Arkansas - Michael Fleeman
My name is Mike Fleeman and I am 34 years old and I only hunt public hunting grounds. Not only do I hunt 100% public shooting grounds, but that is the way I prefer it, just like my dad, my grandfather and my great-grandfather. And it is the way I am raising my son.
When I was a kid, I learned mostly from listening to my grandfather and his brother as they talked about the day's hunt. They didn't let me tag along much. But I waited anxiously for them to come in with loads of mallards, and listened to them tell about how they came in while they cleaned them over a large trash can in the kitchen. My first gun was a Winchester 12-gauge that my uncle won and gave to my grandfather. It was with this gun that I learned to shoot ducks. My grandfather blew a copper reed, old-school call made by Earl Dennison and taught me on the same call. I later learned to cut down a P.S. Olt and blow it. He hunted Big Lake WMA (public hunting area in NE Arkansas), the same place his dad hunted as a market hunter for a living before it was owned by the state.
Big Lake is a little different than most public areas in Arkansas, mainly due to the history of market hunting. For example, there are still blinds built by private citizens and maintained by the same on state- owned land. A lot of the same families that hunted those places 100 years ago are hunting them today. Of course, many have changed hands discreetly for money as well, since everyone knows you can't sell something on state-owned lands. Back to the point, Big Lake is a laid back, come-in-when-you-feel-like-it-and-get-in-the-blind kind of place. Most blinds are equipped with electricity and stoves, and sit way up out of the water. Basically, it's a rich man's hunt on public grounds.
This was how my first years of hunting public lands went: warm, dry and easy. When I was a little older, I found out that in the northern part of Big Lake where there are no blinds, when the water is right, people just stand in the water and call ducks into the timber. The first time we did this I was hooked; it was a feeling I'll never forget. I was hooked for eternity. I spent my winters either hunting in the blinds at Big Lake or, if the water was right, standing in the North woods calling ducks in on our heads. When I was about 14 we moved to central Arkansas, and the closest place to hunt was the famous duck hunting capital of the world, Stuttgart!
My dad and I drove down to a place called Bayou Meto (pronounced Bye-Uh-Meeeduh). It was a well-known place with a lot of guides making a living on public grounds. But we soon found the same success and joy of standing in the timber and putting them on our heads at Bayou Meto that we had at Big Lake. Between the guides and the hundreds of daily hunters, it was a challenge to say the least, but it was an incredible feeling to limit out and know you did it with hunters 360 degrees around you calling and shooting at the same birds.
I joined the Navy at 18 and came home every year to hunt. I would save all 30 days leave and use it all from mid-December to mid-January. I would hunt Big Lake a lot because my grandfather was still alive and I enjoyed his stories and showing off my limits the way he did when I was a kid. While I was in California, I had the opportunity to hunt some public grounds out West. I hunted Lower Klamath, which was the very first National Refuge in the United States, and I also hunted several of the smaller, closer public shoots including the Wister unit.
It wasn't until I came home from the Navy that I got serious about hunting Bayou Meto. I became a guide and guided hunts on Bayou Meto the last year it was legal. I found out that it was a lot more fun to hunt with guys you know and trust than with paid guests you don't know. Plus it was lot of work!
No matter where I've hunted public grounds, some things are consistent. You are always going to have people who don't understand or have respect for Mother Nature or for their fellow hunters. Where I'm from you have a lot of talk about cutting people's tires, etc, but that really accomplishes nothing. If I have people set up close to me, we ask them to come hunt with us. If they refuse, we just move. Some say whoever is there first shouldn't have to move, and while I agree, I'd rather move than get shot on accident or something else worse happen. If we come across trash, we pick it up and haul it out. I was stopped by some wardens a few years back and they checked everything we had. While they were patting us down, one of them felt something metal in my pocket and asked what it was. When I produced an old can I had picked up, he said to one of his fellow officers, "Let these boys go on. Anybody out here picking up old cans is alright!" That's the way it should be.
We spend a lot of time before each season searching for new openings created by "blow downs". We also look for areas birds are using frequently (shallow water). As the season moves on and the water fluctuates, we adjust accordingly, sometimes using much of a day when we could be hunting, riding around and watching to see where birds are working and looking for that shallow water. While we search, we always try and stay away from people who are hunting. But this is as important as having gun-powder in your shells, because no matter how good of a hunter or caller you are, if there aren't ducks using the spot you're at, you aren't going to kill anything. I think that is the single most important thing toward the success of a hunt.
Second, I think you have to account for the wind. If the opening in the canopy (timber-top) is set up for them to some in from the South, then you need a wind opposite of that. If the wind is across the hole or from the wrong direction, it seems to really affect the results. Now, a mallard can land anyway they want, so I'm not saying they can't get down no matter which way the wind is coming, I'm just saying it makes for poorer results. You've got to have the wind accounted for!
Third, everyone always thinks the worse the weather, the better the duck hunting. In other places, maybe, but in the timber, a cold, sunny day with a good wind is like a million dollars. This is for several reasons: One, the sun creates shadows to hide in. It also shines back off the water blinding the ducks as they approach the hole. On a cloudy day, there are fewer shadows so it is harder to hide, and there is no blinding light. The ducks see perfectly and your face will shine on a cloudy day like a star in the sky.
Fourth, and very important, is calling. It is only fourth because if you aren't in the right spot, hid well and have wind to work, it doesn't matter how you call. Arkansas timber hunting is a little different than other types of hunting. We don't even use decoys sometimes, because 90 percent of the time, the ducks are responding to calling and calling alone. With that said, knowing when to call is key. For example, if you have a hole and the right wind, you would want to call very aggressively to get them lined up right and on a straight line. But when they are circling, you don't want to break them over the sides of the hole. You have to allow the ducks to get far enough out so when they swing, they line up coming down the shoot toward the hole. If they break over the sides and try to come in, they will most likely lift back up and make another attempt. Everybody knows on public shooting grounds, the more time you waste, the more chances are that somebody will shoot and flare the birds, etc., so to get them in quick. We call hard and furious when they are lining up, and keep quiet when they are off the sides. Some people refer to this as "hittin' 'em on the corners!" By far, calling is the quickest way to make or break a hunt. It is the difference in shooting a mallard at treetop in passing and landing 210 yards in front of you on the water.
Fifth, you have to have a good way in to the hunting grounds. In Bayou Meto, we can't enter the WMA until 4 a.m., and we have to be off the place by 1 p.m. (done hunting at noon). Because of this rule, there are usually 20 to 30 boats on any given morning at 4 a.m. ready to race for the best spots. This is one of the reasons scouting is so important. You have to be able to make a guess. If you aren't the first boat, which hole will you try to get, and what is the quickest way to get there? Obviously, having a very fast boat helps, but the driving is the more important part. Some hold a spotlight in one hand and the tiller in the other (we are limited to 25 hp motors), but you have to know the trails in the dark. They are not marked, and flooded timber all looks the same, especially in the dark. But you learn to pick out landmarks, like a felled tree, a broken limb, etc. But nothing replaces actually driving it in preparation for the race. (One more word about respecting other hunters. If we are going to a hole and someone is already there, we leave. We don't set up right outside or up wind of them. We leave and go to another spot we scouted out, period. This is the single biggest problem I have come across on all public lands, and it is really a matter of respect for other hunters.)
Last but not least, there are the kids. I would almost base my whole nomination for Rat of the Year on the fact that nine out of 10 times that I hunt, I have my son with me. He is nine years old and loves to duck hunt, but more importantly, he loves to share time in the outdoors with his old man. He is being taught on a regular basis that our hunting is important and to keep it, we need to take care of it the right way by cleaning up after ourselves and respecting others. He is very safe handling guns, and blows a duck call very well. And not just by the sound, he knows when to call. He hates robo ducks, not that there is anything wrong with them, but he, like myself and the others we hunt with, prefer a jerk string to a robo! It's the old-school way of fooling a duck!
My son never had the chance to meet my grandfather, but I will make sure he carries on the same traditions by teaching him the same things I was taught. Bayou Meto is the most heavily hunted public shooting ground in the United States, and on any given day there are thousands hunting. At times, some of the world's best callers are standing around you. I had the pleasure of hunting this year with seven guys at once who were all calling in the World Duck Calling Contest in Stuttgart. Knowing that you can hunt ducks and hunt them successfully in this environment is a feeling of great accomplishment. It makes you feel if you can hunt 'em here, you can hunt 'em anywhere!
I hope that my nomination for Rat of the Year is considered, and I hope if so, that it isn't because of killed ducks or good stories. I hope it's considered because of an ongoing learning process to outsmart a flying bird, and a family tradition based on respect for others and taking care of the nature God gave us. And I do cook a good biscuit too!
Thank you for your consideration,
Mike Fleeman
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