Texas Duck Hunting, Dog Training, and Ship Piloting with John Dunaway

What's up , dude ?

So I appreciate you hopping on here with me . This is the first one that I've recorded in my new office , which is not even like really set up yet . So I asked you to do it and I was like , oh shoot , I haven't even set the mic up or anything yet . So I've been blowing and going , although you got hit with the zoom update curse .

Every time I go to zoom it's like zoom now has to update and yeah anyway .

I remember our mutual friend , brian Mallett , told me you got to meet this guy in Houston . You would really like him . He's just like you . That's what he said . He's like you , but not . And then he said , if you go looking up on Instagram , if you had a mustache , he would be like your twin .

And I was like , all right , well , I don't know about all that , but I don't remember exactly how we met .

Honestly , and I've seen photos , right , we had talked , but I had never like , I'm six too , what are you ? Six , six ?

The first question I have on here with you is I would love to know , because I don't necessarily know a ton of the story and some of the things I'm going to ask you . I do know , but the reason I wanted you on here is I want other people to hear .

But tell me about your hunting background and the region that you hunt in and maybe some of the history at oyster bayou .

Got on like a garbage , garbage leased and sardine , and then our family hunted out in the bay , out there all public stuff . And that's where I got my first start . I want to first duck hunts . I can remember we hunted out in the bay and a little square blind , and it was so cold .

I had these Hodgman waiters in the old Hodgman campus boots and it was so cold that the laces literally froze standing up . Dang , he was like you want to go Like ?

like , I'm like , I'm like I'm done , I can't get warm . The airboat ride was so cold . I was hugging Cedar , just like I think . I think I might actually just went out and start crying here . I'm so cold .

You know like 17 degrees in Kansas when it was , I remember it was 11 , and it's nowhere as cold as when that blue norther hits on that coast .

Yeah , and so if you go back , like the book 100 Years of Texas Duck Hunting , and they have these wild stories again in Forest McNair it was a guide over there and there are these three big lakes and they talk about that . They would shoot 30,000 canvas backs off of this one little lake . And when I say a little lake , it's not that big .

I have to show you on a map . And the only reason people are like , oh , that's all hearsay , but they've got the records of how many barrels they shipped because they were market hunting them . So they know how many ducks they were putting in a barrel and how many barrels they put on the train to send them to market .

And it was such a big deal that right at the Chesapeake Bay , those guys that were hunting up their market , hunting canvas backs and selling them like the Waldorf Astoria that was famed for making the roasted canvas back they started writing these newspaper articles like oh , don't take ducks from Texas . That's disgusting .

You know , the ducks from Chesapeake Bay are so much better and you can read this in all these books . And that's how many there were , yeah , and so to even think of taking 30,000 ducks off of one lake . But one species is mind blowing , of how many there's , so much as to they were shooting tundra swans down here . The last one was shot .

I want to say like 19 , 20 ish . Yeah , you can find that it's between 1917 and 1929 . Remember those numbers . But like tundra swans , yeah , down there actively migrated down here . Yeah , that's insane .

I knew there was duck hunting like up in Chesapeake , like you know from what I'd read and whatnot , and then , of course , arkansas . And then I remember when I took my first trip to Kansas duck hunting and all my , all my deer hunting buddies , like you're going to Kansas to duck hunt and I was like , yeah , I heard it's great , you know .

And I had sold a dog to a guy that was like if you want to kill a lot of ducks , you need to come to Kansas . And then I just kept meeting people . I remember the first time I sold a dog to a guy in the Houston area . He was like , yeah , we smoke ducks . And I was like in Houston , texas , you know , like I just I didn't .

I never knew , I never thought much about it . Same thing when I sold my first dog to a client in California .

And I looked it up and he was right and my eyes have been open to see all , not just the what happens around the country , but like how much rich waterfowl history there is all around and where you guys hunt is one of the coolest and it's really cool .

So , orcher Bayou , it's a club where your own group , the El Capitan Club , you guys have memberships there . At least some of you do , right , I don't really know how that whole process works , but Orcher Bayou is obviously rich in history in that area .

He's like , oh , this whole , you know , in the season of 78 , he tells you these crazy stories and he can remember years . You know anybody that hunts actively . You've got that story that becomes a milestone .

So , yeah , to listen to him hear how the migrations have changed , how that environment has changed , the people that have come and gone through there , I mean from everything from the market hunting days to where we are now , it's wild history .

That was just explaining how back in the day there weren't nearly as many big highways , the cities hadn't moved out there , and it's sort of choked out some of the migration in that area . At least that's what I understood from them to say .

There was a lot of wild celery and that's why the canvas backs were in that specific three lakes over there and it was just rich in natural vegetation and so they would go all the way down till they hit the coast right . It kind of flew off to the Gulf Like okay , too far back up and that's where they wintered and it was natural .

Yeah , and the same thing on the west side of Houston and then the Katy prairie right , a little different , and then agriculture comes in . They start turning it into rice farming . The birds learn and adapt to eat that and then they're just like hanging out , like why do ?

You can look at the U-Grass of where the snow geese were and you can watch , even till now , watch as rice populations have shifted .

West Eagle Lake , you know , like the goose capital of the world , and you could see it goes there 70s , 80s , 90s and it's just keep going east and it gets into Louisiana and then now it's going up again into Arkansas and the birds moved with it .

So , osher Bayou , jean , those guys have been there obviously a long time . You guys hunt right next to that refuge , right ? So that's where we went . I mean , we were just right down the road from it .

You know somewhere out in the marsh .

You know down actual oyster bayou and then you cut into where the property is nose in there , walk up the levee , get into the mud boats and then run up into that , yeah , salt marsh into the salt marsh and then you're essentially on like a little island of grass in a marsh with a pit blind .

It that goes against everything that I had grown up doing . Yeah , I mean , they don't . They don't move them , they don't do anything .

shot . She broke . She ran out in front of a guy , a buddy you know . Almost a low shot . It was like that's the end of it . So remember taking Kim to the gym and having a discussion . She said get a dog . Like let's get a new dog , okay , cool .

And I randomly and to this day I couldn't tell you what the website was I was just Googling stuff looking for a dog and I had been asking my buddy's trainer for one and they didn't have anything . So I ran down this land on a random link . I clicked this guy , he's got British labs . He's like , hey , I've got two male yellow males left .

Like cool , well , I'll be in

about five hours . Kim gets out of the gym . She's like hey , what are we going to do the rest of the day ? We didn't have kids or anything back then , right , and I said , oh , we're going to drive up to , like Dallas , I found this puppy . It's like , oh my God . And then the next thing , on the way there , I called the trainer to let him know .

I was like , hey , I'm going to get this puppy . And I mean , good old boy , you know , don't buy this $400 dog . And I was like something about it . Just , I don't know , I'm going to get this dog . He's like don't buy the $400 dog , I'm not going to train it . Which became like a whole joke , right . So we go , we get him .

I bought water dog and I followed it to the tee . You know like get him at eight weeks , bring him home on a lead , sit , stay , you know , and built all that up by 12 weeks . I had him on a training table in my backyard doing overs . Yeah , I could . I could get him to run up the ramp to the table .

One whistle , peep , sit over , peep , peep , peep , three . He'd come back to the middle and people are like that's nonsense . He didn't do it . I'm like I still have videos of it . It's a timestamp too . Yeah , I know exactly when he was born . I proved you . It's 12 weeks old . And yeah , I took him till 16 weeks .

We were on a tiny like little baseball drill by that point , Little baseball , diamond backs , backs and overs , and I was using a fence line in this neighborhood we were living in to learn how to push him further overs . Yeah , he couldn't come off of it and that was the extent of like getting further than this . I'm going to mess this up .

It was force fetch time . So I sent him to the trainer yeah , oakwood Kennel is his name , ron Frydenberg and he took that dog , ran him through over the years and got you know his HRCH and I was going to see back then . So I'd be gone for four months and it worked really well . So , like I left at 16 weeks , I sent him there .

He lived for four months and then when I came home I'd go over like , hey , what are you doing with him ? What can I do ? Cool , and run the most drills that I was capable of . Yep , and then , yeah , and then started hunting him .

Remember my trainer was like don't hunt him this year and he had 800 retreats the first season and I went back and like that $400 dog is amazing . Yeah , we'll see next year . This is a fluke . Like it's not a fluke man . And about when he was about three .

I remember going to pick him up one time because I would send him to get two nubs , especially before season , or if I was on the ship . And I went to go pick him up and here come all the dogs running across the field , almost like a S okay , look , you know , like you have the dog , go play .

And here comes Ron , and side by side and Nixon is sitting there and Nixon is sitting in the front seat , while all the other dogs were running across the field chasing him and I was like what is this ? The ?

You don't see a ton of dogs getting out , especially with you guys . I mean , for those that haven't been there , you're hunting in a marsh . It's either swim water or lunge water .

I mean , look , one of the scariest retrieves I ever had was with you with red Nixon , and we had a blind retrieve , remember , and it was like it was not even fair to the dog , and you had Nixon out there and I was like I'm about to eye wipe this guy .

And for those that don't know , in England if you're at a field trial and a dog fails to find a bird , the next dog gets to go and if that dog finds it it's called an eye wipe and the first dog is out of the trial . I have seen it happen with the .

They'll send up to four dogs and I've seen the fourth one find it and if the fourth one doesn't find it , the judges have to go look for it and if they find it , all four dogs are out . I have seen a field trial out into that way . There were only four dogs left . They all went out . That was the end of it .

Oh man , no placements After two days , anyway . So I was like I'm about to just we're just like having fun goofing off , and I was like I'm about to eye wipe Nixon and there was a patch of some type of grass . I mean it was .

I'm not going to say how far it was , it was a long way , long enough that it was a long , long enough that it's like it's impressive just to get there .

Yeah , and I was handling red and he was actually handling really well and I would send him back and he would disappear for a second and then he come out and I put him in that cover and , to be honest , none of us really knew that teal could have hit and swam . Who knows , you know , who knows where it was .

It wasn't there , because the both of those dogs would have found it . But I was like man , why does he keep disappearing ? And whoever we were with your buddy that drove us out there , tim , he goes . Yeah , there's a ditch right there . I was like , oh yeah , and he goes . There's some big Gators in that ditch too .

And I was like everybody loves you red , don't die . You're like the perfect size for a Gator snack too , like just right . And man , that freaked me out because you guys have . I guess they're not in the marsh too too much , because the water is decently shallow out there and especially in the cold season , but for teal season .

I went hunting west of Houston with my buddy Kelton this last year and when we got done hunting he was like you guys want to go kill some Gators ? And dude , in the second day we hunted there was a like four foot alligator in the doorway to the blind . We had to shoot away . Oh yeah , I was like dude , what is this anyway ?

So that was a terrifying moment . I mean for dogs , you guys , you guys have , I mean long boat ride in a pit line , massive amount of decoys . I was worried about that with Rio because he had never seen but maybe three or four decoys in a pond , you know there was hundreds , uh , motion decoys , long retrieves without a ton of like depth of field .

You know it's just a long way , sure , sure . So for dogs it's not necessarily easy career picking up out there .

And so like that's one of the things with Nixon , you know , when you have your own dog and you go , that dog trusts me wholeheartedly , the way I trust him , and so much to the point . I remember when he was younger and I would let one of the guys handle him and he would get out there and he'd be like Pete , pete , pete , pete .

And I'm like and I'll not say his name , it was which guy was not Tim or Gene ? And I was like easy on the dog and his Nixon has a very specific tale . When he is listening to me it is big , long , slow , and he stops and he looks and he's like just tell me what you need and I'm going to do it .

And so this guy being fast , but his tail , when he gets a scent , it gets short and it's real snappy . It's like yeah , yeah , and I'm like , and I can see it way out there , it's like he's on the bird and he's trying to push him left . I was like , leave him the fuck alone . Excuse me , leave him alone . Like he's going to the right , he is on it .

That tail is on it and I can tell like people were like no , no , I think it's over there . I know this dog and when he gets like that , he'll vanish in that grass . I was like , where is he ? Like , look , tail was short . He's on a scent . Leave him alone .

When he feels no longer that he can do it , he will pop back out of that grass , he will look across his pond at me and he will wait for another cast . Yeah , and it's been the greatest joy to do that with him .

Second time I've mentioned those , but he is a British lab , like you'll hear the judges say , like that dog has a lovely tail action and what they mean is like when they get in the area of the fall and the nose turns on , that tail starts going fast you know , and drops and off , you know it's just such a fast hunt and some dogs don't do that .

They don't . It's like they they have a big hunt or they just kind of have a slow hunt . But when you see one like Nixon red was that way , I've had several dogs that way .

My favorite dog ever had like that was a female named Angie and man , when they get into that heavy cover and you see the tail start , it's like oh yeah , it's almost like playing the game hot or cold , right , they're like I'm hot .

So like my buddy Brad , he hunts up in Montana on a river and like we were teaching his dog to take very straight lines in and out of the water and he was like I don't want that . I need my dog to run way down this river , get ahead of the bird and cut it off .

It's cool to see you develop that with your dog because it truly is like the relationship is what dictates that . Like the trust that he has in you , trust you have and hey , he's on it . Like if Nixon goes in there with his tail , like that I don't have to worry about it anymore . Like , just let him hunt . That's a really fun to see . I like that .

So you mentioned being gone for months . Everybody listens to this podcast . They got to hear about what you do . You have one of the coolest jobs in the world . So I want to talk about your job now and your previous job just a little bit .

What is a ship pilot Like ? What does the term even mean ?

So when a ship comes into a port , yeah , it's got a crew , it's got its own captain and everything , but they're at sea . They've never been in this water , they don't know the local language , they don't know the intricacies of it , even with a charter . I mean , inland waters change very , very quickly .

So we board a ship , we become their local guy , right , local captain . And since asked for engine orders , how much speed I need out of it , how much rudder command , give them headings where to point and as we're steering them up and down the channel , the deal with communication with the local guys , whether it's another ship or tug and toes .

And then we get close to the dock . Pug boats come over and then I tell them where to lash up and we do our thing , you know , dock and dock the ship . And then I go home and they do cargo and everything , and when they're ready to leave we show up again . Same thing Shake hands , give me a quick rundown dock and un-dock .

And so before that I went to sea for 10 years and I did what these guys are doing . I didn't have all the like , I wasn't a pilot .

I went all over the world , got the 35 countries , but you get people , pilots everywhere you go , and in that I had I was captain the last two years of it and I had probably 10 dockings , un-dockings under my belt of whether it was like West Africa , and they were terrible at what they did .

And so you , like you , pretty much took over , you know , and now I think I'm like at 1800 dockings , geez .

But having somebody with the in-depth knowledge of each port I mean if you're a captain of a ship you said you went to 35 countries there's no telling how many ports you went to I mean to expect that guy to know the intricacies of docking a boat at every one of those ports is insane .

So it makes total sense that each place has a captain I guess a bunch of captains . How many of you guys are there in the Houston fraternity ? Yeah ?

So what's the Texas chicken ?

So imagine we have a big bay that's like 12 feet deep everywhere , and then we have a channel that's roughly 45 feet deep , so very , very shallow bay , and we have a long , tiny ditch . So that ship , as it's going up the channel , is pushing water all out of it . But also think that the bank , so the bank will push the ship off of it .

Right , so you can't get close to the bank , it need to be in the middle . But now you've got a ship going one direction and a ship coming the other direction , head on . You don't want them to pass like two cars on a two-lane road , because the bowels are positive pressures and they'll push the ship away from each other .

And then the bank will then push the ship off of the bank before people think they're going to run aground they're not . More often they will produce such a large cushion of water that it will , like shoot the ship off the bank . And so , in order to make this safe , to have two-way traffic at all times , the size of ships that we're moving right .

So we're in a 500 and a 530 foot channel . It's being expanded to 700 feet , but currently 530 feet and we'll meet two widebodies right , two hundred and eighty foot combined beam in a channel . That's us .

What you do is you come at each other , you make a course diversion away from each other , let the positive pressures push the bowels , but you're in control of this right . And by the time you get over by the bank , they push themselves back off the bank and the stern and the bow of each other , kind of they sniff it right .

So the stern is a negative , pressure in the bow is a positive . So it literally wants to do this dance where they go apart and then they line back up . And if you were to try to take these two big ships and run them at each other but both get over in the bank , there's no telling . Do you have enough rudder power to hold it over there ?

Or could you get close and all of a sudden it shears off . What's it going to hit ? It's going to hit the other ship full of crude or chemicals , or you're going to have a catastrophic issue .

I'm like , oh , that's a good way to put it , because every day , right , I get on a ship and it makes them super uncomfortable . Like , oh , we're so close , it's not a big deal , it's going to be just fine . We do this every day . I'm going to do this probably 15 times in the next hour and a half . So sit back , relax .

But come to find out , in my era of selling a ski boat , your ski boat is a left handed propeller and so I had set myself up .

You went to go get the trailer or something I set myself up to , back on it expect the bow would go to Starper and I would spin around and leave that little like a little inlet we were in and it kept it kept going the other way . I was like what is wrong with this stupid boat ? It won't do what I want .

I'm like , listen , dude , it's not what you think until now , because now you can get upgraded Stern thrusters and you can just and I hear people all the time like what a waste . And I'm like , no , you should drive one . It's truly unbelievable . It's nice like having tugboats , you know it's like , oh , I'll just pull it over there Pretty awesome .

So when you were a captain , I mean you went all around the world . I'd love for people to hear just a couple snippets of that . I don't want to take up too much more of your time , but like what's ? I mean , you said you're on a ship for four months . I mean , what is that like being at sea that long ?

Right , you got stuff to do , but you're not standing a watch . You've got three guys that are doing navigational watches on the bridge . Well , let's go back like when I wasn't a captain .

You would , you'd work for four hours , you would go to sleep for eight hours , you'd work for another four hours and then probably use like some overtime for four hours and then go back to sleep and wake up and do it all over again .

Like a ship is constantly like , right , like the elements of the sea are constantly trying to destroy a ship , though , whether it's salted salt taken over the paint and rust and stuff wanting to corrode , stuff has to be greased and things have to be checked because it freezes up and gears got to be stowed properly .

It's a never ending project , and you think that ships used to have these huge crews , you know ? And now what ? And now we'll sit as a crew of like 14 people .

You know where we are and have to break it down and consider it , because you got a plan of it and once you leave and you know , all the lights fade away and you're out in the ocean all by yourself . Like you can't just Amazon like , oh , I need this part or oh , I need these guys to come help .

You know , like you had email for a while I like we'd have email two times a week and you're like you're all by your lungs of whatever you ordered and you have on board . You better figure it out and that's not going to fix it . You better come over to another plan . Be pretty crafty .

Last thing I want to cover You've got a pup coming very soon .

So your pup is currently in Texas , close to you , with cousin stone , as I call him . He has a lot of names . My favorite name is low bird . Remember Low bird , like that guy ? Yeah , he shot a guy dove hunting . It's a good story for another day , but I'll just tell it now because it's too good . So , yeah , we , because we're going dove hunting .

It's all my best friends named Ben and I hunt with him . He's the one that took me to shoot that deer and my one and only buck . So he , uh , we're hunting and stone moose Stone was in a decent spot and had killed like two birds , probably been through a box of shells and I'm hunting in my spot , and Ben was like , hey , I'm , I'm limited out .

So tell stone to come over here to my fields . And it's just like you can see it , just across this little road , maybe 150 yards from me , maybe a hundred yards . Stone goes over there and I couldn't really see the rest of that field . But I see , at one point stone gets up and he goes jogging across the field like out of sight .

And I was like , oh , maybe maybe stone like shot a bird and his dog broke and now he wants to make the dog sit , give him a denied retrieve , cause that's what I do . Okay , you break , I'm going to go get the bird . You sit here . Wally comes back over there and , uh , I'm like how to go . And he was like , oh , good man , I'm limited out .

Dogs did good , stone shot a guy . I was like . I was like like he peppered him . He was like he's bleeding and I was like oh man 30 minutes later , stone comes back over and I'm like hey , dude , how to go ? And he was like great . And I was like did you shoot a guy ?

And he was like well , I kind of , you know , I peppered him a little bit , I said was he bleeding ? And he was like yeah , and I was like where ? And he was like well , like his lip and his neck and his stomach . And I was like what ? And I was like how far away were you from this guy ? And he was like I don't know 50 yards .

And I said , man , so apparently stone had shot over that way a few times and didn't realize the field had some drop in it and he thought he was and he just followed a bird . And then my buddy was like 150 yards from stone and saw it happen and , as it happened , he goes low bird and shot the guy .

And so the guy the caretaker of the property comes up later and he's like I learned something new today . So what's that ? And he was like if you shoot a guy , it's best to give him about 10 minutes or so before you go over there and check on him . Stone waited . So I was going to find the guy . I was like where is this guy ?

I need to go apologize because my little cousin shot him . And they were like , oh , he's at the hospital , he had to go get the pellets taken out . So yeah , oh , sorry , stone , love you much , hammered him Low bird yeah , yeah , low bird . That's the guy that I've entrusted with your dog right now . He's very trustworthy .

I hadn't shot anyone since then , I don't think . But yeah , your puppy has made the journey from Madisonville , kentucky , to my place here in Mississippi and then now to Texas and is awaiting you to pick him up . I don't even know when . When are you ?

Kim yeah , I was like pardon , I will do whatever I have to for stone to keep believe . Please keep the dog for like 10 extra days .

She's one of four girls we've had that are out of the same mother in Ireland and they've all produced like some of the best puppies I've seen . And Libby's a rock star HRCH title , a little hot , like she's a little hotter than most of the dogs you see in the British lab world .

But after being around Nixon , and talking to you , like that's kind of your style , like you want one that's got the pep you know and goes hard . So yeah , I'm super . What have you did ? You pick a name I can't remember Um should we unveil it ?

No , we're not going to disclose it , we're going to hold it All right , we thought we're pretty sure we have it .

That was a mentor , but like I just kind of made it up , you know , I was like , hey , I saw this drill on the YouTube and now when I got my second one out and it's different with you because you've had one dog for so long but the second one you're like oh , you've learned a lot , right , it'll , it'll be really fun and you got kids that can throw

dummies for you and , scheduled , it works for you to be able to work and I'm super excited to see you have him and for him to be around . We mentioned one thing PB .

That's the last thing I want to cover because for those of you out here that are listening to this , like it is such an awesome experience and I'm going to let John talk about it and it's probably not completely like you couldn't replicate it necessarily to the T , but the , the idea you can replicate and the overall overarching theme of the team is doable and

it's . It could be done with waterfowl Okay , it could be done in lots of different ways . It's with dove hunting , obviously with you , but man , I turned down the invite , I think three years in a row , man , it just didn't work out . I was going to Texas teal , which I love Shout out to JJ Um . But I actually told Bethany last year .

I was like , hey , I think if I turned down this invite I might not get re-invited , and so you were on the chopping block . Oh yeah , so I went last year and had I had the best time .

So , as we wrap this up , tell us about what is PB . What's the deal , how'd it come about ? There's some cool history there , and what are you expecting this year ?

Well , back then , white wing , there was a special white wing season that opened before dove season and it was just in the valley , and so my dad would hunt at this farm where we all hunt , and yeah , he , so he took me one year and I remember rolling into this place and , just like man , these people have coolers and they're sitting under like umbrellas and

everything's so incredibly chill , and so I was just captivated by it . Right , like this is hunting , like it's so relaxed , fast forward . I was in college . I decided I wanted to kind of replicate that . I'd seen an article in garden and gun about this fun dove hunt . So I brought stuff to make polomas .

I picked up some meat to do fajitas , grilled in the field Like huh . A couple of years later I brought six guys , we did it . We thought we had a ball . We kept hearing this music and these people have the most incredible system .

It sounds just like a mariachi band is on the other side of this tree line and one of the guys like no , they actually have mariachi band . There is a full mariachi band right over there . And that was the catalyst is like we're doing this again and we're going to have a mariachi band and we're always going to have a mariachi band .

And from there it was just like we invited , like I don't know , 12 to 20 guys and then it just went to like 25 , 30 , growing , growing . I don't . Honestly , I don't know how it's become what it is , except the element that remains is the people . The people are what makes it . And that's what you said .

And when I've always told people it's an invite , only who would get kind of upset that it was that way , like how do we get in ? Like well , guess what this is ?

What I want you to understand is that you might not be able to get it , but you can do this with your friends , like I found a random field and I have just a handful of guys and we did it and then every year we added something that just seemed like it was a little more exciting .

But what makes the whole like we could get rid of all of it , it's the relationships that come out of it . It's seeing these people that we're all about to embark on hunting season and work and sends you all different ways and everybody takes the time . That's what truly blows me away . The people come from all over the country .

At this stage , this is a little place in South Texas behind and we're lambing you . Morgan BC and I , we were literally crying , laughing that Sunday night .

I mean I got Duff season here , Teal , but like I get to travel all around and hunt with great people and it's so much fun , I know that I'm incredibly fortunate , you know , as far as hunting goes , and it's truly like the blessing of this job for me has been the relationships that I get to have all winter long and then even in the summer .

I mean you came to Camp Ramsay , man went on the boat , yeah , Kids like man , the people that are there . So , for those of you that were listening along , it's in when you say South Texas , dude , I had an international retrieve . That was my one . So I stood on the Rio Grande All right , that's right .

And yeah , shot a dove that was flying over and landed on the opposite side of the river , which is 100% Mexico , and I sent Cedar to go get it and Aaron Davis recorded the whole thing . I was like you're now an international retriever . They didn't even have his passport or nothing . And what's crazy is so we go down there .

We've got this group of people that have been invited . You guys could replicate this with your friends we dove hunt , we've , we've . You've rented out a part of this really awesome place that hosts dove hunters . It's like a paper day , right , like you had day rays , sunflowers , dove are everywhere , and then we can shoot both .

Right , we have morning in and white wing dove , right and that right .

He kept on playing like it was nothing to do . It was like a scene from Nacho Libre . And so we're out there . I mean the dog work is tough because you can't . There's no depth of field in those sunflowers . There's no distinguishing anything . It's rows of sunflowers and little creeks and the river .

But at nighttime we're staying in a beach house on South Padre and we can walk across street to the beach and there's a pool and this year the one you sent me is unbelievable . It was being built . I remember seeing where they were that empty lot . So I can't believe that they built that in this amount of time . So you got to keep the dogs cool all day .

Are we taking the pup ? Is the pup going to go ? Yeah , he's going to have to come . That's the best , that's the we'll do . Father son pictures with old Ozzy out there .

I mean , you've got a lot of things to line up , but for those of you listening like , find somewhere where you can go hunt , like this , and bring your friends and just add cool stuff to it . I mean the food that someone to cook , um , you know live music , which is awesome , whatever it might be .

It's totally different in your region , but , man , I'm I'm very fortunate to get to go . I can't wait to be there . It's uh , it'll be the first time that really I get to see all my buddies again . It's really like , hey , we're getting the gang back together before hunting season . Yeah , man , it was , uh , it was so much fun .

Last year we shot the mess out of dove . I mean , they're everywhere . And look , yes , my favorite memory is international retreat , but when we we cooked a big crawfish boil or a shrimp boil , um , that Sunday night , and the lady that runs the place , um , I don't remember Bonnie , that's it .

That's it , cause I thought blue bonnet , so Bonnie there you go , bonnie comes down and she's like y'all just shut the gate , you're here late . Yeah , I started thinking like what gate and it ? Do ? You know what gate it is ? It's the gate to America .

I can't wait to be there and I hope that this is encouraging to people out there listening who love to hunt , love to work dogs . You know , cornerstone we do the members weekends . It's really fun . It's centered on dog training . We have food . We're we're looking at expanding some of that Southern oak . I've done the summit . It's honestly a blast .

But this involves a real hunt and dove hunting and or teal hunting . In Texas Teal is similar . Those guys at lifetime have a or heyday excuse me , those guys at heyday have an awesome system over there of doing something similar , bringing people in . But dove and teal it's not as serious .

I'll just want to call it , you know , and no one's really taken it that seriously .

And so , wherever it is for you guys out there and I encourage you to find a way to get your buddies together make it a group thing or a family thing , whatever you want to do figure out food logistics , because you can replicate a good bit of it , and it's one of the one of the best experiences of the year .

In fact , it kind of stinks because you start the season off that way and you're like I don't know how I'm on top of this . You know , I think it's downhill from here , man .

So we decided to do a golden ticket and partnered with Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation . I was like you know what , if people get a membership during this timeframe , we're going to let them draw and some random person we have no idea who they are are going to get to come and we're having such a great time .

I was like what could we possibly do to do something even better ? Like we're having amazing time and we raised just shy of 16,000 bucks . Like , oh , and this year we raised $35,000 that are going to the stick . Yeah , it blows my mind .

And that's what I love is that , hey , you can go out there and have so much fun with your friends and you can even as he grows and you start to think of other stuff you can do good . Like this money is going to go to parks , it's going to go to game wardens . It's going to go for people that hike and fish and hunt whatever .

They don't want to take their family to go camping . But that's a yeah . That's become a big thing to me . It's like to see that we can do this , do something good . But obviously I spent a lot of time to make sure that the shenanigans are good for all of y'all .

So , anyway , man , I appreciate the time , as per usual , and I know you got kids and probably got to go park some ships early in the morning . Big ships .

He's got some cool stories on there about big ships and there's some awesome lessons from the sea in there that are always inspiring to me , never lame , always cool , and I appreciate what you do , man . I appreciate you hopping on and sharing a little bit with everybody .