Interview with Silas Robertson
Q: Talk about your hunting memories growing up, and the relationships you had with your brothers.
A: I went on my first duck hunt when I was six years old on Black Bayou in Vivian Louisiana. My first encounter shooting a duck came when a coot swam through the decoys. When the coot finally surfaced from diving, I racked my first duck. The coot was the only duck I managed to get some shot into on that day, and when we got home dad wanted me to clean and eat my first duck. After I got proper instruction on cleaning the bird, he told me to salt and black pepper it heavily. Then he said to put it in the oven and burn it. After what I thought was properly cooked, he said to run out and get a board and place it next to the coot. Then he looked me in the eye and told me to throw the duck away and eat the board because any way you cook a coot it will never taste any better than a board. It's pretty funny looking back at how naïve I was, and that the word trash duck hadn't entered my vocabulary yet.
Growing up with Phil and Tommy was a great experience even though I was the little brother. When Phil told mom he was going fishing or hunting for the day she wouldn't let him leave without taking me. So Phil and I grew up in the woods together. When we were 10 or 12 years old we always used to roam the surrounding farm land and hunt without asking permission. When the local farmers got wind of us on there land they would chase us all over the country. There were many times when we almost got caught. As boys we always thought we were pretty slick never to get caught by the farmers. When Phil, Tommy, and I were grown my mother finally set us down and told us that she had talked to the farmers about us hunting there land. She broke the news that the farmers didn't care one bit if we hunted there land, but they told my mother not to tell us that. They didn't want us to know that they didn't care about poaching because they got a thrill out of watching us run from them. I recall being scared to death of getting caught and it turns out that the farmers were pulling our leg all those years.
Q: What kind of terrain is your favorite to hunt?
A: It's hard to favor anything other than what I grew up on, so I would say anywhere on the Red River.
Q: What is your favorite Duck Commander call?
A: Brown Sugar
Q: What state is your favorite to hunt?
A: Because of the duck populations and relatively untouched land in the west, I tend to lean that way.
Q: What is your favorite Movie?
A: Outlaw Josie Whales
Q: What is your favorite food?
A: A good old fashioned home cooked hamburger. Nothing beats it, and I could eat it seven days a week.
Q: Talk about your job at Duck Commander and what roles you take on.
A: My main job is probably the most monotonous of all the ones at Duck Commander, but a very important one. I make all the reeds that go into the duck calls. The double reed system starts by cutting the shape of the reed, riveting two of them together, and bending the reed end up to give it a better quality sound. I also, spend a great deal of time out at the land with Phil preparing for the next duck season.
Q: You have been announced as the official Duck Commander claimer, so what do you have to say in your defense?
A: To say that I am very passionate about duck hunting would be an understatement. Every duck that flies by I want to be the one putting him into the strap, and sometimes I think that I do. It is hard to admit, but they do most of the killing. The rest of the guys really like to rattle my chain and get me worked up (watch the end of Duckmen X). It's all fun and games, and also part of our camaraderie together as family.