EP 585. Middle-of-Nowhere Duck Hunt

Ramsey Russell: Garrett Bowman sitting smack in the middle of nowhere on the Paranai River. Garrett, the first time you came to Argentina with us, you went to that wild, remote Rio Salado. I just thought that was wild and remote. This is totally different. What attracts you to these kinds of destinations?

Garrett Bowman: Going on an adventure somewhere super remote. I’ve gotten to do a lot of cool stuff with you, whether it be here in Argentina or in Africa. Getting to go to a place that’s actually wild. Natural habitat, wild birds, cool experience.

I just thought I’d found somewhere remote. With Rio Salado, it was way out of BA. Now we’re driving half the distance, twice as remote, a whole lot better a minute level

Ramsey Russell: I just thought I’d found somewhere remote. With Rio Salado, it was way out of BA. Now we’re driving half the distance, twice as remote, a whole lot better a minute level. How would you compare the two?

“Yeah. I mean you jump in a car and ride for 8–10 hours in Rio Salado. A couple of hours off hardtop. Here Instead of a hardtop, you jump in a boat.”

Garrett Bowman: Yeah. I mean you jump in a car and ride for 8–10 hours in Rio Salado. A couple of hours off hardtop. Here Instead of a hardtop, you jump in a boat. Riding a boat probably about an hour up a river, riding through a bunch of cattle pastures, some fish camps.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Garrett Bowman: A couple of gauchos here and there. I’d say the hunting is probably pretty similar as a whole. I went to Rio Salado on a dry year. This year is a little more wetter. Probably seen more birds here.

Ramsey Russell: Oh gosh.

Garrett Bowman: Yeah, I think that’s right.

Ramsey Russell: One thing about this, if you look at the aerial photography, there’s no corps of engineers. The river is still meandering like it has since the dawn of time. It’s the second-largest river delta in South America. It’s never going to dry up. If this multi-million-acre marsh dries up, Bunda’s area is going to be a Sahara desert. So it’s always going to be wet. Some of these wetlands we’ve hunted, these ponds may be dry, but there’ll be somewhere else that’s wet. It’s just dynamic.

Garrett Bowman: And it looks like every time you drive by a cattle pasture, I mean, I’m sitting here looking out the window of the boat and I see two different marshes out this one window here in this cattle pasture. You go through there, you’ll see drainages run into the river. Looks like out of a cattle pasture. Doesn’t even look like a stream, but there’s water coming out of all these places. You jump up on the bank, it might be 10 feet above the water and you look out through there, you’re going to see more than one pond.

Ramsey Russell: Forever. I mean all the way to the horizon in all directions. There is natural God-given river delta and abundance of ducks. Did you knock any new species off your list this year?

Garrett Bowman: Yeah. This year I knocked off the fulvous whistling- Whistler.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Garrett Bowman: Got to have a wonderful hunt for fulvous. We shot a bunch. That was a new one for this trip. I got to get my Brazilian teal again. Absolutely love that bird. I remember we sat down in the marsh the first morning, my first hunt, and I got my one Brazilian. I was so proud because that was the one bird I wanted when I came to Argentina. And I’ve gotten a couple of those on this trip. They’re absolutely beautiful every time you put your hands on them. Trying to think, I haven’t got my speckled teal yet, but I got to do my Rosy Billed decoyed.

Ramsey Russell: Talk about the rosy-bill. It’s not the most attractive bird. Maybe it doesn’t have the gleaming wings. If I were to tell you that’s my favorite duck and I would come here just to shoot Rosy Billed, nothing but Rosy Billed. Do you have a sense of why I would say that?

Garrett Bowman: I’m pretty sure I would say the same thing at this point. Watching that bird work. You see them off in the distance. They may be like divers or like mallards flying around. And then they react to a call. They see that mojo. They set up upwind, they spin around. If they’re coming the wrong direction, go downwind and then work right back towards you with their wings out, feet down, swaying back and forth. They want to be right there in the middle of that hole.

Ramsey Russell: Same flight last season. But it was just a few days ago. Me, you and Ricky were in the blind out in that marsh. Remember that?

Garrett Bowman: Yes.

Ramsey Russell: We’re looking east. In fact, we were looking east, but that was okay. We were done by the time the sun got up, too bad in our eyes.

Garrett Bowman: Yeah. Most mornings here, I mean, you’re going to be done before the sun gets far up off the horizon. Looking east, looking west, any direction. It doesn’t matter. Even if the wind’s not ideal, the birds are still going to work you and you’re still going to end up having a great time.

Ramsey Russell: You all landed. You and Ricky landed in Bunda’s areas. You all came over to the apartment I stay at. We got a bite to eat. We had supper with clients. The next morning, we drove three hours. Then what happened?

Garrett Bowman: We got to the boat, kind of hung out for a little bit, had a great lunch.

Ramsey Russell: First off, we jumped off into that taxi.

Garrett Bowman: Yeah, we jumped into it.

Ramsey Russell: We jumped into a boat for an hour and a half.

Garrett Bowman: Boat for an hour and a half.

Ramsey Russell: What were you thinking for that ride? I mean, we just kept getting further and further from civilization.

Garrett Bowman: Further and further you got nothing else to do but look around and talk.

Ramsey Russell: Water birds.

Garrett Bowman: Water birds. Seeing some ducks fly around, whether it be the silver teal or some of those birds. You see flamingos, spoonbills. You see all kinds of cool stuff you normally don’t see. You see storks, giant grebes, jabirus, everything. You’re running up through there and you’re having a hard time bringing it all together because it’s so much stimulation. And then you come around the corner and see this big old lodge floating off to the side in the river. You’re here.

Ramsey Russell: We’re 25 or 30 miles from the nearest paved road. We’re out in the middle in any direction. We’re out in the middle of nowhere. But you brought up earlier, you drive down the river going to these hunts, and there are all these little fish camps. They might have a solar panel, the size of a laptop. It could possibly power a light bulb when you need it. But they’re living like people did 150 years ago, it seems to me.

Garrett Bowman: Yeah, 100%.

Ramsey Russell: Did you all ever stop and give any ducks away?

Garrett Bowman: We did, yeah. We’ve stopped and given ducks away a couple of times, whether it be fishermen on boats. This morning we stopped at a really nice camp. The gentleman asked what we had. We told him it was ducks or patos and he was super happy to take them. Had a whole sack full. He’s having to drag it up the bank because it’s heavy.

Ramsey Russell: They probably get tired of eating just fish.

Garrett Bowman: I would imagine that. You gotta have a little bit of something different every now and again.

Ramsey Russell: We talk about Rosy Billed were great. How would you describe eating them? Because the chef this week did a pretty good job on those ducks.

Garrett Bowman: Yeah, he made duck for two different meals or two different parts of a meal. To be honest with you, I had no idea it was duck.

Ramsey Russell: Really?

Garrett Bowman: Yeah, it was such a mild taste. Very similar to most red meat. We had it both with fat on and fat off. It was great.

Ramsey Russell: What was your favorite meal?

Garrett Bowman: Oh, that’s tough. The meal last night, the asada was really good.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, you can’t beat asada.

Garrett Bowman: Yeah, we had that souffle the other day for lunch, pretty good. Tuna salad. You wouldn’t normally think you’d want tuna salad, but it was the most comforting lunch that one day.

Ramsey Russell: Humida. Is that how you say it? I don’t know. It’s like a corn pudding, but savory. It was amazing.

Garrett Bowman: Yeah. The way he described it to me was like a corn stew.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Garrett Bowman: It kind of tasted like Mexican street corn with that lime flavor and some seasoning, maybe a little pepper, probably a little onion mixed in. But it was very good. He said it’s from the north of Argentina, one of their native dishes.

Ramsey Russell: Besides the duck hunt, what do you seem to remember? What stands out to you most?

Garrett Bowman: Definitely more than just the duck hunting. For me it’s the overall experience as a whole. The adventure of going somewhere new. Somewhere most humans have never set foot, particularly not from our continent.

Ramsey Russell: I don’t think this hunt is for everybody though. I’ll be honest. I know a lot of people that I just don’t think would enjoy the hour and a half boat ride to get here or just being on a boat. Which is nice, lodge right here. But I don’t know if they’d enjoy this. I’ve got higher volume duck hunts elsewhere. This just speaks to me. It’s just something about sitting out and watching that sun come up or seeing the sun go down. A tremendous amount of bird life, not the least of which is waterfowl. And knowing that likely a lot of the ducks that ended up on our strap this week had never seen a human or heard a gunshot.

Garrett Bowman: No. I think it takes a special person to want to do a trip like this. You have to want the adventure of it. It’s far more than just the duck hunting. It’s the whole thing. From the time you set foot on the boat originally, to waking up, to going to sleep, to having your meals and sitting here in this salon having a conversation about past trips and what happened during the day, to climbing over the side of the boat into one of the skiffs and riding an hour or 30 minutes up or down the river, to having the opportunity to go fishing.

“I’m just impressed they find these places too. They’re not studying Google Earth. They’re not flying a drone.”

Ramsey Russell: I’m just impressed they find these places too. They’re not studying Google Earth. They’re not flying a drone. It’s like I told Ricky, you were with us yesterday too. We drove a pretty good ways, 35–40 minutes. Stopped at a parakeet nest. Yep. Drive that way until you see a parakeet nest. Get off and walk 100 yards.
Garrett Bowman: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: How do they find that?
Garrett Bowman: It’s pretty incredible. Even this morning’s hunt, we’re running up there, full-on dark. There’s not many lights out here. There’s a couple light bulbs at some of these fish camps, but I mean, you’re running for 30 minutes in the pitch black, and then somehow he knows to turn on his light, looks over to the bank and goes, oh, that’s my tree.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Garrett Bowman: We’ll get out and you go hunt. It’s pretty incredible. They can find some of these places.
Ramsey Russell: Do you see as many stars at night as you see here?
Garrett Bowman: No.
Ramsey Russell: Like when you’re at home?
Garrett Bowman: No. I see a fair bit. Living in western North Carolina, I could see some. A lot of really nice stuff. But seeing the stars here is incredible. Similar to Rio Salado, where you’re watching satellites go across the sky.
Ramsey Russell: Oh, yeah.
Garrett Bowman: In multiple colors. At home, we can usually see the white ones. But here you can see all color lights going across the sky.

Ramsey Russell: The contrast. Look out this window right here. As far as I can see is marsh. Wild, muddy, untamed marsh. Versus here, we do have Starlink. We do have chef-prepared meals. The laundry, I mean, they’ve done my laundry two or three times. And just how spotless this thing is. I know during parts of the year, they run fishing trips. A fisherman stepped off the mothership into a boat. Never sets foot on bank. He’s clean as a whistle. When he comes back on the boat, we’re out there slogging around in this mess, sometimes more than others, but yet when we get back, it’s just as clean as when we left.
Garrett Bowman: Yeah. And the guys, I don’t know how they do that. It seems like the guys spend about 20–30 minutes working on the boats when we get back, making sure they’re clean from slogging mud and other filth into their boats. And then we step off on here. Usually within 30 minutes of us being back, the boat’s spotless again.
Ramsey Russell: When you think about the number of birds we shoot relative to the United States, what do you think about the croaker sack full of plastic decoys they use? It might be 10 or 11 decoys.
Garrett Bowman: Yeah, I would say if they use 10 or 11 decoys, some of these holes, I’d be kind of surprised. It seems like you don’t have to have everything we have at home to be successful here. Way more than anybody else. Way more hunting, shooting. But yeah, it’s pretty incredible that all it takes is a mojo. Maybe this morning we had a mojo, our battery died, and the 8 or 10 decoys that were sitting down that hole still pulled ducks.
Ramsey Russell: Still pulled ducks. Are you a species collector or experience collector?
Garrett Bowman: I’m an experience collector or both. I do a little bit of Africa collected species. I like to mark them off the list. Went to Africa, have a few birds that came home, quite a few birds actually that came home. But here I’m more into going and doing the remote adventure. I think that’s what draws me to the places and draws me to you and doing hunts with you. The stuff that you offer is being able to go do something, experience it. Whether that be super remote Africa, seeing 4–5 provinces going around doing a bunch of different styles of hunting, to doing Rio Salado, which is as remote as I’d ever been previously.
Ramsey Russell: I asked you about the species and then we’re going to talk about that. But I asked you about the species. What do you think about that Safari Club International game bird of the world platform? Because I was looking at the list. We were talking before lunch today. You qualify for the ducks and the geese of Africa. You qualify for the waterfowl in South America. And it was pretty darn easy.
Garrett Bowman: Yeah, pretty easy.
Ramsey Russell: Why not?
Garrett Bowman: Yeah, yeah. I just had never thought about it and know really much about it. I know you are now the head of the waterfowl.
Ramsey Russell: I’ve seen some of these other platforms going around about species. But because you’re a member of SCI, see you there every year. But that gum, I mean, who else out there is running a “contest” and benefiting hunters and hunting and wildlife?
Garrett Bowman: Probably nobody.
Ramsey Russell: Nobody. That’s the guy doing it. I think you ought to do that. Maybe come help me sub-chair that committee. Yeah, that’d be pretty cool because it’s taken off pretty good. You talk about the wild place and that’s really, I think, so many places I’ve been blessed to hunt. I’m going hunting, I get to go hunt in the UK this year, do some other stuff. And that’s great and fine, but relative to a lot of the United States that I travel every year, this is very wild down here. And it’s so wild, in fact, it just kind of surprises me that there are still vast, untouched, virtually untouched tracts like this on Earth.
Garrett Bowman: Yeah, it’s incredible.
Ramsey Russell: On Earth and here I am on a boat eating chef-prepared meals and getting up in the morning, eating breakfast, and going and shooting ducks. My heart’s content. It’s just unbelievable. Wild ducks, wild places, naive ducks. It’s something special about them. And I’m beyond the species. I just like to see dumb ducks come in and do like we all dream of them doing. But anyway, I appreciate you coming, Garrett. If asked the question by anybody, was it worth it, how would you answer?
Garrett Bowman: Without a doubt. I’m willing to jump on that plane anytime, head this direction, all the way out here. It’s worth it every single time.
Ramsey Russell: See you next time.
Garrett Bowman: Yes, sir.
Ramsey Russell: Mr. Ricky Anderson. Hello, Ricky. You’ve been to Las Flores, you’ve been to Lapas, you’ve been to Rio Salado. Now here you are among the first group of Get Ducks clients on the Paraná River with us. How did it compare? Seriously, how does this stack up against some of these other offerings? If you were sitting here and somebody was saying, look, I want to go with Get Ducks down to Argentina, but I don’t know which one to pick, I kind of want to do it all. How would you describe this? How would you describe the others?

“I would describe this as you said earlier, hunting truly wild ducks in a truly wild place. The habitat here is untouched. It’s not manipulated.”

Ricky Anderson: I would describe this as you said earlier, hunting truly wild ducks in a truly wild place. The habitat here is untouched. It’s not manipulated. It’s just what the good Lord created, put here. And it’s something special, something you find nowhere in North America. That’s why I’m here, to hunt ducks, wild ducks in a truly wild place.

“Because it’s been on my heart heavy. I did a social media post not too long ago about it. Coming to these areas, especially this area and some of the other areas in these wild places, has made me so aware that 150 years ago, North America did look like this.”

Ramsey Russell: You bring up a good point. Because it’s been on my heart heavy. I did a social media post not too long ago about it. Coming to these areas, especially this area and some of the other areas in these wild places, has made me so aware that 150 years ago, North America did look like this. I understand we got to feed the world, we got to feed ourselves, but man, we have totally annihilated our natural landscape and replaced it with multicultural big ag crops and drained the wetlands and tiled the fields. Just in the last 20 years, let alone the last 40 years, I look back and go, we don’t have the ducks we used to. And you hear it from every old duck hunter saying, we don’t got the ducks we used to. That’s why for millions of years, waterfowl used these natural wetlands. It’s been so long gone that a modern duck hunter looks around them in soybean fields and rice fields and all this stuff that ducks are probably using because they have to, not because they want to. And they look at this old worthless swamp that ain’t got seed in it and go, oh, well, that ain’t no good. But I would argue tooth and nail with them. Oh yeah, it’s good, it’s good. This is what ducks evolved in, these natural wetlands. How different is it from what you hunt in Alabama?
Ricky Anderson: Totally different. We’re hunting beaver swamps, cypress breaks, that kind of thing. But still, a lot of that has been touched or manipulated in some way. It’s just special to come here. If you’re a real duck hunter, I think you long for that experience.
Ramsey Russell: I think whether we know it or not, that’s what we’re hungry for. I think that’s why so many modern duck hunters chase around. I think it’s in our human profile, Ricky. When you think about earliest man, cavemen or whatever coming across the Bering Ice Bridge into North America, they weren’t just walking aimlessly. They were looking for an abundance of naive animals to eat. I think it goes all the way back as humanity in our human genome. I think it goes back to that. If we hunt, we want to see an abundance of wildlife that doesn’t have a PhD like some of these mallards that make it to Mississippi anymore. That’s what I think.
Ricky Anderson: When we duck hunters think of duck hunter heaven, I guess you’d say this is it.
Ramsey Russell: This is it, isn’t it? This really is. I think you’re right. What did you enjoy most about it? Just Lapas, ducks, doves, pigeons, perdiz. Very civilized. You brought your wife. Yes, we have joined a couples trip. She had a great time. We had a great time. And you’re a trigger puller. You really had a good time on those doves and pigeons and everything else. We went to Las Flores. It’s like going to Disneyland. If you’ve never shot high-volume ducks, it’s just slam dunk, wham, bam, thank you ma’am shooting.
Ricky Anderson: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: You went to Rio Salado in a slower year, had a great time, shot well. But then you come here. If you had to repeat one of them, would this be the one you repeated or would it be Las Flores? I’ve heard you talk about going down to Las Flores again.
Ricky Anderson: That’s a hard one. Every Get Ducks trip that I’ve been on has been great. It’s been wonderful. There’s not one of them that I wouldn’t do again. But what sets this apart is just the remoteness of it. It’s just a feeling I can’t express until you come and do it yourself. But we’re out here and we talked about it as we rode up and down the rivers, how 150 years ago you could ride on the riverways of North America and get out and hunt ducks like this. And here we are, like we’ve stepped back in time. I guess that’s the thing. It’s kind of like you stepped back in time 150 years.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right. This morning as you and I were coming out, I would say it was a soft hunt, certainly slower than it’s been the rest of the week. It was very heavy. It had warmed. Mosquitoes were back out in force. It was a drizzly ride out to where we were going. If we’d been home, it was one of those duck season mornings that I’d have woke up, my concrete would have sweated. That usually doesn’t bode well for duck hunting. We shot like if you and I hunted in Alabama or Mississippi, we shot four and a half or five days of consecutive limits. Mississippi standard. Been a few hours, but it was slower. It was paced. We had some lulls that we could talk and visit more than we had been. Then we stopped and hollered over to the shore, to the fish camp. They waved us over and wanted those ducks. A man came out. He lived in a house with corrugated tin walls and roof. Guarantee it leaks when it rains. Very similar. It would remind me of an old black-and-white photo from West Virginia in 1920 or Mississippi in 1920. This old house. He stepped out, he had some teenage kids, and I’m sure his wife was around somewhere. It looks like they lived there to me and plowed these rivers for fish. It’s easy to look at them and say they’re poor. I don’t know just how poor they are. Poor how? Because if the stock market crashes tomorrow, if we lose our power grid, if something breaks out in the United States, these folks will get up, light their light bulb, cook on a fire, and go fishing, same as they do. Probably have for 150, 200 years. Forever. Their world’s not going to change a bit.

Ricky Anderson: No. And you think about what makes your life rich and full. I would say they probably live not rich as far as possessions, but rich and full in their way of life, in their enjoyment of life.

Ramsey Russell: I think so. Somewhere along the way this week, me, you, and Garrett were going off to an afternoon hunt. We passed by camp and outside at camp was a satellite. They must have a generator parked behind the house. They had a DirecTV satellite. I’ve often wondered what people like that think when they’re watching television and seeing how other people live around the world. Like a soap opera. Everybody in a soap opera is a multi-millionaire. They drive the biggest cars, live in the biggest houses, got the best furniture, wear the fanciest clothes. Hollywood’s like that. I wonder what people like that think when they’re watching TV and seeing that. I don’t think they feel poor. I think they just look at it as a different world than what they live in.

Ricky Anderson: I think you’re right because this is what they know. This is the world they know. Every day they get up and do the same thing. Simple life. Not very many problems.

Ramsey Russell: I don’t think they have any worries. That in and of itself makes them rich, doesn’t it?

Ricky Anderson: That’s right.

Ramsey Russell: What about in the mornings when we’re sitting quietly in the dark as the marsh is waking up? The sounds of the marsh waking up are unbelievable.

Ricky Anderson: It’s incredible.

Ramsey Russell: Millions of birds.

Ricky Anderson: Yeah. It’s incredible. The sounds, the sights of the sunrise across this landscape. It’s amazing. We talked about the stars and what you can see down here that you don’t get to see where we live. It’s an incredible adventure. I couldn’t recommend it enough to people searching for that experience of hunting in a place like stepping back in time.

Ramsey Russell: It’s a little warmer than usual. Last week Argentina broke the record since 1950 for highest temperature on that day. It’s warmer. I told you all bring bug dope. Most days we didn’t need it, but when you need it, you better have it. One afternoon we were out and it was warm earlier this week. If you’ve ever been around a transformer and you hear that buzzing, sitting quietly waiting on the guy to get back, he went out to grab some seats or something, and it’s like the whole marsh was buzzing like that transformer. It was the sound of a gazillion and a half mosquitoes. I felt like an old Off commercial. I put my dope on and there were a bunch of mosquitoes buzzing around, but none of them bothered me.

Ricky Anderson: Ramsey gave me a lot of good advice about what I needed to bring down here and things we were going to do. One of the best was bring some bug dope.

Ramsey Russell: Was there anything you would have brought different or done different, packed different for this trip? They wash your clothes a lot.

Ricky Anderson: I probably packed too much.

Ramsey Russell: I always do.

Ricky Anderson: I could have brought less. They wash my clothes. I came back to my room every day, it was straightened up, cleaned up. Food was great. Staff was great.

Ramsey Russell: What was your favorite meal?

Ricky Anderson: If you looked at my plate after every meal, you would know why I could not tell you. It was all great. I cleaned my plate every time.

Ramsey Russell: What was your favorite dessert? For a man that doesn’t eat dessert anymore.

Ricky Anderson: I would have fallen off the wagon every day on that too. Same answer. All of them.

Ramsey Russell: The next one. That’s my favorite. You shoot a lot of wood ducks back home, Ricky? Is there any ducks down here that remind you of the wood ducks or do you just have a totally different favorite species? If you come down here, what would you say your favorite species in this marsh is? Silver teal because it’s beautiful. The fulvous whistler because he’s uncommon. The rosy-bill because he’s defined what duck hunting is about. What is your favorite?

Ricky Anderson: I’ve had an opportunity to come on some hunts down here and hold about all of them in my hand. It’s like those desserts. My favorite one, the next one. But the rosy-bill is really special, not because of the way it looks, but because of the way it works.

Ramsey Russell: Absolutely. The silver teal to me is a gorgeous bird. So is the white-cheeked pintail. I think those may be two of the most beautiful waterfowl species I’ve ever laid hands on. I’ve shot a lot of silver teal. That little dog has picked up a whole bunch of silver teal. But every time one comes in clean and dry and you hold it, the way that speculum gleams at the same time neon green and blue, like different bands. The vermiculation on the back end of it. Then the dark crown on his head with the blue and yellow bill. It’s beautiful.

Ricky Anderson: Another thing about the ducks down here that fascinates me are the sounds. Most of them totally different. Some of them the same.

Ramsey Russell: Describe that. What sound?

Ricky Anderson: The sounds of the rosy-bill, that grunt, kind of growl.

Ramsey Russell: Female growl.

Ricky Anderson: And the ring teal makes the little kind of meow sound.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, he does. There’s no doubt in the dark what’s coming in. The Brazilian duck, the drake whistles and the female quacks. The silver teal quacks like a blue-wing. It’s all different. You don’t need a mallard call down here unless you’re going to use it for a diver. Well, Ricky, I’ve enjoyed it. Got one more night, one short morning because we’ve got to pack up and hit the road tomorrow. I appreciate you. I’m glad you made this trip with us and, as usual, enjoyed spending the week and time in the blind with you. Better stay off that wagon. We got another trip coming soon. We’re taking the wives on this trip.

Ricky Anderson: We’re just in training for that one now.

Ramsey Russell: We’re just in training for that. You all be good. Thank you, Ricky.

Ramsey Russell: Mr. Ryan Denman down here in the middle of absolute freaking nowhere. I heard this is your first international trip. Never left the United States duck hunt. And I’ve learned this week that you have duck hunted far and wide in the United States.
Ryan Denman: I have.
Ramsey Russell: Why here? Why this trip? Why for your first international trip? Why for your first trip to Argentina? Why here, Ryan? What is it about this trip?
Ryan Denman: I’ll tell you what, Ramsey. I’ve been following your page for a long time. I’ve been looking for what I felt would be the right fit, the right opportunity to unplug from modern-day society for a little bit. When I saw your videos and postings about this Parana River trip last year, I knew deep down inside that this was a trip for me.
Ramsey Russell: Why? Well, what does it speak to? It’s a bunch of ducks. It’s a bunch of cool ducks.
Ryan Denman: Bunch of cool ducks. Just really the experience. Looking back over my history, I’m a collector of experiences. I like to get off the grid. I like to unplug. We all have our day-to-day operations, our day-to-day jobs, and to be able to step away and, hey, guess what? I’m out here in the middle of nowhere. Wi-Fi doesn’t work.
Ramsey Russell: No, not always. Once you leave the boat and get about 10 feet from it, you’re away from Starlink. It’s all she wrote. You’re living in no man’s land, like rolling 1800s.
Ryan Denman: That’s right.
Ramsey Russell: How did this hunt reconcile with your expectations?
Ryan Denman: Completely exceeded.
Ramsey Russell: How so?
Ryan Denman: From start to beginning, the staff here on the boat’s fantastic. The guides are top notch. The culinary experience and the cuisine is just something.
Ramsey Russell: Food wasn’t bad.
Ryan Denman: It wasn’t bad. I’m going to have to go home and get back on the treadmill when I get back stateside.
Ramsey Russell: You see how people live up and down a riverbank. Rick and I got to talking about these fish camps up and down here, far and few between, though they are live in the dark ages.
Ryan Denman: That’s right.
Ramsey Russell: And you look out this glass and this is wild, remote swamp.
Ryan Denman: It is.
Ramsey Russell: And here we are living, I say, the lap of luxury.
Ryan Denman: Yeah. I was taking that boat back from the blind this afternoon and I was talking to Liza, my wife, and I said, this is one of those places that’s still special.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah. It hadn’t been encroached, it hadn’t been converted, it hadn’t been drained.
Ryan Denman: It hasn’t.
Ramsey Russell: It’s just how God made it. I looked at a map the other day, aerial photography, and you can see that old river run.
Ryan Denman: Yep.
Ramsey Russell: It’s a living, breathing river delta.
Ed Daves: It is.
Ramsey Russell: No Corps of Engineers.
Ryan Denman: Nothing.
Ramsey Russell: Just God and nature.
Ryan Denman: That’s right.
Ramsey Russell: And ducks.
Ryan Denman: There’s no dams, there’s no structure. This land is the way that God created it. To be able to come down here and have a top-notch experience, not only from a hospitality standpoint, but to see so many different species of ducks and have the opportunities to harvest. There’s nothing better.
Ramsey Russell: That day you and I hunted together was an amazing hunt.
Ryan Denman: It was.
Ramsey Russell: But it wasn’t one of those chaotic hunts.
Ryan Denman: No.
Ramsey Russell: In fact, this entire week I haven’t been on a single chaotic hunt. We got there in the morning, there were a few ducks flying around. We let it get light and it was kind of quiet, and all of a sudden somebody flipped a switch and the waves started coming.
Ryan Denman: That’s right.
Ramsey Russell: Lots of Rosie bells, lots of ducks.
Ryan Denman: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: What was your favorite species?
Ryan Denman: Roses are fun. They decoy like mallards. Me being a traveler of the Central Flyway from early teal season until it closes out and probably hunting six, seven of the different states in there, mallards are the king. But watching those Rosies decoy, interesting enough being a diver duck, but to work like a mallard would on some grunt calls, was really something special.
Ramsey Russell: You posted a lot more pictures of other species than Rosy Billed.
Ryan Denman: I did.
Ramsey Russell: Well, Silvertail got you, don’t they?
Ryan Denman: Those cappuccinos, man. Those are some interesting.
Ramsey Russell: Did it surprise you or did you know they’re cousins of the shoveler? They’re in the same genus bachelor.
Ryan Denman: I did not know that. But interesting. That’s the cool thing about getting out of your comfort zone, hunting in North America, getting into another continent. You’re able to see species and have the opportunity to hunt and harvest species that you’re not going to get stateside ever.
Ramsey Russell: Does it bother you you can’t take those birds home from Argentina? With this new president, fingers crossed it’s possible that in upcoming years it’ll happen, but he’s got so many irons in the fire with 1000–1500% inflation, he ain’t worried about hunters bringing home ducks.
Ryan Denman: I love to put a bird on the wall as much as the next guy. My office is starting to get overfilled with feathers and styrofoam bodies. But that’s the opportunity to get your phone out, take some really good pictures of some speculums. Take a look at Ramsey’s Instagram. Take a look at my Instagram. We’ve got some cool pictures highlighting just how beautiful these birds are down here.
Ramsey Russell: Birds of a feather flock together. I’ve always felt that a lot of these hunts, if I’m sitting around a camp with strangers, you didn’t know anybody, I didn’t when you showed up.
Ryan Denman: Not a one.
Ramsey Russell: We had talked on the phone, but now you know everybody.
Ryan Denman: Absolutely.
Ramsey Russell: It’s weird how birds of a feather flock together for a lot of the same reasons that you were drawn to this spot, this hunt, this date. They were too.
Ryan Denman: Yep. I’m going to leave here with some lifelong friends, not only from the staff here on the Parana River boat, but even fellow guests. To share this week with and we’re going to take these relationships.
Ramsey Russell: Gary gave you shooting lessons this afternoon?
Ryan Denman: Well, I don’t know about Gary giving lessons. I got a video on my iMac that says something else. But nevertheless, that’s a good thing. We’re all here because we all have a similar passion.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Ryan Denman: To connect with other guests from other parts of the United States and share camaraderie and build brotherhood and fellowship and ultimately cultivate relationships that are going to continue on for years to come. That’s really special.
Ramsey Russell: That’s a real good word you use Fellowship. Fellowship with each other. Fellowship with the staff.
Ryan Denman: Yep.
Ramsey Russell: Martine, your guides speak pretty decent English. Mine doesn’t, but it doesn’t matter.
Ryan Denman: Nope.
Ramsey Russell: We catch one word, and that’s all she wrote.
Ryan Denman: That’s right.
Ramsey Russell: The jokes are going on for three days because of one word.
Ryan Denman: There’s a universal language between giving somebody a pat on the back or giving somebody a fist bump, and there can be a language barrier there, but at the end of the day you know exactly what’s going on. And a big, fat, juicy smile goes a long way as well.
Ramsey Russell: It does. It sure does.
Ryan Denman: Yep.
Ramsey Russell: I always kid that my wife is the brains of the operation. I’m the good look. You brought your wife. And I say she’s both of you all’s equation, by the way.
Ryan Denman: Oh, yeah.
Ramsey Russell: What was it about this hunt that made you feel like it was wife appropriate? Because it was.
Ryan Denman: It was a good opportunity. Sure. It was a good opportunity for us both to step out and take our first international trip together. Buenos Aires is a good landing spot for cultural experiences that we haven’t been able to experience together in the past. Coming in, we were going to spend a couple days in the city together. Then we came out here, and she’s had a fantastic time, not only in the blind, but just around the boat and hanging out, being able to unplug and take in nature and what God created. Then we’re going to be able to go back and spend a couple days in the city before we fly home.
Ramsey Russell: So you all saw a little bit before you came down here, and now you’re going to spend a couple more days in Buenos Aires.
Ryan Denman: We are.
Ramsey Russell: I’m not a city boy, but I’ll be honest with you. Spending a few days in a big gritty city like Buenos Aires is kind of cool, kind of interesting. I walk around those barrios. I walk for miles and just look around and it’s interesting.
Ryan Denman: It really is. Think about this. You’re a Mississippi boy, right?
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Ryan Denman: I spent the first 30 years of my life in Iowa.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Ryan Denman: Des Moines, Iowa capital. Des Moines was probably, when I left there 15 years ago, 500,000. It’s probably 1.2 million now. I live in San Antonio, population about 2 million including the outlying territories. You come down to places like Buenos Aires and if you really add up all those people that live in that vicinity, you’re looking at 13 to 16 million people.
Ramsey Russell: Five times the state population of Mississippi.
Ryan Denman: It’s insane. You get so immersed in the opportunities to experience so many different things that you’ve never seen before.
Ramsey Russell: Any favorite foods you had? It’s different. They eat everything down here but the moo. We grew up, where you from? Iowa, Texas, Mississippi. We eat steaks and hamburger, but we ate all kinds of stuff down here.
Ryan Denman: Well, you’ve seen me eat this week. I’m not extremely picky.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah, I know that. But was there anything that stood out? Anything that you go, wow, I never thought about that?
Ryan Denman: Pickled tongue was one.
Ramsey Russell: Pickled tongue.

Ryan Denman: Yeah. I went back for seconds.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Ryan Denman: The asada down here is top notch.
Ramsey Russell: Amazing. And it’s not one thing. They did cook rib of pork, pork ribs that were amazing.
Ryan Denman: They did.
Ramsey Russell: The other cuts of meat were not really something we’d eat like that back home, but all tasty, all good. They let the meat speak for itself. Favorite dessert?
Ryan Denman: Chef Lucio did a fantastic job. Dessert, my nemesis. What’s your favorite dessert? I don’t know. Every one I tried, I suppose.
Ramsey Russell: Wine soaked pear.
Ryan Denman: That was top notch.
Ramsey Russell: That’s a favorite.
Ryan Denman: First time I tried that. You saw him play tonight.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah, I did.
Ryan Denman: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: I figured after a week we knew each other, you could lick the bowl and nobody mind.
Ryan Denman: I got a Big time.
Ramsey Russell: All right. We got one more hunt tomorrow. Any goals other than just go out and have a good time?
Ryan Denman: It’s been such a great experience, Ramsey. I’m one that maybe has an old soul, but I keep everything in a notebook. I write down every species I’ve harvested and how many birds. I shouldn’t say killed, I should say harvested.
Ramsey Russell: It wasn’t a hard hunt, though, was it? We’re in the middle of nowhere. They make it easy, but it wasn’t arduous like the first afternoon. That was a mucky walk about 100 yards to where you all hammered.
Ryan Denman: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: Liza hammered those ducks.
Ryan Denman: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: That’s pretty darn easy.
Ryan Denman: That first afternoon I walked out with six different species.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Ryan Denman: What a cool experience and way to start. We haven’t let off the gas yet, so let’s slide into home tomorrow.
Ramsey Russell: Tomorrow we hunt one more time. We drive an hour and a half back out, drop some folks off at the airport, and you and I are going to kick around Buenos Aires. I’m just happy to have a good time. Thank you, Brian. I enjoyed sharing this week with you.
Ryan Denman: Thanks, Ramsey. Appreciate you.
Ramsey Russell: Todd Davison from the great state of Michigan. Todd, how did you and your dad find this trip?
Todd Davison: I listened to a podcast you were on before you had this podcast, and you were talking about a wild duck hunt in Argentina. I can’t remember exactly what the outfitter was, but you were all about it.
Ramsey Russell: I like wild places.
Todd Davison: Yeah, absolutely. I said, I want to do something like that. I can’t tell you how I came upon this. It was either through a Google search or through your website. I saw it, spoke to my father, and he said, yeah, sounds like a great adventure.
Ramsey Russell: What appeals to you about a hunt like this? You’ve been to Argentina before.
Todd Davison: I have. I’ve hunted baited ponds.
Ramsey Russell: That’s the typical Argentina hunt. A great big fancy lodge, baited ponds, la de da.
Todd Davison: That was wonderful. And you know I like to pull the trigger, but I like to duck hunt.
Ramsey Russell: I know that now. We can talk. We can go there if you want. I hunted with you the other day.
Todd Davison: But I like to duck hunt, so it seemed like a good fit for me.
Ramsey Russell: What does duck hunting look like back home where you and your dad hunt? You described a primitive camp, a rustic old school camp.
Todd Davison: We’ve got no electricity, an outhouse, a hand pump in the sink, and gas lights through the cabin.
Ramsey Russell: Wow. What kind of meals do you eat there at camp?
Todd Davison: Hearty ones.
Ramsey Russell: Steak?
Todd Davison: We usually don’t do steak. We do a big pot of stew or pasta of some sort. We’re duck hunting in Michigan, so it’s cold. You want those calories. Not that I need them but you want them.
Ramsey Russell: A little bit different to this kind of rustic hunt here.
Todd Davison: Yes. On the boat, the accommodations I wouldn’t describe as rustic.
Ramsey Russell: No.
Todd Davison: But once you get off the boat, you’re in the middle of nowhere.
Ramsey Russell: Middle of nowhere. Have you ever seen as many mosquitoes in your life? Did you imagine as many mosquitoes existed in the universe as when me, you, and your dad hunted together and the sun started going down?
Todd Davison: I did some backpacking on Isle Royale, 40 miles into Lake Superior from the Canadian coast. When I went to bed, you could just about not fall asleep, the mosquitoes were so bad. I thought that was going to be the most mosquitoes of my life. Well, we beat that.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah. What was your favorite meal here?
Todd Davison: You gotta love the asada.
Ramsey Russell: Oh, yeah. Everybody says that. The chef poured his heart out on other stuff, but Americans like grilled meat. Feed us meat.
Todd Davison: Yeah. Other than that, the Humida.
Ramsey Russell: Never even heard of it. Like a corn chowder.
Todd Davison: It was the most comforting meal I’ve had in a long time.
Ramsey Russell: Good. That night, my favorite dessert.
Todd Davison: That’s a tough one. They were all fantastic. Tonight’s red wine pear sticks out pretty good.
Ramsey Russell: That’s a real classical dish. What was your guide staff like? You had Tomas this week. Did you know he’s a champion bareback gaucho horse rider?
Todd Davison: I learned that this week. The guide staff here is one of the best, if not the best, I’ve ever had. I’ve shot a few places, not a lot, but a few.
Ramsey Russell: How so? What makes them good?
Todd Davison: They worked for you. They wanted you to succeed. They weren’t pushy. I’ve been on hunts where you’re limited by shells, and they want you to shoot everything at 100 yards so they can go home and sleep. They weren’t pushy. They wanted you to get your birds.
Ramsey Russell: They smile.
Todd Davison: Yeah, absolutely.
Ramsey Russell: What blows my mind is we get to the boat ramp at a little country town, off for an hour we go. We come to the mothership, which has moved two or three times for hours to different parts of the swamp. We step off the boat, drive 15, 20, 30 minutes to where we’re going. I don’t know how they found these places.
Todd Davison: Mystery to me.
Ramsey Russell: I don’t know how they found them. When we pull up, they’ve got that little shelf, the seats, somebody’s built a blind, and we just throw 10 decoys and have fun.
Todd Davison: Yeah, absolutely.
Ramsey Russell: How big a decoy spread do you all have in Michigan? More than 10.
Todd Davison: Certainly. We generally run four or five dozen on a small hunt.
Ramsey Russell: Do you own a semiautomatic shotgun? You and your dad showed up with two shooters. It’s a high-volume hunt, and you all showed up with two. Do you own a semi auto?
Todd Davison: I don’t, but I own a variety of pumps.
Ramsey Russell: Why the over and under? I’m not picking on you. I think it speaks to the heart of who you all are. I’m gonna ask him this question.
Todd Davison: Then they’ll have context. You’re traveling with my dad. He’s a purist in that form.
Ramsey Russell: Do you get that from your dad?
Todd Davison: I do to an extent. The reason I brought my Satori is it’s the gun I shoot the best most of the time.
Ramsey Russell: I thought you shot good the other night. We had a good time, didn’t we?
Todd Davison: Yes, we did.
Ramsey Russell: This hunt exceeded your expectations. When you get home, back to work, back with your family, what memory will stick with you? For me, it could be the hum of mosquitoes. That day me and your dad were sitting on a boat, and it was like the whole universe was buzzing. Or the full moon hanging over the swamp. Or the flat terrain, marsh to the horizon. When the sun comes up, it looks like a bed of hot coals. Is there something like that, a defining moment, without duck hunting, you’ll really remember about this Paranai River duck hunt?
Todd Davison: Take the hunting out, it’s the remoteness.
Ramsey Russell: Yes.
Todd Davison: And the vastness.
Ramsey Russell: It’s hard to find this day and age.
Todd Davison: On this hunt there is marsh everywhere. Anywhere you look, it’s duck habitat.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah, it is. I posted something recently. I imagine when everything in the Mississippi Flyway between Mississippi and Michigan looked like this. Instead of row crop agriculture, tiled fields, and shopping centers. I can’t imagine the ducks we must have had.

Todd Davison: I can’t either.
Ramsey Russell: I mean, I just want to close my eyes and think about it. What it must have been like back in those days. And now we’ve got wind farms and solar farms and everything else going in. At some point in time, you know, I actually had this fantasy. Everybody’s had that conversation: what would you do if you won the Powerball? People gonna buy a jet, gonna do this, do that. Heck, I’m gonna buy a houseboat on the Parana River and come down here.
Todd Davison: Well, that’s a pretty good fantasy.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah, it is. But anyway, thank you very much. I really enjoyed hunting with you, Todd. Unfortunately, this time tomorrow night you’re gonna be in a bar in an airport, man. Your dad gonna be waiting to come back down here.
Todd Davison: Yes, sir.
Ramsey Russell: Thank you very much, Todd.
Todd Davison: Thank you.

Ramsey Russell: Mrs. Ashley Davidson here on the boat wrapping up a week. Hey, you talked to Todd before you got down here, your brother who was here last week, and he told you to bring bug dope. So how did what you thought you were getting into versus reality change in the week?
Ashley Davidson: Well, I absolutely thought there were going to be a ton of mosquitoes, so I brought bags of DEET mosquito spray, and it was so cold I did not need any of it.
Ramsey Russell: Now wintertime showed up. Wintertime absolutely showed up between your brother’s trip and you, and it really helped the duck hunting. Here’s a question I’ve got, and I’m gonna talk to your dad Ed next about the father-son, father-daughter trip you all do annually. But Ed was telling me that he and Todd planned this trip. They were going to come here for their part of it, and he didn’t know what you were going to do, but he got to telling you about it, and he said, well, I want to do that this year too. What was it about this experience as it was described to you? What appealed to you? Why did you choose this for your annual father-daughter hunt?
Ashley Davidson: Because it was just different than I had done before.
Ramsey Russell: Had you been to Argentina before?
Ashley Davidson: Yes.
Ramsey Russell: Okay. What did you all do last time?
Ashley Davidson: We were over at Santa Rosa.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Ashley Davidson: And it was a lot of driving, and I just liked the fact that we were gonna go somewhere in a boat.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Ashley Davidson: And I didn’t have to get in a car in the morning, and then after the hunt and just spend those hours in a car.
Ramsey Russell: You were talking about that at dinner last night, about how much you enjoyed. Once you got to the mothership, you were at camp. Now you step off into a boat and go to a duck blind, not drive an hour or 30 minutes or 45 or whatever. It’s exhausting. We’ve got hunts like that where in a week’s trip, to get on all the different hunts you drive. And, boy, if you added up all the time you spent in a pickup truck, going in the morning, coming back, going in the afternoon, coming back, getting to the lodge, going back to the airport, you spent a lot of hours.
Ashley Davidson: It’s about half the time.
Ramsey Russell: That’s a long time.
Ashley Davidson: It’s a long time in a car. And this was just, I mean, it was cold a couple days, but it was definitely exhilarating.
Ramsey Russell: Yesterday was cold, being in that boat. Yesterday was cold. How does the hunting here compare to some of your hunting experiences back home? You grew up hunting with your dad. How do you all hunt back home versus how hunting is here? What were the similarities and the differences?
Ashley Davidson: I guess the view is a lot to die for.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Ashley Davidson: And that’s a lot of the same hunt we’re doing over there. We call it the rat farm, that marshy area. So it looks a little bit the same, but definitely more ducks.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Ashley Davidson: Yesterday I saw more ducks than I’ve ever seen down here. I couldn’t load my gun fast enough.
Ramsey Russell: Did you shoot your heart’s content?
Ashley Davidson: Oh, yeah.
Ramsey Russell: What is your favorite species down here?
Ashley Davidson: I like the Brazilian.
Ramsey Russell: Really?
Ashley Davidson: They’re just pretty.
Ramsey Russell: They’re beautiful. They’re beautiful when they’re flying, especially in the sunshine.
Ashley Davidson: Oh, yeah. Absolutely.
Ramsey Russell: What do you think my favorite duck is?
Ashley Davidson: I don’t know.
Ramsey Russell: Rosy billed. I am a Rosy billed. In fact, yesterday we had a few teal coming in and, except whistling ducks, which I’ve got a soft spot for, I wasn’t even shooting the little ducks. I was waiting on Rosy Billed. If Brent wanted to shoot the little duck, he was welcome to. I wanted the big Rosy Billed. I don’t know what it is about them. I’m addicted to them. Absolutely addicted to them. What did you think about the lodging here? How would you describe the lodging as compared to the rat camp or as compared to some of the other places you’ve been around the world?
Ashley Davidson: It was nice. I had my own bathroom, which I love. I don’t get that a whole lot. And the food.
Ramsey Russell: Talk about the food. What were some of your favorite meals?
Ashley Davidson: You know, I’m not a big pork girl. But he made that pork and that was just to die for.
Ramsey Russell: Braised pork.
Ashley Davidson: Oh, my goodness. Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: It was so tender, you could pull it. He says I’m fired if you have to use your knife, and you don’t, you can cut it with a fork. But it’s also moist.
Ashley Davidson: Oh, yeah, it was perfect.
Ramsey Russell: And as crazy as this sounds, he puts it on a bed of sweet potatoes that instead of using cream to soften it up and thin it out, he has put dulce de leche, which is like caramel, and it is unbelievable.
Ashley Davidson: It’s so good.
Ramsey Russell: It’s the most amazing comfort food in Argentina I’ve ever eaten.
Ashley Davidson: Yeah, everybody’s making fun of me because I basically licked my plate. It was so good.
Ramsey Russell: Yes, you did. Yes, you did. What were some of your other favorite meals?
Ashley Davidson: We had a hamburger, which you think is really basic, but there was something about it. The spice he put in it was perfect.

Ramsey Russell: It really was. There’s two meals that they cook in Argentina, some of the lodges we work with, that really hit home and are popular with clients. One is hamburgers and the other is pizza. As good as it is to eat the braised pork and the asados and all of this amazing food, like the duck. Oh my gosh, the duck he cooked. Or even the stir fry he did yesterday. But still, after a week-long trip, you get a taste of home. That’s what I like about it.
Ashley Davidson: Yeah, that’s true.
Ramsey Russell: When I come home, one of my go-to cravings is a real homemade hamburger. You can’t get that anywhere else in the world.
Ashley Davidson: Yeah. Yeah, it was nice.
Ramsey Russell: Talk about the average day. How would you describe this hunt? Like, you’re gonna go home, you’re gonna tell your husband. Congratulations on being a newlywed. You’re gonna tell your husband about this trip. How would you describe your average day? You get up in the morning, then you… when?
Ashley Davidson: Yep. You get up in the morning. Now, you can choose to have breakfast. I do not have breakfast in the morning. And then you get on a boat and you ride about 10 to 20 minutes, get in the blind and watch the sunrise.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Ashley Davidson: And it’s up to you if you want to shoot or not. It just depended on where the sun was when we shot. And then, you’re limited on the number of birds, and you shoot what you shoot.
Ramsey Russell: Way bigger limit than back home.
Ashley Davidson: Right. When they said limit, I thought, oh, that’s okay. You know, 10. It’s around 30.
Ramsey Russell: Yep. Back to the lodge for lunch.
Ashley Davidson: Yep, back to the lodge for lunch. Then you can take a nap if you want. I’ve sat up in the dining area and read a book. And then you go out for your afternoon hunt and watch the sun go down.
Ramsey Russell: You and your dad do these trips every year? Talk about hunting with your dad, because it’s obviously a big deal for you all. Todd talked a little bit about this, especially off the record. What is it about this trip for you all? Do you all hunt throughout the year together, or is it just one big trip a year?

“So this is really the only time I get to spend with my dad one-on-one. And that was true for Todd and I growing up. He talks about not bringing his work home, but he was always at work.”

Ashley Davidson: We used to hunt throughout the year. Now that I’m down in Florida, that doesn’t happen for me anymore. So this is really the only time I get to spend with my dad one-on-one. And that was true for Todd and I growing up. He talks about not bringing his work home, but he was always at work. Trying to get a hold of him, we’d have to go through Renee, his secretary. I think I talked to her more than I did him. Hunting was our time together.
Ramsey Russell: I’ve always felt like my relationship with my friends and with my kids is much different, much more sincere and to the bone in a duck blind than over the phone or in regular waking life around a kitchen table.
Ashley Davidson: Absolutely. Yeah. And you can have those talks because a lot of times in Saginaw Bay, depending on the water levels, you didn’t see a whole lot of ducks.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Ashley Davidson: So it was more about just sitting in a blind with dad and talking about life and what was going on. I loved it.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Ashley Davidson: I cherished every moment of it. He made it worth it. I don’t know if he told you the story, but his father created a hunting lodge.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Ashley Davidson: He became a part of it. And then we started hunting there when I was little. About the time I turned 13, I got my license and was able to go out and hunt. The men in the cabin decided they didn’t want me there.
Ramsey Russell: Really?
Ashley Davidson: Yep. They were, no girls allowed. At 13, I wasn’t allowed there. So dad went and found a hunting camp where I was allowed and stepped away from what his father had built just so I could hunt. That’s a big deal.
Ramsey Russell: That is a big deal. Did a lot of your friends growing up in Michigan, a lot of other girls hunt?
Ashley Davidson: Not at all. Nobody. I had my Uncle Bobby’s daughter. She hunted with us for a little bit, but no, no girls.
Ramsey Russell: Wow. Good story there. And where do you think you might go next on your next trip? What are you thinking next time you all might… do you stick just to waterfowl or just wing shooting?
Ashley Davidson: Yes. Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: You all are shotgunners?
Ashley Davidson: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: Side by side, over and under shotguns. Have you ever shot a semi-automatic?
Ashley Davidson: I did. That was my first gun, an 1187. I loved it. Yeah. But I take my time with the over and under. I feel like my shot’s a little bit better. It’s a little bit lighter gun.
Ramsey Russell: I have some over and unders. I have some two shooters. Yesterday afternoon I told Brent, you know what I like about a semi-automatic? Number one, first and foremost down here. He goes, what? I go, the fact that I can triple and quadruple with a four shooter.
Ashley Davidson: Well, I could have used it yesterday because I could not load the gun fast enough.
Ramsey Russell: That’s a good problem to have.
Ashley Davidson: Absolutely.
Ramsey Russell: Ashley, we’ve really enjoyed having you here. I have so enjoyed hunting with first Ed and Todd, and then with you. You all got a great relationship, and it really shows across the table. I don’t know what you all talked about in the blind, but here, you all really connected. I could tell that Ed really enjoyed having you here. And I could tell you enjoyed being here. We enjoyed having you. We enjoyed hearing your stories.
Ashley Davidson: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: We were going to record last night, but we got into the wine too much. And there’s a good thing about Argentina wine. Are you a wine fan back home?
Ashley Davidson: Oh my goodness, yes.
Ramsey Russell: Are you?
Ashley Davidson: This was great wine. Yeah, it was picked out perfectly.
Ramsey Russell: Thank you so much. I’ve enjoyed it. And I appreciate you coming down here on our inaugural hunt.
Ashley Davidson: Yeah, absolutely. I appreciate it.

Ramsey Russell: Mr. Ed Daves. And we’re going to wrap it up with you. You were here for two weeks. We are ending a two-week stretch on the Parana River tributary. Wow, you were here a while.
Ed Daves: I was here long enough to get real tired.
Ramsey Russell: Did you get tired?
Ed Daves: I did. I’m an old man.
Ramsey Russell: You didn’t seem very tired getting up. You were the first in the boat every day. You beat me to the boat every day.
Ed Daves: Well, I have to start my day with coffee. And the idea of shooting ducks will wake you up along with the caffeine.
Ramsey Russell: Sure. Well, you’re a longtime duck hunter and apparently duck hunting with your kids is a real big deal. You told me, starting off, you told me when you booked a trip, that every year you do a big hunt like this with your children. One with your son and then with your daughter.
Ed Daves: Yes, sir. Started that about 11 years ago.
Ramsey Russell: Really?
Ed Daves: Yeah. Went to them one day and asked them how they would like to spend their. or if they would like to spend their inheritance with me. And that’s what we decided on.
Ramsey Russell: If they’d like to join you when you spend their inheritance.
Ed Daves: Yes. That way I’ll be around. There won’t be as much money left, but they might have a memory or two.
Ramsey Russell: Todd mentioned after we got done, it was very heartfelt. I wish I’d recorded it. After he and I talked, we had wine again. And then it opened up a little bit more. Ashley talked about how you had a very busy career before you retired. You were very busy during their childhood. They knew your secretary. They talked to her a lot more on the phone than they did dad. And you said something the other day that you would tell your clients when you met them. Call me anytime. I will call you back within 24 hours, except in certain situations if I’m in a duck blind with my children or I’m working on something with another client. Todd expressed it eloquently at the kitchen table later. He said, this is our time. My dad wasn’t at work. I wasn’t on the phone with the secretary. When I was in the duck blind, that was my time with my dad. I saw that when Todd was here, that this was you all’s time. And when Ashley was here, that was you all’s time. How important is that to you?
Ed Daves: Any time you spend in a duck blind is special. If you can do it with your kids, it’s all the more special.
Ramsey Russell: I agree.
Ed Daves: Passing on a tradition that I got from my father of duck hunting, I think that’s a real asset for someone to do. I’m delighted that my daughter at 43 still wants to come duck hunting with her old man.
Ramsey Russell: Hunting in general and duck hunting especially is a hand-me-down tradition. We hand it down to our kids. I said one time, and I believe this to be true as a dad myself, that kids spell love T-I-M-E, not L-O-V-E. They spell it with time. They don’t care if they’re playing baseball, fishing, working in the shop, or just under dad’s feet. Kids need to spend time. I’ve never spent better time with friends and family than on a duck hunting trip or in the duck blind. Life happens between the volleys, not when you’re pulling the trigger. It’s the in-between part that’s true.
Ed Daves: Once you’re in a duck blind, you can concentrate on the ducks. Up in Michigan, they don’t fly all the time. So all that’s left is to concentrate on who you’re in the duck blind with. I enjoy it with my kids.
Ramsey Russell: Absolutely. 25th trip to Argentina. You told me 25 times you’ve been down to this country hunting.
Ed Daves: I don’t know that it’s been to Argentina each time, but I started travel hunting in 2000, and my first trip was to Argentina, and that got me hooked.
Ramsey Russell: This wasn’t your second time? It wasn’t your first time?
Ed Daves: Oh no, I’ve been here dozen times.
Ramsey Russell: You’ve been to Argentina about a dozen times.
Ed Daves: Yes.

Ramsey Russell: Okay, a dozen times. How does this hunt compare to other trips? And what attracted you to this particular experience instead of others?
Ed Daves: Well, Argentina has a lot of ducks and not a lot of duck hunters. So I expect wherever you go, you’re going to see and shoot a great number of ducks. But this particular trip is just so much more of an adventure. All of my other trips down here have been land-based. You stay in an estancia, either old or new. You drive to where you’re going to get to the ducks, and then you go back to the estancia after you’ve hunted. Here, you’re on a boat, you’re moving on a regular basis. The scenery changes. There’s something special about this. The creature comforts are wonderful, the accommodations are very comfortable, the food was beyond superb. But it’s just different. It is a new experience to be on a boat with just a small number of people. Everybody gets along and you’re moving, your hotel goes with you, your restaurant goes with you. I just think that’s particularly enticing to someone who’s done some shooting, and my kids have too. I can’t say enough about this trip.
Ramsey Russell: Every time you step off the mothership into the duck boat, it’s like a new adventure starting. You don’t know where you’re going, what this hunting situation’s going to be like, what species are going to be flying. People have asked me, what’s your favorite hunt? The next one. That’s really not flippant. That’s very sincere. I like the next one. I like the new adventures. I like the freshness of it all. That’s what keeps me going.
Ed Daves: Well, this is definitely an adventure. And I think the other thing that really appealed to me is unlike the other trips I’ve taken to Argentina, you are really out in the middle of nowhere on this boat. In the other land-based hunts, you go back to an estancia. You pass through towns. As you go out, you see small towns and cities and other homes, other than some of the small structures. I hesitate to call them shacks because some of them look pretty nice, along the edge of the Parana. You’re just nowhere.
Ramsey Russell: Now out in the middle of, we’re 30 miles from the nearest road. It’s crazy how far out in the middle. Even to run cows out here or get groceries out here, do anything, it requires a boat. I see these cattle barges going up and down and every now and again you’ll see a cattle chute. They’ll round them up out of these pastures and run them down that chute, load them onto a barge, and take them elsewhere, down to market or wherever they take them. It’s a river way of living. These are river rats back home, is what we call them.
Ed Daves: Yeah, well, that’s one of the things that was really special about this. There’s no light pollution at night. You turn the lights off on the mothership and the stars are just as bright as can be.
Ramsey Russell: It’s dark when the lights go off. Pitch black, dark.
Ed Daves: Nothing, you see stars. Of course, we had a full moon last week and that helped. But no, it’s just wonderful. You’re alone out here.
Ramsey Russell: Boy, wintertime showed up in between your weeks here. Last week we were swatting mosquitoes of epic proportion. One day Utah and I were on a boat and I’d never, from Mississippi, Louisiana, anywhere in the world I’ve been, I’ve never seen so many mosquitoes in my life. I was glad we had the DEET on. And now winter showed up, there’s not a mosquito to be found.
Ed Daves: Well, Ashley brought the cold weather with her from Florida.
Ramsey Russell: She did. Thank you. Yeah, from Florida. Thank goodness. Talk about your Model 21, because that’s a very defining aspect of Ed Davison. You are a big Model 21 guy. You showed up with your Model 21, your kid showed up with side-by-sides or over-and-unders. Talk about your affinity for that particular style and especially that particular gun.
Ed Daves: Well, my first gun was given to me by my grandfather, and that was a 20-gauge Model 21 that he bought in the 50s. That’s the gun I learned to shoot on. Over the years, I’ve acquired a couple of family pieces, Model 21s. And then a friend of mine, I always say he’s the most expensive friend I’ve ever had. He takes umbrage at it. I call it a compliment. But he got me collecting Model 21s and taking them all over the world to shoot things. So I just like the gun. And one of the real high points of a shoot like this is to be able to shoot those guns that I love so much quite a bit, and a game that I love. So bringing the gun with me adds immeasurably to my experience of a hunt like this.
Ramsey Russell: Do you still have that 20 gauge?
Ed Daves: Oh, you bet. I probably would have brought it, but I have had some problems going through Panama City with the guns.
Ramsey Russell: Yes.
Ed Daves: And because of the sentimental value of that gun, I brought the 12, which I call the meat gun because it’s all beat up after, well, let’s see, it’s about 70 years old now. And I brought a new gun, it was 20 gauge.
Ramsey Russell: It doesn’t look beat up to me. Compared to some of the old clunkers I towed around that have been around the world, that gun looked beautiful to me. It’s got great wood grain. It was just an attractive gun. It didn’t look beat up at all to me.
Ed Daves: Well, it’s a gun I’m not afraid to take out in the rainstorm.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Yep. What was your favorite? Do you have a favorite hunt? Is there one morning in particular? Brent and I were riding to yesterday afternoon’s hunt, which was extremely memorable. We got to talking about, well, I really liked yesterday afternoon or the morning before. And before we got done, basically we had recounted every single hunt we’d been on as memorable. But is there one hunt that just sticks out to you? One moment, one shot? Or, when you get back from these trips, it all blends together like gumbo, and you’re laying on a pillow one night and just this salient thought, not about a hunt or a day, but a moment or a play. Are there any of those thoughts that stick out to you?
Ed Daves: Well, there are several moments, both with Todd and with Ashley, when two Rosy Billed come in and you say, I’ll take the right, you take the left. The guns go off as if it’s one shot and both birds are stone dead in the air.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Ed Daves: Hit the water at the same time. We each did that several times, and those are the kinds of moments that stick out. If I have to point at a hunt, it would be yesterday afternoon. Not because it was a great shoot, at least our shooting wasn’t, but it was a great hunt. We were set up wrong because of the afternoon wind. It was right in our face. The birds were coming off the river over our heads and dropping down to the far end of the pothole we were in.
Ramsey Russell: Frustrating.
Ed Daves: Well, it was the most technically difficult shooting I’ve done down here in these last 10 days. So we moved. Ashley moved a little to the right so she got more of a passing shot. I turned around and took them as incomers, and we started actually killing some birds. But the number of birds and the constancy of them coming in, frustrating as it might be, was just phenomenal.
Ramsey Russell: Yes. We won’t shoot while Char is out catching up. And the biggest flurry of Rosy Billed we had yesterday afternoon, Char was right in the middle of the coming. She’s right in the middle of the decoys coming back, and there must have been 20 or 30 Rosy Billed backpedaling, hanging over the decoys. Brent was like, well, where’s Char? I said, she’s right in the decoys. Don’t shoot, but enjoy the show. We just sat there spellbound, watching all these birds flapping around. The sun was brilliant. Their beaks were bright, you could see their red eyes. They were so close doing that. And we didn’t shoot, we just enjoyed the moment. That’s one thing I enjoy about coming to other countries, especially a place like this where it’s an abundance of wild, naive, never-been-shot-at, non-pressured ducks. In Mississippi, for example, Ed, I feel like I have to shoot or make every play because I don’t know for certain there’s going to be more ducks to get a limit. Whereas here I can take a deep breath. Brett and I took turns every single hunt we went on.
Ed Daves: Oh yes, Todd and I and Ashley and I did the same thing. I’ve often told folks that my shooting is better down here, at least I think it is, because you’re so relaxed. As you said, you don’t know if in Mississippi the next bird you see is going to be your last. Down here, you know it’s not. In another three, four, five minutes, somebody else is going to fly around and you’re going to have another crack at it. So your shooting is so much more relaxed and so much more natural that I think I tend to shoot better. But you’re right, it’s the abundance of the game down here that makes it so enjoyable. It’s just a neat, neat hunt. Like I said, you’re going to shoot birds in Argentina wherever you go.
Ramsey Russell: One of the most memorable mornings we had I just thought of, because we were hunting on a tiny little pothole this week. Tiny, looking dead in the east.
Ed Daves: Oh, right into the sun.
Ramsey Russell: And okay, so do I want the wind at my back or the sun at my back and the wind in my face? I want the wind. The wind was pretty much at our back, but that put us looking dead into the east, and gazillions, just endless little trickles of flocks of birds growing larger, their shadows, silhouettes growing larger in the backlit orange. And then you lose sight of them when the grass is behind. Boom, you see them splash down on the water. We sat and watched and watched. Even though there’s no legal start time here, as soon as you want to, you can shoot. Really, I can’t say to shoot until it was well past Mississippi’s legal time anyway. So I just enjoy the show. I enjoy watching the birds do their thing. And then, okay, I can see well enough to shoot pretty good. Well, I start shooting.

Ed Daves: I do the same thing. My night vision isn’t what it used to be, but the kids still is.
Ramsey Russell: Oh, yeah.
Ed Daves: And so, typically, I would load my gun 15 to 20 minutes after they started shooting. So I got to watch them and the birds, which was great fun for me.
Ramsey Russell: Yes. So did you have any particular meal stand out? You were here two weeks, and so they had some different. It was kind of a repetitive menu. We had the braised pork. We had the asado night. But was there any particular meal or dessert that stood out more than any other?
Ed Daves: That’s almost as difficult as asking which of my children is my favorite.
Ramsey Russell: Which one is your favorite?
Ed Daves: If I had an answer, you wouldn’t get it. No, I think for dessert, it was pretty easy. I love key lime pie.
Ramsey Russell: Oh, my gosh.
Ed Daves: And Lucio last week made just a killer key lime pie. As for the meals, everyone was its own adventure in good quality eating. This is not simple fare. These were chefs, they weren’t cooks, and they came up with a menu every night that was different and just fantastic.
Ramsey Russell: And it was as visually appealing as it was delicious. You take last night’s dessert. I don’t know what he called it, but it had, of all things, grapefruit, some of it had been soaking in ice. And then it had a cream sauce on the bottom and a little chocolate something, and some kind of ice cream, and then some kind of honey that had been caramelized on top. That was very decorative, and it was beautiful when they laid it down. But each bite was good independently, and each bite was good if you mix it all together. And it was just a huge adventure.
Ed Daves: Well, the presentation, as you say, for both of the chefs, was wonderful. I’m going to have a lot of people question my photographic eye on this trip, because I’m going to guess that 90% of my photographs were of the meals that we were eating.
Ramsey Russell: I would say the same thing. Last question of lining is you’re the official wine guy. Both weeks, everybody else here drank wine. We drank a lot of wine. They’ve got a huge wine selection. But you’re kind of the wine expert, whether you want to be or not, from my week, because you were able to tell me so much about these wines and the different origins and all this stuff. What did you think about the different wines they had here? For example, everybody knows Malbec, but they had different kinds of Malbecs, they had different kinds of red. We drank roses, we drank pinks, we drank whites, we drank bubbly wine.
Ed Daves: Yes, sir. Well, I started drinking Malbec when I came down here first 25 years ago and fell in love with it. But like all winemakers will tell you, every winemaker makes their wine a little different, whether it’s all Malbec, whether it’s a blend. They have a particularly nice white down here, Torrontes, that I had not had before. And so I enjoyed a couple different labels of it. The Argentinians just make wonderful wine.
Ramsey Russell: I think they do.
Ed Daves: And I’ve enjoyed it both here and back in the States. But I enjoy it here most because I think their good wine never leaves the country. Their best wine, I should say. And so when you come down here, you’re drinking wine that you can’t get in the United States, which is not to say what they send us isn’t good, but this is better.
Ramsey Russell: I can’t argue with that. Because when I’m in Argentina, I drink a lot of wines and go, oh, I like that. And I really like drinking two or three wines at lunch before I go take my nap. But at home, if I do order wine, rarely, it’s a Malbec. And I don’t seem to enjoy it as well ever as I enjoy it down here.
Ed Daves: Well, that’s a function of two things. One is the wine itself, but the other is the place where you’re drinking it.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah, context is everything.
Ed Daves: Well, it certainly is different drinking a glass of wine on a mothership in the Parana River than back home in Flint, Michigan.
Ramsey Russell: True, true. Ed, I’ve greatly enjoyed getting to know you. I’ve heard countless stories. We could have recorded two hours just on all the stories we’ve talked about this week. A fountain of knowledge. But I have really enjoyed getting to know you as a hunter, getting to know you as a dad. I’ve enjoyed hunting with you and your son. This was an inaugural. You were here for the inaugural trip of this hunt. It’s got a little kinks to work out. We’re leaving here now, and we got to work some kinks out before we come back. But that’s to be expected with new hunts. I’ve really enjoyed it, and I appreciate you coming on and sharing your experience with everybody.
Ed Daves: Well, I’ve had a great time, Ramsey. And as for kinks, I didn’t see any in the trip, only in my shooting.
Ramsey Russell: Yes.
Ed Daves: I will go home and start working on that.
Ramsey Russell: Absolutely. Folks, thank you all for listening. This episode of Mojo’s Duck Season Somewhere Podcast, where we’re smack in the middle of nowhere in the Parana River Delta. See you next time.