Stuttgart Flooded Timber: What a $2,500 Arkansas Duck Trip Actually Costs

It's 5:45 a.m. and you're standing waist-deep in black water, surrounded by oak trees that disappeared into darkness about ten feet up. Your headlamp is off. The guide told you to keep it that way. Somewhere above you, through a canopy you can't see, the sky is starting to gray.

Then you hear them. Wings. Thousands of wings. The sound builds like distant thunder until it's directly overhead—a tornado of mallards pouring into the timber. The guide hits a sequence on his call, and birds start breaking off, spiraling down through the trees. You see orange feet. Green heads. Wings cupped and committed.

This is Stuttgart, Arkansas. The Duck Capital of the World. And this is why people fly halfway across the country, spend thousands of dollars, and stand in freezing swamp water before sunrise.

But what does a trip like this actually cost? Not the brochure price—the real number, after you've paid the deposit, split the lodge, tipped the guides, processed the birds, and settled up with three buddies who all have different ideas about what "splitting it evenly" means.

Let's break it down. For fundamentals on coordinating group trips, see our group hunting trip planning guide.

The Trip: 3 Days in the Grand Prairie

We're pricing a realistic 3-day/3-night guided hunt for four hunters based out of Stuttgart. This is the most common setup—fly in, hunt three mornings, fly out. You'll hunt flooded rice fields and timber on private land with guides, dogs, and all the decoys handled for you.

The Hunt Package

Most Stuttgart operations offer similar all-inclusive packages:

Typical package price: $550-700 per person per day

For a 3-day package at $600/day:

• Per person: $1,800
• Group of 4: $7,200

This is your baseline. Now let's add everything else.

Licenses and Stamps

Arkansas makes this relatively painless, but non-residents pay a premium:

You can buy everything online through the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission website. Do it before you leave—don't waste hunt time at a Walmart kiosk.

Getting to Stuttgart

Stuttgart's closest commercial airport is Bill and Hillary Clinton National (LIT) in Little Rock, about 55 miles east. Memphis (MEM) is 90 miles; that's your backup if Little Rock flights are ugly.

Flights (from major hubs):

We'll budget $350/person for flights.

Rental Vehicle:

You need a truck or SUV. Roads to hunting properties can get rough, and you're hauling gear, waders, and coolers of birds.

Split four ways, that's roughly $100/person.

Fuel:

Little Rock to Stuttgart is 55 miles. Add daily runs to hunting spots, maybe a trip to Mack's Prairie Wings for gear you forgot, and a celebratory dinner in town.

Budget $80-100 total, or about $25/person.

Guide Tips

This is non-negotiable. Guides wake up at 3 a.m., set decoys in chest-deep water, call birds for hours, and handle dog work while you shoot. Standard tip is 15-20% of the guide fee.

For a $600/day hunt:

• 15% = $90/day
• 20% = $120/day

Over three days, that's $270-360 per hunter at the 15-20% range.

We'll budget $300/person for tips.

Most lodges have multiple staff—guides, cooks, housekeeping. Ask the lodge how they prefer tips distributed. Cash is standard.

Ammunition

You're shooting steel or bismuth. Birds are close in timber, but you'll go through shells—especially on a hot morning when greenheads keep pouring in.

Budget for 3-4 boxes over three days. $75-100/person for steel, more if you're shooting premium loads.

We'll budget $85/person.

Meals and Drinks Outside the Package

Your package covers dinner and breakfast at the lodge. But you'll probably want:

• Lunch on travel days
• Airport food and drinks
• Celebratory dinner in Stuttgart (Craig's BBQ is the move)
• Beer and snacks at the lodge

Budget $100-150/person for incidentals.

We'll use $125/person.

Shipping Birds Home

If you're flying, you can't just toss 18 ducks in your carry-on. Options:

Check as luggage: Pack birds in a hard-sided cooler with frozen gel packs. Most airlines charge $35-50 for an oversized/overweight bag. Works for 2-3 days of birds if packed tight.

Ship via FedEx/UPS: Overnight shipping a cooler of ducks runs $80-150 depending on weight and distance.

Carry-on (if driving): Free, but you need a cooler that'll keep birds frozen for 10+ hours.

We'll budget $75/person for shipping.

The Full Damage Report

Here's what a 3-day Stuttgart trip actually costs per person:

Round it to $3,000 per person. For a group of four, that's $12,000 total.

The Range

Not every trip hits $3,000. Here's the realistic range:

When to Book

Stuttgart's prime time is late December through mid-January—peak mallard migration. These weeks book 6-12 months in advance. If you want Christmas week, you're booking in February.

Early season (late November): Lower prices, fewer birds, but less crowded.

Peak season (Dec 20 - Jan 15): Maximum birds, maximum price, maximum competition for dates.

Late season (late January): Prices drop, birds are educated, hunting is tougher. But there are still ducks, and you might have the timber to yourself.

The Expense Split Problem

Here's where Stuttgart trips get complicated:

The deposit: Someone put $3,000 on their card in March to hold the dates. That person has been floating the group's money for nine months.

The tips: Did everyone bring cash? Does the guy who shot his limit every day tip the same as the guy who went 2-for-18?

The rental car: One person's name is on the contract. They also paid for gas three times because they were driving.

The ammo run: Someone grabbed shells for the group at Mack's. Was that $200 for four guys or just two?

The last-night dinner: "Let's just split it evenly" when three guys had steak and one had a salad.

Multiply these micro-decisions across 72 hours of hunting, eating, drinking, and driving, and you've got a recipe for the awkward group text two weeks later: "Hey, I think you still owe me like $180?"

This is exactly why real-time expense tracking matters. Log it when it happens—at the gas pump, at the restaurant, at the guide's truck when you hand over tip cash. When you land back home, everyone knows exactly who owes what.

What You're Really Paying For

Three thousand dollars is real money. You could buy a solid used duck boat. You could fund an entire DIY season on public land. So why do people pay Stuttgart prices?

Because nothing else compares to flooded timber.

The birds don't decoy to a spread in a rice field—they pour through the canopy like rain. You're not lying in a layout blind watching specks in the sky; you're standing eye-level with mallards backpedaling through oak branches ten feet away. The shooting is fast, close, and utterly chaotic. And the sound—thousands of wings, hundreds of calls, the splash of birds hitting water everywhere around you—is something you can't replicate anywhere else in American waterfowling.

Stuttgart sells an experience. The ducks are almost incidental.

When you're standing in that timber at first light, listening to the roar of wings overhead, you won't be thinking about the expense report. You'll be thinking about the next bird dropping through the trees.

The accounting can wait until you're home. Just make sure someone's tracking it.

For more on waterfowl behavior, tactics, and destinations across the country, see our Ultimate Guide to Duck Hunting.

Plan the trip. Wade the timbers. Split the tab.

Start Tracking Your Trip