Feeling Normal Again: Mazatlán Mexico Honeymoon Duck Huntin‪g‬

Ramsey Russell: I’m your host, Ramsey Russell. Join me here to listen to those conversations. Welcome back to Duck Season Somewhere. Man, it is duck season today in Mazatlán, Mexico. Beautiful Mazatlán, Mexico. I’m sitting poolside at the El Cid Marina Resort. You got to see this place. Whether you’re sitting about. I’m sitting down by a pool right now. But way over there I can see another pool, the heated pool, wrapped around lodges and balconies and palm trees and there’s a Guan, its crawling around the hand feed letters. Right now, I’m sitting here with buddy and client Ray Hathaway. How are you, Ray?

Ray Hathaway: I’m doing well. How are you?

Ramsey Russell: I appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule, drinking margaritas and Dakota beer to come talk to me.

Ray Hathaway: Someone had to cut us off.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Have you been here a while?

Ray Hathaway: We have, ever since we got back this afternoon from shooting ducks and seeing pet tigers. We’ve been out here ever since.

Ramsey Russell: Hey, I’m glad you decided to come on because, this is your second trip to Mazatlán,

Ray Hathaway: It is.

Ramsey Russell: You had a good time last year. We all had a good time.

Ray Hathaway: Had a blast. Yeah. In a way it’s the exact same as last year and then in a way it’s completely different, right? We came last year and shot a bunch of ducks and then this year we came back and there wasn’t as much water, but we saw even more ducks and shot more ducks.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, they are a lot more concentrated this year.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: some of the holes did dry up. I did notice that, they put in and eye on a small duck hole this morning. I’m telling you, had I showed up, or anybody showed up, the only guy that hunting Arkansas to that little mud puddle they looked at it and said, I want my money back or even put on their wagers, I want my money back. It was tiny. And I, of course eating our foresters, we did the math. That body of water was 20ft wide and assuming, it ran a half mile, it covered one acre of water and there were thousands of ducks using it.

Ray Hathaway: Absolutely.

Ramsey Russell: You know the fact that four of us shot limits. 20 Birds of Peace of ducks in about an hour and a half is nothing short of astounding.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah. And they were still flying once we were packing up.

Ramsey Russell: What do you like so much about this hunt Ray?

Ray Hathaway: The hunt. The guides make it all worth it. Very personable. Very attuned to all your needs, they take care of everything, start to finish. There’s no guesswork in it, right? You show up, they pick you up, they take you, you shoot your birds and you have a blast of doing it.

Ramsey Russell: What else do you like about it?

Ray Hathaway: I know what you’re getting at, but I like that. I’ve been able to bring my wife, I like that. At the end of the hunt, I can come back, I can sit on the beach, I can sit by the pool, I can get some drinks, enjoy the time and then go get showered and go pick one of the hundreds of places that you want to go eat. All the restaurants have been phenomenal.

Ramsey Russell: It’s a couple’s trip. And a lot of us think about going on a guided duck hunt. It’s getting up for daylight, just grinding it out till lunch and cold and mud and ice. And it may have gone in the afternoon and shooting three more birds. Here we get up in the morning, not early, but for daylight. We meet for a cup of coffee and we’d be asked for a little bit about, who ate what last night and how good it was. And we drive 45 minutes out in the country and go up to a mud puddle, a little freshwater body and shoot a whole bunch of ducks. 3.5 days’ work in Mississippi limits. And eat breakfast burrito to 9:30 and we’re usually back here by 11:30-12:00.

Ray Hathaway: Absolutely.

Ramsey Russell: And when I walk into that hotel room door, the word duck done in my mind. Not until my alarm goes off the next morning.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah. When you get back, it’s a bathing suits, chocos, flip flops, whatever floats in your boat and it’s just relaxation. It’s getting up early and like you said, you get in the car, it’s a weird feeling coming from Arkansas and Mississippi where, especially if you’re a public land hunter, you’re fighting and everyone to get there as early as possible and here, you see the sun coming up while you’re in the car and you get there and it’s just the complete opposite. You can take your time, you pick your birds and then you come back and you just relax.

Ramsey Russell: About 10 years ago. The first time I ever hunted here and I try to, if I’m talking on the telephone with the client free seat and they’re coming to Mazatlán, I try to explain to them, do not freak out when Mississippi shooting time comes and goes. And you’re still in the truck driving there. There’s going to be more duck when you leave than there are, when you get there. The hotter it gets, the more ducks coming in to drink fresh water. That’s been the case. It’s like yesterday y’all were 200 or 300 yards down that it was a cattle pond. But the way he dug it, it looked like a big old strike [**00:08:32] slough.

Ray Hathaway: It kind of had a horseshoe.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. And y’all were way down there and y’all were shooting y’all ducks and we were shooting our ducks. And the head guy Christian kept saying there was a lot of shovelers yesterday morning. Man, I ain’t got no bias against shovelers but he kept saying. Later, the blue wings, later the blue wings. By the time blue wing showed up, we were done. So, we sit there by the truck, we eat burritos and holy cow, did the blue wings turnout. Every blue wing on God’s earth, started flying in. And we were done.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah. They started flying. And then as we left there on every pond we saw leaving.

Ramsey Russell: Ray where are you from originally?

Ray Hathaway: Originally I’m from West Texas, but I’ve lived in a northwest Arkansas for about 10 or 12 years. I went out there for college and I met my wife, got a job with Tyson Foods and the Walmart for a little bit and decided to stay.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, but you’ve been duck hunting for a while.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: It’s funny. The last time I saw you before I got here to Mazatlán is we had talked about it, we detected back and forth and I completely forgot until I show up to hunt San Francisco Bay with Charlie Barberini. And you come up, hey man, how’s it going? Hey, how are you? I’m Ramsey Russell. You go, yeah, I know who you are and I’m like, I didn’t recognize you in the dark, wearing like real cold weather camel clothes. Because right now you’re wearing shorts and a green shirt. That’s what I’m used to seeing you wear out there in the Mazatlán duck blind. How would you tell somebody that the duck hunting in Mazatlán compares to the duck hunting in Arkansas?

Generous limits.

Ray Hathaway: Very generous limits.

Ramsey Russell: No, waiters.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah, no waiters at all. You’re not having to worry about long sleeve gear. I think today I’m wearing a drake short sleeve shirt, I wore crocs on the way out there, and I wore crocs the whole time. You know, if you need boots, they provide boots for you. We didn’t need them this year and it’s been phenomenal. And yeah, if I would just say, if you’re going to shoot really colored up teal, really colored up spoonys, you have spoons, they are going to keep coloring up more as it goes on. But it’s kind of everything you don’t want in Arkansas from, the heat and the warm weather is complete opposite. But you’re getting all the ducks you could ever imagine. And if you don’t leave with your limits because you didn’t shoot well, it’s not because you didn’t see ducks,

Ramsey Russell: They give you a 100 shotgun shells to shoot 20-25 duck. If you can’t pull that off, just love life and do something else.

Ray Hathaway: User air, user air for sure.

Ramsey Russell: And we’re shooting target loads of slickers. They still shoot lead down here. Now, I really like it. I do a lot of real duck hunting. I mean anymore back in the United States, the hunting pressure. And I’ve had a lot of people in social media the past few days allude to the word ‘bait’. Well, you’re baiting of duck now. Look, someone baiting is legal in Mexico. It’s legal in other place in the world. And I have shot ducks on bait. In places it’s legal. They do not bait here because it costs money, number one, not only to by the buy the grain, but to put it out. And who knows if you pay somebody to put out the bait today and giving it to the cow instead. Because it’s a poor country. But they don’t bait because, we’re essentially in a desert. It’s freshwater. And all these estuaries were hunting or brackets the birds are feeding on invertebrates out in the brackish water and they are thirsty. Just like when I drank too many margaritas in the market, with too much salt around the rim, I get thirsty for like water and these birds are coming in and harder it gets, the more they come in. It’s incredible.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah. I think, if people could see how we get to these ponds and where they’re actually located, they’d say, there’s no way torment there. They’re baiting these ponds there. There’s no possible way too. For those that never bait, I mean, you’re removing fence posts and barbed wire, pulling them up, driving through what most people would consider like a hay field type place. And, the first day we hunted, the brackish water was right on the other side of the trees from us, and then there was fresh water on this levy we’re standing on. So you could literally see them get off this water, fly to freshwater, get a drink and just bounce back and forth and you’re running traffic on them.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. It just blows my mind. It’s some of the finest duck hunting I’ve ever done. Because it’s almost like, there’s a lot of people here just resort a lot of old men, a lot of old families that they don’t get up duck hunt there. They get up and go play shuffleboard or get up in the morning and they go make a round of golf. We get up in the morning, go play duck hunt. We come back here and hang out with the family and speaking which, that says a lot to me. And that’s one reason I want people to hear your thoughts on coming to Mexico, coming to Mazatlán. I got two questions for you. You so love coming here last year and felt so safe. It has such a great time that you and your wife brought your Children.

Ray Hathaway: We did, we did. All three of them made an appearance on this trip and it’s been an absolute joy to have them here. They love it.

Ramsey Russell: Well, I can tell they’re having fun, Cannonball run, off into the swimming pools, chasing iguanas and you got a brand-new child.

Ray Hathaway: I do. She is,

Ramsey Russell: Her name is Mazatlán?

Ray Hathaway: No. I wanted to call her Maisie. Her name is actually Mabel Rose. She is a product of last year’s trip. Is just that, was that enjoyable and the drinks were flowing.

Ramsey Russell: We call the honeymoon duck hunt. Don’t we?

Ray Hathaway: Yeah, as soon as she was born we rushed as quick as we could, because we know we’re bringing the other two. And we rushed to get her passport ready and get around the plane down here. You know COVID and all that crap aside. We knew we were bringing the kiddos and they have had an absolute blast. One of them swimming towards us right now.

Ramsey Russell: Here she comes. Who does she take after, mom or dad? Because she is outgoing.

Ray Hathaway: Personality wise she’s her mom when her mom was a kid. Every video and picture I’ve seen her mom. She’s absolutely her mom’s child.

Ramsey Russell: All right. Last question you brought up the word COVID and I know, back in January 12^th Centre of disease control passed a rule that nobody can come into America without a clearance COVID free. And what I’m seeing out of Canada, out of Argentina, other countries, we’re not going to go cross international boundaries, go to another country, come home without haven’t taken that COVID test. It slapped me across the face when I showed up here at this resort and I’m not going to spill the beans. I’m going to ask you. How do you feel about the way Mexico here in Mazatlán is responding to COVID versus anywhere else in the home as you travel because you travel a lot for your work.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah. During this whole pandemic. And I’ve been to Charleston seaside Orlando, just kind of all over the place San Francisco. They’re doing more to combat germs and the spread of COVID than anywhere back home with the least amount of regulations. Restaurants are open and every restaurant you go into, you’re going to be walking through a footbath, you’re going to get hand sanitizer, and they’re going to check your temperature. And if you don’t do any of those three things for them, you’re not going in.

Ramsey Russell: But typical Mexico, which is such a service-oriented culture. Say it with a smiling face in your, sort your hand, please let me check your temperature. Here’s a margarita. We’re going to have fun. We live our lives. I feel, I believe in my heart if you ain’t got COVID, before you come to Mexico. You ain’t catching it down here.

Ray Hathaway: There’s no way.

Ramsey Russell: You’ll catch it at Walmart back home for you. Catch it down here. I guarantee you. No offense to Walmart I’m just saying. I forgot you might have worked there. But anyway, thank you Ray. I appreciate you coming back again one day. We’re going somewhere.

Ray Hathaway: No, we’re definitely going to come back here. Probably not next year. I think in two years. Some of the guys have already been talking.

Ramsey Russell: I forgot. Wait a minute. You also scratched a bird. You’re doing it. You’re doing the North American list.

Ray Hathaway: I am.

Ramsey Russell: Talking about that. That was a hell of a shot.

Ray Hathaway: Yeah. Last year we came down and I scratched off some birds from a list. Obviously, the cinnamon and a Drake Blue wing being the first to, and I just kept itching to get that whistler. You know it just didn’t come in. We didn’t see them really? And then the first day and gosh even yesterday. But the first day was the first flock that came at us. Popped one shot and it landed not even what, five yards behind us. And then, this big flock came off from our right again, getting off that brackish water like you were talking about and they came, gosh, probably within 35 yards. And we just, we let them have it. We pulled probably another five or six out and then we got some yesterday too.

Ramsey Russell: I was filming while y’all were shooting, that was some good shooting. Because you know, whistling ducks don’t come in low like Teal.

Ray Hathaway: No, no. Yeah, they’re hanging up.

Ramsey Russell: At daylight, they hang up out there. They should do. But they got such big wings and the show slow. You know, its shoot able.

Ray Hathaway: You said it was good shooting. But all your followers on Instagram voted that I missed my neck shot.

Ramsey Russell: You got a teal and that was fun and I was sitting behind and I know you hit it, but it ain’t no fun giving it up. Man it’s more fun letting people think you missed.

Ray Hathaway: Let them doubt, man.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, I’ve seen you shoot, we shot together quite a bit last year. I was there when you got heck you shot a Teal tri factor last year and in that blind together.

Ray Hathaway: I did. In that mangrove hole.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, that was a fun little hunt there too. Ray, Thank you. Y’all enjoy the rest of your vacation and see you next time.

Ray Hathaway: Absolutely. Appreciate it.

Ramsey Russell: Claire. As Ray’s better half what do you think about Mazatlán?

Mrs. Claire: Well, I think last year we had a great time. Just the two of us. It was a lot of fun. It was safe. And this year has been a different trip. We brought three Children that are young, 5 years, 3 years and 3 months. So, everyone thought we were crazy that we were coming. That it really, both trips have been awesome.

Ramsey Russell: Wait a minute. I don’t want to go there, but I do. I’m doing the math. She’s three months old and we’re 12 months from when we were here last year. It is a product of a honeymoon duck hunt.

Mrs. Claire: It is.

Ramsey Russell: Okay. Well, congratulations.

Mrs. Claire: Yes. The baby we brought was definitely a Mazatlán baby.

Ramsey Russell: All right, very good. How do you feel coming down here? As a non-hunter what do you like to do? What do you like about Mazatlán? I know what Ray likes he and I like the same thing. What do you like?

Mrs. Claire: Well, honestly, I mean I love just relaxing by the beach and the pool and all the good food and drinks. I mean I’m pretty picky and the food here is awesome. I mean it’s really good. That part is a lot of fun. But even when the men are gone hunting, it’s kind of nice just being by yourself. You get to sleep in and you can do whatever you want to do. You can go to the spa. This year we have done room service breakfast on the days that he’s hunted. So, I don’t have to get the kids out by myself to eat breakfast. But even after that, we’ve gone to the pool and the kids have played and I’ve been totally fine by myself while he’s hunting.

Ramsey Russell: You know, a lot of people ask about, what all there is to do down here, besides hunt. And there’s a lot to do down here besides hunting. I can’t really speak to it because Anita and I do absolutely nothing. It’s like that’s my ideal vacation, drink a few cocktails sit by the pool, visit with some friends like this. But there’s a lot to do. Y’all do walk down the beach, don’t you play in the sand?

Mrs. Claire: Oh yeah, for sure.

Ramsey Russell: Have you been to the lighthouse this year?

Mrs. Claire: We went to the White House last year. We did not do that this year.

Ramsey Russell: Kind of a hiking.

Mrs. Claire: But props to anyone who chooses to do that more than one time.

Ramsey Russell: Talk about some of the restaurants you have been to? What are some of your favorite restaurants around here?

Mrs. Claire: Yeah, we really like going to the more local restaurants. So, we like going down to The Plaza.

Ramsey Russell: Yes.

Mrs. Claire: It’s so nice. And there are several restaurants down there that are really good. And one thing that we’ve noticed everywhere that we have gone to eat is, just the service is out of this world. I mean it’s really good. We ate at Los Arco’s one night, which is a really great seafood.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, absolutely.

Mrs. Claire: It’s so good. And I was holding the baby asleep which is totally fine with me. I do it all the time. And they brought chairs over in like a little mattress type thing and had me lay her down so that I can enjoy my meal. And she slept on some chairs. I mean they really just go out of their way to accommodate you at all the restaurants.

Ramsey Russell: I’ve always thought, I worked from tree planting cruise way back when and Mexican people, they seem to be extremely friendly and extremely kind and family oriented. That’s just their culture, their nature. Like the other night we all went down to Mr. Leanso for the lobster and shrimp what not like that. And I noticed that a lot of staff want to just hold your baby to hold, you could enjoy your meal.

Mrs. Claire: For sure. And they have done that at lots of restaurants. They do, they are like, and oh let me hold your baby. Which you know, they don’t want to let them hold your baby but they want to help you. Yeah, they have been really great. Even at the L said [**00:23:20] where we’re staying, going down on the beach, there is one lady in particular that has been working down there and when she sees me coming with the kids, she is running over to help me. I mean, I have let her carry the baby down to the chair. I have really let her help me. She’s taking my kids down to the water to get wet sand. She has really gone out of her way to help me out.

Ramsey Russell: That’s unbelievable. Do y’all do vacations like this back home, like Florida or anywhere like that?

Mrs. Claire: We do, we love to go to the beach.

Ramsey Russell: Do you experience similar things happening in America. I mean like if you were to go to Orange Beach, would you expect something similar?

Mrs. Claire: No, definitely not. No, it’s totally different here. Which is probably one of the reasons that we have come back two years in a row and I could see Ray talking me into another year.

Ramsey Russell: He’s already up for another year.

Mrs. Claire: It’s a different feeling being here.

Ramsey Russell: It’s like, it should be the service and the courtesy. I’ve been here for a long time and I come to this pool. I like it because of the Iguanas. I like it because the staff is like. Like that little short guy over there, he’s been here for 10 years. He knows us. He’s like a friend.

Mrs. Claire: Oh yeah, definitely. One of the servers that is down on the beach, he helped me every day last year and he gave me way too many drinks. Probably that Mazatlán baby. We told him we were blaming him. But he was here again this year and he’s been just as great with my kids. He was so sweet to me last year and has been really great the last few days with my kids too.

Ramsey Russell: That’s good. Well, thank you all for coming. We sure enjoy seeing and that’s the great thing is like, the guys we all get to know each other. We’re riding in suburban’s were going out and shooting a bunch of ducks together and B. S. and eating burritos and shooting ducks and doing all that good stuff. But one thing I’ve noticed is the relationships, the wires form down here.

Mrs. Claire: Oh, for sure. Yeah. I have kept in touch with two of the other wives that were here last year. We have kept in touch and it’s been really neat. You know you spend a week with another couple and your Children and become friends.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, same age got a lot in common. You both like Mexico, you both have a great time. You know you’ve got children. And I just got to ask this question because we’re getting asked a lot about it. How do you feel down in Mexico with all this COVID stuff going on, relative to your experiences back home?

Mrs. Claire: I feel much safer in Mexico than I do at home.

Ramsey Russell: Why?

Mrs. Claire:  I mean, they have gone above and beyond on their safety procedures. I mean they’re checking your temperature, they’re hand sanitizing everywhere, even when you go out into town. I mean, they will not be safer than what they are here.

Ramsey Russell: And how do you feel just an overall safety? Because that’s a big question. A lot of people just think of Cordell, I don’t see that down here. I say this beautiful. It’s like, if I went to New Orleans without all the drugs and crime and weirdness, it’s just clean. Like, it’s kind of like a combination between New Orleans and Mayberry RFD and one when I go to The Plaza. I love going to The Plaza and tonight’s Saturday night?

Mrs. Claire: It’s Friday.

Ramsey Russell: Well, Friday Saturday night. I still think we’re talking about going tonight because I think tonight, I expect to see a lot of families, a lot of vendors, a lot of artists, a lot of mariachi bands. How much fun is that?

Mrs. Claire: Oh, it’s so much fun and it really is so safe and I normally, am not like, really brave about that kind of stuff. I tend to be more nervous and worried about our safety and we’re in another country and even my dad has made lots of comments about, y’all are going where the Cordell is, but you do not see any of that here, were totally safe to leave the resort much safer here than I feel going to Cancun.

Ramsey Russell: I would not go to Downtown Jackson, Mississippi and feel as comfortable as I feel walking here in the Golden Zone, at Downtown Mazatlán. There’s no way, no way whatsoever. I don’t worry about anything down here. I really don’t. It’s just, it’s so clean. It’s like we went to Walmart one time, I felt like I could eat off any surface in there.

Mrs. Claire: Oh yeah, it’s really clean. Everywhere you go is really clean.

Ramsey Russell: It’s going to take a sense of pride in that, you know. Claire, thank you very much. I’m watching your little kid’s right here jumping in the pool. They don’t swim much, do they?

Mrs. Claire: They have been in the pool or in the sand the whole week.

Ramsey Russell: Good for them.

Mrs. Claire: They’re sleeping good at night too.

Ramsey Russell: Well, go enjoy your vacation and thank you for taking time to tell everybody what Mazatlán is really like.

Mrs. Claire: Thank you.

 

Ramsey Russell: My buddy and client Matt Gaylord, poolside in Mazatlán. How are you, Matt?

Matt Gaylord: Good. Great actually.

Ramsey Russell: You know when you booked this trip, you did not tell me, you called, and you asked about the duck hunt, you ask about the resort, you asked about a lot of details. You didn’t say a damn word about coming and doing a real honest God honeymoon down here.

Matt Gaylord: I didn’t know, I didn’t know. I don’t know why.

Matt Gaylord: Because I knew that’s how y’all had it marketed. So, I assume that probably a lot of people didn’t really.

RR: A lot of, I mean relative to every other hunt in the world that I’m familiar with, a duck hunt, which is what we trade in. Right here, man. I mean, I just talked to the Hathaway’s who got a third beautiful child from having come down here. We’ve, seen engagements, we’ve seen, I think y’all are the eighth couple to come down here and literally do a honeymoon and not all of them hunt like your wife does. Some of them don’t hunt, some of them are just hanging at the pool with the other wife’s. What was it about this type honeymoon that compelled you to come down here?

Matt Gaylord: Well, I knew we wanted to travel into a country that we hadn’t been to. Either one of us, we’ve both done some traveling, but we wanted to pick a spot and neither one of us have been to yet. And so, I was kind of talking to some folks that work, some duck hunters, and I was like, man, I want to book a trip somewhere anyway. I don’t know who do you think, because they all follow the big names on Facebook like habitat flats and honey break people and Toni Van Damme and all of them. And they were like, well, you ought to look at the Get Ducks guy. I mean, if I was going to book a hunt and I was going to look like a, what’s it called? Like a bucket list hunt. That’s who I go through. So, I googled getducks.com and I googled Argentina to start with, because originally that was where I wanted to go. That’s what everybody always talks about. Like volume bird hunting. But then I ran across the Mazatlán thing and started looking at it and then I said, well you know, this might be a good ideal pitch. Maybe I could say. I said, why don’t you come duck hunt and then we can come hang out at the beach and do our thing and that was pretty much it.

Ramsey Russell: We have a lot of duck hunters show up to this hunt because it was easy to get mama on board. If you don’t duck hunt, there’s one thing you’re going to say, I’m going on a big old duck hunting vacation versus I’d like to come hang out at the beach and round swimming pool and drink margaritas. That’s pretty easy sell.

Matt Gaylord: That’s easy sell.

Ramsey Russell: Especially this time of year, its 75-78 degrees down here and its 20 degrees back home. There are people up north shoveling and snow. What is your background? Where are you from? And what’s your duck hunting background? And I know you duck hunt because I’ve seen you shoot this week.

Matt Gaylord: I’m from South Carolina, something originally. So, I hunted like the Santee swamp area, mostly in the middle of the state. And I’ve hunted pretty much my whole life. But the last couple of years, I’ve slowed down a lot I haven’t duck hunted very much because the population is so low and I’ve been busy. And then I was out of the country for a while and so I hadn’t really got back into it heavy locally.

Ramsey Russell: It’s tough hunting back. It’s tough hunting back home.

Matt Gaylord: Yes. So, I go a few times a year usually. But I’m just not as big a duck hunter I used to be, I guess. I used to get hardcore, get up at 12:00 AM, go out there and fight the crowd at the boat ramp at 01:00 and sit in the boat for five hours till daylight shoot one wood duck maybe and then go home.

Ramsey Russell: So how is Mazatlán compare to that?

Matt Gaylord: Wow. It was great really, because I felt like I was sleeping in and we got up and had a nice relaxed trip to the blind and also a number of ducks. It’s just overwhelming. It’s unbelievable.

Ramsey Russell: Did we ever visit before you booked this trip about the late start?

Matt Gaylord: No.

Ramsey Russell: We didn’t have it. I try to have that hunt with people, because I’m that guy. If I’m not sitting in my blind hidden, maybe sipping coffee 15-20 minutes for shooting light. And here we’re showing up 30 minutes after, 45 minutes after shooting light. And so far, even this morning it was. I’ve seen more ducks flying as we were leaving than when we got there. It is crazy isn’t it?

Matt Gaylord: It is crazy.

Ramsey Russell: It’s that freshwater.

Matt Gaylord: It’s pretty cool. The timing of how it works out with that. So yeah, that’s nice. It’s a nice change. Really.

Ramsey Russell: Now, what do you think about that duck hole this morning?

Matt Gaylord: Initially, I mean, I posted on Facebook about it and like we said this morning, we were talking. Any other place you’d go in the world probably, if you got pulled out of the truck and saw that.

Ramsey Russell: A mud puddle.

Matt Gaylord: You’d be like, heck, no man, I’m going home.

Ramsey Russell: I’m going to say that from where Anita and I were hunting and y’all were a little bit down the bank. From where we were hunting from the bank, we were standing on until across was maybe 20 ft. I started doing the math. Let’s say there’s 43,560 square foot in an acre. So, that thing would have to be a half-mile long and I don’t think it was just to cover a surface acre of water.

Matt Gaylord: I think it was a couple 100 yards long at the most.

Ramsey Russell: But there were ducks. Wasn’t they?

Matt Gaylord: Yeah, there was ducks. I bet we saw probably close to 1000 birds this morning. If I would guess.

Ramsey Russell: I would guess that too. Easily.

Matt Gaylord: At least pretty close to it. And then several hundred coming in after we finish hunting.

Ramsey Russell: They got to drink that water.

Matt Gaylord: They got to drink the water. So that’s deceiving the size of the body of water that you’re in.

Ramsey Russell: How did it feel putting on shorts, or putting on just some light pants and tennis shoes and crocs and going out and hunting?

Matt Gaylord: I mean it was really nice. It was nice to not have to get up and be cold. You know you just have a regular morning almost get to the blind a little bit late. I mean there’s a lot, a little bit of a long ride. But I don’t say it an hour-long ride, but it’s a bit of a ride. But it’s nice and it’s insane and you get to see the sun coming up over the mountains on the way there.

Ramsey Russell: What would have been your favorite part so far of the hunt? Something memorable?

Matt Gaylord: I mean really, I would like the tacos and peppers and sitting around after the hunt. But also, just seeing that volume of birds moving around and watching birds coming after you hunt and get to see a show like experience. Because I’ve talked a lot about, just the sound of birds coming over you or a 50 teal coming into the group, just that of their wings and how it sounds, how much that always made an impact on me. And like that’s what I love about duck hunting. We’re just being there before dark and hearing wings whistling around you. And I always try to explain that to her. But it’s like, you’re not going to be able to experience that. We just don’t even have any duck clubs. I could spend 10 grand a year in South Carolina and I get to see that.

Ramsey Russell: It’s funny you should say that Matt, because yeah, I don’t know a duck hunter, not one, that gets up to watch the sunrise, not one. But anytime you talking duck hunters about duck hunting, trigger pull is like the last thing they mentioned. The sunrise, the whistling wings, the action, the fun, the food and there. I don’t know. I don’t find out late in life. I got this thing for burrito. Damn good burrito out there. He breaks a couple of sticks, he gets a fire going and taking five minutes he’s got them heated up. And it’s pretty darn good.

Matt Gaylord: Yeah. That’s some of the best stuff is a simple stuff. I mean yeah it is great, authentic.

Ramsey Russell: I find myself looking forward to that cold beer Dakota after the hunt. Pretty dang.

Matt Gaylord: Yeah, that’s why I said, when we got back the room and that’s our last burrito man.

Ramsey Russell: I was with a booking again tomorrow so you can find another.

Matt Gaylord: Yeah, but it won’t be the same you know. It won’t be stick cooked on by the duck blind.

Ramsey Russell: So, what about the tacos around here?

Matt Gaylord: The tacos are great.

Ramsey Russell: You found good taco stands in here.

Matt Gaylord: Yeah, we have so far and we like to venture out and eat crazy places. We try to just go find stuff. But the food is really good. The whole place is really friendly and nice.

Ramsey Russell: I’ve seen, I’ve been coming here a long time and I’ve seen where some restaurants are just better than others. But I haven’t hit a bad restaurant yet.

Matt Gaylord: No, I haven’t had bad food. It’s all good Mexican food.

Ramsey Russell: And it’s really good seafood. Are y’all seafood eaters? You’re eating seafood yet?

Matt Gaylord: I’m not. Because I’m allergic to it, but there’s plenty of other options. You know, I became allergic to it later in life. So, one day and about my Late 20s, 28-29 years old, I went to a crawfish boil and my lips swole up and I just didn’t know what was going on. Went to the doctor and they’re like, yeah, you’re allergic to shrimp, crab, lobster.

Ramsey Russell: I’m just going to tell you all right now, if I found out late in life, I’m allergic to shellfish, I will be like, Fred Sanford’s lizard. I’ve come to see you.

Matt Gaylord: Coming to see ypu.

Ramsey Russell: I love shell fish. Of all kinds.

Matt Gaylord: I did too. I really did. But that’s alright because there’s plenty of options here too. So, I consider that making a trip too. But then I realized, there’s probably plenty of options. So, even if you’re allergic there’s plenty of stuff you don’t hear too.

Ramsey Russell: Nice restaurant we went to last night.

Matt Gaylord: Yeah, that was one of the best meals I’ve had period and the atmosphere was great neat.

Ramsey Russell: Anita and I was struggling because on the one hand it’s simple. It’s like an old, I’m going to say 200-year-old prison, colonial era, Spanish colonial era-built prison. But it’s very nice little big trees inside, its open air. But it’s got such ambience and the food was, I told this is just. Where in the state of Mississippi could we have that quality food, that quality service, that quality ambience at that price tag?

Matt Gaylord: You spend $300 to have that that meal.

Ramsey Russell: Oh my gosh, anywhere. I got a question for you. I know you’ve got a background in law enforcement. What would you tell anybody listening? Honestly. What would you tell anybody listening as your background in law enforcement? I know you’ve seen some stuff, but how do you feel here? You brought your bride, your new bride down to Mexico? How do you feel since you’ve been in Mazatlán?

Matt Gaylord: I feel really good actually. And I’ve spent a lot of time in some really shady countries. I’ve spent a lot of time in Bosnia and Herzegovina in Kosovo and Macedonia and Serbia all through the Balkan region. And I’ve been in some scary spots like, I really have. And I was always really concerned about Mexico. It’s been a place that scared me for some reason I’ve always felt uneasy about coming here and I’ve heard bad stories about Mexico and South America. But I feel good. We took it, just an unknown cab out in town the other day and gallivanting around.

Ramsey Russell: It’s just whistle up a little red cab. A little bit of red pickup truck.

Matt Gaylord: I know that just one experience doesn’t make the thing. But, I felt pretty good. You know it’s just the interactions with the people and looking around and I feel fine, I feel good. Everything seems comfortable and she’s had a great time. And I feel very safe really, honestly, being here like I do completely.

Ramsey Russell: So, I don’t care whether you’re talking about Memphis Tennessee or Mazatlán, Mexico or Kosovo anyway. And I’ve been to Pakistan, I’ve been in some, I’ll tell you, I would tell anybody the same thing I told my children when they got their driver’s licenses. Don’t go look for trouble. If you look for it, you’ll find it. There’s trouble anywhere you go. Don’t go look for. If you go there, you go the wrong places, looking for the wrong stuff, you’re going to find trouble. But I haven’t. I’ve been coming to Mexico since the early 90s, been coming to this part of Mexico for 10 years and we’ve not had the closest thing we’ve ever had. Dangerous. And I can see where a young guy in his 20’s or 30’s would blow up. We were walking, all of us walking little stretch of town when they’re selling sombreros and cha-cha and all the stuff, it’s all couples and somebody whistle to one of the lady. Now I see where somebody want to get in did. When you turn around and help with some rare, He wasn’t trying to whistle at your old lady, he just wanted, he wanted to make eye contact to buy burrito. We all burst out laughing. That’s the closest I’ve ever seen or something like that. But I’m not in law enforcement so maybe I see the world through differently and I don’t know.

Matt Gaylord: I spent a lot of time doing a really high threat security stuff and law enforcement and I feel pretty good. I wouldn’t have brought us anywhere that I was worried about her being safe. And me either, I don’t like to feel unsafe either, but I feel great.

Ramsey Russell: You ain’t geared up like you normally be.

Matt Gaylord: But still yeah, this is a really nice place. All the people have been amazingly friendly and it just feels good here. Ramsey Russell: You’d come back?

Matt Gaylord: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: How long you’re staying? You’re leaving tomorrow either?

Matt Gaylord: No, we’re staying through Tuesday.

Ramsey Russell: Honeymoon?

Matt Gaylord: Yeah. So, we got a couple extra days right to hang out.

Ramsey Russell: Good for y’all. Have you got any, y’all looked around and thought about what you might do outside of now that you aren’t duck hunting?

Matt Gaylord: Yeah. We’re going to go to the downtown area of the Old Square and hang out there a little bit. Probably will find some stuff to get into. So, we’ll probably even try to find some trouble maybe, I don’t know. But I’ll report if we do. We’re both risk takers, we are. But I don’t think.

Ramsey Russell: I’d go hike up the Lighthouse Trail. It looks easy for start. You know, it’s a long walk. Y’all might be into that kind of stuff.

Matt Gaylord: Yeah, we are. But so, we’ll see. But I feel pretty good about it.

Ramsey Russell: We don’t have any plans to ask this last thing. Man, the last 10 months, the world’s been in the grips of a pandemic. How have you felt here in Mexico as compared to home?

Matt Gaylord: It is. I mean, it’s very clean and everybody’s been so stringent with all the precautions. I feel good about it. I haven’t worried about COVID one time since I’ve been here. Which has been nice because it’s escaping all that from the States. It’s kind of been an escape even though we know it’s a reality now and it exists everywhere. But the people here in the restaurants and the hotel staff, everybody is so stringent and clean.

Ramsey Russell: Everywhere I’ve been. You know, they smile, they squirt your hands, they take your temperature, you step on something, and they get it off your feet. It’s just everything.

Matt Gaylord: Clean your luggage before you completely.

Ramsey Russell: Super squeaky clean.

Matt Gaylord: Absolutely.

Ramsey Russell: I just couldn’t be. I feel safe like today while we’re eating those burritos, some other stuff. Of course, we all took a covid test, we got to go back to U.S and I’m like, heck yeah, we get potato chips out the same bag now. You’re all COVID free. Well, we all know everybody’s covid free. That’s good.

Matt, thank you all very much. I really appreciate you all being here and sharing your perspective on what real Mazatlán really like. Is there anything else you want to add?

Matt Gaylord: Yeah, I’d add probably a few. If you’re thinking about booking the trip, come on and do it. Just bite the bullet and go do it and you’ll really enjoy yourself. I have and I know we have. I just had an amazing time even though she’s not a duck hunter. She’s just an aspiring, beginning bird hunter. But she enjoyed herself a lot.

Ramsey Russell: Well, I’m going to talk to ask you because I’m going to tell you what. It’s shot. That first day we hunted there was eight of us lined up on that levee and I was surprised to learn. And then as I shared it with the boys Minister they did, no way. I said that was her first duck. She looked the part she shot, the part, shot my buddy Mr. Shot.

Matt Gaylord: Yeah. Well, I’m glad. She was real proud of that. That you’ll notice that everybody was. Giselle even stopped to congratulate her and said everybody was saying that they just couldn’t believe it was your first time.

Ramsey Russell: No, it was good. We’ve had a good time. Thank you all very much.

Matt Gaylord: Thank you for having me.

 

Ramsey Russell: Mrs. Asia your match better half is new better half. And you astounded everybody the other morning. We went to that one big duck call and just thousands of ducks bold off and went out there to the bay. And when they all came back we started shooting. But when I started seeing you shooting ducks, I just the assume you just one of those girls that grew up hunting with her daddy, learned to shoot and I had no idea until he said, well that’s your first duck, go get it.

Mrs. Asia: Yeah, not even a little bit. I started shooting about a year ago.

Ramsey Russell: Really? How long have y’all been married?

Mrs. Asia: Just over a year. We got married October 2019.

Ramsey Russell: So right after you got married, right before you got married, he got you into shoot to get ready for this?

Mrs. Asia: Yeah. Pretty much. Pretty much. We knew, we were planning to come on this, for our delayed honeymoon. Just giving time and savings to come on a trip that we really wanted to have time to spend together and to go on a big memorable trip together. And then, yeah. So, planning to come on this trip, I started practicing. I was able to shoot during dove season and then practicing a lot of plays.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Well, you put on a show the other day. I’m not going to lie to you. You shot very, very well.

Mrs. Asia: I appreciate it.

Ramsey Russell: Very impressed. That was your first duck hunt. What has been your favorite part? Well, what I say, it’s all the same thing. What’s your favorite part of duck hunting? What’s your favorite part of being here duck hunting?

Mrs. Asia: Man. I mean, that’s really hard to pick out. Just getting to be there, and as the sun comes up in the morning. And I think Matt was talking about this and he was describing to me and showing me videos of when you hear the wind on the bird’s wings and, but there’s nothing like, yeah, this morning it was really distinct and yesterday too, but there’s nothing like actually being there. Today was especially exceptional because when we got there, the moon was still up where we went this morning. And then when we turned to our right, we could see the sun coming up over the mountains. So it was, and then knowing it was our last morning, it was especially beautiful this morning.

Ramsey Russell: That was a tiny water body. When I walked up and look at like we really hunt something small, you look straight to the east and there’s those purple mountains and orange sky and the sun started picking up. It was very beautiful. Matt took them and sent me a picture earlier. I posted it up. It’s beautiful.

Mrs. Asia: It was, it was.

Ramsey Russell: Had y’all duck hunted back home at all, just to kind of get the hang of it?

Mrs. Asia: I have not. I mean, this was absolutely, that first shot for first duck first duck hunt. What was that, Wednesday morning? That shot you’re talking about? That first duck. So, literally my first duck on my first duck hunt. My first shot off.

Ramsey Russell: It is something you want to do again?

Mrs. Asia: Absolutely. We’re already talking about which hunt we’re going to come on with you again. I think we said Peru.

Ramsey Russell: So, what about North South Carolina?

Mrs. Asia: I mean, I just haven’t been in South Carolina. And then, the weather for me is particularly hard. The cold is really rough on me. I mean, even during deer season. Just my own health, I have difficulty with really cold weather. I mean, even the first morning here, I had some heated socks. It was just a little bit cold here. I think it was a little unseasonably cold.

Ramsey Russell: It was a little unseasonably cold.

Mrs. Asia: Yeah. But I just had an extra layer and it was fine. It was still pretty warm for most people, just for me.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, I’m a duck hunter and we’re hunting in cold weather. You have to that’s when ducks fly, you know you break ice and you do all that kind of stuff. But I’ll say this for the record forever more. Show me 75 or 80° weather because if it’s 75 or 80 in Mississippi, I can tell you this, we ain’t killing nothing. But you come down here the weather’s beautiful, you go out and shoot duck. I will take this all day every day. You know and this morning was so nice. You could have worn shorts if you wanted to.

Mrs. Asia: You could have. Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: You know now it’s seasonal. Now I’m going to say sitting here in the sun, talking to you poolside, probably 75-80 degrees. It’s beautiful. How have you liked just the resort, Mazatlán, El Cid Marina, how do you like the whole experience outside of duck hunting?

Mrs. Asia: Oh. All of it’s been great. I don’t think we could have asked for better amenities. I mean, just the town is great. I can’t wait till we have time to get out. We’re going to go out and explore. We’re seeing it for a couple days after. Now that we’re done hunting, we’re going to stay and go explore the old town. Go see the lighthouse. Maybe go see a Tequila factory. Just go explore a little bit more you know.

Ramsey Russell: So, that’s my number one, want to do in Mazatlán. Mrs. Asia: And you still haven’t?

Ramsey Russell: I have not done. Well. I don’t know why we have a lot of an extra day. Because to do the full tour, I understood it starts around 9 or 10 in the morning. We’re still duck hunting. And Anita is yet to confirm with me whether or not we get to sample. If we get to sample, I’m all in. I want to go sample Tequila.

Mrs. Asia: See, I was going off the basis. I heard you say we get to go sample.

Ramsey Russell: Let me know how that works out. Because if you do, I mean, I’ll just extra, I have an extra day this year.

Mrs. Asia: Okay. I’ll report back. I’ll report back.

Ramsey Russell: I’ll definitely do it again. You’re in health care, you’re a nurse?

Mrs. Asia: I’m a Social worker. But in the healthcare field.

Ramsey Russell: You are in Healthcare field. And you’re a lot more tied in and on the front of pandemic type stuff than I am. And I’m just, I’m trying to set the stage. I just want to know how you feel. We have some real interesting conversations in the truck. How do you feel about down here versus maybe something at home? I mean, what are some of the contrasts something you feel you can talk about like?

Mrs. Asia: Yeah. I mean, bluntly I had friends and family who are nervous about us traveling in in the midst of a pandemic, as they would put it. But I feel safer here. Then I do day to day, in a clinic setting working. So, I mean, everybody’s precautions are phenomenal. The procedures that they’re following when you get here to the hotel, the disinfection, the masking precautions, the temperature checks, just everybody is very, very stringent. So, it feels very safe.

Ramsey Russell: That’s what impressed me. It’s like, I’ve been nowhere outside of here, that they had Matt you stand on. You just stand on this like a little doormat that’s got a little something on to disinfect your feet, the bottom your feet and then it’s not an optional sanitizer. You just actually go do that thing. And they squirt your hand and you check your temperature. Last night, went to this beautiful restaurant and they put gel on our hands. They checked our wrists and it’s like, wow. I feel so safe. I feel like everybody kind of being checked.

Mrs. Asia: Yeah. And it’s not on person to person to check in, that everyone’s wearing their mask or wearing it properly. I mean, everybody is actually checking with the guests or with everybody else that, do you have a mask on? You have it on the way, you’re supposed to have it on. I mean, which I don’t even see that consistently back home. And so here is just not even a worry. It’s not even a thought.

Ramsey Russell: What’s your favorite meal so far have eaten here?

Mrs. Asia: Oh, we had some Tacos Al Pastor our second night here. Those are, I mean between that and the dinner we had last night, at the restaurant you were talking about. It might be tied.

Ramsey Russell: Exactly. Its two different extremes.

Mrs. Asia: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: But I’m a whole in the wall Taco guy.

Mrs. Asia: Yeah. They’re so good. They’re so good.

Ramsey Russell: I think after we get done recording, several other times like going down to a place called El Bogota, which means the moustache and its all pork, all kinds everything but the squeal they put in tacos and we’re talking about going down there because it’s just kind of become a staple of hours.

Mrs. Asia: I’ve been looking forward to it, since you talked about it that first night.

Ramsey Russell: Alright, we’re going to go here a little bit. That’s going to be good. Thank you all for choosing us and coming down here. There’s anything else you would add and tell somebody about coming to Mazatlán or what would you? I mean, how do you think your family’s going to receive the fact you’ve been down here when you tell them what it’s like being down? It was like, oh okay.

Mrs. Asia: I mean, I think there’s just relief at knowing, oh you can travel and you can travel safely. And then, also if anyone is thinking about it. I think a lot of women have preconceived notions about traveling and hunting and just to let that go and go ahead and hunt and have a good time doing so. Because I mean, I think, I got the best of both worlds by hunting and getting to then relax in the afternoon too. I’m so glad. I wouldn’t have traded getting to do both for anything in the world.

Ramsey Russell: I’ll tell you why that’s a good point. Because today was like a milestone in my life. We’re driving back to town before we saw the tiger. That’ll be right by the time you think you’ll say, you’ve seen and done it all. We are on a farm, their skinning a goat for barbecue, drop off some ducks for their barbecue. Oh, come look at this. And I think, we’re going to see a champion goat or something. There’s an eight-month-old tiger, lioness. Whatever you call it, Tigress. And she’s purring like when you scratch your ears. I’m like holy cow.

Mrs. Asia: And eating 2 kg a day.

Ramsey Russell: 2 kg a day, but she won’t eat duck. You know, that’s a real meat and picky eater. But as we would come back to town, I get this text from my daughter. Who she’s hunted deer with me some but never showed any. She went duck hunting that I can recall one time. Never asked to go back. She wants to come to Mazatlán. And I said well. Come duck hunt with me, I’ll see what I can do. She says I promise I’ll go duck hunt.

Mrs. Asia: What changed her mind?

Ramsey Russell: The fact that she doesn’t have to get cold and slogged through the mud and sit in a stinky pit blind. She can put on her trousers and just a light footwear and walk 10 yards on dry ground and have a bunch of ducks to pick from and become a better shot. Rather than sitting out there with her daddy for six hours to shoot maybe six ducks. I mean, it was not, the light is warm and then she can come back here and that’s the draw. If you want to come back here and sit like, y’all are drinking Fu Fu drinks and sending it up.

Mrs. Asia: You know, I’m leaving motivated to become a better shot too.

Ramsey Russell: Oh yeah, you got to be. That’s the art. And next time we all get together, I have to put you in a blind with Mr. Egan, my buddy. Mr. Egan, who will be listening to this podcast by the way.

Mrs. Asia: It’s going to be good shot Mr. Egan and a good shot Asia, side by side.

Ramsey Russell: Oh. And all credit. He did shoot good. But people have been asking me all the time in social media that, why you guys such a hard time. We’ve been together 20 something years. It’s been a running joke for 25 of them. I’m not about to quit now. It’s just now getting good and interesting and fun. But the thing I like about hunting, like say somewhere here in Mazatlán. That’s a good point because there’s so many ducks line. You’re only going to be there two hours. But if you act down in two hours you got 2.5 hours. I mean, everybody gets their bird. There’s so many ducks line that I can step back, take pictures, visit, come down and see y’all. Come back, shoot a few more ducks and it’s just enjoyable. You don’t get to do that at home. It’s like, you’ve got to play for keeps and take advantage of every single opportunity or you may come home without your modest limit.

Mrs. Asia: So, the very best part about the first morning when we got out there was, right when we got out there, there was a huge, huge group of ducks that got up on the water and everyone started shooting. You were filming. And Matt turned me at first and said why don’t you shoot? Because, this is the first group of ducks that I’ve ever seen get up off the water. I’m just looking, I’m just watching.

Ramsey Russell: I would say there were probably 5000 – 6000 ducks easily.

Mrs. Asia: And it was quite possibly one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen. And so I was like, I know we’re going to see more ducks. But this is my first time seeing anything like this. I’m just going to sit back and watch,

Ramsey Russell: Take it in and enjoy that. That’s words anybody could’ve bite right there. Just take it in for joy for what it is and what it ain’t. There’ll always be another duck. Thank you. You all enjoy the rest of your vacation, rest of your honeymoon. Thank you all for coming.

Ramsey Russell: Poolside in Mazatlán, Mexico with the world-famous Ian Munn. How you doing Ian?

Ian Munn: I am doing well. We’ve had a good day. Really good day.

Ramsey Russell: We’ve hunted all over the world, but it’s the first time we are hunting together down in Mexico.

Ian Munn: Today was a special day, but all three days have been special. Every day was different. Every day was a new experience. Today was a lot of fun. Only one bird. Did we have a , Who shot that? And you finally conceded that, I may have at least shot part of it, when you realized, that you didn’t have a band. But until then you were adamant. I couldn’t possibly have hit it because you shot it.

Ramsey Russell: How is it possible that we’ve hunted together for 26 years and never had to flip for a band? Have you killed some bands? I have two.

Ian Munn: I feel two or three bands. Well, the story of my first band, my first thought when that bird and I could see the band on his leg as it was falling. My first thought was, thank God Ramsey is not here. Thank God.

Ramsey Russell: Oh Lord. What have been your favorite part of hunting down here in Mazatlán?

Ian Munn: This part. I mean, I’ve enjoyed the hunting but coming back and sitting at the little cabana here and drinking margaritas and tequila, sunrises. I think this is what I’ve been working on right now.

Ramsey Russell: That’s what you’re working on?

Ian Munn: Yeah. So, but it got a really good group of people came with you this time and a lot of fun. And carrying passed out children up to their apartments and just riding around in red taxi cabs that are actually mini trucks.

Ramsey Russell: Talk about carrying them up to the, talk about going up to the, with people like it.

Ian Munn: Well, we were riding back from dinner last night, night before last. And the two little boy and girl just absolutely in the truck at bedtime, they passed out. I mean not just got sleepy and cranky, passed out like a sack of coal. They’re just a lump of living flesh not a bone in it. You could pick up one thing and it just oozed out the other side. We got back to the lodge, back to the resort here and we couldn’t even pick them up, you try to pick them up and then ooze that one side. You’d sling them over your shoulder. So, they needed something Ray and Claire needed some help. So, my darling wife Gisele, volunteered to help carry one of the boy up. So, anyways we struggled and struggled, got them upstairs, get to the door.

Ramsey Russell: And I was there when we got on the you know Ray gets on the elevator. He’s carrying his daughter, like he described, not me, a passed out sorority girl over his shoulder. He gets on the elevator. Before anybody else get on, he’s gone.

Ian Munn: The doors closed and that’s the last we see it. Ray. Oh well that didn’t work out quite right.

Ramsey Russell: So, you get up. So finally, all four y’all get up.

Ian Munn: We all get up and we go to the door and the kids. Giselle puts down the little boy. He immediately like boom, puddle on the floor, just boneless. And Ray says to Claire, give me the key, darling. Claire looks at Ray, you’ve got the key. No, no you. There we are 10:30- 11:00 o’clock at night pitch black out. No key to their apartment and two kids just absolutely passed out. Ray is a big man.

Ramsey Russell: Oh. He’s a big man.

Ian Munn: I bet he made it downstairs. 4 buildings over, three buildings at least, to the lobby. Got a replacement key and back in probably under three minutes. I mean, he did Olympic trial stuff. Yeah, got back with the key and let them in. They just dragged those little kids in the apartment. That was the last we saw of him for that night.

Ramsey Russell: He told me about that next morning and I told them to Anita and she and I remember those days. It’s a 3 year-old and a 5 year-old. And I can remember taking a kid down to Florida and by the time I got them in the truck and we left, I’ve forgotten her suitcase. And we went fishing and they were fish slime closed for three days that I later threw away when I bought a replacement set. Because your kids are just like, you got the kids, No, I got the kids, you got two kids, 123 okay. We’ve got kids.

Ian Munn: Well, the sleep thing. What made me remember was, driving around little break with Mary on the four-wheeler and she’d be sitting in front of me, straddling and driving along and all of a sudden you realize, you’re on a four-wheeler and this child is sound asleep falling over the side and you’ve got to kind of squeeze your elbows to get her to keep her upright, but passed out. Absolutely dead cold riding on a four-wheeler. I don’t know. How do they do that?

Ramsey Russell: We’ve talked about this, and all I could think the other night we got out of truck, now children have fallen asleep. Like that was how jealous I was. I wish I could sleep like that again. Yeah, without an Ambience or something. I just wish, I wish I could fall asleep and sleep like a kid.

Ian Munn: Well, there was two things. I wish we could sleep that way and thank God it’s their kids. We’ve been there, done that, we’ve paid our dues. It is so sweet to see it happening to somebody else.

Ramsey Russell: Talk about, we’ve talked about this a lot this last few days. Talk about how the duck hunting here compares to Mississippi or anywhere else we’ve hunted.

Ian Munn: Oh. Well, there’s no comparison. Absolutely no comparison. Entirely different scenario. Very, very low-pressure, ducks are using the spot and there will be a lot of ducks using the spot so you can get in there and have a really good hunt because of no pressure. And be out of there, in two or three days and saying they’ll be back in the same hole by the hundreds because they’re not hitting these holes.

Ramsey Russell: Even before we leave. Yesterday, really yesterday, we had a heck of a shoot yesterday morning. And just as we were leaving 50 yards away, the next pothole over had 1000 birds sitting on it. And we go 100 yards more, there is a 1000 birds sitting on a pond. If you’re crazy,

Ian Munn: We stopped at that one place and I’m exaggerating a little bit, but the water hole was no bigger than a background to one of those blue little kids swimming pool. And get 500 ducks got up out of there. 1000 ducks got out of there. They kept coming, kept coming and coming and coming.

Ramsey Russell: A lot of people assume bait and a lot of people saying always Mexico bait, bait, and these people ain’t baiting.

Ian Munn: No, there’s no bait.

Ramsey Russell: You know, it really boiled down. It’s like the more I travel, the more I understand, how much hunting pressure is affecting a lot of places back home. And you talk some of the biologist we’ve had on here, say that, bag limit doesn’t kill birds, days kill birds, it functions hunting pressure. How many days? And so even though the bag limit is considerably higher here in Mexico than throughout the continental United States, it’s relatively little hunting pressure. Like Christian was telling us the other day that, 3 days the ducks will be back into any hole he shot. In three days will be right back. Sometimes it’s four or five or six days for he can loop back around to hunt those ducks. So, they’re just sitting there unfettered, unpressured coming off those big estuaries. That was a couple of big estuaries we’ve seen nearby to come and drink fresh water, fresh water. You’re in a desert.

Ian Munn: Yeah. And so, other places that they’re coming in for food or resting area, here they’re coming in for the fresh water.

Ramsey Russell: They are coming here to drink. Now be honest. Today we show up. That little hole is 20ft wide and which you and I decided, to cover an acre if that little water body, that ditch, what everyone calls, that drain with a half mile long. One of the guys, Matt walked in and said it wasn’t a half-mile long. He said about 200 yards long. So, we’re talking a quarter acre back.

Ian Munn: Yeah. No more than 20ft wide at its widest point.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. What would that do to your pattern when they were coming in? All those decoys at 10 yards?

Ian Munn: Well, for me it was no big deal. I was smoking them 5 yards of 50 yards. Took you a while to get drilled in, I noticed, but you know.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, you started going through my ammo pretty quick.

Ian Munn: It was very interesting because they’d come in about 20-30 yards out and then take a 90° turn and come right at you. And then, they were there, right and trying to land in that little pond and very rapidly had to change the swings try to catch on.

Ramsey Russell: I’d say maybe the main body of water, that shallow title estuary, they were sitting on very saline, almost able to half mile. And a lot of the birds, a lot of the birds came in higher, but the ones that just absolutely killed it were as far as you could see them.

Ian Munn: Not even 20ft high. Just coming in.

Ramsey Russell: Zigging and zagging and smoking down over the mud flat, dirt flat has been sunbaked and coming right in.

Ian Munn: You probably got it on video. But as they were coming, I had the heebie jeebie visit. They’d be coming in, and I start pulling my gun and realized that, there’s still 70- 80 yards away and I put it back down. No, no, no, they’re still not. And then, finally be right there and then they were gone. I was ready when they were too far out. But I wasn’t ready when they were here.

Ramsey Russell: Those Teals were cooking it through there today. You didn’t have much reflex at work. And in fact, I feel like I did better on the one that kind of crude over, 20-30 yards and I did on the one that tried to come into the decoy. There were too close enough can patterns.

Ian Munn: We were laughing so many times today about, just go ahead and shoot the first shot because you’re going to miss it. Because they were right there in your face and get them on the second shot when they flared up.

Ramsey Russell: Well, we got to come down here now, we’ve hunted Mazatlán together, we’ve hunted Argentina, we’ve hunted Uruguay, and we’ve hunted a lot of places, Russia. But we’ve had a lot of places that are different than home. But we hunt a lot at home. We done a lot together at home. And I mean, it’s hunting. I mean, we brushed the blinds, we get hit and everything’s got to be perfect. We put out the decoy, we put out the mojo or not, decide what we’re going to do. We play, we play for keeps. But that’s what I’m trying to say is, when I come to Mexico like this morning, like yesterday morning, like the morning before, there’s enough ducks, enough traffic to be able to just step back.

Ian Munn: And have fun.

Ramsey Russell: And film and crack up jokes and drink, drink, drink my water and just relax and let you watch. You shoot ducks or not shoot ducks and then you do the same thing and just take turns. You know, there’s enough fun. We’ll shoot our limits.

Ian Munn: Don’t feel like, it’s one of those deals where you absolutely, you don’t feel like, I got to duck this one. I missed the duck and that would have been the seventh duck or six ducks, the limit duck or whatever.

Ramsey Russell: Basically, these last four years back home, it’s like you’ve got to play for keeps. You’ve got to try to capitalize on everything within 40 yards. You’re made to feel that way and here it’s just, it’s almost, you just don’t. It’s all just a vacation duck hunt.

Ian Munn: Case in point, about midway through the morning. I stopped after two boxes, put my gun on the stool, stopped, pulled the top off that bottle of water, was just drinking water, watching the ducks come in, watching Matt and Asia shooting over the next bush over, watching the ducks fall out of the stratosphere. Matt was shooting some in the stratosphere, they were dropping down and every day. And Asia, for a woman, for anybody who’s never hunted ducks before. She was, I mean, I was kind of jealous.

Ramsey Russell: We talked about it, we’re going to put you on a blind together that year and let her give you a few pointers. She said it would be nice shot at you and nice mystery.

Ian Munn: I wish I could say it again, but I did hear nice shot Mr. Ian in Spanish today.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, did you?

Ian Munn: I think I’m pretty sure it was. Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Maybe they’re just being polite. Make you think that’s what they said. What was your favorite hunt we went on, of the three?

Ian Munn: Yesterday’s hunt. Today was really unique. But yesterday was more fun. I don’t know. It’s just the shots were not easier but better shots. I felt like I could get my swing going better. Had a little bit more time to react. A longer runway. And the runway was wide.

Ramsey Russell: They were coming from the left.

Ian Munn: Yeah, coming from the right. They were through there like rockets.

Ramsey Russell: There was there was every Shoveler on God’s Earth at daylight. And Christian who’s sitting behind, kept saying, a little bit longer when the sun gets higher, the blue wings, the blue wings, the blue wings. But when the first flu is coming from the right, coming right around that corner, they were mocked three.

Ian Munn: Yeah. And then they were already passed the next hunting party down there.

Ramsey Russell: Quick as I could. I throw up on them and pull the trigger. And I was 5ft behind whatever I was aiming at. I mean it was hard to get on them. And then, what was so crazy is, how we shot a lot of shovelers, big deals vacation. But we went up to the north end up there and ate burritos, took some pictures, did everything. And as we were leaving, it was no shovelers coming in.

Ian Munn: And he tried to tell us, wait for the blue wings, wait for the blue wings. They’re coming in, they’re coming in. But it’s hard when you’re sitting there and there’s a flock of ducks, doesn’t matter what they were and they’re there 30 yards just perfect doing left or right, just like you like them to, or whatever your shot is, it was out there, it was tough to pass them up.

Ramsey Russell: I watched you make some doubles and triples and then missed five times in a row right after. How do you go from hero to zero like it?

Ian Munn: Well, I wasn’t the only one.

Ramsey Russell: I’m not saying you. I’m saying how does anybody?

Ian Munn: I don’t know. It’s a system, it brings you back down to earth. As soon as I start feeling cocky then reality hits. I’m doing pretty good. I’m hitting one every, I’m going to be finished my 20-duck limit here shortly into my second box. Yeah, and then halfway through my third box I haven’t had another direction set.

Ramsey Russell: How did Giselle enjoyed it?

Ian Munn: She’s having a blast. I’m not going to lie to you. We had panic moments before we came. How safe is it going to be? What if we get down there and we can’t get back? Because of the COVID. The C.D. C. requirement to have a COVID test to come back. What happens if we test positive now? We had our COVID test this morning. We haven’t gotten them back so we may be stuck here. I can’t think of a worse problem.

Ramsey Russell: It’s a worst problem to be stuck.

Ian Munn: Yeah. That’s not a problem. But I don’t think we’re going to be stuck. We got tested before we left. I’ve already had the first shot of the vaccine so I feel fairly comfortable that’s supposed to be 80% effective. But we got here so first of all, the flight down I don’t think there was 20 people on that whole plane and we were all spread out. Get into the Mexico airport, Mexico City and every place you had to go, they had big old containers of hand cleaner and they look at it and point to it. And you clean off your hands before you put your stuff on their desk or whatever. Talk to them. And then got to this airport security or what I thought was airport security. It was this big cylindrical, I don’t know how else to describe. Big cylindrical thing you had to walk through and I thought it was one of those all-around 360 x-rays. I’m going, oh my God I don’t have anything contraband. Do you just don’t know it was a Mr. Disinfectant. You walk through that thing and it disinfected it you down. So, when you came into Mexico you were disinfected before you got anywhere else in the airport and the hotel here. Well, every place we went, every place we’ve been, you step into the establishment senor that they had the hand cleaner and a spoon in your hand and face. Smiling face took your temperature. Every place we went. Every place. And you get up in the morning and in coffee and everything’s sealed. Your food is, all the sugar, all that stuff is sealed in. It’s been disinfected on the outside, inside.

Ramsey Russell: They even missed our baggage when we showed.

Ian Munn: That’s right, that’s exactly right. We showed up and there was a guy who’s in charge. I guess, he was the expendable one. He grabbed your bags, put it over there and then they disinfected it and then the rest of them took it out. I was telling Giselle, I don’t know how much more serious you can get about the COVID stuff. Our bird boys were out picking up birds on in this nasty slew water with a mask on.

Ramsey Russell: Okay just pull it little closer. You talk with your hands.

Ian Munn: And I’m knocking my microphone everywhere.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah you are knocking your mike everywhere. I don’t know if you were dancing to the background.

Ian Munn: I got the cord trapped around my leg and when I went to switch cross my leg over.

Ramsey Russell: Trying to flag them down for another bloody, to keep the sunrise.

Ian Munn: And there’s, I have read some scientific research that says you know Alcohol, Bloody Mary’s Tequila margaritas. That’s the best thing you can do for COVID. So vitamin D, shot of tequila, multiple vitamin, shot of tequila. So, we’re in good shape.

Ramsey Russell: You know prior to the pandemic a lot of people were scared about coming to Mexico because of crime. Have you felt?

Ian Munn: No. It’s an upscale resort that we’re at.

Ramsey Russell: Anywhere we’ve been??

Ian Munn: Yeah. You drive around town and stop someplace and people who don’t speak any English, they’re very helpful, as best they can be. Of course, we’re trying to ask questions and they don’t understand this. But even when they speak English.

Ramsey Russell: They’re smiling when they talk.

Ian Munn: Yeah. Everybody’s really accommodating and really pleasant I guess is what it is.

Ramsey Russell: What about last night’s dinner?

Ian Munn: Oh my God. That restaurant I was telling you, that we need to go back to that restaurant today in the daylight to see how all those trees were growing. There were trees. It was basically, what it was is a courtyard. But you couldn’t tell that because, we came in and it was dark and all of a sudden realized there’s a tree there. And we had a conversation initially. The ladies had a conversation about whether there’s a roof over it or not. I think there’s got to be a roof. That’s a tree. If it can’t be a roof because there’s a tree sitting there. Yeah, there was no roof.

Ramsey Russell: It was a court presidio which means prison and it’s in the Spanish colonial old town. I don’t know, it’s got to date back to the 1700, maybe 1800, probably 1700s. And, God only knows what happened in that place back then. But now it’s this beautiful upscale restaurant with incredible service and incredible hospitality. And I asked Anita last night and I’m asking you, because you’ve been around Mississippi more than I have, but where would you buy, where would you go eat dinner with that ambience and that quality of food, which I would describe it more, a little more edible than what I normally eat. And that much hospitality and service at that price. It was amazing. It’s like right now my favorite fancy restaurant in thge world.

Ian Munn: Yeah. There’s no place in Starkville. That’s not saying much, but I doubt that there’s place and I don’t know of a place.

Ramsey Russell: I don’t know anywhere in Jackson. There’s good food in Jackson, but nothing like that.

Ian Munn: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: It’s certain. The service down here, these people are very service oriented, very, very hospitality oriented down here. Even the guys the Bird Boys, it’s like, I know this guy. I’ve been coming down here a decade, but these guys are, I’ve been seeing them for a decade. Christian told me this morning, the head guide told me, he’s 37 years old and he’d been working here, doing the duck hunt like, he’s been doing since he was 16 years old. And to me it shows. I’ve been trying to get you on his hunt for a long time and this past, I don’t know when was it? Maybe the spring or whenever we said. We were eating dinner doing something at Willow Break. I said, man, he need to come to Mazatlán. You and Giselle need to come out because they’re such good friends and we’re such good friends. I think we’d have a great time.

Ian Munn: And then the question was, you know I’m getting ready to retire. Giselle is probably two or three years out, maybe longer. But we want to do some of the stuff together. And so, what hunts do you have? That would be a good cup son. And you know the question wasn’t out of my mouth, before you said Mazatlán. He also said in South Africa. So that’s another possibility we’ll be looking at in the future.

Ramsey Russell: Anita loves Africa. She’s been twice, she hasn’t done the duck hunting with me yet. But that would be absolutely if you get a team of folks together, it’s all couples. It would be a perfect trip for that. Because there is a lot for the girls to do. Especially we go down to Zulu land, it’s a beautiful math of the state. And I went down there, we took the family Anita planned it. And I went along after I realized they were going with or without me. I went to Disney. And, we went to animal kingdom as a little boy back in the 70s. It seemed like a big deal, but it’s like going through Jackson Zoo in a big band. It was terrible. But they’re on that estate in Zulu land, the zebras and the warthogs and the rhinos and they’re all. They almost reach out of your car and just pet them. It’s like a tiger that’s all coming into town this morning. We start to drop those ducks off. I mean, there’s even a like a Coo Doo. You can feed orange slices? You know, it’s wonderful. It’s like real tertiary after it was just the real deal, to get to see that kind of stuff.

Ian Munn: But I have a personal reason why I don’t go down there. And I’m telling you this morning. My father was born in Durban, South Africa. And I can remember him telling me stories about, his dad was a diver, the old helmet, metal helmet, Bourges helmet, canvas suit, lead weight boots. And he would work. He was in the work for the harbormaster. And so, his job was to get stuff that boat sank. He’d go down and put the initial plugs in the boat so they could pump out the water and get the flow and that sort of stuff. And you know something that broke or dropped in the harbor. His job was to go down there and get it.

Ramsey Russell: There’s great whites. Yeah, big shot.

Ian Munn: He was in the harbors. I don’t know if he got out there in the open water or not. But yeah, but my grandmother there from Scotland. My grandmother couldn’t stand the heat, didn’t like the heat. Had to go back. And so, that was the end of their time in South Africa.

Ramsey Russell: But it is, even during duck season where we go. It warms up. You know it’s like a more extreme version of Mexico. In the morning it’s very pleasant here, 55- 60°. It warms up 75-80 degrees and there it’ll be down in the 30’s and warm up to the 60 or 70 or 80’s. Yeah really extreme. But beautiful country if you like this down here and I’ve enjoyed it. Another great trip we’ve had together.

Ian Munn: Well. Thank you sir. I’ve had a blast, absolute blast.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. A couple of nice shot Mr. Ian.

Ian Munn: Take care.