Ducks Unlimited Podcast

00:00 Chris Jennings Hey everybody, welcome back to the Ducks Unlimited podcast. I'm your host, Chris Jennings. Joining me once again on the DU podcast, we have Addison Edmonds, the founder of Gunnar Kennells. What's going on, Addison? Not much, how's it going? Good, good. Glad to have you back on here. Before we get into some of your new exciting products you have to talk about with us, I just wanted you to kind of give us a rundown on what you're working on this summer

00:22 Addison Edmonds and kind of the prep work leading up into duck season. Yeah, this summer's been gone by way too quick. I finished up, I don't know, one of our only family vacations last week with all the kids and now they're ramping up to go to school. And we've had a busy summer, we're really clicking on new products and progress. And we brought a couple of new people in and we're bringing some more, hiring for some new roles. So yeah, been busy and then I keep pushing off a meeting, but I've got a meeting coming up about travel. So I feel like I'm just gonna push that off until September

00:55 Chris Jennings and then it's just gone from then on out. I'd like travel for you, like what you're planning for the fall or? Yeah, hunts and shows and just business opportunities. Yeah, you probably tie a few of those into with some hunting trips,

01:09 Addison Edmonds with some business opportunities I'd imagine. That was the whole goal of why I started this.

01:14 Chris Jennings Yeah, about mid to late January, you end up somewhere in Arkansas. Yeah, nice, that's perfect. That's exactly how you should do it. I wish it worked out that way for me. Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's that fall time of year where we're so busy, you don't get a chance to get out. I tell people all the time, I hunted more before I worked for Ducks Unlimited magazine. But that's how it works out sometimes, but I get my fair share in. What kind of training things are you working on now with your dog? I know, how old is your dog now?

01:41 Addison Edmonds He turns two in November. Two, okay, yeah. Chevy, he's doing good. He's a good looking dog and he is, he just got a season pass. So he spent, we've kind of got a cool relationship with Miles Durham from SOK Fox Ridge up in Kentucky. He's an hour and a half away. If I need him for a week or two, I'll take him. And it's not like, hey, he's up here for one month and one month only. Like we had a video shoot the other day, brought him down. But he's been kind of spending half his time there. And then when I'm at home for more than a week or two, consecutively, I bring him back here. But he's been on the hunt test circuit and doing really well. You said what kind of training I'm doing. I mean, since he is primarily getting his training from Miles for hunting and field trials, when I get him back, it's usually like the first few days, no training. Just kind of, hey, you're back here. Let's get to know each other again. And then it's more simple stuff than he knows how to do so that I'm working on my communication with him just so that we can build that trust. So it's been fun. We've got a lot of new bumpers that we've been testing out that we just launched last week. So that's been fun all summer having those to test out. And it's been insightful. He's not a chewing dog, but we had a rope that I really liked and took a call. And 10 minutes later, I looked down and he had torn a hole in that rope. So I thought if this dog will do this in 10 minutes, we're not gonna use this material.

03:12 Chris Jennings So he's been helping us on the R&D side too. Nice, you're gonna have to get him an office if he's gonna be doing full-time R&D, just throwing stuff in his office and let him poke around at it and chew at it if he wants to. That's hilarious. So you mentioned you've got new products out. You guys launched the new bumpers last week. Let's go ahead and introduce those to our audience. I know we're not on video here, but I've got one sitting right in front of me. I know you've got one probably sitting right in front of you. Let's walk through these new bumpers because they are, I just got them last week and I kind of opened the box and opened it up and it was just kind of like, oh, cool. Like they definitely have a different look to them and a little bit of a different feel for sure. We've been throwing one down the hallway a little bit for our executive editor, Eric Kessler. His dog, Buzz, is in the office every day and we've had one going down the office. Buzz has been chasing it. But let's get into the reasons why you did some of these things with this specific bumper and what they do.

04:08 Addison Edmonds Yeah, so you're gonna have to forgive me. I'm a little bit spacey on this and the reason why, like, well, number one, I've been in meetings all day, but with the bumper, like our marketing team got pretty frustrated with me going, all right, Addison, what are the three most important features for you? And I'm like, I can't call it. I mean, everything about it to me is what makes it the best bumper. So about 10 years ago, just working with Gunner before I started the company, but having plans to start Gunner kennels, I was training with Gunner and just using what most everybody uses going, man, this thing is, this is number one, not very durable. Number two, some of them, the teeth would puncture and get water in there and get mildewed. The ropes would always fray. There was just never best of the best and I was always frustrated using any training bumper that was on the market. So to me, I mean, I've got it written down on my goal board that was, I did in 2015, number six is man's best bumper. So this is something that's been like a long time in the works, I've just been a little bit distracted with getting the company started and other stuff going. But when we were able to start this project, to me, the number one thing was durability, where you're not supposed to, and this is a touchy subject because it's not supposed to be a chew toy, it's not supposed to be played tug of war with, like it's a training tool, but everybody will, or at least your weekend warrior like myself will leave a bumper in the yard with the dog for 45 minutes and come out and see it chewed up. And so that's what we're trying to negate was, it can still be chewed up by a dog that loves to chew if you give them long enough time. The goal is to not, you don't let them just play with this as a chew toy, but we were able to formulate a material that is very durable and still able to float, at least over halfway up. So we came up with one that was really durable, but it floated like an iceberg, the water, you could barely see it. And so we had to kind of mix and match and see what we liked best. So the durability part, and then the rope, number two, was my biggest frustration because if a dog, most of the time, if they're gonna go to chew something up, they're gonna go after that top part, they're gonna rip it off where it's inoperable, or those ropes, some of those, similar to like the Marine ropes, like they'll, they just get frayed and dry rotted over time. So I wanted to have a over the top rope, durable, and then something to wear. And you're seeing it now in some of these bumpers at the time it wasn't done, but where it's got a loop so you can run a carabiner through it so you can carry multiple bumpers or hang it up on a nail in a tree or whatever. So we had that, and then we started working on the body, and I'm thinking, I wish the dog, I wish we could kind of have a magnet for the dog to go towards the middle. Where we came was necking it down in the middle. So what we've seen is most of the time, they're gonna grab it in the middle. And then being able to add your feathers on the inside of the bumper, put the cap on, so that instead of using electrical tape or zip ties on the outside of your bumper in that last two sessions, you can kind of protect those feathers a little bit more while still the scent's gonna come through those holes. So with that all combined, we're pretty happy with the direction we're going. The development was one of the, I don't know how to, most seamless that we've had. I mean, we found a great manufacturer that was really easy to work with, and we would make changes on the fly or last second like we always do, and they were able to make it work. And so to me, I couldn't tell you top three features, but I think it's pretty cool that just from testing it, some people like throwing it with their finger in the middle of the hole on the top of the rope. Some people like the knob design. So we just put in half a knob on the bottom. Some people liked it shorter. Some people liked it longer. So we just made that option where you can pop the rope out and change the location of the clip

08:05 Chris Jennings to make it longer, shorter. So what exactly is the material that it's made of? Because you mentioned bumpers that you'd used in the past, dogs poke holes in them, or sometimes they're too hard. They just seem to just kind of rattle around in a dog's mouth. And this seems to be, it's super unique in a sense that it's almost like a, and I can't even describe it, almost like a dense EV foam type material that it's gonna take a lot to poke a tooth through this.

08:36 Addison Edmonds Yeah, I can't tell you the technical name for it. I'm supposed to know it, I just can't say it. It's soft, but durable.

08:45 Chris Jennings It's essentially, it's a proprietary foam rubber mix. Cool, yeah, that's a perfect description of it.

08:51 Addison Edmonds It's a harder foam, rubbery, yeah, that's cool. There's other bumpers that might be just foam. It doesn't absorb water. We poked it with a bunch of holes with a knife, put it underwater for two hours, and weighed it with a really tight tolerance scale, and it weighed the exact same, it just does not take on water. And so if it was all rubber, it would more like sink. If it was all foam, I don't think you'd have it dense enough. I think it wouldn't be as durable. So it's a unique blend, we're the only ones that are using it. And it's really interesting. I'd like to try to incorporate this material

09:31 Chris Jennings with other products that we're working on. You kept mentioning the rope, which, I mean, I understand why it's kind of a comparison to the ropes on more traditional bumpers, but I mean, it's not really a rope as much as it is like a super dense rubber material that feels like it's gonna be really, really durable, but also serves that purpose as the rope. How did you guys come up? How did you, was there an idea like, all right,

10:16 Addison Edmonds we're just gonna do away with that rope? Yeah, that was, to me, it's like the door on the kennel. Like it needs to be the cherry on top. It doesn't just need to be another part. Like the rope needs to be better than almost the whole body of the bumper. So I haven't found a dog that can tear up that rope yet. The rope that I originally wanted to use had more stretch in it, like more like a bungee. And it just, we couldn't figure it out to get it durable enough. Now we did just get new samples in that were testing that's more like a bungee cord, but more durable. So that was one of the core things for me was, and you feel this one, it's got a little bit of stretch to it. It's not like, has no elasticity, but just ease of use. You can throw it a bunch and not get tired, but that it is a pretty strong material. We've got some of our engineers put a bunch of ropes together, put a bumper on the inside of our kennel door, strapped it down to a truck, basically used this bumper rope to pull another truck in the parking lot, just to see how tough it is. And now I think they're wanting me to try to do it so we can get it on social or something,

11:27 Chris Jennings but yeah, it's pretty durable stuff. Yeah. And so you've got the holes in the middle and you'd mentioned, and I read through some of the literature that you guys had sent out. That's pretty innovative approach too, because I've seen bumpers that have caps where you can put feathers inside and things like that, but not where it's breathable. Like where there's actually, with this foam material, you don't have to worry about it sealing it up as much because it's going to float. So how did you guys come up with that? And then the cap itself is a little bit different as far as like, it's not, it kind of looks like it's threaded, but it's not. It just kind of slots in with like three or four

12:01 Addison Edmonds little ribs right there. Yeah. So that idea, they had designed, my engineers, they were showing me a design because I wanted the dog to be able to breathe easier. So basically we had to make that part hollow. And when I saw the first design, I was like, I bet we can put feathers in here. And so quickly 3D printed it and went and got some feathers from my freezer and lo and behold, it worked. So that was like, what's Bob Ross say? Happy, mistake or whatever. Yeah. That's a happy thing that we didn't originally set out to do, but it turned out to be like a really important feature that has a lot of utility to save the feathers. I mean, Luke are, he's over marketing. He just got a new dog and he sent a video of, you can take the rope off. So that was another thing is to be replaced. Well, if the dog was to tear it up, we can just send you a new rope and you can still use bumper, but he took the rope off, put feathers in it and threw it. The puppy's first retrieve he's ever done went right to the middle and brought it back. And I'm thinking if you do that for that dog long enough, it's only gonna know to bring it back in the middle. So he's got a much better chance for that proper hole, you know, through his whole life. It's just go for that middle. But then the drain plug or not the drain plug, just the plug, this one was touchy because again, this is not what it's used for. But if you left this with a dog by himself, the worst thing in the world would be if it was able to get this cap off and try to chew it up or choke on it. And so we've got some language in there about, that's why it's like, don't leave it with your dog. But the threads on it is just a press fit action. And then we've got one kind of keyhole slot so that you're always gonna have it right in the right spot. Now it's a good affirmative click in where you know it's in, but it's pretty hard to take out, especially on the newer ones, because we don't want a dog to be able to take it out that easy. And so what we've been kind of saying is if you're not using it for scent training, just don't use the cap unless you like that added weight to be able to throw it further. But yeah, it's the same material as the rope retainer little plug looking deal. But I think it's a nice touch

14:10 Chris Jennings and a nice kind of finish to the product. And how many different color variations? I only brought one down here, but I know I had a couple different ones in my office.

14:17 Addison Edmonds Right now it's three orange, white, and then black and white flasher. And through this process, and I think we sold out of the black and white flasher pretty quick, but we'll get this more in soon. But through this process, we learned more about a dog and what they see and how they see their different colors. And I think there's an education piece there because I think I knew pretty early on that orange was kind of a blind or hard for them to see. I don't think I fully realized that the white, the difference between white and a black and white, just for, so they can identify better on like, say up in the air over water, over grass. And so I'm planning on doing more colors because there's some other colors that they can see really good. But like I was at a dock diving competition and somebody was using an orange bumper for their dog. And I'm thinking if that's harder to see and you want your dog going after that bumper, it doesn't need to be orange. Yeah. Like the orange looks cool. So I think that's why most people buy it. I don't know if they fully understand the,

15:17 Chris Jennings just the education piece around how dogs see. Yeah, I always thought it was because the trainer can see it better. You know, that kind of hunter orange almost,

15:25 Addison Edmonds you know, kind of jumps out. Yeah, that's part of it. So the dog can't see it. That won't distinguish from like four or five other colors. So like, I think green up against green grass, the dog's not gonna be able to see it that well, but the trainer can see it well.

15:36 Chris Jennings So he can mark in case the dog can't. Oh, I guess if you're doing scent training too, that's probably a big deal. You don't want the dog to visually see it right off the bat. You want it to actually use its nose and hunt him down.

15:49 Addison Edmonds So there definitely, I'm sure is a valid. Oh, there's uses for it. Yeah, sure. I'm just saying maybe some people don't realize what the use is before they buy it.

15:58 Chris Jennings Yeah, that makes sense. So anything else that you want, you know, our audience to know about these new bumpers, and they are available now, you know, they became available last week. And obviously we're recording this early, so they're more than available. But anything else you want to add to, you know,

16:14 Addison Edmonds the bumper conversation? You know, I think we did a pretty good job with this product, but I really want feedback from everybody else, good, bad, or indifferent. I want feedback on if we, you know, I've got like five other accessories and other products in the bumper world that I want to do, but I don't know if that's what other people want. So like, if anybody gets our bumper and has an idea, or not an idea, I'm sorry, but if they want a smaller or a larger version or a different, anything about it, that's what I'm looking for. So feedback on it. I'm trying to think of anything else,

16:48 Chris Jennings but that's the first thing that came off the top of my head. Yeah, no, that's a good point. And you know, our listeners can go to dupodcast at ducks.org, shoot us an email, say, hey, here's some feedback for Addison. Here's what I want to see next. And we'll pass that along to him for sure. I'm glad you brought that up. And that's dupodcast at ducks.org. You mentioned something before we came on air. You mentioned that you have some new flyway series, kennels coming out. You want to go ahead and elaborate on that? What's the timing on that?

17:15 Addison Edmonds Can we kind of spill the beans here on the podcast? Sure. So marketing keeps me out of a lot of this. And so I'm going to be reading a text message that I got like an hour ago.

17:26 Chris Jennings I like it.

17:26 Addison Edmonds This is breaking news. This is like Emily, my wife, she's the one that came up with the flyway series or whole marketing team and ops and everybody else executes, but the flyway series is going to be the Atlantic flyway. It's the, I don't know if I'm supposed to be saying this, but it's the Susquehanna flats collection pay tribute to the story, history, and unique experience of the area and the Atlantic flyway. It's our fourth flyway series drop. All sizes of the kennels and food crates will be available in a certain color. I probably can't tell, say that. Well, I guess I can't, if she wrote this, it's a rich chocolate brown color. And it kind of the inspiration behind that's the muddy river color that comes through the Chesapeake Bay. The launch is August 17th, but you can text the word flyway to 82241 to get 24 hour early access. And with the last one, the last limited edition we did, the midnight edition we sold out of intermediates in 24 hours. So I guess that's why they told me to say, if you want early access, but it's, what's really funny about this flyway idea is Emily, my wife, I mean, she's kind of helped me from the start, co-founder and first one she did was buy me the Mississippi flyway. And the next one was Los Banos on the Pacific. And then the central was Anahuac. Well, Los Banos, Anahuac and Bayoumita, which not to you and me, but those are three really easy to mispronounce words. Yeah. I mean, I remember- And then you drew Susquehanna in there. Yeah, now it's Susquehanna. So it's like a qualification. It's got to be really hard to say. Yeah. I remember the first meeting I was in with the Los Banos. I was like, I'm sorry guys, but it's Los Banos. They're like, no, you're an idiot. That's not how it is. But yeah, so we're excited about that. That's August 17th. I think that'll go well. We've doubled our order every year because we sell out so quickly on those limited editions. So we're trying to get it more dialed in to where we can actually supply the demand and connect with people about that area and that region. I think it's cool storytelling and brand building and just way to honor different areas of the flyways. But we donate a portion of the proceeds to the local chapter. I think that one's the Madison Mitchell chapter. And so that's always a nice bonus is that proceeds are going to local chapters of Ducks

19:54 Chris Jennings Unlimited. Yeah, no, that's awesome. And actually, while you've got the text message up in front of you, read that one more time so that people know what to text. You mentioned it, but I think if you just read it one more time, maybe somebody has an opportunity to jot it down.

20:09 Addison Edmonds Yep, the public launch is August 17th. But if you text the word flyway, just F-L-Y-W-A-Y to 82241, you get 24-hour early access.

20:23 Chris Jennings Awesome, perfect. And the first person to spell Susquehanna correctly in that text, no, I'm just kidding. That's right. Yeah. So are you guys planning on additional flyway series because these have been super popular. Like you said, it's a great way for your customers to relate not only to your products, but also to some areas that maybe they hold true to their heart as far as Susquehanna. All the areas that you mentioned, especially the Chesapeake Bay region, has such a rich waterfowling history. I think that was a fantastic choice on your part. So you guys are planning on continuing this series.

20:59 Addison Edmonds Yeah, so this will be like completing the four flyways, excuse me, but next year could be another Mississippi or a Central. Like the response on the Anahuac was really cool. I mean, we had a launch party at the Yeti store in Houston. And we had people drive from all over being like, the story that you told about this area was my childhood. And it reminded me of my grandfather. And it's like really cool because what they'll do is they'll go and find not local celebrities, but like local influential people in that world. So up in the Chesapeake Bay, there's a lot of decoy carvers. And we got to build some relationships with them and kind of tell their story and also just kind of getting the inspiration from colors of that area. So to my knowledge, we're still planning on doing that, and along with some other newer limited edition

21:48 Chris Jennings stuff in the coming years. Very cool. Awesome. Well, hey, Addison, this has been a great conversation on all the new Gunner products. I mean, I think people are excited about it, especially an opportunity to get a first crack at 24 hours before you release. I mean, I think that's pretty cool. I'm sure you'll announce that other places, but cool that you took the opportunity on the D-Podcast to reach out to our listeners to see if they want to get that first shot. That's been great. But yeah, no, this is fantastic. And as always, I'm sure we'll have you on the podcast again here probably within a couple of months. Yeah, no, thanks for having me. That was great. I'd like to thank my guest, Addison Edmonds, the founder of Gunner Kennels, for joining me today and talking about new bumpers and potentially some awesome opportunities to be first in the door on a new Flyaway series, Kennel and other accessories. I'd like to thank our producer, Chris Isaac, for putting the show together and getting out to you. And I'd like to thank you, the listener, for joining us on the D-Podcast and supporting wetlands conservation.