FFOD324 : Miles Apart

This week I’m in the middle of the spring turkey run, and it’s been a good one. I’m sharing two hunts that couldn’t have been more different… but both meant a lot.

First, a road trip out to Nebraska with two of my grandsons where Cranky wrapped up his Grand Slam. There’s nothing like watching that happen and being there for it. Then, back closer to home, an unexpected hunt with my youngest daughter, Lauran. No big plans, no pressure.. just time together in the turkey woods. (And we made it count!) Two hunts, two stories and a reminder that it’s not always about the distance traveled or the tag filled, it’s about who you’re with when it happens.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to Fistful of Dirt, the official podcast of Monte Oak Properties. Whether you own a small farm, lease land, or just love hanging in your backyard. We're all about the outdoor lifestyle and how to get the most from your time in God's great outdoors. Now here's your host, Ronnie Cuz Strickland.

SPEAKER_02 0:24

That's one two. You on?

SPEAKER_03 0:26

You supposed to say semi-live.

SPEAKER_02 0:28

I was getting to that.

SPEAKER_03 0:30

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_02 0:31

Between you dropping everything and your brain tries, you got too much senior stuff going on. But anyway, semi-live from the original Camo Cave.

SPEAKER_03 0:40

Semi-Live.

SPEAKER_02 0:42

You're a bit scattered. What's going on?

SPEAKER_03 0:43

It's just a lot. It's just it's turkey season, it's podcasting, it's senior, senioritis, senior got a job, the little ones still got football and stuff going on.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

And he got what kind of he got chains on his braces? We're talking about cranky now.

SPEAKER_03 1:00

Power chains.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Power chains, whatever that is.

SPEAKER_03 1:03

I don't know. It just sounded painful.

SPEAKER_02 1:05

Yeah. He had a bad day or two there. He was sore and everything. And Matt's just a social butterfly.

SPEAKER_03 1:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Uh of course his senior. He's about done this week, isn't he?

unknown 1:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:15

He's wrapping it up, taking finals and taking it to the house.

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Last week with uh Dr. Lashley, when we closed it out, we teased a little bit about talking about Nebraska.

SPEAKER_05 1:29

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_02 1:29

Because that that was a pretty good deal. And I said, Yeah, I think everybody get a kick out of that. But if you go before we go there, we had another little milestone last week. I was gonna get you to talk about your hunt. And because I heard some stuff after it was over with from your mom mainly, who's like, you know, I'm glad you took Lauren. She brings that up all the time.

SPEAKER_03 1:52

But not to you.

SPEAKER_02 1:54

No.

SPEAKER_03 1:54

No.

SPEAKER_02 1:55

I didn't think it was a big deal.

SPEAKER_03 1:56

It was a huge deal. It was a real big deal. And I don't bring it up to you because you get so busy and your calendar fills up so fast. And it was like once my boys were big enough to go, I felt like I forfeited my right to be at the top of your totem pole during turkey season. Gratefully, I love that you're taking them, but I didn't want to be, you know, sour grapes, like I don't get to go. Yeah, I didn't want to be that guy.

SPEAKER_02 2:24

Well, you need to speak up more often. But here's the deal, especially in Mississippi, as the season progresses, and we're down to the end here. It gets really warm, it gets leafed out, you know, the grass gets high, the bugs get bad, and like Tom Kelly says, we few, we precious few, we ban the birds. We are there's not many people going. He said, Man, you ought to go and uh see what's gobbling over there. And I was like, Ah, I don't know. I hadn't been there in a couple of years, really. And uh so I I got up one morning and I said, Does my key still work? Yeah. So I got over there early and stopped in a spot, didn't hear anything. Went on down, and I thought I heard one way kind of to the west. So I just took off walking in, and uh the closer I got, yeah, that's one. Oh, that's two. And I might have heard a third one way to the north. But anyway, there was one, he was getting after it. And uh he just gobbled at everything. And to to make it really special, he was roosted. I think he couldn't have been 50 yards from where cranky shot the devil.

SPEAKER_03 3:33

Couldn't have been.

SPEAKER_02 3:34

He he was close. Anyway, I come back and I sent Lauren a text. I said, Hey, I I got I heard one gobbling good. Do you want to go? And it was like the different the definition of a split seconds from when I sent that text and when she answered, Yes, yes, yes, I'm in.

SPEAKER_03 3:50

So I'm always in.

SPEAKER_02 3:52

Yeah. Well, pick it up. Tell me what happened. Give me your rendition because I I got mine already in my brain.

SPEAKER_03 3:59

Yeah, I think the only thing I wasn't just ripping ready to go was I needed my boots. And so you went and got my boots. They were in the tiny shop over there. And once I had my boots, I had everything else ready to go just in case.

SPEAKER_02 4:12

Back back up just a minute.

SPEAKER_03 4:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 4:14

How long have you had those boots?

SPEAKER_03 4:16

Um, those were the first pair of boots you bought me on my very first turkey hunt to take me to Bent Creek. You said you can't wear your deer hunting boots when we go turkey hunting. Do you have any other boots, like rubber boots or tall boots? I was like, no. And you bought me a pair of these green burly lacrosse boots.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

Got that yellow stripe at the top. Everybody's making it. Yeah, I had some of those.

SPEAKER_03 4:40

Everybody's got them. And mine have lasted me since I was 15 years old. These boots are ancient.

SPEAKER_02 4:47

They look brand new.

SPEAKER_03 4:49

I killed my first turkey in those boots. And other than my Texas turkeys, because I had to wear snake boots in Texas, other than that, every turkey I've ever killed, I've had those boots on. I was going back looking at pictures of me and you and turkeys from Nebraska, Florida, Mississippi, Tennessee, and I was like, man, I've had those same boots for forever. But anyway, they're like my lucky boots.

SPEAKER_02 5:12

Well, I found them.

SPEAKER_03 5:13

You found my lucky boots and I put them on. And then we just headed out, and it was so special because we hadn't done that all season. I love going to this place because even though I haven't taken a bunch of turkeys there, you haven't taken a bunch of turkeys there, we hunted there so hard for two whole seasons trying to get cranky a turkey. So when you had mentioned places like, you know where that old tractor's falling or you know where the shooting house is, you know where that little crossroads is, like I know it so well. And so it was funny. We were trying to come up with a plan and you had listened the day before, and I'm like, where do you think they are? And you're like, they could be here, here. And I'm like, well, they got 360 degrees where they can pitch down, and we don't know where that's gonna happen. And so it was we were setting out, you had brought the buggy, and like you always it doesn't matter who you're with, you always try to make sure everybody's comfortable and doesn't have to walk too far, get cold or get hot, and you were toweling off the seat of the buggy because it was drenched from dew. We didn't have to ride that far in, and then you were like, I don't want to go too much further. Let's get out and get on foot. And we got out and we got on foot, and we were just walking, and there was an owl to our left, sounded like he was on your shoulder. And when he hooted, I heard two, and one sounded like he was way behind the owl to the left towards where we hunted the devil, and the other one was way off to the right, and I was like, I don't think they're that far. We kind of hung a left a little too soon.

SPEAKER_02 6:47

Well, here was my thoughts. There was a food plot to the left, and one big long food plot to the right that snaked all through this really low area, and I'd kind of peeked at them the day before, and their grass was high, belt high, and I was thinking the whole time they are not gonna fly down into that. So I'm gonna get up into the piney wood strip in between the two. So we we were sneaking up in there, and as I got to the end to crawl out into the piney woods, I was like, Yeah, too thick. I don't know what we're gonna do. So I said, let's go back to the road.

SPEAKER_03 7:24

Yeah. So we go back to the road, and they're goblin on their own. And he just sounded like he was so close. And you were like, Let's go up this little, we're gonna hang a left. And the trees where we thought he was roosted, it was like right that was the thick part we couldn't get through. And you're like, if we just go up this road, he's gonna have to probably walk down that road if they pitch down into that field. And so we start walking down the road and we get like halfway up the road, and I just tugged on your shirt and I said, And that's a field at the end of this road, a small one, right? And you said, Yeah. I said, Well, I think that's where they're gonna pitch down. You said, Yeah, I know I've done this before. I said, I'm sorry. And you said, I want to get close enough. And I said, Okay, I just I don't want to bump them. And you were like, Okay. And so we kept going a few more feet, and you just kind of set us up to the left. And it we were clo like we were close to the edge of the road. We didn't go very far up in the woods, and uh two two things right here.

SPEAKER_02 8:29

We're walking in a sandy road, which is like having your socks on it, not making a peak.

SPEAKER_03 8:36

Not a peak.

SPEAKER_02 8:36

Number two, I had raised my vinoes and looked way down that field, and there was a low, a kind of a low point in between these two necks was not a lot of high grass, and I was like, I bet you a hundred dollars. And I didn't have any preconceived notions, but I said, I bet you they're gonna end up right there.

SPEAKER_05 8:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:56

So I wanted to get close enough to where we could shoot that spot. That grass out in that field was high, high. It was so anyway. We were sneaking in it like a couple of thieves, and I got called out right there at the end. I said, Ah, no, good for you. I appreciate it. I knew we were getting close, but the foliage now is so thick, I was like, I I think we can get away with it.

SPEAKER_05 9:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:18

But I felt like you, if he didn't come down that road, that was gonna be your shot. So and God gave you the perfect spot.

SPEAKER_03 9:25

It was the perfect spot. I had my little tree, you were right behind me on your tree, and there was enough thick stuff that I would we didn't have to brush ourselves in. Like there was just stuff everywhere. I actually had to, you trimmed a few limbs by me for my little shooting lane. And while you were getting set up, you had just trimmed those little limbs. I out of the corner of my eye, something pitched down. And I turned around and I said, When just pitched down into the field, but I just saw that dark brown, couldn't tell if it was the hen or him or who they they were quiet. And um you were like, Wait, still, get ready. And I just like put my face mask up, and there was just nothing happening, and he had stopped gobbling forever. The owls quit. There was just nothing going on. And so after a few minutes, I could have sworn I heard drumming. And I turned around slowly and I said, I think I hear him drumming. You said drumming? I said, I I think I hear drumming.

SPEAKER_02 10:33

And I knew if it was drumming, it was 80 to 90 yards away. But turning point, this was the turning point, because I was the turkey hadn't said anything in 40 minutes.

SPEAKER_03 10:43

You were reaching in your vest.

SPEAKER_02 10:45

I was I had a couple of things laying on my leg, a mouth call and all, and I had kind of done some bubble clucks, which I've been working on. Anyway, I was like, and you kept saying there's one over there across the creek.

SPEAKER_03 10:58

He did keep gobbling, he was just kind of far.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

Yeah, and I was like, Okay, it's it's it's probably time. I'm I'm fixing to pull the trigger and we're gonna leave. And I took my mouth call off of my leg and I was putting it back in my case. And that's when you turned and said, I'm pretty sure I hear drumming. I said, And so I settled back down.

SPEAKER_03 11:18

And we got super still and super quiet. And I don't know how long it was, maybe five minutes, maybe longer. And you said, I seen. And I'm like, This is not I thought you were messing with me. No, I don't know. He was so quiet, he was so quiet, and you were like, I seem. And then my eyes, I'm just dart and I'm like left to right, left to right, and I'm every little dark stump. I'm like, is that him? Is that him? And I can't see him because you're further to the right, just a little further out past me.

SPEAKER_02 11:51

I'm about two inches higher than you do.

SPEAKER_03 11:53

So you had a better vantage point, and he also had a hen with him, and you were like, There's a hen too, be still. And and then it just felt like, oh gosh, it was so long because you kept saying, Can you not seem? Can you not seem?

SPEAKER_02 12:09

You you asked me twice, are you sure?

SPEAKER_03 12:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:12

So I eased You videoed him. I eased my phone up and I filmed him for a minute, and then I handed her the phone. I put the screen right there, and I and she was looking at that screen like, is that something you shot the other day? I said, It didn't feel real. It was just to the right of that tree up there.

SPEAKER_03 12:31

And it's as close as we were sitting, your view was so different from mine that when I looked on that little clip, I'm like, Is it he messing with me? That is not what I see. And it wasn't I don't know, maybe 15 minutes of just confusion. Like, I don't understand. And I just saw dark movement. And I'm like, oh, I saw something move. Well, then my eyes were trained to go to that right spot where they were. And then it was like every two minutes I would catch just a just a little bit of fan. Luckily, I could hear him spitting and drumming this whole time, which kept me in the game and on alert. Because if I wasn't hearing nothing or seeing nothing, that's kind of it's almost like you you quit reacting to what's going on because you're just not in the moment. It doesn't feel real. But thankfully my ears kept me in the game and I'm like, I know he's out there, I hear him, and then I'd catch a just a little bit of the fan. How long did it take though?

SPEAKER_02 13:30

A long time. And I whisper to her, I said, There's a there's kind of some open woods, this sandy road we walked down to. The reason it's sand is because it floods and it keeps it sandy. I said, they gonna walk down that road right to us, or they're gonna come out into the mouth of the road and ease across it, because those woods were kind of open.

SPEAKER_04 13:50

Right.

SPEAKER_02 13:50

And they weren't the grass wasn't quite as tall. And finally uh 50 minutes. Yeah. We've been there an hour or so by now, but I I said, Well, there they come. The hen was leading the way, and she was cutting the road. They were gonna ease into those woods. They weren't gonna come all the way down that road.

SPEAKER_03 14:10

I don't think so.

SPEAKER_02 14:11

I said, get your gun up, and then it took another split second.

SPEAKER_01 14:22

Kill him when you can.

SPEAKER_03 14:39

He's awesome. Nice. I didn't think he was ever gonna come out of that little strut zone he was in.

SPEAKER_02 14:57

Congratulations. Thank you so much for taking me. You made the most of your one hunt of it. Thank you. That was pretty special, I'm telling you. I don't care where you hunt and all that stuff, but you kill one of these swamps down here in late April.

SPEAKER_03 15:26

It's a big It's a gift.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

It's a lot of luck involved in that.

SPEAKER_03 15:30

Oh my goodness.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

And uh our we set up good. God gave us a perfect little spot. The road was sandy because we did a lot of moving before we sat down.

SPEAKER_03 15:40

Yeah, my favorite quote of the morning was, You said we accidentally did a lot of things right.

SPEAKER_02 15:46

Yeah. Uh I don't know if Tom Kelly said that or not, but anyway, yeah, we did. And I and I made a couple of mistakes trying to come into the piney woods without have scouting them. The reason I didn't scout that that after I heard him that morning, the reason I didn't go back, two, one, I I I didn't want to bug him because they ain't going nowhere. And and two, I just I just didn't have time. But I thought the piney woods up in there would be open enough. They were bad thick. I said, Yeah, I don't know what we're gonna do. When I was walking back to the road, you know, after I'd been defeated in my thoughts, I was like, I don't know what we're gonna do. And I said, Well, there's another road that cuts up in there. So accidentally we did some stuff right, but you got him and uh it was all good.

SPEAKER_03 16:30

It was so fun, it was so fun, and when you haven't done it, you know, in a whole season and everybody, your boys are bringing home their turkey pictures and their turkey breasts and feet and beards and the refrigerator's filling up, and I'm like, Man, I kinda wish I could go, but I'm not gonna pester him.

SPEAKER_02 16:46

Well, you made the most out of your one hunt, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_03 16:50

You gotta do that when you feel like you're only gonna get that one morning. I'm like, I'll be here all day long if I I'll hunt till they fly up tonight if I have to.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

I told you, I said, bring you a bottle of water too and a snack because we're gonna hang with them.

SPEAKER_03 17:04

We're gonna hang with them, make it happen.

SPEAKER_02 17:06

So uh thank the Lord that one went well. And uh he I don't know if he's a relative of the devil, but my guess is he probably was.

SPEAKER_05 17:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 17:16

Yeah, because he gobbled his brains out the day before, and that uh he didn't gobble much that morning. The one way away from him and the one to the north gobbled a little better. This one gobbled maybe four times and in the tree. In the tree, and then cut it off.

SPEAKER_03 17:31

Done.

SPEAKER_02 17:32

I wonder you can ever kill him. But when you can actually see him, that makes it way easier to be patient. So uh I got I never had a hunt.

SPEAKER_03 17:40

Isn't that funny how you can do it like your whole entire life, and then no hunt is ever even similar to one you've been on before. They're all so different.

SPEAKER_02 17:50

Yeah. And uh I was I was telling you how much easier that one was. We had a I I I guess I got the buggy close enough, but you know, I it was a good place to hide it. We didn't have to walk far, it was level. And I said, that was way easier than Cranky's hunt to get his Miriam, which wasn't like you know, an all-day affair, but it I'll uh I'll tell you that story a little bit. Here's the deal. I I'd committed to go to the roost actually back during the NWTF convention. And Jim, Jim Cuan, the previous owner, was telling me, Hamps, I've you know, I'm I'm in negotiations to sell the the ranch house and the name and all that stuff. And the people that were getting it, Dwayne and Susan Adams were at the NWTF.

SPEAKER_05 18:35

They were. We got to meet it.

SPEAKER_02 18:37

Uh I'd have told him, I said, Look, I'm not auctioning off another hunt. Because we do that every year. Come to the roost, hunt with Cusby. And I'd done it so many times, I said, Well, I'm taking a break.

SPEAKER_05 18:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 18:48

Uh and they just anyway, they were gonna auction off a hunt with uh uh Kenneth Lancaster as a TV show, The Given Right. And I said, Well, that's good. You know, make some money for the NWTF, keep the Roos name out there. And during the day they were texting me, said, Hey, Kenneth Lancaster had to leave. They had some kind of emergency or something. But he said, Well, you come up here and kind of talk about the roost, help me sell the hunt. And I said, Sure, I can talk about the roost. And anyway, I got to looking at what they were offering, and I said, and he's like, You are bringing cranky them the opening weekend. I said, Sure. And uh I said, Why don't you make this hunt the opening weekend and whoever buys it can hang out with us?

SPEAKER_03 19:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:31

And so that's the reason I got involved in that. Come to find out, I'll get ahead of myself for a bit. The guy that bought the hunt, he didn't get in the lottery in time. He didn't get a tag.

SPEAKER_03 19:42

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 19:43

So he wasn't even there. We didn't know it, but but he he'll he'll get one next year, so they're gonna leave the hunt.

SPEAKER_03 19:49

But anyway That lottery's intense.

SPEAKER_02 19:52

As you well know.

SPEAKER_03 19:53

As I well know. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

Anyway, all the grandsons pulled a tag, and that was an all-day affair staying on the phone, getting Matt, I think Matt got the last tag in Nebraska.

SPEAKER_03 20:05

It felt that way. And I'm not even joking.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

Every time you get close, something would happen. You get kicked out and have to get back. Anyway, it's intense, but anyway. Everybody got a tag. Walker couldn't go. He he's in freshman in college, and he had some kind of event going on that Saturday, and I said, Hey, we'll go back a sun, you know, some other time. College is way more important. So it's me and your husband, Frankie and Matt. And we're gonna road trip it, and it's sixteen to seventeen hours depending on the route and the traffic. I said, You gotta check them out of school, because I said, uh I mean, that's a long way.

SPEAKER_05 20:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:40

And secretly I had planned to stop halfway and to see see a person. I I've talked about this guy before, but the last person on the world you think I'd follow back. My favorite YouTuber is a channel called Pudding's Fab Shop. And I found him when we were working on Old Blue.

SPEAKER_03 20:59

Old Blue.

SPEAKER_02 21:00

Old Blue, Charlie O'Brien gave that truck to Matt, and I paid to have it shipped down here. And you talking about a rusty anyway. I was gonna do the redo the floors, not redo them, but patch them.

SPEAKER_05 21:13

Right.

SPEAKER_02 21:14

Sheet metal, and I can weld, I I'm a dauber, and but I'd never worked with a lot of sheet metal, and I was online trying to find some instruction. I found his YouTube channel and started watching it and got some good instruction on sheet metal because he was young back then. He's had that channel a long time. He didn't have many followers, but it was what I needed. And anyway, I kind of got interested in him.

SPEAKER_05 21:37

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:37

Because uh, like one of the second or third video I watched after I got the floors down, he he did like where people send him stuff, and he he got this package from some stranger and it was a really expensive set of tools, and he got all tear eyed. I said, I can't believe you people are this nice. And I just started I said, That's a good kid.

SPEAKER_04 21:55

That's a good guy.

SPEAKER_02 21:56

And I've been following him forever, and he's done great. Uh he managed He married a girl that had a kid and he adopted the kid and got all. And it's like, it's a it just to me, it's like I need to check in. His name's Jacob. But anyway, we were gonna drive right by there. So I sent him a PM. Well, a year or two ago, I sent him a Mossy Oak Bottom Land Lincoln Welding helmet.

SPEAKER_03 22:19

Oh, yeah. So we started about that.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

Yeah, and he made a big deal about it and all that. So I sent him a thing, said, Hey, we're gonna be coming through. I'd like to stop. Come on. And uh for some reason, I I was like, I was all excited. And I I and Matt knew exactly who it was.

SPEAKER_03 22:38

Matt follows him too.

SPEAKER_02 22:39

Yeah. So anyway, we stopped at Pudding's Fab Shop. He lives in Oklahoma. And uh I got uh every I said, look, five minutes. I just want to take a picture and shake your hand and all that stuff. We ended up staying there an hour. Of course, he took Matt and Cranky and showed them everything.

SPEAKER_03 22:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

And I met his daddy, whose name's Jimmy. Jimmy's a hunter. So me and him hit it off. So I didn't get to tour everything, but we got to see Jacob at Pudding's Fab Shop. I felt like I was talking to Elvis. That was a big deal to me. I don't know why, but and he gave the boys a ton of merch. He's got to this day the best t-shirt. He's got some merch now because he's pretty big. The best t-shirt I ever seen, ever. And I to yet don't have one. He's completely sold out. Always. Always sold out. Says mama didn't raise no punk. I've been trying to buy them t-shirts forever. Anyway, we got got that out of the way and we took off, and now we're cutting all the way through Kansas. And uh I've never been on the Kansas Turnpike, but I'm uh I started to come back that way because man, we made some good time. And I was planning on not getting to the roofs till after supper, but we got there, I don't know, about six o'clock, five thirty or so. And uh Duane was there. They've vamped they've just really, you know, fixed up that lodge, painted, got a fence up, more gravel, beautiful dining room table. And I Jim was there and I was like, dude, why didn't you do all this? I was giving him some grief about it. But uh Dwayne said, Now, here's the plan. I've been looking at these turkeys for about a week now. Y'all want to go see where you're gonna be? I said, yes. Knowledge is power, especially when you're trying to film it and you gotta go in in the dark. So me and Cranky and Jim and Dwayne took off in his truck. It wasn't that far from the lodge, and he's got some new dirt. This was 17,000 acres. And I told him, I said, Look, try to find some because they got Miriams and Rios, and sometimes they call them dirty turkey. These were three Miriams without doubt. So we got there early, you know, because they don't fly up to like eight or eight thirty out there. And was watching and just talking and visiting, and sure enough, you know, he said, now for the week they've been roosting in them trees, it was fairly close to this ranch house. But trust me when I tell you, we in the middle of nowhere, and then people out there don't fool with them. And there ain't that many trees. So if you got a good roost, it's probably gonna be they'll be back. And sure enough, 30 minutes or 20 minutes before flop, they eat and I'm filming them and talking, crankies looking through the binos. And he said, now the only place to set up they go, he said they coming from this plowed field, which they stay out in them all day. And there was one little section of cedars that got kind of close to where they came from. And he said, Now you that's the only spot because you can't get to that roost, you'd be busting them. And uh I said, She we I said, Well, we can't get up in there now because the trees they roost in, they can see. He said, Well, I can get you up in there in the morning. So I said, Okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna trust you, Dwayne. So Old Timers more than just a knife, it's a timeless tool meant to be passed down. The USA made generational series of knives are crafted to last generations, so they become memories made, lessons learned, and values taught. Old timer knives built for generations. There's been a few times I can recall when I've been on a burn there and didn't get him. Couldn't go back the next day or maybe even that next week, but I got a buddy, maybe it's the old Bubba. I can send him a waypoint on Onex. Or the gobbler was, maybe where he was gobbling or where he went. Something you can hold over his head when you need help. Fixing your truck, working on your house project, or maybe you want to know whether crappie or bike. Give the gift of a gobbler, send him a waypoint from Onex. From the bunkhouse XL to the lodge package, Basecamp Home Series delivers modular, high-quality homes designed for outdoor enthusiasts. Large kitchens, multiple bathrooms, gear storage, or scenic outdoor living sections. All customizable to your lifestyle. It's comfort without boundaries. Visit BasecampHomesteries.com for more information.

SPEAKER_03 27:17

If you enjoy listening to Fistful of Dirt Podcasts, then you've probably heard. Give us the rating, leave us a review if you like it. Well, if you like it, here's what you can do. Open your iTunes Podcast app available in the App Store if you don't already have it on your phone and type in Fistful of Dirt. Make sure you're following us. Scroll down through the episodes until you see ratings and reviews. Tap the stars to rate the show and click write a review if you'd like to leave us a comment. The good ratings help us out and ensure that more people will be able to discover the podcast. Thanks for listening. We'll see you in seven days.

SPEAKER_02 27:55

Anyway, had a great supper and got up, and uh he said, now we got to get in there early. I said, I'm all about it. And uh we got up that morning, 17 degrees. And I knew it was gonna be cold.

SPEAKER_03 28:08

Real.

SPEAKER_02 28:08

Yeah, 17. Not 31, 17 degrees the whole time. Frosty, no wind. Wind did pick up a little bit, but and I'd been telling Cranky all week, take you some take your deer hunting stuff, bring you some boots and all that. So we get there, we get up at five, and we left at like five fifteen. It's a fifth fifteen minute ride or more. We get there, and we come in from the other direction. He said, All right, we got we got to crawl under three Bob wire fences and over another one. And uh I said, Hey, I'm I can do it. And uh so anyway, we get out and he's I give him I got the coolest little flashlight. I don't even know what kind it is, but it's got a tiny little beam. It's about the size of a coffee cup at the end. And if you hold it down, there's no way they can see you. I needed to see how to get under the fences and I did.

SPEAKER_05 29:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:03

And we crawled under this one, eased around, crawled under that one, eased around, crawled under another one. And after after the hunt, Dwayne was telling Jim, Man, old cuz got up under there like it ain't nothing. I'm ten years older than him. So anyway, we get up in there and uh he's pointing, he said, Now that's the last cedar. I said, Okay. So I give him my light so he can get out of there. Because it was a lot of turns and twists and all that stuff. So anyway, we we kind of crawl up there and and Ch Cranky's got his little turkey chair and I got mine. So anyway, it's really, really dark, and I don't want to turn my phone on. I said, We're just gonna sit here till I can see a little bit. And when we could see a little bit, there was one limb coming out, had a bunch of cover to the left, and we couldn't see much to the right or in front of us, because that's where the roost was. And anyway, I finally got to where I could see a little bit good and and I got my saw out and I I kind of saw that limb and bent it down where I could push cranky up in front of me. We're set.

SPEAKER_03 30:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:07

And uh and it's cold.

SPEAKER_03 30:10

And and side note, he did not pack all of his deer hunting stuff. Like he was told to.

SPEAKER_02 30:15

He didn't.

SPEAKER_03 30:16

Not I know for sure from the knees down he was not prepared.

SPEAKER_02 30:20

Well, n neither one of us got that cold because of all the crawling and it was you know, getting in there was a a bit of a physical task. But so we sat down, everything's good. Well, about 20 minutes. We we're sitting down. They've been starting gobbling about seven to seven fifteen. We were sitting down at five fifty-five.

SPEAKER_05 30:39

Ooh, wee.

SPEAKER_02 30:40

So it was an hour.

SPEAKER_03 30:43

I don't think I've ever been that early on a hunt.

SPEAKER_02 30:45

And uh well, Dwayne was like, hey, um, I'm he's trying to take all the possibilities of I'd rather be too early than too late for sure, though. But about 20 minutes in, I can hear Cranky going, I said, You cold. He said, Pop, my feet are frozen. I said, Tough.

SPEAKER_03 31:03

Tough.

SPEAKER_02 31:03

I told you to bring warm clothes. You're just gonna have to sit it out.

SPEAKER_03 31:07

He took the wool, I have wool socks in his bag and he took them out.

SPEAKER_02 31:11

Shame on him. So anyway, about seven o'clock, the turkeys start gobbling. There's three, three of them up in there I know, and they're just gobbling their brains out. You know, they sound like them turkeys out west, but it's still cool. Now we can't physically see the roost. I got us in some good cover and I didn't want to cut much out. And uh so this goes on and on, and then right behind us, we're kind of facing a little bit west, maybe southwest, but anyway, the sun's gonna come up right behind us. There's a little hill there, and it's wide open to plow fields. So the sun it starts hitting us pretty quick. And the turkeys are still in the trees. I'm thinking because it's so cold. I don't know. But anyway, Cranky he leans and turns around and it looks like he's gonna say something, and he turns the other way, and finally in about a two or three minutes, he said, Pop, we gotta move. I said, What's wrong? You cold? He said, Sun's hitting us. I was like, Good for you. The sun was hitting me in the back and it was fixing it, just light us up. Yeah, so now we got I said, All right, you got to roll out of that chair. And I'm I got that limb that I had kind of halfway cut, I went ahead and cut it, slid it out to the left, moved him over to the right, and I got behind him, so now we're we're in the shade and we're set. I clipped him a little hole to the left, still can't see the roost. And uh anyway, the turkeys fly down and they don't get there's a big bunch of round hay bells right there, and they fly down behind those, and you can hear them. I can even hear them drumming and gobbling and all that. We'd sat there the day before, the afternoon, looking at them for almost two hours, never saw a vehicle. Well, now all of a sudden somebody's opened a gate.

unknown 32:58

No way.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

I'm telling you, tractors pulling hay, tractors pulling discs, tractors pulling bush all.

SPEAKER_03 33:05

But that's their life. They're used to that. Those turkeys are like, uh, it's just a Tuesday.

SPEAKER_02 33:09

It just went on and on and on. And uh anyway, we just waited it out. And I'd call every once in a while, but there's six or seven hens.

SPEAKER_03 33:18

Right.

SPEAKER_02 33:19

These three long beards, that you ain't calling them up. I don't I don't care who you are. So we just waited out. And at some point, Cranky, and this is maybe an hour and a half, two hours in, he leaned and said, Pop, I gotta pee. And I said, Well, go ahead. I said, Look, just stand up and bend over so you don't get out of the cupboard. He stood up, he had like two pairs of overall bibs on something else, and he's like, I can't. I'm gonna just sit back down. I said, No, because we may be here till noon. And uh anyway, I said, just step over me and I lean and I said, Go out the back way.

SPEAKER_05 33:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:55

And that took ten minutes, and I just said, Them turkeys are gonna come while he's out there. But anyway, he got back in everything, and it wasn't ten minutes. One of them hens popped out behind the hay bell, yeah, and there's a big gap right there where that field is, and she's coming right to it. And I said, All right, get ready.

SPEAKER_03 34:12

It's go time.

SPEAKER_02 34:13

Yeah, and I mean when it happened, it happened in seconds. As soon as that lead hen left, everybody's going across the county road, coming in, and uh there was three of them right there, and uh the first the lead one gobbler was a strutter, and I told Cranky, I said, Shoot the strutter.

SPEAKER_01 35:02

I'm on the board now. How's it feel to finish your slam? Amazing. That's a nice one. Look at the spurs on that thing, bud.

SPEAKER_02 35:14

Even million, and then he immediately turned around and said, That third turkey had a way bigger beard.

SPEAKER_05 35:20

No.

SPEAKER_02 35:21

I said, dude, I wasn't taking no chance.

SPEAKER_05 35:24

No.

SPEAKER_02 35:25

Cranky Cranky got his grand slam finished.

SPEAKER_05 35:28

He did. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:29

And while we were sitting there, I had one bar, and but I had figured out how to do the satellite thing on my phone.

SPEAKER_05 35:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:37

And I got it and I looked down, Matt's done. It was like 8 05.

SPEAKER_03 35:43

They slept in. Yeah, I heard about that.

SPEAKER_02 35:45

I heard about their hunt. They got up at seven, had some coffee, and ate some toast and all that, you know, and he he they hunted about 10 minutes. And uh he killed a big old turkey.

SPEAKER_03 35:57

But anyway, we ain't got a better story.

SPEAKER_02 35:59

Oh, Cranky had a heck of a story. He, you know, I know it it ain't like hunting in the swamp here and chasing them for two days and killing the water mox and all that. But it was still epic enough crawling underneath the fences in the dew and freezing to death for an hour. He he kind of earned it.

SPEAKER_05 36:16

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:16

And uh I can tell you this, though to me, the roost is in good shape. I mean, Duane and Susan were just super there. Was other people there, they killed their turkeys, and that's why I say it. The places I talk about, I know if you go there, you're gonna have a great time.

SPEAKER_04 36:33

Right.

SPEAKER_02 36:33

And uh they they're determined and he's old school, he's got another outfit and thing down in Kansas, and we just had a blast, but we got back and it was like, I don't know, 10 o'clock. And uh they were like, Tonight's steak night, and my brain's just going 90 miles an hour. And I I looked at your husband and I said, I think we should turn and burn. And he said, I'm in.

SPEAKER_03 36:56

They have missed so much school that's gonna be.

SPEAKER_02 36:58

Well, plus Sunday, there was something going on with Matt Sunday. He said, It's a big test, some kind of business calculus. He said, If I can get back in time and get on my laptop, and I was like, Okay. So uh, you know, we were we weren't there long.

SPEAKER_05 37:12

Nope.

SPEAKER_02 37:12

We did get a chance to go to the tumbleweed and broken bow and eat breakfast as a group.

SPEAKER_03 37:18

That's kind of like uh tradition at this point.

SPEAKER_02 37:21

That was very special. And uh so we loaded up and uh lit it out and came home 17 hours going, 12 or 13 hours there and 17 hours back.

SPEAKER_03 37:31

It was almost 12 hours including sleep.

SPEAKER_02 37:33

Including a night's sleep. I got back and I was like, did that even happen? What's going on? But crammed crammed a lot into that.

SPEAKER_03 37:41

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 37:42

Cranky slams done. Matt finished his the year before. My bucket list is kind of almost complete. And then you got a turkey. It was a it was a good finish. I don't I don't have but one hunt left. And uh it's pretty fun. It's gonna be up here in Tennessee and looking forward to that. When I got back, there's a uh new podcast coming out. I did a podcast for about an hour and a half with Gary Mason, who's the guy who started The Legends of the Outdoors Hall of Fame. They're gonna have a podcast. I don't even know if it's out yet, but if it is, that'll be a good one for you to keep up with. But I did his podcast and uh I finally saw the list of who's being inducted this year. It'll be in August up there at Bass Pro in Springfield.

SPEAKER_03 38:26

And it's a fun event to go to.

SPEAKER_02 38:28

Yeah, you've been to it several times.

SPEAKER_03 38:29

Yeah, there's a lot to do up there.

SPEAKER_02 38:31

But this year, Ted Nugent and Paul Butzky are two of the people going in.

SPEAKER_03 38:36

Two of my favorite people.

SPEAKER_02 38:38

And uh I was like, I don't know. I told Gary, I said, I don't know if you got all them tables sold, but if they see they can come watch Ted Nugent.

SPEAKER_03 38:46

How fun.

SPEAKER_02 38:47

Get inducted into the Hall of Fame and hear him speak. I said, You put that out there, then they've already made the room bigger.

SPEAKER_03 38:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:54

And they took the silent ox stuff, moved it out in the hall. So I mean, it's gonna be packed.

SPEAKER_03 39:00

It is. And uh rightfully so. He's done a great job growing that event.

SPEAKER_02 39:05

Yeah, I told him, I said, look, if if you get to the point where you don't want to introduce Ted Nugent, I'll be glad to do it. Because we have a long history with him. And Paul Butzky, you know, he's just been a brother from way back in the day. So anyway, if you're if you think you're even interested in going to the Hall of Fame and watching this, and keep in mind this at the Big Bass Pro Shop, the mothership, you can go to that uh the aquarium and the wildlife museum.

SPEAKER_03 39:33

The wildlife museum is really fun.

SPEAKER_02 39:36

It's such a cool weekend that you can involve the whole family.

SPEAKER_05 39:41

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:41

And I'll all I can do is you can call Gary Mason. Y'all get your pins out. I got his cell phone right down. I I'm sure they have a website, but Gary Mason's phone number is 731-693-7770. And you can buy a ticket to go in. I mean, you don't need to have your own table and you don't have to wear a tux. It's just uh it's the coolest event ever because most of those people bring their family and their family may not know or have heard all those accolades and all that kind of stuff. So uh you want to do something that's pretty special, look into going to see that. I didn't I didn't I kind of glanced at the other people and I I really don't know 'em, but they're always special people going. And some of the most fun we had is going through that the the museum and the the aquarium and all that kind of stuff. So uh Hall of Fame, I don't know when the dates are. I think it's the third week in August. Did that sound right? Something like that.

SPEAKER_03 40:39

I thought it was a little earlier this year.

SPEAKER_02 40:41

I don't know when it is, but I just know it's in August, and that's a good trip. We drove kind of close to right by there coming home from Nebraska. So anyway, that's uh that's kind of a recap. That's not as uh knowledgeful as visiting with Dr. Lashley back to back. But I'm telling you, I've never had so many comments about man, I needed that. That was the coolest stuff ever. I've listened to the part one three times trying to make sure I didn't miss anything. Because uh I just thought that was that was very unique. And man, we've had one blessed turkey sheets. Very, very proud of that.

SPEAKER_05 41:19

We have, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 41:20

And nothing like a good old road trip. Now, we did take another road trip, but that's a whole nother podcast.

SPEAKER_03 41:27

A whole nother maybe two whole other podcasts. It's a story.

SPEAKER_02 41:31

Yeah, I don't know about that. But anyway. That's a good story. Yeah. Um uh we'll we'll probably talk about that because it's uh it, you know, it's not a big deal, and I didn't do it to go do it to, you know, uh video it and all that kind of stuff, but Lauren got a kick out of it and she said, You need to talk about that. And I may and I may not, but anyway, that's an update from the Camo Cave up here in West Point, Mississippi. Uh lots of cool stuff going on. I got a pretty cool hunt, one left. And if you've ever, if you s if you scroll back down and you go to the the podcast I did with Sheriff Mike Canadal, I'm going turkey hunting with him again.

SPEAKER_05 42:10

How fun, how special.

SPEAKER_02 42:11

Yeah, that's this week, and uh we we just so hit it off and we've become good friends. And uh so I'm gonna hunt with him, and there's a couple other special people coming in that I ain't taking a gun to it, I'm just taking my phone and my bottom land, and I'll probably take my buggy, but anyway, may have something else to relive. But Lormost talk about the one I just got back from, which was pretty cool. And uh the only thing that wasn't cool about that trip was the traffic.

SPEAKER_03 42:38

Oh no.

SPEAKER_02 42:39

Because not only did I had to drive through Atlanta and back through Atlanta, Talladega was letting in Friday by there. And let me tell you something. That's some traffic right there.

SPEAKER_05 42:51

Yeah, it is.

SPEAKER_02 42:52

But anyway, we made it there, made it back. It's a pretty cool story. So, anyway, that's the that's the latest update. Hope you enjoyed this one. Hope you enjoyed Marcuslashly. Let me tell you something. You need to download those and keep them in your phone because we touched on everything. And I got a feeling he'll be back.

SPEAKER_03 43:08

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 43:09

At some point, I may get scientific with him next time. Who knows? But anyway, from me and Laureen up in the Camo Cave from Mossy Oak, Mossy Oak Properties. Once again, God bless each and every one of y'all.

SPEAKER_03 43:21

We'll see you in seven days.