Ducks Unlimited Podcast

00:00 Chris Jennings Hey everybody, welcome back to the Ducks Unlimited podcast. I'm your host, Chris Jennings. Joining me today is an awesome guest that I've actually been trying to get on for quite some time for you guys. I have Linda Powell, the Director of Media Relations for Mossberg.

00:14 Linda Powell Linda, welcome to the Ducks Unlimited podcast. Thanks so much, Chris. I'm glad we finally connected and I apologize that it took so

00:20 Chris Jennings long. No, that's all right. I mean, scheduling these things is hit or miss sometimes and especially with you, I know you have a busy travel schedule. I was trying to get you during the hunting season last year, which is probably a terrible idea. We'll get into the details of why that probably is here in a little bit. But before we get into some of the new products from Mossberg and the exciting things that you guys have going on, I really want you to kind of introduce yourself to our audience. Just kind of give people a background of what you do, how you do it, how long you've been doing it, things like that. So go ahead and just

00:51 Linda Powell run with it. Well, actually, it's kind of an interesting career path. I didn't start in this industry, but kind of midlife, I made a change and moved into working for a gun company. Originally, it was Remington. And when I went to work there, no experience, but they were kind enough to hire me in the PR department. And I began to work with the outdoor media. I'd been there about a year and the guys said, hey, let's get you out and shooting. So did that and gradually came more and more involved with that side of the business. Spent about 15 years there at Remington before I moved over to Mossberg. And I've been with Mossberg now a little over 12 years. Title kind of those people off a little bit, but media relations, I kind of say it's like customer service. And my customer is the outdoor media like yourself. So I work with people that are in print, social, TV, all types of media to try to support them and provide them with product information, technical information. And as part of that, also put together media trips so we can get out in the field and actually

02:04 Chris Jennings test our products. Yeah. And I've been on several media trips with you in the past and they've always been great. And I always found one thing about when we do doing stuff with you and Mossberg is it's always interesting to hear your story because we end up I think last one we did, I was down in like South Texas with you and the guy who owned the camp kind of asked you like, well, how'd you get into hunting? And it's a fascinating story. So if you don't mind, can you kind of share that? And just, you know, you did mention there, you said you didn't have any experience, but I didn't know if that meant you didn't have any PR experience. You didn't have any, you know, shooting hunting experience. And now, you know, for people, you know, for some of our listeners, you know, I'm sure they probably don't follow you on social media like I do. But, you know, you get all types of big game ducks, you know, all across the board. You've always got something that you're hunting. And I was always laughing like, oh, man, what was it like a month ago? You were probably you were in Alberta hunting bear or something. It was fantastic.

03:05 Linda Powell Yeah. When I said no experience, I literally meant no experience in either area PR or hunting. You know, it's one of those things I tell people you should always if an opportunity comes along and a door opens, step through it, because you never know what it'll lead to. And I think I'm just a perfect example of that. You know, the guys that hired me said they were just really looking for the right person. They felt like they could teach them the rest. And so after I had been, as I said, at Remington for a year, and I didn't know the difference between a rifle and a shotgun. Seriously, that's how lack of experience I had. The guys said, would you like to learn to shoot? And I said, sure. So it started with something as simple as a range day. Some of my co-workers took me out and we shot various guns. And they said, would you like to attend a Becoming an Outdoor Woman program? If you're not familiar with that, that's usually a two or three day event for women where you can go and sign up for various classes in the outdoors. It can be anything from Dutch oven cooking to muzzleloader to rifle marksmanship. And so I took that class. And then the guys said, well, the next step, if you're interested, is would you like to try hunting? And so fortunately, I did have kind of biology background and understood wildlife management. And I said, sure, I'm going to try a hunt. But again, this will kind of show you how naive maybe I was or maybe as I laugh and say, maybe they were setting me up for failure. But my very first hunt was a black bear hunt with a muzzleloader. Wow. Yeah. And I say, I think most people start with maybe birds, maybe whitetail, rabbits, but, you know, jumping right in with black bear. And that first time that was very transitional for me, I was successful. And I remember when I walked up to that bear and looked down, I said to myself, I'm a hunter now. And I knew my life had changed, but I really had no concept at that time what that meant. That was 27 years ago. And since then, I've become, as you mentioned, a very avid hunter. Everything from big game to waterfowl to turkeys traveled all across the U.S., Canada and internationally. So I've grown quite a bit as a hunter, but it also allowed me to grow professionally over time. I was able to work my way up through the marketing department there and left as the senior manager and now at Mossberg, director of media relations. So very much transformed my entire life from someone who my family laughs because I was someone who didn't venture out in the backyard too much because of critters and things. But it's really changed my life in so many ways.

06:00 Chris Jennings Yeah, I was going to ask, was there no one in your family that hunted or maybe you just didn't get into it? Or was it literally when you started at Remington, was that literally your first experience of any of that? Or did you even know anyone that hunted?

06:14 Linda Powell Well, supposedly my grandfather hunted. He was a member of a hunting club. And I remember he went away on weekends and sometimes he would bring venison back. Now, years later, my dad confided in me that he didn't know if he ever shot a deer. He thought that a lot of that was just getting away from my grandmother over the weekends. But no one else in my family hunted. So, you know, I really had no exposure to it.

06:41 Chris Jennings Wow, that's awesome. What is your now like? What would be your preference of the thing that you enjoy hunting the most?

06:49 Linda Powell Well, it hasn't changed from that original hunt. I am fascinated by bears and I have been on probably close to 35 bear hunts. That still is one of my passions. I've become really passionate about turkey hunting as well. I love getting out in the spring and hunting turkeys. But I think starting late in life, like I did, I found that I just kind of enjoy everything, every experience. I wanted to try hunting everything. So it's just kind of been eye opening to me to get out and take advantage of what's available.

07:22 Chris Jennings Yeah, I think last time we were together, you were you were having a conversation with someone else in camp about you had too much taxidermy. I kind of wanted to talk about that. Did you get you? I think you're in the process of maybe getting rid of some or something was I can't quite remember. It's been a few years, but.

07:39 Linda Powell Interesting story there. I mean, obviously, I got hooked on taxidermy. And my thought process at first was, well, gee, I may never shoot another whatever it was. And then this is my first, so I better mount it. And so the next thing you know, I had a house full of taxidermy. And a few years ago, actually, I guess it's close to three years now, I kind of made another life changing decision to move to the beach. That was kind of my long term plans. And here now I had a house full of taxidermy. And I thought, hmm, you know, probably should think about what do I do long term? And my son didn't have a lot of interest in it. He selected one or two pieces that he really liked. But I kind of lucked into I made a connection with North Carolina State University, and they have quite an extensive wildlife program. And they actually came up, looked at my collection, which was in excess of 75 trophies and made an offer. We kind of negotiated and I donated a portion for educational purposes. And they purchased some. And so for the most part, I got rid of all my taxidermy. I saved a few pieces, but after spending all those years collecting, I felt like it was the right thing to do. And I felt like what a great honor. And it made me feel good to be able to know that it was going to be used for educational purposes.

09:00 Chris Jennings No, that's great. That's a great way to, you know, be able to get rid of some of that stuff. If you're, you know, moving, that's something for people to keep in mind. That's probably, you know, contacting a local university is probably probably a good way to do it. You know, one thing, since this is the Ducks Unlimited podcast, we are going to touch on some duck hunting here. You know, you hosted a hunt and I think, believe you started doing it with Remington. And you still do it to this day and you do it in Maine and it's a sea duck hunt. And I was fortunate enough to go, I mean, what was this? Seven, eight years ago, maybe. You invited me out there. And, but it's one of those hunts that I don't know if there's anyone in the outdoor media who hasn't been on that hunt. I mean, just so like you talk to people like, oh, I'm going to Maine. Like, oh, you going Linda? You know, it's like everybody's done it and it's such a cool trip. It's a fun trip. But, you know, why, why did you choose that particular hunt and why did you stick with it for so long?

09:58 Linda Powell Well, I was fortunate that someone invited me to go along and I absolutely fell in love with the whole experience. First of all, at the time, the host was Bill Brown, who was a former regional director with DU. And some of his local state and chapter volunteers, they were doing this hunt actually to bring in DU, I guess, prospective donors and that sort of thing for this experience. And they decided to open the door up to doing some media hunts. And again, as I said, it's such a unique experience. It's a bucket list item for many, many duck hunters to go and get otters. That's primarily what we're targeting is common otters. But I think what really happened over the years is I developed such a close friendship with the guys there in Maine and realized being such a unique experience, there were so many people that wanted the opportunity to do it. And I just continued to do the hunt. And every year I think, OK, there's nobody else to invite. And then there's someone that comes up to me says, gosh, if you ever have an opening on that Sea Duck hunt, I'd really like to go. And I tell people it's not about volume. You know, we may not fill our limits every day, but to go and sit out in the Penobscot Bay in that area and sit on those granite rocky kind of little islands or outcrops and watch those otters just come in, soaring in down low over the water and how well they decoy. There's just not another experience like that.

11:34 Chris Jennings Yeah, it was it was fantastic. I'll say, you know, that was my first time ever being in Maine, which is cool anyway. You know, the town that we stay in, small town, coastal town, you know, lobster fishermen everywhere. You know, it's not really a hotel. How would you describe it? Because it's kind of a mix between there's like a condo and then some people are staying in the hotel. It's a cool setup right on the you know, you're looking right out over the bay. But, you know, it's just a neat place. It just the whole area is cool. And then on top of that, which is what I've talked to probably 25 different media members about, that that's what everyone talks about, not only the hunting, but also at night, you know, like, hey, we're going to have dinner. And literally, a guy just shows up with like a laundry basket full of lobsters. And those guys, Bill and the other folks there, sit there and cook lobsters and you just stand around and eat lobster. It is awesome. It was such a cool experience.

12:31 Linda Powell It is. And I tell people, you know, I look forward to it now. You know, it'd be hard for me to stop going because I just kind of feel like it's usually my last hunt of the year. The calendar year. And I just kind of consider it like a homecoming now to go back up there and visit with those guys, share the experience and like you said, enjoy a few of those lobsters. Yeah, it's awesome.

12:51 Chris Jennings So, you know, after so many years of traveling around and doing these hunts all over the country, would you say that that Maine hunt is probably your favorite place you've ever been? Or is there anywhere else that you're like, oh, that was that was a really good trip?

13:03 Linda Powell Oh, that's a terrible question to ask. That's probably one of the most difficult because I have multiple favorite places. And so, you know, usually I connect it to the experience and I love to go back. It's always because I think of the people, the culture, the food, the hunting obviously plays a part too. But it's really those places that are special. And again, I think it gets back to the people.

13:30 Chris Jennings Yeah, and one other thing that kind of popped out that I remembered from that Maine hunt is you or Bill or somebody had a whole folder that was full of, you know, paper clippings from different publications and video. I think you guys had even put together a video showing, you know, TV shows from, you know, the late 90s, early 2000s, the guys who were, you know, that was like one of the peak times of outdoor TV, and they had several different clips of even Wade Borne from DUTV, I believe, did an episode up there. And so it was just cool to go through all those and kind of see the names and the people and, you know, people like Wade, who, you know, is from Ducks on Limits perspective, you know, is obviously, you know, on the Mount Rushmore of outdoor media. But it was I think that's a cool part of it. Do you have that book or is that something that that Bill did?

14:20 Linda Powell Actually, Bill holds on to it because we bring it to camp every year, though, to share it. So everybody can kind of look at the history. And like you said, it's been incredible to see all the people that have been up there. You know, the opportunities that we've had, we've seen, obviously, the declines in the number of ducks increased, you know, it's always interesting to kind of see how the hunting goes, too. We are actually moving that hunt this year, though, a little bit further south, closer to Portland, Maine, just because the ducks are actually moving further south where more food's available. So it'll be it'll be kind of I go with mixed emotions this year. It's going to be sad to leave Stonnington behind and Boyce's Motel. And but also looking forward to the new experience of hunting in a different area.

15:03 Chris Jennings Yeah, no, that'd be great. I remember when we were there, one of the conservation officer had pulled up when we were getting out the boat and he was just standing there talking to us. And I had asked him something about, you know, do you see a lot of other hunters and, you know, what, you know, what's the common thing you see out here on the bay with other hunters? And he said and they got in, started telling stories. And then he got into a weird story where he said he was out hunting. And just to kind of set the stage here for people who don't understand what it is, you're sitting out on these big rocks in in the bay. And the tidal fluctuation is is massive, like upwards of 10 feet in some areas. So you just continue to either move down the rock or move up the rock, depending on how the tide is. And he mentioned that he had a dog that was out retrieving a bird and a I want to say it was a sea lion or a seal went out there and like started like poking into the like pushing the dog around. And I was like, oh, my gosh, that'd be wild. They actually had to get the boat and go and get the dog because this seal kept on messing with it. And I was like, I don't know. Very few places you go. You're going to hear a story like that. It was pretty awesome. And just for me, you know, living in growing up in Indiana and living in Memphis, you know, the last thing we're worried about is a seal chasing our dog. Exactly. But yeah, that just, you know, just something else that popped in my head as you were kind of talking about it. And actually, you know what, Linda, let's take a quick break. And I'll ask you this question as soon as we come back. All right. Welcome back, everybody. We are here with Linda Powell, the director of media relations for Mossberg. And we're just kind of gone back and forth, kind of telling some different stories here. But I had a good question for you. And this is something that's some of myself who's worked in public relations for, you know, I worked in public relations before I joined the magazine team. But for you, you know, you've been in this industry for 27 years now. I think a lot of maybe our audience and kind of just outdoorsmen in general don't really understand what goes on behind on the business side of things as far as the outdoor industry. But from your vast experience here, what have you seen that's changed in the outdoor industry from a PR perspective? Especially even from a gun company perspective over the years. You know, what's what has been the big shift other than maybe, I mean, the obvious, you know, you've got social media, which is a game changer. But, you know, anything else really sticks out that really has changed the way that you do your job.

17:29 Linda Powell Well, that's interesting. I was actually interviewed by a high school student about two weeks ago asking me about what I had seen that had changed in our industry in my 27 years. And it made me think a little bit. But I mean, one of the things that used to be that all of the companies held new product introductions till a big trade show every year, which was the SHOT show, which comes around in January. So you had to be at the SHOT show. There were press conferences. Every company was unveiling what products were new. And I laugh and we had media kits back then and they were actually printed press releases. So, you know, we typed them out, printed them out. You got a hard copy of a media kit that you took home with you. So obviously, with the advancements of the Internet and social media, all of that's gone digital now. But what we've seen from a company perspective, companies no longer hold product introductions. We're able to introduce products as they become ready because you work with our we work with our partners in the media. You can coordinate launches where it be online, can be, you know, digital videos, TV programs, print. So really, there are a lot more opportunities for companies to get exposure. And to do it based on their timing, what worked for them.

18:44 Chris Jennings Yeah. And I would also imagine that the decline in publications overall. I mean, you probably used to have a, you know, list of outdoor media members that was 10,000 people. And that number has has significantly declined over the years, has it not?

19:00 Linda Powell That's a very valid point, too. Yes. You know, when I started, it was a little bit overwhelming, how many people were in the industry. And that definitely the number of printed publications is down. The number of media that you work with, because I mean, think of all the newspapers that used to have columns and a lot of regional and state publications. Many of those have gone astray as well as national. But, you know, you also have started working with individuals who now have done nothing but social media and online content.

19:32 Chris Jennings So it's definitely different. People with podcasts, right? Exactly. Didn't have a lot of those back in the 90s. No. Before we move on to, you know, kind of getting into the nitty gritty of your new products, I think one of the best things that that maybe you can provide to someone, a listener of ours who's maybe thinking about getting into the outdoor industry on the PR marketing side of things. What advice would you give someone that's asked like, you know, hey, Linda, how can I basically become the director of media relations,

20:03 Linda Powell you know, for a major gun company? I think one of the keys and I think this is still true today is, you know, maybe thinking about being an intern or getting on board with a company, maybe not in the position that you wish to be in, but get your foot in the door, learn as much as you can. I think it was invaluable that I was hired as an administrative assistant and pretty much learned all the processes from the floor up. So I really understood how everything operated so that when I did move up, it was a lot easier for me to grasp, you know, the roles of everyone else and what was involved in making things happen. But I saw many people over the years, in my experience, who started maybe in customer service or in other areas of the company that because of their dedication, their hard work and their willingness to learn, they were able to move over into other departments such as marketing and PR. I mean, obviously being knowledgeable about social media is very helpful today, too. But I think, again, just being willing to work hard, getting your foot in the door. And as I stated when we kind of first started talking, if a door opens, steps through it, it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to be your final step,

21:16 Chris Jennings but it may help you get to the destination that you want. Yeah. And how much weight do you put on, you know, just building the relationships? Like you said, you've hosted thousands of outdoor media members on all different types of hunts. How much do you put on that building of the relationship, whether it be in bear camp or deer camp or whatever? Is that something that you really put a lot of weight in?

21:38 Linda Powell I think it's essential to what I do. You know, you really the time you spend with someone hunting, you really get to know them. And I don't know any other activity that you could do that gives you that kind of bond that you develop with someone. And, you know, maybe I'm not going to get coverage. Let's say we don't have a successful hunt and I may not get coverage from this particular event, but you're going to remember that I took you on that experience that you just loved. And so when you have an opportunity to give exposure to Mossberg for one of our products, I think you're going to remember. And I just found it really pays off in the long run. Relationships really do matter.

22:19 Chris Jennings Yeah. And for anyone listening out there who may try and set an appointment with Linda at SHOT Show, you better do it now, because that is that is a tough appointment to get. And you even if you just try it, I think this year, I think you met with our ad team several times and I kept walking past and you're sitting there in the booth. And every time I'd walk past and I was trying to introduce you to one of our new employees and every time I'd go by, there'd be a line of like four people standing there waiting. And I was like, oh, my gosh, why did I not set up an appointment for this?

22:49 Linda Powell You know, SHOT Show is like a love, hate relationship for me because I love seeing everyone. But it's absolutely some of the longest days of my life.

22:59 Chris Jennings Oh, yeah. That's a long, long, long week. Where? Yes, it is. There are times when you don't see the sun for like three days. And that's that's difficult for me. No fresh air. No, that is tough. Yeah, that's a tough one. Well, cool. Let's I think that's also really great advice for anyone out there. Listen, who may be interested in getting into the industry. But let's go ahead and move on to the the nitty gritty of your job here. The technical side of it, I guess you could say. Mossberg launched several new guns this year. And we, you know, our audience will be seeing several of them very soon in our new July, August new guns and gear issue. Most of some of them might have already seen it, might have already got their magazine. But, you know, let's go down the list real quick on some of the new ones. And you guys for the last couple of years now, I don't want to misspeak here. I thought it was it three years ago that you guys came out with the 940.

23:51 Linda Powell That's right. It was in 2020. The original model was the the J.M. Pro, which was the competition model. And we started with that because any time you're introducing a new platform, particularly an auto loading shotgun, needs to be proven. And what better way to do that than to have competitive shooters like Jerry and Lena Mitchell at shooting your guns and using it in competition and winning medals. So that was the first iteration. And then we moved it over into a waterfowl version. And we call it our snow goose, which is actually just a kind of expanded version of that waterfowl gun. Some of the key things that I love about the 940 and for me, it was a game changer. I'm my and you know this, I'm kind of vertically challenged. So I never can pick up a semi auto shotgun that fits me. And I don't know anything that's more unpleasant to shoot than a shotgun that's too long for you. Yeah, it's a lot easier to accommodate for shorter length of pull. And so I've gone home for many a waterfowl hunt with bruises from my shoulder all the way down almost to my my elbow. But the beauty of the 940 is it has an adjustable length of pull on the stock. And it's the first time I can remember when I shot it. And just that feeling of, oh, finally, a gun this pleasant for me to shoot. That in itself made it a winner in my mind. But the other thing, I really hate cleaning guns. And the 940 has a new gas operating system that allows you to run up to 1500 rounds without having to clean it. So that to me, seals the deal. A lot of other great features, all the internal coatings and finishes, self draining stocks, chrome lined barrels, all the things that make it just a great waterfowl gun.

25:43 Chris Jennings And then this year, you guys launched the 940.

25:46 Linda Powell It's the Pro Field, correct? Yeah, we continue to expand. So we have Pro Field versions now, so just a general hunting gun. We have it with a beautiful walnut stock, also with black synthetic. We came out with turkey versions of it. There's tactical versions. So it truly is kind of our flagship outloading shotgun.

26:06 Chris Jennings The one next gun that I'm going to ask you about is actually, I think you guys had an SA, it's the Mossberg SA-28 All Purpose Field. And that's a basically it's a synthetic 28 gauge. And I think I shot that when we went to Texas, we shot the SA-28 for Blue Wings in September. And that was like three years ago. And I really, really like that gun. I shot well with it, fit great, just picking it up. But those were all in wood. And so it's nice to see these in synthetic. And is that kind of the nature of, you know, sub gauges are becoming much, much more popular with waterfowl hunters? Did you guys kind of see the writing on the wall there? We're like, all right, we got to fill this void.

26:49 Linda Powell Oh, no question about that. When you talked about sub gauges, it's just been an explosion in waterfowl, turkey markets, all of them. And, you know, I think there's a number of reasons for that, obviously, you know, aging demographics somewhat, but more so the advancements in shot shell technology. And why would you not want to carry a much lighter, shorter, more compact shotgun and one that's more pleasant to shoot when you're still not losing effectiveness in hunting? So we did have, as you said, filled versions with wood stocks in the 20 and 28 gauge and 410. And we've added synthetic in them now. And it just is a perfect match for the waterfowl market.

27:33 Chris Jennings Yeah, that's awesome. And that's a great, that's a fun little gun. It's so light. Like I said, I felt like I really shot it well down there in Texas. And the more and more people I know getting into, you know, I've always shot a 20 gauge and I've told that story many times on this podcast with, especially going back and forth with Phil Bregeli, he'll, he'll come on and we'll talk guns, several shows every season, but I've told Phil that, you know, one of the things that I do, if I'm hunting and I'm just, I just can't hit anything and I'm shooting this newer gun and I'm trying to getting frustrated, whatever. I always go back to the same gun that I got for Christmas when I was 12 years old and that is the 20 gauge Mossberg trophy. And it is the stock, you know, it's got a little crack in it. It actually got really torn up one time. And so I basically have painted it myself. I used to put it in the driveway and spray paint it every year with leaves, which is probably highly not recommended to do. And then last year I had a coat of primer. I put it on everything. And then my seven year old daughter at the time, eight year old daughter at the time drew camouflage with her markers on the whole thing and then put stickers on it. So I'll go out and hunt and I've posted some pictures on social media of this gun and like one sticker has like the Michael Jordan, Air Jordan thing on one side and the major league baseball logo on one side. I'm like, who knows why she did that? But I get a lot of comments on that Mossberg gun for sure. So the, you know, the next one up is the over and under the, what is it? The gold reserve? Yes. Yeah. So you guys have a, I mean, obviously, you know, any of our listeners can go online and look at this, you know, full line of, of any type of shotgun and rifle and pistol on here. But, you know, you guys don't have a ton of over and under options. And I thought it was a little surprising this year that you guys have a really sharp looking over and under and it's the gold reserve black label.

29:30 Linda Powell It is, it's one that we had in the 12 gauge, but we added 20 gauge this year. So it's just a classic, beautiful over and under shotgun, beautiful, grade a Walnut stocks, shell ejectors, beautiful scrolling. But this, you know, the traditional look has a silver finished, um, receiver and this, this actual action, um, this actually has a polished black, which just makes it a really classic looking field gun, um, come with 30 inch barrels, interchangeable choke tubes. Um, and I think the beauty of these, you know, there are a lot of over and under shotguns out there. These are well, really well designed, um, handsome looking guns and really affordable, you know, they come in at a price point, um, you know, anywhere from the synthetic versions are as little as six, $700 up to about $1,200. For the higher end ones, but, uh, no question that, you know, if you're looking for that, that classic over and under this gold reserve series is definitely one you'd want to look at.

30:36 Chris Jennings Yeah. And there's a lot of shooters out there still, um, you know, we're transitioning now to even, I see a lot of guys duck hunting with over and unders more than I did, I don't know, 15 years ago. You know, you see a lot more variation in guns and, and people are definitely moving to the over and under a lot of timber hunters, people like that who don't necessarily need that third shot or they're just confident in the first two, um, or really move into the over and under. So that's a cool addition to the lawn. Like I said, um, you know, our readers, Ducks, a little bit of magazine readers are going to be able to see all these in the upcoming issue in July, August issue. So that'll be exciting. And then as far as other variations of guns, I mean, I think, you know, you guys have 15 or 20 different new variations of shotguns this year, and I won't make you go through the technical aspects of each one of them, but just let our audience know where they can go to check these out.

31:26 Linda Powell Sure. It's easy to find all of our guns on our website at Mossberg.com. Um, I think one of the things that, that I really appreciate is the fact that we have offerings that are not only affordable, but to fit everyone. So, you know, getting your kids out and getting them involved. We have a lot of youth versions. Again, one of the reasons I'm really proud to work for Mossberg is our company's philosophy is giving everyone their highest quality firearm. At an affordable price. Cause we really do want everyone to get out and enjoy the hunting and shooting

31:57 Chris Jennings sports and be able to, with a firearm that they'd be proud of. Yeah. That's a, that's a fantastic mentality. And as you're saying that I'm sitting here looking at a Mossberg 20, 500, a newer upgraded version, like, oh man, I should probably do it, but then I'd feel terrible leaving my old gun at home.

32:13 Linda Powell Well, one of the things she'd like, one of the upgrades that I absolutely love is we are adding optic ready receivers on a lot of shotguns now. So instead of having to add a rail and mounting your optic on top of the rail, this actually is a cut in the receiver and you mount your, your sight right down into that cut, so you get proper eye alignment, unbelievable the difference that it makes. We've been doing it on pistols and, and rifles for a long time, but you haven't seen it on shotguns very often. That's all I hunted with exclusively this Turkey season and it's like night and day difference.

32:50 Chris Jennings I was going to say that was one, one of the guns at SHOT Show that, that jumped out to me was the new Turkey version. I think it was in bottom land and it had, had the optics on it and everything at, and that was at SHOT Show. And you'd, I'd walk by there and pick one up. It was definitely an eye catcher for sure. So Linda, before we get you out of here, is there anything else that you would want our audience to know about Mossberg?

33:13 Linda Powell Yeah, actually I'm going to say about me and just using my example of, you know, I really encourage everyone if they get the opportunity to get out, enjoy being out in the field, hunting, shooting, or just spending time with someone, you know, take advantage of it. Again, it's been life-changing for me, not only personally, but professionally. And so get out in the outdoors, learn to hunt, learn to shoot and take advantage of our long traditions.

33:41 Chris Jennings Awesome. That was one of the better answers we've had on that, Linda. That was fantastic. And I really appreciate you joining us on the show today. I think your story coming through the industry, how you got into it, where you're at today, I think that's, you know, motivational for people. There's a lot of people out there who really want to get into the outdoor industry, the shooting industry. And I think that could, could really pave the way for some people. So I appreciate you coming on, sharing your story, sharing information about Mossberg. Thanks so much, Chris. I appreciate it as well. I'd like to thank my guest, Linda Powell, the director of media relations for Mossberg for joining us today and sharing her personal stories about how she got into the industry, also great information about Mossberg. I'd like to thank our producer, Chris Isaac, for doing a great job in getting the show out to you. And I'd like to thank you, the listener, for joining us on the DU podcast and supporting wetlands conservation.