EP 524. On Delivering First-class Hunting Lodge Hospitality

 

Ramsey Russell: Welcome back to Mojo Ducks Season Somewhere, where I am in Saskatchewan at Prairie Limits Outfitter. Saskatchewan is a great place to be this time of year, unless you’re a duck or a goose at Prairie Limits. Joining me today is Mr. Brian Kramer, head knocker here at Prairie Limits, one of three head knockers. How you doing, Brian?

Brian Kramer: I’m doing great. How you doing?

Ramsey Russell: I’m doing fine. You know, I missed coming to see you last year.

Brian Kramer: Yep.

Ramsey Russell: And I did truly miss coming to see you. But coming in those front doors when I backed up, it’s like, it’s more like coming home. It’s more like coming to a camp or a friend’s house than coming to a commercial lodge. And I think that’s by design. Is that by design, or is that just the way you are?

Best Hunting Lodge in Canada

When you walk in, it’s a warm, cozy feeling. And then you got that smell of food. It’s like you’re walking into grandma’s kitchen

Brian Kramer: It is by design. Right down to the layout of the lodge, the colors in the lodge, what we have in the lodge. When you walk in, it’s a warm, cozy feeling.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Brian Kramer: And then you got that smell of food. It’s like you’re walking into grandma’s kitchen.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. It really, it’s got a homey feel to it. Now, see, I can remember coming here the first time I came here, you weren’t here. You were working somewhere, doing something in Michigan. But the first time I came here, the lodge still smelled like sawdust.

Brian Kramer: It did.

Ramsey Russell: You all were just getting moved in, and, man, I came back another time, and you all were a little more settled. I came back another time, it was a little more settled. I come back now, man, this thing is hitting on all eight cylinders. It is purring like a kitten. Man, you all have come a long way.

Brian Kramer: Yeah, we dialed it in. You know, we survived. One of our last conversations we had, we talked about the COVID era, going through all that crap that we had with Canada and getting across the border and all of that stuff. And now you get back to where we’re rolling again. And just like you said, we’re hitting on all cylinders, and we’ve got our staff in location now, and we’re not missing a beat.

Ramsey Russell: One of the men I got to hunt with over here. He said something last night. You know, I’m here to duck hunt. I don’t get in people’s business, like, what do you do back home. Nobody wants to talk about what they do back home. We want to be here. But he’s obviously got great business experience, and he was saying, you know, you all touch on the three cornerstones of the way a business like this should work. And I think it’s a people business, it’s a technical business, and then there’s the business side of it, the administrative side of it. You’ve got three partners, and everybody has got their specialty. Ben Webster takes amazing care. I mean, runs that staff like a professional football team winning championships. And you’ve got your friend back home, Rusty. I got to hunt with him and his two boys. Great people. They take care of the back-end stuff. And then there’s Brian, Mr. Hospitality. And I asked you the other day. We were, you know, we pulled up, of course, the decoys were set. That’s something that many commercial operators do, drop a pin and say, “Hey, sleep in a few more minutes. When you get there, we’ll be ready.” And so all we gotta do is get there and get sorted, pull on our boots or whatnot, and put our stuff in the blinds that are ready for us and everything else. But I asked you why you were getting some shotgun shells sorted. I said, “Brian, do you entertain a lot?” And you go, “Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do. My wife and I both entertain a lot.” Why do you ask? That’s why I ask. Because I think it’s a real special touch. A lot of people in this industry open up their lodges to guests coming in. Brian, I’m serious when I say this. I don’t think they’ve got your personal touch. Where’s that coming from with you?

Brian Kramer: I think a lot of it is the Midwest upbringing, small-town communities, you know, and you had families and friends over all the time and you watched your parents entertain, and you just learn from that. When you have a guest, you just take care of them. You treat them just like family. And that’s what’s kind of become up here. You know, we’ve got so many people that come back all the time that you know them personally now. You know what they like, you know their mannerisms, all of it. And they just like it.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, I can tell. I can tell just as I’m sitting there eating dinner, you come out and talk to me. We talk, we catch up, but then you make the rounds. You’re a social butterfly. Not to put you on the spot, but you are.

Brian Kramer: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: How many people would have been at dinner two nights ago? 30, to include guides that, at least 30.

Brian Kramer: Yeah. There’s like 35.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. And you had a conversation with every single one of them. You’d gather up the dishes, pass around more desserts, come around with round two, round three, round four of desserts. It’s unbelievable. It’s a special night. Talk about growing up. How did you grow up in the Midwest? Michigan.

Brian Kramer: Yep. So I grew up in the Thumb. Very small farm community, very rural. You know, our high school was very small. I’m not going to tell you when I graduated, but, you know, years ago.

Ramsey Russell: Probably about the same time I did.

Brian Kramer: Yeah, probably around the same time. And I think that sets your base, you know. And my life experiences, roles, things I got into, like the golf business, and, you know, I got to be around people that were very successful, watched a lot of very successful people. So you learn things. There’s always that person in your life that you’re around that you learn things from that have an impact on people. And my dad was one, my grandpa was another. Guys that I worked for made a big difference. You know, I think it’s one of life’s things that you can’t get from a book or an education. It’s just from being around those kinds of people. And I think everybody’s had that in their life, some kind of mentor or mentors through their roles of things that they’ve done. And, you know, I just think it was a great, great upbringing.

The Art of Organizing Waterfowl Hunting Experiences

And the thing that really stands out in Saskatchewan is you’re here for the waterfowl. 

Ramsey Russell: We’ve all got our own skill sets, too. I mean, some people are. My wife, for example, she is the brains of our operation. She is not an out-in-front-of-people kind of gal. You know what I’m saying? She’s happy to do the fine-tooth-comb stuff. She would have panic attacks if she had to get up and speak to a lot of people at a seminar or stand on the floor and talk to hundreds of people a day. That’s just not her cup of tea. That’s my cup of tea, man. I love it. It’s like Popeye and spinach. The more people I get to talk to, the happier I am, you know? But she wants to be kind of quiet. Everybody’s got their own strength. I really, truly believe that this industry, I’ve always described, I’ve been doing this thing for 25 years, and I’ve always felt that this is a hospitality industry. It’s a hunting business. People are not coming here to watch the sunrise. We’re selling experiences, and dead waterfowl are part of that experience. But at the end of the day, there’s so much more to it that we are responsible for. When guys drive or fly all the way from the deep south up here to Saskatchewan, I mean, it’s a lot that goes into this.

Brian Kramer: And you witnessed this the other day. It’s like, I tell this to people. You’re not just booking a hunting trip. You’re booking a whole experience. And the thing that really stands out in Saskatchewan is you’re here for the waterfowl. But you see moose, you see deer, you see antelope, you see elk, all of these other big game animals up here. You see the countryside, which is beautiful. Our skies are beautiful. Our sunsets, our sunrises are beautiful. When you’re laying in that field watching the sun come up, it’s spectacular. On top of that, now, you take guys that have been friends for years, they come up here and experience this together. It’s a great experience. And throughout the whole hunt, you know, the camaraderie, the jabbing that they do to each other, you know, it’s all part of the game, right? It’s fun. So the whole experience is fun. Then you get done with the hunt. They’re standing there, and they reminisce about what just took place, you know, and talk about hunts and talk about what they did that day through that hunt. And it’s just fun to share this with people because it is truly a great experience. If someone’s a waterfowler, this has to be on their bucket list, because there isn’t a place better that I know of.

Waterfowl Hunting as a Social Sport

Stalking quietly. But not here. Not at duck camp. 

Ramsey Russell: I agree. You bring out a good point, you know, about waterfowl hunting being a social sport, a community sport, kind of like a team sport. It’s one thing if you’re a serious elk hunting archer. You spend your days quiet, whispering to yourself or to nobody.

Brian Kramer: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: Stalking quietly. But not here. Not at duck camp. Matter of fact, last night, I was hunting with those Colorado boys. And just like every other group, if I’d hunted with the Alabama boys, if I’d hunted when I hunted with the Tennessee boys, man, you better have some thick skin if you hunt with your people. If you’re hunting with a bunch of strangers, everybody’s polite. If you’re hunting with your people and it just occurred to me, the way those guys were cutting up, I said, it just occurred to me. Rodney Dangerfield, no respect, right? Rodney Dangerfield must have been a duck hunter. He had to have been.

Brian Kramer: Yeah. You show no weakness out there because they’ll attack.

Ramsey Russell: Heck no, man. They will turn on you.

Brian Kramer: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: I mean, nobody can bust your balls better than your best friends that you’re sharing time with.

Brian Kramer: Exactly.

Ramsey Russell: How did you and Ben Webster meet? How did you all become that? How did he come into the equation? He’s your field guy, your technical guy. How did you all meet?

Brian Kramer: So I was watching a hunting show one day, and Ben was on there, and I thought, he looks like he knows what he’s doing. I’ve never hunted Kansas before. I need to go out there and hunt. So that’s how I met Ben. That was about 14 years ago. Hunted out there for a number of years. And then one year, he says to me, he goes, have you ever been to Saskatchewan? I said, yeah, I should have been up there a number of years. I said, I haven’t gone for about four years now. And he said, well, would you take me? So we set it up. He and a bunch of buddies took all the equipment up. I met him up there with a buddy of mine, and we hunted for a week. And we did that for a couple of years. And then when we went back home, the one year, he called me and said, hey, would you be interested in doing an outfitter thing in Canada? And actually, it was Alberta at the time, the zones that were available. And I said, yeah, give me a couple days to think about it. I’ll get back to you. Well, I called him that next morning and said, let’s do this. I think I can make this work. And that’s how it all started right there.

Ramsey Russell: You sell medical equipment back home?

Brian Kramer: I do.

Ramsey Russell: Which is also a people business.

Brian Kramer: Yes.

Getting a Start in the Outfitting Industry

Well, the harder you work, the luckier you get.

 

Ramsey Russell: What compelled you into Prairie Limits Outfitters?

Brian Kramer: Actually, for a long time, wanted to be an upland hunter, like have a pheasant upland thing and do it on a different level than what’s done today. So if you went to some of these hunt clubs today, you know, you have these fields, and it’s a pile of grass here and then a pile of grass there. I wanted to get back to the traditional pheasant hunting, row crops stripped out, push corn pieces, ditches, fence rows, millet, and different things like that. And I had some investors that were interested. We even looked at doing it like on an island, trying to find an island place or a place where we could really control our own environment, right, and have the birds out there so that they were more wild than just releasing them that morning. It just never came to fruition. And then this opportunity came up, and I just ran with it from there, you know. And it seemed like the whole time we started this thing, every time we ran into a roadblock, something better fell into our lap. So it was definitely destined to be.

Ramsey Russell: Meant to be. And how did you meet? You told me a great story about how you met Rusty. I want to hear about how you met Rusty.

Brian Kramer: So this was about 25 years ago, I met Rusty. He just graduated college. He’s a physical therapist. He comes to Michigan. He’s born and raised here in South Dakota. Comes to Michigan from Minnesota and runs a clinic that my buddy owns. So I walk in there one day, and I see a bumper sticker on his truck that says, “The Governor’s Pheasant Hunt of South Dakota.” And I thought, I gotta find out who this guy is. So I walk in there, and I said, who owns the truck with the bumper sticker? And he sticks his head out of a treatment room, and I looked at him and I said, we just became best friends.

Ramsey Russell: Uh-huh.

Brian Kramer: And since then on, we actually did. And we hunted out there for a number of years. My son was 12 when we started going out there, and he’s 32 now. So we’ve known him a long time. He knows my family well. We go to each other’s weddings and family gatherings and graduations and all of those things. So he’s a good friend of mine and a great business partner. He’s the one piece that I needed for this thing, for sure. I mean, he fit in. It’s just, he does all the things that I don’t care to do. You know, all the background stuff, you know, making sure everything’s in place, all the T’s crossed.

Ramsey Russell: Administrative.

Brian Kramer: All the administrative stuff, from coordinating all the guys that are coming and all that. So when I get here, I look like I’m very organized. So he sets all of that up for me. I do all the booking and scheduling. He does all the collection, all the paperwork, all the business side of it, that part of it. So we discuss stuff, you know, our decisions we make together. But he’s the one that does all that work.

Ramsey Russell: Yep.

Brian Kramer: And then up here, I do all the lodge stuff. Like I put the tool bag on, and, you know, we did the lodge, we did this building here, we did the guide house, all that stuff, which Rusty and I don’t think even knows how a hammer goes in his hand.

Ramsey Russell: I understand.

Brian Kramer: Everybody has their strengths, and it’s a great marriage, for sure.

Ramsey Russell: Well, that’s why you got a team.

Brian Kramer: Yeah. So we have a great team.

Ramsey Russell: Everybody does. Everybody plays their respective positions.

Brian Kramer: Yep. And my staff, I can’t go on enough about how great my staff is. They are outstanding.

Ramsey Russell: Name some of them and elaborate. I agree entirely is what you saying.

Brian Kramer: Our top guy, you know, I have Josh Wright, who’s from Wyoming. I have Dylan Graves, who was originally from Michigan, now in Wyoming. Carter Klatt from Montana. Jack Donner from Kansas. And then we have Jesse Harker, who was a new guy this year from Ontario. He’s fit into our team well. A local guy that does our scouting, Wayne Hire, is one of our scouts. He’s been with us since we opened the door.

Ramsey Russell: I recognized Wayne from the first time I came in.

Brian Kramer: He’s a big personality around here. DJ is our cook. And then we have our two ladies that come in and do our cooking, Ms. Tilly, Ms. Donna. And then we have Carla Pender, who comes in and bakes when those ladies, they only work a couple of days. Now we also have Leroy Boussell. He’s another local guy that does scouting for us. So our staff is incredible. And I would put them up against anybody. So not only are they straight-up killers, but they have personalities. They’re fun to hunt with. People enjoy being around them, and that’s a big part of it right there.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, I think I agree. How did you look into finding Chef DJ, who finally this year came on full time? Everybody loves his food.

Brian Kramer: You know, for this being a small town, I have found some very skilled people, you know, that have fit in very nicely. DJ being one of them. He’s an educated chef that kind of fell into our lap. I heard about him from some of the local people. They said, “Yeah, we got a cook around here, this DJ Graham.” So I called some people, and that worked out. That’s how it got started. Same thing with Ms. Tilly and Ms. Donna. They’re a couple of local ladies that, every time there’s a town gathering or some type of function, those two ladies are kind of at the head of it.

Ramsey Russell: Did they find you, or did you find them? Because, I mean, you all kind of came in and bought up a big vacant building inside this little community.

Brian Kramer: Hardware. It was an old hardware store.

Ramsey Russell: It’s gone. You all moved in, saw an opportunity. That’s a great story, by the way. I mean, you’re like the boom center. Center of downtown. Right across from the grocery store.

Brian Kramer: Right.

Ramsey Russell: A small grocery store, but I mean, as big as that.

Brian Kramer: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: You know what I’m saying? I mean, its like, Did they just kind of grab, like I asked Wayne last night. I said, Wayne, how’d you become part of this team? Did you just see something going on and walk in the front door? He said, no, I actually saw him online and reached out to him from another community. So did they find you?

Brian Kramer: Yeah, Sort of like almost a mix where I was looking and then heard their names and reached out to them, you know, they came, and obviously, things fell into place. But pretty much word of mouth. And again, like I was saying, everything just kept falling into place. Every little piece just kept falling into place.

Ramsey Russell: Well, the harder you work, the luckier you get.

Brian Kramer: Exactly. I agree with that. My wife says I have an angel looking out for me, and I believe that 100% for sure. Because there were some things that we thought, “Man, we’re never going to get through this.” For instance, when we found this building, it literally was not up for sale. So I’d been up here for two days looking for buildings and could not find anything that would fit our needs, right. And I said, I am not running this operation out of a house. And we literally rounded the corner in town, and our realtor gets a call, says, hey, the hardware store just went up for sale. We pulled right up, pulled in. They met us here, walked in the building, and I said, “This is it.” And before I got on the plane that night, they accepted our final offer.

Ramsey Russell: Wow.

Brian Kramer: That’s how quick that happened.

Building the Ideal Hunting Lodge

And an open kitchen floor plan and a bar. And that’s where everybody is.

Ramsey Russell: What was your vision for a lodge? What was your lodge vision? Who sketched it out, designed the layout? What was your vision for the layout and the way everything, the floor plan?

Brian Kramer: I tell you, for some reason, the visionary that I was, not only did I know how I wanted to lay this out, I had all the lumber already cut that I was going to use for all the trim, the doors, all the live-edge material. So, I mean, I’d thought about this for years. But again, I was thinking about doing an upland hunting place, right. So it kind of fell together. The lodge that I had was immaterial to what we were going to hunt because I was going to make it the same way. So when we started this, I had all the material laying in my shop at home, waiting to build something. So all I wanted to create was an atmosphere where people could be comfortable. If they wanted to be with a group of people, they could. If they wanted to have their own space, they could and be comfortable while they’re here. And we have 4,500 square feet, and I think we have accomplished that.

Ramsey Russell: I think every bit you have. What are the dimensions, 45 by 100?

Brian Kramer: It’s 40 by 60. No, 50 by 60.

Ramsey Russell: What’s the most important room in any house? I know what I think.

Brian Kramer: Kitchen.

Ramsey Russell: Kitchen?

Brian Kramer: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And see, your lodge layout reflects that. It’s like when you walk in, you walk into a, got a nice little pool area, and that’s where all the young guys were all night. But it’s tucked away to where it’s not just completely open, so I don’t hear all the balls racketing around.

Brian Kramer: Yep.

Ramsey Russell: Kind of crossing to the left, I’ve got a TV, a fireplace. I mean, golly, boy, if you’ve got some wraparound recliners, all leather to sit in and socialize with, then you kind of just walk through that little wall, so to speak. You walk in, open floor plan, and it’s just like seating galore. Table seating galore. And an open kitchen floor plan and a bar. And that’s where everybody is.

Brian Kramer: Yep.

Ramsey Russell: They come in, they take a shower, they come out, they sit with their tribe or mix it up. And that’s where everybody lives. They get up and go buffet-style around the big island. I mean, that’s the heartbeat of this lodge right here.

Brian Kramer: Yep.

Ramsey Russell: Of any camp, I’d say of any home.

Brian Kramer: Right.

Ramsey Russell: Wouldn’t you agree? So that was intentional. You knew that was coming into this.

Brian Kramer: Yep.

Ramsey Russell: That’s what you wanted.

Brian Kramer: That was our layout, yeah. And it flows well, you know, and it accommodates a lot of people, even right down to the bedrooms, the way we have those set up. Bathrooms, same thing. I wish I had about another thousand square feet that I could have, you know, tweaked a few things. But for the most part, there’s not much I would change.

Ramsey Russell: I think it works out really, really nice. It works out perfectly. I even like the, I describe you all’s bathroom as like going to the gym. I mean, it’s just really functional and flowing, and nobody’s having to wait in line for anything. Get up in the morning, there’s a long vanity to go brush your teeth. It’s just perfect. In and out, man.

Brian Kramer: The nice thing too, as you witnessed this week, we have women in camp. We’re very accommodating. They have their own private bathroom. They’re very comfortable here. The group that just left did a family trip—husband, wife, and sons. We’ve had a lot of dad and daughters come. We’ve got two more groups coming—husband and wife—that are coming up to hunt next year. We’re looking at, or actually, two years out, Ducks Unlimited is looking at having an all-female group.

The Best Location for a Women’s Hunting Trip

Ramsey Russell: Wow.

Brian Kramer: 20 women. So we’re trying to get that all laid out and coordinated. So that’ll be fun.
Ramsey Russell: Very nice. Very, very nice. How many entire families and husband, wives, and couples type trips do you all do? It’s becoming kind of a thing.
Brian Kramer: It’s kind of a thing. Yeah. Which is nice. I enjoy having them here. We probably had six different groups that were husband and wives this year.
Ramsey Russell: Wow.
Brian Kramer: So it’s getting more and more prevalent as I’m starting to book stuff. And just like the group that just left, they’re going to come back again next year. Same thing.
Ramsey Russell: All three groups that were here while I was here, all three groups are coming back. The Tennessee boys doubled. They’re not, you know, It’s kind of hard to do up when you got a three-day program. It’s hard to do a four- or five-day program. It just messes up the week. And so they said, “Okay, we’ll come six days.”
Brian Kramer: Yep.
Ramsey Russell: Boom, boom, here they come. You know what I’m saying?
Brian Kramer: The problem that we’re getting into now is we probably rebook 95% of our clients. The 5% that don’t rebook, it’s kind of a trip of a lifetime for them, right?
Ramsey Russell: That’s right.
Brian Kramer: It was on their bucket list. They wanted to do it. They wish they could come every year, but they’re not at a point in their life where they can do that. Whether it’s work, financial, whatever, right. Second, the 95% that are here, their group sizes grow every year. So the trouble we get into is they start with four, and it’s like the toe testers, right. They stick their toe in the water, and they’re up here checking it out for their buddies. They send all the pictures back home, tell them how good everything is, and next thing you know, they’re a group of 8. Then the following year, they’re a group of 10. Then pretty soon they’re renting out the lodge. Well, every time that happens, it keeps multiplying. Well, I only have so much room, so now I have people on a waiting list. And it’s frustrating for me at times because I like being able to share this with everybody that wants to come. And I don’t like telling people, “I don’t have room for you.” But it is starting to happen now a lot.
Ramsey Russell: Well, you’re gonna have to start another place.
Brian Kramer: Yeah, yeah, yeah. That would be great.
Ramsey Russell: You could be two places at one time.
Brian Kramer: Actually, we could do that because we have enough our zones are massive, so we have zones, and we can’t even begin to hunt all three of our zones. Right.
Ramsey Russell: Talk about group sizes, though, because we’re not talking about two- and three-man groups, you all. I mean, some of the feeds that we’re hunting are massive. It’d be a shame to go out there with, well, yesterday afternoon, how many was it? It must have been 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. There were seven of us. Seven of us. And wow. It had been a shame to go out and get into some of those flocks of speckle bellies with just two guys. You’re going to mess them up, you know what I’m saying? It just might as well have seven. But I think the Alabama folks were a team of eight.
Brian Kramer: That group that came with the husband and wives. Well, they were seven. The father-sons or the family group that was here, they were eight.
Ramsey Russell: Eight.
Brian Kramer: And then the other group was, there were three. And then we had Rusty and his boys. You were there. I hunted with you guys the one day.
Ramsey Russell: That’s right.
Brian Kramer: And we’re very selective. And because I know everybody says, “Hey guys, that’s too many, that’s too many.” And the size of these feeds that we have, it’s not. But normally, our rule of thumb is this, you have to have six guys to have your own group. So if you’re coming, book six guys. That’s it. Your six is hunting. That’s it. And then we run three groups a day. But a lot of guys bring eight and ten, you know, and they like, they want to hunt their eight or ten. So we accommodate that.
Ramsey Russell: That’s the way to do it. A minimum of six guys. And if you want to add up to 10 people, we do the same thing at some of our destinations. It’s completely at your discretion. But we’re not going to put anybody else in your team.
Brian Kramer: Right. Yep.
Ramsey Russell: You know what I’m saying? That makes good economic sense. It makes good disturbance sense. I’m going to call it, out there in the field, logistical sense. It just makes perfect sense to do it. And you all’ve got plenty of room. I mean, even with all those people in camp, it didn’t feel crowded at all on floor plan.
Brian Kramer: That’s one thing that’s nice because you can hang with the crowd, or you can go do your own little thing.
Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Best Times of Day to Hunt in Canada

I like to be in the blind and watch the ducks and geese coming in before legal. That’s kind of my favorite time of the day.

Brian Kramer: If you get tired or whatever, you want to get some sleep, or you got guys that have to do some work. They get their computers out and do their work. You know, if they want it quiet, we have those places they can get off to and be by themselves and do their work. So it accommodates a lot of different people and what their needs are, for sure.
Ramsey Russell: Shoot time is about 7:15. And depending on how far we gotta drive, let’s just say 30 minutes. We leave at 6:30 to 6:45. I mean, you know, that way we can get there, and we’re not in a hurry. And watch the sunrise. I like to be in the blind and watch the ducks and geese coming in before legal. That’s kind of my favorite time of the day.
Brian Kramer: It is.
Ramsey Russell: You just get to watch them, and there’s nothing going on. And what time are the guides getting up, I mean, to make all that happen? Well, yesterday, for example, it was foggy. Everything that, I mean, the only thing we had going for us yesterday snow goose hunting was we were on the right spot, and we were here, not there. But that’s all we had going for us. And Dylan had put together probably one of my favorite snow goose spreads I’ve ever seen. It was really brilliant the way he did it. He had a real long arm going out from the head so that if birds were just trading low out of sight from us, maybe they’d look down and see those geese and hear those and then follow up to where they could hear the sounds. And it worked. I mean, I have shot a whole lot fewer ducks with a whole lot better shooting conditions than we did yesterday. That was really, really a good hunt. And it was adult birds. And that’s about the, You gotta have that fog and all that mess going on to really lay into those adults. So I thought it was a home run. But I just got to thinking as I was getting settled in, what the heck time did Dylan and them boys, Ben and them boys get up to make that happen? Nine? Six o’clock?
Brian Kramer: No. And when we start here, we start September 1st. So we book from September 1st to November 7th. At the start of the season, they’re getting up even earlier that first part of September, right? Because you got more daylight. So they’re getting up at 3:00 in the morning, 3:30 in the morning. Then, you know, it gets to 4:00, and then it’s 4:30. Then maybe by the end of the season, it’s 5:00. You know, if it’s a close hunt, and they’re setting up. But them boys put a lot of time in. Their schedule is they get up early in the morning, go set the spread, get all the blinds set up, we show up, then we pick everything up. Them boys get all the trailers organized again, get back. Now they gotta clean birds and get ready for the afternoon hunt. So it’s a lot of work. They gotta cut brush, cut grass. And you’ve witnessed this. These hides these boys make are incredible.

Ramsey Russell: Unbelievable.

Brian Kramer: Number of times that they’re like, the other day, hunting with Andrew Penrose, we walked in, and the clients go, “Where’s the blinds?” I said, “They’re right there,” you know, and they disappear. Right. The boys take a lot of pride in what they do. They’re always working on stuff. The hide, the spread. They want it perfect, and they want our clients to be successful.
Ramsey Russell: You know, one thing I’ve noticed. Talk about cover cutting the brush. They bring the brush.
Brian Kramer: Yep.
Ramsey Russell: They bring it. And they lay it out, and they get it all done. And then they pick it all up and put it, I mean, it’s clean, so the farmer doesn’t have a mess.
Brian Kramer: Not a mess. Everything gets picked up.

Ramsey Russell: It’s really professional.

Methods of Hunting Waterfowl in Canada

Brian Kramer: The only thing that you’re gonna notice that we’ve been there is the grass is laying down from laying in grass. And early in the season, we hunt out of an A-frame. So that’s all brush, you know, the big bush, as we call it. And then after about three weeks into the season, the birds start catching on to that. Now we’ve got to edge-hide a little bit or up against some backdrop cover. Then we move on to layouts. If we’ve got clients in the late season that need an A-frame to hunt out of, we accommodate that. The nice thing here is, we have a lot of different fields that we can push our A-frames into and have them disappear. So that’s kind of nice. Other than that, by the time you guys get out there, everything’s all set up. Basically, all you gotta do is put your stuff in the blind, sit down, and start hunting.

Ramsey Russell: So, yeah, it’s that simple. Talk about your package just a little bit. I noticed in our room, every locker, I’m gonna call it, had shotgun shells waiting on them. That’s included in your package. And I noticed the two young guns, well, they’d be hauling for everybody. Every morning, they were coming to the front. Two young guns out of Alabama coming. They knew where the ammo was. They stocked up, everybody loaded their stuff, or you’d be out there in the field loading it up and putting it in the blind. Make sure everybody had ammo. That’s a part of the package.

Brian Kramer: Our package is all-inclusive. So when you pay the package, which now is $3,400, it includes your lodging, obviously, your meals, your license, your shells, and your bird cleaning.

Ramsey Russell: I went down and helped the boys clean birds the other day, and, man, have they got a system. That’s a lot of birds.

Brian Kramer: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: When you’ve got three groups of six to eight shooting geese, shooting snows, shooting specks, shooting darks, shooting ducks, man, they just got it down to a science. And like, the Colorado boys wanted to bring the birds home. And we’ve got this many birds, we’ve gotta do this, leave a wing attached. Pop, pop, pop. And then everything else is going out at it.

Brian Kramer: It’s single-bagged. Every bird’s gotta be single-bagged, have all the details on it, guide’s name, license number, day it was shot, all of it. So there’s a lot of work that goes into preparing all these birds to go home with our hunters. It’s just not cleaning the bird. And now with the bird flu laws, they all have to be washed. No blood on any of the wings. So there’s a lot of time and effort that goes into that from our boys, for sure.

Ramsey Russell: I want to ask you a little bit about the food because that is a big deal. I talked to DJ recently, and I think he’s an amazing cook, but it’s not just him. There’s a whole lot of staff. Like, you’ve got ladies, plural, that keep the counter and the bar loaded with cookies, cakes, pies, and my goodness, everything.

Brian Kramer: Homemade sauces, cinnamon rolls.

Ramsey Russell: A dozen different snaks. You know, the first day you and I hunted with the Tennessee boys, I watched them put together an entire gallon bag. They almost couldn’t get it shut, it was so full of chocolate chip cookies. I just assumed they were going to snack on it for the next three days. And that bag was empty. At the end of that trip, there were three or four teenagers and their dads, and they knocked it out. I’d hear that bag rustling, and I’d look up, and it’d just be passed around up and down the line.

Brian Kramer: To give you an idea, they make cookies every day. Fresh cookies. And of course, as soon as they come out of the oven, it’s hard to resist them, right? Nice, warm, homemade cookies. And they’ll take gallon bags of those to the field every day. And when you’ve got young bucks here like that, the young boys, they eat a pile of them. The other day, I think they ate 128 cookies.

Ramsey Russell: Wow. How did you come up with the menu? How do you develop a menu and what goes into feeding this many people and making them feel at home? How much hands-on direction does Chef DJ and the ladies need?

Brian Kramer: We go over the menu. I look at who’s coming, because I know everybody has a favorite meal that’s coming, whether it be chicken, beef, or even right down to our ginger goose. And I remember these things. I’ll say, we gotta make this and this for this group, that group, steaks, pork, whatever. There are certain things that they always comment on, “Hey, we really liked that. That was good.” And you just kind of remember that. When they come the next time, you say, “Would you like this again?” So we have a lot of items that are like clients’ favorites when they’re here that they might not get at home. DJ and the ladies do a great job on all of that stuff. Most of our beef is locally grown by a farmer, Jeff Watson. We buy his forage cattle from his daughters, which is fantastic and a great family, just happy to do it. We buy pigs from another local farmer, Derek Homodeto. That’s some very good pork. It’s a different kind of pig that’s known for its bacon, and it is outstanding. So we do things like that to support our local farmers. Other than that, everything else is from the grocery store or Costco. Everything is homemade. Our ladies bake bread every day. They make homemade cinnamon rolls. All the cakes are from scratch. Probably one of the best carrot cakes you’ll eat anywhere.

Ramsey Russell: Definitely the best carrot cake.

Brian Kramer: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: I rarely eat dessert and ate two pieces yesterday. It was unbelievable.

Brian Kramer: Very good. Homemade sauces, chocolate sauces, caramel sauces, all of that.

Ramsey Russell: Pecan praline topping on bourbon pecan praline on top of the French toast. Unbelievable.

Brian Kramer: Yeah. On homemade French bread.

Ramsey Russell: On homemade French bread.

Brian Kramer: Yeah. Rolls, homemade.

You Ain’t in Canada Anymore

Ramsey Russell: Do you eat like that at home?

Brian Kramer: No, I go through withdrawals when I get home. I come home and say, “What’s for dinner?” Like I’m expecting the meal to be ready. And then reality sets in, right? My wife looks at me and says, “You ain’t in Canada anymore.” So, yeah, it’s a little different at home.

Ramsey Russell: You talk about the beef, the pork, You all have become a part of the community. Like, I asked DJ yesterday, he was cooking over here. And there’s this little community just like this, only eight miles away. And he said some nights he might go in to cook, and there might be seven people or fewer even come in to eat dinner. And I wondered, because of the way an economy is, everybody just swapping money with each other, what is keeping these little economies going at all? And all of a sudden, guys like yourself come in. And now that oil is gone, that’s got to be a slug of boosting the economy, of boosting the morale to help keep this thing going. And it’s not enough that you’re just living in Michigan some of the year and coming out here. I mean, you’re really a part of this community.

Brian Kramer: Yeah, we’re very entrenched in this community. Two different things, financially, obviously, is a big impact, but even personally. We try to support everything that comes up in this town with the people, whether it be their pie contest, parade days, or holidays in these other small towns. We go to those, support those. We donate things for fundraisers and stuff for all these people. So we are very entrenched in what goes on around here. We do a couple of dinners a year for our farmers, appreciation days for them. That is huge. This year, we had a big fish fry, which was great. We’re having another one here October 28th. I think we’re doing American burgers, smash burgers this time and fries. We’re doing an American theme.

Ramsey Russell: That’ll be a huge hit.

Brian Kramer: And we’ll have probably 60 to 70 people here for that event.

Ramsey Russell: Every single time I’ve ever visited this lodge, there’s local farmers, local landowners, local somebody coming in this morning, a fava bean producer and his son joined. Dave and I hunted together. Great kid. And, you know, here he is, a 10th-grade Canadian young man getting exposed to the world around him. It opened up his eyes, and you can tell he’s just happy to be here. Then his dad comes in, eats breakfast, and drinks coffee. I mean, it’s almost like you all are a community center.

Brian Kramer: Yeah, yeah. It’s crazy because you’ll have people driving through here that’ll stop, thinking it’s a restaurant. They see all the activity, right? And they’ll pull up, walk in, and they’re like, “This isn’t a restaurant, is it?” And I said, “No.” I asked, “Are you guys traveling through?” “Yeah, we’re just looking for a place to eat.” We have probably fed, I bet you, a dozen people, through the years that are just here. You know, we say, “Grab a seat, sit down, we’ve got plenty to eat.” We’ve fed farmers when their wives are out of town and they’ve got no one to cook for them. So there’s those kinds of things that we do for the people here, too, which is nice. I mean, I’ve met so many great Canadians up here that have had an impact on my life. So it’s well worth the effort.

Ramsey Russell: They’re really good people.

Brian Kramer: They’re great people. Great people.

Ramsey Russell: Does it remind you, this part of Canada, does it remind you, because I’ve always described it, not talking about Toronto or some of the big cities, I’m talking about this part, rural Canada just reminds me of Mayberry RFD.

Brian Kramer: It’s the best.

Ramsey Russell: You were talking about graduating high school, does it remind you of going back to that era? Like, I was thinking, and I’ll bet even in your high school up in Michigan back in the day, people had those shotgun racks in the back window of their pickup trucks with a shotgun. I can remember taking a 22 and showing my principal my new little .22 rifle. I mean, nobody cared.

Brian Kramer: Nobody cared. If I got a new shotgun, there were teachers saying, “Bring that gun. I’ll see your gun.” I kept it in my locker at school. We hunted behind the school at lunchtime.

Ramsey Russell: And everybody in my high school, every boy, had a buck knife ring in one pocket and a Skoal ring in the other. Nobody cared.

Holding on to a Great Way to Life

Everybody’s here to help their neighbor.

Brian Kramer: Yeah, nobody cared. Everybody had their guns in the car. So, whether it be after football practice, you were hunting every chance that you had, right? So, it was never a big deal at all. Unfortunately, it’s not like that today. I don’t know what’s changed, but that’s a whole different topic. But anyway, this area up here with these people, it’s just a great way of life. It truly is.

Ramsey Russell: I think it really is.

Brian Kramer: The quality of people is outstanding.

Ramsey Russell: Everybody’s here to help their neighbor.

Brian Kramer: Yes.

Ramsey Russell: You know, even just walking out to my truck, I talk to everybody. Neighbors walk by, “How you doing?” We sit there and have a conversation. And I don’t know them, they don’t know me that’s all.

Brian Kramer: But people meet people. “Where you from? What state you from?” You know, all of it. And they’re genuinely interested, right?

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. I came up to the Quill Lakes area many, many years ago when I was a federal government employee to band ducks. We bought our grain from a local farmer, his barley, and he and his wife just took us in. You know, we were four or five Americans there for the summer to work. And they took us in like family. They would have cookouts, take us to the lake, introduce us to people, hang around. I mean, you had to build visiting with them into the time allowance to get something done, you know. And then at Christmas, Jean would write these long letters, one of those long-form family updates. She always mentioned her extended family, the banders. I said something to one of them one time, and he goes, “Well, what the heck else do you think we talk about on these long winter nights except for banders?” He said it’s kind of a highlight. It’s kind of a big deal having friends from outside the people we know and see all the time.

Brian Kramer: Exactly.

Ramsey Russell: How big are you all’s hunting areas?

Brian Kramer: So, if you were going to drive.

peaker_A: Our radius.

Brian Kramer: Oh, no. It’s four and a half hours north to south.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, gosh.

Brian Kramer: And probably close to four hours east to west.

Ramsey Russell: That’s a big area.

Brian Kramer: Yeah. You know where Saskatoon is? Because you’ve been there. From about there, where the Saskatoon River is, that’s our east and north border.

Ramsey Russell: Golly

Brian Kramer: And that runs way up north of Lloyd, an hour north of Lloyd, and then goes all the way down the Alberta border, down to 14, which is down to Macklin.

Ramsey Russell: That is ginormous.

Brian Kramer: It’s enormous.

Ramsey Russell: You all are hunting just a small fraction of that.

Brian Kramer: In reality, we could probably have three lodges.

Ramsey Russell: To cover it all. Have you ever thought about doing that?

Brian Kramer: Yeah, we’ve talked about it, but sometimes I just feel the bigger you get, the less personal it becomes. And I don’t want to do that.

Ramsey Russell: That’s how we started off, talking about that personal touch. I think it’s very, very important.

Brian Kramer: I do, too.

Ramsey Russell: Very important.

Brian Kramer: The only time that I wish we had more is when I can’t get people in.

Ramsey Russell: I don’t like when you go to a lodge anywhere and you don’t meet the principals.

Brian Kramer: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: I think it’s very important that you and Ben be here. I just want to know who I’m doing business with. I think it’s a touch that, It’s like going back to that old day, that bygone era. I think it’s essential.

Brian Kramer: I do too, and that’s why I hunt with these guys every day. I try to hunt with every group that’s here.

Ramsey Russell: Mm, you do. I noticed that, you make the rounds with different groups and stuff.

Brian Kramer: Yep.

Ramsey Russell: Just to give it that personal touch out in the field.

Brian Kramer: Yep.

Ramsey Russell: Wow. How’s the hunting been this year compared to years past? I mean, obviously, it’s drier here than in other years.

Brian Kramer: It’s the driest that it’s been since we’ve been here. You know, in seven years we’re here. But here’s how our hunting gets better every year, and here’s why, our guys are they’re learning even more every year. Patterns of birds, time of year. The birds are here and what they’re doing, where they roost, where they like to be. These guys are so good that they know where the water is, they know the crop rotation around it, and they know where this is going to be a good area. You know, this year, this will be good because there are peas here, or there’s barley here, or there’s wheat here, and they know what time of year those birds want to feed in that. I mean, they are just that schooled and that prepared to do that every year. And that makes a world of difference.

Ramsey Russell: And they work as a team out there. I went out with Dylan, and he made his route, and they’ve all got their own little route.

Brian Kramer: They do.

Ramsey Russell: But they all know everybody else’s route.

Brian Kramer: Right.

Ramsey Russell: Because one of them will text Dylan, or Dylan will text one of them, say, “Do you have so-and-so’s number? Do you know about this?” Boom, boom, boom. I mean, they’re a team.

Brian Kramer: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: A virtual huddle over cell phones and On X and everything else. Boom. They know it like the back of their hands.
Brian Kramer: That’s a huge deal, too. You know, the new apps today that help guys hunt, they pin everything. “Hey, go check my pins. Check these pins. Here’s where I had this feed.” Either it’s just starting, so we need to watch it the next couple of days, or this one’s been good. “Is it good enough? I’m hunting in the morning.” They’ve got to figure out where the hide is, what’s the wind direction tomorrow, what’s going to be the best feed for that wind tomorrow. So, they might have six or seven feeds lined up, but with the wind direction, only three or four might work.
Ramsey Russell: That’s right.
Brian Kramer: That day, you know, with where the hide we have is. So there’s a lot that goes into that, as you’re probably well aware of.
Ramsey Russell: So, I’ve been in Saskatchewan a month, and the other day, Dylan, I watched a feed. Matter of fact, we stopped on the hilltop. I didn’t see anything, and I was in there playing on my phone. He said, “No, no, no. They’re gonna come out over here and here, and they’re gonna start working.” Sure enough. Oh, boy. I saw more ducks than I had seen in a month in Saskatchewan working that field. And I just knew, sure and certain, somebody was gonna go there the next day. And we got, I guess, almost back to town. He said, “No, no, nobody will hunt that tomorrow. The wind ain’t right.” I go, “Really?” “No,” he said. “We’ve got better feeds than that tomorrow.”
Brian Kramer: Right.
Ramsey Russell: But he knows that from working with all these other boys.
Brian Kramer: How’d you like that duck feed we were on the other morning.
Ramsey Russell: Son,that was good.

Ducks and Geese Running the Gauntlet

Man, that turned into a 100-bird shoot.

Brian Kramer: That was big wads of ducks, wasn’t it?
Ramsey Russell: That was big. Well, it was about like this morning. Now, first off, let me just say this, I come up here to shoot geese. I’m the outlier of a southern duck hunter. I want to shoot the geese, not the ducks. But this morning was just epic. That’s all I can say. It was epic. The sun wasn’t in our eyes. The wind was good. The birds were there. And the way they were peeling off, it started off just like a little trickle, just ones and twos coming right in the decoys. And all of a sudden, there were just swarms of them. And 25 or 50 of them would start circling, testing the wind a little bit. And as they’re working, more and more and more keep coming in. Finally, you know, when you’re sitting there with that kind of action going on, and there’s, whatever there was, seven or eight guns laying hidden and watching 10 or 15 flutter over the mojos, and nobody’s calling a shot because there’s more behind them fixing to get even better positioned, that is just what it’s about. You get to have your cake and eat it, too. You get to watch the show unfold. I hate to say it, but I really think that foggy hunt ended up being the best because you couldn’t see. I mean, you hadn’t seen anything in 10 or 15, 20 minutes. You look at your phone, and all of a sudden, somebody yells something, and, I mean, they just vaporize out of the fog. They’re right on top of you, you know? But I did enjoy it. Now, yesterday afternoon, I gotta say, they were running traffic, and Ben was large and in charge out there, son. They were running traffic, and, I mean, all the way across that section, they saw those decoys, and they started setting up. About midway through the field, they started juking, jiving, and maple-leafing, you know. And that’s when old Charge Tail was doing 50 miles an hour, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing, bing. Sounded like a jukebox going off in her little dog box there. She could see it, too. And that was, it’s all been good hunts, man. That’s what I’m trying to say. Every morning has been good. This morning was a really, really good note to end on.
Brian Kramer: Just probably the biggest complaint we get, if you want to call it a complaint, is it’s over too fast.
Ramsey Russell: It is.
Brian Kramer: You know, you’re sitting there, and all of a sudden, the guy goes, “Okay, we’re done.” And, you know, 30 to 50 minutes have gone past, and you’ve shot your limit of birds already. And it’s like, “How did that get over so fast?” And you feel like, wow, you know, it doesn’t last long enough a lot of times. So, it’s a special place.
Ramsey Russell: What about that hunt with Jack the other day? That was huge. I mean, you and I had gone to park a truck, and I heard a volley.
Brian Kramer: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: When we got there, there were already dead white geese, and we kind of backed up into a little woodlot. Man, that turned into a 100-bird shoot.
Brian Kramer: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: Snows, darks, specks.
Brian Kramer: Yep.
Ramsey Russell: Man, that was something. Those Tennessee boys could shoot, son.
Brian Kramer: How about their young sons?
Ramsey Russell: They could shoot.
Brian Kramer: They could shoot. Fun kids.
Ramsey Russell: Not just that, they were great kids, man they were great kids. But that’s what I’d expect of kids who grew up hunting with their dads like that. One of the guys was telling me how good they were, and I said, “Yeah, I hunted with them. I know.” But it’s not just that they can individually shoot. What I could tell is they hunted together a lot.
Brian Kramer: A lot.
Ramsey Russell: Woe be to the geese that run the gauntlet on them boys. Stuff just died.
Brian Kramer: And not only that, every one of those boys has been on the trap team at school.
Ramsey Russell: Oh, I didn’t know that.
Brian Kramer: Yeah. Which is special, too. And it shows because it teaches all that should be taught. I look at schools today and the things they removed. That’s one thing I wish they’d put back into school. Some schools still do that, teach kids how to handle guns, how to be safe with guns, how to shoot, and show them this is not something to be afraid of if you know how to handle one.
Ramsey Russell: That’s right.
Brian Kramer: That’s the main thing.
Ramsey Russell: Exactly right, Brian. I’ve enjoyed it. I always do. Look forward to seeing you next year. It’s always a good time up here with Prairie Limits. Tell everybody how they can get in touch with you all.
Brian Kramer: There’s a couple different ways. Obviously, we have all the social media platforms, but we have a website: prairielimitsoutfitters.com. On there is my phone number. They can leave a message or call me directly anytime. And I field a ton of phone calls. I look forward to speaking to all of our clients. I stay pretty much in touch with them all year, even in the off-season. I know what they’ve got going on, where they’ve been, or where they’re fishing or hunting. So, it’s kind of nice. I enjoy that part of it.
Ramsey Russell: If anybody wants to come up here, you’ve already alluded to this without saying it point blank, but I was here with three teams, and every single one of them rebooked. Some rebooked for two spots. So, really and truly, much past January or February, it’s just about all gonna be gone, isn’t it?
Brian Kramer: Yeah. Like, we’re booked already for next year.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Now’s the time. If somebody seriously wants to come up and experience Prairie Limits Outfitters in Saskatchewan, they need to call now.

Top Place to Hunt for Spring Snow Goose Season

Go in the fall or go in the spring, whichever hits your schedule best. That’s where you get on the snow geese.

Brian Kramer: Yeah, they really do. And we have a spring season. We have spring snow season, too, from the middle of April.
Ramsey Russell: You know, I came up and did that with you all one time. That is a hoot.
Brian Kramer: I always tell people if you’re mad at them, it’s a good time to get even.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah. I don’t know why snow geese are so reviled south of here. I just don’t, because it’s become one of my favorite Arctic goose species. And when I’m asked, you know, this may surprise you, but Europeans, I’ve got a group from the UK that’s going to call you. He says, “We want to shoot the white geese. Where in the United States do we need to go?” And I said, “Not the United States. You all need to go to Canada. Go in the fall or go in the spring, whichever hits your schedule best. That’s where you get on the snow geese.” If anybody who likes to waterfowl hunt wants birds decoying and to shoot 20 of them, this is the place. More often than not, it’s limits. Those birds are coming in, and they’re great to eat. Anybody who says, “I don’t like to eat snow goose,” that’s because you ain’t never had ginger goose.
Brian Kramer: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: And every other way DJ’s gonna cook them. It’s unbelievable, man.
Brian Kramer: Right.

Ramsey Russell: So anyway, I’m glad you mentioned that spring snow goose hunting. That is a big part. When does that spring snow goose season work up here?
Brian Kramer: So we start April 15th, and we go to about May 18th to 20th, depending on how it falls out on the calendar. And we’re here through the bulk of it. And the reason it’s so different up here, Ramsey, is that when geese get here, this is a staging area for them.
Ramsey Russell: It’s staging. That’s right.
Brian Kramer: So in the States, when they’re migrating and moving, you know, their main goal is to get back up to their nesting ground, right? So on a good migration day, you’ll have good hunting in the States. Other than that, it’s not going to be very successful. Unfortunately, here, they’re here, and they’re staging before they make that last push. So they really put the groceries on, and they feed differently because they get into their family groups and their mating groups. So when they come to the field, they’re coming five to 25 at a time. And now you can beat them up pretty good.
Ramsey Russell: Something you can work with.
Brian Kramer: Work with. They’re coming in to eat, and they’ve got their feet down, and they’re in the spread. They’re not circling, circling, circling. They’re flipping in.
Ramsey Russell: As table fare, there is a distinction between Canada and the southern United States. And what it is, is when these birds are coming in the fall, they want grain. They don’t want grain stuff. They want grain because they’re carbo-loading, getting that energy reserve to fly south.
Brian Kramer: They will double in size here.
Ramsey Russell: Absolutely. You know, countless of the other little raw season snows and blues that Char brings back that have either popped on impact when they hit the ground or just her picking them up, their skin tears are so fat-laden. The meat is much lighter colored because it’s got so much fat in the muscle tissue. Whereas down south, they are eating green. They’re building muscle mass, they’re rebuilding that muscle mass. Then they get up here again, and they’ve flown the gauntlet. They’ve flown the folks running traffic all the way up to Canada. They get up here, and a lot of times the snow has melted. There’s all that waste grain from last year, and they’re carbo-loading because when they leave here to get up to the Arctic, they’re generally having to wait on it to thaw. They’ve got to live on the fat reserves. So again, it’s just a very, very delectable cut of meat. I will say for the record, it’s probably my favorite thing to eat in North America, waterfowl-wise, is a fall or spring snow goose.
Brian Kramer: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: I hate to say that, but it’s the truth.
Brian Kramer: It is.
Ramsey Russell: Tell me one better. Well, I’ve eaten some good, somebody, I guarantee, I got listening to California going, “Well, I know he liked those wigeons and pintails and mallards we had here on the rice.”
Brian Kramer: Yeah, but.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah, but I mean, snow geese will surprise you. And you may see me again this spring if I can make it happen.
Brian Kramer: All right, I’ll hold you to that.
Ramsey Russell: Folks, you all been listening to my buddy Brian Kramer up here at Prairie Limits Outfitters. You all can find him on ushuntlist.com. Read for details. You can click “Book a Hunt.” The email goes to him. His telephone number is there. His email address is there. Call me if you’ve got any questions. I’ll tell you all about this great hunt. Call him to book a hunt or ask for more details about dates. Thank you all for listening to this episode of Mojo’s Duck Season Somewhere Podcast. We’ll see you next time.