As I told the Union City, Tennessee Rotary Club that I spoke to earlier today, I can't help but feel like the luckiest guy in the world when it comes to working in the outdoor industry. Two-thirds of the year I'm training dogs, running field trials, or somewhere doing a speaking engagement about dog training or hunting.  The rest of the time I am hunting in some of the greatest spots on earth while filming Drake's Migration Nation.  The travel schedule can be grueling, there is definitely wear and tear on my family, but all in all it is worth it and exactly where I want to be.  When you see a final episode on the Sportsman Channel, it is easy to come to the conclusion that we have the greatest job on earth, and I tend to agree with that.  However, there is also a tremendous amount of behind-the-scenes work and planning that goes into every episode to make it look so enjoyable on TV.  And when I say a lot of work, I mean A LOT of work.

Scheduling two cameramen, multiple guests, and taking care of getting myself to the hunt is kind of like herding cats.  We also have to attempt to position the hunt within the season to give ourselves the best chance of having birds.  Scheduling one hunt is fairly easy, but scheduling 15 to 16 hunts back to back and doing your best to make all of them successful enough to make an interesting episode is another matter altogether.  Flights, road  rips, season dates, availability to hunt are all manageable.  It’s the unpredictable variables like weather, hunting pressure, and having ducks that make the job really tough.  It's nerve-racking, but a good plan helps you capitalize on what you can control and minimize the variables that you can't.  We have found that there is a way to be successful: go out and find hunters that “go the distance” while hunting and make them the real “star” of the show.  Then, take the knowledge learned from them and everyone we meet and try to convey it on camera to help other hunters overcame the variables and be the best waterfowler possible. 

That’s the thing that really sets Drake’s Migration Nation apart from other waterfowling shows.  Most hunting shows plan the location of their hunts based on the likelihood of shooting a bunch of ducks and geese, however, at Drake’s Migration Nation we take a different approach.  We definitely want to kill a bunch of ducks and geese, but our hunts are planned more around WHO we can hunt with and HOW they are successful.The purpose of the show is to find hunters that “go the distance” and put in an effort well above that of the ordinary hunter for the sport they love.  "Going the distance" can mean a lot of things... it can mean fighting the crowd on public ground and going into remote areas where other hunters just won't go.  It can mean sacrificing your time and resources to manage your own little slice of waterfowl habitat.  It can also mean a commitment to passing down the traditions of waterfowl hunting to future generations, especially to those that would otherwise never experience the sport. 

During the 2010 and 2011 seasons, we hunted with some guys that you probably have never heard of, and we with some of the best known names in the waterfowling world.  While a diverse bunch, these hunters are also all alike in that they are "all in" when it comes to waterfowl hunting.  They have dedicated their time, resources, and even careers in some cases to doing what it takes to be a successful waterfowler, and that’s really what “going the distance” is about.

Every hunter faces similar decisions every day he hits the field, and that's why we can all be a part of the Migration Nation.