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
Borrowed Time Heads North
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
The Borrowed Time crew loaded up the trucks and pointed north trying to make the best of the last bit of spring and were able to run into a few willing participants. We take y'all through our hunts and what led us to a gobbling turkey. Y'all enjoy!
What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to another episode of the Bar Time Podcast. My name is Daniel Halfaker, and sitting here with my good buddy Johnson Wells, and we did manage to get old Seth Box on the phone today.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, he is on the phone, but I'm not too sure he's too happy to be on the phone. No, he don't want to be, but he's but he's here. Say hello, Seth.
SPEAKER_01If I didn't have this if I didn't have this serious feedback coming through my phone, it'd be great.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I I'm I guess I'm the one that's technically supposed to be over the soundboard, and I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing on there.
SPEAKER_04We don't forgot how to do this whole podcast thing.
SPEAKER_02So uh I don't know if it's if it's on our end or if it's on Seth in Seth end.
SPEAKER_01Yeah I hope it's just it sounds like a UFO flying by my window.
SPEAKER_04I hope it's just on Seth's end. That way we can at least post this, uh post this and not have to read redo anything. But you know, we'll I guess we'll figure that out. But I guess we forgot to do how forgot how to do this whole podcast thing. We uh we did forewarn y'all that it probably would be a a missed week last week.
SPEAKER_02Seth, hold on, wasn't Daniel the one that was saying, or was it Seth? No, it was Seth that was saying uh we were gonna take the stuff and we'd have time to do it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, the other. I think I saw Seth for a total of ten minutes on that trip.
SPEAKER_01Uh, it had to been fifteen at least.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I guess I guess you're right. But you know, I guess uh spoiler alert, we just got back. I say just got back, we've been back a week now.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Uh and uh we had a we had a great trip. Bar time crew. We uh we had a a really, really good trip. So uh heck I guess just go ahead and get us started, sis, since you're limited on time uh and gotta get you know gotta go celebrate Mother's Day. Happy Mother's Day to that. Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, absolutely. Traveling from Seyonce's family uh to go see my family, and Addie's coming in a little bit. She had an exam to take.
SPEAKER_04This 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 goblins or getting back to camp after an all-day tip, staying 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 Williston and take care of yourself like you take care of your hunt.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I guess we we kicked off the trip, me, Jonathan, and dad in uh Missouri. And um day one was a complete washout with the whole one o'clock cutoff and everything. Uh got to a spot, just a general area. We didn't really didn't know where to go, but the area looked good, and uh but I mean, you know, you can't do anything with wind and rain, so had to deal with that. And uh it sounded like broke around 11. And um we got in the woods, put some boots on the ground, walked a couple miles. Uh, didn't never strike anything, but you know, I mean I guess they were still drowning off or something. I don't know, but so day one, uh, as far as hunting goes, that's that's about it. We didn't really get to hunt much. Me and John found some uh turkeys in the field, ended up getting with the landowner and getting permission and uh make game plan toward the next morning. Um we actually watched these turkeys feed in this big field and slide up the roof. So, I mean, that's about as good of uh intel as you can have. Um so the next morning we were out there well before daylight, and uh we were planning on my badge shooting first, and then me and Johnson shooting second and third, however, it shook him out. But I mean, there was we saw a total of like like seven different gobblers in this field, so um, I mean, it would have been in a perfect world, I guess, but then it would have all fallen down and we could triple, you know. I mean, that that the likelihood of that happening was slam to none. So uh, anyways, turkey starts gobbling and uh give a little bit of a little bit of a tree yelp, and they crank on it. And uh all all the gobblers are gobbling at this point. And um, John, how many times did we yelp with those turkeys?
SPEAKER_02So the first time you yelped, you did a soft little tree yep. I don't I don't remember if they gobbled or not. Uh the second time you did it a little bit louder, and all of them gobbled, and it wasn't shoot, it wasn't 10 seconds after they all gobbled, you hear one of them pitching down. Yeah, and then and then he hits the ground 20 yards, and then a second one pitches down, and then I'll I'll let you take the story back over.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, cool. So at this point, there's two gobblers on the ground in front of us, no hens. Uh the other turkeys haven't flown down yet, but the ones that are in front of us are kind of like, you know, I heard this hen right here. Uh, you know, where's she at? Um they're kind of getting a little sketchy. I said, What do you think, John? He said, Heck, shoot 'em, man. So I'm not going to tell y'all exactly what took place, but it was uh it was a major mess up on all of our ends.
SPEAKER_03It was a fiasco.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, which which resulted in uh me killing the turkey, uh dad not killing his turkey, and John, he was a little bit lighter in the uh shell department. All three of us were. So it it was it was a complete and utter medicine if I have ever seen one. Um I'm actually I'm still killing my turkey, so you know I'm I'm pretty pumped about that. Everybody's just kind of like what just happened, what just took place. But in the midst of us um walking to my turkey, shaking them out, um, the turkey that damage him, and then the mother gumblers had gunned together, and um we were on the little ditch where they separated this field basically two-thirds and one-third, and we were in the small summon. And uh so these gumblers have all of them come created on the on the bigger cement of this ditch, and um they wouldn't remember like nothing and ever had them never hang them over there, and uh and as we're standing there on top of my turkey, like hey, well let's y'all open at them, so we we open at them, all of them gobble and like, holy crap, you know, what's what's going on? So, anyways, slip in the ditch, uh pick up about 50 on them, and then Jonathan and Dad slip up out of the ditch and get into a good like prone position on the edge of this field. And uh these turkeys aren't what do you think, John, 150 from us?
SPEAKER_02Well, the well the first time that I saw them, they were probably a hundred, but they were they were walking to the right, but they were kind of angling back towards the ditch. So the further right they went, the closer they were getting to us. And uh so anyways, so then then I didn't mean to cut you off. No, that's fine. Go ahead. You can go ahead with it.
SPEAKER_01Well, from my perspective, I couldn't actually see these turkeys, but John he gave me the hand motion telling me to call. So uh I yelp, and you know, I'm thinking these turkeys are like 150, 200 yards out of the field. And uh man, when they got one, I'm like, oh my gosh, they're they're gotta be within gun range. I guess they were probably, I don't know, 75 or so. Yeah. But it was very loud. There wasn't any wind.
SPEAKER_02Well, and and when I told you to yelp at the turkey, so when I first saw them, they were working to the right, and they were kind of working back towards us. Well, uh, that's when I motioned Seth's dad to come up out of the ditch and come up there beside me. And when I did, I turned back around, and for some reason or another, we hadn't even called to the turkeys yet, but they were walking straight towards us. The hens were feeding straight towards us.
SPEAKER_01Well, we had called on the other side of the ditch.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Okay, yeah, that is true. Okay, so that could have been the reason that they were coming that way. Anyways, they were walking straight to us. Yeah, and uh there was some rolls in the field, and so it was really hard to judge a distance. And uh I got Seth's dad to crawl up there beside me and at this point in time, they were probably at 45 yards. I didn't know it. They looked further, and uh, so we kept letting them come a little bit, and I asked uh I asked Seth's dad, I was like, How far you think those turkeys are? And he was like, Well, he was like, I know those hens are in gun range. He was like, but I don't know about the gobblers. He was like, if they'll get to where the hens are, he was like, I think we can try them. And uh anyways, no sooner than he said that, the hens they turn and they start kind of walking back to the left, and uh they're they're about to walk what we think is out of gun range. And uh so that's when I motioned back to Seth and I'm like, call to him. Well, Seth thinks they're about 150, 200 yards, and he calls and they about to blow our hats off. And uh I'm telling you. Anyways, when when he did that, uh like I say, the gobblers when the hens started feeding to the left, they had turned and they were going in right behind them. Well, when Seth yelped at them, uh they all galled when they turned and they were facing straight to us and they were strutting and they were walking directly at us. And uh anyways, I'll let you take the story back over, Seth, if you'd like to.
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean, from my perspective, I I was kind of down in a hole, couldn't really see, but I I just pretty much continue to call. Uh, and these turkeys are tearing it up, and I'm like, oh my gosh, they ought to be shooting any second, really. And uh finally I see them kind of I see Jonathan and Dad kind of you know getting down on the gun. I'm like, okay, it's fixing to happen. And uh Yeah, I couldn't see them, so all I heard was a bunch of shooting, uh, or some more shooting, maybe not a bunch, but some more shooting. Actually, when y'all shot it, it sounded like one gun shot. That that y'all played that perfect.
SPEAKER_02The one, two, three shoot. Here's the one question. Do I tell the whole part of my of the whole entire story of what all I did?
SPEAKER_01You can just tell the end result. You can just tell the end result.
SPEAKER_03Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01So uh we'll leave it up to their imaginations on that end.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, so uh to kind of put this into perspective, we're not sitting like we don't have our backs against a tree. Like I'm laying on my stomach, his dad's laying on his stomach. There's a wall. It's not really briars. Um, I don't even know what you call it. Anybody that hunts the Midwest will know what you're talking about. It's just extremely thick. Thick green. Yeah, and it's it's I mean, got some big leaves on it, it's leafed out. Um, and so I we were trying to, his dad crawled up here beside me. He's like, All right, we're gonna shoot on three. And uh I was like, All right, that'll work. So we're both trying to I every time he would get ready and get down on his turkey, I wouldn't have a gap. My turkey would be behind some stuff. I'd have to wait on it to walk into the gap. Anyways, we went through that three times. He, you ready? No, give me a second, I gotta find a gap. And give it a give it a second. All right, you ready? No, hold on, give me one more second. Anyways, finally, uh I was just like, all right, we can try it. Well, one, two, three, shoot, we both pulled the trigger. Well, my turkey's still standing there. And I was like, Well, I guess I missed. Undoubtedly I missed. And so I stood up and in the meantime, uh Seth had given me a one of his shells as a backup shell. And uh anyway, so when I stood up, the turkey the turkey I shot at was still standing there. I got my red dot on him. I mean, he was just standing there looking at me. Got my red dot on him, and I was standing up above all the thick crap, and so I got my gun down on him and I pulled the trigger and nothing happened, and I was like, what the heck? I looked over.
SPEAKER_01Hold up, hold up. Wait, I thought you were gonna bash the shell.
SPEAKER_02Oh no, no, no, no, no. No, I looked over my gun, my gun was jammed. And so uh anyways, by the time I realized my gun was jam, I shoved a shell in there and the turkey had taken off running. And uh, anyways, so I missed my turkey. Come to find out the reason the gun jammed is because uh it was one of Seth's shells he reloads. What what are they just a little bit long for uh automatic? Is that what you said?
SPEAKER_01Okay, that yeah, this isn't common knowledge, but an automatic, actually, the the shells that you that cycle in it are a little shorter than three inches. Uh or two and maybe eleven sixteenths. Uh regardless, uh pump, which is what I shoot, cycles the three-inch shells perfectly fine. So if you're reloading your shells, you're shooting an automatic, you're actually supposed to trim your hole a little bit before you uh load the shell. Um, which, like I said, I shoot a pump, so that I don't have that problem. They they pump perfectly fine in my gun. And in the heat of the moment, John needed a shell, so I just gave him the you know, gave him a shell. And uh so that that's what what happened there.
SPEAKER_02Um Yeah, so then he got his. Well, I mean, the whole entire time we're thinking these turkeys are like right on the edge of gun range, maybe. Like we were laying on our stomachs, like I said, there was rolls. Ended up being 31 yards, is where the turkeys are standing. And no idea how I missed. Um I got my suspicions. The only thing I can guess is when you when you're shooting on three with somebody, I don't know. I feel like you're more or less worried about pulling the trigger on three than you are. Okay, I need to have the turkey. Yeah, I need to be on the turkey. And that's the only thing I can guess as far as that.
SPEAKER_04It couldn't have been that box blend shell because they always go off right. Well, I didn't always shoot right now.
SPEAKER_02I didn't even get to shoot the box blend shell.
SPEAKER_04So I thought that was always comment on them box blend shells, but that's that was a box blend, that's why it wouldn't eject.
SPEAKER_02The first one, no, the first one I shot.
SPEAKER_01Hey, I killed two turkeys on that trip and both of them box blends worked. No, super fake.
SPEAKER_02The box blend was up after the apex and it wouldn't go in because it was a little bit long.
SPEAKER_04Um so still comes down to the box blend failure.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but I can't hate on the box. Comes down to John to not having enough shells. He was okay.
SPEAKER_03We're not gonna tell the reason I don't have enough shells, but but they were shooting him out the truck window.
SPEAKER_02I mean that ain't what was happening. Oh, wow. I was listening to Seth when I should have been listening to myself. People are gonna be wondering what in the world we're talking about. It really ain't that bad. It's just a bunch of shooting and missing going on, really.
SPEAKER_04All that happened.
SPEAKER_02You just in the heat of the moment, you know, your common sense doesn't really kick in until after the stuff happened, and you're like, why did I do that? But anyway.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, he was he was moving pretty good.
SPEAKER_04And that this was on a uh this was on a Tuesday, if I remember correctly. And then y'all, y'all went ahead and and drove on up to our next destination uh where where me and Caitlin were leaving Tuesday afternoon to uh come up and meet y'all. Hey, can you hear me? Yeah, we can hear you. Now we can't.
SPEAKER_02This might be where Seth explained.
SPEAKER_04This might be the end of Seth. That's probably what he's telling us anyway. Yeah, probably so.
SPEAKER_02We'll give him a second and see. Alright, I guess not. We'll we'll go ahead. Yeah, okay. There he is. All right, so yeah, but then uh after that, um, we hunted because I was trying to fill my tag. We we went to uh Pizza Public, actually got on two or three different turkeys. I wouldn't ever say we really got on them. It was very odd. Uh I don't know, it was really weird. The terrain was kind of messing with us. We'd go to one spot and you'd hear the turkey gobble, you'd get around there pretty close, and turkey never would gobble. You'd go back to the same spot where you heard him the first time and he'd gobble again, and it would be like, I mean, finally we just gave up on the situation. We were like, whatever. Yeah. Um, so we packed up, we headed on to our next destination. Um got there. We hunted there the year before. Um, and so we had some uh there's a lot of good public around there, but then we we had also we gotten some permission um last year, and so we went back and uh stopped by a few places um and got got some permission again. Um anyways, uh Seth and his dad, they watched two of 'em uh go to roost. This was on Tuesday. Yeah, Tuesday afternoon, Tuesday. Yeah, Tuesday afternoon, Tuesday night. Um, anyways, they had both killed, so they're like, you can go there and start out. Um and so, anyways, that's what I did. I went and broke daylight there. Turkeys were acting weird. They were gobbling good, but I mean it was like 7 30. I think they were still in the tree. If they weren't still in the tree, they were right under where they roosted at. They were just sitting there and they would gobble like every now and then. And uh then Daniel and Caitlin they drove up. Um that was round about the time we were getting there. Yeah. About 7 30. So they drove over there and met me. Um the wind was blowing 25, 30 miles an hour. I mean, it was ridiculous. Like normally on them windy days, you'll have at least an hour or two. Yeah. But this was not the case. No. Um, I mean, but we were there to hunt, so that's what we were doing. We were hunting. Um, we actually we we busted a loop around through there. Got those turkeys gobbled one time. Twice. Okay, twice, that's right. They were in the same spot. Um, and at one point in time, I I would have guessed they were maybe 7500 yards from us. And uh all we did was just walk up on them near about.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Because I mean, you would have had they ha you wouldn't have heard them much further than that anyway. No, because I mean it was the wind was whooping. It was bad. Anyways, it was one of those days where if I was at the house, you know, I would I would dare say I might not even go hunting because I would say it'd be a waste of time.
SPEAKER_04Probably just going to work.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. And uh so, anyways, we we hopped in the the vehicle um rode around for a little bit just trying to, you know, see if we could see any turkeys. Um didn't hardly see any turkeys. Picked a random piece of public and uh just decided, you know, we're just gonna go in there, hike in there, and see if we can find a turkey or something. Um we're down at the bottom. We're down in a bottom. We have to hike when we get to this piece of public. We have to hike up. I mean, what would you wouldn't call that? What would you call that? What uh what would I call what? The hill? Is it a he is it considered a hill?
SPEAKER_04It ain't necessarily a mountain, I don't reckon. But no, it is uh from coming from Mississippi, yeah. I I mean you'd say mountain. But I mean technically I guess it would just be a really steep ridge. I mean, yeah, it's a really steep ridge.
SPEAKER_02Rock walls and everything else.
SPEAKER_04It did have rock walls, like some of it was was literally impassable, like you couldn't go up it. And and just to add this before John continues, this was a random piece of public, but it also was a random way to get into this piece of public. Yeah. It wasn't the front, like the gate, you would say, to get into this place where 95% of people would park at. Uh the the spot we were wanting to hit was like kind of at the back of this piece of public. So we were like, you know, let's go around here, go up the really hard way, and uh see if we can make something happen.
SPEAKER_02So we climb up top, and the whole entire time we're climbing up top. The whole whole purpose of going up top was there was a field up top, and there was a block of woods and everything else, and we were just gonna check the field. Thinking back now, why we were checking fields at this point in time, I have no idea because it was just Turkey, Turkey was not gonna be in the field.
SPEAKER_04From past history, we knew that turkeys should be in the fields a around this place. Right. And I mean, like I say, they were just were they weren't gonna be in a field all the time. Also, once we got up there, we realized it wasn't like a a cut corn field or nothing like that. No, it was like a CRP field that they had flattened down.
SPEAKER_02When we when we got up there, I was kind of disappointed because I was expecting, you know, a pretty field or whatever. We get up there, and I'm just like, man, this is not what I was expecting. And uh we get up there, and tell you how hard the wind's blowing, it blew my hat off my head. Just standing there. Just standing there, it blew my hat off my head. And we were we had we got when we got up top, we were so tired from climbing, we just sat down for a little bit. And uh obviously I was I just yelped a few times, and uh it was hilarious because we were sitting there and I was like, Man, I'm not even sure if a turkey could hear this 50 yards away. Like it sounded like it was going nowhere.
SPEAKER_04There was a wood line about 75 yards, and we were like, we literally were like, There could be a turkey right there, and I don't even think he's hearing it.
SPEAKER_02No. And uh me and Caitlin, we'll be the first to tell you. We we were like, let's just turn around and go back to the vehicle. Like, we're not doing I mean, like, I wasn't sure we were doing any good. And uh Danny was like, well, let's just walk right down here and we'll make a little loop around. Yeah, let's just walk right down here and make a little loop down through here and we'll make our way back to the vehicle. And so we were like, all right. We walked down to the wood line and uh I called and I couldn't believe it. I called and we all three looked at each other. That was a turkey goal. And uh did it again, he hit it again. And so we were thinking, you know, but he's not it wasn't terribly far. How far was he? Maybe maybe 150? Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I think he was well, it would have been had to have been about two hundred. Now how we could hear him, I don't really know.
SPEAKER_02Because we ended up I think well, once we dropped off down there, you could hear just a little bit better because He was about 200.
SPEAKER_04He was about 200.
SPEAKER_02But he didn't sound 200 now. No. I think his sound was traveling up through the bottom. Right. I think that's what it was. So we we sat down. Um, pretty much anything we did, he gobbled at, and uh we we gave it maybe ten minutes and we decided, all right, we need to move on this turkey. Well, we were walking up through there and uh the woods they weren't even leafed out, but gosh, they were just thick.
SPEAKER_04It was like a ton of saplings, but they were like I don't know if a burn had been ran through there the year prior, but it was like that all of them were dead. But it was just a bunch of like stems of trees. It was it was terrible.
SPEAKER_02I knew if this turkey came up through here, like it was he was gonna be extremely close before I saw him.
SPEAKER_04Just to go ahead and get somebody off our back that would try to be. We only set up on that turkey the first time because we knew how limited the hearing was, and so we knew if we were hearing that turkey, he was close. So we had to sit down in order to see. Now, as we were sitting there, we were like, okay, we're not gonna kill him from this spot. Right. So, but we were also just trying to give him an opportunity to come if he was gonna. So we were just letting him tell us what to do next. Well, he stayed in the same spot, so we were like, okay, yeah, let's go.
SPEAKER_02A lot of times, too, if you strike a turkey, um and he gobbles at you, I mean they could be they could be coming at you. I mean, they could be making their way towards you. This was 1045, 11 o'clock, too. So I mean if you think you need to move and he thinks he needs to move, well, you might meet each other in the process of moving.
SPEAKER_04Never you never regret just sitting down on him a minute and being patient. So anyway.
SPEAKER_02Uh so we got up there to the spot where we thought we needed to get, sat down. Um I mean, this Joker was gobbling. He'd gobble at pretty much anything he did. And uh he sounded like he was in the same spot for the longest time, but after the whole entire hunt, we can kind of tell no, he was moving. He just he sounded further in different places.
SPEAKER_04He had to come down before he could come up to get to us. Right. Oh and there was one break in the wind where like, and I mean break, like when it wasn't blowing at all, and I scratched. I was like, okay, I gotta give some realism. I scratched and he gobbled, and that's when I was like, okay, all right. How long did we sit there? Uh it wasn't ten minutes. Ten minutes, ten minutes max, because I videoed it and it's seven minutes and forty seconds.
SPEAKER_02So Daniel, Daniel was sitting behind us maybe 15 yards, and me and Caitlin were sitting on a tree. And we basically, I mean, it was so thick, this turkey could pop up anywhere. So she was kind of facing to the right, I was facing to the left. And uh it was one of those situations we both knew, all right, turkey's not making it out of here, so whoever can get a shot, that's who's shooting. Well, uh I just kind of went blank. Turkey was gobbling. Uh, and then I mean we're I'm sitting there kind of we're kind of going back and forth. Sometimes he sounds like he's going to the left, then other times he sounds like he's going to the right. Well, that's just that tree. He pops up right in between us at like 15 yards, but he's working to the right. And uh so anyways, I go ahead and I'm I'm getting my gun on him. Well, he goes behind a tree and he pops out on Caitlin's side. And uh, she's like, Can you shoot him? I'm like, No, you're gonna have to shoot him. And uh no sooner than I said that, she's like, Alright, well, she's she's about to shoot him. Well, he he kind of knows something's up at this point. He's like, Alright, I ought to be able to see a hen. So he turns around and he starts walking back left, and she's like, No, I can't shoot him, you better shoot him. And he was kind of getting out of there. So I leaned out behind the tree and uh shot the turkey. And I don't know, I watched a video back. It wasn't smoke that came out of my gun. I don't know if some of my shot skid across the ground. I don't know. It definitely makes a puff or what it was, it definitely makes a little puff. Yeah, and I couldn't tell if I killed the turkey or not. I couldn't see anything because of all of that. And uh, anyways, got up and I walked down there and sure enough, yeah, I got him.
SPEAKER_04I don't know if that I don't know if it's not professional footage by any means. It's good enough footage where it might make YouTube one day. And, you know, it it sounds like we're calling a lot. I guess we are. I guess I I am, I am calling a lot. Sound like I'm calling a lot, and I guess it because I was calling a lot, but it was one of those situations where if we don't see this turkey pop up, he very well could peek and get be out of there without anybody knowing because it was that kind of terrain and that kind of thick vegetation.
SPEAKER_02So yeah, he was trying to keep him gobbling that way you can kind of crush him where he's at. And it worked out. But yeah, that uh it worked out great really good. So that was that was the only turkey uh Seth and his dad, they didn't get on any. Uh and then we hunted the rest of the day. Um, heck, we didn't get on any.
SPEAKER_04We seen them that like to cross the road and we tried to fool with them. They it did end up getting on some pieces that we could hunt and just goofy turkey. That's a goofy turkey. Yeah. Uh, but that was the only one that was uh And I mean we did. We got off into some more bottoms and we just never turned anything up. Yeah, it was uh it was a tough day to hunt. It was like I said, scratch one out, but it was one of them days where, you know, like you said, you're back at home, you might not would even worry about it.
SPEAKER_02The next day, uh shoot, it was pretty. We we started at the same spot that I started the morning before, but didn't hear any turkey gobbling on the place that we could hunt. Um, and so, anyways, I've talked enough. I'll let you take it over.
SPEAKER_00All right, y'all, real quick. If you need professional video work done, you need to check out Colin Perry Productions. Weddings, business commercials, or honestly just about anything you want captured on video, call it your guy. With wedding season coming up, he's running a special right now on all wedding video packages. So head over to Colin PerryProductions.com to see his work and look with him.
SPEAKER_04We uh the that night that Johnson killed his turkey, me and Caitlin, it was so late by the time we got the turkey skin cleaned, and well, no, we had already cleaned him. So it was so it either way, it was so late by the time we dropped John off at his at his car and they got back to their hotel or whatever, and uh, I was like, Well, I ain't eating nothing, like I'm not gonna make nothing, let's just go to this gas station. Anyway, we talked to this guy, and of course we have camo on, and and this guy that was in there, he was like, Uh, you know, y'all turkey hunting? We're like, Yeah, we're turkey hunting, young guy. And uh he was like, Well, I'll tell you what, uh, he just pointed us in the direction of a town 15, 20 minutes away, and he was like, It's just a lot of turkeys around there, and and uh there's some good public land, the people are nice around there too, so if you do have to door knock, it should work out for you. Anyway, like we said, we started off that morning where uh where Johnson had started the morning prior, hoping those turkeys were around. Uh we heard a few turkeys, they were forever and a mile away, and if anybody hunts out there in the Midwest, you can just turkey forever and you can you can make a half a mile on him, and he still sounds just as far. Yeah. I'd hate to know just how far some of them turkeys were that we were here, and I think they honestly, I think they were across the blacktop over a mile away.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I guarantee you.
SPEAKER_04Anyway, so that was kind of a bust. We we didn't really strike anything that was on our property, so so we just hit the roads, and I was like, you know what, we ain't even we ain't even going let like let's not waste no time. Let's get over here to this to where this guy pointed us in the right direction. We got over there and and uh instantly we No, actually, yeah. No, we never we didn't see any turkeys. And the only finally we went down this little road and we saw a turkey in a field, and uh we pulled up our maps and we were like, all right, well, that guy doesn't own a single tree on his place. So he's walking towards those woods right there, and this guy lives right up here. Let's just let's go right up here and door knock on there and see, see what we can do. Well, we pull in the driveway, and and this guy, young guy, he's probably our age, he uh he was putting his kids in the car, in the car seat. And uh I guess I don't know, if if I don't know what if people do the same thing we do, we we take turns asking permission.
SPEAKER_05Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Well it was Caitlin's turn, and I was like, uh, all right, go up there and ask that guy. Just see. I was like, please, just tell him, look, all we're gonna do is just try to hunt this turkey right now. We had kind of gone through a dry spell of uh of permissions, so it was, you know, we were kind of down in the dumps on that, wasn't really expecting anything. And uh if you're sitting there in the car and you're not the one asking, you're kind of trying to pick up on the conversation. Well, I saw the smile come across Caitlin's face and I and I could read her read her mouth, and she was like, Oh my gosh, thank you so much. Yeah. And I was like, Oh, dude, she got permission, let's go. Anyway, she run started running back to the car. I'm sure that guy really thought we were a bunch of losers, but uh, she started running back to the car. She was like, Yeah, he said, he said, let's go. And he said, anything with his name on it, we can hunt. I was like, all right, sweet. We pull a we pull a uh pull a car up there and and hopped in this little piece of woods that this guy has, and pretty, pretty decent looking woods. I mean, it's thick, but everything up there's thick, so it's just hard to explain. Um anyway, we were we were walking down this little login road, and we got kind of close to where we were wanting to get. All of a sudden, this turkey gobbles. And Johnson was like, was that that turkey? Yeah, no, that wasn't a turkey.
SPEAKER_02It sounded extremely funny. Yeah. Like it was an extremely funny gobble, and I was like, Was that that turkey gobble? And then I was like, No, that wasn't him. And he know what had a turkey.
SPEAKER_03Then he did it again. I was like, That was a turkey gobble.
SPEAKER_04He had like a he had like a half gobble, and it also wasn't like a it was like a that's exactly what kind of what it sounded like. Sounded just like that. And I was like, man, this is a weird sounding dude. Anyway, uh, I ain't talking bad about him because he did everything we needed him to do, and he was a he was a handsome joker. Anyway, we sat down on a tree and and me and Caitlin's up to bat. John's just calling, so uh, I face one way in case he tries to loop around in case Caitlin faces the way that we think he's gonna come. Well, immediately we're like, mm, it's really, really, really thick. Like he's just gonna have to bebop through here, you know. But find a deer trail, trail, something. And uh, which just from hunting up there in years past, they will do it. They will walk through that thick crap. Anyway, this turkey uh he was gobbling and uh kind of sounded like he was staying in the same place. So after about it really wasn't long. It probably probably actually could have given him in a little bit longer, but uh after probably like five, six, seven minutes or something, I was like, there was a blowdown in front of us, about 20 yards, and I told Caitlin, I was like, get to that blowdown and just see what it looks like beyond that blowdown. I was like, you might have to get up there to where maybe to maybe an opening or something where where there is, but you know, something a little bit closer. We're probably 75 to 100 yards off this wood line. Uh that turkey was in that field, so you know, he had to come into the woods, but whatever. Anyway, she got up there to that blowdown, and the turkey kind of stopped gobbling. And uh, you know, it's one of those things, me and Johnson kind of looking at each other, we were like, he's probably coming. And so Johnson called a little bit, a little soft, didn't gobble, so he cut at him, didn't gobble, and I was like, oh man. Well, right after that, he started drumming, and it was really loud. And I was like, I told Johnson, I thought he was coming right. I told Johnson, I was like, he's gonna pop out in this road over here, I'm gonna have to kill him. And uh anyway, he it just kept getting louder and louder. And I guess Caitlin, she was moving around, so she just heard us calling and the turkey not gobbling, so she was like, Oh dang, we spooked him or something. And there was a turkey goblin on across the road. Uh so you know, she was like, Well, is that the turkey? Ain't no way that's the turkey. Well, she started looking back at me and she was about to stand up. And I said it a little too loud, honestly, but I was just trying to stop it. I was like, sit down, sit down. He's right there. Like his drumming was so, so, so loud. I knew if she stood up turkey, I don't know if he's gonna see her looking back, how thick it was, but he was gonna I don't know. Either she didn't need to stand up. He was very close. He was probably within 40 yards of her, I I'd guess. Yeah. And uh anyway, so she sat down and and then she started she's once I heard told her that I heard him drumming, she started listening for his drumming, and so she was hearing it then, and uh she said it was rattling her chest, man, and then all of a sudden she saw this turkey, and he once again he be bought one through one of them little deer trails, and uh he he came in and he stood on top of like the same blowdown that she was on. And he was about she said about five yards from her. And uh I think that's when he gobbled last was when he was right there.
SPEAKER_02She said she couldn't get her gun above the the log that she was sitting behind, so she couldn't shoot him.
SPEAKER_04And uh then. Yeah, yeah. So anyway, he gobbled like right there, but and he was gonna keep on coming around, but she was trying to get her gun up because this turkey's five yards from her, so she's in this blowdown trying to get her gun around some of these limbs. Well, between some between her moving around or whatever, he he kind of spotted her, so he turned around and started getting out of there. Well, then uh we heard me and Johnson heard him putting, and I was like, Oh man, I really hope she can see this turkey. And uh all of a sudden I see her stand up and I'm like, uh-oh, I really hope she can see this turkey. Well, then I see that gun come up and she shoots, and like the angle of it, she's like she was like pointed at the ground. And I was like, Oh, what is she doing? Then I saw her hands go up after she shot, and I was like, oh, sweet, kill she killed this turkey. Anyway, he was up there at like five yards and then ended up, he was about to come around the blowdown, and she would have shot him at the end of her gun barrel. But uh she's she started started trying to get her gun around and turkey spotted it, and he she ended up shooting him at like 10 yards, so he was still right there. But you know, I don't really like letting a turkey get that close, but there is no you don't have a choice in that. I mean, it's either he gets that close or you don't kill him, you know.
SPEAKER_02So a lot of times that's only how far you can see some of those places.
SPEAKER_04Well we we get up there to this turkey and he had I think it ended up being an inch and three-eighths, so it was just a little over uh a little over an inch and a quarter on one. The other one was kind of broke off, but it is a really good turkey. Uh he had when when I was breasting him out and and clinging him and stuff, he had a spot up under one of his wings where and it was like really dark, like green. Uh his breast meat was fine. There was nothing wrong with his breast meat. Uh but his wing was kind of green. I couldn't find a puncture wound, but something I don't know if if he was fighting, but that's just that's my take on why that turkey sounded weird. I think he was injured. Yeah. And then that's why he was sounding weird, because something was definitely wrong with him. And and that that side of the breast where he was injured on was like a third of the size of the other breasts. It was crazy how he had lost weight on that side. Uh but anyway, we got that turkey and and uh it was a it was a great hunt. So we got them got the monkey off Caitlin's back on that one. She had not killed on an out-of-state hunt in several years, so she was that was my my priority was get her on a good hunt, and it happened. He did it right. So after that, in in the midst of all of that, Seth had done texted us, hey, dad killed one. Hey, I just killed one. Yeah, they had both. And so they they got on a couple hot turkeys, and uh, I was like, well, shoot, be on the lookout for me one. And he was like, Well, there was actually, we actually are watching a turkey on our on the property that we kill these turkeys on right now. And I was like, sweet, well, we'll we'll be over there. And this is several hours had transpired in in in this time. Seth didn't kill this turkey until after Caitlin killed hers. So we had done clean the turkey, went over and thanked the landowner and talked to him for a while and uh, you know, just kind of expressing our appreciation on that and maybe trying to find another turkey. Uh anyway, so Seth told us, hey, I got a turkey over here strutting, you know, come see what you can do. Well, we head over there to where Seth and his dad are, and uh we get there, and of course, Turkey's gone. And I was like, Well, great, that sounds about right. You know, we we come over here and turkey's gone, and uh he went on to the other property that we can't hunt. So we went up there to where we was last spotted. It was only like 10 minutes since they had last seen him. So we got up there and we we yelped. Me and Johnson did, didn't didn't hear anything, and we waited there a while and nothing came back into that field, so we were like, ah, whatever. Um and on this particular piece of property, she owned or yeah, that the landowner owned the piece of land right there, and then she owned another block up the road, like I don't know, not even a half a mile. And uh they were like, Well, we saw some turkeys there yesterday. Go up there and see if you can see them. So we did, and uh we we followed the instructions on what we're supposed to do. You pull in this pasture and come to a cattle gap, walk to the top of the hill in glass. That's exactly what Seth and his daddy said. That's what I did. Well, Johnson and Caitlin stayed back in the car. You know, it's kind of one of the listening to these stories, you know, we should not be down in the dumps where we were. I don't really know why, because we had killed two turkeys and it was great hunts. But Johnson and and Seth had their Iowa tags starting that day, so you know they were finna get out of town and get to Iowa. So of course, ideally I would like to have killed one with all of them there, so that's what we were trying to do. Anyway, I walked to the top of the hill and I'm glassing across where they said they saw these turkeys, and it's a long way away. It's almost at the end of your sight. Uh so I was looking, I was like, that's a turkey over there. And I was like, Well, that's a hen, I could see her dusting and and uh everything. Well, anyway, I didn't even take my binoculars down to look around beside me. I just started scanning the horizon with my binoculars, and then all of a sudden these these uh these close trees just boom right here in my field of view. And I was like, Oh my god, that's a turkey. I could see his red head, and he just was paking it along, and I was like, that's a gobbler. Well, I put my binoculars my binoculars down and I said, dude, that turkey's a hundred yards from me. How in the world did he not he probably just watched me?
SPEAKER_02So so my point of view is uh me and Caitlin are are sitting in the car down there, and she's uh she's looking on her phone, and I'm sitting up here looking at Daniel, and uh he's scanning the field. When anyways, I see him drop his binoculars really quick, and then he crouches and he turns and he comes sprinting down to the vehicle. And uh I told Caitlin, I was like, Well, he sees one.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and this was this was like smack dab on the property we can hunt and headed to a pretty big block of woods on this place, and it was perfect. It's like a just picture a hill. The top of the hill is right in the middle of this pasture, and from the top of that hill, it just slopes downward, and once it gets down, it's hit, it's trees. So basically, they uh they came in there, they handed me my gun, whatever we got, we got our face mask on, and we just started, we just stayed below the crest of that hill and looped all the way around. It was absolutely perfect. And we looped all the way around and got in front of these turkeys. Or I say turkeys at the time we thought it was one. One, yeah. Well, it was a it was a tree that had a really low-hanging limb. Actually, perfect, because if we would have had to sit back on the tree line, it the turkeys would have had to come really, really close to us. It this this tree had an overhanging limb and it got really low to the ground, so low that it actually touched the ground. So we put our back on it. Yeah, we just put our back on that, and it it was a huge limb. So Johnson and Seth were, I mean, Johnson and Caitlin were on one uh where it touched the ground, and I was a little bit further up uh where it touched the ground again. And uh anyway, Johnson hit the call and we heard turkey, and we were like, okay, cool. That turkey, that I mean, that's obviously that's the one we heard, or that's the one I saw, that's the one we're in here after. He hits the call again and another turkey, a different turkey gobbles. We were like, what in the world? And and so at that point, we're like, why, why do why are we here in this turkey in different? We still thought it was the same turkey. Yeah, we were like, why are we here in this turkey in like two totally different locations? Well, Johnson hit it again, and I swear, on my life, a third turkey gobbled. We were like, what in the world is happening? At this time, at this point, we're still thinking it's one turkey. Yeah, and we're like, why? Why can we not get a singular location on this turkey? Well, come to find out, it ended up being four turkeys. Two with two was with, you know, it was my the one I ended up killing, and another one, another turkey that was like across the hollow, and then one turkey that that he gobbled one time. He was the turkey that gobbled first. And then after that, all of a sudden we heard drumming, and and I mean like within 40 yards drumming. Yeah, like extremely. I can hear him walking in the leaves. Yes, to the point where I crawled and got on the other side of Caitlin and Johnson because I was like, I can't shoot across them, and this turkey's gonna pop up and he's gonna ruin everything for us. So uh then again, and the we still at this point had not heard what we thought was the original turkey we were set up on. So, but you know, didn't really matter. We have this turkey that's within 40 yards. So, anyway, um all of a sudden, I don't know if Johnson was doing some light stuff, just trying to get a course on this turkey. Anyway, a turkey gobbles, and we were like, okay, that's our turkey. That's the one we came in here on. And for this turkey that was that was strutting behind us and spitting and drumming, for him to be able, for me to be able to kill him, he would have had to come to less than 10 yards. Yeah. So I didn't feel very optimistic about that one. We were not set up for that. Um and this other turkey let us know that you know that's the one we were trying to play the game for. So that's I I went back to my original setup and we got we we started calling to this turkey. And uh he was gobbling pretty good, and and still the terrain was playing with it. I'd say if I was set up facing, I was set up facing 12 o'clock, because that's where his gobble was coming from. Well, come to I mean, that's where we thought we all thought that he was coming out. I mean, Caitlin videoed it. You can look back to where she's zooming in on. She zoomed in on right where I thought the goblin was coming from, too. Turns out this turkey ended up coming from like 10 o'clock. He was in the park. He just was walking the woodline, but the way that that heel was made it sound like his his guy he was coming up from that holla down there at twelve o'clock. Anyway, long story short, I was up above Caitlin and and Johnson. I could see I ended up getting on my knees uh so I could I had that much more elevation on him. So I I got to see this turkey. Uh he popped up, like I said, my gum was at twelve. He popped up at ten, but luckily I had done got on the backside of this limb, so I was hid very well. And uh I I moved my gun over and Johnson saw me bare down on it. And I could have shot him right then, but I was like, uh, I I don't want to, you know, I want to make sure he's got a he's got a beard and I want to make sure he's not a Jake. So he just kept on coming, and as soon as I saw that beard, I didn't even see the whole thing. I just saw it was longer than four or five inches, and I was like, all right, he's good. He's good enough. And uh I shot and and killed him, and he ended up being like what 30 was maximum what it was, 25 or 30 yards, and uh it was awesome. Seth and his dad by that time were already like parked at our vehicle, and they got to hear us shoot.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I can't I saw Seth come beeboping over the hill. It was awesome.
SPEAKER_04So in a matter of, you know, 12 hours or 24 hours, whatever, we all we all filled our tags, so it was a pretty spectacular hunt. Um then heck, I don't know how long have we been going on this?
SPEAKER_02Forty-four minutes.
SPEAKER_04Forty four minutes. Do we even need to tell the the next leg of our trip?
SPEAKER_02No. So uh yeah, we me and Seth, we headed uh Iowa, me, Seth, and his dad, but we'll we'll we'll need a story or something to tell for next week. So we'll tell that.
SPEAKER_04But it's all headed to Iowa and and we headed to Indiana, so I guess that's where we'll pick up next week on that. Had some pretty good hunts from from both ends. Yeah. Both sides of us on that. So uh I guess that's gonna wrap up this podcast.
SPEAKER_02But yeah, no, uh shoot, we we looked forward to that trip for heck since January or February, whenever we planned it.
SPEAKER_04And it's uh crazy, it's already over. Yeah, I know. It it's it's we've been talking about that ever since it's kind of gone out here in Mississippi, and uh we're just talking about how man, we we wait on this, and I swear in January, when you're in the dog days of winter and and everything's gray and nasty outside, and you know, you gotta hunt them stupid deer and stuff, you're like, man, turkey season is never gonna get here. It even feels like that in Nashville. We say every year, if we can just make it to Nashville, then it'll be here before we know it. Yeah. But even then, in Nashville, we were like, oh my gosh, I'm so ready for turkey season, I can't wait. And then here we are. It's it's May May 10th. Pretty much. Well, it's over here. I mean, yeah, it's over here, and and luckily, luckily, we still have a uh one more trip under our belt.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we got four days, which I know that's gonna fly by too.
SPEAKER_04It's gonna fly by, but it's gonna be really fun. On the 22nd, we are uh hopping on a plane and and getting out of here. Yeah, we are headed to where the turkeys are still gobbling and where it won't be 95 degrees.
SPEAKER_02It's been a a week since I've got to hope. Two more weeks. Man, I'm telling you what, I can't look at social media if it hurts my feelings. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Because I want to be doing it bad. Well, I know, but it it's gone uh it's already gone by way too fast. You just once again just goes back to everything that we've always said, and it's just stay in the moment as long as you can, and then just soak it up because but it'll be over before you know it. And this year probably went by the fastest of of any. And it fortunately for us, it was it was uh which I I'm sure John's can say the same, but probably I can't remember a better turkey season. I think this has been my best turkey season as far as gobbling, as far as witnessing turkeys die, as far as killing them myself. It's probably been the best turkey season of my of my life so far.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Uh it'd be a hard one to top.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, I I completely agree. And then uh shoot this year, uh, which I guess we took two trips last year, but uh the second trip it wasn't it was a a day and a half long trip. So this year I guess we're we're fortunate enough to get to go on two. So um thankful for that. But I'm just ready for it. I know I know as soon as it's over, I'm gonna be back wishing I could be waiting on it again.
SPEAKER_04It'll be near near about June when it's over, so that's gonna be rough.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_04But oh well, we appreciate you guys listening and uh yeah. We got a little bit more fresh turkey content coming your way, uh, at least for the next until June. At least until June. So we'll we ain't even gonna think about what we're gonna do in June until that gets here. So just enjoy these next few weeks of fresh turkey content. We appreciate you listening.
SPEAKER_02Uh maybe maybe we can get Seth back with us and we can actually have a a normal podcast. I feel like these last few have been just kind of like hectic.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. I was looking at that uh that picture you you changed our our background to, and I was like, you know, it'd been real cool if Seth would have had a barred time hat on.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04I guess we should have read the writing on the wall. That Joker don't even want to record with us, don't want to wear the hat no more.
SPEAKER_02Me and Dan have been carrying, which uh we ain't really carrying a whole lot.
SPEAKER_04No, we we trying to we doing the best we can.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but uh if you would leave us a review. Uh what is a rating and a review? A rating interview. I always forget. Yeah, leave us a rating and read.
SPEAKER_04Five star rating and a good review.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Um other than that, I guess that's it.
SPEAKER_04I guess that's it. Ain't nothing left but to take us out of here, John.
SPEAKER_02We'll see y'all later.
