The Spring Legion Podcast

Inside 21 South: Cameras, Travel, and Turkey Hunting Passion

• Spring Legion Turkey Hunting • Season 5

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0:00 | 38:25

We sit down with Toby Dean Smith and Taylor Boland from Mississippi's 21 South crew at this week's NWTF Convention and Sports Show to talk filming turkeys with discipline, long road trips, and building a vest that fits the most active of turkey hunters. We trade hard-won lessons on gear, scouting, food on the road, and why community beats competition.

• filming tips for clean turkey hunts
• mirrorless vs handycam trade-offs in the field
• building an athletic, run and gun style turkey vest
• big-lens stories and first filming mistakes
• long-haul travel, truck sleep, and cheap hotels
• fast food vs local diners on the road
• 2026 spring plans across multiple states
• adapting scouting when maps and acorns lie
• deer and turkey behavior in a heavy acorn year
• community over competition across brands

New: Spring Legion YouTube Turkey Hunts every Tuesday at 6:00 PM CST


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SPEAKER_02

Four, welcome back to the Spring Legion Podcast. My name's Chase Ferrier. I'm I'm sitting here alongside some special guests from actually not far down the road from our home um range, but ran into them up here in Nashville, decided to pull them over here in the booth and uh see what they had to had to say. I'm sitting here with Mr. Toby Dean Smith and Taylor Boland from 21 South. Um Taylor's not so close to home, but Toby is right down the road. Um just want to give y'all a little uh introduct let let y'all give yourself a little introduction and all that kind of stuff. We can get into some questions. What do you think, Toby?

SPEAKER_00

Like I said, my name is Toby Dean Smith. This is Taylor Boland. I'm from Lake Mississippi, which is like you said, just a skip and a hop through the woods, cross river, across the reservoir from each other. We ain't we ain't too far apart.

SPEAKER_01

I'm from Murfreesboro, so I'm pretty close to this convention here.

SPEAKER_02

Uh you're right down the road. So yeah. So if y'all hadn't followed along with the 21 South guys, I uh I'm very impressed with what they do uh camera work-wise and and quality of hunts they put out. Um they travel just about anywhere and everywhere it seems, chasing deer and turkeys. I ain't seen y'all chase many ducks. Maybe Taylor has.

SPEAKER_00

Taylor is uh he's more on the duck side, he's got some some opportunities there in Arkansas. He sends a couple weeks a year out there, but he when he gets a duck on his mind, the camera stuff just kind of goes out. And I ain't I'm a chicken farmer, so I have to s avoid fowl. Right, right. Migratory birds, so I don't get to get involved with it.

SPEAKER_01

But in the last couple years, the duck hunting has been so bad. The chances you get you want a gun in your hand, not a camera.

Camera-First Mindset In The Turkey Woods

SPEAKER_02

Right. I know I get that 110%, and that's kind of how I get with turkeys most most time about second week of the season. So and our YouTube kind of reflects that. Um as you as everybody probably already knows. But Toby, I know, you know, you you carry a camera everywhere you go, and it seems at least, I could be wrong, correct me if I am wrong, but you know, you you were very good at putting the camera first, it seems. And uh may maybe you can dive into some of that and how you raised yourself up doing that, right? You know, self-taught yourself.

SPEAKER_00

I I started very young. I mean, I got a a a little handy cam, a hundred dollar tape recording camera when I was ten years old. That was what I got for my birthday, for my tenth birthday. And I just filmed stuff in the yard, filmed me playing, doing this, shooting bows, all that sort of stuff. And then, you know, you progress, you get you upgrade your equipment, get new things, and life happens and I kinda got out of it. Right. And then when I decided I was gonna get back and we were gonna start 21 South, I told Taylor and I told the rest of them, like, if we're gonna do this, we're gonna do it. Like I I we're gonna have to be disciplined to it. If a deer walks away, if a turkey walks away, if if the opportunity fades, so be it, kind of.

SPEAKER_02

So be it.

SPEAKER_00

You know, we'll we'll come back and try again another another day, it just adds to the story. And when I got that mindset and I started treating my camera like it was my gun. Like I'm I'm shooting that turkey literally until the point of impact. Right. Like everything's lined up, camera's in my lap, it's just the way I set it up. It become easy. I mean, if the turkey's doing what a turkey's supposed to do, it it seems it's kind of inedible to get it. Sometimes they just hang up and you crawl, and that's when you mess up with things like that. But when you're set up, I mean it's right, it's there.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, that's I mean, that's where I I struggle the most is whenever I I get situated the way I want it to go, you know, want it to play, and then it don't play that way. Yeah. You know, and that seems when the camera gets kind of third hand, fourth hand, you know, down the line, and then it just gets, you know. Where you're you're just worried about doing one thing at that point and and your camera ain't is is important. So I I bet that does take a lot of self-discipline to to get to that point. Um, but you know, you do really good work with that and and the the whole thing of letting a turkey walk by, that's one thing we ain't we can't do. Yeah. You know, that's just we don't get enough opportunity. You don't you don't seem like it because y'all y'all sure uh get y'all's fair share every spring.

Gear Choices: Handycams vs Mirrorless

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I I have, but I guess it's it's a rarity. I'm most of the time if if I if if if I'm like iffy about it, I just pull that baby wide.

SPEAKER_02

So so what kind of camera are you running normally in the Turkey West? Well well let me let me state back this. It ain't that big joker you you had me filming with that one time, is it?

SPEAKER_00

It is not the FX6. We we backed off from the cinematic side of filming and we try to do it, but we do it with smaller equipment. When I'm running an A74, A74, okay. Um Grant runs A7S3, Taylor runs he's fisting to be running A7S3 too. He's got A74 right now. Okay.

SPEAKER_02

And uh the digital camera side with the b with the interchangeable lenses and stuff like that, correct? Okay.

SPEAKER_00

And if it was not for being able to go back and make the reels and stuff out of the footage, I would be running a handy cam. Right. Like it's so much simpler, so much easier, less movement, right, but it's just hard to sacrifice those turkey reels.

SPEAKER_02

I I I understand that for sure. And that you know, we we film with majority handicams. And you know, it's just simply because normally we're either self-filming or or not. And the adjustment on the focus or the the the zoom is is kind of always the the crutch I find myself needing.

SPEAKER_00

Um but I will say like the reels and stuff that y'all post with those cameras, they they do better than some of the cinematic stuff.

SPEAKER_02

But I've seen stuff shot with an Android do better than some of the stuff we posted. Both either of us have posted, so it ain't about the views to me. You know, by the end of the day, it's just you know, keeping keeping turkeys on everybody's minds, all I want to do.

SPEAKER_00

Y'all keep them on people's minds. Y'all don't have to I kind of wondered at the beginning of Spring Legion, like what do they do? Like, what do they do after just plan for the match? It's very evident that the true turkey-minded people, it never ends. Right. I mean, y'all are still rolling through December and all through the year, y'all are just rolling with it.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I mean that and that's the the joy of it. And uh building the gear, building the clothes, building the apparel, all that stuff. You know, that starts realistically in about late April. Yeah. Um, early Marbury on end of June is when it starts getting heavy. Soon as soon as the season's out, we're we're placing orders, we're we're designing new stuff, we're we're moving all that kind of operation around. So I mean, we're realistically thinking about, hey, if I was sitting on a tree, what would this be like? Well at this time I was sitting on a tree, so I mean it never gets it never gets to leave our mind. Right. And that's how we you know, by design, to a to a good extent. Um you know, and I deer hunt my fair share. Hunter doesn't very much. He he hunted one or two days this year and got him one or two, but first year and several years he actually had enough time to deer hunt. Um just because some some things went more smooth than we kind of intended.

Building A Better Turkey Vest

SPEAKER_00

Um you see the see what the the work that he's put in. I mean, oh yeah. It's dropped a brand new vest and that doesn't just happen overnight.

SPEAKER_02

Right. And I'd like to know a little bit more about that if you so um the vest actually we've been working on that I I mean I'd say since we were in high school, um you know, thinking about it at least. You know, and it got to the point where we were just like we can't find what we want. Right. We're gonna have to eventually make one. And um you know, really we we dove into it hard before last spring, I guess last summer. Um and finally got a prototype or two, you know, to to try and to try out last spring. And um I'm gonna be honest with you, you know, I I dropped my vest. I I hadn't hunted with a vest in a few years. Um you know, just because I couldn't quite find one I liked. And um when I when I got the first prototype that Hunter, you know, let me he'd already ran it a little bit and he he he liked certain things, didn't like certain things, and he put it on me. Same sizing pretty much as what we got now. Um it was close. It was just, you know, we moved some pockets around, things like that. But um what what I've been telling everybody and and what really honestly I felt was when I put it on, it was like a breath of fresh air, finally. You know, it just fit right on and I was like, this it makes sense. Right. You know, simply as as simple as that. I just I finally found one that made sense for the style turkey hunting we do. It's you know, the pockets are to the side a little more. There's they're d designed to be more closer to your back, not closer to your belly button. Because I mean we're we're we're crawling and and going through briars and all that stuff, and you you don't want a box call you having to lay on for an hour when you're stuck behind a a log or something, you know. And uh you break a lot of calls that way, you break a lot of equipment that way. Yeah, for sure. And um, you know, we just didn't want that. And so by design, they they fit a little on more on your side, and uh the thin seat cushion, you know, we kind of figured that hurt some people's feelings. But yeah, we don't we don't sit long. We just w it keeps us dry. And that's I mean, if I could make it thinner second pad. Right. If I could make it thinner, we probably would. I'm gonna be honest. We thought about a flap at one point, just a quarter of it. Yeah, really. Most of mine are have have been deleted from all my old vests in the past. Now I did carry a seat cushion with me last year or not carrying a vest. I did just strictly carry a seat cushion because I got tired of being wet. Right. Or sitting on cactuses or spurs of some sort and whatnot. So um it was a lot going into it, really and honestly. Um and and finally being able to pull the trigger on it was it was a big deal to us, and and we were very proud of it. Yeah. Um, and it's you know, to be as proud as we are is I think is a reasonable reasonably priced best. I think it is too.

SPEAKER_00

That's why I was looking at that thing that Hunter posted talking about the bundle deals. Like you're getting a lot of stuff for that price.

SPEAKER_02

Right, right. And you know, some of that may be a show special, some of it may be, you know, a little bit more online, but I mean you're really getting a deal. And and that's why we we created String Legion, you know, we wanted it to be where folks like us can't afford to have good quality stuff. May not be the flashiest, may not have the most pockets, you know, there's something of that nature. But it's good quality stuff we have built poured our heart and soul into building it as durable as we can and and as reliable as it can be. And and trying to keep it at a good price point.

SPEAKER_00

Right. Well, I haven't put it on, uh just looking at it, I can tell like it's just gonna be something that if I was gonna wear it, it would fit me.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_00

Being tiny, more of an athletic fit, and I and I've preached about that for years because every just generic turkey brand, it don't matter what turkey brand it is, but if they have a vest, it's gonna fit something like somebody like Easton. Right. Like, and you're not a you're a tall guy, but you're not a big guy. It's still gonna swallow you. Right.

SPEAKER_02

Um I wear a 29 waist if I if on a on a wear twenty-eight, so we're close. I I uh I'm a I'm a 31-36 Wrangler. So I'm more linked than I am.

SPEAKER_00

I'm 2832. There ain't much to me.

Big Lenses, First Filming Lessons

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, Lord. Um so yeah, well let's like uh let's let's dive in. You want to tell that story on that time I've tried to film you that one time?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I don't I really don't even know how I somehow it came about we were chit-chatting. We I don't have I'd even met you before then.

SPEAKER_02

Uh uh. We met at the gate of wherever you were hunting that day.

SPEAKER_00

We had been texting and whatnot, and you want to come film a deer hunt? Yeah. And he had never I mean, he had probably ran his little handy cans and stuff, and he gets there and I put him in the tree and he's got a FX six in his hand instead of the quarter lens.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, if y'all don't know what that is, it's about the size of an ammo can be.

SPEAKER_00

And he got up there and he did a good job. I just kind of went over the basics. I was like, if it looks too dark, adjust this. If it's too bright, adjust that.

SPEAKER_02

And it actually taught me a lot that I still use today, because that's about the only tutorial of camera work I've gotten from anybody. I'm gonna be honest. The funniest thing was we got up in that big oak tree, I remember that. And I think you had used your belt or something as a strap. And I was thinking, well, what the yeah, your safety harness.

SPEAKER_00

Uh you put your stand up too that day.

SPEAKER_02

I forgot about that. Yeah. And I ended up getting like high o above you. And then you just tossed that camera up and you told me how much it costed right before that. And I'm I'm like, man, I am not the athletic fella you think I am, but uh Lord, please, please be with these fingers and hold on tight.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, but we that was fun though.

SPEAKER_02

That was a good time. I don't I don't know what the outcome even ended up being. I think he shot one.

SPEAKER_00

We shot one high shoulder.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, yeah. And it was fun. You know, and that was the first probably film filming I done for another person, and I've done a lot of it now. Um I'm no media man by any means, but I do enjoy it. Yeah. Um and and I I just like being able to play with it. I don't like editing it, and that's pretty obvious. But you know, that's that's kind of where we we started with that, I guess. Me and your friendship started there.

SPEAKER_00

And even after the hunt, man, we spent an hour out there just hanging out, talking about life and hunting and everything in between.

SPEAKER_02

Right, right. So uh when did you get to know Taylor here? Is it recent or is it been a long going thing?

SPEAKER_00

2020?

SPEAKER_01

I think it was twenty nineteen.

SPEAKER_00

It's twenty nineteen or twenty twenty one two. And I actually came up here with another brand, another YouTube channel, and spent some time with him, and me and Taylor just really hit it off, got connected and talked throughout the off season there and got around the next spring. He said, Hey, y'all, he's on up here, let's shoot some turkeys. Bingo. And we shot our first turkeys together, and it just seems like we've just all Yeah, really close since he comes down to Mississippi three or four times a year. We come up here three or four times a year.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. Just talking about that FX6. So the first time I ever met Toby, that's what he's filming with too. Right. And I was asking him, you know, trying to figure out, you know, I had never even picked up a camera before I met him. Never even thought about filming. Really? Really? And kind of watching him what he was getting the videos of. I was like, man, this is cool. You know, what do I and I was like, do I have to carry something like that around? He's like, no, you know, there's other options. Right. And uh, but I just always thinking, I'm not carrying something that big around. There's no way. I I don't, but that has become the fun of it to me. Right.

SPEAKER_02

I mean, the filming is the fun part of the hunt now. I agree, I agree. And yeah, I don't tote nothing big, even near what y'all carry. I got a little little cannon power shot, and that's why my audio is terrible. Um but that's about all I can carry in the turkey woods and feel comfortable.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

So I I get where you're coming from with that, because yeah, if you were toting that thing around during turkey season, especially fresh, not knowing what you're doing and kind of trying to, you know, that's a bear. Um that's how I felt that that that day he tossed it up to me in the deer stand.

SPEAKER_00

Actually, the day that I was hunting with him, we was using the 200 to 600 lens. Oh man, that's we're looking at like 14 pounds there. It was uh it was a man.

Western Road Trips And Long Hauls

SPEAKER_02

I couldn't imagine carrying that around. That that weighs about what my 870 weighs, but you know, I probably tote that around. I can't tote two of them around though. Um so do y'all have any any desi uh designated plans for spring yet, or anything you're looking forward to the most or anything like that?

SPEAKER_00

I I don't actually know Taylor's plan. I'll let him go with his first just because I ain't heard him.

SPEAKER_01

I've got uh me and a buddy of mine we've put in for Kansas, South Dakota. Um tried to get a Nebraska tag, had a computer glitch that caused me to not get a tag. Uh he drew a tag, so if we draw Kansas, South Dakota, you know, that's what we're gonna try to do, go out west again. We went to Montana and Wyoming last year, experienced that. Uh but I guess our kind of our backup plans are if we don't draw, we're gonna head east, go North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, just head out that way.

SPEAKER_02

Heck yeah. That's um I've never I've never made the East Coast swing yet. I still haven't. And I hope I can I can make myself get up there this year and do that east coast swing.

SPEAKER_00

That was my 24 spring. Really? Okay. I did the all the way up.

SPEAKER_02

All the way up. Yeah, that's that's that'd be fun. Um, but yeah, hitting that Midwest is is that's where I like to area to be. And uh it's not a bad drive for Miss CB. I'm sure it's a lot smoother for you being here in Tennessee.

SPEAKER_01

Um Montana, Wyoming was not. Now that that took us, so we drove it was to where we were in Wyoming, our first stop was 23 hours from the house. And we drove it straight. We left on a Friday afternoon, drove through, and we were there Saturday afternoon. But we got there just enough time to kind of see, get the lay of the land, figure out, you know, okay, we're gonna go here in the morning, listen for birds. But uh, and then when we went to, we both of us killed in Wyoming. So then when we went to Montana, that drive was even worse. That was like 28 hours. And we tried to drive it through, but both of us were so tired. We'd hunted seven days, all that walking. We stopped probably in Missouri. Uh, I told him, I said, Man, I can't make it no more. I can't drive. He was the same way, he's like, Man, my eyes, I can't keep them open. I said, we pulled over in a uh McDonald's parking lot and just slept for two to three hours and got back on the road. So that was a long road trip.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I tackled uh, I think it was 26 one time, me and uh two buddies, and we uh we were going across I think it was somewhere in New Mexico, I don't even really remember where, but it was it was right at 26 hours, and we left at like 5.30 in the evening, drove through the night. We didn't get there until almost 5. You know, we ended up not shaving some time when we got out there in the West Texas plains and could could really hammer on it. I think we uh we saved a little time there. But it we had a lot of fun. And um, I remember about that at that 2 a.m. mark rolled around and we were looking at each other, and you know, you could realize all something, man, you alright? Oh what? Well, yeah, I'm uh yeah, I'm good. Where are we at? And I'm like, you're driving, where are we at?

SPEAKER_01

And there's nobody else. At that time of the morning, there's nobody else. We went through a stretch of Kansas. Yeah, it was 40 miles before we even saw a tractor trailer. So that alone was like, man, this is it's starting to get rough.

SPEAKER_02

It's it's scary when you get in that vine and then start feeling like that. And um, what's really scary is whenever that that fuel light pops on and you you realize uh I don't see any lights in the in the distance, and I can see for a long way.

Sleeping In Trucks And Sketchy Hotels

SPEAKER_00

When me and Tanner was in Montana, that happened to us, and we was in northwest Montana, like in the wilderness. Yeah, and there is no gas station. Right. There was one we pulled up to, we had like 40 miles to E, and the the the closest one was like 60 miles from us. And we pulled in there and this gas station, it had a pump, but it didn't work. And a local had a gas jug. He went to his house down the road, bought us some gas, and helped us help us get that extra 20 miles. How was a guards and therapy? It was, dude, man. And Tanner did not let me drive. We drove the whole Tanner drove 32 straight. Because he's like, he's like, I don't trust you. I know I'm risking myself staying a wheezing, but I I I I'll drive. I got family to get back home.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. That's a that's a pretty good uh determination there that that helps you keep that head down and and and grind it out.

SPEAKER_00

I slept pretty good. I believe it.

SPEAKER_02

Well heck you can fold out in the back seat pretty well, I feel.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, that that 24 season, I slept in that back seat of that dermax like it was a hotel room.

SPEAKER_02

See, that was what I was I wanted to ask y'all for for y'all's y'all's travel, you know, what it was was traveling look like for y'all whenever y'all do go.

SPEAKER_00

Well, when that was the last time that I went, 'cause like you know, I didn't turkey hunt this past year. I just pretty much took a whole year off just trying to figure out life. And um, but that spring, man, I just had a those Duramax have a plug-in, 24 watt or whatever, 24 volt whatever plug in them, and I had a power strip and I just kept everything charged and I'd let that mug run all night. I had AC, I had heat, whatever. I got accommodated, had music in the background.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, drowned out the outside. I bet that diesel engine running too was pretty soothing, huh?

SPEAKER_00

It was. I had a uh a little Amazon mattress that was made for a Duramax. So it just fit in there perfect. It came with two little like pillow things that you put in the floor to keep you level.

SPEAKER_02

Okay. Sleep. Like a baby, huh?

SPEAKER_00

You walk all day and you see that truck in the distance, man. It's just kind of like a yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Taylor, what about you when you were on the road? What do you normally hotel it or or camp?

SPEAKER_01

It just depends where we're at.

SPEAKER_02

Right.

SPEAKER_01

Uh where we were at in Montana, we were lucky enough we were close to a little town right there, had a little holiday in. It was cheap. And I told my buddy, I was like, man, we're gonna stay. I said, let's get us a good night's sleep. Uh, but I'll sleep in the truck. Right. Especially if you're hunting a crowded area and you find some birds, you know, I'm I'm gonna sleep in the truck. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Just to hold it down a little bit easier for you. Yeah, I get that. Which I drive at little Tacoma, and I'm 6'3, so I don't fit none of the seats. I barely fit in the driver's seat, so and it's got the five-foot bed, which I do have a camper shell, and I have crashed in it a few nights, but um, you know, I don't travel as much as everybody probably thinks I do. I normally stay pretty home home range guy, and um, you know, I'll I'll get in the truck with Hunter or somebody and go on a trip. And that's mainly being majority camera guy that also gets to shoot a few times, you know, kind of kind of how we we work it out. Um But you know, I've I can sleep in the bed of his truck a lot better than I can sleep in the bed of my truck. Yeah. He's got six and a half foot bed forward, F-150, with the camper shell and all that. So um, and occasionally, you know, every third or fourth night we'll we'll try and find a cheap hotel, get a shower and all that stuff, because a lot of times they're in a planet fitness or anything like that. You can jump in and get one. Um But I was just curious on how y'all did that. And um, you know, everybody's got their own way, it seems, and and and ain't none of 'em right and ain't none wrong. You know, as long as you're being safe about it and and all that, which you know, you can't. Find yourself in a weird place in the middle of the night, you know.

SPEAKER_00

I stayed was at a hotel. Really? It was weirder than any place I'd ever slept on the side of the road.

SPEAKER_02

Honestly, I think the same for me.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I was actually in Maryland, and my my rule with the hotel is it's gotta be like 70 or under. So that that'll tell you the kind of places that if I stay in a room on about day eight, it's gonna be a bad night. I mean, you're probably taking bed back bed bugs back home to the house. Um But it was man, I pulled up in there and it's like uh it's got motel rooms on both sides, and you're driving in between them, and there's vehicles everywhere. And you think, well, there's people here staying. No, these are just people like parked out there, like hanging out in their car, walking around, just having a blast. And uh it was pretty nerve-wracking, but I got in there pretty quick. Yeah. Skin a turkey on the tailgate and used in.

Food On The Road: Fast Food Or Local Gems

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, let them know you had a knife. Yeah, let them know I had a knife. Uh yeah, we've we've we've skinned many tailgates on on some some of them cheap hotel areas because that's kind of our reward. You know, we kind of treat it as a reward a lot of times, and a good hot meal and a good shower is like, all right, we we got one finally, especially if we're on a two or three-day, you know, rough patch, and um that seems to help, you know, kind of make you want to get back up the next morning and go do it again. Yeah. But um, yeah, I think one or two of the worst situations we've been in, you know, kind of like, you know, a little scary or whatever it may be, was in some of them rough hotels. I mean, we've we've had hotels with you you you lay on the mattress and you fall through the floor, you know. Yeah. Somebody cut out the hole in the bottom of the the the thing and and who knows why, and I ain't asking questions.

SPEAKER_00

You didn't go exploring what was on it?

SPEAKER_02

I didn't go see what was under it, yeah. But Lord, we've we've had it all, you know, showers not work when we finally get finally get that reward shower, cut it on, the whole shower head falls off, and you're like, Well, all right, yeah, I guess it's another sponge bath tonight, because I ain't going to deal with whoever was working the front counter that I just spent two hours trying to get in this hotel room with. And um you know how that goes. That's that's a whole nother thing. So as far as um a question I like to ask everybody is on a road eating wise, are y'all a snacker? Y'all a y'all a full meal prepper? What do y'all like to do there? Because I mean I'm weird with it.

SPEAKER_00

I'm a I'm a I'm a meal type of guy because I am a diabetic and I can't eat everything. I can't just throw a bag of chips in the bag and eat that in the woods. So I normally just have to go all day and eat a hamburger or something at night or some chicken or something. So I'm I'm I'm I don't gain much weight during the spring. I'm I lose or maintain. I don't get to put a hole in a lot of like calories.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, I get that. I get that. So you you fast fooding it or you fast food. Okay. I I don't blame you there.

SPEAKER_00

I may not stay in the hotel, but I'm gonna I'm gonna eat something.

SPEAKER_02

I'm gonna find a little town and get I like the human interaction.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I'm I'm a human interaction kind of guy, so if I can run through a drive-thru or something, just see somebody for every couple days, I'm good. You know, I'm like, okay. Yeah, it's people still exist. So we're good. What about you, Taylor?

SPEAKER_01

You you uh uh I'll snack during the hunt, but afterwards, what I like to do is try to find somewhere local. Right. Uh something that I don't have at home. You know, find those little holes in the wall, support those local businesses. And I'm gonna tell you, I've had some good meals at places that you look on the outside, you're like, not even sure if it's open. If I go in here, but you know, parking lots crowded, and you get inside and you realize, I mean, I've had some weird looks before because it's that local place that either you know about it or you don't. And I've had those looks like what is this guy doing here? But that's that's kind of what I think.

SPEAKER_00

It's probably looking kind of weird if a 6'4 leprechaun walked in too. What is that? He ain't from around here.

SPEAKER_02

That guy there. Probably covered in in blood and bottom land and all that. Lord, yeah, we we always get the accent. Where are you from? You know, if we get up north or whatnot, they start asking me for a bag.

2024 Spring Plans And State Lineups

SPEAKER_00

I tell you one thing I've noticed is like when it's if it's me and Tanner, once we break the Mason Dixon, everybody thinks we're twins. Yeah. And I don't think me and Tanner really look alike. I mean, you can tell we're brothers. But dude, if you ever get out of here, we're automatically twins.

SPEAKER_02

Well, man, yeah. Try being me and Hunter. Yeah. Because that's everywhere we go. Everybody thinks we're the same person. See, I don't think y'all look that much alike. Because you know us well enough. But if if if you just quick glances, I can see that. I've gotten it, I've gotten called Hunter more the pro more times probably than I've been called my own name. I'm gonna be honest. But um, you know, yeah, we get that a lot, and everybody every time we go somewhere, y'all brothers, y'all twin, you know, what are y'all? You know, y'all and we'll we'll mess with them. So I'm I don't even know that guy. He just happens to pull in behind me. I don't know. So we like you know make jokes of it, make light of the situations and all that. Um, but yeah. So um let's see, what else y'all want to talk about? What else we not cover? I know we can't. I didn't talk about my spring plan. That's uh cut I knew I'd cut you off somewhere.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I don't I never jumped in after him.

SPEAKER_02

Right, that's right.

SPEAKER_00

Well uh you fill us in on that now, because um you and I'm sure you and Grant got plenty on the as far as spring plan, you know, obviously we're gonna start here in Mississippi and Grant and Bryley will be in Florida, but I don't think they're gonna be there for that opening weekend. I think they're going the 20th. Okay. Or twenty-first, somewhere whatever that second season opener is. We'll go from here and I'm supposed to go to West Texas or South Texas, uh like the twenty-eighth, twenty-night, whenever that season opens there. First week of Oct of April's pretty open. And then we got Tennessee on the eleventh. I drew for Illinois the thirteenth. I'll be in Maryland the eighteenth. Um be in Arkansas like the twenty-first, twenty-third, through the twenty-third there. Going to New Mexico the twenty-fourth, be there for a couple days. Then we got Iowa. We drew that late season the twenty-ninth. And then me and Tyler Peck are talking about going uh back west in May.

SPEAKER_02

Just make a swing of that.

SPEAKER_00

Just make a swing, and then like the second week of May, I'll be in Wisconsin with Jason 49 guys and stuff at the end.

SPEAKER_02

So what seventeen, six uh how many states is that?

SPEAKER_00

I it's not it's it's maybe eight or ten.

SPEAKER_02

Eight to ten, okay.

SPEAKER_00

Twenty-four was seventeen states I did that year. Really? Yeah. That was a sacred.

SPEAKER_02

That's a bear, man. Yeah. So yeah, you you stay burning burning diesel, huh? I stay. Or whatever fuel you're running nowadays.

SPEAKER_00

Um I'm in a Tacoma gang now, man. You are now. I am. I've done crossed over. I'm not gonna get a camper shell because I don't want everybody to think I'm like ever I don't want to get on a bandwagon, but I'm gonna get one of them just as like the flap covers. Yeah. I'm gonna start a new trend.

SPEAKER_02

Hey, I had one of them. I slept many days under them. So I probably slept better under that thing than I did my my camper shell actually.

SPEAKER_00

Can't nobody look in on you there.

SPEAKER_02

You can lock yourself in there. Yeah. As long as somebody don't set a cooler or something on top, you're good. It it blacks out pretty dark in there too. So um I've done my fair share of that. That's how I used to run that Toyota for a while. And um I tried not to, but I ended up in some situations where I like that's that was the only place I'd fit. Yeah. So um yeah, and you s sound like you got a lot. Which one are you you most excited for, would you say?

Scouting Struggles And Adapting Fast

SPEAKER_00

I don't know why, but I really just Iowa. I don't know why. I don't feel like it's gonna be a complicated state. I really don't. Just 'cause you know it's more of a limited draw and it's right. I don't know. I'm just excited about that. Have you ever hunted heavy birds.

SPEAKER_02

Have you ever hunted Iowa before?

SPEAKER_00

Never been.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. I hadn't either. I mean I've never even stepped, you know, I've I've driven through it a few times, but that's about it.

SPEAKER_00

No, I have deer hunt, not deer hunting, but I have filmed the I filmed turkey hunts and deer hunts with two different folks out there.

SPEAKER_02

So you kind of know the label land a little bit, or at least how some of the areas lay out. That's that's gonna be a plus. Because um that seems to be my biggest challenge is when I get to a place, uh, you know, I everybody does the scouting beforehand, all that stuff, and you know, everybody's kind of got their own form of that, and I ain't really gonna dive into that. We did, you know, we've done a few episodes on that recently. But I find myself stumbling a lot there, you know, because I I pull up at a place I think's gonna be good, and then I have to write it off, you know, because I I'll make one lap through it, and I'm like, man, you know, that just ain't what I thought it was gonna be. Or, you know, the the the imagery or something was is old, you know, on the map or whatever it may be. And uh I I'm just wrong. You know, a lot of times I'm just wrong. Um we all are too. Yeah, I I'll be the first to admit that I'm wrong more than I am right. Um I mean I just I I know traveling as much as you do and whatnot, you probably adapt pretty quick. Um and all that, which I I struggle. Once I find one turkey, I'm I'm I'm gonna hunt him until I can't stay there no longer.

SPEAKER_00

You do I I'll be done wasted two or three days trying to kill one bird. That ain't ready. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. And I've I've had to dump myself teach myself more to okay, go find one that's ready. Right. And that may be m me and driving three or four hours and you know, getting a whole nother area of of of topography or area of uh you know, different ag or different fruit trees or whatever you want to say. What mass crops is what I'm saying.

SPEAKER_00

Where's them acorns and them bugs, dude?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah. If you can find the acorns and the bugs, I think you you're doing something right. I want to get Dudley on here. I may may sneak him away while we're up here and and and see what his thought is on that, because I'm no I'm no tran uh tree guy like he is.

SPEAKER_00

Um Well I'm gonna tell you if a turkey likes acorns, this is his year.

SPEAKER_02

It's his year, man. I ain't like I've never seen acr an acorn crop this good. I feel like it. It may just be because we've had such a bad one the last few years, but man, the acorn crop this year ought to be crazy. You ain't gonna be able to get turkeys out of the bottom. So I do believe I like chasing them in the bottoms. I like when they're in the bottoms because you move on them and get over that one ridge and slip in pretty tight.

SPEAKER_00

I do believe though, like we last year was pretty good acorns. It wasn't great, but this year's we're bound to have uh gotta have some good ones. It's bound to have a drought to come too far. I just don't see it. Yeah. I just don't see it happening again. And I feel like next year when it comes to deer season and I think deer season's gonna be a little better next year.

Acorn Crop, Deer Movement, And Turkey Behavior

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, for sure. Cause it I mean I think we were discussing this in the booth earlier, you know, about our deer seasons and whatnot. And we were talking about, you know, it was a it was a different year to hunt deer because because they didn't have to move nearby as much because they had acronym everywhere, at least here in the south. Um, I don't know how much you traveling you did with that, but um, you know, that seemed to be my biggest I guess catch, you know, trying to trying to pattern big deer, which it's not very big deer for me that I'm trying to pattern, but you know what I mean. Um not seeing a lot on, you know, greenfields or roads or whatnot like that. They were staying staying low. Um which I think turkeys gonna do similar stuff. So it's it ought to be interesting. And um, yeah, it it it's almost because we had such a bad year the last two years, I kind of re-learned how to hunt a different way. And then this year was kind of a curveball because we had wait a minute. Oh yeah, well, I forgot we hunt feed trees and things like that too, you know. So we had to shift gears a little bit.

SPEAKER_00

Right. And you could go back there, man, and every one of those acorn trees would be this deep with acres. The deer weren't they didn't they didn't they couldn't even eat them all. They weren't ha they weren't worried about them. They had another tree somewhere else. Right. And as dry as it was for most of the s the fall, they didn't spoil. Right. They didn't get wet, they didn't get cold until that gun January, you know.

SPEAKER_02

Last week, yeah. So I mean, we had there's several roads we couldn't even walk down because the acorns were so you know, you'd slip on them. Yeah, roll an ankle on them. So that's a good problem to have for the deer and the turkeys, I think, but it's it makes hunting them a little different. It does, it does occur for sure. You gotta adapt a little bit and get going with that. So but I mean that that's been a pretty good episode, I think. If y'all want to cover anything else, we can we can keep going. We've got a little more time.

SPEAKER_00

But if you got any questions, we'll we'll try to give you an answer. But other than that, man, we I'm not good at coming up with the questions. I'll answer something.

SPEAKER_02

I'm not very good at it either.

SPEAKER_00

I think you did a mighty good job. I was impressed, dude.

SPEAKER_02

Well, good, good. Well, if y'all are impressed, that's all that matters.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I mean that's a that's a down here scale, but I mean that's about where I operate most times. Easton, what you think? Think we're sorry, man?

SPEAKER_02

Think good, think good. Yeah, we got Easton behind the camera now, which uh y'all be seeing a lot of him after he didn't do the TF, I believe. So he's been a big help to us. And uh he he runs with these boys sometimes, it seems.

SPEAKER_00

Uh went up in them coal mines with all Easton.

SPEAKER_02

Uh-oh. Can't be telling all them stickers, huh?

SPEAKER_00

He's he's he's he's he's gonna bleep that out, blur my mouth, beep over that.

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, he's over there giving us the the shush finger. No, no, no. What? Yeah, he lives in Ohio anyways, not not that up to the state. I guess I said the state. Well, anyways, I think that'll wrap us up for the most part. Um I appreciate y'all taking time out of y'all staying. Yeah, y'all uh looking forward to the spring. Hopefully we'll get to hunt together a little more, Toby, since you're right down the road. We we need to really work on that because we have uh we've always said we're wood and we never end up doing it, so which I get tied up and I I get hard to respond to folks and and that's my fault. So this year my goal is to hunt with more folks and and and create a bigger community and of hunting together.

SPEAKER_00

Um like I said the other day, we're not uh we're we're not enemy brands, we're not enemy folks. We're the the community itself.

Community Over Competition And Closing

SPEAKER_02

And that's how all of us look at each other. Yeah, everybody needs to do that, and um, especially if you're local. So I'm gonna try and do that a little bit better this year. And it's never been a I had a problem with nobody. It's just me getting getting my brain off that one turkey I'm stuck on is tough for me. You know how it goes. You gotta fight for them. So especially down there where we and you hunt. So um, but anyways, that'll wrap us up. Um I appreciate y'all coming on again and and and look forward to to the content y'all are putting out. If y'all hadn't checked them out, it's 21 South Acrossboard, is that right? So y'all check them out, watch on YouTube and uh keep up with them on Instagram, Facebook, all that stuff, right? That's right. Perfect. Thank you guys. All right, thank y'all. Thank you. We'll see y'all next week.

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Hunter Farrior

Host