Speaker 1: Welcome to this country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves.
Speaker 1: From coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.
Speaker 1: I want you to stay a while as I share
Speaker 1: my stories and the country skills that will help you
Speaker 1: beat the system. This Country Life is proudly presented as
Speaker 1: part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you the best
Speaker 1: outdoor podcast the airways have to offer. All right, friends,
Speaker 1: pull you up a chair or drop that tailgate. I
Speaker 1: think I got a thing or two the teacher duck
Speaker 1: camp etiquette. It's summertime, so naturally we're going to be
Speaker 1: talking about cold weather. Really, it's getting close to the
Speaker 1: time when you plan your duck hunting trips. And if
Speaker 1: you're using an outfitter, I think you'll get some good
Speaker 1: out of this. And even if you ate, I bet
Speaker 1: there'll be some stuff in here you can apply to
Speaker 1: just the out anything. Y'all get ready for some duck
Speaker 1: camp etiquette. And I ain't talking about the kind of
Speaker 1: etiquette that suppresses your inner cave man and keeps you
Speaker 1: from reaching across the table and snatching up the last
Speaker 1: biscuit out of the bowl just because you still got
Speaker 1: some sopping to do. I'm talking about the kind of
Speaker 1: etiquette that helps you get along with folks you may
Speaker 1: have never hunted with, maybe in a place you've never
Speaker 1: hunted before. And since I know a little bit about
Speaker 1: the guiding business, we're going to talk about how that
Speaker 1: all applies to duck hunt. What clothes do I need?
Speaker 1: Can I call to Can I bring my dog? But first,
Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you a story. It was late
Speaker 1: when I got to the duck camp that night. I've
Speaker 1: been working with some other agents at my regular job
Speaker 1: as a narcotics investigator on a case that required my presence,
Speaker 1: so I didn't get to leave when I planned to,
Speaker 1: and it was way after midnight when I came rolling in.
Speaker 1: My brother Tim and I owned and operated Southern Waterfowler's
Speaker 1: Guide Service near the small community of Raydale, which was
Speaker 1: located thirty minutes due south of Stuttgart and on the
Speaker 1: banks of the Arkansas River, right in the heart of
Speaker 1: Arkansas's world famous green timber duck hunting. Tim had got
Speaker 1: there as planned and had everything ready for our guests
Speaker 1: when they arrived early that afternoon. They done had supper
Speaker 1: and he explained to them that because of my job
Speaker 1: that I was going to be a little late, but
Speaker 1: not to worry, because I'd be there when the coffee
Speaker 1: got ready. The next morning, before we all left out
Speaker 1: for our hunt, our lodge was configured where the guests
Speaker 1: stayed downstairs, with the kitchen the living room, and our
Speaker 1: room was upstairs. We would come and go upstairs without
Speaker 1: ever disturbing our guests, using the second story screened in
Speaker 1: porch entrance, which I was slipping in with all my
Speaker 1: hunting gear the night this happened, I slipped up the
Speaker 1: stairs and eased the door open to the living room
Speaker 1: and stepped inside, letting my eyes adjust to the darkness.
Speaker 1: The kitchen was next to the living room and separated
Speaker 1: by a doorway. The light above the kitchen sink was
Speaker 1: always left on, and with it, shouting into the living room,
Speaker 1: I hung a hard left and headed towards my room,
Speaker 1: dodging a chair in a footstool, trying not to wake
Speaker 1: anyone up downstairs, or my brother, whose room was just
Speaker 1: off the kitchen. As I'm tiptoeing trying to be quiet,
Speaker 1: I hear through the kitchen that my brother has opened
Speaker 1: his door and walking in the kitchen, headed to get
Speaker 1: a drink of water, which he was prone to do.
Speaker 1: I sat my bags down, walked to the kitchen and
Speaker 1: could see a silhouette up my brother standing behind and
Speaker 1: propped up against a waste high island that we had
Speaker 1: in the kitchen. He was drinking water out of a
Speaker 1: coffee cup. I walked up and propped up on the
Speaker 1: opposite side, and we briefly talked about the case I
Speaker 1: was working on, and once that was done, he let
Speaker 1: me in on the plans he'd made for the duck
Speaker 1: hunt that we were going to go on in just
Speaker 1: a few hours. There were six hunters, so he'd take
Speaker 1: three and I'd take three. He told me their names,
Speaker 1: and they were all experienced with guns, no red flags.
Speaker 1: Seemed to be a good bunch of boys, and he
Speaker 1: was looking forward to hunting with them. He'd already scattered
Speaker 1: the places we were going, and there was lots of ducks,
Speaker 1: so we should have a good hunt. I was giving
Speaker 1: plumb out and I told him I was going to bed.
Speaker 1: He said okay, and he stepped toward the end of
Speaker 1: that island and toward his room. So I followed his movement,
Speaker 1: intended to give him a hug before we headed off
Speaker 1: to our separate beds. By this time, my eyes had
Speaker 1: calibrated to the darkness, and I could see everything that
Speaker 1: I couldn't see when I first got inside. It was
Speaker 1: at the other end of that island, when we both
Speaker 1: stepped around it, that I realized my brother was naked
Speaker 1: as a pick bird, and had been for the entire
Speaker 1: five minutes we were standing there, talking, separated only by darkness,
Speaker 1: kitchen furniture, and good fortune. Cat like reflexes turned a
Speaker 1: potential embrace with a naked man into a pat on
Speaker 1: the shoulder and an immediate about face. I was still
Speaker 1: awake when Lauren went off a few hours later, and
Speaker 1: that's just how that happened. Lots of questions should come
Speaker 1: up when you're heading out on an adventure, especially if
Speaker 1: we're using an outfitter or a guide service. Now, I've
Speaker 1: been running a camera on a few outfitted bear hunts
Speaker 1: with clay Bow, and always my number one issue was
Speaker 1: power availability to charge my camera batteries. After all, I
Speaker 1: was there to film, and everybody knows that in outdoor media,
Speaker 1: if it didn't happen on film, it didn't happen at all.
Speaker 1: Now I'm going to talk about coming to the duck camp,
Speaker 1: but you can apply a lot of this to just
Speaker 1: about anything if you generalize it just a bit. The
Speaker 1: answer to all your questions should be addressed with the
Speaker 1: outfitters themselves. Keeping an open line of communication between y'all
Speaker 1: is vital to making your trip enjoyable for everyone. I've
Speaker 1: had clients book of December duck or goose hunt in
Speaker 1: August when the dates are set and talk to them
Speaker 1: weekly up until they get there. I've also had others
Speaker 1: book a hunt and not talk to them again until
Speaker 1: they needed to ride from the airport. Having been in
Speaker 1: the business for so long, we grew to expect this
Speaker 1: and tried to get out in front of all the
Speaker 1: questions to begin with by sending everyone a list of
Speaker 1: the items they needed to bring and what was provided.
Speaker 1: I've looked at several websites for different species of game
Speaker 1: and types of hunting, and I didn't find one that
Speaker 1: didn't have a prepared list like we made, or a
Speaker 1: contact number or email addressed for questions. So if you
Speaker 1: get to your hunt spot ready for your big adventure
Speaker 1: and you ain't got what you need, guess whose fault
Speaker 1: that is. Which reminds me of a story we had
Speaker 1: some foaks from Wisconsin book a hunt with us that
Speaker 1: lived in Green Bay. Now he gets cold up there. Brother.
Speaker 1: Now I never think about those boys at Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Speaker 1: That I don't hear John Facinda, the narrator of NFL films,
Speaker 1: say the frozen tundra of lambeau Field, Except John Fercinda
Speaker 1: never really said that. What he did say was the
Speaker 1: frozen tundra of Municipal Stadium. And he was talking about
Speaker 1: the Cleveland Browns, not the Green Bay Packers. But back
Speaker 1: to the story. Those folks not only lived on the
Speaker 1: frozen tundra, they went to the football games at lambeau
Speaker 1: Field in the winter when it was below zero. Get this,
Speaker 1: they also duck hunted on the frozen tundra and had
Speaker 1: experienced cold like I had never known in my life.
Speaker 1: I picked him up at the airport, got them to
Speaker 1: the camp, and we checked them in, got their bags
Speaker 1: in the rooms, got their shotgun square, and began to
Speaker 1: visit while waiting for supper to get ready. I thought
Speaker 1: it was odd that the main topic of concern for them,
Speaker 1: having just come from the frozen tundra was how cold
Speaker 1: it was in Arkansas. A big Arctic cold front had
Speaker 1: pushed in, dropping the tempts below freezing for highs, and
Speaker 1: forecasts to get progressively colder, with highs in the teens
Speaker 1: and lows in single digits for the duration of their
Speaker 1: three day hunt. Now, I don't know about y'all, and
Speaker 1: I don't really care to hear everybody that lives up
Speaker 1: north tell me there if you think that's cold stories.
Speaker 1: I do think that's cold, and I don't live up
Speaker 1: there for that very reason. But apparently these boys had
Speaker 1: it in their heads that they were coming to the
Speaker 1: Bahamas to duck hunt. They didn't bring coats, long handed lunderwear,
Speaker 1: or insulated waiters. And even though the severity of that
Speaker 1: cold front was abnormal, for the love of humanity, cheese heads,
Speaker 1: you're still outside in North America in December. So we
Speaker 1: busted our hind ends, finding coachs and barring waiters and
Speaker 1: clothes from every place we could find to keep those
Speaker 1: cats from going back home looking like old hatchet Jack
Speaker 1: and Jeremiah Johnson. Now, in their defense, not everyone had
Speaker 1: access to the internet like they do now, and they
Speaker 1: just assumed that since they were coming south that it
Speaker 1: was going to be warmer from where they came. It
Speaker 1: was not. We got them some clothes and boy did
Speaker 1: we kill some ducks. So what does that tell you?
Speaker 1: Ask your outfitter and come prepared. Every state that I've
Speaker 1: ever been in will have someone say if you don't
Speaker 1: like the weather, just hang around fifteen minutes and that
Speaker 1: it'll change. Well, you need to be prepared to change
Speaker 1: with it. Choose wisely, and bring layers. It's easier to
Speaker 1: take them off if you get hot and add them
Speaker 1: if you get cold. Setting yourself up for one type
Speaker 1: of weather is dumb, unless you're going to the Tropics
Speaker 1: or the Arctic. Those two extremes are pretty well a
Speaker 1: safe bet as far as what kind of drawers you're
Speaker 1: gonna need. I asked an outfit in Saskatchewan one clear
Speaker 1: cloudless day before we left in a boat to head
Speaker 1: to a bar bait reckon, I'm gonna need this rain gear.
Speaker 1: He looked at me with the expression I'm sure I
Speaker 1: had when those boys from Wisconsin quizzed me about when
Speaker 1: it was going to warm up, and I said March.
Speaker 1: He went back to putting gear in the boat and
Speaker 1: he said, this is northern Saskatchewan. He rains up here
Speaker 1: somewhere every day. I took it with me in less
Speaker 1: than an hour. I was putting it on in a
Speaker 1: downpour that came out of nowhere, and watching him smiling
Speaker 1: at me while I did it. The difference between me
Speaker 1: and the cheeseheads because I asked, what about calling? What
Speaker 1: about calling? I'll tell you about call. Calling ducks into
Speaker 1: the dcoys for folks that can't do it is the
Speaker 1: closest thing I'll ever know of what it was like
Speaker 1: to be Elvis telling your hunters to be still, get ready,
Speaker 1: and blowing a series of calls at the correct time
Speaker 1: and volume to get a big group of ducks lightning
Speaker 1: the decoys. Feels as good as when Yo Mama hugs you.
Speaker 1: I started calling at an early age under the mendership
Speaker 1: of my older brother Tim, and I practiced year round.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, they're hanging within arm's reach
Speaker 1: where I'm sitting right now into a duck hunter. It
Speaker 1: far surpasses the enjoyment of shooting them in my eyes.
Speaker 1: And I don't know anyone that likes to bust a
Speaker 1: cap in a matter of ducks behind more than I do.
Speaker 1: It's a wondrous thing, and everyone wants to do it,
Speaker 1: but not everyone wants to put in the work to
Speaker 1: be good, or they just don't know how to be good.
Speaker 1: The old saying of practice makes perfect that ain't correct
Speaker 1: power perfect practice makes perfect. If your practice is jacked up,
Speaker 1: your duck calling will be too. Now, we had a
Speaker 1: guy that booked a hunt on the premise that he
Speaker 1: could help call, no worries. He was the only guy
Speaker 1: that was coming for those three days, so when he
Speaker 1: said he knew how to call, we took him at
Speaker 1: his word. I'm reminded of a quote by President Reagan
Speaker 1: that said trust, but verify. And we didn't verify, but
Speaker 1: we should have. We just assumed that since he said
Speaker 1: he could call, that he could call. And we've been
Speaker 1: talking to him all summer. He was the type that
Speaker 1: booked the hunt in August, and we talked to him
Speaker 1: nearly every day, and all he could talk about was
Speaker 1: how excited he was by being in the green Timber
Speaker 1: that flooded Green Timber of Arkansas and calling ducks in
Speaker 1: and killing his limit. Filling up his ducks trapped with
Speaker 1: limits of green heads that he called in himself was
Speaker 1: his only goal because he already knew everything else. So
Speaker 1: when he came down and we got out there that
Speaker 1: morning that first morning of his hunt. Man, He's got
Speaker 1: all the right gear. He knows where to stand associated
Speaker 1: with the wind. He helps set the decoys out correctly.
Speaker 1: I can see it's call hanging around his neck. It's
Speaker 1: a quality call. He does everything that he's supposed to do,
Speaker 1: and he looks the part. And when the ducks started
Speaker 1: flying and it came time to start calling, the racket
Speaker 1: that was coming out of his duck call was something
Speaker 1: I had never heard in my life. I couldn't imagine
Speaker 1: how much practice it took for him to make the
Speaker 1: sound that I thought was impossible to decreate it by
Speaker 1: blowing the air over a plastic greed. It sounded like
Speaker 1: somebody skinning a live bobcat with a dove hatchet. Tim
Speaker 1: and I looked at each other and I thought he
Speaker 1: was kidding. I thought he's playing a trick on us.
Speaker 1: But it was obvious after a minute or two that
Speaker 1: not only was he not playing a trick, but he
Speaker 1: also did not know how to call ducks as he
Speaker 1: previously claimed. So after he flared the second bunch of
Speaker 1: ducks out of the hole and looked at us like
Speaker 1: a calf looking at a new gate, trying to figure
Speaker 1: out what was wrong. He was standing over there by Tim,
Speaker 1: and I asked him. I said, hey, man, have you
Speaker 1: ever had your call pitched? He said no, I don't guess.
Speaker 1: I don't guess I have do Do I need to
Speaker 1: have that done? So my brother said, yeah, let me
Speaker 1: see it. Take it off your lanyard. So the fellow
Speaker 1: took it off his lanyard, handed it to Tim, and
Speaker 1: Tim pitched it to me and I stuck it in
Speaker 1: my pocket and I said, buddy, if you want to
Speaker 1: kill some ducks, let me keep this here and we'll
Speaker 1: shoot some and then when we get done, we're going
Speaker 1: to teach you how to call them. And that's just
Speaker 1: what we did. So if you've a mind to be
Speaker 1: calling ducks when you get to your outfit or club,
Speaker 1: don't be surprised if they ask you to call before
Speaker 1: you all go hunting. The biggest mistake folks make is
Speaker 1: actually not the sound that they make, although that is important,
Speaker 1: But the biggest mistake they make is when they make
Speaker 1: the sounds. I've hunted with callers that like to hear
Speaker 1: themselves call more than they like to call ducks, and
Speaker 1: knowing when not to call that may be more important
Speaker 1: than knowing when to. I'll tell you this next item
Speaker 1: on the list was more contentious than just about anything
Speaker 1: else we dealt with during our guiding career, and while
Speaker 1: only a few folks ever requested it, it caused the
Speaker 1: most problems and hurt feelings. And I shut her now
Speaker 1: thinking about it. And that was when the potential client asked,
Speaker 1: can I bring my dog? Oh Lord, here we go.
Speaker 1: I'll tell you this, Nothing makes a good hunt great
Speaker 1: faster than a well trained, obedient retriever. I've had one
Speaker 1: of the best I've ever seen. Her name was Anna.
Speaker 1: She was black as an ace of spades and lived
Speaker 1: with us for thirteen years, and when she died, I
Speaker 1: thought I was going to die too. She was something
Speaker 1: special and retrieved no telling how many ducks thousands. On
Speaker 1: the other hand, nothing will ruin a great hunt quicker
Speaker 1: than a dog than ain't try. Allowed me to pontificate.
Speaker 1: This group of hunters came to us from the Atlantic coast.
Speaker 1: They duck hunted a lot out there, but the hunting
Speaker 1: conditions where they were was quite different than it was
Speaker 1: in Arkansas. They were lucky if they shot a few
Speaker 1: wood ducks here and there where they lived. They never
Speaker 1: had the numbers of ducks working into the decoys like
Speaker 1: we did in Arkansas. When they brought their dog for
Speaker 1: the first time, we had fully vetted these folks and
Speaker 1: how good this dog was. They talked about his pedigree,
Speaker 1: they did demonstrations with him when they got there to
Speaker 1: the camp on how good this dog was a man.
Speaker 1: He performed like a champ for real. He did everything
Speaker 1: that that boy told that dog to do when he
Speaker 1: told him to do it. I mean, he was an
Speaker 1: absolute monster. And they also hunted him in hunt test
Speaker 1: and he did really well. But when we got in
Speaker 1: that flooded green timber and groups of twenty forty and
Speaker 1: fifty ducks started working around the hole and in coming
Speaker 1: in and calling the water, slashing and shooting. Man, it
Speaker 1: was more than that dog could stand. He was whimpering, whining,
Speaker 1: barking loud, breaking off the stand, running out of decoys,
Speaker 1: and when the duck started coming in, and that's dangerous
Speaker 1: for everyone, especially the dogs. He can mess around and
Speaker 1: get shot, and the other hunters were looking to hang
Speaker 1: that dog and his owner. It's really nothing against the dog.
Speaker 1: He had just never experienced anything like that. He had
Speaker 1: seen all the hunting scenarios and the hunt test that
Speaker 1: he'd been in, but he had never experienced the real thing.
Speaker 1: And man, I tell you, I about lose my mind
Speaker 1: every time a big group of ducks starts working coming
Speaker 1: into the decoys. So I get it. He was excited
Speaker 1: and he just couldn't help it. He just needed exposure
Speaker 1: to it. And the wrong time to expose him to
Speaker 1: it is when you've got a group of folks paying
Speaker 1: to hunt and the only thing that's keeping them from
Speaker 1: being successful is your dog. So what we wound up
Speaker 1: doing was taking his dog and the stand and the
Speaker 1: hunter and moving them back like thirty or forty yards
Speaker 1: away from where the decoys were, and we would work
Speaker 1: the ducks in, shoot them, and then bring the dog
Speaker 1: up and let him retrieve the ducks. They were there
Speaker 1: for three days, and that was the first morning we hunted.
Speaker 1: We retrieved our own ducks the last two days. There's
Speaker 1: so many things to consider when bringing a dog on
Speaker 1: a guided hunt. Number one is the dog trained. Does
Speaker 1: the outfit or have space available for a dog? Just
Speaker 1: because it's a duck camp doesn't mean it's open range
Speaker 1: for labs to roam all over digging in folks stuff,
Speaker 1: and live in purena land mines behind the couch. Yours
Speaker 1: and Mama's baby might be able to do that at
Speaker 1: home and sleep into bed with you, but it'd be
Speaker 1: a rude surprise for both of you if after you
Speaker 1: get permission to bring him and you get the camp
Speaker 1: and you find out all the dogs stay outside in
Speaker 1: the count ask yourself this question before you consider asking
Speaker 1: about bringing your dog. Would he be an asset to
Speaker 1: everyone's hunt or a liability? It's that siming. I've seen
Speaker 1: a lot of changes in duck hunting from the time
Speaker 1: I started to what it is now. And while I
Speaker 1: still have the passion for it, I don't have the
Speaker 1: drive to do it like we used to. Sixty days
Speaker 1: is a long grind, but boy did we have a
Speaker 1: good time. I made friends that have remained friends long
Speaker 1: after we retired from guiding Tim and I talked to
Speaker 1: two of them today. Two good friends from North Carolina
Speaker 1: took a chance and booked a hunt at our duck camp.
Speaker 1: We met and we all became brothers. And that was
Speaker 1: over twenty years ago. David Miller and Jay Van Noyd,
Speaker 1: an unlikely pairing of a mortician and a lawyer, two
Speaker 1: folks that everybody's going to need Eventually, one of them
Speaker 1: can help you get you out of a jam, and
Speaker 1: the other one, well, he'd be the last fellow that
Speaker 1: will ever let you down. Literally, booking a hunt with
Speaker 1: an outfitter, well, it's a gamble. The only thing that
Speaker 1: they can guarantee is to do their best to give
Speaker 1: you the opportunity to shoot some ducks, deer, elk, catch fish,
Speaker 1: whatever it is you're after. That's what you're paying for,
Speaker 1: the opportunity. Take it upon yourself to be informed about
Speaker 1: what your responsibilities are and recognize that going in and
Speaker 1: the whole experience can change for you. Do this for me,
Speaker 1: Go in with the attitude that you want to learn something,
Speaker 1: just one thing in addition to why you're there. Like
Speaker 1: the guy that couldn't call ducks but thought he could,
Speaker 1: he learned two things. Number one that he didn't know
Speaker 1: how to call ducks. Number two, the killing a full
Speaker 1: strap of green heads paled in comparison to the group
Speaker 1: of ducks that he called in by himself and letting
Speaker 1: the decoys. On the last day of his trip, Tim
Speaker 1: and I had our limits and had unloaded our shotguns
Speaker 1: and was left him do it all. By himself. He
Speaker 1: was one green head short of his limit. When he
Speaker 1: saw a group and started calling like we'd shown him,
Speaker 1: he worked him like a champ. He was silent when
Speaker 1: they approached except for soft, contented feeding calls, and forceful
Speaker 1: when they swung away, bringing them back time after time
Speaker 1: until they committed and settled in the hole. They were
Speaker 1: landing all around him and us, and he never fired
Speaker 1: a shot. I will never forget it. The ducks eventually
Speaker 1: spooked and exploded out of the hole, and he never
Speaker 1: reached for his gun. We were silent watching him watch
Speaker 1: all those ducks fly out of sight. They'd been gone
Speaker 1: ten seconds before he moved, and with tears of joy
Speaker 1: in his eyes, he looked at me and Tim and
Speaker 1: said it was the most beautiful thing that he'd ever seen.
Speaker 1: And I have to agree. It was pretty sporty, and
Speaker 1: we was awfully proud of it. I thank y'all so
Speaker 1: much for listening. Remember educate yourself on watching plan is,
Speaker 1: do your diligence and understand what's expected of you, and
Speaker 1: above all else never hugged my brother in the dark.
Speaker 1: This is Brent Reeves signing off. Y'all be careful