One Hell Of A Life Outdoor Podcast
The One Hell Of A Life Outdoor Podcast hosted by father-son duo Tony Vogel and Tristan Vogel, Owners of One Hell Of A Life Outdoors . Our passion lies in bringing every hunter the REALITY of what it REALLY takes to hunt their target animal while equipping them with the knowledge to be a successful hunter and promoting the lost "old school values" that laid the foundation for the sport we love so much today.
One Hell Of A Life Outdoor Podcast
Illinois Deer Hunting Roots And An Underrated Waterfowl State | Grayson Slagle | Whitetails & Waterfowl
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
We sit down with Grayson Slagle from southern Illinois to talk whitetails, waterfowl, and why Illinois deserves more credit for duck and goose hunting than most people give it. We also get real about how social media can ruin hunting when it turns into a quota, and why the best days can still be the ones where you only bring home a few birds.
• Grayson’s upbringing in the outdoors and how Whitetails and Waterfowl starts
• pushing back on negative hunting culture and welcoming new hunters
• balancing deer season with waterfowl season in Illinois
• why Illinois is underrated for ducks and Canada geese
• the new Illinois zone structure and what season splits can change
• migration getting later and why hunters feel like they miss the best pushes
• Arkansas trips, habitat advantages, and what makes it feel unreal
• what Illinois public land hunts look like and how private pits differ
• millet, corn, and natural foods like acorns in duck impoundments
• waterfowl harvest stats, better tech, and the funding reality behind decisions
• brand growth, content honesty, and Grayson’s path through law school
DM One Hell of Life podcast on Instagram or TikTok to enter the monthly listener drawing
Call or text 850-251-8650 or visit www.floridaducks.com to book your trip, Williamson Outfitters
Use code ONEHELLOFALIFEOUTDOORS for 15 percent off your order @ www.froggtoggs.com
Dirty Duck Coffee: use code onehellofalife15 for 15% off
Want to Duck Hunt in Arkansas? Call Kade at Delta Thunder Outfitters at 870-926-7944
Follow us on instagram! https://www.instagram.com/onehellofalifepodcast/?hl=en
Welcome And Why Illinois Matters
SPEAKER_02The One Hub Life Outdoor Podcast. Tonight we got Grayson Slagle on the podcast from uh Southern Illinois, like basically in our backyard where you know we're from originally, which is pretty cool. And um he uh is the owner of Whitetails and Waterfowl. He's got a cool brand on you know Instagram, Facebook, all the socials and all that, and is an avid hunter. So we're excited to connect with him and talk some Illinois hunting. Thanks, thanks for joining us, man.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thanks for having me. I've been looking forward to it and excited to be here.
SPEAKER_02Absolutely, absolutely.
SPEAKER_06Hey, listen, anybody listening to this, Illinois is one of the best states, period, to go and deer hunt. Not counting it's a little bit of a sleeper sell when it's good for duck hunting as well.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, I hear it back in the day. It was real good.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, y'all need to listen up to this, man. We're gonna talk about some stuff, and and it's one of me and Tristan's biggest passions is definitely deer hunting. We're going back to Illinois this year, so it's it's uh it's something that we we're super excited about having Grayson on talk about today.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's a great place to be for deer hunting.
SPEAKER_02Heck yeah. Well, Grayson, tell everybody just a little bit about your background, man, and uh your page and all that stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so a little bit about me. I grew up in uh southern Illinois, uh Edwardsville area, about 30, 45 minutes outside of St. Louis. Um I went to college uh down at the University of Mississippi. Yeah, there you go. Um, but yeah, we started this page uh in high school because I grew up always, I started in the outdoors when I was really young, fishing a lot with my grandpa. And I don't think he ever said it out loud, but he was uh in the service for a long time, fought World War II. I he always loved outdoors, but he just didn't really want to mess
Grayson’s Background And Brand Origin
SPEAKER_01around with guns, I think. But uh fishing is where it started, and then growing up, I got to deer hunt, sitting with my uncles, my dad, and it kind of got hooked there. And I always liked uh go deer hunting, but it really kicked it um when I started becoming a teenager going duck hunting, and then when I got to start driving around 16, that's really where I headed off. Um and when those this whole brand started, is me and my buddies, uh, we all played basketball together on Sunday.
SPEAKER_05Oh, cool.
SPEAKER_01Uh, we wouldn't have practice till about two. And so we'd get to go duck hunting on Sunday morning before practice. And then we just kind of sat in there and just, you know, a lot of the stuff we saw online with hunting stuff that seemed very negative and not very uh opening to new people coming into say deer hunt or duck hunt or any kind of hunting in general. And we're like there hunting gets a really bad perception in general because of a few bad eggs. And trying to like kind of make something like that. At first, it became as a page just to host post uh hunting pictures, and then we kind of got some traction from then on out, and then now uh seven, eight years later, it's kind of like a bigger page now, get a whole brand going. But we're rolling, uh really glad we started when we did, but uh just try to be like a positive voice, also, but also something that it's not a Debbie Downer, because there's great people in the hunting community in general, all over the place, but there's also uh people that get on the for you pages and the timelines expect you in the best way I can put it in my perspective is that especially duck hunting, it needs to be fun. You need to enjoy your time out there and talk about harvesting something because the way there's these videos are you only need to kill mallards, or you only need to do this, and it kind of seems more like uh a quota you need to fill than a job and it's not fun anymore.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, dude. I think that's a no, you're hitting the nail around the head. That's a great mission statement.
SPEAKER_06I know as he's talking, Tristan, you're sitting there going, yeah, we relayed a lot. Yeah, we relayed a lot of that, and what's great, I mean, just me personally speaking from a 54-year-old's perspective is man, there's nothing more powerful than seeing younger people like yourself identify that and try to make a difference, man. I mean, that's the word that so many of us in this community are trying to get the positive word out because yeah, I mean, that's part of the actually one of the main reasons why we started what we do is is simply because there's a false perception out there, you know, and and and young people felt like they had to go achieve what they see on TV and and that kind of thing. And and then you got these negative influences, which I do believe over the years that we've been doing this that it has changed a lot, but still, it's still there. There's there there's always gonna be that bad apple that hangs from the tree. But you know what? If you just like you said, if you just keep pushing the positive and all that kind of stuff, that stuff they'll find their spot, and it's not gonna be fun for them. It won't be, so they'll be on the opposite opposite end of the train for sure.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think you know, ever there's a yin-yang with like everything, you know, there's you see trends with anything in life, and I feel like with social media when you know, not when it was brand new, but like when it was, you know, maybe 10 years ago, it it everybody has the ability to type something on there and leave an opinion and be negative or whatever it might be, you know, somebody's asking an innocent question, and they can just it's easy to just be funny and say something stupid, and but you don't think about the other person on the end of that's just asking an innocent question trying to learn something. And I think um there was so much of that, like to your point, it feels like the it feels like there's been a change to more positivity online, and maybe that's just because as time has gone on, like those people that are that way, you know, look stupid or make an ass out of themselves or whatever, and then maybe that's kind of died off and the the positive voices are kind of overcoming, hopefully.
SPEAKER_06Well, no, I think what it is is that honestly, just think about this like the more you hear positivity, the more confidence it puts, especially in somebody who doesn't know the yin from the yang. Honestly, I mean they're just new into the sport, and like like you know, uh I it's used everywhere, it might be your job, it might be church, it might be wherever, but you know, that positive first impression is always so important. And unfortunately, we get people that get into the sport, and maybe their first impression is a very negative response or a negative impression, you know what I mean? Yeah, so I know those people are out there, and and I just think that we're definitely speaking a louder word nowadays, and uh it's and thankfully it's to people like yourself, Grace. And that's what I'm going with this is that kudos to you, man.
SPEAKER_01Appreciate it. Yeah, I thank you for that. And uh, like you said too, like the first impression, people don't know. That's all they do know until they get another voice in their ear to learn something about that, why it's different, why it's this way, and it's not um A B. It's just go out there, enjoy your time. Harvesting something is a bonus. That's how you got to think of it like that. Like I go out there every day trying to think, uh, I'm not gonna get anything, I'm not gonna see anything, but you enjoy the time while you're there. And if you do harvest a couple birds here and there, it's a day well spent either way. That's right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. No, I think what's interesting that one of the things we're excited to dive in deeper with uh talking with you tonight is you know, we always look back on our time in Illinois and thankful for the deer hunting opportunities we had there over the years. And um, I'm certainly very thankful that I got to grow up learning the deer woods, you know, until we moved when I was 15, but we still go back like we're going to this year because we just love it so much. But never really dove into waterfowl there. And my dad always jokes, he said it several times on this podcast. Like all his friends were would ask him, and he's like, Man, I can't do it because my wife's gonna divorce me if I take on another expensive hobby. But I'm interested to kind of hear what it was like. Like you said, starting duck hunting in high school and stuff. What uh your perspective has been doing both there, you know what I mean? Like deer hunting is kind of what Illinois is known for, but we all know how addicting duck hunting is. So I'm just curious. Um, I guess what's what's your favorite, and you know what where does that balance lie for you?
SPEAKER_01You know, it's it's been a hard balance uh doing whitetails and waterfowl, because I mean it's got uh two species in the name, so you gotta kind of tackle um both animals with it. But uh we kind of divvy it up. I really don't deer hunt as much as the rest of the group, and the rest of the group doesn't whitetail hunt as um doesn't
Positivity Over Toxic Hunting Culture
SPEAKER_01waterfowl hunt as much as I do.
SPEAKER_03Oh nice.
SPEAKER_01Um yeah, it's it's a good split, but my problem is like I'll try to deer hunt a little bit, but then there's a month into deer season, and then duck hunting starts here. Um but yeah, I think Illinois in general is a pretty underrated duck hunting state uh for obvious reasons. To get down to where they're going, they gotta go through here at some point. And um we've I've hunted all over the place in the state. Um, I think the biggest part is goose hunting is underrated. Canada goose hunting. Yeah, I think it's it's fantastic. If we get in a find the right spot early season, we always get them pretty good, and that's always really fun. But duck hunting in general, it's been up and down the past few years. Um a lot of stuff going on. Most we mostly hunt over over by uh Carlisle Lake. Oh, yeah, and the walk-ins and stuff, and they've been going through a controversy where they're getting rid of the corn because the state doesn't want to fund it anymore. And there's a lot of an admin going on. But we recently got a piece of property out by there who've been trying to turn it over. Um, but it I mean it's been good, man. I really think that in general, across up and down the long state that Illinois is, yeah, that it's an underrated duck hunting state. And if you hit can hit it right time, we can get a good cold front before the season does close, because right now they actually just implemented brand new seasons for the next five years, the new five-year plan. Oh, really? Talk about that a little bit. Yeah, I'll talk about that. They've been going through this. Uh, a lot of people have been complaining because um across I-70, like where Edwardsville is, just across the interstate south where Carlisle is, where our place is, is the South Central zone. So they had the north up by Chicago there, pretty tiny. The central zone would go really wide, uh, really long and wide. South central would be I-70, a little pocket, and then the south zone would go like up by um where eastern Illinois is, and then cut over through uh K R Cairo and go over, but now they're doing they're changing it to three zones now because they said if everyone has been asking for a split for a while. And I think there's a federal regulation if you're gonna have a split, you need to cut to three zones. That's what they're doing now, is they're doing the north, central, and the south. So they're combining the south and the south central, and it's not entirely set in stone yet because they've been having a lot of meetings, and Congress still has to approve it and whatnot. So it's still kind of up in the air, but I think they have a general set plan right now. Um to give like a basic example. This past year it was November 14th to January, I think, 10th or 11th, right around there. And then this upcoming year, it'll start around November 14th, 15th again, and then go to the December 19th, and then I think right in January 1 or 2, we'll start going again, and then it will go till the 24th of January.
SPEAKER_06Good. That's that's what I wanted to hear out of this, is that Illinois is extending that season, which has to have federal backing, you know. I mean, there's there's a lot that goes into this, you know, um when they're when determined limits and you know how long you can hunt, and that it's not the same as deer, right? I mean, deer are not migratory, you know. So that's take uh but I mean, just me personally, the limited knowledge I have as a waterfowl hunter in Illinois, but just thinking about it geographically, that makes a lot of sense to me because um we all can say that we feel like at least that waterfowl are moving later. You know, our winters are not as strong as what they were in the front end of it. And man, I talk to Illinois people all the time, no matter what zone they're in, and be like, I feel like right when we're getting ready to like get into like some really good hunting, you know. When I say good hunting, I mean like at least in our minds as a waterfowl hunter, that polar vortex and it's late season and you know that kind of thing, like Illinois folks miss out on that, like so many times. And and and to go back about what you're talking about as far as deer hunting and waterfowl hunting when you asked them about that, Tristan. That's to me, I think, is more of a challenge in your state because of that reason, right? Because you're like, dude, like I can hunt deer until the end of January. The rut, we all know when that is, and that's in like the prime time duck hunting time. You know what I mean? So it's I mean, it's like you gotta pick pick your pick your demon, I guess, you know.
SPEAKER_02I was gonna say with the dates thing, it seems like a lot of times, um, you know, it'll be we'll be down in Arkansas and uh, you know, praying for those ducks to come down, and you'll be talking to people in Illinois and they're like, Yeah, our our season went out, whatever, and we're still covered up in them, and we're like, man, it'd be nice if they were down here. But then they're sitting there and you guys can't hunt them. But I've also heard the flip side of that too, where they leave, you know. But typically that's how it usually seems. It's like we're still waiting for them a little bit further south, and you guys are out of the season.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's a huge flip side to it. I remember at least the past few years, we'd be goose hunting out of the pit, same pit we duck hunt out of, and we're working geese, and then mallards will dive into the decoy spread, and it's like, well, we'll just watch them, I guess. And then even uh at our new property, I went to pull the drains on the boards uh two weeks after the season. So this was I think January 26, 27. I went to go pull it out, and I think it's the most popular video that's on the page that we have. There's probably thousands just get up, and I'm like, would have been really nice during the season, but um, yeah, I definitely think the migration it's slow, and you know, a lot of people can argue all day about which is the number one factor in that happening, but uh I think we can all agree for the most part it's happening at a slower pace than it used to.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no doubt. I almost feel like um the biggest thing that I've kind of observed over the last few years, which we're we're relatively new duck hunters, and you know, eight eight to nine, I don't even know. I guess it's been I guess my first time duck hunting was in 2019 or something like that. So going on like seven, eight years, whatever it is, but um relatively new duck hunters. So it's I'm always you know taking in new information and trying to form, you know.
Frogg Toggs Gear Promo
SPEAKER_02All right, guys, if you've been listening to us for a while, you know we love frogtogs waterfowl gear. But did you know they don't just make waterfowl gear, they make some incredible fishing organization like the frogtalks tackle vault 3600. That's one of our personal favorites. Also, the FTX Elite series is great if you fish hard and need something to hold up to the elements. And what about footwear? Yeah, guys, frogtogs has you covered there, everything from hunting boots to deck boots to fishing shoes to casual stuff like the Java 2.0 and Flip Flops. I can go on and on, but honestly, you just need to head over to FrogTalks.com and use code 11 of the Life Outdoors for 15% off your order. My opinion's always changing on this migration thing, as everybody's, but I think people that have done it for 40 years probably have a little bit obviously more more of a scale of data to work from. But for me, it's um it almost seems like, especially talking to folks like Brad Cohen and people that track these ducks, it's almost like you need the weather really early because once it gets to a certain point, like call it January, mid-January or January 1st
Deer Vs Ducks In Illinois
SPEAKER_02or whatever it might be. A lot of those bigger ducks and ducks that can ride it out will just ride it out. Yeah, somehow it's almost like they know that hey, we're closer to the end of this thing than we are the beginning of it. So it's not really worth me, you know, going down there because I the last couple years, I don't know about last year, but the year before last, we had that really good polar vortex and it was good. But you always hear about pockets of ducks that just hold out. And um, I think the last time we talked with Brad Cohen, that's one of the things he was talking about that they observed is it's almost like once it gets too late in the year, they're just kind of gonna they'd rather err on the side of waiting it out than you know fly an extra 400 miles just for the heck of it, you know.
SPEAKER_06Well, and I'll speak specifically about mallards, you know. I mean, I went to Illinois and up by Chicago on a honker hunt late season, snow on the ground, cold teens at one day. I mean, cold son of a gun, dude. And those mallards didn't care, bro. They were just like, there's that power plant up there by Chicago that keeps all the water open. They're not dumb. But then again, that's it's why I want to bring up while we're talking about this is that that's the tough thing from like we're consumers, right? I mean, we're we're we're hunters, but we're also consumers. And one of the things about this sport that's difficult, I think, from the hunter's perspective, is we only know what we see in the limited amount of space that we hunt, right? We really and it's a very few select people that truly have an overall scope of what's going on with the water fountain. I always say, like, one area, you know, we hunt out Delta Thunder outfitters, dude, on a typical year. Like, you see so many pentails, like legit so many pentails, that for probably five years we've been like, dude, how can they not raise this the limit? Right? But then again, that's just in our little world. Yeah, you know what I mean? And so we base our decisions like on how good the hunting is, no different than deer hunting, how good the rut was, right? If oh, you know, they really just I hear it, I've heard it for years. They just it it wasn't a it wasn't a good rut. Well, what's that based on, right? Your little valley, my little one acre that I could see, two acres, three acres maybe that I could see in the woods, and I just didn't see something run past me chasing something, so the rut's not good, but then sometimes you're on the pinpoint spot and you see 17 bucks, you know, or or whatever, you know. So anyway, I I just think that you know, the whole idea behind all of that that we need to keep in perspective, all of us, is that it's from our view only, not the whole topical view. Yeah, you know what I mean?
SPEAKER_02So 100%, 100%. So, Grayson, you know, you you said something earlier. It sounds like you guys kind of have the collaborative or cla can I talk today? Collaborative going on, you know, kind of how Meat Eater does things, where you got like, you know, they're different, you know, they got the bear grease guy, Clay Newcomb, and whatever. So how how many people are a part of Whitetails and Waterfowl? And um, tell us a little bit about that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so um it started uh with me and my buddies from home, and you know, like things happen, like we're all like in the process of growing up, and people come in and out, and that's all all well and good, nothing against anybody for that. But yeah, uh right now a lot of it is me and still a few buddies from home. We pretty much hold down the waterfowl stuff. But then again, um my cousins, a few of them, three cousins and two other uh two other of my friends up from Winchester, Illinois, uh about 15-20 minutes. I don't know if anyone's gonna know where this is from the podcast, but uh 15-20 minutes west of Jack uh Jacksonville, Illinois.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01Where deer hunting's pretty good.
SPEAKER_02We stop at the Jacksonville Walmart every time we go to where we hunt. Oh yeah, yeah, for deer.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, we've been doing like a lot of collaborative stuff, and you know, when it was starting off, it was really hard to you know get get content and kind of you know fill both um fill both glasses of content with uh white tails and waterfowl. Um because usually I'm pretty I I like to deer hunt when I can, but right when the gun season comes around for Illinois, that's opening weekend in Arkansas, and I like to. Be not in Arkansas.
SPEAKER_05Sure.
SPEAKER_01Uh, and then, well, at least right now, I'm still in school uh finals is the second weekend of gun season, so I'm kind of like uh chomping it the bit, trying to figure it out, but they always help me out with the whitetail content. Um, we actually made got enough uh hat sold and stuff to get another camera, so then they have one and I have one.
SPEAKER_03Oh, sweet.
SPEAKER_01And uh yeah, we try to divide it up as best as we can, like usually Thanksgiving since we're uh most of the people in it are related. Like we'll duck hunt Thanksgiving morning and go to grandma's for lunch, so we can kind of tackle two birds and one stone. Um yeah, it at first it was hard to divide, but now we got it uh split up pretty good. Um that's also we all always uh get together and go to the Ellino Deer Classic in Peori in the spring.
SPEAKER_02Oh, sweet.
SPEAKER_06Um, I used to go to that all the time. I uh I mean I haven't been to it years, so I'm sure it's just as big as it always has been, but man, that's a great show.
SPEAKER_01I think well it doubled last year and now it's tripled. It's gonna be a it's gonna be a hoot this year because um when is it? This this upcoming spring, I think it's in mid-March. Okay. But the first we are we did it for two years, uh two years ago. First time we did it was just the Illinois Deer Classic. And then this past spring when we did it, they combined it was like the Illinois fishing expo with it. And then this upcoming year they're moving it to Moline. And they're combining that with uh Mississippi Flyway Waterfall Expo. Oh, cool. So they're gonna make it a big um bigger show, I guess.
SPEAKER_06Just a big outdoors expo to like try to connect with all outdoors people.
SPEAKER_01I I assume so. It should be pretty good, but I'm excited for it, just not a little more driving I gotta do to get up there.
SPEAKER_02But sure. So do you you said when you did it, do you guys do a booth there?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we do. We uh first year was kind of very unpredictable. We did a couple shows around the St. Louis area, and to be honest, they didn't go that great because I mean you can have all these kinds of products, but you really gotta find your fan like the group. You gotta find the good focus group to get in there, and then this past year we did it pretty good, and then when you come back for the next year, you network pretty good and then you're familiar with a lot of faces there.
SPEAKER_05Sure.
New Illinois Season Zones And Splits
SPEAKER_01Um, you gotta have your social battery on for that though. But it it's always a good time going up there.
SPEAKER_02That's awesome, man. Yeah, uh I can really I understand, you know. I mean, being a college student and your buddies in college and stuff like that, trying to, you know, you want to create the content, you want to get the cool stuff, and then cameras are expensive, hats are expensive. That's the other thing, you know. I know you can appreciate this being like a uh being a brand, you know, and creating merch and stuff like that. You know, it's uh it's one of those deals where you know everybody and their brother's like, hey man, can I get a hat or whatever it might be? And it's like, dude, especially when you're first starting, you're like, bro, this hat cost me $20 to make. Like, you know what I mean? Until you can get those quantities up, man, that stuff's expensive. And I get it. People want to, you know, support you know what you're doing and stuff like that. And that they're asking because they're excited about what you know what you're doing, you know. But it's there's a lot of cost, and it's expensive to do this stuff.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, it it's difficult in general at all. And we've been going for a while and we've had like ups and downs. Like I feel like like the summer and spring is kind of a lull with selling gear and camo, and then usually it turns on in August and September. Um, but the guys that are in with me now, like I manage pretty much all of it. They're like, oh man, we should buy some of this stuff, buy some more of that stuff, and I'm like, we gotta sell more stuff before we can buy more stuff, man. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02By the way, just off uh topic, how did oldness come about?
SPEAKER_01Oh man, I pretty much I went down I-55. I visited all places.
SPEAKER_06I went, I went over to Mizzou, which in I-55, but was this more focused on your major or just schools, or like what was your have a good time? Yeah, exactly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, pretty pretty much have a good time. Yeah, I went on college. Yeah, with my dad. I went to Mo State, Western Kentucky, Mizzou. Um both my parents went to a smaller college, so but they wanted us to have something, go to something bigger. Um, but then I went to Old Mess for a football game. So happened to be that they were playing SIU Carbondale, is where I'm in law school right now. And I'm okay. It's pretty fitting. Yeah. Right on. I went down there for a game and I was like, this is pretty cool. I want to go here.
SPEAKER_06You know, SIU Carbondale for like, I don't know, it was like 20, 30 years, was rated the highest, the the number one ranked party school in the United States.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. That's what everyone tells me. Back in the day, Carbondale used to be uh the place to be.
SPEAKER_06I'll tell you, I'll tell you a quick Carbondale story. I uh right before I joined the Navy, friends of mine were like, dude, there's a big party on campus down there and everything. And I was like, All right, let's go. And so we went, keep in mind this before cell phones and everything. So my now wife was my girlfriend at the time. She goes, Where are you going? I said, I'm going to party with some friends. She's like, Where? I said, I don't even know. I said, I just know this down at SIUC, you know. She's like, All right. Well, you know, like it's not like now where somebody like is calling your cell phone and why haven't you called me back? Like you couldn't even do that, right? You know, just like, all right, see you later. Yeah, dude. The party's rocking, we're having a great time, music's bumping. There's like a thousand people in a 600 square foot apartment. And dude, all of a sudden it was like you the phone goes, and this dude stands up on the breakfast bar and answers the phone. He goes, What? And he goes, Is there a Tony Vogel here? And I'm like, I have no idea where I was even at, dude. No idea. And how my wife found me, I have no idea, but I'm pretty sure that I went home early that night. But I thought, man, I'm an SIUC. I'm oh, you know, this is number one party school. I'm not leaving for three days, you know, that kind of thing. And she probably is like, you need to come home right now. I'm probably like, hooker, you know, and came home. So maybe that's what kept us together. I don't know. Oh, that's great. But that was my uh piece of uh party experience with SIUC.
SPEAKER_01So I gotta ask, are you guys Bulldogs fans? Yep.
SPEAKER_02He he is so all right. So about this college football thing, my opinion growing up like in Bethalto, you know, like I and We didn't follow it. It's like, okay, so Illinois and Mizzou, but like Mizzou wasn't in the SEC
Williamson Outfitters Promo
SPEAKER_02yet. Like, there wasn't like um you know, the college experience the best of Florida's forgotten coast with Limston outfitters, offering professionally guided fishing charters and coastal adventures. From chasing in-store favorites like redfish, trout, and triple tail to heart-pounding shark charters, every Limston Outfitters trip is led by a seasoned licensed captain with true local expertise. Book one of their many popular experiences like near-store Mati Mati fishing, nighttime flander gigging, scalloping in St. Job, or wild alligator hunting. Whether you're planning a family vacation, a trip with friends, or a corporate retreat, Williamson Outfitters fleet of well-equipped boats and experienced guides deliver first-class outdoor adventures for anglers and sportsmen of all ages and experienced levels. Call or text Captain Chris at 850-251-8650, or visit FloridaDucks.com to reserve your charter today. Williamson Outfitters making the Forgotten Coast unforgettable.
Late Migration And Limited Perspective
SPEAKER_01I wasn't in unless I had skin in the game, unless a family member went to said college. Yeah. Just kind of didn't really care that much.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, you get it. And that's a lot of the North, honestly. You know, it's just it's more common that people in the North are NFL people than they are college football people. Because obviously, you know, Ole Miss, Florida, LSU, Georgia, Alabama, it's like, you know, it's a whole thing, Texas, all of it.
SPEAKER_06Well, what you find out in Southmore is that people watch college football and don't want to watch the professional sports.
SPEAKER_02I mean, honestly, it's just the opposite. It's a religion now. But uh, so long story short, my wife went to Florida State, so that got me invested in a team, you know. So that's I've been a Florida State fan. I'll root for the Bulldogs just because we're right here and it's in our backyard here in Atlanta. But um, yeah, I'm a Florida State fan.
SPEAKER_01So should be a good game next year.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they play in uh are they playing in like Nashville or something?
SPEAKER_01I think they're playing the bull uh Georgia and Ole Miss play out Ole Miss this year. Oh, okay. Nice.
SPEAKER_02I thought you were talking so Florida State and Georgia are playing in 27, I think, in Nashville or something. But oh, that's cool. Georgia and uh Ole Miss, huh?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Nice, man.
SPEAKER_01It's yeah, it's a good rivalry. Well, not really rivalry, but it's kind of getting there.
SPEAKER_02Didn't Eli go to Ole Miss? Yeah, yeah. Eli Manny.
SPEAKER_01Yep.
SPEAKER_02Dude, every time I see something about Jackson Dart, I'm like, this guy has the most amount of just like, I don't know, as a kid say aura, like, or just whatever you want to call it. Swag. Like he had to have been when he was the quarterback. I know there's some controversy about him, but you know, he had he had the it had to been rocking during the Jackson Dart era down there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I yeah, I saw that stuff online too, but I'm like in in general, he's a pretty nice guy. I was in school there when he went there. Uh I drank a few beers with him a couple times. I mean, he's a really nice guy, though. Down to earth. I like you know, strutting his stuff like a big gobbler, but yeah.
SPEAKER_02I just I just look at him playing football and I'm like, dude, this guy is a baller. I'm I think he's gonna be like special in the NFL. I mean, he showed some really good flashes, you know.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I hope I hope so too. We'll see how it goes, though.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_06What's it been like? Um now we're just talking about college sports a little bit. What's it been like as far as like the level of athleticism and recruitment, like when it comes to like um high school football and that kind of thing? Edwardsville was always very strong. Um, I think there, you know, there was always the battle between Edwardsville and East East St. Louis Lincoln, that kind of thing. But um, what's the talent draw been like? I mean, I think it's gotta be higher um over the over years, I mean, than it has been. I feel like it's that whole area is getting a little bit more attention.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I I think they are. Um I'm not too into it, uh, nothing crazy, but I know that AJ Epinesa is in the NFL, his younger brother's going to Iowa. Um, Edwardsville Baseball has been pretty good for a while. I know Mike. Yeah, they have my senior year, uh, was the we won the state championship for the first time in 20 years or something like that. And wow. They almost went on a three-peat. But I know that there's a kid that's he's playing in Alabama right now, and then another one committed to all miss. And uh they're doing good. I can't speak too much on it, but I think athletically they're they're doing all right. Right on, right on.
SPEAKER_02Nice, man. So you mentioned earlier that you like to get down to Arkansas for the for the duck hunting there, you know. What um I gotta ask, like, because obviously Arkansas is the you know, quote unquote duck hunting capital of the world. Do you uh do you buy into that or do you guys tend to have what how would you compare it? Do you feel like you have better luck at home or do you feel like you have better luck in Arkansas?
SPEAKER_01I mean, man, like it it's really hard to be uh not biased towards home, but Arkansas, it's just it's a it's a different thing, man. Like we me and my buddies, we started doing a yearly trip after we graduated school. We're like, hey, we're making money now, let's go do this. And it just Arkansas, it's just uh it's just a different animal. I mean, there'll be ducks you can shoot 10-15 seconds later, but more ducks will come in. It's just the amount you see, it's hard not to kill them. And it and rice fields, it's just crazy. And another another thing too, like in Illinois, in my perspective, um where we hunt in general, close to Carlisle, like you gotta try to want them to get in there. But a lot of places in Arkansas, it's like they want to be there. I'm not saying it's easier by any means to call in ducks or whatnot, but you're seeing a lot more and they want to be there.
SPEAKER_06It's it's amazing.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_06Well, I mean, in a nutshell, it's really just what you're saying there is that you know, it's the habitat is the majority of habitat that ducks seek is there. I mean, compared to say Illinois, especially when it comes to public land. Yeah, you know, um, that kind of thing. So, no, I mean it's just a basic fact, right?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I think that's I try to tell people that they're going there for the first time. It's like at the very minimum, even if you guys don't get into them good, you're gonna see more ducks than especially if you're coming from our flyway over here in the Atlantic flyway, you're gonna see more ducks and geese than you've ever seen in your life.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, like yeah, it's gonna it's gonna feel like a documentary that you're watching on National Geographic or something. And when you see the amounts, even if you don't even raise your gun, yeah. The amounts of I mean, I remember Tristan. Remember the first time we saw like a big string of snow geese? Yeah, I did the only thing I knew about geese were were Canada geese. And you see a V here, a V here in a big group might be a couple hundred or something, not thousands and thousands and thousands for hours and hours and hours, dude. That's just to me, it's still it still pumps me up today. Can you tell? Yeah, I mean, it just does.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and one of my buddies in Arkansas, like, I've never personally never had, never been up in the position to do this something like this, but all these ducks start flying, and he's like, Hold, let's just wait like five, five, ten minutes. And I'm like, why? He's like, because there's so many, we don't want to scare him. And I'm like, Well, there's ducks landing the decoys right here. He's like, just wait, like, we'll don't worry, we'll get them. And surely, surely enough, we did, but uh I mean, just I whipped out my camera, just filmed for five, ten minutes. I mean, just it's it's unbelievable. And like, I'm not a wildlife biologist, I never took wildlife biology in college, but in my opinion, people like say the flyways changing to a degree that's I believe it, but I think Arkansas has just a biological footprint with a lot of birds, and that just like once they start flying, they go right there.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01And it's been like that, like you said, the habitat, it's it's what they want, it's a good place to be.
SPEAKER_06Um it's a great way to what's the word I'm looking at, they've imprinted for years.
SPEAKER_02What um what part of the safe do you normally go to?
SPEAKER_01We usually go to northeast Arkansas over towards uh St. Charles, it's on the White River, and then over towards DeWitt. Yep, I know. Which is like I know everyone knows Stuttgart. It's about 45 minutes east of Stuttgart.
SPEAKER_02Nice, good deal, man. Yeah, it's gonna be like south of when yeah, when it's when it's right over there, dude, it's it's special for sure. It's uh definitely a very unique opportunity.
SPEAKER_01It's awesome. And uh then again, like with the hunting, not just Arkansas, but we met these guys when we started, me and my dad, my brother, we started this tradition. We go down every opening day. We've been doing it for about four or five years now. But we always hunt with these guys guys named Eddie and Don. And like it the one of the best parts about duck hunting in general, in my opinion, is getting to meet a broad variety of people and getting to see all these backgrounds, all these different kinds of people, and just listening. Because that's not like that's not a normal interaction you get in, say, well, normal life, I guess.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01Like if you don't put yourself out there, you're not gonna know all these kinds of people. Like this guy over here is 85 and this guy's 86. Like, when am I gonna see an 85 and 86-year-old person out in the middle of like my normal civilian life, I guess. Yeah, um, but turns out they both went to old mess, see them every year. Um just getting to hear stories from them and then also bringing younger people with you just combines a lot of different folks together. I think that's another part that people kind of uh overlook when you look at say something like waterfowl hunting.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01Like when you kind of take the blinders off, like with Budweiser Clydesdale, you get to see a lot of different things with uh waterfowl hunting. That's what makes it so special, whether or not whether you're going outside the harvest, dog, you kind of take a step back and look at it. I think it's it's something very special and it's really hard to explain to people that have never done it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah, no, it's it's you're in a especially on a slow morning. I mean, you're there for could be all, you know, we've we've spent days where we've hunted all day long in places that we can, you know, and um and it's paid off sometimes, and sometimes it hasn't. But um, you know, you get to you get to know a lot about people because what else are you gonna do but sit there and be us, you know?
SPEAKER_06Yeah. Well, and isn't it also like equally as like intriguing that like especially for you, like you're in a better waterfowl state than we are, but we have a way of how we do it down here, and it's mostly wood ducks, you know. But up there, you know, like where you guys do it, you do it a certain way. But here's the cool thing about like Arkansas is that like when you go there and like I think like for us, one of the biggest eye-openers or like different things that we experienced was you know, we go there most of the time when you're hunting in the south, your best shoots are literally sunrise or sunset, right? But you can't hunt at sunset on a lot of public WMAs. In Arkansas, it's so crazy to me how many times it's happened, dude, whether it's weather related, temperature related, or just what the freaking ducks want to do that day. Where I've sat in a blind in some of the best spots pound for pound, I would say, in our northeast Arkansas. Not seeing a duck flying hardly nothing the first hour or two or whatever, and the you know, Kate or somebody, one of the guys at Delta Thunder Outfitters, telling us to go, oh you just wait. About 10:30, them big ducks are gonna start flying. And 10:30 to 12, six man. I mean, just just like that, dude. I mean, it's just it's crazy to me, like how the switch. That's I think that's what keeps me motivated, honestly, Tristan. Like, from if I'm being selfish right now, is that the what's up,
Dirty Duck Coffee Promo
SPEAKER_06guys?
SPEAKER_02If you want coffee that doesn't suck, you probably can guess what I'm gonna say. Get the duck. Dirty Duck Coffee is the official coffee of the One Hove Life Outdoor Podcast, and they have a great lineup of different coffee blends, everything from morning wood and first flight to dark dynasty and suns up, guns up. You can't go wrong with Dirty Duck Coffee, and they have a great lineup of cold brew cans, mocha, French vanilla, original cold brew, and cinnamon tail snickerdoodle. If you want 15% off your next order, use code One Hell of a Life 15 on your next order.
SPEAKER_06The possibility could just be epic. And we've had epic hunts. And
Why Arkansas Feels Like Another Planet
SPEAKER_06so now it even strengthens that, right? You know, but but man, I think for anybody that that goes to Arkansas, you're putting yourself in a position to like experience something that is it's truly like uh it's a gifted situation. I mean, really, as a waterfowl hunter.
SPEAKER_02No doubt, no doubt. So, Grayson, when it comes to um, you know, to the duck hunting, do you is there anything that you guys have on your radar that you're looking forward to outside of just uh you know, whether it be in the next few years or whatever? But are you wanting to do anything like go out on the west coast or anything like that or um any any trips that you're excited for?
SPEAKER_01That's a that's a pretty good question. I don't know if I've ever been asked that before, but if I got the chance, um there would be there's two things that I want to do before I die. If I had to cross that like off my checklist, I want to shoot a king eider in Alaska.
SPEAKER_02Nice amen.
SPEAKER_01That'd be a big one to do. And I want to go shoot big ducks in a warm water creek out in the Pacific flyway somewhere. Yes, maybe in Montana, maybe in Colorado, somewhere. Like I just something just gets me fired up about getting a duck to get in a space like that.
SPEAKER_04Right.
SPEAKER_01And I I've never seen anything like that firsthand, but I will say, uh, like you were talking about warm water earlier, uh, with the refineries up by Chicago, my cousins up in Jacksonville. Winchester area when we hunt on Thanksgiving morning, there's a pump house that pumps warm water off the Illinois River into these giant drainage ditches. And I you know, I'd like to think I'm a pretty seasoned waterfowl hunter, and they're like, All right, well, we're gonna throw like three, four decoys right in here, and they'll come in on like in a drainage ditch. They're like, hey, don't worry about that. We're sitting on the bank, and the waiter's leaning up against the mud, trying to hide in with like a branch or something over us. And we all start calling, they're like, here they come, and they're coming down where the where the levee actually is, is up like 10, 12 feet above us, and they're diving into this drainage ditch that's probably six, seven feet wide. And I'm like, that's unreal. Yeah, it's I guess if you just where they want to go, they want to go.
SPEAKER_02Right. On uh, on that topic, tell everybody that I'm just curious myself, but just for anybody listening to this, you know, what what is a typical, or maybe there's a couple different environments, what's a typical duck hunt like in Illinois? Because, you know, if we were to tell you about duck hunting in Florida or duck hunting in Arkansas, as you know very well, completely different, probably than what you guys might be doing on a walk-in or something like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Um or shooting them in a warm water ditch, like you said.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Like I think Illinois has uh, I mean, as most states do, a pretty big variety of the opportunity of hunting different habitats and whatnot. Um, typical uh public land walk-in hunt. I haven't done one in a while. I did one with my brother and his buddies last year.
SPEAKER_02Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_01We had to drop in on the back side of the lake, boat in, and then hike in too. But it's pretty much uh I would say it's pretty similar to like, I mean, I've uh when I was in school at Old Mess, we public land hunted a lot too. I mean, uh Carlisle Lake, if you're not in the field, there's just a lot of just big timber like that. Like they're just impoundments that they flood and it's like go at it. Um, I thought it was very similar to when I hunted North Mississippi going to school at Old Mess.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, but yeah, get in there right around the same time, everyone just chomping at the bit to get in there. And then you sit in there, and Illinois has more like not true flooded timber with big cypress trees, but still like a decent amount of uh oak trees and stuff like that. That ducks do like the acorns and stuff that go in there. Um like that. But then I yeah, I feel like in most of Illinois, like private land too, because we have private ground I've hunted around all my buddies' places, which is maybe a little bit different than say in Arkansas. Instead of going on a levee, like a lot of places in Arkansas do, we can't you kind of build your own mound around your pit.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01Because these impoundments that we build, where you put it on the edge of your uh lake or pond or whatever, that's kind of how you hunt. Because I know in Arkansas, when I've been there, I mean they can seal those pits pretty well, like right on the little rice levees that they got.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But I feel like ours are a little bit harder because if you're hunting like dry field for geese in a cornfield, it's a lot easier to hide it. But if you're actually gonna hunt your flood your impoundment and hunt it, it's a little bit harder to hide.
SPEAKER_02What's uh what do a lot of people do? Obviously, I don't want to get into the whole freaking corn debate like things. I do, come on. But no, I'm just kidding. I mean, is that is that the most common thing people plant in those impoundments, or is it like mill millet and sorghum and like those kind of things? Or what what's the most because obviously Arkansas is a rice country, you know what I mean? Yeah, go ahead. All right, yeah, I'll pause it real quick. Yeah, you're good, man. Let me pause. Too bad we're going. All right, anyway. Uh so sorry about that, guys. We just took a little break. Uh, and you know, we were just wondering, Grayson, like what's the common, you know, agriculture people are planting in their duck impoundments up there in Illinois compared to like, you know, rice country in Arkansas.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so like you said, we don't got to get into the whole debate. But a lot of people, if they have the uh space to do it, they do corn if they can, but also like that obviously takes a lot of equipment and acreage. It's really not worth it if you're gonna try and plant half an acre of corn because most people don't have impoundments like that.
SPEAKER_02And it'll just be eaten eaten in like no time, right? Yeah if you don't plant a lot.
SPEAKER_01And a lot of people, like me and my buddies, usually like have ponds, small ponds you hunt over. Usually have it drained during the summer. You plant a lot of hand spread millet. But at our property, we've been trying to plant corn. Uh this is year three, because year one, I mean, we got it in August, so we didn't really have any time to do any of that.
SPEAKER_05Sure.
SPEAKER_01Year two, it got torched because we're in like the bottom ground with the big rainy season. And then right after the rainy season, it just gets super dry and really hard to do. But a lot of people, if they have the capabilities and facilities, they do plant corn.
SPEAKER_02Nice.
SPEAKER_01Um, I know some people aren't gonna like that, but uh they do if they can, and it does help, but it's not a I wouldn't say it's a huge make or break with harvesting waterfowl, yeah, like some people might think. Because if they get in the corn, they get pretty smart too.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_01They know where to go and where not to go, uh on the edge in the middle.
SPEAKER_02And I would imagine too, like I'm not a duck biologist, but you know, they say that like the the corn is kind of like eating candy to a duck's um digestion or whatever. Like it's not, you know, it's just it's not it's super fuel. Yeah, well, no, it's not great fuel, you know, it's not it's not like you know, it's not like eating a rib. Well, it's not well, it's not like you and I eat like a ribeye and a baked. Well, it's not like eating a freaking frog or something else. You and I going to Dairy Queen, basically. You know, something like that. But I wonder if there's an aspect of it too where not only ducks get smart, but you know, if it's hard to beat natural food, you know what I mean? Like you said, an acorn getting in there and eating, you know, acorns. I mean, I'd imagine that's probably about as good as it gets for duck fuel.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I've heard that too, that you know, corn is great and gives the a duck the natural carbohydrates, carbohydrates that they need, um, but it's not entirely sustainable for how their digestive systems are built. Sure. Um, they need a diverse diet, but then again, there's we need diverse diets too, but there's probably not a lot of people that have diverse diets. Uh but then again, yeah, I mean, I've been doing a lot of studying on uh press releases, statistics that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife put out, and I actually did put out, I was gonna bring it up. I don't know if I wanted to, um, but I posted a video on TikTok and it was just the um just the duck harvest increase to decrease throughout states, and um a lot of people didn't really take that well. But get over it. Yeah, you know, it's part of it. I sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt you. No, you're good. But yeah, I mean, a lot of people were saying, like, this is BS, this is fake, and you know what? I wish we had an independent company or somebody else that would try to do a more accurate thing, but kind of like what you were getting at earlier with deer hunting, it's just like looking through a stethoscope just in your area, yeah. But there's no other company aside from the United States wish fish and wildlife that is gonna look objectively at all 50 states. Like you know, the numbers might not be perfect, they might not be uh exact, but it's the best thing we got to go off to uh try to improve waterfowl, waterfowl hunting, and give everyone else the best opportunity they can for a better season or alter the limits or alter the
What Illinois Duck Hunts Look Like
SPEAKER_01season dates.
SPEAKER_06Well, and and here's the thing that is a is a super fact, and and congrats to uh Delta Waterfowl by throwing this up on the main page of what they've been doing, at least, is that the the people that make those decisions, right? And it's your state officials, it's your federal officials, it's your biologists, your professionals, all these folks that are involved in that, they are starting to embrace new technology. And you know, we've seen it with the duckbill identification bands, you know, which is really cool. I don't know if you've seen that, but it they actually put a yeah, they put a they put a nose flap over the bill. They call it like a saddle or something. Yeah, it's called a saddle, and it'll have a number on it, and they keep the numbering like 1B or whatever, but they drone, they can actually check on a female that's you know laying on a nest or whatever, but they're using drone technology for that. So be excited about the fact that you know, for years and years there was just this one way to do it to estimate harvest numbers, to estimate waterfowl populations, and and a lot of that I'm sure is good today, but the scientific community is definitely embracing technology, but again, it comes down to time and money, right? So think about this way if you're a state agency and you are the whistleblower, so to speak, in that agency going, look, to get a real definitive idea to know what we have for waterfowl counts, we need this equipment, we need this personnel to be able to do that data. We need AI for this, whatever. Somebody has got that figured out. I guarantee they've already presented it. And but then it comes down to funding. Every time we talk to state officials, so many times people don't realize that, like, oh, well, why isn't the state of Illinois doing something about that? Well, uh, funding comes to the one that screams the loudest, and it's always been that way, it always will be that way. If you don't have the right people in those positions with the right data to be able to scream the loudest, not gonna happen. But here's where I'm going with all that. Be excited that the scientific community, and I'd love to have more folks that are professionals in that, Tristan, talk more about it. We've definitely had tons of people in that realm that have alluded to the technology they're starting to embrace and stuff. And and those numbers, I really believe this. That I think that, you know, I don't know how long it's gonna take, five, ten years from now, that we're gonna, there's gonna be some species that are going to like when we have the true data that we're gonna go, whoa, bro, we're way off on that. Or this one, oh man, that's severe, you know, or you know, good or bad. I think that we're definitely, there's no doubt about it, that is putt more of a hands-eye approach. I've told Tristan, like, I definitely think that where technology is gonna go down the road is is like unique identification, like AI technology that can tell that there's I mean, I don't know if they're using uh uh thermal or whatever it might be, but all that's on the on the way, and it's gonna happen, but it's gonna have to be with funding first, and just funding first starts with support and media outlets and all of us screaming the loudest.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Like Billy Bean said in Moneyball, adapt or die. That's right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, people get real frustrated about stuff like that, but I think the biggest thing, like we've said before, is the people that are in those positions and trying to come up with this data are doing the best, like you just talked about, and they're doing it because they care about it. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_06Well, it's no different than like probably what's the most important thing to us as humans is saving lives, right? So you have effic efficacy processes that have to go through to prove a drug is like going to work, right? That it truly does, dude. That takes years, even if something as significant as like we need to save people from cancer right now, even with the best minds and technology in the world, it still takes time.
SPEAKER_02Yep. Yeah. No, no doubt, man. So uh, you know, Grayson, you know, from a brand standpoint, is there anything that you guys are excited about that you're working on, or are there any new shows that you're looking at doing? What what do you see when you look at the five, 10 year plan of White Tails or White Tales of Waterfowl?
SPEAKER_01You know what, the the five, 10 year plan, it's kind of hard to look at objectively, because like I said earlier, with people coming in and out, it's kind of sure grow like everyone's growing up, it's hard to get people stick with it, and then I'm about to take a job like at a law firm. So it's it's hard to keep up with it, but come this far, we gotta stick with it. Um I would really like to where well as of the short term, yeah, uh keep doing shows. We're about to start a new line of shirts, um, new line
Corn Millet And Natural Food Talk
SPEAKER_01of hats, try to get some summer hats to get more people involved with it during the summer. But if I could really have it my way, um I'm still trying to figure out because I have I'm usually the cameraman and like I kind of give up shooting sometimes and I really hate it. Yeah, but it's just some you kind of have to sacrifice sometimes and think about the long term. But now I got a dog too. So I guess it's really hard to you know manage the dog and keep the camera. I think I think my biggest need right now is is a cameraman. Somebody would kind of just help out. But I'd like to keep doing what we're doing, keep making videos and yeah, um kind of like another thing on the big perspective of hunting. I post all the videos from our hunts because a lot of kids, like we started talking about the at the beginning of the podcast, bad perception. Yeah, they watch YouTube video. Oh, this one's the top like most viewed. Seven man limit in 30 minutes. If you we kill five ducks, I'm gonna post that. Like one of my favorite hunts, I went with one of my buddies, it's also one of the top viewed YouTube videos that we have, is we sat out probably 10 hours from sunup to sundown, and it was a huge cold front coming through, and we killed four males, and that was it. But it was probably one of the best times that I had in the blind, you know, just not having a care in the world, kind of coming into expecting you're not gonna get anything. Um but yeah, to get back to your thing, the five, ten-year plan, I'm not entirely sure where it's gonna go, but I'm just gonna kind of try to keep my head down with how the brand's going. Uh keep pushing out content because that's the kind of thing that keeps it alive. If you just if you kind of stop doing that, then that's where the things like come to die and push out the content, pushing out the sales, try to push out sales.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, and then in my opinion, everything will take care of the rest of itself.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Just keep trying. You can't expect anything, just keep doing what you're doing.
SPEAKER_06I feel like uh Delta and Ducks Unlimited has got a future government relations guy here.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, be being uh going the lawyer out. I mean, would that be is there anything? Um, I guess my question would be have you ever looked at it from the standpoint of like, man, it'd be cool if I could somehow do this in the outdoor, which I don't even know what that would look like, but what have you thought about that being like a lawyer in some capacity with the outdoor world?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I have been um I've been interested in the longest time in agricultural law.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, but I feel like to get into something, say
Harvest Data Tech And Funding Reality
SPEAKER_01Delsville Waterfowl or Ducks Unlimited, you gotta know somebody.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And obviously, I don't know anybody yet, but hopefully um, that's something, you know, if you can make a decent living and also really love what you do and and care about what you do, I think that's that's the people that they need to look for.
SPEAKER_05Sure.
SPEAKER_01Um, I got an open job application ready to send us to me.
SPEAKER_06Well, and I and I'm pretty sure, Tristan, if I remember right, correct me if I'm wrong though, but uh you know, Delta Waterfowl's got that university program that they do. And I'm pretty sure that Alabama is one of the universities that the program consists of. I mean, it might be, I'm just throwing it out there, man. I'm not trying to tell you what to do, but you know, I mean, as much as you love waterfowl and what you're doing for your professional, there might that program might be instilled there.
SPEAKER_02You mean Ole Miss?
SPEAKER_06Oh miss, I'm sorry. Oh miss. Um, but you know, there might be some way that maybe you're not directly actively doing that campaign, but you know, it's a campaign where they're bringing in people that are interested in waterfowl biology, and they're like basically saying, All right, well, we're gonna take you hunting so that you really understand how this works. So it might be something for you to segue there. I mean, to to network with some some po folks that are trying to get into uh a waterfowl profession and you do it all the time. The young guy might be able to uh I don't know, make some friends there and and do something.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it could help being an alumni there. Um I'm sure there's probably something, uh maybe not some in Carbondale, but yeah, maybe SEMO somewhere on there, but that definitely be a positive thing to look into for sure.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, what uh agri agricultural law, you just touched on that. So is that what you're trying to aim towards currently with your uh law degree? Or I two-part question. What are you trying to do with the law degree and also what is what do you what is the agricultural law? I'm curious now.
SPEAKER_01Um so what I'm aiming to do, well, I'm about to go into my third year, which is my last year.
SPEAKER_02Nice and congrats.
SPEAKER_01Um appreciate it, thank you. And there's a firm that I'm working for that I I could I could possibly be employed there after I get done.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um I'm not sure, but it's uh an asbestos plaintiff's attorney uh type of firm, which is close to home, it's good, but the problem is going over to your ag the ag portion thing. Agricultural law deals with a lot of uh um basically planning, uh maybe like a little bit of tort liability, uh, which would be having people on your land.
SPEAKER_03Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um could also deal with the property law, say a dispute between you and another farmer. Um, but that's just like I would just like to get into an area which is where you can be down to earth with people.
SPEAKER_05Sure.
SPEAKER_01I don't like being at a county courthouse talking with people with you don't want to be a transaction guy.
SPEAKER_06You want to be like getting involved.
SPEAKER_01I want to be talking to normal people, not in uh not talking to uh people at the county courthouse all day drinking coffee and sure messing around with the judge. I just want to be with normal, not average people, but just uh normal people in our society that have to really work hard to make a living. And those are the people that make the country going, in my opinion. That's why I want to work with them because I feel like they're underrepresented in a lot of things, and that's why I care about it.
SPEAKER_02That's cool, man. Yeah, that that'd be a neat, neat thing if you can make that work. I think that'd be a cool, cool kind of thing. And it never never hurts to, you know, know a few farmers and help a few farmers out when it comes to being an outdoorsman.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, exactly. And the reason I wanted to get into it is what what I kind of miss. It's it's hard to get into because there's usually one or two guys that do it for a broad range of people. Uh, but a lot of my family, they're farmers, so uh that's kind of the reason why I really got interested in it in the first place.
SPEAKER_06But well, and I would think an attorney is also needed a lot in like land trans land transaction deals, you know, just legalities when it comes to that kind of stuff. I would think that's also a very important role.
SPEAKER_01Reading through the entire reading through the entire contract. I mean, yeah, all of it.
SPEAKER_00Nice right on, right on.
SPEAKER_02Well, dude, we've enjoyed talking to you. It's uh it's cool to uh talk with somebody from really what we kind of consider back home, you know, really, because obviously he he was born there, I was born there. So um it's cool. It's been fun talking to you and learning about your brand and what you do and all that. You know, tell everybody where they can follow you guys and everything you do.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so if you guys go to uh Instagram, it is whitetails.waterfowl. And then the website is whitetails-waterfowl.com, and the Facebook
Brand Plans Law School And Wrap Up
SPEAKER_01is Whitetails with the and symbol waterfowl. You can find all our stuff there. But if you also go to our website, all our socials are linked at the bottom of the page as well.
SPEAKER_02Awesome, man.
SPEAKER_06And listen up a specific message to all of our local supporters in that area. Y'all need to be giving Grayson a call. Yeah. I mean, seriously, like, listen.
SPEAKER_02Or going and buying one of his hats.
SPEAKER_06That's right. Yeah, no, I mean I mean, but man, I mean, there's just so many people that you know I know and you know, Tristan, from that area that if you're limited on time, you don't have time to go out and do the public land thing, all that stuff, you need somebody that's a professional that does this all the time. Man, give Grayson give Grayson and his folks a call, man. I mean, I think it's awesome to meet somebody that um that knows where Highway 159 is. Live right on it, too.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, there you go. Alrighty, man. Well, we appreciate you having you on, dude. We'll do it again sometime.
SPEAKER_06Thanks, Grayson. Thank you guys for having me.