Job Title/Position
Commercial real estate sales and leasing. No fancy title. Still working on that.
Company
Coldwell Banker Commercial Hathaway Group
Number of days you hunt a season?
Forty-three in 2016-2017, if you count guiding both youth hunts.
Where do you hunt?
Mostly a gadwall shooter (never been a mallard snob) in the Scott-Keo-England area. The closer the better. Occasionally get an invite at a real club on the prairie.
Club name?
Took over as Sheriff in 2008 at Mound Pond Hunt/Fish Club (“The DC” … just two miles past Scott) when the owner’s son was living out of state. After nine years he’ll be taking it back this year, so I’ll be hunting on and around another close friend’s land near Humphrey and hopefully exploring some public ground again with a great friend who runs the Double D in Lonoke. I’m also representing a small group of trusted hunting buddies to find duck land to purchase in Lonoke or Jefferson County, so hit me with your ideas.
What kind of gun do you use?
In the woods: my beloved Remington 20-gauge Wingmaster pump that my father gave me when I was 12. That’s 43 years and a whole lot of ducks and doves.
In the rice field: Remington 12 SuperMag 870 on loan from a good buddy.
Duck call?
I have about 10 laying around, but none are collector’s items and they seem to rotate on and off my lanyard for no apparent reason. All I have to do is “dheet, dheet, dheet” for Gadwalls anyway, so any nasal, single reed will do. It is my experience that calling is overrated and usually overdone.
Fields, reservoir or timber?
I’m like most duck hunters, I suppose, in that nothing beats a magic day in the green timber. But my normal habitat is a naturally flooded slough or cypress brake. I’m most comfortable standing next to a tree, but not afraid to waller in the mud in a drainage ditch.
Rainy, nasty or bluebird sky?
You gotta go to know. I’ve never killed any from my kitchen.
Favorite hunting story/memory?
Calling in and killing my first duck by myself at Pulaski Bank Director’s Club when my host Craig Benson didn’t show up one bluebird day in 1985. … Putting my nephew David Hathaway on his first bird (a snow goose he sky-busted with my 20-gauge over Plum Bayou when he was about 10). … Watching my 7-month-old yellow lab (Snowden’s Tabriz Surprise, a.k.a. Tab the Wonder Dog) retrieve her first bird on opening day of 2002.
What got you into hunting?
My father didn’t hunt, but as … a 30-year FBI agent, he wasn’t opposed to firearms. I was lucky enough to have some friends like Jay Adams, David Snowden and Pat MeHaffy, whose parents let me tag along. I owe my love of waterfowling to them. Sorry, honey, blame them.
If you have children do you take them duck hunting?
If so what are some of the highlights from these youth hunts?
I have two wonderful children, but the out-of-doors is not their thing. I think it is a mistake to force that on kids. However, I’ve been known to rent a youth if I didn’t have one handy. To me there is nothing better than focusing on the kids and passing on the importance of hunting safely, ethically and with ultimate respect for the resource.
What is your most unusual “must have” in the duck blind?
Probably my bucket of shag golf balls in case my 2-year-old black lab, Sister Woman, needs a little directional splash.
Which Arkansas executive calls ducks the best?
Not sure, but I do know David Snowden has the best place to call ducks that I’ve ever seen.
Hunter
Anne Marie
