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Speaker 1: Welcome to this country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves

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Speaker 1: from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.

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Speaker 2: I want you to stay a.

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Speaker 1: While as I share my experiences in life lessons. This

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Speaker 1: Country Life is presented by Case Knives on Meat Eaters

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Speaker 1: Podcast Network, bringing you the best outdoor podcast the airwaves

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Speaker 1: have to offer. All right, friends, grab a chair or

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Speaker 1: drop that tailgate. I've got some stories to share. Turkey

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Speaker 1: hunts and turkey hunters remembered. Spring is here and so

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Speaker 1: is turkey season. The first step for me in the

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Speaker 1: new year chasing critters for the freezer, and there's no

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Speaker 1: better way to kick it off and chasing turkeys. I'm

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Speaker 1: going to share some of your stories that you've sent

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Speaker 1: into me to in fact that celebrate service. But first

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Speaker 1: I'm going to tell you one of mine. The story

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Speaker 1: I'm about to tell you happened a long time ago.

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Speaker 1: I was still relatively new to turkey hunt, but I

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Speaker 1: hadn't missed a season of killing at least one and

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Speaker 1: most times two, which was the limit then in Arkansas.

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Speaker 1: But one thing I had never done was to get

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Speaker 1: a turkey on opening morning. It was as if it

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Speaker 1: took me a few days to get warmed up. I've

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Speaker 1: always been told that unless you get lucky right off

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Speaker 1: the bat, that it takes two or three days to

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Speaker 1: get a new piece of ground figured out how the

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Speaker 1: turkey has used it if you've never hunted it before.

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Speaker 1: There was no ONEX available on your cell phone. Coincidentally,

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Speaker 1: there was also no cell phones. Some of you may

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Speaker 1: not believe this, but if you wanted to take a

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Speaker 1: picture of something in the woods, you had to toe

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Speaker 1: the camera with you. I know, crazy, right. Cameras were

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Speaker 1: just something else that would be in the way. And

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Speaker 1: if I was going to have my picture taken with

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Speaker 1: a turkey, I just clobbered. I'd have it taken on

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Speaker 1: the porch when I got home. Now I'm answering emails,

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Speaker 1: checking in with my friends or hunting, and taking pictures

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Speaker 1: and videos left and right, documenting just about every aspect

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Speaker 1: of the hunt, good or bad. Boy, Am I glad

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Speaker 1: I didn't have one rolling that morning? It was opening

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Speaker 1: day and I was hunting as a guest with a

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Speaker 1: guy who shall remain nameless. The only clue to his

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Speaker 1: identity is that he was a turkey hunt, a good

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Speaker 1: turkey hunt who had.

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Speaker 2: The patience of Joe.

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Speaker 1: He could sit all day in one spot, having only

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Speaker 1: heard a single garble, or no gobbles at all, for

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Speaker 1: that matter, and remain there, knowing that turkeys used that area.

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Speaker 2: A tactic he used to put a bunch of turkeys

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Speaker 2: in his freezer.

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Speaker 1: I've always called that process deer hunting turkeys. It's my

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Speaker 1: least favorite way to hunt them, barely beaten out, not

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Speaker 1: going at all, which as the years progressed, the line

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Speaker 1: between them becomes even more blurred. But this was opening

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Speaker 1: day and he and I were standing on the edge

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Speaker 1: of a gravel road on his farm, waiting on gobling time.

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Speaker 1: We've been there for half a thermos of coffee. You

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Speaker 1: turkey hunters know how long that is. We were way early,

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Speaker 1: not because we had to beat anyone to the spot,

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Speaker 1: because we were so excited. We left the cabin about

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Speaker 1: the time we probably should have been waking up. He

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Speaker 1: may have been a patient man, but it was opening

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Speaker 1: day and our mission was to get me my first

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Speaker 1: opening day turkey. The morning was cool, with no wind

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Speaker 1: and crystal clear. You could see every star in the sky,

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Speaker 1: and the sun was still twenty minutes from beginning to glow.

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Speaker 1: We heard a train horn blowing that was miles and

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Speaker 1: miles away from where we stood, and if a turkey

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Speaker 1: gobbled anywhere on those seven hundred acres, we'd hear him.

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Speaker 1: And one did, and it surprised us both, But he'd

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Speaker 1: answered that train and the songbirds had yet to make

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Speaker 1: a peep. My friend said, I know right where he's at.

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Speaker 1: He's roosted at the crossing. Let's go, and with that

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Speaker 1: I followed him off the gravel road onto a sandy

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Speaker 1: woods road that made no sound as we each walked

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Speaker 1: a tire rut, correcting our course when we felt the

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Speaker 1: grass under our boots that was growing on each side

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Speaker 1: of the lane. He'd walked that road countless times in

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Speaker 1: the dark, and I could vaguely see his silhouette as

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Speaker 1: I followed a half a step behind him. Turkey was

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Speaker 1: roosted near the creek, and after about ten minutes of

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Speaker 1: slow walking in the dark, I could faintly hear water

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Speaker 1: running through a little shoal. We had to be close.

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Speaker 1: My friend stopped and I almost bumped into him in

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Speaker 1: the dark. He took hold of my arm and guided

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Speaker 1: me to a white oak tree that was five yards

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Speaker 1: off the road. The creek had been flooded two weeks before,

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Speaker 1: but was now back in its banks. The high water

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Speaker 1: had flushed all the leaf littered downstream, and we didn't

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Speaker 1: make a sound as we walked on nothing but bare

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Speaker 1: earth and short grass over to that tree. He left

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Speaker 1: me in the best seat in the house and took

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Speaker 1: up a spot across the road on the other side,

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Speaker 1: away from me, hid in a patch of underbrush and

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Speaker 1: green briars. He was absolutely invisible. Gobling time came and

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Speaker 1: that joker let the world know who was running the

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Speaker 1: show in that bottom. If there has ever been a

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Speaker 1: show enough, Boss Gobbler. We were listening to him that morning.

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Speaker 1: He wasn't just gobling, He was commanding singles, doubles, triples.

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Speaker 1: He was telling us all how the cow hit the cabbage.

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Speaker 1: I heard him pitch down early and hit the ground

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Speaker 1: less than one hundred yards away, pretty dark, and it

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Speaker 1: kind of surprised me. It'd actually been roosted directionally, just

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Speaker 1: to the right of where my friend was sitting, but

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Speaker 1: across the little creek off to my left. I saw

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Speaker 1: hen after him, further back of the woods, gliding towards

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Speaker 1: me like a black stealth fighters and landing without a sound,

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Speaker 1: just over a little rise and right where I thought

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Speaker 1: that gobbler had landed. Now I knew my friend couldn't

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Speaker 1: have seen them from his position, but it didn't matter.

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Speaker 1: I didn't need to tell him. He wasn't gonna move

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Speaker 1: or spook anything anyway. He was as hid as head

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Speaker 1: can be. The only thing visible on him was from

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Speaker 1: his nose up. As he sat in the middle of

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Speaker 1: those bushes, I heard the gobbler drumming, and after a

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Speaker 1: minute or two, I saw the top of his fan

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Speaker 1: shake every time he did. The moments in between the

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Speaker 1: vibration of his polmonic puffs, his fan drew closer and

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Speaker 1: closer as he slowly strutted his way toward the crossing

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Speaker 1: and where we sat waiting for him. Now more out

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Speaker 1: of habit than necessity, I clucked at him with my

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Speaker 1: mouth call, and he gobbled so loud that I felt

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Speaker 1: it as much as I heard it. His fan disappeared,

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Speaker 1: and his head took its place over the small rise

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Speaker 1: in the road as he walked on a mission to

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Speaker 1: see who was calling to him from across the creek.

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Speaker 1: I could see several hens now as they made their

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Speaker 1: way following him toward what was fixing to be his

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Speaker 1: last attempt to cross that creek on his own. He

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Speaker 1: stepped up on the other side of the creek twenty

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Speaker 1: yards away, his head a foot above the hens that

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Speaker 1: were pecking the ground behind him, who were still unseen

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Speaker 1: by my hunting partner. I had the beat of that

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Speaker 1: Belgium browning on his knoggin, since he dropped his fan

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Speaker 1: and started smiling at me. Once I saw there wasn't

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Speaker 1: a hen close enough for me to hit, I uncorked one,

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Speaker 1: and that joker cut a backward flip in the road

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Speaker 1: he'd just walked up. Then pandemonium like a covey of

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Speaker 1: quailed hen. Turkeys blew out of there in the direction

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Speaker 1: that they'd arrived, except for one. She flew from directly

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Speaker 1: behind where that gobbler had fell and made a bee

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Speaker 1: line straight at my buddy, gaining both altitude and speed

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Speaker 1: with every beat of her wings. I could see my

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Speaker 1: turkey as I jumped up from my spot, running towards

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Speaker 1: where he was flopping, and caught the image out of

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Speaker 1: the corner of my eye as my friend raised up

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Speaker 1: his shotgun and shot that hen out of the sky

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Speaker 1: like it was a Mallard duck. Four steps later, I

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Speaker 1: was standing on the neck of my first opening day gobbler.

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Speaker 1: I looked back across the creek and my friend was

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Speaker 1: fighting through the briers, and I saw him jump over

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Speaker 1: part of a tree top and looked back at me,

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Speaker 1: both arms pointed skyward in the air in triumph, his

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Speaker 1: turkey mask hide in his face but blowing back and

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Speaker 1: forth as the flopping turkey under his foot stirred up

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Speaker 1: the wind with leaves and feathers. I grabbed that gobbler

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Speaker 1: by the feet and they held him up in the

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Speaker 1: still dawning day that was just now light enough where

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Speaker 1: you could see down through the woods. My host was

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Speaker 1: twenty five yards away, arms still pumping variously toward the heavens,

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Speaker 1: laughing in celebration. When he looked over at me and

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Speaker 1: saw me holding that gobbler. I'll never forget the happiness

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Speaker 1: in his voice when he said you got one too,

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Speaker 1: or the disappointment is all the air left his body

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Speaker 1: When I said, yeah, but mine has a beard. He

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Speaker 1: ripped off his head and ned picked up that hen

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Speaker 1: and went, oh no. He never knew the hens were there,

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Speaker 1: and at that time hens could be taken legally in

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Speaker 1: the fall not in the spring. He could barely see

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Speaker 1: the gobbler through the bushes when I shot, and he

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Speaker 1: thought I missed when the hen flew right over his

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Speaker 1: head from where the gobbler had been standing. It was

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Speaker 1: the perfect storm to mess up, But mess up he did.

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Speaker 1: It was a long walk back to the truck, even

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Speaker 1: though the distance was sure. He congratulated me on my

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Speaker 1: opening day, Gobbler, but didn't really start talking until he

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Speaker 1: got to his house when he called and turned himself

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Speaker 1: into the game of fish. It was an expensive admission

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Speaker 1: to an honest mistake, but it was the right thing

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Speaker 1: to do. It was a lesson in making sure everything

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Speaker 1: you're seeing is what you're actually seeing. And even a

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Speaker 1: patient man can get caught up in the moment, and

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Speaker 1: that's just how that happened. This first account is from

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Speaker 1: this Country Life listener Aaron Shaw. Aaron lives in Ada, Oklahoma.

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Speaker 1: Long time this Country Life listener should recall that Ada,

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Speaker 1: Oklahoma was the site of the horse sale that brought

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Speaker 1: Ken's Reward into my life. He was a nefarious wannabe

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Speaker 1: bucking horse that tried to kill me. Anyway, Aaron is

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Speaker 1: on the yonder side of thirty two years old and

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Speaker 1: works in the oil field.

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Speaker 2: He says that his favorite hunting story is this one. So,

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Speaker 2: in Aaron's words, in my voice, here we go.

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Speaker 1: In twenty fifteen, my best friend since high school, Jake,

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Speaker 1: was a member of the United States Air Force and

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Speaker 1: deployed to various countries in the Middle East. Communication was

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Speaker 1: sketchy in some of those places, so I didn't get

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Speaker 1: to hear from him much in the nine months that

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Speaker 1: he was gone. But he got in touch with me

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Speaker 1: right before he came home in April and told me

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Speaker 1: that what he really wanted to do once he.

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Speaker 2: Got home was turkey hunt.

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Speaker 1: Well, I jumped at the chant, and two weeks later

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Speaker 1: we were headed out west to try and full some

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Speaker 1: old real grands.

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Speaker 2: I hadn't killed a turkey yet my hunting career, and I.

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Speaker 1: Was excited to try, but my main goal was to

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Speaker 1: make sure that my friend got one for all that

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Speaker 1: he did serving.

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Speaker 2: Our nation overseas.

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Speaker 1: The night we arrived, we set up camp on a

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Speaker 1: block of public land. Our camp consisted of a fire

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Speaker 1: and ice chest full of groceries, and the truck that

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Speaker 1: would serve as our sleeping port. Next morning, after a

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Speaker 1: long night of catching up in storytelling. We set up

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Speaker 1: on a timberline overlooking a swath of grassland dotted with

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Speaker 1: big hilly mounds.

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Speaker 2: We had the decoy set.

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Speaker 1: Up and I started to call on my potcall, and

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Speaker 1: after about twenty minutes we got an answer. The hair

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Speaker 1: stood up on the back of my neck like it

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00:12:47,640 --> 00:12:50,240
Speaker 1: still does when I hear a turkey gobble, and I

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00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:53,800
Speaker 1: could almost taste him. Just when we thought he was

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00:12:53,840 --> 00:12:56,840
Speaker 1: coming straight to us, he hung up, out of sight

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00:12:57,120 --> 00:13:01,079
Speaker 1: and way out of range. Over at Jake and ask

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00:13:01,160 --> 00:13:03,560
Speaker 1: him what we should do well. He said he didn't

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Speaker 1: fly halfway around the world after missing both duck and

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Speaker 1: deer season to fly back and not get a turkey.

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Speaker 1: Let's go get him. We left the decoy and took

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00:13:14,160 --> 00:13:17,640
Speaker 1: off in hot pursuit, going from hell to hell, calling

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00:13:17,679 --> 00:13:22,840
Speaker 1: as we went, and that turkey answered every time. He

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00:13:22,880 --> 00:13:25,000
Speaker 1: started to get louder, but was still out of sight.

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00:13:25,520 --> 00:13:28,200
Speaker 1: I spotted a dry creek bed about fifty yards ahead

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Speaker 1: of us and decided that was going to be our

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Speaker 1: ambush point. I steered us towards it and flung myself

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Speaker 1: my gun and the call down in the shallow creek

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00:13:36,800 --> 00:13:41,319
Speaker 1: bed with Jake in hot pursuit Now we're both well

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Speaker 1: over six feet tall, so we had to drop to

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Speaker 1: our knees and crawl into position on the other side

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Speaker 1: and peek over the edge to see if we could

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Speaker 1: spot that gobbler. I told Jake to get his gun ready.

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00:13:52,960 --> 00:13:55,200
Speaker 1: Well I was positioned. The only thing I could see

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Speaker 1: was the rocks and the grass right in front of

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Speaker 1: my face, but I dared not peek my head up

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00:13:59,800 --> 00:14:03,800
Speaker 1: for fear spooking that turkey. I stayed low and I

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00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:07,560
Speaker 1: kept on calling on that podcall. The turkey's gobbles got

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00:14:07,640 --> 00:14:11,320
Speaker 1: louder and louder, so loud that at any moment I

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00:14:11,440 --> 00:14:14,120
Speaker 1: was expecting him to be in the creek standing right

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00:14:14,160 --> 00:14:18,040
Speaker 1: between us. And just when I thought what wasn't going

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00:14:18,160 --> 00:14:24,280
Speaker 1: to happen, it happened. I jumped up, grabbing my gun

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00:14:24,280 --> 00:14:27,520
Speaker 1: into my utter dismay, saw very much alive turkey at

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00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:30,960
Speaker 1: fifteen yards. I drew down on him and had that

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00:14:31,040 --> 00:14:33,760
Speaker 1: joker dead to rights, but I hesitated. I wanted my

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00:14:33,880 --> 00:14:36,360
Speaker 1: friend to make this shot, as I was wondering what

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00:14:36,520 --> 00:14:39,200
Speaker 1: was taking him so long to shoot again, and before

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00:14:39,240 --> 00:14:41,600
Speaker 1: he got out of there, I let loose one shot

255
00:14:41,840 --> 00:14:45,560
Speaker 1: just as he took flight and disappeared. Over the grasslands,

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00:14:46,080 --> 00:14:50,720
Speaker 1: my attempt clearly missing its mark. I turned my buddy

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Speaker 1: and shut it. How could you miss? He was so close,

258
00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:56,400
Speaker 1: and he looked back at me, smiling and said, I

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00:14:56,440 --> 00:15:01,480
Speaker 1: didn't miss the first one. The first one. That's what

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00:15:01,640 --> 00:15:03,920
Speaker 1: I realized. There was a dead turkey with one wing

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00:15:04,040 --> 00:15:06,640
Speaker 1: sticking up in the air, as if waving to me

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00:15:06,720 --> 00:15:10,240
Speaker 1: to show me my own foolishness. But no shame or

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00:15:10,280 --> 00:15:13,520
Speaker 1: anger ever hit me, only elation at my friend's accomplishment.

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00:15:13,560 --> 00:15:16,520
Speaker 1: We jumped and hugged and hooted and hollered all the

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00:15:16,520 --> 00:15:20,200
Speaker 1: way back to the truck. A week later, I sat

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Speaker 1: with his family around the table and we shared that bird.

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00:15:25,040 --> 00:15:28,840
Speaker 1: Now we go turkey hunting every year together. The birds

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00:15:28,840 --> 00:15:30,720
Speaker 1: are scarce in that area where we hunted, and I

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00:15:30,720 --> 00:15:32,880
Speaker 1: still haven't pulled the trigger on one. But next time

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00:15:32,920 --> 00:15:36,160
Speaker 1: he's calling and I'm behind the gun. And according to

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Speaker 1: Aaronshaw of Ada, Oklahoma, that's just how that happened, and

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00:15:42,520 --> 00:15:46,800
Speaker 1: I hope will happen this spring. Aeron, good luck to

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Speaker 1: you and Jacob, thanks for your service, but it's Aaron's

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00:15:51,840 --> 00:15:58,440
Speaker 1: time to pull the trigger. The next offering comes to

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00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:02,000
Speaker 1: us from a man named James who's rambling around up

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00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:06,040
Speaker 1: in Jacksonville, Illinois. James has made a career out of

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00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:08,680
Speaker 1: serving others and sent me this one last November, and

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00:16:08,720 --> 00:16:12,800
Speaker 1: I'm sure it was after a lot of deliberation. Stories

279
00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:15,800
Speaker 1: like these are special, and I've waited to share it

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00:16:15,880 --> 00:16:21,480
Speaker 1: until now. So in James's words, in my voice, here

281
00:16:21,480 --> 00:16:28,160
Speaker 1: we go once more. I've kept this story to myself

282
00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:32,080
Speaker 1: for a few years now as a keepsake er honored memory.

283
00:16:32,080 --> 00:16:34,400
Speaker 1: But as I sit around the campfire here at Deer

284
00:16:34,440 --> 00:16:38,320
Speaker 1: Camp in Shannon County, Missouri, I felt compelled to share it.

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00:16:39,320 --> 00:16:41,000
Speaker 1: I'm not sure if you will share it, but I

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00:16:41,040 --> 00:16:44,280
Speaker 1: think you might enjoy it and appreciate it in a

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00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:49,520
Speaker 1: similar way as I have. Today's veterans date twenty twenty four,

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00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:51,960
Speaker 1: but I'd like to take you back to the spring

289
00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:57,200
Speaker 1: of twenty nineteen. I was and still am a paramedic

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00:16:57,320 --> 00:17:01,520
Speaker 1: after leaving the Sheriff's Department four years prior. Though I

291
00:17:01,680 --> 00:17:04,119
Speaker 1: was not new to being a paramedic, I was fairly

292
00:17:04,200 --> 00:17:06,639
Speaker 1: new to this department in the area that I was

293
00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:10,800
Speaker 1: currently working. My partner at the time, while from that area,

294
00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:14,520
Speaker 1: was brand new to EMS, and we were, to say

295
00:17:14,560 --> 00:17:17,879
Speaker 1: the least, quite the pair in that ambulance, him telling

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00:17:17,920 --> 00:17:20,919
Speaker 1: me turn here and slow down for this and that bump,

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00:17:20,920 --> 00:17:24,080
Speaker 1: and me directing him on new and current ms field

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00:17:24,080 --> 00:17:28,040
Speaker 1: operations and procedures. But one of the things required by

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00:17:28,080 --> 00:17:31,280
Speaker 1: ambulance crews is to take terminally ill patients home from

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Speaker 1: the hospital for their end of life care. This particular day,

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Speaker 1: we were called early in the morning, around four am

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00:17:38,680 --> 00:17:42,960
Speaker 1: to take a man home on hospice. Me not knowing

303
00:17:43,000 --> 00:17:45,280
Speaker 1: the area well and my partner not really ready to

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00:17:45,320 --> 00:17:47,760
Speaker 1: spend the last moments of a person's life with him,

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00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:50,480
Speaker 1: I elected to treat the patient as long as he

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00:17:50,520 --> 00:17:52,760
Speaker 1: wouldn't get us lost way out in the country where

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Speaker 1: the man lived. We walked into a hospital room filled

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Speaker 1: with loved ones. Clearly had been a very emotional night

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00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:03,760
Speaker 1: for everyone, and it was our job to make this

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Speaker 1: last trip home as comfortable as we could. Not only

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00:18:07,760 --> 00:18:10,760
Speaker 1: for him, we did our best to comfort the family

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00:18:10,880 --> 00:18:15,480
Speaker 1: as well. Our patient was awake but unable to speak

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00:18:15,600 --> 00:18:22,080
Speaker 1: due to his cancer. Cancer is horrible. We got the

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00:18:22,119 --> 00:18:24,840
Speaker 1: patient loaded and as we transported the band to his home,

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00:18:25,440 --> 00:18:28,120
Speaker 1: he could see outside and I watched him staring at

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00:18:28,160 --> 00:18:30,399
Speaker 1: the windows at the back of the abance almost as

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00:18:30,480 --> 00:18:34,400
Speaker 1: if he was recalling some memory of that field over there,

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00:18:35,000 --> 00:18:37,840
Speaker 1: or this curve in the road, from his life spent

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00:18:37,960 --> 00:18:41,800
Speaker 1: traveling up and down that road. When we arrived at

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00:18:41,800 --> 00:18:44,959
Speaker 1: the man's home, his family was already there and waiting

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Speaker 1: for him.

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00:18:47,160 --> 00:18:48,560
Speaker 2: It was a beautiful old.

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00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:52,000
Speaker 1: Rat style farmhouse with a grand porch that overlooked a

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00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:55,920
Speaker 1: green grass bottom and creek. The sun was just coming

325
00:18:56,000 --> 00:18:58,560
Speaker 1: up over the trees when we got there, and there

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00:18:58,600 --> 00:19:01,920
Speaker 1: was a slight chill in the air. We made sure

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00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:04,119
Speaker 1: to have plenty of blankets on him as we removed

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00:19:04,119 --> 00:19:06,600
Speaker 1: the stretcher from the back of the ambulance and began

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00:19:06,680 --> 00:19:09,439
Speaker 1: to slowly ease our way up the ramp of the porch,

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00:19:09,480 --> 00:19:13,679
Speaker 1: where a big sliding glass door was open waiting for

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00:19:13,800 --> 00:19:17,960
Speaker 1: his return. The man's wife had instructed us to bring

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00:19:18,040 --> 00:19:23,320
Speaker 1: him in this way before she left the hospital. As

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00:19:23,320 --> 00:19:27,240
Speaker 1: we got to the door, our froze. The wall of

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00:19:27,280 --> 00:19:31,159
Speaker 1: this room that I could see into was a striking

335
00:19:31,400 --> 00:19:34,080
Speaker 1: memorial that this man's life is hunting.

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00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:36,040
Speaker 2: A personal life.

337
00:19:36,760 --> 00:19:39,959
Speaker 1: Turkey fans and beards adorned the walls from Florida ceiling

338
00:19:40,080 --> 00:19:42,760
Speaker 1: antlers near a coffee table with pictures of what had

339
00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:45,639
Speaker 1: to be friends and family with turkeys and deer of

340
00:19:45,840 --> 00:19:49,800
Speaker 1: every size. A few shadow boxes were mixed in between

341
00:19:49,840 --> 00:19:50,920
Speaker 1: the beards and bucks.

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00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:52,400
Speaker 2: This man was a.

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00:19:52,400 --> 00:19:55,040
Speaker 1: Veteran one hundred and seventy third Airborne, just like my

344
00:19:55,200 --> 00:19:59,080
Speaker 1: dad who had taught me to hunt. Faded deputy his

345
00:19:59,200 --> 00:20:01,680
Speaker 1: jacket home on a ho near the door. This man

346
00:20:01,800 --> 00:20:05,119
Speaker 1: wasn't just a hunter. He dedicated his whole life to

347
00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:11,920
Speaker 1: service and the people he held close. More family began

348
00:20:11,960 --> 00:20:14,600
Speaker 1: to pour out of the house, as if the floodgates

349
00:20:14,600 --> 00:20:15,159
Speaker 1: had opened.

350
00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:16,480
Speaker 2: I turned my partner.

351
00:20:16,520 --> 00:20:19,679
Speaker 1: I told him go back to the ambulance and yelped

352
00:20:19,720 --> 00:20:25,679
Speaker 1: the siren one time, one short time, just once. He

353
00:20:25,720 --> 00:20:27,760
Speaker 1: looked at me as if I was on fire again.

354
00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:31,600
Speaker 1: I said, go back to the ambulance, yelped the siren

355
00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:38,240
Speaker 1: just once. As I said before. It was spring and

356
00:20:38,280 --> 00:20:41,720
Speaker 1: I couldn't imagine a more beautiful spot to turkey hunt

357
00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:45,000
Speaker 1: if I had planned it myself, then this man's land

358
00:20:45,040 --> 00:20:50,280
Speaker 1: that stretched out behind his home. My partner did as

359
00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:53,919
Speaker 1: he was told and went back, and one short yep

360
00:20:54,600 --> 00:20:58,639
Speaker 1: he blasted that siren. It wasn't a second letter that

361
00:20:58,720 --> 00:21:01,960
Speaker 1: a gobbler hammered back from down in the bottom as

362
00:21:02,080 --> 00:21:05,560
Speaker 1: loud and as clear as any turkey I have ever heard,

363
00:21:05,640 --> 00:21:11,720
Speaker 1: even today, and when he started, he didn't stop. Gobble

364
00:21:12,040 --> 00:21:16,000
Speaker 1: after gobble after goble thundered through that bottom, echoing off

365
00:21:16,040 --> 00:21:18,159
Speaker 1: the hills as if to tell the world he was

366
00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:23,200
Speaker 1: there and to welcome this man home. As I turned

367
00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:25,479
Speaker 1: back to the patient, he was smiling as big as

368
00:21:25,520 --> 00:21:28,159
Speaker 1: a bobcat, a small tear.

369
00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:29,440
Speaker 2: In his eye.

370
00:21:29,720 --> 00:21:32,159
Speaker 1: He reached out and he grabbed my hand as a

371
00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:36,520
Speaker 1: way of saying thank you. We brought him inside and

372
00:21:36,560 --> 00:21:41,280
Speaker 1: his whole family was in tears. I understood this man

373
00:21:41,320 --> 00:21:44,119
Speaker 1: who had been the bedrock of this family was passing away,

374
00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:46,479
Speaker 1: and as beautiful as it was to be surrounded by

375
00:21:46,480 --> 00:21:51,440
Speaker 1: the ones he loved, they were losing so much. Made

376
00:21:51,440 --> 00:21:53,480
Speaker 1: me think of my dad and what losing him might

377
00:21:53,560 --> 00:21:56,520
Speaker 1: be like, and thankful I haven't had to go down

378
00:21:56,560 --> 00:22:01,159
Speaker 1: that path yet. We said our goods and left quickly

379
00:22:01,200 --> 00:22:04,600
Speaker 1: and quietly to let the family have their moment. As

380
00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,080
Speaker 1: we pulled away, the man's wife came running out to

381
00:22:07,160 --> 00:22:10,719
Speaker 1: thank us one more time. She told us how her

382
00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:13,520
Speaker 1: husband loved a turkey hunt, and how their sons had

383
00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:16,520
Speaker 1: wished their dad could hear a gobble one more time

384
00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:22,240
Speaker 1: and without knowing we had made that wish come true.

385
00:22:23,480 --> 00:22:25,240
Speaker 1: She asked me if I hunted, and I said yes,

386
00:22:26,200 --> 00:22:28,840
Speaker 1: and she gave me her contact information and told me

387
00:22:28,880 --> 00:22:31,840
Speaker 1: it would be a pleasure to have me hunt their land.

388
00:22:33,480 --> 00:22:36,199
Speaker 1: I hadn't hunted since moving back to Illinois, but the

389
00:22:36,200 --> 00:22:38,600
Speaker 1: next few years I took her up on the offer

390
00:22:38,680 --> 00:22:41,040
Speaker 1: until I got a new job at a new department.

391
00:22:42,080 --> 00:22:44,960
Speaker 1: I can tell you for certain, every time I heard

392
00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:48,840
Speaker 1: a gobble on that farm, I swear I could feel

393
00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:52,760
Speaker 1: someone sitting next to me. I never killed the turkey

394
00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:56,440
Speaker 1: out there, even though I had plenty of chances. Deep down,

395
00:22:56,520 --> 00:22:59,320
Speaker 1: I felt like those birds were strutting and gobbling for

396
00:22:59,359 --> 00:23:04,080
Speaker 1: a great man of service is no longer there. And

397
00:23:04,119 --> 00:23:07,120
Speaker 1: it's days like today, this Veteran's Day, that I remember

398
00:23:07,240 --> 00:23:13,120
Speaker 1: those moments those who served still served. As I wait

399
00:23:13,160 --> 00:23:14,919
Speaker 1: for the rest of our hunting group to arrive at

400
00:23:14,960 --> 00:23:18,280
Speaker 1: camp and the Missouri Deer Opener, I'm thankful.

401
00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:20,960
Speaker 2: That my dad will be with me this year.

402
00:23:22,400 --> 00:23:24,560
Speaker 1: I'm gonna ask my dad to share a blind with me,

403
00:23:24,880 --> 00:23:28,120
Speaker 1: just to pad up the memories to tell his grandchildren

404
00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:33,040
Speaker 1: out their granddad, also a man of service himself, loved

405
00:23:33,080 --> 00:23:36,480
Speaker 1: his family in the outdoors, just as that man did.

406
00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:38,320
Speaker 2: So many years ago.

407
00:23:41,040 --> 00:23:47,360
Speaker 1: Well, James Davis, Jacksonville, Illinois, can't thank you enough for

408
00:23:47,400 --> 00:23:53,399
Speaker 1: sending in that beautiful tribute. You got me in the fields, buddy,

409
00:23:54,080 --> 00:23:56,000
Speaker 1: And I know while I was reading that that I

410
00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:59,119
Speaker 1: thought of several folks, men and women alike, that have

411
00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:02,920
Speaker 1: lived a life like his, And to all of them

412
00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:08,520
Speaker 1: with all a bit of things, God, country, family it self.

413
00:24:08,560 --> 00:24:12,320
Speaker 2: It really is that simple for me.

414
00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:18,320
Speaker 1: Anyway, Thank y'all so much for listening. You know, Meat

415
00:24:18,359 --> 00:24:22,000
Speaker 1: Eater's Turkey Week starts next Monday, and the turkey calling

416
00:24:22,119 --> 00:24:24,960
Speaker 1: competition has me going up against a really good writer,

417
00:24:25,640 --> 00:24:29,439
Speaker 1: but a mediocre turkey caller and even worse al hooter,

418
00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:32,400
Speaker 1: So keep that in mind when you're voting on which

419
00:24:32,440 --> 00:24:34,360
Speaker 1: one of us is better. I won't say his name,

420
00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:39,480
Speaker 1: but his initials are S as in Steve and R.

421
00:24:39,320 --> 00:24:42,000
Speaker 2: As in not Reeves.

422
00:24:42,760 --> 00:24:45,520
Speaker 1: Until next week, this is Brent Reeves signing off.

423
00:24:46,480 --> 00:25:03,520
Speaker 2: Y'all be careful