EP 396. Mississippi Teal Opener with My People

Hunting the Local Duck Hole

Ramsey Russell: Welcome back to MOJO’s Duck Season Somewhere podcast. Today I’m in Warren County, Mississippi, at Willow Break at my home camp. Today was kind of monumental. Joining me today is my son, Forrest Russell, Duncan Russell finally back, and Ian Munn. Duncan man is glad to see, I was glad to be sharing teal season with you again. We grew up right here at Willow Break doing this stuff, man. Here you are back.

Duncan Russell: Oh, yeah. I know. It feels great.

Ramsey Russell: Why did you decide to come back from Hawaii? I’ve heard you say it a million times.

Duncan Russell: I just missed the south, honestly. It’s just the best place in the world.

Ramsey Russell: What does it feel like? Cause you man, you’ve seen the world in the last 5 years. What does it feel like coming back to this place that you grew up in since you were born?

Duncan Russell: It feels pretty awesome. I mean, there’s a lot of memories here.

Ramsey Russell: Teal hunt was one of them.

Duncan Russell: Yeah. Oh, yeah, definitely. I mean, really hunting anything that moved. Teal season on it.

Ramsey Russell: I think there’s a lot of people. Teal season seems to be kind of coming into its own now. It seems to be there’s more and more teal hunters, Instagram is covered with it. But back when we joined this place 22 years ago, there were 2 teal hunters, Ramsey and Ian.

Ian Munn: That’s right.

Ramsey Russell: Ian, do you even remember the first teal hunt we ever went on here? I think I kind of sort of maybe do, but I don’t, I ain’t certain.

Ian Munn: I’m not sure if it’s the first one, but we talked about it earlier. I was hunting Duck Hole and you were hunting mallard and I was so pleased as punch because I limited it in about 5 minutes and I came over to tell you, you need to go over to Duck Hole. And sure enough, you were already done before I got there.

Ramsey Russell: I was done and then some. But you know what the hunts I remember coming to Willow Brake back in the day, back before you got understand, we bought this place. Boys, I wish you all had seen it from right here where we’re standing, you could look 3 miles and see the levee because the tallest cover was built high. The trees have been planted. They didn’t get as tall as even the goldenrod and the aster. And it just seemed like this whole big former wild farm and with all these little trees planted on it. I remember hunting Ian, Beaver. It’s always had lily pads and there was an old skid blind with chicken wire. We didn’t even brush it. It was just when you sat down, the lily pads were about chest high and we’d sit there and there was just a sliver of water about as wide as this little kitchen right here. And that’s where the teal would just throw those cork decoys out. And we killed the heck out of teal. One of the first hunts I remember here at Willow Brake – Really, we got here, the place was just a weed patch. There wasn’t a whole lot of ducks in a lot of places because we didn’t know where the water holes were. And it was all just covered up with weeds. And I remember that first year, the snipe hunting.

Ian Munn: Oh, yeah. And everybody thought we were crazy. Let’s go shoot some snipe. We got a ton of them and it’s 80 acres. I mean, guys like Freddie Barnett just raised their eyebrows and said, yeah, we’re not falling for that. And in a couple of days, he was a dedicated snipe hunter.

Ramsey Russell: Well, this whole lower end was solar beans and it was wet and there were just a lot of snipe. And then it was the last day of the first season that I shot my first Willow Break duck limit. It was me and you –

Ian Munn: And Roger Day.

Ramsey Russell: And Roger Day and right there what they now call –

Ian Munn: Ramsey’s hole.

Ramsey Russell: Ramsey’s hole.

Ian Munn: Yeah, mostly wigeon.

Ramsey Russell: Wigeon and gadwall.

Ian Munn: Yeah.

Taking a Prized Stud Drake Wigeon

I mean, it was a monster of a wigeon.

Ramsey Russell: But that was probably the last stud drake wigeon I ever shot in the state of Mississippi. I’m sitting here looking at it mounted on the wall. I mean, it was a monster of a wigeon.

Ian Munn: And I’ve been waiting ever since to get mine. And I got wigeon from around the world, but I don’t have one from here. Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And come the boys later. Cause when you get into a camp like this and you got little boys, you got to figure they’re going to be raised into it. Forrest, do you remember, can you remember because you were mighty young, 5 years old maybe. Can you remember coming out here on your first teal hunts?

Forrest Russell: Yeah, I think the first one I remember we were hunting. I think we were hunting in Beaver with Jeffrey Lee. And I think I was still carrying just a pop gun, I think was the first one I actually remember in that skid blind out there. I don’t remember many other than that until I remember shooting my first one.

Ramsey Russell: Tell me about it. Back in the day, like right now, we’re gripped in a drought. There’s 2 little spots of mud puddles. And that’s the way it was back then. And we had that little – talk about that first hunt. Cause I can remember. Here’s what I remember about it. 2 weeks before your 6th birthday and we laid in with them. It wasn’t like just flocks of teal. We were just hoping we’d catch one in a mud puddle. And we laid in with it for a couple of weekends. But talk about that first. Talk about that first blue wing.

Forrest Russell: I think I actually started trying to shoot at them the year before, I think. And if not, I just had a lot of failed attempts shooting at him with that little single shot 410 and just could not kill one now. And finally he said, all right, we’re bringing the 20 gauge. It was probably 6 inches longer than I was. And we went and sat under a buttonbush there in a mallard under the eagle nest. And I remember he came in and landed and you held the gun up. And I aimed it and got him on the water.

Ramsey Russell: I’m sitting here looking at the picture hanging up and you’re holding that Remington 1120 gauge with a 28 inch barrel. It’s my first gun my grandfather gave me when I was 8 or 9 years old. And it is taller than you are.

Forrest Russell: By at least 6 inches.

Ramsey Russell: By at least half a foot.

Forrest Russell: And we got O’Brien picked him up.

Ramsey Russell: And then the very next weekend, O’Brien, the very next weekend, we went back to mallard and went to the other side and a little bit more water and me and you and old Van Duncan.

Forrest Russell: Yeah, you all cut me a stick that time. The prop up –

Ramsey Russell: Cut you a stick to prop up for you. You had, like, a little killing stick to prop that gun up on. And one teal came in and landed 50, 60 yards out.

Forrest Russell: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Taller than I was going to shoot at it. And you’re like, daddy, let me shoot. Daddy, let me shoot. Daddy, let me shoot. What the heck? You ain’t going to hurt the bird that far. And you pull the trigger and lucky BB hit him in the head and he never even flinched.

Forrest Russell: That’s right.

Ramsey Russell: Duncan, when do you remember showing up in the duck? I remember you probably came before you hunted and hunted with us. But you remember –

Duncan Russell: Yes. You just brought up that Remington 1100. And probably one of my first memories going teal hunting would have been, I think it was in Ramsay’s hole. And I think it was the first year that Forrest started shooting 1100. I just remember being so jealous that he was getting to shoot a big gun, like a full size duck gun. And I was sitting there and I just got in the pop gun. Cause I was a couple years behind him. But –

Surprise Teal Arrival

But I remember I was going to come over here and we’re going to go to Beaver or we’re going to go to duck hole or somewhere. And Van Duncan called, said, if you go and teal hunt and I saw a bunch in your hole.

Ramsey Russell: You got to start earlier, something about the youngest son always gets a couple of year ahead start. When you said that the hunt I thought you were fixing to talk about was I was going to come over here. It was your turn. Because there for a little bit, like, I take Forrest or I take you, but I couldn’t take you both. Cause I couldn’t have 2 squirts with a loaded shotgun. And I really don’t think you hunted this hunt, Duncan. I really don’t think you did. But I remember I was going to come over here and we’re going to go to Beaver or we’re going to go to duck hole or somewhere. And Van Duncan called, said, if you go and teal hunt and I saw a bunch in your hole, because we had planted a bunch of Jap millet that was belt high. I said, really? He said, oh, man, it’s a bunch of them. And I stood on – I sat on a dove stool and you stood behind me, and you weren’t shoulder high, standing right there beside me by my shoulder. And about 08:00, I’m like, well, that was the worst tip I’ve ever gotten in my life. And I stood up. And at that moment, every blue winged teal in Warren County, Mississippi, come out of mallard right into the pothole. And I shot. They rallied twice when we were done. Of course, the limit then won before. I don’t know if you remember that or not.

Duncan Russell: No, I don’t really remember any specifics. I just remember being mad as a hornet hitting grass with a stick while Forrest was holding the 20 guage.

Ramsey Russell: But you came on up because it wasn’t long after that. There’s another picture right here were you wearing that teal blue shirt and we shot a limit of blue wings. What was that hole right there? Do you all remember that?

Ian Munn: I thought. I think that was Lost Lake, is what I remember.

Ramsey Russell: Garhole.

Ian Munn: Garhole. Yeah, I do remember that one. That was the first, I guess, real teal hunt. I really remember. But I remember we – I mean, we were still got setting decoys. It was just clouds of them coming in.

Ramsey Russell: Do you remember that gun?

Ian Munn: I mean, we shot the limits in a minute.

Ramsey Russell: I’ll remind you, because you had your by that time, you had that little youth Remington. Forrest was still shooting that little short stock Benelli. And the north end of Garhole, if you might remember, Ian was just godless. It was knee deep across deep. But you had to get out there and put the decoys out. And the birds, we were killing them over in real thick Jap millet and coffee weed over an 18th hole. But they kept coming from somewhere. We said, well, God, they got to be coming from somewhere. What about Garhole? They’re coming from that direction. So I took the boys out there one day. And before I even got back to the bank and I’m about to have a heart attack, I’m huffing and puffing so heavy, they already had just about done with their limit. Surely you all remember

Ian Munn: Back in those days, it was probably about 4 boxes worth. Yeah. To get there.

The Stories You Hear in a Duck Blind

We’ll get back talking about duck hunting, but I just, I love the stories you hear in a duck blind. 

Ramsey Russell: What other hunt do we remember? If you had to think back in the annals of time, Duncan, you and Forrest growing up here hunting with me and Mr. Ian, what would you think back on?

Duncan Russell: I remember one time, you and Ian pulling me back in a pirouette, I think, in mallard. And I remember somebody shot a duck and set it in there with me. And I’d watched you breast ducks before. So while you all were hunting, I was sitting there messing with it and messing with it, until finally I got the skin to break and breasted that duck out. One of you all turned out, turned around and pretty disappointed that this duck was freshly breasted in the middle of the Duck Hole.

Ramsey Russell: But it was done, wasn’t it?

Ian Munn: Yeah. It was a fate accompli.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. I had forgotten all about having to bring the kids in a poke boat.

Ian Munn: What I remember is how many times they would fall slap asleep. Wherever we were going. Well, no sense waking them up. So we’d go shooting. And one time, I believe it was Duncan, when we’re all done, he woke up and said, when did we start? Son we’re done.

Ramsey Russell: When you take 2 little kids out and we’ve always, recently, we’ve built some nice blinds. We’ve got a few blinds here and there. We can go climb off, into these kids today are sport. That’s all I’m going to tell you. Cause as Forrest and Duncan would have to come out with me. And if there were some of the places we’d hunt, I’d sit on a dove stool and my butt would be in the water. I’m wearing waders. And there was no way. It was humanly impossible to get both those boys on a duck hunt, whether it was 700 or 300 and then remain dry. It was impossible.

Ian Munn: Yeah. One of my favorite memories about Forrest and this didn’t happen here. It happened over that camp, our club at Chula. We’re going snipe hunting. We get out of the truck and you say, be careful, whatever you do, don’t get wet. Because there’s not –

Ramsey Russell: It was brutal cold.

Ian Munn: Yeah. And he took one step, tripped and fell, face planted in the mud puddle. I mean, I thought we were done, but hell, no. Get up, boy.

Ramsey Russell: There are too many snipe. There were way too many snipers.

Forrest Russell: I finally got my feet up under me now. I’m sure footed as a billy goat in the water now.

Ramsey Russell: You are sure footed as a billy goat, man. And either want to have to take our times now.

Ian Munn: Yeah. Well, I got one of those Mojo walking sticks and hits the godsend. I tell you.

Ramsey Russell: They call that a knot.

Ian Munn: Knot.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, because it looks like the nod on the end of a dog’s penis. That’s exactly why they named it that. Duncan, this morning you told Mr. Ian a story. I mean, you’ve seen a lot of world tell that story again about the shark. I mean, you grew up here in Mississippi, you grew up teal hunting with us. We’ll get back talking about duck hunting, but I just, I love the stories you hear in a duck blind. This morning you told a great one because you had some adventures over in Okinawa, son.

Duncan Russell: Oh, yeah.

Ramsey Russell: I can’t believe growing up, watching Shark Week every year, you’d even get in the ocean. But I ain’t doing it. But you did tell this story. You told Mr. Ian.

Duncan Russell: Well, for the backstory, I got pretty big into spearfishing. While I was in Okinawa, me and one of my buddies, Cole Hines, were – I mean, pretty much going every chance we could get. So fast forward a few years and I finally got back to the States and decided I had the GI bill. And I like spearfish and I might as well know what it’s like to be on an island and have all the time I want to just go whenever. So me and one of my buddies are, he’s a merchant marine and he was about to get back on ship and he wanted to go spearfishing before he left and everything else. So we ended up going and water conditions were not that great at all.

Ramsey Russell: Murky.

Duncan Russell: Super murky. And there was a pretty big swell, but we went out anyways and it’s getting pretty late in the day, like full on dusk. And we both shot a pretty nice fish and I brought mine back to the buoy and he brought his back and we were about to get out of the water. So I guess he just figured he might as well gut and scale them while we were all the way out there. A good 800 yards or so from the bank. So he starts gutting them and scaling them and everything else. And I swam out and just decided to make one more drop and went down to the bottom and right past the visibility line because, mind you, a super murky, maybe 12 foot. I saw something and I didn’t really process what it was, but I thought it might be like a school of fish or something. So I put my head down and kind of patted on the sand and looked back up and sure enough, there’s a 9 foot like barrel chested shark fins dropped like sun’s going down, ready to go. That cut in towards me. And I mean, I had never in my life felt my entire inside go to liquid like I did right then. And, I mean, I had seen sharks before and everything else, but I don’t know. It was just something about them, I guess there’s the mass of its chest. So as soon as it cut back out for a split second, I bolted back to the buoy and we had a pretty long swim to get back to the bank. And then, sure enough not too long before I saw that shark, somebody had just gotten their leg bit off about a half mile down the beach by a 9 foot tiger shark.

Ian Munn: So when you were swimming back to the bank, did you make sure you were ahead of your buddy or behind your buddy?

Duncan Russell: I’d say I was a little bit ahead of him.

Ramsey Russell: I mean, what do you do to situation like that? Just hope for the best.

Duncan Russell: I mean, I’m sure people who are a lot more advanced than spearfish and really know what to do if a shark starts getting a little frisky. But I’m definitely not at that level yet, so –

Forrest Russell: I’m sure he was locked and loaded, though.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Well, this the story, Duncan. You told me you and a buddy found a reef and you couldn’t believe nobody was on it, and the fishing was good and you all been out there a couple of days or something and a guy flagged, a Japanese man, flagged you over to the bank, said there was a reason nobody was there.

Duncan Russell: Yeah, we went out there all day and I mean, we had a pile of fish, like, I mean, some pretty nice fish, like a lot of parrotfish and everything else, over there, we were using exclusively pole spears, because if you weren’t a local, you couldn’t use a gun. So it was a super nice day for that. And anyways, we had been going a couple times and we never saw anybody else out there on the reef, and it was like a pristine reef. And yeah, we were walking back to the bank and some local flagged us down, looked kind of panicky and was like, trying to explain to us and we didn’t know what he was saying. And somebody who spoke English and Japanese came over and kind of translated. He was telling us that, like, none of the locals go out to that reef because it’s kind of known for tiger sharks. So said that he saw one bigger in his little canoe, that he would go check his, I guess he was farming clams or something out there.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. No wonder you moved back to Mississippi.

Forrest Russell: And you got your board bumped one night.

Ramsey Russell: What?

Duncan Russell: Oh, yeah. Then me and that dude that I was just saying, I went spear fishing with a lot over in Okinawa, Cole. We went night fishing one time. We were camping on a beach, and he had a kayak and I was a little bit cheaper and bought a paddle board. So we were out there maybe midnight and we were having a good time, like, brought us a bunch of these things called Sochus, which is like some kind of Japanese plum wine you can get for, like, a dollar a bottle over there. So we were –

Ramsey Russell: Met somebody at bathtub.

Duncan Russell: Yeah, probably. We were out there maybe 100 yards or so fishing enough and he caught, like, an eel and we were catching all kinds of stuff you just don’t really catch during the day. And then, sure enough, something made contact with my board, knocked my little tackle box off of it and we left not too long after that. And I went and bought a kayak the next week. Sold the paddle board.

Ramsey Russell: Go ahead.

Forrest Russell: No, I wasn’t saying.

Ramsey Russell: Ian, when you think back all these days, you practically helped me raise these boys over here at Willow Brake. What are some of your favorite memories hunting with them? If one particular teal hunt stood out, what would it be with these boys? We were talking about this earlier around the truck. And what would it be? What would be one of your favorite? We have since they were 6, 7 years old apiece, which is a long time ago now. We’ve done, we 4 have done open day of teal season every year.

Ian Munn: Every year. Yeah. I guess my favorite memory and this is really Forrest memory, is last year, opening day, I think there was 7 or 8 of us all hunting Duck Hole. And, yeah, it was the mosses and their grandkids.

Ramsey Russell: What day was before that?

Forrest Russell: Second day.

Ian Munn: Second day. Yeah. And Schwarz birthday. Bam. Shoots the duck, lands way behind us. He wanders off and he comes skipping back. Guess what I got on my birthday. Abandoned teal.

Forrest Russell: I sailed it back on the tree line and I sent Stormy back there and she was gone for a couple minutes. And I told Zach Jordan was sitting next to him. I said, watch. She’s about to bring me back a band. And he was like, oh, whatever. I’m telling you, bring me one back for my birthday. And when she brought it back, she walked by him first. And he said, that ain’t no way. And sure enough.

Ramsey Russell: I remember getting a picture. That’s your favorite memory?

Ian Munn: With Forrest. Now, Duncan’s was not a teal hunt. We were hunting mallard and it would miss slow day. And we heard a couple of mallards quacking behind us, but they weren’t budging and –

Ramsey Russell: They were buried up in that cover, weren’t they?

Duncan Russell: Wood duck flies over. And characteristically, I smoked a son of a gun. But it sailed about 30, 40 yards back behind me. And so I’m wandering off, trying to find that duck and all of a sudden I hear, bam, bam. And I get back, and Duncan’s holding up a band of direct mallard. I had run it out of the COVID and he had taken care of it.

Duncan Russell: The best happened when he walked up was he walked up and I said, Mr. Ian, here is a band. And he said, you son of a bitch.

Forrest Russell: The best time to be in a duck blind is when Mr. Ian is looking for a cripple, pouring coffee or taking a picture.

Ramsey Russell: Exactly.

Duncan Russell: Oh, yeah.

Forrest Russell: One of the three is a guarantee. You better get your going.

Ramsey Russell: When you said later in the morning, see, I would remember that story. You were probably out taking pictures of something.

Ian Munn: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Forrest on the buttonbush.

The Best Duck Hunting Days

Ian Munn: Well, me, you and Derek Bucket were hunting pintail one time. And duck flew over our end and Derek shot it. And Forrest goes, who shot that duck? And Derek goes, well, I did of course and he was taking pictures as usual.

Ramsey Russell: One of the best teal weekends I can recall was 2 years ago, opening day, 7 of us in a blind to include the mosses and their grandchildren. And it was just one of them days. Jim told me this morning, best duck hunting has ever been on his life today. But Forrest was in high school. I don’t know. No, Duncan, were you there that day? It rained. I know it was Bryce and Matt.

Duncan Russell: I know it was just Matt and Bryce. I think Tanner might have been there, too.

Ramsey Russell: I think it was just Matt and Bryce, but it just –

Ian Munn: It was pouring.

Ramsey Russell: There wasn’t any ducks abandoned, but we’re fixing to have a front. It’s going to rain, but most importantly, it’s going to be a strong front. Let’s go after it. And it was raining sideways –

Forrest Russell: Probably a 20 miles an hour north wind, too.

Ramsey Russell: Delta was still around, so it’s been a while ago. And it was so action packed that I had to yell calf rope. We got to catch up and count these ducks. And we were done. I mean, boy we –

Forrest Russell: Huge flocks.

Ramsey Russell: Huge flocks.

Forrest Russell: Nearly 50 to 100 every flock.

Ian Munn: And I was hunting up big hole by myself and it was pouring rain, so I had I pulled the ATV right up to the water line. Sitting there watching it pour and I’m not getting out and that. And as I’m sitting there watching it, flock, about 30, 40 teal will come right into the decoys. Well, that won’t happen again. A couple of minutes later, another flock comes in, I said, damn it. And I got out there and I was limited pretty darn quickly and so I came driving back to tell you all to get up the big hole and you all were picking up decoys and heading on in. You’d already –

Ramsey Russell: We were done. And then the next day, probably all them birds were gone. That’s just the tough part of living in this part of the flyway is they come through and then they’re gone. Yeah, they might lay up till opening day, but then a little bit of pressure, boom, they’re gone. People down in Louisiana and Texas, down the coast, can’t understand it. It’s just hit or miss. Down there the birds are laid in good. They got a lot of habitat, a lot of flooded stuff.

Forrest Russell: That’s like, last year, opening day, we all hunted right there on Duck Hole. And then we saw one teal opening day and killed him. And that was it. Stayed out there till 08:30 and didn’t see another one. And me and just me and Mr. Ian went the next morning. I mean, it was awesome. I mean every –

Ramsey Russell: Good as a geese.

Ian Munn: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Blue wing is just one of them things you don’t know till you go. You have no idea till you go.

Forrest Russell: Scouting report means nothing around.

Ramsey Russell: Not with blue wings it doesn’t, because they could be anywhere. I think it’s just trying to find some good habitat. Like today we went. We’ve had worst. Last year we shot one on opening day. Today we shot 2. But it just looked like good habitat. It just wasn’t enough water on the landscape. One enough water on the landscape. I thought about this, this morning, Ian. You and Duncan teamed up. I mean, you’ve got several pictures of him hanging down your wall. You all were hunting buddies back before he went to marines. You all hunted together a lot, and you had like a primary responsibility. Do you remember what that responsibility was?

Ian Munn: Bringing toilet paper.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Did you notice this morning, 5 years in the marines, he brought his own.

Ian Munn: Well, I was going to ask him if he had the same issue when he went spearfishing. Before I get into the water, let me go up behind the dune here.

Ramsey Russell: The marines taught us something. My favorite Duncan story, though. And I’m like, thank God my son, this didn’t happen to my son. You were in the Mojave desert and almost got bit in the ass by something.

Duncan Russell: Oh, yeah. Is it Mohave rattlers? Is that the name of the rattlesnake? I don’t know. I think it’s like a smaller subspecies, diamondbacks. But, yeah, I went to go dig a little hole to take a dump around, like 02:00 in the morning or so. And I heard some – I heard the rattles start going off and I was like, surely not. And kind of like, poked around behind my shoulder. And sure enough, about 2 and a half foot away from a butt cheek, this thing was cooled up and ready to go.

Ramsey Russell: Do you know how embarrassed I’d have been if my son had gotten bit in the ass? I mean, you of all people getting bit. You all are the 2 barefoot little boys that would catch all the snakes. I never forget one time, it must have been a dozen kids out here, maybe this time of year, because we were all over here and swimming out there in the lake and all the kids started running out and Forrest is yelling, help me, help me, help me. And I come running down there thinking he’s drowning. And he was about drowning. He was up, he was standing, trying to tend on his tiptoes, keep his nose out of water and he wanted me to come in and help him because he had a snake in each hand and couldn’t swim. He had one of the snake catchers in one hand and a big water snake in the other. And I just walked on back.

Ian Munn: Another time when the lake was drained, the kids are having a blast playing in the mud.

Duncan Russell: I was just about to bring this up.

Ian Munn: And old Duncan gets sunk belly up to his waist, and he’s crying, help, help. And Forrest, I think it was you Forrest, got a little itty bitty stick and stuck it out to him. And I don’t – I think Savannah was the one that finally rescued you. Yeah, but I know you had no sympathy. He’ll get out.

Ramsey Russell: He’ll get out.

Ian Munn: Yeah.

Duncan Russell: Yeah. I just remember being completely stuck, steadily getting going deeper and deeper and deeper in the mud. Got about up to my waist and I was like, oh, my God, like, I’m really sinking now. And everybody’s out on the back porch. You’re firing up the fish fire. And I was just screaming and hollering as loud as I could and everybody was just like, kind of looked down at me and then kind of waved and then kind of go back to what they were doing.

Ramsey Russell: You got out, didn’t you?

Duncan Russell: Yeah. Thanks to Ian and Savannah, they finally came down.

Forrest Russell: Those boots are there to this day.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, Lord. What other memories we got here?

Ian Munn: Well, one’s a Munn factor memory. And Forest and I were out hunting last year teal season, nothing really. We sat there and sat there and we had one decoy that was upside down. And after about an hour and a half, 2 hours, I said, it’s got to be that decoy, that decoy is what’s – I got to go change. I was really looking for an excuse to get up and move around, so I got out in the decoys and as I’m turning that sucker right side up, Forrest is yelling, Mr. Ian, duck and I thought he meant duck. But a swarm of teal came in and just whoosh all around me. Of course, he couldn’t shoot. I’m going to have, what the hell? That was just –

Ramsey Russell: That wasn’t the only flock you all saw the day, was it?

Ian Munn: Pretty much, wasn’t it?

Forrest Russell: If I had to guess, yeah.

Ian Munn: Yeah. That was the culmination of the hunt. Me sitting there with 20, 30 teal all around me and Forrest just going, being very nice, not saying anything.

Forrest Russell: They wouldn’t have come though, if you had come after.

Ian Munn: That’s true.

Ramsey Russell: What about today? Like this morning, we stuck it out. Shot a green wing, shot a blue wing. Got buzzed by a bunch of wood ducks and maybe something would come in. You never can tell. I didn’t hear any shooting in the bottom, though and that tells me there wasn’t many buzzing around. But sometimes you stick it out. Like, I remember one time hunting with Forrest and Duncan up on the north pothole and we stuck it out. Forrest started getting angry, started getting grumpy. We had not seen a blue winged teal. And Forrest said, all right, let’s go, it’s 09:00 let’s just go. We ain’t seen nothing. What happened then?

Forrest Russell: I think you were out in the decoys picking them up and a big ball of them just swooped right over and you ran back the tree. I think we had all the decoys picked up and they made one pass and came back around. Everybody was fumbling. I popped one in that 20 gauge and killed my limit in one shot.

Ramsey Russell: Duncan and I were trying to shove our get fully loaded while I swing. And by the time they come in, we were caught with our pants down. And you had one shell up and pull the trigger and kill 4. Got your limit.

Forrest Russell: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Talk about a mood changer.

Forrest Russell: I mean, that picture right there on that news article that was we were hunting up on the Chute that morning and I think we had maybe 1 or 2 at 09:00 when everybody was out in the decoys picking up and about 40 of them probably buzzed over and everybody just crouched down in the water and they came back over and we killed, I think, 11 out of that flock.

Ramsey Russell: That’s the thing I like about blue wings. They bounce around. They move so quick. Man, at least in our part of the world, they’re so naive. We don’t have to get a big blind. I mean, like they were just sitting on the edge of the coffee weed. And they come right in.

Ian Munn: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Ian, what is the one thing that – I just noticed something a few years ago, after a long time of hunting together, you up showed up at teal season. You had a Mojo. What compelled you, after many years of not having one to just go get one?

Ian Munn: For teal season, they work. They really work. If there’s a flock of them, they’ll all land within 5ft, 10ft 15ft of that Mojo.

Ramsey Russell: How many times did you have to say that you didn’t mind?

Ian Munn: I’m a slow learner. Well, I’m really cheap is what it is. Took me a while to bite the bullet.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, gosh.

Ian Munn: Yeah. I wouldn’t go now without one.

Ramsey Russell: This time of year just, It blows my mind. We bought this place. It was built high cover. You could see for miles. And now the trees are growing up and I haven’t been here in a couple of months. Seems like every September I’ve been busy, I’ve been traveling, I’ve been doing something. I show up, it’s teal season and it’s just amazing. Even driving out in the dark, it just continues to grow and continues to evolve and it’s almost like a different place. Thank goodness I know where I’m going. Like this morning, the trail wasn’t cut to where we were going. We just barreled through there and found it.

Ian Munn: We knew basically where we wanted to go. And even though it was a solid wall of coffee weed. We –

Ramsey Russell: Solid wall. That’s right. We grow some Boone and Crockett coffee weed here. But that was a nice looking duck call, wasn’t it?

Ian Munn: I thought it looked real nice. The rice looked good and probably 60, 70% open water, but with emergent rice all the way through it. And it was just nice.

Ramsey Russell: We went weeks without rain. We’re in a full blown drought like I’ve never seen, because there’s places dry that I haven’t seen dry in 20 years here.

A Teal Hunt to Remember

Opening day of teal season or teal season in general is my favorite.

Ian Munn: Some of our favorite teal hunting.

Ramsey Russell: Some of our best. But you know Beaver, which is never been nothing but, not going to be anything but just big old water lilies. We’ve had some hellacious teal hunts in there. Was it 2 or 3 years ago? I never in a million years would have thought to go over during teal season. But you found them or something?

Ian Munn: No. Well, yes, but it was tadpole. I saw a bunch of them and it was working between those 2 willow clumps. And that’s where we set up. And it was one of those magic mornings and we were limited in no time.

Ramsey Russell: And they stayed in there just about the whole season.

Ian Munn: Yeah. At one part of the hole or another.

Ramsey Russell: I think, given a chance, teal really liked to get down in some cover and stuff. What’s your favorite thing about teal hunting, boys? I mean, what do you all – I mean, and here’s why I’m asking this question is like, you all got buddies. You all went to high school and had buddies at duck hunting. But how many people do you all go to school with grew up teal hunting as regularly and as passionately and as diligently as they duck hunted?

Forrest Russell: I never knew a single person that did do.

Duncan Russell: I don’t even think a lot of people know there is an early teal season.

Forrest Russell: Opening day of teal season or teal season in general is my favorite. I mean –

Ian Munn: We probably only have, at best, a handful of folks in this club with 30, 31 that deal on.

Ramsey Russell: People scared of snakes.

Ian Munn: Yeah, snakes or something like that.

Ramsey Russell: I’ve never have seen some big snakes during teal season.

Duncan Russell: I saw a cottonmouth this morning.

Ramsey Russell: Where?

Duncan Russell: I was walking out to go get the –

Forrest Russell: Right by the trail.

Ian Munn: Yeah

Ramsey Russell: How big was he?

Duncan Russell: That’s probably 2 and a half foot long.

Ramsey Russell: Good.

Duncan Russell: It was a pretty nice one.

Forrest Russell: If we hadn’t been bit by a snake, then you get. I mean, chance or anything –

Ramsey Russell: Delta got bit by snake over in Duck Hole one time.

Duncan Russell: Didn’t Cooper get bit, too?

Ramsey Russell: No, Cooper never got bit. Delta did. We were getting to the ranger, I mean, to the 4 wheeler she was jumping on back and

Ian Munn: It was under the 4 wheeler.

Ramsey Russell: It must have been because the water was 2 inches deep. And if she would jump, getting ready to climb up, she yelled like, I nicked her. And she didn’t have a collar on. And then her foot swelled up and down. In between her pads were 2 little old betty fame. It was a tiny one must have been about a foot long. And I’m trying to think of the biggest one I’ve ever killed during teal season. Because, I hate to say it, I’m a live and let live guy. I don’t like killing a lot of stuff, but cottonmouth, I just I cannot let give one a pass. I just can’t give one a pass. If I say a cottonmouth, I’m killing him. But the biggest one I’ve ever killed during teal season was up in the north pothole hunting with a buddy of mine up on the north side, kind of the northwest side of the northwest pothole. And that song of gun was bigger rounds my arm and 4 foot long. And when they ride, it ain’t, you can tell a water snake from a cottonmouth, because when a cottonmouth rides on the water, he’s sitting fully on top of the water, he just stands out. He looks humongous and didn’t you say you shot one recently or something?

Ian Munn: Yeah, it was what, 2 years ago, I think. Anyway, we were hunting on the west side of a Duck Hole and out there in the middle, which was probably 60, 70 yards away, you could see one swimming by. And I threw a hail mary on it just to chase him away the other direction and he stopped dead in the water. Heck, wandered on out there and magic BB hit him right in the head. I mean, yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, speaking of magic BB, the granddaddy of all cottonmouths on Willow Brake was killed when Forrest I didn’t think Forrest hunting. Do you remember shooting that snake, Forrest, off the iron bridge?

Forrest Russell: But the real granddaddy of all cottonmouths was that one Chuck killed. And he put it in the bushes right there across my family unit.

Ian Munn: Oh, no.

Forrest Russell: And Ian was going through there weed eating with that metal disc blade.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Forrest Russell: And it was sitting on the back of our ranger for like a day. And it finally got thrown back there, I guess, and the next day it was back, cut in half. And Ian was look how big this cottonmouth is. He scared the shit out of me. It was the big. It was as big around as my calf. I mean, it was probably at least 4, 5.

Ian Munn: I had him cut in half before. I didn’t even realize it was already dead till they told me. Yeah, he was sitting there curled up in the bush and oh my –

Ramsey Russell: I think it’s between my junior and senior year of high school, whatever. I was in high school. We had a neighbor across the street and me and a boy named Ronnie Richardson, in fact, were out frog gigging or shooting frogs in a pond and killed a big old snake. I mean, just perforated him. And I brought him home and before I went to bed that night, I stuck him up under that guy’s car. Like when you’re unlocking your door, you look at your feet, you can see the unshot part sticking out. And went to bed and forgot all about it until next morning, probably about 09:00 or 10:00. I was sleeping late. I just remember him busting into my room with my neighbor, grabbed me by my feet and pulling me out of bed, hollering at me because he had missed an important sales meeting trying to get this snake. And when he realized it was shot and I put it there, boy, was he mad at the morning.

Ian Munn: The worst thing I’ve heard along those lines back when I was working for a timber company, somebody caught a rattlesnake live and they taped its head to a board so it couldn’t strike. And then put it up under a guy’s truck seat.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Ian Munn: And he got in there and he froze. And everybody was just laughing their ass off so he couldn’t see them. And, oh, there was hell to pay after that, when he figured that one out.

Ramsey Russell: That must have been some good tape. I mean, what if he got loose?

Ian Munn: Oh, yeah.

Ramsey Russell: I know people that would have gotten out of the truck right then and just lit it on fire trying to see if that thing was taped or not. Duncan, you’ve seen some snakes around here. What’s some of the snake stores you got?

Duncan Russell: Oh, well, I mean, I guess one of the most recent ones was taken Harley, who’s might have been bumped in the head or something, whenever she was a puppy, right back there and she ran over a cottonmouth that was cooled up. It came barreling out of the reeds and cooled up right there in the middle of this little creek. And she just was trotting all over it. Wouldn’t even strike her.

Ramsey Russell: Really. Did he have his mouth open?

Duncan Russell: Oh, yeah. And then I remember being down at the bunk house before we built all these family units and everything. And I can just kind of vaguely remember everybody just making a circle around this, they had been messing around with some hip boots that were hanging up.

Forrest Russell: The corn snake. The only corn snake I’ve ever seen.

Duncan Russell: They knocked it out of one of those things. And I mean, there’s a picture of me holding it somewhere. I’m not, but 4 years old.

Forrest Russell: Oh, yeah.

Ian Munn: I remember that picture. Except I thought – maybe the one I’m thinking of was Forrest holding the snake like this. But –

Ramsey Russell: This was a tiny one, about 2 foot long.

Ian Munn: Yeah, this was actually a water snake. So it was for –

Ramsey Russell: We hang our waders up by the door there at the old bunkhouse. And this one had fallen out or done something.

Duncan Russell: Yeah, well, they took down their hip boots, I guess, to check them. They were about to go through them, check them for leaks or throw them away or something. I don’t know. And whenever they touched it, I mean, there were a bunch of grown men standing down there and everybody just made like a circle around it. Cause this snake had fallen out of the boot and hit the ground. And I just kind of went wilding in there and grabbed it.

Forrest Russell: At least it fell out when it did.

Ian Munn: I hate to put it on. And that would have been terrible.

Duck Hunting at 4 Years Old

We go out there to hunt and his teeth start chattering. I’m like, son, you can’t possibly be cold. 

Ramsey Russell: Speaking of the bunkhouse I may have told this story before, but I remember Forrest was not hunting age. He was just 4, maybe. And I carried him over to camp and it wasn’t cold, but it was wintertime, say it was 450. Me and a buddy of mine from NRCS up. Where was he from? We was going to go duck hunting. Next morning, he got here, and I had laid Forrest clothes out, starting with his long johns. Another pair of long johns, another pair of layers, another layer, another layer of coat, waders. I said, start here, start layering up. So I was cooking breakfast or using the bathroom, brushing my teeth, getting ready, getting myself ready, getting everything loaded, getting everything sorted. And he was ready. It took him no time to get ready. We go out there to hunt and his teeth start chattering. I’m like, son, you can’t possibly be cold. I’m surprised you don’t have steam coming out of your ears, mean clothes, you got on.

Forrest Russell: Well, I was probably wet, too.

Ramsey Russell: Well, you may have been wet, too. But when we get back home, because his teeth are literally chattering. His lips are blue. And we get back and I said, well, I got to take him back and get him warmed up. He had gone from his shirt to the waders and skipped 5 steps in between. It was literally unsighted waders wearing his tighty whities. Well, I could ever spider man or something. It just didn’t have any clothes on except for a hoodie and his underwear.

Ian Munn: That kind of reminds me of this story when you all took Rachel Nolan with you and loaned her a pair of waders and about halfway through the morning and you looked over and she’s blue and her teeth are chattering. Never complained.

Ramsey Russell: Never said a word.

Ian Munn: Hole in the wader. So, she was sitting there waist deep with water. Waist deep in water.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, they leaked like a sea. We found out and her daddy bought her some waders next time.

Ian Munn: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: So she had her own waders. But she did not complain.

Ian Munn: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: If you could pick one place of all the years you’ve hunted here, because it’s all we think about. We have hunted big hole, Garhole. Remember back in the day, Garhole was hot.

Ian Munn: I’ve had some great hunts in the Garhole.

Ramsey Russell: And then the tree –

Forrest Russell: Me and you had a really good hunt there a couple years ago.

Ian Munn: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Where were you all hunt?

Forrest Russell: In the skid blind.

Ian Munn: Skid blind, yeah. But I’ve also hunted down at the very south end. And when the wind’s right, they come right in there.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. We’ve hunted Beaver, Duck Hole, mallard. I mean, during teal season. And I can even remember. I can even hunt pintail.

Ian Munn: Well, the one you’re forgetting and it’s namesake, is teal hole.

Ramsey Russell: The teal hole.

Ian Munn: And Van Duncan is opening weekend. TOC is in the first year we’re in the club and they all thought we were crazy. And I don’t know where you were, but he said, well, if you want some teal there and we didn’t even have a name for it then. That little finger. And so I went out there and I shot 2 teal. And those are the first 2 ducks shot in Willow Brake by Willow Brake club members.

Ramsey Russell: Teal. It’s been named teal hole ever since.

Ian Munn: Yeah. And we’ve gone back and had some good hunts in there teal season.

Ramsey Russell: I’m trying to remember if I ever had a good hunt in teal season there.

Ian Munn: Well, sometimes definition of good hunt is 2 or 3 birds. But, yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Not getting skunked.

Ian Munn: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: 18Th hole, the time we would pump it up was fantastic. By then they planted millet.

Ian Munn: Yeah. And they would come in in the afternoon, I guess, to roost there. But, yeah. You got out there in the afternoon, you could have a heck of a hunt.

Ramsey Russell: I really think that the having water out there just seems to me that the years we’ve had a lot of water because of storms or whatever, management or whatever and we’ve had a lot of teal water, we generally had some very good or better habitat for the big ducks, too. Have you noticed that?

Ian Munn: I think that’s generally true. Yeah.

Duck Hunting Cuisine

Every time we had a potluck down at the lodge, everybody was keeping an eye on their, on their cast iron skillet, seeing whose cornbread went by the fastest.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. I think it’s a good foreboding. I think it just, if you got good habitat for teal, you probably got good habitat for big ducks later. And if you don’t, I don’t know what you do. Hopefully it works out good. What about the food? What do you look forward to coming over here, boys, to eat? I mean, like, last night. How do you beat last night? How many ribeyes have you eaten sitting right here at this bar?

Duncan Russell: No, I mean, I’ve definitely had a lot of steaks and back strap and everything else here, but probably the one food that really makes me think of Willow Break is cowboy stew.

Ramsey Russell: Cowboy stew.

Ian Munn: Cowboy stew.

Duncan Russell: Served over Fritos.

Ramsey Russell: I got the ingredients right there for emergencies, you think about the Fritos.

Ian Munn: So you got to help me out. What’s cowboy stew.

Ramsey Russell: It is quick and easy and teenagers and kids love it. It’s equal parts of meat only. No bean chili, sweet corn and pork and beans. All out of a can. 3 cans.

Forrest Russell: It sounds terrible, but it is amazing.

Ramsey Russell: Turn it up and heat it and serve it over bigger them great big old scoops of Frito lay scoop. And it is, I mean, it’s junk food, but it is good.

Forrest Russell: What makes me think a Willow Break  is just fried everything. Fried fish. Yeah, fried.

Duncan Russell: It hadn’t. Yeah, we hadn’t fried in that fryer in probably 5 years. But my God, when we were growing up, I don’t know if we had a meal that didn’t come out of that fryer.

Ian Munn: Well, it was for the longest time, everybody said, oh, we’re going to fry up some back backstrap. And I thought backstrap sucked, because everybody would fry it to death. And you get this hockey puck. And I think it was, Kyle was cooking it one day and he did it right. Came out and it was still moist and tender on the inside. And I said, now I get fried backstrap. But before that, no way.

Ramsey Russell: Well, there were times we had catfish and brim and bass out our ears and we could show up over here, whether it was teal season or summertime or whatever and catch fish and fry them at night. I mean, who don’t like fried fish?

Duncan Russell: Oh, yeah. That’s my favorite memories of Willow Break. Waking up before everybody else in the house and going down to the end of the pier every single morning with a fishing pole that just had line tied straight to the last eye on the pole in a jig and just walking around to each post and catching crappie.

Ian Munn: Catching crappie? Yeah. For about 2 or 3 years, that lake was just prime crappie habitat.

Ramsey Russell: I missed the catfish myself.

Ian Munn: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: When you could just throw some jugs out and go do something, come back and start getting the grease hot.

Ian Munn: And that was fun for kids, chasing those juggers around the lake in a canoe or a kayak or whatever. Yeah, that was fun.

Ramsey Russell: Have you seen the bald eagles around this year?

Duncan Russell: Yeah, I saw them this morning, actually.

Ramsey Russell: Really?

Forrest Russell: I seen it. As long as we have.

Ramsey Russell: What do you look forward to most besides the food, cowboys stew. I can’t believe that’s one of your most indelible memories, is cowboy stew junk food. Not all them big old ribeyes we cook.

Duncan Russell: I mean, I definitely love the steaks, too.

Ramsey Russell: There have been times that I’ve been over here for extended periods. We eat so much steak here, there and everywhere around camp. I just, I’m steaked out.

Duncan Russell: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: I didn’t think that humanly possible, but you just get steaked out, you eat so much ribeye. And you just ready for something different, enter the fish fryer. What about you, Ian? Hey, this is the first time I’ve been here that you didn’t pitch in and cook some of your specialty, the cucumbers.

Ian Munn: Oh, yeah, sliced cucumbers. Just real simple recipe that I got from Derek Bucket. Take cucumbers slice them up, squeeze a little lemon over and then some coarse ground salt. And I think everybody compliments it because they’re afraid I’ll cook something else, but it’s usually a biggie.

Ramsey Russell: Well, the truth matter is Forrest and I have been on the road and wanted to show up and have a little appetizer or something, bring something and that’s a real simple fix. It’s good and everybody likes it. It’s good and good and fulfilling. Forrest you got any memories, like cowboy stew? What are you, some of your memories here?

Forrest Russell: Oh, man, I don’t know about, like, cowboy stew. I mean

Ramsey Russell: Fried.

Forrest Russell Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Fried.

Forrest Russell Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: French fries, fried fish, fried tenderloins,

Forrest Russell: Frog legs, snipe, everything.

Duncan Russell: The unspoken cornbread tournament. Every time we had a potluck down at the lodge, everybody was keeping an eye on their, on their cast iron skillet, seeing whose cornbread went by the fastest.

Ian Munn: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And who’s went by fastest?

Duncan Russell: Yours did.

Ramsey Russell: Absolutely. The cornbread king. I never had to pull out my secret weapon. I got a secret weapon. So if anybody ever catches up with me, I can change an ingredient, catch up with them just a little bit.

Ian Munn: That’s saying a lot. Cause there’s some folks that make some pretty darn good cornbread.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, there’s good cornbread, but cornbread is king, man. I just pity somebody that can’t make good cornbread. Speaking of which, cause we’re talking about food, teenagers are teenagers. They go to college, they kind of go find their own ways in the world. You know what a sure and certain sign is that they’re finally starting to come on kind of circle back is when they text you and need a recipe.

Ian Munn: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And both of them texted me. Both of them. I know Duncan. I got a text from Duncan wanting my recipe for collard greens. Not just any collard greens. He wanted real Mississippi. Greenville, Mississippi, collard greens and cornbread. Were you able to find all those? I can’t remember if you could find the cornbread ingredients.

Duncan Russell: No, I couldn’t find to use, like, JIFFY sweet cornbread mix. The only thing I could find. So I just put as many jalapenos and as much salt in there as I could still to taste it good.

Ramsey Russell: That’s not a good cornbread. No wonder you came back from Mississippi. I can’t remember what it was Forrest to hit me up some text messages for recipes back in the day. Cornbread was one of them.

Forrest Russell: I remember one of them was the roasted teal. The roasted whole teal.

Ramsey Russell: Roasted whole teal. Which we got from Langille, that’s a fail –

Forrest Russell: Coco Cola and the maple syrup.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Sauces. I like to put oranges in mine and roast it down and cook it down.

Forrest Russell: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Well, here’s hoping – We sure have got a lot of memories over the past 20 years. Here’s hoping we get a whole lot more memories to hunt together. This morning was special to me. Just cause all 4 of us were back again and Duncan brought his own toilet paper.

Ian Munn: Well, my high point of the morning was when that single teal landed in the decoys and I heard 3 people yell out, get him, Mr. Ian, get him.

Ramsey Russell: And you did.

Ian Munn: I did. And then somebody I didn’t see who said I thought he was going to miss.

Ramsey Russell: I remember all 3 people shouting out, nice shot, Mr. Ian. Of course. Now, Ian, if you missed that bird at 7 yards on the water, how far did you lead him?

Ian Munn: I told you this morning, I don’t know. I had my eyes closed. Just stuck the barrel out there and pulled the trigger.

Ramsey Russell: I’m glad you didn’t miss him. That made all the difference in the world that got the skunk off of us this morning. And for all I knew, it was going to be the only bird that came in. Anyway, thank you all. Folks, thank you all for listening to this episode of MOJO’s Duck Season Somewhere. I hope that you all are among friends and among family and doing what matters cause our time of year is finally here, see you next time.