Latest / DuckFellas Podcast / Duck Call Deep Dive: History, Craft, and Controversy

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Duck Call Deep Dive: History, Craft, and Controversy · DuckFellas Podcast

3:01
Welcome back to the Duckfellas Podcast, episode 25.
3:06
Hosted today just by two lonely people, Tyler and Cade, Zach and Pookie.
3:12
They just want to ditch us all the time, bro. I know. It's bullshit, honestly.
3:17
I know. I'm probably just going to have to fire them, cut their paychecks.
3:21
I feel like you should. Wait, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Paychecks?
3:27
Wait a minute. it. I knew that would get you.
3:32
Indeed. Wow, it feels like it's been a while since we've been on here,
3:37
because it's been a long two weeks.
3:40
Dude, it feels like it's been a month. I know. I was getting stuff set up to
3:45
do this tonight, and I'm like, god damn, when was the last one we did?
3:48
It feels like forever ago.
3:51
It's like, wait, ducks are a thing? I totally fucking forgot about that. Yeah. No shit.
3:57
Well, while you're tuning in here, do us a favor and make sure you hit that
4:00
like button or subscribe wherever you're listening at.
4:03
We'd appreciate that and definitely help us out to keep growing.
4:07
I know our last episode, the one on our miss to stay, if you missed it,
4:13
that was a great episode. Went pretty well.
4:15
We got a lot of followers from that. Had a lot of good feedback about that one.
4:20
Yeah, that was good. For sure. I knew it'd be a hot topic, so I'm glad it took
4:24
off like we I kind of hoped it would.
4:28
The crazy part was we threw that together, what, the day before,
4:31
which is, I mean, most of our episodes are, but that one just kind of like we,
4:36
I think I mentioned it, and everybody's like, that'd be fun to talk about.
4:40
Yeah, it definitely was. The day before, if not like,
4:44
Very late the night before that. It could have been.
4:50
But also, if you're a first-time listener and new here, make sure you go and
4:55
like and follow both our Facebook and Instagram pages and get entered for the
5:01
giveaway for the two Alps blinds that we have right now.
5:03
Pretty simple to enter. You just got to follow both and comment your dream bird to kill.
5:09
Doesn't matter if it's illegal or not. You're not going to kill it if it's illegal, but your dream won.
5:15
Jesus. I feel like we should have made different rules for this thing.
5:19
No, that keeps it interesting. It does, I guess.
5:22
I know we've gained a few more entries in the past two weeks, so that's kind of cool.
5:27
I'm about to enter Pookie and Zach because they're fans at this point.
5:32
That is true. We could enter them.
5:36
We'd have to make one of them a fake birth certificate. it, but I feel like
5:41
they could both pass as children.
5:43
Oh, yeah. Yeah, no, it would work. We can make something work.
5:48
How's, so what, what have you been up to? Yeah, I know you haven't raced yet.
5:52
I mean, are you ever guys, you guys ever going to do that? Yeah,
5:54
we're supposed to this coming weekend, finally.
5:56
See if the weather actually stays like it shows it is.
6:01
That's true. It was pretty nasty out today up here. Yeah, we got pretty lucky.
6:05
I mean, it rained, it rained really hard overnight and then.
6:08
I mean, it rained this morning for a while, but shit, by 7.38 o'clock it was gone.
6:15
I think it was raining all morning here off and on, like, nothing heavy.
6:19
And then it rained again this afternoon. We had some storms rolling.
6:22
Now it's just windy as shit outside. Yeah, same here.
6:27
Ripping. Ripping wind. Yeah, and it got,
6:31
I don't know if it's temperature-wise down there, but it got chilly again up
6:34
here. I'm over this hoodie weather and being chilly.
6:38
Yeah, it did. It was funny. I was up in Des Moines for work today,
6:41
and it got chilly up there.
6:43
Oh, it was probably 3.30-ish, 4 o'clock.
6:47
So, like, I'm leaving work, and I was going to put my sweatshirt on,
6:50
but I was going home, so I was like, yeah, fuck it.
6:52
Got home, and it was still, like, 70-some degrees outside. I was like,
6:55
fuck, I'm glad I didn't do that.
6:57
No shit. Been fucking roasting.
7:01
Yeah, it was hot as shit earlier in the week and then just switched overnight.
7:06
And it's not been bad out. It's just those mornings are pretty cold. Yeah, they're brisk.
7:13
Gotta wear a hoodie pretty much all day right now. Yeah.
7:17
But we need the rain still. As much as people say we don't need the rain,
7:21
we do need it. So I'll take it.
7:23
Yeah, I need it to not rain during the week either, though. Like,
7:27
I need it to not rain for the rest of the year.
7:31
Why? You get paid no matter what. But we are fucking so swamped it's not even
7:36
funny, dude. No pun intended on the swamp either.
7:40
Fair enough. Only partially a swamp, but we are swamped.
7:44
So what's this? You keep talking about boats. Are you going to buy a boat this
7:49
offseason, or are you just going to talk about it all offseason?
7:52
I honestly think I'm just going to talk about it, because you and I talked about
7:55
it, and there's no fucking point really in me buying a badass boat.
7:59
So I'll probably just keep bumming off dad.
8:03
Yeah, but you could buy a badass boat that's not a hunting boat and we could
8:06
have another party boat.
8:08
That's what I was thinking too. But then my wife was like, well,
8:11
if you're going to do that, let's just buy like a ski boat. And I was like, no.
8:16
But what kind of boat, like summer boat would you want? I still want like a
8:20
John boat. That way I can take it hunting if I want to.
8:24
I don't know, I could see you as like a pontoon boat guy.
8:27
Fuck no. With a little 25 Johnson on the back. God damn it.
8:34
No. Nope. Cruising across the lake with your flag in tow.
8:40
Dude, it was funny. I finally got my boat fixed, and Dawson and I took it out yesterday.
8:46
And I wasn't even thinking about it. Like, he caught me no problem,
8:49
which obviously his boat is pretty much maxed out on power legally.
8:54
For what it's supposed to be, but I was just cruising along and I'm so used
8:59
to the fucking 115 on that 1756 that I was like, dude, I am barely moving right now.
9:07
I pulled my thing out and I was doing like 28 mile an hour and I'm like,
9:09
dude, that's a problem. That's a problem that 28 feels like you're putting.
9:14
It's hard to go back once you get that speed. It's terrible.
9:19
I'd rather just be in a paddle boat right now. What the fuck is this?
9:22
No shit. My little boat at least feels fast because it's two inches off the water.
9:27
It's like you're just ripping.
9:30
That fucker still does 18, 19 most times.
9:35
That ain't bad, though. Really, for as small as that boat is, that's moving.
9:39
Yeah, dude, it's 30 inches wide. If you bump that thing a little bit too far
9:43
one way, you're fucking going for a swim. Oh, for sure.
9:48
I still want to put that motor on that final attack I got because that would
9:53
be fun. I bet it does about the same.
9:56
I don't know. I've seen some videos since you brought it up to me,
9:59
and there's a few videos out there of guys ripping on those things,
10:03
And I'm like, but dude, they also have like 800 bucks in that motor.
10:07
Like those are not stock motors at all.
10:10
That's, I mean, yeah, I could just, what was that?
10:15
Fucking Hellcat, it sounded like. Evidently.
10:19
But I could just get a bank from, or get a loan from the bank of Cade and build
10:24
the motor. Yeah, get fucked.
10:26
Well, I do, I do want to build one though. because if you do it yourself,
10:30
which I'm inclined enough mechanically that I could do it,
10:35
I do want to build one, but I have to keep a stock for a spare because I know
10:40
for a fact that I'm just going to have that thing fucking banging off the limiter
10:45
and I'm going to beat the absolute fuck out of it.
10:48
Just send it to Jesus. The real problem is I'll probably take the governor out
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of it so it will have no restriction at all and that thing will never leave
10:56
wide open throttle. Man, what's wrong with that?
11:00
They're not built for that, dude.
11:02
It's built to be a fucking power washer.
11:05
That's all right. Power washer, water pusher, same thing. Not when you bore them out like that.
11:12
Whatever you say. I want to see it.
11:15
That's how they're getting like 35 out of those fucking sneak boats. It's insane.
11:19
Dude, if I ever was on the river and seen one of those sneak boats come past
11:23
doing like 35, like what the fuck was that?
11:27
We'd have to go find a guy and be like how did you do it yeah give me the specs
11:32
how much do you want for it,
11:35
No, that's no doubt. Well, let's move into this week's topic.
11:41
We're going to talk a little bit, or all a bit, about kind of the evolution
11:46
of the duck call, basically.
11:48
How we've, you know, in the past 100 to 150 years, gone from just pieces of
11:53
wood to now these fancy acrylic calls that cost hundreds of dollars compared
11:59
to just go get a block of wood and carve a call.
12:03
This is a great topic for you, too, because you've seen all of it.
12:07
All of it. All 150 years, bud. You've been fucking part of all of it. No, not even close.
12:14
Not even close. Back up. I'm like five years older than you.
12:17
I will say, if Pookie was here, he would have said it before I did.
12:20
Yeah, no. He definitely would have.
12:23
Griffin actually is asking where Little is, and it's a great question because
12:28
nobody really knows except for Pookie.
12:31
Yeah. Yeah. Griffin, why don't you call him, see if we can get him on the,
12:35
at least on a cell phone, be a part of our, our thing we started together.
12:42
Yeah, but he's, I don't know, he's probably playing Bob the Builder or something.
12:47
He's got one of those, like, little tykes fucking hard hats on right now,
12:51
and a little plastic hammer, just getting it after it. Hell yeah.
12:57
What a guy. Dumber than fuck. No, that's a nice guy, not what a guy.
13:02
I know, but he's dumber than fuck still sometimes. Eh, aren't we all?
13:07
Absolutely. Nope, 100%. And we all call each other out on it.
13:12
Oh, if not, I'd be questioning if you guys were actually my friends.
13:17
That's true. That's true. But if anybody asks you, we're not friends,
13:21
we're acquaintances. That's exactly right. I'm glad you finally figured that out.
13:25
I learned about, oh, what was it? Late August, early September of last year.
13:32
Yeah. I think I pointed it out to you to make you realize it,
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but it's fine. You know, it's fine. I'm not good at connecting dots.
13:41
Or coloring inside the lines. Yeah, I was never good at that either.
13:46
I just, I'd make, I'd go out to slide the line once and say,
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fuck it and just make a whole bunch of lines.
13:53
All right. So we'll kind of talk about kind of how we've transitioned from,
13:58
you know, wood-based calls to acrylic and kind of, you know,
14:03
going back 150 years basically to from what it was to what it is now.
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It's kind of crazy how far along just something as little as a duck call has came from what it was.
14:15
Yeah, it's funny too. Like if you look at it, I mean, you would think like the
14:22
way that everything else has gone on through time, like we'd be somewhere way
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different than we are now.
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But I'm glad that we're not because it's still really fun to actually have to operate a duck call.
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It's kind of an art, really. It is, for sure. And then again,
14:37
it's an art to be able to, to blow a call and then work a duck.
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And then there's guys that can blow a call though and not work a duck. Yep.
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It doesn't matter if you know how to make the call sound good.
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You don't have to be good on a call to kill ducks, obviously.
14:54
What was that supposed to mean? Look at Austin. He just tags along.
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Damn, dude. There it is. Got him.
15:04
Hopefully he gets a bunch of hate mail again this week. I hope so. If not, I quit.
15:10
Closing it down. You can send my salaries to Zach.
15:16
Yeah, I've been meaning to mail that out.
15:20
Anyways, so, you know, in the past 150 years, it's been a constant chase to
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perfect this call to sound exactly like a Mallard Hen, basically.
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I mean, that's essentially what all these calls are, are Mallard Hen calls,
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all the major calls that everybody runs.
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I mean, obviously, you have a Drake whistle, and you can use a Pintail or Gaddy
15:42
call, stuff like that off it, But the biggest one's the Mallard call.
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And the way it's transitioned from just a hand-carved piece of wood to a CNC
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that is perfectly engineered acrylic is wild.
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And then not just how that's worked, but also the ways they put these grooves
16:03
in them and the way your spit will flow through the call so it doesn't stick also.
16:07
I mean, there's definitely some calls out there that will stick way worse than others.
16:12
Oh, for sure. the only thing I don't like about
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like where we're at now compared to how it used to be is
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you kind of lost the art of making a duck call like you find one that works
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and then you have a program you make and a machine cuts it out and they're all
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the same which is great for production but it like the I feel like it's kind
16:32
of a lost art to actually build a duck call with your own two hands and a.
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Some some good wood well i mean that's yeah i mean it's it's really taken the
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challenge out of it right that's why you see so many call makers nowadays and
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ever since i've started hunting i've always tried to buy calls from people that
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have actually designed the call and know how to know what they're actually doing
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rather than they bought a design from somebody and they're just,
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having a mass produced and selling it right or
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you know they buy the design like they
17:05
make their own barrel and they just
17:08
put reeds in it and send it out like you can buy rnt guts
17:11
and just make a barrel for
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it and it's pretty easy to pump out a call and put your name on
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it there's it's crazy a lot of people
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probably don't know that they're a lot of the a lot of there's a lot of call
17:23
makers out there that aren't call makers they're just barrel makers and then
17:27
they throw an rnt guts in it or a grounds guts or foil zinc you know any of
17:32
molt gear even i mean all those big guys they'll just throw their guts in it
17:36
and sell it as their own call.
17:38
Yeah, for sure. And that goes back to the whole problem of it being so easy.
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Like, you can carve your logo in it and be done.
17:47
Why carve it when you can just throw a sticker on there? Well,
17:50
you don't see many of those.
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They at least take the time and their little machine carves it out and then
17:54
they paint it and ship it out the door.
17:57
Not as much anymore. You did 15-ish years ago when it started becoming kind of a bigger thing.
18:03
What, 15, 20 years ago when they started like I don't know, people sort of mass
18:06
producing calls and stuff.
18:09
But you're right. I mean, nowadays it's more engraved in either like the band
18:13
on the barrel or on the call itself. Yep. Yep.
18:17
More of a selling point than anything, I think. For sure. But I'll start it
18:22
off here, and with the late 1800s, early 1900s, pretty much all calls were wood and a hard rubber.
18:31
But there was also metal back then, and then they used to have metal reeds as well, which is wild.
18:38
I don't think I've ever had a call that had metal reeds, and I'd like to get
18:41
my hands on one one of these days to try it out.
18:44
Weren't we just talking about that? I feel like it was this year in the duck
18:47
boat we were talking about it. One of us saw it on Facebook or some shit.
18:51
There was like an all-metal.
18:53
Dude, I want to say it was a duck call, but it might have been a goose call.
18:56
It was gangster looking. I believe it was a duck call.
19:01
I think. I think it was this year, and I'm pretty sure it was a duck call.
19:05
I think so, too. Who was talking about it? I can't remember.
19:08
It almost would have had to have been me.
19:10
But it was the whole call, wasn't it? And then the reeds also? Yeah.
19:14
Yeah, that would be wild to have one of those. I was going to buy one,
19:18
but it was like fucking $350 or something. I was like, no.
19:23
You could buy it now. No. I still have morals, guy. Come on. Aww.
19:33
Well, and then, so, I guess I'll do the next one since you didn't take it.
19:38
Then we got you got the 1900s to
19:41
1950s that you know they
19:44
started to have that shift from hard rubber and
19:48
wood to more of like your polycarb and plastics and stuff like that and that
19:54
was kind of when the old calls were starting to get popular like like i think
19:59
it was late later in that time frame like the 40s and 50s when phil old started producing and,
20:07
popularizing the hard rubber and plastic calls.
20:11
Can you blow one of those old wooden calls?
20:16
I used to have. That's what I learned on. Dude, I cannot.
20:20
It is way different. Why do you think that is? Why do you think it's so much different?
20:25
I don't, I think it's the way it absorbs the sound. The way the wood,
20:30
because it doesn't echo it, right?
20:31
As well as the hard plastic or the acrylic will.
20:35
And then also, the wood absorbs the moisture.
20:39
So, that's my reasoning for it. And I think it, for me, I've always thought
20:43
a wood calls quieter because of the wood doesn't, make it echo as bad.
20:48
Yeah. I think, honestly, like a lot of it is, too, with these CNC machines,
20:54
you can tune that thing to the gnat's ass.
20:58
Oh, yeah. I mean, there's no imperfections in it.
21:01
So, like, I mean, dude, there used to be people back then would go,
21:07
like, say they'd go to a call maker, and he'd have, like, 15 calls made up ready to go.
21:12
You could try each one, and each one would sound different. nowadays
21:15
they pretty much all sound the same yeah i mean we've talked about it a couple
21:20
times but you still get your your reed imperfections that you kind of got to
21:25
dick around with but other than that like the the call is a call i mean each
21:31
one is pretty much the exact same if not the exact same,
21:35
yeah a hundred percent and you can you can tune a reed yourself and cut it down
21:41
which i you and i I both generally do that.
21:43
We'll, we get a call and we'll fuck with it and sometimes ruin it and have to get more reads in.
21:47
Yep. Done that several times. Yeah. This is me off. Especially when I'll have
21:52
a spare one and I cut it too short and it sounds like a fucking raping teal.
21:56
Yep. I can tune a goose call pretty well, but me and duck calls don't always get along. Yeah.
22:02
See, I'm better at tuning a duck call than a goose call. I would agree.
22:06
I get pissed when I go to tune a goose call because I don't know why.
22:12
You're dealing with such a shorter read, I guess, and it's harder.
22:17
You're dealing with a smaller space to fit it in and get it just right.
22:22
If you're a little off on a goose call, you're going to really notice it.
22:25
So, you know, if we were smart, you would tune my duck call and I would tune
22:29
your goose call, but nah. I did tune your duck call last year or the year before.
22:35
Yeah, and it's pretty much sat on that shelf ever since. Yeah.
22:41
Got retired immediately after that. It did. It did. I've never really liked
22:46
that thing for whatever reason.
22:48
Which foils is that one? That is the straight meat.
22:54
I think that's what I usually use now is a straight meat. I think I have a straight
22:57
meat and a timber rattler.
23:00
And I miss, I really miss my straight street, but you don't make those anymore.
23:05
Yeah. Yeah, when you tune that thing, you can make it sound really good, but I cannot.
23:10
That's why it just sits on the shelf.
23:13
That's one of those things, just everybody has their preference,
23:15
and certain ones sound better for other people.
23:19
What was weird, too, is the day that you tuned it, you couldn't hardly blow
23:22
it, but I could. and then literally the next day I went to blow it again and
23:26
I was like, what the fuck happened there?
23:29
Could be one of those things where you need a new read too. It could just be
23:32
your reed's shot. I haven't even really blown it. I don't know.
23:37
I've gone through some reeds from Jeff in the past that he cuts them right away
23:42
and some of them are like he'll shave them and cut them.
23:44
Sometimes he cuts them too short and it can be a little off.
23:48
Yeah. I mean, nobody's perfect. I mean, he's hand cutting it, so. Yeah.
23:54
Will you take the next one, bitch? Dude, I told you this was your show.
23:57
I'm just here. I'm not. This isn't my show.
24:00
It's supposed to be Zach's show, but Zach skipped on us because he's working.
24:05
As much as I was giving you shit about knowing all of this from personal experience,
24:11
you actually do know a lot more about this shit than I do.
24:16
Well, you'll have that. Chuck, Chuck, Chuck. You got it, boy.
24:21
I'll just piggyback off you. You're a fucking beyond.
24:27
Well then, so now after, you know, we talked about the 1900s and 1950s and moving
24:33
into more of the plastic calls and polycarb.
24:36
And then 50s and late 70s, I would say.
24:42
We started to get towards the acrylic calls where people were getting lathes,
24:47
lathes machines and actually turning these calls and then using a file and making
24:52
the J frame. And we were starting to transition to all that.
24:56
It's kind of, it was kind of led by like a, it was, well, it was led by Chick
25:02
Major at the time. He was one of the first ones to hand tune an acrylic call at that time.
25:10
And nowadays, obviously we talked about
25:13
that everybody fucking does it you can go to Bass Pro Shields Cabela's Max Prairie
25:20
Wings any sporting goods store and you're going to find a duck call there of
25:24
some sort generally yeah for sure even Walmarts I miss back when Walmart used
25:31
to actually carry decent calls,
25:33
now they just carry Duck Commander not that it's not a decent call but I hate
25:37
them I've never really been able to I've never been able to make any of them sound any good.
25:44
Like we used to always, when I was in high school, we used to always go to Bass
25:46
Pro and blow every fucking duck call that was in a plastic container that we could get out.
25:54
The best call and cheapest call to date that I've ever found was the Buck Gardner Double Nasty 2.
26:00
That thing, I could make it sound as good as I wanted for, I think at the time, like $20, $25.
26:08
Yeah, for sure. You ain't, you're not going to buy a call nowadays for 20,
26:12
25 bucks. You can't, I mean, not even one, I don't think. No.
26:16
And even if you do find one that's between that 20 and $40 range,
26:20
generally it's going to fall apart or just not sound good at all.
26:25
Literally not even sound like a duck. Yeah.
26:30
Is that a swan? Don't come at me about the swan calls, boy.
26:35
You are a professional swan caller. I'll give you that. That's what I'm good at.
26:40
It's pretty fun, though. We get going on more goose hunting,
26:42
and it's really boring. We just start swan calling.
26:45
I wonder what other people think about that. They're probably like, what in the fuck?
26:50
I've wondered that myself whenever we're sitting on a lake, and we get bored,
26:54
and a flock of swans fly by, and we just goose calls.
27:00
We can't be the only ones that do stupid stuff like that. No, definitely not.
27:04
I always think it's super funny when you do it, like you put a little bit too
27:08
much air into it, and it cracks over like a goose does, and you're like, no, god damn it.
27:13
Fucking concentrate goose call.
27:16
That's not what we're doing right now.
27:19
The other day, it reminds me, a couple days ago at work, there was three swans flying by.
27:25
One of the guys at work goes, look, there's three geese. I'm like,
27:28
no, unless those are B-52 bomber geese. Those are not honkers.
27:31
Those are definitely swans.
27:33
We are definitely not taking that guy in the boat.
27:38
It's like, what do we do? Do we just sing the national anthem and they're doing
27:41
a flyby right now or what?
27:45
He's like, oh, shut up. I don't know why fucking birds that don't say it. Yeah.
27:53
Just shut up and watch the birds fly by then. Hey, look, there's a piece of waterfowl.
27:58
Yeah. Be way better.
28:02
Gosh, dang. There's triple singles flying by. That sounds like some shit that we would say.
28:08
100%. Mainly Zach. Yeah, that's fair.
28:11
Because doesn't he always say a pair of singles flying by or something like
28:14
that? There's a pair of singles? I always do.
28:16
I think Zach does too. I think, yeah. I'm pretty sure Zach does too.
28:20
I know I've heard you say it. I do it all the time.
28:25
Pisses me off when you guys do that. I love it. Because I know it pisses you
28:28
off. Yeah. Sitting back there going, fucking pair of singles. What the fuck is that?
28:33
Wow, it's real hard to comprehend, isn't it?
28:37
Jesus Christ. What's a pair? Go to bed.
28:44
Alright, so the next one is obviously the 1980s to present time. And...
28:52
In the 80s is when the acrylic calls really started to blow up.
28:55
And I want to say it was the goose calls that really started to blow up first.
29:00
I mean, obviously duck calls were big then, but they went from a flute to a
29:07
short read goose call somewhere in that like 80s, 90s time.
29:11
And that was when I feel like acrylic just took off and we've never looked back.
29:16
I mean, there's, I don't know many people that even own a wood duck call anymore.
29:21
I honestly, I think August has one, but like, other than that,
29:27
which he probably got it in fucking NOM.
29:32
But, aside from that, like, the older guys are about the only ones that I know
29:37
that even have them anymore. And
29:39
they're honestly like, just old shit they used to have back in the day.
29:44
Yeah, I mean, I don't think I have any either. I used to have one that was a
29:49
really nice one That I kept That my grandpa got me years ago And I never used
29:54
it I just kept it And I don't I have no idea where that's at It's somewhere,
29:58
August just chimed in He has one I knew he did,
30:03
It's been a while since he's commented in here Welcome back August We're glad
30:06
you can make time for us for once If you can make it for more than one week
30:11
in a row We might just fucking throw you on here,
30:14
I don't know last time he just kind of showed up and pushed himself into the
30:17
episode he's got to be more reliable than our other two though,
30:23
He's made almost as many. I know. It's crazy. Maybe more.
30:27
Out of the 25 podcasts we're at now, August is catching up.
30:31
I think he's only missed like four or five. Yeah, close. Something like that.
30:36
You know who else we're missing? We're missing Bill. Now that we have August,
30:39
we need Bill in here. So those two can just go at it while we're talking.
30:45
Might be a little late for Bill. He's probably past his bedtime.
30:49
It's past August's bedtime, too. What's he doing awake?
30:51
I don't think he has a bedtime, dude. Dude, he drives a truck.
30:55
Gotcha. Also saw that he was at the casino earlier, so he's probably fucking
30:59
counting his dollar bills.
31:02
Letting it rip. Spending that paycheck.
31:05
Trying to win some fuel money. Oh, yeah, there it is. I was busy winning money. I'm sorry.
31:12
But, so like the reason Acrylic really became the main call and the premium
31:18
standard, the favored, far superior from everybody else, It's just for its crisp sound and the,
31:25
like it was able to withstand the environments a whole lot better than wood
31:30
and polycarbonate work. Cause poly gets super brittle when it gets cold.
31:34
And I broke some of those calls numerous times.
31:38
Yeah, it didn't take much, honestly. No. I mean, I remember running through
31:43
the field a couple times chasing ducks or geese down, and I'd look down and
31:47
once broke in half, I'm like, shit. Damn it.
31:52
Well, I guess we're just going to wave at them as they fly by now.
31:55
Hey. Hey, buddy. Hope you find your dad.
32:02
So who are some of the top callmakers that are in the game nowadays?
32:06
And then I have a list wrote down here, but if there's not one on there,
32:10
then what's some of yours that you consider some of the bigger ones?
32:15
You have foils on here. And honestly, as far as a well-built call,
32:20
and on top of that, the customer service, I feel like they have the market right now.
32:25
I've never had somebody, like I ordered a call, I think it was two years ago.
32:31
He didn't have the color that I ordered.
32:33
And instead of not doing the order or what have you, he's straight up,
32:39
Jeff straight up called me and said, hey, I don't have this.
32:43
Is there something else we can do? Do you want to wait? And like nobody else
32:47
is really going to do that.
32:49
No, I've ordered a few calls before, and it just says backordered,
32:53
or they'll email you backordered, and we'll ship whenever it's available.
32:56
It's like, can I just get a different one?
32:58
Yeah. I don't really care about the call, but if you give me a choice,
33:01
I'm going to pick a color. But it really doesn't fucking matter.
33:04
Yeah, that was what sold me from the get-go with him, too. That was pretty cool
33:09
to actually get a phone call from him saying, hey, we can't make your order.
33:15
Do you want something else?
33:16
It's not something you see very often. No. Ever, really.
33:20
I mean, I would say, and Foyles gets that kind of from his Tim Grounds background,
33:25
because I feel like Tim was a lot of the same way.
33:28
He had a very personal relationship with a lot of his customers.
33:32
And I think Jeff tries to have the same thing. yeah to
33:35
me that's that sells calls for sure oh yeah
33:38
absolutely and i mean it i mean it used to be back in
33:41
the day what sold calls was going to these competitions and
33:44
winning with that said call and wearing
33:48
that said call makers t-shirt and that would sell their calls like they would
33:53
make their money from either worlds or state calling competitions yeah for sure
33:57
and that's kind of a dying thing that i wish would get bigger again because
34:02
it was you know i dabbled in it a little bit when i was younger i don't know
34:05
75 years ago as you guys would say.
34:09
But it was yeah i got myself fuck,
34:14
It was a lot of fun, though. And I don't... Like in Iowa, there's not really
34:18
any calling competitions.
34:20
There's one that they're trying to kick back off and get going.
34:23
But they're used to that big one in Burlington every year.
34:26
What was that one called? That big hole? I can't remember, but it was fucking big, wasn't it?
34:32
It was huge. And it was a bunch of good old boys that used to do it.
34:37
And I think it was like three or four guys that started it. And they did it
34:40
all the way up until COVID. And then COVID hit, and with all the restrictions
34:44
from that, they just said, fuck it, and never started it back up.
34:47
And that was a fun one to go to, and it was a big one in the whole country.
34:52
Yeah, for sure. The only thing that I will throw in on that is, I think it was the ICA.
34:59
They tried doing an online thing, and I thought that was pretty cool.
35:04
I wish that would have taken off more than it did, for sure.
35:06
I think I'd have seen, it was either on Snapchat or Facebook,
35:11
but there's another online calling competition going on or happened here recently.
35:17
I think Joe Hines posted it on a story about getting entered into it and doing it, which is neat.
35:24
I mean, it's a neat way to do it, but you don't get the experience of going to them shows.
35:30
Them shows are a lot of fun, and you get to see, obviously not this time of
35:34
year when they would do shows, but like July and August, when you go to those
35:38
shows, you get to see a lot of the new stuff that's not released yet, but coming.
35:43
And you kind of get a first in-person look at it rather than just post it on
35:47
someone's social media page.
35:49
Yeah, for sure. And that's like the time that we're all getting ramped up.
35:53
Everybody's getting antsy to get back out there and start shooting some shit.
35:57
So that's a great time to have it for sure. Oh, yeah.
36:01
I watched a couple of hunting videos today before we got on here And I was like,
36:05
dang it, I miss it I want to quit work And go where?
36:10
Argentina Oh, alright then.
36:14
It's always actually been a trip of mine. That's probably my dream trip is to
36:18
go to Argentina and go smash whatever the fuck they have down there,
36:21
whistling ducks or whatever the hell it is. That'd be fucking sick, dude.
36:25
I don't even know what kind of ducks they are, but they're pretty cool looking.
36:29
They have a couple of ducks.
36:30
One of theirs looks similar to a mallard in size. Not necessarily looks,
36:34
but size-wise and the way it flies, very similar.
36:37
Oh, so you'd be a that duck purist? No, I would definitely wreck some keel because
36:42
you can kill as many as you want.
36:44
Yeah, that's true. Is that where you can shoot them in the fucking dark too?
36:48
That I cannot confirm. But I know it used to be as many as you wanted to shoot.
36:55
Dang. Just bring cases of shells. Yeah, no shit. Walk away with six ducks.
37:02
The way that I normally shoot? Yeah, for sure. I don't know.
37:06
I feel like if I had all day to sit there and shoot as many as I want,
37:10
There's a reason you can shoot as many as you want.
37:13
So August said that he feels like that Echo is still one of the most used inserts in it.
37:20
I would say it's very close between Echo and R&T nowadays.
37:23
For sure. And then he said it was also the Mississippi Valley was the contest.
37:27
But what was the name of the show, August, if you're still here,
37:30
that was in Burlington every year?
37:32
Because it was a whole, I think it was a two-day, two- or three-day ordeal show.
37:37
And I can't remember for the life of me what it was.
37:41
But I don't know. I mean, on that list of people I have here,
37:45
it's R&T, Tim Grounds, Bill Saunders,
37:49
Field Proven Calls, Zinc Calls, Foils Calls, Malt Gear, and then there's Duck
37:55
Commander and a bunch of other ones still.
37:57
But I think those are really your biggest main players in the game,
38:02
and that still is true today, I think.
38:05
Yeah, August definitely threw a curveball with Echo. Like, I always forget that
38:09
they're as big as they are. You see echoes on a lot of people's lanyard.
38:14
Echo's huge. Yeah, it's fucking massive. I always forget, too, for whatever reason.
38:19
And they fell off a lot in the past 10 years from what they were.
38:24
I mean, they're still big, but they're not near as popular or big as they were
38:29
back then. Yeah, for sure.
38:36
Well, I guess we'll keep moving on. And so the next topic is kind of like why
38:40
are we going to acrylic or why did we go to acrylic and why are we staying with
38:45
acrylic and why is nobody really actively changing anything?
38:49
Like maybe back to a metal call with the improvement in metals nowadays and
38:54
wood and sealants in that.
38:56
I would say the first reason is just durability and the consistency because
39:00
you can CNC it and pump them out,
39:03
mass produce them, sell them cheaper than what you can sell something like that
39:09
where you've got to really work on it.
39:12
And then it doesn't lose its tune when it's humid or freezing cold out or wet.
39:21
It's going to stay the same. It's not going to swell, crack,
39:25
or warp or anything. It's just going to be consistently the same thing unless
39:30
your reed sticks and you go in there and fuck with it and bend it like I do
39:33
sometimes and then get pissed off and fight it for the rest of the day.
39:36
I'm glad that you threw yourself under the bus because I was about to.
39:42
Happens once a week at least but yeah
39:47
all those reasons are legitimately the only
39:50
reason that we haven't switched back to a wood because i a guy
39:54
that can blow like a old original wood call i still feel like sounds more like
40:00
a duck but it's hard to do that like you were saying in every weather condition
40:05
that it just the wood swells and shrinks way too much yeah i mean you're you're constantly,
40:11
like when you first pick up that call, and I mean, you have that a little bit
40:14
with acrylic when you first pick up the call,
40:16
it'll sound different than whenever you get it warmed up or you get a couple
40:21
notes through it, but not to the fact of what wood does or even close.
40:28
Right. And I feel like that more depends on if you have an actual cork wedge or a rubber wedge too.
40:35
Yeah, that probably does play a huge factor. And I hate cork wedges.
40:40
I will replace those every chance I can.
40:42
I'm the same way. I actually learned it from August. If you pull that fucker
40:47
out and chew on it for a while, brand new again.
40:49
But it is the nastiest fucking thing. Because we're all like in our friend group
40:55
I feel like everybody's blown all of our calls.
40:58
Yeah, probably. So it's like you're just naturally chewing on someone else's
41:02
spit. I don't do it just because I think it's fucking gross.
41:06
August does and it actually works. Thank you.
41:10
I can see that. I just can't do it. So I guess we'll start with,
41:15
I have acrylic down here first on the list, kind of like the differences in
41:20
them and what the benefits of them are, basically.
41:23
So we'll start with wood. And it's really known for just being a softer, more mellow.
41:31
Sound favored for like close up finishing ducks
41:34
and then hunting in timber but it
41:37
definitely requires a lot of maintenance to keep
41:41
it from soaking up all the spit you're pumping through
41:44
that call because i don't care who you are you're going to spit
41:46
through a call yeah if not go to
41:50
the doctor quit eating
41:53
saltine crackers no shit easy on
41:56
the crackers bud yeah well we got to throw it out there because you're always
42:00
eating fucking crackers not straight saltines though that's fucking psychotic
42:06
what was the saltine challenge what was that like five six seven years ago yeah,
42:16
god did you ever do that no but i
42:19
i can fuck up a saltine with some peanut butter
42:22
and that is the worst combo in the
42:25
world that is terrible for you not even
42:29
terrible for you as long as you have water but you
42:32
want to talk about drying the out of your mouth that's it
42:35
i remember when i was sick i used to always my mom used to always give me saltines
42:39
and was it sprite yep go away with this give me something different you want
42:47
some chicken noodle soup that'd be better than a saltine cracker in a fucking Sprite.
42:55
Fuck. The next one's the polycarb.
43:00
It's really a middle ground in between the wood and the acrylic.
43:04
It's a little bit more reliable I would say than wood.
43:08
And it's really cheap to call. You can get them usually for nowadays I'd say 30-40 bucks.
43:16
And pull it out of the package and you can learn how to call on it.
43:20
Some of them are better than others, just like any call.
43:24
Gets you that baseline kind of gets you going and it's
43:27
it's really a inexpensive way to
43:30
get started in it and learn how to blow a call
43:33
yeah for sure and i always encourage people that are new to it to to buy a coli
43:39
carb of jesus christ a poly carb that was that was autism right there but a
43:45
poly carb first just because like it gives you an idea if you can even get remotely close And honestly,
43:53
like we've talked about it a million times, it takes a while to get to where
43:58
you can do consistent things on a duck call.
44:00
So that's a great, like you said, inexpensive way to get an idea for it.
44:05
And I always think it's funny when people buy $150 or whatever dollar call right
44:11
off the rip and it's like, dude, I don't know.
44:14
So yeah, especially if you're, if you're trying to get into waterfowl hunting
44:19
and you don't even know if you're going to like it or stick with it.
44:23
I mean, if you, if you're, if you're new into hunting, just go buy a cheap call
44:28
polycarb or even wood, you know, play around with it.
44:33
And when you go hunting, take it with you. If you're going with a group of guys
44:36
that, that have been doing this for years and call, take it with you and.
44:42
Keep it in your pocket or the blind bag when people are calling it duck.
44:48
But in the downtime, you know, take it out and just play with it.
44:53
And then also like the people, like you can hear it in the field,
44:56
like how it sounds because you can blow it in your house, garage, car, all you want.
45:01
It sounds completely different when you're on open water, timber, in a field.
45:06
Any of that will sound completely different than what you're doing in any other situation.
45:11
That is a thousand percent true. I've tuned several calls in this garage and
45:16
then you go out and blow it and you're like, what in the fuck?
45:19
How did that even happen?
45:22
Right. It's kind of wild how big of a difference you can hear when you get out there.
45:27
Yeah. And I always love to go down like into a low bottom and get the echo off
45:33
it because that really tells you what it sounds like from not the end of your hand.
45:39
It'll really tell you how loud your goose call is That's for sure That's for
45:42
damn sure Done that a few times where I've gone down in the bottoms Surrounded
45:47
by trees and just rip on a goose call And I'm like,
45:51
A lot of shit. Daniel says, you always tell me to leave it at home. That's a fact.
45:56
Well, Daniel, you got all, it's just part of the game. We don't apologize for that.
46:04
We honestly need to say it more, I feel like. I might have to start,
46:08
like we got a Snapchat streak and maybe I'll just remind him every day on that
46:11
Snapchat to just leave the call at home.
46:14
Or just remind him to blow it.
46:18
Practice. So we can actually figure it out, yeah. Practice makes perfect, my guy. Indeed.
46:23
And then, I mean, the last one, acrylic. We've talked about it,
46:27
you know, quite a bit here.
46:28
It's got the highest volume. It's the sharpest tone, and it's by far the most durable.
46:36
But you're going to pay a lot more for that acrylic call than you are for the other two.
46:41
Well, there are some very expensive wood calls out there.
46:46
Consistently, acrylic is way more expensive than the other two.
46:50
What do you feel like the mid-range is? I feel like it's around $150.
46:56
For a duck call, you can get an acrylic call as cheap as, I would say, $85, $90 I've seen.
47:04
But for a lot of the bigger-name people, you're going to pay anywhere from $120
47:09
to $150, say, on average. Which is fucking nuts.
47:16
Fucking crazy. It's crazy that a goose call is like $200 nowadays.
47:21
What's even dumber is we're all dumb enough to pay it. Oh, absolutely.
47:25
I mean, those calls behind me there, they're all acrylic. And not a single one was fucking cheap.
47:31
Yeah, same with the shelf behind my head. Yeah.
47:35
Yeah, I've gone through quite a few. And I don't think anybody really says,
47:43
I don't think there's anything out there about how long an acrylic caulk will
47:46
last or if it wears down over time.
47:48
But I personally do feel like even when the acrylic does wear down to where
47:53
it don't... You can put a new reed in it, but it still don't sound the same
47:56
as when you first got it after X amount of years.
48:01
Yeah, and think about... You kind of gave me this idea last year when I was
48:05
having problems with one of mine.
48:07
Think about how little sanding you have to do,
48:12
to an acrylic call to make it sound completely different right
48:16
so obviously if you're if
48:19
you're blowing that thing a lot like especially you are
48:22
you hunt quite a fucking bit that it
48:25
has to wear down oh i'd guarantee it like so i got my straight street that i
48:30
had for years was fucking great and then eventually it just turned to shit like
48:36
i couldn't make it sound right and it i just no matter what I did,
48:40
I couldn't get it to do the same thing that I used to do.
48:44
Looking around at. What are you looking at? You.
48:50
Waiting for you to say something. I feel like we were at a dead end with that
48:55
conversation. Yeah, probably.
48:58
Which we are getting close to the end of this podcast, and if you're new here,
49:03
once again, I said earlier, make sure you like and follow this Facebook page
49:08
or YouTube page that you're watching it on right now, and if you're If you're listening to this,
49:13
every podcast is posted Tuesday mornings.
49:16
I think I post like 4 a.m. or something like that, so it's available.
49:19
But we're live every week, generally.
49:23
We missed last week, and it's going to miss a few weeks here and there.
49:26
But we're live generally every week or every other week.
49:30
Monday nights at now 8 p.m. We used to be 7 p.m., but due to the sun staying
49:35
up longer and work wanting us to stay at work longer, we've pushed that back another hour.
49:40
Yeah, let us know what you think about that, too. If you don't like the 8 p.m., let us know.
49:45
We'll try to work on it. No problem. Probably won't. Yeah.
49:49
Get fucked. We're staying at 8 now, probably.
49:52
We need to know, though, for going forward, especially during season,
49:57
I mean, obviously, that time of year, the sun's in a different spot and we're
50:02
probably not working in the dark.
50:04
Yeah. But if people like the eight, because it's later when they get off work,
50:09
people that don't work outside, let us know.
50:12
Absolutely. I mean, because come hunting season or when it gets more towards
50:17
winter or fall and early spring, you know, we could switch back to doing a little bit earlier. Yeah.
50:23
It's generally during hunting season. The only thing we're doing is hunting
50:26
and coming back and sleeping and then going out hunting again.
50:29
You missed the most important part, cleaning every fucking thing that we shoot that day.
50:34
Oh, speaking of that, did you try the hot sticks yet that we just got back?
50:38
I have not yet. I haven't got the chance to, but I gave Dawson a pack and he
50:43
said they were straight fucking gas.
50:46
Really? Yep. He said it tasted just like the deer sticks. They were just a little
50:50
bit drier, which is money in my opinion. I think so too, because the deer sticks
50:55
are a little bit too wet for my style. They get a little slimy. Yeah.
51:00
Ooh, I'm kind of pumped now. Well, I've been pumped, but I want you to try one
51:05
so that you can tell me what you think.
51:07
Dude, I should have grabbed one. That was dumb.
51:11
Zach said, and Dawson probably ate it whole. No, we saved that for Pookie.
51:17
Yeah. No, Pookie definitely just doesn't even think about it. Just inhales.
51:23
Have you seen him since you got the meet did you give him any of them yet I
51:28
saw him at the racetrack on Saturday and Zach actually,
51:33
No, neither one of them have came to get the goods. Dang.
51:38
Yeah, I'll be very interested. So I'm also curious what everybody else,
51:42
the audience-wise, does with their meat throughout the year when they kill birds.
51:47
Because we always process it into snack sticks and brats and breakfast sausage
51:53
and summer sausage and just whatever we can think of.
51:57
But I'd be interested to see what everybody else does with it.
52:01
Everybody has their own styles of cooking duck, and that's kind of a neat podcast
52:05
to talk about different ways of cooking it at some point. For sure.
52:11
There's a million different fucking ways. It's crazy. Yeah, I'm not a big fan
52:15
of duck, honestly, but I've had a couple ways that it's cooked that's pretty good.
52:20
You wrap that thing in a jalapeno and some cream cheese and bacon,
52:25
doesn't matter what it is. It's good. Teal.
52:27
Doesn't matter what it is. Teal is best in that. No, just teal.
52:30
You could put a fucking diver in there and you would never know.
52:33
I would know. I promise you. No, you wouldn't. We're going to do it sometime.
52:37
Yeah, I'm going to kill you a fucking merganser and then fucking do it.
52:42
The one that's fresh off the shit lagoon. Damn, dude. This thing tastes like shit.
52:50
Then tell me what you think about it.
52:54
Oh. What else we got here? I mean, well, I guess, what did, What did we all get made?
53:01
What did you pick up the other day from the meat locker?
53:04
We got the... What did we get? We got hot cheddar... Or not even hot cheddar.
53:09
They were pepper jack sticks. Jalapeno and cheese.
53:13
That's... Right? That's pepper jack. It's not pepper jack. Yes, it is, dude.
53:18
Pepper jack cheese is different than jalapeno and cheese. No,
53:21
it's not. What's a jalapeno? Jalapeno.
53:24
It's not pepper jack cheese my god it's the same
53:27
thing no it's not it's the
53:30
same thing pepper jack cheese all right we're gonna
53:33
fight through the screen it's the
53:36
same thing continue forget
53:40
what he said continue i don't remember what you got for summer sausage i think
53:44
it's pepper cheese too isn't it that one is actual petro pepper jack pepper
53:49
jar pepper jack cheese but it's spicy summer sausage with pepper jack cheese
53:54
in it. And then what'd you get for brats?
53:57
Cheddar brats. They didn't have jalapeno cheese brats. I don't know what the
54:01
fuck's going on there, but whatever. That's kind of odd.
54:04
I know. Make it in everything else?
54:07
No. Just hot sticks. I'm like, what? What the fuck? What is going on here?
54:13
Weird flex, but okay. Yeah. And then I think we got some regular sticks too
54:18
for people that don't like,
54:21
spicier stuff or jalapenos so dude there
54:24
were so many fucking sticks that I couldn't I couldn't
54:27
go through and see what was what I legit just had to
54:30
stuff them all in freezers well it's literally half
54:33
sticks and then the other half is split between brats and yeah I should have
54:38
there's a lot I should have yeah I probably should have downed the poundage
54:42
for the sticks a little bit since we're doing two different styles and then
54:45
I don't know upped it in the brats or something I don't know you can only do
54:50
so much and then it's like alright now what,
54:54
I'm good we still got we still got breakfast sausage in the freezer behind me
54:58
here for next year and that shit is good it's gas definitely gas.
55:07
Well, I'm glad Zach could join in and comment, unlike our other fellow compadre
55:12
that just hates us and doesn't show up and skips out on podcasts and don't even
55:18
text me anymore. Are you sad?
55:21
No, but I think Ellie is. She's standing right here.
55:26
Holy shit, you're actually petting your dog? Just a little bit.
55:29
She only gets a couple pets a day. You feeling okay?
55:33
No. I don't think she is either. I mean, she's wondering what the hell's going
55:36
on. You going to eat snacks?
55:38
Yeah, probably. Are you doing more of that kibble? I caught her in the kibble
55:42
bucket earlier, head first.
55:45
I didn't latch it closed. Yeah, I get that at least once every two weeks with my dogs.
55:52
Hank and Shadow just in there just going face first, huh?
55:55
See, we're always lucky enough that we can catch them before they get into it.
56:00
But dude, I swear to God, if we did not catch them, they would eat the entire fucking bag at one time.
56:07
Have you ever caught them after the fact and they're all swelled up laying on
56:11
the couch or the floor just like a tick? No, we've always been lucky.
56:16
Bro, are you thirsty? It sounds like it. Oh my God. Get out of here. Go do something else.
56:24
But I'm thirsty, Dad. Yeah. I've caught Ellie a few times where she I come back
56:30
and she's just laying on her dog bed just swelled up like looks like she's got
56:35
like 15 puppies in her it's like what happened to you?
56:39
Didn't you catch her like didn't you catch her like last week or the week before?
56:44
No that was probably like a month ago now. Oh. All the days run together it
56:48
doesn't matter. Yeah it does.
56:50
But she like had her stomach she'll eat till her stomach so swollen that she
56:54
can't even move it's like,
56:56
Why are you doing this? You sounded good. Yeah. Fucking dogs.
57:01
Oh, thanks, Ellie. Yeah, I wanted your water on my leg.
57:04
Yeah. Trying to help you out. Evidently, I look dehydrated. If not, your leg does. 100%.
57:13
But, I mean, I think... Does that end this episode this week?
57:18
That we're going to wrap up with?
57:21
Dang. I think it does. A wet leg and all. Going to end on...
57:26
Ragging on the dogs as she's sitting here fucking freaking out or something. She's tweaking.
57:33
Aren't we all? Well, that about does it for this episode of the Duckfellas podcast.
57:39
We appreciate you guys tuning in. And we definitely look forward to bringing
57:44
you guys more content as the year goes on.
57:47
And we get closer and closer to duck season every day.
57:52
It's a time of the year we all look forward to and can't wait for it to get
57:55
here. But we're never prepared when it does get here.
58:00
But as we wrap it up here, make sure you like and follow all of our pages.
58:05
And that way you don't miss any updates or any podcasts that come out.
58:10
Until next time. I don't know. What do we got until next time?
58:15
Maybe something on Zach.
58:21
I got something on Zach. Gosh, I was hoping he had something.
58:24
Anyways until next time make sure you send Zach a whole bunch of hate mail and
58:29
make sure you tell him he's dead.