Rice fields come in a variety of shapes and sizes, but for the most part the ones we hunt willrange from 90 acres to as much as 300 acres. Rice is planted when the fields are dry, but once the rice reaches a certain age the fields have shallow floods put on them. In an effort to keep the water as shallow as possible, but still receive the full benefit of the water for the crop the fields have small levies that have been pulled throughout the field. These small levies are commonly referred to as check levies, since they help keep the water in check.

Once the rice has reached a certain point in maturity, the fields are drained and hopefully dry up before the harvest begins. If a field is going to be flooded for ducks the farmers normally try to avoid driving their combines across the levies, since we need the same levy system for duck water that was used for growing the rice. Rice in this part of Arkansas usually has excellent production, often reaching or exceeding 200 bushels per acre. Even with recent advancements in equipment in equipment, there is still an unusual amount of rice spilled or dropped during the harvest process and that’s what the ducks are after.

From a hunting standpoint a rice field will normally provide opportunity to see more numbers of birds than will flooded timber. Once reason is the field and area around them are so open. With the vast open area around the fields it’s not uncommon to see birds at much greater distances than if you have the trees blocking a lot of your view. You will normally see a greater variety of birds in the rice fields as well. For example, out of all my years guiding and hunting, I have only seen two pintails killed in the timber. However, in a flood rice field it’s not uncommon for everyone to have a chance at their bird. In fact, there are a lot of days that you will see enough flocks of pintail that you may wonder why the Feds tell us there’s a shortage.

When hunting the shallow rice fields it’s not uncommon to see teal, widgeon, mallards, gadwall, snowand blue geese and specks (white fronted geese) as well. You will also find that even though many of these birds are high fliers that are a pretty good ways off, they will still respond to calling.

To hunt the rice fields we use custom built steel tanks we call pits. The tanks are designed with the hunters in mind and with the bulk of the tank being under water/ground, they are very low profile. The pits have wings on both sides of them that we cover with grass mats so they will blend better with the natural stubble left in the fields after harvest. To shoot, the wings open up and you go from a sitting position to shooting from a standing position. All of our pits have a dog box in each end, which also doubles as a step to allow easier access to the seating area.

The water depth in the rice fields will vary from a couple of inches to as much as eight inches. Depending on the condition of the field during harvest, some of the fields will provide for level hard bottoms while others will be soft, muddy and full of tire ruts. Thus we use all terrain vehicles to transport you to and from the pits.