AMERICA'S BEST PUBLIC DUCK HUNTING

Secret Duck-Hunting Spots

EDITOR'S NOTE: My duck hunting partners, Tate Wood of Memphis, Tennessee, and Buddy Harris of Greenwood, and I hunted in Mississippi from a flat-bottomed, War Eagle boat with an Avery Quick Set Duck Blind that we could pop up in less than a minute and drop to the side of the boat in about the same time. I wasn't confident that we'd see many ducks in these public-land hunting areas. And if I hadn't witnessed our hunts with my own two eyes, I never would've believed that we would have the opportunity to take hundreds -- even thousands -- of ducks each day.

The second morning's hunt brought even more success than the first. Flight after flight of mallards, widgeons, wood ducks and teal flew into the pothole. At times when we had 30 or 40 ducks on the water, we wouldn't shoot because we waited on the big greenhead mallards to arrive. In less than an hour, we all had taken our limit of ducks. When another party of sportsmen in our group approached us, Freeman suggested, "Why don't you fellows pull your boat into our jam? We'll get out of the way and watch ya'll finish your limit." Within 20 minutes, the second boatload of three hunters had taken the seven ducks they needed to complete all three limits.

Once we made it back to the boat ramp by 9:00 a.m., I told Freeman I still couldn't understand why more duck hunters hadn't discovered these two highly-productive waterfowling sites. "Well, John, think about it for a minute," Freeman replied. "You know that most hunters believe anything free can't be good. When you heard you would hunt public lands this trip, did you really expect to find so many birds and good duck hunting?" I had to give him an honest reply and answered, "No, actually I came here to see my friends. I thought maybe we'd see one or two flights, have some good fellowship and possibly take one or two ducks each in the two days of hunting. I never believed I'd have the chance to bag hundreds of ducks. I'll have a problem about writing this story because no reader will believe I've found this many ducks on any public land in America."

"Just don't tell too many folks," Freeman said. "Mathews Brake and Malmaison WMA have been two of the best-kept secrets in north Mississippi. Although we could have three or four times as many hunters in this region without hurting the duck population, I'd hate to see these places over-hunted." We both laughed because we knew even a mob of hunters would have plenty of ducks for all of them.

Although weekdays provide good hunting on these public regions, generally you'll find weekends the best times. On the weekdays these regions don't have enough hunters to keep ducks moving around on either area. "Don't worry," I said with a grin. "You can count on my coming back. I'll also bring some of my buddies just to keep the ducks moving."

To learn more about Mississippi's great duck hunting, call (800) WARMEST, or, visit www.visitmississippi.org.