The Spring Legion Podcast
Welcome to a year-round discussion on the wild turkey and those who hunt them. Hosted by Hunter Farrior, founder of Spring Legion and author of Ballad of a Turkey Hunter, the weekly podcast is geared for all outdoor communities and dives deeper than the usual tactics and calling tips. Holding true to the brand, topics are built upon respecting the heritage and challenges of hunting, with a never-ending appreciation for all that the spring season provides. Enjoy insight from special guests like Dave Owens of Pinhoti Project, Cuz Strickland of Mossy Oak, our friends at NWTF and Muscadine Bloodline, and so many more widely known for their impact in the turkey hunting community, as well as the deer, duck, and waterfowl realm, who exhibit the obsession of which only a real turkey hunter may truly understand. Thanks for listening.
The Spring Legion Podcast
Hunting Early Season Easterns in the Hardwoods | Calling a Pair of Gobblers Downhill
Have you ever sat in the stillness of an early season morning, as an eastern's gobble echoes through the hardwoods? It's a feeling that never grows old to turkey hunters. We're bringing that experience straight to your ears, sharing the tactics, laughs, and heart-pounding moments from one of our latest turkey hunting adventures in north Georgia.
Turkey hunting is much more than just a sport; it's a dance with nature where every step counts. In this conversation, we navigate the varied landscapes of private and public lands, illustrating how the subtlest decisions can tilt the odds in our favor—or send us home with only stories to tell.
Together, we dissect the intricacies of turkey behavior on hills and flatlands, the impact of weather on our feathered adversaries, and why setting up in the perfect spot sometimes means outsmarting hens and gobblers alike. And for those moments when the unexpected happens, like a wandering deer crashing the party, we share how we adapt and stay silent in the pursuit of the ultimate prize.
Wrapping up, we take a moment to reflect on the deep-rooted traditions and community spirit that make turkey hunting an enduring part of our heritage. This episode isn't just about the hunts; it's a tribute to the camaraderie, the anticipation of future outings, and how the legacy of turkey hunting is woven into our very fabric.
Chase and I invite you to join us as we prepare for the NWTF convention and plan our next excursions, including a hopeful jaunt to South Florida. Whether you're an experienced hunter or just love a good story from the great outdoors, we guarantee you'll walk away from this episode feeling part of something much bigger than yourself.
Check out the SPRING LEGION YouTube Channel to watch the hunts referenced on our show, as they happened and as real as it gets.
New Bottomland Woodsman Series Shirts and Pants are HERE for Spring 2024 at spring legion.com
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What's going on y'all? Welcome back to another episode of the Spring Leger podcast. My name is Hunter Farrier, joining you by Chase Farrier again today and we got a good one on the way. I got some some I'm not gonna call it mountain turkeys, but it's mountains to Mississippi. They were going to dive into some stories of calling some turkeys downhill for change and kind of how that might have played, played out and how we got him necessarily in position for a look to turn. Good, I guess. I think a lot of it was a lot more had to do with the right place at the right time and apparently said some of the right words to a couple of hangles at lawn beers. One of them was a lawn beer, one of them was missing a beard and but we'll get into that in just a minute.
Speaker 2:We were in Georgia and we've been meaning to get to this episode. It might come out after we talk about a turkey that we killed. After that I think Cills and I was talking about one or something another, as we're kind of stacking some of these podcast episodes on top of each other as we're recording them. So we'll be prepared for the influx of demand that comes with the February wave of turkey hunting mindset shifts that are currently in in root They'll be here before you know it and I hope that you are listening to this might be headed up to Nashville, because this should be coming out around the time the NWTF convention, um, and that's for Tennessee, february 15th through the 17th, and of course we will be there and we're going to be in booth 609. And that is going to be if you walk in through the registration everything and you hook a straight right, as soon as you walk through the door, through the entrance, not the doors, but you walk through the entrance after registering, you hook a right. You know that monstyote corner's over there on that, that um, closest to your right, we're going to be between no mad and them, so a couple of aisles over, I guess you'd say. As soon as you hook that first, first right, before you walk up in everything, um, walk down, um, walk down that way and look for the no mad booth. It's going to be a lot bigger and ours and my shirt's going to be a lot bigger and there's just bigger and ours we're going to be, uh, right in the middle of them and um, hopefully we'll get some signage and stuff out there for y'all to um find us if you're looking for us. If not, hope you walk by at least, because we're going to have some good stuff there.
Speaker 2:Um, we're going to have these gators which came in I don't know if we've even gotten to put these on the podcast yet um, these new bottom land gators, waterproof, breathable gators, and uh loading and um, also in this bottom land right here, and it's something that we have been working on for quite a while. I know we've talked about it a little bit before on here, but um just wanted to let y'all see it for sure with your own eyes before we dive into uh too much. If you're listening to the audio version on this, you might want to check it out on YouTube and fast forward to about two minutes and you'll be able to see it. But um kind of got a little one-piece design going on here. Um wanted to make sure that there wasn't any seams on the inside, so we got them to kind of do some type of uh binding here to kind of fuse it the double extra layer on the bottom with the single layer on the top, and that's what's going to kind of keep it breathable. That um, that this is a trick it back and this is able to, you know, got ventilation. This is a uh, a c6dwr waterproof coated outer shell, so got all the waterproofing and stuff that uh, most uh thicker versions of these have, which are mostly intended for snow and stuff.
Speaker 2:But I've never hunted turkeys in the snow and I wanted one that was kind of built for the warmer climates of spring turkey season. So we got those engineered up and lined out over the course of a year or two and, um, I only got something that we liked, and that's another thing. I want to make sure that thing was as strong as I'll get out so they wouldn't rip the stirrup on the bottom with the lace hook as well. Um added one of these little uh stirrup holsters this is the only thing I could think to call it, I don't know, but um, to keep them the overhang of your stirrups buckle from flapping against your legs and, uh, quiet material, I guess it's um, except for the velcro part. So all gators have got them. So it's one of those things and they're really getting around it.
Speaker 2:I don't like the idea of having zippers on my feet. I've had zipper boots before and you coat them in mowable in time and hopefully they're off your feet by the time it dries, because sometimes that thing will get stuck on the end. You gotta burn it off. But um, got those and we'll have those at the booth. We I hope we have some left at the booth. They're kind of going quick on line. We got those pretty quick.
Speaker 2:Come with this handy dandy travel case, which I like because I am angles are definitely allergic to poison ivy, zoom, mac and oak, but I'm pretty deck. I'm allergic to it. So I'm pretty nitpicky when it comes to where my gators go and even where you know if I'm wearing, um, my ranges or something like that down here in swampy parts and stuff. I don't like it to touch my other clothes and stuff. Then I go put my you know my jacket on or something that's on my collar, and then it can be three weeks later and I'm gonna catch it wherever it touches. Whatever touches this, it touches my skin, I'm gonna look at poison ivy and catch it. I'm not type of allergic but so wanted to get something to put them in. I've usually used a bunch of ziploc bags and stuff. This has got a ventilated hole that'll zip around up. You can fold it, I think, six total times and stuff it in your vest if you want to, or whatever, like that good little addition value adder right there. Um, so gonna have those.
Speaker 2:Gonna have some new hats like this green leaf mesh back. I know we we mentioned this is where it's going to get tied up because we uh, chase and I recorded one before we got these embroidered. It was intended to air a little later on in the week, so, um, you'll probably get to see the actual, real version of these new green leaf hats and then, um, a couple couple episodes down the road you could see the blank version of it. But, uh, just know that we recorded these backwards.
Speaker 2:Chase is learning one of the new bottom land ones that's going to kind of tie in with the big release that we got coming up, hopefully at the n wtf convention. We are watching a tracking number religiously for a really big shipment of something and that's all we're gonna say. So if all goes well, it will be here by the 15th of February and it will be at the n wtf convention. Folks to buy. We've got everything kind of reprogrammed into our system to uh to be able to sell it and for y'all to be able to purchase it. If they get here on the 15th, we will go. We will send somebody to go pick it up at the nearest location that it's that distribution center or whatever.
Speaker 2:We'll bring a whole regum trailer to Nashville and unload it and go straight to the booth if we have to, and, um, with the way some of the weather has worked here lately, might have to. So, if it don't get here, just know that we'll have an option. Um, some old thing or something, I don't know. We're going to wing it, obviously, but we have the prototypes available. Um, we'll be able to see, I'll be able to see them, feel them, and, um, if needed, you can scan the QR code and order it and get it the next week. You just can't gonna be able to pick it up right there, right? So, something that y'all shouldn't know your size is on, so don't you know, worry about that. But we've got a couple details we're gonna line out and make sure that, um, that we get those to y'all regardless, if you're not able to attend um, that y'all get in on that uh, big release, because it's pretty big and, uh, took about just as long as these gators did. So I'm obviously but chomping at the bit to to get the the word out, so things crossed that they get here in time.
Speaker 2:If not, they'll definitely be here by turkey season, which is what really matters, right, and um, and we're also, I mean, we're looking forward to seeing folks.
Speaker 2:That's kind of what the nptl convention has become for us. It's just a kind of an annual um way to catch up with folks that you saw the year before and the year before that and stuff like that's what. What I look forward to most more than anything, um, it definitely ain't setting up the booth and we're taking the booth down and I know I can speak on behalf of chase and see what's on that, but, um, but yeah, so, um, the plan is the past couple years we've been really tired up working the booth, checking folks out and stuff like that and restocking stuff. So we're gonna try to have some folks kind of allocated to the hands on work. That way we'll be able to talk to folks a little more and take pictures with folks and we've usually been behind a table and stuff and some folks can tell they they want to, you know, get a quick picture or something like that that they feel real obligated to. You know, I don't want you to have to get up and get around the table and like dude.
Speaker 1:I don't get like I want to. You know, this is what we're here for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, give me a reason to get out behind this little thing, so hopefully we're not gonna be tired behind the table and stuff this year and be able to hang out a little more and and I'll have plenty of books there, um, both copies and give us room morning and palette of a turkey hunter. Um, if we're not hard coverage again. We got boxes of paperbacks. You know I'm kind of old reserve and um, so we'll have those and a lot of other stuff. So we've got some casual stuff I forgot. Got some new casual stuff coming on.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've kind of last year I always had this casual stuff and I'm so far, you know, focused on the stuff that's coming in. There's not necessarily just you know, casual apparel. That that's still, you know, still a big chunk of what we do. So we've got a lot of that too. So I don't want to just turn into a spring legion hat because we are here to talk turkey hunting, not turkey wearables. Turkey hunt wearables um, I'm trying to think of um one more a lot, a lot.
Speaker 2:This ain't about a spring legion hat, though, so this is about the podcast. Actually, he's gonna be, um, our live podcast. The past couple years we've been doing this had a really good time. I didn't get to attend this particular one last year because we were having a daughter, uh, wind up coming the day after, so I could have made it right, but, um, but it's gonna be our one only live podcast of the year is gonna be in, uh, god's country, aka the Promised Land, aka Starveil, mississippi, which is um a little more local to me now not gonna be a big of a deal trying to make that trip, and uh, jason Seales was able to attend it last year and and I got to watch it live on the Instagram live and uh was really missing it, you know, because that's really a good kick off and we went to a couple other places last year.
Speaker 2:We just don't have the time to do that this year. It was a lot of fun there, nashville and in Auburn and stuff. But, um, we wanted to make sure, if we do one, we want to do Starveil for the third year in a row, so that's gonna be February 21st, that's, uh, wednesday, and um, gonna be a good time. I don't know the time yet. It's gonna be like six or seven minutes probably. I would think I gotta get on the phone with him line that out, but we'll all be there. Seales Chase and I don't think the Speak the Language podcast is gonna be, um, collaborating with us on it this year. Um, but I might rope lake your door then they're coming anyway, or so I don't know. But we'll worry about that later. We'll have some updates on the website, sprainleaderscom. You'll be sure to check that out, and we have got so much new stuff coming out it's not even funny. See y'all, y'all, just y'all, just go there from now on. Yeah, because I'm getting long winded on it, um, but yeah, let's, uh, let's talk about turkey hunting.
Speaker 2:So the story slash lessons we've learned kind of start getting turned into mush about the how? Because we've talked about it and this is one. Chase and I was sitting here just second go turn. He was feeling the camera's, turning them on, getting the audio part set up and everything, and we we are, we established we're gonna talk about a Georgian hunt that he and I went on and he, uh, he was on the camera, I was on the gun and, uh, we both kind of got to think about. I don't remember what happened, you know. So we sat down and kind of and thought about it, because this isn't one of those that we're telling for the first time. Obviously we were both there and it is a hunt that had been on our YouTube before, so I don't remember how long it was. It was one of those. We just put off the clips at the same time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, um that goes 245, 50 minutes somewhere in there, you know which is full version.
Speaker 2:When we did those full versions it was the whole kick the bootle kind of deal, um but, um, but. But we got to thinking about he was, he was feeling for that, and then, um, after about that, we just remember that we killed a turkey and I had to go back and think a lot um, I don't know what you had before that, but I feel like it was pretty on a whim you coming to Georgia. Anyway, you're living in Mississippi. I was still in Georgia and, um, either I knew about this turkey or no, I came over to work.
Speaker 1:I thought you came for a reason and just happened. We did it some big, some new release of some sort. I remember that now because we got done hunting that morning, we went and we worked till 4 am Back in orders. I was the day we filled up your truck and my truck as much as it could hold with orders. I don't remember what we released, but it was something either. I think that was it right, yeah.
Speaker 2:I just don't remember what that had been.
Speaker 1:But because we were like, if we don't kill one by nine o'clock, we yeah, we had to go away. Yeah, because I drove through the night and I think I got there at like midnight, right before.
Speaker 2:That's what I was saying because you, I guarantee you had whatever it was, we were shipping in your truck. I brought, it had to bring to save the three days on shipping if we had orders already and we ran out, because most, most by April, most of them doors just miles at that time and, if I'm remembering right, it was a weekend I was, or the week I had been, drawn for Illinois.
Speaker 1:I think it was and I was supposed to go up there.
Speaker 2:So you want. So we had no plans to actually do anything, right but but drop shirts right packs.
Speaker 1:Packs church and and roll.
Speaker 2:Yep, and and and and. Since you weren't going to Illinois, no more I was like oh heck you know I'm sure you had turkey on stuff in the truck Just grab the camera and come up here.
Speaker 2:I, I know a place that's got turkeys and I do, now that you say that, jogged a little bit. I'd been to this place a couple days before. I Don't remember what it was, but I remember when I got there First time I'd been there. I'm walking to about where we wind up setting up. I'm headed that same kind of little path. This, this is a piece of private that I got permission to hunt on and Matt, I Got it a while before and just never really Went out there scouting like that. But I knew it butted up to a pretty pretty good public on spot in North Georgia that that I'd hunted before and folks know about kind of deal. But it was on the back end yet, which is good because you know, familiar with the Areas kind of mountainous up in there.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah um, and, and where we were at was kind of at the bottom of a bunch of stuff but the only interest I know about. I drove around and drove down Near about every black top road trying to find another entrance to see and know the one I knew about was the only one I could find that day. There was a Pretty good elevation change going up and going down between that gate and where we were at. So I was thinking, man, we none else, heck. You know, we got a pretty golden ticket here to get to where some folks probably hard to get to Right.
Speaker 2:Um, well access public land, you know, so this I mean we had a good bit of acreage but it kind of went a different way. But the spot we hunted touch public land right, and that's obviously the first place I went. Just in case I ever won't Public land, I could go back there way to the, the second, the second opening of Georgia, which the public land opening. Lastly, I want to do is hunt one of them. You know, open them. Weekend of private, not be able to go public if you want, that'd be some funny stuff. You know what's that weekend? No, that was a weekend before.
Speaker 1:Okay private.
Speaker 2:Private land opens, like the first weekend of April, second weekend April. Public land opens, the privates obviously you know already open right. But that'd be something we hunt on private and can't go on public instead of the opposite. Usually sit on public wishing you could go on private. I can you ask DWR or whatever they called? I don't think they'd give you permission, yeah.
Speaker 2:I can sometimes kind of finagle on private land. Can't ride around Boilahey, mr, can we up out? And you know, fix a gator, do something for you. But, um, yeah, so we. So this must have been a couple days after that public land opening, because I went, at least once yeah.
Speaker 2:I think it was only once. Just once Went there and walked up pretty much, I Heard some turkeys gobbling up on kind of a ridge to her left. Now I think I was headed down as a wide open pasture that I had to walk through and this kind of daylight At the time but I did not think they're about, you know, have already flown down type of daylight. So I'm slipping, I found a little woodline and he's done down it and I kind of come up on across Crete and come up on the top and I'm looking. It's just one little more stretch of the, of the open area before it gets to a mountain that goes pretty.
Speaker 2:I mean not straight up, it ain't like you got a climate with your hands but it would.
Speaker 2:You be out of breath before you got to the top, that's for sure.
Speaker 2:And I heard Turkey yowling up there and I was gonna try to get as close as I could to the bottom, right there, to where, if I needed, if I could figure out which direction he walked.
Speaker 2:You know, I kind of adjust accordingly and hopefully he would stay on top or even, honestly, even better, going other side, so I could just go straight up and cut that you know route in half. But if he came on this side I'd have to Do a bunch of it depends, because this way I'd have to sit and stop and you know, wait from the past and stuff. But as I'm getting there I see this Turkey's has to come. I think the end, I don't remember, but it wasn't far and kind of, you know, froze me there and it was just a little little dip, little swag in the, and right was just the wood line, walking the wood line and it, it goes down and I just happen to be looking right there as a hands have folks up and you know I kind of hit the deck right there and put my face mask on one stuff.
Speaker 2:I still ain't got my gloves on stuff like that and and waited out and I get to see, and you know, tail fan just.
Speaker 2:Binder, you know I see a couple more hands, heads, and so there's this turkey. I mean I can tell he's, you know, a long beard already. I mean I want to be. I can tell he's a gobbler already because of the stand. I've seen about half his fan so far and I might check him out Well, but I don't remember. But, um, but there's one little gap, a little break in the in the trees and the in the swag in the road that they would have to cross. They were walking that direction, they're gonna cross and I'm gonna get a look at it. I'm obviously ain't called or nothing. And um, as I'm kind of focused on it, I see him strutting these guys when he's down and he kind of goes half strutting. Yeah, I guess you know he gets anywhere, they get where they all, so you can see something special, something new or something will stop, get a strut and check it out and keep going. You know it's a dice in the walk down, one of it If you can pull them off of there. But he did that and I didn't see a beard and he was missing a couple tail feathers. So now I'm all in my head like that Come, was that a jaker long beard?
Speaker 2:Is there, two of them, I don't remember. You know, I was assuming there was one, so I was just looking for one, but one might have walked while I wasn't really paying attention. I don't know, because it wasn't but about 10, 10 yard little opening and they were the hens. At least bought pretty steady. He just happened to stop right there. So I didn't know and I didn't really know what to do at that point, because I just went from high to low to high to low and now I'm just right in the middle, confused. You know, I want to try to try to call, and that would make no sense for just one, jake, to be with some. He was like that.
Speaker 2:I know her fact that wasn't. I mean, he turned and I was like there ain't a beard on that turkey and we wound up kind of getting on multiple turkeys throughout the season that didn't have a beer, ironically, you know. So it's kind of weird that I'm probably never. I mean, I have seen some without a beer before, mostly at pictures and stuff, though I don't ever really encounter one without a beer.
Speaker 1:I may have seen one.
Speaker 2:You know this year I think we saw ended up with seeing three this year at least, and I'm kind of like they ain't got a beard. Usually it's a jake right, but Kind of let him get on with these. He is, and I don't know if I should call him back If there's a long beard.
Speaker 2:That I didn't say. That's kind of one thing to let. There's probably two, you know. They kind of hit this creek and walked down towards the public. Cool, you know, no problem with that. That's opposite of the direction I'm walking. There's still this one up here, not hammering, but he's goblin somewhat consistently. A different turkey, the one I was headed to originally.
Speaker 1:I wasn't headed to this one originally, but in the meantime, I'm thinking, was that him?
Speaker 2:and he flew down somehow in the world. He just Crossed the sky and I don't see, you know, six turkeys fly. I don't know, but it was at the time I'm, you know, run through every scenario in my mind and um, it wasn't the one up there kept goblin, yeah, so they just he must have flown down without goblin, or else I got there late, I don't know.
Speaker 2:So I still go in to sit up on this one, and he's staying on top of this mountain that we were talking about. I'm gonna call it a mountain.
Speaker 1:I was gonna get over it ain't a mountain, same place that we set up? Mm-hmm, that's mountain. Yeah, that's from as if he is mountain.
Speaker 2:That's yeah, it's a mountain, but um, but no, he stays up there back and forth, back and forth, back and forth and, um, I do call a little bit and winds up. At this point is my first time hunting here and I've heard one or two more. I don't want to mess nothing up, obviously, because last thing we're gonna do is push them on the public, right, you know, and it opens like the day after that or something. I think we hunted. It was probably the opening day of public.
Speaker 2:I was gonna try to hunt the private land one time and see see what happens. Either you came the day after or, heck, it might have been over. I don't remember I ain't got a clue.
Speaker 2:Um, but regardless, this kind of side note, um, but now I kind of peeled off of him. I think he went on the other side, I can't remember he didn't. He didn't come down the down the hill obviously and he didn't really walk around. That I thought I could get to Before he would kind of keep carrying on. That makes sense. Like that ridge ran a long way this way, my next way to get. If I'm trailing behind him, he's just gonna keep going and going and his goggles are getting you know way more spaced out. He's obviously with something stuff and I'm hearing another one behind me and I don't know if it's the one I just saw or another one. It wouldn't make sense for it to be the one I just saw. So I kind of just Let that one ride after a couple calls. Like sometimes you got that feeling like that, ain't him?
Speaker 2:you know he ain't want to die right now.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:No real reason. You just get that intuition of not today. Yeah, that cooperative, you ain't raring at me. He might be fired up as I'll get out, but if he, you know, and he's got one that you know he wasn't, and so I just kind of gently he's on back, kind of crossed over where I just saw those other ones which is not opening through her left, did you? You'll remember, um he, the way it goes with Hollis and stuff, wound up getting on another one, or I heard Heard him go out of twice, got in the same Hollis. He was getting on the same Ridge, he was, I don't remember, but that was it. Nothing happened. Oh, he, the cross. I think they were just crossing over. You know, regis, and I wasn't hearing on the stuff, I was just playing cat and mouse but I was had a bad jump. Let me, freezing right there really put me at a bad jump on this little race.
Speaker 1:We're running right now Whatever turkey I got to.
Speaker 2:They already had what they wanted, and I was just trying to Talk them away from it. I think, it's just kind of hard to do if you only try to do that.
Speaker 1:Let's me end up Turkey's right and I'm I will say on that, the next bit or not. The next day, the next time. You hunted it with me there. I remember the sound was playing tricks on the thrill. But yeah, so I mean, throw that on top of you trying to chase this, this turkey around, or these turkeys around. Yeah, it ain't like a for a tough day one good old long ridge.
Speaker 2:Besides, it's a bunch of fingers coming off and he can be on this bridging up under this holla and it sound like he's 1,000 yards further than he really is, and then he'll turn around. You're like that different turkey?
Speaker 1:I don't know, you know.
Speaker 2:You just trying to break down the left and right at that point, you know which side do I even start? And yeah, you imagine having it, you know, okay, them having a head start and trying to play catch up Make for a rough day, you know if it was Public lander by was my only didn't on it I'd I'd throw some kitchen sinks out and pretty quick, you know.
Speaker 2:I'd try to beat him around this way and you know, really way along some stuff to just in Either get him or pull us out of like gobbler. That ain't hurt you at all, but I ain't trying to. You know, mess a bunch stuff up first day and I think I'd already killed one at that point. So this isn't gonna be my last turkey, georgia kill. You know, I kind of ain't gonna be mad if I don't kill him the first time. I hunt it. Yeah, give me an excuse to go, and stuff like that. I don't have to know drive too far, but um, but yeah, when you came up. So I have all this in my mind by time Chase gets here and, um, try not to. I remember it was cold, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I didn't have near about enough stuff in my truck because I'd been hunting in Mississippi, which, surprisingly, it stays a lot more, a lot cooler in your area of Georgia that you were living in, and then it was here. So like I was very Underprepared, I remember, I remember like scrambling around that morning like hey, you got a sweatshirt, I can borrow a hoodie or something like I need. I need a little extra. Oh yeah, but it was cold, cold.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and chase. Chase is cold and about 60 degree weather. Yeah too so yeah. Yes, so we're. Uh, it doesn't. It stays colder longer in Georgia than it does here. I feel like it is a little bit more of a harder cold here when it say it's 40 degrees or say 38 degrees here.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:It's gonna hurt your fingers and toes a lot more here because of the wet air than it is up there, but when it's 40 here it's, I feel like it's good 34 up there your flirting wasn't frost and that's kind of the area, you know, the ballpark we were in that day, which I Ain't a fan of cold, but I love it when it a cool snap hits in the middle of April. That mid-April cool snap that you know, it's kind of got its own term. Everybody's kind of knows what I'm talking about, right.
Speaker 1:Um.
Speaker 2:It fires them up big time on the goblin. So that also applies in Georgia, found that out. So okay.
Speaker 2:They were hammering that day. We were there and Long before we get there, we park it there a little earlier and I'm, of course I'm gunshot walking through this, this opening. Now I don't know what time these birds flew down, but I can barely see the ground. And I mean I just saw, like you know, a Gray head stick up and I could just see that kind of the white of the barn on his wings. I'm like I think that is a turkey and he's strutting and for all I know, they've been there a little while. So when was that?
Speaker 2:when we're headed back, so I got my eye out now. Yeah so it was there a little earlier, but not much earlier, but I don't know. We're about to walk up on them again. Or anything like that, or where they could have been roasted yeah.
Speaker 1:I still feel like we were running later. Then we wanted to be yeah.
Speaker 2:I don't remember why, something to get a gate open or something I don't remember. Or I know I think we wind up parking Different than I parked the day before, just in case because I didn't want to drive by it or something, knowing then what I didn't know the day prior or the hunt prior.
Speaker 2:I didn't want to mess it up by accident. And they do the same thing. I'd want to be, you know, ready for it and I'm not know we were even in existence. But um, so we slipped through that ain't nothing in that field or pasture, and we're, um, there's one goblin on top, same spot, saying gotta be same turkey. I heard the hunt prior and, um, do you remember hearing anymore? I don't think we did, because we were up in the woods. I remember. I'm thinking back now. We were in the woods when I heard it because I kind of I was just stopping. I don't. I don't necessarily.
Speaker 2:If I'm Trying to find one in a hurry, which is very rarely, I let them try to gobble on their own. No, they're checking their tent before. I mean out, hooting is a whole new ballgame when it comes to like calling Especially on a piece of public or something's hunted a lot I mean house hooting all the time, throughout the night, throughout the day. You know Turkey gobbled it pretty often. But I still don't want to fire turkey up and him give a false sense. Fired up, if he's. I'm walking in and I met a sound and he's goblin. You know, I'm like I can kind of read the scenario. He's probably by himself. Yeah, he's, you know, hammering over and over again, but there's an owl hooting at him.
Speaker 2:I don't know if he's by himself, necessarily you know, and you might get and try to get him to gobble once by hooting once, but you might fire up two owls. It go back and forth. And then he's just got my tiles and I'm like, well, I just needed one, and nowhere he was at, but I would have loved to him to let me know his temperature without being influenced by these owls. So just so I know what I'm about to do, right.
Speaker 2:You know kind of based in my next move, off of that move and and that's- also, if you have, you can hear one or two turkeys.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which one to go towards?
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean I always pick them on gobble the most you know, if I mean if it makes sense and none of them make sense in my mind about that time comes in here looking left, right, left right, looking left, right, left right. Well, if I go to this one, then that was the ones fired up he's which was more likely to come to me. Anyways, not that one, it's gonna be the one of Goblin. And I'm playing through all this and I mean this if there was another goblin, this wouldn't have been the one I set up on it, right? Hey, he didn't come down the morning before, didn't even really seem that interested. I'm in my mind, he's got some hands up there because he, you know something, took him down that ridge and he stopped.
Speaker 1:Goblin.
Speaker 2:As often and didn't leave and one like he Will gobble, and his next gobble as far. He was headed somewhere. He was with something hanging out up there. He'd go to this side of the reason, that side of the ridge, but he just gradually worked the long way down onto that public area. Yes, this is the tip. The tip comes down into the pasture, right, you know, but it ruins a long way the other way. So, you know, I Don't know what's on those. I can't even wait to hear the other side of that. Oh, I have no idea. I mean it's what?
Speaker 1:300 yards of ground from top to bottom. Yeah, and. I mean, it is a Pretty steep incline.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it ain't. No, it's a wall, oh yeah. I mean it would hurt to walk up if you ain't used to it.
Speaker 2:When, when we got to the base of it, I said you can go on right, like if you're looking in the woods they don't look that different because I mean, it is really open but you can't tell what it looks dark, until you see a turkey on it or see something walking up it. It just looks like you know kind of Distant trees. But you, what you don't realize is a lot of that's just ground and the trees that would be there actually way.
Speaker 2:You know, it's just going and going to go in, because I remember seeing a turkey on it going. Oh, there's the ground you know kind of, if I didn't know any better. I thought he was walking the top of a tree. Right he's really walking on the ground at the bottom of that tree.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:We're just not used to it. I think I'm sure some folks in Virginia and stuff are laughing at us in Kentucky. I'm like you know, you know what y'all doing out there, but I'm definitely different, still different to me. I know it was different to you because you ain't never hunted up there and so I was a little more acclimated to it. He's doing the same thing. I think it's only turkey. We heard which side to set up on.
Speaker 1:I remember we heard some hens that morning. What going kind of put us in a bind. I felt like ooh. I forgot about that or something put us in a vine, it was. We heard some hens and what. I think we're behind us right and we were close. Yeah, we were like that's the turkey. How can we not see these turkeys like we?
Speaker 2:we're sitting down yet.
Speaker 1:We were about to cross that little 10-foot opening I think maybe the one you were talking about, but there was like a little where they pushed a.
Speaker 2:You know, I drove a tractor about one time to get some firewood or something. Was that ain't where I was talking about earlier? That's up in them, wasn't what you mentioned about that? We were, we were about to cross it and then, yeah, cut up and we're like they weren't for uh-uh and and my mind, everything I just kind of took a deep breath about, like those turkeys are ain't here, then they didn't see us. I'm going, they're going it.
Speaker 1:You know they were here.
Speaker 2:They just well, he wasn't gobbling and I want here. No, he is, but that's probably the ones that flew down here yesterday morning. So we just kind of I mean, take Two steps back, turn around and see it and be quiet, and and then they kind of kept. I think they kept cutting up a little bit after that something. They saw us, but of course in my head I'm thinking that no beard, either Jake God was with him, yeah, the one that was here yesterday or day before, he just ain't gobbled yet. So I'm kind of got my hand under my gun, I think you know ready for if they fly down and go to this opening, we did sit wherever we were, about 25 yards from that opening. So if they walked that edge, Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2:Or they got in in the field. I can call them to the edge and shoot. I mean, you know good distance to that good, honestly, before then I could shoot if I needed to. I'm pretty close to it, can see it pretty decently. It's on my left. You're kind of over my right shoulder. There's a law behind us or in front of us, one of the other something I think it wasn't the best setup because we were crammed up in a corner.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and we were set up about 10 feet apart to you, so yeah, we could almost hear each other whisper, but not quite enough to make out everything. Yeah, at one point wasn't there a turkey in the field? That came out of nowhere and we were like, oh, or was it? Was it a hen, or was it one of the lawn beards or one of the goblers? And then that's what I thought I forgot all about that.
Speaker 1:Was. We thought we got busted. Right after we sat down we looked up and saw a Gobbler out in the middle of that field like alert looking like it was a hundred percent saw us and we don't know what it was the bird we had heard, goblin or not, or what I Think it was.
Speaker 2:I think it was a gobler. It was a gobler. I don't know if we have that on camera Do.
Speaker 1:I don't think so. I mean, I think it was just like yeah, what so?
Speaker 2:this is as we this is after we sat down, I think it was a river we're standing at.
Speaker 1:Why? We're standing about to sit down exactly what happened.
Speaker 2:So the goblin we've been hearing up there yeah, yeah, these, he is called behind us, mm-hmm, that gobler that had been going at the top, he didn't gobble any coming down. But all of a sudden we look over like I'm kind of literally looking in the pasture land to make sure I can see it if this scenario happens not thinking when those he and started acting up, I forgot, you know, just forgot to think about the Gobler for a second.
Speaker 2:I was just worried about not getting busted by these hands. We're actually in between them, so to speak. He's way up here, we're at the bottom, his hands are on, they're roosted on this creek, right behind us, right, and I kind of like scanning the. Yeah, I can see it. Oh crap, there's a, and I can tell immediately it's a red head. It's a good hundred yards away.
Speaker 2:I'd say but he's looking and I don't know. I didn't think he could have seen this because we took literally four steps and you know probably looking for his hands, but I bet you we kept them hands from flying down for a little while.
Speaker 1:But at the time we're thinking we done messed up. Oh yeah, no, it was in my head. I was cussing me and you and that her key and the hands again, and then the lady at the gas station you know, everything I think of, that it might have stalled us from getting there. Two minutes earlier.
Speaker 2:Mostly me. If anything stalled us it would have been me. But obviously we don't call. I don't remember him making much noise after that. But um, but he does gobble. I just mentioned right for that. He never gobble coming down, but he did gobble a couple of times going. The next gobble was about halfway up that mountain. Next gobble is three quarters and then he gobble on top of the last same turkey. That was a turkey gobbling up there. He walked in here. Then he has walked down. He could have flown. That's the only thing I think I've run through my mind. I said he flew down this hill.
Speaker 1:Just glided off the hill.
Speaker 2:I think he was on the ground and he just, you know, jumped off and landed and then probably walked down a little bit and you know, I don't know what the train quite was.
Speaker 1:He may have flown, and that's why we didn't see him out there walking in or anything. He may have just flown down to that center of that field, a second before you scanned it. And you just didn't see him flying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I'm saying I think it was the one we heard gobbling on top, came down and just went back up. I don't think this was a several one. I know that's a beard on him. This is about to all make sense. Hold on.
Speaker 2:I just remember why this is about to make sense. The turkey heard gobbling at the top and the turkey heard there was 100%. The turkey we saw did walk to the top. There's two gobblers, that's right. Remember, so that one did not leave. I thought it did leave. It didn't leave the top. I'm imagine this is all you know, spinning illustrations in my head right now there was a second gobbler went up there. So this gobbler I don't know where he came from, it don't matter honestly but he did walk up to the top because he got a couple times going up there and then I never heard those two turkeys both gobble or anything like that, but they're wind up being two turkeys and I guarantee that's what happened. We didn't see him for a good long while, I think, probably until after these hems flew down. Remember.
Speaker 1:I remember one of the hands about hit me. When she flew down, I mean landed, I was like what is like? I thought it was a coyote getting me.
Speaker 2:I remember hearing the. I didn't hear the wings, I'm sure you did, because it was like the air you could hear. I didn't hear no leaves or nothing, I just heard the. You know, like you know, if you've ever heard if you've ever heard a turkey's feet hit the ground, you know exactly what that sound is and you can hear it's like kind of like drumming. You can hear it a long ways off but you know what you're listening for. You know that was a turkey hitting the ground.
Speaker 2:That wasn't an acre hitting the ground or deer stepping on the stick, that was a turkey's feet hitting the ground and I don't know what. It is just that. And I heard that I went uh-oh, you know, it was about six yards behind me, I feel like, and you were about 10 yards behind me, so I know it was close to you.
Speaker 1:It was right in my ear and I couldn't turn and do nothing.
Speaker 2:You have no idea what it is.
Speaker 1:It may be a long beard, you know. At this point it I'm pretty sure it was a turkey, but oh, you know. I hope it's a hen and I hope it goes the other way. Yeah, and it walked right through the. I don't know if it went through between.
Speaker 2:It might have split us.
Speaker 1:It was close to me, it walked real close to you. I know that after that it walked away from me, up towards you and got a few yards from me and that's on the video. I remember that and then got out in that field I was, it was just her. Now I don't know if some other hands rousin the.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we weren't trying to move.
Speaker 1:But one thing I do remember is a minute that he and popped in that field and God was yes, and we said a word Yep, they obviously could see that field. So thank goodness we hugged in those woods the whole way up because they would have seen us walking and I think I did whisper or something in that video saying they just saw her.
Speaker 2:Yeah, because they sure do. They sounded off the second. She kind of walked out of that shadow. They've been looking at that field, waiting and waiting on this, and that happened a couple more times later on the year that we'll talk about in different podcasts.
Speaker 2:That's the first time I kind of really picked up on like where turkeys just hang out and what they what their options are called like a point of option kind of deal. Like turkeys like to gravitate towards a create. I mean, they like to risk over water for safety, right, but I think they like to roost, you know, close to the top of a ridge. That is an opportune situation If it's the hands on this ridge or this ridge. They get like to just hang out where they can hear both or see both, or see one and hear the other or something. They don't like to really eliminate options, so they like to get that what I call a born option, where they'll get on a corner or something so they can go this way, this way or that way and just in case they can go back where they were kind of deal, but they don't like to go past that.
Speaker 2:Once you start having to strike off an option, because the three options to two, they're going to hang out and they like to have the cake needed to listen here and there. And you know, keep everything open and I guarantee that's why they're hanging on that tip. They could see that, but they could hear down the other side. If the table's turned and it was wooded on the bottom here and it was open there, they'd be on that side where they could hear this but see that that makes sense.
Speaker 2:I'm theory, but I'm pretty, you know I'm pretty. It made sense, you know, I think that's you know. More you start thinking about it, more I started realizing they do do that a lot, but they did, and then I really don't know what happened to the hand.
Speaker 2:I never heard her again, never saw her again, nothing like that. But I do know we heard a lot more than one hand behind us and we only saw one hand. So I gave it a little while and, if anything, I hope to turn that hand around. But I did not think we were going to. I had a feeling she saw us either walk in or sit down or just split the difference between us and 10 yards apart. She probably knows we're there.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but I really honestly feel like she never got nervous. She just, I mean, she's never putted that I know of.
Speaker 2:Just kind of clucked around and walked straight through and on there's a guy over there sitting on the other side of the hill. The whole time she walked straight to him and they just didn't gobble, didn't say a word. But he's got with her, let that ride. And then they didn't move. I mean they moved back and forth, left to right but they never, you know, obviously came down. It was really discouraged At this time. We think it's still one turkey and I think he has already came to the bottom of the top. I said it's pretty dig them hard to call turkey down here, period. You know why? Because you can see down here. I mean that's a big difference. Right, there is, he can. Obviously he just got one of this. He can see you trying to.
Speaker 2:You know, if you're like there is a difference between sitting in the woods by this creek and calling and calling him down to that you know down down the hill period and then having to call, calling through the open, and there's one thing or he has to get Walk down the hill to see this opening or something like that. But if you can see the foot of that hill and he sees it there in a turkey on the tree, you're calling for him. He's been hunting it, which I'm sure, being neighbor in the public land, these turkeys know a thing or two. Right, it's gonna be hard to do that, and so I'm pretty discouraged that and we don't really have a Now because I'm not gonna leave this goblin turkey without even trying it to go to nothing.
Speaker 2:We didn't hear another one, no, behind us, or anything like I did the prior. But so now I think they, they, they kind of hang out on the high side, they're gonna approach you. Don't, don't loop around and get on top to come down For the fact of being able to see. But also, I think a lot of has to do with their I mean the way their legs Build their legs big, build back, I mean been backwards.
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm a turkey, legs don't being like our knees, do they've been the other way and Walking down here I think it's a lot easier on them than walking up here. Imagine trying to grab something and pulling up the opposite way. But a big, a big factor, I think it's just safety. If they're walking, you know, if they're walking down a hill, you know. Then they got to turn around and I mean, I'm sorry, completely backwards. Ignore that. If they're walking up a hill is more comfortable, right, the scene is tough. Yeah, that's all valid. But if they're walking up a hill they can turn around, but if they're walking down a hill they can't. They got to turn back around, run uphill.
Speaker 2:That's Not safe and they can't really fly up, he'll either thing for appeal, but they can, but predator behind them's also going up getting all off the grounds harder for them.
Speaker 1:You know, if they're going downhill they turn one step at a thing pitch across 20 feet off the ground.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if they're you're trying to get. They're going the same rate as whatever's running behind them.
Speaker 1:They're trying to get elevation going up. They're staying about a foot off the ground for a good yeah, yeah, 40 yards.
Speaker 2:double it, yeah, real quick. So yeah, I'm glad I'll sit, that knows all right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so near my head like wait a minute, yeah, this doesn't make sense, but um, anyways regardless.
Speaker 2:So yeah, so I'm not thinking we're gonna call these turkeys downhill easily and we get. We'll try it.
Speaker 2:Oh so we tried, did a couple of. I mean I didn't have to get too fired up. It's wide open boys, it ain't, you know fully just pretty low. Echo is pretty loud, you know. It sounds sounds good down there.
Speaker 2:So I had to really make sure we didn't get carried away, because this is bouncing everywhere it sounds like turkey season down there birds and everything, and they gobble. You hear it for a little while it hits. They go hardwood tree in there and bounce it back and forth. So born and born and gobble as much as they would because they're on top and they're throwing it down in this bottom. We're in but Played it pretty cool act of like we were just the normal hand doing normal hand things. You know, call a little bit to the left, call a bit to the right, Then really floor on scratch, and they weren't close enough for that. I didn't think and definitely didn't want to see us. But he answers a couple times and then I got to glimpse of them and that's when I realized oh, that's where the ground is, you know they're they're kind of halfway down this thing.
Speaker 2:They're not. They're not at the top. I just see one Strutting and. I mean, I'm talking a dot, you know, just make a strutting circle, looking move. I'm thinking, okay, I end up found them up there.
Speaker 2:And that's about the last gobble came from you know 50 hours left of that, and Miner took us by gobbles and move towards right of where I just saw that dot and I was at turkey and I see it come back and then this time the Sun is. I think I don't know if it's at our back or not, but the Sun is hitting this ground that they're on. So now I can see shining. You know, I can see a glimpse of stuff a lot easier than I was when it was all still a shadow and and I can tell there's two of them on this. There's two gobbles in this mix, right, but I didn't see a beard on one.
Speaker 2:So now everything make a sense because that was a different turkey at the bottom Co into that turkey's gobbles, right, that was probably the same turkey I saw. I guaranteed that was the beardless turkey that we saw down at the bottom. Got all I saw the red head, but I didn't see a beard and he didn't gobble. He didn't gobble the one before either, I don't think I see. So he hit the ground and went up there and we're thinking the whole time it was this turkey flew down, went back up and I'm like, oh, that guy on it.
Speaker 2:You know he ain't coming down twice and you're to that, well, he ain't been down yet. So this, my hopes get a little Okay that turkey doesn't know. There's nothing down here yet. So I'm gonna pick up on a call in a little bit. I'm like, okay, let's, let's try talking about down. And they work back and forth, back and forth. They're answering don't want to overdo it, I don't hear he ain't, or nothing.
Speaker 2:And um, a Little dead period there. I don't know if he did breed a hen or something, but there was a little dead period there where I'm thinking I cannot think of a better option. Though, as bad as I don't like being at the foot of a hill that I know you can see, if I was back on Us out of the creek I'd be perfectly comfortable. I'd sit till three o'clock. I need to be in at the bottom where I know he can see, because I need just verify. I didn't see it. Mm-hmm, what sitting whale with me. But I could not think of a better option that didn't involve messing this up. The risk was not, you know, worth the reward with anything playing cue. I mean, I couldn't think of one. So we sat and waited and waited it out and I Mean they came down before nine o'clock. I mean, it wasn't like we sat there till noon.
Speaker 1:But I feel like we were there probably 45 minutes to an hour.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's just a lot happening. The first 10 minutes made the next 50 seem real slow right right.
Speaker 2:Um, just kind of working on, working on just True definition, just working turkey. You know, not expecting him to come to this car, I'm probably not even the next for you, but don't let him forget about you. Keeping you know, don't let him. If he's gonna scratch off one of these options, don't let it be you just steadily staying as a year. Let him know you're here. Let him do whatever he wants to do anyway, because you ain't gonna talk him away from that. Usually they're gonna do it anyway, yeah just be the next plan C for him.
Speaker 2:You know, the next step. Right, you know, I'm saying.
Speaker 1:I Remember we had a difficult time. I had a difficult time finding the birds, yeah, because I didn't necessarily realize where the ground was, because I hadn't seen the birds yet you know. You're your whole. Oh, that's where the ground is. You're saying, hey, he's out there in front going left to right or right to left, whatever you're saying, I'm like I'm like right here and this turkeys own. What would be flat ground.
Speaker 1:But like right there you know, I'm like, and then also now finally find them, I mean at the end of the video. So I mean it's a bunch of I did get you got it. I got some climp, some Clips of them cutting across openings and stuff that I. I mean I'm looking at a screen the size of my swords, oh you know it. You can't tell the spec up there at like 100 yards, 200 yards or far they were.
Speaker 2:I remember Looking at your camera going move it left or something right, you'll get on, you'll get up. Yeah, and I know I'm looking at it through your eyes. I'm like ain't no way he's. He's doing exactly what I did the first time I was here. I was looking way down in there like man, it's gotta be early. You're looking way at the top. You're looking at the top of the tree, thinking that must be the top. That's really the trees on the other side. You're looking at the top is what more this way.
Speaker 2:So it's really throwing chase for a loop. I'm sure, and and I'm watching them, but I don't see in the whole time I'm catching glimpses and pieces. You know they're moving left or moving right. They got a couple times moving left and left. Is the route that they would take to get to us. Right would lead them on the other side of this ridge or into this on the other side of the finger part of it. So when they start moving left, every time they move left, I get a little jumpy because they got a walk left. Come down, they walk right, they're walking in the air you get that back, that's right, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:You're literally pointing right, yeah, saying yeah yeah, they got to come right to come down to our end of the field a, to the bottom of the hill be and towards the creek right to our, right to us.
Speaker 2:I'm thinking of a turkey.
Speaker 1:You're thinking from them. He walks left. If he's walking to his left, correct, but right, I'm in the turkey shoes. I go right now our shoes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, if you're in our shoes, they need to walk right. You can see on the video they walking right, right to us, left them right Onward, all right. So this, this last time they've made it down a little bit of the ridge and they're walking back to the right a Smidge and I'm my hopes are pretty high now. So I'm thinking let's lay it on. So, dudes and calling Getting fired up, they go with two the time, sat and shut up and thinking I let's see, because this is most confident.
Speaker 2:I felt Waited out, waited out, waited out a gobbler, I think. A couple more times after that and I was thinking that we got a chance that ain't Revealing where to look better at. You know, you tell them exactly where to look when they're on the high rise or they're on the high end of you. That's when you don't want to be pinpointed. I know turkeys can near about pinpointed tree from 300 yards, it seems like. But if you can Do anything you can to be opportune and making sure he doesn't, he's not able to with the winds blowing or something like that. I don't think it was and there wasn't no trains nearby, what.
Speaker 2:No crows cutting up behind us, the? That's when I would usually call if I can see him, if he's strutting and turning around and stuff or you know anything, he's pecking the ground, anything might be making some noise close to his you know body. That's when I'd call two, three, helps just, and stops before he gets clarity. So he's after wonder. But I don't remember an instance where I've had that opportunity. So I just shut up and they started moving a little bit and I just let him move. I if they've walked down and they're really really wrong and pulling back, but I just want to get down.
Speaker 2:And once you get the turkey down the hill, as a new ball game, it's kind of like going in the open time. At that point I say you know, you know, got a whole new ball game on our hands, zero, zero again, when it's really you know 14-14 football game. But you know stuff's been happening. It's just pretty neck and neck at that point. But until you get him down there, he is starting With two steps ahead of you. You know he can see more than you can call If you're gonna try. You know making curious because they can solve it without their ears With their eyes, but so I showed up. Let them, let them walk. Let them walk. They're veering down a little way.
Speaker 1:And. I kind of think they zigzagged a little bit. You know they would gobble over here and they zigzag over here and gobble and they zig back over here and I'm watching them like they're coming down.
Speaker 2:I don't know where they're gonna wind up hitting the bottom map, but at that point they're crossing over my feet. They're crossing my gun barrel left and right, coming down, and and I'll lose them for a little while and I still don't know where they're at exactly. Yeah, you know pretty much because that, because when they, when that Terrain starts coming down and those trees start leveling out, there's a gap, you know until he's down. He's just gonna come down here I don't know if they're coming out here or here.
Speaker 1:But once they got below the foliage of the trees we were set up on, it's a normal strip of Bank almost that you can see and when. When he got there as long as I cut, oh.
Speaker 2:There there's a turkey.
Speaker 1:Yep, that's the crazy part about the footage, is it? You know, I kind of caught a few, maybe a glimpse or two of them by this point. But when you said here, here comes one. Yeah you were looking at the turkey on the right the whole time, mm-hmm, correct I?
Speaker 2:think that was the first one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I'm, I'm following the bird down you know or? Following the bird in and we, you know, we didn't realize it until we watched film back. And then I pan behind a tree and also in a different, bird walks up because I'm like that bird ain't got a beard Mm-hmm and, and I might be getting ahead of where you're at right now.
Speaker 1:But I remember, you know, he goes behind some trees and then I just keep panning and I'm like he ain't got a beard, he ain't got a beard. Mm-hmm, he got a beard, like, just like Wow, where did that come from?
Speaker 2:and his head went from chalk white to oh yeah, and one of the one without a beard had a white head, and the one with the red head had a that's beard.
Speaker 1:Yeah. But, it's a little confusion point there. Yeah, as a camera guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I kind of probably forgot you didn't know that was to. I knew those two at the beginning. Yeah because I saw them two up top and I forgot you hadn't been able to. I didn't forget. I did not know if you'd seen them or not. You haven't confirmed that you have, but I so I don't think you have right.
Speaker 1:But, but you also kind of assume that I did also right. I mean at the same time things you know, shoot the one of thopping.
Speaker 2:I mean, you know, put it on him after if you have to, but I'm not gonna wait for you.
Speaker 1:No, we don't coordinate much when it comes to filming this good luck.
Speaker 2:But I'm out and get the whole thing and we just hope for the best point. It point it towards that, um, but now I do remember that there's deer coming up behind us.
Speaker 1:Yes, so what the birds are what?
Speaker 2:45 see him, or two yards from us?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I I've got a little.
Speaker 2:They're gonna walk right to the right of us. So right with them coming down. This wasn't, you know, catching me off guard. I was able to pivot around or whatever. Whatever I needed to do, kept them on my left shoulder, pointed at them and kept them in front of me.
Speaker 1:I wasn't worried about that which wasn't in the way, or no, yeah, which I'm sitting on your right, but I mean I was like we had to be a little bit. Don't get to the 90 degree point, we're good. Oh yeah, you know that point.
Speaker 2:I'm Sliding the gun around, you know we ain't gonna try to Swip swap. No, I'm going to use a gun and right, you hand me the camera if you need to.
Speaker 1:And there's one thing you won't see me do.
Speaker 2:It's more of self-film.
Speaker 1:Side note anyways, but then deer the deer I hear, and it almost sounded like turkey.
Speaker 2:And I was like they were like trotting.
Speaker 1:I don't really know what they were doing, but like when I heard them, they were close right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm like I was probably creaking, probably walking on creaking, just hopped up the creek something because that creek wasn't 30 yards behind us.
Speaker 1:Okay, and and I'm still. I'm a little different.
Speaker 2:Everything soft up there, if that makes sense. Okay there's rocks underneath it and you can almost walk on a rock and walking like Sponge moths like that, but both are silent if you're walking on a big old rock war and that you you can make a cover like ground, real quiet up there.
Speaker 2:Yeah but you can also, you know, getting a bind. Trying to follow the the path of least Noise instead of resistance, you wind up in a bunch of rock. I'm in a bunch of mall, you know. I wasn't know where I need to be.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but um. But they probably just hit some leaves right behind me. Yeah, I guess, and I remember think a I was thinking it was a turkey, you know like, oh gosh, we're About getting busted here, and then I think you were kind and I was scared me too, and our Our attention is in front of us, these turkeys are.
Speaker 2:You can cut it with a knife too.
Speaker 1:I mean, they're 15 yards from shooting right at this time and we're in the last few steps Of needing you know, and I mean we're like oh gosh and I'm, I don't know if I told tell you tell me it is a deer.
Speaker 1:Is it because I remember, I remember I finally turned my head enough that I could cut my eyes all the way as far as I could cut them, and it was a deer look like it was the size of a moose at about four steps behind me, and I'm just like, oh, there's a deer, what a deer. I remember, like you didn't know what. I was saying but like you were, like, is there a turkey? I'm like no you're like all right.
Speaker 1:Let this one keep walking like I know you, I just I knew that's what you were thinking. Like it doesn't matter, just keep there, you go, keep, keep on the turkey, or something like that because when, when you say there's a deer, I'm thinking that's good, they were not.
Speaker 2:If it was a turkey, I don't. I'm not shooting now and I'm not shoot this one that's walking right at my gun barrel.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:I'm trying to pan through all this, like do I swing and shoot turkey? Or is it buzz that is turkey, that this isn't going to happen. So our next best options, now behind us, or you, says a deer. I'm like I don't care about no deer, but I'm saying to him like oh, he's about to blow leaves. Hold off about 10 seconds, you know, and he didn't blow, I don't, do you remember?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it might have ran off in blue, but. I mean, I never did. I don't even think it ran off, really.
Speaker 2:I mean, no, I do remember here walking it won't.
Speaker 1:I think they were walking five, six feet behind us the whole time, until you shot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I remember shooting going. This is about to wrecks magic behind us. Yep, Because I was. I can hear him just stepping, stepping, stepping you know behind us when I've got my cheek and the safety's off. So they're right there at us and they weave on down. And then I don't remember his first or second one that didn't have the beard, but I think the ones that he strut, the one strut at all.
Speaker 1:It? I don't really remember.
Speaker 2:Because the one I was focused on had the beard.
Speaker 1:And then they swapped, they swapped.
Speaker 2:And that's when I got on the frame. You got the messed up and got on the frame with the beard Right, the one with the beard was in the back the whole time and I think the other one was strutting.
Speaker 1:Maybe I don't know if he was ever on camera.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I don't. I don't think it was ever on the camera, but I do think the front one was strutting and that's the one that didn't have a beard and had a white head, and that's obviously the one we saw the day before, and then Probably one guy I wouldn't say it was one goblin. I don't know, I wasn't, I wasn't at the top of the hill.
Speaker 2:I don't know which one was at the top of the hill, but um. But I saw a second one out of beard. Had that new two year old look to him had the feather still pretty high up and his bottle still small. That's the one I ain't really kicked in yet, but he had a, a good old nine inch beard.
Speaker 2:I'm saying good enough, you know that's the one I'm putting the bead on, just to be sure, cause the other one I could tell was starting, like I said, he was missing the tail feather or something. I don't want to mess this up, you know, and it'd be some kind of in between you know big body, jake or something Um but I thought on that. I think we wind up going back and looking zoom in real far in that. Joe Gress moogs on him.
Speaker 1:Yes, and I was like that was a full grown turkey right there, that wasn't no half J, that's for sure. And what we came up with? We think he got caught by something. Yeah, or his butt whooped, really, really bad by some long beards, or you know because he was ragging looking, you know he had had a rough couple of days before this.
Speaker 2:You got a turkey that looks like he's. You know, you know, every feather's in perfect place and everything, perfect ear decimation. Just marvel at them, you know, and then you got something like they. They go out a lot. They've been to a bar last night and they just rolled over and they're like ready for round five right now. You know, and that's what he looked like, and usually that's scrappy ones that are kind of like.
Speaker 2:Banny roosters. It'll gobble right up on you and not care, don't even turn it down at all. They get behind a tree and they never come out those sides, you know. Just pull a quick one on you, just for the heck of it. I feel like just playing mind games with you, but some of the toughest things. I've wanted to look just like that. I'm like I joke, I've seen some things.
Speaker 2:I feel like and I'll see I shift them to be on over to the pretty one in the back, because he didn't pull a quick one on me. Actually, the other one stopped. That's why he got in the front and he just kept on walking. I'm saying, well, that's about perfect, waited for him to clear one good old tree and you know, I don't know if I waited on a go ahead, but I knew you had to have had him at that point.
Speaker 1:Well, that was the, the worry I was panicking over and you know, I think you can hear it on video I'm like wait, wait, or don't shoot him, or do, shoot him and don't shoot him, do shoot him. I think I went back and forth but where I'd set up, I had a sapling about set up kind of close to the camera and I had, I had pivoted the camera until it hit that sapling and the turkey was about out of the frame and I couldn't keep going right and I'm like killing me. And then I could, like I was trying to watch your barrel out of the corner of my eye, you know, see if you're down on the gun, and that is kind of messing with me because you're, you're a little, you know, a little smidge behind me to the left, you're not just directly to my left, which is, you know, fine, and we're a hundred percent safe with this.
Speaker 1:It's just like I'm so used to hunting with Hunter. We, you know we don't have to talk, I can watch your gun a lot of it and know whether you can see the turkey, if he's in range or you know, whatever the case may be.
Speaker 1:And I can't see none of this and I'm trying to film and I'm trying to tell you kill him before I run out of swing and I remember I had to I got my hand on one of the legs and I tilted the camera out just enough to swing with him. I'm like, if he don't see me, now I'm falling like I'm about to mess it all up and luckily you shot at the right time. And you know, I mean it would have been fine if you if you didn't. But but, I was trying really hard Because I was strictly.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you didn't have a gun.
Speaker 1:We're gonna drive.
Speaker 2:Mississippi to film it. You know I want to mess it up, but if he wouldn't stop by, he's in frame. But you know, you know but I don't know what I was. I like to let them get as close as they want to Because, I mean, I like, I like seeing what they're going to do you know, once they cross that 40 yard mark, that's when my nerves stop. I don't get nervous. I like my nerves go from the nervous parts to 100 yards, to 40.
Speaker 1:Will he get here.
Speaker 2:Once he gets here, I'm like all right Now if he comes in to 20, if it's open. You know, sometimes they pop up at 15. And that's when there's really nerve wracking. I'm saying if you're watching one come in my nerves kind of ease off when they hit 40. Because then I'm like he can get here, I can book or something and he can putt and do this little bobbin and I got 20 yards to shoot if I need to.
Speaker 2:We'll love shooting with 20, 25, but I ain't gonna really just let him come on into 15. Let my pattern get smaller and smaller and smaller and risk everything. But you know, once he gets to 25, that's kind of where I draw the line. But I ain't opposed to shooting with 35. If I know that's the only shot and I'm going to be taking it, I ain't wondering what he's going to do after 35. Sometimes We've been on it for a while. It's 11 o'clock and we done cross three ditches and two creeks and walked up and down the mountain. Let him take one step at 35 and he's over with them. He didn't hunt right there. If I can, whether he flies off after his grounds, up to you know, I guess a chance, but but not. Yeah, let him come on in. And it was, it was fine, it was. I mean, that wasn't the first trick we killed together.
Speaker 1:No, it was fun. We killed him a couple years, probably A long time, probably Several years probably.
Speaker 2:I mean, we killed a couple when we were kids just because we both had to hunt with our dad or you know, either I would. I would get to the age where I was old enough to go home by myself and you'd hunt with dad. And then Brett came along and both had to hunt by ourselves, and about that time was when I could drive any couldn't say you'd be the one doing what I was doing a few years later.
Speaker 2:But now we never really got to, you know, necessarily hunt together. Hey, because it wasn't you know enough to hunt one person on the little piece of product we had, you know, close to the house and yeah, we were normally rock paper scissors.
Speaker 1:One of us was trying to find somewhere else to go.
Speaker 2:We couldn't help it because the chances were very slim. At that place it wasn't like who gets to go there, who has to go there and doesn't have nowhere else to go or do you? But but not like that. And then you and Brett shot a couple out there a couple years later, not this past year, or Brett did this past season.
Speaker 2:We'll get him on here and talk about them. But I know the year before that you called me and told me I was like hey, you heard a turkey on that place, much less shot one. I was kind of like why do you shoot him? And he says something like this three of them. I'm like well, raise Jesus.
Speaker 1:You know, the traps are paying off.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, that was really about the second year after we started trapping pretty hard out there. Yeah, we're starting to see a few turkeys here and there now and keep and holding some yeah, and they're staying around, yeah, which is pretty, and I mean it's not the best ideal.
Speaker 1:80 acres Well, a, it's 80 acres broken into three sections. So yeah, you're talking divided. So you got we have three to 20 acre sections, divided by either other people that we can't hunt or black top roads.
Speaker 2:But you can. I can hear the turkey on that section. Yeah, you can know, and really, call him across some stuff, yeah, but yeah, I just can't go to him.
Speaker 1:Right, I mean back in when we did you know we're able to hunt a bird randomly over there. I mean there was a couple years we had you know decent, decent seasons.
Speaker 2:That whole 82 and one bird was at right.
Speaker 1:Right, but like, up until that was the only bird on that property. Oh yeah, it was pretty good hunting, you know you could hear one at the other place and either one of us would go to the other side of that. He was on that, you know, was our block, that was over there, and then one of us would stay over here and hopefully one of us. He crossed that neighbor's property one way or the other.
Speaker 2:Pray that neighbor, don't turkey hunt.
Speaker 1:It's going to do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can wind up on our side regardless.
Speaker 1:Yeah, if that neighbor would ever figured that out. He could have just sat on his main four-legged trail in the middle of his road. Both of us and he would have killed him every time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, playing monkey in the middle right there, that's probably I mean between me and Brad. That's nine turkeys permitted to shoot. We never shot nine in a year, absolutely not. That's why there was a stint there, where there wasn't nothing there at all, though, because you know it was a race to kill three out there. And then you know, as we got older and learned, hey, we do that, you're going to race for it, yeah, In a couple of years because it ain't going to be like that forever.
Speaker 2:You go to just kill a couple of them and that's, I think, a lot of the reason why, besides the handicappiness of that turkey biologically, that ain't going to spoil for anybody who's read that chapter in Ballard of Turkey. Hunter Joker was probably a brood digum old, yeah, and he'd probably seen at least five turkeys die because one of them got to be there for all of them if they're going to hang out there. You know you can nearby see, from corner to corner to corner on every plot, a little track of it. And um, yes, he probably seen at least five die over the past three years. He knows the playbook pretty well but, um, I don't know.
Speaker 2:I don't know why. I'm planning on going to Georgia this year and going home, but he drew and supposedly gonna meet but a Gary up there and get Gary on one. And then I still got some phone numbers of some folks and got a couple of pins as the places on the public land that I wanted at time to up there. It's gonna be weird this year, honestly my second, yeah, my second season.
Speaker 2:I mean 102 seasons, being a Georgia native, I think.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Um, it'll be weird visiting, like it was weird visiting Mississippi.
Speaker 1:I hunted.
Speaker 2:Mississippi, once last year and once the year before, I spent 20 years hunting at 47 days, or however many days are March 15th to May 1st, but be aware, hanging over when came from my truck in the what used to be my hometown, I guess, um, but I don't know. Beerless Turkey comes back out, I know. Got the green light on him after seeing the hooks on him so, yeah, well, they had back up there and around that same time, really, I think is what we got Got scheduled. So starting to line up some hunts. That's about one of three that I know I'm gonna go on. Other than that, it's a whirlwind. I'd love to head down to Florida in the South, south Florida.
Speaker 2:We funded Central Florida a couple of times, but I'm hoping which we ain't got on the planet, I'm hoping we can round something up and get our schedule to the line to head down to, you know, the the the opener, opener.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Down there in early March. I've never really done that whole ordeal and I've heard it's a nightmare and a fun nightmare at the same time. When it comes to other hunters and you know I mean the only place in the world to shoot them or continental US to shoot them yeah. So if you look at it, you got the same blood type we got. You know it's worth whatever the miles and money and all that stuff is to get down there, and then what you do with it's up to you. But I know it'd be a lot of other folks feeling the same way.
Speaker 1:But I love to go. I know them first. 15 days of March are rough, whenever you see your buddy shooting some down there and you're sitting at the house waiting on Mississippi to open this.
Speaker 2:It's it's um chomping at the bed, I'm telling you. Imagine being in Georgia.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, got a hole in the right.
Speaker 2:This year, the first time in three years, I ain't got no babies on the way. So I'm going to get the hunt in the early season. But now we got some birthday parties Got to throw in the mix as soon as the openers start kicking off. But now I'm luckily that South Florida was right between the two, so got a week's spare and then we'll head on. If we head on down, we'll keep you updated. Hopefully we have some good stories.
Speaker 2:Yeah, a um, a um experience, to say the least. I mean, there's, there's still a lot of things that I've never done, that are on the list to check off, and when that happens I don't really care. But I mean, before I die which you don't know when that's going to be I love to hunt. You know some? True, true, true, I see all the down in the South part of Florida, but I don't know. We'll get to looking around scouting on the online stuff, which I like, scouting on paper matches and much as online stuff, um, yeah, and.
Speaker 2:I really don't get into the topo part of the, the paper map stuff. I like looking at the just to lay out and creak part and then.
Speaker 2:I'll take it over to the you know the online stuff. I'm all looking at topo but seeing what we can hunt, that's where that's square one is what? What is open, what is draw, only what is open to the public. When does it open? Cause, just cause there's an open open, open, open on that particular you know piece of ground and stuff like that, crossing that off and all that good stuff, and I mean that point is wide open.
Speaker 1:Yeah For throttle 15th March.
Speaker 2:I don't know where I'm going to be, but got a lot to look forward to, and this is my favorite time of year is looking forward to it. But until then we got a lot of work to do because we got a lot to get ready for in WTF convention coming up middle of February. Hopefully we're going to get some of these hunts out. I mean, after this one, I don't know, we got one more seals going to head over. Tomorrow evening we're going to record one that'll be about a hunt that y'all will have seen on the YouTube If you have watched it. I'm saying this like everybody's watching these videos. I know a good chunk of them, so would appreciate y'all watching them, obviously, and subscribing while you're at it, like an in following wouldn't hurt to. But but then we're getting into the stuff that it and on there and we actually have some videos of them. So we're going to be pumping out some, some new videos it doesn't have this whole long version of them and stuff like that, which we ain't trying to be a YouTube sensation, obviously, because we're far from it. The capabilities were far from those when it comes to filming. I'm speaking on my own, I'm not going to speak for chase chase pretty good at it, breaks actually pretty good at it. I'm just getting good at it and I'm still got a ways to go, but we're going to get there.
Speaker 2:But these next few episodes on the podcast are going to be pretty good ones. That are going to be some some traveling stuff going on and and whatnot, and got a lot of good stuff coming from spring leading regardless on the podcast video and peril and gear side that we're not going to talk about. I might mention on the next one I don't know but God and WTX mentioned swing by the booth. We're talking about, if not checking social media, is obviously spring legion and will keep you updated and let you know the release dates as soon as we know. But until then we're going to be here by things cross these things get here before and WTO convention, but if not, we'll hang out and have a good time. We got a lot of stuff to worry with holders over. Then it'll be time to listen to turkeys and then good luck getting into it. Yeah, so, but anyways, we definitely appreciate y'all and all the sports y'all have given us as we go into what we like our fifth season. I think so pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Hard to believe we're creeping up on 100th episode of the podcast, so never thought we would see that. Yeah, here we are and there's a lot of stuff I didn't think we'd ever see that are coming in left and right right now. So but can't help but thank y'all sincerely, personally and as a group, you know, for what all y'all help, propel and kind of you know, to the extent, being hands and feet of a mission that I think we all share is. You know, retaining and kind of hard to put in the word, just retaining that you know demographic and image and heritage of turkey, hunting as we know it to be down here, and I think a lot of the folks resonate with that, regardless of where you're from. So pretty cool to see. You've nothing else.
Speaker 2:If that's the only thing comes up of. It is just a connection to you know folks across the country that share those same addictions and obsessions and you know, understand those withdrawals that you have and the anticipations that you get this time of year. It makes it a little better just knowing that you ain't the only one out there that can't stop thinking about them. That's what we're here for and that's all we're doing. So appreciate y'all listening to the Spring Leagues podcast. We'll see you next time.
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