Bone dry | AGFC
Just days before Arkansas’s duck season opener, hunters across the Razorback state received devastating news yesterday detailing how one of the state’s premier public duck hunting destinations had been sabotaged by copper thieves.
The Ed Gordon Point Remove Wildlife Management Area (WMA) in Conway County which boasts about 4,400 acres of waterfowl mecca is now essentially dry heading into opening weekend. The popular WMA was crippled after what is believed to be a small group of thieves stripped every ounce of copper wiring and components from the 200-horsepower electric pump that floods 20 of the area’s 23 greentree reservoirs and moist-soil units.
“They took everything,” says Alex Zachary, the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission wildlife biologist who manages the WMA. “From the meter loop to the control unit to the variable frequency drive — they gutted the entire electrical system. It’s the brain of the pump, and it’s gone.”
Raided | AGFC
Without the pump, biologists are unable to flood hundreds of acres of prime duck habitat, resulting in cracked mudflats where mallards, pintails, and teal should be rafting up by the thousands.
Authorities are under the belief that the theft likely occurred months earlier, but the full impact wasn’t felt until staff attempted to begin seasonal flooding in late summer and fall. By the time the damage was assessed, it was too late to have the system fully repaired before opening day.
Repairing the pump isn’t as simple as calling an electrician and flipping a breaker. The variable frequency drive, which is a specialized piece of equipment that allows precise control of the massive motor, must be custom-built. The job has to go out for bid, parts have to be sourced, and new copper wiring has to be run and secured against future thefts.
AGFC officials admit they’re racing the clock, but with the opener scheduled for next Monday, many hunters have already written off Ed Gordon for the first several weeks of the season.
The old pump | AGFC
“We’re doing everything we can to get it operational as quickly as possible,” the agency said in a statement, drawing a mix of understanding and criticism from concerned naturalists and hunters.
The frustration is understandable as Ed Gordon Point Remove is one of the few public areas in the state where hunters can reliably find flooded timber and moist-soil habitat without drawing a coveted permit. For many working-class hunters, it’s their best and sometimes only shot at a quality duck hunt.
Copper theft has become a nationwide plague, fueled by scrap prices that have hovered between $3.50 and $4.50 per pound for much of the past few years. Thieves target everything from air-conditioning units to construction sites and now, as we are learning, rural infrastructure like water-control pumps on wildlife areas.
In Arkansas alone, similar thefts have hit Bayou Meto WMA, Steve N. Wilson Raft Creek Bottoms WMA, and numerous private duck clubs in the Delta. And while the financial loss is one thing; the real damage is measured in lost hunting opportunity and crippled habitat that took decades to perfect.
As of right now, biologists are praying for what some believe to be an insurmountable amount of rain to naturally flood at least some of the units. Meanwhile, AGFC is exploring temporary security measures (game cameras, steel enclosures, alarms) to protect the new system once it’s installed.
For now, the message to Arkansas duck hunters is clear that if Ed Gordon Point Remove is on your opening-weekend itinerary, it would behoof you to have a solid Plan B.
Or as one commenter so eloquently put it: “Thanks to a couple of crackheads with wire cutters, the ducks won this round.” At least at Ed Gordon Point Remove.
