1 00:00:05,280 --> 00:00:08,119 Speaker 1: I had it explained to me one time by a 2 00:00:08,280 --> 00:00:12,760 Speaker 1: judge in court. Not hunting seemed like I had killed 3 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:17,520 Speaker 1: a turkey during the wrong dates and times. He said, 4 00:00:17,520 --> 00:00:20,639 Speaker 1: why did you do that? I said, well, where I'm from, 5 00:00:20,880 --> 00:00:24,920 Speaker 1: when your tomatoes get right, you pick them. When your 6 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 1: potatoes get right, you dig them. When your turkeys are right, 7 00:00:29,200 --> 00:00:32,920 Speaker 1: you go get you on. Yeah. But he said, that's 8 00:00:33,000 --> 00:00:35,479 Speaker 1: not the way we do it. You have laws at 9 00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:38,080 Speaker 1: govern when you kill them and when you can. But 10 00:00:39,320 --> 00:00:40,519 Speaker 1: he explained that to me. 11 00:00:42,520 --> 00:00:45,680 Speaker 2: I traveled a couple of hours south and slightly west 12 00:00:45,720 --> 00:00:50,040 Speaker 2: from my home on Wednesday, March twenty sixth, twenty twenty five, 13 00:00:50,600 --> 00:00:52,800 Speaker 2: to meet with a man who I was told might 14 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:57,680 Speaker 2: be the most interesting man in Lafleur County, Oklahoma. I 15 00:00:57,720 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 2: hardly knew anything about him, in all though I talked 16 00:01:01,160 --> 00:01:03,800 Speaker 2: to people for a living. While I was in my truck, 17 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:06,680 Speaker 2: and when I got within about two miles of his cabin, 18 00:01:07,160 --> 00:01:10,520 Speaker 2: I started to get nervous. He was described to me 19 00:01:10,720 --> 00:01:14,200 Speaker 2: as a kind man, loved by those who know him, 20 00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:18,000 Speaker 2: but with a checkered past and an uncanny expertise in 21 00:01:18,080 --> 00:01:21,920 Speaker 2: wild turkeys. Why he'd agreed to talk with me, I 22 00:01:22,040 --> 00:01:24,920 Speaker 2: wasn't sure, and I began to doubt why I had 23 00:01:24,959 --> 00:01:29,959 Speaker 2: agreed to come. This is real rural America, not the 24 00:01:30,000 --> 00:01:34,200 Speaker 2: curated version that I sometimes like to talk about. This 25 00:01:34,240 --> 00:01:39,800 Speaker 2: one has addiction, illegal hunting, and broken relationships. But I 26 00:01:39,840 --> 00:01:44,040 Speaker 2: had no idea I'd be impacted so much. This is 27 00:01:44,080 --> 00:01:48,600 Speaker 2: an unusual Bear Grease, dark at times, funny at others, 28 00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:54,000 Speaker 2: but I was surprised at the arc of redemption. You'll 29 00:01:54,040 --> 00:01:56,680 Speaker 2: have to forgive me because I'm still sorting out the details, 30 00:01:57,160 --> 00:02:00,520 Speaker 2: but I'd like to share with you the confession of 31 00:02:00,560 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 2: this former outlaw. I really doubt that you're going to 32 00:02:04,240 --> 00:02:15,680 Speaker 2: want to miss this one. My name is Clay Nukem, 33 00:02:15,880 --> 00:02:19,320 Speaker 2: and this is the Bear Grease Podcast, where we'll explore 34 00:02:19,360 --> 00:02:24,120 Speaker 2: things forgotten but relevant, search for insight and unlikely places, 35 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:27,839 Speaker 2: and where we'll tell the story of Americans who live 36 00:02:27,919 --> 00:02:32,919 Speaker 2: their lives close to the land. Presented by f HF Gear, 37 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 2: American made purpose built hunting and fishing gear as designed 38 00:02:38,200 --> 00:02:40,919 Speaker 2: to be as rugged as the place as we explore. 39 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:51,720 Speaker 1: I had a friend, and people that hunt know When 40 00:02:51,840 --> 00:02:57,600 Speaker 1: Ben Rogers Lee Ben Lee world Champion caller hunter good 41 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:02,960 Speaker 1: friend being got killed in a vehicle accident, he was 42 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:05,960 Speaker 1: at my turkey camp. We hunted the first part of Caeson, 43 00:03:06,560 --> 00:03:08,480 Speaker 1: and he tried to give me to quit and go 44 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:12,480 Speaker 1: with him to Alabama. He said, you like this game, 45 00:03:13,040 --> 00:03:14,760 Speaker 1: You're good at it. I see it in you. I 46 00:03:14,760 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 1: see potential in you. You need to quit what you're 47 00:03:18,360 --> 00:03:21,440 Speaker 1: doing and go with me, and I ah make you 48 00:03:21,639 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 1: famous and me rich. And I said, no, I can't quit. Well, 49 00:03:27,120 --> 00:03:30,200 Speaker 1: O God, I've got a good job, good family, got cattle. 50 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:31,000 Speaker 1: I can't do that. 51 00:03:33,520 --> 00:03:36,640 Speaker 2: This is the voice of Johnny Johnston. You've probably never 52 00:03:36,720 --> 00:03:39,480 Speaker 2: heard of him, but I doubt that you'll forget him. 53 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:41,720 Speaker 2: On the walk from the truck to the door of 54 00:03:41,760 --> 00:03:44,600 Speaker 2: his cabin, I estimated there to be no less than 55 00:03:44,680 --> 00:03:50,040 Speaker 2: twelve well taken care of hunting dogs scattered within sight, beagles, 56 00:03:50,200 --> 00:03:53,840 Speaker 2: running walkers, and bird dogs. To Johnny, being called a 57 00:03:53,920 --> 00:03:57,360 Speaker 2: hillbilly is a term of endearment, and he identifies as one. 58 00:03:57,760 --> 00:04:01,600 Speaker 2: And by his definition, the highest drinking qualification has nothing 59 00:04:01,600 --> 00:04:06,000 Speaker 2: to do with hounds or overalls. But it's not being superficial. 60 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 2: This story is about Johnny's life and we'll learn some 61 00:04:10,320 --> 00:04:14,120 Speaker 2: foundational stuff that started on this hunt with Ben Lee. 62 00:04:15,800 --> 00:04:21,560 Speaker 1: So he left, I stayed continued to Hunt. Hunt was 63 00:04:21,600 --> 00:04:24,640 Speaker 1: over into seasion. I was going to go out west 64 00:04:24,680 --> 00:04:27,840 Speaker 1: in Turkey Hunt and I had a gun and some 65 00:04:27,920 --> 00:04:32,040 Speaker 1: stuff at Octavia friend of mine's house, and I was 66 00:04:32,080 --> 00:04:35,320 Speaker 1: supposed to have been there that got my stuff, and 67 00:04:35,400 --> 00:04:37,719 Speaker 1: I never showed up, so we came looking for me 68 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:43,080 Speaker 1: and found me. I had flipped my gep over, broke 69 00:04:43,160 --> 00:04:46,720 Speaker 1: my neck, broke my back, cut my left ear off, 70 00:04:47,440 --> 00:04:52,520 Speaker 1: crushed the foot bunge of rib. Critical condition. Well. They 71 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:55,240 Speaker 1: loaded me in the back of a Bronco and took 72 00:04:55,320 --> 00:04:59,600 Speaker 1: me to the hospital, and my wife was there pretty upset. 73 00:05:00,240 --> 00:05:03,800 Speaker 1: I don't remember any of it. There was from drinking involved. 74 00:05:05,160 --> 00:05:09,400 Speaker 1: There is something to that drinking and drive. Because since 75 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:13,200 Speaker 1: I've quit drinking fifteen years straight n or nineteen days ago, 76 00:05:13,400 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: I had a night of rouge. 77 00:05:15,680 --> 00:05:18,960 Speaker 2: When people know to the day how long they've been sober, 78 00:05:19,360 --> 00:05:23,080 Speaker 2: the days prior to that were probably tough. Johnny is 79 00:05:23,120 --> 00:05:26,039 Speaker 2: from the small town of heaven Or, Oklahoma. He was 80 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:29,440 Speaker 2: born in nineteen forty nine. He's seventy five years old. 81 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 2: He's been married to the same woman for fifty five years. 82 00:05:34,040 --> 00:05:37,520 Speaker 2: He's of average height. He has a wiry build with 83 00:05:37,640 --> 00:05:41,440 Speaker 2: dark eyes that squint tight when he smiles. We're inside 84 00:05:41,480 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 2: of his small white cabin with interior walls of rough 85 00:05:45,040 --> 00:05:49,320 Speaker 2: san oak turkey beards hanging wads from deer antlers like 86 00:05:49,400 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 2: clusters of grapes. Every single beard has a tag attached 87 00:05:53,760 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 2: to it. There's no cell service here, but he doesn't 88 00:05:57,120 --> 00:05:59,960 Speaker 2: on a cell phone or a computer. He never had. 89 00:06:01,560 --> 00:06:05,200 Speaker 2: Let's get back to the hospital. This wreck sounds really bad. 90 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:09,640 Speaker 1: But I was telling her they would fix me the 91 00:06:09,640 --> 00:06:13,440 Speaker 1: best they could right then, and they could later come 92 00:06:13,480 --> 00:06:16,800 Speaker 1: back and fix my ear. And I said, oh, I 93 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:18,960 Speaker 1: forgot to tell you. My ear is in the right 94 00:06:19,000 --> 00:06:21,320 Speaker 1: front pocket of my Camelflaud. 95 00:06:21,600 --> 00:06:22,280 Speaker 2: You told him that. 96 00:06:22,480 --> 00:06:25,640 Speaker 1: I told the doctor that on the gurner going into surgery, 97 00:06:25,680 --> 00:06:28,360 Speaker 1: and he said, go look at his clothes and see 98 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:31,880 Speaker 1: if you find an ear. And a nurse came running 99 00:06:31,880 --> 00:06:36,800 Speaker 1: down the hall and said, I've got an ear. And 100 00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:40,840 Speaker 1: so they took my ear, and he said, well, we'll 101 00:06:40,839 --> 00:06:43,799 Speaker 1: do the best we can. And I raared up again 102 00:06:43,839 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: and said he so I on backwards where I hear 103 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:48,599 Speaker 1: them turkeys walking behind me. 104 00:06:52,520 --> 00:06:56,040 Speaker 2: That story tips us off to two things, how central 105 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:58,839 Speaker 2: wild turkeys have been in his life, and that he 106 00:06:59,160 --> 00:07:02,559 Speaker 2: is a character. This whole story is about Johnny's life, 107 00:07:03,000 --> 00:07:06,280 Speaker 2: some of it very personal, but I'm interested in his 108 00:07:06,360 --> 00:07:09,600 Speaker 2: relationship with the law as it relates to wild turkeys. 109 00:07:10,400 --> 00:07:15,840 Speaker 2: People's relationship to the law is helpful in understanding our society, 110 00:07:16,000 --> 00:07:18,360 Speaker 2: not the one we think we have, but the one 111 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:22,760 Speaker 2: we actually do have. Johnny is a rare find, willing 112 00:07:22,800 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 2: to be vulnerable. When a stranger showed up me and 113 00:07:26,240 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 2: asked about some of the darkest times of his life, 114 00:07:29,200 --> 00:07:31,200 Speaker 2: I think we should start off with that. Credit to 115 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 2: his ledger. In the last three years, no less than 116 00:07:34,600 --> 00:07:37,680 Speaker 2: half a dozen people have emphatically told me that I 117 00:07:37,760 --> 00:07:41,440 Speaker 2: needed to come here to Johnny's, including a game warden, 118 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:45,800 Speaker 2: but nobody could really articulate why. There's a lot I 119 00:07:45,840 --> 00:07:48,800 Speaker 2: don't know about Johnny. So I'm going to begin with 120 00:07:48,880 --> 00:07:53,360 Speaker 2: a question about his friendship to a particularly famous turkey hunter. 121 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 2: You may have heard of him. Tell me about your 122 00:07:57,680 --> 00:07:59,560 Speaker 2: relationship with Ben Lee. 123 00:08:00,120 --> 00:08:05,280 Speaker 1: He's a super nice guy, big man walking this hooting, 124 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:08,760 Speaker 1: this yap and this human I oversaw. He went from 125 00:08:08,840 --> 00:08:13,640 Speaker 1: daylight to the door, charged him turkey. He knew turkey, 126 00:08:13,760 --> 00:08:17,080 Speaker 1: he knew how to hunt. He had a call company 127 00:08:17,400 --> 00:08:21,120 Speaker 1: made call He was just a good, good fellow. I 128 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:23,600 Speaker 1: liked you. He just had away with people. 129 00:08:23,920 --> 00:08:25,080 Speaker 2: Now, how did you meet him? 130 00:08:25,520 --> 00:08:27,840 Speaker 1: Through a friend of mine hunting down there and I 131 00:08:27,880 --> 00:08:30,120 Speaker 1: told him where they could find some turkeys, and they 132 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:31,800 Speaker 1: went there and hunted, and he said, I want to 133 00:08:31,840 --> 00:08:34,280 Speaker 1: meet this guy told us about this spot where the 134 00:08:34,320 --> 00:08:38,400 Speaker 1: turkey dore and I tell many. He invited me up 135 00:08:38,440 --> 00:08:41,480 Speaker 1: there to talk, and we just went hunting and killed 136 00:08:41,480 --> 00:08:44,360 Speaker 1: a turkey and hit it off. He'd come down and 137 00:08:44,440 --> 00:08:46,199 Speaker 1: camped with me ever spring after that. 138 00:08:48,559 --> 00:08:52,079 Speaker 2: This story isn't about Ben Rogers Lee, but his connection 139 00:08:52,200 --> 00:08:56,599 Speaker 2: to Johnny is beyond interesting. Ben was from Jackson, Alabama, 140 00:08:56,840 --> 00:08:59,240 Speaker 2: and has been referred to as the father of modern 141 00:08:59,280 --> 00:09:03,200 Speaker 2: turkey hunting. He started his call company, ben Lee Calls 142 00:09:03,240 --> 00:09:09,400 Speaker 2: in nineteen seventy and made a flurry of instructional tapes, videos, seminars, 143 00:09:09,679 --> 00:09:13,640 Speaker 2: and won five turkey calling World Championships. He was a 144 00:09:13,679 --> 00:09:17,960 Speaker 2: Southern style storyteller and was one of the great communicators 145 00:09:18,000 --> 00:09:21,959 Speaker 2: of American turkey hunting. Here's a clip of Ben Lee. 146 00:09:22,520 --> 00:09:25,000 Speaker 3: Sitting out there any woods. She's laid a few eggs, 147 00:09:25,080 --> 00:09:27,320 Speaker 3: you know. He gets up there in the morning at 148 00:09:27,320 --> 00:09:30,240 Speaker 3: four o'clock, you know, and old Ale, well he'll out 149 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:37,800 Speaker 3: wakes him up here. Boy, he just had his law. 150 00:09:38,040 --> 00:09:40,240 Speaker 3: I mean, he just ready for ever thing to happen. 151 00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:45,480 Speaker 1: So instructional tapes. We're a big then. Turkey hunting was 152 00:09:45,600 --> 00:09:49,680 Speaker 1: just getting going. Mouth called, we're just coming out. My 153 00:09:49,760 --> 00:09:52,920 Speaker 1: old turkey hunting friend, one that I hunted with, used 154 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:56,640 Speaker 1: a gold horn and a piece of slate. Now, I excided, 155 00:09:56,679 --> 00:09:59,400 Speaker 1: could you get on a gold horn? They clucked a 156 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:02,280 Speaker 1: couple of time i's and three soft yeps and put 157 00:10:02,280 --> 00:10:08,160 Speaker 1: it down, And that was completely reverse way being legal. Honey. 158 00:10:08,320 --> 00:10:12,480 Speaker 1: He never shut up. He walked calling turkey gobbled. He 159 00:10:12,520 --> 00:10:15,760 Speaker 1: didn't die in a brush ball. He'd start to at turkey, 160 00:10:15,760 --> 00:10:18,640 Speaker 1: calling and walking to it, and he'd get right on 161 00:10:18,800 --> 00:10:22,680 Speaker 1: them and put some turkey stuff to him. Well, he 162 00:10:22,800 --> 00:10:25,920 Speaker 1: told me one time, he said, you like this game, 163 00:10:26,520 --> 00:10:28,600 Speaker 1: but you got to keep in mind, if you hunt 164 00:10:28,640 --> 00:10:31,680 Speaker 1: these turkeys like they need to be hunting, you won't 165 00:10:31,679 --> 00:10:35,040 Speaker 1: have no friends, your family be mad at you, you'll 166 00:10:35,080 --> 00:10:40,480 Speaker 1: probably lose your job. He went on and on about 167 00:10:40,520 --> 00:10:42,960 Speaker 1: all bad things that can happen to you. I said, well, 168 00:10:43,000 --> 00:10:45,520 Speaker 1: it can't be that bad. He said, I'm talking about 169 00:10:45,600 --> 00:10:48,920 Speaker 1: if you really hunt turkey. Now there's people that turkey 170 00:10:49,000 --> 00:10:52,480 Speaker 1: hunt and there's people that really hunt them. 171 00:10:52,600 --> 00:10:55,080 Speaker 2: I get the feeding Johnny is one of those turkey 172 00:10:55,200 --> 00:10:59,200 Speaker 2: hunters that really hunts them, and that these hanging tagged 173 00:10:59,240 --> 00:11:03,240 Speaker 2: beards aren't the only turkeys. This man is killed. His 174 00:11:03,280 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 2: friendship with Ben Lee is going to lead us right 175 00:11:06,200 --> 00:11:11,679 Speaker 2: into something critical. Did you know him personally very well? Like, like, 176 00:11:12,200 --> 00:11:13,720 Speaker 2: was he married? Did he have a family? 177 00:11:14,840 --> 00:11:17,040 Speaker 1: He had been married thirteen times? 178 00:11:18,040 --> 00:11:18,680 Speaker 2: Are you serious? 179 00:11:18,840 --> 00:11:22,160 Speaker 1: I'm serious, That's what he told me. I didn't know 180 00:11:22,200 --> 00:11:25,600 Speaker 1: all his wives. I knew Servello. But he said, if 181 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:29,240 Speaker 1: you really hunt him, turkey's right. That's when he said 182 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:31,760 Speaker 1: about the family and your job and all that. 183 00:11:32,120 --> 00:11:36,040 Speaker 2: He was speaking from experience, from experience, y'all? Was he was? 184 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 2: He kind of an outlaw? 185 00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:42,440 Speaker 1: Sort of would you say? Was? I hate the category people? 186 00:11:42,480 --> 00:11:44,680 Speaker 1: But yeah, he's kind of like myself. 187 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:52,240 Speaker 2: Interesting, he was kind of like myself, he said, an outlaw. 188 00:11:52,840 --> 00:11:56,120 Speaker 2: I'd heard this about Johnny and Ben, but I didn't 189 00:11:56,160 --> 00:11:59,120 Speaker 2: know for sure about Johnny. I kind of put him 190 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:01,480 Speaker 2: on the spot, and he it's hesitant to categorize his 191 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:04,520 Speaker 2: old friend in this way. But Johnny kind of tells 192 00:12:04,559 --> 00:12:08,319 Speaker 2: stuff the way it is. But again, this story isn't 193 00:12:08,320 --> 00:12:11,640 Speaker 2: about Ben Lee, who passed away in a car accident 194 00:12:11,679 --> 00:12:14,160 Speaker 2: in nineteen ninety one at the age of forty six. 195 00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:17,960 Speaker 2: The story is about Johnny Johnston, and as you may know, 196 00:12:18,679 --> 00:12:21,320 Speaker 2: I have a lot of respect for people willing to 197 00:12:21,360 --> 00:12:25,960 Speaker 2: be honest about their past. I've often found people like 198 00:12:26,080 --> 00:12:29,560 Speaker 2: Johnny to be more honest than people with less visible 199 00:12:29,640 --> 00:12:33,240 Speaker 2: issues lurking in their past. And I know that people 200 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:37,760 Speaker 2: like Johnny are usually cut from a different cloth. In 201 00:12:37,840 --> 00:12:40,960 Speaker 2: this next question, I cut right to the chase, and 202 00:12:41,000 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 2: you'll hear the nervousness in my voice was with you. 203 00:12:48,760 --> 00:12:54,160 Speaker 2: Did you did you ever have any Did the law 204 00:12:54,200 --> 00:12:58,360 Speaker 2: ever mean anything to you? No? Why wouldn't it because 205 00:12:58,559 --> 00:12:59,760 Speaker 2: most people it does. 206 00:13:00,240 --> 00:13:04,720 Speaker 1: The law itself? Or you mean a turkey law, Yeah, yeah, 207 00:13:04,920 --> 00:13:08,520 Speaker 1: when turkey's gobbled the hunting them. 208 00:13:07,880 --> 00:13:09,960 Speaker 2: You just weren't afraid of getting in trouble. 209 00:13:10,080 --> 00:13:15,040 Speaker 1: No, never crossed my mind. I had it explained to 210 00:13:15,080 --> 00:13:18,920 Speaker 1: me one time by a judge in court, not hunting. 211 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:22,600 Speaker 1: It seems like I had killed a turkey during the 212 00:13:22,640 --> 00:13:26,599 Speaker 1: wrong dates and times. He said, why did you do that? 213 00:13:27,600 --> 00:13:31,200 Speaker 1: I said, Well, where I'm from, when your tomatoes get right, 214 00:13:31,280 --> 00:13:36,040 Speaker 1: you pick them. When your potatoes get right, you dig them. 215 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:40,040 Speaker 1: When your turkeys are right, you go get you on. Yeah, 216 00:13:40,080 --> 00:13:42,520 Speaker 1: but he said that's not the way we do it. 217 00:13:42,840 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: You have laws that govern when you kill them and 218 00:13:45,440 --> 00:13:48,800 Speaker 1: when you can. He explained that to. 219 00:13:48,880 --> 00:13:55,520 Speaker 2: Me, Americans are intrigued by people willing to break the 220 00:13:55,600 --> 00:13:59,200 Speaker 2: law period. If you need convincing, just look at the 221 00:13:59,240 --> 00:14:03,160 Speaker 2: top movies, podcasts, and books we read. Heck, look at 222 00:14:03,200 --> 00:14:07,040 Speaker 2: the top Bear Grease podcast. But I'm still trying to 223 00:14:07,160 --> 00:14:12,880 Speaker 2: understand why. I think examinations of extremes help calibrate society 224 00:14:13,120 --> 00:14:16,440 Speaker 2: in some tribal, primitive way, almost like we get the 225 00:14:16,559 --> 00:14:21,080 Speaker 2: signal for normal by bouncing off the outliers. But there's 226 00:14:21,080 --> 00:14:24,360 Speaker 2: no debate about it. What's ironic is that we are 227 00:14:24,400 --> 00:14:28,960 Speaker 2: a society of rule followers. If our civilization gets smashed 228 00:14:28,960 --> 00:14:32,400 Speaker 2: by a comet and archaeologists dig it up and start 229 00:14:32,480 --> 00:14:35,960 Speaker 2: making conclusions about us, they'll find that this country was 230 00:14:36,000 --> 00:14:39,680 Speaker 2: built on law and order. The vast majority of people 231 00:14:39,720 --> 00:14:41,840 Speaker 2: who come to a stop sign in the middle of 232 00:14:41,880 --> 00:14:45,320 Speaker 2: the night, even though they know that no one is watching, 233 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:49,040 Speaker 2: they're gonna stop, I mean at least a rolling stop, 234 00:14:49,800 --> 00:14:52,640 Speaker 2: And in many places of the world they wouldn't at all, 235 00:14:53,000 --> 00:14:57,840 Speaker 2: even when they know people are watching. Americans are rule followers, 236 00:14:58,280 --> 00:15:04,080 Speaker 2: despite the independent liber the aholic, brash exterior. But the 237 00:15:04,160 --> 00:15:09,240 Speaker 2: outliers are worth examination, and Johnny was an outlier when 238 00:15:09,280 --> 00:15:12,640 Speaker 2: it came to wildlife law. We need to know more 239 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:19,200 Speaker 2: about his past. Now, let me this is kind of 240 00:15:19,240 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 2: a personal question. But would your parents have raised you 241 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:24,040 Speaker 2: to just obey the law? 242 00:15:24,160 --> 00:15:24,320 Speaker 1: Oh? 243 00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:28,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, just like in general. Yeah, you would have known 244 00:15:28,200 --> 00:15:30,720 Speaker 2: nobody can't steal or you can't. 245 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:32,880 Speaker 1: O My folks were by the book all the way. 246 00:15:33,400 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 2: Well, how did how did you get from that to 247 00:15:36,360 --> 00:15:37,720 Speaker 2: being willing to break the law? 248 00:15:37,880 --> 00:15:41,720 Speaker 1: I don't know, just getting in the world and not 249 00:15:41,840 --> 00:15:46,320 Speaker 1: really caring, just doing pretty much what I wanted to do. Yeah. 250 00:15:47,040 --> 00:15:49,400 Speaker 2: Now, did you ever really get in trouble? Did you 251 00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:51,600 Speaker 2: ever get caught, like killing a legal turkey? 252 00:15:51,760 --> 00:15:54,960 Speaker 1: Yeah? I just didn't ever give it a whole lot 253 00:15:55,000 --> 00:15:58,400 Speaker 1: of thaw when turkeys are goblin. I just went on. 254 00:16:00,000 --> 00:16:04,320 Speaker 2: Always like this can make people feel uncomfortable, especially people 255 00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:08,080 Speaker 2: that love wildlife and conservation and talk about it a lot. 256 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:12,080 Speaker 2: But this is part of the rural America that I 257 00:16:12,120 --> 00:16:17,080 Speaker 2: grew up around. Turkey laws were often seen as mere suggestions. 258 00:16:18,200 --> 00:16:20,360 Speaker 2: This next story is about the man who taught Johnny 259 00:16:20,360 --> 00:16:22,880 Speaker 2: to turkey hunt, and the first time they got caught. 260 00:16:24,160 --> 00:16:27,640 Speaker 1: I can't talk about turkeys with talking about my old friend, 261 00:16:28,200 --> 00:16:32,760 Speaker 1: the man that taught me out of turkey hunt superman. Yeah, 262 00:16:32,840 --> 00:16:38,120 Speaker 1: we've been caught. He lived at Tallahaney, Oklahoma, and I'm 263 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:40,600 Speaker 1: calling his name. He's dead and gone now and he's 264 00:16:40,680 --> 00:16:43,640 Speaker 1: respected by every turkey hunter or that part of the world. 265 00:16:44,040 --> 00:16:47,960 Speaker 1: Way ain't caught turkey killing. This man I've ever met, 266 00:16:48,320 --> 00:16:51,160 Speaker 1: have ever known. And I knew that he hunted a 267 00:16:51,240 --> 00:16:54,680 Speaker 1: law back when I started. I didn't even know him. 268 00:16:54,720 --> 00:16:58,440 Speaker 1: I went he was horsemen, had a good race horse, 269 00:16:59,120 --> 00:17:02,480 Speaker 1: stood a race sore stallion, and now I was kind 270 00:17:02,480 --> 00:17:05,560 Speaker 1: of a horseman back in the day, and that's how 271 00:17:05,600 --> 00:17:08,000 Speaker 1: I knew him. But I looked him up and got 272 00:17:08,000 --> 00:17:11,360 Speaker 1: acquainted with him, and I said, here's what I want. 273 00:17:11,440 --> 00:17:13,160 Speaker 1: I want you to teach me how to turkey hunt. 274 00:17:13,720 --> 00:17:17,240 Speaker 1: No old board, I want to know it all. Well, 275 00:17:17,320 --> 00:17:20,400 Speaker 1: he said, next spring, you'll just have to come over here, 276 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:24,920 Speaker 1: we'll go. I said, when when he said, oh, first 277 00:17:24,920 --> 00:17:26,080 Speaker 1: of March, had a good time. 278 00:17:27,240 --> 00:17:29,280 Speaker 2: If you're a turkey hunter, you'll know that ninety eight 279 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:32,760 Speaker 2: percent of American turkey seasons don't open in the first 280 00:17:32,800 --> 00:17:36,639 Speaker 2: of March. This was an invite to get an illegal 281 00:17:36,880 --> 00:17:37,600 Speaker 2: early start. 282 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:42,720 Speaker 1: Okay, so first of March I went to day with 283 00:17:42,880 --> 00:17:46,639 Speaker 1: it and we hunted and he what lettle I know 284 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:50,520 Speaker 1: about a turkey? That old gentleman taught me he was 285 00:17:50,960 --> 00:17:58,399 Speaker 1: slicking a snottled the door knob. Now he used a wingbone, 286 00:17:59,240 --> 00:18:02,760 Speaker 1: or a piece of can or a briar leaf or 287 00:18:02,800 --> 00:18:06,080 Speaker 1: a peach leaf later on in the year, or a 288 00:18:06,160 --> 00:18:10,040 Speaker 1: sleigh called very little, very light. You could be sitting 289 00:18:10,080 --> 00:18:13,919 Speaker 1: next to him and barely hear him call. But he 290 00:18:13,960 --> 00:18:18,240 Speaker 1: didn't call to a turkey unless he was seventy yards close. 291 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:22,840 Speaker 1: He used the terrain, the lamb, to cover of darkness 292 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:26,240 Speaker 1: to get to him. He said, there's no such thing 293 00:18:26,359 --> 00:18:29,840 Speaker 1: as working a turkey. People talked about working a turkey 294 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:33,360 Speaker 1: for two hours. He said that should never happen. If 295 00:18:33,400 --> 00:18:36,679 Speaker 1: they're right on that turkey, they're having killed in ten minutes. 296 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:41,480 Speaker 1: One cluck, two clucks. That's not put the call up. 297 00:18:42,119 --> 00:18:46,119 Speaker 1: And he showed me some moves pretty slick. He's a 298 00:18:46,160 --> 00:18:49,320 Speaker 1: good guy, but he didn't pay a lot of attention 299 00:18:49,480 --> 00:18:58,520 Speaker 1: to season. When a turkey gobbled. He went. We were 300 00:18:58,520 --> 00:19:03,840 Speaker 1: one day in there behind his place and two turkeys. 301 00:19:04,160 --> 00:19:06,000 Speaker 1: He give me to easy. He wasn't. He took the 302 00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:11,159 Speaker 1: hard one further and we met back. We had two turkeys, 303 00:19:11,880 --> 00:19:14,840 Speaker 1: he said. We was walking back to the jeep and 304 00:19:14,960 --> 00:19:19,640 Speaker 1: one gobbled off in fe a little rough candy that injurors, 305 00:19:19,880 --> 00:19:23,400 Speaker 1: give me out turkey, I'm going gee. So I went 306 00:19:23,480 --> 00:19:27,280 Speaker 1: off down there. Nothing, couldn't do nothing with him. Watered 307 00:19:27,359 --> 00:19:30,480 Speaker 1: him around a couple of hours, come back, went to 308 00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:35,080 Speaker 1: the g well. He said, we've been caught. We may 309 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:38,440 Speaker 1: we've been called well, he said, I've been called game 310 00:19:38,480 --> 00:19:42,879 Speaker 1: boardeners there when I got here, got a ticket. You 311 00:19:43,000 --> 00:19:48,040 Speaker 1: got two tickets. So that's the first time we'd ever 312 00:19:48,160 --> 00:19:50,560 Speaker 1: been in any problem, and we on it all time. 313 00:19:50,680 --> 00:19:51,040 Speaker 1: Poor ze. 314 00:19:51,560 --> 00:19:53,600 Speaker 2: What did he tell the game boarding that you were 315 00:19:53,600 --> 00:19:53,919 Speaker 2: down there? 316 00:19:54,359 --> 00:19:57,119 Speaker 1: No, he wasn't. Never told that. He said, I heard. 317 00:19:57,400 --> 00:19:59,439 Speaker 1: I hurried up and took the ticket because I know 318 00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:01,879 Speaker 1: you was going shoot any minute. 319 00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:06,520 Speaker 2: This is where the story starts to get complicated. It 320 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:09,040 Speaker 2: was back in the mid seventies. It would be the 321 00:20:09,080 --> 00:20:13,360 Speaker 2: start of about thirty years of illegal turkey hunting for Johnny. 322 00:20:15,400 --> 00:20:17,360 Speaker 1: My dad used to get on to me a low 323 00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:19,200 Speaker 1: or hunting too much. 324 00:20:19,440 --> 00:20:21,840 Speaker 2: Really so your dad, Oh yeah, I knew that you 325 00:20:21,880 --> 00:20:23,000 Speaker 2: were illegally hunting. 326 00:20:23,040 --> 00:20:24,239 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, he wouldn't do it. 327 00:20:24,520 --> 00:20:25,600 Speaker 2: What would he say to you? 328 00:20:25,800 --> 00:20:28,440 Speaker 1: I'd call him and asked for a ride somewhere, let 329 00:20:28,520 --> 00:20:30,680 Speaker 1: me out and picked me up at a certain time. 330 00:20:31,320 --> 00:20:32,320 Speaker 1: He knew what I was doing. 331 00:20:32,760 --> 00:20:35,119 Speaker 2: What would he say? Do you remember anything specific? Like 332 00:20:35,160 --> 00:20:38,280 Speaker 2: he was like, Johnny, this is bad. You're gonna get 333 00:20:38,320 --> 00:20:38,800 Speaker 2: in trouble. 334 00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:40,280 Speaker 1: You no better than now. 335 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:41,960 Speaker 2: But he still helped you. 336 00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:44,760 Speaker 1: Yeah, he would. He didn't like it, but he would. 337 00:20:45,080 --> 00:20:47,280 Speaker 2: Yeah. Did he ever hide guns in the woods? 338 00:20:47,280 --> 00:20:52,960 Speaker 1: Oh? Man, Yeah, I had a couple of logs up here. 339 00:20:53,320 --> 00:20:55,960 Speaker 1: I'd put him in and I had a no shotgun. 340 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:57,960 Speaker 1: I'd very proud of I put it in there in 341 00:20:57,960 --> 00:21:02,480 Speaker 1: the wood. Rats he just stopped cheot it all up. 342 00:21:03,119 --> 00:21:04,720 Speaker 2: So it's just like in a couple of days. 343 00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:07,840 Speaker 1: Yeah, I believe that. Yeah, they just eat on it 344 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:09,720 Speaker 1: and eat on it. So I'd get me a big 345 00:21:09,920 --> 00:21:15,200 Speaker 1: PVC and pipe put it in camp. And another time 346 00:21:15,320 --> 00:21:19,000 Speaker 1: or two I got a chuckle control burns. They cause 347 00:21:19,040 --> 00:21:21,920 Speaker 1: you some pugalty. I had a gun back over here 348 00:21:21,960 --> 00:21:25,240 Speaker 1: and stay in here in the camper. And I came 349 00:21:25,280 --> 00:21:28,600 Speaker 1: in that day and took a nap and I got up. 350 00:21:28,720 --> 00:21:32,240 Speaker 1: You couldn't see for the smoke. I thought, crap, I've 351 00:21:32,280 --> 00:21:36,320 Speaker 1: got a Browning shot gun and a log right in 352 00:21:36,440 --> 00:21:39,520 Speaker 1: that far, so I'll get it on my four wheeler 353 00:21:39,560 --> 00:21:41,919 Speaker 1: and i'll take off up very well. I'll come around 354 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:46,119 Speaker 1: and then just people ever were bulldoders and fire lighters, 355 00:21:46,160 --> 00:21:49,040 Speaker 1: and I was trying to get around, and I was 356 00:21:49,160 --> 00:21:50,000 Speaker 1: trying to stop. 357 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:51,919 Speaker 2: Didn't burn your guy up. 358 00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:54,960 Speaker 1: Now, I got through them and got through it. Boy, 359 00:21:54,920 --> 00:22:01,640 Speaker 1: it's pretty smoky and it's getting pretty cloth. Yeah. Another time, 360 00:22:02,320 --> 00:22:06,160 Speaker 1: a funny little deal. I got a chuffle out, hit 361 00:22:06,200 --> 00:22:08,200 Speaker 1: a turkey and a gun up here on a dead 362 00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:11,960 Speaker 1: end road, and I went back up there again. It later, 363 00:22:13,040 --> 00:22:17,800 Speaker 1: everything good, everything okay, And there was a bulldozer and 364 00:22:17,840 --> 00:22:21,040 Speaker 1: a lot boy sitting there not ten foot from my 365 00:22:21,200 --> 00:22:24,119 Speaker 1: turkey in that gun. Well, but he run over that 366 00:22:24,240 --> 00:22:28,520 Speaker 1: gun when he unloaded that older but he didn't he 367 00:22:28,600 --> 00:22:32,680 Speaker 1: minced it about that for yeah, and they were doing 368 00:22:32,720 --> 00:22:35,639 Speaker 1: something and we knuck around about the gun turkey and 369 00:22:35,680 --> 00:22:36,360 Speaker 1: got out of there. 370 00:22:38,480 --> 00:22:42,840 Speaker 2: This is some pretty serious outlawn. Illegal turkey hunters often 371 00:22:42,960 --> 00:22:45,639 Speaker 2: hid guns in the woods where they knew turkeys were close, 372 00:22:46,119 --> 00:22:48,920 Speaker 2: so they could drive to and from the spot without 373 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,199 Speaker 2: a gun in the truck, making it almost impossible for 374 00:22:52,359 --> 00:22:55,800 Speaker 2: game wardens to pin them down. It might seem unusual 375 00:22:55,840 --> 00:22:58,520 Speaker 2: for us to be talking about this so openly, but 376 00:22:58,600 --> 00:23:02,639 Speaker 2: the reason he's so comfortable is that today Johnny doesn't 377 00:23:02,680 --> 00:23:06,040 Speaker 2: have anything to hide, because when he hit the bottom 378 00:23:06,160 --> 00:23:10,560 Speaker 2: fifteen years, three hundred and nineteen days ago, everything was 379 00:23:10,640 --> 00:23:15,440 Speaker 2: laid bare. That story is coming. I'd rather someone tell 380 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:17,840 Speaker 2: it to me like it happened than try to sugarcoat it. 381 00:23:18,760 --> 00:23:20,399 Speaker 2: I think we need to fill in the gaps in 382 00:23:20,480 --> 00:23:23,960 Speaker 2: Johnny's history, though, I'm interested in his upbringing. 383 00:23:25,960 --> 00:23:31,240 Speaker 1: I was born in Haveneror in Oklahoma, ordinary people. My 384 00:23:31,359 --> 00:23:34,199 Speaker 1: dad worked for the railroad. All my family worked for 385 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:38,480 Speaker 1: the railroad. I grew up just a normal boy, playing sports, 386 00:23:38,640 --> 00:23:43,800 Speaker 1: and my dad quail hunted John I just went crazy 387 00:23:43,840 --> 00:23:45,880 Speaker 1: about it. I love it. That's what I do, that's 388 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:50,439 Speaker 1: my lie. And I played sports and rodeo. Was raised 389 00:23:50,480 --> 00:23:53,320 Speaker 1: on a horse, rode a horse to a ball practice, 390 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:56,960 Speaker 1: and rode a horse everywhere I went swimming and over time, 391 00:23:57,720 --> 00:24:01,080 Speaker 1: and the hunting part of it that I just kind 392 00:24:01,119 --> 00:24:04,720 Speaker 1: of figured it out on my own. My dad, dear 393 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:07,760 Speaker 1: honted a little bit and he'd take me and he 394 00:24:07,880 --> 00:24:10,239 Speaker 1: gave me a thirty thirty and I just started there 395 00:24:10,320 --> 00:24:15,080 Speaker 1: hunt and just talking to people and learning how to 396 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:18,760 Speaker 1: hunt and doing it and learning from my mistake. That's 397 00:24:18,800 --> 00:24:21,120 Speaker 1: a big thing we can learn in our lives by 398 00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:26,320 Speaker 1: our mistakes. I disliked life. I was raised in church, 399 00:24:26,920 --> 00:24:31,439 Speaker 1: and I don't know where I went wrong, but I 400 00:24:31,600 --> 00:24:35,000 Speaker 1: liked the world better. I did think the hard way, 401 00:24:35,040 --> 00:24:40,400 Speaker 1: and I made a lot of bad choices. But I'm 402 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:41,520 Speaker 1: not that way anymore. 403 00:24:44,119 --> 00:24:47,720 Speaker 2: I'm not that way anymore. He said. That's actually what 404 00:24:48,000 --> 00:24:51,560 Speaker 2: all the people that told me about Johnny said. That's 405 00:24:51,560 --> 00:24:54,640 Speaker 2: really why I'm here. I want to learn more about 406 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:55,480 Speaker 2: Johnny's life. 407 00:24:58,359 --> 00:25:00,800 Speaker 1: One time, my mom made me go of college. When 408 00:25:00,840 --> 00:25:03,680 Speaker 1: I got out of school, I said, no, I don't 409 00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:06,879 Speaker 1: want to go, but yeah, you're going. I had a 410 00:25:06,920 --> 00:25:10,800 Speaker 1: hard time getting along. I'd be late for class, drinking 411 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:14,240 Speaker 1: with a big part of my lot. And they suggested 412 00:25:14,240 --> 00:25:17,879 Speaker 1: that I take a samaistra off and kind of find 413 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:22,040 Speaker 1: myself well in the process. I was going to college 414 00:25:22,040 --> 00:25:25,840 Speaker 1: at Talaquaw, fell in with a band of hippies and 415 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:28,879 Speaker 1: I stayed on the Illinois's River Bridge and the freedo 416 00:25:29,080 --> 00:25:35,000 Speaker 1: van for Samarster and I got quite an education. And 417 00:25:35,119 --> 00:25:37,680 Speaker 1: when I left there, I went to work on a 418 00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:40,919 Speaker 1: railroad and for the summer. Then I was gonna go 419 00:25:41,000 --> 00:25:44,399 Speaker 1: back to school straighten up, and I never happened. I 420 00:25:44,520 --> 00:25:46,600 Speaker 1: stayed with the railroad and retired there. 421 00:25:49,119 --> 00:25:52,240 Speaker 2: Johnny started working for the railroad in nineteen seventy and 422 00:25:52,400 --> 00:25:55,800 Speaker 2: was a train engineer for decades, but the spring of 423 00:25:55,880 --> 00:25:58,600 Speaker 2: nineteen seventy five was the first time that he ever 424 00:25:58,640 --> 00:26:01,320 Speaker 2: turkey hunted. This is when it all started. 425 00:26:03,240 --> 00:26:07,040 Speaker 1: It was around seventy five, started having a turkey on 426 00:26:07,320 --> 00:26:09,320 Speaker 1: and I didn't know anyone that had ever a turkey on. 427 00:26:09,840 --> 00:26:12,520 Speaker 1: I didn't even know what a turkey call was. I 428 00:26:12,600 --> 00:26:16,639 Speaker 1: knew two older men and my dad told me that 429 00:26:16,720 --> 00:26:19,040 Speaker 1: they had killed turkeys, they had hunted them. So I 430 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,960 Speaker 1: went and talked to them and they showed me a 431 00:26:22,000 --> 00:26:25,480 Speaker 1: few moves on a turkey call. And that April we 432 00:26:25,520 --> 00:26:28,920 Speaker 1: had a caesar and I got a call off mister 433 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:31,760 Speaker 1: Phillips and went up on the hill. We had a 434 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:35,240 Speaker 1: cabin and I'd seen some turkeys there deer hunt, and 435 00:26:35,320 --> 00:26:37,280 Speaker 1: I went up on the hill and laid my gun 436 00:26:37,359 --> 00:26:40,200 Speaker 1: up against a tree and whacked a box and a 437 00:26:40,359 --> 00:26:43,359 Speaker 1: turkey gobble and shot me. And I looked and it 438 00:26:43,480 --> 00:26:45,800 Speaker 1: running right at me, and I dropped my call and 439 00:26:45,880 --> 00:26:49,119 Speaker 1: shot the turkey and they run off. I was the 440 00:26:49,160 --> 00:26:51,720 Speaker 1: first encounter I d had with a wild turkey, and 441 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:54,040 Speaker 1: I was hooked right to them. 442 00:26:54,040 --> 00:26:56,120 Speaker 2: Did you get the turkey or to get away from them? 443 00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:59,119 Speaker 1: Oh? We got away, but I was walking around the 444 00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:02,280 Speaker 1: way he went looking for him, and I heard another 445 00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:05,720 Speaker 1: one goble and I called to him and he came, 446 00:27:06,080 --> 00:27:08,679 Speaker 1: and I've shot him and got him. So I'm a 447 00:27:08,720 --> 00:27:15,119 Speaker 1: turkey killer now and I've hunted them ever since, justlike 448 00:27:15,240 --> 00:27:19,359 Speaker 1: they've done something to my mama. I've had the opportunity. 449 00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:23,320 Speaker 1: I hung with doctors, lawyers, Indian chiefs. One of my 450 00:27:23,440 --> 00:27:27,480 Speaker 1: favorite people was the chief of the Cherokee Nation. He's 451 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:32,080 Speaker 1: a good god. My mom was part Indian. I'm a 452 00:27:32,160 --> 00:27:36,200 Speaker 1: quarter but I like Indians. I've got a good spirit, 453 00:27:36,600 --> 00:27:40,240 Speaker 1: a good feel for the wood, water and the wind. 454 00:27:40,280 --> 00:27:43,080 Speaker 1: They like all that stuff. I may be part of 455 00:27:43,119 --> 00:27:46,880 Speaker 1: why I'm drawn to it. I don't know. I like them. 456 00:27:46,880 --> 00:27:51,000 Speaker 1: I respect turkeys. I got more respect for a turkey 457 00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:53,520 Speaker 1: gobbler than a lot of people. I'll promise you. 458 00:27:55,400 --> 00:27:58,920 Speaker 2: A statement like this, coming from a confessed lawbreaker, could 459 00:27:58,960 --> 00:28:02,560 Speaker 2: certainly ruffle your feathers. But I think what he's really 460 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:05,800 Speaker 2: saying is that turkey hunting meant so much to him 461 00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:09,040 Speaker 2: that he was willing to risk it all to hunt them. 462 00:28:09,840 --> 00:28:14,359 Speaker 2: But the functionalization of that passion was awry. There are 463 00:28:14,400 --> 00:28:16,879 Speaker 2: some things in life that seem to be built for temptation, 464 00:28:17,720 --> 00:28:22,400 Speaker 2: uniquely appealing but forbidden. In a goblin Turkey before season 465 00:28:22,520 --> 00:28:25,560 Speaker 2: has been the downfall of many a man. I've never 466 00:28:25,640 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 2: known a woman to be a turkey outlaw, and if 467 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:32,000 Speaker 2: you've listened to me enough, you know that I pray 468 00:28:32,320 --> 00:28:35,720 Speaker 2: that this story in no way glorifies breaking the law, 469 00:28:36,480 --> 00:28:38,800 Speaker 2: and I don't think Johnny wants it to either. But 470 00:28:39,080 --> 00:28:42,239 Speaker 2: like in most things that deal with human nature, they 471 00:28:42,280 --> 00:28:47,440 Speaker 2: are nuanced, interesting, if examined in detail, and insightful. If 472 00:28:47,480 --> 00:28:50,600 Speaker 2: you're willing to listen to people talk who have a 473 00:28:50,680 --> 00:28:55,360 Speaker 2: different life experience than you, There are so many tidbits 474 00:28:55,400 --> 00:28:58,600 Speaker 2: of interest in Johnny's story. It's like being confused on 475 00:28:58,640 --> 00:29:01,000 Speaker 2: a covey rise by how many he targets are in 476 00:29:01,080 --> 00:29:04,160 Speaker 2: front of you. The thing that stands out most to 477 00:29:04,240 --> 00:29:09,240 Speaker 2: me is Johnny's honesty about a dishonest past. He's not 478 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:13,160 Speaker 2: blaming anyone for his decisions, and he's not seeking attention 479 00:29:13,360 --> 00:29:17,160 Speaker 2: or any kind of glory at all. I pride his 480 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:19,760 Speaker 2: arm to get him to talk to me. And I'm 481 00:29:19,800 --> 00:29:23,040 Speaker 2: the one that came to him. And if something goes awry, 482 00:29:23,240 --> 00:29:26,480 Speaker 2: and the fact that this story was released, it's Clay 483 00:29:26,560 --> 00:29:31,840 Speaker 2: Nukeom that's to blame, not Johnny. Johnny remembered a story 484 00:29:31,880 --> 00:29:34,840 Speaker 2: from the nineteen eighties that he thinks I need to hear. 485 00:29:37,240 --> 00:29:41,000 Speaker 1: I probably need to tell you that story, don't. I 486 00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:45,520 Speaker 1: had a cabin on Poto Mount and leap it's a 487 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:47,960 Speaker 1: mail roof, and I got up there with a hammer 488 00:29:48,000 --> 00:29:50,680 Speaker 1: and every time I was beating that rich cap down, 489 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:52,840 Speaker 1: trying to get a nail in it to pull that 490 00:29:52,960 --> 00:29:55,560 Speaker 1: rich cap down. Every time i'd hit that maidle of 491 00:29:55,600 --> 00:29:59,400 Speaker 1: Turkey ago. This was a couple of weeks before season. 492 00:30:00,080 --> 00:30:03,280 Speaker 1: I was gonna hunt there of that seat. But every 493 00:30:03,280 --> 00:30:08,120 Speaker 1: time I'd hit that, she dire bowl off man. Well 494 00:30:08,240 --> 00:30:12,320 Speaker 1: rain that night, big rain, bad ruin man. There won't 495 00:30:12,320 --> 00:30:16,600 Speaker 1: be nobody overwhere, So I just drove around. I know 496 00:30:17,040 --> 00:30:20,120 Speaker 1: close to where he was from my cabin, but I 497 00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:22,920 Speaker 1: could get up there that get wet and walk down 498 00:30:22,920 --> 00:30:25,680 Speaker 1: that road and I'd be right on it. And I 499 00:30:25,840 --> 00:30:28,800 Speaker 1: yep to him and he go all right back. When 500 00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:33,400 Speaker 1: he come there were three ol' Oh boy, I don't 501 00:30:33,440 --> 00:30:37,360 Speaker 1: need three. I believe I'm gonna get one. And it's 502 00:30:37,400 --> 00:30:40,320 Speaker 1: a good deal. I did a lot of calling just 503 00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:42,440 Speaker 1: seeing what I could get by with. I don't close 504 00:30:42,560 --> 00:30:47,320 Speaker 1: enough kill I cut, squawked and cackle. Yeah the boy. 505 00:30:47,400 --> 00:30:49,880 Speaker 1: They was putting the show on. So I shot one, 506 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:52,760 Speaker 1: got it, went back to my truck, discharged to set 507 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,600 Speaker 1: it over in the back of the truck, and my 508 00:30:55,680 --> 00:30:58,920 Speaker 1: game more than friend. Randy Fennel cut up behind my truck. 509 00:30:59,440 --> 00:31:01,800 Speaker 1: He was in a rushball right there behind my truck. 510 00:31:02,320 --> 00:31:06,560 Speaker 1: Got you, boy, you sure do? I couldn't lie had 511 00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:09,880 Speaker 1: run so I said, you ain't not a bad day yourself? 512 00:31:09,960 --> 00:31:12,320 Speaker 1: Did you hear all that? Randy? Oh? Yeah, I heard 513 00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:14,720 Speaker 1: it all. That's good as a gift. It's just too early. 514 00:31:14,880 --> 00:31:17,600 Speaker 1: I'm gonna have to take it. You for well. I 515 00:31:17,600 --> 00:31:20,120 Speaker 1: don't blame me. You ain't not a bad day. Here's 516 00:31:20,160 --> 00:31:23,240 Speaker 1: your gun, here's your truck, here's your turkey. What else 517 00:31:23,320 --> 00:31:25,840 Speaker 1: you need? Well? He said, I hate to see you 518 00:31:25,920 --> 00:31:30,000 Speaker 1: taking that hard. I'm job security for you. Do you 519 00:31:30,080 --> 00:31:32,760 Speaker 1: hear all that goblin this morning? I ain't going nowhere. 520 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:35,640 Speaker 1: You making it that? Yes, I said, you can make 521 00:31:35,680 --> 00:31:38,560 Speaker 1: a name for yourself right there. I ain't going nowhere. 522 00:31:39,280 --> 00:31:41,440 Speaker 1: I'm gonna take your gun. I said, well, you can 523 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:45,040 Speaker 1: catch me a couple more times before I'm getting nervous, 524 00:31:45,800 --> 00:31:48,840 Speaker 1: and I said, get in. It's started rain again. He 525 00:31:48,880 --> 00:31:51,200 Speaker 1: had soaking wet. He had sat in the rain, probably 526 00:31:51,240 --> 00:31:54,000 Speaker 1: biggest part of the morning in the dark, because he 527 00:31:54,040 --> 00:31:57,200 Speaker 1: didn't come in there out of senior truck. But I say, 528 00:31:57,280 --> 00:32:00,880 Speaker 1: get in. I'll take you to your truck. After all this, 529 00:32:01,080 --> 00:32:03,320 Speaker 1: you will give me a ride. Well, I'm a good guy. 530 00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:05,440 Speaker 1: If you knew me, you'd like me. I ain't a 531 00:32:05,480 --> 00:32:08,440 Speaker 1: bad guy. You make a name for yourself right there. 532 00:32:08,520 --> 00:32:11,040 Speaker 1: I hope they promote you and move you to Oklahoma City. 533 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:13,520 Speaker 1: Get you out of the wood. I hauled him right 534 00:32:13,560 --> 00:32:16,640 Speaker 1: to his strug. We still talk now. 535 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:22,080 Speaker 2: Okay, when you describe how calm you were today forty 536 00:32:22,160 --> 00:32:26,160 Speaker 2: years later, as you tell that story, you're like super calm, 537 00:32:26,760 --> 00:32:29,880 Speaker 2: And I think a lot of times we kind of 538 00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:33,800 Speaker 2: rewrite stuff in our head. Were you that calm? For real? 539 00:32:33,920 --> 00:32:35,480 Speaker 2: When that guy you didn't care. 540 00:32:35,720 --> 00:32:37,760 Speaker 1: No, he'd tell you the same thing. If we were 541 00:32:37,800 --> 00:32:39,760 Speaker 1: here today, he'd tell you the same thing. 542 00:32:40,160 --> 00:32:44,680 Speaker 2: Okay, So there's these rock climbers, these these free climbers 543 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:48,480 Speaker 2: that climb these big granite faces out and out west, 544 00:32:49,160 --> 00:32:53,200 Speaker 2: and they talk about how those guys are superhuman when 545 00:32:53,200 --> 00:32:57,400 Speaker 2: it comes to dealing with anxiety, and they're just able 546 00:32:57,440 --> 00:32:59,480 Speaker 2: to climb on these rocks where me or you, a 547 00:32:59,520 --> 00:33:02,560 Speaker 2: normal guy, I would be scared to death. Their brain 548 00:33:02,720 --> 00:33:06,600 Speaker 2: doesn't equate the consequence of falling like a normal person. 549 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:10,360 Speaker 2: I still don't understand why you wouldn't be afraid, because 550 00:33:10,440 --> 00:33:13,240 Speaker 2: it's not like you're rich and could just pay tickets. 551 00:33:13,600 --> 00:33:15,680 Speaker 2: No big deal. They're going to take your truck, they're 552 00:33:15,680 --> 00:33:18,600 Speaker 2: gonna take your gun, just for what you had going 553 00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:20,280 Speaker 2: on in your life. And at that time too, I 554 00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:22,840 Speaker 2: guess you were were you an alcoholic at that time? 555 00:33:23,560 --> 00:33:24,960 Speaker 2: So I mean there was a lot of I guess 556 00:33:24,960 --> 00:33:26,720 Speaker 2: of rough stuff going on much. 557 00:33:27,120 --> 00:33:27,640 Speaker 1: Yeah. 558 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:29,720 Speaker 2: So it's just it's just like turkey O eaton was 559 00:33:29,760 --> 00:33:31,200 Speaker 2: not something you were worried about. 560 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:34,520 Speaker 1: When I loaded them in the truck, I had a 561 00:33:34,560 --> 00:33:39,600 Speaker 1: thought that nervoushed me just a little bit. Right between 562 00:33:39,880 --> 00:33:42,760 Speaker 1: me and m laying on a seat with a bag 563 00:33:42,800 --> 00:33:47,400 Speaker 1: of dope and a deer horn pipe, and I very 564 00:33:47,440 --> 00:33:53,160 Speaker 1: casually screwted a glove over it. Now, that unnerved me 565 00:33:53,200 --> 00:33:55,640 Speaker 1: a little bit, But as far as killing a turkey 566 00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:58,960 Speaker 1: a few days early, now, I didn't bother them at all. Yeah, 567 00:33:59,200 --> 00:34:02,880 Speaker 1: getting caught in I don't know. Maybe I'll just look 568 00:34:02,920 --> 00:34:03,640 Speaker 1: at it different. 569 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:08,200 Speaker 2: We're starting to see that his problems with the law 570 00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:11,200 Speaker 2: were bigger than just turkeys. He could have left out 571 00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:14,400 Speaker 2: that little detail, but he didn't, and I appreciate that. 572 00:34:15,360 --> 00:34:19,200 Speaker 2: What's ironic is that today marijuana is legal in most places, 573 00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:21,799 Speaker 2: but at the time Johnny might have gone to jail 574 00:34:21,880 --> 00:34:25,200 Speaker 2: for it. But I'd like to examine his statement about 575 00:34:25,239 --> 00:34:29,440 Speaker 2: looking at wildlife laws different. That could sound like the 576 00:34:29,480 --> 00:34:33,600 Speaker 2: typical excuse, But Johnny brings up an interesting point that, 577 00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:37,480 Speaker 2: if not addressed, could assault the intellectual integrity of our discussion, 578 00:34:37,960 --> 00:34:47,840 Speaker 2: which I am greatly enjoying. My point is nuanced, and 579 00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:52,200 Speaker 2: it has to do with how different generations view life 580 00:34:52,600 --> 00:34:58,680 Speaker 2: laws and ethics. By my observation, some people, emphasis on 581 00:34:58,840 --> 00:35:03,759 Speaker 2: some in rural America that were adults by the nineteen sixties, 582 00:35:04,280 --> 00:35:08,399 Speaker 2: viewed game laws as mere suggestions and it was even 583 00:35:08,520 --> 00:35:11,640 Speaker 2: validated by the legal system of the time, as they 584 00:35:11,680 --> 00:35:17,120 Speaker 2: simply ticketed people with relatively minimal consequences, making the crime 585 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:20,759 Speaker 2: feel not that much different than a speeding ticket. I'm 586 00:35:20,800 --> 00:35:23,360 Speaker 2: not suggesting that it was ever right to break the law. 587 00:35:23,840 --> 00:35:26,919 Speaker 2: The Bible says that men should obey the laws of men, 588 00:35:27,280 --> 00:35:30,759 Speaker 2: and by doing so, they're ultimately obeying God, and that 589 00:35:30,800 --> 00:35:35,279 Speaker 2: book was written long before nineteen sixty. But people raised 590 00:35:35,400 --> 00:35:39,399 Speaker 2: later in the progression of American conservation were more likely 591 00:35:39,480 --> 00:35:43,520 Speaker 2: to respect and obey wildlife laws. By the nineteen nineties, 592 00:35:43,640 --> 00:35:48,600 Speaker 2: average hunters were becoming indoctrinated with functional ideas about conservation, 593 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:52,080 Speaker 2: and it became much more mainstream to obey the law, 594 00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:56,400 Speaker 2: to the point that outlawing has fallen more and more 595 00:35:56,560 --> 00:35:59,239 Speaker 2: out of style. At least this is what I have 596 00:35:59,360 --> 00:36:02,240 Speaker 2: witnessed with my own eyes. But you'll have to listen 597 00:36:02,239 --> 00:36:04,320 Speaker 2: to this and tell me what you think. 598 00:36:06,640 --> 00:36:07,000 Speaker 1: Now. 599 00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:10,719 Speaker 2: What about today, though, Johnny, Because because what I've what 600 00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:13,359 Speaker 2: I've heard from people, and I feel like what I've 601 00:36:13,360 --> 00:36:15,799 Speaker 2: heard from you is that you don't break the law 602 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:16,800 Speaker 2: anymore on purpose? 603 00:36:17,080 --> 00:36:22,680 Speaker 1: No, why not. I'm just a better person than I 604 00:36:22,800 --> 00:36:26,120 Speaker 1: used to be. I used to just didn't care. I 605 00:36:26,200 --> 00:36:29,600 Speaker 1: care now I don't go before season that. 606 00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:34,560 Speaker 2: What about now, probably with more knowledge of conservation, if 607 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:38,040 Speaker 2: everybody killed twenty turkeys a year, that would. 608 00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:39,520 Speaker 1: For sure be bad, it'd be wrong. 609 00:36:39,760 --> 00:36:43,280 Speaker 2: What about from that angle, from just a conservation angle. 610 00:36:44,200 --> 00:36:47,160 Speaker 1: Now, the way our turkeys are number numbers are down, 611 00:36:47,560 --> 00:36:50,120 Speaker 1: they don't need to be over on at Luckdade. 612 00:36:50,239 --> 00:36:52,200 Speaker 2: But so part of your deal was back in the 613 00:36:52,280 --> 00:36:54,920 Speaker 2: day we had so many there were so few turkey 614 00:36:55,000 --> 00:36:58,560 Speaker 2: hunters that you just couldn't figure out why it was wrong. 615 00:36:58,560 --> 00:37:02,759 Speaker 1: Right, didn't see that much wrong, isn't it. When I 616 00:37:02,880 --> 00:37:08,200 Speaker 1: first started hunting over here meant seventies, I'd come over 617 00:37:08,200 --> 00:37:10,879 Speaker 1: here for two weeks and never see a turkey under hunt. 618 00:37:10,880 --> 00:37:14,520 Speaker 1: This whole country, all of it, never even see a hunter. 619 00:37:15,280 --> 00:37:18,840 Speaker 1: Nobody hunting overhere. Andy's probably full of turkeys any anywhere 620 00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:21,480 Speaker 1: you stop, my no difference. Anywhere you stop, you if 621 00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:22,200 Speaker 1: you're a turkey go. 622 00:37:22,680 --> 00:37:25,480 Speaker 2: And so you're sitting here saying the game and Fish 623 00:37:25,520 --> 00:37:28,279 Speaker 2: tells me I can kill two turkeys. I mean, you're 624 00:37:28,320 --> 00:37:29,360 Speaker 2: you're gonna kill more than that. 625 00:37:29,640 --> 00:37:31,880 Speaker 1: Probably it's a different time. 626 00:37:34,320 --> 00:37:37,600 Speaker 2: It was a different time, he said. And I want 627 00:37:37,680 --> 00:37:41,440 Speaker 2: to point out that He's literally describing a former time. 628 00:37:42,280 --> 00:37:46,280 Speaker 2: Penalties were different, Turkey populations were higher, Turkey hunter numbers 629 00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:48,719 Speaker 2: were way lower, and it was more common for his 630 00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:52,480 Speaker 2: generation and their mentors to take wildlife laws less. Seriously, 631 00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:56,040 Speaker 2: all this stuff makes me grateful for the generations of 632 00:37:56,080 --> 00:37:59,319 Speaker 2: American game wardens that have been the interface of the 633 00:37:59,440 --> 00:38:03,160 Speaker 2: law in our society as it gradually has shifted from 634 00:38:03,160 --> 00:38:06,640 Speaker 2: the market hunting mentalities of the eighteen hundreds to the 635 00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:12,040 Speaker 2: hyper informed conservation mind frames of the average modern hunter. 636 00:38:13,040 --> 00:38:16,280 Speaker 2: We've still got problems today, but things are getting better. 637 00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:21,839 Speaker 2: I'm still, though, trying to figure out Johnny's motivation. I've 638 00:38:21,880 --> 00:38:24,279 Speaker 2: got a question for him, and I'm going to bring 639 00:38:24,360 --> 00:38:28,799 Speaker 2: up two familiar names from Bear Greece's past that we 640 00:38:28,840 --> 00:38:32,840 Speaker 2: did on a series called Genuine Outlaws, which started on 641 00:38:32,920 --> 00:38:37,800 Speaker 2: episode fifty two. We did this series on Louidale and 642 00:38:37,840 --> 00:38:42,760 Speaker 2: Charlie Edwards. It was real clear that they enjoyed getting 643 00:38:42,800 --> 00:38:45,480 Speaker 2: away from game ordens and that was a part of 644 00:38:45,520 --> 00:38:49,360 Speaker 2: the fun that they had and it felt like and 645 00:38:49,440 --> 00:38:52,040 Speaker 2: kind of what the people around them. And I never 646 00:38:52,080 --> 00:38:54,440 Speaker 2: interviewed Louidlle and Charlie because they were they had passed 647 00:38:54,440 --> 00:38:56,479 Speaker 2: away by the time I did this, it was clear 648 00:38:56,520 --> 00:38:59,319 Speaker 2: that they that was part of the reason that they 649 00:38:59,760 --> 00:39:01,960 Speaker 2: want wanted to kill stuff illegally. It was just kind 650 00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:03,640 Speaker 2: of the thrill of getting away with it. 651 00:39:03,760 --> 00:39:04,640 Speaker 1: Yeah was that? 652 00:39:04,920 --> 00:39:07,200 Speaker 2: Do you think that was a part of what you did? Not? 653 00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:11,040 Speaker 1: Really, I just liked it. I just liked hunting turkeys 654 00:39:11,080 --> 00:39:14,400 Speaker 1: and the time to hunt thems when they're double is 655 00:39:14,480 --> 00:39:18,719 Speaker 1: just that simple. Yeah, that's simple. But no, not not 656 00:39:18,960 --> 00:39:22,200 Speaker 1: just trying to get away with it. It just I 657 00:39:22,239 --> 00:39:24,560 Speaker 1: don't know. I just did it. Uh, you know. I 658 00:39:24,600 --> 00:39:27,080 Speaker 1: didn't bait them or hunt them in the summer and 659 00:39:27,120 --> 00:39:29,759 Speaker 1: shoot them over water, set around the water hole and 660 00:39:29,840 --> 00:39:32,759 Speaker 1: try to kill them. I didn't do that. If you 661 00:39:32,880 --> 00:39:36,239 Speaker 1: hunt a turkey with a turkey call and a shotgun, 662 00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:41,480 Speaker 1: you're not gonna hurt the population, just shoe gobbler. That's 663 00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:44,799 Speaker 1: the way I looked at it. I'm not saying that's right, 664 00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:48,840 Speaker 1: and if everybody did that it would be bad. But 665 00:39:49,160 --> 00:39:50,880 Speaker 1: as far as being scared. 666 00:39:50,640 --> 00:39:54,080 Speaker 2: No, Back in those days, though, a ticket might have 667 00:39:54,120 --> 00:39:56,719 Speaker 2: been just like one hundred and fifty dollars. Just go 668 00:39:56,840 --> 00:39:58,399 Speaker 2: pay your ticket, is that right? 669 00:39:58,480 --> 00:40:02,520 Speaker 1: Yeah? I got call one time, I got caught. I 670 00:40:02,560 --> 00:40:06,720 Speaker 1: think two hundred and seventy dollars, and after Turkey season, 671 00:40:07,000 --> 00:40:09,480 Speaker 1: I made a deal with the DA that I could 672 00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:13,600 Speaker 1: pick up trash with the inmates from our prison here 673 00:40:13,640 --> 00:40:16,200 Speaker 1: at Hodgy to pay for the rest of it. And 674 00:40:16,239 --> 00:40:17,000 Speaker 1: that's what I did. 675 00:40:17,360 --> 00:40:18,440 Speaker 2: See you picked up trash. 676 00:40:18,520 --> 00:40:21,520 Speaker 1: I paid him a little cash and picked up trash 677 00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:23,879 Speaker 1: with them in money. Boy, they made me a lot 678 00:40:23,920 --> 00:40:26,200 Speaker 1: of deals, but I couldn't take any of them either. 679 00:40:26,280 --> 00:40:28,120 Speaker 1: I said, I'll be in here full time with you 680 00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:31,880 Speaker 1: all right now. Got a couple of months here picking 681 00:40:32,000 --> 00:40:34,959 Speaker 1: up trash. But that's worth killing the turkey. You can't 682 00:40:35,000 --> 00:40:36,840 Speaker 1: put a price on killing the turkey. 683 00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:39,440 Speaker 2: Really, that's the way you would well look at it. 684 00:40:40,520 --> 00:40:43,960 Speaker 1: But as much as I've done it, I've been chased around. 685 00:40:44,400 --> 00:40:45,880 Speaker 2: But do you think they were after you? 686 00:40:46,040 --> 00:40:47,319 Speaker 1: Oh? Yeah, yeah No. 687 00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:49,840 Speaker 2: Do you think they ever worked you undercover? 688 00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:52,919 Speaker 1: I think, what are. 689 00:40:52,800 --> 00:40:53,640 Speaker 2: You pointing out there? 690 00:40:54,200 --> 00:40:56,960 Speaker 1: Old bricks? Uh huh. I had a couple of gentlemen 691 00:40:57,080 --> 00:41:00,800 Speaker 1: show up here, wanted to do that, do this brick work? Yeah? 692 00:41:01,280 --> 00:41:03,160 Speaker 1: I said, well, yeah, it'd be a good idea and 693 00:41:03,239 --> 00:41:06,160 Speaker 1: needed one, but don't have it. I said, well, well 694 00:41:06,440 --> 00:41:09,759 Speaker 1: we're gonna build you one. I didn't think nothing about it, 695 00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:12,600 Speaker 1: and they start calling my house. I didn't have a 696 00:41:12,640 --> 00:41:15,960 Speaker 1: phone here. They started calling my house looking for me, 697 00:41:16,000 --> 00:41:19,400 Speaker 1: and they showed back up and find me in town, 698 00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:24,960 Speaker 1: and I found that strange. They got nearly through and 699 00:41:25,000 --> 00:41:27,040 Speaker 1: he said, you don't know what to think about us, 700 00:41:27,160 --> 00:41:30,840 Speaker 1: do you? I said, well, no, at really, but I 701 00:41:30,920 --> 00:41:35,719 Speaker 1: thank you. Probably worked for the Waldlife Department, maybe undercover 702 00:41:35,880 --> 00:41:38,160 Speaker 1: trying to catch me. They'd asked me all kinds of 703 00:41:38,200 --> 00:41:41,239 Speaker 1: turkey stuff and deer stuff and how men were they 704 00:41:41,280 --> 00:41:43,799 Speaker 1: hunters claimed to be. I don't know. I wasn't going 705 00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:46,440 Speaker 1: to go wanting one, but they just keep coming back, 706 00:41:46,520 --> 00:41:50,040 Speaker 1: coming back, coming back, and I finally he said, you 707 00:41:50,040 --> 00:41:52,359 Speaker 1: don't know what to think about us, do you? I said, well, 708 00:41:52,400 --> 00:41:56,160 Speaker 1: I think you're undercover, probably trying to catch me in 709 00:41:56,239 --> 00:42:00,000 Speaker 1: some kind of violations. And they loaded their stuff up 710 00:42:00,080 --> 00:42:01,359 Speaker 1: them left, and I hadn't seen them. 711 00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:04,080 Speaker 2: Since you're pretty certain they were undercover guys. 712 00:42:04,560 --> 00:42:09,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, sometimes if you listen, you can hear stuff. If 713 00:42:09,440 --> 00:42:12,600 Speaker 1: you've got your ears open and your eyes open, you 714 00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:15,680 Speaker 1: might get a tip from somebody that And I was 715 00:42:15,800 --> 00:42:16,800 Speaker 1: kind of on the look. 716 00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:19,960 Speaker 2: You were just suspicious of these guys. Yeah, yeah, So 717 00:42:20,080 --> 00:42:24,640 Speaker 2: did you get a tip from somebody else. Yeah, how 718 00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:26,879 Speaker 2: does that make you feel? I mean, at the time, 719 00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:28,440 Speaker 2: did that that didn't scare you? 720 00:42:28,560 --> 00:42:30,960 Speaker 1: No, it made me feel good that that man thought 721 00:42:31,080 --> 00:42:34,399 Speaker 1: enough of me to save me a problem. Oh well, 722 00:42:34,680 --> 00:42:37,839 Speaker 1: I wasn't a bit afraid of them. Now, game ardens 723 00:42:37,840 --> 00:42:41,879 Speaker 1: are just people. I'm not afraid of them. People say 724 00:42:41,920 --> 00:42:44,319 Speaker 1: them coming A lot of times. I've been hunting with 725 00:42:44,400 --> 00:42:46,360 Speaker 1: people and game warding drive up and they just go 726 00:42:46,440 --> 00:42:49,759 Speaker 1: all to pieces. They we ain't done nothing wrong. The 727 00:42:49,880 --> 00:42:51,120 Speaker 1: man ain't gonna bother Ruugh. 728 00:42:53,000 --> 00:42:57,920 Speaker 2: Johnny's transparency today is notable. We're going to learn the 729 00:42:58,040 --> 00:43:02,600 Speaker 2: nitty gritty of why he changed. But first here's a 730 00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:05,520 Speaker 2: lighter story about an interaction with a game warden that 731 00:43:05,640 --> 00:43:09,319 Speaker 2: happened during a legal hunting season, and then after this 732 00:43:09,920 --> 00:43:11,760 Speaker 2: we're gonna get real serious. 733 00:43:15,239 --> 00:43:18,440 Speaker 1: There was an old gentleman we know was calling to 734 00:43:18,520 --> 00:43:21,359 Speaker 1: a turkey, so we just laid in the ditch. We 735 00:43:21,400 --> 00:43:24,760 Speaker 1: didn't them want to mess him up. We just laying there. Listen, 736 00:43:25,320 --> 00:43:28,279 Speaker 1: he'd whacked the turkey of gob We wasn't coming. We'd 737 00:43:28,280 --> 00:43:31,080 Speaker 1: played with him quite a bit. He was not a player. 738 00:43:31,560 --> 00:43:34,600 Speaker 1: He had gobbled over his fun and I said, look 739 00:43:34,640 --> 00:43:36,640 Speaker 1: coming up a road there and there come a game 740 00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:40,520 Speaker 1: order sneaking up a road. Now we're laying our full 741 00:43:40,640 --> 00:43:42,879 Speaker 1: caval fog right in the ditch. And he got right 742 00:43:42,960 --> 00:43:45,560 Speaker 1: even with me, and I said, get somewhere and say 743 00:43:45,640 --> 00:43:48,959 Speaker 1: down here. The wild turkeys were hunting here. We can't 744 00:43:49,040 --> 00:43:51,359 Speaker 1: kill him. You walking up down the road here, what's 745 00:43:51,480 --> 00:43:55,920 Speaker 1: better to you? And it haddled him, kind of blowed 746 00:43:55,960 --> 00:43:59,120 Speaker 1: him up or something. He went for a gun, but 747 00:43:59,160 --> 00:44:02,040 Speaker 1: it last day. Boy, you don't need no gun. Now 748 00:44:02,960 --> 00:44:06,279 Speaker 1: we're just haven't. Another man called this turkey said down 749 00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:08,239 Speaker 1: here with if you won't hunt with us, you need 750 00:44:08,280 --> 00:44:10,800 Speaker 1: to get here early and work from camifalauge. If you 751 00:44:10,840 --> 00:44:12,680 Speaker 1: ain't got a shot gun, all out you want. 752 00:44:12,719 --> 00:44:14,080 Speaker 2: And now is this before season? 753 00:44:14,480 --> 00:44:14,680 Speaker 1: No? 754 00:44:15,920 --> 00:44:17,880 Speaker 2: This is during legal season. 755 00:44:17,960 --> 00:44:22,600 Speaker 1: Yeah, but yeah, we've had from wardens here. 756 00:44:24,880 --> 00:44:28,840 Speaker 2: Johnny has painted a clear picture of his days of outlawing. 757 00:44:29,880 --> 00:44:32,400 Speaker 2: But the one thing that those half a dozen people 758 00:44:32,520 --> 00:44:36,320 Speaker 2: did tell me one by one before I met Johnny 759 00:44:36,880 --> 00:44:40,880 Speaker 2: is that he is different today. He's changed, they said. 760 00:44:41,800 --> 00:44:45,959 Speaker 2: Even the game wardens suggested this. Throughout this story, you've 761 00:44:46,000 --> 00:44:48,799 Speaker 2: heard that Johnny used to be an alcoholic. And from 762 00:44:48,800 --> 00:44:51,719 Speaker 2: one story we learned that he used some drugs. I 763 00:44:51,760 --> 00:44:55,760 Speaker 2: wanted to know how that started and why he changed, 764 00:44:56,600 --> 00:45:02,000 Speaker 2: so I asked him. 765 00:45:00,040 --> 00:45:05,640 Speaker 1: Well, I just made some bad choices hanging out with 766 00:45:05,719 --> 00:45:11,600 Speaker 1: the wrong people, and I'd been around whild caf whiskey 767 00:45:11,680 --> 00:45:16,120 Speaker 1: and home brew, and I just didn't handle it very well. 768 00:45:17,560 --> 00:45:21,240 Speaker 1: And then I got over here. After I got my cabin, 769 00:45:22,120 --> 00:45:25,960 Speaker 1: there was a preacher that coon hunted a lord. He 770 00:45:26,000 --> 00:45:28,959 Speaker 1: would stop by the seaman. I was usually too drunk 771 00:45:29,000 --> 00:45:31,520 Speaker 1: to talk to him, but I know he was here. 772 00:45:32,760 --> 00:45:36,600 Speaker 1: I was raised in church, trained up in church, like 773 00:45:36,760 --> 00:45:40,160 Speaker 1: the boat books sell, but I just let the world 774 00:45:40,200 --> 00:45:43,480 Speaker 1: get the best of me. But when that preacher started 775 00:45:43,480 --> 00:45:48,400 Speaker 1: coming here, it kind of got me to thinking. And 776 00:45:48,560 --> 00:45:53,640 Speaker 1: I woke up one morning up the creek here. I'd 777 00:45:53,640 --> 00:45:57,000 Speaker 1: been on a pretty bad drunk and when I woke 778 00:45:57,120 --> 00:45:59,920 Speaker 1: up that particular morning, I didn't know where I was, 779 00:46:00,760 --> 00:46:03,279 Speaker 1: how I got there. I didn't know any of them. 780 00:46:03,320 --> 00:46:07,360 Speaker 1: People didn't know where my truck was. I finally found 781 00:46:07,360 --> 00:46:09,400 Speaker 1: someone I know and got them to take me to 782 00:46:09,520 --> 00:46:13,600 Speaker 1: my truck. In fact, i'd been gone about six months. 783 00:46:14,440 --> 00:46:17,200 Speaker 1: I come over there hunt and it was after Turkey's 784 00:46:17,239 --> 00:46:20,480 Speaker 1: evening and I still hadn't been on so I lost 785 00:46:20,520 --> 00:46:26,040 Speaker 1: about everything, my wife, my family, my friends, my place, 786 00:46:26,640 --> 00:46:31,640 Speaker 1: cattle tractors, but I didn't care. And I woke up 787 00:46:31,680 --> 00:46:34,680 Speaker 1: one morning up here and I thought, you're in a 788 00:46:34,719 --> 00:46:38,839 Speaker 1: bad way, and the only hope for you of Jesus. 789 00:46:39,920 --> 00:46:42,640 Speaker 1: And by that preacher coming here, I think that kind 790 00:46:42,680 --> 00:46:47,319 Speaker 1: of rekindled the spirit that had been instilled in me 791 00:46:47,360 --> 00:46:51,719 Speaker 1: as a kid. And I decided I needed to get 792 00:46:51,840 --> 00:46:54,239 Speaker 1: right with the Lord and get my life right and 793 00:46:54,280 --> 00:47:00,720 Speaker 1: try to get my family back. And so I stopped 794 00:47:00,760 --> 00:47:05,040 Speaker 1: on top of Horseshoe Mountain one morning, just getting daylight, 795 00:47:06,360 --> 00:47:08,840 Speaker 1: and I asked the Lord to help me. I'm in 796 00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:15,359 Speaker 1: a bind, save me, take this addiction from me, give 797 00:47:15,400 --> 00:47:20,120 Speaker 1: me my life back. And I drove on to the 798 00:47:20,160 --> 00:47:22,480 Speaker 1: cabin and I went out here by this fire pit, 799 00:47:23,560 --> 00:47:28,359 Speaker 1: and the sun was coming up then, and I saw 800 00:47:28,400 --> 00:47:32,160 Speaker 1: a transformation in the east with that sun shining through 801 00:47:32,160 --> 00:47:35,960 Speaker 1: the clouds like I had never seen before. Had to 802 00:47:36,000 --> 00:47:39,640 Speaker 1: be a sign from God, a glimpse of heaven, maybe 803 00:47:39,960 --> 00:47:47,239 Speaker 1: orange purple, blue cloud raised a light shining through them. 804 00:47:47,239 --> 00:47:54,000 Speaker 1: Pretty amazing, And my life was changed after to that 805 00:47:54,120 --> 00:47:59,520 Speaker 1: fire pit. Believe it or not, it was easier than 806 00:47:59,560 --> 00:48:03,239 Speaker 1: you think. When you get Jesus involved in it. He 807 00:48:03,360 --> 00:48:05,600 Speaker 1: took when I gave my life to him, he took 808 00:48:05,640 --> 00:48:09,800 Speaker 1: that addiction from me. Been fifteen years, three hundred and 809 00:48:09,920 --> 00:48:16,759 Speaker 1: nineteen days, and I'll serve it. I believe, and he 810 00:48:16,880 --> 00:48:20,280 Speaker 1: took that from me. Yeah, I'd been locked up, dried 811 00:48:20,400 --> 00:48:24,239 Speaker 1: out in jail for public drunk, all kind of stuff. 812 00:48:25,440 --> 00:48:27,960 Speaker 1: But when I got Jesus in my life through the 813 00:48:28,000 --> 00:48:32,320 Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, he took that addiction from I quit smoking, 814 00:48:32,480 --> 00:48:35,319 Speaker 1: I quit drinking, I quit everything right there to a 815 00:48:35,360 --> 00:48:42,319 Speaker 1: fire pit. It took a few months, but I had 816 00:48:42,560 --> 00:48:46,000 Speaker 1: some time. I waited. I got my life back, I 817 00:48:46,040 --> 00:48:50,279 Speaker 1: got my wife's back, my family back. Lord bless me 818 00:48:50,360 --> 00:48:55,799 Speaker 1: with a good cabin, a new house. And I went 819 00:48:55,840 --> 00:48:58,920 Speaker 1: from being an alcoholic with a drug addiction to a 820 00:48:58,960 --> 00:49:05,640 Speaker 1: deacon and an order to minister. And some people get 821 00:49:05,680 --> 00:49:08,480 Speaker 1: saved at an early age. I got to preach. Your 822 00:49:08,520 --> 00:49:10,799 Speaker 1: friend told me he was saved when he was nine 823 00:49:10,880 --> 00:49:17,120 Speaker 1: years old, never broke any laws. I said, what you 824 00:49:17,200 --> 00:49:22,719 Speaker 1: get saved from? Yeah, I've done it all. What I 825 00:49:22,760 --> 00:49:25,279 Speaker 1: hadn't done all, this, hadn't never thought over, didn't want 826 00:49:25,320 --> 00:49:28,279 Speaker 1: to try it. I've done it all, and that ain't 827 00:49:28,320 --> 00:49:34,359 Speaker 1: no secret. But I'm not that way anymore. Jesus has 828 00:49:34,480 --> 00:49:37,680 Speaker 1: given me a whole new life, the whole new heart, 829 00:49:37,760 --> 00:49:41,160 Speaker 1: and the whole new mind. Today I've got my wife back, 830 00:49:41,680 --> 00:49:47,640 Speaker 1: my family bad, Yeah, bout everybody equipment, Yeah, Jesus fixed 831 00:49:47,680 --> 00:49:52,600 Speaker 1: all that. Better than that over be. I still like 832 00:49:52,640 --> 00:49:56,200 Speaker 1: a hunt. He goes with me. He likes mountains. 833 00:49:59,760 --> 00:50:02,360 Speaker 2: It's it's clear that Johnny has been through the ringer, 834 00:50:02,920 --> 00:50:05,600 Speaker 2: but it sounds like he's got things figured out now. 835 00:50:06,600 --> 00:50:09,520 Speaker 2: There's more to people than the worst days of their past, 836 00:50:10,239 --> 00:50:12,759 Speaker 2: and there's more for you than the worst days of 837 00:50:12,800 --> 00:50:17,800 Speaker 2: your past. The confessions of this former outlaw is really 838 00:50:18,160 --> 00:50:24,160 Speaker 2: a story of redemption. Thank you, Johnny for sharing the 839 00:50:24,360 --> 00:50:31,080 Speaker 2: nitty gritty of your story. I can't thank you enough 840 00:50:31,080 --> 00:50:35,239 Speaker 2: for listening to Bear Grease and Brent's This Country Life podcast. 841 00:50:36,239 --> 00:50:39,840 Speaker 2: Please share this podcast with someone that you know that 842 00:50:40,000 --> 00:50:43,920 Speaker 2: might be struggling, or somebody that just enjoys a genuine story. 843 00:50:44,680 --> 00:50:49,080 Speaker 2: Thank you all so much. Keep the wild places wild, 844 00:50:49,880 --> 00:50:51,239 Speaker 2: because that's where the bears live. 845 00:50:57,080 --> 00:51:02,280 Speaker 1: A lot of train whistled right under the whistle. I've 846 00:51:02,400 --> 00:51:03,920 Speaker 1: lost quite a bit of my hearing. 847 00:51:04,400 --> 00:51:04,600 Speaker 3: Yeah. 848 00:51:04,680 --> 00:51:06,959 Speaker 1: I used to get here good and of course good, 849 00:51:07,080 --> 00:51:09,840 Speaker 1: but now I have to have someone go with me 850 00:51:09,880 --> 00:51:12,040 Speaker 1: because my son in law said, if you hear a 851 00:51:12,080 --> 00:51:15,440 Speaker 1: Turkey John it, don't go to it. Said, down's dark calling. 852 00:51:15,520 --> 00:51:16,720 Speaker 1: You're already too close. 853 00:51:17,480 --> 00:51:19,880 Speaker 2: If you can hear it, you're already hear gobble. 854 00:51:19,920 --> 00:51:21,160 Speaker 1: You're already too close. 855 00:51:21,480 --> 00:51:22,719 Speaker 2: That's funny at hup