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
Slick Southeastern Gobblers - Hunting Turkeys in Various Conditions
We've officially hit the halfway point of the 2025 spring turkey season, and the changes in weather and turkey behavior are becoming more apparent as the foliage thickens and temperatures rise.
• Chase's hunt in East Georgia yielded success after walking 23 miles in three days through challenging sandy terrain
• After a thunderstorm passed and winds died down, a gobbler immediately started hammering, creating perfect hunting conditions
• Understanding turkey behavior in thick foliage becomes crucial when you can't distinguish if turkeys aren't gobbling or if you just can't hear them
• Hunter's adventures in North Georgia and Tennessee featured steep terrain and high winds, requiring quick strategy adjustments
• Hunting ridgetops requires understanding how wind affects turkey behavior and being willing to change plans quickly
• The challenge of "periscoping" gobblers that periodically raise their heads to scan for hens without fully committing
• Updates on Spring Legion gear including waterproof gaiters at 30% off and the new turkey hunting hat collection at 25% off with code CAP25
• Special congrats to this week's review winner who will receive a free duffel bag and license plate
Don't forget to check out the Spring Legion online shop where waterproof gaiters are now 30% off and the new turkey hunting hats are 25% off with code CAP25.
Save 15% on your next round of Houndstooth Turkey Calls with code SLP25 at checkout. Click Here to shop Houndstooth Turkey Calls
Click Here for NEW Spring Legion Gear for Spring 2025 - available in Original Bottomland and Greenleaf
Check out the SPRING LEGION YouTube Channel to watch the hunts referenced on our show, as they happened and as real as it gets.
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@springlegion
@hunter.farrior
@chasefarrior
Huge Thanks to the following for making this podcast possible:
North Mountain Gear
Apex Ammunition
Houndstooth Turkey Calls
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For a pursuit in which 99% doesn't always cut it. We've rested our liability in Apex's ammunition since they began making turkey loads in 2017. Their iconic TSS turkey shells are able to pack more shot into traditional payloads, resulting in more pellet scent, more consistent patterns and an increased pattern density. So, in other words, apex makes sure that the conclusions to those long-fought battles of spring are instant, absolute and ethical. What's up y'all? Welcome back to the Spring Legion Podcast as we are halfway through officially halfway through the 2025 spring turkey season. Coming at you from the home state of Mississippi, myself on a farrier, next to the brother co-host, chase Farrier. Here Also, shout out to our third brother. The third brother, breck Farrier. He's going to be coming on his birthday, so Breck's turning 21 today. Breck, if you're listening to this, by probably a slim chance, I'd say he's probably listening to another Spring Legion podcast in his day. But if he is, happy birthday, breck. If you all see him, give him a shout out.
Speaker 1:This week we're going to be continuing our storytelling a little bit. We've got stories to tell, so we're just going to build off of those. Y'all know we ain't got no itinerary. Our notes consist of napkins and ink pens that we find laying around the table if available. If not, we roll with it kind of by the seat of our pants on a lot of these and we're not going to change as the uh as they progress. The uh podcast has done pretty good though, with these mid-season episodes still hanging around the top 10 and really appreciate y'all for uh continuing the listening as long as we continue the recording. So last week's was a really good one.
Speaker 1:If y'all hadn't heard it, I I encourage you to do so. With Dr Chamberlain we hunted up in the very beautiful state of Kentucky for a day or two and I had a really good time actually and learned a whole lot from him that we could not fit on that podcast. Y'all can imagine having a real not a real live specimen, but a real, recently killed specimen there of a turkey and getting to poke around and ask a bunch of questions and how does this happen and what's going on here and there, and stuff like that. So I learned a lot and I really respect his knowledge and we shared as much as we could in that episode. It would have been last week's now. So if you haven't listened to that, I encourage you to do so and we're going to hit a couple updates real quick before we dive into some Southeastern Eastern storytelling from chasing my own past week or so, because this is the first time we've been together in shoot I don't know a couple weeks really or recorded a podcast. We see each other very regular but we've had a guest on the past two, so got a little bit of catching up to do as far as our side of things go.
Speaker 1:But as far as the Spring of Legion online shop things go, I want to give you all a heads up that the waterproof gators are now. I think they're 30% off. All the gators, all patterns, all green leaf, original bottom land, new bottom land, the loading. We might be out of a couple sizes. You think, yeah, we're getting close on some. If not, I think there might be some X-Hails that are sold out. But the regular, the medium-large sizes, I'm pretty positive. We've got every pattern still available as of now. They're really sometimes you guess wrong, sometimes you guess right. I think I guessed right. They're going to deplete, right, as turkey season winds down. So that's good and as long as they're equal, I don't care. Honestly, as long as one doesn't sell out and the other ones don't, then you've got a bunch of marketing stuff that you can't use and stuff anymore. So a bunch of marketing stuff that you can't use and stuff anymore. So they're all on pace to keep on keeping on throughout the remainder of the season. So we went ahead and bumped that to 30% off. I think they're in the $40-something range $40-something so that's literally less than half the price of a lot of gators. I see on a bunch of ads that pop up on my feed pretty regular now and they have done a lot better than last year's. Actually, as far as durability goes, from what I've seen on the reviews, apps and stuff that folks keep sending in, that last year we we had a literally a batch I think it was a machine wasn't thread or wasn't threading right on something, so we had to replace I don't know a solid handful and they were all the exact same size, exact same pattern. Something wasn't looping right on the machine is all I can figure, because we we got the same exact whichever right legs, yeah, strap or something kept coming off. So no problems out on that end.
Speaker 1:On this whole round of the 2025 version, the turkey and gator 2, and then um, as well as the uh and seeing a lot of the new turkey hunting hats finally popping up on on the tag photos on instagrams and stuff like that. The uh, the six new uh, I think. Well, we got green leaf enters for bottom land that are in the spring turkey collection. On our website they're 25 off with the code cap 25 cap25. So that'll probably run the end of the end of the season. That's kind of a. We're not going to be partial to just the southeast on those. So if you're hunting up north and stuff, you can get in on that too, because half of y'all ain't even kicked it off yet.
Speaker 1:Right, yeah, I mean, that's still wild to think about. You know that we're kind of winding down here. I'm sad. Yeah, it's hitting the depression. I'm hearing crickets that don't. That don't sing in the spring, they sing in the summer. Now, yep, and it's. Yeah, it's one I almost forgot I can go turkey hunting. Yeah, you know, I did too.
Speaker 1:It does not feel like spring right now. We we had a brief cold front not cold front, cool front come through not long ago that I was able to get out, and front come through not long ago that I was able to get out and felt a little springy, but other than that it's felt muggy, felt like august and it looks like it's gonna ride it out. On that note, yep, I think it is. I don't. I think I was telling you. We went to edith gibbs the other day and I was walking out and I said I think today was our last good day, and I think it was, and which I haven't, I think I skipped a day or two.
Speaker 1:Um, since then, I don't think I've been back in the woods really catching up on some other stuff. Well, yeah, I mean, like weather wise, I'm sure you know. I mean jerry's crisps on up heck. Yeah, they'll probably blow it out the water on may 3rd, but and and I've killed them on some muggy, hot days in the late april, jeremy got on a hot one this morning. Yeah, I mean you find him. You find I didn't think it was gonna be a good morning, but yeah, I mean he found one that was hot. I think it's the, the days of being able to stand in a spot and hear a couple and and kind of pinpointing stuff. Those days are gone because of the foliage and the thick air and stuff like that, but if you know where one is, if you got a spot. He's still wanting to, you know, but got to be a little quick if you want to kill him, and not 90 degree weather, because it's heating on up in the days. But yep, so that y'all go check out the duffel bags, if you hadn't yet. They're flying off. I don't think y'all are finding any hardships and and locating them it doesn't look like.
Speaker 1:As far as the uh, the order stuff goes, because those are pretty popular, I'm sure a lot of folks getting ready to start traveling as the seasons open up. And, uh, we do got a review of the week this week. Yep, finally back in the usual studio. So I'm gonna get back to these things. And the winner this week is going to win a free duffel bag. That, uh, there's just a single zip, you know one one pocket kind of a I call it a zipper junk drawer, so to speak. You know you just dump everything in there. There's not much of fancy pockets and holdings in there. It's pretty durable and got a pretty water-resistant liner in there that should keep everything safe in the case that it does get a little damp. But he's going to get a duffel bag and a license plate this week.
Speaker 1:His name is well, I don't know his name, but his username on Apple Podcasts, which is where we pull these from, is Rshakel, r-s-h-a-c-k-e-l, and he pretty much just said he enjoys the knowledge and honesty that he listens every week. So we definitely appreciate that, as well as all the other reviews, and likely to be pulling a couple more. So, our shackle, if you will reach out to us via dm or email us at uh podcast at sprintlegendcom, you will uh just shoot us your address and we'll make sure you get that. That's all I got as far as that goes. That and um, letting folks know to keep an eye on the gamekeeper podcast, because we did right up there and get one with the boys up there and had a grand old time, as always. Absolutely, yeah, we uh something.
Speaker 1:I'm a big fan of the gamekeeper podcast, I mean just because we have podcasts on when we listen to other ones. I got my top three or four that I listen to pretty daggum religiously. I don't necessarily listen to ours, because we have podcasts on when we listen to other ones. I got my top three or four that I listen to pretty daggum religiously. I don't necessarily listen to ours, because we usually record it hours before it releases. I know exactly what was said on it, right, but that's one that I do keep up with pretty regular. So that was pretty fun to be part of and get to talk with those guys, which I love talking to those guys any chance I get and hanging out with them.
Speaker 1:And the best part was going to eat lunch with them, you know, just getting to catch up during turkey season. Most times when we do get to see them it's February or something's going on in October and we run into them at some show or trade show or something, and we're talking about last season's and next season's. And you know, got to walk out and it felt like spring. So everybody's in a good mood, especially up that way during the, the month spring. Um, I don't know when that's coming out, but shouldn't be long.
Speaker 1:But other than that, got a couple stories too. So we're gonna hop in and down and we're gonna start with chases because, if y'all remember, a couple years ago, a couple years ago, about a year ago really, we kind of designated all stories to be told for the next year's podcast and then, lo and behold, we forgot all the stories. We were going through pictures on our phone trying to remember what, what exactly happened. Looking at the beards ain't adding up with the stories. Our members way less stories, our members who had to go back and jog memories and stuff. So we're recording them in real time now and, uh, that should be best. No matter if you listen to them this spring or next spring or, you know, kind of getting ready for next spring, you should be able to get a more thorough explanation of what, how the hunt went down. So we're gonna keep on doing that and, uh, might throw a couple videos out here Once Mississippi shuts down. When I'm home I got to I can do some stuff now. You know it's not as urgent on 48-degree mornings that I get my truck re-geared back up like I'm about to go travel, just in case I don't come home for a day or so. So having that option off the table is going to free up a few nights during the week. So I'll try. But you'll be able to connect some dots on the videos and podcasts. We don't have to tell you all about that.
Speaker 1:So, chase done headed off to Georgia and while I was up in Kentucky I think yeah, I think you were I went to North Georgia. You went to South Georgia or not South Georgia Southern, more southern than I was yeah, almost, it was like 30 minutes south of South Carolina, oh really. So it was way east Georgia, but it's still considered South Georgia, I don't know. I think we stayed south of like atlanta, but like which? Atlanta is very north, so, right, I don't, I don't really know. I think I think I can understand.
Speaker 1:I mean, I was in mountain georgia and red dirt. We were in sand and red clay. Right, yeah, white sand, like you would be in florida, and then you get on top of the hill and it was red clay, like you were in the hills of mississippi. Cool, it was why it was really cool to see. I've never hunted that, yeah, it was. It was really cool. Like all the food plot stuff they'd broke dirt and stuff in it was all sand, but then, like, you get one foot up and it's clay. Yeah, it was cool to see. That is cool. Um, I just would call it east georgia. Yeah, if it was up to me me not knowing Right, I'd say we were in East Georgia.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, me and Buddy Gresham, who's a neighbor, my neighbor, he lives a few houses down. I think he stopped by the house. One day I was out there boiling a deer head or something, and he just said hello, you know, whatever you know, we could probably be friends. We can be friends. Yeah, and we've, you know, struck up a friendship over the last year I guess you'd say or or so and um, he had kind of told me about a spot he had in georgia to go, and um, I guess it was at logan cook's banquet probably.
Speaker 1:We were talking about it and I said, man, you know, let's go. Or he said let's go, and I was like, heck, you know, just let me know when you head out and I'm jumping the truck, just, you know, give me a day, an hour or two to throw some stuff together. And that's exactly what we did. Yeah, he, uh, he said he texted me. He said you want to go to georgia? I'm like, yeah, I don't, I don't see why not, let's go. Um, which? I mean, it's private land over there, so I was definitely not going to turn that down. Um, so that's probably the only private land I've hunted this year. Really, now that I think about it, I went with jeremy one day. Yeah, so other than one day, that's the only other time.
Speaker 1:It felt good, it felt real good worry about a turkey, not a turkey hunter, for a little while, right, right, um, but yeah, we went out there. We uh, we had some uh rough days and some really good days all at the same time. First day or two, you know, we're trying to kind of understand how each other hunts together and all that stuff. You kind of got to figure that out where the figuring out usually right things you're gonna have to kind of work out with each other and honestly, we, you know we went pretty well. Yeah, there wasn't much either of us would change. I don't think we meshed pretty well and you know him not living over there.
Speaker 1:It took a day or two to figure out where the turkeys were too, you know. So we had to kind of do a scout day and learn each other day. And, um, I think the first morning we actually did set up on some, or we walked up on some. We thought they were a little further than they were and realized there's a little more foliage on the trees than we were expecting and uh kind of found herself in a tight spot in a open area with we saw him and he said he saw a gobbler out there but I never could see the gobbler. Yeah, but just briefly, and then set up and had like three or four gobbling on us, you know, but they were all across the creek. At that point, the one that he saw, we think saw us or something. You know, he got weak. Their eyes were a little better than ours. He never came back.
Speaker 1:Let's just say that it's because they don't probably don't mean they give you, give me turkeys. No, these, these made us earn it either way, um, or work for them, right, which is I wouldn't do, you didn't have to, right, and they go up to about nine and then shut down. I think it's. It was got a little. The wind was real. I do remember being windy when I was there. So I just want to ask you all that it was very windy the whole time.
Speaker 1:But, yeah, poked around there with those three or four turkeys that were gobbling at us, you know, after the one we were sitting on wasn't working, we decided to jump across the creek, try and go hunt the other ones. They never struck back up really well. Was this late in the season? Not this ever struck back up really well, um, which is late in the season? Not this late. But you know, after the first couple weeks in the season unless you're up north, really, where it is just wide open, even the hardwoods and everything right, and those leaves go on the trees, you don't know if they stop gobbling or you can't hear them gobbling, and that's a the second guessing that happens in that situation. It costs a lot of turkey hunters. Yeah, you know there's a lot of unkilled turkeys because of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because and I don't know the answer, you know, even now, I ask myself this all the time, like, can I not hear them or they're not gobbling? Because it's a big difference. What I'm about to do, right, and I really wish, because I mean, it happens a lot more than you think there are goblin, you just can't hear them. They went over one roll and there's, the canopy is now centered between you and you. You ain't gonna hear them. 200 yards, 100 sounded like they were coming in, 178 yards, though, you can't hear them at all and it's just the way it rolls sometimes and and that's you're gonna bump a lot thinking, you know, banking on that being the case and they really just weren't gobbling, they moved an inch and yeah, we've dealt. We dealt with that a lot.
Speaker 1:Um, I will say that, and it seemed like you know, they weren't gobbling a lot either, you know, yeah, so if we did both, if we did get a gobble, of course one of us was saying something, the other one or are moving, or what. We were walking. You got one pack of nabs and you're going to open it right, when one gobbles, you gotta wait another hour and a half. I remember looking at him. We were both, you know, saying choice words, like it happened again. And then we'll be like, all right, we've waited 10 minutes. He ain't gobb. God, let's move. And as I'm saying, let's move, where was that? Where was it? Where are we moving to? We don't know where to go now.
Speaker 1:So, a lot of second guessing, all that fun stuff, you know, going on the whole trip, it seemed, um, but ended up the one that we got lucky on and I got, um, yeah, we, I think we were wore out. Yeah, we'd gotten wore out at some point. We looked at it. We walked 23 miles Dang In three days. Shoot, and this is on private land. Yeah, I mean, you got a good track.
Speaker 1:It looks like, yeah, and you're walking in that sand too. So it will, that'll hurt you. Yeah, that's where I'd rather walk a mountain than walking saying, if you're not used to it, really big hills of sand. The second day, yes, sucks, because your muscles are back tight and stuff and you, you, you. Walking up a hill is one thing, you'll be tired for that minute, you know doing it, and you're like that gum, I'm out of shape. But you walk in sand or something like that for a long time, like it'll break you down fatigue, not just sore, you know. Yeah, you remind you of how many muscles you hadn't used since last time you did that. Yeah. So, anyways, I think it was the second day or third day.
Speaker 1:Um, it must have been the third day, because the day before they kind of cut off gobbling at 9 also, we heard some turkeys in between through the day, never got one to work, not very responsive, I guess they had hens or whatever. Just give you one or two gobbles and that was about it. We were headed back out to try and roost not roost some but we were going to go do an afternoon hunt and then turn it into a roost if we didn't, yeah. So we were about to do that and then, some reason, gresham checked the radar and we had one, you know, 4x4 square of thunderstorm about to hit us, and so we were, like man, you know, dang it. You know it's going to kind of change things.
Speaker 1:Wind is howling at this point, you know, so we hear I imagine pretty hot too. Oh yeah, it was warm, but behind his camp house there's a big field, yeah. So I said, hey, gresham, let's sit on the back porch for a little while and let this rain pass. And it thundered and lightened for a couple times, or a couple times, and it was. You know, I thought it was going to get bad for a second and then about an 80-mile-an-hour wind came through, briefly, just one big gust, and then it died, went from 80 mile an hour to zero, and I got to thinking I'm like man, one's gonna start hammering, oh yeah, at this point. And it just light rained just enough for a few minutes, you know, 10-15 minutes it light rained. That the heavy rain missed us, you know, thankfully. But sure enough, we're sitting there, it's kind of letting up and I feel that wind die and I'm kind of, you know, in the back of my mind, thinking, you know, we've got to have to get up. So when you start listening for other birds, they start chirping, and you're like, get off this border right now.
Speaker 1:And we were about to that point and you know we're telling the stories back and forth, just enjoying each other, his company and stuff and uh, he was saying something and I said, hold up, I just heard turkey gobble. And he's like you know, really, we're on, we're sitting on the back porch of this little camp after walking 23 miles. And um, I said, man, I'm about 95, sure, I just heard turkey gobble, you know. So we sat there silent for a few minutes and it wasn't 30 seconds later. Oh, really, right, there, you know, wow, pretty close to the house, but you know, far enough, it was probably 400 yards, but it was clear, you know. And we said, shoot, we know how to work this.
Speaker 1:So that field on the backside of the property or the house area, we shot up, you know, the on the edge of the cover, I guess you'd say got covered between us and him right walked up to the corner of that field and then it was burnt. Pines on the other side of the little foot of the road, yeah, it looked like in the picture you said it was burnt. So they burnt some of their sections. Oh, yeah, I think so. I think um this year Sections, yeah, I think so. I think like beginning of first week of March or something. Yeah, it looks like it.
Speaker 1:But we got up there. He sat behind me a little ways. I sat up, you know right where I could. It was 20 yards from the corner of that field and the little four of the road that came into there. So, corner of the burnt pines, thick pines, thick pines or t, I guess you'd say, field on one side, thicket on the thick pines on the other, diversity and burnt pines across from us, yes, a whole lot of transition lines going on at once.
Speaker 1:You know, practically an x, and he gobbled from pretty close to there right before that. So we get up to that point. I yelp, he gobbles in there. He's probably pushed 200 yards down the road by the time we get up there right go in the opposite direction. So it was like dang, you know we got to turn him around. He gobbled four times at me, five times, but the fifth one sounded a little better. You know like he's working, you know he's coming and um just responsive calls to him, though right whenever he gobbled I did hit him hard, you know, and um made sure, you made sure he knew I was, you know, willing and able will, yeah, willing and able.
Speaker 1:So, um, and the whole thing took 25 minutes, maybe 20 minutes, yeah, but I mean he was ready that wind died and he probably ain't been with a hen all day because he couldn't find one. Yeah, you know, we couldn't hear them gobbling. You can't hear as good as you can hear Mm-hmm. And he, finally, I mean it was almost like clockwork the minute. I thought about, like hang on, that wind just died, the rain just came, man, you know, stars just aligned, we, stars just aligned. We need to be out there finding one. And we just got lucky that, you know, we were outside. You weren't watching TV or something, right, yeah, or asleep or whatnot.
Speaker 1:But yeah, he didn't gobble close at all and, sure enough, boom, ooh, boom, I mean started drumming like crazy and I'm like he's got to be within 50 yards and he was just over the little roll of that road. I couldn't see him. It took me, you know, two, two minutes probably to find him. Really, yeah, which was fun, but I mean he looked, he was beautiful man coming there. Sun was shining at that point on him, oh yeah, and it was beautiful, and he strutted all day probably and waiting on his moment. Yeah, and he, I mean he walked right up that road.
Speaker 1:I think he didn't walk the road, I think he couldn't cut through the burnt pines because I was like, or that kind of made me understand hey, my ears are playing tricks on me that turkey wasn't, as far as I thought he was, something I don't know, mute it real quick, right, but these were burnt. Yeah, there's also sand. That means, yeah, you know, like it was really playing with my head. Yeah, I don't know about that now. Yeah, I was having we had to adjust a little bit. You know he's used to hunting out there, but I had to adjust some, you know, to understand where he was coming from with some things and whatnot, um, but it was, it was, yeah, it was a good trip, quick and over Um. And then we had one really good one, another hunt. We didn't end up killing the turkey, but another really good hunt. On that that trip, um, you say it was, I mean you got 25 minutes but it drummed a lot, drummed hard. Yeah, it reminded me of that drumming turkey. I mean you hunted in Alabama. Yeah, that was fun.
Speaker 1:I mean just an old bird had a four by four square that he ain't leaving, he ain't getting off that knoll, but we slipped in there. We'd heard him in there two mornings in a row and he roosted in there too, the same two days or three days, whatever it was at that point so we mad, not mad, dashed it, but had no other option. We said today's the day, we're going into that bubble, we're going to see him, we're going to see him. You know he might see us first, but he's either seeing us or we're going to see him. Right, and just needed 10 more yards on our setup.
Speaker 1:Just picked the wrong tree and I mean you kind of rely on luck going in blind, and you know you're close but you don't know how close. Right, I don't think he had been to that side of the creek in a couple years either. So he was kind of wasn't positive, right, he didn't look up and it was too thick to see, mm-hmm, but yeah, too wide open to hunt or to call. And you know, then you're like, well, now what do I? The next bush? I'd call him around this, 30 yards behind me, and he can see me, yep, if I move, yeah, the um, but we, we sat out there for probably an hour. I was like we know he's gonna be, he's gonna pop up in here. We'll just, you know, set up especially one just drums. And you, well, that was the thing, we had a bunch of airplanes and whatnot flying over and, uh, when, when they were flying over, all of a sudden, you know, he said man, I'm telling you, I hear drumming. I told him, responding right back I'm like, you know, I was kind of thinking the same thing, like I couldn't tell either, but I feel like I'm hearing the cadence or whatever.
Speaker 1:I wrote it down. One day I had some good audio. It was of the hunting in alabama. Really, first thing I did before I put it on youtube this is why y'all don't see me in youtube I wrote it down. One day I had some good audio. It was up in Alabama. Really, mm-hmm. First thing I did before I put it on YouTube. This is why y'all don't see me in YouTube videos. This is the reason why I film is I put a marker on every time he drummed and then I went and averaged all the seconds between it to learn Like 19 seconds, 17 to 19 seconds.
Speaker 1:If you hear a truck amping up every 19 seconds, it's probably drumming. It's not a truck, you know. It does it once. Yeah, you know. I need to hear it four or five times usually before I can catch on. If it's far, yeah, wow, that's the only reason we were able to pick up. We think that's drumming and it wasn't so.
Speaker 1:I hit, I hit a pretty hard yelp and he now we know, yep verified. But we were trying to course it and it got hard pinpointing it. He was. He was pointing down the creek bottom, I was pointing at the top of the hill. I'm like he's gonna pop up over here, he's gonna. And we were dead, both wrong. He ended up when he gobbled again and we could, we were looking the right direction. You know exactly. We both were like that pine tree. He's behind that pine, yeah, and we were like we know. But then it sounded like his drumming was 30 yards this way, 30 yards that way. You know. So it was. It was tough to. It was fun to sit there, but I mean I ran a whole battery out waiting on him to just pop up and he never did. That's why he could see, just enough to see that, know that he'd see us at some point pretty soon and, um, I mean, if we would have had 10 more yards on him, we probably would have been able to watch the whole show.
Speaker 1:I know there's no way aging a turkey unless you know you probably send some stuff off or count some rings in a spur or something like that. But if they drum a lot at you and they expect you to communicate with their drumming, like that and they don't like to gobble and they don't want to gobble, he didn't gobble much. They probably pretty old. Yeah, he only asked for me that one time and then I think he gobbled two to three times and kind of on his own, like all right, dude, you know, step out of the bush, two year old, right after a rain and some folks out in, out and the wind dies. You're going to be pow, pow, pow, pow. You know all the way to you More times than not. You know he might not be a two year old. He's probably not going to have. You know the experience of the others. Right, you're going to be able to tell the difference. You know which. That wouldn't have been if he was a two year old. They can be two years older and have seen a lot of no.
Speaker 1:I'm saying the one that did do that came in. Oh yeah, he had, he had some foot. Oh yeah, um, I guess you could say, um, yeah, he don't want to leave him, didn't he? He did, he don't want to leave him. So I don't know what it ended up measuring out to be, but they were, they were stout, yeah, yeah, it seemed like it, good to see.
Speaker 1:But yeah, yeah, I was in the same state, different country, totally different country. I mean, I was in the hills. You were what northwest-ish, yeah, north northwest-ish something around there. I mean not tip-top, but north of Atlanta, yeah, there, I mean not tip top, but right um, north of atlanta, yeah, so, and I and I think that's where or why, when folks around there say south georgia, so like it's totally different, it's no sand, no red clay, no, nothing like that. Um, I say red clay, I keep thinking of just the term. I don't know what color the clay is, but it looks like mountains, like virginia, you know, up there, and uh, if y'all been listening for a while, y'all know I lived there for a couple years, not too long ago, and uh, my buddy, drew rowell, who is, uh, not a local.
Speaker 1:He don't live there, no more but he grew up there too, went to school, my wife, peyton, and um, I've hunted with him at least once every year the past probably three or four years, yeah, and a good dude and and, and we always try to go back to this spot every year. I think I've gone hunting there every year since we first went there and one of us has killed a turkey off of there at least every year. I think it's a very nice place, very well kept, and he had already gone, took a buddy or brother or something like that and had killed one or two. They're already opening week of the season over there. And I was sitting in bed and I had to go. I say how to go.
Speaker 1:I was going to the, to kentucky, nwtf stuff, right, the, the nomad folks and stuff like that, and that was on the plans, that was on the calendar, that's for sure. I've already agreed to that and did not know. It was two and ten and a half hours up in kentucky. I was thinking like a bowling green kentucky until I got in the truck and I was like, all right, oh y'all, y'all like west virginia, part of kentucky, you know. So I was like I'm gonna cut this in half and go north georgia because I knew drew was gonna be there. I was like I mean, it's 10 30 night too when I found this out. So I'm thinking I might swing through and say, hey, right if it's on the route, but other than that, you know it shouldn't line up directly with where I'm going to kentucky.
Speaker 1:And then I found out the direction. I'm like, no, no, I come through there. And that's literally halfway. So I found that out at 10.30 laying in the bed and told him. I said, well, and he was driving there from Sarah Land or wherever, south Alabama, south Mississippi or something like that, sarah Land Mobile, yeah. And so he was still in his truck driving there at the time and uh told me that, well, I mean, I ain't got much to pack. My truck kind of stays packed, so let me slip on out of here. And uh, we'll put in the maps and see what you know, if I can get there for daylight at this point, you know I'm down for it. He said all right, I'll meet you there.
Speaker 1:The gated I think we agreed 5 30 and I pulled up 5 15. So enough time to put my boots on, lace them up and put the gators on and drove up there and everything else all right. So, uh, been a while since I've done that. I forgot you drove through the night, though I go around, showed up 15 minutes, where he did put my stuff on by the time I was still standing on something truck and pulled up and was ready to roll. So I drove multiple hours through the night, did not sleep one ounce and did not hear a gobble at daybreak. Oh jeez, I was like, hmm, but a while since I've done this too. Yeah, you know, because of your sulfur I could have definitely slept and found a turkey by 3 PM, you know, uh.
Speaker 1:And then, when it probably felt a little better doing it, but, um, kept faith I mean, they ain't nothing, you do but hunt them and the wind was picking up quicker than we thought. A lot of times it'll sometimes almost die down a little bit at daybreak and then pick back up strong, and it at daybreak, and then pick back up strong and it it didn't. It just kind of progressively we almost kind of kept waiting and waiting and waiting. We kind of literally, it ain't gonna, they probably on the ground and it ain't. We ain't got our our moment there yet to really hear one and in hindsight we don't. We don't know where they could have been. I mean, for all we know, we drove underneath them and they were sitting there looking at us the whole time you know, you'll never know and worked down this big ridge and came down I call them all mountains. It ain't a real mountain, but came down something steep and came down.
Speaker 1:We were kind of almost reliving a couple other hunts we've had there and stuff like that. I remember they were here this time and stuff and probably were a little quiet. It was a little strange not to hear one there, because they usually do really. I mean, we look up and it's 9.30, 10. That's probably 10.30 Eastern time and we're like all right, now we might. We just had a collective agreement to have a halftime. We're like all right, we're about to start messing stuff up. We just go trying to just make them do something they don't want to do, which is gobble at the moment, which is a pretty unfortunate thing that they don't want to do. Sometimes they don't want to cross a creek or something. I can live with that and figure out a plan b, but when they don't want to gobble, it's hard to come up with plan b's a lot of times. And uh, so we went grab a sausage biscuit or something like that, I don't remember.
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Speaker 1:I mean wasn't all and we had two. We knew where two were making our way to them, coming on top of ridge and we an area of the place that we both actually kind of knew. I kind of remembered and he'd hunted not long ago with someone else and it topped out with a thicket on the other side. I know that and there was a thicket kind of down and kind of hooked around and they'll kind of get in that hook, not a corral, but they'll get in there and it's kind of I don't know if it's a safety thing, but they kind of can probably feel safe turning their back to it and it's open. It's a you know kind of bald, no, extended out through there, not necessarily a ridge, like what's the ticket? On one side, yeah, and they and I think they they frequent there, yeah, midday and, uh, it is pretty open up there and we're we're keep that's on our right, the, the two turkeys, we're trying to get set up on what they don't know we're in the world yet, or to the left, about 11 o'clock and about 300 yards, I think, and we're trying to get on that knoll on that ridge to call them up and probably over, probably going to hang on this side of the ridge and try to call them over it, assuming they can get to it, and don't, you know, change the route drastically.
Speaker 1:But we're halfway up and there's some loud leaves. We're walking in and the wind has died a good bit at this point. Yeah, so we're walking in and he kind of, you know, throws the mom hand at me, you know, slams on brakes and like he heard yeah, he was like you hear that I'm like I heard something but I didn't think it was a gobble, right, and um, that's the first gobble I've heard since muggy, full foliage, mississippi, you know. So I'm not used to that. You know, the break of a, the elevation be open like sure enough, hardwoods, right, you know, sound a little different than does around here I'm used to. And um, so then he gobbled again. I was like, oh yeah, I didn't do here and it didn't, I don't. We never mentioned it. But I don't know if he knew that was a different gobbler, it didn't matter to me. So I it didn't cross my mind to about I'm sitting there, like that ain't them, right, you know, like that's a complete opposite way, you know, they didn't cross my mind until about I'm sitting there. I'm like that ain't them Right, you know, like that's the complete opposite way, you know, it didn't even cross my mind. I mean, I was just worried about that one at that point, forgot about the other two.
Speaker 1:And he's on the knoll. I think he's kind of working down and he can. He's got a route. He ain footsteps because we stop. He gobbled, and a lot of times that's what a turkey will do. If you listen to a turkey walking through some wild leaves and they stop, pick on something. That's when they gobble. Yeah, make sure they can hear you. Uh, hear, hear them gobble. You know they don't. They don't gobble as much during the walking, but if you watch a hen walk through a whole bottom and every time she stops, if one's trying to get her attention, they're going to wait until she stops.
Speaker 1:A lot of times I say a lot, I mean three that I've paid attention to, which is enough for me to assume and then it's not a good spot to be in, because then you can't get to a tree without him coming closer and closer, and if he ain't where you want to be, you're in a bind. And we weren't where we wanted to be. We're about 60 yards from the crest of it and he can get on top of that and see everything. So I think we were able to get up another 15 yards or whatever. And and where I think he's going to top out, the ridge is going you know angle. So I mean if he were to walk the whole daggum thing, he'd be 20 yards from us at one point.
Speaker 1:I just don't think he would do that. Where he can stop seeing now is about 45-ish or so, good as we get, though. So you just got to bank on him coming a little further. Anyways, I don't think he's going to come down it, but he might come. I mean, I don't think he'll come lower, I think he'll come down it, you know, along the ridge though. Oh, I see what you're saying. Yeah, both of them.
Speaker 1:You say down the ridge, so I don't know. You know what I mean? It's kind of hard to depict. He's gonna walk the spine of the ridge right more down the spine down the hill, right. Um, yeah, we're kind of where we can kind of capitalize on it if he does either. I just don't think he's gonna do either. I think he's gonna get to the point where he ain't gotta do either. No, think he's going to get to the point where he ain't got to do either. No more, he's going to stop.
Speaker 1:And that's what he did, and I could see him for a ways I didn't know. Drew couldn't see him, but I said, you know, when those not pretty sharp small hills, you can just see the little periscopes popping up here and there, and you got to make sure your eyes are at that horizon, because you ain't gonna see him if not. I mean I saw a white head stick up and then you see, like the tips of a fan stick up, then it'll both go down, then it'll pop up a little whitehead, then you'll see the tip of a fan come out. You know he's working his way. It has its own cadence. Yeah, I'm like there he is, I'm watching him, watching him. Of course he disappears a couple times for 30 seconds. It feels like 10 years and he'll come up and I think he's going to be light years away.
Speaker 1:I was, like he done, traveled 60 yards and he's four feet away. You know from where he last was. He's just taking his sweet time. He gobbled a couple times in there, called a couple times to him trying to let him try to get him, to make sure he got to where he could see it. You know where we're, at the hole bottom.
Speaker 1:I want to try to, while he's on the other side, as much possible, come up right at us if possible, but I knew it was a long shot and, uh, he gets up there and then I can see him pretty good and he's about he's getting closer and you can kind of tell by the uh, the frequency, so to speak, of that little periscope he does. You know, if he does it struts, walks, struts, walks, you know, looking as he goes, pretty often when it starts getting like longer, periscoping, he's kind of you can almost see the gears turning in them. You know, he's like I should be able to see everything, but maybe that corner, you know. And then he's like, all right, you know he'll walk and he'll. That head will stick up for a little while longer and you almost see him just like what in the world? Right, you know starting to get aggravated with it all. Right, you're just kind of like, no, that's it, that's everything. And I don't see her. And then maybe one or two more times just to make sure she wasn't by the tree, and then I mean I ain't calling, I mean even his head down, I can, he'd be able to see me.
Speaker 1:And uh, he was about 50 to 48 then and I'm like, please, just one more time. I know you can see everything, just for no reason at all. Please just take about five more steps, because then if you just come around a tree or something, you're going to be 44. And then I got confidence, you'll spin your way into 40 if you need to. And then at that point, if I got him a call, I'm confident shooting up to 45. So you know, worst comes to worst. He puts his head way up. I'm pulling trigger. Right, I ain't gonna shoot him in a half strut or moving at 45 probably.
Speaker 1:But um, if he stands still, I think I got him and and that's kind of what he did. He got there, he got a little hole and he looked through it and he walked down and it took me a flashback to when I should have shot turkey at 20 yards early in the season. I did not pull the trigger and it was just like some ptsd to that. I'm like he just did it. He just gave me the shot. It was at 40 or so, 42 maybe, but I could have taken it. It was open and I feel confident and I know I would have. I would have dropped him right there. I just did. I just did. I just do the thing where I wish I would have, you know, capitalize on instead of just begging for a better shot. He did the whole two more steps. I'm like come back out the other side, that's it. He stopped behind that tree. I went. Here we go, here we go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but very rarely am I glad to hear a putt. He I don't know if he saw something shine or something, but I heard a putt and he got taller and I'm like okay, because when they put, a lot of times they retrace, they don't keep going like the other one did. The other time they they'll kind of just curiously walk off and make sure they don't see stuff. But a lot of times they'll kind of just put something between you. Right, he's putting he, he almost wants to verify that you're danger. It seems like when he puts once or twice which a lot of gobbers, they don't put that I've bumped. We see them walking away and they're just kind of looking out the back of their eye and they're walking. They never put it all. They don't want you to know they're there, but he's almost putting to make you move, look up and you know, make sure you're you're danger before I get out of here. But no, he put it a couple times and then he looked back. Just like a lot of times they almost retrace their steps to go back and I was like he gonna go through that hole again. He did, I shot him right there.
Speaker 1:So that was a lot of fun and and um, a good bird birdie one, obviously and they went up kentucky last episode had a lot of the kentucky one on mine and dr chambers. I'm telling you our audience was identical really. I heard his story and and as I'm, we went back down there and pretty much the way he was describing I'm like I'm looking at what his story was and those turkeys are right there where his story started and they're kind of doing what he said they did and I kind of positioned myself to shoot exactly where he did and I sat 10 yards from the pile of feathers on his really, and um, which is cool, because he was curious about the same things I'm always curious about, like, did they go around or over a log? And I was like I sat where I could see the log because I was wondering too, and they went around. Now I Now I can tell you that that was fun. It felt like I was hunting March 15th up there. It was so open.
Speaker 1:Then, on the way down, I hollered at my buddy, garrett Sweeney, who lives in Tennessee, never hunted with him, hung out with him, trade shows, stuff, talk pretty regular. Never hunted with him. I was like, well, you want to, we can? He did and, uh, we actually he had a new spot that he had never hunted at the time, I don't think. But but I had a feeling those turkeys on it, or knew those turkeys on it, one or another and then we're looking out on the mountain like yeah, that's gonna have turkeys, oh yeah, but they're probably gonna be at the top, I would guess. Just a bunch of thick crap you had to walk through and it's very steep, you know we had to take a break about halfway and we were out of breath. I mean, it was straight up Really, and we didn't check the weather that day and it was howling wind and it was not.
Speaker 1:When I pulled up at freaking midnight or whenever. That was the night before pretty, pretty damn calm actually, see stars and everything. I don't think it was even really cloudy, it was just stupid windy, which, I mean, have you ever hunted on top of a really tall ridge in the rain? I mean, that's how georgia was for us really. I mean it was good weather, it just was windy. This was after, I think yeah, this was after y'all probably headed home. We were on the way home probably.
Speaker 1:Um, this is the first time I really got into it, you know, at daybreak, hard like that, when and we got up there, I mean, you can imagine us hiking up a mountain. We started very early. We get up there and I can see enough to know like, hey, there's turkeys up here, oh yeah. And he's like, yeah, definitely, but the way the wind's blowing, the property line is also at the top of that, and I think we kind of assessed and we them like they're going to be like turkeys, they're going to be on their feet. Might they might be on here, but I don't think their feet are going to touch on here. If they have a way to get on the other side, they're going to, because probably no wind at all over there and, um, pretty identical habitat on both sides. And no, actually it's not it, he said. He told me there's goats or cows on the other side, so so it's a lot more open than it is over here.
Speaker 1:So they've already got kind of an advantage, you know, a little leeway to go that way, and I really wanted to hunt there I think he did too because it was going to be pretty and it was going to be cool, I feel like, and had that wind not been blowing, I bet you'd have heard 20. You know you might not have been able to hunt them, but I bet you'd heard 20. You know it might not have been able to hunt them, but I bet you, as high as we were and kind of everything around there, I bet you would hurt them for a freaking mile, um, but we, we made the quick decision. Now let's uh, let's, get down over here, you know, let's go find some lower and find a new one before it's too late. You know, by the time we got down there I think there was a hen we could see. It was on the ground by the time we got back to our truck. So, you know, never heard nothing, never had the opportunity to, but morgan was still young, we had to both get out about 8 30. I had to get home, he had to get to work and I was like, you know, we're both in agreeance on that, we're gonna do it. We got to do it quick and um.
Speaker 1:So rerouting going to plan b, audible during fly down, was kind of gutsy, you know, and knowing you only have an hour or two to do it, yeah, that's a tough decision but we did and we he had a property in hunting a long time or something like that. And, um, I can't remember, but there's actually some. It was across the street and, uh, he knew. I mean I think we both knew by the end of the day they'd probably make their way over, you know, in the head of some good stuff on the side we could hunt. I think they would have liked to have hung out there midday. Right, it was a matter of time whether they'd be there before we had to leave or not. We didn't know.
Speaker 1:But um, lo and behold, one started firing up behind us, at us. You know, as we're remember 10 minutes, 15 minutes, as we got a truck. And then we're like is that the ones across the street, goddard, is that one behind us? And then we went back and forth it's probably funny. I did have my gopro on like we are both just can't 50, 50. I cannot tell you. I really do not know. I'm standing sideways, he's standing front ways and we're like all right, yeah. And then we neither were ever wrong, we're both just like. The only answer we can come up with, I don't know. I really do not know. It could be both, it could have been both. I don't know.
Speaker 1:You know, we didn't know about the one behind us at the point at the time, so we decided to walk towards the one behind us. Yeah, no, hopefully that is the case. You know, we can hunt him right now. We ain't got to wait on nothing and um, and that's what we did, and he worked about as good as a eight eight o'clock golfer can work, just by himself that you just happen to find at that time and and you're the one who calls and he, you're the one he's gonna come to. He did it and it was beautiful. It was really pretty, him coming in from a long ways. Yeah, it was really nice.
Speaker 1:First time I got out of Tennessee without allergies attacking me. That's the only thing I was worried about. I was like man, if we hang out after 830, though I'm going to be down for the count for the rest of the day I was warning you there's something up here. That's also the earliest I've ever hunted tennessee, though, sure, so ain't no telling. But uh, we had a good time.
Speaker 1:I really enjoyed the company and everything, and uh been home ever since, so been doing work stuff, all the fun things getting getting stuff situated, and uh do appreciate y'all's patience. Is that because y'all know it ain't just me and Chase doing this, it ain't like we've got a squad of an operation down here handling everything. We've got some fill-ins while we're gone for long periods of time, but a lot of times, you know, chase is. If we're heading out on a trip or something, chase is up the night before probably until we leave, packing orders and stuff. And I'm getting everything straight computer wise and you know, making sure everything's where it needs to be and stuff and on hand. And uh, we might have a fill-in come in and top off some orders, make sure they get out, but other than that it's balls to the wall the second we get back. So those who are a little more understanding of an extra day or two when it comes to processing and handling, we uh greatly appreciate that and it'll probably be in the next few weeks when we are on the road. You know, tack on a day or two to it. You know, yeah, depending on weekends and stuff like that, we can get them out and we try our best we can. And y'all are ordering a whole lot of it. Yeah, so I appreciate everybody.
Speaker 1:So I know it's going in the hands of trickers who understand. You always tell who don't understand. Oh, I'm like, yes, man, we ain't amazon, you know. Uh, it didn't work like that. You know I hate to say spoiled, but like amazon spoiled us as a society that you can get it. Here's stuff you can get. Do you want it by 6 pm today or 8 pm it's 3 pm Like, is somebody just holding this waiting to drive to this neighborhood? You know it's crazy what they can do now, but yeah, something within three hours of ordering it another day, that's crazy. Yeah, we're going to have to step it up.
Speaker 1:Well, that, and you got the USPS fun stuff going on. There's a lot going on there. There's not a lot going on there. Okay, I guess not Something going on. We can't make the post office run better. That is one thing I do want to throw in there. Right, they're doing a little better, but they still ain't doing great. Yeah, most of our stuff does it.
Speaker 1:Just it depends on where and what. I have figured out the size of the box, yeah, that's a lot to do with it. Yeah, whether or not it gets handled by a human or a machine and what the backups are is depending on where. You know. Sometimes you'd rather be a human, sometimes you'd rather be the machine. Sometimes 90 of the orders we have, don't skip a beat. They're there day early, right, right. 10% of those 10% there's about three that wind up in Washington for a day or two, then to Detroit and then to the Carolinas, and then to Alabama and then to Florence, mississippi, which is 30 minutes down the road.
Speaker 1:You know, I don't know how that happens, it just there's nothing. As long as it's moving, there's really nothing we can do. And then, I don't know how that happens, as long as it's moving, there's really nothing we can do. Then we have some that belong to Bangkok now. So I'm just like all we can do is refund you. I mean, I don't know, if we still have it, we'll send it to you. But if we don't, I don't, it might show up in a week, it might show up in two years, I don't know.
Speaker 1:But all we can do, the easiest thing, is refund, buy something else that we got in stock and, I don't know, send it to your buddy's house. Obviously I wouldn't do the same thing twice, unless y'all want to pay 15 bucks for shipping. That's what we're going to keep doing. We might be able to buy next spring. Sort out a couple ways where we can have some more choices, but, um, yes, that's pretty much the ultimatum there is is pay normal shipping amounts or pay an extra really triple-ish, I think, on shipping, which can be very can wind up being more than the order cost. Nobody wants and pretty good chance they're gonna get there same day as the other ones, so all right.
Speaker 1:So here's it is, but we're full throttle still, which is good as long as we've been full throttle the past couple of years, yep, and we want to thank you all for that. Yeah, more than anything, that ain't a problem. No, that is a great. Don't ease up on the gas just because we said that that's what we're here for'll get it covered. We signed up for it, yep, but anyways, we certainly appreciate y'all and I look forward to, uh, at least another month and a half of podcast coming out. So y'all be sure to subscribe and and follow along and keep up with some socials. We'll be probably doing a lot more current event, more updates, more in the woods type content coming up in the near future when chase and I are able to get together a little more as the uh season winds down here and we start getting on the road and it's nothing behind at that point. So again, we'll see you next week. Appreciate you listening spring podcast.
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