MOJO’S Duck Season Somewhere Podcast
EP 562. Seeing Duck Hunting–and Life–for What They Really Are
Following in his father’s footsteps, Joel Tavera joined the military and was fast-tracked into the sandbox of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He returned a different man, eventually gaining consciousness in a San Antonio, Texas military hospital where a very long-row-to-hoe recovery awaited. He’s now an active waterfowl hunter, well on his way to achieving the North American slam, but past life events have shaped how he now sees duck hunting and life for what they’re really, truly all about. Tavera’s is a powerfully inspirational story.
EP 561. Beyond Just Ducks–Azerbaijan Duck Hunting Adventure
Off-the-beaten-path Azerbaijan duck hunting is a real duck hunt for real duck hunters. For many reasons. Following an eventful week, Ramsey recounts their adventure with US hunters who describe the hunting, people, hunting techniques, unique culture, foods, and other indelible take-aways from their immersive visit. Our Azeri associate wraps the episode, bringing context to duck hunting this part of the world. They came for ducks but left with a fascinating perspective of the duck hunting world beyond their own back yards. You’ll understand why after listening.
EP 560. Prairie Wildlife: Returning Bobwhite Quail Hunting Culture in Mississippi
After a couple decades hiatus from quail hunting due to work and family commitments, hunting his family farm near West Point, Mississippi, brought disappointment to Mr. Jimmy Bryant. Gone were the wild bobwhite quail coveys of yesteryear. It began a lifelong commitment to restoring habitat, quail, and hunting culture that is now manifest in his world-class Prairie Wildlife facilities.
EP 559. “Splash Limits” versus Hunter Satisfaction
“Splash limits” offer hunters the option to bag any 3 ducks regardless of sex or species. Through 2025, the 2-tiered duck hunting pilot program in South Dakota and Nebraska gives hunters the choice of licenses entitling them to either convention bag limits or splash limits, and was intended to grow future waterfowl numbers. Dies it seem to be working as intended? Who would choose to bag fewer ducks, and why the heck do we need more duck hunters? Why did some states refrain from experimental participation, why might more states begin considering this harvest strategy–or definitely not–and how has this increased harvest of sensitive species such as canvasbacks–or has it? South Dakota Game, Fish, and Parks’ Senior Waterfowl Biologist, Rocco Murano, is a gifted communicator, shedding light on the splash limit experiment’s objectives, data collection, measures of success and preliminary results. While waterfowl identification has been a fundamental tenet of duck hunting since forever, this fascinating conversation has me rethinking the conventional harvest paradigm and definition of hunter satisfaction.
EP 558. Chasing the Million Dollar Duck—and Life
“It’s the art. It’s the art more than anything else that’s impacting people, connecting non-hunters to ducks,” says 3-time Federal Duck Stamp Contest winner Adam Grimm. Grimm became the youngest federal duck stamp artist and has since won twice more, including the 2025 stamp that will depict a Spectacled Eider. An ardent waterfowl hunter himself, we discuss how hunting influences his art and vice versa, how “the million dollar duck” shaped his life and career, and much more.
EP 557. Taking Kids Hunting Never Better: Grow-With-You Clothing Line
If you think hunting is expensive now, just wait until you start taking your growing-like-a-weed youngsters to the blind! To make things worse, they outgrow last season’s clothing quicker than it takes ’em to knock out a sleeve of white donuts! David and Camille Kent grew up hunting in generational hand-me-down clothes same as most. As parents themselves, they recognized a need to affordably keep children comfortable from the field to the fire pit. Their Bow and Arrow Outdoors company has a growing line of seriously engineered hunting apparel for both boys and girls. Keeping them warm and dry from toddler age to adult age with as few as 2 or 3 purchases that can be handed down to younger siblings amounts to huge savings you’ll need for more important things–like keeping them in powdered donuts and ammo!
Related Links:
EP 556. A Fresh Approach to Duck Hunting?
Following an incredible full-of-firsts hunting visit to the United Kingdom, we meet in host James Maunder Taylor’s game room, sharing tumblers of sloe gin and recounting the eventful, whirlwind trip. Don’t know exactly what I’d been expecting, but it wasn’t at all this–flighting ducks, moonlighting geese, punt gunning, driven woodcock, Chinese water deer, game biologists, renowned artists, absence of US-style migratory gamebird laws, strict adherence to long-standing hunting traditions. My real take away was their entirely tried-and-true approach to hunting, a mindset that in the absence of universal bag limits nonetheless reveres what hunting is truly about. And challenges my own.
EP 555. Anna V Outdoors
Anna Van Nostrand grew up in Georgia hunting small game and deer with family, but her introductions to feathers–shotgunning, waterfowl, upland birds, retrievers and pointers–launched her full-steam ahead into the future with newfound purpose. After talking about our recent experiences at Safari Club International convention (hint, it’s more than worlds-largest hunting show), we discuss getting involved into the waterfowl community, etiquette, becoming involved in the waterfowl hunting community, plantation hunting, getting women involved into the outdoors, why ladies aren’t more involved, and how hunting shapes lives.
EP 554. Last of a Dying Breed: The Lost Art of Punt Gunning (Part 2)
BOOM! Our discussion with a last-of-a-dyring-breed punt gunner continues! Banned 107 years ago in the United States pursuant to the Migratory Bird Treat Act of 1918, punt gunning has since persisted in the United Kingdom. It’s practiced by a few hardy old salts like Ginger Blayney, who gives us proper introduction. Where’d punt guns originate, what are the components of a punt gunning, under what environmental conditions are they most successfully used, and what are the dangers? What’s an ideal waterfowl bag when using punt guns, what are punt gunning’s advantages and limitations, how does perception differ from reality? How might the men that still practice punt gunning be characterized, and why is punt gunning becoming a lost art? We get into all of this and much, much more in today’s incredibly interesting last-of-a-dying-breed discussion that you do not want to miss!
EP 553. Tom Beckbe Updates
Harkening a bygone era, Tom Beckbe’s lifestyle products just keep getting better and better. Meeting with Tom Beckbe’s Radcliffe Menge is always a great time, and in today’s discussion he catches us up on the meteoric growth in several directions this small lifestyle company from Alabama has experienced for good reason in just a few short years. Whether a die-hard fan of legendary Tom Beckbe gear like myself or just curious as to what the waxed-cotton buzz is all about, you’ll appreciate today’s episode.
As strong advocates of conservation, GetDucks.com supports the following organizations:
On GetDucks.com
Get Ducks Brochure
Want to receive a new GetDucks.com Brochure?
The new 36-page, full color GetDucks.com brochure is loaded with photography from the world’s best duck hunting adventures, to include trip summaries, available bird species, testimonial reviews and much more.
View NEW Full-color brochure online: Ramsey Russell’s GetDucks.com Catalog Contact us to receive a hi-res printed copy.