EP:442 | Frog Hunting

On this episode we talk about hunting bullfrogs with Danny Moreland. Danny is an avid hunter and owns TigerBack Lodge in Arkansas and chases bullfrogs with a passion. Frog gigging has long been a part of rural lifestyle and each state has its own rules. It’s interesting to hear how it’s done and oh by the way,  the legs are delicious. Danny is also an excellent cook and prepares 100 legs for us to eat prior to recording. 

Listen, Learn and Enjoy. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

I'm Jeff Foxworthy, and welcome to Gamekeeper Podcast. If you want to learn more about farming for wildlife and habitat management, invite you are in the right place. Join the Gamekeeper crew direct from Officer Land Enhancement Studios as they discuss the latest wildlife and habitat management practices. News, and of course, honey. There's no telling what you'll learn, but I'm gonna tell you, I bet it's interesting. Enjoy.

SPEAKER_01 0:26

We're live in three, two, one.

SPEAKER_05 0:34

Makes me hungry. It's not toxic. What do you think of when you hear that sound?

SPEAKER_02 0:39

Indigestion. I don't know. I think about what we just participated in yum is what I don't hear those, that sound as much anymore. Uh not at all. I used to live where I could hear it from the house until I was about 13 or 14.

SPEAKER_06 0:54

I can hear it occasionally in my house. Yeah. But not one's in my pool.

SPEAKER_05 0:58

Is it is it later in the summer when you hear those big bullfrogs doing that? Yeah. More, but I think as soon as it warms up good, you can hear some. Y'all know it's green and dangerous.

SPEAKER_02 1:08

Oh no. No jokes. You on the tractor. We've been over there before.

SPEAKER_06 1:14

Yeah, that's a great one, yeah. Bobby on the tractor.

SPEAKER_05 1:18

Oh Lord. All right.

SPEAKER_06 1:19

What is green and dangerous?

SPEAKER_05 1:21

A frog with a hand grenade. Oh my god. That's why that's why we banned you from telling jokes. Let me go ahead and get our guest introduced. He laughed at the jokes. He's laughing at you, Bobby.

SPEAKER_06 1:33

Bobby needs an L-O-L every now and then.

SPEAKER_05 1:35

We've got a really interesting guy. We're going to talk about a lot of stuff, but we're going to focus around bullfrogs and hunting frogs and cooking frog legs. We've got Mr. Danny Moreland.

SPEAKER_06 1:48

Thanks for being here and for cooking.

SPEAKER_05 1:51

Well, he just cooked us, he just cooked us a five-star meal. Yes, he's from Ashdown, Arkansas. Ash Down. Yeah, and he runs Tigerback Lodge. It's from Western Arkansas. Tigerback. Now that's interesting. Are you a Clemson fan? No, no, no, no. An Alburn fan. Motor is other Tigers on it. Oh, Missouri, Missouri.

SPEAKER_04 2:13

That's very tiger. Actually, I had a shirt I was going to wear in here that was purple and gold. And it says Tigerback Lodge on it, but I uh Might escorted you out of here.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Well, that's what I'm afraid of.

SPEAKER_04 2:24

I drove right by Mississippi State and I said, no, that's probably not a good idea. Y'all are a popular now for a change. Well, you got a new coach. Yeah, got a new coach, and uh I guess old old miss is not happy about that. No. And I actually have a ticket to go to the Tennessee game, so that ought to be interesting as well.

SPEAKER_03 2:42

Heck yeah.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

Wow. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 2:45

There was some drama around that.

SPEAKER_04 2:48

Drama, drama seems to follow Lane.

SPEAKER_06 2:50

Yeah, it does.

SPEAKER_05 2:51

Yeah. Well, you know what? We've been wanting to do a podcast about frog hunting for a long time and couldn't find the right person. Thought we had a couple of people.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

The right person is the one that came and cooked for us, like you just did. That was the best, by far the best ones I've ever had.

SPEAKER_05 3:05

So you take folks frog hunting. I'm we're looking at pictures of you at the on the lodge, and the boat's just lined up with frog. You are about as serious of frog hunters, I imagine anybody can be. Well, you kind of take what you got.

SPEAKER_04 3:17

Uh where where I where I hunt is basically like being in South Louisiana in South Arkansas. It's it's a swampy, lots of frogs, lots of alligators, lots of everything that you would get in Florida, South Louisiana. So I kind of looked at it and I said, look, I kind of out there, I'm willing to try anything. Let's put it out there and just see if we can get some frog hunters. Well, lo and behold, they started calling uh because it because it was it was something unique and different, and uh and has become quite the experience for people that don't get to do that and haven't been able to do it, or that did it as a kid and want to come back and do it.

SPEAKER_07 3:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:56

Um as Toxie said a minute ago, it don't seem to be as many frogs as there used to be. And I I can't really answer why that is. Uh, but on Millwood, there are a lot of frogs. Uh and I did send you some pictures of some of our frog hunts, and uh we're generally very successful with it.

SPEAKER_05 4:17

These are huge frogs, Laney. They are. Uh I mean, what's a one of these adult bullfrogs weigh?

SPEAKER_04 4:23

Uh I've never actually weighed one. I would guess three pounds, two pounds, two pounds. Oh my goodness. Pound and a half, two pounds, the really big ones?

SPEAKER_05 4:34

The really big ones. When I think about frogs, I think about like this bait, this toad thumper. I love to fish a frog. Yeah. But some of the frogs y'all are catching, I don't know that a I mean, that'd be a full meal for a largemouth. That'd be a big largemouth.

SPEAKER_04 4:46

They can be anywhere from ten inches to you know a foot from from nose to the bottom of his bottom of his feet. Um they're very prolific. Uh we enjoy, we enjoy our nights out in the in the swamp, basically. We you know, we hear all sorts of critters, see all sorts of critters, and it's just a good experience. It's fun. It's a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_05 5:13

And enjoy it. I was reading where a female bullfrog can lay 20,000 eggs. And it takes up to two years for a bullfrog to mature.

SPEAKER_07 5:23

Right.

SPEAKER_05 5:23

And uh I w I wonder what the ratio of how many of the uh those 20,000 actually make it. I bet it's not many.

SPEAKER_04 5:29

No, I bet it's not either, especially especially in an alligator and fish-infested environment. You know, that's that's something they're gonna go after for sure. That's a lot of forage for a lot of critters in the swamp.

SPEAKER_05 5:41

Yep. Yeah. Well, I tell you what, we appreciate you being here. Uh, we want to learn, we you know what? We just kind of it's like an instant old friend. We meet you and we've got a lot in common in this uh lodge you got over there. Just could you we're gonna get Dudley to ask you some questions, but tell us a little bit about you. You uh you are a retired geologist.

SPEAKER_04 6:00

Yeah, right. Yeah, I was in the I'm a retired petroleum geologist. I was in the oil business uh for 33 years, grew up in Shreeport, Louisiana, and pretty much lived there all my life. And uh as as I you know became became successful in the oil business, I started buying land. And actually, the first piece of property I bought was through Mossy Oak. And it was Mossy Oak of Louisiana, it was the first piece of property that JJ Keith sold. And he sold it to me. And he sold it to me. What a small world. It is a small world. And it was kind of funny the way I found out about it. We were going on an elk hunt uh in, I think it was in New Mexico, or no, it was in Colorado. We're going on an elk hunt. We were on the airplane, and I told JJ, I said, JJ, look, I I'm kind of looking for some hunting ground. I want to, you know, I got a little bit of money put back and I want to find something. He said, Well, I got I just got this piece I'm fixing to list. You need to come look at it. And I said, All right, we get back, I go out and look at it, ride around and see lots of ducks and lots of hogs, lots of deer, and and I said, Huh, this is and it was 20 minutes from my house.

SPEAKER_02 7:09

Ooh, yeah, that's the that's the that's the clincher for my right.

SPEAKER_04 7:12

20 minutes resemble that it was surrounded by a wildlife management area. And so things I look for on property are one, it's got to be next to water. And that's key to me, is it's gotta be next to water. This was a piece of property that was next to 12 mile bayou. And I ended up buying it and kept it for several years, and then it flooded several. It was all bottomland, so it flooded several times. And I said, you know, I want to try to find something that's got both high and low ground. Well, I called JJ, and JJ says, Look, I got a piece in southwest Arkansas you need to look at. And I went up there and the guy that was selling it let us duck hunt that morning. There were four of us, and we killed a four-man limit of mallers in 15 minutes.

SPEAKER_02 7:54

Oh, that'll get you. That'll get you. That'll get you a sales contract.

SPEAKER_04 7:58

And then that afternoon, I go out on this edge of this big, probably 250-acre pasture, and I wanted to see how many deer came out of the out of the woods that I was going to buy, possibly buy, into that pasture. Well, between 515 and 530, I counted 54 deer jump fence, and three of the bucks were over 140 inches.

SPEAKER_06 8:18

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 8:18

So I called JJ, I said, JJ, when do I sign and where do I sign? Yep. And that was the first track that I bought, and then I added on to it. But but going forward, it it's there's about a mile and a half next to Millwood Lake. And Millwood Lake is, as I said, it's unique lake for Arkansas. Most Arkansas lakes are hard bottom, you know, really clear water, et cetera, et cetera. This is a swamp. I mean, it literally is a swamp, but it's a gamey swamp. There's a lot of stuff going on there. And one of those things is frogs. And uh the the first year that I had it, I had a uh young man come and I'd given away a hunt, a duck hunt. And he came out and and him and his mom bought the hunt, and we had a good hunt that morning, ducks that morning, and he started telling me about the frog situation. I said, Well, can you show me around the lake? He grew up on the lake. And he said, Yeah, let's let's get into the spring. When we get into the spring, I'll take you. So sure enough, spring comes around, and and uh we go out. He's got, you know, I had a mud boat at the time, but he had a mud boat as well. We take his boat out, and I don't remember how many frogs we caught that night, but it was a lot. It was a bunch of them. And then as you said, they were big, uh, biggest I'd ever seen. And and the other thing we saw a lot of that night was alligators. You know, probably a typical night, you may see 30 to 40 alligators a night. So it's it it's a really fun experience. Uh uh the way we typically catch them is by hand, you know, just get on the front of the boat and grabbing.

SPEAKER_07 9:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 9:56

So you're not gigging them. No, I'm we will carry a gig, and the only reason we carry a gig is that if frog happens to be under some stuff that we can't get the boat into, or if there's a snake, you know, above where the frog's at, or or anything that you don't want to fool with, we'll try to get it with a gig, but typically we try to do it all by hand. It's just a lot more fun.

SPEAKER_03 10:19

Yeah, I think that's kind of the direction it's gone. You know, it seems like people that don't know a lot about it, they still refer to it as frog. You go on frog gigging? Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 10:29

It's frog grabbing, yeah. Yeah, it's pretty much all frog grabbing now.

SPEAKER_05 10:33

Frog hunting. Yeah, frog hunting, right? That's pretty interesting. So you're over there, and and this is what you're doing full-time now, is running the lodge, I suppose.

SPEAKER_04 10:42

Running the lodge, yeah. But I'm I bought the property in 2015. Uh we hunted it primarily deer ducks, uh, until about 2018, and I saw how good the property was, and and how and it was good enough to be a commercial place. Uh, we were limiting out on ducks just about every time we went out. Uh the deer hunting was fabulous, et cetera. And we had turkeys, we got, it's got everything. It's got everything. So I said, you know, this is kind of a strange story, but I'm gonna say it. Uh my sister, my older one of my older sisters lives in Chicago, and she was diagnosed with cancer. And I went up to see her before she passed away, and I told her, this is in 2018, I told her, I said, Look, you know, I like to hunt, I like to fish, I like to cook, and I like to entertain. And she goes, Yeah, you're good at all of them. Well, I'm thinking about opening up a commercial lodge. And she said, do it. So two weeks later, she passed away. And so that's what sent me in that direction. Wow. Was kind of her final say-so of yeah, do it.

SPEAKER_07 11:46

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 11:47

So that's where I'm at now. And that was in so I started the lodge in 2018. I finished it in 2019. First season that we were actually doing uh pay hunts was 2020, COVID. Wow. And I was like, oh boy, this ain't good. But in reality, it was good because they didn't have anywhere else to go. People, yeah, you know, it it was like, let's go up to this place and and try it out. I mean, we're gonna be it's just gonna be us, you know, and they would call and book a hunt, and they said there's gonna be a bunch of other people there. I said, No, yeah, you bring six or more, that's all yours. You know, the place is yours. So it actually started out pretty good. And obviously, like any business, it's built up, you know, built up since then. But one of the things that we do there that most lodges don't is one, offer things off-the-wall things like frog hunting. Or uh, you know, I've got squirrel dogs, I've got rabbit dogs, we do squirrel hunts, we do rabbit hunts, we add those things on to the duck hunt that might be in the morning. We got I've got a hundred acres of pine plantation, we do quail hunts there, I've got, you know, good guides, good dogs. Uh it's just when you come there, there's something to do.

SPEAKER_03 13:00

Yeah, well, with with that kind of diversity, I mean, let's let's face it, uh, you know, the hunting, the killing isn't always gonna be great. You know, the weather may not be perfect. Um and a lot of people when they spend the money to go on an outfitted hunt, they they expect results, but that's just not always feasible. And so being able to let them do something they've never done in their life, like go on a frog hunt or a dog squirrel hunt, I mean, I I would almost put that up as even a better replacement than a good duck hunt. Oh, you know, no question.

SPEAKER_04 13:34

Well, it it it it you'd be amazed at repeat customers that say, one, they're gonna request what what they want to eat, because there's certain things that I cook and they just okay, you're gonna cook this. Yeah. Okay, is Tig still around? Well, Tig is my squirrel dog. So I say, oh, Tig's around, she's up on the couch right now. Yeah, and so they want, especially young kids and and older, elderly people, they just the kids eat it up. And and elderly guys that used to squirrel hunt with dogs years and years ago, it's kind of bringing back something that they did for years. And and then we've got rabbit dogs as well. And as I said, this piece of eagle. Yeah, this piece of property is very it's the most diverse piece of property I've ever seen for the amount of acreage that it is. And so we do rabbit hunts, you know, uh in the afternoon sometimes. I just kind of leave it up to the per to the customer. I'll give you an example. Last year, I had a corporate group coming. Now, corporate groups, you know, that when they're coming, they're coming. They're not, it's no turnaround. You know, you don't call them up and say, look, we don't have any ducks. They're coming. And so we we did a duck, it was a duck hunt, meant to be just a duck hunt. And the first morning we did pretty good on the ducks, the second morning we didn't do very well. So I did a quail hunt in lieu of the duck hunt. And you know, it's guaranteed pretty much it's you know, a pen raise situation. So you're gonna shoot something, and and they've already rebooked. And but you know, I'd had to call them and say, look, it's tough right now. And so it works out having all those, you know, other things you can do.

SPEAKER_03 15:13

Sure, sure. And you get to come home with, you know, if you didn't shoot a bunch of ducks, you're still bringing a bunch of quail up.

SPEAKER_04 15:18

Yeah, bringing a bunch of quail. We do chucker and pheasant as well, so it's just whatever you want to do.

SPEAKER_02 15:22

You strike me as one uh that reminds me of this. Some of the, and we know some of them have been doing something similar. I don't know many do frog hunts, but um some as much as 40 years older than Mossy Oak's even been around. And um the coolest thing is beyond you know the business and all the things that the hunting and the you know, all that, is they've developed these long-term relationships with people. Then it's they have as much, I think some of them keep on doing it, even though maybe they're getting to the point to kind of turn it over to a younger generation, but they love all those friends they've made over hunting and fishing to come back every year, and they love cooking and entertaining them. And you're you're cut out of that cloth, you know, which is cool. And the other thing I made a comment about the success you're having is like you're you're honestly when I say this about all the stuff we do, you're getting to be yourself. In other words, you're getting to do all this stuff that you like too. You're not just doing it only for the duck hunting or only for the big deer, but you've got that diversity because that's kind of how you are. Right. People love being around that. Someone just, you know. Yeah, I guarantee you that more people come, the more people experience that, the more business you'll continue. You'll have to unfortunately have to turn people away, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_04 16:34

Yeah. Well, one thing that that you know, we I deer hunting, turkey hunting, and all that. I'm kind of stingy on that, uh on the deer hunting part and and on the turkey hunting part.

SPEAKER_02 16:47

Well, you have to be because well it's not it's not replenishable, you know. No, no, migratory waterfowl, you know, let's go, you know, quail, let's go, frogs, fish, yeah, yeah. A lot of gators, a lot of stuff you got going on. But those two there, you you you you overstep your boundaries, you're stuck with it for a while.

SPEAKER_04 17:04

Yeah, exactly. And and I can't I've got a few friends of mine that are, I call them members, you know, they pay to hunt there, and and but they get to hunt deer, ducks, turkey, the whole thing. But I've hunted with them for years, and I know they're not gonna shoot a two and a half-year-old eight point or a two and a half-year-old ten point. They're pretty much we're all on the same page. If you shoot it, you're gonna mount it. And and so it lets the deer grow, and that's why every year we kill deer between 140 and 160 inches every year. Wow, you know, so it's well let's do this.

SPEAKER_05 17:36

Dudley, why don't you uh let's let's learn a little bit about him through your questions. Uh a rapid fire brought to you by our friends at Nutrient Ag Solution. Dudley, you've got a good looking cap on. Well, I've got a nutrient hat on. There you go. Hey, Landy, do you know what kind of shoes a frog wears?

SPEAKER_02 17:52

Please stop.

SPEAKER_05 17:54

Let me think here. Um open toed.

SPEAKER_06 17:58

Ah I was going with waiters.

SPEAKER_07 18:02

You woke up.

SPEAKER_03 18:04

All right, Dudley, it's all yours. That was a good one, Bobby. So it's like toes and toad. It is. Whatever.

SPEAKER_02 18:11

Man. Dudley already, I mean, uh is a frog or toad? Richie had that soundtrack as soon as you open your mouth. He already had the button because he knew what we knew what was coming.

SPEAKER_03 18:21

All right, Danny. So I've got about 10 questions. Uh Bobby's already messed one of them up and I've replaced it. So um quick on your feet. Uh just answer them quick, trying to get to know you better. So are you ready?

SPEAKER_02 18:33

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_03 18:35

What is something interesting you have found in the stomach of a frog? Crawfish. Ah uh tomato sandwich on white bread or fried green tomatoes?

SPEAKER_04 21:53

Fried green tomatoes.

SPEAKER_03 21:55

Can you taste the difference between, say, a mallard and a gadwal? Depends on who's cooking it. Oh, okay. Yeah. I've never really paid attention to that, but maybe we need to do a taste test. I love a gray dog. Uh and yeah, this is food heavy for obvious reasons. Um, in your younger years, have you ever ramped your boat over a beaver dam? Yes. Okay. Oysters cooked, raw, boy, both, or neither? All the above. There you go. Uh, biggest crappie you've ever caught. Uh two and a half pounds. Um yeah, so if you could pick a month for frog hunting, what would that month be? April. Okay. Is that the rut?

SPEAKER_04 22:41

Yes.

SPEAKER_03 22:42

Uh what is your current favorite tree species? Just off the top of your head, what's a what's a tree you like these days? Okay. What gun did you kill your first deer with? Single shot at 20 gauge. A man of my heart. Yeah. Uh if you had one sauce for drip for dipping frog legs in, what would it be? Yum yum sauce. Yum yum, okay. What is the biggest boar hog you've ever witnessed?

SPEAKER_04 23:19

We killed one on our place that the scale was 500 pounds and it sprung the scale.

SPEAKER_03 23:25

Oh, goodness gracious. And last but not least, what would you say is the most popular meal that you cook for your guests?

SPEAKER_04 23:35

The most requested thing I get is blackened duck.

SPEAKER_03 23:38

Hmm. I don't I don't know if I've ever heard of it. Oh, I've had blackened duck. We may have to discuss that later on. But anyway, good answers. How do you blacken a duck?

SPEAKER_04 23:49

You want it? It's it's simple. This was this recipe's going out, but it uh basically you melt butter, you cut your duck duck breast, mallard, doesn't matter what it is, I can take a shoveler, and you won't be able to tell the difference between a shoveler and a mallard. Here he's talking big words here, Lang.

SPEAKER_06 24:05

I mean, I'm with him. I eat a lot of shovelers. I have it.

SPEAKER_04 24:08

Cut it up into one-inch cubes, melt some butter in a microwave, um, and take your duck and say this, say we're doing uh four breasts. And one stick will cover that, melt it in a microwave, put it in the butter, cast iron skillet, uh ashy hot, has to be done outside because it's going to smoke and flare up. Ashy hot cast iron skillet. And you take your duck out, put it on a plate, and cover it with Paul Prudem's black and red fish seasoning. Just coat it. The OG. Yeah, it is OG first. Coated, coat it, coat it, coat it. You may use a half a bottle doing it.

SPEAKER_06 24:45

Get the big bottle.

SPEAKER_04 24:46

And then once your skillet is uh ashy hot, you drop it in, let it cook for about 30 seconds, and then start turning it, and you just turn it around, put a little more uh seasoning on it, and then a minute and a half, pull it. And then I usually serve it as an appetizer, uh toothpicks, stick toothpicks in it. And you literally cannot tell the difference between it and a filet mignon. It the the wild taste is gone, uh the livery taste, everything that people don't like about ducks supposedly is.

SPEAKER_02 25:17

Well, I kinda I kind of do like about it. I do too. It tastes hurry.

SPEAKER_04 25:21

What does ashy hot mean? Well it turns kind of white looking. Yeah. It'll burn the hell out of it. Yeah, it just a cast iron will actually turn kind of white looking. So that's when it gets really, really hot. Yeah, real. It's having 800 degrees. It'll flare up. It'll flare up. When you drop that butter and this that duck on there, it'll flares up. So you kind of stand back and let it go back down, and then like I said, 30 seconds or so start stirring it. And don't don't overcook it. If you overcook it, it you want it rare. It'll it'll be tough. What about blackened steak or blackened steak?

SPEAKER_06 25:54

We've done blackened fish.

SPEAKER_04 25:56

But coot, yeah. You try coot and coot can work out. I haven't tried coot. I sure haven't.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

I've had coot gumbo, it was actually good, so it might be. I doubt it's as good as Miler. Someone tells me that I'm drawing the line.

SPEAKER_05 26:10

All right, let's get back to frogs.

SPEAKER_04 26:12

All right.

SPEAKER_05 26:13

This is a long-standing uh people have hunted frogs, gigged frogs, caught frogs for a long time. But it it does seem like it's not nearly as popular as maybe it once was. Is it because of the decline of frogs? Are we just all busier looking at our phones and we'd rather do that than what do y'all think? The second answer is what I think it is.

SPEAKER_04 26:33

I I think it's just both. Yeah, getting getting away from there's so much more to do now, especially for young people than there was when we were kids. When we were kids, that's what we did. I mean, I was shooting squirrels with my pellet rifle when I was seven. Yep. And and it I you never caught me inside. Yeah. So and I live close to a lake. So I was catching frogs when I was 10. And it it's it's just it's a different world. It's inside, isn't it?

SPEAKER_03 26:58

Yeah. Uh it's kind of the same thing as a a lot of young folks won't eat fish on the bone. You know, they don't they don't know how it scares them or weirds them out, but it's just more and more of that. Yeah, if you put about that.

SPEAKER_04 29:10

It's very true. Yeah, you put me a plate of catfish, and these are fillets, and these are whole I'm going whole route every time.

SPEAKER_06 29:17

Yeah, I got to chew on that tail.

SPEAKER_05 29:19

What kind of license would I have to have if I showed up in Arkansas to go frog hunting? Would I need a fishing lungeon or a hunting lesson? It's a fishing license.

SPEAKER_06 29:26

Ah. Good question, Bobby. Well, thank you, Lance.

SPEAKER_03 29:29

Yeah, you get you have one every now and then. Um frog is alpha gal-free as well. I can tell you. It's a reptile, it's not a mammal, is that right? It's an amphibian bobby.

SPEAKER_07 29:39

Come on, it's a reptile.

SPEAKER_03 29:41

Did you get that at Montgomery Junior College? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 29:44

Good one, bud.

SPEAKER_05 29:46

Oh me. You made me forget my next question, buddy. Man. Well, so every time they come out with a season, you always notice there's frog gigging season. Yep. Yeah. Frog hunting. Frog hunting season.

SPEAKER_04 29:59

Yep.

SPEAKER_05 29:59

So you can say can you shoot them with 22? Is all that legal?

SPEAKER_02 30:04

I'm sure it depends on the state, but yeah, it it it's exactly what it is. Better check whatever state you're in. I wonder how far north they will go. I'm sure the further south, the more there are. I think they're bullfrogs all the way up into Canada.

SPEAKER_05 30:18

Uh up to I think so. Yeah. Yeah. I think Tommy Minnesota.

SPEAKER_03 30:22

I think Michael Hunter ice fishes for them up there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 30:25

What's the statute of limitation? Seven years, something like that.

SPEAKER_03 30:27

I think something like that.

SPEAKER_06 30:28

Yeah, because it what yeah. We used to shoot them with bows. I don't know if you were supposed to or not.

SPEAKER_05 30:33

I don't know if I'd have told you.

SPEAKER_06 30:34

Oh, like if you were fishing.

SPEAKER_03 30:36

If you were fishing for gar and stuff with your bow.

SPEAKER_05 30:38

Could you hit them? Yeah. Occasionally. Yeah, every now and then. Frog up to them. Yeah, yeah. I mean I'm sh you know, uh I've actually never been frog gigging. Right. But I've I've been we've we've shot I've been and shot fish off in a boat and at night and been a few. But you won't go alligator hunting with us. Yeah, I hadn't done that. Y'all y'all do that.

SPEAKER_02 30:58

You know why Bobby doesn't frog hunt, do you? It's because they don't score them at Boone and Crockets.

SPEAKER_05 31:03

Well, it's do y'all encounter a lot of snakes when you're doing this?

SPEAKER_04 31:07

Uh yeah, a fair amount, but but pretty much all of our frog hunting is on Millwood Lake. And Millwood's a you know, a public lake, and it has a lot of alligators. And I don't know if the alligators have thinned the snakes out or what's going on because you don't see near the snake. You would think they thin the bullfrogs out, but it's it's like we were talking earlier, they have so many babies that you know they stay ahead of the time.

SPEAKER_02 31:33

It's kind of the same story if we talk about people's real love, turkey, and deer management, if like habitat. This lake is perfect frog habitat, so they just you know, you harvest all you can harvest, and all the other critters are eating them, and you still got a bunch there because it's perfect habitat. That's kind of a common thread in everything we talk to people about in different species.

SPEAKER_06 31:57

That's the lowest hole in the bucket for sure. So, what time of y'all heading out?

SPEAKER_04 32:01

Is it I mean y'all go right when it gets dark?

SPEAKER_06 32:04

Yeah, get real late.

SPEAKER_04 32:05

Kind of what we try to do to just to make it more fun. Usually when somebody comes and books a frog hunt, you know, obviously we're gonna do it at night. Well, I like to take uh I go catch some bait fish for catfish, and I like to go out and take noodles or whatever, poles and put stuff out in the in the early evening, say six o'clock, and because it what it does is it gets them familiar with the lake before it's dark rather than just going out there when it's dark. And two, it gets us something else to check through the night. And three, it gives us something to check the next day.

SPEAKER_02 32:37

And four, it gives you something delicious to eat with those frog raids.

SPEAKER_04 32:40

Exactly, exactly. So we usually try to go out, say six o'clock, and we'll put out something for catfish.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

What kind of cats are you catching?

SPEAKER_04 32:48

We're catching uh ops, blues, channels, all of three, all the above.

SPEAKER_02 32:53

The big three.

SPEAKER_04 32:54

Yeah, the big three. And uh we'll do that, and and there again, it just creates something else for some, you know, you're not just coming to frog hunt. You know, I try to create an experience, an outdoor experience, that they're gonna go back and say, Man, you need to, this place is amazing. You know, this we did all sorts of stuff. And uh I'll give you an example. I had a couple that came a couple years ago, and they basically spent their whole vacation there, five days. They wanted to do hog hunts, they wanted to do frog hunts, they wanted to do uh fishing, they wanted to put out, you know, uh trot lines and limb lines, etc., etc. Yo-yos, whatever. So I kind of planned the whole trip out, and this is kind of funny. I think they were coming, I think they came from Indiana. And so we did. We went out frog hunting one night, we went out hog hunting one night. It was a man and man and his wife, they both got a hogs. We we caught some frogs, and and then I then to kind of top it off. I told him, I said, look, let's go put some crawfish traps out because I'd been seeing all these frogs had crawfish in them. So I we put some crawfish traps out and some, you know, shallow, two-foot water, and we caught maybe 10 or 15 pounds of crawfish. We went back and boiled them. As you land, yeah, right there. Yeah, and went back and boiled them. And and then and here's the funny part it was kind of like the Wild Kingdom, and I've got this old jeep, it looks like Jurassic Park. Jeep you sit up on top, you know, like a safari type deal. And we're we're riding back to the camp, and there's two blue herons in the middle of the road, and it's trees are overhanging, and and and they get up and fly down the road. And she's she's just looking at me, she goes, What is that? I looked at her straight in the eye, I said, pterodactyl. And she looked at her husband and said, Is he telling me the truth? But that's it was that kind of experience for me. So new. Yeah, just they're they're from Indiana, you know, they don't experience things like that. So that gives me some gratitude to be able to bring that opportunity to people that don't get to do that.

SPEAKER_05 35:00

So walk me through this. Let's let's pretend we're in a boat, it's dark, mosquitoes everywhere, we're we're in frogs are croaking. It's Lanny's turn to catch a frog. It was in the front of the boat. Are you running a trolling motor? Are you polling? And then what you're shining the frog's eyes are lighting up.

SPEAKER_04 35:18

Tell walk us through a scenario. Okay. Typical scenario is one, anybody that has a real bright light off shining around, do you tell them to turn it off? And you want a dim kind of light, just like raccoon, like coon hunting. You know, to spot the coon, you don't just shine a bright light up there. You get a dim kind of light until you find his eyes. The same thing with a frog. We're riding along with them, but we're in surface drive boats, and there's a lot of grass, a lot of moss, a lot of things we're riding through. So you have to have something that'll go through that. We're riding along, and usually I have a guide because I don't have the eyes I used to have. And it and you to be able to spot these frogs, you gotta be able to see really well. And their eyes don't light up like a deer. It's more like a fluorescent little blue color and it shines. And sometimes you can catch them with their yellow belly, you know, facing you, and they're easy to see, but they're hard to see in that grass. So I've usually got somebody that's got really good eyes up front with a semi-dim light looking until they locate them. Once they locate them, I say, okay, Bobby, it's your turn. You go get on the front of the boat, and and the front part of the boat is flat, uh, and you just lay on your belly, and and you've got a light on your head as as well, and you're shining on it, and we've by then we can go ahead and put a brighter light on it, because we've spotted him. And you put a brighter light on him at that point, and it kind of lights up everything to make sure there's not something you don't want to grab sitting there. And you just go up and you get basically within about six inches, and you just grab him. I mean, that's it. And then it and then you pull him, pull him out, and uh we bring him to the back of the boat. And usually I use a I know you've seen a white perch fish basket. That's what I usually use to put him in because it's easy to kind of deal you through, drop it in, and then they can't get out, and you just leave it on the bottom of the boat, and you next one, same thing. You tell your next buddy, look, we got one spotted, and we'll go to them, and then percentage-wise, we'll you know, some people are when they grab it, they freak out because it, you know, it's it's it's a slimy frog. Yeah, you know, and it's a frog. It's a frog. And if they've never done that before, they go, ugh, you know, they let it go. Hold on to him, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 37:31

And uh if they've ever eaten what you just cooked for me, they will turn on the shit.

SPEAKER_05 37:36

And so that frog is he's just mesmerized by the light, and that that allows you to get up there and do that?

SPEAKER_04 37:42

Yeah, pretty much. So you try to spot him first. Uh, if you can't, if you're having a hard time spotting them, a lot of times I'll call like a frog. And try to try to get him up there. Try to get him to bell or back at you. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 37:56

That'd be cool. Let's hear that.

SPEAKER_04 37:58

Let's hear what sounds like Bobby and that sounds like Bobby trying to see. And he'll call back. A lot of times he'll call back. And then we own him. And and then yeah, then you're on him. You know at least the area where he's there. Yeah. And so you turn your boat and head that way. And so that's you and normally when we start, you know, dark, it's dark when we actually start catching frogs. So it's say it's this time of year, it's eight o'clock, eight fifteen. We're starting to catch frogs. Usually we're done uh not necessarily limited out, but maybe limited out by midnight. What's the limit? It's 18. 18 per person. Well, in our saw, it's a lot of frogs. It's hard to limit out on frogs, especially if you got three people.

SPEAKER_03 38:47

I wonder if you could get a turkey to gobble at that noise. Probably.

SPEAKER_05 38:51

So if you laid somebody down the front of that boat and you're easing up there, I bet if you grabbed them by the ankle, I bet they'd jump out of the boat.

SPEAKER_04 38:58

Oh, you can do all sorts of fun stuff. You have a you have a large time with people that it's fun.

SPEAKER_05 39:06

Do you ever uh like all of a sudden you when you get them up there close and you do see a snake? Yeah. Is that all the time?

SPEAKER_04 39:13

And and one of the things too that we have to you get a lot of people that don't see alligators and they're wanting to try to catch an alligator. Well, one thing it's illegal. You know, you're not supposed to harass wildlife. You're not supposed to harass wildlife, so we tell them no, we're not we're not doing that because it's just I got too much to lose. Yeah, exactly right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 39:35

So are you uh so you're putting the gators live in that fish basket and just froze frogs? What are they? No, we're not putting the gators in the five. Back on the gators. I like them old uh swamp marlins. Uh but anyway, so you put the frogs in the basket live. So do you euthanize them or put them on ice? I mean Yes. Okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 39:53

If if it's a really hot night, whatever, we'll the problem with putting them in an ice chest is they jump out. Yeah, you gotta open it up at some point. You gotta dump it in that fish basket because you just stick it in and you let go and they don't get out. Right. And uh and if it's a really hot night, sometimes we'll drop them in the water because you know they're not gonna get out of the fish basket. Right. I don't really like to kill them until it's time to put them on ice. I basically just put them on ice.

SPEAKER_03 40:19

You know, we just ate some frog legs, um, and I've I've had them several times growing up. Uh what would you describe the taste to to our listeners?

SPEAKER_04 40:30

And the text. I'm not I'm not gonna say the same old thing everybody says tastes like chicken, but but because it doesn't.

SPEAKER_02 40:36

It honestly is. I said that a minute ago. These are so good. And this is this sounds out there, but it's it's almost like a delicious combination of chicken and catfish. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 40:49

Yeah, it's it's kind of collagen-y, like collagen.

SPEAKER_04 40:52

A little bit, yeah. It's a darker, a little bit darker.

SPEAKER_02 40:54

But it was very what you served is very tender, no fishy, fleshy taste at all. Whatsoever. It's like delicious, almost sweet.

SPEAKER_03 42:57

Sweet, moist, white meat type taste. Like I'd put it way up there at the top. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 43:03

What I just had for sure.

SPEAKER_03 43:05

You said it was nutritious. You looked it up.

SPEAKER_02 43:06

I looked it up. Very nutritious.

SPEAKER_03 43:08

I'd put it up there with turkey nuggets. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:12

That's that's that's blasphemy. Be careful. That's blaspheme.

SPEAKER_05 43:16

So if you had a if you had a group of guys you were gonna cook for, how many frog legs per person would you typically? Well, if you're like eating them like toxic, it's gonna be at least 15 to 20.

SPEAKER_04 43:27

A limit. Or more or more. No. Typically about 10. Uh because we're serving other things with it. Yeah. You know, so it's it's if you're eating just the legs, you know, one man can eat a lot of legs. But generally, when I figure it, I figure about 10, 10 per person. They're not gonna go to waste. And they're good the next day, too. So are there places that a guy could go buy frog legs and just just cook them? Yeah, yes. Any like seafood market, uh, at least in the south.

SPEAKER_02 43:55

I wonder if people farm them.

SPEAKER_04 43:56

I wonder if people farm them commercially anywhere.

SPEAKER_02 43:59

Yes. I was gonna say it would seem like it would be pretty lucrative if you got good at it. Yeah, they do.

SPEAKER_05 44:04

Does Gamekeeper Meach offer frog legs?

SPEAKER_06 44:06

Uh no, but uh the local butcher shop here does. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 44:11

I was just blown away with how good they were.

SPEAKER_02 44:14

Well, you know when you're doing cooking them too, so that helps a lot.

SPEAKER_06 44:17

Yeah, do you brine them or you anything? Or you don't have to give all your secrets away. No, uh, I soak these in buttermilk overnight.

SPEAKER_04 44:23

It's like you do a quail. I'll be doing that. I like to do that with quail as well. Or turkey breasts. Yeah, turkey breast is one of the top things to do. Yeah, soak it in buttermilk overnight and then just uh uh egg and milk but uh you know. Hold on, let me go get my Epic Pan.

SPEAKER_02 44:39

Yeah so uh I got a question. It's kind of reminds me a couple different ways of uh squirrel hunting because I that's kind of was my ride of passage first thing before deer hunting or anything. Squirrels are hard to grab, though. Yeah, but I mean, so but I was always taught and and found it to be true most times when you're you so you just you launch out in some obviously timber to squirrel hunt and you're you know, you're it's just so much fun because you're having to observe everything and you you see one move way out there or hear some acres fall, or you hear one barking. Usually, if you find one and hadn't been bothered a lot, there's a kind of a whole family in that area. So it's not like you just find one here and find one there, it's like all or nothing a lot of times squirrel hunting. And then all of a sudden when you're in them, you're really in them. I was wondering if frogs are like that, where you don't find anything, fight anything, and then you see the first set of eyes, and there's there's a lot of them in a little colony type thing. Very much so.

SPEAKER_04 45:31

If you usually if you see one, like we may catch 10 in one area that's 50 yards by 50 yards, you know, and then you may go another uh quarter mile and that's yeah, it also reminded me of because it's so much fun.

SPEAKER_02 45:47

That's one thing I love turkey hunting so much. But then duck hunting and even elk hunting is the calling. Oh, yeah. And squirrel hunting, now that you know we've had some people gave us some really good squirrel calls, you can you can crank them up, you know, squirrels too. Oh, they'll make them bark. That's right. But you just said that about uh calling and making frogs call back. That adds a whole nother. No, I'm too.

SPEAKER_06 46:05

I want to go, yeah, that would that'd be fun. Are you are they any of them just floating in the water? Are they all sitting on something? Can you grab them just floating in the water?

SPEAKER_04 46:12

Yeah, they're sometimes just floating in the water. Usually the where we're hunting, they're on grass. And and the problem is it gets later in the summer, the grass gets so high, you can't hardly see them. So we have to change our tactics. Uh, used to Arkansas, well, two years ago, Arkansas's season opened April 15th. Every year, April 15th. And that is their main mating period. So they do a lot of talking during April and May. That's a goblin season. They gobblins season. That's goblin season for for frogs. We need to get on out there. Well, last year, Arkansas Game and Fish moved the season back to uh June 1st. And the primary reason they did that is because people were like what we were talking about earlier, just not seeing as many frogs. Right. And and so they were concerned that the frogs were not breeding, they were getting caught before they were able to breed. Absolutely. So they pushed them past the basement.

SPEAKER_02 47:07

We do what's best for the resource, period. Like it or not.

SPEAKER_04 47:10

Like it or not, exact exactly. And and you know, when they if you if you catch a female and you catch a male, well, that's 30,000 eggs that may not get dropped. So it's it, you know, I like I I I sell frog hunts. Yeah. But so, you know, it it hurts me, but I'm more concerned about the wildlife than I am.

SPEAKER_02 47:29

Well, what have you done if you overdo it and you don't have any frogs? You don't have any frogs, right?

SPEAKER_04 47:33

Right, exactly. So it's all part of conservation.

SPEAKER_06 47:35

So y'all they pushed it six weeks, so y'all are starting June 1st. Start June 1st. It'll be uh Monday after Memorial Day.

SPEAKER_04 47:42

Do you have to report how many you catch?

SPEAKER_06 47:44

No, no, you don't have to. How do you tell the difference between a male and a female? I can't. There you go.

SPEAKER_02 47:49

They're both they're both of the same size. They're both tasty.

SPEAKER_04 47:52

Uh no, those males seem to get a little bigger. Yeah. Bullfrog. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 47:57

How uh, and you may you may not know this, but how how long does it take them to get to a eat in size? Like, is that a I mean, do you think that's looking?

SPEAKER_04 48:06

To get mature a couple years, okay, and then some of the frogs we catch are probably five years old. They're big. They're big enough. Yeah, they're some of them are really big.

SPEAKER_02 48:15

Some of you said a minute ago as much as like two pounds?

SPEAKER_04 48:17

Yeah, that's a big one. I know. That is a big one. That's a big one. Um average is gonna be three-quarters of a pound to a pound, maybe, you know. But I've caught them, you know, they're 18 inches from nose to tip. So he's gonna weigh a pound and a half to two pounds. Wow.

SPEAKER_06 48:36

That's a big one. Does the do the females bellow too? They make a little bit different sound. Uh-huh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 48:44

So this lake versus a gobble. Okay, it could be. This lake that's got so many frogs in it. Do y'all bass fish it and do you use frog lures or are they?

SPEAKER_04 48:55

This is this is kind of interesting. The uh uh one of those professional fishing leagues, the National Professional Fishing League, NPFL, had a tournament on Millwood uh two weeks ago, two weekends ago. I actually uh housed a couple of the professional fishermen and they'd never fished on Millwood before. And they were bringing in, you know, three-day catches of 40 something pounds and bass. Wow. You know, five per day catches, and several of them got up and talked about, you know, y'all got a gym here with this lake. It's it's really so the the bass fishing's good, the crappie fishing is incredible. I mean, it's that's where I catch the two and a half pound crapies. It's kind of rare you get both of those. Well, that's the thing. I see anything that you like to do in the south is in that little area, right? In that little area, and it's kind of a secret, you know, a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 49:49

Not anymore after today.

SPEAKER_06 49:51

Yeah, you know, the first time I was in that area, I was like, oh my gosh, you know, how do we not make it?

SPEAKER_02 49:55

Until you've got extremely fertile soil under it all. That's that's for sure. And the hardwoods there are just huge.

SPEAKER_04 50:01

Yeah. I mean, just driving in my driveway, there's trees, uh, they gotta be 150 years old. I mean, they're bigger round as that table.

SPEAKER_03 50:10

Arkansas has a lot of diversity. It really does.

SPEAKER_04 50:13

Very much so. Yeah. It's a cool spot. It does. And and that area, there's and Toxie just said it's it's very fertile. Well, it's the Red River is just just south of my place. Uh, Millwood, you know, is next to my place, and Millwood has little river. So you got Little River, you got the Cossitot River, you got the Salina River, and you have the Red River all coming into one area. Yeah. It's the first place when the ducks come over the Washita Mountains, the first flat bottom land area they come to on that central flyway area is Millwood and it and those clubs and leases around there. So there's a lot going on there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 50:51

Just looking at it on a map is a lot going on. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 50:54

It's in, you know, extreme southwest Arkansas. But I mean, you're also what, two or three Hours from uh world-class trout fishing.

SPEAKER_04 51:04

Oh no, you you can you can go to Broken Bow from my camp. It's it's 55 minutes to Broken Bow, right below where the little river comes off of Broken Bow and they stock it, you know, stocked. But you can catch trout there. So that's kind of that's kind of cool. You go from a swamp to being able to catch trout in in an hour.

SPEAKER_05 51:24

Lanny, what else do we need to ask about frogs? Um any other ways to cook them besides frying them?

SPEAKER_04 51:32

Oh yeah, yeah. One way that I like to do it is especially if it's big frogs, because it's hard to m make them tender like what you ate today. The big frogs I like to pressure cook just like you would a squirrel. I pressure cook them for 15, 20 minutes, and then I will put them in uh butter, garlic, and and some lemon, and saute them for another for another 10 or 15 minutes, and they pretty much just fall off the bone. I bet that's delicious. And it's not fried.

SPEAKER_06 52:00

You got something to drag your bread through too.

SPEAKER_04 52:03

It's almost like it's almost like I don't know if you've had New Orleans barbecue. You can do kind of the same thing with frogs. You put Worcestershire sauce in there, add that same thing and put Worcestershire sauce in it, and it's really good. I bet it is. You get some French bread to dip it in. It's good. Dip on in that.

SPEAKER_03 52:18

I bet I bet some, you know, almost like crab meat, you could you could put a bunch of frog leg meat on the top of your gumbo.

SPEAKER_06 52:25

Yeah. That might be pretty good. Oh, yeah. That'd be good.

SPEAKER_05 52:27

It kind of reminds me of crab to a certain degree. Yeah. It did it toxic hit it right. It's got it's like fishy chicken.

SPEAKER_06 52:34

Yeah, but not fishy, but not fish, but not in a band. Yeah, nobody likes fish that tastes like fish. Yeah. Fish that doesn't take like taste like fish is delicious.

SPEAKER_05 52:45

It's amazing how many y'all are catching, and that that you're doing this night after night. I mean, I'm sure you're not every night doing it and you're going every night, but that's that's a lot of frogs. And a lot of fun. It's uh sustaining itself.

SPEAKER_04 52:57

You gotta do it right. The beauty of it too, it's all on public land.

SPEAKER_07 53:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:00

And and and I'm not gonna say there's not a lot of people frogging out there. There's a lot of a lot of young you know, kids, they're out there all the time in those mudboats riding around catching frogs. But uh uh it's it's just all on public land. So that you know that makes it kind of intriguing. No, that's that's hugely intriguing. What about like cleaning them and stuff? How do you put them up? Uh well, cleaning them basically, you just cut them around the belly, and I use like what you'd skin a catfish with, you grab them and just pull it off, chop their chop their legs off, and so you got you got a connected two legs, and then I usually freeze them just like that. And and then I'll cut that in half when I get ready to cook it. Like all those frogs we ate today were you know, two legs. And I just cut them in half. You vacuum sealing or vacuum seal them usually, yeah. Or seal them in water. If you don't have a vacuum sealer, you just seal them in water like you would fish.

SPEAKER_03 53:54

Well, if those were frozen, then they they taste fresh. Which is I mean, that you know, anything that freezes well, I mean, that's even more desirable.

SPEAKER_05 54:02

You know, you know, frog legs are something that you know, growing up, I'd go to Ezel's catfish cabin there near We Tumpka and Pen's fish house. They had frog legs, and just every now and then you'd get a wild hare and you'd say, I'm gonna have the frog. But so I've eaten frog legs before, but those what you cook today were the best. It it never had anything quite like it.

SPEAKER_04 54:23

Yeah. Well, it's they're pretty much all small frogs. They weren't the real big frogs. Most of the wild frogs that we they're gone by this time of year because you know, you're catching them in June of last year, and we serve a lot of people through the season. So I had some that were wild that were still they were in water, they were frozen in water, just like you would do fish. And then I had some that came from a farm. So it's you know, but they taste the same. They do. And you couldn't tell the difference. Frog farm.

SPEAKER_06 54:53

We might need to start selling frog legs, Bobby. It's it's an interesting country. We'll tell Vandy that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 54:59

Richie. Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_06 55:01

Yeah, you're awake up.

SPEAKER_05 55:02

Have you got the the trivia question that we designed just for Danny?

SPEAKER_01 55:06

Yeah, we do have the trivia question, but we kind of hit hit on that just.

SPEAKER_05 55:09

Well, I don't know if how good we let's just see what happens.

SPEAKER_01 55:13

Okay. So, first off, we have a listener who left a review on Apple Podcast. We have uh CA from LA. Uh great job, boys. If I meet you, if I if I ever meet you folks, I'll have to tell you a story about the time that I deer hunted with Bobby. Hey! About 20 years ago. It must be LA Lower Alabama. He won't remember it until I tell him the story. Keep grinding them out. Out of way, Bobby. I don't know. I don't know. So what's CA? What's CA LA?

SPEAKER_06 55:44

I thought they had a good experience. I hope they had a good experience. I do too. Amazing eye.

SPEAKER_05 55:49

Hope I didn't shoot one out from under.

SPEAKER_06 55:51

Do you shoot a one buck out from under?

SPEAKER_05 55:53

I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 55:54

What's uh CA from LA uh win there? Is it another copy of your book or no? You're gonna have one copy of your book too. Sold out.

SPEAKER_05 56:01

No, we uh look, we've got we found one nucleum blind. We got one more nucleum blind.

SPEAKER_06 56:07

One more nucleum blind.

SPEAKER_05 56:08

Move something around. Taxer wasn't paying attention. I saw one more nucleum blind.

SPEAKER_06 56:13

Is that in the back of his truck? Or no, it wasn't in his truck. Wasn't in his closet, but it was in his truck. It was in the hallway. Okay. Here we go.

SPEAKER_01 56:20

All right, Rich, come on. Well, just letting y'all just kind of banter. Do the thing. All right, so let's see. We kind of answered this, but we'll see. Do both are just the male or female make the juggerum call that we hear from the bullfrogs? Juggerum. Juggerum. Juggerum.

SPEAKER_06 56:37

It's primarily the male. Yep. Yep, that's right. This says this says the female has a call that often sounds like, uh, get off me.

SPEAKER_07 56:50

I'm not in the uh get off me.

SPEAKER_06 56:51

Hey, I'm not gonna touch that one. Nope. Yeah. So you got the jugger-um and the um get off me.

SPEAKER_03 56:59

Somebody needs to invent a frog call.

SPEAKER_01 57:02

I did in the process I'd look at some other questions here just in case.

SPEAKER_06 57:05

Oh, look at Richie doing the homework.

SPEAKER_01 57:07

All right, so what's the average lifespan of a bullfrog?

SPEAKER_07 57:10

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 57:12

Depends on if he's after them. Yeah, that's true. Are they, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:15

Uh I'm gonna say four years. I was gonna say five. Six. No, Landy got it.

SPEAKER_06 57:19

I got it. Yeah. Oh, wait. All right.

SPEAKER_02 57:21

Oh, we said average. Okay. I thought you said, you know.

SPEAKER_01 57:24

And they have lived up to how long? Uh I got seven to nine years here, living up to 16 years. Wow, that's a big one.

SPEAKER_02 57:31

That's a big one.

SPEAKER_01 57:32

Uh as old as Hayden. That's a big old.

SPEAKER_05 57:34

You don't want to tackle that one. Yeah. What about what about the moon? Does it affect uh the frog activity? Good question. Yeah, great question. Well, Bronson wanted to know. I guess that's a little text about this. Right.

SPEAKER_04 57:48

To answer the question, yes. We seem to do better on dark nights. For whatever reason.

SPEAKER_06 57:54

Gator hunting is better on the dark nights.

SPEAKER_02 57:55

So you're you're looking for a little dim, barely can see blue eyes. Could you ever mistake in those eyes for a snake's eyes? No, I try not to do that. No, I didn't know. So I grabbed a huge snake when it was a very young boy behind our house, thinking it was a frog, because I'd used to catch him in the moss. Yeah. And I'd when I came up with a sheet, we thank goodness it was not poisonous. Did you throw it? No, screaming. Daddy said I was um like jet blind hair, and he said he could just see that cotton top bouncing across above the grass, screaming and hollering, coming back towards the house. He didn't know what had happened. But it was he went back around and I was telling him this huge snake, he thought I was lying, and he he actually, I forgot it was a boat paddle that was broken, and he stuck it on there and lifted it out. And because he shot, he saw the the head shot anywhere, it was like a six and a half foot, like one of those banded. They look like cotton mouse. Banded water snakes, especially when they get mad. And I've got a picture of me, I'll find it and show y'all. And I'm holding it up as high as I can, and both ends are dragging the ground of the fish so heavy, so long.

SPEAKER_05 59:00

Oh, and it's a banded one.

SPEAKER_03 59:01

Sometimes those water snakes more look more like a moccasin than a moccasin.

SPEAKER_06 59:05

Oh, they'll flatten that head out and look like a moccasin. You'd be like a water snake.

SPEAKER_02 59:09

I'm not gonna give it, I'm not gonna give it the benefit of the doubt. Anyway, that was my big that was into my frog hunting days.

SPEAKER_05 59:15

So a frog's eyes are the frog's eyes are blue. They show up as blue when you shine them. And uh an alligator's eyes are red. Correct. Yeah. What are what colors are snakes' eyes?

SPEAKER_04 59:27

We got Bobby spooked by the snakes here. They're a lot closer to the frog's eyes. Snake's eyes aren't red, they're a lot closer to what a frog looks like.

SPEAKER_06 59:34

Well, you can make a mistake, Bobby. Well, you can tell how big a gator is by how wide his eyes are apart. Can you tell any size by their the eyes? On the frogs or on the frogs.

SPEAKER_04 59:45

Yeah, I mean, you usually when you once you spot a frog, especially if he's turned towards you, you look at his chest, his belly, and and you see just size, you can see the size basically off the yeah, it's a yellow belly. You know, that's how we use generally judge. But to answer your question, yes, obviously the bigger frogs wide further bars.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:06

Right. I'm gonna I'm gonna go frog gigging. Yeah, I think it's open here. When did it open? Uh April 1st. Here. Yeah, and you can get 25.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:17

So you're gonna bring them here and cook them too.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:19

Good. I'm glad you committed to that. Toxic, do you remember uh down around Mobile? Ever did y'all ever frog gig?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:25

No, flounder gig, crabbed and stuff, but no frog and frog was around here and in Sumter County a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:31

I'm sure that Mobile Delta has a lot of frogs in it. Oh, I bet it does.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:35

It probably does, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:38

So, real quick, just let's just hit hit on why we think there aren't as many frogs. I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:44

Well, they say there's not as many insects.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:46

Uh that's true.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:48

Yeah. That could be some of it. Chemicals, chemical stuff.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:51

Yeah, are they real are they an indicator species, Dudley?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:54

And would they be one of the first to fall out if there was some Yeah, I'm I'm gonna act like a like a professor and say that's kind of out of my whatever. But um depends. You know, uh the habitat has changed tremendously. You know, it used to be big swamps and woods leading up to these wetlands, and now it's you know, row crop leading right up to the edge of it. So I don't know that's anecdotal, but it seems pretty obvious to me. I think that's exactly what's going on. Yeah, that and that and pesticides.

SPEAKER_06 1:01:24

Googly says they're secure and widespread in their range.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:29

Um how far north do they go?

SPEAKER_06 1:01:32

Sure. They're considered invasive out west. Interesting.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:37

Well, I just you know, you you hear stories of people saying, Well, we used to catch them all the time at such and such and such and such, and now they're not there. So Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:46

I did I mean, I do remember as a kid hearing a lot more frogs than I hear now. You know, just I think where I'm at, you know, on Millwood is just uh not the norm. Yeah, it's it there's just it's just not the norm. You know, obviously, since they move the season back, we're gonna have to change our tactics. We'll probably have to go more on the river and do different things than what we've done in the past, but we'll figure it out, you know.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:12

This is they're in the um in the Pacific Northwest. So that's further north than I would think they would. Yeah, getting up in the Canada.

SPEAKER_05 1:02:22

Well, Danny, I tell you what, it's been interesting to meet you. Listen to you talk about your lodge over there, the tigerbacklodge.com. You can check it out. And uh and I tell you what, I'll I gotta give you props. You uh that you cook a mean frog. They were delicious. Onion rings.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:40

The onion rings and fresh fries, delicious. Yep, Caesar's.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:44

Not to mention, yeah, he brought some other delicacies along with it.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:47

Those homemade onion rings are hard to beat. They are. You know, I'll say it. It seems like a lot of them now uh already made.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:55

There's too much batter on them. Those are just a thin, thin crust. It's so much better. That's the way to go.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:00

And you said yum yum sauce. Well, uh, but I was expecting you to say Louisiana Romelade. Either one, it's just preference, whatever your preference is.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:08

Yeah, and what was that you were shaking? Yeah, I did notice your Cajun season. I've never seen it before.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:12

Uh, a friend of mine makes that. Um it's called uh Lane Boys. Lane Boys, yeah. And it's he he does it and he lives in Shreveport, and I like it because it's not real sodium rich. Yes. It's it's just more of a combination of a lot of peppers. So it's low sodium, basically. That's what I dusted mine with.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:29

Uh you can always add some sodium.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:32

Yeah, you can always add salt. Right. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:36

Lane boys. That's good stuff.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:37

It's been interesting. Richie, what else? We got anything else we need to cover.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:40

Uh, one thing I forgot to say earlier. Dude, when you're frog hunting, do you eat boiled peanuts? Oh, yeah. Well, I will now. There you go.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:48

Got some from the peanut patch. And mentioning that, we got the Game Keeper giveaway. I know we had some good frog legs, but we're giving away a gorilla grill and a pellet grill. Yeah. Actually, from grilla, and we've got cooking accessories.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:00

Oh, that's like I don't think people realize what an awesome grill that is. Oh, it's awesome.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:04

It's got this power source you can carry and you can cook remote and a lot of game process. I don't know if I've ever seen anything like that.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:11

It's a it's incredible. Two seeds.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:13

Could you cook a could you cook frog legs on the grill?

SPEAKER_04 1:04:15

Yeah, you can. Sure, you could. Sure. Yeah, you can. Generally, you want to, I usually do it in a pan. To get that smoky taste to them, I usually do it in a pan. You can do anything you do with chicken or whatever with a frog. I mean, it's you can barbecue them, you can do whatever you want. Uh uh, just in this situation today, the easiest thing to do is fry them. 100%. I mean, that's the all-American way to do it.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:38

That's right.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:39

Well, circling back, that grilla.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:41

Yeah, sign up. Go to the Game Keeper website and get signed up. A lot of people are signing up, so get too many products to list that they're gonna be. All kinds of cooking stuff, game processing stuff, pellet grills. It's uh it's it's a great power package.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:54

So when you're over there in Arkansas, that yeah, Lane, he didn't even know we had a magazine. What? Yes. Well, you need to put him on the list.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:00

No, I saw I saw I saw it when I was looking through the website.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:04

Do you ever watch our television show over there Tuesday nights on the outdoor channel when you've I have seen it a couple times, yeah. It's okay. He's always up. Bobby, he's out frog hoods. That's right. And now you can listen to the podcast when you're driving around.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:18

You didn't even know what a podcast was. And we're on YouTube. Don't man. Yeah, we're not on YouTube. I like you even more. That's right. Self-taught on everything.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:25

Handling business. That's right. Richie, Bobby, what a great job you did today putting this together. Oh, those frog sounds were off the charts.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:36

I appreciate that. They did some extra producing today. That's exactly right. All right, why don't you say goodbye, Dudley? Goodbye, Dudley. Get us out of here, Richie.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:44

Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of the Gamekeeper Podcast. And be sure to tune in again. Subscribe to Game Keeper Farming for Wildlife magazine, and don't miss the Mafio Properties Fistful of Dirt podcast with my good buddy, Ronnie Guster.