Latest / Ducks Unlimited Podcast / DUX Series: ALPS Outdoors: Gear, Innovation & Beyond (Ep 788)

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DUX Series: ALPS Outdoors: Gear, Innovation & Beyond (Ep 788) · Ducks Unlimited Podcast

• 0:01
  Jimbo Robinson: They didn't realize they were moving a house.
• 0:03
  Zach Scheidegger: Yeah. Well I mean
• 0:05
  Logan Nevins: That was like one of those old Sears, you know, house building kits from Yeah.
• 0:09
  Jimbo Robinson: Like the logs, whatever. Lincoln logs back in the day. Yeah. Y'all built a hurricane proof mansion yeah, on the show floor last year. They go, oh, there's another trailer?
• 0:19
  VO: You're tuned in to the Ducks Unlimited Podcast. Conserving wetlands, restoring habitat, and working to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow, and forever. From field tested hunting insights to the biggest conservation wins across North America, this is your front row seat to wetlands conservation in action. The DU podcast is proudly sponsored by Birddog Whiskey and Cocktails. Whether you're wrapping up a hunt with your best friend or kicking back with your crew, Birddog brings award winning flavor to every moment. Enjoy responsibly.
• 0:56
  Jimbo Robinson: Welcome back to another installment of the DUX series here on the Ducks Unlimited Podcast. I'm your host, Jimbo Robinson, alongside my first time to host with him, but not host this series, mister Logan Nevins. And this series highlights companies, individuals, and organizations that are highly involved in the success of our DUX waterfowl show. DUX presented by Purina Pro Plan is July 31 through August 2 back at the Renaissance Cold Convention Center. And today, on the other end of the line, we have two incredible guests on the podcast, Zach Scheidegger and Joe Schroeder from Alps Outdoors.
• 1:38
  What's up, fellas? How's it going?
• 1:40
  Joe Schroeder: Thanks for having us, gentlemen.
• 1:42
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. We won't talk about that we get to look at Joe and look at Zach's shoulders all day, but it's it'll be fine. We'll make the best of it. So we have a fun game we call the flock shot. Yes.
• 1:54
  We do. Spray and pray. And our good friend at Purina, Carl Gunzer, may be the only guest to say this was the hardest part of the entire podcast. So we're hoping y'all can make it a little easier than mister Carl.
• 2:10
  Logan Nevins: We had some surprising answers too with David and and Seth and I. Seth had some very interesting
• 2:15
  Jimbo Robinson: I know. Results to me.
• 2:17
  Joe Schroeder: Boy. I'm excited.
• 2:18
  Jimbo Robinson: Carl did too. So it wasn't as as fast with Carl. We had to get a lot of explanation, which made it awesome. So we're hoping you guys you know, I've seen both of you shoot, so I'm I'm spray and pray this should be easy for y'all. So, Chris, cue the button.
• 2:34
  VO: The flock shot.
• 2:39
  Jimbo Robinson: Coffee drinker or not?
• 2:41
  Zach Scheidegger: Yes. Coffee drinker.
• 2:43
  Jimbo Robinson: Do you drink it black or with cream and sugar? Black.
• 2:47
  Zach Scheidegger: Cream and sugar.
• 2:48
  Jimbo Robinson: Okay. Okay. Divided. Divided. Favorite color of Gatorade?
• 2:52
  Blue. Purple. Alright. Perfect. Do you know the flavor, Joe?
• 2:59
  And time out, light blue or royal blue? Light blue. Alright. Okay. What's the flavor?
• 3:05
  Frost. Frost is like an overall brand of Gatorades.
• 3:10
  Joe Schroeder: So I don't know then. From I don't know. Light blue.
• 3:15
  Jimbo Robinson: I don't either. I
• 3:15
  Zach Scheidegger: don't I
• 3:16
  Logan Nevins: don't either. It's art arctic frost. I thought
• 3:17
  Jimbo Robinson: that Arctic frost.
• 3:18
  Joe Schroeder: Be it. Arctic. That might be it.
• 3:20
  Jimbo Robinson: Alright. What's purple? Because I do know purple.
• 3:22
  Joe Schroeder: Is it
• 3:23
  Zach Scheidegger: riptide rush? Riptide rush. Ding. Ding. Ding.
• 3:26
  Ding. Ding.
• 3:26
  Jimbo Robinson: I think both of y'all.
• 3:28
  Joe Schroeder: Nailed it.
• 3:29
  Jimbo Robinson: Yep. Yep. Over and under Semi Oh. Semi auto. Auto.
• 3:35
  I'll go different. Over and under. Which one?
• 3:39
  Joe Schroeder: What do you mean?
• 3:39
  Jimbo Robinson: Which one? Over and under.
• 3:41
  Joe Schroeder: What are
• 3:41
  Jimbo Robinson: you shooting? What's I know that, but which gun what gun?
• 3:44
  Joe Schroeder: Browning Synergy.
• 3:46
  Jimbo Robinson: Okay. An aristocrat. Yeah.
• 3:49
  Logan Nevins: Very. Next one after that one, what was the first gun that you had?
• 3:54
  Joe Schroeder: Mine was the Mossberg. Mine was mine was a rifle. It was a Remington 700.
• 4:00
  Jimbo Robinson: What Mossberg?
• 4:01
  Zach Scheidegger: The 900.
• 4:02
  Jimbo Robinson: Remington 700?
• 4:06
  Joe Schroeder: Yeah. And and a three out six. Now my first shotgun, though, was a side by side my first shotgun was a side by side Stevens 12 gauge.
• 4:16
  Logan Nevins: Wow. Yep. You don't you don't hear that very often.
• 4:19
  Jimbo Robinson: And that I bet that gun kicked like a mule. It did. Yes.
• 4:22
  Joe Schroeder: It did. Yeah. But still got it. Love
• 4:24
  Jimbo Robinson: it. Really? Yep. That's cool. You still have yours?
• 4:28
  Zach Scheidegger: Oh, yeah. Yep. It's in the it's in the safe.
• 4:31
  Jimbo Robinson: In the back or the front?
• 4:32
  Zach Scheidegger: It's in the back.
• 4:34
  Jimbo Robinson: Interesting. Interesting. Yep. You had to live the rest of your life with only one of these, what would it be? TV, music, or books?
• 4:43
  Joe Schroeder: Music. Music.
• 4:45
  Logan Nevins: Really? Man, they were fast to that one. They didn't even have to think.
• 4:49
  Jimbo Robinson: Interesting. Yeah. Alright. Alright.
• 4:53
  Logan Nevins: Favorite movie of all time.
• 4:55
  Zach Scheidegger: That's a that's a tough one for me, but
• 5:00
  Jimbo Robinson: yeah. Dumb and dumber.
• 5:05
  Zach Scheidegger: I liked the the I don't know if you guys remember the last of the Mohicans a lot when I was younger. Yeah. Looked like Daniel Day Lewis.
• 5:12
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah.
• 5:12
  Zach Scheidegger: That was a I thought that was a pretty badass movie, but lots of comedies. I can go on for days.
• 5:19
  Jimbo Robinson: But Somebody recently said Jeremiah Johnson. I thought it
• 5:22
  Joe Schroeder: was a
• 5:22
  Jimbo Robinson: good answer.
• 5:23
  Zach Scheidegger: It's a good one.
• 5:24
  Logan Nevins: What's yours, Logan? Oh, man. Probably just going back to my childhood, Gone in sixty Seconds.
• 5:30
  Jimbo Robinson: Really? Yeah. Mine's Top Gun.
• 5:32
  Logan Nevins: That's a good one.
• 5:33
  Jimbo Robinson: The original one.
• 5:34
  Joe Schroeder: So good. A good one.
• 5:35
  Logan Nevins: But I like the second one too.
• 5:36
  Zach Scheidegger: The second one was great.
• 5:37
  Jimbo Robinson: It was. And I don't normally like sequels, but that was it was well done. Very well done. Yeah. I like you know, there were some others, but you can only have one favorite.
• 5:49
  Yeah. Cool Runnings is my second favorite.
• 5:51
  Logan Nevins: Cool Run yeah. That's underrated. Very. Very,
• 5:53
  Joe Schroeder: very good movie.
• 5:55
  Jimbo Robinson: It's a good list. Alright. Favorite place to hunt waterfowl. State and habitat. Go for it, Joe.
• 6:01
  Well, my mind
• 6:03
  Joe Schroeder: I'm a make a long answer shorter, hopefully. My mind immediately went to Northwest Missouri because that's where I went to college and kinda fell in love with it. But I really love the Delta, So I'm gonna go Central Arkansas. North North Central.
• 6:20
  Jimbo Robinson: Okay.
• 6:21
  Zach Scheidegger: Yeah. I think Alright. I think mine would probably be in the in the woods somewhere because I get to do it so little, and I enjoy it so much in in timber.
• 6:32
  Logan Nevins: So Really?
• 6:34
  Zach Scheidegger: Yeah. Around around here, I'm more field hunting or even I'm on the river on on sandbars or whatnot. But, yeah, if we if I can get into the trees,
• 6:45
  Jimbo Robinson: I love I love that. Do you like comfortable blinds with breakfast served too?
• 6:50
  Zach Scheidegger: That is always an added benefit. Who doesn't? Oh, yeah. Especially if you're cooking.
• 6:55
  Jimbo Robinson: About to get my black ducks back too.
• 6:57
  Joe Schroeder: Nice. Nice.
• 6:58
  Jimbo Robinson: That was that was cold. Alright. First car.
• 7:01
  Joe Schroeder: Ford f 01/1987. '88 Honda Accord.
• 7:06
  Jimbo Robinson: Joe, do you want yours back?
• 7:08
  Joe Schroeder: No. Zach? No. Do I want the truck back? Yes.
• 7:12
  Sorry.
• 7:12
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. Absolutely. I want it back. I loved it. Zach, do we do we
• 7:16
  Zach Scheidegger: We don't need the Accord back. No. We're good.
• 7:18
  Jimbo Robinson: No. No. It it's funny. Most men want their first car back.
• 7:23
  Zach Scheidegger: Oh, I mean, it was it had a nickname in school to to old blue. So the the struts and shocks, everything was pretty much shot. So it looked like I had hydraulics if I tapped the brakes.
• 7:35
  Jimbo Robinson: That's like, people have that those these days. Yep. You know, bouncing cars down the road. Yeah. Well, awesome.
• 7:41
  Thank you all for for for enduring the flock shot with us. That was fun. Well, before we dive into everything Alps and DUX and what y'all have, why don't to all the listeners out here who may not know what y'all do at Alps, why don't y'all introduce yourselves and just a little bit about, you know, how you got into the business and and what you do at Alps?
• 8:02
  Joe Schroeder: I'll let you start, Zachary.
• 8:04
  Zach Scheidegger: Okay. So I got into Alps seventeen years ago. Basically, the Brunies, the owner of the or or the owners, were kinda getting into the hunting industry because they had been more in the mountaineering side of things. And one of the the sons I'm really good friends with, we had gone to school together, and he just said there was this opportunity to be more on the hunting side of things, and I was like, well, like a kid in a candy store to me. So I jumped at that opportunity, and it's just blossomed ever since and been able to be a part of the growth that Alps has had and all the new different product categories that we've just keep like, continue to build on.
• 8:54
  Mainly, my focus is product development and more specifically on the hunting side of things. And so, yeah, like I said, I've been doing that seventeen years, and and, like, companies in our industry, especially our size, like, you wear a lot of hats here, so we help with the marketing, help with some sales, get to travel, do some some fun things, test products. So, yeah, that's how I how I started and kinda what
• 9:23
  Joe Schroeder: I do. So my story is a little shorter than Zach's, of course. I started a little over five years ago. I work with Zach on the outdoor side in product development and product design, specifically for the outdoors, not our mountaineering or our camping side. So, yeah, I came in underneath Zach and Adam, who's also oversees many things for us, but the product side as well.
• 9:51
  So, yeah, Zach and I work with each other to design all of the new stuff on the outdoor side in all of our categories. So, of course, waterfowl and our licensed products with Ducks Unlimited in our turkey category, whitetail, big game, other western up on the small game, you name it. It's coming from from him and I. So it's been a ton of fun. Learned a lot of stuff, and, yep, I love it.
• 10:21
  Love coming in every day.
• 10:22
  Jimbo Robinson: How did you get because it's not all the same. But many of Alps features, do they carry through the product line? I mean, I don't wanna jump
• 10:31
  Joe Schroeder: in front of Zach here, but I would say yes. I mean, a lot of our stuff, we take we we've been around for so long, and they've had so many good designs over the years in all the categories, but let's just take packs for instance. Yeah. We we have the benefit of looking back and all that experience that these guys have. I have that benefit to ask them questions and ask them what has worked.
• 10:55
  As far as specific things, we're always chasing bigger and better and and what what we can do to make even existing products if they've been around for ten or fifteen years even, how we can make them better. But but, yeah, we do take a lot of features, and they carry over into the different categories.
• 11:12
  Jimbo Robinson: Yep. So this question may be towards Zach. I don't know how long it's going on, but do you how did the partnership between DU and Alps kinda come together, and why did why do you think it was a natural fit?
• 11:26
  Zach Scheidegger: Well, I think, in my opinion, and I I think several of your teammates would agree, is I do think of Alps as a high quality piece of gear, but also at a, I'll call it, affordable price. Like, not not you're not gonna get the cheapest of the cheapest. It's not gonna be the most expensive piece out there either. But I think our our quality and our our price point, I think, just really hits that that customer base, then I think that just DU and Alps was just a really good natural fit. And I think once, like, Jeremy and his team kinda came over as well to really kinda see what we were all about, and we were able to show him some of the things we went through because we take the QC and everything very serious.
• 12:22
  We have an unbelievable customer service team, but we're just really involved. And it's not like these companies that will kinda come and go, and their customer service never gets back to them if something would happen, but it was it was a little bit it like, it took a few years in in the making too. I know we attempted it two or three years prior to us really getting in and just really wasn't the right timing or didn't fit, or I think we just didn't wanna rush into it too much. But I'm glad it did work out and excited to see how how many different things we can do with it and and where it goes.
• 13:05
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. Because y'all have an array of items. Yeah. For sure. And I I I really don't believe that the public or even our listeners on here or our member base have any idea how many items Alps has, And that's that's a, you know, that's a kudos to y'all and an opportunity.
• 13:30
  But I think that that y'all have some some great products out there, and and and they were on full display last year at DUX. Oh, yeah. So They were. Who designed y'all's booth?
• 13:43
  Zach Scheidegger: Well, I'll give Joe a lot of the credit. He we kinda had a vision, and Joe, I'll say, was the one spearheading it to make it come to life. So, obviously, with with how we kinda have our our area set up, we had to we had to get creative on how to put it up effectively and safely. But, no, it it ended up working out really, really well and obviously looked fantastic. So
• 14:16
  Logan Nevins: Fantastic. Joe, did you restart regretting that decision a little bit last year when you had to move all that stuff in and out, the the giant beams and having them
• 14:25
  Jimbo Robinson: on the push trucks going across that big convention center because there was a couple
• 14:29
  Logan Nevins: of times I saw you and you're you're winded a little bit like, man, I maybe should have made these a little bit lighter and a little easier to move. Yeah.
• 14:37
  Joe Schroeder: It was it was all worth it. I mean, that's part of that's part of it. I I enjoyed I enjoyed designing it just like I enjoy designing all our stuff to go in our line, and and it was fun. I mean, it took it took a lot of help here in house, but kinda like Zach said, we do tend to wear a lot of hats. So we came together, and we, I mean, we built everything ourselves.
• 15:02
  And, yeah, it turned out really good.
• 15:05
  Zach Scheidegger: Well, Logan, to be to be fair too, I mean, your team made it that much easier because we were expecting to be changing shirts halfway through and being super dehydrated for the show, and there was about 30 people there waiting to help us unload and everything. So it went
• 15:20
  Jimbo Robinson: They didn't realize they were moving a house.
• 15:22
  Zach Scheidegger: Yeah. Like, I mean
• 15:24
  Logan Nevins: It's like one of those old Sears, you know, house building kits from back in
• 15:28
  Jimbo Robinson: the day. Logs, whatever, Lincoln logs back in the day. Yeah. Y'all built a hurricane proof mansion Yeah. On the show floor last year.
• 15:36
  You go, oh, there's another trailer?
• 15:38
  Zach Scheidegger: Yeah.
• 15:39
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. It looked
• 15:40
  Logan Nevins: great, but, man, there was a lot of pieces that was that were heavy.
• 15:43
  Jimbo Robinson: I know that. What I was so impressed was there was no arguing on which bolts went where.
• 15:47
  Logan Nevins: Yeah. You guys had that laid out perfectly about here's where it goes, and this piece goes together. How many times you put that together on the front end to know where everything went?
• 15:55
  Joe Schroeder: Well, I think that was the beauty of the design not to not to toot anybody's horn, but it didn't it doesn't really matter on that thing. The way it worked out is the bolts can go any post can go anywhere. Any it it it there is no right or wrong way. Everything or I'm sorry. There is no wrong way.
• 16:15
  Everything can go together in any in any fashion. There's no numbered anything. It's just all pieces together like Lincoln Logs.
• 16:23
  Logan Nevins: We needed them for putting together the shooting stands in Texas and.
• 16:27
  Jimbo Robinson: What time are they coming this year? I don't I'd have to go look. I think you guys get
• 16:31
  Logan Nevins: in Wednesday, something like that.
• 16:33
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. I would. Chris, we're gonna have a podcast Wednesday when Alps shows up. Yep. Otherwise, we're gonna be moving because I'm assuming it's coming back because y'all are in a different spot this year.
• 16:43
  Just a little bit little
• 16:44
  Joe Schroeder: bit further down. Pretty close, though. Pretty close.
• 16:46
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. Closer to the entrance. Right?
• 16:48
  Joe Schroeder: Are you guys in the same spot?
• 16:49
  Jimbo Robinson: No. No. We're anchored in the corner. Okay. Cool.
• 16:52
  I think
• 16:52
  Zach Scheidegger: I did see that. Yeah.
• 16:54
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. It's just an opportunity to to shuffle, and the easiest piece to move out was us. And so we're we're we're sliding into the corner kind of back where Higdon and Bass Pro were. Mhmm. Just taking that anchor corner.
• 17:14
  Perfect. Mean, the show at the end of the day, the show's not about us. Yeah. And so our op the opportunity was, hey. If we can and and and Logan can work magic like with the Lincoln Logs, he can work magic on these show floor plans.
• 17:28
  And so it was like, hey. You know, he was given options of, hey. If we do this, this, and this, and and ask these people and and make it better for this person and this person. Because you never know the flow of the show until it happens. Mhmm.
• 17:40
  Like, we can talk about it forever, but you don't know the true flow until it happens. And and and the the small hallways is I'm gonna the the ones that ran east and west were not as flowing as the north and south corridors.
• 17:59
  Zach Scheidegger: Mhmm.
• 17:59
  Jimbo Robinson: And when I I mean, you know, across the room or deep. So Logan was able to move everybody around and and kinda give everybody a little bit better. Some people drop. Some people need it bigger. And everybody wants bigger.
• 18:13
  Right? And it's hard. You can't we we can't add space in there. Yeah. Knock the walls out and build more, and so it's just Logan had an opportunity by moving us.
• 18:21
  Logan Nevins: It's a giant game of chess Tetris is kind of the way
• 18:24
  Joe Schroeder: to put it.
• 18:24
  Zach Scheidegger: Yeah. You
• 18:25
  Logan Nevins: know? It's very, very fun.
• 18:27
  Joe Schroeder: So always impressed by how you guys can fit all that stuff in, and and, I mean, man, it always works good.
• 18:34
  Jimbo Robinson: Well, you just add a lower level. Right?
• 18:36
  Zach Scheidegger: Just add more room.
• 18:37
  Jimbo Robinson: That's right. Yep. Just add an entire lower level and you, you know, get a podcast trailer that you can put down there, and and and we've made a lot of things happen. It's gonna be really cool. I'm really excited.
• 18:48
  So speaking of DUX, you guys did make a huge splash. I mean, I think that y'all's booth, the the design of the booth made it feel very homey is what I heard. Mhmm. And it just made it feel comfortable and welcoming, and and and kudos to y'all for doing that. And I think y'all had tremendous success in there.
• 19:06
  Yeah. For sure. Yeah.
• 19:08
  Joe Schroeder: I think you you nailed what we were trying to accomplish is making it feel open and welcoming and and just inviting, get people in there to talk to us. Yeah. We're showing off a bunch of gear, but we we just want to to let people come in and ask us questions and talk talk to us. I mean, we have all of our our waterfowl set up there. We're really focusing on our DU license stuff, but get people in there to see it.
• 19:35
  Some of those that don't know that we have the duck head on a ton of gear now, let them get their hands on it and and feel it, touch it, see it, and ask us questions about it. That's kind of the main goal.
• 19:47
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. I mean, one of the I'm gonna ask y'all, but what's your favorite piece of of Alps gear? Whether in what's your favorite piece that you've been a part of designing?
• 20:00
  Joe Schroeder: Go ahead, Zach.
• 20:01
  Zach Scheidegger: God, that's a tough one for me. Because are you are you saying across the entire categories or just more waterfowl focus?
• 20:08
  Jimbo Robinson: Only water we're only talking about waterfowl.
• 20:12
  Zach Scheidegger: Me then, the layout blind was the most exciting because of
• 20:17
  Logan Nevins: Pretty solid.
• 20:17
  Zach Scheidegger: Because of the way we kinda changed the layout blind market, I think, in terms of getting rid of the whole assembly and getting you up off of the ground and having you elevated a little bit more suspended. Like, that was to be honest, that probably took us three years to really figure it out to get everything to work like it should, and it was pretty exciting to see it come to fruition and then also see it kind of become a pretty big hit too. So
• 20:51
  Joe Schroeder: Joe? I'm gonna pick some of the newer things. So my my favorite products in all the categories are something that feels maybe maybe it's I really like the challenging stuff to design. So if we have a a product that's not just super easy, you know, cut and dry, easy product to to get out there. Maybe it takes a couple years, and this year, we have some of those to show off at the show.
• 21:19
  And it's a series of products actually in our Guardian series, which is our waterproof stuff. And the two pieces that I got in mind, they're they're kind of maybe maybe common pieces, but
• 21:34
  Jimbo Robinson: You're really beating around the bushes, our
• 21:36
  Joe Schroeder: spin with our spin on them. So it's actually we we take a a hold open design hardware that we've had in our line on other products in other categories. Circling back to that question, do we take features across the board? And this is one that we've integrated in in some blind bags and also some smaller ammo pouches, and it holds it open for you. But then it can snap shut.
• 22:02
  So, like, on an ammo pouch, you roll it up, you close it, and then you just set it on the ground. Right? Otherwise, if you just set it on the ground, all your shells roll out. This thing will snap close for you and actually has a circular bottom so it can sit up. But that's just part of part of that series of Guardian, we call it, the Guardian series products that that I'm really excited about.
• 22:23
  The other one, had two different sizes of kind of over the shoulder, more of a messenger bag style, but waterproof, and it has that whole open design. So they're pretty neat. They're pretty exciting. A lot of cool features.
• 22:36
  Jimbo Robinson: Are they launched to the public?
• 22:38
  Joe Schroeder: They'll they will be available whenever DUX hits. Whenever DUX is here. Yeah.
• 22:43
  Zach Scheidegger: Yeah. They're they're great.
• 22:44
  Jimbo Robinson: Let's go. There we go.
• 22:45
  Zach Scheidegger: They're due
• 22:45
  Jimbo Robinson: to get in here in the next few weeks. So Yeah. We have it in we'll
• 22:48
  Joe Schroeder: have them in tan. The whole series will be in tan and in original bottom line.
• 22:53
  Jimbo Robinson: Let's go. That'll be exciting. So first place, the public, have a film and touch them with DUX. Absolutely.
• 22:59
  Logan Nevins: How how important is it for you guys with Alps about, you know, going to to different shows to be able to put new products in people's hands? And and, Joe, you mentioned earlier about, you know, being able to talk to everybody about the the product lines because, you know, as Jimbo mentioned, y'all do have a very large catalog that that basically can equip anybody in any of the outdoor spaces with with the right product that they need to do the job or do the tasks that they're doing in the field. So how how important is the, you know, that interaction with the public at shows like DUX to be able to answer questions and and get feedback and all those types of things to to what you guys do?
• 23:40
  Joe Schroeder: Zach doesn't mind me jumping in. I think it's paramount. I mean, it's one of the most important aspects of of what we do because we want that feedback, good or bad or otherwise. We want everybody to let us know, give us their opinions, hey, man. This sucked, or, hey, man.
• 23:56
  This is perfect, or just this little tweak or whatever. And and sometimes we can do those. Sometimes we can't. Most of the time, we try as best as we can to, but but, yeah, being around those people that are using it every day that are very passionate waterfowlers, letting us know their ideas, their thoughts. Pretty invaluable to us speaking freely.
• 24:17
  Jimbo Robinson: A larger pillow built in to the layout blind.
• 24:21
  Zach Scheidegger: Well, I was gonna I was gonna ask you about it. I don't know if that's safe for you because I hunted next to you in the layout blind, and you were snoring within about ten minutes.
• 24:30
  Logan Nevins: More like a nap pod.
• 24:31
  Jimbo Robinson: It's an it's a it is. Like, if my wife ever asked me, you know, well, doctor reclace these recliners in here, was like, yes. I would. I'd to a tan, zero gravity, no bottom chair.
• 24:41
  Zach Scheidegger: Yeah.
• 24:42
  Jimbo Robinson: It's because, you know, what's funny is is I mean, y'all know this, but, you know, we took those to North Dakota. We've been going to North Dakota for this will be my fifteenth year to go up there, and we went layout blind, a frames, and now we're back to layouts. And what was interesting about going away from the a frames was is we felt like we kept getting number one up there. There's a it's vastly wide open.
• 25:06
  Joe Schroeder: Yeah.
• 25:06
  Jimbo Robinson: And we were setting them up in the middle of the fields that, you know, we were six, seven, eight years ago, and then we had to get on on in the middle of of a, you know, a Pedro or a fence line or something. And last year, we decided to go back to layouts, and we had a really cool, you know, reason for going. It was a part of the the Gunner launch up there and and took the blinds up there. And and do you wanna talk about some naps being taken? And and the best one was we have a a very large man that goes with us.
• 25:39
  He's six six. Yeah. Probably two fifty, two sixty. And he used to have to take a and I can't remember who made it. Doesn't matter, but a massive blind that we called the Cadillac.
• 25:53
  And when we put it in the trailer, it would have to be the last thing to go in the trailer every time because it was so large. And if you broke it all down, it took you an hour to put it back together. And so he he was, like, took in his carry on a ton of cotter pins and a ton of rope and leather to put the Cadillac back together because he said there's no way I'll fit in that blind. And I'm like, okay. And, I mean, we argued for two weeks leading into this trip.
• 26:18
  And when he got there the first day, he originally got in a blind without with no floor. Okay. And he got cold one morning. And I said, dude, I guarantee you can fit in that other one too. And he got in that one the last day and fit, and he could not believe that something that folds up and you can carry on your back fit him down in a layout blind.
• 26:37
  But Great. Mad kudos to y'all for that, but they are the most comfortable, hands down, no questions asked, the best layout blind on the market.
• 26:44
  Joe Schroeder: You love
• 26:44
  Jimbo Robinson: it, man. And it's a selling point I tell people I tell people that all the time that that it it it's there's nothing like it because not only is it a great place to take a nap, but it's also very easy to get in and out.
• 26:58
  Joe Schroeder: Yeah. Stream.
• 26:58
  Jimbo Robinson: And and and the doors that don't lay on you hard Mhmm. You can make a little little a up top if you need to play on your phone or do something on your phone. They stick together, but, you know, it's it's there's not a way to it's they're not uncomfortable at all.
• 27:14
  Zach Scheidegger: Yeah. And I know you made the point too about a pillow, and we do have an extra pillow that you can put on that to kinda make your head go, like, more towards the horizon versus straight up at
• 27:24
  Joe Schroeder: the asterisk. Them on there if you need to, Jimbo. Well You need some pillows?
• 27:29
  Jimbo Robinson: See, I should have called y'all instead of Adam. Adam didn't send any pillows with our layout lines, and so there was a lot of we made some pillows. Yeah. There were some pillows made Okay. With a lot of different things behind your head.
• 27:44
  Yeah. We just need to get some. But that it was awesome, and it was really cool because, you know, we hid nine guys, a camera guy, and then we put the dogs in them. Nice. Which was really cool because they they were you know, you can use it.
• 27:57
  I know y'all make a great dog stand too, but, you know, they there's they're not collapsing on them either. Yeah. And so it was very convenient. In fact, I think Chevy I think Chevy looked out the foot of one of them at one point, and that's where he exited. Okay.
• 28:14
  Joe Schroeder: Yeah. Out of the zero gravity. Yeah. Yeah. Not having a floor.
• 28:18
  Jimbo Robinson: Yep. Not having the floor. Yeah. I think he figured that out one day. That's awesome.
• 28:29
  VO: Stay tuned to the Ducks Unlimited Podcast sponsored by Bird Dog Whiskey after these messages.
• 28:44
  Jimbo Robinson: To me, when I talk to Alps and we talk to to people in the field about Alps, that doesn't seem to be the most questioned or the most thing that people ask about. The one thing that we get a lot, and this goes back to the seaweed day, is the fire pit. Oh, yeah.
• 29:01
  Zach Scheidegger: Oh, yeah. That's that's definitely caught some attention the last few years.
• 29:06
  Logan Nevins: I still can't wrap my head around that thing on how No. How it works.
• 29:08
  Jimbo Robinson: It's just unreal. So did y'all design that?
• 29:12
  Zach Scheidegger: Yeah. Actually, we had two guys on the mountaineering team, Steve, and then another Joe. We call him Joe Joe p. Those two kinda spearheaded that. And there were similar styles out there that they had kinda seen, but they just weren't very practical.
• 29:33
  They didn't, like, there was some assembly required in anything, and I think they just kinda had a vision of of what they wanted. And then through the series of samples, we were able to land on on that design, and, yeah, it's awesome.
• 29:49
  Jimbo Robinson: So try to give the listeners because they obviously can't they're gonna be thinking in their heads, okay, a fire pit's a fire pit's set on the ground. So try to give the listeners the best visual you can to explain this. Yeah. I don't even I I don't even know what how do
• 30:06
  Zach Scheidegger: you even begin The to describe best way to describe it, it's a stainless steel mesh collapsible fire pit. So, like, everybody kinda knows a bag chair. You just collapse it up. That's exactly what this fire pit does. So it collapses like a bag chair into a carry bag, and then the the mesh is
• 30:29
  Joe Schroeder: Completely no assembly. Nothing. Yeah. Just like a chair.
• 30:32
  Zach Scheidegger: The mesh is a stainless steel, so it's got a long lifespan, and it it it's really good at this it could dissipate the heat really quickly. So, like, even after you had your fire in there for a few hours or whatever, if you wanted if you burned it out or put a hose to it, whatever you wanna do, you can immediately touch the mask, like, the mesh because it's it just dissipates so well with the stainless steel. So, yeah, it's been it's been awesome. Like, we say it can hold a 135 pounds worth of wood, which it can because we've done it, but that's a that's a massive fire. So it burns so clean too because of the mesh.
• 31:21
  Jimbo Robinson: It's air everywhere.
• 31:22
  Joe Schroeder: That yeah. It's it's it's virtually smokeless by design. I could probably find it from my wood in my house.
• 31:29
  Logan Nevins: Of it.
• 31:29
  Jimbo Robinson: Of it I can find you some green wood that we can struggle with.
• 31:32
  Joe Schroeder: Yeah. True. True.
• 31:34
  Jimbo Robinson: True. I remember us making a fire at camp one night, y'all giving me all kinds of grief, all you mountaineering people. But it it is. It it's amazing, and it has to be from a show perspective, it has to be a showstopper.
• 31:47
  Joe Schroeder: Oh, yeah. Right? Oh,
• 31:48
  Zach Scheidegger: yeah. For sure.
• 31:49
  Jimbo Robinson: Like, when you walk by it, you look at it, you're like, what is that? Like, it looks like a a firewood carrier.
• 31:54
  Joe Schroeder: Yeah. It kinda does a very large people
• 31:56
  Zach Scheidegger: just just stop and just they have to ask a question. They're like, there's no way that's a fire pit. And then, yeah, one thing wins to another.
• 32:04
  Joe Schroeder: Yeah. The stainless the stainless mesh is good for I think the mesh is rated up to 2,700 degrees, maybe a little higher, but it does it does awesome, man. It
• 32:14
  Jimbo Robinson: really y'all test them?
• 32:16
  Zach Scheidegger: We we had several samples in house for a few years, and then, yeah, we did a lot of it ourselves. So
• 32:24
  Jimbo Robinson: Let's go out back and build a mesh fire?
• 32:27
  Zach Scheidegger: It just like I would bring them to to hunt camps. A few of those mountaineering guys, they one in particular, he goes out, I mean, almost weekly. So he'll he'll go do something, and he put a lot of hours on it. But, yeah, just a lot of in house testing.
• 32:44
  Logan Nevins: Man, that's cool.
• 32:45
  Jimbo Robinson: It is cool. And and are y'all gonna bring one to DUX this year?
• 32:49
  Zach Scheidegger: I mean, we have to now.
• 32:50
  Joe Schroeder: Yeah. We have to just about.
• 32:53
  Zach Scheidegger: We should
• 32:53
  Jimbo Robinson: probably bring more than one. Yeah. I would I mean, I'm just you know? It was a cool product at Seaweed, and it caught a ton of attention. And people ask me about that all the time because they they, you know, I guess when they think of Alps in the and and the DU series, right, the incredible products y'all made with the DU logo on them, that's not one that comes to their mind.
• 33:13
  But because it was at Seaweed, we did a bunch of, you know, fun social media around it there. It was just it catches people's attention. It and it just makes you go, man, how does that work? Yep. And so I'm I'm I think it'd be fun.
• 33:26
  Yeah. If they would let us light fires in there, we could we could easily light a fire, there'd be a lot of people standing around it because that you know, they have an amazing air conditioner down there.
• 33:35
  Zach Scheidegger: Yeah. No kidding.
• 33:36
  Jimbo Robinson: And when you tell them to put it on snow, they will put it on snow. Sold a lot
• 33:40
  Logan Nevins: of sweatshirts because of that last year.
• 33:42
  Joe Schroeder: I remember that. Yep. I remember that. Yep. People people buying jackets and hoodies.
• 33:46
  Jimbo Robinson: Oh, yeah. I I think I did. I bought I think I had to buy my daughter one, so it came back to bite me a little bit. Don't tell them to put it on snow. Well, you know, one of the cool things about about Alps is, you know, and and this is something that y'all both talked about early on is is what what the product line is with DU.
• 34:06
  The partnership with DU is through that waterfowling line. And what both of y'all kinda said is that you get to dabble in so many other parts of the business that y'all have. What to our listeners out there that may not be familiar of everything that Alps makes, mountaineering is where y'all started. Correct?
• 34:23
  Zach Scheidegger: Yeah. Correct.
• 34:23
  Jimbo Robinson: Yep. And that's like I mean, we're talking tents, chairs
• 34:27
  Joe Schroeder: Sleeping bags and Alps.
• 34:29
  Jimbo Robinson: Sleeping bags.
• 34:30
  Joe Schroeder: Yeah. Yeah. Just name, gosh, name an outdoor category, and we've got product in it for sure. But
• 34:37
  Jimbo Robinson: What's really cool is I'm I'm not a 100% on this, and correct me, but I have a boat seat, Alps boat seat in my Wirigle, and it's it's a mesh Yep. Back boat seat. The captain left. Yeah.
• 34:52
  Zach Scheidegger: So yep. That's How
• 34:53
  Jimbo Robinson: long have y'all been making those?
• 34:55
  Zach Scheidegger: Oh, that was probably been around five years at this point now.
• 35:00
  Joe Schroeder: I think I think it was around maybe a year or two for me, Zach. So okay. So, yeah, a little bit more than seven. Seven years maybe.
• 35:07
  Jimbo Robinson: But I don't think people realize that y'all make those types of seats as well.
• 35:10
  Zach Scheidegger: I I I agree. Sometimes it's sometimes it's hard to get the message out to the masses of everything we really can do. And Right. And that's why Joe kinda touched on going to some of those show like like, a lot of these consumer style shows, it's important because, I mean, we do our best marketing to try to
• 35:30
  Joe Schroeder: get it all out there.
• 35:31
  Zach Scheidegger: But even when you're but even when you're pushing product, you you push 15 categories at one time, a consumer can only take in so much. So
• 35:40
  Joe Schroeder: Yes.
• 35:41
  Logan Nevins: If if you had to put a number on it roughly, you know, the number of and I'm not saying, you know, not every camo pattern is a is a different SKU number. But, you know, across all the different categories, like, roughly how many SKUs of product do y'all offer, you know, through everything, do you think? Yeah. That To kinda give the listeners a better idea.
• 36:00
  Zach Scheidegger: That would probably be tough. Like, if you're counting mountaineering and outdoors, and we also have the Browning line. We have a Browning camping line, and then we do a lot of SMU pieces too, but I would say you're at 5,000.
• 36:15
  Joe Schroeder: Wow. So would you think Woah.
• 36:17
  Zach Scheidegger: That's a probably pretty decent guess, Joe?
• 36:20
  Joe Schroeder: For sure. For sure.
• 36:22
  Logan Nevins: That's a lot more than I was originally thinking. And knowing kinda what Alps puts out there already, that's still way more than I thought.
• 36:29
  Zach Scheidegger: And and, yeah, that's just that might not be, like, key key pieces, but overall skews, like, that's that's I'm probably pretty close.
• 36:38
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. Somehow ended up with a Browning, like, go chair, like, bag chair.
• 36:43
  Zach Scheidegger: Yeah.
• 36:43
  Jimbo Robinson: I don't I have no clue where this thing came from, but it's one of their chairs. They have brown chair.
• 36:50
  Logan Nevins: You had that in your in the hallway the other day.
• 36:51
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. And I'm like, where did this come from? And so I took it home, and my daughter loves it. It's like her favorite thing when she takes it to every baseball game we go to now, and she pops it up. And I think it's because she can kinda lay sideways in it.
• 37:05
  Maybe when she gets bigger, it won't be as nice.
• 37:07
  Zach Scheidegger: But It's super it's super lightweight and collapsible. I know that
• 37:11
  Jimbo Robinson: Oh, yes. On that one. And it it's comfortable. It kinda sits you at a good angle to watch a baseball game, and it's pretty it's a neat thing. But, you know, you're right.
• 37:18
  There's so many SKUs out there, and I was just thinking about that browning chair when he was talking about the browning line. Like, you people have because I had a few more Alps products than I thought when I met them Mhmm. Three years ago. When you start looking at it, you're like, oh, my boat seat's Alps boat seat. And Adam said, I saw that one of your pictures one time.
• 37:35
  Joe Schroeder: Yeah.
• 37:35
  Jimbo Robinson: And so it's really cool because I didn't even know y'all made that. Didn't even know it was y'all's until, you know, we talked about it. But the other but y'all done y'all put a ton of of effort into not your everyday blind bag. Oh, yeah. Like, I mean, I I think that's one of the things you hit on earlier was that collapsible.
• 37:55
  Well, I have a a I'm in Don't get me don't get mad, but I'm gonna call it the doctor Quinn medicine woman blind bag. Right? Oh, I've seen it. Exactly what I think of.
• 38:06
  Joe Schroeder: I've seen it. Your ditty bag?
• 38:07
  Jimbo Robinson: Well, yeah, that massive, like, tan y'all called it a blind bag. If you have to fill up that much stuff in that blind bag, I could take an entire and I have a lot of stuff in my in my blind bags, but that thing is awesome. Very underrated. Not just a blind bag. Yes.
• 38:28
  Zach Scheidegger: Okay. I think I think I left that one with you on on our last hunt, maybe.
• 38:32
  Jimbo Robinson: Yes. Okay. It's the doctor Quinn Medicine woman. Like, you go look at back in the days in all the the western shows, the doctors carried that, you know, that roundish bag, canvas bag. Is it not out anymore?
• 38:46
  Zach Scheidegger: No. We got it.
• 38:46
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. Yeah. Gonna say because I think it's it's part of the DU line now. Ain't it in bottomland?
• 38:52
  Joe Schroeder: Potentially tan? Which one is it, Zach?
• 38:55
  Zach Scheidegger: I think it's I think it's the
• 38:58
  Jimbo Robinson: There's there can't be like, I'm not giving it credit then. Joe, it's the one that's collapses and has a zipper on top and it's got the two pop out pockets.
• 39:06
  Joe Schroeder: Yep. Yep. It looks it's like it's like a it's almost like a tool bag. Yeah.
• 39:10
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. It's yes. Have you seen this thing? Yeah. It is incredible.
• 39:15
  It reminds me there was a company one time that made the guide series, and I can't remember. Maybe the pro pack blind bag, where you could put nine days worth of duck hunting gear in it. It weighed 700 pounds. But this bag, like, what's cool about it is the pop out pockets on the top. Yeah.
• 39:30
  Logan Nevins: So you put
• 39:31
  Jimbo Robinson: your shells in one. You can put your headlamp and your, you know, your stuff you need to get too quick in another one and keep everything in the inside zipped in.
• 39:37
  Joe Schroeder: So it's the wing The wing shooter. Yeah. Yeah. So those pop out pockets that you're talking about, that's the exact hardware that I was telling you about that is incorporated in these new these new waterproof bags that we got coming out too.
• 39:51
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. Well oh, if it's yeah.
• 39:53
  Joe Schroeder: Pops open
• 39:53
  Jimbo Robinson: That's a just a cool Yeah. I think it's things like that that that that y'all y'all have the the technology and the innovation y'all put behind those bags that just make them really unique that are not your everyday blind bags.
• 40:06
  Joe Schroeder: Yep. Yep.
• 40:08
  Jimbo Robinson: Because zippers break and and and kudos to both of y'all, but that's one of my favorite. I use it as a as a tool bag, and it's awesome for that for those purposes when you're going out working on blinds and stuff because you put your nails and your screws in one pop out. Absolutely. You know, all your measuring tape measure and all notes. It's it's a heck of a bag.
• 40:27
  Yeah. That's When he left at me, I looked at it, I was like, what am I supposed to do with this, Zach? Like, what is this? And he was like, it's a new blind bag. It's coming out this, you know, I think in the spring.
• 40:38
  I was like, I I was I was baffled.
• 40:40
  Logan Nevins: If there's one thing that's true, it's that waterfowls will figure out how to take a product intended for one use fill it up. And come up with 30 different ways that you can utilize that product for something else. Like, it's never ceases to amaze me how many different ways you can come up with using stuff.
• 40:56
  Joe Schroeder: That's part of the fun. And That's part of the fun for us on the design side is there's never one perfect design. Everybody's a little different. Everybody has their own picture in their head of what's best for them. So trying to get in those people's heads and figure out what we can do to get them their best case scenario for a blind bag is a lot of fun.
• 41:16
  Logan Nevins: Jimbo's probably still trying to pitch y'all, like, a specialized Pop Tart pocket or something in some of these bags because that you know, something that doesn't crush the Pop Tarts because that's a pretty important deal.
• 41:26
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. I mean, it's so important that I have to carry a second bag for
• 41:30
  Zach Scheidegger: It's dedication.
• 41:32
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. Ugh. Well, I look like I'm unloading like a woman going duck hunting. Yeah. He does.
• 41:36
  I'll be the first to admit it. Like, when my when it's Tripp and I, man, I've got, you know, two guns, two blind bags because we have to have separate blind bags. Can't pack together. That that's not in his wheelhouse. And then we've got a snack bag, and then I probably got another bag with, you know, more accessories that I'm not gonna use today, I may need them.
• 41:56
  Joe Schroeder: You never
• 41:56
  Logan Nevins: know. Batteries for the mojos.
• 41:58
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. I mean, you never know. Yeah. I actually the funny thing is is I actually carried the doctor Quinn Medicine Woman bag, duck hunting one day, and I had so much stuff in it. It was tipping the boat on the way to the woods.
• 42:13
  Joe Schroeder: That's great. We might
• 42:14
  Jimbo Robinson: have in batteries. We might have in batteries. I was taking in batteries. I had a couple extra boxes of shells. We were taking some guys that were that do not duck on a ton.
• 42:25
  And so I had a bunch of stuff for them. I had extra gloves, and I had a couple jerk cords. I had all kinds of stuff in there. And no lie, we had to move it to the middle of the boat. Now the boat's not the most sturdy boat in the world.
• 42:36
  It's an old John boat, but it was leaning way left. And then when Slate would run across it and get on that side, we were inches from taking on water. I had to move it to the middle. I was like, this is impressive. But I had everything I needed that day.
• 42:49
  Logan Nevins: Yep. Probably had some.
• 42:50
  Jimbo Robinson: I think I actually packed the groceries in it too. I think I had the biscuits and cinnamon rolls and everything in it. It was perfect. One bag, one gun. Doesn't happen often.
• 42:59
  Joe Schroeder: The doctor Quinn bag. I might have to put that in my name bank.
• 43:02
  Jimbo Robinson: It's gotta be doctor Quinn Medicine Woman. Yeah. May need may need to be added to the description on
• 43:06
  Zach Scheidegger: the website.
• 43:07
  Jimbo Robinson: Takes it back to the takes it back to the Saturday nights when I was a kid when it was doctor Quinn Messon woman, Walker, Texas Ranger, and then the show where the guy got the newspaper a day early. Early edition?
• 43:17
  Joe Schroeder: Yep.
• 43:17
  Zach Scheidegger: I
• 43:17
  Jimbo Robinson: think I'm right. Yeah.
• 43:18
  Zach Scheidegger: Yeah. Yeah?
• 43:19
  Jimbo Robinson: That's a that man, when I was young, seven, eight, nine years old, that's what Saturday nights were with my dad was watching those series of shows. Chuck Norris. Alright. So to have fun with some of our listeners, what is because we've all done it, and I've been thinking about mine now for a little bit. But what is the biggest blooper you've had since designing stuff?
• 43:40
  Like, what is something that you kept that you've kept that you're like, whoo, that was such a blooper. Like, we miss so hard on that.
• 43:50
  Zach Scheidegger: God. I'm trying to I'm trying to remember the movie now. There was a backpack we designed, and it when it got here, it looked just like the there was a I wanna say, was it a Jack Black movie where he was like a wrestler and had this ridiculous face mask on, but it looked just like his face mask.
• 44:12
  Jimbo Robinson: Nacho Nacho Libre? Was that
• 44:14
  Zach Scheidegger: That's it. So then that we're like, well, this isn't gonna work, but the pack then made it to like, you would hide it in somebody's office or you'd give it to somebody for a Christmas present or something, and it just kinda kept making its rounds. But, yeah, the Nacho Libre pack was it.
• 44:32
  Jimbo Robinson: It literally looked like his face mask?
• 44:34
  Zach Scheidegger: Yes. It was almost identical, and we didn't realize it until it showed up. So because you didn't
• 44:40
  Jimbo Robinson: think about it.
• 44:41
  Logan Nevins: That's awesome.
• 44:42
  Zach Scheidegger: Oh, yeah.
• 44:43
  Jimbo Robinson: That's a good one. Joe, have you had any misses?
• 44:46
  Joe Schroeder: There's been plenty, but the one thing that's popping in my head, I don't know if it's a miss or not, but we have a a turkey vest that has a molded back pad. And, you know, we designed, like, the shape of the mold and all that stuff, whatever. And when it came in, we were looking at it, and it looks like it looks like it looks like icon. A Yeah. It looks like it it if you see the vest, it's called the Impact Pro, you'll know what I'm talking about.
• 45:18
  But, anyway, that that gave me the giggles
• 45:20
  Jimbo Robinson: for a good for a good while. Is it still out?
• 45:23
  Zach Scheidegger: Oh,
• 45:23
  Joe Schroeder: yeah. It's doing really good. It it ain't going anywhere.
• 45:26
  Jimbo Robinson: So it's not a miss.
• 45:26
  Zach Scheidegger: It's not
• 45:27
  Joe Schroeder: a miss. Not a miss. It's
• 45:28
  Zach Scheidegger: then you don't see until you see it.
• 45:31
  Jimbo Robinson: And then when you see it, you can't unsee it.
• 45:32
  Zach Scheidegger: See it. That's right.
• 45:33
  Joe Schroeder: You can't unsee it.
• 45:34
  Jimbo Robinson: Just thinking about the transformers. Yeah. Well, you know, y'all have been a tremendous partner. That's one of the things that I think that people, you know, hopefully, people realize, but y'all have been an incredible partner for DU for a while now, not only at DUX, but but it's the it's the it's the go to brand in retail stores to help get us out there on on the camo item. Yeah.
• 45:56
  How many well, you know, where can people find Alps gear? What what what retail stores is some of y'all's big ones that people can go out and buy the Alps DU line?
• 46:07
  Zach Scheidegger: Yeah. I mean, I know for the for the waterfowl line, Rogers is a good supporter. We if the you've kinda mentioned it before where we have so many SKUs, like, to get a real good understanding of what we have. I mean, our, like, going online is gonna be the best thing to really kinda get an understanding on, and then from
• 46:32
  Joe Schroeder: there website. Yeah.
• 46:33
  Zach Scheidegger: Yeah. And then then from there, you can you can start looking. But
• 46:39
  Joe Schroeder: Are we in Shields?
• 46:40
  Zach Scheidegger: For retail, we yeah. Shields has
• 46:43
  Joe Schroeder: I know we are in a lot of categories, but But, yeah, like I know we've been working on them hard to get the DU stuff in.
• 46:49
  Zach Scheidegger: Some areas might have blind bags, some might just have blinds, and it's a pretty big commitment to have our entire waterfowl category on their shelves. So Yeah. It's we are in several, but it might not be the entire selection. So
• 47:07
  Logan Nevins: Can can y'all touch on just kinda real quick about and Jimbo kinda mentioned it a little bit just a minute ago, but, you know, the partnership with DU, but the The Alps commitment to the conservation world and and, you know, the partnership with us and other nonprofits and just the the, you know, the family business and the the family wanting to give back conservation, the importance it is to Alps and just kinda touch on that a little bit, how how important that is to everything that y'all do on a day to day basis to to also give back to conservation.
• 47:40
  Zach Scheidegger: Yeah. I can I can touch on it a little bit? So I would say probably about the last seven to ten years or so, I think our owner, Dennis Bruni, had really kinda seen the trend and almost I'll call it like a warning where we were losing hunters, and we just wanted to make sure we could do anything in our power to help. And I think at the same time too, he started to get two more grandchildren, and they started getting a little bit older. He wanted to do his part to give back.
• 48:15
  So we were always in conservation at some in some form or capacity, but there's no doubt the last, I'll call it, seven to ten years, we've been involved so much more. I mean, we didn't even, like we even have a turkey line where we have a licensed NWTF now too. So, like, we're in all these different categories, and the conservation groups are endless for us that we work with. It's just some are at different capacities than other, but it's without a doubt important to the ownership here, and I think even including that too with with the employees that we have too, it's a big it's a big deal for us because we all have memberships in different in different conservation groups as well. So I think it it will continue to be that way for the foreseeable future too because I feel like it's Yeah.
• 49:08
  It just makes sense. So
• 49:10
  Logan Nevins: I just thought that was important a
• 49:11
  Joe Schroeder: little bit
• 49:11
  Logan Nevins: to touch on too because, like you said, you know, the wide category that y'all
• 49:15
  Zach Scheidegger: are
• 49:16
  Logan Nevins: in through all the different realms. There's there's a lot there and to to have the the thought process of, hey, we we offer stuff for everybody no matter what pursuit you're in, but we also give back to make sure that, you know, we're trying to preserve that stuff for the future. So I think that's a really cool aspect of it that that y'all do every every day.
• 49:35
  Jimbo Robinson: And I think one of the things that that Logan just hit on too that most people in the public don't know is that when when when a company makes a a corporate partnership with DU, it's it speaks more to that company and their passion for conservation. Yep. Because by doing that, you're taking part of the profit and giving it to Ducks Unlimited.
• 49:54
  Zach Scheidegger: Correct.
• 49:55
  Jimbo Robinson: And every time that yes. It's a branding thing and every time the DU logo is on it. But for us, right, when I walk into a store and I see something with DU on it, first off, my kids
• 50:05
  Joe Schroeder: go, hey, dad. Look.
• 50:06
  Jimbo Robinson: They have the DU head on it. But it's also it it it means more than just Ducks Unlimited. It means a company is passionate about the outdoors. They're passionate about giving back to conservation, and and and it means a lot. It's a branding for us, and it's also, you know, a way for us to bring in another source of revenue.
• 50:25
  But for y'all, it's stamping your importance and your your impact that you can make on conservation outside of just making a really awesome product like y'all do. It's it's it's a statement. It's a way it's a lifestyle for you. Yeah. Mhmm.
• 50:40
  And I think that that's that's a big part of of what, you know, the Brunies, both of them, Dennis and Adam, what they what they kinda stand for, it means a lot to them. Yep. For sure. Really does.
• 50:50
  Joe Schroeder: And we
• 50:51
  Jimbo Robinson: can see it in yeah. We can see it inside of it doesn't stop there for them. Right? They're very passionate about the next generation, and and you can see it as he's passing down the business, you know, what he learned, what what mister Dennis learned to Adam and and the boys. And but, also, you know, they're they're big supporters of not only DUX, but third term.
• 51:10
  Yeah. And so, you know, it's it's it means more to him than conservation. It's also instilling the things of the next generation and and his leadership and and what Alps stands for too, you know, at our leadership summit, our university leadership summit at third term. Yeah. So it's really cool.
• 51:27
  Joe Schroeder: I think that's one of the
• 51:28
  Zach Scheidegger: It just
• 51:29
  Jimbo Robinson: ahead, Jimbo. No. I was just saying it just deepens that relationship that DU and Alps have.
• 51:33
  Joe Schroeder: Yeah. I think that that's another part of the cool thing about these shows that these people can come by and meet somebody like Dennis Booney and listen to him talk about it who does a way better job than I ever will be able to as to why DU and Alps are such a good fit, and we mesh so well together, not only in business model, but just the people are so great at your organization. When we get along, excellent. And, anyway, yeah, coming to meet a guy like that at one of these shows, it's a really good opportunity for people to to ask him questions as well.
• 52:05
  Jimbo Robinson: But it's his passion. Absolutely. And that that's what it's rooted in, and that's what you can hear when you talk to a guy like that is, you know it it's funny you say that, you know, I'll I'll never be able to explain it as well as he does, but it's at the at his core, that's who he is. Right. I think people like all of us sitting in this room have leaders, have people, mentors that we look up to, and those mentors have been just doing it longer, and the passion burns more and more every time they get to tell the story.
• 52:39
  And at some point, I hope that, you know, the legacy that all of us have is that, man, go talk to to Zach, Joe, Logan, Chris. You know, when you talk to them about DU and Alps or whatever it is, their passion just burns through whatever they say. Mhmm. And it's it's it's amazing. Those people, we look up to them and say, god.
• 52:57
  That it's those leaders have this amazing ability to tell the story, and it's because they've been telling it. And then as they tell it and as they continue to live it every day, it becomes stronger in them.
• 53:07
  Logan Nevins: And we saw that a lot last year at DUX
• 53:09
  Jimbo Robinson: through 100%.
• 53:10
  Logan Nevins: Yep. You know, people going up and talking to Dennis or Adam or anybody, talking to all the different brands that are at at a show like DUX, the number of kids that were there that came to see their, you know, influencer heroes and stuff that they see them on YouTube and wanna, you know, follow in their footsteps kind of thing. It it's a really cool outlet to be able to to get, you know, like minded people together in a room and and go about that passion.
• 53:35
  Zach Scheidegger: Yep. I'm excited to get back there
• 53:36
  Joe Schroeder: after the show, man. Yeah.
• 53:38
  Jimbo Robinson: Well, as we begin to wrap up, any big any new plans? I mean, y'all don't sit y'all don't sit around and do nothing. There's no way you get to 5,000 SKUs sitting around that office doing nothing. So
• 53:48
  Zach Scheidegger: No. There's always something.
• 53:50
  Jimbo Robinson: So Besides the Guardian series, is there any new plans for the booth? Any additions that we add on? Yeah. We got
• 53:56
  Logan Nevins: a upper deck this year, like a
• 53:58
  Joe Schroeder: We're only
• 53:58
  Zach Scheidegger: I think we we'll have a little bit of a different design, but Yeah.
• 54:02
  Jimbo Robinson: It'll it'll be a little bit different. A little
• 54:03
  Joe Schroeder: a little even more open, but if you can believe that. But it'll be
• 54:07
  Jimbo Robinson: No front porch.
• 54:08
  Joe Schroeder: No front porch this time.
• 54:10
  Jimbo Robinson: No back porch rocking chairs. None of that.
• 54:12
  Joe Schroeder: I don't No. I don't think so.
• 54:13
  Zach Scheidegger: I haven't seen the final plan, but
• 54:15
  Joe Schroeder: We'll have to make some room for some fire pits for sure. Definitely definitely some layout ones.
• 54:20
  Jimbo Robinson: So, yeah, bring the fire pits to the duct in. We'll we'll figure out
• 54:23
  Zach Scheidegger: a way to
• 54:23
  Joe Schroeder: We can we can work something out.
• 54:25
  Zach Scheidegger: I know we That is We do plan to offer a pretty big giveaway too if people come by and and sign up for that. We're we're gonna work with maybe even a few other manufacturers in the industry there too. So make sure you stop by and and scan the QR code to sign up. So
• 54:42
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. We'll be doing some other
• 54:43
  Joe Schroeder: cool fun stuff. So it'll be it'll be a good show. I'm really, really looking forward to it.
• 54:48
  Jimbo Robinson: It's really interesting. Everybody is coming in with giveaways this year.
• 54:52
  Logan Nevins: Yeah. I've I've been hearing that a lot, you know, from the vendors I'm talking to is they're either asking, hey. Can we give this away? Or, you know, what are the guidelines around this? And it's it's a lot more than last year.
• 55:04
  So I think if you come to this show, you're gonna have a chance to win a lot of really cool stuff.
• 55:09
  Jimbo Robinson: Yeah. And that's what's really cool is we had a lot of people last year and a lot of vendors told us how well their sales were. And this year, it seems like it's the year of the give. I don't know if it's the $5 gas that that will not be $5 by then, hopefully. But it's it seems that that it's it's everybody is kind of trying to give back to the industry.
• 55:30
  It's like, hey, man. Last year's show was incredible. Mhmm. We're gonna give back a little bit this year, which is really exciting. Yeah.
• 55:37
  Because I think that, you know, not not every person that walked in there was there to buy. Right. We know that a lot obviously were based on sales reports that we've heard, but the impact you can make on on somebody winning a really cool prize. And we're taking a different approach this year to our our our grand prize giveaway. People don't know that.
• 55:56
  Joe Schroeder: Well, I
• 55:57
  Jimbo Robinson: guess we could
• 55:57
  Logan Nevins: A little teaser there is we're we're also looking you know, we'll have a lot quite a bit of giveaways, maybe on a a daily hour every hour door prize, technically. Nice. So make sure you get there to to sign up for that. So some some teasers there on our side.
• 56:13
  Jimbo Robinson: Yes. That is that is yes. Every hourly. Maybe we could put a fire pit in the hourly giveaway.
• 56:18
  Zach Scheidegger: I'm guessing we can make that work. There we go.
• 56:21
  Jimbo Robinson: Look at that. We know that. So Let go ahead
• 56:22
  Logan Nevins: and make a note of this so I can
• 56:24
  Jimbo Robinson: Write that down at 03:07. They said we could but, yeah, we're that's gonna be a lot of fun. We're really looking forward to it. We're stealing one of y'all's ideas from last year with with a little musician thing. We got we got cooking we're gonna announce in July.
• 56:38
  Joe Schroeder: But Very cool. Very cool.
• 56:39
  Jimbo Robinson: It's just a fun thing that that that the team decided, hey. We wanna try to keep people. We can't add any more vendors. We can't force people to be there, but what we can do is try to offer something really cool late in the day kind of after the calling contest kinda wraps up. That Saturday afternoon seemed to be a little bit slower than we would have hoped for some of the vendors.
• 56:59
  We didn't wanna we wanna keep the excitement all day, and so we're offering something really, really unique, we think, to kinda keep people hanging around or get people into the to stay till the end of the show on Saturday afternoon. Neil. Really excited about that. It'd be a big announcement coming in Couple weeks. Couple weeks.
• 57:18
  Yeah. Man, it's coming fast.
• 57:19
  Joe Schroeder: It is coming fast.
• 57:20
  Jimbo Robinson: Forty four days. Well, anything else you guys wanna wanna tease the audience with or anybody maybe coming to DUX that exciting you guys have?
• 57:29
  Zach Scheidegger: The bigger thing will be that giveaway, and then we'll have some other maybe some hats and koozies will be given out too. And then I know we all typically, in the past, I think we're gonna do it again. It we always have a a discount running through the show the show hours too. So if you do think you like something you see, even if we don't have it there, you can pick it up and do an online order, and we can send it to you at no charge with that.
• 57:57
  Jimbo Robinson: I was gonna
• 57:57
  Logan Nevins: ask y'all that to to touch on that real quick before we go is because a lot of your products are are, you know, like the blind and layout blind or the the frame blind. Nobody wants to haul some
• 58:08
  Zach Scheidegger: of that. Around. So
• 58:09
  Logan Nevins: Yeah. Hauling that stuff around. So, you know, just to let people know, like, hey. You can you can come there and buy it, quote, unquote, buy it at the show, and it'll be drop shipped to you later at a later date.
• 58:20
  Zach Scheidegger: So you
• 58:20
  Logan Nevins: don't have to worry about hauling all that big stuff around.
• 58:22
  Zach Scheidegger: And it will be out of discount too.
• 58:24
  Joe Schroeder: Come to the show, get the deal, and on those bigger items, of course, there'll be free shipping. Give the the folks that are actually showing up a good benefit by showing
• 58:33
  Jimbo Robinson: That's awesome. Well, Zach and Joe, thank you so much for taking the time and and to be on the show again today, and come see the Alps team. I think you come through the middle doors of Hall A. Yep. And they're right there to the right, I believe.
• 58:49
  Yep. If my memory serves correctly.
• 58:51
  Logan Nevins: That's correct.
• 58:51
  Jimbo Robinson: They will be right there in a great position. Come by and see the Alps team. Check out the fire pit. Check out their awesome layout blinds and all the DU line gear and the new Guardian series. Yep.
• 59:03
  It's gonna be a lot of fun. Excited to see that that series, and, man, we're excited to hang out with y'all again. Think it's gonna be a great time, and look forward to seeing y'all in Memphis, July 31 through August 2. As we wrap up another episode of the Ducks Unlimited Podcast, we look forward to seeing all of you here in Memphis, July 31 through August 2 at DUX, and we are out. Watch out for geese.
• 59:35
  VO: That's a wrap for today's episode of the Ducks Unlimited Podcast brought to you by Bird Dog Whiskey and Cocktails. From post hunt unwinds to celebrations back at camp, Bird Dog delivers award winning flavor to every moment. Enjoy responsibly. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe, and check out ducks.org/du podcast for more stories, science, and all things waterfowl. Guest opinions are their own and don't necessarily reflect those of Ducks Unlimited. Until next time, stay fired up, stay focused, and stay tuned to the ducks.