As deer season winds down, duck season is just starting to warm up in south zone

Now that the firearm deer season has ended, duck hunters like Don Brown, Clinton, are ready for the duck season in the south zone that opened Friday.

"I opened the season last month in the north zone near Fountain Grove and had a good opening day.

We ended the day with five ducks, each including six teal. When the middle zone opened, I hunted near Four Rivers and had another good day.

Now, I'm ready to open the south zone season on Stockton. Although we haven't seen a lot of ducks, the cold front Thanksgiving should have brought some new birds to the area, I hope so," he said.

Brown would like to see another good season like he had last year when he set up a blind in a cove and had some good days and just a few slow ones.

"There was a wide variety of ducks using the lake," he said. " I counted seven different species of ducks we shot including mallards, teal, wood ducks, gadwall, wigeon, scaup and a couple pintails."

Brown and a friend, Harold Williams, Bolivar, like to hunt flooded timber near the Osage River where they have had some memorable hunts.

"The first time we tried this kind of duck hunting we were hooked and go back when the water conditions are right. On our first wade-in hunt we were the only hunters in the area. Just as the sky began to lighten, I leaned against an old oak tree where I had hung my gear.

Since there had been a full moon the night before, the mallards had been feeding in the surrounding fields all night.

As the sun began to rise, the birds started to return to the flooded timber to get water and rest and we were ready for them," he said.

It was a clear day and as the sun appeared over the horizon, the first flights arrived. Hunters who do this type of hunting know that sunny days are the best unlike most types of duck hunting where if you aren't suffering, then the hunting isn't too good.

Williams said, "Those mallards were intent on dropping into the hole in the timber where we were hunting. They would hang above the dozen decoys and made almost embarrassing easy shots.

I wished I had brought my video camera, it would have made one of the great duck hunting video shows ever made."

Brown pointed out that he had seen film of timber hunting around Stuttgard, Arkansas, but it couldn't have been much better than we had it right here in west central Missouri.

Both hunters agreed that this should be one of the better seasons in several years with the number of ducks heading south this fall showing a big increase over the past 10 years.

"We have already had a good season, but there's still a lot of time left," Williams said.

The duck season in the north zone ends Sunday, the middle zone on Dec. 1 and the south zone runs through Jan. 21.