The Spring Legion Podcast

Listening For Turkeys: Pre-season vs Hunting - When, How, and Where to Scout with Your Ears

Spring Legion Turkey Hunting Season 5

The first gobble of the year flips a switch. We dive into the craft of listening for turkeys—how we build efficient morning routes from the road, pick vantage points near water and open ground, and use sound to sketch a map long before we ever touch a call. If February is the month of anticipation, this is how we turn that energy into practical intel that pays off on opening day.

We get specific about timing and terrain: why arriving an hour earlier reveals the true start of the dawn chorus, how to triangulate a gobble without walking into it, and when to trust your ears over the map’s magnetic pull toward a distant creek. We talk public versus private approaches, the false promise of winter flocks, and why restraint—less calling, more reading—often brings a gobbler to 30 yards faster than hammering on a box. We also share lighting and safety habits that keep you quiet and invisible, plus when a restrained owl or crow call earns its keep.

For hunters with limited days, roosting can be the difference between wandering and winning. We explain how to pin an evening bird, set a safe approach, and let terrain do half the talking at fly-down. You’ll hear stories of early-morning shockers, late fly-down puzzles, and the setups that worked because we waited for the bird to make the first mistake. Along the way, we preview our NWTF Convention plans, new Spring Legion gear, and weekly YouTube hunts that show the real process—missteps, adjustments, and the moments where one well-timed call changes everything.

Subscribe, share with a buddy who’s already hooting in the truck, and leave a quick review with your best listening tip. Then tell us: where do you start your first February loop—and what made you pick it?

LINK: Save 10% on your next North Mountain Gear Leafy Jacket with code LEGION26 at northmountaingear.com

LINK: SAVE 10% on the new 2026 Line of Turkey Hunting Gear at springlegion.com with code POD10

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SPEAKER_01:

All right, everybody, welcome back to the Spring Legion Podcast and welcome to the month of February 2026. It is here, it is almost time to get your mind right. If your mind's not right yet, I don't know what time you usually get your mind right, but I know mine's around January 31st at 11.59 p.m. If it's not by then, um it definitely is by today. And this will be our first episode in the month prior to the best month of the year, which is March. And um I'm your host, Hunter Ferrier. This is co-host Chase Farrier here, and we are getting ready for both turkey season and for the National Wild Turkey Federation Convention and Sports Show. And that is what Chase and our dad has been doing a lot this um this fine Sunday afternoon in the 32 degree weather is getting all this stuff built so that we will be um assemblable, come um, come Nashville. And because it's usually that's not the case. Usually we're in there if y'all have ever been in there um before that show starts, it's pretty rough. It is a um best way I can describe it is the three stooges, is what it usually feels like. But um, but that is February 12th through the 14th. And if you've never been, I advise you to go because it is kind of one of those bucket list kind of things, and it is there's more turkey hunters there in a condensed area than um than you've ever imagined in the entire world, I feel like. And uh it it's fine. I have a lot of fun there. We um getting to see everybody. We're gonna be having our our usual stuff there. We're gonna have a few new releases there on the casual side of things, some new t-shirts and hats and stuff, and all the new pants, shirts, and jackets and vests and gaiters, and everything will all be there as well. I'm sure there'll be we'll be cutting some deals on some of them. Maybe some day-by-day stuff or a whole show special on a few things and and everything. But uh but yeah, other than that, uh be sure to wear your Spring Legion stuff to uh to the convention and uh you'll be getting something free, whether it be masks, gloves, hats, something something you'll be getting and um and looking forward to it. Oh, YouTube hunts. Oh yeah. We started those. I kept saying we're about to, we're about to, we're about to, and then like Tuesday of last week I said, I'm gonna I'm gonna publish this. And just see what happens. Um but because we I finally got an idea talking with Easton, our buddy who's who's been kind of mashing them up and cutting them and splicing them and everything. He was able to kind of give me a good padding there where I'm I'm comfortable saying, all right, let's let's rock and roll. We're gonna have enough for the to get us through March or so every week. So um so if you haven't checked it out, there's at least one episode. I think one's gonna air Tuesday, either Tuesday or it might be tonight. I don't know. Um we'll have another one coming out for this week, and it's a good one too. Chase is up on the gun on the on the one that's upcoming and uh actually has some turkeys gobbling in it, which is cool. Okay. And uh get your get your blood flowing a little bit. And then last week's was um oh Georgia.

SPEAKER_00:

You and Drew?

SPEAKER_01:

Yep, went to Georgia, drove through the night, got there about 45 minutes before daybreak, and didn't hear but one gobble at daybreak. So then uh wound up getting on them again around midday. And um, so we appreciate y'all checking that out. Be sure to subscribe to it because like I said, this will be the first year we actually had a lot coming out. We'll be like a little bit normal, a little bit more of a normal YouTube channel to follow along with. And and um, yes, uh the topic today is something that is a it is begin is gaining relevance by the hour, I feel like, and that's listening for turkeys. And that is something that I might look forward to as much as I do hunting them. I honestly feel like I look forward to that more than more than any of it. It it it makes me under like you understand what I'm talking about just by saying that. That that there's the anticipation side of it, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Because I mean I almost try not to go I mean try to go with through the winter without hearing one while I'm deer hunting. Yeah. You know, just so I can have that first time I get to hear one in so long.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, I don't know what I'd do if I heard one in November, December gobble. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Which a few of my buddies we were hunting with, they ended up, you know, here they would they'd come back to the camphouse or whatever after sitting and go like, yeah, I heard two gobbles this morning. I kind of I'm fired up, blah, blah, blah, blah. I'm like, don't, don't do that to me. My rifle would already be back on the not be hunting that stand ever. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Which is is weird as much as I love turkey hunting. I don't like turkey hunting when it ain't turkey season or it ain't about to be turkey season. I don't like being reminded of it. I don't like looking at my turkey vest or getting my gun out of the you know the safe and stuff.

SPEAKER_00:

It's I almost don't want to see a breakup. Deer hunting are on the side of the road pretty much from June 1st until March 15th.

SPEAKER_01:

But but now I don't mind it. Now, now when they start kind of doing the thing, I like seeing it and everything, and and and and the the point of this episode, it seems kind of an odd one. When I wrote it down, just kind of the title of it would be listening for turkeys. I was like, what are you talking about listening for turkeys? But gotten to thinking about it, you know, there is questions I've asked myself, questions I've asked others and stuff like that. Not necessarily how to effectively listen for turkeys, but some of the the back thought into what's going on makes a little sense because there is a a little bit of a method to it and as far as the where's and the wins and the whys and the hows and everything. But the um the first one on the little list I jotted down here, which I've been trying to do a little better at, getting a outline, so to speak, kind of mashed in the into the the chaos. Something to go by, but the the where, so to speak, would be I mean, obviously near water. Um sometimes now now not only just near water, but you know, I'm talking creeks and stuff like that, or sloughs and whatnot. We've already kind of hit on the roosting side of stuff, but but I and I will I I like to stay near the road. I don't I don't go up in there. Right. Um I prefer to have my truck if I need to cover a lot of ground. Well yeah, that and I don't like to bump nothing. Yeah. Which it it don't ma I don't bump nothing and Joe Below behind me does. It don't matter, you know, they're getting bumped regardless. Right. But uh but just like you said, from an efficiency standpoint, how how much do you try to cover, so to speak? Uh if I can if I can kind of get a route together, I'm I'm gonna do that. I remember last year and and several years, you know, on several occurrences, honestly, getting in there and and trying to get to a spot and and when you're listening, it depends on when you're when you're listening, but if especially those early few mornings when it's mid-February, or you know, it really don't matter if you're gobbling. Right. You just really going out there to hopefully hear one for the sake of your own self, but but you're only gonna get a gobbler two. So I try to try to try to be there a little early uh just so you don't miss that one. And then um several times I I didn't get there either for that and then I might not have stayed long enough, but I start trying to get to a new spot and stuff, and I always uh settle down a little bit more whenever it comes to, you know. I know I'm here early enough to hear one. If you don't gobble by this, I'll I'll try to have something close by. Yeah. But yeah, I I'm I'm mostly listening for turkeys for my own sanity because I'm an addict to this stuff. And it it just gives me a a a small fix when I need it most, because it's been a long time since I third one, since May. Yeah, I agree. All right. Do you this is a question for Chase. Do you um if you do hear one, do you go back and listen again at that spot? A lot of times, yes. Same, same. I get hung up on a place. Just just so you're just listening recreationally. So this is during season or no, this is all before. Okay. Pre-season listening. Let's let's Okay, let's clarify that. Let's clarify that. We I'm gonna get to end season listening towards the latter part of the episode, but for for the sake of right now, pre-season.

SPEAKER_00:

Late February, early March. Normally, if I find one, I just I just like to go try and hear them again. I think I went to the same gate from February 20th until opening day. Yeah. Two or three seasons. Uh three seasons ago, probably. First year I hunted PubClian because I'd found one turkey. And I just needed to confirm he was still there. That's kind of how I am. And of course, about March 10th, he wasn't there one time.

SPEAKER_01:

I was like, oh God. That's that's another thing. Is you start listening to him in late February, you you might be setting yourself up for heartbreak because that might not be where he's at.

SPEAKER_00:

Which I can't that's the one I killed open today in Mississippi. But he wasn't there, he was somewhere else. He he was a little off. Right. But I'd kind of figured out roughly an I idea. And I don't even think if I heard him, I didn't go in there. Like I only went in there to look. I think that was more why I went that many times was I was hoping to not hear him in there so I could go in there and look around and not screw anything up.

SPEAKER_01:

And that that's something like I was saying, I you know, I I try to listen from the road. And sometimes I'll do this. I'll get, I mean, if if this is a very nice busy road, I'll park on the bridge and I can tell which side of the the river he's on or creek or whatever, and and then I might come back at 1 p.m. and and you know, depends on the day and and the what's going on work-wise and everything. If I can get in there midday and and look around, put some boots on the ground, that's where I'm gonna know where to go look around. And and and connect mental dots of, you know, I heard that turkey in there. And and it's easier to do it when you're in the open and and looking out. Say you're in the wide open, you can you can pinpoint that corner better than if you were trying to just kind of throw a dot in there into the middle of the woods. Um just so you know, just to and I go in there and I I pedal around pretty much. I don't I don't do nothing crazy. I I just go and see what I can see, and if it it's loaded with tracks and scratching and stuff, or it's not, and I'm like, well, at least one's in there, but I don't know how much I'm gonna bank on that. Right. And um I'm trying to think, do I do I go back to the places I heard them? It's kind of a catch 22, because you know typically a turkeys are there. Do you do you go find new ones in a new spot? Or no, this is this is public land kind of. Um which will I mean if it's private land, I don't I don't go listen nearly as much. Uh-uh. I might go listen for the heck of it just if I'm passing by, I'm like, I'm gonna make a loop and go by. Yeah. You know, see if I hear one.

SPEAKER_00:

I know he's there probably, but right. If I gotta be a direction close to where private land I can hunt, and I'll I'm not gonna just go hammer it out. Right.

SPEAKER_01:

You don't necessarily have to go find them as much.

SPEAKER_00:

He either is or is not there, you're gonna hunt it. Yeah. He's either on your block or off your block. Right. Yeah. Um I find myself more or I don't want to do that more this year, is go to new spots. Yeah. You know, necessarily go find a couple more spots. Maybe go first day that I go this year, go to a old faithful, you know, kind of spot where I know some per some turkeys should have been in there at the end of the season last year. Um and then kind of start jumping around some the next three or four days. I'm gonna spend at new spots that I've may have marked on the map last year, or spend those whole first few days riding around looking for, you know, a good area to that I've never even set foot on. Right.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean I try I if I can knock out three or four spots in the morning, heck yeah, but that's hard to do. And this is this is working your way outside in is what I'm talking about. I ain't I will go listen on ridges and stuff a little closer to the season, probably, because that's probably where they're gonna be opening day or something. And a lot of times, you know, if I have a turkey to hunt, I would almost rather scout with a gun, you know, wait four days and scout it with a gun and then and then just find out there ain't a turkey there, or find out there is a turkey there, but I can hunt him if I do, because I'm on in there maybe.

SPEAKER_00:

Um That's my main thing. I don't want to necessarily just gom up the woods is that weird word he says.

SPEAKER_01:

If I if I w I might one time and and if it's gonna be a good one, and that's the only place even around there I could even listen at and I don't know nothing about it. Yeah. I might find a good long ridge and and walk down to the end of it and listen to stuff. And um Which I say that is kind of like a I mean an etiquette thing or anything, because you know, I mean they're running squirrel dogs and crap in there all the time. You're not really messing nothing though. I don't get mad at somebody else doing that, is what I'm saying. Right. It's just a matter of out, you know, kind of making a little bit of efficiency process to it. And and if I got one, I I think it's gonna be there, and I think I I can beat you to the gate if I gotta get there four days before, but at least I got something to look forward to. Um I that's about as much as I'm gonna look forward to anything all year as that opening day. So I'm gonna I'm gonna make sure I'm there. Yeah um know what he does after, and that and that's something you can. I remember on private land, you know, when you know of a turkey being there or something, I would hang around and see if I can at least tell which direction he was headed every morning, if it's three mornings in a row, you know, the week of the season, you know. Gave me a little bit of an advantage on on which side to pick if he was in the same spot.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't remember how that panned out, but I remember doing that on purpose. Which I mean heck we ain't under private land much in Mississippi in the last several years. And yeah, and I ain't driving out there to listen because there ain't no telling.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. The last thing he he'll be there one morning and nowhere out of it. Two weeks later, he might come back for a morning, but you know, you waste a lot of mornings in between trying to hope he's there. A lot of driving. And that's when I was talking with buddy Logan yesterday about um, you know, the the turkeys he's seeing deer hunting and stuff, and I'm like, Well, I've seen a couple, you know, gobblers, and that ain't good because usually that means they we have the spot they ain't in.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And um that's where they winter and not where they spring. And that's what you mean by that. It's like they know the the calendar. It's bad. Yeah, and um we got several spots like that. Um yeah, that's the worst too. And that's one thing, like if anybody's like talking to me at this time of year about, hey, you should come turkey hunt, let's go turkey hunt, I'm gonna hear them out. Hey? Yeah. But then I'm gonna say, like, well, how you know, how many did you see last spring? And they'd be like, Well, you know, if they say I don't know, I'm gonna be like, eh, you know, probably not gonna go necessarily with them. Um, or, you know, we can see what happens. They'll probably have one or two there, but if they say, Yeah, I saw 40 long beards on my place December 31st, I'm like, You ain't gonna see 40 long beards on your place March 15th. I'm sorry, you you 99% chance. Right. You know, and and and that's normal. That's how turkeys work. A lot of people just don't know that. That is true, yes. Yeah. Um, but I found myself in a bunch of wasted mornings because they saw 40 long beards December 31st and they never had looked in the spring or listened in the spring, I guess. And normally those are not big time turkey hunters. Right. But usually for anybody that's just getting started, don't it don't expect that. That's what I'm trying to say. I'm trying to give put that knowledge out there. Go ahead and get your hopes down. Hopes a little more.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, um, and if you don't have none on you, hey, there may be some. You might have one. Yeah. And that and that's what Logan and I were talking about. And this is kind of ties into the what we've already hit on some of the wares. We're not gonna get to all the where I go to listen and stuff like that. But um generally right and here far. Yeah. That's all that's my my main spots, and then and trying to and trying to make a good route of it. You know, I I I'll spots I never got to last year, spots I I figured a turkey'd be in this season, but I knew of another one for sure. And I just couldn't bite the bullet and and and go where I didn't know I I don't like leaving a turkey that is gobbling to go find a turkey that is a hope gobbling, right? You know, to go listen for a turkey to gobble. Um so if I if I know of one, I try to hang around there and I learn more about that, I wind up finding another one there than I will actually, like just mid-season scouting and stuff. And on our our usual stuff that we hunt. Yeah. Stuff that we have a a history with. Right. Um, but that is something, you know, if I if I can get a good handle on where the gobblers are headed. And I wondered this too, you know, they gobble once or twice in in the listen period, not not the hunting. And if you if you do get some gobbles after they've hit the ground, are they headed towards a spot they're probably gonna wind up being? You know, because you know, if if and that's something I'd have to almost kind of look into on on in my memory bank of where I did see hens and stuff, is that where the gobblers wind up? Or is it really kind of you know, somewhere in the middle? Or or the how that works out? I don't know the answer to that. I'm just saying if there is an hands run, it might not be.

SPEAKER_00:

Like you're saying, like mid-February, if they gobble and go a direction, do you think they're going to hens or are they just going to stay in alone? Is that what you're asking? I mean, a little bit. No, it wasn't, but now I'm wondering that too. Yeah. That was what I got off that, and that's my question now, because I don't I don't know. I mean, based off some trail camera stuff, you know, if I've got any on camera, it's normally either a group of hens or group of um gobblers until mid to end February.

SPEAKER_01:

So then is it nothing or is it all of them? A lot of times nothing.

SPEAKER_00:

But um well I'm not getting anything. Yeah, that's what that's what I'm wondering, because I don't really do trail cameras and stuff as much. I mean I don't either. I just it's just a few that I haven't picked up yet from deer season. I normally pull them by by turkey season or if I'm hunting there, I'll start pulling them. Right. I'm just saying like I don't have much. I don't pay attention to them for I'm not tracking them like I would track a buck.

SPEAKER_01:

No. Um I'm just saying if if I had some of them out for for deer, yeah, I would I would I'd be looking at turkeys the whole time, probably.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah. Um couldn't help them still. But I mean I'm seeing starting to see a couple turkeys with, you know, gobblers with hens now. And some act some pushing activity. You know, you can tell they're starting to kind of break up with smaller groups and stuff like that too.

SPEAKER_01:

It's it's time for them big big waza gobblers to break up into smaller wazigobblers and and start getting their pecking order pretty pretty solidified.

SPEAKER_00:

I think they're starting to shift right now. Pretty decent down in the south, based off what I'm seeing. That's just me.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and um promises. And when you're out there, you know, are they gobbling yet? Or are they just communicating? You know?

SPEAKER_00:

I ain't been there.

SPEAKER_01:

Um sometimes. No, I mean like, are they really gobbling? Is it Oh yeah. 'Cause cause I'll go four times before I hear gobble probably. Yeah. And it might be me going too early, it might be me going to the wrong spot, correlation causation there. I don't know. You know, that's why I like to go to a spot I know there should be a turkey there. There was two years in a row. And there was two there, two years in a row. I if there ain't goblin here, it probably ain't goblin. Um I don't I don't necessarily stress too much about it. I'm I'm looking to see if they exist more so. But um heck, half the um bullet points I had jotted down, we've already covered in the first half of the episode. Right. Um most of mine was like when when to start listening on on private or public.

SPEAKER_00:

Mine as soon as we get back from Nashville. That's usually your kind of that's my kick on on switch. Um that's just kind of I I I used to not listen as much, but I mean you go to Nashville, you you can't help but think about it after that. And I've only been going to Nashville however many years we've been doing it. I never had gone before we were I was working it. So like that first year that came, I thought I think I quit my job the next week just so I could go listen to turkeys every day. Yeah. Um because I was I was just like, yep, I you can't tell me anything else anymore for till at least June 1st.

SPEAKER_01:

That's why I'm cautious with it. I don't I'm telling you, get you start you let that fire get too hot too soon and it's you don't you ain't gotta quit your job. You're gonna be fired from it kind of deal. Um because it's just like all bottled up and everything. You don't know what I mean.

SPEAKER_00:

But no, I mean you you can't just physically can't help but go. Listen. Yeah. Just just because you can't you can't sit there at at work and and think I couldn't at least, you know, sit there and wonder, I wonder if it'll go all today, dang it. Even if I'm going to the same place I've heard one five days in a row. I've just got to know. But and then and then once season hits, I'm like, all right, we're good. Oh yeah. You know, I can I can carry a gun.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, you come back to work and everything's alright, and it ain't. But um But I mean half the reason I'm listening is like I just get to like take some coffee out there and listen to and you'll and I listen for the songbirds that I don't hear every you know month of the year. And I don't get in the woods as much, especially from now on to you know, or probably the past two months is really, you know, very busy, and then um, and I don't get to deer hunt, duck hunt and stuff nearly as much as a lot of folks do. So I don't I don't hear a bunch of outdoor stuff. So when I get back in there and then even taking the trash out or something, I hear a bird I hadn't heard in a long time. I'm like, that's a spring bird right there, ain't it? I saw some robins one the other day and about break check my daughters in their car seats. And I'm like, oh, y'all see that? That means about six weeks. Like, to what? I'm like, don't worry about it. Just never mind. Y'all don't even know. Y'all don't even know what I'm talking about. Why am I even going to explain it? Um I don't know, Indy. She holds on every word about turkeys. Yeah. But um, but now if I if I I got on here to to make sure I say if I go listen publicly and I listen, I don't listen to the day before. Yeah, make sure nobody goes and starts listening to her early. I don't think there is too early or too late, and there are years I've not listened, and I don't think I killed more or less turkeys than I did the years that I did listen a whole lot.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, a lot of it just has depends on how much time I have on my hands available.

SPEAKER_01:

And um and and a lot of and I'm checking off spots pretty much. And then then this is the the pre-scouting stuff. Is where am I even gonna scout at? And then we got into that on a uh Finding Turkeys episode a couple episodes ago, you know. Right.

SPEAKER_00:

That just kind of helps me get it helps me get out there to go do that. Right. Because that's not as fun, you know, just riding around or whatever it may be, you know, to go look, see if gates are open, getting gates are closed, roads are still intact, trees are down.

SPEAKER_01:

I do that after the listening stuff. Yeah. And um and I'll wind up finding spots to go listen to the next morning there and and everything. Just being out there and and try and like this on public like private land trapping's a good way to do that. You know, getting just getting out there and and and Listening before you do that. You know, you gotta go every day unless I guess there's a way you know you don't have one on. But I'd I would definitely go in time to listen. But yeah, and and I don't I don't like getting out there amongst them, that's for sure. I'm I'm the guy hunting 'em. So in my mind at that time. It's not necessarily like a respect thing for others. It's like I don't want to book 'em up for me. Right. You know, if if I'm the one who winds up getting here and on March whenever and able to hunt him, I don't want them to know a human exists, even though you know and something I've noticed I I do also do.

SPEAKER_00:

If I am gonna walk into a spot, like if it's something I saw, you know, the last two years I've been saying I've got to walk in there. Yeah. I may do that for a season if I find a day and I find myself over there. I ain't gonna do it in a blue jean and red shirt though. You know, yeah. I'm gonna probably throw on a jacket, colourplash jacket or something. You know, just in the case that I walk into some, I can lay down or sit down and and I I'm just I don't want to be a fly on the wall if I'm scouting. That's a big thing with me.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and you gotta be safe in public, you know, because there are other seasons that you forget about. Right. Um and I can think of a couple of times listening and and going in there, and I think in this turkey is this is this is in season thinking he was like we were hunting his meat area several years ago, honestly. And I thought this turkey was on the ground and it was he was in the tree and I was slipping through and slipping, slipping through, and I came up high to eye with that joker. Because the the the ridge came up came up, uh, dropped down, and came up on the other one, and he was just in a tree about ground level, but he wasn't I'm like, well if I come up, I know he's not on this ridge because I'm here. Right. I'm gonna get up here, I'm gonna listen to him, I can hear him good then, you know. You didn't know it dipped back down. I didn't yeah, I didn't know he'd be half he'd be in a tree at our level. I thought it just kind of plateaued out, and I'm like, Well, he's gonna be down in there, I would think. Right. It didn't really sound like it necessarily, but I guess he was flying up in the midst of it, and I got up there and he was like, he hammered. I'm like, I see the end of this and he ain't there, and I got to looking and I see like a tail fan come up and he wasn't 40 from me. Oh gosh. In the tree. It was Jake. Oh that's why I didn't but I got to sit there and watch him. Yeah, you know, like he he I promise you he never knew I existed. It was funny. Yeah, I thought it was cool. It was not it was not like a fly up time, though, but it was like three.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh, this was me, this wasn't y'all were walking.

SPEAKER_01:

No, I just slipped and I'm like, I'm gonna see if I can get a good good idea where he's at. Uh then we might can do something. And I'm like, heck, you know, and he was hammering and hammering and hammering and hammering and hammering. I'm like, well, I'm gonna keep on going. Like he ain't fidgety or bumpy. Right. I might as well get, you know, see if I can close a hand. It might might pin him pretty good, you know. Yeah. And um shoot, that joker was right there.

SPEAKER_00:

But um I've had a bunch play play tricks on me with my ears like that too. You know, they get in those big ridges and dips and whatnot, it whether roosted or not, and it's you know, you'll think he's two ridges over and he's really just in a hole, you know, and you just screw up and top the hill.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, and then and like we can go into listening for for in season now, more than more than preseason. But if I'm listening in season, I'm I'm definitely I don't I don't I might go listen the night before the season starts or something in the evening, but other than that, I don't really Yeah. Or I'm just saying like try to find one to hunt two weeks out in the evening, obviously. Right. But I'm saying it. But if I'm if I'm if I'm in a very unfamiliar spot, I've I've learned to accept that roosting them somewhat, attempting to maybe, um, is is beneficial to hunt. I I used to not even worry with it. Yeah. I I 'cause I just like hunting them in the in the mornings. But but it's it's a big advantage to know where to even start and where to not start. When you only got three days or something like that. And a lot of folks in their home, you know, they only got three days, you know, in groups like that kinda, depending on where they work, what time they gotta be there, stuff like that. But but I I like to get in the open. Not in the open, obviously. I like to have the open in front of me. Right. Like I said, so I can kind of pin in my head where it's gonna be, you know, if I'm gonna get and I'll back out, go in there, come back down or something. It's it's way easier. And then and usually I feel like if I'm just if I'm sitting there staring at a map, I can I've gotten a lot better at it, but I used to be real bad. I would I would just assume water and it might be six, seven, eight, thirteen hundred yards to that creek, but if one goblin in that direction, I'm like, he's on that creek.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh yeah, I always thought that too.

SPEAKER_01:

He's he's 400 in there, but that creek's eleven hundred, I'm like, oh, he's on that on that creek. You know, I'll go around him and can't even hear him because I'm so far away from him once I get back there on that creek.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep. Um that's a big misjudgment I've done a lot. Um I was going somewhere, forgot now.

SPEAKER_01:

And if I if I'm if I and I I try to I I if you've never done this, I'm telling you, if if you're having a hard time getting on one in the mornings, get there an hour before you usually do. And you might be surprised at what time the first gobble really is. Because a lot if you're getting there and the first gobble's within the first two minutes you've been there, you just think that's his first gobble. Right. His first gobble, we've probably been gobbling an hour. You know, you never know. I know I know of one that I I remember and it was I don't it's been so long since I've turkey hunted. You know, I feel like I'm gonna say 5 30, but I don't know if that's what time. It was about an hour and a half before I would say, shooting live at least. I hopped out of the truck and that jugger sounded off at 5 30.

SPEAKER_00:

I had that happen last year.

SPEAKER_01:

He didn't stop till seven and I shot it at 7.04. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

And he I got in tight on him because it was black. I had one do that to me last year, and I I want to say it was 4 30, but it was like I wasn't even I got there early, early just because I couldn't sleep, you know, or something. And I was just like, I had my my my door cracked. I was about to get a jacket or something, and I heard pow. And I'm like, what? Like I hadn't even got out of the truck. My my I just had popped the door. Like it wasn't even open, and I heard, I was like, that sounded like a break of a gobble. And I stepped out and sure enough, he hammered one time, and I'm like, Well, don't know what to do right now because he's a little too close to my truck. Mm-hmm. And uh I don't think I ended up killing that turkey that morning, but I mean I th I didn't abide. I think he ended up seeing my turkey my truck as soon as it got daylight enough to see it, I guess. Yeah. Which I think I drove halfway in there with no lights. Well he may not have seen my truck or known that was there until it did get daylight enough.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. And that's that's something else. Uh kind of a debate amongst folks I just you know hang out with in common countertop discussions and stuff is like using a flashlight, don't use a flashlight stuff. I don't think flashlights scare turkeys. I think flashlight pointed up at them might scare them. Yeah. Their their instinct tells them that's scary, that's that's a threat. That's you know, just how like God made you. I mean, if your eyes are on the sides of your head, you're you're safe. If they're in the front, carnivore or something like that. Like dogs and stuff, all the eyes are on the face. Right. And versus the size. Yeah. Um But I don't think they they just know what a flashlight is, like my man-made flashlight. I'm sure they'll connect the dice once a truck, I mean a a foreign object maybe, but in the in the dark in a tree, they're already safe.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't I don't think they're gonna see it 400 yards away and say, Oh, I better shut up, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

I think they might remember a guy walking in there just stumbling over everything 40 yards from their tree and then it's stopping right there, then a hen calling from right there, way more than that light, you know, kind of helping you get in there a little bit. And what I do, I think, you know, I put it under my shirt and I just see the Just enough. Just enough to not trip is all I'm looking for. I'm not I'm not out there finding a tree, obviously, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. I just if I ever have to cut one on, it's just simply to to not make a lot of it.

SPEAKER_01:

And I don't and I'm I'm I've been with this and this is something like in I used to work in uh the poultry industry. So like if you never you want to see a lot of piled up chickens, you take a flashlight in there and wave it on the roof, and then it is mass chaos. Yeah. So, you know, and I've uh some of that is the the shadow or or or walk in front of a light. The light down bottom is is something that's that shadow, all of a sudden it clicks kind of like that. That's something. And um, and I try not to, you know, get my feet in it in the light or whatever. I hold it out and just it's just a circle of light on the ground. They don't know what that is. I don't um could be wrong, but who knows a real right answer.

SPEAKER_00:

Another thing I try to watch if I do get in there in good and dark time frame, don't pull out your phone and check what time it is. Yeah. With your brightness all the way up. Yeah. Because that's facing up and illuminates your face. Right. And then they're like, what was that? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

I ain't worried about what time it is if I'm if I got one goblin. I mean if he's on the goblin. I'm on his time regardless. As long as I can see him, he I I don't know of any that fly down before shooting light. Have you ever had that? I've never even been close. No. I I have had one that I had to I had to look. Yeah. When we're this was about two years ago. And it happened twice in about a month. Not around here. But you know you go up certain places, it's like I don't know where and and the actual times, but it gets daylight way sooner. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Half of it's to do with the time change, like the the side of the time zone its own or whatever.

SPEAKER_01:

Right, yeah. So everything's already fifty-nine minutes at ahead and plus the the time of year and everything. But um but I'd be that gum if I I was it was in the four, four o'clock something, and and this turkey was I was like, there is no way that joker's m he didn't uh he didn't take a breath. He was headed exactly where I heard him the day before, like the evening before I roosted him. Yeah. And I knew I did not know which tree, which side of this area he was in, but I know which he's gonna be in there pretty much. I saw him with my eyes, I didn't hear him. Yeah. And um and I'm trying to get back there, and I'm in there early. I thought that jugger was in the middle of that wide open when I got about halfway. I went, I called him over and he hammered two hundred times. Nah, I missed him.

SPEAKER_00:

I I remember you telling me about that now.

SPEAKER_01:

Yep. Sure did. And it w it was it was definitely shooting light then, but if I would have just been sitting there when he flew down, I don't know if it would have been. I mean, I think he it was it was more dark than it. I don't know if I'd have seen him because it was still very dark, and it was a sunny day, but it was still very dark.

SPEAKER_00:

I have had it hard to see a few of them, you know, even dark timber and stuff. I mean, I I've had it happen where it's hard to see them because it's not quite daylight enough, you know. It's plenty past shooting line, it's just you know, it's hard to make him out, you know, based off the shape. I remember several stuff.

SPEAKER_01:

The one last year I didn't shoot because it was still very, very dark up in there, and I was having some problems with my little red dot at the time. I know it was from one from 1966, I feel like, or something. It was just the one on there, and I wasn't used to shooting one anyway, and I couldn't figure out if I could where where his head was. Right. I I had some kind of like holographic thing on there and it turned everything yeah, it turned everything blue and it was already hard to see just the white head in there. Yeah. Much less now everything's just kind of a shade of blue and I definitely couldn't see it. And he was very close. I didn't pull the trigger because it it was screwing with me. Um yeah, what else we got on on the verge of listening? Um so what about I remember one time I was I was uh hunting with you, I think we were in Alabama, and we were we were trying to sure enough get a good pin on it on on an idea of where this turkey was on in the evening. Yeah, midday evening to hunting. No, he was in the tree in the evening. Like root like real roosting him. Oh, we were roosting one, okay. And we were trying to, I was like, you know, I'm gonna head up this road. We're on the blacktop. Not we don't have guns. I'm just saying, like I I'm just in my boots and I'm I'm I'm gonna walk up here. Right. And I'm gonna say, I'm gonna give a good estimate on where I think he's at. And you walk down here and you're gonna give me a good estimate, and we're gonna see where the mines meet. Yep. And we're pretty close, I think. You and Seals hunted him. I didn't hunt him, so I don't know exactly where he was at, if we were accurate.

SPEAKER_00:

I don't remember if we ended up I think we bumped that turkey and didn't know it. Um I think we ended up walking past that turkey hunting.

SPEAKER_01:

No. The one the one turkey we pinpointed from eight directions, you know, gobble the next morning.

SPEAKER_00:

That's what I'm saying. He didn't gobble, but we did kill a turkey that morning that came from that direction from where he was between us and the truck, you know, at that point, whenever he did strike up, we did kill him. So we were probably pretty close. Um, but that's something I have done a lot, you know. Take my line marker on my mouth and you know, okay, one's if he's gobbling enough that I feel like I can move and he's gonna still be gobbling when I get to two or three hundred yards down the road, walking or whatever, I'll draw a line and then I'll draw a line and and you know, kind of where they intersect, I I'm pretty pretty positive of that's pretty close to where he's gonna be. Um, which I don't roost much. Main thing I don't like roosting is I'll write a spot off that does have a turkey in it because I didn't hear it gobbling. I'm bad about it. And so I don't I I will. Especially if we're traveling, if I'm not if I ain't got somewhere to be in the evenings, that's the most thing. You know, if I if I don't have the option to hang out at the house, you know, that I'll do it. But I found myself more around the house struggling with the stuff. Yeah. Um now, do you want to hit on pin pointing one like that drummer in Alabama? Like we needed a pin on him exactly midday. We knew there should be a turkey somewhere in there. You'd hunted that turkey. I had a good idea where he was gonna be where he was the day before. But okay, I tell you this. Let's dive into in the mornings in the preseason. I'll jump back to that. All right. Are you using locator calls? No. Okay. No. You ain't doing nothing. Nope. See, I'll hoot one time.

SPEAKER_01:

I I don't I don't have a problem with folks who do hoot, but you're good as hooting. Yeah. If you're a nice squawking, yeah. I uh I don't. There's really no real reason. I just don't I don't like changing nothing. I like to know what their temperature's at, to gauge it kind of, all that good stuff. And I like I like it to be the most the purest form of whatever they are is what they are. Yep. I if if I'm using locator calls and stuff, is I feel like they should be gobbling in the during the season and they're not, and I'm gonna hit one, try to get in a hurry up, or if for whatever reason I think there's definitely one in there and I and I need to get in there and I don't want to walk under him or something, he just ain't gobbling yet. I'll try to make him gobble early. Yeah. Where there's where still well, I know he's definitely in the tree, he probably can't see much anyway. If I get him to start early, 15 minutes earlier than he usually would. Yep. Or if I can get some real owls going. You know, and it helped me get a little closer over time. Yeah. That's that's kind of my purpose in it. But um, other than that, I'm using like a crow call or something like that. 10 a.m., you know, maybe. Um, that's when I'd use that. And I I like to I like to to find one with that more than I do a box call or something like just a pop one, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

100%, 100%. Um, that's something I preseason one out of every four mornings I go. If it's been three or four mornings I ain't heard one, yeah, I may hoot a time or two. Yeah, oh yeah. Yeah, I probably would too. It ain't gonna be right at the first first light. It's gonna be like, okay, they've had 15, 20 minutes. I mean, if you crack one off.

SPEAKER_01:

I'm hooting. You know, I ain't I ain't messing with you know I'm I'm trying, I'm begging for a gobble at that point. At that point, they're probably not supposed to be gobbling, and I'm trying to get one to do it anyway.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah. And I ain't necessarily worried about messing them up. Um now one thing. Heck no. You're acting like an owl. Going into season though, you know, I I'm not gonna be I'm still trying to rein that in a little more. You know, because I used to be real bad about I'd hoop my weight at the tree. Yeah. Sound like an owl flying towards you. Yeah, and uh they are a predator to a turkey. They don't barred owls, I think, are one of them. I don't know. Hoot owls are or not, but I have found myself I I don't know if I bumped him because he could see me, or he finally was like, hmm, that human-ish sounding owl is really close, walking. I hear leaves scruffling, you know. I think it has connected a dot or two. Now if I cover 200 yards and I think I'm getting pretty close, I may hit one. Oh, you know, one note, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

And tell you that tree and that tree would be a big advantage.

SPEAKER_00:

Right. That that's yeah, left to right, five feet will will help you a lot. Now, I ain't gonna crank on it. Yeah. I've seen some people do that, and that that's all right.

SPEAKER_01:

I mean, yeah, you could, yeah. I mean, I I wish I could do it more. I wish I could just hoot like a like a like Jordan Blissett can or somebody, you know, somebody um I mean uh Logan. Uh heck all my friends pretty much can hoot a thousand times better than me. Um but yeah, I mean just can't. Yeah, I don't know. I ain't got it. I can do it. I just can't do it without laughing. It's painful to try and watch it do it. I get the hoo, and I'm like, it's over. I start laughing, and then then it definitely ain't gonna happen if I'm with somebody that I ain't even making it to the hoo part. I'm I'm sorry, and it can't be sealed. Seal's in the same county as me. We're both laughing before either of us try. Um one of the like one of those like the last person you want to take to a funeral or something. Yeah because God forbid there's a squeaky noise or something. We can't look out eye without laughing. Yeah. Um, and in situations where you ain't supposed to be laughing. Um but yeah, I I like to like in the mornings if I'm hunting them, I like to know their their temperature. That's kind of gonna tell me so much. I I would much rather not induce a gobble if I can help it at all. Yeah. If I can they're they're wired to gobble. They're probably gonna gobble. If they want to gobble, he's gonna gobble. If he's just gobbling because you outhooted it, you just know he exists and he don't gobble no more. I would almost rather not know he exists and moved on to a turkey that was fired up. You know, if he ain't if he ain't really, you're not gonna raise that temperature by making him gobble. You might make him gobble sooner than he usually would or get one gobble on a day he wouldn't normally gobble, but other than that, I don't think I need to.

SPEAKER_00:

The only time I'm I'm necessary hootin is when I need a pimple. I I ain't gonna just, you know. I mean, I'll hoot if I ain't heard a turkey in an hour and a half. I agree. Um you know, either either trying to find one through the day or, you know, he hasn't gobbled, but once I hear if if I pull up, step out of the truck, I hear gobbling there. Perfect. I didn't do nothing. Yeah. The only time I'm gonna hoot from that point on is if I need a where exactly are you? I'm getting close or you know, I've lost him. I need I need I'm I'm I'm dying. Um what reaching for a prayer, whatever they say. Yeah. I've screwed that up.

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know, you know, like journey something. Living on a prayer next to it.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, I need to say it, I know that.

SPEAKER_01:

Not dying for a prayer. Um the whole nine yards.

SPEAKER_00:

Uh where you get I'm just grasping at straws.

SPEAKER_01:

Grasping at straws, okay. That that's what you that's what I tried to mean. Yeah. Um how close do you get when you hear them? During season? We're easing out of listening pretty hard. We're easing into hunting them, but but in season? Yeah. No, I ain't I ain't going in there. If I hear one goblin, I definitely ain't walking in there.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm I'm different. In the preseason. Yeah, I'm different than most. I don't like to get right under them. I mean, if it's if it's just like I can't help it, you know, I will, but I'm I'm normally if I get within 150, I'm I'm putting I'm I'm styled and I know it. Unless he's just burning in other water and I can almost tell he's facing the other direction, gobbling, you know, or something like that, I ain't shan't. Right. And I don't I try not to walk as straight of a line as possible. If I got a foil or trail or something, say he's 200 yards off a foiler trail left or right, if I can walk down that foiler trail and get even with him on that foiler trail, it's about as far as I want to go, and then I'm gonna wait for him to gobble for sure, you know, a good time before I step into the woods.

SPEAKER_01:

And I'm I I gauge it pretty good on when I hear him, how far he is and stuff. If I think I can get under him, get a roost hunt in, have him fly down, me do a fly down, me talk him out of the tree and stuff, I'm gonna I'm gonna push it to 80. I mean I'll push it to 50 if it if if the situation will allow. If I don't think he can see the tree, I'm on. Um for sure. You know, if he if I know he's he's underneath me and there's uh something in between us and stuff, and um, but if he if there's a chance he can see the tree I'm on, I ain't making a sound, and I might as well not even try to get up there necessarily quite yet. Um but if but if I'm getting there and it's getting daylight and I'm I'm trying to get there and I know and I'm I'm I'm big on knowing to fold them. Like when you when if it if you start getting a little hmm, that's when I stop. I don't hmm twice. Yeah. I I stop there, let him get off the daggum limb. Let him get on the ground. Get even keel with me. You know, if he's he's got a superior advantage by being able to see 250 times better than you. You elevate that even better from a tree, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Um I you know I I can't I probably can't count on one hand the number of times I've stepped under one, he flew down in my lap and I got him. You know, yeah. I I just I don't do that a lot. Yeah I normally normally before I get even close enough to play the ball game, he's on the ground. I mean 97% of the time. Probably yeah. But I mean I've I've done it, I mean, quite a few times, but it's one of the things I don't I don't love doing, you know. I just don't love that as much as I like getting them on the ground. Some folks do it a lot a lot.

SPEAKER_01:

Uh Lance Mather does it a lot. Yeah. Um attributes to him, you know, what time he had to be to work, and he was like, it's either I'm all ruined run it for everybody for a week, or I'm gonna shoot them pretty quick before 715, so I can get to work at any point. But he learned how to do that, right? You know. Um and a lot of it is situational. I mean, I've backed up. I've sat on a tree in Kentucky a couple years ago. And I had a bird roosted, and he got where he was even prior, got down in there, and got pretty close, and I went, This don't make sense.

unknown:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

And got out and went backwards and caught him right right. He walked where he walked by the tree I was sitting on. I would have shot him there, but I don't think he would have came that direction had I been there. I'd have been too close for him to even have to walk up, walk over this one little knoll. And when he walked over that one little knoll, didn't see nothing. I'd I kind of positioned where he's gonna have to walk up because the canopy was blocking another the top half of it. If I'd have sat in the bottom half, he'd have looked up, saw it, nothing there. Yeah. A, this is fishy, or B, she's gone. But as soon as he got on the top and I saw him looking down, I mean I I'm seeing pieces of him and hearing drumming, and I'm like, I see him, and that's when I just scratched a little bit. And you know how the I mean, it's a gully, and he's on one side and I'm on the other, but he got down a little bit, so all the leaves are blocking him now.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So he had a in order to. to see he had to come all the way down well heck I might as well walk up it a little bit but he didn't I don't know I think I could I could shoot down. He didn't he never made it to it. But he would have he'd have walked up to see he was head he wasn't he wasn't going down there tiptoeing either. He was trying to get back up on the side and I that was twenty yards from me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00:

Um now that one I killed last year I got under while he was still on the tree and I was I was only about 75 from him. Yeah. Maybe eighty um in some open freaking woods and it was good in daylight. But I thought he was about 200 in there just because the foliage had shot up so much that week. Um and I mean I thought he was going to fly down and I was going to have to call him around some curves and you know some different situational stuff and wasn't no way he was going to land at my lap and he landed at 55 and came the extra 15. But I mean I that was before I met a call anything. I mean I just sat on the right tree. But that was a lot of sometimes you do that. Yeah. Which I did get I was like if I can get into the woods to that tree I'll be good and I got there and I said uh uh uh and I said I'm either gonna screw it up I don't think he can see me and then when I got to where after I saw where he came flew out of I'm like a hundred times and didn't but I took it very slow very slippy.

SPEAKER_01:

That's the other another side of that coin is if you can get in there and you know how to set up on a bird good and like this is where he would he should come this is and then a lot of that's the process of elimination I don't think they're gonna fly over there. Right. Why would he do this? Why would he do that? I don't he ain't gonna cross that creek I ain't heard nothing over there. I do got some hands behind me.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

About the only option I can do is mess this up. You know I can steer him a little bit I'm not gonna try to talk him into coming away he's gonna talk come anyway I think I'm not gonna call until he's doing a he's he's changed he's not doing what I hoped he would and that's another thing I don't like to call until he's not doing what I hoped he would do anyway. If he's gonna fly down and walk on the ridge I'm on I'm not gonna try to talk him on this ridge I'm just gonna try to talk him a little bit over the ridge you know and that's two calls. And I don't do that until he's 60 you know I'm trying to get him to 30 and I just need him to not be 60 on the other side. I just need him to kind of angle his root a little bit to peek over. If I can that that's my perfect scenario if I can do that. If I can get close enough to him or not necessarily close enough to him if I can get in an ideal situation to where if he does something I hoped a reasonable situational turkey would do and he starts doing it I my my heart gets bummed because I'm like now it's just on I gotta I gotta press the button at the right time and I think it's gonna work. So I'm already kind of ex you know getting excited and stuff and he's it it's kind of unfold I think and when he when I if I can get if he just gobbles right if I can time it right and I do he he might hammer right there and it's gonna be awesome or he might not and I'm just gonna have to be have my bead right about there and hopefully that's where he pokes his head up and if it's pretty close. That's fun to me is is is is kind of pictured in my mind him going, hmm, you know and you just influence the whole situation with one call it just had to be the exact time. You do it while you're still on the tree you know it might not fly down. Them other hands might walk up and try to find you and then they just walk to him and you know a lot of stuff can happen just by you know showing your hand way too quick. Yeah. And I like to let him get on the ground a lot of times for a call but not all the time. If there's competition if there's hands I can hear I try to be the one he picks. You know I think that's just as good of a chance if he starts gobbling at you and not like to everybody just announcing his presence but he starts answering you and and you you hand cut it off while he's still got a time or two to gobble in a tree, I think you can time one just right right before he's make his decision. But yeah and I and and that's something else is is there any definite to flying down before or after a gobbler flies down. I'm something I'm torn on. I've I've been for years.

SPEAKER_00:

I can I feel like gobblers fly down first.

SPEAKER_01:

I can remember I I had a theory I can't remember if it was or not like I'd almost go back and look at a notepad or something I'd have jotted out. I remember a day I was like I I got enough to s enough to have confidence in it but I remember last year me and Gary watched a ton fly up and fly down and it was always one or the other and I can I cannot remember which. I think it was the gobblers flew up first and down last. I think in this situation but it was three days in a row. Same group of turkeys so not a big sample there but all three times A of A happen.

SPEAKER_00:

I'm just thinking of times I I mean my per if if I if I can say it's gonna happen when I sit down, you know, it's normally because I was slipping in and I bumped a hen or um couple hens and sat down right there. You know normally like I'm like I need to get to that next ten ten feet and then and it's the hen and he gobbles at them I'm like I don't know which direction she flew you know she just flew from directly above me and I made noise on the ground. And I get the real quick that sounds pretty realistic. No I didn't fly off I was just I'm in a little loop around this tree I'm here scratching now. I mean you know I never intend to do that but like that's the only time I'm like 97% you sit down and you got hands behind you or hammer behind you if you've slipped past them.

SPEAKER_01:

You're just messing it up if you if you do anything. Yeah. I let him I let him definitely skirt it before I get to call and I'm if I can I'm gonna take it if he'll give it to me but And it normally takes me about three hunts before I don't overcall.

SPEAKER_00:

Well yeah we have on YouTube of me in Mississippi that I called about 8700 times. In Mississippi? Yeah that public Mississippi turkey Io the first turkey hunting video I posted of me that day I remember that gosh I tried to watch it the other day just because I I did see ours pop up other night and I was like let me just got some of these old hunts I hadn't watched in a long time. I'm like God I am just calling them and I just I think it was just too much nerve if I'm if I get nervous bad I'll I'll I'll call overcall. If I ever lose the sense of what's going on you know and that morning was a very crazy morning I was already nerved up and yeah that was a weird day for me.

SPEAKER_01:

A lot a lot of them it kind of sucks having only a GoPro and a lot of mine like I'll go back and watch I'm like what am I doing? Yeah you know why am I calling and then I'll like I'll hear another hen or something. I'm like I hope other folks can hear that. I'm I'm cutting back at a hen I'm not just like you know and then just sitting there for one second and then trying like I'm cutting her off but it doesn't seem like I'm even giving him a second to breathe. Right. I'm like I hope folks understand that because you definitely can't hear nothing on that GoPro and everything's distorted with the lens on where I'm at and everything and everything looks like a freaking ant.

SPEAKER_00:

Yep and yeah I mean that's that's one thing I've noticed deer hunting and turkey hunting yeah you know you look you're gonna look like an idiot if you don't understand what's going on. Yep. I'm good to zoom with my eyeballs much less get it on camera. I'm just saying like that's probably needs to be said before we drop all these videos. A lot of times you know they may you you can probably backtrack and say well you said in this podcast four years ago that you don't do this. Well there's probably a reason we're doing that you know you may not can hear or see.

SPEAKER_01:

I I I ain't got no problem admitting I'm wrong. And I'm I'm the first to try to figure out if I am or not I'm like this good idea this and I did do this and this we'll wrap it up we're going over time but I remember this was five, six years ago there was a turkey on the limb and I was stuck. I could not I couldn't move and my my whole I mean I was I mean worthless from the waist down and I was losing feeling fast. I mean I I was holding myself up holding myself up holding myself up and it was starting to like just melt. You know I'm I'm about to slide down this big ridge and stuff and I got to call in and and then I'm like I'm gonna see if that joke because I was close. I'm like I'm gonna see if this theory holds up if that joker was standing tree. Botch that hunts a bit I mean it was 10 30 before he flew down because then I kind of got out of there and he he would not get out of his tree. Yeah. Wait on the hand I guess and every time I take a step he thought it was a hen walking around. I'm like I can't walk up to you freaking tree. You know I did everything either because you're still gobbling. Yeah and I'd have to walk back past him to get out of there and I f I finally and I I remember staying until he did and just sat. And I'm like the day's gone. I mean it's it's very late. And it was I think it was about 1145 he flew out he flew across the road. He I mean he hadn't gobbled in an hour and a half. Right. But I remember like saying like if he flies at all I'm gonna see it or hear it or something and I was like glued to it. Yeah and I remember he just randomly I don't know what made him or what talked him over there. Then he gobbled over there started hammering but um 450 500 yards away maybe but that dude said 1130 eleven thirty eleven forty five I can't remember then I walked out and I'm like man was I or right the times I said they do and wrong the times I said they wouldn't do that. He sure enough did I wish I'd have just taken whoever told us that advice um didn't have to find that one out for myself but anyway so we're gonna hop off of here and got a lot a lot on our plate right now to get ready for NWTF. Again we hope y'all or some of y'all gonna be listening to on the way up here I think we're gonna get a lot of guests there. So um that's the plan. We'll start reaching out to a couple of them here soon. I'm sure a lot of them will be on the spot pull them out of the booth if they give us the go ahead and and hey you got you got 30 minutes come on let's talk a little turkey and uh and we'll be around the booth y'all come say hey to us I I plan on being around there a good bit. Yeah um some we'll be doing you know other things and stuff throughout the weekend being on other people's podcasts being on ours and and doing things and whatnot but I I'm gonna try to be in that booth as much as possible and and bumping around and and seeing folks y'all don't be shy come say hey take pictures and and talk turkey and and whatever y'all uh y'all want to and and uh we'll soak it in hopefully the weather cooperates and yeah hope I I like the big crowds I want it to be oh yeah I want to be bumping a hundred thousand y'all yeah so we broke a record last two years I think yeah so I want to keep growing it's just a lot. Yeah. Anyway we'll uh we'll see you then might have a at least one more before then. One more episode maybe two might do a double week. We'll see. All right y'all appreciate y'all listening to Sprintly's podcast.