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
Road Trip Hunting Tips with "Curl" from The Hunting Public / Turkey Van Tour
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Today, Chase sits down with Roy "Curl" Holdford to unpack all that he's learned in his lengthy turkey hunting travels, and how a leap of faith reshaped his seasons, his budget, and his career—from a THP internship to a full-time role at Outdoor Life.
We get into the nuts and bolts of a roaming spring: why a two-wheel-drive Transit can be enough, how 33 mpg changes what states you can afford to hunt, and the evolution from plastic drawers and a sleeping pad to a solar-powered build with water, AC, and an inverter.
Curl explains where he sleeps—legally at gates when possible—and how a simple “turkey hunting, be right back” note has saved him from tow trucks and worried sheriffs. If you’ve wondered how to balance comfort, cost, and speed, this is a blueprint.
Food fuels the miles. Curl shares the mix that keeps him steady: calorie-dense bars and yogurt for fast mornings, fruit that won’t mash, and batch-cooked rice and veggies tossed on a Blackstone after dark. We talk pre–April 15 routing through Florida, Mississippi, Texas, and beyond, then pivot to why short camps with friends multiply scouting, sharpen reads on terrain, and lead to more gobbles.
We also tackle permission etiquette—only knocking when patterns are clear, treating ground with respect, and avoiding the mistakes that close gates for everyone.
Curl’s media path threads through it all: grinding a slow deer year with THP, stacking reps in the field, freelancing for brands, and packing into backcountry hunts to film elk and even moose. The takeaway is a mindset: either tag a bird or learn something that gets you closer tomorrow. If you’re planning a long road trip or multi-day swing this turkey season, you’ll leave with practical steps and a lighter pack.
Enjoy the conversation, then subscribe, share with a hunting buddy, and leave a quick review so more folks find the show. Where will the road take you this spring?
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Meet Curl And The Turkey Van Tour
SPEAKER_01All right, welcome back to the Spring Legion Podcast. I'm your host today, Chase Farrier, alongside Mr. Roy Holdford, otherwise known as the Curl. Curl, yeah. Yeah. Um, and if y'all don't know him, he is a guy in the outdoor industry, any shape and form, to say the least. I'll probably let you dive into that a little bit more. But he you run the uh Turkey Van Tour YouTube channel, correct?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's right.
SPEAKER_01All right. And I I find myself watching it just about as much as any other one I can find. So it's uh the kind of content I like to to spend my time uh relaxing with.
SPEAKER_02So I appreciate that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, so so let's just dive into that. Just tell us uh, you know, everything you do as as far as uh what you do for work and that kind of stuff, if you don't mind, or introduce yourself in that form.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Yeah. My uh background in the hunting industry is I started uh as an intern for the hunting public 2021.
SPEAKER_01Okay.
SPEAKER_02And then since then kind of did it part-time until last year. I went full-time with videography, editing, contracting, freelance stuff. Um, and then recently, this past December, I took a position at Outdoor Life. So I'm working with them full time now.
SPEAKER_01Okay, so you're doing all their media and and and filming and editing and all the fun stuff?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, multimedia producer is my role, and I'm supposed to be a writer, a videographer, an editor, and a podcaster.
SPEAKER_01Okay, cool. So you this is this this isn't your first rodeo, to say the least. Yeah, yeah. So I like that. I like that. Um, so when the turkey van tour started, was that by accident or by by plan on a night?
First Public-Land Bird And The Van Origin
SPEAKER_02It was kind of by plan, but it was also like the van part of it was by accident. Right. Like I 2020, I shot my first public land bird and like immediately was hooked and planned this whole elaborate, you know, turkey tour, like inspired by the hunting public. I had just discovered their YouTube videos and they made it look like a lot of fun. I was like, man, I'm gonna do this. Right, 100%.
SPEAKER_01Did you hunt much before that?
SPEAKER_02Or I was mostly a deer duck hunter. I uh I hadn't been bitten by the turkey bug until I shot that one on public land. Um so like I planned that and was about as green as you could be, right? And then just went right to Mississippi, Alabama, some of the toughest places to hunt. Yeah. And uh as you can imagine, I got my butt whooped.
SPEAKER_01So Right, right. No, I've I still get my butt whooped. Uh that's that's home turf for me, and and man, it seems like every every every other day I found one that doesn't want to play right. And uh so yeah, it's kind of comes with the territory, I think. You gonna you're gonna get your butt whooped quite a bit down there. Yeah. Um, but anyways, yeah, so then what?
SPEAKER_02Um well I had planned all of this uh literally the season before after I shot that first one. I was like, all right, I'm gonna do this. And then fast forward to you know February, two weeks out from where I'm about to take this trip, and my truck starts like breaking down, like having engine problem problems so I'm like, all right, we gotta get rid of this. And I just like super out of character for me, it was just like, you know what, what if I got a van? That might be cool, right? Might be cool to to live out of and you know, put a bed back there, sleep and travel. And so pulled the trigger on a van and have haven't looked back since. Been doing the the turkey van tour. Uh it's been kind of built into the brand now. Right. And uh yeah, they're they're great.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, I I've always been a fan of a van. I've never had one, but I've always been a large fan of vans. Um so and that's that's some um some questions I personally have is is is what does your setup look like in your van at this point versus how when you you first started traveling in it?
Early Van Setup To Full Build
SPEAKER_02Yeah, when I first started traveling in it, I had like some, you know, I had a a tote that had my cooking supplies, I had some plastic drawers that I got from Walmart, and then I just had a sleeping pad and bag that just laid in the back. That was a setup up until like this year. Really, really?
SPEAKER_01So you've you've expanded your horizon a little bit on that.
SPEAKER_02I've upgraded. I've always had those smaller Ford Transit vans, um, but I just got a bigger Ford Transit and it's like already hooked up with air conditioning, like water pump, uh bed, power inverter, solar panels, like all the bells and whistles.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so it's got the full built-in kind of kind of style to it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I'm excited to run that this year.
SPEAKER_01And did you did you build that yourself or did you buy it?
SPEAKER_02I didn't have I it kind of just like came up on Facebook Marketplace one day at a price that I was like, oh my gosh, can't pass it up. Can't pass this one up. I understand. We we gotta pull the trigger on this.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, if I could stay off that Facebook Marketplace, I'd be a lot richer man, I can tell you that. Yeah. Um, yeah, and that's um, you know, I don't I don't travel near about as much as y'all do, and probably as much as anybody thinks. Um I travel some, but not crazy. Um, and I've just got that little toilet at Tacoma with a five-foot bed. And I think I just talked about this on the last episode, but you know, I'm six foot three. That five foot bed doesn't do me much justice, but um I've I've really considered the van style of things or the or uh uh SUV of some sort sort. Um just hadn't pulled the trigger, hadn't swapped it up and all that stuff. But um so these these vans you're getting are the two-wheel drive.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. So the smaller ones are typically front-wheel drive. I never have any problem with mud. Really? You can typically like get like you can push through it fast enough that those front wheels uh catch on the other bank, and it's never been a problem. The problem is always like in real mountain terrain like washouts because it'll it'll bottom out because you don't have much clearance.
SPEAKER_01But yeah, that was my main concern of getting one, is if I could do it in two-wheel drive, you know. I just that always worried me and and not having a big, you know, big mud grip on there, I guess, if if if nothing else.
SPEAKER_02I never had an issue with it. Obviously, you gotta be smart about what roads you go down, right? But like you can typically find a turkey down a decent road. So I haven't had a pro it hasn't kept me from killing a bird.
SPEAKER_01Right, right, right, man. I've I've I I was thinking back the other day, I I found myself uh, I think it was two seasons ago on some public deep in some public, and uh I I'd hit a hit a stretch that was pretty tough on a on old Tacoma. And uh luckily, I mean it walked right through it, but I was I remember sweating pretty hard and I had to give her the beans for about ten minutes there and get on out, but it it c it climbed on out, and that's that's probably the worst experience I'd had trying to get to a turkey. And um I just went ahead and put a big red caution uh pin on that road from here on out. So if I'm watching my map and driving in, it it'll it'll it'll warn me a little bit, like hey, let's let's let's maybe uh stop before we get around that curve this time. Yeah. So um, but I've I've never had a lot of issues, you know, getting where I need to go in that truck. So um, but I have considered it, and and I know a bunch of people are shifting that direction, um, whether it's a van or a a Tahoe or something of that nature, or a Subaru, yeah, you know, Forrester kind of thing. Um and I just I was just curious kind of your setup and and all that now. Yeah.
Two-Wheel Drive Realities And Road Choices
SPEAKER_02Um I've got that bigger one now, and what I really loved about all the smaller ones uh was that they get like 33 miles to the gallon. Like you're gonna cut like any truck that you're driving across the country, like you're gonna cut your gas costs in half.
SPEAKER_01In half, yeah. Cause I mean I'm getting yeah, I'm getting just thinking of mine and hunters. I mean, we're getting 14 to 16 on a good day, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. So I mean that's if you're doing a lot of traveling, then like that is a big expense everybody forgets about, yeah.
SPEAKER_01You think about tags and you think about food and you think about you know hotels if you're staying in a hotel, but a lot of folks forget about that gas money because that's probably the biggest expense of all. Yeah. When you get seven, eight, ten hour drives in in front of you. And that's that's a a hard, hard pill to swallow a lot of times. Um but so like what's uh what's your spring looking like if you do you start planning now or do you plan on the fly or you know, things of that nature?
SPEAKER_02I try to plan now, you know, I try to plan everything up until like April fifteenth when a lot of states start opening their season. Right. Um so like up to up till that point, like I've I've got Florida, Mississippi, Texas, maybe like Louisiana or Georgia. Um and then past April 15th, like could be anywhere. Right. Just wherever my buddies are. Yeah. I want to try to meet up with with friends as much as possible.
SPEAKER_01So I've I'm on I'll I'm gonna try and do that a lot more this year because I've uh I've found myself hunting solo a lot more than I used to, and I I'm I've kind of don't not enjoyed it as much, you know, and I'm I'm wanting to really hone in on the you know creating a a camp kind of situation, a time or two a year and and and and and sitting back and hanging out with my buddies. And I've got one good buddy I hunt with a lot, and um we deer hunt, duck hunt, turkey hunt, we do it all together. And um, you know, I want to I wanna branch that out a little bit more than just him, you know what I'm saying? I I love hunting with him, and there's nothing bad on on my buddy, but yeah. Um, you know, we he doesn't get to travel much at all either. So I want to get on with some folks and just you know get some people from different directions and and try and line out at least, you know, a two or three-day hunt that we're hey, we're all gonna be in this central location back at night, you know, hang out and cook dinner and whatnot, yeah, and enjoy ourselves.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I feel like you learn more when you're hunting with more people too. Absolutely. All those experiences are combined in the one kind of, you know.
SPEAKER_01And you yeah, that that'll tell you terrain a lot faster, you know, where are the birds hanging out, where are they not hanging out mainly is the the best part of it. You know, if somebody else can go on that ridge and figure out there ain't turkeys on the ridge tops and the bottoms or open in so many places at once. Right. So yeah, that'd probably be a real good benefit of that. I ain't never really thought of. Um, so yeah, I'm looking forward to that kind of stuff this year. Because we don't we don't plan our our spring really until after NWTF's over, just because we got so much going on. Yeah. But you know, we I'm looking forward to it already. And I I think I am gonna be able to travel a little more this year with uh the way we got things working right now. Um not necessarily gonna have to stay home and fill orders as much. You know, we kind of got a guy that handles that for us now, and that was a a huge step for us, man. It was it was a big deal for me at least because I'm I'm not necessarily tied to a a post, a shipping post kind of deal anymore. So looking forward to it, and and hopefully um, you know, maybe we can run into each other a time or two throughout the the South or something, yeah, all that kind of stuff. And um, you know, that's the big you know, the big questions and concerns. I'm a prepare guy. I I try to be prepared when I do travel. Um I don't I'm not good at planning the trip first, but um I want to be prepared when it when I do say, hey, I'm getting in my truck.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So as far as like um, you know, cooking and or or eating on the road, you know, what's your what's your go-tos there? Um and snacks as far as traveling in the woods. It's a funny question, but a lot of people wonder that, you know, and I've always wondered that because I'm I'm always I'm very picky and I I'm I always look for something new and also I'll hunt with somebody like, man, what was that? What was that granola bar you had? That thing was, you know, I had to bum one off of him or something. And I was like, man, that's pretty good. I can I can eat those all all season, you know. Yeah. And once I get burnt out on something, I'm burned out on it forever. So what's your what's your you know tactics of uh staying alive on the road?
Fuel Costs And Why Vans Win
SPEAKER_02Yeah. I uh I got a black stone and a Coleman grill on propane um that typically like I'll just cook dinners with. Right. Try not to mess like I try to make sure I've got other things that are pretty easily accessible during the hours that you are going to be hunting. Right. So like I like uh I I'll have like uh like a yogurt and granola uh like ready for me, like when I get back to the van after like midday after a morning hunt. Okay. And then in the morning I'm kind of I I lean towards those Gatorade bars, the granola bars, because they're like almost 400 calories. You can have one, they fill you up, and you can keep on going. So I like the Gatorade bars. I like the the only cliff bar I like is the cool mint chocolate chip one. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01See, I can't do that one. I I know about it. I've tried it a time or two, but I gotta do the peanut butter banana on that guy. Yeah um, but that's that's normally what I only keep is the cliff bar. One one cliff bar will get me until about two o'clock. And then I may have to make a run back to the truck after that.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, I do those and I typically pack like an orange with me or something. Okay. Some form of fruit. Yep.
SPEAKER_01That yeah. I like a banana myself, so it helps with the cramps a little bit.
SPEAKER_02Bananas they just don't hold up.
SPEAKER_01No, they get they get squashed. Yeah, I've had quite a few rough incidents with them in a pocket. Um we won't dive into that, how that look ended up looking at the end of the day. Yeah. Um, but yeah, so you're cooking full-blown kind of meals in the evenings and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah. What I want to do this year is try to cook some meals out ahead of time or or just like like cook, you know, three, four cups of rice. Right. And then just have that in the cooler, and then you just throw that on the on the blackstone hibachi style. Right.
SPEAKER_01And have have some meat or something on there on a couple of veggies and and roll.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, exactly. So trying to trying to be a little bit more dialed in on my food situation going forward.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Especially, you know, as I'm I'm not old by any means, but I I feel old and and I'm starting to have to kind of watch what I eat a little more and and not necessarily the fact stay out of the fast food lane as a little bit more for me, and and that's uh that's one of the big things I do want to I've been I've been leaning towards the meal prepping kind of style, you know. If if not, you know, some form of heating it up, just a warm meal at the end of a turkey hunting day, man, it just seems seems like it wait it makes revives your life a little bit there.
SPEAKER_02Do you have a uh eating on the road like nightmare situation like story that you heard?
Spring Route Planning And Hunting With Friends
SPEAKER_01Oh man. Like getting food or like just uh or just like running out. Man, I rarely am gonna run out because I am one to to pack a lot. Now I will say Hunter all Hunter carries with him most of the time is a jar of peanut butter and a case of waters, and he's good for a week. Uh-huh. Um now hunting with him, we'll get we'll get a little uh testy because we'll be we'll be on day three of I've had nothing but that one granola bar that I thought we were gonna stop and get dinner at night or something and and I'd not be prepared because we're not in my truck and all that stuff. But if I'm hunting solo, I've got I've got some f some snacks or something to to eat. But I I do have some store horror stories, I'm sure, somewhere of of me about starving to death because I'm hunting with Hunter and he's got his little jar of peanut butter and he's good to go. Yeah. So I've learned over the last few years to pack, you know, some snacks in my duffel bag at least to get us through or some some form of sandwich or something that I can I can survive on. But um there's been there's been several different ways. I try not to travel with a um with my big black stone just because I I'm not on the road all the all the time and I've got one, and if I know I'm gonna be gone for two weeks or something like that, I'll take it with me on those kind of trips. But you know, as far as traveling, you know, two or three-day trips, I'm I'm normally like, okay, I'm before I leave the house, throw some sandwich meat in the cooler and roll a tortillas or something, you know, that ain't gonna get crushed and I'll survive, you know, kind of it's only a matter of time for me, you know, is hope hope to survive through the rest of this, you know, kind of thing. Um so um there was something else I wanted to ask you real quick. So camp, yeah, yeah, the way you camp is pretty, pretty set and stone. Do you do you like camping on the on the public ground you're hunting or the private ground you hunting, whatever you're hunting? You like parking your truck there, you like parking in parking lots and stuff like that.
SPEAKER_02I like parking at the gate where I can just wake up where it's legal. It's not legal everywhere. It's not legal, yeah. Yeah. But where it's like legal, I I like parking like right where I'm gonna park to go walk in in the morning.
SPEAKER_01Heck yeah. I mean that's a that's a good way to make sure you're the first one there. Exactly. You hear you hear some gravel popping, you can slide your pants on real quick. I think we've all done that a time or two. Yeah um go ahead and get you a couple couple strides ahead. Um but you know, we've we've done it, we've done the the the Walmart parking lights, we've done the you know, pull-ins, the camping slots that we've we've done it all. Yeah, and um that seems to be the most you know, most stayed in spot for us is is at the gate or another gate we weren't that sure on, but good chance we might end up if we wake up late, we're gonna end up going in there. Yeah. Um or not far from where we do want to go. As close as we can get without feeling, you know, concerned about it. Yeah. Um have you ever had any show enough weird run-ins while staying somewhere?
SPEAKER_02Not not overnight. Okay. I've uh I've come back to the van several times with the sheriff waiting on me. Really? Because somebody had it's actually literally just because of the van. Like people call the sheriff and they're like, Yeah, somebody, there's an abandoned van out here. Somebody left their van out here. I'm like, no, it's turkey season, dude. I'm a national forest. What are you talking about?
SPEAKER_01What do you mean abandoned? Yeah. Yeah. I think it may not look like it's in the most clean shape, but you know, it is not abandoned. Yeah. It may need a car wash and a good vacuuming, but come on, man. Uh-huh. Yeah. Or, you know, I'm sure they think somebody was trying to live out there or something like that too. You know, if it's been there a couple days and they get concerned. And I guess if you are staying at one gate and you you hung up on a turkey in one gate and you have been there for two or three mornings, somebody's going to start getting concerned. Yeah. Um, I've I've come out to a sheriff there, you know, just checking on you normally. You know, I've done it one or once or twice. I've come out to to other hunters sitting there just waiting on me, and as soon as I round the curve and look at them, and they're like, I was just seeing who you were, and just pull off. And I'm like, I would have told you my name and got your phone number. I'll let you know. You know, I I try to work with everybody if I can. You know, I'd I'd rather not get screwed out of one myself in a form. You know, I feel like we can work together with just about anybody if they're willing.
SPEAKER_02Um that happened enough times to me that I had to start leaving a note on my dad's said turkey hunting, be right back.
SPEAKER_01Have they ever towed it or anything?
Food, Meal Prep, And Staying Fueled
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they towed it um once. Yeah. I missed I only ever had trouble in Mississippi and Alabama. So there's some sort of stigma going on there.
SPEAKER_01Well, I have found a few abandoned vans actually on public ground. Okay. And on some private ground. I wish I was joking, but I probably found four vans and then and they were they they they lived there for a while. Yeah. And there wasn't nobody coming back to get them. Yeah. Okay. You look down at the serial number, it's got a little grind mark on it stuff, and you're like, and it's for some reason it's bands. All three of them. I found one regular car and and I found you know three or four vans probably, um, either on deer camps or poke ground and stuff like that that I've been hunting around. I don't know. And that's all in Mississippi, so it must be a Mississippi thing. I don't know. I guess someone's gonna steal something. It ain't gonna be nothing cool. It's gonna be a you know, 2001 Dodge band, what what's that they're called? Uh Chrysler uh van or something. You know something not many people really want, you know, thousand dollar car by the end of the day. That's normally, you know, that's giving it some by the ones that I found. But um we actually had one this past deer season to get left on a property. I I was deer hunting, and it was I I rounded the curve on the deer camp road. It's like a foiler trail. I'm on I'm on my Toyota at that point, not a ranger, which we normally take a little ranger down there. Um somebody else was on it yet, so I was like, I can get the the truck right there, you know. And right where I rounded the curve to park, there's a you know, van and it's 4 a.m. I'm like on private land, you know, and it's it's on off the blacktop now, and I'm like, I'm gonna go hunt another stand. I just whipped right around. I said, you know what? We'll deal with that in the daylight. Yeah. Because I didn't know if somebody was staying in it, or you know, something like that. And I didn't want to get myself in a weird situation, not having you know, good phone service and whatnot.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, I just kind of went ahead and put it in reverse. I said, Well, I ain't gonna hunt that box stand because it was a rough day to hunt. I didn't really even want to be out there. And I'm not much of a box stand sitter, but that day I was like, I'll sit in one. You know, it was one of those days, like there's one there, let's go sit in it. So I just went and hopped in another stand, text, text the other guys I was hunting with, and I was like, hey, I moved, you know, FYI, there's a van there, let's check it out when we get done. And we walked up and wasn't nobody in it. All the windows were down, it'd been raining for two or three days. We were like, okay. Yeah, don't know the story on it really. And uh about three weeks later it went away. So today somebody came back to get it. I don't know what they were hiding it from, but yeah, whatever. Um, yeah, we never, you know, one of those weird things, but it was a van. Sure enough. So we had another van catch on fire at my old deer camp. Right in the somebody pulled it over there and lit it on fire. I heard them pull it up in there while I was in there uh I was a deer hunting or turkey hunting and saw a blaze come out of the woods. I'm like, something's wrong. Run over there, it's van on fire. I'm like, I don't I called the sheriff, I was like, Hey, van's on fire.
SPEAKER_02Well, it's all making more sense why I got towed. I think it makes sense now, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Maybe uh yeah, that sign's probably needs to be pretty big too. Yeah. Get you a decal made that says, Please don't, you know Yeah. I am turkey hunting. So um and where where are you from, Roy? North Carolina. Okay. East East Coast. East side. East Side. So you yeah, that's a cool place to be up there, I've heard. I've I've never made it up that direction, but I've always wanted to. We were just talking about, you know, the East Coast, uh hunting up the up the east coast and all that stuff. And it really just seems like just some r some hard hunting up there, but like good, pretty woods. Is is am I wrong there? Because I've never seen it myself.
SPEAKER_02It's it's beautiful. It's a lot of uh, you know, a lot of cypress, which is pretty unique. Um a lot of a lot of long leaf pines and lots of like big oak swamps. Right. Um but hunting along the rivers on coastal North Carolina's some of my favorite stuff to do. The the the hardest part is just there's not a ton of ground to work with and there's a lot of folks that you gotta share it with. There's plenty of birds. And if you got access to private, there's plenty of like you're you're pretty into chips, and and you're not quite like south enough to where you can't have no prayer of getting permission. So like you can go around and door knock and potentially find find some some willing. Right. Right. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Do you do you I mean I uh and you don't have to answer this by any means. Do you do you door knock a good bit when you're on the road? Or do you you know stick to the private ground? I mean it's worth a try kind of thing, is what how I see it. Like if I know there's a turkey there out, I'll give it a go, but I ain't very I ain't gonna just set out on a door knocking mission like some people do.
SPEAKER_02If I'm really having a hard time like finding a bird on public and I'm you know continue to see them out out in this guy's field, then I'll go I'll go door knock.
SPEAKER_01That's kind of how we are. It's gotta be a two or three day occurrence of like, okay, well, I mean there's they're gonna stay there, you know, it seems.
SPEAKER_02So at least at least in some places, you know.
SPEAKER_01You know. And it works out sometimes, sometimes it doesn't. We've had a a few weird occurrences with that um to kind of make you not want to do it as much anymore, just from hitting the hitting a guy at the wrong time, you know, you're going through something or I don't know, just a little crazy to him, you know. Especially around Mississippi, you it's just kind of like a sin, you know, to try it down here. Yeah. You know, you just know that for sure it ain't gonna happen.
SPEAKER_02So we know a lot of the times, like the reasons that people won't let you hunt or like won't give you permission is because they've had bad uh like they've had somebody come and trespass. Right. Like they just completely bypassed even knocking on the door and asking them, they just like started trespassing right and it's like you that ruins it for everybody else that would go and knock on that guy's door.
Where To Camp And Gate Etiquette
SPEAKER_01So 100%, or just not take care of their place. Yeah. I've seen a lot of that, and you know, I know that's a big thing in the the duck hunting world. You know, there'd be people duck hunting and driving their trucks and getting them stuck in the farmer's field. Now he's got to do, you know, two weeks worth of repairs to his his field that was planted or not planted or what, you know, whatever it may be. And and that's a big I've heard a lot of those stories, you know, from from the duck hunting stuff and or and and turkey hunting. I'm not saying just turkeys, I mean it's from the turkey hunters too, just people try leaving trash everywhere and just not treating their play, you know, place worth worth you know being there. And and that's a big thing, you know. If if you take care of somebody's stuff or offer to do something with them or help them out in a form, I mean heck, we've had them, you know, offer us bedroom and and dinner and all, you know, stay here, you know, you don't want to sleep in the truck, you know, all that stuff, you know. We're like, man, I don't know. Midge you 45 minutes ago, man. I I think that's a little pushing the boundary and then they mean it, they're just nice. You know, certain people you come across are just nice, but most of the ones that we get nose on are from a bad experience. They're like we used to let everybody hunt. If you if you asked, you got it, but not anymore. Because the last two or three have just ruined our place and and all this. And we try to be respectful. If we do get a permission spot, you know, we ain't gonna just go, they got five turkeys out there, we're gonna we may shoot one, you know. We ain't gonna try and kill all five of them. You know, that's just how well I I just don't like doing that on to nobody. If it was my place and I let somebody go hunt it and they killed every turkey I had out, I think I'd be a little sideways, you know. So um, you know, that's just just one of them things. So um one of the other things I was curious about, so I don't know how old you are, but before you were traveling and doing this, were you what kind of field of line line of work were you in before getting into the media side of things, or did you pretty much just start at a young age?
SPEAKER_02I mean, I started in college. I you know, I started with engineering, said that I'm not smart enough to do this. Understand that went to business, then went to psychology, and then landed on professional writing and journalism. So that's kind of like the direction that I was going. And then I did that internship for THP and kind of like dropped out for a couple years.
SPEAKER_00Right.
SPEAKER_02And um yeah, I I did that and kind of was just like I was landscaping on the side while also doing my own media like part-time contracts for a while. Worked at a coffee shop while I was doing media part-time, and then eventually got enough contracts to do it full time. Right, right.
SPEAKER_01So you so you perform you do media for other companies contracted through. Yeah, correct. Yeah, so I was I just didn't know that's not I'm not a media guy, so that that I don't know how that really plays out, you know.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so I would I would get uh contracts for like editing videos, like somebody would send me their footage to edit. I would do social media management for brands, um, and then I would get contracted as like a freelance. I'll call it like a backcountry videographer because that's what most of my jobs were were like going and you know, backpacking and filming somebody's elk hunt for a brand. Like I work with I work with Kafaru a lot and they make frame backpacks. Right. Like did a moose hunt with them in Alaska. So like that'd be cool to even just go sweet job hang out on the street. I got to do I got to do a lot of hunts that I would never have been able to afford to do myself, so I got to have some pretty cool experiences doing that.
SPEAKER_01That is pretty cool, and and it's wild where the woods will take you by the end of the day. You know, that is the coolest part about it. Um if if you don't mind me asking, like doing that internship with with THP, you know, how'd that um how was that? I mean, is it is a broad spectrum question to ask, but like I I know the boys, they they hunt hard and they hunt all the time. Yeah, it seems. And you know, how was how was that just jumping in and and hitting the ground running with those guys?
Sheriffs, Tow Trucks, And “Abandoned” Vans
SPEAKER_02It was great. Um, I will say it was our worst, their worst season that they've ever had. Really? We shot like I if they shoot like you know, average 10 to 15 bucks a year, like I think we killed four really that year. Yeah. And like I filmed two doe kills, like never got to film an actual buck kill. Yeah. And I maybe had like 10 days off from you know August 15th until the end of December. Man. So it was it was a grind. It was it was a lot of hunting, but like even though we didn't have as much success, like the amount of reps that I got and the amount that I learned, the experience that I gained from from that internship was like super valuable valuable in itself, and then also just the connections I have made through the hunting public. I mean, I probably wouldn't be where I am today without them.
SPEAKER_01So I I can understand that. Those guys do have a good reach on them. Let's just say that. Yeah. Um, they're all good guys. Everyone I've ta I've talked to, uh, I think I've talked to all of them for a a good little stent of time. And man, they're just they just like they are on the on the on the TV. Yeah, they're just good folks. They they like to have fun, they like to make light of a, you know, like I guess make light of it's not a what I'm trying to say, but they have a good time no matter what it seems. Whether they're getting their teeth kicked in by deer or turkey or whatever it may be, they just seem like they're in in good spirits at all times and they they truly enjoy what they do. Yeah, you know, and and you see some cook companies that aren't aren't wired that way. You know, you can tell when they're in a funk. And I'm one you can tell when you I'm in a funk. I'm not gonna say I'm not, but you know, the guys that that can get on there and and just have a good time just doing whatever and and and loving what they do for a living is great. You know, it's great to see somebody doing that. Yeah, um, no matter who it is.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, they they just don't look at like, you know, it they have the mindset of you're either gonna get what you're like this whatever species you're hunting, you're either gonna get one or you're gonna learn how to get them. So like you know, an unsuccessful day just like doesn't even really exist to them. Right. Because they're always learning, yeah. And that's like the mindset that they have, and that's how they're able to, you know, not get sewed down.
SPEAKER_01Right. No, you've got to you've gotta have some form of that to you to uh not get get in the dumps and um little optimism. Yes, very much so. That's that's a good way to put it. Um but yeah, um, anything else you want to hit on really necessarily? Any anything just just crazy looking forward to anything of that nature, anything you have for me, any other forms? So I don't think so. Just ready to get back out here in this this mass crack chaos of the show. You don't want to ride this out a little while longer or hang out in this room.
SPEAKER_02I think I do actually. Overwhelming out there on the show for you.
SPEAKER_01It's been a great show so far. Um we're about halfway through it now, and and man, it's it's I think we're gonna have the biggest crowd we've ever had. It seems to be thick, thick, thick in those hallways. So that's good. And we uh it seems like everybody's having a good show. And and I know y'all have been over there shaking hands and kissing babies and all that stuff that y'all normally do. You know, I gotta give you a hard time on it, man. Um I see. I'll just I had jotted down a couple notes just I wanted to cover, make sure we're good. Um But yeah, I mean I think that's got all my quick quick chick chicken stratch out of the way. Um But yeah, I mean I appreciate you coming on. I th I thank you for taking a little time out away from the from the booth and all that stuff to to slip on here. And uh we hope to get a few more guys on this while we are in town and and all that stuff. And it's good to just sit down in person with somebody that taking out as much as you do. And if you um if you haven't seen curl stuff, um, where all should they check it out? And I'm gonna let you tell that part because I'm gonna mess it up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it it it it's gonna get a little complicated. Last year's stuff is gonna start posting on my YouTube channel, Turkey Van Tour, and then this year's stuff is gonna post on Outdoor Life's channel. So uh they are like adopting the Turkey Van Tour this year. I started working for them full time, so you can find all of the new stuff at Outdoor Life, all the old stuff at Turkey Van Tour. Nice, nice, awesome.
SPEAKER_01Well, I appreciate you coming on, Carl. And um, I wish you the best this spring, and uh hopefully we can run into each other somewhere, whether we mean to or don't. Yeah, we'll we'll get up with each other. Sounds good, boss man. Well, uh that'll wrap us up on this episode of the Spring Legion podcast. We'll see you next week.
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