WEBVTT - Ep. 86: Duck Stories 0:00:05.320 --> 0:00:07.960 I've duck hunted my whole life, and I've never seen 0:00:08.000 --> 0:00:11.320 this happen like this. And ducks are literally landing beside 0:00:11.320 --> 0:00:14.400 the blind, water splashing up in the blind. We can 0:00:14.440 --> 0:00:16.759 fill the air off of their their wings as they 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:18.840 fly by. You could touch them, You could have reached 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:22.919 out and grabbed one. Water Fowler's occupied the ranks of 0:00:22.920 --> 0:00:28.000 the hardest core, most passionate, and ridiculous partakers of wild 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:31.880 meat sources that I know. I love them for so 0:00:31.920 --> 0:00:36.479 many reasons. America's wetlands are the crown jewels of this continent. 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:39.640 Families should be taking their kids to turn the swamps 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:43.640 rather than Disneyland, because in the mud and the reeds 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:48.240 and the flooded timber is where real magic and mystery happens. 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:51.200 It's where one of the greatest and most celebrated bird 0:00:51.280 --> 0:00:56.760 migrations on planet Earth unfolds every fall like a recited poem. 0:00:56.760 --> 0:00:59.720 And the river rats who know it, who see it, 0:01:00.200 --> 0:01:03.840 who lived for it, are the dad gum duck hunters. 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:07.920 And oh do they have stories. This is our duck 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:11.960 Stories episode. I've searched the swamps and boos for the 0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:17.440 best stories about blacked out skies, sunk boats, incredible dogs, 0:01:18.000 --> 0:01:22.039 and even gators. I really doubt, even if you're not 0:01:22.120 --> 0:01:24.640 a duck hunter, that you're gonna want to miss this one. 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:27.759 And they started lighting in the other end of that hole, 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:30.039 and it was like you were rolling out of carpet. 0:01:30.480 --> 0:01:34.279 A thousand ducks all of a sudden just started rolling 0:01:34.400 --> 0:01:37.800 right up to us. One of the most incredible hunts 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:40.479 that I've been on over there. I got chill bumps 0:01:40.520 --> 0:01:51.680 on my arm right now talking about it. My name 0:01:51.760 --> 0:01:55.000 is Clay Nukelem, and this is the Bear Grease Podcast, 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:59.520 where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, search for insight 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:03.320 and likely places, and where we'll tell the story of 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:08.040 Americans who lived their lives close to the land. Presented 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:13.120 by f HF gear American Maid, purpose built hunting and 0:02:13.200 --> 0:02:16.640 fishing gear that's designed to be as rugged as the 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:25.560 place that we explore. Yeah, the river rat, this river 0:02:25.639 --> 0:02:29.320 rat because we're called river rats. And uh, when I 0:02:29.360 --> 0:02:32.160 was dating my wife from stud guard and back in 0:02:32.200 --> 0:02:36.000 the seventies, we had longer hair and uh, her dad 0:02:36.000 --> 0:02:38.680 he said, I won't say exactly what he said, but 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:42.640 he said, you're gonna date that long haired river rat SLB, 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:45.839 you know, And we've been married forty six years now. 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:50.280 But I like Raspbi or duck Ham. But this is 0:02:50.320 --> 0:03:03.880 what I mean. I don't want to really Here's what 0:03:04.000 --> 0:03:14.160 my daddy always used to say. He caught her. That's 0:03:14.160 --> 0:03:18.239 how I used to guide for a year. That was 0:03:18.360 --> 0:03:22.960 champion duck caller and callmaker Jim Stinson of Clarendon, Arkansas. 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:26.120 Jim as a craftsman and a hunter who's dedicated a 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.240 big part of his life to this mysterious and ancient 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:34.440 migration of waterfowl on the Mississippi Flyway. The consistency of 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:37.520 their arrival is like the rising and setting to the sun. 0:03:38.160 --> 0:03:42.840 It will happen, and they will come. When wild beasts 0:03:42.880 --> 0:03:47.360 are this predictable, you can be guaranteed the predators take note, 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:53.000 perhaps even their DNA signals to them from recesses untraceable, 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:57.680 that they're coming. Humans since their arrival in North America 0:03:58.040 --> 0:04:02.520 have waited on the ducks, and they still wait today. 0:04:02.840 --> 0:04:07.440 The human bond wild places and beasts is innate, undeniable, 0:04:07.440 --> 0:04:11.280 and magnetic. And when this much passion accumulates in the 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:16.120 same place, it overflows, and humans do what humans have 0:04:16.279 --> 0:04:21.279 always done. They tell stories. And these stories are really 0:04:21.400 --> 0:04:24.280 all that we have that can't be taken from us. 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:29.600 Dear horns burn and house fires, shotguns get stolen, meat 0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:34.400 is consumed and burned as human fuel. Our bodies wear out, 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:40.320 and old men can't go anymore. But stories last even 0:04:40.360 --> 0:04:44.360 beyond our lives. We'll hear a lot more from Mr 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:47.480 Jim Stinson later, but I want to get into this 0:04:47.560 --> 0:04:51.880 collection of stories. Some are funny, some are scary, but 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:58.080 all highlight the migration of the duck. This first story 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:02.520 is told by jimbo on Quest. He's about as legendary 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:05.599 a water fowler as they make these days. He's a 0:05:05.600 --> 0:05:08.960 world champion duck caller, a former outfitter. He's worked for 0:05:09.040 --> 0:05:13.240 call companies, and he currently works for Drake Waterfowl. Jim 0:05:13.320 --> 0:05:16.360 is telling me this story late in the evening from 0:05:16.360 --> 0:05:20.039 a duck lodge in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, and it's in 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:24.359 the heart of duck season. This story is called shell 0:05:24.520 --> 0:05:29.760 Shocked Man. You know you ask about telling stories about 0:05:29.760 --> 0:05:33.520 either being funny or near death or whatever they may be. 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:38.080 This one is somewhat as weird as it is to 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:42.600 say a near death experience. That being said, here's the scenario. 0:05:42.800 --> 0:05:46.279 So back in when I was in the commercial hunting business, 0:05:46.839 --> 0:05:50.160 and we had a place we hunted that was pretty good. 0:05:50.440 --> 0:05:54.520 If other places weren't producing, we would rotate folks through 0:05:54.520 --> 0:05:58.880 this one spot. Hindsight being if I had known then 0:05:58.920 --> 0:06:02.239 what I know now, I wouldn't have been doing that. However, 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:04.800 you're making man, these people are paying us to go 0:06:04.920 --> 0:06:08.280 duck hunting. They want to shoot ducks, so you put them, 0:06:08.760 --> 0:06:12.080 give them every opportunity you can. Anyway, we'd had a 0:06:12.080 --> 0:06:14.560 group of hunters that morning, had a great hunt, and 0:06:14.600 --> 0:06:17.800 it was just one of those special days. It was 0:06:17.839 --> 0:06:22.880 a major flight, major migration day. It was just happening. 0:06:23.000 --> 0:06:26.640 It was when I think back on it, just the 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:30.080 opportunity to have lived it. It's cool. I would like 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:33.960 to have that opportunity again. On top of that, we 0:06:33.960 --> 0:06:38.200 were entertaining folks and trying to make sure folks were happy. Well, 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:41.640 it was already this season and the current dog I had. 0:06:41.720 --> 0:06:44.279 If if any of y'all who listened to this watched 0:06:44.360 --> 0:06:48.120 any of the ever early r NT videos and heard 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:51.039 a dog that winds a lot, her name was Katie. 0:06:51.480 --> 0:06:54.240 Katie was really mad at the ducks, and she was 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:57.240 a really good duck dog. She was a painting the 0:06:57.320 --> 0:07:00.200 butt to hunt with. But she was a really good 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:04.160 duck dog. She was gone with a training buddy mine 0:07:04.200 --> 0:07:06.880 and then were row on lagars. At this protector time, 0:07:07.240 --> 0:07:09.920 I did not have her. She was off running a 0:07:10.000 --> 0:07:13.960 hunt test. So at that time I was probably pushing 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:16.560 three hundred. We was hunting a big old beaver dead 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:18.440 and in a big old swamp, and it was hard 0:07:18.480 --> 0:07:21.040 to get around, and we was picking up ducks and 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:24.840 shooting ducks. And while I might have been near three hundred, 0:07:25.080 --> 0:07:28.560 I was probably one of the most agile fact guys 0:07:28.600 --> 0:07:31.880 in Monroe County, Arkansas at the time. So I was 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:34.720 walking out through this swamp picking up ducks, and you 0:07:34.720 --> 0:07:37.160 know we I was coming back and had two handfuls 0:07:37.200 --> 0:07:40.320 of ducks, and ducks were hitting the decoys. You didn't 0:07:40.320 --> 0:07:42.360 have to call at him, didn't have to blow at him. 0:07:42.360 --> 0:07:45.160 And I was coming back up to the blind too 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:48.080 handfuls of ducks, so if you can imagine, and I 0:07:48.120 --> 0:07:50.520 see ducks lighting to my left and I said, y'all, 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:53.880 don't shoot, don't shoot. So there's a guy about he's 0:07:53.920 --> 0:07:56.800 not quite where you are. He may be a little past, 0:07:57.240 --> 0:08:00.640 but not far, and he's shooting this day action, and 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:04.080 I'm walking towards the window, if you can put this 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:07.400 in perspective, and I said, don't shoot, don't shoot, don't shoot. 0:08:08.840 --> 0:08:11.840 I got two hands full of ducks, right, I got 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:16.560 two limits in each hand, and he's boom, don't quitch heat, 0:08:16.640 --> 0:08:19.800 quit shoot, And I remember feeling the heat on my face, 0:08:20.440 --> 0:08:23.040 and I remember I took my both hands that covered 0:08:23.040 --> 0:08:26.040 my face and he shoots again. I'm like, quit, shoot 0:08:26.080 --> 0:08:29.520 and quit and I'm screaming quit shooting. And I remember 0:08:29.560 --> 0:08:32.760 feeling how hot my face felt. My hat was no 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:35.800 longer on my head. I remember standing there and I 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:38.800 was a big guy, you know. I come from a 0:08:38.880 --> 0:08:43.320 construction background, poor concrete for living, worked on farms, put 0:08:43.400 --> 0:08:45.680 up a lot of hay, you know. I mean, I 0:08:45.800 --> 0:08:48.400 was just one of them kind of guys. And I 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:53.440 remember being nervous and finally I said, are you done? 0:08:53.480 --> 0:08:59.000 Are you done? I yelled, yeah, yeah, you're okay. But 0:08:59.120 --> 0:09:01.920 I remember my hand's been on my face, and I 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:08.240 remember being nervous to pull my hand because I I 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:11.800 thought I was gonna see two hands full of blood 0:09:13.520 --> 0:09:17.920 and I didn't. I said, I'm okay. I looked at 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:20.040 my hat and the bill of my hat was frey 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:22.320 just a little bit when I picked it up, So 0:09:22.360 --> 0:09:25.199 I guess what I got was a little of percussion 0:09:25.720 --> 0:09:29.840 and in the gas off the off him shooting in 0:09:29.880 --> 0:09:33.280 front of me. And you know a lot of folks 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:35.760 would think that you just go punch him in the 0:09:35.800 --> 0:09:39.319 nose or No. I had to go grab a hole 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:43.640 to the blind my knees. When my knees went to jelly, 0:09:44.240 --> 0:09:46.480 I couldn't move. I just had to sit there a 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:50.959 minute just to kind of let everything work itself out. Um. 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:53.880 And I finally got where I could move a little bit, 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:56.360 and I talked to you. I said, look here, party, 0:09:56.880 --> 0:09:59.760 I said, you may not. I thought I was in danger, 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.200 I said, but I felt the heat on my face. 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:04.719 I said, here's my hat. After I pulled up out 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:08.240 of the water, you could see the threads there. That's 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:11.400 a little too close for comfort. Bub Um, we're gonna 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:13.000 get in the boat and we're going back to the 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:15.480 truck and and then the rest of these folks will 0:10:15.480 --> 0:10:18.040 finish their hunt out. And luckily they did, and it 0:10:18.120 --> 0:10:21.800 was a fantastic hunting day. We shot lots of birds. 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:25.240 It would just umbelieve. It's a day that goes down 0:10:25.240 --> 0:10:28.200 in history It's one that you'll never forget for two reasons, 0:10:28.240 --> 0:10:31.240 one for how good the hunting was, and two for 0:10:31.400 --> 0:10:34.880 Jimbo getting his hat shot off. And to this day, 0:10:36.120 --> 0:10:38.800 there's times I'm hunting with folks and if I don't 0:10:38.840 --> 0:10:41.200 know they they're going to shoot, and if they just 0:10:41.280 --> 0:10:43.079 raise up and shoot and I don't call the shot, 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:45.120 you know, or duck kind of falls in, or one 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:49.720 duck gets close and somebody shoots, I I'm kind of jumpy, 0:10:50.440 --> 0:10:56.120 almost overboard. To this day, Jimbo says he'll find himself 0:10:56.320 --> 0:10:59.679 uncontrollably dropping his gun and hitting the deck in a 0:10:59.760 --> 0:11:03.640 duck blind when he hears an unexpected shot. The moment 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:08.240 scared him. There are, however, other types of stories that 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:12.160 shape us at a foundational level, the ones when things 0:11:12.240 --> 0:11:16.520 go really right. The second story is told by my 0:11:16.640 --> 0:11:21.320 friends Scott Harness of Jacksonville, Arkansas. Scott is a pastor. 0:11:21.679 --> 0:11:25.800 He's a former US military helicopter pilot and a lifelong 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:33.000 duck hunter. Here's his story, called the Tupelo Break. You know, 0:11:33.080 --> 0:11:35.280 you know, growing up in Arkansas, I think part of 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:37.960 the culture of our state has all been influenced by 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:40.440 duck hunting. I mean, there's not very many people who 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:43.160 have grown up here that don't at least understand it. 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:45.840 But still, even at that, I think I fielded the 0:11:45.920 --> 0:11:49.040 question of why do you duck hunt? You know, so 0:11:49.160 --> 0:11:51.640 many times and and any time that there's somebody on 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.840 the outside looking in, what they'll do is they'll say, 0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:58.520 you know, you go through all this cold water, and 0:11:58.559 --> 0:12:01.280 they name the time you get up and how much 0:12:01.320 --> 0:12:04.600 money you spend, and and they usually conclude that question 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:06.760 by saying, and you do all that for a duck, 0:12:07.520 --> 0:12:10.200 and they just wait for your response. And and for 0:12:10.400 --> 0:12:13.680 years I had a hard time answering that question, because 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:15.960 when you put it in that context, it does sound 0:12:15.960 --> 0:12:18.280 a little insane. But a few years ago, I think 0:12:18.760 --> 0:12:20.760 I think I had it proven to me that it's 0:12:20.800 --> 0:12:22.840 really not about that. Um. I had a friend that 0:12:22.920 --> 0:12:25.400 was wanting to get into duck hunting, and he this 0:12:25.480 --> 0:12:28.880 was his first first time, and he had been chopping 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:30.880 at the bid. He moved from a northern state when 0:12:30.920 --> 0:12:32.679 he got down here. He he didn't grow up in 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:35.080 a family that hunted, but he knew that he wanted 0:12:35.120 --> 0:12:37.280 to hunt, and he knew that I had taken several 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:39.720 people on their first duck hunt, which is something I enjoyed, 0:12:40.600 --> 0:12:43.120 and he said, uh, I want to go, man, can 0:12:43.200 --> 0:12:46.080 can you take me? And he had shot ski and 0:12:46.120 --> 0:12:47.760 done a few other things to get ready, and I 0:12:47.800 --> 0:12:49.760 told him that I would. But we were literally at 0:12:49.760 --> 0:12:52.920 the last week of duck season, and I told him, 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:54.720 I said, well go, I said, let's let's plan on 0:12:54.760 --> 0:12:56.760 doing it next year. He said, no, man, I want 0:12:56.760 --> 0:12:58.720 to go now. I said, you're gonna spend money on 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.640 a duck stamp, and and we're you know and all that, 0:13:01.760 --> 0:13:03.400 and and we're at the end of the season, and 0:13:03.440 --> 0:13:05.439 we'd already had a hard season. We'd hunted a whole 0:13:05.480 --> 0:13:07.120 bunch of that year. And it's kind of like Thanksgiving. 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:09.240 After the meal, you've eatn all that you can eat 0:13:09.240 --> 0:13:11.160 in the top button, your pants are unfastened. You know, 0:13:11.160 --> 0:13:12.800 you don't want anything else eating. Somebody brings you a 0:13:12.840 --> 0:13:14.920 turkey sandwich and they said, hey, would you like to 0:13:14.920 --> 0:13:18.040 have a turkey sandwich tomorrow? You would, but not today. 0:13:18.080 --> 0:13:19.640 You know, we're at the end of the season. I've 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:21.160 had my field of duck hunting, and I don't really 0:13:21.200 --> 0:13:23.360 want to go. But I got this guy chomping at 0:13:23.400 --> 0:13:25.959 the bit, and he just wants to go. Duck hunting. 0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:28.040 That's all he wants. And finally I told him, I said, 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:30.760 I just feel like we have zero chance of killing anything. 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:33.800 And um, he said, I don't care. I just want 0:13:33.840 --> 0:13:36.560 the experience. I want to go. I'm ready. He had 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:38.600 had a few items to to go duck hunting with. 0:13:38.640 --> 0:13:40.920 He had a coat, some gloves, a cap, and a 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:43.640 few other things, but he didn't have any waiters. And um, 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:46.240 finally I agreed. I said, Okay, we'll go. And our 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:49.080 only opportunity to go was the very last day of 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:52.920 duck season and we went to a place I'd hunted 0:13:52.920 --> 0:13:54.880 for a number of years. It was just a a 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:57.720 tupelo break and it was just full of these old 0:13:57.760 --> 0:14:00.960 growth tupelo trees. In fact, it was it was beautiful 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:03.439 there there. In the fall, these these twopelo trees with 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:07.280 the leaves would turn just this bright, bright yellow, and 0:14:07.320 --> 0:14:09.240 they would fall from the trees and they would land 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:12.160 on the water, and it was just like black glass 0:14:12.160 --> 0:14:15.720 with these yellow boats, if you will, floating all across 0:14:15.760 --> 0:14:18.520 the top. It was stunning, and um, we decided we'd 0:14:18.559 --> 0:14:20.960 go there. The unfortunate thing is is that this particular 0:14:21.000 --> 0:14:24.440 place does not hold ducks late in the season. Ever, 0:14:25.120 --> 0:14:27.440 not that it's unlikely that you're going to see a duck. 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:31.360 It's absolutely impossible. But this guy wants to go anyway. 0:14:31.400 --> 0:14:32.920 So we get there, and the only place that we 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:36.200 can actually hunt, because he doesn't have any waiters, is 0:14:36.240 --> 0:14:38.480 an old blind that's sort of out in the middle 0:14:38.520 --> 0:14:41.440 of this this tupelo break. And so we make our 0:14:41.440 --> 0:14:44.600 way out there in the boat, and um, to my chagrin, 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:46.480 I guess it had been the blind had been there 0:14:46.480 --> 0:14:48.120 a lot longer, And it's been a lot longer since 0:14:48.160 --> 0:14:49.680 we've been there than what I thought. And the whole 0:14:49.760 --> 0:14:51.680 roof was rotted off of it, and the floor wasn't 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:53.520 far behind it. In fact, I told him when he 0:14:53.520 --> 0:14:55.280 got into the blind, I said, listen, stand close to 0:14:55.320 --> 0:14:58.160 the tree, because that's probably the strongest point. Looks like 0:14:58.160 --> 0:15:00.240 the floor joyst could give it any any moment, you know. 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.080 And so he gets out and and kind of gets 0:15:03.080 --> 0:15:04.920 close to the tree. My son's with us as well, 0:15:04.960 --> 0:15:06.920 and he gets out, gets in. So I go out 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:09.680 to to throughout the decoys, and and what what once 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:13.400 was a really beautiful broad hole has now grown up 0:15:13.400 --> 0:15:15.760 with buck brush, and so it's it's turned from one 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:19.000 big piece of water to a several clusters, you know, 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:22.080 maybe ten foot in diameter of water, and which further 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:24.160 tells me that there's just no way we're gonna kill ducks. 0:15:24.240 --> 0:15:26.400 Ducks are not gonna come into this big thicket, you know, 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:29.400 to to light. But I throw the decoys out anyway, 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:31.760 and I stick out a mojo, which is just a 0:15:31.800 --> 0:15:34.800 spinning wing decoy that mimics, you know, ducks when they're 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:37.800 flapping their wings, and it's a real good attractive And 0:15:37.880 --> 0:15:39.320 I make my way back to the blind, and when 0:15:39.320 --> 0:15:41.240 I get in the blind, we're all kind of setting 0:15:41.240 --> 0:15:44.000 there before shooting hours, and in my mind I just 0:15:44.120 --> 0:15:46.360 run through, what are we really going to get out 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:48.360 of this? And in my mind, I thought, you know 0:15:48.360 --> 0:15:49.840 what we're gonna do. We're gonna enjoy each other, have 0:15:49.920 --> 0:15:52.880 some conversations. I'm gonna drink a cup of coffee, We're 0:15:52.880 --> 0:15:55.440 gonna get in the boat, pick up decoys, and we're 0:15:55.440 --> 0:15:57.680 gonna go to town to eat a great breakfast. That's 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:02.200 that's my expectation. But so risingly, about ten minutes before dayly, 0:16:02.200 --> 0:16:04.640 I start hearing wings and ducks start coming into the hold, 0:16:04.920 --> 0:16:06.640 which if you've duck hunted any time at all, you 0:16:06.680 --> 0:16:08.840 realize that when ducks come in while it's still dark, 0:16:08.880 --> 0:16:10.640 if they come in numbers, that means they've been in 0:16:10.680 --> 0:16:13.040 this place before. And if ducks have been in a 0:16:13.080 --> 0:16:15.960 place for very long, um, and they haven't been messed with, 0:16:16.240 --> 0:16:18.000 then they tend to attract other ducks. And I said, 0:16:18.040 --> 0:16:19.680 this is a good sign. And so we shift from 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:22.800 you know, just getting breakfast to hey, we might actually 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:24.280 kill a duck. And I looked at my friend and 0:16:24.280 --> 0:16:25.720 I said, I think you're gonna kill a duck. And 0:16:25.720 --> 0:16:28.280 he's quivering like a six month old lab puppy that's, 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:31.040 you know, in his first hunt. But the finally shooting 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:34.200 hours come and ducks are coming in now, really coming in, 0:16:34.320 --> 0:16:38.720 and numbers, I mean, it's unusual numbers. I'm I'm completely surprised. 0:16:38.760 --> 0:16:40.680 My buddies like, when can we shoot? When come we shooting? 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:41.880 I just told him, I said, I just hold on 0:16:41.920 --> 0:16:44.440 for a second. I said, let's just let these ducks 0:16:44.480 --> 0:16:47.000 come in and let's just let's just hold on. And 0:16:47.160 --> 0:16:48.880 as the light really gave way, I looked into this 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:51.600 guy for as high as I could see. Ducks, even 0:16:51.600 --> 0:16:53.960 at altitude, are committed. They're like on a string, coming 0:16:54.000 --> 0:16:57.280 into this place. I've duck hunted my whole life, and 0:16:57.320 --> 0:16:59.960 I've never seen this happen like this. And ducks are live, 0:17:00.000 --> 0:17:03.800 literally landing beside the blind, water splashing up in the blind. 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:06.560 We can fill the air off of their their wings 0:17:06.560 --> 0:17:09.160 as they fly by where the blind once had a lid, 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:11.800 that they're flying through that. And I mean, just you 0:17:11.800 --> 0:17:13.720 could touch them, you could reach out and grabbed one. 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:15.639 My friends still ready to shoot, and I'm like, no, 0:17:15.840 --> 0:17:18.239 we're just gonna set here. We sat in this two 0:17:18.280 --> 0:17:22.240 blow break and we watched ducks by fives, tens, twenties 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:25.199 just pile in there until finally you could not have 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:28.280 put another duck in this hole. In fact, I looked 0:17:28.280 --> 0:17:30.080 over at my robo duck or the mojo with the 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:32.439 little metal wings. They've landed on it and they've been 0:17:32.480 --> 0:17:35.240 its wings and it's convulsing in the water, making this 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:37.760 horrible noise, and any other time that would be like 0:17:37.800 --> 0:17:39.960 a death sentence to wherever you are. But these ducks, 0:17:39.960 --> 0:17:42.480 they don't care. They're gonna come in anyway. They didn't 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:44.600 care if we were there anybody. They had made their 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:46.359 mind up this was a great place and they were 0:17:46.359 --> 0:17:47.880 gonna have a party, and all of them were there, 0:17:48.480 --> 0:17:50.240 and we sat there and we listened to these ducks 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:54.200 and every variety is there. You've got mallards, you've got gadwalls, 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:56.960 even a few wood ducks. There's some widget in there, 0:17:57.240 --> 0:17:59.360 and all of them are just having the big time, 0:17:59.480 --> 0:18:01.760 just all a round us. And and my friends still 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:03.240 ready to shoot. He's still like, what what do we 0:18:03.240 --> 0:18:05.359 gonna shoot? I was like, just just look around for 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:07.080 a second and I'll explain to you later. Well, we're 0:18:07.080 --> 0:18:09.600 not gonna shoot right now. And we just watched these 0:18:09.680 --> 0:18:11.679 ducks for I don't know how long, several minutes, and 0:18:11.720 --> 0:18:14.239 they just it was just it was amazing. It was 0:18:14.400 --> 0:18:17.520 a moment that I had never experienced, even though I've 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:20.680 been duckhating my whole life. We did eventually shoot. Here's 0:18:20.720 --> 0:18:23.639 what's funny. I can't right now tell you exactly how 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:26.640 many ducks we killed. I'm nine sure we all limited out, 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:29.159 which would be obvious, but I don't really know. And 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:32.080 here's what's funny. It was after that particular day that I, 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:34.560 when I go back into my mind, this is what 0:18:34.640 --> 0:18:37.240 helped me understand that duck hunting is not about killing ducks. 0:18:37.359 --> 0:18:39.320 It didn't matter how many ducks were in this trap 0:18:39.400 --> 0:18:42.320 for that trip, what I realized was is that duck hunters. 0:18:42.359 --> 0:18:45.399 What motivates a duck hunter isn't the number of ducks 0:18:45.400 --> 0:18:48.120 that you kill, but it's the stories that you collect. 0:18:48.400 --> 0:18:50.800 And I think in the mind of any duck hunter, 0:18:50.920 --> 0:18:53.440 the reason why you endure the hardship, the reason why 0:18:53.480 --> 0:18:55.720 you go through the cold and and you spend the 0:18:55.760 --> 0:18:58.920 money and you travel, is because in the end, you're 0:18:58.960 --> 0:19:01.960 a collector of story. And you go to any duck hunter, 0:19:02.200 --> 0:19:03.919 he'll look you in the face and he'll give he 0:19:03.960 --> 0:19:07.359 can give you a dozen incredible stories. Now, what's funny 0:19:07.440 --> 0:19:10.840 is that even some of the hardship becomes fodder for 0:19:10.880 --> 0:19:13.080 this archive that we keep in our mind. Because that 0:19:13.119 --> 0:19:14.560 trip we went and we fell on the water and 0:19:14.600 --> 0:19:17.080 we got cold, that becomes part of the story. Or 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:19.199 that time the boat sank or or you had to 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:21.159 break ice or whatever it is. All that's part of 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:23.560 the story. But then there's that other part where you 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:26.679 remember setting next to your granddad and he's calling in ducks, 0:19:27.080 --> 0:19:28.920 and you remember what it was like to set there 0:19:28.960 --> 0:19:31.080 with him and him pull up at that old Itaca 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.600 twelve gate shotgun and catch those ducks on the wing, 0:19:34.800 --> 0:19:36.800 and you were so impressed at how good he could 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:38.960 hunt and how he could call, or maybe it was 0:19:39.000 --> 0:19:41.359 the story of somebody you hunted with and they're not 0:19:41.440 --> 0:19:44.639 here anymore. Those are things that we collect and and 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:46.800 so when it comes down to it, a duck hunter 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:49.080 does it duck hunt for a pile of duck met 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:52.480 A duck hunter doesn't duck hunt for a trophy. Even 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:56.160 a duck hunter duck hunts because duck hunters collects stories. 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:58.960 We that's what keeps us going is the stories of 0:19:59.000 --> 0:20:01.080 the past and the post ability of the story in 0:20:01.080 --> 0:20:03.159 the future will make you get up way before daylight 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:05.920 when it's really cold, and stomp through ice and throughout 0:20:05.960 --> 0:20:08.080 decoys in the hopes that today will be one of 0:20:08.119 --> 0:20:14.080 those exceptional days. Exceptional days of hunting are the fuel 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:18.360 of almost everything we do as hunters. We're constantly reaching 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:22.439 for that pristine moment, and we often go years without 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:26.479 experiencing the type of day we're constantly reaching for. I 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:31.639 do anyway, Incredible days make up for mondane hours, hardship, 0:20:31.680 --> 0:20:36.840 and failure. Honestly, the psychological sensation of betting on the future. 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:40.320 It's probably a lot like what a gambler feels like. 0:20:41.400 --> 0:20:43.920 When I asked Mr Jim Stinson to tell me a 0:20:43.920 --> 0:20:46.719 single story, he couldn't do it without telling me a 0:20:46.760 --> 0:20:49.359 bigger story of how he got his start and making 0:20:49.440 --> 0:20:53.800 duck calls. Stories are connected. I just wanted to let 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:58.040 Mr Jim talk. You're about to hear about his relationship 0:20:58.359 --> 0:21:03.119 with famed duck call maker, the late Alvin Taylor. Here's 0:21:03.200 --> 0:21:07.080 Mr Jim. I had a liquor store for thirty five years. 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:10.199 I was mayor of Clarining for eleven years, and I 0:21:10.280 --> 0:21:15.160 probably blew of the duck calls Alan Taylor made because 0:21:15.200 --> 0:21:18.040 he was older and just didn't have the wind. And 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:20.720 he come up the store thirty times a day. What's 0:21:20.760 --> 0:21:24.040 this need? Well needs a little more wrath? Yeah, I 0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:26.399