Late Season Gobblers: Hunting Big Hill Country Easterns

Late season gobblers will humble you fast, then reward you when you least expect it. We’re recording from Mississippi during the May chaos, swapping road stories, gear mishaps, and the reality of trying to stay consistent when turkey season has you living out of a truck and chasing the last open states. 

We get honest about fourth quarter turkey hunting: why the woods can feel dead even when birds are there, how gobbling windows shrink as nesting ramps up, and why “loafing” becomes the default mode once the morning fire fades. We also talk about the weird ways sound travels in steep country and mountain hollers, where a gobble can bounce, lie, and pull you into a long hike if you guess wrong. 

From there, the episode turns into story time and lessons learned. Honey breaks down a classic hunt with turkey guru Garrett Sweeney, then dives into one of the most memorable hunts of the year: a long, sweaty chess match that ends with a gobbler drumming and grinding uphill right into range. We also unpack a second-morning moment where the bird gets painfully close but the shot never feels clean and why passing can be the win. 

If you’re chasing late season turkeys, hunting pressured public land, or trying to get better at reading terrain, calling timing, and commitment, this one is for you. Subscribe for the finale run, share this with a turkey hunting buddy, and leave us a review with your toughest late season lesson.

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

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Transcript

Welcome And The May Grind

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Alright, what's up, y'all? Welcome back to the Spring Leading Podcast. My name is Honey Farrier, joining you with Chase Farrier today in Mississippi, actually. Made a quick trip down here from the fourth quarter of turkey hunting shenanigans that have been taking place the past few weeks to um tend to a little business, visit the girls back home, and um honestly record this deck on podcast. Yeah. So it's it it doesn't get put on the back burner this time of year, but we're not used to being committed to it. Yeah. Or committed to the podcast in the month of May in the past five years has been very, very diluted. Yeah. And um the the reason behind it being diluted has not changed. There's still a Turkey's goblin that are very far from where we live. And this Roguecaster is pretty chunky to tote around, especially when you're trying to, you know, go from place to place and in this case fly back home, get picked up at airport, spend a few days here, and then fly back to wherever I was. Um remembering it was a big feat that I felt uh felt like I accomplished something. So I'm glad I remembered all the cords and everything as I'm rushing through an airport.

SPEAKER_00 2:16

That's the main thing because uh we had attempted a May Pi restaurant. We were like, oh, we're gonna have like three weeks worth of them. Nope. And we left the power 100 somebody left the power cord in Mississippi. Yep. And we noticed it about they don't sell them at Walmart. Uh-uh. We noticed about eight hours from home. Yep.

Gear Sale And Listener Updates

SPEAKER_01 2:34

Um but so we get we're gonna we're gonna wrap it up this year. So we only got one more. I think we can squeeze one more podcast episode after this one. So y'all be sure to follow along. Yeah. I think we I I would imagine we're gonna have a couple bonus episodes, you know, between the between this spring and spring 2027, you know, the the usual release date of I don't know, February or January something. We'll start pumping more back out in anticipations for spring 2027. But wanted to make sure we got through the year while folks up north and the northeast and everything are still hunting turkeys actively. And um, and while folks from the south are still hunting turkeys up north, there's plenty of them as well. And I know when I hop in the truck, I'm gonna hope somebody's pumping out a uh turkey hunting podcast podcast this time of year because I've about caught up on them behind all that windshield time in the in the recent past. But we're gonna be talking about fourth quarter turkeys, so late season turkey hunting. I've got a couple stories to tell, got a few things that happened the past week or so, and um and and and dive into a little bit of uh what went down and what happened, what I learned, and what I'm glad happened, what I'm thankful didn't happen, and uh see what see what comes of it. We're uh we're piecing them together. We've we've we've hit on about everything you can hit on about turkey hunting. Yeah. And um It's winding down, but it ain't done yet. Before we get into it, I wanted to remind y'all to check out the um the May 20 sale over at springlegion.com. Enter the code May20 at checkout, and you'll get 20% off the 2026 remaining spring turkey hunting collection of gear. Gator's vest, jackets, all that good stuff. Button downs, those are coming in handy this time of year, pants. Uh whatever remains is going to be on 20% off until May 31st. Then it's going back to regular price until the whatever is straggling around sales, which I imagine will be before we head over to the extravaganza. That's our next big event, which will be the end of July over here in Mississippi. That's kind of the only trade show we do. And uh whatever's straggling around then we'll put up for sale. But other than that, grab it while you can, get ready for 2027, and uh while you're there, you can get buy one, get one 50% off. All the waterproof lightweight legators and casual shirts. So if it's a casual shirt in the casual shirt collection, you buy one and get another one 50% off. Not a bad deal. Uh we are running out of some sizes, but good news is we can restock them. We fashion we can restock that gear. Um no other updates than that besides probably gonna be doing a little bit more of those Q ⁇ A stuff on that Instagram. If you're not following along at Spring Legion, be sure to do so. Gonna be answering as much as I can behind them. I hate to say behind the wheel, but I'm gonna be behind the wheel answering them. I I don't I don't recommend doing that at home kind of deal, but um you kind of get used to driving straight after about five, six hours of not turning or stopping or doing anything. You I can handle it. Um how to get a new phone. Yeah, so my charging thing broke on my phone while I was in the middle of nowhere. No kidding. Yep. And um luckily I had that daggum text line phone. The one that we just got for the the orders or whatever that um since I don't have Wi-Fi and stuff, I'm like, well, I can get this line, just repower this up for just data or whatever, and just do the texting for folks who have order problems while I'm not at that warehouse and stuff that I can kind of attend to real quick.

SPEAKER_02 6:08

Right.

SPEAKER_01 6:09

And I had that in my I I started just bringing up my turkey vest. I could charge my other one with the magna charger or whatever. I was gonna say, did you try a magnet charger? Yeah, I went and got one of those and I could charge in the truck, I just couldn't plug it up to something out in the field kind of deep. Well, yeah. So if it died, you were there.

SPEAKER_00 6:22

I was in the mine. And you ain't you ain't using no compost to get out of nowhere. Yeah.

Weather Clues And Late Season Worries

SPEAKER_01 6:26

Everywhere's up or down where I was hunting. So it was very steep, and all of them haulers look the same. But and uh um I got a turkey goblin in one of them. You're gonna get over it and not know if you're on I ain't gonna be looking at the sun to see which direction I'm walking in on, you know what I mean? Right. Uh much less on the way getting out. I think uh Easton. So I've never kept up with my steps. Like I've just never had that turned on or anything. I have no idea. But Easton hunted with me one day and we walked nine miles, and I'm like, buddy, I promise you that's half of what I did the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that. Um so, and that was all up and down and not not trying to, just trying to find turkeys. Did find some, but this um this past week was a a little different than last year's kind of fourth quarter. Really? Which um Chase and I went up north last year, which will be kind of my next little last hoorah. I'll wrap it up in the next week or so. Um kind of near the same places we we usually hunt. I I like going back to places that that I've hunted before. I like to see them what's changed and stuff and how the population is looking. So far, knock on wood, everywhere I've gone that I usually go to is as good or better turkeywise. I think you know there I I think folks get used to not saying good things. You know, it's always kind of like bad things. I've been pleased, I mean obviously I've gone to places that I'm like, doggum it, that they done found out about it, you know, in the past. But this year, I mean I've I've gone to a lot of good places that remain good. Um now the turkeys behavior might not have been good. They might have been messed with by a lot of people, but they they were living. Yeah. Um and that's all you can ask for for the most part, I believe. And um they were I was a little worried there for a second though, but but when you and I went last year, it was a very oxymoronic time we had. It was late season, they were acting acting like it was June, but it felt like December.

SPEAKER_00 8:32

Yeah, it was rough. I ain't gonna lie. That was that was one of the lesser and I guess it lesser enjoyed taken. It wasn't fun. Was no fun had. Yeah, and I was really you were probably uh really glad I didn't have my own truck because I probably would have been back in Mississippi because that was uh that was uh I'd have probably left that place for sure and went somewhere else.

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Yeah. If we weren't if I was like the farther I go, the farther Chase is gonna have to figure out how to get home.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Yeah. That was the biggest pain was me. I couldn't stay the whole trip or something. I was having to get home and already had that lined out.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

So yeah, we had to hang around the same area for you to get back home, I think. That's what it was, yeah. It was like that everywhere, so I don't know where in the world I wouldn't have went.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

Yeah, yeah. I remember we me and you did look at a few other options and we were just like I'd drive the night just to get out of this, but there wasn't nowhere we could make it.

SPEAKER_01 9:23

There wasn't nowhere getting getting better. Yeah, I mean we were we were hunting turkeys and you know, turkeys were there to gobble, but it was not fun. Yeah, I mean we And it takes a lot for me to not have fun hunting turkeys. Yeah. But when it's 19 degrees and the wind's blowing 26 miles an hour from the north and somehow raining every now and then.

SPEAKER_00 9:44

Turkeys can't hear you, you can't hear them.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

They were strutting. Yeah, they were with when we'd find one.

SPEAKER_00 9:49

We'd killed a few, but yeah, but it was not it wasn't what I was wanting to go for.

SPEAKER_01 9:56

I like to go up north towards the end, hunt some easters that remind me of March here, you know. I don't know if we're gonna get that again this year.

SPEAKER_00 10:06

I hope.

SPEAKER_01 10:06

It's already June-ish.

SPEAKER_00 10:08

It's it is acting that way already.

SPEAKER_01 10:10

Yeah. And I was a little afraid of that. I kind of heard some reports from folks who have been up there and stuff, and you know, I mean, I talked to everybody, you know, on the road and whatever. I'm like, you know, they're headed here, whatever. And I'm like, are they still gobbling? They're like, huh? Not as good as you think. Yeah you know. Or it ain't as easy to hear them as you think, or it's you know, they're they're gobbling for an extended amount of time, which Gary and I were talking the other day, and he was like, you know, it's kind of like a scale. The the further, the more late it gets, it's the it's just a window. They're still on, you know, marching it, you know. Right. Mid-March in it, just not until noon. Just not in, you know, in March they do it pretty much all day. Yeah. And then you catch that period where the hens start going to lay, and then they they set on the nest and stuff, and that's when you really get them because the gobblers aren't really in sync with that schedule, so to speak. They're still wanting, you know, wanting to breed and stuff while the hens aren't quite as available. And you come in there, you open around, they're like, Yes, ma'am, thank you, ma'am, kind of deal. Um now and and as it gets later, that that window just gets shorter and shorter, and uh and before long it's from 5 30 to 7 30 is your window, and that from 7 30 to 5 30 p.m. is it's loafing period. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:27

Just hang out with the boys and Which seemed to be what we dealt with a lot last year. A little bit. It was a it was quite later loafer loafing turkeys.

SPEAKER_01 11:37

But we were also in the very very last week or yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:39

We ain't quite there yet. We ain't there yet, but that that is kind of what we were dealing with last year. If I had to put a word on it, it was loafing turkeys.

SPEAKER_01 11:49

If it was 75 degrees, that still ain't the funnest turkey hunting. No, you know, I mean you're kind of you you gotta it it is a lot of fun if you get on them.

SPEAKER_00 11:56

Oh, yeah. In that little window. We had one or two, you know, or straight up doing three, just do crazy stuff, you know, and just make it worth the stuff.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

It's just as if you miss it, yeah. Yeah, if we wouldn't have that first. And you probably not um pretty much gotta wait till the next morning and and hope for better. But yeah, I don't know. If I'm sitting in Mississippi and you told me I had a chance at two hours with drinking, I'd be like, yeah, give me that. Take I'll take it. All right. Um But it is what it is, and so I was a little worried it wasn't gonna it was gonna be kind of dead, you know. As I'm driving north and driving north, I'm like, huh. Usually you kind of see the see it turn back time. Yeah. Wasn't seeing it turn back time. It was very consistent. I'm going through states that I did not think were gonna look like that, and they did.

SPEAKER_00 12:45

Well, I don't think up north had a as near bad of uh like a cold January. That's what I heard. This year. Um I remember that. Uh kind of kept tabs on it this year. Really? Best I could you know, I mean I wasn't studying that, yeah. You know, I kind of kept an eye. I keep on my weather things, yeah. And um I just kind of felt like they didn't get late snow as as bad as they normally was was getting this. I don't know about all that. Because I remember like two years ago I was looking at it and I was like, uh I thank goodness I I'm I'm living in Mississippi right now because it's awful up there. No, I'm I'm saying in January and stuff. Oh, yeah. You know, which prolongs their spring. I guess.

A Classic Hunt With Garrett Sweeney

SPEAKER_01 13:29

You know I don't really know. I don't know. I ain't from there, but yeah. Good good good as a guess I'd have. Um but no I'm I mean I stopped and hunted with buddy Garrett Sweeney on the way up there. We had and hunted together this year and I still had a tag up there. And um, good dude, dang a turkey hunter. Oh yeah. Big time turkey conservation loves turkeys as much as he loves hunting them, probably more. Um just study just a guru of turkeys, just studies turkeys, loves watching turkeys, love, you know, being around them year long. Um just infatuated with the the bird itself, which of course I love being around folks like that. Right, um and just every time we talk is nothing but about things we notice, things we wonder, things, you know, building off of learning about a bird and and how to make more of them and how you know what's affecting them and what's not affecting them and and how to hunt them, you know, and and appreciating the tough ones and stuff. But we wind up getting a one he he's he was out there, I was headed up and he uh he sent me a video of one. He'd gotten off work and he was like, you know, and I was like, Is that the same exact place? We shot one last year, and he was like, Yep. And I was like, All right, that's good, because I was a little worried, you know, a lot of folks, you know, it ain't like he's out there hunting them every day no more. He's you know, kind of doing summer things probably too. Yeah. But between his travels, um, because it's been open a while, and he was he was like, Yep, just got ran off by a bunch of jakes, almost got hit by U-Haw. I'm like, well, that was good news and bad news. I guess it could have been a little worse. He's like, No, it like almost clipped him. Jeez. I'm like, Well, you know where he went, at least maybe. He was like, I got a good idea. And um he was like, we can hunt over there too. I'm like, well, that's good. Didn't gobble on on the roost, I don't think. Because, you know, just a lot happened right there before the roof. I don't think he ever went on the ground. He just kind of coasted in. He was like, he's somewhere in there.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Oh, this is that fly up. He was trying to reach the turn.

Getting Oriented In Mountain Hollers

The Afternoon Hunt That Turns Electric

SPEAKER_01 16:15

No, it wasn't not necessarily fly-up, it wasn't long from it, but I don't think it just flew over there, walked around, and got back to strutting, and then we flew up. I think he was kind of like done for the beat. You know, I need to I need to get on a limb real quick. Yeah. Almost got jumped and hit by a car uh in about 10 minutes. Yeah. Um so we get in there, we get right up on him. He's gobbling his brains out. So I'm like, this is good. They still still gobbling. He flies down, and and there was it was one of them, like we're kind of like not pretending to be ready, but we're just in case. I don't think he's flying down here, and I know Gary don't think he's flying down here, but we're just kind of like, oh, we'll tree you up one time. Neil answer, okay. Let's see what happens. You know, let him get on the ground. So we let him get on the ground, and he we almost don't hear him again, but it's one of the things like you know, like this creek goes way far down and it's a big open area, like he probably did that. You know, we heard wings, pretty sure I heard a hand cutting over there, so we get up, walk over there. Yep, that's where he was. He freaking did it. You know, I mean he was going crazy. He gobbled everything Garrett was calling. That's the one thing I do do. If I'm hunting with somebody who is who I got confidence in, I think one person should be driving. I don't I don't you get two people trying to drive a ship, it starts trying to go two different ways, and it and and unless I'm needed or unless we talk about it, I'm letting him do it unless I think uh I see something I don't think he sees. Or I mean I mean they start doing stuff that I don't or not call them when I think they should, or call on when I think they should, and I will reach back and go, hey, you know you quit and tell somebody usually it's that it's not it's not hey, we call a little bit more. You know, it's usually like that's enough, you know. He he heard you, but Garrett, you ain't gotta tell Garrett. Absolutely. And it and he's one of them if he did, I think he knows something I don't know, or he saw something I didn't see. Yeah, I trust him. Yeah. Um which I'm like that with you know a good handful of folks. Right. But um but he he was calling to him and got him fired up and got him off of two hands he had, and it was fun. You know, it was just a pretty vanilla spring turkey hunt, felt good to do. And um then I went up, hunted some hollers up north of there. With Easton? Yeah. He had to do some, you know, he does photography stuff. Y'all know Easton, he's been in our booth. A lot of the stuff you see media-wise he's done. Right. Um and he came down here in Mississippi and did a podcast with us and stuff not too long ago and filmed a a turkey hunt around here. And I was like, well, I'm gonna head up and see what he's up to. So went and saw him and everything. But I hadn't I saw him briefly. He had to do a wedding or something. He also does wedding photography and everything up there. So um I think this must have been on a Saturday. And I'm about to and I didn't get there in time, so I'm I'm wound up hunting a place that was like an hour away from where he lives. Oh, okay. And I tried to I tried to get out, I tried to get there. I'm out my GPS got me getting there at like four. And it's rolling around like seven, and I ain't figured out how to get in there. I'm I mean, because you don't you ain't got service anywhere. Yeah. And you're you gotta climb a mountain to find out, oh, this is just a nothing. Yeah, this is just nothing that goes in somebody's yard and stops. And something about up there, they uh it's just a thing. Everybody up there names their freaking driveway a road. Oh, really? So it all shows up as roads, yeah, and they're not roads, they're driveways, but they have the little cheap looking road sign at the end, like Peggy Lane or something like that. Man, just just have a driveway, you know. But every single person has it. I don't know if it's a rule or just a thing, but it it was on my last nerve about three hours into it after I just drove six, seven hours on top of that, and didn't get there to reach nothing, and just had to bank on waking up an extra hour and a half early and getting there, did not get there in time. I finally got up in there. Um not at it was about an hour and a half after I think they had a first gobbled. They'd probably fall down. And when they fly down in this stuff, it's you ain't there to hear it. It's like go you don't know that it exists. They're probably gobbling under you, you don't know what kind of stuff half the time. Unless they're on a bench halfway up or something, you know. But I I firmly believe in a lot of these they could be at if they wanted to be at the bottom and they were and you were standing a foot away from the edge, you you ain't hearing it. With the foliage with it being, you know, uh early spring or whatever you want to call it. Which I've I've never hunted up there, so I don't know. It's different. I've heard. You know, and what you think a turkey wheeling won't do is kind of off limits around there because I've seen them do some weird brave heroic things that I don't want to do. I'm like, Dad gummit, I do not want to climb that thing. But a turkey just did it in a 10 minutes flat. Right. And a lot of times when they stop gobbling, they could be moving away, and you gotta hopefully be moving at their pace, or you're gonna lose them real fast, or they're trying to get up to you. Yeah. And you don't know, and you just guessed. Uh huh. You know? Um, but so I didn't hear nothing. And I'm getting not frustrated, but I'm like, now I don't know if they're doing it up here or not. Am I wasting time? So kind of wasted the whole afternoon the day before. I'm getting into noon of this day and I'm walked a lot. Right. Try everything I didn't think of to find them, where turkey should be, find Turkey sign, all this good stuff. And they ain't gobbling, or where they ain't there, or where I can't hear 'em. And it's a lot of these, if you commit to it, you sure enough commit to it. And I I'm trying not to commit to uh one hollow that's gonna keep me there, you know, for the whole rest of the day. Because it's gonna take me whole rush a day to get up out of there. Um a lot of them. But I mean I'm I'm thinking about I'm looking at the weather and other places. I'm like, I might I I might need to go up some because I maybe the one with Garrett was a fluke for all I know, you know. Um because I was I was even talking to Easton, I was like, What do you think they are? He's like, I ain't I ain't heard as many, obviously. I'm like, I don't need Optimist Eastern right now, I need realist Eastern right now. He's like, they might be, they might be done. Yeah, you know, I'm like, you could have told me that. Um but obviously they ain't all done, and they ain't always done the whole time, you know, all that stuff. There's always a turkey out. They'll gobble through June 30th, and some places if they want to. You never count a turkey out, you know. Yeah. And um, so I'm I'm just going at it. I ain't gonna leave. If I'm gonna leave, it's gonna be after they're on the limb at least at that point. Maybe I'll hear one for the next morning, but I hear one, it's you know, early afternoon and um winds up being probably the funnest turkey hunt of the year. Really? And I'm like, man, I'm glad I didn't leave. And that joker was doing it. Um I hear him down down in. He had a he had a funky gobble, and it was actually two. Really had a funky gobble, and another one had a hard gobble. And um, I could tell from the first time I heard him, the wind was blowing, I was walking, the the hollow I'm talking about is on my right, and I'm trying to get to a a point to listen down. into like the where the hollow goes around and stuff so I can just hear a lot, you know, is all I'm trying to do. I'm actually in the open. I'm not in the in the woods yet. But um but up there is it's a lot of thick stuff kind of on the surrounding edges of the hollows and stuff. It's almost like a big wall and I'm I mean you about can't get through it. Yeah. I mean not you can't get through it quietly. You can't get through it easily you can't get through it period. You know your body ain't fitting through none of it. So getting to them you got to go around and do this and it'll help if you had a negum bike or something because a lot of times you gotta go a long way around to get on top of them come back down if they're on the other side. Unless you want to sit underneath them. Because it's wide open once you get up in there. And um no I I hear them in there I can tell one's on the other end about eye level with me and then one's underneath me. Probably on my side.

SPEAKER_02 24:21

Yeah.

The Close Bird And The Shot Passed

The Turkey That Laid Low

Heading Home And Season Reflections

SPEAKER_01 24:22

Listen to him a little more I'm like nope he's on the other side. Made my mind up they're both on the other side. Well actually the one that I'm wind up kind of saying I'm gonna hunt that one it's the one lower than the other one. Okay. He's I think I had a better chance at him because he's already lower I ain't got to try to get around or anything. The other one could very well be out of the hollow on the on the top part of the ridge on the next one over. I'm weighing all these options and mind you I know I'm getting my three gobbles and I got to think on really being right because if I get really wrong it's done you know and and I've heard out there like if you hear them a cross the hollow or whatever they're really on your side and it's bouncing off that other side a lot of times. It could be and that's you know that's kind of the you try not to think of that. Because you gotta pick one and if you sit there and just straddle it you ain't doing you ain't gonna get them you know um and I'll tell you how that ended because my God I went all the way around went down and down and down and I'm going down and I I get to the the I'm like I'm very good chance of bumping the the top one. Yeah. But the one on the bottom's got a lot more I'd much rather hunt one that's already in it and I can get around on top of him call him up to a bench I I don't know where the benches are in here. I don't know if they exist you know I gotta get in there to find out I know that so I get in there break through all this stuff find a way in there and and send you up a lot of times I'm using the trumpet or something because it's popping loud in them hardwoods but get in there never heard the one on top again obviously probably did bump him. Right but get around there spend about 15 minutes maybe send one down there pointed about the direction I thought he was at he hollers right about three quarters of the way down I'm like yep. Perfect yep he's on he's on he might be on the other side but I think and yeah I'm like I hope he's on this side so much I'm gonna tell myself he's on this side and um so I just made my way down made my way down and it's straight down. Yeah I mean sliding falling tripping rolling everything until I get to a big rock and I try to get over get around and it kind of plays in my favor because I can put I'm like I can put that joke between us and really gain some ground. And I'm like it's like a bear old cave up in there and I'm like looking around like this I'm taking pictures and stuff I'm like I bet you oh I bet you a bear does live in here. Like I I'm probably I'm I'm in bear country I need to get out of here because this is what I would think a bear would live in. That's the first thing came to mind was like I bet you a bear could live in this and wait a minute. I bet you it does actually I need to hop on out of this cave. So I did that and um get down in there and keep getting lower and keep getting lower and I'm still trying to get you know he's he's he's gobbling at me. Every time I stop make call and I'm not I'm calling as I go just to keep a tab on him try to keep him interested and everything. And it it juts out just a little bit before it drops down in the very bottom of the holly I'm I feel like I have a mile into the dirt by now. And he's gobbling like there's a good chance he's on that point and he can come up here. And he's he is on this side I've kind of made my mind up he really is I'm I'm about 130 from him. And I call at him he gobbles and call at him he's moving I can tell I'm like sure he's he's gonna slip up somehow and there's I should see him. He's he's he wants to get here but eventually he gobbled enough and I'm like he's hung up on some something not me not coming to him no more he's he's walking to the same places over and over again like trying to get around something or get over something I'm like he's trying to find a way that SOB's on the other side ain't he's like yeah he probably is and I and I do hear wings yeah I hear wing beats and I'm like and I sit for about 40 minutes and I call once or twice and that 40 minutes off once loud I'm like maybe you know wasn't flying off right might not have been a turkey though that was all in the back of my head like I I didn't I didn't go that was him flying and flying something never heard him again. I'm like all right so then it takes me an hour and a half to get out yeah and I'm I'm not beat I'm just taking my pace I'm like you know I'm got a turkey to hunt I ain't gonna sit here and just kill myself over it because just just in case I get in there and I need to move around some more I don't I want to at least have legs and I can you know what time of day is this is it still early afternoon I'm thinking about 230. Okay. Hot yeah you know it was a it was a pretty hot and even day um wasn't one of them brisk cold days like we had I would have I would have been alright with one of them about that time. And that had probably had a lot to do with them not gobbling time. This one this one blowing blowing smoke out of his mouth though he gobbled a hundred times so you can't count them out that's why you know you never just give up so I get out and I'm like all right well only other thing I can do without walking to him 130 yards I'm 30 yards from him being able to see me regardless I'm right over the roll and I'm like if I I had to go you know backtrack to get out of there. Walked all the way back up the hollow took a long time shout out to crispy boots not sponsored by them but they that little steel shank or whatever they got came in I was like that's why they make this you put your toe in the ground your whole foot kind of steps up you know um it makes a lot of sense now but get to the top come back around it like I said it's about an hour and a half so I'm three to four o'clock probably and I don't like hunting turkeys once the sun starts getting lowish. Right. You know when it starts getting kind of goldy looking outside I'm I kind of just I might have the gun but I ain't trying to strike one up. Even even on a bad day like that I'm like I'd much rather hear where he flies up, get him roosted and go hunt him in the morning when the woods are coming alive kind of deal not when the woods are not when the whippoor wheels are coming alive you know what I'm saying? Right. That ain't the bird I'm listening for them I'm hoping they shut up because they are loud up there. But so I get over there get all the way back kind of went back to my original plan where I was headed when I first heard him send one down in there with the jump it and he hollers right back at me. I'm like that joke's on another side now that was him that flew over there. He's he is exactly where my last call came from and I'm pissed. Yeah because I ain't going back over there obviously but I'm I'm like well just hang out here and see see what he does. Yeah. And I called a few more times and he gobbled again gobbled again I'm like he's moving up you know kind of got quieter for a second then hear wings again I'm like he might be on this side now I do thoroughly believe he was on the other side because he did get quieter and then did get louder. And he came up and he got there was a bench about I was thinking I'm telling you I I'm thinking this is a bench about I'd say 45. I wouldn't want to like shoot on it but I'm like if he can get to it I think I can call him up 10, 15 yards. You know I think there's there's enough like not terribly steep areas of it that I think a turkey would be okay walking just if I if like a creek like he could be 30 yards from a creek. I think I can call him 10 more yards closer to the creek. It ain't gonna make it or break it but he'll hang around and make a loop or something and I'll have a good 35 yard shot. Right. Well it wasn't a bench that was worth it was like a wide wide bench like a man made one of some kind I don't know they mine and do all kinds of stuff around there. Like a road actually it was road and it was about 110. Because when he walked out he looked like yeah like width. Oh damn and um and because when he walked out he looked like a dang blue jay I'm like oh you know my prospective all came back then I'm like ooh we are in a how's this gonna work you know because he is way down there. I th I was thinking he was gonna walk out and be five times his size. You know what I'm saying? Yeah when he walks out I'm like huh I had a little I had a few minutes there to get a little closer if I'd have known that but you know what do I know about their gun but so I sit there and I I I laid it on him got him fired up at that point. And I'm like he's he's coming obviously he's and he's drum I can hear his drumming loud and I'm like all right come on and and I he you know I ain't seen him yet when I'm hearing his drumming loud and I'm like this way to lift and it this ridge tapers off you know if y'all are looking at a topo map the the more width between the lines is the the more gradual slope usually that's the route I would take a lot of times the route turkeys take too it's the easiest on your body. And a lot of times that's where they hang out at if there ain't many more options it's the flattest they got even though it ain't flat at all. But the rest are almost un unwalkable not to this not to a lot of them apparently just I'm walking with me. But this um this joke hits that road and I'm I see him down there I'm it's awesome you know he's he's hammering down there and he is lighting the boys up you just thought he was 30 yards at that point. Really? And um he he don't spend too long on that road trying to talk me down there and he turns up and comes up and he is walking straight up and he it was really cool because I you know like I said I was kind of worn out you know I'm like feeling 33 big time not 25 no more in the past few hunts I've had and uh he looked like he was feeling it too kind of deal. He was just kind of hobbly like a not necessarily like an old looking turkey but a haggard looking take my time hold on you know I'm trying to get there I'm doing my best kind of deal and he's getting up and he's just you know tripping over stuff left and right and trying to get there and drumming as he's going and he comes and comes on comes on he's headed straight up and he's hammering every now and then and it is loud drumming real loud and and you know down there that I mean up there they're they're almost all black like solid black looking they're they're real shiny. Every one I've killed up in these big hollows and stuff is stupid iridescent. It's like almost rainbow and um like their their feathers will get clumpy to an extent of the amount of oil on them. I don't know what it is. Yeah I don't know but the four or five I've you know poured out of them they're I'm like that gum these jokers got a lot of oily you know residue on their feathers. This one had it too just reminding me of the area you know textbook stuff. There's just like a chestnut red tinted one reminds me of Mississippi Alabama. Yeah but no he's coming that joker has no clue I'm in the world and he he gets about within 30 and he is just there just hammered left and right left and right looking for me and almost did more shooting him I'm like man that's pretty cool you know this time of year to to have that happen. And I'm like yeah better go ahead and do that though. Ain't many more steps he can take and not see me that's for sure. I'm I'm in position perfect just leaning up against a tree not you know you can't sit back because you'll fall so you're just kind of like propped up on a tree and I just happen to have one right to my left when he first kind of hinted at I am on your side and I'm coming. Right. So um did that he of course he shot at me rolled all the way down to the bench please catch him bench please catch him because I don't know how far it goes after that but I think we're not even halfway. Yeah and um luckily the bench did so I just had about a hundred yard little mini hike up the mountain thing. But it was fun it was cool and um made me really glad that I didn't hang up everything and try to find a a different spot when I know turkeys should have been there and just stay true to know him. You know they exist. They just they might not be doing what you want them to do and sometimes they will. And that's one kind of hard truth you got to come to in the late season is what you want a turkey to do and what he might really do is going to be way different. And you just gotta hunt him as it you know kind of the hand you got is the hand you got and that's the one he he gets to choose what that hand is and you can be upset about it how it folds but it you know it just is what it is and your only other option is to not hunt him. Yeah. You know is it's to leave and go somewhere else go plug off or whatever you want to do. But if you want to hunt turkeys you're gonna have to hunt the turkeys you get and um thankfully that one kind of turned tide a little bit and um went back the next morning East could come that morning and they were on just for about an hour. But for that hour it was March and so it was it was awesome. Could have shot another one 15 times and he was sitting there and caught him across the whole deck I'm thinking we're actually working another one. Really? Caught him across the whole hollow a different one a few ones over it took him a while to get there and he gobbled every step of the way we weren't even really paying attention to him so I set up on the other one that was about 80 from us at the time he'd have had across a very small one didn't and um going to find out some other guys had come in tried to hunt from the other direction was like I they had some story when Easton finally talked to him like yeah we were hunting one on the other side of the hollow we never even know these were over here or you know I'm like the one you got within 40 with and started doing that hawking thing you know and never heard again yeah yeah we could hear you you know that right yeah um luckily that wasn't the one where he was like one had to been right on y'all and I'm like yeah yeah it was that one um but no he was there and so I I had a bunch of it was a bunch of saplings kind of in a bunk like a bundle of them and they were intertwining and everything a lot of little gaps I could shoot through but if they're if they're within like six yards of me I'm scooting up and putting my gun through them so nothing can block nothing. Right. And if they're aft after about 15 I'm I'm cool with shooting through them shooting through the little gap. But these were at like the freaking eight to ten where my wad might not have kind of I I'm thinking they might hit the whole wide. Yeah. And I'm like if that jerk will just give me two steps left or right I would feel way more comfortable. It ain't close enough I can put my barrel further through and definitely get it through and it ain't far enough where I know it's definitely going to open up in 80% of the shots getting through. Right. Because I mean it I'd feel comfortable shooting through the through the gaps or wide enough but man if it wasn't stuff in between that and him I'd have I'd have probably pulled the trigger and and would have never thought twice but literally every stick every tree was in a spot I wish it wasn't and he sat there and hammered three or four times looking for me looking for me and and he saw something eventually. Yeah well it wasn't I don't think it was Easton was behind me and up and the turkey saw something up but I think it was it was like a hawk or something. I mean he kind of turned his head sideways and something startled him he wasn't bumped he he continued gobbling drumming he just did not want to get back in the open right we caught the hands up went back and forth with them until I blew the dagger out. I'm like eventually he's gonna come up here and just make a loop to pull him back down when he pulls a loop or shoot him you know I mean for another 30 minutes probably and I cut and cut and cut and cut and they cut and cut and cut and they're 15 looking right at me I feel like I'm like y'all about to get this boy killed if y'all just just hang around. Just don't leave he's eventually going to make a loop he's goblin drumming every few times and he's moving around and I'm like all he's got to do is just stick his head up and say come on. As soon as he does I'm ready. You know this time he's he'll be in the open but he never did so I don't know. It's one of them I'm kicking myself for not taking a 80% confidence shot but at the same time if I'd have missed or hit him in the freaking leg or something I'd have been a whole different story. So whatever should have happened is what happens kind of how I look at it. If my gut's telling me don't I ain't gonna do it. And if my gut's telling me you got it I at least will take it in confidence that I thought I had it. You know it ain't gonna be one of those I knew I probably didn't have it and took it anyway that's for sure. That's a long drive back um much longer than knowing he's still there. Which is the last day of the season there so it was yeah I ain't nobody kill him legally at least he'll be there next year not me to hunt somebody up there to hunt. I ain't getting there opening day probably but no it was cool then on the way back down went to an old faithful spot that that I killed one at last year and no um no scouting or nothing went back to the same place and by God it wasn't one right around there and he pulled the whole lay down in the tall grass and let you walk five feet from him until I flare up and I gave this Joker an hour and a half at least. I s I heard him and I wasn't I was like I can't get across this whole I mean it's about he was about 800 just happened to be level with me and I could hear him over there in my head I know where he's at and I know what he's gonna want to do. I ain't getting there. Yeah but I tried I got as close as I could and as I'm getting as close as I could it's about to open up and I see a little dot move and I'm like I bet you that's him I'll put my up and I could just see a tail fan come up and down. Alright. Now I definitely can't move now he's definitely going to do some stuff to get out of here completely until I move and I was able to get he I he got behind a little bit of roll and I was able to gain about a hundred more yards and sat down and I'm kind of in the bottom area of this now and I'm like well I'd feel like an idiot if I didn't send something his way let him know I existed because I don't haven't heard or seen a hen and he's kind of up there like they're going or feeking on Lion King looking around like you know give me something and I'm like okay I'll I'll send you up your way maybe you will barrel down in here I sent one he gobbled right back at it and I kind of lost him with my eyes at that point. I really needed to make sure he wasn't down in the same ditch as I was or something like that and he gobbled he wasn't far from where he was and that's all I wanted to you know reveal at the time and he never gobbled again I called him once or twice more never never gobbled again. And I made my way through some thick stuff just to keep him a very good distance from him very slow. I know about gave him about an hour and a half to hopefully just get it back in the big woods where I could get in there with him and him not see me. I haven't heard any more at this time he ain't gobbling anymore at this time I think he really just only wanted to gobble three times that morning and was back to solo loafing you know um whatever I said wasn't good enough I don't think I think he had had to really been talked into it and I think because when I was there wasn't nothing else around never heard saw nothing no other turkey but I sure did I walked up and walked up and I'm going through this thick briar stuff and everything which he was in I'm like I don't there ain't no way this is this has got to be the wrong little knoll I mentally pinned him on because ain't no way a turkey be up in here. Right. And I mean no as sooner as I saw it turn turn a little bit less briery I'm like he could have definitely been right right there you know like if there is a little strip he could have been in and I heard him behind me and it's like he was waiting for me to think that just boom right behind me. I'm like there he is before I turned around yep that's exactly where he was and he ain't moved 10 feet in two hours at this point. He just laid right over there. He just laid down I've done it before you know yeah um and I I had to have stepped over that Joker you know just never even I'm I'm going at a snail's pace and win some lose some but that Joker is wouldn't I don't know if he had a bit of fun one at the end of the day. You know he didn't he didn't he didn't gobble know much more the rest of the day and I had nowhere else to go so I was like I'll hear him if he gobbles again never did never heard another one said I I'm going home to cut the grass for a little while and then I'll come get my truck later. Yeah. Left my truck there.

SPEAKER_00 45:07

I don't blame you.

SPEAKER_01 45:08

It's probably a cheaper way to get home right now. Uh yeah when it's four dollars a gallon gas that's killing us and I already had some credits from some stuff I missed flight wise about a year ago. I gotta use them where they're gonna expire so I was like well I'll at least go see the girls last day of school pictures and stuff and be a part of that and get uh get my bearing straight and at least miss it one more time before I gotta really miss it for the long good night. You know what I'm saying? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:36

I'm still not sure if I'm gonna make another run or not. I hadn't been this hard at it this year. It's kind of kind of a weird year for me. Yeah but I don't know. I hadn't hunted as much as I usually do I feel like did we hunt together at all this year? One day? We didn't hear no wind. I mean it wasn't much of a hunt when we went to the private land little block.

SPEAKER_01 46:00

Um I kind of do, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 46:04

Uh oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah. And we heard nothing heard nothing and hunted for fourteen hours Yeah. Hard. Yeah. That made no sense either. And yeah. I thought they'd have been doing it that day. They didn't. Yeah, that was a that's the only day me and you sat together that I know about.

SPEAKER_01 46:22

Yeah, I can't think of a nap. Yeah, we did take a nap on a tree. I do remember that now. Probably when they were galling.

SPEAKER_00 46:30

Yeah. That's hot for us though. Maybe we'll run find something to get into. There's still still a chance. What, two weeks left? Something like that? Three weeks left? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. Very few places. Not all of them do. I ain't either. So I don't know. We're gonna uh we're gonna see what's up. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 46:51

We'll uh we'll keep you updated. Might have a good one next week. Who knows? Hopefully we'll have a good finale episode for everybody before we're rolling 2027. Because folks this whatever's next week is what folks are gonna get to listen to. The first one pops up anytime between now and February of 2027. So maybe it won't be a sucky one.

SPEAKER_00 47:08

Yeah, hopefully not.

SPEAKER_01 47:10

We'll wing it and find out. But nonetheless, guys, appreciate y'all listening. We'll see you next week one more time.