Duck Season Somewhere

In follow up to yesterday's special episode, Lynyrd Skynyrd Monument Board Member, Mike Rounsaville, and Ramsey briefly discuss the Lynyrd Skynyrd Monument that's recently been built near the crash site.  The monument can be visited by exiting I-55 at Exit 8, driving 8 miles west towards Gillsburg on Highway 568. Follow the signs.     Related Links: Hanging Out With Gene Odom (YouTube Channel) Gen...

On October 19, 1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd was inarguably the greatest rock band touring the USA and played what was their final concert in Greenville, South Carolina.  While enroute to Baton Rouge on October 20th, their plane crashed in the remote woodlands of southwest Mississippi, killing 6 passengers to include frontman Ronny Van Zant, guitarist Steve Gaines, and backup vocalist Cassie Gaines.  Forty...

Seventy-three years young, Gene Campbell is a two-time Purple Heart recipient that has been hunting fabled Chambers County, Texas, since he was a precocious child armed only with a pellet rifle. He humbly describes a legendary half-century of waterfowl guiding - on some of the same coveted properties he's hunted since forever - as, "not a career, but a lifetime love." Among his most cherished poss...

Thinking Texas during the mid- to late-1800s more likely conjures images of tough cowboys, fierce comanches, and dusty cattle drives than epic turn-of-the-century waterfowl hunting. Today's guest forever changes that. Rob Sawyer has authored 3 incredible books on the Lone Star State's colorful waterfowling history. Even in the halcyon days of waterfowling, sport hunters began emerging as conservat...

Houston Havens, Waterfowl Program Coordinator for Mississippi, has learned lots of very interesting things about wood ducks pursuant to ongoing banding programs in Mississippi. He and Ramsey discuss a variety of related topics pertaining to this ubiquitous species. How do they band wood ducks, what valuable information is gained, and how important is this to management? How widely do Mississippi's...

Gaining proper cultural insight anywhere worldwide is as simple as putting your feet under a table at the right restaurant. Doe's Eat Place is the most iconic restaurant in the State of Mississippi, is among countless Top-10 lists nationwide, has served countless luminaries and celebrities right alongside duck hunters fresh off the river for decades. It even received the prestigious James Beard Fo...

Kicking off this season's North American Waterfowl Tour, Ramsey Russell stops in central Iowa to goose hunt Trent Sinclair. While the two hunters are rolling Canada goose poppers and snacking on andouille and cheese, they discuss hunting in Iowa and some favorite recipes. About mid-way through the recording, Sinclair makes a move that Ramsey later wishes he'd photographed!   Episode Sponsors: BOSS...

Steve Biggers of Rocky Creek Retrievers runs the best blue-winged teal hunts in Texas, maybe even on earth. But it doesn't happen by accident. Far from it. Biggers explains professional retriever training and duck guiding, often using baseball concepts to effectively get his points across home plate. Straightforward and deliberate, his approach to both are similar - he wants to produce the best po...

Warren Coco is a fury of boundless can-do energy. Large and in charge, with nearly a half-century of personal and professional achievements roiling in his wake, fellow hunt camp members affectionately refer to him as "The General."  It even says so on the gold-starred military helmet they hung above the entrance to his camp house room. The conversation begins with Coco explaining Go Devil's custom...

Ramsey Russell connects with Ira McCauley to discuss September happenings. Ira tells about the September blue-winged teal opener in Missouri's north zone, which has become a long-standing family tradition. They hunt, for sure, but they eat right and even have fun in a variety of ways. He describes his youngest son making an important connection with hunting last weekend. Beyond blue-wingeds, Ira t...

In this episode of Duck Season Somewhere, waterfowl hunting legend, Warren Coco, and Ramsey Russell continue visiting at the confluence of the Red and Black rivers in central Louisiana, but their conversation turns from feathered fowl to the big lizards for which is state is famous. Coco describes hunting alligators and collecting their eggs in great detail, and then talks about traditional gar fi...

Great duck habitat doesn't happen by accident. Terry Denmon and Ramsey Russell assessed habitat conditions on a central Louisiana property about a decade ago. Waterfowl utilization left something to be desired. Management was sorely needed. Denmon has since tirelessly implemented moist-soil management practices, transforming the property, and rolling out the red carpet for overwintering ducks. Wha...

Warren Coco's epic story resumes with his first telling about his Avoyelles Parish ancestry stretching clear back to a Revolutionary War veteran from whom the Coco name was derived. And speaking of origins, before going back to Hackberry, we briefly revisit Go Devil. How'd the company name come about? How have their product line has since evolved? Why are there size limitations? Returning to the o...

Long-time friends Mike Morgan and Ramsey Russell meet across the table to talk teal hunting. Spending a little time to talk about teal worldwide, they quickly transition to blue-winged teal hunting in the Deep South, a favorite of theirs. Mike then remembers an incredible Peruvian cinnamon teal hunt they filmed together for Mojo.  What other teal species are there worldwide? What's the real relati...

As described in last week's episode, Warren Coco spent over a decade hunting ducks in the enchanted Maurepas Swamp. Some years were better than others. Countless memorable times were spent with family and friends in the then-magical place - nights spent in floating camphouse in middle of swamp, mornings spent in tight, 30 yard-wide holes among towering, Spanish moss veiled cypress trees. The parad...

September is finally here. The thermometer still reads warm, especially down south, but already faint hints of fall are in the air. Or maybe that's just the smell of spent powder, musty waders, fresh feathers. Our time has finally arrived. Migratory bird hunting season is ushered in on the wings of resident Canadas, mourning doves and blue-winged teal. What's not to love about it?! In this episode...

Warren Coco is an American duck hunting icon. Conceived in his Baton Rouge, Louisiana shop over 4 decades ago, the legendary Go Devil longtail engine very literally transformed the face of duck hunting. But who is Warren Coco, and where'd he initially get the idea for the longtail motor design? What are his duck hunting origins? Many of us old salts were introduced to Coco and associates back in t...

Today's special guest hails from Louisiana, where for decades he lurked in the shadows as a game warden. Extremely good at it, he wrote 365 violations one particular year - an average of one per day!  Louisiana's unique cultural history involves hunting for certain migratory birds species other than ducks, too. What are gros becs and bec croches ? And did anyone really hunt American robins? Why wa...

During their high school years, Rod Haydel and his brother joined their father, the iconic Eli Haydel, in the garage where they mixed sometimes imperfect compound resins to cast clear polymer duck calls that were marketed as "Blows When Wet." At the time, when only about 20 duck calls were being plied in hunting catalogs, it seemed like a great way for the boys to offset their upcoming college exp...

Dale Bordelon is a gifted storyteller from Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana. In last week's episode (Episode 39, August 3, 2020), Dale described gathering various local raw materials from nearby swamps and hand-making his Louisiana cane calls and other tools-of-the-trade as tribute to Louisiana's traditional waterfowling culture. In today's episode, we crawl belly deep into tepid, tea-colored swampwate...

Brandon Cerecke and Lee Kjos of BOSS Shotshells join Ramsey for a fast-and-furious roundhouse, full-on old school discussion. Plowing like a meteor through a snowbank, the trio talk about shotguns, chokes, patterns, exciting new BOSS copper-plated bismuth  shotshell developments, duck season expectations, and good ol' rock-n-roll!  What're the boys readying for duck season? Is there really a sub-g...

Louisiana's fabled waterfowling history stretches back centuries to the first French inhabitants, that thrived among its Spanish moss adorned swamplands like fish in water.  Their tools of the trade were by necessity hand-crafted from locally abundant materials as a practical way of feeding families, but became in that sense a true art form.  For Dale Bordelon, collecting natural materials from th...

Matthew Piehl, Dirty Bird Outfitters, was born and raised in North Dakota. He tells Ramsey Russell about growing up hunting in the region and why waterfowling affected him differently than hunting upland gamebirds. They recount hunts together down in Mexico, talk about Matt's lucky horseshoe, and dive into ducks, honkers, snows and tundra swans.  What are habitat conditions like in North Dakota th...

Paul Link is Louisiana Department Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks's North American Waterfowl Management Plan Coordinator. Number of mid-continental white-fronted geese overwintering in southwestern Louisiana has declined drastically in recent years, and Paul's real-time telemetry studies has enabled a greater understanding of specklebellies' life habits and migrational patterns. What is the scope of...

From the Raggio Custom Calls studio in Raymond, Mississippi, Josh Raggio tells Ramsey Russell about his getting into duck call making,  about his walking away from a comfortable job in corporate America to chase his dreams.  What is it about Raggio's shop that seems more like an art studio than a typical shop? What are some of the most interesting materials he's used to make duck calls? Why is eac...