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Arkansas waterfowl hunters endured a deep freeze leading into last weekend, but temperatures will rise as the state's 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.