Duck Season Somewhere

Fifth-generation Florida native Travis Thompson was born-and-raised Florida duck hunting. In the absence of mallards, their mainstays are blue-winged teal, Florida mottled ducks, whistling ducks, and--of course--ring-necked ducks, which are discussed in depth along with local hunting traditions, gators and cattle, where and how ducks are hunted. "But when you're not at the table, you're on the men...

For Larry White, an interest in cooking began as simply as being around grandmother's kitchen, and while he learned a lot of techniques in the military it wasn't until afterwards that a passion for crafting wild game dishes emerged. His interesting takes on carpaccio, prosciutto, wild turkey, wild ham, fish and other favorite spins are discussed, but check out his The Wild Gourmet Blog for more. ...

Raised a 4th-generation northeast Arkansas public land duck hunter, Maggie Williams says the first girl her daddy ever even saw in the woods was the 10 year-old daughter he'd brought along himself. Treated just like one of the boys, the rest was history. A genuine duck hunter--that just happened to be a girl--was born on the spot. Maggie Williams describes growing up hunting Arkansas public dirt,...

Cutting his teeth in Oregon, Shawn Swearingen--that's spelled like the guy in Deadwood series, he says--migrated to the outskirts of DC, where the hunting is in some ways different but in many ways similar. Besides a legislative career, he makes duck calls and, like a ravenous honker in a plowed corn field, roots out interesting then-and-now hunting and fishing stories as an outdoor writer.     Vi...

Launched last season, duckDNA is an immensely successful citizen-science initiate spear-headed by Ducks Unlimited and University of Texas at El Paso. waterfowl Scientists Dr. Mike Brasher, Dr. Jerad Hinson and Dr. Phil Lavretsky explain some of last season's fascinating findings to include hybrids, "blonde mallards," Florida Mottled ducks, America Black ducks, Brewer's ducks, game farm mallard abu...

Moving out west with "an anti-hunter from Toronto" to pursue an electrical career was one thing, but the sheer abundance of waterfowl hunting opportunities in Alberta changed Ben Commodore's life. He's now on Cloud 9. Literally. As part of the renowned Ranchland Outfitters team, Commodore delivers some of the most amazing waterfowl hunting experiences on the North American continent. We cover a va...

Father-son team, Jamey and Layne Roberts of Tuscaloosa, Alabama, spend quality time together duck hunting and scouting. It was duck hunting that sparked 14 year-old Layne's interest in waterfowl conservation and how his Eagle Scout project could make a difference near home. Good stuff!     Visit MOJO's Duck Season Somewhere Podcast Sponsors :   MOJO Outdoors   Benelli Shotguns BOSS Shotshells Duck...

At the end of the day, adding ducks to the strap boils down to that final crucial moment---the trigger pull. And having poured ourselves into everything else leading up to it, we serious duck hunters want every advantage possible in making each shot count. Better patterns and superior shotgun performance increase our success. Sharing past experiences that lead him into the custom gun works world,...

During Australia's duck season "circus," anti-hunters will flare your birds, paddle through your decoys and film your kids, reports Outdoor Life Executive Editor, Natalie Krebs. Having heard about the duck hunting battleground that is Australia, she went to see for herself. She was there during the most recent duck season opener. And while Kreb's first-hand accounts may seem otherworldly to us mad...

In a place where duck hunts are marketed using every superlative ever invented, "best Argentina duck hunt" may seem exaggerated. It's not. The proof is in a decade-and-a-half worth of happy clients. The 2024 season was crazy weather wise, too, going abruptly from record-high, mosquito-swatting weather to bone-chilling, ice-stomping temperatures.  But the hits just kept on coming. Repeat and first-...

Born and raised hunting and fishing in northeast Mississippi, John Blake Riddle has lived a charmed life. Avoiding "the real world" at all costs, he's been a quail guide, duck guide, bird dog trainer to the rich and famous, shooting instructor--for starts--and has a successful crappie jig company called the Little Riddle. He'd rather hunt big water divers or crappie fish from the world's fastest l...

Typical of late-July Baton Rouge, between-thunderstorms humidity visibly hung in the air like a warm, wet blanket. Not that anyone cared. Because walking through the convention halls was as exciting as opening day at duck camp, the energy palpable, like walking into a big ol' happy reunion of birds-of-a-feather-flock-together new and old friends swapping stories and sorting their lockers with the...

"We raise weeds, most folks try to grow corn," says renowned wildlife biologist and Arkansas Waterfowler Hall of Fame, Jody Pagan, who among other things has so far laid hands on over a million acres private-lands waterfowl habitat during his career! Life-long Arkansa duck hunter Pagan talks about his background in hunting and habitat management before barreling full steam ahead into need-to-know...

Ducks, doves, decoying pigeons, perdiz, and optional golden dorado fishing--what's not to love about this Argentina duck hunting combo if you're an ardent, trigger-pulling hunter? On top of all that, an amazingly immersive, oftentimes belt-stretching, cultural experience starting in big-city Buenos Aires and going deep into rural Argentina. But is it really a fun vacation for non-hunting spouses?...

Public Service Announcement: Guides, outfitters, freelancers--everyone--traveling to hunt outside the United States need to be aware that new Center for Disease Control (CDC) rules change the requirements for importing your retriever back into the United States! Canada's the biggie. If you are bringing a dog to the U.S., starting on August 1, 2024, there are new steps you need to take. These steps...

Late July in the Deep South, it's hotter than hades and teal season is right around the corner. Where better to spend a fun weekend in the among your kind of people--duck hunters--than in the air conditioned halls of Baton Rouge's Raising Cane's River Event Center? The 3rd annual Delta Waterfowl Expo will be there this weekend and everybody that's anybody in the duck hunting world will be there, t...

A since-forever duck hunter himself, Casey Stemler is a hook-and-bullet biologist that spent decades working coast-to-coast throughout the upper echelons of US Fish and Wildlife Service, making tremendous contributions to wildlife conservation and habitat management via applied research and policy.  Stemler paints a big picture perspective of North American wildlife conservation, describing accomp...

Once upon a time, Stuttgart, Arkansas was the Rice and Duck Capital of the world, and--for sure--duck hunting traditions remain interwoven into Arkansas's cultural identity. Especially green headed ducks. Mallards. But continental mallard populations have declined 50% during the last decade or so. What now? Arkansas Game and Fish Commission's Wildlife Management Division Chief, Luke Naylor explain...

A hunter since way back when, Ronnie Richardson explains that it's not about killing, so much as it's about experiencing places. National Land Realty's CEO, Richardson's wealth of knowledge in recreational and investment properties was derived the old-fashioned way--by spending decades doing it well. And it's been these two things--hunting and land--that've kept us in touch since high school. We c...

"I want the biggest pile of dead ducks over the longest period of time," implies the maximum sustained yield model by which North America's waterfowl populations are managed. North America likely harvests more waterfowl than the rest of the world combined. But is it really what hunters want? To hear a few grumbling internet malcontents, you'd think maybe not--but what does the data say? Former Mig...

"Her hips are beautiful and knees look great, but at her age one of the biggest risk is blowing out her ACL like aging athletes do," said veterinarian Dr. Bill Sullivan during Char Dawg's recent visit. She's only 6 years old. In today's highly informative conversation, we cover need-to-know, aging-retriever topics quicker than a hard-charging lab through sheet water. Topics include retriever aging...

For Chef David Crews, growing up in Mississippi's Delta was inspiration enough. He describes how home-cooked meals and a his first part-time job while a teenager got him started. We talk about the unique Mississippi delta culture, the many iconic resturants located throughout this relatively remote area where folks don't blink at an hour-plus drives down dusty turnrows to enjoy dinner, how hot tam...

Mallards may be the so-called rockstars of the duck hunting universe, but not if you were born and raised on Long Point, Ontario, where massive diver rafts on Lake Erie form ravenous swarms that strafe your ice-encased layout rigs when the weather's just right. And especially not if you're a third-generation diver hunter and boat builder like Jayden Bankes, who excitedly describes bluebills, redhe...

Five Oaks Ag Research and Education Center focuses it's habitat management on Arkansas's historic bottomland hardwood forest ecosystems, using the life history of mallards that have migrated there for eons as living proof of healthy habitat. Empasizing the whole bottomland ecosystem's historic importance, Ryan Askren talks about moist-soil management, comparing it to conventional agricultural crop...

Now among the scarcest waterfowl habitat in the delta, it was emergent wetland-type habitats that sustained overwintering migratory in their heavily forested, ancestral Deep South wintering grounds. What exactly are emergent wetlands, and why are they so desirable when managing for duck habitat? Building on our previous discussion (EP 483.), wildlife biologist Kevin Nelms deftly slogs mid-thigh de...