EP 573. Making the Most of Mazatlan

Ramsey Russell: Welcome back to MOJO’s Duck Season Somewhere podcast, where today I’ve got some special people. I’ve got Jerry and Christine Stanton, Frank and Sarah Story, Craig and Rebecca Beardsley, some friends and clients of ours from down in Mazatlan this year, these episodes are real popular among our listeners that like to hear from the boots on the ground, folks that went on some of these hunts. But this year in Mazatlan was real different, I’m going to tell you why, it’s because it was dry, I don’t mean typical Mexico dry. I mean drier than it has been on record since 1964, we had a meeting, a Zoom call meeting with everybody left to go in mid February. We said, hey guys, it’s dry, there ain’t – the ducks are not normal, it’s very dry. And if you all want to push the dates until the following year, we’ve got it arranged, you can do that. Most people decide they’re going to still go and then about a week later we had some clients that had heard the Zoom meeting had been warned off, went anyway and they called us up and said, well, we’re having a good time, but you’re right, it’s dry, you ought to give everybody a phone call and I called some folks, we called everybody left to go and said, hey guys, it’s dry, we’re talking 40 to 50% on duck limit dry. And most people still went to include today’s guest and the reason I had them come on and visit and answer some questions and tell about their experience this year, because one morning I went out with them, Char dog and I just sat behind in the shadows and watched and I’m going to tell you all, between that and going out and eating dinner with these couples, I got a whole fresh new perspective of Mazatlan. Folks, how you all doing tonight?

“I’m going to tell you all, between that and going out and eating dinner with these couples, I got a whole fresh new perspective of Mazatlan. “

Christine Stanton: We’re doing great.

Ramsey Russell: Good.

Rebecca Beardsley: Great.

Frank Story: Yeah. Thank you for having us, Ramsey.

Ramsey Russell: Any good eats? Anything as good as something, last time I saw you, we had a fantastic meal out there at Pedro & Lola’s on Sarah’s birthday.

Sarah Story: It was.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Sarah Story: No, I have not eaten anything as good as Pedro & Lola’s on my birthday.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Was that you all’s, was that everybody’s first hunting trip out of the country? Was that you all’s first hunt trip out of the country?

Frank Story: Yes.

Jerry Stanton: Yes.

Ramsey Russell: How did that go? Like, for example, how did it compare to some of the other trips you all have been on locally then? I’m assuming you all locally, you all normally hunt in Texas.

Jerry Stanton: Yeah, we –

Sarah Story: Well, it wasn’t, I was going to say it wasn’t dark outside when we got all set up.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Sarah Story: And it wasn’t cold.

Ramsey Russell: No, it’s neither cold nor light, I try to warn everybody before we do these trips going to Mazatlan, especially that because we’re hunting thirsty ducks, they don’t leave at the crack of dawn, we would, I can remember meeting you all downstairs at 05:30, 6 o’ clock before we left, the sun was coming up, you watched the whole sunrise unfold on the drive to the duck hole and by the time we get there, some was up and gone and that’s usually, man coming from over here, if you’re not early, you’re late. That’s real different, isn’t it?

Jerry Stanton: Yeah. Even though you warned us ahead of time, it still just doesn’t quite feel right when you’re on the way out there, especially as you’re driving in, you see all the birds on the water lifting up, but it definitely didn’t matter.

Ramsey Russell: For a first time trip outside the United States, why did you all choose Mazatlan?

Jerry Stanton: On this one, Frank and I started talking about this trip maybe 6 years ago, I believe.

Frank Story: Yes.

Jerry Stanton: And we had done a trip to Maine sea duck hunting and it had an incredible experience out there. But afterwards, we said with the next one, we want to be able to bring our wives with us.

Ramsey Russell: Right.

Jerry Stanton: That was a big factor in why we picked this one. In fact, I think last year we spoke to you at Dallas Safari Club about Nayarit, but that’s not quite as like non hunting spouse friendly. So –

Ramsey Russell: Not at all.

Jerry Stanton: The wives along and it was – I think we made the right decision.

Ramsey Russell: One of the wives actually hunted, now that was what was so different, there were 3 couples but 4 hunters because one of the wives hunt too. And what – so you chose this place to go because there was hunting and non hunting activities, we’re normally back by noon or 1 o’ clock anyway, get settled up, go have some fun around town or whatever you’re going to do. What did – let’s say, what some of the non hunting spouses. How did you all feel about going on a quote, hunting trip for vacation? What about you, Christine?

“This is the best hunting trip I’ve ever been on. Just because, I mean, I guess it – Jerry got to do what he loves the most and I got to do what I love the most, which is just sit and relax.”

Christine Stanton: Well, this is the best hunting trip I’ve ever been on. Just because, I mean, I guess it – Jerry got to do what he loves the most and I got to do what I love the most, which is just sit and relax.

Ramsey Russell: Absolutely.

Christine Stanton: And the biggest decision I had to, both me and Rebecca had to make was do we go to the beach today or do we go to the pool today or what time do we want to go get breakfast? Do we want to go shopping? I mean and it would being, all of us are parents and so, it’s a nice reprieve from being back home and all of us missed our kids, but it was nice to be able to sit and relax, enjoy the atmosphere and enjoy the people. The place where we stayed was beautiful and the choices in what we could do while waiting for our husbands to come back from hunting, we got to go to the spa, got to take our time at breakfast and got to walk along where the boats were and see everything. I mean, there’s tons of activities there as long as you just take your time and enjoy it.

Ramsey Russell: Christine, was that your first trip? Because all 3 couples have young children, was that your first trip like a true vacation without the kids?

Christine Stanton: Yeah, this was the first vacation without the kiddos.

Ramsey Russell: How long did it take you to get used to it? And did the margaritas help?

Christine Stanton: Of course, the margaritas help and it took, it was kind of nice, it took maybe a day or 2 because the first day you wake up and you’re, instead of waking up to somebody saying, mommy, I woke up to birds singing outside and I think the most alarming thing was I think an ambulance had driven by and what were those birds called?

Jerry Stanton: Chachalacas.

Christine Stanton: Chachalacas started doing their little calls and that was a little unnerving at first, but you got used to it and it took about 24 hours to just realize, I’m only in charge of me right now.

Ramsey Russell: Right.

Christine Stanton: And it was nice.

Ramsey Russell: What was the earliest you drank a margarita during a day? Because I actually took off a couple of days this year and my earliest margarita was about 9 o’ clock.

Christine Stanton: I mean, well, I mean, we’ll just say 10:00, I didn’t look at my watch, so that was the best part, I didn’t have – only thing I really looked at was my phone to figure out where Jerry was and how far away he was, I didn’t look at the time, but I’m pretty sure it was around 10:30.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. You can’t drink all day if you don’t start early.

Christine Stanton: No, absolutely not.

Ramsey Russell: That’s what I’ve always heard.

Christine Stanton: Absolutely not.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. You talked about chachalacas, you heard chachalacas go off and that was something for me, I’ve always gone on these hunts and appreciated the wildlife around it, I know a few of the birds, but I’m out there in the duck blind with the 4 hunters and all 4 of them got binoculars on and it was as much bird safari as it was duck hunt. Talk about some of you all birding adventures, I learned alot, I learned a whole lot sitting there with you and how many species you saw? Lifeless birds and all that kind of stuff.

Rebecca Beardsley: I have to say that it was not only with you, Ramsey, while hunting, it was at the hotel, too. So we are very privileged to have very bird savvy nerds around us that can guide us through it, so it’s a lot of fun. And if one day you meet our kids, you’re going to notice that all of our little kids have tiny binoculars and they are watching around, too.

Ramsey Russell: Really?

Rebecca Beardsley: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Rebecca I had, one of the most interesting bird conversations I had was with you with regard to the Harrison Hawks, that they were using to patrol the premises with there, that resort to keep the blackbirds and the pest birds away because I mean, me personally, I enjoy sitting at the table and feeding the doves and the blackbirds crackers and seeing how close they’ll come, I keep trying to get them to eat out of my hand. But you can tell when the hawks are around, those girls come through with the hawks and off they go, the birds just disappear, they vanish for a few minutes. But I mean, so really, all 6 of you all are somehow kind of big into birds, if not directly, it’s because your spouse is.

Jerry Stanton: Yeah.

“And one of the things that I think it brings us all together is, that what unites us in the front line is that we all truly love nature and conservation.”

Rebecca Beardsley: I think we’re very blessed in the sense that I’m not sure about Christine, now we know, all of us for a long time, I’m not sure about Christine background, but I can say about mine, I didn’t grow up with a hunting family or a fishing family, I come from a different background and it was a little bit like when I started dating my husband, everybody was like, oh, but you save everything and he kills everything and I’m like, well, not quite, but we work right on it. And one of the things that I admired about Jerry and Frank, I was going to say the nickname, one of the things that I admire about them and my husband is that they are very ethical, responsible, fair hunters. They don’t go for just going after whatever looks like a trophy and disposing and discarding things, like everything they bring home, it gets utilized and if it’s not by us, it’s by someone else that needs it or even our dogs, like, our dogs have eat so much deer organs that I can – they’re the healthier, happier dogs. And one thing that I think it brings us all together is, that what unites us in the front line is that we all truly love nature and conservation.

Ramsey Russell: Fantastic.

Rebecca Beardsley: And I think that’s something that you are in a privileged position to educate people that are not necessarily hunters or come from a hunter background to understand the important role of hunters in the government, in the system of how things are managed, how public lands are taking care, how ecology and conservation really is part of being a hunter. I think that’s what unites all of us in the sense of this trip, what brought us together was birds, because like I said, we’re all nerds in the birds sense for different reasons, you and I talk about behavior and positive training and reinforcer, they know their species the scientific names and their habits. So it’s just a big, it’s fun to be around us.

Ramsey Russell: They know their birds out, I’ll give them that, that’s a fact. Let me ask you all this, I should have asked this earlier, how did you all 3 couples meet and become friends?

Jerry Stanton: So, when, I grew up in Northern Louisiana, when I first moved to Texas in 8^th grade, one of the first people I met was Craig, So I’ve known Craig, that would have been probably 1999, 2000. So we’ve been friends ever since then and then went off to college, that’s where I met Frank, my senior year of college at SFA. I was there studying forestry wildlife management. Frank, I believe –

Craig Beardsley: Funny enough, we swapped places.

Jerry Stanton: Yeah. I did a one year stint at Sam Houston before ending up at SFA, at the time, Craig was at SFA and then ended up at Sam Houston.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, shoot.

Christine Stanton: And then Frank and I have actually been friends, oh, gosh, since we were freshmen in college, I was actually friends with Frank before Frank was friends with Jerry. So it’s just, it’s a very weird chain loop, but we all get along and going on vacation with everybody was a privilege.

Ramsey Russell: Was that the first time you all ever traveled together?

Jerry Stanton: The 3 of us, yeah.

Christine Stanton: Oh, yeah.

Sarah Story: I actually met Craig and Rebecca on this trip. So really, Frank and I didn’t meet until we were both well out of college, so that was how I met Jerry and Christine and then I – Jerry’s always talked about Craig and how they hunt together and we was excited to meet him and we obviously got along great, it was an amazing trip and I would travel with all of you all again.

Christine Stanton: We’re actually, we were talking about wanting to go back.

Ramsey Russell: I mean, you all get along and carry on like you all have known each other for 10 or 20 years. I mean, really, truly, for such a young couples, I just said you all kind of knew each other in high school or your freshman years in college and just been getting along since, that’s what struck me is how well you all got along, how compatible all the personalities were and the interest. Now, who brought the birding enthusiasm to the 6, you all? Who is the origins of the birding part, the binoculars and the life list and all this stuff.

Sarah Story: I would say Jerry and Frank.

Christine Stanton: It’s a tie between Jerry and Frank.

Rebecca Beardsley: I will say Jerry for sure.

Craig Beardsley: They got me, started me into it. I still can’t call myself a bird nerd like I would call them, but I do, we do enjoy watching the birds, especially around our house and everything. I just – I don’t know them all by name like they do, but I’m getting there.

Rebecca Beardsley: Yeah, but we take pictures and send them to Jerry and Frank. Well, I do.

Craig Beardsley: Yeah, we do. If there’s something we don’t know, we send it to them and they tell us what it is.

Sarah Story: And they’re not the only ones either.

Ramsey Russell: How did Jerry and Frank get started on the birding part?

Jerry Stanton: So I got into it in college, like I said, my background’s in wildlife, I was working, I used to be the person that would make fun of birders, but I was working on a wildlife research project with alligators, we did most of our work at night, we’re doing trapping, putting transmitters on radio collars taking tissue samples. And so most of our work was done at night, we’d sleep till about 9 o’ clock in the morning, there wasn’t a whole lot to do. The PhD student I worked for and the other tech were huge birders. So, I started tagging along with them, started learning a few, kind of got into it and then part of college I took ornithology, which I really got into and part of that we did a 3 day birding trip to High Island. In those 3 days I think we saw 160 something species and I was hooked ever since then. Then it just became, it’s a great thing to do right after hunting season ends, the spring migration, so it’s almost kind of, like a, extension of hunting, Frank and I usually meet up a couple of times a year and try to go see as many species as we can.

Ramsey Russell: Frank, talk – I got to ask you this because you told a story, I think in the blind that morning about you and Sarah going on a big birding trip and she got sick and she couldn’t pace up in the mountains or something, you found this really flat spot with a bunch of cool birds on it.

Frank Story: Yeah, exactly. It was a trip that she wanted to do to Sedona that didn’t involve any birding really, but –

Sarah Story: Well, there was one scheduled guided birding tour.

Frank Story: We did do that. But yeah, like you said, she turned up sick the first day we were there in Sedona and I just kind of walked around the little neighborhood we were in in our Airbnb and looked for places to go birding. On day 2, she was still having a tough time, respiratory infection and I told her we could go to the Sedona Wetlands Preserve, it’s perfectly flat, easy walk.

Sarah Story: Yeah, there’s water, it’s beautiful. And I said, okay, yeah, that sounds nice to just walk around. And –

Frank Story: Yeah, so we went and what I didn’t tell her was that the Sedona Wetlands Preserve was actually the wastewater treatment facility for the city of Sedona, but she was stuffed up and couldn’t smell so –

Sarah Story: Anything so he, yeah, that was a surprise, like, oh, he goes, but you can’t smell, so it’s really okay, we’ll just walk around and look for birds.

Ramsey Russell: How many bird species did you all see in Mazatlan on this trip? I mean, we get out of the truck one day and you all just saying, I just, you all were carrying on about a bird that across with the naked eye, across the water, I’d have said was a buzzard. Oh, it’s a buzzard over there and it wasn’t, it was a black hawk, but it was a certain black hawk. It wasn’t just any black hawk, you all could know because of the colorations and then we get back to the resort and you all, right there in the parking lot, you all break out the binoculars and count off 5 life species, lifeless species. What were some of these species you all were, because like I was sitting up in my room one day, they had these, I don’t know what these, pollen things for the bees and there were birds coming in, there was a woodpecker coming in and getting the pile of the nectar and there was a couple other beautiful birds, some kind of oriole coming in and getting a nectar, but that was about the extent of my bird watching, you all knew these birds. What were some of the cool species you all saw down there around the resort?

Jerry Stanton: So, in total we saw 84 species.

Ramsey Russell: Wow.

Jerry Stanton: About 20 of them were lifers for us, so we’ve never seen them before. The ones outside the hotel that got us excited that day were cinnamon-rumped seedeater, which are these little real colorful birds that are like little sparrows. And then we got kind of a surprise by, it’s called a cinnamon-bellied saltator, which – that one took me probably an hour to even figure out what it was, we were all like kind of, Frank and I were calling out, like ID markers and then I’m sitting by the pool drinking a paloma with my phone open, trying to figure out what this bird is.

Frank Story: With the streaked back orioles right there and then we were seeing multiple different hummingbirds and I mean, I think the afternoon that you’re talking about, right after the hunt, there in the parking lot, we came, we rattled off 20 to 25 species right there, just drinking our after the hunt beer.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, you all took, we were sitting there, even that morning we hunted together. We were nestled up against the mangroves and with my tetras in, I could hear something singing behind us and you all were all wondering what it was and all of a sudden, what was that bird? Because you named it because you had an app that heard it and identified it and then it flew out to the sandbar and everybody got to see it and that was some kind of warbler.

Frank Story: The common yellowthroat.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, unbelievable.

Frank Story: Yeah.

Rebecca Beardsley: The app for all the hunters out there is called Merlin and it’s pretty cool and it’s free and you can record the singing and identify, sometimes it misses, like, sometimes it gives you weird id so you have to do a little more research, but it’s like a citizen watch app, like, the more information we all put in, the more accurate it becomes.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, I see. Shifting gears to the duck hunting part, briefly, what was you all specifically chasing species?

Craig Beardsley: Let me jump in kind of between as we get into the duck hunting part of it, so just a warning to anyone out there that may be hunting or in a hunting duck blind with birders, just be prepared to throw your gun up for no reason. They’re going to be, oh my God, look at that, oh, my God, and you start, you throw your gun up like, where and there’s nothing there, they’re like, oh, there’s a black hawk across the water from us.

“Well, I’ve got to say this, just full disclosure here, first time I’ve ever hunted with duck hunters that loaded down on binoculars and before we saw the first duck, it identified a yellowthroat warbler by an audio machine and I’ll be honest with you, I wasn’t expecting any more than just mediocre shooting and that first, those flocks of birds were coming in and it was rain out. “

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Well, I’ve got to say this, just full disclosure here, first time I’ve ever hunted with duck hunters that loaded down on binoculars and before we saw the first duck, it identified a yellowthroat warbler by an audio machine and I’ll be honest with you, I wasn’t expecting any more than just mediocre shooting and that first, those flocks of birds were coming in and it was rain out. So, I mean, you all 4 were shooters and that’s, I think that says a lot about you all. The fact that you can enjoy the full experience, not just the ducks, but everything else, too and the hummingbirds and so much of the life that’s going on around these environments besides just the ducks, the shore, I mean, the shorebirds themselves put on a show right there, anytime you’re hunting in Mexico, anywhere in Mexico, around those water that, those wetlands that have fresh water coming in, there’s always a plethora of shorebirds coming in and I know a few of them, but now I want to know more. I mean, what are these birds? And I’m sitting here watching because they are pretty cool. What was on you all bucket list? Go ahead –

Jerry Stanton: I was saying, Ramsey, you did pretty good identifying some of the godwits and stuff that were out there.

Ramsey Russell: Well, I see them a lot but I mean, I told – I said, next time we come down here, I guess I got to bring my binoculars and spend a little more time walking around the – and looking into bushes for some of these other live species of birds that I may not see elsewhere. My problem as a birder, though, is my hearing is so bad, if I don’t have in my tetras cranked up or something like that, I’m probably not going to hear them, so I don’t know how I’m going to see them unless they’re moving. And I just remember one time cruising timber back in the day and I took the refuge biologist with me and all he was doing was tallying and I’m cruising and carrying on and we took a break for lunch, I went to review the notes and they were just dozens of bird codes, I go, what is this? He goes, well, that’s all the birds I’m hearing and he would say, you hear that? That’s a such and such, you hear that? That’s a such and such, and I said, I don’t hear nothing. So anyway, you all have emboldened my interest in going out and seeing more of the world in the bushes than what I’m used to seeing.

Frank Story: Yeah, it’s fun it certainly helps to fill some of the downtime on a trip like this where, like you said, it’s not the big time volume shoot that I guess it normally is. That being said, we were ain’t shooting 10 ducks a day, so that beats the heck out of a 6 duck limit here in Texas and what has been a one or 2 duck reality the last few years, here for us in North Texas. So yeah, it was kind of, felt like to me especially that day there we were there in the estuary with you all, it felt non stop, we were just in between volleys of ducks, we were looking at 3 different kinds of kingfishers and like you said, the black hawk and some other birds. So I don’t think that – it keeps you busy, that’s for sure.

Ramsey Russell: Oh yeah. Getting back to the duck hunt, briefly, what were kind of your must have species going to Mexico, what were you hoping most to get? And how’d that work out?

Sarah Story: Cinnamon teal.

Jerry Stanton: Yeah, all of us were wanting the cinnamon teal, that second day it worked out beautifully, we got quite a few of them, some absolutely gorgeous representatives. We’re all got one at the taxidermist, now. My 3, I really wanted was cinnamon, a blue wing and a real pretty northern shoveler.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Jerry Stanton: To bring all 3 of those back.

Ramsey Russell: Shovelers are the most –

Sarah Story: Once I saw – yeah –

Ramsey Russell: Go ahead, Sarah.

Sarah Story: Oh, and the blue wing, I think that was a highlight of the – because the one that I got was just a beautiful bird.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, it was a stud, you all, that particular morning, you all shot some really nice adult cinnamons and blue wings. And I know the last day you all really put your hands on some good shovelers, there’s a lot of shovelers down in Mexico. I mean, I would call it the official game bird, the official duck of Mexico would be shoveler because they’re so abundant, but it’s amazing how many you have to put your hands on, they look so good in the air, all the drakes look great, till you get them in hand, you go, well that one’s dirty, that one’s young, that one’s mottled up, it takes, the real good ones are just far and few between the really good drake shovelers and you ended up getting some, didn’t you?

Jerry Stanton: Finally, the – actually it ended up being the last big flight that came in, I picked out 2 really nice drakes, I was lucky enough to hit both of them. The 1^st one I looked at didn’t quite have that full white breast, the 2^nd one was everything that I was looking for. But we picked through several dozen good looking shoveler drakes to finally find that one I was really looking for.

Ramsey Russell: You did, you got him too. So you came home with one of everything, didn’t you? It was interesting to me, like based on the surveys, the upcoming fall blue wing teal season is going to be cut in half, they just didn’t get the numbers and pond counts they wanted. I thought maybe knee jerk reaction or something, but boy, I tell you what, the blue wings this year in Mexico were conspicuously few and far between, they just weren’t as abundant as – and that was everywhere in Mexico we went. But the cinnamon teal were, I mean that was way more cinnamon teal, I spent quite a few weeks down in Mazatlan and south of there Nayarit and cinnamon teal were far more abundant than normal, we went through. I mean I don’t remember how many cinnamons we shot to include hands the morning we all hunted together, but it may, it was dozen at least, a dozen cinnamon teal, I know there were 7 or 8 drakes hanging in the tree that we kept dry.

Christine Stanton: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And that just the normal –

Craig Beardsley: The quality, not quantity.

Ramsey Russell: Quality, not quantity. Is that the first time you all seen cinnamon teal flying in action? Did it surprise you how dark they seem when they’re coming in? Because to me the good drakes you’re looking for almost appear black, at a glance they look like the blackbird coming in with the rest of the ducks and that’s how I know which ones the drakes are.

Jerry Stanton: That was definitely the first time I saw them in flight, I was lucky enough last summer I was working in Montana and found a pond that had 7 or 8 drakes on it. So I got to see him that way, but I never actually got to see him in flight. So it’s definitely the first time, it was definitely the first time within shotgun range I’ve ever seen any.

Ramsey Russell: Wow.

Frank Story: Yeah, I know what you mean about the dark, like you can tell which ones are the drakes and then one of the other good things about hunting, late morning, the way that we were, it made it a whole lot easier to pick out what birds you were going to shoot before you shot them, because they would catch that sun a lot easier than they do sometimes hunting at first light or at sun up. And those I mean, the cinnamon teal and the shovelers, I mean, you could really see them light up when the sun hit them and it made it a little bit easier to try to pick out which ones you wanted out of a group.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, I appreciate, that’s one of my favorite parts about going where you have an abundance of ducks and a lot of pretty ducks like that and you go out there to sunshine and ironically, the brighter the sun gets, the better these birds start flying, on the cloudy, cooler days is when the slower flights are. But when it heats up out there on the estuaries, the birds really start coming in, to get up in that fresh water inlet or something like that, I love shooting thirsty ducks, I love being able to see them and appreciate them like that, pick the drakes and stuff like that, I love that. Talk a little bit about – Was it hard for you all to get adjusted to the different hunting conditions there? We never wore waders, we left late or was it pretty easy to fall into? I tell people all the time, here’s what I’m getting, I tell people all the time, I’ve hunted in some cold, miserable weather. I’ve talked to some boys the other day, hunting up Montana, they’re hunting -20⁰ and -30⁰, I’m like, yeah, I’ll take that 70⁰, 80⁰ any day, I like hunt –

Craig Beardsley: I’d have to say, it’s a lot like Texas dove hunting, to be honest.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Craig Beardsley: You go out there in your, just a pair of shoes or I hear a lot of people on previous podcasts talking about crocs. I mean, you definitely could have worn crocs out there.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Craig Beardsley: And it’s a lot like that, I would say. So from living and growing up in Texas, doing a lot of duck hunting, but also a lot of dove hunting, I’d have to relate it more to the dove hunts.

Ramsey Russell: Yep. How did hunting as a couples trip, having hunters and non hunters in the group, how did that differ or how was that dynamic compared to just like an old guys trip, going on a guy hunting, duck hunt trip. I’m assuming some of you guys have just bailed off and done that. How did that change for it?

Jerry Stanton: I think it was laid out perfect, you get back, the other day we teal hunted, we were back, I believe, before 11 o’ clock, had a great hunt, then you’ve got a couple hours to spend with your spouse at the pool or the beach, have some really good drinks, hang out, then go shower up and get ready for dinner. So to me it laid out very good to do what we wanted to do and then, but also get to spend some time with, Craig and I get to spend some time with our wives before dinner and bed and then repeat.

Sarah Story: Yeah, well and I feel like I got a really good balance of being the wife that hunted, being able to hunt and enjoy that and get back to the resort and relax and not feel like I was getting back so late that I didn’t have time to hang out by the pool or go to the spa or mean experience what the resort had to offer and still have quality time with Christine and Rebecca. So it was just a nice balance that I didn’t, I mean, I knew going into it that we’d hunt in the morning and be there in the afternoon, but it was, the balance was really nice.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Frank Story: I’ll also say if I’d have gone on that trip without her and come back with a bunch of pictures of all the dinners we had, she’d have been awful jealous about that.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, question for Rebecca and Christine, there’s all these other activities while the boys were hunting. What was your favorite? What activities did you enjoy the most while they were gone?

Christine Stanton: Honestly, just hanging out by the pool and hanging out by the beach, the spa was really nice. And honestly, getting to hang out by the pool and beach, you get to meet people and Rebecca has never met a stranger.

Ramsey Russell: No.

Christine Stanton: And not to mention she speaks fluent Spanish. So not only did we make friends with the retirees down there, she made friends with the falconers and with the waitstaff and everything like that, a lot of it was just getting to hang out with just people and getting to meet people, getting to relax and not look at your watch that was a big thing for me. Rebecca, I’m assuming it’s the same thing for you. But –

Rebecca Beardsley: Yeah, I think, I agree with everything Christine is saying right now and I – and for me I think it was a very like, like you mentioned before, we all have kids and this was my, our first trip away from our child after 2 years, she’s 2 years old. So it was such a, like just taking self care back and being taken care by others, instead of me trying to take care of other people constantly. So it was just refreshing to just be able to let someone else take the lead and that my stress of the day was like, what drink I’m going to have with Christine or oh, when they come later, the hunters come later, what restaurant are we going to eat? It was so peaceful to just change gears 180 completely and just be in the moment, no cell phone, no watch, no one needing you. Actually the other thing that I will say is that the service industry in Mazatlan where we stay and everywhere we went was phenomenal and I was telling my husband, since I’m not American. Well, I am American, but that’s for another hot topic with you because I am a South American, but I am not a US born American.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Rebecca Beardsley: So the interesting thing for me that I was telling Craig and sharing with them is that when I was younger, way younger and I will come to the US for a Disney trip or whatever, that was the quality of attention that we will get and it’s interesting to see how the industry has changed so much in this country, in the US. But yeah, whatever we went, like, honestly, it was phenomenal. Everybody either know how to communicate with their English or they will try a way to make you feel that you were valid and important, like it wasn’t just attention, it was just going the extra mile to make you have the entire experience and I think we live that not only in the resort but whatever we went like the last night, one of the activities that I think was not related to the hunting or the hotel, but that we highly recommend to any of the couples and Craig can give more details about it, was the tour that we did around the city in one of the small cars.

Ramsey Russell: Really?

Craig Beardsley: A little taxi.

Rebecca Beardsley: Yeah. So, Craig can give more details about that. But it was phenomenal and you get to see the city and again we felt absolutely safe, no risk whatsoever. And again, the attention and the care was the utmost that we have experienced in a long time. So –

Craig Beardsley: Well, I’ll just, on the service point, they genuinely seemed to care that you were enjoying yourself.

Rebecca Beardsley: Yeah, they’re proud of what they’re doing.

Craig Beardsley: Exactly. And just as an example, as soon as we got off the plane and through customs in Dallas, we sat down, we went to, I think it was Chili’s at the airport there in Dallas and the lady going to seat us looked up from her cell phone with a scowl across her face.

Rebecca Beardsley: Yeah, we were inconvenience to her.

Craig Beardsley: I mean, that’s pretty typical, I would say, these days. So, I mean, you don’t get that when you’re down in Mazatlan.

Ramsey Russell: Nowhere. But see, you all said it’s not just the resort. You kind of expect it around the resort from the front door to the pool, to anybody you call or ask for help, they’re very helpful, but it’s just anywhere around town. They’re just bend over backwards, it’s like, gosh, I wish these people were my neighbors, they’re so friendly and helpful and attentive and just sincere is the word I would use, the field staff that take us out are just sincere people.

Rebecca Beardsley: Sincere and honest and proud of what they do, like, if they are a taxi driver, they’re proud of it. If they’re a waitress, they’re proud of it. They own a restaurant, they’re proud of it and they want to show you how good they are at it, and that’s something that people should go with an open mind and take it and try different things, get out of the French fries and nuggets and explore a little bit more, like, Mazatlan has one of the biggest, most rich and delicious cuisines, I will say. And they have all this fresh seafood and that’s something that, it was incredible. And like, all the things that, other that we did in the hotel that I will also recommend was the whale watching that we did the last day.

Ramsey Russell: Really.

Rebecca Beardsley: Yeah, and that was a really cool experience.

Craig Beardsley: It was, the guide, I guess you’d call him, took us out and he did explain that it was towards the end of the humpback –

Rebecca Beardsley: Migration.

Craig Beardsley: Migration and we still saw 4 whales, it was only 4, but he said on a good day during the peak of the migration, you’d see about 15 or so.

Ramsey Russell: Like, how far away were they, Craig?

Rebecca Beardsley: 12 miles, right away from –

Craig Beardsley: How far did we go out or how far did we get from –

Ramsey Russell: Like, how far are we all from the whale?

Craig Beardsley: Oh, man, I couldn’t say. They try to stay some distance away so that you’re not disturbing.

Rebecca Beardsley: It’s a little boat, so it’s – and it’s a huge, powerful animal, so I will say, like, the closest one was a young one that went under the boat. So that’s –

Craig Beardsley: About a 100 yards or so.

Ramsey Russell: Wow.

Rebecca Beardsley: Yeah, and it’s quite interesting again. Again, going back to the conservation thing, the guy was a biologist, so I feel like it was a real treat because he was really teaching you and they were actually collecting data.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Rebecca Beardsley: And he had the –

Craig Beardsley: They even dropped the, what do you call a sonar or the thing that you can hear the sounds under the water.

Rebecca Beardsley: Like an underwater sonar so that we –

Ramsey Russell: You all got to hear their vocalizations and stuff.

Rebecca Beardsley: Yes.

Craig Beardsley: Yeah, we could.

Rebecca Beardsley: Yeah. It was amazing and –

Ramsey Russell: Unbelievable.

Rebecca Beardsley: And like Craig said it was, we saw 2 different species of dolphins and I think we were surrounded by like, a pot of 60 of them right next to the boat, like, they were just as curious of us as we were from them. And we saw stingrays flying, sea turtles, like, it was a great experience, so that I will highly recommend too, that is not related to the hunting.

Ramsey Russell: I believe, Christine was talking about several times, she said she’d never looked at her watch and it’s kind of like Mexican time and sometimes people will call us up. Well, I’ve been here 5 minutes to the resort, I haven’t seen anybody, I’m like, whoa, take a deep breath, you’re not in New York City anymore, you don’t have a bus to catch or a clock to punch, take a breath. I think even for me, just flying, you got to make the time, make the connection, do this, do that, it takes a minute to get to Mexico and just take a deep breath and slow down and drink a margarita and go watch the waves and just relax. I mean, it’s a very relaxed atmosphere and I think, just don’t rush it, just everybody’s running quick on time. I mean, like, for example, what about Jesus, our guy down there, Jesus, is he not joining on the spot for anything you need, from a dinner reservation to hunting life or whatever?

Rebecca Beardsley: He’s phenomenal.

Ramsey Russell: What were some of the stuff you all asked of Jesus down there? Dinner reservations or – he can do anything, I just tell everybody, call Jesus.

Christine Stanton: Yeah, dinner reservations was a big one, all of the paperwork.

Ramsey Russell: All of the paperwork.

Christine Stanton: The paperwork –

Rebecca Beardsley: He has the prettiest handwriting, too.

Christine Stanton: Oh, yeah. The prettiest handwriting.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Christine Stanton: And then the whale watching he arranged for Craig and Rebecca, I believe.

Rebecca Beardsley: Yeah, he did.

Craig Beardsley: Yeah.

Christine Stanton: And he was, parking tours was amazing. I mean, even I think we had a little hiccup with our airport transport and it was through Jerry because I was the passenger princess on this trip and I loved it. But there are a couple times I had to be like, hey Jerry still hasn’t done this, can you just look up to see what I need to do? And he was very attentive, he was very clear on what was needed and wrote down instructions just very in – I guess you can’t put a value on something like that.

Ramsey Russell: No, he loves his job, that’s the thing about him, is he loves his job. We use him quite a bit and need to use him quite a bit. He helps us do all matter of stuff, I mean, he loves his job.

Christine Stanton: Yeah, all of them love their jobs. Everybody down there loves their job and the biggest thing for non hunting spouses going down is, I remember one time, I think Jerry asked me, hey, did you see this, have you been on social media lately? I think it was after like day 2 or 3 and I actually said, no, I haven’t, because my phone’s been put away and I’m busy soaking up the scenery and soaking up the local cuisine and getting to know people and just enjoying myself and that’s one of the things that the people down there, Jesus being one of them, they make it so that you just enjoy yourself and you’re not stuck in your cell phone and you actually look up and see what it is that, where you are and again the people make it what it is. So that’s a big part of it.

Ramsey Russell: Did the guys go and get massages too or is that just what the women did?

Jerry Stanton: Craig did.

Christine Stanton: Craig –

Craig Beardsley: I got 2.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Craig Beardsley: Yeah, I got one day and then Rebecca and I did a couple’s massage, we kind of did that at the last minute kind of thing on Friday, I think it was, our last full day there.

Rebecca Beardsley: Highly recommend it too.

Ramsey Russell: Yes.

Sarah Story: Look, Jerry was going to book an appointment if he did not see a chachalacas because they hung out right outside the spa and he was very upset that when I was getting my massage, I texted them a picture.

Christine Stanton: We had just passed the spa at that point, he was so angry.

Ramsey Russell: Well, I don’t want nobody to judge me, but I like the massages and I wish I could do them every single day, maybe twice a day, because I absolutely love, my biggest complaint about the massages is me waking myself up snoring constantly the whole time, all the good ones and I’d much rather do that than go see a chachalaca. No offense, Jerry. Massages are pretty fun.

Sarah Story: Yeah, I had way better time in my massage than watching the chachalaca.

Ramsey Russell: I’ve got my routine on massage, whatever time my massage appointment is, I drink about 2 beers, go get a massage and then go sit around the pool and drink more, and that’s just a perfect precursor to dinner, that’s a perfect afternoon to me.

Craig Beardsley: That’s wonderful.

Ramsey Russell: Speaking about the food, what were some of the memorable meals? Because I’ve, every time I’m down there, I learn about new restaurants and I’ve been to, I mean, some are better than others, but I’ve never been to a truly bad restaurant, I love the – like the first night we all went to Los Arcos and that was an adventure because we wouldn’t all fit in the van and I was texting Frank, like, Frank, hey, just so you know where we’re going, because somebody had, we had to break off into different groups and we went to Los Arcos, which is just a big family type seafood restaurant, but it was amazing how, the reason I like that is because everybody get what they want, somebody got lobster, somebody got octopus, somebody got sashimi, somebody got something else, heck, I like, just walking around and seeing what everybody ordered when you got a crowd like that. But what were some of the other outstanding meals you all had and enjoyed down in Mazatlan?

Christine Stanton: Well, one of them would not have happened if it wasn’t for Rebecca.

Jerry Stanton: Yeah.

Christine Stanton: So I’m going to let her take over on that one, since she was the reason why we were able to see that, we were able to go to this restaurant.

Ramsey Russell: Real Mazatlan.

Christine Stanton: Real Mazatlan.

Rebecca Beardsley: Yeah. So I think you can have the, like, the guide, the place that everybody’s trained to recommend. Like, the one that either maybe is a little sprinkled with more US Style, like the sitting, the tables, even the presentation of the food and that’s what I think usually they will recommend. I think, for example, the one that we went all together, Patio Escobedo, which was amazing. To me, that’s more like, up style, upscale, more cater for tourists and more cater for a different clientele.

Ramsey Russell: Right.

Rebecca Beardsley: But I think one of the things that even if you speak or you don’t speak Spanish, one of the things that you should do is just take the time to talk to your waitress like, just have a conversation with them, see what they can offer. Like, they’re not going to send you to a place to sell your organs and dispose of your body, they’re trying to create good rapport and bring the best of Mazatlan to you. So we made friends with one of our waitress and he recommended a place called La Santa del Che, so that will be Santa and then del space Che. And that was a little hole in the wall and it was, the plates didn’t match, the cups were not matching either, the utensils didn’t match, like nothing matched, not even the chairs and we were 10 that we went there, I can’t remember –

Christine Stanton: Yeah –

Rebecca Beardsley: 10 of us?

Christine Stanton: 10.

Rebecca Beardsley: Yeah, because there were other people that we met at the resort that wanted to go with us and we took the entire space of the place, like, that’s how small the place was. But again, the attention was impeccable, it was amazing, they were so proud of it, we had 2 birthdays there and they didn’t have any more the serve, so they brought little cupcakes and they still sing and do all that for the 2 people that were having their birthday and just like, give the locals a chance, boost their economy, get a little bit out of your comfort zone and be willing to try, obviously, with safe heaven, like, don’t go crazy blindfolded to places without knowing. But one of the driver was making fun of us because apparently there’s another restaurant called the same that was in another location a little bit further from the resort and he said, we’re not taking you guys there because we don’t want you to feel that we’re kidnapping you, because apparently the other one was a bigger one. But yeah, the food was amazing, they have a merlin pate.

Jerry Stanton: Marlin –

Rebecca Beardsley: Marlin pate and it was incredible. They have a drink with hibiscus flour and mezcal, that was incredible.

Ramsey Russell: Wow.

Jerry Stanton: It’s really good.

Rebecca Beardsley: Yeah, I don’t know what the other dishes you guys remember, but it’s all related to seafood. But it’s like, I’m talking and my mouth is watering right now.

Christine Stanton: The ceviche was amazing.

Craig Beardsley: Oh yeah, we had 3 different types of ceviche, it was amazing. Oysters.

Christine Stanton: Oysters.

Sarah Story: Tuna, tostada that we thought was going to be really tiny that ended up being like 6 inches tall.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, I remember seeing a picture of that, Sarah.

Jerry Stanton: Yeah, it was like $4.

Sarah Story: Yeah, our minds were blown.

Christine Stanton: And the cool thing was is it was also in the middle of Carnival. So we got to – while we were driving to a place that we really didn’t know where we were going, we got to see fireworks on the way. So, I mean, that’s something you can’t plan no matter how hard you try.

Craig Beardsley: Well, I also, in that moment could see some wide eyes, like, oh, my gosh, we’re off the main tourist area and then boom, boom, all these fireworks, and until it was realized they were fireworks, there were some wide eyes there for a moment.

Christine Stanton: I was definitely a pair of those wide eyes at that point. But I gave it a chance and if you’ve got the restaurants like the Patio Escobedo and the restaurants that we went to, they were all wonderful, but if you have a chance to talk to a local and get their opinion of where they would go for great seafood, it’s not a bad idea to just take somebody’s opinion and just go with it, because we wouldn’t have gotten to see some of the things that we saw just staying on the tourist path. So we felt that, I mean –

Ramsey Russell: One of my favorite techniques in a new city or in a new environment like that will be to ask not somebody like Jesus or somebody behind the counter, but like one of the regular folks, the maid or the bell hop or the guys that stand out front like that and say not even ask them where their favorite restaurant is because they want to make me happy. They’re thinking ahead, trying to, well, this guy looks like he might like this, but ask them when’s your birthday? Oh, my birthday is March 15^th, where are you going to go eat? Or where did you go eat for Mother’s Day? Or where did you last go get a quick bite to eat with your family and then that’s going to take you a little bit maybe off the tourist path, I’ve tried that everywhere. And one of my favorite restaurants is not seafood, really, it’s just, I would describe it as like authentic Taco Bell type food, crunchy shells, crunchy tacos. But then again, it’s liable to be menudo or something else and they don’t serve alcohol because they don’t have an alcohol license. And we’re always the only gringos, but everybody in the restaurant, to include the patrons are bending over backwards trying to help us navigate through the menu and all we’re doing is point to everything and say, we’ll try one of everything and we leave having paid about $8 equivalent for a big dinner, you can’t eat anymore. And I just like that kind of adventure, we were there one time, I think not this past year, but the one before and somebody came in off the street, a couple came in off the street singing Acapulco, just singing and it was amazing, I mean, it’s like they were real musicians and they were singing and passing around the hat for a little bit of De Niro and it was just wonderful. We never would have seen that in a tourist joint. So I appreciate the authentic type stuff.

Christine Stanton: Well, Sarah got serenaded for her birthday.

Jerry Stanton: I did.

Ramsey Russell: Yes, she did, huh? Well, I was there.

Sarah Story: And my birthday wish came true, so.

Ramsey Russell: It did.

Sarah Story: It did. I did not wake up in the Mazatlán Marina hospital and I got hamper on my birthday.

Ramsey Russell: You did get sick that night and I was wondering if you were going to make dinner and I was glad you didn’t, then they wanted to keep you in the hospital, I’m like, no, don’t do that.

Sarah Story: Oh, no. They told Frank and he said, okay, well, you’re going to have to tell her because she’s not going to go for that.

Ramsey Russell: Sarah, you’re not a large woman and I know that you run a lot, but I mean, you eat more than any grown man at the table eat. I’ve never – I don’t know where the food goes. We sit down and you order 5 things, one night we were eating and I heard the waiter say something to Frank and Frank said, well, I thought we ordered for both of us and you just shook your head.

Sarah Story: As long as you got to find the appetizers and then it’s all seafood and so fresh that, oh, it’s just – We can’t get that here and it’s –

Ramsey Russell: No, it’s why I don’t eat Mexican food in Mississippi. I don’t eat Mexican food in Mississippi, because why you go down there and get the real deal and nothing up here is even compares to it.

Sarah Story: No, it does not.

Jerry Stanton: It’s hard to pick a favorite because each place had its own little kind of vibe, like, as far as, like, I guess ambiance, that Pedro & Lola’s was absolutely incredible and the food was phenomenal everywhere we went. Patio Escobedo had that marlin sashimi that was just never really had marlin before this trip and I think I had it 3 or 4 times, and every which way was phenomenal. So I don’t think they know how to make bad food in Mazatlan, if we drop –

Ramsey Russell: We went the last night to Pedro & Lola’s and they dropped us off and we walked up and I saw that amp where the musician was, I was like, oh, my gosh, please don’t do, because the week before you all got there, we’d gone to Patio Escobeda and the band was there, and it was loud music, but it wasn’t too loud, you could still have a conversation at the end of the table over it. And I don’t know what they did, I don’t know if they – I don’t know why they cranked it up. But it was so loud at Patio Escobeda that day because we had to move as far as we could and still it was so loud, it was like I was losing my sense of taste. It’s like overwhelmed by the loudness of it all, I just couldn’t even – I couldn’t taste the food.

Sarah Story: We went back a few days later just to have a drink and there they were playing, but it wasn’t plug your eardrums.

Ramsey Russell: So it wasn’t my imagination. I bet they really were loud that night.

Sarah Story: They were really loud.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, they were.

Ramsey Russell: Unbelievable.

Craig Beardsley: What was that like town center called there? Where pantry lawn –

Ramsey Russell: Machado Plaza.

Craig Beardsley: Yeah, the Plaza. Jerry and Christine left on Friday, but the rest of us had gone out and we ended up in the Plaza there Friday night, and it was a completely different scene, they had all the street vendor –

Ramsey Russell: Where the artisans out there.

Craig Beardsley: Yeah, all the artisans were out there, I guess they maybe do that on the weekends or something, but it was completely different. And just hustle and bustle compared to what it was that, I think that was Wednesday night when we went to Pedro & Lola. So that was interesting just to see the different ambiance of the whole area there.

Ramsey Russell: That to me, that Machado Plaza, especially on the Friday and Saturday night when they have with the artisans and it’s not just the artisans out, you’ll see families, you’ll see local families, mamas and dads and their children just walking around and maybe getting an ice cream cone or having a cup of coffee or playing with the balloons or whatever like that. I describe that because of the Spanish Colonial architecture and the oldness of it all, it’s kind of like New Orleans. But it’s like instead of all the weird and craziness, it’s like if you took Mayberry R.F.D and Jackson Square and merged them together. Because it’s just good, clean family fun without all the weirdness that goes on down around Bourbon Street. I really like the vibe down there.

Christine Stanton: Yeah, I agree.

Jerry Stanton: Yeah, I agree

Craig Beardsley: We actually found a place Friday night. Well, I say we found it, but really, we met a guy on the whale watching tour that was a co owner of this place called Bruma, I think it opened last October of 24, so I don’t think any of the doormen from the hotel knew what it was exactly, but it turns out it actually shares the bathroom with El Presidio. So it was a pretty cool little bar that they’ve got set up there, it’s not necessarily our style, but it was pretty interesting, I mean, they played all music straight from vinyls is what we were told and that’s what’s also how it was decorated too, it was really good, they had very good drinks. So I mean, if anyone’s looking for another bar to try, that was a good one.

Ramsey Russell: That’s fantastic. What was your biggest surprise about Mazatlan? For anybody, I’ll open that quick. What was your biggest surprise about going to Mazatlan? Like, maybe that’s kind of like one of them, like, here’s what I think it’s going to be like versus what it’s really like. What was some of the biggest surprises by going on a duck hunting trip in Mazatlan? Were you surprised by how safe it was or how clean it was?

Craig Beardsley: I hate to admit it’s hard for me – This is Craig speaking. I’ll go back a little ways here, so Jerry had first told me about this, what was that, 2 years ago on an elk hunt and I said, yeah, I want to do this, this sounds like a good idea, I think it would be an easy sell. So, we here we are a couple years later and we’ve booked it, we got out there and I think that you’ve really done a great job on prior podcasts, kind of letting people know what to expect. And for me, it was spot on, like I’ve also been to Mexico, Mexico City specifically and kind of also, I guess, had a bit of a Mexico experience and it was exactly as I expected, I’d have to say. I mean, it was great.

Ramsey Russell: But Craig, I got to say, the reason I wanted you all alone here is I think you 3 couples did an especially good job at getting the most out of Mazatlan. Because so much we’ve talked about tonight, whale watching and a lot of stuff we’ve talked about, I’ve never done. I’m like, gosh, why haven’t I? You all went bill fishing one time, I’ve never gone bill fishing. And I’m like you have done it all.

Frank Story: I will say one of the things that surprised me and I guess part of it’s just the way that the hunt is set up so used to getting up at 02:30, driving an hour, trying to brush in the blind, throwing decoys out, all that and then driving an hour home or whatever after the hunt, cleaning birds when you get home, that whole bit and it’s like, it’s 2 o’ clock and I need a nap. The amount of – the thing that surprised me was just how much time you have to do the things that you want to do. It was nothing to get up at 04:45 to meet in the lobby at 05:30 or whatever and you could take a short nap on the truck ride back from duck hunting and then be ready to go hang out at the pool and go out for dinner and drinks and then not feel tired the next morning like there was enough time to do everything. It just felt like there were more hours in the day there than there are back home.

Ramsey Russell: Is there anything that you all heard about? I mean, you all did a lot, but is there anything you didn’t do that you would want to do next time if you went back?

Jerry Stanton: Well, we need redemption on the marlin fishing.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Jerry Stanton: We struck out there, I mean –

Frank Story: Sorry. We talked about El Salto going bass fishing and –

Ramsey Russell: Bass fishing that’s for sure.

Frank Story: I’d love to go up in the mountains, you fly over the mountains in Durango or going towards Durango on the flight in and those were incredible looking mountains. I would love to go back and explore some of those towns and I know that they do a trip that goes up to Durango that you can book through Jesus and also –

Ramsey Russell: There’s somewhere else around there I’ve never been, but you actually kind of get up into the mountains a little bit and it’s kind of like old Spanish Colonial, but quaint. It reminds me of like, have you ever been to some little hole in just middle of the nowhere, French cross just a little French community and except it’s Spanish. And the people I talked to were showing me pictures, they went up here and did like a mud bath. I don’t know about going doing a mud bath spa, but I think it’d be a pretty cool place to go hang out and drink a cold beer and kick around down them Cobblestone streets and look at some of that stuff. I think it’d be a nice, relaxing day outside of the Mazatlan city. Of course, next time I go, I mean, I’ve added my bucket list, just bringing binoculars and a bird book and look at all this kind of stuff. Is there any advice you all would give to anybody that’s considering this trip in terms of getting the most out of Mazatlan? The ducks are a foregone conclusion, we know kind of what the duck program is, you’re going to go out, get taken care of, shoot some ducks, eat some of those delicious tacos. Boy, I tell you what, pace yourself on those serrano peppers depending on what your tolerance for heat is. Drink a cold beer, come back, but is there any advice you all would suggest of anybody getting the most out of Mazatlan?

Frank Story: Yeah, I would say to reach, I mean, kind of get an idea of what you like to do and reach out to Jesus as early as you can before your trip and just talk to him, because I know we talked about it a little bit earlier, but he was an incredible resource and we had a few things that we were planning to do that fell through and we’re able to talk to Jesus and he was able to give suggestions and help us kind of pivot to some other activities and he’s an incredible resource. And I would just say you don’t have to know what you want to do exactly, just give him some ideas and he’d really be able to help a lot.

Ramsey Russell: Heck, yeah. They’ve got an activity desk slap full of it, I mean, it’s anything you want to do. And to which I would add schedule a massage, not watch chacalacas. Go get a massage, you’ll be glad you did.

Christine Stanton: My biggest thing or my biggest piece of advice for anybody who wants to go – who’s a non hunter is don’t stress about the fact that – don’t look at it’s a travel hazard and everything like that. If I followed that, I would have canceled the trip and I would have missed out on so much. You’re safe, you’re in a safe area and don’t be afraid to explore things outside of the resort. There are people there that want to help you, there are people there that want to share their culture with you and give them an opportunity to talk to people, be respectful. Knowing a little bit of Spanish goes a long way, Rebecca is a huge – again, I keep going back to her. But she made the trip so much more enjoyable because she was a big help and she was able to kind of finagle and translate a lot of things. But a lot of it is just don’t be – you’re going to be out, you’re in another country, they’re hosting you, don’t be afraid to get out outside of your comfort zone.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Christine Stanton: And explore because there’s so much to see. I mean, whenever we left, I was actually really depressed because I got to – Because Craig and Rebecca, we’re going to go on a whale watching trip and in Frank and Sarah we’re going to go – we’re touring it, was it a tequila factory?

Sarah Story: Yeah. Tequila distillery.

Christine Stanton: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Did you all do the tequila tour, Sarah?

Sarah Story: We did.

Ramsey Russell: Did you all get to drink tequila during the tour?

Sarah Story: Yes.

Ramsey Russell: Okay, I’m all in. I’ve always wanted to do it, but I don’t want to walk around and look at it, I want to be able to sample it while I’m walking.

Sarah Story: So, you looked at it and then on, like one of the last little stops is them pouring, they’re holding the spout, filling up the bottles and they’re making sure they’re all even and then they go through the assembly line and then there’s this girl who’s hammering, who’s actually hammering the stopper in, so that was great. And then, yeah, you line up at the bar and you have a couple shot tickets and somehow, we ended up with way more than the alot 2, I think we ended up with like 5 or 6.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Fun ride home, I bet. Yeah.

Sarah Story: Yeah, it was – yeah, it was good. It was really good.

“Of course, I’m so relaxed when I leave Mazatlan, you can pour me in a shot glass, I’m always glad I went again.”

Ramsey Russell: I really liked – I do know some people can’t stand it, I love tequila and I drink my share when I’m down there. I like the margaritas and I drink just straight tequila and I have a good time down there. Of course, I’m so relaxed when I leave Mazatlan, you can pour me in a shot glass, I’m always glad I went again. And what about you, Jerry? What was the highlight of your trip? Was it the birds? Was it the ducks?

Jerry Stanton: Yes, everything. To me, everything exceeded expectations. You see the pictures of El Cid Marina on their website, but when we walked in our room, it was bigger, more space, more like an apartment. I wasn’t expecting that nice balcony that we could walk out on and of course, I had a pair of binoculars sitting out on our balcony, separate from the pair I carried with me every day to the hunting exceeded our expectations. I told Logan and Hunter were the 2 hunters that came down with their wives, but decided to push the hunt till next year, I told them, if this is 40%, you all are going to have an excellent time, so even the duck hunting exceeded our expectations. The food was out of this world, the relaxing by the pool, even the fishing, even though we didn’t catch anything. We saw whales, we saw sea turtles, we saw hundreds, if not thousands of dolphins. I mean, the whole thing –

Craig Beardsley: It was the experience.

Jerry Stanton: Everything was an experience. And of course, the birding was exceptional. I wasn’t disappointed in anything that happened out there.

Ramsey Russell: I got up the first morning to say hello to you all and see you all and the way I was looking at it, if you’re only going to shoot 40% limits. Let’s just say 35 ducks, 35 ducks divided by 4 guys are different than 35 divided by 5 guys and I knew where you all were hunting that first morning and I knew I’d have to leave Char anyway it been, no way possible, she could navigate through that bottomless stuff. And then later that afternoon, I went to the spa to get my massage and later, I had a cup of – and here comes Sarah. I said, well, how’d it going? And it’s like, it’s the most ducks we’ve ever killed together. I said, really? She goes, oh, it was amazing. I said, well, what if you shot twice that many? She’d go and she said I can’t remember what she said exactly, but it was something to the fact it wouldn’t have made a difference. It wouldn’t have made a difference.

Sarah Story: It would have been just as much fun as the numbers didn’t matter, really. I mean, we were just so excited to shoot the species that we came to and just being there and I think I can’t remember if it was at Patio Escobedo or Pedro & Lola’s where I pulled up one of our – Jerry, I don’t know if it was the first time, we the Frank and you and I hunted together, but it was out at Cisco and we used to just jump pawns. So that was how I learned how to duck hunt, was jumping pawns. And so not only from a hunting experience was this completely different, but it was great, but it was – I don’t know how many ducks we shot that day, but I mean, it was just like, wow, this is the most ever and every hunt here was 2 to 3 times more than that. And I mean, it was just so special, so much fun.

Ramsey Russell: And then tomorrow, we all hunted together again. It was lots of blue wings and cinnamons and I was taking them if the dog would come in and if they were it all fit the mount, I’d hang them up, keep them dry and it all of a sudden, it started looking like a Christmas tree. So I was having to struggle to find somewhere to hang them back there, and Jerry said this hunt today just blows all our expectations out of the water, we got everything we want, I’d like to kill the shoveler, blah, blah, blah. The next day, you all go out and do shoot some nice shovelers, some really couple of very nice shovelers and then somebody shot a bull sprig, I mean, a really nice pintail. So, I mean, it just, how much better could it get, really?

Jerry Stanton: Yeah, and that last day was interesting. So, Frank and his family used to own a ranch on West Texas and that pothole that we hunted that last, I say pothole, the pond was real similar to hunting, duck hunting his ponds back 2, 3 hours west of Fort Worth. So kind of there was a little familiarity, there’s a lot more ducks coming in that we shoot out there, but it was kind of a little bit of something new. But it also felt kind of what we’ve done for a decade or more now together.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, fantastic. Well, I would like to thank all of you all. First off, I enjoyed getting to meet every one of you all, I mean, I visited with every single one of you all personally and over dinner or out by the pool and I really enjoy getting to know people and I learned and felt like just had a great time with all of you all. So thank you all for that, but also thank you all, because I know you all got young families. Thank you all for coming on tonight and sharing you all experiences. I know Frank and Sarah or double, they’re like playing tag team with the kids right now. There she is right now, yeah. And I remember those days and know how busy and hectic it can be this time of evening, so thank you all for that too. I appreciate you all a whole lot.

Rebecca Beardsley: Yeah, thank you for bringing Char down to us and meeting – It was a delight to see her working –

Christine Stanton: Oh, yeah.

Rebecca Beardsley: To see what a dog, a whale dog is bred for and loving what they do and performing like athletes and just seeing how happy and how incredibly well sound behaved dog she is. It was – the cherry on top, it was a treat too.

Craig Beardsley: Never seen a retrieve that long.

Ramsey Russell: The pleasure was all hers. But you know what surprised me the most is I got up the second morning when I was going to go with you all and both Rebecca and Christine, I’m not used to seeing non hunting spouses at 05:30 in the morning.

Christine Stanton: We came down for the dog.

Ramsey Russell: And yeah, you all came down for the dog. I said, I thought, man, Jerry’s a lucky guy, his wife seeing him off? No, she was there to see Char dog.

Craig Beardsley: We told them both that she was there that first morning and so they both got up to come see her.

Ramsey Russell: Golly. All right, well, thank you all very much, I really appreciate you all and glad you all had a good time. And thank you all for showing me how to make the most of Mazatlan. You all really know how to travel and get to see a place for what it is and what it’s not. And for those of you all listening, thank you all for listening this episode of MOJO’s Duck Season Somewhere podcast. We’ll see you next time.

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