(Ep.56) Is your boat ready for the hunts? Backwater performance & Glade Harris

Glade Harris | Owner of Backwater Performance (BPS)

In this episode of The Bird Dog Podcast, Tyce sits down with Glade Harris, owner of Backwater Performance (BPS), to talk all things duck hunting—boats, dogs, and getting your setup dialed in for the season.

Glade shares practical tips for preparing and maintaining your duck boat, keeping it reliable throughout hunting season, and making sure your boat, gear, and dog are ready when it’s time to hit the water.

https://backwaterperformance.com

https://www.instagram.com/backwaterperformance

Website: https://www.thebirddogpodcast.com

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Thanks for listening to The Bird Dog Podcast — and good hunting!

Transcript

Speaker 3 0:50

Hey, folks. Welcome to the Bird Dog Podcast. In this, uh, episode, I sit down with my good buddy, Glade Harris, with, uh, Backwater Performance, and we talk about, uh, boats and getting your boat, uh, ready for the hunts and dogs, um, working dogs off boats, and just all the good stuff around boats and dogs. So, uh, Glade's a super experienced waterfowler. He knows his stuff. He knows his stuff about, uh, boats and duck hunting boats and all, all that good stuff. So I hope you guys really enjoy this one. I really enjoyed, uh, being with Glade. Um, check out, um, all of his stuff, Backwater Performance, um, their website and on Instagram. Uh, he also has a podcast. You guys can get on there and, and listen to him. He's, he's a great guy and appreciate you, you guys supporting his, his business too. And, um, and then in, in the meantime, go ahead and jump over to Instagram and give us a follow at Utah Bird Dog Training, uh, Field Bred Golden Retrievers, and, uh, the Bird Dog Podcast. We really appreciate you guys supporting us there. And if you're looking for, um, a, the best kennel cot out there, check out kuranda.com, K-U-R-A-N-D-A.com. Um, if you go on the show notes, click on the link, and if you get one through there, that really helps us out. Um, and also NuVet, if you guys are looking for a really good supplement to help your dog and supplement your food and, and, um, and, uh, not have to deal with... You know, just get some good stuff in addition to the food that you're feeding. Um, they have a lot of awesome products over there that you could go check out too. So, uh, I really appreciate you guys, uh, supporting us and listening to the podcast, and hope you guys are having a, a great, uh, summer, getting your dogs ready for the hunts. Before we know it, these hunts are starting up. I mean, we're only two weeks out from the opener here in Utah for doves and grouse, and then it just starts rolling. We got chukar and, and waterfowl, and it just gets really exciting. So remember to prep your dogs for the hunt. Train for how you hunt. So think of how you're gonna, uh, set up with your dog, and then literally do training scenarios that are as close to that as possible, so when your dog gets in the field, you're gonna minimize those surprises and have a smooth and fun hunting, um, hunt and hunting season. So you guys have a great day, and we'll see you in the next one.

Speaker 3:21

All right, folks. Welcome to the Birddog Podcast. My name is Tyce Erickson, and I'll be your host today. I got my buddy, uh, with us here today, Glade Harris. Um, Glade Harris is a stud. We've done some hunting together. I actually worked with his dog. He, he did some, some training on his own, and we got to do a little work on her, so we'll want to hear about her and, and h- the latest on her also. But, um, Glade, welcome to the podcast, man.

Speaker 2 3:44

Thanks. Thanks for having me.

Speaker 3:45

Tell, tell us ab- tell us about you, Glade.

Speaker 2 3:48

Sure. Um, yeah, I mean, uh, I guess you could define me as a waterfowler. You know, I've been doing it since I was, uh, since I could walk probably. Uh, probably before then, uh, Dad and Grandpa would load me into the, you know We didn't really have boats back then. We'd just, you know, walk and jump shoot birds off, off the rivers and things- Mm-hmm like that, or set up on the edge of a, a reservoir somewhere. Um, but yeah, I remember, you know, for some of the first memories are- Mm are, are duck and goose hunting. Um- Are you

Speaker 4:18

born and raised in Utah?

Speaker 2 4:19

Yeah, yep. Okay. Born and raised in Utah.

Speaker 4:21

Okay.

Speaker 2 4:21

Yep. Um, you know, I guess moving on, um, uh, I- Started doing it on my own quite a bit. Uh, same, just jump shooting rivers and, and- Mm-hmm um, edges, reservoirs and things like that. I never really even used a decoy until I was probably, I don't know, 16 or so. Okay. Uh, I started working at Sportsman's Warehouse back then, and, uh, you know, people come in all the time buying a bunch of decoys and buying- Mm-hmm waterfowl gear, and I'd, you know, make fr- friends with some guys and things and, and, uh, you know, started getting a little bit more serious about it and, um, it just turned into a full on addiction after that. Mm-hmm. You know, first time decoying a bird was, you know, just blew my mind.

Speaker 5:06

So I wanna... While we're on talking on this topic, and I think, I think for guys, this is kind of the, the line I say, like, for waterfowlers, we got mud in our blood. There's like, you know, like when, when you get hooked, guys like, like us, like they go all in. They're like, "Buy the boats," and the, "Buy the, the duck club mem- or whatever, you know? It's just... 'Cause it's, you have an experience usually that just is, is so, it imprints on you so strong. Um, and for me, I can remember, and I've asked a lot of people in the same way, can you remember the first time, like, was there a bird, like your first bird you shot and you connected on it, like a pheasant or a duck or something like that where like it just kind of blew your mind and you were hooked?

Speaker 2 5:47

Probably-

Speaker 5:49

Can you remember back s- Yeah like one time where you were like, "Whoa," like that goose or that greenhead or whatever it may have been.

Speaker 2 5:55

It, it was probably the very first duck that I ever shot myself, which was w- I was with my grandfather. We were on the Colorado River- Mm-hmm um, and we were doing kind of a cast and blast. In fact, that was the name of his boat, was Cast and Blast. Oh, cool. Uh, but w- we would, uh, it's just kind of below Lake Powell on the Colorado River- Mm-hmm the Lees Ferry area. And, um, we would just kinda drift the boat into flocks of birds, and they would jump up and we would shoot them.

Speaker 6:20

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 6:20

And, um, it w- the very first, it, I was using a 12 gauge. I was pro- I was, I think I was 12, you know, probably 100 pounds.

Speaker 6:28

Yeah.

Speaker 2 6:29

Uh, first greenhead flies over the top of me. It was probably 40, 45 yards. Smoke it. Uh, jumping up and down, you know. Mm-hmm. He couldn't believe it and everything. And then for the next, you know, eight hours and six boxes of shotgun shells, I never hit another duck. That's awesome. And he, he gave me crap about that until, you know, until he passed last year, but, um- Mm yeah, I'd say that's kind, that was probably, you know, what did it.

Speaker 6:55

Yeah. I had a time like that, too. I sh- my first duck I actually shot, I was aiming at a different duck and I hit the one behind it. Yep. It went down, and it was still like, I was like, "That was amazing." And, and I, I think that the first time I was out on Mud Bay, I was just, I was like, "Well, let's go duck hunting," and we hiked out to the marsh and some greenheads came by, and I can still remember it so clear in my head. They, like, flew over and the sun was, like, glistening on their head, you know, and it was, and we shot at them. I totally whiffed, but just r- like that alone, like- hooked me on ducks. I was like, "That was so cool to see that greenhead and shoot at him," and then I actually hit one, you know, was awesome. So it's fun how it just sometimes, like, it just sears into your brain, you know, and, and, uh- Yeah.

Speaker 2 7:39

Yeah, for sure.

Speaker 7:40

And now, like, you, you know, you've shot thousands of birds, and I've shot thousands of birds too, but it's just, it, you kinda take that for granted sometime. I mean, we still love it, but it's like, when you take, like, a young kid or something, you don't realize, like, for their first time, that, like, it can burn, it can be really impactful on their life or even their trajectory of their life. For

Speaker 2 7:58

sure.

Speaker 7:59

Like me training dogs for a living, you know? Those birds were what motivated me to get dogs, and now I do this for a living, you know? So.

Speaker 2 8:07

Yep. Yeah, that's one of my favorite things to do is, is it's not so much about, you know, the w- my hunts anymore. It's-

Speaker 8:14

Mm-hmm

Speaker 2 8:14

uh, taking people that haven't done it or, or guys that have done it a lot and never done it the way that I do it- Mm-hmm or, you know, kids and all, all that kind of thing. It's my favorite to take people out that- Yeah that get to go, "Oh my gosh, I didn't believe that this was even a thing." Or harvest a

Speaker 8:27

species that's new or-

Speaker 2 8:28

Yeah

Speaker 8:29

to them or something like

Speaker 2 8:29

that. Yeah, exactly. Or first time on an airboat or- Mm-hmm first time being on the Great Salt Lake, things like that.

Speaker 8:34

Yeah. That's kinda, we were just talking about some, uh, I went to New Zealand last year and sh- and shot some, uh, shell ducks, and we were... I remember a couple years ago, I think we were, I was at your office, and we were looking. You're like, "Man, I wanna go kill some of these shell..." But for us too, it's special. Anywhere you go somewhere n- new and harvest a, a new species, that's just a cool... You know, it's all about the whole experience, right? And the people and maybe the new location of the water or the lake or the ocean or the river system or, you know, bringing them down through the trees or open marsh or the Great Salt Lake on the flats, you know? It's just, it can take you to so many cool places or, you know, you've been all over the world, but, like, you know... Did you hunt in St. Paul? Is that where you killed- Yep your king eiders? Uh-huh.

Speaker 2 9:16

Yep, St. Paul.

Speaker 9:17

Yeah, out of St. Paul and killing king eiders and, um, and now it obviously what you do for your living now that, uh, you're like me. It kind of pulled you in- into that, right? For sure, yep. So tell, tell us about your business and what you guys do.

Speaker 2 9:30

Yeah, so I own Backwater Performance. Um, basically we're a, we're a sister company of MudBuddy and XL Boats. Um, we, uh, w- we sell all the replacement parts, performance parts, accessories, um, basically anything that you can put inside of a, a duck boat. Um, we're now the dealer for MudBuddy and XL for the whole Western United States. Oh, wow. Um, sign up new dealers in, in the Western United States. Um, you know-

Speaker 9:59

So are you like an o- like a... How do, what do they call that? Like, you're the main dealer or what? How's that?

Speaker 2 10:05

Um-

Speaker 10:06

Is there a name for that?

Speaker 2 10:07

S-

Speaker 10:07

Other dealers come underneath you?

Speaker 2 10:09

It, that, yeah. I mean, we're gonna kinda be a hub, you could say- Okay

Speaker 10:12

for

Speaker 2 10:12

the, for the West. Um, the Excel is, has been, you know, historically more of a, a Southeastern United States company.

Speaker 10:21

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 10:22

Uh, the, the types of boats that they sell and build are, are well-suited for that. But, uh, now they're starting to build some other types of boats that are, you know, guys that like to, to troll for salmon and things like that- Mm-hmm um, more in the West. So yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna be a hub basically for, for the West.

Speaker 10:40

Are you gonna have the- offer those kind of boats too, or are you mostly just the-

Speaker 2 10:44

Yeah, definitely. Yep.

Speaker 10:45

Okay, you'll do everything. Yep. Everything sell.

Speaker 2 10:47

Anything that Excel sells and, and- Okay we're bringing on a bunch of other manufacturers as well. Mm-hmm. But just, uh, sticking strictly to hunting and fishing boats. Okay. Al- aluminum.

Speaker 10:56

I'm a, I'm a little prej- I lo- I have an Excel boat myself, so I, and I absolutely love it. Um, and I have... I, we were just talking off, off, off air. Um, I have a client that just texted me today, and he's getting a, I'm sure, a boat from you. Mm-hmm. We talked about it. I think he's working with Travis, but his name is also Travis. And, um, and he's like, "What do, what do you wish I'd get on my boat?" You know? And then, um- Um, and I have another buddy that just bought out a, bought a boat from you guys. Um, I have his dog Moose, and his name's Wes, Wes Jones. Gosh, is it Jo- Do y- Does that name sound familiar?

Speaker 2 11:32

No, but it's

Speaker 11:33

probably- I know he drives a lot of your- Jeff's probably working on it. Yeah, he's probably- Yeah. Yeah, I know y- you're, you're managing the business and, um, but, um, anyway, he, he, he showed me his invo- He, I think he decked it out all the way

Speaker 2 11:44

Yeah

Speaker 11:44

with everything.

Speaker 2 11:45

Most guys do. Yeah. Any more, most guys do. They get, you know- Yeah every single thing you could possibly want in a, in an aluminum boat.

Speaker 11:52

Yeah. So tell us one, I guess, um, do you do airboats too, or just-

Speaker 2 11:57

Not really. At a- Okay at a, at a point we did. Uh, we, I, I still kind of own the company that, that, that builds airboats, Dragonfly. Mm-hmm. But, um, man, it's a, it's a hard business.

Speaker 12:08

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 12:09

The, everybody wants them custom built. Uh, nobody... Um, most people that want them are in the, the southeast somewhere, Texas- Mm-hmm Florida, Louisiana. Uh, so we build them here how they want it. We ship it to them, and i-i-it's, it's not a Honda Civic, you know? It's, it's- Mm-hmm they, they require- A

Speaker 12:29

lot of maintenance

Speaker 2 12:29

constant maintenance and upkeep. And, and not just maintenance, but I mean, they're gonna break. Yeah. It's not when or if, it's when, and it, it's real hard to do it remotely for me as a, you know, the guy that builds it.

Speaker 12:42

Yeah.

Speaker 2 12:42

I- if it's, if, if we have any kind of warranty, you know, how do I, how do I- Mm-hmm help them get it fixed being a couple thousand miles away?

Speaker 12:50

Why, why is, why do airboats break down? Is it the shaking? Is it the way they're... Like, what, what, why is there so m- where are the failure points usually on a airboat?

Speaker 2 12:59

Yeah. So most of the motors that we're using are either aircraft, which is kind of the older style, or else, uh, automotive, LS, you know, Chevy LS V8s- Mm-hmm is, is kind of the most common thing. Um, and they're, it's not just one that you pull that, that's a crate motor from a, from a regular pickup truck.

Speaker 13:18

Okay.

Speaker 2 13:18

It's w- we're taking a, we're taking them from the ground up with blocks. The, the pistons are everything, and they're high performance.

Speaker 13:25

Hmm.

Speaker 2 13:25

So it's not just your stock, you know, 200 horsepower engine out of the truck. Oh, okay. It's, it's five, six thousand horsepower engines. Wow. And, um, they're- They weren't really designed to run at 4- The level of air 5, 6,000 RPMs all day long All day, all day

Speaker 13:44

long. Hmm

Speaker 2 13:45

which we do when we're running an airboat.

Speaker 13:46

Yeah.

Speaker 2 13:47

And so, and, you know, on top of that, they're... Your, those engines weren't meant to be exposed to the air and water- Hmm and salt and, and everything else.

Speaker 13:57

Weeds flying through them

Speaker 2 13:58

and Right. Right. And the, you know, like you said, the vibrations are crazy. Mm-hmm. The big, big giant 86-inch wide prop. Mm-hmm. Um, the, the... We only put one gear ratio in them, so it's- Mm-hmm with a, with a truck, a car, your engine, it, it, it shifts with the- Sure with the transmission. Yeah. So you're always running it at a lower RPM. It, it'll go to a higher RPM for a second and then shift down.

Speaker 14:22

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 14:23

And then for a higher RPM- It w- it's better at that lower

Speaker 14:25

RPM, right? Yeah and then shift.

Speaker 2 14:25

Um, so it doesn't run at those high RPMs constantly. So-

Speaker 14:29

Hmm

Speaker 2 14:29

you know, long story short, they're just put under extreme conditions that they weren't designed for.

Speaker 14:34

Yeah.

Speaker 2 14:35

And, um, on top of that, the boat itself, the electronics, the lights, the, you know, the, the computers, the- Yeah all that stuff just, it just gets beat up. We're duck hunters, you know? Yeah. Stuff gets full of mud and saltwater and, and ice and- It's harsh conditions. Yeah

Speaker 14:49

caked

Speaker 2 14:50

and all that stuff.

Speaker 14:51

Do they... What, do you guys, do you guys work on people's airboats, though? Not really.

Speaker 2 14:55

Not really?

Speaker 14:56

Not really. Okay. So you're not, like, trying to bring us airboat back

Speaker 2 14:59

No. We... I've, I've, I've done it. Um, and it's the same thing. It's just, uh, uh, every single job is custom and, and it's, and unique- Yeah and it's, it's hard to, you know, it's really hard to make any money doing it.

Speaker 15:11

So we're kind of going down a, a different rabbit hole. Is that, if someone has an airboat and they want it worked on or who do you recommend for that? Was there- Is there someone in Utah that you trust?

Speaker 2 15:20

Definitely. Okay. Definitely. Anything that has to do with the engine, go to Tyler Rhodes. Okay. Um, he's the one that built my engine. Uh, I haven't had any problems with mine. Many of the things that I just talked about- Mm-hmm none, haven't had any problems. Um- But does

Speaker 15:33

he have a business name, or?

Speaker 2 15:34

It's Rhodes Performance Motorsports. Okay. RPM. Okay.

Speaker 15:38

So,

Speaker 2 15:38

yep. Um- I

Speaker 15:39

think I've heard of his stuff.

Speaker 2 15:40

Yeah. Yeah. Real- really, really good, really good guy. Knows airboats up and down, has them himself.

Speaker 15:45

Okay.

Speaker 2 15:46

So, yep, good guy.

Speaker 15:47

Does he build them or just do maintenance on them?

Speaker 2 15:49

He'll, uh, everything, ground u- anything to do with the engine, maintenance, repairs- Okay build- building one from the ground up, he'll do it.

Speaker 15:56

The boat part it?

Speaker 2 15:57

Just the motor.

Speaker 15:58

Okay.

Speaker 2 15:58

Now, if you want the, the boat part, uh, that'd be Widowmaker. Widowmaker? You know, that, that's who built mine. Yep. Okay. Chuck, Chuck Harsen.

Speaker 16:04

Okay.

Speaker 2 16:05

Um, yep, he built mine. Very, very nice boats. Very... All the, all the fabrication on it's great.

Speaker 16:11

Mm-hmm. Okay. Well, we may see a little more airboats depending on what our drought continues this

Speaker 2 16:17

year, right? Yeah. Yeah, you're right.

Speaker 16:19

Oh, yeah, we'll see what the water... We hopefully we get some moisture here before the hunts come. I was hoping that monsoon weather would drop us, dr- raise our lakes up a little bit, but these 100-degree days, man, it's, it's dropping that water level- Lots, lots of 100-degree

Speaker 2 16:33

days

Speaker 16:33

yeah, pretty quick. It'll be, it'll be interesting to, to see. Okay, let's ta- let's talk about Excel boats. Let's talk about, um, kinda maintenance on them. I know I've, I've had some, um, I, kind of being a... You know, I always had growing up, like, just little crappy aluminum boats with the... I wouldn't say cra- well, for wha- that's what I could afford at that point, right? Mm-hmm. Sure. Like a little Johnson motor and just that'd get us out, but at least it'd get us out from the crowds, you know? But going with my boat, um- It would kinda, I would have some issues with, um, is it the injectors would kinda clog up on it. Uh-

Speaker 2 17:09

Yeah. Or yours, I think yours is, uh, carbureted, right?

Speaker 17:13

Carbure- Yeah, I mean carbureted. Yeah, so the jets in the carb- Sorry,

Speaker 2 17:15

not the carburetor clogged up and yeah.

Speaker 17:16

Yeah. I'm not a big mo- I mean, I know a little bit, but not... And I'm learning more as you, you know- Yeah are around the boats. Yeah,

Speaker 2 17:23

you have to.

Speaker 17:23

And I've actually cleaned them out myself, but I bring it to Glade and his, his guys and have them do a tune-up every year on it, and that's always awesome to do. But one thing I didn't really do is run the fuel out-

Speaker 2 17:34

Mm-hmm

Speaker 17:35

of the carbure- Yep it seems like that's helped.

Speaker 2 17:37

Yeah, that's a big deal. Yep. Uh, and that's one of the biggest maintenance things, uh, and service things on these s- on, especially carbureted is all this new ethanol fuel that we've got lately. Mm-hmm. Uh, if you let it sit in anywhere for, for more than a month, it just turns into gel.

Speaker 17:55

Okay.

Speaker 2 17:56

And it, it, uh, it clogs up everything, your whole system, so.

Speaker 17:59

So tell people how we avoid that or what to do and-

Speaker 2 18:01

Yeah. So i- if you're constantly using it, if it's middle of duck season, you're using your boat every single week, um, just run it, you know. Um, if-

Speaker 18:11

Fresh gas is gonna keep it

Speaker 2 18:12

good- Yeah and everything like that just keep putting fuel in it. And if you run it out, that's fine. But if it's gonna sit for any longer than two weeks- Okay then you need to put some kind of a fuel stabilizer in it.

Speaker 18:20

Okay.

Speaker 2 18:21

Uh- What do you like? There's lots of different kinds. Um, you know, I just use Sta-Bil- Mm-hmm uh, which is kind of probably the most common one. But it, it just keeps your fuel from, from varnishing and gelling up and causing all sorts of problems.

Speaker 18:34

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 18:34

Um, you know, it, it's really not... If you can run it all out, great, but there's still gonna be fuel-

Speaker 18:41

In

Speaker 2 18:41

there in the system.

Speaker 18:42

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 18:42

So even if you are gonna run it out- get some kind of stabilizer in there first.

Speaker 18:47

Okay.

Speaker 2 18:47

And that'll keep it from, you know, from having problems when you go to start it up next year.

Speaker 18:51

Yeah. That's what I do is I'll, I'll... From, I've learned from you, yeah, put the s- Is it Sta-Bilt or Sta-Bil?

Speaker 2 18:56

Sta-Bil.

Speaker 18:57

Sta-Bil.

Speaker 2 18:58

Yep.

Speaker 18:58

So I'll run the Sta-Bil, and then I've... Yeah, I'll just disconnect the, the fuel line and then just try to run it out-

Speaker 2 19:04

Yeah

Speaker 19:04

as much as I can. Yeah, that's a big one. That seems to help.

Speaker 2 19:06

That's a big one.

Speaker 19:07

And then I've, I've kinda learned to take it apart, too, 'cause there's been a time where I'm like on a weekend or I'm trying to go out hunting and, and I, I think I had Travis show me, too. I'm like, "Dude, what gets clogged on these things?" Yeah. You know, and you take that carburetor apart and And then I think I took just some carburetor cleaner and kind of sprayed it out and seemed to, seemed to work. Got it back up-

Speaker 2 19:26

Yeah

Speaker 19:27

going at least. Yep. So.

Speaker 2 19:28

Yeah, some of the newer, uh, we- they've- we've been fuel injected for about the last eight years or so, seven, eight years.

Speaker 19:34

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 19:35

And that's, uh, helped a lot with, with those kinds of problems. Okay. Um, it's not nearly as, as bad, but there's, you know, you, you still get that stuff in the injectors and- With

Speaker 19:45

the fuel?

Speaker 2 19:45

Okay fuel pumps and all that stuff, but.

Speaker 19:47

So even if y- so e- so even if an injected fuel in- fuel injected motor- Mm-hmm is that the word I'm thinking for?

Speaker 2 19:53

Yep.

Speaker 19:53

You still recommend putting Sta-Bil in those ones- Definitely also? Definitely. Okay.

Speaker 2 19:57

Yep.

Speaker 19:58

Okay, that's good to know. Tell us the, about, um, Excel Boats and Muddy- Mud Buddy Motors and, um, I don't know. I... Tell us a little bit about them.

Speaker 2 20:08

Yeah, yeah, so I, I basically started working at Mud Buddy back in 2001. Um-

Speaker 20:15

Where is Mud Buddy headquarters? Is it in Utah? It's

Speaker 2 20:17

in West Jordan, Utah.

Speaker 20:18

It is Utah. Yep. Okay. Yep. Okay.

Speaker 2 20:19

Yep. The, the guy that started it, Glenn Foreman, um, it, it kind of started, he, he's been, he's a duck hunter as well. Okay. Hunted a lot out on the Great Salt Lake and had, you know, some of those boats that you're talking about, just a, a cheap boat. Mm-hmm. Um, but wanted to get to some of those places that nobody else could get to. Mm-hmm. Super shallow water, so he contacted Go Devil. Uh, Go Dev- He, he wanted to be a dealer for them. Mm-hmm. He said, uh, "Get one down here. I want it for myself, and, and- Mm-hmm you know, while I'm at it, I'll, I'll sell them to other people." Uh, the, the owner did not wanna do that. Hmm. Did not want any more dealers. Didn't wanna do that, so-

Speaker 20:55

Interesting

Speaker 2 20:55

Glen being the- Didn't

Speaker 20:56

wanna make more money, huh?

Speaker 2 20:58

One... Bad mistake because- Yeah,

Speaker 21:00

bad mistake

Speaker 2 21:00

because Glen's a guy that- I'll build

Speaker 21:02

my own.

Speaker 2 21:02

Exactly. Yep, so, uh, within a week or two he had one in his garage, and you know, just scrap steel and welding- Mm-hmm it together and putting a, a, a cheap Kohler engine on it, and-

Speaker 21:14

Hmm

Speaker 2 21:14

off, off it went.

Speaker 21:15

How long ago was that?

Speaker 2 21:17

That was in the early '90s. Roughly. '92,

Speaker 21:20

93. Okay.

Speaker 2 21:21

Yep. Um, yeah, right in that timeframe, and just started to build one at a time out of his garage, uh, for the first, you know, four or five years. Mm-hmm. Um, had one guy start helping him in, in the garage, and they started kicking him out, and, uh, it ju- you know, it's just snowball from there. Hmm. Started getting dealers and, and now people are calling him, asking him if they could be a dealer.

Speaker 21:43

That's awesome, man. How many dealerships are... Do you know how many Mud Buddy dealers there are? Right

Speaker 2 21:48

around 120.

Speaker 21:49

Okay.

Speaker 2 21:49

Yeah.

Speaker 21:50

Are they all over the United States now?

Speaker 2 21:51

Uh, mostly. You know, there's not very many in the West, but, uh, most of them are in the, in the Southeast.

Speaker 21:57

Oh, really?

Speaker 2 21:57

Yeah. Yep.

Speaker 21:59

Huh.

Speaker 2 21:59

I mean, that... When you think about it- All the marsh and- that's where the shallow water is.

Speaker 22:01

Yeah. Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I guess the West, yeah, you're not... You just have more rivers and...

Speaker 2 22:07

Yeah. Yep. And that was kind of Mud Buddy. Um, so a- around 2003, '4, um-

Speaker 22:15

What did you do for them?

Speaker 2 22:16

What? Oh, I, I did everything. Um- Okay I started as, as putting them in crates. Okay. That was for Mud Buddy. Um, and that's, that was my first job there, was, you know- Okay crating motors, shipping them across the country.

Speaker 22:28

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 22:28

And I'm the type of guy that, you know, I, I'll, I'll get that taken care of. I'll figure out how to do that, and then I'd put my head over the fence and see what the guy next to me is doing.

Speaker 22:37

Yeah.

Speaker 2 22:37

And I wanna learn- Can I learn it all? I wanna learn how, what he's doing and how that works, so- Mm-hmm I just, I kept going from, from, you know, station to station on the assembly line.

Speaker 22:45

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 22:46

Learned it all. Um, and, you know, I, I- at that point I could pretty much do anything in the shop. Mm-hmm. And, um, started doing sales. Okay. And at, at that time there was only one salesperson, and he was, you know, uh, he was too busy for, for the, for it. So I started taking on some of the sales and with the boats and the motors. Mm-hmm. And, um-

Speaker 23:06

So have they always been Excel, Excel boats in Mudbuggy or did they

Speaker 2 23:11

us- Uh, right about then, the, was

Speaker 23:15

when- 'Cause they sell their motor to anyone, right? Yeah. You can put it on any boat you want, essentially. Exactly. Yeah.

Speaker 2 23:19

Um, we were just buying boats from all sorts of different manufacturers at that point.

Speaker 23:22

Okay.

Speaker 2 23:23

Uh, Excel being one of them.

Speaker 23:24

Okay.

Speaker 2 23:25

And they had a hurricane-- uh, no, excuse me, a tornado. Um, there was, uh, an F4 tornado at the plant in Arkansas. Uh, I don't remember the exact year, but it, right again, it was 2002, '3. This is

Speaker 23:38

the Excel?

Speaker 2 23:39

Yes.

Speaker 23:39

Okay.

Speaker 2 23:39

Yep. So- Is

Speaker 23:40

that why they named it the F4?

Speaker 2 23:41

Yes.

Speaker 23:42

Oh, really?

Speaker 2 23:43

Yep.

Speaker 23:43

Learning something here. This is cool.

Speaker 2 23:44

Yep. So there was a hur- a tornado there, wiped out the whole factory. I mean, sent boat holes, like, I, I-- they found parts like 40 miles away.

Speaker 23:56

Holy cow.

Speaker 2 23:56

Um, so-

Speaker 23:57

When was this,

Speaker 2 23:58

roughly? 2004-ish.

Speaker 24:00

Wow.

Speaker 2 24:00

R- right around there, give or take a year. Where was that at?

Speaker 24:02

S- what

Speaker 2 24:02

state? In Arkansas.

Speaker 24:03

Arkansas.

Speaker 2 24:04

Okay. Yep, in Arkansas. So, uh- The, the owner then was talking to Glenn, and he, he w- he wasn't sure that he was gonna continue. He thought just was kinda gonna- Mm-hmm shelf the whole thing. And Glenn went in and bought the, all the stuff that had survived, machinery and, and some- Mm-hmm of the aluminum and some of the hulls that had survived, and just, just took over the company and, um, started-

Speaker 24:26

Glenn with Mud Buddy?

Speaker 2 24:27

Yes, the owner of Mud Buddy.

Speaker 24:28

So he owns Excel-

Speaker 2 24:29

Mm-hmm

Speaker 24:29

too.

Speaker 2 24:30

Yep,

Speaker 24:30

correct. Oh, I didn't know that.

Speaker 2 24:31

Yep, correct.

Speaker 24:32

Oh, cool.

Speaker 2 24:33

Yep, so he bought Excel, and then, um, for the first 10 years of Excel it was just duck boats. Mm-hmm. You know, the, uh, ref- several different models and refining them and, and getting- Mm-hmm it to where it is now.

Speaker 24:45

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 24:45

Uh, but you're right. Yeah, the F4 is named after the- Hmm the, the, uh, tornado there.

Speaker 24:49

Yeah. What's the most popular Excel duck boat?

Speaker 2 24:53

Uh, it's probably that shallow water F4. Um- Is

Speaker 24:55

it the 1864? Is that what-

Speaker 2 24:57

1854 is, is gonna be- 54. I

Speaker 24:59

think that's what mine is-

Speaker 2 25:00

Yeah, it is

Speaker 25:00

the 54, right? Yep. 1854, yeah.

Speaker 2 25:02

Yep, there's 51s and there are 60s. Uh- Okay 51s are a little narrow, a little tippy. Mm-hmm. Uh, they perform well. Uh, and then the 60 is just a little bit too wide. You start to lose some performance. Um-

Speaker 25:13

More drag on the water- Right and, uh, surface area, yeah.

Speaker 2 25:16

Exactly.

Speaker 25:17

Hmm. Yeah, I love that 1854. That's been... And I think mine's the 5500 motor. Mm-hmm. Is, is that the Black Death? Is that- Yeah is that what it's called?

Speaker 2 25:27

Yeah, well yours is the- Is that the name of it? yours is actually the BAMF.

Speaker 25:31

Okay.

Speaker 2 25:31

With, you know, the- Okay.

Speaker 25:34

I see. I see what it stands for. Yeah. Okay.

Speaker 2 25:37

Um, but there, there's y- there's all sorts of different models, but, but yours is basically as, as most, as much horsepower as y- as we build in a carbureted motor. It's got everything. Okay.

Speaker 25:48

Yeah. It gets going pretty fast, man. You get two or three people in there, it rips along pretty good. So now they have the, the, the carbure- not the carb, the fuel injected. Is it the 4500? 5400

Speaker 2 26:00

is, is kinda the baddest model that we have now. Oh,

Speaker 26:02

okay.

Speaker 2 26:03

Yep.

Speaker 26:03

Wasn't it a 40-something for a

Speaker 2 26:05

little while? It started, it started as, as a 40. All of them are f- uh, stock 40 from Briggs Stratton. Okay. And then we take all sorts of different performance parts, cams, pistons, rods, roller rockers, uh, all sorts of different things- Mm-hmm modify the cylinder heads to get more power from 'em.

Speaker 26:20

Okay. So the, the, the one that most guys are buying is a 50- 5400, yep 5400. Yep. And it has reverse too, right?

Speaker 2 26:27

Yeah, yep.

Speaker 26:28

Yeah, mine doesn't have reverse. That would be pretty sweet to... Is that reverse Does that work pretty good-

Speaker 2 26:34

Yeah to pull you out of places? It's not, it's doesn't work as good as a, as, as a regular outboard on, on Mercury. Sure. Yeah. Uh, the, the angle that the prop is at is different. Okay. So it works, it works great. Um, it's not gonna, it, it's not gonna work quite as good as a regular outboard, but, um, you know- Still gives you reverse pulling off the dock- or picking up decoys-

Speaker 26:55

Yeah

Speaker 2 26:56

or, you know- Oh, yeah all those kinds of things, it's super convenient.

Speaker 26:59

Yeah. It's, I guess that's true. When you're picking up decoys and you miss them, you gotta go do another loop around. Right. Or, yeah. Exactly.

Speaker 2 27:04

So

Speaker 27:04

I could see how that could, yeah, like, s- well, like you said, it's not as, it's not as good as an outboard, but it, it has its place- Yep where it's still beneficial. Yep. Doesn't hurt to have that reverse.

Speaker 2 27:14

For sure.

Speaker 27:15

Cool. What's some of the, um, I know you guys have put in some new y- um, oh, let's talk about the boats, I guess. Um- Okay, the mo- the, what are some of the, I guess, the accessories? I mean, it's probably all... Is it on the we- is it on your website, or where do people go to look at what's they can put on their boat or?

Speaker 2 27:34

Yeah, we've got tons of that stuff on our website. Basically anything that we can ship.

Speaker 27:38

All

Speaker 2 27:38

right,

Speaker 27:38

Excel website or?

Speaker 2 27:39

It, it's on ours, backwaterperformance.com.

Speaker 27:41

Okay.

Speaker 2 27:41

Um, and w- we accessorize for Mud Buddy and Excel and any other kind of brand of duck boat. Okay. Um, but, but all sorts of different accessories, uh, different flooring and lighting and seating and- Yeah um, stereos and grab bars and covers and all, all that kind of thing.

Speaker 27:59

Yeah. Yeah, I probably don't need to go into the details of all... 'Cause there's just so many different configurations. What are, I guess, what are some of the most, maybe I'll say, most popular configurations people put in, like, like a gun, gun holder I assume would

Speaker 2 28:13

be one of them? Yeah, yeah. So, uh, we, we have, we usually order these boats, you know, four to six months in advance.

Speaker 28:19

Okay.

Speaker 2 28:20

And so they're... Sometimes they're sold by then, but a lot of times I'm ordering a stock boat.

Speaker 28:24

Okay.

Speaker 2 28:25

And so we've found that the most popular and, um, the, the most utility, uh, options are the, the headlight, LED front headlight. Mm-hmm. Um, spud poles. Uh, instead of using a, a anchor on a rope and throwing it out and getting all muddy, they have poles that you stick into the mud for- Are those

Speaker 28:44

the balance po- Is that, they're kind of a balance pole? Is

Speaker 2 28:46

that what I'm- Yeah, it's, it's, it's kind of like an anchor base. It's a shallow water anchor. Um, but-

Speaker 28:50

Is there slots you just slide- Uh-huh it down through?

Speaker 2 28:52

Yep. Yeah, that's- They're, yep, you've got a hole in- Okay. They call 'em a spud

Speaker 28:53

pole.

Speaker 2 28:54

Yep. Okay. Um, gun boxes is, is real popular. You know, throw your guns and any other kind of- Mm-hmm you know, whatever, life jackets or emergency kit, tool kit. Mm-hmm. Put them in there. Um, the, something that's been way popular over the last year or so is, uh, the EVA foam flooring. Oh, yeah. Uh, it looks cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Uh, it quiets the boat down in the waves. It makes it so it, the dog's not slipping around in the boat. Yeah. Um, it, it doesn't freeze. I love

Speaker 29:23

that stuff. Yeah.

Speaker 2 29:23

Yeah. If you're using it in the summer, fishing or whatever, it's not hot on your feet. Mm-hmm. All, all that kind of stuff.

Speaker 29:29

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 29:29

Yep.

Speaker 29:30

Yeah. It's, it's cool, like, where they have the flat decks on the front that, like you say, they're super just, they're good for fishing. They're like a bass boat, only skeet on the front of them. And, and they come... I think I was actually watching on your Instagram just the other, the other day, you were ta- Don't they all come, like- With a fa- like a trolling motor mount or something Mm-hmm Does that come standard or, or- Yeah or the wiring or something like that?

Speaker 2 29:52

The wiring and the trolling motor mount come standard. Um, and then, yeah, if, if, if you want us to put an actual trolling motor on there, we can do that too. You

Speaker 29:59

can do that too. Yeah. So if I wanna get an Excel boat for this season, is, is that even an option? How long does it... Tell me, talk to me about the process and what that looks like.

Speaker 2 30:09

Sure.

Speaker 30:09

You know?

Speaker 2 30:10

Yeah. Right now, um, so we're- we've got a bo- a load of boats being built today in, at the factory in Arkansas. Um, some of them are sold, about a third of them are sold. Okay. Um, and they're gonna be delivered sometime in September. Okay. Um, by the time they get here, they'll all be sold.

Speaker 30:28

Okay.

Speaker 2 30:28

Um, especially this time of year, you know.

Speaker 30:31

Yeah.

Speaker 2 30:31

Um, but I, like I said, I ordered them all basically with those options that I talked about, and that's just... Anything else on top of that we can add. Um-

Speaker 30:41

Oh, you can add on aft-

Speaker 2 30:43

Yep later. Yep. Okay. Yeah, so we, we kinda picked the most popular, um, built-in options.

Speaker 30:48

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 30:49

Um, the, the fuel tanks and the, you know, the- Mm-hmm the construction of the boat. And then when it gets here, if guys wanna add a blind, if they want that- Mm-hmm trolling motor, if they want a stereo, if they want different seats, then that stuff we can add once they get here.

Speaker 31:00

You guys put stereos in them too, huh?

Speaker 2 31:01

Oh, you name it. Yeah.

Speaker 31:02

Check it out. That's awesome, man. Yeah, I see... I need to, I need to trick mine out a little more. There's the, that you guys put the lights in it. You know- Oh, yeah they light them up like crazy- Oh, yeah and all. I mean, they, you make them look pretty dang, pretty dang cool. So what's a, what, what's kind of the base, kind of the base model with that motor kinda run with the, the stuff you just talked about, kinda ordering the standard stuff, what's that usually run and what, what are you gonna maybe max out at? If you tricked everything out, what are you gonna be at roughly?

Speaker 2 31:33

Yeah, so if you were just going to get that, that 1854 Pro Hole with a 40 horsepower Mud Buddy, um, you're going to be somewhere around 33,000.

Speaker 31:44

Okay.

Speaker 2 31:45

Um, that's on a trailer. That's, that's ready to go.

Speaker 31:47

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 31:48

Um, but then if you wanted, you know, the kitchen sink, ev- all the options, all the accessories, blinds, flooring, a stereo, seating and everything, you know, you're gonna be low 40s. Okay. 41, 42, 43, somewhere right in there.

Speaker 32:01

Okay. Have they- Everything's increased, right? Pri- prices of everything has gone up. If, if... How much have they increased the last, I don't know, f- four or five years?

Speaker 2 32:13

So there was

Speaker 32:14

just- Five grand? Five, six grand, would you say? More than that?

Speaker 2 32:16

Uh, th- th- just this last, in the last month, they just increased quite a bit. Okay. Um, and a lot of that, unfortunately, is all this tariff stuff, you know? Yeah. The, the price of aluminum has gone up insane. Mm-hmm. Um, and everything, price of everything's gone up. Sure. If it, if everything gets, um, delivered to somebody and everybody with, with a truck- It's a

Speaker 32:36

ripple effect. Costs of-

Speaker 2 32:37

Yeah

Speaker 32:37

employees have gone up. Yep. Costs of everything. Fuel and- Yeah. We had to increase our training prices 'cause everything's gone up. Yeah.

Speaker 2 32:43

I mean,

Speaker 32:43

the cost of labor.

Speaker 2 32:44

Yeah. Um, so I mean, just in the last month, I mean, shoot, they've gone up almost 20%. Okay. Um, but, um, they've been pretty steady over the, you know, on- before that.

Speaker 32:53

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 32:54

Um, everything's been fairly steady, you know, maybe, maybe a $500 increase here or there. Mm-hmm. But yeah, they've, they've gone up quite a bit just, just barely.

Speaker 33:03

So with your parts and stuff, I know you guys do a lot of shipping, um, out online, right? Um, what, where, where... People just go to your website to find the different parts, and then you guys can ship them out, right? Or-

Speaker 2 33:14

Yep, yep. Backwaterperformance.com, all the, all the accessories and, uh, replacement parts and performance parts and- Mm-hmm props and blinds and all that stuff is on there. Yep, throw it in a box and, and be on your door in a few days.

Speaker 33:26

If people want to... If, if I want to, um, buy a boat, is, is, do you generally-- If you're not paying cash for it, do you guys offer financing? Do you generally go through your own credit union and just bring it? What, what do you, what do you guys-- What's the offering there?

Speaker 2 33:40

It's, yeah, it's, uh, uh, we do offer in-house financing. Uh, the, the bank that we use is not actually a bank. It's kind of a broker. They just shop for the best rates and terms and things like that.

Speaker 33:51

Oh, like an auto loan pla- like a used car dealership. Yeah. I, I, you'd, you'd send, you'd send in your application and it shoots out- Right to a bunch of different banks- Right or credit unions.

Speaker 2 33:58

Yeah. And I mean, I've found that that's been the best way to go- Mm-hmm um, as far as rates and terms. But, uh, there's, there's definitely a lot of guys that are just, you know, writing a check too.

Speaker 34:07

Mm-hmm. Um- That's awesome. Trying to Anything else in, about boats that the audience should know or prep or

Speaker 2 34:16

I mean, well, I, I guess what I could, you know, kind of tie it in what, with, with you was, you know, for, for the dog aspect of it. Yeah. Um, things that guys don't think about, uh, w- with a boat and a dog specifically is if you're hunting out of a blind, uh, the, the dog doesn't wanna sit inside the blind where they can't see. Mm-hmm. And every single retrieve's a blind retrieve. Yeah. I'm

Speaker 34:39

glad you brought this up. Yeah.

Speaker 2 34:40

So what I'll do is I'll, I'll put the blind, uh, I'll, I'll leave a bunch of the front deck open. Mm-hmm. About two, three feet of the front deck open. That's what I do too. And then I'll, I use a, a, a commercial dog blind. Mm-hmm. You know, a, a Tangle Free or whoever you wanna use. Yep. Like a

Speaker 34:53

field blind almost.

Speaker 2 34:54

Uh-huh. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And I'll put that right on the bow of the boat and cover it with, with sheets of extra grass and things like that to hide it. Mm-hmm. But, you know, I want my dog to, to see where the bird goes down. Sure. Not only because it's more efficient and, and, you know, it's, I'm probably gonna have a better- More fun for them. Yeah, yeah. The, the dog doesn't, dog doesn't wanna be- Mm-hmm you know, laying in the bottom of the blind waiting for the gun to go off.

Speaker 35:16

Do you hunt p- off the po- your dog off the pod much or are you usually a bow guy?

Speaker 2 35:20

No, I don't. It's always on the bow. Mm-hmm. Uh, I put a ladder off of, off the bow and have him up on the front. Um, it's just, I don't know, it w- works better for me that way.

Speaker 35:29

Okay. What ladder, what ladder do you like?

Speaker 2 35:31

Uh, we I, I use a Rigga Wright one. Um, theirs is pretty nice.

Speaker 35:36

Rigga Wright?

Speaker 2 35:37

Rigga Wright.

Speaker 35:38

Oh, Rigga Wright. Yeah.

Speaker 2 35:39

Yep.

Speaker 35:39

Okay.

Speaker 2 35:39

Uh, but there's a bunch of them out there.

Speaker 35:41

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I can see. I need-- I don't have a ladder, so what I'll usually do if I hunt the bow, they'll come up on the pod, go through the boat, which sometimes they get water over

Speaker 2 35:51

on everything

Speaker 35:52

and then- Yeah.

Speaker 2 35:53

Yes. Shake

Speaker 35:53

it off on you then they go on the side. Knock your gun over. I need to run the ladder. Yeah, I need to pick up a ladder for my boat.

Speaker 2 35:58

Yep.

Speaker 35:58

That, that seems like the smart way to do it. So lots of times I actually work, 'cause I'm u- it's my boat, so I'm usually driving the boat, so I'm in the back, and so I work my dog off the pod, I would say more, most of the time, and then they just come up, deliver the bird, then, then sit on the pod there. Mm-hmm. You know? And that, that works, that works good too.

Speaker 2 36:17

Yeah.

Speaker 36:17

If you're hunting with a buddy I could, you know, put them on the front or the back or...

Speaker 2 36:20

Right. Yeah, the I've, I've tried the pod thing, you know. I, I, I don't know about you, but I'm always hunting pressured ducks, and the more- Mm-hmm I can get the dog hid, the better.

Speaker 36:29

Yeah, it's true, in the pod you can't really... Yeah, I'll kinda like put, I have a, the blind extends kinda over the mo- We'll have a boat motor cover.

Speaker 2 36:37

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 36:37

Um, and then I, I'll kind of put, yeah, I just brush them in as best you can. Occasionally I'll kind of put them back behind the motor, you know, but then they can't see as good like- Yeah you're talking. But I guess I'll, my dog's all handles, but it's better to, like you say, for him to, to mark the fall. So that makes sense. So I guess what we're saying, folks, if you are hunt- If you get a boat, it sounds like running a ladder, just like the setup you had with the blind on the front, sounds like that would probably be the, the best option. But-

Speaker 2 37:06

Yeah

Speaker 37:06

you could mix it up.

Speaker 2 37:07

Yeah, we've, we've set up a lot of blinds for people and, you know- Mm-hmm that's, that's the best way I've found to do it.

Speaker 37:12

Yeah. Um, yeah, with do- and I guess on the, on that, that talking about dogs, and obviously being the Bird Dog Podcast, but talking all gear and dogs and stuff, I, I always tell people, you know, train f- train for the hunts. Like, train how you're gonna hunt. So, you know, don't take your dog out on your boat, you know, opening morning and it's never been on your boat, it's never been, never seen a s- you know, how to get into the boat or working out the blind. Like, I always tell people, you know, take your dog out, work them off the boat.

Speaker 2 37:40

Yeah.

Speaker 37:41

S- set it up just like you're gonna hunt, right? So, and in training that's what we try to do, but you're gonna hunt maybe a little different. You know, I remember we went and did that layout hunt. Uh-huh. You kinda had Tes- Tessa. Tess or Tessa? Tess. Tess, yeah. Tess, um, had her back on a, you had her on a little place mat or something, right?

Speaker 2 37:59

Yeah.

Speaker 37:59

What did you use? It was,

Speaker 2 38:01

it's like- I just build these little custom aluminum, uh, it's just a little

Speaker 38:05

platform.

Speaker 2 38:06

Little platform, yeah. It's got real short legs that just push into the mud. It was

Speaker 38:08

pretty much on the ground almost though, right?

Speaker 2 38:09

I just put it, I, I s- push it into the wa- in, into the water, into the mud is j- so it's just an inch above the surface.

Speaker 38:16

Mm-hmm. And

Speaker 2 38:17

then, yeah, she just lays right on top of that.

Speaker 38:18

Yeah. I mean, a- and it worked good, and I'm sure you had practice with her, I'm sure, on that. But she- Oh, yeah yeah, you just told her place and that was still even some of her beginning hunts I remember back then. Yep. And, uh, but she was back, what was she, back 10 yards behind us- Mm-hmm in the, in the weeds or something. Mm-hmm. And, and so she was out of sight and the birds were coming in, we were shooting them, and then you just remote send her on her name and- Yeah it

Speaker 2 38:42

worked

Speaker 38:42

out good. Yeah.

Speaker 2 38:43

Yeah. I do that a lot with her. Uh, probably more often than not is set her up on some kind of little platform- Mm-hmm like that and, um, yeah, she, she knows the program now.

Speaker 38:52

Yeah. Tell, tell us about your dog. Tell, uh, I, I mean, I can say obviously what we kind of worked with her on and stuff, but how... Is she doing awesome still?

Speaker 2 38:59

Yeah, yeah, amazing. I mean, uh, uh- I

Speaker 39:02

mean, you've put a lot of birds on her since we've trained her and stuff.

Speaker 2 39:04

Tons, yep.

Speaker 39:05

Maturity and-

Speaker 2 39:06

I was, I was worried about getting a Golden for reasons why people worry about getting a Golden. Mm-hmm. You know, the, the bird thing and the, you know, um- Not, not being a lab.

Speaker 39:17

Yeah

Speaker 2 39:17

You know, not, not being just a mindless- Maybe

Speaker 39:18

a lower drive or- Yeah whatever it may be. Yeah.

Speaker 2 39:21

Yeah. But I'll, I'll tell you what, I, I w- I will never have another lab.

Speaker 39:25

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2 39:26

Not because

Speaker 39:27

they're- Why? Tell us, tell us, yeah, tell us your why.

Speaker 2 39:29

Yeah, I mean, it's not because the lab, my labs haven't done what I want them to do, but the, but she does it with style, you know? Mm-hmm. She... I, I think she does it... She, she fetches bir- all the, every lab I've ever had fetches birds because they wanna do it.

Speaker 39:42

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 39:43

They're, they're shaking and whining because they want to fetch that bird so bad.

Speaker 39:47

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 39:47

She does it because I want her to do it.

Speaker 39:49

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 39:50

And not nece- she, she does, she loves it. Yeah. She loves it. And, but, but she's, sh- you know, she do- she does it 'cause I want her to do it.

Speaker 39:56

Yeah.

Speaker 2 39:57

Yeah. She's still birdie and, and chases them around and things like that. But, um, around the house is just the goofiest, silliest- You know, w- we're all night long around the house we're laughing at her 'cause she's, she's got three tennis balls in her mouth- Mm-hmm or, or, you know, just being crazy and silly. So just, just such a cool dog.

Speaker 40:19

Yeah. Yeah. What time? You gotta be out pretty soon, right?

Speaker 2 40:23

Um,

Speaker 40:24

yeah. Sorry, folks, we're just, we... I, I put Glade and this behind 'cause I had another-

Speaker 2 40:28

I'm good podcast recording. I got it. I, I'm good.

Speaker 40:30

How many more minutes we got

Speaker 2 40:31

about? Yeah. We'll, uh,

Speaker 40:32

we'll 10 minutes or so. We're okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Sounds good. We're getting here close. But, um, yeah, with the golden retrievers, you know, I got into them probably 9 years ago, 9, 10 years ago, and they're, they're just, they're something different to look at too, you know? I love the classic black lab, and I still have them, and I, and I love my labs and, but the goldens, you know, we've gotten more into. And it's kinda fun, too, 'cause the, in the golden world they're not all bred... They're, there's less good hunting goldens than there are good hunting labs, right? Sure, sure. Like, they're not as common. And so for me, it's kind of almost like a challenge, like trying to breed or promote, like something that's not as... There's tons of master hunter labs, you know? But there's like, I know in the state of Utah I c- I can think of like, you know, I have a master hunter golden and, um, Boss is his name, and then, you know, a bunch of seniors. But I can think of like, honestly, like less than five master hunter goldens- Mm that live in Utah.

Speaker 2 41:26

Sure.

Speaker 41:26

So there's not-- They are a little trickier to train. They have, they have a different personality Um, but when you get a good one, they're just, they're just fun. They're just like, they seem, to me, they even, they seem to ha- like to even pack, they love to pack stuff in their mouth. Like that, I don't know, you've seen that probably- Oh my God, yeah with Tess. Yeah.

Speaker 2 41:46

Like,

Speaker 41:46

our labs, labs love to go get stuff and drop it and still like to carry stuff, but the goldens are like, man, they love having crap in their mouth.

Speaker 2 41:54

Yes, she does.

Speaker 41:55

So, I don't know. Is that what you see-

Speaker 2 41:57

Oh, yeah see at your house? Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, she'll put three tennis balls in her mouth all the time. Yeah. As m- as much as she can fit. She doesn't... I- if you call her name, she runs around the house picking stuff up before she can come and- Mm-hmm get petted.

Speaker 42:10

That's awesome. Yeah. They're so, they're so fun. Yeah. That's the thing with dogs. There's just, hunting with dogs is, as you know, that's, it's, it's half, it's half or almost, for me at least, and I'm sure it's you, is like the experience, you know?

Speaker 2 42:24

100%.

Speaker 42:24

Like, shooting the ducks is awesome, but walking out there and, I don't know. For me, I've like, and I see people walking out and picking up ducks, I'm just like, "That just looks wrong."

Speaker 2 42:33

Yeah. They're, they're missing- They're missing the boat they're, they're missing so much of the, of the experience.

Speaker 42:37

The experience, yeah. Yeah. Have you seen, by the way, have you seen that new, it's called like Fetch It, that robot that's been on-

Speaker 2 42:43

Yes

Speaker 42:44

Instagram a

Speaker 2 42:45

little bit? Yes.

Speaker 42:45

Yes.

Speaker 2 42:46

Good luck. I

Speaker 42:48

thought, I'm like, "That's interesting." I'm like, "Eh, yeah." I'm like, and, and, and I, and they are. To give them, they're not like, "Hey, we're not trying to replace the dog," you know? But I guess if you don't have a dog, and you're maybe hunting the Snake River or something, fast blowing maybe, I don't know. I'd be curious, I'd be curious to see what that looks like. Yeah. You know? But-

Speaker 2 43:08

Good luck.

Speaker 43:08

Yeah. It's an interesting... Being a dog trainer, I'm like, "Well, I don't know." Yeah. Right. You know? But it's, it's funny to see the I don't know. It'd be interesting to see if you see any of those robots cruising around- in the, in the marsh, you know?

Speaker 2 43:20

Yes. 2026, I would not be surprised to-

Speaker 43:23

Yeah, yeah

Speaker 2 43:24

ChatGPT duck fetching.

Speaker 43:26

Yeah. Do you remember, so with Tess, I remember she w- she had a little funny thing going on that we worked through, and it w- she's, she's too smart for her own good is what, what it is. Like, some dogs, like, they're just like, they don't think, you know? And they're just like, "Holy cow, it's w- a bird," or whatever. And, um, she's super intelligent, and we were working her, and she'd pick up teal, right?

Speaker 2 43:46

Yep.

Speaker 43:47

She'd pick up teal no problem. Then we'd th- And I'm like, "All right. Let's check to see what she's doing." So this was... Was this before we force fetched her?

Speaker 2 43:55

No. This was, I mean, she was basically finished. Uh- And,

Speaker 44:00

and

Speaker 2 44:00

she was just- uh, not, not all, I mean, not all the way, but, but she was... You know, this was after- Some

Speaker 44:05

work you had done, though, 'cause I hadn't- Yeah worked her through duck, 'cause we would've seen that. So it was before, or some, or some work you'd done, or you bought her a little started, or-

Speaker 2 44:12

Yeah

Speaker 44:13

Jed had started her a little bit, or-

Speaker 2 44:15

Yep

Speaker 44:15

is that kinda?

Speaker 2 44:16

Yeah, so-

Speaker 44:17

I'm trying to refresh my memory

Speaker 2 44:18

um, I did a little bit of stuff, and then, um, I, I brought her to you, I think, and you bas- I th- I think you just force fetched her or d- didn't really work on any of that. But, uh, the first few times I took her out hunting was super early season when teal are here.

Speaker 44:35

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 44:36

And no problem. She'd go out and fetch the teal. Yeah. You know, no big deal. But then the first, you know, full, big duck I shot, I don't know, m- a mallard or, or pintail or something-

Speaker 44:45

Mm-hmm

Speaker 2 44:46

and went out, sniffed it, turned back around.

Speaker 44:49

Yeah.

Speaker 2 44:50

Didn't wanna pick it up.

Speaker 44:50

Yeah. Did it fl- did it f- do you remember if it fluttered or anything and kinda threw her off? I don't think

Speaker 2 44:55

so.

Speaker 44:55

Or just might've

Speaker 2 44:56

been the size.

Speaker 44:57

I don't think so. Yeah. She's like, "Nah, I'm not sure about that."

Speaker 2 44:58

Yeah. Didn't- Yeah uh, maybe we trained too much with teal. I did, I trained too much with teal with her. Mm-hmm. And yeah, w- went to pick up the first big duck and just didn't want anything to do with it.

Speaker 45:08

Yeah. And I remember Glade told me, he's like, "Yeah, she would pick up teal all day." And so I was like, "Well, let's see if we can trick her." So we threw, like, some teal. Sure enough, she picked them out. We threw, like, a shoveler, which isn't that much bigger, and she went out and was like, "Nope." Yeah. And I'm like, "Okay. All right, we got a little challenge here." So, um- But I remember working through that. Um, I can't remember exact- I mean, it was the combination of probably force fetch and just confidence building- Yep that we kind of worked with her on. But, and then, dude, and then you're sending... And I remember, I don't know, I don't think you'd put her on geese or we'd had her. And I'm like, "I'm gonna see if I can get her on." And I remember I, I had to do a little force work- Mm-hmm but she responded really well to it. And then once she realized she could grab a goose, she's like, "Oh, yeah, I can do this." Yeah. And then she was... And then you're like... And then I think that year you sent me a picture of her retrieving swans.

Speaker 2 45:57

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 45:58

So.

Speaker 2 45:58

Yep.

Speaker 45:59

Yeah.

Speaker 2 45:59

Yeah. Doesn't even, she doesn't even think about it anymore, just-

Speaker 46:02

Yeah.

Speaker 2 46:03

Yep, goes out and picks anything

Speaker 46:04

up. It's kind of like a proud dad moment. I'm like, "That's cool we got to work with her." Like, you know, help her get through that, you know, that, that challenge of whatever she had in her head and... That's the fun thing about dog training is, for me, is, is that, is kind of the dogs are a little chall- like, outside of it you're like, "Why, why are you thinking this?" Or, "What are you doing?" And then, "How do we overcome that and build that confidence and, and make them a good," you know, the dog that you, that you want, you know? But-

Speaker 2 46:29

Yeah

Speaker 46:30

besides that, she trained out. She, she was really cons- I know we did help out with it. We did the handling training on her. Mm-hmm. And she... If you had some fun blinds with her. Oh, yeah. Some big bl- some... If you had any big ones, you're like-

Speaker 2 46:41

Yeah, I mean- "Dude, that was awesome" but this, this last year we were on the Great Salt Lake, uh, uh, hunting teal in the flats. Mm-hmm. Um, and perception is crazy out there. Mm-hmm. It l- y- everything that looks like it's, well, it's let's say 100 yards away is actually about 300 yards away. Yeah. It, because there's no real point of reference. Uh, everything's so flat. There's no trees to go

Speaker 47:02

off

Speaker 2 47:02

or

Speaker 47:02

any- Yeah yeah.

Speaker 2 47:03

Um, so anyway, we, uh, a big flock of teal comes in, uh, probably at least 100. We drop six or seven out of it. Mm-hmm. And, um, she goes and fetches them all and, and, uh, a couple of minutes later somebody says, "Oh, shoot. There's still one out there." Mm-hmm. "Way out there." Mm-hmm. And it was still alive. And it was, you know, I don't know, I'd guess it's probably, probably 4 or 500 yards.

Speaker 47:25

Nice.

Speaker 2 47:26

And, um, I- Uh, it, it was blind at that point. Yeah, sure. She couldn't see it. Yeah,

Speaker 47:31

yeah.

Speaker 2 47:32

And so I, I sent her, and she goes out and gets to about 70, and she's s- Your dog starts getting

Speaker 47:38

smaller. Yeah. Sorry, go ahead.

Speaker 2 47:40

Yeah. She, and j- she's, like, kinda losing confidence at that point. Yeah. Like, "What are you putting me out here for?"

Speaker 47:46

This is farther than normal.

Speaker 2 47:47

Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, send her again, send her... Uh, I had to send her about three times and, um, you know, back, and finally she sees it, and it, it had to have been 4 or 500 yards. Was it

Speaker 47:59

crippled?

Speaker 2 48:00

Yeah.

Speaker 48:00

Okay,

Speaker 2 48:01

yeah. Yep. And then once you get out there that far, it's pretty deep, and it's salty. Oh, okay. And it, you know... And so she, she had to chase it out there swimming.

Speaker 48:09

Oh, okay.

Speaker 2 48:10

And yeah, it was, she was, she was gone for, I don't know, half an hour by the time- That's so awesome she finally got back. And yeah, didn't give... She will not give up on a crippled bird.

Speaker 48:18

That

Speaker 2 48:18

is so cool. So, yep. So that, that can be scary at times, too, when we're on, you know, like Snake River situations, but-

Speaker 48:25

Yeah

Speaker 2 48:26

um, yeah, that was, that was definitely one of the ones I'll remember.

Speaker 48:29

That was, that was a highlight, a highlight bird. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, it's so cool when you get those far. It's fun when you... It's, when they get far enough out, and then sometimes they'll catch a little wing flick of that bird, you know, a cripple or something, then they like, "Oh, there it is." Oh, now I know we got one. And then it just totally and they, and like, "There we go." Yeah. And it's... I had an awesome one this year. We were hunting up in Idaho on this little private lake, and we sailed this mallard clear across this water bod- It was probably, like, I was kind of in the end of it, but there was a spring that came in, and it was probably- I don't know, probably 100, 100 yards wide, the water, and then the bird hit like another 70, 80 yards into the snow and it kind of speared down in the snow, you know? And it was-- I, I didn't know if it was dead or crippled, but anyways, I li- I lined the dog up. I was about, you know, 10 yards from the bank, lined her up just really nice back and she drove, hit the water just sk- she stayed a nice steady line, crossed the whole, the whole lake, you know, hit the bank and didn't really start hunting the bank. Just trusted, you know, through that training and then she got up and started just going out in the snow and then that, then that mallard like you see that wing, wing flick, you know- Mm and then it jumped up and tried to take off. Oh, and then that, that jet, the jets kick in- Yeah, yeah, yeah you know, and they chase them down. It was just, it was cool. That's, that's the fun thing about dog like when you get a dog to your level, like Tessa's level or a dog that handles, it's like I tell everyone like you'll never go back once you have a dog at that level. Oh,

Speaker 2 49:55

for

Speaker 49:55

sure. It's like, it's like, it's like, it's just pl- I- it's just a different, you know, it's such a fun game and the teamwork and the companionship you have, you know, with them. I had a client who was-- it was pretty funny. He had a dog that, um, that we taught to handle and he's like, "Oh," Mike's probably, he's been on the podcast actually. He's probably in his late 60s, you know? But he was like he j- he just goes he's, he was like almost mad when he realized a dog could handle. Like he, and he didn't have this his whole life and he's a hardcore hunter, you know? Yeah. And he hunts probably, I mean he hunts um, I mean at least a few times a week. Mm-hmm. You know, he's retired and he goes to Canada multiple times and but, uh, so it's, it's a lot of people it's interesting and, and the people that are listening to this podcast they're obviously into do- they're into the stuff we're into. Mm-hmm. But a lot of people like don't even know what force fetch is- Sure or whatever, you know? Sure. And so, and so to have a dog in that senior hunter master level, it takes a lot of time and if you're paying someone it does take a lot of money too, but obviously it just depends what you, you want in life, right? Yep. But, uh, it's just fun to have them, uh, like at that, at, at that level. I'm trying to think where I kind of lost my train of thought when I was... But oh, I, I know what I was saying. It's, it's... You're, you're, you're kind of an upper percentile person when you have a dog that handles. For

Speaker 2 51:18

sure.

Speaker 51:18

So it's, it's pretty special. And I remember the first time I saw a dog run a true blind retrieve years and years ago on water, and the guy blew the whistle and the dog s- swam and looked at him, you know, sat there and looked at him on water, and then he cast. And I was just like, it's kind of like that experience shooting that first duck, my jaw just dropped. I'm like, "Whoa, how do you do that?" You know?

Speaker 2 51:37

Yeah.

Speaker 51:37

And now I've been training for 20 years, and it, now to me it's like, "Oh, you just do this and this and this," and that's what they do, you know.

Speaker 2 51:42

Yeah.

Speaker 51:43

But it's, it's pretty, it's pretty special, the whole experience.

Speaker 2 51:45

I, I sometimes use it as a party trick, you know? We're out with just- whatever at the lake camping with friends or something. Yeah. And nothing, has nothing to do with hunting or anything. They've got all their, you know, poodles and, and- Mm spaniels or whatever they've got out there. And, um, the... We'll, I'll throw a ball, and I'll make sure that the, that she can't see it.

Speaker 52:04

Mm-hmm.

Speaker 2 52:04

And, you know, we'll all, uh, handle her to it, and people are- Yeah just like, "I didn't know a dog could do that." Could

Speaker 52:10

do that.

Speaker 2 52:11

That's what they usually say, right? You know, they, it was, it was hard for me to get my dog to learn how to pee outside. You know, so, so- Yeah yeah, it's, it's, it is a whole different, uh... A- and if it's, if you're a waterfowler, if you're a, especially one that's, you know, into it hardcore, I, I don't understand how you can't-

Speaker 52:28

Yeah

Speaker 2 52:28

have a dog that at, at least, you know, has, has some of that training.

Speaker 52:33

Some ability to go out there and pick up your birds. Yeah. Awesome. Well, we better wrap it up, Glade. Um, tell us, tell our audience, thanks so much for coming down here- Of course driving down here and, and meeting and, and jumping on the podcast. Tell us where they can find you on, on all your platforms.

Speaker 2 52:48

Yeah. So, uh, we've got, um, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, all that, Backwater Performance. Um, backwaterperformance.com is where all, you know, our store is. Um, and then, you know, Mudbuddy and, uh, xl.com as well.

Speaker 53:02

Okay. Tell us where they c- where your store is.

Speaker 2 53:05

Uh, my actual physical

Speaker 53:06

location or- I mean, it's on your, obviously your website, but, uh-

Speaker 2 53:08

Yeah. My, my, my storefront's in, in Orem, Utah.

Speaker 53:11

Okay.

Speaker 2 53:11

Um, yep, we've got, uh, lots of boats there people can come check out and, and all the parts and accessories too. Do

Speaker 53:18

you guys ship boats?

Speaker 2 53:19

Yeah, yeah. We ship them- Okay anywhere in the country.

Speaker 53:21

So they can, they don't necessarily have to come into the store. You can do it all over the phone, online, whatever, and then you- Yep can ship it out to them.

Speaker 2 53:27

Put it right on your doorstep.

Speaker 53:28

Okay. Well, folks, um, we're gonna go ahead and wrap her up. Uh, ch- if you're looking for top-of-the-line, awesome duck hunting boat, check out the Excel Boat. That's what I have, and Mudbuddy Motor. They're great companies to work with, and they'll take care of you. And man, you get a, you get a sweet boat and a, a dog on the front that's fully trained-

Speaker 2 53:47

There

Speaker 53:48

you go you're set for life. That's it. What else, what else do you need, right?

Speaker 2 53:50

I, I don't know what else anybody needs from that.

Speaker 53:53

So all right, folks. Have a great day, and we'll see you in the next podcast.