Ep. 116 CWA-New Zealand Hunter Exchange Program with Eben Herbert

Jeff Smith and Carson Odegard welcome Eben Herbert from the New Zealand Hunter Exchange to compare notes on waterfowling half a world apart—what shocked him about the Suisun Marsh, why California’s public access and species variety feel endless, and how late-season calling here differs from New Zealand’s “call hard, break ’em from the sky” approach. We hit rice country pits (illegal back home), foggy boat rides to island blinds, a tough-but-worth-it California quail mission, and even a little crab-and-rockfish bounty from Bodega Bay.

Episode highlights

• Scale & access: the density of clubs and marsh across Suisun vs. the smaller, scattered options in NZ—plus why CA birds have “a hundred places to go.”
• Calling culture: aggressive hail-calling to pull distant flocks in NZ vs. whistles and lighter calling for pressured late-season birds in CA.
• Pit blinds & rice: first time hunting California rice; why true pit blinds are illegal in New Zealand.
• Fog, flood & plan B: how tule fog and high water forced mid-morning moves—and still produced solid straps.
• Taste test: why California ducks eat milder (hello, rice fat) than NZ birds on invertebrate-heavy diets.
• Checklist species: pintail, wigeon, teal, a Ross’s goose, and the ongoing quests for mallard and speck before wheels up.

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