Borrowed Time Podcast
Borrowed Time is a podcast rooted in a love for wild turkey hunting, the outdoors, and conservation. We share stories from the field, discuss wildlife management, and talk about life outdoors--because every season is borrowed time.
Borrowed Time Podcast
Breaking the Ice – Mississippi’s 2026 Turkey Opener
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Turkey season in Mississippi is finally underway. This week on Borrowed Time, we break down the 2026 opener that started Saturday and recap the first few hunts of the season. We share some stories from the woods from both opening morning and yesterday’s hunt, talk about what we’re seeing and hearing so far, and give a general update on how the start of the season is shaping up across the state. If you’ve been in the turkey woods this weekend, you’ll probably relate to this one. 🦃
What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to the Bartime Podcast. My name is Johnson Wells, and I'm sitting here with Daniel Halfacre. And Seth is not here, but he's on the phone. So say hello, Seth. What's going on, everybody? Couldn't make it nap.
SPEAKER_01Didn't want to make the drive. My Lord have mercy. Ridiculous.
SPEAKER_04Man, look, it is Sunday afternoon nap time.
SPEAKER_06No, it's Sunday afternoon podcast recording time because you selected this day to record.
SPEAKER_04Podcast recording time cutting into nap time.
SPEAKER_01Oh well, I will say good call because we got some fresh stories for you guys. Yeah. Luckily.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, see, if we would have recorded this Friday, we would have just told everybody that, you know, can't wait to go turkey out tomorrow or something like that. Right.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that is true. Whenever whenever everybody listens to this, it'd be Monday morning. It when this is literally Sunday afternoon at 2 30. So pretty fresh.
SPEAKER_06And it's a good choice on nap time too because it's 16 mile an hour wind. So you'd have to run into one today if you're going to hunt him this afternoon. Oh man.
SPEAKER_01Buddy, if you heard him, guile, click the safety off.
SPEAKER_06Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Because he's he's within 50. Absolutely. Well.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's whipping pretty good here.
SPEAKER_01I guess uh I guess our countdown segment is done for for the year. Yeah, no more countdown segments. We're here. It's turkey season. Yep.
SPEAKER_06The time we wait for all year. Seth, Seth, you want to tell us about your opening day or your hunt so far?
SPEAKER_04Well, I was just gonna say Turkey Season brought to you by Tabor Drugs in Louisville.
SPEAKER_01This segment is brought to you by Tabor Drugs in Louisville, Mississippi, a hometown pharmacy built for folks who live life outdoors. Whether you're up before daylight chasing goblins or getting back to camp after an all-day tip, stay in healthy matters. Tabor Drugs offers fast prescriptions, friendly service, and the everyday essentials you need to keep going. No big change, just real local folks. Stop by Tabor Drugs in Louisville and take care of yourself like you take care of your hunt.
SPEAKER_04Well, if y'all are looking for a turkey story, you are talking to the wrong guy. Come on now. Well, man, uh Saturday morning. It was uh it was beautiful to say the least. I don't even know what what was the temp, 44, 45? Yeah, round about a little over 40. Cool, crisp. Very uh the winds were light and variable, so not much wind. But um, yeah, when daylight broke, I heard turkeys gobbling everywhere. Like 360 degrees. I I literally think I heard 10 different turkeys. Um yeah, but I think three of them were on the place I could hunt. So uh, which is which is very good. There's plenty to plenty to play with. But it was really cool. They were just turkeys gobbling in all directions, but um, they weren't really where I expected them to be, where I heard them the day before. So I wasn't falling pickups. Uh me and my dad walked back to the truck, zoomed around to the other side of the property, walked in, and uh the turkeys were gobbling pretty good. And and uh this is a property we don't hunt a ton. It's it's one of them deals where there's you know, there's there's a turkey on it like every three years or something like that. And uh they just happened to be in there pretty thick this year. Like I said, there were three of them. And um we had a feeling they had a bunch of hens because we saw them during deer season, like 30 hens, you know, hanging around. Right. And uh so by the time we got a good game plan going, we went in on a on a ridge road, and uh this ridge road, it ended up kind of kind of hooking to the right, going away from the turkeys. And uh so dad, he was like, Well, that you know, the road in the bottom, it it goes to a food plot, and that's that's about where those turkeys are. So we uh it was just I don't know, kind of all over the place. We went in that bottom road and walked in a ways, and about the time we got to a good spot to set up Colin, we were probably a uh buck fifty, maybe maybe 175 yards from the turkeys. And um, I don't know. When we got set up, they uh they flew down, we heard some hens kind of all around them, so they never never really gobbled again. Um that's uh that's all I had going on Saturday, and then and then this morning was a little bit of the same, didn't hear near as many turkeys actually, only heard one. But he answered a few times actually on the ground. Um same deal though, heard some hands yelping with him, so I'm sure he's still following them following them around as we speak.
SPEAKER_01Out of the three of us, I thought for certain you were gonna be the one kill opening today. I 100% thought that.
SPEAKER_06Now, why would you think that? I don't know. Just because you're you. What uh what what you think about tomorrow, Seth? It couldn't be any better. What you think?
SPEAKER_04Weather's perfect, right? Yeah, weather's gonna be great.
SPEAKER_01Who doesn't want 80 mile an hour winds night before and then uh what'd they say, like a 30 degree temperature drop? I think they're calling more hard freeze.
SPEAKER_06It's it's uh it's gonna be cold like all day tomorrow. Yeah, it's gonna be cold.
SPEAKER_0437 in the morning with 12 and 13 mile an hour winds. Probably wind chills, probably 25, I'm sure.
SPEAKER_01I was gonna say earlier it told me, yeah. Yeah. And then it's gonna be cold again uh Tuesday, low of 27 Tuesday, high of 51.
SPEAKER_04But it's gonna be clear.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's gonna be clear the rest of the week, and then the it's just gonna sit in the middle. And no wind. Right. Just gonna slowly get better.
SPEAKER_06I'm gonna go hunting because it's turkey season. But uh I I kind of have an idea of where where some will be at, so I'll be close. Um but I don't know, it might not do any good. You're gonna go in the morning? Yeah, yeah, I'm gonna go, I guess.
SPEAKER_01Maybe if they don't get blown off the limb tonight. Well, maybe not.
SPEAKER_06I guess you'll have to be there to see. I'm probably gonna go too, I guess. Might as well. You only get so many days in the spring, so might as well go. I've gotta go, man. I gotta go. Yeah, I understand that.
SPEAKER_01They're calling it for be for it to be 90 degrees next Sunday. That's insane. Oh wow.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, it's gonna be it was hot, hot Saturday walking around, but in the sunshine. Daniel, he was successful uh opening day, so kind of tell us about that, I guess.
SPEAKER_01Um Friday we went in there, you know, me, you and Caitlin, and just just listening, get a good, get a good grip on what these turkeys were doing. And uh they kind of roosted in the same I say the same. They were roosted in the exact same location that they tend to roost every year. Uh, and just from other scouting evenings prior and and weeks leading up, I could I knew that that particular bottom was just absolutely torso scratching. I knew they were spending a lot of time in there and uh getting some pictures of turkeys in there, and it's just literally in the middle of a bottom. So any turkeys that you get on camera just have to be walking by. So nothing really to lead them there. But anyway, getting plenty of plenty of sign, plenty of intel, knowing that they're close. Well, we got in there really, really early Saturday morning, and and we're about a hundred yards from where we I wanted to be, where they tend to fly down. It's like a creek winding, you know how a creek will wind through a little bottom, and it and it makes a big hook to the right and goes way up, and then before it hooks back to the left, so it makes like this big peninsula type deal, and that's just where they always tend to fly down and hang out and kind of start their morning. So we were trying to get there and uh walking a little wood road in, and and man, we got about a hundred yards from there, and I told Caitlin, I was like, I just heard drumming like the whole thing. I was like, I heard it. And if it was what I thought it was, it's within 50 yards. So uh anyway, stopped for a second, and we had just stepped over a uh kind of a fall down tree. So uh anyway, we're we're sitting there, and and sure enough, I heard it again, and I was like, Yeah, we we can't go any closer. Like I not really where we want to be. Um, but look, I had a couple decoys handing a Jake. I said, let's just put it out just to kind of get their eyes off of us. I I literally set it up five yards in front of us because we were I I did I couldn't really go anywhere. I sat it up where I was standing, and we stepped back about five yards to the closest tree next to where that tree was kind of laying down, so it had pretty good cover. And as soon as I sat down, I could I looked up and this turkey was just silhouetted just from the moon. Uh still couldn't see us. It was black dark still, luckily. But man, he instantly, I just seen his fan go up and I could hear him drumming, and then whenever he'd go out of strut, I could still hear drumming. And I'd like I'd hear it start again, and he wasn't strutting, so I was like, there's there's more turkeys in that tree. And uh, you know, the whole time, especially when you get that close, you're like, I spooked him, I spooked him, which he was still spitting and drumming, so he probably um no doubt he heard us, but he just didn't know what we were. The stuff walked through the bottom all the time. I'm sure they might have thought it was a deer or a raccoon or something. Anyway, uh man, a turkey about 400 yards, 500 yards away to our left, started gobbling, and and uh after he gobbled about three times, boy, he gobbled, and then that turkey right above us, ah, and then two more with him, ah, right in the same tree. And I was like, oh well, and then I could finally got light enough that I could I could see them strutting as well. So it was three three strutters in that tree, and uh ended up being more turkeys in that tree, but that's the that's the ones I saw. But anyway, I was like, well, this is actually perfect. Uh, you know, if they which they couldn't see the decoys just because of the trees, there was some stuff on the ground, whatever, but it was a perfect little open area in our in in front of us, about 25 yards. And I was like, um, he's literally gonna set his wings and and land right there, and and Caitlin's gonna kill him. And uh man, he he kept teeter-tottering off that limb, and I just told her, I was like, get ready, he's gonna fly down. And and sure enough, he pitched, but he kind of sailed and and went to that peninsula right about where we wish we could have gotten. Uh and he was about right at 100 from us. When he pitched down, his buddy pitched down, and then his other buddy pitched down, and they instantly went in strut. Could hear him, hear him drumming, could actually saw them all three go into strut. And uh I I yelped at him for the first time. I had not yelped all morning. Well, yeah, I did. I did one little tree yelp because a hen started yelping, and uh, which probably stupid. I was that close, didn't really have didn't really need to, but at that point I was hoping he maybe could see the decoy. Anyway, as soon as they landed, I did my first real yelp and and they jumped all over it and and instantly went right back into strut after they gobbled. And all they had to do was just keep coming, keep following that creek, and and another 50 yards they'd have been in range. And uh they it looked like they were coming. And uh man, all of a sudden, and they were full strut the whole time. All of a sudden they just put their put their fans down and kind of turned around and and started diagonal across. And uh they hopped a creek and then they kept going, and they were like fast walking, and I could tell they weren't spooked because they were still like half strut, all three of them. And then uh they got out there about 70 yards, but on further to our right. And and I looked back to the left where they just came from because I heard some more drumming and and there were some more turkeys strutting, and evidently that's what happened is these turkeys were roosted further away, and they just flew down and uh kind of ran these turkeys off, started bossing them around. But anyway, they flew the creek and and started chasing those other turkeys off. And I told Caitlin, I was like, they're they're gonna do what they want to do, because there were still hens yelping in the distance, and they were not worried about it at all. They were so keyed up trying to chase off those other gobblers that uh they just were not worried about anything. And they were all meanwalking and then looked at one point like they were gonna fight, but then them other three just kind of took off running and just got out of there. Well, whenever that happened, those other turkeys just went right back in the strut and just started being content. And uh I hit them with a yelp, just something soft, and they they jumped all over it, and then I was like, well, they're they're interested. And we're we're where they want to be, they're scratching everywhere. And uh I was like, all they gotta do is just work back this way. And at this point, I mean they they never got outside of 80 yards, they're they're just right out there. And uh anyway, these turkeys started coming back to the left, but kind of angling towards us, and I yelped again, and they all three looked, and it's kind of it's they got keyed up. I think they evidently seen the decoys or something. Anyway, he they they jumped. Well, I guess they just went down because they kind of disappeared for a minute. I told Caitlin, I said, they they just crossed the creek or they're in the creek, they're finna come up, just get ready. And I heard her safety go off because whenever they come up, they would have been 60 yards, and all they had to do was just walk a little further. And she said, uh, whenever they get to that tree right there, it was a tree kind of laying down. She said, whenever they get right there, I can shoot them. It was about 25 yards. I was like, oh yeah, for sure. Anyway, they came up more to our left and uh they kept coming and and to the left is like the only little thick spot in there, and Caitlin couldn't see them. I had a good angle on them, I could have shot them, but my gun was laying in my lap. I couldn't move. Like I said, when I sat down, turkey was right there above me, so I couldn't really couldn't really move. I did have enough room to to reach down and click my red dot on in case it did get western and I had to throw up and shoot. Uh glad I did. Anyway, the turkeys kept beeboping through there and they kept weaving him in and out of the thick stuff, and Caitlin could get them and she'd say, Yelp at him, yelp at them, and so I'd yelp, and then they'd go right back in behind a tree. Then they'd hop back out and she'd say, Yelp, and I'd try to yelp, or and then they'd pop back out. She said, Wait, wait. Anyway, they finally, by the time they cleared, I just started yelping. I was like, they gotta stop. Like it's finna be really close. Anyway, she ended up shooting that turkey at like eight yards. He was finna run right over us. And uh she shot, and as soon as she shot, I grabbed my gun and threw up, and and that other one kind of jumped up in the air a few feet, and as soon as he landed, my dot was already on his head, and I let it rip and killed him. And just a unbelievable ending to an absolutely phenomenal morning. It was my first double ever, and to do it with my wife on opening day, it was an absolute, probably one of the best mornings. It was the best morning I've ever had in the woods, hands down. And it was just it's just great, you know. You got a lot of it on footage, didn't you? Yeah, I got uh I got the majority of it on footage. Like I said, I wasn't able to cut the big camera on while he was in the tree. I already had the GoPro like clipped to my to my vest. So all I did was just unclip it and set it on the the log that we were sitting down beside and just kind of angled it up at him and just clicked record because I didn't want it to be on my vest and then it you know tilt over and he'd see that screen.
SPEAKER_06Well, if you move just at least a little bit, it'll be pointed at the ground, right? Pointed straight up in the air.
SPEAKER_01And I didn't want him to I didn't want it to be pointed at the ground and then him see that that screen because you it's kind of can can be kind of bright. Right. So I just kind of tilted it up that way the screen would be facing away from him, and and it honestly you can see it in the GoPro footage. You can watch him fly down, other two fly down, you can zoom in and watch him strutting the tree. It it's absolutely phenomenal. Yeah, and uh I did get the the kill on the big camera, I just kind of pointed it that direction, and uh I couldn't zoom in or nothing. You know how it is. Yeah, you kind of had the same little experience this morning. You kind of throw that camera out the window real fast, but I did just point it in the point it in the direction, and I did get it on camera, so you know maybe one of these days y'all see that, clean up some footage, but uh absolutely awesome morning. It was gorgeous weather and and it was just man, awesome day. You wait so long for that and it to it to happen exactly how you could dream it up was just perfect.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I uh I was still listening to Turkeys Goblin and I received a picture of two dead, and I was like, good grief.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, no. We'll we'll leave out all the details of of what was happening and and uh afterwards while we were picture taking and all that other stuff, but uh turkeys were fired up yesterday, yeah, to say the least.
SPEAKER_06Well uh I guess guess I'll tell mine. So me and Riker Wait a second, wait a second. Okay, go ahead.
SPEAKER_04Uh Daniel, my bad. I wanted to ask Daniel, uh, what were the nerves like experiencing that hunt first thing off the rip?
SPEAKER_01So it was uh we we sat down on our tree at like 615. So we were really early. Got like earliest gobble you're gonna hear is like 6.30 something, or maybe 640. Uh, but so we were in there black dark. We sat down on our tree at 615, so our nerves were already so keyed up because like I said, I heard drumming and it was undeniable. Uh, you know, you've been in a similar situation where in the dark, or when you're really close, there's you hear that drumming and your heart is just instantly goes to racing.
SPEAKER_05It's almost uh it's more of a feeling. Yeah, it is. You feel drumming more than hearing.
SPEAKER_01Exactly. And it's hard to explain to somebody that's never heard it, but if you have experienced drumming and you are able to hear it, then you know exactly what we're talking about. It's it's more of a feeling. Um, but yes, and especially being that close, it was like shaking your soul. So anyway, uh the nerves were already super keyed up because you have that happening, and and we sat on these turkeys, we didn't end up killing them until I don't know, 720 or something. So it was over an hour of just non-stop. Your heart is just racing absolutely as hard as it can. So I've never quite gotten as nauseous as I got whenever I I put my hand on that turkey. So I told Caitlin I was like, I gotta sit down because I'm genuinely gonna throw up. This is, you know, and people that has experienced it will understand it's just those emotions, you're on such a high for so long that a lot of nerves. Yes, when everything finally comes to a head and and you know that moment is is over, so to speak, it's just wow. It's like your body is exhausted from from that much adrenaline going through your body at uh you know for that that amount of time. But it was it's there's nothing in the world like those feelings, like those nerves you get whenever, you know, whenever you have turkeys in front of you that you're watching the whole time, listening to them gobble, watching them gobble. And you know, you you go from I'm scared that I bumped him, okay, he just gobbled, we're good, to oh no, they just flew down out of range, to oh no, now these other turkeys are chasing them out. Oh wait, here they come. They disappeared, oh, there they are. Turkeys everywhere. Yeah, turkeys everywhere. And my goodness, it's just it was just unbelievable. And it's just it's awesome. I'm glad I had a video camera there to at least capture a little bit of it because it's just you can't put something like that into words to accurately describe it. It was just absolutely phenomenal, and it was uh one of those things you're just glad to be able to experience it. You might not ever experience something like that again, and it was just it was awesome. And to do it with with my wife right there on opening day, it was it was great.
SPEAKER_04Did your nerves uh did they uh hurt the camera footage a little bit, the camera skills?
SPEAKER_01I never touched the camera. Um you weren't thinking about the catering in that situation. I never touched either one of them. Like I said, whenever those turkeys started fighting, that's whenever I well, I say fighting. Whenever they were preoccupied with each other, that's when I finally turned the big camera on. Uh, and I literally, it was in front of me, like in between my legs. I just turned it on and pointed it that direction and hit record. I didn't zoom in, wasn't trying to zoom in. I was like, if it happens, it's gonna be right here this way. So I just pointed the camera that way, never touched it again. And same thing with a GoPro, I just twisted it on that log uh and pointed it that direction. And uh yeah, unfortunately I did whenever I shot, I had to reach down, grab my gun between my legs and swing. So in the meantime, when I reached down and grabbed my gun between my legs, I knocked a big camera over. And then whenever I came up and whenever came up and shouldered my gun, I knocked a GoPro over, but it was it was already too late because I'm gonna go. That's all you can see. And it like the GoPro footage, you just see my sling, my gun sling, boom, go right in front of the lens, and you don't see anything else, you just hear a shot, and then you hear us going crazy, and and that's awesome. It's just you know, those emotions that that come to a head after it's just unbelievable.
SPEAKER_06Well, one thing, one thing I like too, like if you do get it on film, even if it even if you don't get the kill, uh, just to watch that back and kind of relive the moment, it's just it's awesome. It is, it's really, really cool.
SPEAKER_01But I guess that brings us into this morning, which I'll uh to preface this morning, uh, you know how we've already talked about on the podcast before several episodes back, even at the beginning, we were like, you know, the downside of social media and turkey hunting, man, you get on you get on Snapchat yesterday, you get on Facebook, and it's just flooded with people killing turkeys, and it's very easy to get discouraged. And you know, I I I've leading up to yesterday, I was talking to John, I was like, I just already feel the pressure to kill one, you know, like it's not even here yet, and I feel like I gotta kill one. Right. And uh, you know, of course you wait all year on it, but you know, fortunately enough, we were able to kill one, so I'm that didn't make it any easier on John.
SPEAKER_04But Seth or Seth, yeah, true.
SPEAKER_01But John texted me last night and I was like, I know it's crazy, but I'm already feeling like I might not kill one.
SPEAKER_07I was like, man, it's I understand completely. I was halfway joking, but you know, you do have thoughts. I was telling Seth too, you do have thoughts like that run through your head, and I it's just like, dude, it's opening day.
SPEAKER_01Like you kind of gotta take take a step back and you're like, look, it's all good. You have plenty of time. Right, it's one morning.
SPEAKER_04All the miles you walk, Johnson, all the miles you walk from messing with your head.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, yeah. So I'll I guess I'll start from the from the beginning from opening day.
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SPEAKER_06Um, I walked 9.4 miles yesterday. Um, Turkey Hunt House.
SPEAKER_01Starting off with a bang.
SPEAKER_06I was I was trying to hunt one down. Um, I guess you could say it wasn't for for lack of trying yesterday. Um, but anyways, me and me and Riker, we went. And Friday morning. She is yeah, also known as She is my little brother. Um, he went Friday morning and was was listening and uh ended up hearing two or three different turkeys gobbling. Uh had a pretty good idea where they were at. They were right on uh the hardwood burn that we did. Um so they're occupying it. But uh we started out pretty close to where he heard the turkeys at Friday morning and uh ended up Up here and probably six to seven turkeys gobble. Which is absolutely phenomenal for you where. Yeah, because most of the time, you know, where when we go down there hunting, I mean, you you might hear one or two turkeys gobble that that might be on the place, but it was it was crazy to me hearing that many turkeys gobble. I mean, it made me feel proud. Right. All the work you've done. Yeah, we've been putting a lot of work in uh the past three years. So it kind of makes you feel accomplished a little bit. But um where one set of turkeys were roosted, um, they were kind of they were right over the property line, but I had I had permission to hunt that place, but they were a little bit further than the the other group of turkeys. And the other group of turkeys where I thought they were roosted at was right on the edge of a slough. It's a pretty big slough, and uh it's a little from from my from the road that goes down through there beside the slough to the slough is probably 50 yards wide of hardwoods. And I was thinking, you know, if they're roosted right there on the edge of the slough and they pitch down, if I can get in a good position, I can I can possibly shoot one of those turkeys. Well, we we walked down there, we made our way. The closer I got, the more I realized, okay, I don't think these turkeys are on our side, I think they're across the water. So after walking all the way down there to confirm that, uh, kind of made our decision easy on where to go next. We were going to the other group of turkeys, and we were making our way down through there, and as we were walking, I hear, wh. And you could obviously tell it was somebody that was way laying on a crow call.
SPEAKER_04And so I didn't know if you were going for spider monkey or crow call or what no, that was a that was a crow call.
SPEAKER_07That's actually pretty close to what it sounds like.
SPEAKER_01He told me yesterday, and I was like, uh I was I was like, oh, uh somebody blowing a predator call or something, and then he's like, it's a crow call.
SPEAKER_06Dude, it it honestly sounded pretty close to what I just did right there. But uh so we we kind of stood there and I was trying to think, you know, man, like these are all the turkeys we've heard, but I was like, I mean, we're not just gonna sit here and pout about it. We're gonna walk, bust a loop, try to find a turkey. And uh, so that's what we did. And we were kind of our loop, we were towards the back of the property, so our loop was on the way back to the truck. We were just stopping and calling every little bit, and we stopped at this one particular spot where I have been seeing a turkey every now and then. It's not every day, but it's every now and then, and he's out in a field, and some days he's by himself, and other days he might have two or three hens with him, and there was one particular morning I went and listened, and this was before time changed. The turkey started gobbling at like 5.50, and he walked circles in this block of woods until about 7.30, 745, just walking circles, gobbling. Came out into the field at one point in time, popped strut, went down out of strut. He was on a mission, you could tell he was on a mission trying to find some hens, and that's what he was doing. He was just walking around gobbling, trying to find hens. Well, I I was I can remember telling Seth and Daniel, I was like, I want to find that turkey. That's a killable turkey. He he doesn't have any hens. I feel like if you can get over there and get close to him, you might not even have to get close to him. If you can get over there and get in within hearing distance of him to where he can hear you, I feel like you can kill that turkey. Well, we listened for him Friday morning, didn't hear him. I'd listened for him mornings previous and didn't hear him. And so I just kind of thought, well, maybe he's moved off. I don't know. He might be around just not saying anything. Well, we stopped and called, and we both looked at each other after I called, like, was that a turkey gobble? It was so far off, it was one of those, it was the cadence of a turkey goblin. It was at the right time, but a turkey should gobble. It was right after I called, but you have no idea if it's a turkey goblin or not. So I was like, well, let's just walk up 150, 200 yards and uh call again, see if he'll gobble. Walk up there, call, nothing. And so, anyways, I I told Riker, I was like, all right, we're just gonna walk over here and sit down for a little bit, and uh, we don't we don't have anything else to do, so we'll just sit here and see if it was. Well, uh Riker looks at his phone and uh he says, Hey, he says, Daniel's called me like five or six times, and uh I was like, Okay, I was like, well, call him back. And uh he was he called him and Daniel was like, Hey, he was like, You wanna you wanna go hunting? And I was like, just wanted you to come take some pictures for us. Right, right. He was like, You want to go hunting? And I was like, I mean, yeah, I guess. And he was like, all right, we'll drive on down here, and I was like, okay. So Riker was originally gonna stay and hunt, but he he left his calls in his truck. And so he had to walk back to the truck with me so he could get his calls out, and then he was gonna go, and I don't know what his original plan was, but he was going hunting somewhere back from where we had just left. And uh he was standing at the truck. I was about halfway, maybe not quite halfway, I was closer back to where we were hunting at than I was going down there and meeting Daniel and them. And Riker calls me and he's like, he's like, bro, you're not gonna believe this. And I was like, what? And he was like, this turkey is down here gobbling right where you just called from. And dude, my heart, my heart literally just like, I was sick. I was sick feeling. I was like, are you kidding me? And he's like, no, he's like, dude, he is gobbling on his own, gobbling at crows. And I was like, okay. I was like, well, I will be there in just a minute. I immediately I turned my truck around and I came all the way back. I got out and I asked him, I was like, how long ago has it been since you've gobbled? He was like, probably 45 seconds ago. And I was like, okay, awesome. So where this turkey was gobbling at, he was right on the other side of some pines that we had. That we burned. Yeah, he was he was right on the other side. So we kind of had to be careful walking down through there because those pines are wide open. And so if if we would have walked in the wrong spot, the turkey could see it's easy. So the first setup we made, we were a good little piece away from him, but I I mean the way the turkey was acting, he didn't mind traveling. I'll dare say that turkey traveled from where I yelped at to where he was at, probably six, seven hundred yards. Easy.
SPEAKER_00And flew a creek.
SPEAKER_06I mean, yeah, he he came a long way. So I was like, I mean, if his turkey can hear us, I don't I don't think he'll mind walking over here to where we're at. So called, sat there for about 15, 20 minutes and didn't hear anything. And I was like, well, I was like, maybe his turkey can't hear us because if he were to walk back the other way where he came from, there's kind of a little roll. I wouldn't call it a ridge by any means, but it's just enough elevation to where the sound might not, like if he's down in the bottom below it, the sound, he might not hear us. So I thought, well, let's just move up, let's get in the burn. And if we can get in the burn and sit down, you know, maybe he can hear us, maybe he'll be comfortable to walk through there. So we got up there, sat down, called, nothing. Sat there for about 30 minutes this time, and I was like, he might might not gobble, might come in quiet. So got tired of sitting there, because I I'm pretty impatient, I guess, when it comes to turkey hunting. I like I like walking and striking one and sitting down, but I guess every now and then patience works. For him, in my case, if we'd just sat there earlier, the turkey would have been dead. Right. Um, but I guess that's that's my fault. But anyways, I told Riker, I said, he's out there and and look in the field and see if that turkey's out there. And sure enough, he was out there, he was strutting, and he had done gobbled himself up. It was either two or three hens, I can't remember how many he said, but he he had gobbled himself up up some hens. He wasn't worried about me anymore. He didn't say another word. So I decided to leave him alone. I went to different properties, walked, and didn't do any good. Nothing. I hunted pretty much all day. I think there might have been two hours out of the day that I wasn't in the woods. I was back up at my house, almost dark. I was I walked 9.4 miles, I might have already said that. Um didn't didn't do any good. So this morning, um, I went before church and I had a pretty good idea of of where this turkey was rooshing at. Knowing that he was I'd called him from the side where he had been roosing at uh before where I'd been where I'd heard him before. I had a pretty good idea that that's where they were gonna be in the this I guess it's this morning. So I made my way over there and I sat down. I got there pretty early, but I sat down and uh it's it's right on the edge of a big field. And so I just sat as soon as I got to the woods, I sat down because I didn't want to walk the field edge in case if they were roosted on the edge of the field, I didn't want to bump them. Well, I was sitting there and also this block of woods is is there's a house like right on the back side of them, and if anybody hunts this place, they have to park in an area where I can see them. Um and nobody was parked there this morning. Um, somebody was blowing an owl call, and it made the turkeys gobble, but you could obviously tell it was an owl call, and I'm not gonna lie, I got pretty mad, and I almost thought about not hunting the turkeys and going and hunting who that was down and and ending the hunt for both of us. But I talked myself out of it, I was like, you know what? It's okay, it's not that big of a deal. I was like, I had the idea, I said, best way I might get them to leave is for me to hoot. And obviously they could tell that I'm a person doing that. And actually, I think you're awful at hooting. Right, I'm pretty terrible at hooting. No, but I'm joking, I'm joking. Uh I guess it worked because I didn't hear him anymore. Actually, when I was making my way towards the turkeys where they gobbled at, I could hear them yelping. I mean, it's still like black dark, and they're they're full on yelping at the turkey. And anyways, I was like, look, and he was actually set up pretty good, so I was like, he does have a chance, you know, even if he doesn't know what he's doing. I mean, if they fly down right there in front of him, I mean he has a chance. Well, uh, so that's when I hooted and I didn't hear him anymore. Anyways, that's besides the point.
SPEAKER_01I might tell you it was somebody that shouldn't have been there. They were like, oh yeah.
SPEAKER_06Well, I 100% think it was somebody that shouldn't have been there. Yeah. Um, otherwise they would have kept on. They would have sat there and possibly killed the turkeys because where they sounded, they were sitting. I think the turkeys walked right through. Right. And anyways, there's a little road off of this field that kind of goes up is to an old green field. Hadn't been planted in years, and it's actually grown up now, but it's a road. And that turkey, when I watched him the other morning, he walked down that road to get into the big field. So I was thinking, you know, I can sit up on this road, I can possibly call into this road and shoot him because everything around it is not right up against the road as thick. The pines kind of open up outside of the road, but I was scared to walk up in there because they weren't very far from the road. Anyways, I walked up 40 yards from this tree I was gonna sit on, and I did a few tree yelps, and then I did a fly down. That way they might come. If if I'm sitting down beside a tree and I'm yelping at them, I don't want them to pop out of the thick stuff 10 yards from me. So I I walked up about 40 yards and did it, and then walked back and sat down. Well, they gobbled at it, and I could hear some hens. Hens started pitching down, but they were pitching down like towards the field, and then I could hear them back towards the field. They were yelping, turkeys were still in the tree gobbling, and it had been like it felt like 10 minutes, probably was five minutes they hadn't gobbled, and I was like, those turkeys are probably on the ground. So I I started yelping and they gobbled, and they were back towards the field when they gobbled. So I was like, okay, I need to spin around and I need to get to where I can shoot the field. Well, I it was one of those situations where I had more time than I thought I did, but it's I I felt like I needed to pick a tree pretty fast. So I sat down on the tree and then I was like, oh, I don't really like this because where the road comes into the field, it's just there's like cedar trees on either side, and it's just like I would just have I they would have to walk across the gap of the road in order for me to shoot them. So I was like, I don't like this. So also to kind of give you an idea of what's going on, there's a ditch, not the main ditch that splits the two fields, but in between, I don't know, it's kind of hard to explain. Anyways, there was a little bit of woods on the other side, there's a little field, and I couldn't see over there, but that's where I originally thought the turkeys were. So I was thinking, you know, I can move a little bit, I can I can get over there to the tree. Well, I yelped one more time to see where they were at, and they got one, and I was like, I mean, they could be in my field, but I feel like they're they're in that other field. So I saw another tree up there about 10 yards, and uh I like hopped up and I like it was almost like a duck walk. I duck walked over there, and this tree it had a whole bunch of limbs and junk in front of it. Um and I set my gun on the ground, I was sitting on my knees, and I was trying to clear some of those limbs out of the way so I could get up there and sit against the base of the tree. While I was doing that, I pulled on one of the limbs and it wouldn't move, and so I was like, well, this ain't gonna work. So I was sitting there and I was trying to find something else, and I looked up, I saw something out of the corner of my eye, and that joker wanted it, it was it ended up being two gobblers. And so I sometime between yesterday and this morning, he picked him up a buddy, I guess, because and they went and roosted together. And uh, anyways, I was sitting there, gun was uh gun was on the ground, I was sitting on my knees and I was looking for another tree. I looked up, and that Joker was walking straight across there. Just he was half struck, he was just walking. And uh, anyways, I was like, shoot, that sucker's in gun range. So I grabbed my gun. How this turkey did not see me, I have absolutely no idea. None whatsoever. Because I was I was moving. I thought I had plenty of time. And uh I saw him walking through there. I grabbed my gun real quick. I got it up, and he was steady walking the whole time. I cut at him twice, and he ran his head up there, and I shot him, and uh, anyways, walked out there and got him. He was a a good two-year-old. Well, I say a two-year-old turkey is what most people would call a two-year-old turkey. I really don't know his age, but uh it tickled me pink. I uh I was glad it all came together, especially after a long day yesterday. Even though it was opening day, right?
SPEAKER_01Uh it was uh it was a long day yesterday to stay the week. I decided to sleep in this morning. I was like, well, if I go somewhere, it's just gonna be to listen. I ain't gonna be able to hunt anything for church, gotta be there early. But uh I was like, I'm gonna sleep in. And sure enough, I got a I forgot to set my alarms, honestly, and uh got a FaceTime call about 7.30 or 7.15. I was old John holding him up, holding that turkey up, and I was like, oh, that boy's happy. Uh it ain't no feeling like it.
SPEAKER_06Daniel asked me, he said, uh, he said, Did you get it on camera? I said, well, to be honest with you, I said I walked all the way over here and was sitting here at daylight, and I said, you know what? I forgot my camera and my truck. I had my GoPro, but my battery was dead of filming nonsense yesterday. Um, so my battery's dead on my GoPro, so I didn't have any sort of way to get footage. Um, so no, I didn't get it on camera.
SPEAKER_04But and he was gonna be on camera though, right? Yeah, we'll we'll see about it.
SPEAKER_07We'll see about it.
SPEAKER_01He was getting on to me yesterday because I didn't do no intro or something, but I don't know. You forget, you know? Yeah, you do intro. I did intros all during youth season, and we never killed one, and then I was like, oh, whatever. We're just gonna go down here and see what happens. And yeah, well, didn't do an intro and we killed him.
SPEAKER_06So yeah, that's uh I we we me and Seth have done a whole bunch of intros when we did our youth hunt and everything, and I've gone back on my my stuff and deleted every one of them because I mean it's just garbage. Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Well, well, best opening weekend, uh weather-wise and and success-wise uh that I've ever had. It was it was absolutely awesome morning yesterday, and uh, you know, kind of a storm rolling in now, but for the most part, gonna have some pretty good weather this week and next weekend. So I'm excited for the days to come.
SPEAKER_06I I missed a pretty important part uh in my hunt this morning. So I was sitting there uh up against pine tree. These turkeys were still on the limb, and I put my gun to my shoulder um because my red dot is like one of those that what do they call it, shake awake or something like that. When you put it to your eye, um it'll automatically come on. Anyways, it was it was bright, like too bright. Like if those turkeys would have pitched down and walked up there, I wouldn't have been able to see their heads. I would have just been able to see my reticle on my red dot. So I was trying to adjust the brightness on it. Well, somehow or another, I ended up turning the red dot completely off. And I sat there and I was trying to get it on, and dude, I was panicking because I could, it would not come back on. So I pulled my phone out and I was like, I was trying to calm myself down. I was like, man, it's it's all right, it's not that big of a deal. I'd already been worked up from the dude that was over there hunting, and now my red dot's cut off, and I was you were one small inconvenience away from walking right back to the house. I was I was sitting there thinking, you know, these turkeys are gonna walk up here, and I'm not even gonna be able to shoot them because my red dot won't come on. So I pulled my phone out and I was googling, you know, like how to get my red dot cut back on, and it basically told me everything that I had already been doing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_06And I I tried everything it said again, and it it wouldn't come back on. I dude, I stopped and I was just praying, I just started praying. I was like, please, dear Lord, please help me get this red dot back on, please. And uh I kept uh messing with it and finally it came back on, but it came back on, it's just the dot. It wasn't the the reticle and the the dot in the center, and I was like, you know what? I don't care. It's on, I'm not touching it again. And uh anyway, so yeah, that was that was a little part of the hunt. That was before they flew down or anything, but I got it back on. But I was I was pretty worked up there for a little bit. I was thinking, man, this is this is turning out not to be too good of a morning. But it all worked out. It worked out. Hey, look, after I got him, all the worries went away.
SPEAKER_01So but shouldn't feel like that, but it just feels like that weight is off your shoulders, you know.
SPEAKER_06Yeah, I know. And I well, you say that. Uh you you get a couple weeks of of not having any luck, and then you feel like it's back on you again, which I don't know why it's like that. Um shouldn't be like that at all.
SPEAKER_01Right, but you know, it's just like I'm pretty sure pretty much everybody feels it.
SPEAKER_06Um if you if if you go turkey hunting and you enjoy turkey hunting, I feel like you know you know you want to be successful at it for sure. Otherwise you wouldn't go.
SPEAKER_01That's right. Especially, you know, you only have a weekend out of the whole week. You got a day and a half maybe to hunt, and you just you know, you want to be successful so bad. But now we just gotta get old Box on one.
SPEAKER_06I don't think I don't we gotta do box nothing. Box will get on today. We ain't gotta worry about him.
SPEAKER_01He'll get some. I'll have to bring him down here and put him put him on one of these easy turkeys. That's right. That's right.
SPEAKER_03One of the easy turkeys in Winston County. The ones that've been shocked a little bit mean.
SPEAKER_06Good thing I didn't hunt them in Winston County. Hey, look, I'll take you on that nine-mile loop I did. Hey, you know what? I think I'll pass. I think I'm gonna be busy that's a good one. I think you walk those nine miles. Any other day, I you say that.
SPEAKER_01You walk that nine miles ago 50% of the time you'd strike strike a turkey.
SPEAKER_06Yeah. I mean, there's there's turkeys where I was walking. That's that's also the thing. Um get out and scout. I mean, find sign. Everywhere I was going hunting, there's places that turkeys are.
SPEAKER_01You knew you were in the vicinity of turkeys.
SPEAKER_06Right. And I mean, if you if you don't go out and scout and look for turkeys and you're unsuccessful, I mean, you there's kind of a reason.
SPEAKER_01You know, if you you go to plan A and plan A don't pan out, you don't want plan B to be somewhere you're hoping there's even a turkey on the property. Yeah. You know, you want to go at least where you know turkeys have been, you know. Yeah, I agree. Putting yourself in a in a in a situation to where you sink can succeed. So box, you hunting this week.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, we'll have to see how the how the works lining up. Um I can't not go, at least, even if it's for just off of fly down. Right.
SPEAKER_01I can't not it's like you know, it don't always happen at fly down, but it happened at fly down for me, and it happened at fly down for John. So it can happen.
SPEAKER_06But look, I've I've been on plenty of afternoon hunts where it can happen. I think I I videoed one last year. I think the video is six minutes long, and we struck the turkey like maybe five minutes before that, and we had to climb up a steep bridge and sit down. And as soon as we sat down, I I hit the record button, and I think it was six minutes that turkey came walking in there, and it was like I think like two or three o'clock in the afternoon. Yeah. So it just uh just depends. You gotta find a willing turkey. But I I will say this, I've said it multiple times, I'll say it again. I feel like if you go hunting enough, it doesn't matter if you're quote unquote what they would call a good turkey hunter or not. If you go hunting enough and you go to the right spots where you've scouted and found turkey sign and and no turkeys are there, you will eventually put yourself into a position to where you were able to kill a turkey. It just takes going. You just have to go, you just have to hunt. Right. Um, yep. So I I firmly believe that. Um others might disagree. Like I said, that's my opinion.
SPEAKER_01But luck plays a factor in it to a degree, but the overwhelming majority of it is like you said, putting in the work putting in the work, getting after them. It takes work to kill a turkey, and it's like, you know, um Colonel Tom Kelly says it's just like every turkey's paid for. For and the token of which he's paid for is time.
SPEAKER_06I was just about to. You gotta put your time in. Oh yeah, it doesn't matter. I like this this morning. A lot of folks will say, Man, that's you killed that turkey easy. Right. Well, you can say that, but the reason I knew that turkey was there is from scouting. That's right. Finding out where he's roosting at.
SPEAKER_01And the reason that turkey is there is because we've been burning and working this place for three years. So I mean it it you work and you're just in years past.
SPEAKER_06Now, granted, they used to farm this ground right here where I killed this turkey at, but they they don't farm it anymore. They hadn't farmed it for a while. And uh forgot the baby boy. Yeah, they uh they haven't farmed this ground in a while, and so anyways, it it kind of it grew up and turkeys didn't use it. I mean, you used to be able to drive through there, obviously when they farmed it, you'd see piles of turkeys out there, but the past few years you haven't seen any. We started doing work to the place, and I mean they're here now. I mean, they they spend a lot of time around it, so um that helps out a lot. But I mean, also too, just going and finding turkeys and knowing where to hunt and where to where to spend majority of your time at.
SPEAKER_01That's just easy for somebody to say, oh, you just get lucky was like, well, no, I work for my turkeys.
SPEAKER_06Right. I mean, like I said, I might have walked a pile. I mean, I I walked a long ways yesterday.
SPEAKER_01You might have killed opening weekend, but I mean you you put in that work for them, you know, and and that's you know like you said, if you go hunting and you put you're not gonna kill them unless you're in the woods. So get in the woods, put some miles under your feet, and and just put you know, put your call on some turkeys' ears, and and it's gonna work out eventually.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's all about it's just you just gotta keep working for it.
SPEAKER_05Right place at the right time.
SPEAKER_01But I and I will say this just goes back to, you know, I was gonna say, Box, you should be able to kill one, but I don't know what you're hearing up there, but just from everybody that I talk to, you know, opening day, especially if you kill a turkey, people just go to call and they want to know what he was doing and all this other stuff. But uh from everything I've heard, turkeys are being pretty responsive to calls for it being opening weekend. Yeah, you know, I remember lots of opening weekends. You you get that gobble five or six times in the tree, fly down, not say a darn word.
SPEAKER_04But I mean, yesterday you speak for yourself, brother.
SPEAKER_01Well, I hey that's what I'm saying. It's different everywhere, but I talked to a bunch of folks around here, and man, they were killing turkeys. They were striking them at 1.30 in the afternoon, striking them at 4 30 in the afternoon, striking turkeys middle of the day, striking turkeys 10 o'clock. I mean, it's just turkeys. I don't know if it's just we're finally seeing the result of all the good good hatches we've had the past couple years. I know that has a lot to do with it.
SPEAKER_06I listened to a podcast, and uh that's that's basically what they were what they were talking about, is this two year olds. This year ought to be allowed spring, is what they were saying.
SPEAKER_01And it's just I think you know, with with that many good hatches, you're gonna have gobblers that are getting kicked out. And it's only gonna happen as spring progresses, you know. Turkeys are gonna split up, you're not gonna have these these big bachelor groups, so to speak, of of gobblers with you know a few hands.
SPEAKER_06So Yeah, those are I like to find those satellite turkeys. Absolutely. Those are the one time.
SPEAKER_01We just got lucky being in the middle, and these were just some bully turkeys, and they couldn't stand uh, they just could not stand the the thought of somebody else getting their getting their girl. And I think another reason I jak you up them turkey, I when they started fighting them turkeys, uh, I was like, yeah, if I can convince them there's another I can get them just get them to come look and and know there's another male turkey over here, they're they're gonna want to come and push them off. So, you know, it's and that's just another thing. You just read in the room, you're just reading your situation, understanding it's not all cut and dry, it's it's it's situation to situation. But you know, it worked out for us, worked out this morning for John, and it's gonna work out for Seth this week.
SPEAKER_04Yep.
SPEAKER_01I agree.
SPEAKER_04Fingers crossed, right?
SPEAKER_01That's it. We're going ahead and claiming it. Box be telling his turkey story next week. Yeah, yeah, we won't have any.
SPEAKER_06He'll be telling all of his turkey hunting stories.
SPEAKER_01Well, if we don't have any, it ain't gonna be from Lack of Trine. I know we're gonna get out there. Yeah, we'll definitely be hunting. Random doubt. You got it, you got anything else, Box?
SPEAKER_04I guess it on my end.
SPEAKER_06Well, I guess uh I guess me and Daniel I'll get to hunt in the mornings during the week, but uh if we get a little slow time or something, we might hit some lunchtime loops. Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00We got several places close to the city.
SPEAKER_06And by lunchtime loop, I don't mean driving around in a truck and looking for turkeys. I mean w walking and hunting turkeys. We got the time that we have during lunch.
SPEAKER_01Between the two of us, we got some tracks close to city limits that we can be to from work in about 15 minutes, if that, and uh be walking and calling. And you know, it don't take, but that one turkey. The right turkey, like you said, you hop out of the truck and get in a gobble in six minutes, he could be there. Yeah. You know, it can happen in a heartbeat, but like I said, it's just you just gotta be there for it to happen. So just getting out there as much as you can. That's it. I reckon that's it, John. Take us out of here. Well, we'll see y'all later.
