MOJO’S Duck Season Somewhere Podcast
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?
Birdyologist
Brain Huber is California Waterfowl Association’s Waterfowl and Wood Duck Program Coordinator. Late one afternoon, Ramsey Russell and he meet across the table at his hunting camp for a mid-blowing discussion about California waterfowl hunting and management. They plan the next morning’s wood duck hunt, too. Why are California’s daily dark goose limits so much higher than in most other parts of the US? What CWA program has produced nearly a million wood ducks since implementation, and to whom does much credit go for its success? What incredible percentage of California’s annual mallard harvest are produced in California (you’ll likely be surprised to learn it)? What other species are produced here? What programs mitigate egg and nest losses in California’s vast agricultural landscape? How’d Huber get into this challenging waterfowl management field? What advice does he have for anyone wanting to be a waterfowl biologist? Great duck hunting doesn’t happen by accident. This Duck Season Somewhere podcast episode is a great behind-the-scenes glimpse of people and events that make California duck hunting happen.
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Duck-A-Minute Banta and Other California Duck Hunting Topics
The orange sun melts slowly into the horizon on legendary Suisun Marsh, flocks of ducks are trading overhead and Yancey Forrest-Knowles speaks to Ramsey Russell from the heart of California duck hunting times past, present and future. A lifetime duck hunter and former director of California Waterfowl Association, he is an articulate storyteller, a passionate waterfowl conservationist. What was duck hunting like when California became the 31st State and how’s it since changed? Who was Duck-A-Minute Bill Banta and how’d he earn that title? How many duck clubs are there in California and what’s the California duck club culture? What is the Butte Sink, and what befell duck hunting on the fabled Salton Sea? Why’d Clark Gable once get kicked out of a duck club? What’s the significance of the Klamath Basin to California waterfowling? This is a fascinating Duck Season Somewhere podcast episode, covering full-range California duck hunting topics from past and present, for the entire length of the state. Like one of those picture-perfect duck hunts, you’ll not want it to end.
The Original MotoDuck, California Duck Hunting
File this one under “How One Sac Valley Duck Hunter’s Idea Changed the Duck Hunting World. Forever.” While pass shooting ducks with family members back in the real good ol’ days while he was only a child, Andy Anderson likely never dreamed that his idea for attracting ducks in adult life – and that remained his closely guarded secret weapon for as long as possible – would hit the waterfowl hunting world like a giant meteor. But boy did it! Meeting at a farm headquarters just a few miles from where he’s hunted his entire life, Anderson shows Ramsey Russell the first-ever mechanized spinning wing decoy prototype over which many, many duck died, describing how he came up with the idea and events that soon ensued at fevered pitch. This Duck Season Somewhere podcast episode is a great story about the most effective waterfowl decoy concept ever devised (and there’s a reason “goalposts” remain the most popular SWD throughout California’s Sacramento Valley all these decades later). It’s also a past-times glimpse into true California duck hunting culture.
“Lake California”, Welcome to Sac Valley California Duck Hunting
Following a kick-butt, pea-soup foggy morning rice field duck hunt, Casey Stafford of CCIC Outdoor Adventures and Ramsey Russell talk about waterfowl hunting in California’s Sacramento Valley. What was it like growing up duck hunting this region, who were Casey’s mentors and what were their backgrounds? Why is it that Sac Valley waterfowlers prefer foggy mornings? What’s the specklebelly hunting like, what’s a Tule Goose and what’s the Sac Valley Goose Management Unit? And by the way, what the heck is up with all the free-ranging chickens in Yuba City?! And what about decades-old, single blade spinner he uses? Forget the surfboards and Hollywood version of California beaming at you over the TV. Welcome to Real America.
Golden State Goldeneyes and More California Duck Hunting
Goldeneyes and bluebills streaking low over the decoys from all directions, so fast and furious as to neaarly be chaotic, but Arkansas buddy Ray Hathaway and myself, along with California hosts Corey Foskett and Guide Charlie Barberini of Golden State Guide Service paced ourselves, chipping away at drakes until reaching limits, heading in for breakfast burritos. After briefly visiting nearby San Francisco, we convened at Tanglefree Decoys HQ to talk about duck hunting in California, Tanglefree Decoys origins, Nigerian dwarf goats and much, much more! Fun Duck Season Somewhere podcast episode!
What Might Maryland’s HB 911 Say About the Future of Duck Hunting?
There’s a real storm brewing over the Susquehanna Flats near Havre de Grace, Maryland – and it ain’t clouds of blackheads and canvasbacks like the good ol’ days. It’s about how and where who can hunt in these fabled public fowling waters. Maryland HB 911 proposes limiting certain portions of the Flats to body booting only, and to exclude other regionally traditional duck hunting methods, such as layout boats (or any anchored boat for that matter). In today’s special episode of Duck Season Somewhere, we meet with local hunters and stakeholders from both sides of the fence, opponents and proponents, to discuss this highly controversial topic. How do opponents feel this could affect them? What were the proponents’ intentions? How might this affect you regardless of where you duck hunt? This Duck Season Somewhere podcast episode explores legislating personal hunting interests at the expense of others’.
Maryland HB 911: Establishing that a person may hunt wild waterfowl in the waters of the Susquehanna Flats while standing in water on the natural bottom only in areas designated by the Department of Natural Resources; and prohibiting a person from hunting wild waterfowl in the Susquehanna Flats from a boat that is drifting, being sculled, or anchored in areas designated for hunting wild waterfowl while standing in water on the natural bottom.
The Lost Flyway, Alabama Duck Hunt
Located “between the flyways,” an Alabama duck hunt may lack sheer waterfowl numbers, but cultural enthusiasm for duck hunting remains strong in Alabama. Today’s guests, James Michael Moyer, Jason Russell, and Alabama Migratory Game Bird Coordinator, Seth Maddox, are living proof. How’d these guys get into duck hunting? When did Jason Russell start carving decoys, why’s it important to him, and how has it become a family tradition? How are waterfowl hunting license sales doing in Alabama, and what’s Alabama’s new Adult Mentor Hunter Program all about? While migratory Canada geese have ceased overwintering in northern Alabama (the lost flyway), sandhill cranes have filled the void and their population has subsequently exploded. What exciting new hunting opportunities potentially exist? Tune in to this Duck Seas0n Somewhere podcast episode!
Georgia Duck Hunting and the Nut Duster from Hell Story
Situated in a landscape predominated by long-leaf pines, pecan orchards and peanut fields, everything sprouting from soils the color of rusted farm implements, southwestern Georgia isn’t the duck hunting universe’s proverbial epicenter. But it’s exactly where Ramsey Russell fell in with the right group of friendly folks to experience a real Georgia ring-necked duck hunt, deer hunting, and genuine Deep South hunting camp hospitality. Seated around the table after a monstrous breakfast, in a charmingly old farmhouse that for decades has been a family hunting camp, Chase Gibson and Caleb Jackson describe their duck hunting roots, how they hunt ducks in Georgia, and more. Shaun Harris then tells the story of one of their most illustrious long-time hunting guests, the infamous Nut Duster from Hell. Great hunting camp episode, proving once and for all that you’re always among great people while at hunting camp anywhere.
North Carolina Duck Hunting Stories, Allen and Julie Blivens
I’d stopped by to paw their new pintail and swan calls. Never mind that it was Sunday morning, or that a cold, wet rain was falling outside. Turning off the lights, we then had to lock Allen Bliven Call’s shop doors to stall customer traffic long enough to record uninterrupted. But it was worth it. How’d Allen and Julie Bliven begin duck hunting? And where’d 8 years-old Julie learn to kill her first duck that way? How’d they meet and why was it love at first sight – for Allen?! How’d they get into the waterfowl call making business, and how’d he develop his famous pintail whistle? What’s so unique about Hyde County, North Carolina, what’s its history? Y’all are going to enjoy this Duck Season Somewhere podcast episode.
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