MOJO’S Duck Season Somewhere Podcast
EP 486. Favoring Historic Arkansas Ecosystems as Waterfowl Habitat?
Five Oaks Ag Research and Education Center focuses it’s habitat management on Arkansas’s historic bottomland hardwood forest ecosystems, using the life history of mallards that have migrated there for eons as living proof of healthy habitat. Empasizing the whole bottomland ecosystem’s historic importance, Ryan Askren talks about moist-soil management, comparing it to conventional agricultural crops, listing the pros and cons, naming favored plant communities. We also get into bottomland hardwood management, why managing for early water and holding late water are absolutely essential, the hemi-marsh effect, and philopatric imprinting. Arkansas’s historic bottomland ecosystems attracted and sustained wintering mallards since time immemorial. And to hear Askren describe it, with similar management they will continue to do so.
EP 484. Rocky Leflore–The End of The Line Podcast
The man, the myth, the legend–the waterfowl podcast godfather and host of The End of the Line Podcast himself–Rocky Leflore pays a long overdue visit and catches up. Rocky’s in-depth interviews with waterfowl hunters culminated in popular, episodic series such as Redemption, The Warden, Becoming Martin, Mondays With Rob, The Innovator, Thunder Rolls, and many more, taking us deep behind the scenes. The Life’s Short GetDucks series brought me into the podcast world, and for that am thankful. The End of the Line Podcast ended abruptly during the pandemic–when you come to a fork in the road take it–but Rocky fills in lots of blanks, reminding us about who he was as a duck hunter and person, how he got into podcasting, why he left, what he enjoyed about it and misses most, what he learned, the challenges of converting a chatroom to social media, and more. He also provides an update about the famous Mossy Island story. It was great catching up with our old friend, and already looking forward to having him on again.
EP 483. Waterfowl Habitat Management: Rethinking “Seed Mentality” (Part 1)
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.
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Related Links:
Wetlands Management for Waterfowl Handbook (PDF)
Managing Moist-Soil Impoundments (YouTube)
Other Need-to-Hear Habitat Episodes:
EP 125. Wetland Management for Waterfowl Habitat 1/3
EP 127. Wetland Management for Waterfowl 2/3
EP 129. Wetland Management for Waterfowl 3/3
EP 175. Wetlands Management for Waterfowl: Fall Considerations
EP 235. Waterfowl Habitat Management: Producing Desirable Moist-soil Vegetation
EP 237. Waterfowl Habitat Management: Controlling Problem Plants
EP 245. Waterfowl Habitat Management: Planting Agricultural Hot Crops
EP 254. Waterfowl Habitat Management: Good Intentions, Bad Ideas, Mismanagement
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EP 482. The Shotgun Conservationist
“How do I pay Mother Nature to make wild animals instead?” asks Brant McDuff from Brooklyn, New York, who grew up shooting shotguns, didn’t start hunting until recently, and is fervently spreading hunting gospel via speaking engagements, hunter’s ed courses and a fresh-off-the-press book. Yeah yeah, hunting is conservation. But coming from outside the cradle-to-grave hunting community, Brant brings fresh viewpoints to include venison diplomacy, preservation versus conservation, natural fiber versus synthetics, meat versus something else, virtue signaling versus land ethic, wildlife disturbances and rewilding nature from mountain cyclist/backpacker (I may have used the catchall word “granola”) as compared to hunters, social media representations, stigmatized words like trophy and hunting, and more. Ninety-six percent of Americans do not hunt. What now?
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Check out Brant McDuff’s book:
The Shotgun Conservationist: Why Environmentalists Should Love Hunting
EP 481. Speaking Truth To Power: Bio-political Mississippi Wildlife Management
Ricky Mathews is a fearless force of nature when it comes to doing right by Mississippi’s treasured wildlife resources and the people, like himself, that enjoy hunting and fishing. Using what he calls “reporting muscle” to “speak truth to the power,” his hugely popular SuperTalk Outdoors radio program oftentimes crashes meteorically through controversial topics, like the ones he describes candidly today. For most of us, hunting and fishing is part of our cultural identity. It’s who we are. We need to ask ourselves–we must insist in knowing–how much of our wildlife management policy is science-based versus politically motivated? And how might those political influences be purposefully self serving? Implications can be long lasting, far reaching, and detrimental to the greater good–whether in Mississippi or your own home state.
EP 480. Boone and Crockett Club: Fair Chase Ethos Then and Now
Smart as he may have been, nearly everything ol’ Grandad taught about fair chase hunting ethics originated in the late-1800s when yesteryear hunters formed the venerable Boone and Crockett Club. Their forever vision didn’t stop there. Backbone of the North America Model of Wildlife Conservation, Boone and Crockett helped set aside millions of acres in perpetuity, brought hunters-as-conservationists into mainstream American conciousness, worked to establish the world’s most enviable collection of wildlife-minded legislation, and formed other wildlife conservation organizations to include Ducks Unlimited. Tony Schoonen and Luke Coccoli colorfully describe 137 years of roll-up-your-sleeves-and-get-‘er-done milestones that transformed America into an amazing place to hunt wild animals. Beyond coonskin caps and record books, our ancestors realized we were “borrowing from future generations,” and did something about it. Do we have what it takes to continue what they started? Listen and let us know your thoughts.
Related Links:
Boone and Crockett Club https://www.boone-crockett.org
EP 479. Lake Pickle
“I grew up on Andy Griffith and Primo’s Truth About Hunting,” says Lake Pickle while humbly describing his specifically singular dream job–to be a Primo’s cameraman. When opportunity knocked, he opened the door, never looked back. He talks about important influences, encouraging conversations, paying dues, learning the ropes, finding his way in the outdoor industry, experiencing parts of the US much different than his own back yard–to include his thrilling first elk hunt–giving back to the resource, swinging for the fences, and why he can’t imagine ever leaving Mississippi. Good stuff.
EP 478. Favored Gauges, Shot Sizes and Chokes for Waterfowl: BOSS Shotshells Updates
Fellow Mississippian, Aaron Carter of Boss Shot shells, and I take it to the plug discussing Arkansas speckled bellied goose hunting, our favorite waterfowl loads and how “compensation science” still influences waterfowl shot shell preferences decades after non-toxic ammo was mandated for waterfowl hunting. Running through our own favored tried-and-true gauges, shot sizes and chokes for ducks and geese, we then cycle fluidly through need-to-know BOSS Shot shells happenings to include why buffered Warchief payloads deliver superior patterns downrange, why new steel shot rounds are hitting the market, and how cutting-edge biodegradable wads are better for producing tighter patterns and a cleaner hunting environment. Whether a long-time Boss Shot shell customer or shopping alternatives to high-recoil compensation science, this epsiode’ll have your trigger finger itching.
EP 477. Duck Season by the Numbers: Estimating North America Duck Populations and Harvests
Whether good years or bad, North American duck hunters probably harvest more ducks annually than the remainder of the world combined. There, I said it. Prove me wrong. This amazing feat is accomplished using science-based management that emphasizes maximum sustained yield and is the world’s envy. A duck hunter since childhood, Brad Bortner is former USFWS Chief of Migratory Birds. While his job description encompassed far more than just waterfowl, he guides us through the murky, too oftentimes misunderstood swamp of managing North America duck populations and harvests, shining a q-beam on need-to-know, by-the-numbers topics. What goes into setting duck seasons and bag limits? What’s adaptive harvest management (AHM) and how does it compare to models used elsewhere worldwide? How accurate are these estimates? Why aren’t waterfowl surveys like counting piggy bank coins? What about the 2-year time lag between population surveys, harvest estimates and season settings–why does this time lag exist, should we be concerned? What is HIP (Harvest Information Program), what’s its relevance, how’s it used, and how can each citizen-scientist duck hunter improve harvest estimate accuracy–and why should we care? Listen. The duck hunting world is buzzing around these topics right now. Be well informed.
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“You get what you put in, and people get what they deserve.” – Kid Rock
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EP 476. California Leads Nation’s Duck Harvest Thanks to CWA
While America’s most populated state is often times characterized by its big blue-city progressive politics, California consistently harvests more ducks than any other state. It’s not by accident. Far from it. Founded in 1945, California Waterfowl Association has exerted David-versus-Goliath efforts to improve habitat and wetlands, increase waterfowl production, hunter access and recruitment despite the Golden State’s notorious political climate. John Carlson, Mark Hennely, Jake Messerli and I wade through a boundless marsh of hard-earned accomplishments—producing 1-million wood ducks, salvaging eggs, banding ducks, ensuring Klamath Basin’s permanent water rights, providing Veteran Hunt Program, conserving wetlands to reduce a carbon footprint, establishing CWA Hunt Program, embracing new field-to-fork mindsets, replacing kids screen time with nature, tackling ongoing challenges. Could this grassroots conservation model improve duck hunting in your home state? How might death-by-a-thousand-cuts, modern-day duck hunting improve if embraced nationwide? Listen and let us know your thoughts.
Related Links:
California Waterfowl Association https://calwaterfowl.org
Save It For The Blind Podcast https://calwaterfowl.org/save-it-for-the-blind-podcast
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