WEBVTT - Ep. 173: THIS COUNTRY LIFE - Grits, Rhinos, Monkeys, and Ducks 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:09.240 Welcome to this country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.720 from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living. 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:15.120 I want you to stay a. 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:17.799 While as I share my stories and the country skills 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:20.880 that will help you beat the system. This Country Life 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:24.600 is proudly presented as part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network, 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:28.480 bringing you the best outdoor podcast the airways have to offer. 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:31.920 All right, friends, pull you up a chair or drop 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:34.199 that tailgate. I think I got a thing or two 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:43.400 to teach you. Stories from the guide service. Twenty six 0:00:43.479 --> 0:00:46.160 years in the guiding business taught me a few things 0:00:46.200 --> 0:00:49.959 about people that hunt. The biggest thing was that they 0:00:49.960 --> 0:00:52.960 were all looking for something different, and what some of 0:00:52.960 --> 0:00:56.680 them were hunting surprised me. They were from all over 0:00:56.760 --> 0:01:00.560 this great nation. They ate differently, they dressed differently, certainly 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:04.080 talk differently, and about the only thing we all had 0:01:04.120 --> 0:01:09.000 in common was ducks, or so a thought. I'm gonna 0:01:09.000 --> 0:01:12.400 tell you all about it, but first I'm gonna. 0:01:12.120 --> 0:01:15.520 Tell you a story. 0:01:18.480 --> 0:01:20.840 We were all standing in the dark, in the knee 0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:24.920 deep water in the flooded timber of an unnamed Arkansas 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:30.040 Wildlife Management There, me, my brother Tim, and six boys 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:32.720 from New Jersey that had booked a four day hunt 0:01:32.800 --> 0:01:36.160 with us. This was before it became illegal to guide 0:01:36.200 --> 0:01:38.959 on public land, and I'm not going to be any 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:42.640 more specific about where we were, south southwest of Stuttgart, 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:45.760 so the spot burning police don't issue a wart from 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:48.800 my arrest and start hounding me with hate mail because 0:01:48.840 --> 0:01:52.600 I named the most well known thirty three thousand, eight 0:01:52.680 --> 0:01:56.080 hundred and thirty two acre, about twice the size of Cleveland, 0:01:56.120 --> 0:02:01.480 Ohio Green Tree reservoir on the planet. No gonna do that, biometam. 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:06.320 We were waiting on daylight and staying warm, drinking coffee 0:02:06.520 --> 0:02:10.920 and anticipating the hunt. We'd absolutely smashed the ducks in 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:13.040 the timber of the day before, but had to move 0:02:13.080 --> 0:02:15.960 to a different spot this morning because of the shifting wind. 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.200 Some of the boys had stayed up late into the night, 0:02:19.440 --> 0:02:22.960 celebrating the hunt by abusing their livers. They weren't as 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:25.600 easy to roust out of bed that morning, but peer 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:28.920 pressure prevailed and they made mustar and time to ride 0:02:28.919 --> 0:02:32.040 over to the parking lot. Now, after a short half 0:02:32.080 --> 0:02:35.359 a mile walk and wade, we found ourselves in our 0:02:35.440 --> 0:02:40.200 current spot. Decoys out trees assigned to each hunter as 0:02:40.480 --> 0:02:43.800 their spot to stand and the first safety brief given 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:48.560 all thirty minutes before shooting time. The second safety briefing 0:02:48.600 --> 0:02:52.120 would be right before we loaded up. Now, these Yankees 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:55.880 were absolutely digging everything we were showing them. They were 0:02:56.040 --> 0:02:59.800 fish out of water about Southern culture, food, local animals, 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:02.760 and and the way we talked. It was so much 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:05.000 fun teaching them about all of it, and they, in 0:03:05.040 --> 0:03:07.799 turn were telling us about how life was where they 0:03:07.800 --> 0:03:10.960 were from. And for the most part it was eerly similar. 0:03:12.000 --> 0:03:15.680 Aside from the weird pronunciations of words, we were all 0:03:15.720 --> 0:03:20.000 pretty much alike. Oddly, folks up north find it necessary 0:03:20.040 --> 0:03:22.920 to use all the letters when saying a word. I know, right, 0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:27.239 Ain't that weird? Anyway? These boys could put away the 0:03:27.320 --> 0:03:31.400 groceries and if they were awake, they were eating. Now, 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:34.560 we always vetted folks before they got there about food, 0:03:34.600 --> 0:03:36.920 and we told them the kinds of food that they'd 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:40.640 be eating, which was home cooks, Southern food, and they 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:44.240 were looking forward to it. But they had one request. 0:03:44.480 --> 0:03:47.920 They said that they weren't going to eat oakrey. I 0:03:48.000 --> 0:03:51.280 call it oakrey. Some folks call it okruh. I know, right, 0:03:51.400 --> 0:03:55.680 Ain't that weird anyway? However you say it they drew 0:03:55.720 --> 0:03:59.920 the line at eating it twenty four but twenty four 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.920 hours into their visit and Tim had them eating pickled 0:04:02.920 --> 0:04:04.880 oakrey out of a jar, and my sister in law, 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:08.120 Barbera Jean, had him eating cut up ochre she'd mealed 0:04:08.120 --> 0:04:11.640 and fried, and a cast iron skillet. We'd broken the 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:16.039 ochre barrier. They trusted us, They had an open mind 0:04:16.080 --> 0:04:19.120 and were curious about things that they'd never seen before, 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:21.880 and relied on us to tell them the truth about 0:04:21.920 --> 0:04:25.039 what they were looking at. That was the first mistake. 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.039 Let's go back in time twenty four hours as I 0:04:33.200 --> 0:04:35.919 drove them from the airport and a Little Rock to 0:04:36.040 --> 0:04:38.640 our camp that sat on the bank with the mud 0:04:38.720 --> 0:04:42.520 Lake Bend on the Arkansas River. As soon as we 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:45.280 hit the Gravel County Road on the last leg of 0:04:45.320 --> 0:04:47.719 the ride from the Little Rock, we passed a cotton 0:04:47.839 --> 0:04:50.520 field that had been picked, but the stalks hadn't been 0:04:50.560 --> 0:04:54.200 moved yet. If you're unfamiliar with what that looks like, 0:04:54.400 --> 0:04:58.000 imagine waste high rows of little sapling trees with no 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:03.120 leaves and bits of white hanging off the limbs. Even 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.640 with the most advanced machinery of today, there's always cotton 0:05:06.680 --> 0:05:10.279 that doesn't get picked. The passing by this field that 0:05:10.440 --> 0:05:13.040 was close to the camp, one of my passengers asked, 0:05:13.560 --> 0:05:16.520 what is that growing in that field? I saw him 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:19.640 point to the cotton field, and everyone was looking at 0:05:19.640 --> 0:05:21.440 it or looking at me, waiting for an answer, And 0:05:21.440 --> 0:05:24.240 I said, y'all don't know what that is. And I 0:05:24.279 --> 0:05:26.640 was a little surprised that they'd never seen a cotton 0:05:26.640 --> 0:05:29.279 pass before. And then I realized they don't grow no 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.200 cotton in New Jersey. Of course they hadn't seen one, 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:35.760 so be in a compulsive liar, I said, those are 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:40.440 grit bushes. Grits. He asked, yeah, man, grits, you know, 0:05:40.560 --> 0:05:43.680 like you eat for breakfast. He said, oh yeah, I've 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:47.880 heard of those. We don't eat those back home. Well, 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:49.840 I told him that he'd have the opportunity to eat 0:05:49.880 --> 0:05:53.280 them here because we have them every day. He asked 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.279 me if that's what they'd be eating for breakfast, and 0:05:56.279 --> 0:05:59.839 I said, no, that's what you'll be eating with breakfast. 0:06:00.800 --> 0:06:04.120 Always wondered where those things came from, he said, they 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:06.880 were all satisfied with my answer. Now, I could have 0:06:06.920 --> 0:06:09.000 told him the truth, But you know, what's the fun 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:11.840 in that. I bet some of you are saying right 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:16.919 now where dogrits come from. But anyway, that was lie 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:22.120 number one. Before we driven another half mile. We drove 0:06:22.240 --> 0:06:25.240 up on the Arkansas River levee headed to where our 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:29.800 camp was located, which was inside the levee. Also inside 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:32.680 the levee where some old dykes that had been abandoned 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:36.640 by the Army Corps engineers when in nineteen seventy two 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:40.599 the McLellan Current Navigation System cut a new path for 0:06:40.640 --> 0:06:43.919 the Arkansas River, taking the mud Lake Bend out of 0:06:43.960 --> 0:06:48.120 the channel. The dikes were constructed of telephone pole sized 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:52.239 timbers and stacked like an a frame or what's called 0:06:52.279 --> 0:06:55.960 a no dig fence, and it's covered in large gray rock. 0:06:56.440 --> 0:06:59.320 Most of the big rocks had been salvaged from the 0:06:59.680 --> 0:07:03.599 diyke by the locals with permission for erosion control and 0:07:03.960 --> 0:07:07.640 different uses. But when the gray rocks were gone, you 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:11.160 could see what looked like a telephone pole sized fence 0:07:11.160 --> 0:07:15.280 about eight feet high. Someone else asked as we passed, 0:07:15.440 --> 0:07:18.480 what in the world is that fence for? Well, I 0:07:18.520 --> 0:07:20.760 saw them all looking at it, just like the cotton 0:07:20.800 --> 0:07:23.040 patch back down the road, and I said, oh, that 0:07:23.200 --> 0:07:26.520 fence they used to raise rod nastroses down here for 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:30.520 the zoos. Someone else joined in, are there any more 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:34.800 down here? Straight faced? I told him, well, they're not 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:38.160 really sure. Five got out and killed one of the 0:07:38.160 --> 0:07:41.480 caretakers trying to put them back in, and they pretty 0:07:41.480 --> 0:07:45.200 well shut down the whole operation. Someone asked if they 0:07:45.240 --> 0:07:47.200 catch them. I said, well, they shot three of them 0:07:47.240 --> 0:07:49.440 the next day down the river on a big farm. 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:52.320 One was killed a week later after he routed it 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:56.560 up fifty acres of gritz they never found, and they 0:07:56.640 --> 0:08:00.600 never found the fifth one. There's lots of folks grilling 0:08:00.640 --> 0:08:04.320 out that summer though. They were amazed at that story. 0:08:04.360 --> 0:08:07.560 And to tell you the truth, if I can, so 0:08:07.800 --> 0:08:12.920 was I. And that was lie number two. Fast forward 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:15.360 to the morning of the hunt, and as I was 0:08:15.440 --> 0:08:18.440 making coffee that morning and getting ready before we left 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:21.880 the camp, I noticed one fellow was already up before 0:08:21.960 --> 0:08:24.960 the rest of them. He was one of the six 0:08:25.040 --> 0:08:28.400 that had abstained from the liver wrecking party and was 0:08:28.440 --> 0:08:31.560 a fresh as a daisy, bouncing around in that kitchen 0:08:31.560 --> 0:08:34.079 fixing blown and sandwich is like it was his normal job. 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:37.520 He had them all laid out and stacked together according 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:40.079 to what he put on him half he put on mayonnaise, 0:08:40.080 --> 0:08:44.080 another half he put on mustard. I followed him downstairs 0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:46.120 to go warm on my truck and saw him start 0:08:46.120 --> 0:08:48.960 handing out sandwiches like he was dealing cards in casino, 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:52.199 and all his buddies, who were preoccupied with getting themselves 0:08:52.280 --> 0:08:55.960 ready mayonnaise or mustard. He asked the other five alls 0:08:56.000 --> 0:08:58.000 that it didn't matter, so he was just stuffing them 0:08:58.000 --> 0:09:02.520 in their blind bags. Eventually left. All right, now we're 0:09:02.559 --> 0:09:05.200 back in the duck hunting hole in the darkness, where 0:09:05.240 --> 0:09:09.280 the only light was from the occasional glow of a cigarette. 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:11.680 Tim and I had been having a great time with 0:09:11.760 --> 0:09:15.240 these guys. They were one of our favorite groups of 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:18.440 clients that would become more like friends and family after 0:09:18.480 --> 0:09:21.720 coming year after year. We still talk to them now, 0:09:21.800 --> 0:09:26.600 but that morning they were still new and extremely gullible. 0:09:28.360 --> 0:09:31.480 As I mentioned way back when this story started going 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:33.360 off the rails, it was day two and we were 0:09:33.400 --> 0:09:37.520 standing in a new spot in the dark, with everyone 0:09:37.640 --> 0:09:41.600 standing in their assigned spot with everything you could imagine 0:09:41.600 --> 0:09:45.600 in their own personal blind bags, including the Balogney sandwhich 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:49.800 is one of them, had made for everyone a screech 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:56.000 owl cut loose less than fifty yards away, a six 0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:59.160 man simultaneous chorus of let me see, how can I 0:09:59.240 --> 0:10:04.040 say this? A profane inquiry of the source of that 0:10:04.240 --> 0:10:10.480 sound resonated through the flooded timber. My brother Tim said, 0:10:10.880 --> 0:10:15.480 don't nobody move or turn on a light now. His 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:20.040 voice was seriously concerned. I realized then these boys had 0:10:20.040 --> 0:10:23.079 never heard a screech owl, and even though knowing what 0:10:23.160 --> 0:10:26.319 one is, it'll make the hairstown upon your back of 0:10:26.360 --> 0:10:31.200 your neck. But when everybody was quiet and listening and 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:33.960 waiting for one of us to say something, it was 0:10:34.040 --> 0:10:36.920 then that I whispered loud enough for everyone to hear 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:41.640 hawl or monkeys. You could have heard a pin draw. 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:46.760 I saw two lid cigarettes almost simultaneously fall from their 0:10:46.800 --> 0:10:50.480 faces and disappear in the muddy water with an audible hiss. 0:10:52.080 --> 0:10:55.080 I don't think they took a breath. It was pitch 0:10:55.280 --> 0:10:57.599 black and you couldn't see an inch in front of 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:03.679 your face. Tim whispered during that whole rhino deal. They 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:06.320 had some monkeys down here too, And when they quit 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:11.720 raising them rhinos, someone cut all the monkeys loose. They're 0:11:11.720 --> 0:11:14.480 attracted to light because the keepers fed them at night, 0:11:15.120 --> 0:11:18.320 and when they got loose man. They took to these woods, 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:21.040 and that's where they've lived ever since. There's only a 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:24.720 few left, but we hear them out here occasionally coming 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:28.280 to headlights looking for food. They dine up in the daytime. 0:11:28.320 --> 0:11:31.400 You won't ever see them out Then now there was 0:11:31.440 --> 0:11:36.320 my opportunity. I was positive no one had moved a muscle, 0:11:36.520 --> 0:11:40.440 not one person, and I'm sure they were praying for daylight, 0:11:40.480 --> 0:11:43.839 which was still like twenty minutes away, and wondered how 0:11:43.920 --> 0:11:48.079 they'd voluntarily paid to walk into a wild animal park. 0:11:49.720 --> 0:11:55.559 That's when I said the problem. The problem is blowny. 0:11:56.640 --> 0:11:59.280 They fed them scraps from that blowny plant up river, 0:11:59.679 --> 0:12:02.520 and they could smell blooney from a long way off. 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:06.120 Those jokers like bloonna more than I do. Good thing 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:08.719 is they hate mayonnaise and they won't come near it. 0:12:09.720 --> 0:12:14.160 Y'all ain't got no blooney, do you. Tim waited about 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:16.840 ten seconds, and then he turned on his headlight, and 0:12:17.000 --> 0:12:19.920 all six of them were bug eyed, trying to see 0:12:19.920 --> 0:12:23.400 it in the dark and silently checking their sandwiches to 0:12:23.440 --> 0:12:27.439 see which flavor they had. Tim and I couldn't hold 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:31.280 it any longer and were busting a gut laughing at them. Now, 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:35.000 I'm not sure if they were laughing so hard because 0:12:35.040 --> 0:12:38.920 they thought it was funny, or if they were so 0:12:39.120 --> 0:12:41.360 relieved that a monkey wasn't gonna drop out of the 0:12:41.400 --> 0:12:45.360 tree and beat them up over a blowney sandwich. Now, 0:12:45.400 --> 0:12:49.240 we told them there weren't any monkeys running her around, 0:12:49.679 --> 0:12:52.840 and that was a screech owl they heard. And those 0:12:52.840 --> 0:12:55.319 boys hunted with us for several years, and they could 0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:57.560 dish out the fun just as well as they could 0:12:57.600 --> 0:13:01.120 take it. And I miss those and I talked to 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:03.679 a few of them every now and then. But as 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:07.559 far as they know, there's one rheino from the Arkansas 0:13:07.640 --> 0:13:12.240 River Rideinoceros Farm that's still unaccounted for, and the gritch 0:13:12.280 --> 0:13:15.680 crop is as strong as ever. And that's just how 0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:30.600 it happened, or how we told them it happened. Stories 0:13:30.640 --> 0:13:32.960 from the guide service, I got to meet a lot 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:36.320 of interesting, in good people. I can't remember if we 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:40.160 had anyone from any further west than Texas, but there 0:13:40.200 --> 0:13:42.640 ain't many states we didn't have hunters come from. On 0:13:42.679 --> 0:13:44.880 the eastern half of the US. You could just about 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:48.720 draw a line from West Texas to Canada. And those 0:13:48.800 --> 0:13:53.360 were our people. Some were content just to be there. 0:13:53.480 --> 0:13:56.840 Some were happy if they just saw ducks, Some couldn't 0:13:56.880 --> 0:14:00.559 be satisfied regardless of the situation, and some folks I 0:14:00.600 --> 0:14:02.959 wouldn't let pay me to hang out with them again. 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:07.360 Those were few and far between, but after after a 0:14:07.480 --> 0:14:09.800 quarter of a century of guiding, you could tell within 0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:12.720 the first ten minutes of meeting new clients how good 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:14.760 or bad the next three days were going to be. 0:14:16.000 --> 0:14:18.240 If they marveled at the landscape and wanted to talk 0:14:18.320 --> 0:14:22.000 about their families and were interested in Arkansas and that 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:25.160 ecosystem that they were seeing for the first time, it 0:14:25.240 --> 0:14:28.360 was going to be good. If they started talking about 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:30.280 the number of ducks that they were going to shoot, 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:32.480 and this is how we do it back home, you 0:14:32.520 --> 0:14:35.840 could get ready for a bumpy ride. There was a 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:38.640 small percentage of them that came back just to get 0:14:38.680 --> 0:14:41.320 away from whatever it was they were dealing with back home, 0:14:41.400 --> 0:14:44.800 and some admitted they were coming back year after year 0:14:44.880 --> 0:14:47.359 to see if Tim and I were ever going to fistfight, 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:51.160 And some of them loved that hell bent for leather 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:55.400 boat ride through the flooded timber. All this duck hunting 0:14:55.440 --> 0:14:57.920 I've been doing lately is put ducks on my brain again. 0:14:58.320 --> 0:15:02.480 I'm sorry, alexis not really, but it also reminded me 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:04.720 of what I love and what I missed about it. 0:15:05.720 --> 0:15:08.280 Once I got over being burned out on the drudgery 0:15:08.360 --> 0:15:10.920 or guiding, my thoughts shifted back to why we started 0:15:10.920 --> 0:15:13.520 guiding in the first place, and that was to show 0:15:13.600 --> 0:15:16.720 others what we were seeing and let someone else pay 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:20.440 for our duck hunting addiction. It was essentially the same 0:15:20.440 --> 0:15:23.400 reason I started filming hunts and what set me off 0:15:23.440 --> 0:15:26.200 on this long and winding road of how I'm sitting 0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:31.080 here today talking to you. Seeing people appreciating being all 0:15:31.200 --> 0:15:34.200 these creatures that were gifted to us to enjoy the 0:15:34.240 --> 0:15:37.080 same way that Tim and I are is a rarely 0:15:37.320 --> 0:15:41.400 reached level of satisfaction. I tell you this story to 0:15:41.440 --> 0:15:44.960 show you what I mean. Tim and I were guiding 0:15:45.040 --> 0:15:47.720 four folks from a couple of neighboring states who were 0:15:47.800 --> 0:15:53.440 multiple KFC franchise owners. Now, these guys were very successful businessmen, 0:15:53.560 --> 0:15:56.200 and they could have afforded to hunt with anyone they 0:15:56.240 --> 0:16:00.240 wanted to, and they chose us. They were all old 0:16:00.280 --> 0:16:02.920 country boys who had worked hard and made it big, 0:16:02.960 --> 0:16:06.520 but still appreciated the warmth and feel of a real 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:09.840 hunting camp over a five star amenities that could have 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:12.440 got them at a higher end private land hunting service. 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:16.760 We were strictly the meat and Tater's guide service. We 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:21.080 provided a clean, dry place to sleep, good home cooked food, 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:23.560 and we worked our tails off to give them the 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:27.040 best opportunity to kill ducks. So on the evening that 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.520 they got there, we discussed where we'd be hunting the 0:16:30.560 --> 0:16:32.920 next day, and it wasn't going to be a cake walk, 0:16:34.000 --> 0:16:36.600 but it was going to be a walk. But there 0:16:36.680 --> 0:16:39.560 wasn't gonna be no cake at the end. There'd be 0:16:39.640 --> 0:16:42.560 a better chance of CPR because the ducks were using 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:44.400 a spot that we had to walk to, and if 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:47.160 we were being paid to give them the best opportunity 0:16:47.200 --> 0:16:51.280 to shoot ducks, this was where we were going and 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:54.400 how we were going to get there. Now. Their ages 0:16:54.520 --> 0:16:58.040 ranged from their late fifties to mid sixties, and they 0:16:58.080 --> 0:17:01.720 all seemed in relatively good health. When their host book 0:17:01.760 --> 0:17:04.520 to hunt, we told them that the possibility of walking 0:17:04.600 --> 0:17:08.359 long distances existed. If that was a deal breaker, we 0:17:08.440 --> 0:17:11.960 needed to know now before they paid their deposit, which, 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:14.639 by the way, I don't think we ever really required. 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:17.359 We trusted folks to do the right thing, and it 0:17:17.480 --> 0:17:20.119 always worked out except for one group of hunters, but 0:17:20.200 --> 0:17:25.240 that's my story for another day. With a thermist full 0:17:25.280 --> 0:17:28.280 of coffee, a sack of sausage biscuits, and a snake 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:31.359 bite kit consisting of a half pint of peach snops, 0:17:31.960 --> 0:17:35.560 Tim and I, along with four trusting individuals, headed out 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:38.840 to the public shooting grounds for a forty five minute 0:17:38.880 --> 0:17:43.560 march to where we'd been tricking ducks all week. Parking 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:45.640 lot was full when we got there, so the race 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:48.560 was on, and before the wheels stopped rolling on Tim's truck, 0:17:49.119 --> 0:17:52.880 I saw him bail out, rolling towards our spot. I'd 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:54.840 bring the rest of the decoys and the rest of 0:17:54.840 --> 0:17:58.879 her plumb. Close to an hour later, me and my 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:02.080 four charges walked into the spot where we'd been hunting 0:18:02.119 --> 0:18:05.040 all week to find Thim still sweating from his run 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:10.280 into the hole touchdown. The south wind was perfect and 0:18:10.320 --> 0:18:14.000 there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Other groups of 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:17.639 hunters that came close were waved away with a flashlight, 0:18:17.720 --> 0:18:20.760 and that was the unwritten rule of hunting public land. 0:18:20.800 --> 0:18:24.439 Back then. It was truly first come, first served, and 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:28.119 everyone played by that rule. We've had to change our 0:18:28.160 --> 0:18:30.760 plans on many occasions by someone else beating us to 0:18:30.800 --> 0:18:34.120 a particular spot, But on this morning we'd slid right 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:38.120 in on the eggs. The hole in the timber wasn't big, 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:41.800 but it was nearly a perfect circle of trees. The 0:18:41.840 --> 0:18:44.320 water was between calf and knee deep, and we could 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:46.919 still see a few sprigs of brown grass poking up 0:18:46.960 --> 0:18:48.680 here and there. With our lights as we put out 0:18:48.680 --> 0:18:52.760 the decoys. Now the whole measured about thirty yards across, 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:55.720 so we lined the edges with decoys, and Tim put 0:18:55.760 --> 0:19:00.000 one hen decoy right in the middle. We all lined 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:02.840 up on the south side of the hole, Me furthest 0:19:02.840 --> 0:19:05.160 to the right and Tim anchor in the other end. 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:09.639 We kept our hunters between us for safety. Ducks started 0:19:09.640 --> 0:19:12.000 flying before shooting, light and Tim and I went over 0:19:12.040 --> 0:19:15.600 the safety briefing I would be calling the shot that day. 0:19:16.520 --> 0:19:20.040 Don't shoot until you hear me say shoot, and no 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:22.480 shooting below that limb you see on the other side 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:26.040 of the hole. Tim and I'll shoot the cripples. Remember 0:19:26.320 --> 0:19:28.560 there's other folks out here, and if we shoot someone 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:33.040 and wound them, they might shoot back. The distance from 0:19:33.040 --> 0:19:35.960 me to Tim was no more than fifteen yards, and 0:19:36.000 --> 0:19:41.159 we were all perfectly spaced beside oak trees in a semicircle. Now, normally, 0:19:41.200 --> 0:19:43.200 when you hunt public land, you shoot at the first 0:19:43.240 --> 0:19:46.560 opportunity you have to shoot, because someone else may shoot 0:19:46.560 --> 0:19:49.320 at different ducks and the ones you were working get 0:19:49.359 --> 0:19:53.040 scared away. Now that's not a qualifier to shoot at 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:56.479 ducks above the trees. I'm as anti skybusting as it gets. 0:19:57.240 --> 0:19:59.320 Folks that do that ought to be sentenced to six 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:03.119 months in the chair. The reason we're out there is 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:06.439 to experience and see the ducks working down in the timber, 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:09.680 and when you see it for the first time, it's 0:20:09.720 --> 0:20:14.680 a magical thing. A shooting time arrived and the sky 0:20:14.800 --> 0:20:18.320 filled with ducks. We could hear folks calling all around 0:20:18.400 --> 0:20:21.320 us in different spots, but none close enough to consider 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:26.240 too close. That was another unwritten rule. If you relate 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:28.399 to a spot and had to find another one, you 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:31.679 walked until you were far enough away that you wouldn't 0:20:31.760 --> 0:20:34.160 ruin that person's hunt, which would in turn be bad 0:20:34.200 --> 0:20:39.080 for years as well. But ducks started flying in every direction, 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:42.520 and groups of fives and tens turned into twenties and 0:20:42.560 --> 0:20:45.920 thirties as they crisscrossed back and forth, some flaring to 0:20:46.000 --> 0:20:49.080 keep from running into each other. Tim and I called, 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:54.000 and our hunters remained motionless as instructed. They were all 0:20:54.080 --> 0:20:56.359 leaned up against the trees, with their face touching the 0:20:56.440 --> 0:20:59.600 bark and watching only what was happening in front of them, 0:21:00.000 --> 0:21:01.960 which would be the direction the ducks would be coming 0:21:02.040 --> 0:21:03.879 into the hole froom, if we could get them in 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:06.720 there before somebody else shot and spoke to them all 0:21:06.760 --> 0:21:10.800 the way. Now, the number of ducks were too big 0:21:10.840 --> 0:21:13.560 to estimate, but it looked like every duck in Arkansas 0:21:13.720 --> 0:21:16.000 was trying to get into our spot, and the only 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:19.440 reason they hadn't was the lack of air traffic control. 0:21:20.560 --> 0:21:23.800 We called and called, and finally they all started getting 0:21:23.840 --> 0:21:27.680 in the same flight path. I want y'all to understand 0:21:27.680 --> 0:21:30.560 that these ducks weren't way up in the sky. They 0:21:30.560 --> 0:21:33.919 were just above the tree tops, in easy shooting range, 0:21:34.240 --> 0:21:37.479 and they were flying over several groups of other duck hunters. 0:21:38.000 --> 0:21:41.480 But they didn't shoot at them. They were working our hole. 0:21:41.560 --> 0:21:44.919 And that was the unwritten biggest rule of all. You 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:47.760 didn't shoot someone else's ducks that were working to their 0:21:47.800 --> 0:21:51.919 calling and their spot. Those are called swing ducks, and 0:21:52.000 --> 0:21:56.520 to shoot at someone's swing ducks as a cardinal sin. Now, 0:21:56.560 --> 0:21:58.880 I know there may be some folks think of that gun. 0:21:59.240 --> 0:22:01.640 There's a lot of un written rules that go along 0:22:01.680 --> 0:22:05.040 with public land duck hunting, and you be correct, there are. 0:22:06.040 --> 0:22:09.960 But when everyone followed them, public land duck hunting was 0:22:10.000 --> 0:22:14.480 a pleasure, not a pain. We respected each other's right 0:22:14.520 --> 0:22:17.320 to have a good hunt, and respect only works when 0:22:17.320 --> 0:22:21.560 it's mutual. Now, this particular morning, it was working, and 0:22:21.640 --> 0:22:26.280 it was working well. I can't accurately estimate the number 0:22:26.280 --> 0:22:28.320 of ducks that were trying to get together to come 0:22:28.359 --> 0:22:31.800 into the decoys, but about two passes before they did, 0:22:32.000 --> 0:22:34.320 five or six dropped into the hole and lit in 0:22:34.320 --> 0:22:38.880 the water. Clients never moved. I didn't call the shot 0:22:39.080 --> 0:22:42.320 because I wanted them all to come in. Well, those 0:22:42.400 --> 0:22:45.200 ducks spooked and shot out of there, and I continued 0:22:45.280 --> 0:22:48.200 calling to the big group to circle. I looked over 0:22:48.240 --> 0:22:51.560 at Tim as the last duck that had landed flew away, 0:22:51.800 --> 0:22:55.560 and he mouthed the word to me, you messed up, 0:22:56.400 --> 0:22:59.960 except he used a different verb. Now I kept calling, 0:23:00.320 --> 0:23:03.199 and show did he, hoping the whole time that I 0:23:03.280 --> 0:23:08.359 had chosen wisely. The big group finally got all together, 0:23:08.440 --> 0:23:11.199 and after what had been must have been two to 0:23:11.280 --> 0:23:14.480 three minutes of working ducks, they slipped in over the 0:23:14.520 --> 0:23:19.400 trees and poured into the hole by the hundreds. They 0:23:19.440 --> 0:23:21.959 fell up the middle and started hovering towards where we 0:23:21.960 --> 0:23:25.560 were standing, landing between me and landing between the guy 0:23:25.600 --> 0:23:29.040 beside me and all our hunters. They were splashing water 0:23:29.119 --> 0:23:32.280 on me as they lit at our feet. One's wing 0:23:32.760 --> 0:23:36.320 slapped my coat sleeve as he hovered beside me and 0:23:36.359 --> 0:23:39.879