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Hometown Hero Outdoors
Welcome to the Hometown Hero Outdoors Podcast, where we’re more than just a show—we’re a mission. As a non-profit dedicated to enhancing mental health through life-changing outdoor adventures for military service members, veterans, law enforcement officers, firefighters, and EMS personnel, we bring you stories of resilience, healing, and community.
🌲 Why Listen?
- Over 5,000 heroes have experienced the healing power of the outdoors with us—through activities like hunting, fishing, camping, snowmobiling, and more.
- 85% of participants report reduced stress, increased camaraderie, and a renewed sense of purpose after our adventures.
- We share inspiring stories of mental health advocacy and people overcoming the toughest challenges, highlighting the profound impact of reconnecting with nature.
Whether you’re here for thrilling outdoor adventures, meaningful conversations about mental health, or to hear from real people who’ve used the outdoors to heal and grow, this podcast has something for everyone.
🎧 Subscribe now and join us on this journey of healing, resilience, and the transformative power of the great outdoors!
Hometown Hero Outdoors
Officer Arik Matson - The Thrill of the Hunt: An Alaskan Adventure
Imagine the rush of overcoming barriers and successfully harvesting your dream hunt bird in Alaska! That's just one of the many experiences we share with you in our chat with host Chris Tetrault and guests Arik and Megan Matson, and Dale Mord from Rogue Productions.
Hear us relive the awe-inspiring landscape, peculiar weather, and our unforgettable adventure on St. Paul Island. We encountered challenges in duck hunting, made necessary adaptations for Eric, and celebrated when he successfully shot a King Eider.
We also touch upon the selection process for the next Legacy Trip recipient and the much-awaited video premiere.
Host: Chris Tetrault
Guest Host: Dale Mord
Special Guests: Arik and Megan Matson
rogueproductionsmn.com
#hometownherooutdoors
#legacytrip
#outdoortherapy
#veteran
#lawenforcement
#firefighter
#firstresponder
Produced by Phil Ewert Productions
Theme Music: Hero's Journey
Joel Loopez Tunepocket.com
Licensed by: Phil Ewert Productions
hometownherooutdoors.org
We'll return to the podcast in a moment, but first we want to thank Best Defense Armory and Range for supporting our podcast.
Speaker 2:Veteran owned Best Defense Armory and Range is located in Forest Lake Minnesota.
Speaker 1:Open to the public. They offer a shooting range permit to carry classes and firearm sales. Visit them at BDArmoryandRangecom to see their inventory or book a class Now back to our podcast.
Speaker 3:Hello everyone, welcome back to the Hometown Hero Outdoors podcast. We are in season two now. Today we have Eric and Megan Mattson in their new home this year, and we also have Dale Mord from Rogue Productions. So how are you guys doing today? We're doing awesome how are you guys Doing really good? How has life been down in the new house? Why don't you tell us about your guys' new house and all the changes that have happened in the last half a year?
Speaker 4:We're coming up on one year August 1, since we moved into our new house. We moved from the small city of Freeborn out to the county, so now we have some acreage out here.
Speaker 2:And we're starting our little funny farm is what the community members are saying. We've added two ducks and a rabbit and a little hamster since we moved out here, on top of our two dogs and our three cats. So yeah, that's. I don't know what's next, right.
Speaker 3:The girls like it though.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they did struggle, though, right away when we came out here, just because they've only ever known like city life and so being out in the country, I mean it was exciting. But then, once we moved in and we're here for a couple weeks, reality kicked in and they were like, oh, where's all of our friends? And I was like, well, we're gonna have to invite them over now. They're not just right next door down the street. So yeah, that was a little adjusting.
Speaker 3:Yeah, a little more work but at the same time a little bit more comfort being out in the country and a little more freedom, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah exactly. It's beautiful. The sun rises to the sun sets oh it's awesome. And it's like Eric said, it's not that big of a piece of property, so it's not a lot to maintain and we don't have any like buildings or whatnot. So, yeah, it's very manageable. We're happy with it.
Speaker 3:Exactly, and you guys said that you're getting ready to do some renovations too right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's been a struggle to try and find a contractor to want to sign on to help with our remodeling for Eric's handicapped accessibility needs. Mainly it's just like the bathrooms that need to be revamped and then the entrance to our house needs to be redone, and then also we're going to add on another entrance, slash exit to the house, which will also have a deck added onto that as well, so that'll be nice for us to be able to sit out there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, a little bit more adaptability. So people are. You're having difficulties with contractors that want to sign on to do that. You said.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because we have to work with the state of Minnesota for Eric's disability benefits and they just don't want to do the extra paperwork per se, I guess. And some contractors are too booked up as well, but I think we have a contractor that has everything's been going smooth so far, so fingers crossed and we can just keep the train a-chucking.
Speaker 3:Oh, that's awesome. Well, hopefully you guys get that figured out and then all paperwork can be a bear, but especially with government, you know. But at the same time at least there's programs there that'll help you guys out. So hopefully everything gets squared away here soon. So yeah. Well, dale, hi, how are you, hi? What's going on? You've had changes too.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, Just plugging away. We're just telling the Matt's and you know the doc is going good. We just need to get everything filmed. We need to get some more interviews done and some more B-roll and we should be set for later this year.
Speaker 3:It's good. Yeah, the doc is well on the way. There's a lot of content to go through and storyboard to go through and the editing process can be cumbersome, I understand that. But I know that we've had a pretty awesome trip with Eric up to St Paul Island and Eric had a very successful trip there. So I think we're going to start talking a bit about Eric's legacy trip with his King Eider and how that went. So, you know, the days leading up to you know kind of seemed a bit surreal for me to actually, you know, think that we're finally here, but it was, you know, a long time coming. You know, we got canceled for his trip in 2022. And I thought if the year felt like five years waiting till 2023 to me. But, Eric, so tell me, what did you think about the days coming leading up towards the hunt? What did you feel like? What was the excitement? What kind of things did you do?
Speaker 3:Couldn't believe we were actually going, I guess, yeah, I remember getting text messages from you probably daily About getting to go and I know Dale is telling me that you're a pretty jacked in A lot of communication about the excitement that was going on there. So I know that we did a podcast or a live stream leading up to a two and I think that was pretty cool for people to check in and see how you guys were doing and then to gauge the excitement for the upcoming trip. But so what were your thoughts? You guys ended up getting into the vehicle to come up with Uncle Paul and Jeremy and you guys met us at the airport. What was your thoughts when you got there?
Speaker 4:Just how many people were helping to make this trip a reality.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's quite a few moving pieces and a lot of support from different individuals, which was fantastic. One of the cool things that happened at the airport there was, you know, carol Evan came out, did a little story with Eric and Megan about the trip specifically, and a lot of supporters that came out. The big shout out to the airport PD, you know, for being there and helping out through security TSA was great to us. We even had some federal air marshals that were hanging out and helping out with Eric and getting through there.
Speaker 4:Remember you guys. You guys said every time we fly, eric, we're rain you with it. This is how we get treated.
Speaker 3:Oh man, it was probably the easiest TSA's I've ever been through my life. Oh yeah, so I'm traveling with Eric from here forward always.
Speaker 5:All to say I'm the adopted son. Yeah, I'm not gonna lie Ever said.
Speaker 2:we've flown a couple of times since then and it is a breeze.
Speaker 3:Nice.
Speaker 2:We always joke got a joke about you know what happened to him, but having that handy cap, accessibility card or his wheelchair has helped us a lot in certain situations.
Speaker 3:I know it's taught my wife that I do that TSA precheck, but I just told him I'm gonna come with you guys instead every time now.
Speaker 5:So just slide right there. Tsa precheck is key. I think it's the only way to travel. I make fun of everyone that doesn't have it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I am gonna get it, I'll take the mats in a way.
Speaker 5:I'll take that every time, if I can.
Speaker 2:You just need a wheelchair. Just need a wheelchair.
Speaker 3:Well, Dil probably could use one.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I need a helmet.
Speaker 3:Yeah, all right, yeah, so we got through the actual TSA side of things and the airport PD gave us a nice little spot to hang out and be away from the crowds. But then we went and visited Eric's favorite spot and place to eat for the most part there. We went over to Buffalo Wild Wings. They cleared out an area for us and then, not much longer after that, it was time to go board the plane. So tell us about what happened when we went down to the plane.
Speaker 4:Eric, Um the inter, that is announced on the intercom that we were on board and we're taking off to do our legacy on. And then outside Um one of my friends, a state trooper. They were on the tarmac with their lights on, sending us off.
Speaker 2:And the wasikapede was there too. Yep, I was there, I got to watch it. So we rode like next to you guys while you guys were on the plane. We were like driving with the lights on and as you were going up, you know we were right there. So that was pretty cool, very unheard of.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and there's an honor guard that was waiting for you to board the plane too. I remember, uh, there was lines of officers on either side, right next to the gate that gave you a nice send off and it was pretty moving Dale. What were your thoughts about all of it? I mean, you guys were behind the camera a lot and trying to capture everything you could. What were your thoughts this whole time?
Speaker 5:Yeah, it was just um, it was surreal. I just remember, you know, having the camera up because I was rocking the big shoulder rig which I kind of hide, it hides my face, thank God, because I'm sitting there tearing up the entire time. I just I there was so much happening that I just just take it all in. And it was um, and then thinking back of all the the day I met Eric we didn't really actually get to meet any of you guys, it was um, back in 2020, watching you get off that plane and you know where your physical limitations were, and then now saying you get onto another plane to go do what. I knew what we were going to do, you didn't really know yet. Um, it was just to see it all come together and obviously, almost for the two years later, three years later, yeah, yeah, and so it's just, uh, it was a lot, it was a lot and as the camera guy, I'm not supposed to matter, right, but you know, seeing it all from the big picture is really surreal.
Speaker 2:Yeah, like you said, you've been there since day one he landed and you've been in and out of his journey throughout the whole time, every month and whatnot, and so you've really you both have really watched him progress.
Speaker 3:And you guys are easy people to get along with, you know. So it's not like we're just doing this trip and not talking in between. You know we check in on each other and it's a family, you know it's. It's something different that you know. Most people who get documentaries I'm sure they grow close, but this is different. You know there's definitely a you know personal element to everything, especially cause, a line of work, you know, and just the family that's there. But, as you know, the documentary and the trip has progressed in the ups and the downs and everything you know it's it's it's been easy to get to know you guys and be able to communicate.
Speaker 4:I still come downstairs about once a week and just look at the mountains, think, holy crap, we actually went there and did it. You came back with them.
Speaker 3:I know, I know I think about it all the time too. I know I saw earlier Dale was showing you some photos from when we were up there that Jeff gave us and I have mine over here in my office and every time I walk by it, man, it just makes me smile year to year. So it's a, it's a phenomenal. There it is Picture of all of us, yeah. So cool part too is you know Eric's uncle Paul. You know he was obviously with for the hunt as well as his friend Jeremy, and they came with you, obviously, at the airport and helped out with a lot of different things. But it was pretty cool to be able to watch them and their reaction to everything too, the support that you were given that day and being able to help you. And it's kind of the cool part too is that our friends at Delta Airlines actually gave us a tour of one of their facilities. Was that after we came back, megan? After we?
Speaker 3:came back and but they helped us out through the process too at the airport and we actually got put on a brand new airplane. It was super nice. We sat in comfort plus and Eric got a nice roomy seat up in the front there and they treated us very well and the pilot gave Eric a huge shout out and all the all the stewards and stewardesses were awesome throughout the whole flight. But then we started on our six hour flight up to Anchorage, Alaska, and it was pretty incredible and we all knew that Eric was super excited because he didn't sleep at all. He was wide awake and just jacked. And Eric, I mean, you take a couple maps here and there throughout the day, right?
Speaker 4:I try to yes.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So I mean you were pretty excited if you weren't napping on the way there, right? Yeah, it was a pretty late flight too.
Speaker 3:It was a late flight, yeah, I think. What time did we land in Alaska? Well, we went back in time, so I think 11. Yeah, 10 or 11. It was a quick turnaround but we landed in Alaska, anchorage, and it was dark out and as we land it was kind of cool. We have a friend up there who is now our state director for Alaska, john Reese. I met John Reese in Texas with a youth deer hunt and John actually came and helped us out with our luggage. As you can imagine, six people and camera equipment. There was quite a bit of luggage and things to bring with as we get out there and it was nice to have John come over, load up the back of his truck and drive it over to the hotel and get it under the rooms. But what were your thoughts when we got that part, eric, when we got to Anchorage?
Speaker 4:Just that. Holy crap. This is going to happen like tomorrow. What about the weather? It's cold. The weather wasn't really cold then. No, yeah, charles always says if you don't like cold and wet, don't bother coming. You know, you tell the like it is.
Speaker 3:It's true, but then he forgot that we're Minnesotans and we're kind of used to that.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was. It was really nice. We got to our hotel a quick turnaround, I think we grabbed some dinner, I think we had a drink or two, and then we all went to bed. And then it really started as we kept inching our way closer and closer to where we're going to be. You know, it was just the excitement kept building and it was pretty incredible. I don't think I slept very well that night just thinking about all the things that were happening and the excitement for the next day and getting out to St Paul Island, and then also freaking about things that I might have forgot for the trip.
Speaker 4:I was trying to I know Paul still denies ordering an extra medium pizza at like three o'clock in the morning, but I'm like Paul if they have you on camera. You were there, man.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, we'll talk about that more here soon. Paul had a good time. That was on the way back, but yeah, it was pretty funny.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Video and photos don't lie, but yeah. So the next day we all woke up. We all ended up putting on our float suits that morning and repackaging our gear to go on the small plane. We call it the puddle jumper. But how many people that thing sit? At least 16 or 20?.
Speaker 5:Yeah, it was like 16.
Speaker 3:Yeah, so it wasn't as small as we thought it would be, but there's a twin.
Speaker 5:It was a twin prop, I mean, it was a decent size plane.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, I know, jeremy was pretty, pretty scared of it, though.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he's not a huge fan of flying, especially over water. We made it work and I think it didn't help that when we took off it was completely cloudy in every direction and Jeremy had no idea where the mountains were, so I know he was staring at the pilots. They had some displays up there and he was watching them. Just make sure we weren't flying into the side of anything.
Speaker 2:Why would he just like go over and grab shoes?
Speaker 5:Yeah right.
Speaker 3:I got. The people have flown it hundreds of times. But so we ended up getting to the airport and it's a little bit different this time. You know, no, no TSA, anything like that and we just went down to this little hub in the airport and at that point we had to start weighing in all of our stuff and it was a little little different. Not only did we have to weigh it piece by piece, you know, we had to weigh ourselves, you know, and all the different gear that we had, just to make sure that the plane had the accurate amount of weight and fuel. So that was a little different. But we did a hurry up and wait, you know, got all our stuff on, got the airport, got it in the way, and then we had to sit there and wait for a couple hours and realize the fast that we're in our float suits there. Probably wasn't the best idea. Got a little warm, yeah.
Speaker 2:But it is what it is.
Speaker 3:So then we, as we continue to carry on, that day our pilot came in. I'm pretty sure he was half my age. He was not very old.
Speaker 4:Yeah, but he told us how many hours he had logged behind the plane and I think Jeremy felt a little better about it. But yeah, he was really, really young.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he was super good. Dude just lived to fly. That was his thing, so, which obviously more comfortable, but it was no, that's pretty cool. So we ended up flying north. What was the city we stopped in? Dale Bethel Bethel, he's talking about.
Speaker 5:Bethel real quick which is way up north, I mean Bethel is when you, when you see that, when you're about to land, you look out, it's almost like that scene from Star Wars where it's all snow and ice. That's literally what it looked like. There's nothing there, there's a. I think I've been in ice houses on malax that were bigger than this. This airport. All was is two by fours and pallets and a toilet, basically. So that was that was sure something. What'd you think?
Speaker 4:Eric, I know that Bethel's price they're talking about, jeremy leaving there.
Speaker 5:Oh yeah, they probably had to tear that building down.
Speaker 4:Oh, I'm sure they did.
Speaker 5:Whatever he ate the day before was not ideal. What was Bethel? That was the last, last bit of flight we had left to St Paul Island. Eric. What was going through your mind then?
Speaker 4:I Think I was like let's just get there so we can do this.
Speaker 5:And we had pretty good weather coming into the St Paul Island, I mean it was, it was pretty clear. And I remember when we landed, you got out and you just started walking. You started just going and we, there was no stopping. You know, we're, we're everyone's trying to get bags off the plane and there was guys coming in, there's a transition, or Charles had people going out and coming in at the same time and you're all running towards the the road and, although there's not being like traffic, but it was just, it was just funny that you just kept going and, of course, like there we have so many rules that we can't, can't do, but yeah, you were running, you're running out of there.
Speaker 2:Where were you going? I?
Speaker 4:Probably thought I was gonna go hunting by myself.
Speaker 5:Oh, I love it.
Speaker 2:All right. So when you stepped out then and you were starting to walk like Reality's sinking in, how was the weather?
Speaker 4:It was just a little like little chilly. It wasn't like holy crap, this is gonna be really really cold tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Okay, cuz I think that's like everybody's question is like oh my god, it's Alaska, how cold was it? Blah, blah, blah. And it's like at that time it was the same back at home, just a little bit more windy, or right, because you guys are obviously on an island surrounded by this ocean.
Speaker 4:Yeah yeah. I know a lot of people give me crap. They're like out of all the places in the world there. If you chose Alaska in January, I'm like yeah, that's what I wanted to go. I don't want to go shoot any other animal I would pursue you know, the most prized duck in the world right.
Speaker 5:So where you got to go to do it in North America and you know I honestly the weather like I lived in Oregon for some time and like ocean effect is a real thing. Like it's, it doesn't cold weather doesn't really stay there. I mean it can. I think it's just like the wind. That's more than anything. But yeah, it stayed decently war that first day. I remember being in a sweatshirt and Flying a drone around that first day. It was the clearest day we had in Overall. I think, Charles, and said we locked out on on weather overall.
Speaker 4:I mean, just the stars aligned for us and that was the first star to align for us was I took the non-drone drumming just to make sure I didn't get sick out there, but it made me like super, super tired center, like the halfway through the first day. I'm like Charles, I got to go in. I'm gonna like fall asleep here, get sick.
Speaker 5:So Bethel, alaska, is a very interesting place when you, when you are flying in, when you get Under the cloud coverage, you start to kind of see everything out the window, and the first thing that came to my mind is it's Literally from the scene of Star Wars, where everything is snow, ice, you see, for miles it's just all white, and when you finally land there, the airport is just a giant. Well, we would consider an ice house on malax, like a big sleeper house, just two by fours and pallets, and it's got a bathroom and a computer with a map on it, and that's literally it. And, and, eric, would you think of it?
Speaker 4:Just that we're getting closer guys. We're almost to island.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I don't think you even got off the plane. I think you just stayed in the plane ready to go.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I remember when we flew in that, looking around us, that the the road systems were kind of what you saw on TV. You know from you're watching me, those Alaska shows. There's no, really no roads in or out. They're all frozen rivers and by is a water that they're utilizing. You could see the roads on the ice that people are utilizing with their ATVs or snowmobiles and you can see them run around out there. So it was. It was kind of interesting to see the, the stuff that you've seen on TV about the remoteness and being close. The Arctic Circle was all right there, pretty crazy.
Speaker 5:Yeah, because are you in Bethel? Are you technically in the Arctic Circle at that point?
Speaker 3:No, it's close, though. It's super close a little bit further north and then you're finally in the Arctic Circle. But but we hung out there for long enough for them to drop off mail and refuel and then we were back in the air Not that much longer after that and it was another hour jaunt over to the St Paul Island and that was pretty, pretty good flying. You know, there was smooth sailing for the most part. I don't think we had any really bad weather we had to go through, so that was nice. You always hear about a little bit of the horror stories about how the weather can be in the area and we were pretty fortunate where we didn't have any issues and how was the weather?
Speaker 4:It was just a little like little chilly. It wasn't like holy crap, this is gonna be really really cold tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Okay, because I think that's like everybody's question is like oh my god, it's Alaska, how cold was it? Blah, blah, blah. And it's like at that time it was the same back at home, just a little bit more windy, or right, because you guys are obviously on an island Surrounded by this ocean.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah. I know a lot of people give me crap. They're like out of all the places in the world there, if you chose Alaska in January, I'm like, yeah, that's what I wanted to go. I don't want to go shoot any other animal. I would pursue you know, the most prized duck in the world.
Speaker 5:You know, I honestly look the weather like I lived in Oregon for some time and like ocean effect is a real thing, like it's, it doesn't. Cold weather doesn't really stay there. I mean it can. I think it's just like the wind. That's more than anything. But yeah, it stayed decently war that first day. I remember being in a sweatshirt and Flying a drone around that first day. It was the clearest day we had In overall. I think, charles. Instead we locked out on on weather overall.
Speaker 1:We'll return to the podcast in a moment, but first we want to thank best defense Armory and range for supporting our podcast. Veteran owned best defense Armory and range is located in Forest Lake, minnesota. Open to the public. They offer a shooting range permit to carry classes and firearm sales. Visit them at BD armory and range comm to see their inventory or book a class. Now back to our podcast.
Speaker 3:As we continued. You know flying and about an hour in, you know you can see the little radar. The map the pilots had up front Can see us getting closer and finally, in the distance, you can see a speck on the horizon. Or are you thinking at that point, eric?
Speaker 4:I think at that point I was like let's just land so I can get some sleep.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you didn't sleep that day either, no, so flew to Anchorage, didn't nap. Get there that night, didn't sleep that good. Then we get on the plane To get the St Paul Island, and still didn't nap. Excitement was still high. But just saw that island coming in and we're already touched down. And what were you thinking, dale?
Speaker 5:Well, I just it was finally, it was finally time and the weather was good it was, I Was ready to drop that plane. I mean, I, I fly enough where I have, where I'm fine, but like I haven't had that much excitement ready to land before, I don't think I mean, yeah, three years, you know, with since.
Speaker 3:Eric is, a Injury occurred, you know, and working our way there, and two and a half years since, we told Eric we're doing this and To be flying over this body of water and seeing this little volcanic rock come on the horizon. And then, as we get closer, you know, you can see how blue the water is, you can start seeing the city of St Paul, and it's just surreal to think that you're out in the middle of nowhere at the moment and there's no one within hundreds of miles really, and Right and seeing the the volcanic ash that's out there the dust from the years ago and blown around the island and snow capped Smaller.
Speaker 3:I wouldn't even really come mountains there. I don't know what do you call Giant hills? Yeah, but snow capped, you know pretty cool Getting on the tarmac. We land, you know, and there's a group of people still there waiting. There's the hunters that Charles summerville had that now we're just completing their trip and they were getting ready to get on the plane and we got off, said hi to them, ask how things went. Excitement was there and I think Eric tried to walk to the lodge at that point. Yeah, you're there. Yeah.
Speaker 5:Got off the airplane and you just started walking. You didn't know where you were going.
Speaker 3:But you're gonna get there.
Speaker 2:Where were you going?
Speaker 4:I thought I was going to go hunting by myself.
Speaker 5:Oh, I love it.
Speaker 3:It was pretty funny. But then Charles Somerville came out and said hi to us all and then we all went over to the lodge and got settled in and he gave us a tour. And it was kind of cool because Charles had an old ambulance that he utilized there for tours and getting people around. There's no windows in the back, so that makes it a little tough. But Eric got us it up front with a tour and it was pretty incredible to get to go see some stuff. And what were your thoughts when we were out driving around on the island seeing it for the first time?
Speaker 4:I think when Charles just pointed out like there's a king, there's a king, it's like holy crap, they're actually here. He did.
Speaker 3:There was a lot of kings out there raffed it up on the water. What else did we see out there? We saw some old squaw, a bunch of kings. There's Harley Quinn's out there Yep, there's Harley Quinn's, there's a bunch of stuff. We saw A lot of marine wildlife too. Yep, we saw some seals and sea lions right, sea lions. It was pretty cool, trying to think here now.
Speaker 3:So we had this other group of guys that were with us that were pretty phenomenal too. You never know who you're going to be with and how things are going to work out, but we had four gentlemen that were from the southern states, a couple from Texas and then I think one was in Louisiana right, alabama. So they were super cool to be with. Actually, we got to get to know them pretty well. But so anything, after the tour for the day, we really started trying to hone in on what the plan was for the next day, and that was. It was pretty exciting. So we got back, had a little meeting with everyone, had some dinner, we got ready for the hunt. Did you sleep that night at all, eric, or not?
Speaker 4:Yeah, I believe I did. I think, like the assignment finally was kind of wearing off, that we're here and it's going to happen tomorrow.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and then the work started, you know. So the next morning we woke up and everything was prepped. And you know, we had two boats between the two groups. We had Uncle Paul and Eric in one boat with Dale filming, and then in our boat we had Jeremy, myself and our guide and our other camera guy, jeff, and that was all to try to get some decent footage of birds being shot, hopefully capture Eric getting his bird. And in preparation of that morning, you know, in the waves that were out there, what did we do that morning? Eric Taking some of those pills. Yes, sir, the drama mean.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, I took a non-drone. Non-drone Draw me to try to like kind of combat the waves and stuff I don't know. It affected me really badly because I got so drowsy. I have waited the first morning. I told Charles like I gotta head in because I'm getting sick out here. Oh, I see, I was getting dirty in the hour time. I was calling my drug dealer because I'm like I don't know what you gave me, but it made me feel like crap yeah.
Speaker 5:Paul pull it in with the morning too.
Speaker 3:He did have to. Yeah, and we weren't sure how Eric's TBI was going to handle the waves. You know we had what six, seven foot waves that morning, but they mean they weren't aggressive, they were casual rollers. But you never know how someone's reactions will be if you don't have injuries in the ocean. But when you have a TBI, you know how is that reaction going to. How are you going to handle those?
Speaker 4:waves. Even Paul puked that day. He goes I've been out in the lake of the woods and out in the ocean in Mexico and I've never thrown up out there, because that man does not puke very often. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean it was a different animal out there, you know, and I mean we were a good ways offshore, it wasn't too far out. But Eric took his drum. I mean it's supposed to be non-drowsy. We got out there and just knocked him out. He was tired, you know, not only from probably staying awake a couple of days there, but also, you know the the drum, I mean, can have an effect on people, especially with the TBI. And Uncle Paul decided to hurl over the edge of the boat and he was incredibly embarrassed and felt bad for him but at the same time, like that's life and how the bearing sea is, that was that was another very large thing to me. That was incredible to think that we're out in the bearing sea like absolutely insane to be out there and seeing the duck start flying.
Speaker 3:That morning Uncle Paul shot what? Two Kings or one, you got two, you got two that morning. And then obviously Eric and I feeling well, he didn't have an opportunity to shoot. I was glad someone harvested some Kings that day. That was, that was great news. And Jeremy had shot a couple other birds. They were not Kings. I think he got a couple old squaw that morning and then we headed in for the day and Eric went down, took a, took a rest and we tried to reevaluate what we can do to help him out for the second day. And, dale, what do we do at that point?
Speaker 5:Well, we figured out that some of the difficulties we were having were we were starting to really learn, you know what Eric can and can't do right or can't do as well, and I think Eric remind me, is it your left eye that you can't really see that well out of, or is it?
Speaker 2:No, it says right eye, left arm and leg.
Speaker 5:Got it. So you, we were sort of learning, like you know, because you had made mention. You're like, because I remember Charles saying, eric, get ready to shoot, and you're like I can't see him. You got to remember those birds are flying 40, 50 miles an hour downwind and we're hitting I think Charles told us that it was three out of 10 on the difficulty scale on the waves that day. He said, yes, weather it was. It was not that bad and it was. We were rocking just kind of barely like three or four foot rollers in the big boat because we were getting out there a little bit. We were we weren't in the washing machine, as he calls it right in the surf.
Speaker 5:But you, when you put all those things together, you got birds flying faster than your typical mallard or even a teal. You got rolling waves. I mean, eric, you can't see that well, you can't. You know you're not able to move like what Chris or I could. So you put all those things together. It makes one very difficult hunt and we were learning that the first day. So the second day, after the first day, we kind of got together and Charles and the guides were like what can we do? There was a couple different things. So he was Charles and the guides were planning on for what we're going to do for the second day. They camp together and they came up with an idea of putting the tripod gun mount on the front of the boat and having the decoys out the front of the boat and then basically having us go backwards so that the string of decoys is in front of you. So when those birds go into decoy you have a good shot at them. And in the trailer, if you remember Charles talked about, in the 21 years of him doing it, no one's ever shot a king actually sitting down on the boat. That doesn't make sense for a lot of people. But why that is so important is because your body takes the waves, your knees take the waves, so you stay kind of level. If you are standing up or leaning up against the boat and sitting in there, you're taking all those waves, so that movement is so much more drastic. So when he's saying how difficult it is to sit down, he's right because your body can't adjust for that way.
Speaker 5:And what we found out is when we got out there on the second day you seemed a little more cheery and not so drowsy. And the biggest thing that we what I think was the hardest part for you, eric was staying awake. I mean, bless the hearts of the people from Strikemaster and Rapala. But what we didn't realize is those float suits were so warm and the rocking of the waves.
Speaker 5:You're being put to sleep like a baby. I couldn't tell you how many times I was holding you up behind you, I was holding your chair forward because it just kept sliding. I'm holding this camera trying to film, but I'm also stopping your chair from sliding back at me and then, on top of that, you were sleeping. I have a good hour of GoPro footage. You go on this and so you know, on day two we had all these things put together the tripod on the front, the ducks are out the front, we're holding you up and then you're sitting there snoring. But I think that all kind of worked out because you needed every bit of energy when the time happened on day two. So, eric, tell us how you felt on day two while we were out there.
Speaker 4:I just was really blessed that the accommodations had been made so I could. You know, I felt more confident that I was going to be able to get one and I could see what was going on much better and everything.
Speaker 5:Yeah, we had another good day of weather, like Charles says, a three out of 10 and kind of fast forward. So in the you know, up there we have the power hour right, we get out there, the sun comes up and it's go time. Those birds are rolling around trying to find a place to feed and we were seeing birds, we were shooting at birds. We just couldn't get one to land right where you could see it. And so what we ended up doing after, because the power hour ended, we didn't, we hadn't got one yet and we looked over towards, towards shore, because that's where they ended up going to go feed because they died. But they can dive up to 80 feet, so they're down there eating mussels or whatever and serigens.
Speaker 5:So we looked over towards shore, charles. About 300, 400 yards away, charles saw a bunch of hands fly up there's probably a good six hands and he immediately turned the boat and said we got to go over there. He goes. The fact that we saw all those hands and no Drake's makes me wonder that Drake's got to be still over there. So we started pedaling that way, eric's snoozing, and once we get there, we started kind of got to the spot where those hands took off and Charles immediately says keep your eyes out, keep your eyes out. And I didn't know what he meant by that. I'm not a duck hunter, so I'm just. I just press record because I'm just like anything could happen.
Speaker 5:I have no idea what's happening, but anything can happen.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 5:So we start looking around and I think I spotted it Because of everyone's looking out. I was just looking in general because I didn't know what I was looking for. 50 yards from us, a drink popped up out of the water. He must have been down feeding right and immediately I slap your shoulder. I said, eric, get up and get on that gun, cause that gun is sitting up there like a gun or on a tank almost. I don't have nothing about that. Chris could probably tell us a lot about that.
Speaker 3:But yeah, yeah, the USS Madsen.
Speaker 5:Yes, and Eric got up on that gun and you said where is it? I said, and I was basically aiming your gun to where the I don't say they're trying to film and aim you at the same time. And I got you on it and you were like all right, ready. And Charles said the second, that thing starts flying, you start blasting. And at that moment, Eric, what do you remember, what do you think?
Speaker 2:When you spotted it like, what did you think?
Speaker 4:I think I thought holy shit, this is my chance and it's go time.
Speaker 3:It certainly was go time what happened?
Speaker 4:Two shots and then I just thought I'd hit the water and I'm like, everything I've waited in work so hard to do just came true right there. And I think Charles was just elated that I got it, cause he grabbed the radio and he yells on there the eagle has landed and everybody knew what that meant.
Speaker 3:Yeah, man, it was such an emotional moment for everyone too. You know, jeremy and I and Jeff were off in a boat elsewhere and we could even see this and we heard the shots and we sat there for a second and we're like, okay, was that it? And then we heard Charlie come over the radio with the eagles landed and nothing but tears in our boat. Man Like, just the relief like and the happiness Like we came all this way to get Eric here they get his bird. All the time spent with Eric and his family and doing his rehab and working his way to get here and it all finally came together. And I mean I'm not a duck hunter either, but damn, I mean bearing sea. You know seven foot waves. You're hunting on three different Axis Axis, thank you. So you know a large boat that's tippy on large waves and then yourself in the boat trying to level off. On top of that, I mean it's a lot.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you gotta put the right lead on there to you know, accommodate for the waves and then your boat going and the wind behind them and stuff.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, how many times have we watched people shoot directly into the side of a wave when they thought they're gonna hit a bird? I mean it happens. I mean the swells come up and you're tracking a bird and all of a sudden there's a wave there, so you're putting a bunch of BBs in that bunch of water. I mean, so it all just came together. You know, and just hear the eagles landed and have a minute to sit there and soak it in and just share it with everyone. That Eric got his bird, especially after everything he's been through like phenomenal.
Speaker 4:Finally get it in my hands and look at it and how beautiful it was. I was like it's all worth it. All that work, all that effort and support from everybody. This is what we came here for, and here it is, right, here in my hands, in front of me.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely incredible. And one of the things that I absolutely love is our camera guy Jeff brought his drone with and he tossed it up in the air right away afterwards and went and found him and got some phenomenal video of Eric holding his bird right away afterwards and holding it up in the air and just such cool footage, you know, to see you out in the Bering Sea and all this awesome gear and the things that people helped out with. And then Charles there and Dale and you got that King in your hand. Man, like phenomenal, absolutely phenomenal, and it was so just moving.
Speaker 4:I felt like the liking moment where they're holding up the Simba.
Speaker 3:Yeah Right, it's pretty much what it was like Now. It was just absolutely incredible. You know, that was obviously the highlight of everything you know and memories that will never go away.
Speaker 3:And now you got it. Yes, it's absolutely beautiful and the best part is, you know, everyone gets to relive that moment with you. You know, not only be able to see the progress that was made throughout the injury in the rehab, but also gets to watch everything that you've been through with your family and gets to relive that moment of you harvesting that bird and that's going to be forever memorialized in a video which is amazing and I'm partial to Rogue, but some pretty damn good footage that we have out there too. So I appreciate that. Yeah, so, eric, it's his bird. You know we're all jacked, we slowly head back in and at that point, you know, I think that Eric, did you feel like there was a huge weight lifted from your shoulders? At that point, you know, finally, getting some herbicide bird yeah, why?
Speaker 4:I just knew that Charles was doing anything he could make it happen. And then it finally happened. He was like oh, thank goodness, you know we got him out here. He's finally been successful at achieving what he wanted to do out here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, no, I think all of us kind of felt that. You know it's, there's times, you know and I'm sure you felt it too like, am I going to be able to do this, you know, with your recovery and everything like that, you know, and we were just determined to try to get you to do it and get you there and give you the opportunity. And you made it happen and I'm just glad that we had good people around us to include Charles and his other guides, because they adapted and overcame and you know, they did some things that were untraditional for their types of hunts and it was phenomenal. But we got back to camp that day and we all kind of had a, we had a beverage and all had a sigh of relief and excitement and celebrated, and it was a great day. I will never forget it, that's for sure. So I appreciate you sharing it with all of us. Eric and Megan, I appreciate you letting us borrow them for that. It was pretty incredible.
Speaker 2:Absolutely, absolutely. He was definitely tired when he came back home, Totally.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I believe it, I was tired when I came back home, but yeah, so you know, kind of the cool part too is where it's just tracks a little bit. Here is Megan actually went on an adventure of her own while we were up there, which is pretty cool. Do you want to talk about your trip too, megan?
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I went to I believe you pronounce it like Guama Island and it's an island where Charles and Helen actually go during their off season and spend a few months there to relax. And it takes about 12 hours to get there and three different planes and a boat ride. And I had a little hiccup the day of my first day of traveling there. The waves were too big so the boat wasn't able to go out, so I had to find a place to stay the first night actually two nights, because I came in the same day you guys left and then the ferry doesn't leave on the weekend, so I had to wait till Monday to go out.
Speaker 2:And by the time I got to Guama Island it was just a whole nother world. It reminded me of Jurassic Park just untouched land, very rich, green, aqua, blue waters. They have like the volcano underneath the ocean, so the sand has like glitter in it. The vegetation, the food is amazing. The hospitality of the natives that lived there are just so humbling and kind. It was a great week long vacation by myself. We went hiking to a couple of waterfalls, went snorkeling, seeing sharks, octopuses, stingrays and, yeah, overall wonderful, wonderful experience. I would definitely go back and it was a great opportunity for both of us to just take some time apart and reconnect with ourselves.
Speaker 3:Eric got to go hang out with the boys out in harsh weather climate and you got to go chill on a beach and unplug.
Speaker 2:Yes, that's good.
Speaker 3:So when you were down there, I know we were checking in with you occasionally just to see how things were going. What were your thoughts when you first heard about him getting his bird?
Speaker 2:I remember getting the message. I was sitting in the hammock reading my book and I literally like threw the book down, sat up, looked at my phone, I was like no way, like already, like it's the second day and he already got it. And I was just so excited Cause I was nervous. I was like, oh my God, wrap it up if he doesn't get it. And actually did I not, cause I've said this the last couple of times you've gone duck hunting, I'm like, but did he really shoot it? Or did one of you guys shoot it and then like just say that he shot it?
Speaker 2:And then you guys were like no, he like really shot it. I'm like, but did he? And you're like, no, he did. I'm like, oh my God.
Speaker 5:Yeah, I watched that footage like 10 times over and over again to make sure, cause I'm like, from a video perspective, like I want to be, I want it to be a clean, clean kill too, right. Like, yeah, well, it's easier for us to edit that way. And two, then it's not like we're living it alive, but like we replayed that slow motion every single time there was like oh my God, I could not wait to see it.
Speaker 2:I cannot wait to see it Triggered.
Speaker 5:BBs and I was like yeah, it matches up. Yeah, Dude peppered it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he got it, you know. And then I think, didn't, didn't uncle Paul help out of the very unjust, to make sure?
Speaker 5:Yeah, well, everyone, so like, even like our doubts, like, well, the sec, because they're divers, I, I love, I mean, yeah, it's just what happens. You hit them If they're, they're failsafe is to go underwater, like that's their, that's their protection is underwater. And so the second you hit one, if it's wounded and it goes underwater, you ain't getting that thing back. No, so, so it's, it is what I would call industry standard to hit it on the water a couple of times, just because you want to make sure that thing is floating and not, you know, not alive. So yeah, paul, Paul put the nail in the coffin and it was time to pick it up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and Paul definitely hit it twice and Paul just made sure that he got his bird back. But definitely Eric shot shooting that, dropped that bird, which was absolutely amazing. And, like Dale said, the footage that we have, I was tells no lies you know so it's pretty awesome. No, it was cool. I was glad you got to break away and have some fun down there.
Speaker 4:And I just can't believe it's here still. I keep looking at it like holy crap, how far we go to get that bird.
Speaker 3:Oh man, the other side of the world, yeah.
Speaker 2:It was kind of cool too, right.
Speaker 3:We were up, you know, in the Bering Sea, and then he had Megan down in a different hemisphere. You know, like, completely, you know, it was just wild.
Speaker 2:Completely polar opposite.
Speaker 4:Jeremy got a bird that he can mount, because I've been hunting with him for so long and he always gets one. And we took one there and the taxiomers like oh, I want to do this position with it, but the wing was broken so we couldn't do it.
Speaker 3:Oh, really, one of us a widget shot, all the widget got it. Yeah, he told me that I think he had a donated to for someone to do for, like a Bird mount with the dog when the dog was holding in the mouth. Yeah, that's pretty cool, but, yeah, so that. So we concluded his hunt that day we had a celebration no, we sat we think the guides had a beverage with them Hung on with our friends from the south, had a good time with them to absolutely phenomenal stand up people that we were with that. We're very supportive and we're just as anxious to hear about Eric and his hunt. This is the rest. Of us were to see Eric and his bird, so it was pretty cool. You know, these guys just show up and be supportive like they were was great. Then, day three for the hunting, eric was wiped and we asked Eric if we want to go back out and I believe at the time, eric, your words where I'm tired. You guys go hunt and have fun. That's unaccurate.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. So Eric stayed back on day three to catch up on his sleep and the rest of us went to the north end of the island and we got to hunt Birds that day. But in the less traditional aspect we were in D E's 15 foot little rubber boats In some pretty zodiacs you up and some heavy, heavy surf and that was pretty wild. That was Dale's very first duck hunt ever. Well and that's what.
Speaker 5:I can't.
Speaker 3:Yeah, successful duck hunt, and then Jeremy and Dale are to boat. Why don't you talk about that experience?
Speaker 5:That was absolutely insane. You know, when you think of like a duck hunt, like him in a soda, you know you, if you're, if you're a rich hunter, you got a nice duck boat, big. You know mud motor, right, eric, yeah, you're going out there and it's not so bad, but there's no, you got wind. That's probably the only thing that's really going against you out there. Well, in Alaska you have a four foot of, you know was a 14 foot dingy right Is rubber, is water all over the place.
Speaker 3:You're a foot out of water.
Speaker 5:Yeah, you're. You're, basically, to get up into the water, you have to get wet, like there's no such thing as being dry in that, and it's what 30 degrees out, it's windy, there's 10 foot swells. You're, you know you're getting pulled out there, you're in, you're in the surf. So you imagine, like trying to like ride a surfboard to get over the waves. Well, that's what you got to do is, but you're, you're trying to stay warm and there's just no such thing as warm in that you're freezing the entire time. But, like, you see the decoys.
Speaker 5:It's just a funny way of hunting, because if you're when you're at the bottom of the swell, your decoys are at the top. So the ducks, when they're flying, they see just the decoys for that split second. Then it changes and it goes back. Then it changes, then it goes back and those ducks come flying at you and you're sitting low on the water and when the guy tells you to shoot, you just pop up and the birds are right there in your face and they're flying at 40 miles an hour. You got to leave them like 10 feet, even though you're only 20 feet away from them.
Speaker 5:It just is the craziest thing and I got to use the banelli that Eric was gifted from banelli, which was awesome. I felt like I couldn't miss that day. Jeremy and I were Shooting into clouds of old squads and dropping four of them. It was just like the craziest thing I've ever witnessed and I think I was frozen, like I never get back on the beach and being like I'm straight frozen, like I could not move my arms. The second you got out of the water, the wind started Hit you and everything started to freeze up.
Speaker 3:Can the adrenaline kind of starts to wear off?
Speaker 5:Yes, and now I'm frozen. But I remember I think I'd shot two King Drakes, one King Hen, two old squads and One Harlequin. So I I came back telling Charlie it's the St Paul Island Grand Slam, was all three. So I was super stoked and I'm just I am grateful for you, eric, to For one shooting your bird on day two and three, letting us go for it.
Speaker 4:That you were able to get all that yeah, crazy, you first duck hunt, you get the most of the hardest duck to get in the world.
Speaker 2:Essentially, that is, that's awesome.
Speaker 5:Yeah, so I'm, I'm super grateful. It's just one of the trips that I'll probably never forget and I know I, my career is pretty early yet, but I don't know, I don't know how you top that.
Speaker 2:I really just keep on going, just keep on going. Get, get the rest of them right.
Speaker 5:Well, so To switch gears. I know now that everything's kind of all settled in. The dust has settled. Obviously the dock hasn't come out yet. But Now what, eric? I know we had talked about the 41. I know on the island you had said, you know I don't really need to go after anymore. But I think there's just so much more years, your young man, there's so much more to live and, oh yeah, going after the 41 is just, I Think, might as well, right.
Speaker 4:I think I have to. Now looking around my basement, I have about half of them, but they're still like 12 or 13 act to get, I believe.
Speaker 3:So, eric, why don't you explain what the 41 is? What is it? Is it the ultimate waterfall challenge? Is that what it's called? Yeah, why don't you explain that, eric? What is it?
Speaker 4:Essentially all the doctors you can get in North America, 41 total. Right yep, and you harvest them, you take a picture of them and then you send it into a committee and they review and you say, yep, you have accomplished the North American waterfall challenge. And they give you a certificate and acknowledge you.
Speaker 2:And I think is Charles on that committee as well.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's pretty cool, but, yeah, as we're sitting down here looking around, he literally has like half of them already. So why not? Why not keep going for that title?
Speaker 3:And you get to go some pretty cool places to go. Get some other ones too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, where else would you have to go to get some of the harder ones?
Speaker 5:Mexico.
Speaker 4:Mexico, yep when?
Speaker 2:else main or no? East coast yeah probably main Yep.
Speaker 3:You got to get. You have to get the other writers still to write. Yeah, the common writers and is there a Pacific one, yep.
Speaker 5:Pacific common King. The other hard one, I think, is why the cinnamon teal is one of the hardest.
Speaker 4:Yep, Paul's already got that. Somehow we got that around here.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Right.
Speaker 4:All going horseship address each other old squad around here too.
Speaker 3:Yeah, that's time spent in the field, though those boots and waiters have miles on them. But I think there's some other ones that you can go harvest to up with Charlie up in cold Bay some of the geese Stuff like that. Yeah, yeah, I mean that'd be a awesome thing to do, eric, and I'd love to go do a couple more with you. I think they'd be a lot of fun. But so yeah, so pretty cool thing too is we got back from the trip. You know everyone kind of unwound for a while, and one of the things that we did was we got Eric's bird up to a taxidermist right away. We had Jerry up at flyway taxidermy, donated his bird mount, so we hurry up and got that done. I don't think Eric even knew his bird was gone at that point in time.
Speaker 3:So yeah, we got it up to Jerry and we had Jerry had it mounted within what six, seven weeks?
Speaker 5:I. Was like Matt.
Speaker 3:I think it was two weeks within the, the habitat that it was in they had. And for listeners, you can go to our website or Our social media. You can see the photos of Eric, or even Eric's got him, on his social media, and so does Megan, but His bird that is completely and fully mounted, got done in record time. Usually, you know, these mounts take sometimes years to get back, sometimes years to get back, and At our annual banquet this last March we actually had it there on display but no one could see it. It rogue had completed the trailer for the documentary which we aired for the first time at the banquet, and then the bird was hidden underneath a Blanket on the stage and we brought Eric up there to Reveal it to him. So, eric, did you have any idea? That's what was on stage.
Speaker 4:I know, I know I need the textures. Even had it, I think I asked somebody like we got to get that duck up there, guys, so we can get it started. They're like oh, we'll take care of it. Well, had I known it was already done, isn't?
Speaker 3:that crazy.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 3:So what were your? What did you think when you saw, like, when we had to turn around and we pulled the blanket off of it no, we had. It was pretty cool because Charles Somerville came to the banquet to surprise you and say hi, and so did Jerry, the taxidermist came up there who mounted it for you. Like, what were your thoughts when you got to see those guys and see the bird?
Speaker 4:It was exactly what I wanted, because I think I told somebody like I want to fly over a wave when this, with this mouth open, and I look at it. I'm like it's exactly what I pictured.
Speaker 3:Yep, yep, I remember you send me the picture and I gave Jerry, and so did so, the Dale.
Speaker 2:Were you surprised to like see it, like wait what it's here?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah that's pretty incredible. I think the whole room cried that night.
Speaker 5:I got trouble.
Speaker 3:What do you tell us, oh?
Speaker 5:because Sam saw how big the bird was and how many I had and she was like wait, it all started to click. I'm like thanks.
Speaker 4:Eric.
Speaker 3:Yes, honey, we're gonna have an entire room dedicated to these ducks.
Speaker 5:Yeah, just a giant corner, that's all that thing is huge. I don't, I don't think people realize how big that is.
Speaker 2:It's. I think we could say like the body is as big as a football.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, I'd say that's probably right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like as big as a football, but then I don't even know we should have measured. The wings on. It is probably like Well over 24 inches.
Speaker 5:So yeah, in comparison to an actual like a mallard, I've never even held a Dead mallard, that's. That's how bad that I am at this.
Speaker 4:Where is your mad?
Speaker 5:What's the size? Matt's? Eric, what is like the size comparison between a mallard and a king? Is that a mallard?
Speaker 2:right over there.
Speaker 4:I don't have a mallard, don't you know?
Speaker 2:Oh, you don't, okay. He asked you what's the size between a mallard and a king?
Speaker 4:I would say that a king is pretty common for all in size. Oh, it is body size and wingspan and everything.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, king's a bit bigger and king is a king. I would say the king's a bit bigger, but um what's that over?
Speaker 4:there.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, as a canvas back it definitely is very, very Parable to a canvas back. I mean, that bird looks massive over there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would agree with that. I mean diver birds. They're pretty chunky. Yeah, not all of them, but some of them. Yeah, it was pretty incredible.
Speaker 4:King Eiders are a hardy bird, though, to live in those elements all year round right.
Speaker 3:Yeah, on that lobe on the front of the beak that they have to is very unique, you know, and we had some more juvenile ones that had less of a lobe on the front beak or the forehead, you know, and as they get older that lobe grows so they're able to age birds pretty easily based on that lobe size, which is kind of cool.
Speaker 3:And Eric got a very mature one, so that's even more cool. But you know that these birds really aren't. They don't have a natural predator out there, you know, and you know the they migrate pretty heavily during that time of the year in January, and there was kings everywhere. I mean clouds of kings, but then there's also clouds of old squans, clouds of harlequin everywhere, and even saw some scooters out there. So it was, it was really really incredible and beautiful to be out there and experience the wildlife that were out was out there, and Be able to hang out with friends, you know, with Eric, jeremy, paul, dale and Jeff. You know it was just, it was just phenomenal to be able to be out there and experience that together and the only practice were the boys, the boys from Minnesota.
Speaker 3:Yeah, but I mean, it was just Irreplaceable memories that I will always hold on to. And I'll be honest, like Eric, I hope someday that you and I can go back and, you know, get to see it again in reminisce about the first hunt, and maybe we can drop some more birds another time.
Speaker 5:No, it wasn't cheap, but we can figure it out go to Mexico and get a cinnamon tea I'll come with.
Speaker 3:Yeah, let's go do that. I'd be down, we'll bring the wives with and then go chill while we go duck hunting.
Speaker 2:Absolutely.
Speaker 3:I like it but no, so he got his bird, brought it home. Good to go, and you know Dale's and rogue is chugging away on the documentary we're looking at a release later in 2023. We're thinking around Thanksgiving, early December, just for some safe buffer room here. We're looking at the next legacy trip recipient to and I know I've spoken about it several times, but Eric and Megan are gonna help pick that person. Right now we're down to five people that are gonna be able to pick that. I have one more individual to speak with here which, by the time this podcast comes out, or probably already be done, and I'm hoping to have the information over to Eric and Megan in the next two weeks. Again, by the time the podcast comes out, they'll probably already picked and we're looking to see how we can integrate there there the next individuals story, maybe as a teaser at the end of the dock for Eric, but we don't know yet. I mean, there's a lot of question marks.
Speaker 4:If I won't be as extreme as art, is this like? See how, though.
Speaker 3:Yeah, you know Yours is hard to beat when it comes to that, man, right? Hey, man, we got the hard one out of the way and you got your bird behind you. So we Says we don't suck at what we do, at least. Yep. But yeah, I'm excited for you guys to pick and I think it'll be pretty awesome for you guys to be able to meet the next person you know and get to hang out, get to know them and be a part of it and Definitely, just because this trip is over not mean that you guys are not involved in anything else down the road. We will continue to be family and involve you and all the legacy trips and Everything else that we have going associated with it. So you guys are going to be stewards of that, which is pretty cool.
Speaker 4:Yeah, which is awesome. Yes, sir, like I said, I so cut to help people, like come over and see my king king mount whenever you can.
Speaker 3:Man, maybe we should bring it to your premiere to. That'd be pretty cool. That'd be awesome. Get it on the pedestal and put a couple lights on it at your premiere. So we're hoping to do a premiere of the video. We're gonna do it either in oatana or albert lee likely. We still have more discussion on that. Then we're gonna have a couple more viewings one in the east metro for the minnesota woodbury area and probably one in st Cloud. So we got some things we're figuring out with that, but that'll be an opportunity for people to come and watch it in a feeder setting. Then we're hoping to have it on a streaming network as well, which we'll put on more information as we get closer on that. But I'm excited for it. I can't wait. I think it's gonna be awesome and I can't wait for that night to hang out with you guys and watch it for the first time with you.
Speaker 4:I'm gonna dress up Watch it. Are you? I'm gonna dress up really, really fancy that night. Yeah, you do tuxedo, heck. Yeah, red carpet, premiere baby.
Speaker 3:Can you wear a top hat, for me at least.
Speaker 4:If you'd like me to, I'll wear whatever with his pink cane hell yeah, gator skin shoes with your tux.
Speaker 2:Oh man.
Speaker 3:Well, it's gonna be great and, uh man, it's been an experience and I appreciate you both and really value your guys's friendship and um we appreciate the opportunity that you guys you know did for eric, so it's it's awesome Um once in a lifetime opportunity. Yep, no, no thanks needed made. Friends and family, that's all we need dale anything else I'm good man. Eric. We're gonna say I was gonna say it's, it's here and it's beautiful rising shines either time. Yes, sir, that was his.
Speaker 4:That was my morning trip. Yep, I told paul at every morning. But rising is shining, it's either time and he'd like sit up me like. All right, let's do this, eric.
Speaker 3:Yeah, well, we can't let paul skip out on what happened on the way home. Oh yeah, we can't forget that. We almost missed that. So you, you alluded to it earlier we get back To to anchorage and we go to have a dinner that night and I'm exhausted and we have uh, we had next year almost a full day and anchorage the next day and uh, paul, dale and jeff decided that they're gonna go hang out with our southern boys in town and I knew that sounded like a hangover, so I did not go with. Yeah, dale and eric, you, I'll let you guys talk about what happened that night.
Speaker 5:Um, yeah, we went out to the Carousel. The only reason why I remember that is because they gave me a bunch of stickers, apparently, and I put them all over my pelican cases, like wherever I travel, I put stickers, uh, and so it's learners why I remember. But we were out and about and, um, the carousel treated us well. And then we went to a pizza place. The only reason why we all know that is because of my snapchat story, and I was convinced that we never had pizza.
Speaker 3:But he probably ate a whole pizza.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah.
Speaker 4:He got an extra medium pizza oh, paul. And he didn't believe he was there. I'm like paul. They have camera footage of you to prove it. You were there, man.
Speaker 3:I remember walking down the hallway after breakfast with him and Dale's like, yeah, man, you put away that pizza and paul's like we didn't have pizza last night.
Speaker 1:He goes. No, we did, he goes.
Speaker 3:No, we didn't. And dale's like, no, it's right here, and he goes. Man, I ate a whole pizza last night, dude, it was, and the incredible part is he had no hangover. Like you said, he doesn't get hangovers.
Speaker 3:He's a beast man. That was cool, but it was. It was fun. He was a good guy to get to know and hang out with and, uh, I can see why you guys get along so well. You know pretty awesome relationship you do have. He's the man All right. Well, if you guys have any last comments or anything like that, no, I just thank you guys.
Speaker 4:I love you guys and thank you for everything and, uh, whenever you need us next, let us know We'll be there in a second. Okay, totally.
Speaker 3:I appreciate that. We love you guys and, uh, just want to let our listeners know to keep an eye on all their social media. Go, follow eric and megan, follow rog, any of us, hh. O. And you're going to see a lot more updates as we get closer to the premiere of the release date of eric's documentary Showing everything that he's been through, him and his family, and the struggles, but how, what the outdoors can do to help people as well, as I think that this has been a very large goal for him and it's helped him To be able to work towards a goal for his rehab. And please just keep an eye on everything and share it with Whoever you can when you get a moment. So, but for this episode, that's all we have today. So thank you for turning into listening and as dan mire would always say is we'll see out in the water or up in the woods.
Speaker 4:All right, love you guys.
Speaker 3:Love you, buddy, we'll see you.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to the hometown hero outdoors podcast. For more information, visit our website at hometownherooutdoorsorg.
