WILLOW SLOUGH FWA
Our third spot for late-season waterfowling is located in Newton County near the Illinois border. Willow Slough FWA totals nearly 10,000 acres and is home to the 1,100-acre J.C. Murphey Lake — although it may be more aptly called wetlands than a lake. It has an average depth of less than 3 feet.

Willow Slough can offer plenty of waterfowl hunting opportunity when weather conditions are right. The FWA does not have a large watershed and is fed by very little run-off. The area is almost totally dependent on rainfall to keep the wetlands areas holding enough water for waterfowl.

Another problem for the area is the amount of sandy soil. In years with a lack of rain, the area has a real tendency to dry out. Last season, the lake dropped some 21 inches by the end of October. However, when there is plenty of water, there are usually plenty of waterfowl.

Two shooting areas on the property that are especially popular with duck hunters are the Rookery and Salisbury. They are hooked up to the lake and divided by a levee. They typically dry out in the spring and are planted in corn and sometimes in sorghum. If there’s enough water in the lake in the fall to divert, gates are opened that refill these areas and provide a huge attraction for waterfowl.

The area experienced a little drop-off in visiting waterfowl while the lake was drained for a couple of years to purge rough fish and do some renovations. Now, it’s just a matter of waiting for the waterfowl to find the area and get acclimated to coming there again.

During the renovation, FWA personnel were able to work on restoring some of the habitat to make the area more attractive to waterfowl. Much of the prime vegetation, such as willows, smartweed, cattail, rushes and others, grew up during renovation. The waterfowl numbers there are rebounding and should hopefully continue to grow this season.

Many teal already use the area in the early season. Later in the season, the area attracts a number of different puddle ducks with mallards being the most predominant species. Duck hunters also occasionally take a few divers there, including ringnecks and scaup.

There are a fair number of resident geese at and near the area and account for the bulk of the goose harvest. The area doesn’t really attract too many interior geese. Most of the migrant geese that pass through the FWA are Mississippi Valley Flyway birds, but there are occasionally a few birds from the SJBP.

There are many hunting options at Willow Slough, but very little is freelance. There is a reservation hunt that must be applied for in advance. Most all other waterfowl hunting is by being selected in a daily drawing, which usually occurs at 4:30 a.m. each day. There is sometimes a second drawing around midday when afternoon hunts are offered, but those are mainly early in the fall during teal season.

Most statewide regulations apply, but there are a few site regulations utilized as well. Hunters are required to check in and out daily and there is a limit of 15 shotshells per hunter per day. Not all areas of the property are hunted every day and shooting hours vary and are adjusted as necessary throughout the season. There are nine permanent blind hunting locations on the two aforementioned shooting areas. A variety of hunting options are used on the main lake, but can vary depending on emergent vegetation and water level.

Most hunting is done in either permanent or floating blinds. However, hunters are allowed to bring their own boats. Some of the hunting locations are simply marked by stakes and drawn hunters are required to hunt at their assigned stakes. These stakes are typically located in adequate cover on either dry land or shallow-water areas. Although some people make use of some portable blind materials, most folks just walk or wade in and “hunker down” at the stake in the available natural cover.

There are a number of other great late-season hunting locations in our state. The three detailed above make great starting spots, but others may “get right” as the season progresses and weather conditions dictate. Much of our waterfowl hunting success is weather-dependent, so let’s hope for ideal conditions so we can get out there and find those birds!