State probably still tops for mallards

When the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service releases its annual waterfowl harvest report, Arkansas will probably lead the nation in the number of mallards killed.

We always do, but how? All of my sources report that this is one of their worst duck seasons since the point system era.

For hunters who have never known anything but 60-day seasons and six-duck, four-mallard limits, the point system represented a low point in waterfowl numbers.

Technically, hunters were allowed to shoot 100 points worth of ducks per day, but you could exceed points depending on the order of harvest. For example, a mallard drake was worth 25 points, and a mallard hen was worth 75 points. Scaups, teal and gadwalls were worth 10 points each. Wood ducks, as I recall, were 75 points for a drake and 95 points for a hen. Canvasbacks, redheads and black ducks were worth 100 points.

If you killed three mallard drakes and two gadwalls, your point total was 95. You could kill one more either-sex duck of any species to finish your 100-point total. It was an honor system that hunters customarily violated.

For example, if you shot the mallard hen first, you could only shoot one mallard drake for a total of 100 points. Hunters usually continued shooting, with all members of a party understanding that if questioned, they were to say that the hens were the last birds shot. That was illegal, but it was indisputable unless a game warden witnessed the violation, or, as sometimes happened, a youngster inadvertently told the truth to a game warden.

The point system reflected a long decline in duck population numbers that continued until the mid 1990s, when burgeoning duck numbers ushered in an era of unprecedented duck hunting popularity.

Duck numbers are still very high, with no evidence of a pending decline, but Arkansas hunters report very poor hunting this season.

Throughout the season I’ve gotten reports of random great hunts that led people to believe that the hunting was about to get hot. Great followup hunts did not occur.

One of the most avid hunters I know owns great places in Monroe and White counties. He has spent a vast amount of money over three decades creating superb habitat that offers everything a duck could want, including food and brushy refuge. He alternated between them throughout the season hoping to catch a wave that did not materialize.

He said he killed six ducks on only one occasion this year, none of which were mallards. His biggest take outside of that hunt was three ducks. Half of his hunts saw each hunter in a party get just one duck.

“I have only picked up one duck during the third segment, a gadwall,” he wrote in a text.

Two of his closest hunting friends said that they’ve been hunting in Arkansas all their lives, and they’ve never seen anything like this season.

Hunting camps adjacent to the White River National Wildlife Refuge are deserted, my correspondent wrote, and one longtime enthusiast has not hunted ducks for two consecutive seasons because the quality of hunting is not worth the effort.

Folks complain during the bad times, but they often keep quiet when hunting is good. Some have enjoyed consistent success in Bayou Meto this year, but they spend a lot of time and effort getting to remote areas that are inhospitable to less committed hunters.

That reinforces my point. When great numbers of ducks are in the area, it does not require that level of dedicated effort to find birds. What has changed? There are many factors, including changes in rice farming and rice harvesting techniques that leave scant little grain on the ground for ducks to eat in the winter.

When I came on board as the outdoors editor for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette in 2005, I was briefed on this oncoming train wreck by Jimmy Nosler of Holly Grove, Bob Rogers of Hazen and the late Gary Robinson, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s wildlife officer for Monroe County at that time.

Their predictions appear to have come to fruition, but yet Arkansas will probably lead the country in mallard harvest.

Somebody is killing ducks somewhere.