KEOTA OUTDOORS
Keota Outdoors is a podcast for the everyday outdoorsman — the guy who works hard, hunts harder, and finds peace in the wild. Hosted by Luke Long, this show explores everything from whitetail strategy and waterfowl tactics, to trail camera setups, shed hunting, turkey seasons, bow tuning, and bass fishing backwaters.
Each biweekly episode dives into real conversations with fellow hunters, anglers, and land stewards — focused on honest experiences, lessons learned, and the pursuit of getting better in the field.
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KEOTA OUTDOORS
Ep. 17: Triple Bearded Gobblers and the Louisiana Boys’ Missouri Hunt
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On this episode of Keota Outdoors, Luke and his buddy Walker kick back in the man cave to share recent turkey hunting adventures from an unforgettable spring season. Walker and his hunting partner made the trip from central Louisiana to chase North Missouri longbeards, and the trip delivered with exciting hunts and successful tags punched. They wrapped it all up the right way—with a famous spring turkey and mushroom fry at camp.
Luke also dives into his own Missouri opener, where a morning full of gobbles led to an action-packed hunt and a big triple-bearded gobbler hitting the dirt. The twist? He got it done using the controversial but completely legal method of reaping. Luke and Walker break down exactly how the hunt unfolded, why reaping can be an effective tactic, and why it deserves more respect in the turkey woods.
If you enjoy turkey hunting stories, spring camp traditions, wild game cooking, and honest conversations about hunting culture, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.
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Hey everybody, welcome back to Kyoto Outdoors. I've got with me today my pretty much stepbrother, Walker Wheeler. Yeah. Not to be confused with Wheeler Walker Jr.
SPEAKER_00Not at all.
SPEAKER_01Anyway, Walker is up here in Missouri turkey hunting. And buddy David, too. He's too scared to be on the podcast, so he's just watching. Yeah. But uh tell me about yourself, Walker.
SPEAKER_00I'm 26 years old from central Louisiana. We love to hunt and fish or do anything involved in the outdoors. Missouri's been a big part of my life since I was 13 years old, I would say, we first came up here, and uh have not stopped coming back since. It's an awesome place and it's full of anything you want to do involved in the outdoors. So that's how I look at Louisiana.
SPEAKER_01It's kind of funny. I know Missouri's that way too, but Walker and I have this lucky relationship. He can come up here and hunt and do all the things he enjoys, and then he invites me down and do the same things there.
SPEAKER_00You can swap and it it all works out great.
SPEAKER_01So back in uh January I went down duck hunting with Walker in Louisiana and we had some decent duck hunts.
SPEAKER_00Low water and a lot of a lot of hot days and low water wasn't it didn't make for the best hunting, but he's seen it before. So it's okay.
SPEAKER_01It was fun though. But but yeah, so Walker, you've been coming up here for years, deer hunting and turkey hunting, especially. Uh the deer hunting's a little different up here, maybe better than what you've got at home some years.
SPEAKER_00It's yeah, it's it's it's better. The daylight movement for the bucks is definitely better, and it's just a different atmosphere. It's it's definitely better.
SPEAKER_01It's fun. Yeah. Walker brought up crawfish. We had a big crawfish bowl the other night. I'm always thankful to have that. They're so good.
SPEAKER_00Trade out for some mushrooms, so it worked better. That's right.
SPEAKER_01We've been eating mushrooms tonight. We uh fried some fish, some fresh turkey, some mushrooms. Do we have anything else? Potators. Potaters. We had all kinds of we ate way too much.
SPEAKER_00It was great.
SPEAKER_01But uh but yeah, man, you've been up here turkey hunting, and you and your buddy David have had some success.
SPEAKER_00So it's been a it's been a good trip. It's uh it was it was a little nervous at first because the weather was looked like it was gonna be bad all week and it turned around quick.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's cleared up and hasn't hardly rained at all this opening week of turkey season here.
SPEAKER_00It turned around quick. The birds are not talking like you would think, but it's still it's been it's been real good hunt.
SPEAKER_01So right. So um one thing I did want to mention. So this data just came out from the Missouri Department of Conservation. Uh so in Missouri they keep pretty close track of turkeys recorded, harvested, both U season, regular season. Um, and that's done like via the app. I know some states don't keep close records like Missouri does, but Missouri just released this data. Um preliminary data from the Missouri Department of Conservation indicates a record-breaking 2026 spring youth turkey weekend with youth hunters harvesting 5,255 birds on both April 11th and 12th, so on that two-day youth weekend. Uh that represents a 22% increase from 2025 at 4,000, basically 4,500 birds. And that's the highest youth harvest since the record keeping began back in 2004.
SPEAKER_00And that's impressive.
SPEAKER_01So yeah, so I'd say that's the most, I know that's just the record keeping, but I'm sure that's the most turkeys taken during youth season ever here in Missouri, and I expected that. You got of course you guys weren't here during youth season, but youth season the weather was good. I saw like people posting a lot of birds got killed open tomorrow, and I was like, yep, it's one, it's gonna be a good year for turkey hunting that kind of just shows you that the birds are here. Yeah, we've got a couple good hatches the last few years. Like I myself have been seeing a lot of birds, and going into youth's weekend, I knew it was gonna be good for everybody, and I think that data right there shows it. Um course I don't know if there's more tags sold or anything like that, but a 22% increase in birds from one year to the next is a big jump.
SPEAKER_00So that's just like on the way up here where we were talking, and I was asking, you know, how the how it looked or whatever, and you just like it was it's the most turkeys I've seen since I was a kid. Yep, and that'll really make the drive pass by pretty quick. Yeah, you're pretty excited to get up here and see it.
SPEAKER_01It's just been good. You you drive around, you see a few more birds, you get out listening in the mornings, and I'm hearing gobbles. You know, it a few times this spring I could count like six or eight turkeys gobbling from one point, just listening, you know, be up on a high point and just listen from the road, and you count six or eight birds, and it was like that when I was a little kid, I think, but it's been a while since it's been that good.
SPEAKER_00And like today we left just riding and looking around, and there's and I actually have a video on my phone, there's birds strutting in the middle of the road, two strutters, and hens in the middle of the gravel road. Just so they just it's it seems like it's a lot of turkeys. That's cool to see stuff like that.
SPEAKER_01When you start when you've been here, when you lived here your whole life, and like my dad especially, when he says, I haven't seen turkeys there in years, and now you do, that just kind of shows you that they're coming back a little bit. So um but yeah, you killed a bird here a few days ago. Tell me about that hunt, man. You guys struggled at first.
SPEAKER_00It was yeah, it was uh it was a little struggle the first morning. Didn't hardly hear a gobble. And the second morning, we were gonna go together, both on e-bikes, and go to the back, and one of the e-bikes one of the e-bikes had a flat tire, so you guys rode together on the we uh we ended up, he left first, and I stayed back and worked on my bike, and he ended up going, we neither of us went to where we were gonna go, and we went on opposite sides of the property, and I ended up going up there and just laid my bike over where we knew it's been a bird in the past, and uh I called, no response, and he shoots me a text and it's like, hey, there's a bird in between us. So I move up about 80 yards or 100 yards, we're about 700 yards apart, and I call and nothing. So I stick my decoy out and I sit down. I say, well, I'll give it a minute to calm down, then I'll call again. And I yelp, and at the end I kind of cut a little bit loud and he hammered like 50 yards, but it's real thick. I was like, I'm just gonna wait him out. He's he's coming.
SPEAKER_01Feels good when they cut you off like that.
SPEAKER_00And it's early too, and he's on the ground. I and I was thinking, so I'll probably give it 15 minutes, and I ain't heard nothing. I'm like, and I heard him drumming right after he had gobbled. I heard him drumming right after he had gobbled. So I was being real patient and then I didn't hear anything, and uh I would yelp real light and purr and do whatever. Nothing. So I was like, it's over with, you know, he's gone, or something happened, he spooked. So I give it probably 30 or 40 more minutes, and I stood up and I creeped out to my decoy and I looked to my left to where my to where my bike was, and he's puffed up beside my bike. And uh he's puffed up beside my bike, and I was like, what in the world? So I I stand there and just kind of freeze up and watch him, and my decoy is ten feet from me. So I kneel down and I get comfortable, and he's he's kind of looking back my way, and I put my mouth call in, and I barely called. And he looked at me, but it was just he didn't care, you know. So he kept feeding away in the bean field or maybe a cornfield, but either way, he kept feeding away. So I snuck up to him, I stuck to the fence line, and I got there and I I called and he wouldn't really do anything. So I give him a minute, he's kept feeding further and further away. So I took my mouth on him. I'm not real good at gobbling on it, but I would yelp and cut, and then at the end of the cut, I would make a little feint like a Jake gobble. And he would get excited, but he wouldn't he wasn't excited enough, I could tell. Right. Do you have hands with him? Mm-hmm. He was by himself. And uh that was the I was like, man, it's perfect, and uh so it's a there's a there's two fence posts where a gate should be, and I'm right here, and my bike's over here, probably 30 yards. And as he gets to where I can just see his head over the hill, I get down and I kind of army cross sideways to my where my bike is, just so I can watch him on binoculars. I didn't call anymore after I was over there, and I probably said over 10 minutes. And there's a a hen probably 300 yards to my right on another ridge. And he's watching her, but he also keeps looking back my way, and I didn't call or nothing. And he just starts slowly working his way back while I crawl around this cedar tree, and I stand completely up because it's just so thick. I know how you hate cedar trees, but they definitely work. Yeah, they hide you good. So I was standing beside the cedar tree, and there's a forked tree about chest high to me right in front of me. So I just lay my gun in that, standing up, and I just wait. And he just slowly, he would fuzz up a little bit, and he just slowly worked his way back. And when I got to where I thought he was, I'd have a rangefinder, but where I thought he was close enough, I'd I give it some time and I was like, I'm gonna wait, let him get a little closer.
SPEAKER_01So he turns around and takes a couple steps away, and I was like, nah, Was he gobbling any or just just strut a little bit?
SPEAKER_00He would he when I first seen him, he would strut more, but he never gobbled besides the time he cut me off earlier in the morning, an hour before I killed him.
SPEAKER_01Right.
SPEAKER_00So that was I I was nervous because the way he was feeding back up there, and then he turned around, I said he's gonna just feed away.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like the second they turned around, it's you just instantly think it's now or never, gotta go.
SPEAKER_00And that's what I did. So it was now and never, and I pulled that hammer back, so I give him the beans, you know.
SPEAKER_01You're shooting a so a single shot 10 gauge, right? What shot are you shooting out of it?
SPEAKER_00Five shot five shot uh federal grand slam five shot.
SPEAKER_01Cool. They're not TSS or anything, not just lead. Cool. Yeah. Kicks a little bit.
SPEAKER_00It it does three inch? Three and a half. They only make three and a half for tens, yeah. To my knowledge. So it it kicks a little bit, but I mean You don't feel it when you're shooting a turkey, probably. That's the last thing you're thinking about. Right when you're shooting a turkey.
SPEAKER_01What did you say is fifty yards?
SPEAKER_0055 steps. Uh on X mapped it, it was like 51. So, you know, right in there somewhere.
SPEAKER_01That's cool, man. It was a good bird. Yeah. I didn't see any pictures of it.
SPEAKER_00It was uh had an 11-inch beard, one-inch spurs. One of them was right at an inch, the other one was a smooth inch. It was 21 and a half, 22 pounds. So I would say a good bird. Yeah. It was strange to do his by itself, and it was strange that he wasn't dominant enough when I was making those little faint gobbles for him to get mad. But I guess there wasn't nothing for him to visualize to get mad at, you know.
SPEAKER_01Right, yeah. If your decoy wasn't showing or nothing. So it worked out though. He made his way up there.
SPEAKER_00It did work out, and he's been in the grease, so it really worked out. Uh he tastes good. It tastes great. And where I'm from, it a lot goes in the grease.
SPEAKER_01So to be happy, yeah.
SPEAKER_00How'd you cook it? We fried it. We we fried it and what'd you do though specifically?
SPEAKER_01You're the chef, man. Yeah. So for those that don't know, Walker's got a cool TikTok page.
SPEAKER_00Your name is uh Walker underscore W1. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So look that up on TikTok. He makes some awesome recipes, post videos very regularly. So always cooking something good. I actually cooked tonight and he was probably like, yeah, this is just mediocre.
SPEAKER_00No, it was really good. We it was real good.
SPEAKER_01We've ate too much. What'd you what you how'd you make your turkey though?
SPEAKER_00So I put it in a Ziploc bag with hot sauce. It really doesn't matter the hot sauce, but I use Louisiana hot sauce. It doesn't have to stay in there long, and then it just makes the batter stick. I just use flour, salt, pepper, garlic, or any kind of your favorite Cajun seasoning, you know, full time or anything like that. Um, and just deep fried. Or I mean you can pan fry it, but deep fry it was easier what we were doing. Uh pretty good. So it yeah, it's great. Look, turkey, fresh mushrooms, and fish, it's kind of hard to beat.
SPEAKER_01It's you get that fresh turkey with the fresh mushrooms.
SPEAKER_00And I don't know wrong, I love to shoot them, but I really like to eat them. Right. You know, as we get.
SPEAKER_01Did you guys pick those mushrooms or we no, no, no.
SPEAKER_00It's dad picked them up.
SPEAKER_01The season's about over here right now, mushroom season, which is weird.
SPEAKER_00I've seen a few walking around, but they're kind of dry and they're not.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so just historically, like you I think about picking mushrooms while you're turkey hunting or after you're turkey hunting, even into like the third week of season here in Missouri, you're still picking mushrooms. And mushroom season came early this year. Like we had an early spring. Yeah. Yeah. And on top of that, turkey season's a little later than normal, like open the 20th here.
SPEAKER_00So five days, different 15th.
SPEAKER_01So just you pair an early spring with a later season, I think that changes the turkey count a little bit. And just mushroom season's been so weird. Like everybody started finding mushrooms earliest I can ever remember. And this year's been excellent. So many people have been finding mushrooms. I've seen more like on Facebook for sale than ever. Yeah. Um, I didn't have a whole lot of time to get out and find very many, but my dad has found somewhere north of 2,000 mushrooms. And like he was providing me with me, me with plenty. I didn't need to go.
SPEAKER_00So we actually ate some of his tonight. So and I mean, as far as talking to the locals and some of the guys by our camp, they said the same thing. It's just all the rain that y'all had, the timing and the rain, it's just been unreal. Like mushrooms.
SPEAKER_01Usually, like historically, I think, like, man, like the temperatures are right. We need a rain. It's a little dry. If we could get a half inch of rain tonight, like mushrooms would pop. And we've not had that problem this year. Like the rain has just been steady and spaced out every few days. It's just been just the perfect recipe for a good mushroom year, I guess.
SPEAKER_00It's it's uh it's it's been good. The the atmosphere up here is just somewhere different, but it's it's awesome.
SPEAKER_01I mean, but don't go wrong, I mean I love where I'm from, but yeah, you guys have a hell of an atmosphere down there too.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's it's I guess it's what you're used to, you know.
SPEAKER_01Absolutely. Another thing we talked about this the other night with uh what I feel like's an early spring is all the leaves on the trees already. Like the foliage on the trees is thick already, and we're now nearing the end of the first week of uh of turkey season here in Missouri, and typically the leaves aren't coming on until the second week and into the third week, and like everything's so green already, and like I you can already tell that the gobbles aren't traveling as far, you can't hear as many birds from as far away, and it's just it's really noticeable. I'm just noticing a change from recent years.
SPEAKER_00I've noticed being in the woods, the gobbles are a lot harder to to locate or to to pinpoint exactly. I mean you can tell the direction, but when there's so much more faint, yeah, it's more faint, and there's so much low foliage or however you'd put it, you know, just brush coming up and underbrush.
SPEAKER_01And just like back in new season, I mean we're sitting in a pop-up tent and we're hearing like six birds all around. Now you're gonna hear. And now you you're just not hearing birds that far away here a couple weeks later because the leaves are coming on. So it just makes for a challenge. I know usually you're thinking like, man, you get in that third week you can't hear as good, and things green up and you can't see as good, and like here in the first week it's already like that here basically.
SPEAKER_00But also, I feel like in certain situations with the turkey, being real green has helped me out a lot. Sure.
SPEAKER_01There's I mean having more cover helps too a hundred times.
SPEAKER_00And but a lot of times you want to be able to hear further and see further, but when the situation's right and it's real thick, it helps out a lot. Right. Because you can move on him a lot better.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, one place I noticed it making a big difference is when they're on the roost. Like you hear one gobbling. I try to get in tight to them as tight as you can. If you know where a bird's roosted the night before, you can get in real tight. But if it's like a let's go back in here, let's wait for a gobble, and then sometimes we'll try to move in tight. Yeah. When the leaves are on, you can get in a lot tighter versus when there's no leaves, right? They can just see further, hear better, and so leaves being on does allow you to get a little tighter to them on the roost.
SPEAKER_00So Which is last year, just to reference back, we were up here hunting, and it was another friend of mine with me, and it was probably 8 30 or so, and I'd been hearing a bird all morning in the distance, and uh he missed a bird, he thought it was closer, and it was like 60 yards, and he missed it, and I was like, Well, I've been hearing a bird gobble if you want to try to go to it. And it was pretty green then. I think it might have been the second week. And uh we go over to where I've been hearing it stop on the road, call from the road, and he hammers probably 400 yards, and it was across the field 200 yards to get to the tree line one to be on, and it was thick enough and it just helped out so much. If it had been early, early with no leaves, you couldn't even walk too much. It never would have worked out. So that just that goes to show that it it goes both ways, you know what I mean. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_01So so this year for me, opening morning, and this kind of has to do with the leaves again. Uh I had a buddy of mine, he and I went together opening morning. I wanted to double up. I don't think I've ever doubled up with somebody. And we both took off work that day, we're like, let's hunt together all day. Like, surely, all day long, we can get two birds killed, you know. So we went together, he had roosted some the night before. So it was way off the road. We said I watched one fly up into the tree. So we get in there and this is a big wide open cut bean field. And I don't know, we get to about where we think. And we'd plan to be there by 5 30. I said, we need to be set up by 5 30. Sunrise was around. Sunrise was like 6.20, so I said, let's get there and be set up by 5.30. And we walk in and we're setting, we're putting the decoys in the ground.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And this bird gobbles. Like he was probably 75 yards away. We probably had the decoys 20, 25 yards from the edge of the field, and he was probably 50 yards into the brush. And we're like, oh my gosh. It's like based on where he was, we're like, we need to move down a little bit. So we pick back up and quietly move down there. And this bird, I've never heard of I don't want to say never, but this bird gobbled a hundred times on the limb. Yeah. Had to have. And started way too early, it seemed like. I mean, it was still dark when he started gobbling. But what ended up happening, there were two more birds in there gobbling as well that were just a little bit further that we had really walked past. So one of those was the one my buddy had seen, and he didn't see this one fly up. Anyway, this bird gobbles his head off. We've got three of them out there. We've got a full strut decoy and a hen set up at 25 yards in front of us. It's like this is a cakewalk, you know, it's gonna be so easy. And to mention the foliage on the trees, this bird, like I said, is probably 50 yards off the edge of this field. I couldn't see him. Like he's 50 yards from me, gobbling his head off, and I can't see him because there's leaves in the way, which is just not something you experience on opening day of Missouri turkey season typically. But anyway, we're sitting there. I kind of started trying to video some hunts this year, so I got my camera set up and I'm videoing. And I told my buddy, I said his name's Quentin, I said, Quentin, we can't let this bird get away. I said, There's three gobblers here, and they're all gonna end up right here in front of us. But if it's a matter of there's one bird, I said, Don't let this one bird get away. If he doesn't like something and starts to run, you know, let's shoot him. I don't care about the double, let's get you one. Well, early this bird pitches down. Like it's so dark still. Not it's not dark, but the sun's not even peeking up over us. We're facing east, and the sun is not up yet. And I just couldn't believe it. You know, he started beating his wings down through the trees, sound like an elephant crashing through the brush, you know, and pitches down right in, right past our decoys. I told Quentin, I said, we can't get ducks to finish that good. Like, I mean, he come like flew out of the tree into the decoys. So you could have shot then. Yeah, right then we could have shot. He landed, he probably landed 10 yards past the decoys. Yeah, so 30 yards. So he's 35 yards, well in range, right? Or not pushing it. I'd rather him be closer, but that's doable, you know. Oh yeah. And he just starts strutting. And I'm telling, like, let's just wait. I'm like, just let's just wait. You know, he's he's fine. He ain't hurting nothing. Those those other gobblers are gonna hit the ground here pretty soon. They'll come running right in here and we'll have three of them in our lap, you know. I said, but don't let him get away. And so, you know, I'm looking at my camera. I was actually messing with my camera quite a bit, and I couldn't get my camera to focus anyway, watching him, and all of a sudden I look, and this bird is walking away. Kind of towards those other gobblers that are gobbling still on the roost. And I'm like, are you gonna shoot? And like, you know, he was 35. Well, by the time you realize he's walking away, he's 40 and 42, 45, and it's just like it's just He had two seconds to decide, and it just we decided not to shoot. I was like, it's fine. It's fine. I said, he's gonna meet up with them gobblers and they're gonna come right back. Yeah, that's what'll happen. It'll be fine. And sure enough, the other two gobblers come in the field. And I'm calling at him pretty hard at this point. And they're gobbling at everything. All three of them instinct.
SPEAKER_00It's one of those deals where any sound you make, it's just amazing.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it didn't matter. Did not matter. I I call and they gobble. And I'm like, just patience, they're gonna come back and we're gonna double up here. So like I'm kind of getting my gun up and ready, and I'm trying to make sure my camera's the right place, and and all of a sudden I hear wings behind us and his hens. And like in my peripheral, I see a hen hit the ground over here in the edge of the field.
SPEAKER_00So y'all were covered in both.
SPEAKER_01And anyway, these gobblers are gobbling and they're working their way back this direction. And I'm staying on them, calling, and yeah, about the time they start working back is when these hens start pitching down. I'm like, crap. And what I mean, in nature, a gobbler wants the hens to come to him, you know. Yeah. So the hens are hitting the ground and they just start walking to him. And I'm like, oh no, like they're not gonna come in here because his hens are going right to him, you know. And I kept calling, and about 70 yards they hung up the three of them. And all those hens, I think there was three or four hens, flew down right next to a sit to ground and walked over straight to him. And I felt so bad because here we was, had this bird very killable, opening morning, first few minutes of legal light, and I'm telling him to hang on because I wanted to try to double up. Yeah, either way, it was cool. I mean, they stayed gobbling. I kept calling, I tried everything. Did like a fighting purr. I took my hat off and like beat it in the brush, doing like a fighting purr. They looked, but they wasn't gonna leave the hens. And I I wasn't surprised by that.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's almost nothing you can do, and I and I've run into that a lot recently.
SPEAKER_01It's just yeah, there's sometimes they're just they're not killable. Um, you gotta catch a bird in the right mood at the right time, and this was wasn't the time. I mean, we had the opportunity, right? We just kind of messed it up. But anyway, these birds slowly are working off. By the time the sun started peeking up over the horizon, they were 150 yards out there. I mean, they were down early. But anyway, I said, listen, they're gonna go to the corner of this field. It's a big old cut bean field with just like tree-lined fence rows kind of around it. And I'm like, when we feel like we can get in the brush and safely get away without spooking them, we need to be moving. And we tried it, and I would say them birds could see us a little bit, and they just we got away with a lot of movement that I felt like we shouldn't have been getting away with. But anyway, we got off in the brush and kind of in this ditch and started working working through this brush, kind of swung out a hundred yards into the woods just to stay out of sight, you know. And I'm we're trying to get to this corner. I'm just predicting like turkeys are just gonna do that. That's where they're gonna head. And we get up there, and on the other side of the corner, there's a gobbler strutting in the next field. He's a hundred yards from us when I spot him, full strut facing us. And I mean, he can see all of me. Yeah. And he didn't spook for some reason, and I just froze. And I'm looking back and I can see those other birds kind of working their way. But we had to stop and pay attention to this bird, you know. I didn't want to just spook him off. And while we're doing that, all these birds that we were trying to sneak around on cut right through this brush, right where I expected them to. We were two minutes late. We needed to be moved up 50 yards, and they'd have walked right in front of us. But so they go out in this field, run that other gobbler off. We call, keep calling, sit down, and we couldn't really even get set up and sit down good. Uh, I had my buddy crawl to the edge of the field though, and he was kind of tucked behind a big tree. And eventually these birds turned around and started coming back, and I just kept calling, just very aggressive, you know, kind of trying everything, wanting them to come. Wanting to do anything, and finally, two of those gobblers kind of broke away from this group of turkeys and started coming our direction, started closing the distance just a little bit. And they were probably 60 yards, and they start walking, and my buddy starts to raise his gun up because he sees it too. I'm like, okay, like this is gonna happen here, and I just stay on them. You know, they probably hit 50 yards, and like by now my buddy's got his gun all the way up. I'm like, he looks like he's about to shoot. You know, like I'm thinking I've I'd let him come as far as they would come.
SPEAKER_00If they want to come 10 yards, let them just wash their body language.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I actually had like was looking through this multiflora rose bush, so I couldn't see perfectly, but I've and I'm watching through my screen on my camera, you know, but I could I could tell they was coming. Their body language just changed, and and when I realized he was about to shoot, I started like cutting real hard just to get them pick their head up because they were kind of they weren't strutting, but they were puffed up, kind of had their head down. And I cut real hard and the two of them gobbled together. And the second they let up that gobble, he pulled the trigger. And they were probably 45 yards when he shot. And looking back at the video, like their heads down and they stop gobbling, he pulls the trigger. So rather than their head being vertical, you know, it was more lean forward, so smaller target, maybe. And he didn't scratch them. I don't know. The bird took off flying, they all run off like nothing happened, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it they're just a little bit smarter.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it was frustrating, but it's like, man, that was still awesome. Like, we've been on these birds all morning, they're still gobbling at everything. Like, yeah, like you can't ask for a better hunt. You know, it's great. So we messed around with them a little bit more to actually end up seeing another one. There was there ended up being five gobblers in this little square that we were hunting in. Um anyway, we finally gave up on them, come over uh to another area that I could hunt, and from the road we spotted this gobbler strutting. And just a quick glance, he looked like he's by himself, but I wasn't sure. And I told him, I said, I'm gonna reap him. Like it was just a perfect scenario. You could park the truck, walk down this fence line, and pop out in the field with this bird. And it was just, I just would have bet all my money that it would work. Just one of them no-brainer things, this is gonna work. Uh, my buddy had never successfully reaped one, I don't think. He's never seen it done, so I was like, Yeah, me either. So, yeah. I was like, watch this, man. Like, this is gonna be cool. And I handed him the video camera, he'd never run it before. Uh, but anyway, he starts videoing and I took my full strut decoy that I've kind of got set up to reap with and got out in this hayfield with this bird. And you know, the grass is probably pushing a foot tall, 10, 10 inches foot tall, like good cover to be hiding behind a decoy, lay down, you know. And I literally didn't even go at the bird, I just went sideways out in the field to get away from the trees. And I'm probably 10 yards from my buddy who's just sitting next to this little tree, not hid very well. And looking back at the video, he was coming more than I thought. I felt like he was just strutting and really wasn't doing anything, but watching the video, he actually he'd come like five yards and then stop and blow up and strut. Yeah. And mess around, and then he'd break strut and come a little more and pop strut and do it again. And eventually he just gave it up and breaks strut and just takes off running. He's blowed up, you know, so he's like jiggle it. Looks like a big old fat turn, just jiggling and and come running right in. And as soon as he did that, I laid down flat on my stomach, get my gun up, kind of pointed up underneath the decoy. And I've been in this situation before. I could have shot him for a few seconds, had plenty of opportunity to shoot him. But my buddy's video, like, I'm gonna let him get as close as he wants, you know. And he got to, I don't know, probably ten feet. Yeah. Yeah. Like, not ten yards, ten feet.
SPEAKER_00It's gotta be nerve-wracking.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I mean run right in, and I'm on the right side of the decoy because I'm right-handed. Well, he came in and then he turned and took off running to the left. So I pretty quickly like can't be on him. I raised up to my knees, swung my gun over the decoy, and shot him at 10 yards. Didn't flop, just dead, perfect, like such an adrenaline rush. Just I love calling turkey in too, but reaping one is just it's a different ball game. Like it it adds a whole nother level of fun to it. Like we've all called in, sit down, called in a turkey. We've had them come into the decoys, but until you have one charge you at yeah, it's just and fool them that good, you know, like to fool them so good they get 10 feet from you.
SPEAKER_00Well, I see a lot of people talking about uh how they don't like reaping or or whatever, but and they it's cheating and it's so easy. And if it's easy, I just must really suck because uh the situations I've tried have not worked out, and I don't know if I didn't just plan it right or what, but it it just has never worked for me. Never got one that excited or mad, and I don't know if it's because it's not dominant birds or yeah, there's a lot of different scenarios, I think.
SPEAKER_01Some that work, some that don't. Um I think probably the first time I ever did it, there was two gobblers in a field with quite a few hens. And I was kind of going up this edge of this field in the field with them, cut bean field, and it was real obvious they started pushing those hens into the corner of this field, and I just kept at them, kept going right at them, and eventually I got too close, and they both of them turned and just started running. Like so I just I I got in their bubble too tight, more than they were comfortable with, and they're like, okay, now you've done it. Here I'm gonna come kick your ass, kind of deal. Yeah. Um, but yeah, it reaping turkeys is a very controversial topic. My thoughts on it are if you want to call that cheating, like where do you draw the line? Yeah, they're is having the most realistic AVX or Dave Smith decoys, turkey decoy with a real fan cheating. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Or is using some high-tech call cheating.
SPEAKER_00Okay, so and i if you if you think about it like that, if you have a strutter decoy out there and it's just sitting dead still, if you're gonna call reapin' cheating, I I think that even just a strutter in general should be classified right there with it. Because I mean, yeah, all you're doing is getting behind it and you know, pushing it and making it a little more.
SPEAKER_01Like I think people think you're like sneaking up on a turkey and shooting it, like sneaking up on him and he's just chilling and he doesn't care. Like it's not like that. Like I don't know about it. I've never killed one that I just the turkey stayed in one spot and I got into range and shot him. It's you get in the field with them and they come running at you.
SPEAKER_00I don't think there's uh anything in the woods that can sneak up on a turkey besides some kind of cat, you know, or something like that. Yeah. No, no humans.
SPEAKER_01Unless you got yeah, not in an open field, you're not getting to them.
SPEAKER_00Not in shooting range, am I?
SPEAKER_01Right, right. And you know, kind of like you said, I put the decoy ten yards off the tree line. Like I just crawled out there and laid behind it. I didn't wiggle it around, I didn't like get his attention, I didn't call. Like, what's it matter if I'm sitting behind the decoy or I'm sitting in the tr by the tree ten yards away?
SPEAKER_00So, and that goes back to I've heard a bunch of guys, if if they come up to the edge of the field and the bird's out in the field and he's strutting, they will take the fan, fan it, close it, or pull it back, and do it twice and sit there and the bird will come check it out. So is that reaping or is that cheating or what is that?
SPEAKER_01You know, if it's legal, it's not cheating. There's people that know more about this than us that are higher up that have an education in biology, whatever it is, to consider to make these rules, to make these regulations. Well, and here's the deal. I mean the state of Missouri says it's legal, I'm gonna do it.
SPEAKER_00Well, and and here's the deal also, you know, you got your tags, and whether you're reaping them or you're calling them in or you're sitting in a box stand and they can walk by, your tags filled regardless. I I don't really Right.
SPEAKER_01I'm out there to kill a turkey.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and I'm out there to eat the else.
SPEAKER_01And I've said lots of times, like reaping a bird's not like my go-to thing. Like, I don't wake up and say, Oh, I'm gonna go reap a bird today. No, but if you it's a it's a tool in my tool belt. Just the same as sitting down, calling one up, same as roosting a bird the night before, um, the same as sneaking down a creek and popping up and shooting one. Like it's all just a method that works, and there's different times when they work good, when certain ones work, certain ones don't. Like I probably wasn't gonna sit down and call those birds in off those hens. Like you bring Michael Waddell, the expert turkey caller. He may not have been able to do it either, you know. It's a good chance, but he could have, yeah. I shouldn't say that. He probably could. Um another thing that's like so you said you mentioned you've had trouble with reaping turkeys. So I know one of your decoys that you've tried to use, because I have one too, and it has failed being a big thing. It's too big. Yeah, I think I think that's yeah. So Walker and I both have I forget the brand. It might be called turkey fan.
SPEAKER_00It's just a umbrella.
SPEAKER_01It's literally like an umbrella would keep you dry.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01But it's like four feet wide.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I'd say so, yeah. Every bit of four feet wide and three feet tall.
SPEAKER_01And it's a two-dimensional turkey.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so maybe that's where I'm going wrong, you know.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. I I've I've tried to use it too. I think it's too big. It's unrealistically big.
SPEAKER_00And like The only thing it's ever done for me is helped me get out of a bind. Like if I pop over a ridge in the bird's right there, I can pop it out and use it to back up and get cover. Sure. That's it. It's not gonna I've tried it. I've I've seen it kill one turkey and I don't know how it worked, but it it wasn't me, it was my cousin that did it. And it when he got within 40 yards, they got nervous and they they started running, and it was just like they didn't come in and like you know, the experience you had with yours. So yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and I've I've been with some people too using some type of scoot and shoot or some decoy, and and I've experienced that. It just doesn't work perfect. Like they see it and it buys you some time, they look at it, and they're fine, like, you know what? I don't like this. Yeah, it's not and I don't know what it is about my decoy, but I do not have that problem with it. And it's not a fancy decoy. I think it's realistically sized, I think it's the same size as a turkey. Yeah, and I think that that helps. Um, obviously a real fan helps too.
SPEAKER_00And you've showed it on here before. Yeah, you did, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I've had it sitting on the podcast. So like it's uh I don't know, it just it I think the size of it is just realistic. It's it's sized right, it's not too small, it's not one of them little scootin' shoots, like a little funky chicken thing. Yeah, it's not a big wide fan. Uh it just I don't know, it works great. And I use it as a regular decoy as well. So like if I may set up with decoys, I'll use it, and then maybe that doesn't work and I gotta reap one, I grab it and go.
SPEAKER_00So have you ever run into reaping a bird or fanning a bird, however you want to say it, and the bird not being dominant enough or big enough?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm trying to see.
SPEAKER_00And he kind of just fades away, kinda.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, probably. Um there's certainly been some that just didn't want to play, you know. Like again, you gotta catch them in the right mood. It doesn't work every time.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, same way with calling and yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um something I think I've noticed though is getting in their bubble. If you can appear in their space, yeah, like not you see a bird 500 yards away and crawl all the way to it. Like I could see that not working, and it may work, yeah. But if you are if you can sneak up to a hundred yards and then crawl into this field with this bird, it's on. I don't think I've ever done it in the timber. Um typically if you're in the brush, I'm trying to call them directly in, you know. But it's fun, man. Like people can diss it all you want. I don't really care. Like, go reap a turkey and tell me it's not a blast.
SPEAKER_00Oh, it's I mean, I could I could just see from the video. I mean, obviously it hasn't worked for me, but you know, and and I want to get your opinion on this, but I've done form my opinion, and everybody I talk to is like uh turkeys are just so smart. So if they could smell, you'd never kill 'em.
SPEAKER_01Well, I'll kill elk. Elk can smell really good. So that's my argument there.
SPEAKER_00But my opinion on that is I've always said everybody's arguing with me. Turkeys are so smart, I I think they're just nervous. And everybody argues with me, and I could be wrong, but the reason I think they're nervous is if you think about it, everything in the woods besides a deer is messing with turkeys. Not necessarily.
SPEAKER_01I think about that all the time. That's funny.
SPEAKER_00And not necessarily eating the turkeys, but everything messes with them. Crows mess with them, hood owls mess with them, bobcats, coyotes eat them, raccoons eat the eggs. Even like I think eagles can get a big thing. Eagles, you know, uh hawks, uh cats. I mean, yeah, everything everything messes with them besides deer. You know, that's funny.
SPEAKER_01Here's what I think about. I I think imagine walking around your whole life like someone, like you always know someone's out to get your ass.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, like that song Somebody's Watching Me by Rockwell.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like that's what it that's what a turkey feels like. Every day, every second, he's out in a field, he's like nervously, anxiously looking around, like, is there something trying to kill me here?
SPEAKER_00So and that'd be a it'd be an awful way to live. And and that's always been my argument, like people say they're just so smart. And I could I could be wrong. I'm not saying that I'm right. I don't think they're dumb, but I think they're more nervous than smart. Right. I think they're just so nervous because I mean, what doesn't eat them? The size of white-tailed deer.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, you're a lot of things are after them. I mean Yeah, I think I think you're on to something there. Uh I think some birds are somewhat smart, but when you when they spooked, maybe when they don't work or if they just don't do what you think they should be doing, it's probably more like something's not right to them. They don't know what it is. Exactly. But something's off, and they're like, you know what? I'm just gonna steer clear of this.
SPEAKER_00And and deer can be like that too. Uh just nervous on my own. You have like a sixth sense, so I can't figure out, you know.
SPEAKER_01They can feel you looking at them, it feels like you know the wind's right and a buck comes underneath you, and he's like, wait a second.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, somebody's around here. Right. Like it happens all the time. You can see it. Somebody's around, you know.
SPEAKER_01I don't think turkeys have that good a sense. Turkey's behavior changes a lot, you know, like you mentioned, you didn't hear many gobbles. Like there's days, you know, and I don't know what it is. I don't know if it's if they've got hens or not, if it's a weather, if it's a pressure thing, if it's a temperature thing, but there's days where a bird will gobble its head off on a tree, hit the ground, and never gobble again. There's days he'll be fired up all morning, you know, till nine o'clock. There's days they'll gobble twice on the limb, you know.
SPEAKER_00And there's days where they'll gobble unlimited, and it's it's just strange. And like, like today I I was talking to some people and they were like, Well, we think it's kind of over with. And I'm like, over with? I mean, it's just so early. And they were like, Well, it's such an early spring, like you said earlier. And they've done they've already done it, they've been strutting for this long, or and I'm like, and then me and my dad were talking, he was like, Well, they ought to not have any hens, you know, especially this late in the day. And uh, because I had heard a bird gobbling from the camp over and over and over. So we get in the truck and ride around, and then we we haven't been in the truck five minutes, and there's two strutters and two hens in the road at 3 15. Right. So everybody's like, you know, they're going to nest, but obviously not all of them, you know.
SPEAKER_01So Right. Uh I did have a buddy send me a picture of a nest on opening day, which is early compared to the season dates. That's early for a nest. But if you want to compare it to what spring's looking like in Missouri, it's not early. It's probably right on track. Um, but no, they're still doing it, man. Like I've heard a lot of people say that. I've heard people say, oh, second week it's gonna be over, but it's not gonna be over.
SPEAKER_00So uh and that falls into the rut and the fish spond. I mean, that could it it all relates like so not all of your fish, it white perch in general, which y'all call crappie crappie. So we call Sakalay white perch. That's crazy, and everybody's like, so they you know they move up and everybody says, Ain't I moved up, you know. No, I mean they some of them have, you know, but like it's they're gonna stage in different, you know, they're gonna move up over time, so it lasts a couple of weeks, they're not all gonna just hey, we gotta go spawn today, you know. So and I think the deer rut is similar. Oh yeah, it's similar. Well, I guess it's when they come in, but you know, right.
SPEAKER_01I heard a thing the other day, I wanted to mention this to you. It was interesting. So just thinking, like, even this season, I've asked a few people, like, what's a turkey doing all day long? You know, we get on them, they'll be out in the field till eight, nine o'clock, and they go in the brush and you don't see them again. You might be lucky and catch a strutter out in the field somewhere midday or like you said, late afternoon. But what the hell are they doing all day? Like you don't see them all the time, so where are they at?
SPEAKER_00I think I could touch on that a little bit because the bird that I just killed, it I I was I was getting kind of impatient because I've done washed him for the longest time and I'm washing through binoculars. And it he wasn't nervous because I mean he couldn't see me, but he would take One step and he would stop and look left and right for 45 seconds to a minute, and then he would take another step.
SPEAKER_01It was like slow motion moving around.
SPEAKER_00And then he might stand there and feed a little bit on some soybeans or whatever's left over in the field from the harvest. And then he would take another step. And I mean, for him to move I'm gonna say for him to move 50 yards, it took it took well over 30 minutes. Like they're really taking their time. I mean he had no hurry. Now, of course, he was out in the middle of nothing, so he was vulnerable, but he was in no hurry whatsoever. And that that's what they're doing. Right. Nothing.
SPEAKER_01You know, like really slow, you know, just so well I saw this video and I'm regurgitating this. I don't want to say this is my theory. Someone else talked about this in a little clip I saw online, and they said that turkeys spend time in these th thermal hubs in the shade, like cedar trees in the shade, not big open hardwoods.
SPEAKER_00So does that change your opinion of the turn?
SPEAKER_01Alright, so I like I openly hate cedar trees, so now I'm like biting my tongue. Like maybe turkeys do like like I always felt like turkeys don't like cedar trees, they don't like to be around them. There's too much cover, there's too much opportunity for predators, you know. Like they're not gonna walk right through a cedar tree thicket. But um, that was an interesting point, and that correlates with something I've seen this year. So twice now I have been with somebody and looked way back on their property and said, there's a turkey. And what do they do? They get, and this has been an afternoon deal. Twice now, they've uh they've gone and killed that bird once, and then actually tonight I told you they took their son and went and got a bird that I spotted up there. And that spot is a little open green patch right next to some cedar trees. So that's a couple times now in the afternoon, around two or three o'clock, I'm seeing these gobblers in this open field hanging out right by these cedar trees. And it's like they're they're in those cedar trees out of the sun, kind of staying cool here in this. Like when you're wondering, like, where are they at, what are they doing? Maybe there's some truth to that. So, like, that makes me think about like if you're hunting midday, late day, it's hot, like where should you look for turkeys? Maybe you could go to a cedar tree thicket and get close to it and call and see if you can strike a bird up there.
SPEAKER_00And I and and I would say that or bottom, I mean a you know, a good cool bottom bottom breeze growing through.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I would agree. Like, you don't think about a turkey being hot, but man, it's hot and they're they're nearly black, you know.
SPEAKER_00So another thing I want to touch on or ask you about, what about the mosquitoes? I've never in my life, and I'm from where the mosquitoes and if I had to say some of the worst mosquitoes besides Africa, it's in Lismore, Louisiana. But up here in the past couple mornings, it has been miserable.
SPEAKER_01They're pretty bad, yeah. I know I know some of the things. And is that here too, or is that is that yeah, we get them, but you know, typically the first week of season, just just on average, it's cooler. Like your mornings are in the 50s, like start off cooler, start off wearing a hoodie. Get up to 70 in the day, strip that off in your long sleeve shirt the rest of the day, you're fine, you know. But yeah, it's been a little warmer because we've got this a little bit early spring.
SPEAKER_00Maybe the rain, all the moisture.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, the moisture's been just right too. I don't know. But yeah, I had some mosquitoes the other day. I was like, man, I didn't miss these things.
SPEAKER_00They were they were so bad the other morning that I went out and I had three or four birds gobbling within a couple hundred yards every direction, and they were so miserable. I was sitting on my bike, they were making me so miserable, I I couldn't take it. So I go back to the camp and I get some off. Well, I couldn't even call, I couldn't think, couldn't do nothing. And I wasn't, yeah. 40% DEET, Maxwoods, whatever it is, it needs to be taken off the shelves because I sprayed down with it. And I hate it because I usually use a thermocell, didn't have mine, or didn't have any butane. So I spray down with it, and I go back out there, and I honestly think that it it made it worse. Because I mean I wet my arm with it and they were lightening it. And I I said, this is this has got to give. So I went back to the camp and dug around and found some butane for my thermocell. And it it takes a little bit longer, but if you're gonna sit still, they will leave with thermocells.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thermocells do work pretty damn.
SPEAKER_00To me, the bug spray that I have in particularly, no good. No, I I wouldn't I wouldn't use it on anything. It's it's terrible. So off deep woods, y'all need to work on that. So it's pretty bad.
SPEAKER_01So I want to touch on too on the second day of season. So I killed my bird the first day. Uh on the second day of season, I went with another buddy. He was supposed to work, but I think he saw everybody killing turkeys, and he's like, ah, I gotta hunt in the morning. So we took off a few hours that morning. And we didn't roost any birds, which I typically like to do. And uh Ryan and I went and set up in a spot he killed a bird last year, and it's kind of a new spot to us, and we learned kind of where they roost in this area, and we went and set up in this open field where he killed his bird. You know, we're thinking, if there's a bird roosted here, they're gonna do something similar. We set up and we're in the middle, it's actually a cattle pasture. We're in the middle of this cattle pasture, there's cattle in there, and there's a small group of trees, like a big, I don't know, cottonwood tree, something, and then a decent sized cedar tree right there, and then a bunch of little cedars growed up around this, and we're kind of trying to decide where we want to set up. We wanted to have a good hide, you know. Well, luckily he'd brought some little tree shears, a little hand, you know. Yeah. Well, we kind of made a quick makeshift line in the dark, cut some cedar tree limbs, stuck them in the dirt around us, you know. We were hid really good, sitting right next to each other. We had these small cedar trees to our back, like you couldn't see nothing behind us. We set the decoy up out in front of us, and I honestly didn't like his decoy. It wouldn't stand up straight. I don't know what brand it was. It's got one little chintzy pole, it was real long. Probably an AV and S.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I think it is an AV, honestly. And I'll I'll let you finish, but I have my opinions there.
SPEAKER_01And it's got a real fan on it. That part looks good.
SPEAKER_00The decoy looks good, but this steak was just like the Jake that we had, it's a half-struck jake. You almost can't make it stand up.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like I mean, I tried it. I'm like, here, Ryan, do you mess with this thing? Like, I don't want to set it up the way you don't like it. You know, this is your hunt kind of deal. And he ended up getting it way shoved in the ground, and it it was kind of like they lean back, lounging back, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Leaning back. That's definitely an avian action. And the wind blew a little bit, and it leaned forward.
SPEAKER_01I'm like, well, it's got some motion anyway, but it looks real, you know. It's a good-looking decoy, but just the way it's standing.
SPEAKER_00It's like the center point where they have the stake is not correct. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I just I didn't like it. I like I'm kind of partial to my decoy. It's worked for me real good. Anyway, so we're we're set up, and this bird sure enough fires off right, roosted right where we think he should be, like, I don't know, within 150 yards, right where they've roosted historically. We're like, heck yeah, like perfect. You know, we're in a good situation here. He gobbled a handful of times on the roost. I never called at him. He gobbled again, and we thought maybe he was on the ground, and so I let out a few yelps and no response. Well, we just stayed patient, which is not normal for me, I would say. But I just, you know, it's it was his hunt, and I'm just like, I'm just here, I'm a videoing, and I'm just gonna enjoy this.
SPEAKER_00Sometimes it's good to just sit back and just kind of enjoy it.
SPEAKER_01And so we just we're just chilling, and you know, I let a yelp out every once in a while, just a soft yelp, just let something know we're here. And it was kind of getting to the point, like, man, I figured they'd be coming out by now, and we're we can see right where we think they should come out of this brush. And all of a sudden I hear something, and I'm like, man, I think I'm hearing drumming. But I'm just not sure. You know, drumming it's when you first hear it's real faint. Like you question yourself the first time you hear it. Yeah, because it could be any sound, and yeah, and you know, there's a lot of other sounds. The wind's blowing a little bit, there's birds chirping, you know, there's cattle mooing. Anyway, I'm like, is that is that drumming? And then it happens again. I'm like, I think that's drumming. And ten seconds later, Ryan goes, Don't move, he's right beside me. Like whispers, just I could barely hear it. Like, don't move, he's right here. And I'm assuming Ryan can see him in his peripherals through this cedar tree. Ryan's to my left, and this noise is coming from our left. Yeah. So I like very slowly reach up and I turn my video camera on and had it pointed, zoomed out, pointed right at Ryan. And then I realize what I'm hearing is this bird's wingtips scraping the ground. He's strutting, he's drumming, and I'm hearing the of his wingtips across the ground. Right beside y'all. Like we're in a cattle pasture, short grass, you know. And we can hear his wingtip. Like, I'm saying he was within 10 yards. Like super close to be to be hearing.
SPEAKER_00Was he responding? Was he gobbling?
SPEAKER_01See, I hadn't I hadn't yelped for a little while, and he had never gobbled out of the speed. We had no idea where he was.
SPEAKER_00I've run into that similar story.
SPEAKER_01We just, we just we heard drumming, you know, and once he confirmed he thought it was Turkey 2, I like it registered, like that's his wingtip scraping the ground. I'd never heard a bird's wingstip scraping the ground. It's so cool. But so we just sit super patient, you know. I'm recording, not moving a muscle. Like, not looking. I want to look. I want to move my head around, look, but like you can't.
SPEAKER_00It's so hard not to look around.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I'm like looking out of the corner of my eye, you know, and Ryan's like very slowly. I mean, bringing his gun up, kind of into position. He kind of already had it up, but just pull tucking a little tight to his shoulder and starting to turn a little bit, just so slow, like you could barely see him doing it. And I'm thinking, I'm about to get the best video ever. Like this bird is gonna walk around the tree that we're hiding on under 10 yards, full strut, right, you know, right in front of us. He's in our lap already. We just can't see him yet. And we wait and we wait and we wait, and at some point we stop hearing the drumming. And like we were still just patient for a while. We're finally like, where's he at? Like, I don't know, you know. And we real slowly start turning around and looking behind us, like super slow, super patient. And like, this bird is nowhere to be found. Finally, I hop up on my knees and I look backwards, and I don't see this bird either. And finally, Ryan gets up, he's like, Oh, there he is. He's like 150 yards away. It ended up being him, there was another gobbler and a couple hens. They were strutting on this hillside 150 yards away. When I don't know why that bird didn't commit, he came in silent, come in strutting.
SPEAKER_00Same thing with besides, yeah, basically the same way he went around me, and like it was a perfect road on the ri on the top of the ridge. It was there was no reason for him not to walk in front of me at 10 yards, but he went through the brush behind me and went out in the field and strutted.
SPEAKER_01So it was just yeah, it was weird. Like in hindsight, like if you could see him, you know, I'd have been calling at him so I could read his body language. Like when he started to go, I might have called. I know we were well within range. That kind of sucks to know like we had a bird ten yards away, and we never even laid eyes on him. Uh it was it was really cool to hear that though, and just I mean, my heart was pumping when that happened. Anyway, we put a move on this bird and tried to sneak up on him, you know, and we kind of got in this creek and walked way around and popped up in this field. I'm like, man, they should have been right here, you know. And we're like basically giving up. And I'm like, oh, hey, get down. And like I see his he's strutting like 60 yards from us. I see a tip of his tail fan. He was over the hill. And we like get positioned. These birds disappeared. Like, I think they had some portal that they just walked through and were gone. Yeah. Like I felt like I could see all exits to this low spot in this field and they were gone. Never saw them again. I don't think we spooked them, but I don't know. But it was a cool hunt, you know, going in blind and to end up that close to a bird and to hear the wingtips screen on the ground was just absolutely awesome.
SPEAKER_00And it that goes back to or not killing the turkey every time is don't get me wrong, that's that's what I want to do a hundred percent. But it keeps you coming back. But like even the other morning when I'm sitting there and it's the wind's blowing, and he's sitting out in front of me and his beard is just swinging. And he's at this point he's probably 80 yards. I'm just watching him, binoculars, no binoculars, and I'm like, this this if he don't come any closer and I don't shoot him, this is awesome. It's still a good hunt. It's worth everything.
SPEAKER_01Something that people always ask me, like, would you rather hunt deer or turkeys? Because I do both probably equally as much, probably hunt year or more hours actually. But either way, what I tell them is I'd rather shoot a big deer. A deer hunt where you shoot a big buck is way better. I said, but your average turkey hunt blows your average deer hunt out of the water. 100%. Every turkey hunt you go on is fun. You're in the action, you're hearing gobbles, you're probably seeing a bird that you're trying to shoot, you know, and deer hunting is just not like that. Like you may see a your shooter deer twice all season or something. So there's a huge difference. But on average, turkey hunting is a blast.
SPEAKER_00And turkey hunting is it it it'll humble you. I mean it's a big thing. Oh, absolutely.
SPEAKER_01Like you think I'm a good turkey hunter. And then it's just like me opening morning, had three goblin birds gobbling their heads off, and we didn't get any of them killed. It's just like, what are we doing?
SPEAKER_00And I can't think of the guy's name, but he was on a podcast a while back, and or it may it might have been a TV show, I'm not sure, but he said, and you may know his name. He's like, I don't hunt turkeys because I want to, hunt turkeys because I have to. And I got like, man, what does he mean? And then I got thinking like they drive him crazy. Yeah. You know, and they kind of do.
SPEAKER_01I mean, yeah, I'd be going insane if I wasn't turkey hunting.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, well, and it's like I'd gotta be out there. And it's it's different. It's I've had some of the funnest times ever. First turkey ever killed. I said, I literally said in my breath, I was like, this is this is what everybody's talking about. Like, this is easy, you know.
SPEAKER_01It's just been hard ever since.
SPEAKER_00It was just pure, straight up, pure luck. The biggest bird I've ever killed, the prettiest situation. He pitched down straight all the way to us at 20 yards, and it was just right.
SPEAKER_01Sometimes they're easy like that. Sometimes they work out. You were pretty young then, right? I was 13 years old. Yeah, that's that's how it should go for a youth hunting.
SPEAKER_00And also I like to see. And I said to myself, I was like, is this really, you know, like is it that hard?
SPEAKER_01And no, it's yeah, it can be tough, man, but it it's fun. And it's a fun sport to share with your buddies, too, to go with your buddies. Like deer hunting's kind of a going by myself. For the most part, yeah. But turkey hunting, it's better when you got a couple guys with you, or you know.
SPEAKER_00You may go sit in a like a y'all call it shooting houses. We call them box stands. Yeah, I call them box stands. Oh, you do, okay. So a lot of a lot of guys are in here call them shooting houses. So we go sitting there and maybe have a few Kool-Aids.
SPEAKER_01And that's fun too. Uh it's just not practical. You're not gonna see two big bucks. You're probably not gonna see one. Oh, no. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00Like it's it's more so that we're gonna go drink and have a few beer in the stand and just And we're deer hunting. And we're deer hunting. Yeah. We could do it here or we can, you know, we can go there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, turkey hunt's fun, man. I'm glad you guys can come up here. Uh I wish I could have got up there and hunted with you some, but I don't know maybe next year I'll take some more time off and try to turkey hunt some more, but might come down to Mississippi and hunt next year.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, it's uh that's tough. The public land there is definitely tough for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I told David, I said, oh, that'd be easy.
SPEAKER_00He's a he's a public land bandit, son.
SPEAKER_01What what number seven turkey in Mississippi?
SPEAKER_00Seven or eight, I think.
SPEAKER_01David, who's too scared to be on the podcast here, killed eight. Was that this season?
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, fresh. Seventh largest turkey ever taken in Mississippi. Recorded.
SPEAKER_00I agree. And and he's he's close kin to Michael Waddell. There's just no blood test. We don't we don't have to hair, Michael. Yeah, we're gonna throw you off a little bit. Blood test.
SPEAKER_01Either way, glad you guys are here, Walker. I appreciate you hopping on with me.
SPEAKER_00I've enjoyed it and it's it's just a fun time. Look forward to it every year. Me too. Like I turkey season, deer season, participate turkey season very much. Used to come in in the summertime and just do whatever. Life happens you know, and it it definitely changes. So for sure, man. It's uh it's a blast.
SPEAKER_01So yeah. Well, if you guys are listening to this, I appreciate you. Appreciate you being here. And if you're out there hunting turkeys this this uh spring, good luck. We'll see you guys next time. Push apples out, by the way. Go get it, it's selling out fast.