re: Stuttgart guided hunt

You definately have to work much harder than you did 10 years ago. We have gone back to basics as far as spread setups, with a few full bodies and a jerk string. I don't trust electronics when birds are scarce, groups of 3 swinging 6 times and heading out, leaving me second guessing if the mojo flared them.

Also take into consideration the river being at 9 ft. this year, when it is usually hunting at 26. I thought it would be good for farm hunting, since the timber wouldn't hold ducks, but my theory has not held up for my farm.

As stated by 318 about the ice. That is another monster that just puts a damper on things. I have resorted to placing full bodies directly on the ice, rather than busting it up and having it re-freeze.

I hate to even open this can of worms but we really need some more of the 30/3 or 45/4 days to weed out a lot of the pressure. Some of the people hunting these days will shoot at anything 80 yards out and cannot truly work birds and make them act right. It seems to get worse every year and while I don't begrudge the guy using mojo decoys since they are legal it sure has made it harder on the rest of us. At some point these wet years up north will cease and times will get hard again.

I am all for this one, I would be happy with a 4 per person limit. However I like the 60 day season, I am a busy SOB and sometimes I wont be able to make a hunt for 2-3 weeks.

Dog I agree with you on both parts. The general pressure of the area is outrageous, along with the guy on the next farm over, or through the timber, taking a swing shot at a single when there are 30 birds behind it. I do not feel "entitled" to those birds, but it hurts the general area since those ducks are going to haul arse and more than likely not drop in the next hole they see 50 yards away.

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Dog I agree with you on both parts. The general pressure of the area is outrageous, along with the guy on the next farm over, or through the timber, taking a swing shot at a single when there are 30 birds behind it. I do not feel "entitled" to those birds, but it hurts the general area since those ducks are going to haul arse and more than likely not drop in the next hole they see 50 yards away.

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Duck hunting has become big business. Look at what has happened in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraksa, etc. People began manipulating their lands to entice waterfowl to stay and in many times not migrate further south. Missouri now winters a ton of mallards and it takes extreme weather to move many of them. We still kill mallards in TX/LA/AR/MS, but I don't think any honest observer can tell you they see near the same numbers. It's frustrating that these changes along with no till farming have made our hunting worse but at the same time it's hard to blame the people further north from taking advantage of the situation. You can't travel more than 1/4 mile in places with no blinds in the rice fields. This translates into ducks using refuges much more heavily and seeking safety. There are probably a lot more ducks that are wintering in the southern states than many realize but pressure has driven them to feed at night and exhibit other kinds of behavior to escape the relentless pounding.

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guys I get pics from stuttgart and they still smoke them. Problem is the stupid refuges everywhere in missouri. They have food on the refuges. The birds have no reason to leave. They have food and rest. I don't mind a refuge but they shouldn't have food there.

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There is no doubt the top clubs still kill plenty of ducks, and probably mallards also. We've had some good hunts this year for mallards as well as others. Most of those clubs probably offer rest areas to keep birds in the area and have methods to manage the pressure. For the average rice field hunter surrounded by nothing but fellow pit blinds the hunting probably has suffered greatly with all the pounding.

Big clubs like Ducks&Dogs, Byers, etc. are always going to slay the birds, due to full time management, and endless cashflow. It is hard for private land owners like my grandpa to fork out the money (2k +/-) for diesel and poly to flood the fields with no guarantee. Sorry I am on a rant this morning, I am actually headed up there tomorrow and just falling into the trend of not being excited at all.

ETA: Last hunt log:

Thanksgiving weekend
Friday Afternoon - 2
Saturday Morning - 3
Saturday Afternoon - Did not see a bird in the sky from 2:30 to 5.

I am not big on afternoon hunts, I usually just go out and shoot nutria rats that are collapsing my levee, but the low numbers in the morning make it hard to stay home and call it a day.

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I've heard bad things about these guys last two years. Ask ALOT of questions and be prepared with a back up drinking/hunting plan.

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Awesome. I'm still somewhat confused as to why we are going on this trip, we have ducks, we have timber, we have camps. I guess it is the allure of going hunt ducks in timber in Arkansas. Oh well, I always have a backup drinking plan and if hunting is that bad we will just travel back to aforementioned location.

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My buddy booked it. I think it's actually in Jonesboro. Duxmen is the name of the outfit I believe.




I've heard bad things about these guys last two years. Ask ALOT of questions and be prepared with a back up drinking/hunting plan.

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Just wanted to bump this to give an update.


These guys doubled booked our hunt with another group. Just told us on Monday. Thank goodness we have a backup plan.

I'm not one to bash, but the guy who booked the trip called just to confirm everything and that's when he was informed of the double booking. We seem to think they were not going to tell us and just try to figure something out when we all got there.

It's ok though, just talked to my buddy in Kansas and he said it is loaded with geese and ducks that direction.