Life’s Short, Get Ducks Part VIII: My Old Man With Forrest and Duncan Russell

Rocky Leflore: Welcome to The End of The Line podcast, I’m Rocky Leflore and on the other end of the line in the Duck South Studios with me tonight, Ramsey Russell and let me put that ‘and’ in there Forrest and Duncan Russell. Guys, how are you all?

“I’ll tell you what, I got my two boys with me tonight, my two best hunting buddies, they have been hunting with me since they were three years old and boy, it ain’t no telling what they’re going to say, the nut didn’t fall far from the tree with them two boys, I tell you what, but I’m proud to have them on the show tonight.”,

Ramsey Russell: Man, we’re doing Rocky. I’ll tell you what, I got my two boys with me tonight, my two best hunting buddies, they have been hunting with me since they were three years old and boy, it ain’t no telling what they’re going to say, the nut didn’t fall far from the tree with them two boys, I tell you what, but I’m proud to have them on the show tonight.

Rocky Leflore: Guys, how are you all?

Duncan Russell: I can’t complain.

Forrest Russell: Can’t complain.

Rocky Leflore: I got you all here with me tonight so if he gets – if Ramsey gets to talking too much just walk over in the other room and take the phone away from him.

Forrest Russell: That wouldn’t be a problem.

Duncan Russell: Oh, yeah.

“Growing up and I told Ramsey since we started this thing that I look forward to this particular episode. Growing up in the Russell household and growing up with Ramsey, watch him from afar through the MS ducks system, you look up to somebody but growing up in the same house and I know you – don’t get me wrong, I know you looked up to your dad. But man watching him day in and day out with the Get ducks growing up, going hunting with him every day, that’s got to be an interesting process.”,

Rocky Leflore: Growing up and I told Ramsey since we started this thing that I look forward to this particular episode. Growing up in the Russell household and growing up with Ramsey, watch him from afar through the MS ducks system, you look up to somebody but growing up in the same house and I know you – don’t get me wrong, I know you looked up to your dad. But man watching him day in and day out with the Get ducks growing up, going hunting with him every day, that’s got to be an interesting process.

Duncan Russell: No, there were definitely some ups and down, I can promise you that.

Rocky Leflore: All right, I got to ask, going back to that first episode, which one – it was Duncan that sold the turtles right?

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Duncan Russell: Yeah, that was me.

Rocky Leflore: You went to school and sold those turtles for how much, $5 for Duncan?

Duncan Russell: $5 apiece. I caught them across the street in the pond from our house, I was saving up to buy a shotgun.

Rocky Leflore: Most kids are saving up to buy a John Deere tractor or the newest video game, you’re saving up to buy a gun. That would be about right.

Duncan Russell: Dad told me if I can meet him halfway, he’d buy me – he said, he throw the other half in whatever shot gun. So, I saved up for probably 2.5 years and finally got $600 so I can buy the new Benelli M2.

Ramsey Russell: He did it on a hot summer day. I’ll never forget he come in there and said, can we go look at shotguns? So, we kicked around, went looking a few shotguns and came home the next thing I know he walked out of the den and he had all cash like a street dealer and I’m like where the heck did you get all that? Selling turtle’s, birthday money, so I got back up, we went and bought him a new M2.

Rocky Leflore: One of the things that I hear Ramsey talk about a lot that I find really interesting is you guys grew up a lot – we’re jump into you all and your stories but one of the things that I find interesting is growing up around MS Ducks because a lot of the guys from the old MS Ducks site, you knew them by their screen name and that’s what you called them.

Forrest Russell: I still don’t know Iron grips real name.

Duncan Russell: I don’t either. I don’t know Big Water’s real name.

Rocky Leflore: The old duck south that originated from the back story of a man – is originated from of course msducks.com from the old days and Ramsey was a very big part of MS Ducks and a lot of the members were around and I’ve always heard you say Ramsey, that Forrest and Duncan just knew them by their screen names from MS Ducks.

Ramsey Russell: They did. Rocky, I’ll just say this because I see a lot of conversations on the new Duck South they’re on Facebook like Josh posted up thread not too long ago about getting kids involved in the outdoors and my philosophy has always been that kids, they’ll love TIME. And I think your best hunting buddies are raised – not just made across the world, I think you raise them in your home. I think other podcasters have shared similar views and so the minute my Children could tug me on the shirt sleeve and say dad I got to go to bathroom instead of me having to change diapers. They ended up in the backseat or front seat of the truck and I off and went. And the old MS Ducks and I think we’re getting that way with the new duck south, the old MS Duck form we had crawfish bowls, we had teal hunt. We got a teal hunt been going on for 15 years or more now, we hunted with a lot of different members, there’s a lot of team groups and my boys went on at all. I mean, they were old enough to go and as they grew into hunters and began shooting, they began shooting and it’s so funny when I look back and you mentioned how many friends off of MS Ducks and I don’t mean 5 or 10, I mean 50 or 100 have witnessed my boys in the field shooting dove, shooting their first limit, killing their first duck. Big Water took Duncan on his first – he got his first duck, hunting in the Nissan swamp with Big Water. And all these folks to this day – my kids grew up as getducks.com was coming along as a business going to convention, going to shows, they were cheap labor. I grab them up at 12 and 14 years old and we go to the storage building, they help me haul equipment off into my trailer to go to shows and they’re always around and now that they’ve grown up, they’re integral part of my life of course but really they’re kind of an integral part of my business life. Forrest’s all the time, sending me memes and nice things post up and Duncan’s all – they both got real good eyes for what does well in social media. They’re both very sociable people, they make friends everywhere they go, but this night is about them and I’ll just let you all talk and I’ll kind of help here maybe.

Rocky Leflore: Duncan, let’s start out with this. The trip to Argentina because that was on the podcast a couple of weeks ago, how that turned out pretty interesting Tina for you? You all had a great time, you and the guide had a great time?

Duncan Russell: Oh yeah. Every one or two really long night, hard morning, but it was a great time.

Ramsey Russell: What do you enjoy most about it, Duncan?

Duncan Russell: I mean really, I mean it wasn’t anything I didn’t enjoy about it. But I remember the first morning I was just trying to ask the guide if they were capybaras out there, so me and my buddy were trying to figure out how to say it in Spanish and he just said, Marie grand nutrients and the guy started freaking out about nutrients and then that afternoon we were floating down a little creek slash river in a fiberglass boat shooting nutrients. I mean they do anything to make you happy.

Rocky Leflore: That trip will be the one that I think and I told your dad this, I think that that trip will be the one that you will remember the rest of your life, especially with The Marine Corps coming up here in the next week or two shipping out the boot camp, that’s going to be the one that sticks out the most. Let’s begin here. Let’s talk about some memorable hunts with your dad because I think and before you start on one of those, I want to ask you a question. Does he really shoot 1^st?

Duncan Russell: He tries to.

Forrest Russell: Oh my, you can’t beat him to the gun, that’s a fact. That’s a fact.

Rocky Leflore: I can’t remember if it was Forrest and I talking about it a couple of weeks ago or if it was a Big Water this past weekend, talking about how Ramsey is quick to the trigger.

Forrest Russell: It’s the case for sure. There’s no doubt about that.

Duncan Russell: He’ll tell everybody to wait while they’re sitting there circling and the next thing he’s up for shooting.

Forrest Russell: He shoots them first pass, there’s no doubt about that. When they’re killable dad shooting them. He’s not going to give him an extra pass, like if he can get them.

Ramsey Russell: We had that talk last week. You give a duck extra pass, you give him a chance to leave. Kill them when you can.

Forrest Russell: Yeah, I’ll say, he doesn’t miss too often. When there’s a high single gadwall circling 40 yards, he just ups and shoots him I mean, he’s usually going to get him so you can’t be too hard on for him.

Ramsey Russell: And I’ll say this Rocky, if I’m hunting with them two young. If I do shoot first, which is not always the case hunting with them two boys, but if I do, I got two other people chiming in with me, so whoever shoots first, everybody shoots team Ramsey, start shooting and you better be quick around these two boys now they’re quick as a snake.

Rocky Leflore: Well, what are a couple of hunts that stand out to you all the most in your mind?

Forrest Russell: Man, that’s a tough one. Probably the first one that I think of – and I’ve been talking to that about how this is going to be the first story I tell on here but how old was I when that 410 incident happened? 4? That was before I killed my first duck, I must have been 4 –

Ramsey Russell: You’ve been 5then probably five. You shot your first duck right before your 6^th birthday.

Forrest Russell: Okay. So, I was five, me and dad went out to this pit trying to get my first duck and I remember he borrowed a single shot 410 for me to use them. We were sitting there and I think it was a gadwall came and landed right there in the decoys and I was all excited, missed him, dad was like, that’s all right, no, it’s fine, we’ll get the next one. Breaks the barrel and it doesn’t eject the shell out, he started picking at it with his knife, couldn’t get, he said, all right, wait here, walks in the woods, cut a switch coming back and tries to ram it out and then he gets a switch stuck down the barrel and now he’s starting to get a little bit heated, walks all the way back to the truck and get one of the little multi tools and he siting here pulling and pulling, trying to get it out and it slipped off, he punch himself right in the nose, starts gushing blood picks up the gun, he’s like, come on we’re leaving just left right there. It’s pouring blood all over the space, I don’t know. I thought that was the funniest thing.

Ramsey Russell: The things we do for our son’s ducks, Rocky.

Duncan Russell: Oh, to me the most – it was the last few weekend that I had and then use this pretty slow duck season all year long and then right there, the week after duck season closed and its weekend on every single piece of water at willow break. And I shot a pin tail, four green heads and a drake gadwall sitting right there on the backside of a fishing lake in my deer camp in about probably 10 minutes as soon as shooting light.

Ramsey Russell: That was a memorable hunt, Duncan. I tell you Rocky that was a tough season and the minute to see the regular season ended the ducks just moved into the south Delta and we got this one little hole called Ramsey’s Hole, right there next to camp house, nobody ever hunts it and we went out there and it was just loaded with mallards. Duncan and I went and sat up, he was shooting, it was just me him and cooper, my dog cooper. And he picked his green head limit and he shot a wood duck and there was enough pin tail, just a few of them floating around and we decided to wait it out until he got his – got that pin tail and that was a heck of a memorable hunt. There’s so many – forget about one hunt I remember –

Rocky Leflore: Duncan talking about these adventures down at willow break, tell me about the grasshopper. I’ve heard a little bit about this story.

Duncan Russell: All right. So, I was probably 5 or 6 years old, I was like a little kid, dad gets on the mule and start driving, I was sitting in the passenger seat and I caught a huge grasshopper, it was just massive. And I noticed it was like trying to – it looked like he was trying to bite me. I was like man, I never thought of a grasshopper biting me. So dad, just sitting there minding his own business and just looking at the road in great mood and I’m just kind of eases over there and let it bite him on the forearm and he hollered and it started – it drew blood and he started screaming, thought that there was a wasp nest in the mule or something and hopped out whenever he found out it was me that stuck a grasshopper up to him, it was not good.

Ramsey Russell: Look growing up with 2 Russell Boys was – I mean, the nut didn’t fall far from the tree, I’ll say it. They got a lot of the daddy into them, there’s no denying but everybody talks about Duncan going to boot camp and them drill sergeant yelling and being hard on and I’m like Duncan has been training for this his whole life. Those drill sergeant ain’t got nothing on his own daddy.

Rocky Leflore: Look, who is the prankster in the family? I didn’t ask that earlier.

Duncan Russell: Oh, I probably had to say, that’s me. Like whenever I went to Argentina I got this alarm clock in my room and I mean it’s kind of been a grow infuse this summer of my alarm going off at 5 o’clock and not waking me up but waking my brother up, who he lives right down the hall. I kind of purposely set it –

Forrest Russell: Every morning.

Duncan Russell: I kind of purposely set it full blast 5 o’clock before I left for Argentina.

Ramsey Russell: I didn’t hear that story.

Forrest Russell: It’s been going on all year. Every morning, weekends, holidays, it doesn’t matter at 5 o’clock that alarms going off and not waking up anybody, but me.

Ramsey Russell: The great thing about having this podcast tonight is, Forrest been at college – he’s going his junior year in college. Duncan just graduated high school, Parker is a senior or going into her junior year I should say. And it’s been the last summer, it’s been a wonderful summer because all three of my kids have been back home this summer, they’ve been working during the day, but they’ve been home. And for the much of the summer I was here, I was gone a lot working, but it’s been wonderful to have all three of my kids back in the home and truth matter is, with them two doing what they do for a living my yard has never looked better either. They kept my yard nice and clean my bushes cut but it has been kind of a monumental real pivotal summer in our household because now Forrest is going back to Mississippi State and Duncan joined the marines. I’ll tell you this, if you take kids duck hunting, kids get wet and kids get cold and that’s just how it is. I never will forget Forrest was about five years old and the way we hunt even now at willow break, I love to hunt kind of raw, you know what I’m saying? I mean we got a few blinds but we hunt in the bushes, we hunt natural cover, we go where the ducks are exactly and just kind of set up and so getting decoys together and blind together and dogs loaded up, it’s a little bit of an ordeal in the process just to get things ready in the morning in a hurry and one of Forrest first duck hunts that I can recall and he could have been four or five years old. We go to willow break at the bunkhouse and I lay out everything that child has to wear right up to his waiter, so from the left, I’m like put on this layer and this layer and then put on your waiters. Yes sir. And well that morning I got up and before I even got the coffee pick he was dressed and ready to roll, I’m like boy, am I proud of that kid? So, I load the four wheeler off we go and it’s not particularly cold it’s probably 45-50º and we’re sitting on our little chairs we’re hunting. I got a buddy there from college guest go hunting with me and about mid-morning by 09:00 Forrest’s lips were blue, his teeth are chattering, he’s cold. I’m like son, you can’t possibly be cold with all those clothes I laid out. I mean, you ought to be sweating where he was cold. And we get back to the camp house, he undresses and all he’s done, he had stepped out of bed with his tidy whiteys on, put on a sweatshirt, stepped into his waiters and put his coat on and all them one layers I had laid out, were still sitting on the bed and I hadn’t even noticed. That’s a pretty endearing moment for me. Went straight from his spider man underwear into the waiters.

Rocky Leflore: But we definitely got an inside look at the Russell family tonight.

Ramsey Russell: Oh yeah. Years ago, Duncan couldn’t have been more than 8, maybe 9. We showed up to camp. We’ve been gone for a week or so, this was back when we were hunting up in Arkansas too and we showed up and the report was everybody was signed out deer hunting. There were no ducks on camp, they said none, there were no ducks. Well, Duncan and I had gone out about a month previous and had a heck of a shoot this little hole, we call pin tail. We have taken turns shooting, we set up in that particular hole there’s a kind of open area in the center and there’s a blind on the south end of it, it was a hard north wind and we had set up as the duck would kind of come over and bank into the wind to work those decoys, we shoot them when they banked. We took turns shoot, we had a great shoot and there were zero ducks according to the scout report and when we walk into that duck hole male mallards got out. Male mallards that was it. It was cold, it was threatening snow and we got up along that big patch of coffee weed, we brought a couple of doves to sit on and instead of setting up a real classical pattern, we stretch 9 decoy for about 40 yards along the edge of those coffee weeds and then we got inside of it and when the ducks would start trickling back all 12, 13 ducks would come in pairs, sitting back up and we would kind of stomp our feet a little bit and quack to them softly and they would set up right over us and it was cold Rocky. We were sitting in water, our bottom covered in water, it was cold, it was miserable and it was starting to snow and when we left that day in the camp that has zero ducks in it Duncan and I both had a mallard limits that we earned ourselves. And that was one hunt that really sticks out for me and Duncan.

Rocky Leflore: I’m sure that you guys have gotten to see parts of the US and good grief out of the country that there’s a lot of people don’t get to see. What are some interesting places that you traveled with your dad and hunted?

Forrest Russell: The first limit I ever shot, I was in second grade and I believe it was my first trip I ever traveled out of state. Me and dad went out of the panhandle of Texas and I killed my limit of sand hills in the same year we went up to Ohio when I killed my first banded goose, those both stick out to me and that was, what 15 years ago? No.

Ramsey Russell: It’s been a while ago, Forrest it sure has. My granddaddy always said Rocky that train dogs, you’ve got to be smarter than they are. And I learned a lot raising these two young and many of the time – you remember those bracelets, people wore WWJD what would Jesus do? Countless of the times I’ve asked myself what would Andy do? What would Andy Griffith do if it was an opening day, you know I’m saying? You can struggle but on that Sandhill crane hunt Forrest is talking about a buddy of mine had called and invited me to bring him out there, he was 8 years old and shoot Sandhill cranes. I said, man come on dude, those Sandhill are tall and tough and he just shoot a little 20 gauge. He said no, this is opening day, I got a great spot, these birds are going to decoy right in the pocket and they did. And Forrest his first limit of decoying anything on his own unassisted was decoying Sandhill cranes with a 20 gauge and steel force he just whacked them. Well, later that day we were jump shooting tanks and just these little cattle tanks back up around the levee and shoot it was windy. My Lord, was it windy. And I never will forget we walk and jump this tank and shot a few birds and the birds started rallying at about this time, here comes the green wing teal flying mark 3 with a tail wind. I’m going to say I got about a box call in front of that bird when I pull the trigger and it failed and Forrest was like, I got him. And I said, well how far do you leave that bird son? You know what his answer was? Same amount as you did and I guess he did get him then. You got to be smarter than them to train them. They’ve been some good hunting buddies countless of the times at willow break, which is not easy hunting, willow break is not easy hunting. It’s one of those kind of places you’ve got to play by the rules, you’ve got to hide, you got to call, when it’s time to call or not you got to do everything perfect, you got to honor the sport, you got to respect the ducks, you got to play by the rules to get any ducks whatsoever and most importantly you’ve got to be able to shoot. And I guess, if they say I shoot first, maybe I do but I know that having those two boys with me, we do our fair share of limit bringing in right there at willow break because they know how to hunt, they know how to set decoys and by God they know how to shoot when the birds finally cooperate. So, we mark our fair share on the scoreboard there at willow break.

Rocky Leflore: We’ve got the easy part out of the way and Ramsey, I know you may not want to comment on this, but I want to ask Forrest and Duncan this, when we first started off in this story, we talked about you growing up, how you got into hunting, eased into it and then we got to the story of being burnt. There were parts that you told me that Forrest and Duncan really didn’t even know and that probably be you talked some about it, but not in detail as you probably did in that podcast. Duncan, Forrest were you kind of shock or did you know all of the details that we talked about in those podcast episodes?

Forrest Russell: Yeah, I mean a lot of them we have never even heard. he told us the basics like, yeah I was cleaning paintbrushes, it ignited but I mean, told us about how long he was in the burn center at all, but he never really got into detail with anybody that I know of, like that. So, I mean a lot of that we heard was kind of the first time we’ve ever heard a lot of it.

Rocky Leflore: I mean from the number of people that I’ve heard from about that episode. I mean, it just – growing up with him as your dad, you know your dad’s been burnt, but he just wasn’t talked about a lot.

Duncan Russell: Yeah, most of that stuff was definitely new to me too. I will say this though, one of my favorite quote I’ve ever heard as dad used to tell me and Forrest this all the time growing up, anytime something hard happens. He’d always say everybody has their burns in their life and there’s only victims and survivors. So, you can either man up and deal with it, you complained about it to be a victim.

Forrest Russell: Yeah, definitely. We definitely had a lot of life lessons come out of that for sure.

Rocky Leflore: Well, it’s an unbelievable story to become who Ramsey has become today, going through that. Now, I just wanted to ask you guys and I’m sorry to go from hunting to jumping into that but I just wanted to – your initial reaction when you did hear those episodes.

Forrest Russell: I couldn’t hardly believe it. It was hard to listen to.

Duncan Russell: Yeah, that same way for me.

Ramsey Russell: I got a text message from them that really kind of summed it up though they had not heard it and as much as I tried to be a good daddy in a lot of different ways, taking time with them, teaching them, raising around hunting camps, around a lot of folks at hunting camp. They grew up in a hunting camp environment around the world everywhere. I mean really those boys have been in Mexico, Argentina throughout the US there were probably other ways that I really – I always felt like I may have slacked off, like if they scraped their knee, I just brushed off, that’s all right boy. I really wouldn’t all emotional about that kind of stuff, if they got hurt a little bit of something like that – I know watching them playing sports because I did not play a lot of sports after I got hurt, I just kind of – without of that whole loop, but the whole thing, like in football gain that next inch. I really was keen on them doing their very best at everything they did because hard times are not unique to my childhood it’s everybody. We all face very challenging times and it was just very important to me that my kids to be able to shake it off and just man up and get that inch in life. And I’m very proud, I can’t tell you how proud I am of these two boys. Right now they’re 18 and 20 years old, they chose different paths in life, but way more than I did way more than a lot of people of their age or that way more than a lot of people I know that with their age right now they got a game plan and I couldn’t be prouder but just getting the text message and hearing what they had to say about those podcast really meant a lot to me I realized I kind of hit it. Now, Rocky let me tell you, growing up traveling around the world and doing that kind of stuff and I always wondered how it affects my kids and I may have been a grown man before I jump in the truck, drove halfway across the United States, but Forrest for example graduates high school at 17 years old and 5 hours later –

Forrest Russell: I wasn’t even graduated yet.

Ramsey Russell: He hadn’t even graduated.

Forrest Russell: The funny part about that story is we’ve been scheduled to leave a week earlier and then we had the snake incident that you were the mastermind behind and they kept me in school. So, we had to wait until they let me out of the detention after all the other seniors allowed to go. We loaded up –

Ramsey Russell: That’s a long convoluted story there. We started off talking about Forrest right around graduation or not even graduated yet, him and two of his little buddies jumped into a pickup truck in Brandon, Mississippi drove straight through the night and landed in Central Kansas on a freelance turkey hunt. Three 17 year old kids. Now, this is what the second or third year, they’ve done it. Third year, fourth year, they’ve met people and that makes me very proud that they got the amps go and just put something together like that. Snake incident he’s talking about, I have just a vague recollection, I had nothing to do with it but Forrest decided on his senior prank at school that it’d be funny to turn a croaker sacks full of snakes loose in the middle of the school. And I mean, I got to admit that was a pretty fun practical jokes, but I never will forget getting summoned by the headmaster at that school. He called me Mr. Russell, I need to see you. Well, I knew vaguely that this thing was going to happen, how could I not know? But well, I got something to do, I got work. He said, I need to see you now. And when I hung up, my wife said, what was that about? I said, it was like getting summons to the principal’s office, I mean, I’ve been called the principal’s office in 30 something years, but I think I’m in trouble. So, I go down there, I meet the headmaster man, he dead serious Rocky, I mean this man is serious. And come into my office please and shuts the door but he needs my help. He said, he kept talking about the Russell boys, not Forrest the senior who had created the prank, but the Russell boys. And finally I said, well wait a minute, you’re saying boys is in plural? Well, right about the minute pandemonium has started to cease and the snakes crawl and the crowd was at bay, Duncan who ain’t a senior walks into it, picked up the snake and throws it onto the crowd and the whole thing falls apart again. My daughter is all – she knows about it because she’s five halls over and she said when we heard the pandemonium, I always wondered what it sounds like if there was a school shooting with the pandemonium, he said, that’s exactly what it sounds like. The teacher didn’t know what was going on. So she locked the door and pull the shades down. A croaker sacks full of snakes crawling everywhere all over that school. And the reason the principal called me to the office, well he said, it’s funny, I get it, it’s funny, but I’m scared if anybody tries to top that stunt somebody will really get hurt. So I need your help to go along with this “punishment”. So, that’s the whole story that delayed them going on the Turkey hunt by a week.

Rocky Leflore: I think one of the coolest things about you all that you all picked up from your dad that I’ve noticed is the entrepreneurial spirit. We’ve talked about Duncan and the turtles. I mean, Forrest you were mounting ducks when you were 10 years old, right?

Forrest Russell: Oh yeah, I was in 4^th grade, the first time I went up to Mr. Pat’s house.

Rocky Leflore: I mean, you mounted a ton of ducks for a lot of different people.

Rocky Leflore: Oh yeah, I spent a lot of summers up there with Mr. Pat. Like a 3^rd some.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Rocky Leflore: And now you’re going on to start – I mean you have your own lawn business, is that correct? And you’re majoring in landscape architecture at Mississippi State?

Forrest Russell: Yes sir. The lawn business like, we had to let a lot of people go being up in startup we don’t have time and now Duncan’s leaving so he can’t hold on to it anymore. So, lawn business dwindled down a little bit, but we still have a few yards for keeping up.

Ramsey Russell: Both those boys this summer would go two full time jobs. They leave here, leave the house – I think Forrest was leaving at quarter to 6 in the morning and Duncan was leaving at 05:30 and then when they got off their regular jobs, they came home regroup for about two minutes and went to mow grass till dark. It’s kind of a rare in this day and age to find kids that are willing and able to work like that.

Rocky Leflore: Well, they had a great entrepreneurial example set for them.

Ramsey Russell: Well, that and I made them put skin in the game. I had a strategy back when they were little boys and here’s the deal, I got all the ammo, you need and want. I got all the dove shells. I’ve got steel shot man, I’ve got cases. I’ve got pallets full of cases stash of ammo. But the deal was they had to buy the first case and they had to spend their money and buy the first case of ammo and that’s when we went from them shooting – shelling out on doves at 70 yards to them picking their shots when they were shooting their own ammo and then when that ammo ran out, they started shooting mine but the habit kind of persistent of them picking their shots and making their shots count, you see. And that really worked out great. We were talking about some of the stories growing up, get ducks with them. I’ll tell you the story, I was in Russia back in 2010 or 11 and went over there to scout shoot capercaillie and hunt ducks and I got placed with a group from Malta. Malta is a little island 24 miles by 7 miles in the middle of the Mediterranean Ocean and who would believe that? I mean, 90° in January in Malta who would have believed that the national pastime is bird collecting. They were some of the most ardent bird collectors. One of them had over 850 species in his collection and they wanted to go king eider hunting, nobody in Malta in all those bird collections, nobody had a king eider that they had killed themselves so they booked the trip. And as we started talking and helping them prepare for this trip, they wanted to come to Mississippi to get some gear because it’s very cold in St. Paul out in compared to Malta. Well, I was going to be gone to conventions. I said, yeah, you all come on in and we’ll get you a hotel room and my son Forrest has just got a driver’s license and he and Duncan will pick you up at the airport and they will take you to restaurants, they’ll tour you around, I think they went to natural history museum. But it was a very, very cultural experience for these two boys, I hope they can tell you in detail some of the events that happened because the Maltans came in for a week, then they went king eider hunt and almost died in that cold weather then they came back for a week because second only to a king eider, they both wanted a wood duck. How hard can it be to find a wood duck?

Forrest Russell: And a hooded merganser.

Ramsey Russell: And a hooded merganser. You all tell them about that boys.

Duncan Russell: Oh my favorite story from them. I took them to like barbecue restaurant in town called Sonny’s. I mean they don’t sell liquor in Brandon, Mississippi. So, we go walking in there and they both sit down, me and Forrest ordered sweet tea the lady ask them what they want and the first one goes, oh I like wine please and she was like wine? And he was like yes we had wine. It was so funny. We started cracking up laughing. They didn’t know if you can’t buy wine at the little barbecue restaurant. But then that was awesome when they hit the timing about perfect when they came to our camps. I mean it was big cold front rolled in and I can’t remember ever shooting mallards like we did when they were there. I mean it was just 10 yards on the deck picking out greenheads like unreal.

Forrest Russell: And they didn’t care anything about the mallards.

Duncan Russell: They just wanted a hooded merganser.

Forrest Russell: I mean, they carried nothing about shooting the mallard nothing about a gadwall, nothing about teal all they wanted was wood ducks and mergansers and the last afternoon they were – go ahead.

Rocky Leflore: No, I was just going to say you didn’t have a problem with helping them out then?

Forrest Russell: Oh no but the last afternoon they were there it was last day of season and Duncan brought one of them out to a hole and I brought the other one out and he just kept going merganser, you think we might get one I was like man, I see them and hear a good bit but I mean I don’t I really don’t know. I mean they don’t decoy really just kind of we might catch one flying through here. We’ve been there 30 minutes and I see a pair of them come streaking down the break, I was like get ready this is merganser and man, this guy gets stoked. I mean he’s a grown – 50, 60 years old. I mean he starts shaking just about watching these two birds come by and they were pretty high and I mean they’re probably 40 yards, but and these guys were phenomenal shots and this dude just get so excited. Just shoot them right in the ass three times and I mean he was almost in tears when that bird kept flying and I mean he just couldn’t get over that. He finally had a chance and missed them. And he was asking me are you sure those were merganser, I mean, I guarantee they were and right about five minutes – I mean the same time we were covered up in teal, mallards and gadwall he didn’t even pay attention to who’s just watching the skies for another merganser and right, probably 5 minutes before shooting light, before shooting light end a single drake comes and lands probably 70 yards out there on the water. I was like, dude, there he is man, that’s merganser and all right go ahead and shoot him. You shoot with me, so we make sure we get him, no man go ahead and kill it. We just have that argue and finally we’re both kind of three and both shot and just one lucky BB right in the head and I mean he started jumping up and down and holler and hugging me in the blind, I say we go out there and I didn’t have a dog at that point I figured would wait till end of the hunt and we had all the birds and we get pick up the ones that decoy and he was, no I had to go right then and go pick up that bird I went out there and grab him and he was sitting there just holding it like it was a newborn baby, like he never seen anything like it gave me a 100 bucks just for that one bird. Shot at two merganser all day and gave me 100 bucks for it. He couldn’t be happier.

Ramsey Russell: A hooded merganser. But now let me tell you the rest of story Rocky they were hunting right behind camp and in the last week of season we can shoot afternoon’s rest of the year we get out of the duck hole by 11, 12 the latest. And I told the two boys, I said look shooting time ends at Blankety blank time. Yes sir. Do not shoot after this time. Yes sir. So, I figured they take the two Maltan’s hunting and I just sweep and clean up, shut down camp because this is the last day of season. And I’m sitting there relaxing here, big volley go off and I look at my watch, it’s about a minute and a half to go and say, hey, you all chill out now, you all ought to be picking up, be ready to come. Yes sir, shooting time came and I hear a big volley, I sent him a text in all caps. Hey, you all quit shooting, it’s time to come home and I hear another big volley now it’s past shooting time. I’m like, hey guys, you all need to be getting out of there this is past shooting time and about that time my dear friend Ian Munn, Mr. Ian, the boys called him, he’s down the wash rack and he text me the game wardens here. Well sure he is Ian, I guess you just messing with me because my kids are out there was Maltans shooting late and but I can’t – the curiosity kill the cat so I go down there. And sure enough there’s the state game board and we’re talking, well I’m there, Ian’s there we’re only two duck hunters he knows it camp really and I’m doing the math in my head, I’m thinking, well kids are both use Forrest was 15, Duncan was 13 and technically if they get in trouble, whoever the adult is gets the tickets. So I’m thinking, well heck I’m clear about that time the game board said something, I said, no, about that time just a big volley goes off across the lake, thankfully he didn’t hear nothing and you believe he drove off in about 5 minutes after he was gone, they come in with their limits of ducks and the hooded merganser and some wood ducks but I was sweating bullets there for a minute but I said, well, I told him to quit at what time to quit and but man, look these Maltese, they hunt –

Forrest Russell: I will say that was Duncan going to get them off.

Duncan Russell: That was definitely a million bucks.

Forrest Russell: We were picking up decoys and they came walking in and we’re standing in our hole still shooting.

Ramsey Russell: Oh well, it’s been a – we obey the rule. Now, one other thing that my kids find probably strange compared to hunting with a lot of their contemporaries is – Rocky, we talked about this before there’s rules to duck hunt and some of them don’t make no sense. Three of us go to duck blind, we shoot 18 ducks we bring them all out it makes perfect sense to me, but that ain’t the way the letter of the law goes. So, at our camp my two boys grew up, they bring their ducks out with the strap with your name on it and I bring mine out. That’s just the way we roll. We got to be that way. I feel like because we do this for a living, I feel like we’re held to a higher standard and that’s just some of the little nuances that we have to go through. I mean, we don’t bring out – we don’t put 18 ducks on the strap and bring them out Forrest carries his six, Duncan carries his six, I carry my six and we generally know who shot it. Hey, I just thought in this favorite hunt and I never forget one time we went to this duck hole and the thing about raising kids you look at this picture there’s a daddy and two smiling boys and everybody looks happy in the world is great. But remember I’m talking about that Disney picture on Facebook at time, Rocky? You know that right before that picture was taken, everybody was yelling at each other. Well, I know it’s about my two kids is when they were growing up, one of them was always in a good mood and the other one wasn’t. It just one of them was in a good mood, but it’s rare that both of them work. They woke up funny like that. So we all go teal hunting we sit out there for two or three hours in September, don’t fire a shot, Forrest, man guns hanging up and things ain’t happening right whatever. And about that time we’re ready to leave were unloaded and a flock of about 30 blue wings comes right into the duck hole. Well man, we’re trying to get – they’re circling and coming back we’re trying to – me and Duncan trying to load her up boy, and right, when that blue wing teal blocks hits the decoys and bounces straight up me and Duncan are still loading guns and Forrest throws in one shell pulled the trigger and shoot his limit blue wing boom, one shot he killed his limit. Now, Duncan is in a bad mood and Forrest is in a good mood. That was a pretty memorable hunt for me before blue wing but that was a very memorable hunt.

Rocky Leflore: I’m sure that you’ll spend with dove season coming up forest and Duncan, I’m sure both you all spend a lot of time in the dove field and I actually got to hunt with you all 2, 3 years ago on my field opening morning so is that where you all started off? Is that where you –

Forrest Russell: Oh yeah, shoot. We spent a lot of time out in the dove field, especially when we were younger. Well we don’t miss opening weekend, but we don’t go near like we did 7 or 8 years ago.

Ramsey Russell: We used to go a lot Rocky, we don’t go quite that much anymore but we’ll try to go two out of three mornings or two out of three days if not all three days. And there were time we might go the first four or five days this day and age in the south and I’ve said this before, I was 15 years old maybe before I realized that labor day weekend was a national holiday, I thought it was just the Monday we got out of school to go dove hunt when I grew up and I love to duck hunt, you all know that. But I guess just the way I grew up, my granddaddy and that was my early days. If I had a last supper hunt, it would be opening day of dove season with my two boys on the field. They grew up as little dove fetcher when they were too young to shoot and that’s how they learn to shoot doves was in a dove field and that’s always been a big thing for us. Going to little league baseball Forrest used to plays select ball and it was crazy to me. The coach looked at it like a free practice day. It was Labor Day. Now the free practice day for him or free practice weekend and I’d have to go to him say, we won’t be there, we’re going to be dove hunt and he was the only one on his team that dove hunted. But for his whole life, he’s been on a dove field opening day and Duncan too. If Duncan ends up going to marines this weekend, it sounds imminent this will be the first time, probably as long as he can remember that he hadn’t been on a dove field opening day and I’m proud to say many of the dove fields around the delta that once these boys got in that 12 to 13, 14 year old age, there have been many a dove field that they’re one of the first people off the field with their limits.

Rocky Leflore: I believe that. Look before we leave this, I want to ask you about this, had a lot of friends growing up and what was the difference that you saw having your dad in him from your other friend’s dad? I mean, I know that’s a difficult question and it’s kind of thrown on you, but –

Forrest Russell: I’ll say this, all the friends got spanking, my friends who were here when they were young can testify that nobody’s ever seen ass whooping that we got when we were young. I’m talking about swinging a belt like it was a nun chuck, there wasn’t any going but it’s wherever the belt hit, you ran fast, you could until he got out of breath and swing and he kept it straight.

Rocky Leflore: I’m sure if you had free times you weren’t sitting around the TV playing video games, he had you doing something.

Duncan Russell: Oh no, actually one of the worst whooping I can remember was one of the very few times that me and Forrest were playing video games and dad in the house, we got into a fight and he came in and said don’t do it again 30 seconds later we got another fight and he came in and said don’t do it again and the third time he came in there, he was swinging that belt faster than I’ve ever seen it and we were scooting across the ground trying to get away from him. Oh man, it was all hell broke loose.

Ramsey Russell: The funny thing about that story, Rocky, we had some neighbors and I guess, I never saw a little wheel in sitting in between my two sons when that belt come off and I didn’t abuse my kids but I discipline them, this way I was disciplined with good old fashioned spanking, but my kids didn’t take it personal, they cried a little bit and we went to hug made up and things were good again. Well, I remember coming back here to talk to them after that spanking and I walked back in the den and my wife is holding the next door neighbor a little boy from next door. Well, he’d never seen a good old fashioned belt come off and lay on somebody like that. Well, she looked at me and said here you calm him down. Well he had when the belt come off he had hit my front door without opening it, he tried to run right through it and bounced off into the foyer and was crying and so I calmed him down it was all good and fun well the next night he comes over eat dinner and we’re all laughing and cutting up at the dinner table until Duncan goes, my daddy says he’s going to whip you. Well, the little kid starts to cry and so for years after that – now look this is a big old boy now this guy as big as you are Rocky a star quarterback from Brandon Mississippi now he’s a big old boy but then he was just a little boy, he’d never seen a whipping like it. But the funny thing is they come to our backyard to jump on the trampoline and mama would call them and say you all come home but those kids, they keep bouncing on the trampoline, you know what they say to get him home? Mr. Ramsey just pulled up boom, he was off that trampoline over the fence and back in his house. That’s how his parents called him home by saying Mr. Ramsey had come home.

Forrest Russell: Dad’s got a paddle in his office. I call it a paddle but it’s really just a plank of wood with a handle cut in it and he’s got the rainmaker written on it in sharpie and he – every time he put down he say it sounds like thunder and feels like lightening.

Rocky Leflore: Well, one thing I can say about both of you all being around you all some is very respectful and I know that that was taught by your mom and dad both very respectful.

Ramsey Russell: They are Rocky. We went up to Boston and hunted with old sea duck captain we used to represent, we worked for somebody else now because he since retired a couple years ago we go to Boston for the summer time, man we eat lobster every day and oysters we found out were good up there this time of year and we were in a restaurant one night and the couple, the captain and his wife were older and of course they’re from Boston Massachusetts, so I don’t think like we do down here in south and every time Miss Barbara would say something, Duncan would say, yes ma’am and she kept saying don’t call me ma’am and I was sitting there just eating at the table something and finally she got serious and she put her hand on Duncan said, you don’t call me ma’am. And that’s when I interjected, wait a minute Barbara, this ain’t about your age, it’s about respect because down the south we teach Children to respect others, because if they don’t respect others, they can never respect themselves. And she got it. She goes, well, I never thought about that way and if you come around well, about that time, this sassy barmaid comes up to take the order and says something to Duncan and Duncan goes, ma’am and the girl goes, I ain’t no ma’am and Barbara goes, you sure are. I think the south really does have a lot of redeeming qualities, I never really understood friends of mine, sons from other parts of the world other parts of the country that would call me by my first name that just made me uncomfortable for a 12 year old from Ohio or something to say Ramsey instead of Mr. Ramsey. I think, it’s incumbent on all parents and I think we in the south abide it by teaching our Children to respect others so that they can respect themselves.

“Well guys, I’ve enjoyed it. Duncan man, thank you for serving our country, thank you for the sacrifice that you’re making because it could be heading out and going to college and being a wild man but no, you’re choosing to serve and protect our country and I appreciate that.”

Rocky Leflore: I would agree with that. Well guys, I’ve enjoyed it. Duncan man, thank you for serving our country, thank you for the sacrifice that you’re making because it could be heading out and going to college and being a wild man but no, you’re choosing to serve and protect our country and I appreciate that.

Duncan Russell: Oh no, I ain’t done nothing yet, I ain’t been to boot camp yet.

Rocky Leflore: But you’re about too. Well guys, I’ve really enjoyed it. Forrest and Duncan thank you for being here. Ramsey, thank you for being here again. And I want to thank all of you that listened to this edition of The End of The Line podcast powered by ducksouth.com.

[End of Audio]

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