Blue Hen Outdoors Podcast
Hunting,travel,outdoors,comedy
Blue Hen Outdoors Podcast
Episode 77: Beau Brooks
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
This episode we have the one the only Beau Brooks on, we talk some turkey hunting and how he got his start in the outdoors and guiding, we also talk our love for birds both water fowl and turkeys, compare turkey to elk hunting and how he got involved with the brands he works with today and how he made a user friendly gobble tube
Welcome back to another episode of the Blue Hen Outdoors Podcast. I am pleased, blessed, and pleasured to have with us tonight the man, the myth, the legend himself, Mr. Bo Brooks. How are you doing tonight?
SPEAKER_00Dude, I'm doing great, man. Uh I'm super stoked to be on here.
SPEAKER_01Super stoked to have you, dude. I can't believe we got to make it happen. I know I was talking to you a little bit before turkey season was kicking off, and you're like, yeah, hop on, and then yeah, turkey season happened. You well, you were probably more busy with turkeys than I was, but Yeah. Probably can get on, dude.
SPEAKER_00Oh dude, I'm stoked to be here and happy to do it. Um, no man, I I apologize we couldn't get on during turkey season. Um and uh if it makes you feel any better, I didn't do any during turkey season. I just uh I've I've things have changed through my life, and sometimes I can do them and sometimes I can't. And so we are if it makes you feel any better, you and I are both probably having a bunch of fun turkey ends.
SPEAKER_01So oh yeah, for sure. Let's start with that. How was your uh turkey season this year?
SPEAKER_00Oh, it was phenomenal, man. Um, I probably shot the least amount of turkeys I've I personally ever shot in my life. Um uh, but I was a part of the most turkeys I've called in um the to uh for other people. So, you know, I I've gotten to the point now. Man, I really don't care much about shooting them, and uh I really enjoy just taking people. And so um definitely a banner year for that. Um, my wife, she uh she had a great year too. So, you know, it was just all around. We were very blessed.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome, man. How did you um get your start in hunting in the outdoors?
SPEAKER_00Um, my dad. Um so it was a lot of people kind of know know my dad, you know, he's a big bow hunter, um, big elk guy. And so, but the cool part, like especially for the turkey hunting side, you know, him and I, um, it was something we had to learn together. You know, he had not done a lot of turkey hunting at all. And you know, I grew up on the west coast. There's not the roots are definitely not as deep as out here in the south and the east, you know what I mean? Um, and so, you know, um, we we spent it was probably one of my favorite things I gotta do with my dad. We we would go hunt together and and um trial and error, we've messed up a lot, a lot, a lot, a lot. And um, you know, uh Colin has always been a big part of all of the stuff. So it's just we took to it pretty well, but uh no man, it's um definitely my dad and I actually I spent a lot of time um hunting with my mom growing up. She was my dad was always out of town on some big hunts, and so my mom was the one that would take me. So yeah, well my whole family were very everybody hunts, everybody's super into it, and um, we're all very serious about it.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. That's awesome. You don't hear too many people saying that they're going out with their mom hunting much either. That's pretty cool.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, she's she is she's a killer, man. Um, yeah, I I I just she loves to hunt turkeys, she loves to elk hunt, you know. She was always the one that put the meat on the table every year. Dad shoot the big bulls, mom would go out for a you know, trying to get a five point or a small six point or something, whatever walked in first. And uh yeah, man, it was it was uh I looking back on I'm very, very blessed.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, for sure. A lot of people make the comparison of elk and turkey hunt. Do you think that they're kind of the same in a sense or that they're totally different?
SPEAKER_00Well, the way you play the cat and mouse games is very similar. Um, obviously, you know, the if you broke it down, you know, I'm not watching 50 plus elk get taken down here, you know what I mean? It's definitely, you know, uh the average elk hunter kills an elk every 10 years. So, you know, I'm I'm not saying that they're exactly the same because obviously they're not, they're they're definitely, but then again, if I could use a 30-30 during the rut, I think it could be a different game, too. You know what I mean? And so you know, you know, it there's definitely parallels to that. But man, no, the the cat and mouse game is very similar. The um differences is obviously, you know, you're pretty much 90% hen calling. Most people are 100% hen calling to turkeys, you know. Um, you're kind of pushing. That's where, you know, I do some of the goblin and stuff because I'm a I mean, I get in the an elk's face and I scream at them and I make them break. And you know, I take I take a lot of the um what what the eastern guys would call woodsmanship and what we call you know out west, we just call it, you know, um, it's it's hunting, right? So it's just because we don't do a lot of sitting, it's a lot of slipping and calling and um you know, there's definitely some patience that we could learn from sitting more. Um, you know, I've messed up plenty of turkey's. I just have never not a huge patience guy, but I've I've learned it through the years. I'm getting better every year. Um, but no, man, they're very there's definitely some parallels there, a lot of parallels. Um, I take a lot of what I've learned elk hunting and I bring it into turkey hunting, and I'll bring some of what I've learned turkey hunting into elk hunting, and you know, there's it's uh it just makes you an all-around better hunter.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, for sure. Because I've always heard people say, like, the best way to describe turkey hunting to a new person is like, oh, it's like the poor man's version of elk hunting.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I'm like, yeah, kind of sort of, but not really.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's just it depends on how you hunt turkeys too, right? So, like, you know, it's uh if you're running through the hills, calling birds in, you know, and moving around with a lot of topography, it'd be very similar to elk cutting. But you know, if you're hunting in a field, which don't get me wrong, we do. But I mean, we hunt elk in fields and set up blinds, and I mean anything to to harvest an elk, right? So at the end of the day, that's what that's what we're I mean. I I guide and you know, we're I used or I used to guide a lot, and so we you know, we're hunting them any way we can. And um there there definitely there definitely is some very, very, very strong parallels. And you know, Waddell, he said it best, a very good turkey hunter, like a very high, like high, high level turkey hunter will be very successful elk hunting. So there's I think that's very true. And you know, if an elk hunter takes turkey hunting seriously, he could be very he could do it very well, but you know, as some some elk hunters do and some don't.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah. How did you um get into the guiding side of things?
SPEAKER_00Um man, um when I was 18, 19 years old, right in there, you know, I got out of got out of high school and um I went to college and I didn't know what I wanted to do. I started a call company in the meantime. It was Brooks Custom Calls. I was building calls out of my parents' attic. And um, you know, I was like, I got to my second semester and I'm like not doing well. And the kids that are listening don't follow this, but I just I dropped out because I'm like, I'm not gonna learn anything in here. This is just not my path, man. Like it just didn't feel like it. I'm just getting I'm missing school all the time to go hunting, and so um I applied to a few different places. I'm a pretty aggressive person when it comes to that type of stuff. So I was like calling around, applying. Um, and then one guy actually reached out to me, and um, my first guiding job was not for elk, it wasn't for deer, it wasn't for waterfowl. Um, it was a turkey guiding job. And I was guiding in Washington State, and we were guiding on public ground. It was wild and very high pressure, like a lot of pressure. It's like um, you know, it it I've hunted a lot of the states out east and stuff. It's the one part of Washington that I could say is a has a parallel to the east as far as just the amount of pressure. You know, there's gonna be one to two trucks at every gate every morning. It's like I'm having to get up at two in the morning to get there and you know, try and beat people out with clients, and I would walk them into the ground. It was the best shape I've ever been in in my life. But you know, I had that job, it was super cool. I really enjoyed it. It taught me a ton about turkey entin. You know, I had hunted easterns at that point. Um, some these turkeys, these Miriams, and anyone that's hunted Miriams that uh, you know, ever that's done it enough will know that when they start getting pressure, they start to act like Easterns, they'll shut down, they won't gobble. And if they do gobble, they don't move. And so these particular birds, they were they were kind of a pain in the butt. But they, I mean, that guiding season, I think we only took I only and with me only was six, and I guided every day, you know. And it it's just, but I I'm like you had to work for them, and they were only half day hunts, and they wouldn't gobble in the afternoon, where most everywhere else, Miriam will gobble in the afternoon, no problem, you know. Um, but they're they were just a pain in the butt and it taught me a lot. And um, obviously I would never trade any of that for the world. I really enjoyed it.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, for sure, man. That's awesome. I wish that some of the easterns out here were more vocal in some some times than yes, other times. Because it can get difficult out here on the east coast. Well, on the east coast, actually where I'm at.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I mean an eastern, an eastern wild turkey, no matter where he is, man, they're just they're a pain in the butt, man. And they could be so fun. And that's the thing too. That the one thing that you know, if you know, if you know the game, you know, you can if he does hammer and then he shuts up, you're like, okay, there's a there's a good chance he could be coming, you know what I mean? It's not you know, dang, I'm not like our turkeys, it took me a while to figure that out because our turkeys, man, if they're not gobbling all the way to the gun barrel, you know, a lot of times you're not you're not killing them.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. What's your um favorite species of turkeys to hunt?
SPEAKER_00Um, man, it really goes back and forth, man. Um, I have a lot of respect for the Eastern. I love hunting them, um, but I love Amirium. They're just they're just my the bird, they're they're they make you feel like a hero, man, a lot of times. They're super fun. I know the landscape. It's what I would say is not a subspecies, though. It's any of the turkeys. I love hunting turkeys where there's some pretty major topography. And so I like, you know, I love elk hunting. I love and and so it goes back to that, you know, I hunt them, I hunt them very similarly to how I hunt elk. And so I, you know, I'll where if it's real, if it's I call them mountain turkeys, if it's in mountain turkey territory where I'm I'm having to is I I don't do well in the flatland. Flatland I do okay. We kill birds, but you know, you got to use creeks, you gotta be extremely patient, you're blowing out birds, you know. Um, where in the mountains, I can hike, you know, I can get a if I can just get them to go one time, I can make a move on them. I know exactly the get above them. I know exactly what I got to do every time. It's like it's like muscle memory versus I I mean, I second guess myself a lot in the in the flat stuff. It's like golly, you know, he gobbled right there. I bet you you can see us, you know what I mean? Like, let's just sit down and I guess we're gonna wait for the next hour. You know, hopefully he's gonna make his way to us, or we're gonna have to go all the way around that black woods and try them from a different angle.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. I mean, this year for me, it was a bit of a harder turkey season when I was hunting Delaware in Maryland, but then I went out the last day of Maryland and I had one gobble at me right before the sun came up. I'm like, all right, yeah, he he might he might be the one that's gonna do it today. Yeah. And then I soft called. He gobbled. I waited like a half hour after he gobbled, soft called. He got it, it seems like he was getting closer. I'm like, okay, yeah. And then I was hunting in like a little drainage ditch.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So they couldn't see me, kind of. I was kind of like trying to be like, okay, they can't see me if they're walking on the flat and where I was at. So I tried to crawl up the drainage ditch a little bit to act like Henry was moving towards him.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And then uh I called again right after I did that, and he just kind of shut up and disappeared. I was like, mother. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00That uh they I I I got in a drainage dish this year. It was a similar scenario to that, but I had a I had this bird. There's a property line, right? I love calling turkeys off of property. I'm not the one that's gonna hop the fence. I just never been that guy. I know lots of guys that are that guy, but it just, you know, you know what I mean? It it's I've been I've worked in the industry my whole life, and and uh, you know, I and I'm I'm in that we found ways to get them to cross, right? So what I do is I go back and forth till I find that spot where I'm calling perfectly in his bedroom, and then I back up a lot of times. And I I run up to the fence and I back up real hard and I'll shut up. And he'll because I don't want to be able to see the fence. Well, this is the perfect scenario where I'd worked him for about an hour and a half. I had hands yelping and just get hurt them going crazy. Sure enough, I get up there and I'm like, man, I set I set out a decoy, it's on the edge of this field, and I'm like, you know, hopefully if he comes over here, because this is woven wire right here, right? Woven wire, they ain't gonna do it. Barbed wire, I can probably get him to do it. There's no possible way to get him through that dang woven wire. Unless, unless it's like, unless they're so crazy. I have one video one time of a bird coming up to a road and then just flying over it and then running, running in. But that was they don't happen like that often. Um, but this bird, of course, I get it, I get him to hammer, hammer, and I'm like, and all of a sudden I look up and I'm like, crap, and here he comes running through the woods. I just like I lay down, we're in this ditch, and there's cedars, and he's up in the woods coming, and I just and there's a little hump in between us and him, and he's and I and he gets right there and it's I'm like, golly. So I got down in the ditch slowly while the birds at like 15 yards. That it was the it was our giveaway hunt this year. We did a giveaway, um, took a guy turkey hunting, and he's like, I'm like, can you see him? And he's like, Yeah. And I'm like, well, I can't see him one second. And I and I rolled down in that ditch, and I hadn't ever seen as many ticks as I've seen this year. I mean, I could look on the ground and it was just solid ticks, and I'm like, ugh, just so nasty. So I'm crawling and I finally get about it, it took me about 10 minutes to get, I don't know, 30 yards, right? But I I had to go over limbs, under limbs, but the way as soon as I dropped down, there was a hill in between us and him. There's no way he could see me. And I go, he hammers, and I'm like, and then and then it and then I did it again, pow, he hammered again. I went a little farther away thinking, I'm and this is you guys are gonna think this is like, oh wow, he came in and no, we didn't kill him. The bird just lost interest and walked back. And so and I have had times though where I roll that hill, like if I have topography, just roll down, leave someone up there, because that's what we do elk hunting a lot. You got your shooter here, you run up, you scream, and you drop back collin away. And though an elk will do it more than a turkey will, as far as like if you're actively moving, right? It's it root works really well on elk, and then turkeys that works well just a little bit slower sometimes, you know. Um, but that dang turkey, that one, no, we didn't end up killing him. I ended up killing him the next day, and it was you know, it was right off the limb. We ran around, got in front of him, and has called his hens in and ended up shooting him. But you know, he he I thought it was a year we hunted that same farm for our giveaway hunt year prior in the same dang thing. But I called him up the fence, and there was a spot in the woven wire though, and he just walked right through and just he knew that that hole and he just came right through and we ended up getting him. But it's it's super funny, man. They sometimes they'll just go back and forth on that fence, and you can slip away and do all these different things, and then other times they'll just come right through. So, I mean, hopefully there was some sort of learning there that out of that story I just gave, but it also is that doesn't happen perfect every single time. Oh, yeah, no, don't be afraid to try it though. That's the biggest thing, you know. Don't be afraid to try these things because they do work sometimes, you know what I mean? That's the biggest thing I've learned with turkey hunting is man, there's no perfect right way to do anything. You know what I mean? Because every turkey's different, every scenario is different, every state's different, every bird's different. There's just tendency tendencies, right? That uh, and that and I've I've had things where I've been hunting with people before where they're like, I'm like, I'm like, you're gonna do that? Like, yeah, okay, try it. And they and then the bird just comes ripping in. I'm like, okay, well, I'm gonna put that in my memory bank.
SPEAKER_01Right, exactly. Also, it's like even you mentioned it with like the states, they all do and a lot of different things, like even with like people using the Reaper fans and stuff like that, or running out with a gobbler decoy. It's like a whole whole bunch of different things you can do.
SPEAKER_00There's a lot of lot now. The first time I ever saw someone do the do the reaping, I did not know what to think about that because you know, I'm like, yeah, right, dude. You're literally like 270, you know, on the hoof. You're gonna get behind that little tiny Jake fan you got there, that turkey's gonna be gone. Well, yeah. It works on that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Oh yeah, for sure. How do you think, because you've been in the industry a long time long enough, how do you think things have changed before I call it the pre and post-COVID boom because since COVID, you know, you've I've personally seen there's been an uptick in people wanting to get into hunting and fishing in the outdoors more.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, man, I'll tell you what. Um, well, I can tell you that I'm seeing more turkey hunters everywhere. And I can tell you because I own um, you know, in a call companies, I mean we sell decoys. I'm I'm I've got a very tight pulse on the turkey hunting industry and also through our channels. Dude, it is exploding. And it's awesome. Um you know, there's a a lot of a lot more traveling going on. Um, there's a lot more um more people taking out just going in general. I I can't the amount of new people getting into the sport is huge. I don't know what the exact number is. I would expect that the statistic has to be going up, but I also think that just people are more involved. Your one bird turkey hunting guy, you know, goes out, it says one or two a year is turned into four. I would say an average, you know, why these guys are harvesting more turkeys and they're be a part of more experiences because our trucks are better. You can go other places, you know. There's they're they're learning that spring doesn't have to end in March or April or May. You know what I mean? It it's that you know what I mean. There, you know, you could start it earlier, you could start it later. You can you can go down and hunt oscillated turkeys if you really wanted to. Um, there's just so much opportunity out there, and you can have a full spring. And and what I love seeing is when people are taking other people, and I think that's the coolest part. You know, I got a got a postcard today. Montana, it was from um um NWTF Montana from the Montana Montana Fish and Wildlife, had a picture of their youth camp hunt that they did, and I'm like, man, that's just so cool.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah. Oh yeah, for sure. I mean, especially like with social media and everything, it's like you can see like you said, traveling's bigger, like a lot of people are going out trying to get the 50 or their slam or anything. It's like it's just cool to see because you know, you people are getting different new experiences, you know, not one place is the same as all as uh others. Yeah, it's just great to see.
SPEAKER_00Well, I'll tell you that it'll make you a better turkey hunter. The more places you go, the more people you turkey out with, the more experiences and places. I mean, there it's uh it's a very there's a lot of stuff out there, and every time that you go and you get out of your comfort zone, it's gonna make you make you so much better.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, for sure. On the calls side of things, how did you get started in uh the whole calls and getting with all the brands you've got in? And did you ever think that you'd ever have that opportunity or get to where you're at?
SPEAKER_00Never never in a million years. I knew I was gonna be doing something like this for the rest of my life. I had I just I've always had that that you know how some people just have that direction, and it's it's it's it at the end of the day, it's God, man. It's just pushing you in the right direction, just giving you a path. And and I don't know if at some people it's very prominent and other people it's not, but for me it was always I of all I honestly though, like on the turkey side, like I I call everything. I call I I was doing duck calling contests and goose calling contests from the time I was nine years old. I didn't do my first elk or turkey calling contest until I was um 17, 16, or 17. I'm just super into waterfowl calling. Obviously, I wanted to be in the turkey stuff, but we don't have that out there. I was I'm I'm like one of the only turkey callers in the whole state of Washington. Like maybe one of the only that when I was growing up, I mean that and and I mean, you know, the the face that I would get from all the callers when I would come to Grand Nationals, and then I'm like, where are you from? I said, I'm from Washington State. Like, you guys have turkeys? I said, Well, we have we have plenty of turkeys. Um, uh, and you know, I learned from a lot of the I learned from some of the best men, you know, Jim Pollard, um, you know, I've Mark Drury, uh, Aaron Warbreton, um, Billy Argus, I Scott Ellis, man, I've just learned from some of the best turkey collars on the planet. And, you know, the only thing that was different for me, um, fast forward to as far as getting in with the brand, the brands that we're a part of. I was um, I helped out Dave Smith because he was right in my backyard. He's from Oregon. Um, I grew up, Dave was a mentor of mine. He took me all, you know, he took me under his wing. He's super awesome. Um, and always just was so nice to me. And um, you know, I was building calls for myself, and I'd had people offer, like, hey, you I want you to come in, do call, build the calls. And I always was like, you know, just keep betting on myself. But then the Higdon Outdoors approached me and they're like, Hey, we've got a pretty sweet deal for you. We want you to come help design the decoy turkey decoys, the calls will be your deal. The call you do whatever you want with them. And then um, you know, if if it works out, you can help with the waterfowl side. And I'm a super passionate waterfowl hunter. I super, I mean, waterfowl and turkeys are like for me, are just I'm a bird nerd, man. I love it. And so, and so I I prayed about it a lot. I called Dave, and this is one thing I've learned is if a true friend is going to be happy for you, right? Wherever you go. And he's just, he's like, I understand, you know what I mean? And just the same thing with you know, I was working with at this time, like Bill Saunders, um, with on the waterfowl side, and he's like, Gotta do what you gotta do, man. You know what I mean? It's it it good people will be happy for you wherever you go. And so I took the job. I never thought that any of this was gonna blow up the way I I mean, I'm gonna, I was gonna try my hardest to make it blow up, and I was grinding my butt off, trying so many different things, right? Um, I was filming, filming like crazy. I've been filming Hunt since I was I bought my first camera when I was 14. And I've been filming for forever. And that's what everyone asked me, like, oh man, it blown up last year. I'm like, dude, I've been doing this since I was 14 years old. I'm 29 now, and I I've been making videos, I've been putting them out there. You know, one day though, they all of a sudden this started blowing up and grabbing. It's and and then uh uh on then the calls started blowing up, then everything just started working, and one thing led to another, and then I just never turned down any opportunity, right? That was within reason and still followed my morals, right? I just took every opportunity I had, and now we're in a very, very different spot, in a spot that I wish I could go tell my you know 10, 14, 18 year old self about.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah. On the waterfowl side of things, I was you can see I'm a also a big waterfowl hunter, and I have my painting here. I have a few uh mallard quote unquote featherboards over here, and I got my swan and my goose over there.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_01What's your biggest draw for waterfowl hunting?
SPEAKER_00Man, waterfowl hunting, number one, I can do it for we can do it for 108 days. We have 108-day duck season, and so like I'm duck hunting from October till the end of January every year. Um uh I I mean I've my dad, if he could tell you how many times I've passed up shooting hammer deer like on our property, like, bo, you got a freaking tank. I'm like, I'm sorry, man, I'm duck hunting. And he's like, you freaking idiot. And I'm like, and he loves a duck hunt too. But I the biggest thing for me, man, is the div the div diversity, right? I love every species of waterfowl, I love the birds, I love working them, I love the different ways that they work, I love the colors, I love just dude, every bit of waterfowl hunting, the decoys, man, the tradition that goes into it, the calls, the I mean, the boats, running dogs. I mean, it are so there's it is such a tradition rich and and and uh diverse sport, and I I've dude, I'm like it's just ever I've always been head over heels. I love those rainy, nasty days. I love the wind, I love chasing weather, I love following birds, man. I'm just everything. I love it.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, for sure. That's the one thing about I mean, I don't know how much I mean obviously out in Washington, you probably got a lot of snow, but over here where I'm at, if the snow comes, the birds are right there with it, and that's like my favorite time to go out.
SPEAKER_00Well, that your guys' yeah, that's your guys' that's your guys' thing, right? You get snow. And for us on the west coast, obviously if we get snow, but it's rare on the west side, especially. We don't get a lot of snow. And so, like, my dad would I could hear it. My dad used to take me out of school. That was the one thing that he would take me out of school for. I'd hear, I'd hear in like November, December, and the rain pelting the side of the the school. I hear Bo Brooks to the front office, please. Bring your stuff. And I'm like, Oh yeah, dad's here. He's like, he's like, he's like, get your crap, let's go. And we'll go out there, and I mean, it was just I mean, the nastiest, gnarliest weather, and we just into the skies though, when it's like that where I'm from, the sky just turned black. There's wedgeon, wedgeon, pentails, mallards, teal, wood ducks, you know, ringnecks, divers, cacklers, honkers, snows, it's just everywhere. This and we we just have so many different types of birds, and it's like, dude, it's just it was like I just I remember and we walk out that gravel out there on the duck club or whatever we were hunting that day, you know. Um, and and I I hunt a lot of public nowadays, and and and we don't really hunt as many duck clubs as when we were when I was growing up, it really wasn't a big deal to get into them, right? They're pretty expensive nowadays. Um, you know, it uh it was it was pretty fun, man.
SPEAKER_01That's awesome. What would you say is your favorite duck if you could pick one to go for, or if there's one that you haven't got yet that you really want to get?
SPEAKER_00So uh if I'm gonna if I'm gonna choose a duck I'm gonna hunt every day, it's widgeon. Man, I love big wads of widgeon. Just I love that. And they're so they're so dumb. And like over sheet water, and they like when they you get a big wad, man. I just I love them. I love hunting widgeon. Um, and they're very diverse, you know, they act different in different scenarios, like big water versus sheetwater versus you know, a creek versus, you know, we get them a lot of different ways. Um, as far as birds, I have we just did a video on like dream bird. Man, um I've got a I've got a I I love targeting uh I love targeting birds. And so um, you know, everywhere I go, I I I grew up, this is something I never said on really on a podcast. I grew up, I had pigeons growing up. That's what like I had pet pigeons. I used to fly them and I had to look through, you know, I have 30, 30 per 30, 21 to 30 per kit. A kit is a group of birds, I'd put them up there, they're flying, and I'd have to watch them and see which one is doing which. And it did it, and also I had the duck, I had our my backyard pond, which had thousands of ducks in it every day. And I just was constantly watching birds, picking them out. So like I've I had that trained my eye for that. And I have pretty good vision. So I'm like picking out birds out of bunches, I love it. Or you know, scouting is obviously the best, but when you're duck trying to find a duck, man, like he's got to be ready every hunt. It's not something cool is gonna come along when it happens. It's not necessarily like you can go and just target that duck, you know. Um, there's some scenarios where you can do it. Um, you know, we get Eurasian widgeon, you can target Eurasian wigeon. But and I was targeting this year, I was targeting I found my buddies actually found it originally. Like my best friend, he texted me, he's like, dude, look at this duck. And it was a mallard Drake, um, had white going down his face, white going down his back, speckled, and then white wings and what like a white tail, just a super rad bird. And I hunted him. I mean, I when I when I hunt up, when I'm hunting him, like I I set up for him, but I'm I'm not bashful. Like if I have permission on a pond, I'll crawl up to that pond and I'll find him and shoot him. Like I do not care. Like I I love it. I'm I'm just there for it. So I I mean, and so you know, I could I I remember there was a really cool experience this year. That bird, I actually um my buddies saw him. We were hunting one pond, and he lit, but there's not a lot of water in this particular area. They were a few miles away. He came circled a few times and then left. There was a pond that was in between, there's like four ponds in that area. There was a pond in between there and the roost. We were by the hunting by the roost, he never came back there. And so there's one, they're like, there's this one pond in front of us, they're all going into, and I'm like, oh yeah, he's dead. And it's out in the middle of a prairie. And I I snuck on him like I was hunting a hunting a 200-inch mule deer for about an hour. It was freezing, it was snowing, and I crawled down, I crawled off the prairie, got down in there, it was like glassed in there, and I'm like looking. I'm like, man, he could be on the bank. And I there's like one little tree on this little pothole pond, and I just slowly crawl up, and there'd be a little bit of grass, and I had my binos, and I look through all the ducks, and they're like their sum at about four yards in front of me, and then I could see all the way to the back, which was about 70 yards. And I mean, I'm sending it if he's 70 or if he's four. So, you know, I'm like just looking through him, looking through him. And I sat there for I looked through ducks for about 30, 30-ish minutes, and they're just and they're just splashing, blowing up, and it was super fun. Never saw him. I never saw him again. No one ever got him. Um, I'll go try him again this year. I know where he's at. But that being said, you know, that was just super cool experience. And you know, I would have never gotten that unless I was holding out, right? You know, and I get I I love this, I love, I love going and just sitting there listening to ducks and spending time around them. It's so cool.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, that's kind of like how I got my swan. It was by chance. Like I was hunting with somebody, took them out for the first time. I was like, hey, let's go duck hunting, you know, it's perfect weather, it's like yeah, 15 out, you know, icebergs are floating in the water, so it's like this will be a good hunt.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So we get set up, I end up getting wet because one of the keys is floating away, water came on my way, or something like there's no no worse feeling. It's like that's when the hunt's just getting started. So I'm like, all right, I'm gonna finish doing this, go put my coveralls on. I had an extra pair of knee high boots in the car. So I'm like, all right, I'll just hunt my fat, have my buddy go get the birds if we get them. Yeah, so then he's like, Hey, I gotta go back to the car real quick. I want to warm up a second before we get into it. I'm like, all right, fair enough. You know, it's first time, it's definitely cold out. Yeah, go do what you gotta do. I'll be sitting here. Hopefully, by the time you get back, there's either I got a couple birds down or nothing's happened yet. Yeah, so it's like as the sun's creeping up, the ducks are getting paddling into the spread. I'm like, oh perfect. It's gonna be three or four, three or four down, bang up day, finish up early, go get some breakfast at the diner. Yeah, well, as they're paddling in, I'm I pulled up, I'm waiting for him to get closer. They start paddling away. I'm like, what the fuck? Yeah, I'm like, why are they paddling away? They're they're literally just getting ready to come do it. Well, he comes walking up and he scares them off. He's like, Hey, do you see this duck right there? Like, yeah, they're gone now because they've seen you walking up. I'm like, Yeah, so how we were hunting is we were on a point. You're hunting this one side of the point, and so I'm like, all right, I'm gonna go walk on this other side and see if there's anything because my side swan's up, whatever. And then this lone swan just comes uh floating in. I'm like, oh I've never seen one of these before, I'll put it in personal and never got one. And I know where I'm at. The one that I got to mute swan, mutes are kind of quote unquote invasive around here, yeah, and some of the warriors too. And tundra you got a tag for.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, I didn't really I'm kind of ashamed to say this, but I don't really know the difference between the two at the time. But I'm like, I know it's definitely not a tundra swan. Yeah, yeah, tundra swan. So uh waited for him to get close, pulled up, bang, shoot him. He's like, and then Muddy's like, I don't think he got him. I'm like, I definitely got him. So I was like, if you want me to shoot him again, I'm gonna shoot him again. So he starts flapping. So I shot him again, and he's like, Yeah, I think he's done. I'm like, no crap. Well, as um getting ready to have him go get him, he starts kind of kicking out to where the deep water is. I'm like, Of course, of course. So then he went and said, Oh, I'm gonna try give me your gun or give me a stick, I'll try to get him. And then he ended up getting a little bit of water on his waiters. I'm like, all right, enough of this. Yeah, I stripped, I stripped down in my underwear, jumped in. Oh my gosh, and went swimming for him, and had to switch and came back. I was like, All right, you start cleaning stuff up, I'm gonna run to the car, start getting warm, and put him in the car, and we're done for the day.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh. Well, it's worth it. I would do it. I'd do it now.
SPEAKER_01It was worth it, and I never realized how big they were either. Like, I was holding him up, he was like the size of me, wingspan, bigger than my arm. Dude, that's so cool. That's wild. Oh yeah. What's up? Were you losing it? Oh yeah, I was losing a little bit. I was like, holy crap, I just got a swan. And and and and that's kind of like why he got mad, because it's like that's you know, not a typical bird to get, and he's got a good story with him. And and I'm I don't know about you, but I'm picky about my mounts. Like, if there's not a good story with it, or it's not like anything meaningful that happens, I'm not really mounting it.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah, no, it's it's got it's either that or it's gotta be a cool bird, like a crazy person. Oh, yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_01Back on to the call side of things. I know I talked well, we when we were messaging, I wanted to talk about your uh gobble tube. How did you come up with the design and get into making your gobble tube?
SPEAKER_00Absolutely, yeah, man. Um, so obviously, we're gonna say on this podcast, man, it's I it the gobble tube is not the first gobble tube, right? There was one the Haints, Herald Knight. I mean, there's the only problem was is back in the day, man, I had one, I couldn't run it with a dang. They're very hard to run. Um, it never was a gobble tube in the beginning either. That wasn't what I intended to make it. It was we I was going to do a I told we're talking at sitco, like um, we wanted to do a film, and I'm like, well, there's a I have a film in mind that I've always wanted to do. I want to go down to the Yucatan Peninsula and I want to call turkeys because my friends that are down there, they're like, no one calls them. They used to use an e-collar to shoot them out of a tree. And and so I had practiced this actual call before. I'd actually kind of mocked it up with um waterfowl calls, you know, it's different specklebelly snow goose calls, um, tried it with the honker call. I've I'd mess around and I had actually gotten pretty close um to making the sound, but then I'm like, dude, let's make it longer, make it easier, let's make it so it has so that boop, boom, book, book, book, book, you know, and we mess around with it like crazy until I'd made something that actually I'm like, yeah, dude, let's go do it. And so we went down there, I called them, you know, had interacted with them. You know, obviously I only had a few days to do it. It's not, and we ended up getting one, but it was it was very hard also because they're extremely skittish and they're like they're dang smart. And we actually did it the last weekend of their season. So they had been hunted for they hunt them in February, so like six, eight weeks, they've been getting smoked. Um, but it was it was super fun. And but then the day, the few days before we left, I was in Georgia, opening, opening day of Georgia, and and this bird was just hung up out there. I'm like, man, I said, let me, I'm gonna mess with this thing. I said, I think there's an Eastern in this this call. And I'm yelping at him, and I just and I finally just start going and pow pow. And um, that particular bird, he had caught shut down. And I'm but I'm like, dude, take a video of me, Lexi. Like, this sounds really good. I start yelping, pow. I mess with it some more, pow. I'm like, this sounds good. Later that day, we got on another one. I went pow and he went pow back. I'm like, there we go. And I'm like, this is it. And um my dad actually used to use the um, he had a hurt had um had a nightinghale one of them, and he could run it. And the we called in a lot of turkeys hammered on that dang gobble, you know, gobble call. And you know, Scott Ellis, he had a um, when I had hunted with him before, he had a um had just you know your tube call you with the latex on. And I think those sound good too. And um, but I'm like, all of them were very hard. But the whole thought process is with the guts that we had. I'm like, if we make them right, it doesn't fall into the tone trough and it won't stick. That's the biggest problem, is those things stick and they're hard. But if you're a waterfowl hunter, you can run the dang gobble tube. I'm like, dude, mess with it, mess with it. Different reads. We actually went with a different read than your straight regular Mylar read, messed with a bunch of stuff. And then I took it to shows for the whole summer. We actually did a limited run of them and we sold them in seconds. And I'm like, okay, we've got everyone's attention. Let's keep working on this because I'm I'm the type of guy. I'm like, I want it to be, I want it to be perfect, because I want it to be good for our people, man. Everyone trusts us with the stuff that we make, and it needs to be top tier. And so I took some prototypes with me. Um, I made everyone in the office blow them a hundred different times, and they were so tired of it. And then um I went down to I went to um a Sica Depot opening. We did like this opening deal, tons of people showed up, and I just kept handing them the calls to people. Like, try it, try it, try it. And all of the waterfowl hunters are like, dude, this is insane. You know, the guys at Turkey Hunt, waterfowl hunt, anyone that could go, you know. Obviously, if you're a turkey hunter and you don't have mechanics, you're gonna it's gonna be a learning curve. But for the guy, they're like, dude, this is the easiest call I've ever run. And so, you know, and then I we started messing with it more, and the way I was standing them, I started to yelp on them and just real quietly, just I'm like, dude, this thing, I was so I mean, like, I was so stoked. And so the packaging and everything, like we built the call, right? And the packaging, I'm like, packaging has to be the best packaging ever. Like, this is a super cool product, and I take packaging very seriously because it's a part of the process. You know, I want people to see it and be like, oh, this is something that I'm gonna keep forever. And so um I had my friend Bart, um, who's an extremely talented artist? I sent him one of my pictures of a turkey that this gobbling, I'm like, put him on a branch. I said, I want him hammering it. And I said, Above it, it's gonna say make them gobble. So there's a whole marketing behind it, we're like, we're making them gobble. It's it's this is you use it as a last ditch thing is something that you have to do. You know, do we want to hammer gobble at him every single time when he'd just come in to a yelp or a scratching leaves? No. It is when the birds aren't gobbling, hit him with it. If the bird's hung up, hit him with it. It's a hit if you can if you're in a scenario where you think that bird's been chasing a bunch of other birds around, hit him with it. Yelp and cut it off. Off and so make them gobble. And man, and I I didn't I knew it was gonna be big. I had no idea it was gonna be uh that big.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah, when you I think you were at NWTF when you guys were like really starting to roll them out. Yeah, and every time I look like I looked like around then, sold out. Every time like a couple weeks after that, I looked again and sold out. I'm like, damn, I gotta get my hands on one of these things.
SPEAKER_00We we built them for a whole year, like like I not a whole year, but like a whole building season. Like we had two guys that that's their only thing they were doing was building gobble tubes. And it was roughly, I mean, six, seven, eight. I mean, it was a long time to build them up to that point, and we sold out immediately. And it was it was something that I'll never forget. And but the thing is, is I'm like each person, if I had a chance, I wanted to pull them aside, show them how to use it. You know, I don't want it to be one of those things where like you just have no clue to run it, right? And and then the videos, you know. Um, and so it's it was it was definitely definitely one that I that I'm very, very proud of. You know, we've the same thing when our mouth calls went crazy in the beginning, it was the same thing, sold out, sold out, sold out, sold out. And I'm like, dude, how do we keep up with this? I used to build everything by myself, but now we have um a very, very stout team, and they're they're my people, they're the best people ever, and it's just it's awesome.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, and that's one of the other things that drew me to the gobble tube when you guys first came out with it and were making the videos and promo and stuff. Yeah, the ease of it, like all like I've seen you with all the videos and stuff, you're just like, do this, and it's like depending on like the first or second try, not first, but the second or third try of somebody trying it, it's like they got it.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, just about well, that's the thing, is it's is is there are gonna be people that can't get it because it's mechanically a feed chuckle on a duck call, right? It's not easy for most people when they're first learning it. It took me a long time, and so if you've never done it before, done that mechanic, it's gonna be hard. But the actual ease of the call, it doesn't lock up, it's very light, very easy to use, and and you can't overblow it either. And so that was, you know, it's just it's just uh yeah, it was it was. I mean, I went back and forth with the team, then they were I had some guys that were like, Man, we gotta we gotta put the heavier read in it. I'm like, no, man, we gotta just make this so everybody can run it. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, for sure. Well, but I got one final more question for you. My man is my favorite question that I love asking all my first time guests on the show. Yeah. And it's what is your why that keeps bringing you back for more?
SPEAKER_00Oh, oh man. Um, man, I got I got I got a I have a avenue here that is so cliche. You got a sickness, but man, I can't stop at at any capacity. Um, my why has changed a lot through the years. You know, my why at one point was was uh because I'm you know because I wanted to be the best, right? When I was doing the calling and everything, right? I wanted to be the best, but now it's changed a lot. It's more, dude, I want to I let my when I go to these shows and someone tells me that they got their first turkey because of something that I was able to be a part of and see the smiles and see everybody so happy. And and I'll tell you my other why is man, I've I've learned how to cook these dang things, every bit of them. And my wife is an incredible cook, man. And I I'm I'm just as addicted to that as I am, you know, dang candy. So yeah, you know what I mean? It's it it it it is I I mean, I find myself going out and I you know I'm walking last year. I spent five days just walking creeks to shoot my three wood ducks so I could pluck them completely and eat them. I mean, you know, it's it's it's goes back to the sickness, man. Um I mean, I'm just so like that's all I think about. That's all I ever want to do. And it's been a very, very, I've been very fortunate too to be able to well, some people share it with me, and then I get to share it with other people. That's even that's so much cooler. I never, you know, it everything changes for you as you get older.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, for sure. Well, Bo, before we wrap up, I always like to give the invite, you know, if you're ever up this way or ever hunting around Delaware, Maryland, Jersey, just hit me up, man. We'll make something happen. Yeah, I'd love to wrap there with you. I don't know if you're finding much up here, but anytime you're up, just let me know, dude. We'll make something happen.
SPEAKER_00That'd be awesome, man. I I've really fallen in love with up there, man. I went up to Jersey and then up to Long Island this year. It's pretty rad.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah. For sure. Do you have uh any last minute thoughts, shout outs, or anything you want to say before we get out of here?
SPEAKER_00No, man, just uh I don't know that if anybody needs to hear this, man. You know, be kind, be nice. You never know whose life you're impacting. Try to help people when you can, and uh and and uh if you guys ever have any questions to for me, you gotta just absolutely reach out. I'll try to get back to you in the most timely manner.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, well, thank you again, Bill. I appreciate the time, man. We'll definitely have to get you on later on down the line sometime. I'm in back on here. So yeah. Uh and thank you guys again for listening to another episode of the Blue Hen Outdoors Podcast.