Lifelong Arkansas waterfowlers Brent Birch and Cason Short discuss duck hunting's past, present, and future with various thought-provoking leaders in the duck-hunting community. The guys will discuss days afield, waterfowl conservation, and stewardship with the goal of leaving the sport of duck and goose hunting better than they found it. Presented by Yeti, Tom Beckbe, Lile Real Estate, Sitka Gear, Purina Pro Plan, and Ducks Unlimited.
Do you have your own water cooler and chat room theories about what is happening with mallards and why their behaviors and migration paths are changing? Dr. Doug Osborne of UA-Monticello and the graduate director at the Five Oaks Ag Research & Education Center joins the show with a very candid look at the waterfowl science community, sex and age ratios, game farm genetics, when duck season should end, and most importantly...what happened with this latest cold & snow front—a must-listen-to separate fact from fiction plus a new keyword, another TSS hat drawing. Listeners interested in entering the drawing for a The Standard Sportsman hat should hang into the episode for the keyword and instructions on qualifying. Thanks to our sponsors: Lile Real Estate, Perfect Limit Outdoors, KC Laser Co., Sitka Gear, Tom Beckbe, Purina Pro Plan, Greenhead magazine, and Ducks Unlimited. Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
1/16/25 • 78:59
A winter storm barreled through Kansas and Missouri, leaving nearly a foot of snow and prolonged below-freezing temps in its wake...but will that be enough to push ducks to Arkansas for the final few weeks of the season? Cason and Brent sift through some variables locally and in the flyway that could be a factor on just how many push south. The guys also get into some culture/community adjustments waterfowlers and brands in the industry should consider if improvements in future seasons are of value.Thanks to our sponsors: Sitka Gear, Ducks Unlimited, Perfect Limit Outdoors, Tom Beckbe, KC Laser Co., Purina Pro Plan, Greenhead: The Arkansas Duck Hunting Magazine and Lile Real Estate.Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
1/9/25 • 64:35
Happy New Year to all the listeners of The Standard Sportsman podcast. With jam packed schedules around the holidays, we’ve pulled portions of two highly entertaining conversations out of past episodes with John Stephens of RNT Calls and J Stephens Custom Calls and Bill Cooksey of the Tennessee Wildlife Federation. Thanks for taking time to listen to the show during this time with family and friends and best of luck the rest of the season. Shout out to the show's sponsors who make this all possible: Tom Beckbe, Ducks Unlimited, Sitka Gear, KC Laser Co, Perfect Limit Outdoors, Greenhead: The Arkansas Duck Hunting Magazine, Purina Pro Plan and Lile Real Estate.Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
1/2/25 • 69:41
Happy holidays to all the listeners of The Standard Sportsman podcast. For this week’s episode, we’ve pulled two conversations out of past episodes with David Snowden and Perrin Partee. David explains the rationale behind reducing the mallard hen limit to one while Perrin discusses habitat and the bounceback of the mallard population from Canada to Louisiana. Thanks for taking time to listen to the show during this time with family and friends and best of luck the rest of the season. As always, we appreciate our sponsors Tom Beckbe, Lile Real Estate, Sitka Gear, KC Laser, Purina Pro Plan, Greenhead: The Arkansas Duck Hunting Magazine, Perfect Limit Outdoors and Ducks Unlimited. Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
12/26/24 • 33:29
With the holiday season fast approaching, the guys have a little fun with a mostly light-hearted duck season wish list. Some wishes benefit the ducks, some gear they’d like to see, and some to elevate what’s left of the season in the southern part of the flyway. The Standard Sportsman Podcast would like to wish all our listeners happy holidays, and thanks for listening!Thank you to our sponsors: Tom Beckbe, Lile Real Estate, Ducks Unlimited, Sitka Gear, Purina Pro Plan, KC Laser and Perfect Limit Outdoors.Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
12/19/24 • 53:55
This week on The Standard Sportsman, the guys recap the first split of the Arkansas duck season and the outlook heading into the second season. With a significant and lengthy run of cold weather up north, ducks are on the move, but have they made it to the deep south yet? Instances of a potential Avian Flu outbreak appear to be occurring with young snow geese. Cason and Brent also get into opportunity vs. experience, the duck hunting sub-culture items and their impact on days afield, and Arkansas setting the bar for the future of the sport.Thanks to our sponsors: Tom Beckbe, Ducks Unlimited, Lile Real Estate, Sitka Gear, Perfect Limit Outdoors, Purina Pro Plan, and KC Laser Co.Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
12/12/24 • 73:54
Retired Louisiana and Minnesota waterfowl biologist Dave Rave follows up his uber-popular “Where are the Ducks?” episode from last season with a fresh take on mallard populations, sex ratios, season frameworks, and limits. Rave details how the early start to the season in the north may be just as damaging to populations as the late January hunting in the south, SWDs, and numerous other management practices that he believes require reevaluation for mallard populations to rebound and hunters to stay in the sport.Thanks to our sponsors: Sitka Gear, Tom Beckbe, Ducks Unlimited, Perfect Limit Outdoors, Purina Pro Plan, Lile Real Estate, Greenhead: The Arkansas Duck Hunting Magazine, and KC Laser. Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
12/5/24 • 82:34
Ducks Unlimited's National Director of Event Fundraising David Schuessler shares some of the amazing items up for auction during DU's Into the Vault online auction. This is an insightful episode for collectors of DU guns, art, and other gear. David also shares how DU gets its hands on these collectibles, many of which are one of a kind. We even talk a little duck season after Schuessler's recent trip to West Texas and the Arkansas opener.Thanks to your sponsors: Tom Beckbe, Sitka Gear, Lile Real Estate, Ducks Unlimited, KC Laser, Perfect Limit Outdoors and Purina Pro Plan. Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
11/28/24 • 50:00
The 2024-2025 Arkansas duck season is upon us, with high anticipation for what the season will hold. The guys sift through feedback from their network across Canada, Kansas, and Missouri, as well as conditions and populations within the state. They also break down the midpoint theory, Halloween mallards, and a few duck-hunting culture items. A must listen to start or for early duck season regardless of where you hunt. Thanks to our sponsors: Lile Real Estate, Ducks Unlimited, Tom Beckbe, Sitka Gear, Perfect Limit Outdoors, KC Laser and Purina Pro Plan. Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
11/21/24 • 64:20
Located in Batesville, Arkansas, Rob Roberts Custom Gun Works is one of, if not the leader in performance shotguns and rifles. Rob joins the show with an entertaining take on improving your success pulling the trigger, and clears up some misconceptions and myths about shotguns. He covers chokes, forcing cones, shot strings, and shell selection and even provides commentary on Saskatchewan and high-performance rifles. Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
11/14/24 • 86:23
Grant Sinclair (@grant__sinclair) grew up duck hunting the famed Reelfoot Lake in West Tennessee and now travels throughout the continent chasing ducks and geese. On top of being a skilled waterfowler, Grant is remarkably talented when it comes to capturing waterfowl on camera. His videos have built a huge following on social media, and the channel also serves as a platform for him to call out some questionable behavior in the sport. He shares some of his experiences freelancing north of the border over the past 15+ years and the changes he’s seen across all of duck and goose hunting. Thanks to our sponsors: Tom Beckbe, Lile Real Estate, Sitka Gear, Ducks Unlimited, and Purina Pro Plan.Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
11/7/24 • 84:45
Tom Decker is a certified Wildlife Biologist in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration program. He leads the Partner with a Payer initiative and is a vital part of the communications team at USFWS. Headquartered in Vermont, Decker joins the show to talk about the ins and outs of how conservation is funded on the federal and state level, how the Pittman Robertson tax works and clears up several misconceptions about funding for wildlife.Thanks to our sponsors: Sitka Gear, Ducks Unlimited, Purina Pro Plan, Tom Beckbe and Lile Real EstateSend us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
10/31/24 • 52:17
Kolby Keith (@livingskiestaxidermy) hails from waterfowl-rich Kansas but spends the fall north of the border guiding for Prairie’s Edge Outfitters (@prairies_edge_outfitters) in Saskatchewan. Keith provides a “boots on the ground” assessment of this year’s fall flight, habitat conditions in Prairie Canada, and the “Americanization” of waterfowling north of the border. He shares insights into an influx of pressure in SK, illegal guiding, and the changes he’s seen in his seven years guiding up there.Thanks to your sponsors: Lile Real Estate, Purina Pro Plan, Sitka Gear, Ducks Unlimited, and Tom Beckbe.Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
10/24/24 • 87:16
There’s a movement afoot giving more attention to the degradation of duck-friendly habitat in Prairie Canada. As the dry conditions persist and modern-day agriculture advances, ducks are the ones paying the price. Tune in to learn more about the long-running decline and which province is attempting to turn the corner.The guys also talk a little preseason specklebelly as the early season fast approaches.Thanks to our sponsors: Tom Beckbe, Purina Pro Plan, Ducks Unlimited, Sitka Gear and Lile Real Estate.Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
10/17/24 • 52:49
Phil Thorpe has nearly 30 years of experience flying breeding population (BPOP) and May Ponds surveys for the USFWS. He provides insight into how the survey process works from a counting perspective and what he saw from the air this past spring and summer. Thorpe cuts through the data and number crunching to provide human observations about duck numbers and habitat.Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
10/10/24 • 81:12
The research-based Five Stages of the Hunter accurately defines a hunter’s attitudes afield and towards the resource. Brent and Cason share their journey through the stages and tell some entertaining stories from different parts of their career. They also dive into the need for companies to progress past the “Limiting Out” stage in their online branding and social media, serving as a mentor to young hunters.Thanks to our sponsors: Lile Real Estate, Ducks Unlimited, Tom Beckbe, Sitka Gear, and Purina Pro Plan. Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
10/3/24 • 92:39
With the season fast approaching, Cason and Brent touch on a few trending topics with hurricanes and duck food. Fresh out of a kickoff meeting, they discuss year two of the AGFC Director’s Advisory Council. Then the guys wrap the show clarifying a few things regarding their personal stances on the state of waterfowling.Thanks to our sponsors: Sitka Gear, Purina Pro Plan, Lile Real Estate, Ducks Unlimited, Tom BeckbeSend us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
9/26/24 • 66:07
Willms is the Assoc. Vice President for Public Lands for NWF, an attorney and goose hunter based in Wyoming. He joins to show to discuss the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to strike down the Chevron Doctrine. Willms details what the Chevron Doctrine is, why it’s important to waterfowl and conservation and what happens next with federal agencies management of wildlife and related conservation programs. Thanks to our sponsors: Ducks Unlimited, Tom Beckbe, Lile Real Estate, Sitka Gear, and Purina Pro Plan. Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
9/19/24 • 61:44
Cheever Farley calls Texas home and focuses on resource-first management of duck properties in northwest Texas and southwest Oklahoma. He shares management strategies for this part of the world and expounds on the rapid escalation in pressure in what used to be a lightly hunted area. Farley weighs in on possible solutions to ease pressure through outfitter reform to ensure ducks and geese are around and huntable for future generations.Thank you to our sponsors: Sitka Gear, Lile Real Estate, Ducks Unlimited, Tom Beckbe, and Purina Pro Plan.Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
9/12/24 • 89:17
Brent and Cason peel back some layers on the May Ponds, Breeding Population (BPOP), and Harvest Data reports, pulling out some intriguing details worthy of discussion. The guys share fresh insights from concerned waterfowl biologists plus breakdown key metrics that caught their attention beyond the high-level charts seen on social media. If you like to nerd out on duck stats and/or want to better understand what’s going on with waterfowl, this is an episode you don’t want to miss. Escape from Mediocrity by Johnny LynchTelling female and male mallards apart in September is a tough problem for hunters to duck in Minnesota-Dennis AndersonThanks to our sponsors: Sitka Gear, Ducks Unlimited, Lile Real Estate, Purina Pro Plan, and Tom Beckbe.Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
9/5/24 • 68:51
Corporal Troy Faughn has over 13 years of experience in wildlife enforcement and specializes in waterfowl. He shares some violation stories with various rules and regs, as well as clarifications every hunter needs to know. Faughn hits on baiting, ratoon crops, party hunting, boating issues, and more. Plus, he shares some thoughts on SWDs in the public woods again and shell limits. Thanks to our sponsors: Purina Pro Plan, Tom Beckbe, Lile Real Estate, Ducks Unlimited, and Sitka Gear.Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
8/29/24 • 83:19
Scott Stephens, Ph.D. serves as the Sr. Director of Prairie and Boreal Forest Conservation Strategy for DU. This episode was recorded one day prior to the USFWS releasing BPOP and May Pond Counts but he shares his pre-release thoughts for this year’s counts, harvest impact, speck and pintail populations, PPR conditions, Boreal Forest productivity, and more. Stephens connects a lot of dots for duck hunters in this episode. Thanks to your sponsors: Purina Pro Plan, Sitka Gear, Tom Beckbe, Lile Real Estate, and Ducks UnlimitedSend us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
8/22/24 • 75:28
Representing a firm started by his father in 1993, Gardner along with a top-tier team of land specialists represent some of the finest waterfowling properties in Arkansas. We talk about current trends in the industry, what defines a true legacy property, performing due diligence on a prospective property and more.Thanks to our sponsors: Sitka Gear, Tom Beckbe, Ducks Unlimited, Purina Pro Plan and Lile Real EstateSend us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
8/15/24 • 72:41
Hunters are abuzz about some recent rules and regulations impacting Alberta's non-resident, non-Canadian hunters. The guys also discuss the reversal of the Chevron Deference, which could impact numerous federal policies benefiting ducks and geese. Cason and Brent also dig into the promotion of "outlaw" behavior within the waterfowling community.Thanks to our sponsors, Tom Beckbe, Sitka Gear, Lile Real Estate, Purina ProPlan, and Ducks Unlimited. Stay tuned to a special announcement from Natural Gear regarding HuntFest at Fort Thompson August 23rd and 24th. Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
8/8/24 • 63:27
It's hard to believe one year has passed since we launched the first episode of The Standard Sportsman podcast. We revisit some hot topics from past shows as well as provide some insight into things currently abuzz in waterfowling.Thanks to our sponsors: Ducks Unlimited, Lile Real Estate, Purina Pro Plan, Sitka Gear, Tom Beckbe and Lite Boots. Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
8/1/24 • 70:38
Brent and Cason share insights into winter duck habitat strategies, the new dark geese options in Canada, conservative rules and regs, and the demise of the fall flight index dataset. Thanks to our sponsors: Lile Real Estate, Tom Beckbe, Sitka Gear, Ducks Unlimited, Purina Pro Plan, and Lite Boots. Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
7/25/24 • 72:23
Radcliff Menge left behind an established legal career to launch Tom Beckbe. Nine years after starting the brand behind a single jacket, Menge shares Tom Beckbe's origin, how it's grown, and where it's headed, including an exciting new collaboration with an industry stalwart.Thanks to our sponsors: Sitka Gear, Ducks Unlimited, Lile Real Estate, Tom Beckbe, Purina Pro Plan and Lite Boots.Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
7/18/24 • 70:20
Hosts Brent Birch and Cason Short trade stories and a few laughs while trying to cope with the off-season dog days of summer blues. Tune in to hear a few game warden stories, the dumbest thing either has done afield, the most famous person they’ve hunted with, and a few memories with their fathers.Thanks to our sponsors: Lile Real Estate, Sitka Gear, Tom Beckbe, Purina Pro Plan, Ducks Unlimited, and Lite Boots. Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
7/11/24 • 69:13
Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Famer Bill Cooksey has a lifelong track record of elevating the voices of sportsmen from around the country to support wildlife habitat restoration. His decades of experience in the world of waterfowling made for an awesome interview every duck hunter should hear.Thanks to our sponsors: Purina Pro Plan, Sitka Gear, Lile Real Estate, Tom Beckbe, Ducks Unlimited and Lite BootsSend us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
7/4/24 • 83:35
A native of Hot Springs, Congressman Bruce Westerman is a dedicated outdoorsman and currently chairs the House Committee on Natural Resources. He joins the show to discuss several issues on Capitol Hill impacting duck hunting in the Natural State and beyond. Westerman provides updates on the harmful BIDEH legislation, wokeism in the USFWS, how waterfowlers should tackle the anti-hunter movement, and more.Thanks to our sponsors: Sitka Gear, Tom Beckbe, Ducks Unlimited, Lite Boots, and Lile Real Estate. Send us a textAll Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.
6/27/24 • 55:37
