The third and final Arkansas Game & Fish Commission annual aerial waterfowl survey was conducted between Jan. 20 and 24. The results were released in a survey report Feb. 5, written by AGFC Waterfowl Coordinator Brett Leach, with numbers proving somewhat encouraging.
“Biologists conducting transect based surveys in the Delta estimated 458,682 mallards and 793,742 total ducks, while duck population estimates in the Arkansas River Valley totaled 19,639 ducks, including 7,456 mallards,” according to the report. “Staff performing cruise surveys in southwest Arkansas reported an estimated 19,555 ducks with 10,205 mallards. Arctic goose population estimates totaled 542,591 light (lesser snow and Ross’s) geese and 223,132 greater white-fronted geese in the Delta.”
The report indicates that duck numbers are up from the two surveys conducted over previous months as well as from last season. At the same time, the count still remains below long-term averages since beginning of the annual survey 14 years ago.
“The Delta mallard population estimate was 208,281 mallards above the 2024 late-January estimate, but 222,018 mallards below the 2010-2025 long-term average. Total duck population estimates were 404,481 birds below the long-term average and 41,449 birds above the 2024 estimates. On average, mallards account for about 55% of all ducks in the Delta during the late January survey. During this survey period, mallards made up 58% of the total duck estimate,” according to the report.
Independent reporting for Pine Bluff & Jefferson County since 1879.
“Nearly 100,000 mallards were estimated in two survey zones: Bayou Meto-Lower Arkansas and Lower White. These survey zones accounted for 42% of the MAV-wide mallard estimate and 33% of the total duck estimate. Additionally, the Cache and Lower White-Bayou Des Arc survey zones had relatively high total duck estimates of 114,956 and 134,603, respectively. Hotspot maps indicate several key duck concentration areas primarily in the central portion of the Delta,” according to the report.
Youth hunt
While the regular 60-day waterfowl season closed on Jan. 31, the annual two day, special youth hunt and one day active military/veterans hunt were held Feb. 8-9.
Greg Jacobs, of Old English Hunting Club near Wabbaseka, hosted seven age 15 and younger hunters on a Saturday trip that proved something special for everyone involved, including Tucker Shaw who had taken a chemo treatment the day prior.
In anticipation of Saturday morning, Jacobs set out decoys the evening before. He said of the number of mallards he witnessed in the field upon arrival, “It looked like 1995 again!”
Turning off U.S. 79 just east of Humphrey, seven trucks followed close on the curvy road in the pre-dawn darkness. Just before crossing Big Bayou Meto bridge, the parade took a right following the watercourse to a spot near a pair of world-renowned duck clubs, Black Dog and Crosshairs.
The entourage parked in a roadside field where 14 youngsters, dads and guides piled out and began donning coats and waders.
A pair of side-by-sides ferried the group to a camouflaged blind backed against the tree-line in the flooded corner of a rice field. A handful of youngsters and dads climbed into the raised, wooden structure while the remaining fathers and sons blended into the wooded background on either side of the blind. As color brightened in the cloudy, eastern sky, guides called to ducks circling above.
At 6:32 a.m. Jacobs called, “Shoot those ducks in the decoys!” and a volley of .410 shotguns broke the morning calm.
In the following minutes, a great flock of mallards rose up from a pond beyond the tree-line and came over in waves. A few more birds were lured to the early morning calling before a lull settled in.
In the interim, occasional specklebelly geese responded to hails from experienced guides. By 9 a.m., the birds were settled in elsewhere and hardly flying. The group made the short trip back to the trucks where the youth were presented with AGFC duck calls donated by the Delta Rivers Nature Center in Pine Bluff. The morning was capped off by a country style breakfast back at Old English Lodge.
On Sunday, Old English hosted a return trip by two of the youngsters, good friends Logan Estelle and Tucker Shaw along with a handful of veterans. The two day harvest consisted of mallards, widgeon, teal, wood ducks and gadwall. At sunset Sunday, the 2024-25 Arkansas waterfowl season officially came to a close.
Great flocks of mallard and pintail ducks linger past duck season in the Arkansas Delta feeding up for their long flight back north. (Special to The Commercial/Richard Ledbetter)