vowell462
Senior Member
First off, I apologize for not having any pics to this story. But I'm writing it just to point out some impressive things I found out at Felsenthal NWR last weekend for a quick, 4 morning hunt.
Ive been hitting that place at least once a year since 2003. I know its over hunted, and it gets a bad rep from people, but I was enamored by that place the first time I saw it, so whether the ducks are there or not, I still go. I just like that place.
I'm not much of a camper. But last weekend was kind of a quick, thrown together trip, so my partner and I decided to camp in tents. The system we had is a Wal Mart Ozark Trail setup. You have a 10x10 canopy that one would use at baseball events or gatherings. But they make small, 4 man tents that attach to either side, so you can step out and you are under the canopy. These setups are fairly inexpensive, and positively work.
The ducks were not there in numerous groups. A good number, but not plentiful as ive experienced in the past. Very warm weather. When we hunted Friday, I wore shorts and a t shirt under my waders. A cpl of ducks fell into our spread, but nothing extravagant. Then the weather rolled in. And it rained off and on the rest of the day.
Saturday morning started as a beautiful day. Still, not many birds to hunt, but a beautiful morning in south Arkansas. A few shots taken, a couple of birds killed, but no massacre. When we got back to camp, we decided to cleanup, eat, then get in the boat and do some scouting. While we did that, I did something I never did in all the years Ive went to Felsenthal, and took a spinning rod with a beetle spin. And now, Ill never head back over there without a rod and reel. We absolutely loaded the small jon boat down with some very healthy largemouth bass. I mean every other cast were were reeling one in! It was fantastic, and we found a good timber hole holding a good number of birds. Only problem was, to the landing near the place we wanted to hunt, was about 15 miles from where we were camped. The second problem, as we looked west towards camp, the clouds started rolling in. When we got the boat loaded, we were just in time before the rain started, right at dark.
Heading back just a half mile down the road, our phones started going off with tornado warnings, and the rain was pounding harder. Once we hit the highway that reaches camp, we watched a Picasso of lightening storms over our camp, and the wind was probably 50mph. Halfway to camp down the highway, the rain was so bad were were driving at 20mph, and then here it came. The hail. And I mean HAIL! This stuff was so big we feared it would bust the windshield. In a panic, we turned around to head back to Crossett and seek shelter.
Once safe, and the storm passed, we knew our inexpensive tent setup with all our belongings would be either gone, or destroyed. But would you believe, when we returned, everything was in tact? The ground literally had a couple of inches water all the way around camp. we unzipped our tents thinking our clothes and goods would be ruined, and that we would need to break down and go find a hotel. But they were bone dry. Through all that hail / rain, everything was fine.
The next two mornings were as slow as the first. Not much action on the ducks, but caught some more fish. I really just wrote all this nonsense to give a huge plug to the Ozark Trail brand from Wal-Mart. Ill be buying some more to add to the camping setup. Sometimes, it pays to go cheap.
Ive been hitting that place at least once a year since 2003. I know its over hunted, and it gets a bad rep from people, but I was enamored by that place the first time I saw it, so whether the ducks are there or not, I still go. I just like that place.
I'm not much of a camper. But last weekend was kind of a quick, thrown together trip, so my partner and I decided to camp in tents. The system we had is a Wal Mart Ozark Trail setup. You have a 10x10 canopy that one would use at baseball events or gatherings. But they make small, 4 man tents that attach to either side, so you can step out and you are under the canopy. These setups are fairly inexpensive, and positively work.
The ducks were not there in numerous groups. A good number, but not plentiful as ive experienced in the past. Very warm weather. When we hunted Friday, I wore shorts and a t shirt under my waders. A cpl of ducks fell into our spread, but nothing extravagant. Then the weather rolled in. And it rained off and on the rest of the day.
Saturday morning started as a beautiful day. Still, not many birds to hunt, but a beautiful morning in south Arkansas. A few shots taken, a couple of birds killed, but no massacre. When we got back to camp, we decided to cleanup, eat, then get in the boat and do some scouting. While we did that, I did something I never did in all the years Ive went to Felsenthal, and took a spinning rod with a beetle spin. And now, Ill never head back over there without a rod and reel. We absolutely loaded the small jon boat down with some very healthy largemouth bass. I mean every other cast were were reeling one in! It was fantastic, and we found a good timber hole holding a good number of birds. Only problem was, to the landing near the place we wanted to hunt, was about 15 miles from where we were camped. The second problem, as we looked west towards camp, the clouds started rolling in. When we got the boat loaded, we were just in time before the rain started, right at dark.
Heading back just a half mile down the road, our phones started going off with tornado warnings, and the rain was pounding harder. Once we hit the highway that reaches camp, we watched a Picasso of lightening storms over our camp, and the wind was probably 50mph. Halfway to camp down the highway, the rain was so bad were were driving at 20mph, and then here it came. The hail. And I mean HAIL! This stuff was so big we feared it would bust the windshield. In a panic, we turned around to head back to Crossett and seek shelter.
Once safe, and the storm passed, we knew our inexpensive tent setup with all our belongings would be either gone, or destroyed. But would you believe, when we returned, everything was in tact? The ground literally had a couple of inches water all the way around camp. we unzipped our tents thinking our clothes and goods would be ruined, and that we would need to break down and go find a hotel. But they were bone dry. Through all that hail / rain, everything was fine.
The next two mornings were as slow as the first. Not much action on the ducks, but caught some more fish. I really just wrote all this nonsense to give a huge plug to the Ozark Trail brand from Wal-Mart. Ill be buying some more to add to the camping setup. Sometimes, it pays to go cheap.
