Ep. 635 - Jordan Davis: Country Music Star and Passionate Duck Hunter

Country music singer-songwriter Jordan Davis and his manager and friend Zach Sutton join Matt Harrison in studio to discuss the connection between country music and duck hunting.The trio discusses their strong passion for managing waterfowl habitat and how they have recently went in together and purchased some new waterfowl property.  They reminisce about their last outing together in Arkansas, where they faced freezing conditions while duck hunting. Tune in for a fun conversation filled with music, camaraderie, and preparations for the upcoming duck season!

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Creators & Guests

Host

Matt Harrison

DUPodcast Outdoor Host

What is Ducks Unlimited Podcast?

Ducks Unlimited Podcast is a constant discussion of all things waterfowl; from in-depth hunting tips and tactics, to waterfowl biology, research, science, and habitat updates. The DU Podcast is the go-to resource for waterfowl hunters and conservationists. Ducks Unlimited is the world's leader in wetlands conservation.

Matt Harrison: Hey everyone, welcome back to the Ducks Unlimited podcast. I'm your host, Matt Harrison, and today we have joining us in studio, Mr. Jordan Davis and Zach Sutton. Fellas, how y'all doing? Doing great, man.

Jordan Davis: It's good to be here.

Matt Harrison: It's great to have y'all here. I'm super excited. I know y'all have a lot going on right now, but what kind of brings y'all to town and what do y'all have going on tonight?

Jordan Davis: Man, we got the Shen Film Festival here in Memphis tonight.

Zach Sutton: I got nothing.

Jordan Davis: He's hanging. I'm behind the curtain. Yeah. No, obviously Shin does their, this is the second year of them doing their film festival here. I was on the road last year and wasn't able to make it. You came, Zach, didn't you? No, no, I did not. So both of y'all's first time. Yeah, first year. So we're gonna play some songs and then also get to see, we were talking earlier about Just getting to see a bunch of buddies. It's getting close to that time of year, so everybody's linking back up and gonna get to hang. And man, they've got food trucks, a bunch of tents set up. Football. Football's playing all day, and then the film festival starts. After we get done tonight playing, I brought my buddies Tucker Wetmore and Drew Parker with me. We're going to play some songs and, man, just spend a day getting ready for dug season.

Matt Harrison: It's going to be awesome.

Zach Sutton: It's going to be awesome. It's good to see you again. Good to see you. Last time I saw you, we were shooting some dugs in Arkansas. We were, and freezing. And for real, wait, where did y'all go? So I don't know if you remember, you couldn't come. I think you had a family obligation, but we got the call, you know, that's, it was late season whenever everything froze up. And it was one of those like, y'all wanted the white?

Matt Harrison: It was like, you could literally that morning, it was so cold and it was right before, everything locked up. You could literally, you remember watching the, as soon as we got there, like it was not iced over where we were hunting, but by the end of the hunt, I mean, it was already completely.

Zach Sutton: Well, I mean, it was to the point where our guns wouldn't operate. Like we were, I was worried about my dog. Like it got, Hairy, it was also ridiculous Hey, dude, just get in the truck and you had something there you couldn't but I remember we went and scouted and Didn't even we brought our guns is just like a just-in-case thing the day before and we're in the River Channel and they're like, oh You know, it was wild.

Jordan Davis: It was wild. Yeah, he texted me after it, and he was just like, man, to be honest with you, it got to where we were like, we should probably leave. He's like, dude, we would be… Is this when y'all would be in the decoys? Yes, in the decoys.

Matt Harrison: Oh, yeah. Because where we were hunting, of course, everything shallow was like… I'm talking about brick cars. So everything we had to hunt was deep water stuff. So every duck we had to go retrieve was either in like this little bitty canoe that was sketchy or, you know, go get the boat, bring it out there.

Zach Sutton: After the dog, because Rip might… Rip, uh… Yeah, that's too cold, man. At the end, I was kind of nervous about him.

Matt Harrison: We gave him the buddy heater.

Zach Sutton: We were like, hey, we'll put him in his tent.

Matt Harrison: We'll figure it out. But it was a fun hunt. Maybe we'll get on another one like that.

Zach Sutton: It was just like they were, you know, you kind of felt bad a little bit. It's like they only had so many options. Just a little bit. And the one option that they wanted, we were there, you know?

Jordan Davis: Hey, man, that's a lot of it right there. You got to be where they want to be. That's it. That's it.

Matt Harrison: Speaking on that a little bit, do y'all have any fun plans for the upcoming waterfowl season? Y'all got any fun hunts lined out yet, or what y'all got going on this waterfowl season?

Jordan Davis: Man, we got to know a good buddy of ours that's over at Habitat Flats in Missouri, and we're kicking our season off over there two weeks from now. Oh yeah, two weeks from now. And then got a few other hunts lined up with some of our buddies from Shen over in Arkansas. And I mean, we obviously have our property too, but that's a little lower on the list.

Zach Sutton: Not for long, not for long.

Zach Sutton: We have high hopes. Yeah, we want to start in Missouri. That like kicking the season off a little early. Yeah. It's awesome. It's really nice.

Matt Harrison: That's one state I've never hunted ducks for.

Zach Sutton: Man, it's special.

Matt Harrison: It's Missouri.

Jordan Davis: Yeah, it's special. Especially over there. Habitat Flats does an amazing job. Yeah, Tony does a great job over there. Great people, amazing lodge, the hunting's awesome. So, it's in its… Yeah, it gets started a little earlier. So, you know, because most of the time with music, we start up end of January, so my season kind of gets cut short. So, it's always fun to kind of get over there and start a little earlier.

Matt Harrison: Where's your favorite state to chase ducks in?

Jordan Davis: Well, it's slowly becoming West Tennessee. But man, I think, you know, growing up in Louisiana, like Arkansas was always the Mecca, you know, so I still think Arkansas kind of has that number one spot for me. They do it different. It is. It's unlike any, you know, you show people, you know, holes, you know, timber holes that are, you know, they're just like, wait, where's the blind? And it's like, no, you just go stand by that tree. And it's just, there's no place like that.

Zach Sutton: And when you go to Missouri and they're like, oh, we're gonna go hunt this timber hole. And then you, you're like, this is a pond in the woods.

Zach Sutton: This is not a timber hole.

Matt Harrison: I've had that before. I was in Oklahoma hunting with a buddy and he was like, I'm gonna go show you my timber hole, my timber hole. And I was like, okay. I went and there's like four trades around the pond. I'm like, you don't know it, Jess.

Jordan Davis: I mean, what is it for you?

Zach Sutton: Because, you know, Zach grew up in Missouri, so like… I grew up in Missouri and I grew up right down the road from epic duck hunting, but didn't know. You know, it was like… Really? Yeah. It was all about, you know, sports growing up. And so, I didn't get duck hunting until, started duck hunting until I was out of college. And then, Come to find out was like, oh, yeah right down the road It was epic duck hunting and didn't even know you know, like we had we we always had like crazy numbers of geese But that was like the job I had in the summer was like cleaning, you know Goose crap off of docks and stuff like that So I was like, I'm not about to wake up on Saturday and mess with these these geese So what kind of made you get into it I mean, you did it from an earlier age. I think it was more like built into the culture there. I, um, a friend of ours, um, um, actually I think it was just in here a couple of weeks ago. Sam Hunt, um, is a, people might not know it, but he's like, I mean, he's a, he's a, you know, real bird hunter. And he, uh, after his first record popped, he bought a, uh, a place down in Mississippi. Really? And I'd never been duck hunting, and he's raving about it, and, you know, so I hopped in the truck and went with him, and that was it, man. That was it. I was like, hold on, so you get to wake up. Well, obviously, it was too early, but, like, you get to talk, you get to hang, you get to, like, it's just a much more social experience than deer hunting, and that's what I kind of, like, grew up doing. Yeah. So, went down with him and had a great morning, and it's like, I get it now.

Matt Harrison: You know, like, got the bug. And that's what I enjoy so much about, like you said, waterfowl hunting is, man, you get to get with the boys, cut up, be loud.

Zach Sutton: Can do this.

Matt Harrison: You know, exactly. Exactly. Until, hey, there's some, there's some birds, you know. But, you know, that's, that's awesome. My dad

Zach Sutton: duck hunted growing up. He's from New Jersey and they did some intercoastal, like, true, like, marsh style, you know, Atlantic duck hunting. But it was just never, you know, we just never made time for it. It was always sports. But you guys grew up. What part of Louisiana? Shreveport, northwest corner.

Jordan Davis: Yeah, so my dad was always a big deer hunter, and we had a deer property in Minden, Louisiana, right outside a town called Homer. And we had this deer stand that my dad would always hunt, and it backed up to this, basically, a little lake. And there was zero deer on this property. So it was basically just my dad getting me and my brother out and letting us hang at the camp for the weekend. We'd ride four wheelers. You know, we'd wake up at like eight o'clock and feel like we're really going after the big buck, you know? And my dad knowing the whole time, like, they're gonna do it, right? So, but we would go sit in these, we would go sit in this stand, and I was probably eight or nine. And we'd never see any deer, but wood duck would just pile on this lake. And I'd had a buddy of mine that was a duck hunter, and that's when me and my brother kind of started asking my dad, like, hey, we should start figuring out how to duck hunt. And my dad just kind of took it as more time to spend with us. We went to Bass Pro there in Shreveport and bought wood duck calls and decoys. Mellow duck, commander wood duck call. Yeah. At an early age, we just started figuring out how to duck hunt, what to do, what not to do. But yeah, I kind of got into it through having a really terrible deer property. And now, you know, I very seldom deer hunt. No, I guess I do at the beginning of the season and basically move it to ducks.

Matt Harrison: That's so funny because my story is so similar to that. We had a pipe ball, though, that showed us deer hunting. We grew up deer hunting. I think deer hunting finally got so bad that we knew where some ducks were and were like, hey, let's go hunt this little river. And me and my brother went, literally walking a river, shooting wood ducks, and that's how it all started. Now I don't even deer hunt anymore.

Jordan Davis: I feel like I go early season and shoot a couple does, and then I'm on to the mallards.

Zach Sutton: It's painful. If you don't get deer hunting by the time duck season starts, and then you try to go and deer hunt, it's painful to go from sitting with your buddies, having a great time, and then you get in the tree stand and you're like, how long have I been here? I've only been here 20 minutes, that feels like two hours. You haven't said a word, you're by yourself, you're freezing cold. So I gotta get a deer before duck season.

Matt Harrison: That literally happened to me last year. I think we had a media camp with Barstool Outdoors, Sydney Wales, and some of her crew, and I had a great hunt, great time, and I was on the way home, and one of my friends calls me and was like, hey, I'm gonna go see it, and I'm gonna take my daughter, there's this book that's been showing up, if you wanna come film it, you can. So I came. We sat there for literally probably 20 minutes, and I was like, this is boring. I don't think he showed up today.

Zach Sutton: It's been 20 minutes, bro. If we see something on camera, I can get fired up. But like, if we're just like, seeing nothing, I'm just gonna go, you know, like, there's a lot of hiking out of the woods mad. I just wasted my Saturday.

Jordan Davis: I just get it to where now my brother has a spot not too far from me and Zach's and he's kind of the same way and he'll just be like, he's always texting anybody he knows and be like, hey man, I've got a big… redneck blind, it's comfortable, there's a heater in there. Do you want to come hunt with me and we'll both shoot a doe and then just get out of there?" So me and him at least do that every year. We'll go, both try to shoot a deer, but at least we're there to kind of hang out. And dude, you can probably play music in those redneck blinds. But that's about the only way I can I can do it now. Yeah, duck huntings.

Zach Sutton: Because we got a buddy. We were just with him this past week. He's up in Missouri. And every time we go up early season, we're like, hey, man, you going to go hunt with us? He's like, man, no, I'm still chasing deer. I'm like, what? Yeah. I mean, some people eat up with you. Some people make their schedule all around. Dude, if you've been watching a deer all year, I get it. But man, you know, if I'm, yeah, if I don't have one down by November 21st, I'm out.

Jordan Davis: Well, we had a big, my brother had a big dove hunt this year. Reed and Dan Isbell, who are actually going to be playing at the Shen Film Festival too, they came down with Luke Combs. I was still touring with Luke. And so we're… We're driving around and Jacob is showing Reid and Dan, and they are eat up with deer hunting. That's all they think about. Luke, same way. And Jacob's driving around, he's showing them this refuge that he's building, you know, trying to get more ducks on the property and showed them how he floods it.

Zach Sutton: Look at this smart weed. Look at this barnyard grass. Look at this mecca. You're pointing out grass?

Jordan Davis: Jacob's like, man, this is all like, we just got corn in the ground, you know, this is gonna be, it's a dwarf corn, so when we flood it, the ears water level, and here's how we flood it, here's how we drain it, and I'm running a pipe back to this timber hole that I have that I can control water on that. And Jacob said, Luke just comes, just looks at him and was like, dude, I could care less about a dog, dude.

Zach Sutton: You got any big deer, okay, bro? Like, that's all, it's just funny the flip of some people. He literally took the needle and just popped that blade.

Zach Sutton: Because I will say I was in the same same boat like speaking of like Our he's up in Missouri our buddy Jason like driving around showing us places before I got like hooked on it. I was like, all right, man Yeah, all right, like I'm cool Or what are we gonna do and you do it as excited as you are about it?

Jordan Davis: And when somebody does that it does it just makes you feel like an idiot. You're this like dude I could care less about

Zach Sutton: But then you get the bug, and then you are genuinely excited about that stuff. No doubt.

Matt Harrison: Well, talking about the outdoors a little bit, talking about deer hunting, duck hunting, the whole nine, what is it about country music that fits so well with the outdoor? You talked a little bit a minute ago about you're about to go meet up with some of your buddies to sing some music, but you also spend time with them in the duck woods. that fit so well with country music and the outdoors.

Jordan Davis: Yeah. I mean, I think a lot of it is, you know, it's that lifestyle. I feel like, you know, for me at least, you know, those early deer camp trips with my dad, you know, when we're sitting around A Fire Hanging Out, you know, it was George Strait. That was the backdrop to it. It's like those memories to me are, you know, the soundtrack of them is country music. But I also think it's just a, it's a lyric, it's honesty. You know, you're not gonna meet, you know, we talk about this, me and Zach all the time, about you're hard pressed to find a bad person in the waterfowl world. And I just feel like the outdoors attracts really, really good people. And I think a lot of that is just an honest, genuine person. And for me, country music is all about honesty and being genuine to who you are. So I really think those two worlds, they just go hand in hand. So yeah, it's a special thing, that connection between country music and the outdoors.

Matt Harrison: I can say that for sure. Of course, I'm not on the country music side, but like you said, when you typically meet a waterfowl hunter, that's a down-to-earth good guy. I can't tell you how many guys out there that I know that for a fact… I may not even know you on a day-to-day basis, but if I'm riding down the road and see a guy that has a boat behind his truck and he's got a flat, You're going to have somebody stop and help you. You know what I mean? Those guys are down there, and I feel like it's the same with country music. It's guys that, like you said, it's honesty, it's blue collar, guys that if you're in need, they're going to be there.

Zach Sutton: It is, I think, unique to waterfowl hunting too, because it's not easy. I don't know many forms of duck hunting that don't require serious work. And it's like, and I, you know, obviously like we said, we love to deer hunt too, but it's, you know, I think that the barrier for entry is a little bit more difficult in some ways to duck hunting. So you gotta like put work in. A lot of work. And there's something to be said about, you know. Like, people who work hard, like, that's a quality attribute. Like, it's… Duck hunting is not easy. It is not.

Jordan Davis: When you start bringing in work to a hobby, you know, that takes a… I feel like, to me, it takes a different kind of person. So, I forget how much stuff has to be drug out to… I can't think of an easy duck hunt. No, not for us.

Matt Harrison: You know what I mean? I mean, the one we went on last year.

Zach Sutton: Yeah, but think about it. That was on public land. That was a three o'clock wake-up call or whatever it was, if not earlier. You know, it's freezing cold. Freezing cold and 15 degree weather, yeah. You know, like, that's not… It's not easy. Yeah, so I do think particularly, you know, there's a common, you know, bond there between Duck Hunters, too, because there's a commitment that's, you know, there is a must-be-so-tall-to-ride-the-ride a little bit.

Jordan Davis: And you gotta pull your weight. I mean, I think that was the thing that like, you know, early on, it's like when you get asked to go on a duck hunt, like a special trip, you know, for me, dude, there wasn't anybody else grabbing a decoy or setting it out. I mean, it was like, I was first to it. I was like, if I get asked to be here, I was like, I got decoys, guys. I'll pick shotgun shells up, I'll do whatever, just let me come back, you know?

Matt Harrison: But that's the, you know, when you have a circle of friends that love to chase ducks, you know, if you're not a guy that don't tote your weight, a lot of times those types of guys don't get the invite back. You know what I mean? Those calls stop coming. They do. They do, but if you're that guy that, like you said, helps in any way you can, any way, shape, or form, like, you know, whether it be, hey, I'm gonna go get us breakfast this morning and bring it, or hey, I'm gonna bring the decoys, don't worry about it. Hey, I'm gonna, do this, you know, those are the types of guys you typically keep in your circle, you know, because like you said, you attract those types of guys that are true, true good guys, you know.

Zach Sutton: Which, I don't know if you've ever thought about your first duck hunt, but for some reason last night, I did think about that, or in our conversation I've thought about that first duck hunt. And I am so embarrassed. I don't know if you've ever thought about early duck hunts that you're on when you didn't know better. And I look back with so much embarrassment. I'm on a duck hunt in the Delta on a legit farm with legit folks, and I don't know what I'm doing. I'm wearing deer hunting camo. And I remember, like, I don't know any of the etiquette at all. I just got a shotgun and Sam's over next to me kind of coaching me. And I was kind of on a corner and a couple birds kind of like sail, like, you know, finished like a little left where I was and it was like a Hail Mary shot. And I just, you know, like… I know it was it was away from the group, but it was like it was a bomb and luckily it was like a I Knocked down the one bird Wow, which was awesome like cloud nine, but then I thought I could shoot everything So then literally I didn't know what sky busting meant. I didn't I didn't realize Like I didn't, I didn't know like about letting birds work or finish. And I can remember like, you know, like just staring at the birds and my buddy being like, Hey man, keep your head down. Or like the amount of birds fly over, you know, over treetop high. And I'm like, Oh, I shot that one. Boom, no shot called like I'm like looking back with so much embarrassment.

Matt Harrison: Yeah, and now I'm like, I can't believe that I got a call back Yeah, well, I think I've got you beat on the first ever duck hunt That's why I was laughing so hard over here is whenever you said how embarrassed it was I've literally got a picture of mine and my brother's first ever duck hunt and we wore hunters orange Hey safety first We wore hunter's orange on our first ever duck hunt. Well, that's a bird hunt. I mean, I can see that. Yeah, but looking back, you know, we had the face paint I'm talking about. We had to hold on. Here we are with hunter's orange walking through the woods. That's funny. And now looking back, of course, we laugh. And I'll share the picture every so often, but it was probably the funniest thing. We still laugh and laugh about it to this day.

Zach Sutton: But even, like, nobody gets on you about that, or nobody gets on you about it, so it's like still— But in hindsight, I'm kind of vaguely— Well, now you're an experienced waterfowl hunter, and you— Let's let the birds work a little bit, you know? And I now know— And you pick up on the little cues— And now looking back, I'm like, if that— You know, we know what it'd be like to be on a hunt right now, and somebody invites a buddy. And we're talking a hundred feet up. Who's this dude blasting? They haven't even made a pass yet. And this guy shot one bird. Now he's just like going nuts.

Jordan Davis: Because now it's Zach. Like Zach's the guy on the blind that is like, you know, he he's got a great dog. He takes lead call. And so like now I pick up on Zach's like nice, but like, I'm like, hey man, he's talking to you on that.

Zach Sutton: And it's hard, it takes it, because I just want everybody, I just want the hunt to be great for everybody. But I have to like, you know, control myself.

Matt Harrison: The thing is though, like you said, why you cringe so bad now, why you're like, man, I was an idiot. You're an experienced waterfowl hunter now, and you know, but everybody's got to start somewhere. Especially if you weren't brought up waterfowl hunting. I feel like chasing ducks, there's so many little things that you're supposed to do. For example, don't look up, don't wait till the whole group finishes, whatever it is. You don't really have those scenarios, and you do have scenarios in deer hunting and turkey hunting. I'm not taking away from that. I feel like with waterfowl hunting, because you've got a group, a big group normally, four or five people, there's a lot of different moving parts. You've got a shooting lane. You've got the whole duck hunting etiquette thing. You've got a lot of different moving parts when it comes to chasing waterfowl, which makes it a difficult thing to learn.

Jordan Davis: And I think too, as people that hunt a lot. Dude, it's on us to do that in a good way if there is somebody that you can tell. We know how embarrassing that is and how you don't want to… It's something about the outdoors or hunting where nobody… You're a little shy to ask for help. I finally have gotten past that and just been like, hey man, I don't… Absolutely. I love to duck hunt too, but there's still some things that I don't know. You know, going to Missouri, I'm not going to act like I'm hunting in West Tennessee and think I know it. So yeah, like just being able, if you know somebody wants to go duck hunt, like, bring them out and just coach them through it in a way that they don't leave being like, oh my God, dude, I was an idiot.

Zach Sutton: Or just like, dang, dude, like, well, I just got yelled at. You always hear stories about like guys yelling at folks and like, man, I'm just so fortunate that I didn't, you know, in hindsight, I'm embarrassed, but I'm so thankful that these guys who knew what they're doing didn't like, ruin the experience. I probably wouldn't duck hunt now if it weren't for somebody's grace and patience.

Jordan Davis: So like that, it's on us to be like, alright man, let's do this in a gracious way to where they're not going to leave and be like, well, I'm never doing that again.

Zach Sutton: And if we didn't shoot four birds, so what? Yeah. Correct. Yeah. You know, like, so what? We boogered up one group. Yeah. So be it. We got somebody that's hunting for the first time.

Matt Harrison: And the excitement you get to see in people. Like, when you were in that moment, you weren't telling yourself, man, I'm an idiot for doing that.

Zach Sutton: I had no idea.

Matt Harrison: That's why I'm embarrassed, because I had no idea. Yeah. But you, I mean, looking back, you remember that experience.

Zach Sutton: All I know is I had a blast. That's why I'm duck hunting now. Yeah. Yeah.

Matt Harrison: Well, moving forward a little bit and switching gears here, you both just became recent landowners of some duck property, and I want y'all to kind of talk a little bit about what y'all have going on.

Jordan Davis: Yeah, I got a spot just outside of Brewston, Tennessee. Me and Zach have been hunting together going back to… Probably 2017. Probably, yeah. Started with two camps in Arkansas, just leasing different spots around there, hunting with buddies, or going out hunting the cash. Yeah, I guess this is our second season there. We've had it for about a year. And man, it has been probably the most fun The most fun thing I've ever had to do with outdoors. The most challenging, the most fun. Last year wasn't a great season, but every bird, I think now that it's yours and you're responsible for them being there or not. Every bird means a little bit more. But man, just to, and to have Zach there too, both of us being able to figure out how to manage this together has been a blessing because man, I would be lost as, I don't know what, coming into it. And we even came into a great situation. But man, there's still so many challenges. But it has been, it has been the most rewarding It makes it tough to leave to go play music on the weekends because you just want to be out there. But yeah, it's been awesome.

Zach Sutton: Awesome. Yeah. I mean, for us, to this point, we were hunting in Arkansas and we were buddy hunting, public hunting, leasing, you know, the whole deal. And we've got young kids and we've kind of, at least I can speak for myself, I kept finding myself doing ridiculous things to duck hunt, like driving through the night with a one-year-old in the back of the truck and, you know, tornado. There's that. Yeah, that's a real story. But we just kind of started to see like, hey, man, like we are, we're not only wearing out our, our wife's patience here, but like we're gonna, we can't do this forever. We got to find something closer to home. So that way we're not sacrificing family time to duck hunt. And man just kind of, One thing led to another a door open that shouldn't we met somebody that had a place a couple hours from town I don't even know about this particular area and It's got a great history and the property was perfect for our needs and it was a he was a ballplayer to the guy named Luke coach Haver who For those who know he played for the Royals for about 10 years Great pitcher, you know a big outdoorsman, just an all-around great guy, was kind of like quietly thinking about selling. And a friend of a friend connected us, because I was just wanting to ask about the area. And we all hit it off, and our goals were the same as his, and we were able to get this property, and it's been a dream for us. And to be close to the house swing by on the weekends with the kids to work on different projects, to ride the tractor, to plant stuff, to whatever, you know, all the farm stuff. It's like, it's, you couldn't ask for it any better.

Matt Harrison: So, you know, clearly when you take on a task like that, how hard, you know, that can be, you know, like you said, you know, the time spent there and it means more to you now than what it… what it has if you were hunting somebody else's land or public land because that's your dirt, you know what I mean? You've spent a lot of money, you've put a lot of time, a lot of effort, tears, sweat, the whole nine, you know, to manage something like that. But what kind of made you, both of you, passionate about that. Like, was there an experience growing up that you, you know, whether it was spending a lot of time with your dad and brother in the deer woods, were saying, you know, I really want to have my place like this one day and I want to have it to my, because I watched a video on your Instagram the other day of your little boy riding the tractor falling asleep. You know, that kind of stuff. And I know that there's, of course, the easy answer saying, you know, we wanted a place closer to home and we wanted somewhere we didn't have to spend as much time somewhere else. But what kind of made you passionate about, hey, you know, I really want to take on the responsibility of managing this land and doing it right?

Jordan Davis: Yeah. I mean, I think for me, and Zach will probably piggyback on this too, because this is a major thing for getting this, was the family side of it. Being able to introduce our kids to the outdoors at an early age. Those hunting trips, for me, like I said, our deer camp was awful hunting. but some of the best times I've had growing up. Being out there, riding a four-wheeler, building a tree stand with my dad, cutting shooting lanes, going out and filling feeders, just being outdoors. And I want my kids to grow up with that. And I think that was really the first reason why I was like, man, I have to get something. I've got to have somewhere where I can get my kids out of Nashville. Get them out of the city and let them ride on a tractor or ride a four-wheeler or just go out and play in the dirt. And then eventually get them to where, you know, now that'll be, this'll be the first place I take my kids duck hunting, you know. And that's special. And that's a cool thing.

Zach Sutton: Yeah. Absolutely. That's the long-term legacy part of it for sure. It's a tremendous blessing that we've been able to do that. I would say on the duck hunting side, I think it's just part of the… There's so many levels to duck hunting. It's like you get the first call, you go on a great hunt, and then you do what we described. I think you get to a point where you go, wait, I love this. I want to do this forever. But just buddy hunting isn't going to get it done. At some point, you got to have your own land if you really want to do this long term. And if you want to do it long term, you need to develop this land to be able to increase your… To develop habitat. So I think it's just kind of on the… one of the phases of duck hunting, to a certain extent, of going, okay, like, I love this sport. At some point, the dream becomes to have your own place. And I think that was pretty evident early on that like, hey, we're, you know, we want to do this forever. We want to have our own place. That way we know that we have a place to go and we can, you know, put the time in to try to develop a place, not only for us, but to Jordan's point on the family side. And then that makes you go, in a little bit deeper. Then that leads to conservation. You go from a guy that just wants to go shoot a bunch to like, wait, hold on, what's the state of duck numbers? How much habitat are we losing? Like, oh, wait. Like, this is all encroaching on that idea of doing this for generations. And I think that owning land is just, again, it's a tremendous blessing to be able to do so. It's not lost on us that that's not an easy thing to do. But I think… We both, you know, love to do it and want to be good at it and want to do it for a long time and it's just a natural step.

Matt Harrison: And it's good that y'all get to do it together and have families together out there. Same way y'all sat here telling those stories, I'm sure y'all's kids will sit there one day telling the same stories. They're already thick as thieves, man.

Zach Sutton: Yeah, and I got a FaceTime the other day. I was out there doing work and got a FaceTime from the young one and he could tell where I was at. and I didn't bring him. Oh, you're in trouble. Which is, you couldn't ask for more with that.

Matt Harrison: Correct, no doubt. So this property has a good bit of moist soil on it. What made y'all passionate about that and interested in moist soil? Because I know that it depends on where you buy property, depends on the type of habitat you have.

Zach Sutton: What kind of ground you got.

Matt Harrison: Yeah, correct. So I know that, you know, y'all had different choices, I'm sure.

Zach Sutton: I know y'all did want somewhere in Tennessee, closer to home, but what kind of made y'all… Well, I think the more… I remember, like, a couple years in, and again, I'm from Missouri, you're from Louisiana, it's probably more of a prevalent word, if you will, but I remember this duck hunter, like, talking about, We might get this lease, it's got great moist soil unit, that kind of thing. I'm like, what are you talking about? I was right there. I had never… What are you talking about? We didn't hunt moist soils growing up. But then you go, wait, okay, what's this moist soil everyone's talking about? We should look at that in our next spot. You want to know these things to be able to make great decisions that hopefully impact your hunting. And so we luckily started to try to understand what that meant before getting into actually owning property. But there's a lot of, I think, management, wetland management terms and practices that your average person wouldn't know. But this property is an old river bottom. About half the property is an old river bottom. And the Corps of Engineers rerouted the river, but the old meander, the old, you know, river bottom is, you know, still intact. And so it's super wet. You can't get it completely dry. You'll never be able to get machinery in there. So you've got to work with what Mother Nature gives you. So we really quickly had to go from knowing some basics to actually, like, knowing what you're doing.

Jordan Davis: Yeah. It was definitely, I mean, it's a, it is, it's a beautiful piece of property. It's all, you know, we don't have any water. We can't pump anywhere. All water that we catch is either runoff or rainwater. So that kind of adds a lot of challenges. No doubt. Blessing and the curse. And I've never thought I would say this, but, you know, we spent all off season going out taking care of beavers to where now one of the only reasons why we have a couple holes that have water in them are because of a beaver. And it's funny how we've switched now to like, oh God, okay, keep that one. That one's good. But yeah, it's like those are the challenges of when you come in and we have a couple of corn units, but yeah, it's basically just filling out the buffet form. What else? What do we have? What do we need? And DU's helped a ton with that. But yeah, it's been, it's a beautiful piece of property, but man, there are some headaches in there with it too, but fun headaches.

Matt Harrison: And you know, that's things that you may not know now, but later on, the more you farm, the more you manage your land, you know, you'll learn and it'll be amazing one day when you get to teach your kids, hey, you know, do this and don't do that because we tried it and it didn't work or we tried it and it did work. Yeah. That's the cool thing about farming and managing waterfowl habitat is the learning curves. Yeah.

Jordan Davis: It's definitely, you're always learning.

Matt Harrison: What are some of the resources y'all have kind of leaned into while managing this land? Because there's, like we just talked about, there's things you don't know, there's some things you do know, and I'm sure that there's resources that you've kind of leaned into to help kind of learn more knowledge about managing land. So what are some of those resources that y'all have leaned into?

Jordan Davis: I mean, Ducks Unlimited has been amazing, but I mean, we've had a galley, a ton of people that have stepped in, going full circle back to how tight the waterfowl community is. We've had so many friends, Bradley Cohen, that has… We've made relationships through the last couple of years of hunting to where now when we let them know that we've got some property, it's like… you know, your buddies out of the war, it's like, man, anything I can do to help, you know, and, um, but yeah, I mean, we've, it's been, I think that goes back to your like common bond and like a tight knit kind of like waterfall community.

Zach Sutton: We call a lot of friends going, Hey, what, what do you do on your place here? What have you done here? You know, like, Hey, I'm seeing this on the corn. What did, you know, what'd you use? Or, Hey, you know, if there are drawdown questions, more questions, you name it. Like you definitely, you know, we'll find that in the waterfowl community if you look for it. But I mean, I would say that, you know, sorry, phone's going off. DU is obviously a tremendous resource. And now I can only imagine trying to, I think you touched on this on a recent podcast, like trying to, You know manage a property or even duck hunt 20 years ago is a much different experience than now where you can get on YouTube You can you know, you have the internet at your disposal. That's a huge resource but one thing we found early on and and is that you know Do you what you guys are here for? you know, not only the year your large land guy, but also your your You know, your average dude that's got a little wetland and he wants to develop it. So, DU's been really helpful, you know, over the past, you know, the years since we've had it. Basically, you know, whether it's, you know, basic like wetland questions, what are the resources out there, you know, to make your wetland better. You know, that's been a great resource for us. Yeah.

Jordan Davis: I mean, it was, you know, the days that… Y'all have been out kind of teaching us about our property. And truly, it has been. I mean, DU's been unbelievable in that. And I think maybe a service that a lot of people don't know is offered. From the conservation side of Ducks Unlimited, obviously very … I knew about that growing up in Louisiana and friends that were … I mean, that shield is something I've been seeing for a long time. But not knowing the extent of everything that Ducks Unlimited does. And now being able to see that as just a… We talk about this farm. I mean, it's by no means unreal mecca of duck hunting. It's something that we're trying to get there. But it's not like we have this legacy spot.

Matt Harrison: But I mean, any of these places that you're talking about, the legacy, when you think of the top-tier waterfowl hunting places, they didn't start off top-tier waterfowl places, you know what I mean? They were in the same position y'all are. Now don't get me wrong, there are some certain areas that ducks have been coming to since God created them, and it's gonna make it easier, and getting water's easier. Like, of course you have all that, but all these, They put in their time, they put in their effort, and they built it. And I think it's gonna be so special one day when y'all's… Is that land that is producing what you are looking for as a land manager, it's gonna be rewarding because what the time that y'all are putting into it and the effort and the knowledge that y'all are learning, I think it's gonna be super amazing.

Jordan Davis: And two, I think my favorite hunts are… When you go out and just burn them up, it's awesome. Everybody loves to go out and hunt for 25 minutes and come back with stringer greenheads. But I think for us, it's just as much excitement, opening day last year with me and Zach, first day on the property, going out the week before, finding the opening day hole, thinking they're going to be there, and coming back with five or six ducks, and working hard for five or six ducks. Nine, but I wasn't counting. Was it nine? Was it nine? Yeah, yeah, I'm just kidding. Either way.

Zach Sutton: Yeah, because I remember we passed on some teal early. Oh, yeah, because we thought we were like, oh, dude, this is, this is a great day to shoot, man.

Zach Sutton: We're gonna be picking them, you know?

Jordan Davis: Two hours later, we're like… But yeah, it's the exact same amount of enjoyment from Probably the hunt y'all had on the White River. I don't know, that one sounded pretty fun, but- No, I know what you're saying.

Zach Sutton: There is a different reward of like, because I can remember to that point, we were watching Ducks and getting picky, thinking like, dude, this is- And I remember getting done with the hunt, because we also made a rule, which we may or may not stick to, but we were like, all right, dude, we're going to be out by 9.30. We're going to be ultra conservative with this place, and we're

Jordan Davis: Not because we had the birds, because we were like, hey, we're going to arrest this.

Zach Sutton: Well, but at the time I was like, oh no, like we got to protect this. Like, we could stay around and get our limit, but we got to get out of here, you know? And we were just super careful with it. But I can remember us being like, dude. this is our place. Like we're not having to, you know, this isn't somebody else's place. This is our place and we're, we're getting it done on our place, which is cool. But to the, your earlier question about like who you lean on, I do think I found a, uh, back to the common bond thing. I do think most people want to help because I do, I'd like to think it's somewhat consensus that great places help the resource overall. Like I can see people being a little bit more territorial in like some other pursuits, but like, you know, a neighbor having a really good place, you know, advantages and disadvantages of hunting, but like that's long-term that's really good. To have a lot of great resource for the ducks in your neck of the woods. So I do think people are helpful. It's in our best interest to have a neighbor that has a great place, manages it well, hunts it well. I do think that is a little bit different than some of the other, don't get me wrong, public game, different conversation. But like, you know, on the private side, it's like you want your neighbors to be… To be successful. Yeah, you want to have as many resources for ducks as possible because then everybody wins. Yeah. And, you know, don't get me wrong, like seeing your neighbor's place loaded up and, you know, yours not, like can hurt for a week or two, but like it'll come back around, you know, like those ducks will… It will find you. So I are, you know, the neighbors, you know, lean on the farmers in the area. That's one thing that we found is like people do want to help, you know, like people do want to help, you know, Ducks Unlimited has tremendous resources. And there's a lot of guys out there right now that are giving great advice for nothing, just for the betterment of the resource. Like you can find videos from, you know, whether it's, you know, like land managers or different organizations about moist soil, about, the farming practices, et cetera, for the betterment of the resource.

Matt Harrison: Well, most of these people that have these types of properties understand how important it is for everybody to succeed for conservation in the whole. If you're in it and you're saying, I want the best, I don't want anybody else to want the… I don't want people to succeed, you're not in it for the right reasons. You should be in it to help… Like you spoke on at the beginning of the podcast, how much habitat we're losing for ducks. And we own some land, it's not waterfowl land, but we own some land and we just bought it and we're starting to get it to where it needs to be. And of course you wanna be successful in your own land, but I want to make it to where habitat for wildlife is better accessible, it's bringing back what? It used to be, you know, so it's important to realize that if you are in the game of giving that knowledge, giving that experience to somebody else that's managing land, to realize, hey, we're in this together to help waterfowl conservation and not just, I want a bunch of numbers at the end of the year, nobody else.

Jordan Davis: That's 100%. I think we have a buddy of ours that runs an organization called OCEARCH. And it's a fishing organization, and their saying, or his saying, is, I'm doing this work so that my grandkids can eat fish sandwiches. I think we have to take that saying into the conservation world, because it's like, man, if we're not doing this for the betterment of the duck, We're not doing it for the right reasons. We're not doing it for the right reasons. And that is one thing that Ducks Unlimited has done from day one. So I'm very grateful that y'all are here doing that. But yeah, we gotta be doing this for the future.

Matt Harrison: Well, clearly, y'all have a lot of moving parts on your farm. I know that y'all stay on the road a lot, and y'all are fathers, y'all are husbands, y'all are businessmen, you're all over the place. So how do you keep things moving forward when you're on the road so much, when you have the, you know, the responsibility of managing land. How do y'all keep that moving forward? Zach.

Zach Sutton: Well, it's, it's different.

Zach Sutton: I mean, he's, he, I don't travel full time. I try to stay in the office. Um, so I just naturally have more time. Um, but that's, you know, you, you've got to have friends. There's no doubt about it. Like it's really important to make friends not only in the community, but like you gotta, you know, get some friends that can go out and, you know, help you whenever you're out of town or when you need, you know, an extra hand. It's a, you know, that's the one thing is the good and the bad about, you know, wetland development or just what, you know, like the waterfowl, like kind of like farming game is like, it's constant. And you talk about like, One, the good and the bad about our property is like, yeah, we got a lot of stuff that like God gave us, but you may imagine- God also gave you responsibilities to take care of it. Absolutely. Managing moist soil is not easy. You know, like, it's challenging to do. You can't- Yeah. A lot of stuff, if you're not on top of it, it can get- And people don't realize that.

Matt Harrison: A lot of people just see, during waterfowl season, they're doing this. It's a year round process. Like you said, I'm sure when y'all were busting beaver dams, y'all were probably out there in the middle of the summer, sweating your ear end off.

Jordan Davis: Spraying, figuring out what we need to do, trying to get rid of cattails, which still haven't got done. But yeah, I mean, it's just like, it's everything under the sun. It's a constant, you have to have eyes on it non-stop.

Zach Sutton: Yeah, if you're gone for two weeks, you come back and army worms have destroyed your crop. It's an effort to be like an amateur farmer for ducks. You need help. No doubt. No doubt about it.

Matt Harrison: So what are some of those hurdles that y'all have faced, you know, with managing your lands? I know that we've hit on some of those a little bit, but what are some of the biggest hurdles that y'all have seen? Is it time? Is it, you know, not having as many people there as you want to all the time? What are some of those hurdles that you've faced so far?

Zach Sutton: I'll say that one of the largest hurdles, but also one of the best things that DU provides is education. Like, we both grew up in kind of rural areas, and like, I did some farm work, kind of. I can't even barely call that. It was like weed-eating electric fences and, you know, like cleaning out stalls. But like, I grew up generally around, um, um, like farming communities, but I know nothing. You know, like you can drive a car, just because you can drive a car doesn't mean you know how it works, you know? And so I think education has been huge for us because we've got the desire and we've got friends that will help, but we've needed to lean on farmers, property managers, ducks unlimited for education to be able to make the best decisions and know what to do on the farm.

Jordan Davis: Yeah, that's definitely been… I mean, the thing is like, yeah, we're not farmers. So being able to just be coached through that process to get us into the game, man, DU's been amazing. Friends in the area have been amazing. But yeah, that's definitely been the toughest hurdle.

Zach Sutton: Yeah. Particularly for our place. I think there are some places that… And I don't want to oversimplify it, but some property where it's all ag and you've got a farmer that's farmed it already, there might be some benefits to doing that. With us, it's all kind of old river… It's kind of like hard territory. It's hard ground to manage. So it's just a little bit more high maintenance.

Jordan Davis: Yeah. And to the water… Our water control is not great. I mean, we're relying a lot on Like I said earlier, rain to get it on. And then also to face a lot of struggles getting it off this year, which pushed planting back and it's just like you're always kind of looking at ways to, I don't know, how do we better being able to drain some of these fields so we're not sweating midsummer about whether or not we're going to have crop.

Zach Sutton: Yeah, I will say though, and I don't know if we're answering your question, but we just were on the farm in the river bottom last week, and it looks so good. Really? So it was a big reward. For sure, yeah. Like seeing all the food down there, I was like, oh wait. It worked. We're doing something right.

Jordan Davis: It worked. It looks amazing if it starts raining.

Zach Sutton: Yeah, but the table is set, so that, I will say, that's pretty rewarding. Regardless of, you know, we can't control how many come from Canada, but it's sitting there ready for them.

Jordan Davis: We can have the table set if they decide to come to the dinner party.

Matt Harrison: If you build it, they'll come. Yeah, yeah. One thing you mentioned earlier, Jordan, is you said growing up, of course, you knew Ducks Unlimited, the conservation, but you didn't quite understand all what DU has to offer for landowners. So what is one thing that y'all could say that y'all have learned about Ducks Unlimited when it comes to managing land? Oh, gosh.

Jordan Davis: I think for me, it was the ease in reaching out and getting a response. Then also too, it's free services. I think that was, and then when you, when I saw, I got off the road, met up with Zach, drove over, DU was there, and it was, I mean, from the second I pulled onto the farm, the knowledge was second to none. I mean, I think that they were telling me things about my farm that I didn't even know. I think that's the thing that really, I guess shouldn't have surprised me, but I mean it was everything under the sun.

Zach Sutton: I mean, I'd only add that, you know, I had a misconception, I think, about like what types of properties and what types of people could, you know, kind of like work with Ducks Unlimited. And that's, you know, I think one of the eye-opening things for me was realizing that, you know, big, little, you know, like Ducks Unlimited is interested in helping you develop your wetland for the betterment of the resource.

Matt Harrison: So how would y'all encourage all landowners to lean into Ducks Unlimited for some of that nudge for your land management?

Zach Sutton: Yeah, yeah. I think Ducks Unlimited can provide resources to you in many different ways. And so I would just recommend like we talked about earlier, like whether you got a small little spot, or even if you don't have a wetland at all and you're interested in developing one, I think Ducks Unlimited can help guide you throughout that process, regardless if you've got 100 acres or 100,000. And I wasn't quite aware of that at first, but glad that we did reach out and go, hey, we have the same desires here. Help me better understand what resources are at our disposal. through Ducks Unlimited. And it's been huge because the phone was answered and we've got a biologist out there helping us make decisions from time to time. It's huge.

Jordan Davis: Yeah. And I'd piggyback and just kind of bring it back to the entire community of just the waterfowl world. It's like if we're truly all trying to do this for the betterment of ducks, obviously DU has a long track record of that. Whether it's 10 acres or a lease or a legacy property, I think just starting the conversation, no matter where you're at. Or even if you're just looking for land or just a lease hunter or a public hunter, I think just reaching out to DU and just starting the conversation to where if, when it does happen and you do get that property, the relationship is already started and it's easier. And two, I mean, just keeping up with everything that y'all are doing. I think it just makes you a better duck hunter. And yeah, again, it all goes back to doing it for the future generations of duck hunters. So just start that conversation early and who knows, maybe there's a service that you don't need then, but starting that relationship is gonna make it easier to get to in a couple years.

Matt Harrison: And that kind of goes hand in hand with how we talked about when you first started duck cutting, some of the things you didn't know. Same concepts, just reaching out, finding out those answers that you're unaware of and just starting that conversation.

Jordan Davis: It's good to be around people and start the relationship with people that are passionate about the same passions that you have. And yeah, I would just encourage that.

Matt Harrison: Well, Jordan and Zach, thank y'all both so much for taking the time to come out this morning. I know y'all have a show this evening and got a lot going on here, but we cannot thank y'all enough for taking the time and coming out. Shoot, thank y'all for having us, man.

Jordan Davis: I could do this all day.

Zach Sutton: I know. I'm kind of like, all right, can we talk about it a little bit more?

Jordan Davis: Can we get back into the duck stories?

Matt Harrison: Yeah. Also, Chris Isaac, thank you so much for producing the podcast and taking your time out as well to come and be with us on this Saturday morning. Absolutely. We would also like to thank all of our Ducks Unlimited podcast listeners for tuning in today. Y'all take care and God bless. Alright, so yeah, what are some things y'all are kind of most looking forward to this season? Like, I know that you travel so much. Yeah. Like, I can't even imagine the hours you put in. And you, I know that you're at the office a lot, but still the hours y'all put in on the road. So like, do y'all get to a point where you're still just extremely excited to get up and go? Or is it like… I mean, this is the most excited.

Zach Sutton: I'm like, my life's about to get terrible. Yeah.

Jordan Davis: We do have some, my wife, Zach's wife, is very understanding. We work all year for November, December, January.

Zach Sutton: And then come January, we always are like, we need this season to be done. Yeah. But for the sake of our families, our jobs.

Jordan Davis: January 10th is when we're like, hey buddy, we're pushing it, man.

Matt Harrison: So are y'all's wives, is y'all's wives like, are they like, Alright, you can go, but… See, but I just actually… I had a pro move last year.

Zach Sutton: What'd you do? I brought her. That's the great thing about the camp. You gotta pull that out of your back pocket at some point.

Jordan Davis: Well, that's the… Hey, baby, you wanna go this morning? Yeah, yeah. And that's the good thing about the camp. It's got an awesome spot for everybody. And luckily our wives are very close. Our kiddos love each other. So it's like when me and Zach are hunting, they're at the house. We're good. Hanging out. It's the traveling that gets us. It's the traveling that gets us. Yeah. So like that opening. weekend, we're going to Missouri to hunt. Shout out Jason Zaret. Jason Zaret, Habitat Flats. And then he doesn't know this yet, but he's coming to the LSU Alabama game, whether he likes it or not. So we're going to hunt Saturday morning. We're going to get down LSU Alabama, fly back that night and hunt Sunday. And then So it's tough to tell the wife, like, hey babe, I know I just did like 90 shows this year, and I was gone a lot, but I'm gonna be gone for five days, because I'm gonna go duck hunt and watch football. Like, that doesn't go over.

Zach Sutton: But we're gonna do it.

Jordan Davis: It's tough. But we're doing it. But we're doing it. But we're doing it.

Zach Sutton: But man, it's, um… The camp is this, like, what I said earlier that we were pushing it, because we were doing all that, but then we were driving four and a half hours to a camp, you know, that didn't have, like, drinking water. Yeah. And so, like, we were doing that every weekend, and we couldn't involve the family as easily.

Jordan Davis: And the thing that broke us… The thing that, I was actually thinking about this the other day, I was like, how did, how did we get here? You know, because like, it was the first year we got our spot in- I still remember- It was Fair Oaks.

Zach Sutton: Fair Oaks, Arkansas. We locked it in without seeing it. We locked it in. What? We locked it in the house. Granted, we knew, I knew the guy that we were released from. So like, I trust him, but we showed up, And it was yours. We went on a pheasant hunt, and I think he had a show in South Dakota, and we like pheasant hunted one day and then got a U-Haul, drove to Kansas City, Missouri, picked up furniture at like a discount place, drove to Arkansas, got there in the middle of the night, slept on the recliners that we just pulled out of the U-Haul, and saw the camp for the first time.

Matt Harrison: And see, I love that. Like, I love that about y'all too, like how you're roughing it. You're roughing it just like every other duck hunter. I feel like duck hunting is one of those things, like, you don't know where the ducks are gonna be, especially if you're chasing on public ground or you have friends all over with private land. Just like last year when you got that call from Guy, like, hey, here's the duck. Well, guess what? You may be staying at a place that don't have Or in your truck, literally. So, like, I love that about, you know, y'all too, how y'all rough it with the boys. And you could care less. Oh, yeah.

Jordan Davis: That's like the last thing you think about is like, oh, wait, where am I gonna sleep tonight? No, I just sleep in the truck.

Zach Sutton: Actually, last year, I was sleeping in a buddy of ours guy who's a great property manager down in Arkansas. We got the call, and I know at least one time I slept in his, like, little boy's little kid bed in his house.

Matt Harrison: I'm like feet off the bed, no big deal.

Jordan Davis: First time over there with Jason at Habitat Flats, there was like four of us in this little bitty room, all of us just snoring like crazy, didn't sleep a wink, you know, waking up at 4 a.m. But here's what I was saying about what got us was like, the Arkansas, so it was right at the beginning, so it was 2020, it was like one of those first COVID years, And they canceled all, you know, all my shows got canceled in like July.

Matt Harrison: Were you low-key a little happy?

Jordan Davis: Oh my God, dude, we did. I think we did 51 days. I mean, we lived over there. Are you serious? That was what got us. I was like, oh my God, I'm not working past November for the rest of my career. And we've stuck pretty true to it. But like, That was the same, so this was mid-season. There's a big tornado that came through Fair Oaks, where we were at over there, and Zach was in shock. Oh, a couple years ago. It was a couple years ago, and Zach was in Nashville for something. I had stayed back over, or no, no, no, no, no, no, sorry. I saw the storm coming in. It was passing through the night and then we were going to hunt the next morning because we were like, dude, who knows, man? Is he going to push them all out or maybe we'll, you know? And so I left early to get ahead of it. Me and a buddy of mine are driving, and I mean right when we got to our camp, it hit. And thank God, because it was tough. And we got there, parked, lights go out, nothing, but we're there. I'm calling Zach, I'm telling him like, hey man, it just got to Fair Oaks and it's heading to Nashville. I don't know what you're gonna, you may need to stay back, bro. It was rough. He's like, no man, I'm coming, dude. I'm just gonna wait till it gets to somewhere into like 2.30 in the morning, and I'm gonna go wake Kasher up, his oldest, and I'm just gonna put him in his seat and let him go to sleep, and I'm driving that way. And I was like, all right, sure enough. He gets like a pre-workout energy drink. At like 2.30 in the morning. It was one. It was one o'clock. Either way, middle of the night, and he sends me a message. He's like, hey, I'm on the way. And I remember waking up because I was getting these all, like, weather alerts, and then I got a text message, and I was like, when I looked down, Zach's like, I'm heading that way, me and Kesha. 6 a.m., well not even 6 a.m., but it's probably like 4.30, 4.45, we wake up, we're gonna try to go hunt the cash, and I walk out, Cashier's on the couch, and Zach is just like, a wreck, dude. And I'm like, dude, how was that? And he's like, you know, just like, can't even speak. We get in the truck, and I had just, I had just wrapped up my last record, and I'd wrote like two more songs. Do you remember this? No, I don't remember. I just wrote this song on my record. It's probably the saddest song I've ever written in my life.

Zach Sutton: And we're driving to the duck hole.

Jordan Davis: I got my phone. You were excited. I was excited about it. I was like, dude, you know, Zach's my manager. I think we had a couple buddies with us. Maybe Caleb was with us. It was just Caleb, yeah. And we're driving there. It's 4.30. I'm pumped up and I was like, hey guys, I want to play all this song I just wrote. I'm pretty fired up about it. I get kind of queued up.

Zach Sutton: And you're like, it's the saddest song I've ever written.

Jordan Davis: I was like, I do have to say this though, man. This is probably the saddest song I've ever written. And I hit play and he just reaches up and he's like, not right now, dude. Not right now.

Zach Sutton: Turns it off. He's like, you don't know what I just went through. All right He's like I drove through a dadgum tornado with my kid in the back I had to stop and park under overpass for 30 minutes and I'm just sitting there my cars rocking and he's just like what am I doing? And dude, it just hit him in that moment And you're probably just telling me a lie.

Zach Sutton: I was like, dang, man. Any other day, he's like, you know, I'd be like, sure, yeah, I want to hear it. And I was like, man, no. Not right now, man. Not right now.

Jordan Davis: Not right now. Even that morning, Caleb was just like, so our buddy, he's not a duck hunter. Well, actually he's getting into it. It's like one of those things. You can't help it. Yeah. And so, but he wakes up that morning and I tell him, I'm like, Hey man, we'll wake up at like probably four. Zach's going to get here at 4.30. The babysitter to watch Castor is going to get here about that same time. And he's just looking at us like, y'all are idiots.

Zach Sutton: I can remember coming in the door and he kind of turns and he starts laughing. He was like, what are we doing? You know, like I just drove through the night. Yeah, that sucked. I thought I was smart in this whole thing and a new cell popped up. And I was on the highway. And I was, like, bound to, like, pass it, if you will. I kept driving from, you know, from Jackson to all these different cities, looking up local news, looking at the radar. And I thought, like, you know, I was smart of this thing. Well, something new popped up, but I got trapped because it was raining so hard that you couldn't drive. So I'm on the interstate like, crap, what am I supposed to do? It ended up being a whole mess. You know, thinking, what am I doing? You know, why am I pushing it?

Matt Harrison: I'll be completely honest, even last year, like when we went on that hunt and there was a lot of ice on the road, you remember? I remember. Like, it was sketchy. Yep.

Zach Sutton: Like, really sketchy. Now throw your one-year-old in the back going, I did this, I'm doing this, I'm literally, like, this is how it's gonna end, you idiot. You know, like, just… Over a duck. Over a duck, you idiot. But, yeah, that was, that, yeah, the wives part. So, happy with that, neither was I. But this season, what are your, what are your plans?

Matt Harrison: So I will start out in Arkansas. We normally go to Oklahoma, which is like a week or two, but I'm not going to go this year. They're so dry. I have a buddy in Oklahoma and I want to start out. So we're going to start in Arkansas and then I'm going to go up to Utah. We're hosting Barstool Outdoors again, which is always… Which you funded in Utah, right?

Jordan Davis: Have you? I haven't hunted in Utah. I've hunted in South Dakota. It was Idaho. In Idaho.

Matt Harrison: I'm excited. I've hunted in Nebraska. I've hunted in South Dakota, but I've never hunted in Utah. And it's super fun. Sydney Wales is always super cool. Last year she brought two out-of-office guys, Feidelberg and Donnie. Oh yeah. Probably the funniest thing, like, taking two guys from New York that, like, just don't have… When you talk about, like, not knowing anything about waterfowl hunting, take that on top of not knowing anything about the outdoors, not knowing anything about camo. This dude wore a tie hunting when we went. We limited, or we shot a bunch of ducks and he just… Stick to the brand, man. He pulls out a pink tie while we're hunting to take pictures, and I was just like… Man, do you? I guess. But it's always funny, you know, she brings guests. So I'm excited about that. And then of course, we'll hunt, we hunt Arkansas, the White River a good bit and just kind of chase them all over.

Zach Sutton: You're in the zone, man. To be like 30 minutes or even an hour away from, I mean, yeah, just great. That's as cool as it gets.

Jordan Davis: Your favorite flow timber? Oh, yeah. There's a Weiner, Arkansas, baby, grain farm. It is a, I mean, between that and White Oaks, there is nothing- We've gotten spoiled. We have. We have. Sorry, go ahead. No, we've been spoiled on, in my opinion, the best duck hunting in the world. No doubt. And it's tough to move on from that, man.

Matt Harrison: It's tough to go chase one on public ground after that sometimes, ain't it?

Jordan Davis: It's tough to even hunt my own farm after that.

Matt Harrison: I know I can probably get you in trouble for asking this, saying where's the best place you hunted, because you've hunted at a lot of good ones, but where would you say, you know, your favorite place? Let's say, let's just say this year you could only hunt one morning. And of course, I know you'd probably say your farm, but outside of your farm. Where would you say if you had to choose one morning on where you're going?

Jordan Davis: Yeah, if I had one hunt, there's a block of timber in Weiner, Arkansas that I've gotten to hunt a few times. It's special. And it's unreal. The last time we were there, I could have caught two. Are you serious? In your face? It's the most… In my opinion, there's nothing better.

Zach Sutton: I mean, back to our crazy tornado story, and again, we're trying to keep it brief. It was a racket. That next morning, we hunted that same block of woods for the first time, and that's probably one of the most memorable hunts I've ever been on. Yeah, that one's probably number one for me.

Matt Harrison: Because that was my first true- Go through that hunt a little bit. Whoa. I'm laughing. I mean, for me… Words probably can't explain it because I've been on those types of hunts.

Jordan Davis: It's, uh… Yeah, it just had every… Like, as far as, like… You're coming in freezing cold, long, long cold drive-in. And then you get there, you can't get warm, but you see ducks.

Matt Harrison: And then all of a sudden that cold, it goes away.

Jordan Davis: And you're just like, oh my God, dude. This is like, you know, we're there 20 minutes before shooting light and there's a hundred right in your face. And it went from that, like, you know, the hunt was amazing. Small group. Me, you, and somebody. Those are the best. And we were all right there next to each other. Beautiful. I mean, you couldn't have picked a better morning. Not a cloud in the sky, freezing cold, fall coming just off the water. I mean, like, I still have a photo that I'm getting framed from that morning. And it's just like, good conversation, drinking coffee. shooting birds and just talking about life, man. It was just one of those mornings where like, we've had, there's a hundred hunts where you go out there and, you know, you get your birds and it's awesome. But when you can kind of tie in all those things of like, new place, great people. beautiful day, you realize how blessed you are to get to do this.

Matt Harrison: And you know, too, like you can sit here for a thousand years and explain your best hunts and having them that close in your face and the sun coming up and people are like, yeah, it sounds good. But like, when you're in that moment, there's literally zero words. that can even express that feeling. Like, there's… I wish everybody could experience it. About bring tears to your eyes. It really, literally. Especially on those pretty, you know, sunrise mornings where it's just cool, Chris, there's a good wind, that sun's just… There's no words to explain that feeling. What's yours?

Zach Sutton: I would say that because also, that was my dog's first real timber hunt. And it went well, and it was just, yeah.

Matt Harrison: Do you have a dog, Jordan? I don't. Really? Well, you stay gone so much too and that'd be tough.

Jordan Davis: And I've got a buddy of mine in Greenfield, Tennessee that's like, look man, I'll take him all year and I'll just give him to you at season. And I was like, how will… Have you done that with people before?" He's like, yeah, last one season, then you take the dog home. I was like, I know that's exactly what's going to happen. And to be honest with you, Rip is Zach's dog, and I'm spoiled on that too, man. Because if we hunt, we usually hunt together, and dude, Rip is a machine.

Matt Harrison: Yeah, he is. He's a good dog. Duck hunting wise, do you enjoy calling? Yeah. That's my favorite aspect of duck hunting.

Jordan Davis: It's been the, and I always say this too, because Zach, like I said, Zach will always take leave with us. I get so, last year was the first year where I was like, all right, I hunt with some of the best, I mean, guys that I'm scared to pull a duck call out. Me and Zach have been hunting long enough to where I feel like we can kind of team it.

Zach Sutton: We have our things.

Jordan Davis: When you're hunting four spots away from Jimbo, it's like, I'm probably just gonna, I'm just gonna sit here. And even other, you know, Jeff Field.

Zach Sutton: There's a really good caller. And then there's like… A guy can get by.

Jordan Davis: I'm a guy that can get by.

Matt Harrison: But you're your own worst critic, too. That's true. You know what I mean? Like, a lot of times I think you can… Because now you've been in the Waterfowl game for a while, and you look and you're like, I don't want to be that guy. So you'll start to overthink, like, do I sound good? Should I not call? Should I do this?

Jordan Davis: I usually do it until I get a look. Once I get the look, I'm like… What'd you say? He's talking about you. Yeah. Hey, man.

Zach Sutton: It's like, hey… It's like whenever… It's like when you're in a… When you're in a VOD and somebody's like… You know, everybody's letting loose at them.

Jordan Davis: And then, finally, your lead guy's like, hey, man, let's back off a call a little bit. You know what I do in my call? I know what that means.

Zach Sutton: They're talking about you, bro. I know what that means. Yeah. That's when you just go… Yeah, that's me.

Matt Harrison: Y'all just raise your hand.

Zach Sutton: Hey, my name is Matt. My name is Matt. Sorry guys, Jordan here. That was my fault.

Jordan Davis: It's been cool to have something to… It's just another thing that you… you gotta get better at it.

Matt Harrison: That's my favorite aspect of duck hunting, those working ducks. But I've had the privilege, too, to be around literally… So when I played ball in Arkansas, and I was able to help out some in a lodge, take care of some of the land. I got to go on some of the hunts, and it's literally some of the… It's not a shareholder place. It's literally privately owned. Nobody knows about it, but it is some of the absolute best duck hunting woods in Southeast Arkansas. True green timber. And the people that run it are some of the best duck hunters you've ever had, I've ever had the opportunity to hunt with. And like, just learning from them, how they call, you know, when to call, when not to call. You know, it's getting to learn from them, you know what I mean? And I've had the opportunity to hunt with Jim Ronquist a good bit. Like, he's one that, like, I'm just like, when he's calling or something, I'm like, what is he doing? You know, why is he doing that? Literally, like, it's awesome.

Jordan Davis: And just a great human being.

Matt Harrison: Oh my goodness. I love Jim. Jim's one of those that talking about if you need something, you know, call him. No doubt. He's been around the block of time or two.

Zach Sutton: If I had to like, if it was a gun, your call, or the dog, I'm to the point now where I'm like, I'll leave a call. I'll leave my gun behind. Just being able to work, Rip. Yeah, that's now become the thing, which I'm sure that will change. But I was even thinking about the other day, like, we, you know, a friend of ours, like, hey, come this weekend. And I was like, oh, crap. He's got like four dogs.

Jordan Davis: Oh, yeah. Can I bring my dog? You talk about a duck hunting problem there.

Matt Harrison: Oh, no doubt. Yeah. You want to talk about getting some feelings hurt?

Zach Sutton: I know. I'm almost to the point now that this is terrible. And I'll probably change my mind in years, later years. But it's kind of like, you know, we have friends like, come this weekend. I'm like, oh man, yeah, I might. Because I'd honestly rather, I'd rather go shoot four with him.

Jordan Davis: I think that's the, that's become the good thing about it. It's like a, I feel like that's like the progression of duck hunting. It's like, Then you want to get your spot to where you can shoot birds at. So it's like, yeah, we could go over here and have an amazing hunt, or I could sit here and shoot two mallards and a wood duck on my farm with my guys. And then it progresses into even… Love being on an amazing hunt, but like we were talking about earlier, people getting into it, now it's even… fun to bring somebody. We do a hunt with some friends every year in January now that are new to duck hunting, good duck hunters, but still kind of new to it. Nothing would excite me more than for them to come this year and just have an amazing morning and just wear them out. And I don't even have to pull the trigger. Just watching them get fired up or seeing them get to watch it happen. It's pretty special. And I can only imagine what that's going to be like with my kids, man.

Zach Sutton: That's what I was thinking about with management. As you're saying that, I'm like, oh, like what sparks the management thing? Why does somebody, like how does somebody put so much, or where's the motivation come from to put so much work into developing the land? It's that. Then going, you know, seeing people, like I said, I took my wife for the first time last year and she goes, okay, I get it. And it was one of those like, I didn't shoot, you know, and it was her and my cousin and I didn't even shoot. And she's like, are you not going to shoot? And I was like, no, I'm having a blast. She's like, okay. I get it now. So that's, I think, I can only imagine how bad. Because honestly, I think that you, when you bring somebody, you want it more than I think you even want it yourself. A hundred percent. That's all you want is to have a good hunt. So then you put your, your kids involved with that. It's like, oh boy, I'm going to be broke because I'm going to spend every dollar I have on that farm trying to get it right.

Jordan Davis: We're already almost there.

Zach Sutton: I'm like, oh boy, I'm gonna need some restrictions put on me.

Jordan Davis: The world would be a better place if everybody's stuck on it.

Matt Harrison: There's no question about it. You learn so much. Like, you really do. It's hard, you gotta be determined, you gotta have a little bit of grit in you, you gotta have some willpower, and you gotta have some money.

Jordan Davis: And you gotta have a little bit of money. Yeah, yeah, that's true.

Zach Sutton: Or know somebody that does. Or have a spending problem, you know? And have no money.

Zach Sutton: Or spend money you don't have.

Matt Harrison: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright, this is a hot topic.

Zach Sutton: Hot takes, okay.

Matt Harrison: Hot take, yeah. You know, you have your 12-gauge purist. I ain't shootin' nothin' but a 12-gauge. Yeah. Then you got guys that ain't shootin' but another 20-gauge.

Zach Sutton: Or sub-gauge guys.

Matt Harrison: Oh, yes.

Jordan Davis: What are y'all brownin'? Right now, I'm browning over and under 20. 20? Yeah.

Zach Sutton: Yeah, I'm a 20. I have never… I feel like a jerk saying over and under right there.

Jordan Davis: That was so pretentious.

Zach Sutton: No, honestly, no, no. Dude, that gun is a great gun. It's a great gun. It's a great gun. And I think some people, I found myself shooting, when I've hunted with over and unders, I found myself shooting better. Not having that like… taking out the instinct of just like, you know, just like, you know, group shooting and actually going, Hey, I got two, I got to square these up. I think helps. But I have a couple of years ago, I switched to a 20 gauge and you know, some, some great ammo.

Matt Harrison: Have y'all, have y'all told like, won't go back.

Zach Sutton: Really? I've never visibly told the difference. That was the first time that I was hunting with an over and under. And I'm talking, like, thumping them to the point where I'm like, oh my word. Like, not only am I thumping them at distance, but like, these birds are folded.

Jordan Davis: You're picking up dead birds.

Matt Harrison: Are y'all shooting, like, full chokes, modified, extended full? Like, I shoot a modified as well.

Zach Sutton: Modified. I just switched to the, uh, I switched to the, um, oh my word. It's a molar, molar choke tubes. Check them out. M-U-E-L-L-E-R. And first, it'll be first season, but some of the, like, some of the, like, testing that I've seen on it, I'm convinced. See, I'm always shot pattern master. Oh, I got turkey. I got a black modified.

Jordan Davis: What are you full? Oh god, but you're so what do you know?

Matt Harrison: So what are you shooting bismuth or something? Soft? No, no, I see like threes and fours. Yeah steel Have you ever been to Guy's Farm? Yeah. And hunted?

Jordan Davis: I haven't been to the new one.

Zach Sutton: We were as old as we used to hunt.

Matt Harrison: Okay. Well, anyway, last year it was literally just me and him. I think you had to leave or something that morning. I can't remember. It may have been a different time. Anyway, I promise I've never shot ducks in Arkansas on skinny water ever. I've never done that. Like, you know, normally it's flooded timber. Ricefields, Oxbows, but skinny water like the stuff you see in Wyoming, stuff like that, I've never done. Oh, I haven't done that either. Guy's Place didn't have a ton of water last year. It had some, but we got the boat stuck up more and all that. Anyway, we just saw ducks just piling. We're like, they want to be over there. So I have a picture I'll show y'all. It's literally a ditch. I kid you not. You can ask Guy. I can spit a piece of gum across it. And it was ick. exactly where those ducks wanted to be. And when I tell you we were shooting them, I'm so tight.

Zach Sutton: Oh, I know where you were. Do you? I know where you were. Cattails? Yep. Yep. Yep. I know where you were. Yes, I did hunt there this year. Where was my car? Hey, this is like all the same weekend, man.

Matt Harrison: I kid you not. We were shooting them at the mines. No way.

Zach Sutton: Right there. And I mean, it was shit. It was not. It reminds me of our bottom. Oh, yeah. It's like, It's like, it looks as ducky as it gets.

Matt Harrison: Like, I could see doing that in Wyoming, Utah, somewhere like that. I've hunted the plat, which where I hunted it was pretty far-stretched, but it was in Nebraska. We hunted the plat and, uh, yeah. That scenery in Nebraska on the plat, if you've never been, like we didn't have a banger of a hunt, like we didn't, but when I tell you, you don't realize how fast that current is and that the ones we did shoot, by the time you, they hit the water, like they're 60, 70 yards, like you gotta have a dog that knows what they're doing.