FAN Outdoors · Billy Hildebrand (KFXN)

Fan Outdoors: Tommy George, Stan Teckila, and Tony Mariotti

·1 hr 30 min·5 clips

A pontoon boat buries into a wake boat wave, instantly filling with water and throwing passengers.

This episode of Fan Outdoors features host Billy Hildebrand and co-host Bob St. Pierre sharing personal stories and interviewing fishing expert Tommy George and naturalist Stan Teckla. Hildebrand recounts a frightening incident where a pontoon boat nearly capsized due to a wake boat's wave, emphasizing the importance of life jackets. Tommy George details his family's fishing trip to Wisconsin's Chippewa Flowage, where they caught various species using crankbaits despite the small size of the fish. He recommends Butternut Lake for sunfish and Star Prairie for crappies, advocating for the use of wax worms and quality electronics. Stan Teckla discusses wildlife observations at his cabin, focusing on hummingbird behavior in rain and osprey hunting techniques. He explains that osprey, reintroduced to Minnesota after being locally extinct, migrate as far as South America and often nest on platforms erected by power companies. Teckla notes that orioles have disappeared from his yard after a busy nesting season but will return in mid-August to feed before migration. A surprising moment involves a child catching fish with a bare hook, demonstrating an unusually strong bite. Teckla describes osprey sometimes "walking" on water with outstretched wings to take off with prey, a unique hunting method. The episode reveals that hummingbirds cannot use thermal air currents for migration and must flap constantly, even crossing the Gulf of Mexico. The tone is casual and conversational, blending personal anecdotes with expert advice in a relaxed, storytelling style. Listeners who enjoy fishing tips, wildlife facts, and relatable outdoor mishaps will appreciate this episode. Those seeking highly structured, technical hunting or fishing content might find the casual digressions less engaging.

As heard by us

A loose, practical Saturday-morning outdoors show that turns a water scare into a safety reminder.

This Fan Outdoors hour starts in easy Saturday-morning outdoors banter, moving through a hot holiday weekend, yard work, a water scare, and a plain-spoken reminder about life preservers.

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Why you'd press play

You want a Saturday morning outdoors hang with hunting, fishing, migration talk, and a blunt life-preserver reminder.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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