Lauren Brady for SPLIT REED
We’ve seen the good ole days of duck hunting and they’re behind us,” Rusty Creasey told me as we discussed the questioning decline of duck hunting in the state of Arkansas. Since before the early ’60s, the Natural State has been known as the ‘duck capital of the world’, and while many are arguing that is not the case anymore, we’re here to talk about it.
Rusty Creasey, manager of the one and only Coca Cola Woods, has seen the ins and outs of GOOD duck hunting. He grew up hunting under the shadow of his uncle in the famous Coca Cola Woods and all throughout Bayou DeView. In 2004, he became the manager of the Woods and began turning them into THE ideal duck habitat. “When I first started managing, we decided that we could create rest areas, and plant food plots all down the boat runs,” Creasey said he’s definitely seen a change in the flyway in the past couple of years. He even says the idea of the flyway shifting west is a possibility. “You know I hate to quote numbers because it’s all in the beauty of the beholder, but our harvest numbers have declined for sure. Back in those days, you use to work big groups of ducks – 50 to 100, seeing 20 to 30 was regular. This season, seeing a group of 6 to 12, you’ve done something.” Creasey said he prides himself with not over calling, setting up the right way with the wind, letting the ducks get in there in the afternoons. He tries to do right when it comes to duck hunting.
The hot topic for blinds this season has been the decline of duck hunting in Arkansas. From talks about overpressure, limits on out of staters, and flyways shifting, the duck hunting has definitely changed. Numerous private landowners throughout the Natural State have created ideal duck habitats giving the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission a run for their money on National Wildlife Refuges and Wildlife Management Areas. Creasey said, “When I first started managing Coca Cola, we decided that we would create rest areas and food plots to be able to compete with the government land. I remember around Bald Knob, if you farmed for the government, you left your profit in there. That isn’t much of the case anymore.” Creasey then compared a duck to that of the American people, “Why would a duck want to work for coverage or food and a place to rest when the government is handing it out?”
Then effective 2019-2020 season, the AGFC decided out-of-state hunters were allowed on WMAs only half the days this season instead of the full sixty days in hopes of limiting crowding. However, many say this put out-of-staters on WMAs all on the same days creating even more crowding. Plus, some argue that in-staters are just as guilty for the overcrowding in those areas.
Spencer Halford, the owner of Rolling Thunder Game Calls, witnessed the overload of ducks in Arkansas from hunting areas like Dave Donaldson Black River WMA, Cache River National Wildlife Refuge and White River bottoms. Halford spoke on the issue of ideal duck habitats stating, “A duck needs the same things we do – food, water, a place to get down, get cover.” Halford believes that 20 years ago, hunters wanted a cabin on the river whereas now hunters are wanting their own place to develop and create that habitat. Halford believes Arkansas has been and still very much is the ‘duck capital of the world’ because of many different factors. It is the middle of two flyways; it has potential land available for ducks.
Spencer Halford talked about his love for duck hunting in the Arkansas timber, “There is nowhere else in the world that has flooded green timber. There’s nothing in the waterfowl world that I have seen that’s as beautiful as greenheads coming over the top of the trees – leaf munchers. That’s what we like to call them. Mallards that fly close over the top of the trees, then they look even prettier when they come down. Big trees, skinny water, that’s what makes Arkansas the ‘duck capital of the world’.
When discussing out-of-staters causing more trouble in Arkansas, Halford said, “My advice to anyone visiting Arkansas is to act as you would at someone’s house after church on Sundays for lunch. You shake hands, you say ‘yes sir’ and ‘no ma’am’. You be respectful to the people and to the land.” Spencer Halford also brought to light positive social media. “It is so much more powerful than any of us realize. People are so satirical and so quick to belittle someone else.” Rusty Creasey also spoke on out-of-staters, “It’s not just about duck hunting. It goes back to morals and ethics. It’s the world in general. Look around, no one takes their hat off anymore, or gives a firm handshake, no one holds the door open for a woman. They set up 50 yards from someone else. They just don’t know. They weren’t raised like that. Those core values are lost not only in duck hunting but in the world.”
Jed Lamb, Co-Owner of Southern Prairie Outfitters, has hunted all over the country chasing ducks and seen the decline of duck hunting in the natural state. Jed agrees that the migration of ducks in Arkansas has for sure decreased, especially when comparing it to twenty years ago, even ten years ago. Growing up, Lamb mostly hunted on the White River, that was his home turf. He said he ‘got the bug’ right after high school and realized that being in a factory during those 60 days was not what he wanted to do. After guiding for many years, Southern Prairie Outfitters took off. Lamb travels to Canada to hunt ducks then coming back down to Arkansas, he sees the difference in the numbers of birds. Lamb said 20 years ago, you would find four or five rafts of ducks in the woods, and ask ‘which place are we going to hunt in the morning?’ And now it’s turned into ‘well where are we going to go in the morning?’ When it comes to private landowners improving their habitats, Lamb said “I’m all for people farming for ducks, lots of bigger clubs hold ducks, and people get so upset about it. But that area wouldn’t have ducks if it wasn’t for that club not holding them. I mean, so what? Who cares?” When discussing overcrowding, Lamb brought up the idea that 30 years ago, hunters could go in the woods whatever time they wanted. But now, hunters cannot leave the ramp until 4 a.m. creating so much crowding at the ramp at one time. But at the end of the day, Jed agreed that Arkansas has to have cold weather. “It has to get cold up north. It has to get cold down here and push those birds down. It’s the weather.”
After it’s all said and done, Jed Lamb said it, “Everyone wants to point fingers. Everyone wants to put the blame on someone else. The decline of ducks, the overcrowding, the traffic of scouters. Everyone wants to put the blame on the group that set up 50 yards from them. Or on the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. But in reality, we are the ones to blame. Everyone has to take responsibility and do better. Or there won’t ever be any better.”
