Save it for the Blind Podcast

Jeff Smith and Carson Odegard sit down with Casey Hartwell, founder of Hunt Bums, to talk about how a passion for waterfowl hunting turned into a growing platform built around gear reviews, field experience, and helping everyday hunters make better decisions. Casey shares his path back into hunting, why he started Hunt Bums, and how his marketing and research background shaped a more data-driven approach to reviewing products and understanding the hunting community.Episode highlightsHow Hunt Bums started — Casey talks about getting back into hunting as an adult and eventually building a platform around the lifestyle, gear, and experiences that came with it.Honest gear reviews — why Hunt Bums tries to evaluate products on their own merits, call out failure points, and avoid sugarcoating a review just because a company sent the gear.What hunters are actually spending — Casey breaks down findings from Hunt Bums’ hunter survey, including the Pacific Flyway’s high average annual spend and the rising cost of shotguns, shells, decoys, waders, and other essentials.Lowering the barrier to entry — his biggest advice to new hunters: find a mentor, borrow gear first, learn what actually works for you, and then invest in quality equipment.Keeping waterfowl culture alive — Casey makes the case that experienced hunters need to be more willing to bring newcomers along and show them that duck hunting is about far more than just pulling the trigger.California hunting challenges — rising costs, access to quality public ground, and overcrowding are some of the biggest issues he sees facing hunters in the state.Why California rice still hits different — even after hunting clubs and other setups, Casey explains why there’s still something special about spending a morning in a California rice blind.What gear has his attention this season — new shotshell technology, waders, decoys, and other products Casey is looking forward to putting through real-world testing.From gear and access to mentorship and the future of hunting culture, this episode is a solid conversation about making waterfowling more approachable while keeping the traditions and community that make it special.

Jeff Smith and Carson Odegard break down what’s ahead for the 2026–27 California Waterfowl Hunt Program, covering everything from dove and big-game opportunities to the full slate of duck and goose hunts coming this season. They walk through CWA-managed properties from Suisun Marsh and the Delta to the Butte Sink and Goose Lake, share updates on habitat and blind improvements, and highlight several donated hunts that give everyday hunters access to some exceptional private clubs.Episode highlightsDove season recap — how opening weekend went at Goose Lake and in the Butte Sink, plus why some of the best dove hunting can happen after the opener when most hunters have already moved on.A brand-new CWA property: the Golden Gate Duck Club joins the Hunt Program this year near the Pacific Flyway Center, with Wednesday hunts, two groups of two hunters, and decoys provided.Butte Sink updates — what hunters can expect at Butte Creek Island Ranch and Sanborn Slough, including habitat conditions and a new blind location at Sanborn.Staten Island & Quimby Island — why Staten continues to produce strong goose and duck numbers, and what makes both Delta properties capable of delivering a hunt of a lifetime.Goose Lake keeps improving — habitat work at the Badger Almond unit has helped turn it into one of CWA’s strongest-producing properties, with more improvements planned this season.More than waterfowl — the crew covers CWA’s Schaefer Ranch pig hunts, deer opportunities, and other programs available before and during duck season.Donated private-club hunts — opportunities at places like Mystic Lake, Lucky Seven, Upper Valley Ranch, and Mulberry, giving hunters access to properties they might otherwise never get the chance to experience.Whether you’re putting in for your first CWA hunt or already planning out your season, this episode is your roadmap to the properties, application hunts, and unique opportunities available this year.🦆 Get those applications in. Follow the show, leave a review, and share this episode with your blind crew—and keep an eye on CWA’s Hunt Program throughout the season as additional opportunities come online.

California Waterfowl CEO Jake Messerli and VP of Advocacy Mark Hennelly provide the latest update on one of the most critical waterfowl habitats in California – Klamath. While the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge benefited from significant water deliveries organized by CWA and its partners, the refuge faces a dry year ahead. Jake and Mark outline the makings of a long-term solution, including infrastructure investments, advocacy at all levels of government, and a “flow-through concept” that circulates water in the system to the benefit of all stakeholders including agriculture and tribes. Interested in supporting California Waterfowl’s efforts to save Klamath? Visit https://calwaterfowl.org/funds/lower-klamath to contribute. "

Mallard nesting at Grizzly Island, the story about CWA’s first biologist, and how research, banding, fundraising, and education all took shapeJeff Smith and Carson Odegard sit down with Dr. Bob McLandress—past CWA president and one of the key figures in the organization’s early growth—for a look back at how California Waterfowl found its footing. Bob traces his path from Canada and Ducks Unlimited into graduate work under Dennis Raveling at UC Davis, then into CWA in 1985 as the organization’s first biologist—not its first employee, as the old story often goes. From there, the conversation moves through the early Grizzly Island mallard nesting work, the discovery of surprisingly high nest densities, the launch of CWA’s first major banding efforts, and the way one research project quickly snowballed into fundraising dinners, youth education, development work, and the broader conservation mission the organization carries today.Episode highlightsBob’s path from Winnipeg into waterfowl biology, and how early work in Canada helped set the course for his career.The real story behind the long-running myth: Bob was CWA’s first biologist, but not its first employee.Why the early Grizzly Island nesting work changed the conversation around California mallards.How CWA’s first banding efforts got rolling—and how those early permits and projects helped build the program that followed.What early CWA really looked like: volunteer-driven, underfunded, chaotic, and full of people trying to build something that mattered.How one biologist’s job quickly turned into fundraising, education, development, and helping define CWA’s long-term role in California conservation.🦆 If you love hearing where this work really started, hit Follow, leave a quick review, and share the episode with your blind crew—your support keeps these conversations rolling and the flyway thriving.

Jeff Smith and Carson Odegard sit down with Chance Wadsworth, owner of Quill Creek Championship Calls, to talk goose calling from the inside out—how a chemistry background helped him design the Mach One, why he refuses to sell a call he hasn’t proven at a high level, and how contest calling sharpened the way he hunts real birds in Wisconsin. The conversation covers mentors, stage nerves, field philosophy, traffic hunting, and the kind of repetition it takes to actually get good.Episode highlightsHow Quill Creek started — Chance launched the company in 2024 after roughly two years of prototypes, testing, and refining a goose call he felt confident enough to take on stage.Built like an experiment — with a chemistry background and CAD-based design, he worked through more than a thousand call combinations to understand how length, wall thickness, contour, and overlap affect both sound and feel.Mentors matter — Chance credits Tim Steele and Mike Benjamin for helping him build the foundation and accelerate as a contest caller.Field calling vs. contest calling — the crew breaks down the difference between stage performance and practical hunting, and why some contest calls still absolutely work in the blind.Why he cares so much about calling — in traffic situations, when birds are not already committed to the food, Chance believes calling becomes a huge part of the game.Wisconsin goose hunting realities — leasing fields, learning roost patterns, hunting cut corn and beans, and why he believes leaving spreads out too long can educate birds.Advice for new contest callers — be okay with not winning, use YouTube and good mentors, put in the work, and understand that progress comes from repetition.If you care about goose calls, competition, and the crossover between stage skill and real-world hunting, this one is packed with practical insight and a lot of heart.