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
Teal Fest
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Flyway Connections is brought to you by our partners who keep us chasing birds all season long. We're talking about DOW Outfitters in Arkansas, delivering unforgettable guided hunts in the heart of the flyway. RMC calls from the duck blind to any world championship stage, they just work, designed to allow you to grow to your full capacity. No fancy marketing, no gimmick, just quality sound and craftsmanship. And they say you can't polish a turd. Small shop, big sound. And also, Hunt Repellent is a DEET free, stem-free insect repellent made for hunters, fishermen, or anybody who wants to enjoy the outdoors. Remember, DEET is dead. I'm here with my buddy Joe. Joe.
SPEAKER_05Hey, how you guys doing this evening? So, special guests that we have on the podcast this evening. Um, I'd like to introduce Gabe Fontaineau from Hunt Repellent and Austin Bird Trend. Hey, how you guys doing this evening?
SPEAKER_03Doing good, man, doing good. Glad for y'all to have us. Thank y'all.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Uh but I mean, Joe, did you go ahead, man? I didn't mean to cut you off.
SPEAKER_05Oh, no, no problem. So for the viewers, we know that Gabe, you know, you you're you know, co-owner of Hunt Repellent, and um, which is a big uh sponsor of the podcast. But our big topic of this is uh Till Fest. You guys have a big event coming up here in September.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. September 19th uh is actually uh the day of the festival, which this is our second year doing the festival. So second annual uh greater Greater Pine Island Till Festival, uh, which is in Elton, Louisiana. Uh and it's gonna be on September 19th, which is the opening day for Till season, as you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, okay, awesome. So just for the viewers, for the ones who've never heard of Teal Fest, uh, uh what is it and how did it actually get started with y'all? Austin, I'll let you take this one.
SPEAKER_03So uh how it got started, um, we were looking just to do something fun for opening weekend of teal season. That's when we have so much people that come into our little small town and then our our whole parish really as a whole. Teal season's where it's at. Everybody wants to come, everybody wants to hunt. Was looking for something to get together, um having a few drinks with a few people. My dad brought up uh one evening, like, man, we should we should throw a teal fest. We'd be awesome. And it really just ran from that. It was just an idea up in the air, and we took it, ran with it last year, threw it together kind of last minute, blew our minds with how well it worked out, and here we are waiting on year two, and I think it's gonna be a good one.
SPEAKER_05So, with with the first one that you guys did last year, how'd that go? And um what what did that have to offer that year, and how has it grown for this year?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I think uh last year, you know, I think we had about a two-week window to really plan it and pull it off. Uh, and we didn't know what to expect. We had a few, uh probably four bands or three bands that were playing throughout the day inside of the restaurant, Bonds Restaurant, which is actually uh Austin's restaurant. It's right on Main Street, uh Elton, which we will be uh hosting the festival there, as well as across the street in the Kasati Plaza, which is owned by the uh the Shot Tribe of Louisiana, which is the um federal tribe that's here in Elton. Uh we have a tribe, a reservation right down the road from actually the hunt office. So super excited we partnered with them and a few other uh community stakeholders that are getting involved with the festival. But we put it together in two weeks, uh had a few bands played, and uh we offered free bird cleaning for all the hunters that were there. We had a few vendors that were selling, you know, duck calls or uh a few a few things here and there. And uh really it was just a a time for people to come together and celebrate uh the start of waterfowl season and uh more in particular the the you know till season here in southwest Louisiana. And uh we didn't know what to expect, and we had about 500 people come last year, and so uh it was a huge success. And with the 500 people offering free uh bird cleaning that we did last year, uh we actually cleaned 1,086 uh till last year, and only one of them was a green wing. So isn't that wild? But yeah, so uh it was a big success. And this year we we we know we're only gonna double down on that with how much larger the footprint of the festival is, how many vendors that we have that are coming, both food, merchandise, uh even cigars, if that's what you want, an outdoor stage, an indoor stage, and the LSU game will be uh live streamed outside and inside on Gem Ratron. So uh it's gonna be a big deal.
SPEAKER_05How many bands do you guys have in this year? Last time we talked, you're having quite a few bands coming this year.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. So eight bands are gonna uh be at the festival. So you'll have your outdoor stage, uh, which is uh sponsored by the Kishada Tribe, and then the indoor stage inside of Austin's restaurant balls. And uh Steve Riley's actually gonna be kicking off the festival at 10 a.m. sharp. Uh and so eight bands throughout the whole day. So there'll be music going on inside and outside.
SPEAKER_05Nice. Hopefully everyone's limited out by then, by 10 a.m.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. If you're hunting around Elton, you will be.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, yeah. Um yeah, last year we had that's pretty much well, Kinder side of it was where I was hunting at. But are you guys need a I know you guys run this big festival, but does that does it pull you guys away from till season?
SPEAKER_03Oh no, we gotta be in a blind that morning. Heck yeah, heck yeah.
SPEAKER_04I can't remember, Austin, how many people did we hunt last year opening day? With our setups, um I think we had 14.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and I think we limited on like 15 minutes, 15, 15 minutes. Yeah, it was 15, 20 minutes, yeah. We were at the restaurant, changed, clean, ready to go. Um, it was eight o'clock.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, those are always what I tell people, I didn't grow up here in Louisiana. I retired out of your state here. But teal season is I tell everyone it is wild. When you get on a good teal shoot for opening day of teal season, it is it's comparable to what I've even seen the videos in Argentina. Like a few years ago we had a lease down in Klondike, and we we did a 13-man limit in 45 minutes. And that was uh that was a wild day and a good buddy of mine. You know, I gotta share with a good buddy of mine from Georgia. But you know, teal season is a super big, you know, it's a big event down here. And you know, a lot of people outside of this area don't really know about it um how big it is, and just the amount of you know, amount of birds. Not they're not the best looking birds, they're still not in the their winter plumage, but you know, they eat just the same. And what made you guys think about just doing teal season and really picking not you know going from like you know, the speckle belly or even into the big duck?
SPEAKER_03Man, uh speckle bellies would be great. That is a good idea. It's just like I said, when we were talking before we got on uh air, we've seen a decrease in that too. Teal season's never really dips for us. I mean, it's it's been solid, it's been consistent. We already do have a duck festival in the duck capital of the world, which is Gaydon, Louisiana. Don't really want to step on any toes with that. They got a great thing going and it's been happening for a very long time. Just wanted to do something different and kind of just put that highlight on what our strongest suit is as of late, you know, and it's teal season, 100%.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01So I had it. Oh, go ahead, man. I'm sorry, Gabriel.
SPEAKER_04The makeup of Jeff Davis Parish is it's you know primarily rice farmers. That's the major industry here is rice farming. And so everyone's grown up uh shooting teal. I mean, that's just everyone that's been around farmland or grew up in the industry, uh, it's just kind of part of it. It's kind of the way of life here in uh here in the parish. So that's another reason why it it sticks. Like a lot of people, uh till you know, it's just gonna kind of blow right past them. Uh, but for us, I mean, it's uh it's a bird we've always grown up shooting.
SPEAKER_01So just for the listeners who've never like uh ever heard, obviously never heard of Teal Fest, or even people who want to go to Teal Fest, what is like some of the expectations or some things that they're gonna uh expect when they show up to Tealfest? I know you talked about bands and stuff, but I mean, talk a little bit about the vendors and kind of like what they get they're getting into. Obviously, it's Louisiana, it's gonna be food, right? So I mean that that's a that's a must in Louisiana. So just kind of if you can kind of elaborate on that just for like the listeners, because we do get a lot of people that ask us and like, well, you know, this fest or what um that's going on, what how what's the time? When does it start? What you know, um, and then what what is their some expectations they might have?
SPEAKER_03So we'll have Bloody Mary's and breakfast and a lot of vendors spitting out food at eight o'clock sharp. I mean, they're gonna be ready to go. A lot of people's gonna be coming in straight from the blind to come hang out with us, drop their birds off. You're gonna see hunters from all over the U.S. We saw people from, I want to say 11 different states last year on something that we threw together in two weeks. I'm expecting much bigger things this year. Um, it'll be a huge, huge, huge influx of hunters. I mean, it's gonna be a crowd of hunters throughout the day. Yes, there'll be some other people coming in and out, but if you want to go spitball different, I don't care if it's decoys, Freds, I don't care if it's calls, what you shot this morning, blue wing, green wing, whatever, all things hunting, that's the spot where you're gonna want to be. It's gonna be full of people just talking and chatting it up about that. There'll be calls for sale. You touched on the food, obviously. We're southwest Louisiana, it's gonna be food galore. Um, and it's gonna be a lot of your local stuff. Boudin, cracklins, you name it. There'll be jambala, there'll be several different things there that if you're not from this region, you're gonna get a good taste of South Louisiana culture. Um, the bands, obviously, it we're gonna have a great, great lineup of some really good music, some very, very big legends in Steve Riley and also with Leroy Thomas, just to touch on a couple of them. Um gonna be a big, big lineup with the music. And I think if you're wanting to just hang out, I'm sure it's gonna be hot. We all know that it's September. But man, just to hang out and enjoy some good food, good music, and be around that type of hunting crowd, that's where you're gonna want to be.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. For the guys that in Mississippi or listening in Texas, that you know, hey, we're a day's drive away. You know, like for guys, you know, guys go to Stuttgart, Arkansas or Jonesboro, Arkansas for the hunting and like the hunting um tradition and the culture within it. I tell everyone, Louisiana gets slept on sometimes or overlooked or not talked about as much with their hunting and waterfowl tradition in history as you know, some other states. But for two guys who've grown up in the water for you know, in Louisiana with you know, hunting every day, um, like you say growing up hot teal hunting and putting on this, you know, kind of like you know, are we putting are you guys putting some of that old school waterfowl tradition you know, into the um the festival?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for sure. Um we're trying to get as much old school as possible. And I mean, as long as we got these guys around, these old hats, we're gonna invite those guys to to bring in that old school feel and that old school touch of how it used to be and and still how it is, because like I said, we haven't seen that dip in in our till season whatsoever. We've got some old cats around. They may not get in the blind every morning like they used to now. They still are very much involved. They still like to help manage ponds. We got a bunch of those guys coming to talk to about that. We still want to see some old school things as far as cleaning birds by hand, not just breasting out a bunch of stuff. We have that option there for guys. There's there's a lot of people that I know that just recently got into duck hunting. They've never plucked a bird in their life or have cooked one. It's rare that they even see that, the whole bird. So we want to offer that, bring something old school back. Um, not back, but it just touch on it, you know, leave that as an option for everybody who's in attendance for sure.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, I mean, that and that's kind of where we started this podcast. Um, you know, for us, Austin, I grew up hunting fourth generation waterfowl from the Pacific Flyway. Chris was a big game hunter from east or west central Texas. I kind of converted him over to the the dark side.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um and um pockets are empty now, so yeah, pockets are empty.
SPEAKER_05Both the stands are sold. Um, but yeah, uh I love seeing like we do get on this in this podcast start because there's such an influx, especially after COVID, of onset adult hunting and hunters. And it is cool getting in these festivals and stuff and just seeing old school tradition and almost almost used as as like a a mentorship. I think like here in southwest Louisiana, there's so many just good rooted waterfowl traditions that you know that festivals like this really get to push and uh continue on for our kids and grandkids.
SPEAKER_03Definitely, definitely. And I think I think the whole world needs that, right? I mean, we're all I feel like y'all view that the the same way. There's an old school touch there that I think everybody needs a little bit of that back in their life for sure. And when you talk about old school anything with hunting, what what's the thing? Man, you should have seen the old days, you should have seen it back then. Well, bring it back, you know. Let's let's hear about it, let's talk about it. Yeah. I know for sure, I mean, I want I want my kids, I want my nieces and nephews to hear the stories or to see the things that I saw as a kid. Like that, it's gotta be talked about, it's gotta be seen. It's that's what it's all about. It's a tradition.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and you see a lot even in um just the industry, like, you know, when I, you know, when I first started hunting in the in the late 80s and early 90s with my grandfather and father and my great-grandfather at the time, even he's still around, you know, old school camo wasn't old school camo. That was just camo. That was the camo, yeah. That was the candle we use. And you know, now you're seeing you know, the wax hats and the wax jackets and Avery coming out and Badden coming out with their heritage line and Drake coming back with the old school candle uh lines again, and the solid colors and leather straps and you know, leather totes, and old school D old school old calls are even coming back. So yeah, I think it is you know super important. I think there's a lot of guys reaching out for that that old school tradition and guys that you know are just now getting honey, you know, kind of reaching out for that old school mentoring.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I mean, even for like a lot of these fests, right, teal fests, just for the listeners, so y'all understand, because Joe kind of I I didn't go last year, but I mean I've been to a couple festivals where it's like that, where you get to hear the generation before of how it used to be, right? We because we've all heard it. Um I hear it here in Texas with uh, you know, people in North Texas that uh old heads are telling me stories of how it used to be hunting in Texas and now um it's always different, right? But we always adapt. But I just love hearing the stories. I think it's something that we can just pass on from generation to generation. That's why I think I kind of catered from um I don't get me wrong, I still I still big game hunt, but from big game hunting to a lot of uh waterfowl hunting, just because there's more stories to tell, there's always because you're you're following a migration, you're falling a bigger set of like species uh for per se. So I mean that's why I always loved it. So if you're and this is just real quick, just if you're here in Texas, if you're a neighbor city or neighboring uh state, Oklahoma, Arkansas, I mean, if you're in Louisiana, I mean, check out Teal Fest. Um I'm gonna try to make it, not gonna lie, but uh I am uh I coach uh high school football and football's king in Texas, so they got me my hands tied. So I'm doing that. So, but um I just wanted to kind of put that out there. Um go ahead, Joe.
SPEAKER_05So food-wise, for you guys being Louisiana, what is your for teal season or for this teal fest, what's your go-to uh vendor or you know, Austin, you have a restaurant, what's your go-to meal that you guys are making that you were like, hey, no BS. This is my this is I'm having at least one bowl of this or one plate of this.
SPEAKER_03Uh duck jambalaya, baby. Duck jambalaya. We did it last year, it was a hit. It's one of my favorite things to do with birds, it's something different. Not a whole lot of people even think about doing a jambalaya with ducks because the bones and stuff, right? But it's something we started doing a few years ago, just to add something to the mix of what we could do with the birds in the freezer, and it's taken off. Uh, like I said, we did it last year. I think we made enough for 250 bowls, and it was gone in about 30 minutes. So try to do it a lot bigger this year, obviously. Um yeah, if you're coming to Till Face, we gotta try it out. I'm telling you, it's awesome. The Bloody Marys. It'll be Bloody Marys, too.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, my man. I've never met any cold, like you know, I've lived all over the US, right? Um me and Chris come to the same profession back in our what we call our old lives, and we've kind of lived all the places, and we got to live the same areas. We've actually worked, you know, we worked a lot together. I've never met a place that loves a bloody Mary like Southwest Louisiana.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. I mean, would you Yeah. Um and it's funny too, because uh in Texas, they have a lot of I'm sure y'all have had them like me chiladas, kind of the same thing except with beer. So I mean, it's just kind of like it was kind of something easy to adapt to. That in like DACS. When I moved to Louisiana spot, I was like, it's insane. But um it's just off the topic question. How hot is it over there for y'all in in Louisiana? I know here like it's been record like Satan's armpit hot. I don't know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I think today it was like 103 or something. I saw on the um on the I'm I'm oh yeah, I'm all sunburnt from uh from today. So it was a hot one. But speaking of daiquiries, uh Austin's actually redoing his whole bar on the inside of uh his restaurant. So he has a bar and restaurant, and uh he's putting in daiquiri machines. So you're gonna get one an awesome time, and and you get to be the you know first ones in uh to his new renovation that he renovated just for till fest.
SPEAKER_05Austin, let's talk about a little bit about your um your restaurant because honestly, it's not far from our lease.
SPEAKER_03Man, um really just started off as a crawfish place, to be honest with you, and uh had some good good help that didn't really want to be seasonal, even though that's what we were shooting for, just to do a crawfish with a bar for crawfish season, just pump out ball crawfish like crazy. And like I said, we had too good a help to just do it seasonal. So we started throwing some other things on the menu to keep it open year-round, and it worked. And I mean, we've been going strong since we've opened. It's relatively new. Um, we opened in February of 25, so we're coming up on the two-year mark. So I mean, we're a young, young business for sure, but it's been good. A lot of local support, a lot of good local hometown type cooking. This is not something that's mass-produced or nothing like that. I mean, it it's it's real, real food.
SPEAKER_05Good, good, good. You guys make in-house boudin?
SPEAKER_03Uh, we do actually. Uh, so we got that, um, got a whole line of different pizzas. We actually have a boudin pizza. Um, yeah, we got a crawlfish etuffe pizza. We're doing a lot of different things with with home type cooking, if you know what I mean.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um, gumbo, uh, all obviously all of our sandwiches and stuff are, you know, I similar to what everybody else has got, but like everything we make is in-house. All our all our burger patties are made in-house, handmade, everything. All our sausages, homemade, boudin, everything.
SPEAKER_05Sweet. And and that's also in in that area, every you know, I like hunting and I'm from hitting a restaurant, right? Especially like for Cajun. Cajun food hits your duck, your duck hunt just hits different when you have a good in this area, when you have a good boudin link, or you could have a good bowl of jambalaya or or when it does occasionally get cold here, like the three days to have a good bowl of gumbo. Speaking of gumbo, for both you guys, are you guys a potato salad in or a potato salad on top on the on the side tablet for gumbo?
SPEAKER_03Man, it depends on what what what's going on in my head, to be honest with you. I mean, we had gumbo just a few days ago, even though it's hot as hell, it's it's it's still, I mean, it's in our rotation of meals, if you know what I mean. I had to put it in it. So it I'm I'm a toss up. You never know if I'm gonna put it in or out.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, most time it's out, but I mean I'll I'll I'll put it in there.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. That's my we my that's my favorite question, and we've had some real good like we've had Del Borden on, and we've had um Uh Chef John Pomp on the podcast.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you gotta do it in, man. Yeah, and and it doesn't matter fun and people. Yeah, I eat like uh I like to make I like to joke around like I just eat like a caveman, so I'll get my plate and just mix everything together. So I don't know. Just it's just weird. I don't know why, but it's been doing it since I was a kid and hasn't failed me yet. So um, but yeah, I'm I'm definitely in.
SPEAKER_05So Gabe, you know, you guys are a great supporter of the podcast with Hunt Repellant. I do I it would be a fool of me not to talk about Hunt Repellant a little bit with what you guys got going on this upcoming year.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, yeah. Uh happy to to partner with uh with you guys and anything y'all ever need, you know, we're we're here. Um we like the work that you guys are doing. But uh yeah, hunts. I mean, look, this is uh really our time to shine. It's been a really busy year with uh with everything going on with Alpha Gal and uh Ticks and you know, of course mosquitoes and and everything that's going on with West Nile throughout North America. Uh, but we're gonna get into the really the home stretch of hunt hunting season, uh, which was huge for us last year as far as how many units were moving out and how many people were trying to hunt for the first time. So uh this year is a little different because now the majority of the people are gonna go back into the blind, and this is gonna be their you know not their first time using the product. So we're excited to see all the content and everything that's gonna come out of our customers because uh as you've seen like on social media, people just get pumped up to take a picture with uh with their hunt can or their their hunt hat on or whatever it is uh that represents the brand. So we're excited to engage with our customers and uh and and see how their hunts went as well as um hearing how the product uh performed out in the field, you know. That's essentially the the whole point of it. So uh we're looking forward to it. And we're looking forward to Tillfest too. Uh that's a it's a big part for us. We're gonna have a little uh hospitality area set up right on the side of Austin's restaurant. And so uh we'll look forward to connecting with our customers over there, and uh we'll have some some other things that we'll be selling there as well. And uh there's also gonna be a cigar trailer at uh at Tillfest, which I think is pretty, pretty fun. Uh Austin's dad actually wanted the cigars. Uh so uh as you can see, there's a common thread. Yeah, he's at a festival, now he wants cigars. I don't know. I don't know what next year he's gonna want, like a fun jump or something. I don't know, but we'll do it, you know.
SPEAKER_05Nice. Yeah, I'm a cigar, I'm a cigar and bourbon type of guy, so I'd definitely be partaking in that. But Austin, you know, you're saying off camera, professionally, you're into in the in the rice business in Louisiana, and everyone knows that Louisiana is either one or or not one, two or three on on the rice states here in the in the U.S. Um No, you guys are using neck and neck with my home to my home state of California. But let's talk, you know, if you want to talk a little bit about the rice industry and how does that, you know, how does that tie into you know waterfowl and waterfowl history in Louisiana? I know it it does have what rice and ducks and geese going hand in hand.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for sure. Um, so Elton's a small town. I mean, if you blink, you'll miss it when you're passing through. Our only economy is rice. I mean, that it's that's what's driving everything in our whole area. It's our whole parish. And it's not just us. We are bordering parishes of the same way. I mean, if you're got some type of sizable land, um, I would say anything from 40 to 60 acres that has water access, there's a really, really high chance that you have some type of rice production on that property. I mean, rice is that important and it's that it's that uh it's that economic engine that's been driving around here since the 30s. Um waterfowl, obviously, for if we're going back in history, has been huge down here way before the ag industry started blowing up, but it's aided in the food source for everything going on with waterfowl since it started taking shape and really growing and evolving throughout these last several years. Um so without it, I don't think we kill the birds that we see. I don't think we have the migration push that's a stickler for our area, specifically for till season. Um and with it, it it's just helping everything go full circle with that crop production that's in the field. So I am a rice broker. I'm here to find markets, um, find outlets, help everything logistic logistics-wise go on with anybody who has any grain of rice to to sell, to move, to handle, to mill, export, regardless of what's if it's rice, we we deal with it. Um and it's called Bertrand Rice. Uh, we're a marketing agency and we're based out of Elton as well. That's where my office is at. Um, everything that is touching any kind of rice farm in our area has at least dealt with or been approached by Delta Waterfowl or Ducks Unlimited. They do a lot of good conservation efforts with uh NRCS, the Natural Resource and Conservation Services, with USDA. Um, this is a government agency that works with certain companies to help preserve and conservation efforts to keep everything that we have going as far as waterfowl. Just keep keep pumping it through, keep everything on the up and do whatever we can to hold on to what we have. Because, like I mentioned earlier, off-air, we are losing numbers and acres every year. I mean, it's something that drops. Luckily, we've got great organizations like Ducks Unlimited and Delta that come in and want to partner with different people like this. We have a lot of growers that want to get involved, and they're all in as far as doing anything that they can do to help their farm keep doing what it's doing for these migrations of the birds that's happening every year.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and that's to me personally, that's real that's real important. Like I was talking to Gabe, I got to hang out with Gabe the other day. And like what I tell people, um, you know, this is a waterfowl podcast, and everyone always wants, and then I get to guide in Arkansas. Fortunate enough to get to guide and have a job now that allows me to guide. Um but yeah, everyone always talks about the timber, the flooded timber of Arkansas and all this. To me, I could care less about it. What what the way that those guys feel about the flooded timber is the way I feel about a flooded rice field and a pit. There's something about nostalgia because maybe I I grew up in a big rice state, and um that's how you know I told Gabe, I didn't even know, you know, I moved out of my state at 18 when I joined the military. I thought that's how everyone hunted. I thought everyone hunted in rice fields, everyone hunted in pits. I thought the pintails were plentiful across the world, across the US. I didn't know that killing, you know, for me, my first um duck was a bull pintail shot with melt like great grandfather's eight five. So like I thought that was just how everyone did it. And then when I thought yeah, when they're like, no, we don't get wedging a pintail like that with all butt. So I took for rice for granted as a young man, and then when I, you know, I'll do anything to see rice boom and get to hunt the rice just because you know that was obviously a real nostalgic um time of my life. But yeah, you do see, you know, we're lucky and fortunate to see that rice is still king here in Louisiana, so it you know, is in a few other states, but yeah, uh the rice production here in Louisiana and seeing the rice byproducts in Louisiana is definitely super important to me. And um, something I you know that I like to talk about a lot. Uh you know, like Chris said, I do nerd out about rice farming. And I'm starting to learn about the crawfish a little bit more since I've lived here for the last 10 years. Um, you know, do you see the rice and the crawfish going hand to hand in your industry as well?
SPEAKER_03Oh, 100%. Um, and the rice industry wouldn't be what it is right now without the crawfish industry. It it and vice versa. It it goes hand in hand. Um, luckily, we have found crawfish, and it is something that truly has adapted everybody in this area to go towards. Because we used to be a rice and soybean rotation. I mean, that was that was the swap for, I mean, you're talking about an industry that was shaped that way for 60, 70 years. And here since the late 90s and early 2000s, we really started making that swap at crawfish production. And I'm telling you, we would not have the rice stakers we have now without it. But vice versa. We wouldn't have near the, I don't care if it's Houston, Dallas, New Orleans, you wouldn't see the crawfish places you see today without rice farming. They're going hand in hand. And just the same thing with the ducks. Ducks gotta have food, right? I mean, flooded timber is awesome. I'm lucky enough to have some flooded timber by my house. It's something we hunt all the time, but they don't have nothing to eat. There's no reason for them to come down here. And look, if y'all are gonna, if anybody listening is gonna come and want to see how important rice is to the ducks, come by the cleaning table for Teal Festival and watch when they cut open those crawls with them birds. It's nothing but rice in those throats. All of them. That's the only thing they're eating.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and for the viewers, I'm gonna tell you firsthand if you guys are in Mississippi, Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, hell, Maine. We have a lot of viewers in Maine. If you have the PTO, the days off, get Honda Hoodick on the airplane, get yourself a teal hunt, definitely in the early season, so we can get, you know, we can get you over at Teal Fest and just man, witness the the waterfowl culture and just an in-depth culture Louisiana has to offer.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. Um, so just out of curiosity, so just something uh uh Gabe and Austin, you uh you gotta know about me. I'm on the spectrum. I'm kind of retarded, so I kind of jump all over the place. But uh real quick, just as the hunter, Austin and Gabe, just because out of curiosity, because we brought up rice, we brought up the uh flooded timber. What are like what is your top, I guess we can go top two places to actually hunt in? Is it a tank or a pond? Or is it is it is it the rice field? Is it flooded timber? I mean, what is just kind of get so so the viewers can kind of get an idea of Gabe and Austin.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I mean, I mean, I'll go first. Uh I grew up in in rice fields, uh, you know, like Austin, my my family was all rice farmers as well. So um that's what I'm used to, that's what I like. But I did go last year with Austin actually to behind uh his place and you know a bunch of flooded timber. And it was a it was a really, really fun hunt, and it was something completely different from rice fields. Um so hopefully invites me again this year. But uh that flooded timber it was it was really cool. Um and it's it's flooded timber that's also surrounded by rice fields. So I think he gets the best of both worlds. But uh yeah, I mean that's that's really me.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I I would agree. I mean, I have some flooded timber, I've made a bunch of flooded timber hunts, but you can't be a pit blind in the rice fields. I I when it's on, it's on. And I I just it's something that's hard to put into words. If you haven't experienced, you you you can't really explain it to somebody. Um, if I had to pick one or the other, I'm I'm picking a pit in the rice fields all day long.
SPEAKER_04And you can see that your your visibility is just from yeah, it's so flat, there's not a lot of trees out here. You're thinking of you know the Great Prairie of Louisiana. Um, so it's beautiful sunrises and beautiful sunsets. I mean that that that aids in the whole part of it too.
SPEAKER_01And just just for the viewers, I was kidding about the spectrum joke. I was I was just kidding.
SPEAKER_05Um, no, I mean like you guys said, I love the rice, and it's just because the mixed bag, like you know, I can go hunt Arkansas, I've hunted Nebraska, I've hunted all the way on all down the east coast, and getting um I'm never gonna turn my eye up on on a strap of Greenhead mallard, right? That is cool, but what I love about here, places like California, the area in um Arkansas that I get to is the rice produces such a unique mixed bag. You know, you can go there, get get, you know, you can shoot some speckle belly, shoot your snow geese, and it's the only few places where I can see you shoot a redhead, you shoot some teal, you shoot your mallard, you shoot a spoon bill, you shoot a canvas back, you shoot your um pintails. And I mean I've even killed plenty of um whistling ducks, you know. Black belly and fold is in in the rice. Um and for you guys to being a Louisiana and you know, we get a we get a little bit extra duck season this year. That's a fact. We do it uh yeah, we do it at a black belly season. And for the how do y'all feel about that?
SPEAKER_03Man, I love when I I love it. I really do. I I I think it's great. I I really wish what the surveys we filled out on really wanting to push it for a till season would have happened, because I do feel like we're gonna blow them all out once the teal season kicks off. But that that's just my personal preference on when they set the season. Regardless, I think it's great. We have seen a huge increase of numbers of those things here in the last couple years. I think it's awesome. More opportunity for guys. And and going back to what you were saying about the species, um, you know, how many different things, such a mixed bag of what you can shoot in a rice field. I agree. I wanted to bring that up earlier. And that's one of the reasons why I would take a pit blind over the foot of timber any day because of that. Um Gabe can tell you, I mean, some spots that we hunt in Elton and Pond Island together, it's nothing for us to have five to seven different species or more on a single morning. I mean, that that's typical. And I love having that mixed bag. It's great.
SPEAKER_01Black bells eat good too.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, black bells do eat good, yeah.
SPEAKER_01They do eat good.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and you know, and I tell everyone, you know, and who want to come out out of state with me, I'm like, come in January. Everything's plumed out, and you're gonna get a mixed bag, and you're going to get wall hangers here. You're gonna get, you know, you're gonna get birds, you know, your stud pentails, the guys who love, you know, we a lot of people turn their noses up on uh a spoon bill, but a January spoon bill is a actually really pretty bird.
SPEAKER_02They hard to beat, man. They pretty Hollywoods, man.
SPEAKER_05I like to call them, I call them Lake Charles Mallards.
SPEAKER_02There you go. Yeah.
SPEAKER_05I call them Lake Charles. And they got a green head.
SPEAKER_02Yep, yep.
SPEAKER_05Yeah. And you know, also for viewers, you know, the black belly season, for you guys that are hunting, your your your 42, this is a place to get them. And I think that's really cool for uh Louisiana to do that. I kind of feel the same. I really wish I did it during till season, just because there's days that I tell people, hey, put your guns down because the game warnings are here and they're watching either a wood duck or or a um uh what do you call it? A black belly is um, you know, not the wood ducks come in ones and twosies during teal season, but the own black belly will swoop in by 30 and 40 at a time. It's like I put your guns down. There might be a few teal in there, but um, we're about to get an expensive duck dinner. But I I think that black belly whistling duck is gonna bring guys coming in for you know and bring more um revenue, you know, into this area during the during an off-season time for guys that are trying to get their their 42.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I would agree with that. I I think we're gonna have a big push of people, like you say, come into the area specifically for that. I mean, like I said, it's a great option. Um, guys are paying a lot of money for leases. I mean, this is something else to get your money's worth out of what you're spending money on for the for the full year, you know. I think it's gonna be great.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, uh I just got some some some black belly uh decoys in uh two days ago. What'd you get? I it's some like fully flocked uh silhouettes. Um trying to remember the company I got it for. They're I I believe they're local too. Comes with calls, everything. Oh nice. Yeah, I'm anxious to see. Last year, uh we had a few spots that were pretty full with them. I just used a bunch of spec decoys. Um, and it worked. I mean, they I think if they see anything with some orange feed, they're coming. Yeah, I don't know. I wouldn't call them the smartest birds in the world.
SPEAKER_05No, I don't know if any anything we if you have spinning wings up, they usually you know come around. And for us during teal season, I run my spinning wings on 10 foot uh extensions and I like to be nice and high.
SPEAKER_01So who's who's number one for the dumbest coups of them? That's rough, though. That's rough.
unknownThat's good.
SPEAKER_01I'll tell you, I'll shoot some coots too.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, he does like he's a coot shooter from way back. I gotta I gotta tell him there's a rule I have we don't shoot koots until after 9 30. To coots shooting getting, you know, we don't we don't do that until after 9 30. But for the hunters, and we all this is kind of something we like to um bring into the podcast. Um, I'm a big EDC guy, uh, and I like to watch Sean Ryan and he talks EDC with his guests, but I like to duck hunting EDC. So for you guys, what's your shotgun set up looking like? You know, are are you guys small gauge guys? Do you guys use small gauge for teal?
SPEAKER_04I'll shoot a 20 uh for till season and then mess around with the 12, 12, take a duck. But um, yeah, it's just easier, lighter. Shoot black eagle. Shoot black eagle.
SPEAKER_03I stick with my 12 gauge the whole the whole time. I just I don't know. I I I I can't not put it down if that makes sense.
SPEAKER_05What 12 gauge?
SPEAKER_03I got a Browning A5 Wicked Wings edition. I just love it.
SPEAKER_05And you can't add is a that is a good looking shock.
SPEAKER_01Um I guess go ahead. Uh well I guess before we kind of like uh did as far as like Teal Fest, where I want to before we kind of caveat or get off on uh the topic and stuff, just for for the viewers and for the listeners, um, and maybe we said it just kind of when does Teal Fest start? Um, and how long is Teal Fest and kind of give the dates out for the for the listeners. Um and then maybe I don't know how that what is it? Is there a point of contact? They just reach, they just Google Teal Fest. Is there is there something on Facebook or social media that they can look up just for the listeners, just so they can kind of, you know, I want to go to this teal fest, but I want to learn a little bit more about it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so if you want to find out more information um on Facebook, it'll be the second annual Pine Island Teal Festival is gonna be the uh the name, and you'll see everything there. It's right on Main Street Elton. So as Austin said earlier, Elton's extremely small. Uh you'll see it right there, smack dab in the middle of Main Street. Uh, you'll see really the whole festival's there. It'll be barricaded off. Uh sheriff's officers will be there. Um, so it's impossible to miss. But the first band starts at night at 10 p.m. 10 a.m. Excuse me, 10 a.m. it starts. Uh Steve Riley's gonna be kicking us off uh for Tillfest at 10 a.m. Uh we're gonna open the gates at, is it nine, Austin, 9 a.m.?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, for the the main stage across the street will be 9. Um, like I said earlier, we will have some vendors set up to start selling breakfast at for 8 o'clock, and we'll our bar will also be open selling bloody marriage pretty early.
SPEAKER_04We'll be taking on uh birds as soon as people bring them in. There's uh bird cleaning options available right there at the festival, a bunch of vendors. Uh the LSU old miss game is also that uh evening, so we'll have the jumbotron outside with that on and as well inside. Uh, but September 19th, uh open day till season, Elton, Louisiana. We're gonna be cutting up. Come cut up with us.
SPEAKER_01And then um for the hunters, right? The people who want to go out there and hunt, do y'all work with guide services kind of, hey, come as you go, you find a public place or you'll get with a local guide around there? Is it or do y'all actually work with people in the area?
SPEAKER_03Uh we do have a few guide services locally that that we've uh I guess you could call it, we're we're referring people to them. Um, knowing, you know, these guys are jam up, go go shoot your limits with them. I think pretty much for the most part, everybody's booked up now. It's something that's a it's a hot thing. I mean, normally February and March rolls around, our local guys are getting booked up quick, specifically for a teal season, because everybody knows how good it is.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, and for the viewers, Spoonville Adventures. I'll give my buddy a shout out. That's great guy who's helped me out a lot down here. But yeah, yeah, there is plenty of there, there's no shortage of guide service down here for teal season.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, pigging piggybacking off of that. If you are coming in from out of town, uh there is a hotel probably uh five miles down the road at Kushada Casino Resort. Again, uh Kushada's a partner uh with us for this teal festival. And uh there's gonna be rooms available at their uh at their brand new hotel that they just built uh right there. So super convenient. Uh Um, you'll have lodging options too. So uh it's it's all there. It's plug and play. Awesome.
SPEAKER_05Yeah, you get teal, a little bit of slot machines, Asian food. It is a time to me a time to be had.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, for sure. Right up all over them.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But I guess go ahead, Joe. Oh, I guess before we go off, let's uh let's do uh a quick round of rapid fire. It's basically we'll ask you a question, simple questions, nothing crazy. You don't gotta think about trust, I don't like to think just you and Austin. Um, and we'll go from there. I mean, just kind of finish off, Joe. Did you have something?
SPEAKER_05I was about to kick it off to that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so basically it's it's simple questions, and we kind of go Austin and Gabe kind of respond just so the viewers can kind of um get to know everybody and get to know uh what uh what we're all about. So real, they're basic they're waterfowl-based questions, so they're not nothing crazy. But uh Gabe, uh well, I don't know whoever wants to go first. We'll go Austin, then Gabe, just because you're first in the alphabet. But um, all right, your favorite duck, Gabe, Austin. Uh Ouija. Gabe?
SPEAKER_04Oh, blue wing, bro.
SPEAKER_01Green for hunt, right? Green wing. Yeah. Okay. All right, uh, favorite hunting destination, Austin. Oh, Elton, Louisiana. Gabe. Yeah, I'm I'm I'm down with Elton. All right, favorite shotgun, Austin. Browning A5. Gabe. I like my super black eagle, man. Super light. All right, this one may be a little bit harder. Favorite load, Austin. Oh like brand or just load in general? It could be load, brand, it could be uh tunson steel, bismuth, whatever you like.
SPEAKER_03It's number five, straight up steel all day long.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I should I shoot the same thing.
SPEAKER_01All right, um, y'all dog dog hunters at all? Y'all got dogs?
SPEAKER_04Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_01No? Okay. Yeah, I got it. All right, well, uh, okay, for just Frost and your best hunting dog. Like name? Yeah.
SPEAKER_03His name was Katouche, which means shotgun shell in French.
SPEAKER_01Okay. I need to come up with better, cooler names than that. My dog's name's Kent. And it's not because of Kent Shells, it's because my kids want to name him Superman. I was like, I'm not naming him Super Dog. So I named him Kent, uh Clark Kent, but um best hunting meal, Austin.
SPEAKER_03I'm going with the Doug Jumbleye. Okay.
SPEAKER_04Gabe. Are we talking like while you're in the blind or or afterwards? Whichever you like. I mean, in the blind, a honey blind hits pretty hard in the blind. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Okay. That's kind of the go-to for all uh waterfowl hunters. Uh the biggest, uh, all right. This one's good. Austin, your biggest hunting pet peeve. And this is the last one.
SPEAKER_02Looking up, man. Okay. Keep the face down.
SPEAKER_04Gabe spraying off uh near my shotgun.
SPEAKER_05Oh Dean is dead.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, I mean, that that was kind of what we had. It was kind of the real quick and fast. Just kind of get to know y'all. It was kind of fun. I was kind of intrigued to see what the meal was gonna be. And Gabe had honey bun and you had uh something different. So it was good. I like that. It was good. I like it. I mean, I'm I'm a big honey bun guy, so honey bun and uh honey bun and beef jerky. Yeah. Some type of energy drink, man. I gotta have some. I'll have my coffee and then I'll have a rock star or something. Yeah, absolutely. But Joe, um, did you have anything before we kind of get off?
SPEAKER_05And no, uh well, I definitely appreciate both you guys for coming on. Thank you. I really think I want to thank you guys for putting on Teal Fest. It's a you know, I tell everyone this part of Louisiana is a hidden gem, and I need to get more resonant resignation that it does. And uh I'm proud to say, hey, I'm proud to be sponsored by Hunter Pump, but I'm proud to know that there's guys out here that are still willing to put this little area of uh Louisiana on the map.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, absolutely. We appreciate y'all uh helping us tell our story and and promote this awesome event that's uh great for our parish and uh and great for the industry as well. Um, so thank you all.
SPEAKER_03Not a problem.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, for sure. Thank y'all.
SPEAKER_01Hey, uh, and thank y'all for both coming on. Also, if uh you're listening to the podcast, check us out on social media. Um, check out, hit that like, subscribe button, check out Hunt Repellent um and what they're doing with the industry. Uh, and check out uh Teal Fest. Go online and check them out. If you have any questions, like we always say, come uh just reach out to us on social media. Um, but like always, y'all have a good one and uh let Valor not fail.