The Arkansas Game and Fish approved a regulation Thursday that will allow hunters to kill only one mallard per day during the 2024-25 duck season.
The commission agreed on the proposal April 11 after a long discussion about steps the commission could take to increase breeding population of mallards in the springtime. Duck populations have fallen dramatically in recent years. State agencies do not influence migratory bird populations except to limit the number of ducks a hunter may kill in a day. For about 15 years, Arkansas regulations permit hunters to kill up to two hen mallards per day
Luke Naylor, chief of the commission's wildlife management division, said that hunters are already self-regulating their taking of mallard hens. Data that the commission collects from hunters reveals that hunters kill three drakes per one hen, a ratio that the proposed regulation is designed to achieve.
This datum demonstrates that duck hunters are sufficiently concerned about duck conservation to voluntarily limit their take of hen mallards. It also attests to hunters' ability to distinguish between drakes and mallards in the dim light of the first 30 minutes of a hunt, when some of the most exciting action occurs.
Breeding duck populations will not increase until habitat conditions improve in the Prairie Pothole Region. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommends duck hunting season structures and limits based on a matrix that annually accounts for the number of ponds and the number of breeding pairs of ducks in the Prairie Pothole Region. Because of drought, there are not currently enough ponds to service the number of potential breeding pairs of ducks returning to the region this year. One pond will support only one breeding pair of mallards. Drakes are territorial and will not tolerate other mallards in close proximity.
When snow returns to the northern prairies, there will be more ponds and duck numbers will increase.
Dog collars
At the same meeting, the commission tabled a proposed regulation that would require all dogs pursuing game animals to wear an electronic collar capable of GPS tracking as well as remote electronic correction.
A large group of constituents that hunt deer with dogs filled the commission's briefing room during the meeting. Grant Ballard, an attorney who grew up in the deer dog culture, addressed the commission to oppose the regulation. Ballard recalled his grandfather paying $150 for a beagle that became Ballard's prized rabbit hunting companion.
"If this (regulation) was in place, my granddad would not have peeled off an extra $1,700 for a Garmin tracking device," Ballard said. "I never would have gotten out of the gate."
A landowner from the Buckville area near Lake Ouachita spoke, not exactly to support the regulation, but to complain about the behavior of deer dog runners, especially during field trials and organized hunts. Deer dogs overrun his property during deer dog season, creating serious conflicts with owners. The photos and videos he showed the commission of multiple dogs with numerals painted on their coats induced solemness in the room.
One deer dog supporter said that the landowner tacitly agreed to be trespassed upon because he bought property in an area that traditionally hosts an organized deer dog hunt.
Another deer dog supporter told the landowner he should build a high fence around his property to prevent deer from entering the property. Then dogs wouldn't chase deer onto his property.
The regulation was ill-conceived. As Ballard said, it is onerous to require an owner to attach one expensive tracking and behavior correction device to one beagle. Rabbit hounds do not typically get far from their handlers. People that hunt rabbits with multiple beagles simply couldn't afford it. That goes also for bird dogs, to the extent than anybody hunts bird dogs anymore in Arkansas, and also to Labrador retrievers. If a Lab is chasing down a crippled mallard, it is pursuing game and would have to wear an approved device even though the dog never leaves visual contact with its owner.
Despite legitimate concerns from people that are victimized by the owners of deer hunting dogs, the commission was prudent to table the regulation.