The Duck Dynasty icon stops abruptly

If you travel in the Golden Triangle of Texas, the area around the cities of Beaumont, Port Arthur, and Orange, you’ll no doubt see a muddy pickup truck or two on a cold weekend morning. In that truck may be hunters from Houston, Dallas, San Antonio or Austin, all looking to celebrate the sunrise and get a few ducks down.

If you visit this serene setting at certain times of the year, the silence can be broken by the sound of gunshots—lots of gunshots—as Texas duck hunters seek to lower their limits during the season as sanctioned by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.

If you grew up around these parts, you know duck hunting is a large part of our outdoor heritage but there are certainly those who only learned about our state’s love of ducks, hunting, and overall silliness between 2012 and 2017, when the popular The Louisiana-based reality show Duck Dynasty was absolutely furious.

How big was The Duck Dynasty? I remember one outdoor show in Lafayette, Louisiana, where people lined up for more than eight hours just to get a chance to take a picture with “Uncle” Si Robertson. And kudos to Uncle Si, he was there for every person and every picture. But making people feel wanted, needed and valued is just part of the Robertson family credo.

The show has been off the air as far as original productions go, but the Robertsons still have an online podcast. It is called Duck Call Room. In a recent episode of that podcast, we got an update on Phil Roberston’s condition. The patriarch of the family was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. On the podcast, Phil’s son Jase commented that his father was “not feeling well”.

I know you will join us in offering prayers and good thoughts for Phil and the Robertson family as they face that illness and other health complications. Obviously, the elder Robertson has more than an Alzheimer’s diagnosis to contend with. You can hear more of Jase’s comments about his father here.

The other startling news to come out of the Monroe, Louisiana area regarding Duck Dynasty was the news that John Godwin a master decoy technician and duck call builder for the past 25 years have decided to call it a career. On Duck Call Room podcast, Godwin suggested he was “ready to fish”.

Lisa Roberston honored the longtime family friend and celebrated the news of his retirement with this post on her Instagram account.

The post went on to wish John and his bride Paula a happy retirement and suggested that “Miss Paula” might have a long list of chores for John to handle around the house now that he suddenly has a little more time on his hands.

I know you will join us in wishing John and Paula the best in their new life after retirement. Thank you for your quality work, dedication to perfection and laughter over the years.