Latest / Last Stop Waterfowl Outdoors Podcast / The Unwritten Code - Etiquette, Ego & Community on Public Land

Transcript

The Unwritten Code - Etiquette, Ego & Community on Public Land · Last Stop Waterfowl Outdoors Podcast

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Yeah, the marsh is waking slow Got that brackish water
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: glow On the southern flyway run Chasing that Louisiana sun
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Last stop, Waterfowl Outdoors Last stop, Waterfowl Outdoors.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Welcome back to Last Stop Waterfowl Outdoors Podcast. I'm your host,
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: Jacob Robry, and guys, it's good to be back with
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: y'all again this week. Here in the studio, talking waterfowl
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: hunting as now we're inching closer and closer, guys. I
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: know we said it every episode, we are inching closer
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: and closer. And anytime that we could talk waterfowl ahead
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: of the season, that's always a good thing to get
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: you guys pumped up, right? That's what it's all about.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: It's kind of getting us all ready for the season
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: and getting things moving in the right direction to kick
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: things off. And here we are. We're beginning of September
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: and now dove season is opening up here. It's our
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: first little taste. Our first little taste. of being able
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: to kick off hunting season. So for some of us,
• 1:13
  Speaker 2: dove hunting is something that we look forward to as
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: a community, as a family, as a group of buddies
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: maybe that get to go out there and kick off
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: hunting season with dove season. And then right after that,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: Not too long, we're going to be kicking off teal
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: season in just a couple of weeks. But still, you know, hot, man. Hot, hot,
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: hot is the topic. It is hot. The weather is warm.
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: And it is downright freaking miserable outside right now. So
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: it's hard to believe hunting season is already kicking off
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: with the temps that we got right now. I know
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: here in South Louisiana, we're up around 100 degrees every day,
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: and it's just plain right miserable. You have to change
• 1:53
  Speaker 2: your clothes if you're outside doing outdoor activities, and you
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: better have a tube of Boudreaux's Bud Paste or Aquaphor
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: or something, that baby powder, to keep that bottom dry,
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: keep it from blistering up at this time of year.
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: especially us big guys. We got to make sure we
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: take care of the undercarriage in this heat and humidity
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: that we got down here in the south. So I
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: know a lot of you guys know what I'm talking
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: about when I say that. I promise you some of
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: you are shaking your heads right now, yes. But more importantly, hey,
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: thank y'all for tuning in to another episode with us.
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: It's awesome to be able to talk waterfowl hunting with y'all.
• 2:29
  Speaker 2: And really, on this episode, this is episode four of
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: the season, and this one we're going to title it
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: The Unwritten Code. etiquette, ego, and community on public waters, guys.
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: So we're going to be talking a little bit about
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: that because I think it is something very important to discuss.
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: It's something that we all need right now as public
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: land waterfowl hunters or just as hunters in general, as
• 2:54
  Speaker 2: a hunting community in general. We need Uh, we need
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: to remind ourselves what's the proper way to go about
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: it when we're out there. And I think it's something that, uh,
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: I've learned a lot through the years, something that I
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: think you guys could, uh, you know, always hear me
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: talk about or anybody else talk about and kind of
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: remind ourselves, but, uh, but yeah, a lot has been
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: going on as we lead up into hunting season. I
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: know for us, man, we have been out on the water,
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: a good bit, try to get out there every weekend,
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: been running the boats, making sure everything's good to go.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: When it comes to the boats, I got the surface
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: drive I got to take out lately. Also been running
• 3:31
  Speaker 2: Jackson's tiller handle quite a bit lately, making sure everything's
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: good there. And if you guys missed it, we also
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: went out. You'll hear us talk about a lot of
• 3:40
  Speaker 2: times getting out there and prepping for the season. One
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: of the most important things you can do is get
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: out there and pattern everything. Your shotguns pattern, your chokes pattern,
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: the waterfowl that you're looking at using for the season.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: And I got to do that. I got to go
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: out there. You know, there's a local company here in
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: Louisiana called Chenier Shot Shells. It's an up and coming
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: company started by a Louisiana fellow outdoorsman. And, you know,
• 4:07
  Speaker 2: he launched this company called Chenier Shot Shells. And I
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: have several of my buddies. They've been saying since last year,
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: they got an opportunity to go out there. Mr. Damon Hebert,
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: by the way, he's the founder of Chenier Shot Shells.
• 4:18
  Speaker 2: And my buddies that got to use them last year,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: they said, Jacob, they said, you know, man, I've been
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: very impressed with these shot shells. You need to get
• 4:26
  Speaker 2: your hands on some of these things and you need
• 4:27
  Speaker 2: to try to go test them and see what you think. And, uh,
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: I've been hearing that in the offseason, and lo and behold, Mr.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Damon reached out to me to say, hey, Jacob, I'd
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: like to send you a couple of samples of these shells.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: Let me know what you shoot and get your thoughts
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: on them. Let me get your thoughts on them, see
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: what you think, because I'd love to have you as
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: a customer if you think they're a good fit for
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: what you shoot and what you're doing. I hear you
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: do a lot of reviews on other national brand shot
• 4:59
  Speaker 2: shell companies. And he said, I'd love to see where
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: I stack up with my company versus what y'all shot
• 5:04
  Speaker 2: and get your thoughts on it. So with him contacting me,
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: he sent me over a couple of samples of them.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: I shoot a 20 gauge throughout most of waterfowl season.
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: And he sent me over some 20 gauge number five
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: shot and also some 12 gauge for Jackson to be
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: able to go and test out in his gun. And
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: we ended up going out, or I went out to
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: the camp, I should say, and I did a patterning
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: video that's on our platforms that you guys can go
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: check out if you've been interested maybe in checking out
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: their brand, Damon's brand of Chenier shot shells. It'd be
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: a good time for you to go check out those
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: videos I did on those patterning tests with my gun
• 5:43
  Speaker 2: and see what you guys think personally. Because I know
• 5:45
  Speaker 2: for me, I really didn't know what to expect other
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: than what You know, some buddies of mine had told me,
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: and they were raving about it. And honestly, when I
• 5:54
  Speaker 2: went out, I did the video, and I tested them.
• 5:56
  Speaker 2: I was pretty impressed. And not to turn this into
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: a commercial for Chenier Shot Shells, but I'm just keeping
• 6:02
  Speaker 2: you guys up to par on what I've been doing lately,
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: getting ready for the season. And when I went out
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: there and I tested them, man, I was really impressed
• 6:09
  Speaker 2: with them. And I think if you saw that video,
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: you'll see the results for yourself, what I saw. And
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: at that point, made a believer out of me. I
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: thought it was a really good fit compared to what
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: I was shooting with one of the major brands that
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: are out there on the market. I had, you know,
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: tested them and alongside with the Chenier shot shells in
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: the video I did. And it really made sense. or
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: put the proof in the pudding, I guess you should say,
• 6:34
  Speaker 2: for me. And I ended up being pretty impressed with them,
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: and I placed my order with Damon over at Chenier
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: and got me a product out this week, and I'm
• 6:44
  Speaker 2: excited to use those this season. So that's one of
• 6:46
  Speaker 2: the main things that I wanted to do in the
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: offseason besides get my boat ready, get my decoys, all
• 6:52
  Speaker 2: that normal stuff that we normally do. I wanted to
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: kind of see what the hype was about this particular
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: brand of shells, And I'm really glad I did. I'm
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: really glad I did. I was impressed with them. And,
• 7:04
  Speaker 2: you know, glad to see that it's a good fit
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: for what I'm using for my 20 gauge setup that
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: I'm going to be able to use this season. So
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: that's one of the things I've been doing in all
• 7:13
  Speaker 2: season to prep for it and get ready. But, but
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: like I said, guys, you are probably doing a lot
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: of what I'm doing. You're getting those decoys ready right now. And,
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: We're ready to go. I think pretty much for the
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: most part, we're ready to go. Besides all that equipment stuff,
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: what else has been going on with us? You guys
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: have been following us on social media, have probably been
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: following along with the new duck blind that my buddy
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: David LeBron and I and some other friends have been
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: working on this off season for a piece of private
• 7:43
  Speaker 2: land that we have access to be able to hunt
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: this year and really have been hunting for several years.
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: I've always been invited as a guest and I've been
• 7:50
  Speaker 2: very fortunate to do so with a good group of
• 7:52
  Speaker 2: friends and some guys that I've become good hunting buddies with.
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: And we've been working on this duck blind in the
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: off season, and that has really come, you know, a
• 8:03
  Speaker 2: long way as well. So we're just about ready on
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: that one. We kind of showed you guys the whole
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: process from concept to build to getting it out to
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: where we're going to be able to hunt with it
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: and really getting right now as we sit just a
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: couple of weeks away from till season we're pretty much
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: ready to go we have that thing out anchored where
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: it needs to go and we've been brushing it up
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: or actually i say we i haven't been brushing it
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: up a whole lot it's actually i got to give
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: props to my friend david he's the one that's been
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: brushing it up a lot we did a lot of
• 8:31
  Speaker 2: the initial brushing whenever we built the frame and everything
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: and he's been kind of doing the finishing touches, doing
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: the leg work on cutting willows and brushing it up
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: to where it needs to be. And a lot of
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: you guys are probably doing that as well right now. So, yeah,
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: that's been consuming most of our offseason for the most
• 8:50
  Speaker 2: part when it comes to prepping for this duck season.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Really now, we just need a little bit of dry
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: weather pattern, a little cooler temperatures, kind of hopefully get
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: those teal down here for duck season and get them
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: ready and going. Hopefully we can hit that teal season
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: just right in that one week that we have for
• 9:08
  Speaker 2: teal season this year. Hopefully we don't get that weather
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: too early. I really don't want it right now. I
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: want it more about the week before teal season or
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: right around that week of teal season. and I'd be
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: really happy with that like most of you would be.
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: So hopefully that's the case for us because the only
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: downside to cutting till season down to a week is
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: we only get a week. That's the downside to it
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: is you really have to hit it exactly right when
• 9:33
  Speaker 2: those till make that migration down here, or you could
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: really miss it altogether. If you get them here, you know,
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: a week early, or you get them here a week
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: after till season closes, then you're going to miss the
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: whole till migration, and that could really put a damper on.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: on your till season if you're looking forward to it.
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: But nonetheless, even if that's the case and that's what happens,
• 9:55
  Speaker 2: we're still going to go out there. It looks like
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: I'll be able to make one hunt for till season.
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: I was really hoping to do more, make a couple
• 10:03
  Speaker 2: of hunts. But for me personally, we're starting up fall
• 10:06
  Speaker 2: baseball as well with my youngest son, Hudson, and I'm
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: a coach myself. on uh on our team so we're
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: going to be playing in a fall ball tournament the
• 10:15
  Speaker 2: second weekend of till season so i'm going to make
• 10:17
  Speaker 2: the sunday hunt for till season is what it looks
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: like i won't be there opening morning i'm working so
• 10:22
  Speaker 2: my schedule is kind of intervening with till season for
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: me personally so i won't be able to make that
• 10:27
  Speaker 2: opening morning till hunt but i'm going to be there
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: saturday morning i'm going to leave work saturday go to
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: the camp sleep that night and we're going to hunt
• 10:34
  Speaker 2: sunday me david and hudson for sure and maybe another
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: friend with us so Stay tuned for that. We'll see
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: how that goes. Like I said, hopefully we catch it right.
• 10:42
  Speaker 2: But I want you guys to let me live through
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: you on that opening morning of tail season. I want
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: to see those photos, and I want to hear the
• 10:48
  Speaker 2: stories more importantly. I want to hear the stories of
• 10:52
  Speaker 2: that weekend and let me know some of those stories
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: because a lot of times that's what I'm more interested
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: in than actual scrap and results, to be honest with y'all.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: I want to hear the stories. So hopefully you guys
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: can keep me, and I'm sure y'all will, through social media.
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: I'll follow a lot of my friends online. and see
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: how that opening morning goes. But hopefully we get a
• 11:11
  Speaker 2: really good till season. So that's what we've been up
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: to guys. Let me know what you guys have been doing.
• 11:16
  Speaker 2: I know most of you are working on projects as
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: well to get ready for the season and it's going
• 11:21
  Speaker 2: to be here before we know it. So, but with
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: that being said, let's jump into this episode guys. And
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: like I said, I titled this one, the unwritten code.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: And I think this is something that's very, very important
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: for us to kind of refresh ourselves as waterfowl hunters,
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: as outdoorsmen, as we get ready to head into a
• 11:38
  Speaker 2: new hunting season. The unwritten code, etiquette, ego, and community
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: on public water. And, you know, oftentimes my episodes, we're
• 11:47
  Speaker 2: going to be centered around public land waterfowling because I've
• 11:50
  Speaker 2: done You know, 90% of my waterfowl hunting experience for
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: over 40 years has been done on public land. And
• 11:55
  Speaker 2: it's very important to me that we keep that alive,
• 11:59
  Speaker 2: that public land etiquette alive. It means a lot to me,
• 12:03
  Speaker 2: to be honest with y'all. And I preach about it
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: all the time. And I think it's something that we
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: need to refresh ourselves with every year. So, you know,
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: the theme, I made notes, as I always do in
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: these episodes, guys. So the theme that I wanted to
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: center this around is overcoming the me first mentality. That's
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: something that in today's day and age is very important
• 12:24
  Speaker 2: for me to stress. We've got to overcome that me
• 12:26
  Speaker 2: first mentality. It's not only about just us when we're
• 12:30
  Speaker 2: out there, you know, on the water, when we're out
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: there in the marsh, when we're out there in the timber.
• 12:35
  Speaker 2: We want to have the mentality and we need to
• 12:37
  Speaker 2: have that mentality of. also including the ones around us,
• 12:42
  Speaker 2: the fellow hunters around us. Yes, I know it's competitive
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: on public ground and there is rules and regulations that
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: are in place for us to be able to keep
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: it as safe as possible in most of the areas
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: that we're gonna hunt across the flyways. And a lot
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: of times when it's competitive, you want to have that
• 12:58
  Speaker 2: me first mentality. And yes, I'm not saying don't be competitive,
• 13:03
  Speaker 2: but I'm also saying let's be respectful at the same
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: time as being competitive. And there is a such thing
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: as that. For those of you that don't believe it,
• 13:11
  Speaker 2: it can be done and it can be done in
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: the right manner. So overcoming the me first mentality to
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: preserve public hunting grounds. Respect for fellow waterfowlers and building
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: a lasting community. I honestly believe, guys, and this is
• 13:26
  Speaker 2: me personally, I honestly believe, and I've seen it through
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: the years. I've seen different generations. of hunters come through
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: public grounds that I've hunted throughout here in Louisiana. And
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: there can be a me first mentality that wants to
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: take over that ego and wants to take over each person.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: But honestly, if we do it where we treat it
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: as a community and we have respect for each other,
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: in the community, at the end of the day, we
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: can all be happy. And that is true because I
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: have seen it happen. I know I've done it for me,
• 13:58
  Speaker 2: hunting on public grounds. I've seen that be the case
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: in point. And I think it's something that can definitely
• 14:03
  Speaker 2: be done. The future of waterfowl hunting depends as much
• 14:09
  Speaker 2: on how we treat each other as it does on
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: habitat conservation. Nowadays, we've been hearing a lot about habitat, habitat,
• 14:15
  Speaker 2: habitat conservation, And that is so important. That is a
• 14:19
  Speaker 2: vital part of us having generations of waterfowl hunters. But
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: the future of waterfowl hunting also depends on how we
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: treat each other. It goes hand in hand. Yes, we
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: have to have conservation and we have to have, you know,
• 14:33
  Speaker 2: do our part as conservationists to be able to make
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: sure that we have generations of waterfowl for others to enjoy.
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: But us treating each other and us making our community
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: more strong or stronger, I should say, that is as
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: important as us being a conservationist and making sure that
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: the birds are there for generations. We have to do
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: our part to be conservationists, but we also have to
• 14:58
  Speaker 2: do our part to be good waterfowl hunters for the
• 15:01
  Speaker 2: community and better our community. So that's something that is very,
• 15:05
  Speaker 2: very important. You know, public grounds are getting more crowded
• 15:09
  Speaker 2: every year, guys. I don't think anybody would deny that.
• 15:12
  Speaker 2: Even though the statistics tell us otherwise that there's less
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: hunters now buying waterfowl stamps year after year in this
• 15:20
  Speaker 2: modern day and age. I think that if you hunt
• 15:22
  Speaker 2: public waterfowl or public waterfowl grounds, you will agree that
• 15:27
  Speaker 2: it is more and more crowded out there. I know
• 15:29
  Speaker 2: I do. I've seen it. And I really don't necessarily
• 15:32
  Speaker 2: believe all the numbers they throw at us saying that
• 15:35
  Speaker 2: there's less every year. If that's the case, maybe so
• 15:38
  Speaker 2: as a whole. of the community, but I don't think
• 15:42
  Speaker 2: it's on public ground that we're seeing that because we're
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: losing a lot of grounds. We're losing a lot of
• 15:49
  Speaker 2: good acreage, I guess you could say, that's actually holding
• 15:53
  Speaker 2: the waterfowl. And when that happens, it seems like there's
• 15:56
  Speaker 2: more and more of us on those grounds trying to compete.
• 15:59
  Speaker 2: Public grounds are getting more and more crowded every year.
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: The biggest pressure in the marsh isn't just the birds,
• 16:06
  Speaker 2: it's hunter attitude. I made a note of that, and
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: I like the way I worded that, guys. It's not
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: just the pressure that's the biggest threat to public grounds,
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: but it's also hunters' attitudes towards each other. That's kind
• 16:21
  Speaker 2: of deep if you think about it. That's really a
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: deep point that I make there if you think about it. So, yes,
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: we have a lot of pressure. Yes, there's more people
• 16:30
  Speaker 2: on public ground than there ever has been before. But
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: there's also pressure in the way we treat each other, guys.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: How many times we hear the negative side of things
• 16:40
  Speaker 2: when you're talking about public land waterfowl hunting and you
• 16:43
  Speaker 2: see these videos of guys getting into fights and you
• 16:46
  Speaker 2: see the arguments on social media because everybody got a
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: phone now. They can whip out a phone when they
• 16:51
  Speaker 2: get into a confrontation with somebody and it's easy for
• 16:54
  Speaker 2: them to pull out a phone and film it. And
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: then that gets put on the social media because they
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: want views, right? People want to get views. They want
• 17:00
  Speaker 2: people to see it. They want to call somebody out.
• 17:03
  Speaker 2: And then it just snowballs from there. And look, I'm
• 17:06
  Speaker 2: not saying there's a time and place for people to
• 17:09
  Speaker 2: not be called out for doing something that shouldn't be done.
• 17:12
  Speaker 2: You know, I myself have done that before. And, you know,
• 17:16
  Speaker 2: I get it. I understand there's a place and time
• 17:19
  Speaker 2: for that. But my point there is that the pressure
• 17:24
  Speaker 2: is not only from each other hunting the same areas.
• 17:29
  Speaker 2: It's also from how we're treating each other when we're
• 17:31
  Speaker 2: out there as well. So, you know, not trying to
• 17:34
  Speaker 2: avoid getting into those fights, trying to avoid those conflicts
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: the best we can. Having respect for your fellow hunter
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: when you're out there fighting for a spot. Is there
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: a such thing as being able to be competitive and
• 17:47
  Speaker 2: still be compassionate towards our fellow outdoorsmen out there with us?
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: And I already answered that question from my perspective. The
• 17:54
  Speaker 2: answer is definitely yes. I've seen it happen. I've been
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: a part of it through the years. So I definitely
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: think that there is a, you know, a way that
• 18:03
  Speaker 2: we can make that work. So number two that I
• 18:07
  Speaker 2: want to talk about, the second point that I want
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: to talk about is the unwritten rules. What experience tuners
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: take for granted? Because I do think that that's a
• 18:15
  Speaker 2: big part of the misconception out there. A lot of
• 18:19
  Speaker 2: people want to blame the younger generations for going out
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: there and the social media generations. And that's a whole
• 18:27
  Speaker 2: different topic, which I'd love to discuss. And I'm probably
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: going to discuss later this season is, you know, that
• 18:34
  Speaker 2: great question is social media ruining waterfowl hunting. And I
• 18:39
  Speaker 2: have a belief on that. And I have an opinion
• 18:41
  Speaker 2: on that. And I have talked about it in the past.
• 18:43
  Speaker 2: All my platforms, and I'm not going to delve too
• 18:46
  Speaker 2: deep into that right now, but yes, that's something that
• 18:50
  Speaker 2: a lot of people look at, you know. So, you know,
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: do older generations, though, take it for granted the way
• 18:59
  Speaker 2: it should be done or, quote, unquote, the way they
• 19:02
  Speaker 2: feel it should be done or the way that they
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: were taught? I think, yes, that's definitely something that's a
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: major misconception out there. I think that a lot of
• 19:11
  Speaker 2: older generational hunters, they definitely have a misconception of the
• 19:14
  Speaker 2: younger generation, guys that are out there trying to do
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: their thing. And I think a lot of the misconception
• 19:21
  Speaker 2: there is also from the younger generation looking into older generations,
• 19:26
  Speaker 2: saying that they're setting their ways, they're angry, they don't
• 19:29
  Speaker 2: have no patience with us, nobody wants to teach us,
• 19:32
  Speaker 2: they think everything's theirs. And that's a misconception. That really
• 19:37
  Speaker 2: is a misconception. I do feel that. And we need
• 19:39
  Speaker 2: to kind of come to a common ground on that,
• 19:42
  Speaker 2: in my opinion. So I think there's a way for
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: us to do that, guys. You know, the first come,
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: first serve public grounds. question. You know, winning fair and square.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: If somebody beats you to a spot on public grounds,
• 19:58
  Speaker 2: we all have rules and regulations on how we get
• 20:01
  Speaker 2: to those spots. If you're following the law, you're following
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: the regulations, and somebody beats you to a spot fair
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: and square, they win fair and square. It's as simple
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: as that for me. Now, some of you are going
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: to say, yeah, but it's not always fair game. Some
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: people sneak in early. Some guys sleep in a spot.
• 20:19
  Speaker 2: That's not what I'm talking about here. I'm talking about
• 20:21
  Speaker 2: the people that follow the rules. And there's a lot
• 20:24
  Speaker 2: of us that follow the rules out there when we're
• 20:26
  Speaker 2: hunting wildlife management areas and we're hunting refuges and stuff
• 20:29
  Speaker 2: like that. that have rules and regulations. And the guys
• 20:32
  Speaker 2: who don't follow those rules, they're taking a chance. Yes,
• 20:37
  Speaker 2: they may win nine out of 10 times, but that
• 20:41
  Speaker 2: 10th time, they may get busted and they may get
• 20:44
  Speaker 2: in trouble for it. They may get a ticket. They
• 20:47
  Speaker 2: may get in deep trouble to where their situations, they
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: could get a hunting license taken away or something like
• 20:54
  Speaker 2: that could happen. So there's rules in place, but there's
• 20:58
  Speaker 2: also rules rules and consequences for your actions if you
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: don't follow the rules. But what I'm talking about here
• 21:07
  Speaker 2: is those of us who follow the rules, if a
• 21:09
  Speaker 2: guy beats you to the spot, it's fair and square,
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: he gets it. If you're a guy who went in
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: there and you brushed up a blind and you took
• 21:20
  Speaker 2: that chance and that gamble of building a blind on
• 21:23
  Speaker 2: public ground, brushing it up on public ground, and then
• 21:26
  Speaker 2: you get there late because you partied all night and,
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: you know, some guys did it fair and square. They
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: left at the correct time. They beat you to the spot.
• 21:35
  Speaker 2: The way I look at that is they've earned a
• 21:38
  Speaker 2: right at that point. They did it legally. That's their spot.
• 21:41
  Speaker 2: So what do we do If we didn't win the spot,
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: how do we handle it? Well, as we mature as
• 21:49
  Speaker 2: waterfowl hunters, as we mature as people, that's going to
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: be handled different ways probably. Are you the guy who's
• 21:54
  Speaker 2: going to blow up? You're going to get in a fight?
• 21:56
  Speaker 2: You're going to want to threaten to set up 10
• 21:59
  Speaker 2: yards away from them to mess up the hunt because
• 22:01
  Speaker 2: you didn't get it? We got to be more mature, guys.
• 22:04
  Speaker 2: We got to say, okay. I didn't do what I
• 22:07
  Speaker 2: was supposed to do. He beat me fair and square.
• 22:09
  Speaker 2: I got to move on. And what I do personally
• 22:12
  Speaker 2: and what I've done through the years is I've learned.
• 22:15
  Speaker 2: You have a plan A. You have a plan B.
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: You have a plan C. And maybe you even have
• 22:21
  Speaker 2: to have a plan D on public ground because it's
• 22:24
  Speaker 2: not always going to work out on public ground the
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: way you draw it out. And that's something that I
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: learned the hard way, just like many of you have
• 22:32
  Speaker 2: through the years. So that could be very, very important.
• 22:36
  Speaker 2: And I would tell anybody that's looking to get into
• 22:40
  Speaker 2: public land waterfowl hunting, don't put all your eggs in
• 22:44
  Speaker 2: one basket when it comes to a hunting spot. Yeah,
• 22:47
  Speaker 2: you may know the birds of air. You may have
• 22:49
  Speaker 2: done some work to build a brush blind there. Doesn't matter.
• 22:53
  Speaker 2: Have a plan B, have a plan C, and even
• 22:56
  Speaker 2: beyond that if you need it, guys. You know, no
• 23:00
  Speaker 2: one owns a public hole. I made a note of that,
• 23:02
  Speaker 2: regardless of the history or scout work. I already talked
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: about the scout work, but I can tell you this.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: I have seen a lot of places on public ground
• 23:09
  Speaker 2: here in Louisiana that somebody will pull up to a spot.
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: They're pissed off because they didn't get there first. And they,
• 23:17
  Speaker 2: the first thing that I've heard come out of their
• 23:18
  Speaker 2: mouth is my family's hunted here for years, for generations,
• 23:22
  Speaker 2: for decades. I've heard that, you know, told to me
• 23:25
  Speaker 2: and I've heard it told to other fellow waterfowl hunters
• 23:29
  Speaker 2: and guys at the end of the day, it honestly
• 23:32
  Speaker 2: does not matter. It don't matter if your grandfather hunted
• 23:35
  Speaker 2: there and he built or planted that cypress tree in
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: the water that you planted to build that brush blind on.
• 23:42
  Speaker 2: It doesn't matter. It really does not matter. Look, I'll
• 23:45
  Speaker 2: be honest with you. I hunted a very popular WMA
• 23:48
  Speaker 2: here in South Louisiana for years. I just this past
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: year sold my camp there in the Chafla Basin where
• 23:55
  Speaker 2: this area was. And when I was a kid, my
• 23:59
  Speaker 2: grandfather and my dad took me there. We built little
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: makeshift blinds with a bench sheet. You know, in the swamp,
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: back in the swamps, multiple areas where him and his
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: buddies took us as a kid and we helped build
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: these little stakeout blinds. And, you know, for years, now
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: that I'm a grown man, I've hunted those areas. And
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: not once did I ever tell somebody, and I got
• 24:25
  Speaker 2: beat to these spots, you know, several times I got
• 24:28
  Speaker 2: beat to these spots. And not once did I pull
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: up to somebody and say, hey, you know what? Man,
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: I've been hunting here, my family's been hunting here for generations,
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: and I have right to hunt this spot the way
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: I feel about it. Because you know what? Now it's
• 24:44
  Speaker 2: public ground, and it's not the right thing to do.
• 24:47
  Speaker 2: And I would never tell somebody that. I just can't
• 24:50
  Speaker 2: do it. It's not the right thing to do. You know,
• 24:53
  Speaker 2: we got to look at it from the perspective of, hey,
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: there's rules and regulations in place, and I just didn't
• 25:00
  Speaker 2: make it. I didn't win today. I got to move
• 25:02
  Speaker 2: on to that next plane, you know, like I talked about.
• 25:05
  Speaker 2: But I've heard that thrown at me quite a bit.
• 25:07
  Speaker 2: I've had a couple of seasons ago, I had a
• 25:11
  Speaker 2: situation where I had some younger guys come in on me.
• 25:14
  Speaker 2: And what's even crazier about this is they were kind
• 25:17
  Speaker 2: of cheating the system. They had public land budding up
• 25:20
  Speaker 2: to this public land spot, and they were coming in
• 25:22
  Speaker 2: from private land over to public land, not checking in
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: properly like the rest of us do, and still beat
• 25:28
  Speaker 2: them to the spot. And I was told, hey, my
• 25:32
  Speaker 2: family owns land that butts up to this. This used
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: to be our land. Well, it's not your land anymore.
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: It's state land. It's WMA land now. You're not... You know,
• 25:44
  Speaker 2: you don't have the right to tell me that this
• 25:46
  Speaker 2: was your family's land and I should move because you
• 25:50
  Speaker 2: have rights to it. It's just not how it works,
• 25:52
  Speaker 2: you know. So if you're that guy, you're the guy
• 25:55
  Speaker 2: who feels that it's, you know, your property or you
• 25:59
  Speaker 2: have rights to it because your family has hunted it
• 26:01
  Speaker 2: for generations. We got to move past that, guys. That's
• 26:04
  Speaker 2: not the way it is anymore. You know, not on
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: public land. It's not. You know, it's not like somebody
• 26:09
  Speaker 2: is coming on to your private land. That's a whole
• 26:11
  Speaker 2: different situation than that in that type of situation, you know.
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: But if it's public, it's fair game at that point.
• 26:18
  Speaker 2: And if you think that it's yours because your family
• 26:21
  Speaker 2: hunted it for generations, it's just not the case anymore.
• 26:24
  Speaker 2: We got we got to we got to move on
• 26:25
  Speaker 2: from that mentality. You know, I highlight here brush blinds
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: on public land, you know. Semi-permanent blinds or brushed blinds
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: built on public land are open to anyone who arrives first.
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: Building a blind gives zero private ownership rights in that situation.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: And that's something that goes 50-50, I find, with a
• 26:47
  Speaker 2: lot of hunters out there. There's a lot of buddies
• 26:49
  Speaker 2: of mine, good friends of mine, that have been doing
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: this a very long time. And they believe that if
• 26:55
  Speaker 2: you go to, you know, on public ground and you
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: build a brush blind and somebody's there opening morning or
• 27:01
  Speaker 2: whatever morning you decide to get there and hunt, that
• 27:03
  Speaker 2: they should give it up because, you know, you put
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: in that sweat, you put in that work to get
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: that brush blind built, haul that brush in there. And
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: that's fine. If you feel that way, that is your
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: right to feel that way. But Is it once again,
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: is it within the rules? Is it within those regulations
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: of public ground on WMAs, on refuges? And the answer
• 27:27
  Speaker 2: to that is no. The answer to the simple answer
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: to that question is if you build a semi-permanent blind,
• 27:37
  Speaker 2: you're taking a risk. of other hunters having access to it.
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: And if that doesn't happen and you are beat out
• 27:45
  Speaker 2: by somebody, then we have to come to common ground
• 27:49
  Speaker 2: at that point. We can't get in a pissing match.
• 27:51
  Speaker 2: We can't get in an argument. We can't fuck up
• 27:54
  Speaker 2: their hunt on purpose just because you did the work
• 27:59
  Speaker 2: to build that blind. And I'm of the opinion that
• 28:04
  Speaker 2: if you, look, and I've done it, and that's why
• 28:07
  Speaker 2: I say this. I have done this. I have been
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: that guy who goes in on public ground, hauls brush,
• 28:13
  Speaker 2: cuts brush, hauls brush to a spot, sets up a
• 28:19
  Speaker 2: brush blind on a spot, and have been beat out
• 28:23
  Speaker 2: by somebody and it has been beat out legally. And
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: what I mean by that is by guys just straight
• 28:30
  Speaker 2: up beating me there, launching at the right time and
• 28:33
  Speaker 2: beat me there. And I've had guys that have not
• 28:36
  Speaker 2: done it legally, that guys that I know have maybe
• 28:40
  Speaker 2: slept in a spot overnight or got there hours before
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: legal time to leave the launch and beat me to
• 28:46
  Speaker 2: a spot. And I, Yes, it pisses you off. If
• 28:50
  Speaker 2: you did that leg work, it pisses you off. Especially
• 28:54
  Speaker 2: guys that didn't do it legally. That'll really piss you
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: off in that situation. But I've learned through the years
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: that if I am willing to take the chance to
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: go in there and do the work, build a brush blind,
• 29:06
  Speaker 2: a temporary blind, that I have to accept that I
• 29:11
  Speaker 2: might not be able to be the one hunting. And
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: that it's for us as a community of waterfowl hunters.
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: And as I've gotten older, I've really started to look
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: at it that way that I've kind of taken that
• 29:22
  Speaker 2: me first attitude with building a, you know, a temporary
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: brush blind on public ground. And I've built, I've looked
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: at it as a us attitude. I've looked at it as, okay,
• 29:33
  Speaker 2: I'm going to do this because at some points during
• 29:36
  Speaker 2: this season, I'm going to have the opportunity to be
• 29:38
  Speaker 2: able to hunt this blind that I put in work. for.
• 29:41
  Speaker 2: But when I don't get it, it's going to be
• 29:44
  Speaker 2: for somebody else to be able to hunt and hopefully
• 29:47
  Speaker 2: they'll appreciate it. And I look at it from that
• 29:49
  Speaker 2: perspective now as I've gotten older. I didn't look at
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: it like that when I was younger. So some of
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: you young guys listening to this, you may look at
• 29:56
  Speaker 2: it and say, man, I disagree, Jacob. Fuck that. If
• 30:00
  Speaker 2: I build it, I should have rights to hunt it.
• 30:02
  Speaker 2: And whoever's in that blind should get out. And look,
• 30:04
  Speaker 2: I understand. I was there. I think a lot of
• 30:07
  Speaker 2: us were there. But as we get older, as we age,
• 30:11
  Speaker 2: as we mature as hunters and as persons, it becomes
• 30:15
  Speaker 2: something that hopefully you look at a little differently. And
• 30:19
  Speaker 2: that's why I'm bringing it up and I feel it's
• 30:21
  Speaker 2: so important to talk about it in this episode because
• 30:25
  Speaker 2: I'm here to remind us. that it's not just the
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: me first mentality. And I graduated from that me first
• 30:33
  Speaker 2: mentality to a community mentality. I'm going to do this.
• 30:38
  Speaker 2: I'm going to put in this work. But guess what
• 30:40
  Speaker 2: I found through the years? And this is the truth.
• 30:42
  Speaker 2: This is what I found. That if we all kind
• 30:46
  Speaker 2: of have that mentality, then there's more of us out
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: there that start participating and kind of helping out. There's
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: going to be a lot of people that are lazy.
• 30:55
  Speaker 2: They're never going to cut a piece of brush. They're
• 30:57
  Speaker 2: never going to haul nothing out there. They're never going
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: to stick a piece of brush in the mud, in
• 31:01
  Speaker 2: the marsh. They're never going to stick it in the timber.
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: They're not going to do nothing. They just want to
• 31:05
  Speaker 2: reap the benefits of everybody else's hard work. But the
• 31:09
  Speaker 2: guys who are really serious about it and the guys
• 31:11
  Speaker 2: who stay here for the long haul in this sport
• 31:14
  Speaker 2: through the years, that I found that once you– bypass
• 31:19
  Speaker 2: that me first mentality in this situation of the whole
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: brush blind thing, that you start benefiting from other people
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: who share that idea, that idea and that mentality. So
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: what I mean by that is when you start hunting
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: around an area and you start talking to people with
• 31:38
  Speaker 2: respect and you start You know, having a civil conversation
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: when a guy beat you to a brush blind that
• 31:44
  Speaker 2: you built and you have a conversation with him in
• 31:48
  Speaker 2: the boat launch or out there in the dark before
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: shooting hours when they beat you there and you say, yeah,
• 31:53
  Speaker 2: you know, you let them know that you built that
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: blind or whatever. They respect that, but I'm going to
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: give it up today because you beat me to it
• 32:00
  Speaker 2: and you did it right, fair and square. Then they
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: start to respect you, a lot of those people. And
• 32:05
  Speaker 2: then the next thing you know is they start contributing.
• 32:07
  Speaker 2: They'll start cutting brush. They'll start hauling brush out to
• 32:11
  Speaker 2: the general area that y'all are all hunting. And then
• 32:14
  Speaker 2: they'll build a blind. And then it kind of has
• 32:16
  Speaker 2: a trickle effect is what it does. And I've seen
• 32:19
  Speaker 2: that happen in different WMAs across Louisiana, different public grounds
• 32:24
  Speaker 2: across Louisiana. I've seen that happen. And that's when it's
• 32:27
  Speaker 2: a beautiful thing. And you start to realize that when
• 32:30
  Speaker 2: you can overcome that me first mentality, it turns into
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: an us mentality. And we're benefiting us as a community
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: of hunters that generally hunt this particular area. Hopefully that
• 32:42
  Speaker 2: makes a little sense to y'all, what I'm saying there.
• 32:45
  Speaker 2: So that's something that I have seen through the years,
• 32:48
  Speaker 2: and that's the reason I say by overcoming the me
• 32:51
  Speaker 2: first mentality, it can work. We can make it work, guys.
• 32:54
  Speaker 2: It definitely has worked through the years for me. And
• 32:57
  Speaker 2: that's something, that's a true statement, what I told y'all there.
• 33:00
  Speaker 2: It's worked. You know, I've seen it happen. Handling getting beat.
• 33:06
  Speaker 2: Accept it with respect. Never ruin a hunt out of spite.
• 33:10
  Speaker 2: I made a note on that. And I've already harped
• 33:14
  Speaker 2: on it, guys. If you get beat to a spot,
• 33:17
  Speaker 2: you got beat. It's as simple as that. It's black
• 33:19
  Speaker 2: and white. So at that point, how do you handle it?
• 33:24
  Speaker 2: Are you mature about it? Are you immature about it?
• 33:28
  Speaker 2: Are we going to cuss them out? Are we going
• 33:29
  Speaker 2: to have that confrontation with them in the dark? Maybe
• 33:33
  Speaker 2: you have kids with you, younger hunters with you. What
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: type of example are you going to set for them
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: if they're with you and you get beat to a
• 33:40
  Speaker 2: blind on public ground that you may have built, you know?
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: Because that goes a long ways. And as I grew
• 33:47
  Speaker 2: older and as I had kids and I started having
• 33:50
  Speaker 2: them in the boat with me, that will definitely change
• 33:52
  Speaker 2: a man. That'll change you as a father. It'll change
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: you as a mentor. Maybe you're not a father right now,
• 33:59
  Speaker 2: but you're somebody who might take some younger kids with you,
• 34:03
  Speaker 2: maybe a nephew, maybe a niece. maybe a cousin, how
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: you act in that situation when you get beat to
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: the spot on public ground is going to say a
• 34:14
  Speaker 2: ton about you to them and about the way things
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: should be handled to them who really are agreeing to
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: the situation. They don't know any better in that situation.
• 34:24
  Speaker 2: Their gut's going to tell them one thing, their instinct,
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: natural human instinct's going to tell them one thing when
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: you start arguing with somebody over the bond or you
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: start cussing them out or you start telling them you're
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: going to go set up 50 yards, 20 yards, 100
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: yards away from them and you're going to purposely fuck
• 34:42
  Speaker 2: up their hunt out of spite. That ain't the way
• 34:45
  Speaker 2: we should be handling it, man. That just ain't the
• 34:48
  Speaker 2: way we should be doing it. And believe me, it
• 34:51
  Speaker 2: makes a lasting impact on a younger hunter that's with you,
• 34:55
  Speaker 2: somebody who you're taking out there who doesn't have a
• 34:57
  Speaker 2: lot of experience. Or maybe it's a friend of yours.
• 35:00
  Speaker 2: Maybe they're the same age as you, but they're getting
• 35:02
  Speaker 2: into duck hunting. They don't know how it's supposed to
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: go down on public land. They don't really know the
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: ins and outs. They don't know what they're going to
• 35:09
  Speaker 2: run to, what challenges they're going to run into. So
• 35:13
  Speaker 2: when you handle it in that matter where you're immature
• 35:16
  Speaker 2: about the situations, That's not the way we set examples
• 35:21
  Speaker 2: for everybody else. Because guess what? The way you're taught,
• 35:25
  Speaker 2: I've learned this through the years, is the way you're
• 35:27
  Speaker 2: taught is the way a lot of people are going
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: to carry forward once they start doing it on their own.
• 35:32
  Speaker 2: What type of leader, what type of example do you
• 35:34
  Speaker 2: want to set for the generation that's coming behind you?
• 35:40
  Speaker 2: Backups are mandatory. Always have a plan B and a
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: plan C before launch. And I talked about that a
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: little bit earlier. That's something I learned the hard way myself.
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: A lot of you probably listened, learned it the hard way.
• 35:53
  Speaker 2: You better not go in with just one plant on
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: public ground. If you have that spot that you know
• 35:58
  Speaker 2: is holding birds, guess what? There's probably 10 other people
• 36:01
  Speaker 2: that know about it too. If they scouted, if they've
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: been in this area before and they know the tendencies
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: of the birds, the tendencies of where the food sources are,
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: there's 10 other people that's waiting to be there with you.
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: So if you're lucky enough to get the spot, you
• 36:17
  Speaker 2: beat them to the spot, and you get it fair
• 36:19
  Speaker 2: and square, good for you. Great success. You've won that day.
• 36:24
  Speaker 2: But if you don't, and you don't want to handle
• 36:28
  Speaker 2: it in an immature way like we just talked about,
• 36:31
  Speaker 2: then the second option is have a good plan B
• 36:34
  Speaker 2: or have a good plan C. Because plan B, believe
• 36:37
  Speaker 2: it or not, by the time you get to plan A,
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: and somebody beat you there, you have a little talk,
• 36:41
  Speaker 2: a little chat, whatever you got to do with the
• 36:43
  Speaker 2: guys that beat you there, and then you crank that
• 36:45
  Speaker 2: mud motor up or that outboard up and you go
• 36:47
  Speaker 2: to plan C or plan B, somebody already got there
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: because that was their plan A. What you going to
• 36:54
  Speaker 2: do in that situation? Got to have a plan C.
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: You're not going to pack it up and go home.
• 36:59
  Speaker 2: I know I wouldn't. We didn't wake up at 1
• 37:02
  Speaker 2: o'clock in the morning, 12 o'clock in the morning to
• 37:05
  Speaker 2: go home, right? So we got to have a plan C.
• 37:08
  Speaker 2: And you know how all this gets organized, you put
• 37:12
  Speaker 2: in time, you put in effort before the season, you
• 37:15
  Speaker 2: go out there and you do your scouting and you
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: look at the terrain and you have those backup plans
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: ready to go. That's how you eliminate that. Work it
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: out or move on. Talk politely is a point I made.
• 37:30
  Speaker 2: That's huge, guys. How you approach another group of hunters
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: on public land when you don't win the spot or
• 37:38
  Speaker 2: even at the boat launch, Before the hunt or after
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: the hunt, talk politely. That makes a huge difference in
• 37:44
  Speaker 2: what people think about you from a public land perspective.
• 37:47
  Speaker 2: If you're hot-tempered, if you're out there cussing, if you're
• 37:51
  Speaker 2: out there talking shit, if you're out there thinking you're
• 37:54
  Speaker 2: the man and you're better than everybody else, everybody at
• 37:58
  Speaker 2: that boat launch sees it. They see right through you.
• 38:02
  Speaker 2: Hunters read other people really well. They read other hunters
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: really well. We pick up on little cues very well.
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: how you talk and you act is how you will
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: be perceived by the hunting community that's in that area
• 38:19
  Speaker 2: that hunts where you hunt. So if it's a particular
• 38:22
  Speaker 2: WMA that you hunt and you're a regular, those other
• 38:26
  Speaker 2: regulars are going to know if you're a guy that
• 38:29
  Speaker 2: they can work with or they can't work with based
• 38:31
  Speaker 2: off of how you handle yourself and how they perceive you.
• 38:36
  Speaker 2: That's very true. There's guys that are known as assholes.
• 38:41
  Speaker 2: There's guys that are known as dickheads. There's guys that
• 38:44
  Speaker 2: other guys have a bad perception of just by the
• 38:47
  Speaker 2: way they've seen that other person handle themselves. Might have
• 38:51
  Speaker 2: not even ever talked to them. But they have a
• 38:55
  Speaker 2: general idea on whether or not they can be approached
• 38:59
  Speaker 2: or not. And they may approach you, and they may
• 39:04
  Speaker 2: not approach you, and they have their reason for it.
• 39:06
  Speaker 2: I can guarantee you that. So talk politely. Offer to
• 39:12
  Speaker 2: combine spreads if sensible or head to your backup option.
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: So I didn't talk about that. I talked about heading
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: to plan B. So there's a lot of times, hey,
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: that old saying, if you want to get along, you
• 39:25
  Speaker 2: get beat to the spot you really wanted to hunt. Hey,
• 39:28
  Speaker 2: there's nothing wrong if you decide guy that gets there,
• 39:31
  Speaker 2: there's nothing wrong with asking, Hey man, why don't we
• 39:33
  Speaker 2: hunt together? A lot of times guys will say, yeah, sure, man.
• 39:38
  Speaker 2: No problem. Let's do it. I only got a couple
• 39:40
  Speaker 2: of guys with me or it's only me and another friend,
• 39:42
  Speaker 2: or maybe I'm by myself. I've seen that happen through
• 39:45
  Speaker 2: the years. That's worked for me before. And, There's other
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: times where they're going to say, well, I'm sorry, man.
• 39:54
  Speaker 2: I'd love to, but we got too many people with us.
• 39:57
  Speaker 2: And at that point, you move on. So you may
• 40:01
  Speaker 2: find that it works in some cases when you just
• 40:04
  Speaker 2: simply ask. Or if you're the guy who won the spot,
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: don't be afraid to invite somebody to hunt with you, man.
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: I've met a lot of good people through the years
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: that way. I have met some friends of mine that
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: have been lifelong friends in the hunting community. that I
• 40:19
  Speaker 2: didn't know growing up, never met them in my life
• 40:22
  Speaker 2: until I met them on the water, in the marsh,
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: in the timber, wherever I hunted at. And we made
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: some lifelong friendships that way. So don't be afraid to
• 40:32
  Speaker 2: either way, either situation, whether you're the guy that won
• 40:35
  Speaker 2: the spot, you didn't win the spot, offer to hunt
• 40:37
  Speaker 2: with each other. You might make a friend. You might
• 40:41
  Speaker 2: open up your hunting possibilities greatly by meeting somebody who
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: shares the same passion as you for duck hunting. that
• 40:49
  Speaker 2: you would have never known, and they may have opportunities
• 40:52
  Speaker 2: for you to be able to become friends, go hunt
• 40:54
  Speaker 2: with them. You may have opportunities for them to go
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: hunt with you. Who knows? You never know, man. And
• 41:02
  Speaker 2: that's what makes it great. That's why public land waterfowl hunting,
• 41:05
  Speaker 2: in my opinion, is such a great thing. So, set
• 41:10
  Speaker 2: up and distance. Let's talk about that. The crowding factor,
• 41:14
  Speaker 2: that's the way I termed it, the crowding factor, right?
• 41:16
  Speaker 2: Because we all know we're crowded as hell on public
• 41:18
  Speaker 2: ground nowadays. Give adequate space based on wind patterns and
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: flight lines. So that's pretty simple. To me, somebody that's
• 41:28
  Speaker 2: been doing it a long time, that's common courtesy. I
• 41:30
  Speaker 2: like to refer to that as common courtesy. So you
• 41:34
  Speaker 2: set up 50 yards, 100 yards from somebody that you
• 41:38
  Speaker 2: know is already hunting a spot. That ain't the right
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: way to do it, guys. Three, 400, 500 yards away
• 41:45
  Speaker 2: from them, yes, that's adequate on public ground. That's a
• 41:49
  Speaker 2: good amount of distance to be safe with shooting in
• 41:53
  Speaker 2: their direction if you have to. You know, working birds
• 41:57
  Speaker 2: in the same area so you're not calling birds off
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: of each other. That's what you want to look for.
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: You want to look for those type of distances. You
• 42:06
  Speaker 2: don't want to be set up so close to somebody
• 42:09
  Speaker 2: that you can hear them talking in the blind over
• 42:11
  Speaker 2: from you. That's just not the right way to do.
• 42:13
  Speaker 2: So giving adequate space is something that's very important if
• 42:18
  Speaker 2: you're a new hunter. Calling and shooting etiquette. That's another
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: one that I made a note of. You want to have,
• 42:28
  Speaker 2: when I say calling etiquette, what I mean by that, guys,
• 42:31
  Speaker 2: and we all know this if you've done it a
• 42:33
  Speaker 2: long time. When you're in a general area on public ground,
• 42:36
  Speaker 2: you might be in the same general area. You're working
• 42:39
  Speaker 2: a lot in the same birds, right? You may be 300, 400,
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: 500 yards away, but you can still see birds off
• 42:45
  Speaker 2: in the distance working. Marshes, you can really see them
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: a long ways off. Timber, maybe not so much, but
• 42:53
  Speaker 2: you can still see them working those treetops in the
• 42:55
  Speaker 2: wintertime when all of them leaves off those trees, off
• 42:58
  Speaker 2: those cypress trees, off those oak trees. You can still
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: see those birds from a good ways off. So when
• 43:05
  Speaker 2: you hear a group of guys start calling, I've seen
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: this happen through the years. You don't even see the birds.
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: Let's say you don't see the birds. But you're in
• 43:12
  Speaker 2: the same general area as some other groups of hunters.
• 43:14
  Speaker 2: And you hear them calling. I've seen guys through the years,
• 43:17
  Speaker 2: they'll don't even see the birds. They'll start calling just
• 43:20
  Speaker 2: because other guys started calling off in the distance. That
• 43:24
  Speaker 2: ain't what you should be doing. That's not what we
• 43:25
  Speaker 2: want to do. Give those guys that time to work
• 43:30
  Speaker 2: those birds. If they're calling birds, hopefully they're seeing something.
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: Let them call those birds. Let them have that opportunity
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: to work those birds until you put a visual on
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: those birds in your area where you think you might
• 43:44
  Speaker 2: be able to turn them and get them to work
• 43:46
  Speaker 2: your spread. But I've seen guys through the years, man,
• 43:49
  Speaker 2: they get so excited. They're like, oh, they must be calling.
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: I'm going to go ahead and start calling. It's been
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: slow this morning, man. I ain't seen a whole lot
• 43:56
  Speaker 2: of quack, quack, quack, quack. You hear guys start calling
• 43:59
  Speaker 2: and those guys will grab their duck calls. Quack, quack, quack, quack, quack, quack.
• 44:03
  Speaker 2: They start calling as strongly and as loudly as they can.
• 44:07
  Speaker 2: That ain't what we want to do, guys. That's not
• 44:09
  Speaker 2: what we want to do. We want to give each
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: group proper etiquette when it comes to calling. Or I've
• 44:15
  Speaker 2: seen it where guys are calling, trying to call birds
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: off each other. You know another one that I've heard
• 44:21
  Speaker 2: through the years a lot? Them dudes don't know how
• 44:25
  Speaker 2: to call. You hear them calling those birds we see
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: over there working the treetops or working over a pothole
• 44:30
  Speaker 2: in the marsh? Them dudes suck. They can't call. That's
• 44:34
  Speaker 2: why them birds ain't went down over there. I'm going
• 44:36
  Speaker 2: to show them how to call. We're going to get
• 44:37
  Speaker 2: them birds over here. Me first attitude. It's a prime
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: example of a me first attitude. Shit talking, thinking you
• 44:47
  Speaker 2: better than the next group. And hey, you may be better,
• 44:52
  Speaker 2: but give those guys proper space. Let them work those birds.
• 44:57
  Speaker 2: And you know what? If they can't call, They can't
• 45:00
  Speaker 2: get those birds to commit. Those birds ain't going to commit.
• 45:02
  Speaker 2: They're just not going to. They won't get them. Then
• 45:05
  Speaker 2: those birds are going to flutter on over and they're
• 45:08
  Speaker 2: going to start looking at something else because they're looking
• 45:10
  Speaker 2: for a spot to go where it's safe. They're looking
• 45:12
  Speaker 2: for a spot to go where there's food. And if
• 45:15
  Speaker 2: you're on that X, you're on that flight line and
• 45:19
  Speaker 2: you're so good at calling them and you know how
• 45:21
  Speaker 2: to work birds, good for you because chances are you're
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: going to get them. But my point is give those
• 45:29
  Speaker 2: fellow hunters some etiquette when it comes to the calling.
• 45:33
  Speaker 2: Let them do their thing. You also don't want to
• 45:36
  Speaker 2: educate those birds too much by everybody trying to jump
• 45:40
  Speaker 2: on them and call those birds over and I'm a
• 45:43
  Speaker 2: champion duck caller and I'm going to hell call and
• 45:45
  Speaker 2: I'm going to get them over. Not only are you
• 45:48
  Speaker 2: fucking over the group of guys that are hunting around
• 45:51
  Speaker 2: you and the fellow hunters around you, but you're also
• 45:53
  Speaker 2: educating the shit out of the birds. You don't want
• 45:58
  Speaker 2: to do that, you know? And another big point right here,
• 46:05
  Speaker 2: everybody knows it, sky busting. I have it labeled as.
• 46:08
  Speaker 2: We all know what that is, sky busting. Avoid taking
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: 70-yard shots. It flares the burst for everyone and increases
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: unrecovered game. So the most important thing in that statement
• 46:21
  Speaker 2: I made right there is not being able to recover
• 46:26
  Speaker 2: wounded game. At the end of the day, guys, if
• 46:30
  Speaker 2: you truly want to call yourself a duck hunter, you
• 46:33
  Speaker 2: truly want to enjoy duck hunting and the sport of
• 46:35
  Speaker 2: duck hunting and the art of duck hunting to its fullest,
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: any experienced duck hunter will tell you there's nothing more sexy,
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: is the word I like to use, more sexy or
• 46:47
  Speaker 2: more exhilarating than getting those birds, to fool those birds
• 46:52
  Speaker 2: and getting them to commit in your decoys. That's the
• 46:56
  Speaker 2: ultimate for me as a duck hunter. When I can
• 47:00
  Speaker 2: work those birds from the heavens, or I can work
• 47:03
  Speaker 2: those birds from a distance off, and I've done everything right.
• 47:07
  Speaker 2: I've called them over. My decoy spread looks sexy. I
• 47:12
  Speaker 2: got water motion. I'm well hidden. And those birds do
• 47:17
  Speaker 2: their thing, and they do it dirty. We all know
• 47:19
  Speaker 2: that saying as waterfowl hunters. When they do it dirty,
• 47:23
  Speaker 2: that's the ultimate for us. So why on earth would
• 47:27
  Speaker 2: we want to sky bust them? Why would we want
• 47:30
  Speaker 2: to take that 60, 70 yard shot before we get
• 47:34
  Speaker 2: those birds in close and see it up close? Because
• 47:37
  Speaker 2: when you see it up close, and y'all will probably
• 47:41
  Speaker 2: agree with me on this, it is magical. There's nothing
• 47:45
  Speaker 2: that gets your adrenaline pumping as a duck hunter to
• 47:47
  Speaker 2: see them birds up close. You telling me that when
• 47:51
  Speaker 2: you see a group of 50 teal, bank through the marsh,
• 47:54
  Speaker 2: and they're coming down at those decoys, and when they
• 47:57
  Speaker 2: see those decoys, they do their thing, and they do
• 48:00
  Speaker 2: it dirty, and they lock up, and you see all
• 48:02
  Speaker 2: of that flight of birds move together in sequence, that
• 48:08
  Speaker 2: that's not the most beautiful thing as a duck hunter
• 48:11
  Speaker 2: that you can see, then you're absolutely crazy out your mind,
• 48:14
  Speaker 2: because it is. It will get the hair on the
• 48:18
  Speaker 2: back of your neck standing up. It will get the
• 48:21
  Speaker 2: hair on your arm standing up. And hell, if you
• 48:23
  Speaker 2: got hair on your back, it'll get that standing up
• 48:25
  Speaker 2: too for all my hairy guys out there, right? So
• 48:30
  Speaker 2: it's sexy, guys. Let them do it dirty. Let them
• 48:33
  Speaker 2: do it dirty. The sky busting, it's unethical. If you're lucky,
• 48:38
  Speaker 2: chances nine out of ten times you're not going to
• 48:40
  Speaker 2: hit them. If you do hit them, you're probably going
• 48:42
  Speaker 2: to cripple them. Yes, you may get lucky and fold
• 48:47
  Speaker 2: one every now and then, but that's not going to
• 48:48
  Speaker 2: be the norm. It's not going to be the norm.
• 48:50
  Speaker 2: And you're educating the birds. And isn't it hard enough
• 48:54
  Speaker 2: as public land guys already? Aren't these birds already educated enough?
• 48:58
  Speaker 2: Once they make it to wherever the portion is of
• 49:00
  Speaker 2: the flyway that you are hunting, no matter where you are,
• 49:04
  Speaker 2: isn't it hard enough? Because these birds are so educated already.
• 49:09
  Speaker 2: They've been pressured. They've been shot. They've been spooked. They've
• 49:14
  Speaker 2: had boats running through the marshes, boats running through the timber,
• 49:17
  Speaker 2: jumping them up everywhere they go. They're so skittish already, guys.
• 49:23
  Speaker 2: Sky busting them is only educating them more and more
• 49:26
  Speaker 2: and more and more. It makes it so much harder
• 49:29
  Speaker 2: for everybody else to be able to successfully decoy them
• 49:32
  Speaker 2: because it educates them. So sky busting, it's never going
• 49:36
  Speaker 2: to go away. But we got to, hey, I'm still
• 49:39
  Speaker 2: going to remind y'all. I'm still going to talk about it.
• 49:44
  Speaker 2: I've been guilty through the years that I've tried to
• 49:47
  Speaker 2: get them so close that I miss opportunities. And that
• 49:50
  Speaker 2: could be a thing, too. But you know what? That
• 49:53
  Speaker 2: opportunity never bothers me. It never, that mistake, I should say,
• 49:57
  Speaker 2: never bothers me. I say that. I'm lying to y'all.
• 50:00
  Speaker 2: It bothers me. It bothers me at the time. But
• 50:03
  Speaker 2: when I look back at it in the hunt, it
• 50:06
  Speaker 2: still kind of bothers me. But I know I did
• 50:09
  Speaker 2: the right thing. If I tried to let them get
• 50:12
  Speaker 2: so close and I still missed the opportunity to pull
• 50:15
  Speaker 2: the trigger or pull up and take that shot because
• 50:17
  Speaker 2: I thought they were going to make one more pass
• 50:20
  Speaker 2: or I thought the whole group was going to come
• 50:23
  Speaker 2: in as opposed to three or four of them breaking
• 50:25
  Speaker 2: off and coming in. That's a mistake on my part,
• 50:29
  Speaker 2: but I still don't mind that mistake as much as
• 50:31
  Speaker 2: I do if I try to take a Hail Mary
• 50:34
  Speaker 2: shot at 70, 80, 90 yards out knowing damn well
• 50:38
  Speaker 2: I'm probably not going to hit them or I'm going
• 50:40
  Speaker 2: to wound them and they're going to go down and
• 50:41
  Speaker 2: I'm never going to recover. That hurts me more nowadays,
• 50:45
  Speaker 2: an unrecovered bird, than anything probably. When I shoot a
• 50:50
  Speaker 2: bird and it's wounded, I literally will stop, get out
• 50:54
  Speaker 2: the blind, go after that bird to try to recover
• 50:56
  Speaker 2: that bird because it bothers me if I don't get it.
• 51:00
  Speaker 2: It bothers me in my conscience. It bothers me nowadays.
• 51:04
  Speaker 2: And it has for some time, to be honest with you.
• 51:06
  Speaker 2: When I was young, it bothered me. So the sky busting,
• 51:09
  Speaker 2: that's something we got to try to remind ourselves of, guys.
• 51:15
  Speaker 2: Boat ramp. And staging courtesy. It starts at the boat ramp.
• 51:19
  Speaker 2: I always tell people that all the time. I say
• 51:21
  Speaker 2: etiquette starts at the boat ramp. And I kind of
• 51:23
  Speaker 2: mentioned that earlier about how people perceive you, how you
• 51:26
  Speaker 2: handle yourself at the boat ramp before shooting hours, how
• 51:29
  Speaker 2: you handle yourself at the boat ramp after the hunt,
• 51:32
  Speaker 2: when everybody's coming back to the ramp. It starts at
• 51:36
  Speaker 2: the staging area. It starts at the boat ramps, guys.
• 51:40
  Speaker 2: But how can you have good etiquette at the boat ramps? Well, etiquette.
• 51:45
  Speaker 2: One of those things is be launch ready before your,
• 51:48
  Speaker 2: before your tires even hit the ramp. So what I
• 51:51
  Speaker 2: mean by that is how many, what's more frustrating than
• 51:55
  Speaker 2: a guy who pulls up on the boat ramp when
• 51:57
  Speaker 2: we all in line and he gets out and he
• 52:00
  Speaker 2: starts taking off his transom saver, starts taking off his scraps,
• 52:04
  Speaker 2: starts putting his running lights in. If he even puts
• 52:07
  Speaker 2: in his running lights, unstraps the winch while everybody's ready
• 52:11
  Speaker 2: to go and trying to launch to get to a
• 52:13
  Speaker 2: spot because hey, Remember, it's a competition. We know that.
• 52:17
  Speaker 2: It's public ground. We know it. That's frustrating when you
• 52:21
  Speaker 2: get a guy who does that on the boat ramp.
• 52:24
  Speaker 2: So when I say it starts at the boat ramp
• 52:26
  Speaker 2: and having proper boat etiquette is it starts then and there.
• 52:31
  Speaker 2: With having your boat ready to go, have your straps
• 52:34
  Speaker 2: off the boat, have your transom saver off the boat,
• 52:36
  Speaker 2: have your winch ready to, your guy who's with you
• 52:40
  Speaker 2: ready to jump out of the truck, release that latch
• 52:43
  Speaker 2: on that winch and back your ass up into the
• 52:45
  Speaker 2: water and get out of the way. Be ready to go.
• 52:48
  Speaker 2: Have that drain plug in. Have those running lights on.
• 52:52
  Speaker 2: Be ready to go. That's the boat launch ready etiquette
• 52:55
  Speaker 2: I'm talking about right here. Another thing about the boat launch,
• 53:00
  Speaker 2: dim your spotlights and headlamps around other hunters in the
• 53:03
  Speaker 2: staging area. That's a big deal. A lot of guys,
• 53:07
  Speaker 2: some of you are going to be duck hunting this
• 53:09
  Speaker 2: year for the first time. You're going out there, you
• 53:11
  Speaker 2: might have got your first boat. Well, I should say
• 53:14
  Speaker 2: your first boat. You might have duck hunted before, but
• 53:16
  Speaker 2: you might have your first boat this year. And a
• 53:18
  Speaker 2: lot of us that have had boats for years, we
• 53:20
  Speaker 2: forget about this, which is why we're talking about it
• 53:22
  Speaker 2: in this episode. It's a pre-season prep this episode to
• 53:25
  Speaker 2: remind us of all these things. When you back up
• 53:28
  Speaker 2: down to launch, turn those headlights off because there's guys
• 53:31
  Speaker 2: that are waiting to go after you that you're blinding them.
• 53:36
  Speaker 2: Or it could be a boat launch where you can
• 53:37
  Speaker 2: launch multiple boats. Turn those lights off. You're blinding the
• 53:42
  Speaker 2: shit out of everybody. And you may not know that,
• 53:45
  Speaker 2: which is why I'm talking about this. So when those
• 53:48
  Speaker 2: other guys are trying to back up on the side
• 53:50
  Speaker 2: of you on the boat ramp and you got your
• 53:52
  Speaker 2: brights on still or your headlights on, you're blinding them there.
• 53:55
  Speaker 2: They can't see nothing. So turn those headlights off. That's very,
• 53:59
  Speaker 2: very important. It seems like something very simple that most
• 54:01
  Speaker 2: people may think is common sense, but a lot of
• 54:05
  Speaker 2: people don't know that. So turn those headlights off. It'll
• 54:10
  Speaker 2: allow people to move, flow much smoother, launch boats quicker,
• 54:14
  Speaker 2: and get out of the way so more people can
• 54:16
  Speaker 2: come behind them and launch. So dismantling the me first
• 54:24
  Speaker 2: mentality and building brotherhood. The ego trap. I had that highlighted.
• 54:31
  Speaker 2: So what's the ego trap? Well, how social media hero
• 54:36
  Speaker 2: shots drive toxic competition and selfish behavior. So we talked
• 54:42
  Speaker 2: a little bit about this already. Social media, a lot
• 54:45
  Speaker 2: of people want views. Does that mean it's ruining duck hunting? No,
• 54:49
  Speaker 2: I don't think so. A lot of you may disagree.
• 54:52
  Speaker 2: But like I said, that's another topic for another day.
• 54:55
  Speaker 2: But social media, does drive ego and hero ego, I
• 55:03
  Speaker 2: should say. People want to be the hero is what
• 55:06
  Speaker 2: I mean by that. And it drives toxic competition because
• 55:09
  Speaker 2: a lot of people see that somebody's having success and
• 55:13
  Speaker 2: they want to top it. They want to be the
• 55:14
  Speaker 2: top dog. So we do see that. And your ego
• 55:17
  Speaker 2: could get caught in that trap. Guys, don't let it
• 55:20
  Speaker 2: bother you. Somebody kills more birds than you that day,
• 55:23
  Speaker 2: let it go. Hey, that should motivate you. Don't let
• 55:28
  Speaker 2: the ego take over and you become a shit bag
• 55:31
  Speaker 2: at the boat launch or at the WMA because of that.
• 55:37
  Speaker 2: Because remember, people are seeing that and they're perceiving how
• 55:41
  Speaker 2: they see you and they will make a perception of
• 55:45
  Speaker 2: what they think about you based off of that stuff.
• 55:47
  Speaker 2: And your reputation means a lot in public honing. It
• 55:50
  Speaker 2: does whether you like it or not. It really does.
• 55:54
  Speaker 2: We talked about that, how people are going to treat
• 55:56
  Speaker 2: you and people may not be willing to help you.
• 56:01
  Speaker 2: It could be a negative thing if you're not a
• 56:02
  Speaker 2: good person. Defining a successful hunt by the experience rather
• 56:09
  Speaker 2: than outshooting the group down the canal from you or
• 56:11
  Speaker 2: the march pothole from you. So success doesn't have to
• 56:16
  Speaker 2: be driven just by what you have on the strap.
• 56:20
  Speaker 2: And that's something I preach all the time. I really do.
• 56:26
  Speaker 2: What you have on the strap doesn't make you a
• 56:28
  Speaker 2: successful waterfowl hunter as a whole. It just doesn't. Yeah,
• 56:33
  Speaker 2: people may prop you up. They may put you on
• 56:37
  Speaker 2: a pedestal. But at the end of the day, don't
• 56:41
  Speaker 2: let that drive your ego. Don't let that define who
• 56:45
  Speaker 2: you are as a duck hunter. It's a trap, guys.
• 56:51
  Speaker 2: With social media success, with other, even if you're not
• 56:55
  Speaker 2: on social media, if you're a local at a WMA
• 56:58
  Speaker 2: and people know you because you kill birds and because
• 57:02
  Speaker 2: you have a lot of success all the time, don't
• 57:04
  Speaker 2: fall into the ego trap. Don't develop that attitude, that
• 57:08
  Speaker 2: mentality that you're a top dog and nobody else matters.
• 57:12
  Speaker 2: Don't let it happen to you. Turning friction into connections.
• 57:19
  Speaker 2: Addressing conflicts with calm face-to-face conversation instead of yelling across
• 57:23
  Speaker 2: the water or arguing at the boat ramp. We talked
• 57:25
  Speaker 2: about that already. Offering help. That's something that's very important.
• 57:31
  Speaker 2: Inviting solo hunters to join. Talked a little bit about
• 57:34
  Speaker 2: that as well. Sharing local knowledge. Boy, some of you
• 57:38
  Speaker 2: are going to say, sharing local knowledge? Fuck no, Jacob.
• 57:40
  Speaker 2: I ain't. Wow. There ain't no way in hell I'm
• 57:43
  Speaker 2: sharing knowledge with anybody. Well, that's fine. And I get it.
• 57:48
  Speaker 2: I get it if you don't want to share any
• 57:50
  Speaker 2: kind of public knowledge, public land hunting knowledge. But, like
• 57:54
  Speaker 2: I said, when you form relationships with people in these areas,
• 57:57
  Speaker 2: on WMAs, on public grounds, through the years, there's guys
• 58:01
  Speaker 2: that you're going to learn you can trust and there's
• 58:02
  Speaker 2: people you can't trust. And I even did an episode
• 58:05
  Speaker 2: a while back saying, trust no one. Nobody's your friend.
• 58:09
  Speaker 2: And that's true. There's a lot of truth to that. But, but,
• 58:13
  Speaker 2: the small but, you're going to Find one or two people,
• 58:18
  Speaker 2: real small circles of people, and through the years, you
• 58:21
  Speaker 2: may be able to trust certain people. And that's a
• 58:23
  Speaker 2: good thing. It's not a bad thing. And I know
• 58:26
  Speaker 2: a lot of you have probably said, oh, shit, I
• 58:29
  Speaker 2: got burnt. That ain't going to work. Never has, never will.
• 58:33
  Speaker 2: Probably right. For most people, it won't work. But forming
• 58:37
  Speaker 2: those relationships with people, once you do that and it's
• 58:42
  Speaker 2: a solid foundation for that relationship, a lot of times
• 58:46
  Speaker 2: you're going to find that you can share information and
• 58:48
  Speaker 2: they'll share a little information back with you on that,
• 58:51
  Speaker 2: on stuff that you may not have been aware of
• 58:54
  Speaker 2: or known before, which could help you in your waterfowl
• 58:57
  Speaker 2: hunting journey. It really can. Towing someone in or motor
• 59:06
  Speaker 2: trouble back to the launch. Man, that could say a
• 59:09
  Speaker 2: lot about... a person. There's tons of people, somebody could
• 59:14
  Speaker 2: be broke down and they will fly right by them
• 59:16
  Speaker 2: because they got somewhere they got to go. Ain't my
• 59:20
  Speaker 2: problem today. Ain't me. They'll run right past them. If
• 59:24
  Speaker 2: you're that guy who's not like that and you stop
• 59:27
  Speaker 2: to help your fellow outdoorsman out, your fellow duck hunter out,
• 59:30
  Speaker 2: That could go a long way, guys. That says a
• 59:32
  Speaker 2: lot about you and about the way those people are
• 59:35
  Speaker 2: going to perceive you and how they're going to tell
• 59:37
  Speaker 2: other people that they know in the area that hunts
• 59:40
  Speaker 2: that WMA or that piece of public marsh what type
• 59:46
  Speaker 2: of person you are. And that one time that little
• 59:48
  Speaker 2: Johnny stopped to help me because I was broke down. Man.
• 59:52
  Speaker 2: It was late in the evening. I was in a
• 59:54
  Speaker 2: wax outlet and I thought I was going to be
• 59:55
  Speaker 2: spending the night there. But thank God Johnny came along
• 59:59
  Speaker 2: and didn't bypass me and he stopped and helped me
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 2: out and he told me in and got me back
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 2: to the launch. Thank fucking God for little Johnny. Stop it.
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 2: It's the simple things. Stopping to help that fellow duck
• 1:00:16
  Speaker 2: hunter could go a long way, man. It could be
• 1:00:19
  Speaker 2: you in that situation next time. And little Johnny could
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 2: be on the area just like he was that day
• 1:00:26
  Speaker 2: and see you, and guess what? You got a friend.
• 1:00:28
  Speaker 2: Somebody's coming to help you in that situation. So don't
• 1:00:32
  Speaker 2: be quick to bypass people that are in need. You
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 2: see somebody broke down, stop and help them. Toe them in.
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 2: And I think really, honestly, I think that there's more
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 2: of us, nine out of 10, hopefully I would like
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 2: to think, as duck hunters, as people, that love the
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 2: duck hunting community, I think most of us would probably
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 2: do that. But I don't want to overlook it, which
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 2: is why I mentioned it, and reminding you, be that
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 2: guy to help them. Stop. Even if you're in a hurry.
• 1:01:06
  Speaker 2: If you're trying to make a hunt before work and
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 2: you're going to be late for work because you helped
• 1:01:09
  Speaker 2: somebody and you go to work and you tell your
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 2: boss that, hey, I'm late because I was out duck hunting,
• 1:01:14
  Speaker 2: I was coming out, I was on time to be
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 2: at work, and a man was in need. He had
• 1:01:19
  Speaker 2: broke down. If you got a good boss, they're going
• 1:01:22
  Speaker 2: to understand that. And they're going to appreciate it even
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 2: if they're not a duck hunter. And there are some
• 1:01:27
  Speaker 2: that won't. But you know what? Fuck them in that situation.
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 2: You still did the right thing and you still did
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 2: what was right. And yes, you may have to pay
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 2: a small consequence, but you did the right thing at
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 2: the end of the day. And at the end of
• 1:01:40
  Speaker 2: the day, the one person that's judging you, which is
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 2: the man upstairs, he knows you did right and he'll
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 2: take care of you. He'll be the one to take
• 1:01:47
  Speaker 2: care of you in that situation. I truly believe that.
• 1:01:50
  Speaker 2: That's where your faith comes in. So help them out, guys.
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 2: Help them out. And the last thing that I'm going
• 1:02:01
  Speaker 2: to talk on this subject is leaving it better than
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 2: we found it, guys. That is so important. We hear
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 2: that so many times. Leave it better than you found
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 2: it on public ground. Leave it better than when you
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 2: came in. And that's just simply not the case nowadays.
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 2: I'm so... sickened sometimes by what I see on public ground,
• 1:02:20
  Speaker 2: by the way some people treat the public ground that
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 2: we have access to, and they leave it. Cans, wrappers, trash,
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 2: hunting gear, seats that were broken, just whatever it is,
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 2: just gear left, just trashed. Shells, shotgun shells. We're all
• 1:02:43
  Speaker 2: using shotgun shells, right? And we're just leaving them everywhere.
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 2: But more importantly, trash. Trash gets me so worked up
• 1:02:52
  Speaker 2: when I see it on public ground, how some of
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 2: you can be so sloppy, so irresponsible, just such pigs
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 2: when it comes to public ground. Because you're too fucking
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 2: lazy to pick up your pieces of trash behind you.
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 2: And you leave the resource just looking like shit for
• 1:03:12
  Speaker 2: the next person to pick up or nobody to pick up.
• 1:03:14
  Speaker 2: And you don't give a fuck if nobody picks it up. Guys,
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 2: let me tell you all something. These public resources, they're
• 1:03:20
  Speaker 2: not guaranteed. Nowadays, with the legislation we got, with the
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 2: people that are out there trying to take away our
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 2: hunting rights, trying to eliminate public land rights, we should
• 1:03:32
  Speaker 2: be doing everything in our human nature possible to make
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 2: sure that we are leaving the resource better than what
• 1:03:42
  Speaker 2: we found it. And how can we bitch about our
• 1:03:45
  Speaker 2: agencies such as wildlife and fisheries and all of our
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 2: government agencies that aren't doing enough to help public land
• 1:03:51
  Speaker 2: and waterfowl hunting? And it's going to shit because of them.
• 1:03:56
  Speaker 2: But in the same sentence, the person uttering that is
• 1:04:01
  Speaker 2: the person that I'm talking about that trashes the resource,
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 2: that leaves it just looking like shit. And yet you
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 2: have the audacity to point the finger at other people.
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 2: It starts with us. It starts with us. It's that simple.
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 2: It's a pretty simple concept and responsibility that we have
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 2: as hunters using these public resources. And guess what? If
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 2: we continue to abuse it, if we continue to neglect it,
• 1:04:36
  Speaker 2: it's going to disappear. It's going to disappear over time.
• 1:04:43
  Speaker 2: These government agencies will stop giving the effort if we're
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 2: not giving effort. And I do believe that. So we
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 2: got to make sure we take care of the resources.
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 2: Respect the habitat. Avoid damaging natural cover, vegetation, and public structures.
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 2: If you're hunting an area where there's public structures, oil wells.
• 1:05:07
  Speaker 2: whatever it may be, docks, public fishing piers, docks, that
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 2: type of stuff. Respect it. Boat launches. Respect it. If
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 2: there's trash can receptacles in the boat launch, throw your
• 1:05:21
  Speaker 2: trash in the trash can. Don't throw it on the
• 1:05:23
  Speaker 2: ground in the boat launch. Don't go dump crawfish carcasses,
• 1:05:30
  Speaker 2: fish carcasses. All this stuff that you see in these
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 2: boat launches, Don't dump that stuff at the boat launch.
• 1:05:38
  Speaker 2: Don't go clean some fish that you went fishing that
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 2: afternoon to camp, take all your heads and go throw
• 1:05:43
  Speaker 2: it at the boat launch where you launch the next
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 2: morning to go hunting. Or you have a crawfish ball
• 1:05:49
  Speaker 2: at the camp that afternoon or a fish fry and
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 2: you go throw all your trash at the boat launch
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 2: because you don't want it at the camp. It's going
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 2: to stink it up. Well, I'm going to go throw
• 1:05:57
  Speaker 2: it at the boat launch or dump it in the
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 2: damn trash can at the boat launch. Don't do that
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 2: type of stuff. Common sense. Take care of the resource.
• 1:06:06
  Speaker 2: Don't damage the resources that are on public ground if
• 1:06:10
  Speaker 2: we want to continue to have access to these public resources.
• 1:06:14
  Speaker 2: Don't do it. Leave it better than what we found it.
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 2: Don't go chop up a tree to get brush off
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 2: of it in a WMA. That type of stuff is
• 1:06:25
  Speaker 2: against the rules. And I know, look, we've all done it.
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 2: I've done it myself. I'm not going to sit here
• 1:06:29
  Speaker 2: and say I didn't cut brush on a WMA to
• 1:06:31
  Speaker 2: brush up a blind. But respect it. Do it within
• 1:06:34
  Speaker 2: reason if you're going to do it. And also do
• 1:06:36
  Speaker 2: it with the responsibility of knowing that if you get caught,
• 1:06:40
  Speaker 2: it's against the rules. And be mature enough to face
• 1:06:43
  Speaker 2: the consequences if it happens. Because it's possible it could happen, right?
• 1:06:52
  Speaker 2: So respect the resources. My challenge to y'all would be
• 1:06:58
  Speaker 2: leave every more... and hardwood area that you hunt. Cleaner
• 1:07:04
  Speaker 2: than you found it by hauling out extra trash left
• 1:07:07
  Speaker 2: over by others. There's some groups of hunters that I
• 1:07:10
  Speaker 2: know that have started organizations that after the season or
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 2: during the season, maybe during the splits, if your area
• 1:07:15
  Speaker 2: has a split, that they do a gathering of hunters
• 1:07:19
  Speaker 2: coming together. They do trash pickups, that type of stuff.
• 1:07:23
  Speaker 2: And that's a great thing in my opinion. That's a
• 1:07:24
  Speaker 2: good cause to be a participant of. So if you
• 1:07:27
  Speaker 2: hear that type of stuff, hey man, I'm willing to come.
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 2: Reach out to them. Let them know that that's a
• 1:07:35
  Speaker 2: good thing. And you're all about it because you care
• 1:07:38
  Speaker 2: about the resource. So respecting the resource has a lot
• 1:07:43
  Speaker 2: that goes into it. But we got to respect the
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 2: resource if we want our government agencies such as Wildlife
• 1:07:50
  Speaker 2: and Fisheries and beyond to want to care about the
• 1:07:53
  Speaker 2: resource as well. We lead by example as the community
• 1:07:57
  Speaker 2: that's using it. And that's it, guys. My last thing
• 1:08:03
  Speaker 2: that I have for y'all would be a listener question
• 1:08:07
  Speaker 2: for y'all today. So think about this question that I'm
• 1:08:11
  Speaker 2: going to ask y'all as we close here today on
• 1:08:13
  Speaker 2: this episode. And I'd like to get your feedback, if
• 1:08:16
  Speaker 2: you don't mind. If you could drop your answer down
• 1:08:19
  Speaker 2: in the comments, if you're listening on Spotify, if you're
• 1:08:22
  Speaker 2: listening on social media, on YouTube, on Facebook, leave me
• 1:08:26
  Speaker 2: a comment down below to this question. Or shoot me
• 1:08:29
  Speaker 2: a DM. I'd love to hear your answer. But I'll
• 1:08:32
  Speaker 2: leave y'all with this question. What is the one unwritten
• 1:08:37
  Speaker 2: rule you wish every new duck hunter knew before stepping
• 1:08:40
  Speaker 2: into a crowded marsh or cypress break? Let me repeat that.
• 1:08:48
  Speaker 2: What is the one unwritten rule that you wish every
• 1:08:52
  Speaker 2: new duck hunter knew before stepping into a crowded marsh
• 1:08:56
  Speaker 2: or timber break? I'm going to leave that question for
• 1:09:02
  Speaker 2: you guys to answer or to at least reflect on yourself.
• 1:09:08
  Speaker 2: But the only way we're going to grow this community
• 1:09:11
  Speaker 2: and make it better is by hearing your responses to
• 1:09:15
  Speaker 2: those type of questions. So that's why I'm asking for
• 1:09:18
  Speaker 2: y'all answer, for your feedback. Yes, I'd like to read it,
• 1:09:23
  Speaker 2: but I also want other people to see this and
• 1:09:25
  Speaker 2: read it. And this is not often I ask you
• 1:09:29
  Speaker 2: guys for a favor when we ask a question, but
• 1:09:33
  Speaker 2: this episode goes deeper than just what's on the strap.
• 1:09:38
  Speaker 2: And it really is. It's just deeper than what's on
• 1:09:41
  Speaker 2: the strap. Your answers mean something here. Other people could
• 1:09:48
  Speaker 2: read these answers and they're going to see what you
• 1:09:50
  Speaker 2: think and what your responses are and how maybe they
• 1:09:53
  Speaker 2: can improve if they're new to it. So I'd appreciate
• 1:09:57
  Speaker 2: that if you guys could do it. Leave me an
• 1:10:00
  Speaker 2: answer down on that question. That's all I got, guys.
• 1:10:05
  Speaker 2: That's really all I got for this episode. I hope
• 1:10:07
  Speaker 2: y'all enjoyed it. If you did enjoy it, I'm going
• 1:10:10
  Speaker 2: to ask that you subscribe, share the episode. And tune
• 1:10:14
  Speaker 2: in next week or the next episode of Last Stop
• 1:10:18
  Speaker 2: Waterfowl Outdoors podcast. I've enjoyed my time with y'all today.
• 1:10:22
  Speaker 2: I thank y'all so much as an audience. Thank you.
• 1:10:25
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Thank you so much for your time that
• 1:10:27
  Speaker 2: you spend with us on these episodes and for your
• 1:10:29
  Speaker 2: support as a community and as a platform ourselves and
• 1:10:34
  Speaker 2: for following us on social media and everywhere. You guys
• 1:10:38
  Speaker 2: enjoy our content that we bring to you. Thank you
• 1:10:40
  Speaker 2: so much. We cannot do it without you guys. We
• 1:10:43
  Speaker 2: totally enjoy your feedback, your comments, your, Your criticism, we
• 1:10:49
  Speaker 2: respect it, and we want to hear you guys participate.
• 1:10:53
  Speaker 2: Anytime you think we can do something better, we want
• 1:10:55
  Speaker 2: to hear it. Or you enjoyed an experience or something
• 1:10:59
  Speaker 2: we talked about maybe brought you back to your childhood
• 1:11:02
  Speaker 2: or struck up a memory that you enjoyed from your
• 1:11:06
  Speaker 2: hunting journey. We enjoy hearing your story. We want to
• 1:11:09
  Speaker 2: hear your story. But without you guys, we couldn't do
• 1:11:13
  Speaker 2: what we do, and it motivates us to do what
• 1:11:15
  Speaker 2: we do when you guys engage and participate, and we
• 1:11:19
  Speaker 2: get to know you from a personal standpoint and hear
• 1:11:23
  Speaker 2: your stories. Thank you so much for that time, and
• 1:11:26
  Speaker 2: thank you so much for the time you spent with
• 1:11:28
  Speaker 2: us on this episode of Last Stop Waterfowl Outdoors. My
• 1:11:32
  Speaker 2: name is Jacob, and we'll see you all again soon, guys.
• 1:11:35
  Speaker 2: Y'all take care and have a good evening.