MOJO’S Duck Season Somewhere Podcast
EP 564. Looking Back
What began as buck-fever-of-epic-proportions first deer hunt with a neighboring mentor began a lifelong passion for hunting and fishing worldwide for Alabama native and storyteller Clint Ward. From an elk hunt that culminated in a marriage proposal to nearly dying atop a British Columbia mountain, Ward shares colorful stories about how hunting experiences shaped his life and taught him what’s most important in life.
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EP 563. Dead Hens Don’t Lay Eggs and Other Topics
In case you haven’t noticed, North American duck populations–duck harvests–have declined from the highs of the late-90s. Dead hens don’t lay eggs, for sure, but is the fix that simple? What are the root causes for these declines in waterfowl populations? How bad is it, why might it get way worse before it gets better, and what can we duck hunters really do about it? Scott Stephens, DU’s Senior Director of Prairie and Boreal Forest Conservation, joins me to discuss.
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!
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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.
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