The Fowl Life

The duck counts say the birds are out there. So where the heck are they?
Dr. Chris Nicolai is back for Part 2, and Chad goes straight to the questions waterfowl hunters argue about every season. Are the counts accurate? Are warm winters changing migration? Is hunting pressure keeping birds north of the border? Could shorter seasons and smaller limits be coming?
Chris breaks down what the science actually shows, why Canada has lost so many resident waterfowl hunters, and how fewer hunters can still create more pressure when the remaining crowd is willing to travel farther and hunt harder.
Chad also turns the conversation on himself. What happens when television, social media, and the hunting industry expose places that once stayed quiet? How much responsibility do content creators carry when attention leads to crowds, leases, and disappearing access?
From public land and duck stamps to flooded corn, Canadian regulations, terminal wetlands, and the future of waterfowl hunting, Part 2 goes directly into the questions hunters cannot stop asking.
This episode is brought to you by Safari Club International, Ducks Unlimited, Nutrien Ag Solutions, CamoSpace, Banded Brands, Benelli Shotguns, Federal Premium Ammunition, HiViz Sights, Mojo Outdoors, and Realtree Camo.

Only eight percent of this year’s mallards will die from a gun. So what is killing the other 92 percent?

Waterfowl biologist Dr. Chris Nicolai is back with Chad for a conversation that might change how hunters think about migration, mortality, and their own place in waterfowl conservation.

In Part 1, Chris explains why the terminal wetlands of the Great Basin need to dry out before they can come roaring back. He and Chad get into whether ducks can forget historic migration stops, how pair bonds can move birds between flyways, why Canada geese may respond to aggressive calling, and what really happened to all those neck collars hunters used to see. They take on the culture surrounding bands. Chris explains what it costs to capture and mark waterfowl, how deliberately targeting marked birds can compromise the research, and why hunters may be hurting the same work their conservation dollars helped fund. Then, they finish with the question Chad has wrestled with during early Canadian hunts: Does killing hens actually hurt the population? Chris answers it with a number most duck hunters have never heard.

This episode is brought to you by Safari Club International, Benelli Shotguns, Federal Premium Ammunition, Banded Brands, CamoSpace, Nutrien Ag Solutions, HiViz Sights, Avery Outdoors, Mojo Outdoors, and GATR Coolers & Drinkware.

Fourteen years later, the photograph of John Unger holding his sleeping dog, Schoep, in Lake Superior still stops people in their tracks.

TFL Midwest Host Joel Kleefisch sits down with photographer and award-winning outdoor journalist Hannah Stonehouse Hudson for the story behind the image that traveled around the world. What began as a quiet moment between a man and his aging dog became one of the most unforgettable photographs of the social media era.

Hannah also talks about the hunting dogs at the heart of her work, what she sees when a bird dog is doing exactly what it was bred to do, and why those photographs can mean even more years down the road.
This episode is brought to you by Travel Wisconsin and Camospace!

In 2024, approximately 140,000 birds died during a catastrophic avian botulism outbreak in the Klamath Basin. By the final week of August 2026, another 15,000 birds had died, with 100,000 ducklings and a couple hundred thousand molting birds at risk.

Ducks Unlimited’s Jeff McCreary and Dr. Dan Smith sit down with Chad to explain what happened, why flowing water is so integral, and how one of the most important waterfowl landscapes in North America reached this point.

The Klamath Basin is a critical part of the Pacific Flyway, and its wetlands once held numbers that are almost impossible to imagine today. In the 1950s, three million Northern pintails were counted on Sump 1A alone.

Jeff and Dan break down the science behind avian botulism, the work required to get water moving through the refuges, and the cooperation that helped prevent a far greater loss. Farmers, Tribal Nations, irrigation districts, government agencies, and conservation organizations came together during an extremely narrow window to get water where it was desperately needed.

The water arrived just in time to put what Jeff calls a “giant speed bump” in front of the outbreak. Now the question is whether that cooperation can become a lasting solution for the Klamath Basin.

This episode is in association with Ducks Unlimited and brought to you by Benelli Shotguns, Federal Premium Ammunition, Nutrien Ag Solutions, Banded Brands, CamoSpace, Mojo Outdoors, HiViz Sights, Greenhead Gear Decoys, GATR Coolers & Drinkware and LEER Truck Toppers.

The bird of a lifetime just fell into the decoys. What you do next could determine how it looks on your wall for years to come.

SCI award-winning taxidermist and waterfowl hunter Kyle Schmidt joins Midwest host Joel Kleefisch to explain what hunters should do after the shot to give their trophy ducks and geese the best possible finish. From handling the bird in the field to getting it into the hands of a taxidermist, Kyle breaks down how to protect a mount before the real work starts.

If you have ever looked at a bird and thought, “That one is going on the wall,” do not miss this Travel Wisconsin edition of The Fowl Life Podcast.

This episode is brought to you by Travel Wisconsin and Camospace