EP:433 | Turkey Season Update

 On this episode we get midseason updates from most of the crew on their turkey season. There are some good stories and none better than Dudley Phelps son Little Dud and his first turkey. 

Listen, Learn and Enjoy.  

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

I'm Jeff Foxworthy, and welcome to Gamekeeper Podcast. If you want to learn more about farming for wildlife and habitat management, then buddy, you are in the right place. Join the Gamekeeper crew direct from Austrian Land Enhancement Studio as they discuss the latest wildlife and habitat management practices. News, and of course, honey. There's no telling what you'll learn, but I'm gonna tell you. I bet it's interesting. Enjoy.

SPEAKER_06 0:25

We're live in three, two, one. All right, everybody, here we are. It's turkey season. It is, isn't it? Everybody's a little tired. Everybody's a little on each other's the edge of nerves.

SPEAKER_03 0:37

You're looking a little down over there.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

If Jimmy Buffett was still alive, he'd have a song right now for you, Bobby. It's turkey season somewhere. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 0:48

Yeah, it is. So there's been a lot of action around the table, around the room. Really? Thought we'd tell some stories.

SPEAKER_01 0:54

I wouldn't know.

SPEAKER_03 0:55

Turkey time.

SPEAKER_01 0:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

I love a good turkey story. Well, you know, it's it's such a part of the culture. You know, we hear.

SPEAKER_01 1:01

I heard one turkey one time.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

Well, either the lying or the non-lying is.

SPEAKER_01 1:06

I think he was on our neighbor, actually. I don't think he was on us. If we can get the truth out of some people, it'll be some good stories. It sounded like a Jake more than it did a long beard to me.

SPEAKER_03 1:15

Well, it's pretty, it's more traditional. Like when you come in with deer hunting, you might not get the, you know, but everybody comes in and kind of tells what happened in the world.

SPEAKER_01 1:21

Man, I ain't just I ain't hearing nothing. To a limited degree. They ain't gobbling on my place.

SPEAKER_03 1:25

And I guess it depends on who you're talking to of how much you tell. Correct. Or how much you can believe. Or how much, or that's right. Depends on how much you believe, on who it is. So you just never know. Do you think anybody is 100% telling the truth all the time during turkey season? I hope not. Oh, there's people that do for sure. You think so? They just don't know anybody. They don't know anybody. They hadn't learned yet.

SPEAKER_00 1:48

Unfortunately, I sometimes I I do that. Yeah. Do you're in a safe zone, Richie. Yeah, this is a safe zone. This is a safe zone.

SPEAKER_06 1:54

Richie, what's been going on in your only trespass?

SPEAKER_01 1:57

That's the ultimate rookie.

SPEAKER_00 1:58

Yeah. So I don't I I don't have any, you know, I'd say great stories like everybody else around the room. But yeah, we've been chasing turkeys.

SPEAKER_01 2:06

Oh, that's a great story, right? We've had hunts.

SPEAKER_00 2:09

We've had hunts, and you know, uh, you know, every morning we get out, we get we hear some birds, and we fool around with them. You know, we had a long hunt the other uh morning.

SPEAKER_01 2:18

That's exciting. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

You know, and I pulled the uh safety off twice, thinking it was about to go down. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 2:23

But uh see, Richie, I knew that you'd become a great conservationist. I knew it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So the game keeping is robot. That's what Daddy, he he had so many great one liners he made up, but if you missed one, he would say, I knew I raised a good conservationist. We got some conservationist stories.

SPEAKER_06 2:39

You know, Lanny, one morning Richie came in and said, I got too close to him. He's about 50 yards in the tree.

SPEAKER_00 2:45

And that I kind of that yeah, and the way the way Bobby reacted to that, he was like, You sure about that?

SPEAKER_01 2:51

Yeah, there's no way you're too close to him. Bobby, yeah, Bobby's, it's not possible to get too close to him.

SPEAKER_03 2:55

I agree with Bobby 100%.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

And yeah, I'm uh I am not. No, you're it's not worth taking a chance and bumping them and ruining your whole morning over. Just wait until you're right. Might as well bushwhack them, Bobby. Good God. Just shoot them at the tree.

SPEAKER_00 3:10

I don't know if Bobby really believed I got that close, but I did.

SPEAKER_01 3:13

Yeah, well, they said 50 yards, and that had me question. Well, if you walk into the dark, they might just be there by chance, you know.

SPEAKER_03 3:18

Oh, I have completely right under one. We walked under one in the morning, heard his wing flaps, walked off from him, called him in and killed him.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

Well, if they're that close you can't call, so what's the fun of you not calling them?

SPEAKER_06 3:29

Well, sometimes you don't know if you're that close.

SPEAKER_01 3:31

Well, true, that's true. And what do you have to do? You have to sit there and keep your mouth shut until it hits the ground. And hope you're face masking inside out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 3:39

That's right. Preferably.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

That won't happen to me again.

SPEAKER_06 3:41

I've I've taken I've taken measures to prevent that.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

You gotta go see Miss Robbie and get the old school knitting. That's the same on both sides.

SPEAKER_06 3:49

But have y'all noticed some of these modern face masks are just white.

SPEAKER_01 3:52

Yeah, it's a lot of material white. We are ceasing to allow that as you speak. They did a great job. They moved in the right direction already. I noticed that in the past years. Yeah, a lot of that ones.

SPEAKER_03 4:04

That's the heat transfer printing that's.

SPEAKER_01 4:06

I won't even wear a white t-shirt. I don't even wear white underwear when we're gonna go turkeying. It's just against my DNA to have white on. It's dangerous, too. Yep.

SPEAKER_06 4:14

Well, you never know. You know, nature calls and something that's running.

SPEAKER_01 4:19

That'd be a bad place to take some of those TSS right there, too. Well, Dudley, you've got a good Turkey store, won't you? Dudley has at least tied for, if not the top picture of the story. I agree. Yeah. That is, I mean, if you would just need to put it online for people to look at or put it on whatever the Instagram page or something, it's like you could caption that picture. So the best the best captions are like the fewest words and actually the shortest words. Joy. Yeah. Pure joy. Yeah. Yeah, he was excited. Oh, I guess so.

SPEAKER_04 4:55

He was so excited when I saw the picture. I was so excited.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

So so that that look on his face is like he that's the way he looked on the outside, that's the way Duly felt on the inside. Oh, for sure. That was so cool.

SPEAKER_05 5:06

He just he didn't know how good it was until it happened. Yep.

SPEAKER_03 5:09

Well, and for you know, I from the experience of of being a father and you know, hoping to foster your kids into the sport, you know, it's a big deal for you, too. I mean, it really is. It is.

SPEAKER_05 5:19

Yeah. Um, and I I do want to say some people reached out, some listeners. Oh, cool. And I'm not gonna say their names. A lot of people that are giving don't really want to show off. Right. Uh, but uh Dudley got a free pair of knee boots. Oh wow!

SPEAKER_01 5:36

I knew he had a I knew he had a move going on. Yeah, another little saying my dad. Apple don't fall far from the tree.

SPEAKER_05 5:42

He got a framed print of you know, somebody printed off the pick two pictures. Oh wow. Uh made a homemade frame out of some sinker pecky cypress. Beautiful stuff. Yeah. And then the the framing, the the mat was bottom land.

SPEAKER_03 6:00

Oh, that's cool.

SPEAKER_05 6:01

And he also got like a mount kit that somebody made to put the to put the fan and and all that in. I mean, little Dud's like sponsored. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:10

I mean, he's like proud of it. So he was so excited. He is an influencer. Look at him.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Hey, that's so cool. Can you feel the love? Yeah, well, congrats, Lil Dudley. Oh, big time. That's so cool. Tell him a story real quick.

SPEAKER_05 6:21

Uh, I already have. Oh, you have?

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Okay. Well, you can retail. But just give us the abbreviation. Abreviate. Okay, well. Because what's so cool, I want to say to everybody it is, it is magnified in the kind of spiritual experience of it all, which is about the top of the food chain on that. But it's on your own place that you took the initiative to put it all together and find a place and do all that, which you had looked at doing for years. And then for it to happen there to me is just like that's super poetry.

SPEAKER_05 6:47

It's also pretty fateful because had he not, had he had a pair of knee boots on, we would not have hunted where we did.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

You would have gone further and probably bumped him before you sat down.

SPEAKER_05 6:57

So uh, you know, we set up on top of the hill kind of near the truck because it's just a muddy place. And so uh there's this really long draw that that comes through there and it's hard woods. Um and uh I just said, Dudley, you know, this is at you know, after church, after lunch, uh we're just gonna sit down and call and see what happens. You know, we can't tromp all over the place uh in white shoes, you know, you'll get busted. And so we put some camo over the shoes and sat down on a on a tree, uh, did some, did one round of of kind of heavy calling and then just shut up. We both kind of, I would call it a light nap, you know, where you just kind of close your eyes and then open your eyes, you're kind of half listening. About an hour later, I looked back and saw a couple of hens just way down that draw, you know, just feeding just feeding, pecking, and coming our way. I mean, I I just had a feeling they were gonna follow that draw, so I didn't even bother calling. Well, it was it was about a dozen hens, and there was a gobbler at the very back of them, just one single gobbler. Um and I don't I don't think they would have gotten past me on that pass, but they got past little dud. And so um I was thinking, gosh, we'll just come back here tomorrow. Yeah, they're gonna they're gonna be roasted maybe two or three hundred yards from here. Uh but the gobbler uh gobbled a couple times and stopped. Um and the hens kept going. And so he was uh he was about 75 yards away, strutting, drumming, strutting, drumming.

SPEAKER_01 8:40

Clearly he was still remembering where you'd called and stuff. I would assume it had to be and why else would he do it.

SPEAKER_05 8:47

Correct. And uh I couldn't get him to come in. I mean, just typical, he was in his spot, uh, he was going back and forth, you know, maybe five or ten yards, just back and forth. And uh you know, if I tried to call, he probably would have seen us. But um anyway, as luck would have it. So the hens left him. Wow, as luck would have it, two more hens came from behind. Um I uh when I saw them, I think I I um it's it's starting to get cloudy now. I think I called at them and they started getting a little louder. The gobbler broke strut, jumped over this big old dead pine log, and and came into about 40 or so, and Dudley pulled the trigger.

SPEAKER_03 9:34

Quietus on him and the rest is history. That's so cool.

SPEAKER_05 9:37

Joy and Joy was everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 9:38

Joy and Sue. Joy was everywhere.

SPEAKER_06 9:40

Were you close up to him? You could hear his breathing, or we could you under understand?

SPEAKER_05 9:44

Yeah, we were right, we were he was sitting on the tree right next to the.

SPEAKER_06 9:47

And y'all were whispering to each other, get ready, here's a chance.

SPEAKER_05 9:49

Here's whispering, whispering. And and that's one thing that's kind of cool about turkey hunting is they can hear like the slightest call from a mile away. But you can but it's odd how much whispering you can really get away with. And so it was fun.

SPEAKER_01 10:03

It is amazing, even this spring amazed me again how a tiny whisper of a turkey sound and the turkey is 300 yards and just cut it every time. He clearly can hear it. I mean, if you're if you're 10 yards from me, I wouldn't expect you heard it was so light. It's crazy how good they're hearing is. So, yeah, you can't be too careful.

SPEAKER_05 10:25

And I personally had another successful hunt which also involved two hens that came in and kind of saved the day. Um, and yeah, you always hear people talk about, you know, call to the hens. Call to the hens. And uh it worked for me on another hunt.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

And so that's who can that's who controls the board, is the girls if they're there. So I was like, call them, make them mad. Sometimes the hens, they they got a pecking order like gobblers do. Make them mad.

SPEAKER_05 10:54

Make them mad.

SPEAKER_01 10:54

Yeah, they'll come in.

SPEAKER_05 10:56

They'll come up and cut and yelp and do all the things.

SPEAKER_01 10:58

But you know, usually if you he've got several hens, if the one comes up there looking for you, that's not it's not usually not enough. He's gonna stay back to the last one. Yeah, you gotta get them all coming pretty pretty much. So anyway, that's that.

SPEAKER_06 11:12

Well, and are there any more details on the second hunt?

SPEAKER_05 11:14

You um it was it was actually a similar hunt, but I was I was by myself, and the the gobbler was out of view on on the other side of a ridge. You know, I was hoping to I was hoping he would come to the top of that ridge looking for the hen, but he never did. He just sat on that stage and gobbled and strutted and drummed. Uh, and but he had hens with him. And uh so I've I've also I've I have discussed how much I like napping in the turkey woods.

SPEAKER_03 11:45

So it's great.

SPEAKER_05 11:47

That this was, you know, seven o'clock, eight o'clock in the morning, and he was hung up with other hens, and so I just kind of said, I'm gonna quit calling and I'm gonna sit here for an hour or two before I do another thing. Um and I waited an hour and forty-five minutes, and I I called, uh, did some kind of light cutting. He gobbled, and then some other hens from behind me came right to me and hung out with me cutting, and I was cutting with him, and that gobbler broke what he was doing and came right on in. And uh, I think I shot him at 12 or 13 steps. You need to teach me this two hens behind me technique. I don't know. Yeah, but it's been the year of two hens. We like that.

SPEAKER_06 12:34

Where was this where was this hunt?

SPEAKER_05 12:36

Uh this was on some public land. Yay, hit the orange public bird.

SPEAKER_01 12:40

No Bobby stops. Uncle Sam's bird. Bobby. Look at it. You can finally his mouth.

SPEAKER_05 12:46

I finally have a good year, you know. Yeah, just remember, finally don't mess everything up. He is completely jealous.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

Well, that's when everybody used to be picking on good old Bob Dixon. He had a good one. He was just like unmercifully, you know, and he would go look at me and say, hey, he'd wink at me and go, number one's a lonely place.

SPEAKER_03 13:06

Land, what about you and Hayden? Uh man, we've had some marvelous adventures. Yeah, we had some marvelous adventures. We always have fun no matter what we do. We had a little extra fun for sure. Uh we started out pretty slow in Mississippi. Um the first, you know, youth season especially was overcast and dreary. And we heard uh I heard uh one or or two way off one time, you know, in in Mississippi, but then uh jumped on the opportunity to to run down there and catch the Alabama youth opener. Uh and I guess you know, he's we've hunted hard, you know. He's been um following me and we've been hunting together a long time now. He's he'll be soon to be uh 16, he's 15 right now. So a lot of you know uh years in the woods together. And he, you know, y'all know how I hunt, you know what I mean? I like to cover ground and you know you really? Yeah, you know, give it the old gusto, you know, might as well. That's what those long legs are for.

SPEAKER_04 14:05

If you're out there, you know not on my place. Yeah, if you're out there, you might as well go.

SPEAKER_03 14:10

So uh real fortunate we um went to Bobby, you might be familiar with this spot. Perhaps. Perhaps, anyways. Uh uh one of the few times uh that I I actually uh used the electric cart this time. So uh we parked and and made a stealthy entrance in there and uh heard a bird on the SMZ and uh cut right to him. It's one of those few, few times that uh things worked out for us uh off the roost. So um perfect little little setup for us. Uh a couple of goblin turkeys um hit the ground. Uh actually liked what I was saying, but I had a great perspective because I was probably uh 20 yards behind him in a pine plantation, but a little bit elevated. So I had a grand view of what all was going on. It was turkeys had to fly down the SMZ and come around the corner to see where I was, where he was positioned. So uh that's a good strategy. It was a good strategy.

SPEAKER_06 15:08

Yeah, did he get nervous?

SPEAKER_03 15:09

Uh you know, he was pretty cool, calm, and collective. I was, you know, impressed, and he took his time and uh made it happen. And uh we were, you know, of course, celebrating there. It was early, which is rare for us too. And he said, This is might be the most relaxing. He said, I'm not sweaty, I'm not tired, my boots aren't wet, and we're gonna get to get some eggs by 7 30. He said, This is the best turkey hunt ever. So did y'all flush the other bird? Did it uh Oh yeah, I forgot about that part. You know, I have his tendency to um run out there and jump on him. Yeah, I guess is the best way to do that. Well, yeah. He he made an excellent shot on the turkey. Uh interestingly enough, the turkey was moving a lot, and I tried to calm myself. Um that's a relative term. Yeah, but I had to go out there and get on him. And the other bird. Well, I ran past him when he was in strut.

SPEAKER_05 16:01

That's a hard habit to break. I rest my case.

SPEAKER_03 16:09

That bird's probably a bird in the hand, though. Yeah, but you know, he's gonna be a little leery. Yeah, I'm gonna let you hunt him.

SPEAKER_01 16:16

Well, he's not leery, he's in he's actually in across the state line somewhere. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:20

I think I ran so fast he didn't know what I was, though. Lord, I'm worshiping.

SPEAKER_01 16:25

All right, Toxie. Uh, why me? How about you?

SPEAKER_04 16:29

No, I I don't really told the Jesse story.

SPEAKER_01 16:35

He's hiding something. I see something dark in his in his look there. Dark? Yeah. No.

SPEAKER_05 16:41

We should have got Jesse to come tell the story.

SPEAKER_06 16:43

Well, so yeah, so opening the morning. We didn't hear much gobbling. No, we hadn't heard much gobbling off the roof, really. At all. I mean, I think they're all on the neighbors somehow. But we uh were on the neighbors. But I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 16:57

Now on the neighbors' pickups. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_06 16:59

Yeah. I don't know. Yep. So uh so we we just we kind of start walking and looking. We're places where we've encountered birds in the past and walking down a well driving to another spot to listen. Just the road kind of has a little curve. And I'm curves in a road. The tail feathers of a turkey. Oh, yeah. The road starts the curve. So I stop and lucky you are. And there's three or four turkeys up there, and it looks like I can see one strut. And so we back up and and I said, Look, I know where they're going. We we can we can try. Lanny's probably gonna come driving down this road and mess us up, but it's worth trying. So I sent Lanny a text, give us 30 minutes. Yes, yeah, yeah. And uh and we drove around and got in front of them, and sure enough, got in front of them. And as soon as we sat down, there was some I told her I could hear a turkey drumming as soon as we sat down. And then some jakes started calking, and I realized every time he would drum, they would calk. And there were there were six jakes, which excited me as much as anything because I don't remember seeing any jakes in a long time. And so uh they squirted by and gave a soft o'clock. One soft o'clock. And within 30 seconds, it was like he was on roller skates. He just glided down that little road. Right there was only a 10-foot window that we could see, and he glided to nine and a half feet. I mean, he was fixing to be gone. And he stopped and just turned around and she killed him. No, right. It was just that fast.

SPEAKER_03 18:43

Much celebration everywhere.

SPEAKER_06 18:45

Yeah, it was very joyful. Good strategy. Big it was a big turn. I mean, I say big. He had I'd never killed one with uh double beards like that.

SPEAKER_03 18:53

Yeah, I shot one out from under you with a double beard one day. You remember that one?

SPEAKER_06 18:57

I do. I remember it every day.

SPEAKER_03 18:58

That was great. Yeah. So that was a matter of fact, I think it had a triple beard, didn't it?

SPEAKER_06 19:02

Or was it just a trick? No, I think it was double. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So that was my story. It was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

So, Taxy, you look you look like I really don't want to talk about it. You got multiple stories. Which one? Uh, you know, uh flip a coin. We don't need to go into all that. Well, you gotta have one. You know, yeah. Discretion is the better part of battle. That's exactly right. Um I'm gonna say um, so if we just apply a few questions, would you answer them? I would I would say yes. I or I'd say no, I can't answer that.

SPEAKER_06 19:34

So have you have you had a morning where you've heard more than five turkeys gobble this year?

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Um what's that? Um fifth F-I-F. I played a fifth. I plead five on that. So yeah, yes. Okay, you're that's a good feeling. There's been some there's been some honestly that's a way that's a way way bigger rush than pulling the trigger on one. Way bigger rush.

SPEAKER_06 20:04

Have you had a morning where you heard more than 10 turkeys? I'm not going there.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Oh my.

SPEAKER_06 20:09

Oh my. No, no, no, I wouldn't expect you to.

SPEAKER_01 20:12

No. All right. Uh well, tell us a story. Um two two really good ones. I guess always the best one would be with your son. And so uh opening day in the God's country down there. Um and it's recorded, so people can watch it. Um you know how I am about having I honestly am so private about it, and y'all know it's like a phobia. Oh, hey, so-and-so's gonna tag along with you, Dad. Or, you know, and so Daniel said, Hey, just as we were leaving to go down there, by the way, if it's okay with you, Rob's gonna he wants to tag along with us. I was like, oh, all I need is that what he's here for? Because all I need is a ball and chain, you know, that's what I used to call it because he hated it. Yeah filming. So anyway, he went along with us and turned out to be great, you know. Um did not hear turkeys on the limb like they should have been. But anyway, I was back behind calling uh and turkeys were basically across the river from us, which is not on us. And um, and then um I don't know if somebody flew the river or was something different, but then um turkey got pretty close, I couldn't course it, and then you know, I I couldn't really see anything because when I'm a lot of times I'm in if I can, but I just don't want to be seen, so I'm like 40, 50 yards behind him and robbed. Kind of facing to the left, but there's an edge of a long, skinny little uh pooplot field. Just now I could hear a turkey drumming, where's that? I can't tell. My hair's going down boom. You know, then I jump up and go out to the edge of the field and look, Dan was holding one up by the head down there, and it come up that field from that same direction where we'd hear where we'd hear gobbling. Then, you know, there's good enough to not make a bunch of racket, and while we're sitting there, a turkey gobble's on across the river again. So that wasn't what it was. It was just one that hadn't gobbled on the roofs anyway. So we sat back up and man, it wasn't 10 minutes. They were by their cell, and a couple of them gobbled all the way up and flew the river to me. And he got that too, and Rob filmed it too, sitting there. So we doubled, not like boom, boom. That's even better than about 30 minutes apart.

SPEAKER_06 22:28

Yeah. Did you see them or hear them fly the river?

SPEAKER_01 22:30

No, but I mean, I I saw their I saw the head coming up. What they do, and it's just something about this area. They and it's a pretty good size river. They I mean it's not like the Tom Bigby or something or the Alabama, but it's pretty good size. And so it's really steep on our whole property there. It's really, really steep. And so it's happened so many times, and I've say nine out of ten times you almost don't even know it. They don't fly up on that high kind of bluff for where we are. They pitch down to the water's edge because it's real low this year. And then they come straight up. Same thing happened the next day. Daniel killed our buddy Tom Ogles, but he was a great turkey hunter and a great friend from over in Georgia, went with us. And uh they were across the river in a different, different, same river, different location, and did the same thing. I mean, I could hear, I told them they were across the river. I said, if they keep on like that and they're by the same, they don't they don't give it a second thought. No, it's funny.

SPEAKER_05 23:28

So they climbed that steep bank like a deer would.

SPEAKER_01 23:30

But Daniel, where where Daniel watched them pop up, so I said, just stay, be patient. I'm just telling you, it may take a while. It wasn't 10 minutes again. And then the next thing I know, I didn't realize they'd come across the river because I didn't hear anything. I noticed I could hear the drumming across the river, they were so close. I was probably 60 yards off the riverbank. Daniel was probably down a little bit.

SPEAKER_03 23:49

Man, I wish I could hear him drumming.

SPEAKER_01 23:51

Yeah, it's fun to listen to. Oh, it's intense. Oh, I've heard it so much already. They're drumming loud this year. Older turkeys actually drum louder for whatever reason.

SPEAKER_05 24:00

I have I have seen, and I'm sorry to interrupt the story.

SPEAKER_01 24:03

Please, lightning would strike me.

SPEAKER_05 24:05

I have one turkey, you know, out of all the times I've heard turkeys drumming, there was one that stood out. And I it was me and Cody Bennett from the nursery. Wow. Um, it was the loudest drum I've ever heard.

SPEAKER_01 24:18

Was it an old turkey?

SPEAKER_05 24:19

And it was uh we were kind of sitting up on this huge ridge, and I could look down into some ag fields and see him, and he was easily 200 yards away. Oh, yeah, and it was so loud. You know, normally, you know, 7580, you can you can faintly hear it, but every time that's ever happened to me, and I was like, I cannot believe how far I could hear.

SPEAKER_01 24:41

You know, in big open hardwoods, you can see 150, 200 yards sometimes, and I can barely hear the turkey gobble. I can hear him, it's a little bit muffled, but I can hear him drumming really loud. And he turned out to be an old, old, old turkey. I just every time I've ever heard the lump drumming it's louder than I drum so loud, it's just I think it's something about being older turkey that they drum louder. I mean, seems to be. But anyway, Daniel said he saw him coming up. He didn't know they he was just watching out there in case they landed out there in front of him because he was probably 40 yards or so from the bank. And he said, just like there was two of them, and he said, there they come, two, and he saw the redheads come straight up that bluff, and they missed almost straight up, and they just came straight up it. Crazy. I just never realized they don't they don't really like to make a big loud fluffing up. If they can, they just kind of pitch down to the other side. So anyway, that was a great opening two days. And um opening uh weekend here in Mississippi, we had our buddy Thomas Rhett here, and his 10-year-old daughter killed her first turkey, first time she'd been with him and everything. That was pretty cool. That's really cool. He's one of the seriously one of the nicest guys, most charitable and giving guys that you'll ever meet. And uh we're so grateful for he brought both. He's got a his oldest is a 10 and 8-year-old, brought them both. And uh, you know, we had a great time with him.

SPEAKER_06 29:05

That was a good story how she saw the turkey before he did. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

Well, she took the shot before they told her to. And it was probably that little twin gauge of mine she borrowed. Well, as Rob Roberts told us, they shoot hard as anything. But I think she it was probably 45 yards, and they wouldn't even tell her, and she and it was walking, you know. They would not say do that, and they said she smoked him. Neil's with them. That was actually lesson, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 29:32

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

But that was really cool to see someone like that of that kind of notoriety. It kind of reminds me a little bit of Foxworthy. It's like literally you meet someone or Luke Combs that you get to know really well, and you realize all this fame has actually made him a better, more kind, caring, less egotistical person. I mean, obviously you can't help but be a little jaded with that kind of success and celebrity, but he's a really cool guy. So that was fun to have them in. Then the the second funniest thing, it you can't top going with your boy, your your boys. Oh no, it's hard to do that. But uh and your daughter.

SPEAKER_03 30:08

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:09

But uh people. Yeah, our buddy David Nugent, who paid, and you know, they decided Chris Hawley kind of pushed him into the house.

SPEAKER_04 30:18

Right here with us. Well, then he's remember us, Dave.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

Yeah, his his stepdad is Jimmy Bull. Yeah, we were with him at IP, isn't it? Absolutely, yeah. Great guy. Yes, an unbelievable class act. So he bought the hunt we were auctioning off, and it was for me. And it started out as me and Chris Hawley, but then honestly, he kind of doesn't like that role anyway. And and we I mentioned it to Cuz, he jumped all over. So Cousin and I took him and to our place in Texas, we take people. And so um we were there like the first weekend of it, too. So it was so much fun. So the first morning, cousin and I took them together. And um his two sons, not him, it's two sons, but he went along too, so that was a that was a crowd. But um ended up one of them killed, and then came back and got breakfast and went back out, I guess, about 10 in the morning. So we struck another one, and so they both killed with both of us with them. And they had such a good time. And um they didn't want to go that next afternoon because they were they were getting the the deal was two turkeys. That's anybody that goes, one or at the most two is all we, you know, we're trying not to overdo it. Even though the limits four, that's just too many. And um anyway, so I snuck out that afternoon and ended up calling one across the paved road out there. That was fun and got to hunt for a little bit myself. And then um I heard the turkey gobble and called and he gobbled back, but you know, Rios just gobble. And so I never I said, okay. Well, and then the next thing I know is I hear a hen answer me, and literally in a minute, I can see the edge of the road in the right-of-way out there, and she's yeping and she's crossing the road out there, and then there's another hen, and then another hen, and then the next thing I know, I see there's a trucky strutting right in the paved road. So I didn't call him just a little bit of low call, and the hen was coming looking for him, and I don't know that I even called him, but I did call the hen, like you were talking about. So he followed him.

SPEAKER_06 32:11

Lanny, why did the turkey cross the road?

SPEAKER_04 32:14

Because he wanted to get to the other side to go to Toxie's call, right?

SPEAKER_01 32:17

Evidently, did uh just go with his girlfriend. So the next morning to get on with the fun stuff, um, we split them up because that was their last day, and we had to come home. It was only two days we could get get away to do it. And so um one of them killed one with me five minutes, ten minutes after his feet hit the ground. And um we had to wait about another hour we could because we had dropped him off on the way on the the part of the ranch we were on, and we heard him shoot, and sure enough, he got in his too. So we had a really, really fun day and a half in Texas. That was fun.

SPEAKER_03 32:49

Did you let Cuz use his tube call?

SPEAKER_01 32:50

Uh anytime he wants to.

SPEAKER_03 32:53

He run it.

SPEAKER_01 32:54

He can. It's especially effective out there. Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_06 32:57

Well, the Nugents are they're just great. Great people all the way around.

SPEAKER_01 33:00

He had asked permission. He was actually gonna bring Jimmy in. Jimmy, you know, I'm if I get this a little wrong, sorry, Nugent um family. But there's an elderly guy who lives close to Jimmy, who he kind of takes, you know, we don't have anyone to take care of him, whatever. And evidently something happened with his health, and there was nobody else to kind of no family to care for him, type of thing. And again, I'm best of my memory, but this is the kind of guy Jimmy Bullock is. Yeah. He's kept the trip to come out there. I mean, David's flying on the jet. He's going all out to take care of his family and Jimmy. And he stays back because he feels like he doesn't need to leave the guy by himself. That's the kind of guy Jimmy Bullock is. For anybody that knows him, knows what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_03 33:41

He is the classic quality guy.

SPEAKER_01 33:43

And he raised David, and I just want to say David, he brought his wife too. They are the nicest, sweetest people. And his sons were they're killers, but they're like, they know the game, they know what they're doing, they're yes, sir, no, sir. They were so grateful to get to come. So it was a great experience to see, you know, it's just so much fun to me see kids that were raised right. And I know they're everywhere, but to see that, you know, was fun. That is good. Yeah, they can shoot, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 34:10

Yeah, no, Dave, they're just like my two warehouse there for a time period.

SPEAKER_03 34:14

You say, Well, David, you're not calling me. What's going on?

SPEAKER_06 34:18

Boy, he turned out good. He life he's he's been.

SPEAKER_01 34:22

Oh, David's Oh, David, yes, it is. But he learned it. I did. I won't tell this private, but on air, his story of his great success and how it happened or not. And a lot of it was due to Jimmy, actually. But when we're not on air, I'll tell you about it. Because that's he told me in private, so just tells you what kind of family they are. That's fun. And so uh Vandy's killing with me, and I've had some luck otherwise than that. It's been it's been a good spring. But I was we ought to talk about what we're hearing from other people, the trends, because I'm hearing all kinds of conflicting reports about different things. Trends. I think people are interested in that. So I don't know that this is biologists telling us it, but ever you talk to some of the people, I will say from the beginning of the season, even Mississippi was the 14th. Even then, and especially lately, so many single hens. I've never seen so many single hands so early. Same. So Monday, Tom Briggs saw two pults in Waverley Road. What? Yes. Well, you know, we they were strutting in January. And they ran, couldn't even fly, fluttered a little, but they were not far from my house, actually. He knows what he's seeing. So uh I mean it's definitely early in some. I've heard of polts in turkey season, but not quite this early. Well, I saw a picture from down in South Alabama about two years ago. David Hawley gets a lot of that with the Wild Turkey Report, and he had a guy had polts decent size. I wouldn't say they they they had to be a week old, and it was late March and a hen with a whole bunch of polts in Alabama that early. So it does it does happen. That's wild.

SPEAKER_05 36:02

They have to lay an egg every day and then get wait till they get a full clutch, and then they start sitting on it, and I think 23.

SPEAKER_01 36:10

28, isn't it?

SPEAKER_05 36:11

Something like that.

SPEAKER_01 36:12

23, whatever it is. So that's crazy right now. That is. And I have definitely I've run into them in late April before, for sure. But they're something's different, and of course, we're having this crazy cold hot, cold, hot, cold, hot. It's definitely too warm of the. Spring's definitely sprung early this year. And I know daylight triggers it, but there's evidently something different. Now, you know, once we get past the spring, you start talking to the you know, the good doctors do the research.

SPEAKER_05 36:39

I have seen more hens this year than I've seen in a while. And that's that's good. And I've seen a lot of single hens walking around, you you know, so hopefully they're nesting on me.

SPEAKER_01 36:49

Dry springs typically here are better, but not as much there.

SPEAKER_06 36:52

So what other trends are you hearing about?

SPEAKER_01 36:54

Well, I've also I've run into a couple people that you know hunt on a good bit of public land and have to even own a hunting club and stuff, and they just said the ones I've talked to, and it's not a large sample size, that the the hunting pressure has been the highest and worst ever.

SPEAKER_03 37:11

No doubt about it.

SPEAKER_01 37:12

And the people on public land, because they talk to other people, so this is a bigger sample size than the half a dozen people. Um more people like shooting people at the turkeys out from under, you know. And someone on public land shooting two and running before they can catch up with them. And I mean, it's kind of stuff that kind of breaks your heart a little bit. Because I mean, look, I'm not trying to be judgmental about everyone out there, but we do, I do am about the one thing, and that's taking care of something is very precious and um delicate and fragile is the right word, I think. And so um I just don't see how someone can. I mean, I can see how you're competitive, and you know, I'm not backing out of here, I'm going there, I came to hunt here. Uh, you know, just be safe. But overdoing the research and people killing over the limit and stuff, there's been a lot of people talking about that happening already. And that's really sad. There's nothing proud about that whatsoever. That's really, really sad. That it would mean something to somebody. Their ego is so big, they gotta try to prove through that through something. So I don't know what to do to try to influence people for the right way of caring for them. Um I just don't know. And I mean, I come across preachy if I do. I don't mean to be.

SPEAKER_05 38:27

I've heard a couple shots uh on public that there was no way that turkey had flown down yet.

SPEAKER_01 38:34

Oh, yeah, I don't doubt it. So I mean, I mean, just pray for redemption out there somehow, you know. Because I I did, I know a couple people I know, and then these are locally that are, you know, grown up and they might, you know, they they've hunted hard and they were all about being sure they kill their limit. Who knows, maybe more and all. And uh they said, you know, I've and and they said, you know, they listen to us too. It's like, you know, I've gotten to where and I know somebody who has a place that didn't always turkey on it is now. And he said, I've got, you know, four or five turkeys gobbling on it, and uh it's not a big place. We said, I killed one and that's it. And I killed one of those. Oh, there's so much more of that, too. Yes, like he just said that the people that are getting to be where you just gotta be careful to protect it from people because it's so rampant in today's age, because you know, deer don't just sit there and you know beckon you to come on in there, and plus killing a big old deer and getting them out from somewhere is not that easy, although people do it, you know. Um, but turkeys they pick them up and run with them. And that's that's that turkey is hollering at you. He is like just begging begging you, come on, come on down in here, you know. It's just so enticing for people and all. But um, maybe just a little self-awareness and help some people wake up from it. But this to my point, he's like, I I hear you now because I heard you talking about stuff, and I kind of my eyes kind of glassed over. He said, I'm a lot more worried about having them than shooting them. Now I love to shoot them, but I've learned now that I want to be sure, and when I shoot them, I'm making sure I'm gonna have enough for next year no matter what, too. And after that. So, I mean, it's just that whole mentality of it. So I go through that, I'll be honest with everybody. I go through the same like paradox every year, but it's just gotten even greater this year because there's just, you know, like I ran into a good an old friend of mine uh at a deal in South Alabama. They have this um deal in Purdue Hill, Alabama, which is kind of down there right at Choctaw Bluff and where the sport kind of grew out of, really. And so they have this thing celebrating. It's like uh um a couple of their buddies that have passed away. So I met, I went with uh Neil's father-in-law, who's gotten to be a good friend, and we drove down there. I spent the night with them. And I met a bunch of friends growing up, and one of them is a guy named Ben Radcliffe, who his dad and daddy and Uncle Soxie were all best friends from Downmobile. But we, you know, and I ran into some several more that I knew from growing up down there. And so, but he had lost his dad, I think he said 16, 18 years ago. It's been a while, but they worked side by side. And the reason I'm telling this is it it just hit me between the eyes exactly how I felt when I lost Daddy, whatever, two months ago now. And um he said, you know, um, and I think he was talking about, you know, a um a therapist or a psychologist or someone telling him it's like you have to go and accept it's pretty much a good analogy, is like amputation, you know. You you know it, and you know it too. He said, it's gone, and you can't fight trying to get it back because that's what your instinct is, you know, is inside, get it back, get it back, get it back. But he said, pretty much, I felt like this hole went away from me, like right here. I don't know why I pictured it here, top right of my chest. It's just like part of me is missing, and that's what he said ironically. It's amputation. But you know, if you see amputees all the time that go right on with life and have a full life, and you know, everything's great. Now look at Tony Rossetti as as vibrant a guy as you'll ever know. But that was a great for the people that know Diddy so well and how hard it's been on me. So this has been a first spring as an amputee, so it's been tough some days, to be honest with you. And the paradox I was getting to is like I love them so much. It's honestly almost sad because I mean if I kill one a couple times, it's like I see it. I can't do it again. I mean, they're so precious. I'm just gonna try to protect them and trap and do stuff and take people and whatever. And a couple days later I'm ready to go after them again.

SPEAKER_03 44:32

So it is 24 hours later, I'm like, well, more.

SPEAKER_01 44:36

I was gonna say, I don't think you can truly be great at this sport unless you have that paradox.

SPEAKER_03 44:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:42

Because I don't care. If you I don't care if you you you set the world record how many you killed illegally. Wow, big deal. You're nothing. If you love them, that's when you can actually become great at this. And we have some people that we know that are friends, and we've had them on this podcast, that are as killer as it gets, but they love that bird. Now that's greatness right there.

SPEAKER_03 45:03

Yeah. No doubt. Yeah. And and we gotta get back. I mean, and we've always talked about this to, you know, just enjoying the hunt, you know, all the way around. If you hear a goblin turkey, I was, you know, talking to Hayden, and he's had uh, you know, he's had to hit some lows and some highs.

SPEAKER_01 45:18

I've had several mornings not hearing a thing. So it's not it's yeah.

SPEAKER_05 45:22

So if you just hear a turkey, you know, I like what you said the other day about if you had a hunt, that's a success.

SPEAKER_03 45:28

If you had a hunting, that's a success. Yeah, that's the way we ought to ask. And that's the way we used to. I mean, we you know, we used to come in here and say, did you have a hunt this morning?

SPEAKER_01 45:36

Well, something about if you had one answer you and you actually called them up. I've had it several times and didn't get a shot or had my granddaughter two mornings in a row, and one morning said 20 steps, and the next morning 35 steps, but easily close enough to kill, and she couldn't get a shot. Well, and then the I mean I hate it for her, but that's as much or more fun than pulling trigger, honestly.

SPEAKER_05 45:58

Oh, no doubt. I mean, you still won the chess match.

SPEAKER_01 46:01

Yeah, and they responded and you tricked them. I mean, Will Primo said it 40 years ago, tricking them. And he's right, tricking them is the fun.

SPEAKER_03 46:09

And of course, y'all know I'm not a big reader, but the 10th Legion and and Colonel Tom Kelly talks about, you know, finding him, you're actually possessing it. That's right. You know, you don't have to kill him. The urge to kill him doesn't leave. No, but you know, that turkey is is with you, especially if you miss him. Because, you know.

SPEAKER_06 46:27

It's really kind of I mean, we've all been there when you you when he's laying there and you're admiring him, you wish wish you could get back up. So beautiful.

SPEAKER_03 46:35

I I'm not I'm not that way as much as y'all.

SPEAKER_01 46:39

It's my favorite wildlife food. Yeah. They are so delicious. I mean, I'm in them. So I'm looking forward to cooking fried turkey breasts or smoking one or making hors d'oeuvre, all the little different things we do. And honestly, in the last eight to ten years, I found great religion by keeping the legs and doing the biggest. Oh no. Yeah. Turkey legs, tacos. Man, turkey leg and turkey legs gumbo. Yep. Get old Vandy to make some for you. I'm telling you, it's unbelievable how good it is.

SPEAKER_03 47:07

Dudley taught me this. You make a stock out of those legs, it is liquid. We call it turkey gold. Yeah, it is gold. It really is gold.

SPEAKER_01 47:14

If you're not keeping the legs, please start doing it. Don't waste a burning.

SPEAKER_03 47:17

Or a vacuum seal them, freeze them and send them to us. There you go.

SPEAKER_01 47:20

It's crazy what he could do with the, I've never been the chef like he has been, but the pressure cooker, the insta-pot deal. No, it'll do it now. Changes the game. Yeah, it does. Especially on the driver's. He did the cooking for the newtons. He went out there with us just to do the cooking for him. And he did elk, cubed elk, but it was like, you know, it wasn't back strapping or anything. But he cooked it in the pressure cooker first, and then it did like a gravy stewed over rice. It was incredible, but it was so tender. I was like, How'd you do that? He said, In the pot.

SPEAKER_06 47:52

Yep. Yeah, those things are great. Those things are great. Lane, what shells is Hayden shooting? Bobby, you know he only shoots heavy shot.

SPEAKER_03 47:59

Well, how how's it how are they doing for him? One shot he was heard. The first one worked really good. I hadn't told you the second story yet.

SPEAKER_01 48:07

So what about this? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Someone threw him a bone.

SPEAKER_03 48:10

Somebody threw me a bone, threw us a bone. And it was a great bone. Love to hear this story.

SPEAKER_01 48:16

Um, you want to join my club next year?

SPEAKER_03 48:19

Yeah, yeah. I thought I was in.

SPEAKER_01 48:23

Just remember, all good, but that's another one of Mr. Foxism's. All good hunting clubs have a benevolent dictator. Yeah, that's right. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 48:30

But uh actually, um Toxie gave us uh threw us threw us a bone, gave us a little combo to a gate, uh, to a place that I'm you know was familiar with.

SPEAKER_01 48:39

Just for the record out there, I do not own this place. It is not mine, it's just a lease.

SPEAKER_03 48:43

What how long? Well, we used to have this place years and years ago, what twenty years ago? Twenty-five. In the Lee Haven years, something like that. But Toxie's fortune at the time.

SPEAKER_01 48:51

Longer than that, almost say between thirty and twenty-five years ago.

SPEAKER_03 48:54

Picked it back up maybe a couple years ago, something like that. So yeah. Uh had to read, he had to tell me how to get there again, which I was like, how do I not remember that? I dropped you a pen and you're not going to be able to do it. And it seems like I would have remembered how to get there.

SPEAKER_01 49:05

But when you were telling me and I Well, I was trying to confuse you where you I could seem like the good guy, but you actually didn't go kill one of our turkeys.

SPEAKER_03 49:12

Well, Hayden was listening, so that was your problem.

SPEAKER_01 49:14

You raised a good conservationist.

SPEAKER_03 49:16

Anyways, uh uh eased in there and um, you know, I at this point, um, you know, let I I say letting, watching uh, you know, Hayden, you know, is kind of start taking some of the reins at the first. He's already helping me figure out, you know, he can hear them better than I can now. So uh eased in the gate and and we stopped and uh he said did he hear him draw? Oh yes. No, one hundred percent. All those years of you going to those Beastie Boy concerts. Maybe that's what it was. It was, it was. I never thought about that. Maybe that's what it was that's a speaker box album. That's what got me. Uh but anyways, uh see Barberman drill concerts, we didn't have that problem. Yeah, you didn't have that problem. Yeah, anyways. Uh so he he heard, you know, a turkey and I, of course, I argued them. I was like, no, you didn't. I had to put my ears on, you know, put my hands behind my ears. I didn't do that a lot. Yeah, and sure enough, wow, he was there and gobbled really early. Um so uh we, of course, didn't dilly out didn't dilly dally around and uh broke out the onyx. What we got here? What is that? I'm not sure what we're looking at.

SPEAKER_06 50:26

Is that a human?

SPEAKER_01 50:28

It's two humans.

SPEAKER_06 50:29

Oh, you got a poacher? That's Lanny and Hayden. Oh, that's exactly what that is.

SPEAKER_01 50:35

I think that got that stride look for me. Yeah. Just so you know you're always under surveillance.

SPEAKER_05 50:41

That is exactly right. You should everybody should know that they're under surveillance. Like my gate that got rammed two weeks ago.

SPEAKER_03 50:48

We'll get into that later. Go ahead, Lanny. Oh, anyway, so uh broke out the on X. Again, hadn't been there in a while, kind of figured out where this turkey was and and figured out our attack plan. And uh luckily got up there, he was recent on an SMZ. Uh got up there to where trying to figure out exactly where he was, and we were lucky they had bladed a new um a new fire break in between the SMZ and Pines. So love that. Toxie had a a great looking non-typical clover field. Um it is awesome. Is that you coming back out? That is 100% me. What you or him? That's me. Okay. That's me. Uh just making sure. Yeah, and um so positioned ourselves in between the turkey and the clover field on the edge of the SMZ uh against some pines. Uh turkey uh did a fair amount of gobbling, probably one of the most goblin turkeys uh we've been on. Uh and we just just uh like y'all believe it or not, got was patient and sat there. Uh I maybe soft yelp once after he flew down and he continued to stay in his stage and just gobble and would not move. Uh so we backed up, made a small loop on him. He didn't move, I never yelped. Went the other way and tried to loop on him and he wasn't moving. I never yelped. Went back to the original spot um and sat back down again. Uh the morning had kind of, you know, uh not gotten by us at all, but kind of progressed. Progressed on up. Uh and um he took a break gobbling and I said, Hey, here's our chance. Uh so uh scuttled up there, he got in front of me. I scooted back behind him and uh yelped one time and he he gobbled at me and then I started scratching the leaves and doing the thing and he cut me off and I cut him off and he double gobbled and I said, Get ready. And about that time he said, I see him. Um so he's coming uh kind of thuth him sit through them through some thick stuff. I'm hoping he will cross the the road uh and swing around in front of us, but he gets right in the road uh and has he has one chance. Um he's walking towards us, and I see Hayden now get out on his gun, and then he is shooting an old 20-gauge single shot um that he has killed a lot of turkeys with. Yeah, Teddy. And uh it's got a slide safety on it. Uh and he was I'm looking at him, looking at the turkey, and he goes to squeeze, and I can see him squeeze the trigger, nothing happens. Uh-oh. You can see his through his body motions, the thing got bad out of whack real quick, and he starts getting nervous, and the turkey's walking pretty fast uh and getting more perpendicular to us. So he readjusts, and then I see him try to pull the trigger again and he and it and it doesn't go off. And then I can see him barely look down and he pushes the safety the rest of the way. But this time the turkey's perpendicular to us and is way too close. Uh he's kind of hiding behind him, he gets his gun back up. Turkey's walking perpendicular to us, and I couldn't, I I mean, you just know this is the shot to miss right here. Uh and you know, and I don't know, I believe.

SPEAKER_05 54:00

Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's hard.

SPEAKER_03 54:01

Sideways, sideways is the worst. And five yards. I mean, I could see the turkey's hair in his ears. Uh and I did, I said, I gotta do something, and I clucked, you know, hoping he'd stand tall and he kept kept walking and he took a cut at him. And uh nonetheless, uh turkey flew off, and I jumped up and I turned around. I said, Look, it's okay. And he screamed, No, it's not been there, done that. So, needless to say, we had to sit down and talk about the 10th Legion and you know how it's all about the hunt, and he will never forget that bird. He will forget birds he has killed, but that bird will be ingrained in his mind. And he said, Yeah, he said, because that's the biggest turkey I've ever seen in my life.

SPEAKER_01 54:45

Oh goodness.

SPEAKER_03 54:46

Uh, anyways, but so it was it was good times.

SPEAKER_01 54:48

So there is a really big turkey where y'all were. I've got some videos talking about, but it was not him because um right where I was looking for it, right where y'all walked past in the daylight, y'all must have been hiking the one real quick because that was early. Even though you should have just stayed where you started, because that's where there was one on camera where you started not long after you left. And then why didn't you text me about that? Because y'all know I didn't look at it until later. Then there was one you walked in front of this other camera, hooving it up to the north, and there was one in that field about two hours later.

SPEAKER_05 55:24

That's crazy how that works.

SPEAKER_01 55:25

Yep.

SPEAKER_03 55:26

But that was that was we heard a couple more turkeys, but um How was he on the drive home? You know, I we had a lot of con I had we had to spend some time together talking about it. You know what I mean? And we had to he had to do some reflecting and we had to talk about how much makes you a better hunter. Yeah, how much fun we have.

SPEAKER_01 55:44

And I did it this year. I mean, if I know I hadn't touched him, you just gotta laugh at yourself.

SPEAKER_03 55:49

Yeah, and he did not touch. Well, I just feed it to the five.

SPEAKER_01 55:51

But five yards he would destroy.

SPEAKER_03 55:53

Or if he didn't and I wanted to say, don't shoot, you know. That's probably but we were so close, the turkey was so close and everything else. So and it is, we talked about this a lot, especially on the Rob Robertson. A turkey walking, you know, side to side in front of you is a worst shot you can take. They're bobbing that head. Yeah, that's right, and won't stop uh if they're walking towards you, you know. Uh, and I don't like them closer than 25 yards myself. No, at all. If that, yep. Um, but yeah, it's a good lesson for him. You know, he had the highest of highs the week before, and now he's at the lowest of lows, but I can tell you he didn't have uh school on Monday, and he was I I think he was still in the woods at the house at 1045. So he's uh he's up for a little reason.

SPEAKER_06 56:40

What a good memory for you guys for sure.

SPEAKER_03 56:41

Yeah, no, it's so much fun. And if you have a hunt, you know, and I had to learn this too. It's it's uh it's what it's all about, you know.

SPEAKER_06 56:47

So Toxie, I must ask, what what does this you you said you missed one?

SPEAKER_01 56:51

Yeah, I told you that earlier. You weren't paying attention.

SPEAKER_06 56:55

No, I was paying attention, but do it all the time. So what happened this year? What can somebody learn? This year, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 57:03

I pulled my gun up and I pointed it towards him, and then I pulled the trigger, and then it made this loud sound, and then you know, he just kind of walked, he kind of walked off unhurt, you know. Oh, really? So that's how it happens, Bobby. You maybe never has happened to you, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_03 57:20

They used to walk off for me. I mean you're still shooting at them until they fly.

SPEAKER_01 57:23

It does, it doesn't change cameras.

SPEAKER_03 57:26

I forgot to load my gun one time.

SPEAKER_01 57:29

I've got a picture of the pine tree that I shot. It's about a four-inch pine tree, just destroyed it. Yeah, yeah. That's a bad feeling. It happens. It's not, it's if you know you didn't touch them at all, just laugh at yourself. That's easier said than the done I rub, but that's what you gotta do. Now, if I burger one up, I'm in depression state.

SPEAKER_03 57:46

Yeah, I'm gonna stay out there with him as much as I can to find them. That's for sure.

SPEAKER_05 57:50

And bumping one hurts too, even if you don't, you know, wound it.

SPEAKER_03 57:54

Just bumping a hen. It's not fun. Just to find a successful hunt as hearing a bird and possess him in your mind.

SPEAKER_01 58:01

It's easier to say all these things if you've already at least killed one. I'll say that. If I hadn't killed one by now, I wouldn't be I'd probably be fibbing a little bit about it. That's all it's all fun and glorious no matter what happens.

SPEAKER_03 58:13

Because it, you know, it's fun to get one.

SPEAKER_01 58:15

I can't imagine what it'd be like to be this late in the year and hadn't killed anyone. Yeah, Bobby. Oh, I'm sorry, Bobby. Thank y'all.

SPEAKER_03 58:20

Well, I I hadn't killed one either.

SPEAKER_01 58:22

Well, you but you you experienced success.

SPEAKER_03 58:24

Well, he experienced success with don't.

SPEAKER_06 58:25

So I don't want him getting any bones I don't get. So I canceled my colonoscopy for tomorrow so that I might could go.

SPEAKER_03 58:31

This is the second week in a row.

SPEAKER_06 58:33

Second colonoscopy.

SPEAKER_03 58:34

I'd much rather turkey hunt than have a colonoscopy. Yeah, I think that's you're gonna just put that off till after turkey season.

SPEAKER_01 58:40

Don't no, not till after turkey season. That's a bad, that's a bad Yu-Gi-R. Yeah. Don't do that. Don't nobody out there, if you got something serious, don't use the okay, I'll go get it checked after turkey season. That's just please, and on behalf of anyone at Mossy Oak, don't do that. Go get it checked out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 58:56

Well, so you can't go tomorrow, Bob.

SPEAKER_01 58:59

No, he got it he's not he's got until May 1.

SPEAKER_06 59:01

Yeah, so I got well because I was sick yesterday, they don't want to do the tomorrow. So yeah. That's right. Because you were stomach sick, by the way.

SPEAKER_01 59:09

Yeah, so yeah, you don't want to do that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 59:11

And you had some hot wings right after that.

SPEAKER_01 59:14

I think he's just trying to make it he's trying to make it rough on the stomach sick.

SPEAKER_04 59:19

I gotta have a colonoscopy. Let me go get some hot wings, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 59:22

Look, the colonoscopy for whatever your doctor tells you to get it done out there, do it. Yeah, and it's just around. It's not neutral. No, it's not bad at all. It's nothing to that. Getting ready for it's not fun. Yeah. I just drink it.

SPEAKER_06 59:33

So, guys, I've I've prepared a trivia question for y'all for the three of y'all. Oh, wow. Well, one question or three questions? No, there's one question. And Richie even said, Woo, it's pretty good. So Richie knows. You try to you try to. All right, Richie, I'll turn it over to you.

SPEAKER_00 59:50

All right. So we have a listener who left a review. Uh, sorry if I pronounce your name wrong. Oxer 16. Uh left a review on Apple. Great podcast. I really appreciate all the gamekeeping information, tips, advice from you guys. Me and my 10-year-old twins enjoy working on our family land, making future gamekeepers one project at a time. Thanks and God bless.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:12

Golly, that's like the review of the year. Yeah, how do you spell Oxer?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:16

Oxer is A-U-X-I-E-R 16.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:21

You know, we had a thank you, Oxer. We'll got you will get a uh Nucombline.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:26

We still got some Newcomb blind.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:27

We got one or two more. All right. And we'll get that shipped. We had a review the other day from Northern California.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:34

Really?

SPEAKER_06 1:00:34

Where the girls are.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:35

So I killed a turkey in Northern California.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:38

Have you prepared some questions for Bobby too?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:41

Completely embarrassing. Repito. We're gonna work on that. The crossfire. We're gonna have a new crossfire session.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:45

We're working on a new segment. Who thought of that?

SPEAKER_03 1:00:47

You did.

SPEAKER_06 1:00:48

So uh there's a creative guy around here somewhere. Peanut patch. Thanks. Thanks to the peanut patch for sponsoring this trivia question. We guys, if you get a chance to try some peanuts.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:56

I have been wearing out the peanut patch peanuts in the left field lounge this year. Oh baseball.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:02

I wonder where they all went. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:04

So I had some too at the high school baseball game the other night, too, over in Caledonia. So it was yeah, great eating some bowl peanuts and watching some baseball.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:11

All right. Let's hit them with a question, Rich.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:13

And they beat New Hope, the rival. So Callie. All right, so our trivia here are all peacocks nails. Are all peacocks nails?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:29

This is a trick question. Okay. Hold on.

SPEAKER_05 1:01:34

I know they were referred to as peafowl.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:38

So is a peacock the male bird? I'm gonna say all I'm waiting for y'all to answer for. I know there's a name for a hen peacock. That's not peacock. Right. So I'm gonna say all peacocks are male. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:58

There you go. I know you're right now you don't breed with a male, so yeah, but I mean that's a trick question.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:04

Females are called pea hens.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:07

So that's right, but but the peacock hen is he's got to breed with. She's a pea hen. She's the same species, or he couldn't breed with her. She's she's a big thing. I wonder where they got that from. She's a pea pea hen. You're you're getting caught up in your words. She's a peacock hen, or he couldn't breed her. So she's a pea hen and he's a peacock. Are they the same species?

SPEAKER_05 1:02:27

Are they all pea foul? They're the same species.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:30

Okay, that's the rest of my case. You're just getting caught up in your words. Everything's a label, Bobby. That's right.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:35

That was a good trick question, though. So they're pee foul.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:38

But they're they're pee foul.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:40

And it's peacock and pee hen? Yeah. Well, I learned something today. I didn't know that, but I knew the way you asked me. Well, I mean it's good trick.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:46

But it's not a true, it's not that wasn't true either. It's just the words.

SPEAKER_06 1:02:50

You know, I bet, Taxi, did your teachers ever like just be get exhausted and just be like, oh my gosh. The brilliants, yeah, I'm sure they'll do that.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:00

So should you ask the question, what are P fowls called uh males called? Is that what you're supposed to ask then? Well, I mean Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:07

Well, how was are all peacocks?

SPEAKER_05 1:03:09

Regardless, we got it right.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:11

Yeah, that's uh you did because we knew that it was a trick question set up to be there's no way that's true, which is what the kind of Bobby fixed. But it was true. Are all peacock they are male? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:21

That was a good question. I learned something. I grew up actually. So what do we win? Yeah. What did we win? Some peanuts, some boiled peanuts. What about I would love some of this golden eagle syrup and caramel corn you have been hoarding over there, I would say.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:37

I've I vote that we get Vandy to cook some biscuits. Oh, and we take some of this stuff.

SPEAKER_06 1:03:43

They also make this caramel corn, which is fantastic, and the best little pecan pies you've ever had.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:48

The pecan pies are delicious. Yeah. So we're gonna be working with them soon. And and you know, I should I tell my Auburn story? Growing up, you know, with Mississippi State, we always had dairy products, Mississippi State cheese, ice cream, ice cream. I we always had golden eagle. I thought it was Auburn Store. But it's not orange and blue. I know, but it has an eagle on it. It has yellow. It has orange in it. It is eagle. You had on blue before eagle.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:16

We won the NIT the other day.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:17

The not in the tournament.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:18

But they're not a golden eagle, they're not gonna be able to get it.

SPEAKER_05 1:04:20

Not invited tournament. I don't think anybody else does this, but this is a blend of uh like honey, molasses, and uh and cane. Dude, that's tough.

SPEAKER_06 1:04:31

That's so good. Yeah. It is so good. We can look forward to telling everybody about those. They're made over in Fayette, Alabama, which is not very far from here. That's right. So good. All right, guys. Anything else? Any thing anybody remembers notable from this turkey season so far?

SPEAKER_05 1:04:46

Just anybody seen anything cool in the woods?

SPEAKER_06 1:04:49

Can you go anymore? Uh I didn't know you were going. I'm gonna try to go if you're going. Well, if y'all are going, I'm going. Let's go. Once this thing got canceled today. I said, well.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:57

Yeah, I got him. You got to go? No, I got a I got a key to toss on this one. So all right. Unless he just heck bent on going back to his home turf.

SPEAKER_06 1:05:06

All right, guys, you got a few weeks left and it's moving north. So it hadn't even started in most places. Yeah, so wish everybody have good luck.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:13

And don't forget, uh, deer season starts now. So spring food plots right around the corner. I can't, there's so many trailer loads of stuff leave out of here for people planting spring stuff. Yeah. Uh time to manage a clover, kill some grass, check them out. That's right. Spring protein. Get the spring buffet set for your white fells. Baby your trees. Yeah, deer. Yeah, we're gonna be uh planting some vetch here pretty soon at the Ponderosa. It's uh it's an exciting time of year. Yeah, we're gonna be converting a biologic clover field into a biologic deer vetch plus. Are you going Deer Veg or Deer Veg Plus? Uh Deer Veg Plus. All right. I'm excited to see what it'll do.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:49

All right, cool. It would be the ultimate test for over browsing at the zoo. The Ponderosa Zoo.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:56

Yeah, the or yeah, we should call it the zoo.

SPEAKER_05 1:05:58

Those deer just like they don't even look up when he drives by me when he drives by. They're so comfortable eating there.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:05

I heard he's gonna put us some vetch in here. Lord, I'm gonna be. If I could just get a turkey.

SPEAKER_06 1:06:10

Yeah, that's right. You always wanted a buffet. Yeah. Super salad bar. It'll be interesting to learn. I've got Bronson and uh his team coming over next week to tell us about some some vet tips and tricks. To go and educate us about the do's and don'ts of that.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:27

All right, why don't you say goodbye, Dudley?

SPEAKER_06 1:06:29

Goodbye, Dudley.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:29

Get us out of here, Richie.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:31

Thanks for tuning in to this week's episode of the Game Keeper Podcast. And be sure to tune in again. Subscribe to Game Keeper Farming for Wildlife magazine, and don't miss the Mafio properties fistful of dirt podcast with my good buddy, Ronnie Guster.