EP 531. Father-Son Hunting Trip of a Lifetime

Ramsey Russell: Welcome back to Mojo’s Duck Season Somewhere podcast, where today we’re down in La Paz, Argentina, asking ourselves the question, How much fun can you possibly have in four or five days? Join me, Ken McGee, up first. Ken, how the heck are you, man?
Ken McGee: I am great. I’m a little sad today because we’re going home.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah. You know, right after the first hunt, we were having a good time. I said, well, the good news is you got three days left. The bad news is one day’s gone.
Ken McGee: That’s true.
Ramsey Russell: These trips go quick, don’t they?
Ken McGee: They really do. I mean, you’re hunting all day, and then you’re dining on some of the best food I’ve ever put in my mouth in the evenings, sitting around the table telling stories. It goes quick.
Ramsey Russell: You planned this trip as a father-son event. It’s been a while. You all booked this a pretty good ways out.
Ken McGee: We did. We booked it a couple of years ago. It was going to be a father-son trip, and COVID came along and just messed everything up like it did for everybody, I believe.
Ramsey Russell: It did. It did. You know, we don’t always, it just doesn’t always work out this way on a mixed group trip, we just put folks together, and it worked out great. We had all Mississippi boys in here.
Ken McGee: We did.
Ramsey Russell: You got some pretty good duck hunting back home.
Ken McGee: We do.
Ramsey Russell: Don’t say the name of that WMA, you all, sometimes, huh? Everybody and their brother will be there, but you all have some good hunting back home.
Ken McGee: We’ve been blessed. It’s a special place.
Ramsey Russell: Did you raise Brooks, your son? How long has he been duck hunting? I know you raised him. I’m just saying, how long did you bring him into the duck blind?
Ken McGee: 8, 10 years ago. He’s 20 now, so probably when he was about 10 years old, big enough, you know, to get out there and find a pair of waders that was small enough to put him in.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah. And you decided to come down here to Argentina. Why do you think, or what did you think, I should say, about a combo hunt versus a duck hunt?
Ken McGee: Well, you know, the way I looked at it is I’m traveling all this way. I’d always heard about the Argentina trips. You know, a lot of times, you hear, I guess, the predominant thing you hear about is the dove hunting.
Ramsey Russell: That’s right.
Ken McGee: People come down to do the dove shooting. We’re a big duck hunting family. Like I said, I think Brooks hunted 40 days last year out of the season. So we’re pretty strong into it. But, you know, just looking at it, I wanted to get that whole experience of everything, you could get it all while I was here, you know, anything that Argentina had to offer. I wanted to try to take advantage of it. So we opted to do the wing-shooter package.
Ramsey Russell: And you finally got down here. We made the drive. You all stopped, got you a bite to eat. Uncle Sam, and I came down here the day before you all and got a head start. But you all finally made it here. We get up the next morning, and you and Brooks share a blind. Tell me about that first morning duck hunt. What was it like compared to back home? What was it like compared to what you expected? What was it like in general?

Ken McGee: Well, you know, at home, we predominantly hunt flooded timber and in a break. And so it was completely different than that. You know, we’re normally running out in mud boats and setting a hole, and then you’re hugging a cypress tree and waiting on those greenheads to come in. But here, it was a totally different experience. But it’s a memory that we’ll carry with us forever. You know, we rode out to the blind in a tractor-drawn trailer. We felt like we were going forever. We ended up in an old pothole. Nice blind, set up. The bird boys here at La Paz are just, they’re great. I mean, we had good people. They knew what they were doing. They had us all set up. Almost felt a little spoiled, you know, being a Mississippi boy, I’m used to kind of just doing stuff myself, but I felt a little spoiled. We got there, and just to experience it with my son, I just, I don’t even really know what. Words can’t explain it. You know, you’re sitting there, and the light starts to break, and then the ducks just pour in.
Ramsey Russell: Pour in.
Ken McGee: I mean, they pour in. I never, I knew there’d be some good hunting down here, but I never knew that it’d be the number of ducks that we would see and the different species that we’ll never see at home.
Ramsey Russell: Very generous limit as compared to back home. There’s such an abundance of ducks and an abundance of habitats. So few local duck hunters, they’re blessed with some extremely liberal limits. I’d say that the daily limit here is equal to about four or five days back home. How long did it take you and Brooks to shoot your aggregate bag limit that first day?
Ken McGee: We were done in thirty minutes.
Ramsey Russell: Thirty minutes?

Ken McGee: “Brooks looked at me, and he said, ‘Daddy, did that just happen?’ I’m like, ‘Yes, it did.’ He said, ‘I think we shot too fast. We should have slowed down and enjoyed it a little more.’”

Ken McGee: Brooks looked at me, and he said, “Daddy, did that just happen?” I’m like, “Yes, it did.” He said, “I think we shot too fast. We should have slowed down and enjoyed it a little more.”
Ramsey Russell: But, you know, you bring up a good point because, no matter where you hunt, you gotta sort of play for keeps. You can’t take another flight or a next flight or a next volley for granted.
Ken McGee: That’s true.
Ramsey Russell: You gotta get them six, you know what I’m saying? And if you let them pass, thinking, “I’m not gonna shoot this. I’m gonna wait a little bit longer,” you may go home without.
Ken McGee: That’s true.
Ramsey Russell: But down here, you all could have probably waited and filmed for 30 minutes, and still, them birds would’ve been coming out.
Ken McGee: Oh, we could have. I mean, Brooks got out there, you know, like I said, we’re a hunting family, and he likes to get out and do. So, when we finished up, he’s out there with the bird guys, and he’s picking up ducks and pulling decoys and stuff, just like he would at home.

Ramsey Russell: I noticed that.

Ken McGee: He was just grinning from ear to ear.

Ramsey Russell: But I noticed yesterday, every time I’d see them, they were grabbing gear and doing stuff and just jumping in like they do back home.
Ken McGee: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: It’s a whole different mindset, isn’t it?
Ken McGee: It really is. It really is.
Ramsey Russell: And then we went, I believe that first day, we went dove hunting that afternoon. And everybody shoots, some people more aggressively, some people better, some people, everybody can shoot at their pace. But what gets me, we went to a feedlot. How would you describe that cloud of birds that got up when the shooting started? Have you ever seen that many doves in the state of Mississippi or anywhere else?
Ken McGee: Never. It’s a little bit overwhelming. I mean, you know, I’m used to shooting ones and twos coming through at home on a dove shoot. And, I mean, when you got 50 and 60, and they’re coming from four different directions, it’s a, you know, you put a bead on one, and the next thing you know, there’s five crossing your eye path, and, you know, your mind starts wondering, “All right, do I need to move to this one? Do I need to move to this one?” And it’s, like I said, it’s a little overwhelming.
Ramsey Russell: It is. It can be.
Ken McGee: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: And I’ve just seen people fall apart when all those doves start flying over. This hunt offers ducks, doves, decoy pigeons, perdiz, and fishing. And most people focus, I would say, on ducks and doves and pigeons. Some people go do perdiz, fewer people go do fishing. But you all decided to do the full sampling, which to me is the perfect experience for a first-time or even only-time trip down here to Argentina. What was the fishing day like for you all?

Ken McGee: Well, you know, I was telling, I don’t know if I was telling you or someone over dinner the other night. On the way down here, you know, we were like, “Yeah, we’re just not sure about the fishing. You know, we can fish at home. We’ve got a pond in our front yard with bass and everything. Do I want to spend a day doing that?” After a couple of days of hunting, my shoulder started getting sore, and the fishing sounded better and better. But, you know, we get out there, and it, I mean, it reminded me a little bit of home. It’s beautiful, running up that river, and then you get into some of those back channels, and you might as well be in Venice, Louisiana, or somewhere. You throw out there, the first fish hits, and it was on. We had a great day. You know, they break the day up with a fresh-caught fish. You catch a fish, and an hour later, you’re eating it. It’s frying in the grease right there on the side of the bank of the river.

Ramsey Russell: They made that lunch look easy, didn’t they? A lot of practice.

Ken McGee: They really did. And it was delicious. We had a species of fish that we’ve never had, probably won’t ever have again until we come back. But it was, it was delicious. It was first class. I never thought we’d be drinking wine and eating Golden Dorado on the banks of the Paraná River.

Ramsey Russell: By the time they brought the short ribs out, we were full on fish.

Ken McGee: Yeah, that’s true.

Ramsey Russell: My favorite one is that Golden Dorado, the way they slice it and just drop it into hot grease, and then they pour a concoction of sour oranges, lemon, and salt, and pour on top, and you just dig in.

Ken McGee: Yeah, I likened it to eating a redfish on the half shell at home. They fried it up, and everybody just stood around the table and picked at it with their forks. It was delicious. I don’t know what that concoction was, but it was nice.

Ramsey Russell: What were your favorite meals we ate here? We ate a full sampling of all kinds of good stuff. I can’t even remember what we ate the last four days. Was there any meal that just stood out?

Ken McGee: All of them.

Ramsey Russell: All of them?

Ken McGee: Fede. I mean, the chefs here, like I said, I don’t know if I’d probably come back for the eating more so than the hunting. I don’t know. It was great.

Ramsey Russell: You say that, and I had a client say a couple of weeks ago down here, he said, “Ramsey, that was like a foodie adventure interrupted by hunting.”

Ken McGee: That’s true. I’ve got a buddy of mine at home, and his hobby is cooking. He loves to hunt and fish. We fish together a lot out in the Gulf of Mexico, around the Bay St. Louis area. But I was sending him pictures of all this. Every night, I’d take a picture and send it to him. Finally, he’s like, “Just stop it. He said, “If you don’t quit, I’m going to your house.”   I’m going to key your truck before you get home. I’m tired of that. I can’t take it no more. I’m booking the trip now.”

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. And then you wrapped it up with the last duck hunt yesterday morning, and you all were done waiting. I mean, I heard you all shooting. They put me, Sam, and Robert in a boat, a one-horse-drawn boat. And talk about a one-horse motor! We went clear across that marsh. You all had already started shooting while we were still going to the blind. How long did it take you yesterday to finish up?

Ken McGee: You know, after the first day, we told ourselves we’re going to slow down and we’re going to just kind of enjoy the moment a little bit more. So we started shooting a little bit later than we did the first morning. You know, we waited and just took it all in. You know, you’re out here. I think Uncle Sam was talking about, he asked us one day while we were doing something, “How many planes do you see fly over?” And I got to thinking. I’m like, “None.”

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Ken McGee: You’re out here. You’re so far. There are the stars. It was a starlit night when we went out yesterday morning. Nice little cool breeze, it wasn’t too cold, and we just stood there and took in all of God’s creation.

Ramsey Russell: Unbelievable.

Ken McGee: You know, the stars, everything around you, the quiet.

Ramsey Russell: I see stars at home, Ken, but it’s not until I come back down here and look up and see the Milky Way in its full glory and all those constellations that I realize how much civilization, even out in the country of Mississippi, interrupts the starlight.

Ken McGee: Yeah, you’re right.

Ramsey Russell: When you come down here and there’s not a house within five miles, it’s unbelievable.

Ken McGee: It is. The things you see. Like I said, we just took it all in.

Ramsey Russell: Birdlife all around you. The ducks quacking, all the different birds singing.

Ken McGee: I can tell you there’s one thing that happened that we’ll never see in Mississippi hunting in the timber. About right at first light, the sun was just starting to, you start to see a little orange back behind us, and two flamingos flew into our set and landed. Brooks looked at me, and I just looked at him, and I’m like, “This is amazing.” Where else in the world do you get this kind of stuff? It was beautiful.

Ramsey Russell: What was it like coming down here with your son? I mean, here’s what I’m getting at, Ken. I’ve always said that your son’s a junior or so in college, in forestry at Mississippi State. My kid went to college and high school, and it’s like, man, as they got older, they got out of that child age and got into teens and college. It was rare that we really got to sit down and visit.

Ken McGee: Right.

Ramsey Russell: There was so much distraction going on in their lives. I felt like some of the best visits and times we spent together during those years were in a duck blind.

Ken McGee: That’s true.

Ramsey Russell: You know, a lot of times, they ain’t got a cell phone signal.

Ken McGee: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: You can sit there and talk to them. But what was it like to share a trip of this proportion, this epic proportion, with your son?

Ken McGee: Oh, it’s just, I really don’t know how to put it in words, Ramsey. I mean, you just, you come down here, like you said, he’s 20 years old now, and to get the time to spend together. You know, we both share the love of hunting and the outdoors. We’ve hiked, hunted, and fished together since he was a little boy. Like I said, he’s always gone with me. I think he’s been in a deer stand with me since he was probably two years old.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Ken McGee: So just to be able to come out here and come down somewhere as beautiful as Argentina and experience that with him is something I’ll never forget. You know, I was joking with Uncle Sam the other morning. You know, we’re taking pictures of all the ducks, doves, and pigeons, we’ve harvested over the last few days. And, you know, I said Brooks is taking these pictures; he’s going to have all these memories. I joked with Sam, “We’re taking stuff, we’re going to have a hell of a slideshow at our funeral.”

Ramsey Russell: That’s right.

Ken McGee: Whenever we get done. But to be able to do this with my son and experience it, I was like a little kid down here. I’m in awe of all this, just like he was. I feel like it draws you closer together, and you make memories that he’ll tell his kids about, and hopefully, one day, he’ll bring his son down.

Ramsey Russell: I guarantee you. Beyond the trigger pull, one thing I noticed about you all immediately was, you all came in early and hit the ground running. I mean, you two did a lot of research online and put some good stuff together. Tell me some of the stuff you did in Buenos Aires and why it was important to come down here and experience Argentina beyond the trigger pull.

Ken McGee: Well, we just, you know, like, we’re down here. We’re so far from home. There are so many things that Argentina offers other than just the unparalleled hunting you get down here. They’re known for their beef. The food is great. The countryside is just beautiful. And then you’ve got a city like Buenos Aires with so many different, It’s like a huge melting pot.
Ramsey Russell: It’s a big city.
Ken McGee: It is, it is. But we did a lot of research. Brooks played soccer all the way through high school. River Plate Stadium is in Argentina, in Buenos Aires. It’s the largest stadium in Latin America. One of the larger teams in the world, actually. So we were able to get tickets for that, front-row seats. And to go experience a soccer match in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with 86,000 fans.
Ramsey Russell: 86,000 fans. I’ve heard they are passionate fans, too.
Ken McGee: Oh, my gosh, are they? I mean, it’s just, you know, experiences like that are just other things that we’ll never forget, that we’re able to share together. I felt like we were on a food vacation or a foodie tour because we, you know, sampled all these different restaurants, all these different styles of cooking. Martha and the team here at La Paz, you know, that’s something that I felt like set this trip apart from other trips I’ve done. The attention to detail throughout this whole trip. And I mean, I’m not saying it’s because you’re here, but your team has just been, excuse me, phenomenal with the level of assistance they provided us. Way before the hunt, way before we landed in Buenos Aires, Martha’s got the, you know, she’s on the ground here, and she’s making suggestions. I mean, there wasn’t a question I had or a thought I had that I didn’t throw to her. And she’s like, yeah, we’ll make that happen. Hold on a minute, let me make a phone call.

Ramsey Russell: It takes a little bit of effort because, like, you all were coming down and your plane got messed up, your flight got a little messed up going home, your flight got delayed. So we were on a plan B of just trying to keep you all busy and occupied so you don’t spend 19 hours in an airport. But, you know, other than that. I mean, for example, my wife and some other couples are coming into town in a couple of weeks, and we’re going to a restaurant you all found. It’s been a long time since I went to a new restaurant, but Martha’s like, “Look at this menu.”
Ken McGee: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: I’m like, oh, yeah, we’re going there.
Ken McGee: Oh, it was good. We went to a place there in Buenos Aires with a nine-course tasting menu, and it blew our minds.
Ramsey Russell: So the menu you showed me, you don’t order off that. You just sit down, and they bring it out. Nine courses.
Ken McGee: It’s a true Argentine experience. And like I said, it’s a nine-course tasting menu paired with some of the best Argentine wines there are. And it’ll blow your mind. I can’t wait to hear your feedback
Ramsey Russell: Did you notice that unlike American restaurants, the Argentine dining experience, once you sit down, there’s no hurry to get you in and out? You know, like back home, you go to Sonny’s Barbecue, it’s a 15-20-minute experience. You order, that comes in, you eat you’re gone.
Ken McGee: You’re gone. That’s right.

Ramsey Russell: “It’s about the visit, it’s about the people. It’s about just taking your time and enjoying the whole aura of being around a dinner table with people you care about.”

Ramsey Russell: And here it’s the night. It is. It’s about the visit, it’s about the people. It’s about just taking your time and enjoying the whole aura of being around a dinner table with people you care about.
Ken McGee: You’re right. And it’s, you know, like you said, it’s not hurried at all. It’s very laid-back. And it’s almost like they encourage you to sit back and just take a breath, enjoy the food, enjoy the company, and visit. And we had a great time. They do eat a little later than we do at home.
Ramsey Russell: They do.
Ken McGee: And I think part of that’s because it’s more of a laid-back experience. You know, they get in there, and I mean, they’re not sitting there waiting to turn over tables and things like you would see at a restaurant at home. You’re there, and just as long as you want to be there, you’re welcome.
Ramsey Russell: Ken. We enjoyed the week with you all. We really did. I had a good time meeting some new Mississippi boys and getting to hunt with you all and share your special time together. Thank you very much.
Ken McGee: Thank you so much for putting this together and making it available for all of us.

Ramsey Russell: Mr. Brooks McGee, son of Ken. Tell me about your trip down here at La Paz, Argentina, Brooks.
Brooks McGee: Oh, it’s been a blast.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah, I’ll say this. Your dad was telling me that you all did a lot of research coming down to Argentina. And honestly, as somebody that deals with a lot of clients, you all did it right, man. You all went to a soccer game. I’ve never been to a soccer game down here. You grew up playing soccer?
Brooks McGee: Yes, sir.
Ramsey Russell: And you got to go see a soccer game. What were you expecting, 85,000 people in the soccer stadium?
Brooks McGee: No, sir. It was probably one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. 85,000 Argentinians all singing the same songs that I couldn’t even understand.
Ramsey Russell: But you got a gist of. They were fired up for their team, weren’t they?
Brooks McGee: Yes, sir.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Whose idea was it to come to Argentina, you or your daddy?
Brooks McGee: I think it was my dad. I’d had some buddies that had been down here.
Ramsey Russell: You didn’t have to twist his arm. He didn’t have to twist your arm, did he?
Brooks McGee: No, sir, not at all.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah, tell me about the first morning duck hunt. I think there’s nothing like the first time. You get off, it’s in the dark. You go off. I mean, I know you all hunt a really good duck hole back home. And your daddy was saying you grew up duck hunting, but what were your expectations and what was the reality of, like, that first morning? What happened that first morning duck hunt, you all went out?
Brooks McGee: You know, hunting in Mississippi. There’s very few places where ducks just dump in the hole like they do down here. We got out there, and it was, I guess, 6:00 in the morning. You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face, and there were already 50 ducks sitting in the decoys.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Brooks McGee: And it was hard not to shoot. It was hard to wait till sunlight.
Ramsey Russell: Well, you know, there is no shooting time down here.
Brooks McGee: Yes, sir.
Ramsey Russell: That takes some getting used to. Did you ever have to get used to there being a four-shell, you know, or a fifth shell on whatever gun you were shooting? Because, like back home, we’re limited to two or three. And down here, there aren’t any plugs. Down here, there isn’t any shooting light.
Brooks McGee: I’m gonna have to get used to it when we get back home. I’m gonna have to get used to having three shells in the gun because those ducks and doves would come in, and I’d empty the gun.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah, your daddy was saying it went real quick. Was it as fast-paced as you thought it would be?
Brooks McGee: It was faster.
Ramsey Russell: Faster?
Brooks McGee: Yes, sir. I wouldn’t expect to be limited out with 50 ducks in, I guess, 30 minutes that first morning.
Ramsey Russell: And you know something I noticed that’s different than back home is, you know, greenwings will flock up kind of big. Mallards come in high. Gadwalls come in high. A lot of our birds come in high, especially when you hunt the trees like you all do, and its bigger flocks. But here, what I try to tell people, oh, there might be five or six or seven ring teal or something in a bunch, but mostly its pairs and singles and trios. And it’s just a real quick assembly line coming right at you. It’s just constant. You load your gun, and here come some more. Already?
Brooks McGee: Yes, sir.
Ramsey Russell: Isn’t that crazy?
Brooks McGee: That’s one thing I did notice. And it was, you know, there’d be two ducks come in. You take those, and you look up, and 20 seconds later, there’s another pair coming in. And it was like you never stopped shooting. That was the cool part. It wasn’t just one group of 20 ducks.
Ramsey Russell: Did you all take turns or volley at the same time?
Brooks McGee: Oh, same time, same time. I wasn’t taking a break.
Ramsey Russell: What was the food like? What was your favorite meal? First off, had you eaten anything besides steak, you know, at home, here. Describe your food experience down here as compared to back home.
Brooks McGee: It was a lot of steak. You know, I was telling my dad, I don’t think I’ve ever had steak for lunch like that. Yeah, it was just huge portions of steak. You know, you go to a restaurant down here, and you don’t get one serving per person. You get one serving for two people, and that’ll still fill you up.
Ramsey Russell: Oh, yeah. You said something yesterday at lunch. We were eating. Here we were eating great big old plate-sized ribeyes, and you said, man, I’m still thinking about that fish. What fish were you thinking about?
Brooks McGee: Golden Dorado.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Did you expect to go fishing when you came down here?
Brooks McGee: No, sir.
Ramsey Russell: But you all decided to?
Brooks McGee: Yes, sir.
Ramsey Russell: And to me, the lunch is the highlight. No matter how many fish you’re catching or what kind of fish you’re catching, the fish is the highlight.
Brooks McGee: It was. You know, we caught plenty of Golden Dorado, plenty of catfish. What are they called?

Ramsey Russell: Sudo B.

Brooks McGee: Sudo B.
Ramsey Russell: You caught the biggest of the day?

Brooks McGee: Yes, sir.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Big, about 15 pounds?

Brooks McGee: Close to it. Yes, sir.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Brooks McGee: You know, if we wouldn’t have caught one fish on that trip, that lunch still would have made up for it.

Ramsey Russell: One to catch fish for lunch. Somebody had to catch something for lunch.

Brooks McGee: Yes, sir.

Ramsey Russell: The way they cooked it was pretty interesting too, wasn’t it?

Brooks McGee: It was.

Ramsey Russell: Very simple. They made it look easy. They didn’t go into a whole lot. It’s very simple, very basic. I think a lot of their food down here is like that. I had a friend come last year talking about the way Argentines cook steak. Argentina has the largest beef consumption in the world, and yet the way they cook it is just salt and pepper and hot coals. They let the meat speak for itself.

Brooks McGee: That’s right.

Ramsey Russell: And I think they let the fish speak for itself the other day.

Brooks McGee: Yes, sir.

Ramsey Russell: That’s what made it so good and simple. Of course, just being out. There’s something about eating out in nature like that anyway, that just changes the whole thing. Now, look, here we are, we’re sitting out here on the veranda. It’s about 50 degrees, 55 degrees, and this time next week, you’re gonna be in summer camp in forestry at Mississippi State. What’s that gonna be like?

Brooks McGee: It’ll be an experience, you know, about like coming down here. I really don’t know what to expect.

Ramsey Russell: I’d expect hot, and not I’d expect chiggers.

Brooks McGee: And ticks.

Ramsey Russell: Ticks.

Brooks McGee: That’s right.

Ramsey Russell: And mosquitoes. It’s gonna be something else. What is your takeaway, most memorable part about sharing this experience with your daddy? The whole thing, from start to finish, which I know went in the blink of an eye. It was so quick. What would be the big takeaway for you? What would be the most memorable thing that happened down here?
Brooks McGee: You know, all of it, really. Just spending time with my dad has been a blessing.

Ramsey Russell: My Uncle Sam said something the other day. We were in the boat. He said, you know, they really got a good relationship. He could see that both you boys had good relationships with your daddy. Do you think that was formed in a duck blind, hunting with your daddy?

Brooks McGee: A little bit. A little bit in the duck blind, a little bit in the deer stand. Growing up, you know, I used to love being in the deer stand with my dad. We even have a Thanksgiving tradition. Every Thanksgiving morning, we go sit in the stand together.

Ramsey Russell: Really?

Brooks McGee: Hopefully that continues no matter how old we get.

Ramsey Russell: That’s good. That’s good. So being with your dad is the highlight of your whole trip?
Brooks McGee: Yes, sir.

Ramsey Russell: Last question. We went out there to that feedlot that time at the dove hunt. How would you describe that cloud of doves that got up when we started shooting?

Brooks McGee: How many would you guess?

Ramsey Russell: How many would you have guessed? I mean, you’re a Foster. You do estimates. How many would you have guessed?
Brooks McGee: There were upwards of 5,000. It was a lot of dove.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, more doves than I’ve ever seen in one place.

Brooks McGee: I mean, you look up, and you want your gun to shoot one dove, and you look, and there’s another one coming in to your right, and you can’t choose.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah, it’s hard.

Brooks McGee: It’s honestly hard to shoot because you can’t choose which dove to shoot.

Ramsey Russell: Did you shoot some parakeets while you were here?

Brooks McGee: For sure.

Ramsey Russell: What did you think about that?

Brooks McGee: That was cool, you know. Pretty birds.

Ramsey Russell: I showed somebody a picture yesterday, and they didn’t know. I’ve killed thousands of them over the years, and it’s like, man, I can’t wait. You post that online. I go, man, they are on the plague list. They are a plague species. They want you to kill them. The farmers, we went out and shot one yesterday at a farm lot, and we were there just to shoot parakeets. They wanted to get rid of them. There’s so many, so noisy, so messy. They tear up everything, eat all the crops. They want us to kill them. If you got a favorite species you shot while you were here, duck species, did you put your hands on one duck and say, man, that’s my favorite.
Brooks McGee:  I think Brazilian teal, for sure.

Ramsey Russell: Mine too.

Brooks McGee: Real pretty duck.

Ramsey Russell: Real pretty duck. Brooks, I appreciate it. I enjoyed sharing this special time with you all, and I look forward to seeing you next time.

Brooks McGee: Yes, sir.

Ramsey Russell: Mr. Robert Clark, thoughtful Mississippi, God’s country, Bulldog country, man, Born and raised.

Robert Clark: Hail State. Yes, sir.
Ramsey Russell: Man, you know, it worked out just perfect that we had all these Mississippi boys down here this week. It doesn’t always work out that way. What did you enjoy most about coming down here to La Paz, Argentina?
Robert Clark: Oh, wow. There’s so many things I could say. I think more than anything, just, I’m looking around as I’m driving, I’m talking to Sam when we’re on our way down here making the ride, I said, can you believe we’re in Argentina? You know, I’ve been a lot of places. I’ve never been to South America. Sam has been out of the country one time, and that was on a cruise boat, so that doesn’t really count.
Ramsey Russell: Golly.
Robert Clark: So just to be in this kind of place, the nature, just, you know, I’m trying to think, does this look like, you know, Texas country, does it look like the Delta? And every time we went by something else, it was like, you know, this is just unique.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Robert Clark: You know, and by the way, we get to shoot a bunch of stuff.
Ramsey Russell: That’s right. What was your favorite thing to shoot? What was your favorite day, favorite hunt?
Robert Clark: You know, I think the ducks. Yeah, I really do. You know, I’m not a big duck hunter. Both my boys love to duck hunt.
Ramsey Russell: They do.
Robert Clark: And they take the time. They get up early, and they, you know, I’m old, and my bones hurt, and when it’s cold like that, it’s hard to get me stirring. But, you know, that was probably the best experience. I never imagined. Didn’t really know what to expect other than I knew we were going to shoot a bunch of ducks. But I’m sitting in a canoe, and a horse is dragging me across a marsh that’s endless. And, I mean, that was just the coolest thing ever.
Ramsey Russell: Sam and I were probably done the first day before you even got to where you were going, because I was in the boat with you yesterday, and, man, they pulled us forever way out across that marsh, and we could hear shooting while we were still getting out there. Right. Was there any species that stuck out? Like, man, that’s a pretty species.
Robert Clark: A Rosybill. I’d never seen, never heard of that duck before. And the teal, I mean, they were amazing. Amazing for sure. You know, it’s funny, I could hear everybody else shooting, and at some point in time, I noticed nobody else was shooting. And I still had probably 12 ducks to make my limit.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Robert Clark: I’m thinking to myself, well, I must be the, you know, the hard case. And my guide was on the radio talking to people, and I was in the back of my head thinking, I wonder if that’s Spanish for this redneck can’t hit the broad side of a barn because. And then that fourth box came along. He said, no moss after this one. And I was able to squeeze in that limit with about four or five shells to go. But that was just a great experience.
Ramsey Russell: And then we went out dove hunting that afternoon. So we had a great duck hunt that morning and went out dove hunting. How would you describe the number of doves we saw? Have you ever seen anything like that?
Robert Clark: No. I told my buddies at home it was just plain stupid.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Robert Clark: That’s the word.

Ramsey Russell: It’s indescribable. How many doves it all. Somebody said they thought there might be 5,000. I said, man, I think there may be 50,000 or 100,000.
Robert Clark: Yeah, I would say so.

Ramsey Russell: It’s hard to say.

Robert Clark: It really is. And we’ve grown up dove hunting. Been doing it my whole life, and my boys love it. But that’s a bucket list thing right there. And that really. When I started talking with Sam about where, you know, we want to go somewhere, you know, of course, this time of year in May, you know, there’s really nothing in season other than if you want to go to the coast, you know, fishing. And we’ve done that before. And I said, let’s look at going dove hunting.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Robert Clark: And then we got in touch with you and figured out that there’s more things we could add to that.
Ramsey Russell: I just feel like that’s part of the reason this hunt has been so immensely successful for almost 20 years. For a first-timer or an only-timer, it’s like a big box of chocolate samples. I get to sample.
Ken McGee: That’s right.
Ramsey Russell: We’ll see, we have a lot of clients come back that focus on one particular thing, like ducks or doves, but most of them will just come back here.
Robert Clark: If I came back to do this, I would want to do it all again.

Ramsey Russell: Just sample it all again.

Robert Clark: That’s right. You get to do something different every day. It’s all a different experience, and it’s all just very enjoyable.
Ramsey Russell: You remember when we talked over the phone the first time, I said there’s fishing down there, but don’t lock in till you get there?
Robert Clark: Right.
Ramsey Russell: Had you thought about going fishing until you got here?
Robert Clark: Not really. But that was just an added bonus.
Ramsey Russell: Don’t have to shoot shells that day.
Robert Clark: Let my shoulder heal a little bit. And you’re not spending a dollar a bullet catching a fish. That was great.
Ramsey Russell: What about that lunch?
Robert Clark: Oh, that lunch was incredible.
Ramsey Russell: That’s my favorite lunch of the week.
Robert Clark: That really was. I think that was my favorite meal, eating that fish.
Ramsey Russell: They cook it so simple, and then you’re sitting in the shade on a remote stretch of river eating fish, steak, and wine. It’s just perfect. I come off that river as relaxed as I’ve been in a long time. There’s just something about being out there on the water, whether you catch some fish or not. We did catch some fish. Everybody caught some fish. Did you catch a golden dorado?
Robert Clark: I did. Caught a couple.
Ramsey Russell: Did you catch any piranhas?
Robert Clark: No. Sam did, though, and it was as big as a hubcap. I mean, I couldn’t believe it.
Ramsey Russell: You don’t lift them with your thumb.
Robert Clark: No, sir.
Ramsey Russell: What was your favorite meal?
Robert Clark: Oh, wow.
Ramsey Russell: Or some of your favorite meals?
Robert Clark: That duck kebab on the first day. I mean, I can take it or leave it as far as eating duck, but that was like filet mignon to me. It was really good, well-prepared, very simple. I’ll do that at home for sure.
Ramsey Russell: Absolutely.
Robert Clark: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: Anything else stand out? I can’t even remember what all we ate, to be honest. We ate the lamb last night was good.
Robert Clark: The lamb was great. That dessert last night.

Ramsey Russell: Talk about that.

Robert Clark: Oh, my gosh. Sweet potato.
Ramsey Russell: Like sweet potato what, jello or jam.
Robert Clark: Yeah, something like that. Real thick on that piece of cheese on that little simple wafer cracker.
Ramsey Russell: Martha said that was real traditional Argentine.
Robert Clark: Yeah, well, she’s getting me the recipe. I’m gonna see if I can make it.
Ramsey Russell: Really?

Robert Clark: Yeah.

Ramsey Russell: And those desserts. And I’ve seen them in quick stops and bakeries all over the country. I don’t even know what they call that little thing. It was phyllo dough, kind of layered up and deep-fried with a piece of something in the middle of it.
Robert Clark: Yeah, it was like an Argentine donut, I guess, is how I could describe it. She’s getting me that recipe, too.
Ramsey Russell: They ought to do a recipe book down here.
Robert Clark: Yes, you should. Absolutely.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah. I first met you there at the hotel when you all came in from the airport. You all fell in with Ken and Brooks, had a big old time in town.
Robert Clark: We did.

Ramsey Russell: Great dinner?

Robert Clark: Yeah. They had already gotten out to, I can’t remember the name of the area, but we said we would Uber over. I was texting him, and we called an Uber. And then I realized once we left that I didn’t have any phone service. I couldn’t text, couldn’t do anything. The Uber driver dropped us off. I didn’t know where I was or anything. I said, “Sam, I’m not sure we’re going to know how to get back.” But anyway, Sam’s phone started working, and we were able to meet up with them. We walked around, ate, sampled some food, walked through the market, and saw all the wares that were there. It was a great experience.

Ramsey Russell: “I’ve always felt like, talking about Sam traveling internationally, I think it’s important for kids to see the world beyond their own backyard. It just opens up a whole new perspective.”

Ramsey Russell: I’ve always felt like, talking about Sam traveling internationally, I think it’s important for kids to see the world beyond their own backyard. It just opens up a whole new perspective. People are so different down here than back home, but then again, people are people.
Robert Clark: That’s right.
Ramsey Russell: But it’s different, the way people live, what they eat, how they act. I don’t know. I feel like my life has been blessed by experiencing more of the world.
Robert Clark: Sure, sure. I’ve been able to experience, not to the degree you have, but I’ve been able to experience a lot of different cultures through a lot of different trips, whether they were hunting or not. And that’s one thing I always appreciate, just understanding how we’re all people no matter where you are. There’s good people everywhere. The staff here, these folks are top-notch, made us feel at home, great hospitality, and couldn’t ask for a better group of people to keep us safe and let us have fun.
Ramsey Russell: Absolutely, absolutely. Why is it important to you? Because I know you’ve got other kids, and you all share times outside. This time it’s Sam’s turn down in Argentina.
Robert Clark: That’s right.
Ramsey Russell: Why is it important to you to spend time with your kids in a hunting environment? What is it about this environment that makes such a good father-son trip?
Robert Clark: You know, I grew up hunting. My dad took me out. I can remember the first time I went deer hunting with him. I can remember vividly, I was about 4 years old, and he put me in a pair of his overalls, tied the feet together at the bottom, and carried me out there. We sat in the woods, and I don’t remember if we saw anything, but that’s how I grew up, spending time with my dad. So at an early age, my kids took to it. We’ve done it for years and years. But spending time with my son here, experiencing something new with him together, is just special. It’s something I’ll keep with me the rest of my life, and I know he will too. Hopefully, it’s the first of other adventures outside the country, whether it’s back here or elsewhere. I’d love to get my other son back down here. He would absolutely love it. I’d love to have both of them come.
Ramsey Russell: Is he the one you sent some pictures to?
Robert Clark: I did, yeah. He’s not real happy right now.
Ramsey Russell: Well, thank you all very much for letting me spend time with you all. I’ve enjoyed it immensely. It’s been such a nice, fun, and relaxed week.
Robert Clark: It has.
Ramsey Russell: Getting to know you all has been a huge adventure in and of itself.
Robert Clark: I’d say, you know, just this whole group, you know, we’ve talked about that. You never know when you get into camp with other people how it’s going to be. It’s just been great. Everybody, your uncle, Ken, and Brooks. I couldn’t ask for a better group to be with, made some new friends on the trip.
Ramsey Russell: Thank you, Robert.
Robert Clark: Yes, sir. Thank you.
Ramsey Russell: Sam Clark, also from Stauntonville, Mississippi. Man, how’d your week go this week?
Sam Clark: Man, it was incredible. It was more than I could ever imagine. I’ve never seen anything like it. That many birds, I’ve never shot that many times in my life. And the food was amazing, the hospitality was amazing. Everything about it was incredible.
Ramsey Russell: What was your favorite, if you had to pick one hunt, that you’d say, “That’s the hunt I’ll never forget,” which one was it?
Sam Clark: The first morning, definitely.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Yeah. You were done before everybody else.
Sam Clark: 7:15 I think.

Ramsey Russell: I think you quit shooting so early because you were, I don’t know. I thought that was your dad over there, but it was you, and you quit shooting so early. I told, “My God, bring him over here. I got a bunch of ducks.” Now, here you come riding out with all them ducks on your horse.
Ken McGee: It was.
Sam Clark: I’ve never seen that many ducks in my life.
Ramsey Russell: What was your favorite duck?
Sam Clark: I mean, that Rosy-bill.
Ramsey Russell: That was the highlight of the week?
Sam Clark: That was pretty cool.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah? So you liked him better than all those little teal and stuff?
Sam Clark: I think so. After I shot it, I was like, whoa.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Did you know what it was when it came in?
Sam Clark: I mean, he came from over my back shoulder, so I pulled up real quick, shot him, and then as he was falling down, I saw, “That is a Rosy-bill.”
Ramsey Russell: Really?
Sam Clark: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: What was it like sharing this week with your dad?
Sam Clark: Oh, it was awesome.
Ramsey Russell: I know you were together a lot.
Sam Clark: Oh, yeah. But I think this was one of both of our bucket list hunts. So to be able to do that together was pretty cool.
Ramsey Russell: Tell me about your first afternoon dove hunt. What was that like compared to Mississippi?
Sam Clark: It was a cloud of birds.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Sam Clark: I’ve never seen before. I mean, I got a blister on my finger just from shooting so much.
Ramsey Russell: You really do. You had to put some Neosporin on it this morning.
Sam Clark: I couldn’t stop to take a break. I was reloading every two seconds.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah. Did you shoot the parakeets this week?
Sam Clark: Oh, my gosh. This last day of the dove hunt, I think I shot probably 50 parakeets.
Ramsey Russell: 50 parakeets?
Sam Clark: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: You don’t feel bad about that?
Sam Clark: Not really. Maybe a little bit. Maybe a little bit.
Ramsey Russell: No, they’re a plague species, just like the dove. You know, a place we hunted yesterday, there was a lot of parakeets, and that farmer wanted us out there to shoot. That’s the main reason he wanted us to come out here. Doves and pigeons were just a bonus. He wanted to get rid of some of those parakeets and thin them back a little bit. Talk about some of the food. What was some of your favorite food?
Sam Clark: I’ll tell you, my favorite meal was the duck skewers.
Ramsey Russell: Really? That’s what your dad said.
Sam Clark: I think that was my favorite meal. And the pizza. I didn’t expect it to be that good, but it was amazing.
Ramsey Russell: Well, everything was homemade. They made the crust and then started cooking it over the hot coals, the grill. What do you think about that grill they had right there in the den?
Sam Clark: Oh, that’s awesome. I’ve never seen anything like that.
Ramsey Russell: Ever build a house, I want one.
Sam Clark: Yeah, oh, yeah. That’s what my dad was saying. If we build a camp house, we want one of those.
Ramsey Russell: Did you notice that most meals they cooked, from the grease on the empanadas to the steaks to, I’d say 90% of everything we ate this week was cooked over those live coals. But the pizza made a difference, didn’t it?
Sam Clark: Oh, yeah.
Ramsey Russell: Totally different pizza than what we’d eat at home.
Sam Clark: I know. Oh, yeah, it was. But it was delicious.
Ramsey Russell: Any other meals that stand out?
Sam Clark: I mean, all the barbecue.
Ramsey Russell: All the barbecue.
Sam Clark: Yeah. The field lunch, the fish and the riverside lunch.
Ramsey Russell: And it was so simple.
Sam Clark: Yeah, it was. That was really good.
Ramsey Russell: Tell me about some of the fish you caught.
Sam Clark: I caught piranhas, the surubí.
Sam Clark: Yeah, the surubí catfish.
Ramsey Russell: Golden Dorado?
Sam Clark: Golden Dorados.
Ramsey Russell: You caught them all.
Sam Clark: Oh, yeah. Those Golden Dorados were fun. They fought harder than I thought they would.
Ramsey Russell: They dance on the water. That’s how you know you caught one because they start coming up, giving you some action, giving you some show.
Sam Clark: No, they were. They were fun.
Ramsey Russell: Is Argentina, ducks, doves, pigeons. You all didn’t go for these hunts. We all decided to go shooting parakeets and doves yesterday. And the fishing, if you came back, would you want to do the sampler again, or would you want to, like, focus on one thing?
Sam Clark: Honestly, I would probably do the same thing we did.
Ramsey Russell: Keep it going. Don’t it? Good diversity.
Sam Clark: Ducks, doves, pigeons. I think those are the three, I would.
Ramsey Russell: What do you think about those pigeons? They’re big, aren’t they?
Sam Clark: Yeah. I mean, it was a good mixture of duck and dove hunting. You know, they’re huge. Huge, tough birds coming in, it will all plump when they come in, and its pretty close.
Ramsey Russell: They’re tougher than you think they’ll be.
Sam Clark: Oh, my gosh. You think you square one up, and he’ll just fly right off.
Ramsey Russell: Was there anything about the culture, the Argentine culture, that stood out? Anything you saw just driving around? You know, besides the trigger pulling, was there anything like that? You just, it sticks out as memorable? Just the differences in their culture.
Sam Clark: I think in, you know, La Paz, when we were driving around through La Paz, I think it’s just cool to see it’s sort of just like a small-town community.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Sam Clark: And they don’t need much. I mean, they’re simple. Simple life.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Sam Clark: I think that’s cool. I think it’s really cool.

Sam Clark: “I think in, you know, La Paz, when we were there, the way they cook on a live fire, get the coals going… it’s just real different to me.”

Ramsey Russell: Just the fact they still cook over live coals. They don’t think nothing about light the fire, get the coals going. They got plenty of ovens and stoves and everything in the kitchen, but they decide to cook on live fire. That’s just real different to me.
Sam Clark: Yeah. I’ve never seen that. No.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah. What was your favorite dessert, Sam?
Sam Clark: Trying to think.
Ramsey Russell: You didn’t like the sweet potato stuff?
Sam Clark: I’m not a huge fan of the sweet potatoes, but trying to think what the name of that was.
Ramsey Russell: Well, there were so many good ones.
Sam Clark: Yeah, I mean, they’re all good. I can’t remember the name of it.
Ramsey Russell: Was it the fried thing we had?
Sam Clark: The little fried thing.
Ramsey Russell: I can’t think of the name of that either.
Sam Clark: I don’t know.
Ramsey Russell: Everybody likes that. That’s like quick-stop junk food, made good. Sam, I’ve enjoyed getting to know you. I really have. Getting to share with you and your dad. What’s it like sharing an experience like this with your dad? Do you feel like, you know, kind of your dad’s busy running a business and everything else? I know you’re very busy also in life, but what’s it like getting to come somewhere like this and just spend five days, four days solid with your dad out in the field? Do you feel like you get to visit with him better than you would in normal life?
Sam Clark: Definitely. Definitely. I think it was a great time to come here, relax, not think about anything else except, you know, bonding with my dad, going hunting, eating good food. I think it was just a really good bonding experience and very relaxing.

Ramsey Russell: Well, I’ve enjoyed it, Sam. I really have enjoyed getting to know you all, and I appreciate you. Thank you very much. And last but not least, my Uncle Sam. Everybody’s calling you Uncle Sam this week.
Robert Clark: Oh yeah?
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Sam: We got two Sams here, so.
Ramsey Russell: Two Sams, Uncle Sam and little Sam. It must be nice to hunt with your favorite nephew.
Sam: It is.
Ramsey Russell: But then again, you changed it. The other day you said I was number five in four nephews. I fell to the fifth leah, how do I call number five out of four nephews?
Sam: You’re getting worse as the week goes on. Well, I named you my oldest nephew also.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah, oldest nephew.
Sam: Oldest nephew. I got two names for you.
Ramsey Russell: Man, we came down here last year with a couples’ trip and had a good time. And you decided to come back and do a repeat. What is it about this La Paz hunt that you like so much?
Sam: Well, I think it’s the mixture of hunting. You know, if you’re a pure duck hunter, you’re probably not here. Even though we had great, I mean, we had limited out the three days we went. I mean, it was great. But if you want to shoot other things like doves and pigeons. You know, I came down here this year, I was hoping last year I’d shoot perdiz. It was too dry. This year we did, and that was kind of on my bucket list. And it’s hard. It’s hard walking because it’s in a very thick field, but it’s great. It’s great.

Ramsey Russell: “The two things I remember most about growing up hunting with you were quail hunting out there on Jaybird and dove hunting out there on Jaybird.”

Ramsey Russell: You know, the two things I remember most about growing up hunting with you were quail hunting out there on Jaybird and dove hunting out there on Jaybird. And I knew you were going to like that perdiz hunting. What do you think about it? I mean, those are interesting birds. We got to eat some. The other night we ate pickled perdiz. That’s pretty good.
Sam: Well, I sent a video back to my wife on hunting it, and she said, “Well, the dogs are not pointing.”
Ramsey Russell: It looked like he was pointing to me.
Sam: Well, he was, but he was walking as the bird moved. And the birds moved a lot.
Ramsey Russell: They run. They don’t want to fly.
Sam: And they are. The dog will be pointing, and he’ll get up a good bit away from us. Unlike quail, a lot of times quail just stay down low, and then you walk to the covey, and it flushes them up. But perdiz is not that way. And every one we had today were singles, so we didn’t have, of course, you don’t have them in coveys, but we didn’t have two or three at once. But they were running, and there’s no way you can see them. You can’t. I mean, and I was determined to watch them run. You just couldn’t see them run.
Ramsey Russell: Now, I’ve had them. I really have had perdiz in cover half as tall as they are get up between my feet. They’re so invisible in that cover. Yeah, it’s unbelievable.
Sam: We were hunting with German Shorthairs, and they have got to give the German Shorthair a fit because of the way they were running.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah, it’s hard to pin one.
Sam: It’s hard to pin them.
Ramsey Russell: It’s real hard, but it takes a smart dog to deal with a running bird because those birds out west also run. They do in the US, and those dogs have got to be able to figure them out and how to sort it and stuff like that. You know, the first afternoon we went dove hunting out there to that feedlot. And your guide, Jose, sent Martha a video. And it’s gonna be on my website because it is more doves in that 30 seconds of video than I’ve ever seen. What was it like to be standing there and have 10 or 15 or 20,000 doves fly by you? And you trying to pick one?
Sam: You stay confused because they’re going in different directions. You look to the right, and they have a lot coming to you. And, by the way, they’re coming from your left also.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah.
Sam: And so you’re trying to select a shot, and sometimes you just say, heck with it. I’m just going to sit here for a few minutes.
Ramsey Russell: You’d have some if you ever get that many doves down at Jaybird.
Sam: We’ll never have that many. And we were riding down the middle of the feedlot, and the doves were just getting up off the ground. I believe you could have shot in the middle of them and killed 20 or 30 of them. They would get up and then sit back down, and, you know, I guess feeding off that feed, that crushed corn for the cattle.
Ramsey Russell: It is, you know, the hunt set up for three, four, five days. And these boys came down for four days, we came down for five. So we went out the first day, shot ducks in the morning, doves in the afternoon, and then they showed up. We shot ducks in the morning, doves in the afternoon. We got a double whammy right up front.
Sam: Right. My shoulder’s black.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah, its really blue.

Sam: It’s black

Ramsey Russell: From shooting that much.
Sam: It is.
Ramsey Russell: You said something interesting to me on the ride up. You said last year you didn’t know what to expect. You were just gonna shoot a little bit. But that Mr. Ian and Ricky, you saw how much they shot, and you committed yourself this year you were gonna shoot that much.

Sam: Right.

Ramsey Russell: So you shot a bunch. You’re one of the top shooters this week.
Sam: I shot a lot, and I could have shot more, but my shoulder, I gave up on it, on my shoulder and went to fishing and hunted perdiz. And I didn’t have to shoot as many times.
Ramsey Russell: We had a good time fishing that day.
Sam: Oh, it was great. It was great.
Ramsey Russell: Caught some good fish. You finally caught that Golden Dorado. And I caught those little bitty Golden Dorados when we were kind of going along jigging them. They were as small as little old bitty bass. They weren’t a very big fish, but you caught a pretty good Dorado this year.
Sam: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: And what do you think of that field lunch? Because last year, you all went fishing in the afternoon and didn’t get to do the full day. What do you think about that field lunch we did out there fishing? To me, that’s the highlight of the day.
Sam: Well, last year was spur of the moment because I said, you know, I got to have a relief. I want to go fishing. And then nobody wanted to go fishing at the very beginning. And then all of a sudden, everybody wanted to go fishing.
Ramsey Russell: Everybody’s shoulder was hurting.

Brooks McGee: “Of course, we had meat on it.”

Sam: But out there, you know, we were on an island, and they cooked the fish we caught. They cooked the Golden Dorado that we caught and catfish that we caught. They fried those. And then, of course, we had meat on it.

Ramsey Russell: “Well, they ain’t gonna make a hot fire without cooking beef.” (Combined quote for clarity)

Ramsey Russell: Well, they ain’t gonna make a hot fire without cooking beef.
Sam: No, no, they’re not. But I thought they did an outstanding job on the way they cooked the fish. They put the fish on the table, and everybody said, dig in. And I walked up, and I didn’t have a place to dig in, if you noticed it. Everybody had surrounded the table, and the fish was just about gone.
Ramsey Russell: You got there in time for the Head.
Sam: For the end of it. And, you know, it’s been fun with the father-sons.
Ramsey Russell: It has been fun, hasn’t it?
Sam: It’s special. Of course, my son now is in his 40s, and these two young men are one’s getting out of college, and one’s in the middle of college. And it’s kind of fun watching father-son hunt together.
Ramsey Russell: One thing you said the other day, maybe when we were boat hunting, I can’t remember where we were when you said that, but you pointed it out. You said you could really tell that both of those sons had a lot of respect and a good relationship with their daddy. I think that’s because they did spend so much time together out here doing this. And I asked them all about what it was like hunting with their son or hunting with their daddy. And you could tell that was kind of the highlight of the week for them. It wasn’t so much all the ducks or all the doves or all the food or all the fishing. It was just doing something like that with their dad or with their son.

Sam: The daddy’s taught them a lot of respect also. Yeah, there was a yes, sir, and no, sir. Extremely courteous young men.
Ramsey Russell: Is this a trip you would want to come back on a third time? Or are you ready to try something different?
Sam: Maybe. I’m going to look at the Parana River to fish.
Ramsey Russell: Parana.
Sam: Yeah, Parana River. Fish half a day and duck hunt another day. But I’m not going to say I’m not going to come back on this one. I don’t know, it’s kind of early, I’ve enjoyed this one, but I’m going to keep looking at things.
Ramsey Russell: You did enjoy it, didn’t you?
Sam: I enjoyed it a lot.
Ramsey Russell: Was there any particular meal that stood out to you this time? Because I thought the menu, we had a different cook this year, Fede. Were there any meals that stood out to you this time?
Sam: The pizza.
Ramsey Russell: The pizza.
Sam: The pizza.
Ramsey Russell: You know, it’s like we were talking about earlier, me and Sam, young Sam, were talking about how they’ve got stoves, they’ve got ovens, they’ve got a state-of-the-art kitchen back there. But so much of the food they did, I mean, I’d say everything but salad, they cooked over this fire.
Sam: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: All the empanadas, the pizza, everything was cooked over live coals. I want one of those fireplaces in my kitchen one day.
Sam: How many different pizzas did they cook that night?
Ramsey Russell: Six. Well, they cooked six or seven pizzas, and I think three or four different flavors.
Sam: Yeah.
Ramsey Russell: And none of it was like what we’d get back home, really, but it was all good. The crust, cooking that crust over that fire, to me, is what did it.
Sam: Yes.
Ramsey Russell: That just absolutely sent it over the top.
Sam: Yes. No, it was great. I mean, of course, the desserts were always outstanding, always the hit of the meal. It’s the desserts.
Ramsey Russell: What about the wine, Sam? Because you are a wine guy, what do you think about it? They had how many, seven or eight different wines?
Sam: Yeah, well, they were all Malbecs. There was a blend of a Malbec and a Cab.
Ramsey Russell: See, that was one of my favorites.
Sam: It was good. I think I like it. You know, Malbec is a heavier wine. And then they had a Chardonnay, and I thought the Chardonnay was excellent.
Ramsey Russell: That’s the one I didn’t have.
Sam: Yeah, it was excellent.
Ramsey Russell: Did they say whether or not it was the Argentine white wine? Because they’ve got one white grape in Argentina that originated in Spain, became extinct in Spain, and is now only grown in Argentina.
Sam: Well, of course, it’s probably not Chardonnay.
Ramsey Russell: I don’t know. I’ve had one white wine down here the whole time I’ve ever been to Argentina. I like those Malbecs, you know, when we get to come back fishing, we stay out all day. Pigeon hunting, we stay out all day. So I skipped wine on both of those days. But any other day we come back here, I’m going to have a three-wine lunch, and I’m actually going to take a nap. I have a hard time sleeping during the day unless I have three of those Malbecs, and then, boy, I’m out like a light.
Sam: You didn’t have a problem on these trips taking a nap in the middle of the day?
Ramsey Russell: No, not with those three wines.
Sam: Well, that and you’re getting up at 4:00 in the morning.
Ramsey Russell: That helps some, doesn’t it? You’re not a morning person.
Sam: No. Every night I tell you, I may not get up and go hunting in the morning, and I still show up in the morning. So, no. But I went to sleep about 8 or 7:30 am.
Ramsey Russell: You did. So pizza was your favorite meal. I’m trying to think this time if you came back in, because this time you landed, and we picked you up there at the hotel, and off we go on this drive. Would you do that again?
Sam: Yeah, I don’t have a problem. But I’ve been to B.A.
Ramsey Russell: Okay. You wasn’t too much straight-through travel for you?
Sam: No.
Ramsey Russell: Okay.
Sam: And if anybody that’s going to go on the trip hasn’t been to B.A., then they need to spend the night there.
Ramsey Russell: I agree.
Sam: And see a dynamic city. It’s really a great city. But, you know, we had seen it last year, we’d taken a tour, and I said, now let’s go on. And, you know, coming up here, the traffic’s not bad once you get out of Buenos Aires.
Ramsey Russell: I like that little place we stop to get lunch. That’s one of my favorite meals of the week. Because it’s not steak, it’s just a mixture of just real local cut pieces of meat that probably end up in our hamburger pile back home. But I like it. Always short ribs, if there’s hot coal anywhere in Argentina, there’s going to be short ribs nearby. And then they’ve got that other chunk of meat, pasillo, and then they’ve got the other piece of meat called matambre. And we had pork and beef, and I asked them to skip the chicken because I’d eaten enough yard bird. But we had pork and beef and sausages and wine, and it was a huge adventure. And, of course, our driver didn’t know nothing about speaking English. So it was me and you winging it with the waitress. And that turned out okay.
Sam: It did turn out all right. I think they’ve seen your face before in there.
Ramsey Russell: Oh, they’ve seen me before. They better get used to it because this time of year, I don’t ever pass through that little community without stopping at that barbecue joint.
Sam: Let’s go back to the drive. Once you get out of Buenos Aires, we’re starting into an agricultural region, and the roads are good. And it’s not a hard drive. It’s an interesting drive up here.
Ramsey Russell: Did you notice how quiet it got after lunch? We had that bottle of wine for lunch. It got real quiet, the corner especially.
Sam: Flying all night and then eating lunch, it got a little quiet. But it was relaxing. It was very relaxing coming up here.
Ramsey Russell: I felt like last year versus this year, your pigeon hunt was a little bit better this year than last year because I did not realize that was you. You were by a big old tree in the middle of that cornfield, and I had walked past that. I did not know that was you up under there because you had a heck of a morning pigeon hunt. Yeah, I remember you having a good. I’m like, man, who’s that? Can’t be, it can’t be my Uncle Sam shooting, this stuff falling.
Sam: Well, it’s your shooting lessons that have helped.
Ramsey Russell: There you go.
Sam: But they decoyed great today. I mean, the pigeons day.
Ramsey Russell: Sam, did you ever shoot a duck flying, or do you just let them?
Sam: I got a double yesterday, flying.

Ramsey Russell: Flying?

Sam: Flying.
Ramsey Russell: Not sitting?
Sam: No, flying. But I shoot them better when they’re sitting on the water.
Ramsey Russell: You don’t have to lead them as far.
Sam: And I can kill a couple of them, too, at the same time when they’re sitting on the water. But I did get a double flying. And my bird boy got fired up also because he knew I wasn’t a very good shot.
Ramsey Russell: Yeah, you had a good time down here. And I always have a good time traveling with you, Sam. We’ve got a trip coming up this summer in August. We’re going to the Netherlands together, and we’re bringing the wives. That’s going to be a huge deal.
Sam: I’m looking forward to that.

Ramsey Russell: Do you think, and this is tying in with this going to the Netherlands part, is it as much for you, the trigger pulling? Because Argentina attracts a lot of people that just want to pull the trigger because it is an unbelievable trigger-pulling opportunity. The best. People ask me all the time, “Where’s your favorite country?” And I shrug and say, “Well, I like them all, but Argentina’s hard to beat because there’s always something to pull the trigger on, always.” But it’s different, it’s beyond that. And it seems to me that you enjoy as much the food, the culture, the sights, the sounds, the farms, and the conversations about something different as you do the hunting itself.

Sam: I do, I do. You know, you get in that big marsh early in the morning, duck hunting. You know, that day there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. You could see lots of stars, shooting stars, no lights of any city, no airplanes flying over the top of your head, and all the bird life that’s in there. And then, by the way, we get to hunt also.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Sam: So, you know, I just enjoy seeing, I mean, like the cattle ranches here. I don’t know if they call them farms or ranches. I grew up around cattle. It’s thousands here. One of those feedlots we were hunting near, he said it had 2,000 cows.

Ramsey Russell: Golly, I didn’t realize that.

Sam: The first one we hunted in.

Ramsey Russell: Brought those doves.

Sam: Yeah, that took you a long time to get your limit. Didn’t take me very long. And so I sat there and talked to one of the guys that could speak English, and he said, I asked the guy, he said it’s about 2,000 cows.

Ramsey Russell: That’s crazy, isn’t it?

Sam: It is.

Ramsey Russell: Wow. Well, Sam, I’ve enjoyed another huge adventure. See, we go to Amsterdam. It’s not going to be the volume this is, but I was telling you, you know, we’re going to be hunting in August, and I think because it’s warm in the afternoon, what my ambition is for bringing the wives is for us to get up and go shoot some geese in the morning and then come back and go to town, go to Amsterdam, go to some of these cities around there, go to the art museums, go to the other shows, go eat, go eat dinner, and just really just get to immerse ourselves in it. That’s what I think is going to be the huge highlight, not just the hunting, but everything else. Did you enjoy this trip as much coming on a guy trip as you did last year with a couples’ trip, or was it all kind of the same?

Sam: No, and I enjoyed it, you know. I enjoyed it as much, you know, and I’ve been on, what, about four of these trips, and we had a bunch of guys from our hometown who went on one to Mexico. But other than that, I’ve singled, either Jan and I, or I’ve been by myself. And getting along with everybody is excellent. Going to the Netherlands because we’re going to know everybody and we’ve been with them on other trips, so that’s going to be very good. But everybody just gets along.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Sam: Gets along very well.

Ramsey Russell: I think it’s because birds of a feather flock together when you come on these trips. Every once in a blue moon, there’s an outlier to a personality. But generally, everybody just gets along.

Sam: But, I mean, to answer your question, yes, I love pulling the trigger. And interestingly, down here, you can work on your shooting skills.

Ramsey Russell: Absolutely.

Sam: You know, back home, we don’t have as many doves anymore. Okay. So we’re shooting at everything that comes across. Down here, you can kind of work on your shooting.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Sam: You know, your different positions and things like that. And I think I’ve improved.

Ramsey Russell: No matter how good a shot you are when you show up, you’re always better when you leave.

Sam: Yes.

Ramsey Russell: Always better. It’s just, it’s too much opportunity down here.

Sam: It is.

Ramsey Russell: But the fishing trip really is a good pause. And I tell people when they book this trip, I say, “Look, there are ducks, doves, pigeons, perdiz. There’s fishing. But you don’t have to decide on fishing unless you want to.” But a lot of people that we visited with this morning, by the time the fishing day rolled around, they were ready for a break.

Sam: Yes.

Ramsey Russell: You and Sam, you and little Sam, both got a cut on your finger from trigger pull.

Sam: Oh, man. Between my shoulder and my finger, they are both worn out. But, you know, most people that hunt do fish some in the summertime.

Ramsey Russell: Yeah.

Sam: And of course, you’re not hunting in the summertime, so it’s a welcome break.

Ramsey Russell: Well, Sam, I enjoyed it. And I know you enjoyed getting to hunt with your favorite nephew. Even though I am the oldest and number five, I know I still am your favorite. And I’m looking forward to our next adventure together.

Sam: I enjoyed it also.

Ramsey Russell: Folks thank you all for listening to this episode of Mojo Duck Season Somewhere Podcast from Argentina. Now you know why everybody likes this combo. See you next time.