Our Story
Born from the Delta
Oak Meadow Estate has been a part of Wilson, Arkansas since 1937. We're bringing it back to life as the finest hunting lodge on the Mississippi Flyway.
What We're About
Hunt Hard. Come Home.
Oak Meadow isn't a resort with a hunting program bolted on. It's a hunting operation with a world-class lodge behind it. We put serious hunters on birds across Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri — timber, fields, and everything in between — then bring them back to a 1937 estate in Wilson to eat well, sleep well, and do it all again at first light.
We keep groups small — eight hunters maximum — and the experience personal. You'll know your guides by name. You'll eat breakfast before the sun comes up. You'll hear stories around the fire that you'll be telling for years.
The People Behind It
Your Guides
Our guides have hunted Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri their entire lives. They know the terrain, the birds, and how conditions change day to day. Whether it's timber, fields, or open water — they know where to be and when. They also know when to leave. We hunt until limit or noon, then pull out. Letting the birds rest and keeping pressure off the grounds is a big part of why our hunts stay productive. They're also good company, which matters when you're out before sunrise.
Local Knowledge
Our guides grew up hunting this country. They know the Flyway, the timber, and the birds.
Small Groups Only
We cap hunting parties at 8 so every hunter gets the full experience — not a crowded blind.
All-Inclusive Service
Calls, decoys, retrieval dogs — all handled. Guests are responsible for their own duck stamp and hunting license prior to arrival.
The Flyway
Timber, Fields & Wetlands
Where We Hunt
Delta Hunting on the Flyway
The Mississippi Flyway is the greatest waterfowl migration corridor in North America. Every fall, millions of ducks and geese funnel south through Tennessee, Arkansas, and Missouri — and the Delta bottomlands spanning those three states are where they stop, feed, and stage.
We hunt a variety of Delta terrain — flooded timber, open fields, agricultural land, and natural wetlands. The right spot on any given morning depends on conditions, migration patterns, and where the birds are working. Our guides know this country and they put you in the right place. Every hunt runs until limit or noon — then we're out. That's not just a schedule, it's how we protect the resource. Minimizing pressure and letting the birds rest is what keeps Oak Meadow's success rate where it's been for generations.
We don't lock into one spot or one style of hunting. The Delta gives us options, and we use them. That flexibility is part of what makes a hunt here different from a fixed-blind operation.
#1
Flyway in North America
Timber + Fields
Hunt Terrain
TN, AR & MO
Home Country
Nov – Jan
Duck Season
"A town full of charm — good food, good whiskey, and a square that looks like it belongs in the English countryside."
Wilson, Arkansas
Cotton Fields to Steel Mills — and One Charming Town Square
Mississippi County, Arkansas has one of the most unlikely economic stories in the South. It was built on cotton. Today it's one of the largest steel-producing counties in the entire nation. And right in the middle of all of it sits Wilson — a small town with a Tudor square, a boutique hotel, a farm-to-table kitchen, and more character per square foot than most cities ten times its size.
Est. Late 1800s
The Cotton Gin
Restored 2010
The Louis Hotel
Southern Cooking
Wilson Cafe
Robert E. Lee Wilson — known to everyone as "Boss Lee" — founded Wilson in 1886 with a vision most people would have called impossible: drain the swamps, clear the timber, and turn thousands of acres of Delta bottomland into productive farmland. He pulled it off. At its peak, the Lee & Wilson Company farmed over 65,000 acres and built a company town from scratch — housing, a commissary, a school, a church, a pharmacy, and a theater. Cotton was king, and Wilson was its court.
Lee Wilson's son fell in love with Tudor architecture on a trip to England, and when he came home he rebuilt the town square in that image — half-timbered facades, painted British green, unlike anything else in Arkansas. The cotton gin anchored it all. Today that same county that once measured its wealth in bales now hosts Big River Steel and Nucor — making Mississippi County one of the top steel-producing counties in the United States. Old Delta, new economy, same flat horizon.
The people of Wilson have always been the town's greatest asset — farmers, craftsmen, merchants, and families who built something lasting out of flat Delta ground. That spirit of community and forward momentum carried the town through every generation. In 2010, Gaylon Lawrence Jr. purchased Wilson and channeled that same energy into a careful, unhurried revival — restoring the Tudor square, opening The Louis Hotel, relaunching the Wilson Cafe with a farm-to-table kitchen, building Tin House Golf Club, and bringing in White's Mercantile and the Wilson Music Series. Southern Living took notice. So did the rest of the South. It's 44 miles from Memphis — easy to get to, and genuinely hard to leave.
Wilson is 44 miles from Memphis, TN — easy to get to, and hard to leave.
The Louis Hotel
16 king rooms and a rooftop deck overlooking the square. Cocktails, wine, and whiskey flights in the lobby. The kind of place you didn't expect to find out here — and can't stop talking about after.
Wilson Cafe
Farm-to-table Southern cooking with ingredients sourced from Wilson Gardens across the street. The sweet potato pie alone is worth the drive. Open for breakfast and lunch.
The Tudor Square
Half-timbered facades painted British green — built by a man who fell in love with England and brought it home to Arkansas. There is nowhere else in the South that looks quite like this.
Tin House Golf Club
A one-of-a-kind reversible course playable as 12, 18, or 24 holes. Thoughtfully designed, beautifully maintained, and a perfect way to spend an afternoon between hunts.
Hampson Archeological Museum
Free admission. One of the finest collections of Nodena-phase Native American artifacts in the country, right on the town square. A quiet, remarkable place.
White's Mercantile
Holly Williams — daughter of Hank Williams Jr. — opened her third location here in 2017. Gifts, goods, and Delta-region finds in the old Wilson gas station. Worth a browse every time.
The Lodge
The 1937 Clubhouse
Built by Jim Crain as the 'Showplace of the Delta,' Oak Meadow Estate has been the finest address in Wilson since 1937. The 550-foot oak-lined drive, the Classical Revival columns, the magnolia courtyard — all original, all still standing. A new lodge is being built directly behind the main house to host hunting parties in the comfort this operation deserves.
See the Lodge