Dogs keep us company, make us laugh, protect us and guard our homes and property, all while asking for little in return. Then we take them to the flooded woods and wetlands and turn them loose in conditions better suited for curling up by the fire. And they respond like it’s a reward, taking the icy plunge again and again to retrieve the fruits of our day’s work.
Greenhead asked nine Arkansas businessmen to go on the record about their waterfowling experiences, and they responded, hitting their limit and then some.
There were five of us hunting this morning and we fit comfortably into the pit blind. It was of typical construction, heavy gauge steel with split flip tops and dog boxes located on each end. We settled into our locations, each of us choosing a spot and readying our guns and gear for the morning. The sun was rising quickly and anticipation was running high as the first ripping wings of early fliers crossing our location could be heard.
When Stuttgart guide Jim Gignac heard about Cole Croteau, a teen afflicted with cystic fibrosis, wanting to hunt the area, he jumped at this chance to make it happen.
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.
