Freelance Ecaller Arkansas

Anyone have any experience or advice trying to freelance for snow geese in arkansas? This year is a no go due to work but i figure maybe next year i will have enough time and planning to make a run for 5 days or so of hunting around a weekend up there.

How available is access to snows? I have heard that nobody from arkansas hunts them there and they are like fleas. I have also heard out of state hunters are frowned upon or worse. I know that a few outfits from texas head up there to hunt the ecaller season but i am looking to do it on my own...more fun that way.

We're going up this year. I swapped a guy on another hunting forum a couple alligators in exchange for putting us on snow geese up there. He said we will have 9000 acres of home base but a lot of people planted wheat in that area so getting access to kill them should be no problem. If it works out I will probably try and make the trip every year.

There are a lot of people in Arkansas that chase sky carp. Not a lot of success on public, but getting access to farms is what you want. Guiding in Eastern Arkansas is a way that a lot of folks make their living, similar to Louisiana folks with gator/crawfish/shrimp. A lot of the outfitters, the good ones, have the good land tied up and farmers with crop fields holding snows know that it is worth $$$. Gotta remember that in spring, money is going out the door for farmers in preparation for harvest several months later. I wouldn't expect that you can get free access that time of year, especially in an area that draws that many hunters willing to pay. I have seen a 4'x10' pit blind in Paragould lease for 15K a season.

Booking a guide is what I would do. They will get in one field and you will get a shoot then hop in the trucks and beat the birds to their next field and so on. Kind of fun chasing them, but its a lot of work, anticipation, and sore necks for bending over looking out the windows of the truck with binoculars. It's all worth it though. In Kennett, Missouri I was on a hunt with a friend that utilized 6 properties and about 40 miles of driving with over 150 birds killed by lunch. (We donate the birds to poorer communities and to the shelters for food in case anyone was wondering.)

Getting to see some prime hunting land in Eastern Arkansas is most affordable if you book with an outfitter for snow geese. I have hunted in that area for years and can count on one hand the number of snows I have had the opportunity to shoot at while hunting public.

Just my take on the subject.