To start off, let’s talk about the how things have come to be, starting with the early years. How long have you been chasing waterfowl and how did it start for you?

Ira: My grandma lived down in Texas, which was a big rice growing area and great for ducks. My dad would take us some, but it was mainly my brother and I. We’d ride our bicycles believe it or not for 4 to 5 miles to the rice fields. We were 8-10 years old at the time, just little kids. It’s just amazing to think that back in those days, no one thought any thing of it, and the worst that could happen was you stuck the gun barrel in the spokes of your bicycle tires and fly off. We didn’t have any decoys or calls and it was basically bush whacking and laying in ditches shooting what ever flew over.

Tell me about a memorable hunt from when you were just starting out?

Ira: Well, I’ll tell you the story of my first duck. It was a mallard hen and my brother and I had road our bicycles out to the pond in the dark where we had seen some ducks. We were sneaking down the ditch side by side when I see a skunk like 5 feet in front of us and it sprayed my brother. So he was then out of commission, but I snuck up the ditch the rest of the way and as uneventful as it may seem today, I shot a mallard hen on the water and I thought I was the best duck hunter there ever was at that moment. It took a little while for my brother to get the skunk off him, but grandma had some remedy to help him out.

Who would you say your mentors have been in getting you to where you’re at now in the waterfowling industry?

Ira: Well I would say that all along the line, my mentors have been my friends. I’ve been fortunate to have friends very involved in the outdoors, some of them more than others, like my Dad, he likes duck hunting, but he’s not a huge duck hunter. A lot of my other friends are very involved with DU, Missouri’s conservation department, various waterfowl companies.

How did MOmarsh come to be?

Ira: A buddy of mine, Ben Gallop, and I started building some very crude boats when I got out of vet school and actually checked out books from the library to learn how to fiberglass, as there was no Internet back then. We built some boats and started a little business called I.B. Duck Boat Company and the boats were pretty small, but I then moved to Louisiana. When I came back to Missouri I wanted to build a bigger boat and that is when I built the original Fatboy and started MOmarsh at that point.

Where did you come up with the name “Fatboy” for your boats?

Ira: Well I had built the smaller boats with my buddy Ben which had a low profile that was great, but the problem with it was when you were sitting there, it didn’t make sense that you were hanging out of it. I wanted something that was more comfortable, bigger and would really hide you better. My dad was always complaining that he was hanging out all over the initial boats we had built and he didn’t feel comfortable, so I called the boat the “Fatboy” just joking with my Dad, saying that it was in honor of him.

Besides the “Fatboy” and “Fatboy Dual Purpose” boats, what other products does MOmarsh offer? Is there anything new on the horizon?

Ira: We’ve got the sled (Mega Sled), the ratcheting/floating seat (Invisalounge), and this summer we created a pit blind mold and are now making those. We’ve also had a 2-man model in the works for quite a while and really is now essentially done and just needs to be lined out. We should have the 2-man for 2009. Then of course we have the boat blinds that fit our boats and most of the other boats in the class. We also have Invisagrass and I think that about covers it.

The plan for the 2-man boat is to have two models, essentially the same boat with slightly different holes in the deck, one designed as a marsh hole and the other for more traditional layout hunting. It is made to shoot two guys side by side.

Who came up with the slogan “We are truly serious about laid back hunting”?

Ira: Me.  

Is there anyone else involved with MOmarsh’s operation on a day to day basis?

Ira: Kellie (my wife) does all the books and a lot of the behind the scenes stuff. Most of the customers end up talking to her one way or another. I also have another gal, Maggie who takes care of all the shipping. Then of course there is the shop, where all the fabrication is done.

I also understand that you are a decoy carver. What made you start carving decoys and how long have you been doing it?

Ira: I started in 1993. My buddy Jeff Sherran was instrumental in getting me started. I used to think it was really cool to hunt over his hand carved decoys. He was the one who got me started with patterns, blocks of wood and he had the tools to get things squared out. He was my mentor in decoy carving.

Do you compete with your decoys and/or sell them? Have you won any contests?

Ira: I keep a large portion of them and then donate a good number to charitable causes, so of course DU gets one. My family gets quite a few. I just donated one to the Duck Hunter’s Boat page for a traveling decoy, where 10 different hunters will hunt over the decoy across the country and keep a special log book and then at the end of the season, the decoy will be raffled off with the proceeds going to help underwrite the operation of the Duck Hunter’s Boat website.  I like to donate decoys to different things that I feel are worth while causes.

What is your favorite species to carve? What has been the most difficult species you’ve ever carved?

Ira: Probably redheads are my favorite. The most difficult species to carve is the first bird of any species you carve. Every species is a little different, so the first one you do, you really need to study and focus your efforts. Once you get that first one done, you haven’t mastered that species, but you know where you are going for the next one.

I know that you and your crew have a farm that you’ve converted into WRP and that you now manage for waterfowl hunting. Can you speak to how WRP works?

Ira: WRP is essentially an agreement between the land owner and the government, where the government purchases a conservation easement on the land owner’s property. They pay the land owner to take that ground out of production and put it into conservation programs and then they establish a plan for that piece of land. They then underwrite the capital needed to make the improvement (Low water levies, water control structures, etc) is laid out in their plan. Ideally, it is a cooperative process between the government and the landowner.  

How has the farm changed since converting it to WRP and managing it for waterfowl?

Ira: Before it was enrolled it was strictly a row crop agriculture production; soy beans and corn production. It was in a difficult area to farm because it was very flood prone, so there were many years where you would get a crop. One of the functions of WRP is to expand the flood plain to provide habitat for salamanders, various birds and of course waterfowl. There are rules governing food plots, structures, etc. A lot of it is about water levels and trying to promote desirable food and nest producing grasses. Re-forestation is also a part of our particular plan and last year we planted 14,000 trees on the tract.

How many acres do you manage? Annually, what goes into farming for ducks? About how many man hours go into the management between the seasons?

Ira: Our personal farm is 420, but this year we managed just about 700 acres of area we hunt and then next year it will be closer to 1300 acres. A lot of planning goes in to the management and much of it depends on water management. Then there is do we want to burn or not, when do we want to plant and what do we want to plant. There is always the risk of flooding involved too. It’s pretty much a year round project.

It’s hard to say how many hours go into it, but I’d say 1200-1500 hours.

So lets talk about little about your new business venture, Habitat Flats?

Ira: This all kind of came about this summer, my brother and Tony Vandermore came up with this business plan and sprung it on me this summer. We had the opportunity to buy another large piece of ground in a great location, so we decided to do it, which is what spurred the development of Habitat Flats, which is what we are calling our outfitting business. A big part of it is that we now have far more land than we can hunt. Being Tony already had TnT Snows (exclusively a spring snow goose guide service), we decided to roll everything into one deal. We’ll offer hunts now, not just for spring snow geese, but for ducks, Canada geese and deer. In total there are 4 of us involved, with the fourth member being our friend who is a farmer in the area.

We have an incredible resource here and we want to share it with others, then of course use the income help pay for the management costs, as well as, general property costs. We are offering hunts for this season. 

Are your hunts guided or unguided?

Ira: It’s a little bit confusing. We have two deals, one is a lease set up where guys can lease certain parts of the property and is essentially a deer and duck club, so there are 8 different duck properties exclusively for the club where guys in the club can hunt and they are allowed to take a guest. They also have access to deer hunt 4000 acres in the Swan Lake area.

The other part of the operation is an all inclusive package hunt, which is fully guided and lodging and meals are included. Essentially on that deal, you stay at one of our camps with us. There are opportunities to hunt fields, managed marsh, oxbow slues, or even flooded timber, it just depends what time of the year you book for and what the birds are doing. For goose hunting there are both field and water hunting opportunities.

Do you travel outside Missouri to chase waterfowl? Where have you been? Do you have plans to travel to other locations?

Ira: I have been extremely lucky and have traveled around waterfowl hunting quite a bit. I have been to several places in Canada to include the Hudson Bay and couple different places in Saskatchewan. I’ve hunted a lot of places in the U.S. and been down to Mexico a few times. This past summer I was lucky enough to go to Argentina, which was quite an experience.

Besides waterfowl, do you seriously pursue any other animals?

Ira: There is just no time left anymore. I used to love to bow hunt, but now days I probably won’t even try to shoot a deer this year. I will say that I do still love turkey hunting in the spring and I’m still pretty serious about that.  

Outside of building boats, carving decoys, managing your farm and duck hunting; do you have time for anything else?  

Ira: Well I have to show up at my vet clinic every so often.  My brother and I own two veterinary clinics together and we have some good people working for us that allow us to get out and hunt during the season.

And lastly, can you provide our readers with a tip they can use next time they hit the field or water?

Ira: Well I have two things I want to say here. These are no secret, but the two biggest keys to waterfowl hunting are to have the tools and take the time be hidden and blend in to the environment you’re in. The other is to be in the right spot. Take some notes and look back on them to see what the birds were doing at certain times and how they reacted to weather patterns.

For more information about Ira McCauley, MOmarsh boats or Habitat Flats, check out his websites