It would take a hunter with a strong back, a deep wallet and weeks of accumulated vacation time to set foot on every public shooting ground in the state of Arkansas during one duck season.

In fact, a quick perusal of a couple of guidebooks and Web sites revealed the possibilities to number at least in the 40s. That means a hunter could almost try his or her luck in a different location every single day of a season under liberal restrictions.

Yes, Arkansas is blessed with an abundance of public places that offer duck hunting opportunities to the wader-wearing crowd. But these wildlife management areas and national wildlife refuges are not just a trendy fashion of recent years. Instead, they are as firmly rooted in the Natural State's soil and its duck hunters as the rice fields of the Arkansas Grand Prairie. The history surrounding their existence begins over a half-century ago.

PUBLIC DUCK HUNTING HISTORY
White River National Wildlife Refuge was established by the federal government in 1935, its primary objective being "to provide optimum habitat for migratory birds consistent with the overall objectives of the Mississippi Flyway," according to information found on the refuge's Web site, www.fws.gov/white river/.

By running along the east and west sides of the lower White River in eastern Arkansas, the refuge protects more than 160,000 acres of bottomland hardwoods -- a habitat type that was almost wiped out twice in the 20th century, first by logging and then by the surge in soybean acreage.

With White River NWR in place, public duck hunting opportunities abound in the form of flooded green timber areas whenever the river spills over its banks. However, the refuge also offers other settings in which to bag ducks -- cypress- and tupelo-lined sloughs, bayous and oxbow lakes.

Furthermore, the refuge's Web site touts White River NWR as holding "the largest concentration of wintering mallard ducks in the Mississippi Flyway."

Therefore, with ducks using the area's waters in high-water or low-water conditions, it is easy to see that this is a prime choice for duck hunters using these public grounds that spread across Desha, Monroe, Arkansas and Phillips counties.

On the state side of public hunting grounds, the flagship of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's waterfowl program undoubtedly is Bayou Meto WMA.

This area, also commonly referred to as "the Scatters," is so important that authors Steve Bowman and Steve Wright provided ample coverage on Bayou Meto in their Arkansas Duck Hunter's Almanac, calling it "the most popular duck hunting area in the state" and "the best public duck hunting ground in the U.S."

Roughly 34,000 acres of ground, then known as Bayou Meto Flat, was purchased by the AGFC in 1948, much of it at $7 per acre, for the purpose of providing public duck hunting land. The WMA relies on various water control structures to capture rainwater and utilize it to flood between 10,000 and 12,000 acres of green timber.

The WMA holds ducks well because of the addition of Halowell Reservoir, purchased in 1957 and refurbished in the last few years, and Wrape Plantation, which will likely see renovations in the coming years. These two impoundments serve as rest areas for waterfowl. Lying in the bottoms south of Stuttgart, Bayou Meto WMA is sandwiched between the major duck corridors of the White River and the Arkansas River. It can be accessed by boat or on foot, with walk-in areas at locations that reflect the area's significance and history -- spots like Vallier School Impoundment, Buckingham Flats, Mulberry Turnaround and Long Bell Turnaround.