EP 527. Legendary Coca-Cola Woods and Beyond

 

Ramsey Russell: Welcome back to MoJo’s Duck Season Somewhere podcast. We’re in the studio today, Mr. Rusty Creasey. Rusty, how the heck are you?
Rusty Creasey: Man, I am great. We’re one day closer to opener here in Arkansas, so it’s always a good day.
Ramsey Russell: When does the Arkansas season open this year?
Rusty Creasey: I think November 22nd. Whatever the Saturday before Thanksgiving is. I think it’s the 22nd this year.
Ramsey Russell: Seemed like I hunted over there for a long time, and it seems like Arkansas always opens the week before Thanksgiving and has like a nine-day, two-weekend, five-day weekday split. And then it seemed like after Thanksgiving there’d be like a week or 10 days off and then it opens again.
Rusty Creasey: Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Closed a couple days around Christmas and then runs darn near to the end of January.
Ramsey Russell: I heard one time, I heard one time on pretty good authority that half the ducks killed in Arkansas were killed the first nine days of season. Would that be true? Could it be true?
Rusty Creasey: Ah, no, I don’t, I don’t think so. Because I’ve always been under the understanding that your private land guides, that first little piece of the season is for your private guides who spend all the money pumping and, you know, have that early water, so to speak, and it’s kind of doing them a favor. And then, you know, after the first split, then you got another little, or after the first season and you got a split. The thinking is that by the first of the second split, there’s usually some water in some of the river systems and some of the public areas. I don’t know that. I don’t see how, Ramsey, but it’s possible, man. It’s definitely those first nine days if you got water, it’s usually really, really, really, really good.
Ramsey Russell: It can be some of the most productive days. I mean, it can be lights out. Have you got any thoughts on how the modern-day spec season is affecting that early season? I mean, I know we’re gonna get off into the woods here before long. I’m just wondering statewide, I’ve heard just a little bit of, I mean maybe deservedly so commentary about, you know, what is it, a week or two before the season opens for specs? And now you got folks on the landscape chasing brown geese and maybe disturbing some of these ducks that were historically rested. I wonder if you’ve got a thought about that.
Rusty Creasey: I don’t. Look, shooting, shooting—and those ducks don’t know what you’re shooting at. So shotgun shots are shotgun shots, and if they’re low enough to get kind of blown out by them, and it happens enough, they’re gonna go somewhere else. So I would not doubt that a bit. If I was a duck hunter who was pumping up fields and stuff and I was holding some ducks already, I ain’t sure I would shoot at specks, or I’d pick and choose, you know, where and when. And I definitely think it’s something to be aware of. I would say it would have an effect.
Ramsey Russell: I would say just disturbance on the landscape, machines and traffic and shotgun shots. I mean, just, you know, and I really think it’s undeniable that disturbance is playing a major factor in modern duck hunting. I just think how we hunt, where we hunt, when we hunt is all ramped up a lot in the past 10 or 20 years I think.
Rusty Creasey: Absolutely 100%. I mean, you know, there were fields that wouldn’t get pumped up, you know, which farming and everything has changed. You know, used to, a farmer wanted to have his stuff out by Thanksgiving. Well, right now in our area, almost every single farmer has all of his beans, rice, whatever, cut. And once they get it cut, now they’re working the ground. I mean, it’s bare dirt everywhere you go. So the food’s just not here for the ducks or the geese. I’ve said that a lot on my page before. You know, it’s hard to be a duck or a goose right now. One, the farming and agriculture has changed, but two, the pressure. You know, there used to be fields that would have some sheet water that was just so for duck hunting, but nobody would lease it out. Well, you know, the ducks had a little spot they could go, feed up, and get a little rest and get away from people. But now, man, if it’ll hold water and look, I don’t blame the farmers at all, but if it’ll hold water and they can shoot a duck, there’s a pit in it, and they’re going to get about $8,000 to $10,000 a pit.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Rusty Creasey: And look, I don’t blame the farmer. You know, you do that five times, that’s 50 grand. That’s Christmas. That helps you get through the winter. But it definitely has taken a toll on the duck.

Hard to Be a Waterfowl Hunter in the South

And now, even though there are fewer hunters, I think the only way it makes sense to me to think about it is that maybe the habitat base has shrunk so much that we’re more highly distilled, more highly concentrated in the remaining areas. 

Ramsey Russell: I think we can all agree on that. It’s hard to be a duck or a goose in North America this year, and it’s becoming hard to be a duck or goose hunter in the Deep South. I think we can all agree on that.
Rusty Creasey: And I don’t. You know, some of the reports will say that hunter numbers are down, license sales are down, but then on the flip side, they’ll say the pressure’s up. Well, those two things don’t really jive in my book. But I mean, look, we all want kids involved, we want new people involved in the sport. But on the same token, we’re also saying, well, we need to cut the pressure down. So, man, it’s hard to have both. And there’s not an easy answer. I wish there was. I wish there was a cut-and-dry answer to that, but I don’t know it.
Ramsey Russell: But the only way that equation makes sense to me is because, let’s just say that back in the 1960s and 1970s, there were a lot more duck hunters. But maybe those duck hunters were more like my granddad, and they didn’t take every minute of their leave and vacation and spend every waking moment humanly possible in a duck blind. That generation duck hunted, but they didn’t duck hunt all the time. My grandfather would leave the office on Fridays, pick up his kids, and go to camp, be back home Sundays. And if there was something going on the weekend, he didn’t go that weekend. He stayed at home, you know, and I think that’s the way a lot of that generation was. And I think there was a lot more habitat, you know, a lot more, a lot more areas that people could hunt. You know, I’ve had people on here describe that back in the 1960s and 1970s, if there were ducks on that field up there outside of town, they would just go and hunt it. Nobody cared. You didn’t have to ask permission. Nobody cared about you hunting ducks out in that ag field, you know. And so there was a lot more access, there was a lot more habitat, and there were a lot more hunters. And now, even though there are fewer hunters, I think the only way it makes sense to me to think about it is that maybe the habitat base has shrunk so much that we’re more highly distilled, more highly concentrated in the remaining areas. That’s all I can figure.

Rusty Creasey: I agree. And you know, with the farming practices, they’re starting to level land a lot more, precision grade, you know, zero-grade fields. Well, to do that, you fill in the natural draws and sloughs. You may take out some willow trees, you may take out some buckbrush, and you change the landscape. Well, yeah, you may still shoot some ducks in that field, but there’s no cover. There’s nothing to hunker down in again. You know, I get it from a farming aspect, that’s your livelihood. You got to do what you got to do to make a living for your family. But the ducks have definitely taken it on the chin for several different reasons like that.

What’s on the Horizon for Arkansas Hunters?

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, I agree. Well, what does habitat conditions and how’s the season shaping up for Arkansas this year? Here we’re recording in mid to late October. What do you think is on the horizon for Arkansas hunters this year?

Rusty Creasey: You know, we’ve had all the hurricanes and stuff, and we missed all that rain. They hopped up for the rivers and stuff, hopped up and went right back down. And since that last little front or whatever, we have not had a drop of rain. It is bone dry. So right now, you know, if you’re not pumping and don’t have water, you’re going to miss the boat. It’s going to be some sad faces. And now the people that have water or are pumping water, I think it’ll be either feast or famine. It’s going to be either really good or really bad. But I think if you’ve got water, it’s going to be good. I know it hasn’t rained in, I’m going to say, a month. And there’s a small chance, I think, next Thursday. So we’ve got another week of dry weather. And there’s people holding some ducks right now. You know, we always get those Halloween ducks. But there was a little bit of a push within the last week. And there’s a couple of farms. One guy had about 300 acres of water. He had a bunch of pintails, a bunch of gadwalls, a bunch of scrap ducks, you know, but he had some ducks. And we’ve probably got, down at Fowler’s Point, about a couple of hundred acres of water showing, maybe a little more. And I saw the first ones yesterday. I saw some gadwalls and some pintails. So they’re already starting. But again, man, you got water, you should have them. But if something doesn’t change, all those little oxbows and nooks and crannies on the public ground are going to be jam-packed. You might want to go ahead and get in line at the parking lot right now because it’s going to be a mud hole here and a mud hole there.

Ramsey Russell: I’m going to tell you something. As we speak, I am sitting in downtown Calgary, Alberta. For the past month, I have been in Manitoba, throughout Saskatchewan, and parts of Alberta. And it is dry, dry, dry, all the way from here clear down to Arkansas, sun, it is dry. It’s some of the driest I’ve ever seen in parts of prairie Canada. I’ve heard parts of North Dakota got bailed out. They got maybe, in places, too much water. But Canada’s dry, you know, and I think it’s going to be a low productivity year. And you know, it’s still warm now. We finally got the first cold weather of the year. It actually snowed a little bit in Calgary the other day. And I mean just a little bit. But it finally, you know, gosh, when I got here it was in the 1980s in mid to late September. It was as high as the 1980s in the afternoon. Now it’s finally gotten down to a little more seasonable 40-some-odd degrees. But man, I don’t know. You know, it’s looking to me like it could be another warm season.

Duck & Goose Hatch Patterns

I was wondering, where the heck are all the hatch-year birds?

Rusty Creasey: Right. You tell me this, and I’m going to flip the script and ask you a question because you’re so well-traveled and you’ve obviously hunted up there a bunch. When you’re hunting and you see the birds up there, can you tell if there’s been a good hatch or a bad hatch? Can you tell if it looks like it’s going to be good down here because of what you see up there? Is there any relevance in any of that?

Ramsey Russell: It’s hard to say. You know, the bag is hard to estimate the hatch. I’ll use snow geese as an example. When you’re out there scouting snow geese this year, I tended to see, through binoculars, more gray birds than I have in the past few years. Notably more gray snow geese than adult birds. But in the past, when people have said, “Well, what’s the hatch look like?” It’s very hard to tell. I’m not out there doing matriculations. I’m just looking at birds, kind of seeing what they’re doing. And if you look at what you harvest, you know it’s going to be mostly skewed to young birds, especially the snow geese. They’re going to come in, you know what I’m saying? Those gray birds are going to come in. They’re gullible. Ducks are a little bit different. There are times of year that you’re shooting mostly adult mallards. In a normal year, let’s just say an average year, early season, you’re shooting predominantly adult birds. And I can’t remember the bird biology of it all, but it’s like, I don’t know, 24 days or 24 weeks, a period of time that birds cannot eat grain. So it takes those young birds getting a little older before they can start swarming the barley fields. And I just learned that a few years ago talking to somebody. I was wondering, where the heck are all the hatch-year birds? He said, “Oh, you stick around a couple, two or three weeks, they’ll start hitting these fields.” But right now, they’re just too young. I’ve never heard that, but sure enough, two or three weeks later, boom, we start shooting hatch-year birds.

Rusty Creasey: Well, I guess it kind of makes sense. I mean, like a newborn kid, you go from milk to baby food or to whatever formula, and then you just work your way up to real table food. I guess a deer is kind of that way.

Ramsey Russell: I think they are.

Rusty Creasey: I never even thought of that.

Rusty Creasey: If anybody listening knows the facts or can correct me on that, don’t hesitate, often wrong, never in doubt. But I believe that to be true. I believe there’s a period of time before birds can metabolize that grain.

Rusty Creasey: I would think it would be, to be honest with you, I mean, for sure, for sure. A mama bird, well you watch her feeding her little ones in a nest. If it’s a robin out here, she has a nest every year on my gutter. She goes out there, finds worms or whatever, and she kind of chews it up and then basically spits it in their mouth.

Ramsey Russell: That’s kind of what they do. They feed them like dove. I’ve heard they feed crop milk. They don’t just go pick seed off the ground and give them the seed. They partly digest it and give them something out of their crop. Ducks don’t do that, that I’m aware of. But I believe that to be true. And so it’s hard to say. Now, I’ll say this just at a glance. Having traveled 5,000 miles through three provinces, never seen it so dry. I would think that production in the parts of Canada I’ve been in, three provinces’ worth, I would think that duck production was pretty damn low. I’m seeing alarming stuff, scary stuff. You know, on your GPS map there on your truck screen, you see all those ponds and wetlands. You’re driving down the highway, look to the left and right at all these grain fields, and you see dry cattail. You see all those little wetland ponds out there, like you see on the screen on the Google Earth map. But all you see out in the field is dry cattails and plowed-up dirt or disced dirt. I have seen, with my own two eyes, tile going in. You can’t tile a pond when it’s wet. But when it dries up, you can put tile in so it won’t be wet again. I’ve seen, with my own two eyes, for the last two or three seasons I’ve been up here when it’s been dry, dirt pans moving where they scrape off the ridges and fill in the low spots so that when it does get wet again, even if there’s six feet of snow, there won’t be wetlands. You know, what I’m saying? And you know, I like again, I don’t really fault a farmer. Everybody’s gotta make a living. I don’t fault that. Up here, they have it doubly tough. They don’t have all that USDA funding money going out, whatever you call those direct cyclical payments and stuff like that. They don’t have that. The best I’ve heard Canadian farmers described is it’s between the farmer, God, and the railroads. They’ve got to make a living. Farming anymore is such a lot of input for marginal profit. That’s why these guys are, I mean, no-till farming out to the horizon. All those little two-inch furrows that run for miles, that’s where they’re putting all the chemical, all the spray, and all the fertilizer with the GPS technology.

Rusty Creasey: I had a farmer told me this year, down here there’s a group of them that always meet. And this guy, he’s got a college degree, his wife too. They do a great job farming. They’re very frugal, but they’re really, really good farmers too. And his banker told him, “If you could only lose $300,000 to $400,000 this year, I would be tickled.”
Ramsey Russell: Wow.
Rusty Creasey: Like, like it’s fine if you don’t make it. And he’ll tell you this:, look, farming is the long game. It ain’t year to year. It ain’t just this year. I heard of one guy who lost, I think, a little over $600,000 one year. The next year, he made like $1.3 million. That’s how quick it can change. And these commodity prices are down. I mean, God bless the farmer because it’s the one thing, you know, you go in hoping and praying, and you have no idea what you’re going to get for it when you make it or if a hurricane is going to wipe it out. I mean, it’s a tough gig. But yeah, you got to be in it for the long run. You got to take some licks. But, you know, it’s rough. So yeah, I get it, making it and doing what you can to make a living. But again, you know, the ducks are definitely hurting because of it.

A Family Duck Hunt

And that’s some of my favorite mornings, when we can all get to go, which we don’t get to do a lot. That’s why dove season is really fun.

Ramsey Russell: Let’s talk about Rusty Creasey. Where are you from? How’d you grow up, Rusty?
Rusty Creasey: Man, I’m close to McCrory. McCrory is a town of about 2,000 people, McCrory, Arkansas. And I grew up in a little old intersection called Morton, about a mile south of Morton, Arkansas. And that was home. My daddy was a self-made man. Left home at 15 with a change of clothes and a little food in a bag. He started working construction and doing dirt work, and man, he got to where he could run about any kind of piece of equipment. He started his own little excavation business, bulldozers and track machines, in the late 1960s. He was a self-made man and built up a great business that my brother, who’s 15 years older than I am, still runs to this day, Creasey Construction. In 1982, my dad ran for sheriff. And I never really understood why, but he was sheriff for four terms and was very well respected. I just tell people, you know, in fact, I made a little post the other day about it. If my daddy can make it from what he started with and what he had, if you’ll get out there and work and hustle, you can do the same. Just grew up country, man. Married my high school sweetheart at 21. I was 21, she was 19. And we’ll be celebrating our 25th anniversary come June.

Ramsey Russell: Golly. Congratulations, man.
Rusty Creasey: Thank you. Got two daughters, 20 and 15. A girl dad. And man, I don’t know. I don’t know what happened to the boys. It just wasn’t in the cards.
Ramsey Russell: But do they duck hunt with you?
Rusty Creasey: My oldest one does now. They’ll all go. And that’s some of my favorite mornings, when we can all get to go, which we don’t get to do a lot. That’s why dove season is really fun. My youngest one, she’d just as soon have a deer tenderloin with cream cheese or a duck breast or doves or squirrel, whatever. But she has no desire to hunt. She’ll go hunt, but she’s not a killer. She’s just soft-hearted. Now her big sister, who’s 20, Natalie, she loves it. She loves to shoot. She loves the whole deal. Great little shot. So she was kind of my boy, the closest thing I guess I got to a boy. And yeah, man, she’s proof that, look, girls can get out there. And don’t be upset if anybody’s listening,you got daughters because they look pretty dang good in camo too.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah, they do. That’s good advice rusty.
Rusty Creasey: But yeah. So, man, that’s just me.

Ramsey Russell: What was it like growing up around McCrory.
Rusty Creasey: You know, Morton-McCrory, whatever you want to call it, it was, I mean, look, I’m sure, I would almost bet money, Ramsey, that as a kid you had a pellet gun.
Ramsey Russell: Oh, yeah.
Rusty Creasey: And I would bet you were hell on a blackbird or a sparrow, just like I was. I hunted. I fished, rode bicycles, played basketball. We never were in the house, right? The opposite of what kids are today. And honestly, man, that was life. My grandma had chicken pens. She’d get eggs and stuff, and she’d always pick my mom and daddy, both worked. And my mom would pick us up after school and take us to her house and feed us. And, son, as soon as we got done eating after school, I would take my pellet gun, and I’d get out there in that chicken pen. She didn’t like those birds eating that chicken food. And that was right up my alley, man. I was hell on blackbirds and sparrows. But man, I swear, hunting, shooting those birds and look, I’m sure it’s illegal, and I know you can’t really do that today. But just go plink around with a gun, shoot something, you know, just get outside and shoot something. But in those days, that’s what I did. Golly, it   was so much fun. And I took getting in those chicken coops and doing that for my mama as seriously as I do duck hunting today. Yeah, it was so good. And, man, I swear, all that stuff adds up and makes you a better hunter, you know. I said, I love to squirrel hunt. You know, I’ve always said, you take a man that can slip around with a 22 rifle and shoot gray squirrels in the head with the leaves on, it doesn’t matter what he hunts, he’s a pretty good little woodsman. And he’s gonna be deadly wherever you put him, you know, whether turkeys, deer, or ducks whatever. And, man, that was it. You know, basketball, love sports, Baseball, basketball. And man, if it was raining, we came in or if it got dark, we would come in. But outside of that, man, I was outside doing something all the time.
Ramsey Russell: When did you get into duck hunting?

First Duck Hunting Memories

…two big old drake mallards, and they fell right in front. 

 

Rusty Creasey: Oh, man, I remember my first time I went duck hunting. I was five, and I. They just let me carry a little. And again, I never shot at a duck that morning. I carried a little 22. And I remember shooting like Coke cans. We’d throw a Coke can out, and I’d shoot it or something when it was slow. But I wound my brother and my uncle. And then when I was, I think, when I was 8 or so, I killed my first duck with a 410. And then at about, I want to say I was 10 or 11. I think I was 10. And that’s when I. That’s when it stuck. Because me and my uncle Harvey Shoe were down on the bio to view hunting in this little buck brush hole. And he had shot a duck down. He kind of winged it down. He said, I’m gonna go out here and look for this duck. And I’m on the dog stand. Of course, I got hip boots on, so I can’t really go nowhere. I always end up with hip boots somehow. Man, we’re in the good old days of duck hunting gear. For all you all listening, this is the good old days of gear. I don’t care what kind you buy, it’s good stuff. But I’m on that dog stand, and I got his field champion dog, Tom, beside me, and Harve’s out there looking for that duck. Two old drakes come over. Man, I had my old Dr. 85, that $10 from the hardware store that Harvey had got me for Christmas the year before. And I hit them the best I could. And they turned. I mean, and it was just destiny ducks, Dave. It was just destiny that day. I hit them, and they turned, and, man, I had a horrible feed call. I remember I grunted in the call, and it sounded terrible, but it worked that day. And they made a turn and came back. I did a little more feed call, hit them one more time, and, man, they backpedaled, and I shot them with an old 870 at 10 yards, two big old drake mallards, and they fell right in front. Of course, I sent Tom. He brought both of them back. And, of course, I just thought I was happy. And I looked, and. And Harvey’s got this cigar in his mouth, and he’s peeking around behind that cypress tree, and all you can see is empty and them eyeballs. And he is grinning from ear to ear because he knew what had just happened. I had just called my very first two ducks in and killed them and sent his dog. And, man, that was something that. It lit a fire. Any of you all listening. You ask anybody who’s a dog trainer from back in the old days, ask them about Harvey Shoe. He was such a gentleman, such a character, such a huge personality in a small frame. And I was lucky enough to have him pretty much like a dad.

Ramsey Russell: I was going to ask you about some of your influences. Who influenced? Sounds like Harvey was an important influence in your duck hunting life.

Rusty Creasey: Harvey was in life in general, you know, harvey died at 60 years old, and. And when he passed, I had some big shoes to fill, but, man, he was special. And he was not only special, man, my brother’s 15 years older Mac. And he and Harvey worked together a lot. Mike helped him train dogs, and he took Mike on his very first hunts as well. And, yeah, and look, man, my daddy was great, but my daddy worked hard. He worked really hard, and he was gone a lot, doing what he had to do. He always made sure we had everything we needed to hunt. He just didn’t get to take us a lot. And that’s where Harvey came in.

Learning How to Blow a Duck Call

But Mr. Rick Dunn, the owner of Echo, he taught me how to blow a duck call.

Ramsey Russell: Did Harvey teach you to call? Did he teach you to call?

Rusty Creasey: So he taught me the when and when nots, you know. He taught me when to hit them, when not to hit them, when to get on them, you know, which is a lot more important than how you sound. Harvey taught me when and when not to call. But Mr. Rick Dunn, the owner of Echo, he taught me how to blow a duck call. It was a dry year, and they were having trouble getting some content for the Echo DVD back in the day. And we had a mutual friend, Mark Miles, who’s a dog trainer over around Searcy, and he hooked us up. And he said, Rick, could they come over and hunt with you? And it just worked out. And Rick came over, and it took us a couple hunts to manage one little old hunt on the DVD. And we had poor Freddie King, who had to do some serious editing to make it look like it was the same day. But, man, hunting with Rick that year. And I told him, I said, I want to learn to blow a single-reed duck call. He said, we’ll just come to the shop. And anybody knows Rick Dunn knows how awesome he is. And I went to his shop that summer, and he gave me a call, and we started working. And that was in August. And by November, I was getting a lot better on a single reed. And I actually, the next spring, I went to work at the Echo shop a couple of days a week, just cutting out reeds and doing grunt work and helping out around the shop. And, of course, man, when you’re working in a duck call shop, there ain’t no better place to learn blow duck call.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Rusty Creasey: And then, man, I got. I grew by leaps and bounds and then got into competition calling, which is so fun if you’re competitive. It’s political, but it is a lot of fun. And finally, after three years, qualified for Worlds, placed 12th in the Worlds the very first year I ever entered it or ever qualified back in 2010. And all that to Rick Dunn, man. He is a humble, great Christian man who the world needs more of Rick Dunn and blessed to call him a friend. Blessed to have stood by a tree with him numerous times and blessed to have had him teach me how to blow a duck call. So that was, you know, that’s who taught me to blow a duck call. And my brother, you know, I shouldn’t leave my brother out. I mean, he took me, you know, he carried me on his back. Like I said. I always somehow ended up with his leaking waders or hand-me-down waders or some little hip boots. And Mike always had the better boots. And being 15 years older, man, I can remember just crying, wanting to go hunting with him. And, man, when I got to go, it was so awesome because it’d always be him and one of his good friends. And if the water was deep, he put me on his back and carried me. And, you know, this goes back to that pellet gun stuff. You know, at a young age, I could shoot pretty dang good. So if he could ever just get me set up where I could stay dry, he didn’t have to do a lot. But, yeah, he took me and, you know, taught me how to hide and, again, when, when not to call. And yeah, man, I’ve been blessed. You know, a lot of people use social media for different things, but that’s my favorite part about social media is that, look, not everybody is friends with Rick Dunn. Not everybody had a big brother, not everybody’s got a Harvey Shoe to help them. So, man, if I can put a little video out or leave a little tidbit on Instagram or YouTube and I help a kid or somebody get into duck hunting and it helps them kill a few or it helps them bond with their dad or if I leave them some little nugget that makes them a better person. And, man, now we’re, now we’re doing something.

Life Lessons Learned on the Hunt

But something I learned from Harvey was, man, you get all you can get out of this thing called life. You make your years count. 

Ramsey Russell: You talk about Harvey and Rick Dunn and your older brother and their influences. What are some of your favorite memories, and what are some of the life lessons, not necessarily duck hunting, but life lessons that those three men imparted to you?

Rusty Creasey: Well, obviously, the favorite memory, one of them with Harvey, was obviously the duck hunting this year. But something I learned from Harvey was, man, you get all you can get out of this thing called life. You make your years count. And if you’ve got somebody who invested in you, you aren’t guaranteed tomorrow. You better tell them how much they mean to you today. Harvey was the first person I lost at a young age, you know, in my 20s. I can remember he got sick with bone marrow cancer. And I can remember he got down real bad in September through November, December. And, man, the chemo was knocking him down, and it was just tough. But it was March, and he was a little better. I remember sitting in my mama’s office. Mom and Harvey were brother and sister. I was like, “You know, there’s so much I want to tell him, but I don’t want him to think I’m telling him goodbye. I don’t want him to think I’ve given up on him,” you know, because he was struggling. And, man, the treatment started working. He got to feeling better. He had his 60th birthday, yeah, it was 60 or 61. Anyway, it was in June, and he had been fishing. He was back to being his old self again, drinking a cold beer every now and then. The treatments were working. Everything was on the up. And it was his birthday, and I thought, “What better time than now to tell him?” So I wrote him a card. Bear with me. In that card, I just told him what he meant to me and thanked him for everything, Little League games, hunts, fishing trips. I left it on his table, and I said, “I brought you a card.” He said, “All right, buddy. Thank you.” And this is the reason right here, He didn’t say anything about it for a week. But a week later, he patted me on the leg and said, “I’ve been given a lot of gifts in my life, but nothing meant more to me than that card you gave me.” He said, “And I feel the same way about you.” I told him everything I wanted to tell him, Ramsey. And a month later, he got down and passed away on July 19th. But I had that closure. I was able to tell him what he meant to me. Anytime I get to speak to people, I tell them that story. You wouldn’t believe the kids who’ve told me they did that and are thankful they did because, a few months later, something happened to that person.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Rusty Creasey: And, hey, that’s 20-something years ago, man. It still gets me.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, I appreciate you sharing that story, Rusty.

Rusty Creasey: That’s a tough one.

Ramsey Russell: But it’s a tough lesson, and it’s a valuable lesson. I mean, it’s hard to say goodbye. It’s hard. We take life for granted. Tomorrow is always going to come, but there’s no guarantee. Everybody listening has had somebody in their life believe in them, influence them, and impart things that became who we are as human beings and as duck hunters. I really appreciate it, didn’t see this coming, but I appreciate you sharing that story.

Rusty Creasey: Well, I’m thankful that I did that. I’m thankful I wrote him the letter because, again, man, I thanked him for everything he had done for me. And look, as men, a lot of times we don’t do that because it’s tough putting yourself out there like that. But, you know, I look back, and I don’t remember who told me this one time, but when it hurts like it does right now, telling this story, that’s how you know it’s real. That’s how you know what you had was real. That’s how you know it meant something.

Ramsey Russell: Last time I shook hands with my buddy, Mr. Ian, if I could go back and shake his hand again and say something different. But after 30 years, it was kind of like Forrest Gump saying, “Bye, Bubba.” I mean, that’s all there really was to say. “I’ll see you soon,” you know. But I guess he knew how I felt after 30 years.

Rusty Creasey: That’s right. That’s right. But, yeah, they do, they do. And, you know, I learned a life lesson. Tell people what they mean to you. Enjoy every day. And just, man, like I said, if you’ve got a grandpa, daddy, uncle, brother, mama, or sister, just hug their neck, tell them thank you.

Ramsey Russell: A friend, a teacher, yeah, tell them thanks.

The Joys of Hunting Flooded Timber

I’ve hunted flooded timber where shooting a limit feels secondary to the magic of watching ducks pitch into your lap. The intimacy of timber hunting—feeling the wind off their wings, the splash—it’s unparalleled when it’s right.

Ramsey Russell: I’m going to change gears on that because, you know, you talked about that first hunt when you called in those ducks and sent Harvey’s dog, Tom, to get them. That was flooded timber. Have you always hunted flooded timber? Was that kind of you all’s thing, only flooded timber? Because honestly, Rusty, in all the years I’ve kept up with you, I’ve never seen you hunt anything but flooded timber. You know, there are other habitats out there around the world, even in Arkansas.

Rusty Creasey: There are. There are. You know, we hunted some pits and stuff, some rice fields and some tree lines and stuffs. But, I mean, look, let’s just say 30 years of duck hunting, of somewhat serious duck hunting. Let’s just say 1,500 days. Out of 1,500 days, I would say 1,450 of them have been in the woods somewhere. So, it’s a small fraction. But, I mean, look, man, if you’ve got that option, why would you go anywhere else? And I am looking forward to new ventures and stuff. The new place, like I was talking about, has a really diverse habitat. Now don’t get me wrong. You can shoot mallards back-pedaling into trees all day. But, look, like I tell people, play the hand you’re dealt. There’s nothing wrong with shooting some green wings in a flooded grass field or whatever the conditions may be. But, yeah, I mean, timber was just, look, there’s a reason these places that are timber go for what they do now down here, if they ever sell. It’s up close and intimate. You feel the wind off them. They splash, you catch them,  you touch them. When it’s right, there’s nothing better. There is nothing better than timber.

Ramsey Russell: Hang on. Hang on. Because I would say that, as a man who stands on floors at shows around the country and talks to duck hunters throughout the world, I’ve been asked about flooded timber. And, you know, we’re not talking cypress. We’re not talking tupelo. We’re not talking oxbow lakes and things of that nature. We’re not even talking willows. We’re talking flooded green timber. And, you know, people have seen it, but what is it for somebody who has never had the epiphany or benefit of sitting shin-deep in flooded timber? What is it about flooded timber, Rusty, that makes it so holy of holies?

Rusty Creasey: It’s kind of something you really can’t build or recreate. You either got it, or you don’t. Sure, you can plant trees, and maybe your grandkids one day will hunt in them. But it’s just everything about it. I mean, especially with the leaves on. When the leaves are on early season, and they give it up and parachute down. It’s just up-close quarters.

Ramsey Russell: It’s very intimate, isn’t it?

Rusty Creasey: Very intimate.

Ramsey Russell: It’s very intimate. It’s like if me and you went out duck hunting in a rice field and we shot four mallards, half a limit or whatever. We just shot four mallards. But if you shot those four mallards in flooded timber, even though it’s a little bit slower day, it ain’t a limit, but every one of them pitched over the top, floated around, and looked magical, basically like they were landing in your lap. You know, the shooting part is just icing on the cake.

Rusty Creasey: It’s everything leading up to it. The shooting kind of ruins it, to be honest.

Ramsey Russell: It really kind of does, doesn’t it?

Rusty Creasey: It does. That’s what makes shooting them with a bow so cool. There’s no noise, and they just keep coming. I mean, you finish him, and he’s on the water. It’s insane. It’s insane when it’s right. Even a subpar timber hunt, some people would say, is better than a good hunt in the field, like you just said. Especially today, with ammo and stuff, man, if you can go shoot four, if just two of you go, and it’s a slow morning, but you shoot six or eight greenheads with a .410 or 28 gauge and they’re back-pedaling, doing it right—man, I’d rather do that than shoot 10 limits with 10 guys.

Ramsey Russell: Amen. All day, every day. You know, it took me a long time to really kind of figure out what Mr. Boyd was saying, but in college, I was not a duck hunter. That’s when I started duck hunting, really started duck hunting. I went to Arkansas public with a group of guys, a fraternity brother, and the patriarch, the head of that group, was a man named Mr. Bowie from West Helena. Fourteen-foot jon boats, he knew those woods. He had been crawling over them like a barefoot little boy with a .22 rifle his whole lifetime. He knew them when they were flooded. He knew them in the pitch-black dark. He knew where we were going, where we needed to be, and how to get over the ridges and through the thickets. We set it all up and got it all going. If we had a good hunt, that just meant we were going to leave earlier the next morning because he was scared somebody would come in on us or figure out where we were. They were a pretty good old crowd. I’d say there were eight to 10 guys among the boats in there.

I never, ever will forget the first morning hunting and calling, I didn’t call. They called. They called the ducks in, and the ducks boiled, then we shot. Mr. Boyd, in his best Andy Griffith demeanor, said, “Now, Russell, you don’t shoot till I call the shot.” And there directly, another flock came in, and I shot. He kind of got his brow down low, like Andy scolding Opie, and gave me a real important lesson about it. What he explained to me was, “Shooting’s not the game. We’re going to shoot these ducks, son, but we want to own them. We want to call the ducks to the water, we want to enjoy the show, and we want them on the water.” That was how they hunted. They landed the ducks, and then somebody would shoot the last coming duck. Everybody would pick off a duck or two as they were leaving and repeat. That was the game. It wasn’t about the shooting. Ray Charles could have shot across that duck hole. You could close your eyes, pull the trigger three times, and you’re probably going to kill a duck, probably going to hit something.

Rusty Creasey: But you tricked them and you won.

Ramsey Russell: And you won. You know what I never will forget, I think I hunted with them boys two or three seasons. But I remember that first morning, and I remember the last morning, the last flock that we ever called in. I was learning to call by then. A lot of boys blew Alvin Taylor, and I’d gone over to Alvin Taylor’s shop and got me a duck call. I learned, by God, to blow it. It took me a long time to learn to blow it right, but I learned.

Rusty Creasey: Was that at Clarendon? Wasn’t his place at Clarendon?

Ramsey Russell: It was. I went over to Clarendon. It was about an hour away, but I went over there and got me a call. I used to love Mr. Taylor. I think he was just an amazing person. Oh boy, would I love to interview him about the days that he grew up around Clarendon, out in those areas, making his first calls, and why, and just the ducks that existed then. But I never will forget the last time I hunted with them boys. This goes to the point about the shot almost ruining it. The wind had shifted, but we were close enough to end the limit. It didn’t really demand that we get out and move the decoys like they needed to be moved. We had a flock of about 40 or 50 mallards working and working and working and working. They came in, but they didn’t come in right, and they left. We called them back, and they came in. They kind of, kind of, you know, fiddled around. They weren’t right. They got up and left. We called them back the third time. They came. They came in eyeball-level. Their wings cupped, talking to each other, muttering. It was a long, skinny hole, and they flew the length of it at eyeball level. Some of them landed, some of them didn’t. Then they just left. It was spellbinding. The sun was out, the sun was on them. The blues, the greens, the whites, and everything were just shining like a new Chevrolet Silverado. They left, and never a shot was fired. We sat there for moments and started looking around, chuckling at each other. “Well, why didn’t we shoot?” Nobody. Nobody. It was so spellbinding. We left that day without a limit, but we could have had it. For whatever reason, we just didn’t shoot. I’ve never forgotten it.

Rusty Creasey: You would have forgotten it if you’d have shot, and you wouldn’t know that story if you’d have shot.

Bow Hunting Ducks

I’ve seen you go out there to the woods archery hunting.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Well, how far along did you get in before you started archery? I’ve seen your archery hunts there on the opening week. I’ve seen you go out there to the woods archery hunting. When did you start doing that?

Rusty Creasey: You know what? Every year Echo’s Mallard Madness 3 came out, that would be, let me think for a second, that’d probably be 2007 or 2008. I’ll tell you how we got into that, Freddie King, another guy who has helped me a ton in my career, get really got my name out. Shared a tree with him many mornings. But he was a big bow hunter, and I love to bow hunt deer. I never even thought about shooting ducks. But he and his brother, one season, would walk in on public ground when the limit was two. They’d take their bows, and they’d shoot two mallard drakes apiece, and they’d come out. Well, you ain’t gonna sky-bust anybody with a bow. They had them a little hole they’d go to, and they’d go shoot four, and they’d leave, and then they’d go back the next morning and do it again. They did that, I don’t know how many times in a row, but that’s where we got the idea. Freddie was doing it. So, I mean, for one, it makes a hunt go a little longer too, it’s just, again, man, you’re not going to shoot a hole out shooting them with a bow because there’s no noise. He had that idea for us. It was me, Freddie, Tyler Merritt, and Rick Dunn who went the very first time. Man, I’ll never forget that. My very first shot, I killed a mallard drake. First shot on my bow to ever shoot at a duck. Again, we were shooting them on the water. But like you said, you know, you’ve earned the right to shoot them on the water when you trick them that way.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. You own them. Yeah.

Rusty Creasey: You just, you get to do that. And, man, we shot three limits with bows that morning and some insane duck footage. So after that, anytime that Mr. Robbins, the owner of the place at the time, wouldn’t hunt, I would get his blessing. I’d be like, we’re just going to shoot them with a bows. Because as a manager of a property, you want the least amount of shooting you can get, but as a duck hunter, you want to go hunting. So it’s like, man, this is a win-win all the way across the board. We get our duck hunting fix, we get to shoot some ducks, and the place stays quiet. There’s no noise on the whole tract of property, so when he comes back, the hunting is still good. And, man, it was just fun. It’s fun. And you talk about seeing the show, when all you’ve got is that stick and string and they’ve got to land and they’ve got to do it right, you see things that, again, the shot would have just messed up.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Rusty Creasey: But that’s how that originated.

Tips for Managing Flooded Timber for Duck Hunting

In my opinion, what makes it good, one, is access, having boat ditches or roads or something that will take you into your place of hunting without going through the whole entire tract of property.

Ramsey Russell: While we’re talking about flooded timber, talk about, in general terms, because you’ve spent your whole life hunting it. Talk about, generally speaking, good flooded timber management and good habitat conditions in flooded timber. What conditions make flooded timber good or better?

Rusty Creasey: Some of the key ingredients, I feel like, are, let’s just say you’ve got a, just for easy math, let’s just say a section of flooded timber, 640 acres. In my opinion, what makes it good, one, is access, having boat ditches or roads or something that will take you into your place of hunting without going through the whole entire tract of property.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, yeah.

Rusty Creasey: So if there’s a hole on the north end, you need your shortest way in needs to be coming from the north. You don’t need to drive through the whole piece of property. And that goes with any direction. If it’s got enough holes and you can incorporate food plots inside that timber. In my opinion, they don’t go to timber to feed anymore. It’s more about getting away from people, the security of the trees, the shadows, and loafing around. Sure, they’re going to eat acorns, they’re going to eat whatever’s there, but I think that’s an added bonus. Which brings me to the next thing is having areas in the timber that you rest and don’t hunt. Less is more. If you can hunt one group of ten instead of two groups of five. Now, sure, I’d rather hunt with a group of five, but as a manager, if we can shoot, if the ten of us hunt together and we only shoot on one end of the woods and leave the whole rest of the property quiet, somewhat undisturbed, that’s more area for the ducks to rest and stay put. Because any duck that comes over. So the way the hunting scenario goes, if you’ve seen videos, you know, the sky fills up, and they start filling the woods up. You really want the bulk of those ducks to sit down in the woods because once they sit down, they’re there all day long. They’re not leaving. So if you let 80-90% of your ducks sit down before you shoot, then that’s your inventory for the next day. So once they sit down, they’re there all day. Where you go, you shoot and leave, and if it’s a flight day and you’ve got ducks pushing down, guess where every duck that comes over those woods is coming, he’s coming in those woods. So now your inventory that you had, has built up again, and it just starts snowballing day in, day out. Now, it can go right the opposite way. If you shoot several volleys while the sky is full, you can run them out, they can leave and go to other places. So, you know, a rest area in the woods, having food in the woods. I plant rice, I plant millet, whatever I can get anything. And there’s some natural stuff, if you’ve got good smartweed, that helps too. Barnyard grass, stuff like that. All of that helps, diversity helps. If you’ve got some buck brush and some willows in part of your woods, if you’ve got white oaks and pin oaks in parts of your woods, I think diversity over the whole landscape helps. It offers them something for cold weather, warm weather, whatever mother nature throws at you. There’s something there for them. So you add all that together, and you kind of create, in my eyes, the perfect scenario for a duck to not want to leave and to keep coming back.

Ramsey Russell: Are there any other do’s and don’ts or hard and fast rules you abide by as a manager who wants to have consistently productive hunts in flooded timber? Like, you mentioned, for example, you mentioned to the extreme of archery, but you also mentioned .410s and 28 gauges.

Rusty Creasey: That helps a ton. Smaller gauges help. After a season, I’ll sit and edit my YouTube videos, and I can tell by the timestamps on the day when we would shoot 12 gauges versus when we shot 20s, 28s, or .410s. Because the time between volleys is longer with 12 gauges. Those big guns are loud, especially if you get eight or ten of them going off. But when you shoot smaller guns, you can consistently tell by the timestamps on the clips that they’re shorter, which tells me it’s not affecting the ducks as much. Even our neighbors, you know, I can tell when they’re shooting 20s or 12s. It’s just a lot louder. And, you know, I hate loud noises. I hate bright flashes, I hate fireworks, I hate tannerite. Anything that’s going to disturb a duck and thunderstorms, for example. Anybody who’s a manager or a duck hunter, if he’s holding a bunch of ducks and he sees red on the radar, thunder and lightning, I mean you just cringe because you know it can run them out of the country. I feel like loud noises do the same thing, whether it’s a man doing something or thunder and lightning. It’s just not good. So yeah, anything loud, anything shiny, bright lights, lasers, fireworks, when you’ve got a field full of ducks, those things just don’t mix. I’m a huge proponent of quiet. Let the ducks be the show. Enjoy the ducks. Because without the ducks, you can shoot fireworks, shine lasers, make loud noise, and romp stomp all you want anywhere else in the world. But, man, if you’ve got ducks, that’s what makes a place. And I feel like all those things are just no-gos when you’re wanting to make duck hunting the best it can be.

Ramsey Russell: Amen. This is an interesting question. We talked about a little bit before we got started. You hunt flooded timber mostly. If you’ve hunted 1,500 times, 1,450 have been in flooded timber in your career, Rusty. You’ve done a lot, and there are, whatever 41 or 58 species and subspecies of waterfowl in North America. What species have you killed? What species have you mostly killed in your career? Because, I mean, you know, I guess rainbow one duck in your life really.

Rusty Creasey: But 95% mallards. We shoot some teal. If I’ve got big ducks working, I’m more than likely not going to shoot into a group of teal now, I do like big water green wings because when they suck in and do it right, and there’s 50 or 75 or more, I do enjoy shooting those. And I do like to shoot a good group of gadwalls. They can either do it right, or they’re funky as heck. But teal, gadwalls, mallards, wood ducks, shoot some pintails every now and then mixed in with the mallards. Shoot a few black ducks every year. Usually, three or four spoonies somehow get shot. I’ve killed a hooded merganser. We had the governor of Alabama hunting with us one morning, and a hooded merganser. I had never even seen one.

Ramsey Russell: Just for you, Mr. Governor. Just for you, Mr. Governor.
Rusty Creasey: Yes, yes. He flew through the hole and lit on a log out in the woods off my end. And I said, “What in the heck is that?” And he had the whole spiky hair on his head. It’s a beautiful drake. And I was shooting a Browning Satori 20-gauge. I peeled him off that log, and they thought that was the coolest thing. For the rest of that governor’s term, Governor Bob Riley, he was mounted and in the governor’s office in Alabama.
Ramsey Russell: Golly.
Rusty Creasey: So that’s my one hooded merganser story. But man, not a lot of other off ducks, you know. I’m sure, you know, we’ve shot some bill mallards before. We’ve shot a gray-colored teal.
Ramsey Russell: Well, that habitat type does limit your exposure to a lot of other species. I mean, that is definitive greenhead territory, especially in the state of Arkansas. That’s what I mean. That golly, man, when I think of Arkansas, I think of flooded green timber and greenheads.
Rusty Creasey: That’s right. In one of the Echo DVDs, we hunted a tree line on the side of a levee one time. They had been using this little corner, and they all were laughing and cutting up at me because I’d be like, “They’d come over and they’d make,” I was like, “What kind of duck is that?” They’re like, “Rusty, those are whatever.” Because it was just, I wasn’t used to trying to figure out what was what. You know, we shoot wigeons, I think I left that out. But that day there on that tree line, we shot some wigeons, shot some gadwalls, shot some mallards, shot a couple spoonies, teal and I love that. You know, I love duck hunting. I mean, I think it’s awesome what you do and travel. I’d like to get me some of that one day. Maybe go shoot some other ducks besides greenheads.

Differences in Local Mallards vs. Migrators?

But I swear, you get some local ones mixed in with some new ones, and they’ll eat you up. 

Ramsey Russell: You know, you say that, and I mean, I’ve just got this wanderlust and this travel bug, and I just got this craving to see and do and explore. But the truth of the matter is, you know, when asked my favorite duck, Rusty, I always say, “The next one.” And there is a lot of truth to that. You don’t believe me, come stand in the blind with me, the next duck’s gonna get it. But the truth of the matter is, you know, there’s something to be said about a mallard duck worldwide. And look, they’re throughout the northern hemisphere. I’ve shot them in some of the most far-flung places like Azerbaijan and Pakistan and Russia and Sweden and the Netherlands and just Mongolia. But a mallard duck is what matters speaking of Mongolia, we were in Mongolia one time and had gone way off the beaten path, even for Mongolia, looking for some stuff. It was too cold. We couldn’t find what we were looking for. We made a plan to come back the next morning, bright and early, about a six-hour drive down tire tracks and through this wilderness area. As we were coming back, we found, it’s like where the snow had melted and kind of temporarily accumulated in this low-lying area, it was full of mallards and pintails. I said, “Whoa, whoa, whoa, let’s look at this for a minute.” I got stopped. I knew we were supposed to leave in the morning. I was ready to leave. I wanted to go shoot some of those other bar-headed geese, some of that kind of stuff. But man, I mean, I’m sitting there thinking, those ducks hadn’t heard a duck call. I mean, where’d they come from? Because, you know, they haven’t been putting no pressure on and I convinced our host, and we went and bought a bale of hay so we’d have something to hide under. We just covered ourselves with hay and got there on the edge of the water the next morning, bright and early. And he pulled away about a half mile, watched us hunt. As he drove back up, he was like, “It was the most amazing thing.” I go, what he goes, they would get right over you, and they’d start to circle, and they’d pitch in right in front of you.” And I said, “What’s the decoys?” And I fished up my call, and oh, his eyes got big, and he walked up closer to the pile, and he goes, “And what are the odds that you would only shoot male ducks?” And we bust out laughing. He goes, “What’s so funny?” I go, “That’s the whole point. The reason there are only greenheads is because we chose only greenheads.” And he couldn’t understand that, you know. But there really is, I’ll say it for the record if I’ve never said it before, but if I could only shoot one species of duck for the remainder of my life, it would be a mallard duck. They wrote the book. They wrote the book that we all think of about duck hunting, especially puzzled up worldwide. The calls, the decoys, you know, it’s all about the mallard duck. And so I don’t think, no shame in that. I want to ask you a question. We’re talking about flooded timber right now, and I want to ask you about, back to first the podcast. You talked about the Halloween ducks. And you know, I’ve had a lot of biologist types on here before talking about those early migrants that come to Arkansas. And they don’t just come to the state of Arkansas. They come to boom dispatch woods. They’re going to a finite little X on the map. They’re coming. And I’ve talked to some old-timers before, Rusty, that talk about, they can tell the difference in what they call local ducks, mainly in the Halloween mallards versus migrators that are being pushed down ahead of the front and just buzzing around. You know, he said that you can just tell the difference in their behavior. Can you see and tell the difference in those two types of mallards, all the years you spent?
Rusty Creasey: Absolutely, absolutely. Those early ducks, they’re the ones you kind of, you share with your neighbors. If you got three or four neighbors who are in the same boat as you, they’ve got early water and these ducks get here, and they live here. I had one with a tracker on him two or three years ago. And from the first week of November to the first week of February, he stayed in our rest area. He would come there in the mornings, go roost at night in the rice field, and fly right back to the willows and rest the next day.

Ramsey Russell: Yep.

Rusty Creasey: They are smart. They’ve seen it all, they’ve heard it all. But now, like we were talking about, those are your live decoys. So when you do get some fresh ones, and you can tell when you get fresh ones, they act totally different. They act like they’re supposed to. But yes, the farm ducks, local ducks, whatever you want to call them, yeah, they’re hard to kill. But that, again, that’s your inventory. That’s your draw. That’s why the rest of them stop and stay. But I swear, you get some local ones mixed in with some new ones, and they’ll eat you up. And the local ones figure it out. And that’s why I’m like setting up, man. A lot of people, they’ll leave a big spread out all year, but I’m a huge fan of setting up fresh every day because of that reason. You know, those local ducks that fly over that block of timber or fly over the field every day, every day, well, you know, if you just leave a spread out, it’s the same old, same old. But that’s why I like to take it up every day, put it out fresh before daylight every morning. And then, you know, even those local ducks are like, “Oh, this is different.”

Ramsey Russell: You’re not putting out a massive spread normally in the timber anyway, are you? In fact, I know some people put out a small spread and just stomp, move around, and splash.

Rusty Creasey: Right. You know, small hole, four dozen, bigger hole, six dozen. You know, four or five spinners, usually jerk strings. So, I mean, for what it is, it’s a decent spread. I mean, we fill her up. It looks like something’s going on, for sure.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Yep. Let’s talk about Coca-Cola Woods. Because, you know, when I think Rusty Creasey, I think Coca-Cola Woods. But your family’s history with Coca-Cola Woods goes way back beyond Rusty Creasey.
Rusty Creasey: It does. It does.
Ramsey Russell: Tell me, what is Coca-Cola? I mean, how did Coca-Cola Woods get its name, for starters? Where’s it located? What’s the history of it? And how’s your family related to it?
Rusty Creasey: Right again, man. This is just a chapter that, no matter what chapter you’re on now, that chapter of my book is always going to be there. So, I’ll be glad to talk on it. So, my Uncle Harvey Shoe, well, first of all, how it got its name. It was bought in 1937 by the Pigeon family from Memphis. And the Pigeon family owned the Coca-Cola bottling company in Memphis, Tennessee. So, as a local, I mean, Coke guys bought it, just the name stuck, Coca-Cola Woods. That’s how it got its name. As far as my family, hey, they’d hear some shooting in the woods and go back there. There was always a 17, 18-year-old kid back there trespassing. They’d run him off. Two or three days later, he’d be back again. And they’d run him off, run him off. Finally, they’re like, “Look, what if we just hire this guy? We can’t keep him out anyway.” That was my Uncle Harvey Shoot.
Ramsey Russell: What a great story. Golly.
Rusty Creasey: I always tell people like that probably won’t work out in your favour in today’s world, but it did back then for Harvey. And so, he was a guide and caretaker, manager, whatever. And my grandma, his mama, would pick ducks there and stuff. And again, you know, this is one mile from where I grew up, which this is in the late 1950s, early 1960s. And then I wasn’t born until 1978. So, at that point, you know, he’s well-established. Everybody’s well-established there. And I mean, I’m going up there, you know, as a toddler, learning to walk and ride my bicycle up there. When I got older, I mean, again, it was just always there. It was just always a huge part of life. And being close to Harvey, you know, he trained dogs and had a big kennel up there, and we’d go throw bumpers for him, scoop dog doodoo, and help clean out kennels and wash out water bowls. And it was just it, you know, like I said, ride bikes up there, take a fishing pole, go catch crappie and bass and bring them by the pipes running out. I mean, that was life. Shot my very first squirrel in the third grade on a big old pin oak right back here behind the lodge. I can just show you the tree today. It was just always a special place. And lots of memories. You know, my daughter, it was in 2012, she’d have been eight, she killed her first deer back there sitting in my lap. I mean, the stories like that just go on and on. So, it’s always held and will always hold a special place in my heart.
Ramsey Russell: I mean, why wouldn’t they hire Harvey? He probably knew the land better than anybody else.
Rusty Creasey: Absolutely. And he was a local guy who everybody liked and respected. You know, that’s the thing on these clubs, you know, if you don’t have a local guy, people run all over you. You’ll have trespassers, you’ll have people shoot up your stuff, steal, do whatever. He was just a good old country boy who had never been nowhere really. And that was home for him. It was home for me for a long time. Like I said, I lived a mile from it.
Ramsey Russell: Were you the manager there for 20 years?
Rusty Creasey: I was. From 2004 till, oh, about three weeks ago. That’s exactly right.
Ramsey Russell: Was that a seasonal career, or did you do something else in the off-season? Or did it keep you busy all year?
Rusty Creasey: It was seasonal. It was seasonal from 2004 when I was hired till about 2008. And I was working in a seed and chemical company. And, man, look, I had my little girl and we wanted to have another one. And I got to where I was, I’d get home, and I always tucked her in. I’d get home, and she’d be asleep because, you know, in ag sales or ag business, you know, when the farmers are working, you’re working. And that made for some long summers. But also, wanting everything to be the best it could be, I’d get off work there and go to the woods and plant rice and bush hog or disc or whatever needed done. And man, I was just burning a candle at both ends, and I’m like, you know, you got to pick something. And look, I had a great career and turned down a really nice raise to go do that. But man, when that little girl was asleep one night when I came in, did that a couple times, I was like, something’s got to give. How do you stay in an office and do paperwork and sit on a darn computer all day, or do you go do something you love? Well, if you look at numbers, I should have stayed in the office, for a while anyway. But I’m like, let’s take a chance and see where this deal goes. And man, I quit and turned down, at the time, a $15,000 raise, which back in 2008 was a pretty good lick, especially when you weren’t making much to start with. And I said, let’s see where this goes. And dude, I hustled. I would take care of that place and they put me on a little salary, and, you know, I’d take care of it. And then on the weekends, I’d do little side gigs. And you know, at that time, people were starting to pay attention to what’s he doing? What’s Rusty doing? Man, the pictures don’t lie, the numbers don’t lie. You know, he’s doing something right. Well, man, would you come plant rice, or would you come plant millet, or would you come look at this? And man, I just started going out and hustling on the side and doing little food plots for people and telling people what worked for me. And look, I don’t have a degree, but I had a man teach me everything he knew, and I paid a lot of attention. And then from then on, I started paying attention and learning and trying new things. And that’s what I tell people. There’s people a lot smarter than me, but I got a lifetime of good old boy common-sense knowledge that has worked for me and I feel like works for most.
Ramsey Russell: Well, Rusty, you talk about, the 8 to 5 or 8 to 10, you know, during busy times of year. And you know, everybody’s got to make a living. We all got to make a living. But kind of going back to some of them life lessons Uncle Harvey taught you, you know, we gotta have a life too. I mean, this thing is short, and we’ve got to make a life for ourselves and our children, not just a living. You know what a sad life it’d be if all we did was get up and go to work for the man to pay the bills. I mean, what’s the point? What’s the point in life?

Private Hunting Locations: Coca-Cola Woods in Arkansas

So a lot of the managing and guiding you were doing was for owners and members and special guests like the governor?

Rusty Creasey: I know, I agree. And anytime you spend, look, it doesn’t matter, look, if you want to take your kids to Disney, that’s great. But man, give me a little campfire or a little fire in the fire pit out here with some marshmallows, me, my kids, and wife sitting around it, or a fire in the den. Just give them your time. You don’t have to spend any money on them. Just spend time with them. That is one thing this job has afforded me to do. My wife’s a school teacher, and she has summers off. You get up, you bust your tail, especially in the summer months when it’s hot. You work hard from right after daylight until 1 to 2 o’clock. Then, it gets hot outside, and you come home and spend time with family. You can’t get that back. After duck season, in February and March, it’s pretty slow. You get those off days. Now, there are some long days and short, nasty ones in duck season. Especially if you had to cook supper and visit with guests and stuff that come in. You’re gone at 4:30, and you’re not home until 9. It feels like you kiss your wife, go to bed, throw your clothes under the bed, crawl across it, get them on the other side, put them back on, and do it all over again. That’s about what it feels like most nights.

Ramsey Russell: But Coca-Cola Woods is private, right? So a lot of the managing and guiding you were doing was for owners and members and special guests like the governor?

Rusty Creasey: Yes, right. Just the owner and that’s always been the dynamic there, even in the Pigeon family, Mr. Robbins, and today’s owner. It’s friends, family, and business acquaintances. You know, the governor of Alabama. Mr. Robbins wasn’t no dummy. If the city that he cared so much about needed a little grant or some help, look, you let the governor bring his family to the woods for a weekend, opening weekend every year. It’s amazing what you can get done. You know, “You pat my back, I pat yours.” That’s the way the world works, and that’s the way it should work.

Ramsey Russell: It ain’t what you know, it’s who you know.

Rusty Creasey: Exactly, exactly. So yeah, there are a lot of business deals that have been done right there and a lot of networking. A lot of people. I mean, you know, I would see, on a typical year, probably 300 different people on a 60-day season, that’s a lot of faces. But again, that network, man, that network’s why I’m here talking to you. This waterfowl network, you know, it seems big until you’re in it, and man, it is small.

Ramsey Russell: Oh, it’s a small world. You better believe it.

Rusty Creasey: Everybody knows everybody. And for anybody listening, you screw somebody over in this deal, we’re all going to know about it.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Rusty Creasey: Everybody’s going to know about it. So yeah, just, man, just treat people the way you want to be treated, and you won’t have any issues. But you mess up in this network, word travels quick.

Ramsey Russell: Why is Coca-Cola Woods so famous? What is it about it? Is it the location? What is it about Coca-Cola Woods?

Rusty Creasey: You know, that is a great question. And even the properties that are adjacent to it. For instance, it was about four or five years ago, and the guy that leases the property next door. It was a day before the season, and we just wanted to check our inventory. I don’t know how many we were holding, I guess between 60,000 and 70,000 in the woods, maybe more. I feel like I’m cutting it short. From before daylight until 9 o’clock, we had thousands upon thousands come into the Lost Buckhole. It was insane. We videoed it on cell phones, and it was just epic. When I tell you, my buddy over there and all there is two levees and a ditch separating it and another tract of timber. Now, the other tract of timber is only half the size. He never saw a duck. As the crow flies, it was less than a mile, and he never saw a duck. Now, why is that? I think it’s the size. But if you look on a map, it ain’t that big. It’s just 520 acres. But years and years of imprinting, having water every year, consistent water. When I took over and started doing it, I realized. When I was in ag sales, I noticed there were people that would farm federal government ground, and the feds didn’t collect rent. They left the rent in the field. So if you farmed 100 acres, and the rent was one-fourth, they would go out there, mark out 25 acres, and you left it in the field. That was left for the ducks. I noticed that, and I’m like, okay, honestly, this was before people really started farming for ducks, right? I never realized it. People are like, “Man, you’re one of the OGs, one of the first.” I never thought of that. Then I look in the mirror and see all this gray hair, and I’m like, well, maybe I am. But I started figuring out, okay, this little crop rent we get from our tenant who farms the 100 acres of rice for us, let’s not draw any rent. Let’s leave 10 acres in each field. All right? So we started doing that, and then I’m like, all right, let’s create a rest area in the woods that we don’t even hunt or drive around. We did that. We made a rest area in the southeast corner. Now let’s start seeing if we can grow some kind of crop in the woods, in our holes. Bought the equipment and figured out rice worked best. I tried rice, Milo, millet, corn, did all this the very first year. Rice just showed out. All right, next year, wall-to-wall rice. It was just consistently getting better and better. You know, Freddie King again, we started putting some stuff on YouTube about food plots, and it just blew up. Did a few articles, like a couple in Wildfire Magazine. And of course, this was when all these Internet forums, chat rooms, and threads started. One person at a time started hearing about it. Then came the videos, the Echo videos. Word spread, and it became a notorious place. But as far as what makes it, what it is? It’s location. It’s the way it’s hunted there. The method to the madness of low pressure. We hunt it every day but only hunt one hole, leaving crops, and It’s just the perfect storm. It’s good now, but I’ll say this, it has trended like the sport. It’s still really good, but it’s not like it was 10 years ago. It’s gotten a little worse, you know.

Ramsey Russell: You know, you talk about location, and that reminded me of hunting rice fields up in northeast Arkansas back in the day. There was one particular pit, it was a quarter section. It might kill 1,800, maybe 2,000 ducks a season. The pit below it might kill almost that many. But the pits to the north, west, and east would kill a third or less that many. The prevailing thought was that there are these little X’s on Earth that have existed since time immemorial. The thought was that something about that location, that one blind surrounded by other blinds, made it so much better. When it was in flooded timber, it probably attracted a lot of ducks more than the others. Even now, without timber for 100 years, those ducks still know where it is.

Rusty Creasey: That’s exactly right.

Ramsey Russell: You know, it’s just crazy.
Rusty Creasey: Yep, yep. No, I agree with that, 100%. And my uncle used to always say, well, you know, and look, this is Harvey’s way of thinking, and I can’t argue with him. But he’d say, you know, that mama duck, and I don’t know if this is how this works. This is what he always said, you got those older ducks, and those younger ducks come with them. Then they come to that track, and then they go back north. And then the next year, those ducks have little ones, and they bring them with them. And it’s like it’s passed on from generation to generation, to where, all right, it’s ingrained in their DNA. This is where we go when it’s time to go.
Ramsey Russell: That’s right.
Rusty Creasey: And again, that’s the whole key to having water every year and, you know, consistently having the habitat for them. So there is something to that. Before we jump, I’m going to ask you a question, and I do not know the answer, but you may actually know it. Do you think ducks smell?
Ramsey Russell: I think they can. I don’t know. I don’t know what they can smell. I’ve asked that question before. We had a biologist on, I guess last year, talking about duck eyesight. Extremely informative. It’s surprising how, on the one hand, how poorly they can see as compared to the human experience, but on the other hand, how they see, I mean, which is why we have to hide and be still and all that good stuff, and how they react to what they see, that’s different. But I asked him, could they smell? And he didn’t really know. But it’s like this, Rusty, they’ll put through these natural gas lines, and they will pump a gas that smells like rotting flesh. Then they’ll go out and survey, do visual inspections, and look for buzzards. And those buzzards will start circling. If there’s a leak in that pipeline, those buzzards are circling. There’s our leak. Now, if a buzzard can smell, why can’t a mallard? Maybe they don’t smell like we smell. Maybe they smell or perceive something different. But it kind of makes sense to me that they have some form of olfactory.

Rusty Creasey: I agree. And it used to be so funny with Harvey. We’d be in the woods. He always called it “blowing the dirt dauber nest out” of our duck calls. The week before duck season, we’d go out and just call them and watch them. That’s what he always said, “We’re gonna go blow the dirt dauber nest out of our duck calls.” And you’d always land a bunch. Obviously, the wind’s at your back and your scent’s blowing right towards them. And we were hidden. I mean, this happens every year. But you’re hidden good. Like, we’re not moving. We’ve got a good hide. And those ducks will just hop up and fly off like they’re startled a lot of times. He used to always say they smelled us. And I’d always think, oh, he’s full of crap. There ain’t no way. But, by golly, I wonder now if he wasn’t onto something.
Ramsey Russell: I wonder. I just wonder. You know, I’ve heard of parts of the world where people bait. I’ve heard of them putting molasses in the water down in Argentina so that when the birds that are feeding in that area go back to wherever they’re going to roost to other ducks.
Rusty Creasey: They got it on their feathers.
Ramsey Russell: The other ducks are like, “Whoa. Wait a minute. What’s he got? Where’s he going? That smells good.” That’s what I’ve heard. I can’t prove it. I think there needs to be some research into that to counter all of this stuff about ducks smelling. The hunters I know smoke. Smoke cigars, you know. I mean, reek of alcohol the next morning. And we always want the wind to be down. We always want the decoys downwind of us. I wonder sometimes, you know, just how good they smell. Maybe they aren’t alarmed at cigarette smoke like a whitetail deer or something, you know. So, you left Coca-Cola Woods recently after all these years, 20 years as a manager. Your family goes back to 1958 or something with Coca-Cola Woods. What’s next for Rusty Creasey?

Fowler’s Point Hunting 

Mr. Jody Pagan, who everybody in Arkansas knows, he’s super sharp and great at what he does and he was the mastermind behind the structures and layout. It’s a good place, but I want to take it to another level.

Rusty Creasey: You know, I am the manager at Fowler’s Point, and it’s down around Des Arc in the White River bottoms. It’s got some moist soil units on it. It’s got some planted trees that are almost 30 years old, really, really big and some nice holes. It’s like true green timber. 3,000 acres in the White River bottoms. You know, I would say it’s in a better flyway. There are four members that I’m working for and with, and man, everything, every conversation is about ducks or duck hunting or duck habitat or water, and it’s going to be a fun ride. They never really had a manager. One of the members is 73, and he’s been doing a lot himself. Other people have come in and helped, and some of the members will come in for a week or two at a time. But, I mean, he’s 73, and it’s a good place. You may hunt in knee-deep water one day in that White River, then find yourself 12 feet deep in the top of a wilderness in a boat. Or you have to go to some shallow ground on the east side. It’s a good place, but there are definitely things I can do and bring to the table from a manager-slash-farming side for ducks, incorporating some food plots and some hot foods. Some of my other tactics that I’ve used in the past will definitely work there and only make it better. Let’s develop this and leave this as a rest area. It’s just a new set of eyes and a new set of ideas. You know, Coca-Cola was home and will always have a special place in my heart. But it is really exciting. There’s only so much you can do in 500 acres of timber, a block of woods. Man, I’ve got a canvas of 3,000 acres now that go from buck brush to tree lines to willow trees. Big willow trees, 28, 29-year-old pin oaks and water oaks that were planted in probably one of the best flyways in the world.
Ramsey Russell: The habitat diversity alone sounds like it’s got all the components of a complete waterfowl habitat complex. All the different little niches can be satisfied for what a duck’s life cycle requirements are.
Rusty Creasey: Yeah, it checks all the boxes. You’ve got great smartweed that, when they draw it down right and disc it, grows well. They’ve got great barnyard grass, all kinds of natural stuff. But there are areas that I know I can get some rice to grow in. There are some spots that aren’t really in the moist soil units where I know I can get some milo or some corn patches. Look, I’m not trying to change the landscape, but if I can add in a 10-acre corn patch here, a 5-acre milo patch there, and before you know it, you’ve got 60, 80, 100 acres of different little plots scattered throughout the property. Now you’re covering all their needs like you just said. And it’s really cool. It’s a really good place. Mr. Jody Pagan, who everybody in Arkansas knows, he’s super sharp and great at what he does and he was the mastermind behind the structures and layout. It’s a good place, but I want to take it to another level.
Ramsey Russell: Sure.

Rusty Creasey: And it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a fun ride. Again, man, it’s cool for everything to revolve around the ducks and how we can make it better. And that’s just, it’s been fun. You know, we’re only three weeks into it roughly, and man, it’s been fun. Now they’ve been working my tail off down there, I ain’t gonna lie, because this is, you know, the time frame between now and duck season. You know, there are certain things that you put off and put off until now so you don’t have to do them three or four times throughout the year. And that could be lodging at the lodge or around the grounds. But then, you know, we brush duck blinds, I’m reclaiming some areas that are grown up with elm, woody plants, and locust trees that don’t need to be there. So I’m going in with a skid steer and doing that, and it’s been fun, man.

Ramsey Russell: There’s always something to do, you know. Good job.

Rusty Creasey: Ain’t no doubt there. And like I said, you know, you can work 40 hours a week and hit the high spots. If you want to dig, you could work 80 hours a week. You could go 24/7 if you just really wanted to find something to do. But I don’t think my wife and kids would appreciate that, so I’m trying to find that happy medium. It’s been good.

Ramsey Russell: The flooded timber at the bottom are you all irrigating? Are you all pumping water? Or is it purely at the mercy of natural wetlands, natural hydrology?

Rusty Creasey: We’ve got a pump in the river right now, and while it’s down, it’s still throwing really good water. From our east side to the south end, let’s just say the water flows south and west from the river, there’s seven feet of fall. So once you get it up out of that river and into our delivery ditch, it runs all the way down the ditch, probably a little over three miles, and then it starts pushing from the bottom up.

Ramsey Russell: Wow.

Rusty Creasey: We’ve got a big tank, tankers, and water control structures, and it’s in different units. You know, there are like 300-something-acre units, and there are four units down there that we can flood with the pump. You can hold about 1,200 acres of water on a dry year. So now that’s a big chunk of water.

Ramsey Russell: Oh boy.

Rusty Creasey: But you let that White River get out, and the whole thing—almost 3,000 acres floods. I mean, I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little excited about the river. Used to, I would hate it when the White River got out because we’d lose our ducks. Now, I’m like, I get to be on the other end of this deal.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Rusty Creasey: So, it’s exciting. I hunted it years ago with a group. It was a group of Army Rangers, a friend of mine, his son, was a Ranger and I took them. They did a Wounded Warrior hunt, and it was awesome. But I had never been there. They said, “Man, we just need you.” I said, “What do you need me to do?” They said, “We need you to drive a boat to this spot, set up, blow your duck call, and do your thing.” We pulled two flat-bottom boats up into those willow trees and hid them the best we could. We shot seven limits doing it right. I mean, the water was super deep. I felt like the biggest goober out there hunting, but there were so many ducks. We shot seven limits, shot a band that morning. One of the guys killed his first band, and it was a great hunt. So that’s my one time I hunted it, in years past, but I always heard about it. I’ve got a friend who’s a member, and Mr. David Times, a professional golfer. Man, it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a fun ride. Yeah, they’re good folks. It’s going to be fun.

Ramsey Russell: I wish you the best of luck. You know, I think it’s an exciting opportunity for you.

Rusty Creasey: It is. It’s bittersweet. It was hard. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t. But I said it all along. My wife and I prayed, talked, had conversations, wrote down pros and cons, and it just made sense. To grow, not financially but to grow my platform, to grow as a person and as a man, I think sometimes you have to, one, work a little harder, and two, put yourself in an uncomfortable situation starting out.

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Rusty Creasey: To get to where you want to be. And that’s kind of what I did.

Everyone Needs a Green Timber Place to Hunt

I want to grow my platform even more and help and share duck hunting stories, show how to do food plots…

Ramsey Russell: We’ve got to, as human beings and as duck hunters, we cannot just sit. I mean, we’ve got to get outside our boundaries. We’ve got to continue getting outside of our boundaries. Life demands it.

Rusty Creasey: You’re right. And look, I mean, I wouldn’t know you if it wasn’t for social media. You wouldn’t know me either, really, if it wasn’t for social media. For me to grow my platform, any followers of mine, the feedback when I announced it was so awesome. To any of my people listening, thank you all, because you all are so supportive of my decision. There’s so much content I’ll be able to bring from down there because, look, not everybody has a green timber place to hunt. But man, there are a lot of people with a little buck brush place, a little willow break, or a pond with moist soil. So I’m going to learn this place, and I’m going to pass it on. I want people to learn with me. I want to grow my platform even more and help and share duck hunting stories, show how to do food plots, and then, oh, by the way, tell you a Harvey Shoe story, my daddy’s story, or a big brother story.

Teach you how to marry your high school sweetheart and make it work—teach you something about life along the way as well. I’m excited about that part of it, and these guys are too. They want to see me grow. They want to see my platform grow because when my platform grows, Fowler’s Point grows, and we’re all excited about it.

Bucket List Species to Hunt?

But I would love to go shoot an elk somewhere out west with my bow and arrow. 

Ramsey Russell: Amen. Boy, that’s exciting. Last question, outside the state of Arkansas, beyond mallards, has Rusty Creasey got a bucket list hunt or species he wants to chase?

Rusty Creasey: I am a huge bow hunter. I’ve been blessed. My buddy Andy Morgan, a professional bass fisherman, has a place in Nebraska, and I’ve been whitetail hunting in Nebraska. That was awesome, and it was on my list to shoot a big Midwest whitetail, and I’ve done that. But I would love to go shoot an elk somewhere out west with my bow and arrow. I have no desire to shoot one with a gun. If I go out there, I want to do it right. And look, nothing wrong with shooting one with a gun, I don’t mean it that way. But in my opinion, I want to go shoot one bugling, the hair standing up on the back of your neck, 25-30 yards, and center punch him, watch him crash. That would be my bucket list. Man, I’m pretty simple, though, Ramsey. I like a good old squirrel hunt down here in the Arkansas River bottoms. I like, obviously, a good duck hunt, and a good dove shoot.

Ramsey Russell: What’s your favorite squirrel recipe?

Rusty Creasey: My youngest one loves squirrel and dumplings.

Ramsey Russell: I do, too.
Rusty Creasey: I’ll boil them old fox squirrels or gray squirrels down with some chicken broth and some salt and pepper until they’re falling off the bone. Strip all the meat off the bone and go up here to Mad Butcher and buy me some Mary B’s frozen.
Ramsey Russell: That’s right.
Rusty Creasey: Get that water boiling and drop them dumplings down in there till they’re about cooked. Then put all that squirrel back in there, cover it, and let it slow cook and stew. That was my daddy’s favorite recipe. His favorite thing to eat was squirrel, and that was hard. My father passed away in 2018, and squirrel was his favorite. I would always go squirrel hunting and package them three to a bag, and, man, I’d fix him up. He absolutely loved squirrel dumplings. That was one of his favorites, and he’s the one who gave me that recipe.

But you know, the first year after he passed, I quit squirrel hunting because it hurt. I didn’t have my daddy to take them to. Then I thought, “Look, you dummy, he wouldn’t want you to quit squirrel hunting. Get back out in the woods.” So the next year, I got back at it, and Miley Kate started loving those squirrel dumplings. I’m like, well, now I’ve got my reason to get back to the squirrel woods.

Ramsey Russell: My youngest son, Duncan, dragged me back into squirrel hunting. I did it as a little boy and got away from it. As he was a little boy, he loved squirrel hunting and still does. He’s very, very good at it. He got me back into it. Gosh, he got me from using a shotgun into a 17 HMR. I like sitting around and shooting those. But, you know, when we cook squirrel dumplings, it’s kind of sort of cheating. I’ll put as many squirrels into a pressure cooker as humanly possible and get them tender. Then I’ll boil a whole chicken with a lot of butter, debone it all, and put it back together in that stock with salt, pepper, and butter. That’s about all it is. I use those Mary B’s dumplings, but it’s so much meat you can stand a wooden spoon up in it. I mean, it’s almost solid meat. But we’ve got a little thing we add,  we go to the grocery and get, I can’t remember what they call it, but it’s English peas and pearl onions in the same can. We put that in there. That’s just kind of our thing. That’s how we make squirrel dumplings.

Rusty Creasey: You tear the chicken off the bone and mix it with the squirrel?
Ramsey Russell: Yep, yep, we do.
Rusty Creasey: I’ve never done the chicken with the squirrel, but I have done duck and dumplings. I’ll boil a big old mallard drake down because you get that good duck fat. Honestly, you have to spoon some of it off the top because you know how thick that stuff is. But that duck and dumplings, strip him down the same way. I would always put a chicken breast or two in there with it. I’d tear that white meat off the chicken breast and mix it with the duck. If you haven’t ever had duck and dumplings, do that same recipe with a duck.
Ramsey Russell: No, I’m going to. I can’t believe I haven’t thought of that.
Rusty Creasey: It’s really good.
Ramsey Russell: It’s something on a cold day or a cold night around camp, I can’t think of a better comfort food than dumplings. It’s rich, savory, and warm. I’ve always thought, “Boy, I need to pour this off into a mug, take it to the blind on a cold morning, and just sip the broth.” I love that. Matter of fact, when I get home, he and I are going deer hunting on public land. He’s got a spot we’re going to boat back to and camp out for a few days. I told him, “Why don’t we make some squirrel dumplings to take with us and heat over the fire?” Throughout his junior high, high school, and grade school days, that was our thing. Around the opening weekend of squirrel season, we’d spend two or three days at camp. We’d squirrel hunt sometimes in the morning and evening as needed. I’ll be honest with you, he’s got the patience and skill set. That boy can clean a squirrel without a single hair on the hide, nary a hair on that squirrel.
Rusty Creasey: You brought that up. Funny thing my daddy used to say. He’d say, “Son, thank you for them squirrels.” Then he’d ask, “How in the hell do you get that hide out from under that hair?” That tells you how much hair I left on them. From that point on, I started taking pride. I’m the same way now. I keep two buckets of water, use rubber gloves so the hair doesn’t stick to my hands. There’s an art to it, so I have mad respect for him. But isn’t it something how going to the squirrel woods takes you back to the younger days?

Ramsey Russell: Oh, it’s like riding a bicycle. It’s like being a little boy again.

Rusty Creasey: Especially if you go back to the same tract of timber or woods you hunted when you were 12 or 13. I did that this year. I killed my last squirrel and just sat down by a tree. All those old memories came rushing back, from Harvey to my daddy, to my brother when he was younger. You remember everybody when they were younger. Man, that’s good stuff.
Ramsey Russell: I guess over there in the Arkansas Delta, you all got the black-phase red squirrels like we do, don’t you?
Rusty Creasey: We do, just old fox squirrels, yeah.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah, we shoot a lot of them. Up in the upland hills of Mississippi, we kill red squirrels with white faces. It’s a little bit different species, and they get a little bigger. Those fox squirrels, to me, are different than cat squirrels. Cat squirrels scatter when you walk up or snap a limb. But a fox squirrel will lay low and wait. It’s a waiting game.

Rusty Creasey: That’s right, that’s right.

Ramsey Russell: Anyway, Rusty, I have sure enjoyed this conversation. I truly have. I wish you the best of luck over at Fowler’s Point. I’ll continue keeping up with you. I enjoy the content you put out, everything from duck picking to duck calling to sharing personal stories and archery. I enjoy it, I really do. Tell everybody how they can connect with you on social media.
Rusty Creasey: Instagram’s my main platform. Just Rusty Creasey on Instagram. I also have a YouTube channel with really good hunts, squirrel cleaning, squirrel dumpling videos, duck picking, and cooking ducks. It’s everything outdoors. I try to go to NWTF every year. Actually, I went last year for the first time and was blown away. It was awesome. I’m already making plans for the upcoming one. I also try to do the Delta Waterfowl Expo, the big national one, and get out as much as I can. But I tell people, I’ve got the best followers, the best supporters. They’re on the up and up. I try to keep all my stuff positive and clean. There’s enough negativity in the world without me spreading it. If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.
Ramsey Russell: Absolutely. Thank you, Rusty.
Rusty Creasey: Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. It was a pleasure and a privilege.
Ramsey Russell: Yes, sir. Folks, thank you all for listening to my buddy, Rusty Creasey, Coca-Cola Woods Rusty Creasey OG, because of the gray hair starting to pop up in his beard for all youngster listening. See you all next time.