Jeffrey R. Wardlaw
Senior Manager of Government Affairs, Mississippi & Central Flyway South, Delta Waterfowl Foundation
Number of days you hunt a season: 64, including teal season
Where do you hunt? Cut Off Creek
Club name: Public land
What kind of gun do you use? Benelli SBE III
Favorite duck call? Key Hole Black OLT
Preferred wader: camo or solids? Sitka waders in Timber Camo
What’s your go-to duck hunting story?
A perfect day is when everybody else decides to stay home in bed so we have the whole public timber all to ourselves. You might be thinking this is never going to happen, but it does happen a whole lot more than you realize. Any day like that isn’t even worth counting without ole Whiskey, the trusty Labrador, sitting right there with us. There isn’t anything in this world better than seeing 15, maybe 20 greenheads come busting through those timber tops.
What stage of the hunter are you?
Sportsman (Measures the total experience—appreciation of outdoors, the animal being hunted, the process, companionship of others and conservation.)
What got you into duck hunting?
Back when I was growing up, duck hunting was one of the biggest things around in Bradley County. Felsenthal was at its peak then, and Eagle Lake was only about four-and-a-half miles from where we were raised. We’d load up and head down to Prairie Island, put the boat in the water and hunt right there near the ramp. If we managed to shoot a wood duck, we thought we were world champions. Every once in a while, we’d knock down a greenhead, and after that, you couldn’t tell us anything because we felt like we were on top of the world.
What is your most unusual “must have” in the duck blind?
A strap that goes around the tree with a hook. Those hooks do a little bit of everything for us out there. They hold our guns, they hold our blind bags and, most important of all, they hold the ducks we take throughout the day.
Favorite meal after a hunt?
Usually Taco Bell or Arby’s in Monticello, sitting around talking about where we’re going to hunt tomorrow, what we might do a little differently to make it even better, or just celebrate the great day we just had.
What’s your favorite memory of hunting with your children?
If you’ve got kids, you’ve got a responsibility to pass the tradition of hunting on down to them so somebody carries it forward. They play a really important role out there too. They help haul the decoys back to the hole, they help get everything set up for the day, and let me tell you, my kids can shoot.
Why do you duck hunt?
I absolutely love duck hunting because it’s the only hunting sport where fellowship is welcomed, and the companionship of Whiskey is a way of life. We get more business done in the duck hole than we ever did in the office. We show more love to one another as a family, and most of all, you can worship the Lord right there in the duck hole, because you’re standing in the middle of His creation.
Which Arkansas executive calls ducks the best?
The best sound in the duck woods is when Reid McKinney, Craig Wardlaw and I are all in sync, working a big group of ducks.
