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
Turkey Tales & Field vs. Woods Turkeys
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On this week’s episode of Borrowed Time, we give you the latest updates from our most recent turkey hunts.
This week, we also break down the differences between hunting field turkeys and woods turkeys—what we’ve learned, what to watch for, and how the terrain changes the game. Tune in for a full breakdown and our reflections on the season so far!
Hello everybody and welcome back to the Bartime Podcast. My name is Steph Box, and tonight all three of the Bartime Boys are in the house.
SPEAKER_01Hit the darn button. Hold on.
SPEAKER_00I don't know which one it is. That's not that one.
SPEAKER_01That's probably what lines up more in the world.
SPEAKER_02You don't want it done?
SPEAKER_00You're not going to try another button? Nah.
SPEAKER_03I mean, it's too confusing.
SPEAKER_00We don't we don't have them labeled. If you mess up twice, it's just a good thing.
SPEAKER_03Honestly, just like keep your hands off.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that that sounds probably what everybody thinks anyway.
SPEAKER_03I think it's like the first time in like two months we've all been here.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's been, I think, was it the first weekend of season?
SPEAKER_03I think so.
SPEAKER_01Because we did it outside here on the porch.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that was youth week.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, youth weekend. So it has been well over a month. A month and yeah.
SPEAKER_00We're still at Casa de John. Casa de John. Yep. Yep. Casa de John.
SPEAKER_03We got out of alpha insurance. They kicked us out.
SPEAKER_00So we're a trash company, anyways. And everybody who works for them.
SPEAKER_03Excuse me, Dan. Yeah, especially like the guy at the front desk up there. Wow. Terrible. Oh gosh. Ain't worth nothing.
SPEAKER_01Well, my lord, what's been happening, boys?
SPEAKER_00Whole lot of nothing for me.
SPEAKER_01Same here.
SPEAKER_00I haven't done it. That's him. Oh man.
SPEAKER_01Last uh I wasn't able to be here last week, but you know, as y'all heard the story, last Monday was hot and heavy. Probably as hot and as heavy as you can get. It was, man, a phenomenal day in the woods. But ever since then, I I wasn't able to go this week. I went this morning. Today's Saturday, so went this morning, and you know, we got on some turkeys, but you know, didn't we?
SPEAKER_00Who was on a gun? Sawyer or Micah? Sawyer. Sorry.
SPEAKER_01Micah's not really the the uh the hunting type.
SPEAKER_03For those people wondering who that is, you can tell.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's my nephew. That's my my older brother's son. So he has twin boys. I think they're 12, they'll be 13. Maybe they're already 13. I'm not sure. No, I think they're 12. Anyway, uh, yeah, we went this morning. I might I guess I might as well go ahead and tell my story since that's pretty much gonna be one of like the only story we have. Uh they have uh they've been doing some logging on this place that we can hunt. Decided to take Sawyer and Ethan. They hadn't had any luck at Ethan's places, so decided to take them to one of my places today, and uh wasn't really sure if the Turkish are gonna be where they normally were, where they were early season, just because they've been doing a lot of logging really close by, uh like really close by. Anyway, so we went and we we kind of parked, and and there's kind of two areas that we we were thinking about going, and and I have another guy in this place, and he told me he was gonna be going to the other area. So I was like, well, that makes it easy. I guess we'll go over here. Well, it panned out. We heard several turkeys, and and we got probably one hundred and fifty from one on the roost, and uh ended up being maybe one to the left a little bit, and maybe another one roosted with him, and maybe another one behind him. Oh wow. It's ended up being a good turkey.
SPEAKER_03And then another one like over here, and then another one like over there.
SPEAKER_01There was at least three of them to the east of us across the cutover. That's what you call a passel. It was a passel of turkeys. It was a watt of them. But uh anyway, this turkey uh he was he was gobbling like really, really good on the tree. Like once he once he started gobbling, he was he was gobbling at everything and did the first little tree yelp, ah, jumped all over it. That's always a good feeling. Whenever they do, whenever they answer your first yelp, you're like, oh buddy, that's that's good. I could tell, you know, it started his his sound switched a little bit. He definitely started facing me in the tree. And uh anyway, man, he started gobbling and gobbling and gobbling and gobbling, and and those turkeys across the cut over would gobble, and then he would gobble at them. He just did not, he didn't want anybody else to gobble, he just was gobbling. But uh anyway, he ended up flying down and what was he doing? He he was gobbling, gobbling, gobbling, gobbling. Didn't want anybody else to gobble, he's just gobbling. But anyway, he had some hands with him, I could tell. They they started yelping a little bit, not not too much, but he was always like the few tree yelps I did, he was always jumping all over it. So I was like, man, I feel pretty confident he's gonna come this way. Anyway, he flew down the other way, go figure. But it was kind of a creek. Y'all heard this, you know, same song and dance y'all heard all season long. There's always a creek involved.
SPEAKER_03Always gonna be a creek.
SPEAKER_01And they're always gonna be on the other side. Yeah, well, they actually flew down on our side of the creek today. But they they were with their hands, and once they flew down, I told Ethan, I'd already texted him, I was like, I would really like to go ahead and back up, but Turkey's still on the tree, and I was like, as soon as I go to back up, Turkey's gonna fly down within range and be watching me. So I'm gonna I'm gonna let him make the first move. Well, he did, he flew down the other way, so I immediately backed up and just started backing up, same similar to what we did, you know, Monday with me backing up. I just started calling and calling on my way back, and Turkey was gobbling. Uh anyway, I got back there probably 125 back behind him and started yelping and turkey gobbled, and I was like, all right, I'm just gonna shut up. And and sure enough, he kind of got a little bit fired up on gobbling on his own, and I could tell he was getting a little bit closer, but he never really did get just too awfully close to Ethan and Sawyer. He was probably like 125 yards. Uh anyway, so I just completely shut up on him. And next time they gobbled, they were, you could tell like way further, maybe 250, 300. You could just barely hear them. And next time I called just to see where they were, they they wouldn't even they had already gotten, you know, out of that proverbial or whatever you want to call it, that imaginary bubble that you would like to say you have. They just weren't worried about the calling no more. It's too far away. They had already gotten out of it, and I said, well, we can make a big loop around these turkeys, go way up into this cutover and go all the way around. And I said, on our way, we'll kind of be closer to those turkeys that were gobbling across the cutover, and we'll just see what they want to do. Well, we did. We went up there and I hooted, uh, where we were gonna have to either go up and left to get around the turkeys we were originally set up on, or go to the right to go those turkeys across the cutover. And I hooted and they go, they gobbled the turkeys across the cutover. So I was like, all right, well, let's go a little bit further towards them. We got uh pretty close there to some property lines and uh uh right on across the cutters. It's right, exactly. And I just acted like they weren't even there and I went over. No, I didn't see it anywhere, I didn't see the line anyway. I was looking for the line anyway. No, the turkey gobbled and he was on us, but uh one of the turkeys was on us, and it was ended up being like one or two or three of them in that cutover. And one of the the guy that was I told y'all earlier was hunting. He was that was kind of close to him. I was like, well, we're not gonna fool with them. But the turkeys that were across the property line, uh, they gobbled and they were definitely closer. The turkeys that were in the cutover that were on our property, probably like I don't know, four or five hundred yards away. They were very, very far.
SPEAKER_00Uh Johnny keeps referring to turkeys.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, oh yeah, it's not just one turkey, it's turkeys.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, both groups, both groups of turkeys was plural. It was several to the right and several to the left that were across the property line.
SPEAKER_03That lets me know whenever they start accepting memberships, I need to join. It's a cross property line, though. Across property line. But they were on they were on yours at one point in time.
SPEAKER_01I wish they would have been today, but anyway, we uh they were across property line, and they were close enough that I was like, well, I bet they can hear yelp. So sure enough, I got my glass out and cut really hard and yelped, and he fired off right right at it. And I was like, well, he he's goblin. I said, we might as well just sit here. You know, I I I'd like to those other turkeys that we were on originally, you know, they they talk about it, you hear it on uh these other better turkey hunters than us, these podcasts, and they're like, you know, they go through a little lull every morning, mid-morning lull or whatever, whenever they fly down and get with their hands. Yeah. So I was like, well, I'd like to I'd like to give them a little bit of time to do what they're gonna do anyway, those original turkeys. I said, let's just sit here for a minute and see what this turkey's gonna do. And he was gobbling and he got to where he was he was definitely closing ground on us. He probably got to about 250. And uh anyway, he gobbled, and then right after he gobbled, the last time we ended up hearing him, I heard a truck door close in a truck crank, and I was like, what the world? That's like if I had to guess, it was very close to that last gobble. I don't know if somebody I have no idea why they would have done that. If they were turkey hunting, I don't know why they wouldn't have been set up on the turkey. Maybe they heard me call and just decided they wanted to mess up somebody's hunt. I have no idea. But anyway, uh we sat there a little bit longer and the turkey never gobbled again, and he was gobbling like every time I touched the call. So anyway, whatever. Well, that wasn't even the turkeys we were really going after. It was just kind of like a bonus. So we left them, ended up making our loop, and uh we we kind of got to there's there, y'all have heard me refer to this bottom before. There's like a slough that separates the north side of this bottom, the south side. We got to the north side of this slough to get to the south side of the bottom, and and as we were rounding the slough, uh I had been yelping all the way through that bottom just to make sure nothing was gonna be we were gonna be spooking anything or you know, not going through anything to get to where I thought this turkey was. Didn't hear anything, and I'd yelped a few times pretty loud, never heard anything. We got to this slough and uh yelp he gobbled and I was like, that's right where he should have been. And uh we eased up a little bit. He gobbled again. I was like, all right, good. He he's right up there. I said there's a little creek that comes off the back of this slough, we need to get up there to it. Once we get to it, we can determine whether we can cross it or or do whatever. Got up there to it, gobbled, had him at about 175, maybe 200. We we ended up going up another 50, and uh he gobbled, and I was like, all right, Ethan, y'all pick those trees right there. I'm gonna sit back here right on the edge of this slough because it's pretty thick, and then behind me, it's really thick. So I was like, if he comes, he's gonna hear me yelping, not y'all. I'm about 20 yards behind them, and Turkey, you know, maybe he'll come up there and look. Well, he was out there about 150 and gobbled, and I yelped at him probably maybe three different sequences. Never did really yelp, it was just soft stuff.
SPEAKER_00Just like that.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, just like that. And then uh I'd bubble cook a few times, he'd gobble. I was like, all right, that's good. He's really interested in said I'm finna just shut up on him because you know, uh also another thing y'all heard me say a million times on this podcast before, we're in the middle of a hardware bottom, we can't really get any closer than that 150 yard mark. And if he comes, he's gonna know there's not a hen. So we're I'm just gonna have to shut up on him. Well, I did, I shut up on him, and it was probably he probably gobbled. He started gobbling on his own for like 10 straight minutes, like every 30 seconds to 20 seconds, just ow, ow, ow, ow. I was like, man, he's he's wanting us to come out there, so now I'm not gonna I'm I'm gonna be more hard-headed than him. I'm not saying a word. And uh sure enough, after about you know, the 10 minutes of gobbling, he shut up and uh wasn't hearing him anymore and wasn't hearing any drumming or anything. And then all of a sudden, about 20 20 to 25 minutes later, he uh I heard drumming and it was really close. I was like, ooh, so close, I was like, man, they're finna be seeing this turkey. And uh turkey had kind of been drifting right the whole time, so I could tell, you know, they were Ethan and Sawyer on different trees, right side by side, but Ethan was on the right and Sawyer was on the left, and I could see Ethan's uh gun the whole time just going right as the turkey was gobbling. When I heard that drumming, it was hard left. Like if let's just say Sawyer's facing 12 o'clock, it would have been at like 9, 9.30. So like really hard left. And uh didn't see anybody's gun move, and I was like, hmm, uh oh well, maybe they hear it, maybe they're not, can't really do anything about it. Turkeys, if you know, it's hard to course drumming as far as distance-wise. I was like 80 yards, you know, it's I was it was really close. And uh sure enough, as soon as I heard drumming, I knew where to look, and I I looked and boom, I saw his head come out from behind a tree, and immediately went behind another tree, but I saw him, it was 100% him. Came out and then uh was behind a tree, and I tried to get my binoculars up and look that way I could, you know, see what he was doing, see what maybe I could call or do something, scratching the leaves, and all of a sudden he gobbled. And and Ethan still thought he was to his right. I don't know, some water in there, maybe it was playing with the sound, but it turkey Turkey gobbled, and uh he didn't do like a full volume gobble, because if he would have, it would have blown our hats off. But I mean he was right there 60, 60-ish yards, and he gobbled, but it was kind of like a half volume gobble.
SPEAKER_00Isn't that weird how they changed the intensity of their gobble?
SPEAKER_01Really, it really is crazy. Like when he was out there wanting me to come to him when he was gobbling on his own, it was so hard and so loud, it was ah like almost screaming, like, hey, come on. And then that gobble was just like a all right, I should be seeing you. You know, I'm not he was just you know, it's the same way with drumming too.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Like that turkey. I've had I've had turkeys like last year. There was one that was out there probably 150 yards, and I mean, you could hear him loud, like extremely loud. And that was the first time Riker and Noah had ever heard drumming before, and they could hear it plain as day. But I don't know, and then like sometimes like in the woods or something like that, like I mean, you can just like barely hear them. I mean, you can hear them.
SPEAKER_00Do you think that the turkeys can change the intensity of their drum, or is it just bird to bird? I think so.
SPEAKER_03We might sound dumb saying this, but yeah, I would think so.
SPEAKER_01I mean, yeah, I have no idea. I have nothing to back this other than just experience in the woods, but I think so. I mean, I've heard turkeys, uh, you know, I've heard turkeys drumming at a hundred yards that that you know it sounds like it's at a hundred yards, and I've heard turkeys, I've had turkeys that you were you would swear they're right there, right out of eyesight. Then all of a sudden you see them and they're 150, 175 yards out there just letting it rip. Yeah, you know, and and I feel like and also you hear turkeys, you'll hear a drum, it's like and then every now and then you hear Yeah, short.
SPEAKER_00That could just be the acoustics of the woods, though.
SPEAKER_01Could be. I mean, could be. I don't know. Like I said, I have nothing to back this, but I think that they can control like they can control the volume and the and the intensity of their gobble. I think they can do that that with their because like I don't think that a scientist has been able to prove 100% what even is drumming. They don't know what it is that makes that sound. Some of them are like it's the feathers vibrating, and then some of them's like, well, it's I have no idea. I don't know.
SPEAKER_00The like the air sack. Yeah, something in there, the craw or I have no idea. The crop is what yeah, I don't know what fills up with air.
SPEAKER_03I'm not commenting. That way both of y'all can be the idiots on this podcast and not me. I'm just saying like something fills up with air, right?
SPEAKER_00Or deflates. I don't know what it is.
SPEAKER_01I don't think they've been able to prove 100% what it is, though.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Every one of them they've studied is dead, Danny. Back to your story.
SPEAKER_01Anyway, uh the turkey, turkey gobble wasn't a full gobble, and he I did hear right right after that, I heard one singular poop, and I was like, oh freak. You know, I was like gigs up. Yeah, the gigs up, and I never heard that again, and I was like, crap. Well, right after I heard that, I was like, I gotta I gotta throw my call back to the right. Maybe I can pull him back right. So I just nothing. I was like, oh man, he's been jumping over all over that all all morning. He should have gobbled, especially being right there and as being as excited as he has been. Anyway, didn't gobble. I got a little louder, didn't gobble. I was like, darn, man. Well, I I crawled up there after a few minutes, several five, ten, fifteen minutes, I crawled up there to Ethan and them, and I was like, I don't know what happened. I was like, y'all didn't see him go to the left. Ethan's like, no. I was like, man, that turkey was right there to the left. He was like, Oh, I thought he was coming right. Even that last gobble, he was right. I was like, no, that turkey was to the left, like 100%. It was to the left. I don't know if Ethan was on the right side of his tree, and maybe that's how I heard it out of the right. I don't know. Because all morning and all season that we've been hunting together, we've been able to course gobbles and everything the same direction. I'm not saying that Ethan's deaf, you know, Ethan can hear.
SPEAKER_03No, I will say if you sit on the like a certain side of a tree, you will hear it.
SPEAKER_01And I think that that had to have been what it was. He just heard the gobble out of his right ear and thought he was keep coming to the right anyway. Uh, but didn't spook the turkey. Obviously, he came up there and didn't see a hen. He knew something was up, but didn't spook him because uh I told Ethan I was sitting there and I was like, he's been hearing me call all day. I said, Ethan, here's your pot call. Right back out there where he was. And I was like, all right, well, we're still in the game. He's gobbling. So I said, y'all go on up. He he had done gotten back out there about 200 yards. I said, y'all go up about 50, 75 yards and and sit down. We'll see what this turkey wants to do. I said, Ethan, give me your pot call. He's he's at least finna hear a different call. And uh I stayed back, I called, nothing. He once again, he he 100%. I mean, I don't know this, I guess I can't say 100%, but he had hens out there. Whenever he came to look for us, he left his hands.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And then he was he went back to his hands, he was like, I'm not leaving them again, I'm not gobbling, whatever. So anyway, we just made a loop, went back to the truck and ended up seeing a turkey in the road, tried to make a play on him, didn't get didn't hit on nothing there, and that was the morning. So it's a great morning, great morning in the woods, but that's about as eventful as I've had this week, boys. Y'all had anything? This segment is brought to you by Tabor Drugs in Willistville, Mississippi, a hometown pharmacy built for folks who live life outdoors. Whether you're up before daylight, chasing gobblers, 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 Willistville and take care of yourself like you take care of your hunt. I ain't got any storage.
SPEAKER_03I went with Seth and uh Connor. Oh, then I know you ain't got storage.
SPEAKER_01No. If you went up there with Seth and Connor to French camp, you ain't got no storage.
SPEAKER_03Dang, he's hating on you. He is, man.
SPEAKER_01No, I think it's funny. Connor is uh he swears he's selling his stuff.
SPEAKER_00He sent us a video today, all of his turkey guns. He's got a pile of them, too. He went through naming everyone vanilla supernova. Some pretty good prices.
SPEAKER_01Pretty good pricing on her. But no, he was saying that he's uh he was going out of state the 28th, and he was like, I'm I'm done hunting until the 28th. I'll I'll hunt again when I get to a different state, but I'm giving these Mississippi turkeys they can have it the rest of the year.
SPEAKER_00Man, yeah. I don't know. We really haven't messed up. We can't find any goblin turkeys where where we're at, you know. Nah, that makes a difference, dude. I'm telling you, man. I've been several mornings and it's you know, it's perfect weather, you would think. Yeah, this this whole last week was beautiful. Oh my gosh. Cool, crisp, not much.
SPEAKER_01That's how it's supposed to feel.
SPEAKER_00Cool and crisp in the morning. Oh, yeah. Get a little warm in the midday, birds chirping, and just silent.
SPEAKER_01Y'all hear whipper wheels this morning?
SPEAKER_00Do you hear a whippoorwheel or a chuckwheel's widow?
SPEAKER_01I heard both. I know the difference. We've we've been over this. I know my wife. John does. Maybe he don't, but I do.
SPEAKER_03Well, hey, we had a tough one this morning. It was right here in the front yard, and we were trying to figure out which one it was.
SPEAKER_00Dude, it was like it was like a hybrid on the sand. You're pretty freaking good at that. That's a chuck wheels. Don't compliment him. He's been hating on you all.
SPEAKER_01Because he says it. Chuck Wheels, whittle.
SPEAKER_03Chuck Wheels, whittle.
SPEAKER_00Back on topic. Daddy always says that uh uh whipper wheel says chip fell out of white oak. He said that you know, fast, whatever. Because they got the I don't know.
SPEAKER_01I think he says whipper wheel.
SPEAKER_00Whipper wheel, whipper wheel. Hey, you're just making crap up now.
SPEAKER_01Dude, they literally say it.
SPEAKER_00Whipper wheel, whipper wheel. That's not why they got their name.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah, that's exactly right.
SPEAKER_00I'm fixing to pull the I'm fix I'm fixing to pull up a whipper whipping. All right, Seth, tell us a darn turkey store. Tell us your turkey store. I'm I'm gonna do that for this podcast show. Um yeah, I ain't got much. Me and Connor got on one. We uh we gave him the name flank. Not Frank, Flank. Flank.
SPEAKER_01Let me guess.
SPEAKER_00He's always he's always flanky. Yeah, for uh for obvious reasons. He just he just flanks.
SPEAKER_01He just goes never come right where he's supposed to.
SPEAKER_00No, I mean where is he supposed to come, but he doesn't come in range. We had him at 64 one day, and uh uh we thought about cutting down on him, but you know.
SPEAKER_01There were gays three and a half. I do, but I still don't like I'm with you. I I don't get no enjoyment out of shooting one at 65 yards.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and if I think there's a chance that I'm not gonna kill him, I ain't gonna shoot, man. I can't do it. I'm with you.
SPEAKER_01I mean the only thing worse than than watching that turkey get away is shooting him and then wounding him or missing. God, I hate missing.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, I hate missing, but I feel better about that than you know, shooting.
SPEAKER_01Watching him flop for a second, then get up and cripple all.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Hurts myself.
SPEAKER_01I don't think I've ever like crippled one. I think I've either like slam missed or I've seen two get crippled.
SPEAKER_00I've never crippled one.
SPEAKER_03Well, if you clean miss, you can always go back and hunt a turkey. If you cripple the turkey, you're more than likely not gonna go back to the city.
SPEAKER_00I'll say this after you just said that. Flank is the turkey I missed earlier this season. We're pretty sure. I mean, how can you be positive? But they look exactly the same. They're both actually I am pretty positive because he's got that same eyebrow. Like the beard, the beard length.
SPEAKER_01You know, the crown of his the crown of his head just comes down.
SPEAKER_00He's got like this four-inch beard. No, no, no, no. No, no, no. But Flank has a very distinct gobble. I mean, dude, no joke. You can be listening to five turkeys gobble and you can point him out. There's flank. Yeah. That's like a turkey.
SPEAKER_03So when when we were hunting the other day, I went with him and we went and we hunted the group of turkeys plus Flank. Uh Flank's kind of sounds like a Jake. He does. And Flank scared us because he gobbled about 80 yards away after he'd been gobbling a long ways away.
SPEAKER_00Flank had been 500 plus, right? Right around 500 yards.
SPEAKER_01And we know he shut up for a little bit. Gobbling. He's a turkey that ended up coming to y'all's right. Yeah. I remember you telling me.
SPEAKER_00So he shut up, and we're like, you know, thinking, all the turkeys that shut up at this point. These turkeys we were on, they they were with their hands or whatever. And uh I know I said we can't find any turkeys. These are the only turkeys we have found to hunt in Choctaw County, I swear. Anyways, a pen drop.
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_00I'm asking for a pin drop from you, Mr. Half Achre. I'll send you a pen. Don't tell me that. Don't tell me that. I'll be there in the morning. But we'll both be there. Yeah, me and John. I'll come pick them up. Anyways. Uh it's pretty much the same story three days in a row. Uh flank, he shuts up and then he just starts gobbling pretty close and he gets right on the edge of shooting range and flanks. He just he just skirts, you know. He just knows. Yeah, he just knows. Almost like he's been shot at. Almost yeah, yeah, almost like he's been shot at at about 45 yards. I don't know. But anyways, that's all that's been happening there. Me and John went this morning. John garholed me.
SPEAKER_01Uh I need to I need to tell you, I need to tell you a little bit of truth. Johnson called me as soon as he left French camp that day and said, by God, if I was by myself, I'd have killed every one of them crazy.
SPEAKER_00Hey, hey, all I'm saying is the two days before when Johnson wasn't there, we were closer to killing the city. So I really was there. It's all his fault. It's all his fault. Right, it's a lot of things.
SPEAKER_01He's always calling them in too fast or just messing it up completely.
SPEAKER_00Messing it up completely. Can't take that guy nowhere.
SPEAKER_01I guess Johnson, you've only been with people, so I guess your story is that story.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. I don't have anything. That's why we had to come up with a topic today to talk about.
SPEAKER_00Well, this story kind of leads into the topic. Okay, yeah, yeah. I didn't finish the morning, so yeah. Went to the first spot, nothing. John heard a bird there a day or two ago. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01This was this morning, correct?
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that was this morning. But John knew there was a turkey in there, so we go in there, turkey didn't gobble.
SPEAKER_03Well, he could have been gobbling, but dude, the whatever they were doing over there this morning at six o'clock was like you couldn't hear anything. No, I don't know why.
SPEAKER_01I almost just gave away your location.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, don't do that.
SPEAKER_01Because I was fixing to say what was going on next door. I think they had something going on at that place. Yeah, no, they definitely did. That's what I told him.
SPEAKER_03But yeah, it was very loud.
SPEAKER_01There was a lot of trucks there when I come in here actually.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yep. Anyways, so struck out there, went to one of my permission uh permission pieces, family pieces, whatever you want to call it. When and so we're slipping, I mean we're being careful. Uh it's a big field we go up to. And uh I did this, I don't know, last week and saw a turkey out there, or maybe 10 days ago. It was a while back. And uh this was the next time we've hunted it since then. So it's been it's been resting for like 10 days or something. Yeah. So me and John, we're we're slipping up to check this field before we call and whatnot. And uh our sh we see our shadow is about to cast across this field. Yeah. So we were like, no, we don't need to do that. So we we go to the wood line and we slip right around the bend. And I mean, we're we're easing. We ain't just like, you know how you're walking down a log road, not paying attention, you spook a turkey? Not like that. We're actually.
SPEAKER_01So kind of creeping. Yeah, and the Indian creep on the yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yep, that Mohican sneak. Uh-huh. The Mohican sneak. Well, I got to where I could see 90% of the field and I haven't seen no turkey, so I just kind of keep kept sticking my head out there, and boom, there's two long beards and a hen right there. I'm like, golly, man. And uh I I don't know really what they saw, but as soon as I laid eyes on the hen flew. And they were like over 200 yards away. Yeah. And uh the gobblers, they were just looking around like, what the heck? You know, what's wrong with her? Right. They didn't know. I mean, they were just looking around, twisting their head all kind of different directions. And so they just kind of eased off in the bushes, and I was like, mmm, we might have a chance right there. And so uh we're just chilling, waiting on them to uh maybe gobble or something, at least give them 20 minutes before we yelp at them. And uh we're sitting there and the turkey starts gobbling way on the back side of this place. And um turkey did start gobbling? Yeah, we were not the two that we saw, yeah.
SPEAKER_01One back there where he always is, yeah.
SPEAKER_00And uh so bunch of water on this place. Me and John are in hiking boots. We cross we cross this stuff.
SPEAKER_01Every place, every story we got's got water. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And no, this is like a this is like a lot of water. Oh, I'm aware. Which actually, with no rain this year, it's I mean, we crossed it, and I mean I didn't even get my feet wet.
SPEAKER_00No. We we got me up to the top of the booth, but we didn't quite get wet. Pikers, might add. But it was kind of a thing we'd get up to the water and we'd have to like walk 40-50 yards up and down the bank, find a place, roots to step on and kind of bounce across. But anyways, this turkey was just gobbling it himself, man, or crows, whatever. He's just kind of raking it in there. We're like, oh yeah, if we can get in there, we'll kill him.
SPEAKER_03Like we were walking back there and just hearing just hearing the turkey gobble.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and uh how far was he off that off that field?
SPEAKER_00Um 700 yards. Yeah, he was a good little ways back there. Yeah, dang.
SPEAKER_01And so we get crazy how some places you can hear him like that far, and some places.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so when we were moving on this turkey, I don't know if it was a different turkey that gobbled or what the deal was, but we got right off the edge of that field and turkey gobbled, and like I thought he was like maybe 300. Yeah, like we sat down and then kept hearing that turkey gobble way off back there, and I was like, there's no way this is the same turkey, yeah, but never heard to make a long story short, we got all the way back there, and the turkey never gobbled again. Turkey shut up, yeah.
SPEAKER_00I don't I don't know what to deal with. So we we mucked it back out and went and busted a loop. I actually checked my phone. We walked six miles. Oh, nice. Yeah, I got them new crispy boots on. Feel good to you. Them six miles felt like neat. He's running, wasn't he? Dude, them things are nice.
SPEAKER_01Did you build you like a wooden box, put them on marrels in?
SPEAKER_00Retired them. No, he's got those for backups. Yeah, they're backup. They're pretty worn out, but they're they're backup.
SPEAKER_01Whenever we head up and off, you gonna take both pairs? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00You gotta have a backup pair.
SPEAKER_01I'll probably even when we fly, I'm gonna take two pairs. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_00No, I probably won't. I'll just if I need a backup pair, I'll hunt them back to the package. Just take the marrels. Oh, nice. No, heck no nice. Leave the crispies at home. Yeah. That's all that's all that happened this morning. But one of the topics I think we wanted to talk about is uh Yeah, go ahead.
SPEAKER_03Uh what is it? Feel turkeys over wood turkeys. Well, not only that, but like, do you all right y'all?
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SPEAKER_03If you're easing up to a field, do you Oh yeah, I like that. Do you call before you look in the field, or do you look in the field and then call? Or or how does that work? I'll tell you me personally, and a lot of people tell us you personally what you do. So uh these two fellas right here can be the first to tell you. Like I was uh I was about to mention when he was saying I was actually in front of Seth when we were walking up to the edge of the field, but right before we got there, I stopped and I let him walk up there and look in the field because my eyesight is terrible. Oh, yeah. I wear contacts, but dude, like I I have trouble like spotting turkeys out in fields. And so my thing is the same way with like walking through the woods. We said this last week. I like to walk and call, give, give them a chance to gobble. Same thing as like a field or something. Before I peek around the edge, because nine times out of ten, even like Seth said, I mean, he didn't know what they saw. They probably saw, I mean, they saw us, undoubtedly, but uh, and I mean you wouldn't even think they'd be able to see you, but I like to call, give them a chance to gobble. Right.
SPEAKER_01You know, then if you go around the corner and they spook and you're like, ah, well, they could have gobbled. Yeah, right.
SPEAKER_03Well, not only that, but a lot of people say, well, if you yelp, they're gonna be looking your direction. If you peek out in the field, well, I mean, that's just as part of that's kind of that's kind of where I fall on it.
SPEAKER_00I'm I'm very similar to you. I'm almost the same, pretty much. Walk through the woods, I like to call, like we like you just said. But in a field, I feel like um if I sneak up there and peek, they don't even really if I have a good uh lay of the land, the topography is good and allows me to do it. I like to peek first because I feel like if I call and they don't gobble, they might still be coming anyways. Right. So as you're you know getting up to that crest of the hill or the corner of the field or whatever, he might be coming, bam, y'all meet, or uh yeah, like you said, he might be looking that way or something. I don't know. I don't think there's any wrong way to do it. Yeah, but me personally, I like to peek the field before I call.
SPEAKER_01I guess uh for me it just kind of depends. Uh I know it sounds like a broken record on here. It's just situational. I mean, these little the the fields I'm used to hunting are like quarter acre green fields, yeah, and and there's briars all around them, and I can see the whole field from one vantage point. Okay, that does change the game. Those right there, I'm peeking before I before I call. If I can see the entire field and like I know I feel very confident I can look at this field and the turkey's not gonna be able to see me, I'm peeking. I'm peeking first. Because if I can put my eyes on him and I can see what his mannerisms are, maybe what direction he's going, I'll loop and get in front of him before I call. And I'm like, all right, he already wants to go that way. I'm not gonna try to call him back this way. Let me loop around. Now, big field where y'all were, I don't know. I mean, sometimes I definitely call, especially we get out of state on these big fields that we, you know, you're blessed with hunt to hunt out of state, you know, it it you can't see that whole field. Maybe it's a roll in the field or something. So you yelp and and probably they're probably gobble. You know, it's just situation.
SPEAKER_03When we're riding uh like on the out of state hunts and stuff, yeah, they'll be pointing out turkeys and stuff like you see that turkey right there. And I'm like, No, I don't see him. They're like, dude, can you not see that turkey? I'm like, dude, I would love to see that turkey. You think I chose it? Yeah, you think I chose not to see the turkey? Like, I would love to look at it, but I can't see him. But yeah, before we go on our trip, which by the way, we leave in 15 days. No way. Yeah, it's crazy. Wow. I need to go to the eye doctor and get my prescription updated for these contacts because I gotta get something figured out. They're getting worse. Nah, it's just like when we go out there, like I still have the same prescription from last year. Like when we go, it's something about like I don't have any trouble really around here, but like when you get to those big fields, like it's so hard for me to pick out a turkey out in the field.
SPEAKER_01Dude, we'll even be stopped, like looking in binoculars. And then I like Johnson will probably just he gets so frustrated with us doing it. Then he's just like, Yeah, I see it. And then we're looking like over here, and then Johnson's like a full 45 degrees looking, he's like, Yeah, you struck. And I'm like, Johnson, that's a cow.
SPEAKER_02What are you doing? I just put my binoculars in my mind. I don't even care. Just take me over there where we can hunt the turkey, and I'll look at him then just get permission and go.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Another thing I just thought about, and I I think this is an advantage. If if I can get up to a field and see a turkey and see how his, you know, his body language changes when I call to him that first time, that tells me a lot about him.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, actually, I used to tell uh Daniel all the time, you know, he would talk about how he hated hunting field turkeys, which, you know, I'm I'm kind of on an even scale now when it comes to hunting field turkeys and and hunting turkeys in the woods. I like both. Um, I really don't prefer one over the other. Reason I like hunting field turkeys is is because uh you can call to the turkey, and like you said, both of y'all said, you can see how he reacts to your call and you can see what he's doing. Um, because a lot of times, I mean, if you I mean, I know uh in years past, turkey shuts up. Now I know if turkey shuts up and he's been gobbling at me, you know, he's probably coming. But uh and years past, if a turkey shut up on me, I'd probably get up, you know, end up spooking the turkey or something like that. But if you're watching him out in the field and you see him shut up, you can see him visibly walking to you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, there's always that plan B. If he quits gobbling, you can just get in front of the sucker.
SPEAKER_03Right, right. And uh, I mean, you can just you can see what they're doing. I I think I've already told this story on here uh before, but it kind of reminds me of a story. It was a field turkey. I stayed on them for forever and they had hens with them, and they would gobble at me when I'd call to them, but they were just following, they had two hens, they were just following the hens wherever they would go. It was two hens, two gobblers. They walked all the way across this pasture away from me, and so I made a big loop around and got over there with them. And by the time I got over there with them, uh I couldn't see them anywhere. I I didn't see them at all, and so I sat down and I was sitting there and I ended up, I looked up, and they were going right back across the field where I just left from. And uh I noticed they didn't have their hands with them, and uh, so I was like, Well, shoot, let me call to them now. I called to them. This field's so big, I couldn't- I couldn't say you didn't hear them, did you? I couldn't hear them gobble, but I watched through my binoculars and I saw them gobble. Johnson said he could call, grab his binoculars, look them up, and then watch them go. I could watch their necks go out and gobble at me, but I couldn't hear it.
SPEAKER_01You had that much time. Yep, yep.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and so, anyways, I did this, I watched them gobble. And uh say I'm in the woods, I would have never heard them gobble, couldn't have seen their reaction. They didn't gobble again. They turned and they started running to me. I could just see their legs, their two little legs going back and forth, just 90 to nothing, running down through there, and they ran all the way up there to I think I actually I I think I have told this story on here. It was a field turkey. I thought they were I thought they were way closer than they were. They actually ended up being 61 steps. And uh, I mean, I killed him dead as a doornail, but uh I mean they they ran all the way up there. But the reason I tell that is I mean, if you're in the woods, I mean I would have never known. Right. Never known they that which even then, if I was in the woods, they probably would have never heard me from that far. But um, that's just a uh story about field turkey.
SPEAKER_01It kind of also bleeds into our uh our next point that we kind of wanted to hit on, and that's like when to move on a turkey. Yeah. You kind of can't you kind of hit on both of those right then, and I also have a similar story uh that will kind of knock both of those out. So anyway, I don't really have fields, have never really had fields to be able to hunt. Like I said, the biggest fields I have is like a half to quarter or quarter acre to a half acre food plot uh you know on this government on like not government land, on timber land that you know that maybe a log land and you clear it out, whatever. So uh I am blessed with some pretty hard woods that I can hunt. And so one of one of these turkey one of these stories that comes to mind when I'm thinking about a woods turkey is and it kind of goes in hand hand in hand with what Johnson's saying. Uh so me and Caitlin one morning we we went, and this was three or four years ago, uh had a turkey gobbling, and let's just save is about a buck fifty. We stopped and and we kind of got where we wanted to get and we sat on a tree and turkey gobbled and he flew down and I kind of saw him uh strutting through the through the hardwoods, and all of a sudden this turkey literally 40 yards from where we were sitting, just pitched out of the tree, landed right there 20 yards. I was like, What in the world? And uh Caitlin's like, I think it's a long beard. And I was like, if it's a long beard, I'm shooting him. Like, I'm I'm not passing up a turkey just because there's a turkey out there. I mean, my lord. So uh anyway, he stepped out from behind the trees, long beard, I shot him. So uh anyway, we we ended up sitting there with that one for a little bit, doing what we like to do, just sitting and enjoying, and turkey gobbled. We're like, all right, let's go after him. Long story short, we ended up coming back to the I hadn't hung my turkey up in a tree, and I grabbed my turkey, and as soon as I grab put as soon as I put my hand on my turkey to get him out of the tree, ah, one gobbled, probably about 250 yards away in the hardwoods. We were like, all right, sounds good. So we crossed a little creek and and set up right here on this on this uh on a tree. And man, the turkey wouldn't gobble no more. Well, which he never gobbled at us, he gobbled on his own. And uh we were sitting there and I couldn't see the turkey at this point, but he wouldn't gobble. I I'd yelp, he wouldn't gobble. I was like, what in the world? Did we spook him? You know, everything goes through your head. Man, he had to have seen us. All of a sudden, heard a turkey fly the creek that we we were sitting 15 yards from this creek. Heard a turkey fly the creek. I looked, she landed 10 yards from us. It was a hen and she as soon as uh as soon as she landed, that turkey gobbled. She did not, she didn't even let her feet hit the ground, sprinted. I mean, as fast as a turkey can run, sprinted to that to that gobbler. Went out there and then it wasn't wasn't long that well once she went, he ended up coming to her a little bit. And so he was out there about 150 yards. And uh we I watched him breathe that hen. As soon as he got off that hen, he gobbled again. I kid you not, as soon as he gobbled, another hen flew the flew the uh flew the creek from behind us and started pecking around right there around us, and I was like, man, that's perfect. Gobbler's gonna come in here. And uh she started yelping and I was watching that gobbler out there, he was just strutting, never gobbling, not doing nothing. And uh I started yelping, yelping back to this hen. I was like, maybe I can get him fired up and he can come over here. I started yelping, nothing. Then uh all of a sudden we were sitting there and she had done stopped, uh done stopped yelping, and she was just scratching around. He gobbled. She looked up, sprinted to him. I watched him breathe her. Then he ended up having three or four hens out there and What was he saying to her? Yeah, I don't know, buddy, but he was when he would say it, they would run. And uh that it just goes to show I told Caitlin right then and there, I was like, that just changed everything I ever thought about. You know, I I figured, I always I I don't know why I felt this, it just did. But like I would I always have felt if there's a turkey out there 150 yards from me, or I feel like if if I'm calling and a turkey's not gobbling, it's not it's because there's one not not not one there. Yeah, right. Not the case. I mean that sucker's out there, he's just as content as can be, just strutting around. There's a live hen right here yelping, and he's not he's not saying a word, he's just out there strutting around. And then when he did gobble, the hen took off. I was like, you can't compete with that. Anyway, we didn't get a shot at that turkey, but that just goes to show you right there. But we couldn't really move on that one. I guess that's a different but my stance on moving on a turkey is you know, whenever you're coming up and and your daddy always I mean, my dad, same thing. I I I will tell Harrison, you know, when a turkey, when you can see a turkey, don't move, because a turkey can see. And I guess that's what you have to tell a little kid because you know they'll be moving around, swatting a mosquito, fixing their f head net. And my daddy always told me your hands are flags. If you're moving your hand, you're basically just waving at the turkey saying, Hey, I'm over here. Don't move. So I never moved. Now, years and years of experience later, uh I I you can get away with a lot. Yeah. If you can ever lay your eyes on that turkey, you can move a lot more than you can.
SPEAKER_00You just learn how and when to move. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01And it's like I, you know, prime example, the second turkey Caitlin killed, I told her, I was like, look, you go up there and don't stop until you can see him. And then once you see him, still don't stop. You just now you can you know when you can move. If he's strutting and he's his tail fans straight to you, you can move up a little bit. And if he's finna go behind this clump of trees that he can't see, you can move up a little bit. Now, it doesn't that's not every time. I we do not do that to every turkey. You can't. You can't do that to every turkey. It's situational, and and I I I saw a video today and he was like, when you've been turkey hunting for as long as I have, it's not really you're not really calling to a turkey. It's a feeling. I can I feel when I can call to that turkey. You know, it's like people say, Oh, you call too much. It's like, well, some turkeys I I feel I know I can call to more. Some turkeys I know I can move on more. Yeah. You know, it's just, it's, it's hard because it's we've always said it's not a one, two, three in ABCs of turkey hunting. It it's situational and it's something that you kind of gotta fail at in order to get good at. And I don't think I'm good at it, but I have been doing it a while. I know what I can and cannot do, you know. So that's just part of it. I mean, sometimes you can move, sometimes you can't.
SPEAKER_00That's my that's my take on moving on a turkey. It's unexplainable, honestly.
SPEAKER_01It is, it really is, because the very first time you say, Man, you can move on one if he's facing away from you will be the time that as soon as he faces away from you, he drops straight at you. Yeah. You know, that's like I was telling somebody the other day, I was telling my uh one of somebody came in the office, we was talking about turkey hunting, and uh he was like, you know, I I don't ever swing on a turkey. As soon as I see a turkey, I get on him, and it's every time he moves, he said, the only thing he ever sees is that black dot into my barrel. It's all he's looking at. And I was like, Yeah, I'm the same way. I said, if I do ever have to swing on one, I wait till he gets behind a big oak tree. And he said, Yeah, but even then you can't trust him because how many times has you do you think he's going behind that oak tree? Does he stop and God dog, I give myself a concussion? Does he stop and wring his neck backwards? Yeah. Like looking. You know, it's like almost like he's like, hey, sucker, you he's trying to fake you, he's like, oh, you thought I was gonna go behind that tree?
SPEAKER_02Sack!
SPEAKER_01And then he's watch you swing. You know, I mean that happens a lot.
SPEAKER_00That's just a natural movement of the head. It's freaking, it's it'll get it. It is.
SPEAKER_01I mean, he's bobbing, so he might just stop in the middle of that bob when it's back. But that's what I'm saying. It's like the very first time you tell somebody, hey, you can swing when he goes behind a tree, will be the time he stops and runs his head back and busts them.
SPEAKER_00You know, that's that quote you can only learn uh some lessons are only learned through burnt fingers and skint knees.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's exactly right. And we've always said let's get your two cents. Yeah, let's hear it, sis. I've been rambling too long.
SPEAKER_00Shoot, I mean, I echo what what Daniel said. Uh there's a lot of turkeys that I don't know. You just this you you get a feeling and you're like, man, if I don't, if I don't make this play right here get to X tree or this uh this little knob, whatever, then you're like, man, I'm out of the game, at least, at least for a while, anyways. So it's either it's now or never, dude. I'm I'm taking that little jump, you know, every time. Uh but some of them, man, I mean, I might sit on the same tree for three hours. It's I don't even know how to explain how one will be.
SPEAKER_03Sometimes that's the right mode. I'm gonna tell you this. If you're not where that turkey wants to be, you need to move. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it's like sometimes I'll tell Caitlin all the time, she's like, You really think we can move? And I was like, All I can tell you is this we ain't gonna kill him right here.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I mean, you can you can tell. You can tell.
SPEAKER_01You know, it's like he he maybe maybe it's you're in a little position that you've never even heard of turkey in that spot. Maybe it's just something that's just I don't know, like it's a feeling, like John said.
SPEAKER_03Well, I'll tell you this I had a turkey um a couple years ago. Um he he gobbled non stop, just gobbling over and over and over again. And And uh, anyways, I had sat down on him and uh I could tell like he was just he was looking for hens, just just out there all by himself. I mean, you could just tell. Uh I mean if you've been turkey hunting for a while, you can you can tell.
SPEAKER_01They have different gobbles like we were talking about.
SPEAKER_03They just they just do. They're just I don't I don't know. He was just gobbling nonstop. Anyways, I just knew I was probably 120, 130 yards from this turkey on the limb, and uh I couldn't get any closer. It was open hard woods, and uh, anyways, there was a little little bitty road, it kind of got thick a little bit, but there was a little road that went up through there, and I was sitting there thinking, man, this is actually kind of perfect. Uh the little road led to a greenfield, and I was like, all this turkey has to do is pitch down and walk right up this road, and uh, you know, I'll be able to kill him. Well, turkey flew down, and uh he sat out there for forever, it seemed like, and he just gobbled in the same spot over and over and over again. And I had given myself uh a certain amount of time to uh you just kind of wasted time crew.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's what she just kind of threw me out of mercy.
SPEAKER_03No, he doesn't need to. Anyways, uh he just sat in the same spot, just gobbling over and over and over again. And I had given myself a certain amount of time. I was like, all right, if it gets such and such time, you know, I'm gonna get up and move on this turkey. Just you know, trying to give myself a little bit of patience because if it was up to me right then, I was just gonna get up and move. But I was like, nope, I'm gonna sit here till it turns this time. I literally do the same thing. And I was like, if it gets here, then I'll move. And uh anyway, sure enough, that time rolls around. And uh I was like, all right, he's in the same spot, we'll get up and move. Well, I I looped around and I was gonna get behind him. There was a little uh fire lane that they had pushed out that I was gonna walk down. I walked down it the whole entire time I was walking turkey and I was like, I mean, sounded pretty much the same exact spot. Yeah. Well, uh, I had to cross a little bit of water. There was a creek, had to cross a creek on the other side of the creek. There was a briar thicket. I remember I was cussing. I was like, my, I mean, this briar thick was 30, 40 yards long. And I was like, when is this thing gonna end? Anyways, I got through all that, and I got around there to where I thought I was probably a hundred yards from the turkey, and uh sat down, and I had I'd heard the turkey gobble not very long before I sat down. And uh, anyways, sat down, yelped. I just knew he was gonna, I just knew he was gonna eat it up right and uh yelped, nothing. And I was like, man, ain't no way. Yelped a little bit louder, nothing. And I was like, well, maybe he's coming. I got ready, and I was sitting there and uh I mean this turkey had been gobbling. I mean like every 20 seconds he had been gobbling. I was like, I mean, I'm not hearing him. Yeah, and uh so I yelped real loud. I heard the turkey gobble way off, and I was like, I couldn't even course the direction of how far he was gobbling, like I didn't even know where to go. And uh I was like, man, I ain't nowhere it's the same freaking turkey. Yelped again very loud. And I was like, my gosh. And so I was like, Well, let me walk up here where this joker was just gobbling at. Well, get on up there to where he was gobbling at. Yep.
SPEAKER_01And I was like, Let me take a wild guess.
SPEAKER_03Right up there where he's at. Yeah. He had done walk past where I was sitting at, and I was like, Man, ain't no freaking way. Well, where I was sitting at, it kind of let me think of how to explain this. There's a long road that goes down through there, anyways. Where I was at, it's a greenfield, but it like drops off down into the bottom. Right. And I was like, I was down in the bottom. Yeah, he was up top. And uh, anyways, so I was like, Well, let me let me, I don't really know how I'm gonna do this. And uh luckily, uh the grass was growing up in the field very tall, like it was really tall. And so I was like, Well, this actually might work out pretty good. After I had struck the turkey again, yelped at him, uh, which he could have been gobbling nonstop the whole entire time. I could just barely hear him. Right. Anyways, he was just gobbling over and over and over again. And I was like, okay, well, this actually works out pretty good. Because every time he gobbled, I was like, all right, I can move up some more. Well, I finally got right there at like the lip of the uh where it rolls over and flattens out towards the road. The road's probably 25, 30 yards. Right. And uh there was a tree that was right there, and it was it wasn't a very tall tree, it was probably an eight-foot tall tree, and it was kind of bushed out a little bit. And uh I was like, shoot, I can probably walk right up here behind this tree and see this turkey. Well, I got right up there behind the tree, and I knew he didn't see me because he gobbled, I mean, right there, and he was behind a little tree, about the same size I was. If the tree was in between me and him, and I couldn't, I couldn't see him, and I was like, as soon as he pops out behind the tree, I'm gonna kill him. Just over and over again, and I was like, Well, let me see if I can get him to come out behind that tree right there in my face, and I was like, Man, I ought to be able to see this freaking turkey. Well, he shut up for a minute, and I was like, Well, he's walking somewhere, undoubtedly, because I wasn't hearing him drumming and I didn't hear him gobble. I was like, he's moving somewhere. Well, he drummed again, and he was to my left. And uh I looked out behind the tree, and there he was, like half strut, and uh Joker had like a little four-inch beard on him, and uh I was like, Ain't no way it's a freaking Jake. And uh then wasn't but a second later he popped full strut and he had a full fan. I was like, all right, that's good enough for me. And uh he popped out on the other side of the tree and uh I shot him. But uh, anyways, the reason of telling that story is I thought it was a good time to move on the turkey, thought I had sat there for long enough.
SPEAKER_01And uh you had already shut up on the turkey for turkey.
SPEAKER_03I had shut up on that turkey for a long time. Probably like 30 minutes. Actually, I tree upped that turkey twice and uh he gobbled both times. And after I did that, I had I'd honestly regretted even saying a word to the turkey because he stayed in the tree for forever, and I was like, man, ain't no way like I didn't say anything. Well then he hit the ground. When he hit the ground, I started yelping to him pretty good because I was like, I'm gonna pull him on over here. Well, then I shut up, and I think I sat there for probably 20 or 30 minutes, and uh I like I say I'd give him myself a time and uh it hit that time and I was like, all right, well, I'm gonna move. Well, I guess about the time I decided to move is when he decided he was gonna move too.
SPEAKER_01That extra 20 minutes would have if you'd have sat there an extra 15, 10, 15 minutes, he'd have been dead.
SPEAKER_03The the way that this this property kind of worked out, this turkey literally had to walk through the gap that I had my gun pointed toward. There he couldn't walk through any other place. This is the only place he walked, and he walked straight up through there.
SPEAKER_01And uh it's like my sweet spot, and and and I need to push it back because I I've seen it happen time and time again, but it's like you sit in there and you shut up on a turkey and you're like, 20 minutes. I ain't say anything for 20 minutes. Yeah. And it's like after that 20 minutes, you're like, I need to move on him. You know, if he's still gobbling in the same spot, let me move. Yeah. And you get around him on the other side, and boom, if you just sat there another 10 minutes, 10, 20 minutes, and then he's he's right there from where you're gobbling from. That's happened to us this year several times.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Which is it's one of those things. I mean, you you say that, and then there's other times where you make the move and it can happen in Absolutely. I mean, just a minute. I mean, you just get in that spot and he's like, okay, I'll go there.
SPEAKER_01It's like I've I've watched uh the Hunting Public's videos like from this year. It's it's been several of them already. And then they'll they'll sit there and they'll listen to a turkey gobble and they've they'll they're interacting with him, calling to him for like an hour, 45 minutes to an hour, and it just won't budge. He just stays out there and gobble and they're like, All right, we need to make a loop. It's gonna take us two and a half hours to make this loop. But sure enough, they get around there and it's been three hours since they called to the turkey. They call to him once, he's dead in five minutes. Yeah. It's just if you get to that spot where he wants to come to, man. But it's just like, you know, you sit there and he gobbles in the same spot for 30 minutes, and it's like, do I move? Once again, it's one of those things, it's just like I don't know. It's a 50-50 thing. Yeah, you'll move and then he'll be right gobbled 20 yards from where you were just sitting, or you'll get around, you'll yelp to him once, he'll come marching up there and you'll kill him. It's just kind of one of those things. I don't know, it's just yeah. There there is no absolutes in the Target.
SPEAKER_00For me, that's that's much easier to uh for me to kind of play that scenario in my head out before I do it when I'm in good ridges, a good ridge system. Yeah. I don't know because we don't have much of that.
SPEAKER_01Me and John don't have much of that around here.
SPEAKER_00Y'all got a lot of flat ground, dude. That's so difficult in flat ground because I mean, you don't know.
SPEAKER_03Uh you take a risk of spooking the turkey on some flat ground.
SPEAKER_01It's like the same bottom. I mean, well, and like you're saying, you get behind that ridge, he's not seeing you. And also you could probably be 200 yards from him, but be completely hidden and behind. I could be 200 yards from the turkey at any point in a bottom that I'm hunting, and he can see me 200 yards. Like, that's not safe.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, and like, okay, if I'm if I'm on this ridge or in this bottom and there's a turkey on the ridge in front of me, and he's gobbling and he's hung up, been hung up for 20, 30, 40 minutes. Yeah, it's much easier for me to accept, like, okay, I do need to move on this turkey, make my mind up and go for it, you know? Because uh, more times than not, for me personally, if I loop around and get on the the back side of his ridge, if he's on the end of a finger, man, a lot of times you get on that that ridge with him.
SPEAKER_02Turkey can fit on your finger.
SPEAKER_00No, I ain't got your mouth. Anyways, you get on that same little ridge with him, and he's much more susceptible just to march right in there. Right. You know, versus uh him having to walk down this ridge, across this bottom, up on the ridge where you were previously calling from. It just a lot of times to me they just don't like to do that.
SPEAKER_01But you can get into your point. I I've also had a turkey freaking fire ridge and get and just come over there. It's just like you have a death wish.
SPEAKER_03Well, I I say this, you can get into a lot of topics based off of this one topic. But one that comes to mind with me talking about moving on turkeys and ridges, um, you can mess up and think a turkey, you need to move on a turkey because he sounds very far off and move and spook that turkey off the same ridge that you're on.
SPEAKER_01Like when me and when me and you went and hunted some public last week, it's that was kind of like my first vet, like my first go of hunting ridges this year. And I that's why I told I looked at you and told you, I said, I kept telling you, I turkey to the left, I turkey to the left, and you're like, he's to the right. I'm like, I told you, I was like, look, let's just go with you. I said, because these ridges are messing with me.
SPEAKER_03Everything I would say, be like, dude, I swear that turkey's over. I was like, Daniel, that turkey is right there.
SPEAKER_01And it was playing with me. And that's like I just don't have it. I mean, I love hunting turkeys and terrain. I just don't have anything with terrain. You step up on an anthill and you at the highest point.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I don't know. I feel like uh I like hunting terrain as well. I do keep like just like but you might have a bunch of people that hunt terrain all the time and they might love coming down here. Bottom land turkeys? Yeah. I don't know. Teach their own.
SPEAKER_00I feel like if you make a loop on a turkey in flat ground, you have to make it so much bigger than you do on a turkey.
SPEAKER_01That's like today, we made a mile or more loop, like a mile straight away from them and get all the way around these turkeys today. You know, just because and and it's like I've said it time and time again, it's the same darn bottom I've been talking about. It's like I can either get 150 yards from them from the south, or I can come in from the north and get 150 yards, but that's pretty much as close as I can get because it's nothing but wide open hardwoods, you know, and it's like half the times they go to the north, half the times they go to the south. So it's like I don't know, I don't know, I don't know. Those turkeys stump me.
SPEAKER_03I mean it depends on the day.
SPEAKER_01It just depends on the day. I mean, today he came up here and looked, it's just unfortunate.
SPEAKER_03Well, kind of switching gears, yeah. We uh 15 days we start traveling, which I'm I don't know, it's kind of kind of sad. But uh I don't know.
SPEAKER_01Boys, I ain't killed a turkey since March 22nd. Oh I'm itching. Yeah, kind of ready. I'm ready to travel too, but yeah, I'm I don't know. When the traveling's all said and done, yeah, it's over. You know, sad. It is sad.
SPEAKER_03But it's fun when you're doing it.
SPEAKER_01It is. It's like it's we've talked about it, we talk about it all the time, but it's it's like, man, we wait on this all year, and it's it's like we count down the days. We have the countdown app on our phone, we do the countdown on the podcast, and it feels like you're forever and a day away. All of a sudden here we are opening day, and you're it's almost over. Yeah, like we have three weeks left of season. Yeah. It's crazy, man.
SPEAKER_00And I still got two turkeys to kill. Yep.
SPEAKER_01And it's like I was telling John too, I was like, you know, as hard as as that first one was to come by for you. You I mean, I was telling Connor today, like it don't take but just a few minutes, and your whole season can be turned around. I mean absolutely it all it takes is one yelp thing. They call it right place, right time. That's it. Right place, right time. Buddy, it's just been a lot of right place, right time for me and my wife this year. I mean, there's been there's been more turkeys dead within like from start to finish of the hunt. I don't know.
SPEAKER_03That's what I was telling Seth uh today, actually. He was like, Man, I can't find a goblin turkey. And I was like, Man, the turkeys I've found, they come running to the call.
SPEAKER_01I mean, it's just like I don't I don't know. Even today, y'all have y'all went to a place that like you know for a fact in the past week has had goblin turkeys on it. Yeah, and today was a gorgeous day. I heard turkeys all over the place. Yeah, and y'all didn't hear anything. And I just I don't think, and it's like some people will go and if they're not experiencing turkey hunting, they're like, oh man, ain't no turkeys on that place. They're there.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's like Cush Strickland today. He was like, Man, I would have figured they'd burn it up, but they didn't. It's like, but you know turkeys are on the place. I don't know. I don't know what it is that tells a turkey not to gobble. I have no idea. I you know, I don't think there's a lot of things. If I could figure that out, I'd be a rich man. Yeah. But that's just what makes turkey hunting special as it as it is, you know.
SPEAKER_00You'd be the turkey consultant. The turkey consultant. You can still describe that table before. Shoot, man.
SPEAKER_01Hey, well, y'all boys got anything else? No, just I reckon y'all stay tuned. Uh y'all uh I swear it's we sound like a broken record. Uh we're gonna get them some hats and some Yeah, we'll have some for sure before next year. Yeah, I'm gonna tell y'all this, and and y'all have figured this out. If y'all ain't, I'm telling you now. Man, turkey season rolls around. There ain't one thing on these three boys' brain. No. We do good to get a podcast come out every week. Seriously. It's been a struggle.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, no joke. It's hard to get all three of us together.
SPEAKER_01It's the first time all season we've been together.
SPEAKER_03Well, before season, we all three looked forward to it. It's so much fun. Yeah, I mean, but now it's just like, all right, podcast to the side. Now the main thing, the main thing.
SPEAKER_01Now, would it be different if Seth had killed a turkey? Probably so.
SPEAKER_00I killed a turkey. Yeah, he has killed a turkey. And now he's here. Okay, but the past two weeks. We had all of the last week, buddy. You weren't.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and that's what I'm saying. The past two weeks. Oh, whatever. After you've killed a turkey. God playing football, me boy. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03But uh no, with that being said, uh heck, I don't know. Me and Dan kind of running out of stories, kind of up to Seth with the storytelling. So if y'all have a topic or anything you want us to talk about, please send.
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, what is the what is the borrowed time pod at outlook.com.
SPEAKER_03That's the email. And then, like I say, we're on Bartime Media. Yeah, give us a follow if you will.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I want to hear some feedback from y'all.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Look, give us some topics, what you want us to talk about.
SPEAKER_00Somebody sent us a topic. We say that. Yeah, and then we'll they were coming in before season, but I guess everybody else.
SPEAKER_01Everybody else. I mean, it's just now opening for the majority of the nation.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. So uh, and then uh I've saw a scene where a few people have uh commented on our stuff on Spotify and then also Yeah, we appreciate that.
SPEAKER_01And once we once we do have some hats and some consistent merchandise coming out, we're gonna treat y'all right. I mean, we you know think it's pretty cool that people even want to listen to what these three rednecks have to say.
SPEAKER_03Like I said, we uh we enjoy doing it, but yeah, uh, I don't know, I've never thought. I honestly I didn't even know if it would last this long. I think the only reason it's lasted this long is because we bought all the stuff and we have it all here.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's right. Yeah. If we could record it on our phone or something, I don't think it would.
SPEAKER_03No, I don't think we would have lasted that long, which honestly has done done pretty good. So uh, but like I say, we appreciate y'all listening. If you would uh leave a review or uh what's it? Comment somebody please a rating and a review. Yeah, a rating and a review, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Um you know a lot of podcasts do that favor of the week. Yeah. That's my favorite of the week. Somebody leave us a topic. Yep. That's NS1.
SPEAKER_03Be pretty good. Uh is there anything else? I guess that's it.
SPEAKER_01Yes, but one thing left to do, and that's take us out of here, John.
SPEAKER_03We'll see y'all later.
