Turkey Vocalization pt2 - Mastering Turkey Calls and Hunting Strategies with Alex Rutledge

Join Alex Rutledge and Red Bone on American Roots Outdoors as they dive deep into the art of turkey hunting and vocalization techniques. In this comprehensive episode, you'll learn essential turkey calling methods including tree calls, clucks, purrs, cutting, and aggressive calling strategies. Alex shares expert tips on setting up for success, reading turkey behavior, understanding the pecking order, and communicating effectively with both gobblers and hens. Plus, hear exciting hunting stories, local sports updates, cooking recipes for wild turkey, and discussions about conservation efforts. Whether you're a seasoned hunter or just starting out, this episode is packed with practical knowledge to help you close the deal on your next gobbler. Featuring special segments on 12 Point Hunting Blinds, Eagle Seed food plots, and Wise Eye cameras

• 0:00 - Introduction & Tree Calling Basics
• 2:09 - Local Events & Sports Update
• 10:26 - Setting Up on a Roosted Turkey
• 10:48 - Aggressive Calling & Pecking Order
• 13:54 - Locating Turkeys & Reading Gobblers
• 19:11 - Controlling the Turkey & Finishing Techniques
• 24:31 - Diaphragm Calls & The M150
• 31:05 - Turkey Hunting Story - The Church Hunt
• 35:52 - Dealing with Fence-Hanging Turkeys
• 38:46 - Wild Turkey Recipes & Cooking Tips

Missouri Hunting Heritage Federation:
https://www.mhhf.us/

To follow American Roots Outdoors Podcast:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/448812356525413

To learn more about American Roots Outdoors:
https://americanrootsoutdoors.com/

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanRootsOutdoors/

To follow Alex Rutledge:
https://www.facebook.com/americanrootsalex/
To follow Wayne Lach:
https://www.facebook.com/wayne.lach.5
To follow Mike Crase:
https://www.facebook.com/mike.crase

Transcript

 Gimme a tree call. Real quiet.

Go to the middle of the call, cut the call like this. There we go. Look, look. Cup it like that. We shut all the volume holes off in the bottom real easy. There you go. That's tree calling. Real soft and easy. You wanna sound pretty not ugly,

like maybe I could sound that way. I can't look that way.

Camel boots on my feet. Bow in. Walking in the early dawn to climb up in my stand. Alex, I know it's about food plot planting time. What are you gonna plant this year? Okay. In the spring I like to plant different things and also in the fall, but my go-to all the time is the eagle seed smorgasbord because as a variety of blends, you know, when I was a kid and even as an adult, I love to go to a smorgasbord.

I bet it's the same for deer. It is. They, they have a variety to choose from. Instead, eating one thing all the time. They got a variety. Just like you walking into a restaurant, get smorgasbord today and you'll hold more deer and Turkey. How can I go about getting that smorgasbord to go to a dealer near you or go to ww dot eagle seed.com.

YZ technologies presents. Welcome to American Roots Outdoors. This is segment two. Of Turkey vocalizations here at K Country 95, our mother's station. We distribute our shows out to. Four other radio stations across the country. Red Bone, uh, yeah. KSMO in Salem. Uh, KWOC in, uh, Poplar Bluff. KKOZ, in, uh, uh, Ava.

And of course the folks up in, uh, Cape Gerardo at KAPE. Yes, sir. Man, we got a lot of listeners and we appreciate everybody. And there you go. Red Bone, give him a little bit of hand up. Turkey vocalizations and Turkey hunt stories. See, that's why Turkey would sound like even had the flu. Had the flu. Hey, we're gonna talk local events and current events that's happening right now.

Local Events & Sports Update

Uh, this week or in our community areas. If you've got something you want mentioned on our show, get a hold of Red Bone or myself. Message us on Facebook. Uh, you can also go to my website, ww dot America, reach outdoors and message us there. And, uh, we'll try to announce it on our show. Absolutely. Uh, Warren Blanks called me.

Yeah, he's been messaging me his 88-year-old grandmother. They're doing a fundraiser for her. Okay. Uh, she's got cancer and they're, they're raffling off a rifle over in the Summersville area. Okay. Prayers to his grandmother. Absolutely. So get ahold of Warren Blanks on Facebook and he'll give you all the logistics of that fundraiser.

I just wanted to mention that. Also, also St. Louis Cardinals. I saw a post yesterday in Red Bull. Know if you saw it, a post $29, you can attend a ball game and get free drinks. One free drink. No, no. I'm saying is that fake? Be, be careful with that all. What is it? Talk about it. They, they are doing it. It's something they are doing, but the seats are in Big Mac land.

Oh, they're big macland. That means that means they're very limited. Okay. But yeah, you can buy a $29 seat and you get unlimited refreshments. Okay. Not alcoholic hot dogs too. Not alcoholic. It said hot dogs too. Oh yeah. Yeah. Food. Yeah. Any refreshments. They have everything unlimited. You get unlimited except for.

Beer or other alcoholic drinks. Yeah, they, they're not included, but you do have to sit in big Macland, which would not be terrible. I mean, you can't see left field from there, but you can see most the rest of the ballpark. Yeah. But yeah, I saw that too. I thought, well, that's pretty interesting. Yeah, they're doing a lot of stuff special.

Try and get people back in the ballpark, because last year the attendance was terrible. Yeah. They lost money. Well. You gotta be a good ball team to keep, you keep coming to the games you do, which brings me up to, what about those Liberty Eagles and those Bunker Eagles? Yeah. And those Willow Springs Lady bears.

Yes. Uh, the other teams around that are still playing in the state tournament. I know Liberty plays as people are listening to this. On Saturday morning, the Liberty Eagles play is an afternoon game. One o'clock. One o'clock game at Republic, right? They're playing skyline at Republic in the state.

Quarterfinals, Uhhuh, uh, the winner moves on to the, uh, show me games next week in Columbia. Exactly. That's pretty exciting. Pretty exciting. Exciting, exciting. And of course, same way. And I know the Willow Springs Lady Bears, again, if people are listening to this, they played last night, they were also playing Skyline who was really good.

And a lot of the other, the girls games were all on Friday night. The boys games at this point in the season will be on Saturday. Mm-hmm. And wanna mention the West Plains ladies visitors, uh, they were playing for a district championship. And again, as we record this on Wednesday. Of course we already know who won, but not as we're recording this.

Yeah. Uh, they beat number three ranked McDonald County in the semi-finals mm-hmm. Of their district. And they're playing number one ranked Marshfield in their finals. Mm-hmm. West Plain ladies, Zor making some noise. Yeah. And, uh, uh, coach is doing a great job with those girls and, and they're very young.

They start two freshmen. That's awesome. Yeah. And class four, that's, that's doing something. Yeah. What about our schools over in the east side of the state? Uh, PCO hay. Pcos still going. Hayti is still going. Hayti gotta win. They're headed to the, uh. Uh, the quarterfinals and again, all those teams are playing today and, uh, at various locations around.

And, uh, yeah, just, I mean, it's a great time to be a high school basketball fan right now. It is, it is. You know, I'm excited. Red Bone about baseball season coming up as well. My nephew, Jaron Rutledge is, uh, the catcher, but he also, he's pitching this year. Okay. And he told me, he goes, uncle Alex, he said, uh, they clocked me the other night and he goes, I'm, I'm throwing in a high eighties.

Oh, that's good. He said, I was throwing 89 mile an hour. They clocked him. He said, that's good. So yeah, most catchers do can pitch if they can control it. Yeah. But most catchers, especially when you get to be, you know, varsity high school. You got a good arm or else you wouldn't be behind the plate. Yeah, he's a pretty big boy, you know?

Yes, he is. He's like 6 1 2 25. He said he's got his knuckle ball down. He said it'll really break and jump and drop and do all kinds of stuff. I'm excited about what's gonna happen with our baseball team this year. Hopefully. Finally, we got a really good team. I just hope they got a catcher. They can catch that knuckle ball.

Yeah. Yeah. 'cause you know what Bob ER said about catching a knuckle ball? What'd he say? He said best way to catch a knuckle ball is to wait till it quits rolling and pick it up.

So, NFL, what's going on in NFL? Red bone. They some stuff. Well, you know, Kansas. See Chiefs made a trade this week. Now talk about it. Well, they traded their, their cornerback, they're all pro cornerback to the, uh, rams for draft picks. I don't understand what's going on with that. Huh? I don't either. You know, they, they have threatened to, uh, trade, uh, their all pro defensive lineman, uh, in the middle.

I'm name draw, I'm drawing a blank right now. It ain't Taylor. No, it ain't Jones. No. Jwan. Yeah, Jones. Chris Jones. Oh, they're gonna trade him. They're, they're talking about trying to trade him to the Raiders. And you know what Chris Jones said? Chris Jones says, I will not play for the Oakland Raiders. I've spent my entire life chasing them.

I will not play for them. I will retire before I will agree to a trade to the Raiders. Oh wow. So, yeah. Wow. So these players kind of bucking up against the, uh, you know, the system. Um, yeah. And Jawan Taylor, uh, Taylor, that, that young man, he's gone. He need to be gone. Well, most penalized, I couldn't, I cannot believe they kept him on the roster.

Well, I mean, when, when he is right, he's really good. He gave up very few sacks over the course of the year, but he is the most penalized offensive player. That's what I'm saying. In the league. Yes. Yes. And when the chiefs were really good, that didn't hurt so much. But now that they're not really good, every penalty hurts them.

And he was just, yeah. Exactly. He's gone. Yeah, he's gone. You know, we got, uh, uh, bass tournaments and stuff getting ready to pick up here. And I just wanna mention, river Masters Elite Series will be starting the current River Small Mouth Association will be starting here in in May and June. And, uh, if you wanna become a sponsor of River Masters or Cut River Small Mouth, get ahold of me or Aaron Nicholson.

We'd love to, uh, promote you during our tournaments that we're having. Very good. So we got, uh, some rain last night. Uh, my rain gauge, the plug on the bottom but was out of it so I could not tell you how much rain we got. But I do know my yard was flooded this morning and my ponds have got about an eighth of water in it.

Hopefully it'll start holding red bone. Listen to him. I'm practicing. I'm practicing playing music. I'm practicing playing music. That's sounding really good. Thank you. Yeah, well it's, it's all in the Evelyn Slate Hall. I gotta say that. Alright, we need to go to break. We're back. We're gonna do Tur, Turkey Vocalization part two.

Yeah. Coming up. On American Roots Out. Hey guys. Bradley Roy, major League Fishing Angler, and you listen to American Roots Outdoors right here, right now.

Red Bone Wise, I has just gotten better with these new cameras that they come out with. How could it get better? Well, they got the new mini and they've got the new DC two. They have a DC two. Yeah, DC two. You can actually go live anytime you want and film your own hunts with the wise eye data count. Now wait a minute.

You mean I could be getting ready to shoot a deer and I could go on my phone and activate my camera and boom. Film your own. Hush. My Well, that's amazing. That's amazing. Okay, Alex, you convinced me. How do I get one of these cameras? Go to a dealer near you or go to Wise Tech do com. Order yours today, take it to a crown, a big old 12 point hunting blinds Presents.

Setting Up on a Roosted Turkey

Welcome back to American Roots Outdoors. We are in the studio at K Country 95, and topic of our show again is Turkey vocalizations and Turkey hunting stories, uh, in the studio again with red bone on the boards. And, uh, you know, we talked about tree calling. We talked about Clucks and purrs, and a little bit about cutting and the fly down.

Aggressive Calling & Pecking Order

Uh, what I'd like to talk about is a little bit more about aggressive calling. Okay? Okay. You know, first of all, we, we talked about also the pecking order, establishing pecking order, what's going on? And by the way, I did hear my first Turkey gobble yesterday. Did really? I know. I saw where you were out in your 12 point hunting blind.

Yeah. And I wanna say, you know, everybody said, well, I can't afford one of those blinds. Well, it's kind of like a Matthews Bower or a good rifle. It's the last one you have to buy. The last one you'll have to buy. Yeah, these, these, uh, 12 point blinds, you can make 'em mo mobile anywhere and move 'em with a tractor or put 'em on a trailer or whatever.

You talk about staying nice and warm and and quiet. And when you're deer hunting, prayer, hunting, whatever it may be, you're sent free all than things. But anyway, uh, ground blinds. The older I get, the more I'm wanting to hunt out blinds. Red bone, I am on, lock on stands or ladder stands right. And I still hunt out ladder stands.

But, uh, the blinds are a great way to be stay concealed, especially if you're taking kids or somebody that can't sit still, your wife or whatever. It, it is good to take somebody with you. And I'm looking forward to Missouri Youth season and also Kentucky Youth Season. I'm supposed to take Senator Jason Bean and his, his daughter Oh, cool.

Turkey hunting this spring. Okay. And I may be going into Illinois. And taking another child, a friend of mine, uh, brother Tim Norman. How is the Turkey hunting in Illinois? Uh, you know, their numbers are really good, but you know what? You can only kill one Turkey over there, I think. Yeah. You know, I grew up in Illinois and never heard of anybody Turkey hunting.

Yeah, of course. I grew up in the metropolitan Uhhuh, you know, just across the river from St. Louis. Mm-hmm. I did know people that deer hunted and mm-hmm. You know, we all know about the golden triangle. Yeah. Uh, but, uh, Turkey hunting was just not some, you would think it would be good with all the. The corn fields and, and all the, the ag industry there is in Illinois.

I just didn't live near any of that stuff. Yeah. They don't have the hunting pressure that Missouri has. Well, I know for the deer, you know, it's, it's, uh, shotguns only. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. And muzzle owners. And muzzle owners, yeah. Yeah. But they don't have the hunting pressure that Missouri's got. You know, we got over 2 million acres here in the Ozarks and.

You know, there's a new law that's been put into to ordinance here in Missouri. Now, non-residents can only shoot one Turkey. Yeah. Very Turkey now. Yeah. You know, uh, I hate it for my southern friends or any non-residents, but we gotta do something to get our Turkey numbers back. Sure. You know, these predator hunters, let me tell you where I'm hearing, uh, people seeing and hearing a lot of turkeys right now from the people I've talked to is in Oregon County.

Yeah, there's a lot of predator hunters now that's doing the thermal hunting and you gotta take your hat off to those guys doing it. They're helping our Turkey numbers, getting rid of the coons and coyotes and bobcats, fox, whatever. Yeah, and I think Oregon County had a really good hatch. Yeah, it's what I'm hearing, you know, just what I'm hearing out, out and about from farmers, you know, they're seeing lots of polls and seeing lots of turkeys.

Locating Turkeys & Reading Gobblers

Yeah. Yeah. That's good news. Yeah, it is. Anyway. We've talked about all this. Let's talk about a situation where we're on a, on a, a bird that's on a roost. Okay? You've located the Turkey and there's many different ways to locate, you know, using alcohol, breaking light. One of the first things I do, if I pull into the location where I know my wise eyes, show me there's turkeys there.

Uh, I get on my vehicle or if I've walked in or whatever, I wanna wait for, uh, the birds to start talking. You'll hear whip of wheels.

Then all of a sudden you hear,

then the owl start talking. Then the first Turkey gobbles.

I don't start calling instantly. Right. Okay. Every situation, you actually let the gobbler dictate how you need to call to him. You need to listen for hints too. A lot of times people go calling instantly, aggressively, loudly, whatever, and you cause a bad situation. You think about it, there's a pecking order within the hens as well as they are with gallers.

If you go to in there and go call aggressive right off the bat, a lot of times you will push. What we call a push or they go the other direction. So move into your Turkey. Once you've located your Turkey, try to keep the sun to your back. Ease in there. Close within a hundred yards if you can, depending on the terrain and top of of environment that you're hunting and you want to set up with something wide as your body where you blend in.

Mm-hmm. Something that I always try to do first down tree top or whatever. I'd like to have it behind me. Sure. Or I get in behind it where I'm hid and my gumbar laying over the top of the log or whatever. You wanna be hid and concealed. Okay, sure. So I listen to the turkeys on the roost. If the turkey's gobbling and you don't hear no heads ying anywhere, and it's almost about fly down time.

Is when I start calling. Yeah. You wanna give a little time after you hear that first gobble? Yeah. Let let the hens are there every day. Yeah. Let them kinda get started. Exactly. Okay. And if you're hunting government land, you don't want to keep that Turkey gobbling. 'cause every hundred in the woods going to hear him too.

And they're gonna come in on you. We're all gonna converge in one spot. So yeah, by getting within a hundred yards of that Turkey to sun to your back and have a good setup above him or or level with him. Now I've called Turkeys downhill, shot a bunch up downhill. Again, it depends on what you got in front of you.

If it's a strut zone, if it's open enough for that Turkey to fly in there and feel comfortable. So that's the things you wanna look for. You know, not every Turkey will work the same every time. That's why it's important to learn how to talk to turkeys and not just call. So the turkey's on the roost. He's gobbling.

And, uh, I've got a striker here made by a good friend of mine. He brought it to me this past week. Mark Sanders from Wine on Missouri. Look how pretty that thing is. That is, he's made outta Seaver and he eat cedar on it. Put my name on it and he said hillbilly. He got my name on it and it's an old cedar peg and he put acrylic on it.

We burnt the end of it, and I'm running the Margaret call, okay? And, and listen to this tree, Yelp.

That's when she's waking up and that's what you do if you hit him with a tree call.

He answers you. You've made contact. Yeah. Okay. You're in business. You're in business. You're talking to each other. He's heard you one time. You don't need to keep calling. Let him gobble on his own. You can tell. Which direction he's pointed for the way he's goblin. The name of the game is to get him hooked on you.

Right? We're going to a break. When we come back, we're gonna talk more vocalizations of Turkey vocalizations and Turkey out stories. Don't go away. We'll be back with more right after this. Hey everybody. This is Cody Huff Bass Master Elite Series Pro. You're listening to American Roots Outdoors with Alex Rutledge and friends.

Remember when a hunter was measured by how well he shot? Not how much he spent. When memories were measured in rooster Tails, not dollar bills. We do, we are spanned out, reliable, easy to operate, extremely balanced, premium firearms offered at a. Price that proves you still know the true measure of a hunter.

Stand out making the American hunting tradition available to us. Passed on down, planted deep in the ground around your so you never got worry. Eagle seed presents. Welcome back to American Roots Outdoors. We are in the studio at K Country 95, and we're talking Turkey vocalizations and Turkey hunt 

Controlling the Turkey & Finishing Techniques

stories.

We just talked about talking to a Turkey on the roost. It's still in the tree. The name of the game is to communicate with him and you control him, not let him control you. Once you've called to that Turkey, do not continue to keep calling. You can tell by the direction he's gobbling when we left off on break.

If he turns toward you or turns away from him, if he turns away from you, he's telling you he may fly away from you. Yeah. So let me ask this question. Uh, when you set up on this bird a hundred yards out and you know he is up there, yeah. Should you go ahead and get hidden? To protect yourself because sometimes the, the hens will fly down in your direction as well.

Oh, set. You set. You don't wanna get busted. I call this, I'm set up. Yeah. You don't want to, you know, get busted by hen I'm not standing up calling. I'm, I'm sitting down. Sure. Well now if it's hilly terrain, it's hilly terrain, I may be standing up where I can see over the turn of the hill 'cause they like to create a barrier and I kill a lot of turkeys and my clients customers, I take killing turkeys standing up.

Okay. Well, because some people, you know, get outta the truck, walk into the woods 50 yards and start calling. Yeah, yeah. You don't wanna do that. You, you wanna be ready. Yeah. You know, and the neat thing is about being behind the tree mm-hmm. Is that if the tree's watering your body, it conceals you. And what I do is I point my gun straight up and down in front of the tree in front of me.

Okay. It's the Turkey and I'm usually finishing the Turkey with a diaphragm. As the turkey's coming to me, all I gotta do is step back two, back two steps back. The trees water me anyway. Right? They'll never see me move and ease my gun up without being detected and I can ease out ahead side of the tree, wash the Turkey, and when he goes in behind the tree, that's ease my gun up the side.

Killing. Yep. There you go. So as the turkey's coming in, say if he's on the, go back to on the limb, he gobbles turning away from you. If he flies down, that doesn't mean he is going the other direction. If the hands are there with him and they're talking, they'll be doing sounding like this. They'll be going,

they're all talking to each other. The thing is, you gotta talk to the hens. Mm-hmm. Try to mimic them. If you mimic them, you can create and spark. Interest. Not every time, but a lot of times if you could get those his to fly to you, guess who's gonna follow? Yeah. Yeah. Turkey doesn't matter which way he's facing.

If his his fly down in your direction, he's coming your way. It's game on. Game on. That's when your heart goes. Yeah. And see, and that was the point I was making with my question is you better be ready. Yeah. You wanna have your gun on your knee. If you're sitting down, point it in the direction that the turkeys are coming from.

I remember. Making a mistake. One time of not being ready and, and a hen flew down about 20 yards in front of me. You couldn't move, you just pinned. I couldn't move. And, and she eventually busted me, me You was pinned down and it was, it was over then. Yeah. Yeah. There wasn't any way. Once she took off, there wasn't any way that occurred.

That gobbler was coming anywhere near where I was. Yeah. So the hens were down there, yelping, soft, yelping, whatever. Here's something I like to do. I'll mimic them that also that I'm gonna do this right here.

You are the high pitch.

Again, stab, establishing that pecking order, and I'm challenging those hints and I'm gonna hit her with some.

And that triggers those hands. A lot of times if they got dominance in them, it'll make 'em aggravated and they'll seek you out. You know, I was just, I was just getting ready to say if they're gonna seek you out, you know, if there's somebody out there in their tractor in their field or in their truck listening to the show right now, they got turkeys coming at 'em.

Yeah. Hey, do not copy my audio. It is illegal. And you will go to jail. You'll get a citation from the Mr. Green jeans. Yeah, absolutely. Or Ms. Green jeans, huh? Yeah. We hate, forget Ms. Green Jeans. Yeah. Yeah. Anyone. Once they start coming, set your call down. Get your gun on your knee or in a shooting position the direction they're coming from and be ready.

Do not, do not push your safety off until you see the beard on that Turkey. Yeah. You never wanna wear the colors red, white, and blue in the woods. What kills me so much? You go to gas station where it's Turkey season, I'll be a guy with a white t-shirt underneath this camo shirt and a bee showing, yeah.

Which looks like a Turkey. Yeah, white of the turkey's head. Don't wear these colors even though we're patriotic. I say it a lot. You know, talking to turkeys is more important than just talk, calling the turkeys red bone. Absolutely. If you call too loud, too quick, too aggressive, too fast, too quick. You could get into what we call push situation again.

Diaphragm Calls & The M150

So it's crucial. Yeah. I think I, I think the, what we take out of all that that you've just done is you've gotta listen to those hens mm-hmm. And do what the hens are doing. Exactly. Exactly. I'm gonna call on the diaphragm right here with the same calls I just done tree calling and, and, and collects and purrs and pits.

And, uh, again, we have a variety of offerings. We got the E two 50, the L 300, the M1 50, the loose lips. The little loose lips. The little loose lips is a two read call. The call I'm running right here is a, was made in 2024 that I, and I sign, hand sign, every call. 'cause I cut every one of them. Okay. And I use sanitizer to clean my hands before I cut 'em.

And I, I put the model number, you can see Red bone and I signed every one of 'em. Yep. I wanna say to all my friends that's listening. If you hunt with my calls, do not be crossing fences. You're not supposed to with my name on your call and lose it on the other side of the fence. But anyway, here's the sounds.

This is the M1 50.

Real pretty call. Easy to use. Red bone diaphragms are crucial. Finishing the Turkey. If you can master that diaphragm, your hands are free. When you're holding that gun up and closing the deal, you can hit those soft yelps like now I'm representing holding the gun up.

That's the same call. You notice I sound muffled like a tree called then a high pitch Y. Mm-hmm. I saw it. Different hens on this one little call. Yep. M1 50. Yeah. So talking to Turkey, we're gonna get a break. We come back, we're gonna share some stories with you, how we finished and closed the deal on some Gobblers.

By outsmarting 'em and talking to 'em, not just calling to 'em. Don't go away. We'll be back with more American roots outdoors. After this, this is Brenda Valentine and you're listening to American Roots Outdoors with Alex Rutledge and Friends,

American Roots.

Hey everybody. Alex Rutledge. I'm excited to tell you about 12 point hunting blinds, seven foot walls, perfectly camouflaged. Snow proof, waterproof tinted windows. They will not reveal you in the 12 point blinds. We're proud to work with this Amish Made Blind, made in America, made in USA 12 point hunting blinds.

For more information, go to 12 point hunting blinds.com.

Morning, the ammunition presents. Welcome back to American Roots Outdoors. We are in the studio at K Country 95. Red Bone is on the boards and I am here on the mic. And we're doing Turkey vocalizations and Turkey hunting stories. Red bone, give them some yelping clocks. Alright, gimme a tree call. Real quiet.

Go to the middle of the call cup the call like this. There we go. Look, look. Cup it like that. I got you. We shut all the volume holes off in the bottom real easy. There you go. That's tree calling. Real soft and easy. You wanna sound pretty not ugly,

like maybe I could sound that way. I can't look that way. All right, I'm gonna share a story with you. All right. And I wanna show you a call here and, and demonstrate it. This is one of my, probably one of the most popular calls that I make at American Roots, that I, that I sell. And I use this call to locate, I use this call to finish.

It's the American roots to call. It's this.

It is a beautiful little call. The frequency of this call drives turkeys berserk. You know, we sound, you sounded like six different turkeys today. You want to make it sound like you're having a party buddy. Yeah. The more hens that you can sound like, the more realistic and, and the Turkey, believe me, he can count.

He knows that there's more than one hen there. Yeah.

You can ke you on it.

Great call to carry an arsenal. 'cause it's a different pitch. Different pitch. And turkeys love it. They love it. So a Turkey story, I've got thousands of them, but uh, I shared a story last week. If you remember that story. No. You don't remember the story last week that I shared? I don't know what story you're gonna tell.

Huh? Okay. Well, I'm gonna share one this, the one about when, when Matt Mart's leg fell asleep. That's a different time. That time. Matt Marette and I caught two trespassers, actually it was two trespassers that wasn't supposed to be on the property, that he went to say, oh, my back's bad. My back's bad. That's why we took this road.

I, I, I remember when the. Matt Marette said, you're the, you're the Jake calling this guy I ever saw Mount Wife. No, it was Keller. It was Jake Keller. J Keller. He said, lemme see your diaphragm. And he tore the reeds out of it. 'cause all we could call is Jason in Oklahoma. Uh, anyway, go, go ahead. But anyway, I'm gonna share a story with you.

Turkey Hunting Story - The Church Hunt

This was back in the nineties, I believe we got five minutes in this, this segment here before we wrap it up. And, uh. You know how it is going to church and you try to get a Turkey hunt before you go to church. And I was attending one on assembly, God, and, and, uh, I'd slept in late that morning and this is when the old Jacks Fork Ranch, I could still hunt it.

And, uh, I listened from the house and I could faintly hear a Turkey gobbling into the west. And so I took off and it was breaking light. And I walk in there about half a mile or so. And this turkey's down in the bottom. I get down there on him, he's on the rou, and I call to him, call to him. That Turkey flies down, lands in front of me.

We watch him. He stretched, stretched outta the range, about 70, 80 yards. Anyway, I let him go. He moves and we're rolling hills, and there's dips and ditches and mm-hmm. Little sinkholes. Anyway, I stayed with this Turkey the whole time and sometimes I would be with him shooting distance of him because it was so thick 'cause they logged in there and, uh, I could never get a shot at this Turkey.

And I kept looking at my watch, I said, you know, I gotta be outta here by church. Started at 10 45 and I gotta be out here by 10 o'clock because I know it's gonna take me 15 minutes to get back to the house. Just throwing clothes and go to church. So I'm working this Turkey. Look at, there's Miss Nina. I'm working this Turkey and he's 40 yards of me.

And I get into a situation where close I get to him, I'm about to kill him. I can't see him. He moves on me away from me. Oh, he's going west now up this holler. Okay. And I keep looking at my watch and it's getting closer and closer to 10 15, you know? So. Like 10 minutes after 10, I kept pushing him, getting closer and closer, and I thought, I'm slipping closer and closer.

So I done this right here with the diaphragm and I just kept walking towards him

and I could hear. Every time I do it, that's telling me he was comfortable. So I kept getting closer and closer, well, I'm gonna whack this Turkey. And all of a sudden he gobbled different. I thought, ah, I know where he is at now. And I eased a little bit closer. He was down in the sinkhole. Ah, and I literally got within 25 yards of he red bone.

Okay. In that sink home and yelped to him, and he st stretched to the top of the hill and I blow his head off. Hmm. So the moral of the story is here, you gotta get your Turkey killed before you get to church. And the change of his gobble told me he was in a hole and told me I could even get closer than what I was.

There you go. And when I hit that soft up to him, he broke and come to the top of that hill. It helped close the deal. Well, I'll tell you the moral of the story also is persistence and patience. Yeah. I didn't give up. I didn't give up persistence and patience, and I think that's what most people at Turkey Hunt that aren't successful.

That's what they lack. Yeah. They wanna go out, sit down, make a couple of calls, and Turkey come in and shoot Turkey, which. We all would love for that to happen. Yeah. But so many times it's just not the way it happens. You've gotta be persistent, you've gotta be patient and not over call, be too loud or make a mistake.

Right. You know, remember, not be overly aggressive. I remember as a kid growing up with my brother Roy, he was probably my greatest teacher as a kid growing up and, and being quiet, moving into a Turkey. If I would break a limb, he would scold me seriously. Pop a twig or anything. He taught me that stuff.

He'd literally slap me. You can't do that. Yeah, I had somebody used to do that to me when I was learning to deer hunt. Nina? No, not her. She still slap you Only ever once in a while. Nina, do you slap her? She's here now. She's probably gonna slap me before we get done. Yeah. So anyway, again, just reiterating persistence and knowing to how to talk to that Turkey.

Well, we closed the deal and that soft Yelp made him feel comfortable that I was in his bubble. His comfort zone is why he broke to come to top of that hill, of that little cinco. So to all the listeners out there, don't give up. Exactly. Don't over call. And as you're easing into that Turkey, what you know, you never wanna walk and call if you 

Dealing with Fence-Hanging Turkeys

hunt.

No government land. But this is private land where I was at in those cluck and purrs and pits. Help me get closer to him to make him break and come to me. Alright, I wanna ask you one question. We're down to the final minutes, okay? There's gotta be a short answer, okay? All right. You're, you're hunting and the Turkey hangs up on a fence.

Okay? Is there anything you can do to make that Turkey gum over that fence real quick? We was hunting in Tennessee, filmed a show down at Smyrna, Tennessee. We could see the Nissan plant. Uh, I'll never forget Rick Taylor filming me. Called in two Gobblers that come from outta hearing to us, come to the fence, turned and left.

I started fighting Per and Jake y and gobbled. They found a hole in that fence and they come in through the hole of the fence. And I shot 'em with a bow, so, so chances are if they can't find a hole, they're not coming through. They're not coming through the steps. They knew where the hole was at, but the calling I was doing didn't fire 'em up enough.

The name of the game is you control them. So I controlled them with Jake Geling challenging them, and they went and triggered them and made 'em come. They went, found a hole. They found the hole on the fence, and they came through because I think that's one of the things I hear the most from people. Well, I had one coming in, but they got to the fence.

There it was. Didn't have permission to shoot on the other side of the fence. Yeah. Yep. Just had to let Turkey walk. Yep. You gotta do that. Respect the landowners. Absolutely. Yep. Respect each other. Think about it. If you're hunting next to a landowner, would he let you shoot on him? Yeah. We're gonna wrap her up here.

Everybody remember this? The soul world needs more love. Not hate. Teach your boys to become men. Teach your girls to become ladies. And when your roots run deep and strong, there's no reason to fear the wind, so you never gotta worry what the wind might do. American Roots, thank you for joining us for today's American Roots Outdoors Radio with Alex Ru.

You can find us on Facebook. Look us up on the worldwide web@americanrootsoutdoor.com. We'll be back again next week on this great radio station.

Accurate, deadly, dependable, Horty ammunition from a two man operation in 1949 to a world leading innovator, A bullet ammunition, reloading, tool and accessories designed and manufacturer. Today horty. Each piece is hand inspected. To ensure consistency and quality ammunition engineered to perform flawlessly, simply put the best.

Hor ammunition. Find Horty ammunition at a retailer. Dear you and@horty.com,

Wild Turkey Recipes & Cooking Tips

span the arms presents. Welcome back to American Roots Outdoors. We are in the studio at K Country 95. We'd like to thank all the other stations that there, our show, red Bone, and I greatly appreciate it. Absolutely. Red Bone. I know you're chomping at the bit 'cause you'd love to cook like I do. You'd probably love to cook more than I do.

I know Nina's got some good recipes. So Nina, give us a good Turkey recipe. You got anything you can think of? You don't. I cook the Turkey at our house. Oh, you cook the Turkey? Red bone cooks the Turkey at the house. Even at Thanksgiving I do the Turkey. I have for years. Yeah. You know you wanna contribute and I don't know how to make dressing.

I don't know how to make mashed potatoes and I don't know how to use the can opener to open up the can jams. So I make the Turkey. You make the Turkey and it's not difficult. But I did smoke one this year and it was phenomenal. Yeah. You've talked about that already have. Yeah, I have. Yep. You ever talked about, uh, Cajun injecting one?

Uh, I have done that when I de fried them. Yeah, absolutely. Talk about that with us. Well, I mean, you just buy the Tony Atory stuff. It comes in a package. You get your, your liquid, your, your butter. It's got all the Cajun seasoning in it, and you get your, your big syringe. You just fill it up and just shoot that Turkey in the breast.

How, like, how close do you inject it? Garlic butter, I mean, like every inch apart, every two inches. Oh, no, I, I, I inject until it starts to swell up and then I go to outside that swelling point and start another one, you know, every three or four inches on that breast. Do you, you ever use the garlic butter?

Uh, I've just used, you know, the product that I've bought, yeah, they make garlic, but I still got some jars when, uh, used to work with Cajun e injector a little bit. Mm-hmm. Man, you talk about some good stuff. Yeah. You can also take it and do a, a roast or prime rib the same way and inject them, you know? Oh yeah.

But that's a great recipe. Anything big, anything big, you can, you can inject. Yeah. I did a pork roast last Sunday and talk about it. Been eating it all week. It's one of these shoulder roasts, you know, you got the one big ba, really? One big bone, and I put that, I smoked it for seven hours at 300 degrees.

Lemme take that back. I, I, I smoked it for six hours at 300 the last hour at 2 75 because those, uh, pellet smokers, they give you more smoke, the lower your temperature is. So I, the last hour I did it at 2 75, and when I went to pick it up and take it off the smoker. I almost couldn't pick it up. It was just falling apart.

It fell apart. It was just, I had to wrap my hands around it and hold it together, put it on my pan, took it in the house, and, uh, tried to slice it because we didn't wanna do pull pork, we wanna do like slice pork. Yeah. Slicing it with, I just had to, I just had to cut big chunks off of it, you know. Let me tell you something I've been watching on social media that's really triggered me, uh, my friend Denny Dem, uh uh, Denman.

Dewey Dimon from Alabama. He owns, uh, uh, outfitting service down there and I hunt with him sometimes Turkey hunting. I've done some Turkey camps and stuff there. He is specialized in hog hunting and he got great whitetail hunting. Uh, he give me a old tractor disc. It was made into a wok. Okay. Yeah, it's got handles on it.

Mm-hmm. I've been watching Mexican videos mm-hmm. Of these cooks. That cook in Mexico and it's intrigued me to want to cook in my wok. Yeah. So they do salsa, they cook their tomatoes and onions and peppers and everything in there. And uh, I'm wanting to do some wild Turkey this year. Mexican style. Yeah.

There you go. In my, in your wok my homemade dish walk. Yeah, that would be really good. Yeah. What are you gonna use for, because you know, we, we do a stir fry. With, uh, beef and chicken. Yeah. And we use, uh, teriyaki in the, in the bottom. I love ter. Uh, but what would you use for the turkeys to do a Mexican style?

I'm probably going to take an uh. Buy some type of Mexican season. Yeah. You know, see, I'd be, I'd be tempted to put a whole bunch of that, uh, frank's red hot sauce on there. Oh. I'm going to, you know, all that. I'm a, I'm a hot sauce guy. Yeah. Because that Frank's Nina's over there going Yeah. She doesn't like hot.

Yeah. But anyway. So Nina's going to the doctor today, huh? Uh, yeah. Yeah, we are. She's been having some, everybody pray for Nina. She's been having some tests. Run. Good checkup. Go see if we can find out what. The issues are today. I still say you married up Mike Christ. Oh, I guarantee you she's so pretty. Yeah.

And you married up too. Yeah. You did. See, I do you miss, do you remember him having the old Chevelle? She was with me when I bought it. Yep, both of 'em. Did you ever have flashbacks ever wishing you had one just to bring back her? She hated that car. You hated it. Well, I went from driving a 66 Buick Riviera to driving a, you was a blues band to to, to driving a 70 Chevelle and it was that gold color.

I love it. And she said it was P Gold. She hated that car. P Gold.

I don't know about her. You ever have flashbacks to being young? Yeah. I've been watching a lot of these eighties videos, man, with the big hair and all that. I, I, I send them to Linda and her best friends, Chris and Marie. I remember what I had. We could talk about so much stuff, but yeah, I'm going to do Mexican type Turkey, breast and fajitas.

I got some old Turkey breasts. Probably still in the, well, no, I don't, I have to buy some. It's all cooked up. It had to be gone. But anyway, uh, I'm gonna do some wild Turkey fajitas. It's gonna be good. Sounds good. Good, good. See, I'd do something like that with, I've got, I've still got some gator meat, some gator tail in the, in the freezer.

You gonna do gator? Uh, well, somebody won't eat it. What we need to do is probably bring a a cooker here one time after the show. Invite some people to come and eat with us. Yeah, cook up some. You would do that, some Turkey. We could do that. We'll do it sometime. We could do that. Yeah, let's do that. But anyway, what a great show.

Again, if you like what we're doing, go to our website, WW American Roots Outdoors, and share your thoughts. If you wanna hear us talk about different things, you got an announcement you want mention on the show, let us know. We appreciate our friendship. We're nothing without God, family and friends.

Remember, this whole world needs more love, not hate. And, uh, teach your boys to become men. Teach your girls to become ladies. And when your roots run deep and strong, there is no reason to fear the wind.

Sun ain't up. They ain't down. We'll be waiting when they hit the ground. Big time coming. It's what we do from a whipper wheel to a no lau shoe. Sitting still till time. Shoe American roots. Dig it. Do holler a crown. A big old year after year got my gear

and my old boots passed on down planet deep in the ground around you, so you never gotta worry. What the.

Granddaddy always said, when your roots so deep and strong, there's no reason to fear the wind. American roots will rise again. Yeah. God, family and friends and living the truth. American roots.

Yeah. God, family. Friends and the truth.

American.