MF Bois Outdoors Podcast: Ep 22; Hunter Kilmon

On this episode, Blaine is joined by Hunter Kilmon, a passionate turkey hunter and father of two young hunters, Emma and Maverick. The episode blends, hunting stories, reflections on the turkey season, duck hunting memories, and discussions with Hunter’s children about their successful season.

The episode is a relaxed hunting conversation centered on family, turkey hunting, and outdoor experiences. The biggest accomplishments discussed are Emma and Maverick both having outstanding turkey seasons, Hunter successfully tagging out despite a difficult start, and the enjoyment of sharing hunting traditions with the next generation.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:27

What's up everybody and welcome back to the MF Boys Outdoors Podcast. We can't thank you enough for listening to this podcast. Before we get started, I'd love to give a huge shout out to our sponsors. Firstly, I'd like to give a huge shout out to Mueller Chokes for sponsoring the podcast. Jimmy Muller has these things absolutely dialed in. I did quite a bit of diver hunting this year towards the end of the duck season, and the passing choke was straight fire. I also went turkey hunting. If I didn't suck so much at turkey hunting, maybe we would have shot one with the UFO. So go check them out on Instagram at MullerChox Hunting. Use code MFBoys10 in all caps at checkout. We would also like to give a huge shout out to Retriever Fuel because let's face it, your hunting dogs work hard. This is great addition for my dog Mabel. This year she had a torn CCL for most of the year. Give her a little bit of this, man, and it really boosted her up. Obviously, if you had a torn ACL, you're not going to get perfect, but it definitely helped her recover a little bit quicker as I was still kind of hunting her through it. So go to uh BarkaboveTreats.com or look up Retriever Fuel on Google and use code MF Boys10 and all caps at checkout for 10% off. Also, want to give a huge shout out to uh Flight Day Ammo for sponsoring the podcast. If you haven't shot this ammo yet, you're missing out. With all the copper talk going around and stuff, just go ahead and shoot steel. Uh the high payload, low feet per second steel shot they have produced is off the chain. The science and shot cam footage behind it showcases that it is the top ammo on the market, especially when paired with your Muller Choke. So head over to Flight Day Ammo and grab yourself a couple boxes or cases and use code MFBoys10 and all caps at checkout for 10% off. One of our newer sponsors, Dirty Duck Coffee. If your coffee sucks, it is not the duck. You guys go check out Dirty Duck. I start my day usually with a little bit of morning wood, it's my favorite. Um, or I also have been uh putting through the espresso some of the Pit Boss blend. Uh, that's a really good one as well. So um, and then if I'm really running behind, I just go get me a canned cold brew to start the day. You cannot go wrong with any of those. So go check them out at dirty.coffee.com and use code MFBoys10 at checkout for 10% off. And with us today, uh the locally known Turkey King himself somehow just finds his way to shooting a turkey. Um, Mr. Hunter Killman, how are you doing? I'm doing alright, how are you doing? Man, hanging in there. I feel like today all I've done is uh obviously paint the baby's room. If you can't tell, that's where I'm at. Uh my office slash podcast room is now the baby's room, so getting off to a bad start with him.

SPEAKER_00 3:26

They should have just gotten a crib and done and done done this podcast in the crib. You probably fit in fit in there.

SPEAKER_01 3:32

I'm looking at it. It's it's it's about a twin size. I'm good with that. There's uh no, dude. I have been in the attic painting, which I cannot stand painting. I don't know about you, but I hate painting.

SPEAKER_00 3:51

Yeah, we uh me and Brandy when we bought our first house was like, uh, we'll we'll we'll try to save some money and paint it ourselves, and that's that'll never happen again. I will gladly pay somebody. My knuckles felt like it. My knuckles felt like they was just all blur bruised up. I had the shakes like an alcoholic.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Yeah, make sure you shut all the doors and also like don't give yourself any ventilation, it's great. Why would you want to do that? No, man. That I painted uh we painted all of our rooms pretty much now, at least the bedrooms and and bathrooms here, and it seems like every time it just gets worse and worse. And then I just want to get done with it, but uh I have to tape everything or else it don't it just ain't gonna go well. It'll be just like wavy as crap if I don't tape literally everything, like the ceiling, the trim, everything gets taped. If it's not taped, it's gonna look like dog crap.

SPEAKER_00 4:52

Yeah, our quarter round in our first house was two-tone. It was it was two different colors, and it was just someone like all the way through.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

But no, anyways, um, you know, I I wanted to have you on for uh, you know, we go turkey hunting, we go duck hunting, you know, a little bit, just kind of have you on for a buddy talk kind of deal. Um, and obviously I know your kids are around somewhere, so we'll get into that. Um, you know, I think what did both of them limit out this year on turkeys?

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Yeah, uh they both limited out. Um, both of them killed on open day juvenile. Uh you you was able to tag along with us that morning. Man, that's it. Kind of got nervous there at the beginning because we didn't there was nothing going on.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

I was like, dude, you brought me all the way here. I was excited. You're like, oh yeah, every year we kill we kill two on, or you know, at least one on opener over here. I was like, there ain't no turkeys over here, bro. Eight o'clock, we still hadn't heard a gall, and I was like, Oh, this is this there's something wrong here. You were just yeah, you were getting after it on the call, dude, and there was nothing around. I was like, uh-oh.

SPEAKER_00 6:05

Yeah, I mean, it's yeah, it was it was tough. I ain't gonna lie, but I was frustrated, which I also was frustrated, you know, because usually it's usually one of the kids kill on you on uh every year that one of the kids kill on juvenile, and usually on open day, I'll kill it. And if I don't kill opening day, I'll always kill the day after. Yeah, sometimes open weekend I'm pulling a trigger, and you know, it was like it was like the very end of April before I even killed my first one this year. It was it was tough, but when it went, it went quick because I killed we killed uh let's see the both kids killed on juvenile, and then I killed my first one and then towards the end of April on a Thursday, and then I tagged out two days later, and then the next weekend I took Maverick and he tagged out, and then Emma tagged out like the week before close before close. But it was uh it was it was a very fun and very fun and fast, uh very fun and fast turkey season. Uh you know, I've I've been turkey hunting now. I killed my first bird when I was six. Uh yeah, man. I've killed a lot of turkeys, and uh you always you always find you, I mean you're always learning. I mean, I'm 32 now, and uh, I mean, I still still, you know, you're you'll never you'll you'll never fake figure out anything in wildlife, whether it's deer, ducks, turkey, once you think you've got it figured out, they're gonna eat these.

SPEAKER_01 7:42

Oh, yeah, every time. Every time for sure. I know for a fact, every single year it seems as if I don't learn anything, and then the next year comes and it seems as if I suck just as bad as the year before. Uh turkeys, at least. Ducks, not so bad, but turkeys for sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:59

Yeah, I know turkeys. Uh turkeys, it it took me, you know, you you will make a lot of mistakes. I think my dad finally let me start. He he started letting me deer hunt by myself when I was 12. And then he my dad didn't really get in, he was just mainly duck or uh deer hunting, and he didn't really care much about turkey hunting. You know, we went to some when I was a kid, but he didn't love it like you know, like we do. Like you know, I mean you've known me for a while now, and everybody that that knows me, I could give a I could give a crap less about a duck or a deer. If you if if I was the only hunt one thing the rest of my life, it would be turkeys, hands down.

SPEAKER_01 8:41

Yeah, that's where we're not the same, but I I do I do enjoy turkey hunting, but turkeys is almost like just a buffer in between it's like dove hunting, sure it's cool, but like just a buffer in between duck season. That's just me though. I and I'm not good at turkey hunting though. I am way better at duck hunting than I will ever even consider being at turkey hunting. Um that's why I go with guys like you that uh are supposed to put me on birds. No, but truly though, this year like I think I only went by myself like one time and actually, or no, maybe I went like two or three, but like and actually said, Alright, I'm gonna hunt, like I'm gonna shoot one myself. So I mean I didn't really honestly try all that much, I guess you would say. I should have shot one, and then I I should have honestly been able to shoot two, at least me or Zach would have shot it, if we would have been patient on opener, and then uh that Sunday of opener also had a turkey 25 yards to my left, and that was the only place I couldn't shoot was my left. So you know how it is. Next time but it's like the it's like the constant fight of do you want to be hid and like or do you want to be like out in the open? Like I I don't know, you know how it is. It's kind of like it's a little bit of like a hard. I was like, man, there's no way they come in on the left, they always come from the right coming back.

SPEAKER_00 10:16

So yeah, I mean it's a perfect example. Well, here I'll start it off. Opening weekend, I'll I always hunt by myself opening weekend because usually I'm I'm gonna I'm gonna kill mine opening weekend. Well, one of my good friends, uh, which you hunted with us up there, Blake Curtis. Um yeah, he let us hunt, he let us hunt uh some ponds and some fields during duck season that he had. And uh, you know, he he called me up like two days before opener for turkey and he was like, Hey, you want to go hunt Saturday? And you know, usually I'll always hunt by myself just because I want to I always take care of my if I if I can get my one killed on opening day, I could care less if I kill another one and I'll start going with everybody else. And uh, you know, I was like, Well, he you know, he he let us hunt out there a few times, so I might as well I'll take him opening day, and uh, you know, we we got on some birds and they was just hand up real bad, and plus Maverick had a football game and Emma had a soccer game, and so it was about to find out about all that uh about five years.

SPEAKER_01 11:20

Oh, yeah, it's uh you'll be you'll be asking, where are you at? Bro, I'm at a wrestling tournament, dude. I ain't going to tuck on today. Yeah, it's gonna be uh it's gonna be so brutal, but also like you wouldn't miss it for the world, but like you want to though.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Yeah, yeah. Sometimes you know, it's sometimes you do, sometimes you don't, but uh but uh we know me and Blake went and uh we like so we got on some birds, they would they was hinned up bad, and you know you you we and then we went back that afternoon, we would find birds that was still hinned up at one o'clock in the afternoon, but also too from where you know they push the season back, they're you know, you you're getting birds in the middle of April that are they're they're done, they're done breeding hens. You know, we ran across opening a weekend we ran across two or three different lawn beards over there at Blake's that uh you could call at them and like they just wouldn't pay you no attention at all. I mean, we had one which started calling and he just picked up and just took off across the field, like he didn't even care. I know, man.

SPEAKER_01 12:28

To be honest with you, it it is I've killed more turkeys out at the out at Zach's farm late season than I have early season, just simply because they ran through all the hens at that point. Like you know what I'm saying? And and I think this year would also kind of screwed us, and I think you have a similar situation on one of the farms is I think somebody got permission to hunt where they kind of are, and like the Zach's property is not you know the roost, the roost is behind this property, and so it's like if somebody got permission to hunt there, like they're gonna beat you every time, you know what I'm saying? And I think I think that person killed quite a few. And dude, I've asked for permission over there, probably I mean, between me, John, and Zach, probably like four times. All of us get denied, and somebody's got it now, but you know, that's just part of the game, man. It does suck though, because that property's kind of always been a free-range property, so really the only way to kill them is to once they get on to somebody else's land, which makes it harder, so everybody else wouldn't really hunt them that much. But now it seems as if a lot more got killed this year just simply because somebody has permission on that actual field.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

Yeah, yeah. It's like that that happened, you know. I was opening a weekend Sunday morning. Again, you know, me and another good buddy, Hardy. Uh, me and him have been turkey hunting together ever since we were in high school, and both of us have killed a lot of turkeys. Hardy's killed a crap load, I've killed a crap load, and uh I don't know what it is. I don't know if if God thinks that it's a disadvantage to the turkeys when we're together, because like I said, we've killed numerous turkeys, but when we get together, we can't we've killed one bird together, and that is it. And uh, you know, we've always said since high school that we wanted to double together, and we never have. Well, you know, that that property, you know, this the you know, we had uh we was hunting up there at that 60 acres up in Portland, and uh neighbor never turkey hunted his life, don't know anything about anything about turkey hunting. He pulls in the gate and he drives all the way down through the wood. He's got it's a landlocked piece of property, and he has a right-of-way through our through our uh through our land, and uh he pulls in, you know. Usually most people I'm I'm the type that I don't want to bump nothing. I'm literally gonna open the gate, I'm gonna park, and I'm gonna cut the gate, and then walk because you know you don't want to bump, you know, whether it's deer or turkeys, I don't want to mess anything up.

SPEAKER_01 15:07

Yeah, just park far far away. There's no reason to get close. I mean, the worst the worst thing you have to do is walk another 500 yards, like who cares, you know.

SPEAKER_00 15:15

Like yeah, but uh the same way. There was some birds roosting. Uh it's it's three properties that come together. There's a creek, there's a property here, you know, the neighbor's property, the guy who's hunting, and then ours is all on the side of this creek. Well, the turkeys usually roost right there on the creek across you know all three properties, and uh he decided to drive down and he he ran right underneath them where they was roosting and uh kind of screwed the morning up, but across the creek there was uh two birds that hammered all morning, and uh so man and man and you know and I get from where he from where he drove down through there, uh they stayed on roost till like 7:30 that morning. And I just got tired of hearing them gobble. So man Hardy walked to the uh to the west side of the property and called. We sat there for probably 10 minutes, didn't hear or say nothing. So I was like, Well, I guess we can go back and screw with these turkeys. Well, we get in the bottom between the creek and the field that we was just in, and we're right in the middle. You got a field, and then it comes down, it turns the woods and it comes downhill, flattens off, and then there's the creek. But you got birds over here, we're right here, and all of a sudden, over here, when we was just at at the edge of this field, here goes a gobble. And I thought, you gotta be kidding me. And so we sit there, and this dude is coming on a string, and uh, you know, just I mean, just gobbled his butt off. Well, you know, just about you know, every smart turkey if they can't see you and it's real thick in there, and they you know they want you to come, they're gonna hang up. So Hardy gets up and takes off walking calling, you know. We found it, you know, we figured out that trick. You know, somebody you walk away calling, he's like, Oh, they're leaving me. I'm gonna, you know, he's gonna come in.

SPEAKER_01 17:14

Yeah, whenever I'm by myself, if if if they're kind of stuck, I I'll turn around and and call the opposite direction sometimes. But obviously, that's when I'm hunting by myself.

SPEAKER_00 17:26

But uh, you know, he that happens, and the turkey just gobbles his butt off. He never, you know, it doesn't work. He stay he stays at the edge of the field and he does not he's not wanting any part of it.

SPEAKER_01 17:39

So you guys were in the woods at this, you guys were in the woods and he was on the edge of the field. Yeah, I gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 17:46

Yeah, Hardy, you know, took off walking away. He walks all the way to the creek. Mind you, there's still two birds that was gobbling on the hill behind us. Well, sure enough, Hardy goes down into the creek, he's probably within 100 yards of these birds, is where they was originally gobbling at. All of a sudden, both of these jokers fly across the creek and land 20 yards away from Hardy's lap. And he's just sitting here looking at two long beards. He's already killed one, you know, he don't want to tag out opening weekend. And he, you know, and we had a bird goblin, and he's like, I didn't want to mess you up because he said it sounded like he was in your lap. I was like, No, he's still at the edge of the woods. So Hardy watches these birds, they walk up to meet this third bird. Well, I went to Hardy, we went back around, followed the creek down, and then circled all the way around them. And uh we get sat down, start calling, and the you know that there's a there's a field, we're in the corner right here. There's a field, a tree line, and another field right here. And uh that's where all three birds we thought was at. And yeah, turns out the two birds that Hardy had walked all the way through the woods up there. We get sat down and I see him, and I was like, Oh, we're fixing a double. He calls, they're they're walking back and forth on the tree line at like 150, 200 yards, gobbling, goblin, goblin. Well, all of a sudden, out of the corner of my eye just catch something, and it was that first lone gobbler that come in, steps out at like 25 yards. Me being selfish and wanting us to double, I watched that bird walk away. He gets spoked by something, goes to them other two lone beards, they get spoken, and all three of them take off across the field. And I was like, there's what you get for being greedy.

SPEAKER_01 19:45

Yeah. Two two birds or one at least could have been down by either you or Hardy. But hey, I mean, though, sometimes though, man, like that's a that's another thing. That's like kind of like in the situation of like, hey, let these 10 ducks work in so we can get a shot at these 50. You know what I'm saying? It it's like there's something about it. Sometimes it's just whatever, and I mean it's not like I mean, you definitely wanted to shoot it, that's not the thing, but like it's like, yeah, but I mean I think there's a video circulating around about that from North Dakota two years ago. Yeah, something like that. Yeah. Uh Hunter is not known to have any kind of anger issues at all.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

No, no, anybody knows any. We were if you know any someone's from Gallatin, Tennessee, you know, we're the most patient, patient people on the planet.

SPEAKER_01 20:41

Uh well, luckily I'm not from there because I'm patient. So but no, we were hunting up in North Dakota. Um, me and Hunter have been up there twice together, right? Yeah, we've been up there twice together. Um, the second year that me and Hunter went up there, we were sitting in a field. Um, the first day we got there, man, we had the worst time trying to get permission. And uh Hunter and them had a nice flight, and you know, we'd just finished up a 17-hour drive. Me and Zach did all the scouting. Anyways, Hunter wanted to take a little nap, which turned up to basically go a night night. But anyhow, beyond the point, we got on some birds and it's whatever, but um, so me and Zach are like literally like, oh my gosh, like we cannot get permission on anything, and the birds that we are finding, it's like unposted land with like four trucks already sitting on it, like just stupid stuff like that. And it's like, yeah, I'm not messing with that. So we finally are in the area of where we've seen some fields that were unposted that already had people on them, and we're like, all right, here's a field. Well, I don't remember what is oh this guy first. First off, his name was uh Dennis, which is I just like Dennis's. Anyways, we go to Dennis's house and we're like uh we're trying to get permission. Mind you, it's like 8 p.m. Like it's dark, like it's really dark, and I hate doing that. But uh, so we and the lady answers the door and she's like, Hey, what's up? And we're like, Hey, we were just wondering, we were trying to get permission. Sorry to come by late, you know. Like, we were just trying to hit up like basically like a buzzer beater, and um we thought your house was a lot closer. And she's like, Oh, well, my husband Dennis is in the shower, he'll be out in a second. And then she proceeds to just leave her dog out there that was jumping all over me and Zach. Like, I mean, just biting at our hands and like just all over us. This little like leaner dog type deal that was just like full chaos. And uh Dennis comes out and is he's got on nothing but a towel, and like the towel was so small that like it barely clipped across from the front, like very like that's the funniest thing. Like, didn't like dripping wet still, like didn't even hardly dry off. Anyways, we got permission from him, and he told us that we can hunt anywhere on his fields for the rest of the week, which I was like, awesome, cool, like whatever. Well, that day ended up kind of being a little bit of a bust. Like, it was they fed really late at night. I'm not I'm still not sure why they didn't come back as well, but anyways, they these ducks would work, work, work, man, and then they would go land in a in a pothole somewhere else, or like 400 yards away pothole, or like this pothole over here. We were in a really heavily uh like congested area of potholes, and we had a duck come in, and I think it was uh I think what what's the old guy's name who went with us? Mike Mike, Mr. Mike's. Yeah, Mr. Mike. I think uh a duck came in when we had like 10 mallards working, and Mike just pulled up and absolutely dusted this hen. Like, and Hunter was like, Why are we effing shooting at one duck when there's ten freaking ducks working? Uh and I caught it on my GoPro, so that's the video that's going around of of Hunter. Um but it is funny.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

Mr. Mike, you know, he he's killed Mr. Mike's probably killed more ducks than anybody I know.

SPEAKER_01 24:26

I didn't care, like what like I don't I just don't get bit out of shape, and you really truly weren't bit out of shape. We were all kind of frustrated at the field, like it just it was a really, really good field that just didn't produce, and sometimes it just was like that.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Like I said, I said that Mr. Mike, he was like, Well, I didn't fly all this way to just look at these things. He said, I'm in.

SPEAKER_01 24:50

Yeah, I also have a video of Mike. Man, I felt I feel so bad. Like, even in North Dakota, whenever I was guiding, like, you feel so bad putting your clients in a layout that are old, like they just Mike was shooting them.

SPEAKER_06 25:03

I swear to you.

SPEAKER_01 25:06

He was shooting them. He'd lay back in that little uh I think he I think he had a layout chair, like one of the dive bombs one ones and a like a blanket. I swear to you, the blanket wasn't no higher than his knees. He just laid back in it. The blanket was nagging at his ankles, like he was taking a dump or something. And he'd he wouldn't even sit up, man. He'd just raise his shoulder up a little bit. Or he'd rolled over onto his side.

SPEAKER_00 25:34

He'd roll over on his side and they just hold it like that and just shoot once or twice.

SPEAKER_01 25:38

Yeah. Hey, I said, All right, Mike, now today you're gonna get on the end. And he got on the he got on that right end, man. He was leaning over. I mean, he'd dusting them coming off that side, not gonna lie to you, but it was funny though. And he'd oh me. But dude, those were the days I I really do miss that those trips. That that's a good trip, but you know, I think this year we made the right call as far as just going ahead and trying to get something for the season. Um, it seems like to me, like it's a great trip, and like we kill a good amount of birds on on our North Dakota trips that we take, but the other 60 days I just is a struggle, man, whenever you're trying to hunt public and you know how it is. So I'm glad that we we found us a little lease to get on in Arkansas.

SPEAKER_00 26:31

Yeah, I think it's gonna be I think it's gonna be a pretty mashed up spot, you know. If knock on wood, if we get some rain, you know, it Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:39

Well, I mean that's anywhere. I mean we need rain for uh you know, to be honest with you, like we we complain a lot about our RWMAs, but to be honest with you, like you can plant as good as corn as you want, but if you ain't got water to flood it or you ain't got water to flood the millet, man, that kills a spot. Um, you know, we went whenever me and Morgan went and hunted that place um in can uh up in Kentucky, man, like they didn't have no water, like you can't do anything if you don't have water to hunt, you know what I'm saying? So it's like it's one of those things where it's like you know, to be honest with you, people complain about our WMA, but we don't ever have water issues on RWMA.

SPEAKER_00 27:23

No, well and to let you know they they they did plant a little earlier this year. We went out riding, we went out riding uh yesterday on the river. Oh, did they? And and the the 30s was planted. We stopped there and uh just to get out and stretch our legs. I mean that and uh the the third 30s was planted, it was probably about four inches tall coming out of the ground, maybe, but it oh that's there was food in the ground.

SPEAKER_01 27:50

It got it got early rain. I don't they I mean I would assume that they had planted it before uh let's see, before I went to Boston. Um and if it got that rain, then it should be doing fairly well.

SPEAKER_00 28:02

I mean they hadn't planted it. It didn't get but it got planted sometime this month because I was out there well it's June now. Yeah, I was out there week before the week before turkey season closed and it it it was uh it hadn't been planted yet. Oh so that so they've done it in the last they've done it in the last few weeks.

SPEAKER_01 28:25

Yeah, I was actually wondering about that. I was I was gonna go ride around maybe with uh Morgan or somebody um and go look, but I don't really care that much. It is gonna be what it is, like it's gonna be their I mean we're not known for having decent crops, so I'm not really worried about that. The ringnecks you'll have the corn stalk minus the corn. The rainnecks love just straight corn stalk, they love eating on that. Yeah, yeah, that's my favorite. This year there was some boys that was hiding. Uh I was like, man, y'all killing them up there. I was in a another blind near him. And he's like, No, we ain't shooting nothing. I was like, Yeah, okay, buddy. I was like, bro, I don't even know why you're trying to hide your ringneck beatdown from me, bro. Like, I don't care.

SPEAKER_00 29:21

You gotta watch out in forties holes. We've we've killed, we've killed a bunch of ringnecks in there in the snow.

SPEAKER_01 29:29

I'm not gonna lie to you, I'll I'll beat down on some ringnecks.

SPEAKER_00 29:33

Like, I'll beat down on any kind of duck. Oh, except a merganser. I'll beat down on the on the uh hooded merganzers. I hate they're the ugliest duck that's ever I hate them.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

All right, well, yeah, you know, you know every duck you try and shoot the Drake. The Merganzer is the one that I try and shoot the hen.

SPEAKER_00 29:56

Yep, I sh I shoot the hen, so it's you know, it's one that can't get reproduced. Maybe maybe the maybe the males will turn gay and they'll go extinct, you know.

SPEAKER_01 30:05

Hey, I'm not gonna lie, dude. Um whenever you know Corey that was at uh that uh with you. Yeah, me and Corey went one day and dude, it was it was a bang up day. I don't know what it was, but it was flight day for sure. And uh off on the right hand side, I had a group of uh merganzers land, and I was like, oh yeah, dude, it was every bit of me to like reach around the blind and like try and get one. I mean, I'm talking like five yards at best. I I just shot straight water, like I couldn't aim, it was just me literally shooting my shotgun with it on my shoulder, and then uh no, but there was a couple guys up at uh priest that shot like actual merganzers, like uh commons. Yeah, my buddy Wyatt. He said he didn't know what it was, he said it was a massive bird. No, no, like he he knew what it was whenever it got closer, but from far away he said, What in the heck are these? It was like a group of 25 of them.

SPEAKER_00 31:16

If I ain't mistaken, do you remember the first year that we went to North Dakota together? If I'm not mistaken, one of the first ducks that we shot in that you remember that you remember the the corn pothole that we got lost in the we got lost in the uh cattails? Yeah, we got lost in the cattails when we you know we kept walking to the side. It was that one that was out in the middle of the field, in the middle of that cornfield. Yeah, couldn't see it, and I'm pretty sure that was one of the first haunts we had.

SPEAKER_01 31:47

Uh oh, with uh with Matt. Yeah, that year.

SPEAKER_00 31:51

And I think the first bird we shot that morning was was a hooded merganzer. I'm almost I'm almost positive. We drove all the way to North Dakota, and the first bird we shoot is a damn merganzer.

SPEAKER_01 32:04

It's fine. Well, the first bird, uh yeah, the first bird that I shot was a uh we were hunting a field that was full of geese. First bird I shot was a wood duck. It's like, bro, what we yeah, we I was like, man, John. This was the first year that me and John went up there. I was like, we came all the way here to shoot woodies, let's go, bro.

SPEAKER_06 32:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Big wood duck guys, big wood duck guys. Yeah, not not how I'd like to go into North Dakota.

SPEAKER_06 32:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 32:40

Um the dude. I don't know what it was. What what did where else did you go this year? You went to Arkansas a couple times hunting, huh? Yeah, uh my cousin.

SPEAKER_00 32:54

My cousin lived down in Wynn, Arkansas. And uh stay me and me and me and my me and his father-in-law, we text back and forth. Uh they've got they've got some private woods over there that they hunt. And it was the uh it was the second opener. Uh we went down there and first day we killed like uh I want to say it's like a 10-man limit by like 11 o'clock. The second day we shot an eight-man limit, and the third day, the day I was leaving, I was like, if we ain't done nothing by you know 7 30, 8 o'clock, I'm headed back. I'm headed back to Nashville. And uh, I think we killed we killed a six-man by like 7 45 that morning. Yep, that'll do. We we had some we had some pretty good hopes. When was that? Was that in December? Yeah, it was uh it was the beginning of the second opener. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:55

Yeah, dude, it was an awful like duck season until we got that freeze, to be honest with you for me. Until we got the freeze. That that last week, like I got, I mean, I didn't have any hunts that were like holy crap, but like I had some really good shoots, like you know, I think in the last week I probably just myself probably shot like around in the last like five days, probably like 20 ducks for me myself. Yeah, and then if I would have went with Hunter again instead of going to y'all's wood duck hole the last day, I would have I probably would have shot another five or so. They shot a bunch of ducks coming into the decoys over there where they were hunting.

SPEAKER_00 34:41

Where did we hunt that like where'd we hunt that day at?

SPEAKER_01 34:44

I don't know, one of uh Hester's spots in that creek. It was cold as crap, bro. It was so cold.

SPEAKER_00 34:52

Yeah, we didn't even see a duck, and I you know, because everything around us was was locked up except the in the creek. You know, we checked it the day before. There was like 20 mallards sitting in the creek, and you know, I went that morning, nothing. I was like, Oh, this is a waste of time.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

Hey, we wasted our time there and then we went and made uh chili at Waffle House. Yeah, we went and ate uh Waffle House and then went out to the goose thing to see no geese. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:23

Those geese, there's some hit or miss up there.

SPEAKER_01 35:26

Hey, I'm not gonna lie, I need to send you a pen. There was some there was some geese uh on my way to the farm today. I'll have to send you a pen.

SPEAKER_06 35:34

Yeah, kind of in that area.

SPEAKER_01 35:36

It was in a hayfield, so it's probably not gonna be like a long-term thing, but uh they were right there by the market. They were right there by the like a little bit past the market.

SPEAKER_00 35:48

Oh yeah, yeah. But but no, we we went down to win, uh killed a few there, and you know, hunted old hickory a few times, you know, didn't do much of nothing. Just went just because Maverick, Maverick and Emma both wanted to go. Uh Maverick was supposed to have gone, you know, a few times this year, but you know, he's he's wrestling, wrestling. You know, he he couldn't he couldn't go. They had the Edward wrestling tournament one weekend, uh, that they wound up canceling because there were too many kids that was sick. Uh so he got pissed off. He was like, Look, dude, we didn't even have wrestling. I still could have gone. And then uh you know, he was supposed to go on snow goose hunting with us and uh got the flu like two days before we left. Oh bro, he was pissed.

SPEAKER_01 36:37

Where's he at? Get tell Maverick to come out.

SPEAKER_00 36:40

Yeah, let me let me text Brandy and tell him.

SPEAKER_01 36:44

Yeah, dude. I remember I remember you sent me a picture or something of him just with big old crocodile tears, and I was like, bro, dry that crap up, Maverick.

SPEAKER_06 36:55

Oh he was tore up.

SPEAKER_01 36:58

Man, if he could have if he could have punched the flu in the face, he would have, bro. He was pissed.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

I don't know what he was more pissed of uh that or on juvenile when uh when when Terry's dog came out there to chase that long beard off that was coming.

SPEAKER_01 37:14

I told that I told that story to uh the last podcast, but we'll let we'll let Maverick tell that story.

SPEAKER_00 37:23

He's unmedicated today, too, so he's fixing to be in rare pull.

SPEAKER_01 37:27

Dude, that was so unfortunate. But at the like, dude, coming in on a string really slow, Turkey, like very slow, but just coming straight. Like, I just shut up, and it was just like let me turn around in a circle, let me come a little bit, and then let me walk to the left, walk to the right.

SPEAKER_00 37:46

I was like, bro, get your step on, but he he went through a whirlwind of emotions, you know. He had opened a juvenile, you know, a dog runs a long beard off.

SPEAKER_01 37:58

Dude, I tell you what, what was even better than the long beard getting run off was uh Maverick trying to keep up with me while we was trying to just scoot and shoot the dog crap out of that turkey that just run off. I mean, because we didn't run it off, so I was like, it ain't scared of us. Like if it don't see that dog, then we should be good. Dude, Maverick was the slowest kid I've ever met whenever it comes to like dude. He he was like, I'm like, Maverick, hurry up.

SPEAKER_06 38:24

He's like, I'm coming, I don't know what to tell you.

SPEAKER_01 38:26

I'm coming, all right? It's like bruh, I had his I was holding the gun just so he could hurry up. I was like, all right, whenever you peek over this, like if he's right there, just shoot him. And he's like, uh, I don't know if I want to shoot him. I'm like, yeah, you do, you do. Come on, you're good, bro.

SPEAKER_00 38:44

Where's your brother at?

SPEAKER_02 38:46

He's coming.

SPEAKER_00 38:47

Here, pull that chair off. But uh, I don't know what he was more mad about. You know, he you know, the the the dog, the dog ran the turkey off. Here, scoot over her, I'll scoot over some more. The dog ran the turkey off, and then you know, Miss Emma here, she shot a bird at nine o'clock that morning, so he was pissed that the sister shot one and he didn't. And then how how old are you?

SPEAKER_01 39:12

12? I knew it. Emma, tell him tell him about how um when we were on that juvenile hunt because I wasn't with you. Tell us well, so Maverick went through some unfortunate events, and then his sister shows up to the truck with this big old long beard, and he just got even more mad. But the wild the wild ones here now. Maverick, my man, what's up? Hey, stand right here, be quiet. Um Emma, but tell why don't you tell them uh how you and your dad's hunt went over there?

SPEAKER_02 39:50

So, um, wait, where was it? I know it was at the I don't know it was at Mr. Carrie's, but um, where were we?

SPEAKER_00 39:58

We was all the way in the in the big field at the bottom. We was sitting in that in that single tree that had all the grown-up stuff.

SPEAKER_02 40:04

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 40:05

And remember, we got ready to leave, and I stood up, and there was a turkey on the hillside, probably like 500 yards away. And remember, we got over in those woods, and then you can tell the rest.

SPEAKER_02 40:17

So um we had to army crawl through thorns to get that turkey, and I'm pretty sure I got stabbed like somewhere on my hand, probably like on my legs and my arms.

SPEAKER_01 40:31

Did your dad do that with you, or he made you do it by yourself?

SPEAKER_02 40:34

No, he did it with me.

SPEAKER_00 40:36

Okay, it wasn't she, I'm gonna I'm gonna watch it too. She's gonna enjoy the show too, son.

SPEAKER_02 40:45

So if you were coming around the corner crawling, and do we do we have the Jake fan or no?

SPEAKER_00 40:53

No, we didn't we didn't have the fan that day. I don't I don't I don't like hunting with a fan. I'll hunt with a fan with the kids, you know, if they want to try to reap one, but we didn't have the fan that day, which was like I said, we're we're we're pretty much at the bottom of a creek, and uh it's grown up like there's a tree line all the way over here to the left, and the bird was kind of by the time we got over there, there was a section of his head already walked in. I thought I just cut it. I mean, just cut as hard as I could, and he gobbled, he turns around and comes down. And I thought Ellen said, We've got to drop down and start crawling up this hill. And I'll just and I'll just call. I said, You take the gun and you go in front of me and I'll stay directly behind you. Like I said, this over here, I mean, it was tall, it was it was up to, I mean, you know, I'm 6'3, and that was up to my waist. So, I mean, this turt this bird's not gonna see us. It'd have been up to my chest, yeah. I know I know, yeah. We got that turkey, he got within what, like 30 yards probably.

SPEAKER_02 41:52

I think so.

SPEAKER_00 41:53

And he was uh he he was getting kind of you know, you know, the turkeys are you know, you you they hear calling, they can't see nothing, especially if they're in a field. So he started getting skidded. She'd throw his head up and he started didn't start putting me, you know. He's he's just like, I'm gonna get out of here real quick. You know, I told Emma, I said, Well, if you want if you want to shoot him now, you better uh you better go ahead and throw that gun up and shoot him. And she did, she threw that gun up, son, and flat, flat put him out. And that was uh, what was that?

SPEAKER_01 42:27

That was probably it was like a 40-yard shot, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_00 42:30

Yeah, it was like 30 to 40. It was it was pretty far. Shoot out shooting at all 20, son. I'm telling you, people knock on them 20. That's a 20 gauge more dead. That 20 gauge I got's more deadlier than that 12.

SPEAKER_01 42:42

Hey, I'm telling you, it's not about it's not about the person, it's about the it's about the uh not about the gun, it's about the shooter. That's why I always miss.

SPEAKER_02 43:00

I think four.

SPEAKER_00 43:02

She she she's missed one. She uh we know we was hunting at the same farm down there at the pipeline and uh had a bird walk literally five feet in front of the blind. And I told Emma, I said, she had, you know, she she had that uh she had that TSS in there. I said, Emma, five yards. I was like, just shoot him in the body. I said, Male Hardy will tackle them, like you're gonna kill him. You know, she got that red dot on a glass like, I can't see it. I can't, I was like, oh my God, I'm just sitting here like right in front of you at five yards. Yeah, to the left of us. We're sitting in the bottom of this bird is literally, I mean, just straight to the left. And she was still trying to put it on its head. I said, I said, Emma, forget the damn head. I said, shoot it the body. And uh the turkey gets out there at like 20, 25 yards, and uh he throws his head up and she shoots and misses. And I was like, all right, that's cool. You know, it it you know, it we've just Having a good time. And uh like 30 seconds later, I look back to the same spot and like fifty, like 15 yards, there's a Jake standing there. And uh I was like, you know, you know, you know me. You you know me.

SPEAKER_01 44:15

I'm lead the jakes, I don't shoot jakes, but I thought I'm I'm the same way unless it's a kid's first turkey.

SPEAKER_00 44:22

Yeah, I told Emma, I said I said there's a Jake. I said, You've never killed one. I said, You can shoot one if you want that to be your first one, or I have another rule too.

SPEAKER_01 44:30

If the Jake comes in and touches my decoy, it's dying. I don't care if it comes in and touches my decoy, it's dying. But uh me and John don't like that.

SPEAKER_00 44:45

I said, Do you want to shoot it? She's like, Yeah, you know, 25 yards, 410 TSS. You know, it's it's gonna spread out a little bit. 410 TSS at 15 yards, it's like still shooting the slug at it. She's stone cold campus bastard, with I mean, just just dead, just dead. And I was like, Well, we know the gun's not messed up, you just pulled, but she was happy. Uh that was that was that was a fun hunt. But yeah, the the the pretty much the same way, same thing with her with her bird, her first bird this year was pretty much the same way, except a whole lot more fun. We went on an adventure for her last bird this year.

SPEAKER_01 45:28

What was I don't know if I heard that story. I probably did, but we started yeah, yeah, tell it.

SPEAKER_00 45:38

I was so we got there, you know, toward the end of the season, it starts breaking day at like 4 45. And you know, I'm just I'm dog tired. I've been hunting, both these kids have been hunting, and uh Emma uh we got we got sat down or whatever. We went all the way to the very back because there was seven, there was seven, I wouldn't say long, I mean you can half of them was Longbeard's, half of them was Jake's, and uh you know we they they was they was there early and middle of the season. With it being late in the season, I told her I said, yeah, I said, you know, we've hunted hard out here, we've killed four birds off this property, and uh, I don't really, I don't too much care for killing I like you know, more than two birds, but you know, with it with it being a rough season and all that, I was like, screw it, we're just gonna do it. And uh, you know, it's the week before season closes, there's nothing gobbling, nothing was back there where we was at, and uh, so I was like, well, let's go back to that single tree that we sat at, you know, when we saw your last your first bird this year. We sat there for a little bit, didn't see nothing. Well, the cornfield had already grown up, and it was like three foot tall. They sprayed the crap out of fertilizer on it. Well, we we go back down to where the creek was where where she shot that light, where she shot her first bird at that this year, and uh we walk all the way to the end of it, and there's a bird just hammering in the in the woods in front of us because we're in this tree line in this creek, and then there's a cornfield that's maybe 4,000 yards long, but it's only like maybe 250, 300 yards wide, and then it goes back to woods, and then there's another field over there where I shot a bird at this year. Well, the woods right there is pretty open, so you don't want to you don't want to go running in there because you'll bust it, but also the corn was so tall they didn't want to come to us, so I was like, you know, we messed with this bird for an hour, hour and a half, and we know we decided that we was gonna walk through the corn and walk all the way around to the backside and try to kill him. Well, we was like, screw it. We walked down, went straight across, got over in the woods, and he was on this end, maybe 300 yards from us. We sit down, and there's a bird gobbles back on the same side of the creek that we was just at. I was like, Oh my goodness. So we walked back across the field, across the creek, and I'm just bebopping, you know, across the across the field. See Terries, it was already he'd he had went in there and bush hogged around everything that wasn't planted that week. And uh we just walking across the field all of a sudden, I seen a red head stick up. So we drop straight down, and uh I had the fan with us, and I said, Emma, I said, you get behind. So we're gonna start crawling. I said, you get behind me, and we'll we'll get to where I think we need to get. And uh we crawl pretty much the same thing, 20 well, you know, a little shorter, 25-30 yards from this turkey. And this dude is just blowed up and he's he's not gobbling anymore, but he he don't want to get his ass whooped because he's already, you know, he's threatening, but he's keeping his distance. And uh I told Emma, I said, if you uh if you want to get up there and shoot him, I said, go ahead. And uh I pretty much put my face down and I stuck the fan out here to her right so she could get up around me. Yeah. Uh I said, get your gun up, let me know when you're ready. So she got her gun up and uh pulled the trigger, and the dude did a backflip, and that was the end of it. One of the prettiest birds I have ever seen in my life. It was that was the that was the one that had the light brown on it, like the tail. Like a red phase almost. It was uh it went all the way, you know. His fan was pretty much solid, light brown and red, the wing, you know, and then that even ran down his back onto his back feather. It was probably one of the prettiest birds that that I've ever seen get killed, and they got killed by a 12-year-old girl.

SPEAKER_01 49:51

How special. And then Maverick. He he also had him a heck of a year. Man, I wish I had a a dad that could you know put me on two birds a year. That'd be sick.

SPEAKER_03 50:08

They used to put four birds of a year, but now they didn't they just put you two birds. No, they don't.

SPEAKER_01 50:16

You think maverick, you think you could uh you think you could kill uh four birds if the limit was still four?

SPEAKER_03 50:23

Maybe if the police don't know.

SPEAKER_01 50:32

Oh buddy, you you better watch him. He can't go hunting by himself, he'll be he'll come back with four of them jokers.

SPEAKER_02 50:46

Oh god!

SPEAKER_01 50:48

Shush. Um maverick, but are you uh you still mad about the dog that got in between us and the turkey?

SPEAKER_05 50:59

Oh heck yeah, because I think it was like maybe 10 or 15 yards. Yeah, but the dog's in the way, and he was going closer to that bird.

SPEAKER_01 51:12

He was probably he was probably like 70 yards, maverick. He was coming though, he was definitely coming, and then he seen that dog. Yeah, maverick, maverick was going, uh the dog, the dog. I was like, Maverick, be quiet, dude. Maverick, do you remember me telling you to be quiet? Yeah, and then you were like, no, no, and then um that dog got in the in the blind with us, and I just held it, and it was like close to Maverick, and you know, he's doing the whole oh yeah, he was giving it, he was trying to get away from it, man. And uh, but I had that dog and I was just kind of holding it, going, good boy, good boy, good boy, like trying to get that dog, but man, that turkey's head was just like straight up like not having it anymore. And I was like, mmm. And then the dog kind of like squirmed and got away from me. I was like, Dang it. Yep, so Maverick, you're you're not very quick on your feet just yet. How old are you?

SPEAKER_02 52:18

Eight.

SPEAKER_01 52:19

Eight? Yeah, you you could use a little bit more speed. If maybe if you were a little quicker, we could have caught up to him. It's hard though, man. That's really tough hunting whenever you have to go like that. Like Emma at Emma's age. At Emma's age, it'd be a little bit easier for her to have killed that turkey, but it's really hard to scoot and shoot, man. Especially like even if we could have gotten up to it, I don't know if Maverick could have could have got set up in time to shoot it. Like, it would have been like a just like pull up and shoot kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00 52:54

How did how did both of Emma's birds were scoot and shoot? How'd you like that?

SPEAKER_02 53:01

Yeah, yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 53:08

And just Emma, you like you like it to be nice and easy where they just come right into the decoys.

SPEAKER_02 53:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 53:19

Hey, if you're that morning, it's all right.

SPEAKER_01 53:23

Yeah, I don't know if you're do you usually run a uh decoys or you like some it just depends like later season. I don't even run decoys.

SPEAKER_00 53:31

Yeah, late late season I don't be honest with you. I I move I move around so much, I normally don't. Now, like for instance, Maverick's first bird this year, midday bird. Uh we we you know we we went back home and uh cleaned them as bird. We mean then we uh went to Mary's and got a cheeseburger. And uh I told Maverick, I said, let's go back. I said, I thought I think I think we'll have what we'll do pretty good this afternoon. But honestly, I didn't think we was gonna do nothing. Dude, it was I don't know if you remember that that that day, but it got windy as crap. I'm talking like yeah, I think I do remember that slightly. But 30 mile an hour wind straight out of the south. Maverick, come here. 30 mile an hour wind straight out of the south. And uh where we was hunting was hunting down in that pipeline, and what it is, they they run a pipeline right through the middle of the woods, but they you know it's nothing but a field now, pretty much right in the middle of the woods that they maintain, so it stays short all the time, and uh, but on the other side is nothing but just flat, open, hard woods all the way across, and then behind behind us is a hill, so that hill was blocking all of that south wind, and I was like, you know, we'll go in there if we're gonna kill a bird, that's we're gonna kill a bird at. And uh we sat down, it wouldn't matter maybe 15 minutes, and I didn't see you know, I I like when I sit down, I that's how long the hunt was. We uh we sat down. I like to let everything chill out before I start calling, and uh yeah, I usually do the same.

SPEAKER_01 55:11

Like, let me sit down. Honestly, I'm probably sweating at this point, so like let me quit sweating and like catch my breath before I have to do something else. Because man, sometimes you'll call and like dude, two or three minutes later, like you'll have a turkey and you're like, What? Like, I mean, some of those afternoon hunts, that was kind of how it was on uh the afternoon hunt on opening weekend that I had on that Sunday. I was like, I'm going out there, and I was like, I'm just gonna sit because I got so ticked off the day before for not sitting there and shooting that turkey that came into the decoys. I was like, I'm gonna go out there and I'm just gonna sit. And if nothing, if all else fails, I don't care. I'm not gonna go after one, just sit. And I could have shot one if I would have been in a better position, but no, you basically we get out there and sit down.

SPEAKER_00 56:00

Like I said, it's probably 12:30-ish, one o'clock, somewhere in there, and uh we get sat down and uh we're we're tucked back up in the woods, and the woods that we're at is thick. I mean, thick as crap. I can't see nothing to the left or right of me. And I put the decoys out straight in front of us at like 20 yards. We're like we're literally sitting in an alleyway of just thick crap. Like I said, you know, I told Maverick, I said, if if you know, if we hear a bird and he's coming, I said, You've got to get your gun up. I said, as soon as you see him, you got to shoot him because he's gonna be gone. And uh we get sat down, start uh you know, 15 minutes later, start calling, instantly have one hammered in front of us in that in that in that clear woods. And uh the joker, it took him probably 30 minutes to get up there. He comes up the right side where the field starts at, and he walks straight down all the way to us. And uh I told Maverick, I said I couldn't see everything, but I could see his red head coming. I said, Maverick, I said, as soon as you see that joker step out, I said, You need to shoot him. Yeah, uh sure enough, that joker. I mean, he played it perfect. We had we had uh we had the Jake out and uh two hens, and he came right to him and uh Maverick pulled up and shot and uh dropped him. And that goes back to why I said Maverick was full of emotions, you know. The first of the morning had a dog run off, then his sister shot a bird, and he didn't. And maverick's like me. I don't care if they've got nubs for Spurs, you know. I like Spurs, but I hope that Joker's got a 16-inch beard. Absolutely, I love beards, and Maverick's the same way. We flipped that joke. Like I said, we can't see this bird, so we don't know. I mean, I can just tell by the way it was gobbling. It was a long beard, yeah. He thought it was a long beard, it was. He just had about a four-inch uh beard rot rope. Maverick said, Where's this freaking beard at? And I was like, gonna rub it off, son. He was mad, and he was mad about that. I said, Dog, I said, You killed one. I said, Who cares?

SPEAKER_03 58:17

I think about the beard.

SPEAKER_00 58:19

I do too, but hey, it's and I don't know what it is with that farm. Uh the bird that my first bird that I killed over there this year, it wasn't rotted, but you could tell that you know it's got that yellow, you know, the tips of it are yellow.

SPEAKER_01 58:35

Yeah, they got like that yellowish burnt orange.

SPEAKER_00 58:38

This already had that yellowish burnt orange through the middle of his beard, so it was six in the start, and then the bird that I killed over there last year on my the bird I tagged out on last year. I killed over there, half of it was rotted and the other half wasn't. But that's makes the that makes the third third bird over there in the last two years that's had beard rot on it.

SPEAKER_01 59:00

Yeah, I think um I think I've only seen that twice. I think my buddy Eli shot one that had beard rot, and then uh I think John shot one with I can't remember if John shot one with beard rot or not, but Emma shot one over there.

SPEAKER_00 59:16

Was it last year that you shot that one? Remember, we walked all the way around to the bottom, and you uh was that last year or the year before?

SPEAKER_02 59:23

I think that might have been last year.

SPEAKER_00 59:25

I think it was last year. It was shot one over there, and it had beard rod on it too. Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 59:31

Emma, was one of the hunts this year one of your favorites, or was it another year? Like your first turkey, was it your favorite, or like one of these from this year?

SPEAKER_02 59:38

Um, I don't know about any from this year because um we had a walk a lot and also crawling in thorns and just crawling.

SPEAKER_01 59:48

Bro, you have you been walking with your dad every night or running?

SPEAKER_02 59:52

Hey, I have been, but it's been okay. Well my fingers have been swelling and my legs have been itching. No one cares.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:06

Oh my god, yeah. Um well, I mean, if you would have started that a little bit earlier, it'd have probably been a little bit more enjoyable. But what which hunt do you think would be your favorite? Which one of your four you said you've killed four turkeys?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:25

You killed, let's see. Where'd you kill that uh where'd you kill your first long beard at last year?

SPEAKER_02 1:00:31

Did I kill it at Mr. Alexander's?

SPEAKER_00 1:00:33

No, I think he killed it at Terry's, but I can't remember where he killed it at. It was somewhere in that was two years ago, no.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:40

It was somewhere in the field.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:45

Oh yeah, no, it was uh remember it was uh it was juvenile last year. We stabbed it down there at the pond and and bogged up on them. Was that one your favorite? Or because she she's killed no, she's killed five. She's killed now four long beards and a Jake.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:04

I would say probably your favorite was the Jake.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:08

Probably because of because of original sit. Maybe my favorite. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:17

She had a little she she was sitting there watching Frozen on her iPad while me and Hardy's over here trying to get a bird to come in. I was like, all right, then we get headphones off, put the iPad down, get up here by that, get your gun up.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:34

That's that's pretty funny, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:36

Umest hunts I've ever been on was that bird she killed at Terry's. We sat down, I can look at my phone. We sat down at well, if they get back, the bird Maverick tagged that on this year was the quickest. Emma's was the second. Uh I think Emma's hunt last year from the time the birds hit the field to the time she pulled the trigger was 20 minutes.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:06

Me, so the quickest hunt I ever had, me and me and John were walking up to the uh farm. And you know the rock path that kind of goes up the hill? Like we usually walk down, we'll walk down that and walk up the side of in the woods on the way up. Well, me and John were like, Yeah, we don't want to walk through the woods because sometimes they come through there. So we were like, we'll walk this way and then we'll check out the entirety of the field. Well, we walked, we were walking up that path, and you know that first little like there's like this row of trees to your right when you go up, and there's like a field on the other side of them. One time uh we walked up there and there was a long beard standing right there, and John shot it. So we didn't even actually even start hunting yet. We just had walked out of the truck. That was that was a fun hunt.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:59

You wanna tell them about uh you wanna tell them about the the the second bird she shook this year?

SPEAKER_03 1:03:04

Oh yeah, I'm gonna get get out.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:06

Well, here I'll you can stand right here.

SPEAKER_03 1:03:09

How about sit in a seat?

SPEAKER_00 1:03:11

Just sit on my lap. How about that? I'll here, I'll start it off and then Maverick will finish it up. So we pull up, we pull up to the same farm that we've you know. Emma's already Emma's already killed uh one. Uh Maverick's already killed one, I've killed one, and we're trying to get Maverick his second one. And uh we knew there were some birds down there at the pond that we saw on opening day of juvenile, and uh we knew those was there. Well, still part of me, I I still like to you know just listen. You know, you you know, some of them lone gobblers, they'll just they'll just they'll they'll roost wherever they stop walking at that night. And uh, you know, four o'clock in the morning, your black coffee starts hitting them guts. So and I had to go. And uh I mean them I'm back here behind the barn, you know, doing my business, and all of a sudden I hear a bird gobble like 200 yards from me across this field, and he's on the edge of the woods, and I'm like, Oh crap, I'm over there trying to get trying to over get clean and trying to go back to the truck without getting spotted because it was already starting to get a little daylight, and I told Maverick, I said, You need to get your shit on and let's go. And uh same thing. There you you remember where that turkey was coming from, that little aisle in the trees that you and Maverick had. Me and Maverick got an aisle on the trees. This bird is just across from us in the woods, gobbling.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:37

There's like a hill right here, so he just said came up.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:43

Yeah, I'll let you. He was gobbling, right? And and I thought, as soon as he hits that field, I said, put your gun up. I said he's gonna fly down in the field because he's right on the edge. Now you go ahead and tell the rest of it.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:54

So basically, he fly down the field.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:57

Wait, I can't get her all, but the memory of the memory of uh Dory.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:05

No, 10 10 second Tom from oh yeah, 10 second Tom from 51st dates.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:12

That's Maverick. Hi, I'm Mav. But this bird's goblin, he hits the field, and uh I said, Maverick. I said, you know, you're gonna have to you're gonna have to get ready. Because I said, as soon as he comes around that corner, I said, he's probably gonna spot us in these trees because it's not very thick, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:05:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:31

And uh he said, All right, so he's he's he's he's in between my legs and my lap. And uh, you know, he throws the gun up, you know. Old dad, I'm sitting there holding it. And I said, You just pick it up or put it down, whatever you need. And uh, sure enough, that turkey come gobbling strutting around the corner, and he's at like 25 yards, and he throws his head up because he he saw Maverick move, and I said, Maverick, I said, if you're gonna shoot him, you better shoot him now. And he pulled the trigger and the dude folded. And I think the entirety from the bird hitting his feet hitting the field to the trigger pull was two and a half minutes.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:10

Dang, that's pretty that's pretty good. That was pretty early, too, huh? Like it was like five something.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:18

Oh, yeah. We was able to get back home, have a nice breakfast, and I think it was on Sunday. So we come home, ate breakfast, took a shower, was able to go to church that day, and that's what's up.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:30

Those are the hunts that I like. I like being I like being back before the wife's up. But well, we're coming up on probably like an hour ten or so, so we're gonna cut it off here. But Maverick Emma, what do you guys think about this past turkey season on a scale of one to ten?

SPEAKER_05 1:06:49

I think it's good because I killed my killed a first turkey that had like a like a tan tan wing on it.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:59

Oh, well that's cool. What about you, Emma? One to ten.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:04

Um probably like a seven point five. It would be higher if we didn't have to walk.

SPEAKER_06 1:07:11

Let me just have to walk.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:12

Throw it away. Chop, chop, chop.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:15

Yeah, sure. I wish I'd have got that bird mounted, but seven point five. But you know, you just can't please kids nowadays, you know.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:23

Oh, yeah, let me just get a thousand dollar mount. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:27

Oh kid, these kids seven point five, you know. You just seven point five out at all.

SPEAKER_01 1:07:33

I still give it a dang, I still give my season like a six or a seven, and I even shoot a turkey, but I I love taking other people and and seeing them shoot 'em. So we got six dead birds, we got two limit. She's out here. Oh, seven. Average's good though, because he had that tan wing. Yeah, good. He's all good. But all right, guys. Well, uh, y'all go check out the sponsors. Go check out Dirty Duck Coffee, uh, flight day ammo, molar chokes, and uh retriever fuel. Use code MF Boys10 in all caps at checkout. And we will see you. Thanks, guys. Appreciate it.