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Little Woods Season 1: Episode 8- Bahamian experience ft. BJ and Woni
140 Plays3 years ago
TLW outdoors crew sits down with Byron Johnson (AKA BJ) and Ajuwon Lockhart (AKA Woni) to discuss their first duck hunting experience and talk about lifestyle differences from the Bahamas to Arkansas!
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Transcript
Introduction & Special Guests
00:00:13
Speaker
All right, here we are episode eight. This one's going to be titled the Bahamian experience. We've got some special guests on tonight and, and we had a little bit of a, uh, short break extended break. One of our members, Jacob, we've been talking about it for a while. Uh, he finally had his kid. Hey, Jake, I know you're gonna listen to this. We're proud of you. And I'm sure you're holding that baby or trying to help your Jess right now, but.
00:00:41
Speaker
You couldn't be on and you're missing it. But hey, like I said, behind me in experience, we got two special guests on tonight.
BJ's Journey from Bahamas to Arkansas
00:00:49
Speaker
A guy that goes by BJ, a guy that goes by Juan E, baby. I'm glad to have y'all on. Thanks for coming on tonight. Thanks for having us.
00:01:01
Speaker
And also tonight we got Sam, my brother Sam, he's, he's talking mass out the, I ain't going to finish that. Everybody heard it the first time. And then we got my boy, Drew Hampton desert. Hopefully he stays the whole time. I know, I know he probably will. I'll make it about three minutes. There's no freezing rain in the forecast, so he's probably okay right now, but.
00:01:23
Speaker
Uh, glad to have everybody on here and just kind of to get everything kind of started. Let's, let's get right to the introductions. Uh, we'll start with BJ hometown hero. Let's hear it buddy. Hi, how's it going? Uh, I'm Byron Johnson. They call me BJ originally from Freeport Bahamas. I've been here in, uh, Little Rock, Arkansas for about 15 years now. And I've had some time to get acclimated and become a true Arkansan.
00:01:53
Speaker
been duck hunting, deer hunting, dove hunting. I'm just all around Arkansas really. I'm just glad to be here. Man, we're glad to have you here. I think, I think you've learned quite a bit ever since you've been here though, haven't you?
First Hunting Experiences
00:02:09
Speaker
Right. And it might not be good. I mean, I know the first day that, uh,
00:02:16
Speaker
We handed you a gun and you just started pointing around. We had to go through some Hunter Ed stuff right off the bat. But I'd say that the progression of watching you shoot, you're a lefty. Nobody knows that, but I mean, you're a lefty. So that takes a little bit of.
00:02:34
Speaker
It took me some training to kind of figure out how I was going to teach you how to shoot. Cause I never shot it before, but, uh, Sam, Sam tells me, Hey, I got, I got a roommate. He's from the Bahamas and he's going to come out here and shoot some dove with us. I was like, Oh my God, this is not good.
00:02:57
Speaker
Here's the biggest problem BJ has is he let wit teach him how to shoot a gun. That is the worst thing that could ever happen.
00:03:06
Speaker
I mean, I mean, he came with that Call of Duty background. He just didn't come with that killer background. You know what I mean? Come in there with a gold gun. He was, he was asking where we go get this camo paint, you know, like he was, he listened to Seth's episode. He's wondering how we, do we put any face paint on when we go hunting?
Juan E's Hunting Adventures
00:03:29
Speaker
What do we do out here? So deer blood on your cheeks. Yeah.
00:03:34
Speaker
But now I, I mean, kind of getting into that, was that one of your first hunts though, BJ? I think you've hunted several times before you hunted out here, but kind of what's your background in terms of hunting so far? I mean, when I first got here, I met a pharmacist named Rob and he took me down to DeWitt, Arkansas. We went deer hunting a couple of times. Outside of that, my only hunting experience would be fishing in the Bahamas.
00:04:02
Speaker
If you count that, that was about it. Yeah, that's like an out of this world experience in my mind. I mean, you get to the Bahamas and that Clearwater and go fishing, that's going to be hard to beat. But we're going to jump off of you for just a second, because I know you're feeling the pressure. We're going to get over here to Juan E. Juan E, will you introduce yourself, man?
00:04:24
Speaker
Alright, my name is Ajuan Lockhart, but to keep it short and sweet, you can call me Wani. I'm from the Bahamas, like BJ, and with to correct you on your pronunciation, it's Bohemian. I'm also from Freeport as well, but I grew up mostly in Nassau, which is the capital of the Bahamas in Providence.
00:04:49
Speaker
And this weekend was my first actual hunt, just like BJ outside of fishing and spare fishing.
Adapting to Arkansas Hunting Culture
00:04:57
Speaker
I haven't done any lawn based hunting. So this is my first time doing a lawn based hunt. And what did you think about it? You got guided by Sam. So I know there was probably some experience there.
00:05:16
Speaker
Sam did an awesome job. He took us to exactly where the ducks would be. He spoke about where the ducks would fly. At first, I was a little skeptical because he was like, they would come from this way, from the South West, they fly into the wind, yada, yada, yada. And I was like, okay. He sounds like he knows what he's talking about. And the ducks did exactly what he said. So I was like, okay, this guy know what he's talking about.
00:05:42
Speaker
The only thing was I forgot my shotgun at my moment. Why am I not surprised by that? We had a good time though. Did you bring plenty of shells though at least? Oh yeah. Yeah. Plenty of shells and some peanuts dad gave me. Yeah, they marched on those all afternoon.
00:06:06
Speaker
other than actually hitting ducks the best experience was the peanuts that's awesome man i'm glad y'all got to go do that y'all had a really nice day for it and in all honesty that field had been loading up with ducks for quite some time so it was needing to be shot up run them out of there shooting when they're there that's kind of a good mentality as we get into
00:06:30
Speaker
Later parts of the year here and, and, uh, wani and, uh, BJ kind of in past episodes, we've been talking about it a little bit, but, uh, Arkansas kind of in the spot that we're at is it takes a little bit later in the year to
Professional Lives & Future Plans
00:06:48
Speaker
get some birds. And then about the time season's over with here, they are, they show up and we're glad to shoot them when they're here and.
00:06:56
Speaker
Me and Drew had a little bit of fun with them on the reservoir that day. Drew, you got any insight on that story? I know we didn't kill a band like we did the last time we were on the reservoir and you didn't fall in, but we still had a pretty good time.
00:07:12
Speaker
Oh, I had a great time, almost ran out of shells, which I think I've had the same box of shells for at least three years now, because that just goes to show you how much I shoot or I'm just that accurate one of the two. Yeah. The whole time we were coming out there in the morning, I said, I'm so worried I'm going to fall in and I get out of the boat and it's ankle deep. And I thought, thank goodness, because if it would have been any higher, I'd have fell in. I'd have found a way to fall in, but
00:07:38
Speaker
Thank God for a dry year. Yeah, no kidding. No kidding. But the weather was nice. I mean, it was, it was cloudy. The birds really wanted to work where we were set up at and, uh, had a good spread out there. And, uh, I don't want to talk about my basketball shooting, uh, because I probably would have been at under 30% for my shots, but, uh, uh, but other than that, uh, we had a good time. We actually had a, I think a three or four man limit. It was a, it was a good time.
00:08:10
Speaker
They, uh, uh, the birds did fly good that morning. And we were on the backside of our reservoir, which we try not to hunt it very much throughout the year, just because you got to have a spot for them to set up. But, uh, it was kind of one of those perfect storm kind of mornings where, uh, my youngest brother, John was with us and, and.
00:08:30
Speaker
We kind of plotted against them a little bit. We've seen them over there for a few days and we were very fortunate to have them lined out. I wasn't like Sam telling them, you know, which way the wind was blowing and which way they're going to land or anything, but we sure had a good time with that. Sam, you got to shoot them with me on the reservoir that next time. And I'm pretty sure you shot every single one you shot on the water, didn't you?
00:08:54
Speaker
Yeah, just about. I was trying to save some shells. Yeah. Everybody's, everybody's in the shell saving mode. I, I'm under the impression that if I, if I get to shoot all three are going off, I mean, we're going to shoot all three every time. I'm sending it. Hey, late season. You can't only find them at Walmart, you know, or Thompson. That's where I like to get them. Just slide in there. There's a Walmart in every town. That's right. Go ahead.
00:09:24
Speaker
I'm gonna do what I like to say of one, just in case. I love it. I love it. Now, and getting back to that, just to a little bit more background on BJ and Juanee. BJ, currently you're a pharmacist. I think you got a little co-ownership somewhere, don't you? I do out there in Forest City, Arkansas. What's the name of that place you, the other part of?
00:09:53
Speaker
I want a St. Francis discount pharmacy. Come see me if you're ever in Forest City, Arkansas. He'll give you a COVID shot. I know he will. He might even sell you a COVID tester too. Oh, a hundred percent. He's going to have to discount pharmacy. I love it. Is that where you plan on spending most of your time or are we going to get something closer? What's the plan there, BJ? For the short term, the plan is to get out there and continue to
00:10:21
Speaker
help that community and grow it as much as I can. More long-term is to open up a few other locations, maybe other parts of Arkansas, maybe closer to central Arkansas.
Marine Work & Hunting Skills
00:10:31
Speaker
And then the really, really long-term plan is to open one up back in the bombs. So I'm trying to spread it all out. When you open that one in the Bahamas, I'm going to come see you out there. Come on down. Are you going to move out there or what's the plan? Oh, that's the retirement goal, for sure. Retirement.
00:10:51
Speaker
You're not going to retire in Florida like everybody else does? No. I need to go home. That's right. And then, Juanee, your professional job, you're a mechanical engineer, aren't you, on different marine outboards, et cetera? Yeah. So I work on outboard engines, on inboard as well. So Yamaha's, Mercury's, Tehatsu's, Suzuki's.
00:11:21
Speaker
I do all of those. I also do electrical installs. So whether you want a sound system on your boat, GPS on your boat, I do all of those. I know you guys do a lot of bass fishing out here. So I'm big into that market as well. I don't like working on them, but you know, if it pays, I'm there. So if you guys know anybody who need any
00:11:51
Speaker
boss boat work done. I can fly or dock and so on do it. I love it. Yeah. But right now. Oh, sorry, but go ahead. I was gonna say I work out of our West Palm Beach.
00:12:11
Speaker
Florida, but, uh, like I said, if you guys need any outboard work done or boat work done, you could call me and I could fly in. I'd give you a good rate. Just let me know. I love it. All right. I think anytime I've tried to do an electrical work on my boat, it usually screws something else up. So that's, I think that kind of hearing from your talk though, that's kind of your least favorite, I guess.
00:12:41
Speaker
You don't like that very much. I, I love the electrical work. I just don't like it. Like to do it on the boss boats. Cause it's such a tight and small space. I think that was my main complaint as well. It's like I would take up half of the.
00:12:57
Speaker
Uh, the front end of the boat and I would be like, Oh my gosh, now how do I put this all back together? It's a, nothing was easy about it. I didn't have the correct tools, et cetera. I don't know if they make a correct tool for the tight areas that you have, um, running it through the middle of the hole, et cetera. Most of my wires were exposed. They're not hidden. So you probably do a lot better work and, uh, do not call me
Crawfish Hunting Techniques
00:13:24
Speaker
for that. I will not show up.
00:13:25
Speaker
I think you could get away with it on fresh water, but as far as soil water, no, everything needs to be hidden.
00:13:35
Speaker
You got to hide it. You got to have it away from the elements. That's for sure. I know that, uh, you know, we're trying to, we're, we're into kind of the, you know, duck hunting season and all, but, uh, the rest of this episode, I think we're going to kind of spend some time just talking Marine, uh, and getting some of the topics that BJ and, uh, wanting to know the best because like he's just hinted at, he spends a majority of his time working on something that.
00:14:03
Speaker
is on the water all day, every day. I mean, the rigors of that is tough. You don't want to be out in the middle of the ocean and have something like that mess up. So is there like a company that you're based out of or is this primarily a private kind of endeavor? What's going on there, Juanee?
00:14:26
Speaker
Currently, I'm in between companies. So I originally worked for a company called Bubba's Marine, moving on from those to a place called Ramsey. Ramsey's Marine. But I also do my own thing on the side, Locky's Marine Repair. And that's like my, that's my baby. And I'm growing that to be one day my own company.
00:14:54
Speaker
So, yeah. Do you currently have anybody employed with you? No, just me. Just me. I'm not that big as yet. Hey, one day you will be. One day, yeah. I'm working towards that. That's awesome. I know that Byron, you got family back home that's got several boats. Would you trust this guy working on that or what? Oh, definitely.
00:15:24
Speaker
I just wanted to work on anything. There you go. I'm pretty sure the.
00:15:29
Speaker
Uh, the car you drive right now needs a little bit of work. So while he's in town, did you ask any favors or what? Right. He replaces windshield for me. He tried to get rid of it. So I didn't crash him too much. There you go. That's awesome. Sam, uh, I know that you've been down to the Bahamas and can kind of ask some better questions in terms of.
00:15:58
Speaker
You know, the Marine life there and all, do you got anything up top of your head? Yeah. So, um, Byron, he showed me a couple of videos of his cousin, uh, diving down to, uh, catch lobsters. And, uh, the cool thing about those is these lobsters, they don't have claws at all, but, um, I don't know if they've been on those, any of those fishing trips or not, but have y'all been before to catch lobsters? Yeah. Um, I mean, what, what was it?
00:16:28
Speaker
um kind of walking through kind of a situation where you do that and um okay so you guys call them loves okay yeah we call them crawfish uh so a typical crawfish hunt
Diving & Fishing in the Bahamas
00:16:45
Speaker
quote unquote goes um like we would take a boat out
00:16:52
Speaker
And we would look for areas, what we call either shoals or reefs. They normally are the homes for crawfish. And they would normally be in about, let's say, anywhere from 10 to about 30 feet of water. You kind of find these shoals and it's like a guess as to where the lobster is there or not.
00:17:22
Speaker
So you dive down, you look under these shoes. So it's like a shelf almost. And in some instances, you're lucky enough to see because they have antennas. So just like how a roach would have an antenna.
00:17:42
Speaker
These are the roaches of the sea, but they taste so good. Yeah, I think I'd rather eat that one better. Yeah. One time, show me a picture of 50 of them laid out there. Is there a limit per day or is there a certain season for them or can you get them year round there?
00:18:02
Speaker
There isn't a limit. There's a season. The season runs from March 31st to November 1st. And anywhere in that season, you could catch as many lobsters. That's for a local. As far as a visitor, I can't remember the exact number for a visitor, but as far as a local, there isn't a limit.
00:18:27
Speaker
because it's such a big commercial product, and a lot of the people who catch the product are locals, so there isn't a limit on it. And do you catch them with your hands? Do you use a net? Kind of like a spear gun? How are y'all getting them? We use something that's called a spear gun.
00:18:50
Speaker
spare and Hawaiian sling or you could use there's a hooker that we use as well but the most popular method is using the spare and Hawaiian sling and to describe a spare and a Hawaiian sling a spare would be similar to you guys hunt so similar to
00:19:16
Speaker
like an arrow on a bow, but you could get them anywhere from six feet to eight feet long, and they come in different weights as well. And a Hawaiian sling would
00:19:30
Speaker
Like a rubber band, basically. Yeah. So you load the spare into a giant rubber band. Yeah. You pull it back and shoot whatever you even are. Yeah. That's neat. Yeah. I don't know. So what's the, so what's the capabilities of like taking down that big tiger shark, if it's coming at you with one of those, because I mean, we're talking.
00:19:57
Speaker
Because we're talking about going and catching these crawfish and, and I'm thinking mudflats of Louisiana crawfish, like the little mud fish, right. And, and y'all are talking about diving down 10 to 30 foot in the ocean with sharks. I don't know. Is there protection? Do you have somebody watching you? What's the plan there? The best thing is to dive with somebody.
00:20:23
Speaker
But as far as protection, the only thing you have is your spare really. And your spare, it wouldn't kill the shark, but you could shoot it at it and hopefully you hit it and deter it. But as far as killing the shark, no, that wouldn't do it. Yeah.
00:20:43
Speaker
Yeah, we're not trying to piss them off. We're, we're just trying to survive here. I would outswift Sam so fast. Oh my God. I'm going to put that shark in the move where you flip it upside down.
00:20:58
Speaker
I put it in a full Nelson. That's a full Nelson. Okay. There you go, Jake. That's for you. There you go, Jake. Shout out to you, buddy. Hey, so I got to ask too, like, are you guys, when you're swimming out there, are you snorkeling or are you using scuba gear? Like, how are y'all doing that? Straight snorkel. So that's basically freediving then for these crawfish. Yeah. What's become a popular sport, you know?
00:21:26
Speaker
for you guys is natural for us. So where do you aim for one of them things? Like, do you aim for the tail? You aim for the head, obviously, I would assume, but I don't know. You aim for like mid torso or the head because normally, even though you hit them in the head or the mid torso, they still kind of kick around. So
00:21:52
Speaker
That's what you kind of aim for to make it a little bit easier for you because sometimes they would kick and they kick right off of the spare. And then you got to like chase after them with your Han. If I could describe it on video, it's almost like they do like, they do like this. It's almost like a clock. Right. Jackknife until we go off of it. Yeah.
00:22:22
Speaker
Very, very elusive sounding beast there. You're kind of at their mercy once you shoot. It's kind of what I'm hearing. And then, uh, I mean the spear, is there, is it similar to like bow fishing with us where, uh, or is the spear just a single point or does it have anything that opens once it goes through them to where it kind of will, uh, kind of grab them, hold them. You know what I'm talking about with this, uh, bow fishing.
00:22:50
Speaker
Yeah, there's a bob on yen. Okay. Yeah. And that kind of leads to another question. Is there any bow fishing that's to be had in the Bahamas or, or is that kind of more of an ensure United States thing?
Bahamian Food & Culture
00:23:06
Speaker
No, that's more of a ensure States thing. Yeah. I've never seen it done back home.
00:23:13
Speaker
Yeah, lots of times it consists of fishing at night with lights on the front of a boat. You see fish like gar, a sheep hat, et cetera, redfish. I've seen people catch like that. I think kind of in, in, in just kind of giving everybody a broad picture from this. I mean, the Bahamas is how far from the tip of Florida? What is it? It's not far at all, huh?
00:23:41
Speaker
No, our island is 55 miles off the coast of West Palm Beach, Florida. That is so awesome to think about. I mean, surely our boy Juanita right here is working on a boat that we can just ride across with. I mean, is that in the works or you got your own vessel? What's going on there? Not as yet, but if you guys want to make something up and we can make it happen, I know some people like to call. Oh yeah, I have an uncle that can come pick us up right on the shore.
00:24:15
Speaker
I'll bring my little, uh, uh, bass caster. I'll be ready to go. Maybe a spinning rod or two. Um, I think that would be a blast though. Um, I don't think I, I think I would watch from the safety of the boat. I'm kind of a chicken for the ocean. Um, but I, I'd throw chunks out there and watch y'all swim away from them. I ain't scared.
00:24:38
Speaker
but I think that's pretty awesome. So crawfish is a big kind of delicacy there. I think BJ, you were kind of talking one time to me about different ways to cook it. And here, the main thing is just basically steaming it, you know, maybe boiling it to some extent, but you've kind of given us some different ways. I think your mom is a great cook. I don't mean to bring your mom into this, but...
00:25:10
Speaker
Is there any other good ways to do that? I think my favorite way is just on the grill. Just pull it out of the water on the grill with some butter. But that's like a sizzle. Just get it done. Hey, since we're on the topic of food, I'd like to touch on the old infamous conk. The conk? Oh yeah. That's my favorite food of all time. So is conk cot or how do y'all acquire it? You just pick it up.
00:25:38
Speaker
Literally, you just go on the ocean floor and pick it up. They move so slowly. They can't run away. You just grab the shell and take it up to the boat. It's like a big snail on the ocean floor. I might be able to catch those then. I don't know if that drew. Could you free dive, Rhett? If you could free dive, you could get them.
00:26:00
Speaker
No, you better put some wing floaties on me. You better put a life jacket. The good thing about bow fishing is you ain't got to worry about drowning unless you jump in the water. And with that, I'm out. I'm out. We'll send you down, Sam. You'd sink down there with you.
00:26:19
Speaker
The comp though, I mean, so big snail, bottom of the ocean floor, kind of a similar fashion. You steam that or you throw that on the grill too, BJ? Oh, there's so many different ways. Yeah. Let's, let's hear it because I had about five different ways when I was down there. And I think there's five different more. You had stew comp. So I think my favorite was comp stew that your mom made the first day. But I really liked a crack comp. That was good. The fried way.
00:26:50
Speaker
with cocktail sauce. And tartar sauce too sometimes. I don't know if I had the conk salad. The raw one that was chopped up with bell peppers and onions and tomatoes. I may have had. With the ice cold beer. So conk salad is equivalent to ceviche. If you have had ceviche, that's like conk salad.
00:27:15
Speaker
So, you got your jumbo shrimp, you got your fried shrimp. Cracked conch fritters, conch and rice, stewed conch, curry conch. Oh, but let's let's also touch on Johnny Cake. Oh my god. I had I had conch stew with Johnny Cake.
00:27:39
Speaker
and uh he tried to explain it to me and I didn't get it but it tasted more like uh corn bread and kind of like a cake you know right it's like somewhere between it's called a johnny cake where you ate johnny you ate johnny yeah do you know the name behind that bar how i got that where is that from johnny is the the name is actually we call it johnny cake as in a person's name but the name is actually journey cake
00:28:10
Speaker
because it's because it's uh it came from the slaves who came over and they made this type of cake and it carried on down the line so they called it journey cake and over the time it became uh johnny cake from the accent just the accent and it's not so it's johnny cake now
00:28:32
Speaker
So in regards to that type of cake, is it like a sweet delicacy or is it kind of a fulfilling thing, kind of like cornbread, like Sam was talking about? Right. It's more similar to cornbread. You kind of eat it on the side of kungstu, like he said. It's kind of like having soup and bread on the side of it.
00:28:50
Speaker
They kind of pair well together. And then you said different kind of accent there. Are the different islands, do they have their own kind of dialect? Do they have their own kind of accents? Really? They do. They definitely do. Is there one that y'all make fun of in particular? How different is it? I think, yeah.
00:29:17
Speaker
There are like three to four islands that have different accents. So my mother, she's originally from an island called Long Island. They have a particular accent. And it's similar to people with Boston accents.
00:29:39
Speaker
Then you have people from the island called Andris Island. They have a particular accent. It's really harsh.
00:29:50
Speaker
Then you have people from Eleuthera. They have a particular accent. And people from Inabo, where my grandmother is from, that's the southernmost island of all the islands. So it's closer to Cuba and all of the other Spanish speaking countries down there. So they have like the influence of those countries in their accent kind of melted together. So it's a little different than us from the most northern island of all the islands.
00:30:17
Speaker
That's awesome. So your island is what you would call the main island. Is that what we're talking about? Capital city island. This is one of the second. Nassau, which is on New Providence, is the capital and the most populous island of them all. And then Freeport, which is on Grand Bahama Island, is the second most populous island.
Favorite Fish & Culinary Practices
00:30:42
Speaker
So it's almost like a broken English dialect in some ways. When I was in Nassau, I kind of heard that a little bit myself, but I don't know if that was just from where they may have been from. Is that kind of the same thing or are we talking about a little bit different than that? It's just a broken English with a few of our own made up words and our words that we've come to use over the years, melted together. So it's English at its core, but it's probably harder if you all understand because we speak very quickly.
00:31:12
Speaker
And words are kind of jumbled together. The best way I can explain it is it seems like when I got down there, everybody kind of talks like Yoda, like they say the words backwards. It's like, uh, the squirrel, did you hear it or, um,
00:31:39
Speaker
The wind, do you feel it? And I noticed it with Byron's mom, she's like, a smell? I don't know. You better say, do you hear it? You hear the smell? The order, we put the words in.
00:32:02
Speaker
And it's cool because as soon as Juany came up here to hang out, Byron just, he just picked up his accent right back. And I was like, oh my God, he can adapt. Just like, you know, real quick. And it was neat because I felt like I was back in the Bahamas, you know, because everybody talked to, you know, a certain way down there. That's awesome. I mean, we're talking about, you know,
00:32:32
Speaker
We're laughing about how they talk, but you just listen to me talk right now. I mean, this is, this is laughable, probably down there for sure. Especially the way you guys talk as well. You know, I spent some time in Louisiana and I was like, Oh my gosh, I thought I was, I spoke awful. And then I go speak to some Cajuns. I mean, Cajuns are as close as I've gotten to, uh,
00:33:02
Speaker
like hearing a Bahamian speak. I mean, they, and I don't mean that in a bad way. It's kind of jumbled and it's kind of kind of like Sam said, it's just different. And so we don't hear that every day. And it's funny to hear Sam say that BJ adjusted so quickly because I was just kind of thinking in my mind, I was like, my gosh,
00:33:27
Speaker
You know, I hear Juanee talking and no offense, Juanee. It's different to me, but the everyday BJ I talk to, I'm like, it's like he grew up in about three miles down the road from me. He's in the back. He's adjusted. It's like...
00:33:43
Speaker
You know, he grew up, he was out here gardening with his ma and pa. He's adjusted to Sam's accent pretty strong. We tease him about it. We tease him about it. Because when I first got to Arkansas, I was the only one from the Bahamas. So I got tired of people saying, I'm sorry, what? Can you repeat yourself? What was that? So I would have slowed down like, dude,
00:34:04
Speaker
you know where the mall is. So you eventually expect to change it a little bit so that people can understand me. But whenever I get around people from home, it automatically comes back.
00:34:15
Speaker
It's like everybody kind of has a telephone voice, you know, everybody talks a little bit different when they're on the phone or, or if there's some specific place, et cetera. So, uh, I think that's a big key part of it, but you know, we've talked a little bit about the food there. We talked about going and catching crawfish, but, uh, you know, both you and Bonnie BJ are, um, y'all were big fishermen when you were there, did a lot of fishing. Um,
00:34:45
Speaker
I know personally that in my experience that quite a there's a pretty important billfish tournament off of Bahamas. There's a boat that I got the fish on called K-Moss that got to go down there and I think they actually won it one year so that's pretty awesome and y'all have any experience catching many billfish or is that not part of your work?
00:35:14
Speaker
No, I haven't. We typically fish for things like a red snapper, grouper, tuna, wahoo, mahi-mahi, things of that nature. Bill Fish is mostly for people who visit.
00:35:34
Speaker
You know, that's a big game fish for those type of people. But as far as the locals, we don't do it because mostly with the locals, we fish for a lot of stuff that we could take home and eat.
Cultural Comparisons: Arkansas vs Bahamas
00:35:49
Speaker
And billfish isn't something we take home and eat. So that's why we don't really fish for it like that. OK, yeah. So if you were to target a fish, you know, that you'd like to eat, what's your favorite fish to catch out there?
00:36:04
Speaker
And is it out in kind of like the deep sea or is it kind of closer to the banks or in shore? You know what I'm saying? It depends.
00:36:17
Speaker
Personally for me, my favorite would be red snapper. And that's more of a deep sea fish. So we don't go on those trips that often. When you do go, you come back with 50, 60 of them. And we just divvy it up between the cousins or whoever else went on the fishing trip. And you keep that in the freezer for however long. But that's the main one I like. My mother's favorite is, my mother's favorite is barracuda.
00:36:41
Speaker
Really? Wait, isn't that a poisonous fish? Yeah, it is. Everybody from America says that. So I'd say maybe 25% of the time she eats it, she gets poison. But she loves it so much that she just deals with it. Isn't that that one song? Ooh, Barracuda. Barracuda. What do you think your favorite fish is? Yeah. My favorite fish.
00:37:11
Speaker
I'll tell you that a sauteed grouper is really good though right off the bat. My favorite fish would have to be probably red snopper as well. Yeah, red snopper. Also barracuda as well. I have never gotten poisoned from barracuda nor corn wood.
00:37:36
Speaker
But I have gotten poison from a fish we call jock, a horse-eye jock. That was the worst experience ever, but I definitely would eat it again. It was worth it. For sure. I don't know if you guys eat anything that will poison you.
00:37:57
Speaker
Yeah, we try to stay away from that. I thought I was allergic to shrimp back in the day because I'd have some labored breathing back when I eat shellfish. I think I was just being a little dramatic. Or he ate too much is what it was. But to get poison, you got to go to the right rivers here in Arkansas to get poison. You just got to be careful.
00:38:24
Speaker
You know, I saw a report today on my phone, I was looking through, Game and Fish put a thing about in North Arkansas, the walleye. I don't know if y'all know what walleye is or not, but the walleye coming out of some of those bigger lakes were having high levels of mercury. And they were like, don't eat a ton of it. You get mercury poison. I was like, well, that's awful weird. But I'm super glad that
00:38:55
Speaker
I don't ever eat walleye. I think the only experience I've had with that was, uh, my mother-in-law ordered at one time at a restaurant and it was fried. And that was like the worst decision of her life for sure. But, uh, other than that, I mean, kind of some local fish, you mentioned bass fishing. That's kind of what, you know, bass fishing, uh, we call them crappie here in Louisiana. They call it second.
00:39:18
Speaker
Uh, crappie fishing is also a passion of most of ours. Me and Sam, Sam used to be all about it. He was the only one in the family want to go crappie fishing. And then, and then I took it up and then Sam quit and he started bass fishing again. So, uh, we enjoyed that and we eat that all the time. Sometime, you know, we'll have to get both you and BJ out and we'll eat that. But BJ, you've had.
00:39:45
Speaker
Catfish here. Was there catfish and, uh, Bahamas, I guess saltwater catfish, like hardheads. Do you catch any of those or eat that? Not at all. I didn't hear about catfish until I came to Arkansas. What do you think about it? Scale of one to 10. Is it a scale of one to 10?
00:40:10
Speaker
I don't think catfish is a fish. It doesn't count. What? It's in the water. You just heard every Arkansas feeling right there. It's the Arkansas fish. It is terrible compared to all the other fish. Oh, question BJ. Is it terrible because of how they prepare it? Or is it just a terrible thing to fish? That's a very good question. I think that would be interesting.
00:40:32
Speaker
Because I mean, back home, when you eat fish and you have like a piece of fried fish, it's the fish. I mean, bones, tail, head, eye, mouth, everything. So I had to get used to like the.
00:40:43
Speaker
I guess the filet style. You guys are here. And I guess if a catfish was seasoned pretty nicely, it may be. Oh, you're trying to say they don't season now. It's not a seasoning. What kind of seasoning are you talking about? Normally how we season, how we season our fish back home would be salt, lime, and pepper. Lots and lots of pepper. Lots and lots of pepper. No Tony Satteries.
00:41:14
Speaker
No, no It's an out there godly you're missing out man People back home. They make this well Sam got a chance to see it. It's like a pepper sauce What do you think what's the base of that like vinegar? Yeah, but so when they have that the mason jar lime and whatever your particular pepper there's some salt liquid base and they have a
00:41:39
Speaker
like jalapenos, habaneros, ghost peppers, and something we have in Obama's called goat pepper. And they would put it all in this jar and just shake it up. And you just let it sit in the fridge forever, really. And you just open it up and pour all that goodness over whatever you're eating. It's amazing. You tried it on, what did you try it on? I tried it on the stew. On the stew fish. With the john and cake, yeah. How did you like it? Oh man, it just sit just perfect for me. I mean, I was sitting there
00:42:07
Speaker
just rubbing my tummy with one hand. I was thankful that day to be able to get down there, breathe the fresh air of the Bahamas. Just a little side note, BJ was saying that, yeah, the Bahamas have some of the freshest air in the world because it's coming off the ocean. Yeah, some of the freshest. So yeah, maybe one day I'll be able to retire.
00:42:34
Speaker
and just move down there and just breathe that fresh air. There you go. That's the plan. Yep. So before you guys continue, I have a question for Sam. What was your favorite, most favorite food? Uh, visit at home.
00:42:51
Speaker
Oh my God. I mean, I'll choose. I mean, if I, if I had to eat it every day, yeah, I could eat it just every other way. Grilled one day, stewed the next, fried the next. I mean, it just, it kind of tasted like chicken in a way. I know that's what everybody says, but it literally, it had like a mix between a crawfish and oyster and chicken.
00:43:17
Speaker
I mean, and I like all three of those too. So I was all in from the get go.
00:43:24
Speaker
and you still have so many different ways. You still have a great. Yeah. And then I tried some, uh, some of this drink called gully wash. Yeah. Yeah. Byron's uncle, he, he showed me it. Uh, what was that moon shot of the Island or what? Amazingly. So you mix, uh, coconut water with, uh, condensed evaporated milk, the, you know, really thick, sweet one and some gin.
00:43:52
Speaker
Oh, nice and cold. Oh, man. It's amazing. So some island gin, huh? Right. The stereotypical Arkansan here are going to have a stupid question for you, but is rum very popular on the islands or is that kind of more of a touristy kind of thing? I mean, people drink a lot of different types of rum.
00:44:15
Speaker
Riccardo is a company that makes coconut rum in the Bahamas. I have a bottle here, actually. It's just really good stuff, but I think so. I think so, yeah. We still got that piracy in us. Right. Piracy. All those rum runners from back in the day. Is there a big... So is Nessa on your island, or am I thinking of the other...
00:44:40
Speaker
Nassau is a capital island, that's not the island that we're from. You spend a lot of time there. Yeah, so in Nassau, do you have a lot of people just trying to show up and do like treasure hunting, etc? Kind of the piracy, I gotta go find a...
00:44:56
Speaker
coin or is that a thing anymore? No, that's not a thing. Because I'm thinking about trying to do that anyway, so. No, don't waste your time. Everything's been filmed. Right, everything's filmed. I think everything has been filmed or there's some things that hasn't been filmed as yet, but as locals, we don't really care about it. Right. Got you. Yeah, I figured it's kind of like
00:45:24
Speaker
We have different sites here. I've always lived 45 minutes from Stuttgart, Arkansas, world capital of duck hunting, and I'm like, yeah.
00:45:36
Speaker
been there. I don't really care to go back. I mean, you know, so it's, we, we become kind of used to it. And, and that's kind of, you know, the experience y'all get to come up here and do some duck hunting, et cetera. That's, that's kind of, you know, a similar, I guess, thought there. Something that's cool about you talking about treasure and the Bahamas. If you look at a map of the Bahamas, Nassau is the center islands surrounded by
00:46:01
Speaker
700 other islands all around it. And the reason they made that the capital is because when pirates would come, they wanted the island that's the most protected by the outer islands. So if you go to Nassau, there's still remnants of five forts.
00:46:19
Speaker
placed strategically around the island to protect the inbound waters. So there's still cannons and prisons and everything. So they had the main treasury on that island. So that's why you won't find gold anywhere else, because they kept it all in Nassau and pretty protected by those forts. If you watch our black sails and you enter that type of thing, then Nassau is where it's at.
00:46:45
Speaker
So I gotta ask if I could, I'ma interrupt you there Sam for a second. So you guys have been in the United States for, I don't know, a few years I would say. What do you think the biggest difference between the United States and the Bahamas is? You go first, you've been here longer than me. So I think there's multiple answers to that question because I've been to so many different parts
00:47:15
Speaker
of the US. And I feel like there's different types of people and there's different experiences in different states. I find that places like Arkansas, oddly enough, are the most similar to the Bahamas, to me, because the type of people I've encountered in Arkansas have been
00:47:32
Speaker
very polite and mannerly, just family oriented, just close knit communities where everyone knows everyone, everyone looks out for everyone. So to me, that's a similarity that I've enjoyed, which is why I think I've stayed in Arkansas so long.
00:47:47
Speaker
But you do go to other places like New York or places where it's not that, I guess, polite, mannerly environment. And it kind of took a little while to adjust to that because I'm so used to everyone speaking, saying, yes, ma'am, no, ma'am. Even if you don't know someone, you just polite to them. So it took a while for me to get used to that. So I think to answer your question, the thing that's the most different is the personalities.
00:48:17
Speaker
So is that like a custom thing or is that like just, just how y'all grew up, kind of like how we were, you know, we get slapped silly. Very, very family based. Right. There's a lot of that. And then another thing is that the main industry in the Bahamas is terrorism. So, uh, you're basically bred to be polite and welcoming to people because that's how the country survives. So that's ingrained in us at a very young age. So we kind of grow up being that way.
00:48:47
Speaker
for sure. It sounds like that, like if I put that in a statement, I'm pretty sure the close-knit family of Arkansas from a Bahamian, that would be like the Little Woods Outdoors motto.
Reflections & Humorous Adventures
00:48:59
Speaker
Just everybody's one big family here, you know? Exactly. But that's pretty awesome to hear. I was telling you something that was so similar, because Sam came with me to the Bahamas, right? No one in my family knew that Sam was coming, except my mother, I guess.
00:49:15
Speaker
So we met my uncle out of the bar and he's like, Oh, you're with BJ. Cool. You're cool. Drink whatever you want. Let's go out on the boat. Let's go have fun. You're instantly a part of the family. So like I brought one here this weekend and we went over to your house with, uh, your dad and John were like, Oh, Hey, you guys ready to go hunting? Like it's just, it was the same thing. Two different experiences with the same type of people. Yeah.
00:49:40
Speaker
That's awesome. I wish it was that way everywhere. I mean, it's not though at all. I mean, there's probably bigger parts of Florida that you've probably even been in, Juanita. It's not even close to that, huh? Yeah. Yeah. I lived in Orlando for a period and, uh, it wasn't as friendly as back home. You know, you would go to some places and you walk into, uh,
00:50:07
Speaker
a business establishment and you say good morning and back home we have a thing of saying good morning. We say it twice so we'll be like morning, morning. So normally I would show up to work and I'd be like morning, morning and people would be like just look at me or they'll only be like morning. Like why are you talking? Yeah, for rats. Why is he saying it?
00:50:32
Speaker
So yeah, just to reiterate what BJ said, the biggest adjustment has been the people, you know, because back home, even though people are different, everyone is basically the same, if that makes sense. And I'm in the US, everybody is different. So you never know the experience you're going to get with a person in the US.
00:50:56
Speaker
But coming to Arkansas, just like BJ said, is a reminder of whom, you know, people are friendly. You say good morning, people say morning back.
00:51:06
Speaker
Uh, people treat you like family or friends, you know, once you know someone. So yeah. Oh, a good example of that. Uh, Bonnie and I stopped, uh, to a store Fort Thompson on the way out to go hunting. Cause we had to grab some shells and, uh, we grabbed four boxes of 20 gauge shells. And we just didn't know any better. And walking to the register, it was some random guy was like, Hey, are you shooting a 12 gauge shotgun or 20 gauge? It was like 12 gauge.
00:51:36
Speaker
He's like, well, you may need to get these over here. He was just helpful for no reason. He didn't know us. He just knew he needed to help. You were wondering through that store just aimlessly or what? Well, Sam told us that they would all be on pallets in the middle of the store. Some kind of pallets. There's a whole like a big selection on those pallets. That's right. He didn't, he didn't give you much more than that.
00:52:03
Speaker
He gave me everything except for the part that I should have known, the 12 gauge. Hey, here's the thing. Sam is like that GPS that says rerouting all the time. So you might not want to seek any direction from him. So that's awesome. I think, uh, you know, long story short, Sam getting to go there and, and you guys being up here with us this weekend is, is incredible. And, uh, how long do we have you in town, buddy?
00:52:32
Speaker
I actually leave tomorrow morning, but I was telling, uh, Sam and BJ that I am willing to go hunting right now. You had a blast though, huh? Yeah. I thought we could go cone hunting, but it's been raining, you know, two or three inches. I figured it'd be pretty muddy out there.
00:52:54
Speaker
Yeah, my boy with the dogs, Jacob, he's off on baby duty tonight. So we're going to have to save that for another time. But I think hopefully in terms of.
00:53:07
Speaker
kind of our future plans this week. We're going to try to get back to the two episodes a week status. I can't thank BJ, Juanee, Sam. Thank y'all for taking time out today. I know y'all probably had something better to do. There's probably a good basketball game on tonight.
00:53:25
Speaker
Uh, but the fact that y'all sat with us and, and chatted was a blast. Uh, I really enjoyed it. Um, I think going forward, I'm going to look for some of that family experience down in the Bahamas, cause I don't know when we're going, but.
00:53:40
Speaker
It's pretty nasty this next week. I mean, we might as well go to the beach, BJ. I mean, it's going to be raining, freezing rains, maybe a little snow. This would be a perfect week for that. Hunting season's over now for a temporary amount of time. I mean, turkey hunting's coming up.
00:53:59
Speaker
We'll be back at it, but we've got to get us a trip plan to the Bahamas, and if anybody in the world listens to this, I mean, go to the Bahamas, experience that. I've seen it on Shark Week. BJ's told you about it. Juanny's told you about the food. I mean, that place lives off tourism, and everybody needs to go see it.
00:54:20
Speaker
You know, me and Drew here, hopefully I can talk him into a hunt or two before the end of season. And here in Arkansas, the duck season does go out Tuesday, so the 31st. So, you know, we're going to kick it off and try to end it right. But it was a slow start to the season real dry. It's going to finish good. But again, thanks to everybody for listening.
00:54:47
Speaker
Littlewood's outdoors. Has anybody got anything to say to lead off with? Let's leave it on something good.
00:54:55
Speaker
Jacob, I want to, you know, I know you're not here. I want to say congratulations to you and Jess on the new baby boy. I know you're probably kind of wondering what you're going to do next, but we miss you buddy. And Juanny, BJ, we're glad to have you Sam. I love all you guys. Glad y'all got to come on here. And that was a great talk. I learned something new and I got to make fun of Sam and everybody a little bit. So it's always a good day for me.
00:55:23
Speaker
Sam's a good target. He's going to be a good target right after this episode too. For sure. For sure. So let's rewind all the way back to the very start where we're duck hunting. So this is Juanie's first duck hunt. And this is BJ's maybe five or six duck hunt.
00:55:51
Speaker
Hey, he'll tell you he'll tell you 10 or 12. But so, you know, halfway through it, we were shooting ducks, emptying our guns. And halfway through it, I told Bonnie, I said, Hey, shoot that duck on the water.
00:56:13
Speaker
And he pulled up there and he got all situated, ready to go. He aimed down the sights, ready to go. And then he pulled the trigger and flinched. So he flinched like anybody would. I mean, come on now, we're all act hard. We all flinched when we pull it.
00:56:43
Speaker
And so that was funny. And I was like, you know what, I'm not gonna laugh because this is my first time meeting the guy, you know, getting to hang around him. I'll give him a break. Now you're laughing about it. Well, he proceeds to do it two more times. I almost thought Byron decided to say, is this guy special?
00:57:09
Speaker
He enjoyed it so much. He just got caught up in the moment, just like we all do outdoors. I was excited. I mean, there was ducks flying everywhere. So you really couldn't keep your gun loaded. Right. What a great way to end it. I mean, that just shows you, man, Juanee, you got to experience it firsthand. The excitement with hunting these ducks, man.
00:57:36
Speaker
It's like a rush, I mean, just like anything else. So again, everybody, thanks for listening. Great ending story, Sam. And I hope everybody enjoyed Little Woods Outdoors. Have a great evening.