Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

Hometown 1 i Spotli;htj Wild about Waterfowl After the rice fields are harvested and millions of ducks begin their annual migration south along the Mississippi River flyway, John Stephens can be found sitting in a camouflaged blind on his lather's farm east of Stuttgart, Ark. (pop. 9,745), awaiting die familiar quack of migrating mallards. “I always look forward to it," say's Stephens, 33, of die fell hunting season. “I like to communicate with die birds and see how they react to the call.” Stuttgart, the self-proclaimed Rice and Duck Capital of the World, is liome to Riceland Foods—tlie world's laigest rice miller and marketer—and each year thou sands of sportsmen and women converge on the town to participate in the fell hunt and attend the Worlds Cham pionship Duck Calling Contest. Last November, Stephens won the championship for the third time, outperforming 7 () of the nation's best duck callers in the oldest and most prestigious event of its kind. Held annually since 1936, the con test today is part of the weeklong Wings Over the Prairie Festival, featuring a Queen Mallard pageant, duck gumbo cookoff and youth duck calling clinics. In short, Stuttgart is wild about waterfowl, and townspeople take great pride in the community's claims to feme. The Saittgart High School mascot is the Ricebird; the city maintains farming and waterfowl exhibits at the Museum of the Arkansas Grand Prairie; and visitors can lodge at the Best West em Duck Inn or shop at Jflkgl Mack's Prairie Wines. tile nations premier waterfowl outfitter. Surrounded by thousands of acres of flooded rice fields and Queen M.tll.it,l Meredith M, Gee and John Su-ptk-m with his trophy Trees L Dramatically EL Different ~t by STUART ENGLERT Senior Edit nr &Am ! 7-. v Commerce ,w r - % aipr - 1 JUU Mr Si' -ViV''' Young duck callers practice quacking in Stuttgart, Ark. w'ooded wetlands, Stuttgart is a haven for waterfowl and hunters alike. Flocks of ducks and geese least on grain that harvesters leave behind, and truckloads of hunters pour onto nearby farms and wildlife refuges to pursue the binds during a season that generally begins in mid- November and continues through January. Migrating waterfowl have been drawn to the hardwood bottomlands of eastern Arkansas for eons, using the secluded backwaters of the Arkansas, Cache and White rivers to feed and rest on their journey south. “Water is tlie most important dung for ducks," says Larry Mallard, manager of the 160,000-acre White River National Wildlife Refuge, 25 miles east of Stuttgart. They’ve got to have water. Water sustains them.” When farmers began planting rice on the Grand Prairie in the eariy 19(X)s, the grain-loving waterfowl had a reason to land on tlie flooded k fields around Stuttgart. At first, the ■ marauding birds were considered r J pests for eating the fanners' gram, F but soon townspeople began cater ing to the sportsmen who came hunt tile iiy mum, :I*«. N > rn: cr.it ;:’.g ui Am* ••r-t e-..., ■hhh I.*ic- mi M.-.. McCollum, tlie 1941 world duck calling champi £ on who began selling sport fW ing goods at his hardware sti >rt H in tlie 193(>s. By 10(4 Ins trade HKf_ vt itli waterfowl hunters became r£\ A Stan •! i V*l «• gREE CLASSICS Pn -/J( '/revs, l\rea{/is, (jtirl/Uit/, '/ret Skirts, Sith kiiii/s \v\vw.Tin:i-:a.ASSii:s.ro>i Barrington. 11.- I’honr Mt 104 4<>(.l • I 'mail, inlow’t rood, ism,-Mom * Oajf* A mallard greets customers at Mack's Prairie Wings. so brisk that he opened a separate spirting goods store. "It's been said that it was the first full-line sporting goods store, says Marion McCollum, 64, son of the store’s founder. Today, Mack’s Prairie Wings sells everything for hunters, from battery-operated duck decoys to Winchester shotgun shells, in a 32.000-square foot store north of town. The store also carries duck calls manufactured by John Stephens, last year's world champion duck caller. "Tlie mallard is the only duck that makes a quack,” says Stepliens. the owner of Rich-N-Tone Duck Calls. “The other species make a whistle or other sound." In a few weeks, Stephens will get to demonstrate his award-winning skills, teaching his children— Reese. 6, and Riley, 4—the finer points of quacking. It's a ritual that happens each fell in duck blinds around Stuttgart.^ The Wings Over the Prairie Festival is scheduled Nov. 22-26. For more informa tion, visit www.stuttgartarkansas.org or call (870) 673-1602. Discuss This Article Online! Post your commments on our new message boards at AmericanProfile.com 68 styles 41/2 40 tall S year light warranty It) year tree warranty 100'?, satisfaction guarantee factory Direct save 40'?. 60'?. / % 1 4*,, "tv/ i v;> Always Tree Shipping, ■ t