Guide Life: JD Blagg
Brenden Gallagher for SPLIT REED
Since 2017 FowlCo Outfitters has been an up and coming presence in the premiere world of waterfowl hunting and guiding. Operated by more than one partner, FowlCo has created its own path focused around faith, community, and waterfowl hunting as an encompassing experience not just a pile of limits. Partner and long-time guide John David Blagg (JD), has been pivotal in the upbringing and success of the lodge, being one of three of the original guides that have made FowlCo the waterfowl hunting mecca it is today.
JD grew up back and forth between southwest and southeast Arkansas, his father was a guide and when it wasn't guiding season it was farming season. You might think that having a father as a guide would throw you headfirst into running the show from a young age but that couldn't be further from the truth for JD. After being taught by his father how to blow a duck call, JD felt confident enough to start calling with the big boys, however, his father had other plans. JD was told that if he could bring his father a limit of ducks by himself, then and only then he would let JD sit up with the rest of the guides. For the majority of that season, he hunted alone, listening to the sounds of ducks and the subtle noise of wings whistling down into his spread. Several weeks later and after overcoming the challenges and fears that come from hunting by yourself as a young boy, JD was finally able to present his father with a limit all his own. With a stringer full of ducks and pride in his eyes, JD was met with four words “go do it again”.
After that season JD’s father let him blow calls on some hunts but as the youngest in the blind, he became more like the camp punk, doing the grunt work and fighting hard to prove himself, out in the thin morning air of the duck blind. Putting out decoys, moving sled blinds, chasing sailing birds were not the most glamorous of jobs JD had in mind but eventually his hard work paid off, he started running his own groups and so began his life of guiding. JD notes that from and early age he was learning from some of the best like Butch Richenbeck from RNT Calls and overall the best hunter he’s ever known, his father.
While working and guiding as a young man, JD had met and become friends with Aaron Seifritz, a waterfowl guide and avid hunter like himself. As well as with Josh Teff, another Arkansas boy who, like JD, was a passionate hunter and guide. Fast forward some years, throw in turkey hunting and a little barbeque and these three Arkansas boys had all come to the same conclusion that they wanted to start and run an outfit and the best way to do that was together. “All of us have a passion for building relationships, we aren't afraid to put in the hard work, we work our asses off and we all love to shoot stuff in the face really close. When we started FowlCo we never had intentions of blowing it up, we wanted to limit the number of people that come here, control the things that we can control, and the things we can't we’re just gonna pray about. I think the relationships and community are what keep people coming back, we want to know people, we want to know their families, we want to keep up with people all year and we also want this to be an experience not just a hunting trip. A place you can come unplug and where you feel comfortable bringing your family”.
One of the biggest aspects, aside from community, that sets not only JD but FowlCo apart from other outfits is how integral faith is to where they came from and where they are today. “Our faith is everything, it changed the course and trajectory of my life from going down a road that wasn't gonna end well. Getting to wake up and see the unreal sunrises and sunsets in Oklahoma and Arkansas, watching these birds migrate down every year, and just all the creation we get to witness, it’s everything to us. We are really lucky we get to experience that and the outdoors every day and it breaks my heart to think that there are people that don't get to experience that or don't even know about it”.
Even though FowlCo has become a popular and premier lodge, JD says it never came from a place of necessity. “We already had careers that were paying the bills so it was never about that, although now it's fun seeing it turn into a career because we all have a huge passion and heart for what we do”. Even though hunting and hunting culture has changed with the rise of social media and photography, JD still has the same connection to the hunt he’s always had.“Guiding every day, I still get just as excited when a big group of geese or mallards, or even just three mallards do it right and in your face and you can hear their wings whistle, that gets me just as excited as when I was 5 or 6 years old. Everyone calls it a grind and sure it’s tiring but it's fun, I’m getting to do what I love more than anything”.
As a lifelong waterfowl hunter and guide JD encourages young guides and or waterfowl hunters to find someone you look up to, who does the right thing every time and is willing to teach you. “We still learn things every day but more importantly as experienced guides, we know what to look for”. Not everyone will have access to someone who can put in the work and is willing to teach them, however, JD argues that you can't be afraid to try and to ask questions. “Don't act like you know what you're doing, just ask, because it's the only way you're going to learn and become a good guide. You need to be good with people, be able to carry on a conversation and relate to others as well as have the willingness and the want to put in work. The best guides are also the ones that can keep people entertained and having a good time when the hunting is slow”.
Outside of guiding JD and the other partners at FowlCo are avid turkey hunters, you might even catch them saying they like turkey hunting more than waterfowl hunting, hopefully, they’re kidding...although if you’ve ever heard the full origin story in any of our previous articles on FowlCo you may have caught on to the idea that turkey hunting might just be what turned JD, Aaron and Josh into duck guides full time. However, when it comes to waterfowl hunting JD did have a few words to say on one of his most memorable moments out in the duck blind and why moments like these should matter to us all. “My father and I were out hunting by ourselves when I was young, it was one of those hunts where you didn't know what way it was gonna go but it was one of those days where we were gonna go no matter what. So we get out there and end up killing our limit of mallards quick, then for about the next three and a half hours we sat there and just worked ducks into the hole and I remember my dad telling me you better remember this son, you might not get to see something like it the rest of your life. There were several groups of birds before we had our limits where my dad had said put your gun up, we're not shooting, we’re not gonna ruin this. Just to be able to experience that number of birds on our property and in the places, we did with my dad, that's always gonna be special”.
Almost every waterfowler has special memories like JD, whether that be because of people, places, or birds. Not only are those memories important to us as hunters but they are important to share and create, especially in regards to the next generation of hunters. Now JD is sharing those same memories and experiences with his son. “As a guide, I’ve had awesome hunts with clients with unbelievable amounts of birds, where everyone shoots well and you’re high fiving and hugging. Last year I was guiding one of the youth hunts of which my son was a part, he was six and I had told him when he turned six he could start going waterfowl hunting with me, so it was his first year. All the big boys get up and shoot and I’m helping him get lined up on this goose on the ground, well the goose gets up and I think we’ve blown it, there goes his chance on that goose. That little joker pulls his .410 to the left and drains that goose. Man, I have never been so proud in my life, and not just because he shot that bird but because he wanted to be there, he wanted to hunt with me, and I got to see how proud he was. That was his bird and he was proud of it, he was walking it around and showing it to everybody and he held on to that goose in the blind the rest of the hunt. That's one that I’ll never forget”.
It’s easy to understand, hearing stories like that, that FowlCo is in the business of making memories and FowlCo has to be one of the most people and purpose-driven lodges in the country. JD along with the other partners and guides at FowlCo truly are some of the best of the best, even though you’ll never hear them be that brazen about their skill and commitment, John David Blagg is a people person, an incredible guide, father, husband and friend who alongside his brothers and sisters at FowlCo has helped develop not just a lodge or a great place to hunt but an all-encompassing experience in Oklahoma, an idea that came from faith, flooded timber, barbeque and well...the turkey woods!
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