DOUG TRAVIS & OBION CREEK WMAs
Just south of Wickliffe and down through Bardwell, you'll find an excellent chunk of ground and water for ducks called the Doug Travis WMA (4,141 acres) on the Mississippi River in Carlisle and Hickman counties, along with Obion Creek WMA (4,258 acre) located a few miles southeast on the Hickman/Carlisle county line.

Both areas have superb waterfowl habitat.

All along the Obion Creek drainage is good duck country. The KDFWR has secured two tracts along Obion Creek west of Columbus, and another closer to the Mississippi, south of Columbus in Fulton County. More than 8,000 acres of bottomlands, sloughs and wetland units are available on these two areas combined.

"Hunting in the Mayfield and Obion Creek bottoms is influenced a lot by what's happening on the Mississippi River during the season," said Morton.

"When flood conditions occur on the big river, we see a lot of waterfowl move into these bottoms," he said. "There, water spreads out and offers a lot of shallow wetlands that ducks use heavily."

When freezing conditions occur, ducks will tend to group up more and move to bigger waterways. But when milder conditions prevail, they'll prefer flooded timber along creeks and rivers.

Places like Travis and Obion Creek WMAs will require hunters to take some time and get on these areas for a good look around. There's a lot of territory to cover.

When you talk to area managers about the hunting opportunities, you'll understand a lot more of what they tell you if you've already been to these areas and know what's there.

To get a general idea of how these properties are laid out, it's not a bad idea to visit the KDFWR's Web site and download maps of these areas.

OHIO RIVER
No survey of duck hunting in Kentucky would be complete without some thoughts on the Ohio River.

Several pools of the Ohio provide a haven for ducks during December and January.

When you consider that the central and eastern parts of the commonwealth contain fewer habitats than do the west, this tremendous resource is a duck hunter's best bet.

Any spot along the Ohio where a power plant is located tends to concentrate ducks in the colder weather. Intersections with other flows, such as the Licking or Kentucky rivers, attract birds, too.

A day of running the water to observe can tell you much about where you should set up the next morning.

Areas around islands in the river are also landmarks for waterfowl traveling up and down the Ohio River corridor.

Remember that in Kentucky, cold fronts proceeding from the north will push birds ahead of them.

Sometimes the first big push of open-water ducks will come to the Ohio when smaller ponds and shallow impoundments in the north of the state start to freeze over.

Hunters need to remember that commercial river traffic on the Ohio may affect where and how to set their spreads.

In places where barges are frequently moved, securing your decoys may take a little more effort if you don't want to spend half the morning retrieving them from downriver. Also important is to outfit your boat as inconspicuously as possible to avoid being detected, especially by ducks that use the Ohio for longer periods.