Ep. 245 San Diego Turkey Hunting with Gen Murofushi

Today I'm joined by Gen Murofushi from San Diego, California. Gen shares about growing up in Japan but then moving to the US and discovering a passion for turkey hunting in southern California. He now is a guide and board member of BackCountry Heroes, an organization that takes veterans and first responders and their families on hunting and backpacking trips. 

Gen shares some great turkey stories today. Be sure to check out backcountryhereos.org. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:09

Welcome to Setting Light Hunting Stories Podcast. So dedicated to the average skill and faith and hunting stories. I hope it's kind of a bit. I believe it's powerful and a good story. Thanks for doing it. Let's dive in. Hey everyone, welcome to the show. Hope that you are having a fantastic week. Uh this morning was awesome. First off, I have an incredible neighbor. I live out in the country and I live up on a hill, and across the valley, up over on the other hill, is a neighbor that I, this guy, his name is Mark, fantastic neighbor, and here's why. He always comes out on his front porch in the mornings early. He likes to get up early and he tells me whenever he hears turkeys gobbling. So last night I came home, uh it was about three o'clock in the afternoon, I guess, and I had my daughter pick her up off the bus. She goes, Daddy, I just heard a turkey. And we went out and we listened. I called a little bit, but nothing. Couldn't hear it. But she she has pretty good hearing. Um, and so I was like, Well, maybe, maybe it was, I believe you. Well, this morning the neighbor texts me and says, Hey, he just gobbled. And I went out on the point and I listened to this bird. He was up and over uh on a neighboring property that I am now on Onyx trying to get permission on again. I've tried, I think, the last couple years and I've never been able to get permission on this property. Um, but this bird hammered this morning, probably 50 times, nonstop. You know, I ow hooed it just for fun with my mouth. I'm trying to get better at that. And it was just so much fun. I love hearing a turkey gobble. It is March 13th as I record this. Got about a month and a few days before I can get into the turkey woods. Um, but just excited for it. I love hearing those birds gobble on the roost, gets me fired up. Been watching a lot of uh hunting public. Uh, been watching Shane Simpson, and also we have been releasing a video a week. So if you missed it two weeks ago, my buddy Trav posted his uh recurve turkey, first bird with traditional archery, uh, 10 yards. Um, bird, uh he makes a great shot, goes out, um, you know, dies on camera, or you know, within view, I guess you'd say, and just amazing for him. And then this past week, we released my public land bird. Um, to be fair, I was on five different private farms before I actually ended up killing the turkey on a small chunk of public. And so it was really an incredible hunt. Next week, uh I think my buddy Nate Godfrey is up. A incredible hunt that we had together where a turkey flies in like over our shoulders directly into the decoys, and then the week after that, uh Nate Root um or no, sorry, Matt Dove. Matt Dove. I go on a great hunt with him, great, get some great footage. So we have some good stuff out there. I think our videos, we try and do the best that we can to make them entertaining, keep them rolling, educational. So go over to Shedding Light Outdoors and hit that subscribe button if you haven't done that. Leave a comment that helps people find it. And uh, yeah, we're excited for turkey season. Um, also, if you are interested in coming on the show, first off, I gotta give a shout-out to a young man uh that says that he has been listening to the show for about three years now. He enjoys every episode. Uh, he's been listening and he's just had this thought of trying to come on the show. And he sent me a message through fan mail on the Buzz Sprout. You know, that's the main thing that I use. Um, and he's from Beaumont, Texas. And if you know who you are, your first name, I'm just gonna say his first name, Colton. Colton, I would love to respond back to you, but the fan mail doesn't give me a reply. So I would love for you to come on the show. I would love to have you on, man, and hear your stories. But hit me up on Facebook or Instagram, um, shedding light outdoors, send a private message that way, or an email, sheddinglightod at gmail.com. I appreciate the fan mail. I love it. Uh, it's a cool feature. I just wish that they had a reply button so I could respond back to you. Um, there's also, you know, I'm looking now. There's uh a fellow from Minneapolis, Minnesota that wrote uh uh December 10th that he found the podcast, loves it, loves it. Uh I put faith in it, and um he started diving into Bible and Bible study, which is really awesome. So I just want to give a shout out to these guys. Uh, another guy from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, uh, that came on the podcast. So, all that to say, guys, thank you for all the comments, the feedback. We are up and rolling again. I am chasing after some guests, and so if you'd like to come on the show, you just heard how to reach out, would encourage you to do so. Um, today's guest, uh, really unique story. Today's guest is uh a guy named Gen. And Gin is from San Diego, California, big time turkey hunter, um, which I did not, to be honest, I did not know how much turkey hunting there was to do near San Diego. Um, and it's pretty awesome. We have a really good interview, really interesting, some great stories that he has about chasing some elusive gobblers, um, also taking his kids out. And then one of my favorite things that he does is he's a part of this group called Backcountry Heroes, which takes veterans and first responders and their families on uh turkey, deer hunts, uh hiking experiences, uh just some really cool stuff. So he tells us a little bit about that. So uh really fun interview. I think that you guys will enjoy this one. If you do, please leave a rating and review if you're able to do so uh on your uh wherever you listen to your podcast. So that said, I don't think I have anything else to plug. Uh let's jump in with Gin. Hey morning, Travis. Good morning, Gen. How you doing, man? Good, how are you?

SPEAKER_00 5:51

Good, welcome to the show. What's what's going on in your world? You know, it is uh extremely hot over here. It's been in the upper 90s the last couple days.

SPEAKER_01 6:01

Whoa. That is warm.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

Yeah, it's uh it's kind of a weird anomaly we got going on. Uh, this has been kind of weird with weather, but uh yeah, just trying to stay cool.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Yeah, we've uh I mean we got up into the 70s and today we're back in the 40s. So we're up, we're down. Like I don't know whether to wear short sleeves or long. I I should look at the weather a little bit more because I'm I'm freezing today, man.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

I bet. Well, I wish it was freezing over here. I like I prefer the cold over the heat. Yeah, so you're in uh San Diego? Yep, San Diego, very uh south end of California. Wow, dude. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 6:36

I don't know if I've had anybody on from definitely not from San Diego, nor I'm not sure how many Californians I've had on the show. So, man, I'm pumped to have you on today.

SPEAKER_00 6:44

Oh, awesome. Well, I'm I'm glad to be here, and I appreciate you having me on here.

SPEAKER_01 6:48

Yeah, absolutely. I made a post on uh one of the turkey pages just looking for some turkey stories, and you reached out and I thought you had some interesting things that you're involved in. Tell us tell us a little bit about yourself.

SPEAKER_00 6:58

Yeah, um, so yeah, my my name is Gen Morofushi. I'm uh I've been uh a turkey hunter here in Southern California for almost 34 years now. Um I started when I was about uh 12, 13-ish. Um Southern California is not known as a turkey spot, um, but we've had like turkey plants uh dating back to the 1930s. Um you guys have uh reos out there, right? We do. We have a Rio and a Rio Eastern hybrid. Um okay, majority of the birds came from Kansas back in '93. Um started off with like about a little over 240 birds. And uh, you know, we've had some ups and downs with the the population. Uh we're kind of come come rebounding from a fairly major decline that we had. And so I think we're hovering around 10,000 to 15,000 birds right now countywide. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah, it's uh, you know, it's it's a it's a very not so known or kind of an odd place to go turkey hunting, but you know, I love it out here.

SPEAKER_01 8:04

Yeah. Well that's that's awesome. I'm excited to hear about you how you got into that and that sort of thing. You're you're a law enforcement uh I am.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:11

Yep. Yeah. How long you been doing that?

SPEAKER_00 8:14

I've been in law enforcement uh since uh 2006. I started the academy in 2006, um, been a patrol officer for most of the time, did canine for a while, and then uh I work uh as a detective now in uh property cards unit. Yep. So my wife is happy I'm off the street.

SPEAKER_01 8:33

I'm I'm sure of that. I'm sure if we could have a whole podcast of just stories there. I love talking to people in law enforcement because they have some of the most ridiculous stories that you ever heard. Some of them are not so great, but you know, it's like uh yeah, it's definitely been a wild ride. Yeah, well, I appreciate what you do. And um, the other thing that we're definitely gonna dive into some more, tell us a little bit about um backcountry heroes and and what that is. I just want to try right off the bat, just kind of hit that and make sure we we have some time to talk about it.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Absolutely. So backcountry heroes was started by uh gentleman uh named um Caleb Weekly. Um he's a uh retired Marine uh who is wounded in combat. Um and so he his his goal was to create a nonprofit organization where we focus on, instead of just focusing on the veteran and the active duty and the first responder themselves, uh include their family uh in this in the same um activities we do. So we do hunting trips, fishing trips, camping trips, um, horse riding uh trips, um all kinds of different stuff, hiking trips, you know, they do trips to Catalina Island uh once or twice a year to do just uh a family get together. And so the whole point is kind of bring that uh connect the family back with that uh our heroes. Um and the I'm part of the board member, and our board member all um are either first responders or um military veterans, and so we kind of have that connection with the people that uh we're serving. And so um that's what we do. We got some uh youth turkey hunts coming up next weekend. Um I think we have a little over seven or eight kids going out on the youth turkey opener.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

So that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 10:21

Yeah, we we're we're gonna be off to a great start this season.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

That's great. Now, are you um as a board member, are you able to go out on some of these hunts with them? Are you guiding at all, or how does that work?

SPEAKER_00 10:31

So I'm the primary kind of guide for the turkey uh thing because I I I'm the most die hard turkey hunter of the group, but uh yeah, we the board members go with uh the families and the hunters um uh to guide them through the the trip.

SPEAKER_01 10:46

Okay. Yeah, that's cool, man. Well, I I I definitely think there might be some stories there that you might have, like some pretty neat experiences with them. But I want to go go back to the beginning. So, Southern California, like you said, I don't think of turkey hunting to be honest, didn't know they had turkey hunting. Right. So tell me a little bit about just kind of how you got into it, maybe your first uh turkey you're able to get, you know, some of those stories around how you got in got this passion for turkey hunting.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

Right. So I was actually originally born and raised in Japan. Um dad's Japanese and my mom's originally here from San Diego. Um, so I grew up, I actually grew up in the mountains in Japan. So I'm kind of a kind of oddball Asian country boy. Um my dad was a wildlife biologist and a school teacher. Um, and so my love for animals and uh took hold like you know, as soon as I was born, basically. And uh, you know, I was always into hunting. Um I'd been around hunters in Japan, but kids can't hunt over there because of the you know, pretty crazy rules and regulations they have. Um, and so when I moved here from Japan, I was I was at some sort of like a where uh hardware store, I saw a fishing game booklet, and I saw the cover had a mule deer on it, and I started going through it and and I read about the turkey hunting and uh told my mom I was like, I want to I want to start hunting. And so um we found out that just at about 93 they released the the birds and that following spring they had a uh the first turkey season for San Diego, and so I was able to go. Um it was kind of kind of weird, but uh my my mom would drop me off uh out in the woods when I was about 13 with my bow. I had a compound bow. Looking back at it now, that's like pretty crazy because we have a lot of mountain lines over here, but um, but yeah, that's that's how I got started. Uh didn't hear my first gobble until like maybe three, four years into it. You probably hear my turkey gobbling in the background. Um and then I uh it took me about five, yeah, about just about five years before I killed my first Jake. Um wow. Yeah, yeah, it was a lot of learning process. I had some people from the local NWTF chapter who helped me out and kind of steered me in the right direction on how to hunt turkeys. And yeah, and so yeah, it's it's just I've been addicted ever since.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Absolutely. So looking at like, did you kill your first bird with a with your compound or did you did you get into uh shooting a gun later on?

SPEAKER_00 13:20

No, I shot a gun. Um my grandfather uh handed me down his old uh 12 gauge JC Higgins uh autoloader that he bought from Sears back in the day. And uh it had a fixed full choke. Um and uh we picked up a box of I I think it was like Remington um two and three-quarters uh shells and used that and called in uh four Jakes and I was able to shoot one of them for my first bird.

SPEAKER_01 13:48

Dude, that's awesome. I love that that's a great start to get in into it. Right now here we are 30 some years later, and you're still at it. So that's just a cool, cool story. I mean, a lot of people don't have that that background like you have, so that's very unique and really neat. So as you think back on the years of turkey hunting, um, you know, as you progress as a hunter, uh, what are some of those stories that just kind of stand out to you as just some of your favorites?

SPEAKER_00 14:12

Sure. Um, so I got, you know, I have a couple of like birds that really stood out. You know, one of them was my oldest son's first first long beard that he shot. Um, I remember we were at the very last day of the youth season here in California, and uh we went after a bird that's been hunted pretty hard. And so it was pretty drizzly, not the ideal condition for turkey hunting. Um, but uh we uh we got set up. That gobbler went off on the roost tree across the uh two-lane uh we call it a highway over here, but uh it was a it was a pretty fairly significant road. Okay. Um I was able to call his two hens across the road, and that just drove him nuts. I mean, he was pacing back and forth, just gobbling, double gobbling, triple gobbling. And uh finally he just couldn't stand it anymore, flew across the road. And we had a Jake decoy set up just because my son was uh about eight years old at the time. And so we need we we used the decoys just to settle the birds a little bit so he could get a good shot, you know. Um, and that Tom came in just just absolutely angry and beat the Jake decoy up. Um he the Tom actually got on top of the Jake decoy, and my son was about uh was able to get him on one shot and down that bird at like 15 yards. So yeah, he had almost a two-inch spur on one side and a broken off spur on the other. So yeah, it was really cool. It was that's long. Were you guys in a blind? Yeah, we were in a little pop-up blind because of the it was just so rain, it was just wet and and uh misty, you know. So, and just to cover movements for the kids, it was just easier to use a little pop-up blind. But uh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

Well, again, you're you're smarter than what I am because I've I've taken my daughter out. Uh, this is gonna be her fourth season. Oh wow. Uh we've got on a we've been on birds. I I hate being inside of blind. I don't like I feel like I can't hear as well and as far. Right. So um, yeah. So the last three seasons, I've had like one of those little pop-out, it's kind of like three little folds and it pops out in front of you. So it's a little blind, but it's not enough cover. It really isn't. Um, we've had birds come in to about maybe 20 yards, and all of a sudden they're out of there. They don't they don't come into the decoys and stay there like I've had them do so many times. So this year I bought a uh it's almost 360 blind, so we can see out of it a little bit better, hopefully hear out of it a little bit better, and here in the next week or so, my game plan is to get her in that, start practicing, and we're gonna find a place just to camp out, put that thing down, and hopefully get her her first turkey because it's just with kids, too much movement. You know, she gets excited in the moment. I do too. I move too much, she moves too much. So we we need a little help, I think.

SPEAKER_00 16:55

Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I think the one we use was like one of those uh, I think it's called a dog house pop-up line. It like folds up like one of those uh the windshield covers. Yeah, and uh it kind of really folds up pretty nicely into the back of a vest and just pops up just enough room to move around inside and just keep everybody hidden. So yeah, good way. Yeah, yeah. But um, yeah, it's uh you know, we we still talk about it every spring. I think, yeah, practically every spring. We'll be in the truck on our way to go hunt, and we're always reminiscent about all our all the birds that he took, and it always comes back to that one bird that he that he got, and uh it's still in his room, and he's still he's very proud of it. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 17:40

Yeah, you you think back on like hunts that you have over the years, and honestly, like for me, um I'm speaking at a wild game night tomorrow night, and one I mean, I could tell I could tell a lot of different stories, but I'm definitely I I can't skip the hunt of my daughter's first deer, you know, just like that experience of being there with your kids. Right, it's it's like that tops everything else. I get my daughter makes fun of me for how excited I can get, you know. I'm my my energy probably exceeds hers. You know, whatever comes out. It's just like nothing nothing better than taking kids out, you know, and just watching them enjoy it.

SPEAKER_00 18:13

Yeah, for sure. Um, I think the last you know, five to eight years or so, I probably very rarely pull the trigger on a bird now. I just I have more fun watching this, watching other people and uh and kids take their first birds, you know. So absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 18:28

Yep. So how about how about you? Like, you know, whenever you think about just whenever you've been on the trigger, yeah what's what story rises to the top? Have any of those crazy turkey hunts where things didn't go as planned, or or uh what what comes to mind there?

SPEAKER_00 18:41

Well, I got two, and one of them is you know, I I think as turkey hunters, we all remember that one bird that we missed, right? The the missed birds are always like ingrained deep in your brain. But uh yeah, we were a friend of mine who was my mentor early on, um, I took him on a uh on a hunt um on eastern Utah and we were going after some Merriams, and uh we were in pretty we're about 9,000 feet or so in elevation, and we were struggling to try to locate birds, and uh finally on the last day, um I was able to locate a bird. Um uh that actually the afternoon before I was able to locate them. And on the last morning, uh my friend came over came down with some elevation sickness. And so I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go real quick, see if I can get this bird. I'll be right back and we'll we'll head home. And so I get out there. I I was out there way before sunlight just so I could get you know up on where he's gonna be traveling. And uh sure enough, he goes off on as as the sky gets lit. Uh he starts gobbling off the roost. And I waited, didn't make any noise until he flew down, just gave him really soft yelps, um, a couple clucks, and he came in on an absolute string. Um, he came to roughly about 20 yards, put the uh red dot on him and missed. And I watched that bird fly right across the the ledge onto the probably about another 1500 yards away to another side of the mountain. Oh man, I just I just stood there with a smile and I tipped my hat and I was like, you know what? That that bird deserves to live another day. How close was he? He you know, I was probably about 75 yards from his roost.

SPEAKER_01 20:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:30

And uh I went in with total darkness. There was very little moonlight, so I was like really inching, just trying not to, you know, fall over on the the the wood and and branches and stuff. But uh yeah, set up 75 yards. He flew down and just absolutely came in on a string. He came in very quiet. He's that bird's been hunted quite a bit, so but uh yeah, give him a couple. That was uh that was definitely a a memorable miss that I'll never forget.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

You know, and it those are you know, you learn lessons, and I mean these days it seems like sometimes the closer a turkey gets to you in proximity, like when you take the shot, that can actually make it harder if you're shooting some of the like the TSS and those sort of like you have such a tight pattern right at 10 yards as compared, it's almost easier to hit them at 20, you know. Right. So yeah, absolutely. Uh that's fun, man. I mean, there's nothing like I mean, being first off, hunting birds at 9,000 feet's no joke. That's that's gotta be a rush being up in the mountains and chasing them that way for sure.

SPEAKER_00 21:31

Oh yeah. I mean, uh you're talking total wilderness. I mean, we're we're seeing pronghorns, deer everywhere, and uh, I mean, it's just uh absolutely beautiful, beautiful country up there. And uh yeah, I I I I love going there.

SPEAKER_01 21:47

That's something you just said, I w I I was thinking of something I forgot. Yeah, do you typically so you've been at this for a while, so we can talk just a little bit of tactics here. You mentioned not calling to them on the roost. Is that

SPEAKER_00 22:00

something that you is that kind of your typical wait till they land or do you do any tree yelps you know a lot of guys they'll go at it on the box call or on the slate you know while they're on the roost what's your what's your general tactics if you're like close if you know you're within like 75 to 100 yards of a of a roosted Tom right so one of the things I I do a lot is I I listen for the hen i I actually I prefer to see what the hens are doing versus a gobbler going off I mean you know a gobbler going off just tells you there's a gobbler there but I I try to match what the hens are doing um kind of like you know fly fishing you're trying to match the hatch um you know I I think so many hunters go out and they you know they just crank on the box call or a slate call and um you you listen to the hens and they're not that's not the way they're acting you know especially if you get closer into the end of the season you know most of the hens are nested or already with polts and so they're not yelping and going going off on the roost. So yeah I I try to match what the hens are doing. If the hens are active on the on the roost I will you know mimic them give them some tree yelps um you know some clucks I I use uh I prefer using the mouth call uh more um but I'll use the slate call in conjunction with the mouth call to to mimic several hens you know in the area um but uh yeah I I I always try to see what the hens are doing and then also kind of gauge the you know the temperature of the the tom. If the tom's going off on the on the roost um you know probably a lot of times I will I will call to him while he's on the roost and and give him some uh tree yelp. Um if I'm hunting uh a bird I got a bird that I've hunted for nine days straight once and uh if I'm hunting him well when I was hunting him I very rarely called on the roost I waited till he flew down and he was on the ground and firing off on the ground before I started calling to him. So yeah I those are the two things I gauge it on the temperature of the gobbler and what the hens are doing.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

I like that that's good. I don't know if I've ever heard anybody say that about the hens because it it's true like there's some some days where the hens are just quiet as can be and other days where they're just as loud as the gobbler and there's there's been times that I've called to them on the roost and they just first off for me like starting out I've only been turkey on since 2014 like if I could get one to answer back it was just so much fun. Like I call he answers I call he answers. You know it's just like but I realized like that bird is waiting for the hen to come to him because that's usually what happens at least in nature most of the time the hen's going to come underneath the limb he flies down and there you go but so I've had birds within probably 50 60 yards and I can just see them looking all over the place trying to see my location and I'm finally I'm like stop calling and wait and then call once he lands and a lot of times that that works out really well if I do that.

SPEAKER_00 24:55

Yeah absolutely yeah I I I tell a lot of hunters you know um I I don't use a whole lot of decoys when I'm hunting especially public land and uh I tell guys you know once that gobbler's going off and he's getting closer just stop calling let him let him hunt you let him look for you and uh give him some time you know so that's good yeah yeah yeah you mentioned two stories so let's let's hear that other one what what's so you have the one where you miss what how's this other story go? Yeah so this other story I call them uh circle toe so this gobbler he was uh he was my demise one year I mean I was absolutely just like fixated on getting this bird um so a little backstory on this bird I was able to get his uh probably his brother or or next a kin um a few weeks before um he came in on a string really easily um but uh circle toe so he had these weird calluses at the tip of his toes and whenever he walked in dirt it was a perfect impress impression of these circles at the tip of the toe pad and so you know that's why I was like all right there's circle toe so I just gave him that name um and like I said I I hunted him nine days straight um I told my sergeant at work I said hey I'm going after a specific turkey I'm uh cashing in on my comp time here's my comp time I'm taking off to try to get this bird and so every day he would always circle around me and gobble behind me and he would always gobble behind me on uh some sort of ledge top um that was covered with sage or whatever brush he he just very rarely presented himself in front of me and uh and so it was just a real cat and mouse game. What I I you know I try not to bump him by stalking him or anything like that.

SPEAKER_01 26:54

I just gave him his uh his space gave him his time um if it didn't work out in the morning I would just take a break see if he'll answer back in the afternoon and try to go after him that way um but I never you know try to stalk him just uh just to keep the pressure down um well on the last day um he he uh roosted in a complete different spot almost every other daily and uh on the very last day he circled behind me uh in the morning and followed a hen that came out of nowhere and disappeared and so I'm like man this is this is the last day so I was like you know I'm gonna take a break have some lunch and I'm just gonna just gonna wait just gonna wait till he is ready and so about two o'clock our hunt time ends at five over here uh about two o'clock I hear him hammering off in another field uh probably about 350 400 yards away and so I was like okay he's he's maybe looking for another hen and so this time I get above him um give him a couple of soft yelps from my mouth call and he gobbles once and I wait and I wait and I wait next thing I see I see a red head pop up and it is that bird and he's a very impressive bird he's he's fully mounted in my living room right now and um I was able I was able to get him at about 3 30 p.m on the very last day you know about an hour and a half left of uh shoot time um yeah I got him at uh at 10 yards um he came in very close um but yeah he had 11 and a half inch beard uh inch and uh eighth spurs on both sides so wow yeah that's awesome yeah I I'll never forget that bird that was I worked for that bird you know it's really interesting because like we're we're pretty blessed in southeast ohio to have like a lot of turkeys and there are there are times where I I don't know if I'm hunting the same bird as the day before you know because they kind of roost in different spots but there is there have been a couple times where there's if the turkey is on this one hill um there there's well let me just say it this way there's been a turkey that has roosted on this one hill and I have had a hard time getting on him and there was one time that I could have killed him if I would have had a gun but I had the bow in my hand I was trying to sh trying to shoot with the recurve that year and he was he skirted around me about 20 25 yards which was too far of a shot and I I just look at that and I'm like that was definitely the same turkey he did the exact same thing every day and you know you hear deer hunters obviously target one specific buck but it's interesting to me to like to hear you talk about this turkey that you you like you know you know what he does you find out his habits and then you're able to capitalize on that right yeah it was this uh you know when he first started he had about two or three hens with him and as the days gone by he dwindled down to one hen on the last day and you know luckily that hen left to get on her new on her uh nest and he was he was lonely and looking for love absolutely that and that is the end of season I mean a lot of guys get discouraged they're about ready they're tired of getting up early you know there's a lot of folks that give up that time of year you know that time of year it's like for us it's it's in uh mid-May so you're almost into summer people are starting to you know do their summer activities and I see a lot less turkey hunters in the month of May than in April and it just seems like if you can find that one lonely gobbler that you know he's bored he's still hot you know that's that's that's an easy bird to kill if you can put yourself in the right position. Absolutely yeah and in and you know you know as you get later in the season it's just that soft calling and and you know leaf scratching you know the that usually does the trick for me but uh yeah so when you think back on I want to go back to the backcountry heroes uh really awesome thing uh that you guys do I mean amazing to take veterans and their families out and you know uh first responders as well as you think about some of those hunts that you've guided is there any of those hunts that you think of like wow it was just a special moment you know something really neat where you got to help somebody out or you know what kind of what what kind of comes to mind there?

SPEAKER_00 31:14

Sure. So now uh the backstory of BCH I started um this last summer with them so we haven't I haven't been able to have a uh like a memorable turkey hunt with them um but I did guide um a father and son deer hunting team so yeah um yeah we uh so you know uh San Diego is also not a like a known deer hunting spot we we essentially have the smallest subspecie of the mule deer here and so you know they're they're about maybe 120 pounds wet on the hoof for a mature buck. So they're no bigger than like a you know grown German shepherd but uh uh nevertheless you know they're they're absolutely fun to hunt and you know we call them ghosts because man they they just they're able to disappear on the uh you know really easily um but for this hunt it was it was really cool you know getting the father and son out there uh father was a um army vet and uh son is also on his way into um going in the military and so he's he does junior rotc stuff and so we were hunting the afternoon we didn't have any luck in the morning um and in the afternoon um as the sun was going down at dusk uh we had a nice uh it was a little forky come in um he's never shot a the the kid never shot a uh deer before so we're watching this forky and um and she came in chasing about three or four does with them and uh as the the buck's coming closer I was like all right let's get ready you know and um we're I was glassing to forky and I was like ah man it kind of looks you know I don't know I don't know if it's a legal buck or not so we're just determining that and he got behind the bush and you know this was the the buck essentially got behind the bush just sitting there watching a dough and all of a sudden all the deer just broke and took off I think the wind changed and the the kind of the caveat to the story was you know most people would be like man that's a bummer and and be upset over it but you know this kid was like you know I had so much fun watching the the deer and just being being out there and seeing deer come in front of me to you know to be able to have a chance to to get an opportunity out of a shot. And so it was it was refreshing to see that in in our younger generation you know I think as long as we keep getting these kids out there getting them involved in hunting and getting them interested I think we'll have a good bright future ahead of us. But yeah it's it's it was a definitely a a real fun experience um I was a little bummed but you know why I just you know kind of told myself you know it's it was a successful day because we saw deer we were able to get in within shooting range of deer and that in itself is not easy um you know even though they took off it was uh it was a good experience and a good hunt and the father and son was able to bond out there and and we we all just had a great time.

SPEAKER_01 34:16

Yeah yeah that that's great I think um sometimes we have such high expectations and you know I like what you said there about youth just just coming out and enjoying the experience like whenever I take my daughters or what popped in my head was that there's a newer hunter that I've been taking out the last couple years. We started uh with deer and then turkeys and just seeing the excitement on his face whenever a bird gobbles close or uh the other um last year we had the a hen that flew off the roost right over top of us landed out in front of us and that hen came within about 10 yards of us and then some uh deer came in and this guy was just so excited with every encounter and I guess for me I still get excited over that but I sometimes maybe take it for granted. I forget what it's like to have wildlife that close to be up close and personal and just the coolest thing is when they have no clue that you're there. You know that you're just kind of blending in and you just get this awesome experience. And so I think I think you're right. I think sometimes we put so much pressure on kids or new hunters and pressure on ourselves like you know the success is in them harvesting an animal no the the success is giving them the experience in in nature that that hooks them you know that makes them want to keep coming back.

SPEAKER_00 35:26

Yeah absolutely um you know I started with my boys but I have two boys and they started turkey hunting that was the first thing they started hunting um other than the squirrels and stuff in their yard but uh they started when they were six years old both boys and you know my my oldest is absolutely hooked on hunting he's uh 18 and heading for the air force here soon and his um future goal is to be a wildlife biologist uh a waterfowl biologist because he just he loves he loves birds turkeys and ducks that's that's what he loves um and my youngest he loves fishing he loves offshore fishing we go go after tuna dorado offshore and and that's his that's his cup of tea but he loves turkey hunting also so you know and I I've told both boys you know say hey you know hunting is not just like a a hobby this is our life this is our lifestyle this is what you guys you boys were born into and when you have you know in the future when you have children you have to make sure you get them involved and you get them hooked as much as you guys are or even worse.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

So absolutely uh well again I've man I've enjoyed having you on um I do want to take a moment just to point people to that website um and there's probably I assume there's I didn't look up there's probably social media as well but uh backcountryheroes.org is the website if people are uh interested in checking that out if there's anybody listening from California that might want to pass that along or you know if you want to donate there's a way to donate and contribute um you guys have a lot of events uh on the calendar and just I just want to say it's awesome the work that you guys are doing and uh definitely fully support that and so I'd encourage folks go check that out donate and uh just be a part of that.

SPEAKER_00 37:11

Yes sir yeah all of our hunts take place on um very coveted private property here in San Diego that's uh just had a lot of deer and turkey um we're very close to one of the original areas where the turkeys were transplanted uh back in the day and so you know a lot of our hunters have fairly high success rates uh never a guarantee but um we've had good success on on the properties and we and that's due to really generous landowners who love what we're doing and who uh open their land up to us and so yeah it's uh it's a great program um we have future deer hunts coming up I think we'll have some elk hunts and stuff uh in the future also so you know if you're a veteran you don't have to be from California sign up for it um for the and we draw people through uh a drawing system on on the uh electronic drawing system on the computer but uh yeah everything's kind of just you know fair game fair chase um and uh great opportunities that's awesome man well thank you so much for your time today thanks for coming on I enjoyed hearing your stories and what you're involved in and uh wish you luck hey turkey season's coming so I wish you luck this coming season absolutely you too and thanks for having me having me man I enjoyed that gets me fired up for turkey season uh it was really cool and educational too for me just to learn about uh you know uh San Diego turkey hunting and just hunting culture in general um really cool and I love what Gen does with the back of country uh heroes just a really cool organization and just think you know we need more of those kind of things where we take people out give them great experiences and uh I love that.

SPEAKER_01 38:50

You know something that he talked about that just kind of you know talked about taking his kids out and giving them this experience you know something just kind of like simple as putting them in a blind like I've talked about that before but this year I want to make it as simple as possible for my daughter Ansley to get her turkey her first turkey. The last three seasons I've put her into a situation where we've been hunting in the woods and you know it would have been a quick shot and she's just not ready for that. We've had other situations where we've been out in open field or maybe a little bit more open I've had the decoys and it's just too much movement because she gets excited. And so instead of me trying to meet her at her level what I've been doing is trying to get her to come to my level and that's not really fair to her. And it just makes me think about like what Gen's doing like he makes it he he thinks about the people that he's taking out hunting as he guides as he takes his kids and he tailors that experience to wherever they are and I just think the true the same is true what I'm finding more and more as the Bible tells us you know that we are to go out and make disciples you know that's Matthew 28. That's what Jesus says we're our mission is so the mission isn't going to church and just sitting on a pew although church has its place the mission isn't just serving the needy although that is definitely something that we need to do. The mission is to make disciples and you think though about like what is involved with that well one of the things it says after that in Matthew chapter 28 verse 19 go make disciples baptizing them and then it says and teaching them to obey everything that I've commanded you what I'm what I'm learning more and more is sometimes I want people to come to my level of understanding and I'll use big words even the word gospel itself what does that mean? Well it means good news but to a person who didn't grow up in church or to a person who's intimidated by you know religious things um words like that and righteousness and all these words that we sometimes use it can just go over their heads um there there's a story that I want to tell you about a guy that I've been uh studying with and we've spent some time together and uh you know he seemed very very interested told me that he didn't know much and so I tried to get him into a Bible study that we offer at our church and we went through it took over an hour it was really in depth I really kind of thought he was ready for that for some reason and at the end of it I could just see like he was kind of glazed and confused like his eyes like he was just like he did not track with me and it was because he just didn't know the basics and I tried to make it be like a presentation and I I was trying to get him to come to my study that I like to do with people that I'm comfortable with rather than meeting him where he was I didn't scare him away thank the Lord and I said what if we get back together the next few weeks and it's me and him and another buddy and I said how about we just uh you know do more of a conversation and we just talked the next couple weeks about how we got the Bible you know what's the Old Testament and and how the Bible is one continuous story. A lot of people don't even know that like the whole Bible is it's not just random books it's like it it is a narrative that goes together and it's the story of God working through a family working through a nation through kings prophets that all leads to Jesus and you know just we had such an amazing conversation the last couple weeks and he's learning and he's growing and I just think that that is so important to meet people where they are rather than trying to get them to come to where we are and I think that's what Jesus does he he doesn't expect the disciples to have it all figured out you know he he meets them where they are he walks to to where they go and he spends time with them. So encourage you in your walk wherever you are to know that first off Jesus will meet you there. He doesn't expect you to be a rock star Christian you're gonna have struggles and then if you are a Christian like and trying to to pursue and encourage people in their walk go to where they are both physically emotionally intellectually spiritually they you're the missionary not them they're not supposed to come to you you go to them and so I encourage you to do that. Guys I want to thank you uh for coming on thank you for your time listening to this show and I'm excited again there's a renewed passion if you can't tell my voice for this I do love it I love the opportunities that have come through this show the people I've met um there's at least probably I can count two hands a lot of people that just on a rotating basis I keep in contact with that came through this show and so I'm just grateful for it. We want to keep it rolling I want to thank my co host Jeremy he's got some guests lined up I'm working on some guests and so hopefully we have some more content real soon. So make sure you hit subscribe if you can and until next time remember to shed the like