Through the course of this column I’m going to focus on the ins and outs of leasing duck hunting ground in Arkansas, which probably applies in certain other areas as well. I don’t know all the answers, but this information should give those thinking about a lease, something to think about.

This time of year Arkansas leases are a hot topic in sporting good stores, chat rooms and coffee shops throughout a multi-state area. To put things in perspective, in our small section of northeast Arkansas, I know of people who are involved with seasonal leases from many different states. Some of them make regular eight and ten hours drives, just to hunt the famous Arkansas rice fields. Or, in some cases … the not so famous ones!

Now that duck season is over the emails will start piling in from people wanting to lease ground. The questions are usually similar; “If you don’t have anything to lease, can you tell me who does?”  I really like it when someone asks; “Do you know of anything close to where you hunt?”, while I don’t mind the emails, this lead in brings me to my starting point.

There are a lot of rice fields in Arkansas and you can rest assured, the farmers want those fields to produce as many bushels of rice per acre, as the ground can. More rice grown in the field, normally means more grain that’s knocked on the ground during harvest. Spillage is the duck food and more duck food means more ducks … WRONG! Just because you lease a rice field in Arkansas, it does not mean that you will have a good season, lots of spillage or not. For example, in one area we have hunted for many years, we control 3,500 or so acres. We don’t flood all the ground, but we do have seven pits in the area. We also flood several rest fields, with no pits. At one time we had nine pits, but we pulled two of them, near the center of all the hunting … because the ducks did not use those two fields on a regular basis.

I can’t tell you what the difference is between locations, but there is a difference. One pit we pulled was ¾ of a mile west of one of the best scoring pits we control, yet the ducks just did not like that particular field. The other pit we pulled was no more than ¾ of a mile south of the pit that produces so well and about the same distance north of another great producer. We pulled it out of the field, smack in the middle of two excellent producers … because the ducks would not use that field. I can’t tell you why it’s that way, but it is. I wish I knew why the ducks make the decisions they do, but I don’t and no one else does. Based on what I don’t know or understand, I can tell you one thing for sure; “Leasing ground for ducks, without any previous knowledge of a particular field, or pit, is somewhat of a gamble, at best”

Having made that statement, these questions might provide some insight for those who are interested in pursuing a seasonal lease:

When should I look at a field? Looking at a field is not going to help you, unless it is when the season is open. If you look at a prospective field after season, do not expect to see the same thing during season and ask yourself why the farmer is still holding water on the field. Most farmers want to get the water off their fields ASAP, to prep it for spring planting and it needs to dry up to plant. Holding water on a field in February and March is good for the ducks and normally helps get ducks in a field. Most farmers have drained their fields, which pushes ducks to fields that normally don’t hold ducks on a regular basis and that’s not what you want.

How important is location? Location, location, location are the three key words when considering any piece of real estate. A duck lease is a real estate deal between you and the landowner … with a migrating bird controlling the outcome. With that in mind, location is of the utmost importance. Even then, think about the story I mentioned previously, related to our own locations that didn’t produce, yet were right in the middle of other excellent locations.

How many years has this field been flooded for ducks? No matter where it is, or what it’s close to, if a field has not been flooded for several years, it has no track record. Consider that high risk, but high risk can bring an exceptional value … if the ducks happen to like it.

Who leased the field last year and why are they not leasing the field again? This question needs to be asked. If the field is good, why would the people who previously leased it, not be leasing it again. I have one field leased for nine or ten years to the same group. Some years they take more ducks than others, but they are realistic in what they expect. Someday their plans will change, with the addition of more kids and members of their group moving, all of which are good reasons for letting a field go. Whatever the case many be about a field, ask the question. If possible, why not get the name and number of the people who leased it before and give them a call?

Does the pit go underwater in a flood? This is an important question and can be hard to answer. I had two pits go under this past season, which never had. It was from an eight-inch rain. The field drains could not shed the water fast enough. Had you been planning on hunting, you would have lost two days. On the other hand, if a pit is in the main flood area of a river and it’s a year like this past one, you could have a pit underwater for weeks at a time.

Is water guaranteed to be on the field and if so, who pays for fuel cost? Since diesel prices skyrocketed a few years ago, a fuel surcharge is common. In fact, I would rather gamble on the amount of fuel used to pump a field, than have it included. At least in a wet year, you don’t use as much and the field ends up costing less, but ask. In a large field, during a dry year, it’s possible to use a thousand gallons, or more, of fuel. Even figuring off road diesel, which cost less, that’s a big chunk of money and no water, no ducks!

The questions can go on and on. There are many things to consider when looking for a lease, but most importantly: “Don’t fool yourself!” If you think your going to lease a field and kill limits everyday, or even close, you’re probably wasting your time and not being fair to the landowner. I certainly don’t see anything wrong with leasing ground. The ground we hunt is leased. So what’s the big deal, you ask?

To over simplify things, if I could provide my clients with the level of success they expect and only lease one field for each group to use, I would do that, but it doesn’t work that way. Duck leases range in price from to cheap, to be worth anything, to so expensive you could buy a house for a one-season lease. Nevertheless, any given field can beat another one, any day of season. Consistent bird numbers is what makes for a really good field and consistency normally comes at a price (location, location, location). Either you are going to lease a field with a proven track record, or your going to go try and lease multiple lower priced fields and jump from location to location, when they’re hot … if they ever get hot. Whichever avenue you consider, the next time you think; I want my own duck lease … back up, rethink the questions above and ask yourself, is this the right location for consistency, or I’m I … Buying A Pig In A Poke?

Charles “HammerTime” Snapp
snapp1@sbcglobal.net

www.arkansaswaterfowl.com

Let’s say you have a hunting trip booked and you get a last minute call telling you to change your plans, due to weather conditions. While weather can play havoc on almost any type of hunt, it can shut you out on a duck hunt. In fact, this just happened with our service and it wasn’t the first time we’ve run in to the problem.

At best it would be an understatement to say; weather is un-predictable. I’m sure numerous meteorologists would disagree with that statement, but I feel certain a lot of people, especially the outdoors crowd, would agree me. It seems like no matter how hard the weather teams try, they miss on a lot of their extended forecast. With access to the Internet we all have the ability to monitor local weather stations, The Weather Channel and NOAA, but who’s forecast do you believe and for how long of a period do you want to trust it?

This past week our local TV station was calling for single digits at night and low twenties for the daily highs. The Weather Channel (TWC), for the first part of the week, was calling for upper teens, with highs below freezing. That’s quite a difference in temperatures, for the same area, but either prediction would produce cold enough weather to freeze up a shallow rice field and that’s the point I want to focus on. For the past two weeks, we’ve cancelled all our hunts.

Yes, we do have deeper water in our flooded timber and yes; we’ve even been holding reasonably good numbers of ducks in two of the deeper locations. Nevertheless, you have to be able to hunt them. Holding the birds doesn’t do our hunters any good, if they can’t get to the location where the birds are.

Our recent problems hit us from two different areas, both the results of extremely low, possibly record-breaking temperatures. As mentioned, most flooded rice fields are shallow. Water depth will range from a couple of inches deep, to no more than a foot of water at the deepest point in most rice fields. While mid to lower twenties can create short-term problems with ice in the shallow fields. Add in a couple of days with lows in the teens and daytime highs only reaching the mid twenties and you can expect the fields to be frozen solid. I’m talking solid, as in no water … all ice! Those same temperatures will ice up the edges of the deeper water in our flooded timber. So much so that you cannot break through the ice with our boats, making the open water inaccessible.

We’ve tried running boats up on the ice and breaking out a path to the deeper water. We’ve even tried using a sledgehammer, to break open a boat run, hoping for access to open water, but in our situation … it just doesn’t work. As far as the shallow rice fields go, we’ve stretched out miles and miles of rolled, flexible plastic pipe, called Poly-Pipe. With the quarter to half-mile runs of Poly-Pipe in place, from our wellheads to the area near our buried pits, we’ve fired up the diesel engines. The water coming out of the ground will usually be around 56 degrees Fahrenheit. While 56 degrees doesn’t sound very warm, it will keep a big hole thawed in extreme icing conditions. In fact, depending on what speed you are pumping and the diameter of the well, it’s not uncommon to be able to keep open an acre or two around the pit, but does it work? The most honest answer would be, seldom. In fact, I remember one year, 12 to 15 years ago, when it worked and it worked well, but that was the exception. So what did we do? We called our clients that were scheduled to come in and talked them in to moving their hunts, rolling over their deposits to reserve hunt times for the next year, or canceling all together.

Some had plane tickets booked and some had already purchased their license. In at least one case the state allowed a group to use new dates on their trip license, but those with plane tickets were forced to pay a penalty. Penalty or not, I think I’d rather pay the airlines an extra hundred bucks and use my ticket later, in lieu of flying in to a frozen tundra, where the odds of having a quality hunt were stacked against me.

Over the years we’ve tied to make it our policy to offer clients an option to cancel hunts, if weather conditions here were that extreme. While such a last minute phone call shocks some of them, most do listen when we call. There’s been a few times when a client’s comments stuck in my mind, like the time a group of un-guided hunters had booked with us for their first time. The weather had slipped in on us. It was no more than a day or two before the group was scheduled to arrive and I called them. I told them what it looked like and how hard the freeze was going to be and recommended they push their hunt back to another available opening. After a brief discussion, the guy heading up the group said; “I’ll call the others and get back with you.” Later that afternoon he called back and asked Jackie (my wife/boss) why we were canceling their group. She explained the situation again and told them we would be more than willing to take their money, but honesty was a hard policy to beat. They moved their hunt dates and have been regular clients for six to eight years now.

As corny as it might seem, the Golden Rule is hard to beat. As an outfitter, if we cancel hunts our lease prices don’t go down, the utility companies don’t give us a discount and even worse, those are days that cannot be sold at a later date. In fact, when you think about how short a duck season is, then factor in the cost of canceling hunts and you’ll start to understand why we try to get clients to move their hunts to another date. Nevertheless, if it means changing your schedule, loosing the cost of a trip license, or paying a cancellation fee for an airline ticket … When Your Outfitter Calls … listen to what they tell you and be thankful your dealing with folks who want to treat you, like they would want to be treated!

Charles “HammerTime” Snapp
Snapp1@sbcglobal.net
www.arkansaswaterfowl.com

Thinking about a waterfowl hunting trip to a new area this year, but wondering how to make it all come together with the high cost of fuel and a limited budget? If you want to avoid the overcrowded public areas, have the gear, expertise and desire to do so … un-guided hunts may be just what you’re looking for.





When we first offered un-guided hunts through our service, we recognized a real need for the option. Arkansas was selling a record number of out-of-state hunting licenses and public hunting ground was so over crowded a hunter needed to carry his own tree with him, just to have a place to hide. Increased hunters meant excessive hunting pressure and the extra pressure didn’t allow the ducks time to rest and get comfortable with the public ground. Supply and demand took over and our un-guided services came to be, but we soon discovered we had a lot to learn about un-guided hunting and un-guided hunters. It’s those experiences and the lessons I learned, that I rely on if we use an un-guided service for a film shoot.

Here are a few pointers that may help you determine if un-guided hunts are for you, starting with a few simple questions:

• Do you have the equipment necessary to insure success?
• Do you want to take all the gear with you?
• Do you want to spend your time scouting or hunting?
• Do you have the expertise you need to read and call the birds?

Depending on your answers, you may be a candidate for an un-guided hunt. Un-guided hunts are often a successful way to explore new areas, without having to spend your time scouting or dealing with the problems of overcrowded public hunting areas. Like any other form of a hunting trip, there are a few things you may want to consider before finalizing your plans.

How do you find the exact location where you will be hunting?

It was less than an hour until shooting time when I received a call on my truck phone. It was our un-guided hunters and even though I had drawn detailed maps to each of our hunting locations, these guys couldn’t find the spot … they were lost! They had driven back to a small rule community to use a pay phone and I got the call just as I was leaving my truck with my guided hunters. When that day’s hunt was over, I took the map and retraced the steps myself. To my surprise, someone had moved an old yellow landplane that had been sitting in the corner of a field for years. That landplane was the marker I had used so the un-guided groups would know where to turn and head down the field road to the pit. Lesson learned, never do an un-guided hunt where you have to find your way to a new area in the dark! Be sure they have someone show you the way. Things do look different at night and you do want to find your hunting location in a timely manner.

What do you do the second day of your hunt, if the first was less than you had hoped for?

This is something you should review with your prospective host in advance. How many locations are available for your host to choose from and what is their policy on moving you the second day? It doesn’t matter where you are, or how good a location may have been the week before, you’re only concern is what’s happening while you are there. Birds make unexpected shifts and simply aren’t there at times and there’s nothing anyone can do about it. However, if that happens, be sure your host will move you to a different location the next day? What if the reverse situation happens and you’re in the spot the birds want, with limits in record time. Will your host leave you there for day two, or will they move you and use the spot themselves?

If your host offers both guided and un-guided hunts, how do they determine who gets the pick of locations?

Expect the obvious answer to this question. Guided hunters pay more and while no one can guarantee the outcome of a hunt, higher priced hunts normally get first choice. Be sure your host has enough quality spots to provide all their hunters with proven locations. Last season I ran across a group of young hunters, doing an un-guided hunt with another outfitter in my area. They were set up under a dead tree, within thirty feet of the center of a well-traveled gravel road. I visited with them, out my truck window, is how I found out the details. I don’t think the edge of a gravel road was a location they would have expected!

How often does your prospective host hunt their locations?

Waterfowl burn a lot of calories and body fat when they migrate. When they find an area they want to use, it will be for the rest they need, or to replenish the nutrients used in their flight. If you’re going to be hunting a spot that has been shot every day for weeks or months, expect trouble. Comfortable birds mean happy birds and happy birds normally mean a higher success rate for hunters. Consistent hunting pressure on private ground will have the same affect as overcrowding on public ground and the birds are not going to stay around for that.

Who provides what equipment for the hunt?

All of our fields have buried pits in them, so no one needs to bring a blind, but you will need your own decoys and an ATV. Some outfitters rent specialized equipment, like layout blinds. Equipment is an important issue on any hunt and the equipment you have, or don’t have, will play a role in the outcome of your hunt. Field decoys are important in the dry fields, but would be of little use to you in the shallow floods of an Arkansas rice field. The same thing goes for the layout style ground blinds. You really need them in dry fields, but they’re almost impossible to use in a flooded rice field. Don’t take equipment for granted and don’t expect certain things will be provided; only to find out you are wrong when you arrive.

Will, or does your host provide you with up to date information?

You know how to hunt and a mallard is a mallard anywhere you go, but up to the minute information about the birds activities, may be the added touch you need for success. If it’s your first time to hunt an area, ask your host for details about how they hunt. We provide written tips we call, do’s and don’ts.  These types of tips provide valuable insight that may help adapt your hunting techniques to what works within a given region. Knowledge is, and will always be, a valuable tool and you need to feel comfortable with the person providing you with the information.

Be honest with your host about your ability.

This will prove valuable to your host and they should be able to better prepare you for what to expect. Different regions provide different opportunities and the birds work differently. If you come to Arkansas, you had better have your game fine-tuned. Often times you will see thousands of birds a day, flying over the flooded rice fields, but these aren’t ducks that are coming back to a pothole. These birds have been called to and shot at all the way down the flyway and make for great sport, if you can work and read them. If you question your ability, discuss it openly with your prospective host.

The list of questions and concerns can go on and on, but one thing is for sure … no matter where you live or how often you get to hunt, its nice to see and experience how it’s done in other areas. With interest in waterfowl hunting at a high and the ever-present problems of overcrowding on public ground, you might want to review your options and give consideration to accepting a little help from an outfitter. Why not try your hand at being your own guide, after reading …”A Guide’s Guide To Un-guided Hunts”?

Charles “HammerTime” Snapp
Snapp1@sbcglobal.net
www.arkansaswaterfowl.com