Latest / DuckFellas Podcast / Talking Taxidermy: Brett’s Journey from Duck Hunts to Woody Creek Taxidermy

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Talking Taxidermy: Brett’s Journey from Duck Hunts to Woody Creek Taxidermy · DuckFellas Podcast

3:00
Welcome back to the Duckfellas Podcast, episode 17.
3:05
Joined here with Cade and Pookie, who chimed in last second once again.
3:12
Just in time. I also told him if he didn't get on, I was going to shit on his door handle.
3:19
That's fair. I get it. I wish he wouldn't have got on now to see that.
3:27
We also got a special guest here this week Mr. Brett Henderson with Woody Creek
3:32
Taxidermy How we doing guys?
3:35
Fully autistic today Yeah,
3:39
We're going to have to send out some tutorials on how to operate a computer
3:43
and internet to Pookie evidently,
3:46
Yeah I get like anything you
3:49
guys want to say because this is two straight weeks of computer issues
3:52
with me like i probably deserve them i'll
3:55
take them i don't know what's going on technology and
3:58
me i guess we're just we're just not tight anymore yeah i'm beginning to think
4:03
it's not the computer boss beginning to think it's no it's it's definitely one
4:08
way or the other i'm going to get a new computer tomorrow i've heard that like
4:13
four times now i know facts.
4:18
Uh, well, what's been going on since the last episode, boys? Anything new?
4:24
No, not here. What about the Pokemon cards? We're making progress with that?
4:29
Yep. AI's a beautiful thing. That shit's funny. I'm so pumped to release the Pokemon cards.
4:37
Oh, man. Well. Collector's edition. Yeah, no, that'd be sick.
4:45
Let's let's just jump let's skip over the news which is because there's not
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much news we'll we'll hit some
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of that at the end let's just jump straight into talking with brett here,
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and a little bit of his backstory for what he creek kind of brett what uh what
4:59
really got you into taxidermy yeah well i've only been duck hunting for probably about 10 years or so,
5:07
and a few years ago i was like i need to do something you know a little more
5:10
involved with And I'm like, oh, I could do taxidermy. And that was probably about four years ago.
5:14
And I just kept doing it ever since.
5:17
So, yeah. Seems like it's really taken off for you. Yeah, people like my birds, I guess.
5:24
Pretty like you playing with their birds? Yes, they do. Jesus.
5:32
Dead alarm. And it begins. Off to a hot start. I don't give any details,
5:39
though. That's as far as I'll go.
5:42
I mean that's yeah it's probably a good thing we keep it PG yeah,
5:46
For Buki's sake. Thank you. Young years.
5:53
So, I know we talked about it a little bit before we got live here.
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You were mentioning that you're looking into maybe taking a bigger role into it.
6:01
I'm guessing you're doing pretty well in it then. So, are you going to look
6:05
to take on more birds than if you do that a year?
6:08
Actually, this is my first year advertising. And I actually filled my freezers.
6:12
So, at capacity right now. and I plan on doing it. I'm actually plan on going full-time in April.
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So, yeah, I'm able to do what I want.
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It just is a passion of mine and everybody made it come true.
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I've been working every day at it, so.
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That's cool. You did good.
6:31
That's pretty awesome to do something that you really enjoy doing for your job.
6:36
Yeah, well, another reason was like, well, what can I do where I can duck on any day I want to?
6:42
Oh, yeah, I'll be my own boss. Yeah. And I heard that works out pretty good most of the time. Yeah.
6:50
Or you just act like Pookie and have 17,000 days off.
6:55
I don't know why you're mad. I'm not mad. I'm just jealous.
6:59
Yeah, just because I get to do it. Dad takes all 60 days off,
7:03
too. Not all 60. Let's not get carried away.
7:08
It might be 60 between duck and goose season. Maybe. Maybe, maybe. That is fair.
7:15
So you kind of, I mean, obviously you're going full-time, so it's taken off really well.
7:20
Kind of getting into like your, your day to day, what all goes into like preparing
7:24
a bird starting from obviously having some common sense when you put it in the freezer at home. Right.
7:33
So I guess when I get the bird that I actually did this last year,
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I let them thaw and I actually skin them all right away and take measurements
7:39
of the carcasses because they take a lot less room in my freezers when they're skinned out.
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So I wrap them in strand wrap and then freezer bags and label them and have
7:48
that all in the freezers.
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And then when I'm going to go mount one that day, I'll pull it out,
7:54
flush it, wash it, mount it.
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I tried to do the prep work before. Like, so my goal is like Mondays,
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I'll do paint the heads, inject the feet and get everything ready for four or
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five birds I'll do in a week. And then each day I'll mount one bird.
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So how long, how long of a, of a day is that for you? Mountain one.
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Mountain one. If I include Monday and doing the feet and then into that one,
8:19
I'd say around probably eight to 10 hours. That's crazy.
8:24
It's a long time. Yeah. That's a whole day's work.
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For one finished bird. It also doesn't end there.
8:33
I'll keep preening it the next few days. I've got to do finished work, base work.
8:37
All the time I spend ordering materials might be 10 to I don't want to say 12
8:41
hours, but time here and there.
8:49
Dang it. I forgot what I was going to say.
8:54
I have a question. And so you said that your freezer is full right now.
8:58
Like what, how, how many birds is full capacity free right now?
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I think I'm around 140.
9:05
Okay. Holy shit. Birds. Plus when I, you know, if I get rid of some geese or
9:10
do some birds and I'll have more room. Those geese take up a lot of room.
9:14
Oh yeah. You know what else takes up a lot of room? A pelican.
9:17
What? Yeah. I got one from the conservation officers to do one for their nature center.
9:23
Oh, that's sick. Yeah. That's bad. I was going to say, who brought you a pelican?
9:27
Yeah, they found it dead over by Red Rock up on the dam or something.
9:34
Seems suspicious. I know. Interesting.
9:39
Now it checks out what Pokey was doing that one day where he wouldn't text us
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back. Uh-huh. Don't worry about it. I'm just talking to Brett.
9:51
That's going to be an interesting mount. What do they do?
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Is it going to be a standing mount? No, they're going to hang it.
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Hang it from the ceiling, I think.
10:00
Oh, boy. Wings out and everything.
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One of those greater northern snow geese. Yeah.
10:09
That thing's probably what, like two geese, pretty much? Oh,
10:13
Colton said it must have floated. No, I think they thought it hit like a telephone
10:16
wire or something and fell to the ground.
10:19
Hmm. Interesting. I might be thinking of the wrong spot, but.
10:23
That'd be awesome to watch a pelican fly into a telephone wire and just crash into the ground.
10:28
Dude, it's like watching a turkey fly into a semi. It's freaking awesome.
10:33
Not when you're driving the semi, probably. Oh, shit. No, that would not be fun.
10:40
So you basically told us here, how many birds do you take on a year than if
10:45
you have 140 in your freezer still?
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Well, my goal was to see how many I could get in this season,
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if I'd be able to go full-time or not, and I wanted to hit at least 100, 120,
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and I was fully prepared to get a part-time job to be able to do more birds,
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you know because i'll get i'm only mount maybe one bird a week now and i'm like
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i want to get good if i mount four or five birds a week i'm gonna get really
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good so i hit my goal and so that's probably what i'll take around i'd like
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anywhere between 150 to 200 probably to do in a year.
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That's not bad and they do said it takes realistically about a week or is it
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just a couple days to get like from start to finish on one bird yeah so i could
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easily do one in a day especially if i take monday to do all the you know feet
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and prep work and stuff and then they take two to three weeks to dry so and
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that's when the customer can pick them up,
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unless they don't bring you the rocks pretty easy damn I said unless they don't
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bring rocks to you that's true,
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I'll have it delivered tomorrow you got some time I think I'm going to do your
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guys' birds around like probably middle summer see Tyler that's what I tried
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telling you no I just like giving you shit though,
12:00
it's too easy it's too easy so what about is the average wait time right now
12:07
like with that many birds in your freezer Or how long is the turnaround?
12:13
Yeah, so these last birds I got, I'm trying to keep my turnaround under a year.
12:16
So that's a lot of other taxidermers that, you know, it's higher.
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My goal is to keep it under. That's why I'm only taking in so many birds.
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So a lot of people that bought me birds like last summer or beginning of season,
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I'll have them done before this season.
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I'll have the majority of them done before this season. You know,
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I can hunt as much as I want.
12:35
Yeah, absolutely. That's overrated. Who wants to hunt that much?
12:40
I know, right? I'll just have the good days.
12:42
So going back, going back to like how it starts, how do you,
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how do you want somebody to put their bird away in the freezer when they shoot it?
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They know they're going to mount it. What's your, your recommended process there?
12:54
Honestly, if they have the time, which not everybody does, if you shoot it that
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day, bring it to me that day. Don't even freeze it.
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Cause then I can look at it thawed. That's, I look at them thawed and I can
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see, you know, what we can do.
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We can do flying, standing, need to hide damage or whatnot.
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So, but a lot of people can't, but if you can get it to me within a week.
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Just put it in a freezer bag or roll it up in a couple of bags and bring it to me.
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If you have to store it for a longer time, wrap the feet in a damp paper towel and freezer bags.
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That's the best if you can fit them in there. If not, take a couple of trash
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bags and roll them tight and get all the air out and tape them tight.
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They can last a long time if they're not exposed to air.
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That's what I've heard too. Yeah, I was going to say, I feel like every horror
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story you hear is just because the bag ripped or whatever. yeah.
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So like what are your I guess I know you posted a new,
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price rate for your birds what is your going forward is it going to stay the
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same or another price increase here they'll probably they're going to stay the
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same probably for quite a while I had them,
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A little lower beginning of season, and I had to up it because I realized I
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could probably go full-time in order to pay my bills.
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And I want to spend as much time I can with each bird, and that's why I keep
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my time shorter, so I'm spending a lot more time with each bird.
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So, yeah, the price, the low range for ducks and I think pheasants are $600.
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All that one-on-one time with them birds. Yep. That's Jesus.
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Why do you got to make it weird? I don't know. Somebody's got to do it,
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and you guys are being fucking lame right now. I mean, yeah,
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I'll be home alone. A lot of birds.
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At least he's playing into it. That sounds like a wet dream for Tyler.
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Can I come over one of these days this winter?
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Please don't let him in your house. We could stuff one together.
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All right, I got to get out of here. Everything turns into a two-man job immediately.
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So moving on when is when is a bird not like if somebody texts you and says
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they have a bird but it's got pretty fucked up when is that bird not repairable
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or not worth bringing to you,
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It depends what they want. Flying, obviously shot in the wing, I can fix some things.
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If things are shot in... So birds have the same bones as us.
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And then their wrist is like our hand. And their primaries are like their fingers.
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So if any time they're shot in the wrist, that is a bad spot for flying.
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It's really hard to hide.
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So usually those ones, I'll say, will do a dead mount or standing.
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But then besides that, there's tons of holes in the head.
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You can't really fix that. So that's a no.
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Feet, I can replace. So that's not a huge deal. Hmm. Well, good thing Cade shoots all his in the ass, so.
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What? You can get all yours mounted, bud. In the ass? What do you mean?
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Yeah. When they're flying away, it's 70 yards.
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They're never flying away. They're always straight up. Come on, you know this.
16:04
Question that just popped into
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my head. Yeah. Do you like the finisher or no? Yeah, no. Yeah, no? No.
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So no finisher. No finisher. I mean, it adds another hole that I got to deal with. Right.
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It's really not a huge deal. You probably wouldn't notice. It'd be more annoying than anything.
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Like one bird I shot this year, I shot a shoveler that was really nice.
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And it was still alive and felt bad. But you pretty much suffocate them.
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Squeeze it on their lungs. Reach around their back and pretty much pass out.
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I was going to ask you. I was going to ask you, because I mean,
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like normally you either use a finisher or ring the neck, but obviously you
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don't want to ring the neck with a bird you're going to mount.
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So I was, I was curious what you had to say about how you, how you'd like to
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go about it. If you don't like the finisher.
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I'd rather have a finisher than ring the neck. Yeah, for sure.
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There's nothing worse. Bring it in with like a three foot long neck on a mallard.
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Dude, there's nothing worse than when you ring a neck and then you look at the
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bird again and you're like, damn, that was a pretty, pretty nice bird.
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Too late now Wrecked,
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Pookie what you got,
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Is there any bird that you haven't done that you would really like to do?
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Like any bird, I guess, any style?
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Hmm. Well, I'm doing a Brant for the first time next month, which is actually
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shot in Nebraska. So that would be cool.
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And then I got a black dot coming up. I've been wanting to do one of those.
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Tyler's. I was going to say, did dad give you the first one?
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I wish it was prettier, but it'll work. He's in great condition, though.
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So still I don't know what I want to do yet but we'll see,
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right I'll I'll keep I'll keep it safe at my house till you build yours dude
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by the time Breck gets to it it'll be I'll have the building up be putting it
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in there I've heard that before,
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yeah I know oh I got one coming this summer that'd be cool I got an owl,
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That would be sick. Yeah, an owl would be really sick. I got to have all my
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paperwork, you know, because those birds are special.
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Protected. Yeah, protected. This one's actually endangered, so.
18:24
Oh, shit. It's a month I'm going to work on it. It's a barn owl. Huh. Bull.
18:29
That was, so that was a question I thought of. It's like, when you,
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whenever me and Cade brought birds to, you were texting us and like you needed
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our license number and all that stuff.
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Is that part of the process you have to do on your end for when you go to inventory it? Yep.
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So I have everyone's address, hunting license number, location shot,
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because they're migratory birds, so they are kind of protected in a way. Right.
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That's if I get checked. I want to make sure I have all my information.
18:55
Right, because you're way over the daily bag limit.
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Right, yeah. And you've got a pelican.
19:01
And an owl. That dude's going to San Quentin. I can't remember the name of it,
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but that one would be fun to do. How big's that thing?
19:09
It's a yellow-tailed... Oh, I can't think. It looks like a woodpecker,
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but it's not. I can't think of the name.
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Probably six inches, seven inches. That's sick. Six or seven.
19:20
I'm out of here.
19:24
Is there any styles that people frequently request that maybe you aren't as big a fan of doing? Hmm.
19:35
I don't, I can't think of any, honestly. Sometimes divers. I don't like divers
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standing because they look awkward.
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Yeah. Because they never stand.
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Fair. No. What is the most, like, what is your most common style that people ask for?
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People have been, a lot of dead mounts. Yeah. I feel like that's getting big,
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like, on the gloves and, or the hanging upside down dead mount stuff.
20:03
Yeah. I haven't seen a lot of this.
20:06
I'm kind of surprised by that. I don't hate dead mounts, but I'm not a huge
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fan of dead mounts. I like the flying mounts, personally. Same.
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Yeah. I'll just have tons of birds, so I can just do as many as I want.
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What's your favorite style? Do you have a favorite? Are they all about the same?
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I don't know. Something about just a standing bird. Just seeing that cool football
20:29
shape and just looks nice. Or swimming. I like that pose, too, a lot.
20:34
I like that that one you have as your facebook profile picture for your page
20:38
where that was it the blue that's upside down yeah that was pretty cool yeah
20:43
that was last year's uh taxidermy show that thing was sick.
20:48
When is when is that that taxidermy show it's actually end of march so march
20:53
26 27 that's open to the public too if anyone wants to come see i'll be posting
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the times on my page Where is that at?
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At the Sheraton, I believe, in West Des Moines. They're just south of Living
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History Farms a little bit.
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That would be kind of cool to go to and check out all the different mounts.
21:12
Yeah. It's pretty sweet. There's a lot of stuff there.
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Especially if you're looking to get a bird mounted. Right.
21:19
That'd be awesome. Is that just a lot of local taxidermists,
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or is there just a bunch of people from all different states there?
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Some people will travel. we had a few guys from Missouri come I know some Wisconsin
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people would come this is my third year going to the show so.
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Which is cool. One of the guys actually went down to Texas, took a class with
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a guy, and he's actually our bird judge this year.
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So you'll be able to see my difference. I've been in three years.
21:45
That's cool. I'm excited for that. That's going to be sweet.
21:48
So do you guys just take, like you mount birds ahead of time?
21:52
Yeah. Is there anybody that mounts them there? Or is that like a bigger expo kind of thing?
21:57
It's a bigger expo. Some shows will actually do them. Like you have like three hours to mount a bird.
22:02
I feel like those would be sick. Yeah.
22:05
I thought I'd seen a video on Facebook a while back of there was a taxidermy
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show where they mounted the birds like at the deal.
22:13
Yeah. Some places will do that. We haven't had that at ours.
22:16
That'd be fun to do though.
22:18
Like don't some places do it like as a competition too, like to see how quick
22:21
you can do it and that stuff. Yeah.
22:24
That's what I thought. And then score on it and whatnot. That'd be wild.
22:29
That'd be fun to watch. Just walking down the line, watching everybody try to
22:32
mount a bird in no time. Should do one blindfolded.
22:39
Especially whenever you hear one mess up, he just starts cussing up a storm
22:42
over there. Fuck! It launches a bird across the room.
22:48
I hate it here. Going home. Hell of a flying pose.
22:52
Yeah, well, speaking of doing a lot, I got a booth at the Delta Expo.
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I think one of those days I'm going to mount a bird there.
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I'm going to try. No promises, but I'm going to look into it. That'd be sick.
23:03
So we were talking about that before we went live here while we were waiting
23:06
on Pokemon and Kade to get on.
23:09
Well, it only took them about an hour. I know.
23:13
I just want you guys to know that I've been down here trying to get logged in
23:17
since 6.30, so it took me just over a half hour to figure out technology again tonight.
23:23
Hey, ZB Kitchens has a question for you, Austin.
23:27
Oh, gosh. Yeah, I think I've had this since I was in high school.
23:32
Like five bucks off the internet.
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Just a ham-up free neck that I wear around the house. Shout out to Zach.
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He's one of the first guys that brought me birds.
23:43
Hell yeah. Yeah, he's the one that told me that he had a guy that didn't do very many birds.
23:48
He told me about you, I think right when you got started. He's like,
23:51
he does really good work and he don't take very many birds. Yada, yada, yada.
23:56
Finally broke down and brought you one. Sure.
24:00
But that bird you got of mine is only going to be my second bird I've ever had mounted. Oh, right on.
24:06
I would not. So when I was a kid and I first started hunting,
24:10
my dad told me, we're going to mount your first duck you ever kill.
24:13
And then the first duck I ever killed was a Mallard Drake, but I blew its brains
24:17
out. Like its head was gone.
24:19
He's like, well, we'll just wait until your first band and mount it.
24:22
And I held true to that all the way until three years ago. Right.
24:30
The one that you have of mine is my second, too. The only other one I got is that blue right there.
24:35
Yeah, that pintail's going to be cool. Yeah, that thing's going to be sweet.
24:38
Can you believe he was questioning getting that mounted? He's like,
24:41
should I get it mounted? It's like, yeah, dude.
24:43
You know, it's funny. I saw it on someone's story, and I commented.
24:47
I'm like, if you don't want that bird, I'll take it.
24:49
It was probably Dawson. Yeah, it was Dawson, yeah.
24:53
And he's like, he's bringing it to you. I'm like, oh, even better.
24:56
Yeah. I guess that means that I'm going to have to get something mounted next year.
25:00
I'm going to have to shoot something mount-worthy since I'm the only one that
25:03
doesn't have a bird with Brent right now.
25:07
That speck that Tyler shot this year would have been a good one.
25:11
Yeah. And I told Pookie to shoot it, but my gun's unloaded.
25:17
It wasn't even unloaded. I mean, technically, yes.
25:20
I had a shell sticking out of it, but if I was thinking I would have just only
25:26
rocked two shells with how close that thing was, it would have been just hind,
25:29
but when some you lose most.
25:33
You could have smacked that thing with the end of your gun barrel.
25:36
I'm pretty sure the wad out of my bullet is still stuck in that goose somewhere. Yeah.
25:42
Well, that was a good one. That was a terrible day. It was snowing so hard.
25:48
It did snow very hard that day.
25:50
Yeah that was the day I lost the lights on the little boat too yes that was
25:55
a great time great time it was just us and Luke out there that day nobody else
26:00
was dumb enough to go out I don't
26:01
think I thought there was like two other boats but they left like right,
26:06
I don't remember in like the first hour,
26:09
I don't remember that was too long ago.
26:13
Get that grandpa memory rocking anything like before yesterday I can't remember
26:17
so doesn't matter what'd you eat for breakfast I don't know.
26:26
Is there anything else you two jackasses want to ask Brett? Wow.
26:32
That's crazy. Donkeys. Wow.
26:35
Did I have a fan comment asking Brett to talk about the Four Rivers Layout Boat?
26:40
Which we did plan on moving into that a little bit here.
26:43
Pretty much about now. Yeah.
26:47
So I have the Refuge Runner, and I think I've had it for four or five seasons now.
26:53
And it's a great boat. I mean, it's so stable. I could probably take out four
26:57
dozen decoys in that thing and the only problem is it's slow and you can have
27:00
one person in it. But besides that, it's a killing machine.
27:04
Did you sell it yet? Are you selling it? Yeah, I am selling it.
27:08
I haven't yet. I'm going to repost it when it gets a little nicer out.
27:12
I just got tired of going slow just to stand in willows. Dude,
27:16
I offered you one day to pull you out there.
27:19
I know. Wait, who shot their ducks that day, though?
27:24
I don't even know what day that was, so I couldn't tell you. Ooh!
27:28
Couldn't tell you. I got a good
27:30
memory. Got him. Was that the day that we just got back from Nebraska?
27:34
Was it me, Zach, and Dawson? Yeah. Yeah.
27:37
We got pretty close. I think we were only a few shy. Oh, there you go.
27:41
But it was four, and you had by yourself.
27:45
Yeah. Yep. No, I had another guy with me. We shot our eight.
27:50
Yeah, you did. Yep. Oh, you can remember that, but you can't remember what you had for breakfast.
27:54
Well, once we start talking about stuff, you give me about 45 seconds,
27:57
it starts coming back. But if you ask me a question to remember it right away, nah, get out of here.
28:03
Boo. Eh.
28:07
Yeah, no, they're great boats. I mean, I've brought them up to land and drug
28:12
them over and kept going.
28:14
And so you ever had a moment like tipping it or anything that was like, oh, shit.
28:24
No, not really. If it's super windy, I won't go. Well, this year,
28:28
my dog rides on the front and he decided to try to grab something. And I ran him over.
28:35
Oh, thank goodness. He's OK.
28:38
Yeah i cut that motor right away and he came up on the backside just floating
28:42
like what the hell happened dude you ran me over what the heck the way you said
28:49
that was just so nonchalant,
28:53
i just ran my dog over good yeah,
28:58
Well, he's ridden up there for four years and never once fallen off,
29:02
and then some reason he just did it this year. I don't know.
29:05
What do you have for a dog? Stupid dogs. Well, Black Lob, he's six.
29:10
Dang, all our dogs are about the same age. I know it. Is that at least six? He's a good boy.
29:16
Hank's six too, isn't he? He's seven. Seven? Six, seven?
29:24
I think he's seven. Yeah, he's seven. yeah i knew they were pretty close in
29:28
age damn dog so how was your how was your hunting season this year do you have
29:34
a decent year a lot of mistakes like i'd go to the wrong spot the spot i wanted
29:39
to go the people would shoot them and it was battling that but,
29:44
that's why he's selling us the boat getting faster one it was really good early
29:49
season and then i couldn't hunt towards the end of the season obviously because
29:53
it's hard to go out in ice in the tiny boat and then also I had to work a bunch
29:57
too so early season was good middle was alright and I didn't really hunt that much yeah.
30:04
Yeah it was i mean it wasn't near as good as the year before or even the year
30:08
before that no i wrote down my numbers so i hunted last year 135 times and i shot 134 birds myself,
30:17
and then this year yeah this year i hunted 30 times i only shot 90.
30:21
You have to pump those numbers up what are you doing no
30:25
last year was great for me yeah i mean honestly i
30:28
don't know who really didn't do good last year other than colton bradley that
30:31
guy did terrible oh wow oh
30:35
my gosh more shots fired yeah
30:39
taking shots the audience now it's a bold move cotton yeah as far as sneak votes
30:45
go i'll probably always have one i just want something faster now but if i get
30:49
another sneak vote it'll be a faster one probably like a county line i can still
30:52
go faster you know i've heard those are pretty nice. Yeah.
30:57
What's yours have for a motor on it now? Six and a half. How fast does it go?
31:02
Predator? Oh, I don't know. I could run faster probably.
31:06
Got a little 12 foot john boat that little thing is fucking sick nice yeah the
31:12
problem with those sneak boats they don't go up on plane they like put water
31:16
yeah he talks about his 12 footer being sick but every time he takes it out
31:21
lately it breaks down dude that thing is sick but it is,
31:27
sketchy that's because you like to sit that's like because you
31:30
like to sit clear in the front of the thing yeah don't sorry
31:33
i'm over half the length of that boat like i
31:36
don't have any room to be in there austin just perched up
31:39
on the bow like a dog dude the first time he got in it he did i'm like no don't
31:44
do that this thing's 30 inches wide need him a choke collar okay con it mind
31:50
you i think we had like three or
31:52
four dozen decoys in there too like i'm basically laying on top of decoys,
31:57
guns, blind bags.
32:00
And did we have our layouts in there that time too, maybe? We did.
32:03
I even made two trips that day.
32:05
Gosh, dang, you guys were loaded down. Yeah.
32:10
We went to leave and Austin's like, I see a perfect place I can walk.
32:13
I'll just meet you at the truck. Yeah.
32:16
We're all about efficiency over here.
32:19
No, we're not. Oh, it was awesome.
32:24
Didn't help that he had zero sleep that night either. no i did not yeah that
32:29
was terrible he has a lot of those days during duck season because he always
32:34
works nights yeah i know i'm fortunate but my wife really hates it,
32:41
yeah because you get home and wake her up and then go to sleep for two hours
32:44
and wake her up again yes yeah the get home at midnight she wakes up and then
32:51
she has to hear my alarm go off for a half hour at three o'clock in the morning.
32:55
Not impressed. Yeah.
33:01
So pookie you added this question why
33:03
don't you ask this one to brett is it the blind
33:06
bag dump yeah yeah so just a
33:09
blind bag dump like whatever you got in there
33:12
and then i think i added a second part to it sorry i don't
33:15
have that because i'm actually logged in
33:18
to my wife's thing so i can't yeah my doc
33:21
you so like another like what what you can't
33:25
hunt without that's in your blind bag that you always carry obviously some
33:28
form of caffeine it's energy drink if
33:31
it's really cold i'll take coffee in an energy drink and i actually like holding
33:36
off people drink on the way out there i wait till a couple hours and then i
33:39
crack that thing sound like a lot better oh yeah tyler's the same way yeah it
33:46
usually goes on the shelf you know yeah i chugged mine on the way to the boat ramp.
33:51
No, just enough drinks to last all day and food. Nothing really special. Just the normal stuff.
33:59
No hidden like Little Debbie's or anything like that? No, dude.
34:03
No victory Christmas tree cakes? I don't eat none of those. Get out of here. You're kicked out.
34:11
Brett looks like he weighs 140 pounds soaking wet.
34:15
He does not celebrate with Christmas tree cakes like we do clearly.
34:25
You got zip ties in there? Zip ties? Zip ties, duct tape, gun oil.
34:31
Oh, I like to keep plastic gloves, latex gloves.
34:36
When your hands get cold, I found that helps a lot. Wear them underneath your
34:40
regular gloves. Especially in those sneak boats, you get wet no matter what.
34:45
And your hands don't get wet. I found out that helps a lot. Or hunting with
34:50
Tyler's little boat, you get wet no matter what, too.
34:53
That's what I said. Tyler doesn't believe me. a real thing. You just gotta know how to run though?
35:00
Toilet paper is a big one for a lot of guys, especially Cade.
35:04
Come at me sideways. Cade is good at taking some oboe dumps. Yeah.
35:10
It's always...
35:12
10, 10.30, I'm like, oof. The burritos are hitting, boys.
35:21
Things are getting shitty. I got to make like a tree and get the fuck out of here.
35:27
So, are you a face paint guy or no face paint? No face paint.
35:33
Dang, dude. I'll wear a buff or some shirt that goes here.
35:39
Like a neck gator almost, but pull it up? Yeah, yeah.
35:43
And are you a hat or a stocking cap guy when hunting?
35:47
Both. Do you wear both or at the same time? I'll switch in between the two.
35:53
Until it gets cold, I'll throw a stocking hat on.
35:55
Yeah, everybody makes fun of me because I look like Elmer Fudd,
35:58
but when it gets cold out, I keep the regular hat on so I can keep my face hidden.
36:04
Tyler Rose gives me shit for it, and I'm like, dude, I'm cold. Leave me alone.
36:08
Do you guys use any earplugs at all? I bought
36:11
some this year just the they're like the cheaper walkers ones yeah I tried to
36:18
use those one year and like I don't know if it was the exact one but like it
36:21
was almost like delayed the sound like a quarter a quarter second off and I
36:26
couldn't do it yeah it's weird I don't I don't love them.
36:31
Yeah I don't wear earplugs cause I can't hear anything anyways yeah I think
36:36
I should but I feel like the delay would really mess me up too like,
36:43
I would have to buy something nice enough that it didn't have that delay or something.
36:49
I'm just not into spending that kind of money on those.
36:52
I'm right there with you. See, mine doesn't have a delay, but when you blow
36:56
a call, it trips the thing off. So you can't hear shit.
36:59
Can't hear yourself calling? Yeah, it drives me nuts. That would be tough.
37:04
I have heard, I think it's Soundgear. They make their, whatever they are, $1,500 or some shit.
37:10
But they have a, like you can edit the, trip filter in the app. Oh, that'd be slick.
37:17
So like you could hear yourself call, but it would still go off over a gunshot.
37:20
Could you say they're like $1,500?
37:23
They're probably more than that now. That's insane.
37:27
Let me Google it right now.
37:29
Yeah. Yeah. No, thank you. I'll just keep getting my eardrums blasted out.
37:35
It'd be fine. We're going to look it up right now.
37:38
Eventually, they're going to have technology where they can replace your hearing. It'd be fine.
37:42
They do. do it's called hearing aids those don't work very well I'm talking
37:47
like actually replace hearing aids,
37:50
Dude, I could really see you wearing, like, the Bluetooth hearing aids,
37:54
just answering your calls from your hearing aids. Yellow.
37:58
That would be right up your alley. That would be handy as shit when I'm working. Yeah.
38:03
Yeah, their Phantoms are $1,600.
38:07
Oh, shit.
38:09
That's wild. I mean, you're talking about a really nice shotgun for that kind
38:13
of money. Or a pair of waiters, the way you guys rule.
38:16
No. Not me. You can get two pairs of waders for that.
38:21
Not the ones you little fucking sick of boys buy. I bought one pair for $700
38:26
and the other pair for $800, so actually, yes.
38:30
Bitch. I had to get you fired up. I've been fired up all night. Where you been?
38:37
Had to get you really fired up. Wah.
38:43
So what's your preferred style of hunting? Obviously you mainly hunt out with
38:48
sneak boats, but do you have any other preferences and ways you like to hunt? Hmm.
38:55
Yeah, sneak boats.
38:58
You don't ever walk in nowhere? Oh, I'll walk in places, you know,
39:02
they can't obviously get boat to, but I don't like, I did enough walking a few
39:08
years ago. It ain't worth it unless the birds are there.
39:12
Even then. If I know they're there, I'll do it. I'll do anything.
39:15
If I have to walk five miles to get there, I'll do it.
39:18
Even then, like sometimes I've been like, oh, we just got to walk in and we'll
39:22
kill them. and then you walk in and drag all this shit out there and you don't kill fucking shit.
39:27
Did that multiple times this year. I contemplated life many times this season.
39:32
You're two miles from the truck and you're like, fuck it. Yup.
39:36
Eagles, come eat me. I don't even give a shit.
39:39
We're staying here and we're going to try it again tomorrow.
39:43
I feel like it's pretty evident talking about the sneak boat,
39:46
but you a duck or a goose guy? You like shooting geese or no?
39:49
Yeah, I like shooting them. I just don't go. I have friends that invite me,
39:53
but I'll end up mounting a bird here instead of go goose hunting.
39:57
That's just because I was working two jobs. I think this next year I'll get out more for geese.
40:03
What do you got against the geese? What the hell? I don't know.
40:06
They just don't do it for me.
40:08
Same. Geese over water though?
40:11
Yeah. I mean, that's fun, but not as fun as killing ducks.
40:17
I'd rather mount a bird than shoot geese, but I'd rather shoot ducks the amount
40:21
of bird. That's my priority.
40:24
That's fair. That's understandable. Yeah.
40:29
I don't know though. Like you have a like a super windy day and you just watch
40:34
a big ball of geese crawl across the field at like 10 yards off the ground the entire way to you.
40:40
That's pretty sick to watch. I'm not going to lie.
40:44
It's even more sick on that high wind day when they're just like breaking the
40:46
treetops and then they have no choice but to just go straight down. Yeah.
40:51
It was pretty cool that last hunt we had in North Dakota. It was really windy
40:55
when we killed all them geese. Super windy.
40:58
And the way the wind, we were hunting right on the edge of a bluff on a lake,
41:01
and the way the wind hit that bluff and come up, the geese acted so weird coming in.
41:06
Like, it was kind of wild watching them trying to get down because of the way the air was coming up.
41:12
Maple leafing and shit. they were doing that like two feet off the ground. Oh, that's sweet.
41:19
Yeah. It was wild. I really wish we would have had like your camcorder set up from that because the,
41:26
The majority of the birds that we shot, like, we watched them come all the way across this field.
41:31
I mean, we shot a couple birds coming behind us, but the majority,
41:35
like, we could see them in the distance, super clear day, and,
41:39
like, they just did it all the way across.
41:42
Not for the first two hours, though. We were getting all very depressed for
41:45
the first two hours of that hunt. Yeah.
41:49
They just skirt us with the wind for the first two hours.
41:53
There was a whole lot of calling and a whole lot of disappointment.
41:55
Like, oh, it's our last hunt.
41:59
It was fine. Calm down. Oh, it was? Then we smashed him for an hour straight.
42:06
Still mad about that pintail we lost, though. Same. How'd you learn it?
42:13
There wasn't any ducks in this field. And one pintail came within range of shooting.
42:19
Not necessarily close enough, but within range to shoot at. And we dropped it.
42:23
Like, it fell dead. Instead, we could not find it.
42:26
Huh. In a field? We sent three dogs. Well, it kind of fell down the bluff somewhere by the lake.
42:33
And we sent three dogs down there. And one of them got sent of something,
42:38
but couldn't find it. Damn.
42:41
It probably fell like down in a hole behind a rock or something, Stephen.
42:45
Could have. There's a lot of rocks on that lake on the bank.
42:49
It's kind of like red rock when it comes to how the bank is. Yeah.
42:53
But I don't know. This is what it is. Still mad about it.
42:57
Because you didn't have that dude shooting 60 with you. That's crazy.
43:02
It's almost like that guy was invited and said he was going to come and then didn't.
43:07
I knew that was coming. Yeah.
43:09
But we all knew that guy was going to back out at some point.
43:12
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Not this time, fuckers.
43:16
What do you mean not this time? We're not scheduling nothing.
43:19
Good. I didn't want to go anyway.
43:22
Pookie's all busy this year. Yeah. Yeah, a little busy for me.
43:26
We'll see we'll see what the old lady says if she lets me leave for a week in
43:31
november this year how about no do not hold your breath for me.
43:40
Not good have you ever hunted out of state yet brett well i hunted it was with
43:46
a guide out in massachusetts for sea ducks how was that it was sweet we were
43:52
like in plymouth harbor right Right where the first people came over.
43:59
Shooting ducks. Having a Boston tea party? Yeah, exactly.
44:06
I love it. Shooting eiders, scooters, long tails.
44:11
That would be fun. Even though I don't like shooting shit ducks.
44:15
Yeah. Oh my god. Yeah, you know how the ocean smells. That's how they tasted.
44:20
That's why I don't shoot them.
44:25
It'd be cool if one of these times or one of these years we can get you to come
44:27
out even like on a short trip or even this year when you get together for at least one hunt. Yeah.
44:34
Well, in general, rescheduled. So we'll figure it out. Me too.
44:38
All of November. Perfect. Can't relate. We'll make sure, we'll make sure that
44:43
the boat has propane and he's cooking good breakfast.
44:47
Boat has propane. Right. Yeah. If we're cooking breakfast, we don't have propane. I mean, come on.
44:54
That'll be all the propane you have, though.
44:57
Well, I can't help it that you guys get fucking cold easy, okay? Grow up.
45:02
Dude, everybody was cold. It was raining that day. I was dry.
45:07
Yeah, so was I, but I was still cold. Yeah, but you get cold when it's 50 degrees out.
45:13
Not anymore. Not since I got new waders. Just fine. You like hit puberty.
45:19
Jesus Christ. All right. It's been fun, guys.
45:26
I thought we were just coming on here to have a cool conversation guy that mounts
45:30
birds yeah I got any more mounting questions,
45:35
yeah Pookie got any more mounting questions oh it's always gotta be me Pookie just likes to be mounted.
45:44
That's sick how much money to fuck up both their birds message me after.
45:58
He's gonna be getting retro,
46:01
I've seen a lot of birds that you've done I can't wait to like actually shoot
46:06
something that I want to mount someday send it off to you oh yeah we all look
46:12
forward to that Pookie what's your your criteria,
46:15
oh if the first speckle belly that I shoot is getting mounted sure Even if it's
46:22
just like a straight gray chest? Yep.
46:29
I think specs are so sweet, and I want to shoot one.
46:34
I mean, obviously, it wouldn't make it that much cooler if it was all BARDA and whatnot.
46:39
But no, regardless, for spec, I shoot.
46:43
If I shoot any Banded Duck, for sure.
46:47
Or, I don't know. I mean, I could easily be persuaded if I shot like a really
46:52
pretty Spoonie or Drake Mallard to mount one of those too. I don't know.
46:59
You guys just haven't tried hard enough yet. So, honestly, it's on them.
47:04
Challenge accepted. That doesn't let me shoot at Spoonies very often. What do you mean?
47:11
It's your limit, bro. Dude, we shoot at Spoonies last, not this past year,
47:15
but the year before, Or me and you shot a plenty of shovelers.
47:19
Yeah, no. Yeah. And we did kill quite a few. None that were really that pretty,
47:24
though, honestly. Two years ago, we didn't.
47:27
Really not going to see too many pretty shovelers in Iowa in October and beginning of November.
47:32
No, but the ones I saw today, oh, boy. Yeah, here's the one I shot this year.
47:38
Damn. That'd do it. End of October.
47:41
That's crazy for that bird. That is wild. Dang.
47:46
Yeah they're flying in and i was like oh shit and they landed like probably
47:50
30 40 yards out i'm like i'm taking the shot broke his wing and that's the one i had to put down.
47:57
Put down. Humanely.
48:02
Thank you for adding that. I will be the last pheasant that I shoot over my
48:08
dog too, just because I have his first pheasant, so I might as well have the last.
48:14
Yeah, he's eight.
48:18
So I'm hoping for at least a couple more.
48:22
He still hasn't slowing down all that much, so I'm hoping for a couple more
48:25
good seasons, but you never really know.
48:28
Yeah. That dog is a straight crackhead.
48:32
I love it.
48:35
I planned on getting Ellie's last retrieve done too, probably. Maybe Ellie also.
48:41
Oh, dog. Yeah, I won't do that.
48:44
That's a no for me, dog. You can't get her, you can't get it to do Ellie with like holding the bird?
48:49
They actually sell like fake dogs that you can put a bird in the mouth.
48:53
Really? Yeah. I don't think I've ever seen that. It's like plasped.
48:58
I mean, it's not real hair.
49:00
It's like plasped or molded or something, and then their mouth's open,
49:03
and you just have to duck in there.
49:06
I don't think I've ever seen one done like that. No, I haven't either.
49:09
I just see it in the catalog of my order stuff.
49:13
Be interesting. That'd be kind of weird, though. Yeah, I'm not about it.
49:18
That's what I'm saying. It'd be interesting.
49:21
Can you imagine somebody not knowing you have that just walks into your house
49:24
to grab something? real quick and then they're like, oh, fuck.
49:27
Oh, shit. Especially if you get it blocked. That way it looks a little softer.
49:35
Oh, boy. That's awesome.
49:40
Well, while we're kind of getting closer to the end here, are you planning on
49:46
going to any of those DNR meetings coming up?
49:49
Well, I'm at this year and they are. I was interested, but I haven't planned
49:52
on anything yet. Probably should.
49:56
I mean, yeah, if you have anything you'd like to see happen or change or just
50:00
kind of hear what they have going on, really, that's pretty informative.
50:03
I think it'd just be interesting to hear it all. Right.
50:07
Those are, that's next week already. Goodness gracious. Next Tuesday,
50:11
the one in Des Moines is. Oh, you mean Des Moines?
50:14
Mm-hmm. Yeah, they got them all over the state. Actually, I meant,
50:17
that's what I forgot to do. I forgot to call them today. Like tomorrow, Tuesday?
50:22
No, next Tuesday, the 3rd. Oh, the next, the 3rd. Okay. Yep,
50:26
March 3rd. It said, I'll pull up the list real quick while we're sitting here.
50:30
It's, the one in Des Moines is at 7, or no, 6.45 p.m. on George Flag.
50:37
Should be interesting. Should be a fairly decent turnout, kind of from what I'm seeing, too.
50:41
Right. But you know how waterfowl hunters are. They talk about doing stuff and
50:46
can never get together on anything. Checks out.
50:50
True. Other than that, I think the week, next week, I got the Iowa Sportsman's
50:57
Club banquet. I don't know. Pookie, are you going to that?
51:00
I don't know. Wait, no.
51:03
I'm on midnights. I can't. Oof. Oof.
51:10
So, I'll be hanging out with Bradley, then. Sorry about your bad luck.
51:18
Bradley and Griffin. Because I know I got a seat with the Delta guys,
51:22
I guess. What Zach was telling me.
51:26
You had better just plan on getting yourself a hotel room then. Yeah.
51:32
I don't have to get hammered just because they're getting hammered.
51:36
No, but it's easier, sure, you know. It's way easier.
51:40
I mean, I'm good. I don't really want to get that fucked up.
51:44
I got Cade's Bank with the next night that I'd rather get fucked up at.
51:47
That's in Knoxville. That one's going to be rowdy. Like,
51:50
and by the way, the past couple have gone, it's going to be rowdy. I look forward to that.
51:57
But yeah, no, I'm looking forward to the meeting too next week and I meant to
52:01
call, I meant to call the DNR today because we've seen, I was talking,
52:05
I think to you about it, Cade, wasn't I? Yeah.
52:07
The Wisconsin, they only do four meetings total through the whole state,
52:11
but they do one of them virtual.
52:13
It's a Zoom meeting and they have, like, they announced it a month ahead of time.
52:18
You can go and sign up for the Zoom meeting, DNR sends you a link and you can join in,
52:23
I think you'd get a I bet you they'd get a pretty good turnout on that compared
52:26
to like in-person meetings,
52:28
I think so yeah the worst thing is too they're all around dinner time and people
52:34
getting off work I get that it's relatively hard to make it to it but that having
52:39
it virtual would be I feel like there's no excuse to not show up then,
52:43
right I mean it takes a lot of the excuses out of it I mean you might you can
52:47
get on it and listen still even if you're not,
52:50
actively engaging in it.
52:53
Might see if RDNR has any interest in doing something like that at some point. It'd be interesting.
53:02
Before we get out of here, does anybody, do you guys have anything else you
53:06
want to add or ask Brett in general?
53:11
What's your go-to shotgun shell, Brett? Last
53:15
year I really liked that shooting six-shot business you got
53:19
money money oh boy well that
53:22
was last year not this year but i was shooting five shot six shot steel still
53:27
and i liked it i like the i like the bigger pattern i mean if you're killing
53:32
them close anyways it doesn't matter what you're shooting at them i'd rather
53:35
have a bigger pattern what do you run for a choke muller decoy muller decoy.
53:43
I don't think I've ever used one of those yeah no I've loved it I've had it
53:46
for the last 3 years I shoot 20 gauge 2,
53:50
SX4 never failed on me once hell yeah Winchester all the way yep I had a Franke
53:57
and that thing clicked on me more than anything are the Franke's inertia driven?
54:02
That's why I don't like an inertia gun no.
54:07
Never liked them real quick
54:10
before we close this thing down brett how
54:14
can people get a hold of you where are you at where can
54:16
they find you yeah so i mostly go
54:19
through my facebook page which is woody creek taxidermy and well i actually
54:24
named it after we used to hunt a woody creek all the time and just pound the
54:27
wood ducks and i'm like oh i'm gonna name it after that so woody creek taxidermy
54:32
on facebook so yep and i'm located it in Carlisle, Iowa.
54:38
So pretty close to a lot of people.
54:41
Yeah. You got a bunch of birds mounted in your shop or anything like that people
54:44
can see? Yeah. I got a few in here. I'll have a lot more coming up. So.
54:49
It's awesome. Well, since I am full, I'll start doing birds in April and then
54:53
I'll see where I'm at in like June, July and people still have some, I'll take in some more.
54:58
Nice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
55:04
I think that about does it for us here. We definitely appreciate you coming on.
55:08
It's been a blast talking, and I'm
55:10
sure you've had plenty of entertainment listening to us go out and talk.
55:16
Yeah, we'll definitely have to hunt sometime this year. No, I look forward to
55:19
that. That'll be a blast. Make sure you bring a tank of propane.
55:23
Will do. Get over the propane thing. Brett stands in the water.
55:28
Listen, he doesn't get as cold as you guys do.
55:31
I can take the cold. See? See? It's a different cold than that.
55:36
Hard-sided boat, though.
55:38
No, it's not. Yes, it is.
55:42
Lay down in a fiberglass boat in the water with your dog wet behind you.
55:48
Yeah. No, thanks. Yeah, I was going to say, the sounds are way worse. Yup, I'm all bad.
55:56
Yup, you win. What do you want, Ellie? Go away. Stinky?
56:02
Smelly, not stinky. Well, she's both.
56:06
Now she's debating on if she wants to get on the couch or not.
56:09
But I think that about does it here. We definitely appreciate you jumping in
56:13
here, Brett, and dealing with our shit.
56:18
But, yeah. Yeah, thanks, boys. Nice talking to you. Absolutely.
56:24
If you're listening in to this podcast, obviously we're live on Facebook and
56:28
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56:31
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56:36
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56:42
And uh please hit that like or subscribe follow whatever it is button on whatever
56:47
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56:52
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