David Berry shared several successful duck hunts with the author on Gist WMA before the season was over. Photo by Albert Lavallee.

Oklahoma's southwest corner is not the typical duck hunter's idea of a great waterfowling destination. That part of the state typically is very dry during duck season. In 2008-09, the area was, to put it simply, a desert.

Duck hunting conditions started bad in November and got worse. The legendary Hackberry Flat WMA had only two units flooded -- and by January, one of them was dry. As a duck hunter/photographer I was disappointed but not discouraged. I just had to rethink my duck-hunting strategies.

I live in Lawton, which is bounded by several large lakes, all of them opened to duck hunting. Lake Waurika, to the southeast, was my first choice and proved to hold good hunting on most days. It, like all area lakes, was very low. Hunting was difficult because of deep mud and little cover. Lake Ellsworth to the northeast was in the same shape; I hunted it, but it sure was muddy. I didn't make it to Lake Tom Steed, but I'm sure it was in the same shape. I was not having my best year getting ducks or photographs of my dog retrieving. But a friend made a suggestion that changed my whole season.

"Have you ever thought about duck hunting at Gist WMA?" he asked.

"Gist?" I replied. "I've never heard of it, much less hunted it."

He laughed. "Yes, it's not very well known and it's small, only 200 acres. But it's right on the North Fork of the Red River just west of Tipton. I was dove hunting down there in September and thought the river would be a good place to duck hunt this winter, if it gets dry or all the lakes freeze up."

I was intrigued and started doing research. The first place I looked was on the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation's Web site, www.wildlifedepartment.com. The site supplied me with all the information I needed. The Web site is a very good place to find information on Oklahoma's wildlife management areas. It has maps, aerial photographs and regulations. Gist is, indeed, a small WMA -- mainly a dove, quail and deer hunting area. Kelvin Schoonover manages this small parcel of land; he also is the manager of Hackberry Flat WMA. He usually plants a few acres of wheat on Gist, but that's about it. Duck hunting is not its main attraction, but the Red River borders the WMA on two sides.

I was ready for a scouting/hunting trip to the North Fork of the Red. (Continued)

On the afternoon of Dec. 21 I made my first trip to Gist WMA. I found it easily enough, but there is only one sign and it's at the small parking lot. The North Fork is about 200 yards to the northwest of the parking area, and I soon learned I had carried too much stuff. But I made it, and put out two-dozen mallard decoys in the middle of a very low, slow-flowing river.