Greenhead presents the 2022 Executive Q&A featuring a panel of executives sharing their must-haves, top tips and favorite memories in the field.
Seth Hampton
Member
Quattlebaum, Grooms & Tull PLLC
Number of days you hunt a season? Between 45 and 50.
Where do you hunt? The Cache River Bottoms in Monroe County, near the confluence of Bayou DeView and the Cache and White Rivers.
Club name? Two Rivers Duck Club and Farms.
What kind of gun do you use? Semi-auto.
Favorite duck call? My lanyard is outfitted with a pair of double-reed Cache River Edition calls by Rick Hampton Calls (one carved from Black Heart Persimmon and the other Crepe Myrtle), and a Cocobolo single reed that was one of the first calls made and tuned by my father.
Fields, reservoir or timber? Flooded green timber is always preferable, but any scenario will do, so long as the White River is at 27 1/2 feet or higher at the Clarendon gauge.
Rainy, nasty or bluebird sky? Blue skies and sunshine are preferred, but rain, snow and ice don’t give me any pause either. The main weather ingredient I hope for is an 8–10 mph north wind.
Favorite hunting story/memory? I am blessed to have so many great memories of duck hunting with my father, brothers and friends over the years and couldn’t possibly select a favorite. With respect to last season, one particular memory stands out as a favorite to me and involves a hunt that I wasn’t actually a part of. One of our members, Brandon Kinder, brought his sons Karson, 10, and Rivers, 8, out for opening weekend … and Rivers’ first duck hunt. Opening day, the three were hunting one of our timber holes when, not long after legal shooting time, Rivers, on his first shot, bagged his first duck — a banded Mallard drake. While Rivers’ good fortunes are pretty incredible, the story doesn’t end there. Two Rivers [Duck Club and Farms] had just recently partnered with the University of Arkansas at Monticello’s Osborne Lab on one of the lab’s ongoing waterfowl research projects and, earlier that year during February, Dr. Osborne’s team, along with several of our members, banded and released nearly 600 Mallards at the club. As it turned out, Rivers’ banded greenhead was one of the first few birds banded and released at the club, as well as the first bird to have been banded and harvested on the club.
If you have kids, do you take them hunting? Highlights? No kids, but my wife, Mary-Tipton, and I enjoy taking our niece, Emma Wiley, and her friends.
What got you into hunting? My father is the culprit. He started Two Rivers Duck Club and Farms before I was born and operated the club as a commercial duck guiding service until converting to a private member structure around 2010. My brothers Grant and Shane and I grew up working and hunting at the club during summers and most weekends. Our first official work assignment was the annual restring of all club decoys, which nearly filled an old cotton trailer from end to end and top to bottom. We were also tasked with calling ducks for Dad’s guests and friends, and then graduated to guiding customers [when we were] around age 13 or 14. Learning to call ducks was always a must for my father, with lessons beginning before we could hold a shotgun. Dad even had a tradition of having two calls made for each of his sons and placing them in our cribs before my mother left the hospital. He always had each call engraved with our name and birth date. Of the two calls, the first was always a double-reed Taylor Made cut from Bois D’Arc, and the second, a single-reed Rich-N-Tone cut from Cocobolo. My passion for duck hunting and the club itself started at some point along the way and has continued since.
What is your most unusual “must have” in the duck blind? An extra set of reeds and corks for each of my calls. I’m a big turkey hunter and generally approach calling ducks the same as turkeys, with soft, subtle calls that mimic hen calls as closely as possible. I’m not saying that aggressive and loud calling doesn’t work, it’s just not my scene. To me, a set of tight reeds and a fresh cork are key to proficiently control the range and volume of your calling, so I typically change out my reeds and corks midway through a hunt.
Where is your go-to spot for breakfast/meals on a hunting weekend? Murry’s Restaurant. The fried quail and slow-fried potatoes are highly recommended, and if you have the capacity, the bread pudding for dessert.
Which Arkansas executive calls ducks the best? My father, Rick Hampton, and Kyn “Sweet Cheeks” Burrow of R & K Burrow Farms. My two brothers, Grant and Shane, are both excellent duck callers, but I generally like to keep that to myself.
