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Some people spend a lifetime chasing ducks. Others spend a lifetime protecting what makes duck hunting possible.
Recorded live from DUX 2026, host Wade Shoemaker sits down with Fred Zink and Jim Ronquest, co-hosts of Ducks Unlimited TV, for a conversation about waterfowl hunting, conservation, friendship, and the evolution of the sport over the last several decades.
The discussion covers their experiences filming DUTV, the importance of habitat and conservation, changing migration patterns, memorable hunts, and the people who have helped shape modern waterfowl culture. Along the way, Fred and Jimbo reflect on decades of friendship, the role Ducks Unlimited plays in protecting the resource, and why time spent with family and friends matters more than a full strap of ducks.
The group also talks about new apparel collaborations, favorite hunting destinations, and what they’re most looking forward to in the upcoming season.
Topics Covered
- The evolution of Ducks Unlimited TV
- Friendship and lifelong hunting partnerships
- Conservation and habitat management
- Changes in duck migration and distribution
- Private refuges and waterfowl habitat
- Favorite hunting destinations across North America
- New DU and Drake collaborations
- Family, tradition, and hunting memories
- Advice for the next generation of hunters
Listen now: www.ducks.org/DUPodcast
Send feedback: DUPodcast@ducks.org
SPONSORS:
Bird Dog Whiskey and Cocktails:
Whether you’re winding down with your best friend, or celebrating with your favorite crew, Bird Dog brings award-winning flavor to every moment. Enjoy responsibly.
Creators and Guests
Host
Wade Shoemaker
DUPodcast 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.
Yeah. As long as they don't, like, cut me out. You know, they may be like, no.
Jimbo Ronquest:That's not smart. Provided provided though none of us get cut out, and we're good. Because we all have
Wade Shoemaker:that Touche. Touche. Yeah. They it's either like, it's all of us or none
Jimbo Ronquest:of us. Yeah.
Wade Shoemaker:That's it. We just point a pack.
Fred Zink:Y'all heard it. Y'all heard Lurching together.
VO:You're tuned in to the Ducks Unlimited Podcast. Conserving wetlands, restoring habitat, and working to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow, and forever. From field tested hunting insights to the biggest conservation wins across North America, this is your front row seat to wetlands conservation in action. The DU Podcast is proudly sponsored by Bird Dog Whiskey and Cocktails. Whether you're wrapping up a hunt with your best friend or kicking back with your crew, Bird Dog brings award winning flavor to every moment.
VO:Enjoy responsibly.
Wade Shoemaker:So I got Jimbo Ronquest on my right. I've got Fred Zink on my left, both hosts of DUTV. Fred, you've been there for four or five years. Jimbo, this is the first official year as a host for full time. I'm trying to get that not
Jimbo Ronquest:messed up. No. You got it, Last year was my first year in the field. I did three, four hunts last year that aired this broadcast season.
Wade Shoemaker:Yeah. Okay. Very Matter
Jimbo Ronquest:of fact, I think today, tomorrow, I think one of my episodes there.
Wade Shoemaker:I love that.
Jimbo Ronquest:A really cool woods hunt. I love
Wade Shoemaker:oh, in the woods.
Jimbo Ronquest:Yes, sir.
Wade Shoemaker:And they're, I'm assuming, flooded. Right. This isn't a squirrel hunt.
Jimbo Ronquest:Yeah. No. They flooded
Wade Shoemaker:with Okay. Okay. This is good. This is something cool for me growing up, early two thousands when I started duck hunting and things like that. You guys were kinda kinda no kinda to it.
Wade Shoemaker:Y'all were legendary, you know, still are. Like, I think you guys are leading the charge for what's next, have been for a very long time and continue to do so. So for me, this is something probably not what's supposed to be talked about on the podcast, but very cool moment for me whether people want to admit it out loud or not. I'm I'm stoked to be here. I was gonna say in between you guys.
Jimbo Ronquest:I'm glad you are.
Wade Shoemaker:Yeah. Thanks, man. I appreciate that. I wanna start with with you, Fred. Like you've been there four or five years as the host of DUTV.
Wade Shoemaker:You've obviously been around the space forever. Seeing calls, all these things, man. I don't know if everybody knows who you are here that's listening or watching. But, man, I would I would love for you to kinda give us some kind of insight into, what you've been what's you've been up to for the past four or five years since you've become host of DUTV.
Fred Zink:Yeah. So I started do doing DUTV show host or not hosting, but basically, kind of a host for the standpoint of I I would meet him in Canada or whatever. So I've been on I had been on DUTV up to about six or eight times prior to becoming a host Yeah. On that side of things. So it's cool that Jimbo joined us here.
Fred Zink:Jimbo and I have been friends since, I think, we met '89 or '90. Started to run together.
Jimbo Ronquest:Somewhere in the late eighties.
Fred Zink:Yeah. Yeah. We met Nebraska, I believe, first time. Horn Husker Regional.
Wade Shoemaker:I believe I believe that's back when they were running stuff. Yeah.
Fred Zink:Yeah. Yeah. It was way back in the early nineties there. So we've been friends. Our wives are friends.
Fred Zink:Kids grew up together. Yeah. We always go to contests with so Jimbo coming across, joining DUTV is awesome. And but as far as hosting, I think this would be the fifth year that I've hosted DUTV. It's really cool, and and DUTV has changed a lot, I think, in the right direction too.
Fred Zink:We're in charge, like Jimbo and myself and the other hosts, Doug Larson, are in charge of setting the hunts up. Right? So, obviously, Jimbo and I got connections for anywhere you wanna go. We we know a person there. Right?
Fred Zink:So we're making sure that we're putting Ducks Unlimited in the right area at the right time, the right place, with the right people, you know, and to convey the message of Ducks Unlimited, show off the wetlands and the and the process.
VO:Welcome to the Old Timer Minute, sponsored by Old Timer Knives.
OTM:The part of Ducks and I look forward to the most is probably opening day. I don't know if it's always been like that for me, but now that we've gotten older, it's very much based around family because we open in Mississippi the day after Thanksgiving on Black Friday. So my whole family, nieces, nephews, brothers, sisters, in laws, everybody comes down to our hunting camp on on Thursday night and we all wake up and go hunting together the next day. And it doesn't matter if it's gonna be a good day or not. It's still one of the best days of the year because it's the one day that I know I get to hunt with everybody that I love and all my favorite people.
OTM:So, yeah, the opening day of duck season is by far my that I look forward to the most.
VO:Visit the oldtimer.com. You know, a lot
Fred Zink:of these places we go to, to be honest with you, most people can't get in. Yeah. You know, like White Oaks and, you know, I I had a episode last year called Rice Pond.
Wade Shoemaker:Okay.
Fred Zink:Right? It's up in Illinois. Just unbelievable place. You know? And once you get in there, you get to meet these people, and you get to see the commitment not only to conservation, but to Ducks and Ducks Unlimited.
Fred Zink:It warms your heart and lets you understand that there's people out there that care. Yeah. And hunters are the ultimate conservationists. Yeah. A 100%.
Fred Zink:If it wouldn't be for hunters, most game species, fish, waterfowl, ducks, deer, whatever, probably be extinct. But, you know, the things we're doing and stuff that Ducks Unlimited is doing, and and we're trying to do that and showcase that with Ducks Unlimited TV is to let the public know where their money's going, how effective it is. And, you know, Jimbo and I, we've been duck hunting a long time. I killed my first duck I wasn't gonna bring that up. Long time ago.
Jimbo Ronquest:Yeah. Appreciate that.
Fred Zink:You know, I will say, in in my opinion, and other other people have a different opinion, but some of the best duck hunting I've ever had has been in recent years. Yeah. You know, it's been on DUTV, some of them too. So it's been a good run.
Wade Shoemaker:That's a cool perspective. That that really is. I dig that. Would you say that you brought up people that it's the conservation side of the word about the ducks? I feel like the the term there that we could coin it all is people are you you bring to you to people that are that are really just more concerned about putting the work in the dirt and making sure there's it's a place for ducks to be at.
Fred Zink:It's all about the resource. Yeah. It's like if you go to the same fishing pond every day and kept it Same pond. Keep them fish, eventually, that pond's not gonna be no good. A duck hunt is the same way.
Fred Zink:You gotta give back as much or more than you than you take. Mhmm. You gotta give them a place to rest.
Wade Shoemaker:That's right.
Fred Zink:And you get Rest is You know, it ain't all about a full strap. I mean, it's a it's a good thing to have, and a lot of great hunts are considered a great hunts because of full strap. But making sure that you leave more behind than you take is a is a important thing. And that's a DU message too, and it's it's a message that a lot of people today that are into conservation and into the future of hunting are all abiding by.
Wade Shoemaker:No. That's sick. I can get it. Can Jimbo, like, I wanna hear your perspective now. You and I kind of, I mean, Arkansas, Louisiana
Jimbo Ronquest:We bumped around a little bit.
Wade Shoemaker:Yeah. So I wanna I wanna kinda hear your perspective from a southern boy that that has been able to see different things, ways.
Jimbo Ronquest:Well, to that point, what Freddie said is the most important. If we don't take care of the waterfowl resource, it's not gonna be here to take care of us.
Fred Zink:That's right.
Jimbo Ronquest:And there's a lot of people get caught up in in different parts of that, but the resource comes first, we come second. None of this would be here today without the waterfowl resource that we all are so passionate about. So that's that's important. Wherever you go, north, south, east, west, let's take care of the ducks. But part of taking care of the ducks, taking care of the dirt in the wetlands and the habitat.
Jimbo Ronquest:We take care of the habitat, we want to have the ducks. So that's important however we go about it. It's been fun for me to be part of the industry, other TV shows, other outdoor video productions, kind of finally be one of the co hosts of UTV. When they came and asked me about it or when Greg says contact me, cool. I had been on episodes in the past as as a guest, but it's kind of a I'm not gonna say full circle moment, but it's a proud daddy moment.
Jimbo Ronquest:Proud to be a part of, proud to be proud to work with Freddie because as he said, man, we've known each other before. I say it like this. I know Freddie before Freddie was Freddie and Jimbo Jimbo.
Fred Zink:We we knew each other when there was a thirty day duck season. Oh, exactly right.
Wade Shoemaker:Thirty and three. Yeah.
Jimbo Ronquest:Yes, sir. Absolutely. So, you know, we've lived through all that and seen it. And and just again, to be a part, proud to help say that message that, you know, Ducks Unlimited is not the bad guy in the room. They're the good guy, you know, and to help people understand that.
Jimbo Ronquest:And that's we given the opportunity to help people to have that voice for DU on DUTV.
Fred Zink:That's good. You know, the part about DU and the conservation is all the wetland easements and CRP and everything is important in Canada. We all got to have it. It's kind of like you set the table, but mother nature's gotta play. She don't rain.
Fred Zink:It don't rain. It's it's not going to work. But when it does rain and you have their table set, it's gonna happen. One thing about ducks is and waterfowl in general is they survive. They're survivors.
Fred Zink:That's what they're engineered to do that. And it seems like a lot of people have a doomsday look right now. Oh, the ducks ain't here, whatever. But one rain, one wet spring, and it's just like, here we go. They're coming back.
Fred Zink:Yeah. There there's a lot lot to that going on. But, you know, the things that I see with ducks is I'm a northern. I live in the North. Know?
Fred Zink:And and Jimbo and I, we we've traveled all over Canada to all the northern states. And there's just so many things that's happening in the North. Yeah. Lack of of cold weather or snow, ice, and the amount of grain that's being planted further and further north all the way to the bush in Canada. Good friend of mine, good friend Jimbo, is mister Warren Coco, is a duck hunter's duck hunter.
Wade Shoemaker:Who's at the bottom of
Fred Zink:the the country? He's at the bottom. You know? And and him and his family like the duck hunt as as much as anybody in the world. They just simply I mean, he's got 1,600 acres in Hackberry, and they probably didn't kill a 150, 200 ducks this year.
Fred Zink:But it's a up and down sit in there situation where have a hurricane come in there and they get the salinity right, you know, that water drops down or it gets too fresh water and they lose their wooden grass or whatever. This is roller coaster. Yeah. And, you know, there's a lot of people and a lot of people in this room right now that have taken on conservation by themselves. What I mean by that is people that are willing to spend the time and money.
Fred Zink:Look at all the private refuges. Exactly.
Jimbo Ronquest:That's what keeps us alive in the Stuttgart area. It's all the private legacy properties that are their own refuges that hold a lot of ducks. We still shoot a lot of ducks. The harvest report just came out last week. That'll be part of the deal coming up when that comes out in a couple of weeks, whenever it is.
Jimbo Ronquest:When you look at the harvest report, some of the states, it's pretty telling that some of the Southern states are going up the past few years. Some of the Mid Latitude states are going down. So, you know, Ducks are still Ducks are still doing what Ducks do. Still being dogs. It's just it's different now.
Jimbo Ronquest:The times are different. Weather changes, climate change. And I'm not one saying that it's a cycle or not. I don't know, but it's it's changing.
Fred Zink:Changing sport.
Jimbo Ronquest:I'll tell you what we do have. Stuttgart, you go to Stuttgart evening, go to town, and you'll see hundreds of black belly whistling duck roosting in town. Real dude. In Stuttgart, Arkansas.
Wade Shoemaker:Where'd come from? We got a season in Louisiana. Yeah.
Fred Zink:This year. My first one.
Jimbo Ronquest:It, there's gonna be a DUTV episode. That's right. Yeah. I don't know who else is gonna be there, but things have changed. There's no doubt.
Wade Shoemaker:Golly, that black belly thing is it we used to go to I rode a bridge couple years ago in the industrial district and we drove up and it was just a puddle of water with like a substation. There were a 150 black belly ducks like just hanging out, you know, looked like a like a sheet like a a sheet water widget hunt, know, like that's what it looked like. It was it was crazy, man. Is that something from where you're at, like Illinois area, all that stuff or you've been around? You did say Illinois, I think.
Fred Zink:I I live in Northern Ohio. Northern Ohio.
Wade Shoemaker:Where'd y'all hunt in Illinois?
Fred Zink:Rice Pond.
Wade Shoemaker:Rice Pond. Yeah. That was it. I'm backwards. Anyway, Iowa, Illinois, all that.
Wade Shoemaker:You guys, is that a that's not a species you deal with much
Fred Zink:at all.
Wade Shoemaker:Uh-uh. No? It's
Fred Zink:only coming. Killed him one time.
Wade Shoemaker:It's coming.
Fred Zink:This South. Yeah.
Wade Shoemaker:I think it's coming though. Yeah. I really do.
Jimbo Ronquest:It's crazy to go see him. You know, he's like, what's that? You know, here it is middle of summertime. There's a black bellied whistling duck flying around.
Fred Zink:Like, where
Jimbo Ronquest:did he come from?
Wade Shoemaker:Yeah. What what are you guys excited about for for this? I know you guys everything airing or whatever is cool, but, like, you've gotta film some stuff this year for next. What are you excited about?
Fred Zink:My first son, I going on, we're going to Quebec, and, it's really cool up there. You ever been to Quebec, Jimbo?
Jimbo Ronquest:I've not been to not
Fred Zink:not been to Quebec. I mean, it's freaking beautiful. Like, there's mountains in off in the distance and big you get on rivers, weather, just rock cliffs and things like that. Snow goose hunting is really good. Really?
Fred Zink:Canada goose hunt. But once we get about four to five hours north of Quebec Okay. Or Montreal, excuse me, it looks like you're in Prague, Canada. Like, it's flat or steep fields or sweet fields. It's freaking Okay.
VO:Stay tuned to the Ducks Unlimited Podcast sponsored by Bird Dog Whiskey after these messages.
Fred Zink:And so we're going there in October, and that's gonna be a real good one. That's gonna be the first one I kick off on. Yeah. We might have something lined up for a teal hunt. It's just so hard to, you know, in the North to line up a teal hunt because they could be coming gone a week before you get there.
Fred Zink:You know? So that's the first one I got pretty excited because John Christian Gianni, you remember him from the Avery days back in
Jimbo Ronquest:the day.
Fred Zink:Yep. He's gonna be your host up there. John's a great dude, and he's actually there's episodes airing this year, right now that John hosted last year up there. So it's real cool area. So that's one of the coolest ones I got lined up right now.
Wade Shoemaker:So it's not a part of world. Yeah. So you so what what do what do you got? What are you excited about?
Jimbo Ronquest:That's a good question. I know we're planning on doing a couple in in the home my home
Wade Shoemaker:turf area. When you get done with this, I wanna hear about the one in the woods you said it's gonna air
Fred Zink:this year.
Wade Shoemaker:I wanna hear about that.
Jimbo Ronquest:I think it airs tomorrow. Tomorrow. I think I need
Wade Shoemaker:this thought. Let's go
Jimbo Ronquest:to that. We're talking about doing something in something in the Northwest, something out West, maybe co op together, something Montana, Idaho. That'd something pretty cool. I'm not done.
Wade Shoemaker:There's a few out there.
Fred Zink:There's a few out there.
Jimbo Ronquest:Again, may try to get a teal hunt put together. We got a cool hunt we're gonna be doing, hopefully do with Will Primos about stuff he done with some of the gun donation he did last year. That's that's that's a pretty cool thing. Hopefully do that with him and Mr. Will Walker.
Jimbo Ronquest:That's in the books. You know, you never know what's going to happen. You need water like mud and that's to make it rain. So we've got a lot of stuff to do. To that point, we've got Freddy and I need to get together this weekend and talk about some of the other things that's coming up so we can kind of start locking it down.
Jimbo Ronquest:The camera production crew, it's different than when I was at the R and TV produced in R and TV. Yeah, We just grab and go. Yeah. There's a whole lot of other people in the park.
Wade Shoemaker:There's some logistics that have there's
Jimbo Ronquest:some logistics and scheduling has to be done.
Wade Shoemaker:Those are so frustrating.
Jimbo Ronquest:So they're kind of looking to us right now from the last couple of emails kind of wanting us to kind of set some dates.
Wade Shoemaker:Oh, man. That's tough.
Fred Zink:They definitely put some pressure on it, Jimbo.
Jimbo Ronquest:Yeah. That's tough.
Fred Zink:Yeah. To this point, like, when we were filming the twenty four seven series and then back in the day That was all. Got my start.
Wade Shoemaker:You were involved between the twenty four seven series back in the day.
Fred Zink:Yeah. That's that was our series. Yeah. That's right. Yeah.
Fred Zink:And then I I was producing not producing but filming the Whistling Wing series for Mossy Oak for way back in
Jimbo Ronquest:the day.
Fred Zink:But we would grab and go like Jimbo said. You get a cold front, you look out there, your buddy call and say, hey, they'll be here tomorrow. Boom. We're gone. Right?
Fred Zink:With DU, we're we have schedule ahead and all, I think. So we don't always hit it right. I mean, you you try to do everything, but you get weather. This is like last year, were in Wyoming. We got there.
Fred Zink:I think it was like man, it was late in the year, like, January, mid to late January. And I was wearing a t shirt in Denver. We have 64 degree. We're we're driving around Denver Yeah. With the windows Wear
Jimbo Ronquest:t shirt and t shirt. That's really great.
Wade Shoemaker:Yeah. Unreal. Yeah. So you've got the show airing tomorrow maybe tomorrow.
Jimbo Ronquest:I think. I I mean, look at schedule. Maybe somebody can pull it up and let us know for sure what we're
Wade Shoemaker:talking about. Y'all are in some good woods. You wanna give us a little
Jimbo Ronquest:It's a cool hunt. I don't know which one it is. I had a couple, but we did hunt with former DU president George Duncan and his family holding Raidell, and it was was a picture perfect day to be in the woods. It was cold. It was clear.
Jimbo Ronquest:We had a good wind blowing right after one of those good major cold fronts in mid December, that prime time of year right there about that winter solstice, lots of ducks. I mean, then they finish this right. It's one of them hunts. If that don't light your fire in the woods.
Wade Shoemaker:I heard that. Yeah. It's the first time you've probably heard him say that, is it?
Fred Zink:I've heard that one the time.
Wade Shoemaker:A couple times.
Jimbo Ronquest:Get it.
Wade Shoemaker:Cool. So with with with all this going on, hosting TV shows, cool, Ducks Unlimited TV, Drake is the title sponsor for that. And through that comes a partnership and a cool thing that you've got coming out this year that you guys have probably put on a couple of times. But I want to hear about this this colorway you got coming.
Jimbo Ronquest:You can come by the booth and check it out. Some of the new BMF line we're doing aligning collaboration with DU. It's a DU and Drake badge that nice leather patch. Oh, we're doing Wade's three three one pick jacket
Fred Zink:Yep.
Jimbo Ronquest:Goose down hooded jacket vest, and it's nice stuff. The cool thing I like about it is all the fall foliage.
Wade Shoemaker:Fall foliage.
Jimbo Ronquest:One of my favorite all time favorites.
Fred Zink:Seen it over there on that model. It looks good. It looks good. I might have go stopping my tracks. I'm like, what's that?
Jimbo Ronquest:All the D UTV people will be wearing that,
Fred Zink:hopefully, this year.
Wade Shoemaker:The whole season, you think so?
Jimbo Ronquest:Well, I
Fred Zink:don't know.
Jimbo Ronquest:I mean, they have opportunities. It'll work. The next year have it. And, you know, you don't think a fall foliage necessarily is a waterfowl pattern?
Wade Shoemaker:It's I don't know, dude. But I dig it, dude. Yeah. No, that's very cool.
Jimbo Ronquest:Very cool. We're excited about that and the people we get to work with. Looking forward to the season. Looking forward to see the bee pop come out, see what we're going to see. There's some water back on the Prairie.
Jimbo Ronquest:Maybe recruitment's a little better this year. I don't know. Time will tell.
Fred Zink:Yeah. There's definitely water up north. Yeah. There is.
Jimbo Ronquest:I
Wade Shoemaker:had a they joke about it. I've been to the HQ a couple of times and had a couple of phone calls with them since this podcast thing has been a thing for me. And they talk about some of the biologists are walking around pretty proud, you know?
Jimbo Ronquest:No. Most most biologists, they're not gonna crow too much.
Wade Shoemaker:No. They don't. They keep it quiet. But you can tell
Jimbo Ronquest:they Yeah.
Wade Shoemaker:They got a little their feet are lighter. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. You holding a head
Fred Zink:up a little pressure
Wade Shoemaker:off. I might get in trouble for saying that. I don't know.
Jimbo Ronquest:Where's your hat?
Wade Shoemaker:Come on. I'm just asking for some grace early, you know? I think that's a good thing. So with that, with this coming up here, you guys all got all the shows. What is one of the coolest things you guys have ever done together in in the past, like, for the decades that you've known each other?
Wade Shoemaker:What's I mean, like, you know, PG kinda deal.
Jimbo Ronquest:We drink a
Fred Zink:lot of beer. And bourbon. Well, okay.
Wade Shoemaker:So so let's let's start there. Where did one of those situations lead you to to a cool story? Oh, man. Uh-huh.
Jimbo Ronquest:There's a lot of There
Fred Zink:it goes.
Jimbo Ronquest:There's a lot of them. I think I remember a trip way back in early days. We was going to, I think, maybe Nebraska or Illinois. My wife, Rosie, me, his wife, Dawn, that we stopped and had dinner.
Wade Shoemaker:Where does he going?
Jimbo Ronquest:And I think the next thing I remember, Dawn had his bill billfold and Rosie had mine. Oh, no. We we were left. Oh,
Fred Zink:boy. I've still been there drinking, I think.
Wade Shoemaker:Yeah. Just
Fred Zink:put it
Wade Shoemaker:on the tap. It don't exist.
Jimbo Ronquest:Going all the contest. I mean, it's kind of fun thing back
Wade Shoemaker:in That's when it was king.
Jimbo Ronquest:We're buddies with competitors. It's it's always
Fred Zink:I I don't know. Here's what I'll say about Jimbo. I don't know how many times him and I tied, but they walk in the room and they go, we got a tie. Jimbo and I look at each other.
Wade Shoemaker:You knew who it was?
Fred Zink:It'd be me. It'd be him and I about 10 times we tied. I'm like, oh, dang, Jimbo.
Jimbo Ronquest:Always made it always made it fun. We just had good times doing that. Actually, bad as I hate to say it, we've never had time spent with I don't know that we've ever been in
Fred Zink:the field. We never have. We gotta do that this forever. Yeah.
Jimbo Ronquest:Yeah. I do that this year for DUTV episode. I think it'd be fun.
Wade Shoemaker:Yeah. You said never been in the field together. You mean We
Fred Zink:never hunted together. What? No. So when y'all were on the
Wade Shoemaker:show, like, shows are gonna air. It's him or you. Yeah. We're different. Yeah.
Fred Zink:That's right. That's cool information. Some years or whatever. It's been a long time. We never hunted together.
Wade Shoemaker:That's so
Fred Zink:long. Yeah. We gotta fix that.
Wade Shoemaker:Yeah. That's something that's gotta change.
Jimbo Ronquest:Yeah. I think we need to fix that.
Wade Shoemaker:It will change. Sure. For sure.
Fred Zink:Yeah. We talked about some of He even come up to my my neck of the woods about two years ago.
Jimbo Ronquest:They didn't even call you. It must even get caught
Fred Zink:up by with me. Well, there's probably there's lot of people for paradise over there. Yeah. Like, that's a different deal.
Jimbo Ronquest:Truth comes out now. To go somewhere. Yeah.
Wade Shoemaker:He's like, you're not invited.
Jimbo Ronquest:It it was a DU event. Now he had his own people. Sure. Sure.
Wade Shoemaker:But I bet if he'd have called you, you probably would have made some arrangements. Yeah.
Jimbo Ronquest:Now it comes out, Jimbo. Man, you can take the whole deal.
Wade Shoemaker:You gotta call him out every now and then, dude.
Fred Zink:You gotta keep him level. We're gonna do it.
Jimbo Ronquest:That's right.
Wade Shoemaker:Look. Don't know we're out on time, but I think we're pretty close to this thirty. I know we're gonna try to stay on schedule, but I wanna get with you guys, and I wanna ask you one last thing. If there's anything that you wanna leave everybody here with a thought or something to talk about, like, I think I think just as important, I said it earlier with with them, the guy I was talking to, you know, lot of cool things we're talking about that's new. It's coming out, and I think it's very cool.
Wade Shoemaker:I think it's very important, but I think a lot of cool things here is gonna be what you leave people with. What do you wanna leave people with, like, a last thought of what you're looking forward to in the upcoming seasons?
Jimbo Ronquest:Just looking forward to all the friends, new friends, and old get to be around during the season. Good dogs, good people, good times in the field. Freddie said it earlier, it's not all about that full
Fred Zink:of straps.
Jimbo Ronquest:Sure. I like I like the smell of burn powder and have a heavy strap like everybody else, but there's so much more to it than that. You know, take the time and I know it's this sounds cliche, but enjoy those sunrises and sunsets. Enjoy the folks you're spending time with in It the just hey, you never know when it goes away. So make those long lasting memories.
Jimbo Ronquest:Go go do it and be there and don't get in a hurry about it. I've looked at this in the past as an industry guy, man, we got to get them, get them, get them, got to hurry up, go, go, go, man, stop, slow down, breathe a little bit.
Wade Shoemaker:No, that's good. That's good, dude.
Fred Zink:I really appreciate that. Wiser, Jimbo. I like it. A great beard. I'd I'd have to say the same thing.
Fred Zink:I'd mimic exactly what Jimbo said. It's time spent with family and friends are the most important part about hunting. You know, my son, Gunner, 26 years old.
Wade Shoemaker:I met him at NWTF.
Fred Zink:Yeah. He grew up. You know, Jimbo's known him since being a little one. Jimbo know knew him before he was born when he Yeah. Just knowledge about it.
Fred Zink:Being able to spend the time with my son out hunting and his friends and be able to take some of his friends that are just getting into it and and taking them hunting and watch them like, oh my god. Now I why you guys do this. Right? And just introducing people to it and doing it in the right way and sharing it in the right way is so important. You know?
Fred Zink:And and give them back. Join Ducks Unlimited. Yeah. Spend that money. Go to the bank with support.
Fred Zink:Mhmm. If you're a young hunter out there and you're looking for a place to go or whatever, the best way to do it one of the best places is join the DU committee. Get in there with some like minded people that also like to hunt and do things, and it'd be amazing what doors you open. And I always said one thing, shake everybody's hand because you never know which handshake's gonna change your life in
Wade Shoemaker:the future. Good info. That's good info.
Fred Zink:That's good stuff.
Wade Shoemaker:I love that. Because it's it seems like a common theme. I've only I've I've asked this question twice, and it's, you know, three different people total, and the answer has been pretty much not the same, but really similar, but it all falls into conservation, and be diligent with what's here. And it's about the people more than over everything.
Fred Zink:Ducks Unlimited is the best attitude. I love They are definitely the leader in conservation. Yep. It it ain't even close. I love They
Jimbo Ronquest:are. And and what he said about, you know, join a DU chapter in your local area. It'll extend your duck season. You'll have an opportunity to make friends with folks you never knew possible. And the cool thing about duck hunting is it brings all walks of life together.
Wade Shoemaker:It's a fact, buddy.
Jimbo Ronquest:I I I talked to buddy. I called him a friend, mister Joe, past CEO of, come by and said hello. Man, people like that. Supposed to know me. I know other people just good old duck hunters that just, you know, trying to make their way through another year, you know, week to week.
Jimbo Ronquest:But it brings all social walks of life together under one roof. And I I think that's pretty cool because, you know, we can't all all be that person. No. We can all get along and join the same passion for same pursuit.
Wade Shoemaker:Yeah. The goal is the same. Right?
Jimbo Ronquest:That's
Wade Shoemaker:right. That's right. We're all on the same team no matter kinda where we stand on the fence. But beside, I love that. Very cool.
Wade Shoemaker:Guys, thank you for your time.
Jimbo Ronquest:Thank you.
Fred Zink:Appreciate it. You're welcome to being the host of DU
Wade Shoemaker:Yeah. That's
Fred Zink:right. Podcast
Wade Shoemaker:there. Hey.
Jimbo Ronquest:Yeah. Hey.
Fred Zink:Welcome to the team. You take this
Jimbo Ronquest:prospect to say welcome to the team.
Wade Shoemaker:We're getting it to win
Jimbo Ronquest:it, son. Hey. I know what we need to do. We talked about Freddie and I doing hunt. We need to set something up.
Jimbo Ronquest:We get the three of us to go maybe get Matt Harrison's one the other d, DU Podcast over here.
Wade Shoemaker:I'm in. Yeah. As long as they don't, like, cut me out. You know, they might be like, no.
Jimbo Ronquest:That's not smart. Well, provided provided though none of us get cut out, and we're good because we all have that
Wade Shoemaker:same Touche. Touche. Yeah. They it's either it's it's all of us or none of us. That's right.
Wade Shoemaker:That's it. We just formed a pack. Right?
Jimbo Ronquest:Y'all heard it.
Fred Zink:Y'all heard together.
Wade Shoemaker:It's live, so there's no taking that back.
Jimbo Ronquest:We just got
Fred Zink:it for.
Wade Shoemaker:Yes, sir. Guys, thank you. We gotta hold this together. We're gonna hang out a little bit more
Jimbo Ronquest:Thank you.
Fred Zink:Later. Appreciate you.
Jimbo Ronquest:Thank you. Thank you.
VO:That's a wrap for today's episode of the Ducks Unlimited Podcast brought to you by Bird Dog Whiskey and Cocktails. From post hunt unwinds to celebrations back at camp, Bird Dog delivers award winning flavor to every moment. Enjoy responsibly. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe, and check out ducks.org/dupodcast for more stories, science, and all things waterfowl. Guest opinions are their own and don't necessarily reflect those of Ducks Unlimited.
VO:Until next time, stay fired up, stay focused, and stay tuned to the Ducks.