MOJO’S Duck Season Somewhere Podcast
EP 495. PSA: New CDC Rules Affects Importing Your Retriever Back Into US!!
Public Service Announcement: Guides, outfitters, freelancers–everyone–traveling to hunt outside the United States need to be aware that new Center for Disease Control (CDC) rules change the requirements for importing your retriever back into the United States! Canada’s the biggie. If you are bringing a dog to the U.S., starting on August 1, 2024, there are new steps you need to take. These steps depend on where your dog has been in the past 6 months. Ira McCauley explains requirements (as of July 20, 2024) and what you need to know to prepare for the upcoming season.
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EP 494. Delta Waterfowl Expo, July 26-28, Baton Rouge
Late July in the Deep South, it’s hotter than hades and teal season is right around the corner. Where better to spend a fun weekend in the among your kind of people–duck hunters–than in the air conditioned halls of Baton Rouge’s Raising Cane’s River Event Center? The 3rd annual Delta Waterfowl Expo will be there this weekend and everybody that’s anybody in the duck hunting world will be there, too. Hear Delta Waterfowl’s Brad Heidel and I talk about happenings past and present and why the Delta Waterfowl Expo is the place to be the last weekend of July each year. See y’all there!
EP 493. Making Meaningful Wildlife Conservation Happen–The Big Picture
A since-forever duck hunter himself, Casey Stemler is a hook-and-bullet biologist that spent decades working coast-to-coast throughout the upper echelons of US Fish and Wildlife Service, making tremendous contributions to wildlife conservation and habitat management via applied research and policy. Stemler paints a big picture perspective of North American wildlife conservation, describing accomplishments and challenges for hunting and fishing, anti-hunting hurdles, the importance of science-based management, whipsawing effects of political administrations, how-it-really-works wildlife policy making, and much more.
EP 492. Arkansas Still “Duck Capital” ?!
Once upon a time, Stuttgart, Arkansas was the Rice and Duck Capital of the world, and–for sure–duck hunting traditions remain interwoven into Arkansas’s cultural identity. Especially green headed ducks. Mallards. But continental mallard populations have declined 50% during the last decade or so. What now? Arkansas Game and Fish Commission’s Wildlife Management Division Chief, Luke Naylor explains the then versus now of Arkansas duck hunting. The numbers are sobering. We discuss habitat, mallard harvests, waterfowl harvests relative to the Mississippi Flyway and entire United States, sex ratios, habitat conditions, social and economical values, changes, reasons for declines–and more. Times have changed, for sure, but you’ll have a darned hard time convincing me that Arkansas doesn’t still have claim to it’s lofty, long-standing title. Listen, decide for yourself, and let us know your thoughts.
EP 491. Land Man Ronnie Richardson
A hunter since way back when, Ronnie Richardson explains that it’s not about killing, so much as it’s about experiencing places. National Land Realty’s CEO, Richardson’s wealth of knowledge in recreational and investment properties was derived the old-fashioned way–by spending decades doing it well. And it’s been these two things–hunting and land–that’ve kept us in touch since high school. We catch up today, talking about people, places, and hunting land. Good stuff.
EP 489. Important Considerations: Old Dogs and Aging Retrievers
“Her hips are beautiful and knees look great, but at her age one of the biggest risk is blowing out her ACL like aging athletes do,” said veterinarian Dr. Bill Sullivan during Char Dawg’s recent visit. She’s only 6 years old. In today’s highly informative conversation, we cover need-to-know, aging-retriever topics quicker than a hard-charging lab through sheet water. Topics include retriever aging, conditioning, expectations versus reality, avian influenza, dietary needs, training versus hunting, major threats to aging retriever health (some you’d never think of) and much, much more. Seriously good info concerning your ride-or-die canine partner’s health on the back side of their way too brief career. Listen and let us know your thoughts.
EP 485. Habitat Management: Emergent Marsh Wetlands Magic (Part 2)
Now among the scarcest waterfowl habitat in the delta, it was emergent wetland-type habitats that sustained overwintering migratory in their heavily forested, ancestral Deep South wintering grounds. What exactly are emergent wetlands, and why are they so desirable when managing for duck habitat? Building on our previous discussion (EP 483.), wildlife biologist Kevin Nelms deftly slogs mid-thigh deep into this swampy topic, explaining emergent marsh productivity relative to other habitat types, important need-to-know water depths and timing, hemi-marsh concepts, plant communities, hands-off benefits, type invertebrates and their critical importance to both ducks and habitat managers. Under the right conditions, it’s almost as easy as just putting your boards in and walking away, and after hearing this conversation it’s possibly something worth considering.
As USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s 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’s considered a must-have staple for waterfowl habitat management (see related links below for your own PDF copy). Contact Kevin Nelms at kevin.nelms@USDA.gov.
EP 490. Duck Hunter Satisfaction
“I want the biggest pile of dead ducks over the longest period of time,” implies the maximum sustained yield model by which North America’s waterfowl populations are managed. North America likely harvests more waterfowl than the rest of the world combined. But is it really what hunters want? To hear a few grumbling internet malcontents, you’d think maybe not–but what does the data say? Former Migratory Bird Chief Brad Border is back, discussing North American Waterfowl Management Goals and changes, measuring and managing hunter satisfaction, North America waterfowl harvest levels, maximum sustained yield–and consequences–duck hunter participation declines and implications, and much, much more! These hot-button topics are making the rounds. Listen, learn, let us know your thoughts.
EP 488. Mississippi Delta Supper Club Influences
For Chef David Crews, growing up in Mississippi’s Delta was inspiration enough. He describes how home-cooked meals and a his first part-time job while a teenager got him started. We talk about the unique Mississippi delta culture, the many iconic resturants located throughout this relatively remote area where folks don’t blink at an hour-plus drives down dusty turnrows to enjoy dinner, how hot tamales became a staple, the Delta Supper Club that attracted renowned chefs and out-of-state member patrons from throughout the United States, cooking on reality TV, and giving weekly cruise ship tourists a true taste of the Mississippi Delta. And when asked his personal favorite go-to comfort food? Well, I reckon that, too, goes back to his Delta roots.
EP 487. Long Point Ontario Diver Hunting
Mallards may be the so-called rockstars of the duck hunting universe, but not if you were born and raised on Long Point, Ontario, where massive diver rafts on Lake Erie form ravenous swarms that strafe your ice-encased layout rigs when the weather’s just right. And especially not if you’re a third-generation diver hunter and boat builder like Jayden Bankes, who excitedly describes bluebills, redheads, and king cans starved for lush wild celery beds so thick they bog outboards! Jayden takes us deep into his north-of-the-border duck hunting world, telling fascinating stories about the men, the ducks, the traditions and the legendary boats that forever shaped his big water world view. We should all be so lucky!
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