Our Story

Black Duck Revival… What it is and Why I do it.

What is Black Duck Revival? To start off with, it’s a place.

In May of 2017 my wife and I purchased an old derelict building in Brinkley, Arkansas. In its lifetime it had been used for many purposes…home, place of worship, corner store, parsonage. In its most recent incarnation it was a small, old style southern church. With the steady population decline in Brinkley over the years, coupled with the aging out of the remaining members, the Heartland Christian Fellowship could no longer sustain services and closed its doors in 2014.

Initially, I was just looking for a place in town to sleep and keep a few supplies while duck hunting. A way to be closer to the areas that I hunt and be able to relax a bit after a long morning of hard work and cold temperatures. I started to realize though, that this building could be more than a bunkhouse for me and my friends. As I made repairs and peeled back layers I began to want this place to be more.

The idea of creating a purpose built facility for the DIY duck hunter came soon after. With access to some of the best public waterfowl hunting in the world within rock throwing distance, I figured that I could recoup some of my renovation costs by offering the spot as a weekend rental to out of state hunters. A beautiful floor plan and recreation area unfolded as the building was gutted and reformed into a modern hunting lodge for the do-it-yourselfer. As I framed walls and cleaned 100 year old cypress beams I had the opportunity to think in real detail about what I wanted to see from the space. I thought about places I had stayed while hunting and experiences I had when encountering hunters afield in rural areas of Arkansas. You see, I don’t look like most of the folks that I see hunting. Especially duck hunting.

I am a person a color. A bi-racial man. A black man. I’ve got weird tattoos ( ex. 95 Dodge Caravan) and most of the times a scruffy beard. I almost always stand out in line at 4am at a rural gas station wearing camo and buying 12 hour old coffee. I stand in stark contrast to the guys with confederate flag front plates and receive looks of surprise and perplexment when we bump into each other at the boat ramp. And yes, I occasionally hear the N-word.

For the most part I attended private schools from grade school through college. Yet, I’ve fed myself and my family primarily by working manual labor or in service industry jobs that allotted me the physicality and schedule flexibility that I crave. That in itself made me an outlier. There aren’t a whole lot of brothers with specialized history degrees from small liberal art schools lugging shingles up a ladder in the Arkansas summer heat for 100 bucks a day. Or cooking cheeseburgers for the governor in a dive bar surrounded by bar flies and state representatives.

I started to realize that in this run down building I was reshaping, there was an opportunity to create a space, both physical and in the ether for people who felt like there wasn’t a place for them in the outdoors. Or maybe for folks who just didn’t know how to get started or were intimidated for any number of reasons. I could incorporate my love of and need for combining manual dexterity with academic vigor. This space could serve as a hub for hunting, cooking, learning, the exploration of history, meeting and experiencing. Hopefully, while doing all of that it can also serve as a place to facilitate conversations about hunting that are specific to the experiences of POC and other marginalized or disenfranchised members of the hunting community (both current participants and potential).

I’m going to try a lot things here and figure out what sticks. I’m not sure yet what aspects I’ll be best at and what features might attract an audience. We’ll figure that out as we move forward. For now I’m excited to be able to write and share some thoughts on harvesting wild game, experiencing the outdoors, turning that harvest into great table fare, and all of the hard work that makes that narrative possible.