TheOutdoor.News (The Outdoor News) with Rex Moncrief

Show 17: Migratory (Flyway Series)Aired July 10, 2025👥 Hosts: Duke Lowrie & Josh Goins🎧 Produced by Rex MoncriefIn this episode of The Outdoor News – Flyway Series, Rex Moncrief, Duke Lowrie, and Josh Goins continue the deep-dive that helped ignite national attention on one of the most controversial issues in modern waterfowl management: flooded, unharvested corn and short-stopping in the Mississippi Flyway.This Flyway Series didn’t happen in a vacuum.It is part of the ongoing discussion and documentation that helped spawn U.S. Senator John Kennedy’s letter to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, pressing federal regulators to re-examine flooded corn, baiting definitions, and the downstream impacts on migratory waterfowl and southern flyway states.This episode is about history, policy, and receipts — not slogans.We examine:--The Migratory Bird Treaty Act and why its original intent still matters--1930s federal findings on baiting, migration delay, and bird mortality--How short-stopping was openly acknowledged in historic waterfowl science--Why flooded, unharvested crops create unequal access to a public resource--The uncomfortable parallels between historic market hunting and today’s monetized flyway model--Why southern states — especially Louisiana — continue to lose birds, opportunity, and tradition--And why calls for financial and policy accountability trigger such fierce resistanceThis series challenges the modern narrative by doing something radical: looking at the historical record instead of the press releases.Whether you agree or disagree, this episode asks one unavoidable question:👉 If the science and warnings existed nearly a century ago… why are we pretending this is new?⏱️ Chapters / Timestamps00:00 – Live countdown & show setup03:01 – Flyway Series overview & recap of prior episode05:35 – “Mushrooms in the dark”: controlling the narrative06:40 – Disappearing data & deleted flyway resources08:10 – Conservation organizations & selective history10:52 – Open debate rules & audience engagement11:20 – Migratory Bird Treaty Act: origins & authority14:26 – Market hunting photos & historical overharvest17:01 – 1935 USDA findings on baiting & migration delay19:29 – Cold snaps, baiting, and bird mortality23:28 – Commercialization of waterfowl: then vs now26:28 – What’s legal today — and why legality isn’t the same as conservation28:57 – Telemetry data & delayed migration32:29 – Who profits — and who doesn’t35:22 – Organized opposition & personal attacks38:23 – Public accusations & demand for evidence48:26 – Canada’s stance on baiting & equal access51:42 – Bait piles vs flooded corn: legal contradiction54:45 – Modern market hunting and monetized access57:22 – “Harvest doesn’t matter?” — science vs statements1:00:05 – Overharvest, history, and inconvenient facts1:05:45 – Conservation dollars & missing accountability1:09:30 – Transparency demands and unanswered questions1:12:28 – Louisiana’s decline and regional consequences1:16:35 – Lost generations of waterfowl hunters1:17:03 – Missouri v. Holland & federal responsibility1:20:51 – Treaty obligations vs state practices1:22:30 – Feeding programs, refuges & policy shiftsWhy This Episode MattersThis Flyway Series has moved beyond social media arguments and into federal-level discussion — because the issues raised here are rooted in law, history, and documented science.Public wildlife is a shared national resource. When policy concentrates birds, access, and money upstream, someone downstream pays the price.

Show 16: Revisionist Ducks and Flyways: The Duck Debate Begins

Aired July 3, 2025

Presented by *TheOutdoor.News*

Hosts: Duke Lowrie & Josh Goins

Produced by Rex Moncrief

This episode launches The Flyway Series on The Outdoor News—the podcast series that helped force the flooded corn and short-stopping debate into the national spotlight, culminating in U.S. Senator John Kennedy formally raising these concerns with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Long before politicians weighed in, hunters on the ground were already asking the uncomfortable questions.In this first episode, Michael Duke Lowrie and Josh Goins lay the foundation for a fact-driven examination of modern waterfowl management, migration shifts, and the unintended consequences of flooded agricultural practices across the Mississippi Flyway.This isn’t nostalgia. It’s history, data, and accountability.

Topics include:

• Why Louisiana hunters saw the decline first
• How flooded corn and “short-stopping” became normalized
• Missing or removed public data on band returns and migration
• North vs South tensions inside flyway decision-making
• Why debate was discouraged—and who benefited from that silence

This series exists because too many hunters were told to stop asking questions. Instead, those questions kept getting louder—loud enough to reach Washington.

You don’t have to agree with every conclusion. But you can’t dismiss the evidence anymore.

00:22 – Intro & launch of the Flyway Series

01:31 – Turning the show over to Duke Lowrie & Josh Goins

02:00 – Why this series exists and what it will cover

02:27 – Josh Goins’ background: Cameron Parish duck hunting

03:19 – Recognizing the decline & asking uncomfortable questions

04:18 – Discovering legal changes & beginning the fight

05:04 – Why debate and open dialogue matter

06:17 – Duke Lowrie hunting history & early conservation efforts

07:06 – Ducks Unlimited, prairie conservation & a turning point

08:24 – The VFW town hall incident that changed everything

10:22 – Leaving DU and forming new conservation efforts

10:55 – Three types of modern waterfowlers

12:11 – North vs South perspectives on duck management

3:13 – Rex’s role and learning alongside the audience

15:18 – The origins of The Outdoor News

16:06 – Lack of historical understanding in waterfowl science

17:00 – Flyway Federation origins and organized pushback

19:06 – Online attacks and accusations against Flyway advocate

s20:27 – “They only attack when they have something to lose”

21:10 – Clearing misconceptions about Flyway Federation

22:05 – Early articles, backlash, and historical warnings

23:52 – Why comprehensive short-stopping studies never happened

24:36 – Infrared ag research and missing migration studies

25:13 – “Kept in the dark” – the mushroom analogy

26:45 – Funding attacks and misinformation campaigns

30:51 – Hurricanes, COVID, and collapsing grassroots efforts

33:40 – Why long-form truth struggles in the TikTok era

34:27 – What this series intends to expose over time

35:48 – Josh steps away from Flyway, not the fight

37:04 – Open invitation to critics to debate live

38:02 – The deleted US flyway banding database

40:08 – Band data shifts north after 2000

41:49 – North vs South conflict inside flyway councils

43:15 – “We don’t care if Louisiana kills another duck”

45:13 – Flooded crops vs baiting: the legal contradiction

47:29 – Arkansas band data and wintering losses

49:44 – More disappearing articles and inconvenient data

51:18 – Missouri article showing massive duck concentrations

54:41 – Canada, baiting permits, and treaty conflicts

57:04 – Wealthy hunting clubs & selective enforcement

1:00:19 – GPS data: ducks going nocturnal during season

1:02:46 – Who really benefits from flooded crops?

1:04:59 – Wrapping up Episode 1 & what’s coming next

1:08:30 – Where to watch, listen, and follow the series

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Share with hunters who still wonder where the ducks went

The Rumor Mill: If I had reported anybody to anything, it would have been posted to help educate others. They did help educate me today though. Apparently, tournaments DO, in fact, have to use certified scales.

Thanks for educating us all - and I can't wait to get the information back from my public info request to the LA Dept of Ag.