Episode 76: Waterfowl Panel

This episode we have back a few familiar faces from previous episodes Hayes ( Southern Outdoors) and Ceaser ( NorCal waterfowl) and we talk everything waterfowl from the bread and butter birds of our areas to top destinations in our flyways, waterfowl traditions and what we all love about the birds Hayes represents the Mississippi flyway Ceaser the Pacific flyway and I the Atlantic 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome back to another episode of the Blue Hen Outdoors Podcast. We have with us tonight a little mini waterfowl panel. I'm going to be representing the Atlantic Flyway in the East Coast. We have Mr. Hayes representing the Mississippi Flyway and down south around Louisiana and Arkansas area. And we have Mr. Caesar to represent the Pacific Flyway coming out of California. How are you guys doing tonight?

SPEAKER_00 0:29

Doing well, man. Happy to be on.

SPEAKER_01 0:31

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Doing doing mighty fine.

SPEAKER_04 0:35

How about you, sir?

SPEAKER_01 0:38

Can't complain, can't complain. It's summertime. Fish are starting to bite and getting ready to start hopping on that before hunting season goes around.

SPEAKER_04 0:48

Yeah, we went down on the uh Mississippi River today. Got us a good mess of catfish today.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

Nice. Sounds good.

unknown 0:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:01

It ain't startling there we're no no.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

It's it's finally getting nice out and warm.

SPEAKER_04 1:09

It's about it's 95 today.

SPEAKER_01 1:13

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:14

Yeah, we had 103 out here. It was it was toasty. It was toasty.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

Yeah, it was kind of like what Hazy. We had like 95, 80s.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

We don't have humidity though. Like you all have to deal with, so thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:27

Yeah, it's uh it's like being in a sauna 24-7, even at night.

SPEAKER_02 1:32

Yeah. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:34

It's still 90 degrees right now. 90 degrees right now.

SPEAKER_01 1:37

Jeez. Jeez. Let's start this episode off with what got you guys into waterfowl hunting.

SPEAKER_04 1:54

I'll go first.

SPEAKER_00 1:56

Yeah, do it.

SPEAKER_04 1:59

Um see I mean all of my family they were little too. My grandfather, my grandfather, uncles. You know, we just always done it. And like the first duck honey ever went on. I don't know, it was maybe you know, a light freeze. And uh I got my first mallard and my first wood duck.

SPEAKER_02 2:27

So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:29

Yeah, I was hooked from day one.

SPEAKER_01 2:32

Yep. What about you, Caesar?

SPEAKER_00 2:38

Yeah, for me it was uh, you know, my dad did a little bit, but never really introduced it to us. Uh not until I married my wife. Uh she comes from a a big family of duck hunters, and so um, you know, I uh I got taken out to uh a duck hunt. And you know, I always say that there's no uh there's no gray hair with the duck hunters. You either love it or you don't, right? There's no that there's no that in between. And I went on my first opener, and uh within the first five minutes I knew that I was gonna do this the rest of my freaking life. Uh and so, you know, and that was uh, you know, that was got 20 years ago almost. So, you know, it was uh right from the beginning, and then for me it's having two young boys and being able to teach them, you know, everything that we do and and you know kind of pass on a tradition that I know damn well they're gonna they're gonna be teaching their kids. Um that's what got me into it. But we're bird hunters, man. We we freaking love it, man.

SPEAKER_01 3:41

Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah, I'll just not to because I don't really make everything about me on the show, but um for me, you know, growing up, my dad had a deer lease that a couple guys duck hunt on. So I kind of got introduced to it a little bit there. And in high school, a couple friends of mine they're like, yo, you should come by duck hunting with us, a real good duck hunt. I'm like, all right, cool. And that's when I really started getting into it. And then when I came back home from college, I had another buddy that he's like, yo, I got really bang up piece of private, you know. Well, and then from there on it just kind of took off. So I just didn't look back. What would you say is your guys' bread and butter birds? Like top three or four bread and butter birds you guys have for your area, because all the areas tend to have the same birds, but you know, it's different from for the most part. It's like, okay, these are the main birds for our area. You want to go first, Caesar?

SPEAKER_00 4:53

Yeah, I will. Um, well, in you know, on the West Coast, we we pretty much have it all. I think minus like the black duck and a few other ducks, but uh in our specific region in the flyaway, we uh you know we hunt big open water. We have a family duck club um that's in the in a delta area. So we you know we mitigate water coming in and out of our club. So you know, we we deal with a lot of puddle ducks. But our bread and butter is greenwing teal, uh, which is my favorite bird to hunt and eat. Uh uh pintails, you know, all day long. Uh, those are the perfect limit in our club is probably five teal uh or now four teal and three three sprig, uh, which is long overdue. Um and then, you know, when we see a mallard, I mean, we're gonna go after a mallard, but um, yeah, sprig and teal are are definitely it.

SPEAKER_01 5:51

Oh, yeah, for sure. I think we might lost haste for a quick second, but I'll chime in here. Um, yeah. Here on the Atlantic Flyways, specifically around my area of the Chesapeake Bay. Um Mallards, Mallards, um, black ducks, uh canvas bags, another big one, especially around the Chesapeake Bay region. Oh yeah. And the uh Canada goose. Nice. I mean, obviously you can see my painting behind me, you know, uh pip lines and hunting hunting dry fields for geese is a big thing around here.

SPEAKER_00 6:35

I love that.

SPEAKER_01 6:37

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:39

Hey, he's just I'm sorry, can you can y'all can y'all can y'all hear me?

SPEAKER_01 6:44

Yeah, you're good. You're just in time. We're waiting for you to tell us your bread and butterbirds down there.

SPEAKER_04 6:49

Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, guys. I went through a really b really bad patch of service, but uh uh our bread and butter birds and mallard and uh mallard and gray duck or y'all would probably call it a gadwall, I would I'll assume unless y'all got a different name for it.

SPEAKER_00 7:05

Yeah, gatowal.

SPEAKER_04 7:06

Mallard Mallard, Grey Duck, and Tia. That's pretty much all we shoot.

SPEAKER_02 7:12

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:15

But you know, everybody not in Louisiana per se, but in Arkansas, everybody's just chasing green. And uh they ain't worried about all the other ducks.

SPEAKER_02 7:26

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:30

Uh Pile Pile Pick Pile Pick Chases.

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Yeah. Oh yeah. What would you guys say is like um what what's like your kind of typical standard style hunts that you go on? Like as far as like whether it be like timber, big water, kind of more marshes.

SPEAKER_04 7:59

Yeah, for well 90%.

SPEAKER_03 8:00

Oh go ahead.

SPEAKER_04 8:02

Um I'm like 90% flooded timber. And then the rest is either you know, like a lake or a river.

SPEAKER_01 8:12

Oh yeah. Can't beat a good timber hunt down there.

SPEAKER_00 8:16

Oh no, cannot beat it. Yeah, for uh for us we call them salt marshes, but uh, you know, our club is like like I was saying on off the delta, uh Grizzly Bay Delta, so we you know we're we're mainly shooting puddle ducks, so you know, sprig and teal in pit blind, so you know we're sunk in the ground with decoys around us, and you know the water doesn't get deeper than yeah, you know, to your knee. Um that that that's our that's our go-to.

SPEAKER_01 8:46

I'd say out here it's kind of like a mix, um a big water and kind of like uh marsh/slash timber mix. Because we you know, we have our good mix of puddle ducks that come through, and then everybody's either on the big water in the bays or off the ocean trying to get their divers or uh sea ducks.

SPEAKER_04 9:16

Y'all get some y'all get a lot of uh what kind of sea ducks do y'all get up there?

SPEAKER_01 9:21

We get um old schwal, all three kinds of scoters, redheads, um cans, sure. Yeah, cans. We do get a lot of canvas backs. Um brand's a big one up here that's kind of like a more of a goose, but it's kind of like in that big water uh category up here. Buffalo heads.

SPEAKER_04 9:51

Speaking of speaking of uh stuff uh birds like that, so you know, we have a really big problem with uh the black belly whistling duck, so y'all might call them Mexican squealers or something like that. So they got so bad they pushed the wood ducks out of their nests and raised their babies in there. Yeah, they pushed the wood ducks out of the nest. So Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, they they've been pleading with the uh Department of the to get a season on them, and we finally got a season on them. So it's a season. So I know we're gonna uh do pretty well on those. They're everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 10:34

Oh yeah. That's kind of like up here. I mean it uh some areas up here, and I'm kinda I've seen it more and more popping up. I mean, I know this is kind of like a big thing for you season out in California, but the mutes, they've been kind of doing that. Uh mute swans.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

I was about to say that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

They'll come and push, you know.

SPEAKER_00 10:55

Yeah, mute swan was open season on them around here. Yeah, it's season's still on right now. Yeah, you can go out and shoot mute swans all you want. Yeah, they're evasive. So, like, yeah, that's yeah, it's a big deal. We shot a couple, shot a couple at the club this year. They're giant, man.

SPEAKER_01 11:10

Oh, dude, they're huge. I shot one I think two yeah, coming up this fall, it'll be two years ago. He's hanging right over there. You can't see him, but they are huge birds.

SPEAKER_00 11:24

Oh, they're massive. Makes a honker look like a mallard, yeah. They're they're giant. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like shooting bus.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 11:35

Yeah, we uh we hunt a bay blind too out here, so we you know, we get blueies, buffaloheads, uh, all the divers, camisbacks, uh, and then all the other puddle ducks will be out in the bay as well. Uh we have a beybline that floats out there, and uh, yeah, those are fun to shoot as well.

SPEAKER_01 11:51

Do you have any Harleys come down your way? Or is it kind of more north? Harley equation?

SPEAKER_00 11:58

No.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

No, they don't come down that far?

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Not that I've seen.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

I know that you uh you can get like a special tag for them if you pull it in Washington or Oregon. I just didn't know if they came down as far as California. No. Do you guys think that uh decoys and calls are important as far as a setup?

SPEAKER_04 12:28

I think I'm just speaking to January Arkansas Mallard Hunt. Late in January, you got these stale seasoned birds, you ain't got a cold front in a week or so. And that's when it really matters. You know, but I'm more of like, all right, let's just go to like water motion decoys, not like flappers or whatever. They don't work that far this far south. So like any kind of like uh you ever heard of quick coys? Those those things are bomb down here, bro.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:08

They they work. But um I think it it it matters on stale birds. Calling definitely matters though, to me. I mean, they're they're very finicky when they get this far south. They're very they're very tricky. It might take you three or four volleys to figure out what if they're gonna respond, or you don't have to call, you do a couple of soft notes or whatever like that. It's not like I it's not like going to North Dakota and just blowing at them and then they're coming down.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:46

Yeah, for us, we uh we'll have a lot of decoys in the beginning of the season, and then we thin them out as the season progresses, and so definitely have a a lighter spread. Uh, and then as far as calling goes, um uh, you know, teal, green wing teal, you can call all year long, man. I mean, it it's if you can see them, you call them in, and we we definitely consider ourselves, you know, green wing. I mean, that's our bread and butter. So we um, you know, we sound like a symphony out there. You know, sprig are you know, we shoot a lot of sprig too, um, and they definitely don't respond to uh the whistles in the beginning of the season. Later in the season, they do a little bit more. Um, but their uh overcalling's a thing with sprig. I mean, I think the biggest thing for us in a pip line when we're hunting 360 degrees and we're exposed uh covers everything. So concealment, you know, we have the gifts and blinds that cover over the top of us. So we have a hard time seeing because we're so covered up. Um so concealment's everything for us, you know, because they're the ducks are you know flying around us 360 degrees. We're not able to hide with any natural cover. So, you know, not overcalling. If it's windy, you can call a little bit more. If it's a quiet day, not much wind, you definitely gotta you can flutter birds by overcalling and definitely concealment, ma'am. That's the whole thing. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 15:10

I think cover is the most important thing.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

No doubt. Oh, yeah, I agree with that. Cover and uh out here, I mean, call, I mean, goose calling and for geese is kind of like okay, you you need the you need the calls for geese, but as far as ducks, I mean I've I've had duck hunts where I've accidentally forgotten my calls and still almost shot my limit.

SPEAKER_00 15:36

So that's kind of back in the day they used to laugh.

unknown 15:40

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

Oh yeah, so I I I'd I'd rather say it's here nor there about the calls. I mean, and especially like, you know, guys that hunt divers out in the big water, they're just sitting in a boat with a string of decoys in front of them. Not that that's not hard, but it's you know I'd say a good deco decoy setup and uh covers big.

SPEAKER_00 16:10

You know, with calling too for me, I mean, you know, I'm not a world champion duck caller, but uh for me it's um you know, I feel like I call really well, but it's about when you call the ducks and seeing what they're doing, man. And like, you know, that you can be an average sounding duck caller. And I and I've hunted with some guys that are that have won some won some titles, and it's impressive to hear them, but like, shit, we're I mean, we're we're killing ducks too. So it responding to what they're doing and seeing what they're doing and how they're responding, and you know, when they're you know, how close they're getting and how you're calling them that that's really understanding that on a deeper level is understanding how to call, right? Um, and then as you get as you get better, yeah, it it's cool to sound sound better.

SPEAKER_01 16:55

Oh yeah, for sure. There's a time for all that flashiness, and then there's a time for it to just be all right, throw a few notes out, and that'll work. Yep, no doubt.

SPEAKER_04 17:08

I will say, oh hunting, if you hunt if you hunt public land on Arkansas, you better be you better be swift with the call. You better be smooth with it. Because I mean hunting out there on public land, I mean, you gotta be the loudest and um best sounding. Or they ain't paying you any mind. That's just on public land where you got you know, you got other groups within a hundred two hundred yards of you, and they're and they're everywhere. But that's about the only time you really need to use main street calling, yeah, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

What um what would you guys? I mean, me and she's we we were kind of talking about this off camera a little bit, but what and you kind of gave me uh the idea for this question. What would you say is your guys' big well-known waterfowl and area and in your flyway?

SPEAKER_00 18:09

I mean, for I mean, you take go ahead, go ahead. Oh, yeah. I mean, for for the Pacific Flyway, I mean uh for me, I mean, there's some stuff south of us, but it it's Northern California, Oregon, Washington, uh, you know, obviously Canada and Alaska when you get up when you get up that way. Um, you know, the Pacific Flyway actually goes farther south, though. Mexico has incredible honey, you know, and it's it's actually the largest flyway. I mean, you can go all the way down to Central and South America, but as far as the United States, you know, you know, our area, the Beach Sink, Greater Area in Northern California, and then and you go farther north towards Canada, is you know, it's all and we have it all. We have timber up in you know the Washington area where they're hammering mallars, we got areas in the Butte Sink where they're hammering woodies, you know, we and we got incredible goose hunting, specks, snows, honkers. Uh it's uh, you know, it's uh it I was telling you, Hunter, when we when I go on vacation and meet other hunters across the U.S., they're always surprised that there's there's good hunting in the Pacific Fly, but you know, shit, man, there's some incredible, incredible hunting out here.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

Oh yeah. What about you, Hayes?

SPEAKER_04 19:28

Um I mean I mean our big area is obviously the the Mississippi River, I mean, anywhere on it. Even up into Minnesota from Minnesota to Louisiana, it's uh it's probably one of the biggest waterfowl highways in the probably in the northern hemisphere. Yeah, I would say, or North America.

SPEAKER_02 19:54

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:55

I mean there's I mean you have pretty much every single species, even even uh you know, big diver ducks like they get canvas backs, uh Scoater, we even get black scoater, but then you gotta shoot those away down south towards the coast. Or if you're on a super big lake. But I mean Arkansas timber is probably the most famous of it.

SPEAKER_00 20:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:18

Arkansas, Mississippi, and Louisiana Delta.

SPEAKER_01 20:22

Oh yeah. I was telling Caesar off camera, I don't know if I told you before Hayes, but I mean, without a doubt, I'm biased, but the one of the biggest on the Atlantic flyways, Chesapeake Bay area. Can't go wrong with that, and then there's uh up into New York, like the St. John's and the Finger Lakes, uh, a couple of those rivers up into the Great Lakes areas, and then even up into New Jersey, back side of uh Atlantic City, is very is very big. And the back bay, big bay waters there is it it's not well well known as some of those other areas, but it's kind of getting there. Like you can like the past couple years I've been hunting up there a few times, and I've seen like a lot of out-of-state, like Delaware, PA, you know, and even up into Long Island in New York's pretty big for big water as well.

SPEAKER_04 21:27

Do you have do y'all have out-of-stater problems where y'all are at too?

SPEAKER_01 21:31

We're starting to get it. We're starting to get it a little bit. But it's kind of more like local guys. Yeah, I'm telling Delaware, Maryland, PA, Jersey, they all kind of flip flop between each other. Maybe more PA guys come over because Eastern PA is not really close to too much water.

SPEAKER_04 21:52

Right. Uh I mean, Arkansas and during hunt season, I see more out of state plates than I do Arkansas plates. I mean you got Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Texas, Texas. Oh yeah, and then Oh good. They they like to gatekeep pretty good up there.

SPEAKER_02 22:22

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:23

You know, they don't want you hunting their birds. Right.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

Yeah, I'd say we have the opposite problem out here. It's uh uh we have less public land options for people to go out and get it to like knowing private landowners or you know, there's a lot of outfill outfitters. I know in Northern California there's farther north than where I'm at, there's some outfitters that you know have relationships with landowners and and are taking clients out, and so like the local, you know, the the local residents don't have that like access to to going and talking to a landowner or you know, and the refuges, while they're great, you know, it's it's competitive, man. I mean you you go out there and it's fun, but you go out there first light, it's dark, you set up, and then you know, you got guys 80 yards from you, right? So it's it's competitive, you're sky busting, you're you know, you're just trying to shoot birds when they go by you, and you're trying to call, but there's no chance of working. So yeah, it's definitely an issue out here as far as as far as that goes. And it sounds like out there it's you know, you got people coming from all over to get into the public land.

SPEAKER_01 23:34

Oh yeah. That brings up a good point, Austin. Oh yeah, so oh go ahead, Ace.

SPEAKER_04 23:40

Oh, before you before you get into that, uh so like what you're saying with the private landowners in Arkansas. You're not hunting on private land unless you lease it. I mean, permission comes with a checkbook.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

Yep. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 23:53

That's uh and they and they're pretty selective. Like unless you are just paying absolute top dollar, you gotta know somebody.

SPEAKER_02 24:04

Oh yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 24:06

Yeah. And for the most part, it's the same that way with private private out here where people are renting rice blinds, and again, now I'm talking with farmers, but some of the outfitters are are are getting bigger and they're starting to take some of those leases out. So it's been an issue for even like access to like going out and having that option to you know, you know, buy a three-man blind for the season. So it's uh it's getting comp I'd say the words competitive in in a bad way. Um so yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:35

Oh, yeah. So like like these Arkansas, like if you want a timber hole in Arkansas and you want to lease it, and this is just like an okay timber hole. I mean, it's gonna run you forty-five thousand dollars for the blind.

SPEAKER_00 24:45

Wow. Shit, out here it's like you want you want all yeah, it's like so so.

SPEAKER_04 24:54

I mean, if you want to release out somebody's whole property, you're gonna pay $200,000 a year.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

Damn. That's like buying that's like buying into a club out here. Out here, it's like I'd say anywhere from like four grand to six grand a hole. So if you do like, you know, four man blinds, you know, you'll be paying 20,000, 25 grand, but uh definitely not 45,000. That's um yeah, that's crazy. Yeah, it's a lot of money, man.

SPEAKER_01 25:18

I was gonna say around here, it's it's pretty good through around here. I know I've heard guys paying between as on the low end 2,500 to 3,000 to probably 10 or 12 grand up to 15, but nothing above that, at least that I know of or heard or seen. But that kind of brings up a good that's not that bad. Yeah, that brings up a good point you guys are talking about. Um, do you think that there's more success on private versus public land? Because sometimes you'll see guys killing it on public, and then other guys will be tanking on private, and then it switches. Like, do you think it's about location as far as public versus private, or do you think it's just what the birds are doing?

SPEAKER_00 26:08

Go ahead, Hayes.

SPEAKER_04 26:12

Uh you can you can kill them on private on public, but it takes a lot, a lot of work. And you got you you're not sleeping at your house, you're sleeping at the boat room. Yeah, no doubt. You gotta be out there at 8 o'clock, but I think you're gonna be more successful day in and day out on private land in Arkansas.

SPEAKER_00 26:37

Yeah, and for yeah, for us, like I got some, you know, I I'm you know, upper 40s, but I got some buddies that are, you know, they're in their 50s, 60s, and they've been hunting public land their entire life, so they got their holes, man, and they they hammer them, man. So, you know, they they draw and they know all the refuges like the back of their hand. But I think the the common person that goes out there and and you know goes out to the sweat line and spends the night out there, you know, it's a struggle. And but you know, on the private side, it really depends on where the flight is. You know, I we're blessed in in our family club or the the flights there, you know. I think what in Hunter, we talked about our club, you know, we have 600 acres, but 250 of those acres are a sanctuary that we don't hunt. So we have a mini refuge that we dedicate, and we're one of the few clubs that does that uh in on the entire island that we're on, and and it it works, right? And so there's less pressure on the birds in that area. Um then I have a brother-in-law that's only about you know maybe 15 miles from us, uh, and and they they struggle in in shooting the amount of birds. And and so what are ducks thinking? Who knows, man? You know, it's like you know, it depends on what the water's doing. If there's more area, there's more rain we got one year, and there's more areas for the ducks to go and get feed, you know, that plays into it. Um, so yeah, it's um, but I I would say it as a whole, like A said, I mean, private's probably your best shot. Um, but it's getting more expensive, man. Everything out this this freaking state is is stupid. It's hard to stay here, man.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

Oh, yeah, I I can definitely agree and say that, you know, it if you can afford it and if you can swing it, um or able to have it, private is definitely probably the better way to go. And like you said, Caesar, you know, you it if you're able to, you're able to manage it better and have like okay, have your own little sanctuary spot, have your own little rest spot for them that you don't hunt or don't do. But I mean, around here, you know, you'll have days where guys will bang it up just as good on public, if not better, than private sometimes. So it all just depends on weather, what's going on, how you know what what pushes the birds wear.

SPEAKER_00 29:01

It did on to go a little to go a little deeper on that. I mean, land management and conservation is what we're about. And so, like, aside from having a 250 acre sanctuary in the off season, well, before that, we only we only hunt Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday. So we have the refuge system at our club, even though we're private and there's you know six to eight of us that hunt it, you know, that's family and friends, and then invites that we get people in, right? It's I'm like I said, I'm I'm blessed in that in that fact, right? So there's less pressure on the birds. And then in the off season, I mean we we have fixed all our gates, and California Waterfowl Association has been really great with us with partnering and helping us fix some of the gates, and and uh so we get all the water off in the off-season, we're able to, you know, to work on the land to create more food for the ducks. And so uh, you know, we kind of have an agreement with them where we're post-season, we're holding, we're not draining the water right away. So, and what that does is we have a lot of mallards that are breeding um in the off-season. So we we've seen more mallard, gadwal, uh, wigeon, uh, and teal this, or not teal, but like uh that are breeding. And so like we just started getting our water off. So, you know, by the time September hits, we're gonna get out there frantically to start discing and creating more food for the ducks uh in strategic areas, and and then we, you know, then we'll flood right, you know, a month before before duck season. And it works, man. You know, it's uh it's creating habitat for for the ducks to breed. And you know, you know, out here we deal with drought and you know, our state being really weird with water, man. And it's like um, you know, our state's weird to begin with, man. It's um it really is. Um but yeah, man, it it all plays a factor. Um, and I can go deeper on the political side, what du is doing, but you know, those organizations need to do better, you know. And uh I know California, we're big proponents of California waterfowl, and like they they really make it about you know making uh more access for the for the for the public system for for people to get out there because we need more hunters, man. We do. I mean the the decline nationwide's going down, man. You know, we need you know, we need more hunters, man, for uh to advocate for us to to get more land to keep the lands protected in the marshlands throughout the U.S. So that's my pitch.

SPEAKER_04 31:34

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

What you got to add to that, Hayes?

SPEAKER_04 31:39

Uh I want to add to the the pressure management and land management aspect of what he said. Um so on our property at 600 acres, we have a 20-acre rest area that we're not allowed to hunt. Well I said I made that rule said we don't hunt that at all. Um but my rule is okay, so you can hunt a blind for three days in a row, but for each day you hunt, you have to let it rest. So, like let's say, okay, I hunt here two days in a row. Okay, okay, well, let's go hunt this other blind tomorrow. Okay, we gotta let that rest two days. But I mean, we're not like like you, um, like have the refuge schedule. I mean, you know, everybody comes in at different points you know during the during the week. Um but I mean we plant corn, rice, and uh millet. And uh we also have water control on our property as well. So you know, it's growing growing food, being able to grow food for the ducks and uh also I think the pressure from public land because people are out there every single day. There's no like set days you can go out there and hunt. So everybody's out there every day blasting them, and then if you let your blinds rest on private land, they're gonna be smack loaded in there.

SPEAKER_00 33:11

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 33:12

Because you know, nobody's out there.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

Oh yeah. Yeah, they figure it out real quick. Ducks don't like being shot. No, they do not.

SPEAKER_01 33:24

That brings up another good question. Do you guys have Sunday hunting in your areas? That's been a big hot topic around here.

SPEAKER_00 33:32

Yeah, we do Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday, so those are our three days during the week.

SPEAKER_04 33:38

Louisiana is every day.

SPEAKER_01 33:40

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 33:41

And so is Arkansas.

SPEAKER_00 33:42

Yeah, because I know shoot every day out here, too.

SPEAKER_01 33:45

Yeah, because I know for the longest out here, you couldn't hunt on Sundays for birds. And then as of recently, within the past two, three years, Delaware and Maryland's open Sunday hunting. And then I think New Jersey's getting ready to put it through. So that also increases pressure as well, because you know, you you know, they had that day that was guaranteed nobody was gonna be out there and they had rest and refuge and weren't getting shot at, but now it just opens up more, especially on the public land. You know, you got guys going out the quote unquote weekend warriors that'll go shoot them up all they can Saturday and Sunday.

SPEAKER_04 34:40

A weekend warrior.

SPEAKER_02 34:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:47

Well, how many days do y'all hunt out of the season? Like, uh put a number on it.

SPEAKER_01 34:52

You know go ahead.

SPEAKER_00 34:55

I mean, we're we're blessed out here. I mean, we have a hundred day season, man. And so yeah, you guys are real limited in the amount of days you get to hunt. Um I mean, a hundred days is I'm not hunting a hundred days, but I mean I'm hunting 30 to 40 of them. So, you know, we're we're hunting a lot with me and my boys, and um uh yeah, we hunt a lot, so we're we're lucky in that sense.

SPEAKER_01 35:18

Oh yeah. I'd say ours typically we have a few couple week splits in the beginning, and then the big the big seasons uh 45 or 60 days, depending on what they want to do that year. But me personally, I'll probably be hunting about half of that. Like 20 to 30 days, maybe.

SPEAKER_02 35:52

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 35:53

And that's and probably thirty-five of it is in uh night.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 36:01

Hello Yeah.

unknown 36:04

Good night.

SPEAKER_01 36:05

Good night. That's a regular schedule program.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

Um Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 36:19

We kind of mentioned it before. Um and it I says waterfowl hunters know the word tradition and waterfowl kind of go hand in hand together. What would you say is kind of like a big traditional thing in waterfowl for your guys' area?

SPEAKER_00 36:45

Yeah, I mean, I mean, for me, for me, it it's it's passing it on. And so, you know, hunting is a um you know, like I was telling Hunter before I I coach a lot, right? And so like teaching whether it's a new hunter that's older than you or the of the younger judge, you know, obviously I have young boys and and and I've taught I've taught them you know how to hunt. And I was telling Hunter before, like my my older son, who's who's 16, you know, he loves the process. He he loves getting his gear ready the night before, loves setting his alarm to get up in the morning, you know, driving to the club, packing the boat up, making sure we got everything dialed in. And this is even before we shoot a duck, right? And so, like, you know, we get out there in the morning and there was a big wind, we gotta re you know, we leave our decoys out, so we got to fix the decoys. And then it's, you know, when it's moto season, where's the wind blowing, and you know, where are we gonna position the moto ducks and you know where they're gonna fly from. So it's like, you know, passing that on, um, and and then calling too everything, all of it for us is is when when I think of tradition, it it's it's family, and then I have good friends that I hunt with, and it's the same thing, man. It's like, you know, for me, it's like even if we shoot one duck or no ducks, and I'm in there with the people that I that I want to be there with, man. It that that's what I think about when I think about tradition, man. It's it's it's doing the damn thing. And we're all doing it for the same reason about being out there and uh um and doing it together, man.

SPEAKER_02 38:23

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:26

Absolutely. Um I mean uh one of our traditions, you know, in our area is uh so we do these things called gentleman shoots. So you know, it'd probably be like late season whenever you're not getting a crap ton of volleys coming through. You know, they're coming in in pairs or singles or triples usually. And basically we'll put we'll put money on it.

SPEAKER_00 38:53

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 38:54

And um so we call you out and um you're the only one that shoots.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Oh, I love that. Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:04

Yeah, we get to see how we get to see how good of a shot you are. That's some pressure right there. I love that. Oh no, it's always about making it fun and camaraderie. That's that's the main thing. I could care less if we go out there and and zero, you know. Yeah, oh yeah. It's all about just being being being together.

SPEAKER_01 39:21

Oh yeah, for sure. That's definitely a big tradition thing out here. I mean, whether it be piplines, blinds on the water, a frames, like as long as you're having that camaraderie and being able to pass that down, like you said, Caesar to the next generation or to those that don't know it yet and want to get into hunting, that's what it's all about. Like just passing the love on. I mean, there's a whole lot of things like you know, call making, decoy carving, whatever have you, but the just the tr the camaraderie and love for the sport that we have is the best tradition to pass on.

SPEAKER_00 40:03

Yeah, man. I mean, and just a final note, man, West Coast, Central, South, East Coast. I mean, I don't look at it as like, you know, division between regions, man, and like the same way I don't look at color the same way, man. It's just like we all love to do the and can I swear? I mean, the same fucking thing, man. It's about you know, it's about the love of what we're out there in like Hayes State. I mean, I love that, man. It's about I mean, same shit. I mean, we're out there doing the same thing, loving the same shit that we love about it. Doesn't matter. Like I said, when I'm on vacation, I meet uh I meet hunters from all over the place. We were just in Florida, I met people from Georgia, I met from people from the Midwest. And you know, we start talking about duck hunting, it doesn't matter what you do for a profession or what your background is, or you know, it's uh that all goes out the window, man, and we're talking about the same shit, which we love. It's primal, man.

SPEAKER_03 40:58

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 40:58

Oh, yeah, for sure. I got two final more questions for you guys before we get ready to hop off. What is your favorite conditions to go duck hunting in? I think we may lost haze again for a little bit.

SPEAKER_00 41:21

Yeah, you want I mean, you want me to go?

SPEAKER_01 41:23

Yeah, you can go.

SPEAKER_00 41:24

Yeah, I mean, uh for me, it's I mean, it's wind. We love wind days. I mean, hunting the wind in a pip line, you know, the the ducks are struggling, dude. You know, they they gotta fly lower. Um and then wind and fog. I mean, for me, it's uh uh it's just it's a different environment and it's it's exciting. Um, so yeah, I mean if I had to pick two, but I mean I love blue, you know, we shoot really well in bluebird days at our club, which you wouldn't think, right? And so that's for covering up and calling strategically comes in handy, but like big wind and fog, man, that's that's some of my favorite stuff.

SPEAKER_01 42:07

Oh, yeah, for sure. I'd say for me, and like our area, the crappier the weather, the better the hunting's gonna be. So whether it be like a rainstorm, it's raining, blowing sideways, you know, there there's always good shoots there. Yeah. But my favorite thing, and I've only really experienced it the past well, I've experienced it a little bit when I was young, but I've only really experienced it the past couple years. It's hunting in the snow. When it's when that snow comes, oh, it's like nothing else you've ever seen before. Like you you you you can just see the skylight up with ducks and birds, and it they just do it dirty. The snow is the snow is what like that's one of my favorite things to go hunting, is uh is hunting in the snow.

SPEAKER_04 43:01

Hey, I'm I'm sorry, I had a phone call and I didn't hear your question. So do you mind do you mind repeating that for me?

SPEAKER_01 43:08

Oh you're good, Hayes. I was just saying what's your uh favorite weather conditions to hunt in.

SPEAKER_04 43:14

Uh definitely snow. Because I mean, look, we don't get we don't get we don't get much of it. Okay. So whenever we get a big freeze and you're out there busting ice, and you know, it's it might be miserable, it might be terrible conditions, but you know, that's that's when we do the best is when we get uh big freezes in snow.

SPEAKER_02 43:39

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 43:41

Sometimes you have to camp on the river because all your all your holes are froze up and an ice eater isn't isn't gonna be enough.

SPEAKER_01 43:50

Oh yeah. Did um did you guys get hit much with that big freeze that came through this past year, Haze, down there?

SPEAKER_04 43:58

Yeah, it wasn't. It wasn't awful. Right. I mean I was stuck in Arkansas for five days because it just wouldn't it just wouldn't warm up. And you know, I mean Arkansas was fine. It's like whenever you got get back to the Louisiana line or like South Arkansas, um it's bad. You know, they they don't they don't clear the roads like that. So it was fun. Yeah, we had a lot of fun. I mean, freezing a lot of heat, a lot of uh buddy heaters. I think we had one of those little um like those shop ones, right? They're a little loud, they're a little loud, but um, you know, they put out a lot of heat. So we we were using that a lot in the in the boat. It might not have been safe, but you know, you gotta do what you gotta do.

SPEAKER_02 44:48

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 44:49

But at least we didn't have to race anybody, you know. We had we had some guys on the they set up a tent out there on uh on the riverbank because we couldn't hunt in our holes, so you had to hunt on the river. So we found this little spot where it would it was still open, and the ducks had kept it open all night. We kind of flushed them up whenever we came in there. I was like, okay, yeah, they'll be back. And you know, daylight comes around, they come right back. I mean, we limit out pretty quick, and then they camped out there that night too to save the spot because it's core of engineers property, so you can go out there at any time.

SPEAKER_01 45:25

Hmm, all right. Oh yeah. Well, final question for you gents for the night. It's not my famous why question. You guys have already answered that before on your own episodes. But what would you guys say was your aha moment that was like, okay, this is what I want to do with waterfowl hunting?

SPEAKER_04 45:52

My first trap of uh my first six-man limit of greenheads, and I'm telling you, it was non-stop. I mean, we limited out before 8:30, and I just been chasing that ever since.

SPEAKER_00 46:09

Yeah, for like, and I told the story earlier with me, is uh, you know, the the first five minutes that I was introduced to it, I was I knew I was gonna do it, but I think my aha moment as a lifelong, you know, coach and and dad is when my kid got his first limit on his own. Um that was uh that was some of the coolest shit that I've that I've ever got to experience. Um and uh yeah, that's yeah, that was it for me.

SPEAKER_01 46:42

Oh yeah, I'd say my first aha moment was probably my first real snow hunt in when I came back from uh college. Granted, I you know I've loved hunting and been in hunting a little bit before then, but when that when it was white out conditions, and then all of a sudden you just see a thousand ringnecks come flying up through the marsh, and then as you're shooting those, trying to go get other ducks, you have mallards, pintails, what have you, flying through as you know, you have guys out picking up ducks and they don't care. It's like okay, this is what a real good duck hunt's about, and just been trying to chase that ever since. Oh, yeah. Well, thank you guys for coming on tonight and sparing some time for this little mini panel we did. I really enjoyed it. Um, any final thoughts or shout-outs before we head out?

SPEAKER_00 47:50

No, thanks for thanks for having us on, man. Hayes, good meeting you, man. And yeah, man, it's uh it's all about uh us loving the same thing, man. That's what it's all about, right? Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:01

I'm surprised you could I'm surprised you could hear what I was saying. My accent's kind of thick, huh?

SPEAKER_00 48:07

I I got some friends from uh I got some friends from Mississippi, so I I've learned uh I've learned uh understand it. Well Jackson.

SPEAKER_04 48:16

Well, I mean, you know, you know our Louisiana accent is a little different.

unknown 48:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:20

We we we talk we talk we talk pretty fast, you know. Uh a lot of a lot of French undertones. I mean I mean half the half the sentences I say got something in French in it.

SPEAKER_01 48:33

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 48:35

Heck yeah.

SPEAKER_01 48:36

Well, thank you guys for coming on once again, and thank you all for tuning in to another episode of the Blue Hen Outdoors Podcast.

SPEAKER_00 48:44

Okay, guys, have a good one. All right, thank you, sir. All right.