Ducks Unlimited Podcast

VO: 00:00

You're tuned in to the Ducks Unlimited Podcast. Conserving wetlands, restoring habitat, and working to fill the skies with waterfowl today, tomorrow, and forever. From field tested hunting insights to the biggest conservation wins across North America, This is your front row seat to wetlands conservation in action. The DU Podcast is proudly sponsored by Bird Dog Whiskey and Cocktails. Whether you're wrapping up a hunt with your best friend or kicking back with your crew, Bird Dog brings award winning flavor to every moment.

VO: 00:31

Enjoy responsibly.

Wade Shoemaker: 00:40

Hey, folks. Welcome back. I'm your host, Wade Shoemaker. And today, I'm here with a fellow Louisianan, I guess is a good way to put that, and an owner of a company that is that that has grown. And I and I think I may have read this wrong.

Wade Shoemaker: 00:54

I may have written this down wrong, Gabe. Like, 500% four to 500% over the last year. Like, not Yeah. Course of the company, like, year. So that is that's nuts, dude.

Wade Shoemaker: 01:07

Like, wild. So mister Gabe Fontenot owns, runs a company that's grown four to 500% in a year. He loves to hunt. He loves the outdoors, and he decided to start running with a DEET free insect repellent. Gabe, owner founder of Hunt Repellent.

Wade Shoemaker: 01:27

Dude, good to meet you. Good for these folks to meet you. Tell us tell us about yourself, man. Like, where where are you from?

Gabe Fontenot: 01:33

Yeah. Yeah. Well, thanks for having us having me on, Wade. Good to see you again. Yeah, man.

Gabe Fontenot: 01:38

We we first met over there in Memphis at Ducks, but

Wade Shoemaker: 01:42

Yeah.

Gabe Fontenot: 01:43

Yeah. My name is Gabe Fonton. I'm originally from Elton, Louisiana, which is in between Lafayette and Lake Charles, if you're familiar with Louisiana geography. And I grew up here and moved to Lake Charles, went to McNeese University and lived there for

Wade Shoemaker: 02:01

Go Pokes,

Gabe Fontenot: 02:01

Yeah, from Go Pokes. Lived there for for fourteen years and started Hunt originally in Lake Charles out of the the business incubator at McNeese, which which was pretty cool with a team of interns who all still now work for Hunt full time, so we're super excited to have them since they were with us in the beginning. But lived in Lake Charles for, you know, over a decade, and now I'm back Louisiana, which is in Jeff Davis Parish, where all my family's from, and it's great to be back, it's God's country in my opinion, I love being out here, but yeah.

Wade Shoemaker: 02:43

Yeah. No. It's good, dude. And I mean, Jeff Parish, for people that don't, that's Jefferson Parish. And and I would say, if I'm wrong, I may be wrong, but Southwest Louisiana would be a really good way to put that.

Wade Shoemaker: 02:54

Right? Like, Southwestern over there toward is it Grand Isle that's over there? But you're it's further west. Right?

Gabe Fontenot: 03:00

No. So we're gonna we're yeah. We're way further further west. So closer to like Lafayette area.

Wade Shoemaker: 03:06

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Gabe Fontenot: 03:08

So like Lafayette, Jennings area, Ikea So closer to

Wade Shoemaker: 03:10

Lafayette than Lake Charles.

Gabe Fontenot: 03:12

It is like smack in the middle of of both. Yeah.

Wade Shoemaker: 03:15

Okay. Okay.

Gabe Fontenot: 03:16

Both are about forty minutes either direction from where we're Okay. But it's the the great prairie lands of Louisiana. So Yeah. It's nothing but rice fields and you can you can see it all the way to the horizon. It's it's actually kinda wild.

Gabe Fontenot: 03:31

Which I really like it. That's cool.

Wade Shoemaker: 03:34

It's cool, man. It's the only it's the only place in Louisiana you feel like that. You know? Like, there's a lot of open scout, but there's a lot it's not I think that's about the only place that actually is truly that way, you know?

Gabe Fontenot: 03:43

Yeah. Yeah. And if you you head north, you know, just a few miles north, you'll you'll start getting to, you know, heavy woods and more wooded areas, but Jeff Davis Parish as a whole, it's a great prairie land. Yeah. Which is why it was migrated to in the first place by the French settlers to farm.

Wade Shoemaker: 04:03

We can take some pens out, like write notes. I'm down for a history lesson, dude. You can do it, you know? I love it. If you go a little further down I-ten, there's a town that I and I live here.

Wade Shoemaker: 04:16

I live in the north part, right, in Northern Louisiana. But I always thought that this town was called Iowa, Louisiana. And I was like, how do you know, it's not. It's Ioway? That Yeah.

Gabe Fontenot: 04:29

Ioway. Ioway. Highway is like the the first town you're gonna get into to get into Calcasieu Parish. So it's a good divider between between Jeff Davis and Calcasieu. Yeah.

Wade Shoemaker: 04:43

Yeah. That's cool. I just it's just a wild way because I mean, you know, you grow up knowing the state and it's like, oh, yeah, that's not the same thing. So Yeah. So Jefferson Parish, smack between Lake Charles and Lafayette and Elton, very cool thing.

Wade Shoemaker: 04:58

Dude, random, but what what's your favorite color?

Gabe Fontenot: 05:01

Green, actually. Green.

Wade Shoemaker: 05:02

Okay.

Gabe Fontenot: 05:03

Yeah. It kinda all just worked out that way, but green's always been my favorite color.

Wade Shoemaker: 05:06

Yeah. Why? Like, do you have a why? I don't. If you ask me that question.

Gabe Fontenot: 05:10

Just Not really. I just I like green. Like, I like anything green.

Wade Shoemaker: 05:14

Yeah.

Gabe Fontenot: 05:15

I feel like my wardrobe's all green now. Well, for two reasons, one like the color, and second, it's the company color. It's always been green, so I guess that's probably why Hunt's color is green too, if I had to It

Wade Shoemaker: 05:30

fits, dude. It does. Yeah. Yeah, Thank dude. I mean, would say I wanna have a really good idea of what your favorite thing to hunt is, but then the conversation we had before this, I'm not real sure anymore.

Wade Shoemaker: 05:44

So like, what would be your what's your favorite thing to hunt as

Gabe Fontenot: 05:48

Man, I really being where we're from here, all the rice fields, teal hunting is is very special to our community. Mhmm. That's what we grew up doing, you know, all my family was rice farmers growing up, so I always had access to hunting rice fields, and it was just, till season here is it's crazy. Like, you clean those birds, you're finding nothing but rice in their in their throats, you know? Yeah.

Gabe Fontenot: 06:14

And so I love teal hunting. I like how fast it is, I like it's not blistering cold, the weather's usually not too nasty. It's a little warm usually, and there's a lot of mosquitoes out, but you know, that's good for business. But yeah, I always like till hunting, and so much so we actually started a till festival for open day of till season here in Elton. That's cool.

Gabe Fontenot: 06:34

This year's gonna be our second year, we did it last year, and it was the first year we did it, and we really didn't know what we were gonna expect, we were doing free bird cleaning, we had some bands, and we ended up getting like over 500 people that were there, all from different parts of the state and out of state, that were hunting in in the parish. And we're excited to do it on September 19 again, and doubled down on it and made it that much bigger.

Wade Shoemaker: 06:56

That is very cool, dude.

Gabe Fontenot: 06:57

Yeah. I love that.

Wade Shoemaker: 06:59

I've been down, you know, I've hunted over like around the Hackberry area. I hunted in Welsh a long time ago in Actually, funny story, did that, hung out with him. We shot a few teal. It rice was field. We actually just sat on the levee.

Wade Shoemaker: 07:15

We didn't sit on a blind. We just kinda hung out on the levee. And when it was over, I went over toward Laccine, and there are Laccine Hunt Clubs over there, but I wasn't going to hunt. I'm definitely not you know, I'm not in I wasn't in that sect of people yet, but Bill Daniels is from that area, and I bought my first spec call from Bill in his shop, you know, over there. I know he was there, we just met up and done it.

Wade Shoemaker: 07:39

Very cool deal. But anyway, I'll never forget that. And Bill, he's this guy, as far as the spec hunting world goes, and as far as I'm concerned, legendary, you know? Mhmm. But anyway, right there up the road from you.

Gabe Fontenot: 07:51

Yeah. Yeah. We grew up sitting on the levee on a bucket Yeah. In our in our tennis shoes shooting tail. Yeah.

Gabe Fontenot: 07:57

Mean, was Too hot. It was nothing. Yeah. And well, you really didn't need them if you had a dog and, you know, you weren't really throwing decoys or anything else out. Was just shoot them and go.

Wade Shoemaker: 08:05

It was so fast.

Gabe Fontenot: 08:06

We could hunt and be at school, be at school, you know, before the bell rang. So special, special place growing up.

Wade Shoemaker: 08:14

That is. That's cool, man. And it's no pressure. Like, there's no like, it's just go and hunt and then leave. There's nothing like, oh, you mess this up.

Wade Shoemaker: 08:21

Like, no, dude, they're coming, or they're not.

Gabe Fontenot: 08:22

Yeah. It's easy. You wake up, you know, twenty minutes before shooting time and you get out there and it's I'm spoiled. I went on a few public land hunts with some buddies when I first went to Lake Charles when I moved there, I was like, guys, like, you know, respect to respect to those guys who go and get it. But I was like, man, like, I gotta bring you back home, like, I'm gonna

Wade Shoemaker: 08:41

spoil Yeah. So you have civilized people do this, man.

Gabe Fontenot: 08:47

But, you know, they a different variety of birds and it's a completely different hunt, so teach Oh, their

Wade Shoemaker: 08:53

for sure. For sure. I like that. So I'm gonna go ahead and take a wild guess and your favorite place to hunt is probably home.

Gabe Fontenot: 08:58

Yeah, here in Pine Island, man.

Wade Shoemaker: 09:00

Love that, man.

Gabe Fontenot: 09:00

It's great. It's great. We got a 100 year old duck camp that the company actually has, and we've been doing all kinds of improvements to it and getting it ready for till season.

Wade Shoemaker: 09:09

On Pine Island?

Gabe Fontenot: 09:10

Yeah, it's in Pine Island, it's about ten minutes away from from the blinds, you just take the side by side and Yeah. I love it out there. It's beautiful, it's calm, it's always so windy because of the there's really no trees, you know, you're you're in a prairie, so I like how there's always a breeze, and it's cool, man. We we just built a big deck that you can go up on, skeet shoot, all those things that's kind of elevated, kind of like observation deck. Yeah.

Gabe Fontenot: 09:38

So that's that's new for this season. We're excited to be hosting a bunch of people this year.

Wade Shoemaker: 09:42

And you said, I didn't mean to get off on all on, but I want to, like, you said it's a 100 year old camp, the company, like, has that been in your family for a very long time? No. What's the deal there?

Gabe Fontenot: 09:53

It was another family. It's actually the family that we do the the Thiel Fest with had had it. It's been on their farm for years, and we ended up getting it beginning of last year for for the season, and we've just been doing some improvements and and getting it, you know, able to host and have people over and have a good time and everything else. But the age of it is it's a 100 years old, so it's pretty cool.

Wade Shoemaker: 10:19

Do you know if their family's owned it the whole time? Or has it just been a thing where it's just kind of swapped hands to the

Gabe Fontenot: 10:24

years? I believe so. I would say probably for like the last seventy years they have owned it.

Wade Shoemaker: 10:30

Yeah. And this is just weird, Brad. This is my curiosity. I'm sorry if anybody doesn't

Gabe Fontenot: 10:34

care This about

Wade Shoemaker: 10:35

is not the notes. But like, is it was it a hunting was it designed and built for a hunting camp, or was it like somebody's house at some point and

Gabe Fontenot: 10:44

It was actually for for sharecroppers.

Wade Shoemaker: 10:46

Okay. Okay.

Gabe Fontenot: 10:48

So for sharecroppers, that's where they that was their house. It was on on the farm. It's a, you know, shotgun style old old house that is in now, you know, a duck camp. So pretty cool.

Wade Shoemaker: 11:00

Yeah. No, that's sick. I love I love old, like, it's just been there forever, you know? And I just, I love that. And you obviously are by some train tracks, so that's even better, you know?

Wade Shoemaker: 11:11

Not really, I just think it's cool. So where your office, is it in Jefferson Parish?

Gabe Fontenot: 11:17

Yeah, so it's in Elton, so it's on Main Street. So I have Highway 90 right to my back, and then I have the railroad right to my front technically in our facility here.

Wade Shoemaker: 11:29

Is that the KCS or is that like BNSF or do you know what UP?

Gabe Fontenot: 11:33

I don't know who it is right now, but we could probably, if I had to count them throughout the day, it's probably like nine passes through a workday. Nice. Which is good, you know? The economy's moving, so we'll take it.

Wade Shoemaker: 11:45

Sorry, none of that matters. I just have questions. I'm just, you know, whatever. Sorry, I'm gonna move on because apparently I'm on tangents today. But hunt, let's get to hunt, dude.

Wade Shoemaker: 11:53

Like, get some info on it. I like to know how things kinda came to be, and there's obviously that business hopper you talked about at McNeese, but the idea of it. Right? Like, not necessarily like the things after sort of moving, but was this built something was it something from nothing? Was it something created because a solution was needed, you know, where we live kind of deal?

Wade Shoemaker: 12:18

You know, like, or was it like building a better version of something that already existed? And I feel like it's kind of along those lines. It could be for a lot of different reasons. And I asked that question from the perspective of I look at Ducks Unlimited as an answer, and the answer of that one is the why is easy, and it's like you can serve one resource to create a better future for another. That's what we do, you know?

Wade Shoemaker: 12:40

And for you, I wanna know, because I feel like there's probably a lot of different directions this thing could've went, and you took it the way you did, and it's worked Yeah.

Gabe Fontenot: 12:50

Yeah. So there's a few layers to to to hunt, and everything has kinda led up to it. I'll start off by saying I'm allergic to mosquitoes, so I've always dealt with mosquitoes and insect repellent my whole life, right? And I know a few people that are Yeah, that are allergic. Yeah, but there's a few people that I know that are allergic, and that are way more prone to insect bites than others, but yeah,

Wade Shoemaker: 13:12

grew up

Gabe Fontenot: 13:13

always dealing with that, and unfortunately, using the traditional repellents that have been in the market forever, right, the legacy products. It

Wade Shoemaker: 13:22

was Good way to put three it.

Gabe Fontenot: 13:23

Yeah, was three years ago. I was actually hunting with my buddy James Hovey, we were hunting in Cameron, right? Mhmm. He had a lease down there, it big duck season.

Wade Shoemaker: 13:33

My buddy, how big is? Yeah,

Gabe Fontenot: 13:36

yeah, it's fun. I mean, it's a good time. We go to Bucks and Ducks, and then go to the Blonde, you know? Yeah. It's a good time, it's a good time.

Gabe Fontenot: 13:43

Yeah. But we were out hunting and the mosquitoes were particularly bad that morning down there in the marsh, and I remember putting on, you know, a can of insect repellent that everyone, you know, has used and grown up with, And I had to like watch where my gun was right there because you know, it'll it'll eat away at all of your firearm and then you gotta watch out because it gets on your lips, makes your lips numb. Just remember putting it on and be like, man, like, why haven't we done anything in this space with everyone who's like conscious about what they're putting on their skin, what ingredients are in their products, everything that you've seen with sunscreen, skincare, everything. Said like, why are we still using this this same product that I was using when I was, know, five years old? Like, and it sucks, like nobody enjoys it, no one ever enjoys it.

Gabe Fontenot: 14:33

And that's what kind of started the whole thought process of it, and the original thought of Hunt was completely different. It was actually gonna be like a French name, it was gonna be a lot of like essential oils and everything else. But what we found is like we really wanna target it, we really wanna target the hunters, people that, you know, want no scent people that are using it every single day, because when you think of who's using insect repellent the most, it's gonna be people that are outside the most, and I can't think of any other demographic of people that are outside more than people that are, you know, hunting, fishing, camping, all those things. And that's where we would always use the majority of our insect repellent too, and growing up, you know, in a hunting family, it all seemed to be a fit. So decided, hey, this is what we're gonna do, we're gonna figure it out, which really is like, you know, a David and Goliath story in the sense of everything that's a repellent, that's an actual repellent is all registered and approved by the EPA, right?

Gabe Fontenot: 15:34

So everything that we have has a formulation that's Hunt's formulation. So it is our product, it's our IP, it's our formulation, everything. So it was an uphill battle trying to get all of this approved by the EPA, really in a timely manner. Right? It happened sooner than it it happened soon for us.

Gabe Fontenot: 15:57

It should have probably happened a little bit longer. I guess we got lucky in the queue of where we were on the registration status, but started that process, that took about two years to wait to get to per registration and working on formulations, different prototypes, everything else to really get it to what we wanted it to be. And once we got that, once we got our, you know, our formulation approved by the EPA and all of our marketing claims, which that's through the federal government, right? Washington DC, you're getting that approved. Once you get it approved by the feds, you have to then go and get it all registered with all 50 states, if you wanna sell in all 50 states.

Gabe Fontenot: 16:34

So each state's very different, California is different from Louisiana, you know, Louisiana is different from New York. So all of your marketing claims, everything, anything that our company says is is approved by the Environmental Protection Agency, which is awesome, which, you know, the first question we always get with our repellent is, does it work? I'm like, it's been tested in the lab. Everything we say as far as our protection claims, everything is, it's it's like a pharmaceutical most in the sense of just how regulated the product is itself. Yeah.

Gabe Fontenot: 17:05

So we started in the seed center. So we're working in the seed center. We had a team of three interns. We had no product yet. We had, you know, what we wanted the company name to be, what we wanted to look like, and we built it from the ground up.

Gabe Fontenot: 17:20

We built the whole company before we had a product. So that was the marketing, the branding, the socials, what our strategies were, everything. We built the company completely backwards, to be honest.

Wade Shoemaker: 17:32

That's good. We didn't

Gabe Fontenot: 17:33

have a product yet, you know? We were waiting and waiting and waiting with the government. So two years passed by, we finally got approval on on our product, which our first one we ever got approved on, which was our first product was lotion. Yeah. It's in this box, you know, a little tube of lotion, fourteen hours of protection.

Gabe Fontenot: 17:51

It's the highest protection you can buy, like fourteen hours completely scent free. It's awesome. When you're in the blind, you put it on your ears, hands, all that's very controlled. You're not worried about getting it anywhere you don't want to get it. That's why I like it how controlled it is.

Gabe Fontenot: 18:05

Also great for kids because kids don't like to be sprayed with things. So we got that first, we launched it out of the seed center directly just online at first while we're waiting for our spray to get approved. Once that got approved, we then, you know, married the two together, and then months later we introduced our our wipes to be in the product line. Within a year, right? All those were approved and launched in a year.

Gabe Fontenot: 18:30

But after we launched in the Seed Center, quickly realized, hey, like, we're gonna need a lot of room, we have to put a lot of pallets and products, and you know, the Seed Center at McNeese, it's a great business incubator, we had plenty of space and it did everything we needed to do, especially with our interns, who are all now, like I said, full time employees at Hunt. But we started the search, hey, where are we gonna put, you know, warehouse at distribution and all that, because we wanted to still keep all that in house, like Hunt still everything in house. And so we were looking in Lake Charles, looking around, and it didn't really feel right. The property I saw, it was in Elton, was back home, it all kinda just fell together. Ended up getting it, it's a 8,000 square facility.

Gabe Fontenot: 19:15

We completely remodeled it, and that's the the hub of all of Hunt now. It's all of our marketing, our sales, our distribution, packaging, accounting, everything's done out of here by by our team. So we have six people right now. We're gonna be hiring two more, so we'll have eight pretty soon. But yeah, it's been off to the races.

Gabe Fontenot: 19:35

So we we run our company in two different channels. You have our our, you know, direct to consumer, which is our website, as well as Amazon, which we love, because we like to have that that interaction with our customers Yeah. Directly from us. And then the other side of the business is our b to b side, which we have one is one of the guys is one of our interns, and the other one is someone that we were able to recruit from another company, two rock stars, and they're growing that segmentation from, you know, zero to now we're in 525 locations, and we are on the onboarding process and EDI capabilities with Academy, and so that's gonna be happening very soon. That's big.

Gabe Fontenot: 20:18

Within, you know, September timeframe, it'll be the initial order, and so we'll probably fill that in January, as well as a few other bigger stores that we have in the pipeline, so we'll finish this summer with a thousand retail locations within a year, as well as everything that's online and everything that's moving, so it's been a very fast growth it's It's been been awesome, man. And I love how much people, they just they resonate with the brand, they love the brand. I've never seen in my life until now, people take pictures with their can of bug spray.

Wade Shoemaker: 20:55

Yeah. And

Gabe Fontenot: 20:56

they're proud to have it. Yeah, You know, they go catch a big fish or they they kill a string of ducks and they have their their spray or their lotion or even their hat right next to it, like, you know, it's it reminds me of how everyone was proud to have a Turtle Box and a Yeti. Yeah. It's like, too, you know, the speakers were there before, Turtle Box, ice chests were there before, Yeti, bug spray was has been here before us.

Wade Shoemaker: 21:20

Yeah.

Gabe Fontenot: 21:21

But just like them, I believe we have a better product and we do it better and people resonate with it. It's awesome to see. It's awesome

Wade Shoemaker: 21:28

to That's cool, dude. That Yeah. So so like, I wanna back up to one thing you mentioned, being allergic to mosquitoes. And like and I feel like that really was the thing that just I I can't understand that. I can't fathom that, especially where you're at, you know, because there's certain places, certain times of the year, like, especially where we live when the sun goes down, like, you just go inside.

Wade Shoemaker: 21:53

Like, there's no like Yeah. There's no like, you know, we'll strategize if they get bad if they get bad. Like, it's gonna get bad, and and it's the same like you're till hunting on the levee in a rice field. Terrible. You know?

Wade Shoemaker: 22:05

Like, whether it's a bayou, cypress break, whatever it is, like, before the cold front comes through, if they're standing water, especially down where you're I mean, where I'm at for sure, but definitely where you're at, like, these bugs are gonna make you regret it, and it sounds like you might get put in the hospital. You know? Like, don't know. Like, what does that look like?

Gabe Fontenot: 22:23

I don't know at extreme it would have to be to be put in the hospital or have like severe allergic reaction, but if I get bit, it just it it pretty much like whelps up and it itches non non nonstop.

Wade Shoemaker: 22:33

It just goes bad.

Gabe Fontenot: 22:35

Yeah. So when I was a kid, always had like scabs on my legs and everything because I'd pick pick pick pick

Wade Shoemaker: 22:39

at it. Oh, of course you would. Yeah.

Gabe Fontenot: 22:40

Yeah. Is so bad, Which shows a lot of people like that. Some people are more drawn to mosquitoes than other. Of course, they're gonna bite everybody, but Yeah.

Wade Shoemaker: 22:48

Yeah. Yeah.

Gabe Fontenot: 22:49

It's all about your o two, how much o two your body emits, because that's where that's where mosquitoes hone in, right?

Wade Shoemaker: 22:57

I had no idea.

Gabe Fontenot: 22:58

That's where they see you. So what our product basically does is it it camouflages your o two from mosquitoes. So they'll still fly by you, they might bump into you, but they're not going to bite you because they don't really they don't know you're there technically. That's how the science of it works. Like DEET, a DEET based product, which is horrible for, know, your health and and it's banned in a lot of countries.

Gabe Fontenot: 23:26

Was developed by the United States Army for the Second World War, like it's just old prehistoric, nasty chemical, right? That repels mosquitoes. They're like, this stuff is gross. We're out of here. Right?

Gabe Fontenot: 23:38

Yeah. So ours make basically camouflages you, which is a nice play on the whole hunt. Right?

Wade Shoemaker: 23:44

No. That is that's very cool, man. I love that. I Mhmm. You mentioned that tears your gear up, dude.

Wade Shoemaker: 23:49

I didn't know it did that. And I was probably I'd bought a matter of fact, my mom bought this gun for me, and it my first real duck hunting gun. You know? And it was max four, I think, or max five. I don't remember now, but it was one of those.

Wade Shoemaker: 24:08

And I went I used it first day ever, kill season. You know, obviously, we're covered in mosquito dope or whatever you wanna call it, you know? And I got done hunting, looked at my gun and the forearm and where you grab the butt, where you grab it to hold it, it's the buttstock or whatever. Dude, it was like one color. It was that yellow base color, whatever it is, and I didn't know what went on.

Wade Shoemaker: 24:34

I was like, Oh my God, what happened? Anyway, my barrel was a little bit messed up because I'd hold it while it's sitting on the ground, I'm just like, What is going on? Then I realized later, it had eaten it away in one day, not over the course. I guess I sprayed a bunch of it, I don't know. But I'd never seen that before, so to be able to have something like that that's not gonna do that to your stuff, or your skin, or whatever you're breathing in, that's a huge, huge win.

Wade Shoemaker: 24:59

Yeah, it's very cool, man.

Gabe Fontenot: 25:03

Side by sides too, like you'll see and hear people with the, you know, their side by sides, the plastic gets all ate up steering wheel everywhere from from that, as well as like the leather on the seats, boat leather. I mean, cameras, I've talked to so many people that are like, you know, outdoor photography or filmmaking.

Wade Shoemaker: 25:19

It will do it.

Gabe Fontenot: 25:19

And their cameras, their lenses get eaten up because of what they're using.

Wade Shoemaker: 25:24

It's that rubber stuff on, like the grips, the grippy stuff for your and would argue that it probably at some point would eat away at the weather sealing on those things too. I could be totally wrong. That's that's definitely just a guess. But the way it eats away at stuff, I bet it I bet it would. Well, look, after you made the decision to to do this, like after you made the decision, you know, like, I want stuff that's better for us.

Wade Shoemaker: 25:46

I I want stuff that allows me not to be bitten anymore. Mhmm. Did you ever run into people that thought like you might be crazy for going into that kinda that niche of things? Like folks like, dude, you know somebody makes this already, you know, or whatever.

Gabe Fontenot: 26:01

Or how are gonna compete with the big guys or, you know, does it work or it, you know, I'll even hear people say that, you know, I've I've heard someone say it doesn't work before and like, man, all the science proves it does. Yeah. It's like saying Tylenol doesn't work like, you know, it's going to work. But yeah, people people definitely thought we were crazy. And it was definitely a bold idea.

Gabe Fontenot: 26:23

And, you know, some of the, you know, Johnson and Johnson owns the mosquito repellent industry, and they're a huge conglomerate, right? So like I said, David and Goliath, like we're gonna go after them and make it happen, but we knew we could make do it better, But definitely heard it, and I was working, my background, I was in corporate America, really my whole career, and I was doing both while building Hunt. Just exited my corporate job in January. Yeah, just exited in January. So, you know, now I guess you could say I'm a real entrepreneur.

Gabe Fontenot: 26:59

But yeah, I remember when I was told people I was gonna leave my my corporate job, like you are insane. What are you doing?

Wade Shoemaker: 27:07

It's a good one, I guess.

Gabe Fontenot: 27:09

Yeah. Was it was a great job. It was a great job.

Wade Shoemaker: 27:12

I love the I love the because because I know it gets every now like, damn, that would been fun.

Gabe Fontenot: 27:17

Yeah. It was a good job. But you know, my focus at that job was all business to business sales. I ran sales teams and now you see like Hunt, like that's where we're doing really well at. So I got to use those skills and train the guys and now they're rock stars.

Gabe Fontenot: 27:33

Put them up against anybody. Yeah.

Wade Shoemaker: 27:35

That is so cool, dude. I dig that. I love hearing about it. I love that it happened. I love that people thought, you know, not a good idea, and now they see that it was not a bad one.

Wade Shoemaker: 27:46

You know? Mhmm. Yeah. So now they're over the whole you're crazy thing. Like the people that doubted it, there's no way to doubt it.

Wade Shoemaker: 27:52

Like, they gotta see the vision. And at this point, if they don't They're wearing hunt shirts. No? That's right. You know?

Wade Shoemaker: 27:57

And and if they don't see if there's people that are still saying, ah, you know, it's probably because they just don't wanna see it. Right? Mhmm. Like, so, you know, so what do you what do you think? And I know it says a lot of different things, and maybe you've already answered this, but I wanna give you a chance to answer it directly.

Wade Shoemaker: 28:11

Like, what do you think got you to this point? Because growth growth like this doesn't happen because you got lucky. Right? Like, you look at it as this is the perfect product. Is it the people involved within the hunt brand?

Wade Shoemaker: 28:26

Is it the people involved, you know, around outside the hunt brand? Mhmm. You know, could it be that you just got really good taste and the color green goes well? Like, because the can is cool. Right?

Wade Shoemaker: 28:37

Like, it is a cool look. It's very, like, aesthetically pleasing. Like, it's nice. It's clean. You know, did you just make a cool can and people bought it or or you know what?

Gabe Fontenot: 28:50

No. I think there's a lot to attribute to that. I do think the green looks really good. Does. It looks like a, you know, a high end brand that that you should have and carry.

Gabe Fontenot: 29:05

It feels good in your hand. It's a matte finish, right? All those little details, but I think Hunt's secret to success and this this early success is, one, I mean, the support of our community and everyone in the state of Louisiana. I mean, even our governor got got in on hunt and made a video and everything.

Wade Shoemaker: 29:23

I think I saw that. I think I saw that.

Gabe Fontenot: 29:25

Yeah, you know, just wild things like that, I'm going, you invited Hunt to come gator hunting with him in two weeks.

Wade Shoemaker: 29:30

That's cool.

Gabe Fontenot: 29:31

You know, in what world? So the community and the support from our state has been incredible, like all of the media and just the story of it that people love telling over and over again. That was a piece of it. The right people, man. We have a young team.

Gabe Fontenot: 29:49

They they know what the the consumer wants, they know how, you know, how to market. So I give a lot of credit to them. And just the culture we have, like the culture, I know that's pretty cliche to say, but

Wade Shoemaker: 30:00

No.

Gabe Fontenot: 30:01

We have a very, very high sense of urgency, it's actually on the wall in the warehouse of everything we do, because if we don't do it now our competitors will, so

Wade Shoemaker: 30:09

What's say on the wall? I mean, it's not just the word urgency.

Gabe Fontenot: 30:12

Sense of urgency.

Wade Shoemaker: 30:14

Sense of urgency, okay.

Gabe Fontenot: 30:15

Yeah, so that's real big on the wall, so we're very urgent, but we care a lot about the details, we care about how, you know, things are packaged to our customer, how it arrives in a box, what does the, you know, experience online look like to them, it's just complete obsession over a customer and their experience with getting the brand, because you can really get one shot to earn that customer for life when they first purchase the bottle, the can, or or the, you know, the the the wipes, whatever it is, you get one shot to win them over, because if it doesn't perform, or the experience wasn't great for them, you know, you're just gonna be like the other guys that are in the industry. So I'm gonna say the people, man. It's the people, and a lot of hard work went into it, we had a lot of time to prepare for, you know, the launch of the products and everything. It's just, you know, the culture, the culture of the people, how they get after it. Like they they're the company, right?

Gabe Fontenot: 31:12

I the honor of getting to speak about the company and sitting here and, my role, but they're the rock stars, absolutely. And product speaks for itself too, mean, it's an awesome product, awesome product.

Wade Shoemaker: 31:27

That's cool.

Gabe Fontenot: 31:28

Nothing like it.

Wade Shoemaker: 31:29

You mentioned earlier you kinda built the business backwards, and I think that probably has a lot to do with how you guys have been able to scale. Right? Like you had the foundation there. You just knew the product to throw it out, you know?

Gabe Fontenot: 31:40

Yeah. Yeah. We Backwards. Built

Wade Shoemaker: 31:42

And I think that's cool. I mean, built you had your systems in place before you tried to grow, you know? Yeah. And that's a that's a very important thing that a lot of people don't. It's not it's not as that's not a very widespread thing, you know?

Wade Shoemaker: 31:54

Normally, it's just like product, what do we do now? You know?

Gabe Fontenot: 31:57

Yeah. Yeah. That's great. Product was the last piece of the puzzle.

Wade Shoemaker: 32:01

I love to hear that. I love it, man. So with how hunt's going now, and, you know, you've told me you've got the lotion, you've got the wipes, you got the spray, But what is currently like, what project and maybe it's something you can't even tell me because it's something that you're working on that is about to happen. Mentioned you got a gator hunt coming up with the governor. Like, that's a cool thing.

Wade Shoemaker: 32:24

Yeah. Yeah. But what is the most exciting thing that you're working on currently within hunt?

Gabe Fontenot: 32:32

Yeah, yeah. Well, I'll give you I guess I'll give you the exclusive on that. So I can't go into the product details, but we do have some new products coming out that we plan on launching in July next year.

Wade Shoemaker: 32:44

Okay.

Gabe Fontenot: 32:45

So that's great. But I will tell you something exciting I'm working on right now is, we were approached by the Canadian government about being regulated in Canada, due to the need and demand that they have, believe it or not, they have a lot of insects in Canada, a lot of mosquitoes. Yeah. And they have a supply problem. And so my regulatory team is now working with the Canadian government

Wade Shoemaker: 33:10

to

Gabe Fontenot: 33:11

get us to get us registered in Canada. So we should be launching in Canada, I would say probably within the next like six months, hopefully. If everything moves quickly, if not, you know, maybe a year. It's kinda hard to have exact timeline on that. But yeah, Canada to take it into, I guess you consider it now an international brand, which is cool.

Gabe Fontenot: 33:31

Yeah. Which is cool. All super fast. Yeah. And but yeah, new products, the partnership with Academy that's coming, you know, that's super exciting.

Gabe Fontenot: 33:41

Teal Fest, Teal season, Ducks season, like everything where we really get to bring the product in the the field and then see people's reaction and get all this, you know, everyone taking the picture with their hunt can again. Yeah. We love seeing that. We love getting tagged in stories and people put it. So yeah, those are really the things that are exciting right now to me.

Wade Shoemaker: 34:00

That's cool. And talking like speaking like the pictures in the can, it's I remember, and I think at least I think I remember the very first time I saw Hutt, and it was last year. I think so. Pretty sure it was. But it was Austin Belair, I think, made the post.

Wade Shoemaker: 34:16

This is super shallow of me, like the way I think about it, but it's also because I'm a sucker for good packaging. Like, love like, when I see something cool, I'm like, alright, this is cool. And and it was the, you know, it's the can or the bottle. I don't know. Do you call it a can or a bottle?

Gabe Fontenot: 34:31

I call the the lotion like a tube usually, and then a can and then the wipes. Yeah. Okay.

Wade Shoemaker: 34:38

So we so I saw the can, though. That's what I saw first was the the the hunt can. I don't know what other people call it, but I I think honestly, it's just whatever feels right in the sentence at the time. I don't know. But it was

Gabe Fontenot: 34:50

Yeah. You're good.

Wade Shoemaker: 34:51

But I think it was it was it was obviously a well thought out thing. And so I've been curious since day one, and it's kinda cool to hear this come from you and just kinda like how it come to be and the fact that green is actually your favorite color, and that's really played a large role in why the can's that color. So since day one, you've obviously come a very long way. But the, you know, the obvious piece here or for me, obviously, is what that you aren't done with with doing, you know, with Canada coming up, like all those things. You got products launching next year in July.

Wade Shoemaker: 35:27

And I know it's named Hunt, and we've discussed kind of the evolution, but I think it may have been in Memphis that we talked about it, or it was on the phone when we talked before Memphis. But the evolution of the brand as it grows and as it goes, are there any other niches that like you wanna you're gonna focus on that's not, you know, hunting, fishing, camping, hiking, whatever? Is there a thing where you put a little more emphasis on something, you know, like that you haven't yet? Or Mhmm. Or do you think going forward, you're gonna really put an emphasis on or more of an emphasis on certain things that you're already kinda tapped into?

Gabe Fontenot: 36:05

Yeah, that's a great question. So it's hard to know, you know, what's five years, what's Hunt gonna be offering and products and everything, because I believe in listening to the customer and what the customer wants, and that's exactly what we're gonna do in July. Customers have been asking for really one specific thing over and over and over again, and we're gonna we're gonna deliver it to them in in the the best way possible with the absolute product, and we got time to to really perfect it now. Yeah. But it's gonna always remain in that outdoor industry, you know, we're not gonna break out of the outdoor industry.

Wade Shoemaker: 36:41

Yeah.

Gabe Fontenot: 36:42

But what we're really interested in and what Hunt really thrives on is we like to see something that is an everyday use, and can be an everyday use, but it's just not hitting the mark. Either the product isn't delivering to what the customer wants, there's a big area of opportunity there. So that's what we really like. So it's hard to again say, yeah, we're gonna, you know, one day get into this or that, right now we're really focused on our repellents and Yeah. And and just continue to get that across North America and soon, you know, Canada.

Gabe Fontenot: 37:20

But we do we do have, you know, some some things in the arsenal for for next July. Yeah. It's gonna be, you know, it's in the same same world kind of as our repellents, you know, we're not coming out and saying, hey, we're making

Wade Shoemaker: 37:35

No.

Gabe Fontenot: 37:36

Fishing poles or anything like that. No, it's It's nothing like definitely more of like a consumable good. Always gonna be consumable goods. Okay. Yep.

Wade Shoemaker: 37:44

So like products aside, you know, that Mhmm. And this is just me it's just being curious with, you know, you've got all outdoor activities I think hunt is for. Right? So are there are there any other things that you've found since you've gotten into this this this category, I guess is the best way to put it? Is anything you found that you didn't expect to have an interest in this this repellent?

Gabe Fontenot: 38:09

Yeah. Well, moms, mothers are huge customers for us they want us, they oh my god. Yes. Yeah. Moms are a large customer base for us because they want a product that they're putting on their kids.

Gabe Fontenot: 38:25

They're not a deep not it's not a deep based product, and the other flip side of that is, you know, essential oils, like, have their market, they have their customer. Sure. There's no science to prove that they are effective or they do repel any any insects. I don't get it. I don't really think it works.

Gabe Fontenot: 38:41

If it did Well,

Wade Shoemaker: 38:42

they're essential.

Gabe Fontenot: 38:43

Yeah, I mean, would do it if it would work, but you know, I don't know anyone that wants to climb into a deer stand smelling like, you know, peppermint oil or whatever else. Yeah. So moms really like our product, They really like the lotion and the wipes because kids don't like being sprayed with things. Mhmm. They like how it's no smell, no greasy feel, you know, it's a safer alternative to, you know, what's been on the market.

Gabe Fontenot: 39:06

So a lot of moms buy our product. Like we have like a big falling like kids, like kids love hunt and they think it's so cool and maybe maybe it's because we have a camouflage limousine out front. Don't I don't know.

Wade Shoemaker: 39:19

Probably has something to do with it, dude. Yeah. If I was a kid, it would definitely have something to do with it.

Gabe Fontenot: 39:24

Yeah. But yeah, moms. I never anticipated that, but yeah.

Wade Shoemaker: 39:29

Okay. Well, then it does make sense. I mean, especially the ones that are out there outside of the kids, like whether it's sports or whether it's just yard, you know, like whatever it is, that does make a lot of sense. I wouldn't have thought about that either, dude. That's pretty cool.

Wade Shoemaker: 39:43

Know? I dig it. I love it. You personally, this hunt, you are hunt, hunt is you, like I do get that, but like what plans do does Gabe have for the upcoming season? What plans do you have coming up?

Wade Shoemaker: 40:01

Like hunting, Yeah. Whether it's trips, like you're excited to go to Canada and talk to the government. I don't know. I mean, like, whatever it is.

Gabe Fontenot: 40:08

Well, hopefully I can I can get up to Canada, you know, soon or whenever we do eventually launch in Canada, that'd be pretty sweet to go up there? Yeah. But really, you know, my plans right now is we're in full travel mode right now with Hunt, so tomorrow we'll be in, the team will be in three different states all at once.

Wade Shoemaker: 40:28

Goodness gracious.

Gabe Fontenot: 40:29

So like, we have a bunch of shows going on and meeting with different buyers and everything everything else in that, you know, b to b world. So all that aside, once travel slows down, then we're gonna roll into our Thiel Festival, which is a and we put it on, like it's Hunt and one other business that's in town, a great friend of mine, Austin Bertrand, they own a restaurant called Bons, and it's right there on Main Street. Called what? Bons, b o n s, which is French for good.

Wade Shoemaker: 40:58

Yep, good. Yep.

Gabe Fontenot: 40:59

Yeah. And so we partnered with them and we also partnered, Elton has a Indian reservation, a Native American reservation, the Coshata tribe, they partnered with us for this festival and it's a big undertaking, like we put it all on and you know, we didn't hire anyone to do it or coordinate it and we're weighing over our heads, it's gonna be an awesome event, man, it's gonna be awesome. So that's kinda top of my priority right now, and then after, you know, that till season, and then just regular duck hunting, no big hunting travel plans on the calendar yet, I'm sure something will pop up or go somewhere to check a few people out. But yeah, that's really it, man. Just getting through it.

Wade Shoemaker: 41:40

That's cool. So I mean, it's business as usual, just blow and go.

Gabe Fontenot: 41:44

Hell yeah. We're busy. I mean,

Wade Shoemaker: 41:47

Do just you guys have an advanced team? Like, or do you have your employees internally just do it, or do you have people specifically for shows?

Gabe Fontenot: 41:53

Yeah, it's just our internal team. It's all about us.

Wade Shoemaker: 41:57

Cool, cool.

Gabe Fontenot: 41:57

You know, and we we everyone's trained and knows, you know, how to do it and what the standards are and what we have to do and how to win, we consider a win and, you know, we'll deploy anybody in the company and know how to get it done and how to make it happen.

Wade Shoemaker: 42:13

Nice. Nice. Well, let me ask you this. This is something that I always wonder about a lot of people. And now that and and, like, this really is interesting to me just based off your answer of your favorite hunt and your favorite place to hunt and then the evidence that's all around your office.

Wade Shoemaker: 42:31

If you could pick any hunt to do, like ultimate bucket list hunt. Right? Ultimate. It could be waterfowl. Let or we could do both.

Wade Shoemaker: 42:40

Let's do both. Like, what would be the ultimate water like, waterfowl hunt for you? Or what would be the what would be the ultimate hunt ever for you?

Gabe Fontenot: 42:49

Yeah. Well, I'd we have I have one in mind right now.

Wade Shoemaker: 42:52

Yeah?

Gabe Fontenot: 42:53

So my brother-in-law, he's a serial entrepreneur, right? Yeah. Businesses are based out of yeah, serial entrepreneur. He loves entrepreneurship, small businesses, extremely passionate. So he's

Wade Shoemaker: 43:05

insane is what he

Gabe Fontenot: 43:06

is. Yeah. He's really, really good at it. And he's actually the the other owner of Hunt. It's he and I, he's pretty much behind the scenes.

Gabe Fontenot: 43:16

He, you know, loves it for the passion of it and the branding and the product and everything. But we we've been talking about going up to Alaska bush planting in and going moose hunting. So that's kinda like a bucket list thing because it's like, I don't know whenever I'll ever have a chance to do it. It's like a week and a half camping, like doing Going after bullwinkle, Yeah. Yeah.

Gabe Fontenot: 43:41

Yeah. So I think that'd be pretty epic. That's definitely probably more on the upper bucket list right now.

Wade Shoemaker: 43:47

That's big dude.

Gabe Fontenot: 43:49

Yeah, yeah. That would be fun.

Wade Shoemaker: 43:51

And I mean, is this something like this office isn't something you just woke up one day like, you know what man, What's

Gabe Fontenot: 43:55

We the movie started we've talking about it and just the, you know, the size of the the moose. Mean, they're just it's crazy.

Wade Shoemaker: 44:04

Cool. Scary is what they are.

Gabe Fontenot: 44:05

Alaska's beautiful and it would just be a basically a big adventure that you can do here in North America. Yeah. And yeah. So that's kind of been a topic of conversation and we'll see. I'm sure we'll do it.

Gabe Fontenot: 44:18

I'm sure we'll do it one day or or soon. You never know. Will. You will.

Wade Shoemaker: 44:23

And you've got the repellent to keep all that because this thing gets weird up there with bugs. Yeah.

Gabe Fontenot: 44:28

They're bad. They're bad.

Wade Shoemaker: 44:29

It is. So let's back up now that, I mean, this is Ducks Unlimited. This is, you know, very waterfowl, I think, very waterfowl immersed or immersed in the waterfowl space brand hunt is, what would be your ultimate waterfowl hunt? And I mean, can say Jefferson Parish if you want to.

Gabe Fontenot: 44:47

No, no, no, But let's

Wade Shoemaker: 44:48

not, let's do something

Gabe Fontenot: 44:50

Man, I've never hunted Arkansas or Kansas, believe it or Really? No, haven't. So I would love to go smack a bunch of green heads and you know, do a beautiful mound of green heads for the office, I think that fit fit perfectly, but believe it or not, yeah, I've never hunted up there, and I'd love to.

Wade Shoemaker: 45:12

That blows me away, dude. I mean, it makes sense. You know, it's easier for me to get up there than it is for you. Know, you're double the distance from from anywhere else. I would be just about, and That's interesting, dude.

Wade Shoemaker: 45:24

Is there any certain way you'd wanna do it? I mean, when people say Arkansas, everybody immediately goes to the woods. But a lot of people that hunt Arkansas, they hunt fields. They hunt rice, you know, or whatever there are crops there. So in Kansas, would that be dry field, or would that be like a little pothole tank deal?

Wade Shoemaker: 45:42

Like what is that?

Gabe Fontenot: 45:43

Yeah, I think like Kansas, probably a dry field for Kansas, and then Arkansas, mean, I think, you know, the wooded hunts are cool and so different. Yeah. It's, you know, extremely different from how we hunt, you know, down here. Yeah. Probably go with that.

Wade Shoemaker: 45:59

Yeah. No, probably. Like that's that's the answer. Yeah.

Gabe Fontenot: 46:04

Yeah. So that that that'd be the answer, man. Love answer. Yeah.

Wade Shoemaker: 46:08

I love that. And you should be you you should get to do that, man. Like, if there's ever a world where you you you're not crazy busy, we we can I mean, I've I'm gonna be in the water, you know, just about every day anyway, so you holler if you get a wild hair and get bored, and you don't feel like going and selling some hunt, you know, like Yeah, yeah, We can make something happen?

Gabe Fontenot: 46:27

Sweet, sweet.

Wade Shoemaker: 46:29

Well, look, I wanna close this out. First of all, I wanna thank you for your time. I wanna thank you for taking the time out of your day. Your company's growing like crazy. Thank you.

Wade Shoemaker: 46:40

And so I know that an hour of your day is not something that you just kind of give away, you know? And I just know we appreciate it, know that I do, and I've enjoyed the conversations and learning the things that I've learned about you and this brand, and honestly, like the history behind it. The fact that it started in, you know, in McNeese is super cool to me. And the fact that you brought it on home, you know, to where you're from is I think the cherry on top.

Gabe Fontenot: 47:07

Yeah.

Wade Shoemaker: 47:08

But before we close it out, I always wanna close it out like this. I wanna ask you a question, and I took this from a buddy. I say a buddy. He's a guy that I listen to on the Internet a lot, my favorite podcast, but it's the perfect way to cap it off. And what are two brands or people?

Wade Shoemaker: 47:25

People or brands can be one of each, can be just both, you know, both people, both brands, whatever. But what are two of those moving the needle? And I and I have I have hunting space, but it can be any space. What are two of them that are moving the needle that you love, what they're doing, how they're doing it, whatever, but who are some you wanna give props to?

Gabe Fontenot: 47:46

Yeah. So I took a few notes here. Let me me look here when we were discussing before.

Wade Shoemaker: 47:52

Yeah. And while you're doing that, I just apologize for spelling the email address wrong.

Gabe Fontenot: 47:58

You've No, you're

Wade Shoemaker: 47:59

been the question before.

Gabe Fontenot: 48:01

You're good, man. You're good. So mine so I really like what Poncho is doing, man. Yeah. Yeah.

Gabe Fontenot: 48:11

Like their marketing, I think their shirts are, you know, extremely light, they're comfortable, you can wear them, you know, duck hunting down here. It's it's real practical for here, know, it's great for fishing too. We actually I usually have one on, they're all monogrammed with, you know, with hunt.

Wade Shoemaker: 48:29

Yeah. Are.

Gabe Fontenot: 48:29

Yeah. Today, I don't I don't have one on, but I really like it. You know, they just have a great product, great marketing, everyone's starting to wear them, they look good, they can go in the office, you can go in the field with them. So I like the versatility that they that they have. And then Pico's, you know, their outdoors.

Wade Shoemaker: 48:48

The tables?

Gabe Fontenot: 48:49

Yeah, I think it, you know, they're made in The USA, which is awesome, which, you know, so is Hunt, and they're like indestructible, you had Matthew McConaughey who just got involved with them. Yeah. So I think they took, like who would who would think to mess with, you know, tables and outdoor tables, like everyone thinks of fold out tables, or again, like there's just there's so many ways you can go in the industry just marketing and products in general, I mean, they made an awesome table, and it just and their marketing almost kind of reminds me of each other, like picos and ponchos, and I think everyone in the outdoor industry is kind of chasing what, again, what Yeti and Turtle Box did

Wade Shoemaker: 49:32

with Oh

Gabe Fontenot: 49:32

yeah, their of kidding. And everything has little footprints, I mean, you know, looked up to those brands and I still do, and I thought that what what they did was just, they they changed the game and and really elevated the whole the whole industry in my opinion, and you can see their fingerprints on everyone else's brands now.

Wade Shoemaker: 49:53

Yeah, no, can, dude. It's pretty crazy to see that, and it's not even like a They're not even trying to They're just like, it worked for them, but we're gonna do this exact same thing, you know? Yeah. And it still works. It just works, man, and they're crushing it.

Wade Shoemaker: 50:07

I love that you said those brands, dude, and the cool thing about them is they're both, like, they're all out of, you know, it's like a Texas type brand.

Gabe Fontenot: 50:13

Yeah.

Wade Shoemaker: 50:13

That little Houston area has done some cool things. Houston, Austin, like,

Gabe Fontenot: 50:18

Houston, they're just Austin.

Wade Shoemaker: 50:19

They're doing some things.

Gabe Fontenot: 50:20

I tried to think a little out of the box because I'm sure, you know, a lot of the answers are typically the same.

Wade Shoemaker: 50:27

No, they're not. Dude, it would blow you away. Dude, there was people I did one I had a podcast with Eric Siebor of Rise. The shirts are like, they say, Love Jesus Hunt Turkeys. Mhmm.

Wade Shoemaker: 50:39

Love Jesus hunt ducks. Whatever. But but Eric, he gave an answer, and one of them was a callmaker out of, like, the from the East side of the the country and called squatch or something. Never heard of him. It was a turkey callmaker.

Wade Shoemaker: 50:53

You know? So, like, it's it's interesting, man, because some people, they, you know, they they think of people when I ask this when I say this, and guys like you that are that, you know, your brother's a serial entrepreneur, and you're growing a business. You went to McNeese for it. Like, you think of the brands that you're looking up to and, you know, not mimic, but it definitely emulate a little bit and do the same things that they're doing just in your own way. So it's cool to hear the answers, man, and I love it because it gives it gives people on on this podcast a chance to to learn a little bit more about you, but also be introduced to some things or brands or people they may have never, you know, otherwise heard of.

Wade Shoemaker: 51:29

So it's cool. I dig it. And but with that, Gabe, thank you again. We're definitely gonna end up having to do something together, especially knowing

Gabe Fontenot: 51:38

that Anytime, man.

Wade Shoemaker: 51:39

Been to your neighbor to the north yet, you know, we gotta figure that out.

Gabe Fontenot: 51:42

You're well you're welcome down down here, down south anytime, man. We got we got blinds and we're pumping water still and Come get it, man. Come on, bring it.

Wade Shoemaker: 51:53

We'll figure it out.

Gabe Fontenot: 51:54

We'll have to share the facility. Yeah. More than

Wade Shoemaker: 51:55

welcome, We only got eight days of teal season this year, think. Is that right?

Gabe Fontenot: 51:59

Eight or nine, man. Eight or nine. Putting me on the spot here.

Wade Shoemaker: 52:02

Yeah. Sorry. Know it's almost half of what has been. Mhmm. So we'll have to do it in that window if we do.

Wade Shoemaker: 52:08

If we don't, we'll figure something else out either way. But very cool. Well, Gabe, thank you. I'm gonna go ahead and close this out before I keep rambling, but thanks for listening to Ducks Unlimited Podcast. I'm Wade.

Wade Shoemaker: 52:18

This is Gabe. We'll see you soon.

Gabe Fontenot: 52:21

Thanks, guys.

VO: 52:23

That's a wrap for today's episode of the Ducks Unlimited Podcast brought to you by Bird Dog Whiskey and Cocktails. From post hunt unwinds to celebrations back at camp, Bird Dog delivers award winning flavor to every moment. Enjoy responsibly. Don't forget to rate, review, and subscribe, and check out ducks.org/dupodcast for more stories, science, and all things waterfowl. Guest opinions are their own and don't necessarily reflect those of Ducks Unlimited.

VO: 52:48

Until next time, stay fired up, stay focused, and stay tuned to the Ducks.