Another duck season is over

L ast Sunday was the termination of the 20-21 duck season and for many hunters, it was symbolic of the awful year 2020. We got it over and managed to live through it.

2022 has got to be better!

The weather ranged from clear and cold, that is perfect, to warm and rainy.

The ducks have been hunted from September in Canada up to the present in the south. These birds are experienced, very wary, and know all the hunter’s tricks by now. These are truly smart birds and to make matters worse, Arkansas has only about 45 percent of the normal number of mallards.

A few places like the lower White River lakes and a few well managed private clubs enjoyed a very good year.

The majority of hunters suffered through poor to fair hunting. The last day of hunting will be Saturday for the Youth Hunt for kids under 16 years old and for the Active Duty Military and Veterans Hunt. The date for these hunts is Feb.6, 2021.

Read the AGFC Waterfowl Guidebook.

If a hunter wants to hunt more waterfowl, the Light Goose Conservation Order starts on Feb.1, and continues until April 25, 2021.

This hunting is like the old market hunting days. No limits, unplugged guns, shooting 30 minutes before sunrise and 30 minutes after sunset, and electronic calls are legal. A free snow goose registration permit is required.

Call 800-364-4263 Snow goose hunting is fun but it is labor intensive requiring massive numbers of decoys put out and picked up. The easiest way is booking with a guide service. Papa Duck recommends First Flight Out_tters a few miles past Wynne. Mark Spiller has all the equipment and is an experienced guide. Our hunts have been and fun and productive. Give Mark a call for reservations at 870-3181952. Take plenty of ammo!

Fishing news

Crappie _shermen are a hardy breed and can take anything a duck hunter can from the weather. The spider rigs at Horseshoe are catching some nice _sh fairly deep. The canals around the lake are producing small to medium crappie in the canals that are not too muddy but no reports from the pier _shermen. Midway reports very slow _shing except for some cat_sh trot liners.

Tilden Rodgers and Marion Rec _shermen are catch trout on the pretty days but no one has reported a prize tag.

The in-between times This is the time between hunting and _shing and not a bad time to enjoy a nice _re and TV in the den. Now is the time to clean up the hunting gear and put it away till next fall. The archery hunters still have 2 months of hunting left and the snow goose hunters even longer before they hang up the gear for the year. For the rest of us it is a good time to start getting the _shing equipment ready. Papa Duck is taking the duck blind off the _shing boat so we will be ready for those _rst warm sunny days when you just know the _sh “are really bitin’” on the water.

This is a good time to make some family time and tell some good tales. Start the log book that needs to be started or _lled. Check the freezer and bring those trophies to Lakeside Taxidermy for quality work at reasonable prizes and fast service.

On another note, Papa Duck had to replace his cell phone and lost all the pictures and numbers.

Please send your number and pictures to me. It is a hard task replacing all those contacts.

Papa Duck, Lakeside Taxidermy 901-482-3430 jhcriner@hotmail.com

DeWayne and Gates Rose, Sammy, Carson and Cayson Koons, and Dakota Laxson had some success hunting the Coca-Cola Wood near Morton to end the 2021-22 Arkansas duck season in style.

Photos courtesy of John Criner

Dr. Keith Criner Papa Duck had some luck on the last day of duck season. The father-son duo even got a spec goose.

David Bailey and Matt Haustein hunting near Jonesboro with a very picturesque sunrise as a backdrop.

Tobey Duncan and John Stuckey at the 513 Oak Donnick Hunting Club hunting on the floodway.

John Criner

Outdoors Columnist