Another duck season, another weird, dry, warm winter. The 2023-24 season followed a similar pattern to the last five seasons, with poor spring production and a lackluster harvest. It was an extremely warm winter up and down the flyway, and that led to no push of ducks other than the calendar migrators around Halloween and again in mid-December.
Even the massive, extended cold front in mid-January didn’t send ducks to Arkansas. Arkansas Game & Fish Commission biologists estimated the Delta mallard population was more than half a million mallards below the long-term average between 2009 and late-January 2024, and it was the lowest late-January survey estimate on record since the start of transect-based surveys in 2010. Meanwhile, Missouri recorded an estimate of 653,153 mallards (84.2% higher than the previous five-year estimate) and 112.4% higher than the 20-year appraisal.
During the cold snap (featured in this year’s photo essay), hunting activity intensified as the ducks already present became more desperate, actively foraging for food before, during and after the freeze. Before that cold front event, the 2023-24 duck season was angling toward being the worst in decades. It may still be, and time will tell, as the harvest rate from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service will not be released until after the magazine goes to press.
Duck hunters are not known to be eternal optimists – quite the opposite – but as the saying goes with ducks and sports teams, next season will be the one!
So, we push forward with another exceptional edition of Greenhead. I worked up a couple of “think pieces” that hopefully inspire hunters to take a step back and consider the present and future of our great sport. First, I walk hunters through the Five Stages of the Hunter, then take a deep look into whether what we harvest impacts duck populations, especially when the midcontinent mallard population is at its lowest point since 1993.
Southeast Arkansas rice farmer-turned-author Jason Smith reflects on the historic Cypress Creek Drainage District and why farmers do what they do, which often isn’t best for ducks. Steady contributor Mark Friedman looks at the history of Mack’s Prairie Wings leading up to the merger with Bass Pro Shops.
Addison Freeman’s swan song at Arkansas Business Publishing Group tackles the mud motor controversy in the Arkansas public woods and a feature on unique callmaker Cloud Jacobs of Big Duck Energy. Freeman also updates readers with fresh numbers on the economic impact of migratory bird hunting in the state.
Outdoor writer Shawn Swearingen profiles the late Russell McCollum. McCollum’s Wildlife Acres, just outside Stuttgart, was a highly productive block of woods visited by countless sports as they traveled to Arkansas. New contributor Caitlan Butler showcases the growing popularity of Boykin spaniels in the duck hunting game. Finally, check out our popular Executive Q&As with some of Arkansas’ top business leaders who get afield.
As always, thank you to our advertisers and, of course, the team of photographers, designers, writers and salespeople, who make this thing happen.
Best of luck this season and find some positives in the sport besides the harvest.
Brent Birch
Editor
