Ep. 18: A Deeper Connection | Turkey Hunting with MoGobbles

On this episode of Keota Outdoors, Luke sits down in the mancave with new friend Truman Kinsey — better known to many as “MoGobbles.” Truman is an extremely passionate turkey hunter who carries a deep appreciation and connection for the wild turkey and the adventures that come with chasing them across the country. 

Luke and Truman swap stories from this spring’s turkey season, including a couple successful hunts for big longbeards and the unforgettable moments that came with them. One hunt, in particular, took an unexpected turn when Truman found himself calling 911 just minutes after tagging his bird. 

The conversation then shifts toward Truman’s upcoming turkey tour — a wild stretch of 4 states in 11 days — and the adventure, dedication, and passion it takes to live life around spring turkey season. Truman is also currently working on a turkey hunting book, and listeners will get to hear a small excerpt from the project during the episode. 

If you love turkey hunting stories, chasing eastern gobblers, and hearing from people who truly live for the spring woods, this is an episode you won’t want to miss. 

Thanks for listening to The Keota Outdoors Podcast

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hey everybody, welcome to Kyoto Outdoors. I've got on here with me today Truman Kinsley, aka Moe Gobbles. Moe Gobbles. Uh we've met through TikTok and have become friends through that kind of a large group of people from kind of all over that just share interest in the same things. And he's actually from not that far away. And so we've been wanting to get together and talk. And he's a avid turkey hunter and very passionate about turkey hunting. Oh my gosh, yeah. So um naturally here turkey season's wrapping up here in Missouri today as we record this, actually. Um, but it's still going on in some other states. But I want to have Truman on here to talk about turkey hunting and talk about this season and future plans. And but to start off, man, tell me about yourself.

SPEAKER_00 0:43

Well, uh it's it's good to finally finally you know shake a hand if the person you meet online. Yeah. I feel like that's been that's been a lot of us on on TikTok and stuff, which is it's always super cool.

SPEAKER_02 0:55

It's crazy that how social media can bring people together like that.

SPEAKER_00 0:58

I know. Yeah. So I've uh I was I was born and raised in Cape Girarde, Missouri, in in the in the southeast part of the state. Uh and uh my my mom went went to the university uh there in there in uh at Mizzou and my brother met his wife in Mizzou, so so naturally I went to I went to Mizzou and graduated with my degree in fish and wildlife. Cool. And uh because it was always home away from home, I just never left.

SPEAKER_04 1:22

Right.

SPEAKER_00 1:22

You know, and so now I live in live in the general general area and uh and uh you know just like we've met you know other people who are also also in in Missouri.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

So uh what what got you started turkey hunting, man? Like when did you start?

SPEAKER_00 1:39

I I started probably around the age of nine. Um that's pretty I think that's about as early as I could remember. Right. Um uh my my my grandpa got me into it. Um and uh that was that was our thing. Um that that horseback riding was was was our our connection to each other and um and uh never really had successful years in the beginning because uh you know turkey hunting's not easy.

SPEAKER_02 2:05

Sure. No, it's not. You're right.

SPEAKER_00 2:07

And I got my my first turkey when I was uh in in tw in 2010. On April 10th, 2010, to be exact, to show you just exactly, and that was at the end of week one. April tenth was at the end of week one.

SPEAKER_02 2:21

Oh wow, so season was early then.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

Season was early back then, yeah. Which is such such a fun contrast. And uh he was a he was a stud 25-pound bird from my first turkey that that strutted at 300 yards down down the field too. That was perfect then.

SPEAKER_02 2:37

And that was with your grandpa too, or on your own?

SPEAKER_00 2:39

It was the first season my grandpa couldn't go because of his COPD. Okay, because he was a he was a lifelong smoker. Right. Um been smoking probably since he was 11. And uh, and but I was with my cousin because I was still I was still I was uh uh I was 14 at the time. Okay, still a youth hunter, but still still youth hunter.

SPEAKER_02 2:58

Still needed to have someone go with you or whatever.

SPEAKER_00 3:00

So my cousin cousin was calling for me and and uh I was using well, I mean, one one of the most special things to me, I was using his his Winchester model 25, which was basically the poor man's model 12. Sure. 12 gauge shotgun and two and three quarter inch shells, number fours. Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

Yeah, that's great, and that's what got you hooked, probably is got me hooked.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

Yeah, he always took me to Jake's Day events for the National Turkey Federation, and um, and they talked about the importance of conservation and stuff like that. So yeah, he pretty he pretty well inundated me.

SPEAKER_02 3:33

Right. So as you got a little older, like did you just get more and more obsessed and just hunting on your own all the time, or when did it really pick up for you?

SPEAKER_00 3:41

So it it really, I mean, honestly, I so I I got that first bird, was unsuccessful the next year, and then and then uh when I the first year I went by myself when I was 16, I killed a Jake on my own. Um three jakes actually came came right over the rise of a hill trying to slip in on me instead of a Tom get there first. Right. And uh I shot that Jake with a three and a half inch nitro at 10 yards. Poor guy. Um dropped the hammer on him. And then I uh uh I really didn't, I mean, I really didn't seriously turkey hunt um but all through high school. And and then when I went to college, I just I never made time for it. And and so I kind of and then I uh after I graduated college, I started working and I just you know thought life was too busy and and uh all of the private ground and my cousins and my aunt and uncles was three hours away, and uh I never really contemplated the idea of hunting public property, you know, property that we all own, and it was kind of daunting. So I didn't pick it up until about three years ago.

SPEAKER_02 4:42

Okay, yeah, picked it up strong then. Yeah, when I hunting public for the first time can be intimidating too. It can be just like especially if you're used to hunting private. It's like I don't want to go out and deal with other people, but man, it's there to use and it's it is good to see people using it. Oh yeah, and there can be like I've had some good turkey hunts on public land too.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

I've had excellent turkey hunts on public land.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

Yeah, I I don't think the turkeys know that much difference. Like no, it doesn't really matter to them. No, it doesn't.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

No, they might be a little they might be they might be squirrely or week three, they might be pressure different, yeah. But yeah, but man, that that first week of hunting, if you're in if you're in in the in the right spot, you know. Oh, absolutely. You can apply that sentence to pretty much any turkey hunt though, if you're in the right spot. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 5:24

So this year you had a pretty good hunt, killed a bird like that has a reputation almost. Yeah. Yeah. So tell me that full story, just the whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

So he's uh uh on a on on a piece of public land, um not not too far from here. Okay. Uh uh my buddy had found him uh after he had killed killed his first bird opening week and uh and uh was just kind of investigating the investigating the property and there was you know four or five toms um gobbling and he heard this one on the ridge like if you think of a rectangle and then just make three ridge tops going from top to bottom. He started on the first ridge top and that and that and what ended up being Mog Daddy is well is what we named him was was gobbling on ridge two. Okay. And so he had this unique, like strong start, and then if you took like a ball bearing and just shucking like shook it around the bottom of an old trash can.

SPEAKER_02 6:27

Had that rattle to it.

SPEAKER_00 6:28

It had the rattle. Yeah. And it was, you know, it was like his first impression when he when he heard that bird all by himself, because there was no other gobblers gobbling on his ridge, um, he was like, Oh my gosh, that's a that's a big bird. Right. And uh so he ended up killing um on the on the north north side of that property, which means his dad could have an opportunity to go, so he went out like the very next day and went to the ridge where where where where he was and got to like 110 yards of him and tree yelping at him a little bit just to see to see what he does, and when it came time to fly down, he flew actually north to ridge one. So he's like, Okay, that's interesting. You know, maybe he wanted to be up there.

SPEAKER_01 7:08

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

And uh uh so he told he told his dad, When you go in two days, sit on Ridge One. Maybe that's where he wants to go. So he did. Calling at him, calling at a bunch of different birds, but kind of intentionally calling across the ridge a little bit. And uh and sure enough, he stay stayed on that ridge. So that pretty much confirmed a suspicion that he he was staying away from being being tree elped at.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

Sure, yeah, didn't like the tree elped.

SPEAKER_00 7:38

Yeah. And um and and come come to find out, um uh before my buddy killed his his bird, he actually got within 70 yards of his gun barrel the day before he killed his other bird. Oh wow because of we because he knew the gobble. Right. And he was coming also, he was coming, kind of working, he was he was wary, um uh like not really committing, and then a front came through and he just ghosted like vanished. Right. Um so so uh done Done swerved two people, um, it showed that he wasn't too keen on going going to uh a call. So the plan was really to just roost hunt him, um get close and not call and hopefully get him whenever he flew down. So I got there and uh come come gobble time, he was gobbling on ridge one. He was just on the other ridge, on the complete opposite ridge. So, you know, just again, he's kind of throwing a random wrench in there. Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

Um now whether he's doing you think you have one figured out, then they do something you never do. Right, no.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

So whether he moved up there because because two other gobblers have been killed on that north side, because his dad ended up killing one on that ridge. So that's two birds off of that one side, right?

SPEAKER_02 9:00

Off that same property, too.

SPEAKER_00 9:01

Yeah. So uh and you know he heard all that go down. He had to have, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 9:07

They're standing in pretty tight area and know what's going on on a piece of ground.

SPEAKER_00 9:11

So they hear everything. Oh, yeah. Yeah, if they can hear your little three-note yelp, they can they can hear that racket going over there and then boom. Right. Um so he was gobbling on that side, he flew down and and kept on gobbling. Um, he kind of went he kind of went a little bit down the ridge and then he went back up the ridge. So I I mean it was clear that he was sitting there strutting, gobbling, you know, sounded far away, then sounded closer, sounded far away, but he never moved down. And so I was kind of playing the game of should I stay on this side? Because if he's been here three out of the four mornings, then maybe this is his home side.

SPEAKER_04 9:49

Sure.

SPEAKER_00 9:50

But I'm wondering that if because of those two toms got killed, that he felt comfortable moving to that side to collect hens.

SPEAKER_02 9:56

Right.

SPEAKER_00 9:57

You know, because he was definitely a dominant because none of those other birds ever went on his ridge.

SPEAKER_02 10:02

Sure, they weren't around where he was, huh?

SPEAKER_00 10:04

No. Um so he I could tell he shifted upward, uh, higher, and was and was fading. So I made a quick I mean, I mean, I made a decision to just get on his side, and I I mean I busted through some thick stuff that was an sliding on my butt going down this ridge side because it was so steep. Oh my gosh. And and I put myself on the other side, and thankfully this place was actually uh it I bet it was TSI um and and it and logged about a year ago and probably burned once. Gotcha. So it was it looked great. It looked phenomenal. When I got to the other side, I was like, no wonder. And uh uh I used two sets of logging roads, and it rained the day before, so it was super quiet. I mean, I mean, if it would have been dry, I don't know if I could have gotten it done. And uh got over, down, down to the other side, and uh I got to a point where where the where the fresh burn, I mean a year old burn, you know, so it was like knee-high stuff, but you could still see the floor. Okay. And uh once I got to a spot that wasn't, you know, multiflora rows and briars from from the from the cut and stuff like that, I went straight at him in cut distance because I was he never stopped gobbling from the time that I killed him to the time he was on the rich.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

Well, that's good. That's handy. Handy a lot easier. I mean that I mean, you know And that's what you want, that's what makes a great turkey hunt, too. Oh my gosh. Sometimes they just don't want to act that way.

SPEAKER_00 11:36

Responsiveness, you know, and I feel like that's what a lot of people have been craving all this Missouri season um is is a not a tight-lip turkey for once. Right. Um so rushed over there, well not rushed, but carefully gained about 70 yards on him, and then he gobbled again and I was within 70. He was close. Right. So I said you got real tight. I got tight. Um, and this whole time I hadn't got haven't called once.

SPEAKER_02 11:59

Gotcha. So you that that's great too. Like when you can cut a lot of distance like that, and then you're in their bubble, and then you call. Yeah. They're like, oh, you're right here.

SPEAKER_00 12:08

It's a difference maker. Yeah. Um, so I got sat down, and the first thing I did was actually just start raking leaves and scratching.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

Perfect, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

And I kind of had to scratch the little hard because it was wet.

SPEAKER_02 12:20

Sure, to make to make enough to make even noise. Yeah, yeah. Did he gobble at it?

SPEAKER_00 12:24

He did. Um, and and I could tell he faced the direction um uh because I mean he was right up top. I mean, if he was if if this was kind of like where we we we were sitting, I was sat here, a little rise with brush over it, and then he was just on the bottom side of that other rise. What I found was actually it was uh it was a where the login road just kind of dipped. Okay. And that's where he was. I found three different dust bowls on that on that one road, just tore up. Um and uh I waited, I c I I scratched just just a little bit, um, and I stopped and I just kept facing. I had so the the overall plan was I had a really decent window facing straight toward where where he was gobbling from, right in front of me. And I had a sapling kind of like pretty like, you know, a yard in front of me. Sure. Little little cover. But to my left, like 15 yards was the road. Um uh the login road. Log and road that that had basically, you know, above my shotgun barrel brush. So if he were to pop up down that log and road and go straight straight left, he'd be at my nine o'clock. Right. And it would not be good. And to my right, about you know, two o'clock or three o'clock, it was a fallen tree and just grown up and uh not not shot worthy. It I mean he could have peeked around at one point, but it would have been sketchy. So I was really really focused on this single lane here.

SPEAKER_02 13:53

This is your area, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

That's my area, and it was about about five minutes or ten minutes went by, and then I decided to finally call and uh I three note like a very, very soft three note Yelp in his gobble twice in a row. Um so that he can hear me for sure, but can't pinpoint can't quite pinpoint you. Um and uh and he just kept on just go, go, go, and uh was gobbling on his own still.

SPEAKER_01 14:21

Um That's when patience is your friend.

SPEAKER_00 14:25

We tussled with each other for 40 minutes within 50 yards of each other.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

Like you still calling at him?

SPEAKER_00 14:33

Uh I only called I need to I need to go back and watch the video. Um but I know for for as long as I took the videos for 40 minutes. Right. You know, and that's not even the stuff I you know captured before with my own ears. Um but I think I I think I called at most b before he started to fade away. Um I think I called two or three times. Three note yelps. Right. That's it. And then I shut up and I might pair it with a little scratch. Um so he started to come and he probably came within you know, probably, probably thirty-five yards or so, again, just over that rise and and that and that knee high brush. So we couldn't see each other, but we knew each other was there, yeah. And uh, and like like I was like I said earlier, he eventually he shut up for about five or six minutes in a row, which felt like an eternity. Um, and I'm just just sitting there, just training because you know that's the classic if they sh shuts up, you know, every everyone says, Oh, he's coming. They're either coming or they're going, it seems like. And he and he was going. Okay. Next time he gobbled, it was like 70 yards again. Oh thanks. I know.

SPEAKER_02 15:41

So I said, Well that that anticipation before until you hear that next gobble is awful. It's just like it could happen any second, or he could be going the other way and could have given up on me. Like you just don't know, and you're in your mind, you're fighting that constant battle. Do I call? Do I not? Like, you know, it's you're always questioning, like, should I be doing something else?

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Yeah. Which is which is just the mental game that is so much fun to play. Absolutely. Um, and so he gobbled further, which confirmed my suspicion that it was the latter of the two moving away. So my heart kind of drops. Um, because I've been whipped by two other tough turkeys, and and and my call, I call them bad turkeys. They are bad turkeys um earlier in the season. And uh, and so I knew I was I mean, I already knew I was tussing with with a bad turkey. Um, we'd unnamed him already. Sure, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 16:33

Um this guy had a reputation. Reputation.

SPEAKER_00 16:36

And uh, and so I told myself, okay, this soft game is isn't working. So he's either gonna leave and I'm gonna lose my opportunity, or or I just get on it. Or I get on it. So the next time he gobbled, I cut him off with with loud, just I mean aggressive. And he gobbled and I re-cut him off again, and he cut me off.

SPEAKER_02 16:56

That's that's the kind of type of call. Oh my gosh, I love it. Be three up, patient, quiet. I'm the second type there.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

Yeah, and uh, and it was it was rewarding because within he shut up for about a minute. The next time he called, he was at 35 yards. Yeah, and close that game. Oh my lands, yes, and he started to fade right toward that toward that fallen tree that was not good. Um he could have he could have popped a little bit left of it and a little bit right of it, and I could have probably done a little pop shot. So I had shifted shifted to about two o'clock around the tree, and uh and he kept on gobbling.

SPEAKER_02 17:34

Yep. Were you still calling like as he was coming, or you stopped?

SPEAKER_00 17:37

Um I did, I I stopped for about five minutes, and then and then um whenever he faced away, he was still close, but he f fa faced away. I hit him again with with with a loud six note series. And uh he uh he then shut up completely. And uh and I and I was really worried that I had like you know bumped him then that that was too weird or something. And uh facing facing two o'clock, I heard a I heard a twig break at two o'clock, so I shifted and then I could have sworn that I heard footsteps. And I did, uh in hindsight, but I thought I heard footsteps, but again, if I had to really if I had to scratch hard to get him to hear scratching, his footsteps were so muffled that I was kind of second guessing myself.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

Sure. But if you're hearing footsteps, he's closed.

SPEAKER_00 18:32

Oh my goodness. Yeah, so I shifted to one o'clock and I was about halfway from one to twelve, and I I just used my eyes to look left, and there was his redhead peeking around an oak tree at twenty yards. 19.7 to be exactly.

SPEAKER_02 18:47

Looking right at you.

SPEAKER_00 18:48

He was looking. I don't think I don't know if he ever actually saw me. Okay. Um, because it was pretty decently thick stuff. I was against a good tree. Um, but his snood was retracted. So I mean, I know he was this was this was to be the only chance he gave this hen that has been that has been kicking his ass all.

SPEAKER_02 19:06

At that point, he's like, uh, something's starting to maybe not feel right here.

SPEAKER_00 19:09

Yeah. Well, I mean, I finally I finally broke his interest in saying, Well, no woman's gonna talk to me like that. And so he comes over um being being treated like that after he's probably not been treated like that since Right, got a classy one. Yeah, since since he's probably a two-year-old. Right. Um and so he he he peeked around that around that tree, and I I finished the rest of the rest of the swing over and and he met his maker.

SPEAKER_02 19:37

Just while his head was around the tree, couldn't even see his full body or nothing.

SPEAKER_00 19:40

I saw I saw um where his head had met his feathers and uh and I knew it was him. Right. I mean he had he had a beat redhead and and it's so interesting like how close.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

Like they they just crossed that threshold. Seems like when you kill a bird, like the threshold of I can kill him and I can't, and maybe it's because we're not patient, we don't wait, but yeah, one of the birds I missed this year, like it was boom, there was his head, and like kind of like you said, I could see his feathers, and he stopped. And like I felt like that was it, like I wasn't gonna get anymore. It's just they just crossed that threshold, and it's like their sixth sense. Like they know to stop, they know and yeah, and look around, and and then they become weary, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:29

I mean, it was and I mean he he only flopped when he was in my hands.

SPEAKER_02 20:33

Yeah, that's great. Hit him and that's it. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:37

I ran I ran over there and got my hands on him and and you know, waited until it was all all done because I mean I left my phone and everything. Right. And uh and you can hear me in the background like starting to cry and everything. Yeah because it'd been uh been just a chest. It's a battle. It is a battle. Yeah, it's and that was and and he's got his story and and uh uh and like a picture perfect hunt. Like I mean, it was it was a it was a turkey hunt done in the rawest, no decoys, no blind, no nothing. I mean, do I like using decoys? Sure. Do I like hunting blinds every once in a while? Sure. But it was Eastern turkey hunting.

SPEAKER_02 21:16

Right. There's I catch a lot of slack about reaping every once in a while. And it's fun, it's just an adrenaline rush, and I like it. But at the same time, I like like really focusing on your setup, picking the exact right tree with the right cover, and and being extremely strategic about it and getting that bird to come in with nothing but your mouth call.

SPEAKER_00 21:36

Oh my gosh. It's very it's very rewarding. It's very rewarding. Um does it does it does it whip you every once in a while, more often than not? Sure. But it's part of why we love it. Sure.

SPEAKER_02 21:50

Was it a big bird?

SPEAKER_00 21:52

Spurs? 24 pounds and and five ounces, and uh, and he had an inch and nine sixteenths and inch and five eighth spurs. Wow. Yeah. No kidding. No kidding. Longsburg public land turkey. Eleven a quarter inch beard. And half of it had had beard rot on it, so it it was like stepped. Sure. You know. Uh but I walked up to that. I mean, I already knew it was him because of his gobble. Like I already knew it was him. But but to get up to him and have that confirmation that like there's a reason why he was acting the way that he was.

SPEAKER_02 22:26

There's an older, smaller bird.

SPEAKER_00 22:28

My gosh.

SPEAKER_02 22:30

He's heard some people calling at him before.

SPEAKER_00 22:31

He's heard some people call at him and and probably been he's probably whipped up on some other turkeys. Oh yeah. And uh what was even I mean, just like to further and further the plot, when I got his breast open to clean him, he had a number five or a number six pellet on the outside of his breast between his skin and his breast.

SPEAKER_02 22:52

And it wasn't yours.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

I shoot eight and a halves.

SPEAKER_02 22:54

Yeah. TSS. Yeah. Yeah. So he's been she's been shot at. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:00

Which is just crazy.

SPEAKER_02 23:02

Yeah. That's really cool. Could have been this season could have been three years ago. Who knows?

SPEAKER_00 23:08

Who knows?

SPEAKER_02 23:09

Yeah, that makes it even better.

SPEAKER_00 23:11

It does. But the fact that he's he's a tried and true surviving warrior.

SPEAKER_02 23:17

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

And uh and I got him.

SPEAKER_02 23:21

Like and there's kind of like we talk about, it's more rewarding when you sit down against a tree and call one in, no decors or anything. It's also more rewarding to just kill an older bird. Like you're gonna shoot a two-year-old that comes in. It's not like you're gauging them up as they come in. Is this an older bird or not? But just when you do fool an older one, it's like, man, I really did something this time. Yeah. Just feel just feels different, feels good, just a little more reward with it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:46

And a buddy of mine would, you know, said it pretty well, perfect, earned. Yep. You know, it was earned. Not not that not that you didn't earn that two-year-old, and I don't want anybody to get get the idea. I will take a willing two-year-old any day of the season. Absolutely. Any day of the season, I'll take a willing to willing two-year-old. Bet your sweet Bippy.

SPEAKER_02 24:03

I'll take a willing two-year-old. I posted that TikTok, got so many people mad. I did a little scout in the day before season and had a gobbler come in just in my lap at twenty fifteen or twenty yards, like just picture perfect. And I put on TikTok, I passed him. He wasn't big enough. And like just rage baited so many people. That's so funny. Like, who passes a turkey? I said like pass this two-year-old or something, and they're like, You don't know how old that turkey is. That's so funny. I even put like in the comment, like, I'm kidding. And people just look right past the comment and get mad.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

Gosh, that's funny. That's funny. I had I had somebody uh get get sideways with me about about name naming that turkey. Really? Yeah. And like he was the only out of all of the response of the of that video I made, you know, probably the most vulnerable video I will have ever made. And uh, and I means a lot to me, you know. Right, yeah. And this guy's like, let's not go down the path of naming turkeys.

SPEAKER_02 25:07

And it's not like you're naming them like I've got pictures of this one, I keep track of him. Like it was just a it was this season thing, and it's a bird that hangs out on the same ridge. Like it's without a doubt, probably the same bird.

SPEAKER_00 25:20

Yeah, who has the only gobble like that in a 500-acre area.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

Right, yeah. And uh if a bird's got just a little tweak of a difference, you can hear it.

SPEAKER_00 25:28

You can. And uh, and uh, I mean, not that I go around naming every turkey, but it was fun.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Sure, and there's damn it. Were people involved in it too?

SPEAKER_00 25:39

Yeah, multiple people who's got history with them, and uh he's identifiable, his behavior is identifiable.

SPEAKER_01 25:45

Yeah, and uh proven and that's he was proven to be an older bird, too.

SPEAKER_00 25:49

Yeah, and his name, like like where where where Mog Daddy comes from is that my buddy and I just talk silly to each other. So when he was showing me like on on X, and he goes, and right down here is Mog Daddy. You know, it's you know that's even better, just synonymous to to Big Daddy or whatever. And uh it just it just stuck with me ever since then.

SPEAKER_02 26:10

And so then you were talking a little bit ago about what happened after this. Yeah, let's hear this part of the story.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

It's uh a little a little chilling.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

So so the bird's dead, you're bird's dead, enjoying your moment.

SPEAKER_00 26:21

Yeah, I mean, really, I mean, like I said, I'm crying. Um I'm I I'm I've called my grandma. That's the first thing I do every every single time is I call my grandma because that's what I would do with my grandpa before he passed. And um, and then I called my buddy who found the turkey. That's about rightfully so. You ought to get the second phone call. Okay, I got him. Yeah, well, I called him. The first thing that he that he said on on the phone was, you did not. He knew didn't even say hello. Yeah. So if you get a if you if you get a phone call in the in the in the spring from your fellow hunter before 8 30 a.m.

SPEAKER_02 26:56

You probably got mocked out of it.

SPEAKER_00 26:58

Yeah. And so I was on the phone with him telling the story and everything, and then and off to my east, I mean, it was hundreds of yards away. I mean, hundreds of yards. I would say 500 plus. I mean, it had to have been. But because this place had just been cleared, the timber was way, way clearer. Um it's not like it was deep, deep woods. And I was on the ridgetop.

SPEAKER_02 27:19

Um sounds traveling, you can hear a lot of it.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

Sounds traveling, and I'm I'm talking to him, and uh this is like I said, it's about seven or so minutes after after the shot, and and I start hearing in two clear, distinct bellows going like you know, hey help just one after another, sustained. And I and I couldn't ignore it anymore, like because I was like, I was like, I gotta be hearing something, you know. And so I hang up my buddy, I said, I said, I gotta go. Like there's somebody yelling, yelling for help. He goes, Oh, okay. So I I hung up the phone, grabbed my shotgun. Sure. Because unusual.

SPEAKER_02 28:02

Sure, sure. You're back on public land and you hear someone yelling, hey help, like you instantly get nervous.

SPEAKER_00 28:08

Yeah. So so I I start off down the ridge, uh, pretty well, like as fast as I can. Um, and I and I get probably 500 yards or no, not five hundred. I get about 300 yards down down down the ridge and I yell back, you know, hey, you know, very loudly, like pretty, pretty loudly.

SPEAKER_02 28:25

It was continuing the whole time you were the entire time. The entire time you were walking down the ridge.

SPEAKER_00 28:30

Yeah. And so I yell, hey, and and I think the only response that I I got was it sounded like you tried harder. Like this was definitely a male voice. Not because my first thought was, is this a cat? You know? Sure. Is it just is it just yowling? You know? But I've heard cats before. And if one's really yelling, let's say it was even a mountain lion, a big cat, usually people say it sounds like a woman screaming. Right. Not a not a male.

SPEAKER_04 29:01

Right.

SPEAKER_00 29:01

And uh and like I was telling you earlier, this was definitely a hey, like a higher inflection note and a he completely different pronunciations of these two words. And uh and by the time I got to right around the property line, it stopped. And it never did it again.

SPEAKER_02 29:22

And it so it was coming from private ground.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

Coming from private ground. Yeah, I yeah, exactly. I got to the I basically got about a hundred yards from the private ground, and and I wasn't I mean, I was not about to cross over into someone's place. Um, I'm sure that there's some sort of implied implied consent if you're someone's yelling hey help. But but the other side of me is is if I just killed this guy's turkey.

SPEAKER_02 29:46

Maybe he's mad.

SPEAKER_00 29:47

Maybe he's mad. Well, I'm serious. Yeah, I mean, people, I mean, people are serious seriously serious about it.

SPEAKER_02 29:54

As you got closer to like that property line, was it getting louder and like more clear?

SPEAKER_00 29:58

It was about equal. Like it, I feel like it never got like 100%. I was like, that is definitely a human. Like um, and then it it just stopped as soon as I got to as far as I could nearly go, and I yelled out again, hello, like super loud, super, super loud. Um, because it was this public place. I I really in the back of my head, I felt super bad about just blowing this place up. Not only did I shoot, but I'm now I'm yelling and you know, carrying on about this stuff. But I mean, that's not as important as someone who's in trouble. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 30:33

Someone's safety or whatever may have happened.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

And so I never uh never heard it again. Um within I waited like like just a minute to see if I could hear something. Never never heard it, so I I I called 911 and and and told the dispatcher um that I'm hearing this. I don't think it's a cat, you know, kind of a thing. And so uh they they were able to triangulate where I was and and I sent them a GPS, you know, pin with with with on X gives you that at that ability. And uh they said, okay, we're gonna send it send a deputy out pretty fast. Because people go, people people go missing all the time. I mean, look at look look look at the gal at uh the conservation area just just south of us. Sure. Been missing for a week. Um so I uh and accidents happen all the time in the woods.

SPEAKER_02 31:21

Right, yeah. I mean could have been just a hunter out that had an accident, yeah. Yeah. Broke his ankle or something and couldn't walk. So you never know. You never know. But yeah, that's strange.

SPEAKER_01 31:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:30

So we uh uh I went back to my I went back to my turkey and and uh had to kind of like get back in the zone. Selfishly, I was like, I was like, I I you know I I don't feel like I got robbed of that of that moment because I got to mean though, but I got to spend some more time and take pictures and stuff. Um and then and then he uh the uh sheriff's dead deputy called me and said, Well, where are you at? I'm so I'm I'm back on my ridge, and and he says, Okay, well we're coming down and just meet meet us at the bottom. So I did and um and walked out with him. I've got a really good video being led out by three deputies carrying my shotgun in my bird.

SPEAKER_01 32:08

Turkey killer. Um arrested, no.

SPEAKER_00 32:12

And and they brought their dog and they said they were gonna try and check into it, but I've not gotten a I've not gotten a phone call since. So sorry to leave everybody on a cliffhanger, but yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:22

I see what you mean though. Like you didn't get robbed of the moment, but like when you have a serious thing happen like that that just stops you in your tracks and like kind of puts you in a different mindset of like what's going on. Does someone need help? Like I know that feel like I know that feeling, I understand that feeling. Like you feel that down in your guts, and it will definitely take it away from the eye of the turkey.

SPEAKER_00 32:45

It's not something you can avoid. Because I mean the the other thought is is if is if I was yelling hey help and want someone to give help. If I had just gotten hurt in a backwood spot where no one else is gonna hear me, and I just heard someone I had just heard someone shot within within earshot of me, because that was an announcement by me that I'm I'm local now. Sure, that's true.

SPEAKER_02 33:07

I hadn't thought about that. Like that's because maybe what initiated him yelling was, oh, if there's someone hunted here.

SPEAKER_00 33:13

It never did it the entire time that I had him in in range. Ever. And it didn't, like I said, it didn't happen until after my my concussion boom, and then after the woods settled, and then I started hearing it. Huh.

SPEAKER_02 33:30

Yeah, that's creepy, man. I'd you know. It's been a long time since I've had any like things like that happen in the woods, and uh I'm glad, like I'm just thinking, like, I haven't had anything like that for a long time. So every everyvoid those things.

SPEAKER_00 33:44

Everyone's number one fear is the unknown. Right, yeah. And so when I told when I when I told this story to people, everyone's first first thing that they said to me is is when I said and then it stopped was like, you know, skinwalker or when to go or something.

SPEAKER_02 33:58

And then it was on the other side of me.

SPEAKER_00 34:00

Oh, that would have I may have had to I would have need a brown pair of pants.

SPEAKER_02 34:05

Yeah. No, what a crazy ending to a turkey hunt, though.

unknown 34:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 34:10

And to be walked out by maybe walking top. Can you imagine just driving by?

SPEAKER_00 34:16

Yeah. And then I got uh whenever I got to the top, they were nice enough to to take me back to my truck. Oh, that's nice. So so he was like, I was like, where do you mean to put my bird? He was like, I just throw throw in the back of the car. And so there's my there's my turkey, and I was like, I'm sorry, I'm sorry for the butt. And he goes, Nah, it's fine. Um so I took a picture with the flashing lights in the in the in the in the deputy with my turkey in the back of the squad car. Yeah, yeah. And when I was carrying them, because I I usually use a little turkey tote, um, like like a paracord tote or whatever. So I had my spurs just like right there in my shoulder. I walk up to them whenever we first meet them, and all three of their eyes were on those spurs. Checking them out. All three of them were turkey hunters. Yeah. They were like, God, god dang.

SPEAKER_02 34:56

That's cool.

SPEAKER_00 34:57

It was fun.

SPEAKER_02 34:59

That's great. What a cool story, man.

SPEAKER_00 35:01

Yeah. Appreciate you. Let me let me tell it.

SPEAKER_02 35:04

Yeah, absolutely. It's been a fun turkey season. You've been out some more since then, but couldn't quite seal the deal. Couldn't quite run out of time. Yeah. That's that's always a problem. It's just life obligations, work and work jobs, and life and family, and stuff gets in the way of turkey hunting sometimes.

SPEAKER_00 35:20

It does.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

But that's okay, though. So you've got some more turkey hunting planned this year. Sounds like quite a bit. So give me some details on that.

SPEAKER_00 35:29

So literally tomorrow I go in for like a 5 a.m. shift and get off at three.

SPEAKER_02 35:34

Oh, so I I'll just say I appreciate you being here because it's kind of late right now. Yeah, we won't keep this going too long.

SPEAKER_00 35:40

No, no, no, no. That's that's fine. It's been that's the story of my turkey season, is I'm out late and up early. Yeah, that's that's true. I'm used to it at this point.

SPEAKER_02 35:48

Those early mornings get old after it gets creepy, tired.

SPEAKER_00 35:53

Um the drives get drowsy.

SPEAKER_02 35:55

I bet.

SPEAKER_00 35:56

Absolutely. So uh leave out for Oklahoma. Um, I'm meeting some really good friends out there who I met when I was Osseola hunting in Florida. Okay. And uh and and they run an outfit there, and they're and they've been kind enough to reinvite me back um uh last year and this year, and and we've had some really, really cool hunts.

SPEAKER_02 36:15

That's Rios, right?

SPEAKER_00 36:16

Rios, yeah. One tag there. One tag. Um uh they dropped down to two tags about two years ago, three years ago. Um and uh and they've got they've got you know great, great bird population where where they're at, and uh um really fun and responsive. Rio Grande Turkey's probably probably one of my favorites because of their aggressiveness and responsiveness, and and they're just a little bit more willing to call if you're if you're in their bubble or come if they're in if you're in their bubble. And so gonna be down there for three days hunting and just hanging out with with friends, you know. I'll be okay, dude. And uh and then going from there to Nebraska where I'm meeting uh my two best friends, um the one who found Mog Daddy and my childhood best friend who I was with week one on Peck Ranch, um hunting the managed hunt there. Okay, and who unfortunately missed that opening day turkey. So gonna be hunting, hunting Rios and hybrids in southern Nebraska. That'll be awesome too. And then uh come home just uh splash some water on my face and rub some deodorant on my armpits and head to Mexico to to uh hunt gould's turkeys with my mom. Wow, with your mom. With my mom. Oh, that's cool.

SPEAKER_02 37:29

She a hunt she's a turkey hunter?

SPEAKER_00 37:31

No.

SPEAKER_02 37:31

Oh, but you're taking her.

SPEAKER_00 37:33

Um she's taking me. Oh so I turned 30 this past December. Okay, and uh, and and and she went behind my back and contacted my same friends from Oklahoma who do goulds uh hunts, and and she set up uh with with them that's how special is taking me goulds turkey hunting with her for my 30th birthday and what will be her first turkey.

SPEAKER_02 37:56

That's awesome for the golds in Mexico.

SPEAKER_00 37:58

I know it. In the Sonoran, in the Sonoran desert.

SPEAKER_02 38:02

What a deal. That's an awesome mom right there.

SPEAKER_00 38:05

I uh I cried. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Absolutely. Big time. That's spectacular, dude.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

Uh I can't wait to hear about that.

SPEAKER_00 38:12

It'll it'll be awesome.

SPEAKER_02 38:13

Well, we may have to have you back to tell the whole full story of all these turkey hunts we got. Most definitely.

SPEAKER_00 38:19

So yeah, a little 11-day turkey tour.

SPEAKER_02 38:21

That's cool, man. So will that have you killed a Miriams? Will that complete your slam?

SPEAKER_00 38:25

That's my one that I'm missing. So when I when I kill my Miriams, assuming, assuming that I I get a Goulds, um, when I kill my Miriams, I will accomplish both the grand and the royal in one bird.

SPEAKER_02 38:39

So you're gonna get a you could potentially get a golds before a Merriams, which is not common, typically the order.

SPEAKER_00 38:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:47

Not common the way people normally do it. Um how cool, man. That'll be a fun couple weeks of turkey hunting. It will be. I'm jealous.

SPEAKER_00 38:56

A little bit out of my comfort zone going going to Mexico. I've never I've never had the desire to go uh to to Mexico just because until someone told you there was turkeys there.

SPEAKER_02 39:06

No. And then I looked really hard at them, you know. But sure, I get I get that. Man, I'm a I'm a homebody too. I like to stay close to I love it here.

SPEAKER_00 39:17

Yeah, we've got some I mean, we've got we've got some of the most beautiful country you can ever ask for within the 48.

SPEAKER_02 39:24

When we when people talk about traveling and going to different countries, I'm like, man, I want to see my country first. Yeah, I want to see the great things here, and once I've accomplished all of those, then I'll look at some other places to go. But uh there's a there's a lot to offer here in the United States, and we're super lucky to have that.

SPEAKER_00 39:40

Just blessed, yeah. So blessed with with um just just the evidence of of God's creation all around us. Oh my gosh. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:50

Yeah, for sure. What about uh if you ever had any interest in doing the 49 thing? It well, I'd be tough. I mean, I would I'd even like to even like you said you're 30. Like you've got to get after it. Yeah. If you're gonna kill a turkey in 49 states.

SPEAKER_00 40:06

Yeah. Um, I would love to, because it'd be, I mean, it it it would just be so cool.

SPEAKER_02 40:13

You know, absolutely. Like what a feat that would be to say, yep, I've killed a turkey in the 49 states that have turkeys.

SPEAKER_00 40:20

Yeah, and I've loved uh uh my my uh taxidermist. Um he has a a United States cutout and uh and it's small enough that you can put a couple feathers from each bird in every state. And so yeah. That would be so cool. It's so cool. So like in in in in Texas and Kansas, he's got you know more cinnamon white tip for Rios. Yeah, and then he killed one. I think I think he said he killed one in uh in Oregon or something like that, or in Wyoming, where they've got really nice white feathers and and he's got the white, stark white feathers there.

SPEAKER_02 40:58

Yeah. But yeah, like you said you're 30, I'm pushing 30. Like, if you killed two birds for the next 25 years, yeah. It's like if you hit two states successfully for 25 years, you'd finish it. Yeah, that's crazy. That's a crazy amount of time. Like to you'd have to hunt turkeys hard, be successful, and you'd be in your fifties before you'd finish that. Yeah. Like it's uh kudos to the guys that are trying to do it and that do complete it. Like it's yeah, that's a hell of an accomplishment.

SPEAKER_00 41:30

But it is. It's a lot. Yeah, yeah. And and it's financially it's a lot too. I mean, gosh, I mean, and unless you're you know swinging out there, I mean, not not only is gas always expensive, but uh but if you take the time to fly out, um uh yeah, trap just traveling in general.

SPEAKER_02 41:47

You know, and you know, it's like, oh it's not that bad. Well, the the close states aren't, you know, Nebraska, Oklahoma, you know, those those are reasonable, but when you start going to place like Mexico or Florida, like you mentioned, yeah. Either coast, like it's a lot of traveling for people from the Midwest.

SPEAKER_00 42:03

It is. People don't realize how far away New York and Maine are. Right.

SPEAKER_02 42:06

And I guess we're lucky though to be centrally located. Can you imagine living in New York and saying I want to kill a bird in all 49? Like every drive's long.

SPEAKER_00 42:15

Every single drive is long. Yeah. Or even to just kill, or or even just to complete the Grand Slam. If you live on the East Coast and you don't have the access to Rios and Miriams like we do, you know, the furthest we have to drive is Florida for for Front Osceola.

SPEAKER_02 42:31

Right. And that's I always complain like about getting to Colorado, getting to the mountains, like, oh whatever, 12-hour drive. Oh, terrible. What if you live to Illinois or you know, we just keep going east? It's like that'd be terrible. Like you're talking two days of driving instead of one. Like, heck with that. So we're we're pretty fortunate, really. Like, yeah, I like being in North Missouri. I feel like for turkey hunting, for deer hunting, there's great fish in here too. Like, and you're essentially located to travel elsewhere, like it's just yeah, I don't know. It is home for me, but it's I like it. I wouldn't change it.

SPEAKER_00 43:06

So I've always been been been a big Missouri boy, so yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 43:10

And so what what are your opinions on the turkey population?

SPEAKER_00 43:14

Um, I think I mean I I mean I you know, if I if you uh take what's being said seriously, um do we have the same population that we did in 2016 and in the late 90s? No. I mean, I think that's pretty well corroborated by by by by Harvest data. Do I think that maybe we have hit in the late nineties and twenty sixteen, we hit an ebb where we were over carrying capacity and now things are being predated off and and and and killed off a bit higher, um and not not as much food food resource in a certain particular area and things are coming back down? Sure. Am I concerned? I mean of course I I want turkeys to be around. Um I'm not necessarily sounding the alarm bells though.

SPEAKER_02 43:57

Yeah, I this year and Last year was a great season for me as well. And just seemed like a lot of there was a lot of birds around. And this year seems like even more so. And just I'm hearing people say, I seen a turkey out there, you know, I haven't seen a bird strutting in this field for years. That that kind of conversation, you hear that, or oh, there's been a lot of birds gobbling, you know, and or a lot of youth hunters tagged out, you know, open youth season.

SPEAKER_00 44:23

Just like you said on on one of your shorts. I mean, I mean, record youth harvest. Yep. And over 5,000.

SPEAKER_02 44:30

I know. 22% increase, I think. So it was. It sure was. And sure, good weather had something to do with that. You know, if you hit a rain day one year, like that really does ruin the numbers. Like kind of mess up the 100% can.

SPEAKER_00 44:42

If you've got a s if you've got a squall over the entire entire state.

SPEAKER_02 44:46

Yeah. But it was good weather. Uh there's a local competition here that like a youth competition. Just fun. Yeah. Every kid wins a prize kind of deal. Some win like guns and stuff. But like it it was it was really cool. But I think they had like 74 entries or something just for this little local area. And it's just like, man, people were killing birds. And like we took my nephew and he killed a really nice bird, you know. We're like, we gotta go enter it. You never know. Well, they had multiple turkeys with a couple beards and you know, three, four beards weighed 27 pounds. It's like, yeah, we weren't even close to placing. But I don't know if it's just social media working or if there's something about it, but I've seen more multi-bearded birds this year.

SPEAKER_00 45:31

I know it. I think so. I think you were so I mean you the one one of the two hypotheses is correct. It's either true or social media is pulling. Or yeah, just social media's just pumping me full of multi-bearded turkeys that I don't have.

SPEAKER_02 45:47

I know like I know one guy that I'm supposed to kind of do like a turkey fan mount for him. It he it had five beards. My God. I killed a triple beard, which is the first triple beard I ever killed. I don't think I knew that. Yep, that was my first bird was triple beard. Wow. No, that's not true. Yeah, that's true. First bird was triple beard. Second bird was just a single. Um my dad killed a double beard. Like my one buddy killed a double bearded Jake. Like a lot of multi-bearded turkeys. Yeah. I I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 46:19

There was a part of me that whenever I whenever I walked up to Mog Daddy and I saw the part of his uh beard that was ended up being beard rot, and it was significantly shorter than the rest. I would appear to be a bad thing. Well, I was like, no shot. And it wasn't, but you know, that's the that's now the only besides killing like a weird color phase bird, it's something I've not done yet, is is is get a multi-bearded turkey.

SPEAKER_02 46:40

I think I've killed a couple doubles, but I've even earlier this year, I'm like, man, I'd sure like to kill a triple beard. And actually, I think I videoed this turkey during deer season. Um about four or five hundred yards from where I killed this turkey. I have a box day and I was deer hunting and had a couple gobblers come through during rifle season and had like 20 yards in front of me. I'm videoing with my phone three beards, like I could see them. I was actually looking through my binos, I guess, but real close, you know, like I could see the three beards, so I'm about sure it's the same bird. Man, like I went back and looked at it, it looks like the same to me. That's like literally leading into this spring, I was kind of like, I wonder where that triple beard's at. Like, I'd like to catch up with that, and then that's the one I ended up with on the opening day.

SPEAKER_00 47:25

But unless you have good solid trail cam coverage on a place, I mean, killing killing a bearded bird is has just always been just icing on the cake. Yeah. I mean, it's always been such a surprise getting up to and be like, oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_04 47:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:40

You know, I mean, just like seeing spur length if they're in thick stuff and you haven't known the turkey. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 47:45

Um, I also saw like on it's a social media thing, just crazy things get out there more and get pushed more. But I saw a bird had seven beards, like 59 inches of beard. I don't know if you saw that. I think I did. Um which was just incredible. You know, I sent it to my dad, like, this is crazy. Like a couple beards is awesome. But you know what? You'd have to like mount that bird. That's gotta be like pushing some record or whatever. Has to be. I know a guy that a couple days ago, I think it was earlier this week, killed a seven bearded bird, had 56 inches of beard.

SPEAKER_00 48:20

No way.

SPEAKER_02 48:21

I posted a picture of like all of them there, and he's kind of pulling the feathers back, and it looked just like that other one I'd seen on Facebook with obviously a different guy. But yeah, a guy that I used to work with, seven beards, fifty-six inches of beard. And I'm just like gosh. Like, I don't know what it is. I I wonder if, you know, I feel like we've had a good hash the last couple years. So does good habitat or you know, does that line up with bigger, better beards or more beards? Like, who knows? That's I mean that's a stretch to to put that out there.

SPEAKER_00 48:49

But you well, you've you've got to think just just like antler growth in in in deer, if it's if it's bad drought, bad food, bad, bad anything, their antler mass is not as good. Absolutely. So I feel like I mean, not not only is is extra beards a genetic trait, you know, and it's uh and it's uh an an anomaly, it's not supposed to happen, it's not necessary. Um unless. Uh that's second thought. But maybe it's an excess of nutrition. Sure. Because we had the amazing locust hatch two of the last four years. Right.

SPEAKER_02 49:23

We've had so there you go.

SPEAKER_00 49:24

We've had amazing locust hatches. We've had a amazing acorn masses. So we've had an abundance of anything that we could ask for, and that's been evidenced by great hatches. You see jakes everywhere.

SPEAKER_02 49:39

Right, lots of jake. Lots of jake. Multiple groups of four or five jakes this year.

SPEAKER_00 49:44

So maybe maybe it's an excess of nutrition what might cause a mutation. Or if we're seeing more of it and hens are more populous and there's more tom more jakes and competition has to be shifted, it might be a more selective genetic trait saying if I want to be more impressive, I better grow multiple beards. Not that it's not that it's uh you know selective like that.

SPEAKER_02 50:07

Right. That seems like something to happen over long periods of time, you know, though.

SPEAKER_00 50:11

Like it has to be like, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 50:13

Yeah, not like a in the last five years this has been going on.

SPEAKER_00 50:17

Yeah, this isn't some microevolution going on.

SPEAKER_02 50:19

So you mentioned the uh cicada hatch. I saw a thing, I I'm and I'm gonna regurgitate this. I this isn't my discovery. Uh they talked about like you think on the level of there's more cicadas, the turkeys had more food.

SPEAKER_00 50:34

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 50:35

It's also like a thing where the predators had more food as well. Yep. So like predators are eating more cicadas, which means there's less impact on the turkeys, less pressure on eating. Yeah. It's like there's a whole nother level of benefit to a lot of locusts. Not only are they eating turkeys eating them, but they're distracting the other predators too.

SPEAKER_00 50:57

Yeah, they didn't have to come find all the nests.

SPEAKER_02 50:59

Right, that's right. Like coons, possums, they're grabbing locusts when they can see them, and they're not looking for a turkey nest to eat. Yeah. So that was just kind of interesting, like another level I hadn't thought about that that absolutely makes sense.

SPEAKER_00 51:11

I definitely hadn't hadn't thought of that. That's I mean, I'm sure it's equally as as plausible.

SPEAKER_02 51:16

Sure.

unknown 51:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 51:18

Either way, I don't know. I'm I'm this year I'm pleased with our turkey numbers, and I hope it continues. Yeah. I'm gonna do some trapping this fall. Uh just seeing good turkey numbers makes me want want to just do everything I can to help. Invest in them, yeah. Yep. Um, and I've said it before and I'll say it again, like if you own ground or if you've got you know some private you can hunt on, whatever it may be, like you can make a difference. You can on that piece of property for your own benefit, you can make a difference on the turkey population. So just do your research and figure out what it is you need to do to help.

SPEAKER_00 51:53

So yeah. It's a completely different scale, different financial bracket, different kind of free time. But I don't I I can't remember if it was a if it was a in infield talk um given by um a person from the NWTF as a biologist or if it was Turkey's fruit for tomorrow. But it was a guy giving a class, um, an infield seminar to to a group of landowners talking about about the benefits that you can make by by trapping predators. Um and very specifically doing it, you know, within January, February, and March, right before the breeding season happens, you can create a void of that population because it will be filled back in. Sure. If you kill if you kill 20 coyotes and wait a month, there'll be 20 more coyotes. And data actually shows there might be even 25. Like more will move move in whenever you create a void. It will be filled, fill, filled back in. The job's never done. But a a uh a very large piece of property um that was not accessible to hunts was intensively trapped over a certain period of time.

SPEAKER_02 52:55

I think I heard this. Yes, it's pretty crazy. I don't remember the numbers, but I know where you're going.

SPEAKER_00 53:00

They heard about five to six gobblers on their survey, and they had listening data that that they were taking taking telemetry from and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_02 53:09

This was like 700 some acres or something?

SPEAKER_00 53:11

Yes. So really sizable tract, and uh and they took off in the in the near thousands of raccoons and hundreds of of possums and tons of coyotes. It was a crazy amount. Yeah, a lot of predators. A lot of predators that they made an intensive push. And uh it might have been something like in the next five years, they did another survey after intensively trapping in that targeted zone. And when it was used when it used to be five gobbling toms, they had sixty. Yep, that's the number I remember too.

SPEAKER_02 53:50

Sixty. I know how incredible. And like seven hundred acres, you know, you think, oh, that's a lot. You and I may never own 700 acres, but like if you think about 700 acres in an area you hunt, you know, 100 here, 100 here, it's like there's not 60 turk 60 goblin toms on that on that ground. Yeah. So I yeah. I I did watch that video and was shocked. But I'm shocked, but also not shocked. Like, that's what it takes. Like, I truly believe there's benefit to trapping predators and staying on them, and it's gonna help your turkey population. Will you have sixty goblers on your property? Maybe not. But if you had if you had one or two more, one or two more, great, yeah. Just like uh this hunt, and I've talked about it already once, but I missed a bird this year, walked across the road to our other piece of property and got on another bird. Like that's the kind of stuff five years ago wasn't happening. Yeah, you couldn't just run into another bird and just a couple more birds on the landscape in your area makes a world of difference, makes a hunt go from good to great.

SPEAKER_00 54:58

Yeah. When you got when you have options, when you have options, oh my gosh. Yes, invaluable.

SPEAKER_02 55:03

When the sun's coming up, and you're like, well, I hear one over here, but there's two over here. There's one over here, but he's in a good spot, you know.

SPEAKER_00 55:10

Like that kind of that's what makes sense. Let's go chase him.

SPEAKER_02 55:14

Yeah, that's I love like uh having a choice. And then you get there and that one doesn't work out. You say, All right, let's go to where these other ones were and try to strike up a bird there. So what do you love about Turkey Hunt, man? Like what what drives you, what motivates you, what keeps you passionate?

SPEAKER_00 55:31

I love I mean, I love a lot of things about it, right? I mean, a lot of things about it.

SPEAKER_02 55:36

There's a lot of things to love, I agree.

SPEAKER_00 55:38

Um I mean, I love the conversation because I'm I mean, elk hunters will pretty well agree with this, you know. You are conversing with this animal and uh and uh convincing each other. Yeah. And uh you don't I mean, can you rattle in deer and grunt in deer and and and and doe bleed deer in? Yeah, you can.

SPEAKER_02 56:00

But you're like having a conversation with you are.

SPEAKER_00 56:03

Um and uh and you have to get them close. You know, of course, you you know, great shotguns, great chokes, and great TSS, you can kill 'em at, you know, fifty plus. And that's fine. But but if you you know, if what people would say is like if you do it right, um and you get them in close and stuff like that, that intimacy of power when they when you hear that within that timber or even out in the open, oh my gosh. There's there's something about the the thrum of that gobble that shakes the leaf beds beneath you. And uh and uh it's it's wild, or to hear that spit drum that you can feel in your chest.

SPEAKER_02 56:51

Yep. Oh, I know, man.

SPEAKER_00 56:52

It's do I love the the grunt of a buck as he's running down a ridgetop and the and the air is being shoved out of his chest, and you can hear that, or a snort wheeze, like actually hear him snort wheeze. Right. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:08

But that's like not you might hear that once all season. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_00 57:11

You know, or once every five years if you're in the right spot, you know. Um depending on how s much someone's out there. Sure. But and it and it's fun. I got to I got to see um uh bucks rutting for the first time, like in the flesh this past season when I when I kill killed my deer with my bow for the first time. Yeah. Um that was the first time I ever archery harvested was this past fall. Okay. And uh, and I was in the thick of it, like lots of movement, and my buck came in right after two two does. Like chasing. It was cool. It is, it is, it just, it's not it's not the same as not standing on a ridgetop and then hearing that in the distance and knowing that that he has a routine, he has he has hens that he he knows. He knows his hens just like just like we sound different, and uh they have dialects and accents that they recognize each other from. For sure. And you have just introduced yourself as the newest gal on the block with the freshest set of fishnet leggings. Yeah, saying And you don't talk very good. Yeah, and you're trying to competiment big time. So I I yeah, I love that, and and uh um and uh I mean it's always been a family thing for for me. I've got such a deep connection with it because of my grandpa and uh and and with the friends that I've made along the way and stuff. I mean, it's been it's been so awesome um that turkey hunting has brought so many different people from so many different places to me. Right if I wasn't forward about my interest in turkey hunting, this conversation wouldn't be happening. Exactly right, yeah. Um and I wouldn't have met all all of our friends at Bucks and Bands and all of our friends um at at NWTF and stuff like that. Um so the community is has always been awesome. Are there bad parts of it? Sure, that's part of any community, but um but more often than not it's been incredibly positive and um I love being I love being close to them and in and hearing them.

SPEAKER_02 59:26

So I I agree with you on the literally conversing with the bird, like you are speaking the language. Remember the old primo speak the language, speak the language, that's what you're doing. Yeah, and that that's such a cool skill, talent, something you can learn, something you can always learn. You'll never master it, you know. Um the other thing I like about turkey hunting is how like challenging and how humbling it is. Um, you know, I could call a bird in the first morning of the season and just be like, yeah, I got this, you know, like this stuff's easy. I'm so good, you know. And then you're just beating your chest against that tree. Yeah, the next hunt you'll be humbled and sit back on your ass so fast. Like that I love that about it. Like every year I'm like, I got this, man. I'm so excited, and birds are in trouble, and then they're not like you they outsmart you or whatever it may be. Uh it just it keeps you coming back for more. It keeps you and while two birds may stand next to each other and look the same, they're all a little different. They've all got just a little bit of a personality that um, and it's fun, like kind of like your story when you get to hunt a bird and you're on that same bird more than once, yeah, and you can kind of build that and learn from them and and see what what that bird's about. You know, you say, Oh, this bird likes to do this, or whatever it may be. Uh we had a bird we hunted this year. Um, my dad and I got on him, but I'd already filled my tag, so I was hunting with my dad, just tagging along just for the experience.

SPEAKER_00 1:00:54

I just like to go and I think if you're a real turkey hunter, even after you're tagged out, you go turkey hunting. Oh, yeah. I'm trying to get anybody to turkey hunt with. Yeah, I'll call for you. I'll even I'll sit there and witness it.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:04

I agree. Like I'll run the camera, I'll call, whatever you need, buddy. Like, I just want to be there. I want to hear that bird gobble. It my reason for that is like just the more experienced, the better turkey hunter you are with it. Oh, yeah. Like if I kill my two birds, great. If I witness three or four more birds get killed in a season, that's like I mean, I was there for it. Like I experienced it. That's that's turkey hunting experience. Um last year I saw seven birds die. Wow. Yeah, that's I would probably never top that. This year I was feeling pretty good about it. I I think I'm only at three or four. Like it just wasn't wasn't quite as good. I just we had some bad luck, but but yeah, I I just I love the challenge of it. I love that it's different every day. Um I don't know, it keeps me coming back, man.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:52

It always will.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:53

I I've had an itch this year wanting to go somewhere to hunt, and I just hadn't committed anywhere, and I finally decided like a couple days ago I'm going to Kansas or going to Colorado uh this weekend. So we'll go spend a couple days in the mountains and just enjoy myself and camp, and I'm gonna just breathe some of that thin air up.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:15

Oh my gosh, that mountain air calls my name.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:17

I hope I can hear a turkey gobble. That's all I can do. You probably will.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:20

He might be two miles away, but you can you can probably hear him.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:24

Yeah, up two miles away, up four miles of hills.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:28

Thousand feet elevation.

SPEAKER_00 1:02:30

It's funny how far that how that how that goofy gobble theirs will travel.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:33

Oh, I know. Yeah, I don't I've never experienced birds in the mountains. Like we kind of we go shed hunting every year out there. So I I understand the mountains and the hiking and how miserable it is on a fat guy from Missouri, but I told my dad, I was like, you know, I've never seen a turkey out there while we're there. Right. You don't see the turkey. So uh are there you know, hopefully we can get on some, but yeah, it'll it'll be fun either way. Man, I've been experienced. Yeah, if you oh man.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:03

It's not about killing one, man. No, but but everything that I've always seen and and and read about Miriam's turkeys that they like to do it right, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:12

I know that's yeah, so you know, the argument or a lot of people claim an Eastern is the hardest bird to kill.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:18

Yeah. Which is And it's probably the hardest bird to kill in their state, too.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:21

Right. Right. Which, like, if that is true, or even if there's a hint of truth to that, like makes you feel good, like, oh, we're we're killing the tough ones. Exactly right. Yeah. That way when we travel, like, well, maybe this will be a little easier. I doubt it will be, but they're hard in their own way. I hope they do it right. I can't wait to hear that stupid gobble. Blah, blah, blah, blah. Oh, it's so funny. Like, there's nothing like an eastern gobble, but you don't realize it until you get out west somewhere. It's like, well, was that a jake? Nope, that's just a that's how they sound.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:53

Yeah. And they drum hard too. Yep. Because they like streating. They really like strutton. And kudos to them because they got probably the prettiest, prettiest feathers of all the subspecies. My god.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:04

That's yeah, we may have the hardest birds, but we don't have the prettiest ones. That's just I would agree with that, yeah. And they're all targets are amazing. They're beautiful, beautiful, absolutely crazy. Like uh like all this feather artwork that's coming out. Man, it's cracking crazy. So cool. Yeah, I love that stuff. Yeah, I want to do one. If I kill a Mariant, I'm gonna do it. Yeah. But I'm dreading it because, like, well, my first one's probably not gonna be very good, you know. So do I do it or should I pay someone to do it? I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:30

That's about a thousand bucks or more. Have somebody do it.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:33

I know a guy doing it cheaper than that because getting started. But uh yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:37

I just did uh um, I don't know if you saw I did a little a little picture frame with just with like a couple feathers, like like six feathers. Yeah, that looked really cool. Thanks. That that was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:46

Yeah. And it doesn't take hours and hours and hours.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:49

No, it was pretty, pretty simple. Sure. Yeah. Unfortunately, like like why I didn't actually like like fully mount them is I actually thought him to work on them and then refroze them. But in the time that I I I thawed them, flies got to it and laid maggots. And I and when I pulled him back out, there was a bunch of maggots already, already ruining him. And and he was just just falling apart, and it was just gross. And I felt so bad.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:12

And that's all right though.

SPEAKER_00 1:05:15

Uh yeah. And uh, but it was nice I could still honor him in that way. Because that's super important to me, is is is making sure that that same there's every bit of respect placed to him.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:29

Um specifically that way around around deer, too. Yeah, like there's a lot of people out there that shoot deer and go hang them in the barn. Or yeah, I'm gonna hang up a tree so the hide rots off of it, and it does it, and it just bleaches it out. Next thing you know, like, oh, it's ruined, and they don't care, you know. And I just I mentioned earlier, like I do European amounts for people, and like I I want to provide a affordable way to like respect your animal and hang it up on your wall, hang on to that memory. As you can see, I like to do That um been doing it for years and um yeah, like even more so with turkeys. Like I'm I've kept a lot quite a few fan mounts. I've got some hanging on the wall, but I I don't have room for every fan mount of every bird I've ever killed. So like some of the bigger ones with bigger spurs, I'll kind of hang on to all that and make a cool little mount.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:17

But yeah. And I've seen a lot of people do do more and more of the uh of like of like spur necklaces or or or some sort of like against the wall draping of of beard spur combos, you know. I got all my beards hanging up. Yeah, and exactly like that in in that in that shotgun brass. Yeah, yeah, that looks that looks so good.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:35

Eventually you just run out of room. You only got so much space, you know. I'm fortunate to have this space, but it's filling up too.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:42

But I guess at some point you're gonna have to build more walls. Yeah, build a bigger man cave. Yeah, and that's why I like um uh here recently getting more into making content and stuff. Um it's been fun to make stuff that that honors a bird in a visual way that that because I like I mean, who doesn't like telling their turkey story and sharing it? Um but then I feel like it brings I mean it's just I don't know, and it's just like being being being proud of your kid or something or proud of your family member.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:10

Bragging about like, hey, get listen to this.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:12

And and I'm and I'm like not for myself, but bragging on him. Sure, yeah. You know, uh because it is a battle and a fight.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:21

And uh that's that's like kind of all all the reason I'm doing this podcast, too. Like, I'm not gonna get famous, I'm I'm not worried about that, I'm not gonna get rich by any means. None of that stuff. It's like I want to capture these moments. Like you in 20 years can look back on this video and like listen to you tell the story. Like, how cool is that? Yeah. And and same for me, like honestly, I have a bad memory. Like, you were talking about killing your first turkey and exactly what happened and how far. I'm like, oh I kind of remember killing my first turkey, you know. I just I don't remember the details like that. It just fades over time.

SPEAKER_00 1:07:57

And you can listen to this, and it'll spark it right up.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:01

Yep, and like I think about you know, my dad's killed a ton of turkeys uh back in the heyday when it was good. I mean, he was turkey hunting hard, and like how many cool hunting stories are just gone. Like I will never hear them. He probably forgot most of them. And so like my kids someday can look back on this and you know, know the story about that turkey or that deer or whatever it may be. So I just would encourage people to capture those moments and don't be ashamed to tell a story, record it, take some pic take lots of pictures, take lots of pictures.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:35

I told uh um in in in one of the chapters of of of the book I'm I'm working on, I um like a part of the subtitle is is and the moments that matter, and uh um and it's an entire chapter about stillness and uh a part of that is is is in in my personal opinion, it's like one of the most important things you can do for the bird and yourself to just spend that moment after after that. And uh one of the best things I've done is buy a little phone stand that is compact and I can just pop out with me and I'll turn that on and just press record. And I'll you know, it ain't acting, it ain't, you know. I like to think it's not like narcissistic to try to capture yourself, you know. Um, but I want to be able to go back to that and feel every emotion that I was feeling at that moment. And then and then uh it's got a little remote on it and stuff, so you can set yourself up for pictures and take and take good pictures, you know, um, that you can keep forever because after he's you know, after you've cleaned them and and taken off what you're gonna save. Like I hate I hate breasting and legging out a bird and taking his fan and his beard and his legs and stuff and throwing away all of his body feathers. It hurts my soul.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:01

It's a beautiful thing. It just hurts. Oh my god. It's the same with me with a deer's cape. Yes. Like so I get so many deer heads just cut off, like big mature bucks that you know had big old capes, you know, they just would look great on a mount. It's like, man, like just such a waste. Like, I wish there was more awareness to like, hey, save that. There's some value to that thing. Like not even just money, just like that deserves more than just being chopped up and thrown in the ditch. But yeah. Um but yeah, so any other comments about your book, man? I I just learned recently you were writing a book kind of along the lines of turkey hunting.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:34

Yeah. I mean it's gonna be uh it's gonna be about turkey hunting and and uh uh a mix of you know lessons I kind of write in the preface that I'd I'm not gonna I'm not guaranteeing I'm gonna stay to one kind of style or method or anything like that. Um uh I wouldn't call it a journal, um, because I'm writing with a bit more intention. Right. But uh but yeah, um uh I just made that little announcement video a couple weeks ago, kind of like I told friends and family about it and stuff, but I never like actually come out and said it. Right. And I kind of told myself that if I actually like do want this thing to be successful, I should have to like push it a little bit, promote it a little bit, probably talk about it a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:14

So PSA Mogobbles is writing a turkey book.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:18

Yep, coming out and uh uh shooting for early February right before N WTF. Unintended. Yep, shooting for it, shooting for it with TSS.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:26

Yeah, that's perfect. Um where where can people follow you?

SPEAKER_00 1:11:30

Follow along with you can uh I I primarily do TikTok and and Instagram, and everything I post on Instagram auto auto-posts on on Facebook and um yeah, and um and it's Mo Gobbles, right? Mo Gobbles, yeah. And if it's a bad day in the woods, it's hashtag no gobbles.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:48

That's awesome. Yeah, but we like uh I didn't pick up on that. I think I saw you post something like that.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:53

I didn't catch the bad days in the turkey woods is no gobbles. I'll I'll start using that. Um uh if you don't mind, I can read you a little passage. Yeah, absolutely. Go for it, man. So uh I've this actually is not in the book yet, so you you heard it here first. Oh, okay. Um I penned this at two in the morning um uh after I got done making Mog Daddy's video. Okay. So I was fresh in my in my sure artistic ability. I I write and I produce best in the middle of the night, right for some reason.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:31

I I understand that. Um some things just come to you when you're tired and zoned out. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:38

And you got you got nothing else on your plate. No one's talking to you. Yep. You don't have anywhere to be. So I sent I so I sent that video to to a friend who's actually a non-hunter. Um uh we actually don't like hardly agree, like, you know, politically even. Like she's just a good friend. Sure. Um, and I said, Hey, watch this. She knows I'm passionate about turkey hunting. And I said, What do you what do you think about it? And uh, and the first thing that she sends back is is um, why is it sad? And I said, Partly because it is. Sure, yeah. And uh, and that's what and then and then I penned this like immediately after. For the truest of us, it's never a ha, gotcha you son of a bitch. It's a sense of and now we are each others. And I alone am left to mourn and remember, but with gladness and gratefulness for what he provided in memory and body, the leaves shaking on the woodland floor, and the rush of emotion shared. Yeah, that's great.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:41

That's said perfectly. You're right, it's not about just the killing. There's so much the killing is a small sliver of the pie chart of what turkey hill is about. It's so much more than that.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:54

Yeah. And she's never been a hunter. Sure. She's never d need to or whatever. She grew up on a farm, just didn't have to. And uh what I love is is expressing that kind of care and emotion about about the the animals that we choose to take from this world and and make them ours. And she said, I I get that. Yeah, that's good. As a non-hunter. Sure. And I was like, that's cool. Nailed it then. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:21

No, that's awesome, man. I uh I'm not a reader, but I might have to check that one out. Heck yeah, dude. Yeah, got an audio book coming. So much.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:29

So dude, uh, I mean, I've done a couple, you know, passage test readings when we've done TikTok lives and stuff with with all the crew, and uh and uh and that's some consistent feedback is that uh that they like it when I read it. Um because they can hear how I say it and stuff. Because I write exactly how I tell stories, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:48

Perfect, yeah. Yeah, the you know, it a person's interpretation of how you wrote something could be different than how you intended it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:56

So um, I mean the poet laureate of of of of turkey hunting is Colonel Tom Kelly, and uh and I've got his audiobook and the paper copy of 10th Legion. Do I like taking a soft moment and reading the paper copy? Yes. Do I love reading or uh listening to how the Colonel talks? Because he's from he's from Alabama and he and he has the ways that he says it. You can't read how he says turkey on a page because he kind of says turkey. Yeah. Not tur, but tu. And uh yeah. So I'm I might I might have to make an audiobook version because I've I've been uh requested to by some people. Perfect.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:41

All right. Well you heard it here. Audiobook coming out. When'd you say before NWTF? Uh early early February. Early February.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:47

Usually uh usually N WTF is Valentine's Weekend, so I I hope to be before that. Um it doesn't really make sense to release it in after turkey season because everyone's tired and immediately thinking about doves and deer, and then after deer people are thinking about waterfowl. Right. And early February people are thinking about turkeys. People are turning the page. That's a good thing. No pun intended.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:11

All right, man. Well, thanks for thanks for coming up. Thanks for being on here. I appreciate it. Nice to meet you as well. So pleasure to meet you. Yeah, this was fun. Yep, absolutely. We'll have to do it again. So if you're still listening, we appreciate you. We'll see you next time.