"We're Adapting "
June 2007

The past few weeks we’ve been hard at work in a couple of our duck holes. One of the areas is a swamp full of Tupelo trees with about 80 acres of marsh on the west side of the woods. For years we’ve hunted the Tupelos and even filmed a couple of Waterfowler TV shows there, but until the last three years or so, we seldom hunted the marsh area. The birds just didn’t use it as much as they did the timber.

With increased numbers of birds using the marsh the past few years, we had to make some changes. Even with the woods line on the east side and several trees extending into the marsh/moist soil area … it’s still a tough hide. To solve the problem we’ve been hauling panels in by boat and assembling them to make a blind. It’s tough, hot work and there’s plenty of bugs and quite a few snakes, but the outcome should be well worth it.

The other area we’ve been working on surrounds an island that’s been almost inaccessible in dry years, yet the marsh/moist soil area is holding more and more ducks every year. In fact, we actually call the island, Duck Island. The island itself has a sizable Pin Oak flat on it, but between the two primary runs of Cypress trees, is the marsh type of area with short trees scattered all though it. We’ve just finished building a 300-foot walk through a small swamp, to get to a new boat dock. Since it’s so hard to get a boat to this level of beaver dams, which is what controls the water level, we built a boatlift or float of sorts. This way we don’t have to worry about the boat and motor being underwater when we arrive with our hunters after a heavy rain and the walk will allow us to get clients to the boat dock without too much of a struggle.
         
Over the years Arkansas has built quite a reputation for timber hunting, but for the past ten years or so, good timber hunting has been getting harder and harder to find. From what we have seen, the ducks seem to be moving away from traditional Pin Oak timber stands and are using weed beds and marshes more.

We consider ourselves lucky to have as many of these locations as we do and even luckier that most of our locations have tree cover in the moist soil areas. Thus, birds still flutter in from above the treetops … like they do on the old Pin Oak timber hunts. We’re working to make these areas more accessible, but please don’t take what I’ve said wrong; I’m not indicating hunting Pin Oaks is a thing of the past. My staff and I all love to hunt Pin Oaks and do every chance we get but, what I am saying is … Ducks are changing their feeding habits and as an outfitter or hunter, we need to recognize this and work to keep up with what the ducks doing.

I feel dietary issues are related to this change, just like dietary needs are one of the reasons ducks migrate. As the annual life cycle of a duck changes, so do their needs. When they make it to the wintering grounds, they need food to build up the calories used in their migration flight. As their life cycle continues, the hen starts getting ready to lay eggs and their life cycle/dietary needs change again. From what I understand, wild grasses available in moist soil/marsh type impoundments; provide a lot of nutritional value they don’t find just everywhere.

For that matter, Ducks Unlimited has been working with state and federal agencies, building moist soil units in different parts or the Mississippi Flyway (and I would venture to guess other flyways as well) for several years. These moist soil units provide ducks with smartweed, wild grasses and American Lotus (duck acorns) as well as numerous other plants. As the stalks of plants deteriorate, they provide other food needs for a wide variety of duck species. Our scouting reports continue to indicate more and more ducks are using our moist soil areas every year.

Again, don’t take what I am saying wrong, there will always be timber hunting available in Arkansas and a few other lucky locations, but as ducks continue to get a hard education, when they flutter down through the Pin Oaks, doesn’t it make sense they’re becoming more and more accustomed to getting the nutrients they need in a safer place? After all, I understand smartweed seed provides many of the same nutrients found in a Pin Oak acorn. So where would you feed, where it’s safer or where there’s a darn good chance someone is standing behind a towering Pin Oak waiting for you to flutter down?

As I mentioned previously, we’re lucky to have several timber holes with naturally occurring moist soil beds in them. Sure, we help them along by planting Golden Millet or a pound or so of American Lotus seeds every now and then, but there’s more work to be done and … “We’re Adapting” … to the changes we’ve seen the ducks making the past few years. It might be time well spent to see if there are moist soil areas where you hunt.

Charles “HammerTime” Snapp

www.arkansaswaterfowl.com

snapp1@sbcglobal.net

Golden millet was developed by Five-Oaks Investments www.5-oaks.com
American Lotus seeds are available by the pound from www.easywildflowers.com