Welcome And Spring In Minnesota

George Blitch 0:14

Hey Bob, thanks for joining me on the podcast, man.

SPEAKER_01 0:17

How are you doing today? I am doing great. Uh spring has finally arrived to the uh the northern climates of Minnesota. There's still, believe it or not, um, you know, still we still have ice on some lakes at the you know in the boundary waters area, but um yeah, spring is fast approaching, so that's that's a good thing. And I'm sure you know your listeners down in Texas are like, what on earth? It's you know, it's been spring for months, but uh in the north woods, north, north country, it takes a little longer to get here, but I'm doing great.

George Blitch 0:54

Good deal. Well, I I the thawing out is a very interesting time. I I lived up in New England for a little while, so I know that transition down in in Texas. We don't really have the four seasons, either hot or not so hot. Those are our two for the most part. Um, well, you know, you speaking about coming up from the north. I mean, you were in upper, which uh for those who maybe don't know what that is and the delineation there, you can maybe explain it, but I'd love for you to kind of talk about where you kind of grew up and where you got your love and appreciation for the outdoors, and then we'll kind of jump into your work with conservation and everything you're doing now uh within forever and quail forever. But I'd love to kind of get a little bit of background just to kind of give listeners

Growing Up A Youper Outdoorsman

George Blitch 1:30

a little bit of idea who you are and where you come from.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Absolutely. So I am a proud youper. It it an upper is something you I think you take when you're in college. Um, but uh I'm a youper that's pretty uh spelled Y-O-O-P-E-R, and that's a person that's from the upper peninsula of Michigan, as opposed to the lower peninsula of Michigan, those folks are called trolls because they live below the Mackinac Bridge. So even you know, Michiganders, you know, yeah, we're one state, but we have pretty big rivalry between youpers and trolls. And don't even get me started about you know Packers fans in Wisconsin and uh Buckeyes fans in Ohio. But uh yeah, so I I grew up in the upper peninsula of Michigan in the deep north woods. Uh I grew up with a baseball bat in one hand and a shotgun in the other. Not literally, but almost. Uh I grew up playing baseball in the summer and uh then I transitioned to bird hunting uh through the fall and winter. I grew up cutting my teeth on rough grouse and and woodcock, went to college and uh ended up with a job in minor league baseball. Uh worked in the minors for for seven seasons uh with the St. Paul Saints baseball team in uh in Minnesota. And I a couple of my buddies from the UP ended up in in southern um Minnesota and northern Iowa. And so we'd get together on the weekends and go pheasant haunting. So that was my introduction to pheasant haunting, and um one thing led to the next, and I uh landed a job. I had two job offers after seven years in the miners, one to be the director of marketing for the Detroit Tigers, and the other was to be the director of marketing for Pheasants Forever. And 23 23 years ago later, my dogs are named after Tigers, but I work for

Choosing Conservation Over Pro Baseball

SPEAKER_01 3:30

Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever.

George Blitch 3:32

Man, that's a cool that must have been a tough decision, too. I mean, it and again, the baseball bat, the shotgun, and the other, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:40

Yeah, yeah. It they they're both part of my identity. You know, I you know, I do the podcast for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, and not a single episode goes by that I don't have a baseball analogy for bird hunting or habitat or conservation. But it was a super difficult decision. You know, I like I mentioned my my dog, my first dog was named Trammel after Alan Trammell, the shortstop for the Tigers Hall of Famer, my childhood idol. I've had a dog named Iserman after Steve Iserman from the Red Wings, got a current dog named Gitchie after Gitchie Gumi, and you know, on uh Northern Lake on the boundary of uh the UP and Minnesota and Canada. And so my my Michigan and Michigan sports in particular roots run real deep. And I love baseball. But when you work in baseball, you spend you know from Easter to Labor Day at the ballpark. So it's not like breaking rocks, you know, nobody needs to shed a tear for me. But I didn't get to to fish uh at all. Like I'd wake up on Sunday and you'd go to the ballpark because there's likely gonna be a game. And if the team's on the road, you were working on the next homestand. And that rolled into the fall. You know, when you're working in the minors, there's probably seven to ten people that work year-round, and you're once the season ends, you're selling outfield billboards, you're selling logo baseball night, inflatable bat night, and uh you you make your living based on how successful you are selling sponsorships around next year's season. And the point, my point is so in the fall, I'm at the ballpark still and I'm not hunting at all. So seven years in, I applied for two jobs, the Tigers and Pheasants Forever. And ultimately I chose Pheasants Forever because I grew up as a bird hunter. I wanted to, you know, try something a little bit different. I I want I had a girlfriend in Minnesota rather than moving to Detroit. Uh, so I stayed in Minnesota and uh it, you know, I've never regretted that decision. It was very difficult, but I made the right decision. I can still be a baseball fan, but what I do every single day has a direct impact on something that is part of who I am and I care deeply about. And that's creating habitat for upland birds from bobwhite quail to scalies to mountain quail to roosters and you know, everything in between. Um, so it's been it's been a great ride.

George Blitch 6:17

Well, I mean, 23 years, you've seen a lot of growth and evolution from when you first started, and it's just the membership over those years and decades continues to grow and grow. I mean, I think y'all are close to like 500,000 members now as far as like contributing and and people who are listening and tying in, like you said, too, on the podcast and getting involved. And you know, we'll talk Pheasant Fest in a second here, but you've got all these members, and I was curious, you know, for those who you know, maybe there's some people here in Texas that that are listening today who are, yeah, you know, love to hunt quail, and that's a fun thing, but maybe they don't have as many experiences out there uh with pheasants. I know we have like the the is it the lesser greater chicken that's here in Lesser Prairie Chicken, Lesser Prairie Chicken. Yeah, you know, so there is some maybe you know awareness there too, but for for folks who might not understand um what your organization is all about, I know you kind of gave a little preface there too, but talk to me a little bit about that and and you know, with uh Pheasants Forever, with Quail Forever, what is the goal for these organizations and how if someone's interested in becoming a member, what does that look like for them and how can they be involved? Because it's a a different kind of model than some of the other organizations that are out there. I'd love for you to kind of talk about that nuance and and where maybe those contributions of time, effort, and money go.

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Yeah, yeah. Thank you for that question and the opportunity to talk about you know the organization. So it

The Pheasants Forever Habitat Model

SPEAKER_01 7:36

1982, date back to the year the Brewers won the World Series by the by the way. Um that's actually that's not true. The Cardinals won the World Series, they beat the Brewers. Uh, anyways, um so in 1982, uh Dennis Anderson, who was an outdoors writer for them uh at the time he was at the St. Paul Pioneer Press. Today he works for the Minnesota Star Tribune. Anyways, he wrote a story about the need for an upland habitat conservation organization in kind of the image of Ducks Unlimited or Rough Grouse Society, which both existed at the at that time, but there wasn't a pheasants forever. His story was the catalyst, which you know, people were so motivated by that story that Dennis wrote, they sent him cash, not Venmo, you know, not checks like greenbacks in in envelopes to him and said, start this organization. And he and he did. Um, so in 1982, the organization was born with a mission very specifically focused on creating wildlife habitat. You know, we're not an organization that spends our money or any time or effort on releasing birds. Our money is on creating habitat for wild, sustainable populations of pheasants. And then fast forward 2005, Quail Forever was launched because uh Pheasants Forever had been so successful across. So if you think about the country, middle America, middle Kansas, middle November, everything north all the way to southern Canada is the pheasant range. Everything south and and west, you got six species of quails. You know, you got in Texas, where you're at, you got Bob's, but you also got scalys, and and if you think the southeast, it's all about bob whites, but in Pacific Northwest, there's mountain quail, and you got Myrns or Montezuma quail, same bird, two different names, just depends on what state you live in. You got Gambles quail, valley quail. So you got 26 other states that have quail. Um, so these folks that live in those states, these bird hunters, state agencies, elected officials said you've got this great model, bring the pheasants forever model, habitat mission down to quail country. And so we did in 2005, created quail forever. And one of the unique elements of our model is that our local chapters who raise the dollars at events, and whether that's in Lubbock, Texas, or you know, um Eugene, Oregon, if they raise $20,000, those local volunteers decide how to allocate those dollars on the landscape to result in the mission. They can't spend the money buying birds and releasing birds. They got to spend it on the mission, which is habitat. Um, but it's choose your own adventure from there. So it, you know, that chapter in Lubbock might say, you know, we want to do landowner workshops to do habitat projects, CRP, for instance, in in Texas. They can do that. They have the funds to and are empowered to go do that. In North Dakota, they might do a uh walk-in program of plots, for instance, to incentivize people to to sign up for our public access to habitat program path. Um, a chapter in Detroit might say, you know, we we want to get kids outdoors and introduced to conservation. They might do a a project uh to introduce the next generation. The point is, as long as they're spending money on the mission, the world's their oyster. And that's a unique model uh for our organization compared to some of the other uh entities that are out there.

George Blitch 11:35

Well, it absolutely. And it it you know, that it's neat for those who are involved, I think, to be able to see the changes locally too, right? I mean, you start locally and you can go from there. And but to be able to kind of be involved in those things and uh support them in your own backyards, you know, quite literally if you're a private landowner, uh, is huge. You know, and these kind of public landscapes of which, you know, kind of uh Texas, I think we're like 95%, you know, private landowners, but it's a little bit different everywhere else in these public lands. So on some of these types of projects you guys are doing, I know that they're the habitat restoration because I think it's you said in in a previous interview, it's like 96% of the tall gr like prairie grasses have been eradicated over the years. And that's you know, so these the habitat for a lot of these birds are non-existent. And I mean, I know in in Texas we do a lot of work with trying to take down a bunch of these non, you know, or these non-native uh invasive you know types of plants and forbes and grow back native grasses in Forbes because that's something that our area used to be, which you you it's hard to imagine that that's what it was because it's so you know wrought with mesquite and all these huge you know types of shrubs. But I was curious about that kind of aspect of you know, I know you've worked with some other people with Hoxine native seeds and different folks who are done some replanting. Is that a big effort that's underway as far as trying to create that habitat? What does that look like on some of those types of projects for that habitat restoration?

Grasslands Loss And Habitat Tools

SPEAKER_01 13:04

Yeah, yeah. So it kind of the statistic you're talking about uh is focused on the loss of grasslands across this country. And you know, as I was a kid growing up in the 80s, watch watching television commercials during Saturday morning cartoons, you know, there was always the PSAs about the rainforests are disappearing. Well, today, our generation, the disappearing rainforests are America's grasslands. And whether that's the oak savannas of the southeast or the you know, the the sagebrush steppe of the Middle West, uh, the prairies of the upper Midwest, many of these places, you know, we think of that as like, oh, like, you know, African um, you know, the Serengeti. Well, that's what it is in the US, but they're not this giant patches of grass. There are many places, our own backyards are back 40s. They're they're uh they've been converted to grow crops in many instances, and that's happened over the last 40 years. What's happening most recently is what we call the green glacier, you know, where junipers and eastern red cedars are taking over grasslands that should have cattle on them. It should have should be places for prairie chickens to nest and boboy quail to raise broods, and they're being choked out by the encroachment of trees. So, yeah, our mission is absolutely squarely focused on creating upland habitat. You can insert grassland for upland and interchange them. Uh, and that involves prescribed fire, you know, uh interseeding, um, planting pollinator habitat, planting legumes, you know, um it all those things to maintain the integrity of grasslands in whatever form it takes. And that that's our mission.

George Blitch 15:00

Man, it it's I love what you guys are doing. I mean, I think that's one of the reasons I wanted to have you on here is just to kind of make sure that people knew about some of the work that's being done so that we can, and it's you know, you've heard this before. What's good for the birds, good for the herd. Not only are you guys helping maybe some of these targeted, you know, types of birds, pheasants and quail there, but it's helping all this other wildlife, and especially native wildlife too, that we're all, you know, very much uh passionate about trying to preserve in in areas where we have, you know, we have other animals that are coming in that are knocking out our native species. You know, we see these trees, these forbs that come and encroach that are these invasive uh non-indigenous species that are hurting our wildlife all around. And it's just a cycle that uh I think people maybe aren't aware, and sometimes they're not aware until it's too late, right? It is we are at the rainforest. We are at like, you know, the African Sarageti. And what our, you know, thinking about what our landscape used to look like a thousand, two thousand, five thousand years ago. It's just incredible thinking about um, you know, how many organizations are out there doing stuff. And I love what you guys are doing. So I I wanted to have a focus on that.

SPEAKER_01 16:05

Yeah, yeah, I appreciate that. You know, and it uh also it's important. A couple things that I think about as you talk about you know what we're doing. We we we try to be, you know, in partnership with farmers and ranchers. You know, what's uh like you mentioned, what's good for the bird is good for the herd. Uh, another slogan of ours is farm the best, conserve the rest. Uh, you know, we understand the need for the create, you know, food, fiber, and fuel that our farmers produce all over this country. Um, but there's opportunity for conservation for habitat on every farm. It's the the hillsides that are highly erodible, it's the wetlands that uh we can protect water quality so we don't have to spend money improving water downstream. It's the it's some of the wetlands that flood out in wet years and and you know are are tough to farm makers. There's places for conservation on all of those farms and ranches. And ranches in particular are, you know, we we view ourselves as being really, really friendly with the ranching community because we are trying to kill those eastern red cedars and those junipers because the grass that ranchers need for for cattle is the same grass that chickens and quail and pheasants need. And and you know, I'm sure folks are listening saying, Well, pheasants aren't exactly native. It that's true, you know, pheasants you know aren't aren't from here. They're brought in 1880s by an ambassador Owen Denny from China to the United States, uh, put them in Oregon as the first landing spot here in in the country. And they've taken off and they've become part of the fabric of the United States. They're they're they're exotic, they're not from here, but they're not invasive. And you know, we uh like to argue, you know, people are so passionate and love pheasants so much that it drives conservation, it's driven grasslands conservation. There's, you know, as you mentioned, half a million people that uh follow us on uh as partners and as members, and then another half a million that follow us on social media. So it's a real robust audience of people that give a damn about pheasants, which leads to doing habitat work for grasslands, which in the grand scheme of things that benefits prairie chickens, monarch butterflies, uh honey bees, and the farming and ranching community as well.

George Blitch 18:40

I mean, it's a win all around for that. It really is. And uh I I appreciate um that idea of all of you know, it it's cyclical and it's it's something that it kind of like the ripple in the water, right? Is what I was thinking of. It's like everything is going to help everything else with any bit of habitat restoration that we're doing, improvements, conservational aspects are going to be able to make these ripples and help make change. And it also gets people inspired. Not, hey, I want to see what we can do on your ranch, I'm gonna do that on mine or wherever it may be. Um, so yeah, it's very inspirational in all that you guys got going on. And you know, you kind of talked about your membership there, and I was thinking about the gathering of all these types of like mines and how great it is whenever you can get to together, and that's Pheasant

Inside Pheasant Fest And Quail Classic

George Blitch 19:24

Fest. And I'd love for you to talk about that. I know uh we're just kind of on the on the heels of the one that just kind of happened a few months back, and you know, you're I'm sure you guys the next day we're planning on the the 2027, but why don't you walk me through, tell a little bit about what it is and how this last year went and what kind of uh we might be looking forward to in uh the next one in 2027.

SPEAKER_01 19:44

Yeah, so so we have National Pheasant Fest and Coil Classic. Uh, it's uh the largest gathering of the upland community, uh happens annually, and we move it around the country. Um, and that's very purposeful. We we are trying to bring the show to different areas to talk our habitat mission, introduce our organization to new companies, to new people, to recruit new members, and uh celebrate everything we do each year. It's gonna be in Omaha, Nebraska next March, March of 2027. Um, and it starts off on a Thursday night with the concert for conservation. Uh, we've had three of them, three concerts so far. Uh our first one uh I made a great friend in uh Dave Simonette, the lead singer of Trampled by Turtles, uh few years back. Uh it brought him out bird hunting, and now he has two bird dogs and takes basically the fall off from touring so he can go bird hunting. And after a hunt, we sat on his tail, Dave's tailgate, and it's like, you know, Dave, I've got this dream of holding a concert to generate revenue for habitat and also kind of introduce our organization to a younger audience, you know, and honestly, a little more urban audience because you know, we're we get we're filled with 60-year-olds that live in rural America, and we're not going to be relevant if we don't uh energize a younger crowd and an urban crowd to care. And he's like, All right, let's do something fun. And from that, the concert for conservation was born. Trampled was our first um our featured artist, and we sold the thing out like instantly. Um, and from there we rolled in a Muscadine bloodline the next year, and they just they were awesome. Uh they we had them in Kansas City, and then most recently last year, uh, we went we went big. We went to Turnpike Turb Troubadours, which you know, if you're a bird hunter, you know, you you obviously know the bird hunters, the song. It's probably the most well-known uh song about bird hunting. Well, it's a little bit about love, but it's a lot about bird hunting and love. And uh That sold out. Well, all three concerts have sold out. And so it kicks off Pheasant Fest at a high note with a concert. Friday, we open the show at 11 a.m. with our annual bird dog parade, which I get to be the uh the MC of. It's the my favorite hour of the year. I have to learn like 16 different languages to pronounce you know Portuguese bird dogs and Spanish, you know, Spino Italiano, and uh Deutsch Vultohoun. And I probably butcher half of them, but uh uh it's the effort.

George Blitch 22:36

If it's the effort, it's fun, it's appreciated.

SPEAKER_01 22:40

And honestly, that's the number one thing on when we survey our members, like or our attendees. What was your favorite element? It's like the bird dogs. Like I say this often, like bird dogs are the cocaine of conservation. People like you know, cocaine isn't an entry-level drug, Bob. It's like, I don't know, I've never had cocaine before, but but bird dogs are addictive and they bring so many people into our mission and into our organization. So we kick off the show uh with a parade, and then from there on, you know, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, it's a three-week, three-day weekend. Uh, about 400 exhibitors, four stages, dog trainers, uh, habitat how-to, public land seminars, private land seminars, how to improve your own property, uh, artwork, painters, wood carvers, happy hours. I mean, it's it's the best damn thing going for the uplands. I mean, it's a you know, four-day party, and we just have a great time. And next one's in Omaha, and we kind of keep them secret and announce them as they go, just uh to you know, keep people energized as we move them around the country.

George Blitch 23:54

Man, that's so much fun. I love that you go to different areas and get the people there regionally to come around. And and there's people who I'm sure that are going there every single year after year, not just the vendors, but as far as like, you know, members and and fans and supporters. So uh it's a it's a fun little uh road trip or a flight, you know, and kind of get to see a new city and and kind of check out a new band each year. So I'm I'm excited to hear uh whenever you guys lock in on the next band who that will be. I know there's a a lot of really great musicians who are really into supporting uh conservational habitat improvement. It's really good to see them, I think, get involved. You know, I I've heard many stories of Dave being someone like that who is like, how can I give back? And I think when you have the so many eyes and ears on what you're saying, to have, you know, not only your art that you're putting out there and your passions, but to be able to have something that is really meaningful and powerful that can, you know, as far as kind of have that ripple that that long lasts after you're done or after you leave the stage. So uh always happy to hear bands who are doing that, and especially those three groups right there.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

Yeah, I mean, it it it and it all started with Dave. You know, I mean, we get the friends and family discount for you know getting trampled on that stage and three shows later, you know, those concerts have generated upwards of $300,000 net profit, which goes right back into the ground to create habitat. I mean, it's legit, you know, it it all started with one guy seeing, you know, the the end result being on the ground habitat, and other bands have followed suit and it's like, yeah, I can buy, I can get behind that. So yeah, we're we're on the on the hunt, quote unquote, for the artist uh a band that we're gonna have uh playing in Omaha. And and uh kind of love, you know, I love that niche, you know, the the Turnpike, Tyler Childers, Stapleton, you know, that that sort of rock country, like hard to pigeonhole them in a genre. And it sort of serves that philosophical purpose of reaching out to a little bit younger audience and kind of having a little edge to it, more than you know, it'd be somewhat easy to just have a country show. Like most people equate hunting with country, and I I like I like that little bit different niche where it's a little edgier, you know, it's not full-blown, you know, blink 182, but it it gets a little uh uh a little bit of rock, and in you know, we we kick off Pheasant Fest and Quote Classic really high energy.

Reaching New Hunters And Land Stewards

George Blitch 26:33

Well, and I think there's also an element of that kind of Americana at play too in that folk. There's something about that in the lands that you know people have always they write about it, they write about it. And it's in their music. It's it's there, it's actually the roots, you know, pun intended, there, of that kind of you know, that American classic, which is some of the country, some of the rock, but I like that edgier thing. And you know, and it's you get some of these bands who have a good name for themselves, and you know, it's like you said too, you're trying to uh attract all audiences, and that's what's important because a lot of times, you know, you see memberships or or even talk about like you know, hunters that are obviously the ultimate conservationists in the sense where they're where their monies go, but uh, you know, it the Pittman Robertson or Robertson Pittman, I can never remember.

SPEAKER_01 27:13

I always say Robertson, you've got it.

George Blitch 27:14

I always say them back. Yeah, exactly. But as far as like, you know, where where these dollars go, and then you know, you see organizations such as yours where whoever's locally it it goes into those areas. And I mean, I I'm I'm on my ranches, uh, you know, we do with all these programs who do all the the the CRP stuff. We have things that we're trying to benefit, where we're trying to leave something better for behind. And you know, it you need to inspire those next generations of landowners or land users, public landowners to be able to do that. So I like that your approach to that and and especially having that in in the forefront of your mind of being able to get that. Because yeah, there's only, I mean, I'm I'm the you know, salt and pepper, but I got the baldness. But there's I look around to certain, you know, you know, hunting groups and I'm like, hey, they all look exactly like me. But getting people of different, you know, backgrounds and diversity and ages is very important for us to kind of see this because we need to conserve what we have and uh you know really kind of build upon this habitat so we can leave this better for future generations. So I think it's a legacy approach, right?

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Yeah, I couldn't have said it better. That was fabulous. We need to engage all audiences because uh, you know, you you talked about it earlier. We we all sort of learn the interconnected, the web of life. You probably learned it in third grade. I learned it in sixth grade in the UP, we're a little bit slower, but we all learned it and we you know, we all forget it at some point. And you know, it's really important not only to remember the web of life, but that human beings are part of that, right? And all of us, you know, we're using the water, uh, we're using the land. Conserving. The word conserving is different than preserving, right? Conserving is wise use of our resources, and that's that's what we're all about. We want to be using these resources, farm the best, conserve the rest. What's good for the bird is good for the herd. We want to be out there hunting. We you know, we're part of the ecosystem, but we got to be smart about it, and that's where conservation comes in.

George Blitch 29:11

Ah man, amen to that. I'd I'd I love it.

How To Join And Take Action

George Blitch 29:14

Uh, you know, let's let's kind of gear people towards making some action today. As far as folks who have heard this conversation, they want to learn more about your organization, give them the socials, tell them about what kind of levels of membership are out there, how they can get involved and find a local chapter. Um, you know, it's kind of just springboard this thing into action.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

Yeah. So I guess my plea is no matter what you love, whether you you hunt, you fish, there's an organization behind whatever you love to chase. Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, Rough Grouse Society, Ducks Limited, Delta Waterfall. If you're an upland bird hunter, we'd love to have you. Uh if you love the grasslands of prairies, we love to have you. Uh, you can find us at pheasantsforever.org or quailforever.org. Easiest thing is sign up, become a member. Uh, you'll get a publication from us uh five times a year. You'll get a sticker for your your vehicle. Um, most importantly, you'll get invited to a local event in your community where you can meet folks that care about the same things you do: birds, bird hunting, habitat, bird dogs, and uh you'll be part of a community that you'll have more damn fun than you can even imagine. And if if you're interested in getting your fingers dirty, we got uh habitat projects on our website. You can figure out how to you know plant some native um nesting cover, you could be involved in a prescribed fire, uh, you know, you could remove woody encroachment. You know, there's all sorts of you can move remove barbed wire from public lands so bird dogs don't get cut up. There's lots of ways that we can take what you're interested in and convert that into action. So websites or

Conservation Team Mindset And Goodbye

SPEAKER_01 31:05

social media, the easiest place to go.

George Blitch 31:07

Yeah, well, thank you for for laying that out there. I encourage everyone to go uh become a member, check it out. I mean, there's 750 different uh you know groups that are all around you know the U.S. So there's a spot near you, guaranteed. And I love that you know you mentioned some of those other organizations as well. There's a lot of them that are out there. Everyone, if you can get involved in something, get involved in it, make a difference locally uh and regionally, statewide, nationwide. Let's uh do everything we can to leave this better for the next generation. Bob, thank you so much for joining me today. I I look forward to having you back on. We can talk a little bit more about Pheasant Fest when uh you know some of the names and dates and you know everything's going on with the bands and whatnot. I'd love to kind of get some more people there. I look forward to to going and meeting you in person, one of these. And uh any other you know, special announcements, please come on back and and you know let's let's tell the listeners. Uh got a lot of you know, conservationist-minded, you know, outdoor lovers on this, uh, and you know, just would would welcome you on anytime, man.

SPEAKER_01 32:04

Yeah, I sincerely appreciate the opportunity. And you know, I see your logo, sharing the land, our buddy Doug Duran. You know, there's this is such a wonderful community from the prairie farm podcast guys to to Doug. You know, thank you for carrying this message to your audience, uh folks in Texas listening and beyond. Uh, you know, it get involved. We you know, it it whether it's Ducks Unlimited or us or RGS or Mule Deer Foundation, it's not like the Astros against the Rangers, you know, or the Yankees versus the Mets. We're all part of the same team, and that team is conservation. So get involved and do something good for Habitat.

George Blitch 32:45

Love it, man. I can't say anything better than that. There it is. Well, hey, Bob, again, thank you so much for for joining me and uh looking forward to having you on again someday down the road. Appreciate it. Cheers, take care.