The Standard Sportsman

Drain tile setbacks on wetland easements help protect the small wetlands breeding ducks depend on by keeping underground drainage systems farther away. Reducing those setbacks could dry out more wetlands across the Prairie Pothole Region, leaving ducks with fewer places to pair, nest, and raise broods. The USFWS is seeking public input on potentially reducing these setbacks, a red alert for those who care about waterfowl. Ducks Unlimited's Scott Stephens and Mike Brasher join the show to break down why a seemingly technical drainage rule could ultimately mean fewer ducks in the fall flight and how duck hunter/conservationists...

Talking season is in full swing, and the waterfowl expo circuit isn’t far behind. Cason and Brent preview their upcoming appearance at DUX in Memphis, where they’ll record a live podcast, before wading into several hot-button management issues. They break down the new draw system at St. Francis Sunken Lands WMA, weigh the pros and cons of the “three-splash” rule in South Dakota and Nebraska, and unpack the uproar surrounding Arkansas’ new one-time fee for non-consumptive WMA users.

Send us Fan Mail

All Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sportsman podcast.

The midsummer doldrums have set in, but duck season is beginning to work its way back into coffee-shop conversations. Cason and Brent weigh the duck hunting pros and cons of permanent daylight saving time before heading down a rabbit hole connecting military strategy, waterfowl science and the catchphrases hunters love to repeat. They close with a look at why state wildlife commissioners are appointed rather than elected—and why putting natural-resource management on the ballot could produce more politics than progress.

Send us Fan Mail

All Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sp...

Overcrowded public ground and limited flooded habitat have some duck hunters calling for the state to simply buy more land. Ohio recently put $50 million on the table, including matching federal funds, to expand public hunting access. So, what would $50 million buy in Arkansas? Not nearly as much as you might think.

The guys break down the real-world cost of adding meaningful public duck habitat, then turn north for the latest intel from the Prairie Pothole Region and what current conditions could mean when the official reports arrive in September.

>>>

Thanks to our sponsors...

With the holiday weekend here, we're taking it back to the very beginning. This week's episode is a re-airing of a conversation recorded in September 2023—before The Standard Sportsman officially launched. Cason and Brent tackle a question guaranteed to spark debate: Is Arkansas still the Duck Hunting Capital of the World? Drawing on personal experiences, harvest data, and waterfowl science, they make the case from every angle. Enjoy the holiday weekend, and we'll be back next week with a brand-new episode.

Send us Fan Mail

All Rights Reserved. Please subscribe, rate and share The Standard Sp...

As her historic seven-year term on the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission comes to a close, outdoorswoman, conservationist, and avid duck hunter Anne Marie Doramus joins the podcast to reflect on her time helping guide one of the nation's premier wildlife agencies. Appointed in 2019 as the first woman to serve a full term on the Commission, Doramus navigated some of the agency's most consequential—and occasionally controversial—decisions. She shares how a childhood spent hunting and fishing in Southeast Arkansas sparked a lifelong passion for conservation, offers insights into key issues that shaped her tenure, and highlights opportunities available to hunt...

Canadian waterfowling finds itself at a pivotal moment. As more American hunters head north in search of ducks and geese, participation among Canadian residents continues to decline, raising questions about the future of the country's hunting traditions. Rob Olson, a former leader with both Delta Waterfowl and the Manitoba Wildlife Federation, was at the forefront of efforts to establish safeguards in Manitoba before hunting pressure reached a tipping point. Now, he's helping neighboring Saskatchewan navigate similar challenges as policymakers, hunters, and conservationists work to protect Canada's rich waterfowling heritage for future generations.

Send us Fan Mail

With spring planting season winding down, attention turns to the work that pays dividends for ducks long after the combines are parked. Cason and Brent discuss Louisiana's newly announced black-bellied whistling duck season and debate whether duck hunters and waterfowl managers have fallen behind deer hunters when it comes to working together across property lines. The conversation also covers the latest reports from the Prairie Pothole Region, drought conditions across the South, and why stewardship matters, whether you own ground or not. The episode wraps up with a look at a potential floodplain reforestation project and several programs that...

Brandon Stafford has spent more than 20 years in the Arkansas land business, witnessing firsthand the dramatic rise in agricultural and recreational land values. In this episode, he shares insights into the evolving market for duck-hunting properties, the growing importance of privately managed habitat, and how habitat loss has concentrated ducks in fewer areas. Stafford also discusses some original things to evaluate in your due diligence of buying a property. Including your neighbors.

>>>

Big thanks to our sponsors: Sitka Gear, Tom Beckbe, Ducks Unlimited, Lile Real Estate, Create the X, Waterfowl Management Academy, Noah Perry-Raymond James...

With Cason out on vacation and the holiday week keeping things short, Brent takes the controls for a rare solo episode...no guests, no script, just stories and insight. Using the Executive Q&A featured in Greenhead: The Arkansas Duck Hunting Magazine as a guide, he walks through the same questions posed to prominent Arkansas business leaders, mixing in personal experiences, hunting memories, and the lessons that shaped him as a waterfowler. It’s a laid-back but revealing episode that offers a deeper look into how Brent approaches duck season, the outdoors, and the traditions that keep him coming ba...

As the Memorial Day holiday weekend approaches, the guys swap stories about duck bands they’ve harvested or witnessed firsthand over the years. Some are the kind every waterfowler dreams about, while others are almost too wild to believe. Along the way, they dive into the evolution of college baseball and how, much like duck hunting, the sport continues to change with the times before wrapping things up with a look at Brent’s upcoming induction into the Arkansas Waterfowler Hall of Fame.

>>

Thanks to our sponsors: Tom Beckbe, Lile Real Estate, Perfect Limit Outdoors, Puri...

Youth sports and duck hunting may seem worlds apart, but beneath the surface they share a common thread: money. In this episode, the guys dive into the growing influence of dollars and commercialization in both arenas, and what it means for the future of the outdoors. They also tackle why outfitters are finding themselves squarely in the crosshairs as duck seasons continue to struggle across the flyway. To wrap things up, Cason and Brent break down several recent Lacey Act violations, discuss the presence of outlaws in the outdoors, and explore the uphill battle game wardens and prosecutors face...

Danny Fulton joins the show to tell the story of building a duck property where most wouldn’t expect one, along the Ohio River in southern Indiana. In a region outside the traditional waterfowl spotlight, the Fulton family has transformed a challenging river-bottom farm into a true waterfowl-focused operation. Danny breaks down the process of acquiring the property, adapting to the constant variables of a fluctuating river system, and learning how to shape habitat around the three things ducks demand most: food, rest, and cover. It’s a conversation about vision, patience, and the reality of building habitat in a pl...

Weather gets talked about a lot in duck circles—and for good reason. It affects everything, from breeding habitat to migration timing to what your mornings in the blind look like. On this episode of The Standard Sportsman, the guys sit down with Arkansas native, chief meteorologist, and passionate duck hunter Skot Covert to cut through the noise and talk about what’s really going on. They dig into the prolonged drought gripping much of the South, what an incoming El Niño could mean for winter, and how both may shape the season ahead. Skot also gets into why w...

Planting season’s here, but so is a lingering drought that won’t let go. The guys talk tough conditions in the southern flyway, brighter signs from the breeding grounds, and how it all ties together. They also tackle the growing role of politics in wildlife decisions and walk through key 2026–2027 regulation changes, including a controversial non-resident ban at Dave Donaldson Black River WMA, plus a few notes from Kansas and Minnesota.

>>>

Thanks to our sponsors: Tom Beckbe, Lile Real Estate, Perfect Limit Outdoors, Purina Pro Plan, Sitka Gear, Greenhead: The Arkansas Duck Hunting Magazine, Noah P...

With so many distractions pulling at kids today and duck hunting facing a downturn, it’s fair to wonder...will the next generation stick with the sport long enough to see things turn around? Cason and Brent dig into that question, sharing stories from their own upbringings and the moments that kept them hooked. They also talk candidly about the role we play as adults and how the conversations we have and the example we set can shape not just young hunters, but the future stewards of the sport. 

>>>

Thanks to our sponsors: Tom Beckbe, Lil...

Habitat manager Hunter Johnson returns to share his spring plans for three very different properties under his care. From dealing with flooding to battling drought conditions, Johnson relies on a deep toolkit of strategies to create ideal habitat for ducks, deer, and turkeys. He’s also been a leader in implementing prescribed fire in Arkansas, using it to control unwanted vegetation and rejuvenate areas that need a reset. In this episode, Johnson breaks down his approach to using fire, discusses effective moist-soil management techniques, and explains why he favors natural food sources over planted crops.

LINKS...

Originally aired in October of 2024, the hosts break down the classic, research-backed framework known as the “Five Stages of the Hunter”, a model that explains how a hunter’s motivations and mindset evolve over time. Originally developed by behavioral scientists in the 1970s, the concept is still widely taught in hunter education today.

Drawing from personal experience, the hosts walk through each stage and reflect on how their own hunting careers have progressed, sharing stories that highlight the changing definition of success in the field.

>>>

Thanks to our sponsors: Tom Beckbe, Lile Real Estate...

Grant Sinclair and Lee Kjos are two well-known voices in the waterfowling world, bound by decades of freelance duck hunting in Saskatchewan. Kjos’s connection to the prairie goes back more than 50 years, hunting alongside his father, while Sinclair has spent the last 15+ years following that same tradition.

In this episode, they reflect on the freedom and tradition of DIY duck hunting across Saskatchewan’s grain fields and how new regulations limiting non-resident hunters to two five-day licenses may change that experience. Intended to curb illegal outfitting, the policy could have major impacts on independent hunters.

Gr...

Duck hunters often spend more time arguing with each other than focusing on the things that could actually improve the future of duck seasons. In this episode, the guys discuss what the waterfowl community could accomplish if more hunters rallied around meaningful issues. The time to turn the page on the current dynamic is now. They also cover a few practical spring habitat projects listeners can tackle now and share a fishing mishap story or two along the way.

>>

Thanks to our sponsors: Tom Beckbe, Lile Real Estate, Perfect Limit Outdoors, Purina Pro Plan, Sitka...

Duck season may be in the rearview and the clocks may have sprung forward, but the forces shaping future seasons are anything but quiet. From a struggling farm economy and tensions abroad to legislation on Capitol Hill and some thorny cultural conversations closer to home, there’s plenty happening that could ripple through the waterfowl world. The guys unpack it all, and with the recent passing of Cason’s father-in-law, he reflects on the deeper connections duck hunting can forge between generations, family, and the memories that last long after the season ends.

>>>

Thanks to our...

Justin Reif is a self-taught habitat manager who, through years of trial and error, has learned how to consistently attract ducks to his family farm just west of Lake Erie in Ohio. Adapting to shifting migration patterns, changing landscapes, and the realities of modern waterfowl management, Reif has refined his approach while navigating challenges ranging from unpredictable weather to competition from neighboring “corn club” operations. His pursuit of maximizing duck energy days on the farm ultimately led him to develop Create the X, a mobile app designed to help landowners and managers track the many details involved in m...

Philip Tappan has spent the past four and a half years serving on the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission and now chairs the Rules & Regulations Committee at the AGFC. With the Commission’s proposed changes for the 2026–27 and 2027–28 seasons now on the table, from expanded non-motorized walk-in areas on WMAs to another proposed 60-day, six-duck framework, the conversation around the future of Arkansas duck hunting is still buzzing despite the season ending.

In this episode, the guys take a measured look at what’s being proposed, unpack the philosophy behind the decisions and wrestle with a familiar topic of balan...

Arkansas duck hunter John Adams, Head of Sales & Development at Natural Gear, joins the show with the kind of perspective that only comes from decades spent on public ground. From the “glory days” of Arkansas timber to the realities of today’s crowded boat ramps and ever-changing culture, John doesn’t hold back.

He walks us through the early roots of Natural Gear, the evolution of the camouflage and apparel industry, and how competition, both in business and on public land, has reshaped the duck-hunting experience across the state. More than anything, it’s a conversation about what’s cha...

Duck hunters have always been prone to grumbling, but lately the frustration feels different...deeper, more widespread, and harder to shake. Across flyways and duck camps, many waterfowlers share the same sentiment: they don’t feel heard. In this episode of The Standard Sportsman Podcast, Cason Short and Brent Birch dig into where communication is breaking down and why expectations may be part of the problem. It’s an honest look at modern duck seasons and how a reset in perspective might help hunters find satisfaction again.

>>>

Thanks to our sponsors: Tom Beckbe, Lile Real Esta...

The 2025–2026 duck season proved one thing: success depended on where you stood and when you showed up. With mallard numbers down and dry conditions gripping much of the Mississippi Flyway and Central Flyway, many hunters faced a hurdle right out of the gate. Then, just as the season wound down, a blast of snow, sleet, and ice slammed the Deep South, locking up habitat and reshuffling birds overnight. For some, it was a last-minute gift that sent the season out on a high note. For others, it marked an early curtain call.

On this episode, Cason and Br...

Iconic North American waterfowler and legendary outdoor photographer Lee Kjos joins the show, carrying with him a lifetime of sunrises, wingbeats, and miles traveled beneath open skies. From the disappearing prairie potholes of Saskatchewan to the river bottoms of Missouri, Kjos shares what he’s seen this past season and the realities of duck hunting's struggles.

His reflections are honest and, at times, sobering, but they are also rooted in a deep love for wild places and the birds that bind us together across flyways and seasons. From Minnesota’s northern marshes to Louisiana’s coastal plains, and ev...

Perry Partain was raised in the L’Anguille River bottoms of East Arkansas, tagging along with his Depression-era grandfather on squirrel hunts and growing up in a time when ducks were abundant, unpressured, and limits could be taken without a duck call or a single decoy.

Fast forward 40 years, and the world he knew has changed almost beyond recognition. In this episode, Partain offers a steady, clear-eyed look at what’s happening in Arkansas’s public flooded timber, what’s driving the decline, what’s being misunderstood, and what practical steps could help turn things around.

>>>

Two of the sharpest minds in waterfowl science are back and they aren’t here to sugarcoat what's going on with the sport. Brad Cohen (Cohen Wildlife Lab) and Doug Osborne (Snowden Center for Waterfowl Excellence) dig into the hard truth behind duck hunting’s recent decline, what’s actually driving it, and more importantly, what we can do about it.

They cut through the noise, separate fact from folklore, and lay out what truly matters versus what should fall further down the priority list. It’s a balanced, no-nonsense conversation that looks at every issue from both sid...

After a much-needed reset filled with friends, family, and chasing greenheads, Cason and Brent are back behind the mic just in time for the stretch run of duck season. In this episode, the guys kick around a handful of timely topics, from a measured take on the Woodruff County baiting bust to boots-on-the-ground observations of how the season has unfolded so far. They also dive into the challenges of unseasonably warm weather, the full-moon blues, and why even a little rain could change things for the short term.

>>>

Thanks to our sponsors: Tom Beckbe, Lile...

We hope everyone is experiencing a wonderful holiday season and the ducks are finding your decoys. With all that is going on this time of year, The Standard Sportsman is re-airing shows from this past summer that we believe are worth another listen. New episodes will return January 8, 2026, as duck season gets on the downhill slide.

The New Year's edition replays an interview with Saskatchewan farmer and conservationist Lorne Scott...wise words from a tenured Canadian farmer who truly cares about wild things in wild places. 

>>

Thanks to our sponsors: Tom Beckbe, Lile R...

With the holidays upon us and schedules packed, we’re taking a moment to revisit two favorite segments from this past summer. We start with Jason Smith, a southeast Arkansas rice farmer and duck hunter, followed by Scott Perry, founder of McAlister and Mountain Khakis and a traditional waterfowler in every sense of the word. Happy holidays, and thank you for being part of The Standard Sportsman.

>>

Thanks to our sponsors: Tom Beckbe, Lile Real Estate, Perfect Limit Outdoors, Purina Pro Plan, Sitka Gear, Greenhead: The Arkansas Duck Hunting Magazine, Noah Perry/Raymond James and Du...

Duck hunters' wish and want lists are a mile long. More water, less water, colder temps, warmer weather; everyone wants something different to tip the odds in their favor. But those wants often ignore the cause-and-effect shaping the hunt. Cason and Brent play devil’s advocate, unpacking the most common refrains heard in the blind and challenging whether they actually help ducks or hunters. The guys also share what they’re hearing after the recent cold snap, including updated duck numbers, the avian flu outbreak on snow geese and more sick specklebellies than in years past.

>>>

Th...

What do Arkansas’s world-class trout streams have to do with duck hunting?
A lot more than most people realize.

Fly fishing guide and avid duck hunter Jordan Case joins the show to reveal the unexpected ways these two passions intersect—and why Arkansas is facing a pivotal moment in protecting the habitat and culture that sustain both. Jordan also looks back on his early days in the duck woods, his journey as a competitive junior caller, and the invaluable lessons he learned under the mentorship of Hall of Famer Bu...