Hank Browne

Five mighty lucky boys live in Little Rock, Arkansas. They are the grandsons and favored duck hunting partners of Hank Browne, a Delta Diamond Life Member. Browne's passion, experience and commitment to waterfowl hunting and conservation - and his generous nature - make him the grandpa any duck hunter would happily claim.

Browne was raised in what he calls the "backwoods Arkansas" of Perryville in the Ouachita Mountains.

"People probably won't appreciate me calling it backwoods now, but when I was a kid it was backwoods," he said. "There was not a paved road in the whole county. It was just a great place to grow up. I'd walk a quarter-mile and I was in the woods with my .22."

Beginning as a youthful squirrel hunter, Browne grew his outdoor passions first to quail hunting. Then, as quail populations faded, Browne, now 80, came to duck hunting in the mid-1970s.

"Two friends and I bought a beat-up houseboat on the lower White River," Browne recalled. "We found ourselves a little old lake nobody was hunting and carried plywood on our backs through the woods for about half a mile and built a blind. It turned out to be darned good duck hunting, especially when the river got high. That's when I really started duck hunting. We spent every weekend down there in the season.

"I just loved it. I got where I was pretty proficient with a duck call and that adds a tremendous amount to duck hunting. Then I started buying retrievers. That adds even more. Now my grandsons are really getting involved, and that keeps the juices flowing. Duck hunting has just been a big part of my life for a lot of years."

Browne has traveled to pursue his passion for duck hunting, including to Argentina and Canada, but prefers hunting close to home.

"I don't know how you beat green timber mallard hunting in Arkansas," he said. "It's the epitome of the sport as far as I'm concerned."

Today, Browne owns his own patch of green timber on the Cache River, and that's where he does most of his duck hunting now.

His wife, Cathy, often joins him in the blind. Although she doesn't hunt as often as she once did, she enjoys it. She also shares his enthusiasm for conservation and philanthropy, especially related to the Arkansas outdoors.

Another favorite hunting partner was Judge Jim "Catfish" Rhodes.

"I lost him about six months ago," said Browne, with a catch in his voice. "He and I spent many, many hours in the duck woods together. We finally built a blind big enough we could cook in it, and Jimmy was an excellent cook. He got that nickname 'Catfish' because he put on these big catfish dinners. We put a plaque in the blind that says 'Catfish's Kitchen,' and every morning we'd enjoy a pretty elaborate breakfast together. He loved to do it. Jimmy was a good chef. He was a good duck caller. We had a lot of good times together."

Upon graduating from college, Brown worked at a distributor for RCA Victor. After five years, he started a TV and appliance store, to which he eventually added furniture. As TVs and appliances became big-box items, Browne evolved to furniture exclusively. Over the years, Hank's Fine Furniture chain grew to 17 stores. The name is widely recognized throughout the region. Hank's wife Cathy heads up marketing and communications, and, together, they're considered the "first couple of Arkansas furniture."

Business success allows the Brownes to be widely philanthropic, especially toward conservation causes. Hank Browne's first conservation involvement was in about 2000 with The Nature Conservancy, and he served on its board for many years.

"The Nature Conservancy is a great organization, in my opinion," he said. "They have done just an unbelievable amount of good in the state of Arkansas. As I discovered their programs, I realized they were all in aid of people wanting to hunt and fish. Any time they bought land, for the most part, it would become open to the public. It just opened my eyes to what needs to happen."

In 2011, Little Rock real estate broker and former Delta Waterfowl board member Gar Lile recommended that Browne look at Delta's duck production work. Browne read about Delta's Predator Management program, and it clicked for him.

"I really was attracted to Delta Waterfowl because of the activities with Predator Management," he said. "It just makes a huge amount of sense. As I became aware of all the efforts Delta makes in duck production, I just started giving y'all more money because I believe it's really well placed."

Browne was inducted into the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame in 2020 for his support of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Foundation, The Nature Conservancy, and Delta Waterfowl.

"It's a nice honor and a big surprise to me," he said. "It's great to realize I was inducted for just doing something I've loved all my life!"

Jeff Howell, Delta Waterfowl's vice president of development, applauds the recognition for Browne.

"Hank has been a key stakeholder in Delta, ducks, and hunting for many years, especially in Arkansas," Howell said. "His induction into the Arkansas Outdoor Hall of Fame could not have been more deserved. If you run into Hank and Cathy, make sure to shake their hands. They've moved mountains for the state, duck hunting, and Delta."

Reflecting on nearly five decades of waterfowl hunting to his record, Browne looks forward to what's to come for his grandsons.

"I believe as long as we have organizations like Delta Waterfowl - and they get support - we should be able to maintain and even further increase duck populations," he said. "It's actually amazing how it has sustained! I can remember those years when you could get just one duck, and we had a 30-day season. Now, we've had a number of years where we've had 60 days and a six-duck limit.

"That's what we need to get these city kids into. I don't think there's hardly a young boy or girl who, when they get exposed to duck hunting, they don't get something out of it. With many of them it becomes a lifelong hobby."

Hank Browne has five lucky grandsons, indeed. - Bill Miller