Count of ducks on rise from ’20
Mid-December marked completion of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s first 2021-22 season flyover duck survey for the Mississippi Alluvial Valley, the Arkansas River Valley and southwest Arkansas.
Results of the aerial canvas estimate 566,456 total ducks, 326,064 being mallards, in the Delta. There are 13,434 total ducks in the Arkansas River Valley of which 6,719 are mallards, and 54,031 total ducks in southwest Arkansas, 10,109 being mallards.
“The Delta mallard population was roughly half the 2009-2021 long-term December average of 601,000 and the second-lowest December estimate since surveys began in 2009,” according to the survey report. “Even so, this December’s mallard estimate is almost 30 percent greater than the record low December mallard count last year.”
AGFC Chief Waterfowl Biologist Luke Naylor took time from a busy, frigid Monday morning installing radio transmitters on trumpeter swans to share his views of the latest data.
“With the dry conditions we’ve been experiencing, the mallard count is slightly higher than we had expected,” he said. “There is still not a whole lot of water on the overall landscape. Of course, places where water has been artificially pumped up have been supporting a fair number of ducks but it’s been pretty much limited to those areas.”
He mentioned water levels in and around the Bayou Meto wildlife management area.
“It’s a little comforting that we’re starting to see more water on the landscape. At this stage, we’re a lot better set than we were a week ago. As of right now, the Lower Vallier water control gauge shows 177.93 mean sea level. That’s still a foot away from
what we’re managing for this season. Before this latest rain it showed 154 so it’s jumped four feet and is still rising. The Salt Ditch gauge at Highway 79 bridge reads 178,” Naylor said.
“We don’t know what is going to happen exactly. Levels in the WMA near Stuttgart are still climbing. There will start to be a few places in Bayou Meto to hunt. It has folks out looking for those spots. The question is will rain runoff keep cranking in or not. It varies so much as to how it soaks in or how much runs off. This last event contained some pretty good downpours so there was significant run off that’s starting to fill the pool. The good news is at this point any little rain in the area in the next week ought to accumulate pretty well,” he said.
“A couple inches in the watershed will do a lot of good. With another rain or two things could turn out all right,” he said.
A new opportunity being offered to Arkansas hunters is the Arkansas Waterfowl Rice Incentive Conservation Enhancement Program.
“WRICE was developed by AGFC biologists to help keep waste rice available for ducks, geese and other migrating birds when they pass through each winter,” according to the AGFC website. “Fall tillage is becoming increasingly popular with Arkansas rice growers, but the practice isn’t beneficial for the numerous migrating birds looking to find fuel they need. This tilling buries waste rice that would have been available to migrating waterfowl. Flooded rice fields are estimated to provide 11 percent of all food energy in the Mississippi Delta for ducks like mallards and pintails, and that percentage has dwindled with advances in agriculture. In 2020-21 the program was expanded to allow weekend permitted public waterfowl hunting opportunities on participating rice fields.”
Naylor said the public loves this new program.
“It’s proved very popular with over 250 applicants signing up each week,” he said.
For a $5 fee, licensed hunters can go online each week and apply for an opportunity to weekend hunt up to 40 flooded rice fields in the program. Successful registrants are selected by drawing notified by email early Friday mornings.
Naylor explained how the permit hunt is only in its second year and already offers 4,000 acres in the program. It puts more food resources on the ground for migrating waterfowl and gives public ground hunters a change of pace through the opportunity to enjoy harvesting ducks in artificially flooded private fields.
“We’re constantly thinking of ways to make it better for the hunting public,” Naylor said. “Obviously, every year is different. We struggled to get enough water pumped in before the season opened this year. We upgraded the blinds with better camouflage before the beginning of this season. Last year, you couldn’t look at the aerial map of participating fields until after you’d been selected for the permit. Now applicants can study the maps before ever signing up to better understand what they’re getting. If it has a green dotted line it means you can use ATV’s to allow more access and carry gear into the field.”
“Unlike public ground hunts, motion decoys are allowed and instead of morning only hunting, this private land is available all day from half hour before sunrise until sunset, weekends only,” Naylor said. “We find it really important to let it rest.”
He explained how, in a round-about way, the program is showing other private land owners the benefits of giving ducks a break from hunting pressure five days a week and how it helps hold more ducks in the area.
“We conduct hunter email surveys one day after the weekend to get feedback about the experience. Hunters are generally well satisfied,” he said. “We find a lot of people going on their first duck hunt with the WRICE program.”