Businesses prepare for duck hunting season

PEACH ORCHARD, Ark. (KAIT) - Many across Arkansas are getting excited as duck hunting season starts this Saturday, and businesses are taking notice.

Zachary Sutton and his father opened the Greenhead Lodge in Peach Orchard in 2014 for hunters looking to travel into town.

Sutton said since 2020, things have been rough as the country has been trying to its way out of the pandemic.

“The last few years have been a little bit hard with the COVID and everything going on,” Sutton said. “It feels like things are really starting to pick back up and the floodgates have kind of opened and we have been taking bookings nonstop since about July.”

The lodge can house around 14 people, which some people say will not be enough for the upcoming winter season.

Jim Clifton, the coach of the Black River Trap and Skeet Club, said this season’s crowds might break records.

“People are coming into our area from literally all over,” Clifton said. “You got your Arkansas, then Missouri, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, and Texas are the ones who come here a lot.”

Sutton said duck hunting season is when his family makes a lot of their money, adding it is a financial pillar for many citizens.

“It makes up most of our incomes throughout the year. I know it is not just us either there are so many people who need this,” Sutton said.

At the end of the day, both men hope the conditions cooperate and set them up for a very successful opening weekend.

“Hopefully the cold front up north will push a big front of ducks down and make that opening weekend, you know, something for the books,” Sutton said.

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