One of the reasons the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation Shooting Complex exists in Jacksonville is to spark an interest in hunting and the safe use of firearms for future generations. With that in mind, the facility, opened last spring, is already a success. The range was built for both recreational and competitive shooters, and the numbers tell the tale.
Roger Simmons started selling his calls in 2008. The move was the right one. Simmons’ Band-It Custom Calls has sold more than 200 calls in the last two years — all practically through word of mouth.
Pulaski Academy graduate and incoming University of Central Arkansas freshman Hunter Harris, 18, has parlayed his love of duck hunting and an entrepreneurial spirit into a fledgling film and apparel business.
Steve Chlapecka Jr. has nearly eight decades under his belt, years measured by the rhythm of farming and hunting in Prairie County. Little Steve, his namesake son, oversees the family’s farming operations these days. But Big Steve still found his way into a combine cab during the 2013 harvest.
For more than 10 years, hunting dogs in training have been getting their feet wet at the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s training site at the Camp Robinson Special Use Area near Mayflower. Officially known as Boone Pond, the facility is better known as Pepper’s Pond, named after the dog that belonged to Larry McMurry, who helped get the training area up and running.
These days Stan Jones lives his life around Clover Bend, farming his rice and soybeans, running his hunting lodge. But that is really nothing new. Jones and his roots are as deep in Clover Bend as possible.
Duck Down Guide Service is Stuttgart’s premier waterfowl hunting outfitter. At Duck Down we have exclusive access to over 3,000 acres of the finest waterfowl hunting property in the state.
Rarely do I go on a hunt without my smartphone, sometimes even packing the iPad, and so do most of my buddies, based on the number of texts I get on days afield. Everything from live hunt reports to post hunt pics to questions like “Where’s lunch?” flows pretty steadily most days.
The commission voted Thursday to approve a 60-day hunting season for waterfowl. Duck season will run Nov. 22 to Nov. 30, and from Dec. 4-Jan. 25, except for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.
