MOJO’S Duck Season Somewhere Podcast
EP 245. Waterfowl Habitat Management: Planting Agricultural Hot Crops
There’s a time and place everything. Kevin Nelms and Ramsey discuss planting agricultural hot crops such as corn, rice, and various millets to provide high-energy food sources for wintering waterfowl, complimenting natural moist-soil habitat to form a waterfowl complex. What are the pros and cons? How do site limitations affect crop selection, what excellent online resources are available to landowners for determining your property’s soil type limitations? What is chiwapa millet and where’s it available? What about “grassy corn”? But wait-there’s more! Much more! As USDA NRCS Wildlife Biologist in the Mississippi Delta, Nelms has spent decades designing and developing numerous private-lands waterfowl impoundments. He’s worked extensively with private landowners throughout the region, improving desirable waterfowl habitat conditions, enhancing duck utilization, even putting together a handbook that Ramsey considers must-have essential for managing waterfowl habitat (refer to related links in the episode description for your own PDF copy). This is the third episode of a 4-part series that duck habitat nerds both new and old will appreciate.
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EP 244. Connecting Animal Planet Influences to Duck Hunting
The times they are a-changin’. Hook-and-bullet waterfowl managers are becoming replaced by a new generation inspired into wildlife management more by watching nature channels than by formative hunting experiences. But isn’t it kind of important that they recognize hunting’s importance–the real dollars-and-cents support that we duck hunters bring to agency budgets? Joel Brice and Cyrus Baird explain why Delta Waterfowl thought it was very important and what they did about it. Describing why hand-me-down hunting traditions are declining, they tell Ramsey about getting Delta’s University Hunting Program into many universities, recruiting students to participate, immersing them into the entire field-to-table experience. Coming from a place very few listeners can understand, some student feedback underscores this program’s vital importance.
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EP 243. South-of-the-Border Waterfowl Conservation, Dos
In last week’s episode we learned that Mexico is vital to many of our favorite North American duck species. Managing waterfowl that spans North America’s entirety requires collective efforts, continental scale. After all, a chain’s only as strong as its weakest link. What are habitat conditions like in Mexico, how productive are they, how much do they have? What are some of the greatest habitat threats? At the human level, how do you foster appreciation for such vital wetlands in a country where relatively few citizens hunt? What can be done to conserve wetlands and who’s doing what? Eduardo Carerra, CEO of Ducks Unlimited Mexico (DUMAC) covers these topics expertly as he and Ramsey continue their fascinating conversation about meaningful waterfowl conservation in Mexico.
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EP 242. Tom Beckbe’s Family Lore
It’s the classical story of art imitating life, of creative works being inspired by actual events. See, Tom Becke isn’t a person; it’s the original namesake of a very specific place on a map. And it was near there, as Radcliffe Menge describes in great detail, that ancestors ignited in him a passion for hunting. Importantly, the old school values they instilled are evident throughout his company’s growing product line that in many ways pay tribute to those old-timers’ family lore.
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EP 241. South-of-the-Border Waterfowl Conservation, Uno
Many iconic North American duck species–some of our most favorite– overwinter South-of-the-Border in Mexico sunshine and wetlands, but what awaits them down there? Is unregulated hunting why we’re shooting so few pintails in the Lower 48?! Eduardo Carrera is a professional biologist and CEO of Ducks Unlimited Mexico (DUMAC). He and Ramsey have a fascinating, in-depth conversation that you definitely do not want to miss! Getting deep into the tules, Carrera covers waterfowl distribution, species, harvests and determining bag limits. A lot of time is spent talking about blue-winged and cinnamon teal, black-bellied and fulvous whistlers, Mexican Ducks and Northern Pintails before wrapping up with fact-based discussions about waterfowl harvest estimates and Mexico’s relatively generous bag limits. Tune in next week as this incredible conversation continues!
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EP 240. Bird Flu–Should We Be Worried?
Internet news agencies are adding avian influenza headlines daily, and as waterfowl migrate northwards our social media feeds are streaming with ducks and geese succumbed to bird flu. Should we be worried? What’s bird flu, how long’s it existed, how does it spread, what are its different forms? Why are waterfowl important vectors? Will it be deleterious to waterfowl populations? Dr. Rebecca Poulson is an assistant research scientist at University of Georgia’s College of Veterinary Medicine, Southeastern Cooperative Wildlife Disease Study. Her specialties are virology and wildlife disease. Keeping it simple and conversational, she sheds much needed light on the bird flu topic in today’s highly informative, must-listen episode.
EP 239. When the Levee Breaks
First recorded in 1929, did you know that the acclaimed Led Zepplin song “When the Levee Breaks” was about the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927? On April 21, 1927, following months of unprecedented rainfall throughout a watershed covering much of the United States, the mainline Mississippi River levee crevassed north of Greenville, Mississippi, creating the worse US national disaster until Hurricane Katrina. The event shaped the Delta, Mississippi, national flood control policy. Some claim it even changed America itself. Ramsey Russell and Hank Burdine are both natives of the Mississippi Delta with strong connections to Greenville. Keeping it light and conversational, they meet in the South Delta to discuss this epoch event 95 years later.
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A couple really great books have been written on this topic to include Deep’n as It Come: The 1927 Mississippi River Flood and Rising Tide: The Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 and How it Changed America
EP 238. BS’ing at King Chekka BoBo
Just a few minutes from home, Ramsey catches up with long-time friend Johnny McKinion on the antler-strewn front porch of Camp King Chekka Bobo. They cover a lot of interesting ground, about nothing mostly, to include in no particular order deer, ducks, turkeys, Rankin County, Old Charter bourbon, hunting camp rules and traditions, food, family. And after 20-plus years of friendship, Ramsey finally has to ask: what the heck does King Chekka BoBo even mean?! Damned good answer!
237. Waterfowl Habitat Management: Controlling Problem Plants
Managing waterfowl habitat to produce desirable, duck-beneficial moist-soil vegetation combines art, science and sometimes just plain luck because Mother Nature loves throwing curve balls. Kevin Nelms and Ramsey discuss problematic plant species and remedies. As USDA NRCS Wildlife Biologist in the Mississippi Delta, Nelms has spent decades designing and developing numerous private-lands waterfowl impoundments. He’s worked extensively with private landowners throughout the region, improving desirable waterfowl habitat conditions, enhancing duck utilization, even putting together a handbook that Ramsey considers must-have essential for managing waterfowl habitat (refer to related links in the episode description for your own PDF copy). This is the second episode of a 4-part series that duck habitat nerds both new and old will enjoy.
Related Links:
Wetlands Management for Waterfowl Handbook (PDF)
Managing Moist-Soil Impoundments (YouTube)
EP 236. Guatemala Final: Big Al’s Good eats
Food is one of the truest measures of local culture worldwide, maybe even more so among duck hunters. While exploring duck hunting in Guatemala, Ramsey’s hosts made sure he experienced everything the small Central American country had to offer. None more so than today’s guest, Alvaro Aguilar, who has a US background in culinary arts and is the official camp cook. He and Ramsey discuss time spent in the Southern US, classic Guatemalan dishes versus Mexican, why Guatemalan tamales are better, and similarities to the Deep South. Why waterfowl hunting is important to Aguilar strikes familiar cords, but his fearless field-to-table chef adventures takes “eating the whole animal” to a whole ‘nuther level! Y’all DO NOT want to miss his mouth-watering duck recipes. You ain’t going to believe “duck chicarones” and, yes, it was absolutely delicious.
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