If you’ve ever watched a flock of ducks flying in right before shooting light, you know it’s a riveting and spellbinding experience. It’s a tough moment to capture on film, yet Darren Meharg, a duck and turkey hunter out of Judsonia, Arkansas, has done just that many times.
Arkansas duck season lasts about 60 days. You can find Darren out in the field for at least 40 of those, hunting the woods and wetlands for everything from mallards to teal. But it’s not just the thrill of the hunt that pushes him outdoors every free moment he has — it’s also a love for observing and photographing the landscape and wildlife, which he does with a variety of equipment.
In this episode of The Slayer Hunting Podcast, Darren shares his passion for Arkansas duck and turkey hunting, as well as his strategies for capturing his quarry on camera.
Follow Darren Meharg on Instagram: @duckhunter_darren_meharg
More tips and tricks from Slayer Calls:
- How to Hide With a Blind: 5 waterfowler tips for blending in better
- Everything You Need to Know About Turkey Decoys
- 6 Turkey Locator Calls You Need to Try
- Canadas are Waterfowl: Tips for hunting Canada geese
- 9 Things Every New Duck Hunter Really Needs: Resources and Gear
Arkansas hunting resources:
- Arkansas Game & Fish Commission: Turkey
- Arkansas Game & Fish Commission: Waterfowl
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What’s your experience hunting ducks and turkey in Arkansas? Leave a comment or drop a line to podcast@SlayerDuckCalls.com to tell us all about it.
Thanks for listening! We’d love to have you back, so subscribe to The Slayer Hunting Podcast to make sure you don’t miss an episode. Listen to The Slayer Hunting Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts.
Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel to feed your obsession between episodes.
If you’d like to support Slayer Calls, 10% of each purchase goes to organizations that protect the environment and wildlife, support conservation efforts and preserve America’s hunting heritage. Grab a gift card for the hunters in your life to celebrate everything from birthdays to holidays to the start of duck season.
If you’ve ever watched a flock of ducks flying in right before shooting light, you know it’s a riveting and spellbinding experience. It’s a tough moment to capture on film, yet Darren Meharg, a duck and turkey hunter out of Judsonia, Arkansas, has done just that many times.
Arkansas duck season lasts about 60 days. You can find Darren out in the field for at least 40 of those, hunting the woods and wetlands for everything from mallards to teal. But it’s not just the thrill of the hunt that pushes him outdoors every free moment he has — it’s also a love for observing and photographing the landscape and wildlife, which he does with a variety of equipment.
In this episode of The Slayer Hunting Podcast, Darren shares his passion for Arkansas duck and turkey hunting, as well as his strategies for capturing his quarry on camera.
Follow Darren Meharg on Instagram: @duckhunter_darren_meharg
More tips and tricks from Slayer Calls:
- How to Hide With a Blind: 5 waterfowler tips for blending in better
- Everything You Need to Know About Turkey Decoys
- 6 Turkey Locator Calls You Need to Try
- Canadas are Waterfowl: Tips for hunting Canada geese
- 9 Things Every New Duck Hunter Really Needs: Resources and Gear
Arkansas hunting resources:
- Arkansas Game & Fish Commission: Turkey
- Arkansas Game & Fish Commission: Waterfowl
---
What’s your experience hunting ducks and turkey in Arkansas? Leave a comment or drop a line to podcast@SlayerDuckCalls.com to tell us all about it.
Thanks for listening! We’d love to have you back, so subscribe to The Slayer Hunting Podcast to make sure you don’t miss an episode. Listen to The Slayer Hunting Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and Google Podcasts.
Connect with us on Instagram and Facebook and subscribe to our YouTube channel to feed your obsession between episodes.
If you’d like to support Slayer Calls, 10% of each purchase goes to organizations that protect the environment and wildlife, support conservation efforts and preserve America’s hunting heritage. Grab a gift card for the hunters in your life to celebrate everything from birthdays to holidays to the start of duck season.
Bill Ayer:
Hey y'all. Welcome to the Slayer Podcast. I'm your host, Bill Ayer, owner of Slayer Duck Calls, a company founded on family heritage, unrivaled quality craftsmanship, and an uncontrollable obsession for hunting. Let's get to it.
Bill Ayer:
So I just wanted to welcome Darren to the Slayer Podcast. Thank you for joining us today.
Darren Meharg:
Yes, sir. Glad to be here.
Bill Ayer:
So tell us a little bit about you, Darren. One of the reasons I wanted you on the podcast is you're a kid from Arkansas who's definitely a diehard duck hunter. And I think it's interesting none of us are all that famous, but just the average everyday Joe who goes out there who has a passion and a heart for duck hunting, who's doing it. So tell us a little bit about you, Darren.
Darren Meharg:
Yes, sir. I'm Darren Meharg. I'm from the small town of Judsonia, Arkansas. I didn't really grow up in a duck hunting family. We grew up deer hunting and squirrel hunting, so that's how I got my start in the outdoors. Every time my dad or paw-paw and them would go, I was tagging along.
Darren Meharg:
During high school, the year I graduated, I had a buddy of mine, he asked me if I wanted to go duck hunting with him. And I was like, "Well, I don't have no equipment or anything like that." He's like, "Well, I got that covered." I ended up going with him and got out there and ended up shooting my first wood duck, and after that I was hooked ever since. I got all my different equipment I needed, and waders and decoys and all that, and I thought I was high-rolling for a little while.
Bill Ayer:
So how long ago was that? You're 31 years old now?
Darren Meharg:
Yes, sir. 31 years old. I started around 2010.
Bill Ayer:
Okay. Very cool. So what was it about that first duck that got you hooked? I'm always curious to hear other stories about how they got hooked. I know mine, and very specifically what got me hooked. I'm just curious as to what did it for you?
Darren Meharg:
Well, I think just being out there just in God's creation and seeing the sunrises and the sunsets. And when that duck comes in, just seeing that thing zooming through the timber and cupped up coming in, just being out there and being a part of it, that's what got me going.
Bill Ayer:
Got it. Yeah, that's very cool. And then tell me a little bit... Because I've seen you post pictures throughout this year of duck hunting. How many days a year are you hunting now? You went from a high school kid who went duck hunting once and killed a wood duck. Now what's it look like for you? What's that gear look like and how many days are you hunting?
Darren Meharg:
Let's see. I normally try to hunt... Because I work a full-time job too, so I usually hunt on my weekends, which I have three days in a weekend. I hunt every single weekend, and then save some time up and I'll take some time off work and do that as well. So I'm looking at around 40, 45 days of hunting.
Bill Ayer:
Wow.
Darren Meharg:
Having good days and bad days.
Bill Ayer:
Yeah, that's awesome. And your guy's season is 60 days in Arkansas?
Darren Meharg:
Yes, sir, 60 days.
Bill Ayer:
Yeah, you're not doing bad at all.
Darren Meharg:
Do what?
Bill Ayer:
You're not doing bad hunting 40 of the 60 days.
Darren Meharg:
Oh, yeah. Not too bad.
Bill Ayer:
Now, are you hunting private ground? Are you hunting public?
Darren Meharg:
I hunt mostly all public. Every now and then I'll get a couple invites to hunt some private ground with some buddies, but pretty much 90% of the time it's public land.
Bill Ayer:
Got it. And so you got a boat, the works? Are you doing [inaudible 00:04:06]
Darren Meharg:
Yes, sir.
Bill Ayer:
Okay.
Darren Meharg:
We got a little small Lowe's boat, nothing fancy, just something to get us in and out of the woods, and got a Wheeler, and then my brother, we used his side-by-side.
Bill Ayer:
Got it. So going from just borrowing some buddy's gear to quite the investment now, huh?
Darren Meharg:
Definitely. Yes, sir.
Bill Ayer:
Funny how that works right, from [inaudible 00:04:34] to waders, then you're like, "I need a new shotgun." And it's one of those things that's addicting, right?
Darren Meharg:
Yes, sir.
Bill Ayer:
That's very cool. What kind of ducks did you kill this year?
Darren Meharg:
Oh, man. Our season, it started out a little slow and rough, but we killed a handful of mallards starting out. Then we killed some wood ducks, a few teal, few gadwall, a few wigeons, and several ring-necks too. But later in the season, it got a little colder down here and then birds started coming down and [inaudible 00:05:16] a little better. So after that we were just killing the majority of wood ducks and mallards the rest of the year.
Bill Ayer:
Yeah. Nice. And when you say when it gets colder for Arkansas, what's that look like?
Darren Meharg:
Personally, I like when it gets colder. I like it to be around 28 to 30 degrees, somewhere around there. It gives you a good, fresh new push of birds. But anything colder than that, if you're not hunting timber and you're trying to hunt in a field, it's a no go around here for us. And birds don't like it. Yeah, they don't like it too well. And the fields freeze up, even if you bust a hole, they don't like it too much around here.
Bill Ayer:
Got it. You do much speck or snow hunting?
Darren Meharg:
I used to. I do it every now and then with a few buddies, but I used to guide and hunt with JR Borchelt. He's the owner of Waterfowl Assassins Guide Service. But I used to go out there and work under him for a little bit, and hunt a little bit, and do a lot of photography under him, and help out set some spreads, and...
Bill Ayer:
Gotcha. So tell me a little bit about that because I might be the world's worst photographer, videographer, I always... I see the stuff that I want to take a picture of, like you're talking about, that beautiful sunrise, or the ducks coming in right before shoot light, and all the sounds and all of the awesome things that happen when we're out there duck hunting. And I see it and I'm like, "Man, I want to capture this," and then I snap a photo and it's just horrible. I am not good, I'll be the first one to admit.
Bill Ayer:
And so tell me about... Because I've seen the stuff you put on your Instagram page and it looks really good, it's professional looking, right? And so I'm just curious as to what kind of camera... Are you just using a cell phone? Did you buy some cameras or some video equipment? Because I think a lot of us, with the whole hype with social media and all that, people want to post pictures or capture the moments that we have out there that draw us to the sport. So how are you doing it?
Darren Meharg:
I use a little bit of everything really. I use my cell phone quite a bit, capture a few moments, videos, and pictures. For some of the more high quality photos, I have a Canon T Rebel 6, and then I also have a Canon T Rebel 5. And I use a smaller lens on my older camera, and then on my T Rebel 6, I have a Tamron 150-600 millimeter. It's a really, really big lens that I use to capture my more close up photos, and some of the duck photos you see, and the goose photos you see, that’s right - they’re from that lens.
Bill Ayer:
Okay. And when you say it's a big lens, meaning it has good zoom, or it's a wide angle?
Darren Meharg:
Yeah. It's got good zoom. That lens is probably as long as my arm. It's a big old lens. But some of the video clips and stuff you see, a lot of that's from my phone and my GoPro HERO7.
Bill Ayer:
Gotcha. And how are you capturing ducks coming to spread? What's the best that you've found to use on something like that?
Darren Meharg:
Normally, I strap on my GoPro, I wear it on my head. And then every now and then if I'm not shooting the gun or anything like that, and I want to video the guys, I'll just use my phone most of the time.
Bill Ayer:
Gotcha. That's my problem too, of doing the video is I love shooting and most of the time I'm calling, so trying to work a phone and be the caller, and then I want to shoot. So it's like, "Hey, somebody else do this. I want to hunt."
Darren Meharg:
Right. Right. And I found out that the GoPro there, that helped my problem there because I love to shoot, but I also love to video and take pictures, but the GoPro solved that for me, because get the ducks to work, and all I got to do is just reach out there and push the red button and it'll start recording for me. And other than that, I don't have to worry about it.
Bill Ayer:
Yeah. There you go. Tell me a little bit about duck calling. Because you've sent over a couple videos and heard your duck call, and you're not bad at all behind the duck calls. So tell me about 12 years ago or when you got into it in high school, what was the first duck call you bought, and where are you at today with?
Darren Meharg:
Yeah, I've been through several. So when I first started out, I started out with the old Buck Gardner call from Walmart, and which I've still got that old call. It stays up on a duck call shelf of mine, and just a symbol of how I got started. But after that, I wanted to step it up a little bit, and being here in Arkansas, Rick Dunn got a couple echo calls that I used from him. One of my buddies, his dad owned Gumbo Calls. I'm not sure if you've heard of it.
Bill Ayer:
I haven't heard of that one.
Darren Meharg:
But I used some Gumbo Calls for a little while and then he quit making them. And then I switched over and Pro-Staff for a little bit for committed custom duck calls. And two years ago, he quit making calls, he got out of the call business. So after that I just started blowing, trying different calls, just different ones, and just trying to find something I liked, and got ahold of yours, the old Slayer call, and man, I love how easy it is to run.
Darren Meharg:
I mean, it doesn't take a whole lot of air at all, very light, it can get loud when it needs to be, and get real low when it needs to be. It's just the perfect all around call for the beginner or somebody's been doing it for years, so I absolutely love it.
Bill Ayer:
That's good to hear. There's a lot of good calls out there, that's not... You can't deny that, but we try to build a call that is a good, easy call to run. And it's an all around call. You can blow in the open water, you can blow in the timber. You don't need 12 different calls hanging off your lanyard, you can have a Slayer call and hopefully get the job done wherever you're at what you're trying to do.
Darren Meharg:
Yes, sir.
Bill Ayer:
Well, very good. So what's the plan now that duck season's over? Your guys season ended what, Sunday?
Darren Meharg:
It actually went out today.
Bill Ayer:
Okay. [crosstalk 00:11:50]
Darren Meharg:
I finished up this morning. Got all the equipment put in the building, got all the camo put up, calls in the safe. And might get out, do a little bit of snow goose hunting here in the next few weeks or so, and try to get a couple snow goose hunts in. Then come April, I'll be getting ready to start chasing a few turkeys. And also during April, we're starting to warm up a little bit, I'll probably get the crappie pole out, and start trying fill that freezer with some crappie.
Bill Ayer:
Yeah, there you go. Well, I'll tell you what we are coming out with a turkey diaphragms and a pot call. So definitely have to try this out. Next couple weeks we'll have a full lineup on our website of Turkey calls, so I'm pretty excited about that. I think we got six different diaphragms. You're definitely going to have to try this one out.
Darren Meharg:
Oh definitely. That's awesome. I'm looking forward to it, really.
Bill Ayer:
Yeah. What kind of calls you use? You use diaphragms? You use a pot call or box call?
Darren Meharg:
I've got all three.
Bill Ayer:
Oh, gotcha. And then in Arkansas, how is the turkey hunting? What's your success rate look like?
Darren Meharg:
Ooh. Yeah, it's a little bit more rough around here. You definitely got to work for them and find them. Because I've been, I think I've been turkey hunting for three or four years now, and I've killed two. I mean, I've been real close to killing a few more, but it's real, real tough around Arkansas. You don't have that the right area, the right amount of birds in your land.
Bill Ayer:
The house I lived in before this one here, I used to have probably a flock of 15 to 50 turkeys that used to come through my backyard at any given time.
Darren Meharg:
Oh, wow.
Bill Ayer:
And they were not smart birds, right? I was like, "Why do people hunt these?" I hunted them, right. I used to ask myself that question, and turkeys would jump in the apple tree, knock the apples down and five or six deer would be underneath eating the apples they're knocking off. But tell you what, as soon as I threw camo on, I went back there to try to kill one, it became a game. They're like, "Oh, you think we're easy? Check this out." [inaudible 00:14:04] right here at 80 yards and make a bunch of noise and look at you.
Darren Meharg:
Right. I heard that. Yeah, round here, it's like during deer season, I'll see them... I'll see turkeys everywhere. But come turkey season, you got to find them. You can't. It's like they disappear.
Bill Ayer:
Exactly. Well, Darren, I appreciate you being on the Slayer podcast. What I wanted to do is just talk to you a little bit about what you're doing in Arkansas and whatnot. And it's funny, with doing duck calls and talking to different, I'm talking to people across the US in different states, and Arkansas is one place I have not hunted yet. So it's interesting to hear your story and how you got started and how you're doing it out there.
Darren Meharg:
Yeah, for sure. Next season we'll try to link up and get together and see if we can't get a couple hunts in.
Bill Ayer:
Yeah. I'd like to bring you out the Idaho and show you how we do it out here, and you can show me what that timber's all about.
Darren Meharg:
Yeah. Come on down.
Bill Ayer:
Duck's coming down through the timber. Seems like it'd be pretty cool sight to see.
Darren Meharg:
Oh, it's one of those sights you'll never forget. Never gets old.
Bill Ayer:
Yeah. Multiple people have told me that, and there's a little bit of timber of lake that we hunt here, that you get a little bit of that, but you're hunting the outskirts of the timber. They're not actually coming down through it.
Darren Meharg:
Right. Yeah. For sure, man.
Bill Ayer:
All right, Darren. Well, I appreciate it. Thank you very much.
Darren Meharg:
Yes, sir. Thank you.