MOJO’S Duck Season Somewhere Podcast
EP 298. Interlake Religion
Sandwiched between the massive lakes Winnipeg and Manitoba, the vast region colloquially known as the Interlake forms a giant migrator funnel for “Churchills” and other waterfowl. Goose hunting culture thrives here. Meeting with Troy Bennet and Dustin Dola over dinner, Ramsey gains insight into what its like growing up here, why goose hunting is so important, how waterfowl are hunted here versus other parts of Canada, and how local hunters may differ from some non-resident guests. He also begins to understand why his new buddies regard their own back yard as pretty damned special.
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EP 297. BS’ing at Briscoe’s Shop
Ramsey swings through Joe Briscoe’s call shop to get an update on Briscoe’s new gadwall call and find out what in the world is taking him so long to complete the world-famous shoveler call prototype. Briscoe gives a good gadwall demo and describes using the baseball bats he keeps around – it ain’t for baseball – before the two buddies part ways.
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EP 296. Texas Market Hunting, Game Laws, and Outlaws Part 1: Waterfowl Was Big Business
Preceding the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, waterfowl hunting was a huge industry in Texas and throughout the civilized United States. Everyday Americans went to the local market for wild-harvested tablefare. The finest restaurants fetched eye-popping prices for wildfowl. Business boomed. And wildfowl provided more than just meat! In the first of this special 2-part series, historian Robert K. Sawyer takes us on a deep dive into this interesting timeframe in American history, especially as it pertains to Texas. Tune in to Part 2 next Wednesday, October 26, and be sure to take a look at Sawyer’s related links below for more information.
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Robert K Sawyer’s 100 Years Texas Waterfowl hunting and Other Books
EP 295. Blue-winged Teal and More at Oyster Bayou
Back to Oyster Bayou Hunting Club in Chambers County, Texas, Ramsey meets with Gene Campbell during an annual blue-winged teal hunting visit. Gene has been hunting the region since back in the 60s and is a treasure trove of entertaining information. Following a great hunt together, the couple hunting buddies discuss migrating blue-winged teal–and hummingbirds–alligators, long-time guide-staff, unique habitat management strategies.
EP 294. D.I.’s Cajun Restaurant Reflects Local Way of Life
D.I.’s Cajun Restaurant is an unassuming building out in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by Tee Mamou Prairie rice fields in Acadia Parish, Louisiana. You know you’re in the right place because the gravel-and-beer-cap parking lot is filled with locals that have eaten here for generations, enjoying live cajun music 3-4 nights weekly. Owner Sherry Fruge tells why and how she and her late husband, D.I., started the restaurant when farming got tough back in the ’70s. Never dreaming that D.I.’s “special way of boiling crawfish” would become a local cultural icon that’s since been inducted into the Cajun Music Hall of Fame, she describes hands-on involvement, memorable events, and why restaurant and community are one in the same.
EP 293. Louisiana Culture in a Bottle: Tabasco Sauce Story
In 1868, in the remote backwater reaches of south Louisiana’s Avery Island, Edmund Mcllhenny invented Tabasco Sauce. While no one is sure how or why he came up with his proprietary elixir, the iconic company is now in its 6th generation of family ownership. Taking us down dark Louisiana bayous, historian Shane Bernard colorfully describes the Mcllehennys as businessmen, hunters and conservationists, telling amazing stories about the remote region; nutria rats, bears, plume hunting, duck hunting, bird sanctuaries, bird banding and much more. You’d have never thought so much goodness could fit into a tiny condiment bottle!
EP 292. Blue-winged Teal Hunters
While chasing September blue-winged teal through coastal Louisiana and Texas, Ramsey meets hunters that take this special time of year very seriously. For most, it’s as much real duck season as any other. Who are they? Where and how do they hunt? What does blue-winged teal season mean to them? Listen to find out.
EP 291. Outside the Levees
For Jared Serigne, returning home to Chalmette, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina was an awakening. He didn’t grow up duck hunting, but newfound awareness of the vast wetlands resource outside the levees eventually lead him into it. It was then that he began understanding that the land outside the levees was an imperiled part of Sportsman’s Paradise. And that by using his professional film background he could do something about it.
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EP 290. Louisiana Lures and Legends
Southeast Louisiana duck hunting spawned some of the most collectible decoy folk art in America. Fashioned from nearby natural materials, they were originally made to feed families, communities, and an entire culture. Brian Cheramie grew up on the banks of Bayou Lafourche, where at a young age he developed through his grandfather an interest in old wooden decoys and the legendary duck hunters who made them. But this fascinating story is about way more than decoys. In its telling, Cheramie colorfully describes old school duck hunters from a bygone era, what became of them and their ways, and the immense void that was created.
EP 289. Red Hots and Blues Where Cultures Collided
Back in the day, describes Billy Johnson, Leland, Mississippi swelled to 4x its present population on Saturday nights. Live music and food carts on every corner down by the tracks. That was way back when a national magazine described this little Mississippi delta hamlet as “The Hell Hole of America.” Things like blind tiger booze, chitlin circuit clubs, skin balls, cathouses and card games abounded. But real history was being made, too. Even a teenage delivery boy from Memphis later made a big name for himself. “It was the most amazing thing, so much talent coming from such a small area,” B.B. King later said. Funny where a conversation about hot tamales will go!
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