Hatchie River

[Tanner99]

How is the hunting along the hatchie river near the refuge. Not talking about hunting in the refuge, just both upstream and downstream from it. Does the hunting have any potential to be good? Also, can you just find a bend in the river and hunt from your boat as you please?

 

[TNGunsmoke]

If it gets cold enough for everything else around to freeze up, the Hatchie can be fantastic. I've drift shot down stream a few times, boat not under power, hit the trolling motor to navigate around obstacles. You can anchor up along a bank, but usually the ground is private land and if you get out, you're trespassing. You can throw some decoys, but you're gonna need some fairly heavy weights because of the current.

 

[Chaneylake]

It can daily be all you want if the weather hits.
Just pick a location where the sun is to your back.
Cloudy days can be worthless unless snowing or sleeting

 

[hard county]

A good blind in that area with good hunters will kill 200 ducks a year. In my experience the hatchie is way better when the river is out of its banks.

 

[tickweed]

No doubt, nothing like it was back during the sevenitys, eightys. I hunted it for years, had the jones farm leased beside clover creek. Had a field, best year ever was 400. Across the river was the armor field. Was killing 1000 many years. All that's gone now. Mallard estates is doing as well now as anyone in the bottom, planting lots of corn across from refuge, and they struggled last year. The hatchie just doesnt have the ducks above the refuge anymore. High, low it just has lost the flyway. When l was a boy, the bottom was full of ducks. It's just changed

.

 

[Remington700]

I grew up duck hunting the Hatchie between Hornsby and Bolivar. We hunted the Mitchell farm primarily. Killed lots of ducks when the water was out of the banks. I have not hunted that area in years, but hear it is not what it once was.

 

[tickweed]

I grew up duck hunting the Hatchie between Hornsby and Bolivar. We hunted the Mitchell farm primarily. Killed lots of ducks when the water was out of the banks. I have not hunted that area in years, but hear it is not what it once was.

George and Gem Mitchell?

 

[Chaneylake]

River out of banks, cold freezing weather push

Nothing no better.

 

[Remington700]

George and Gem Mitchell?

Its the farm off Little Hatchie Loop.

 

[Tennessee280]

I grew up duck hunting the Hatchie between Hornsby and Bolivar. We hunted the Mitchell farm primarily. Killed lots of ducks when the water was out of the banks. I have not hunted that area in years, but hear it is not what it once was.

I rabbit hunted with mike mitchell down there a few yrs ago, if its the same one then that's one awesome place!!

 

[SKFOOTER]

I rabbit hunted with mike mitchell down there a few yrs ago, if its the same one then that's one awesome place!!

Not the same place.

 

[Tennessee280]

Not the same

I gotcha, the one I was at was where TWRA released some turkeys back in the 80's or so to help get the population going, pretty cool.. and one BA huuuuuuuuggee farm

 

[BigBusch]

There are a handful of decent days every year & they're unpredictable, you've just got to be there when they happen. I hunt primarily around HWY 64 ramp & south of that. However, I did secure a spot in a lease downriver closer to MEO this year. Hoping for a change of luck, which is doubtful, but not impossible.

 

[BigBusch]

No doubt, nothing like it was back during the sevenitys, eightys. I hunted it for years, had the jones farm leased beside clover creek. Had a field, best year ever was 400. Across the river was the armor field. Was killing 1000 many years. All that's gone now. Mallard estates is doing as well now as anyone in the bottom, planting lots of corn across from refuge, and they struggled last year. The hatchie just doesnt have the ducks above the refuge anymore. High, low it just has lost the flyway. When l was a boy, the bottom was full of ducks. It's just changed

.

I have heard many stories about that part of the bottom, such as Herb Parsons frequenting Armour field. What are some of your stories from that area? I grew up hunting the bottoms south of 100 all the way past 64 down towards Big Bend. We will shoot a few here & there but it's mostly stories of yesteryear. If SKFOOTER will put his head to it, he will know who I am

 

[tickweed]

I remember back in the early seventys, I would be sitting in a stand, waiting for daylight, I could hear ducks all in the bottom, ducks in the air chattering. A timber company was cutting timber on one of these tracts, and had the logging road rutted out bad, water standing in all the ruts. I'd slip just inside the woods, see hundreds sitting in those puddles. I remember, maybe SKFOOTER will help me, maybe 1976, everything in West Tn. froze solid, except the Hatchie river. Canadas where on the river by the hundreds. I was 16, put a 12 foot flat bottom, 5 horse montgomery ward motor in at hwy 100. To be legal, u could float, no motor running. Bottom out bad, 15 degrees, ice sheets bigger than the boat floating down the river. Only survived I figure cause God was watching over me. LOL. I approached that first bend below the bridge, and there was so many geese in the river, you could have walked across the river. They started getting up, and looked like planes they where so big. I just started shooting, never killed a goose. Every bend had geese, but they would get up, course Im not hid, or anything. when I started that big 5 hp up, the current was so strong, it just held me in place. I got inside the timber, and finally got back to the ramp. Yes, Herbs old clubhouse has long fell into the river there at that big bend at Armour field. The river finally cut thru that big point. A good friend has had Armour field leased for years, still does, but kill very few. Not even a hundred a season, way off of the days back in the eighties, ninetys. In 1999, we had the biggest fall flight index in years, it was unreal. As much as I have duck hunted in my life, and all the good days, the second opening day that yr, a major front came in that Fri. nite, with heavy rain. It stopped bout an hour before daylite. Temps falling like a rock, brutal air pouring in. We got in the blind before daylite, as I stood up in my hole before lite, all I could hear was chattering. At shooting time, barely lite enough to see, a group of at least 100 fell in. We didnt hit nothing. By the time we reloaded, happened again. Nonstop. We where so torn up, we could not hit anything. We shot every shell we had, 8 guys, ending with finally a limit at lunch. Had the largest group I have every seen try and work, at least 3-4 hundred. The next morning, not a duck. Gone. What a memory. I gotta take a break. Im getting to excited. LOL

 

[BigBusch]

I remember back in the early seventys, I would be sitting in a stand, waiting for daylight, I could hear ducks all in the bottom, ducks in the air chattering. A timber company was cutting timber on one of these tracts, and had the logging road rutted out bad, water standing in all the ruts. I'd slip just inside the woods, see hundreds sitting in those puddles. I remember, maybe SKFOOTER will help me, maybe 1976, everything in West Tn. froze solid, except the Hatchie river. Canadas where on the river by the hundreds. I was 16, put a 12 foot flat bottom, 5 horse montgomery ward motor in at hwy 100. To be legal, u could float, no motor running. Bottom out bad, 15 degrees, ice sheets bigger than the boat floating down the river. Only survived I figure cause God was watching over me. LOL. I approached that first bend below the bridge, and there was so many geese in the river, you could have walked across the river. They started getting up, and looked like planes they where so big. I just started shooting, never killed a goose. Every bend had geese, but they would get up, course Im not hid, or anything. when I started that big 5 hp up, the current was so strong, it just held me in place. I got inside the timber, and finally got back to the ramp. Yes, Herbs old clubhouse has long fell into the river there at that big bend at Armour field. The river finally cut thru that big point. A good friend has had Armour field leased for years, still does, but kill very few. Not even a hundred a season, way off of the days back in the eighties, ninetys. In 1999, we had the biggest fall flight index in years, it was unreal. As much as I have duck hunted in my life, and all the good days, the second opening day that yr, a major front came in that Fri. nite, with heavy rain. It stopped bout an hour before daylite. Temps falling like a rock, brutal air pouring in. We got in the blind before daylite, as I stood up in my hole before lite, all I could hear was chattering. At shooting time, barely lite enough to see, a group of at least 100 fell in. We didnt hit nothing. By the time we reloaded, happened again. Nonstop. We where so torn up, we could not hit anything. We shot every shell we had, 8 guys, ending with finally a limit at lunch. Had the largest group I have every seen try and work, at least 3-4 hundred. The next morning, not a duck. Gone. What a memory. I gotta take a break. Im getting to excited. LOL

Wow, great stories. Hard to imagine it was like that if you hunt down here now. I have had a couple of days in the bottom of 20, 30, 40 ducks, but nothing consistent. Like you stated, here today gone tomorrow. I remember the week before Christmas several years ago, our blind that yr had killed 5 or 6 all week. The weekend crowd arrived, shot half a dozen mallards and saw a bunch. 7 mallard limits the next day. And only one wood duck the next. It's hard to understand but it's what keeps us hunting in this part of the bottom, the good days still happen it's just a matter of being there when they do. However, I have to believe it will eventually come back. Maybe not to the extent it once was, but all we can do is hope. I believe duck hunting on the upper Hatchie has suffered a more rapid decline with the establishment of Mallard Estates. They are the last major source of food/rest area headed up the bottom. There is nothing on a large scale to entice ducks to continue beyond that point.

 

[Crosshairy]

Wow, great stories. Hard to imagine it was like that if you hunt down here now. I have had a couple of days in the bottom of 20, 30, 40 ducks, but nothing consistent. Like you stated, here today gone tomorrow. I remember the week before Christmas several years ago, our blind that yr had killed 5 or 6 all week. The weekend crowd arrived, shot half a dozen mallards and saw a bunch. 7 mallard limits the next day. And only one wood duck the next. It's hard to understand but it's what keeps us hunting in this part of the bottom, the good days still happen it's just a matter of being there when they do. However, I have to believe it will eventually come back. Maybe not to the extent it once was, but all we can do is hope. I believe duck hunting on the upper Hatchie has suffered a more rapid decline with the establishment of Mallard Estates. They are the last major source of food/rest area headed up the bottom. There is nothing on a large scale to entice ducks to continue beyond that point.

I wonder if the extensive refuge system along the MS River corridor has pulled more of the ducks away from the "old" migration paths.

If it makes you feel any better, I have had some really sorry hunts along the MS River the past few years myself, so it's hard to say what factors are location versus just overall poor duck migrations through this area in general.

Fortunately, duck hunting is a social / team event. If it were deer hunting without seeing deer, I'd just quit after multiple years of failure and go do something else (small game, probably). But since I can hang out with my buddies and see beautiful sights and have hilarious stories to tell, I would go even if I almost never killed a bird.

That's the "secret" of duck hunting that most folks don't get. They think it's about shooting ducks, but it's really not just the birds that makes it such a fun pastime.

 

[tickweed]

I wonder if the extensive refuge system along the MS River corridor has pulled more of the ducks away from the "old" migration paths.

If it makes you feel any better, I have had some really sorry hunts along the MS River the past few years myself, so it's hard to say what factors are location versus just overall poor duck migrations through this area in general.

Fortunately, duck hunting is a social / team event. If it were deer hunting without seeing deer, I'd just quit after multiple years of failure and go do something else (small game, probably). But since I can hang out with my buddies and see beautiful sights and have hilarious stories to tell, I would go even if I almost never killed a bird.

That's the "secret" of duck hunting that most folks don't get. They think it's about shooting ducks, but it's really not just the birds that makes it such a fun pastime.

so true. Ive often refered to it as kinda like boys having a clubhouse. A social event. Food, cutting up, having a good time, and those days with ducks make it so wonderful.

 

[BigBusch]

It would be nice to see TWRA utilize Gray's Creek as a refuge or even a weekend hunt like Horn's Bluff. It's sitting useless, overgrown with saplings & brush. Beyond Mallard Estates, the big ag tracts (Armour, Big Bend, Mitchell Farm) got put in trees and lost their natural draw IMO. Nothing past the NWR entices ducks to follow the river further. Very few using the Massey farm/CattleCo when it's holding water, couple of us plant some small patches of food, but nothing substantial. A refuge in the Bolivar area would serve well as an attempt to reconnect us to Hatchie NWR and possibly onto Big Hill Pond & the confluence of the Hatchie, Muddy Creek & Tuscumbia channel. Always heard stories of waves of ducks following the water up & down the bottom. Have seen it very few times when I was young, never in recent memory. The upper Hatchie is a ghost town. Nothing can hurt to try at this point.

 

[TNGunsmoke]

It would be nice to see TWRA utilize Gray's Creek as a refuge or even a weekend hunt like Horn's Bluff. It's sitting useless, overgrown with saplings & brush.

The South Fork Waterfowl Refuge on 412 is the same way. Needs a lot of work to get it usable again.

 

[BigBusch]

The South Fork Waterfowl Refuge on 412 is the same way. Needs a lot of work to get it usable again.

I don't think TWRA realizes that if they gave the opportunity, the public would volunteer equipment & time to help with these projects. Or maybe they do, and don't care, since small refuges aren't their cash cows. Hunters would carry out these tasks much more diligently than the agency. Not to beat a dead horse, but we are about to see the decline of WMA's housing draw blinds. No more local hunters maintaining access roads, ramps, boat ditches, building blinds & river ladders, etc. due to agency overreach.

 

[tickweed]

It would be nice to see TWRA utilize Gray's Creek as a refuge or even a weekend hunt like Horn's Bluff. It's sitting useless, overgrown with saplings & brush. Beyond Mallard Estates, the big ag tracts (Armour, Big Bend, Mitchell Farm) got put in trees and lost their natural draw IMO. Nothing past the NWR entices ducks to follow the river further. Very few using the Massey farm/CattleCo when it's holding water, couple of us plant some small patches of food, but nothing substantial. A refuge in the Bolivar area would serve well as an attempt to reconnect us to Hatchie NWR and possibly onto Big Hill Pond & the confluence of the Hatchie, Muddy Creek & Tuscumbia channel. Always heard stories of waves of ducks following the water up & down the bottom. Have seen it very few times when I was young, never in recent memory. The upper Hatchie is a ghost town. Nothing can hurt to try at this point.

So true. All of the big draws in the upper have long been gone. All the major ag fields now planted in trees, which dont seem to be doing well either.

 

[BigBusch]

So true. All of the big draws in the upper have long been gone. All the major ag fields now planted in trees, which dont seem to be doing well either.

It was a quick profitable solution for farmers & landowners tired of losing crop IMO. Nobody realized the effects would be felt so strongly. Maybe it seemed logical to plant oaks & other trees, but ash, willows, and others have beat the oaks out by far. Nothing but wet thickets now, no chance for them to dry out. That soft ground will never support the large root system a useful tree produces. Must've been drawn up by rabbit hunters!

 

[tickweed]

I love that bottom with all my heart. I was raised hunting it. Will always be my favorite place on this earth. When I was younger, I had a farm known as the jones farm I leased, and overseen for years. Beside clover creek where it hits the river. I was a young man, supporting a family, barley getting by, had a nice small field fixed up. Mr. jones was older, told me he would sell me the fifty acres across the creek for 1000 an acre. I wanted it so bad, but just as well been 500,000. He told me he wanted me one day to have it, his kids didnt care, and they didnt. He passed a few yrs, later. His boys told me to draw out what I wanted, They would sell it to me for what there Dad had offered. I sent them a letter, drew out the fifty across the creek. in a few days boys called me, told me to call there realtor, make an offer. I called a big realtor out of bolivar, told me to forget it. He was selling whole farm. and he did, 525,000. Greed. So, I always have had a bad taste over that deal, but i still go to that tract sometimes, sit and think bout all the good days Igot to have.