The duck hunter nobody sees

The duck hunter everyone sees is the one holding the ducks for the photo. The duck hunter nobody sees is the one scouting alone, loading decoys in the dark, fixing broken gear, battling weather, and putting in the work long before legal shooting light. In this episode, we dive into the opportunity we have to be successful during duck seasons and why the hunters who consistently find ducks are usually the ones willing to do the things nobody else will do before the hunt. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

All right, everybody, thanks for joining me on the Duck Dependent Podcast. Fired up to be here, episode 22. This one is called The Duck Hunter That Nobody Sees, guys. We're going to talk about some of the work that we all do or some of the work that it takes behind the scenes from you know scouting alone, hunting alone, fixing problems, the overall grind that we don't post in social media that we just have to do behind the scenes to make this thing go season after season that I know you guys do. But before we get to that, let's get to the partners. Retay USA, guys, they are launching all kinds of firearms, new turkey guns, AR-22s, rifles. My favorite has been out for a while now, and I put it to the test. The Ritay Ace, the baddest inertia shotgun on planet Earth. I've got it in a different couple flavors. 20 gauge, guys, Ritay USA, go check them out. Flight Day ammunition, guys. 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But uh Bucked Up, checked out, check out DD10. And then DuckDependent.shop, guys. I'm always updating inventory. Um go check them out. I put one hat to the test last year, the Heritage Old School series, guys. Literally tried to wear it every single day and wear it out, and it's absolutely held up. So I'm very thankful and I'm proud of that. So DuckDependent.shop, go check it out. If you sign up, subscribe, you get 15% off your first order. So go check out duckdependent.shop. Okay, let's dive into it. The duck hunter that nobody sees. The behind the scenes stuff, man. And you guys know what I'm talking about, but I'm gonna touch a little bit on that. The scouting, the maintenance, all that stuff that we do just to go, and I'm gonna start off with stuff that I always do that I know you guys do just to even go on a hunt. Okay, so we're gonna talk about all the equipment, whether it's your gun, truck, and boat. We'll start there. Guys, it never ends throughout the hunting season, right? So we'll start at the pickup truck. Tires rotated, right in are they inflated correctly? Oil changes. I have a a diesel. Do I have the enough depth to get here traveling to to this state or even to in my own home state or whatever it takes? It's like it's a constant thing behind the scenes to do. Now I'm fired up about it, but it can wear on you, and I just want to this is to to pump everybody up kind of an episode to say, hey, stay after it, and this is why we're different. Outdoorsmen, duck hunters, waterfowlers, whatever you want to say, this is why we're different, and this is why our stuff works and why we're reliable and dependable is the stuff we do behind the scenes. So that's why I'm fired up to talk about it. Um let's get to the boat. So I can I'll dive in later in the episode. I've had issues with my trailer, not so much my boat and motor, but the things that I do, I talked about the truck, right? Checking everything. Well, that happens after pre-trip and post-trip. No matter what. A lot of these trucks, some of the modern trucks, but even if even if you don't have one, a modern, we've got the Marsh King, the old 5F-150. I don't have any tire sensors, but before I go on a hunt or before I go anywhere, as far as a uh a duck hunt, or I'm gonna travel an hour or so away, all those things are checked. And I have not always done that in the past. Let's be honest. We have modern trucks, okay, they look good, you go, right? It'll tell us. That's totally true. But I do like to get in there. Let's say I'm I'm I'm taking the Cummins for a ride. That's got stuff you can pull up on your gauge. I check tire pressure. Obviously, this is easy stuff, so I'm not trying to talk at anybody, but do I have enough fuel? Do I need to gas up? I'm a big guy, a big uh kind of proponent for gassing up the night before, so you can just get up and go the next day. But um, some of these modern diesels, Def Tank, what's that look like? Do you need to carry some because you're traveling 500 miles? Um so those are a lot of things, the boat. Pre-hunt, post-hunt. I do this every single time. It takes me less than five minutes, or maybe even less than that. Before I go, we do we do a light check. So be so let's say I'm done with a hunt and I come back. Do the lights still work? Tell lights left and right, front LEDs lights, do they work? And does the motor start? Okay. Before I go in the morning, do the same check. You know, you hook up your boat. I know a lot of you guys do it, but I just I love talking about it and reminding us, keeping us pumped up. But light check, boat, trailer, front LEDs, and does the motor start? Now I kind of live in a suburb area, so when I go to the gas station in the morning to get snacks or something, I'll start the motor, make sure everything's great and it's working. So those are the things that I'm just relentless on, and what it and it's what we do behind the scenes that we don't talk about or post about. It's just something we have to do just to function as a waterfowl or duck hunter outdoorsman. Um so same with the firearm. That one's kind of hard, but I don't necessarily deep dive clean it every time after a hunt. But what I'll do is obviously if it functioned flawless, which you know the retay ace has been doing, but your gun functions flawless that day. I'll get it home and I'll run the action a little bit and make sure there's nothing in there, clear debris. Uh if it needs any lubricant because of the condition you were in, I'll add that and then I'll put it in the sock. Guys, I always use a sock that helps get rid of moisture, and then I put it in a gun case. Um, I know a lot of you guys probably know that, but that's this little tip. I always have done that after learning the hard way on some other firearms. But um, so I do check everything, right? Um, and then let's talk about your dog. So for me, same thing. In the field, it's over. Uh, what's he look like? Is he limping? Is there anything good? I usually check him over. Uh, you know, we're always petting our dog, but I'll pet him, check him behind his his ears and just kind of feel him, his shoulders and everything, um, and just see if he flinches or anything. But most of the time, you know, but I just look him over. Um, I make sure he gets fresh food and water after the hunt again, and I put him up in the kennel or put him in a spot where he can rest because a lot of these dogs, you know, what it's your family dog too or whatever, and you're you're on a you know, you have a big acreage or a backyard or whatever it is, they don't slow down. And so I have to feed and water them, kind of air them out a little bit, and I'll put him up. We have a real big kennel for him to make sure that he gets proper rest and he calms down and he recovers. That's kind of key when you're doing these back-to-backs and all this stuff. So um that kind of stuff. But the one thing I really want to dive into that I don't think anybody sees or what's behind the curtain for a lot of us and a lot of outdoorsmen, you guys know it from waterfowl to big game or whatever you do to fly fishing is the scouting the the miles on the road alone. And a lot of you guys know that. Excuse me. Take a drink here. The scouting alone, guys. Um I do it a lot, and whether it's in my state, you know, way up north, way south, state's over, you know, fortunate enough. I have great relationships. I have a great buddy Cody, cousin Ryan, who are in different areas that we can I can talk to before I go there to get a feel. But locally here in our in my backyard, just like you guys, the scouting, the looking, the planning, simply alone. And I don't mean that, you know, you don't have buddies or all that stuff, but we all have different schedules and and and and sometimes people's motivation goes up and down and it doesn't always match yours or you don't match theirs. But what I'm trying to say is that stuff behind the scene that I know you guys do that I do is I'll drive all over trying to find a stack of ducks, or at least trying to give myself an opportunity. Because a lot of times you don't find those mega stacks, you know, from the first day of the season to the last. There's times, and you guys know this, that we don't we don't find those mega stacks. You might find a 12-pack, a six-pack, or you might not find any, and you're like, hey, I saw some flying through there. We don't have anything for tomorrow that's really dialed in. Let's let's go do that. I saw some transitioning, maybe we can traffic them. So that to me is not always talked about. Sometimes that that that road, that lonely road life when you're looking and trying to find birds, um, is not really talked about or really celebrated. And I'm here to celebrate it because I think it's an important part of not just you or myself, Dion, being successful, the group. You know, if you have more of a flexible schedule than other people, or maybe you're on four tenths or whatever, some kind of rotating shift where maybe that's your thing. Um, but we want to thank those guys and or thank yourself for being contributors to that. I know in my group, no one's afraid to scout, everyone does it, but a lot of times they're doing it alone, right? They're like, hey, I'm gonna go check this area, you go check that area, and and um to me it's a great time to to to reflect and to think about certain things as you're scouting and being able to contribute. But um I'm so fired up to talk about all these things behind the scenes, and then actually for me in the last 10 years is the ability to do and hunt alone. And you know, we all have different things going on in life, and sometimes, like I said, people fall off and and motivation comes and goes, or they don't duck hunt anymore, or things happen. Um, but what I've noticed that's really helped me behind the scene is just mindset. You know, hey, I found birds, or I'm gonna hunt four or five days a week, and I hope that I can share that with a friend, a family member, whatever it is. But if not, I'm gonna have everything ready to go at all times. The equipment, the dog, the boat, the gear, the scout, I'm gonna have everything ready to go so that nothing can stop me from or prevent me from trying to get out to the marsh. And all some of these things I've talked about already is what's helped me stay consistent, and I know it's helped you guys uh consistently go, whether you have someone or not. Like I said, we all have different work schedules. Some people hunt a lot, some people don't. And so I want to echo that and and pump some energy into that. That that is a big deal, and keep it going, and it's something that I'm never gonna quit doing is having my stuff ready to go so that anytime I can go, it's functional, um, everything's maintained to the best of our ability. Obviously, guys, things can happen. Or you're ready to go if somebody calls you and say, Hey man, I'm hunting solo today, you want to get together. I love those are awesome too. And you can say, hey, I'm ready to go at all times. But I just I wanted to pump some life and to highlight all you guys are doing that behind the scenes, the the tying the decoys, guys. Decoys, you guys know it, man. There's always something going on, a weight breaks off or something, and those are just things that constantly doing. And then what it takes to before I hop off on that, what it takes to do it by yourself. I mean, my I'll just go over my looter uh routine uh that I do every time. So we'll just talk post-hunt. Um, so I'll get back from a hunt, let's say solo, and for me to be able to do it the next day, or for me to be able to call someone up and say I'm ready to hit the road or whatever it is, whatever you got planned, is when that hunt's over, everything's prepped and put the the best way and kind of stage the night before I go again. And that helps me consistently go and go and go, and then also not feel overwhelmed, if that makes sense, and not bring that overwhelmedness or that irritation to the hunt, right? Is I prevent all that, and that's that behind the scene thing. And so when the hunt's over, like most of you, I put the the boat goes back in the garage. Let's just say I'm hunting here locally. It goes away. I did a quick function test. The lights are still working, the motor started. Um, so we're I we're good in the morning, and on the way, like I said, on the way home, um, if I have to top off the boat in the truck, all that's done the night before on the way home. I put the waiters up. Let's get those air dried, let's get all the equipment, let's get the motion. I love uh running splashers, I get those on the charger. Um, I get my dog blue, fed, watered, put up, so he can start the recovery process. If I'm gonna wear similar clothes the next day because the temperature is the same, I kind of pre-lay that out, honestly, ready to go in the morning again, and it doesn't take more than probably an hour. And that's even with cleaning birds. So a lot of that stuff is done uh behind the curtain. I always encourage people, we talk about it all the time, but when you're done with the hunt, you're tired and everything. If you go hit that couch before that, you have a less likely chance of getting up and handling this on that before. And I'm not saying you have to do it that way. I'm just saying it's helped me stay consistent with you know being able to go at any time or whenever I want, uh, doing that stuff behind the scenes has helped me. And so I recommend do not hit that couch if you can prevent it. Go get your cup of coffee, go get something to drink real quick. But so that's kind of what I do. Everything is ready and staged the night before, so that the next day I'm going in there, it's not you're not irritated in the morning, you can't find everything. Where's your headlamp? All that's getting charged and staged for the night, and then before I go to bed, I take everything off the charger, put it in its decoy bag, put my headlamps back, or whatever you need, and it's literally ready to go in the morning. So uh I just I just want to talk about that in this episode because I think that's uh not highlighted and it's not glorified, but it's what it takes um you know, for a duck hunter to to survive and be successful. Um and then kind of talked about the scouting alone. Um, but all that stuff has really helped me, and I know it helps you guys, being able to hunt alone, right? Um and being able to grind alone. Now, duck hunting for me is phenomenal because of the camaraderie. I know we talk about that a lot, and the people that you get to hunt with when I travel all over the West, or here in my backyard, you grab a good buddy, or or somebody has some time. I absolutely love that. But what I've learned is when you take care of a lot of these things um and have everything ready to go, and you're not necessarily dependent on anybody, you can just kind of free flow. And so that's what I've done, especially the last I want to say 10 years, maybe nine years, has really honed in on all these things um behind the scenes, not just the actual hunt, because that's work in itself. We we we know that, but this has really helped me stay fluid, helped me stay positive, help help help help that brand that we're talking about, that good, better, best, has helped me being able to do that and come with a positive attitude because I'm not stressed, hey man, you know, the boat light was out and I didn't address it, or you know, I didn't even check it the night before. Sometimes you can't address everything. I totally get that, but those are things you can prevent. I just want to I want to pump people up about it to make sure that we consistently do that so that you can have your good, better, best day, your good, better, best hour, or the good, better, best season. That's that's what I'm here to talk about, and a highlight and and that behind the scenes stuff that what it takes, and I think most of you know that. But if you're not the boat owner or you're not the dog owner in the group, and we always joke you're the hired gun where you just get to show up, so to speak, and and and hunt, though that's okay too, because I have friends like that that have really uh crazy work schedules, or at some certain times they were students balancing different stuff. So I get all that, but I'm just saying for the most part, that's the stuff as if you're the boat owner and or you have the decoys and the dog, that's the a lot of things we do. Um, and even if you're not, I I would encourage and and echo what I said earlier about getting your stuff ready the night before, have it staged so that you can just be ready to rock in the morning. You're not in a rush in the morning, not irritated, you can't find your sock or your headlamp. Um, and then I was thinking about this when we when we talk about um behind the scenes how we make this thing go. And for me, it's I'm gonna take a drink real quick. For me, it's conversations and relationships. And what I mean by that is we all have friends, family, uh, you're married, you have kids, you're helping your aunt, you're helping your grandparents, whatever it is, you're helping your parents out. But the conversations that we have behind the scenes about, hey, how do we get out together? Hey, how do we hey yes, you know, I want to take the family out to dinner. Can can we do it early or so hopefully I can try to get some extra sleep or hey, is there anything I know you're gonna need help on Wednesday. Do you mind if I come Tuesday afternoon and help you? Because I, you know, I I'm hunting, whatever these days. And a lot of stuff that's not talked about is you know, the relationship and the compassion and the understanding that we have um for the people that we've chosen to have in our life. Um so if you have a wife or kids, you know, the things you do, the baseball, the little league, and all those things um that I really want to highlight um the outdoorsmen that we do so that we can go enjoy. So maybe you can take your son down a duck hunt or uh get them out fishing or whatever it is. And so really for me, that's a big part of behind the scenes is the relationships and the conversations that we're having. Hey, can you go Tuesday? Hey, can I help you this day? Hey, I want to take the family out. Yes, I know we need to go shopping, or yeah, I need to get to over to my aunts to help, or whatever it is. Um, I think that's one of those things that is not shouldn't be overlooked because that for me makes the season go. You know, you're you're you get pulled a lot of different directions, especially when when you want to chase with a passion that I know you guys have, that I know that I have, and I want to be relentless on these ducks, and and I want to show up for my team or show up for whoever I'm hunting with today in a positive attitude, and I want to be ready to work. But before all that happens is a lot of conversations, a lot of pre-work of of scheduling things, and so I definitely don't want that to be overlooked. I know you guys are doing that, and that's a part of the end, kind of the the last thing is it's used a lot in waterfowl, it's used a lot in life, and the word grind. Um I get where it comes from because I think it's the the day after day or the weekend after weekend you feel the burden. Um but lately, and I say lately, is I feel this culmination of what I just talked about, the behind the scenes stuff, is it doesn't feel like a grind for me. I don't want to use that word really anymore because what I've noticed is I feel I I feel blessed to be able to do this every day or the weekend and have public land to go to. And I I have a real positive mindset about it, and I don't even like I said, the word grind is not a thing anymore. It's because of all the pre-work that we've done, right? So all the off season we're training the dog, even during the season, because they it that they do get sloppy because you're doing a hunting conditions. A lot of times things get a little bit loose, but it's all the pre-work you've done with your dog, it's all the trap shooting you've done, the patterning, the boats ready to go, everything's kind of ready. And if you I feel like that I feel privileged to get up every day or privileged to travel and go hunt. It doesn't feel like the G word. It feels I don't know, I just feel like opportunity because I've done all the pre-work. Like in the morning, I don't feel tired because I got everything done and I went to sleep at a decent time and I'm ready to go. Um, and so I really wanted to pump that into this episode is maybe if we think about it different, and I totally get what everybody's saying. The grind is is to me, you know, if you're if you're working, you're raising a family, you're going to school, you're going for that promotion, that that's I definitely see that, and it can wear on you. But what I I've learning and I constantly remind myself is, hey Dion, do the prep work, do the stuff before, and it doesn't feel like that anymore. You know, study when you can or get in that extra work when maybe everyone's got some downtime at your house, and and and so that that's something I wanted to talk about on here. Uh the behind the scene thing that you can do to not make it feel like because I I kind of starred that G word as do I even do I even want to use it anymore? Um I just I think with all that pre-work, like I said, being consistent in that, being motivated with it, I don't believe it's a grind. Um I get where it comes from, you know, the early mornings, the the late nights, the early um boat rides, all that stuff. Totally, totally get with that. But I'm just over, I'm to the point now. What I'm trying to say is, guys, I'm just fired up about it. We're we're gonna go and I'm gonna use the word one more time. I feel blessed to be able to just get out and hunt with a buddy, with with a friend, with a cousin, with a whatever it is, and and share the fellowship and get out and pursue what drives me nuts as deep in my soul as ducks, right? And representing this brand duck dependent. And so um with that, I did not want to forget about that uh as a as a talking point for this episode. And I also want to say to all the people that are out there listening, I want to say thank you because I've got some great responses from people and and people engaging with it. And I just want to remind any of the listeners that are with this duck dependent journey, um, shoot me uh anything on Instagram or TikTok about an idea you want to talk about. Like I said, I've thought about it, I've talked about it well. I'd love to get some guests, some people that follow the channel, follow the page, follow me, whatever it is. I'd love to have you on. And I want to hear about your journey, where you hunt, your region, um, how you put things together. Because I love to hear different people's perspectives, and I hope that I could learn something from you or give something to you as well. So um, with that, guys, I'm just fired up about this one. Uh, the behind-the-scene look, behind the curtain stuff, what it takes, uh, you know, what a duck hunter does behind the scenes. So um I don't want to forget about them, real quick. Close it out. Retail USA, flight day ammunition, check out DD 10, premium steel, bucked up, check out D D 10 and DuckDependent.shop, guys. Go get yourself a hat. Season's coming up. We're fired up to be here. And I'm so thankful for you guys to be following on this journey, and I'll catch you on the next one.