Duck Season Somewhere

Following a beautiful morning's duck hunt on the south end of Utah's Great Salt Lake, local historian Jack Ray describes to Ramsey Russell the history of the Rudy Duck Club and other venerable duck camps in the basin. The sign above them reads, "So fowl and fair a day I have not see." Why were so many great duck camps established way back when and why do they still exist? Located in one of the dri...

Following a couple exciting days hunting swans and ducks together in Utah, Chad Yamane and Ramsey Russell share a couple cold beers before supper and talk about those memorable hunts. How are swans hunted in Utah, what gear is required and what pointers does Chad have for swan hunters?  What was the weather like and why might the Utah swan season be abruptly closed within upcoming days, weeks? Wha...

Rich Hansen is a field biologist and State Banding Coordinator in Utah. He and Ramsey discuss swan hunting and the important of Great Salt Lake associated wetlands to swan conservation. Why is this region vital to North American swans and how many swans pass through Utah? How did swan hunting originate in the United States? Importantly, why is swan hunting vital to this waterfowl species conservat...

Y'all better buckle up and hang on! Mississippi historian and story-teller-of-epic-proportions, Hank Burdine is back, and this times going as fast and furious as an almost late-for-shooting-time hunter tearing down a gravel road! This colorful episode touches on memorable people, places and times throughout the Mississippi Delta like only Hank can tell it. What's so special about the Mississippi D...

New England sea duck hunting is an obvious destination for hunters looking to travel beyond their own backyards because it offers a much different experience and diversity of unique species than most other places within the US. To long-time New England sea duck hunting guide and USHuntList outfitter, Captain Reilly McCue, connecting clients with dream species to include eiders, long-tailed ducks,...

Following a fun morning duck hunt on Utah public land, Kevin Booth and Ramsey visit at the shop. Kevin grew up hunting in Utah with his dad, but it was his sons that drug him back into it. With a fervor. His Out of Cache knife hobby-business began as one of many do-it-yourself projects that kept he and his sons busy during the off season to include long-tail motors and much more. How'd his sons pu...

Seann Robinson, from Lufkin, Texas, describes himself as a late-start duck hunter of sorts. Deer hunting is the big thing in east Texas pineywoods, but he eventually found himself gravitating towards waterfowl.  He hunts them primarily on public lands. He and his wife, Ira, enjoy the whole hunting camp aura. And that's exactly what inspired them recently dipping into the American Dream with Ira's...

This episode begins with special guest, Joseph Richard, a 97 year-old US Navy Veteran briefly recalling the events of December 7, 1941. He was there. What does he remember from that infamous day in history? Does he consider himself a hero? Sobering thoughts. Then, Bigwater and Ramsey Russell recount the first leg of the ongoing 2020 North American Waterfowl Tour, discussing some highlights. What i...

Matt McCormick and Brady Davis invite Ramsey Russell into their wheelhouse of Gallatin River Valley goose hunting near Bozeman, Montana. The local waterfowling culture is all about big honkers and ducks over local grain-fields, but pretty much takes a backseat to big game hunting, fly fishing and other plentiful outdoor activities. Following a pound-sized moose burgers supper and cold beer, they s...

While watching Canada geese trading along the Yellowstone River from his back porch, innovator Bruce Kania tells Ramsey Russell about "the business of inventing." Influenced by a grandmother that taught him to snare rabbits, he grew up archery hunting in Wisconsin, became a young muskie guide, and eventually moved to Montana to chase elk.  His Biohaven Floating Island technology is distributed wor...

Ramsey Russell, Forrest Russell and long-time family friend Ian Munn get together during Mississippi's duck season opener weekend to recall past times hunting together at the same duck camp and worldwide since forever. "Nice Shot Mr. Ian" originated during a discussion with Ramsey's sons at camp and has since haunted him for decades. There's plenty more similar stories, way too many for one sittin...

Following a couple days event-filled mornings hunting snow geese, honkers and ducks, Ramsey meets with new friends Tom Mau and Monte Brekhus in Kenmare, North Dakota. Kenmare is genuine small-town America and the self-proclaimed Snow Goose Capitol of The United States. It says so on a sign, the water tower in center of town is adorned with geese, and the local football team is named the Honkers. W...

Ramsey Russell shifts gears during the 2020-2021 North American Tour - and after a couple weeks sitting in duck and goose blinds, stretching his legs to chase North Dakota pheasants feels great! Todays guests, Ringneck Resort's Shaine Swenson and Clayton Mayer talk about their own hunting origins and what it takes to organize a hunt like this. What advantages does North Dakota offer over South Dak...

As we continue with this two-part series, Collier's hunting reputation has achieved heroic proportions. His circle of friends includes governors, generals, senators. But along with the railroads to whom Collier has supplied bear meat comes the clearcutting of the region's virgin forests and subsequent decimation of bear populations. But it's when Collier transitions from market hunter to bear guid...

It's unseasonably single-digit windchills and bone-chilling cold when Ramsey jumps into the blind with Dirty Bird Outfitters' Nick Marcyes for their 3rd- or 4th Annual "Where's-Matt-At Hunt" together in North Dakota - way different than preceding visits! Undeterred, Nick rolls with the punches and develops a winning game plan for DBO guests. What did Canadian border closures do to license sales in...

Today's guest credits duck hunting back in Mississippi's South Delta - that required long, gumbo mud hikes with his dad, across bean fields that stretched for as far as he could see - for his developing an appreciation for "working smarter not harder." He recalls the expansion of federal refuges in the Mississippi Delta and, as one of their employees, public relations fiascos and law enforcement c...

Holt Collier is among the most legendary figures in American hunting history that you've probably never even heard of. Proving once and for all that truth is stranger than fiction, and far more interesting, the story takes place in a primordial Mississippi delta wilderness that was vanquished during Collier's lifetime.  Born a slave, Collier later became closely associated with some of the most po...

File this one under interesting things learned in a duck blind during Ramsey's 2020-2021 North American Tour.  Following a fun diver hunt among friends in blustery North Dakota, where lively duck blind banter ensued between volleys, Ramsey Russell and Chris Nicolai warm their fingers around cups of hot coffee back at camp where they get down to the serious business of talking waterfowl management...

It's snowing and blowing, temps plummeting North Dakota-style when I wheel into Jeff Pelayo's driveway during the 2020-2021 North American Tour. North Dakota duck hunting usually conjures mental imagery of mallards and Canadas pouring into dry fields, but I'm meeting Jeff to experience a lesser-seen-side of this cowboy state: diver ducks. Bluebills, canvasbacks, redheads, buffleheads, ring-necked...

In the final episode of Warren Coco series, Ramsey Russell and Coco shift gears and discuss Louisiana Gulf Coastal restoration. There have been significant habitat changes in Louisiana during time span that this 8-part series took place, not the least of which are the "sinking lands" in the Lower Mississippi River Delta, especially, and parts of the entire Gulf Coast. Disappearing at an estimated...

The North American Tour continue as Ramsey Russell wheels into Wisconsin during an October snow storm and shares a couple great Wisconsin honker hunts with "TJ Ten Yards."  TJ describes his earliest goose hunting influences, why giant Canada geese are his favorite. TJ came by his nickname the old-fashioned way - he earned it.  Like a talkative 9-pack of longnecks sailing towards the spread on lock...

Throughout the United States a sub-gauge movement seems underway as more waterfowlers are shouldering 20- and 28-gauge small-bores instead of 12-gauge shotguns.  Which is why I found it so surprising that legendary duck hunter Warren Coco oftentimes shoots the tried-and-true 10-gauge at ducks. How and why did Coco begin shooting a Big Ten? How have shotshells changed since the "good old days?" Wha...

Years ago, Ramsey stopped by Joe Briscoe's backyard shop to visit very briefly and buy a couple blue-winged teal calls. The pair swapped stories, shared a quart jar of peach moonshine and pored over Joe's treasure trove of collectible waterfowl calls. Several hours later, they had become friends. And despite a round of caramel 'shine the following year, the two have since remained friends.  How'd...

From his Go-Devil Manufacturing office near Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Warren describes to Ramsey the origins of waterfowl mounts adorning the sunken cypress walls of his office to Ramsey. On the heels of an especially busy hurricane season - which has not yet ended - they talk about what is like to live in an area heavily impacted by hurricanes. The conversation turns to Coco's having recently squir...

Halfway across the world and 6,850 miles from central Mississippi, the small country of Azerbaijan is nestled between the Caspian Sea and Iran. Preceding release of Life's Short GetDucks Azerbaijan short film (scheduled for release on October 28), outdoor cameraman Jake Latendresse describes what struck him most about the unique duck hunting destination as seen through the camera lens.  What lead...