A favorite spot for mallards to land is in the flooded timber. Some of this is natural flooding, and some of it is done for waterfowl shooting. Live timber is flooded in the fall and drained in mid-winter so that the trees are not affected by the water. Decoys are spread out in openings in the timber to add further deception for the landing birds.

Once the mallards decide to land, they funnel down through the trees, intent on missing tree trunks, limbs and branches. There is no wind because of the heavy woods, so landing mallards must do much wing flapping to keep their balance or they fall like rocks. Even then, some of the birds will hit branches or fall on their heads in the quiet water.

The oak trees are nearly bare even though some leaves are still floating on the water. It is quiet except for an occasional quack of a mallard and croak of a frog.

- Maynard Reece