Transcript for On The Wing Podcast Ep. 340: Building New Bird Hunters Through Volunteer Leadership
Speaker 1 (00:50.646)
Welcome to On the Wing, podcast presented by Purina Pro Plan. Here's a quote for you. Go out there and explore. Get lost in the wild. Make mistakes, but learn from those mistakes. Those are the words from my featured guest, Illinois' very own, Freddie Reyes.
On today's episode of On The Wing Podcast, we'll talk about becoming a bird hunter with a side dish of a early wing shooting report from the state of Illinois where pheasants and quail both opened up on November 1st. We've got Aaron Williams, our Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever regional representative for Northern Illinois riding shotgun with me as today's co-host.
Before we go through introductions, I want to once again thank Purina Pro Plan, not only as our national dog food sponsor at Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, but also the presenting sponsor of On the Wing podcast. All of my pups have always eaten Purina Pro Plan, not just because Perina supports the wildlife habitat conservation mission of our organization, which is incredibly important to me and should be important to you as well.
But the single most important thing about Parina ProPlan, the thing that you should know is that ProPlan was created by the world's best scientists and nutritionists for the working bird dog like yours and mine. Learn more at ProPlanSport.com. All right, without further ado, I'm going to ask Aaron.
who I introduced as my co-host, making his on-the-wing debut. And as a co-host, no less. Go ahead, Eric, and introduce folks, listeners to who you are, what you do for the organization. Give a little bit, you know, 60-second biography for it.
Speaker 2 (03:00.302)
Sure, no problem. Yeah, so Aaron Williams, I'm the senior regional representative in Northern Illinois. I actually hail from the great state of Nebraska, go big red. I'd be remissed if I didn't drop that in there, but a lifelong bird hunter. I've been with the organization now for about five years as a regional representative. I run a Brittany. So if you wanted to know what kind of bird dog I have, I got a little orange and white Brittany from Covey Rice Kennels. Shout out to them as well. Enjoy running around and getting to.
helping support my volunteers here in Northern Illinois. To give an aspect of my job, I serve as an advisory role towards the 31 chapters here in the state of Illinois and then growing that program, then doing some fundraising on the backside for our organization's priorities through legislative action fund, through the Path to the Uplands, through our Bawaw programs, and then our state program as well. So supporting that state team here in the state of Illinois.
And you're super engaged in merchandise as well, right?
Yeah, I dabble. I've got a, I'll call it a merchandise background. And so getting an opportunity to help design and help some makes the decisions, different merchandise things we can try with a lot of help from my volunteers and what they like and kind of what they don't like at the same time, helps us make some good decisions for our chapters there to have some selected items that they can fundraise with their banquet.
Yeah, Fred, and we love that feedback. Knowing what's working at the local level is critically important, not only from retail merchandise, but from banquet package items. have, you know, thinking about six degrees of Kevin Bacon. You know, we have one degree of Kevin. We didn't really know each other, but you worked at Dick's Sporting Goods, and one of my coworkers from the Saints was one of your coworkers, Jeff Wright.
Speaker 2 (04:51.042)
Yeah!
This small world category there.
Yeah, it was always funny when I was running a store in Omaha, I was in the Minneapolis market. And so I was up in Minneapolis about every month for meetings. And I never would have thought that my community marketing manager out of Minneapolis, Minnesota would have been a guy that knows you personally. So it's cool that we share that relationship.
And the other connection for folks that hear your last name, your brother works for the organization as well.
Yeah. Yeah. so I was first for the record. but yeah, my brother, Andy is the regional representative in Wisconsin. so funny that we both grew up in Nebraska and he's in Wisconsin and I'm in Illinois and, serving as regional representatives, but have a blast. So we call each other the Williams wall. If you've never seen it, then personally we're pretty dang tall and we can hide a lot of people, but, I'm very blessed to have my brother alongside me and it's fun to share.
Speaker 2 (05:44.59)
The wins and losses with each other when we're out on the road. A lot of people don't realize the regional rep team, there's 26 of us across the country. And we spend a lot of time on the phone with each other. So when we're out driving, one, it helps you stay awake. And two, it's fun to share the victories when you have a great bank with it that tops off. Me and I was at this, I saw this, it was really cool. And then we can use that information for our chapters to say, hey, I heard this from this guy. And then having it be my brother makes it even better. So a lot of fun.
Minnesota Vikings fans will take umbrage with you calling yourselves the Williams wall. know, thinking back to Pat Williams and Kevin Williams in the Vikings era, know, two guys, a guy from Illinois at Bearsland and then a guy from Wisconsin Packersland. That's going to create some, a little bit of controversy for today's podcast.
Well, whatever spice we can add to the conversation.
Go ahead and tell us how long you've known Freddie. Set the table for Freddie.
Yeah, so, uh, Freddie Ray as a chapter president out of Kane County, Illinois. So it's Chicago suburbs and, uh, Freddie and I met, uh, what's it about? About two years now, we've known each other and, uh, worked through a chapter restart of our Kane County chapter and, uh, uh, really excited to have him on. I think his story is one unique and two exciting and three, it's going to make people want to get out of their seats and do some volunteer work when they hear about all the cool things that he's doing.
Speaker 2 (07:15.126)
As you know, Bob, the volunteers are the lifeblood of our organization. And so not only did Freddie bring along himself, but a community with him. And that community is now up and running a chapter for PF, engaging new audiences and bringing people along. I'm, super proud to get to work alongside of him and being advisor for him and his chapter. I'm really proud of what they've done in Kane County. They hosted their opening banquet or their first banquet as a restart.
super successful night. Just really cool to see the community, you know, come around these guys. But Freddy definitely has the steering wheel in that chapter. And with that, I'll let you flip it over to.
Yeah, Freddie, tell us, we'll get in deep to the volunteer component, but give us a little bit about who we are, where you grew up, your background.
Yeah. So, again, Freddie Reyes, I've been with King County Festions forever for just a little bit over two and a half years. I'm, originally from Mexico, was born and raised in Mexico until the age of 12. then I moved to Texas for a couple of years then moved to Chicago and I've been in Chicago ever since. I've been a hunter my whole life, you know, funny thing is I am pretty new to bird hunting. I want to say maybe four years, five years into bird hunting. It's always been, you know, white tail deer, turkey, doves and things like that. Things that are accessible for us in Mexico. That's kind of, that's what I grew up with. But as far as bird hunting, it's only been a couple of years. I didn't even know about Pheasants Forever until I went to an event with another chapter. And I think I made a mistake that everybody makes, know, hear Pheasants Forever. I'm like, we're doing is going to be pheasant hunting, you know? I didn't even realize that.
Speaker 2 (09:06.21)
Fest and hunting is like 5 % of everything that we do, you know, compared to habitat restoration and, and then things like that. So, again, two and half years with the chapter, I've been a president of King County for 18 months. really exciting. think we're, moving on the right direction to have a great team. a lot of help from Aaron, you know, and not just from Aaron, but for pretty much anyone that comes in contact with the chapter, everybody's been a key success to, where we are right now as a chapter overall.
You mentioned growing up as a hunter and focusing on doves and turkeys and deer. Was there ever any quail in the mix as a kid in Mexico or moving there as hexes?
There is quail in Texas, but again, I just wasn't a big, you know, big hunter. I didn't have any dogs growing up, at least not hunting dogs. So it always made it so much difficult, know, but dove hunting. It's a big thing in Mexico. White tailed deer is really big in Mexico as well. Turkey.
Go ahead, Aaron.
Bob, we talk a lot about those bird dogs, right? It's the bird dog that brings a lot of hunters to the table. And I think Freddie could lean into that, right? When you say he wasn't a bird hunter, he picked up his bird dog and that's what changes his mindset and hunting trajectory. So Freddie, tell us about your bird dog.
Speaker 2 (10:30.744)
So I have a German short hair pointer. name is Bailey. She's at a point and flush Gundogs out of Wisconsin. She is the most, I always like to tell people she's the dumbest, smartest dog in the world. You take the E color off and she doesn't know what to do with her life. And as soon as the thing goes on, it's business only. Like she is ready to rock and roll. And we don't do like trials and NAFTA or AKC trials, but she is recognized in the Northern Chicago, Latin area. know, everyone, every time we go to like Silver Springs or like anywhere where they got control fessing hunts, they see my pickup truck. The first thing they ask is, where's Bailey? a lot of the guys that the hunt, they like Bailey. She's actually going to be guiding with us at the director's hunt in December here in Illinois.
I don't know if you know what that is. Aaron can tell you a little bit more about it. This is my first time guiding for them.
Very in our director.
Exactly, yep. The Illinois Conservation Foundation hosts a director's hunt and it goes alongside the DNR and it's a great fundraiser for them. We're happy to have them as a partner here in the state of Illinois that we can come alongside and get to enjoy a couple days of hunting along with a nice banquet. Go figure, they find a regional rep to help them run a banquet.
Speaker 1 (11:56.014)
Well, that's a perfect transition to where I want to go, which is sort of a hunting report for the state of Illinois. Before we get there, I want to first of all thank Grain Belt Premium for bringing back the Grain Belt camo cans and cases with Pheasants Forever this hunting season. This final Grain Belt...
premium moment marks the end of the promotion for this year as we close out November. You can, however, still find Pheasants Forever Camel Cases, Grain Belt Premium, and Premium Light, the pheasant-friendly beer on store shelves in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. So, if you're listening to us in Illinois, you can just cross one of those borders and go find Grain Belt.
Interesting fact is I'll insert here, I was looking at the analytics to the podcast. Illinois represents the second largest listenership for on the wing podcast of any state. Minnesota, as you may predict based on our home footprint, is number one, but Illinois, number two in on the wing podcast listeners. So everybody from Illinois, thank you very much for listening and go get some Grain Belt Premium across the border. Today's Grain Belt Premium moment comes in from Greg from Minnesota on Instagram. And Greg writes, I was going on a pheasant hunting trip with my kids to South Dakota. We were driving from Minnesota six and a half hours with my twin boys to South Dakota.
and they were anxious to create memories in the field. About halfway through the drive, I had an no moment. My boys said, what's up, dad? And I had to say, I forgot to grab the bag with all their hunting gear. They both thought I was kidding, but I was not. Fortunately, we made it to Cabela's and Mitchell right before the close of business that day. I bought new hunting vests, hunting pants, hunting shirts, socks, and hats. And I, again, have twin boys. So it added up very quickly. Fortunately, I didn't forget their guns. We had a great trip to South Dakota with my boys, and to this day, they bring up that memory of me forgetting all their gear.
Truly, no price can replace the memories in the field with your sons, even if it costs you a hefty price at the sporting goods store. Greg, thank you so much for sending in that fun story. Cabela's and Mitchell also thanks you for contributing to their bottom line that hunting season. And once again, thank you very much to Grain Belt Premium for bringing us another season of Premium.
moments in the field. Greg, a Grain Belt Premium Prize pack is headed your way. I guess before we get to the Illinois report, I will admit to having forgotten a shotgun on a hunting trip twice. Once was just a day trip in Minnesota. So about two hours in, I had to turn around and go back for my The other time actually happened on Rooster Road trip. I left.
on a Browning shotgun in the hotel room. Thankfully, it was only like a 15-minute delay, but have you guys...
I forgot my dog one time
Speaker 1 (15:57.294)
Why do you forget your dog?
It was, it was one of those three o'clock get up in the morning. You know, I got enough for long shift and I'm packing everything and I got the kennel and I got the food and the shot counts and the orange. And I have a German short hair pointer. And as you guys know, they whine for hours. That's like their signature thing. Right. And I'm like, damn, this, this ride is really quiet. And I look back in the cabin and the kennel is empty. I'm like, shoot. Jesus Christ. Luckily I was only like 20 minutes away.
But if it wasn't because I know how whiny my dog is before she gets on the field, I would have driven an hour and a half, got into the field with no dog and it probably, I mean, I still would have hunted, but it probably would have been very, very miserable.
I can't say that I've ever forgot my dog and I've never forgot my gun, but I have forgot my boots before. So I did make a stop in a tractor supply one time and I bought a pair of boots that were too small, but I needed the only ones they had. And I ran out there with a brand new pair of boots and my feet did not appreciate the end of that hunt.
There's your pro tip, listeners. Create a checklist and make sure shotgun, dog, and boots are on that checklist and keep it down the refrigerator all hunting season. All right. I know you guys have been out for the Illinois season. It's only been open for, a couple of weeks at this point. But we'll start with Aaron, because I know you've had success. You've sent me photos of your success.
Speaker 1 (17:34.786)
What's the upland bird hunting been like in Illinois so far?
Yeah, so we open on the 1st of November, statewide for both pheasants and quail. A lot of people don't kind of know the geography of Illinois. And the northern part of the state is more of our traditional pheasant range. And then we get really into a quail range in Western on the Mississippi River and then down in the southern part of the state. And so our best area, I would say like our best area of wild birds is going to be in our East Central part of the state.
got Ford, Iroquois, Livingston, McLean County. It's kind of our traditional pheasant belt in the state. And fortunately I was invited to go over there for the opener and had great success, really solid bird numbers over there. I'm, I always like to tell people that I've hunted in the Dakotas, I've hunted in Nebraska, Iowa. You can find places in Illinois that have just as many birds. You know, you hear all the traditional stories of man, when I was this age and the, know, 60s.
Back in the 60s, there were birds there. They still exist in those pocketed areas that really have solid cover. And so our mission will continue to strain really hard that where we put grass on the ground, we are having birds in the field. And I did some check-in reports with other areas of the state and Southern Illinois, seeing really strong covey numbers during harvest this year. And then as that led into the opener down there, still seeing the same thing, some really strong coveys. We had a pretty mild summer.
Speaker 2 (19:02.83)
As far as rain goes we had good hatch So we're seeing strong numbers there. So we'll continue to win a lot of stories We are a little bit of a deer hunting state too Bob So sometimes when I'm checking in I see how people's harvest reports are going they say I don't know I'm still sitting in a tree waiting to tag a big one, but I'm seeing a lot I'm hearing a lot of the whistle reports and I did a check in in Western Illinois as well Covey counts of the whistle counts were really high So excited to see what we'll do the rest of the year
In the state of Illinois, but I can say from my personal experience so far the birds are out there So I love when people always say there's no wild birds in Illinois anymore And I'm like well I would challenge that because I continue to find them on public and private land And I don't have that good of a dog. She's a little girl little pup. That's only two So I can't give her all the credit, but we're finding them
That's outstanding. A couple episodes back, I Tom Carpenter on and he said very similar things about Illinois, which I fully admit I have never hunted in Illinois. I got to get that state checked off my list here in the not too distant future. But Carp, editor of the Pheasants Forever Journal, says, and many of the chapter hunts, and granted many of these have been on private land.
Correct.
Those bird numbers have rivaled South Dakota, North Dakota, you name it. Where there's quality habitat in Illinois on some private land with great quality soil, native vegetation has produced good numbers over the years.
Speaker 2 (20:37.772)
Yeah. And we do have some pretty robust, public land complexes as well. you know, so just to give a shout out to what DNR is doing. a lot of times they get a lot of crap for not doing enough. There's places that we have. I hunted, was fortunate to be invited to hunt public land in our Saybrook piece in McLean County. And, I mean, we put up over 30 birds in one morning on a 200 acre piece. And so those aren't pin raised birds. Those are wild birds.
And it's fun for me to get an opportunity to go on those hunts. I would say the challenge with Illinois public land hunting is it's all done through a lottery. So you do have to apply for certain places to hunt. And if you get drawn, you get that one day where you can be there. So there are challenges to public land hunting. We do have one bawa piece or build a wildlife area piece for those listeners out here in our Knox County area that we control and operate that is open for public hunting. It's been restored prairie in Knox County. We call it forever fields.
And that does have wild quail, wild pheasants. You can find turkeys and you can find white tailed deer. You can duck on it. You can fish it. It's a really cool 500 acre property there in the middle of the state. So it's pretty accessible for folks as well. Cool. I'll have to go be a part of that.
Freddie, what has Bailey put you on so far this season?
So, so far we haven't done any public. We're actually going to do our first public this Sunday, but we've been guiding a lot. We actually just had a clinic at the Eero coefficient wildlife area through the DNR. We had about 30 kids there on Saturday, this past Saturday. So we did a wind shooting clinic in the morning and a pheasant hunt in the afternoon. I gassed four kids and every kid walked out of there with two birds each.
Speaker 2 (22:24.258)
Yeah, it was a good experience, you know, seeing all those kids very happy with their birds. And again, I do a lot of guiding in private, but she's been doing great. And a couple of my friends that have been going out to public, they've been coming home with their two birds.
I can hear in your voice that you're one of those folks that lives through the success and joy of other people. that's going to be a terrific transition to talking about your volunteerism. want to take a moment and thank Onyx. If you've been living under a rock, you're probably the only person that hasn't heard of Onyx. They're an absolutely terrific partner.
of Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, their national sponsor, and their signature partner of our PATH Public Access to Habitat program, which has already opened up more than 100,000 acres of high quality habitat on private land to public land hunting. Those acres are currently in South Dakota and Nebraska, but new this year, PATH is rolling out in North Dakota, Oklahoma, and in Michigan. Onyx is helping us make that all happen, putting boots on the ground for everybody to explore better habitat and more access. If it's time to renew your subscription to Onyx, please go to the link in the show notes and use the code PFQF. You'll not only get 20 % off your Onyx membership.
But Onyx will make a contribution back to our organization for everybody that uses that code. Onyx is just an absolutely terrific partner. All right. Volunteerism. Kind of the meat of this episode, and it was Aaron's idea. like, I got this volunteer in Wayne County, Illinois that we've got to put a spotlight on. If I could clone...
Speaker 1 (24:36.07)
one person in the world to have in every chapter across the country, it'd be Freddie. So, Freddie, why is volunteerism kind of at the heart of your identity?
I think it all started with me trying to learn the ropes of different types of hunting birds included, and not really having anyone, you know, kind of show me the ropes, you know, so I know firsthand how hard it is, to do things such as like, you know, getting started to what clothing to buy, you know, to what shotguns, what type of ammo, know, permits, licenses, navigating the DNR website. So.
I don't know. I just kind of took it upon myself one day and say, you know what, if I'm going to do this and, you know, I like to teach people so they don't struggle the way I did.
Do you feel gravitate towards like helping youngsters, helping adult onset hunters, women? who's easiest to coach? Who do you like coaching the best?
I like the kids better. If I'm being honest, I like coaching kids better because they listen and they don't have the, I know what I'm doing mentality. But you know, overall we try to help everyone. You know, we do different things and not just necessarily with just like, you know, bird hunting, but we have a small, I want to call it a chapter, but it's a small group of individuals that I'm very blessed to be able to hang out and call my friends. And one day we were sitting down and we're like, you know what?
Speaker 2 (26:17.208)
Do we wanna make it easier for everybody? I kinda got them introduced to hunting and shooting and they loved it and I see it on their faces. And that's one thing that motivated me, you cause I always think about like, maybe that's probably what I looked like when I, you know, when I started to. And the fact that I have little ones, you know, I have three daughters, one of them is seven years old and she's super into, you know, hunting and the outdoors and things like that. So.
By me volunteering and running the chapter with Festions Forever helps me be able to bring my kid and my friend's kids out and kind of get them out on the open, out on the outdoors and get going with all the stuff that we do as a chapter and as a community as well.
Yeah, I think Freddie would also be remiss if he didn't touch on the Illinois Learn to Hunt program and his involvement with the Illinois Learn to Hunt program. So Freddie, why don't you attack the bat a little bit and how those guys have influenced you and what you've alongside them as well.
The Illinois Learn to Hunt program, it's an amazing program through the University of Illinois. This one is geared more towards adult hunters, for people that are in their 20s or 30s or even sometimes older people. They want to learn how to hunt, but they never really had... I guess all three of us were probably lucky enough to have the uncle that hunted or the grandpa that hunted, but some of these folks don't have that or never had that.
So the Alien or Lening Home program is great because it basically it's out there to, to pair people, you know, with mentors that have a little bit more experience. And it's great because it also showcases that, you know, at least when I was growing up, hunting was always like, that's, that's why people support, know, and then learn a hunt program kind of breaks that mentality, you know, cause we got mentors from every.
Speaker 2 (28:10.082)
color, race, religion, background in this city, you name it, we have it. So it's a great program. They do an amazing job. Every year they do a Han Camp, which is basically a huge social network event. And it's amazing. That's kind how I got involved with them. You know, I was there for two years in a row and they're like, this guy's not going anywhere. Might as well call him out and make him an ambassador, put him to work.
A two-part question for you related to that. What was the most intimidating element for you personally to become a bird hunter? And is that same intimidating factor true today that you see in the kids? Is there any parallels or things changed?
The most intimidating thing for me was just getting started, you know, not being afraid to ask questions and make mistakes and, you know, and just listen to everyone try to give you advice, you know, cause as an adult hunter, know, you're like, oh, I don't need advice for, fessing out, know, I hunted deer or I hunted Turkey, but it's like a completely different world, you know? So to me, that was, that was a little bit of that challenge for me as well, you know, breaking that mentality and being like, oh, you know what?
I don't know, don't know, Fesson honey, let me, let me step back and be able to actually listen to these people that have more experience. And actually if I, if I, if I had to say it, I started bird hunting thanks to a hunt family event through Lake County Fessons forever. They do two family hunts every year since I know them. So huge shout out to Lake County Fessons forever, Matt Mercerow.
Louis Guzman and then Jordan, you know, those, the two, the three guys, the three main guys from that chapter. I got invited to do a control Fessehan at Richmond Hunt Club and I saw a dog working and I thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I need one of those dogs before I would like, yeah. And sure as hell three, three weeks later, I was making phone calls and looking online and I ended up finding Bailey and never looked back after that.
Speaker 1 (30:30.584)
What about the intimidation factor for kids today? Is it the same thing foundation of knowledge or is there something else?
think that the biggest factor for kids is it's not the hunting itself, but it's more like the shooting part itself, you think firearms have become a big stigma nowadays, know, firearms are bad. But it's, I always try to tell kids, you know, like this shotgun is a firearm, not a weapon. So don't look at it as a weapon. It's a tool, you know, you're out here, you're,
You're basically at, I try to tell them you're out here for a mission. You know, this is your tool to complete your work. Your work is to bring those birds down. So look at it like that. Don't look at it as a weapon. Don't look at it as, you know, it's, it's gone or it's, you know. So I think for me, when it comes to coaching, that's, that's like one of the biggest factors, intimidating factors when it comes to coaching little ones.
I know that if I recall correctly, you're a mechanical engineer, correct? Yes. Is there any parallels or advantages to being an engineer? I'm thinking like you probably have a very analytical, structured mind and work process. And then volunteering and teaching hunting, that can go two ways. It can be very structured. It could also be somewhat organic. Is there any parallel to your areer and how you approach.
Speaker 2 (31:55.852)
I think the way it helps me is that when we come across an issue, it makes it easier for me to come out with a solution. I like to say that I'm pretty quick when it comes to thinking on my feet. So if I see something, I'm like, okay, how do we make this better? know, so like for example, on Saturday when we were hunting with the kids on the aircraft fishing wildlife area, I noticed that three of the kids had oversized vest, you know, so they're trying to mount a shotgun and it's getting stuck on their armpits. I'm like, okay, what do we do?
Let me go to the truck. got some set ties. Let me tie it on your back. Make it tied to your chest here. And everybody loved this. So I guess that the engineering part, you know, that I'm always thinking about how to solve issues kind of relates to, you know, how to put those things out in the field and find solutions quickly.
Heck yeah, I mean, I had no idea, but using zip ties to tighten up a, I mean, that's the mechanical engineering, you yet applied to, I mean, I couldn't have asked for a better example.
That's a rite of passage that your vest had to be way too big and you had to swim in it when you were old. I thought that was just how we had to do it when you grew up in
Right, right. No, but hey, again, I wanted my kids to be successful, you know, my group of kids. So said, listen, let's, let's fit you up. Let's, figure out what works for you, what doesn't and, and go from there. And everybody was so happy at the end of the day, you know? And I told them, was like, hey, you want me to cut the zip tie? They're like, no, leave it. That's how, that's how I'm gonna wear from now on.
Speaker 1 (33:20.558)
So we mentioned your work with Illinois DNR, Cade County. The other one on my list here is the Fox Valley, Casa y Pesca. that's... I've got just a little bit of Spanish. So is that hunt and fish? Casa y Pesca is hunt and fish? Okay. So tell us what that is.
So again, that started with four guys, me and this guy's actually part of the board of my chapter. Again, huge shout out to Jaime, Ivan and Pi and myself. This kind of started with Jaime's dad. He was telling us a story about how 20 years ago he went to Bass Pro Shop and spent like $1,000 in gear and a shotgun and a tree stand.
camel and everything. And he just didn't know where to start. He's like, what do we do now? That, and then you bring in the factor that, you know, the language barrier is another big obstacle for Spanish speaking people or for just anybody who doesn't speak the language, you know? So we took it upon ourselves and said, you know what, let's, let's help out people like you're dead. You know, like I saw your dad. actually, he harvest his very first deer with me two years ago when we started this Fox Valley, Casampesca. And that's what.
click, you know, all the gears started turning in my head and I said, how do we replicate the feeling your dad had and bring that back to that community? And we started with the Latino community just based on the area where we live, you know, and obviously we're all Hispanic, but we have ever since we grown it to whoever needs help, you know, they reach out to us. have a small page on Facebook and people reach out to us all the time, whether it's like, Hey, how do I get a waterfall stamp or hey, how do I clean a deer or how do I start fessing hunting? So that's kind of what the essence of Fox Valley, Casa and Pesca is.
Speaker 1 (35:21.838)
Cool. You talk about your Hispanic background and for whatever, I always think about food. When I think about hunting and getting a bird in my dog's mouth and back home. How do you approach wild game? Is it something where, I guess I'll just leave it at that. How do you approach wild game?
So for us, wild game and hunting is not so much about like the trophies, know, and who gets the biggest, the longest tail on the rooster or the most points on the deer, you know. For us, when it comes to things like that, it's more about what we do with the wild game after, know, whether, you know, we all come together and somebody's backyard and we start cleaning the birds, processing the birds, and then we all eat them as a family, you know, so that's...
That's what hunting and all of that is for us and the wild game and wild meat. That's what it comes into play for us. Being able to share with your family and friends.
Right, I mean that's the origin story dating back to the beginnings, right? What about recipes, preparations, what's your go-to for, you had a successful day in the field and you got some pheasants and quail, what are you going to prepare as a family?
You know, one of the biggest things that I like to make is a mole. Have you ever, have you ever heard? It's brown red sauce, depending, depending on, which part of Mexico you're from. could be sometimes it's like a dark green, brown or red. we kind of treat it as chicken, but obviously, you know, but if you leave pheasant in the grill for two seconds too long, it's, you know, there's no, there's no gray area when it comes to this and it's either raw or overcooked.
Speaker 1 (36:52.238)
That's right.
Speaker 2 (37:13.762)
So we figured, you know what, instead of, know, just doing your traditional grill or your poppers or taking the breasts and making whatever, we kind of treated it as chicken and, we try to make whatever we, make chicken dishes with, we substitute that with fesum and it works out beautifully.
So the mole, whether it be green, brown, or red, is that related to chili peppers?
Yeah, it's about eight or nine chili peppers on the mixture, a little bit of chocolate.
Really? That's where the mold of the chalk? Okay, I can...
It's like a little contrast. Yeah. And we, brought a big crackpot of omelet to one of the hunt camp events for Learn a Hunt last year. And people loved it. It was really good. I made it just enough with enough spice to not scare people off. It was great. Yeah. And again, you know, like I personally grew up with a family that, you know, use wild game.
Speaker 2 (38:15.822)
for a lot of our recipes. My grandfather was an immigrant from the Philippines. He immigrated to Mexico when he was young and throughout his whole life he was a big time hunter. We have stories and pictures and everything on him, hunting deer, turkeys, doves and stuff like that. So we weren't strangers to wild meat growing up.
Cool. Well, before we run out of time, want to first of all thank you. Thanks for being a volunteer, not only with Pheasants Forever, but everything you're doing. mean, you're super involved in the entire community of hunters and anglers in the state of Illinois. you've given back countless hours and time to something that you clearly care about. What keeps you going?
Why is this kind of part of your fabric of who you are as a person?
Part of the things that keep me going again, it's our children, know, my kids, my friends' kids, know, seeing the enthusiasm on their face, seeing the smiles on their face. Not just when you harvest, know, but just being able to go out in the outdoors and sit under a tree for five hours and maybe not harvest anything, but just be able to be out there. That's a huge motivator for me. Yeah.
And what advice would you give a listener who cares about the exact same things you do? Whether that be passing on these traditions and love of the outdoors to the next generation. But maybe somebody's listening that just hasn't taken that next step to volunteer. What would you tell them?
Speaker 2 (39:59.522)
Well, my closing will probably the opening statement that you made, you know, just don't be afraid to make mistakes, go in the outdoors, you know, reach out to people that, you know, are willing. There's a lot of us out there that are willing to, help and coach and mentor and guide you. Don't be afraid to reach out. and just make mistakes, learn from those mistakes and, and, you know, just be better every time.
It's fun for you, isn't it?
Oh my God, I love it. Yeah, I love it. Sometimes I'm like, man, how do I find time? And then I think about it and I think about the kids and I think about the excitement. I'm like, hey, you know what, it's worth it. Two hours of sleep is this enough for me.
Aaron, put a bow on this for her. What have we missed in this conversation that you want to reiterate or to bring up?
Yeah, I just I want to say thank you to Freddie and I think that he was extremely humble during this and he deserved to sing even more praises of what he's done not only for Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever but what he does for IDNR as a bilingual wing shooter instructor and hunter safety instructor at what he does for Fox Valley Kazi Pesca. I can't even say the Spanish on this show but
Speaker 2 (41:19.412)
of introducing Latinos to the outdoors, right? The outdoors are for everyone. And Freddie realizes that, and not only does he realize that, but he makes sure they get an opportunity to come along. And I think that's what's special about our volunteers at Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever is they don't do it for themselves. They do it to bring others into the uplands and love every part of what we do. And so he deserves all the recognition that he gets. I'm thankful that he's telling this story. I think when you think of what we do at Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever, we think path to the uplands as like an overarching theme, right? The path to the uplands through King County is real. He brings other chapters together. They support each other. He has his friends involved, their kids.
They're getting the outdoors. They're finding people who want to get in and they're getting them in. They don't find an excuse to say, sorry, we can't do that. They find a reason to get them into the field. And so just a huge thank you to all of my volunteers, but especially Freddie and what he's done to really, you know, regenerate a whole bunch of chapters here in the Chicago Metro. Not an easy place to host the Pheasants Forever event. But you know what, Bob, I'll hit a high note on this in the state of Illinois just to give us a shout out.
Over 9,000 members of Pheasants Forever and Quill Forever Now in Illinois. And it's only going to keep growing probably because of guys like Freddie and all of my other chapters that are out there getting it done. So a huge thank you to all of our volunteers for everything that they do for our organization. Because the health of our organization is the health of our volunteers.
extremely well-sitted here. If some folks from Illinois are listening, and we know it's the second biggest audience state-wise, listening and they want to get involved, whether that's volunteer with a chapter, participate in a learn to hunt event or a hands-on habitat event, or just simply get the calendar of banquet dates, throw out your information to get them connected.
Speaker 2 (43:29.218)
Yeah, yeah. So you could reach out to myself, Aaron Williams. You can find me at a Williams at pheasantsforever.org. In Southern Illinois, I have a great counterpart, Chance Webb. You could holler at Chance at he's C Webb, W E B B at pheasantsforever.org or our state coordinator, Katie Kozler-Stockman. Very helpful there. We do have a website. It's ihuntil.com that has information on all of our chap.
Finding a chapter, finding us, or even the biologist team. do have an awesome biologist team here like most of our states do. So a staff of about 16 here in the state of Illinois that could connect you as well with chapters. So feel free to holler, shoot me an email, phone call, find us that way, or any of our chapters. I'm sure it would be more than willing to sit down and talk about the upcoming events they have.
Outstanding. Aaron, thank you very much for riding shotgun on this episode. Most importantly, Freddie, thank you for not only sharing your time today, all throughout the years of volunteer. Clearly making a difference in greater Chicagoland area and across the state of Illinois. So thank you for,
Thank you for inviting me to your podcast. Thank you for the opportunity. Appreciate it.
Right on. All right, folks, thank you for listening. I'm Bob St. Pierre reminding you to always follow the dog. Something good will rise. Thanks, folks.