The Spring Legion Podcast
Welcome to a year-round discussion on the wild turkey and those who hunt them. Hosted by Hunter Farrior, founder of Spring Legion and author of Ballad of a Turkey Hunter, the weekly podcast is geared for all outdoor communities and dives deeper than the usual tactics and calling tips. Holding true to the brand, topics are built upon respecting the heritage and challenges of hunting, with a never-ending appreciation for all that the spring season provides. Enjoy insight from special guests like Dave Owens of Pinhoti Project, Cuz Strickland of Mossy Oak, our friends at NWTF and Muscadine Bloodline, and so many more widely known for their impact in the turkey hunting community, as well as the deer, duck, and waterfowl realm, who exhibit the obsession of which only a real turkey hunter may truly understand. Thanks for listening.
The Spring Legion Podcast
Tough Turkeys to Hunt: Part 2 | Competitive Nature + The Loudest Drumming Longbeard We've Ever Heard
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Picking up where we left off, we saved the best unique Alabama turkey for last - the loudest drumming bird we've ever hear, and one that happened to have solid white feet, weigh somewhere in the range of a quarter-ton, and had we not cleaned it, would still be stuck in strut.
We dissect the camaraderie that sustains us through the frustration and physical drain that hunting demands. There's also a recount of a particularly heavy turkey, complete with white feet and a penchant for strutting, that left us in awe of its unique characteristics and the sheer exhaustion of lugging it back home. This isn't just about the hunt; it's a testament to the indelible bond between hunters and the meticulous dance of outwitting a creature as wily as the turkey.
Wrapping up, we don't just relive the glory of a successful hunt. We share the very fabric of our passion—how even after days of fatigue, the obsession won't let our bodies call it quits. Our tales are a prelude to the excitement building up to the NWTF convention, where we can't wait to meet fellow enthusiasts and reveal what's new with Spring Legion. Booth #609
Remember, for all the latest hunts and stories that keep the heart of the hunt beating, follow us on YouTube and TikTok. Now, let's gear up for a season of storytelling that captures the essence of turkey hunting and the spirit of the community that loves it.
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Alabama Turkeys and NWTF Convention Preparations
Speaker 1What's going on everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the spring Legion podcast. Welcome to the part two of some Alabama lawn beard stories we're telling here with Chase Farrier, austin Seals and myself, hunter Farrier. We've already dived into Chase's Alabama turkey from last year, just wrapped up the good old story of Seals. This was a pretty cool one. Both of those stories were unique stories, I feel like. I mean just not a an everyday type of hunt or an everyday type of bird or seals. Mine's a pretty weird one too. I guess the Alabama bird is a little different. We want to dive into it, want to remind everybody if you didn't listen to that one that we are going to be at the NWTF convention. Gonna have a booth there, gonna have some cool new releases at booth 609 and it's gonna be in that first little room you get to, between I'm telling everybody between Nomad and Maas Yoke, and I'm really crossing my fingers. That's right. I'm going off something, a map I saw about six weeks ago. It might not be, but um.
Speaker 1We'll be there somewhere we're gonna have as much stuff thrown up in the air to let y'all know where we're at. It ain't gonna be funny. So hopefully we'll, if not, check our social media stuff and might want to check it anyway to see what all we're gonna have there. Because if y'all goes playing, nobody's gonna know about any of the the new stuff until those doors open. So the folks who sit with their eyeballs day one are gonna be the first folks to see this, hear about it, even know that we've been working on some of this stuff. So I encourage y'all come do that, check that out.
Speaker 1And again, we'll be at um Rick's Cafe and start from this February 21st for our one and only live podcast this year. So we got a little bit shifted our focus to a few more things. But, um, it's gonna be a good time and um Seals mentioned in the last one. That is kind of the. Once you get to Rick's after the NWTF convention, stuff like that is the. That's the last leg of the prep season. You know it's really good time.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's gonna be. It's gonna be spring, and then we might be able to cram a couple more stories up in here on the podcast, but then it's gonna be. You know, once you know, at least March 15th rolls around, if not a little sooner Chase and I can figure out some kind of plan to go down in South Florida that opening week. I'll be in Florida, you'll be in Florida and South Dish Florida, won't you, I think?
Speaker 3that's Central Florida.
Speaker 1Central East South Florida, but you're gonna be wearing Mickey Mouse a year's not a face mask, but um that'll be fine. Probably missing out on much just turkey hunting yeah but as much as we got.
Speaker 3I gotta make a little time, oh yeah.
Speaker 1I've never been to Disney World, but I'm looking forward to taking them one day. I'm gonna wait until they can be from themselves a little bit more. It's tough catching a two-year-old running around Tough catching a 30-year-old running around, I don't really.
Speaker 3I'm sure I don't want to be in Disney World, but it is fun watching the kids enjoy it.
Speaker 1Yeah, but um, but yeah, you'll be. You'll be in Florida, just with a different uh motive. Ain't nothing wrong with that, though, but yeah, once uh, 15th March rolls around, we're gonna have some, you know, current week stuff not necessarily stories from um, the archives that we've been telling they haven't been told on the podcast yet. Actually, they haven't been told between amongst us. This one's an exception, because we're all there, but a lot of these that we're going, you know, this next week or two on the podcast, gonna have some some cool stuff that we haven't told each other yet or told each other about, and it's gonna have some correlated you know hunt videos that y'all be able to watch on our YouTube and stuff, so, and we're figuring out how to get these on the TikTok stuff and whatnot.
Speaker 1Some of these well I just I don't know if it uploaded or not. I shut my computer a little early but uploading, you know 10 minutes of each one and stuff and we're just putting it out there, folks, to hear we don't I mean we don't make money on the podcast, right, it's just for recreation, pretty much. So I mean, if y'all don't, you know, if y'all don't tell anybody about it, it's really kind of nothing, because we're hoping folks listen to it. Ratings, reviews, subscriptions, word of mouth, whatever that's.
Speaker 1That's kind of how we would get paid, right, necessarily just expanding the brand you know, building a, building a bigger, you know, base of subscribers and listeners and stuff, and that is the only advantage we could get from it. And we get to, you know, talk turkey, which is fun, and be, um, you know, once we get guests and stuff on here here, different points of views and stuff like that. So that's about, um, the only you know motive, I guess. But if not, we would just be sitting at this table, probably without cameras, yeah that's what we're doing.
Speaker 3It's the same story, the same thing. That's a headset and camera.
Speaker 1But, um, but we'll dive into the, the one we were talking about. So, so, picking up on the last one if you haven't listened to it. See, let's kill one in Alabama, down at the shackle from Lane Boy's Place in Autogoville, alabama, and he has just killed one with um no beard and then please give me a half inch.
Speaker 3I mean maybe, yeah, maybe.
Speaker 1I don't know if I get that far, but um, because I looked at it, and um, so that evening, that afternoon, I don't remember what y'all did. If y'all went, y'all went back to the same spot. I think we listened to the evening prior. No, that's right is it?
Speaker 2no, no, no, we had, we had stopped it both places. We went over and looked to see if the because you saw beehive, didn't he?
Speaker 3that was the next day, but yeah, that was that day because I left after that left that night. That was after I killed. We went back because we were on a beehive and then that's right. Yeah, that's right. We did same place.
Speaker 2So, me and Seales swapped gun for camera after he killed his and we got it scant and everything. We kind of relaxed at lunch and then we just kind of teed off on another bot that we'd never hunted, just kind of see what happened and, um, well, I mean, I think we hunted till dark. Yeah, we did, we almost killed one.
Speaker 3We still ain't figured out why we didn't. Man, I hadn't either.
Speaker 1Well, yeah, we can dive into that, if we want to, but I don't think we should know you got time, we yeah. Um, I was just saying y'all went hunting we went hunting.
Speaker 2Yeah, did not kill a turkey right, we set up.
Speaker 1But while they were hunting is what I was getting at. While they were hunting me and Will and Reeve went to another spot.
Speaker 1That is down the road a little bit even, and um, it is hot, it is like 91 degrees hot and you imagine being out there at 3 pm and me and Will got our butts while they were hunting same spot or same area yeah and um, but then Heels was whipping up on us and and we, um, it's when it's like 46 degrees in the morning but 91 in the afternoon, that kind of two weeks of the season, so you're still wearing like thicker clothes and you ain't necessarily, you know, custom to all this walking and stuff and quite quite yet early season and we, um, we get on this bird and he's gobbling his absolute head off after being there a couple hours this probably, I don't know what time, but um, try to call him, you know, through why not be in too thick, or there's a creek in the middle or something he wouldn't cross.
Speaker 1He got hung up and we kind of get out, come around. They knew about this turkey. Apparently they'd hunted it a few times and for summer I didn't believe it at the time or something. We were walking, you know, kind of skirting some little ag field or something, to get around the other side and then go back down in this big bottom that he was in. That we heard from, you know, the other side of him. We came around, made a big old loop, came back on the backside, made one call back of the side, or something like that, and I had a little trail going down it and they saw a footprint. They were like that's that big foot turkey.
Speaker 1And they call it like big foot or something like that. I remember what it was, but I mean, how many dogs going if this freaking track wasn't an engine I have deep in the mud kind of deal, I'm like it's pretty big foot.
Speaker 1I ain't gonna lie, you know bigger than a lot of trackers I've seen, and so I didn't, you know, really think it in the other, kind of like kid or whatever. But but we go down in there and he might have got. Well, he got one, maybe time as a spot. Me and Chase stopped the next day but pretty much what we did was set up on this road and caught a little bit and, judging by the relaxation and wheels, I was, this was not not gonna not turn out good, but they done this before and this is a pretty stubborn one we're dealing with, kind of like the hopes weren't just oh, wow, I didn't know about this one. He's about to come on in here. They were like good luck, this one ain't.
Speaker 1You know we're gonna be here Well if we can hear another one that'd be really good right now, you know um, so we sit down and set up and we just try to work it. He gobbles on. But my God, at the drumming, this is the. I'm telling you, this is the loudest turkey I've ever heard during my life and I don't know if I'll ever be able to hear that again.
Speaker 1I mean it was shake your like clothes off for your. I mean you could, you could like, I'm telling you, you could feel your whole body usually fill your chest, but you could. I mean your whole body, from your sleeves to your pants, legs and stuff I swear was shaking. Every time he drum and he was it was so hard to course. It was easy to course because he could. If he took six steps this way. I mean it's like a gobble, you know it moves, yeah, and you could also, I mean, use it to judge through, you know if he's in a you know kind of down in the hole, if he's up top or whatever. Most times about your drumming it's just sounds like drumming, but this you could tell if it was in the wooded area or if it was an open area, like he put a gobble almost, and so I'm thinking this turkey's real close and sometimes you know I would be.
Speaker 1You know, wait till I didn't hear the while or he would gobble or something. And I thought for a while there was two turkeys, because the drumming was real close and the gobble seemed further off and I was like I might be another one gobbling. But if it is him, I'm going to make a move and I'll bust this one and I'll bust him. I know there's one behind him and I move up and I'm and the drumming would happen again and it's, it didn't move and I'm like I'm looking at where that drumming is going to come from.
Turkey Hunting Frustrations and Fatigue
Speaker 1There ain't nothing there, so I'm sitting there and that's that's where to you. I sat there until about, I mean literally right before fly time. I don't like being up in there if they're going to fly up right there. And you got to walk out. So we, we had, we had an easy route to slip back, but I'm beat, you know, to you know, wear them back and like hadn't drank up drop of water since 10 am and sweating through everything and I mean, if you got one drumming, you pretty much only on your beat Right.
Speaker 1And so I sat there. I'm telling you, I sat there with my gun pointed to this spot between these two trees for hours, yeah, waiting it out. I'd call a little bit in there just to try something, but really just waiting for him, I'm like he's about to walk out, he's about to walk out, he's about to walk out and he didn't walk out. So I'm sitting. I mean I'm tired, my whole body's hurting and we go back to sleep and stuff. Chase and I, we went back to a different spot the next morning I think it was by y'all shot one of the day before and we get on some here and there and just I mean it is, it's almost like it's too many hills, too many turkeys, and none of them are clubs or workable or anything you know.
Speaker 1So you're, you're every time you walk closer to this one, you're sacrificing that one might have been coming to you. And then you start second guessing and want to do this and everything just kind of starts doing, you know, up down, up down left right, and you're just, you know, in a just a spider web. It felt like a little. Prince, yeah, prince, prince, the principle, the principle, the principle.
Speaker 2Roll the coaster ride is what I like to call it. Okay, it's a lot of ups and downs and a lot of you know it's called principles.
Speaker 1Anyway um but um, we're about to get off on a tangent.
Speaker 3Let's get off the board, don't get me on yogurt.
Speaker 2Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1But um, but yeah so. So we kind of hang our hat up and chase really, really wants to go home right now. He is not having a good time. I was, I was so Well he's got a camera around because he, because he messed up and killed a turkey already now Bambam. So yeah, so I'm totally we're on up the bat.
Speaker 2Right I'm. I'm toting two cameras and a shotgun, because I do have a tag in my pocket and I'm not going to carry shotgun. If I would take my pocket Um yeah, not going to not carry a shotgun if I have a tag.
Speaker 1We started dropping cameras pretty quick because my when, when we, we were actually leaving and we left and I, we went up to gas station, I got a deck on the Gatorade and just pow through about three of them.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1He gets them electrolyzed back in me. We were sweating pretty badly and and and going running off about a one granola bar in the last 48 days. I felt like yeah.
Speaker 2And I'm curled up in the passenger seat.
Speaker 1Chase, Chase doesn't last nearly as long as some. He can get much body fat and reserve on him. Um, that didn't take long, you know get whooped his tank and that empty.
Speaker 2I had to hunt it every day of the season until this weekend right Every single morning. Yeah, and and it had called up catching up to you getting, getting in at 10 30 at night and waking up at 2 30 in the morning's, racing the gate Got to me by then. Um, anyways.
Speaker 1And um yeah. So we went to gas station and we were headed back. I was going to take a new truck. I know, I know what's about to happen.
Speaker 2Oh yeah.
Speaker 3I already know it yeah.
Speaker 2Sills hadn't heard this side of things, I don't think.
Speaker 3I know I guess not. Yeah, cause he had gone home. I can predict what happened. Oh, you know, we're going to check this spot one more time. Oh yeah, yep, honored, I said I know for a fact.
Turkey Hunting Drumming Encounter
Speaker 1There's a turkey in there, because I didn't kill him yesterday and I gearing that gum T you. He's standing in the same spot and drumming right now. It was about the same time as well. Noon, yeah, and it is about 94 degrees now on this day and Chase is like I don't know. I say, well, I'm not asking if you want to, I'm telling you about to.
Speaker 2I'm driving it right now. I think at one point you said, all right, we'll go back. And you I see you turned down the road to the left. I go dang it. Yeah, I know what this man. I can't, I can't walk home.
Speaker 1It looks like I'm going Are you in my passenger seat, yeah, and we going to check. And I didn't, I didn't really want to, I mean I wasn't going to, I was going to listen and if I heard him, I said we're going on him. I mean I'm not going to walk away from God, the turkey, and go to a different state. I mean yeah. I can't, I can't not think about it, and so I and the drum.
Speaker 2I remember you saying if nothing else, I want you to hear the drumming on this.
Speaker 1Yeah, I did.
Speaker 2You straight up told me like just please come on in.
Speaker 1Cause I mean.
Speaker 2I was pretty anti. Oh yeah, keep hunting. You know, I was, I was, I was that ready to go, and I don't get like that very often, but that time in Nebraska, that's the only time I've got that bad, but I'd gotten bad.
Speaker 1Um, but no, I wanted. I was like somebody has got to hear this, so they just know what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2Yeah, Cause I thought you were crazy the night.
Speaker 1when you came home that night we was like I'm not going to kill a turkey that was drumming in front of you. Come on, man.
Speaker 2Like you know, but I had to be close.
Speaker 1So we get in there. And this is what got me thinking about it was the wing bone him having and I didn't have a wing bone and I was like I know he's heard my calls. I mean you heard him yesterday and I think it was. It might have been the same turkey was going back and forth with across that creek for a while. I was halfway on this side and he was halfway on this side and there was just some thick stuff at the bottom and he's got. I'm going to call him, go, I'm calling and either can get to the other. So we just get around and get on this side and Kind of kind of odd for a turkey to do that.
Speaker 1Probably if I'm going to keep saying mouth call in or same plate call, all of a sudden now I'm on this side of him. Yeah, you know, I don't blame him for not just running in there, right? Um, so I didn't want to call much at all. If I could help it, I could call with something, a box call or something, maybe something different than he hadn't heard the day before. But having chased there and the wing bone call, I wanted to go there and just, I think we just got there and stood there for a while to see if we could hear it. I don't remember if we did or not, but I told you, you know, hit the wing bone call, and if you gobble, is that? And we just know where he's at. I know he's going to do.
Speaker 1I don't wonder what he's going to do. I don't wonder. I don't think he's going to come up in here necessarily. Um, especially not something he's already heard and me moving down there and trying to get. I mean, I'm telling you, I walk, I mean I walk, I slid, I get down in the hollow, get off down on a dish, come back up and just peek and I'm like coming up with my gun Like his drum is right. I know he's right there and I come up and he wasn't there.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1And he drum and it would. I don't I mean where.
Speaker 2I looked in the trees. I looked in trees.
Speaker 1Yeah, I want I mean, I sat there and started looking at like he's in a tree. He's got to be. There's no way he's not, cause I could see a good, good jump. And then, um, so, pretty much, just to get to the meat and potatoes of it, chase hit the wing bone. He gobbled same. I'm like I see him, you know he's there and chase, chase soul, Let this body, oh God, I thought we're going to hear the drum and I'm like come on, and I knew you had hunted this turkey for seven hours the day before.
Speaker 3And I'm like gosh. So it ain't no leaving it dark or when the turkeys dead in that situation and you better hope I don't watch him fly up and we'll be sitting there Daylight next morning, yeah, but um but not so he.
Speaker 1He got. I was like I was it. You know, we're going down there. We got down a little further than we started the day before. Pretty much I wanted to get where I. I kind of just crept into and popped up and didn't see him, cause that once that happened I might have no idea. I've learned nothing, I've gained nothing from this.
Speaker 1I have not, I have no idea what the circuit is doing, what he's going to do, why he ain't moving nothing. I don't have no advantage to come back and get it. I have no advantage to come back and hunt him. So I didn't. So I was like, I mean, we can get down there. I at least know he'll come close to this, because I swear to God he was here. But, um, I walk around, look for tracks and then he's attracts from that day, so he never was there to begin with.
Speaker 1Um, real, I mean just a true, you know creek bottom ghost. That's just playing tricks when you left and right and proven how bad of turkey hunter you must be.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 1Um, so I went down in there and I and we went awhile I think, without calling it all, even with the wing bone or anything, just to see if he might walk in, walk close to us, to come halfway up and stop. So the last calls we probably gained about 150 yards, 120, maybe tops 100 yards at least towards him and we're sitting there and we picked about a two saplings with it, about an inch diameter on each side of us and so we ain't gonna much sit on. I'm not even wearing a vest. I got. I got a box call and my mouth call pouch and just three pocket jacket on no vest and a bottle of water. Did bring that because I about died the day before and we're just sitting there and chase drop the big camera.
Speaker 2He just brought his little stick up cam um, which doesn't have a good mic on it, and I I.
Speaker 1The one bad thing is this Camera doesn't really have a microphone on it, so it definitely ain't picking up this drumming. But that drumming was even louder this day, as did. It was just a bowl he was in. What it wound up being is a big bowl and it was just had a, I mean just all the way down, and he must have been in that and it was just Shaking everything but, but you couldn't really tell it was a bowl you think no flat ground all through there the elevation.
Speaker 2Slight changes of elevation level out. So yeah. It's like levels you can't. It looks like it looks flat across the top.
Speaker 1Yeah, it looks like a flat bottom but there's but it's apparently little.
Speaker 2You know it's not a holla Dips in there right, just pockets hey can hide in.
Speaker 1I don't know what.
Speaker 2I still don't know where that turkey was.
Speaker 1But I mean pretty much. He's down there, he's drumming and drumming chase is looking at me like my god, my life, earth is you weren't kidding, oh and and it did kind of drop off.
Speaker 2we were set up, yeah, on one side of a fuller trail and on the we were looking over the fuller trail and the drumming was coming from that direction and you know, it was kind of one of those scenarios where he comes up, there is a little drop off right there about 40 yards, 30 yards, and it's like you see your head. We're gonna need to be ready. If you see that much head, you know he's gonna pull a fast one on us and then he gobbling.
Speaker 1You're like 180 yards. Yeah, you know, yeah, wait then you're like okay, maybe he's about he's at least 80. I mean, he might be 40. Yeah he got 180, it was you almost feel like it.
Speaker 2Are you had two different?
Speaker 1We thought yeah, I was convinced that it was two different turkey, until that drumman's at 80 and you realize he was at 180. You don't think it gets louder, but it gets louder and louder and louder as he is coming in and I'm like this is, I mean, it's pretty big and wild right here, you know and he's, and there's his rise up to our top.
Speaker 1And I hear it headed that I mean, yeah, to our left, and it's actually on the other side. I'm sitting about like this with Chase and he's a little bit behind me and he, that drum is starting to get close and close and it kind of starts coming up here. So I'm trying to pivot and pivot, and pivot and pivot and I wind up. I mean, sure enough, turn around backwards.
Speaker 2And I'm sitting on my knees and I ain't about to mess this up.
Speaker 1I mean we're going on our team right about now hunting this turkey. This is gobble three times drummed. You know, a hole into my soul.
Speaker 2I feel like how long do you think we set up on that bird? And maybe an hour about an hour tops, but yeah. So it wasn't sure it wasn't like hunt.
Speaker 1No, I think you did call one more. I told you, you know, call one more time because we had ended this time after about 30 minutes. We hadn't called down here. No, I was like hit the wing ball one time.
Speaker 2I don't remember if you got it or not, but I knew I wasn't gonna call no more after that.
Speaker 1Yeah, he answered, and it was still a good little while after that for it. But he, he each closer and it's closer, and it's closer. He was what with a hen, actually, but why not be him? And so he's. He's coming up this rise and I'm steadily turning, steadily turning. I'm going off. Drumming is getting, I mean, really shaking you. And this wasn't like he drum every now and then.
Speaker 1This was just you know, yeah, and he comes out and I'm I mean, my eyes are Chris Cross. At this point I'm so twisted up and have no idea where I'm. Even you know, my feet are pointed this way and my head is pointed this way. So what I hear, I think, is this way, and and I'm also in a like.
Speaker 2I just have a camera, but I'm an acrobatic. Oh, so that's just tied up, I'm sitting on my feet. I never settle my butt and thinking that like, oh, that drumming right there.
Speaker 1You know it's about to happen, so I'm doing quick.
Speaker 2So, and then, and then we're in the sign. You remember we got the sign, had moved and we were in the beam, and so Sweat.
Speaker 1You know, we weren't gonna have long when this joke popped out, if we were going to get the opportunity to see right, but he's moving up and I I see a hen or something and I see a tail found, like, like, and see, I saw him.
Speaker 1Yeah, if nothing else, I saw the turkey. It's not a real ghost and he ain't in the trees and he ain't underground, he's on the ground, you know he's, he's honnable and, um, I don't know, that was probably 65 yards Maybe, and he just kind of come up and come down. He come up from down. I Don't. I could hear some walking and stuff.
Speaker 1He ain't kind of trotting around with him, is just him one long hand and that long beer. He was just pushing her almost like a you know but dog in a duck he just pushed one, one of them over and over again and Turn her up, turn her down, turn her up, turn down and I was like he's got eventually turning left, eventually right, and um, it's one of them things that I think he was just kind of pushing her towards.
Turkey Hunting Adventure
Speaker 1It's our area to get up, you know, to pick up and look and see where that hand was, because he hadn't heard that one before. He probably heard Will and Reed and my calls a thousand times by the end, but he hadn't heard that wing bone until you know, an hour and a half before that and he's hurt twice. Worth looking at now that it gained a little ground towards him right.
Speaker 1And you gotta remember Turkish communicate with drumming just like they do gobbles that if he's, if you, you know, call back at a drumming. I mean, that's life like he and vocalization right there. A lot of them do that.
Speaker 1So you know you're just kind of like if you just call when they're goblin and ignore the drumming. Sometimes he's been hunting a couple of times. He knows that you know humans don't call it drumming, but turkeys call it drumming. So you know, sometimes you got through some realistic stuff in there and you know, go silent. This is real realistic as anything. And so he comes in and I shoot and I mean I'm kind of in a little. All this is like a big final sentence to a really long book. I feel like a final chapter to a really long book. And you know I did not want to mess that one up Right and I was little, very steady on the shot because I was not in, you know, I wouldn't prop up on my knee or something.
Speaker 1I was freehanding across my body, shooting all the way left and a little behind me, and when I shot I mean an 870 on shoulder kicks. You imagine it just being like on your elbow right here. It's hot and about, not me losing. I get up and kind of take off running. Of course my feet are faced this way, so when I stand up I'm turned this way and I got to figure out where in the heck was I just looking at all looks the same.
Speaker 2I remember, luke, I got, I almost got worried when I looked down at you because you could tell you were seeing stars. Yeah, it knocked your socks off Like.
Speaker 1Like I don't know if I hit her, just get a concussion.
Speaker 3Another one like we don't need another one I got I was worried for something.
Speaker 1I was like you hit him you shot him, you got him. I'm like what? Yeah, we did what Like?
Speaker 2it was one of those weird situations. And then he gets up and goes to run and go get him and he runs over here and the turkeys over here and I'm like mm, mm, mm, Like I've tried to like point him in the right direction. What just?
Speaker 1happened, I probably didn't not be a little loose, or sir, yeah. About a good bit of. But I mean, I remember thinking like what happened, what just happened, you know?
Speaker 2way, no way, kind of thing.
Speaker 1Right, I mean, I was probably just just believe that this, you know, I mean we're about to go put a hands on this turkey. That has been in the corner of my mind for a long time. The past couple of days and I think a lot of it's just. I'm just so, I mean just going up and down these hills over and over and over again and sitting in the sun and making making heat for seven hours in the day before without moving.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 1And you know it's about 1230, I feel like in the middle of the day, yeah and um and ain't a breeze.
Speaker 2Oh no, it is stagnant air and it's a little muggy.
Speaker 3Radiation Chase is over there breathing a sigh of relief. Yeah.
Speaker 2I don't know if you can hear the door. Yes, Gosh, when I heard that, when I saw that telephone, I said there's a chance. It's like it took it home.
Speaker 1And we're going to shoot at it. Yeah, um, but, yeah, not but shoot.
Speaker 2There's something else. I don't know if we've even discussed. I did have my shotgun, didn't I? I don't know. I think I did, if I'm thinking, the right hunt. I think I was sitting on the butt of my gun by the time I had spun far enough. My gun was laying like a hundred percent behind me, and if that turkey would've came any further to the uphill of us, I was maxed out on my swivel. You were like I can't go any further. He's going to have to hit this one gap. And I'm like, oh gosh, I look back.
Speaker 1I'm like you ain't going to be able to grab it in 20 years.
Speaker 2No way I can do it either. And if this turkey walks?
Speaker 1off after all this. I do kind of remember that, cause I remember we didn't talk about it. I'm out of mood You're going to. Actually, I think I turned your gun around that way. If he came really behind me I could drop my gun and yours would be right there.
Speaker 2I could turn left and shoot for some reason, my gun wasn't where it was supposed to be Right.
Speaker 1Probably not where you put it, because I took it and turned around backwards, so it'd be in line when I picked it up, holy cow.
Speaker 2Yeah, I'm telling you I gotta watch this guy.
Speaker 1No, I mean, I'm just thinking ahead like I know if you need ready to shoot him, like somebody's going to be ready to shoot him, or if I drop my gun. You're not going to know to pick yours up.
Speaker 3Right, I'm always thinking ahead of that. It's like I'm really thinking ahead of that.
Speaker 1I don't do it. I mean an hour before he came up here. I'm like I've chased his title, cause when you turn your knees, like you said, you're sitting in your knees. I said your range goes, you know, from like this to this, if you're on your knees and you've got a tree in front of you.
Speaker 1You know cause? Then you can only do this and you can do this, but you can't do this, yeah. So I was like I'm going to take his gun and turn it, and though, if I put mine down and do this, it's a whole new 180, you know, and I can shoot left handed to you.
Speaker 2Right, but I mean that was opposite of left handed you were. You were swung for a right handed shot too far.
Speaker 1Yeah, I would be left. You would have had to go left, handed Right.
Speaker 2I see what you're saying behind us originally.
Speaker 3Yeah, yes.
Speaker 2Yes, yes, I remember I was holding on to that sapling, supporting myself. And we are on a weird incline. Odd, just terrible.
Speaker 1Oh no, I've got a root, like on top of my toe.
Speaker 2Yeah, like just in a crunch. And I remember just like my arms, my legs are so locked up, cramping like just because I'm out of fluid out of you know anything to burn.
Speaker 1Dehydrated.
Speaker 2Dehydrated, everything. I'm just like I'm having to take deep breaths just to stay up. Just don't pass out To relax. You know, try to. You know, try and not cramp up from my head to my toes and I got a lot of cramps.
Speaker 2And the camera. I think at this point I forgot I was filming and I'm just, I'm holding one hand on the bottom of the camera stick, which is a monopod, single pod, whatever stick, and I got one on that sapling and I'm just sitting here just shaking, you know, trying to trying to hold myself together for 10 more minutes On the sapling quicker than anything Right Coming up a creek and that's something I like walking behind folks over crossing a bunch of creeks and going up hill and stuff.
Speaker 1If they grab a sapling right before they grab it and Hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up. Grab this root on the ground.
Speaker 2That doesn't shake when you grab it. They'll grab a sapling and pull themselves up and it goes you don't think to look up.
Speaker 1but I mean, if you want to see somebody come and look around the creek and they're trying to climb up and they're grabbing these things and all of a sudden these two limbs are doing this. I mean you can see that from 80 yards away easily, but if you sit on a sapling, that can do that, and when you do this and all of a sudden that tree, you might not move much, but it's just exponential.
Speaker 2The further it goes up, and I hate sitting on little things. If there ain't any wind, it'll give you away real quick. Yeah, there are 150 yards. Yeah.
Speaker 1And so I was already nervous about moving at all. But you know, at that point anyway, we got up to the turkey. It was a good turkey.
Speaker 2Oh yeah.
Unusual, Heavy Turkeys
Speaker 1Joker has feet on him. He has a big old feet, like Riva saying. And he weighed. I swear to God, he weighed 30 pounds. I don't know how much he weighed.
Speaker 3Oh, that's what I was getting to, about talking about the short bearded turkey that I can give. Yeah, I know he weighed a lot because we put him on our back and had to carry him all the way out. That's something I bet you this one weighed 21, probably. I don't know how much. It's some weight, but he was. He was heavy when I picked him up and he was even heavier when I got to the drugs.
Speaker 2Hmm, honors, I've never felt a turkey Even close to as heavy as that turkey hunter kill. Yeah, I mean it was, and I never picked yours up, so I mean it?
Speaker 3may have been equally as heavy, but no, I doubt I was just saying like the fact that, oh, how big those turkeys, yeah.
Speaker 2Like hunter was like we were walking out and I hadn't picked it up and I almost was like, hey, I'll relieve you for a second. And I went to grab it and I said, no, no, you got it.
Speaker 1But it's solid white feet to white feet. Yeah, I mean, why does paper was so weird seeing.
Speaker 2I mean ghost white, and he was stuck in a strut yeah.
Speaker 1I wonder how long it's strutting since daylight.
Speaker 2Every second of it. I don't know what really is.
Speaker 1But like I mean, has some do it? I've always thought with like air and quills and stuff and like what they're doing I ain't never seen one drum out of strut. That's for sure.
Speaker 3I've never gonna like a half string oh this thing was drumming out of strut.
Speaker 2No, no, no. Oh, I'm saying, I've never heard that. So I'm saying drumming.
Speaker 1It wasn't like the space, tell it. And it goes a while and you hear it again. It's like like Don't you know? It's almost like he was like perring with it.
Speaker 2I mean like a turkey would purr you know, I mean cat 300 times.
Speaker 1He probably drunk 300 times in that hour and a half, I mean it was just constant like, and so I mean, when I shot it, he feel like he was stuck in strut. I mean you just Like, when you put him in the truck, his feathers are stuck. Yeah, he was still holy cow.
Speaker 2His fan was stuck. His fan never laid down. Yeah like it. His muscles were so built up Like whenever you put him on the tailgate you know they normally their tail will kind of eventually relax down. I Mean it was like all we had to do is kind of widen a little bit for a picture. No, yeah and it was like that till for 30 minutes yeah.
Speaker 1Yeah, I'd burn really I mean just white feet, really freaking big, and you know mannerisms were weird.
Speaker 2Honestly, I feel like it was muscle weight versus fat weight, because that turkey been flexing for 17 days straight. I don't know but like it was, like, like it was like you picking up a potato sack like dead heavy, dense, dense dense weight versus, like you know, just a Pillow case or something you know like it's.
Speaker 3The two turkeys were killed, just not ordinary.
Speaker 2Different different yeah and, and it may just be hard on the birds, yeah, that may be half. I mean the way they acted and you know, physically, yeah, very different turkeys then. Then your average.
Speaker 1Joe, yeah, and both of them were good late and had been there a while, and you know, but don't kill by a lot of things to the wing bone, though, both of them my turkey weird.
Speaker 3We would have walked by him and bumped him.
Speaker 1Yeah.
Speaker 3With people at that wing bone. No doubt in my mind because we mean, we both had a mouth call and we were taking turns walking and calling. And then, yeah, we were calling every 10, 15 my turkey, I know for a fact, could hear us and we could hear him with our mouth calls when he got up at the wing bone.
Speaker 1Yeah, that's why he keeps something special, just in case, and I don't like to, you know, expire those, not get our jail-free cars, but they, they come in handy if nothing else is working. And it's got a. Really you got to really be hanging it up and then you break out something where there'd be a tube collar, you know, a trumpet, or a wing bone, or I got that scratch box. We did that the other spot and got a turkey. I mean close, we got the turkey was because the scratch box, you know, we broke it out the very end as we're walking out, and Popped on it and he got them when we heard all day, let's see if he's willing to play, yeah, he didn't want to die. So we, you know, came over this one that I knew didn't, but we see we can talk him out of it.
Speaker 1But I talked him out of you know how to not use that one, that scratch box the day before out of. That's all. If you weren't there, that's what I was doing, you know. But having that wing bone, you know it's like the only thing we got after that. He's heard everything. That's all it took. You know we've, I mean, which gotta do some times. It was worth it.
Speaker 2I mean I do it again, Absolutely it was a sovereign lease, yeah, but it was a good one to wrap it up, more than anything. Yeah, but. And I got back to the truck. I looked at Hunter. I said or whenever we were skinning it elected him. I said I'm about to head home and I'm taking days off.
Speaker 1Yeah, and I think I slept for two weeks, but the only thing I think about was like I was cussing at Turkey, because now, even when I don't want I mean I don't want to go listening there's one more spot. I could do one more Hail Mary like that. Just one time it didn't work. It's gone two years now. I'm gonna take so many more. Just one more call, one more call, one more call. Let me check here, cuz there's a chance it works. Get worked in Alabama. I'll talk a feel that night. I mean that, uh, that, uh, midday in the middle of that, 94 degrees and a windlass, humid day, but um, but yeah. So now next time stuff starts getting slow, buckle up We'll do some.
Speaker 1Hail Mary's in some last resorts and see what we can come up with, find one willing to play, but we're gonna wrap it up. This is part two of a two-part series. I'm on Alabama lawn beards and short beards and short beards. I keep forgetting that.
Promoting Spring Legion Podcast and Convention
Speaker 1I'm sorry, I'm not trying to offend you proud short beard but long spurs and but yep, so uh, well, uh, we got some more stories to tell. Hope y'all subscribe and follow along with him. But this is as far as Alabama Long-end short beards are concerned. I think we've uh about wrapped it up. So appreciate y'all listening and be sure you like, subscribe, share and all that good stuff like we mentioned. You know we don't there's no real advantage of us doing this if it ain't for just reaching a broader audience and, you know, connecting Like-minded folks. That's all we asked you to do. We don't bombard you with a bunch of ads and stuff like that. But check out springleagincom if you want to help support us. We've got a bunch of new stuff coming up there. And if you're headed to a then new TF convention listening to this, hope to see you come shake your hands, come talk a little turkey and check out a couple of the new spring legions stuff at the booth and we'll see you there. Appreciate y'all listening to spring legion podcast.
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