Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Stories! As hunters and outdoors people that seems to be a common thing we all have lots of. Join your amateur guide and host on this channel Ken as he gets tales from guys and gals. Chasing that trophy buck for years to an entertaining morning on the duck pond, comedian ones, to interesting that's what you are going to hear. Also along with some general hunting discussions from time to time but making sure to leave political talks out of it. Don't take this too serious as we sure don't! If you enjoy this at all or find it fun to listen to, we really appreciate if you would subscribe and leave a review. Thanks for. checking us out! We are also on fb as Hunts on outfitting, and instagram. We are on YouTube as Hunts on outfitting podcast.
Hunts On Outfitting Podcast
Every Blind Tells A Story, Especially When Liam Fraser Is Calling The Shots.
Waterfowl hunting reaches its fullest expression when experienced with great people in stunning locations, pursuing wild birds with passion and respect. Few understand this better than Liam Fraser, founder of Coastal Creek Lodge and our featured guest.
At just 25 years old, Liam brings wisdom beyond his years to the guiding profession. Growing up on the water in Nova Scotia, he discovered early that waterfowl hunting offered something special – what he calls "the fishing of hunting," where camaraderie and shared experiences often outshine the harvest itself. "You can be cooking breakfast in the blind, all talking and laughing," he explains, describing the social dynamic that pulls many away from the solitary deer stand.
Liam's journey took a pivotal turn when Northern Skies Outfitters in Saskatchewan gave him his first professional guiding opportunity. With refreshing honesty, he admits arriving with confidence that quickly transformed into humility. "I thought I was good at killing birds, I thought I could blow a call," he reflects, "but when you get out there, you realize the true level you need to be at." This apprenticeship shaped his understanding of not just hunting tactics, but client relationships and service excellence.
Now operating Coastal Creek Lodge along Nova Scotia's north shore, Liam leverages the region's geography – "one of the first landing spots as birds start migration" – to provide exceptional hunting for Canada geese, black ducks, mallards, and sometimes surprises like snow geese. The operation reflects his values: customer-first service, conservation through their hen house project, and a commitment to putting hunters on birds rather than just in fields.
Whether you're pursuing trophy black ducks from his comfortable rustic cabins or watching his Chesapeake Bay Retriever work with focused intensity, a hunt with Liam delivers the complete waterfowl experience. Ready to discover what makes Atlantic Canada a waterfowl paradise? Reach out to Coastal Creek Lodge – where passion meets professionalism on every hunt.
Check us out on Facebook and instagram Hunts On Outfitting, and also our YouTube page Hunts On Outfitting Podcast. Tell your hunting buddies about the podcast if you like it, Thanks!
this is hunts on outfitting podcast. I'm your host and rookie guide, ken marr. I love everything hunting the outdoors and all things associated with it, from stories to how-tos. You'll find it here. Welcome to the podcast. Hey, we are happy to have you tuning in. You picked a great one to listen to, as always, alright.
Speaker 1:So let me try and paint you a picture. You're all camoed up, your old trusty shotgun by your side, a quivering and lightly whimpering dog on the other, both of you full of anticipation and excitement. As you sit waiting in your duck, blind, your decoys are all set out strategically in front of you, floating on the calm early morning water on the large pond that you were overlooking. As first light gets brighter, you grab one of your favorite duck calls from around your neck and give them a little hey, who's your father? And anxiously await a response after your first calling sequence. Suddenly, the excitement is all let out as the first ducks of the morning appear, and if you have done this before, you know exactly what happens next Now.
Speaker 1:I might have left some things out, but you get the idea. If not, you might want to give a call to today's guest, liam Frazier. A hunt with him is not focused on the kill but the laughter and fun from a goose or duck blind, with great people taking in all the amazing scenery, while after some really great waterfowl that's great eating. But you know you get some fast-paced shooting in there to go along with it. It's the whole experience.
Speaker 1:At Coastal Creek Lodge, liam tells us about his start into waterfowl hunting, how he gained a lot of experience guiding out west his hen house projects, his dogs and lots more. If you want to reach out to message me about anything or be on the podcast, you can find us on facebook hunts on outfitting or email hunts on outfitting at gmailcom or find myself on there, kenmer. All right, let's talk to liam. Yeah, so liam, uh, you know, thanks for coming on the podcast and I'm excited to uh to talk to you about your new outfitting, but it's not really new. You've outfitted before for Waterfowl out west. But before we get going, if you could describe yourself and how you got into hunting in a few sentences, how would you do it?
Speaker 2:Well, I'm Liam, I'm 25, born and raised in Nova Scotia, fished on a lobster boat since my dad had me in a jumper and then, yeah, hunting's always just been one of those things that I did. It was actually my great uncle that got me into it, so it'd be my grandmother's brother, my father and family themselves never hunted, but he got me into it. I took right on to it, always big game hunted since I was little and then when I got older you know, high school and especially like just graduating in high school, that's when the boys kind of found the, the duck hunting and and it was just uh, it was just a race after that, I guess, is the best you could explain it. Yeah, it uh. Yeah, it just took over once. Once we started waterfowl hunting, like I remember I didn't, I didn't go in the deer blind for the first five years. I waterfowl hunted. I just I couldn't do it. It's, it's too much fun being in the duck blind with the fellow.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly. I mean, um, like we were saying before, you know, deer hunting it's uh, it's relaxing and sometimes you need that, but I I do get bored quite easily with it. The waterfowl hunting one yeah, like you said, you're doing the calling, you're putting out the decoys. There's so much more interaction with it. You got the geese coming in, ducks coming in shooting away, guys hooting and hollering having fun. Yeah, once you're doing that, it's hard to go sit and be quiet, sometimes in the deer blind.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure I call it the fishing of hunting. Is is how I explain waterfowl and uh to people that don't know how to hunt. You know you can go out with all your buddies, you can be cooking breakfast in the blind, all talk and laugh and you see a bird. Okay, quiet down, tuck in, shoot them and away you go. You're back.
Speaker 1:You're back to the jokes and the whatever else you're you're doing in the meantime yeah, I mean, people have listened to this podcast before, have heard me say you know, I that's. The big thing about the small game hunting and stuff that I like is, uh is the social aspect of it. You know, big game hunting for the most part is more of a just one person hunt, whereas the small game it's the camaraderie, it's yeah, come on out, bring your friends and just having a good time.
Speaker 2:Social. It's definitely two totally different worlds and, I guess, sometimes two totally different groups of people, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, exactly. So how did you get into the? You guided. You're from nova scotia, but you guided at west for waterfowl, did you?
Speaker 2:yep, um. So I was, you know, me and my, my buddy, landon uh, mcgibbon. Um, we were sitting in the duck blind one day. And I mean this all all we do, all we do is hunting fish like five, six days a week. We're, we're out there, we're doing it. Um, and we were sitting in the blind one day.
Speaker 2:It was just a year, year or two after graduation. We were like you know, we put too much time and too much money into this stuff to to not not try to do something with it. You know what I mean. So we sat there and we'll start applying. He's he was more of a fisherman and I'm more of the hunter, but we always go with each other for whatever we're doing. We started applying to spots and then he had gotten a call in the spring to go go out and do some trout guiding in Labrador for three rivers, and I was like, oh, that's, that's awesome man, good for you. And then he got out there and a couple months later I had gotten my own call from Northern skies outfitters in saskatchewan okay and uh, yeah, they, yeah, they're, they're a pretty big outfit.
Speaker 2:Shout out, definitely a big shout out to northern skies. Um, like if it wasn't for them letting me get my toes into the industry, um, I yeah, I don't know where I'd be today. I give full props to the guys over there for really showing me how it's done right and and how to kill birds like those, those fellas and northern skies. They know how to put on a show.
Speaker 1:That's, that's for damn sure yeah, I mean it's good shout out to them and that's great that they, uh, they let you so you were fair. I mean it's good shout out to them and that's great that they, uh, they let you so you were fair. I mean, so how did you do it? You're fairly new and you just sent a resume to them yeah.
Speaker 2:So you know, I just I, I waterfowl hunted, I fished and stuff. I sent a resume out to to an outfit I watched. You know, I I always wanted to be a guide, watch videos on how to get into it and stuff. I sent a resume out to them and said you know, I'd love, love to get into the industry, love to be a part of your guys's team. I don't care what the paycheck is, I don't care what I gotta do. You know, I grew up on the back of a fishing boat. I'll be the the best yes man you ever had. I said I just need the need, the opportunity, and they called a couple weeks, invited me to come out for the last week, august. We all show up and do all the gear prep and stuff and then we hunt until, you know, the first week of november and then you, you head home and I did my first season with them and after that it was, it was off to the races. I knew I wasn't going to do anything else.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's pretty cool. Uh, you putting that, you know I'll be the biggest yes man you ever had, and stuff. I mean they're looking at that like this is gold and uh, you know, kudos to them for giving you the opportunity. Uh, so did you. Did you feel like you had a pretty good handle on waterfowl hunting until you got there?
Speaker 2:yeah, uh, yeah.
Speaker 2:So yeah, that's what I mean by like truly props to them for showing me how it's done, because I don't know. Like you know, you grow up. You grow up around here as a young fella. Like you learn. You learn from the older generation that's done it here for years and years and you know not saying that the old way is the bad way, but good to take, take in new aspects and uh and views on things.
Speaker 2:Um, and yeah, going out there, like you know, I thought I thought I was good at killing birds. I thought I could blow a call. I thought I I thought I was. I thought I was good at killing birds, I thought I could blow a call. I thought I thought I was ready to guide. And then, when you get out there, you realize the true level that you need to be at and it's, I guess, it's very good to look at yourself and be like, okay, I'm not where I thought I was, but I'm surrounded by eight guys that are exactly where I want to be. It really pushes you.
Speaker 2:First season you get out there and they know, like I said, I never had a ton of guide experience before I got some locals into it around for the first time at all. So when you go out there for your first year, you're more of you know the scouter You're doing. You're doing that kind of work. You're putting brushing the blinds in, you're getting all that stuff in. You start finding some birds. You want to be finding good feeds, telling them how, how you think they need to be hunted, where, which direction the birds are, in which wind. You want you do all that. You, you show them that you, you can be trusted with clients you know um. Then they'll start off, you'll go out and you'll do a couple hunts with with another guide, um. Just that way you have the back up there. Um gives you a little more confidence and once you show them that you can do her, then it's it's up to you to do her wow, that's, that's good and uh, you know, I like that.
Speaker 1:You said basically you were kind of humbled and you recognized you're not the best, but that's good. I mean, you say that and it seems pretty straightforward, but you know there's a lot of guys where their egos just won't let them, you know, realize that. So that's good, good for you.
Speaker 2:No, I think. I think you know, going out there and being humbled like I was is what pushed me and made me the hunter that I am today. At the end of the day, if I would have stuck around here and did it yeah, I killed some birds, there's no doubt about that. But just to learn how to do everything when you're running out of options, different ways, different ways to make things work Um, it definitely just gives you a whole different perspective on the professionalism and and what you really need to to be a guide, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely. I mean, um, that's the other thing too. It's one thing taking out your buddies that have never done it before and hunting and people that you really know and this and that, but I'm sure they taught you too. Just dealing with a variety of people is uh, it's a skill to be learned in and of itself yeah for sure.
Speaker 2:Like you know, when, when a group comes in, you gotta, you gotta make, make yourself known to them. You figure out your ins and your outs with them, what you like, your connections, what will make every part of that hunt enjoyable for them, and that's what you base it off of. Every group's a little bit different. No two people are the same. No two groups are the same. No, no two groups are the same. It's just, it's just up to you to to figure out how you guys connect and and to make the best connection while it's happening yeah, it's everything.
Speaker 1:It's kind of a custom fit. It's different shoe for every group, and the fact that, um, you know, there's some people out there that are really great hunters, definitely know what they're doing, but they're lacking in people skills, and that's, I'm sure you know, is you've got to have that to be a good guide.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure, for sure, Like, yeah, that was definitely definitely something I learned out there. You know, like, like, how to, how to talk to these guys, cause at the end of the day, it does get intimidating. You have six, eight guys from the States, louisiana, wherever they're from sitting there and they're dependent and relying on you to get some birds and to produce a good hunt. You know they're big guys, a lot of guys that go on guided hunts, like they're not, they're not bad off. They. They usually have a couple bucks laying around to spend on these hunts. So you're just, you're really putting a lot of pressure on yourself to to make sure everything goes right. You know when, when you're hunting with your buddies and stuff. It's the end of the day, you're just happy to be out there with your buddy couple. You get a couple but and and a lot of the cons to like that too, but you just you really put it on yourself because you know at the end of the day, they are there to get a couple birds yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1:And uh, sometimes I find you know some of the guiding I've done too we put more pressure on ourselves and want it more than they do, but we don't realize that. You know they're happy to be out there, but obviously, yeah, you want to get them some good shot, opportunities and this and that. Do you go over to like when they're coming out, are you checking over their guns and their ammo and be like, yeah, that'll work.
Speaker 2:Or I mean and be like, yeah, that'll work, or I mean I suppose that's set up before they come out, yeah, so, so a lot of the time, yeah, like we go over all that stuff before they come out. Um, a lot of, like, our canadian groups, our newfoundlanders, um, all those guys they're, they're taking their own guns and ammo and looking, looking after that stuff. But, uh, with the states now there's so many forms and just the travel across the border with firearms and ammunition that they're, they're more so looking to show up here and being able to rent rent a gun for the trip, um, and then, yeah, so we just make sure that we got a rack of guns here that the clients can use whenever they show up and we go from there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean that's a good idea. It just makes it so much easier for you guys instead of having to explain what to go through to get their guns and ammo here, and for them it's just one less thing they need to worry about and just be able to relax and think about the trip.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly, exactly, exactly Like we were trying to base everything off of. You know, our clients enjoying, enjoying their trip. We, we got the, we got the spare guns, we got a couple couple of young fellas hired from high school to be our bird boys. So in the evenings, after they get off school, they're going to look after the clients birds. That way they can just relax, enjoy the night. Um, we look after all the license in before they show up.
Speaker 2:Uh, just one thing off the mind you don't want someone to show up and be missing one sheet and not be able to hunt that day because we got to run to the dnr office or something like that. So we're going to make sure all that stuff's covered as well. As you know, their, their lodging, their food, all that stuff we have. We have live music playing for them on tuesday nights. Um, like the their last night staying with us. We bought 50, 50 or 60 I forget the number now um, 50 or 60 pheasants that are being raised in flight pens on the preserve right now. So that's always an option to do in the afternoons or, you know, if it's, if you are having those slow days, you can't can't find a good hunt. You can still make sure that you get your clients out. They can enjoy, enjoy the day and enjoy each other and have a couple shots, you know yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So I mean, definitely sounds like the customer comes first, which is good and the way it should be, but not, not everyone's like that. Uh. So I mean, yeah, tell me the transition between you know you hunting here, you applied, you went out there, learned how to deal with people, guiding birds, calling setups, the whole deal. And then you come back to nova scotia and you set up coastal creek lodge yep, so I always, I always lived in nova scotia.
Speaker 2:Uh, I just fly out there, you know, at the at the start of the fall, and I do my guide season. I fly back home. Um, so, as soon as I, as soon as I land off the plane, we were, we were back hunting. Like last year, I landed home at nine o'clock at night and we went and we shot a six man limit of canadas plus six snow geese the next day and we were done in the first hour of daylight, like, oh, in nova scotia wait time?
Speaker 2:if, yeah, that that was in nova scotia we did last year. It was the first first day I got home like I wasn't even home for 10 hours. Um. So you know, just over the years, putting in those miles, knocking on doors, getting that the access and and the, the spaces and fields that we do, um, it just it was definitely.
Speaker 2:It's not something you can, I don't think you can just jump into Um, it takes, it takes a long time and I think that if I didn't go away to see it done how they do it, um, I don't think I'd be in the position. I am. But, yeah, like, go out there, learned what to do. I'd come home in the fall, on practice, everything I learned new skills lock up more land, wait till next season, do the same thing over and over um. And then, yeah, I just you know what, I think, I think we got the land. I built a lot of good connections over the years with clients at West. I said I think I got the, I think I got the land, I got the interest. I just I just need to get it on on the go. And we started making posts, started making our pages and yeah, we're we're basically fully booked already for october and november wow, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Um, so you know you were really working on. You didn't just walk into this. You uh and pun intended got your ducks in a row first by for sure. Just just all the, all the research and and, like you said, knocking on doors, getting that land all set, learning how it's done at some of these bigger operations that have a lot of people in and you get more hands on, and all that quickly and um, yeah, that's, that's really good. Just you, definitely you did your research. That's good to hear. Um, so how much land roughly are you operating on here in nova scotia, canada?
Speaker 2:um, so we, for field wise no, not including any woods or nothing like for big game? Um, strictly field wise, we have access, private access, to probably at least 4,500 acres. Right now, a mix of soybean, rye, barley, wheat barley, wheat, corn little bit of everything. The birds Especially. It's good to have all these different crops because time of year and weather condition definitely affects on what the birds wanna eat. So the more land, the more types of crops you have, the more you're gonna be on the birds.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well then you had on your Facebook page too for Coastal Creek Lodges. Nova Scotia is on the first landing slash feeding spots as the birds start their migration.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir. Yes, yeah, like we. If you look on the map, like it's not, it's not hard to tell. You know, like there's, there's a big. I I shot a couple of collars last year.
Speaker 2:So I got in contact with the biologist, um from our area and he was, he was amazing. He came right to my door, uh, to pick them up and sat there for an hour having a great conversation with me on, you know, just questions. I had things I was interested in, etc. He explained to me that our maritime population, so our local birds, our resident birds between in the maritime, so that's pei, new uh, new brunswick, nova scotia, we're sitting at about 1 million, and that was as of last year, um, and I know that that's going to be a whole lot higher this year.
Speaker 2:Looking at our, our local birds, like I'm, I'm pretty excited. And that the newfoundland, the newfoundland uh group, they were sitting at about 100,000. And then you have all those birds coming from north of Newfoundland and you know, the Maggies, all those birds when they start flying, yeah, like we're, just we're kind of right in that zone where they either hit PEI or they hit us. It just depends on which side of the straight they decide to stick to and yeah, we're kind of that first landing area for that East Coast push for sure.
Speaker 1:So does the wind kind of affect on, like you were saying, what side of the straight they're on?
Speaker 2:Yep, yeah, wind affects it. Um, it all depends. Like the, the caller I shot last year. Um, it came, it showed up in our area. It flew an hour and a half south of us the next day and then woke up that morning and flew from an hour and a half south of us, passed us to back to. It, came from Newfoundland, landed on the North Shore here in Nova Scotia, flew an hour and a half south and then it flew all the way back to pei. It did a loop around the big harbor and pei and then it flew back to me where we had uh, where we had shot him in the field. So so the birds like they're, they're just always bouncing, like I, I, I always knew that birds bounce, but after getting those you know those sheets that shows where this bird traveled in three days. Like you, you you really don't know what birds you're hunting when you're sitting there yeah, they're, uh, they're quite the athletes really.
Speaker 2:Uh, how much flying they do all over yeah, I I wouldn't be able to put those miles on. I'll I'll say that I've watched. I've watched all our birds pick up. You know we've had great hunts. We hunted them for two or three days, whacking them Um the moon. I find the moon affects us, affects us the most. Here in Nova Scotia we get the birds and we hold the birds and it's great, we can really get on them. But then when you have those big moons and it's really bright out at night, I remember nights last year and the year before where I sat out on my deck 11 o'clock because I could hear them going over the bedroom, walk out on the deck and you know you're and seeing the silhouettes, all your birds flying out at you know 11, 11 o'clock, 12 o'clock at night, heading south yeah, yeah, I mean the moon.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it definitely affects a lot of animals. You know it has such a huge effect on the tide and in Nova Scotia, where you guys are know, everyone's kind of near the water. Imagine that has a role in it as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah for sure. So I find, especially like in our area, a high tide that's when your birds are coming off the water, that's when you're going to shoot them in the fields, whether it's morning or afternoon, is kind of kind of up to the tide. On the low tides they like to be on those, you know mud bars, sand flats, all that stuff eating, eating the grass just kind of hanging out and then, once that water, starts to rise, the birds, the birds start to move.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so, speaking with the birds, what species are you guys are you targeting and what are primarily people that go with you going to be shooting at?
Speaker 2:So we base our hunts on what our clients are looking for. We have two or three groups from the states between Louisiana, north Carolina and Georgia. They're coming just for ducks there. They're not big goose hunters, they're also fellas that I guided for the last few years at West. So, yeah, they just want to come. They want to come shoot some black ducks.
Speaker 2:A couple of them are looking to take some home to get mounts done for their walls and stuff, because you know a black duck is a pretty sought-after bird in the States. Looking to take some home to get mounts done for the walls and stuff, cause you know the a black duck is a pretty sought after bird in the States. Um, and there's a lot of places you can't shoot them, where we're able to shoot six a day a person. Um, so it it definitely interests those kinds of guys you also have. You know those guys are also interested in possibly shooting you know, a long tail or or something like that. Some cool divers they they've been talking a lot about, you know getting their black ducks and maybe maybe doing a diver hunt or so. Um, and then of course, geese like geese, geese are a big one. I love, love killing geese. Most of our Newfoundland groups actually all of our Newfoundland groups are here for the geese. So yeah, it really just depends on what you're looking for. Whatever you're looking for, we'll make it happen.
Speaker 1:Okay, nice, you guys have a variety of species you're able to offer.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, yeah, we got mergansers, boffal heads, blue bills, golden eyes, burrows golden eyes, black ducks, mallards, the odd pintail, the odd widgeon. Um, last year we shot six snow geese. Never seen snow geese here before, but you know we got a couple snow geese, a lot of canada geese. Yeah, just a mix of everything. It it all depends um, when big storms like north of us, we we tend to get those green lamberds and ice lamberds that they get caught in the storms, they get pushed over. That's why you know we'll see the odd brand, the odd pink, pink footed, the odd snow goose. It it just, yeah, it's. It's just kind of one of those areas that you never truly know what you're going to get when you go out.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. Well, that's really neat. That just keeps the excitement, especially from people from you know far away the anticipation of really not knowing what exactly it's going to come into the spread.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly Like that's. Patient of really not knowing what exactly it's going to come into the spread. Yeah, exactly like that's. I think that was one of the things that truly got me on to waterfowl hunting to begin with as well. Like that's. That's something I still enjoy to this day. Like you know, it's, it's, it's cool. It's it's cool when you plan on going out and shooting a lemon to geese and all of a sudden, there's a bird before sitting there in front of you, like yeah it's yeah, it's trophy hunting.
Speaker 2:That's like if I guess you could call it. Like, at the end of the day, like you're, you're out there, you're getting meat and stuff, but when you see those cool birds, it's, it's like a little trophy to take home as well yeah, yeah, exactly, uh, just yeah, makes it for all that much more fun.
Speaker 1:I want to talk a bit about, too. You use it. I'm a dog guy myself, as most people know. Tell me a bit about your dog. You use that for waterfowl hunting, which is definitely a huge asset.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I have a Chesapeake Bay Retriever. He's three years old. I got him from Working Dog Kennels Lori Way on the so Shore. He actually just had another batch Absolutely great dogs. If you're interested in a Chessie, I'd definitely speak to Lori Before you get a Chessie. You should know they are hard-headed. Do not think that they're going to react or listen like a lab. They definitely have their own kind of personality. Do not think that they're going to react or or listen like a lab. They they definitely have their own kind of personality. Um, and we also have a. I have a one year old Fox red lab as well, um, and she's being trained for upland right now. More or less.
Speaker 1:All right, yeah, that's neat. Yeah, I know we were talking to a guy before in the podcast a bit and I've always compared the Chessies to like. I thought they're like a lab, but I guess I was quite wrong in that they're definitely much more higher, strung, bigger and just a lot more of a working dog, from the sense of it, over a lab.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they are built to work. He is high strung is definitely a word you could use for my dog. Not that he's bad indoors, he's great Like. If he's ever feeling funky or if it's too hot, we'll take him in, but he loves being outside. He wants to be outside at all times, it doesn't matter how cold or how hot it is. Um, he, he cries when he's inside. Uh, we had a big, big freeze there this winter. It got really, really cold. Um took him in, figured I'd take him in for the night and let him stay warm, and he sat in his kennel and cried, for it was almost two hours and then I said, okay, I'm gonna see if he needs to use the bathroom. I went and I opened the door to the house and he walked out of the house and he walked right back into his outdoor pen, crawled in his house and wouldn't come out. So I closed the door and away we went, yeah yeah, yeah, no, that's that's what I've heard about them.
Speaker 1:Um, so that you know that's great. So people coming out with you as well, you know they get to see some dog work yeah, that that's uh.
Speaker 2:That's definitely one thing you know I've had a couple client groups be about is if there's dogs involved or not, and when you, when you mention it, they're oh great, I I've always wanted to see dogs work or I love watching a dog work. It it adds a whole whole new aspect to the waterfowl hunting. For sure I I did it myself in waders for years and I said, well, actually it was when I went, went out west my first year and I was guiding the northern skies. There's a fellow named Sam and he had a Chessie himself, I don't know. I just fell in love with him. I thought he was an awesome dog and I said I'm going to get my own. I came home and I got my own for the next fall.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. No, it's really great Any kind of hunting, just seeing dog work for people that you know. Even if you're not into dogs, you can definitely appreciate it. There's nothing like a well-trained dog doing what it's been bred to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, exactly Like you know when a dog is injured or not, like there's not a second. We're out in the field where he's not just vibrating like he, you can feel him, even if you're on the other side of the blind just vibrating.
Speaker 2:you can feel the ground going yeah, yeah, exactly, they live for it really yeah, yeah and yeah, it doesn't matter if you I I kind of laugh I tell the clients when they show up. You know, like if you miss, if you miss it's not my fault, he's going to let you know about it, and he definitely does. If he hears those guns go off and I'm not sending them he's giving them an earful for a minute or two.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he's judgy, yeah, yeah, well, you know, gives uh, just adds to the fun. Um, I want to talk a bit about too. I mean, some people think you know, outfair isn't god? So all they want to do is kill and stuff like that, people that don't know. Um, you guys, that's not the case, obviously, but uh, but you guys have a hen house project.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's funded by ourselves out of our own pockets. Yeah, you know, it's all part of it. Like, if you plan on hunting or taking from from taking from, you know, your, your wildlife, then you should be willing to put tenfold back into it and in my opinion, so especially we. We always, you know, we always tried to improve habitat and stuff around here. But before this year, but especially this this year, when we were in the talks of it this winter, we said, well, we're gonna, we're gonna make sure we put back into our conservation side as well.
Speaker 2:So we started a coastal creek hen house project and we've been working with all the local farmers and all the landowners that we know, also getting them out on the rivers and the marshes around and just trying to trying to help out. We we definitely like we get more black ducks and mallards here. So hopefully with this hen house project we we see an increase of those over the next couple years and people enjoy seeing them. Like you know, you can watch a. Put them in your pond in your front yard and you can watch watch a duck have her nest and have her babies, and it's something she'll always come back to every year after that as well.
Speaker 1:So yeah, so that's what you guys do.
Speaker 2:You guys have been put building uh hen houses and putting them up just any anywhere as you can yeah, just yeah, if yeah, like we, we know, we know all the ponds and all the spots around here, so we've just been knocking on doors making sure that it's okay. Nobody's said no to it, because of course it's a great thing to do and, yeah, just as many as we can. And you know it's don't. We don't see as much happening this year, obviously because it's the first year. Um, they like to, they like to see them for a year or two beforehand before they they really start nesting in them. But uh, but yeah, we're hoping. We're hoping in the next couple years we start to start to see the change. And we're hoping in the next couple of years we start to see the change and there's only going to be more put out from now on.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great to hear. It just shows, I guess, people listening to this and thinking about booking with you what kind of guy they're dealing with. It's really great You're not just taking, you're giving back as well.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, that's our number one thing here coastal lodge, whether it's to the, to the birds, to the landowners, to the clients, whatever. Like, everybody comes first, like we, we will do our utmost to to make sure you are happy yeah, no, that's uh.
Speaker 1:It's great to hear uh. Then you know speaking about which I want to talk about. So people looking to book with you. You have accommodations. How many guys can you take at a time? All that?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so we have two beautiful rustic-feeling cabins. Truly makes you feel like you're in in the hunting camp with the boys. Um, each each cabin fits three people. Um, can sleep a fourth, you know if. If someone can't get away from their life for the weekend or whatever, they got no excuses. Um, so we can run anywhere from one to six guys. Um, it just yeah, it just kind of depends on what your group size is and and what you're looking for, like if, if you want to, you want to do a hunt with a couple extra people, we can, we can make that happen if you want to. If you want to do a solo hunt, just you and your, then then that's the way it'll be.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah. So what area? Nova Scotia, canada? What north, central, southern?
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I'd say basically just the north shore, the whole north shore. We go from Amherst to Cape Breton. We got land, and then we go south, got some in churro, um, and then we we had a couple farmers off us offer us some land in the valley. But you know, we're pushing, we're pushing a two-hour drive there, so that's. I don't know if that's really in the game, but we, we go wherever the birds go is is how I'd explain it. Um, I don't, I don't plan on putting someone in a field, um, hoping that birds show up or they fly over. Uh, when you go on a hunt with coastal, when you get set up in the morning, that will be the best field around within an hour or more. Stride that like we're. We're here to put you on them, we're here to give you that, that chance yeah, that's uh, that's what people want to hear.
Speaker 1:That's great, um so, uh, yeah, sounds like it's a great spot. So you still have a few openings for this fall.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I got one week in October. It'd be the 19th to the 25th. I have two weeks in November It'd be the 2nd to the 8th and the 23rd to the 29th, and then I can also take December bookings as well. I just never really opened the books up to it yet because I was trying to fill those ones in. But if December accommodates people better, then of course we'll make that work for them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, perfect, so you ever have any something unique happen to you in the blind. You spend all this time out there and any cool stories oh yeah, like we definitely definitely see some things.
Speaker 2:I mean, I remember I was out in alberta with a group of clients I think they're from louisiana, if I'm correct um, and we're sitting there eating some trail mix, having our blind giggles, and of course here's something in front of us. So I peek my head out the blind and there's a monster moose right in the kill hole, right in the middle of the decoys, just sitting there munching on the wheat, staring right at us yeah or it was yeah.
Speaker 1:I can't say I've ever seen that before. Uh, at waterfowl hunting, that's uh, that's neat. What would your clients think?
Speaker 2:uh, two of them were very and uh, they loved it. They were laughing, taking pictures. They're trying to take selfies with him and the other fella, he was enjoying his trail mix. I don't think there was much that was going to get him interested more than that. I think he was a little hungry, yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, Liam, it's been great talking to you From the sense that you've definitely done your research and, like I said, gotten your ducks in a row and all this, you know, prior preparation and planning for setting up your outfitting. What's the best way for people to get in contact with you?
Speaker 2:Shoot me a message on Facebook at a coastal Creek lodge or to contact me personally on my cell One nine oh, two, six, one, six, three, four, zero, zero. To contact me personally on my cell 1-902-616-3400. The phone's always on. If it rings, I'm answering.
Speaker 1:There you go, Perfect, Liam. Thanks again for coming on the podcast and I look forward to seeing pictures of the hunts this fall.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, thank you for having me. We'll make sure to get you and your buddies down for a hunt or two, and maybe do another one at the end of the season and recap on how things truly went, because talk is talk, but the walk is the walk.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. It sounds like fun. We'll be in touch.
Speaker 2:Yes, sir, you have a great day.
Speaker 1:Thanks you too.