0:01

Well, it's up everyone and welcome back to the lab.

0:05

Hope you guys have had a great start to your spring.

0:08

I call it spring, at least the season between the end of waterfowl and the beginning of summer training season for us, and we've been.

0:19

We've been out here getting after it Pretty fun little episode today.

0:24

I've actually got my son Noah on I'll do a little introduction once we start but he wanted to do a podcast.

0:33

He enjoys listening to him surprisingly and I wanted to try an episode.

0:37

I kept it really short. Just, I don't know how much he has to say and I really never know what he's going to say, so you have to be careful.

0:45

But I thought it would be encouraging maybe to some of you guys to hear from him on just some thoughts for beginning the introduction to duck hunting and dog training for your kids, if you've got real young ones out there.

1:00

He shares a couple thoughts on here about just when he started and what that was like and what made him excited, and also a couple thoughts on traveling with kiddos.

1:09

Noah's got separation anxiety and he's really starting to outgrow it nowadays, but it was a challenge we had to overcome a lot when we traveled together and something that I didn't grow up with and had to learn.

1:20

You know completely how to deal with it.

1:23

So, anyway, just a fun little episode.

1:26

Hope you guys get a kick out of it. We did it here in my office in the freezing cold after the heater went out, so hopefully you enjoy it.

1:35

Really appreciate you guys always tuning in and listening and, if you're already a member of Cornerstone Gun Dog Academy, thank you very much.

1:43

Hope that you are having an awesome training season with your retriever and, if you're not a member, encourage you to check it out.

1:50

Find out how we can help you solve problems with your retriever, know exactly where to go next and how to take your dog to an advanced level gun dog in the field.

2:02

Hope you guys have a great one.

2:04

Talk to you soon. Welcome to the lab, a Cornerstone Gun Dog Academy podcast focused on all things gun dogs, good times and the great outdoors.

2:14

I'm your host, barton Ramsey.

2:16

What's up everyone? Welcome back to another episode of the lab.

2:21

I've got a very special guest with me today, my man, noah Ramsey.

2:26

For those of you who aren't aware, noah is my son.

2:32

I have three kids. He's the middle one, the only boy, and asked if we could do a podcast with him.

2:36

He's a great guy, he's a great guy, he's a great guy, he's a great guy, he's a great guy, he's a great guy.

2:42

He could do a podcast, so I thought it would be pretty fun.

2:48

Noah, what's up today?

2:49

What's up?

2:50

How's it going?

2:51

I'm good.

2:52

A little cold outside, yes, sir, a little cold in the lodge, very cold, yeah, for those of you.

2:58

Well, no one would really know. Our heater went out, the compressor did during the big cold snap and we didn't know, so it just ran and ran and ran and of course it's under warranty, so it should be here any day now.

3:11

But it got cold again last night and Wally stayed in the lodge and I felt it was freezing.

3:17

Yeah, I felt awful when I walked over here. So, anyway, I figured I'd have Noah on and we talk a little bit about duck hunting and running dogs and what it's like to grow up around all this stuff, because that's something that I did not do.

3:32

I didn't grow up around any of this stuff. So, noah, tell us about when you first started duck hunting and goose hunting and I think you were seven years old or so and tell us about what that was like.

3:45

Well, whenever I first started I was really excited to go.

3:49

I couldn't shoot yet, sadly, but I wanted to.

3:51

But I really liked seeing all the birch ball and I got so excited whenever they got close and they just had to shoot them.

3:57

I popped up and I pretend that I didn't have them and I just had a blast.

4:00

I loved watching the dogs get the birds.

4:03

It was amazing.

4:05

What, uh, was it hard for you to wait for us to call the shot?

4:09

Yes, very hard. I was like moving around and I'm like come on, just hurry up, Come on yeah.

4:14

Yeah, what's your favorite favorite style of hunting?

4:17

You like A-frame hunting, you like layout blinds?

4:20

I think, I think you're like A-frame the most.

4:24

Why is that?

4:25

Cause in a layout blind, it's kind of hard to get up.

4:27

It's a little hard to get up and it's just.

4:31

I don't really like popping up because I can't see the birds who will be in an egg frame.

4:34

You can kind of look a little bit in front of you.

4:37

Yeah and you're able to move around more to me in the frame.

4:41

I think that's probably the the thing I was looking for for folks hunting with kids.

4:45

Of course, sometimes the hide really dictates when you can go and what you can do, but For folks hunting with kiddos, I think a lot of times you guys need to be able to move around.

4:56

It's hard to keep you still.

4:58

Also like being by everybody.

5:00

Yeah, gonna talk about it by not being by yourself.

5:02

Yeah so Talk a little bit about your first gun.

5:07

The first one you first started shooting and we'll talk about that trip too, but your first gun that was probably my favorite trip I've ever had.

5:15

We were gone for like a week. We just went to like all the types of different duck camps and I remember being in the car Watching TV up my iPad, and I was like dad, I need to get a gun.

5:26

I think I'm at that age now that I'm able to there having to be a gun store that was pretty nearby and I remember I got a 410.

5:34

Yep and I love that thing. I remember going to on Wild Wings and shooting cans.

5:40

I'm trying to see how good I was at shooting.

5:43

I turned out being pretty good at it. Yeah, it's fun.

5:47

Yeah, you're better shot than me most days Because you're left-handed and left-eyed dominant and I'm right-handed and left-eyed dominant.

5:54

We should have someone that is like a really good at shooting coach on here.

5:58

Someone should have taught me to shoot left-handed because of my dominant eye.

6:02

But yeah, we stopped at a little store, got you a single shot 410.

6:08

That was important to me so that once you shot the first time and you did all your Celebrating, there wasn't another shell that might go off With an accidental trigger pull.

6:19

So, yeah, single shot, 410. We were on the road.

6:22

Where did we go that trip? Wild wings.

6:25

Wild wings.

6:27

Salt planes. Yeah, we went to salt planes that's actually what I think where you shot the cans right there by the water.

6:32

I shot the cans. I shot one in the neck and I got stoked.

6:34

Oh, I said cans.

6:35

You're talking about your first ever bird to shoot, which I think your first bird to shoot is a little unique, because it's Probably the last bird that I shot as far as waterfowl goes, so let's talk about that.

6:46

What was it? Oh, crane, yeah big crane.

6:48

I was terrified of it.

6:50

Yeah, sandhill crane.

6:51

Uh-huh. I remember we shot one down the wing.

6:54

He was running and we were in the cornfield.

6:57

I remember picking up corn stalks and just running out and trying to tackle but those things are fast and then he fell and then somebody shot him in the butt and then he just kept running.

7:10

I'm like man, when will this thing die? Yeah?

7:12

Yeah that was through corn stalks.

7:14

I mean they just put his wings up there like five feet long.

7:18

I will try to find that video and post it with this podcast of you, you and the sandhill crane having a bit of a Mexican standoff in the middle of the field when you had a corn stalk and he had him, his Wings and beak.

7:32

You know no, but the first one you shot.

7:35

We were in an a-frame, we had a bunch of hunters there and a group came in and uh, I remember this one, one bird sort of slipped out of the left hand side of the blind where you and I were and I told you to shoot it and you lean kind of over my lap right.

7:53

No, I just went over your head. I was like get down there.

7:56

I just leaned over and I shot him.

7:58

Yeah, you shot kind of around which it was a safe shot out of the side of the a-frame on the far left and you hit the crane in the neck, which was, uh honestly, uh probably what you had to do neck or head for uh four ten to take down a sandhill crane.

8:13

It that's a close shot, 25 yards.

8:16

It's pretty good yeah and bird. I've got a picture of it.

8:18

The bird was almost as big as you were at the time Pretty huge, so walk us through.

8:25

Uh, well, let's talk a little bit more about that trip, because that was a pretty fun trip.

8:29

I do remember what we were doing while we were on that trip.

8:32

We had to go all the way to Nebraska.

8:36

I forgot. We had to breathe. Lita to Hank.

8:39

Really. Yeah, that's right, that's right.

8:43

I don't want to get into the story in this podcast, but that's the trip where one of our employees was arrested while we were on the road.

8:49

I don't want to go into it.

8:51

I was like what's wrong?

8:53

That was for those of you who have been following along for that long, that would have been 2019.

9:02

So how old were you in 2019?

9:08

I'm 11 now.

9:11

Yeah, I may have been in 2020.

9:14

I would have been like 6, 7. I think it was actually 2020.

9:18

Yeah, I need to go look it up. I think you were 7 when I started letting you shoot.

9:21

For those of you who have kids out there, that was when I felt comfortable with you having the 410.

9:26

Thanks. So what I think was I think that was November of 2020, possibly and we went up and did a big road trip.

9:33

We did Wild Wings, we did Nebraska, we did Salt Plains and then we had up skate parks all the way around.

9:41

That was a tough one. It was a good time.

9:43

We missed Thanksgiving because we had to breathe Lita, so we did Thanksgiving at Salt Plains.

9:48

Shout out to Brenton, recently married At that time, just him and his girlfriend, Rachel, and us.

9:56

We did Thanksgiving together at the Lodge.

9:59

I also remember being on that trip and I wasn't allowed to watch the PG-13 Star Wars movies.

10:04

That's right, and then Dad just didn't care.

10:06

He was just like whatever, you can just watch it. And I'm like okay, and I watched it.

10:10

And then on Thanksgiving night I got so much anxiety and I threw up all my Thanksgiving.

10:17

Yeah, we're going to talk a little bit oh gosh. Well, yeah, we'll get into some of that here in just a minute.

10:22

But what happens on road trips doesn't always stay on road trips.

10:26

Sometimes it gets announced on a podcast. That's the way it goes.

10:30

So the next season you had your 410 still, I think you were eight.

10:37

And let's talk about your first Mallard duck, because that one was a pretty special one.

10:43

Do you remember where we were?

10:45

All the wings I was hunting right beside you and I think you and Connor were just watching them, and then I saw one come in and I just shot them and then it was like not loud at all.

10:57

So I was like pew.

10:58

Yeah.

10:59

And then it just fell there Like did Noah shoot that?

11:02

Yeah, we were pretty shocked. So we actually had Bill Fried there too, which is awesome.

11:07

Bill's been on the podcast. And yeah, we were in the landing strip on the north side and Connor and I were intentionally calling the shot and then waiting about five or seven seconds to see if you would hit one, and it was a single drape called the shot.

11:23

He's on the wall out there in the lodge, mm-hmm.

11:26

Had a cool turn in.

11:28

Yeah, it was turning in and you shot.

11:30

And yeah, you're right, we were all shooting 12 gauges and you had a 410.

11:35

So we called the shot and all you hear is a pow and it fell and Connor was like holy cow, did that thing?

11:42

Noah, shoot that thing. That was a pretty awesome moment.

11:46

I was so excited.

11:47

Yeah, you used to do this little dance after you shot, which was hilarious.

11:50

Which is also the reason that you only had a single shot, because you would start dancing as soon as you hit a bird, yeah let's not bring that back.

12:01

Let's talk about a trip that we take every year.

12:08

Tell everybody listening about Purpose.

12:12

Well, purpose is probably my favorite trip that we go on.

12:15

I love it because I get to see some of my best friends.

12:18

We get to talk about God together and it's a great experience.

12:22

We get to eat great food, we just get to spend time together and I love it.

12:26

I get to see my best friend that lives in Florida there and it's just a blast, yeah yeah, I just hate it.

12:35

Where do we go for Purpose?

12:37

Falco Oklahoma.

12:39

Falco Outfitters in Oklahoma. You got the hoodie on right now.

12:42

Yeah, how many years have you done?

12:44

Purpose Three, three.

12:47

Therefore, yeah, let's talk about the first one.

12:49

How cold was it.

12:52

Freezing. Was that? No, that wasn't the freeze.

12:54

Yeah, I think it was.

12:55

It was in 2021. I went 2020, I'm pretty sure Maybe.

13:00

No February of 2021.

13:03

Okay, well, we were only supposed to say what?

13:06

Five days.

13:06

I think so.

13:07

Five days or so we were going to go watch the Super Bowl, but we ended up there was a huge freeze and I got to stay there like an extra, like four days.

13:20

Yeah, we were there nine total days yeah.

13:23

And that was really fun. We just got to spend extra time.

13:26

Y'all go. I don't think y'all went hunting.

13:29

No, the season closed.

13:31

Yeah, and we were just all in the wash together eating food, just having a blast and just hanging out.

13:35

Camping out.

13:36

Yeah, all fun.

13:39

And we remember February 21,. The whole country had like an Arctic blast, and the South especially, and Noah and I, we drove to Falco right before it happened.

13:49

Actually, corey Lages went with us, remember he took his truck.

13:52

That's right and we hunted geese and had probably one of the most epic goose hunts I've ever been on.

14:00

Remember you would go back and forth from the truck to the hunt.

14:05

I remember one time some geese were coming in and I literally went under the truck with my gun.

14:09

I went under the truck kind of like, put my gun down there and went under so they didn't see me, just to hide.

14:15

Yeah, well, the real feel was, I think, about 10 below zero and we killed I don't know 130 something lessers with a bunch of guys and one of my favorite dog hunts I need to have Corey on soon to talk about it, but we were working Cedar and Arden and the two brothers and guys.

14:34

That was a blast. That was a fun hunt. But yeah, we got stuck there, which was, yeah, I mean, thankfully they had some leftover food in the walk-in up there.

14:42

I caught the grill on fire. I always laugh, brian Pilgrim, and I laugh about that because I was trying to cook some rib eyes and they were flaming.

14:53

Didn't burn them, but about burnt myself and about burn Falco down.

14:57

Thankfully that didn't happen. Yeah, that was a fun season.

15:01

Purpose has been a lot of fun, lots of fun Hunting season.

15:08

Obviously, you don't get to go on all of my trips.

15:11

What happens when you don't get to go?

15:15

And what's it like? You know being at home with the girls when I'm out on the road.

15:20

Well, it's kind of hard because me and Mariam, my other sister, kind of bidder right there to each other.

15:25

Bicker, you mean.

15:26

Bicker yeah.

15:26

Yeah.

15:28

I get fights but I try to make it easy on mom as I possibly can, because it's kind of hard to take care of three children and one parent.

15:36

Yeah.

15:37

So I try to make it as easy as I can on mom.

15:39

What are some things that you do to try to make it easier on mom?

15:42

Try not to fight and clean up the house, make coffee in the morning.

15:46

Yeah, just help her out.

15:48

Yeah Well, I sincerely appreciate that when you have to stay home, it's tough not being able to take at least one of you guys on each trip, but that's the way it goes sometimes.

16:00

For those out there listening who have kids, who are thinking about taking their kids on hunts, what would you say are some important things for them to remember when it comes to taking kids on a hunt?

16:15

I got a couple in my mind already.

16:18

First thing, make sure they're quiet.

16:21

Yeah, that's not always so easy.

16:24

Careful with their guns. Be careful with guns around them.

16:26

Mmm, probably don't blow up these calls.

16:35

Wow.

16:36

I know that felt good. I wouldn't get a great hunt.

16:40

I don't think that's super, super important. It could be, but what about, um, what about when you're uh, when you're hunting, uh?

16:52

What are some important things to remember for kids as far as temperature, as far?

16:57

As food, that sort of stuff.

17:00

Bring a pop tart and a honey bun and water. Um, definitely wear really thick, thick socks, because my feet were the only things that got really cold.

17:11

Right.

17:12

My face and my feet got so cold.

17:14

Yeah, I mean that's pretty normal and probably want to avoid that because as a kid, it's also really hard to uh to convince yourself that, uh, you know you need to be out there.

17:27

Do you need to stay out there? Um, man, and tough it out Right?

17:37

No, it's hard, but I'm like I really want to stay here so I can still kill the birds, yeah, but I'm like I'm so cold so I kind of just have to move my feet around.

17:47

Yeah.

17:48

Try to keep them yeah.

17:51

Well, it's also also important that you guys have snacks, right?

17:56

What happens when kiddos get hungry and blind?

18:00

I usually get drunk and I'm like where are the birds? Why aren't they here?

18:03

It's like this Nickers commercial.

18:06

Yeah, guys are out there. Let's talk a little bit about when do you have, when you have, anxiety on the road?

18:14

We've talked a little bit about it before, but obviously you've got a little bit of.

18:21

You got a little bit of anxiety that you deal with in your life.

18:26

What's that like on when you're traveling?

18:29

So I have separation anxiety and I don't know why, but I get so scared Like my dad's not going to bed.

18:37

At the same time I am kind of trying to trick him into let me stay up until he goes to bed, but it's kind of hard.

18:48

I just have to breathe and sometimes like get like act kind of ridiculous, like I cry a lot, get really scared and I don't really know why I usually bring the same building together.

19:00

Yeah.

19:00

There's one time on purpose where we weren't the same building together and I went to sleep, and then there are other times in purpose where I got anxiety attacks.

19:07

Yeah, yeah. It just comes and goes, doesn't it?

19:09

What are some things that help you with your anxiety?

19:13

Breathing, having noise in the room like a box fan, Having some light in there.

19:20

Just knowing that you're totally safe and that we're in a safe environment, you'll be fine.

19:26

Yeah, it's like praying to God.

19:33

Yeah, yeah, you think it's getting better as time goes on.

19:37

Definitely For sure. It's definitely gotten way better because we just went on a purpose trip and now it's totally fine the whole time.

19:45

Yeah, that's true. That's true. I'm glad you've been out and growing it.

19:47

Yeah, anything else you want to cover? Yeah train dogs.

20:01

Yeah, alright, we'll talk about that real quick.

20:04

How do you like what's your favorite thing to do when it comes to training dogs?

20:09

Well, usually whenever I'm training dogs do I'm the guy that goes like refill stuff and puts the dummies out and throws them, which is really fun.

20:16

But I really like sending the dogs.

20:19

That's probably my favorite.

20:21

So, rather than being a bird boy, you'd rather be the one that sends the dog.

20:24

What's your favorite dog?

20:28

Probably Ozzie.

20:29

Ozzie, I love Ozzie.

20:31

He looks like being a tough, but the one that you pet on him, he's just like a little baby there.

20:36

Yeah, I like Ozzie a lot too.

20:39

He's a lot of fun.

20:40

Yeah, he's a great dog. He's like robs, all over you.

20:43

Yeah, what about sending dogs on hunts? You've been able to do some of that.

20:46

That's really fun. Yeah, because I like seeing people how amazed they are that the dog can do that, which is really fun, yeah they've always made some big retrieves.

20:57

What do you think? What do you think is your favorite hunt so far? You've been on.

21:00

Dude I have no idea.

21:06

I've been on a lot of hunts. I can't remember all of them.

21:09

Yeah, that's a good thing.

21:12

Probably Purpose.

21:15

Yeah.

21:16

Purpose was probably my favorite hunt.

21:17

I think my favorite one for you to be on was Purpose when we shot the geese over water.

21:21

Yes, and you guys were in the blind shooting and you shot Giovanni's 20 gauge and about knocked you down.

21:31

Yeah, that 20 gauge got ticked.

21:33

Yeah, that was a good one that almost knocked down the entire A-frame, just this.

21:37

Yeah, that was a tough hunt because we were having to send the dogs after the birds in the water and they were blowing way out there.

21:44

So yeah, that was tough. That was a fun hunt, though we killed a bunch of birds.

21:49

Yeah, always good I remember like whenever we were at Wildlings and it was like the only day of the year where only kids can kill the birds.

21:59

You thought oh my gosh yeah.

22:01

You effectively retired from hunting that day.

22:03

Yeah, that made me make a note you had to write a Michael Jordan comeback letter.

22:12

Yeah To Connor, because I would want to come back and say, no, man, my dad knew, no, you can't.

22:20

Yeah, that was a lot of that was awful, Like I was staying on tree, and I'm like I'm done with this because I kept missing the birds and I heard my dad saying to Connor man, we will have killed so many birds.

22:34

We were landing 20 packs and you and Naomi were shooting four 10 single shots at them and didn't didn't cut a feather in the East Hole, One of my favorite spots.

22:45

Naomi, almost when she had her gun right on one and then she was about to shoot, but then you forgot to put a bullet in there.

22:51

I forgot to load the shell into her gun and she was on the bird on the water ready to shoot it.

22:56

That was my bad.

22:58

That was a hard hunt. Yeah, it was not easy, not easy.

23:01

Just sit there eating a pop tart. So bad, being so mad.

23:05

Yeah, yeah. Well, it's been good talking to you, man.

23:10

We've had a lot of fun trips. We've had some fun dog training experiences.

23:14

For those out there that have kiddos, hopefully, keep them warm, get them out there traveling on the road, make it fun.

23:20

I know we've talked about it a few times on the podcast before, but I'm glad to have you on as a guest today, man.

23:26

Hope you enjoyed our conversation.