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Little Woods Season 1: Episode 11- Turkey edition #2 of 2
291 Plays3 years ago
Turkey talk continued with Jake, T-bird, and Whitt; There will be additional this weekend in Mississippi- keep looking for new episodes! Pardon the tech difficulties.
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Transcript
Return After Technical Issues
00:00:01
Speaker
We're back. They had us in the first half. I ain't going to lie. That technology nowadays is just getting tough. So we had a little bit of difficulties there on Drew's end, as we would expect.
Resuming Episode 11
00:00:15
Speaker
That's at Desarc internet. But we can't blame him all. I mean, he's working on this alternative computer there. So we're just going to go ahead and finish out the rest of this episode here. We're still on episode 11.
00:00:30
Speaker
You know, we were talking to Drew at the end of that one, but we had a little bit of difficulties. We still got Jacob on, Tyler's on, and I'm on with here.
Excitement for Turkey Season
00:00:43
Speaker
So I think kind of getting more towards
00:00:48
Speaker
you know, the time of year now, we're sitting middle of March. Oh gosh, it's actually the end of March now almost. I mean, the 20th. I don't know where this month's gone, but I might've wished it away in the middle of February. Just trying to get to turkey season, but it's here.
First-Time Turkey Hunting Plans
00:01:05
Speaker
And I think amongst us, even Jake included this year, it's gonna be a good turkey year for 2023. I really think so. Honest. I'm not a turkey.
00:01:17
Speaker
uh, Hunter in the past, but I'm going to give it a shot this year. Hey,
Retro Camouflage & Hunting Attire
00:01:22
Speaker
fired up. Hey, I found a pair of overalls camo that's your, I mean, it's got your name all over. I got some 1990 liberties in the real tree. No, you don't. Hey, I do too. My dad's. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know who these might've been my dad's dad's. I don't know. We'll rock those Jake when we go.
00:01:46
Speaker
They're faded, but I mean, I got zip tie helping them out. You got a zip tie at the shoulder strap. Is that what it is? Oh, I hate when that breaks right there. It didn't break. It's just, it ain't, it don't have no stretch in it no more. I got a lot of miles on them. They ain't got no stretch in it. I ain't never heard that.
00:02:06
Speaker
It'll blend right into just a real white tree base, you know, so much little bit of leaf green left on them. That's called an aged tree right there. That's all you have. I'd buy another pair of just like them if I could find them. Yeah, it's called real tree aged tree. That's the, that's the bread, the camo style. I like, I mean, I wear the mozzio bottom land pattern a little bit greener and I mean,
00:02:31
Speaker
I've washed them twice and I feel like it's went from nice and dark green to almost as white as this couch right here beside me, I mean. Yeah, they dyed those on a Friday, I think most of them. I didn't put all the stuff in there. That was dyed dead in Mexico. Well, they did good on them, they're holding up. I mean, if they want to sponsor us, I'm not going to complain about them. I just won't wash them. Well, just let them be dirty.
Arkansas Turkey Hunting Days
00:02:59
Speaker
Liberty if you're still in business after all these years They were they were a Sears brand weren't they
00:03:11
Speaker
There's probably a pair on eBay right now bringing top dollar. I just ain't looked yet. That's awesome. Now I, uh, you know, kind of jumping right into it. So most, most people around here are still waiting until, uh, April, you know, I, I'm on a couple of Turkey hunting pages and it's kind of funny watching everybody comment. Like you need to stop being out there. You're they're going to, or they'll be like, Oh, they're gobbling. Now they're going to be gobbled out by the time Turkey season starts.
00:03:42
Speaker
Come on. I mean, it happens this way every year. It warms up, then it cools off. It warms
Mississippi Hunting Permits
00:03:47
Speaker
up. I mean, the weather plays a huge factor in it. I mean, that's all it is. They gobble when the weather's right. Uh, and they don't win it crap. And when it's crappy out, but, um, in most States like Arkansas here, we, which good Lord, I hope no other state has to deal with this.
00:04:07
Speaker
My zone, the zone I'm in, I get eight days of Turkey, Turkey season. And it's my favorite thing to do. So a lot of times we got to go chase them in other States. So you neighboring States that get mad at us for coming over there. Well, y'all need to get mad at gaming fish here in Arkansas. Cause I get eight days. They start on a Monday. So that means I get one weekend to hunt them. And it's too late. And it,
00:04:33
Speaker
That's what I was thinking. And it's too late. Yeah. It's, it's way past the time that, uh, would be ideal to hunt them. But you know, I personally ain't a huge fan of the Arkansas game of fish. I feel like a majority of our problems we deal with or are resulting from them. Um, if they end up listening to this, no hard feelings, we can still be friends, but I, I'm not a friend. I'm not a fan, not a fan of that, but, um, you know,
00:05:03
Speaker
All my quails aside, I still love chasing the Arkansas turkey. It's elusive to me. I've never killed an Arkansas turkey, but I've killed, uh, I'm up to 15 turkeys total. Not a single one has been in Arkansas at all, which, you know, maybe some of it's to do with our population, but a lot of it's to, I mean, do with the time of year and how long I have.
00:05:31
Speaker
I mean, I'd rather buy a year long license in Mississippi or Alabama and drive that far and hunt them than hunt eight days in Arkansas. And it might be raining for seven of them, you know, I'm not that good of a Turkey hunter that I can usually kill on in that sort of time. If, if it's not over a bait pile, I mean, which
00:05:55
Speaker
I'm pretty sure that's what all my neighbors do, because when turkey season comes around, the turkeys leave. I mean, there's gotta be some kind of explanation for that, but, you know, getting off my little rant there. Local states here around us, I mean, I'm most familiar with Mississippi, because that's where I spent a lot of time hunting. They opened March 15th. I've got some buddies that, you know, they have that,
00:06:22
Speaker
Tyler, I don't know. Did you apply for that permit this year? I know they've got a new thing this year for that. In Mississippi? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I got it. So for people that don't know and want to go hunt other states, you better look at the regulations because Mississippi, I've been hunting out there since I was 18 and these last two years for non-residents, you got to put in for a permit for the first two weeks of hunting.
00:06:52
Speaker
if you're not. Which is right. They're doing it right. That's exactly what it should be. I mean, it's $3.
00:06:59
Speaker
I don't know many people that didn't get the permit if they actually applied. So, but I mean, maybe they're making a little bit of money off of that and hopefully it's helping their turkeys.
Hunting Trips Across States
00:07:12
Speaker
Hopefully I don't know if it is or not, but, um, kind of, you know, long story short, I haven't been hunting there yet, but this was the first year that I've actually, uh, went to South Texas and that was a good trip. We had a good time down there. We'll talk about that a little bit, but.
00:07:30
Speaker
You know, some other states that are kind of open already, it's March 21st here now. I've got friends that have been down to Florida hunting a little bit. I'm pretty sure they have a combo of the Osceola, which everybody wants to go kill. And then they have an Eastern kind of more up in the Panhandle area, up around desk, you know, kind of the main beach area.
00:07:57
Speaker
more towards Alabama, I'm pretty sure Alabama is open by now, Georgia, Mississippi, of course. And then South Texas, I think Eastern Texas, there's two different zones there, but, you know, here in Arkansas, we're waiting for, what is it, mid April? What is it? 17th. 17. Going to be on a Monday.
00:08:23
Speaker
but I'm, uh, I'm pretty excited for it. This is, this is definitely the time of the year that I like to chase a Turkey. Oh my gosh. And we're going to, I'm going to go to multiple States this year. I mean, it's, that's the plan. So what States you got lined up this year? Uh, so far, I mean, we hit Texas.
00:08:47
Speaker
We had some luck down there. We're going to go to Mississippi this coming weekend. That's going to be a blast. I don't mean you're going to be down there together. Then hopefully we have a little luck in Arkansas mid-year. I've got two weekends. I'm going to be in Mississippi and then Arkansas. And then I'm going to go to Kansas. I got a buddy that's got a
00:09:12
Speaker
a lot of turkeys out there and this year actually it's Drew's dad which we lost I wish he was here to talk about it he's got good kind of explanation from that so he's been sending us some pictures and then and then this year I've already booked my flight I'm gonna fly up to South Dakota and
00:09:32
Speaker
Try to kill a Mariam up there in the, in the black Hills.
Achieving a Turkey Grand Slam
00:09:36
Speaker
I've actually saw a video on Facebook, the other day of a guy that was up there hunting. I guess it was last year. So hopefully it's not flooded with people, but I'm sure it will. They don't matter. What do you got to do to do a grand slam? You got to kill all of them in one year.
00:09:53
Speaker
There's two different types of Grand Slams from my understanding. The World Grand Slam and then just a Grand Slam of the U.S. So you're trying to get the Rio, which is generally
00:10:10
Speaker
westerly, southwesterly. I'm not going to list off all the places because I'm sure I would be mistaken on some of those. And then you're looking at trying to kill an eastern, which is primarily, I mean, it's the only bird we have in Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama, some of Florida, Georgia, that area, Tennessee, Missouri. And then you're talking about the marium, which is hopefully up in South Dakota, Nebraska.
00:10:40
Speaker
That's kind of work. Did y'all kill Mariams up there, Tyler? Is that what y'all did? No, we actually killed Easterns. Your brother killed a hybrid up there the first year we went, but yeah, it's just mainly Easterns. You know, we'll come back to that hybrid thing because I got a question for you on that. And then kind of completing the grand slam for me would be
00:11:06
Speaker
If you could go to Florida killing Osceola Turkey, that would be pretty awesome. All of them look about the same, may accept different color patterns there on the tail feathers. So hopefully they're pretty similar.
00:11:24
Speaker
Over here on this side of the state, we got some of them albinos and white ones that slip off them farms over there. Talking about the Tyson Turkey. Whoever makes them. Yeah, that in there. That's a curveball slam right there called the Colonel Sanders Special, baby. Yeah, that would be that would be pretty impressive to get one of them called up. I guess I mean, you wouldn't have to call him up. You could just shake a bucket, couldn't you?
00:11:53
Speaker
I don't know. You probably smelled him before you seen him. You know, that's funny. You bring up smell because we were talking while we were done in Texas. Like if, you know, they call him the ghost of the forest, right?
00:12:09
Speaker
If a turkey could smell the hunter just like a deer could, we'd never kill the things. Never see wood. I'd never have
Hunting Challenges: Scent & Weather
00:12:20
Speaker
a chance. I mean, cause by the time I get to the spot set up, I've done walked, you know, however far it is. And I'm in, I mean, you gotta wear long sleeve clothes. It don't matter if it's 80 degrees, 90 degrees, you know, 42 degrees outside. I mean, but you're still hot. You're sweating.
00:12:40
Speaker
I don't think there's enough sin away in the world or dirt bags that you can beat yourself with that'll make that work. So I ain't doing that anyway. All that dirt.
00:12:53
Speaker
Like them hardcore bow hunters, you know, that camo dirt. Yeah. When you got to spend six months prepping your skin to go, I'm going to play the wind. I ain't out there trying to smell like a leaf because they still can smell you. You know, when I was a kid, I used to, uh, my grandmother told me that
00:13:19
Speaker
Well, her dad used to hunt. He bought, he'd go out there and he'd find him a pine tree and break it up and rub it on his clothes real good. You know, that, that kill his scent. And then he'd take an apple and cut the apple up out there and eat a few pieces and throw it on the ground. He said, dear, come every time. I said, man, I tried it.
00:13:41
Speaker
I don't, I mean, when I tried it, I don't, I don't think I had any bad luck. I mean, I didn't have real good luck, but I mean, I, like you said, the wind is, that's a big factor. My luck. I'd be covering the ants after all that. Yeah. We're covered in whatever, uh, Jim Jr brought up the other day. Oh, you don't want to be in that. Mm.
00:14:09
Speaker
That is, hey, that would be a cover scent. You don't wipe down with that. Yeah. You wouldn't scare any deer off. You might not see any, but you sure wouldn't scare them off. They just hear me up there gagging. That's like one time, not to get off turkeys, but I was deer hunting one time when I was younger and I used to think, you know, you put that dopey and all that stuff out, I'm like, oh, I'm killing 190 inch deer today. I got this dopey. So you get out there, you get the flinging around.
00:14:39
Speaker
Well, I was up in the deer stand looking through my binoculars. I'm like, man, something stinks. I put my binoculars down. I'm like, man, what is that? I kept doing that. About the fifth time I realized it just soaked my glove where my thumb is from flinging it all around. So my binoculars got put away because every time I looked through them, it smelled like a doe's butt. Yeah, it's about that time. Here comes that deer climbing that deer stand with you, isn't he?
00:15:11
Speaker
That little spike probably, you know, anytime and, and I've been victim of that. I mean, everybody is and we're off turkeys, but everybody's victim of all this, you know, advertisement for this different stuff to try to kill something. Right. And I'm, I'm bad about it. Cause if I'm bored, I'm shopping and I don't need to be doing that. Next thing I know I might have some, some.
00:15:37
Speaker
I don't know, I might have some cover sin or a big thing when I was a kid was like that, what was it like? Coon pea or something you put around your boot or something as a cover sin. Or next thing I know I got an aerosol can and I'm trying not to hit myself with it called a buck bomb or something like that. Anytime I've ever seen a deer actually smell that stuff downwind of it,
00:16:04
Speaker
They turn, tell it and run. They, I mean, I've never had good luck with it. One time I spent a lot of money on all those little, it looks like a, you're about to be out there lighting fireworks or something. One of those punks or whatever you light, and then you stick it in the ground and it's supposed to have a scent, little smoke scent trail or something. Oh yeah. I, I've almost caught the whole forest on fire with them before I had so many out. I mean, I was after it, but.
00:16:32
Speaker
No, I just, I've only dabbled in the different pays and, uh, I used to get more on me than I do on the ground. So I tried them buck, I tried them buck bombs this year. Great idea. Still get it on you. That's right. No, it just, it just jumps on you like a jumping, jumping cactus. Yeah. Anyway.
00:16:57
Speaker
But kind of moving on to some turkeys that, you know, all the seasons starting to come in.
South Texas Hunting Difficulties
00:17:05
Speaker
We got lined out with a guy down in South Texas this year, actually me and Drew, the hammer and my father-in-law and Drew's dad. And we made a trip down there and it was a kind of a,
00:17:21
Speaker
Kind of situation where you go hunt a ranch and you pay for bird kind of deal, which seems, this seems fair to me. I mean, you're, you go down there and you don't kill anything. You don't pay anything. That's, I mean, I'm good with that kind of hunting on paper. I mean, I'm good with that, but, um, we made a trip down south of San Antonio and you know, I, my main thought was.
00:17:51
Speaker
When we were going down there, Oh, it's going to be, you know, mid eighties, 90 degrees. I'm going to the desert. Uh, might be a rattlesnake or something. I gotta fend off, make it interesting while I'm down there.
00:18:08
Speaker
And the whole weekend we're down there. It's like, it doesn't get above 52 degrees winds blowing out of the North. It was basically like I was in Arkansas. I mean, and I tried to get away from that weather, but we were in that nasty weather the whole time. It sucked here this last weekend, but.
00:18:30
Speaker
We had a good time. Um, you know, kind of, well, I'll kind of tell our successes and then we'll go through some stories on it. But, uh, my father-in-law, he was able to harvest a nice bird, a nine inch beard, an inch and a quarter spurs.
Father-in-Law's Turkey Success
00:18:49
Speaker
It was, it was a nice bird. It was an old tree hanger for sure. And then I was able to.
00:18:55
Speaker
Harvest, um, eight inch beard. Um, he only had an inch spurs, but just a nice two year old bird. He messed up and came to my sweet Colin. He thought I had a purty mouth over there or something. I don't know. He just knew he was probably safe. Yeah. He's safe around me, baby. But.
00:19:20
Speaker
No, I kind of put this whole trip and you guys interject as you feel necessary because I know you got it. You're going to have a question or two, but I'll kind of start from kind of the beginning of that weekend because I haven't told you all about it.
00:19:37
Speaker
I mean, I sent you pictures. I told you how bad the weather was, but we ain't spent much time talking about the actual trip. But when I was down there, we'd show up first day, we'd get down there Friday, season opens Saturday. And we're in this town, it's like Oldwell Center. I mean, Jacob knows all about that area because he worked in the Oldwells and all, but
00:20:06
Speaker
All the hotels are full of white trucks that got little emblems on them because they all going to check an oil well the next morning. The whole lobby is full of sand and dirt. Everybody's stomping it off on their feet on their way in. And we get checked into the hotel right out to the ranch. We beat the guy, but he told us the code we wrote on in. We're just sitting around looking and
00:20:32
Speaker
About that time here, he comes on his ranger and we're like, Oh heck yeah, this guy's cool. He's got a cowboy hat on. I'm like, Oh man, he's a Turkey killer. I'm sure he's like, yeah, we don't like turkeys around here. We just shoot them with our rifles in the fall. I'm like, Oh my God. I just, that's just ain't my style. But in South Texas, it's legal to do that.
00:20:55
Speaker
Uh, that's, that's not for me. I want that full experience, you know, the strut and the spit and the drum and all that. But, uh, when we were leaving camp that day, we heard several gobble. It was a kind of nice day. We knew it was going to be chance of rain the next morning, but we seen some birds out in the field strutting around and, uh, we had high hopes for the weekend after that, but, uh, we get
00:21:23
Speaker
We get back out there that next morning, we made up about six 30 gets daylight about seven 30 and, and it's just raining. I mean, it's just raining and it feels like 38 degrees. It was cold. We head down. We're just mulling around there and we kind of almost got, you know how, when you know the weather's going to be bad and you almost get pessimistic about it. I mean, that's how we got.
00:21:53
Speaker
I mean, we didn't have much hopes for it. We were like, Oh, this is going to be a bus this morning. Weather's going to clear up about one. Then we'll start hearing some maybe. Well, that field, me and my father-in-law went to, we get set up out there or we're walking to set up and it's already starting to be daybreak. And I look over and not far from where we saw them out there strutting.
00:22:19
Speaker
Cause trees ain't tall out there. I mean, I'm six foot one or two and I look out to my left and, and at about a 50 to a hundred yards out in these woods, they got maybe, you know, 15 foot tall trees. And I see just turkeys everywhere in the top of them. I'm like, Oh my gosh, they're right there. So long story short, us being pessimistic, we couldn't get to the spot we wanted to.
00:22:47
Speaker
So we set up, put a little D I crawled out there, got about eight thorns in me, trying to crawl out there, put a decoy up. Uh, and we sat down and I mean to tell you, it was raining on us so hard. I mean, my scope is fogged up on my little red dot was fogged up on my four 10 that I had. I'm like, I can't even shoot. So father-in-law, he had his gun. He was ready. I bet you Jacob that first morning.
00:23:17
Speaker
30 birds flew into that field where we were wanting to be set up at. And they just ran around in circles out there for about 45 minutes. And all we could do is watch them, just watch them. I bet you there was, I don't know, 12 or 15 long beards, 10 jakes. Well, they just don't react to calling or something like that. I mean, why'd y'all have to watch them? They wouldn't, wouldn't work or what.
00:23:44
Speaker
Well, they just, I mean, when they flew down out in that field, we weren't up there to them yet. We were kind of more towards camp. They weren't going to come back to us where camp was. They had a whole big area back there the other way. I mean, we should have been on the other side set up and yeah, we kind of screwed the pooch on that, but we just sit there and watch them. Couldn't get anything nice. We had a couple of jakes getting range, but
00:24:10
Speaker
Which is also legal in South Texas, but I wasn't really there to kill a Jake, especially if you got to pay for a Turkey. Um, so I was, I was hoping that, you know, one of those long beards would come over there and try to look at the decoy or something, but they just all, it's like they run around with each other for about 30 minutes and then they paired up and grouped up and they went their different ways and they were just gone. I mean, gone. So.
00:24:40
Speaker
At that point we were like, well, maybe there's a chance. Maybe there's a chance. Rain lit up about nine o'clock and they just started gobbling their heads off. I mean, it was cold. It was windy and they just started gobbling everywhere. And I was like, what in the world is wrong with these turkeys down here? Well, we ease up there getting a spot.
00:25:05
Speaker
call for a little while, had some answer us. They kind of shut up. Then we'd hear coyotes. Then they'd start up again. You know, in, in, in South Texas, there's a bunch of like here in Arkansas. I think the most annoying thing about hunting is about the time that you're out there trying to listen, try to find a bird. You hear.
00:25:34
Speaker
Oh, Joe down the road with his souped up S 10 start blazing by and you can't hear nothing, you know, in the woods. He's over there filming street outlaws drag racing with the neighbors over there. And you're like, what in the world is going on?
00:25:56
Speaker
And, and so after all that settled down, I mean, and then also in South Texas, you got all them old field stuff, like those turkeys would shot gobble on, like, you know, they fire off that burn off or whatever it was, you know, at those, yeah, those flares and stuff. Turkeys would gobble. I'm like, well, there they are. I mean, they're right over there. We know where they're at. So we,
00:26:22
Speaker
We kind of moved to a better position, had a couple of birds kind of working around a pond out there in front of us, which in front of us was so thick. I mean, you could have stood up naked and they wouldn't have seen you. I mean, just, it's so thick through there. I mean, I don't know how they walk through the stuff they do. Um, we set our decoys up again and start working a couple of birds and
00:26:51
Speaker
Uh, we have two toms just appear out of nowhere, just silent to show up at a fence line right there in front of us. Kind of to the left, not on my side. They were more on my father-in-law side. And I said, when they give you a chance, take one. He's like, no, we need, we need to double up on these turkeys. We need to kill two. I'm like, well, I, uh, I really would like you to at least shoot one of them, but, um,
00:27:22
Speaker
And then they kind of worked their way back off. They were real silent then. And then I got them fired up, just, just gobbling like crazy. And I was like, Oh, here they come. Here they come. And I looked to my right and I see this coyote walking down a path towards us. Um, I'm like, Oh my gosh, he's about to go cut them off.
00:27:44
Speaker
And like I said, it's so thick in there, those turkeys, there's no way they could have seen us. I just get up. I told my father-in-law, I said, this coyote ain't about to bust us. I just get up and I run out there towards that coyote with my hat off and start slinging around. He bowed up a little bit like he's about to whoop me, which he probably could have. I don't know. I didn't bring my gun or nothing with me. I just thought he'd run away, you know.
00:28:11
Speaker
Then he, then he kind of eased off the other direction and those birds got quiet for about a minute or two. And then I sat back down and yelped at them and they answered me. Um, and then here they come, they, they come in there strutting. And I'll tell you that for me, especially I, I know other people feel this way too, but when I hunt by myself and I run and gun turkey hunting lots of times,
00:28:43
Speaker
I'm, I'm only 30. I'm young so I can see good. I think anyways, I'm pretty still about it. And then I've hunted enough that I know, you know, kind of the different directions and all. Well, they come back out full strut right in front of my father-in-law and he don't see him and I'm trying to tell him where they are. And he starts moving around.
00:29:10
Speaker
I was like, well, we're about to kill these two here. They're about to break that fence line and come on out. Well, they didn't. So they start easing off and then they, and I cut at them pretty hard and they, and then they V lined up the road right in front of me. Uh, I let one walk by, he looked a little bit smaller and then that second one put his head up and put the old four 10 on him. And he just, he just started flopping, son. I ain't flopping.
00:29:44
Speaker
So that was the one y'all killed that day. Y'all just killed that one. That was it. It's kind of crazy. I seen all those turkeys that morning would kill one out of that. It happens like that sometimes for sure. They got a mind of their own. So your father-in-law did kill one though on that trip. Yeah, that was the last morning we were actually set up in that field where we needed to be. But I'll kind of get to that because that was
00:30:14
Speaker
That's one of them experiences that, I mean, I'll replay that one over and over. It was beautiful, but after I shot that one, I did one of those army crawls under the fence, got that turkey back, you know, threw it back on this side of the fence. I had that two club length rule, you know what I'm talking about? Or, you know, you get to...
00:30:38
Speaker
Yeah, you got to use your driver, I think, to get that extra length. So we get that turkey back. And he's like, it's a funny thing that cracks me up about it. I mean, in all honesty, I wish some of that turkey hunting that me and him do together could be on a reality show, because it'd be funny. Because he said, after I shot, I said, I got him. He said,
00:31:05
Speaker
Well, what about these two? That was those two right here. That was them right here. I swear it on everything. He's like, Oh, okay. He said, well sit back down real quick. So maybe, uh, maybe they'll, uh, maybe another would come back. I'm like, well, I don't really know if that's going to happen or not, but so I get at that bird and we're happy. And, and then about that time we sitting there for about 10 minutes and then another Turkey fires off. I'm like, Ooh.
00:31:36
Speaker
Well, here we go. We get the other one. So we piled that one up in my, Oh, I guess that's why you call that a gobbler chair or whatever chair we were sitting in that morning. And then we were in full running gun mode at that point. And we ease up there and.
00:31:55
Speaker
call at him a little bit down this fence line and I can kind of barely, barely, barely see him down there and he's in full strut just by himself.
00:32:09
Speaker
problem, I didn't, I didn't have a decoy or anything. So he kind of just lost interest a little bit and he eased through some of the thickest stuff I've ever seen in my entire life. And he pops out on the other side of the field. I like which, well, the other side of this thicket. So I come back around, I look.
00:32:32
Speaker
down that field line and I can see him down there and he's working his way up to us. I'm like, all right, this is gonna be it. He's gonna come in silent, but he's coming around here. He's almost like trying to wind us like you'd imagine a predator or a deer would, you know. And he starts working down that edge and we're set up in it. And I swear to you, that turkey, probably a hundred yards before he got to us, maybe 50,
00:33:02
Speaker
He just starts across that field out. Like he was just, I mean, out into nothing. I don't know where he was going. So I yelped at him a couple of times. He stopped. He was kind of confused. He's like, oh yeah, there's a hen over here. Then he beelines it straight at us. I'm like, oh, this, this Turkey's dead. I'm telling my father-in-law, get ready, get ready. He's going to come out right here. He's going to be on top of us. As soon as you see him shooting, cause it's close. That Turkey.
00:33:32
Speaker
Tyler, if in all honesty, that Turkey was probably three of my steps away from me when I, when I could finally see him. That's how thick this stuff. I mean, like, that's how thick this is. And when I see him, he sees me. I mean, it's like instant. And my father-in-law's on him. He said, I could see the whole Turkey in my scope. I'm like,
00:33:59
Speaker
Well, why didn't you shoot him? I mean, that's all we had to do was kill him right there. And he starts putting, he turns around and shacks butt and he's out of there. I mean, he was gone too quick. That's one of those you could have killed with the flyswatter. If I would have had a two by four, I could have smoked him.
00:34:26
Speaker
He didn't even have a belt very long one. I mean, I could have hit him with that. He didn't shoot at him though? No, no, never did. So. I had a rabbit, I had a rabbit hunting him. So he just poked his head out. It was through some, like I had a tree in front of me. So I mean, he was, I mean, he was safe from me, but.
00:34:47
Speaker
He had a shot. I mean, I can't fault him. I mean, he's, he's just like me. He wants a good, clean, ethical kill. I mean, he, he was worried about that. So he didn't want to shoot through the stuff. And I mean, he really, he was close enough that at least he could have wounded him. I could have got out there. I mean, all I literally had to do was lean up, stand up, take two steps. I'd have been on top of his head. I mean, all he had to do was just put a wound shot on him, but, um,
Final Success in South Texas
00:35:14
Speaker
So we're sitting there looking at each other wondering why we didn't shoot, which is most of the time the case when you're turkey hunting, I suppose. So I'm like, well, there ain't no turkeys goblin. Let's ease back up camp. So I picked up that bird of mine, eased up there, we cleaned it. Needless to say, kind of the limit we have out there for non-residents in Texas is three birds. Used to be four.
00:35:43
Speaker
Um, but it was three birds there. And so we were, so we were antsy. We done, we done got a little taste and we were back at them. So, uh, later on that afternoon, we were like, ah, we know where these turkeys are. There was a bunch this morning. Well, we'll kind of ease back over in that area. And we kind of went down there to where, uh, that one had been set up.
00:36:14
Speaker
had come out that morning that we busted. We were like, oh, there's probably another one working this little creek bottom here. We didn't have much luck, but kind of moving on to, I mean, at that point, me and him both were, I mean, when I say it was raining all day, it rained all day. And it was just a steady anywhere from drizzle to light rain.
00:36:42
Speaker
and we were soaking wet. The rest of the afternoon wasn't very fruitful. The next morning we go out, kind of the same field, we're like, all right, we got out there like an hour and a half for daylight. We're like, we're here now. I mean, these 15, 20 fly down, they're in trouble today.
00:37:04
Speaker
put a decoy, swear to you, the whole tree line is full of turkeys again. I'm like, Oh my God, here we go. This is about to be one of those that I just film and watch set decoy out. Nothing. They all fly the opposite direction that morning. I'm like, Oh my God. So the turkeys beat us that morning. Uh,
00:37:30
Speaker
So we mull around, we ease back down there that afternoon again to that same spot. I mean, me and him just kind of hunted one little section there. I felt like we were, I mean, but there was turkeys there. So I mean, why would we go looking all over this farm for nothing? And then the guy that was out there guiding us, he texted, he said, there's a turkey at that gate where y'all shot that other one. I said, Oh my gosh, we're way down here. We were just up there. We done missed our chance.
00:37:59
Speaker
And I look off to the left cause we'd been working. There was just a little hand in front of us, like a real hand. And I had a, and I didn't have my decoy again for some reason. And that hand walks out on the path, probably 10 yards from us right there. It's my left. And, and, and all the time I'm thinking this next turkey we shoot, I don't want to be the one that shoots it. I want my father-in-law to shoot it. That's all I'm thinking in my head.
00:38:29
Speaker
I looked to my left down there where that guy said that turkey was and I'm telling you I see two turkeys just coming down that lane their hands and like oh man out of out of the thickest stuff I've ever seen in my entire life pops this turkey in full strut and they run down this fence line on a B line I mean I've never seen turkeys run this fast in my entire life except when I scare them
00:38:56
Speaker
And he runs the, he runs the entire way down that fence line in full strut. I don't know how he did it. It's kind of like a woman holding her dress up. Just, I mean, just ran as fast as he could down that fence line to us. I'm like, Oh my gosh, here we go. I've got my gun up. I'm kind of, I'm kind of semi ready, but he's a little too far to my left. He comes out from underneath that fence and gets on the path and he sits there and I'm like, all right, he's right here to my left. I'm like,
00:39:25
Speaker
Can you see him? He said, no. I said, Oh God. Y'all he, he, this Turkey is 10 yards from me, 20 at the max. And he's in full strut right here in the middle of this lane, right here beside us. And my copod Ray could not see him because I guess I was in the way or a tree or something. And he's over there drumming and spitting, which,
00:39:54
Speaker
I'll be honest, I like to kill turkeys, but I love to watch the show too. I mean, I'm not going to ever be sitting under a feeder waiting on them to come out, just shoot them like that. I'll shoot them if they're silent, but it's not as fun. I like them doing their thing. And he's doing his thing right there beside me. So I'm enjoying it. I'm like, man, you're missing a show. You need to lean up. There ain't no way he'll see you.
00:40:18
Speaker
And about that time, those hands start working back where that other hand came from. I was like, Oh yeah, they're about to drag him right across where my father-in-law can see these turkeys and they ease and he's is in there. He goes under the fence.
00:40:37
Speaker
He pops back up full strut again. He eases behind some thick stuff. I'm like, all right, move now. I said, and look right there at that spot because he's about to pop out. I cluck just a little bit, just real quiet.
00:40:52
Speaker
And I swear to you, the next 30 minutes we sit there, I was waiting on that turkey to come out. I don't know where he went. After about 30 minutes, I'm like, well, he might be gone, but I'm telling you, a turkey can make you feel stupid.
00:41:12
Speaker
Oh yeah. I mean, just doing it just as good as they can. And then all of a sudden they just, they can definitely keep something between them and you. And I had no idea where he went. I mean, he just disappeared just as quick as that. I mean, from what you said, I mean, there's three spots just on that farm. That's the thickest stuff you've ever seen in your life.
00:41:35
Speaker
Well, we walked through it also. But hey, that first morning, I'm pretty sure I still got a thorn in my hand from that first morning crawling out there, put that decoy up. I mean, there's cactus. There wasn't a flower to there or a weed there that didn't have a thorn on it. It's like everything's in protection mode out there. But so that one didn't work out.
00:42:04
Speaker
Trying to think. I think we worked one more bird that day. And then we rode around on the Can Am, would call down in some valleys, ran some ponds and stuff. Didn't ever get anything to strike. I mean, we kind of worked that whole farm. And then our last morning, we were kind of running out of hope. We were thinking, oh my gosh, we've seen all them birds and now they done left the country.
00:42:33
Speaker
We went back to the infamous field again. That's when we sealed the deal for following law there, barely. I mean barely, but we did it. That's what matters.
00:42:47
Speaker
That day, and I will tell you, and everybody else that asks, if you go hunting and you've got somebody else with you, especially somebody that's just not, just an avid turkey hunter, they might like Jacob in that real tree. If you take that cheap little pop-up blind, low to the ground, little setting thing, we put that around us,
00:43:16
Speaker
I had that decoy out there and that Turkey was in that hit tree again. I yelped at him a little bit. I said, I'm about to do something crazy. And I got my fan out and I started beating it on the ground cut real hard. Like I was flying down.
00:43:29
Speaker
And then about, Oh, five or 10 seconds later, I see just a, I thought it was, it looked like a buzzard flying out of that tree and that Turkey just flew out of the tree. Landed probably 15 yards on the other side of the hand decoy, which she was close. And he stood there second. He looked at her and he went in full strut and just started drumming and spitting back and forth. And I was like, God, this is just, I mean, Tyler, I was thinking that instance. I was like.
00:44:00
Speaker
I really, really, really want to film this. But at the same time, I was soaking it all in. It's so hard. There's such a give and take with that. Because I mean, I don't want to be looking at a lens when I can look at it just in person. And so I'm looking at this turkey. I'm like, all right. Every time he would, he'd turn sideways, get broadside, you know, and then he'd do him a spit.
00:44:33
Speaker
I mean just get, I mean just beautiful back and forth. Every time he'd spit, I'd say move. Father-in-law, he'd pick that gun up just a little bit more each time. I'm like...
00:44:46
Speaker
You're under the cover. We have, you can move it over here, but he just pick it up just a little bit. And then, and then about that time I said, all right, now kill him, kill him, kill him. And he, and he puts his gun up on him and that turkeys in full strut. I really wish he would have waited just a second longer. Cause I, I don't know. I.
00:45:08
Speaker
I guess in that instance, I was being a little greedy. I was wanting him to gobble or something right before he shot it, you know, right there on top of us for the, I mean, just the full blown experience. Yeah. He shot. Turkey did a back flip. I'm so pumped. I jumped up. I give him a high five. Now I'm like, I gotta go get that Turkey. Cause he's out there flopping around. He said, nah, sit back down. Let's see if we can kill another one.
00:45:39
Speaker
I'm like, kill another one. We just shot. I mean, surely the guy, I mean, I know turkeys are crazy out here in Texas, but I don't want to coyote. He'd come out of left field out here and try to take this Turkey or, but I got out there, stepped on his head and let him flop around a little bit.
00:46:01
Speaker
It was all worth it. It was kind of, I think, in all honesty of those two, I know I shot that one and I was happy. I mean, it was the first Rio I've ever killed in my life. But kind of to work a bird and have as many chances as me and him had and finally see him put one down, it was like the icing on the cake.
00:46:30
Speaker
I can't explain the feeling. I mean, you take somebody like that means a lot to you. I mean, me and my father-in-law are as close as can be. I mean, we talked three times a day about nothing, literally nothing. And, and to have him be able to kill that Turkey that flew right out of the tree, did it just exactly right.
00:46:49
Speaker
I'm pretty sure my father-in-law thinks that we're the best Turkey hunting duo in the world. I think we got a lot of, I think we got a lot of work, but, uh, it was, it was well worth it. It was well worth it. Uh, and also I wasn't the only one had to pay for Turkey now. So I was happy with that too. So, uh, but drew and, uh, his dad went with us. They didn't have much luck. They seen probably.
00:47:17
Speaker
Oh, I think, I think total, they probably saw eight or nine long beards, but they didn't have any success over there. I think they got cut off a couple of times by coyotes, which they kind of played a nuisance, but, uh, you know, kind of moral of the story. There's.
00:47:35
Speaker
having him come with me and, and we get to do that together. I mean, that's, that was worth its weight in gold. So, um, it was a, it was a blessing and a heck of
Future Hunting Trip Plans
00:47:47
Speaker
a trip. And I hope everybody gets to do that with somebody like that. So, uh, you know, I, in all honesty, I know that you two kind of have a little bit something brewing, don't you?
00:48:00
Speaker
Oh yeah. Kind of getting off the Texas. Yeah, we got the, we got the honey hole up here, hunting the rock field. Yeah. I think y'all are planning a good little trip, aren't you? I've been keeping an eye on them turkeys out there on the base, on the military base and seeing some dandies and just trying to piece it all together where we're going to go and we still got some
00:48:28
Speaker
some scouting and stuff like that to put together, but I've been seeing them.