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The future of waterfowl hunting depends on more than ducks. It depends on community, storytelling, and getting new people involved.
Recorded live from the Duck Den at DUX 2026, host Jimbo Robinson sits down with the team behind Split Reed: Zach, Brennan, and Max. The conversation explores how a digital waterfowl publication grew into a community-driven platform focused on hunting, conservation, storytelling, and helping new hunters find their place in the sport.
The group discusses the origins of Split Reed, the success of the Road Duck Tour series, public land hunting culture, and why authentic storytelling continues to resonate in an increasingly crowded digital world. Along the way, they share thoughts on recruiting young hunters, building friendships through waterfowling, and why community is still the most important part of the sport.
Topics Covered
- The origin and mission of Split Reed
- Building a waterfowl-focused media community
- The Road Duck Tour series
- Public land duck hunting and DIY adventures
- Storytelling in modern hunting culture
- Recruiting and inspiring new hunters
- Waterfowl industry friendships and partnerships
- Why community remains central to waterfowling
- DUX 2026 highlights and favorite products
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
Jimbo Robinson
DUPodcast Co-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.
I think Zach's talked about, walking 90 miles to celebrate the U's ninetieth anniversary.
VO:Yeah. He was gonna do that. I would do it.
Zach:We could do a walk from Mount Hood to the coast in Oregon. You
Jimbo Robinson:heard it here first. You heard it. I was about to say that.
Brennan:You heard it
Zach:here first. You write it down. I'll do
VO: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. Enjoy responsibly.
Jimbo Robinson:Alright. Welcome back. We have an exciting last but not the least. So we have the guys from Split Read, Brennan. Brennan.
Brennan:Yes,
Jimbo Robinson:sir. That's right. Zach and Max. Max with us and we're excited for this final episode of day one here in the Duck Den, and this is gonna be fun. So
Zach:Check. Check.
Jimbo Robinson:Because everywhere y'all go is fun. I mean, you guys are like a party.
Zach:I mean, we've we've been known to have a good time. If Split Reads around, you know, we've been known to have a good time.
Jimbo Robinson:I did I did have to before we dive way off into this, I I do have to ask, do you really sleep on
Zach:the floor? I I've slept on the floor in quite a few places. I've slept in some sketchy areas in my days. Boat ramps, truck stops.
Jimbo Robinson:But your current bed is on the floor.
Zach:Oh, yeah. Yeah. Well, Jimbo, I posted an Instagram story the other day. I've got a I'm anti bed frame. I'm an I'm I'm pro dude room, so bed on the floor is like the most dude thing I could think of.
Zach:No side table. I've got instead of a dresser, I just got a wire rack from Costco. I'm just trying to dude max in my current state of life.
Jimbo Robinson:Do you
Zach:know Austin Stapleton? I do know Austin Stapleton.
Jimbo Robinson:You and Austin Stapleton would get along great.
Zach:He seems like a guy that likes to do max.
Jimbo Robinson:Yeah. He's a speaking of Austin Stapleton, he just walked in here. That's crazy. I just said, you and Zach are a lot alike. Y'all like, dude, dude.
Jimbo Robinson:He's sleeping on the floor right now.
Zach:Yeah. He said that's I'm anti bed frame. No bed frame, just mattress on the floor, no dresser, no
Jimbo Robinson:ice cream. And I said, do you know Austin Stapleton? And then you walked in. It's weird. You are the man.
Jimbo Robinson:Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, Austin Stapleton. Oh, that's awesome. It was a great it was a hilarious video. I guess y'all were testing mics.
Zach:Yeah. I was testing out my microphone and I was like, I got my dog there. I gotta see how the audio is. And so I just interviewed my dog, and the mic smells a little bit now. So sorry to everybody we've interviewed today if it smells like dog's mouth, but, you know, could be mine, could be hers.
Jimbo Robinson:You're at a waterfowl show. So let's talk about what is Split Read? Like, what is what's the genesis?
Zach:I'm gonna pass this one to our oldest team member here, Brendan, who's been with Split Read the longest.
Brennan:Yeah. For sure. I mean, first and foremost, I think Split Read is, you know, a digital waterfowl publication, you know, on our website, social media, and stuff like that. But I feel like at the core of it, it's a community, and that's something we've always kind of strived to. I mean, there's so many amazing incredible little niches within, you know, the waterfowl space and the conservation space.
Brennan:You know, there's all sorts of cool stuff. You have you have training in dogs and, you know, guns and decoy makers, call makers, people with really cool stories, know, your your everyday hunter. And and that's something that we've always wanted to try and and push forward is, you know, the storytelling of, you know, the waterfowl community regardless of, you know, how attached you are to it or how attached to one particular part of it. It's an incredible community to be a part of, and we're, you know, super grateful in that we get to work with a bunch of cool partners within that space, you know, such as Ducks Unlimited and, you know, a bunch of different brand partners getting to do really cool projects on, you know, the media front. You know, we do work with with a lot of partners doing, you know, different media projects, you know, helping people bring products to markets.
Brennan:But like I said, you know, the the core part of it and something that, you know, is really important to me and a lot of our team is, you know, the the community side of it. And just being able to help be a voice for people in the waterfowl space, you know, a voice for conservation issues, you know, new gear and stuff like that that's coming out, and just all the incredible stuff that this community holds.
Jimbo Robinson:Yeah. And, you know, my first interaction or my first taste or, you know, appreciation was when y'all did your first iCast. The the the new gear at iCast, was that two years ago, three years ago?
Zach:Yep. Yeah. From our sister publication, Fly Lords. So we've got what's cool about us is
Jimbo Robinson:like Did y'all y'all reshare?
Zach:Yeah. We showed that to you guys in terms of like proof of concept, and so it's like, well, sister company, like, they're pretty much like copy and paste what we do on the other side of the fly fishing industry. I think that the waterfowl space and the fly fishing space are very similar in ways that like we care a lot about the things that we are chasing. Fly fishermen are extremely, you know, passionate about the fish they're chasing. They're they're caring about conservation.
Zach:Duck hunters, the same way like Yeah. So different community events whether it's ICAST or it's ducks like, know, it's important to show off those events like that.
VO:Welcome to the Old Timer Minute sponsored by Old Timer Knives.
VO:Alright. So when I was a kid, which a lot of people know about Jim Kennedy, he's a major donor of Ducks Unlimited. He's done so much for DU. But when I was a kid, he actually owns York Woods now. But when I was a kid, we actually had a lease on York Woods.
VO:This was before Kennedy became part of that. And they actually I think they still call it it's called the Ring Of Fire. It is a blind that is in a circle of cypress trees out in the middle of a field, and it was the most fun blind to hunt because the way the ducks came in, they came in just perfectly. Like, there was the easiest shot you could get off those ducks. But it was and it was beautiful out there.
VO:But by far, the Ring Of Fire is my favorite place that I've ever hunted.
VO:Visit the oldtimer.com.
Jimbo Robinson:What y'all did here last year was was incredible and I think that, you know, what what y'all bring to the table is is that voice. Right? And and so many people in here, you know, in order to have a community, you gotta have the houses. Right? So the vendors kinda make up the houses here, and y'all are telling the story.
Jimbo Robinson:You know, I was gonna say the homeowners association, but that wouldn't be right because most people don't like their HOA. But y'all are the community. Y'all y'all are what make everybody here and kinda speak to to every other waterfowler, and it's it's an awesome platform. And and we love working with y'all and and have enjoyed this kinda last two years, eighteen months, and and continue to do more. And and so it's it's a lot of fun.
Jimbo Robinson:And and was that y'all's first time at headquarters the other day?
Zach:That was. It was super sweet to see. Unfortunately, Brendan got delayed in Denver and had to stay stay the night on a cot. Yeah. So he couldn't make it to the headquarters.
Zach:But Max and I had a great time. We got to see all the cool things. Big whoop. We got to see that. The giant book in your guys' library, that's I laid it open and laid next to it, and it's almost as big as me.
Zach:And I'm five eleven and a half, so it's it's almost five eleven and a half.
Jimbo Robinson:That's awesome. Well, yeah, you know, we were super super stoked, and know, what's cool is you got to see kind of a different side of Ducks Unlimited in that headquarters, and most people don't realize that to me, it's kind of I take it for granted. Right? I walk through the doors all the time, but it's a it's a there's a lot of history in there, and it's kind of a it's got a museum esque. I mean, Max, what'd you think?
Jimbo Robinson:I mean
Max:Yeah. I mean, I thought it was great just seeing, like, every little part of Ducks Unlimited that, like, a great organization. You don't see it from the outside. Like, just the team that goes into day to day work. Really cool seeing all the old stamps, like a lot of great heritage in there.
Max:Even things like DU Magazine seeing where that gets created. Super cool to see kinda how all the magic
Jimbo Robinson:happens. I mean, that team starts every month from the blank slate. Right? Obviously, they have an idea in their head, but it's definitely a blank slate of pulling all that content together. I I love taking people to the to the studio, kind of the Marcom's department, the podcast, like, that this team run Chris Isaac kind of runs that area back there, but, you know, their vision and and what they do back there is just it's it's awesome.
Jimbo Robinson:It's a fun place to kinda hang out.
Zach:Yeah. We got to check out the Duck Den a little bit and like seeing all the cool older things that you guys have up there and like, you know, the production value that you guys like put all the effort and stuff like that into and just having a cool place to hang out and chitchat, hang out with all these different people. It's like, you know, it's a great place to foster conversation for sure back there.
Jimbo Robinson:Absolutely. Did y'all see the metal goosebumps when y'all were in there?
Zach:No. Not not. Missed this. Amy didn't point those out.
Jimbo Robinson:Good. Good. Good. Those are my my treasures back there. Had a had a a mentor of mine gave me you know, they used to put metal goosebumps on necks of, geese.
Jimbo Robinson:They only did it for about I think about two years, and they realized that they were freezing to them. And so they so one of the biologists that was a part of that project when they abandoned the the the location they were using to band all these geese, the original biology, he left them to the to the guys that were kind of studying under him, and one of our regional directors got the last 60 of them. So he has 60 goosebumps left, and and throughout his career, he's given a few out. A year and a half away a year and a half ago, he gave me 40. He gave me his last 40 instead of, look.
Jimbo Robinson:I'm passing these on to you to give to people, that mean a lot to you. And so been been working. I guess I'm cooking up that I'm gonna do with them. I think it's gonna be mean a lot to to him, but it's a cool, real cool treasure, and just seeing the history of banding because that was the the original bands.
Brennan:So they're like stainless steel, like neck collars?
Jimbo Robinson:Yeah. Yep. Yep. And they didn't they didn't so they would collapse them on
VO:their necks
Jimbo Robinson:and whatever they were made out of, they were freezing like up under their necks, like right under it. And so then they weren't moving and they were having trouble swallowing. So there was a lot of problems with them. Yeah. And so they they only did I mean, I think they made 200 start is the number they started with.
Jimbo Robinson:And and and like every it looks like electrical tape. It's all colored electrical tape. So there's some blue ones, black, yellow, and then but all of the numbers and the symbols on them obviously meant something and each one of them looks like it was done with electrical tape. It's really, really neat. I'll send y'all I'll send y'all one.
Jimbo Robinson:Well, y'all all works, remote, but
Zach:We can pass it around.
Jimbo Robinson:I'll send Yeah. I'll send it to, one of y'all and and y'all can check it out and and put it up somewhere.
Zach:Yeah. For sure. That'd be sweet.
Jimbo Robinson:But, so like, what is what does Split Read do throughout the year besides the content? Like I know you all do amazing things. What does the year look like in in in the Split Read world? How does it bring that community together and tell the stories?
Brennan:Yeah. I mean, there's a lot of different, you know, media projects internally that we're working on. Zach is the host of one of them, Road Dogg Tour, which is kinda like our, you know, YouTube series, video series. You know, that's a really fun one that I think we get to show the community. There's a lot of great media out there and films and shows about hunting and duck hunting.
Brennan:One of the things that I really love about Road Duck Tour and that I think, you know, resonates with our community is, you know, it's Zach and a couple of his buddies, and they just go hunting on public land, and it's kinda just that public land hunter roots. You know, it's not overly produced. You know, obviously, we have, you know, some nice equipment and stuff that we're filming on to, you know, have a high production quality value. But, at the end of the day, you know, it's just a bunch of buddies going out there and and hunting and, you know, none of it's scripted and none of it's, you know, we're not hunting with with outfitters or anything. It's all just, you know, our team doing it ourselves and going out there and chasing the migration, and, I think that's something that that's a project that, you know, we've been working on over the past three years.
Brennan:And as, you know, as far as media, that's something that I think, you know, we're really proud of and and something that we've seen a lot of folks enjoy. Just, know, kind of a return and a resurgence of you know, not just ourselves but a lot of people just you know, just going to hunt. Like just and it's just average just kinda like run of the mill hunting and it's fun because it's you know, Zach and his friends and yeah. It's great.
Jimbo Robinson:It's raw and all fit.
Zach:It is. Yeah. Yep. Yep. Yep.
Jimbo Robinson:People can relate to that.
Zach:Whenever we came up with the series a couple years ago, we were just sitting there in a Google Meet and they're like, maybe we should like, you know, we have this on our sister publication Fly Lords. Have this thing called fly shop tour. We're like, we need something like that for Split Read. I was like, well, I got a truck. I got a dog.
Zach:If you guys give me a credit card, I can make something happen. And so somehow, someway I convinced everybody just to start let me travel around and just go hunting with my friends and it worked out pretty good and stayed in a lot of it's it's come such a long way like I've had Brendan helping me out with the whole entire thing the entire time in the first year. Was like, man, I'm sleeping in a love's truck stop. I'm showering here. I've been eating the ducks that I shoot, and I'm stocking up on Campbell's chicken noodle soup and just, you know, living literally in the back of my pickup truck just chasing ducks because it's it's what I wanted to do, and it was so much fun.
Zach:And then now luckily, we're getting Airbnb's and stuff like that, and we're up and up some of the value. I'm still dirtbagging it as I like to say a lot of the time. Still, you know, it's hard for me not to wanna just sleep in the back of my truck and eat gas station food, corn. The corn dogs have gone down. I was averaging two corn dogs a day on the first season.
Zach:That was my sustenance getting me through, and I gained about 30 pounds on the road the first season just between, you know, the beers, the the corn dogs, and just not making healthy decisions in terms of sleep and all that fun stuff. But we're coming a long way. We did camp starvation last year. Went on a diet halfway through because it was it was getting bad again, but it's a super fun series. Split read just gives me the range.
Zach:Just go out there and, you know, create stuff that I would wanna watch and being able to go out there and just with a good group of dudes and like nothing's like overly, you know, production value is great, but it's not like we're not trying to push anything dramatic. We're just out there hunting, having a good time. And my favorite thing about it is, you know, growing up watching YouTube videos on hunting and stuff like that. That's how I learned to to waterfowl hunt was YouTube. I didn't grow up in a hunting family.
Zach:Nobody in my family chased ducks as me and my cousin. We decided we wanted to do it. So it's like when I'm creating this series now, that's what I set out to do. It's like watch something that inspires someone younger that, hey, like, I don't have a ton of crazy stuff to go do this, but I'm gonna go out. I'm gonna go somewhere public.
Zach:Everything that I do can be replicated to some extent. And like, I wanna just inspire people to get out there, go hunting, especially like younger kids. Like, that's my favorite thing. So it's like if I can inspire some little kid like me who didn't grow up hunting, but wants to get into it and like, you know, learn the ropes, like that's that's my goal at the end of the day is just inspire people to get out there and hunt. It's a dying thing.
Zach:Every single year we hear more and more that hunting license sales are down, less kids are hunting and it's like, wanna get inspired people. If I can post a cool video and get someone to get out there and go hunt like that's that's my goal. That's our goal. It's what we read. Like we wanna inspire people and create a community that welcomes everybody into it.
Zach:Like we're not trying to push anybody out, but so everything we do, we just wanna inspire folks.
Jimbo Robinson:Man. Hey, say it a little bit louder so the people in the back can hear you say that again. Like, my son who's running around here in an orange hat, I don't know where he went. But, when he started hunting, I I took him when he was three. I've got a picture, and actually Brett Baker was a part of this hunt.
Jimbo Robinson:When my son was three, we dropped him off. We had a hunt and we dropped him off, and and Trip just rode around with me to drop him off, and that was his experience you know, young. And then when he became four, I bought him a four ten. And when he was four years old, I gave him this four ten, but I never forced him to load it. Right?
Jimbo Robinson:Never forced him to shoot it, never did it, but he carried a gun like that. When he was five, Throughout the season, he got a little bit more comfortable. He shot at a few on the water. We went out one afternoon by ourselves. He got to set out the spread.
Jimbo Robinson:He put five duck decoys out in a circle, and he put a pulsator in the middle of them, and we had one spoony hen come and land right next to it. I mean, like, really, I didn't think we'd do anything, but he had one spoony hen land next to it. He shot it on the water, killed it, wounded it, dog chased it long way, brought it back. That was his first duck. In the next season, we we kinda practice a little bit more, taught him how to shoot.
Jimbo Robinson:Told him if you shoot one out of the air this year, I'll buy you a semi auto, 20 gauge. Needless to didn't think that that was gonna happen Thanksgiving weekend with my entire family, but he did. And so but when he when we were hunting, it was just the two of us. Right? And he saw the community of friends and my family hunting together, he kept asking me, dad, why can't I bring friends?
Jimbo Robinson:I wanna bring friends. I wanna get more people involved in sitting around a fire one night at our old camp. He said, dad, I wanna start a YouTube page to get more kids into hunting with us. And I was like, well, we're not gonna start a YouTube page, you but can start an Instagram page. So he started an Instagram page called Duck Kids, and and all he does is he and he talks on it, and and I'm really bad with it because we only post during duck season.
Jimbo Robinson:And he keeps telling me he wants to we posted some this year during turkey season, but Tripp's goal is to get more kids his age into duck hunting. And I'm probably you know, I kind of probably failed him a little bit on that aspect because I don't post enough, for him, and he's always asked me to, but now my daughter's into it, and she wants to post on there. And and their whole thing is just to get more kids their age into duck hunting and into hunting in general. And and they're both very passionate about you know, my my son's invited probably 500 people this weekend to this Ducks Expo and he's like, dad, it's they're getting to see it. Right?
Jimbo Robinson:They're getting to see how much fun this is and this community is and it's just getting them here. Right? You get them here, they walk around. I mean, this is the who's who. There's my daughter right there.
Jimbo Robinson:This is the who's who of the industry and man, people are nice. Mhmm. Right? Like, Martins of the world. I mean, you can go room by room, booth by booth, and there's somebody that we looked up to as kids Yep.
Jimbo Robinson:That's there that you can talk to about hunting. And it's just it it's so inspiring, and I love that this is truly the kickoff because let's be honest, tomorrow I think today is the thirty first. Kinda lost track of time.
Zach:Yeah.
Jimbo Robinson:Yeah. Today is. Tomorrow, we're one month from when we're pulling the trigger boys. Like, it doesn't get any better. So Yeah.
Jimbo Robinson:What you just said resonated so well with me because watching kids walk through this door and watching them carry bags around here, like, a kid really wants something here, they can go ask somebody. It's probably gonna be given to them.
Zach:Yep. Oh, yeah.
Jimbo Robinson:And and y'all know y'all spend a lot of time in this industry and this community, and it's just inspiring. This thing inspires me more than anything.
VO:Stay tuned to the Ducks Unlimited Podcast sponsored by Bird Dog Whiskey after these messages.
Zach:My favorite thing about waterfowl hunting and what I honestly latch onto the most and like to the point where it's like I'd wanted to, you know, work in this industry was just like the amount of like love that everybody has for the sport and how open everybody is like each other and like, you know, making friends and making connections. I think no matter what what what hunt you go on or who it's associated with, like, it's those times that, you know, yeah, you might have a bad hunt out there in the field or a good hunt, but it's like you're coming back to a duck camp, you're coming back to a hotel, you're hanging out with people, you're having a good time. It just draws in so much community. Some of my best friends that I have in life I've made through hunting. Like, I would without hunting, I wouldn't have that.
Zach:That's like one of my favorite things. It's such a community or community oriented sport, especially waterfowl specifically. Like, you're there with groups of people, you're having fun. And I think it's attractive to like first time hunters where it's like, hey, like, I'm gonna go make friends. I'm gonna go on trips with people all over the country to go chase ducks.
Zach:And that's like a very beautiful thing that I love about the sport of waterfowl that, you know, it just brings people together whether it's an event like this, whether, you know, it's a hunting trip with some buddies or just like I've met so many really good people that have now become lifelong friends just traveling around duck hunting. And some like people that I would never have business being friends with. And and that's and that's it. And we talked about this earlier.
Jimbo Robinson:We had we had Devlin. Duck was on here. And one of things we said is is from an outsider's perspective looking in, you think, man, the waterfelt community fights all the time. The waterfelt community fights all the time that that, you know, it's a it's a war it's a war brand. It's a brand war.
Jimbo Robinson:Right? But y'all know, like, let's talk about some of these after parties and some of the things that happen after the shows. It's not.
Zach:No. No. Because when
Jimbo Robinson:you walk I mean, I don't care who's hosting the party and we're all a part of one tomorrow night. There there's no when you go in there, it's everybody in the industry is there. And it's it's it's you know, there's no walls in here. There's no locked doors. It's a big open community, and it really is that way.
Jimbo Robinson:And some of the hottest brands on the market are here, but they're all hanging out, hugging. Hey, man. Good to see you. They travel together. And so it's really cool when, you know, this this type of of we can get together like this and be united.
Jimbo Robinson:Definitely. And and I think that people looking in on it would probably agree with what you said is, man, a lot of my best friends I've been in it in this industry now for eighteen years, and a lot of my best friends are in this industry.
Zach:Yeah.
Jimbo Robinson:A lot of the people that my kids see that are that are very good friends of mine are in this industry. Mhmm. And, you know, again, that that that gives me hope too.
Zach:Yeah. And when I'm like, I was, you know, telling all my friends back home, like, how excited I am that, like, don't really understand, like, you know, my job or, like, what I'm going to. Like, what are you most excited for about your trip? And I'm like, man, it's just like one big family reunion. And everybody gets back in the same room.
Zach:It's like, you know, you you haven't skipped a beat. It's like, hey, man. How's it going? You know, you know, chitchat and it's it's like one giant family reunion where everybody comes together and it's it's so much fun and it's such a good time. I love community events like this.
Jimbo Robinson:It's amazing. Well, how many how long have you been with Split Read? How long have been in the industry?
Brennan:I started with Split Read in 2020 and that was actually my kind of first introduction into the industry. Ironically, I've met friends in college and, kinda like to what you guys were saying, I made a bunch of friends through waterfowl hunting, and I I my undergrad degree was in fish and wildlife management at the time. I got really into photography and in writing, and that's kinda how I got linked up with Split Read, back in the day was, you know, they needed some help on the editorial side and, doing some content trips as a photographer. So, you know, the connections that I made with my buddies kinda helped me got get noticed as, you know, photographer just being able to travel and hunt with friends and, you know, shoot a lot of content, reaching out to, you know, kinda like the the OG Split Read team, and and getting linked up with them. But I this is pretty much the the only place I've been in the industry has been with Split Read.
Brennan:Yeah.
Jimbo Robinson:What about you?
Max:So I've been with Split Read for just over two years now. I've been in the outdoor industry for probably five, six years. Originally, I was doing some other marketing stuff, PR stuff. Enjoyed it, but really wanted to join a brand, or publication that had, like we talked about community around it. Someone in the opportunity to join Splitry came up, jumped on it, and it's been a dream job just working with like minded individuals, telling cool stories, and, getting to share what I love about the waterfowl community with everyone.
Max:You know, that's one
Jimbo Robinson:of the things that that, when this kind of, you know, I know you were with a with a a call company before before Split Read and when this opportunity came about, what's been really cool is having, you know, like a another arm of communication for DU. And and what y'all do, and there's gonna be some you know, what y'all did leading up to the show plus what we're gonna do in the future. It's it's exciting to have, you know, some guys out there helping us tell the story. Right? And as DU, as we move into our ninetieth anniversary next year, I think we're gonna do so they were gonna do some fun things.
Jimbo Robinson:I think Zach's talked about walking 90 miles to celebrate DU's ninetieth anniversary.
VO:Yeah. He was gonna do that.
Zach:I would do it. We could do a walk from Mount Hood to the coast in Oregon. You heard it here first.
Jimbo Robinson:You heard it. I was about to say that. You heard
Max:it here first.
Zach:You write it down. I'll do it. I gotta do the the beer mile again like I did for the d u dash. The
Jimbo Robinson:d u dash, that was epic. That was epic. Like
Brennan:That was pretty fun.
Jimbo Robinson:I mean, I had people texting me left and right and sending it to me left and right. Was like, do you know this guy? I was like, well, I did until he did that, but hold on. Let me make sure he's still alive. It's hard enough to run three miles.
Jimbo Robinson:Now let's drinking beer between each mile.
Zach:Yep. A lot of beer too. 16 ounce cans.
Jimbo Robinson:You bought 16 ounce cans.
Zach:Yeah. That was the only six pack of Busch Light that was available. So we went with the the 16 ounce cans and put my body through torture for the Ducks, but it's worth it.
Jimbo Robinson:You are a man's man.
Zach:Yep.
Jimbo Robinson:Yeah. You're a dude.
Zach:I'm a dude. You are a dude. Dude. You know?
Jimbo Robinson:90 miles. I wonder like, there's so much we could do there. 90 miles walking.
Zach:I I mean, since you said walking, it's definitely a dude. If you were to tell me I gotta run 90 mile, I mean, I barely made it through the three. Right. But but walking 90, I think I could do it.
Jimbo Robinson:Chris, you hear this? That'd be fun. Walking we I think we've just talked Zach Rutledge into walking 90 miles to celebrate our ninetieth anniversary.
Zach:If we get enough people to donate money for the ninetieth anniversary, we gotta set a fundraising goal for it.
Jimbo Robinson:No. We couldn't. We could take the podcast trailer to, like, follow you and tell the story along the way.
Brennan:Yeah. Have a live peanut gallery. Have a
Jimbo Robinson:live peanut gallery and make this like a really oh, man. We are we are onto something here. Will Shuser, this is gonna be your project.
Zach:Here, Jimbo, right here. I'll if we I'll shake your hand on it. I'll walk 90 miles production
Jimbo Robinson:Let's do it.
Zach:For the ninetieth.
Jimbo Robinson:That oh, and we take the podcast trailer, we follow you, and we raise like what would be cool to be raise 90,000.
Zach:Right?
Jimbo Robinson:Yep. See if we could get a thousand dollars raise for every mile you walk.
Brennan:We gotta like break it up too and do something fun. Yes. And do this at like every 30 miles, like we're doing some something.
VO:Don't know You gotta keep it entertained for the people out there.
Zach:Oh, yeah. Yeah.
Jimbo Robinson:Well, I mean, you know, remember somebody walked somebody did a walking campaign recently for Public Land. Can't
Zach:That was Sam Sole.
Jimbo Robinson:Sam? Yep. They did that.
Brennan:So Yeah. The duck rook.
Jimbo Robinson:But I think we could yeah. That's what it was. But I think we could do something here. Every 30 miles, I mean, obviously, we break it up over, you know, five or six, seven, eight, nine nine days maybe. Maybe 10 miles a day.
Jimbo Robinson:Maybe longer than that.
Zach:Maybe we can get
Brennan:Sam to do it with you too.
Zach:I know. We can just see how long we keep going. I got a a camper on the back of my truck. I'll just crawl in there whenever it's time and then take a little nap, get back out, keep walking.
Jimbo Robinson:Well, we put you in the trailer.
Zach:Oh, yeah. That's true.
Jimbo Robinson:We can can build a blow up mattress in the Podcast trailer, and then we could put, like, magnets on it every time we get a mile. We hit a milestone, maybe put some maybe put a duck call on it, and that could be like our thermometer of how much we've raised at the same time.
Zach:Oh, yeah. That's what I'm gonna need. I'm gonna need to put a split read
Jimbo Robinson:in there, you know, to do. I'm on one today. We'll play on words. Man, I have
Zach:had The dad jokes. You're breaking them out.
Jimbo Robinson:Dude, the dad jokes have been epic today. I had one earlier with with Duck. You know, he's all about the pearl snaps. Right?
Zach:Yep.
Jimbo Robinson:And in golf, and I said, man, swinging and snaps, I mean, dude. Like, we could we could make we could make swinging and snap something. Like, wearing, you know, the pearl snaps at the golf course.
Zach:Yeah. So I think
Jimbo Robinson:we're on to something. Yeah. Well, oh, man. Now my mind is racing, and I know yours is too. You content guys are just thinking about what we can do with this.
Zach:I'm just thinking about my legs.
Jimbo Robinson:Well, you'd have to train a little bit. Know, you have to walk up and down, you know, in your house a little bit. Yeah. I bet we could find somebody to do it with you.
Zach:We can find some people.
Brennan:I bet I bet Sam Solo would do it.
Zach:Yeah. Maybe. For conservation? Yeah. 90 miles.
Zach:I think I think he does more than a 100 miles.
Jimbo Robinson:You know what? I bet our chief fundraising officer may do it. I wonder I don't know where David Schuessler is, but hey. We'll see if you can get your dad to the duck den real quick. We're gonna put him on the spot, see if I can convince him really quickly to that oh, there's so much we could do here.
Brennan:There's a lot we could do. I'll do it. We got 90 miles to do it.
Zach:The Rays body is lot.
Brennan:You can fit into 90 miles.
Jimbo Robinson:Yeah. Oh, there is our our chief brand officer won't be there, but he just walked in. But, man, every 30 miles, this is gonna be epic.
Zach:My one request my one request is that we don't do it in Memphis where there's No. No. No. No.
Jimbo Robinson:Doug there's Doug Barnes right there. Doug, we have we just came up with a great idea for the ninetieth anniversary. Zach Rutledge is gonna walk 90 miles for the Ducks, and we're gonna try to raise a thousand dollars every mile. We're gonna pull the podcast trailer behind him. We're gonna have a duck thermometer to see how much it is.
Jimbo Robinson:What do you think? He won't be here, but we don't know. We're talking about he lives out he lives out in Oregon. So, you know, somewhere out there would be cool, but and then so I think maybe David Shoemaker walks with him or something like that. Like, that's how I was kinda thinking like, well, I I challenged him here, but we've shook on it now.
Zach:So he's gonna do it. Happen.
Jimbo Robinson:We're gonna raise $90,000. We're gonna oh, man. We're on something. He does see, he likes it. Yeah.
Jimbo Robinson:He's like it. He he's walking over here. You're dang this night. 90 for ninety, ninety thousand, 90 miles. Zach will have to probably have 90 pairs of shoes.
Jimbo Robinson:Yep. Maybe we can
Brennan:get a shoe sponsor.
Zach:I got some friends at Nike now that I live in Oregon. We could see if we get a little DU Nike collab going.
Brennan:There you go.
Jimbo Robinson:Maybe, you know, shin ankle boots.
Zach:Shin ankle boots?
Jimbo Robinson:We'll probably have to have nine pairs. Yep.
Zach:Yeah. A lot a lot of pairs for sure. I'm gonna need to rotate shoes. They got some sweet socks over there. I checked them
VO:out here.
Brennan:Sock sponsor?
Jimbo Robinson:Yeah. Sock sponsor, maybe Hanes.
Zach:Hey. Yeah. Do want her? Yeah. Yeah.
Zach:We're gonna need that. I've I've seen some athletic shorts floating around out there from different brands, so maybe we can get decked out. I do have my DU dash socks, so maybe just some more pairs
Jimbo Robinson:of those. Absolute we'll get you 30 pairs of those. You can have one every three miles.
Zach:Yeah. Yeah. We're gonna need a fresh sock replacement going. Someone's gonna have to charge you.
Jimbo Robinson:Sponsor. Oh, there's so much we could do. What we need to do is raise a bunch of money before we do this. And that way, we don't have put all the pressure and tell him to slow down on his walk. We're at $980, Zach.
Jimbo Robinson:Walk slow for that last quarter of a mile so we can get that last Yeah. That last bit raised. So what's the plan for the next week? I know what did y'all do today content wise here? We covered a
Brennan:lot of the new products, at least all the stuff that we could find. There's a lot of amazing vendors here today. A lot of really cool products. Bunch of new stuff, obviously, in in gear and apparel, and that's kinda what we focused on today. And then tomorrow, we're gonna go hit, kind of the guns and ammo stuff as a as a separate deal, but everything new on that scene.
Jimbo Robinson:So what does that look like? What are y'all looking for when y'all are going to the vendors to to put on that? What what what what's
Zach:obviously, like, you know, all these companies do a great job at social media letting everybody know, like, what to look forward to to to draw people here. You know, a lot of companies are rolling out with everything here at the show, which is awesome to see. So, you know, we're on social media looking nonstop like sending each other like what's new, what's exciting, and then also just walking the show floor and being like, oh, I've never seen that before. So like, let's stop and like Yep. Let's chat with these people.
Zach:So we've had a lot of exciting a lot of really cool innovative stuff has been coming out at this show, and it's super exciting to to see. And I know everybody online is gonna be super excited to see it too.
Jimbo Robinson:Heck yeah. Alright. Here he is. Alright. So we have a we're we're about to pitch you on an idea that we've kinda shook on, so you're you may be locked into this.
Jimbo Robinson:But Zach has agreed in our ninetieth anniversary next year to walk 90 miles to raise $90,000, and I told him that our chief fundraising officer would probably walk with him. He did my 90 miles today. He did his 90 miles a day, but we're onto something here. We're gonna we're gonna figure this out. We're gonna raise some money.
Jimbo Robinson:We're gonna raise 90,000 in the ninetieth anniversary, Zach and Zach, I'll come out there. Maybe I'll walk nine miles with you. Yeah. David can walk nine miles.
Zach:Everybody can take shifts.
Jimbo Robinson:We'll come out there and pull the podcast trailer behind him and make this a huge deal. Like, I think we can raise some serious money with this. Zach and I have shook on us. I have to look at this.
Zach:I I have to walk 90 miles now. You do
Jimbo Robinson:have to walk 90 miles, and I have to find a way we're gonna raise a thousand dollars every mile, and we're gonna find a sock sponsor, an underwear sponsor, water sponsor, shoe sponsor, and we're we're gonna do this. This is gonna also put a duck call on the side of the the mobile podcast trailer and man. Alright. So tomorrow's Guns and Gear. What's Sunday?
Jimbo Robinson:Wrap it up?
Brennan:Yeah. Probably wrapping up, you know, anything we missed. There's a lot of people here, and there's obviously a lot of a lot of new stuff. So trying to make sure we can hit everybody. That is again kinda like the focus.
Brennan:Like, we're trying to hit everything that's, you know, new coming out this year, but also just like some cool stuff. There's a lot of fun gear here too. You know, there's some really serious technical gear stuff here for, you know, waterfowl hunters, but there's also just a lot of, like, fun apparel stuff and other kinda cool gear. But we've got some other social media activation stuff that we'll probably be shooting on on Sunday, and I might try and go over to the headquarters because I'm still pretty bummed that I I missed out on seeing like Bo Woop and this apparently like 20 pound book coffee table.
Zach:Was easily like 30 to 40 pound. It was it was heavy. We held the punk gun in the in
Brennan:the office. I'm so bummed I missed it.
Zach:And the punk gun was lighter than the book.
Jimbo Robinson:Yeah. I've never touched that book.
Zach:You should go pick it up. I'm going to. It's it's huge.
Jimbo Robinson:Is it 90 pounds?
Zach:I wouldn't say 90. Maybe, you know, maybe I'll carry the book for part of the walk. There you go.
Jimbo Robinson:I wouldn't that's a lot.
Zach:It is. You know? But Do you read from it?
Max:Yeah. I heard Miles. He reads pigs.
Jimbo Robinson:Well, I know y'all got a lot going on. We got a lot of fun things to do tonight, and I to all of our the people that are maybe following us out there currently online since it says live Mhmm. And everybody knows Zach is now walking 90 miles next year. Thanks for watching. Man, it's been amazing first day.
Jimbo Robinson:Thank you all for being here with us. I am so excited to watch the content that y'all put out after this, and we're gonna have a great time tomorrow night
Zach:Oh, yeah.
Jimbo Robinson:At our party. And and then Sunday, we will all be begging for for new shoes and and and recovering. But thank y'all. I mean, I I can't thank y'all enough for for y'all's partnership with DU and just what y'all do to help help get the word out there for us and and the sponsorships and the partnerships that we have going on, and I really look forward to seeing where we can take this in the future.
Zach:Oh, yeah. We love Ducks Unlimited over here at Split Read, and you guys have been great partners and, you know, obviously giving us tons of amazing stuff to post through our channels and, you know, educate our whole user bases of all these awesome conservation opportunities and new policies and different things like that. And thank you for having us out here. It's been great. Absolutely.
Zach:I look forward to it every year.
Jimbo Robinson:Yep. Yep. So we will catch everybody tomorrow morning. We'll be back live in the Duck Den at 9AM. Don't forget, first 100 people to come to the Duck Den will receive an exclusive x hat, d u x hat, and a YETI, engraved stackable, cup.
Jimbo Robinson:And so we'll see y'all back live here tomorrow morning, 9AM. Don't miss Duck Expo. If you need to buy tickets, you can buy them at duckexpo.com. Otherwise, come to the show. See y'all.
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.