The Duck and Geese Report with David Pruett, Owner of Riceland Waterfowl Club

Originally aired on December 28, 2025. Doug's insightful interview with David Pruett, for your listening pleasure.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
All right, welcome back Doug Pike Show on Sports Talk
seven ninety. Thank you for listening and trying to get
hold of this fella for a long time because he
knows where the ducks are, and it would be David
Prewitt from Riceland Waterfowl Club. David, what's going on?

Speaker 2 (00:11):
Man? Oh? Not a whole lot have you? Have?

Speaker 1 (00:15):
You got ducks?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Are you?

Speaker 1 (00:16):
Are you still mad? I am at the people in
Iowa and Nebraska and all where they got hot tubs
for ducks and all that stuff.

Speaker 2 (00:22):
Well, I'm not too happy with them. Let's just say that.

Speaker 1 (00:25):
That's a very polite way to put it. Yeah, I'm
thinking about going up there and pulling the plug on
all their little spas, their air little four seasons hotels
for geese and ducks and whatnot. So how is the
Eagle Lake Prairie looking now?

Speaker 2 (00:38):
Well, a lot of places are drying up, especially after
we hit this north wind again tomorrow for a couple
of day twenty five miles an hour.

Speaker 1 (00:46):
That's a good point.

Speaker 2 (00:48):
But we've We're still got a lot of water fixture,
turn on, some more wells, pump ups places, and guys
are shooting, you know, anywhere between two to twelve fourteen
ducks and bonus goose every nine and the end.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
There's nothing wrong with two to twelve ducks on an
average duck hunt. And a lot of people tended back
when I was guiding David, and you know this. You've
been around it a long time. You've been doing this
fifty years. You know what you're doing. And a lot
of times somebody will hear, oh, well, we went out
and we shot twenty four ducks, and another guy comes
in and we shot eighteen, and then everybody who shot thirteen, fifteen, sixteen, ten, twelve,

(01:27):
they all feel like they didn't do any good. But
that's really darn good. Yeah, I don't have any problem
with average, with average duck hunt, average goose hunt, something
like that, because it's better than the national average usually
around here.

Speaker 2 (01:41):
Oh yes, sir, Yeah, it's not just about the numbers.
People have to understand. It's about the experience of going out.
But the ducks aren't really moving as much. I mean,
we've been pushing eighty two degrees even around Christmas. I
expect the ducks to do I don't.

Speaker 1 (01:56):
Know if you heard. This morning, I got an email
from Scott Noll. He's down hunting a little bit somewhere
close to Katula, and yesterday in Kotula it was ninety
two degrees.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Man, that's buddy warm.

Speaker 1 (02:11):
It would like to be sitting in a box blind
that's somewhere, one of those black plastic box blinds that
you hope in the dead of winter. It's great that
it's nice and warm because the sun hits it. But
at ninety two degrees, that's just like sitting in an
easy bake oven.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Man. No, kid, I don't want to be in there.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
No, so you mentioned, you mentioned these your guys are
getting every now in the little bonus goose somewhere. Are
there really enough geese to even try to go hunt
them or they just you just put out, maybe put
out a few rags in some dry spot behind your water.

Speaker 2 (02:42):
No, there's guys going out and they're shooting geese. I
got went out today to shoot them. I mean, there's
there's more than enough geese around. Oh that's good news.
They're just as the last few years. They just like
to stay in one big group here there.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
Yeah, yeah, you know. And I think the only difference
between me now and back twenty thirty years ago when
whatever it was I was guiding twenty something years that
we had lots of those big groups. They like to
hang out in a pretty big group. I guess it's
safety in numbers. But there were just a million geese
and they couldn't all sit in one field so that
we would have a bunch of those pretty big groups.

(03:19):
Now it's just down to a couple on each prairie hunt.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Yes, sir, right now, we've got some traffic. There's a
little enough traffic around this last week with the fog
they was. I've got reports of several people shooting, you know,
two to four geese, you know, on their duck hunt.
It's not the most, but hey, while you're trying to
shoot ducks and you're getting two to four geese on
a bonus and a crane every now and then, I'll

(03:45):
take that, you know.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
And you're right, David, And people need to realize that.
We I think it's it's kind of like if you
only look at let's say you're looking at pictures on
on social media of fishing trips, and all these guys
have every one of their pictures, they've got full limits
of fish splayed out all over the dock or all
over the cleaning table, and the guy who went out

(04:07):
there and got four or five with his buddies feels
kind of bad, like they missed out and they're no good.
But it's it's just that's what it's really like. And
that's it goes back to what you said right when
we started. It's more about the experience and the numbers
of birds you get, that's just a bonus. And a
lot of young people I don't think really understand that yet.

Speaker 2 (04:30):
No, so they haven't. And the biggest thing I see
right now is people still trying to call like they're
drunning a competition. Duck call. Yeah, they're killing themselves.

Speaker 1 (04:44):
Yeah they are. They're just wasting you know, they're they're
doing far more harm than good unless you are. The
irony is that unless you are a legitimate, not contest caller,
but a contest winning caller like you are ducks and geese,
unless you're that that qualified to have that thing in
your hands, the best place you can keep it is

(05:04):
in your pocket. Because somebody who really knows what they're doing,
if you'll just watch them when they're hunting, they don't
call very often. You only call when things are going south.
You only call to the south end of a northbound bird.
If you can see his head and he's coming to you,
what's the point in calling. You just risk messing it up?

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Right? Oh exactly. There's guys this week who was said
many times that they just heard wings and looked up
and the DUTs is trying to land in the record.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
Yes, it's a yeah, that's exact, you know, and it
happens so often. But then the very next group that
comes around, they're one hundred and fifty yards away, they
got their wings locked and they're coming right at them.
And if you're sitting on the side of the road
somewhere watching them, first thing here make me and the
bird is gone.

Speaker 2 (05:56):
They know exactly, they know better. Man, What about what?
They're a pretty duck so coming around and people getting
some real pretty troupe.

Speaker 1 (06:03):
I was going to ask you about that. What do
the penttails look like if they tailed out yet?

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Uh? Pretty much? A lot of blue wing killed. Two
weeks ago we got a huge influx of blue wing kill.
Shows you how far the migration is back. I mean
we're talking lots of group shooting four to eight till
per hunt. Wow and full crescence wow. Wow. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (06:26):
They're pretty birds. I've got one of those mounted. I
had one. I may have given it to a lodge
years ago. I donated a few birds because my wife's
just said I had too many, you know how, You
know what I had to do, and I did right well.
But that's okay, man, Yeah, they're pretty birds. All of
these ducks that we get down here. I'm trying to

(06:47):
think of the well, some of the puddle ducks aren't
really pretty. But when you consider going on to the
prairie like we are, in the little pockets of woods
we have, you got a chance to shoot what ducks
you teal pintails an occasional mallard if it'll ever get
cold enough to push them on down here. We got
some really pretty ducks on that prairie.

Speaker 2 (07:08):
Man.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
We used to have people come down from up north. David,
I know you've experienced it too. They come all the
way from way way up north and say, oh please,
just whatever happens, we don't care, as long as we
can get a good drake spoon bill like okay.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, yeah, some guys, some guys hold some up and
some pictures the other day hold them up in kind
of uh, you just get the picture of the swoon
bill full flume. Nice birds, you know they are.

Speaker 1 (07:34):
They're so different and so and they are. The coloration
on them is mallard like, so they've got that going
for him. But just that big old beak man, it's
just so goofy looking to all of us who've seen
them forever, you know.

Speaker 2 (07:48):
Yeah, but he's Mama likes y.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
Yeah. Oh man, Well, what kind of what kind of
how are we talked about? Water? Oh, let me take
you to the for a couple of minutes. Here, I'm
gonna shift gears and ask you. I was asking the
theme of this show this morning. This is my last
show of twenty twenty five. Okay, so the theme is
what in the outdoors really kind of got your attention

(08:14):
this year? What was the biggest out outdoor story in
your world?

Speaker 2 (08:20):
You're talking just waterfowl or anything anything really?

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, if it meant something to you, what was it?

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Like?

Speaker 1 (08:25):
Wow, I can't believe that happened, or I can't believe
we got to do this or can't do that or whatever.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
Well, I ran up on the hogs with thermals at night.
I've seen setting, just watched deer after deer. You know,
before dark and then watch them with thermals and timing
them and seeing their patterns and everything. Last night did
not show up as usually twenty minutes till six to
fifteen till six, I always see deer. I could almost

(08:54):
name the deer. I've got names for them. No, wow,
and I watch them. Not one time did I see
one last night? And at eight o'clock everything or seven thirty,
excuse me, all the deer I found were laying down.
The hogs was laying down. Matter of fact, I had
one charge me last night at about oh lord h
he stopped. Well. I had a handheld thermal when I
was walking up to a drop gate, gonna look across

(09:14):
the field for open up the gate, you know, being smart,
and all of a sudden here's something running at me
and I had to hand it on, throw my hog,
and my green lights was on the truck and I
went to the left as he was going to the
right wing takes outside of the yards.

Speaker 1 (09:29):
Holy cow man, Yeah, I don't want any part of that.
Oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (09:32):
No, it was two hundred and two twenty and I read.
I jumped back in the truck to make sure everything
was okay, and he wasn't on my butt, but uh,
because I've seen the teas. Oh I read the rifle,
and he was nowhere to be found.

Speaker 1 (09:50):
I bet yeah, Holy get out of my way. I
got together. I got somewhere to go, all right, David
threwitt Man. So if anybody needs to get in touch
with you and maybe talk about getting in a little
late season duck hunting out there, you still make them
a deal.

Speaker 2 (10:05):
Oh, yes, sir, good. Yeah, We've already got people signing
up for next year, and.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
You pro rate, right, So if somebody came in that you,
they would they wouldn't have to pay for the whole season.
They can just jump on board and make the best
of what's.

Speaker 2 (10:17):
Left, right exactly.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yeah, that's that's something I don't know if anybody else does.
I really don't. But I'm glad you do that, and
I appreciate that.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
Man.

Speaker 1 (10:26):
All right, So how do they get you?

Speaker 2 (10:28):
It's phone numbers nine three six, eight two seven two
four one three.

Speaker 1 (10:34):
Nine three six eight two seven two four one three.
I'm writing it down myself. I'm gonna tell them again later.

Speaker 2 (10:39):
Yes, sir, all right, David, Yes, sir, all right, man.

Speaker 1 (10:42):
Great to hear from you. And keep stay in touch
on these duck reports, man. And if something goes crazy
in the middle of the week, even just let me
know and I'll throw it on Facebook.

Speaker 2 (10:51):
Or we're out going for I'm gonna take some guys
out tomorrow for goose hunting because we've got a twenty
two to twenty five miles on our windowmorrow. We'll just
see if that helps.

Speaker 1 (11:01):
Let me tell you how stupid I am before I
let you go. You know what I'm doing tomorrow morning.
Let's that it's almost embarrassing. I'm playing golf a twenty
five mile hours, you know. And if you'd have called
me yesterday, I could have. I could have walked away
from that and jumped in that spread and put out
as many decoys as you wanted me to put out.

(11:22):
So you're the smart one if we're if we're gonna
be out in a north wind at twenty five and
about fifty degrees, I'd rather be where you're gonna be
than where I'm gonna be. But I can't walk back
from it now because I told my son i'd take
him to like a.

Speaker 2 (11:36):
Don't that's all right, keep your promises, I will, man,
all right, Hey, David, It's always a pleasure man, so
good to hear from you. Yes sir, all right, but
yes sir. E later