Is Your Boat Ready for the Hunts? — Glade Harris & Backwater Performance

Full transcript for Episode 56: Is Your Boat Ready for the Hunts? — Glade Harris & Backwater Performance.

Tyce

Hey, folks. Welcome to the Bird Dog Podcast. In this, , episode, I sit down with my good buddy, Glade Harris, with, , Backwater Performance, and we talk about, , boats and getting your boat, , ready for the hunts and dogs, , working dogs off boats, and just all the good stuff around boats and dogs. So, , Glade's a super experienced waterfowler. He knows his stuff. He knows his stuff about, , boats and duck hunting boats and all, all that good stuff. So I hope you guys really enjoy this one. I really enjoyed, , being with Glade. , check out, , all of his stuff, Backwater Performance, , their website and on Instagram. , he also has a podcast. You guys can get on there and, and listen to him. He's, he's a great guy and appreciate you, you guys supporting his, his business too. And, , and then in, in the meantime, go ahead and jump over to Instagram and give us a follow at Utah Bird Dog Training, , Field Bred Golden Retrievers, and, , the Bird Dog Podcast. We really appreciate you guys supporting us there. And if you're looking for, , a, the best kennel cot out there, check out kuranda.com, K-U-R-A-N-D-A.com. , if you go on the show notes, click on the link, and if you get one through there, that really helps us out. , and also NuVet, if you guys are looking for a really good supplement to help your dog and supplement your food and, and, , and, , not have to deal with... You know, just get some good stuff in addition to the food that you're feeding. , they have a lot of awesome products over there that you could go check out too. So, , I really appreciate you guys, , supporting us and listening to the podcast, and hope you guys are having a, a great, , summer, getting your dogs ready for the hunts. Before we know it, these hunts are starting up. I mean, we're only two weeks out from the opener here in Utah for doves and grouse, and then it just starts rolling. We got chukar and, and waterfowl, and it just gets really exciting. So remember to prep your dogs for the hunt. Train for how you hunt. So think of how you're gonna, , set up with your dog, and then literally do training scenarios that are as close to that as possible, so when your dog gets in the field, you're gonna minimize those surprises and have a smooth and fun hunting, , hunt and hunting season. So you guys have a great day, and we'll see you in the next one.

Tyce

All right, folks. Welcome to the Birddog Podcast. My name is Tyce Erickson, and I'll be your host today. I got my buddy, , with us here today, Glade Harris. , Glade Harris is a stud. We've done some hunting together. I actually worked with his dog. He, he did some, some training on his own, and we got to do a little work on her, so we'll want to hear about her and, and h- the latest on her also. But, , Glade, welcome to the podcast, man.

Glade

Thanks. Thanks for having me.

Tyce

Tell, tell us ab- tell us about you, Glade.

Glade

Sure. , yeah, I mean, , I guess you could define me as a waterfowler. You know, I've been doing it since I was, , since I could walk probably. , probably before then, , Dad and Grandpa would load me into the, you know We didn't really have boats back then. We'd just, you know, walk and jump shoot birds off, off the rivers and things- Mm- like that, or set up on the edge of a, a reservoir somewhere. , but yeah, I remember, you know, for some of the first memories are- Mm are, are duck and goose hunting. - Are you

Tyce

born and raised in Utah?

Glade

Yeah, yep. Okay. Born and raised in Utah.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

Yep. , you know, I guess moving on, , , I- Started doing it on my own quite a bit. , same, just jump shooting rivers and, and- Mm- , edges, reservoirs and things like that. I never really even used a decoy until I was probably, I don't know, 16 or so. Okay. , I started working at Sportsman's Warehouse back then, and, , you know, people come in all the time buying a bunch of decoys and buying- Mm- waterfowl gear, and I'd, you know, make fr- friends with some guys and things and, and, , you know, started getting a little bit more serious about it and, , it just turned into a full on addiction after that. Mm-. You know, first time decoying a bird was, you know, just blew my mind.

Tyce

So I wanna... While we're on talking on this topic, and I think, I think for guys, this is kind of the, the line I say, like, for waterfowlers, we got mud in our blood. There's like, you know, like when, when you get hooked, guys like, like us, like they go all in. They're like, "Buy the boats," and the, "Buy the, the duck club mem- or whatever, you know? It's just... 'Cause it's, you have an experience usually that just is, is so, it imprints on you so strong. , and for me, I can remember, and I've asked a lot of people in the same way, can you remember the first time, like, was there a bird, like your first bird you shot and you connected on it, like a pheasant or a duck or something like that where like it just kind of blew your mind and you were hooked?

Glade

Probably-

Tyce

Can you remember back s- Yeah like one time where you were like, "Whoa," like that goose or that greenhead or whatever it may have been.

Glade

It, it was probably the very first duck that I ever shot myself, which was w- I was with my grandfather. We were on the Colorado River- Mm- , and we were doing kind of a cast and blast. In fact, that was the name of his boat, was Cast and Blast. Oh, cool. , but w- we would, , it's just kind of below Lake Powell on the Colorado River- Mm- the Lees Ferry area. And, , we would just kinda drift the boat into flocks of birds, and they would jump up and we would shoot them.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

And, , it w- the very first, it, I was using a 12 gauge. I was pro- I was, I think I was 12, you know, probably 100 pounds.

Tyce

Yeah.

Glade

, first greenhead flies over the top of me. It was probably 40, 45 yards. Smoke it. , jumping up and down, you know. Mm-. He couldn't believe it and everything. And then for the next, you know, eight hours and six boxes of shotgun shells, I never hit another duck. That's awesome. And he, he gave me crap about that until, you know, until he passed last year, but, - Mm yeah, I'd say that's kind, that was probably, you know, what did it.

Tyce

Yeah. I had a time like that, too. I sh- my first duck I actually shot, I was aiming at a different duck and I hit the one behind it. Yep. It went down, and it was still like, I was like, "That was amazing." And, and I, I think that the first time I was out on Mud Bay, I was just, I was like, "Well, let's go duck hunting," and we hiked out to the marsh and some greenheads came by, and I can still remember it so clear in my head. They, like, flew over and the sun was, like, glistening on their head, you know, and it was, and we shot at them. I totally whiffed, but just r- like that alone, like- hooked me on ducks. I was like, "That was so cool to see that greenhead and shoot at him," and then I actually hit one, you know, was awesome. So it's fun how it just sometimes, like, it just sears into your brain, you know, and, and, - Yeah.

Glade

Yeah, for sure.

Tyce

And now, like, you, you know, you've shot thousands of birds, and I've shot thousands of birds too, but it's just, it, you kinda take that for granted sometime. I mean, we still love it, but it's like, when you take, like, a young kid or something, you don't realize, like, for their first time, that, like, it can burn, it can be really impactful on their life or even their trajectory of their life. For

Glade

sure.

Tyce

Like me training dogs for a living, you know? Those birds were what motivated me to get dogs, and now I do this for a living, you know? So.

Glade

Yep. Yeah, that's one of my favorite things to do is, is it's not so much about, you know, the w- my hunts anymore. It's-

Tyce

Mm-

Glade

, taking people that haven't done it or, or guys that have done it a lot and never done it the way that I do it- Mm- or, you know, kids and all, all that kind of thing. It's my favorite to take people out that- Yeah that get to go, "Oh my gosh, I didn't believe that this was even a thing." Or harvest a

Tyce

species that's new or-

Glade

Yeah

Tyce

to them or something like

Glade

that. Yeah, exactly. Or first time on an airboat or- Mm- first time being on the Great Salt Lake, things like that.

Tyce

Yeah. That's kinda, we were just talking about some, , I went to New Zealand last year and sh- and shot some, , shell ducks, and we were... I remember a couple years ago, I think we were, I was at your office, and we were looking. You're like, "Man, I wanna go kill some of these shell..." But for us too, it's special. Anywhere you go somewhere n- new and harvest a, a new species, that's just a cool... You know, it's all about the whole experience, right? And the people and maybe the new location of the water or the lake or the ocean or the river system or, you know, bringing them down through the trees or open marsh or the Great Salt Lake on the flats, you know? It's just, it can take you to so many cool places or, you know, you've been all over the world, but, like, you know... Did you hunt in St. Paul? Is that where you killed- Yep your king eiders? -huh.

Glade

Yep, St. Paul.

Tyce

Yeah, out of St. Paul and killing king eiders and, , and now it obviously what you do for your living now that, , you're like me. It kind of pulled you in- into that, right? For sure, yep. So tell, tell us about your business and what you guys do.

Glade

Yeah, so I own Backwater Performance. , basically we're a, we're a sister company of MudBuddy and XL Boats. , we, , w- we sell all the replacement parts, performance parts, accessories, , basically anything that you can put inside of a, a duck boat. , we're now the dealer for MudBuddy and XL for the whole Western United States. Oh, wow. , sign up new dealers in, in the Western United States. , you know-

Tyce

So are you like an o- like a... How do, what do they call that? Like, you're the main dealer or what? How's that?

Glade

-

Tyce

Is there a name for that?

Glade

S-

Tyce

Other dealers come underneath you?

Glade

It, that, yeah. I mean, we're gonna kinda be a hub, you could say- Okay

Tyce

for

Glade

the, for the West. , the Excel is, has been, you know, historically more of a, a Southeastern United States company.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

, the, the types of boats that they sell and build are, are well-suited for that. But, , now they're starting to build some other types of boats that are, you know, guys that like to, to troll for salmon and things like that- Mm- , more in the West. So yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna be a hub basically for, for the West.

Tyce

Are you gonna have the- offer those kind of boats too, or are you mostly just the-

Glade

Yeah, definitely. Yep.

Tyce

Okay, you'll do everything. Yep. Everything sell.

Glade

Anything that Excel sells and, and- Okay we're bringing on a bunch of other manufacturers as well. Mm-. But just, , sticking strictly to hunting and fishing boats. Okay. Al- aluminum.

Tyce

I'm a, I'm a little prej- I lo- I have an Excel boat myself, so I, and I absolutely love it. , and I have... I, we were just talking off, off, off air. , I have a client that just texted me today, and he's getting a, I'm sure, a boat from you. Mm-. We talked about it. I think he's working with Travis, but his name is also Travis. And, , and he's like, "What do, what do you wish I'd get on my boat?" You know? And then, - , and I have another buddy that just bought out a, bought a boat from you guys. , I have his dog Moose, and his name's Wes, Wes Jones. Gosh, is it Jo- Do y- Does that name sound familiar?

Glade

No, but it's

Tyce

probably- I know he drives a lot of your- Jeff's probably working on it. Yeah, he's probably- Yeah. Yeah, I know y- you're, you're managing the business and, , but, , anyway, he, he, he showed me his invo- He, I think he decked it out all the way

Glade

Yeah

Tyce

with everything.

Glade

Most guys do. Yeah. Any more, most guys do. They get, you know- Yeah every single thing you could possibly want in a, in an aluminum boat.

Tyce

Yeah. So tell us one, I guess, , do you do airboats too, or just-

Glade

Not really. At a- Okay at a, at a point we did. , we, I, I still kind of own the company that, that, that builds airboats, Dragonfly. Mm-. But, , man, it's a, it's a hard business.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

The, everybody wants them custom built. , nobody... , most people that want them are in the, the southeast somewhere, Texas- Mm- Florida, Louisiana. , so we build them here how they want it. We ship it to them, and i-i-it's, it's not a Honda Civic, you know? It's, it's- Mm- they, they require- A

Tyce

lot of maintenance

Glade

constant maintenance and upkeep. And, and not just maintenance, but I mean, they're gonna break. Yeah. It's not when or if, it's when, and it, it's real hard to do it remotely for me as a, you know, the guy that builds it.

Tyce

Yeah.

Glade

I- if it's, if, if we have any kind of warranty, you know, how do I, how do I- Mm- help them get it fixed being a couple thousand miles away?

Tyce

Why, why is, why do airboats break down? Is it the shaking? Is it the way they're... Like, what, what, why is there so m- where are the failure points usually on a airboat?

Glade

Yeah. So most of the motors that we're using are either aircraft, which is kind of the older style, or else, , automotive, LS, you know, Chevy LS V8s- Mm- is, is kind of the most common thing. , and they're, it's not just one that you pull that, that's a crate motor from a, from a regular pickup truck.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

It's w- we're taking a, we're taking them from the ground up with blocks. The, the pistons are everything, and they're high performance.

Tyce

.

Glade

So it's not just your stock, you know, 200 horsepower engine out of the truck. Oh, okay. It's, it's five, six thousand horsepower engines. Wow. And, , they're- They weren't really designed to run at 4- The level of air 5, 6,000 RPMs all day long All day, all day

Tyce

long.

Glade

which we do when we're running an airboat.

Tyce

Yeah.

Glade

And so, and, you know, on top of that, they're... Your, those engines weren't meant to be exposed to the air and water- and salt and, and everything else.

Tyce

Weeds flying through them

Glade

and Right. Right. And the, you know, like you said, the vibrations are crazy. Mm-. The big, big giant 86-inch wide prop. Mm-. , the, the... We only put one gear ratio in them, so it's- Mm- with a, with a truck, a car, your engine, it, it, it shifts with the- Sure with the transmission. Yeah. So you're always running it at a lower RPM. It, it'll go to a higher RPM for a second and then shift down.

Tyce

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Glade

And then for a higher RPM- It w- it's better at that lower

Tyce

RPM, right? Yeah and then shift.

Glade

, so it doesn't run at those high RPMs constantly. So- you know, long story short, they're just put under extreme conditions that they weren't designed for.

Tyce

Yeah.

Glade

And, , on top of that, the boat itself, the electronics, the lights, the, you know, the, the computers, the- Yeah all that stuff just, it just gets beat up. We're duck hunters, you know? Yeah. Stuff gets full of mud and saltwater and, and ice and- It's harsh conditions. Yeah

Tyce

caked

Glade

and all that stuff.

Tyce

Do they... What, do you guys, do you guys work on people's airboats, though? Not really.

Glade

Not really?

Tyce

Not really. Okay. So you're not, like, trying to bring us airboat back

Glade

No. We... I've, I've, I've done it. , and it's the same thing. It's just, , , every single job is custom and, and it's, and unique- Yeah and it's, it's hard to, you know, it's really hard to make any money doing it.

Tyce

So we're kind of going down a, a different rabbit hole. Is that, if someone has an airboat and they want it worked on or who do you recommend for that? Was there- Is there someone in Utah that you trust?

Glade

Definitely. Okay. Definitely. Anything that has to do with the engine, go to Tyler Rhodes. Okay. , he's the one that built my engine. , I haven't had any problems with mine. Many of the things that I just talked about- Mm- none, haven't had any problems. - But does

Tyce

he have a business name, or?

Glade

It's Rhodes Performance Motorsports. Okay. RPM. Okay.

Tyce

So,

Glade

yep. - I

Tyce

think I've heard of his stuff.

Glade

Yeah. Yeah. Real- really, really good, really good guy. Knows airboats up and down, has them himself.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

So, yep, good guy.

Tyce

Does he build them or just do maintenance on them?

Glade

He'll, , everything, ground u- anything to do with the engine, maintenance, repairs- Okay build- building one from the ground up, he'll do it.

Tyce

The boat part it?

Glade

Just the motor.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

Now, if you want the, the boat part, , that'd be Widowmaker. Widowmaker? You know, that, that's who built mine. Yep. Okay. Chuck, Chuck Harsen.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

, yep, he built mine. Very, very nice boats. Very... All the, all the fabrication on it's great.

Tyce

Mm-. Okay. Well, we may see a little more airboats depending on what our drought continues this

Glade

year, right? Yeah. Yeah, you're right.

Tyce

Oh, yeah, we'll see what the water... We hopefully we get some moisture here before the hunts come. I was hoping that monsoon weather would drop us, dr- raise our lakes up a little bit, but these 100-degree days, man, it's, it's dropping that water level- Lots, lots of 100-degree

Glade

days

Tyce

yeah, pretty quick. It'll be, it'll be interesting to, to see. Okay, let's ta- let's talk about Excel boats. Let's talk about, , kinda maintenance on them. I know I've, I've had some, , I, kind of being a... You know, I always had growing up, like, just little crappy aluminum boats with the... I wouldn't say cra- well, for wha- that's what I could afford at that point, right? Mm-. Sure. Like a little Johnson motor and just that'd get us out, but at least it'd get us out from the crowds, you know? But going with my boat, - It would kinda, I would have some issues with, , is it the injectors would kinda clog up on it. -

Glade

Yeah. Or yours, I think yours is, , carbureted, right?

Tyce

Carbure- Yeah, I mean carbureted. Yeah, so the jets in the carb- Sorry,

Glade

not the carburetor clogged up and yeah.

Tyce

Yeah. I'm not a big mo- I mean, I know a little bit, but not... And I'm learning more as you, you know- Yeah are around the boats. Yeah,

Glade

you have to.

Tyce

And I've actually cleaned them out myself, but I bring it to Glade and his, his guys and have them do a tune-up every year on it, and that's always awesome to do. But one thing I didn't really do is run the fuel out-

Glade

Mm-

Tyce

of the carbure- Yep it seems like that's helped.

Glade

Yeah, that's a big deal. Yep. , and that's one of the biggest maintenance things, , and service things on these s- on, especially carbureted is all this new ethanol fuel that we've got lately. Mm-. , if you let it sit in anywhere for, for more than a month, it just turns into gel.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

And it, it, , it clogs up everything, your whole system, so.

Tyce

So tell people how we avoid that or what to do and-

Glade

Yeah. So i- if you're constantly using it, if it's middle of duck season, you're using your boat every single week, , just run it, you know. , if-

Tyce

Fresh gas is gonna keep it

Glade

good- Yeah and everything like that just keep putting fuel in it. And if you run it out, that's fine. But if it's gonna sit for any longer than two weeks- Okay then you need to put some kind of a fuel stabilizer in it.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

- What do you like? There's lots of different kinds. , you know, I just use Sta-Bil- Mm- , which is kind of probably the most common one. But it, it just keeps your fuel from, from varnishing and gelling up and causing all sorts of problems.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

, you know, it, it's really not... If you can run it all out, great, but there's still gonna be fuel-

Tyce

In

Glade

there in the system.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

So even if you are gonna run it out- get some kind of stabilizer in there first.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

And that'll keep it from, you know, from having problems when you go to start it up next year.

Tyce

Yeah. That's what I do is I'll, I'll... From, I've learned from you, yeah, put the s- Is it Sta-Bilt or Sta-Bil?

Glade

Sta-Bil.

Tyce

Sta-Bil.

Glade

Yep.

Tyce

So I'll run the Sta-Bil, and then I've... Yeah, I'll just disconnect the, the fuel line and then just try to run it out-

Glade

Yeah

Tyce

as much as I can. Yeah, that's a big one. That seems to help.

Glade

That's a big one.

Tyce

And then I've, I've kinda learned to take it apart, too, 'cause there's been a time where I'm like on a weekend or I'm trying to go out hunting and, and I, I think I had Travis show me, too. I'm like, "Dude, what gets clogged on these things?" Yeah. You know, and you take that carburetor apart and And then I think I took just some carburetor cleaner and kind of sprayed it out and seemed to, seemed to work. Got it back up-

Glade

Yeah

Tyce

going at least. Yep. So.

Glade

Yeah, some of the newer, , we- they've- we've been fuel injected for about the last eight years or so, seven, eight years.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

And that's, , helped a lot with, with those kinds of problems. Okay. , it's not nearly as, as bad, but there's, you know, you, you still get that stuff in the injectors and- With

Tyce

the fuel?

Glade

Okay fuel pumps and all that stuff, but.

Tyce

So even if y- so e- so even if an injected fuel in- fuel injected motor- Mm- is that the word I'm thinking for?

Glade

Yep.

Tyce

You still recommend putting Sta-Bil in those ones- Definitely also? Definitely. Okay.

Glade

Yep.

Tyce

Okay, that's good to know. Tell us the, about, , Excel Boats and Muddy- Mud Buddy Motors and, , I don't know. I... Tell us a little bit about them.

Glade

Yeah, yeah, so I, I basically started working at Mud Buddy back in 2001. -

Tyce

Where is Mud Buddy headquarters? Is it in Utah? It's

Glade

in West Jordan, Utah.

Tyce

It is Utah. Yep. Okay. Yep. Okay.

Glade

Yep. The, the guy that started it, Glenn Foreman, , it, it kind of started, he, he's been, he's a duck hunter as well. Okay. Hunted a lot out on the Great Salt Lake and had, you know, some of those boats that you're talking about, just a, a cheap boat. Mm-. , but wanted to get to some of those places that nobody else could get to. Mm-. Super shallow water, so he contacted Go Devil. , Go Dev- He, he wanted to be a dealer for them. Mm-. He said, , "Get one down here. I want it for myself, and, and- Mm- you know, while I'm at it, I'll, I'll sell them to other people." , the, the owner did not wanna do that. . Did not want any more dealers. Didn't wanna do that, so-

Tyce

Interesting

Glade

Glen being the- Didn't

Tyce

wanna make more money, huh?

Glade

One... Bad mistake because- Yeah,

Tyce

bad mistake

Glade

because Glen's a guy that- I'll build

Tyce

my own.

Glade

Exactly. Yep, so, , within a week or two he had one in his garage, and you know, just scrap steel and welding- Mm- it together and putting a, a, a cheap Kohler engine on it, and- off, off it went.

Tyce

How long ago was that?

Glade

That was in the early '90s. Roughly. '92,

Tyce

93. Okay.

Glade

Yep. , yeah, right in that timeframe, and just started to build one at a time out of his garage, , for the first, you know, four or five years. Mm-. , had one guy start helping him in, in the garage, and they started kicking him out, and, , it ju- you know, it's just snowball from there. . Started getting dealers and, and now people are calling him, asking him if they could be a dealer.

Tyce

That's awesome, man. How many dealerships are... Do you know how many Mud Buddy dealers there are? Right

Glade

around 120.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

Yeah.

Tyce

Are they all over the United States now?

Glade

, mostly. You know, there's not very many in the West, but, , most of them are in the, in the Southeast.

Tyce

Oh, really?

Glade

Yeah. Yep.

Tyce

Huh.

Glade

I mean, that... When you think about it- All the marsh and- that's where the shallow water is.

Tyce

Yeah. Yeah, I guess that makes sense. I guess the West, yeah, you're not... You just have more rivers and...

Glade

Yeah. Yep. And that was kind of Mud Buddy. , so a- around 2003, '4, -

Tyce

What did you do for them?

Glade

What? Oh, I, I did everything. - Okay I started as, as putting them in crates. Okay. That was for Mud Buddy. , and that's, that was my first job there, was, you know- Okay crating motors, shipping them across the country.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

And I'm the type of guy that, you know, I, I'll, I'll get that taken care of. I'll figure out how to do that, and then I'd put my head over the fence and see what the guy next to me is doing.

Tyce

Yeah.

Glade

And I wanna learn- Can I learn it all? I wanna learn how, what he's doing and how that works, so- Mm- I just, I kept going from, from, you know, station to station on the assembly line.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

Learned it all. , and, you know, I, I- at that point I could pretty much do anything in the shop. Mm-. And, , started doing sales. Okay. And at, at that time there was only one salesperson, and he was, you know, , he was too busy for, for the, for it. So I started taking on some of the sales and with the boats and the motors. Mm-. And, -

Tyce

So have they always been Excel, Excel boats in Mudbuggy or did they

Glade

us- , right about then, the, was

Tyce

when- 'Cause they sell their motor to anyone, right? Yeah. You can put it on any boat you want, essentially. Exactly. Yeah.

Glade

, we were just buying boats from all sorts of different manufacturers at that point.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

, Excel being one of them.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

And they had a hurricane-- , no, excuse me, a tornado. , there was, , an F4 tornado at the plant in Arkansas. , I don't remember the exact year, but it, right again, it was 2002, '3. This is

Tyce

the Excel?

Glade

Yes.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

Yep. So- Is

Tyce

that why they named it the F4?

Glade

Yes.

Tyce

Oh, really?

Glade

Yep.

Tyce

Learning something here. This is cool.

Glade

Yep. So there was a hur- a tornado there, wiped out the whole factory. I mean, sent boat holes, like, I, I-- they found parts like 40 miles away.

Tyce

Holy cow.

Glade

, so-

Tyce

When was this,

Glade

roughly? 2004-ish.

Tyce

Wow.

Glade

R- right around there, give or take a year. Where was that at?

Tyce

S- what

Glade

state? In Arkansas.

Tyce

Arkansas.

Glade

Okay. Yep, in Arkansas. So, - The, the owner then was talking to Glenn, and he, he w- he wasn't sure that he was gonna continue. He thought just was kinda gonna- Mm- shelf the whole thing. And Glenn went in and bought the, all the stuff that had survived, machinery and, and some- Mm- of the aluminum and some of the hulls that had survived, and just, just took over the company and, , started-

Tyce

Glenn with Mud Buddy?

Glade

Yes, the owner of Mud Buddy.

Tyce

So he owns Excel-

Glade

Mm-

Tyce

too.

Glade

Yep,

Tyce

correct. Oh, I didn't know that.

Glade

Yep, correct.

Tyce

Oh, cool.

Glade

Yep, so he bought Excel, and then, , for the first 10 years of Excel it was just duck boats. Mm-. You know, the, , ref- several different models and refining them and, and getting- Mm- it to where it is now.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

, but you're right. Yeah, the F4 is named after the- the, the, , tornado there.

Tyce

Yeah. What's the most popular Excel duck boat?

Glade

, it's probably that shallow water F4. - Is

Tyce

it the 1864? Is that what-

Glade

1854 is, is gonna be- 54. I

Tyce

think that's what mine is-

Glade

Yeah, it is

Tyce

the 54, right? Yep. 1854, yeah.

Glade

Yep, there's 51s and there are 60s. - Okay 51s are a little narrow, a little tippy. Mm-. , they perform well. , and then the 60 is just a little bit too wide. You start to lose some performance. -

Tyce

More drag on the water- Right and, , surface area, yeah.

Glade

Exactly.

Tyce

. Yeah, I love that 1854. That's been... And I think mine's the 5500 motor. Mm-. Is, is that the Black Death? Is that- Yeah is that what it's called?

Glade

Yeah, well yours is the- Is that the name of it? yours is actually the BAMF.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

With, you know, the- Okay.

Tyce

I see. I see what it stands for. Yeah. Okay.

Glade

, but there, there's y- there's all sorts of different models, but, but yours is basically as, as most, as much horsepower as y- as we build in a carbureted motor. It's got everything. Okay.

Tyce

Yeah. It gets going pretty fast, man. You get two or three people in there, it rips along pretty good. So now they have the, the, the carbure- not the carb, the fuel injected. Is it the 4500? 5400

Glade

is, is kinda the baddest model that we have now. Oh,

Tyce

okay.

Glade

Yep.

Tyce

Wasn't it a 40-something for a

Glade

little while? It started, it started as, as a 40. All of them are f- , stock 40 from Briggs Stratton. Okay. And then we take all sorts of different performance parts, cams, pistons, rods, roller rockers, , all sorts of different things- Mm- modify the cylinder heads to get more power from 'em.

Tyce

Okay. So the, the, the one that most guys are buying is a 50- 5400, yep 5400. Yep. And it has reverse too, right?

Glade

Yeah, yep.

Tyce

Yeah, mine doesn't have reverse. That would be pretty sweet to... Is that reverse Does that work pretty good-

Glade

Yeah to pull you out of places? It's not, it's doesn't work as good as a, as, as a regular outboard on, on Mercury. Sure. Yeah. , the, the angle that the prop is at is different. Okay. So it works, it works great. , it's not gonna, it, it's not gonna work quite as good as a regular outboard, but, , you know- Still gives you reverse pulling off the dock- or picking up decoys-

Tyce

Yeah

Glade

or, you know- Oh, yeah all those kinds of things, it's super convenient.

Tyce

Yeah. It's, I guess that's true. When you're picking up decoys and you miss them, you gotta go do another loop around. Right. Or, yeah. Exactly.

Glade

So

Tyce

I could see how that could, yeah, like, s- well, like you said, it's not as, it's not as good as an outboard, but it, it has its place- Yep where it's still beneficial. Yep. Doesn't hurt to have that reverse.

Glade

For sure.

Tyce

Cool. What's some of the, , I know you guys have put in some new y- , oh, let's talk about the boats, I guess. - Okay, the mo- the, what are some of the, I guess, the accessories? I mean, it's probably all... Is it on the we- is it on your website, or where do people go to look at what's they can put on their boat or?

Glade

Yeah, we've got tons of that stuff on our website. Basically anything that we can ship.

Tyce

All

Glade

right,

Tyce

Excel website or?

Glade

It, it's on ours, backwaterperformance.com.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

, and w- we accessorize for Mud Buddy and Excel and any other kind of brand of duck boat. Okay. , but, but all sorts of different accessories, , different flooring and lighting and seating and- Yeah , stereos and grab bars and covers and all, all that kind of thing.

Tyce

Yeah. Yeah, I probably don't need to go into the details of all... 'Cause there's just so many different configurations. What are, I guess, what are some of the most, maybe I'll say, most popular configurations people put in, like, like a gun, gun holder I assume would

Glade

be one of them? Yeah, yeah. So, , we, we have, we usually order these boats, you know, four to six months in advance.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

And so they're... Sometimes they're sold by then, but a lot of times I'm ordering a stock boat.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

And so we've found that the most popular and, , the, the most utility, , options are the, the headlight, LED front headlight. Mm-. , spud poles. , instead of using a, a anchor on a rope and throwing it out and getting all muddy, they have poles that you stick into the mud for- Are those

Tyce

the balance po- Is that, they're kind of a balance pole? Is

Glade

that what I'm- Yeah, it's, it's, it's kind of like an anchor base. It's a shallow water anchor. , but-

Tyce

Is there slots you just slide- -huh it down through?

Glade

Yep. Yeah, that's- They're, yep, you've got a hole in- Okay. They call 'em a spud

Tyce

pole.

Glade

Yep. Okay. , gun boxes is, is real popular. You know, throw your guns and any other kind of- Mm- you know, whatever, life jackets or emergency kit, tool kit. Mm-. Put them in there. , the, something that's been way popular over the last year or so is, , the EVA foam flooring. Oh, yeah. , it looks cool. Yeah, yeah, yeah. , it quiets the boat down in the waves. It makes it so it, the dog's not slipping around in the boat. Yeah. , it, it doesn't freeze. I love

Tyce

that stuff. Yeah.

Glade

Yeah. If you're using it in the summer, fishing or whatever, it's not hot on your feet. Mm-. All, all that kind of stuff.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

Yep.

Tyce

Yeah. It's, it's cool, like, where they have the flat decks on the front that, like you say, they're super just, they're good for fishing. They're like a bass boat, only skeet on the front of them. And, and they come... I think I was actually watching on your Instagram just the other, the other day, you were ta- Don't they all come, like- With a fa- like a trolling motor mount or something Mm- Does that come standard or, or- Yeah or the wiring or something like that?

Glade

The wiring and the trolling motor mount come standard. , and then, yeah, if, if, if you want us to put an actual trolling motor on there, we can do that too. You

Tyce

can do that too. Yeah. So if I wanna get an Excel boat for this season, is, is that even an option? How long does it... Tell me, talk to me about the process and what that looks like.

Glade

Sure.

Tyce

You know?

Glade

Yeah. Right now, , so we're- we've got a bo- a load of boats being built today in, at the factory in Arkansas. , some of them are sold, about a third of them are sold. Okay. , and they're gonna be delivered sometime in September. Okay. , by the time they get here, they'll all be sold.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

, especially this time of year, you know.

Tyce

Yeah.

Glade

, but I, like I said, I ordered them all basically with those options that I talked about, and that's just... Anything else on top of that we can add. -

Tyce

Oh, you can add on aft-

Glade

Yep later. Yep. Okay. Yeah, so we, we kinda picked the most popular, , built-in options.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

, the, the fuel tanks and the, you know, the- Mm- the construction of the boat. And then when it gets here, if guys wanna add a blind, if they want that- Mm- trolling motor, if they want a stereo, if they want different seats, then that stuff we can add once they get here.

Tyce

You guys put stereos in them too, huh?

Glade

Oh, you name it. Yeah.

Tyce

Check it out. That's awesome, man. Yeah, I see... I need to, I need to trick mine out a little more. There's the, that you guys put the lights in it. You know- Oh, yeah they light them up like crazy- Oh, yeah and all. I mean, they, you make them look pretty dang, pretty dang cool. So what's a, what, what's kind of the base, kind of the base model with that motor kinda run with the, the stuff you just talked about, kinda ordering the standard stuff, what's that usually run and what, what are you gonna maybe max out at? If you tricked everything out, what are you gonna be at roughly?

Glade

Yeah, so if you were just going to get that, that 1854 Pro Hole with a 40 horsepower Mud Buddy, , you're going to be somewhere around 33,000.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

, that's on a trailer. That's, that's ready to go.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

, but then if you wanted, you know, the kitchen sink, ev- all the options, all the accessories, blinds, flooring, a stereo, seating and everything, you know, you're gonna be low 40s. Okay. 41, 42, 43, somewhere right in there.

Tyce

Okay. Have they- Everything's increased, right? Pri- prices of everything has gone up. If, if... How much have they increased the last, I don't know, f- four or five years?

Glade

So there was

Tyce

just- Five grand? Five, six grand, would you say? More than that?

Glade

, th- th- just this last, in the last month, they just increased quite a bit. Okay. , and a lot of that, unfortunately, is all this tariff stuff, you know? Yeah. The, the price of aluminum has gone up insane. Mm-. , and everything, price of everything's gone up. Sure. If it, if everything gets, , delivered to somebody and everybody with, with a truck- It's a

Tyce

ripple effect. Costs of-

Glade

Yeah

Tyce

employees have gone up. Yep. Costs of everything. Fuel and- Yeah. We had to increase our training prices 'cause everything's gone up. Yeah.

Glade

I mean,

Tyce

the cost of labor.

Glade

Yeah. , so I mean, just in the last month, I mean, shoot, they've gone up almost 20%. Okay. , but, , they've been pretty steady over the, you know, on- before that.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

, everything's been fairly steady, you know, maybe, maybe a $500 increase here or there. Mm-. But yeah, they've, they've gone up quite a bit just, just barely.

Tyce

So with your parts and stuff, I know you guys do a lot of shipping, , out online, right? , what, where, where... People just go to your website to find the different parts, and then you guys can ship them out, right? Or-

Glade

Yep, yep. Backwaterperformance.com, all the, all the accessories and, , replacement parts and performance parts and- Mm- props and blinds and all that stuff is on there. Yep, throw it in a box and, and be on your door in a few days.

Tyce

If people want to... If, if I want to, , buy a boat, is, is, do you generally-- If you're not paying cash for it, do you guys offer financing? Do you generally go through your own credit union and just bring it? What, what do you, what do you guys-- What's the offering there?

Glade

It's, yeah, it's, , , we do offer in-house financing. , the, the bank that we use is not actually a bank. It's kind of a broker. They just shop for the best rates and terms and things like that.

Tyce

Oh, like an auto loan pla- like a used car dealership. Yeah. I, I, you'd, you'd send, you'd send in your application and it shoots out- Right to a bunch of different banks- Right or credit unions.

Glade

Yeah. And I mean, I've found that that's been the best way to go- Mm- , as far as rates and terms. But, , there's, there's definitely a lot of guys that are just, you know, writing a check too.

Tyce

Mm-. - That's awesome. Trying to Anything else in, about boats that the audience should know or prep or

Glade

I mean, well, I, I guess what I could, you know, kind of tie it in what, with, with you was, you know, for, for the dog aspect of it. Yeah. , things that guys don't think about, , w- with a boat and a dog specifically is if you're hunting out of a blind, , the, the dog doesn't wanna sit inside the blind where they can't see. Mm-. And every single retrieve's a blind retrieve. Yeah. I'm

Tyce

glad you brought this up. Yeah.

Glade

So what I'll do is I'll, I'll put the blind, , I'll, I'll leave a bunch of the front deck open. Mm-. About two, three feet of the front deck open. That's what I do too. And then I'll, I use a, a, a commercial dog blind. Mm-. You know, a, a Tangle Free or whoever you wanna use. Yep. Like a

Tyce

field blind almost.

Glade

-huh. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-. And I'll put that right on the bow of the boat and cover it with, with sheets of extra grass and things like that to hide it. Mm-. But, you know, I want my dog to, to see where the bird goes down. Sure. Not only because it's more efficient and, and, you know, it's, I'm probably gonna have a better- More fun for them. Yeah, yeah. The, the dog doesn't, dog doesn't wanna be- Mm- you know, laying in the bottom of the blind waiting for the gun to go off.

Tyce

Do you hunt p- off the po- your dog off the pod much or are you usually a bow guy?

Glade

No, I don't. It's always on the bow. Mm-. , I put a ladder off of, off the bow and have him up on the front. , it's just, I don't know, it w- works better for me that way.

Tyce

Okay. What ladder, what ladder do you like?

Glade

, we I, I use a Rigga Wright one. , theirs is pretty nice.

Tyce

Rigga Wright?

Glade

Rigga Wright.

Tyce

Oh, Rigga Wright. Yeah.

Glade

Yep.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

, but there's a bunch of them out there.

Tyce

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, I can see. I need-- I don't have a ladder, so what I'll usually do if I hunt the bow, they'll come up on the pod, go through the boat, which sometimes they get water over

Glade

on everything

Tyce

and then- Yeah.

Glade

Yes. Shake

Tyce

it off on you then they go on the side. Knock your gun over. I need to run the ladder. Yeah, I need to pick up a ladder for my boat.

Glade

Yep.

Tyce

That, that seems like the smart way to do it. So lots of times I actually work, 'cause I'm u- it's my boat, so I'm usually driving the boat, so I'm in the back, and so I work my dog off the pod, I would say more, most of the time, and then they just come up, deliver the bird, then, then sit on the pod there. Mm-. You know? And that, that works, that works good too.

Glade

Yeah.

Tyce

If you're hunting with a buddy I could, you know, put them on the front or the back or...

Glade

Right. Yeah, the I've, I've tried the pod thing, you know. I, I, I don't know about you, but I'm always hunting pressured ducks, and the more- Mm- I can get the dog hid, the better.

Tyce

Yeah, it's true, in the pod you can't really... Yeah, I'll kinda like put, I have a, the blind extends kinda over the mo- We'll have a boat motor cover.

Glade

Mm-.

Tyce

, and then I, I'll kind of put, yeah, I just brush them in as best you can. Occasionally I'll kind of put them back behind the motor, you know, but then they can't see as good like- Yeah you're talking. But I guess I'll, my dog's all handles, but it's better to, like you say, for him to, to mark the fall. So that makes sense. So I guess what we're saying, folks, if you are hunt- If you get a boat, it sounds like running a ladder, just like the setup you had with the blind on the front, sounds like that would probably be the, the best option. But-

Glade

Yeah

Tyce

you could mix it up.

Glade

Yeah, we've, we've set up a lot of blinds for people and, you know- Mm- that's, that's the best way I've found to do it.

Tyce

Yeah. , yeah, with do- and I guess on the, on that, that talking about dogs, and obviously being the Bird Dog Podcast, but talking all gear and dogs and stuff, I, I always tell people, you know, train f- train for the hunts. Like, train how you're gonna hunt. So, you know, don't take your dog out on your boat, you know, opening morning and it's never been on your boat, it's never been, never seen a s- you know, how to get into the boat or working out the blind. Like, I always tell people, you know, take your dog out, work them off the boat.

Glade

Yeah.

Tyce

S- set it up just like you're gonna hunt, right? So, and in training that's what we try to do, but you're gonna hunt maybe a little different. You know, I remember we went and did that layout hunt. -huh. You kinda had Tes- Tessa. Tess or Tessa? Tess. Tess, yeah. Tess, , had her back on a, you had her on a little place mat or something, right?

Glade

Yeah.

Tyce

What did you use? It was,

Glade

it's like- I just build these little custom aluminum, , it's just a little

Tyce

platform.

Glade

Little platform, yeah. It's got real short legs that just push into the mud. It was

Tyce

pretty much on the ground almost though, right?

Glade

I just put it, I, I s- push it into the wa- in, into the water, into the mud is j- so it's just an inch above the surface.

Tyce

Mm-. And

Glade

then, yeah, she just lays right on top of that.

Tyce

Yeah. I mean, a- and it worked good, and I'm sure you had practice with her, I'm sure, on that. But she- Oh, yeah yeah, you just told her place and that was still even some of her beginning hunts I remember back then. Yep. And, , but she was back, what was she, back 10 yards behind us- Mm- in the, in the weeds or something. Mm-. And, and so she was out of sight and the birds were coming in, we were shooting them, and then you just remote send her on her name and- Yeah it

Glade

worked

Tyce

out good. Yeah.

Glade

Yeah. I do that a lot with her. , probably more often than not is set her up on some kind of little platform- Mm- like that and, , yeah, she, she knows the program now.

Tyce

Yeah. Tell, tell us about your dog. Tell, , I, I mean, I can say obviously what we kind of worked with her on and stuff, but how... Is she doing awesome still?

Glade

Yeah, yeah, amazing. I mean, , - I

Tyce

mean, you've put a lot of birds on her since we've trained her and stuff.

Glade

Tons, yep.

Tyce

Maturity and-

Glade

I was, I was worried about getting a Golden for reasons why people worry about getting a Golden. Mm-. You know, the, the bird thing and the, you know, - Not, not being a lab.

Tyce

Yeah

Glade

You know, not, not being just a mindless- Maybe

Tyce

a lower drive or- Yeah whatever it may be. Yeah.

Glade

Yeah. But I'll, I'll tell you what, I, I w- I will never have another lab.

Tyce

Yeah. Yeah.

Glade

Not because

Tyce

they're- Why? Tell us, tell us, yeah, tell us your why.

Glade

Yeah, I mean, it's not because the lab, my labs haven't done what I want them to do, but the, but she does it with style, you know? Mm-. She... I, I think she does it... She, she fetches bir- all the, every lab I've ever had fetches birds because they wanna do it.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

They're, they're shaking and whining because they want to fetch that bird so bad.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

She does it because I want her to do it.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

And not nece- she, she does, she loves it. Yeah. She loves it. And, but, but she's, sh- you know, she do- she does it 'cause I want her to do it.

Tyce

Yeah.

Glade

Yeah. She's still birdie and, and chases them around and things like that. But, , around the house is just the goofiest, silliest- You know, w- we're all night long around the house we're laughing at her 'cause she's, she's got three tennis balls in her mouth- Mm- or, or, you know, just being crazy and silly. So just, just such a cool dog.

Tyce

Yeah. Yeah. What time? You gotta be out pretty soon, right?

Glade

,

Tyce

yeah. Sorry, folks, we're just, we... I, I put Glade and this behind 'cause I had another-

Glade

I'm good podcast recording. I got it. I, I'm good.

Tyce

How many more minutes we got

Glade

about? Yeah. We'll, ,

Tyce

we'll 10 minutes or so. We're okay. Okay. Yeah. Okay. Sounds good. We're getting here close. But, , yeah, with the golden retrievers, you know, I got into them probably 9 years ago, 9, 10 years ago, and they're, they're just, they're something different to look at too, you know? I love the classic black lab, and I still have them, and I, and I love my labs and, but the goldens, you know, we've gotten more into. And it's kinda fun, too, 'cause the, in the golden world they're not all bred... They're, there's less good hunting goldens than there are good hunting labs, right? Sure, sure. Like, they're not as common. And so for me, it's kind of almost like a challenge, like trying to breed or promote, like something that's not as... There's tons of master hunter labs, you know? But there's like, I know in the state of Utah I c- I can think of like, you know, I have a master hunter golden and, , Boss is his name, and then, you know, a bunch of seniors. But I can think of like, honestly, like less than five master hunter goldens- Mm that live in Utah.

Glade

Sure.

Tyce

So there's not-- They are a little trickier to train. They have, they have a different personality , but when you get a good one, they're just, they're just fun. They're just like, they seem, to me, they even, they seem to ha- like to even pack, they love to pack stuff in their mouth. Like that, I don't know, you've seen that probably- Oh my God, yeah with Tess. Yeah.

Glade

Like,

Tyce

our labs, labs love to go get stuff and drop it and still like to carry stuff, but the goldens are like, man, they love having crap in their mouth.

Glade

Yes, she does.

Tyce

So, I don't know. Is that what you see-

Glade

Oh, yeah see at your house? Yeah. Yeah. Like I said, she'll put three tennis balls in her mouth all the time. Yeah. As m- as much as she can fit. She doesn't... I- if you call her name, she runs around the house picking stuff up before she can come and- Mm- get petted.

Tyce

That's awesome. Yeah. They're so, they're so fun. Yeah. That's the thing with dogs. There's just, hunting with dogs is, as you know, that's, it's, it's half, it's half or almost, for me at least, and I'm sure it's you, is like the experience, you know?

Glade

100%.

Tyce

Like, shooting the ducks is awesome, but walking out there and, I don't know. For me, I've like, and I see people walking out and picking up ducks, I'm just like, "That just looks wrong."

Glade

Yeah. They're, they're missing- They're missing the boat they're, they're missing so much of the, of the experience.

Tyce

The experience, yeah. Yeah. Have you seen, by the way, have you seen that new, it's called like Fetch It, that robot that's been on-

Glade

Yes

Tyce

Instagram a

Glade

little bit? Yes.

Tyce

Yes.

Glade

Good luck. I

Tyce

thought, I'm like, "That's interesting." I'm like, "Eh, yeah." I'm like, and, and, and I, and they are. To give them, they're not like, "Hey, we're not trying to replace the dog," you know? But I guess if you don't have a dog, and you're maybe hunting the Snake River or something, fast blowing maybe, I don't know. I'd be curious, I'd be curious to see what that looks like. Yeah. You know? But-

Glade

Good luck.

Tyce

Yeah. It's an interesting... Being a dog trainer, I'm like, "Well, I don't know." Yeah. Right. You know? But it's, it's funny to see the I don't know. It'd be interesting to see if you see any of those robots cruising around- in the, in the marsh, you know?

Glade

Yes. 2026, I would not be surprised to-

Tyce

Yeah, yeah

Glade

ChatGPT duck fetching.

Tyce

Yeah. Do you remember, so with Tess, I remember she w- she had a little funny thing going on that we worked through, and it w- she's, she's too smart for her own good is what, what it is. Like, some dogs, like, they're just like, they don't think, you know? And they're just like, "Holy cow, it's w- a bird," or whatever. And, , she's super intelligent, and we were working her, and she'd pick up teal, right?

Glade

Yep.

Tyce

She'd pick up teal no problem. Then we'd th- And I'm like, "All right. Let's check to see what she's doing." So this was... Was this before we force fetched her?

Glade

No. This was, I mean, she was basically finished. - And,

Tyce

and

Glade

she was just- , not, not all, I mean, not all the way, but, but she was... You know, this was after- Some

Tyce

work you had done, though, 'cause I hadn't- Yeah worked her through duck, 'cause we would've seen that. So it was before, or some, or some work you'd done, or you bought her a little started, or-

Glade

Yeah

Tyce

Jed had started her a little bit, or-

Glade

Yep

Tyce

is that kinda?

Glade

Yeah, so-

Tyce

I'm trying to refresh my memory

Glade

, I did a little bit of stuff, and then, , I, I brought her to you, I think, and you bas- I th- I think you just force fetched her or d- didn't really work on any of that. But, , the first few times I took her out hunting was super early season when teal are here.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

And no problem. She'd go out and fetch the teal. Yeah. You know, no big deal. But then the first, you know, full, big duck I shot, I don't know, m- a mallard or, or pintail or something-

Tyce

Mm-

Glade

and went out, sniffed it, turned back around.

Tyce

Yeah.

Glade

Didn't wanna pick it up.

Tyce

Yeah. Did it fl- did it f- do you remember if it fluttered or anything and kinda threw her off? I don't think

Glade

so.

Tyce

Or just might've

Glade

been the size.

Tyce

I don't think so. Yeah. She's like, "Nah, I'm not sure about that."

Glade

Yeah. Didn't- Yeah , maybe we trained too much with teal. I did, I trained too much with teal with her. Mm-. And yeah, w- went to pick up the first big duck and just didn't want anything to do with it.

Tyce

Yeah. And I remember Glade told me, he's like, "Yeah, she would pick up teal all day." And so I was like, "Well, let's see if we can trick her." So we threw, like, some teal. Sure enough, she picked them out. We threw, like, a shoveler, which isn't that much bigger, and she went out and was like, "Nope." Yeah. And I'm like, "Okay. All right, we got a little challenge here." So, - But I remember working through that. , I can't remember exact- I mean, it was the combination of probably force fetch and just confidence building- Yep that we kind of worked with her on. But, and then, dude, and then you're sending... And I remember, I don't know, I don't think you'd put her on geese or we'd had her. And I'm like, "I'm gonna see if I can get her on." And I remember I, I had to do a little force work- Mm- but she responded really well to it. And then once she realized she could grab a goose, she's like, "Oh, yeah, I can do this." Yeah. And then she was... And then you're like... And then I think that year you sent me a picture of her retrieving swans.

Glade

Mm-.

Tyce

So.

Glade

Yep.

Tyce

Yeah.

Glade

Yeah. Doesn't even, she doesn't even think about it anymore, just-

Tyce

Yeah.

Glade

Yep, goes out and picks anything

Tyce

up. It's kind of like a proud dad moment. I'm like, "That's cool we got to work with her." Like, you know, help her get through that, you know, that, that challenge of whatever she had in her head and... That's the fun thing about dog training is, for me, is, is that, is kind of the dogs are a little chall- like, outside of it you're like, "Why, why are you thinking this?" Or, "What are you doing?" And then, "How do we overcome that and build that confidence and, and make them a good," you know, the dog that you, that you want, you know? But-

Glade

Yeah

Tyce

besides that, she trained out. She, she was really cons- I know we did help out with it. We did the handling training on her. Mm-. And she... If you had some fun blinds with her. Oh, yeah. Some big bl- some... If you had any big ones, you're like-

Glade

Yeah, I mean- "Dude, that was awesome" but this, this last year we were on the Great Salt Lake, , , hunting teal in the flats. Mm-. , and perception is crazy out there. Mm-. It l- y- everything that looks like it's, well, it's let's say 100 yards away is actually about 300 yards away. Yeah. It, because there's no real point of reference. , everything's so flat. There's no trees to go

Tyce

off

Glade

or

Tyce

any- Yeah yeah.

Glade

, so anyway, we, , a big flock of teal comes in, , probably at least 100. We drop six or seven out of it. Mm-. And, , she goes and fetches them all and, and, , a couple of minutes later somebody says, "Oh, shoot. There's still one out there." Mm-. "Way out there." Mm-. And it was still alive. And it was, you know, I don't know, I'd guess it's probably, probably 4 or 500 yards.

Tyce

Nice.

Glade

And, , I- , it, it was blind at that point. Yeah, sure. She couldn't see it. Yeah,

Tyce

yeah.

Glade

And so I, I sent her, and she goes out and gets to about 70, and she's s- Your dog starts getting

Tyce

smaller. Yeah. Sorry, go ahead.

Glade

Yeah. She, and j- she's, like, kinda losing confidence at that point. Yeah. Like, "What are you putting me out here for?"

Tyce

This is farther than normal.

Glade

Yeah. Yeah. And so, you know, send her again, send her... , I had to send her about three times and, , you know, back, and finally she sees it, and it, it had to have been 4 or 500 yards. Was it

Tyce

crippled?

Glade

Yeah.

Tyce

Okay,

Glade

yeah. Yep. And then once you get out there that far, it's pretty deep, and it's salty. Oh, okay. And it, you know... And so she, she had to chase it out there swimming.

Tyce

Oh, okay.

Glade

And yeah, it was, she was, she was gone for, I don't know, half an hour by the time- That's so awesome she finally got back. And yeah, didn't give... She will not give up on a crippled bird.

Tyce

That

Glade

is so cool. So, yep. So that, that can be scary at times, too, when we're on, you know, like Snake River situations, but-

Tyce

Yeah

Glade

, yeah, that was, that was definitely one of the ones I'll remember.

Tyce

That was, that was a highlight, a highlight bird. Yep. Yeah. Yeah, it's so cool when you get those far. It's fun when you... It's, when they get far enough out, and then sometimes they'll catch a little wing flick of that bird, you know, a cripple or something, then they like, "Oh, there it is." Oh, now I know we got one. And then it just totally and they, and like, "There we go." Yeah. And it's... I had an awesome one this year. We were hunting up in Idaho on this little private lake, and we sailed this mallard clear across this water bod- It was probably, like, I was kind of in the end of it, but there was a spring that came in, and it was probably- I don't know, probably 100, 100 yards wide, the water, and then the bird hit like another 70, 80 yards into the snow and it kind of speared down in the snow, you know? And it was-- I, I didn't know if it was dead or crippled, but anyways, I li- I lined the dog up. I was about, you know, 10 yards from the bank, lined her up just really nice back and she drove, hit the water just sk- she stayed a nice steady line, crossed the whole, the whole lake, you know, hit the bank and didn't really start hunting the bank. Just trusted, you know, through that training and then she got up and started just going out in the snow and then that, then that mallard like you see that wing, wing flick, you know- Mm and then it jumped up and tried to take off. Oh, and then that, that jet, the jets kick in- Yeah, yeah, yeah you know, and they chase them down. It was just, it was cool. That's, that's the fun thing about dog like when you get a dog to your level, like Tessa's level or a dog that handles, it's like I tell everyone like you'll never go back once you have a dog at that level. Oh,

Glade

for

Tyce

sure. It's like, it's like, it's like, it's just pl- I- it's just a different, you know, it's such a fun game and the teamwork and the companionship you have, you know, with them. I had a client who was-- it was pretty funny. He had a dog that, , that we taught to handle and he's like, "Oh," Mike's probably, he's been on the podcast actually. He's probably in his late 60s, you know? But he was like he j- he just goes he's, he was like almost mad when he realized a dog could handle. Like he, and he didn't have this his whole life and he's a hardcore hunter, you know? Yeah. And he hunts probably, I mean he hunts , I mean at least a few times a week. Mm-. You know, he's retired and he goes to Canada multiple times and but, , so it's, it's a lot of people it's interesting and, and the people that are listening to this podcast they're obviously into do- they're into the stuff we're into. Mm-. But a lot of people like don't even know what force fetch is- Sure or whatever, you know? Sure. And so, and so to have a dog in that senior hunter master level, it takes a lot of time and if you're paying someone it does take a lot of money too, but obviously it just depends what you, you want in life, right? Yep. But, , it's just fun to have them, , like at that, at, at that level. I'm trying to think where I kind of lost my train of thought when I was... But oh, I, I know what I was saying. It's, it's... You're, you're, you're kind of an upper percentile person when you have a dog that handles. For

Glade

sure.

Tyce

So it's, it's pretty special. And I remember the first time I saw a dog run a true blind retrieve years and years ago on water, and the guy blew the whistle and the dog s- swam and looked at him, you know, sat there and looked at him on water, and then he cast. And I was just like, it's kind of like that experience shooting that first duck, my jaw just dropped. I'm like, "Whoa, how do you do that?" You know?

Glade

Yeah.

Tyce

And now I've been training for 20 years, and it, now to me it's like, "Oh, you just do this and this and this," and that's what they do, you know.

Glade

Yeah.

Tyce

But it's, it's pretty, it's pretty special, the whole experience.

Glade

I, I sometimes use it as a party trick, you know? We're out with just- whatever at the lake camping with friends or something. Yeah. And nothing, has nothing to do with hunting or anything. They've got all their, you know, poodles and, and- Mm spaniels or whatever they've got out there. And, , the... We'll, I'll throw a ball, and I'll make sure that the, that she can't see it.

Tyce

Mm-.

Glade

And, you know, we'll all, , handle her to it, and people are- Yeah just like, "I didn't know a dog could do that." Could

Tyce

do that.

Glade

That's what they usually say, right? You know, they, it was, it was hard for me to get my dog to learn how to pee outside. You know, so, so- Yeah yeah, it's, it's, it is a whole different, ... A- and if it's, if you're a waterfowler, if you're a, especially one that's, you know, into it hardcore, I, I don't understand how you can't-

Tyce

Yeah

Glade

have a dog that at, at least, you know, has, has some of that training.

Tyce

Some ability to go out there and pick up your birds. Yeah. Awesome. Well, we better wrap it up, Glade. , tell us, tell our audience, thanks so much for coming down here- Of course driving down here and, and meeting and, and jumping on the podcast. Tell us where they can find you on, on all your platforms.

Glade

Yeah. So, , we've got, , Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, all that, Backwater Performance. , backwaterperformance.com is where all, you know, our store is. , and then, you know, Mudbuddy and, , xl.com as well.

Tyce

Okay. Tell us where they c- where your store is.

Glade

, my actual physical

Tyce

location or- I mean, it's on your, obviously your website, but, -

Glade

Yeah. My, my, my storefront's in, in Orem, Utah.

Tyce

Okay.

Glade

, yep, we've got, , lots of boats there people can come check out and, and all the parts and accessories too. Do

Tyce

you guys ship boats?

Glade

Yeah, yeah. We ship them- Okay anywhere in the country.

Tyce

So they can, they don't necessarily have to come into the store. You can do it all over the phone, online, whatever, and then you- Yep can ship it out to them.

Glade

Put it right on your doorstep.

Tyce

Okay. Well, folks, , we're gonna go ahead and wrap her up. , ch- if you're looking for top-of-the-line, awesome duck hunting boat, check out the Excel Boat. That's what I have, and Mudbuddy Motor. They're great companies to work with, and they'll take care of you. And man, you get a, you get a sweet boat and a, a dog on the front that's fully trained-

Glade

There

Tyce

you go you're set for life. That's it. What else, what else do you need, right?

Glade

I, I don't know what else anybody needs from that.

Tyce

So all right, folks. Have a great day, and we'll see you in the next podcast.