said he's got birds in his Monroe spot on Richland.
That's great. Hope you have a great opener!Quote:
Originally Posted by marketdawg
well, lets get the party started . . .. . nice quick way to start the season.
Nice! I got after 'em Monday AM and limited out with greys and woodies in our timber hole. We shot a few out of the blind Sat and Sunday.
very good, looking forward to hearing how the opening is in the east for everyone. the couple I've talked to with blinds around Mer Rouge had a bunch of geese and only a few ducks, same for Lake Village Ark area. I would bet after this cold front that'll change early next week. good luck to all.
been checking with guys from Start to Mer Rouge to Lake Village Ark, seems all had pretty ok opening weekends but success dropped quickly. friend in Lake Village told me Friday that every duck in the area seems to have left. they are set up to hold ducks and if they don't have ducks, very few have them. there is a huge lack of wood ducks on the creeks around Lincoln, Jackson and Bienville as well. come on second split.
Dad's blind in Monroe did great on mostly teal Sat, Sunday and Monday of opener...then it really petered out. He hasn't even been going. We still have some birds in timber but about 1/10th or so of what we had for opener. Nothing in WRP fields yet.
Terrible, terrible, terrible in SE Ark right now. No ducks, no water. Don't see it getting a lot better in the foreseeable future. People are reporting how many ducks they see, not kill.
Are they including shovelers in that number? :DQuote:
Originally Posted by mentechsters
I hope so....I love shooting shovelers..ask Charlie;) We were iced up in Arkansas one year except for one little hole in a resovoir and EVERY duck in the county was trying to get into it. We were going to limit on greenheads and whatever else we wanted to choose from no problem. Right as we were getting close to a limit Charlie warned me not to shoot any shovels as they were bombing us in groups of 20 or more...of course i busted a double or triple(can't remember exactly) out of the next flock;) He was fit to be tied! I did it again on a similar hunt last season and we just both died laughing...it was only a single this past year though.
been trying to find some wood ducks for opening of second split Saturday. Was on Darbonne Creek in northwest Lincoln where our place is and not a single duck flew the creek yesterday morning. Went to the old Jackson Bienville wma to our lease to see what would come into a slough that I have that we've killed a couple ducks out of early in the first split. Had only a pair come in and nothing else flying. I hope something changes quick or this would be worse than the previous 3 years and I would have thought that not possible.
Spoonies have been non-existent as well! They are calling for big rains and a strong cold front next weekend. 3-4 inches of rain would help tremendously! No shortage of snow geese up there though!!!
Headed out tomorrow for my annual Christmas morning hunt...finally. Will report.
Chilly morning for it.Quote:
Originally Posted by marketdawg
Plenty cold. We were done by 7:30 or so though. Teal and greys. Great hunt!
Went back yesterday morning and hunted our wrp fields. Very few birds. Shot 2.
The freeze line will be north of us at some point soon. Will they stop or keep heading south?
wife unit got me and Brendan a green timber hunt in Stuttgart for Christmas. Scheduled it for jan5th which a was a few days on the backside of the hard freeze. well, looks like it extends into at least friday now and might have to pick another date. thought the hard freeze in ark might move birds here but looks like the temps are gonna be very close to the same thing here. I have a slough/beaver pond that ought to be prime for this weather, just gonna have to break the ice off of darby each time she makes a retrieve.
Hunted oxbow just off Red River yesterday evening. Shot four, two greys, one mallard and teal. Looked like a flight was getting started and worked more mallards than before. Monday morning ought to be epic if you have water.
Hunted Monday AM and there were very few birds. Shot four between two of us and hunted til 11 AM. Waited until yesterday afternoon to go back and caught the flight just right. Limited out quick. Ducks everywhere!
Ducks have officially left. hunted most of the day Monday and got one shoveler.
friend talked to two different folks up east of little rock, both had real good reports. this was from a couple days ago though. I have a hunt coming up Saturday up there, hope it works out well. would love for my son to see some greenheads pouring down into a hole in the timber.Quote:
Originally Posted by marketdawg
Hope y'all have a great hunt! There is nothing like greenheads in timber.
Well Chou...looks like the freeze monster might have gotten you again..you hear if there's gonna be any open water for y'alls hunt?
Attachment 14244
actually looks like Saturday might be ok, if the birds move back in. think its gonna be 9 degrees one morning prior to that.
had a fun hunt yesterday morning, had some mallards flying around looking but moved on to another area that we might be able to surprise them at later.
Quote:
Originally Posted by marketdawg
well, the freeze still had Stuttgart locked up, hunted Saturday morning and afternoon trying to make the best out of a bad situation. We'll be planning on going back at the beginning of the second split next year with the same guy. Got invited on a beaver pond hunt this morning near the ark line. Best hunt I've been on in a while. think we had 12 on the stringer by 8am. Mixed bag of Mallards and Woodies. Trying to finish strong.
Well, it seems its over as soon as it began. The 2017-18 season is over and I've loved every minute of it. Down sized a bit and just concentrated on chasing ducks on the creeks and beaver ponds around the area. Best part of the whole season is the fact i was blessed to be part of introducing a couple kids to duck hunting and both are without a doubt hooked for life. I will enjoy sleeping late for the next few weekends but then i'll be ready to get it going again.