Waterfowl season in Arkansas is a special time of the year, with hunters coming from around the world to enjoy the experience.
That’s not a joke or chamber of commerce hype. It’s true. Hunters have come from all parts of the globe to tiny Stuttgart and outyling parts of Arkansas to hunt ducks. Geese, too, of course, but mostly ducks in the flooded timber. Whether you’re in a massive blind that looks like a house trailer on stilts or you’re leaning against an old, gnarled oak kicking water to make the decoys move, it’s an incredible experience.
Hunting the flooded timber began about 100 years ago near Stuttgart. Flooded rice fields attracted migrating ducks coming down the Mississippi Valley Flyway. In fields and woods along the Cache River, Black River and others, as well as near the famed Bayou Meto, the mallards, gadwalls and other ducks poured in. Hunters found a bonanza. Shortly after, waterfowl conservation began to take root with the formation of Ducks Unlimited, and the first federal “duck stamp” designed by Ding Darling.
It’s been a wild 100ish years since then. But the love of waterfowl hunting never has abated.
Changes for 2024
The Arkansas Game & Fish Commission made some changes for waterfowl seasons, including:
— Duck hunters on AGFC-owned WMAs again wil be able to use motorized decoys that create motion or simulate wing movement. This change was made to create consistency between hunters on private land and those in public waterfowl hunting areas.
— Standardization of the shell limit for duck hunting will bring more consistency on Arkansas’s waterfowl hunting WMAs. All waterfowl-focused WMAs now have a 25-shotshell limit per hunter. This is an increase of 10 shells for some WMAs. But it also establishes this limit on some WMAs where none existed before. The shell limit is intended to reduce the amount of borderline shots at waterfowl, reducing the number of unrecovered birds as well as the amount of disturbance from excessive shooting.
Here are the dates for the 2024-25 Arkansas waterfowl seasons, and for migratory birds, as set by the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission:
Waterfowl
Special Early Teal Season — Sept. 15-30
Duck, Coot and Merganser — Nov. 23-Dec. 2, Dec. 10-23 and Dec. 27, 2024-Jan. 31, 2025
Special Youth Waterfowl Hunt — Feb. 8-9, 2025
Special Active Duty Military and Veteran Hunt — Feb. 9, 2025
White-fronted, Snow, Blue and Ross’s Goose — Oct. 26-Nov. 3, Nov. 23-Dec. 2, Dec. 10-23 and Dec. 27-Jan. 31
Canada Goose — Sept. 1-Oct. 15, Nov. 23-Dec. 2, Dec. 10-23 and Dec. 27-Jan. 31
Light Goose Conservation Order (Snow, Blue and Ross’s Goose) — Feb. 1-7, Feb. 10-April 25
Early Migratory Birds
Dove (Mourning, White-winged and Eurasian collared-dove) — Sept. 7-Oct. 27 and Dec. 8-Jan. 15
Virginia Rail and Sora — Sept. 14-Nov. 22
Common and Purple Gallinule — Sept. 1-Nov. 9
Wilson’s Snipe — Nov. 1-Feb. 15
Woodcock — Nov. 2-Dec. 16
