FowlWeather Podcast

My friends across duck country, I ask you one question, are the duck done for? Are you willing to let duck populations fade into oblivion. We talk about the weather and how it affects duck migration a-lot on the FowlWeather Podcast, but we know one thing for sure, if ducks are never produced, it does not matter what the weather does, ducks that don’t hatch can’t come south each duck season.  We also know that ducks need wetlands to produce more ducks. But here we are, the USFWS for some reason isadvancing a proposal that could reduce the 1.7M acres of wetland easements that they hold. And remember these are wetland easements paid for with your Duck Stamp dollars, and as far as we can see, they may be gone in the coming years, wetlands possibly gone forever. With over half of the prairie pothole wetlands already gone and duck numbers struggling, we don’t want to lose more acres. As noted on the FowlWeather social media posts and on this Monday mornings episode, we were working to get waterfowl experts on to dissect and help us learn about what is happening with FWS prairie pothole wetland easements and we aimed high because we have both Dr. Scott Stephens, Senior Director of Conservation Strategy and Dr. Mike Brasher, Senior Waterfowl Scientist with us tonight. Both of Ducks Unlimited, these men are passionate duck hunter-conservationists and we are honored to have them on the FowlWeather Podcast to help us learn about this important topic. The way I like to state it when people ask about this potential FWS policy change…… the FowlWeatherPodcast position and what we tell them is this “this all could be worse than bad”.

In this episode we are going to talk to you through 3 lenses, why you should be curious, why you should be concerned, and why you should be excited about the coming duck season. Among the general themes you will hear about breeding ground conditions, the coming El Nino, policy surrounding waterfowl conservation and management, more local state policies about draw systems and habitat management, and the state of waterfowl education and science in US.

Montana is a destination for many, but it doesn’t run on its own. Heather Harris is the Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks as Grassland & Wetland Coordinator for the state. She received her bachelor’s degree in biology from Trent University, that’s in Canada, and her M.S. in Wildlife and Fisheries Science from Mississippi State University. She grew up in Northern Ontario where she spent most of her time outdoors. She spends a good portion of her spare time hunting turkey, waterfowl, upland birds and big game and training her bird dog Riggs. She also happens to be DrMike’s sister-in-law so this one is fun! Join us for another great interview on the FowlWeather Podcast.

Chesapeake Bay is the birthplace of American waterfowling. The bounty…the abundant fish, shellfish, and waterfowl made being a waterman a reality, but the bounty of the bay and its watershed, also made it a place to live and thrive. As populations grew in the Chesapeake watershed so did the pollution and other environmental problems; waterfowl are still abundant in the bay, but are the hay days of the bay gone forever? Can we bring it back to its glory days? Today we meet with two great guys from the Theodore Roosevelt Conservation Partnership, that know a lot about the Chesapeake Grayson Haynes, Government Affairs Advisor, and Jim Kauffman, Pennsylvania Field Representative and Wildlife Health Coordinator.

Situated just off the North Shore of Oneida Lake sits Toad Harbor Taxidermy. We meet with avid duck hunter and taxidermist Matt Colesante. Matt focuses on realism in his mounts, separating his great mounts from just good mounts of others. We sit down w/ Matt, his father Rip, and son Connor, 3 generations of taxidermist and duck hunters, in the shop to talk waterfowl taxidermy, tricks and tips for getting a good mount to the taxidermist, and his evolution from the love of ducks to a premier taxidermist of the region.