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So I'm sitting down with Matt Stewart, Roy
Canda, and Greg Miller.
And it couldn't be more timely.
So today we sent out an email a couple of
hours ago, we've had about, I'm looking 105,
we had 105 responses so far and essentially it
was an email that went out, asking people,
what do they want to see from Silvercore?
And a number of people are talking about hunting
and one guy came up, he said, I'm preparing
to go hunting for the first time this fall,
a podcast discussing strategies for first
time, hunters would be appreciated, thank you.
So this couldn't be better because we
have some new-ish hunters here.
So Matt, Roy, you guys got into hunting what?
But a year ago, two years ago?
Two years ago.
I think we're a lil bit more than
two years ago yeah.
Yeah we took a hunting course together.
I wanted to get my firearms license,
for actually a handgun to start.
I did not think about hunting until
they asked us why we wanted a firearm.
And Matt had said for hunting, then I just
copied his answer.
Well, I don't count the first year as hunting.
That was like, I don't know.
Lots of crazy, well, not lots of crazy stuff
happened, but we didn't know what we were doing.
So I don't, you don't count the first.
I don't know, two months.
No, there's no way.
We had no idea what we were doing.
We watched a lot of videos, but still were
very unsure of how to approach it and what
to do and where to go.
And you guys, aren't your stereotypical hunters,
like when you think about Elmer Fudd out there,
traipse around with his shotgun and coveralls.
Why don't you give a little bit, just a short
bio background about yourselves and we can
kind of get rolling.
Sure.
Nobody in my family is into hunting.
Like had a cousin in Alberta who is into it.
My dad, he was a fisherman, but he wasn't
into hunting at all.
I went out once with a neighbor, I thought it
was kind of cool, but I never thought about it as
a kid, even as a really adult, I dunno, I just,
didn't come to mind.
So, you know, I'm more of a business
person, so, nobody at work does it like,
it's just not at all.
You have no family background.
No, no family back.
No mentor.
Really?
No, no mentor.
None at all.
So yeah, it's totally out of the norm.
Like yeah.
Not even my wife, nobody in her family.
Nobody
And Roy, how bout you?
Coming from an Indo-Canadian
background, my dad, uncles, no one hunted.
They all had firearms, they had pistols.
They'd go shooting on the weekends and whatnot
and we'd see them.
Weren't allowed to touch them, weren't allowed to
see, like handle them, but we just saw them.
So there's always a fascination with
firearms, but no one in our family
hunting, fishing, tenting for us was
staying at the motel 8.
Like there was, there was nothing to do with
the outdoors whatsoever.
So zero hunting background, never
went out, nothing, all brand new for us.
And Greg, now you're getting into hunting and
so much as you're, you're learning from, from
Matt and from Roy here.
Yeah.
It was just one of those things, I think I went
with these two guys when they first bought their,
their first rifles and, they went through the
process at the time.
I wasn't, didn't have the time to take the
course and commit to it.
And then they started going out and I mean,
we golfed together, we fished together.
We do a lot of activities, outdoor
activities, and it was, they said, Hey, why
don't you come in and just see what it's like.
I love the water, I love being on boats,
I've been around boats my whole life.
And so I figured, Hey, if I can go out and
help to start off with and just see what it's
like, and you know, if I can help with the set
up or get them out there and, you know, go do
recoveries or so be it.
And I would, I would help out where I can.
So for sure it's something I, I'll
finally get my license eventually.
It's just a matter of trying to find
the time more than more than anything.
Yeah.
And for the listeners out here, we're
primarily talking about waterfowl hunting and
being out in the water now had Matt, Roy,
have you guys had much experience on the water
or is that a leaning on Greg a lot here?
Um.
No Matt you got the fishing background.
I fish.
So I, you know, I have a boat, so I'm
used to that, so that part was fine.
Not really in the marsh, more down the river
then, you know, out in the Gulf or whatever.
But and then a bit with my dad being a fisherman
too, but you know, it didn't really interest
me back in the day, so it's still fairly new
to me, but, you know, this is where Greg
comes in and he's kind of our, make sure we.
It's okay, you can say it.
Yeah.
He's our safety guy so.
Or Papa bear.
Yeah well he kind of makes sure
we do it right.
So lights on the boat going down the
river when it's dark and stuff like that.
Roy and I are more like hop in and go so.
No, it's a big deal that we've got Greg
on the team there because we, when we
started out and I have zero water experience.
Like I go with some experienced fishermen
and before we even get to the dock, they put
a life jacket on me.
They want to make sure that we got
Kanda, he's the only guy that can't swim.
So for me, it's a big deal having guys
that are into safety.
When Matt and I started out, we'd go out in
the fog and we'd do our best, sometimes we didn't
have the lights and when Greg found out we didn't
have lights, he kind of looked at us like,
what are you guys doing?
Right.
He bought them for us.
And you know what, thank goodness he did because
in times out there where we were like, Whoa,
we need those lights, it's very important.
So it's, for me, it's a big education thing,
being with someone who knows about the water
cause I don't know anything about the water.
Right.
I'm not sure which way to go.
A couple of times they've been trying to teach
me how to drive the boat as well in case
of emergency, which is great, cause I've never
driven a boat before.
So here, these guys are trying to coach me and
teach me if I didn't have them, I'd be stuck.
So your first time of going out,
hunting, no mentors.
Going in blind, what'd you, do you just,
you go on forums?
Oh, hang tight here.
So this, this is the best story.
This is our first time hunting.
We bought our, our shotguns and we'd bought
the blank rounds and fired them around the
house and it was great.
And then we started looking to gear, Matt
and I are both gear guys.
So we got gear, we got all kinds of gear.
We looked pretty, really pretty.
And then we picked up the rounds of ammo
and then we decided we need to, this is
before we had a boat.
Yeah.
And we're like, we need to go, we need to get
some, some ducks here.
Let's go harvest some ducks.
So we did some research and Matt did some
research and we, we compared notes and
Matt said, okay, we're going out this day.
Make sure you bring your ammo, you got your
gun, we're good to go.
And we started out and we drove down
the road done and.
You drove down some road.
We drove down some road, we jumped out out of the
truck and we're walking down the sidewalk.
And I remember some folks driving by looking at
us and they were very scared cause two guys
walking down the street with firearms and about
to jump into the marsh.
So we jump into the marsh, Matt carry
on from there.
Well, like highest tide of the year.
So like, they're like, okay, we'll do just go
off into the road, we'll go down it to here.
We'll go our, whatever, 150 meters off the road,
make sure we're cool.
But we couldn't see where we're stepping.
The water's like up almost to our chest.
We have our gun over our shoulder.
I'm holding my box of shells.
Like I didn't even have it in a bag, like,
or even in a pocket.
And I'm just like.
He's, he's chest deep.
He's chest deep with a gun in one hand and a
box of ammo in the other.
Behind them is the guy that can't swim, not
wearing a life vest.
Asking him, hey, Matt, check, check
how deep it is.
Let me, let me know if we're going to drop.
I think we're okay.
I had to go first and then stepping into a
hole and then I went down and I get all wet.
And then his glove, his glove got wet, which
is the glove I bought from about two sets
because they're on sale.
And little did we know that they
weren't waterproof?
So now we both have cold hands.
He's got a cold left hand and I've got
a cold right hand.
Cause I dipped in the, in the hole too.
So then we decided that, that wasn't
a very good idea.
Yeah.
Then we decided we wouldn't, we couldn't
get out far enough to be away from the road.
So we're like, okay, this is just not
gonna work and this is just a dumb idea.
Like even if it was the lower tide, I don't know.
I still think we wouldn't have got
out there anyways.
So we went back up, got in the truck and
then, you know, I'm like, okay, I think
there is another area we can get, you know,
off the dike somewhere.
So went up driving, you know, I don't
know, 15 minutes found a spot, parked.
Walking down the dike, and then it was just
weird because we're there these people are
walking their dogs, there's people like
taking pictures of birds and there was other
hunters out there, but.
And it was like, by this time it was like sunny,
you know, I don't think there's any ducks around.
There's a lot of people and I'm just like, we
went out there anyways.
It was a little bit weird, but and then we
just kinda stood and went down and stood in the
marsh and then we're just like, there's nothing
coming in, there's nothing around, there's
a bunch of hunters that are all coming back in
and we're like, okay, this didn't happen today.
But we learned a few things.
So we were fully intimated.
We're not quite sure how far we're supposed to
be from other hunters.
We had just come like the day before from
the gun range for the first time when we tried
to shoot trap and I yelled pull and I went
to shoot the clay and my, my lock was on.
Your trigger lock or your safety?
Your safety was on.
Safety, okay.
And yeah, that was a bit embarrassing.
So fully green, fully intimidated.
Haven't really shot before and it's
like, we learned a couple of things.
Like maybe we shouldn't go into the
marsh when it's deep and we don't know.
And that's probably like noon.
I don't know what time it was, it was like
middle of the day.
Yeah.
No decoys, nothing.
Nothing.
Not even a bag.
No, just a box ammo and a hand.
And a firearm.
Greg, you do some work with coast guard.
Uh, yep with the volunteers.
Rural Canadian Marine Search and Rescue.
Do you ever come across hunters that are.
Yeah for sure.
Waiting out in the marsh?
Yeah.
Just broken down boats in the river.
Guys go out and aren't able to get
back cause their engines won't start.
Most of the time there's other guys out there
that can bring them back, but the odd, the
odd time that you can find a call off Steveson
sitting there off Ladner.
Right.
For sure.
And I think that's kind of why you hear the
stories of these guys going out first time
and kind of, for me, it's like, okay, if I
can take that stress away because running
the river is stressful.
There's logs, there's debris running it at
five o'clock in the morning when there's
no, you know, no navigation lights.
And so if you can take that stress away to
allow them just to kind of focus on the
hunting side of it.
Right.
That's that's, that's where I fit in.
So it's, it's good.
For now.
For now, yeah.
So that was your first time out hunting
and an unsuccessful hunt in so much as
harvesting anything but successful in that you
learned where not to go, how not to do it?
Yup.
Exactly.
Would you go back and you'd like read or
research on the internet or talk to the gun
store and try and get as many tips as possible?
Like, what was your tactic?
I didn't really tell, talk to anybody
at the gun store.
Cause I, even there, I felt kind of intimidated
and I'm like, are these, am I going to
walk in here and this guy's going to think
I'm a total rookie?
They're not going to want to, they'll be
like, Oh, I don't want to bother this guy.
So I, I didn't even try to be honest.
A lot of it was just online and then a lot
of it is you can't find very much information
really about sort of what's going on here.
You know, in the Lower Mainland, a lot of stuff
is down in the States.
So I'm like, is this even relevant to here?
So like, I kind of figured the areas I
could go, kind of knowing the river a bit, but
I didn't have a boat when we first started.
So very quickly we realized that, you
know what, we got to have a boat.
So that was kind of one of the biggest, first
sort of steps I think, into really progressing.
I went to a couple of places and I asked a
question or two, but that felt kind of dumb
right away, cause these are all experts like.
So the different stores and whatnot, and they're
not terribly mean whatsoever, but you
just feel intimidated.
I get it.
You feel like these guys know everything.
And I'm here trying to get into this, this new
activity and I don't know what I'm doing, I'm going
to look like an idiot.
Right.
So I did what Matt did and I, and I, I found
out about a few, fowl hunters that were in
the same profession.
So I contacted them.
Okay.
So I got some good tips.
One of the gents told me make sure you
get some really warm waders, especially for
your feet cause you're going to be cold.
Go spend the extra money.
Okay.
Then he said, well, if you need, you need to
go out with someone who knows what they're doing.
So even before we got our boat, I think,
well Matt's boat there.
We went out with a couple of gents, a
couple of good guys who knew what they were
doing that took us out.
And that was the first time I had pulled the
trigger at a duck.
That's right.
I didn't hit anything, but I gave it a go.
When I got to, I think the biggest
thing for me was knowing the etiquette.
That's huge.
Isn't it?
What are you supposed to do?
How are you supposed to do it?
That was huge.
Is I just want to know the, the wrongs
and the rights.
Like, I didn't want to mess up or offend anyone.
Right.
So having someone experienced to go out
with, even for just the basic etiquette made a
huge difference for us.
How about you, Matt?
Yeah, same thing.
I think that, you know, when we finally went
out with somebody who knew what they were
doing, you know, short period of time or one
time it was, it just, I think we felt a lot more
comfortable after that.
So we're like, okay, you know, we know what to do.
I mean, one of the biggest things was
like, when do I shoot that duck?
Cause never doing it before you're like,
okay, how close do they have to be?
And.
Right.
Okay, it's 25 yards, but this is the first
time you're doing it.
This duck's coming in, you're getting
all excited and you take a shot at it.
And then you realize after like, well,
that thing was like way too far away.
Like, so you're just wasting ammo.
Matt's still a sky blaster.
Like that was a big thing.
Like how close does it apt to come in?
And then, you know, if you shoot it
well, how are you going to retrieve it?
Right.
That's another part, like, are you going to
be able to get it or not?
So, you know, those are some big things.
So going out with somebody, just that one
time was a big deal so.
I think, I agree with you first time was
a huge deal for us.
It gave us a lot of confidence and just
knowing just the basic stuff of what's
right and wrong.
So then we were ready to go off on our own
on the boat and learn some different things.
Yeah.
I think pretty soon after that is
when we got a boat.
So that kind of turned things around the
start of it anyways.
Just went full into it.
Got all the cool guy kit, then the boat.
Yeah.
I got a boat, cammoed it up.
It was a bit too shiny aluminum for us.
And then, it kind of started from there.
And then I think we ended up having like
waders, jacket, hat, gloves .I think we sort
of figured that out.
And then it was kind of figuring out
where to go and then.
And then getting beached a couple of times.
Yeah.
You don't want to get beached.
No, no.
We sat out there at point we thought, Oh,
we're good, we're good and I got a new shotgun
and I was just trying to clear it out a bit
and get it used to, in my hands and whatnot.
And then we're looking at the boat there and
Matt's like, Oh, we're good, we're good.
And then, we were beached.
Yeah.
The tide went out.
We came in at a pretty high tide, hunting,
sitting there, I'm like, ah, the boats
in a bit of mud, we'll be able to get it out.
And then no.
It's like quicksand.
So what'd you do?
Well, we dragged that.
I think we dragged it probably a hundred
yards across the mud.
Probably took us an hour sinking in.
It's not mud, it's quicksand.
One foot at a time.
We finally got it to some water and like a little
slough, but it was like, I dunno, six inches deep.
So then you're walking down the slough out
towards the river, gets a bit deeper,
Roy can't swim.
So he's like, ah, you know, he's kind of
freaking out, you know, I'm like get in the boat.
I'm going to push you down.
I got in the boat really quick.
Really quick.
Yeah.
I take it Greg wasn't there to
help with the tides?
No, Greg, it was not there at the time.
So he probably would have been watching a lot more
careful than we were.
Had Greg been there we would not have been
on that adventure.
No, we wouldn't.
No, he would have made sure that we
were back in the boat.
You wouldn't have had the stories though.
True.
That's a good point.
Yes.
We learned, so at that point we learned
that, you know what?
Don't wait so long.
Another time we were out there and our engine
failed, we had just started, we were good.
Now we had learned to go out at sunrise, right?
Like we're writing, we're a little bit smarter now.
We're going to go early.
Now we've got a couple of decoys right.
So now we progressed, we've got a few
decoys now, so we're going to go early.
So we're there, we're ready, we're on the boat
and we're going out and hald a call off fway
there, the motor dies.
It's dead.
We try, we try, Matt's ticked off.
So we, we kind of beached the boat
to the side and try hunting from this area.
No luck, gave it a go.
Now I'm like, Matt we got to go bud, my wife's
waiting, we got to go to soccer practice or
something like that.
He's like, okay, let's go.
So we've decided that we're going to get
back to shore, but we don't have oars.
What do we have Matt?
Oh, it was a collapsible paddle.
A collapsible paddle.
It was, yes.
No lights, no oars.
So no oars, no lights.
We've got a collapsible paddle, but you know,
we're giving it a go.
We're trying to get back, it's not too far
and it's not working.
So we decided to take a little of a shortcut.
So we have this little canal we're
going to go through.
And of course, Matt lets me sit in the
boat like a king, cause I can't swim and he
is dragging the boat through the marsh there
and the canal dries up.
So now we're not happy cause we have zero ducks.
It's not been a pleasant experience so far.
Thank goodness it's not raining, but he's
like Roy, here's what we're gonna do, buddy.
We're going to take the boat and we're gonna
carry it over 15, 20 feet across this, this
piece of land here.
And we're back, we're back in the.
Middle of the river.
We're we're good to go.
I thought, okay, I can do that.
So I'm at the front and he's pushing the boat
and I'm pulling the boat and we're going over
some land here and it's like a push, pull and
it's that quicksand and a couple pulls in and
I say, Matt, come up here and I could hear
it in his voice Kanda, what's the problem?
I can hear him saying, listen, you
weak Indo-Canadian guy who can't swim.
What is your problem?
Why can't you just pull the boat?
Let's go and I'll come over buddy.
So he comes up and he sees what I see and
we discover a body.
It is the craziest thing I've ever
experienced in my life.
Here we are in the marsh, pulling a boat
across the land and then boom, there's a body.
So he looks at me, he's like, Oh, okay.
You weren't, you weren't kidding around,
this is serious.
This is serious.
So we both look at each other and it's
kind of like, you know, it's like, Whoa, this
is crazy, we better call someone here.
So we made a couple of phone calls to
our wives first, tell them that we might
be a little bit late.
And then, we made the call to the, or
do you make the call to RCMP or did I?
I think you did.
You did, you made the first call and
then you didn't know where we were so.
Then I passed the phone to him.
Passed the phone to me, and then you
gotta describe where you are and then
they're like, well, there's no land there.
I'm like we're standing on land, it's the marsh.
But yeah, that was, that was interesting.
So then they, they came on down.
But the best part is when the RCMP came on
down, we could see land from where we were and
the RCMP could see us, but they couldn't get
across to where we were.
So Matt and I had to walk the boat too the RCMP,
let them jump on the boat and then drag them back.
There were three of them.
Yeah.
It was a pretty big deal for them.
Yeah.
And then the tide started to come in.
The tide started coming and as the RCMP
and the coast guard are going back and
forth about the body.
Right.
Matt and I flagged down this, this young
buck, must've been in his seventies.
Yeah.
So we flag him down.
He's got his boat coming.
He's he's a, he's a hunter.
And we, we yelled and we need to help, but
we got the RCMP here.
We got a body here, our boats dead, we gotta be
towed back, so the best part is he's trying to
unload his firearm as his boat's spinning.
And he finally comes over and he jumps on land.
He goes straight to the RCMP officer and asks
what's going on and he wants to go see the body.
They're like, fine, go see the body,
don't touch it.
And we have this female RCMP officer that's
interviewing us and Matt and I are, are
serious and whatnot.
And grandpa just, just, drops his waders.
Drops his waders then he cause he needed
to relieve himself.
So the female.
All I'm saying.
Number one or number two?
Number one.
And I'm thinking, I'm looking at Matt,
I'm looking at the female RCMP officer
and grandpa's he has to relieve himself and
he just turns around and we just kind of
shrugged our shoulders.
We got to watch the RCMP do a full search
and see how they run, run protocol.
And, and then the coolest thing was when
that, the coast guard came in hey Matt?
The hovercraft, yeah came in and had to
take the body away.
I mean, the tide was coming in.
It was like, I dunno, it was like six inches
deep there by the time.
They didn't realize I'm like, okay, I think
we got about half an hour here and like the
water's going to be up.
So like.
Right.
We got to, you gotta figure out what you're
going to do here so.
They kind of panicked and then they had to
call the coast guard in.
So that was quite the scene too so.
No kidding.
Well, the best part is we call Greg and
Greg's like the one time I can't come, the
one time I can't come you guys find the body,
what is going on here?
Cause he was all over it.
I'm sure you are watching your video weren't you
checking out everything.
It was my wife's birthday that day.
So I don't think it was a wise move to go and
got the, got the text message really it's
a serious, and then watch the hovercraft
get tasked and.
That's a hell of a new hunting adventure.
I don't think too many people, new
hunters go out there and happened to find
bodies, just floating, not for a while.
It must've been there for awhile.
It was there for a while.
And RCMP said that it's most likely they
wouldn't have found it.
Right.
Unless someone had got stuck there.
Cause no one would ever go over that
little piece of land.
Well, we shouldn't have been there.
I mean, the motor broke down.
We're pulling the boat, you know?
Down the river, essentially.
You're, you were walking like on the shore, I
was kind of pushing it on the side and we
ju, we shouldn't have been there, like nobody
would stop there.
So it's just crazy.
So.
Heck of a story though.
Yeah.
That's one of those things they'll stick
with you for awhile.
Yeah, for sure.
People like don't believe me when I tell them.
Like they're just like, what, like
really that happened?
I'm like, yeah.
Well the best part was that the RCMP and
the hovercraft left us there as they, as
they went on their way.
And a grandpa was that towing us back to shore.
I don't know if he's doing donuts or
whatnot, but he left us about a hundered
yards from shore.
He just dropped the rope.
Yeah, he just dropped the rope and we're like ugh.
And so we just paddle our way back in.
He was a seasoned veteran that gentlemen,
at least he pulled us most of the way so.
I think the best part was when we were stranded
on the island there he's like hey, Roy, can you
call my wife for me?
Cause she's expecting me like, you know right
now and if I don't come home, I think
she thinks I'm dead.
I'm like Oh, sure, sure, you dial the
phone, I can't dial it.
I can't dial it, you dial it and then
I'll talk to her.
Oh man.
Yeah it was interesting.
Oh he was a beaut.
Yeah.
Have you seen him since.
No, I think he lived in Vancouver.
Okay.
And he, yeah, he was in his seventies for sure.
Oh, we helped him, we put his boat
back on this truck.
I don't know how he got the boat off.
He had it in the back of his truck.
So we had to put it back into this
truck for him so.
This 70 year old guy just lifted this thing out.
And I think he lives somewhere, like deep
in Vancouver, like, so he just came out
here to go hunting.
Oh he was a beaut.
He was, he loved going out.
I think he said he's been coming out here for
like 30, 40 years so.
Yeah.
Crazy.
So at this point in your hunting career,
success rate, when you're going out.
High, low, like how far are we into it?
Pretty low.
That was what, a year in maybe?
Oh, we were low success rate of that time.
I think, I, yeah, I think the odd duck
here and there.
When Greg came out, when Greg started coming
out with us, we started getting more duck.
That's why, that's right.
Cause he'd say, cause when, whenever we didn't
go out with Greg, we'd come back skunked.
Right.
And then when we went out with Greg,
we'd have a few, so.
He's a lucky charm.
He was the lucky charm.
So if we ever went out without him,
we get skunked.
Right.
I think it was the extra decoys and everything
else that you purchased between then and now.
Well, extra decoys and oars.
Oars was a big one, we picked up oars.
We've got our first, we've got a full on
first aid kit and we even threw in some,
what's it called?
Benadryl.
Okay.
Because we heard stories of other hunters going
out, having allergic reactions and you're
stuck out there.
Hmm.
Right.
So if you're having an allergic reaction,
what are you gonna do?
So now in, in that first aid kit we've,
we've put some Benadryl.
We've got, I get migraines, so I
have Advil and Tylenol in there.
Yeah.
Water.
Water yeah.
We got water in there.
We just got smarter.
We try to minimalize what we have on the boat now.
Like I started off with a really cool bag from Bass
Pro or wherever it was.
And it was like, it was the coolest
thing bag ever.
But when I took it out in the marsh, even though
it was a floating bag, it was fully soaked.
Really?
So I bought a bag that was maybe 60% less, but
it's a full on dry bag.
Everything goes in one bag now, minimal.
Everything is minimal, not fancy, just minimal.
And that's the way to do it too.
Like any, any new hobby you get into, it's
all accumulation of knowledge, accumulation
of kit, everything else.
And at some point, you start realizing
how little you actually need to go
out and be successful.
What is your load outlook like now compared to
when you first started?
We probably have half the stuff.
I mean, we have some more decoys now, but other
than that, I think it's like the bare minimum.
I bring, like, I don't know, we have water that
stays in the boat in the toat in the boat.
I think I do a power bar, ammo, second
pair of gloves and that's probably
about it I'd say.
I'm the exact same, ammo, a snack,
extra gloves always.
I learned that quick, those extra gloves,
especially when it's you try to retrieve
something in your whole hand is wet.
That's why we bought Greg some decoy gloves.
Poor guy who had freezing hands the whole time.
But yeah, very minimal.
And that one pack, we pack everything.
Each guy's got one pack he brings.
We have the decoys, the first aid
kit's in the boat.
I think that's it.
Greg, what else do you bring?
No, I think that's pretty much it.
We each have our own dry bag, life
jacket, obviously and gloves is the key.
I bring a VHF radio usually.
I think we have one on the boat now that
we, we leave as well.
But yeah, minimal.
You just want to have everything with you, so
I don't wanna be carrying around a lot of stuff, I
think is what we found.
And keep, keep drying and warm, stay
out there longer.
Less stuff in the boat too.
Yeah.
Especially when we're coming on and off the
boat, we're actually.
We're, we're very safety conscious.
Like I'm not getting into the boat without
handing Matt or Greg, my firearm first.
Right.
I'm just, why not give, you know, it's the same
thing goes for all of us.
We just go very slowly, take our time, do it
the right way, way.
And that's key, it really is.
You only gotta make a mistake once.
Yeah.
We we're, we're also, we always like to drink
the three of us, but we don't drink when we hunt.
Right.
That's just a rule we have, we drink
when we golf, sure.
We drink at each's homes.
Sure.
We don't drink when we hunt.
I think that's a smart rule.
I know some people will.
Yeah, and to each their own, but we will
have a drink after.
Sure.
Like we normally pull up to my garage and we'll
go in my garage and sit there and either be
happy that we harvested some ducks or like,
Oh, we better get some next time and we'll
enjoy it then for sure.
But there's too many things that can go
wrong when you're out in the marsh.
Especially for me as a non-swimmer,
I did invest in an automatic life vest.
Right.
One, it's slimmer, so it's easier to maneuver
and two, anything could happen there.
I've fallen a couple of times out there or have
lost my step and that sand can really grab you.
Yeah, it really can.
It can grab you quick.
And even in the Marsh you're walking around.
There's all kinds of dips there.
So if I'm going for a little walk, my
own, I throw, I throw my, my life vest on.
Right.
Yeah any time I'm jumping on the boat
or off the boat, I've got it on for sure.
I've got beside me when I'm on the marsh.
We don't mess around that way.
No, that's smart.
I think my first time out with you guys, you
got out of the boat and then I went to get
out and I was pulling the boat up and took a
step too far and woosh!
And you're in.
And I'm in yeah.
It was probably up to my, just under
my armpits I think.
You're going with chest waders as well?
Yep.
Yeah.
I, originally it was kind of, you know, as
they experienced and upgrade their equipment
than I would, I would take their hand me downs.
But I've obviously now purchased my own stuff as
well, but I think I still got the original wader
hand me downs that I picked up off these guys.
And so yeah, you don't realize, you know, you
really got to watch your footing cause it
can happen quickly.
And of course, they're, they've got their backs
to me as they're walking to get set up and you
know, you're all of a sudden in the water and
luckily the boat was there and I was able
to grab it and kind of embarrassed over that.
I think I did admit to it, but lil embarrassed.
Well, you're out there helping them
set up the decoys.
Yep.
You're helping in the blind, or you're
helping set up wherever you're going
to be at, be hunting and the retrieval.
Yeah, I do the retrieval well.
So I think that we're kind of creatures
of habit all, all three of us.
So we kind of go to the same, the same spot and
we know where our set up.
We do a little bit experimenting in other
areas, but we, we kind of have our favorite spot.
So we'll get to the, get to the place we
take our boat normally.
And the two of them will jump off when
we've got land decoys as well as the blind.
And then I'll go back and start deploying
the water decoys.
And so they'll be on the shore kind of
guiding where we, where we want them to go.
And then once it's set up, then I can
kind of bring the boat around again and kind
of all sit back and admire what we've done.
And if it's going to work this time, or if it's not
going to work, you know, I think we've changed the
setup quite a few times.
And you add, add the robos here and there
and add more decoys, but I think we've
got it pretty much down now pretty good.
And, and then if, if they're successful and
then they have one, then I'll go jump in
the boat and I'll go out and do the recovery.
And that way again, they can kind of focus
just on watching what's around and seeing
what's going on there.
They're obviously very cautious of the fact
that I'm recovering.
Right.
In front, but once I get it and I'm far enough
away, then if another flock comes, they can
go back at it right.
And there's been times where I just kind of
hunkered down in the boat and then they're going
to get another one then I don't have to go back.
But yeah, so we're pretty successful in recovery.
So it's been good.
So are you researching as well?
Are you looking up like how to set
up the decoys and.
I think we have kind of enough
conversations about it.
I've for sure looked online.
I've looked on sign, online on calling.
That was, that was going to be my next question.
So I think we've all done that.
He likes to duck call for sure.
Yeah, I don't know if my, Matts, for sure the
best duck caller we have.
If you've probably seen me in rush hour traffic
on the way home from work, I'll be sitting
in my car, practicing my duck calling.
It's definitely something that takes a
while to master and we all, I think Kanda at
one point said, Greg, you're scaring 'em
away, just stop, stop.
You're scaring 'em away.
So we all kind of have our strengths and duck
calling right now is not mine for sure I think
that's a that's Matts.
I think I've got about seven or
eight duck calls.
Cause I blame it on the duck call more
than the caller.
Just like golf clubs, right?
Exactly.
It's the clubs, it's the clubs.
The new bag I got.
Not shooting very well.
I find calling hard.
Like I'm like you look at it online and these
guys make it look so easy and this is how
I do it and this is what you should do.
And I dunno, I, I guess you gotta practice
a lot, but I just I'm like, okay, when
do I call them in?
When do I don't.
Am I doing it right?
Am I scaring them away?
So I don't know, it's difficult.
But I think there's a couple cases where you've
actually called them in, which is more than I
think me and Roy can say.
We're even sitting there, we see them circling
over and then you do the call and you definitely
see them make that turn and then come towards
us, which, you know.
You know, what kind of a day it's been
when Matt's calling, if he's calling really
hard, we're pretty dry.
He wants those bad.
Yeah.
You know what?
The one thing we've learned too, for sure
is, and I wasn't a believer at first.
It's all about the blind.
I thought, no, we're good.
We're good, they can't see us.
Matt said they can see us, they can see us.
I'm like who cares that they see us
we're not moving.
I didn't think it was that big of a deal,
but, the better we got at it and the better
our blind was the more successful we were.
Right.
It was, I was like, really?
Is it that big of a deal?
Bud your going overkill man, you've got this
coming in, you're ordering from this place.
But no, it really is a big deal.
The blind is a huge part of everything.
That was a big thing for us.
Big turning point was them because
when we first went out, we were just
like, kind of sitting there in the reeds.
Like we, I don't know.
We sat there.
Mostly exposed.
We had two stools.
Two stools just sitting there.
Sitting there.
Well at first we didn't have a stool.
We're crouching down.
Yes.
So uncomfortable.
But then, then we got stools and we got bags.
Yep, there you go.
We're progressive.
You had full on stools, you don't
have the bird bucket.
Turned upside down, you sit on it, turn it over
to the other way and bring your birds out.
Oh.
Bird bucket.
We just have these little collapsible stools that
just throw on the boat and don't take up a
lot of room so yeah.
Every guy has got, got his job when we
go out there, it's very systematic.
You know, these guys are driving, after we get
there they w, I jump off to, to launch the robos.
Matt and Greg, have got the other decoys going.
Once that's set up we, we sit and we wait together
and it's very systematic.
And half the time we don't even talk, I
just it's, it's so serene out there.
Like for me, everybody that knows me would
never have imagined that I'd be a duck hunter.
Yeah.
No.
I love being out with these guys.
It's it's brilliant, it's the best time ever.
It's something new.
It's just it's I can't explain it.
It's brilliant.
How would you compare it to golf?
Ooh.
I know you're quite into golf.
Yeah I'm a hardcore golfer.
So last year, I'll put it this way, it was
a duck hunting season and I was going out
with the boys here and my brother called me
he goes, I got a tee time at Mayfair lakes.
And I love Mayfair, like it's my course of play
and I said sorry bud I'm hunting tomorrow,
it's hunting season.
So now it's either hunting season or
it's golfing season.
There are they're fully, even for me.
Really.
I have two seasons; it's hunting season or
it's golfing season.
If I'm hunting, golfing doesn't matter.
Are you a competitive golfer?
No.
Just go out to have a good time.
So I guess the next question where I'm going
with that is hunting.
Is that a sort of competitive thing with
you guys when you go out, it's like, Oh no,
they're coming over, Matt's going to get
it, better be mine.
Zero.
No, I don't think so.
If for us, sorry Greg, go ahead.
Yeah, no, I don't see that at all.
And you know, Roy's a pretty competitive guy.
I don't think we play around a golf where
there isn't money of some sort involved in it.
But not with not with hunting.
They, I mean, they have their systems, they
have their stances.
They, they know, you know, who's, who's
duck it is depending on what side it's
coming from, but there's no competitor.
I mean sure ,afterwards it's nice to say, Oh,
I got three, I got two.
But there's no competitiveness during
the actual hunting.
It's a team effort for sure.
When we're out there set up and then yeah.
If, if there's one duck that's harvested, doesn't
matter who got it cause we're going to split it.
Yeah.
Three ways.
Right.
So it's all about like, if I'm having a
bad shooting day and Matt brings down half
a dozen, well, I got two coming my way for
dinner ,that's great.
Yeah.
No, it's all about what comes to the boat.
It's never, I want these guys to do well.
That is the best way to do it.
It's a team.
It's how many can, so Matt and I play a game.
So we have different goals we want
to hit right?
So, okay, Roy has to do a doubleheader, we got two
going, coming in, we've got to go boom, boom.
Roy, let's see how many we can take while our,
you know, we cut the engine on the water
and take one down as we're in the boat.
It's more of a team game.
Right.
How many can we bring down together?
That's what we're going for.
Nope.
It's worked out well so far.
So we share, we share the ducks and yeah.
And they're always discussing
ways to improve.
I don't think we've gone out on a trip.
We've come back and said we were happy with
the way it was set up.
Or we were happy with what I think we've
improved something almost every, even if
it comes to the weights on the decoys, right?
I mean, we kept on losing the decoys because of
the river current and all of a sudden they'd
be floating away and you have to go chase someone
and we gotta buy bigger weights now and then you
got a big, bigger blind.
And there's always improvements I think
that, I don't know if we're ever going
to be happy with, with the setup.
Especially when there's gear guys at the table.
Yeah.
Earlier Matt, you were talking about something
with your, your decoys, your floating decoys.
You have a different system now that you're,
you're trying with them.
Yeah, I think the first we had line and a J wait.
Yeah.
Right.
So you'd adjust.
Okay, I think it's this deep here and
it's dark too right?
So, and then you put 'em down, tide comes up,
they sort of float away.
You gotta, you go out and get 'em.
And they're just a pain to kind of retrieve.
So I think it's called a Texas rig, I think
is what it's called.
So it's got like a, a certain length line.
I think we use like a 10 foot line, it's
got like a mushroom weight on there and
it's this kind of nylon coated wire I think
is what it is right?
And then you just kind of hook them on this
carabiner and then you just kinda grab
them all at once so.
They don't really tangle up.
Nope.
You just unhook the carabiner or you
just toss them out where you want them.
And then when we retrieve them, you just hook the
carabiner on and you just drag 'em all up and
pull them into the boat.
So that's, that's been good.
I think it's been way better.
Yeah.
Way quicker deploying them and recovering.
And you can also deploy it from shore, we've
done a couple of times.
Yeah.
You just throw them out.
The J waits is just a, it was just hard.
It was a pain.
Big tangled mess.
Yeah tangled mess.
Exactly.
Yeah.
And then the current they drag and then they
drift into each other and it's just, yeah.
You're guessing exactly how long you want
the line out and.
Yeah.
If you miss it then yeah you're chasing decoys
all after all, all morning as we're hunting.
Yeah.
Yes, not fun.
No.
I'll have to put a link to that in the
podcast notes so the listeners can check out
what that looks like.
Yeah and you can get like a, I think it's popular
down in the States and they're hunting on these
like shallow ponds so you get like a three
foot or four foot ones and 10 feet are pretty
long, but we kinda need them here, but.
It all works well.
I like it so.
So you're a couple years into it now, if you're
to turn around and try and give some advice
to beginning you, what would you guys say?
Safety.
Okay.
That's my first thing right there, especially
for someone like me, like what I did the
first time we went out and going into the marsh
without a life vest.
That's, that's just dumb.
Yeah.
For anyone, not just, not just me a non-swimmer.
I think for anyone, because you could, we
could have fallen off and gone deep there and
you're holding a box of ammo and a firearm,
and you're trying to protect this gun you
just bought that's so expensive and you
don't want to go down.
Even with boat safety for us, we weren't the
smartest when we started.
Thank God Gregg came along, we got
lights and oars now.
For sure, for me, one of the biggest
things is safety.
Even like, I love the way we handle our firearms
when we're out there, I love the way we pass our
firearms on the boat.
I love that we don't drink.
Those are big things for me.
Cause I've got two daughters at home and
a wife and I got too much to live for, to,
to be silly about it.
Yeah, I think if we could have asked somebody some
advice or gone out, like almost like a mentor,
you know, I think now looking back, I probably
would ask these questions to these people who are
experienced, you know.
Cause not that I'm super experienced, but if
somebody who's new to it came and asked me, I
would have no problem, like telling them, I
might not tell them where to go exactly.
But I'm going to tell him what to do and
maybe what not to do and how I got into it.
I think that would be the biggest thing for
me is I would just ask more questions on
what to do and yeah.
Try and go out with somebody who knows
what they're doing even once or twice so.
How do people find that?
I don't know.
I just think you've, you just gotta be brave
enough to ask the guy at the local store
or, I dunno, it might be more intimidating
to just walk the bus, somebody who's out at
the boat launch, but it'd be, I don't know.
That's hard.
It would be nice if there was some kind of
program or something like, I don't know.
It's hard, but.
Yeah, I think it definitely, I think that
if there was a facility that would offer programs
for first time hunters.
It would do extremely well.
I think any place that say, Hey, we're looking
for first time hunters, we want to take you out.
We'll show you the do's and don'ts and
the etiquette and different things.
I think that make a huge difference.
I would sign up for a course like that
in a heartbeat.
Yeah.
Oh yeah.
I think they'd have to tread a pretty
careful line on that because then the guide
Outfitters get involved in are you guiding or
are you teaching or.
Yeah.
So it's, .I think that's part of the reason why
we don't see too many of those out there.
Even if you didn't hunt, but they just sort
of show you like, you know what you should,
and shouldn't do.
Even just showing you that kind of thing.
Not, not just sitting in the blind and
actually hunting for the ducks, but just
some basic stuff.
Like how do you set decoys?
How do you put them out?
Like, even if you're not hunting from,
but just, this is how you sort of do it.
Just an idea.
You know, you don't have to give all your
tricks away to these people, but some idea
would be good, you know?
This is kind of, this is how ducks fly in, or
this is what they do.
You know what I mean?
Like the behaviors and stuff like that.
And little things like that would
be very helpful.
So, but I just, I don't know where you get that.
You gain that knowledge, I guess, but from.
Grandpa YouTube.
There you go.
And that's where most people are
getting it from.
Yeah.
How bout you Greg?
We've had a lot of discussions on Friday
nights over the odd beverage, talking about
what we're going to improve on or what we
can look up and try to try to do better.
I think just, I mean, I'm not actually doing the
hunting side of it, but I think it's, if you, I
mean the safety for sure.
Well, you kind of are.
Everything other than pulling the trigger.
Everything other than pulling trigger for sure.
And I think it's just taking your time
is the big thing.
You can't rush into anything.
You gotta make sure you got the right spot and
you got the right setup.
And, you know, if you're not ready and they're
flying over, you gotta just take your time.
And even, even when they are coming in and
these guys sometimes get a little anxious
and it's easy for me to criticize because I'm
not the one with the firearm or pulling the
trigger, but you know, I'll sit back and watch
and see this come in.
And I'm like, okay, they're, they're going to
land and all of a sudden, boom, boom, boom, boom.
And they all fly over it.
It's like ugh, you could have waited a
little longer, but I, I get the anticipation
and the, you know the want to take them
down right away right.
Right.
So I think w with just, it's a, it's a sport
somewhat like fishing where you just need
to have the patience and you're not going
to be successful every time you go out.
And I think that's part of the attraction for me
is, you know, going out and see how successful
we can be every time.
Totally.
If it was easy.
Absolutely.
There'd be no.
It wouldn't hold that same appeal.
If that learning curve wasn't there, if you
weren't always constantly learning something new
every time you went out.
Yeah, for sure.
I agree.
I think this gives a good sort of intro
for new people kind of getting into it.
Yeah.
Few adventures, few stories, but.
And definitely, you know, starting at
the beginning, going to the gun club
to get comfortable with your firearm.
Yeah.
Was a big thing.
Was that intimidating?
Hundred percent.
Yeah.
From a guy who thinks he's all tough and
yeah, it was very, very intimidating.
Yeah.
Very intimidating just being at the gun club.
Didn't want to do the wrong thing right.
So being able to handle your firearm, knowing
how to take your firearm apart and put
it back together again, also very important.
Yes.
Knowing how to clean it, also very important.
Before you go out hunting.
Knowing how to do those things.
I think it's a big deal.
Yeah.
Being comfortable, shooting your gun
was a big thing.
Like I think the first time we went and did
trap and we didn't know the etiquette,
I think we, I kind of looked it up online.
We kind of went there, we stood back for probably
a good half an hour, kind of just watched
sort of what was going on and be like, okay,
I think we got this.
And then, you know.
I asked a guy.
And you asked the.
I asked the.
Older gentleman there.
No I asked the younger guy, the older guys
later I asked the younger guy and this
young guy was great.
He's like, bud, watch your muzzle.
Do this, only one in the chamber, don't close it.
He was great.
Cause I was nervous.
I was like, Oh my God, I'm so
nervous, so nervous.
so he was very helpful.
And then poor Mattie over here got one stuck.
He was trying to get it out, that's when the old
guy gave you a hard time.
Yeah, I was trying to get it out, it
was stuck in there.
He's just, Hey, just watch where
you're pointing your gun or whatever.
And rightfully so like.
Sure.
I don't think it was anything dangerous,
but he just said, Hey, just watch, watch
your direction there.
And that was good.
It was good.
That was good, called me out.
But he was, he was good.
He sort of explained, you know, I'll be at the
start here and this is how it's going to work.
We go down the line of five and each
one takes one shot.
So after that, once we got comfortable, it was
way better like that for after that first
time, I felt way more comfortable for sure.
Oh yeah.
Yeah.
Did you have a lot of people over your shoulder
trying to give advice?
Not really there.
There was a, a gentleman who worked there, he's
like, I think you're a little bit high,
those guns shoot high.
And I'm like, okay, I don't know.
I didn't really pay attention to them, but
when we were there, nobody really tried to
give too much advice, to be honest so.
Just watch your muzzle, watch your muzzle.
Yeah.
Which is it should do, but.
Absolutely.
Nobody really tried to give us any advice on
what we were doing wrong.
I was holding my gun in the wrong place,
like I learned that.
I had a huge bruise on my shoulder.
I'm like, I was way too low.
So I knew I wasn't hitting anything,
but I mean, that was learning experience.
I didn't do that ever again so.
Right.
But the feeling when you hit your
first clay target.
Oh yeah.
Oh magic.
Magic.
Almost as good as when you harvest
your first duck.
Yeah, that was pretty cool.
I love it.
Yeah.
Well guys, thank you very much for being on
the, on the show and for sharing your experiences.
That's definitely encouraging for other
people out there to know that it is intimidating.
Like I, I was raised around firearms.
I've been going to the ranges ever since I've
been a wee one and I've got a little bit
different perspective, but somebody just brand
new getting into it, that's a lot to take in.
For sure.
Thanks very much guys.
It was a good time.
Thanks for having us.
Yeah, thanks for having us for sure.