The Rutledge family, made up of patriarch Reynie and sons John, Adam and Nathan, have long been duck hunting enthusiasts. But it was only in 2012 that the family got the opportunity to form their own, personal duck club — and what a duck club it is.
That year, the Rutledges purchased the historic Quack Shack duck club, originally established by conservationist Brick Lile about 20 miles northwest of Stuttgart as a greentree reservoir. Lile put the Quack Shack on the map in 1977, when he invited “The American Sportsman” crew to film the first-ever nationally televised waterfowl hunt.
“The purpose of filming the duck hunt was to help get out the message across the country about the dredging of the Cache River, which is … important in the duck hunting landscape,” says John Rutledge. “(They) ultimately had success in that process.”
The Lile family had been involved in the ownership of Quack Shack since it was founded, and the Rutledges have been building on the Liles’ conservation strategies, with good results, for the last decade-plus.
“The methods for capturing surface water and for using groundwater were both already there and established,” says John Rutledge. “What they didn’t have, at the time, was surface water storage and a thought process around how to store water. It’s had a really big impact on lining up when farmers are draining rice fields, creating available surface water in a historically dry period.”
The family has also focused efforts on ensuring the land surrounding the property’s greentree reservoir is suitable for ducks — full of diverse food and habitat. They’ve implemented Timber Stand Improvements to encourage tree regeneration and regularly plant new trees as well as native waterfowl forage.
“We heard many times, ‘you’ve got to have the table set, and it’s important what’s on that table,’” says Adam Rutledge.
“The end of the season is only the night before the first day of management season,” he adds.
In 2016, the family acquired a second property dubbed Finn’s Break along the Cache River, where they’re implementing similar conservation strategies.
“There’s something about the migration along the Cache River that sold us on duck hunting, this sport,” Adam Rutledge says.
In the Hole
What do you think is the biggest conservation challenge facing Arkansas today?
“The biggest challenge for Arkansans is for our conservationists today to pass that on to the next generation. … It’s something I want to perpetuate, generation after generation, and it’s up to our generation to pass that on to the next generation.” —Adam Rutledge
“We know that habitat and Mother Nature are changing … We have to embrace it and continue to work to keep improving things as best we can with an optimistic, hopeful mindset because it’s that optimism and hope you want to pass down to the next generations.” —John Rutledge
