Living the Outdoors with Marc Drewek: 3/4/26

March 5, 2026·51 min·4 clips

John Steffes found his father's journal about the 1940 Armistice Day blizzard after his dad died, sparking a book about duck hunters who froze to death.

Happy spring, if you will. Mark Drewick begins with a bright March day, keeps the phones open, and lets the show settle into outdoors talk that turns serious almost by accident. John Steffes joins him. They start with duck hunting, then keep circling back to the Armistice Day storm and why that day was so hard to survive. Weather was tougher to read then. Mark says hunters and anglers always take on some risk, whether they are going to a deer stand, a turkey blind, a duck blind, or open water. This storm was in another category. In 1940, as Mark frames it, people did not have the same warning when weather shifted fast and hard. John came to the story through family. After his father died, he found a journal about the Armistice Day blizzard and began digging into what happened. The comparison gets clear quickly. Boats, clothing, and basic equipment were far behind what hunters use now, and John keeps that gap grounded. He remembers his dad's old boat: shallow, tippy, impossible to stand in, and not something anyone would trust on bigger water. Mark agrees and nudges the story along. This is not only a look back at tougher days. It is about how quickly the outdoors can turn on people who think they have the day in hand. The family thread gives the history some ache, especially when John notes his dad was 52 when John was born. The hour still feels like the show: calls, texts, emails, guest connections, and an easy pace. It closes on Mark's point that when the outdoors gives someone a chance to affect another person's life, that time matters for both people.

As heard by us

Duck hunting, the Armistice Day storm, and a sober look at risk outdoors.

Spring frames the piece: a March night outdoors that moves from duck hunting into the Armistice Day storm, then into what old boats, thin gear, and limited weather prediction meant for people who still went out anyway.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

You want a duck-hunting talk that widens into an Armistice Day storm story.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from Living the Outdoors