WEBVTT - Ep. 412: Backwoods University - Mallard Declines 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:07.160 Welcome to Backwoods University, a place where we focus on wildlife, 0:00:07.400 --> 0:00:10.600 wild places and the people who dedicate their lives to 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:13.800 conserving both. Big shout out to onex Hunt for their 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:17.320 support of this podcast. I'm your host of Lake Pickle. 0:00:17.680 --> 0:00:20.480 On this episode, we're going back to a topic that 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:23.959 we recently discussed on this show, the notable decline of 0:00:24.040 --> 0:00:27.480 wintering mallards in the lower portion of the Mississippi Flyway. 0:00:27.800 --> 0:00:30.200 We just did an episode on this back in December, 0:00:30.400 --> 0:00:33.160 and it got quite a bit of feedback, so much 0:00:33.200 --> 0:00:36.680 so that it's earned itself another look, which is great. 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:39.159 And when we dive back in this time, we're going 0:00:39.240 --> 0:00:42.360 to be hearing about this subject from folks just like you. 0:00:42.920 --> 0:00:46.000 The hunters, the duck stamp holders, the folks that are 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:48.960 out there in the marshes and muddy backwater every single 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:51.440 chance they get. The folks that love to duck hunt 0:00:51.479 --> 0:00:53.880 more than they love the next breath they breathe. It's 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:56.440 time to learn what those folks think of all this. 0:00:57.040 --> 0:01:12.360 Let's dive in before we meet our first diehard duck hunter. 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:15.280 Allow me to set the stage a bit. The format 0:01:15.280 --> 0:01:17.240 of this episode is going to be a bit different 0:01:17.280 --> 0:01:20.120 than many of the other Backwoods University episodes that you 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:21.920 may have heard in the past. I'm going to go 0:01:21.959 --> 0:01:24.600 ahead and say I can't take credit for this idea. 0:01:24.920 --> 0:01:27.679 Steve Ronella actually prompted me to do this before we 0:01:27.760 --> 0:01:31.720 ever officially launched this show. He called it Bar Biology, 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:34.319 and the premise was to go around to local hangout 0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:37.360 spots for hunters and get their honest opinions on different 0:01:37.440 --> 0:01:41.560 sorts of wildlife issues, deer management, wild turkey declines, law 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.720 or regulation changes, or in this case, the decline of 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:47.199 the Mallard duck. And while I didn't go to any 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:50.120 bars for these interviews, Mom, just so you know, I 0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:53.520 did seek out ardent duck hunters that love waterfowl and 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:56.160 love hunting them. Some of these folks I've known for 0:01:56.200 --> 0:01:58.640 a long while, and some of these folks I met 0:01:58.680 --> 0:02:00.360 for the first time the day we were court of 0:02:00.360 --> 0:02:03.960 the interview. Hearing from a wildlife biologist is great, and 0:02:04.000 --> 0:02:06.200 believe me, if you continue to listen to this show, 0:02:06.440 --> 0:02:08.560 you're gonna hear from more of them. But I also 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:11.600 think it's extremely important to hear what the average hunter thinks, 0:02:11.760 --> 0:02:14.680 the citizen scientist, the common man. What does he have 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:17.360 to say what does he thinks going on? What's their 0:02:17.400 --> 0:02:21.400 opinions based on their experience out there? Well, let's find out. 0:02:22.360 --> 0:02:24.839 Our first duck hunter has been hunting in the Mississippi 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:27.600 Delta for decades, and while I had not had the 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:30.480 pleasure of meeting him until this interview, I had heard 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:33.440 of him in several duck hunting circles. His name is 0:02:33.520 --> 0:02:36.760 Jim Cruz. He's a lifelong duck hunter and an author 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:39.760 of a book called Amid the Cypress. I'm sitting in 0:02:39.840 --> 0:02:43.359 Jim's office and on the walls hang several framed pictures 0:02:43.560 --> 0:02:46.400 of successful duck hunts that took place throughout the years. 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:49.600 I want to start this conversation off hearing about one 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:53.200 of these very photos. What about this one right here, 0:02:53.320 --> 0:02:55.080 the top one on the on you right. 0:02:55.280 --> 0:02:59.400 That top right, Yes, sir, that was just for whatever reason. 0:02:59.639 --> 0:03:02.720 Remember that was opening day of two thousand and three. 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:07.960 That's a picture of my wife and me and my 0:03:08.120 --> 0:03:15.160 dad and one of our girlfriends were along and we 0:03:15.240 --> 0:03:19.040 had killed a limit of mallards and gadwalls in very 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:19.760 short order. 0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:21.360 That looks like a pretty great hunt. 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:25.080 Yeah, that was a super hunt. My dad was a 0:03:25.280 --> 0:03:31.480 passionate sportsman, he grew up in a time when duck 0:03:31.560 --> 0:03:35.720 hunting really was the hunting that was available. He lived 0:03:35.720 --> 0:03:40.320 in Memphis, hunting the Mississippi Delta in eastern Arkansas both 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:45.560 and that's what he did growing up, And by the 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:50.760 I guess the nineteen sixties, he had gained access to 0:03:50.840 --> 0:03:53.680 some of the property along the Mississippi River that we 0:03:53.720 --> 0:03:58.520 still hunt today. Well, as I grew older, I had 0:03:58.640 --> 0:04:02.360 a friend move in next door. He was a little 0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:05.240 bit older than me. He was old enough to drive. 0:04:05.320 --> 0:04:08.920 I wasn't, but he was nice enough to tag along 0:04:08.960 --> 0:04:12.000 with a younger or a little younger guy tag along 0:04:12.000 --> 0:04:15.560 and hunt. He loved a duck hunt, so I got 0:04:15.600 --> 0:04:20.040 into that. So we spent many, many, many years hunting 0:04:20.120 --> 0:04:23.440 ducks together, and other things too, but tons of duck hunt. 0:04:23.760 --> 0:04:27.960 Right, So you're pretty much whole origin of duck hunting 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:29.560 started in the Mississippi Delta. 0:04:29.720 --> 0:04:33.640 Oh yeah, yeah, for sure, the great majority in Mississippi Delta. 0:04:33.680 --> 0:04:38.920 But I've hunted ducks in every flyway, Atlantic, Mississippi, Central, 0:04:39.160 --> 0:04:43.200 and Pacific. I've hunted I don't know how many states, 0:04:43.240 --> 0:04:47.360 a lot, and then several other countries as well. 0:04:47.600 --> 0:04:47.800 Right. 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:52.040 Waterfolon is a big part of life for my family 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:52.359 and me. 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:55.680 We'd established that Jim Cruz has been duck hunting for 0:04:55.720 --> 0:04:58.919 a while, there's no question there. Before we start talking, 0:04:58.960 --> 0:05:01.840 Mallard declines, I want to get a better understanding of 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:03.400 what duck hunting means to him. 0:05:04.120 --> 0:05:09.719 The things that still stay with me. We had, I 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:12.640 guess my first duck hunts. My father and some of 0:05:12.680 --> 0:05:16.839 his friends had a lease on what's now the famous 0:05:16.960 --> 0:05:21.520 York Woods in Tallahatchie County, and that those are really 0:05:21.560 --> 0:05:26.000 my very first duck hunting memories. And what I specifically 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:31.560 remember is the sound of those wings overhead, that whistling 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:35.000 in the darkness as we waited for the sun to 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:39.280 come up, which incidentally I can't hear anymore, but I 0:05:39.360 --> 0:05:46.000 still remember how that sounded, and the colors on those ducks. 0:05:46.680 --> 0:05:50.440 Somebody had shot a drake wigeon with that bold green 0:05:50.720 --> 0:05:53.640 iridescent stripe on his head, and I just remember picking 0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:56.560 up that duck and thinking out I was holding a miracle, 0:05:57.520 --> 0:06:02.200 and you know, as I want, but I remember that. 0:06:02.480 --> 0:06:04.919 I remember the smell of the wet burlapp that we 0:06:05.040 --> 0:06:10.240 used to camouflage the boat, smell of the outboard motor exhausts, 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:13.039 These just things that come back to me. This was, 0:06:13.680 --> 0:06:17.520 you know, probably my first season. Yeah, stopping and getting 0:06:19.480 --> 0:06:23.920 potato logs and chicken nuggets at the gas station in Charleston. 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:28.479 Just everything about it got to me and never got 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:28.960 out of me. 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:32.920 It's always fascinating to me to learn the things that 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:36.400 stick with us so tightly that don't involve the actual hunt, 0:06:36.640 --> 0:06:39.120 like the smell of wet burlap or the brilliant colors 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:41.680 on a duck. I feel like it's often those tiny 0:06:41.760 --> 0:06:44.760 details that add up over time and help develop the 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.240 love for a particular type of hunting that I'm sure 0:06:47.320 --> 0:06:50.160 many of you can relate with. I now want to 0:06:50.200 --> 0:06:53.479 turn the conversation to what we see today. I'm curious 0:06:53.560 --> 0:06:56.800 what changes Jim has seen in the Mississippi Delta throughout 0:06:56.800 --> 0:06:57.840 his time hunting here. 0:06:58.440 --> 0:07:02.360 One of the greatest changes I've seen in the Delta 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:07.160 is the way the land is laid out. You know, 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:10.920 when I was a kid, we would travel Highway forty 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:13.400 nine or Highway sixty one, depending on where we were 0:07:13.440 --> 0:07:17.040 going to go hunting, and one of my favorite things 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:20.200 to do was look for ducks out in the fields, 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:24.960 and I knew where every wetland was on every highway, 0:07:25.000 --> 0:07:29.400 whether they were permanent wetlands or femeral wetlands that were 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:32.120 just low places out in fields that would flood if 0:07:32.160 --> 0:07:35.760 you got a good rain. Those are mostly gone now 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:40.400 and you don't see the ducks on the landscape that 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:43.800 you used to back in those days. And that's you know, 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:47.400 that's just a product of more efficient farming practices and 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:51.240 land leveling, and you know, goodness those I can't blame 0:07:51.280 --> 0:07:54.000 a farmer for wanting to get water off his fields 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:57.160 so he can have them ready to plant in the springtime. 0:07:57.240 --> 0:08:01.640 But it has changed the landscape for the water. So 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:05.880 that's a big change. I think we all read these 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:11.640 statistics that say numbers of duck hunters are in decline. I, 0:08:11.760 --> 0:08:16.080 based on my anecdotal observations, have a hard time believing 0:08:16.160 --> 0:08:20.120 that it just seems more popular now, which is not 0:08:20.200 --> 0:08:22.640 a bad thing. I mean, it's an activity that I 0:08:22.680 --> 0:08:25.400 sure love and I can understand how people are attracted 0:08:25.440 --> 0:08:30.920 to it. But again, I read the numbers that say 0:08:31.240 --> 0:08:36.200 hunter license sales are constantly declining, so I don't know 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:39.520 how to reconcile those with what I see. I just 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:44.480 make that observation, right, So that's a big change. Another 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:48.000 one that I've seen them in my own lifetime in 0:08:48.040 --> 0:08:55.000 a big way is to change migration patterns of geese, 0:08:55.360 --> 0:09:00.520 snow geese, and specklebellies, to be precise. When I was 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:05.800 in high school, it was a big deal for us 0:09:05.880 --> 0:09:09.000 to see a flock of snows or specs. And I 0:09:09.520 --> 0:09:15.120 was hunting all over eastern Arkansas northwest Delta, and if 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:18.319 I saw a flock of snows on the ground, I 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:22.400 would actually put a line in my journal noting that fact. 0:09:22.600 --> 0:09:27.000 That's how special that was. And I don't know how 0:09:27.000 --> 0:09:30.440 many trips we made a bunch to Texas to go 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:35.960 hunt snows and specs in Little Canada's Richardson's Canada's. The 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:39.720 limit on them was five light geese and two dark geese. 0:09:40.040 --> 0:09:43.680 At that time, we would go down there for that purpose. 0:09:43.720 --> 0:09:47.240 In Texas was the promised land for geese. At that time, 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:52.839 it looked like the Jonesboro, Arkansas area does now. So 0:09:52.960 --> 0:10:00.000 the geese migration has changed drastically from what I understand, 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:03.120 and they just don't really get down there southwest of 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:08.480 Houston in any significant numbers anymore. They've moved northward. Yeah, 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:14.360 so that's changed, and it raises the worry that what 0:10:14.559 --> 0:10:19.480 other northward shifts are going to happen with waterfowl. That's 0:10:19.840 --> 0:10:22.480 no secret. That's a big topic among a lot of 0:10:22.640 --> 0:10:27.199 duck hunters, is or flyway patterns shifting. 0:10:27.679 --> 0:10:30.200 I mean, do you think that mallards have been declining 0:10:30.240 --> 0:10:32.160 down here over the past couple of years? Do you 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:34.800 think there's less mallards that make it down here. 0:10:35.600 --> 0:10:37.280 I don't have a good answer for that. 0:10:37.600 --> 0:10:37.960 Okay. 0:10:38.760 --> 0:10:41.439 I know people who are killing mallards just like they 0:10:41.480 --> 0:10:46.200 always did, and I know others who are saying they're 0:10:46.280 --> 0:10:49.880 just not here like they used to be. So I'm 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:52.280 not trying to dodge the question, but I just I 0:10:52.360 --> 0:10:55.320 don't have a pad answer for that one. I will 0:10:55.360 --> 0:10:58.840 tell you this. I have a really good friend who 0:10:58.880 --> 0:11:04.040 lives over in Cameron Paris, Louisiana, which historically, I don't 0:11:04.040 --> 0:11:07.200 know if it still is, but historically was the number 0:11:07.280 --> 0:11:10.720 one county in the United States as far as duck kill, 0:11:11.960 --> 0:11:15.440 and back in time when he started duck hunting back 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:20.720 in the eighties or early nineties, they killed tons of mallards, 0:11:20.960 --> 0:11:26.040 tons of pintails, tons of specklebellies. I've hunted down there 0:11:26.120 --> 0:11:32.400 now five consecutive opening days and I've seen two mallards 0:11:32.720 --> 0:11:36.080 and all those trips, a little handful of pintails and 0:11:36.120 --> 0:11:38.400 a few specks here and there. Now they still get 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:43.240 plenty of gadwalls, plenty tel spoons, but they don't the 0:11:43.320 --> 0:11:47.200 mallards and the pentails just don't get there in any numbers. 0:11:47.880 --> 0:11:52.320 And of course that's a lot of folks over there 0:11:52.640 --> 0:11:54.199 rightfully upset about. 0:11:54.360 --> 0:11:56.520 That's the big question mark, you know, like, what is 0:11:57.200 --> 0:11:59.560 it's causing that? Right, That's what a lot of folks, 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.360 and even the folks and I'm talking about personally here, 0:12:02.600 --> 0:12:05.360 I've had. You know, some folks, they'll get angry when 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.760 you start talking different theories. And from what I have deduced, 0:12:09.000 --> 0:12:11.640 even the folks that get angry, sometimes they get angry 0:12:11.679 --> 0:12:14.040 with me if I share an opinion, I have to 0:12:14.040 --> 0:12:16.600 do something like, look, these guys. One thing we have 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.199 in common. They love waterfowl. They love to duck hunt. 0:12:19.200 --> 0:12:21.319 So even what about it, when they get angry, it's 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:23.480 coming from a good place, and I can appreciate that. 0:12:24.000 --> 0:12:27.120 And so that's that's why again it's like I'm curious. 0:12:27.200 --> 0:12:30.080 I've heard from the biologists, and so I'm just trying 0:12:30.120 --> 0:12:33.120 to gather opinions. What do you think's going on? You know, 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:35.760 but in your opinion, there's no right or wrong answer, 0:12:35.800 --> 0:12:37.840 it's just what do you think is happening. 0:12:38.040 --> 0:12:44.080 Well, I'll say this, this flooded corn phenomenon is not 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:49.400 something that's been going on for decades and decades on 0:12:49.440 --> 0:12:54.440 a widespread basis, And that is the huge ticket item. 0:12:54.840 --> 0:13:00.280 Are all these private flooded corn reservoirs significant enough to 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:05.520 affect migration? I have friends who have some, and I've seen, 0:13:06.040 --> 0:13:09.960 you know, the roost flights there, and you wonder, are 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:12.360 all these ducks coming in here? Ducks that used to 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:13.360 go somewhere else. 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:14.960 Yeah, I don't know. 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:19.360 I was told. Well, I know that there are a 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:22.040 huge number of duck clubs up in the Saint Louis area. 0:13:22.400 --> 0:13:26.400 That's a very historic duck hunting area where the I 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:29.800 think it's a Missouri and the Mississippi come together. And 0:13:30.200 --> 0:13:36.800 from what I understand, every club plant's corn. And one 0:13:36.880 --> 0:13:40.480 logical conclusion is that if you have thousands of acres 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:45.200 of corn, you could affect the migration to some degree. 0:13:46.200 --> 0:13:49.520 So for what it's worth, I know in one of 0:13:49.559 --> 0:13:53.160 your prior podcast episodes, you'll touched on the global warming 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:56.640 issue a little bit and made me think I really 0:13:56.960 --> 0:14:00.920 ought to take the time to go back through my journals, 0:14:01.320 --> 0:14:04.360 which go back all the way to nineteen seventy six, 0:14:05.280 --> 0:14:08.240 and I have every hunt written down from then to now, 0:14:09.400 --> 0:14:11.840 and I would be able to tell you the days 0:14:11.920 --> 0:14:15.040 we were frozen up on a day to day, year 0:14:15.080 --> 0:14:18.240 to year basis. That would be It would be interesting 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:24.880 to look at that and see what truth was versus 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:30.280 remembered perception. Sure, we've had very hard freezes in the 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:33.880 last few years, just like the ones that everybody remembers 0:14:33.920 --> 0:14:36.960 in the good old days. So you know, by the 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:40.920 same token, I hadn't broken any ice this year. We've 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:43.200 had a lot of cold days, but I hadn't had 0:14:43.200 --> 0:14:44.280 to break ice yet. 0:14:44.440 --> 0:14:47.200 What about locally, You know, you've spent a lot of 0:14:47.240 --> 0:14:51.040 time hunting around the Mississippi Delta, even between you know, 0:14:51.080 --> 0:14:53.360 your family land that you still hunt to, maybe some 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:56.400 other local places around there. What have you seen Have 0:14:56.480 --> 0:14:59.040 you seen any changes over the years through there abound 0:14:59.400 --> 0:15:00.960 abundance of mallards. 0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:05.760 I would say our mallards have pretty much stayed about 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:11.000 the same now. Number wise, they're up and down. Yeah, 0:15:11.600 --> 0:15:13.640 you know, some years are better than others that's just 0:15:13.760 --> 0:15:18.600 duck hut. But percentage wise, I think our mallards about 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:24.359 like they always have been. Personal observation on specific places. 0:15:24.560 --> 0:15:25.880 Yeah, that's good. 0:15:26.160 --> 0:15:29.280 You know, we don't go out and just there are 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:32.600 no mallards. Yeah, some days there may. 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:34.720 Not be mallards. But overall, if. 0:15:34.600 --> 0:15:39.160 I look across the course of a season or ten seasons, 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:41.600 I'd say percentage they're about the same. 0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:43.320 Yeah. I like hearing that. 0:15:43.520 --> 0:15:43.960 Yeah. 0:15:44.040 --> 0:15:47.200 Yeah, Because again, some folks that you know, they're ready 0:15:47.200 --> 0:15:49.520 to wave a red flag like, yeah, this is bad. 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:53.480 Yeah, I get that, and I know people I have 0:15:53.640 --> 0:15:55.800 friends who who feel that way. 0:15:55.920 --> 0:15:58.120 How do you feel about the future of duck hunting. 0:15:58.120 --> 0:15:59.720 Do you think we have an optimistic future? 0:16:00.560 --> 0:16:03.960 I think we have to be optimistic. If we're not, 0:16:04.240 --> 0:16:05.240 what do we have left? 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:07.040 I like that answer. 0:16:07.600 --> 0:16:10.040 You know, I can say for myself, as long as 0:16:10.560 --> 0:16:14.200 I am able and have the opportunity to hunt those ducks, 0:16:14.240 --> 0:16:17.400 I'm gonna be going out there and trying for them. 0:16:17.800 --> 0:16:20.760 My approach has always been if I'm not here in 0:16:20.800 --> 0:16:24.400 this office behind this desk and duck seasons open, I'm 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:30.440 gonna be hunting ducks. And it's been that way for decades. Yeah, 0:16:30.520 --> 0:16:34.120 and without regard to the weather. I'll be out there 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:36.480 every second I can get there. 0:16:37.920 --> 0:16:41.440 I'll tell you, speaking candidly here, this was such a 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:44.600 fun interview. I love hearing from guys like Jim. You 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:48.080 can hear the deep appreciation and respect for waterfowl and 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:51.800 waterfowl hunting in everything that he said. How cool would 0:16:51.840 --> 0:16:53.360 it be to go back and look through some of 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:55.720 those duck hunting journals he mentioned that go all the 0:16:55.760 --> 0:17:00.000 way back to nineteen seventy six. I also was interesting 0:17:00.120 --> 0:17:02.680 by some of the potential factors he listed off for 0:17:02.760 --> 0:17:05.720 what could be affecting these negative changes in hunting quality 0:17:06.080 --> 0:17:11.320 or mallard abundance. Changes in agricultural practices, whether potentially or 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:15.560 the perceived boom of flooded unharvested corn. That is definitely 0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:17.880 a hot topic these days, and I have my own 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:22.040 opinions on that, but this episode is not about my opinions. 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:25.200 So I hope you enjoyed hearing from mister Jim Cruise. 0:17:25.359 --> 0:17:27.800 I know I sure did. But now it's time to 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:32.160 move on to our next duck hunter. My dear friend B. C. Rogers, 0:17:32.440 --> 0:17:35.560 a lifelong duck hunter owner of Wren and Ivy sporting 0:17:35.560 --> 0:17:38.880 and travel gear and an all around good guy. How 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:40.479 old were you when you started duck hunting. 0:17:41.359 --> 0:17:44.040 The answer to that question, there wasn't a beginning, because 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:46.800 my mom and dad have always duck on it, and 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.919 they duck on it together when I was born, and 0:17:50.040 --> 0:17:54.520 but you know, starting in the seventies and so we don't. 0:17:54.640 --> 0:17:56.479 People have asked me that question a lot of times. 0:17:56.640 --> 0:17:58.560 I don't have any memory of not going. 0:17:58.720 --> 0:18:01.919 You don't really remember life before duck hunt No, I 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:04.840 mean I remember when I was able to take my gun, 0:18:04.920 --> 0:18:06.560 a gun myself. 0:18:06.320 --> 0:18:10.720 I was seven, a single shot four ten. Yeah, I 0:18:10.760 --> 0:18:14.040 took a BB gun before that. But I don't ever 0:18:14.040 --> 0:18:16.600 remember not going to the blind Yeah, and my kids 0:18:16.640 --> 0:18:19.240 running ivy, don't. I mean, I mean, I literally have 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:23.919 pictures of them where you're they're in Papoosa's. Yeah. I 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:26.800 have also a picture of Wren. She's the oldest, and 0:18:26.840 --> 0:18:29.760 she's in that baby beyorn thing you wear in the front, 0:18:30.440 --> 0:18:32.560 zipped up in my hunting jacket. Of course I can't 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.560 shoot because I got a babe with like little camouflage 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:38.040 cups on her ears, you know, like yeah, you know, 0:18:38.400 --> 0:18:41.480 and the same way. Of course, back then, my dad 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:42.840 was a smoker when I was a kid, and he 0:18:42.880 --> 0:18:45.600 would tear off cigarette butts and stick them in me 0:18:45.640 --> 0:18:49.879 in my sister's ears because they weren't the earplugs like 0:18:50.080 --> 0:18:53.360 he would tell, smoke a cigarette and tear the filters 0:18:53.359 --> 0:18:54.480 off and stick them in our ears. 0:18:54.560 --> 0:18:55.639 That's fantastic. 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:58.679 Yeah, I don't have I think I probably killed my 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.919 first duck when I was but I don't have a 0:19:02.000 --> 0:19:03.080 memory of starting hunting. 0:19:03.560 --> 0:19:05.600 So I don't want to assume here would that have 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.000 taken place that all that would that have been majority 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:09.359 happened in the Mississippi Delta. 0:19:09.880 --> 0:19:11.119 No, one hundred percent of it? 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:11.280 Was it? 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:14.919 Yeah, at our family place that we've had my entire life. Yeah, 0:19:15.000 --> 0:19:17.879 in the blind that my mother and father and I 0:19:17.920 --> 0:19:19.200 will go to tomorrow morning. 0:19:19.400 --> 0:19:20.040 That's awesome. 0:19:20.160 --> 0:19:20.480 Yeah. 0:19:20.840 --> 0:19:24.840 Yeah, And they're seventy eight and seventy six. 0:19:25.640 --> 0:19:28.800 That's pretty dad gum awesome. To start duck hunting so 0:19:29.000 --> 0:19:32.520 early that you can't really remember the beginning, and the 0:19:32.640 --> 0:19:35.880 memory of his dad using cigarette butts his ear plugs 0:19:35.880 --> 0:19:38.760 for them as kids, BC taking his own kids to 0:19:38.880 --> 0:19:42.359 duck hunt, his infants and papoosas and Camo earmuffs. And 0:19:42.400 --> 0:19:45.160 to know that he took his parents at age seventy 0:19:45.200 --> 0:19:48.240 eight and seventy six the day after I recorded this 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:52.400 interview with him. Man, what a story. This guy has 0:19:52.440 --> 0:19:56.080 some history with duck hunting, with the Mississippi Delta and 0:19:56.119 --> 0:20:00.240 with their family hunting land. Let's dive in more. People 0:20:00.320 --> 0:20:03.159 talk about Man, the duck hunting in the seventies and 0:20:03.240 --> 0:20:05.600 the eighties and nineties. Talk to me about some of that, 0:20:05.680 --> 0:20:07.359 some of the ebb and flows that you saw with 0:20:07.920 --> 0:20:10.960 the changes in numbers perceived from where you were hunting 0:20:11.000 --> 0:20:11.480 that spot. 0:20:11.680 --> 0:20:16.240 What's interesting with my life as a waterfowler is that 0:20:16.359 --> 0:20:20.640 because my parents took us as babies and little bitty kids, 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:23.560 and we were always at the camp our whole life, 0:20:23.560 --> 0:20:26.320 my sister and I. I mean I was there for 0:20:26.560 --> 0:20:30.000 the end of the point system. I was there for 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:33.280 three ducks and thirty days. I was there for the 0:20:33.359 --> 0:20:36.840 conversion between lead and steel. I like to think of 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:39.760 myself as not a very old guy. I was there 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:42.919 for those things and got to see him, and it 0:20:42.960 --> 0:20:46.720 gives me an interesting perspective when people when we have 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:49.080 a little bit of a drop in population like we're 0:20:49.080 --> 0:20:52.240 going through right now. I don't get too worked up 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:56.600 about that because a few years of good conditions in 0:20:56.640 --> 0:20:59.159 the breeding grounds and it comes right back. And I 0:20:59.240 --> 0:21:01.399 was there to see that happened. I was there to 0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:05.040 see my dad and his buddies in the early eighties 0:21:05.720 --> 0:21:09.040 not realized that it was a resource that you could overutilize. 0:21:09.680 --> 0:21:12.360 They didn't know. You know, these guys love ducks more 0:21:12.359 --> 0:21:16.000 than anybody, but they definitely shot over the limit and 0:21:15.400 --> 0:21:18.320 they didn't realize it could go away. And then when 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:22.720 the drought happened in the late eighties in the early nineties, 0:21:22.800 --> 0:21:25.960 I guess, and you know, y'all can fact check me, 0:21:26.000 --> 0:21:29.360 but that was my memory of when it happened. I 0:21:29.400 --> 0:21:33.000 saw them realize, wait a minute, this can all go away. 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:37.640 And I saw them get really dialed in on we're 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:40.560 not going to overutilize this resource, and we're going to 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:44.880 do everything we can to send money where ducks are hatching, 0:21:45.320 --> 0:21:46.840 and we're going to take care of them when they 0:21:46.840 --> 0:21:49.880 get here. I think that happened all over the continent, 0:21:50.520 --> 0:21:53.720 and it happened in that age group. You know, those 0:21:53.760 --> 0:21:57.239 guys are now all dying, but those guys that are 0:21:57.240 --> 0:21:59.800 in their seventies, sit them down and ask them about 0:21:59.840 --> 0:22:01.879 it is, they'll tell you it'll go away and a 0:22:01.920 --> 0:22:06.199 lot of people. Another thing I saw in the late eighties, 0:22:06.240 --> 0:22:09.480 I guess lots of people quit duck hunting. You know, 0:22:09.520 --> 0:22:11.959 when it went to three ducks in thirty days, there 0:22:12.000 --> 0:22:14.320 were a lot of guys you know that were you know, 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:16.879 they were duck shooters, you know, you know, they like 0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:18.919 to eat ducks, they like to make gumbo, they go 0:22:18.960 --> 0:22:21.920 shoot some ducks. Those guys all quit, they went to 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:24.560 deer hunting. As I'm telling you that, I'm thinking of 0:22:24.640 --> 0:22:26.639 all these guys that used to hunt with us, that 0:22:26.760 --> 0:22:30.119 they just quit duck hunting and it wasn't worth the time, effort, 0:22:30.160 --> 0:22:33.080 or money to go, you know, shoot one duck, sure, 0:22:33.200 --> 0:22:36.120 two mallards, you know, for a period of time there. 0:22:36.960 --> 0:22:38.720 I hope that we don't get back to that, and 0:22:38.720 --> 0:22:40.560 I think it's really important that we do everything we 0:22:40.600 --> 0:22:42.760 can to keep from getting back to that, because we'll 0:22:42.760 --> 0:22:47.200 lose all of this great community. I say, we'll lose them. 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:48.479 We lost them before. 0:22:48.720 --> 0:22:50.359 Yeah, and you just don't want let that happen again. 0:22:50.480 --> 0:22:51.080