EP 568. Feathers, Friends and Fond Memories from Nayarit, Mexico

Ramsey Russell: Welcome back to MOJO’s Duck Season Somewhere podcast from good old Mexico down in Nayarit. Joining me first, Mr. Philip (Drink Water) Williams. Yeah, I still know you as your old name, man.

Philip Williams: That’s all right. Lots of people do.

Ramsey Russell: Hey Philip, I’m going to ask you this. What inspired you to come on this Nayarit Mexico duck hunt?

Philip Williams: Seeing your post on Instagram was the first thing, I was jealous. I said man, I’ve got to get down there. Ramsay is having too good of a time, he can’t do all that by himself. But I’m going to tell you first, I’m kind of nervous talking this up because I might not have room here, so many people are going to come on this hunt, it’ll be booked up. It’s so good.

Ramsey Russell: They already have. They’ve already been piling in. I’m telling folks, if you’re thinking about coming, you better call right now. But here’s the reason I wanted to lead this episode off with you, you’ve been to Mexico before?

Philip Williams: Yes.

Ramsey Russell: How does this Nayarit hunt compare to other Mexico hunts that you’ve been on?

Philip Williams: The first thing I’ll say is my comfort level. I feel at home here. It’s got a great vibe, though.

Ramsey Russell: It’s not a resort, it’s the opposite of a resort. I mean, but it’s a vibe. Describe where you are right now.

Philip Williams: I’m on top of a hill with this beautiful new white stucco sided, red roofed, very Mexican feeling lodge with everybody has these rooms, what is there, 10, 12 rooms here? Everybody can have their own room. Tile everywhere, there’s a pool, there’s a hot tub. We have a big covered area, 30 by 30 covered and we’re looking out over a river and there’s mountains in the background. There’s these beautiful trees with these yellow flowers. We can see horses. There’s a pack of dogs here, this is the friendliest dogs ever. They’re making the trip for me, these are my buddies now. And we have cattle in the distance, the mango groves. There’s cowboys coming around, everybody’s so friendly, the guys, Poncho, Jesus, everybody has been so friendly. The food, they take care of you constantly, you never need anything. Laundry, cleaning, anything you ask for, it’s done, all included. And not one person has asked me for a tip on my other trips to Mexico, it’s just constantly, money. These people are so happy to help you, it’s all included, besides your shells, and that’s on you. You shoot as much as you want to shoot. But I have had an incredible time. This is day 3, unfortunately, I wish I was staying longer, but we’re almost done here. And we’ve shot some white wing doves, we’re getting a little better, I think I shot twice as many today as I did the first day with the same amount of shells, so we’re getting a little better figuring them out. We’ve shot ducks, the first day with those whistling ducks was incredible, flock after flock. And there was some cinnamon teal mixed in, some green wing teal mixed in, it was a beautiful setting. We saw lots of other birds there was roseate spoonbills, saw some caracaras, I like those kind of things. What was that the red vermilion flycatcher we saw?

Ramsey Russell: Isn’t that amazing?

Philip Williams: Beautiful. And the people you get to see when you’re here and the agriculture and their way of life, I just like embracing and kind of soaking in the culture while you’re here. It’s amazing.

Ramsey Russell: Were there any bucket list species for you on this hunt?

Philip Williams: I have already been to Mexico and I’ve gotten cinnamon teal, and I’ve gotten the tree ducks, I’ve gotten all these. So I got cinnamon teal again. And that’s kind of bird, once you come and get it once, you want to hold that in your hand again. And I was able to do that.

Ramsey Russell: What did you think about the morning drives? And also, what did you think about having to wear hiking boots duck hunting instead of waders?

Philip Williams: Yeah. I mean, you don’t need waders. I mean, maybe some rubber boots up your calf, but that was it. And if you don’t have boots, a couple of the guys didn’t, they provided them.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Philip Williams: Not having to pack waders. And then the drive, the last one I went on, it was a 2 hour drive in the morning here, it’s what, 20 minutes, 30 maybe. I mean, at the most, one of them was 15, it’s nothing. It’s nothing in comparison. It’s so much easier. And then when you’re done hunting and you want to come back, you want to rest, you can get in the pool, have some snacks, have some drinks, whatever. It’s right there. It’s not this big, long, arduous trek back to a lodge. I loved it.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. What about the food, Philip? I mean, I noticed you’ve been kind of bashful when the food comes out.

Philip Williams: The food has been amazing. And they have a chef –

Ramsey Russell: Favourite meal so far?

Philip Williams: It’s hard to say that one night they had the tuna with the shrimp. Phenomenal. Last night they had the dove that we shot in the morning and they prepared these doves and they had it with ribs and it was so good.

Ramsey Russell: You saw me, I love a pork rib, but I absolutely dug into. I mean, because so many times elsewhere in the world, they overcook it.

Philip Williams: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And I sunk into it, it was medium rare. I’m like, oh, my gosh. I don’t know what he seasoned it with, but it was amazing. Whole doves.

Philip Williams: Yeah, just kind of spatchcock kind of laid out.

Ramsey Russell: I, dang near ate my limits worth.

Philip Williams: Oh, yeah, for sure.

Ramsey Russell: I was full of the tick. Margaritas? Are you sipping one right now?

Philip Williams: Oh, yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Have you ever had a better margarita?

Philip Williams: Can’t say I have. Can’t say I have, no. They’re top notch. And anything you need, anything you want to ask for, they’ll do their best to do it. And in the morning going to the food, what do you want for breakfast? It’s not just some meal thrown in front of you. I said, can you make huevos rancheros? Sure. They brought out some toast, I said, tortillas, they brought out tortillas. It’s whatever you want. They’re trying their best to make you happy and they’re happy to do it. They’re not after you, they don’t begrudge it, they enjoy their job and you can tell.

Ramsey Russell: Very service oriented.

Philip Williams: Totally.

Ramsey Russell: Describe some of your bird boys, the boys out in the field, you know what I’m saying? Describe them. Especially the dove guys.

Philip Williams: There was a guy that I had twice, two out of the three hunts, Oscar, phenomenal, hustle, trying to make you happy, handing you shells, doing anything that you need him to do. Crawling through the barbed wire fences, I was going over there, putting a boot on it, trying to stretch it so he could crawl through it easier. But, man, they were so able to please. They were getting everything, pawn them up and they’re putting them out for pictures at the end, they know the drill. Put them in a line taking pictures for you, making sure you need water, you need a soda, whatever you’re doing and they provide it for you and had a great time.

Ramsey Russell: Do you speak much Spanish?

Philip Williams: No. Just a little bit.

Ramsey Russell: What are some of the favorite phrases or words that are safe for the audience you’ve picked up?

Philip Williams: Well, a lot of them.

Ramsey Russell: We all learn to cuss words first.

Philip Williams: But my favorite word that I love saying is pichiwilas, which is the name that they have for the whistling duck. And then back to the lodge, this river here in the evening, you can watch the pichiwilas come in and land in the hundreds. And you can hear them whistling. And to sit here having dinner and watching those birds come in. Or one night I was in the pool watching them come in, can’t beat it. You can’t beat it for sure. And then, paloma, mira, look, there’s a dove coming. You know those kind of things. But I don’t pretend that I know a lot of Spanish, enough to get me in trouble.

Ramsey Russell: But you don’t need to.

Philip Williams: You don’t need to. And their service, there’s cell service here. I was in the field today trying to talk to my bird boy because he doesn’t speak English. But I was doing Google Translate, we were cutting up, having a great time.

Ramsey Russell: One thing that surprised me is the first day my bird boy, Peta broke out to Google Translate. I’m like, wow, he understands this stuff too. It’s a small world

Philip Williams: They all have a cell phone. I mean, the technology has made it to all the corners of the world and they all have cell phones and they can all do it. And we could communicate if I needed something, just let them know. And then also when you go back to lodge, the guys who run the lodge, the brothers Poncho and Jesus, they speak perfect English, I mean, as good as I do. So that’s never a problem. If you have something you’re trying to communicate that you can’t just talk to them and they’ll be your translator.

Ramsey Russell: Have you got used to the twice a day margarita routine, yet? We got in at 09:45 AM one morning and the margaritas were waiting on us.

Philip Williams: Oh yeah, they’re out there at the door waiting on you, ready to go. And there’s snacks and then there’s lunch and then there’s more snacks.

Ramsey Russell: And you all learn that the first day. I think with the first lunch or first dinner, you’re like, I thought we’ve already eaten, I go now it’s 5 meals a day.

Philip Williams: I’m going to have to go on a diet when I get back. Guarantee it. I’m not have to start fasting when I get home to get rid of all this. Have to dry out.

Ramsey Russell: How fun was the white wing dove hunting? I have never in my life heard 3 men have as much fun doing anything as what you all sounded like across the dove field.

Philip Williams: So the first day they went and they’re trying to get us all as many shots as possible so they put us separately. And I’ll say that when I dove hunt back home in Virginia, it’s kind of something you do with your buddies. And so I shot about a box, and I was like, man, I’m just kind of lonely. So I went over here to my buddy Scuba Steve, and then we had the best time. I can’t say we shot the most doves, we didn’t, but we had the best time. We got back to the truck and all we heard about was, man, we could hear you laughing and carrying on and having fun and laughing with the bird boys. We had so much fun. And then the next couple days we did that where me and Andrew and Scuba, we hunted near each other. And so you could just kind of play off each other. Hey, look, there’s the doves coming left, right. But if you want to hunt by yourself, one of the guys who came, Brent, he hunted by himself, and then you hunted by yourself.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Philip Williams: So if you want that volume, that’s an option. But if you want to be with your buddies, just tell them, they’ll accommodate.

Ramsey Russell: We went out this morning, and it’s been a long time since I had as much fun myself hunting anything as I did this morning, it started off foggy and heavy. I must have been sitting 5 or 10, 15 minutes for I even saw a dove. But boy, when they lit up and they started coming in, they started coming in. What was it about this morning that was such a great dove hunt?

Philip Williams: Well, this morning, first off, you didn’t have to get up early, we didn’t even leave till 6. And then we had a breakfast, got out there, we were at the dove field, what was it, 07:30 AM. And it’s kind of foggy, one of those mornings where, you know it’s going to be a little slow but you’d get time to get set up. And we found our spot, there was some open dirt. There was some, what is it? Milo or whatever. Sorghum, something like that in front of us. And you just wait on them to come in. The Inca doves, now, that is something that I don’t know, not everybody might care about that. But they have these little doves down here in Mexico, so small could fit in your hand and I got such a kick out of that. They’re beautiful little dove shrunk down to quarter size and we shot some of those. And then as the fog started to burn off, the doves, they came from every direction, 360 degrees. And we were just shouting out to each other, left, right, front, center, up. And we’d hit one, we’d cheer each other on, you miss one, you laugh. And the bird boy’s there, Oscar was there to hand me more shells, ready to go, ready to get a bird. And they were trying their hardest, to find your birds and take care of you. It was incredible. I’ve never been on a white wing hunt like this, and I’ve never seen the volume of white wings like this. I’ve been in other parts of Mexico, it was not even scratching the surface of this hunt.

Ramsey Russell: We’ve been talking on the phone for years, I’m glad I got to finally share a camp with you. I know you’re a farrier by trade, but what I did not know is that you carved decoys. And you showed up with the most beautiful little cinnamon teal decoy I’ve ever seen. Why did you choose a cinnamon teal? And what was your ambition down here in bringing a decoy? How long have you been carving decoy to paint like that?

Philip Williams: I started carving about 8 years ago, and I haven’t been a duck hunter long compared to some of these guys who’ve been doing it since childhood. My family, we didn’t duck hunt. I bought a farm and my buddy said, we got to hunt geese here. So we went out there, field hunted for geese the first time got 3, one was banded. And ever since then, I’ve been hooked as a duck hunter. Hooked. And it’s to this point where all duck hunters know when the season’s over, you have the duck depression, right? You’re wishing for it to come back. Now, maybe your season isn’t always over you. It’s always Duck Season Somewhere. But ours in Virginia, it ends. So I started carving decoys to fill that void and met a local guy, started carving and then found this whole culture where there’s carvers. And I live in Virginia, so we have the Eastern Shore and guys like Pete Peterson and Grayson Chesser and the McNair family and Cameron McIntyre. And I have friends who carve contemporary decoys. The Costellos up in Ohio and friends down in Carolina like Jerry Tarlton and it’s just this community that has really embraced me and we’ve all gotten to know each other and I really like having that creative outlet. And as a farrier, shoeing horses for a living, I use my hands, I like building furniture, I like making things. And so carving decoys came naturally. And I’ve gotten to delve into different styles regionally. You have New England, you have Maryland, you have Virginia, Carolina has its own style, Louisiana has its own style. I kind of drew on the Louisiana style a little bit with this decoy and then put a little bit of my own flair in there. And Pete Peterson, one of my mentors, to me, he said, take a little piece of everything and take what you want and then put that into your own work, because it’s you’re never coming up with original ideas anymore. It’s all little pieces of what inspires you and turning it into your own. But I just wanted to take a cinnamon teal. You asked why did I make that? I have duck hunted all over America, Canada, Mexico and the cinnamon teal is probably my favorite species of duck, it’s so beautiful. I mean, wigeon, pintails, I’ve shot harlequin duck in Alaska, they all have their own place, they’re all gorgeous birds. But that cinnamon, that red, it just got to me.

Ramsey Russell: And you can really see them when they’re coming in, can’t you? You pick the drake.

Philip Williams: You can pick the drake and it is coming in. And oh, man, when you get one and you can lay it out, that is a thrill. I’m on a high. There’s nothing else that can produce that. So I was so happy to be able to get another cinnamon teal in my hand.

Ramsey Russell: What all your buddies say when you started posting up and are you coming back next year?

Philip Williams: Oh, definitely. We’re calling Anita as soon as we’re on the way back, maybe in the airport. All right, what are the dates? And this time there was me and 2 buddies, and then there’s you and then your buddy Brent, who’s my buddy now, too. And I like this lodge because it’s a smaller one. You don’t have to share it with everybody in their mother.

Ramsey Russell: No. 4 people, man, when you get it to yourself.

Philip Williams: So our problem is going to be picking and choosing who comes next year, because if we’re having 4 to 6 people, we’re going to have 6 people there, and we’re going to come and we’re going to have a great time, and I cannot wait to be back. And when you work as hard as Andrew and Scuba and you and me do, it’s nice to have something to look forward to on the horizon. And that’s one thing I love about these duck hunting trips is I’m like, I get to go. And every October I go to North Dakota, then I’ll have a trip up to Jersey or Ohio to see my buddies in December. And then now having this Mexico and that helps with my duck depression, it’s my antidepressant. After the season, you get to come into Mexico. So, once it’s done at home, it’s not really done. You get an encore, and I love that.

Ramsey Russell: Thank you, Philip. Look forward to seeing you again.

Philip Williams: Definitely will. Thank you, Ramsey.

Ramsey Russell: Andrew Cheryl, like a girl.

Andrew Cheryl: There you go.

Ramsey Russell: It seems like forever that you come up to the gate and I thought you was going to miss your flight, I ain’t going to lie to you, I’m like, man, they’re already supposed to be boarded and I met this guy Andrew yet, but here you come, we’re here, it’s only been 3 or 4 days, feels like an eternity because it’s been so action packed. What brings you to Nayarit?

Andrew Cheryl: I’ll tell you. So about 2, 2.5 years ago, I was up in Canada with Joey d’ Amico at Tecton Game calls.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Andrew Cheryl: We had a little outing where he had a little lull and he had some buddies come up. And so I was up there, and Philip that you just interviewed came up there with him. And me and Philip just kind of hit it off. And so, up there, sitting –

Ramsey Russell: He never met a stranger, has he?

Andrew Cheryl: I don’t think so, man. I don’t think so. I think he might be a brother from another mother, I’m not sure. Him and I get along great. But a long story short is, we’re sitting in the blinds in Canada having chat about this, chat about that, and he said, man, you ever been to Mexico? He’s like, man, I shot this cinnamon teal, it was the coolest thing in my life. I said, you know what, if you go again, you call me. So sure enough, he gave me a buzz about a year ago and said, man, you got to come with us. So whole process, getducks.com. we jumped on that, you guys answered a lot of questions, it was absolutely phenomenal. Simple fact, Anita was great. But you guys did a little video, which I thought was phenomenal. There was a Zoom call you did, and then you actually had it up so you could re-watch it. So I watched that bugger, like 2 times. And man, you just gave like the, here’s the blueprint, here’s how you get here, here’s what you do. And of course, I packed too much, but I think everybody does. But everything that you need is here, if you forget something.

Ramsey Russell: Was it undersold or oversold?

Andrew Cheryl: Man, I’ll tell you what, this is undersold.

Ramsey Russell: And when did you realize that? I mean, like, when did you go man, this is better than I expected?

Andrew Cheryl: Like I said, I’ve been to Canada a couple times, but never down south, and this is my first time. And it’s phenomenal. I’ve had a couple buddies do some hunts down in Mexico, and they’re like, oh, they put you in this thing, they turn this feeder on, this is nothing like this. This is, you’re shooting wild ducks, you’re having good times, there’s holes, these guys know about the holes. You jump in the car, they drive you. I mean, what were in the car today, 30, 40 minutes?

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Andrew Cheryl: I mean, it’s not an hour, hour or two, trek anywhere. They know where they’re coming, they’ll tell you what species you’re shooting, what you’re going after.

Ramsey Russell: We’re hunting thirsty ducks down here. How would you describe the habitat and conditions as compared to other places you’ve hunted? Where you’re hunting feed instead of thirsty ducks?

Andrew Cheryl: It was the craziest thing. They were kind of explaining what was going to happen the next morning. They’re like, okay, you guys are going to be in this little freshwater pond in front of you. It’s going to be about two swimming pools, and they’re going to come over this hill, and you’re going to be shooting down on them.

Ramsey Russell: Well, if you look over that levee where you all hunted yesterday, all you see is brackish water. Rafts of ducks. But then the sun comes up, they get hot.

Andrew Cheryl: Yeah, they get hot. They get thirsty. And you couldn’t shoe them out. They kept coming in.

Ramsey Russell: Have you learned any new techniques from either the local guides or your fellow hunters?

Andrew Cheryl: Well, I will tell you, there is a gentleman here, Brent, which is your friend. And I’ve never seen a sharpshooter in my life like this man. So he was kind of giving us little pointers just for shooting, cleaning some things up. So first day, I think Philip mentioned this, but first day, I think I shot about 22 doves in hand. And then this morning, I was right at 47, so I doubled up. Same amount of shells that I shot. So, just getting the dust off.

Ramsey Russell: Has the local culture and hospitality enhanced your experience at all?

Andrew Cheryl: It’s phenomenal. I’ll tell you what, so my mother sent us on a trek for this Mexican vanilla. Has anybody –

Ramsey Russell: That’s a big deal down here, son.

Andrew Cheryl: Yeah, I’ve never heard of it. So sure enough, we had a little bit of a lull between afternoon hunt. I said, hey, can we go into town, maybe find this Mexican vanilla? And Jesus said, get in a car. So he took us all over town. We went to four spots. We couldn’t find exactly what we’re looking for. But he went in the kitchen, he said, hey, is this it? This is the natural stuff. So, man, he’s going out of his way. He’s going to get a couple of those bottles for us and bring them back. So wherever they got that bottle, they’re going to bring a couple more for us.

Ramsey Russell: They will. Back home, everywhere vanilla I’ve ever eaten back home is artificial and it is a real deal. What has been your favorite part of the non-hunting side of this trip? The hunting’s been phenomenal. Is it the food? Is it the scenery? Is it the people?

Andrew Cheryl: Man, I thought I’d lose a little bit of weight trekking, up and down these hills, but good God, I think I put on 10lbs been here 3 days. The food’s absolutely phenomenal. The drinks are phenomenal. Anytime you got an empty beer, you got an empty bottle, you got an empty glass, you want more? It’s unbelievable.

Ramsey Russell: What was your favorite food so far? Favorite meal?

Andrew Cheryl: Man, I’ll tell you, it was actually, there was a tuna dish with some shrimp that was absolutely phenomenal. But I’ll tell you, I just love the traditional tacos, steak tacos they did the first night.

Ramsey Russell: Me too.

Andrew Cheryl: And there was 15 different sauces that I tried. Of course, I can’t do the hot ones, but they were all delicious. I had to give it a go.

Ramsey Russell: You talked about the Zoom Pre trip, we like to do that on these big trips. We’ll organize a Zoom call or 2 where everybody can come in because maybe if you ask a question, it’ll remind him of something. I’ve always felt like our greatest responsibility in this business is to increase the client’s powers of enjoyment. But we’re good. We’re not God. Is there any piece of gear that you would think about bringing next time that you didn’t bring? Is there one thing that would have made your trip better?

Andrew Cheryl: I don’t think so. I mean, you gave the blueprint on what to bring. I brought roughly turkey gear outfit, it’s a little lightweight, but I brought a little vest in case it got cold in the morning. So you get up, it’s about 60 degrees and it warms up to 80. But it’s not like a – in Charleston, South Carolina, 80 degrees is different from down here. It’s a little bit drier.

Ramsey Russell: Once you get in the Sombre, the shade. It’s a whole different ball game.

Andrew Cheryl: Whole thing. Yeah. I will give you a little heads up. Some of the guides and some of the birds, boys, they had some what a little deep mosquito. So the No-see-ums, South Carolina, those No-see-ums, they ain’t got nothing on these ones down here.

Ramsey Russell: Well, we were talking about this yesterday because that’s one thing I try to say is we got no, there’s No-see-ums around these marsh areas, especially if you’re up in the vegetation. And I don’t think the deep and the bug dope works worth a dang. I think the best use for off is to spray it in cow patty or damp wood and light it for a smudge. And we showed up yesterday and it looked like somebody was having a barbecue at you all duck blind. I’m like, God, they figured that out.

Andrew Cheryl: It was the 4^th of July out there, man. There was clouds of smoke.

Ramsey Russell: They had smudge fires everywhere.

Andrew Cheryl: As soon as a couple fires started to go out, the bugs turned back on. And we looked at the guides and they said, we got you.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Andrew Cheryl: And they made a couple more and bugs were gone. So you’re 100% right.

Ramsey Russell: Brent and I showed up, same thing. It was like, wow. I knew where we were hunting because of the smoke hanging over the water.

Andrew Cheryl: It’s crazy. Yeah, it definitely works.

Ramsey Russell: We never saw a bug. I already asked that question. Have you picked up any Spanish phrases?

Andrew Cheryl: Canela.

Ramsey Russell: What is that?

Andrew Cheryl: Did I say it right?

Ramsey Russell: Cinnamon.

Andrew Cheryl: Cinnamon.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, cinnamon.

Andrew Cheryl: So if I start screaming, Canela. The guys are like, yes, Cinnamon teal, here they come. It’s on like Donkey Kong.

Ramsey Russell: Any favorite hunt or hunting moment you’ve had on this trip?

Andrew Cheryl: Man, I’ll tell you this white wing dove this morning was absolutely phenomenal. We shot a couple of these funky Incas. Those were cool. But the doves good God, yesterday when we pulled in that field, how many doves are in there?

Ramsey Russell: It’s a bunch, I mean more than I could count. Get ducks, we target waterfowl, this is a combo trip so we can go duck hunting in the morning, dove hunting in the afternoon. And I hear so many people say, I don’t want to shoot doves, I don’t want to shoot no ducks, every time I walk into one of them fields like we hunted the last few days, I’m reminded of why I love to go shoot dove. And of all the doves in the world, I’m a white wing fan. White wing dove, especially down here.

Andrew Cheryl: I’ve never had a more successful, more fun dove hunt. Me and my 2 goon friends over here were screaming and yelling, having a great time, ragging on each other. The bird boys were absolutely phenomenal. I got this guy Miguel, he was Jesse Owens of the bird boy. You would shoot one and he would sprint out there and get that thing in a lickety split.

Ramsey Russell: Your mama was worried about you coming to Mexico. How safe as you felt?

Andrew Cheryl: I’ve never felt more comfortable. I mean, anywhere else.

Ramsey Russell: I feel as safe here in this part of Mexico as I do in Brandon, Mississippi.

Andrew Cheryl: I’ll tell you, I had some friends that had bad experiences down here, and I think that’s the reason probably my mother was worried –

Ramsey Russell: Elsewhere Mexico you mean.

Andrew Cheryl: And my mom was a little worried about that and I called her out here, I said, man, this is the nicest, we’re looking at this villa, I’m looking at this river, there’s a swimming pool in the back, whatever you need, whatever you want, they’re here for you. If you want to go into town, they go into town with you. I mean, it’s great.

Ramsey Russell: First time to Mexico?

Andrew Cheryl: Yes, sir.

Ramsey Russell: What’s the biggest lesson or takeaway that you’ll bring back home from this experience?

Andrew Cheryl: I’ll tell you what, I wish I would have done a little bit more research on bringing a bird home. You definitely gave some insight there, but I didn’t do enough digging, so I’d probably come up a little bit more educated with that, make sure I had all the paperwork and everything ready to roll for next year.

Ramsey Russell: For those of you all listening, what he’s talking about is to bring birds home from Mexico, you can import birds very easily from Mexico, everything but the whistling ducks. And we do shoot black bellied and fulvous here occasionally and to import birds into the United States, we got the paperwork, we got the licenses, we’ll help you fill out the forms. But you need to allow some connection time because you’re going to have to declare them. They got to be consigned to a USDA approved facility and you are going to have to go through inspection and it’s just impossible to go through the inspection and make your connecting flight and go back through TSA and all that bull in a very short amount of time. So what we tell everybody, if you’re going to bring birds back very easy, we’ll line it up for you. Just be sure to have a big enough window of opportunity that you can declare them and go through the process and come on back home with them.

Andrew Cheryl: Yeah, that’s my fault, not your.

Ramsey Russell: You’re coming back next year, Andrew?

Andrew Cheryl: Yes, sir. Good gosh. I posted 1 or 2 little things on my Instagram and I’ve had 10 people, hey, where is that? Who’s going? Where is that? Can we go with you next year?

Ramsey Russell: How does it compare to your hunting season back home this year?

Andrew Cheryl: I had a little bit of a lull this year, I had a knee surgery, so my hunting season was not as successful. So I’ve been looking forward to this trip like anything else.

Ramsey Russell: And you’re still in recovery. I mean, you got a little limp because your knees repairing. So that brings up the last question. How was hunting here? Going out shooting, the number of birds we shoot the doves, the ducks. How was that on a guy who’s still in the rehab?

Andrew Cheryl: If I can do it with a cane, anybody can do it. And like I said, everybody here is helpful. All the guys, all the guides, all the bird boys and then, just the crew you come with. So you guys definitely help me out also. So I can’t appreciate you any more than I –

Ramsey Russell: Thank you, Andrew. I’ve enjoyed it.

Andrew Cheryl: Thank you, sir.

Ramsey Russell: Stephen Crutchley, AKA Scuba. Where the heck did scuba come from anyway? Scuba diving, Scooby Doo?

Stephen Crutchley: I wish it was that good. When the movie Big Daddy came out, one person called me Scuba Steve, it stuck ever since. People think I’m a scuba diver because I’ve been born around the fishing communities my whole life and raised in Northeast North Carolina, around the Outer Banks, an hour in inland. And I wish it was a better story, Ramsey, I really do.

Ramsey Russell: First time to Mexico?

Stephen Crutchley: No, 15, 16 time, but always on the East Coast. I’ve never been to the West Coast?

Ramsey Russell: Just visiting?

Stephen Crutchley: Fishing. Sail fishing.

Ramsey Russell: Okay, I forgot about that. You’re big into that kind of stuff too.

Stephen Crutchley: Yes, sir.

Ramsey Russell: How did you enjoy this trip to Nayarit? I mean this ain’t built up, this is remote rural cobblestone street, dusty old, good old fashioned Mexico. How did you like this trip? How did you like the experience down here?

Stephen Crutchley: I’ve absolutely loved it. I grew up in a rural town, I live in little Elizabeth City, North Carolina, little tiny town in northeast North Carolina. And it’s really kind of almost like home except there’s no flat ground here. There’s mountains in the dag on and off in the horizon, but there’s corn, there’s milo growing, I feel right at home. The people have been good Lord, just as nice it can be. I didn’t know what to expect when I came down here because you hear all kinds of bad things and I’ve never felt safer in Mexico, I’ll be honest.

Ramsey Russell: Can you share a memorable moment from Nayarit? I mean, we got a bunch of hilarious moments now, you kept us all in stitches, but this is a memorable moment that sticks out for you?

Stephen Crutchley: I wish you gave me a little time. Let me think. I tell you what, the first day, honestly, the duck hunt, the first day we were here that shooting them whistling ducks or whatever. And I will say that was my favorite. Now I love a spoonbill smackdown. I had an absolute blast yesterday shooting them spoonbills, it was almost like at home, but a lot bigger numbers. But those whistling ducks, when they came in there making all that crazy noise and all five of us in that blind together having a dag on ball watch watching Char dog going out there and just charging them things down and catching cripples left and right and man, it was awesome. That would be my favorite is – now don’t get me wrong today’s dove hunt that was a lot different than what I’m used to at home.

Ramsey Russell: How so? Beside the more generous bag limit.

Stephen Crutchley: That helps.

Ramsey Russell: How else? I mean, because to me I would say okay, I can only shoot 15 back in the States but I’ve never hunted a field back home that this much constant action it.

Stephen Crutchley: If you have a sunflower patch at home where I’m from, you kill a lot of doves. This is a sunflower patch on steroids. I mean they are just piling in there. It’s like what the mosquitoes I’m used to at home in the swamp, they just wrap you up. And I will say it was a whole lot of fun when we all did group up, because at home especially –

Ramsey Russell: I couldn’t tell you all were having fun.

Stephen Crutchley: No, it was terrible.

Ramsey Russell: 12 shot volleys, laughs and hoots and hollows, I couldn’t.

Stephen Crutchley: Yes, sir. I tell you, at home, for me, the first day of dove season is, it’s a holiday. I mean, we all go out there and all our buddies, we got there and have a good time. Sometimes we do well, sometimes we don’t do very well at all. But it’s all about the fellowship and the friendship and just having a good time with your buddies and when we grouped up, we were having a ball, even the bird boys were having fun throwing dirt clods at each other and talking mess. And I got to learn a few more phrases I can’t say on here, but it was a great time. And of course, everybody’s going to sit in there and listen to this that is here with us, this is going to be the 20^th time they’ve heard this story. But when I sat there, I said, you know what, I about had my belly full for a little while, so I gave the bird boy my gun, and I was sitting there and I was loading the gun for him and going and getting his birds for him, and he had absolutely –

Ramsey Russell: How was fetching birds? How did that work out?

Stephen Crutchley: I tell you what, I learned a hard lesson that everything here’s got a dag on thorn on it, and if he killed anything, it fell right in the trees. And I mean, I’m used to briar bushes at home, but the trees don’t have briars on them. So this is a little bit different, it was fun.

Ramsey Russell: It get you?

Stephen Crutchley: Oh, yeah. I tore my right arm up a little bit, but it’s fine. I mean, it’s hunting. You’re used to it. But the look on that boy’s face was awesome. It took me a while to even convince him to take the gun and shoot, but when he did, I think he killed some birds too.

Ramsey Russell: Describe, like yesterday afternoon, this morning, describe for the people back home how many doves you would guesstimate flew over that milo field or that grain field?

Stephen Crutchley: Thousands.

Ramsey Russell: Thousands.

Stephen Crutchley: Thousands. I mean, thousands.

Ramsey Russell: And that brings up another point to me. You just reminded me of about the distinction, the difference between hunting here versus hunting at home. Hunting at home, we go and plant the wealthiest country in the world, we go and plant crops to attract old doves coming in hope for the best. Down here, I was wondering, we showed up, there’s all these long strings of shiny silver stuff, all over the field, some somebody had walked 20 miles to cover that quarter section with. And I realized what it was is it was the tape out of a VCR.

Stephen Crutchley: Yes, sir.

Ramsey Russell: And what they’re doing is by any means necessary. I’ve seen them sling dirt clods, I’ve seen them go out and rattle cans, I’ve seen them now put this kind of stuff up. They’re trying to keep the birds from eating them out of house and home. And when you do the math that a dove can eat whatever it amounts to, we looked it up yesterday, 16 grams or about an ounce. And there’s 10,000 in this 160 acre field, it works out to metric tons of being consumed between time that milo gets doughy to the time they can get it off the field. And I mean, these ain’t rich folks, these are folks just trying to make scratch out a living.

Stephen Crutchley: And you look in those especially when that milo when it’s headed off good and I guess the seeds good and hard and you just see dove all sitting, just literally stand on top of them, just chowing down.

Ramsey Russell: It’s crazy because the fields I hunt back home they’re spread wheat or bush hog grain or something, up here man, the doves land on the crop and they eat it.

Stephen Crutchley: They literally land on the head of the milo and they just go to town. I mean, I see why they love people like you doing this, bringing this to other people because it helps. Because at least you get even going out there in the field because every day they tell you different field because it’s even like at home. Say I go shoot a sunflower patch, the next day it’s not going to be that hot, you’re going to push some birds out of there and those farmers, they were coming by today with big grins on their face, just as happy as could be.

Ramsey Russell: The way they’ve been hawking horn.

Stephen Crutchley: That’s right.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Stephen Crutchley: Yeah. They appreciate it more and I think than most people would think.

Ramsey Russell: If you could go back and prepare for this hunt any differently, what would you do?

Stephen Crutchley: I wouldn’t have had to bring so many clothes because I didn’t know what to expect.

Ramsey Russell: They’ll wash them daily.

Stephen Crutchley: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And they need washing at the end of a dusty day.

Stephen Crutchley: You could literally, you said in that whole zoom thing you did, you could come here with just some clothes in the backpack with the clothes that you. If you wear, bring you some long pants or whatnot and if you can get a long sleeve kind of sun shirt, maybe I got some with the hoods on, that’s nice especially. And a little face mask or something for the No-see-ums. But like I said, when the wind’s blowing and that’s much fires, right, you ain’t going to see No-see-ums.

Ramsey Russell: What are you going to tell your buddies back home? Because all you all talking about coming back next year, what are you going to tell them about the food? Like, what was your favorite meal? If you were to come back and ask the chef to cook something else for you, what was it going to be?

Stephen Crutchley: That’s tough. Them tacos the first night we were here.

Ramsey Russell: That and the doves.

Stephen Crutchley: No those dove poppers, I’ve been working on years on my duck and dove poppers, I don’t know compared to these folks, because they blew mine out of the water. I don’t know what kind of sauce they put on them and what they do, but they cook everything over literally, like homemade charcoal. I mean, it’s straight wood, I mean, just done right.

Ramsey Russell: I mean, somebody nearby does make that.

Stephen Crutchley: You can see them. The guy was bringing little bags of it.

Ramsey Russell: Really? Probably bringing it up on a moped.

Stephen Crutchley: Yeah, that’s where he was going to get it from.

Ramsey Russell: What did you think? I’ve often thought I’ve been all over parts of Mexico, and, man, we do a big resort hunt up the road there, and I love it, the women love it. But it’s just something about every day when we drive out, we drive through those little cobblestone street communities, and I just find myself gazing out. It’s like people are living like they did in America in the 1950s, you know what I’m saying? They’re all out, they’re talking, they’re just working and going on with their life. But what do you think about that? This part of Mexico?

Stephen Crutchley: It’s absolutely gorgeous. Like I said in your whole stuff in the beginning, you said it’s like old Mexico and this definitely is. I mean, it’s a phenomenal place to go. You see a bunch of old architecture and all these nice houses and the folks, I mean, they’re waving and –

Ramsey Russell: There are simple houses, too.

“There’s some simple houses, yes, sir. But that’s all over Mexico. I mean, you’re going to have some little huts and this and that, but I mean, it’s of course all concrete. But everybody here, they working hard.”

Stephen Crutchley: There’s some simple houses, yes, sir. But that’s all over Mexico. I mean, you’re going to have some little huts and this and that, but I mean, it’s of course all concrete. But everybody here, they working hard. I mean, we’re out there going duck hunting in the morning, it’s had any daylight yet. And there’s guys out there working the field just to beat the heat. And they work hard and they’re just as nice and friendly as can be. Again, I mean, it’s super safe. So I like to keep reiterating that just in case, for other people listening.

Ramsey Russell: Philip pointed this out this morning on the drive because we slept in this morning because we’re hunting doves this morning, ducks this afternoon. We’re hunting ducks this afternoon because the great duck hole that got picked out is near a school zone and they don’t want to freak no kids out or nothing with all the shooting, wait till they’re out of school. But we were driving through that little community and a lot of children were going to school wearing their pressed little uniforms. And it never ceased to amaze me that by American standards, a lot of the locals here are poor. And I just mean that financially. And they send their kids off to school with these perfectly starched, perfectly clean, pressed little uniforms. And that blows my mind about what it says about the quality of those people as a former humanity. There ain’t nobody with untucked shirts and earrings and blue hair and God knows whatever woke stuff, you might see in some of the big schools in America, it’s just kids going to school like they’ve always had. But their parents take that pride in their appearance. And that just blows my mind.

Stephen Crutchley: I feel like at home we could take a lesson from these folks. And which I do. Every time I’ve gone to where I used to go on East Coast, east Lharis, we all need to be more like these folks. Hard working and just treat each other with respect and have a good time and just enjoy life.

Ramsey Russell: To bingo. Thank you very much, Scube, I’ve enjoyed it and looking forward this Afternoon. And I guess I’ll see you next year.

Stephen Crutchley: Oh buddy, I can’t wait, Ramsey. It’s been a pleasure buddy.

Ramsey Russell: My buddy, Mr. Brent Molin. I’m losing count of how many hunting trips you and I have been on together. We’ve had a good time. I can think of several countries we’ve been to now. You came back to this hunt.

Brent Molin: I did. It’s 2 hours and 10 minutes from the States to the airport.

Ramsey Russell: Did you fly directly from Houston to Mazatlán?

Brent Molin: I did.

Ramsey Russell: How fun is that?

Brent Molin: It was easy. But what I like about it is when we come down here, they pick you up, they bring you out to the lodge, wonderful lodge, it’s right on the hill, right over a river. But I know what we’re going to get because I’ve been here before. But I know that they’re going to care about us, they’re going to put us on the best hunt they can. And they just take care of a lot of little different details. I was discussing this with you the other day about how I like the dove hunting here better than I do in Argentina.

Ramsey Russell: I was going to ask you about that. Tell me why?

Brent Molin: Well, I’ve been to Argentina –

Ramsey Russell: Many times, countless times.

Brent Molin: I can’t count more than 20, I know that stuff. But what I like about this on the ear dove, you just get in one pattern, they just keep driving by and throwing down a pallet of shells and you just keep shooting the stuff right here. But the white wings, and we did kill some mourning doves in here you’re hunting, it’s more like home. And they’re hard to kill there. I mean, you got a –

Ramsey Russell: A white wing to me is most challenging and fun dove on earth to hunt.

Brent Molin: Yes. And you’ve got to really put it on them to drop them.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Brent Molin: Especially in this country because the terrain is very rugged and stuff and you don’t want to burn your bird boy out having him run in there and all the brush and stuff. So you say, okay, I’m just going to kind of put them here in this open area. But what I like about it is, it’s really hunting, it’s not just shooting because you’ve got to really get on to them and stuff like that.

Ramsey Russell: The volume is plentiful, though. I mean, I can’t imagine wanting to shoot more than what we’ve shot. I mean, this morning I went ape and I shot 8 boxes. Normally I throttle back around 2 or 3 and I’m done, I pick my shots. But I noticed, Brent, for a man that loves to duck hunt, been down to Cordoba, a lot of times I’ve noticed both times you’ve been here, you don’t hold back. I mean, you’re steady into it. I sat behind you yesterday for about an hour, you’re steady into it.

Brent Molin: I like it, man. It’s just unreal. You got to stay focused and they’re coming in there and giving you easy targets and hard targets instead of just this one flight path that I’ve –

Ramsey Russell: I’ve always described. And I do think, I do think everybody that love to burn gunpowder and hear the gun go boom and shoot flying birds ought to go to Argentina at least once, shoot doves, I believe that it’s an unbelievable hunt. But what I try to describe to people is in the right flyway, it’s like little ant trails. And once you get in the vibe of that, you can just repeat and repeat, the same motion, the same general angle just over and over until you can’t shoot no more.

Brent Molin: You’re not going to get that here. You’re going to have –

Ramsey Russell: It’s real. And those white wings, the first time we went out, Brent, they had about a 10 mile an hour tail wind and I had a little gap. I put myself in a gap where they couldn’t see me. They were coming barrel in with a tail wind and I was stroking that ass. I ain’t going to lie to you. I was like, boy, I’m in the zone now. And then they all started feeding and come back the other way with the wind in her face, son, that was top gun humbling, kicked me in the cajones. Because I shouldered the gun and they do 3 barrel rolls, it was sporting to say the least. And I like to be humble. That’s the whole part of it.

Brent Molin: Keep the challenge going and you will get that. The other things I like about this place so much, like little details. We were in here with some other guys hunting and stuff. But they took me and you to a little pothole yesterday and we were kind of up on a levee, shooting down in there.

Ramsey Russell: That was a cool spot.

Brent Molin: A cool spot.

Ramsey Russell: Like 10ft, like sitting on maybe on the roof of a one story home looking down at your swimming pool, kind of.

Brent Molin: And you’re right. And what really impressed me, this is why I like this operation too, they pay attention because we sat down, they had the smudge pots going and all that and everything and got to open up the box of shells. And they had 7.5 and they changed out the chokes on the gun.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Brent Molin: Because our shots were less than 22 yards.

Ramsey Russell: Worldwide 24 years. And you and I talked about in the blind yesterday, the first day I had a tighter choke.

Brent Molin: Correct.

Ramsey Russell: We were shooting 2 and 3 quarter inch 4s at those whistling ducks, which is a little bit further distance. They don’t just come lighting the decoys. Yesterday by the time those ducks crossed that fence, they were 25 yards. By the time they crossed the water’s edge, they were within 20. And I opened up and they had swapped me from a tighter choke to a cylinder bore with 7.5 and I’m like, hmm? And I was thankful that they did. But in 24 years worldwide, Brent, I’ve never ever seen an outfitter pay attention to that level of detail, never.

Brent Molin: Yeah, it was a great hunt. The only problem I had was you and I were taking shots and then you wound up shooting a banded bird. It was his turn. And I just kind of bent my leg –

Ramsey Russell: It was my turn. And seriously, Brent, I was telling somebody this morning on the phone about another hunt that you and I shared last summer. And every single play for the last 2 years, I’ve hunted with you, we take turns. Your turn, my turn. And I love doing that.

Brent Molin: I do too.

Ramsey Russell: And it’s just I’m more relaxed, there’s plenty of birds coming in. I don’t have to shoot at every one of them. But I got to tell you, it was my turn to shoot that pair of cinnamons come in, bam. I knocked them both down, Char, off she goes, she picks up the drake, comes back and the whole time that little brown duck just sitting there kind of woozy headed. Right when she gets to me, flies, comes right at us up the bank it comes and I reach out and try to grab it and I miss it. So I pick up my gun, bam, shoot it when it’s about 20 yards going away and that was the banded bird. I’m thinking, what if I’d missed? What if it got away? I’ve never shot a banded cinnamon teal before.

Brent Molin: Well, you did now.

Ramsey Russell: I’m glad we got to share it with me. How would you describe the non-hunting here? The hunting is great. How would you describe the non-hunting and what is your favorite element of non-hunting experience? Is it the food? Is it the people? Is it the lodging? Is it the backdrop of the country?

Brent Molin: It’s everything. The food is top notch. The lodge that we’re at right now is sitting on that hill like I said earlier, but it’s so relaxing. We’re sitting in the back patio, porch, that is huge –

Ramsey Russell: We live here.

Brent Molin: This is where we hang out, we talk, have snacks and then a lot of times we eat dinner out here, which I really enjoy it. You got to be careful if you set down your margarita because you turn around, it’s full again. So, I mean you got to be careful about that.

Ramsey Russell: That’s what I call nap fodder. I come in from hunting, and one morning we came at about 09:30AM and that’s about 3 margaritas, I said don’t wake me, I went and took a nap. And I mean I slept. I like that siesta atmosphere down here. I like to be relaxed. I’m hunting plenty. But I like to eat good and be relaxed also.

Brent Molin: You missed out that day. We had shrimp pate, all types of things. I mean it was just fantastic.

Ramsey Russell: Do you have a favorite food or just like the next meal they bring?

Brent Molin: My favorite here on this trip and I’ve been here before is the –

Ramsey Russell: Know what you’re going to say.

Brent Molin: Mexican tacos or street tacos, however they sell. And then those doves that we had last night, it was the whole duck, it wasn’t overcooked, it had just great flavor, they did it over charcoal and stuff. And then they brought it out for other part that was going to supposedly, the hors d’ oeuvre, you wound up eating it the whole, that was your meal. I did try some of the ribs, they were fantastic. And then this chef here really surprises me. He does something different every time we come here. He had flambé fruit tequila and then put it over a flan and yeah, I’ll take a bite. Well, you know what happened there? I ate the whole thing. You got any more?

Ramsey Russell: He’s got it dialed in, doesn’t he?

Brent Molin: He does.

Ramsey Russell: Have you ever felt unsafe down here?

Brent Molin: Oh, no. Everybody would go by – Yesterday, they took us to town, we were, as you all said, we’re looking for that Mexican vanilla and stuff and we were in the heart of town, there were thousands of people, and people were smiling and waving and saying hello and all that and everything. You’re comfortable here.

Ramsey Russell: As somebody that drives through a lot of cities, I’ll name one, Memphis, Tennessee. Buddy, I never feel as nervous anywhere in Mexico as I do in Memphis, Tennessee or for that matter, Jackson, Mississippi and boy, my politicians going to hate me saying that, but it’s the God’s honest truth.

Brent Molin: I live south of Houston. I just avoid it.

Ramsey Russell: Houston wits me out, just the traffic. A traffic jam down here, and I love this. The other day we were coming out, it was a Sunday, and all that labor was out there picking that jicama, that potato like fruit. I mean, we saw the little headlights out there before daylight, before it got hot. We were coming out, and there was 2 horses, and they all had their gear on front, they were kind of blocking the road, that’s rush hour down here. 2 horses, somebody coming in to eat lunch.

Brent Molin: And maybe a motorcycle parked on the side of a dirt road.

Ramsey Russell: What is your favorite part out in the field? Last question. What is your favorite, not your favorite, but your takeaway? What is your takeaway of the total Nayarit experience?

Brent Molin: My takeaway from this thing is that they’re going to do everything in their power to have a really great hunt and enjoy it and not have to worry about anything because it’s all taken care of for you. Like other things that about this hunt that I really like, tips and everything included, one price. You only pay for the shells, that’s the only, they don’t expect anything else, it’s upfront, here it is.

Ramsey Russell: Flying to Mazatlán which is what, 2 hours, 2.5 hours from Houston?

Brent Molin: 2 hours and 10 minutes from Houston.

Ramsey Russell: And from the time they pick you up, to the time they drop you off, everything’s included except for your ammo.

Brent Molin: Everything.

“It’s very hard to find a hunt like it.”

Ramsey Russell: It’s very hard to find a hunt like it.

Brent Molin: Everything. It is. And what I like about it is over the last 40 years, I hunt all over the world and stuff, mostly for birds and you don’t have a fishing operation too? But what really irritates me is when people nickel and dime me, I don’t care what it costs if I’m going to do the trip.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Brent Molin: But I don’t want surprises. And the deal here, here it is, everybody knows what it is and they’re going to go out of their way and do anything in the world for you.

Ramsey Russell: Thank you, Brent. I enjoyed it and I know I’ll see you here or elsewhere soon.

Brent Molin: Thank you.

Ramsey Russell: Johannes Nicolaisen, all the way from Denmark, here in sunny Nayarit, Mexico. What the heck brings you here, man? What inspired you to come to this part of the world from Denmark?

Johannes Nicolaisen: Well, first of all, waterfowl hunting has been something, I been pretty much controlling my hunting since I was 16.

Ramsey Russell: Really?

Johannes Nicolaisen: Yeah. I think that it begins with a genuine interest in the birds in general and a specific love for the waterfowl. And when you’re hunting the same ducks and you get a relationship to those, the fact that there are some ducks this far away that a bit similar, also a species overlap, but just cousins of these birds that you just love.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Johan, there’s a whole world full of ducks.

Johannes Nicolaisen: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Why Mexico specifically, do you think? What was it that you saw or heard about Nayarit, Mexico that inspired you to come here?

Johannes Nicolaisen: Well, actually it’s because of you.

Ramsey Russell: I’m good at that.

Johannes Nicolaisen: No, but we are a lot of all of our hunters in Denmark, but not many as crazy as me who actually travels the world doing it.

Ramsey Russell: Right.

Johannes Nicolaisen: A lot of Danish hunters go traveling, but it’s mostly like trophy hunting with a rifle. This is probably a bit niche. And when you travel lone wolf, you need to travel with someone who you trust. Because if you fall into the hands of, say, happy amateurs, you don’t have much of a voice, when you’re just a guy from Denmark, they could pretty much do whatever they want. So, I mean, we went to Argentina, I went to Argentina with you and was just an unbelievable success. I think about it every day since.

Ramsey Russell: Well, how does this hunt compare to Argentina or other hunts you’ve been on in your quest for experience in duck hunting worldwide?

Johannes Nicolaisen: I was surprised by the species diversity. And I think you undersell it a bit because I wasn’t expecting this because it has just been unbelievable, stay, the food. And I also noticed that your associates, they’re always very bright, kind people with just an unbelievable level of service.

Ramsey Russell: American duck hunter, you mean?

Johannes Nicolaisen: No, I mean the locals.

Ramsey Russell: The locals here. Yeah. The staff here is unbelievable.

Johannes Nicolaisen: The duck hunters you meet are just a chapter by itself, because going this far, meeting especially Americans, because you never board with Americans and American hospitality is just through the roof and meeting friends and I got invited to America by the hunters I met in Argentina. Comparing this place to the destinations in Argentina, I was surprised that I actually took more species here in Nayarit than I did in Argentina.

Ramsey Russell: More species here in North America.

Johannes Nicolaisen: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: What were some of the species you took? And what was your favorite besides the coot?

Johannes Nicolaisen: Don’t underestimate the coot. I mean, it is not a duck, it doesn’t decoy. But we have coot in Denmark. I’ve shot coot with you in South Africa. I shot this coot now, what I just love about this is they look the same to the average person, but when you pick it up, the differences.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Johannes Nicolaisen: It just makes you happy.

Ramsey Russell: I think I researched one time, there’s 18 coop species worldwide, and I wonder if I ought to chase them all. It’d be worth a shot.

Johannes Nicolaisen: It would be a first.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, probably would be.

Johannes Nicolaisen: But the things that just gives this joyous feeling inside of you is knowing the birds and then getting surprised by how they look.

Ramsey Russell: Right.

Johannes Nicolaisen: When you have them in the hand.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Johannes Nicolaisen: That is just a magical moment. So don’t underestimate the coot. I think everybody would say that the cinnamon teal is like the prettiest duck in Latin America.

Ramsey Russell: He’s gorgeous. Did you recognize him when he came in?

Johannes Nicolaisen: I did.

Ramsey Russell: You knew immediately what it was.

Johannes Nicolaisen: I knew immediately what it was. The experience that is actually brightest in my memory right now is seeing the blue wing teal.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, yeah.

Johannes Nicolaisen: And also this thing that excites me is we have the gargany in Europe, the blue winged teal. It looks like a gargane, but they just change this –

Ramsey Russell: That’s right, it does. Well, he’s in the same genus.

Johannes Nicolaisen: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: The shovelers of the world, the gargany, the blue wing, the cinnamon, yeah, they’re all in the spatula family, and they’ve got very similar wings when they bank, it looks very similar.

Johannes Nicolaisen: I’d never seen a blue winged teal in my life until yesterday where it came in with the sun in its face, I was standing between the sun and the duck, it decoyed and I saw the crescent on the face.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Johannes Nicolaisen: And I just knew I had to take this shot. Could not miss. Just let me miss the rest of the day, but not now. And I took it. It was just a gorgeous example. But the blue forewing of the spatula species, but the gargany, the kinship is just, I don’t know what it does to me, but it’s good.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, I think they’re one of my favorite genus, also. Would that moment with the blue winged teal, would that be one of your most memorable moments? Like on the flight home, the long flight home to Denmark, is that going to be one that stands out as one of your fondest memories?

Johannes Nicolaisen: I’m overstimulated right now it’s just going to shoot memories. But I think this was probably aesthetics on the highest level of duck hunting. It will be the finest few seconds of the hunt.

Ramsey Russell: What about the dove hunting? You shot dove down in Argentina. How did the white wing dove compare and the Inca dove?

Johannes Nicolaisen: First of all, the Argentina hunt was decoyed and that makes it very fun. But I get full at about 100 this decoy because the shooting, you can just pick your shots and then you can maybe shoot 20 and 20 shots and then a miss, but this is pass shooting.

Ramsey Russell: Oh yeah.

Johannes Nicolaisen: And the white wing does the same thing as the rock pigeon in South Africa, it twirls as soon as it senses something. And I shot a bunch of them. I shot 47 the first day and 45 yesterday. I made 2 doubles all in all, that’s difficult hunting.

Ramsey Russell: That is. I found I’ve hunted dove on a lot of different continents. Mourning dove, white wings, eared doves, the pigeons, 3 or 4 species of dove down in Africa. And I do like mourning dove hunting, but the white winged doves are my favorite because they’re big, they’re tough, they’re challenging. And we were talking yesterday afternoon after the hunt, how initially when they were coming out to the milo field from the roost, they were with the wind and they were clipping along at a pretty good pace. And when they come back, they got the wind in their face a little slower. But what I’ve learned is it’s better to shoot a faster target on a single angle than giving him some wind in his face where he can do Top Gun pilot maneuvers, he flinch and they start all barrel rolling in different directions like a firework burst. And it’s very unnerving, it’s humbling.

“They react immediately and troll up and down.”

Johannes Nicolaisen: When they come straight at you, the time period you have for the good shot is very short. When they come left to right about left, you can time it, you can bring the gun up slowly and just make the lead. But when they come straight at you, even though in headwind, the second you have for the good shot is very brief. And the others, they react immediately and troll up and down.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Johan, you mentioned earlier the staff here, my associates, how did their local culture and hospitality enhance the overall experience? Your first time to Mexico?

Johannes Nicolaisen: Well, it’s my first time to Mexico, but being Danish and having been following American culture since forever.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Johannes Nicolaisen: You kind of have a relationship, of course with Americans, but actually also with Mexicans because Mexicans are a big part of the movies.

Ramsey Russell: Well, I mean they really are a lot of part of the American history.

Johannes Nicolaisen: Yeah. So meeting them, I feel like I know them and they’re just as kind and hospitable as I’d imagine. But I just noticed that whatever associates I’ve met when hunting with your company immensely service minded and bright, polite, just good guys to hunt with and knowledgeable. I mean, I can’t come here and tell them anything about how to hunt.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, they know.

Johannes Nicolaisen: I listen to them, do what they do.

Ramsey Russell: Speaking of which, did you pick up any new hunting techniques or did you learn anything about hunting ducks through your experience here?

Johannes Nicolaisen: Well, today we hunted the lesser scaup, the blue bill to my surprise. And the place we did it was actually past shooting and I’ve shot a few of the greater scaup, which we have in Denmark. And today it pretty much confirmed what I suspected that you just need to lead them a bit more than the other divers, they’re faster.

Ramsey Russell: They’re faster.

Johannes Nicolaisen: Yeah. I mean, I haven’t read any official evaluations, but I was missing in the beginning and when they were chasing them off the water and they were coming in at pretty good altitude and I just started to give them like 50% more lead than I initially assumed.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Johan, what has been your favorite part? Like the non-hunting side? I’m going to get back to that part. Food, scenery, people, what about the meals? Has there been a favorite or standout meal? Do you all eat like this in Denmark?

Johannes Nicolaisen: We have Mexican restaurants, but it’s not –

Ramsey Russell: Come on now. I don’t even meet Mexican in Mississippi.

Johannes Nicolaisen: It’s never anything really like. I’ve had cascarillas, but never like this.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Johannes Nicolaisen: And also the margaritas. I don’t know how they do it.

Ramsey Russell: I got the recipe I’ll give you.

Johannes Nicolaisen: And the fruit, and it’s just all been –

Ramsey Russell: If you had a favorite meal, would it have been the tacos or the steak?

Johannes Nicolaisen: Well, not the same meal, but the way they prepared the pigeons, the doves.

Ramsey Russell: The doves. Unbelievable. The dove poppers.

Johannes Nicolaisen: Dove poppers.

Ramsey Russell: A lot of people do dove poppers, but they do it right.

Johannes Nicolaisen: I have never had that good dove meat before.

Ramsey Russell: You never have?

Johannes Nicolaisen: Well, I cooked the wood pigeon in Denmark, but this was something else definitely.

Ramsey Russell: Tastes different entirely.

Johannes Nicolaisen: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Have you learned any Spanish while you’ve been here?

Johannes Nicolaisen: Sorry, I’m not so –

Ramsey Russell: Cerveza, cartucho. My favorite one is sambra, which is shade. When I’m on a dove field, I’m looking for sambra.

Johannes Nicolaisen: Yeah, I’m not good at. I mean, I barely speak good English, but I’m not picking up languages very easily. But maybe if this becomes a habit, I’ll get better at it.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Here in the United States especially, we get oftentimes asked by clients or potential clients about the safety in Mexico. Did safety factor into your decision coming to Mexico? I mean, is it publicized, or is it an issue in Denmark like it is in parts of the state?

Johannes Nicolaisen: Well, when you’re hunting, you’re so far off the beaten path that I never really worry about the political situation in the country. The traffic is the dangerous part of all.

Ramsey Russell: Just driving.

Johannes Nicolaisen: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Anywhere?

Johannes Nicolaisen: Yeah. But actually, the main guard, Alfonso, I said to him yesterday that I love the way he’s driving because I’ve been driving with some people who didn’t care.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, yeah.

Johannes Nicolaisen: But security, safety didn’t really answer.

Ramsey Russell: You didn’t even notice it. I mean, have you felt as safe here as you have at home in rural Denmark?

Johannes Nicolaisen: I think maybe Denmark is the safest place on Earth.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Johannes Nicolaisen: And of course, it’s different here, but I’ve never given it a thought, I never felt unsafe or anything. I wouldn’t place that as a consideration at all for going here. If you want trouble, you can find it, I’m sure. But this is just a peaceful, nice place.

Ramsey Russell: Describe the setting right here. I mean, we’re sitting in the middle of nowhere, looking over a river, there’s a swimming pool near our feet.

Johannes Nicolaisen: First of all, we’re looking over a swimming pool and then the hill slides down to a beautiful river and it’s all green, the air is fresh. I don’t know the Fahrenheit, but I would say it’s about 20 degrees Celsius.

Ramsey Russell: That’s about right, 75 degrees.

Johannes Nicolaisen: And if you go get the binoculars, you can look at the ducks at the lake.

Ramsey Russell: Well, you brought some binoculars, that’s the thing. We had just gotten here and you broke out your binoculars and just below there were blue winged teal, green winged teal, whistling ducks, gadwalls.

Johannes Nicolaisen: I feel naked without my binoculars. And it’s always a good tease when you get to a new place because you can always find the birds when you go hunting these places, they are, of course, abundant. So we got a bit of a teaser right after we arrived here, seeing gadwall and blue wing and whistling ducks also.

Ramsey Russell: So to wrap it up, you had a great time in Mexico. You’d recommend it?

Johannes Nicolaisen: I would recommend this to anybody who just vaguely enjoys hunting because this is as good as it gets.

Ramsey Russell: Thank you, Johan.

Johannes Nicolaisen: You’re welcome, thank you.

Ramsey Russell: Mr. Cole Filson down here, Nayarit, at last. Cole, what the heck brings you down here?

Cole Filson: Well, really just always love to duck hunt and goose hunt, waterfowl hunt in general, my whole life. And was looking to collect a couple more species, mainly some teal and then some whistling ducks. So called you up and we got down here.

Ramsey Russell: You down here with your dad?

Andrew Cheryl: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: You all having an epic father son trip. And you said last night at dinner, how many of the 41 are you away from now?

Cole Filson: We are at 36 now, so we have 5 left.

Ramsey Russell: 5 left. And we got a crack, morning 1, got a crack at a fulvous, which is uncommon down here, I don’t want to make anybody think, oh, well, they’re dime, no they ain’t a dime a dozen down here, but you got a crack at them.

Cole Filson: Yeah, we got a crack at them. Sadly, weren’t able to get one down, but it was encouraging at least to see one. The first one I’ve ever seen in my life. So that was a great experience in itself.

Ramsey Russell: That counts for something. You have traveled, talking to you and Tim, you all have been around, but this is your first time to Mexico?

Cole Filson: Yes, sir.

Ramsey Russell: How would you describe your Nayarit Mexican duck hunting experience as compared to hunting at home or hunting elsewhere around the United States?

Cole Filson: Just incredible. It’s unbelievable. Wake up every morning, go out in the blind and don’t know what to expect day one and then it was just unimaginable. I mean, more birds than ever seen in my entire life. The duck hunting pressure is non-existent.

Ramsey Russell: Ducks act different when they’re not pressured.

Cole Filson: Absolutely. And something we don’t get to experience. We’re from Indiana and there’s not a lot of duck hunters in Indiana, but there are some. So birds are pressured there and we hunt a lot in Arkansas and obviously they’re very pressured there.

Ramsey Russell: What was it like to hunt in hiking boots?

Cole Filson: That was amazing. Used to waders all the time, lugging around those big boots and everything, so very comfortable. Obviously awesome weather down here in Mexico too.

Ramsey Russell: So it’s kind of unimaginable going on a great, action packed duck hunt wearing sunscreen, isn’t it? Dressed in a T-shirt or light pants.

Cole Filson: It absolutely is. I was telling one of the guys down here yesterday, it’s not every day that in March, being a boy from Indiana, that you’d wake up in the morning, duck hunt, get in the pool in the middle of the day, eat great food the whole day and then shoot a bunch of doves at night.

Ramsey Russell: What is the one? If you had just one most memorable hunting experience, what was it? On this trip here?

Cole Filson: On this trip here?

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Cole Filson: I would definitely say probably shooting my first cinnamon teal.

Ramsey Russell: Really? The first morning?

Cole Filson: Yeah, first morning. It was pretty quick. We got lucky and just always loved cinnamon teal. So when I was able to knock one of those down and Char dog was able to bring it back, I was super excited.

Ramsey Russell: Talk a little bit more about that first morning because I hunted with you and Tim, your dad, and we waited out and I’m going to say ankle deep water, a little bit deeper mud, but I mean just 6 inches total. And we get out in that blind, it kind of backed up into the mangrove and the sky is full of ducks.

Cole Filson: Yeah, sky was black. It’s just like people always say, the sky’s black, that was legitimately the sky was black.

Ramsey Russell: How did that compare to like your preconceived expectations of coming down there?

Cole Filson: I mean, I’ve always heard a lot of stories about Mexico and I obviously assumed it was pretty good, I did not think it was going to be that good. There were so many ducks flying around. I know at the start, my dad and I, you said we were being polite and we didn’t know where to shoot because there were so many ducks in the air.

Ramsey Russell: It was a little daunting when all those whistlers were just in layers and from sky, I mean, just from horizon to horizon, just kind of working at different layers coming, which ones do you pick? Which one do you shoot at?

Cole Filson: Absolutely. And that’s a good problem.

Ramsey Russell: And then out of nowhere, here comes a blue wing or here comes a cinnamon teal. How many ducks are you taking home to get mounted?

Cole Filson: We’re taking 4? 2 cinnamon’s, a blue wing, and then a nice northern shoveler.

Ramsey Russell: You’ve shot shoveler before?

Cole Filson: Yeah. But not one like that.

Ramsey Russell: That was a dandy, that was an absolute dandy. And speaking of, besides the hunt, what other aspects down here food, people, culture, do you most remember that stood out to you as, I’m not in Indiana no more.

Cole Filson: Yeah, no, absolutely. The staff’s great here. Everybody is super friendly, haven’t met nicer people in the world. And then the food’s great. Living in the United States, you have some authentic Mexican restaurants or you have a hacienda, but this food’s different, put it that way. It’s different. It’s really good. I know I ate till my belly was full and then some, every single time we ate, it was great. And then I know when I talked to you, you described this as me in old Mexico and that’s true. It was very neat to, never coming to the country before, it was neat to get out here almost in the middle of nowhere and just really see what it’s all about. It was neat to experience the culture a little bit and see what Mexico’s about.

Ramsey Russell: Was there anything you’ve eaten so far that was your favorite?

Cole Filson: I’m going to be pretty bland, but it was the tacos.

Ramsey Russell: Everybody says that, though.

Cole Filson: Yeah, I ate a lot of tacos in my life but –

Ramsey Russell: What was it, the shrimp tacos or the beef tacos?

Cole Filson: Both, to be honest with you. But the shrimp ones were killer.

Ramsey Russell: You ain’t lying, they were right on time, I had 3^rd one for dessert. Did you learn anything hunting down here? I mean, I’ve always felt like the more I travel and the more different it is than how I grew up hunting. I always feel like my little tool chest gets bigger. Was there anything you learned at all? Because it’s very fundamental hunting down here. But is there anything you’ll take away that you go back home and maybe try to apply to hunting.

Cole Filson: Yeah, I definitely say so. I think maybe more than anything, less is more. In all honesty, you could shoot a million shells a day down here, but you catch on pretty quick that it’s pick your shots, take good shots, and if they don’t come around the first time, they’re going to come around the second time, you’ll get a better shot.

Ramsey Russell: That’s a great, less is more, I like that. I like that a lot, Cole. Yesterday, as we were going white wing dove hunting, you and your dad were going to hunt together, and your dad elbowed me, said, I’m going to teach old Cole a thing or two about shooting, did it work out like he planned?

Cole Filson: I don’t think it worked out how he planned. Now, to be honest, I maybe did shoot more than he did, but when you’re carrying back the strap and one’s a little bit heavier than the other, I think that’s the only thing everybody pays attention to.

Ramsey Russell: Did you learn any Spanish words while you’re here that you can repeat on radio? We always learned the cuss words first.

Cole Filson: Oh, yeah, no, learn pato, that’s duck and paloma, that’s dove. And luckily I took 3 years of Spanish in high school and was able to remember a few here and there.

Ramsey Russell: How do you say dove popper? Because tell me there’s a better dove popper on Earth.

Cole Filson: Goodness gracious those were the best dove poppers ever had in my life. And we shoot doves a little bit at home and cook them up, but I don’t think they’ll taste the same next fall.

Ramsey Russell: Thank you, Cole. I’ve enjoyed it and I wish you the best of luck on getting your last species.

Cole Filson: Thank you.

Ramsey Russell: Mr. Tim Felson had a few days down here with Cole, your son, I don’t know. Here’s where I’ll start with you is, why did you come to Mexico? But how has accompanying Cole on this 41 quest changed your duck hunting experience?

Tim Felson: Well, Cole was about 11 and he came to me and he actually had found you online.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, boy.

Tim Felson: Yeah. I mean, so this is 13 years ago that I just keep hearing about this guy named Ramsay Russell. And I’ve duck hunted, even before Cole was born. And like a lot of people do in North America. I’d been to Saskatchewan a few times to try to goose hunt and things and did it on my own. And when he started talking about it, I thought, what a wonderful thing to do with your son. I mean, it’s just the memories and the time spent together and maybe not necessarily about how many ducks you kill, but the different species and seeing different cultures, meeting different people. And I’ll be honest with you, it’s changed my life, the time I’ve got to spend with my son.

Ramsey Russell: It’s time you can’t get back.

Tim Felson: Oh, no, absolutely not. And if he says, oh, dad, we need to go do this, we need to go do that, it’s like, you know what, let’s do it. You only have one chance and just feel blessed to be able to do it.

Ramsey Russell: What species were you all targeting on this particular hunt? What bucket list species brought you all to Nayarit?

Tim Felson: Well, we really wanted the cinnamon teal. And we shoot blue winged teal in Indiana some. But see, with my son, it’s not just the species, it’s a mountable drake of the species.

Ramsey Russell: That’s the game, yeah.

Tim Felson: Yeah. And we knew, the teal that we shoot at home, it’s going to be in September and they don’t have their colors and thought we had a pretty good opportunity to do it down here. And we had both of those 30 minutes into the first hunt on the first morning, and it would almost been enough.

Ramsey Russell: Both of you all are left handed.

Tim Felson: I’m right handed, shoot left handed. He shoots right handed.

Ramsey Russell: Okay. Because you all were working at one side of the blind that a lot of those little teal that were flying low when all them whistling ducks above were coming through. And you’re right, the sun had not come over those purple mountains to the east before, he had a really nice cinnamon. First cinnamon of the morning was a stud, that’s one we laid our hands on this week. And then right behind it, and it is getting a tad late for an absolute stud blue wing. But I mean, right behind it got a nice blue wing.

Tim Felson: Really nice blue wing. I mean, it’s nice. I mean you couldn’t have picked a better one out of a pile of a hundred, I mean, it was just that good of a bird.

Ramsey Russell: I really do think that Mexico, in terms of North America is the place to go to scratch cinnamon teal. But they’re not always as abundant, we shot 9 that morning.

Tim Felson: Yes.

Ramsey Russell: You shot one yesterday?

Tim Felson: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Did you all shoot one this morning?

Tim Felson: No, we shot mostly tree ducks this morning.

Ramsey Russell: Black bellied whistlers.

Tim Felson: Yeah. And fun, it was like a goose hunt. I mean, the way they were coming in.

Ramsey Russell: You all managed to get under black bellied whistling ducks twice. Yesterday, everybody in our dove field, we all scattered about shooting, but everybody came back talking about the spectacle that blew up that afternoon. Talk about what you saw. And how would you describe when all them birds got up over that? I’d say that was maybe a half to three quarter mile away.

Tim Felson: Yeah. I mean the black bellies got up and we’re sitting there and you’re looking and it’s like, is that really truly what I think it is? And the only thing I could compare it to that I’ve seen is maybe when you see just incredible groups of snow geese.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, that’s a fair assessment. Yeah. Because from where I was standing initially, at a glance, it was like smoke.

Tim Felson: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: It had to been a 3/4 of a mile long and half a mile tall, just a beehive of nothing but whistling ducks.

Tim Felson: Yeah, absolutely. And then if you look to the left or the right, there were more. I mean, there were more and it just built and built.

Ramsey Russell: What’s been the most memorable moment on this Nayarit trip for you?

Tim Felson: For me, I mean, probably being a father, I mean, was when he shot that blue wing and that and the cinnamon. I mean, when he shot that blue wing, I think he hit me hard enough in the shoulder that I’m sure there’s a bruise. But just the smile on his face, it’s genuine. You know what I mean? It’s genuine when you’re passionate about something and you accomplish that and to me, that’s the most memorable thing. I mean, but there’s a million. I mean, the staff and the people here are just –

Ramsey Russell: What about them? Everybody says that. What is most memorable about the hospitality here?

Tim Felson: I mean, these guys –

Ramsey Russell: Genuine.

Tim Felson: Oh, it’s genuine as can be. I mean, I’ve been here, this is our 3^rd day, I feel like I’ve known these guys for 10 years. I really do. There’s never a hard conversation. I mean, it’s just when it’s right, it’s right, you know?

Ramsey Russell: Do you speak Spanish?

Tim Felson: A little. Not much. I haven’t spoke Spanish since high school.

Ramsey Russell: But it hasn’t been an obstacle in any of the organization, any of the meals, getting out to the field, having your stuff sorted. It’s been just second nature, hasn’t it?

Tim Felson: Absolutely. I mean, like second nature. I mean, they always want to do what they can do to make it better, what can I do to make it better? I told them today, don’t change a thing, don’t change it. If it’s not broke, don’t fix it. And there’s nothing they could do to make my experience any better than what it’s been.

Ramsey Russell: Have you had a favorite meal or can you name just one?

Tim Felson: I like those steaks last night. I’m a meat eater, those steaks were good, but I have not eaten one thing here that wasn’t just top notch. I mean, seriously, from the chicken to the tacos to the shrimp tacos.

Ramsey Russell: Chicken mole.

Tim Felson: Yeah. I mean, just everything has been wonderful. It really has been.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Because it gets such a bad rap, so I’ve got to ask this question. How did safety factor into your bringing your young son down here to hunt on this trip?

Tim Felson: I mean, a lot of that, I’ll be honest with you, is just by him knowing who you are, I mean, it really did. I mean, it was like –

Ramsey Russell: I may be a good looking guy, but I don’t do well in gunfight, I’m just saying. But seriously, have you felt unsafe?

Tim Felson: No, not at all. I mean, there’s times where I feel more unsafe 30 minutes from my house.

Ramsey Russell: Me too.

Tim Felson: Yeah. I mean, really. I mean, these people here are all, not just good people, but they’re truly kind people. I mean, they really are.

Ramsey Russell: Now, last question, Mexico gets a bad rap. I think there’s this perception back home for people that’s never been to Mexico that is just this gluttonous, limitless abuse of ducks. What has been your experience with the hunting down here in terms of just volume?

Tim Felson: I was talking to them this morning and he said, the biggest thing that they do here is not to over pressure the ducks. And he said that’s never going to change because it’s working. I mean, you know as well as I do, we’ve hunted long enough sometimes it’s not about shooting 40 birds, you can have just as much fun shooting 5.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Tim Felson: I mean, in a hunt.

Ramsey Russell: Bag really doesn’t matter, and we do abide limits, and the limits are generous by American standards because I did the math one time, and I can do the math knowing how many outfitters, knowing what my outfitters are shooting, blah, blah. And it’s less than 10% that are killed in the continental United States, way less.

Tim Felson: Yes.

Ramsey Russell: The estimated harvest, if I get real crazy in double or triple the known harvest in Mexico and added to Canada, it’s still about 12% of what we harvest in the United States. But you know those limits aren’t guaranteed, it’s still hunting.

Tim Felson: Yes.

Ramsey Russell: And one thing I’ve noticed, like yesterday out in the blind, there were 5 of us and we took turns on singles.

Tim Felson: Yeah. And that was fun. How often can you do that?

Ramsey Russell: Even back home. And especially back home. it’s like back home, I just feel like if there’s 5 of us in a blind and we’re hunting near home in Mississippi and 6 ducks pitch in, man, we can’t let him go.

Tim Felson: No, you better get them.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, we better get them.

Tim Felson: Yeah. And yesterday when we were doing that, we laughed and it made it more fun because you tease each other, like you should, and then, that’s no big deal, there’s going to be another one come, you know there’s going to be another one come. I can maybe redeem myself on the next one.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Tim, I appreciate you. It’s been a great couple of days hunting with you and Cole, and I wish you all the best of luck.

Tim Felson: All right, thank you, Ramsey.

Ramsey Russell: Mr. Craig Cathy from, is it West Kentucky, you’re from?

Craig Cathy: Western Kentucky, Paducah.

Ramsey Russell: Now, look, I heard something the other day, somebody told me how many days, how many mornings a year you duck hunt in a regular duck season, how often is that?

Craig Cathy: Between 40 and 50. I have a 60 day.

Ramsey Russell: 40 or 50 days, out of 60 days. Get your mic adjusted. There you go. That more comfortable?

Craig Cathy: Yeah, it’s good.

Ramsey Russell: How did the hunting here in Nayarit compare to Western Kentucky?

Craig Cathy: Well, it’s just the volume of ducks and the fact the hunting pressure here is nothing like it is back home.

Ramsey Russell: Hunting pressure makes a difference, doesn’t it?

Craig Cathy: Big difference. I haven’t heard a shot yet.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Except for us.

Craig Cathy: Yeah us, absolutely. Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Why did you choose Nayarit of all the world to go to? What brought you to this location?

Craig Cathy: I had always wanted to go to Mexico for probably 40 year after duck season, went out at home and then, like I say, I found you online, actually, in a wildfowl magazine interview with you.

Ramsey Russell: Really?

Craig Cathy: Yeah. That’s how I got started. Then I went into Googling and found, getducks.com and one thing led to another.

Ramsey Russell: And how would you describe the hunt you’ve been on here? 3 morning duck hunts to 2 afternoon white wing, and we’re going this afternoon. How would you describe the duck hunting here versus other places you’ve been?

Craig Cathy: The best. I mean, the best. I mean, the volume.

Ramsey Russell: Volume is good because you see a lot of bird, but what about just the habitat, getting there and getting out, just the work.

Craig Cathy: Yeah, it is. I mean, it’s just great here.

Ramsey Russell: Do you ever feel like you’re grinding it out, doing all those days back home? Do you feel like it’s just a grind? Do you ever wake up and go, God, I’m tired.

Craig Cathy: Yeah, I need to stay in a day or two, but, yeah, it’s a lot tougher at home. Yeah, no doubt.

Ramsey Russell: Did you have a favorite hunt on this trip, Craig?

Craig Cathy: Matter of fact, probably this morning.

Ramsey Russell: Tell me about it.

Craig Cathy: It was the tree ducks. I mean, the whistling ducks. And it was incredible at times. I mean, dropping 6, 8 out of a bunch just big bunches coming.

Ramsey Russell: And how would you describe just seeing that sheer number of, because whistling ducks don’t just come whooping in like till. I mean they, they got their little broad wings spread and they’re whistling and they’re just floating in like clouds. What was that like?

Craig Cathy: Reminded me of the way the geese do. They come in, flipping. You don’t see that with ducks at home, very seldom. I mean they come in, just start flipping, just crazy.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Craig Cathy: Remind me of Canadians or snow geese or something.

Ramsey Russell: Heck yeah. Did you have a favorite meal here?

Craig Cathy: Absolutely. They’ve all been great, but the chicken mole yesterday.

Ramsey Russell: Really?

Craig Cathy: Yeah, it was great. I liked it.

Ramsey Russell: Very good.

Craig Cathy: And all of it’s been good. I mean, you’re not going to go wrong here, there’s just no going wrong on the meals.

Ramsey Russell: Have you gotten used to the twice a day margaritas yet?

Craig Cathy: Absolutely.

Ramsey Russell: Is that going to be a tradition you bring home?

Craig Cathy: Yeah, I’ll take home and tell the wife to be buying a bottle of tequila. How about a half a gallon?

Ramsey Russell: We organize these hunts and a lot of people like yourself, you came by yourself. Cole and Tim came together. Johannes came all the way from Denmark by himself. A lot of guys just fall in what I call spares and pairs. And I’ve always felt, just after all these years of organizing groups like this that birds of a feather flock together. What was it like hunting and sharing camp with, I mean, up until three days ago, they were complete strangers.

Craig Cathy: Oh yeah. I feel like I’ve made friends here. I want the phone numbers and stay in touch and I mean, I’m coming back next year, but I’m probably calling your wife this week sometime.

Ramsey Russell: You better. Days are getting thin. Craig, I have greatly enjoyed your company. I’ve greatly enjoyed visiting with you. That’s one thing, the hunting is the hunting and the food, I mean, we spent a lot of time just around these tables out here on the patio because how many times a day do they feed us?

Craig Cathy: 5 probably. Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: To include those appetizers plus, the desserts are almost another meal and to themselves.

Craig Cathy: Yeah, absolutely.

Ramsey Russell: He comes out here and flambé and does all that stuff. Have you had a favorite version of desserts yet?

Craig Cathy: They’ve all been good. I mean, every night. I don’t know. I mean, last night was good, the night before, I mean, just we had the pear a couple nights ago with a red wine, salsa. It’s great, it was great. I mean, they’ve all been great. You can’t go wrong coming here.

Ramsey Russell: Have we solved any world problems, do you think?

Craig Cathy: Maybe a few, yeah, it’s been talked about for sure.

Ramsey Russell: It sure has been talked about. Thank you very much, Craig. I’ve enjoyed having you.

Craig Cathy: Thank you.

Ramsey Russell: Mr. Kyle Flynn from, I guess Dallas, Texas, is that where you are from?

Kyle Flynn: And I’ve been there for so long now, it seems like it’s my home. I grew up in upstate New York, but I’ve been there since 2011.

Ramsey Russell: Really?

Kyle Flynn: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And I met you at the airport. You didn’t have no trouble finding me because I had had Char dog with me. But you pack light. Tell me about this suitcase you got. I got to ask you about this suitcase you got, I got to get one myself.

Kyle Flynn: Oh, man, well, I’m an airline pilot, like we talked about, by trade, and the name, the brand name is it, airline pilots everywhere.

Ramsey Russell: How old is that suitcase? It’s a roll on but it’s heavy?

Kyle Flynn: It’s 2011.

Ramsey Russell: 2011?

Kyle Flynn: Yeah, I bet it’s got –

Ramsey Russell: Millions of miles.

Kyle Flynn: It might be 2.5 million miles on it.

Ramsey Russell: Are you kidding?

Kyle Flynn: At least. What is the name of the-?

Ramsey Russell: But anyway. Kyle, tell me this, you’ve been around, it’s your first time to Mexico? You’ve traveled all over the world, but this is your first time duck hunting in Mexico?

Kyle Flynn: First time duck hunting. I’ve been to Mexico, I’ve been to, you name the city in Mexico.

Ramsey Russell: You fly down here?

Kyle Flynn: Oh, yeah. So before I flew for American Airlines, I flew for American Eagle and American Eagle is – I mean, I’ve been to Aguas Calientes, I’ve been to Hermosillo, I’ve been to Mazatlán, Mexico City, Puebla, Veracruz, that the name of the city you can’t even pronounce, you know what it’s got XOI, American say that.

Ramsey Russell: Well, let me ask you this. How does your visit to Nayarit, not to hunting, but everything else, how does it compare to other parts of Mexico? I describe to people that this ain’t resort city, this ain’t big city, this is BFE, old school cobblestone street, dirt road, Mexico in a really good Neil McCormick type way, or McCormick type way. How would you describe it compared to real Mexico?

Kyle Flynn: I think it’s authentic. If people that don’t travel, I mean, you’re a well traveled man. People that think that they’ve been to Mexico because they’ve been to Cancun. I mean, Cancun is just like, West Palm Beach, Florida. You come down, you want to see true Mexican culture, Mexican hunting culture, Mexican agriculture culture, you come down to Nayarit, Mexico. I mean, it’s as authentic as it gets. These are people down here that live off the land. They appreciate the American dollars that hunting brings to this area. And they’re authentic. They’re authentic, good, honest people, I felt safer here than I felt at home. I mean, it’s a beautiful place. Beautiful place. It’s poor here, there’s no question about it. Simple life.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, poor is one thing. There is some poverty, I’m sure, relative to parts of Dallas, Texas or the United States. But I just think of more to simple people. It’s almost like what that guy that comes by here with the cows every day, what does he need a million dollars for? I think he’d choose to live just like he’s living, is what I’m saying in a non-judgmental way.

Kyle Flynn: I think that Americans think that poor is synonymous with unhappy. I haven’t seen it –

Ramsey Russell: Great point.

Kyle Flynn: I haven’t seen an unhappy person since we’ve been here. I’ve seen some poor people, but man, they all seem to enjoy their lifestyle. Whether it’s the vicaro here that’s ranching cattle or the day laborers that are out in the field picking peppers. I bet you they just all have a smile. I mean, it’s that old – more money, more problems. I mean, I think these people, they live a simple lifestyle, they don’t want a complicated lifestyle. But boy, they sure seem happy to me.

Ramsey Russell: I butchered that author’s name. I was thinking Cormac McCarthy.

Kyle Flynn: Oh, Cormac McCarthy is one of my favorite.

Ramsey Russell: I mean, this is, it’s like when I come down here, it’s just like ripping a page out his book. It’s what I see and feel when I’m down here.

Kyle Flynn: Yeah, that’s a great point. Yeah, for sure.

Ramsey Russell: What was the highlight of your hunting experience here?

Kyle Flynn: Well, I’m sure everybody says it was the last time we just did, but this the 3^rd morning, we’re on the 3^rd morning now. It’s Sunday morning, the 3^rd morning duck hunt, this morning we hunted over what I would call a cow pond, I don’t know if it is a cow pond or not, but we hunted black belly whistlers this morning and it was perfect. They worked just perfect, the setup was perfect, the scouting was perfect, and the shooting was perfect. I mean, we couldn’t have asked for better. It was more like a goose hunt. We pass shot them as they came by. We had some long shots, we had some shorter shots, and then there was just – we have a father son here, and then I’m a single guy and then we have another single guy. But we’re all hunters at the end of the day.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Kyle Flynn: And there is some kind of fraternal bond between true hunters. We’d never met each other before we got here, except for the father and son duo, obviously. And we were cutting up in the blind like we’d known each other for 25 years.

Ramsey Russell: You’re right. I mean, birds of a feather flock together every single time, I’ve seen that time and time. These hosted hunts, it’s always just consist of spares and pairs and everybody just falls in together. I mean, because it’s sometimes difficult to get in a blind with people you’ve never hunted with before. But yesterday, point case, we took turns hunting.

Kyle Flynn: Oh, yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Rarely do we have the opportunity to do that back home. Okay, it’s your turn, your turn and repeat, repeat. Rarely do we have that opportunity at home where I hunt.

Kyle Flynn: Oh, no. Yeah. And everybody’s been a gentleman here, in the duck blind, as far as shooting their zone, taking turns, not shooting other people’s. I mean, it has been a pleasure to hunt with these gentlemen. And then, also we had the guy in camp from Europe to see his perspective.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Kyle Flynn: Gosh, it’s fascinating, isn’t it?

Ramsey Russell: It is. You’re not a species collector. I describe you more of an experienced collector.

Kyle Flynn: And I’ll pull it up on my phone. You know Gene Hill. I don’t know if you know the author, Gene Hill, he has this quote. I think he summarizes in two sentences how I think about bird hunting. It’s this beautiful quote about, two bird hunters will see each other and they’ll say, oh, have you had any luck? And the man will think what he’s held in his heart.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Kyle Flynn: Instead of what he’s held in his hand and say.

Ramsey Russell: Amen. What a great concept.

Kyle Flynn: It’s an absolute beautiful quote. And I remember reading that. There’s this book he wrote. Well, it wasn’t a book, I think it happened after he died. He used to write stories for Field and Stream and stuff like that. And then someone had the wherewithal after he passed away to compile all of his stories into a book called, it’s like the Fireside Hunting Stories. Oh, man, is it great. He’s got some stories in there that’ll make you cry, they’ll make you laugh, they’ll make you think, oh, man, it wasn’t any different today than it was 50 years ago when he was out there duck hunting.

“You probably fly enough miles and dead heading back and everything else or sitting at airports or waiting rooms, wherever you all do. You probably have plenty of time to read and stuff like it, don’t you?”

Ramsey Russell: You probably fly enough miles and dead heading back and everything else or sitting at airports or waiting rooms, wherever you all do. You probably have plenty of time to read and stuff like it, don’t you?

Kyle Flynn: And you could rot your brain –

Ramsey Russell: Play it on your phone.

“And you will say that you have. And when he asks, have any luck? You’ll think what you have held in your heart instead of your hand and then answer that you certainly did, without a doubt.”

Kyle Flynn: Yeah. Here’s the quote right here. It’s from Gene Hill. It says, at home, a friend will ask been, bird hunting? And you will say that you have. And when he asks, have any luck? You’ll think what you have held in your heart instead of your hand and then

answer that you certainly did, without a doubt.

“I like that a lot.”

Ramsey Russell: Wow. I like that. I mean, I like that a lot.

Kyle Flynn: And I read that. I remember, you’re sitting somewhere and you’re reading and it’s one of those things, you read it and it’s like the first time you ever read Cormac McCarthy and you go, it just jumps out at you, and you go, only a true bird hunter could write something that beautiful. A man that has gone through all the phases that a bird hunter goes through. First, you just want to kill your first bird, then you want to kill, you want to have a day where you just rain them out and you shoot a big limit. And then you want to shoot a species that you’ve never shot before. And then when you’ve been bird hunting long enough, you start to realize it’s not about the species, it’s about the people you meet, it’s about the experiences you have, it’s about the laughs you have in the duck blind.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Kyle Flynn: Yeah, it’s purely about what’s in your heart. And I experienced that for the first time we went to Argentina and I just remember sitting there and I looking out at the water and it’s like this is burned into my con. This experience of being out in the expanse of experiencing true rural hunting. It’s like, I don’t know how to describe how this, it just makes your soul sink.

Ramsey Russell: See, I think everything we do is like in our past and I think we are our past. You know what I’m saying? I mean, it could be the slightest little thing that you’ve seen or done, but it kind of becomes who you are.

Kyle Flynn: Have you seen that interview with, there’s an interview with Tucker Carlson and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. Where they’re talking about, because before Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. was who he is now, he was an environmental lawyer.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Kyle Flynn: And he’s talking about why we preserve.

Ramsey Russell: I did hear that interview.

Kyle Flynn: Boy, it sends chills down the back of your neck. Listen to him talk about when we destroy nature, we destroy our ability to experience God’s creation and how God communicates to us through his creation. And that’s never more true with bird hunters. The best way to experience creation is to get out there and experience it.

Ramsey Russell: Amen. How has the local culture and hospitality impacted what you feel in your heart about this particular hunting experience? Where to start? Food, scenery, people?

Kyle Flynn: Yeah, food, scenery, cocktails, people. We were talking to Alfonso, our host today, his father did this work.

Ramsey Russell: Right.

Kyle Flynn: He’s second generation. And then you think about, he was telling us stories when, he’s in his late 40s, early 50s at least and when he’s telling stories about, he was picking ducks up for American hunters for his dad’s outfit when he was a little boy. And his dad’s yelling, he’s knee high to a duck and he’s trying to go out there in waist deep water to pick ducks and his dad’s yelling at him, get out of the water. You’re going to drown, you fool, the water’s too deep for you. It’s an amazing. I had no idea that there was a hunting culture in Mexico like there is.

Ramsey Russell: Right.

Kyle Flynn: You just think of Mexico is, is not that everybody thinks of the hunting culture in America, but man, they have a rich hunting culture down here and particularly for ducks. His dad outfitted for ducks.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. There’s a negative stigma. Speaking of hunting, duck hunting in Mexico, there’s a negative stigma attached with it that a bunch of gringos come down here and just shoot every last duck on face earth, but we do abide limits, not that we kill them every day. What did you think about, the shooting volume on the one hand, there were a couple mornings we didn’t hit full limits? One morning you all had to move to another blind. But I mean, how do you feel about that? I mean, it’s more than the United States, but have you heard another shotgun shot? Have you seen more hunters on a vast landscape covering hundreds of square miles down here?

Kyle Flynn: We talked about this at nauseam over lunch. I mean, if there were this many ducks and this quality of duck hunting anywhere in the States, it would sound like World War III at dawn every morning.

Ramsey Russell: Absolutely. And we’d wonder where the heck the ducks are because they’re sitting on a sanctuary somewhere.

Kyle Flynn: Yeah, exactly. And every piece of water that they touched down on that wasn’t on a sanctuary, the shot would start flying at them. And we’ve been here and I don’t know how far you can hear a shotgun from away, but probably 5 miles, we haven’t heard another shot the whole time we’ve been here.

Ramsey Russell: What about the dove hunt?

Kyle Flynn: I mean, what can you say? And I’ve dove hunted in Argentina and I mean if you want to go shoot 2000 dove, Argentina is the place for you. That’s not what I’m interested in. The way that they trickle in, you get a flight of 3 or 4 dove, maybe you kill a double, maybe you kill one, you stick a couple more shells in your gun and here come more, it’s 2s and 3s, it constant. They don’t darken the skies like when I was in Argentina, I mean there’s so many, you tend to flock shoot them, which is, it’s not really my cup of tea. And then for someone that’s not an ultra-experienced, high volume shooter like that, you struggle to pick them out, like which target are you going to you see, you do this thing where you can’t pick, these coming in flights of 2s and 3s. And we get out to the dove field at 02:30, sit down by, the bird boys say, at 3 o’ clock they’re going to start flying and boy, the scouting down here has been spot on. Yesterday, that’s what they told us at 3 o’ clock, my bird boy at least told me 3 o’ clock they’re going to fly. And he was spot on. 3 o’ clock, here they come. And it was nonstop action for 2 or 3 hours.

Ramsey Russell: When they first start flying, they’re flying from wherever they’ve been roosting to the milo fields. And when they’re flying back, they’re flying from the milo fields to the roost again. And they are packing a load. Have you seen some of the crops, how full they are of milo?

Kyle Flynn: And we were talking, this is an agricultural area. You almost feel like, coming from the state of Texas, you see feral hogs, you almost feel compelled to shoot them because you know the agricultural pests that they are. The doves down here are an agricultural pest. They’re delicious, they’re great to eat, it is a food source for these people down here.

Ramsey Russell: Everybody talks about how good they cook them here.

Kyle Flynn: We didn’t have dove poppers yesterday and everybody was talking about, bring more of them, do heck with the entree, bring me more of them dove poppers. These boys know how to cook the Paloma stuff. Yeah, it is delicious.

Ramsey Russell: But you start off talking about the simple people down here and just imagine the metric tons of loss translated into their lifestyle and their living and feeding their family and just getting by that these swarms of doves must cost this time of year.

Kyle Flynn: And to people that, we’re not talking about huge industrial farms in the states, that really hits the bottom line, I’m sure it does. If you think, gosh, we killed 250 dove yesterday between 5 or 6 of us and if each one of those dove had a tablespoon of milo in their crop and then think of all the millions we didn’t kill. I mean, it might as well be a dollar bill rolled up inside their crop.

Ramsey Russell: Boy, that’s a good point, Kyle. We know the dove poppers, did you have a favorite meal? Anything favorite you ate down here of all the line up?

Kyle Flynn: That ceviche we just had for lunch wasn’t terrible, I could tell you. And those margaritas, man, I have got to watch him make them because I normally don’t drink a frozen margarita, I like them on the rocks. But this boy knows how to make a frozen margarita.

Ramsey Russell: I’m going to share the recipe right now with you and the God. It’s 4 cups of hand squeezed lime. 4 cups of simple syrup, I think they put 5 and 4 cups of tequila equal parts, pour it over a blender full of rice and bland, it’s just that simple. You need just a little bit more sweetener than the other two parts. So say 4 parts, 4 parts, 5 parts.

Kyle Flynn: Got it.

Ramsey Russell: Boom.

Kyle Flynn: That’s it.

Ramsey Russell: And it’s that simple. And I think, Cole was talking earlier today about one of his takeaway points from being down here, one of the things he learned is that less is best. And I think in the world of margaritas, less is definitely best. Somebody was here last year and asked me, hey, I’m going to Mazatlán for a few days, where’s the best margaritas in Mazatlán? I said, Nayarit.

Kyle Flynn: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Hands down, best margaritas.

Kyle Flynn: You won’t get a margarita that good for $20 at the fanciest western resort. You know that ain’t going to happen.

Ramsey Russell: What’s the takeaway from being down here? What’s the one thing takeaway message, you go home, you’ve already talked about going on another hunt next year. What’s your takeaway message to Nayarit? To anybody listening, interesting coming down here. How did it make you feel in your heart? Exceeds your expectations?

Kyle Flynn: And I have some neighbors that grew up in Guadalajara and I told them, I said, I’m going down to Nayarit to duck hunt. And they said, duck hunt? Even to Mexicans, it’s not on their radar.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Kyle Flynn: And I think people think Sonora, I think people think kind of northern –

Ramsey Russell: Tampa Lepe is up against the bay.

Kyle Flynn: The northern sea, of course, like up in that area, up in the Bay of California there. Coming this far south, I think everybody in camp has told Alfonso and you, we’re coming back. It’s going to be one of those, like, just put me on the calendar every year from, at the same time over and over again.

Ramsey Russell: You say that, but the truth of the matter is the calendar is nearly full with repeat bookings, already. It’s like one of the gentlemen here today was asking me about it. I said, you better call Anita when you get home, because it’s absolutely filling up. And one of the great things that we really hadn’t touched on but, like, the camp will hunt up to 6 people. We don’t like to run more than 6, but with a minimum of 4 people. So this is not going to be 10, 12, 13, 14 gringos, 4 people.

Kyle Flynn: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And the lodge is full. Those days are full with 4 people minimum or up to 6. But to me, I do these hosted hunts and you got to fall in and make a bunch of new friends. We’ve had a great time solving world problems and getting to know each other. But just imagine somewhere you can go and have all of this at your disposal with just you and 3 of your buddies, boom, no outside distractions. The world problems you all can solve. The fun to connection, a family of 4. I’ve got a client coming next year with his 3, with his sons and grandchildren, just the 4 or 5 of them.

Kyle Flynn: And so I just got off the phone with my wife and we’ve talked, I have 2 boys, young boys, and I am just, you hate to say you’re anxious for your kids to grow up because they’re so precious when they’re at a young age.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Kyle Flynn: Boy, I’m anxious to go duck hunt with my 2 boys. I mean, I just am chomping at the bit to go, I’m tempted to bring them down here in a couple, when they’re 10 and 11 years old, I think it’d be perfect for them to come down here. And even if they’re not old enough, I don’t know what his rules are for bringing young boys down here to let them hunt, just to let them watch.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Kyle Flynn: Maybe just say here –

Ramsey Russell: Experience it. I appreciate you. I’ve enjoyed getting to know you with everybody else. And folks, thank you all for listening to this episode of MOJO’s Duck Season Somewhere podcast from Sunny Safe, Spectacular Nayarit, Mexico. Information on getducks.com or give me a shout. See you next time.

[End of Audio]

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