MOJO’S Duck Season Somewhere Podcast
No Regrets Modern-Day Louisiana Market Hunter Stories, Part 1
Maybe the good old days were different. To hear today’s guest tell it, it wasn’t a hundred years ago but during my own lifetime that salt and pepper were the only real Louisiana seasons abided. Everything was eaten, by necessity in many cases. Everything. And local wildlife markets thrived. Mr. Johnny Borrel from Avoyelles Parish began hunting at a very young age. He started market hunting in high school and tells us what it was like back then. When and why did he start selling wild ducks? Where’d he sell game and what were the going rates? What’s the most ducks he ever bagged? What about game wardens? What shotgun was considered best? When and why did he stop? Mr. Borrel is an animated storyteller, a steel-trap mind for details. Like a hell-bent green-winged teal with a tail wind, today’s Duck Season Somewhere podcast episode is going make your head spin!
Gringa On Living in Obregón, Sonora Mexico
How did a small-town Tennessee girl end up living in Obregón Sonora, Mexico and why does she still call it home over 40 years later? When did she and her late-husband decide to start the very first Mexico hunting operation in Sonora? What was their hallmark menu item, and who were among their guests? How’d she end up in the record books for a game bird previously believed to be extinct for more than a century? And how’d she really feel living south-of-the-border during the past 12 months especially? Mrs. Sharon Crider is affectionately How did a small-town Tennessee girl end up in Sonora, Mexico and why does she still call it home 40 years later? When did she and her late husband decide to start Sonora, Mexico’s very first duck hunting operation? What was their hallmark menu item, and who were among their guests? How’d she end up in the record books for a game bird previously believed to be extinct for more than a century? And how’d she really feel living south-of-the-border during the past 12 months especially? Mrs. Sharon Crider is affectionately known as Gringa to many of her long-time neighbors. Today, she shares a candid perspective of past, present and future times that simply cannot be gained during a week-long duck hunting vacation.
Dr. Doug Osborne’s Waterfowl Banding Bonanza
Like gleaming gold nuggets to ’49 boomtown miners, waterfowl leg bands are precious commodities coveted by some duck hunters. But to folks like Dr. Doug Osborne, these data points are a bonanza of much needed information. Who is Doug Osborne, and why’d he start The Osborne Lab at University of Arkansas at Monticello? Why is waterfowl banding on the wintering grounds important, and how does it differ from late-summer banding in Canada? How important are mallards to banding programs – and what’s so special about hens? What’re some cool things Osborne has seen along the way? Are flyways shifting westward? Why might we be seeing more ducks after hunting season? Passionate about his waterfowl research, Osborne sheds light on some topics we hunters have been discussing among ourselves for years, and leaves me wondering about a few things that had not yet crossed my mind. Which is the whole point of meaningful research.
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Spring Snow Goose Hunting Swindle and Other Stories
Freshly returned from his first real “guided snow goose hunting” in Arkansas, Forrest Russell colorfully describes to Ramsey Russell a school-of-hard-knocks swindle lesson about choosing the right outfitter, and why rolling with good friends takes precedence over all else. Bigwater then asks Ramsey “questions from the inbox” as Duck Season Somewhere podcast turns a year old. What was happening a year ago? First duck, leg bands, places he’s hunted that he’d consider moving, and the only place he’d hunt if he had to? How’s the pandemic affecting travel? Much more in this episode.
Australia Duck Hunting Hanging by a Thread?
Despite other-worldly sightings, things like swamp dwelling kangaroos, unique pink-eared ducks, and beet-topped hamburgers, Australia duck hunting is more readily familiar to US duck hunters than elsewhere hunted worldwide. But they’re constantly fighting tooth-and-nail to preserve it, and this year proved an uphill battle. Absolute madness. Who governs migratory bird management in Australia, and how are duck seasons set as compared to here in US? What waterfowl conservation activities are being conducted by hunters and anti-hunters, respectively? How do anti-hunters interfere with duck hunting afield? What does duck hunting mean to hunters – and what’s its relevance? Field and Game Australia’s CEO, Dean O’Hara, and Hunting & Conservation Manager, Glenn Falla, join Ramsey from way Down Under to discuss Australia duck hunting’s imperiled future. Is Australia a canary in the coal mine? Duck hunting has ceased elsewhere in the world. Could it really happen here in the United States, too?
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But What About Bluebills? Is Scaup Science Solid?
Originating in a North Dakota duck blind, targeting divers instead of dry-field puddlers, this scaup discussion was a real eye-opener for Ramsey Russell. Eric Smith cut his teeth on duck hunting while chasing bluebills (scaup) with his dad in northern Minnesota. Later involved in graduate research and scaup banding studies, he’s remained fascinated by them ever since. How’d Smith fall into the scaup rabbit hole? How are scaup populations doing relative to redhead and canvasback populations? Why are daily bag limits only half that of redheads and canvasbacks? Are zebra mussels problematic for bluebills? How are scaup bag limits determined, what do mallards have to do with it, and is the best science being applied to scaup management? Like a flock of low-flying bluebills hammering toward the layout while obscured behind a huge swell, I never saw this one coming. Found this Duck Season Somewhere podcast episode extremely interesting and bet that y’all do, too.
Feeling Normal Again: Mazatlán Mexico Honeymoon Duck Hunting
Never mind shooting 20-duck, spoonie-and-teal-trifecta limits daily, drinking pool-side foo-foo drinks, and eating seafood dinners together. Everyone’s first international vacation since the pandemic, it had immediately “felt normal” since walking into the beautiful Mazatlán Mexico resort, our duck camp away from home. But what’s it really like down there? Ramsey joins guests pool-side for candid conversations about their experiences. Why’d Ray and Claire return with their growing family for a real family vacation? Why’d Matt and Asha literally choose this duck hunting destination for their honeymoon? And did Mr. Ian’s shooting really improve in Mazatlán, or was that just the post-hunt cervezas talking? What about safety? What about covid? This mariachi-infused Duck Season Somewhere podcast episode is fun, light-hearted conversations depicting what famous Mazatlán Mexico “honeymoon” duck hunt is really like from guests’ perspectives.
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California Dreaming: A Recap of Ramsey’s California Waterfowl Hunting Adventures
After an epic final morning of California waterfowl hunting, with some beautiful cinnamon teal trophies icing down in the truck and a couple more carry-out world-class lunch burritos stretching their belts and weighing heavy on their eyelids, Ramsey meets with great friend-host Jon Wills at historic Stillbow Ranch lodge to recount the dozen days of duck hunting in the Golden State. From San Francisco Bay and throughout the Sacramento Valley, what’s Ramsey Russell remember most about his first California waterfowl hunting experience? Who’d he hunt with? The Duck Season Somewhere podcast episode proves it – Forget everything you ever thought about the Hollywood, hippie and surfboard versions of this great state, most of California is still as much “Real America” as it gets. Especially when it comes to duck hunters and their enduring tradition.
I Hunt. I Fish. I Vote. Mississippi HB 1231 MS Outdoors Stewardship Trust Fund
Just imagine. At a time in history that wildlife resources and hunters need more not less, what could YOUR State Department of Natural Resources and Statewide Conservation Organizations do with FIFTY TO SIXTY MILLION DOLLARS?! OR MORE?! Acquire more public hunting land? Improve existing public-use properties for hunters (and non-hunters)? Better wildlife habitat management? More and better places for you and future generations to hunt, fish, and just enjoy the great outdoors?! Forever. And what if this could be done without tax increases? It can. MS HB 1231 Mississippi Outdoors Stewardship Trust Fund was modeled after a similar program in Georgia and elsewhere that diverts a very small percentage of existing state taxes into a conservation fund that can then be leveraged with existing federal dollars to put 3-4x that value on the ground. Right now! Not later! Listen to this episode. Hear James Cummins, Ed Penny, and Alex Littlejohn explain the enormous wildlife conservation advantages to Mississippi – and possibly to your own home state. And then ask yourself, why would person or persons gut this bill on the Mississippi Senate floor? Ask yourself as a Mississippian, how can you ensure this bill becomes reality? And if you live elsewhere in the US, does your state have a similar program? If not – why not?! You’re not political, huh? If you hunt, fish or own guns, you’d damned well better be! But trust me, you’ll enjoy this dynamite Duck Season Somewhere podcast episode regardless.
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Mississippi HB 1231 Mississippi Outdoors Stewardship Trust Fund
The White Way: California Goose Hunting with the White Brothers
Right about the time you think you’ve seen and done it all in worldwide waterfowling, you jump into a California goose hunting spread with Jonathon and Dillon White, the White Brothers, who show you “the White Way.” Gnarly, acre-sized flocks of snow geese and Aleutian cackler geese overhead, the seething eye of a hurricane growing in ferocity and intensity with each spin, then oftentimes landing 15 yards away because there’s no sense educating the entire flock you’ll hunt all season. Instead we swiped a few crumbs from our laps, cherry-picking from small, loose goose flocks that strayed from the masses until piles of dead birds numbered plenty. What was it like for them growing up the sons of a cowboy in rural California, the part that remains “Real America” even today? What are there earliest and fondest memories waterfowl hunting? What’s the local eats like? How and why did they transition to goose hunting, and how’d they progress to their goose hunting game to the highest level I’ve ever experienced?
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