Summer is on its way out and duck season is just around the corner. The duck numbers once again look favorable and if Mother Nature gets on board, we can be optimistic about a bountiful duck season in Arkansas.
To get the juices flowing a little bit, we are proud to present the sixth annual edition of Greenhead, The Arkansas Duck Hunting Magazine. As you will see, we are proud of the local and now growing base of national advertisers supporting the magazine. We’ve come a long way since the first edition in 2010 and truly feel each one is better than the previous.
This year our feature story is an attempt to articulate the duck camp experience. The inability to effectively communicate why hunters obsess on the opportunities to be at duck camp is common. In this year’s edition, I give my take on why duck camp is more than a place. Duck camp is a mindset.
As the number of snow geese wintering in Arkansas continues to escalate, more and more hunters are getting serious about chasing them. In of his two pieces this year, outdoor writer John Gordon gives hunters the ins and outs of hunting this unique species of waterfowl.
Gordon also gives our readers an insider’s look at Ducks Unlimited’s Waterfowl Heritage Museum inside the new Bass Pro Shops store in Memphis. Despite the museum not being in Arkansas, don’t let a drive across the Mississippi River Bridge stop you from visiting a must-see for any waterfowler.
Managing editor Todd Traub gets the taste buds on alert with some mouth-watering recipes for waterfowl and showcases the wild game cooking talents of Maddie’s Place owner and chef Brian Deloney.
Covering the business side of waterfowling, Mark Friedman shares the story behind Banded Brands’ move to northwest Arkansas and its meteoric rise in the duck hunting gear game. Friedman follows that story with a feature on Rob Watts and his new company, Waterfowl Solutions and Machining Inc. of Cabot. Watts uses state-of-the-art equipment to manufacture duck calls for some of the biggest names in the game.
Guest contributor Rick Fahr details a bird banding effort in south Arkansas led by the University of Arkansas-Monticello and avid waterfowler Bill Maxwell. Fahr’s second contribution profiles 2014 World Champion duck caller David St. John of Conway. The story allowed me to reconnect with David as we grew up playing baseball both with and against one another way back when.
We hope this year’s magazine leads to excessive daydreaming and builds anticipation about the upcoming season. Good luck come November and please be good stewards of the wildlife and habitat we are fortunate to have.
The magazine is available for purchase on the Arkansas Business Publishing Group online store and at various sporting goods, restaurants and other locations around Arkansas.
