Flyway Connections Podcast
Welcome to Flyway Connections, where new and veteran waterfowlers come together to share in the lifestyle of chasing cupped wings. Whether you’re in the blind or counting down the days in the off-season, we’re here to keep the passion alive and the waterfowl conversation going. Dive into the stories, tips, gear talk, and traditions that make the waterfowl community what it is. This is more than a hunt it’s a connection.
Flyway Connections Podcast
Jake AirForce
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SPEAKER_02Hey, for the viewers, man, we have a special guest for a special series you're about to start. Um no um, it's um no, what do you call it, hidden that we're we mean Chris are veterans. And we want to start back into kind of the veteran hunting, and we want to start our veteran seasons where we talk to guys from different branches of the military, active retired, and just talk about hunting and how they got in hunting and a little bit of branch of their branch. Today, I know we're two army guys, but we're still we're kicking the series off with the Air Force. We have a buddy of mine, Jake. Hey Jake, how are you doing? Good, how are you? Not too bad. Uh kind of introduce yourself and uh let us know where you're from.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, my name uh uh is Jake Byer, originally uh from uh Waukeshaw, Wisconsin. Um I did Air Force for uh six years active duty. Uh now I'm living down in Louisiana and I'm uh civilian for uh the Army doing air traffic control down here at Fort Polk. So nice.
SPEAKER_02Air traffic control ways more than me and Chris. Me and Chris are two big dumb grunts. Yeah, we're dumb. Yeah, we were two big dumb grunts. Um but so for the viewers, me and Jay kind of um met doing some volunteer work for uh ducks and lid up up in the for the Vernon Parrish chapter. We were on the committee over there. Um now we know you're from Wisconsin. How'd you get involved in the conservation side? But how'd you get involved in duck hunting? Did you kind of have a little unique story?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I it was actually later in life. It was actually after really after I guess when I really got into it was after I got out of the military. Um I we I had uh gotten a job with the Federal Aviation Administration, so doing air traffic control on the civilian side. Um and so we bought uh me and my wife bought a house on the Mississippi River in Illinois. So Illinois and Iowa were in my backyard. So one morning I'm just kind of sitting there drinking coffee, like wake up and all of a sudden I hear someone shoot. I hear a shot and I look, and there's a guy that had decoys out, and it was it ended up being early goose season in Illinois. Um, so I guess fast forward to that, it kind of piqued my interest. Like, hey, I could probably do this in my backyard. Like that sounds kind of fun. I grew up really hunting uh whitetailed deer and fishing mainly. Um, but yeah, then I got uh there was uh a local Delta chapter that reached out for kind of a veterans hunt um that they sponsored up in Iowa. And so I reached out to them and I got selected, and um, we went out towards uh, I believe it was Des Moines, Iowa, and they took me on a hunt. And the funny thing was we didn't even shoot anything. We saw birds, but we didn't, we didn't get anything. But I was hooked from right then and there. So growing up, like I guess my duck hunting story, it kind of started with Delta. And I mean, the conservation side for me is always, I mean, just as a hunter and a fisherman, pretty much my whole life was uh it was important, and I think it's really cool kind of the how Ducks Unlimited and Delta work to improve uh habitat and and just hunting areas for for guys like us. So but yeah.
SPEAKER_02Before we get on, I like your hat.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, that's I mean, that's honestly kind of the same similar stories of how I got into it too. But um, I know Joe, uh so you said you went on a hunt and uh you said Iowa, sorry. Yeah, correct. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, it was uh yeah, it was kind of cool because um I lived in Illinois, but I mean Iowa obviously with the Mississippi River was right there. So it was kind of the best of both worlds, kind of how their seasons go. It was kind of the same, but kind of different. So I mean, if Illinois was open, then Iowa would open and it kind of just with early like Canada goose and uh teal season and different stuff. So it kind of it was almost like double dipping um to have both sides of the river and and hunt both states. But um, and then I was lucky enough uh there was a guy um in town, um, and he kind of took me under his wing. He had a permanent blind setup, and so he kind of taught me, I guess, the right way to do things. And um I don't know uh if you I mean, I'm sure you guys have heard of like the skull boat hunting. So he was really old school and and took me out into the skull boat and doing all that stuff, and just a massive uh diver spread and then Canada goose spread. And so yeah, I was lucky that I had kind of mentors that that brought me up and and got me hooked. And now it's just, I mean, this duck hunting is just what I do. That's the reason why I moved to Louisiana. Um, I think I'd been to Louisiana twice before I moved here. Um, and I told my wife, I'm we got offered a job down here, and she's like, What do you know about Louisiana? I'm like, there's ducks down there, and she's like, All right, let's try it. So that's why I'm here. And this will be I've this will be my coming up this year will be my fourth season now hunting down here. So so yeah, it it all worked out in the end, and we're we love living in Louisiana and and and duck hunting every chance we get.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, yeah, it's kind of the same thing for me. I ended up retiring out of here out of the Army and State here. Um I love the community, love the um duck hunting here. And I think it's real cool that you came over here and immediately got into the conservation side and helping out with DU and Delta here in Louisiana, where um we all know it's kind of like uh an unpopular thing sometimes, but right the fact that you've seen the importance of being a new duck hunter to get into conservation side and um you know really helping spread the words and um to keep this you know hair drawn because you're about to start passing down to your children.
SPEAKER_00Right. Yeah. Yeah, no, it's uh it's definitely important. Like I said, I wouldn't be duck hunting like I am today if it wasn't for Delta. Um, but it's just meeting other duck hunters too. I mean, when you have a hobby or an interest, you look for people that have similar interests. And I mean, yeah, like you said, and it can kind of be unpopular one way or the other. Um, but at the same time, it's like, why not be a part of something that um I guess benefits your hobby by I mean, conserving uh the land and uh providing hunting areas and just I mean, looking out for future generations uh and yeah, just given opportunities for people to hunt. So how was that?
SPEAKER_01Um Chris? Oh, that's what I was gonna kind of bring up that first hunt. So after the first hunt, just the real question was how how much uh how much did you empty it out of your bank account after that first day?
SPEAKER_00It was uh yeah, no, it's it's kind of funny because yeah, it was uh I think it was within a couple weeks I I had bought a boat, um, which I had a fishing boat, but I'm like, okay, I told my wife, she's like, you already have a boat. I'm like, yeah, I need a duck boat now. Like, so yeah, it's uh it's definitely a little bit of a strain on uh on the bank account. But luckily, uh my wife, she she also enjoys doing it. She doesn't hunt as much down here as she did, but um that's the thing she says she misses the most about living in Illinois and Iowa is a Canada goose hunting because we would go out and uh she I mean, usually she'd start out the morning, we'd set up decoys and she would take a nap in the layout blind. And so it's just kind of funny that that she got into it too and and and enjoys it. So it's it's I guess I'm lucky that that she she jumped into it too. So but yeah, it it definitely uh it definitely uh gets hits the bank account after a while. Yeah, that's funny.
SPEAKER_01It's just uh yeah, it was like exact similar stories. So I kind of when I got into it, kind of the same thing. It was uh couple thousand down the drain. Joe was to blame for that. But uh I actually got lucky too that my wife loves to do it. So she hunts with me too. She will go down to Louisiana and we'll hunt with Joe and stuff. So she uh she fell in love with it. She was a bit uh more of a big game hunter growing up in Texas, so um, but yeah, but yeah, on the same boat. Uh that's funny though. Yeah. So that's why Joe was laughing. It was like the same stories.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Identical. And for you, Chris, I was I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_01Except the only non-identical stuff is you were a lot smarter than I was. Funny story, yeah. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I was gonna say it's kind of cool too here because I never really hunted with people I worked with. So I came down here and I have two buddies who I got them uh into duck hunting, and they're the same way now, too. I mean, they're buying shotguns and boats and decoys, and it's the same thing. And I I love that. I mean, anytime you can get someone new, new into hunting and hopefully pass the passion on. And I I thought that was pretty cool. I came down here. And now I got two really close buddies who I work with who I got them hooked on it too, and that's what it's all about. I mean, getting as many people out and and kind of seeing the stuff that we get to see out in the marsh and in the blind, and just I mean, good hunts and bad hunts, just the camaraderie of it. It's I mean, that's that's the fun part is I mean, just going out and and having a good time with your buddies and enjoying nature.
SPEAKER_02So you said most of the stuff you did in um Illinois was uh river hunting and uh and doubters. Uh how's that different, man? Where like do you I know you said your wife missed the you know the layout lines and the you know and the the can be the big honker hunting, but how's that different from down here?
SPEAKER_00Um the two big ones are alligators and mosquitoes. Um but all joking aside, no, it's it's definitely a different um like I've I've kind of gotten into the coastal marshes and and toured around uh some more timber um hunting down here as well. It's just a different, I guess. Yeah, it's just different. I mean, from big diver spreads up there on the river, um it's just we were right on the Mississippi River, and then they would run run the river down and they would kind of rest on on the pool north of us and then kind of trickle their way down. And then um obviously the Canada goose population up there is a lot bigger. Um, and then just going out to dry fields. But some of my favorite hunting up there too, like I said, going back to where my roots of when I'd first started thinking about hunting was I mean, even hunting the geese on the river, like they would go out in the fields and eat in the morning and then they'd come back, and then you'd intercept them coming back looking to loaf somewhere. And and that was always kind of cool too. And I I guess I missed that a little bit too, where I mean, you could I could do it looking at my house, basically, like sitting out on a point on the river. And um, but yeah, it's just a it's it was just a little bit different, but man, I don't know. There's something about those coastal marshes that are just a blast and like the mixed bag, and I mean, you don't know what you're gonna see or what's gonna come in.
SPEAKER_01And it's I mean, yeah, I'm I'm hooked being down here now, so I'm curious, I'm curious to like, you know, talking to other veterans, because I know me and Joe's have talked offline about this. Like, I everybody that a veteran or whether you're in a you've been you've been in a team sport, I mean, the the big thing like when it comes to duck hunting is the whole like camaraderie. And I think that's where like I think a lot of us like uh when we get out, we I guess uh subconscious like I guess not subconsciously, just like miss that or whatever. Right. So um I'm just curious, like as far as like your experience, how how did all that when you got into duck hunting, how'd that relate, I guess, correlate with your, I guess, veteran or your service time, if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, it was uh well, and the cool thing is I hunted uh with a buddy who's still in the reserves now up in Iowa, and it was kind of the same, same way. We um connected over connected over waterfowl hunting and duck hunting. And um, yeah, it was I kind of had a little, I guess, team up there, I guess you would call it. And so it was nice, like, okay, we're always texting, figuring out what we're gonna do, where, okay, where are we going this weekend? Where, what are we doing here? Do we have a field? Are we gonna go out on the river? Are you gonna go to the marsh? So that was the big thing coming down here because I didn't like I didn't know anybody. Obviously, when I first got down here, um, I'm like, okay, who am I gonna hunt with? Like, that's what the first couple years I was down here, I got a lease. I'm like, okay, I'm like, I'm probably gonna be hunting just me and my wife. Like, we're just gonna get a small, small lease and try to figure out just that's what we're gonna do. Um, and like I said, now I got a group of uh four or five buddies who um it's kind of the same thing. We got a little team and a group, and we all kind of get together and put our brains together. And yeah, it's definitely the camaraderie part of it. And I mean, it definitely some of those slow hunts where the birds just aren't working. I mean that's some of the most memorable hunts you have are the ones sitting there where something dumb happens or the birds aren't working and somebody says something or says a joke or someone falls in the mud or something. It's just that's what I mean, it kind of like on the military side. You build that brother brotherhood and those friendships that last forever. And it's very similar with guys who like, like I said, kind of a duck hunting team where um yeah, you you're just connected with these people no matter what. So yeah, it's definitely very similar.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I've always said um duck waterfowl hunting is a team sport. I mean, I you know I've done it solo and I've had some really great, great hunt solo, but it even though I'd rather take a mediocre hunt with a teen than a banger solo hunt, it just you know, then you know, your buddies being there really, you know, really makes the difference. Um but like for me moving down here from North Carolina, like I really I never lived anywhere that had a real teal season. North Carolina had one, but you had it was only in a certain zone about two hours away from me. And working at Bragg in 80 seconds, they kind of like to take your time. But when I came here, man, the September teal season was it. Like that's probably one of my favorite times of the year, besides the alligator snakes and the mosquitoes.
SPEAKER_04Right. But yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um, did you have a teal season like that comparable in the Illinois, or was this like, you know, were they just two of the difference?
SPEAKER_00No, so uh how I kind of explain it, like there's definitely teal that come through. Um, and I feel like anywhere you hunt, I mean, guys are gonna say, oh, the teal were already here two weeks ago or whatever. But um I feel like in comparison from up there to down here, the teal season up there was like two or three days for me personally. I was working a lot more up there. Um, that was one of the reasons why I moved down here is so I would have more time to hunt. Um, but up there it was like, like I said, two or three days where they would come through and you'd you'd get them pretty good, and then they'd just kind of trickle out and be gone. Um down here is crazy. I mean, one of my first um I went on a teal hunt in Winnie, Texas, um, early season. Uh that was the most teal I've ever seen in my life. I was like, oh my goodness, that was crazy. And yeah, the teal season down here, I if I could shoot nothing, but if I could shoot a bag of teal every single day of the uh teal season or the big duck season, I'd be super happy. So I think I'm in the right spot uh for that because I I just I love how teal work. They're good eating. I mean, they're fun, they respond well to a call. They're just, I mean, the teal season down here is crazy. So that's why I tell buddies, I'm like, you guys gotta if if you want to come down for something, come down for teal season because it's it's a blast. And you'll see stuff that I mean, I feel like I said, it was it was I didn't know what was thicker in that field and winning, the mosquitoes are or the teal.
SPEAKER_02So yeah. Yeah, that area in Texas doesn't get a good, I mean, I'm not gonna say it doesn't get a good rat. They have it under, they have it under rat. I mean, because you I never thought about Texas, that area of Texas, the Houston, the Winnie.
SPEAKER_01Well, even like all down there, Matagorda Bay and all that. I mean, it's insane. Like the teal there is insane. Uh now that my daughter's going to college down there, I'll probably make more trips, but I live in North Texas, so it's kind of quite a drive. So um But yeah, it's it's insane, man. I I I kinda a part of me is like, uh, let's not tell everybody, but um well edit that for them. Yeah, it it really is. I mean, it and I mean I I'm kind of with everybody. Like I I've I've been on the same boat with you taking buddies down and they fell in love with it. Like um it's kind of like uh uh did I just cause a divorce, or you know, but it it's it's one of those things. I it's it's fun. Um, it's great for the family. I mean, the kids love to go out there. My kids, at least my kids, I mean, a lot of kids, I mean, kids who like to go out there, I've taken nephews and nieces, and they've never gone before, and people just fall in love with it. So it's it's uh it's a good time. And I'd I'd highly recommend to anybody or anybody in the service who's out, like reach out to um any one of us, I'm sure, and love to take you out. But uh yeah, that's kind of my spill on the whole Texas thing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, no, last year we had uh my buddy had his nephew come down, um, and he's a younger guy, and he had never hunted before, and he ended up, he came down out during early teal season and he shot his first bird. And um, my buddy had it mounted for him. And so it was, I mean, stuff like that is awesome. And uh me and my wife actually um are expecting our first uh kid here in September, and we found out it's gonna be a boy. So we were I'm I'm pretty jacked because I know I mean he's he's gonna be born into it. I mean, he's not gonna have a choice. I mean, he's he's gonna love it hope hopefully just like I do, and we'll have many years of memories together to to kind of remember. And yeah, I'm that's probably the most I'm looking forward to. It's like, yeah, okay, he's gonna be born, get here healthy, we're good. Okay, when can he go out? Because because we're gonna be out doing it.
SPEAKER_02So yeah. So being a new guy, you know, especially with without in the I like to ask this with veterans because veterans, Air Force, Navy, Marines, Army, we're all gear guys, right? We all, you know, yeah, whatever our little niche was in the service, there's always gear that is part of it and gear that was, you know, that we'd always be looking to make it better. So, like getting in the waterfront, how was like navigating the gear stuff? Because that you know, for some viewers and some people, that could be the most um frustrating or or overwhelming part part.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, and that's exactly it. I mean, in you go, I mean, you can look at a catalog or go to a store, or um, I mean, there you can spend 50 bucks or you can spend 250 bucks on a set of six decoys. I mean, so it that's kind of the I guess the hard part is that's a good thing about duck hunting, though, is um, and that's kind of what I tell new people when because it I duck hunting can and waterfowl hunting in general can be a little intimidating for people that uh have never done it before, like, okay, what do I buy? Where do I go? Like, do I need a boat? It's like the great thing about duck hunting is you could have a $200 shotgun, uh kayak, and six decoys, and you could have a better hunt than a guy in a $50,000 dual surface drive rig with, I mean, top line like Avian X uh full flocked head decoys, spinning wings, different stuff. So that's that's kind of the that's why I tell new guys that that I come in contact with. I'm just like, hey, you don't need to spend four grand on a set of decoys right off the jump. Get something to get in the game, go out, learn, and then you just build a spread as your as time goes on. Then you get buddies who do it, and then okay, he's buying the he's getting the teal decoys, he's getting the mallard decoys, he's getting the spinning wings. Like, so yeah, it it definitely can be intimidating, but I mean, yeah, you can be you can be in the game for fairly cheap if if you know where to look.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I wish somebody had told me that when I started. Oh, I told you that. I was just kidding.
SPEAKER_02Uh but me and Chris love kayak hunting. I I like how you brought a kayak, is uh that's kind of how you know Chris's first couple, first two years of kayak hunting with me. And I tell everyone a kayak here in Louisiana changed my life with hunting. I wish I had it in North Carolina when I was hunting North Carolina. It kayak changes brought so much more um spots to me where you know I was able to hunt and get to where you couldn't get into a boat before.
SPEAKER_03You good? I think I already froze a little bit, but um there, bud. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I'm still here, you got me? Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, yeah. You have froze a little bit. No, yeah, I agree. Um but I mean, yeah, I mean, just so many like uh I guess ways to hunt waterfowl too is like a big thing. And I think that's what kind of caught my eye, right? If I want to go to, you know, the Atlantic and hunt, or if I want to go uh hunt rice fields with Joe or hunt tank ponds here with uh here in Texas, or you know, go up to Oklahoma, do the same thing, uh hunting ponds or dry fields up north more north and stuff. It's it's just a variety of ways to hunt these birds. And I mean, um, I mean, I think that's where I kind of even flooded timber, you know. Um, but I think that's why I kind of like uh I got kind of got more drawn into it. So, but um we kind of missed this. I know we said you were in the Air Force, just out of curiosity, what did you do in the service?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I I jumped into the Air Force right out of high school. Um I knew I wasn't uh, I guess, disciplined enough to go to college. Um I had better things to do in high school than than to study and worry about my grades. And so um, yeah, I I got in the Air Force uh 2013 right out of high school, and I did six years there. They trained me in air traffic control, so I've been doing air traffic control um pretty much since I got out of high school. So um, yeah, I went to San Antonio for basic training and then uh Biloxi, Mississippi is where they do the air traffic control school. Um, so I did that and then loved it, and I was excited to actually find out that I could do it and then get to my first assignment, which was Scott Air Force Base in Southern Illinois, right outside of St. Louis. Um, so I was there for most of my career. I deployed for seven months to Qatar. Um, and so did air traffic out there, which was the absolute wild west of air traffic because it was just we had foreign pilots, US pilots, like it was just crazy. So I I'm really glad I got that opportunity to go and kind of do it uh abroad and and kind of see that. And yeah, so I did my six years and uh I said that was about enough. Um they I'm forever grateful for the Air Force for for teaching me a trade and um giving setting me up to kind of be where I'm at now. And like I said, then I did the uh the civilian side of it with the FAA for a couple years, and I just it wasn't really for me that environment, I guess. Um I just didn't love it. And then the best thing that happened to me was come down here and I told people that I'm like working for the army is awesome, and that's coming from an Air Force guy. Like the Army takes such such good care of us, and um, it's just a great, a great place to work. And yeah, we're we're a bunch of Air Force guys working on an army base, so it's kind of funny.
SPEAKER_02But I think it's funny for the viewers, not a good job, because he's like, audio grades, but I was able to do the whole of the hardest, most of the time even when he said that I was gonna bring that up too.
SPEAKER_01Even when he said that I was not disciplined enough, I was like, oh well, at least you didn't say like us, we were too dumb.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we're too dumb.
SPEAKER_01We're too dumb. No, we're just dumb. At least you had that option. I'm just kidding. But uh, yeah. Um, I lost my train of thought. It's been a long day. Yeah, so we just got back from just see y'all know, because I'm gonna lose my train of thought a lot. We we went to Galveston for the weekend. It's about a five-hour drive to the beach from where I'm at. So we we got back probably about an hour and a half ago. So getting all that stuff ready and your stuff down. So, anyways. Did you teal while you're down there? No.
SPEAKER_02No?
SPEAKER_01I saw I saw a lot of pterodactyls. But uh, yeah. I mean, I Army, Army was fun. I I love Louisiana, but you know, my heart's here, so.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, Louisiana was it was fun to be an OC in Louisiana. I would hate it been like Jeronimo, which Germo, you know, and you know who Durano is, um, Jake.
SPEAKER_04Op four.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, OP4. It would have, um I guess it would have been cool for like the first month, but uh, I see guys, I've been here for four years, like, oh man, bro. Yeah, yeah. Lots of most people, you're glum for punishment.
SPEAKER_00Um well, and and that's coming down here. Um, people were like, You're going to Fort Polk? They're like, no, why would why would you do that? And I'm like, I don't like being an Air Force guy, I'm I don't know. They've they're they got air traffic, and but yeah, then to find out that most people that come down to Louisiana, come to Fort Polk, are for training, and it's like, yeah, it's I guess it's supposed to be it's it's terrible by design for them, but yeah, but I mean if you look, a lot of the guys you probably work with on your out-of-the-counter part, a lot of the OCs that get stationed here that retire out of here stay.
SPEAKER_02Right. Yeah. I mean, the job market's great for us veterans. So you know, if you're into the outdoors and hunting, the hunting, you know, is for the waterfowls. I mean, Louisiana's top three state in waterfowl harvest almost every year for the last 20 years. Um, so yeah. But you're saying now that um you hunt here, you hunt marsh, um, you got some leases. I mean kind of what's again what you're gonna say. I know you still run some public land down here and don't you know don't tell the spas, you don't blow the spots up. Well, on somebody, you know, if you hunt rice, what's your favorite type of hunting down here?
SPEAKER_00Ooh, that's hard. Um I don't know. I was thinking about this because I was thinking of some of the questions that you might ask, and I was afraid that you were gonna ask this because it's hard because I don't really um I would say a lot of times uh we are on the southern marshes. Um, but I think some of my favorite hunts have been timber. Um, where if you can find some timber, I mean, every year in Louisiana I've shot mallards and it's always been in the trees. And I know that's a huge surprise to people because people say there's no mallards in Louisiana, which there isn't, wink wink. Um, it's uh I think it there's just something about standing in the trees and then seeing birds work over top of you, and then you hit the call and then you kind of lose them for a second, and then the next thing you know, they're they're dropping in through the trees. That to me is just a blast. Um, but I don't know. Like I said, I'm a teal guy, so it's hard because like when you see a ball of teal off in the distance and you hit that teal call and they turn on a dime and they do that first pass and they come back it come back in. It's just something about that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, and you hear the yeah when you yeah, when you feel like you're getting you're you're getting buzzed out in uh an air tower.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, yeah, no kidding. No, it's or they sneak up on you and you just hear them and you're like where no one saw where they went, and all of a sudden they're right in your face. It's like, yeah, so I would I would say it's a tie between between the timber um or just a big, big old wad of teal and open water.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, I mean uh and uh Chris has been with me and everything, and it's almost the same story as um when people started talking about the mallards, it's almost the same spots that you just said. I always tell everyone if I'm gonna kill mallards, um, it's consistent where I'm gonna kill them out and the time of the year. It's always gonna be later December, January, in any type of buck brush or cypress slug that gets overflown or butts up against a big main lake. Um, you know, if it would, you know, everyone knows where Catalula is in Middle Lake Dud Club. So it's areas than that, or some of the lakes that me and you kind of live by because you you you actually don't live too far from me, Jay. Yeah, but it's always the same. So I've killed a few in the in the in the rice.
SPEAKER_03Well, it's uh that's the that's the beauty of Louisiana. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's the beauty of Louisiana though, is I mean, you can really you can pick where you want to go. Um you can go down to the co marshes, like kind of where we live. Um we have the option to go down tomorrow. We can go out to Catahula, we can um find places up north, we can hit some of the smaller lakes around here. There's no shortage of places for us to go and and see some birds, and you can kind of pick what uh kind of hunting you want to do.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I know you say you you know you shoot a lot of teal out of here, but do you I mean, do you when you go out to Catahoula and some of the do you get on a lot of these divers or are they or any of the gadwalls in the in the salt marsh?
SPEAKER_00Um, it's that's a fun thing about the salt marsh is uh when you go down south, I mean, you don't know what you're gonna. I mean, one day it's pintails, one day it's uh, I mean, shovelers, teal. Um, yeah, it's it's always a mixed bag. And it's all I always kind of like getting surprised down there too, because we've shot canvas backs down down south. And it's like, I know last year uh or I think two years ago we shot a redhead, um, some widgeon. It's like you don't quite know what you're gonna get in some of those saltwater marshes. And um with some of the refuge system that we have in South Louisiana, we're lucky because there are big refuge areas um between like Lacassine or Sabine or even Catahula with I know I know it's kind of weird because they have a WMA and an NWR and stuff up there, but it's just the amount of variety that you can get, you can kind of pick what kind of hunting you want to do. That's the beauty of it. If you want to hunt open water, you can. If you want to hunt timber, you can. If I mean you want to go and find a pothole in a in a marsh somewhere and set up a small spread, it's I mean, just the variety of hunting that you can do is is pretty unique.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And um, I know you see a uh you mean you share the same uh RMC hat. Yes, sir. You know, and I am a gun nerd and a duck hall nerd, right? You know, Chris, you know, Chris not. So for a guy getting into the um getting into it, and we know I know we talked about the gear, but how do that other part of a shotgun and and duck hauls? Because duck calling is kind of like a unique um a unique subculture of the waterfowl. Right.
SPEAKER_00Or yeah. No, uh for for new guys, um, my first call that I really got comfortable with was a duck commander triple threat. Um, I just feel like that call, like anybody can pick it up, and within a couple minutes, you can learn how to do it and you can sound halfway halfway decent on it. Um and then from there, I just I mean, you get good on one call and then you find something else. And um, pretty much all the calls that I've ever ran, um, I've kind of stumbled upon. Like I saw it on a YouTube video or a buddy was using it. Um I I had heard about the uh RM calls and the cold weather fan, and I was lucky, I was just randomly found one. Um, I think it was through Presley's Outdoors. I think they posted like um they posted like an Instagram story. And so I quick went over there and I got one. And that's how I got into the RM calls because I was like, man, that's I mean, like I said, last year I had that cold weather fan, and it was, I'm like, man, this is probably gonna be my call from from now on. I just got an alpha uh here last week. And I know like on the website it says that's a louder version of the cold weather fan. I'm like, this is definitely true. I'm like, man, this is gonna play too in whatever situation I'm in. So yeah, it it is crazy though how many calls are out there, and you can definitely get lost in. I mean, I mean, you could spend 25 bucks on a call or you could spend $300 on a call, and that's just for duck calls. That's not even getting into the Canada Goose calling, or well, I guess down here with the spec calling or uh anything like that, but shotguns are the same way. Um yeah, it's great. Well, even ammo. I mean, you could there's I mean, ammo you can get lost in in different stuff, which I mean, and I'll tell people too the best uh functioning ammo in my gun is the federal blue box. I'm like, I've shot other stuff before, but I mean, the old standby, the fled federal blue box, usually is the on the cheaper option of it. I'm like, I have no problem cycling or or harvesting birds with it. So yeah, it it is, it can be pretty intimidating. But yeah, the shotgun side of it though is kind of fun too. Um just because I've I've ran a Franki Affinity Elite, the waterfowl version for a good couple years as a 12 gauge. But last year I really got into um the 20 gauge. I shot that a lot more. Um, I got a super black eagle 20 gauge, and man, that thing is so light and just so much fun to shoot that I'm like, man, 20 gauges are 20 gauges are fun to shoot. I that was probably this coming season is gonna be my go-to just to take the 20 out, just because I mean, especially when you're walking through places too, it's just so light. But yeah, it's I've I've definitely had fun playing around with the 20 gauge here last season, especially. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01So out of curiosity, have you got into any of the speckle belly, speckle belly calling or something like that? Any of that?
SPEAKER_00I've tried, and I would consider myself a pretty decent Canada goose caller, but it is completely like, at least for me, it's been kind of a learning curve to try to learn how to spec call versus Canada call. I think I probably have some um, I guess, habits from the Canada Goose Call that don't quite correlate over. So usually uh if we got other people in the blind that know how to use the spec call and we have specs working, I will punt and I'll let them, I'll let them get on it. But yeah, I've uh I've tried to, I'm I'm definitely trying and working to gain some confidence and actually sound good on a spec call, but it's definitely a learning curve to to get it there.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I tell everyone on when it comes to spec or geese calling, I think Canada and Snow Goose have more, well, you know, more the same air presentation and um note shapes than compared to a like a Canada or a um a Canada spec. And you could have you could almost take a Canada call and just change your air presentation and make a snow goose bark.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Yeah, no, it's definitely it's definitely different.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it it really is 100%. I'm actually getting into uh Canada calling myself. I never spec I wasn't, I mean, I don't know, I've never speckled uh suck a belly called, but um but it it is it is interesting, especially trying to trans uh so used to duck calling and stuff and then make the transition over and like back and forth. I think that's why I think I I you you kind of get a little um you admire people who can actually do that in different calls in different and it's it it's insane. But it definitely it's a lot of practice, a lot of um uh doing work into it into the call stuff. And then really understanding the call. I think that was a big thing for me. Like I didn't really understand how the call worked. I was never in band or anything. I didn't know what a read was, you know. So when I finally really understood what everything of that call did, it kind of changed it for me and then um kind of with the whole voice inflection and stuff. So but um I guess uh uh Joe, uh I know we we cut, we haven't done this in a while. Um, but I was actually for these these segments, I think we should bring it back the whole um uh shotgun choke uh ammo.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. So you want to go ahead and explain.
SPEAKER_02Well, so you you've already explained your you know your your gun in the ammo to us, but um yeah. I mean you're the first episode of the veterans one. Do you use a do you use an aftermarket choke? And if so, what what kind of you're gonna what does your lanyard look like?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so I uh I it's funny with a lot of things, I'm pretty, I get brand loyal to different stuff. So um when it comes to a choke, pretty much all my guns, I'm running Carlson Cremators, um, and I'll run mid-range pretty much all year. I know there's some guys that I know they like to switch, like depending on what it is, like, or they'll go full like all year. And I've always been kind of a mid-range guy. Um, I'm usually not reach, don't need to reach out and and poke them too far away. So um, yeah, no, so I'm I'm running cremators on all of them. Like I said, for my guns, I'm running the Frankie. That has been my, I mean, the last four or five years, I've been running that. Um, and then like I said, getting in the super black eagle on the 20 gauge last year. Um, that's running a cremator as well. For my lanyard, um, I will always have a whistle on it. Um, just the the five, whatever whistle. I think I got the Buck Gardner one. Um, I always carry the Duck Commander teal call. Um, that little that little brown, light brown call. That thing is money. I mean, it I mean, green wing, blue wing.
SPEAKER_03I mean, I've even been working over uh uh uh during last year you're cutting out of it.
SPEAKER_00Um where uh they would get I usually I start down here and run that. Um and then the Cold Weather fancy Oh I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, try turning off your camera real quick and uh that might help you. Yeah, you're good now. Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Okay. Yeah, so uh last year I ran the cold weather fan um pretty much all a year. Um and I I mean I fell in love with it. Um and then I have this one wooden call um that I really I think it's Beaver Creek, um, the Beaver Creek hen house. I don't I believe that there's still in business. And man, that wooden call, especially in the trees, it just on uh so good. So usually if I'm gonna hunt tree, hunt the timber, I'll use that call. Um, but yeah, I I like to kind of keep it simple. I used to, I mean, I mean, obviously, like most duck eyes uh are kind of like you said, are kind of gear heads where I mean you get a bunch of different calls. And I used to carry a bunch of calls on my lanyard, but now I'm like, no, I carry like depending on what situation I'm gonna be in, I carry two or three calls and that's it, and that's what I'm gonna I'm gonna use for that day. And I'm gonna try to get as proficient and and good on those calls and and hopefully work them in. So, but yeah, that's that's kind of what I've been running. And like I said, the alpha this year, um, I'm looking forward to because there was a couple situations where I would have liked a little bit more volume um than the cold weather fan. So I'm I'm looking forward to to using the alpha as well this year.
SPEAKER_02So yeah. Uh I hunt Chris hunts an alpha. I hunt, I hunt a lot of RMs right now, man. My go-to RM. I love uh I thought everybody my favorite RM is a um a cold weather fan. Yeah. Um man, but I have a um uh an Ebonite 410, a little 410 that I just absolutely love. Um, it's um the smoke for that. That little of a call, it has you know a lot of range from like I could bark on it, I could really get a real good high-end, I get really raspy on the bottom, a really clean feed. Um so and then that ebonite, you know, it gives you all the characteristics of a hardwood call, but without the um the wood call like swelling or moisture, um capture moisture that can distort a call or hang it up sometimes. Yeah, and making it stick. But yeah, I am a yeah, man. I think I still have I still have a few other calls from other brands every now and then. Uh, but man, my probably my number one go-to brand will always be an RM. I mean, I I do run a I have a MiG that I also run. Um a Pond Creek and Um Man, Rice and makes a really good call as well. Uh Duck Hustler. I mean, Ryzen's probably all the all my all my any goose call I have around my neck that's either a snow goose or a spec is going to be a riceling site. I I tell everyone Bill Daniels and Ricel is um To spec and snows to what Tim Ground was to the the honker.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Well, and it's funny you say that because I uh I run a Riceland spec call. I say run loosely because like I said, I I don't feel like I'm that great on it. And I'm I mean it's just a work in progress. And for my honker call, I do I run a uh Tim Ground Super Mag. Um and that that call is awesome when it comes to comes to geese and or for hawkers. And yeah, that's that that is definitely my go-to for for honkers, is the Tim Ground Super Mag.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Uh man, do you run cool do you run a cool lanyard or a leather, or do you prefer a um uh what do you call a paracord one?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I just run the paracord. I guess I'm just always afraid I'm gonna like lose it or something where it's like, okay, yeah, I I just run run a paracord one and and call it good. And so yeah, nothing too fancy for me.
SPEAKER_01So just before we kind of get off, just out of curiosity, what is your, I guess when it comes to this season, or it could even be for next season, what is your next big uh I would it it doesn't have to be expensive, but next big purchase that you're looking for, or something that you're looking to get um get to, I guess, ex not really you need, but maybe you kind of want. We are as duck hunters, I felt I I found out that there's a lot of things that we don't need, but a lot of things that we get that we want.
SPEAKER_00Right. So yeah, um let me think here. I think my dream gun uh is a Browning Sweet 16. I think it would be awesome to have one of those. Um, but I just can't. I mean, like I said, I run Federal Blue Box for ammo. So I mean, 16 gauge ammo is crazy expensive. So I'm like, man, I would love to have one, but I feel like I wouldn't want to shoot it because the ammo would be so expensive. Uh but um I don't know. Like I I run a pretty, I have a pretty cheap kayak. Um, I think, and last year I pulled a sled, um, like with decoys and different stuff. So uh maybe a different kayak that has a little bit more room. That's been something I've been kind of looking at. Um but it it is just kind of funny. Like I was talking to my wife about it too. Like, there's really, I'm kind of to the point where I feel like I'm set with stuff that I like. I'm like, okay, I feel like I I can go out and run a pretty solid spread. And with my buddies, like we have everything set up. But I mean, I'm sure by November 30th, right as the season's getting ready to kick off, I'm gonna buy a whole bunch of stuff that I probably don't need just because that's just how it goes. So yeah. But yeah, no, there's nothing really off the top of my head that I can I can think about. But yeah, maybe one day, uh, maybe one day I'll splurge on the sweet 16 though.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I actually know uh there's a local call, um not called local uh shell company called Schneer Shells, uh, that a good buddy of ours, uh Damon Aber actually owns out of um Hathaway Louisiana, and I'm almost 90% sure that he he makes uh uh affordable um 16 gauge shells. I think he they go for about $27 a box.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's not bad.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, for sure. Yeah, but uh well before you know we're talking about gears, waders. Uh what you know, what brand of waders do you use? Because that's my I've probably been my my biggest issue out here is having a set of waders that is last out here. Hun that marsh and that mud and the you mean the rice fields coming in out of the pits. Uh waders get chewed up pretty cool pretty good.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I uh I've been running the uh one of the Rogers. I don't know, I want to say Rogers Elite. Um I have ran I ran that last year, um, and I wanna say it might have been a year and a half, and those have those have held. I mean, I've probably interested seven to ten pairs of weird roters. Um it's just yeah, it's crazy because it's like yeah, some of the stuff you get into, um, especially it seems like in the trees or something, like you'll always get snagged on something, like something's gonna rip, something's gonna leak. And so, yeah, I'm I mean, right now I'm running the Rogers, and and they're we'll keep going with them as long as they keep working. That's my big thing. Is if it if it's working, I'm not gonna just change it just because.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Man, it's okay. You uh, how do you feel about sprourging on the the Sweet 16? I have time with waiters. I'm love hate relationship. Um I haven't found a pair that I completely like. Um I did like those Drake front zips, but they just they last they didn't have enough pocket space. Um, and I mean they lasted on those, I almost drilled my hunts. I got, I want to say 75 hunts in before I got my first leak, which isn't bad. That's actually pretty good. That's almost two seasons for me.
SPEAKER_00Well, and it's kind of funny too, because like I've ran some bandit waiters, I've ran uh Rogers, like it's funny that there's different stuff that each company has that you're like, man, if this company had these pockets, if they had this uh whatever feature would be, this like belt or loop system, um these straps, like if you could put them all together, I mean that that's the that's the meal ticket right there. If someone can can put the best of all the waiters together and uh if they can do that, that that's where you make your money.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, 100%.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I mean, I know uh we got we don't want to, we can keep on going till for two hours, but I know Joe, before we kind of get off, did you have anything for Jake?
SPEAKER_02No, man. Um, like I said, hey, thank you for coming on. Thank you for kicking off our um our veteran series. And uh man, I I hope we get some hunt uh a couple hunts this year together.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man, no, for sure. Yeah, and uh like I said, I guess the only thing I would say too is um yeah, for people to just get involved with their local Delta and and uh ducks chapters and and see what you can do to make a difference and recruit hunters. And that's like I said, that's the name of the game, is getting people out and hunting and falling in love with waterfowl. And you might not agree with what every organization does, but at the same time, I'd rather have groups that are uh thinking about the places and and the the species that we hunt and and love to follow and chase every year. And so yeah, just getting involved in a group like that is is is super important to me, and I hope more people do, because I mean we'd love to see numbers come out and and support and support those organizations.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, absolutely. And we do appreciate you coming on, man. Um hopefully I I can make it down there in Louisiana, get a hunt with y'all. But um, if we don't, good luck on your season. Um and uh, I mean, we we gotta get run this back probably next year to kind of see what your season went uh went like and maybe um talk a little bit about that. But uh I guess uh that's all we have for today, uh, ladies and gentlemen. Also check us out uh on the Facebook, Instagram, uh hit that like subscribe button. Um and like always, y'all have a good one, and uh let Valor not fail.