Christmas Eve Duck Report for Northeast Arkansas

Christmas Eve Duck Report for Northeast Arkansas

Merry Christmas everybody! It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve done a duck report and I know I will be too busy hunting to do one next week, so here we are. To be honest, the weather lately feels more like golf weather than duck hunting weather. Unfortunately, that is the major theme of this report… warm weather, scattered ducks.

The past 2 weeks have been spotty at White Oaks and that seems to be a consistent report across the state. With a few noted exceptions, there doesn’t seem, to be a huge number of ducks. White Oaks is holding a few birds, but not very many, particularly for late December. The birds we do have act like they have been sitting there all season. They are sitting in the shallow flood water the river brought to the farm when the White River reached 28.79 last week. The hunting has been decent and not particularly consistent. We will have a group or 2 have a solid morning, then a couple of groups struggle to kill a handful. That being said, last Sunday was one of the best hunts I’ve ever had at White Oaks. We lit 7 or 8 groups of 15-50 birds and had well over 500 working the treetops at one point. It was fun just to watch. We never were able to light the big bunch be we still had a world class hunt. But, as has been the way with the last 2 weeks, that very next day, that same hole killed 6 mallards and very few birds were seen. I can’t figure those little rascals out!?!?

Across the state, I am hearing similar reports. There has been a ton of water and very, very mild weather. I keep getting band reports from White Oaks banded ducks that are being killed this week up in the Dakotas and the upper Midwest. One guy sent me pictures from their hunt in the Dakotas and they were not even wearing jackets! I am getting consistent reports of large populations of birds in the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Michigan Nebraska, etc. With temperatures in these areas reaching highs in the 40s and sometimes 50s every day, I do not expect a new push of birds anytime soon.

Of course, there have been notable exceptions. I know the Stuttgart area has heavy concentrations of mallards in certain areas. I know of several large clubs that have been crushing the birds since the second split opened. Bayou Meto reports have not been near as consistent or strong, but at least there are some birds in the area.

The Black River had also been holding birds. Last week, I know several groups had world class hunts in Rainey Brake and Dave Donaldson. But, as word got out of the good hunting, the crowds showed up en masse. By mid week last week Rainey Brake was a total circus and the ducks were not working as good.

The reports I am hearing from southern Missouri are not particularly heartening. I believe the ducks are much further north. I think there are pockets around the state that have birds…or will have birds for a few days before varying river levels or hunting pressure causes them to make a move. So, at White Oaks, we just keep going hunting and hoping the duck gods shine down upon us.

Saturday and Sunday provided me with great hunts at White Oaks and I have a great clip of Saturday’s hunt on my Instagram account.

Also of note, I have set up a PayPal pool funding account. I am trying to help raise money for the bird banding program at the University of Arkansas at Monticello. This is the group that is banding duck all over Arkansas in February. They banded birds at White Oaks last February and I have been getting band reports from all over the country--pretty cool stuff. If you love the thought of significantly increasing your odds for killing a banded duck, give a few dollars. With the money raised, we will be able to help significantly expand and increase the number of bands Dr. Osborne will be able to band this February. Any amount helps, so please click on the link below if you feel like helping us add bands to our flyway.

As always, I hope y’all find the wind at your back, the sun in their eyes and sky full of mallards. Go get ‘em boys.