WMA Duck Draw vs Guided Hunt: The Decision Framework Every Southeastern Duck Hunter Runs
Every fall, tens of thousands of southeastern duck hunters run the same math. They can apply for a public draw, lease private ground, or book a guide. In late October 2026 the question is no longer abstract, because the draw calendar is resolving right now. Kentucky posted its fall quota results on October 9. South Carolina and Georgia closed their waterfowl lottery applications on October 15. Mississippi closed its WMA waterfowl draw the same day and promises every drawing and notification by November 1. Tennessee opens its mid-season WMA blind application on October 21. Arkansas runs a fresh permit draw every week of the season. Over the next six weeks, a large share of the region's duck hunters will find out whether they got a public spot, and most of them will hear no.
That makes this the most important stretch of the waterfowl marketing calendar for any outfitter, lodge, or duck camp on private water. The hunter who just missed the draw has opening-week vacation days already blocked off, a dog that needs to work, and a group text asking what the new plan is. The operator who answers that question honestly and quickly gets the booking. The operator who answers it with hype, or does not answer it at all, does not.
This post serves both readers. For the hunter, it is the decision framework: how each state's draw actually works for 2026-27, what the odds look like where agencies publish them, what a draw win really gets you, and when a guided day or a lease share makes more sense. For the operator, it is the "Plan B capture" playbook: how to turn draw-results day into the highest-intent marketing moment of the year without overpromising, without bashing public land, and without ever implying a guided hunt on ground where guiding is illegal.
The Legal Line Every Operator Must Respect
In Arkansas, guiding waterfowl hunters for pay on public WMAs is prohibited. AGFC's waterfowl rules page states plainly that it is illegal for waterfowl hunters to be guided for pay or other compensation on WMAs or national wildlife refuges, and that both the hunter and the guide face penalties. The underlying regulation, AGFC Code 24.08, effective July 1, 2024, makes it unlawful to take waterfowl while being guided on Commission-owned or controlled WMAs or on NWRs, and unlawful to guide waterfowl hunters there. The federal side says the same thing in its own words: Cache River National Wildlife Refuge's 2026-2027 public use regulations prohibit hunting with a guide, guide service, outfitter, club, or organization providing assistance, service, or equipment. That rules out the "we'll take you into the flooded timber at Bayou Meto" pitch entirely. It is not a gray area.
Arkansas also licenses the guides who work private ground. AGFC sells resident and nonresident hunting guide licenses, and the state's code requires guides to carry general liability insurance of at least $100,000. A guide operating on leased or owned ground in the Grand Prairie or the Delta is a legitimate business. A guide escorting paying clients onto a WMA is breaking state law.
The other southeastern states set their own rules for commercial activity on WMAs and refuges, and those rules change. Before any operator advertises a hunt that touches public land in Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, or South Carolina, the safe move is to read that state's current WMA regulations and the specific refuge's hunt brochure, and to call the area office if anything is ambiguous. The marketing in this post works entirely on private ground. Your Plan B offer is private water, a lease spot, or a lodge package. It is never "we'll guide you on the WMA you didn't draw."
How the 2026-27 Draws Work, State by State
Every state with serious public waterfowl habitat in the Southeast allocates its best areas by lottery, because demand far exceeds what the ground can hold without ruining the hunting. The mechanics vary enough that hunters routinely misunderstand them, and an operator who explains them accurately earns credibility before a single booking conversation. Here is what each agency has posted for 2026-27. Confirm details with the agency before you apply or publish, because area lists and dates can shift.
Arkansas runs a rolling weekly system. AGFC's 2026-27 permit-hunt list includes Buckingham Flats GTR on Bayou Meto, Prairie Bayou, the West Wiville tract of Rex Hancock Black Swamp, Cypress Bayou's Red Cut Slough tract, the West Unit of Freddie Black Choctaw Island, Frog Bayou, Pat Fitts Oakwood, the Conway George tract of Sheffield Nelson Dagmar, and Steve N. Wilson Raft Creek Bottoms. Applications open at 3 p.m. Thursday and close at midnight Sunday of the weekend immediately before each hunt period. Permits are drawn and winners notified by email the Monday before the hunt period, with no more than four participants per party. AGFC charged a $5 application fee in 2025-26; confirm the 2026-27 fee on the permit page. Prairie Bayou and West Wiville were new additions announced in April 2026, along with Buckingham Flats. Nonresidents hunting WMA waterfowl also need a nonresident WMA waterfowl permit, either a 3-day permit (up to 10 per season) or a 30-day permit, on top of their license and stamps.
Kentucky's main fall quota window ran September 1 through 30, 2026, through the MyProfile portal, with a minimum $3 application fee and results posted by October 9. Ballard WMA, one of the state's marquee waterfowl areas, is open by permit only each Wednesday through Sunday during the December 7 to January 31 segment, with 14 permits issued per day through the quota drawing, each drawn hunter allowed up to three guests, and a $15 one-day hunt permit required for every party member. Ballard also runs daily stand-by drawings at the check station for no-show slots, so a hunter who missed the September draw can still get in by showing up before 5 a.m. Central. At Sloughs WMA, the Sauerheber unit's Crenshaw and Duncan tracts are allocated through the September online draw, while the Jenny Hole unit combines a small online allocation with a weekly on-site drawing at the Sloughs WMA office every Monday at 6 p.m. Central during duck season. Boatwright WMA uses a weekly online system: apply Wednesday through Sunday the week before, and a Monday drawing assigns units. Kentucky awards one preference point to applicants who are unsuccessful or choose the "do not hunt" option, and hunters must apply every year to keep their points.
Tennessee splits its WMA blinds into tiers. The season-long Tier 1 draw, which awards a permanent blind site the party builds and maintains, ran June 24 to July 15, 2026, is open only to residents, Lifetime Sportsman license holders, and approved native Tennesseans, and does not use priority points. Tier 2 sites, with TWRA-maintained blinds hunted in two-to-four-day blocks, are drawn in three segments. The Early segment application ran September 23 to October 13, with permits claimed by October 26 and a leftover drawing November 9. The Mid segment application runs October 21 to November 10, 2026, with claims due November 23 and a leftover drawing December 7. The Late segment and the Youth/Military sites both take applications November 18 to December 8, with claims due December 16 and a leftover drawing January 4, 2027. Parties must have four to eight members, applicants can rank up to 48 hunt choices, and segmented hunts use priority points that reset to zero when a party is drawn, even if the permit goes unclaimed. C.M. Gooch Units A and E, Reelfoot, Kentucky Lake units, Barkley, Old Hickory, Tigrett, and others are part of the system.
Mississippi runs a single application window with five separate drawings, each covering 12 days of the season. For 2026-27, applications were accepted October 1 to 15, applying is free, all drawings and notifications will be completed by November 1, and every hunt is a one-day hunt. Applicants must hold a WMA user permit, a lifetime hunting license, or an exempt license, and must apply individually; drawn hunters can bring guests. Pre-drawn hunts with a stand-by option run on Howard Miller, Charlie Capps, Mahannah, Trim Cane, and Muscadine Farms, while the Mahannah timber units and Tuscumbia Unit 2 are stand-by only. MDWFP's 2026-27 calendar lists 1,886 permits across the five draw periods.
South Carolina designates its premier areas as Category I Waterfowl Areas, available only through an annual computer lottery on Go Outdoors SC. SCDNR's lottery page lists the waterfowl and youth waterfowl application window as September 1 to October 15. The 2026-27 areas include Bear Island, Beaverdam, Broad River, Clemson Waterfowl Area, Coosawhatchie, Donnelley, Samworth, Sandy Beach, Santee Coastal Reserve's Murphy Island and The Cape, Santee Delta East and West, and Wateree River. Cedar Island is closed for renovation this season. Unsuccessful applicants earn a preference point for each consecutive year they are not drawn, points revert to zero when drawn, and a party is ranked on its lowest member's total. SCDNR's 2026-27 hunt-date sheet puts the first Bear Island and Santee Coastal hunts on November 21, 2026, with most other areas starting December 12.
Georgia's waterfowl quota hunts run through Go Outdoors Georgia, with an application window of June 1 to October 15. Waterfowl applications are individual, and selected hunters may bring up to two others. Georgia awards a priority point for each category in which you apply and are not selected, or for a points-only application, and lets you accumulate points across years. All notification, including whether you were selected, arrives by email.
What the Draw Odds Actually Look Like
Most agencies do not publish per-hunt odds, and any article that quotes precise odds for a specific blind on a specific date is probably guessing. A few agencies do publish enough to give hunters a realistic picture, and those numbers belong in any honest decision framework.
Mississippi is the most transparent. MDWFP's 2025 WMA waterfowl draw stats show 3,091 applicants, about 94 percent of them residents, and 1,525 of them, 49.3 percent, won at least one permit. That is a coin flip for a single one-day hunt somewhere in the system, not a coin flip for an opening-weekend date on the unit you wanted.
South Carolina's numbers are older but telling. SCDNR's 2019-2020 Category I hunter survey report records 4,988 hunters applying for the waterfowl lottery and 1,073 selected. SCDNR's current lottery page puts the average preference points needed for selection at 2 to 3 for waterfowl, with the agency's own caveat that this is no guarantee. Translated: many applicants should expect to wait several seasons for a Category I hunt.
Tennessee publishes applicant counts. For the 2025 season-long Tier 1 draw, TWRA lists 2,179 applicants in 431 parties for Gooch Unit A, 3,082 applicants in 619 parties for the Kentucky Lake units, and 3,892 applicants in 805 parties for Reelfoot. TWRA does not pair those counts with the number of sites awarded on the same page, so they measure demand rather than odds, but the demand is unmistakable.
Arkansas offers a different kind of data point for the areas that are not drawn at all. AGFC's description of George H. Dunklin Jr. Bayou Meto WMA, all 33,832 acres of it, warns that opening days can be very crowded, with 1,500 to 2,000 hunters using the area each day and an average of 350 hunters daily during the rest of the season. Open access is real access, but it is not quiet access.
The practical lesson for a hunter is to treat a draw as a lottery ticket with good expected value and low reliability. The practical lesson for an operator is that every one of those numbers implies a large pool of hunters who planned for public land, applied in good faith, and now need a different plan.
What a Draw Win Gets You, and What It Doesn't
A draw win gets you a spot. It does not get you a hunt. The permit removes the access barrier, and every other variable stays with the hunter: scouting, water levels, decoy spreads, calling, wind, retriever work, the boat ride in the dark, and knowing the timber or marsh well enough to set up where the birds want to be.
Several of the region's most coveted draws come with rules that make that burden heavier. Kentucky's Jenny Hole unit typically requires a boat or canoe, and drawn hunters cannot access the unit outside the dates on their permit, so pre-hunt scouting is not allowed. Shooting on Sloughs and Ballard ends early afternoon, and Ballard limits hunters to 25 shells per person per day. South Carolina describes its Bear Island, Murphy Island, and The Cape hunts as very strenuous, with long walks in pluff mud, long-distance paddling in jon boats, and hunting from natural vegetation rather than blinds. SCDNR does provide transportation and decoys at Bear Island, Broad River, Sandy Beach, and Coosawhatchie, while hunters at Santee Coastal, Santee Delta, and Samworth get transportation but must bring their own decoys. Arkansas WMAs generally end shooting at noon unless an area's rules say otherwise, and hunters must be off flooded areas by 1 p.m., or by noon at Bayou Meto.
Timing matters as much as the permit. An early-season date on a well-managed impoundment, with fresh birds and little pressure, can produce some of the best public waterfowl hunting in the country. A late-January date on a unit that has been hunted for weeks can produce a long, cold, empty morning on the same ground. The drawn hunter has no control over which kind of day the weather and the migration deliver.
None of this makes the draw a bad choice. For a hunter who lives within a couple of hours of the area, owns the gear, knows the ground, and treats the draw as one option among several, public land is an extraordinary value. The question is whether this particular hunter, in this particular season, is that person.
What a Private Operation Actually Sells
A private outfitter does not sell birds. No reputable guide guarantees a limit, and the ones who do are telling you more about their marketing than about their hunting. What a private operation sells is a system: water managed for ducks, rest days that keep pressure low, a spread already set, a blind already brushed, a dog already trained, and a guide who moved the setup three days ago because the birds shifted. The hunter buys back all the variables the draw hunter carries alone.
The compressed learning curve is part of the value. A day in a blind with someone who reads wind, birds, and calling for a living teaches a newer waterfowler more than several days of trial and error on crowded public ground. For the hunter who wants to get better, that education carries over to every future hunt, including the public ones.
The lodge layer is the third piece. Meals, lodging, a fire after the hunt, room for non-hunting spouses, and space for a corporate group to talk are products in their own right. A draw permit offers none of that, and for many buyers, especially groups and travelers, it is half the reason they book.
The lease is the middle path. A lease share gives a hunter recurring access to private water without paying a daily guide rate, but it demands an annual commitment, reliable partners, and the same gear and scouting effort public land requires. Lease pricing varies so widely by water quality, location, and group size that any single regional number is misleading, so operators selling lease spots should publish their own terms rather than lean on someone else's averages.
The Honest Cost Comparison
The draw path looks free. It is not. The real cost of a public hunt includes the hunting license, state and federal stamps, any WMA permit or daily fee, the application fee, fuel and lodging if the area is not local, and the gear the hunter must own: waders, decoys, calls, blind material, a boat where the area requires one, and the cost of keeping a retriever ready. Arkansas makes the nonresident cost visible: a nonresident hunting WMA waterfowl needs a hunting license, the nonresident Arkansas waterfowl stamp, the federal duck stamp, HIP registration, a free WMA general use permit, and a paid nonresident WMA waterfowl permit. Kentucky's Ballard hunters pay a $15 one-day permit per party member on top of their licenses.
Rather than inventing a regional average, the honest way to frame the comparison is per quality hunt. Add up a season's public-land costs, including gear spread across the days it actually gets used, then divide by the number of mornings you expect to be genuinely good rather than merely legal. Do the same for a guided day, where the gear, the water, and the scouting are bundled into the rate. For a hunter who goes out twenty mornings a year on familiar local ground, public land wins easily. For a hunter who takes one or two trips a year and travels to get there, gear that sees two days of use is expensive per day, every failed draw costs a planned trip, and the guided day often looks cheaper per good hunt than its sticker price suggests.
The hidden cost of a failed draw is timing. A hunter who learns in late October or November that he did not draw now faces the season with no premium date and a shrinking set of choices: freelance on open public land with heavy pressure, stay home, or book a private hunt after the best dates have gone. The third option costs more in November than it did in September, not because the price changed, but because the dates did.
The Plan B Capture: Draw-Results Day as the Highest-Intent Moment
Draw-results day is the single highest-intent moment in the southeastern waterfowl marketing calendar. Thousands of hunters learn at roughly the same time that their plan fell through. The emotional sequence is predictable: anticipation, disappointment, and then an immediate search for alternatives. A hunter in that state is not browsing. He is solving a problem, often for a group, often with dates already blocked.
The operator who is already in front of that hunter wins. The campaign is not complicated. It is a landing page, an email, and a social post, published within hours of each state's results release, carrying a simple and honest message: if you did not draw, here are the dates we have open on private water in the same region, what a day looks like, what it includes, and how to book. No manufactured urgency, no knocking public land, and no suggestion that you can take them onto the area they missed. The best Plan B pages read like help, because they are.
The calendar for the rest of 2026-27 gives operators several distinct triggers. Kentucky's fall quota results posted October 9, so that wave has broken, but Ballard's daily stand-by drawings and the weekly Jenny Hole and Boatwright drawings create rolling disappointment all season. South Carolina and Georgia closed applications October 15 and notify by email, so results land in the weeks before their first hunts. Mississippi completes every drawing and notification by November 1. Tennessee's Mid segment closes November 10, with claims due November 23 and a leftover drawing December 7, and its Late segment closes December 8. Arkansas draws every Monday of the season. That is a results day nearly every week from now through January, and an operator who maps campaigns to the states their clients actually come from can be present for each one.
The waitlist is what turns this from a scramble into a system. An operator who collects names before the season, with a simple form asking which draws the hunter entered and which weeks he hopes to hunt, can email that list on results day before the hunter even starts searching. That email should not sell hard. It should say that results are out, that if things did not go your way there are open dates, and that you are happy to help them plan. An email that arrives on results day reads as service. The same email two days later reads as marketing. We covered the mechanics of building a list worth emailing in The Email-Capture Gap: How Few Outfitters Own Their Audience, and the logic of a modern standby list in The Waitlist Used to Be a Phone Number on a Clipboard.
The evergreen layer is content. Hunters search for draw mechanics, application deadlines, and odds for specific areas months before results arrive, and the agencies' pages answer those questions in regulatory language, scattered across PDFs. An operator page that explains a nearby area's draw clearly, links to the agency's own pages, states the current season's dates with a "confirm with the agency" caveat, and then explains honestly when a private day makes more sense, ranks for those searches and feeds the waitlist that fires on results day. The Bayou Meto DIY public-land post and the Ballard WMA blind-draw post show what that looks like for two of the region's best-known areas.
The compliance discipline applies to every piece of it. In Arkansas, a Plan B page about a WMA can explain the draw, the rules, and the alternatives on private ground. It cannot offer, imply, or wink at a guided hunt on the WMA or a refuge. In other states, verify the rules before you write a line.
The Hybrid Strategy: Playing Both
Most experienced southeastern duck hunters do not choose one path. They run a hybrid, and the operator who publishes that plan earns a place in it.
The framework is simple. Enter the draws you can realistically hunt every year, because application costs are small and preference or priority points build whether or not you are selected, as long as you follow each state's rules for keeping them. Book one or two private days early, ideally before the first application window closes, as insurance against the draw. If the draw comes through, you have a public date and a private date. If it does not, you still have a season.
The calendar logic follows the agencies. Tennessee's Tier 1 window opens in late June. Georgia opens June 1. Kentucky and South Carolina open September 1. Mississippi opens October 1. Arkansas runs weekly through the season. A hunter who books private insurance days in late summer, then applies through the fall, never faces a November with nothing on the calendar. A hunter who waits for results before calling a guide will usually find the best dates gone.
For operators, the hybrid strategy is the content that converts. An outfitter whose website tells hunters to enter the draws, explains how, and then recommends a guided day as insurance is positioned as a planning partner rather than a vendor. When that hunter does not draw, the operator is not a stranger he finds on a search page. He is the second half of a plan the hunter was already following, and the conversion feels like the next step rather than a sale. Operators already booking regulars can fold this into the same sequence that sends rebooking and shoulder-season emails.
Season Dates That Frame the Decision
The draw-versus-guide decision lives inside each state's duck season. The 2026-27 regular duck seasons for the six states discussed here, as posted by the agencies and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, are below. All six use a six-duck daily bag that may include no more than four mallards (two hens) and three pintails, among other species limits. Confirm dates, zones, and limits with the agency before you hunt or advertise.
Arkansas: November 21 to 29, December 10 to 23, and December 26, 2026 to January 31, 2027 (confirm with AGFC)
Kentucky: November 26 to 29 and December 7, 2026 to January 31, 2027 (confirm with KDFWR)
Tennessee: November 28 to 29 and December 5, 2026 to January 31, 2027 (confirm with TWRA)
Mississippi: November 27 to 29, December 4 to 6, and December 9, 2026 to January 31, 2027 (confirm with MDWFP)
Georgia: November 21 to 29 and December 12, 2026 to January 31, 2027 (confirm with GA DNR)
South Carolina: November 21 to 28 and December 12, 2026 to January 31, 2027, plus a youth-only day on November 14 (confirm with SCDNR)
Those split dates are themselves a marketing asset. The gap between the first and second segments is the window when draw results have landed, the first-segment reports are in, and hunters are making their second-half plans. An operator who publishes availability for the second segment in that gap meets the market at its most motivated.
Work with Pine & Marsh
Pine & Marsh helps waterfowl outfitters, duck lodges, and lease operations across the Southeast build the pages, email systems, and seasonal content that capture hunters at moments like draw-results day, while keeping every claim accurate and every offer on the right side of state and federal rules. If you want a clear read on how your operation shows up when a hunter searches the WMA he just missed, we would be glad to talk.
Book a discovery call or ask for a free marketing check, and we will walk through your site, your booking path, and the next few results days on your calendar.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is it legal to hire a guide for a duck hunt on an Arkansas WMA?
No. AGFC's waterfowl rules state that it is illegal for waterfowl hunters to be guided for pay or other compensation on WMAs or national wildlife refuges, and both the hunter and the guide face penalties under Code 24.08. Cache River NWR's 2026-2027 regulations separately prohibit hunting with a guide or outfitter. Legal guided duck hunts in Arkansas take place on private land.
When are the 2026-27 WMA duck draw deadlines in the Southeast?
Kentucky's fall quota window ran September 1 to 30, 2026, and Mississippi's ran October 1 to 15. South Carolina's and Georgia's waterfowl lotteries closed October 15. Tennessee's Mid segment runs October 21 to November 10 and its Late segment November 18 to December 8. Arkansas takes applications every week of the season from Thursday at 3 p.m. through Sunday at midnight, with a Monday draw. Confirm with each agency before applying.
What are the odds of drawing a WMA duck hunt?
Most agencies do not publish per-hunt odds. Mississippi reports that 49.3 percent of its 3,091 applicants in 2025 won at least one permit. South Carolina's 2019-2020 lottery selected 1,073 of 4,988 applicants, and SCDNR says the average preference points needed for selection is 2 to 3. Premium dates on premier areas are far harder to draw than those system-wide figures suggest.
How do preference and priority points work?
Kentucky gives one preference point to unsuccessful applicants and to those choosing the "do not hunt" option, and you must apply every year to keep points. South Carolina adds a point for each consecutive unsuccessful year and resets to zero when drawn. Tennessee's segmented hunts use priority points that reset when a party is drawn, while its season-long draw uses none. Georgia awards one point per category per year if you are not selected or apply points-only.
What happens if I don't draw?
Several areas offer stand-by options. Ballard WMA in Kentucky holds daily stand-by drawings at the check station, Mississippi's Howard Miller, Charlie Capps, Mahannah, Trim Cane, and Muscadine Farms offer stand-by, and Tennessee holds in-person leftover drawings for unclaimed sites. Many hunters also book a private guided day or join a lease as their fallback.
Is a guided duck hunt worth the cost compared with a public draw?
It depends on how often you hunt and how far you travel. A hunter who hunts many mornings a year on familiar local public land gets excellent value from the draw. A hunter who takes one or two trips a year often finds a guided day cheaper per quality hunt once gear, travel, and the risk of a failed draw are counted.
What does a draw win actually include?
Usually just access. Most WMA draws require hunters to bring their own gear, scout on their own time where scouting is allowed, and follow area rules such as early shooting closures and shell limits. South Carolina provides transportation and decoys at Bear Island, Broad River, Sandy Beach, and Coosawhatchie, and transportation only at Santee Coastal, Santee Delta, and Samworth.
What is the Plan B capture strategy for waterfowl outfitters?
It is a marketing system built around draw-results day. The operator collects a waitlist before the season, prepares a landing page and email for each state's results release, and publishes evergreen content explaining nearby draws honestly. When results land, the operator offers open dates on private water, never on the public area the hunter missed.
When should an outfitter build draw-related content?
Ideally before the first application windows open, since Georgia opens June 1 and Tennessee's season-long draw opens in late June. Content needs time to be indexed before hunters search in late summer and fall. For the 2026-27 season, operators can still prepare for Mississippi's November 1 notifications, Tennessee's Mid and Late segments, and Arkansas's weekly draws.
What are the 2026-27 duck bag limits in the Southeast?
In both the Mississippi and Atlantic Flyway states covered here, the daily bag is six ducks, including no more than four mallards (two hens) and three pintails, with additional species limits. Possession is three times the daily bag. Confirm state-specific limits, such as scaup restrictions, with your state agency.
Sources
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission -- Waterfowl Dates, Rules and Regulations (2026-27) -- https://www.agfc.com/hunting/waterfowl/waterfowl-dates-rules-regulations/ -- accessed October 2026
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission -- Special Waterfowl Permit Hunts (2026-27) -- https://www.agfc.com/hunting/waterfowl/special-waterfowl-permit-hunts/ -- accessed October 2026
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission -- AGFC adjusts fishing and hunting regulations, sets waterfowl season dates (April 17, 2026) -- https://www.agfc.com/news/agfc-adjusts-fishing-and-hunting-regulations-sets-waterfowl-season-dates/ -- accessed October 2026
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission -- Waterfowl permit applications for WRICE, WMAs start Thursday (2025) -- https://www.agfc.com/news/waterfowl-permit-applications-for-wrice-wmas-start-thursday/ -- accessed October 2026
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission -- George H. Dunklin Jr. Bayou Meto WMA -- https://www.agfc.com/wma/george-h-dunklin-jr-bayou-meto-wma/ -- accessed October 2026
Arkansas Game and Fish Commission -- Hunting License Descriptions and Fees -- https://www.agfc.com/resources/licensing/hunting-license-descriptions-and-fees/ -- accessed October 2026
Arkansas Administrative Code (via Cornell LII) -- AGFC Code 24.08, Guiding Prohibited on Commission WMAs and NWRs -- https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/arkansas/002-01-24-Ark-Code-R-114 -- accessed October 2026
Arkansas Administrative Code (via Cornell LII) -- AGFC guide license insurance requirements -- https://www.law.cornell.edu/regulations/arkansas/002-01-24-Ark-Code-R-004 -- accessed October 2026
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- Cache River NWR 2026-2027 Public Use Regulations -- https://www.fws.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2026-10/cache-river-hunt-2026_27-virtual.pdf -- accessed October 2026
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- Migratory Game Bird Hunting Memorandum: 2026-2027 Seasons in Certain States -- https://www.fws.gov/sites/default/files/documents/2026-09/mgbh-memorandum-2026-seasons_0.pdf -- accessed October 2026
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources -- Fall quota hunt application period open through Sept. 30, 2026 -- https://fw.ky.gov/News/Pages/Fall-quota-hunt-application-period-open-through-Sept-30-2026.aspx -- accessed October 2026
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources -- Waterfowl Quota Hunts (Ballard, Boatwright, Sloughs) -- https://fw.ky.gov/Hunt/Pages/Waterfowl-Quota-Hunts.aspx -- accessed October 2026
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources -- Quota Hunts (preference points) -- https://fw.ky.gov/Hunt/Pages/Quota-Hunts.aspx -- accessed October 2026
Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources -- Hunting and Fishing Seasons Planner (2026-27 waterfowl dates) -- https://fw.ky.gov/Hunt/Pages/ky-hunting-fishing-seasons-planner.aspx -- accessed October 2026
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency -- WMA Waterfowl Quota Hunts -- https://www.tn.gov/twra/hunting/quota-hunts/wma-waterfowl-hunts.html -- accessed October 2026
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency -- Application Period for Early Season WMA Waterfowl Quota Hunt to Be Held September 23-October 13 -- https://www.tn.gov/twra/news/2026/9/17/application-period-for-early-season-wma-waterfowl-quota-hunt-to-be-held-september-23-october-13.html -- accessed October 2026
Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency -- Waterfowl and Migratory Birds (2026-27 seasons) -- https://www.tn.gov/twra/article/waterfowl-hunting -- accessed October 2026
Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks -- WMA Draw Hunts -- https://www.mdwfp.com/wildlife-hunting/wma-draw-hunts -- accessed October 2026
Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks -- 2026-27 WMA Waterfowl Draw Hunt Procedures -- https://www.mdwfp.com/sites/default/files/2026-09/26-27%20Waterfowl%20Draw%20Hunt%20Procedures.pdf -- accessed October 2026
Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks -- WMA Waterfowl Draws (2026-27) -- https://www.mdwfp.com/sites/default/files/2026-09/WMA%20Waterfowl%20Draws%20%282026-27%29.pdf -- accessed October 2026
Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks -- WMA Waterfowl Draw Hunt Stats (2025) -- https://www.mdwfp.com/sites/default/files/2026-03/WMA%20Waterfowl%20Draw%20Hunt%20Stats%20%282025%29.pdf -- accessed October 2026
Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks -- Proposed Migratory Game Bird Seasons 2026-27 -- https://www.mdwfp.com/sites/default/files/2026-03/Proposed%20Mig%20Game%20Bird%20Seasons%202026-27.pdf -- accessed October 2026
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources -- Waterfowl Lottery Hunts -- https://dnr.sc.gov/hunting/waterfowllottery.html -- accessed October 2026
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources -- Lottery Hunts (application periods and average preference points) -- https://dnr.sc.gov/hunting/lottery/index.html -- accessed October 2026
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources -- Draw Licenses (preference procedures) -- https://dnr.sc.gov/hunting/drawlicenses.html -- accessed October 2026
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources -- 2026-27 Category I Waterfowl Hunt Dates -- https://dnr.sc.gov/hunting/pdf/2627WaterfowlHuntDates.pdf -- accessed October 2026
South Carolina Department of Natural Resources -- 2019-2020 Category 1 Waterfowl Hunter Survey Report -- https://dnr.sc.gov/hunting/pdf/Category1WaterfowlHunterSurveyReport2019-2020.pdf -- accessed October 2026
Georgia DNR Wildlife Resources Division -- Quota Hunts -- https://georgiawildlife.com/hunting/quota -- accessed October 2026
Carolina Sportsman -- Apply now for 2026 SC waterfowl lottery hunts -- https://www.carolinasportsman.com/?p=210118 -- accessed October 2026
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