Nighttime access to White River Refuge makes no sense

An incomprehensibly lax access rule at the White River National Refuge will allow duck hunters to enter the woods at 8 p.m.

Previously, hunters could not enter the woods before 4 a.m.

Charles, "Bo" Sloan, manager of the Dale Bumpers White River National Wildlife Refuge, did not respond to our requests for a comment. However, this is the latest action that has alienated hunters and anglers that use the refuge.

In 2018, Sloan levied a $20 mandatory permit to hunt, fish, launch boats and camp on the White River Refuge. The permit is not required for birdwatchers and other non-consumptive users that also use the refuge's roads.

Duck hunting on the White River Refuge must end at noon. Decoys, portable blinds and blind material must be removed by 1 p.m.

Although commercial duck guiding is prohibited at the White River National Wildlife Refuge, violations can be hard cases to prove. Allowing hunters onto the refuge at 8 p.m., enables guiding by allowing guide proxies to occupy productive hunting locations from 8 p.m. to 1 p.m. the following day. That essentially means holding productive hunting areas perpetually.

People that work regular jobs do not have the luxury of sitting in the woods for 10 hours. They enter the woods when they can, and they will likely come in conflict with people that have occupied holes all night.

It also means federal game wardens will be rousted from bed at all hours of the night to rescue people that had boating accidents or gotten lost in the woods.

Allowing people to spend all night in the woods undermines the function of a wildlife refuge, part of which is to provide safe roosting habitat. That is impossible when boaters roar through the woods all night with mud motors looking for concentrations of ducks. This creates a conflict that ducks will lose. If pressured hard enough, they will adapt their behaviors. Excessive pressure might, for example, force ducks to concentrate in the South Unit of the White River Refuge where duck hunting is limited to two small areas on certain days, and where access is limited to no earlier than 4 a.m.

Looking at it that way, the 8 p.m. entry might actually enhance the conservation element by forcing ducks onto the South Unit where they can't be hunted.

Ducks staging

A student at the University of Missouri recently found an article I wrote about my favorite duck hunting spot in the Show-Me State, and he wanted some tips on access and hunting tactics.

Hunting there requires a minimum 1-mile walk through mud and sometimes standing water to reach productive holes. I told him about my Thanksgiving 2004 hunt that required me to belly crawl long distances through icy briars to reach a pool that held at least 300 mallards. There was no cover except for frozen grass.

When I finally reached the pool edge, I was so stiff and cold that when I lurched up to shoot, I lost my balance and fell on my back. I shot only one mallard out of that flock.

"Mizzou" said he said he aw at least 1,000 ducks on the area Monday. I guarantee there were a lot more that he didn't see.

Let us hope for freezing weather up there in the late fall and early winter to push those birds to Arkansas.

Bucks on Camera

Remote cameras have allowed members of the Old Belfast Hunting Club to become very familiar with certain bucks through the years.

Mike Romine's camera photographed a buck that I know well from his frequency in my areas the last two years. His defining characteristics include one very long antler at least 18 inches long with no additional points. The other antler was just as long, with more of an outward sweep, but it had only one tine. His body is thick and massive, but because he was a 1x2, he was illegal for an adult hunter to shoot.

This year he has grown a third point on the right antler. That makes him legal, and we are all hoping to see him this weekend.

That is not the same giant 2x2 that has vexed us all these years. That buck has lived a great life and probably die of old age, leaving a long line offspring with big non-legal cookie cutter racks that will torment us for generations.

Sports on 11/10/2019

Upcoming Events