1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:07,200 Speaker 1: M my dad. He thought he was unique, even at 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:09,760 Speaker 1: that time to have a camouflage boat and a black 3 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:13,320 Speaker 1: dog in south central Kansas. And you know then he 4 00:00:13,360 --> 00:00:15,760 Speaker 1: comes out here to visit me and hunt here, and 5 00:00:15,800 --> 00:00:18,919 Speaker 1: it's it's nothing exceptional at all. I mean, there's there's 6 00:00:18,920 --> 00:00:21,760 Speaker 1: a there's a camouflage boat and a black dog at 7 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:25,919 Speaker 1: every other house, it seems. On this episode of The 8 00:00:25,960 --> 00:00:30,639 Speaker 1: Burglaries podcast will be exploring the ancient migration of Mallard 9 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:34,000 Speaker 1: ducks and how a place they chose as a primary 10 00:00:34,040 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: wintering ground is called the duck hunting capital of the world. 11 00:00:39,640 --> 00:00:43,040 Speaker 1: I'm talking about my home state of Arkansas, and I 12 00:00:43,120 --> 00:00:47,040 Speaker 1: want to understand why this reputation has lasted the test 13 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:51,040 Speaker 1: of time. I like the boldness and passion of such labels. 14 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:54,639 Speaker 1: We'll talk with the lead waterfowl biologist of the Arkansas 15 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:59,000 Speaker 1: Game and Fish Commission and the new director of the agency. 16 00:00:59,360 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: We'll go into a flooded timber and hunt with the 17 00:01:01,800 --> 00:01:06,520 Speaker 1: world champion duck caller, jimbo ron Quest, and we'll talk 18 00:01:06,600 --> 00:01:11,680 Speaker 1: with ornithologist and author Scott Widensaul about the mystery of 19 00:01:11,720 --> 00:01:16,040 Speaker 1: the migration. Well even here from Sean Weaver of meat 20 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,880 Speaker 1: Eater the lineup is stacked, the knowledge drop will be 21 00:01:19,959 --> 00:01:23,000 Speaker 1: thick and we'll use this info in part two of 22 00:01:23,040 --> 00:01:28,039 Speaker 1: the podcast. YEP already talking about Part two to learn 23 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:32,040 Speaker 1: how the Green Tree reservoirs, the flood prone hardwood bottoms 24 00:01:32,040 --> 00:01:35,399 Speaker 1: of Arkansas are in jeopardy and what the plan is 25 00:01:35,600 --> 00:01:39,240 Speaker 1: to save them. It would not be possible for you 26 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:43,640 Speaker 1: to intentionally want to miss this one. Duck Hunting in 27 00:01:43,920 --> 00:01:47,600 Speaker 1: Arkansas was something I was obsessed with as a kid 28 00:01:47,880 --> 00:01:52,200 Speaker 1: because there was a romance that all duck hunters had, 29 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:55,640 Speaker 1: like across the country. No matter what, you look to 30 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:59,960 Speaker 1: Arkansas and you're envious of them shooting green heads come 31 00:02:00,160 --> 00:02:12,119 Speaker 1: through the trees. My name is Clay Nukelem and this 32 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:16,239 Speaker 1: is the Bear Grease Podcast, where we'll explore things forgotten 33 00:02:16,480 --> 00:02:20,680 Speaker 1: but relevant, search for insight and unlikely places, and where 34 00:02:20,760 --> 00:02:24,520 Speaker 1: we'll tell the story of Americans who lived their lives 35 00:02:24,639 --> 00:02:30,239 Speaker 1: close to the land. Presented by f HF Gear, American Maid, 36 00:02:30,600 --> 00:02:34,280 Speaker 1: purpose built hunting and fishing gear that's designed to be 37 00:02:34,400 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: as rugged as the places we explore. What's this dog's name? 38 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: His name is Tiny Tinie. How old is it? Nye's 39 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,640 Speaker 1: Night Team Months, High Team Months that'll retrieved up. He'll 40 00:02:52,639 --> 00:02:54,840 Speaker 1: fant you up. I promise you he will fet you up. 41 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:57,959 Speaker 1: Let's go. I want to see him do it. Let's 42 00:02:58,040 --> 00:02:59,760 Speaker 1: keep this thing off kind of you or push off 43 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:06,080 Speaker 1: my It's dark, but a large led light on the 44 00:03:06,120 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 1: front of the boat illuminates the dark water and the 45 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: skeletal shapes of timber in front of us. We're in 46 00:03:12,400 --> 00:03:16,200 Speaker 1: a sixteen foot John boat with two black labs driving. 47 00:03:16,240 --> 00:03:21,040 Speaker 1: The boat is Jumbo ron Quest. We're in Arkansas, cruising 48 00:03:21,080 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 1: through a giant stand of oak timber and about two 49 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:27,520 Speaker 1: ft of water. Now, where are we going this morning? 50 00:03:27,680 --> 00:03:30,640 Speaker 1: We're going to the hole called twin Willows. There's two 51 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:32,880 Speaker 1: big willows on each side of it frames it up 52 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:35,760 Speaker 1: like a goal post for south wind. They break between 53 00:03:35,800 --> 00:03:37,960 Speaker 1: them two big willow trees and it's beautiful when they 54 00:03:38,000 --> 00:03:41,000 Speaker 1: fall in there. Hopefully we'll get that opportunity this morning. 55 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:46,400 Speaker 1: It's this is part of it that you wouldn't understand 56 00:03:46,520 --> 00:03:49,560 Speaker 1: unless you're hair. You can't. You can't describe this to somebody, 57 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:53,360 Speaker 1: can you. You can't. This is Mr Bobby Martin, and 58 00:03:53,440 --> 00:03:55,480 Speaker 1: you know this morning we've got a full moon. This 59 00:03:55,600 --> 00:03:57,800 Speaker 1: is about our third day of having a full moon 60 00:03:58,400 --> 00:04:00,280 Speaker 1: and you know, really, even if I killed the light, 61 00:04:01,400 --> 00:04:05,000 Speaker 1: you can just kind of see and feel again this 62 00:04:05,000 --> 00:04:07,480 Speaker 1: this moonlight coming across the type of those trees, and 63 00:04:08,200 --> 00:04:11,240 Speaker 1: it's the site every one of us always enjoy enjoy seeing. 64 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:14,520 Speaker 1: Mr Bobby. Our duck hunters just like everybody else, and 65 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:18,760 Speaker 1: they make big excuses when there's a full moon. You know, uh, 66 00:04:18,800 --> 00:04:21,680 Speaker 1: there's something that happens that Mother Nature franked in there. 67 00:04:22,279 --> 00:04:24,760 Speaker 1: I knew it, I knew it. This is this is 68 00:04:24,800 --> 00:04:27,920 Speaker 1: this is our excuse. You have something leaning on. It's 69 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,719 Speaker 1: kind of like that big beast that got away. We 70 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:34,920 Speaker 1: get to the Twin Oaks hole and put out our decoys. 71 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:37,839 Speaker 1: I'm instructed to tuck in tight at the base of 72 00:04:37,839 --> 00:04:41,200 Speaker 1: a tree. We're standing in knee deep water in the 73 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:54,600 Speaker 1: flooded timber Zarre. First calling sequence just almost legal shooting line. 74 00:04:56,160 --> 00:05:13,040 Speaker 1: One minute until illegal shooting line. Yeah, they don't want 75 00:05:13,040 --> 00:05:28,240 Speaker 1: to drop in here, dude, boy shot boys, good job. 76 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:39,640 Speaker 1: A degree angle coming down. Arkansas has long been known 77 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:42,480 Speaker 1: as the duck hunting capital of the world. Have you 78 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:45,960 Speaker 1: heard that before? On this episode, we're gonna learn if 79 00:05:46,000 --> 00:05:49,960 Speaker 1: the label is fitting and if so, why. Secondly, we're 80 00:05:49,960 --> 00:05:53,000 Speaker 1: gonna learn about green Tree reservoirs and why the ones 81 00:05:53,040 --> 00:05:56,240 Speaker 1: in Arkansas are critical. If you'll just buckle in and 82 00:05:56,279 --> 00:05:59,200 Speaker 1: be patient, over the next two episodes, I'm going to 83 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:02,559 Speaker 1: introduce you to some experts that are going to paint 84 00:06:02,600 --> 00:06:07,400 Speaker 1: for us a grand story, an old story involving man 85 00:06:07,520 --> 00:06:11,279 Speaker 1: and beast, and as you know, with great pride. I've 86 00:06:11,279 --> 00:06:16,479 Speaker 1: often proclaimed that I'm a seventh generation Arkansan, but I've 87 00:06:16,640 --> 00:06:20,640 Speaker 1: rarely hunted ducks. I grew up in the highlands of Arkansas, 88 00:06:20,760 --> 00:06:25,080 Speaker 1: in the mountains, a long way from any major waterfowl flyway. 89 00:06:25,440 --> 00:06:29,600 Speaker 1: You see. Arkansas is geographically divided into the highlands and 90 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:33,839 Speaker 1: Delta regions. If you envisioned Arkansas as a square and 91 00:06:33,960 --> 00:06:36,839 Speaker 1: drew a line diagonally from the upper right hand corner 92 00:06:36,880 --> 00:06:39,200 Speaker 1: of the square to the lower left hand corner of 93 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:42,280 Speaker 1: the square, you would divide the state into two sections. 94 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:45,839 Speaker 1: And for the general purposes of this analogy, the upper 95 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:50,680 Speaker 1: left section would be mountainous, including the Ozark and Washingta Mountains, 96 00:06:50,680 --> 00:06:54,400 Speaker 1: and the lower right section, beside hugging the Mississippi River, 97 00:06:54,600 --> 00:06:58,400 Speaker 1: would be the lowland Delta regions of Arkansas. It's flat, 98 00:06:58,480 --> 00:07:03,400 Speaker 1: agricultural land with timbered rivers and pockets of contiguous hardwoods. 99 00:07:03,760 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: The Delta regions of Arkansas are the bread and butter 100 00:07:07,080 --> 00:07:11,920 Speaker 1: of the great and ancient Mississippi Waterfowl Flyway, also known 101 00:07:12,040 --> 00:07:14,720 Speaker 1: as the flyway of the mallard, which is the most 102 00:07:14,720 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: sought after of all waterfowl. Arkansas is special, and I 103 00:07:19,200 --> 00:07:24,560 Speaker 1: want to understand why. As non looker, it's clear that 104 00:07:24,640 --> 00:07:29,240 Speaker 1: the mystical migrations of these birds moves people's souls in 105 00:07:29,400 --> 00:07:33,160 Speaker 1: strange ways. People talk about ducks flying into a set 106 00:07:33,200 --> 00:07:38,320 Speaker 1: of decoys as if they're recounting a spiritual experience. Their 107 00:07:38,360 --> 00:07:42,240 Speaker 1: eyes twinkle, their voices change, and then the right context, 108 00:07:42,440 --> 00:07:45,720 Speaker 1: around the right fire, with the right people, a tear 109 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:49,360 Speaker 1: might even be shed. When the cupping of mallard wings 110 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:53,160 Speaker 1: is spoken of. It's clear that this is sacred territory, 111 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:58,360 Speaker 1: and I'm interested in understanding why the second objective of 112 00:07:58,400 --> 00:08:01,320 Speaker 1: looking into the waterfowl world is of more importance than 113 00:08:01,360 --> 00:08:05,440 Speaker 1: the first. There's a significant sector of critical winter ground 114 00:08:05,560 --> 00:08:10,400 Speaker 1: waterfowl habitat that's in peril, and that peril is man induced. 115 00:08:11,000 --> 00:08:12,960 Speaker 1: By the time we're done with this series will be 116 00:08:13,040 --> 00:08:16,920 Speaker 1: experts on green tree reservoirs for g t r s 117 00:08:16,960 --> 00:08:21,880 Speaker 1: as they're called they're flooded hardwood bottoms. Luke Naylor is 118 00:08:21,920 --> 00:08:25,360 Speaker 1: the lead waterfowl biologist for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. 119 00:08:25,640 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 1: He's one of those guys that when you shake his hand, 120 00:08:28,040 --> 00:08:32,199 Speaker 1: you're convinced of his authenticity. His confidence coupled with his 121 00:08:32,360 --> 00:08:35,520 Speaker 1: down to earth demeanor, lets you know that you're dealing 122 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:39,360 Speaker 1: with the professional. I'm interested in gleaning from the passion 123 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:43,600 Speaker 1: and sight of these hardcore waterfowl guys. I'm hoping that 124 00:08:43,720 --> 00:08:49,440 Speaker 1: Luke can help. So you're the statewide waterfowl program coordinator. 125 00:08:49,520 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 1: That's right, waterfowl biologist, duck biologist. And how long have 126 00:08:53,080 --> 00:08:55,439 Speaker 1: you been with gaming fish? Fifteen years now? So I 127 00:08:55,480 --> 00:08:58,280 Speaker 1: got here at early summer of two thousand six. That's 128 00:08:58,280 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 1: pretty cool, man, it is. I mean, so that kind 129 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: of like playing for like the Golden State Warriors championship team. Yeah, 130 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:07,920 Speaker 1: if I can shoot like Steph Curry, I guess you 131 00:09:07,920 --> 00:09:09,880 Speaker 1: know what it it is. And and talked to a 132 00:09:09,920 --> 00:09:11,719 Speaker 1: lot of people before I got this job. In the 133 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:14,400 Speaker 1: situation you come into when you work as the Arkansas 134 00:09:14,480 --> 00:09:17,280 Speaker 1: waterfowl biologist, and there's a whole lot of positives. There's 135 00:09:17,320 --> 00:09:19,480 Speaker 1: a few things some people might view as negatives, But 136 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:20,760 Speaker 1: you know, if you just kind of roll with it, 137 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 1: there's a lot of a lot of interest, a lot 138 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:25,520 Speaker 1: of intensity here, and so sometimes that can be can 139 00:09:25,559 --> 00:09:27,800 Speaker 1: be a lot to deal with. I'd rather have folks 140 00:09:27,800 --> 00:09:31,600 Speaker 1: that are really passionate about the resource and passionate about 141 00:09:31,720 --> 00:09:34,320 Speaker 1: the pastime of duck hunting and the culture of duck hunting. 142 00:09:34,400 --> 00:09:36,840 Speaker 1: I'd much rather have folks who are on the on 143 00:09:36,880 --> 00:09:40,840 Speaker 1: the extremely passionate side of the spectrum versus apathetic. You know, 144 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:43,400 Speaker 1: So you've come here and and it's definitely the truth 145 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:46,000 Speaker 1: in Arkansas. There's just lots of people care about it. 146 00:09:46,040 --> 00:09:48,800 Speaker 1: But that passion that people have here makes a job 147 00:09:48,840 --> 00:09:52,000 Speaker 1: both really rewarding frustrating at times. But you can work 148 00:09:52,000 --> 00:09:54,280 Speaker 1: through that and there's always something new to be done, 149 00:09:54,559 --> 00:09:57,480 Speaker 1: you know, there's always some new issue. Yeah, there's always 150 00:09:57,640 --> 00:10:00,080 Speaker 1: because of that passion, because of the great water, our 151 00:10:00,160 --> 00:10:03,640 Speaker 1: resource we have, there's just always something else to work on. 152 00:10:04,880 --> 00:10:07,400 Speaker 1: I want to understand the duck hunting culture of this 153 00:10:07,480 --> 00:10:11,319 Speaker 1: place that's been dubbed as its capital. I'm well aware 154 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:14,480 Speaker 1: of the reputation of Arkansas duck hunting, but being raised 155 00:10:14,480 --> 00:10:17,320 Speaker 1: in a region absence of a major flyway, I have 156 00:10:17,520 --> 00:10:20,079 Speaker 1: missed out, and if I'm being honest, we're probably a 157 00:10:20,080 --> 00:10:23,599 Speaker 1: little jealous and tried to convince ourselves that our squirrels 158 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:27,240 Speaker 1: and coons were a more noble quarry. But that's currently 159 00:10:27,280 --> 00:10:34,200 Speaker 1: under reconsideration. I've asked Slute to describe Arkansas duck hunting culture. Yeah, 160 00:10:34,240 --> 00:10:37,640 Speaker 1: the culture of of duck hunting here is everywhere. It's amazing. 161 00:10:37,679 --> 00:10:41,040 Speaker 1: There's other places, of course, that have really strong claims 162 00:10:41,080 --> 00:10:43,880 Speaker 1: to a waterfowl hunting culture. I never want to forget that, right, 163 00:10:43,880 --> 00:10:46,320 Speaker 1: I mean, most of modern waterfowl hunting is an East 164 00:10:46,360 --> 00:10:49,679 Speaker 1: Coast Great Lakes type affair, right, Folks maybe here in 165 00:10:49,679 --> 00:10:52,040 Speaker 1: the South don't want to hear that sometimes, but but 166 00:10:52,120 --> 00:10:53,880 Speaker 1: you know, I mean, but it's a matter of where. 167 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:57,480 Speaker 1: You know, European settlement started in just that progression of things, right, 168 00:10:57,559 --> 00:11:00,160 Speaker 1: So the culture of duck hunting here is and is 169 00:11:00,200 --> 00:11:02,040 Speaker 1: just intense. You know. I grew up in south central 170 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:05,600 Speaker 1: Kansas and moved here um in oh six And I'll 171 00:11:05,600 --> 00:11:07,640 Speaker 1: never forget my dad coming and he thought he was 172 00:11:07,880 --> 00:11:09,880 Speaker 1: it kind of is. It was unique even at that 173 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:12,640 Speaker 1: time to have a camouflage boat and a black dog 174 00:11:13,200 --> 00:11:16,120 Speaker 1: in south central Kansas, and you know, then he comes 175 00:11:16,120 --> 00:11:18,840 Speaker 1: out here to visit me and hunt here, and it's 176 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:21,560 Speaker 1: it's nothing exceptional at all. I mean, there's there's a 177 00:11:21,679 --> 00:11:24,559 Speaker 1: there's a camouflage boat and a black dog on it 178 00:11:24,679 --> 00:11:28,400 Speaker 1: every other house, it seems, and so it's just deeply 179 00:11:29,000 --> 00:11:34,600 Speaker 1: culturally embedded here. Sean Weaver is an addict. He's a 180 00:11:34,600 --> 00:11:37,679 Speaker 1: waterfowl at it. He's the kind of guy that earns 181 00:11:37,760 --> 00:11:41,400 Speaker 1: your respect quickly as you see the honesty of his passion. 182 00:11:41,960 --> 00:11:45,280 Speaker 1: And he's meat eaters, waterfowl guru, and the host of 183 00:11:45,280 --> 00:11:48,200 Speaker 1: our new show called Duck Lauren, which is coming out soon. 184 00:11:48,720 --> 00:11:52,320 Speaker 1: Sean talks about the waterfowl prospects of the different regions 185 00:11:52,320 --> 00:11:55,440 Speaker 1: of the country like an art dealer talks about art, 186 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:59,800 Speaker 1: or like Brent Reeves talks about corn bread. Sean lives 187 00:11:59,800 --> 00:12:02,440 Speaker 1: in out Dakota, so I wanted to see what he 188 00:12:02,559 --> 00:12:08,360 Speaker 1: said about Arkansas duck hunting culture. Arkansas duck hunting culture 189 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:12,760 Speaker 1: and just duck hunting in Arkansas was something I was 190 00:12:12,840 --> 00:12:16,959 Speaker 1: obsessed with as a kid because there was a romance 191 00:12:17,440 --> 00:12:21,160 Speaker 1: that all duck hunters had, like across the country, no 192 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:24,760 Speaker 1: matter what you looked to Arkansas and you were envious 193 00:12:24,840 --> 00:12:28,320 Speaker 1: of them. Shooting green heads coming through the trees. So 194 00:12:28,440 --> 00:12:32,559 Speaker 1: I just became eight up with Arkansas duck hunting culture, 195 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:36,600 Speaker 1: and you really looked at the guys in Arkansas as 196 00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:39,319 Speaker 1: the best and that they got, you know, they got 197 00:12:39,360 --> 00:12:41,920 Speaker 1: all the ducks, but they also were the best at 198 00:12:42,000 --> 00:12:45,400 Speaker 1: hunting ducks and they had the most experience, right, And 199 00:12:45,480 --> 00:12:49,520 Speaker 1: it's reflected in a bunch of ways. You have companies 200 00:12:49,520 --> 00:12:53,440 Speaker 1: that were based around Arkansas duck hunting. All the call 201 00:12:53,559 --> 00:12:57,160 Speaker 1: companies were based in Arkansas, or the vast majority of them. 202 00:12:57,160 --> 00:13:01,040 Speaker 1: For a long time, you had world champion callers and 203 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:06,400 Speaker 1: the world champion duck calling contests based in Arkansas. So 204 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:10,120 Speaker 1: really it is undeniable that it was the epicenter of 205 00:13:10,200 --> 00:13:13,600 Speaker 1: duck hunting, and no one could argue it otherwise. Let 206 00:13:13,640 --> 00:13:16,400 Speaker 1: me ask you a question, how much of that was 207 00:13:17,000 --> 00:13:20,080 Speaker 1: marketing and hype and how much of it was reality? 208 00:13:20,760 --> 00:13:23,319 Speaker 1: I think that and that's that is not a slight 209 00:13:23,600 --> 00:13:28,319 Speaker 1: to Arkansas. I mean, I I am deeply deeply biased 210 00:13:28,320 --> 00:13:31,760 Speaker 1: towards Arkansas. So I want you to say, Clay, every 211 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:33,680 Speaker 1: word of it was true. But I just know that 212 00:13:35,000 --> 00:13:39,400 Speaker 1: they're epicenters for things that that produced culture. But they're 213 00:13:39,400 --> 00:13:44,320 Speaker 1: not always they're not always the best, they're not always everything. 214 00:13:44,440 --> 00:13:48,400 Speaker 1: But yeah, the first duck hunt I had where I 215 00:13:48,480 --> 00:13:51,840 Speaker 1: came to hunt in Arkansas wasn't what I was watching. 216 00:13:54,280 --> 00:13:57,120 Speaker 1: It wasn't the same. It wasn't eight man limits of 217 00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:00,400 Speaker 1: green heads coming down in the flooded timber. Some of it, 218 00:14:00,600 --> 00:14:03,720 Speaker 1: for sure, was just like a lot of video content. 219 00:14:03,760 --> 00:14:06,880 Speaker 1: You're watching the cream off the top, you're watching the best. 220 00:14:06,960 --> 00:14:09,960 Speaker 1: You're watching you can going to Iowa and sitting the 221 00:14:10,000 --> 00:14:14,440 Speaker 1: best farm in the world and not kill exactly, and 222 00:14:14,840 --> 00:14:19,880 Speaker 1: you are undeniably watching stuff that's either one real special 223 00:14:19,960 --> 00:14:23,080 Speaker 1: day or private duck club that you know, someone like 224 00:14:23,160 --> 00:14:26,880 Speaker 1: myself might never have access to. That being said, even 225 00:14:26,880 --> 00:14:29,960 Speaker 1: though my first duck hunting trip to Arkansas wasn't that 226 00:14:30,080 --> 00:14:34,360 Speaker 1: great and wasn't that successful, I still loved it because 227 00:14:34,400 --> 00:14:38,440 Speaker 1: the culture surrounding it. You know, a way I've described 228 00:14:38,640 --> 00:14:41,080 Speaker 1: the Delta of Arkansas to a lot of people that 229 00:14:41,120 --> 00:14:44,880 Speaker 1: have never seen it is there's a thirty dollar duck 230 00:14:44,920 --> 00:14:48,480 Speaker 1: boat parked in front of like a five thousand dollar 231 00:14:48,520 --> 00:14:51,080 Speaker 1: pick up a lot of places. I mean, there is 232 00:14:51,120 --> 00:14:54,800 Speaker 1: a duck boat around every corner, in every driveway. It's 233 00:14:55,480 --> 00:14:59,440 Speaker 1: it just runs thick and I love that. I just 234 00:14:59,600 --> 00:15:04,440 Speaker 1: love it. Here's Luke continuing to build the story of 235 00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:07,640 Speaker 1: Arkansas duck hunting. You know, it goes back all the 236 00:15:07,640 --> 00:15:11,760 Speaker 1: way to I think the importance overall of Arkansas duck 237 00:15:11,800 --> 00:15:15,240 Speaker 1: hunting ties back to it's important to ducks, obviously, and 238 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:19,120 Speaker 1: and that's really a question of geography and geology of 239 00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:22,080 Speaker 1: how this whole landscape to tell me about that. Yeah, 240 00:15:22,120 --> 00:15:24,160 Speaker 1: it just funnels ducks here. I mean you just kind 241 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:28,240 Speaker 1: of take a step back out to feet and look 242 00:15:28,280 --> 00:15:30,920 Speaker 1: at the whole landscape, and you just see this. You 243 00:15:30,960 --> 00:15:34,480 Speaker 1: see all these rivers just kind of draining throughout most 244 00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:38,440 Speaker 1: of the mid continent US and ending up funneling together 245 00:15:38,880 --> 00:15:41,560 Speaker 1: right here in the delta of Arkansas. So you could have, 246 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:46,400 Speaker 1: if you weren't from here, but you knew about waterfowl biology, 247 00:15:46,600 --> 00:15:48,320 Speaker 1: you would you would look at a map and you 248 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:52,040 Speaker 1: would go that region is gonna be special. Yeah. You 249 00:15:52,080 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 1: look back at the early maps of migratory corridors for ducks, 250 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:59,320 Speaker 1: the early flyway maps, And I always gotta be real 251 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:02,080 Speaker 1: careful about at the term flyway gets gets thrown around 252 00:16:02,120 --> 00:16:04,360 Speaker 1: a lot these days with duck hunters talking about a 253 00:16:04,400 --> 00:16:06,840 Speaker 1: flyway here and a Flyway there, and that's not how 254 00:16:06,840 --> 00:16:10,480 Speaker 1: we talk about flyways. When you talk about continental waterfowl management, 255 00:16:10,480 --> 00:16:14,920 Speaker 1: we talk about these major flyways within which we manage resources. 256 00:16:14,960 --> 00:16:20,800 Speaker 1: You know, the four major flyways across the continent. So 257 00:16:20,880 --> 00:16:24,760 Speaker 1: there are four major waterfowl flyways in North America from 258 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:28,880 Speaker 1: east to west. It's the Atlantic Flyway, the Mississippi Flyway, 259 00:16:28,960 --> 00:16:33,200 Speaker 1: the Central Flyway, and the Pacific Flyway. The Atlantic Flyway 260 00:16:33,280 --> 00:16:36,840 Speaker 1: starts in the eastern Arctic tundra of Canada, travels down 261 00:16:36,840 --> 00:16:40,760 Speaker 1: the Atlantic Coast, goes into the Caribbean, covering more than 262 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:45,800 Speaker 1: three thousand linear miles. The Central Flyway spans from central 263 00:16:45,840 --> 00:16:49,000 Speaker 1: Canada all the way to the Texas Gulf Coast. The 264 00:16:49,040 --> 00:16:53,080 Speaker 1: Pacific Flyway stretches four thousand miles, starting in Alaska, it 265 00:16:53,160 --> 00:16:56,720 Speaker 1: goes to Mexico. We've gone out of order because I 266 00:16:56,800 --> 00:17:01,160 Speaker 1: wanted to be dramatic. The Mississippi Flyway is the progeny 267 00:17:01,200 --> 00:17:05,520 Speaker 1: of what the Algonquin tribe called the Father of Waters 268 00:17:05,680 --> 00:17:10,600 Speaker 1: or the big River, the Mighty Mississippi. The name Mississippi 269 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:15,440 Speaker 1: is a transliteration of an Algonquin language word mississie b, 270 00:17:16,040 --> 00:17:19,480 Speaker 1: and the French called it Mississippi and later it turned 271 00:17:19,520 --> 00:17:24,640 Speaker 1: into the modern pronunciation. Turns out Hernando de Soto called 272 00:17:24,640 --> 00:17:27,440 Speaker 1: it the River of the Holy Spirit, but that didn't stick. 273 00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:31,639 Speaker 1: I'm very happy the river wasn't named after some chump 274 00:17:31,840 --> 00:17:38,440 Speaker 1: or a politician's girlfriend. This river drains of the continental 275 00:17:38,560 --> 00:17:43,360 Speaker 1: United States. It's the third largest river watershed in the world, 276 00:17:43,640 --> 00:17:47,240 Speaker 1: behind the Amazon and Nile rivers. The flyway is twenty 277 00:17:47,800 --> 00:17:50,920 Speaker 1: miles long and has a watershed of over one point 278 00:17:51,040 --> 00:17:54,719 Speaker 1: five million square miles, and it's the most heavily used 279 00:17:54,800 --> 00:18:01,320 Speaker 1: migration corridor for waterfowl on the continent. Wild stuff. Those 280 00:18:01,600 --> 00:18:04,879 Speaker 1: were described really early on by guys like Frank Belros 281 00:18:05,040 --> 00:18:07,800 Speaker 1: where they looked at did some really just cool observations 282 00:18:07,840 --> 00:18:11,000 Speaker 1: of ducks during migration, and looked at early band recovery 283 00:18:11,000 --> 00:18:13,960 Speaker 1: information and develop these maps. And if you go back 284 00:18:14,040 --> 00:18:17,200 Speaker 1: decades to look at these maps, it just highlights all 285 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:21,119 Speaker 1: of these little corridors, major areas of band recovery. Just 286 00:18:21,280 --> 00:18:24,919 Speaker 1: follow these lines of these major rivers and they all 287 00:18:24,960 --> 00:18:28,159 Speaker 1: come to a confluence in Arkansas. So it just makes 288 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:32,200 Speaker 1: sense that this fun literally does funnel funnels them right now. 289 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:38,320 Speaker 1: Once I started dabbling in the Arkansas waterfowl world, Jim 290 00:18:38,440 --> 00:18:42,000 Speaker 1: Ron quest name came up over and over. They call 291 00:18:42,119 --> 00:18:46,080 Speaker 1: him Jimbo. I quickly learned he's very well respected in 292 00:18:46,080 --> 00:18:50,760 Speaker 1: the waterfowl industry as a caller, hunter, conservation advocate, and 293 00:18:50,840 --> 00:18:54,159 Speaker 1: just a general good man. He's a call maker and 294 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:57,280 Speaker 1: was the World's duck calling Champion in two thousand and six. 295 00:18:57,600 --> 00:19:01,040 Speaker 1: But more important than titles, he is a Jedi master 296 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:06,160 Speaker 1: in the duckwoods. I asked Jimbo why Arkansas is special 297 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:11,720 Speaker 1: when it comes to ducks. Geographical location. So, if you 298 00:19:11,760 --> 00:19:15,080 Speaker 1: think of the Mississippi Flyway and to some extent, the 299 00:19:15,119 --> 00:19:17,320 Speaker 1: Central fly Away, and you and you look at a 300 00:19:17,400 --> 00:19:21,720 Speaker 1: big map of the USA, and you think of water drainages, watersheds, 301 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:24,159 Speaker 1: what's the Ohio River do? The Ohio River comes from 302 00:19:24,200 --> 00:19:27,520 Speaker 1: the northeast with the southwesterly flow, meets up with the 303 00:19:27,560 --> 00:19:30,720 Speaker 1: Mississippi River at Cairo, Illinois. Then above it you got 304 00:19:30,720 --> 00:19:33,000 Speaker 1: the Missouri River coming out of the northern plains and 305 00:19:33,040 --> 00:19:36,560 Speaker 1: the Dakotas in the in the Montana and it dumps 306 00:19:36,600 --> 00:19:40,520 Speaker 1: into the Mississippi River just above St. Louis. Then as 307 00:19:40,560 --> 00:19:42,760 Speaker 1: you come down, you got the Arkansas River that starts 308 00:19:42,760 --> 00:19:46,960 Speaker 1: in Colorado, comes across the Central plains, with a southeasterly 309 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:50,960 Speaker 1: flow and dumps into the Mississippi River just below stuck guard. 310 00:19:51,119 --> 00:19:53,480 Speaker 1: But when you start looking at all those confluences of 311 00:19:53,520 --> 00:19:57,240 Speaker 1: watersheds and you think of ducks traveling those watersheds as 312 00:19:57,440 --> 00:20:00,160 Speaker 1: arteries art maybe people would relate to it better as 313 00:20:00,200 --> 00:20:03,640 Speaker 1: interstate highways or roads or highways if you start looking 314 00:20:03,680 --> 00:20:06,280 Speaker 1: at it. We're in the eye of the funnel. But 315 00:20:06,560 --> 00:20:10,160 Speaker 1: the geographic location and where we are is what set 316 00:20:10,280 --> 00:20:13,320 Speaker 1: us up to be the matter capital the world. It's 317 00:20:13,359 --> 00:20:18,080 Speaker 1: just where ducks want to be. Continental geography on a 318 00:20:18,119 --> 00:20:21,000 Speaker 1: massive scale plays a vital role when you're dealing with 319 00:20:21,040 --> 00:20:24,639 Speaker 1: an animal that has a home range encompassing thousands of 320 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:28,560 Speaker 1: linear miles. To understand why ducks come down this funnel 321 00:20:28,600 --> 00:20:32,240 Speaker 1: in the winter, we've got to understand flooded timber or 322 00:20:32,280 --> 00:20:35,720 Speaker 1: g trs. We'll be talking a lot about this stuff. 323 00:20:36,000 --> 00:20:38,520 Speaker 1: And if you're a duck hunter, you may have just 324 00:20:38,600 --> 00:20:43,560 Speaker 1: gotten cold chills. Austin Booth is a born and bread 325 00:20:43,560 --> 00:20:48,120 Speaker 1: are Kanson, a former marine, a lawyer, a public land 326 00:20:48,200 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 1: duck hunter, and he's the new director of the Arkansas 327 00:20:51,640 --> 00:20:54,760 Speaker 1: Game and Fish Commission. We're gonna hear more from Austin 328 00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:59,120 Speaker 1: in part two of this podcast hashtag foreshadow, But I 329 00:20:59,280 --> 00:21:02,840 Speaker 1: wanted to here's thoughts on Arkansas being the d h 330 00:21:02,960 --> 00:21:07,880 Speaker 1: c W, the duck hunting capital of the world. We're 331 00:21:07,960 --> 00:21:11,359 Speaker 1: known as the duck hunting capital world because about fifty 332 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:14,320 Speaker 1: to sixty years ago the public discovered what the ducks 333 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 1: discovered a long time ago, and that was green tree reservoirs. 334 00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:23,119 Speaker 1: Do we have plenty of other kinds of duck hunting opportunities, Sure, 335 00:21:23,520 --> 00:21:28,679 Speaker 1: we got fantastic moist soil habitat, we got fantastic grain 336 00:21:29,119 --> 00:21:33,560 Speaker 1: rice mostly habitat. But it's really the green tree reservoirs 337 00:21:33,760 --> 00:21:36,840 Speaker 1: smack dab in the middle of the Mississippi Flyway that 338 00:21:36,960 --> 00:21:40,359 Speaker 1: put us on the map. When I worded it that way, 339 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:43,879 Speaker 1: saying that the public discovered what the ducks discovered long ago, 340 00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:48,600 Speaker 1: I meant that. I mean that this flyway in Arkansas, 341 00:21:48,680 --> 00:21:53,280 Speaker 1: eastern central Arkansas, northeast Arkansas has been a duck magnet 342 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:56,119 Speaker 1: for a very very long time, and when we started 343 00:21:56,119 --> 00:21:57,879 Speaker 1: to rest, I mean it has nothing to do with man, 344 00:21:58,040 --> 00:22:01,760 Speaker 1: it has nothing. I mean the initial, yes, the the 345 00:22:01,880 --> 00:22:06,760 Speaker 1: ancient natural migration patterns of these these ducks and geese 346 00:22:06,880 --> 00:22:11,000 Speaker 1: is coming down the Mississippi drainage, and they'll and they'll 347 00:22:11,000 --> 00:22:14,359 Speaker 1: shoot off one of the best duck hunting offshoots of 348 00:22:14,359 --> 00:22:16,800 Speaker 1: the Mississippi River as the White River and the Cache 349 00:22:16,880 --> 00:22:19,600 Speaker 1: River and the Black River and St. Francis, and it's 350 00:22:19,640 --> 00:22:24,320 Speaker 1: the whole flyway. We recognize that that these ducks were 351 00:22:24,359 --> 00:22:27,760 Speaker 1: attracted in a special way to green tree reservoirs, to 352 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:31,680 Speaker 1: bottom one hardwoods, and so fifty sixty years ago we 353 00:22:32,000 --> 00:22:35,639 Speaker 1: started putting up infrastructure to try to hold water on 354 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:39,520 Speaker 1: these green tree reservoirs for the purpose of attracting more ducks. 355 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:43,800 Speaker 1: One but to making the green tree reservoir hunting more 356 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:49,320 Speaker 1: predictable and more stable, rather than relying on mother nature 357 00:22:49,480 --> 00:22:52,800 Speaker 1: to flood and drop down and flood and drop down. 358 00:22:54,080 --> 00:22:58,320 Speaker 1: We need to understand the original design of green tree 359 00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:02,560 Speaker 1: reservoirs or flooded hard would timber inside of natural systems. 360 00:23:03,040 --> 00:23:06,840 Speaker 1: Here's Luke. I think it's pretty fascinating to think about 361 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:11,080 Speaker 1: pre European settlement animal movements and what and what was 362 00:23:11,160 --> 00:23:16,320 Speaker 1: here to think about This flyway is ancient. It is 363 00:23:16,440 --> 00:23:19,880 Speaker 1: as long as there have been ducks, Mallard ducks and 364 00:23:20,040 --> 00:23:22,320 Speaker 1: all these ducks that have flown in the air. They 365 00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:25,760 Speaker 1: have been doing this thing, and they've been coming through 366 00:23:26,160 --> 00:23:29,080 Speaker 1: this area. Talk to me about the flooded timber of 367 00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:32,960 Speaker 1: Arkansas and how that's unique because I would have thought 368 00:23:33,040 --> 00:23:35,960 Speaker 1: that there was this flooded timber thing would have been 369 00:23:36,480 --> 00:23:39,600 Speaker 1: kind of all over widespread. But tell me about yet, 370 00:23:39,840 --> 00:23:42,400 Speaker 1: it's it's not as much as as what you might think. 371 00:23:42,680 --> 00:23:45,800 Speaker 1: Now there's there's pockets of this sort of habitat really 372 00:23:45,840 --> 00:23:50,159 Speaker 1: all across the US, and just a lot smaller scale. 373 00:23:50,680 --> 00:23:52,640 Speaker 1: So it makes sense. You know, even in my home 374 00:23:52,680 --> 00:23:54,879 Speaker 1: state of Kansas. You know, there's some areas in eastern 375 00:23:55,040 --> 00:23:57,320 Speaker 1: Kansas and there's some of these old river bottoms that 376 00:23:57,320 --> 00:23:59,840 Speaker 1: would have flooded up that would have seasonally flooded and 377 00:24:00,040 --> 00:24:03,919 Speaker 1: surely provided habitat for ducks. But the vast majority of 378 00:24:03,960 --> 00:24:07,280 Speaker 1: it was here in the Mississippi Louivial Valley where we're talking. 379 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:10,679 Speaker 1: You know, well over twenty million acres of of bottom 380 00:24:10,760 --> 00:24:15,040 Speaker 1: and hardwood forest in the delta of Arkansas acres over 381 00:24:15,080 --> 00:24:16,879 Speaker 1: twenty million, and a bunch of other states, right you 382 00:24:16,920 --> 00:24:19,840 Speaker 1: would have Mississippi, Western Mississippi, You even would have had 383 00:24:19,880 --> 00:24:23,040 Speaker 1: the Boothole of Missouri, Western Kentucky, Western Tennessee and Northeast 384 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:27,240 Speaker 1: Louisiana all would have contributed to this massive block of 385 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:29,800 Speaker 1: bottom and hardwood forest. Now it would have been constantly 386 00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:31,959 Speaker 1: in a state of flux. This landscape would have been 387 00:24:32,000 --> 00:24:34,760 Speaker 1: constantly changing. It would have been bottom in hardwood forest 388 00:24:35,080 --> 00:24:38,159 Speaker 1: in some stage of succession. In a really good colleague 389 00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:40,520 Speaker 1: and friend of mine said years ago, you know it 390 00:24:40,760 --> 00:24:43,000 Speaker 1: really the Mallard. If you really kind of think about 391 00:24:43,040 --> 00:24:46,520 Speaker 1: the continental landscape, it kind of transitions from a prairie 392 00:24:46,560 --> 00:24:50,400 Speaker 1: species to a forest species, probably about St. Louis latitude. 393 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:53,240 Speaker 1: If you go back and look at historic land cover maps, 394 00:24:53,480 --> 00:24:56,280 Speaker 1: you can start looking at the at the delta becoming 395 00:24:56,320 --> 00:24:59,720 Speaker 1: this forested landscape. Maybe you know about that St. Louis 396 00:24:59,760 --> 00:25:03,159 Speaker 1: lad to following those river corridor south. So that's what 397 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:06,359 Speaker 1: these ducks were adapted to come find prairie wetlands throughout 398 00:25:06,440 --> 00:25:08,680 Speaker 1: most of the year and then several months of the 399 00:25:08,800 --> 00:25:11,440 Speaker 1: year finding the resources they need in these In these 400 00:25:11,480 --> 00:25:17,440 Speaker 1: forests and wetlands, forested wetlands, flooded timber or green tree 401 00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:20,160 Speaker 1: reservoirs are all the same thing. It's odd to think 402 00:25:20,200 --> 00:25:23,879 Speaker 1: of ducks landing in a forest, but it's what makes 403 00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:27,680 Speaker 1: the lower Mississippi Flyway special I'm pretty sure that any 404 00:25:27,800 --> 00:25:31,400 Speaker 1: part of a water fowler's body that comes in pairs, 405 00:25:31,840 --> 00:25:34,600 Speaker 1: they'd be willing to give their left one to hunt 406 00:25:34,640 --> 00:25:38,920 Speaker 1: flooded hardwoods. But let's get back to Luke talking about 407 00:25:38,960 --> 00:25:45,560 Speaker 1: flooded timber and how ducks use it, and that provided 408 00:25:45,680 --> 00:25:48,800 Speaker 1: ducks a whole bunch of different resources. You had had 409 00:25:48,840 --> 00:25:52,840 Speaker 1: acorn production from mass producing red oak trees throughout that, 410 00:25:52,880 --> 00:25:54,760 Speaker 1: you would have leaflet or that produces a ton of 411 00:25:54,760 --> 00:25:58,679 Speaker 1: invertebrates which are critically important for ducks during the wintering period. 412 00:25:58,840 --> 00:26:01,720 Speaker 1: All of those resources would have been available at least 413 00:26:01,720 --> 00:26:05,000 Speaker 1: at different times of the year when those areas flooded. 414 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:09,440 Speaker 1: Flooding is the catalyst for these areas to produce food 415 00:26:09,600 --> 00:26:12,520 Speaker 1: for waterfowl because they gotta have water to swimming. It's 416 00:26:12,560 --> 00:26:16,040 Speaker 1: all tied back to hydrology, you know. So being from 417 00:26:16,080 --> 00:26:19,520 Speaker 1: the highlands of Arkansas coming down to the Delta is 418 00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:23,560 Speaker 1: so bizarre to me because of the water. The levee systems, 419 00:26:23,680 --> 00:26:27,080 Speaker 1: the water containment systems just kind of blow my mind 420 00:26:27,480 --> 00:26:30,720 Speaker 1: that this place is so flat that to make much 421 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:33,840 Speaker 1: of it usable you had to put up levees and 422 00:26:33,880 --> 00:26:36,560 Speaker 1: do all this stuff. I mean, it's a pretty wild 423 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:40,120 Speaker 1: system of regulation. And and I guess really what we're 424 00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:42,880 Speaker 1: trying to do with all that is this place all 425 00:26:43,080 --> 00:26:45,760 Speaker 1: used to would have flooded. And is that is that about? Right? Yeah? 426 00:26:45,760 --> 00:26:48,119 Speaker 1: At some level we think most of it would have 427 00:26:48,160 --> 00:26:50,639 Speaker 1: gone underwater at some point. I mean, think about like 428 00:26:50,680 --> 00:26:53,680 Speaker 1: a third of Arkansas would have been underwater at any 429 00:26:53,720 --> 00:26:57,040 Speaker 1: given point in a year. And naturally and some some 430 00:26:57,359 --> 00:26:59,320 Speaker 1: you know, smart folks who kind of study this the 431 00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:03,760 Speaker 1: geological aspects of it and study historical flood patterns, they 432 00:27:03,800 --> 00:27:06,520 Speaker 1: can kind of map out like, Okay, historically these areas 433 00:27:06,560 --> 00:27:09,439 Speaker 1: would have flooded once every twenty years, and then step 434 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:11,760 Speaker 1: it on down right, once every seven, once every five, 435 00:27:11,800 --> 00:27:14,240 Speaker 1: and these areas probably flooded every year, right see, would 436 00:27:14,240 --> 00:27:17,600 Speaker 1: have had this whole gradient elevation based on elevation, Gosh, 437 00:27:17,600 --> 00:27:20,040 Speaker 1: what we're pushing a hundred of years now of such 438 00:27:20,080 --> 00:27:24,359 Speaker 1: an altered landscape. Seven right, the big Mississippi River flood 439 00:27:24,680 --> 00:27:28,480 Speaker 1: that prompted the building of the major levee system along 440 00:27:28,520 --> 00:27:31,320 Speaker 1: the Mississippi River itself, And so that goes way back 441 00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:34,880 Speaker 1: to think read old accounts of how extensive the flooding 442 00:27:35,080 --> 00:27:38,200 Speaker 1: was after that major flood and how those levees were 443 00:27:38,240 --> 00:27:40,639 Speaker 1: then built to prevent that from happening in the future. 444 00:27:40,640 --> 00:27:42,920 Speaker 1: It's it's luke that makes a guy from the mountains 445 00:27:43,000 --> 00:27:44,879 Speaker 1: kind of nervous to be down here. Man, I'm afraid 446 00:27:45,119 --> 00:27:48,360 Speaker 1: we're gonna get flooded out. Yeah, LEVI breaks, you never know, right, 447 00:27:48,600 --> 00:27:51,560 Speaker 1: It's we talk about uh, you know, you talk about 448 00:27:51,640 --> 00:27:54,920 Speaker 1: contours and elevation and hills when you get down here 449 00:27:55,080 --> 00:27:57,360 Speaker 1: and people use those terms down here, and if you're 450 00:27:57,359 --> 00:27:58,919 Speaker 1: from the mountains at all, you kind of look at 451 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:00,800 Speaker 1: them crazy. I just a do you a minute ago 452 00:28:01,040 --> 00:28:04,639 Speaker 1: talking about a one foot change in elevation being like 453 00:28:04,800 --> 00:28:08,520 Speaker 1: really significant for water levels and changes, and that kind 454 00:28:08,520 --> 00:28:14,000 Speaker 1: of blew my mind. A one foot elevation change being significant. 455 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:17,200 Speaker 1: It is hard to comprehend, but here a one foot 456 00:28:17,359 --> 00:28:20,119 Speaker 1: change can be the difference in thousands and thousands of 457 00:28:20,119 --> 00:28:23,840 Speaker 1: acres flooding. Let's stop and recap what we've just heard. 458 00:28:24,200 --> 00:28:26,720 Speaker 1: It took me a long time to understand the geology 459 00:28:26,720 --> 00:28:30,880 Speaker 1: and flood prone wetland regions of the South. Basically, much 460 00:28:30,880 --> 00:28:34,080 Speaker 1: of it naturally flooded, making it risky to live in 461 00:28:34,280 --> 00:28:37,359 Speaker 1: farm here until the levee systems were built. Which was 462 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:40,360 Speaker 1: after the turn of the twentieth century. Heck, I didn't 463 00:28:40,400 --> 00:28:42,920 Speaker 1: even know what a levy was until I was an adult. 464 00:28:43,400 --> 00:28:46,280 Speaker 1: It's an earthen dam that runs on both sides of 465 00:28:46,320 --> 00:28:49,440 Speaker 1: a river that keeps it from flooding out of its banks. 466 00:28:49,840 --> 00:28:54,040 Speaker 1: The levies on these major rivers are truly incredible engineering feats. 467 00:28:54,280 --> 00:28:56,880 Speaker 1: But I want to key in on one phrase that 468 00:28:57,080 --> 00:29:00,840 Speaker 1: Luke said. We've been living in an altar the environment 469 00:29:00,960 --> 00:29:04,920 Speaker 1: for about one hundred years. Changing the flooding regimes of 470 00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:09,160 Speaker 1: rivers is a major ecological alteration. The only other creator 471 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:12,440 Speaker 1: that does this besides humans is fevers, and we know 472 00:29:12,520 --> 00:29:15,840 Speaker 1: what a nuisance they can be. However, as you've heard, 473 00:29:16,240 --> 00:29:20,800 Speaker 1: basically one third of Arkansas would be almost uninhabitable if 474 00:29:20,840 --> 00:29:24,959 Speaker 1: it weren't for these levies. Austin mentioned how we've artificially 475 00:29:25,000 --> 00:29:28,560 Speaker 1: flooded timber to create duck habitat. But to understand the 476 00:29:28,560 --> 00:29:31,920 Speaker 1: full picture of Arkansas duck hunting, we need to understand 477 00:29:32,120 --> 00:29:39,880 Speaker 1: the agricultural component. I now understand the historic picture of 478 00:29:39,960 --> 00:29:44,800 Speaker 1: these flooded bottom land hardwoods. What happened and what was 479 00:29:44,840 --> 00:29:48,000 Speaker 1: the time period that we came in and started clearing 480 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:51,880 Speaker 1: this timber plant and rice and soybeans and everything. When 481 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:55,040 Speaker 1: did we get here and how did that change duck hunting? 482 00:29:55,120 --> 00:29:57,840 Speaker 1: And I'm still trying to have an understanding of why 483 00:29:58,320 --> 00:30:01,480 Speaker 1: Arkansas has become a known as the duck hunting capital 484 00:30:01,480 --> 00:30:03,960 Speaker 1: of the world. We went way through that process. Yeah, 485 00:30:03,960 --> 00:30:06,760 Speaker 1: so it's again coming from the Plain States, when a 486 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:10,400 Speaker 1: lot of habitat conversion happened relatively speaking, quite a bit 487 00:30:10,400 --> 00:30:13,480 Speaker 1: earlier than what happened here. You know, you have major accounts. 488 00:30:13,480 --> 00:30:16,000 Speaker 1: You have people still living and farming in the Delta 489 00:30:16,080 --> 00:30:19,960 Speaker 1: who were alive and farming or at least witnessed major 490 00:30:20,080 --> 00:30:22,920 Speaker 1: land clearing of the fifties and sixties. For example, a 491 00:30:23,000 --> 00:30:25,680 Speaker 1: lot of forests were taken out in Arkansas as recent 492 00:30:25,760 --> 00:30:28,880 Speaker 1: as the nineteen fifties and sixties and some another big 493 00:30:28,920 --> 00:30:31,440 Speaker 1: effort in land clearing. You know, it's probably you know, 494 00:30:31,520 --> 00:30:34,440 Speaker 1: right around that hundred year mark. Really we started as 495 00:30:34,480 --> 00:30:39,080 Speaker 1: an agency and as hunters started noticing the loss of 496 00:30:39,120 --> 00:30:43,160 Speaker 1: these forests of wetlands, likely in the nineteen twenties, thirties, forties, 497 00:30:43,800 --> 00:30:46,680 Speaker 1: and that would have been initial land clearing going on. 498 00:30:46,960 --> 00:30:49,320 Speaker 1: Folks starting to realize that, wow, we're losing some of 499 00:30:49,320 --> 00:30:51,880 Speaker 1: this habitat on the landscape. And the other side of 500 00:30:51,880 --> 00:30:54,080 Speaker 1: that is that these were people that were just trying 501 00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:56,520 Speaker 1: to make a living off the ground. Yeah, they're trying 502 00:30:56,520 --> 00:30:59,720 Speaker 1: to Yeah, the these people would have felt like they 503 00:30:59,760 --> 00:31:04,200 Speaker 1: were taken some worthless country and turning it into something 504 00:31:04,360 --> 00:31:07,960 Speaker 1: really valuable, which they were. It's a desolate swamp, you know. 505 00:31:08,040 --> 00:31:10,120 Speaker 1: I mean, it's full of mosquitoes, and it's just in 506 00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:13,200 Speaker 1: the way and appeared like an endless resource. Right if 507 00:31:13,240 --> 00:31:16,200 Speaker 1: you've got twenty some million acres of forest at Wetlands, 508 00:31:16,280 --> 00:31:19,720 Speaker 1: and can you imagine coming across here in the seventeen 509 00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:23,560 Speaker 1: hundreds and looking at just this whole landscape being nothing 510 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:28,880 Speaker 1: but one massive, almost contiguous forest. It's almost just crazy 511 00:31:28,880 --> 00:31:31,240 Speaker 1: to imagine at this point. But yeah, people were clearing 512 00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:33,840 Speaker 1: the land. And one thing that really benefited are surely 513 00:31:33,840 --> 00:31:37,200 Speaker 1: benefited Arkansas and ducks and duck hunting was the fact 514 00:31:37,200 --> 00:31:39,800 Speaker 1: that a lot of this land conversion happened. The land 515 00:31:39,840 --> 00:31:43,120 Speaker 1: was converted to what we know is a very wildlife 516 00:31:43,120 --> 00:31:46,959 Speaker 1: friendly type of agriculture, which is rice. So a lot 517 00:31:47,000 --> 00:31:49,440 Speaker 1: of these changes were happening at similar times. I forget 518 00:31:49,440 --> 00:31:51,680 Speaker 1: the date exactly when the first folks started trying to 519 00:31:51,680 --> 00:31:53,760 Speaker 1: plant rice, here in the Grand Prairie, not far from 520 00:31:53,800 --> 00:31:55,360 Speaker 1: where we're sitting right, it would have been I mean, 521 00:31:55,520 --> 00:31:59,000 Speaker 1: unless hundred fifty, but I think the late eighteen hundreds 522 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:02,800 Speaker 1: and folks were experien remating with rice here and really 523 00:32:02,840 --> 00:32:07,520 Speaker 1: took off in that nineties thirties forties time frame. So 524 00:32:07,600 --> 00:32:11,240 Speaker 1: people were growing rice, and we know that ducks love rice. 525 00:32:11,360 --> 00:32:13,840 Speaker 1: We we talk about it as kind of a surrogate 526 00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:17,400 Speaker 1: wetland when managed properly, because it's a it's a wetland plant. 527 00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:20,680 Speaker 1: It grows in wet soils throughout much of the years, 528 00:32:20,760 --> 00:32:23,959 Speaker 1: produces a grain, can tolerate lots of water. I mean 529 00:32:24,000 --> 00:32:26,560 Speaker 1: it grows in water in the summer, of course. And 530 00:32:26,600 --> 00:32:29,440 Speaker 1: so it was this natural connection that well, okay, yeah, 531 00:32:29,480 --> 00:32:32,239 Speaker 1: we're losing habitat. Ducks are losing some of what they 532 00:32:32,240 --> 00:32:35,440 Speaker 1: have historically come to Arkansas for, but it's mostly being 533 00:32:35,480 --> 00:32:39,400 Speaker 1: replaced by something that's also really beneficial to ducks. You 534 00:32:39,480 --> 00:32:41,440 Speaker 1: end up with a situation where here, you know the 535 00:32:41,440 --> 00:32:46,640 Speaker 1: old stories about people older agricultural methods of shocking grain, 536 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:48,480 Speaker 1: and you know, you cut it and you shock it 537 00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:51,880 Speaker 1: to let it dry, and people, you know, just almost endless. 538 00:32:51,920 --> 00:32:54,480 Speaker 1: Some numbers of ducks coming in and trying to eat 539 00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:56,880 Speaker 1: that shocked rice and people having to shoot them off 540 00:32:56,920 --> 00:32:59,760 Speaker 1: to to save their crop. Always have to rib people 541 00:33:00,000 --> 00:33:02,000 Speaker 1: little bit when you get around. You know this part 542 00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:05,840 Speaker 1: of Arkansas and big rice country of course, biggest rice 543 00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:08,280 Speaker 1: producer in the country. And they're proud of it, which 544 00:33:08,320 --> 00:33:10,479 Speaker 1: they should be. And it's funny and your ducks come 545 00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:13,600 Speaker 1: to Arkansas eat eat rice. It's like, well, lots of 546 00:33:13,680 --> 00:33:16,000 Speaker 1: ducks are coming here before the first color of Colonel Rice. 547 00:33:17,560 --> 00:33:29,280 Speaker 1: It's not necessarily a cause and effect. Every year, Arkansas 548 00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:32,960 Speaker 1: farmers plant on average one point three million acres in 549 00:33:33,160 --> 00:33:37,000 Speaker 1: rice on over eighteen hundred private farms. Did you know 550 00:33:37,040 --> 00:33:40,560 Speaker 1: that Bill Gates is the largest private landowner in Arkansas. 551 00:33:41,080 --> 00:33:42,960 Speaker 1: I'm just glad they didn't give him the right to 552 00:33:43,200 --> 00:33:48,720 Speaker 1: name this place. Arkansas produces about nine billion pounds of 553 00:33:48,800 --> 00:33:51,320 Speaker 1: rice per year, which is close to half of the 554 00:33:51,360 --> 00:33:54,640 Speaker 1: production of the United States. Rice is a nutrient dense 555 00:33:54,800 --> 00:34:00,480 Speaker 1: complex carbohydrate with fifteen essential vitamins and nutrients u the 556 00:34:00,640 --> 00:34:05,280 Speaker 1: Arkansas rice commercial ducks and humans love the stuff anyway. 557 00:34:05,480 --> 00:34:08,200 Speaker 1: Arkansas has known for its public land waterfowl, honey, and 558 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:11,640 Speaker 1: these large tracts of bottom land hardwoods now frame up 559 00:34:11,680 --> 00:34:15,920 Speaker 1: a remnant GTR system that is vital to waterfowl. I 560 00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:20,520 Speaker 1: want to understand how that land, once thought to be unusable, 561 00:34:20,840 --> 00:34:25,320 Speaker 1: became public as this habitat base of force of wetlands dwindled, 562 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:29,440 Speaker 1: rice expanded on the landscape, that's when agencies came on 563 00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:33,360 Speaker 1: board and started purchasing some of these remaining bottom and 564 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:36,759 Speaker 1: hardwood forest tracks. So right around the same this all 565 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:39,440 Speaker 1: happened around the same time that the Pittman Robertson Act 566 00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:44,840 Speaker 1: was passing Congress. Right, so the first dedicated so the 567 00:34:44,880 --> 00:34:48,360 Speaker 1: first dedicated funding stream for state wildlife agencies, and a 568 00:34:48,400 --> 00:34:51,680 Speaker 1: lot of the initial work of many state wildlife agencies, 569 00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:54,520 Speaker 1: including the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, was to purchase land. 570 00:34:55,000 --> 00:34:58,040 Speaker 1: And we're very thankful these days that that those folks 571 00:34:58,120 --> 00:35:00,319 Speaker 1: had the foresight to do that, to go buy land 572 00:35:00,360 --> 00:35:04,359 Speaker 1: for just I mean just pennies really, And by that 573 00:35:04,400 --> 00:35:07,560 Speaker 1: time were they not kind of getting And when I 574 00:35:07,560 --> 00:35:10,480 Speaker 1: say the scraps, I don't mean that in a derogatory way, 575 00:35:10,520 --> 00:35:13,279 Speaker 1: but I mean that in like a literal they were. Yeah, 576 00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:16,400 Speaker 1: they were getting the stuff that as land clearing was progressing, 577 00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:20,000 Speaker 1: we Game and Fish bought the areas that were too 578 00:35:20,040 --> 00:35:23,760 Speaker 1: low there they were the biggest pain to the places 579 00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:27,080 Speaker 1: that people didn't want to buy or had tried to 580 00:35:27,120 --> 00:35:29,600 Speaker 1: find a way to use it and couldn't. And so yeah, 581 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:31,640 Speaker 1: they couldn't get over that financial hump that it was 582 00:35:31,680 --> 00:35:34,879 Speaker 1: worth it. So would you say that the state lands 583 00:35:34,920 --> 00:35:38,320 Speaker 1: that we do have are I know today they're critical 584 00:35:38,480 --> 00:35:41,840 Speaker 1: because they're the biggest blocks of this bottom land hardwood 585 00:35:41,840 --> 00:35:44,800 Speaker 1: that we have left. So they've now become massively critical. 586 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:47,640 Speaker 1: But these spots wouldn't have necessarily been anything special when 587 00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:51,000 Speaker 1: this place was totally wooded or wouldn't No, not necessarily, 588 00:35:51,040 --> 00:35:53,759 Speaker 1: I mean they wouldn't they back to geology, I mean 589 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:57,520 Speaker 1: they kind of lay in areas that they may have 590 00:35:58,200 --> 00:36:01,720 Speaker 1: been at the bottom of the funnel more smaller scale, 591 00:36:01,760 --> 00:36:04,080 Speaker 1: if that makes sense, not the continental scale, but on 592 00:36:04,120 --> 00:36:07,239 Speaker 1: a smaller scale, are kind of at the bottom of 593 00:36:07,280 --> 00:36:12,800 Speaker 1: a funnel within this region of Arkansas. What's interesting about 594 00:36:12,880 --> 00:36:16,640 Speaker 1: most public land is that it's the stuff that nobody wanted. 595 00:36:17,320 --> 00:36:19,719 Speaker 1: Arkansas became a state in eighteen thirty six, and in 596 00:36:19,719 --> 00:36:22,959 Speaker 1: that time of settlement, they were almost given away land 597 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:26,439 Speaker 1: trying to get people to civilize this wild place. Our 598 00:36:26,520 --> 00:36:30,720 Speaker 1: public lands are the places people didn't want or later 599 00:36:30,840 --> 00:36:33,839 Speaker 1: got drove out of because they couldn't make a living there. 600 00:36:34,200 --> 00:36:37,560 Speaker 1: That's why national forests, not just in Arkansas but everywhere, 601 00:36:37,760 --> 00:36:41,400 Speaker 1: are always the steepest roughest regions of the states, or 602 00:36:41,440 --> 00:36:44,279 Speaker 1: in the case of lowland states, the public ground is 603 00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:48,279 Speaker 1: the swampiest and most uninhabitable land in the region. It 604 00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:51,000 Speaker 1: wasn't that we wanted to preserve the beauty of the 605 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:55,879 Speaker 1: rugged places. However, it eventually became that, like so many 606 00:36:55,920 --> 00:36:59,440 Speaker 1: things in life, our value system changed with the economy 607 00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:02,440 Speaker 1: and social factors of the country. Today, you couldn't put 608 00:37:02,440 --> 00:37:05,719 Speaker 1: a price tag on the bottom land hardwoods of Arkansas. 609 00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:08,960 Speaker 1: It's clear to me that Arkansas got its reputation with 610 00:37:09,000 --> 00:37:12,160 Speaker 1: the ducks. Honestly, it's just where they wanted to be 611 00:37:12,680 --> 00:37:15,760 Speaker 1: and has been for thousands of years. But I'm still 612 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:20,160 Speaker 1: interested in the human component of how we so unabashedly 613 00:37:20,280 --> 00:37:24,279 Speaker 1: proclaimed and it's been accepted that Arkansas is the duck 614 00:37:24,360 --> 00:37:28,480 Speaker 1: hunting capital of the world. So when we brought in 615 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:32,440 Speaker 1: rice and started farming, we replaced this timber standing timber 616 00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:35,960 Speaker 1: with agricultural land. You know, prime production or rice would 617 00:37:35,960 --> 00:37:39,919 Speaker 1: have been probably from the nineteen twenties on did that 618 00:37:40,440 --> 00:37:42,640 Speaker 1: draw more ducks or were the same amount of ducks 619 00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:44,359 Speaker 1: coming here? They were just doing different stuff when they 620 00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:46,160 Speaker 1: got here. You know, it's interesting to think about. We 621 00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:48,560 Speaker 1: don't have any records going back to tell us whether 622 00:37:48,600 --> 00:37:54,239 Speaker 1: it increased. It's probably a cave somewhere in the Ozarks 623 00:37:54,280 --> 00:37:56,279 Speaker 1: because they couldn't have lived down here because it would 624 00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:59,120 Speaker 1: have flooded, so they would have retreated back to the Ozarks. 625 00:37:59,120 --> 00:38:01,759 Speaker 1: Probably a cave in the Ozarks that shows the flyways. 626 00:38:02,120 --> 00:38:04,720 Speaker 1: This is a joke. Was looking at me like, I'm serious. 627 00:38:05,040 --> 00:38:06,799 Speaker 1: If we just would have had a good count back then, 628 00:38:06,880 --> 00:38:10,080 Speaker 1: it'd be fantastic. But I can imagine people looking out 629 00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:12,480 Speaker 1: there at the landscape, and once you open stuff up, 630 00:38:12,760 --> 00:38:15,000 Speaker 1: ducks become more visible, and they would have been highly 631 00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:17,279 Speaker 1: visible on this rice that all of a sudden is 632 00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:20,440 Speaker 1: on the landscape. And so I bet people have the 633 00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:24,799 Speaker 1: perception that duck numbers just skyrocketed and that would have 634 00:38:24,960 --> 00:38:28,680 Speaker 1: influenced marketing. Oh yeah, big time. When I and and 635 00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:32,479 Speaker 1: I'm I'm still trying to understand how Arkansas is known 636 00:38:32,520 --> 00:38:35,120 Speaker 1: as the duck hunting capital of the world and all 637 00:38:35,200 --> 00:38:37,680 Speaker 1: of a sudden, we've removed a bunch of this timber. 638 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:40,000 Speaker 1: We could see these ducks. You know, you have these 639 00:38:40,040 --> 00:38:43,200 Speaker 1: different eras where sport hunting if you just kind of 640 00:38:43,239 --> 00:38:46,439 Speaker 1: read back on sports hunting in general and and how 641 00:38:46,480 --> 00:38:49,320 Speaker 1: you have these kind of peaks where people had time 642 00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:52,480 Speaker 1: or disposable income or whatever it might be post war, 643 00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:56,799 Speaker 1: especially in the fifties and sixties. Uh. It's one of 644 00:38:56,840 --> 00:39:00,960 Speaker 1: the remarkable feats of marketing, uh that that folks in 645 00:39:01,080 --> 00:39:03,360 Speaker 1: Arkansas have done for years. But it's not based on 646 00:39:03,880 --> 00:39:07,919 Speaker 1: on nothing. It's brilliant marketing to to proclaim the duck, 647 00:39:08,120 --> 00:39:10,280 Speaker 1: you know, stuck guarding the rising duck capital of the world. 648 00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:13,600 Speaker 1: They come here over the years and they realized like, wow, 649 00:39:14,040 --> 00:39:16,880 Speaker 1: that is true, that this is the rising duck capital 650 00:39:17,080 --> 00:39:22,399 Speaker 1: of the world. Whoa that was? That was the closet one. 651 00:39:22,719 --> 00:39:24,319 Speaker 1: I thought we were going to get to the end 652 00:39:24,360 --> 00:39:26,680 Speaker 1: of this rabbit hole and find out that this was 653 00:39:26,719 --> 00:39:30,120 Speaker 1: just a well laid tourist trap. Well, actually it wasn't 654 00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:33,920 Speaker 1: close at all. The Mallard Duck made this place their capital, 655 00:39:34,200 --> 00:39:38,200 Speaker 1: and the people here just proclaimed what the ducks told them. 656 00:39:38,239 --> 00:39:42,160 Speaker 1: Here's Jimbo helping us turn our rudder towards the most 657 00:39:42,239 --> 00:39:45,799 Speaker 1: fascinating thing about ducks and this will get us into 658 00:39:45,840 --> 00:39:50,960 Speaker 1: a biological discussion of one of nature's most spectacular displays 659 00:39:51,280 --> 00:39:56,480 Speaker 1: of brilliance. Migration. The mystery of migration, and I think 660 00:39:56,600 --> 00:39:58,839 Speaker 1: is what drives a lot of is to chase waterfowl. 661 00:39:59,200 --> 00:40:01,520 Speaker 1: And when you and you shoot a big pretty matter 662 00:40:01,600 --> 00:40:04,399 Speaker 1: drag or mattered hen or whatever, you're holding that duck 663 00:40:04,400 --> 00:40:06,600 Speaker 1: in your hand and you gotta look at it one er. Okay, 664 00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:09,520 Speaker 1: where did this sucker come from? It's what makes banding 665 00:40:09,560 --> 00:40:13,040 Speaker 1: and bands so cool is there's a story. This duck 666 00:40:13,080 --> 00:40:15,680 Speaker 1: has a story, and what is his story? Here at 667 00:40:15,680 --> 00:40:17,839 Speaker 1: this place? A couple of years ago, killed the duck, 668 00:40:17,920 --> 00:40:20,040 Speaker 1: banded duck. I wound up with the band, I turned 669 00:40:20,080 --> 00:40:22,160 Speaker 1: it in and that duck was banded in the Finger 670 00:40:22,280 --> 00:40:26,000 Speaker 1: Lakes region of New York two years prior. And we 671 00:40:26,120 --> 00:40:28,640 Speaker 1: just had a really big cold front that hit the northeast, 672 00:40:28,680 --> 00:40:31,640 Speaker 1: and that duck wound up here. It's been interesting over 673 00:40:31,760 --> 00:40:34,080 Speaker 1: that duck bread at, you know, and and where it 674 00:40:34,200 --> 00:40:38,200 Speaker 1: normally wintered. But that sucker come from way to the northeast. 675 00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:42,080 Speaker 1: If right now you and I were Mallards and we 676 00:40:42,080 --> 00:40:46,080 Speaker 1: were flying south, we'd be making a slight turn in 677 00:40:46,120 --> 00:40:50,239 Speaker 1: our story. I want to talk about migration in the 678 00:40:50,280 --> 00:40:53,319 Speaker 1: world of ornithology. The guy that we're about to talk 679 00:40:53,360 --> 00:40:57,600 Speaker 1: to needs no introduction. Scott widen Saw is a Pennsylvania 680 00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:02,000 Speaker 1: based naturalist and author, has given ted talks on bird 681 00:41:02,080 --> 00:41:06,359 Speaker 1: migrations and authors nine books, many about birds. I want 682 00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:09,359 Speaker 1: to unravel as much of the mystery as we can 683 00:41:09,600 --> 00:41:17,120 Speaker 1: about migration. Here's Scott, Scott. I'm trying to understand how 684 00:41:17,280 --> 00:41:21,040 Speaker 1: animals navigate, and I know that's a massive question that 685 00:41:21,160 --> 00:41:25,120 Speaker 1: is extremely complex, But in general, how do how do 686 00:41:25,200 --> 00:41:28,759 Speaker 1: birds navigate and find their way? Well? And as you're right, 687 00:41:28,800 --> 00:41:31,200 Speaker 1: that's a really big question, Clay, and you know, to 688 00:41:31,239 --> 00:41:33,040 Speaker 1: an extent, science is still trying to get a ted 689 00:41:33,080 --> 00:41:35,960 Speaker 1: around this. Um. You know, we've made some really amazing discoveries, 690 00:41:36,040 --> 00:41:38,160 Speaker 1: especially in recent years, but there's still a lot we 691 00:41:38,239 --> 00:41:41,520 Speaker 1: don't know about how birds orient and navigate. And those 692 00:41:41,520 --> 00:41:44,400 Speaker 1: are two different, two different tasks a bird has to do. 693 00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:46,520 Speaker 1: It has to orient itself in the landscape and figure 694 00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:50,080 Speaker 1: out north, southeast, and west, and it also has to navigate, 695 00:41:50,120 --> 00:41:52,480 Speaker 1: which is it has to find its way across the 696 00:41:52,560 --> 00:41:56,160 Speaker 1: landscape with all kinds of outside pressures like cross winds 697 00:41:56,200 --> 00:41:58,319 Speaker 1: and you know, bad weather and things like that, And 698 00:41:58,440 --> 00:42:01,280 Speaker 1: we have a pretty good sense of how birds orient themselves, 699 00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:03,279 Speaker 1: and they use a whole bunch of different They have 700 00:42:03,280 --> 00:42:06,480 Speaker 1: a bunch of different fallbacks. Most birds, even birds that 701 00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:10,000 Speaker 1: are normally active in the daytime, migrate after dark. So 702 00:42:10,320 --> 00:42:12,840 Speaker 1: celestial orientation is a big deal for them. You know, 703 00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:15,359 Speaker 1: they're using the night sky now, they're not using the 704 00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:18,160 Speaker 1: pattern of the stars the way the mariners did. What 705 00:42:18,239 --> 00:42:20,120 Speaker 1: they're doing is they're aware of the part of the 706 00:42:20,239 --> 00:42:23,160 Speaker 1: night sky around Polaris that does not appear to move. 707 00:42:23,239 --> 00:42:25,520 Speaker 1: You know, the stars look like they rotate because of 708 00:42:25,520 --> 00:42:27,680 Speaker 1: course the Earth is spinning, and the part of the 709 00:42:27,800 --> 00:42:30,680 Speaker 1: night sky that doesn't move is gives them their their 710 00:42:30,719 --> 00:42:33,080 Speaker 1: compass directions. That shows when the north, southeast, and west 711 00:42:33,160 --> 00:42:35,120 Speaker 1: are But of course some nights it's cloudy and they 712 00:42:35,160 --> 00:42:38,600 Speaker 1: can't see the night sky. And well, for example, seabirds 713 00:42:38,640 --> 00:42:41,759 Speaker 1: can can smell their way across thousands of miles of 714 00:42:41,760 --> 00:42:45,040 Speaker 1: ocean back to their particular nest burrow, among millions of 715 00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:47,520 Speaker 1: other nest burrows on a on a on a lonely 716 00:42:47,520 --> 00:42:49,279 Speaker 1: island out in the middle of the ocean. We know 717 00:42:49,360 --> 00:42:53,040 Speaker 1: that birds like swallows and some hawks and falcons that 718 00:42:53,080 --> 00:42:56,000 Speaker 1: migrate mostly in the daytime, use the position and movement 719 00:42:56,040 --> 00:42:59,120 Speaker 1: of the sun across the sky. They use the position 720 00:42:59,160 --> 00:43:01,799 Speaker 1: and movement of a band of polarized light that they 721 00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:04,359 Speaker 1: can see that we can't. We know that birds can 722 00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:08,440 Speaker 1: hear infrasound, extremely low frequency sound waves that are generated 723 00:43:08,440 --> 00:43:11,520 Speaker 1: by ocean surf and wind and high mountain passes and 724 00:43:11,640 --> 00:43:15,719 Speaker 1: tectonic activity, seismic activity from like volcanoes and earthquakes. So 725 00:43:15,800 --> 00:43:17,759 Speaker 1: you know, you can literally have a duck or a 726 00:43:17,760 --> 00:43:20,640 Speaker 1: goose that's flying down the middle of North America listening 727 00:43:20,680 --> 00:43:23,120 Speaker 1: to the sound of the Pacific Ocean in one ear 728 00:43:23,120 --> 00:43:25,440 Speaker 1: in the Atlantic Ocean and the other and the rumble 729 00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:28,800 Speaker 1: of volcanoes and the trans Volcanic Mountain Belt in Mexico 730 00:43:28,920 --> 00:43:31,239 Speaker 1: dead ahead of it, watching the movement of the sun 731 00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:33,960 Speaker 1: across the sky and this band of polarized light. One 732 00:43:34,000 --> 00:43:36,480 Speaker 1: of the most important orientation cues for birds, and that 733 00:43:36,560 --> 00:43:38,920 Speaker 1: one that's always been the most mysterious is birds have 734 00:43:38,960 --> 00:43:42,799 Speaker 1: a magnetic sense. And not just most most organisms have 735 00:43:42,840 --> 00:43:47,000 Speaker 1: a magnetic sense. Bacteria have a magnetic sense, newts and 736 00:43:47,800 --> 00:43:50,359 Speaker 1: bumble bees have a magnetic sense. And you know, when 737 00:43:50,400 --> 00:43:52,080 Speaker 1: I was in college in the nineteen seventies, I took 738 00:43:52,120 --> 00:43:54,120 Speaker 1: a course in ornithology and we were taught that birds 739 00:43:54,120 --> 00:43:58,200 Speaker 1: had little deposits of magnetic iron crystals called magnetite, either 740 00:43:58,280 --> 00:43:59,839 Speaker 1: in their brain or at the base of their beak. 741 00:43:59,840 --> 00:44:02,560 Speaker 1: And the idea was kind of functioned like a like 742 00:44:02,600 --> 00:44:04,600 Speaker 1: a little compass, you know, kind of pulled their nose 743 00:44:04,640 --> 00:44:09,799 Speaker 1: to the north. Except that scientists also realized that there 744 00:44:09,880 --> 00:44:12,279 Speaker 1: was there was some sort of visual component to this 745 00:44:12,360 --> 00:44:16,320 Speaker 1: because if you if you exposed these birds two wavelengths 746 00:44:16,320 --> 00:44:18,960 Speaker 1: of yellow light or especially red light, they lost their 747 00:44:19,000 --> 00:44:21,680 Speaker 1: ability to orient magnetically. There was something going on with 748 00:44:21,719 --> 00:44:24,040 Speaker 1: the eye and nobody could figure out for the longest 749 00:44:24,040 --> 00:44:26,200 Speaker 1: time what this was. Now, back in the nineteen seventies, 750 00:44:26,239 --> 00:44:29,280 Speaker 1: there was a physicist, a German born physicist named Claus Schulton, 751 00:44:29,840 --> 00:44:33,480 Speaker 1: who came up with that this crackpot idea, that it 752 00:44:33,640 --> 00:44:38,960 Speaker 1: involved photo sensitive molecules in the eyes of birds, But 753 00:44:39,000 --> 00:44:42,359 Speaker 1: nobody knew whether those kind of molecules even existed. And 754 00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:46,600 Speaker 1: when Dr Sholton submitted that paper to a physics journal, 755 00:44:47,040 --> 00:44:48,920 Speaker 1: he was told it was better suited to the wat 756 00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:52,280 Speaker 1: can than publication. Well, he did finally get it published, 757 00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:55,000 Speaker 1: and um, he just died a few years ago, unfortunately, 758 00:44:55,080 --> 00:44:57,720 Speaker 1: but he lived long enough to see that that theory 759 00:44:57,840 --> 00:45:00,640 Speaker 1: proven to be that hypothesis proven to be right. That 760 00:45:00,719 --> 00:45:04,400 Speaker 1: it turns out birds are using a form of quantum physics, 761 00:45:04,400 --> 00:45:07,839 Speaker 1: something known as quantum entanglement. That you know, that's that's 762 00:45:07,840 --> 00:45:10,600 Speaker 1: a that's an aspect of quantum physics that was so 763 00:45:10,680 --> 00:45:13,319 Speaker 1: weird that even Albert Albert Einstein kind of disowned it, 764 00:45:13,320 --> 00:45:16,319 Speaker 1: even though it grew out of his own his own equations. 765 00:45:16,600 --> 00:45:20,800 Speaker 1: But they're they're essentially able to see the Earth's magnetic 766 00:45:20,840 --> 00:45:23,680 Speaker 1: field as they're migrating through the night sky because of 767 00:45:23,719 --> 00:45:29,720 Speaker 1: these these photosensitive, magnetically sensitive pigment molecules in their eye. 768 00:45:29,880 --> 00:45:33,680 Speaker 1: So birds are using a whole host of of you know, 769 00:45:33,880 --> 00:45:37,080 Speaker 1: ways of of orienting and navigating that we're blind, deaf, 770 00:45:37,120 --> 00:45:41,399 Speaker 1: and dumb too. I read that often inside of our 771 00:45:41,680 --> 00:45:45,960 Speaker 1: efforts to understand how a bird would navigator, animals would navigate, 772 00:45:46,080 --> 00:45:50,120 Speaker 1: we anthropomorphize these animals and assume that they have the 773 00:45:50,160 --> 00:45:54,600 Speaker 1: same senses as us, which which humans are quite visual, 774 00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:58,880 Speaker 1: and we think about flying across miles across the continent 775 00:45:59,040 --> 00:46:02,399 Speaker 1: and looking and seeing things. And but what I'm hearing 776 00:46:02,480 --> 00:46:06,239 Speaker 1: you describe is that the birds perceive the earth in 777 00:46:06,280 --> 00:46:10,600 Speaker 1: a radically different way than we do, yes, without without doubt. 778 00:46:10,880 --> 00:46:13,719 Speaker 1: Now they are also using the kinds of the kind 779 00:46:13,760 --> 00:46:16,440 Speaker 1: of techniques and approaches that we would use. I mean, 780 00:46:16,560 --> 00:46:19,160 Speaker 1: birds use what are known as leading lines on the 781 00:46:19,239 --> 00:46:21,920 Speaker 1: landscape and these can be river valleys, um, they can 782 00:46:21,960 --> 00:46:24,799 Speaker 1: be mountain ridges on you know, birds will use coastline, 783 00:46:24,840 --> 00:46:27,640 Speaker 1: so you know they're they're they're using all of these techniques. 784 00:46:27,640 --> 00:46:29,359 Speaker 1: They're using all the things that we would use if 785 00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:31,400 Speaker 1: we were getting from point A to point B. And 786 00:46:31,400 --> 00:46:34,040 Speaker 1: then they're tapping into these other spheres of you know, 787 00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:36,920 Speaker 1: of orientation and navigation that we that we can't that 788 00:46:37,000 --> 00:46:43,400 Speaker 1: we can't use. Mind blowing. Animal navigation isn't a magic show, 789 00:46:43,560 --> 00:46:45,799 Speaker 1: but it's probably as close as you'll get to one. 790 00:46:45,800 --> 00:46:49,560 Speaker 1: On this side of Las Vegas. Birds perceive an entirely 791 00:46:49,640 --> 00:46:52,759 Speaker 1: different set of cues than we do as humans and 792 00:46:52,880 --> 00:46:56,960 Speaker 1: make navigation look easy because they're operating off of cues 793 00:46:57,040 --> 00:47:01,400 Speaker 1: that are invisible to us. There are two components of migration. 794 00:47:01,480 --> 00:47:04,520 Speaker 1: One involves navigation how do they get to where they 795 00:47:04,560 --> 00:47:07,040 Speaker 1: want to go, But the second has to do with timing, 796 00:47:07,560 --> 00:47:11,839 Speaker 1: knowing when to leave, leaving too early or late can 797 00:47:11,880 --> 00:47:15,399 Speaker 1: have catastrophic consequences, so they've got to get it right. 798 00:47:16,080 --> 00:47:20,799 Speaker 1: I asked Scott how birds know when to leave. Well, 799 00:47:20,800 --> 00:47:23,080 Speaker 1: they're using a couple of things. Um, you know, all 800 00:47:23,280 --> 00:47:28,040 Speaker 1: all organisms have internal circadian rhythms, they have an internal clock. 801 00:47:28,280 --> 00:47:30,959 Speaker 1: Birds haven't an internal clock, just like we do. They're 802 00:47:31,000 --> 00:47:34,600 Speaker 1: also keenly aware of the photo period. That's the changing 803 00:47:34,760 --> 00:47:38,440 Speaker 1: the seasonally changing ratio of daylight and darkness. The long 804 00:47:38,560 --> 00:47:42,320 Speaker 1: scale trigger for migration for a bird is the photo period. Now, 805 00:47:42,640 --> 00:47:45,120 Speaker 1: whether the bird leads today or tomorrow or the day 806 00:47:45,160 --> 00:47:47,440 Speaker 1: after is going to depend on the bird's physical condition. 807 00:47:47,480 --> 00:47:49,680 Speaker 1: You know, it's it's not going to take off until 808 00:47:49,800 --> 00:47:52,160 Speaker 1: its body tells it it has enough fat to make 809 00:47:52,200 --> 00:47:55,839 Speaker 1: in some cases thousands of miles of NonStop flight. And 810 00:47:56,040 --> 00:47:59,120 Speaker 1: it's also going to be keenly aware of the local 811 00:47:59,200 --> 00:48:01,960 Speaker 1: weather conditions because you know, bird migration has a lot 812 00:48:02,040 --> 00:48:04,040 Speaker 1: to do. You know, as any duck hunter knows. In 813 00:48:04,080 --> 00:48:05,799 Speaker 1: the fall, you know, you get the big you get 814 00:48:05,800 --> 00:48:07,440 Speaker 1: the big flights out of the north after you've had 815 00:48:07,440 --> 00:48:10,360 Speaker 1: a coal front that's pushing the bird south. In the springtime, 816 00:48:10,400 --> 00:48:13,640 Speaker 1: the major migration occurs when you have strong south winds 817 00:48:13,640 --> 00:48:16,560 Speaker 1: pushing these birds up out of the tropics. They're not fools. 818 00:48:16,560 --> 00:48:18,200 Speaker 1: They want to they want to save as much energy 819 00:48:18,239 --> 00:48:20,160 Speaker 1: as possible, so you can to find the weather conditions 820 00:48:20,280 --> 00:48:23,400 Speaker 1: that are most conducive to to flying easily and quickly 821 00:48:23,840 --> 00:48:25,719 Speaker 1: at that time of the year. You know, so they're 822 00:48:25,760 --> 00:48:27,680 Speaker 1: they're aware of that timing, and you're right if that 823 00:48:27,800 --> 00:48:30,439 Speaker 1: if they get that timing wrong, it can be calamitous 824 00:48:30,480 --> 00:48:34,800 Speaker 1: for them. Animals have an uncanny ability to key in 825 00:48:34,880 --> 00:48:38,319 Speaker 1: on food sources, and with birds, sometimes the knowledge of 826 00:48:38,320 --> 00:48:43,239 Speaker 1: food availability great distances away almost seems supernatural. I've got 827 00:48:43,239 --> 00:48:48,720 Speaker 1: a pointed question that most duck hunters might have asked before. Okay, 828 00:48:48,760 --> 00:48:52,200 Speaker 1: I've got a specific question. I hear these duck hunters 829 00:48:52,239 --> 00:48:55,960 Speaker 1: talk about how they'll have ducks in a certain area 830 00:48:56,320 --> 00:49:02,440 Speaker 1: and a river thirty fifty miles away well flood and 831 00:49:03,080 --> 00:49:06,040 Speaker 1: they say it's almost magical how the ducks will leave 832 00:49:06,280 --> 00:49:08,960 Speaker 1: to go to flooded timber. And the question is, how 833 00:49:08,960 --> 00:49:11,319 Speaker 1: do they know where water is? You know how, I said, 834 00:49:11,320 --> 00:49:13,919 Speaker 1: there's a lot we don't know, we don't know. Um, 835 00:49:14,280 --> 00:49:17,239 Speaker 1: there's Those are the kind of questions that just fascinate me. 836 00:49:17,840 --> 00:49:19,640 Speaker 1: I one of the one of the species I study 837 00:49:19,640 --> 00:49:23,080 Speaker 1: are snowy owls which breed in the Arctic, and they 838 00:49:23,120 --> 00:49:26,080 Speaker 1: and they only breed successfully in places where there are 839 00:49:26,160 --> 00:49:29,040 Speaker 1: huge numbers of lemmings, and the lemming population rises and 840 00:49:29,160 --> 00:49:34,799 Speaker 1: falls in unpredictable cycles. Somehow snowy owls from across the 841 00:49:34,840 --> 00:49:38,239 Speaker 1: Canadian Arctic will figure out that, like, hey, this year, 842 00:49:38,280 --> 00:49:41,040 Speaker 1: there's a lemming peak in the northern non Goava Peninsula 843 00:49:41,080 --> 00:49:43,880 Speaker 1: in northern Quebec, and they'll gather there. They'll move, in 844 00:49:43,920 --> 00:49:46,920 Speaker 1: some cases thousands of miles from where they were breeding 845 00:49:46,920 --> 00:49:48,880 Speaker 1: the previous year. How do they know that? We have 846 00:49:49,040 --> 00:49:52,520 Speaker 1: the foggiest idea. One of my colleagues says, they must 847 00:49:52,520 --> 00:49:54,719 Speaker 1: smell them on the wind, and I'm I'm prepared to 848 00:49:54,719 --> 00:49:56,480 Speaker 1: believe that. We always thought that birds didn't have a 849 00:49:56,480 --> 00:49:58,320 Speaker 1: good sense of smell. It turns out that's not true. 850 00:49:58,840 --> 00:50:01,200 Speaker 1: There's also the chance maybe the I can hear that 851 00:50:01,280 --> 00:50:04,319 Speaker 1: river flooding that sounds that sounds ridiculous. We're talking about 852 00:50:04,320 --> 00:50:06,760 Speaker 1: something twenty or thirty miles away. One of my former 853 00:50:06,840 --> 00:50:09,799 Speaker 1: research technicians, when he was working on his PhD, was 854 00:50:09,840 --> 00:50:13,440 Speaker 1: studying golden winged warblers in the southern Appalachians. He had 855 00:50:13,440 --> 00:50:16,600 Speaker 1: a little, tiny tracking devices on these birds. And when 856 00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:18,480 Speaker 1: he looked at the data from the tracking devices, he 857 00:50:18,560 --> 00:50:21,520 Speaker 1: realized that these birds a day or two before this 858 00:50:21,760 --> 00:50:25,600 Speaker 1: massive line of thunderstorms that spawned dozens of tornadoes swept 859 00:50:25,640 --> 00:50:29,200 Speaker 1: through Tennessee and North Carolina, these birds up and flew 860 00:50:29,320 --> 00:50:32,000 Speaker 1: as far away as Florida or Cuba for just a 861 00:50:32,000 --> 00:50:34,200 Speaker 1: couple of days, and then turned around and came right 862 00:50:34,239 --> 00:50:37,440 Speaker 1: back again after that storm passed. How did they know 863 00:50:37,760 --> 00:50:41,760 Speaker 1: that that storm was coming through? They sensed something? So again, 864 00:50:41,800 --> 00:50:45,120 Speaker 1: I mean birds, Birds are able to sense things that 865 00:50:45,239 --> 00:50:51,200 Speaker 1: we can't. Cracking the door open on the mechanics of 866 00:50:51,239 --> 00:50:55,560 Speaker 1: animal migration opens a wide world of possibility I never 867 00:50:55,760 --> 00:51:01,120 Speaker 1: dreamed of and highlights a word that Jimbo used, mystery. 868 00:51:01,239 --> 00:51:04,319 Speaker 1: The word mystery starts with the letter M. And if 869 00:51:04,320 --> 00:51:08,080 Speaker 1: we're talking about ms, let's turn the flock and talk 870 00:51:08,320 --> 00:51:13,040 Speaker 1: about mallards. There's something peculiar about the way water Fowler's 871 00:51:13,160 --> 00:51:17,480 Speaker 1: treat and talk about this emerald green headed duck. They 872 00:51:17,520 --> 00:51:20,560 Speaker 1: act like they're talking about the king of all ducks? 873 00:51:21,280 --> 00:51:23,680 Speaker 1: Is there a duck king? Why is it a mallard? 874 00:51:24,239 --> 00:51:28,760 Speaker 1: Here's Luke talking about them. So to somebody that hasn't 875 00:51:28,800 --> 00:51:30,920 Speaker 1: had a lifetime of duck hunting. You would look at 876 00:51:30,960 --> 00:51:33,400 Speaker 1: all these you know, dozen or so species of ducks 877 00:51:33,400 --> 00:51:34,960 Speaker 1: that we hunt, and you would just if you just 878 00:51:35,000 --> 00:51:37,160 Speaker 1: looked at them in the line, you would go, man, 879 00:51:37,200 --> 00:51:40,000 Speaker 1: that's a pretty duck. That's a neat looking duck. And 880 00:51:40,320 --> 00:51:44,320 Speaker 1: I don't know that you would pick out a mallard 881 00:51:44,560 --> 00:51:49,440 Speaker 1: and say, now that duck is special. But that is 882 00:51:49,480 --> 00:51:53,399 Speaker 1: exactly what has happened, just on its own. It's not 883 00:51:53,520 --> 00:51:56,480 Speaker 1: because of anything other than just the merit that this 884 00:51:56,560 --> 00:51:59,480 Speaker 1: duck has earned. But the mallard duck is like the 885 00:52:00,239 --> 00:52:04,279 Speaker 1: duck to kill. Why the heck is a mallard so special? Yeah, 886 00:52:04,320 --> 00:52:06,320 Speaker 1: you said I kind of had to back away for 887 00:52:06,360 --> 00:52:08,000 Speaker 1: a second when you said that. I thought lightning may 888 00:52:08,040 --> 00:52:11,000 Speaker 1: strike there we are. If you say something this is harrisson. Yeah, 889 00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:13,160 Speaker 1: if you say something bad about a mallard where we're 890 00:52:13,160 --> 00:52:15,560 Speaker 1: setting now, I think a couple of things. It's the 891 00:52:15,560 --> 00:52:18,920 Speaker 1: most abundant duck species in North America, so it's just 892 00:52:19,000 --> 00:52:24,640 Speaker 1: abundant available, and it is everywhere. So typically mallards are 893 00:52:24,719 --> 00:52:28,320 Speaker 1: have been available in a lot of locations across the country. 894 00:52:28,440 --> 00:52:32,120 Speaker 1: So there's this connection to mallard's being everywhere and being abundant. 895 00:52:32,239 --> 00:52:36,520 Speaker 1: Think in Arkansas they are a duck that really responds 896 00:52:36,600 --> 00:52:41,000 Speaker 1: to calling, and and it's a huntable duck because you 897 00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:43,360 Speaker 1: can have this. You can call lots of different ducks. 898 00:52:43,640 --> 00:52:47,120 Speaker 1: But mallards are what people buy duck calls for, right, 899 00:52:47,200 --> 00:52:49,960 Speaker 1: So the duck call that you go buy at the 900 00:52:50,040 --> 00:52:53,040 Speaker 1: store is gonna be tuned to sound like a Mallard duck. 901 00:52:53,160 --> 00:52:54,759 Speaker 1: It's a Mallard hen Man. You can go all the 902 00:52:54,800 --> 00:52:57,680 Speaker 1: way back to the mallard being a forest adapted duck 903 00:52:57,960 --> 00:53:00,200 Speaker 1: south of St. Louis, and you think about the history 904 00:53:00,239 --> 00:53:01,839 Speaker 1: of duck calling and a whole bunch of it being 905 00:53:01,880 --> 00:53:04,360 Speaker 1: the Illinois River Valley actually, which again a sort of 906 00:53:04,400 --> 00:53:07,040 Speaker 1: heresy talking about it around here. You gotta be careful. 907 00:53:07,160 --> 00:53:10,720 Speaker 1: But you think about a duck of open habitats north 908 00:53:10,760 --> 00:53:14,160 Speaker 1: and west of there, and how open habitats would diminish 909 00:53:14,360 --> 00:53:17,719 Speaker 1: the value of calling. We get to forest in wetlands, 910 00:53:17,880 --> 00:53:21,680 Speaker 1: ducks seem to be Mallards seem to be much more 911 00:53:21,920 --> 00:53:25,520 Speaker 1: looking at audio cues because they can't necessarily see every 912 00:53:25,600 --> 00:53:28,560 Speaker 1: duck down in the wetlands, so they're talking. They're communicating 913 00:53:28,600 --> 00:53:31,280 Speaker 1: with their voices way more than just visually looking across 914 00:53:31,280 --> 00:53:34,080 Speaker 1: a section of a prairie in South Dakota and seeing 915 00:53:34,160 --> 00:53:36,400 Speaker 1: ducks on a on apostle wetlands to be going to 916 00:53:36,520 --> 00:53:40,000 Speaker 1: them down here, they're listening for other mallards to be 917 00:53:40,080 --> 00:53:43,440 Speaker 1: talking down there in the woods there. So that just 918 00:53:43,520 --> 00:53:47,120 Speaker 1: builds this importance in this whole other cultural aspect of 919 00:53:47,120 --> 00:53:51,720 Speaker 1: of duck hunting, of of the call. Here's Jimbo talking 920 00:53:51,760 --> 00:53:55,960 Speaker 1: about why mallards are king for the most part, when 921 00:53:56,000 --> 00:53:58,240 Speaker 1: you talk duck hunting in this part of the world, 922 00:53:58,280 --> 00:54:00,480 Speaker 1: it's matter duck hunting, and a lot of it all 923 00:54:00,480 --> 00:54:03,680 Speaker 1: comes back to the colon and they're very collable, and 924 00:54:03,719 --> 00:54:07,439 Speaker 1: that's kind of what we're the most vocal duck. Yes, 925 00:54:07,719 --> 00:54:10,400 Speaker 1: they respond well to calls for the most part. That 926 00:54:10,520 --> 00:54:13,520 Speaker 1: and you go back to to uh, the old market 927 00:54:13,600 --> 00:54:16,560 Speaker 1: hunting days. You know, matters fetch the higher price than 928 00:54:16,640 --> 00:54:19,719 Speaker 1: other ducks. So the cavusbacks fetched even higher price over 929 00:54:19,760 --> 00:54:22,319 Speaker 1: on the East coast. But they were good table, fair, 930 00:54:22,520 --> 00:54:25,360 Speaker 1: pretty good size, you know, big fat matter drake probably 931 00:54:25,360 --> 00:54:28,319 Speaker 1: ways three pounds three and a half pounds. So I 932 00:54:28,360 --> 00:54:31,040 Speaker 1: think that's why I think I think they have bigger 933 00:54:31,120 --> 00:54:33,480 Speaker 1: duck than most of the ducks we got around here. Yeah, 934 00:54:33,520 --> 00:54:38,120 Speaker 1: for sure, So they're big duck. Yeah, yeah, I'm still 935 00:54:38,360 --> 00:54:42,560 Speaker 1: not satisfied. Sean's not from Arkansas. Let's see if he'll 936 00:54:42,600 --> 00:54:47,839 Speaker 1: talk some smack about mallards. I think, first and foremost, 937 00:54:48,320 --> 00:54:51,560 Speaker 1: uh most places, pretty much everywhere you go in the 938 00:54:51,600 --> 00:54:55,160 Speaker 1: United States is gonna have mallards, right, and so everyone 939 00:54:55,239 --> 00:54:59,759 Speaker 1: can relate to hunters success on mallards. A guy in 940 00:55:00,360 --> 00:55:05,279 Speaker 1: so other ducks would be more regionally specific, right, a 941 00:55:05,320 --> 00:55:07,839 Speaker 1: guy in North Carolina isn't going to shoot that many 942 00:55:07,880 --> 00:55:12,520 Speaker 1: region whereas in Washington they're like fleas. On top of that, 943 00:55:12,800 --> 00:55:16,160 Speaker 1: they're not the easiest duck to hunt. They do take 944 00:55:16,400 --> 00:55:20,160 Speaker 1: some knowledge and some skill to be successful. I think 945 00:55:20,280 --> 00:55:24,600 Speaker 1: maybe a good example of why mallards are so revered 946 00:55:25,040 --> 00:55:27,960 Speaker 1: is an example of a duck that's not the shoveler. 947 00:55:28,239 --> 00:55:31,600 Speaker 1: Shoveler takes all sorts of flak. Everyone talks smack on 948 00:55:31,640 --> 00:55:34,560 Speaker 1: the shoveler, and I think, you know, the big old 949 00:55:34,600 --> 00:55:37,600 Speaker 1: bill doesn't exactly help. But on top of that, they're 950 00:55:37,600 --> 00:55:41,239 Speaker 1: easy to decoy, and they're not that so if they're easy, 951 00:55:41,280 --> 00:55:45,600 Speaker 1: we don't like them. Yeah, that's probably a little messed up, 952 00:55:45,719 --> 00:55:48,360 Speaker 1: But you know, I think duck hunters like the challenge, 953 00:55:48,600 --> 00:55:53,719 Speaker 1: and nationwide guys can relate to if you're standing there 954 00:55:53,719 --> 00:55:56,680 Speaker 1: holding a strap full of green heads, whether you're in 955 00:55:57,040 --> 00:56:00,759 Speaker 1: Washington or New York, or Louisiana or North Coda, you 956 00:56:01,160 --> 00:56:05,640 Speaker 1: accomplish something. Okay, Sean, I want to understand the way 957 00:56:05,680 --> 00:56:08,080 Speaker 1: that a duck hunter thinks. So let's say you and 958 00:56:08,080 --> 00:56:10,960 Speaker 1: a buddy go out and you could kill two limits 959 00:56:11,080 --> 00:56:14,360 Speaker 1: of green wing teal, which has understand would be twelve birds, 960 00:56:14,800 --> 00:56:17,239 Speaker 1: or you could kill two mallards. What would it be? 961 00:56:17,760 --> 00:56:23,960 Speaker 1: See because I okay, okay, now, see twelve teal is 962 00:56:24,000 --> 00:56:27,200 Speaker 1: worth two mallards? This is worth more? Yeah? Yeah, okay, 963 00:56:27,280 --> 00:56:31,239 Speaker 1: how about six mallards versus twelve green wing teal? Yeah, 964 00:56:31,239 --> 00:56:34,640 Speaker 1: I'd take the six mallards. Okay. So a mallard duck 965 00:56:34,760 --> 00:56:38,240 Speaker 1: is worth two green wing teal? Yeah? Probably? Okay? How many? 966 00:56:38,280 --> 00:56:41,080 Speaker 1: How many widgeons is a mallard duck worth? I'll see, 967 00:56:41,200 --> 00:56:44,279 Speaker 1: I really like wigen So it's maybe like a one 968 00:56:44,320 --> 00:56:46,000 Speaker 1: to one and a half or maybe even a one 969 00:56:46,040 --> 00:56:48,439 Speaker 1: to one. But but a lot of guys you better 970 00:56:48,480 --> 00:56:51,399 Speaker 1: not say that in Arkansas. That's true, man, A lot 971 00:56:51,440 --> 00:56:54,600 Speaker 1: of a lot of guys are mallard peers. You know, 972 00:56:54,680 --> 00:56:57,359 Speaker 1: I have a an old man friend of mine that 973 00:56:57,680 --> 00:57:00,680 Speaker 1: just refuses to shoot anything other than Hollard. A lot 974 00:57:00,680 --> 00:57:03,000 Speaker 1: of times when we hunt together, I'll be done with 975 00:57:03,040 --> 00:57:05,760 Speaker 1: my limit, sitting there waiting for him to even shoot 976 00:57:05,760 --> 00:57:09,680 Speaker 1: a bird because I've been shooting pin tails or widgeon 977 00:57:09,880 --> 00:57:12,720 Speaker 1: or whatever else is coming in. You know, he's got 978 00:57:12,760 --> 00:57:16,120 Speaker 1: that that mallard purist bug. There's a lot of guys 979 00:57:16,240 --> 00:57:18,880 Speaker 1: that all they care about his mallards. Well, when I 980 00:57:18,960 --> 00:57:23,160 Speaker 1: hunted in Arkansas, I noted in the photographs after the hunt, 981 00:57:23,240 --> 00:57:26,400 Speaker 1: they're putting all these mallards up front. They're putting other 982 00:57:26,520 --> 00:57:30,160 Speaker 1: ducks in the back. I mean, it was very clear 983 00:57:30,320 --> 00:57:34,400 Speaker 1: that they were interested in mallards. Yep. You can go 984 00:57:34,480 --> 00:57:37,040 Speaker 1: out and kind of get lucky and shoot a limited 985 00:57:37,040 --> 00:57:40,240 Speaker 1: green wing teal or a limited widgeon or limited god 986 00:57:40,240 --> 00:57:42,800 Speaker 1: wall if you're in the right places. It's hard to 987 00:57:42,800 --> 00:57:45,880 Speaker 1: get lucky and be shooting limits of green heads. And 988 00:57:45,960 --> 00:57:49,360 Speaker 1: that's I think that's why so many duck hunters see 989 00:57:49,400 --> 00:57:52,080 Speaker 1: the mallard as kind of this the gold standard, the 990 00:57:52,120 --> 00:57:57,040 Speaker 1: Gold's the king of ducks. Here's Luke going on and 991 00:57:57,360 --> 00:58:01,800 Speaker 1: on and on about Mallard. There's something. There's gotta be 992 00:58:01,840 --> 00:58:05,400 Speaker 1: something to the whole sexual dimorphism, right, that there's a 993 00:58:05,400 --> 00:58:06,800 Speaker 1: male in the female. All right, you can look at 994 00:58:06,800 --> 00:58:09,640 Speaker 1: the drake in the heads and most hunters can readily 995 00:58:09,680 --> 00:58:13,640 Speaker 1: distinguish it too dramatically different, and people select for drake's. 996 00:58:13,800 --> 00:58:16,000 Speaker 1: Is that not normal with the other species of ducks 997 00:58:16,000 --> 00:58:20,280 Speaker 1: we hunt. It's harder, it's hardy made something. It's always interesting. 998 00:58:20,320 --> 00:58:23,040 Speaker 1: This is the only duck that we have sex specific 999 00:58:23,080 --> 00:58:26,080 Speaker 1: regulations for. So if you think back, you know, Gadwall, 1000 00:58:26,240 --> 00:58:28,400 Speaker 1: they're they're tougher to tell apart. It can be done 1001 00:58:28,520 --> 00:58:32,240 Speaker 1: in the air tell drakes from hens wood ducks, but hunters, 1002 00:58:32,400 --> 00:58:35,640 Speaker 1: hunters really seem to select for drake Mallard. I guarantee 1003 00:58:35,640 --> 00:58:37,920 Speaker 1: you if there's a hen shot, it's put on the 1004 00:58:37,920 --> 00:58:41,400 Speaker 1: pay kind of to the kind of behind it means, yeah, 1005 00:58:41,400 --> 00:58:45,200 Speaker 1: I think you'd be moved behind the greenheads. Man. It's 1006 00:58:45,240 --> 00:58:47,840 Speaker 1: it's great, And so people want to talk about how 1007 00:58:47,840 --> 00:58:59,680 Speaker 1: many how many green heads they shot? Sure seems like 1008 00:59:00,000 --> 00:59:04,160 Speaker 1: allards are the undisputed king of ducks. I like the 1009 00:59:04,200 --> 00:59:08,000 Speaker 1: passion of that proclamation, and I also love the boldness 1010 00:59:08,080 --> 00:59:11,640 Speaker 1: of a region being deemed the duck hunting capital of 1011 00:59:11,680 --> 00:59:15,640 Speaker 1: the world. I've found it was a cause and effects situation. 1012 00:59:15,960 --> 00:59:20,440 Speaker 1: The astounding navigation systems of ancient ducks led them here 1013 00:59:20,760 --> 00:59:25,200 Speaker 1: and their progeny has since followed, creating the Mississippi Flyway. 1014 00:59:25,240 --> 00:59:29,120 Speaker 1: The ducks chose their own capital, and the hunters just 1015 00:59:29,240 --> 00:59:33,080 Speaker 1: found out where it was. If you're a wild beast, 1016 00:59:33,400 --> 00:59:38,560 Speaker 1: it's a good thing when North American hunters covet your meat, feathers, 1017 00:59:38,600 --> 00:59:42,600 Speaker 1: and fur, because these hunters will spend life, limb, and 1018 00:59:42,640 --> 00:59:46,800 Speaker 1: money to preserve your habitat and make sure they're offspring. 1019 00:59:47,040 --> 00:59:51,000 Speaker 1: The hunter's offspring will have a chance to engage wild 1020 00:59:51,080 --> 00:59:55,320 Speaker 1: places while in pursuit of that game. I want to 1021 00:59:55,360 --> 00:59:58,040 Speaker 1: say that all the people I interviewed were quick to 1022 00:59:58,120 --> 01:00:01,560 Speaker 1: mention the Great Water Fouling and other regions of the country, 1023 01:00:01,720 --> 01:00:04,960 Speaker 1: and to mention the recent changes in duck movement that 1024 01:00:05,080 --> 01:00:08,960 Speaker 1: have impacted how many green heads are coming to Arkansas. 1025 01:00:09,440 --> 01:00:13,000 Speaker 1: Things are changing. The ancient system is in a state 1026 01:00:13,040 --> 01:00:17,640 Speaker 1: of flux, weather patterns and other complex ecological factors are 1027 01:00:17,800 --> 01:00:22,280 Speaker 1: making them do weird stuff. In Part two of this podcast, 1028 01:00:22,440 --> 01:00:25,400 Speaker 1: we're going to dive in deep into the conservation of 1029 01:00:25,480 --> 01:00:29,840 Speaker 1: duck habitat. We'll be talking about how green tree reservoirs 1030 01:00:29,960 --> 01:00:33,240 Speaker 1: are in peril and what is going to be done 1031 01:00:33,680 --> 01:00:38,760 Speaker 1: to save them. I can't thank you guys enough for 1032 01:00:39,000 --> 01:00:42,600 Speaker 1: listening to Bear Greefs. Please leave us a review on 1033 01:00:42,760 --> 01:00:48,280 Speaker 1: iTunes and share this podcast with your friends. Long live 1034 01:00:48,840 --> 01:01:05,800 Speaker 1: the King of the Ducks. The Mallard m Here you John,