# Pit lease in Arkansas?



## RLykens (Feb 3, 2017)

Thinking about maybe leasing a pit in Arkansas next season. What are y'alls experiences in doing this?


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## GADawg08 (Feb 3, 2017)

are you talking about leasing a pit for the season, or just 1 or 2 trips?


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## Gaducker (Feb 3, 2017)

For what they cost I just cant see commiting to one field ALL season long.  Unless you gots money enough to lease in different sections of the state or different states altogether.    JB can answer this question better because he has leased out of state pits for many years.


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## Duckbuster82 (Feb 3, 2017)

Pit cost are determined by how well they produced in the past. But just because they produced before does not mean it will every year. There are a lot of factors that make them produce. How the crop faired is important but so is the water level in the area. If there is no water for birds to roost and loaf on they will most likely not use the area to feed. Most good clubs will lease pits in different areas to help increase the odds of having a pit in a productive area.


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## hrstille (Feb 3, 2017)

#of trips you plan to make will determine if it worth it. I like season leases. I can go when I want, when the weather is right, ect ect. I go in with a group of guys and we get leases. We talk with with tons of guys and farmers then pick leases. We lay basic ground rules for the group and split all cost. It has worked well for us. We also hunt 30 days minimum. I can't see only hunting a few days or leasing by myself being beneficial.


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## mizzippi jb (Feb 3, 2017)

Here's my thoughts on leasing ground in Mississippi or Arkansas.  I've done everything from run a club to lease 1 field by myself.  I can't ever see leasing just 1 field ever again.  You may be sitting on a field that has never produced that a farmer just stuck a pit in for some OOS sucker to lease.  Seen it happen many times. I've learned through a lot of trial and error  that it's best to have hunting spots spread out over as far as you feel comfortable driving (within 45 minutes). The field you can drive a 4 wheeler to from where you stay may be empty, but the area 20 minutes down the road could be covered up.  Ducks congregate around different things....sometimes snow goose feeds, other times where a different food or roost is available. I was in a club for a while where everything was within 5 minutes of the lodge, it was either feast or famine.  When the ducks were in the immediate area, it was hot.  When it wasn't, you could ride around 30 minutes in different directions and find ducks somewhere, but t all our eggs were in the 1 basket.  Frustrating.  So being spread out is a huge plus in my opinion.  I would suggest finding (or starting) a club that has like minded members and produces good numbers.  A club with lodging is gonna cost you about the same thing as it does to lease a crappy pit (by yourself) and still have to pay for hotels.   Another thing is a pit isn't always a good thing. Ducks get pit shy quick when they're getting shot at and haven't moved from the area.  Having a couple fields in your arsenal that has a good tree line or brushy levy for layouts is huge around the first of January.


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## Duckbuster82 (Feb 3, 2017)

hrstille said:


> #of trips you plan to make will determine if it worth it. I like season leases. I can go when I want, when the weather is right, ect ect. I go in with a group of guys and we get leases. We talk with with tons of guys and farmers then pick leases. We lay basic ground rules for the group and split all cost. It has worked well for us. We also hunt 30 days minimum. I can't see only hunting a few days or leasing by myself being beneficial.



How many pits are y'all hunting to get in thirty days of hunting?


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## Arrow3 (Feb 3, 2017)

Mine and Jb's friend Todd leased a pit in Newport,  Arkansas this season. It was pitiful.  He let me go out and hunt it for 3 days and I had the best hunt of anyone killing only 9 birds. I think he went out twice and just killed 3 total. I hate he got burned on it like he did. I'm just gonna stick to hunting public land. Me and a buddy hunted 3 days the last week of the season and killed 26 even in the bad conditions . Best thing about that is just being able to move around and find birds.


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## mizzippi jb (Feb 3, 2017)

Arrow3 said:


> Mine and Jb's friend Todd leased a pit in Newport,  Arkansas this season. It was pitiful.  He let me go out and hunt it for 3 days and I had the best hunt of anyone killing only 9 birds. I think he went out twice and just killed 3 total. I hate he got burned on it like he did. I'm just gonna stick to hunting public land. Me and a buddy hunted 3 days the last week of the season and killed 26 even in the bad conditions . Best thing about that is just being able to move around and find birds.



I warned him....bad thing is I knew the guy he leased from and warned him on that as well.  But Todd gonna do what Todd wanna do, and he did.


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## hrstille (Feb 3, 2017)

Duckbuster82 said:


> How many pits are y'all hunting to get in thirty days of hunting?


We only had 1 pit. We had dry fields for geese and some timber holes. I don't mind hunting from a pit but I love timber.


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## Duckbuster82 (Feb 3, 2017)

What kind of numbers did you get from the pit shooting it so often?


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## hrstille (Feb 3, 2017)

Right around 200. I think the pit got hunted about 25 to 30 days total.


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## RLykens (Feb 4, 2017)

Public land doesn't sound bad either just really was wondering what everyone's experiences were out of curiosity. Lots of good info here.


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## Hunter247 (Feb 5, 2017)

Do you know a lot about the area you get thinking about? Or is it random?


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## Hooked On Quack (Feb 5, 2017)

There's nothing like pulling up to your lease blind/pit after driving 10-12 hrs and seeing a 100 hulls and feathers floating around . .  Never again.


I'll pay the $$ to stay in a nice lodge, eat great groceries, and have somebody else to do the hard work.  I'm getting too gimped up. 



BUT then again, I don't hunt near as much as JB and a lot of ya'll anymore.


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## mizzippi jb (Feb 5, 2017)

Hooked On Quack said:


> There's nothing like pulling up to your lease blind/pit after driving 10-12 hrs and seeing a 100 hulls and feathers floating around . .  Never again.
> 
> 
> I'll pay the $$ to stay in a nice lodge, eat great groceries, and have somebody else to do the hard work.  I'm getting too gimped up.
> ...



You could alays just let me tag along with the rich folks


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## Hooked On Quack (Feb 6, 2017)

mizzippi jb said:


> You could alays just let me tag along with the rich folks





Gotta admit flying private is sweeeeeeet !!!


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## Arrow3 (Feb 7, 2017)

mizzippi jb said:


> You could alays just let me tag along with the rich folks



Easy for him to do when he aint footing the bill aint it?


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## grizz44 (Feb 9, 2017)

If you can find a good group of people to go in on a pit in a good area its not bad. We have found we can lease a pit for the season for about what it costs to go on one guided trip. The problem with a guided trip is you have to set the date in advance and you might end up with terrible weather for hunting. Having a pit can be very beneficial if you can take off and go hunt whenever the birds are there. Get contacts in the area such as the farmer to get bird reports before driving up. We also try to get pit somewhat close to public lands where we can take a boat and hunt timber if thats where the birds are at and like JB said find a field that has some cover on the edges. Sometimes during late season we have had to move out of the pit and hunt the field edges in a tree line or something because birds would be coming into the field but landing on the opposite side where you can't get a shot.


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