Turkey Hunting, River Cleanup & Outdoor Tradition with Richard Whiteside

Alex Rutledge and the American Roots Outdoors crew welcome back hillbilly barber, outdoor writer, and river conservationist Richard Whiteside from Donovan, Missouri for a packed episode. The guys kick off with a discussion on a controversial Illinois bill that would tax ammunition and require serial numbers on every round — and what it could mean for hunters across the Midwest. Then they dive deep into the 2026 spring turkey season: why gobblers are quiet, how the warm weather has pushed the breeding cycle weeks ahead, and what that means for hunters heading into youth season. Richard shares gripping stories of outsmarting pressured birds, including a gobbler that took three days to pattern, and the moment he realized sometimes you have to "deer hunt" a turkey. The crew also covers the River Master's Elite Series smallmouth bass tournament schedule, plus details on Richard's Current River County Line Trash Bash cleanup event. In the bonus segment: wild turkey recipes, raising heritage breed turkeys, a father-son hunting lesson, and a closing scripture to cap off a great show.

Chapter Markers:

• 1:26 — Show Open & Introductions
• 3:38 — Illinois Hunting Tax Proposal
• 7:02 — Sports Update: Cardinals, Royals & NCAA Tournament
• 10:18 — Segment 2: Richard Whiteside on Turkey Hunting
• 12:12 — Turkey Population & Breeding Season Observations
• 21:57 — Segment 3: Hunting Tough Gobblers & Spur Length
• 23:42 — Memorable Turkey Hunts & Hunting Strategy
• 25:51 — Current River Cleanup Event
• 39:49 — Bonus Segment: Patience, Wild Turkey Recipes & Final Stories
• 42:40 — Wild Turkey Cooking Tips with Richard

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

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Transcript

 Me, I roosted him the evening before. He had his distinct gobble and roosted him couple, uh, e evening before. And, uh, he flew out pretty good. I ended up really having to, having to bushwhack him. Uh, I stood up and, and, uh, lobbed one at him and got lucky once he got into my spiderweb. But, uh, yeah, sometimes you have to be an aggressive hunter and once they trick you and fool you and trick you and fool you, and. And right there at the end of season. But he was a big old stold up gobbler ugly alien. I like to 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 loved to go to a smorgasborg. I bet it's the same for deer. It is they, they have a variety to choose from. Instead of 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? Camel boots on my feet, bowing my hand walking in the early dawn to climb up. In my stand wise I technology's pretty presents. Show Open & Introductions Welcome to American Roots Outdoors. We are in the studio at K Country 95. And we air the show on four other stations, red Bone, uh, and they are, uh, KKOZ, Ava, Missouri, a m fm, A-M-F-M-K-S-M-O-A-M FM in Salem. Correct. Um. K-W-O-C-A in Poplar Bluff, FM two, and KAPE in K, Gerardo. Mm-hmm. There you go folks. And of course, KAMS, mammal, spring and Thayer. Correct. Folks, we're gonna talk Turkey hunting. As always. Turkey season has started in a lot of southern states, but also it's getting ready to start in Illinois. The youth season is this weekend and I'm headed over there to take a pastor and his daughter. Oh, cool. Yeah, Mr. Tim Norman and his daughter, she's 15 years old and said that she's shot plenty of deer and Turkey on it before, and, and I briefed him this morning via text and, uh, making sure she's ready. So he's got Gobblers found, getting 'em on these cameras, and they're all heed up, and I believe the turkey's here, red bone are way ahead. And by the way, folks, our special guest today is Richard Whiteside. He's on the line with us now. Welcome to the show, Richard. Oh, good to be here. Thank you. Thank you. Yes, sir. The, the, the dolphin Barber. Yeah. He's the Turkey hunting river cleanup barber. This guy is a hillbilly. An author. An author. Outdoor writer. Yeah. Yeah. So what I'm gonna bring you attention here. Pay attention to the rules and regulations to wherever you're hunting at. Exactly. You know, uh, obey the rules. And I gotta tell you, I was out listening this morning. I heard one Turkey and I heard one shot. Uh oh. Uh oh. Yeah. Yeah. See that's not good. No, that's not good at all. No. Before the uc. Yeah. You know, for the kids. Yeah. Yeah. Whoever that was. If you're listening, shame on you. Yeah. Yeah. It's bad. But anyway, uh, we wanna talk a little bit about an incident or a new bill that they're trying to pass it Illinois. I want to, I want to talk, bring that up. Red bone. Okay. And I've got it here. I sent it to you this morning. Mm-hmm. And it's called Illinois Hunting Tax Proposal New Hunting Tax in Illinois. DeKalb Illinois issues. And I'm bringing it up here and I wanna read this. You gotta hear this. Uh, by the way, Liberty, uh, had the, like a scrimmage games last week. They won two outta three portageville, beat 'em five to three. They beat Winona. And they bleed. I believe it was Jackson. They played Jackson, I believe. Yeah. I don't remember. Thayers. Two and two. Two and two. You're talking baseball? Yeah, baseball high school. Baseball, softball. Thayer is undefeated. Oh yeah. They played three games and the pitcher has pitched two no hitters. Wow. Yeah. How's, oh, the girl, girl. Yeah, she's good. Here we go. DeKalb, Illinois issues. Illinois tax. New Hunting Tax. Illinois' Democrats are proposing a new tax on hunter's and firearm enthusia in Illinois. Update HB 4 4 1 14 mandates that effective January 1st, 2027, Illinois firearm owners, hunters and marchmen will have to pay a 5 cent per round tax of ammunition tax under plus there will be a new requirement that each round of ammunition you ready for this to be registered with a serial number. Yeah, isn't that crazy? Hearings on the legislation are scheduled for this week, 3 24 and 3 26 in Springfield, Illinois. Yeah. See, I would think that, uh, other legislators will just laugh that right out of the, out of the house. You never know Illinois. Well, you never know in Illinois, I know that. But, uh, to have every bullet have to have a serial number, you gotta ask your folks over at Horn a horny. Yeah, how they're gonna like that, how they're gonna like that, that's gonna add more cost to the, the bullets, if they have to do that, well, they'll, they'll just stop selling ammunition in Illinois probably. Hmm. Which your thought, Richard. Oh man, I hate it for the folks in Illinois. 'cause you know there's got to be some good old country boys out there, just like to hunt and fish and farm and live the old traditional American lifestyle. You hate to see our brothers and sisters one state over getting, getting locked down like that. I mean, shoot far. Yeah, I don't know it, it's a bad deal. Yeah, it's a bad deal. I hope it never happens in Missouri and uh, you know, I always, well, I hope it never happens in Illinois. Yeah, yeah. Agree. You're from Illinois? Yeah. Well, originally, yes. Yeah. Where? Where? I was born in Illinois. Yeah. I wanna say this too. You know, uh, we had this shutdown going on for how long now? Uh, almost a month. A month? Yep. You know, DHS is shut down and they all not funny. DHS Now, the TSAs, they're not being funded federal. And some of our militaries are military being, uh, paid right now. Yes. Okay. Who is it being paid? Uh, the TSA agents are not being paid and some of the others that aren't even working. The only, the only, uh, department that falls under DHS that actually is getting paid is, uh, uh, the ICE agents because they were funded through the big beautiful bill. Yeah. Yeah. They were funded for the next three years. So they're, they're, they're, some of the liberals are voting against funding DHS, department of Home Security. Think about that. I'm just gonna tell y'all when you go vote this year, think about that moving along Sports Update: Cardinals, Royals & NCAA Tournament Cardinal's first game. Uh, well, since people are hearing this on Saturday. Yeah, it was, it was Thursday. Yeah. They opened at home and, uh, Kansas City Royals opened the season on Friday at home. And obviously we don't know who won. We hope we know who won and we hope we know who won. But, but we have no, we have no one for sure. So, but yeah, ba, major League baseball season is here. NBA playoffs will be getting underway soon. The NCAA tournament continues, and again, as you hear this, on Saturday, we're down to the final, uh, eight, the Elite Eight this weekend, and then the Final Four next weekend championship. Who are you picking? Who are you picking? You know, I'm, you know, it's one of those mind and heart deals. Uh, my mind tells me that Arizona's the best team in the country. My heart tells me the Arkansas Razorbacks are gonna beat them on Thursday night. Really? Yeah. I hope so. Well, we hope so. And, and again, you're hearing this on Saturday, so, uh, but Arkansas looks awfully good. Yep. Well I'm for Arkansas. Yeah, well, me too. And that's what I'll be rooting for Thursday night, even though it's the late game, you know, like at 8 45 on Thursday night, I have to get up at four o'clock in the morning on Friday. So. I'll watch as much as it as I can and catch all the highlights on Friday. But anyway, uh, yeah. NCAA to NCAA tournament has been phenomenal. Yes, it has. Some of the games have come down to shots at the buzzer. I was watching one game, don't remember who it was. One team went down with nine seconds left, scored to tie it. Huh? The other team got rebound inbounded the ball went down and hit a shot at half court to win it. I watched the slick play the other day and it was just crazy. And, and, and the play was this. The play was an inbound play underneath the go. Yeah. The defender had his back to the guy throwing the ball in. Mm-hmm. The guy bounces the ball off his back, turns around and shoots and makes it, yeah. Oh, that happens a lot in high school. Yeah. Smart players know that. Yeah. I wanna, I wanna make mission real quick. Quick dates. Quick dates for. Masters Elite Series. We'll just give him the next segment. I, we'll give the next segment. Okay. Red bone's looking at me. We're gonna a break. We come back talking tur hunting. Richard Whiteside. Hey guys. Bradley Roy, major League Fishing Angler, and you listen to American Roots Outdoors right here riding 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. 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 Eye Tech do com Over yours today, take it to a, a crown of a big old 12 point hunting blinds presents. Segment 2: Richard Whiteside on Turkey Hunting Welcome back to American Roots Outdoor segment two of our show. Our special guest today is Richard Whiteside. We've had him on here several times. This guy's a hillbilly barber, uh, river connoisseur, that's the right word. No river rat. I'm gonna call him a river rat. Yeah, that's probably, he loves the river. He, he, he grows gardens. He loves wildlife fishing, small mouth fishing, gigging. This guy knows history like better than you and I. And Richard, welcome to the show again. Ah, good to be here. Good to be here. So you wanted to mention the, the river Master's date? Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Keep me straight here. June the sixth, Donovan. Small mouth only from the bridge up. Okay. June, July 11th. July 11th. Ade three. Small mouth, two large mouth. Jerome, what we'll put in that August 1st. Van Buren Small mouth only. August 29th, Jonathan. Three small mouth, two large mouth from the bridge down. Wow. October 3rd will be the classic, and the board has suggested we take the total weight of everybody's tournament. The tournament that had the most weight is where we'll hold the classic. Mm. Okay. On October 3rd. So one, one question about that. Yeah. The, the second tournament at Donovan? Yeah. Going from the bridge down, can fishermen fish into Arkansas? Yes. Okay. If they have Arkansas. Yeah. Arkansas, obviously. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, very interesting. Yeah. And we'll, we'll announce Seeker River Smallmouth Association tournaments next week. Okay. But that's our schedule. Alright. It's set. And, uh, we've got some new rules we're, we're implementing and we'll talk about them. They'll be on the River Master's Elite Series page. Back to Richard. Yes. Turkey Population & Breeding Season Observations Richard, what's your turkeys doing in your area around Ripley County? Oh, well, I'll tell you what I can tell you we're not seeing near as many, uh, I'm not hearing near as many gobblers around my neck of the woods as I was last year. This time I'm hearing about a, a third of what I was hearing this time last year. Um. The hens are already singled out and they're, they're, I heard one this morning out alone, uh, right out in front of the house. Heard one two mornings ago out in front of the house. Uh, they're moving along. These warm days have moved them along just as all the peach trees has blossomed. Mm-hmm. Uh, far too early. So have, uh, all the other hens and stuff. And so things are moving along. Yeah. So you think they're way ahead to the spring and the breeding season of the Turkey? I do. I do too. I think they're probably two to three weeks ahead is what I'm thinking. Mm-hmm. I've been seeing on my wise eye cameras on my eagle seed food plots. Gotta mention that. Uh, hens by themselves and I've seen a gobbler with a hint over two weeks ago with a hen today's breeding two, three weeks ago. Mm-hmm. And right now I'm hearing very little gobbling. I listened this morning, heard one Turkey. I should be able to hear 10 from where I was at. Mm-hmm. You know, I'm, I'm hearing a fourth of the Goling that I've heard in the past last year in the areas I listen to a fourth. Do you think that's because of where they are in the cycle, or do you think those birds have just disappeared? I'm not sure. I'm really not sure. Tell me. I'm hoping, I'm hoping it's because they're way ahead and they're hand up and they don't need to gobble. Yeah. See, I'm wondering about the flooding. Yeah. Wouldn't that be nice? That would be nice. That would be nice. Yeah. Now, what's gonna happen if they're heed up and we got youth season coming up in northern Arkansas and southern Missouri, depending how far they are in the breeding cycle, if those hens go leaving to go nesting, you know what that means? It is going to be hammer time. Yeah. Game on. Game on for the youth season and the regular season, the first week. Then I, I've been noticing every year in southern Missouri. After the first week, everything slows down tremendously. Yep. Have you noticed that Richard? Yeah, I have. Uh, but also I've had a lot of great luck, uh, toward, uh, the third week of season. Last week of season. Most of my birds I'll tag I, most of my good birds I've tagged have been, you know, last four or five days of season. Uh, I, I generally get gobblers working, you know, the woods has thickened up a little bit. Um. A little bit less pressure. Uh, the, the, I I've had real good luck late season, uh, but I stay at it also. Yeah. So, so are you finding these birds by hearing them gobble or are you driving around finding 'em in fields? What are you doing? No, I don't, I don't hunt fields at all. Uh, I just hunt out here in the big timber, uh, you know, get on a good listening spot somewhere and listen and, and depending on what kind of, uh, numbers you're looking at, you know, uh, uh, you know, when there's good numbers, you hear one out there too, ridges over. Mm-hmm. You know, you ain't necessarily gotta get after him. You can wait for one closer, but Yeah. But, uh. You know when the numbers are light, you better, you better get after the first one you hear. Yeah. Yeah. If they're not, you know, most usually, like I said, I'm gonna reiterate in my neck of the woods, most of gobbling is done in southern Missouri. You hear very little gobbling, some very little, and that's when I decided to go somewhere else. I go north where there's more turkeys or west where there's more turkeys. And that seems to help me be more successful. Name of the game is being where the turkeys are. Yeah. Well now, hey, when they're not gobbling, you've really gotta change your tactics up. Oh, yeah. It's quite challenging. It can be really frustrating. Uh, you really have to believe in yourself, uh, and understand that you're dealing with Toms that have been shot at, they've been fooled, they've been lied to. They've been, uh, they've watched their buddies die. Uh, they, they're tall, shy, um. So, yeah, it's, but they still, they, they still ways to, I'll tell you what, we watched, we, we watched last year come out and seen a boy parked on the end of a log road and seen Mississippi tags. They were, they were changing clothes. It was about noon and pulled in there and I asked them, I said, are y'all gonna be here for a week? And they said, no. We drove up all night to hunt this morning and, and, uh. I said, well, you're done hunting. They said, yeah, we're driving all the way back to Mississippi. So you bought an out-of-state tag just for four hours of hunting and he said, yep, that's how much we love coming up here in Missouri. And he said, we got on a bird down there, but he wouldn't work us. I asked him, I said, did he stand on a point for three hours and never budge? He said, yeah. How'd you know I've been peddling with that bird. He's a booger. So did you go down there and get the job done? Uh, I got, I got that bird about five days later. I surely did. Mm, five days later. Well, you gotta share the story with us on how you got that Turkey. How many minutes we got in this segment? Yeah, about three minutes. Three minutes. Plenty of time. Tell story. Oh, okay. Well, the first time I encountered this bird, I called at him from a, uh, from a, a blackberry thicket. And I thought they were gonna move over just, just a little bit to the left. And so I made the quick wrong judgment call, and when I got set up to my left, I'd be dogged if they didn't go to the blackberry thick thicket. And as they, as they took flight, I went to shoulder my gun and I was sitting on my sling and my gun didn't reach the shoulder, so I had to stand up. And so anyways, that. My, my first water bbs didn't reach him on our first encounter, and so it was a couple days later and, uh, he, he was ended up in a tree about 35 yards from me. I roosted him the evening before. He had his distinct gobble and roosted him couple, uh, evening before, and, uh, he flew out. Pretty good. Pretty, I ended up really having to, having to bushwhack him. Uh, I stood up and, and, uh, lobbed one at him and got lucky once he got into my spider web. But, uh, yeah, sometimes you have to be an aggressive hunter and once they trick you and fool you and trick you and fool you and, and right there at the end of season. But he was a big old stold up, gobbler, ugly alien looking rascal. So what kind of hooks did he have on him? Spurs? You know what? He had half inch hooks. I told you about that Gobbler last year. Oh yeah, yeah. Yeah. And, and, and tell, tell 'em why I only had half inch hooks. You know, I, I can't explain why a gobbler has ha I know. I think you mentioned to me why a gobbler has half inch hooks. What'd you say last year? Well, uh, you know, I raised tame turkey's American heritage breed, and I, you know, I get to watch the spur length grows, the Turkey grows, and they're a lot like a wild Turkey. Now, a lot of these old turkeys, they'll break the spurs off and wear 'em down on the rocks and stuff, but, uh. I have noticed from my observation, and I'm not saying anybody else is wrong or right, and I'm just saying, my belief is they grow a quarter of an inch a year, quarter of an inch. Think about it. You shoot a a, a bird that was born last spring this year, he'll have anywhere from a a one inch to a six inch beard and go look at these spurs. They'll be a quarter of an inch. The next year you'll kill a Turkey that was born two springs ago. A half inch Spurs. Yeah. Think about it. Then the third year he may have three quarter inch spurs, you know, to an inch spur. Yeah. But explain a half inch spur. I mean, why does a bird, I've seen birds break through, spurs off fighting. You know, you'll dere an old tom out and he'll have purple look like marker marks on his chest where he is been spurred up in a Yeah, in a fight. Uh, and, uh, it could be a lot and they pop off. Just, it could be a lot like Antler Grove too. Some of these turkeys may not Spurling. It's like people's hair. People's hair don't grow as fast as each other. Some kind of deficiency taking place. Could be. Could be, yeah, could be. We're gonna take a break here, everybody. We got Richard Whiteside, the Hillbilly Barber from Donovan. We're talking Turkey hunting, Turkey hunting stories, and hopefully you can find something interesting that'll help you harvest your next gobbler. Don't go away. We'll be back with more American roots outdoors. Hey folks. This is Richard Young with the Kentucky Head Owners down here in Southern Kentucky. You're just listening to American Roots Radio with Alec Rutledge, right down here from Kentucky, but he's out yonder somewhere else. He is way out there. Y'all check it out year after. 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 span down making the American hunting tradition available to us, passed on down, planted deep in the ground around your party so you never got worry Eagle seed presents. Segment 3: Hunting Tough Gobblers & Spur Length Welcome back to American Roots Outdoors, segment three of our show. We are in the studio K Country 95 Fairman of Springs, Arkansas. And we are talking Turkey hunting again. Our special guest Richard Wat, side Hillbilly Barber. Red Bone. Yeah. Hillbilly Barber and uh, an author. Good stuff. That's great storyteller. Yeah. Good story storyteller. So he's talking about spur length and, and aging a Turkey. Uh, you can't always age a Turkey by the beard length. Uh, you know, we talk about beard rot and you know, some people say, well, they think fertilizer causes beard rot. They think they get burned off in a fire. They think this or that. A, according to what I've learned and I've researched the beard is just like a feather. It grows. Mm-hmm. And a Turkey, he, he comes under stress, say a hard winter not eating right or whatever. It could cause this, this beard deficiency. So think about that. Yeah. Do you think that would be the same thing with the Spurs? It could possibly, possibly there's efficiency or something. I'm know biologist, but I read and, you know, and I, again, I raised turkeys. Mm-hmm. My wife and I, and my daughter. And, uh, you made me think of something there. I, I had to mention my granddaughter, you know, I tame, turned my tame turkeys loose in the yards. Yep. I'll take red and set her down in the yard y'all to watch her. She'll just sit there and look at him and Linda Mallory's been trying to teach her the mouth call with her voice, Richard. You ought hear her eight and a half months old and she's already trying to Turkey call. But anyway, I had to mention her. But back to storytelling. Richard, Memorable Turkey Hunts & Hunting Strategy what is one of your most memorable Turkey hunts? And I want you to share strategy with us and be very detailed with us. I remember you telling me about hunting with hunting in Kentucky or Tennessee and you joined up with somebody in the woods. You remember that? Oh shoot. It was an older man veteran Kentucky. 22 years in a row. I've joined up with a bunch of boys in the woods. Uh, I was an old veteran hunter. Oh, yeah. Tell that story. Yeah. Yeah. I, I, I'll tell you, uh, that was, that was a good, so a hundred, uh, Tennessee, the first year Tennessee season opened up, uh, you were allowed four dabbers, uh, that particular season. You could kill 'em all in one day. Uh, that particular season, my gun was the only gun that went off. Uh, I was hunting actually, Missouri Birds. Uh, they worked up a deal with Missouri, the Tennessee game, and fish in Missouri did. And, and, uh, they first started out over in Fort Campbell and land between the lakes and slowly worked their way over in central Tennessee and they had several stocking locations. And about eight years into hunting my uncle's farm, he told me he'd give permission to somebody, an old man. He went to church with an old, an old man. Uh, got to hunt the hayfield side of the farm, and it was a 500 acre farm. I thought, I thought the world had just ended when I had to give up half that farm hunting to that old man. But I was young and, and, uh, wasn't thinking. Now looking back on it, uh, boy, it, it's awful nice because it, it, I got a good, memorable experience out of it. I, I come in one afternoon and there he was sitting on a tailgate, uh, with a great big old gobbler. And, uh, and he was sure happy with it. And that fall I got a, I got a phone call saying that he had passed away on his porch and I can just, uh, he was just an old Turkey hunting old timer and he killed them gobblers with patients. He could barely walk and he'd sit there all day long. You'd hunt till dark over in Tennessee. He'd sit there all day long and always kill the biggest gobbler on that farm. But, uh, hey, before I, before I, before we run out time, I also wanna mention we're Current River Cleanup Event going to have a giant river cleanup. Yeah. We're gonna talk about that. Yeah. Talk about that real quick. On current river, uh, bay, nothing called the County Line Trash Bash, uh, county Line Cleanup. Uh, we've got some good sponsors. We've got, uh, Indian Creek Meats over in, uh, Papa Bluff Moar. They're all donating Pork Shoulders, uh, Pappy's Backyard Barbecue, Missouri. Oh, hold on a minute. Red Bone, I've gotta take you to Pappy's. You we gotta go to Pappy's. Yeah, I've been to Pappy's. Oh, you have? Oh yeah. Oh my gosh. I've been to the original Pappy's in St. Louis. Well, now this is different. No, this ain't the same. This is the Barton family out Barton. I'm telling you. They're, they're gonna be serving barbecue. We're gonna be cooking up that barbecue, uh, Friday. They are. And they're going to be serving it at telling you river cleanup. And it's from 10 to one bay. Nothing. This Saturday, March 28th, uh, you can bring your, bring your, uh, side by side. Bring your jet boat, your canoe, your kayak, your donkey, your horse. I don't care what you wanna bring in. Be land and water. We're gonna do it all and, uh, 10 to one and it's gonna be brilliant, sunshine, free camping, and, uh, and come and get some good food and, and fellowship. Meet some people and network for, I believe Forest Service. Go and have ranger boat boats out there and so it'll be a good family event. That's awesome. And clean up the river. Clean up the river again. Where's this located at? Bay nothing. Uh, just south and west of Grandin. Uh, about 20 minutes off the four lane, uh, in, in Northern Ripley County, the Ripley Carter County line on the east side of the river. So halfway in between Donovan and Van Buren on the east side of the river. Can you tell people how to get there? You take 21 South off of 60 or 21 north off of one 60. Uh, and uh, when you get to O Highway, uh, turn, go west on O Highway and go all the way down until it turns to gravel and there'll be a big sign that says Bay nothing, uh, recreation, boat access, and just keep following it all the way down. And, and that'll be, uh, that'll be the site. You'll, you'll see the people. Now, Richard, did you, did you create this event? Yes. How many years ago did you create this? Uh, uh, this event? I just flipped this event up just here in the past month. But I mean, I, I've created a bunch of events over the years, uh, uh, cleanup events. I don't know how many, but I've been doing that since about 2012, 2013. That's awesome. Red Bone. That is awesome. How many people do you have? Show up? How many do you expect? Oh, so you know what you can get anywhere from, uh, well, as pretty as weather that we're gonna have No telling who all's gonna show up. Yeah, because it's on the statewide calendar. Beer free, barbecue, free pappy's. Barbecue. I wish I, I don't mean this bad, but if I wasn't going to Illinois, I'd be there for the barbecue. Oh yeah. And help cleanup. Oh man. Oh yeah. Yeah. Well, hey listen, we've got people coming in on the west side of the river by boats. Yeah. They're going to be cleaning up Grub North and Grub South. Access. Going to get, uh, gooseneck cleaned up. We're going to get, uh, we're going to get uh, uh, John Jordan Fields up there at Hickory Land and cleaned up. We're gonna get clubhouse lookout, uh, recreation area up there, cleaned up. We're gonna get bay nothing. We're gonna get Cedar Creek. We're gonna get Compton. All them are getting address. We're gonna get Cave Spring. That's awesome. That is awesome. Yeah, it sounds like, I remember many years ago I was in the jcs. And we used to go to Norfolk Lake and the state of Arkansas hosted a lake cleanup. And you go and the, the, uh, boat docks were giving out free pontoon boats, really free cake for the day and travel around the lake. Clean up the lake. Yeah. We cleaned up hundreds of pounds of trash off the shores of Lake Norfolk and Bull Shoals over the years. That's what you call pulling your communities together. Absolutely. I love it. I love it. We're gonna go to a break. Did you see last week clean up Richard at Grandon? Go ahead. Say again? Did you happen to see last week's big cleanup at Grandon? No, I did not. Yep, yep. But at that little Grandon park, I'll tell you what, they're really coming along. They're having another cleanup on it. Oh yeah. Did see that. I did see that. Hey, we're gonna go to a break. We're gonna talk about that when we come back. Hey, you're listen to American Roots Outdoors, our special guest, Richard Whiteside, hillbilly Barber, Jonathan Missouri talking Turkey, Huntington, and river cleanup. Don't go away. We'll be back with more right after this. Hey everybody, this is Michael Wat with Bone Collector, and you're listening to my buddy Alex Rutledge on American Roots Outdoors. Man. Don't miss an episode. What? 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. Ho the ammunition presents. Welcome back to American Roots Outdoors. Our special guest today is Richard Whiteside. Again, the Hillbilly Barber. If you need a haircut, I encourage you to go down and visit and tell and talk. Hunting stories with Richard or history. Yeah. I need a haircut. I'm telling you. But he can cut it. I need, he's cut mine several times. I need both of them cut. Well, you know, and, and talking about the, uh, you know, the river cleanup. Yeah. That is such a wonderful thing for people to do, and I think we need more people doing that kind of thing. Yes, yes. And I, I know there are some that MDC. And, uh, other people do at particular times, but just to do one, you know, at a random time, especially here at the beginning of the tourist season, and I know the ones that were on the lake used to be at the end of the tourist season. Mm-hmm. We'd do 'em like in October. Mm-hmm. Uh, when I mean, driving around the lake, picking up trash in October around Lake Norfolk, it just absolutely gorgeous with all the colors. But, uh, hats off to you, Richard. That's a, that's a good thing you're doing. I think there should be more people doing that kind of thing. Hmm. Yeah. Thank you. Yes, sir. So, Richard, back to Turkey hunting. Mm-hmm. You talked about the story about the old man on the tailgate and you, you said you'd wished you'd spent more time with him or whatever. Uh, what is another memorable Turkey hunt on a bad Turkey that took you a long time to kill him and talk about your strategy and talk about locate the Turkey, how many times you had encounters with him? And talk about your technique, how you got close to him, and how you closed the deal, and what calls you were using. Okay. So, uh, sometimes I'll use multiple calls. Uh, sometimes I'll use a box call. Sometimes I'll use slate calls. Sometimes I call very, very little, uh, especially if if it's on a bird that's been, uh, jacked with a little bit. I'll just give you my most recent, uh, really good bird that it took me two or three days dancing with him. Uh, and it was out here in front of the house about. About two ridges over, uh, took me three days to get in tight with these. This particular bird, he never would budge. Uh, and he would go back and forth on this ridge. He had a strut zone. He'd, he'd one part, and then he'd move down about 80 yards off on the point, and he'd go quiet and he'd fire back up an hour later and he'd be back where he started. And, uh, I realized that I was going to have to get in his bedroom, uh, that he was just one of them birds that would just sit there and drum and let the hens go on him. Uh, them, them hens can hear a drum from a long ways off. And so one morning, uh, I, I long before the sun come up, I got in in his zigzag. Got up in that, in that zag where he went back and forth and I just sat there and waited and I never, never called, never said a word. And, and there he was about, you know, 30 minutes after sunup there, his old red head was poking his way up in there. And uh, and that's how I got him. So you never made a call? No, I call it deer hunting them. I, I call it, sometimes you gotta resort to deer hunting. An old gobbler, just sit in there quiet, get in his bedroom and just sit there quiet and, and you better have your, your gun shouldered and your gun cheek, your cheek on your receiver and ready to rock and roll. You better not be sitting there on your phone 'cause an old gobbler like that, you know, it don't make no noise coming in. What, what is your thoughts on, on. Outsmarting turkeys like that. I, I think it's okay. I mean, I've done it before, but it's not my favorite technique. No, of course not. You know, you wanna see him dance and put on a show and, and do all that stuff out there, but, uh, uh, I ain't gonna lie. Sometimes when you do finally pull a wool over on the bird like that, you know, there's a little bit of disappointment. Yeah. Because, uh, the woods seem much less. Special, uh, without him there, uh, without him gobbling, without the older, I get, without him. Goblin too, to your call. Do what? Without him responding to your calls too, because it makes you think you cheated him. Makes you think you cheated him a little bit. Yeah. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. But at the same time, uh, you're dealing with a next level, Tom. You know, there's a reason why Yeah. You know, they, you just can't hardly call a bird like that in. Yeah. Now you may be able to, now I'd always say I've seen something like that, but I, I, I'll tell you this, 95, 97, 90 8% of the turkeys I, we shoot is called in. But I've had some when I was younger that I had to set and wait 'em out. But I, I, once they get into drumming and I can hear 'em, then I would soft yelp 'em the rest of the way in. But like you said, oh yeah, yeah. Just soft stuff. Clutch and purrs and, and finish 'em like that because that's what they hear from real hints. The thing is, I think a lot of hunters today, and I, I've been watching some videos. I watched a video of a guy filming himself from behind with a GoPro from the front with a GoPro and a camera sitting beside him, Turkey's, gobbing all around him. It's breaking daylight. He's moving his head like a, a, a kid on a champ, uh, trampoline, jumping up and down and, and you hear him Yelp and not making fun of anybody. But if I was a gobbler, I wouldn't have gobbled to it. Anyway, he ends up calling this Gober and shooting him. He's cussing F words and gd, this and that. And, uh, you're not really teaching nobody nothing. When you, you do techniques like that, you know what I mean? Mm-hmm. No, uh, I tell you what, a stick is a pretty good call. Just a stick in the leap. I found many, many times you just take a little old stick that's calling that's calling. Yep. But I, I think, you know, you outsmart and I ain't, I ain't against bush whacking, but I'd rather call 'em red bone. Yeah. Well, I think, I mean that's, that's what everybody, uh, anticipates when they're going on a Turkey hunt. Yeah. They want, they want to call that bird in. Yeah. There's um, I guess something preme primeval about that. Yeah. You know, that that, that they dates back to the old days. I'll tell what Richard just shared with us. A real killer is versatile. Yeah, exactly. You, you do whatever. Take your versatile Turkey hunter. You, you know how to hunt hard turkeys and you, you, you deer hunt 'em in a sense. With very little calling or no calling, and I've done that on bad turkeys. But what I wanna emphasize, and I meant to, uh, I forgot to mention the rest of it. Too many people call too loud. Too much. Oh yeah. Think about how many times you set in the woods. You talked about hearing some hints, Yelp, and I'm gonna wrap it up after this. Hints aren't real, real vocal unless you get in a competition to fight with him. We're gonna wrap up the show everybody. We got a bonus segment coming up. Richard is a master cook. And we're gonna talk recipes and more Turkey hunt stories in the bonus segment on the podcast. Richard, thanks for being a wonderful guest. Go get your haircut, Donovan Hillbilly Barber. Remember this, this whole world needs more love. Not hate. Teach your boys to become men and your girls to become ladies. And when your roots run deep and strong. Richard, do you know the closing? Yeah, there's no need to fear the wind. Come on with it. 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, Spanel Arms presents. Bonus Segment: Patience, Wild Turkey Recipes & Final Stories Welcome back to American Roots Outdoors, the bonus segment. This is our podcast segment. Again, our special guest. Hillbilly Barber from Donovan, Missouri, Mr. Richard Whiteside. He has shared some great stories and don't you just love his hillbilly terms and slangs And I do, and I wanna encourage people that are listening, you know, here to the bonus on the podcast, uh, you know, you can listen to the entire show on the podcast page too. Just go do that and, and, uh, get to know Richard A. Little bit and you'll find out, you know what I take away from what, when Richard talks. And we had Richard on talk about deer hunting back in the fall. Yeah. Is his patience. Yes. Which I think is what a lot of people lack when they're going in the woods. I think he's Indian. He smokes peyote. Peyote makes you calm, I guess. But his patience is just, I mean, unbelievable. The patience he has. He's very patient to work one bird for three days. Yeah. I mean, it takes a lot of patience to do that. Oh, it does. Let me tell you, those turkeys he's hunting in those hills down there in Ripley County. They're bad. They're tough. They're bad. They're tough. I know they are. Hey, they're bad all over southern Missouri after that first, second week bad. Yeah. Those are the ones that are fun to hunt because, uh, yeah, they're, they the ones that gobble and stay out a shotgun distance of you and make you come to him. It becomes a chess game. You gotta know how Oh yeah. It gets personal. It gets personal. I'll never forget. And, and I, I had a gobbler that threw me fits red bone. Mm-hmm. Absolutely had me upset, mad, I had to ask for forgiveness after I finally got the gobbler out smarter and got him the deal done. I picked him up and body slammed him. I'll never forget it. I was mad that I, I said to myself, why did I do that? God, I'm sorry. But I was so mad at that Turkey. 'cause he run me, it was like five or six hour hunt. Wow. Started on him at rou time and stayed with him. Had him, got him the whole time. Hunter's coming in, messing me up and everything and anyway, got the deal done. Me, me and an old boy from Donovan was jacking with some birds over on Kentucky Lake, Tennessee River Jack rhythm, red bone he's jacking with. By the time we ended by, by the time we ended up killing that bird we had done, you could look at the base of the trees around there and about every other tree on that. Ridgetop had a circle around the base of that tree where we had skid our butts all the way around each one of those trees. It wasn't Turkey scratching. Wild Turkey Cooking Tips with Richard Richard, I know you love to cook, son, you are always sending me pictures of those walleye filets and, and you, you're a wonderful cook. What kind of Turkey recipe, other than frying or other ways that you cook Turkey? Okay. Once I get the wings off and the legs off the thighs and the breasts, then you've got the carcass. I got a big old pot of well water. I'll get going, I'll put that carcass in there and I'll simmer it for about 12 hours and you can get a half a gallon of, uh, meat off of one carcass like that. And then you can go many different directions with that. Wow. You done fajitas something you ever done? Fajitas, Turkey fajitas. Abso absolutely. I, I'll make spread. I'll take that and make spread and, and, uh, mayonnaise and celery and seasoning and, and on rich crackers and stuff. But, but, uh, yeah. I want to encourage everybody that harvests a bird. Don't throw your carcass away. Yes. Don't throw your thighs away. You can get five hamburger patties out of each gobbler thigh if you just take the time. Cut 'em up and, and, uh, run 'em through a grinder and uh, you know, add you a portobella mushroom, grill it on the grill. And, uh, I'm hungry. I have not eaten anything all day. I'm hungry. It's making me hungry. Red bone. Yeah, that, that sounds really good. Is fishing. Hopefully he'll bring home some this afternoon. Yeah. Where's he at? He's over at Mango and then going on over to Duck Creek. Yeah. That Meano Wildlife area. That's quite an area. Is it? I've never been there. I've driven past it, but I've had people tell me that it is quite a place to go. It's how many minutes we got left here? Oh, just whatever you wanna do. Alright. Share one more story with us. Something needed. One more, a Turkey story, one more story. Yeah. Well, I'll tell you what, uh, me and Silas was hunting one day and, and he was got, he was young, he was tackling the gobbler by himself and uh, he kept on bombing out on it. And as we were sitting there, the old bird. Finally sounded off about 1130 up on the ridge on an old loading zone where they, where they had a sawmill up there and, and I told him as he was slipping up there, and this was last week of season, I guess he was probably oh 13, and he was walking in front of me up the ridge. I told him, I said, now, now have your gun ready. Now this is another one of them old hill. Billy, uh, moves. This is not setting back up against a tree. This was aggressive hunting here. And this old in the old Tom, this was an old Tom. And, uh, anyways, he, as he got up there, he got a little gun shine, was a little slow and just lobbed off one round of bbs and, and, uh, the bird got away. He dropped his gun and walked. On back to the Jeep. I picked his gun up and met him back to the Jeep. I said, come down here in the old log road and let's lay down here and, and let's talk about this a moment. He laid down there and I said, good day for the gobbler, wasn't it? He said, yeah. I said, bad day for us, wasn't it right? He said, yeah. I said, no, not really. I said, because we've learned something, uh, right here, and, uh, how many bullets you got in your shotgun? He said, three. I said, well, why did you stop pulling your trigger at one? What, what good is the other two rounds if you're not going to send them on down range? You know? And, uh, and number, number two, your, your gun wasn't ready, you walked. Up there and you wasn't listening to me. And, uh, and so the moral of the story is we ended up going back two days later and it was bad news for the bird and, and good news for us. But never, never let a loss, uh, determine, uh, the outcome of it. Let it build a fire and go back and, and get plan B and learn from it and go back and, and, uh, redeem yourself. Awesome. Awesome, awesome. Great story. You've been a wonderful guest and, and we're gonna wrap it up with this. Give us some scripture real quick that comes to your head real quick. Oh, well. In order for you to increase, Lord I must decrease. Good stuff. Richard Whiteside Hillbilly Barber. Go visit him. I promise you, you're gonna love visiting with Richard. He'll become a new friend to you. If you wanna meet Richard, you can follow him on FaceTime or Facebook, not FaceTime. Facebook, he has a Facebook page and his boy Silas is always posting some neat stuff on the rivers and wildlife fishing and diving, and pretty neat stuff. These guys are true hillbillies in the oars. Proud to call you my friend. Hey, I have some more peach trees, by the way, here in about a month or so. Ooh, baby. Yes. Yes sir. Mm-hmm. Anything else you wanna say before we wrap her up? Uh, that's good show. Good show. I enjoyed it. Whatcha gonna do with the rest of your day? Did you get your clutch fixed? No, actually I didn't. But we are gonna go into Grandon and do a prescribed burn down there in the park. And, uh, I'm going to, uh, plant some more winter squash, uh, and lop up some more. I'm gonna make good use of the rest of the day around here and probably load up with a good batch of ticks. Yeah, I already got two off of me today from scouting this morning. Did you get your clutch fixed on your Jeep? No sir. No sir. It. No, uh, I got a hold of a guy over in Elsinore and and we're getting that worked out, but yeah. Alright. Remember this, everybody, this whole world needs more love and not hate. Pray for the wars that's going on in the world. Love one another. We may not agree on our beliefs. No reason to hate each other, hate our beliefs, hate our the way we believe. Never know when you may need to cross that bridge. To men, teach your girls to become when your roots run deep and strong. Richard? Yep. There's no need to fear the wind. See you, brother. The 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 will to a no lau suit, sitting still till it's time. Shoe American roots. Take it. Do holler, take it. Do. Across the big year after year, got my passed on down deep in the ground around your heart, 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 living the truth. American roots. American roots.