I have read about this area before as a refuge that a family owns and hunts like twice a week. Does it still hold the ducks it used to in the past? I have heard it used to hold hundreds of thousands of ducks each fall and was amazing to see.
claypool
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I personally don't know anyone who has permission to hunt it, but there are several private places in the Stuttgart area that year after year produce very good hunts. Of course you have to be where the ducks want to be so I would guess that Claypool still holds ducks like it used to. Some people are just lucky to have holes like that!
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If you have ever seen the picture with more than 100,000 ducks falling in to the timber, that has been made popular by DU and other commercialized sporting good stores, then you have seen Claypools Reservoir. The story goes something like this:
On the first Wide World of Sports aired sometime in the 70's the anchormen wanted 100,000 or more ducks in front of their camera "LIVE" when they turned them on. this was more than a small undertaking, it took several weeks of baiting and other management practices to get this many ducks into one area, but alas when the cameras turned on, the picture you now see circulating everywhere is what the television audience got to see live on national TV.
I do like the fact that so many uninformed people think that claypools reservoir is located in the Stuttgart area, because it keeps them from hunting the "TRUE" duck capital and that is NE Arkansas. THAAAATS right Claypools Reservoir is located in NE Arkansas, about 2.5 miles NE of Weiner. It is still a beautiful place located in a nice setting, but there is not as much flooded timber there as there used to be and when the times are right, yed there are still ducks there by the hundreds.
As far as the reservoir getting hunted, I do not know, but I do know the fields surrounding it get hunted quite heavily.
Not much to say, just a little history lesson I thought you might find enjoyable to read.
On the first Wide World of Sports aired sometime in the 70's the anchormen wanted 100,000 or more ducks in front of their camera "LIVE" when they turned them on. this was more than a small undertaking, it took several weeks of baiting and other management practices to get this many ducks into one area, but alas when the cameras turned on, the picture you now see circulating everywhere is what the television audience got to see live on national TV.
I do like the fact that so many uninformed people think that claypools reservoir is located in the Stuttgart area, because it keeps them from hunting the "TRUE" duck capital and that is NE Arkansas. THAAAATS right Claypools Reservoir is located in NE Arkansas, about 2.5 miles NE of Weiner. It is still a beautiful place located in a nice setting, but there is not as much flooded timber there as there used to be and when the times are right, yed there are still ducks there by the hundreds.
As far as the reservoir getting hunted, I do not know, but I do know the fields surrounding it get hunted quite heavily.
Not much to say, just a little history lesson I thought you might find enjoyable to read.
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Thanks for the info auctioneer! I didn't know that they baited to get those ducks in there for that famous picture...lol
I knew Claypool was somewhere around Weiner in NE Arkansas...I was referring to the type of private grounds Stuttgart has. The McCollum's in Stuttgart have land that produce ducks year after year when the average hunters are lucky to shoot only a few during those slow seasons.
I hear you Northeast AR boys have been hammering them pretty much all season this year! :thumbsup: We've finally got some birds on the White River! I shot my limit Saturday and Sunday mornings by 8:30. Saturday morning I didn't expect to see as many Mallards as I did so I shot scrap ducks early and had to just watch group after group of Mallards light in the decoys. Got some good video Saturday. I was gritting my teeth watching all the greenheads and not being able to shoot anymore...lol I will be at work VERY little these last two weeks of the season! :thumbsup:
I knew Claypool was somewhere around Weiner in NE Arkansas...I was referring to the type of private grounds Stuttgart has. The McCollum's in Stuttgart have land that produce ducks year after year when the average hunters are lucky to shoot only a few during those slow seasons.
I hear you Northeast AR boys have been hammering them pretty much all season this year! :thumbsup: We've finally got some birds on the White River! I shot my limit Saturday and Sunday mornings by 8:30. Saturday morning I didn't expect to see as many Mallards as I did so I shot scrap ducks early and had to just watch group after group of Mallards light in the decoys. Got some good video Saturday. I was gritting my teeth watching all the greenheads and not being able to shoot anymore...lol I will be at work VERY little these last two weeks of the season! :thumbsup:
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I hunt on on a farm bordering the southwest corner Claypool Reservoir and it is still very private and hunted on a very limited basis. The last two years since they have signed the Conservation Easment with DU, I haven't heard much shooting at all. It is still holding a lot of ducks and this is what keeps us in the ducks along with our own reservoir and plenty of fields holding water. They leave in the evening and return in the morning. It is 5 miles east of Weiner and about 5 miles northwest of Harrisburg. Flying over it, it does not look like the picture anymore. Most of the timber are stumps and a lot of buckbrush. The farm to the east of us next to the L'Anguille River has signed up for the WRP program and needed to, because it has a steep grade to it. Chase club is just south of it and is a 600 acre club primarily timber. There are many fields to the north and east that are also hunted pretty heavily. I have not seen the usual tornado of ducks in the last 3-4 years that I normally do. There is also another large green timber club to the west of Claypool. We have had plenty of ducks this year, but like most in the area we have good days and bad. Seeing is one thing and killing is another. Great area to hunt ducks in my own opinion.
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Years ago I hunted adjacent to Claypool and at just before dark the sky always seemed to fill with ducks (like you might see Black Birds). It was truly amazing. One of my best buddies lives in Harrisburg which is very close to Claypool and has a friend that works or guides (not sure which) at Claypool and the past few years the hunting has been sort of slow. WE hunt north of Jonesboro on farms along the Cache and Black River all the way to the city of Knobel.
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auctioneer took the words right out of my mouth. If y'all are interested in the history of duck hunting in Arkansas pick up a copy of "The Duck Hunter's Almanac". I bought mine a couple of years ago and it is a great read. Lots of good info. and GREAT old pictures.
Even though i am family, i still do not get to hunt claypools every year. i have been 4 times and i have been duck hunting since i was little. Johnny Riley is my great grandfather, and does not allow me to hunt unless a person who owns a duck hole in the timber allows it
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Auctioneer, it was Wide Wide World hosted by Dave Garroway and was aired on Dec. 23, 1956 with a live hook-up to New York.
The birds weren't baited but they were all run out of the timber at a prescribed time and broadcast live. A lot went into it and was estimated that there were between a quarter million to 350,000 ducks on the open reservoir. Most all Mallards.
We hunt around it now and I regard Johnny Riley as a friend and legend. I've been blessed hearing a lot of stories from him as well as some of the others in the area. I always enjoy dropping in and sharing a cup of coffee. Have had the privilige of hunting there four times and is certainly hallowed ground. It always has ducks and we hold a lot of birds in the area as well with lot of the nearby clubs, including my L'Anguille Lounge, that don't shoot in the afternoon. We usually don't have to!
The birds weren't baited but they were all run out of the timber at a prescribed time and broadcast live. A lot went into it and was estimated that there were between a quarter million to 350,000 ducks on the open reservoir. Most all Mallards.
We hunt around it now and I regard Johnny Riley as a friend and legend. I've been blessed hearing a lot of stories from him as well as some of the others in the area. I always enjoy dropping in and sharing a cup of coffee. Have had the privilige of hunting there four times and is certainly hallowed ground. It always has ducks and we hold a lot of birds in the area as well with lot of the nearby clubs, including my L'Anguille Lounge, that don't shoot in the afternoon. We usually don't have to!
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