We went to Arkansas this morning and had an awesome hunt. Seven of us had 42 ducks by 7:30 a.m. It doesn’t get much better than that. Half were teal and the rest mallards and gadwalls. There were tons of ducks flying. There was a light wind and they were really working.
It’s the most ducks since I’ve seen since opening weekend. Most hunters agree that it’s the best first split in the past 10 years because there have been loads of ducks. Some mornings it was tough, but you can always expect that. The folks that have water have done great. If you have water, you have ducks. There isn’t a lot of water in the area — the Ouachita and the Mississippi River don’t have much backwater and overflow isn’t flooded. But that will probably change later in the season as we get more rain.
The ducks and the duck hunters up here get a week off. Unless you are like me. I think I’ll go back to Arkansas a few days this week if it’s going to stay as good as it was today. The first split in the Louisiana East Zone ends today. The second split opens Dec. 13 and runs through January 25, 2015. The state’s West Zone closes Dec. 14 and the second split is Dec. 20-Jan. 18. In the Coastal Zone, the first split also closed today and reopens Dec. 20-Jan. 25 for the final split.
Make sure you’ve got all you gear in good shape for the long second split. If we can help you with something, come by the store and we’ll fix you up.