Mud Slough News Today

With 14 days remaining in duck season, mild springlike temperatures could have ducks thinking its time to migrate north.

With 14 days remaining in duck season, mild springlike temperatures could have ducks thinking its time to migrate north.

The best mallard numbers seen in Arkansas in recent years continued with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commissions annual midwinter waterfowl survey released this week. The number of mallards in the Delta region of Arkansas hit a four-year high during aerial observations conducted in December, and that was repeated with last weeks count.

The state received heavy rainfall Monday and Tuesday, but instead of 4-6 inches drenching the entire Arkansas Delta, some areas received up to 12 inches of rain while others saw 2 inches or less.

Arkansas waterfowl hunters endured a deep freeze leading into last weekend, but temperatures will rise as the states 60-day season reaches its midpoint. There are no more splits left in the season as it runs uninterrupted through Jan. 31.

The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission waterfowl staff recently completed its December 2022 aerial waterfowl surveys for the Mississippi Alluvial Valley (Delta), the Arkansas River Valley and southwestern Arkansas. While mallard numbers in the Delta are about 100,000 below the 2009-22 long-term December average, the 480,846 mallards estimated are the most since 2018.

Rainfall in Central Arkansas since Sunday has helped ease dry conditions and made more habitat available for ducks.

The second segment of duck season begins Saturday and runs through Dec. 23. Rains have improved waterfowl habitat in some areas.

With a deep freeze headed toward Arkansas and snow to southeast Missouri, and with the recent rainfall that has filled the public hunting areas in state, habitat conditions for duck hunters this weekend should be the best they've been all year.

Mallard numbers picked up significantly in last week’s aerial waterfowl surveys of the Arkansas Delta region, the Arkansas River Valley and southwest Arkansas, according to the report released by Luke Naylor, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s waterfowl program coordinator.