MOJO’S Duck Season Somewhere Podcast
Best Texas Blue-winged Teal Hunts
Steve Biggers of Rocky Creek Retrievers runs the best blue-winged teal hunts in Texas, maybe even on earth. But it doesn’t happen by accident. Far from it. Biggers explains professional retriever training and duck guiding, often using baseball concepts to effectively get his points across home plate. Straightforward and deliberate, his approach to both are similar – he wants to produce the best potential results and to maximize customers’ enjoyment. How’d Biggers get started down the path of become Texas’s best and who were his earliest influences? What makes this region a funnel for blue-winged teal migrating through Central and Mississippi flyways? If he “doesn’t buy caps and t-shirts,” what does he instead buy? How does he manage water, and how does he hold blue-winged teal for the entire hunting season in the absence of any nearby state or federal refuges? Like a hard line drive over centerfield fence, Biggers knocks this episode clear out of the park.
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The General’s Habitat Management
Warren Coco is a fury of boundless can-do energy. Large and in charge, with nearly a half-century of personal and professional achievements roiling in his wake, fellow hunt camp members affectionately refer to him as “The General.” It even says so on the gold-starred military helmet they hung above the entrance to his camp house room. The conversation begins with Coco explaining Go Devil’s customer service, demonstrating his buck-stops-here philosophy. It then shifts to habitat management. A combination of art, science, experience and luck, it’s a persistent roll-up-your-sleeves and make-it-happen challenge, especially on a property once described as “a show dog with fleas.” Sweat equity pays huge dividends when greenheads start pouring into the decoys, though. Why does Coco personally assist customers? Why doesn’t he plant hot crops such as corn or milo in his camp’s duck holes? What’re his thoughts on flooded soybeans? How does he rate certain “weeds,” and what advantages do natural, moist-soil plants have over planted millets? What was his long-term solution for improving hunter concealment that also benefited wildlife? In this fantastic episode, General Coco shares hard-earned life lessons that business owners and duck camp habitat managers will appreciate, but that everyone will enjoy greatly.
September Quadfecta
Ramsey Russell connects with Ira McCauley to discuss September happenings. Ira tells about the September blue-winged teal opener in Missouri’s north zone, which has become a long-standing family tradition. They hunt, for sure, but they eat right and even have fun in a variety of ways. He describes his youngest son making an important connection with hunting last weekend. Beyond blue-wingeds, Ira traditionally chases what he calls the September Quadfecta. Besides mourning doves and blue-winged teal, can you guess which other birds they’re chasing at Locust Grove this time of year? And why does he use sub-gauge shotguns? What habitat management activities kept him busy preceding the season? How do he and his sons “make applesauce”? How’d Ira come up with the new Momarsh Versavest, and what’s new in the world of Habitat Flats? Another great September blue-winged teal season discussion.
Gators and Garfish
In this episode of Duck Season Somewhere, waterfowl hunting hunting legend, Warren Coco, and Ramsey continue visiting at the confluence of the Red and Black rivers in central Louisiana, but their conversation turns from feathered fowl to the big lizards for which is state is famous. Coco describes hunting alligators and collecting their eggs in great detail, and then talks about traditional gar fishing. The episode ends dramatically with the tale of 14-feet worth of mad, muddy gator being hand-grabbed in the good ol’ days of Maurepas Swamp! How do they catch alligators and what do they do with them? How do they collect alligator eggs in south Louisiana? What do those momma gators think about the practice? How are garfish caught and what the heck are “garfish balls”? What became of that massive gator they hand-grabbed?! This fun episode rips through a slice of colorful Louisiana culture like a Go Devil motor through the swamp and like only Warren Coco can tell it!
Waterfowl Habitat and Blue-Winged Teal Hunting with Terry Denmon
Great waterfowl habitat doesn’t happen by accident. Terry Denmon and Ramsey Russell assessed duck habitat conditions on a central Louisiana property about a decade ago. Waterfowl habitat utilization left something to be desired. Management was sorely needed. Denmon has since tirelessly implemented moist-soil management practices, transforming the property, and rolling out the red carpet for overwintering ducks. What is moist-soil plant management and why does Denmon prefer this to row crop agricultural crops? What are the plant species he tries to produce, and how are problematic plant species controlled? Blue-winged teal season opens in September but big ducks don’t show up until late-November. How does he manage duck habitat conditions for both? Blue-winged teal hunting season is in full swing nationwide as Denmon and Ramsey talk common-sense habitat management and, of course, duck hunting in this informative episode of Duck Season Somewhere.
Pancakes and Sausage
Warren Coco’s epic story resumes with his first telling about his Avoyelles Parish ancestry stretching clear back to a Revolutionary War veteran from whom the Coco name was derived. And speaking of origins, before going back to Hackberry, we briefly revisit Go Devil. How’d the company name come about? How have their product line has since evolved? Why are there size limitations? Returning to the once-in-a-million lifetimes opportunity that soon became marsh camp, Coco describes what makes the landscape a true sportsman’s paradise. Why is the Louisiana marsh described as “sinking land”? What were some of the daunting challenges to maintaining critical marsh habitat? How’d the property fare during back-to-back hurricanes Katrina and Rita? How do corn impoundments up north really affect the duck migration to Louisiana? The episode concludes with a heart rendering story about how pancakes and sausage became a Coco family duck blind breakfast staple. Another fantastic Duck Season Somewhere episode you’ll not want to end!
Teal Talk
Long-time friends Mike Morgan and Ramsey Russell meet across the table to talk teal hunting. Spending a little time to talk about teal worldwide, they quickly transition to blue-winged teal hunting in the Deep South, a favorite of theirs. Mike then remembers an incredible Peru cinnamon teal hunt they filmed together for Mojo. What other teal species are there worldwide? What’s the real relationship among blue-winged teal, cinnamon teal, green-winged teal and shovelers? What’s so special about blue-winged teal, how are they hunted and what habitats do they prefer? Why is cinnamon teal hunting in Peru so incredible, and what did Mike and Ramsey discover while there that ranks foremost on their lists of “craziest thing ever encountered while hunting?!” This recording is from the very last time these two buddies visited and was provided courtesy of Mojo Outdoors.
Outside Looking In
As described in last week’s episode, Warren Coco spent over a decade hunting ducks in the enchanted Maurepas Swamp. Some years were better than others. Countless memorable times were spent with family and friends in the then-magical place – nights spent in floating camphouse in middle of swamp, mornings spent in tight, 30 yard-wide holes among towering, Spanish moss veiled cypress trees. The paradise vanished abruptly, because nature is always changing, and Coco found himself “on the outside looking in” where duck hunting was concerned. But not for long. Because people like Coco are doers. How’d Coco move a floating duck camp that had been given back to its original owner? What befell Maurepas Swamp duck hunting? What was it about hunting “Frank’s Blind” in southwestern Louisiana that Coco never forgot? Why was it so hard to become a landowner in Hackberry, and what “once-in-a-million-lifetimes event” transpired? All of this and a lot more as we continue the Warren Coco Got Devil series in this week’s Duck Season Somewhere.
September Special
September is finally here. The thermometer still reads warm, especially down south, but already faint hints of fall are in the air. Or maybe that’s just the smell of spent powder, musty waders, fresh feathers. Our time has finally arrived. Migratory bird hunting season is ushered in on the wings of resident Canada geese, mourning doves and blue-winged teal. What’s not to love about it?! In this episode of Duck Season Somewhere, Ramsey meets with Bigwater over hot biscuits and deer sausage following an eventful resident Canada goose hunt in Mississippi. Then, with the pungent smell of gun solvent still lingering in the kitchen, he and his son, Forrest, recall past hunts and talk about Mississippi creepy crawlies and a memorable senior prank.
Go Devil Origins
Warren Coco is an American duck hunting icon. Conceived in his Baton Rouge, Louisiana shop over 4 decades ago, the legendary Go Devil longtail engine very literally transformed the face of duck hunting. But who is Warren Coco, and where’d he initially get the idea for the longtail motor design? What are his duck hunting origins? Many of us old salts were introduced to Coco and associates back in the late-80’s via a VCR production simply entitled “Duckmen.” Never before had we witnessed such kick-them-in-the-beak duck killing footage! Where’d that legendary production take place and how did it come to be? What was the name of that famous blind that looked like an ancient cypress stump? And memorable stories there?! Hang on to your camo caps, boys and girls! This exciting Duck Season Somewhere podcast series “goes like the devil” through Louisiana’s fabled swamplands. Coco is an extremely gifted and articulate storyteller. This series is about way more than a place named Louisiana; it’s also an illuminating story about times both past and present.
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