The Spring Legion Podcast

Silent Gobblers: How To Scout, Find, and Hunt Quiet Turkeys

• Spring Legion Turkey Hunting • Season 5 • Episode 138

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Today, we share a field-first plan for finding and hunting tight-lipped turkeys, from reading low-pressure mornings to using terrain, water edges and smart setups that make a silent gobbler move. We talk patience, locator calls and how to avoid educating birds before the best weather window.

• preseason anticipation, NWTF plans and vest update
• listener questions shaping the season’s topics
• defining silent gobblers vs henned-up birds
• weather, barometric pressure and wildlife activity cues
• elevation, hearing range and picking listening points
• water edges, oxbows and movement funnels
• locator calls used sparingly for a single gobble
• wing beats, scratching and non-vocal turkey sounds
• positioning to remove barriers and force routes
• patience, timing the mid-morning switch, leaving options open

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SPEAKER_00:

Alright, what's going on, guys? Welcome back to the Spring Legend Podcast. My name is Hunter Farrier, and joining you alongside Chase Farrier again, the usual, nothing fancy here. Kind of getting ready for the uh getting ready, if that makes any sense. It's the the preseason of the preseason, but it won't be long now, I don't think. It's uh we've had a couple warmer days here in the the past week or so and got some folks a little giddy. I've been giddy a little bit, I'm not gonna lie, even in the colder days, it's it's it's um it's around the corner, the best time of the year, spring turkey season, and caught myself looking for some specific flowers that usually signal that uh that the listening quarter of the preseason ain't too far away. Certain things like that, and seeing kind of some buds on some trees and stuff or uh around the corner. And I am an addict for anticipation. I I figured that out about myself. I I I enjoy doing things, but I think I enjoy looking forward to doing things way more than actually doing them. Um kind of kind of twisted, but I I know there's a lot of turkey hunting folks who who understand that completely. And this is um this is when my what's it called? Dopamine is at its highest. But um that and also there's a big sigh of relief because uh we did get the vest. Yeah, they they were delivered over the weekend. It was a very wild weekend getting them in this warehouse. Um the Spring Legion turkey vest has arrived, all of them. So that was a little, there's a little scare. They were very limited on the on the initial run. We got down to single digits and a couple sizes sold out. But um, but we got them all back. And that means they'll be here for NWTF convention in Nashville, yeah, which is really around the corner now. That those uh that dopamine just took a spike down for a little while because uh we got a lot to get ready. But um, but yeah, I I hope we'll see a lot of y'all there. I know a lot we will, that um every everybody we talk to is like you know, mentions the podcast, mentions the podcast. We'll get a lot of feedback from folks in person, shake hands, talk turkey, and and elaborate on some stuff we've talked about in the past, or they've got a very similar story or occurrence that they bring up, and and I look forward to that a lot. And um it's just a good time. I feel like this is like year, I don't know, five or six. We've been up there, and and I was telling somebody last night when when you go, it's it's like you got your your local friends and you got your NWTF convention only friends, and you you only see them once a year for two or three days, but you literally pick up on the conversation you just got through talking with a year ago like nothing ever happened. Right. Except a lot did happen, and there's a lot of stories and stuff that are that are to be told. So we look forward to seeing y'all at the uh in Nashville, Tennessee. I think it's February 12th through the 14th is when the you know the trade show side of things will be going down and there'll be I mean the whole week is is pretty wild. I encourage anybody who's never been to go, uh buckle up, wear some walking shoes, and just brace yourself. It's it it's overwhelming the first time. You don't know what you're getting into, the pictures don't do it justice. Uh if you can picture 80,000 people who like to turkey hunt, that's what it's like. And that's um that's that's right up my alley, you know. But so um just uh to build on just a little bit of a update as far as the the merch side goes, which is nice merching gear. I guess we're a gear company more than we are the merch because we've been slacking on the casual wear. But uh we we've got pretty much everything in for the spring 2026 turkey season now that the vests have arrived. If you haven't checked those out, it's springlegion.com I encourage you to do so. We put a lot of time and effort in these vests. They're very they're a high and tight fit. It's a strap vest, it's um pretty minimal. It's it's got some very well thought out features, but they're not necessarily add-ons. This is the option to add on if you need to, or leave it like it is and and roll with the bare minimum, like some people do. Some people like to add on stuff. So we kind of filled it around with a bunch of different um kind of blueprints of it and made it to where it's in your hands now. Yeah. And uh it turned out really nice. We've already got some folks giving some good feedback on it. The the first round started getting delivered yesterday or last night, literally started getting text left and right of folks, you know, got the vest, got the vest, got the vest, love it, yada yada. I'm I'm in them in the works of bringing back the bundles. Yeah. So they're gonna be back on the website to incorporate the vest. That's kind of why we took them down. We didn't want to, I didn't say that's why we took them down because nobody knew we were having a vest, but that is why we took them down so we can kind of get those configured and and get those back on the website and stuff, so you'll be able to save a X amount by by grouping together some and and and I'll look at what's getting grouped together anyway. Uh trying to upsell nothing. I'm trying to what do folks usually buy together, put that in a bundle, help them out, yeah. Cut some of the cost and and all that good stuff. So uh if that doesn't do it, you can always use code pod 10. Yeah. I'm I'm gonna run that the whole year, I think. And that's for the order, I think it's for one per cursor per customer. One per customer. Um pod 10 pod one zero will get you 10% off an order at spreadleader.com. But that's all we got on that side going into the subject of discussion, which is gonna be brought to you by our listeners. I thought I was gonna say a sponsor, but I didn't. Um no, our listeners uh kind of picked these. We got uh we put up a story and asked folks some topics that they would like to hear in the in the coming podcast season. Didn't really uh put any of these responses out, so I'm sure a lot of y'all thought we didn't listen, but we did. We put them all together, kind of made a little outline of of and grouped them together. The number one thing was finding turkeys and scouting and e-scouting and all that good stuff. The second most common thing was not far behind it, and that's what kind of caught me by surprise a little bit. What folks want to know about is silent goblers.

SPEAKER_01:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00:

Is hunting them. And I do want to say this, I was telling Chase this a minute ago, but the commonality between all of these requests is in the way I see it, and uh I mean I have a very analytical brain and and look you know through everything and seeing what the purpose is and the whys and stuff. I was pleasantly surprised that the stuff they asked had 100% to do with hunting turkeys and not how to kill them quick, if that makes sense. Some of something some of them you can take it that way, like how do I skip some steps, but a lot of them were how do I hunt this situation, how do I hunt this way, you know. I I something has happened, I haven't been able to get over this hump or something, and that's what I'm wondering. It's not it wasn't uh it wasn't a bunch of quick killing stuff, and and what should I buy for this? You know, it was a bunch of just what can I do? And that and that makes me feel good as a turkey hunter.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00:

And um, and it makes me feel, you know, we can hang our out on something that folks know the direction of questions they can ask us and and stuff that we would answer and stuff that we were gonna open and close, which would be the um how to cheat your way into it. Because um, we're not about that. And and I'm and y'all know that. We ain't gotta say it. And I appreciate those who who help spread the word about that, and and that really does mean a lot. That's why we set out to do this a long time ago. And that's really I mean that's the the mission of Spring Legion was to preserve turkey hunting as we knew it to be, more so, wasn't trying to change it or make it digress back to it or anything like that. I mean, there's you never want to say the right way versus the wrong way, but I'll say it. Yeah. I I would hunt them differently if I thought that was a a writer way. So take it or leave it, I don't care. That's what we do, and then um we're gonna keep on keeping on. That's what the podcast is about. And uh we got a lot coming up. We're gonna we got a little bit of a a plan together for the next few episodes, actually, so we're not just rambling too terribly much. And there are gonna be a lot of wisdom topics incorporated in that. It's uh it's a double-edged sword. I there's there's certain characteristics of turkey hunters where you don't talk about certain things. And there's some, you know, there's kind of like the devil and the angel on your shoulder, kind of like, well, some of these folks might not know that, and their next option is, well, can I go pick up at a store and and make it happen if I can't figure this out, or can I search some some things to better my craft? Right. And I hate to say no to to folks who are asking for that. And um before we dive into the actual meat and potatoes of it, did want to give a very random giveaway.

SPEAKER_03:

Okay.

SPEAKER_00:

I gotta pull it up. That's how random it is. Um forgot to do that. His name is Your Average Hunter on Apple Podcasts. He left a review, um, but he said never need to search for another turkey hunting podcast. These guys are killing it. And keeping it 100 with something to learn in each episode. So, yeah, your average hunter, shoot us a direct message or email us at podcast at springlegion. Got a free turkey bath. That's a big one.

SPEAKER_02:

That's that is a big one.

SPEAKER_00:

That's the biggest one we've ever done. Yep. Uh ain't no free hat or free t-shirt. So if you already got one, well, I mean, we'll either work it out or you can give it to somebody else. But now you get one of both patterns, maybe. Um, but so let's dive into this.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

Finding and hunting silent gobblers or turkeys that aren't gobbling or turkeys that have stopped goblin. I can go so many differ different ways.

SPEAKER_02:

Um we both just kind of like, mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. It's hard. It's hard. It's hard. That's the first thing to to acknowledge, probably. It's when you're hunting something and your game plan is based largely upon hearing them. Yeah. Not hearing them's tough. That's probably why that was a lot of the hey, how do we do that? Yeah. You know? Um and it's more common than you want it to be. Oh, yeah. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I don't know if I would say, I mean, Turkeys are special gobble and they do gobble. It ain't yeah, I don't think it's they're silent more than they are vocal.

SPEAKER_02:

But it's it isn't really myself wondering also a lot, you know, where is he? Heck yeah. So it's a good topic, I think.

SPEAKER_00:

Um and I've I've I've killed him on silent days and I've had them, I'm like, this is if it's gonna happen this today. Yeah. And they're blowing smoke out of the treetops, you know. I'm just like I don't even see one. I don't even come close. And they don't even stop gobbling. Yep. I just can't kill him, you know. Um but that's wild that they're gonna. But so I think I mean to break it down, if you're gonna break it down. Are they gobbling on the limb? Because a lot of times when you're hunting, there's a difference in silent gobblers and gobblers that ain't gobbling at that time. Yeah. Exactly. And the big emphasis on at that moment, right? They're probably hind up. So that's hunting hind-up turkeys. That's not necessarily hunting silent turkeys. Fair. A little bit different there. Um you got buggered up turkeys too that don't gobble. That could be it, that's more of a silent turkey. He goes about his day without gobbling to stay alive. Um, and you and and we actually experienced a little bit of this during the hend-up phase, which I think was longer than it usually is down here in the south last year, of turkeys that did gobble on the limb. And if y'all ain't never hunted in the southeast, there's this is a phenomenon that we all deal with is the hind up turkeys, because I I think there's much more turkey hunters than there are turkeys. If you're to scale it against every all the other regions, I don't know if the turkeys are that much harder to hunt. I think you there's just so much more competition to it. Right. And I mean you put the numbers together, I think there's more dead turkeys here than there are other areas, and you know, break out your little calculator. And so there is kind of a a harder, harder task at hand to uh to to say it lightly. And um some of it I think this year wasn't wasn't as much as the pressure, but as the the jakes, we had a uh kind of a good crop of holts the past two years, a lot of jakes, and I think when you got one kind of boss hog out there and after round two of getting whipped up on by some half-year-olds, right.

SPEAKER_02:

They get I mean they'll they they go silent.

SPEAKER_00:

You don't just gobble for the heck of it no more. Right. And um and and there is I've I've heard some theories and I would believe them to be true when it comes to the mass crop of the fall before. Um correlating with the fat pad and stuff, which is their energy source. I think I think I ain't no biologist, but I think like most animals, they don't necessarily I mean it's just how God created them. They build up on their energy before the breeding season, and they don't they just kind of make kind of maintain and stay alive is all their their food goals are. Um Gobblers I'm talking about. That that's just not their number one priority. Right. So when the when the fatty part of their diet is pretty scarce and there's a not a lot of acres or anything like that, and there's a lot more competition for the the other sources of it, I think they they reserve it. That's just how they you know stay alive. And they don't gobble a lot, because that does exert energy and I'm sure strutton does too. What they can what they can accomplish with less, they're gonna do. I mean, I've heard some biologists hit on that, that that's makes sense enough to wonder. It's not just shot down immediately. Yeah. I don't know the actual final answer to it, but i if you go in there and you you don't hear any hom, there's a lot of questions to ask.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

First one's why. Why ain't I hearing any? Look around. Do you hear anything else?

SPEAKER_02:

That's yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

That's what I asked myself.

SPEAKER_02:

Um Yeah, if you're hearing a bunch of songbirds and crows and whatever else moving around, yeah. Normally they're gonna be gobbling. Is what you mean by that. Right. There might not be no turkey there to gobble. That's what I'm saying. Normally there isn't a turkey there. But if it if if every other bird in the world yeah, if every other bird in the world is chirping and whatnot and cutting up, turkeys should be too. Should be. Unless they got bombed that night. You know, if you quit quote unquote, if you roosted one and know there's one in there, you know, and he's not gobbling, right? I I'm still not convinced he's there. But you know, also, you know, that normally is the factor of it is it's gonna be silent all the way around. You're not gonna hear songbirds, you're not gonna hear crows, whatever else may be. And the owls.

SPEAKER_00:

And what that means is the barometric pressure is probably low. Right. There's weather related, there's uncontrollable factors that are making all wildlife less active at that moment. Hunker down. And and the the absolute worst thing you can do when all the other animals are laying low in a in a morning where the the pressure is low, birds ain't gobbling, hens ain't yelping, squirrels ain't fidgeting around, songbirds ain't singing, owls ain't even hooting, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Cows are laying down. Right, cows are laying down, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Turtles crossing the road, we ain't getting all that stuff. Right. Um the the worst thing you can do is call a act like you you ain't got that memo. Yeah. Act like it's a blue bird morning 31, you know, pr uh pressure and 48 degrees and crisp and clear. Yeah. And when if it ain't that, don't act like it is. Because you're gonna you're gonna sound like a human in the woods trying to act like an animal, not like an animal.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um but yeah, so I mean my my second thought is is are these turkeys dead? You know, do you know there's turkeys there? If you do know, and this is subjective, obviously, everything is, but if you do know turkeys are there, what would I do? Depends on how um how popular is this spot. Right. Is my best option to leave my truck here and just sit and wait. Because they're gonna they're gonna do their thing. They're gonna eventually gobble. They're gonna they gotta they're gonna breathe. They might just kinda use their eyes more.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Um if I if I if I have the option to go other places if I'm gonna have my cake and eat it too, if nobody else was hunting these turkeys at all, I'm I'm not going in there. I'm gonna find one somewhere else.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And and if I bump one somewhere else, it's kinda like Neil's that that I didn't know he was there. Because you you've your chances of bumping a turkey on a day they ain't gonna is substantially higher, obviously. Yes. You don't know they're there. Um you're gonna walk up and especially if you're calling, you're you're I don't think they I would think a they would they respond phys you know, physiologically, I guess, like moving towards you a little less, probably I'm not gonna say they do the same. They're they're gonna come in just like they were gobbling, they don't. Right. They they they're they're kind of just lazy those days. But they will. It ain't it ain't a lot lower of a chance. They will definitely come in silent and and not goblin. Um but if I can get out of it get out of there and not not screw with it and go go get on somewhere. And and if you're if you're on a um I'm trying to think of a good analogy or terminology here, but I I make sure you're on a high point, make sure you can hear them.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, because that's that I was gonna tie into that a little bit myself. Because I mean I remember this past season, one particular morning, I heard like seven or ten different turkeys got one. And I knew they were none of them were even on the property I was I was hunting, which was public, but you know, I'd I had been there three or four mornings before that and heard one or two, you know, that I knew were on us, but it it messed with me so bad just because it was a I was on a different higher knife than I'd normally listen from, but within a couple hundred yards of it, you know, I should still be able to hear these turkeys. And um I I didn't even know which n A, you know, which direction to go, what was huntable, you know, and then I come to find out I don't think any of the turkeys were even on there. I could just hear so much further. And that's nothing that day, you know, and it it almost was a weird feeling. I hate it. I hate it too.

SPEAKER_00:

I I couldn't think of it. A good handful of hunts where the pressure is stupid high. Yes. I remember one time in Kentucky, I swear I could hear 40 turkeys. And there wasn't 40 turkeys, but it felt like I could. Yeah. And I don't think and I could hunt a good chunk. This was on private land though. I had just permission to hunt this guy's place, and he had a couple different small parcels and stuff, and I ain't never been to them or anything, but got and found the highest point I could. Yeah. Just drove until, you know, I could, I could, all right, this is definitely it. Because this it's rolling heels, but they're real pretty. And got out and listened, and it was just like the whole I could hear the whole deck of mountain. And I'm like, This is uh counterintuitive here. I don't I don't even know what I'm listening to because I can't really gauge any distance and stuff.

SPEAKER_02:

And it's hard to pick a s pick a direction too at on those more 'cause by the time you turn, okay, the one was hammering over here, you turn around and look listen for that, and it's how they they all sound behind you.

SPEAKER_00:

You so much too. And so I just took it off down and I got to the end of the fence. And I don't know how long it was a good quarter of a mile at least, you know, until the property line. And I never crossed one. You know, they never stopped gobbling. I just they never got closer. I know it for a fact every turkey didn't fly down a and walked the direction at the same pace I did. It just never changed, and I never got up next to one by accident or bumped something or anything. Almost everyone I had pinned in my head was there at the end. They were just that far away.

SPEAKER_02:

That's exactly how that morning went for me too.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I mean it's frustrating. I remember a couple times when I was younger, and the first time or two it happened, and I I crossed the same road seven times, going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And and and they were so far away, I just thought they were closer and and never were. I was never in the game, but it felt like I was. Um I'd take one of the mornings right now and not complain. I know that.

SPEAKER_02:

100%.

SPEAKER_00:

But and and when they're not goblin, I would definitely take them. But um beyond, I mean, get high, get where you can hear. I mean, I ain't was explaining how. Um but but go to where your gut or your um prior knowledge tells you that a turkey should be. And it and sometimes you go in there knowing it's a bad goblin day, and you want you want to just get to where you could definitely hear one if he does gobble. Where I do that is um well first choices is if you got a cemetery or a lady named Peggy nearby, you get close to those two places because that's where turkeys like, apparently. But that aside, that's a whole chapter in a book if y'all didn't know that. Um and I and I will die on that hill that turkeys like cemeteries. You can hear you let me rephrase that. You can hear a turkey from a cemetery. And um and if anybody in that square mile is named Peggy, there's probably turkeys around her house.

SPEAKER_02:

Um but it's true.

SPEAKER_00:

But uh and an and one that is very serious is is is water. Yeah. They should be rested around the water. There's an if there's a creek or anything like that nearby. Um I'm big on the the mushroom shapes. We ain't hit on that in a while. We probably will a little more in a in a just a true scouting episode, but if I'm following the a creek or a a river or something like that with my finger and it makes a like an oxbow is what I guess the the correct term is. But if it makes an you know, if it's going and it makes an omega or a puzzle piece or anything or horseshoe shape or something, I don't know why. I think Turkey's reef around there. More often they don't and they kind of strutton that little corral more than anything. I don't know if it's a if it's a land thing or if it's a uh They're surrounded by water on three sides or something. Safety thing, you know. Um could be. I I really don't know, but I don't ask them why. I just listen to the answers they give me. And and and if it does it twice, I'm like, okay, maybe it does it three times, I'm like I'm gonna do it again, you know. And that's that's one I I I still to this day trust my gut on that. If if I'm having to get to where I know I can hear a turkey, if he does gobble, um, I do that. And sometimes even then they don't gobble. Then what do you do? Um let's see. Be patient isn't one option.

SPEAKER_02:

That's that's 95% of it is patience. Um you know, clean clear your schedule, you're gonna be there a while. Yeah. More than likely.

SPEAKER_00:

If you if you have the opportunity to just hang out if it's on Saturday or whatever, yeah. If you only hunt on the weekends and it's a Saturday, wait it out because they go on and they're gonna gobble eventually. And you're gonna hear them if you if you don't just sit in the truck with the windows up. Right, yeah. I mean, you gotta you gotta be there. Right.

SPEAKER_02:

And and that's another thing, like, you know, if you only have a day or two to hunt this place, I I get you kind of gotta hunt the non-goblin days, and that's when when this really kind of sucks. You know, and I haven't killed a lot of turkeys on non-goblin days.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, yeah. And they do they they gobbled 50 times, but they didn't start gobbling until 1030. Right. You know, until it does happen.

SPEAKER_02:

You know, you never know when it's gonna be.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. When that the switch flips on them, and I it's almost kind of like out of our feeling, out of our ability, like the ability guy gave the animals and God gave us is a little well, he gave us guns, so I ain't gonna say it's out of it's outmatched, but right, you know, there is um compensation there in terms of of senses and the keenness of those senses, and something changes in his own as it's normal day. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Whether it be the humidity, clouds rising, something like that. Right. I feel like it's more when the sun pops out and something to do with the heat hitting the earth changes something. I don't know, I'm no scientist to know that. Um but yeah, it it seems like you know, if you can get a good break in the clouds, that's that's your better chance for that day. Because a lot of times the low pressure days, it's gonna be a little cloudy. Right. Sometimes a little foggy in the mornings, it seems. I mean, it just may be a coincidence I've noticed, but that's that's what I kind of have picked up on.

SPEAKER_00:

A lot of times the low pressure days is before the rain. Right. Not after the rain. It's kind of a little bit opposite of some other stuff. Turkey's like the days after the rain. Yeah. Way more than the days before the rain. Yeah. And sometimes it's just a low pressure system, and it I swear, I don't know if it was last season or the year before, we had a seven-day stagnant, low pressure, just crap day week in Mississippi. And I was an irritable person to be around. I think we all were. Because ain't nothing you can do about it. It is out of your control, and it's just the whole time you feel like you're messing everything up, the whole time you're like, you can't just sit at home. Right. Because this was in like March. Oh, yeah. So you're gone. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

I think that that was the week. I think that was this past season because that was the week Hannah, my girlfriend, came up to and she was like, I think you may want to talk talk to somebody. Like she was like suggesting I go see a therapist and I had to look at her and tell her, no, I just need one to gobble. Right. Because I'm going on day eight without hearing a single gobble. You know, and it was it was rough on you, man.

SPEAKER_00:

It is and that's I and that's a a big reason why I love dragon. You cannot make them do anything.

SPEAKER_02:

No.

SPEAKER_00:

No matter how bad you want to, you can't make them gobble if they don't want to gobble. There's things you can do that might sneak a gobble out of them, though. Yeah. And I and I'm gonna I'm gonna pull out, pull them out of my vest rather than my out of tricks or whatever you want to call it. The the uh the the very rare screech, owl, peacock calls and stuff. They start just kind of, all right, maybe today is your day. You know, warm them up, you know, send out a uh peacock through a dang hollering. You might get the one you need. Yeah you know, it does work. And then that's that's kind of what I was getting to is is um locator calls. Um we've actually got a couple questions on locator calls in the past. Right. And I use them. I ain't a good owl hooter, I ain't gonna lie to you. I ain't gonna try to be somebody I'm not. Uh ain't I ain't great on a mouth call and ain't good at owl hooting with my mouth. I I use a owl call. All right. I know I'm a much lesser of a turkey hunter because I do that, but I got to.

SPEAKER_02:

Um yeah, trust me, you want him to. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um But I I I don't think that owls only hoot in the morning. They hoot all day. Oh, yeah. You can you can get one to gobble that way. And there are days when they only gobble at owls.

SPEAKER_01:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00:

They ain't gobbling at no hens and stuff. They just gobble at owls. Or just gobble at crows. I use a crook a lot just because I can access it a lot quicker, it's a lot less bulky. Um obviously I could do one or the other with my mouth, I'll go with that one more often. But I do do and the reason I do that is because I'm not acting like a a non-turkey by just yup, yah, yup, or just cackling and crazy and stuff.

SPEAKER_02:

And and that's kind of something I want to hit on with that. If you say you do pull out your peacock collar or whatever, you know, stuff like that. No, that's a joke, you know. But I do that. Some people use it, yeah. I mean, I've I've seen it used, be used and work. Um, you know, even you know, use it sparingly, you know, to an extent. Don't just stand in one spot and hit it a thousand times.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, but I mean crap, but sometimes that sometimes they sometimes. I wanted I'm telling you, I thought with Jay Cisc at his place, yeah, and there was there's always a peacock with this block of turkeys. Right. I'll tell you about it I'll tell you when those turkeys went silent. I ain't gonna lie to you, we we got that peacock to let us know where the turkeys are at a couple couple times because he he was not partial. He wasn't getting on it. It's like he knew it. Yeah, you know, those turkeys could could be moving on us and they ain't gobbling in a while, and it's about eleven o'clock, and we're like, well, I hate to bust up through here not knowing if they're there. Well, hold on.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You call back, like, nah, we're good. We can we can pass through, we're good, they're still they're still down there. Yeah, you know, and um that was funny, but that's a true story, and I found that uh I founded two in Mississippi that had peacocks in them woods. Right. Um I've heard a bunch of gobble at them. I didn't know about it until I was up in there. I'm like, that has got to be what that is. I don't know if that they were with the you know actually or anything, but I do I've heard them and I've heard them gobble at them.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Um heard them gobble at roosters.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, you're right.

SPEAKER_02:

That's a big thing. I've uh you know, I've heard them gobble at a lot, other than owls. I don't know how you make a rooster call. I'm about to say, hold on.

SPEAKER_00:

We want to something now, make one of them.

SPEAKER_02:

If we can figure out a rooster call, it might be interesting. That's a whole nother ball game. Um I know folks who bring goose calls. Goose calls, yeah. I've I've seen that before a lot. And and a lot of times a goose will fly over a lot more on those low pressure days and hunt. If you're there to hear it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And that's the you don't you only need one gobble a lot of times.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Especially if you're hunting an area where you know turkeys are. And it ain't even really a factor in the the mental chest match stuff. It's it's just confidence that he ain't dead. Really like that he is still there, and then you just you pretty much go about hunting him the same way. Right. And a lot of times it it pans out as if he were cobbling the whole morning. Uh-huh. If you just showed up at 10 30. Right. You know, got a flight tired, couldn't get there, what something might you know.

SPEAKER_02:

Never slowed up, whatever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And you gather at 2 30, the hunt wouldn't have changed at all. It would have been the same way you wouldn't have even known they didn't cobble. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Um I'll give up on a place quick, yes, but I have hunted with a lot of people that give up on them, I feel too fast. Yeah. You know, because oh, they ain't nothing here, keep moving. Ain't nothing here, keep moving. And then, you know, on the fifth one, you kind of gotta s look at them and say, hey, you know, let's hang out a little while longer at this next spot, you know, I guess, because I I don't think they're gobbling much. You know, you kind of gotta be at, you know, know enough to to realize that, you know, kind of thing is what I'm trying to say.

SPEAKER_00:

And and and that's what that's why is exactly why I said the first question I ask is why. Not the the fifth question is not it ain't where is he? He must not be here. Right. You know, I should go higher, you know. Yeah. He's gobbling and I can't hear him. I I need to get I need to get higher or lower. I've hunted turkeys where I couldn't hear high. Yes. And you need to get lower. Uh I think of some very distinct realizations I had to, you know, kind of force upon my fixed brain when it comes to turkey hunting this past year was um I ain't low enough.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And there's a couple I'm I'm hunting mountain birds and I'm I'm very green to that area. And I'm like, man, I I would think there should be a turkey here. There has been turkeys here today. There is great, they have turned this place upside down. Right. I just I don't I how did I not hear 'em? Got, you know, come to find out it took two days to to realize the turkeys that were doing that weren't far that I just couldn't hear 'em. Right. And I had and I got lower one morning and I didn't hear them on the roost, but it wasn't long after I started hearing them and they were just making their rounds and stuff like normal. And I I they no way I'd heard them from where I was standing. And it wasn't that far, it was just the way the elevation felt. Um Yeah. Elevation will mess with you too. Yeah, but then if if if there ain't nowhere to go, and that's why I say why, if it's if it's a non-goblin day, hunt 'em hunt act like a turkey.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Should be where turkeys turkeys make sounds that ain't calling.

SPEAKER_02:

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00:

They fly they still fly down, their wings still make noise when they fly down. Um even on the days where the the hens ain't yelping and cackling and stuff like that, their wings still make sound. Their feet still sound like scratching when they're scratching the leaves and stuff. Yeah. You do that and you're you're doing the best you can. That is the best you can. That's that's you're acting as much like a turkey as humanly possible.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

By not calling and and still making regular turkey sounds. That's your best chance. Yeah. Until they until they start gobbling.

SPEAKER_02:

And I I that I'm glad you brought that up because I mean I have done a fly down on a low gobbling morning and had a response from it. Yeah whether it's a drum or a gobble. Mm-hmm. Just from the up my wings, or hear a hen fly down close to me or somewhere. I've actually had a turkey gobble at me spooking a hen. Spooking hens. They think they flew down. Yeah. You know. And you know, it's not always a bad thing if you bump a turkey. It sucks. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's it's a if that turkey's a hen, it ain't a bad thing. I almost I'm kind of like, heck yeah, we we got this now. He's gonna think I'm her, you know. She's out of out of the picture now.

SPEAKER_00:

I told you by that time I thought I did that, but I actually bumped a gobbler out of the tree.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, it's not always great. Right. And it's not it's great pretty rarely, but um I have noticed that and used it before on on lower gobbling days. And higher gobbling goes, a wing will make one gobble sometimes you know, without even calling. Just a fly down. You ain't gotta cackle 8,700 times when you fly down.

SPEAKER_00:

You don't, yeah, but I mean just a wing beat. Any anything any anything that can get a gobble out becomes more and more sounds better and better as the day goes on, you know. So I ain't gonna sit here and say I don't call if they ain't calling. I'm like, I'm gonna give it a go. Yeah. And see, I might get out my my really high pitched call or something. I'm gonna give them I'm probably gonna give them all a go. I might have to move in between, you know, so I don't sound it sound weird, but I'm gonna come out fire and you know, with a the quick cut, like pop, pop, yeah, help, help, you know, see if I can just get and then stop. Right. No assembly yet where you ain't gonna hear because my God, the last thing you want is to not hear it. Yes. If he does gobble. So it's it's quick, very, you know, few notes, three, four, loud. You know, I run the risk of him being right there and gobbling more than I do on on days when they are gobbling a lot.

SPEAKER_02:

If if you've ever heard a hen get bumped, yeah. Spooked, or fly, you know, kind of have to be a few. Or instinctual like get get the heck out of here. They'll hammer at that a lot.

SPEAKER_00:

And and I don't think you're you're hurting your chances but by being non-realistic, because a hen would still do that if a cow ran up on them on a day they don't feel well. Right. You know, they're still gonna say that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, and that's that's just a a good little tactic to use if you are gonna call on those days, I think. Um because it necessarily doesn't mean, hey, I was a hen coming to you or I need you to come over here. It's just I need to know where, you know, right. I'm not trying to figure out where anybody's at, I'm getting the heck out of here. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And uh but anything, anything that'll make them gobble. And and understand very you know, very thoroughly that whatever you do ain't gonna make them gobble. You might you might get one out of them, but it you you know, they if they don't want to gobble, they ain't gonna gobble. Ain't no guarantees. You know, and um and no one is one hold 'em and fold them kind of deal. Right. You know, sometimes the best thing you can walk away with is a tie.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Rather than a big L. You know, if you mess up tomorrow's hunt, which is gonna be a pretty day after the front moves through at 9 p.m. Yep. Or even better at 3 p.m. and then it's it's the pressure's rising that that evening and they kind of get the juices flowing and then they fly up and then they just kick carry on the next morning. And I love those days.

SPEAKER_02:

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00:

When they didn't they didn't pull much the morning before, probably. And they kind of bottled up right there. They're kind of like, all right, you know, today is the day. This is this is game day. This is this is the Super Bowl. Yeah, correct. You know, and um that's the day you want to be in the woods. And that's a day you don't want to have a bump turkey. Exactly. Especially don't bump him on the you know, the private land or on your neighbor's land or something like that.

SPEAKER_01:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

Um or or accustomed him to your calls and stuff. I'm big on like, well, if that turkey's hurting me, he knows me. I feel like I treat it like a personal matter. I d I and I reserve my certain things until the and until I have to. There's a there's an ordinance there or like if I ain't gotta break another call out, I ain't going to.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Just so he don't I I keep as many cards in my my hand as I can.

SPEAKER_02:

So do you want to go on a turkey that you know was gobbling good or and or you bumped him or something that morning, you you're getting back on him, he's holding his cards to his chest. May give you a gobble or two, but for the most part silent.

SPEAKER_00:

Hold on, what'd you say?

SPEAKER_02:

Like a turkey that's become silent. Would I rather if you want to dive into that anymore?

SPEAKER_00:

That has become silent? Yeah. Okay. He gobbled up. I thought you were asking like, do I want to hunt him?

SPEAKER_02:

No.

SPEAKER_00:

Okay.

SPEAKER_02:

You're you have to hunt him because he's the only turkey you know about. Okay. He was hot, now he's quiet.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and the first question I'm asking was why. Right. So I don't want to dive back into that, but there's always a reason. That's the only that's it every answer is it depends, and every first step is why. So that's what I ask myself every day or every you know instance. But um but there's always a reason why. And and it could be because he's loafing around and he don't want to gobble right now, and that's usually it. He he don't want to gobble. Yeah. Not wanting to gobble is second because number one is he don't have to gobble. Fair. And if a jerk ain't got a gobble, that means he has got what he is gobbling for more times than not. He is surrounded by eight twirling hands. Yeah. And he don't want nine. Yeah. Fair. Ain't enough hours in a day to get to the ninth. Why do I why am I concerning myself with old number nine back here that won't shut up? You know? Yeah. You might and you might have you might have made him not need to gobble if you've responded at every single gobble that morning. He knows you're interested.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

One of y'all gotta shut up and one of y'all gotta walk.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And if he's the one who decides I'll be the one to shut up and she's gonna be the one to walk, you lost. Right. That's how you lose in the game.

SPEAKER_03:

Yep.

SPEAKER_00:

But if you're the one who shut up and can get him to walk, that's how you win. And that's and and that comes down to where you sit. I love it because every decision you make is important.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

It can make it, it can break it, and just because it makes it doesn't mean you win.

SPEAKER_03:

Right.

SPEAKER_00:

You can be a hundred percent and still don't win. But but but setting your up setting yourself up for your best chances is the game you play. Yeah. And and a lot of that is what you don't do and what you're able to insist on him doing. Kind of like setting the table, setting a stage more so, or or or anything of that nature. If you if you I mean down to where you start calling to if I got a little bit of an idea I can get a little ground on him. If I'm if I walk through this open area and call on the other side of this open area and realize I can't get to him, I'm kind of I just kind of in a in a bind there. So I'm not gonna call until I know. Know for a fact there's a route for him to take.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Because he don't necessarily if he's say he's 200 yards, he don't know you walk through a big bottom or something like that if you ain't called the whole daggum way. Right. You know. You still got the option in the back pocket to retreat back to where you called the time before and pick a new option. Pick a new route, you know. Um last thing you want to do is is to is to put a barrier that's too big for a turkey to cross in between y'all. Right. And that could be an opening. Sometimes too much of an opening. Right. Is what I'm saying. You know, um, you you didn't leave enough woods for him to come through.

SPEAKER_02:

Or stay close to. Because a lot of times they want to stay where they can get in the woods fairly fast.

SPEAKER_00:

And if you and and if you all of a sudden just hop through it or whatever, I mean you could think you're a different turkey. Yeah. But depending on how big it is, but I would much rather make him and if I can get him to walk into that bottom, my chances go up.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And a lot of times you might have a better chance at killing him somewhere, but in order to get him there, you've got to make him walk left or make him walk right. We'll worry about whether he walks up or down this after he does one of the, you know, step number one. So that's that's another thing. I'll I'll I'll set it up to where I can, if I can just keep him from getting into this area or an area I can't hunt or where I know the hens are gonna wind up at. He ain't got there yet. If I can just convince him to to pick this side of the ridge, I ain't gotta really worry about just killing him. I just gotta get him over here and hope everything proceeds on the other side like it had yesterday or something like that. Right. Worry about step two when you get. Get him having to look for something if I can. Don't let him get to an area where he he ain't got a cobble no more. Right. Is what I'm getting at. And um then I'll worry about the whole how I'm gonna address the bird itself. It's just making sure it, you know, increase my chances on getting to play.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um if you don't turkey hunt, you have no idea. Right. Probably what I just talked about. I and I apologize. But if you do, you you I hope that I was able to kind of paint a a little bit of a picture there. Um I'm not the best with that. But at the at the end of the day, patience is gonna prevail. If if you and I both went out and hunted non-goblin turkeys, the m the man that was most patient will probably win.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

But, you know, not always. If I if you if you stayed and waited on the tree and I I said, I don't know. There there should be a gobbler here and left and went and found a gobbler and killed him 30 minutes, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

You'll never know if you don't try. I'm a believer in that, but at the same time, I promise you, as soon as I step out of the truck over there, I'm like, I bet you he's gobbled over there. Yes. I bet you he's a goblin again. Somewhere else, or yeah, or where you're gonna go.

SPEAKER_02:

In your tire tracks or something.

SPEAKER_00:

And and expect them to respond in ways that might not be a goblin. Right. Yeah, that's a big thing. That that's what kind of makes it difficult hunting the non-vocal turkeys is I bet you they're getting bumped and you don't know it. Yes. Because the goblin didn't stop if it don't start. Right. And you're probably a little like a daisical with your masks and stuff on days you don't know a turkey's a hundred yards away. Yeah, those potentially forty yards away, you know.

SPEAKER_02:

Right. If you are gonna say get off the road uh away from your truck and and dive into a a spot, you know, don't don't think I gotta get to X because you you really don't have an X. Exactly. You don't know where a turkey's at. You're not trying to get within range of this spot. So every step you take off the gravel I mean you gotta be paying attention on those days because it's most days uh those are gonna be the days you only hear drumming or you only hear you know scratching or something over the ridge, things of that nature. That's the the number one key if you are getting going in there where you think turkeys should be or no turkeys have been, I guess you could say. Um so yeah, you cross your T's, dot your I's take it slow, um, and and don't only listen to for gobbles is the main thing.

SPEAKER_00:

And if you're gonna call, if you're gonna say, All right, let's do this. Don't be surprised when a turkey comes up. You know, don't think he's supposed to gobble in and stretch his whole way. He's gonna come up, but you're just not gonna see nothing but a little head sticking up over something. Right.

SPEAKER_02:

And a pub's all you're gonna hear.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, and if your gun's sitting in your lap and your face mask off and you're checking Snapchat. Right. You might not see that head, and you're gonna wonder tomorrow when it's pretty why he ain't gobbling.

SPEAKER_03:

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00:

And um it's because he uh he knows a lot about you. You just you just slid him your playbook without without even knowing. Some of them will wait around, make sure you know, hey, just want you to know I saw you. You know, just just uh they'll sit there and stare at you in the eye until you look up okay, yeah. I just want you to know that.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. Now I'm gonna fly off this hill.

SPEAKER_00:

Now you know you're an idiot instead of I don't want you going home wondering if I was alive. I was alive and I was watching you. Right.

SPEAKER_02:

Um another thing you gotta pay attention to every morning, essentially, but maybe the reason why you're not hearing any turkeys in the mornings when they should be on the trees, they can see a lot further.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

And your headlights are bright. They could, yeah. Gravel is loud, you know. Think of things like that, you know. They catch on to that. Sometimes you gotta walk down a roadways and or you know, or d dive into a place before you start hearing them, you know, because that gives them time to think, oh, that gravel must not have been fooling with me. Or those headlights weren't for me, or they may think, hey, I know I hadn't seen them headlights leave. I mean, they get smarter things.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I mean I think they're smart creatures to an extent. I think that their their ability to humble you is a lot more on the keenness of their senses than it is their intellectual processing, if that you know what I mean. Um But I think I think uh that and I uh a lot of times if it if they should be gobbling and I don't hear one, my first thought is I I parked under him, probably. Hey, parked under him or parked because you can't control where them roads go necessarily. And a lot of times if I'm hunting on a spot, it's at the end of something. I'm not trying to you know hunt where everybody else is. I'm trying to get to uh down something winding or every something like that. And if if a spot where I it's my truck, I don't I mean I don't like my truck being seen because folks do pick up on that. Yeah. Um even before spring lesion. You you you know who's there and who you see walk out with a turkey and who you know. Right. A lot of times you look at the truck like that guy knows what he's doing, probably. Yeah. You know, you can kind of tell like I I bet you he knows a turkey's in there. Or or or they kind of you pick up on these, you you almost understand a person based off where he hunts, and you're kind of like you definitely don't.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, there's plenty I still know two years ago.

SPEAKER_00:

I thought the same, dude. Yeah, you know, and I I and I figured out why there ain't no turkeys in there when I come back and you're still in there trying to, you know. 430 and I can hear you from the road 800 yards in there. You're probably stuck in that gumbum mud that I was, and you're trying to get out just like I was a couple years ago. Um but uh but you know, usually then I I I will be walking a good ways and and I'm not concerned about parking underneath one because there probably ain't one on a busy one. But a lot of times, I mean roads are on the higher points. Yeah, I walked under three this year on the gravel and bumped them on. And don't think you're they're above reaching next to that stuff either. Oh yeah. Um I have I have they were hanging over the road. Fly we'll fly into it.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And you're sitting there 150 yards other way, you're like, gum it.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Now you really ain't got no nothing in your you that was the last thing you prepared for.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. And A, I mean, you bump a turkey that you didn't even know you bumped. You know, you're driving a truck listening to John Wayne or whatever. Not John Wayne. John Wayne's a movie star. Not a Johnny Cat.

SPEAKER_00:

John Wayne is a Whiskey Meyer song, so you could have really shifted that. Yeah. Yeah. But uh glad to know you weren't really thinking of that. Uh just yeah. Not good with that with uh fast. Listening to John Wayne. Knowing that you because my first thought was the name of the song. I'm like, that is a good song. Yeah. But um that you were definitely talking about McClint talk. Um I wish I could call for the quick line of what he normally says on that movie with LGwise. I remember him fighting in the mud. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02:

Anyway.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. That's our cue right there. We're starting to get on John Wayne movies. Um, yeah, I hope, hope, hope that was about as clear as Mud. Kind of going in segueing into that. Uh speaking of Mud, but I hope I I hope we answered somebody's question.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Something. And uh if you agree or disagree, let us know. We we like the feedback, and we were going through that is a bullet of emphasis that we're gonna do throughout the remainder of this podcast season is is respond to our listeners maybe not as instantly, but but we're logging it all. And and if we don't, maybe the next episode, if you want something answered and we don't get to the next episode, don't think we didn't see it or hear it or whatever. We got an episode about that coming, and we might have someone more knowledgeable about that coming on to talk about it. That I got questions about, or I don't know that answer. So that's the best kind of question we can get is something that I don't know. And I'm like, okay, now I gotta find somebody who does because now I gotta know. Right. And um, and those are usually the the really good ones. So uh nonetheless, we appreciate y'all listening to us ramble about turkeys. Uh get used to it because we got we got the the good times are ahead of us. We got a lot more to ramble about, and we've got a little bit more of a strategy on how we're gonna go about it. It's gonna be a little less nonchalant winging it as it was in the first few episodes in the latter part of 25. So uh go check out the Turkey Fest guys. Uh we really appreciate y'all supporting our brand. Uh I mean, from it it puts food on my family's table. It it it it has provided avenues to new scenery, to new relationships, to um just a whole new um a whole new life that that didn't exist before Spring Legion. So this is all an eight dollar and fifty cent hat got flipped once and flipped twice, and now we're young, young to see. If you're watching this, it's it's it's it's grown, and it's because of y'all and and we'll um forever be indebted to that support and and especially the ones that have been around since the uh the the early days, the real OGs. So we appreciate y'all for listening and we are gonna see you next week, next Monday. Thanks again for listening to the Spring Legion podcast.

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Hunter Farrior

Host