From the Blind: Arkansas and Colorado
Walker Davidson for SPLIT REED
We are back with our third edition of “From the Blind.” This time we are featuring TJ Mallette from Arkansas and Jeff Colwell from Colorado. It looks like things are beginning to ramp up around the country!
Who: TJ Mallette
Outfitter: Black Duck Outfitters
Date: 11/21 – 11/30
Location: Stuttgart, Arkansas
Weather: “Cold front came through about three weeks before the season pushed a lot of birds in and since it’s dry and us having water we’ve held birds. Each day getting further from the full moon it’s getting better and better, with more birds feeding on our rest areas in the after.”
Bird numbers: “Geese numbers are growing, there’s plenty of specks around and some snows are starting to show up. As far as duck numbers go if you have water it’s looking pretty good.”
Harvest report: “We shot them good the first few days just from having water and birds even though it was warm, and then once this second little cold front rolled in we really started killing the mallards.”
Overview: “I think it’s going to be a dryer but colder year than the last few. For people that have water, it’s going to be a good year, I think overall our season will be determined by the severity and longevity of cold fronts from up north. But I’d much rather take cold and dry over warm and wet like the last few years, I am very optimistic about this season!”
Who: Jeff Colwell
Outfitter: Front Range Guide Service
Date: 12/1 – 12/5
Location: Windsor, Colorado
Weather: “It’s a lot of the same stuff as everywhere, warm stable weather and full moon conditions.”
Bird Numbers: “Our geese got here near the end of October, and they are really fat. We are stacked full of birds, plenty of geese and mallards, but the ducks are almost nocturnal. Our bird numbers are really good and not too spread out. A lot of little geese right now though, I don’t know if we’ll get any big ones any time soon.”
Harvest Report: “Our hunting has been incredible. We have flat out been killing them; it’s interesting because usually the stale weather causes hunting to be tough but we have been shooting most of our birds in the morning.”
Overview: “The hunting has been great considering the conditions. Our geese got here earlier than normal. I have a fear that because the weather is so stable and the geese are so concentrated and the little geese being in big groups we are educating all of our birds. We are doing everything we can to not shoot into the giant wads and manage our pressure to keep our hunting consistent. We just need some nasty weather up north to get us some new birds. I have grown up here and lived here my whole life and I have never ever seen open water on ponds on the front range of Colorado the first week of December, it’s been an odd year.”
Let us know what the birds are doing in your area through a DM on Instagram or an email and you just might get featured on a “From the Blind” article! Good luck to everyone for the rest of the season.
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