WEBVTT - Ep. 195: THIS COUNTRY LIFE - Turkey Season Therapy 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:09.240 Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Rieves 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.720 from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living. 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:15.120 I want you to stay a. 0:00:15.080 --> 0:00:17.799 While as I share my stories and the country skills 0:00:17.840 --> 0:00:20.880 that will help you beat the system. This Country Life 0:00:20.960 --> 0:00:24.600 is proudly presented as part of Meat Eaters Podcast Network, 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:27.520 bringing you the best outdoor podcast. 0:00:27.120 --> 0:00:28.480 The airways have to offer. 0:00:29.120 --> 0:00:31.920 All right, friends, pull you up a chair or drop 0:00:32.000 --> 0:00:34.199 that tailgate. I think I got a thing or two 0:00:34.280 --> 0:00:42.080 and teach you Turkey season therapy. Turkey season is almost here, 0:00:42.240 --> 0:00:45.320 and I can't wait. Sitting in the woods in the 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:48.800 springtime is good therapy after a cold, gray winter. 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:50.199 It's time to. 0:00:50.159 --> 0:00:54.720 Reboot and get a fresh start. New beginnings and revisiting 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:57.080 some old one sport and a fresh coat of paint 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:00.520 is good for your soul. That's what we're talking about today. 0:01:00.560 --> 0:01:10.679 But first, I'm going to tell you a story. The 0:01:10.720 --> 0:01:13.920 story I'm telling you today I wrote eighteen years ago 0:01:14.040 --> 0:01:18.800 this spring, long before I had any idea anyone outside 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:21.520 of my friends and family would ever hear it or 0:01:21.560 --> 0:01:24.720 even want to. It was during the middle of my 0:01:24.840 --> 0:01:28.639 law enforcement career, and unbeknownst to me, I was putting 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:33.480 myself through therapy by writing. It was an outlet and 0:01:33.560 --> 0:01:36.240 a place I could go back to. As I recounted 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:40.200 in great detail whatever I was writing about, which was 0:01:40.280 --> 0:01:44.760 always outdoor related adventures. It allowed me to escape what 0:01:44.880 --> 0:01:46.880 I was dealing with at worked for a little while 0:01:46.920 --> 0:01:51.000 and focus on happier places and memories that were far 0:01:51.120 --> 0:01:56.360 removed from the stress and sadness of my work. My 0:01:56.480 --> 0:01:59.240 inspiration for writing these stories came after I read a 0:01:59.240 --> 0:02:03.280 book called The Flaming Turkey by mister Robert hit Neil. 0:02:04.560 --> 0:02:07.160 I read it in nineteen eighty nine for the first 0:02:07.240 --> 0:02:09.960 time and have read it about every year, just prior 0:02:10.000 --> 0:02:14.320 to Turkey season ever since. I more or less copied 0:02:14.320 --> 0:02:17.520 his style of writing because it was so descriptive and 0:02:17.639 --> 0:02:20.840 easy to read. It played like a little movie in 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:23.679 my head, and I put myself in his stories as 0:02:23.720 --> 0:02:27.080 a witness to the events he's describing and instead of 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:30.480 being a reader after the fact. For about the last 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:32.959 thirty five years, I've read that book so many times 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:36.880 that I feel like they're my stories too. Uncle Bob, 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:39.800 as mister Robert likes to be called, has helped me 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:42.399 get through a lot of struggles over the last three 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:44.920 and a half decades and he doesn't even know it. 0:02:45.800 --> 0:02:48.959 He's written fourteen books and is still living a good 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:53.200 life down in Mississippi in his early eighties. Clay even 0:02:53.240 --> 0:02:56.480 had him on The Bargery's podcast last year telling a story. 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:56.960 Now. 0:02:57.000 --> 0:02:59.119 I remember Clay asking me if I had ever heard 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:01.040 of him, and I about fell out of my chair 0:03:01.760 --> 0:03:05.640 heard of him. That guy's been one of my greatest inspirations. 0:03:06.000 --> 0:03:09.320 Clay said, oh, do you know him? No, I've never 0:03:09.440 --> 0:03:12.639 met him, but we exchanged about five emails in two 0:03:12.720 --> 0:03:14.840 thousand and eight. When I sent him a collection of 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:18.440 stories i'd written. He told me he liked them and 0:03:18.440 --> 0:03:20.840 that others would like to read him too. He would 0:03:20.840 --> 0:03:23.320 help me get them published if i'd get someone to 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:27.520 edit them. That was the last correspondence I had with him. 0:03:27.600 --> 0:03:30.880 Life and my job got in the way, and that 0:03:31.040 --> 0:03:35.000 was that I buried those stories in a box and 0:03:35.480 --> 0:03:37.360 dug them up. After I tricked the folks of me 0:03:37.480 --> 0:03:40.320 Eater into letting me go to work for them. I 0:03:40.400 --> 0:03:42.600 wasn't writing them to publish a book. I was writing 0:03:42.640 --> 0:03:47.280 them to keep from going berserko. And it didn't cure me, obviously, 0:03:47.320 --> 0:03:51.920 but it helped so without further ado here It is 0:03:52.960 --> 0:04:01.920 just like I wrote it twenty years ago. Each spring 0:04:02.000 --> 0:04:04.480 for the past few years, I had been fortunate enough 0:04:04.520 --> 0:04:07.560 to travel to Missouri, a beautiful state blessed with an 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:10.880 abundance of turkeys. My Dad and I stayed with some 0:04:11.000 --> 0:04:13.160 friends who allowed me to hunt their land. And those 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:16.279 are the neighbors who were equally willing to grant my 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:20.320 passage on their property for one of my greatest passions, 0:04:20.920 --> 0:04:25.200 chasing turkeys. Now, last spring, my eight year old son 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:29.120 Hunter joined Dad and me. The long trip to Toby 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:32.120 and Mary's home was filled with anticipation of repeating my 0:04:32.279 --> 0:04:36.360 previous year's successful hunts, and I hoped that Hunter would 0:04:36.400 --> 0:04:40.200 be able to take his first Missouri gobbler. Now, he'd 0:04:40.240 --> 0:04:42.160 been allowed to miss a few days of school for 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:45.360 this adventure with Dad and me. And I'm a strong 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:48.000 supporter of education, and I rarely let the little guy 0:04:48.080 --> 0:04:51.000 miss school, but this was an opportunity for him to 0:04:51.000 --> 0:04:54.440 spend some time with his grandpa and me in somewhat 0:04:54.440 --> 0:04:58.080 of an educational setting. Now I learned something on nearly 0:04:58.160 --> 0:05:01.919 every turkey hunt I go on. Normally, the turkey gives 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:05.279 me the lessons, and I have been astute in these lessons, 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:08.480 learning what I shouldn't have done and realizing too late 0:05:09.000 --> 0:05:13.479 what I should have won, too many calls, or moving 0:05:13.520 --> 0:05:16.120 when I should have stayed where I was, or just 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:19.000 generally screwing up my chance and taking home with Gobbler 0:05:19.440 --> 0:05:23.799 through my lack of patience. The Hunter has turkey hunted 0:05:23.839 --> 0:05:26.520 with me for the past couple of years, and was 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:28.520 with me last year when I shot one, and he 0:05:28.600 --> 0:05:31.359 even took a shot this year and missed his first 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:35.320 one by just the narror was the Margins. He had 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:37.160 a score to settle with a turkey, and I was 0:05:37.200 --> 0:05:38.760 going to do my best to give him. 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:39.920 The opportunity to do it. 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:44.240 The first morning, we dressed as quiet as we could 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:46.600 and I wanted to wake our hosts, and made our 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:55.200 way to the Turkey woods. The Hunter was full of 0:05:55.279 --> 0:05:57.480 questions as we left the truck and walked to where 0:05:57.480 --> 0:06:00.440 we were going to listen from dad. Are we gonna 0:06:00.520 --> 0:06:03.360 kill a turkey? Can I call to him? How many 0:06:03.400 --> 0:06:05.840 will we hear? How old were you when you killed 0:06:05.839 --> 0:06:08.159 your first turkey? Who do you think would win in 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:09.839 a fight between Superman and the Hulk? 0:06:11.200 --> 0:06:13.560 Well? I answered them. 0:06:13.400 --> 0:06:16.159 As best I could, but I really had to argue 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:19.279 with him the fact that Superman can whip anybody. That's 0:06:19.279 --> 0:06:22.880 why they called him Superman. Yes, Sir, I know he Superman. 0:06:22.960 --> 0:06:24.680 But what if the Hulk picked up an army tank 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:27.719 and hit him in the back of the head with it. Well, 0:06:27.760 --> 0:06:31.120 the Hunk the Hulk wouldn't do that. So they're both 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:33.839 good guys, and good guys don't fight each other. Yes, sir, 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:35.960 I know they're both good guys. But what if Superman 0:06:36.080 --> 0:06:38.960 drank the last dr Pepper and the Hulk was really thirsty? 0:06:40.160 --> 0:06:43.600 Superman wouldn't drink the last dr Pepper Hunter without asking 0:06:43.600 --> 0:06:45.640 the rest of the super Friends if they wanted it. 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:46.839 Yes, Sir, I know. 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:48.960 But what if the Hulk was in the bathroom and 0:06:49.000 --> 0:06:52.800 he asked everybody else and he didn't hear him. Well, 0:06:53.279 --> 0:06:55.760 he had me there and I was thinking about my 0:06:55.839 --> 0:07:02.559 answer when thankfully a turkey gobble. Did you hear him? Yes, sir, 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:06.320 all right, we gotta be quiet. He's about two hundred 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:11.440 yards away, so let's get going. We slipped quietly through 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:14.000 the woods, me picking and choosing my steps as if 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:17.560 I was a lion approaching the herd of Zebras, and 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:21.080 Hunter breaking every limb he came to, and remembering along 0:07:21.120 --> 0:07:23.880 the way that he had recently learned how to whistle, 0:07:24.560 --> 0:07:28.240 and demonstrating this to all the living creatures with an earshot. Hunter, 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:31.600 don't whistle. I'm being a bird daddy, so the turkey 0:07:31.640 --> 0:07:34.880 won't know where after him. Okay, that's a good idea, 0:07:35.120 --> 0:07:38.080 but let's just try sneaking up on him, because birds 0:07:38.120 --> 0:07:42.040 don't whistle jingle bells. We got to the edge of 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:44.960 a pasture and a small creek bed lined with oak 0:07:45.040 --> 0:07:49.240 trees that the gobbler was roosted in. I whispered the hunter. 0:07:49.320 --> 0:07:52.760 I said, okay, buddy, we're about one hundred yards from him. 0:07:53.120 --> 0:07:55.320 We got across this fence and set up near that 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:58.120 big old tree right there in front of us. I 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:01.720 picked him up and I placed him gingerly across that fence, 0:08:02.120 --> 0:08:05.640 and I was halfway across myself when Hunter said, in 0:08:05.680 --> 0:08:12.000 a not so whispering voice, Dad, look. I froze, terrified 0:08:12.080 --> 0:08:14.239 that the goblin had flown down early in collars before 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:16.800 we could set up for him. Where is he, Hunter, 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:21.000 I whispered, he's right there. I looked where my little 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:24.480 buddy was pointing, but I couldn't see anything. Where is he, son, 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:27.960 He's right there, he said that. Like I had gone blind. 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:30.640 I strained to look in the direction he was pointing, 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:32.959 like I feel. My retiness was about to tear out 0:08:33.000 --> 0:08:35.960 of my head, and I finally saw a big box 0:08:36.040 --> 0:08:38.960 turtle making his way across that open we had just 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:42.160 stepped into. Don't do that, hunter, I thought you were 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:46.199 looking at the turkey. No, sir, ain't that a big turtle? Though, yeah, 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:49.160 he is a big turtle. I'd be quiet. We're close 0:08:49.240 --> 0:08:54.720 to the turkey. Turkey began gobbling at nearly every breath, 0:08:54.760 --> 0:08:57.240 and we set up in a good spot to call 0:08:57.320 --> 0:09:00.440 to him. The goblet eventually flew down away from where 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:03.079 we sat and stopped at the crest of a hill 0:09:03.480 --> 0:09:06.720 near an old barn, and we slipped as best we 0:09:06.800 --> 0:09:09.240 could out into the pasture, keeping the crest of the 0:09:09.320 --> 0:09:12.240 hill between the turkey and us, and Duck walked our 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:14.959 way to a large wallnut tree, where we sat down, 0:09:15.320 --> 0:09:17.920 hunting in my lap and gun and calls it there ready, 0:09:19.200 --> 0:09:22.920 I called, and the turkey answered immediately. After a few minutes, 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:27.960 the turkey gobbled again, this time. Morderar left then a 0:09:27.960 --> 0:09:30.599 few minutes later, back where he had answered me. 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:32.400 We couldn't see him. He was just out of. 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:34.960 Sight, but he was in his strutting zone and was 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:39.080 waiting for us to come to him. We crawled several 0:09:39.080 --> 0:09:42.560 different trees, but the turkey never got within sixty yards 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:45.480 of us. I slipt up behind a tree that we 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:47.880 were sitting at, and I could see him out there, 0:09:47.920 --> 0:09:50.720 strutting and putting on a heck of a show. So 0:09:50.840 --> 0:09:53.120 I let hunters stand up behind that tree and look 0:09:53.160 --> 0:09:57.679 at him. Dad, I see him. He's beautiful. I could 0:09:57.720 --> 0:09:59.920 feel his little heart beating fast as I held him, 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:05.120 so he could see that turkey. We waited a few minutes, 0:10:05.120 --> 0:10:07.800 and the turkey gobbled again, and this time going down 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:10.240 the hill toward the little creek where he had come 0:10:10.280 --> 0:10:13.680 from when he roosted. We watched him as he strutted 0:10:13.679 --> 0:10:17.040 into view, just out of Hunter's shooting range and stopping 0:10:17.080 --> 0:10:20.200 near a big, old, blown down oak tree in the 0:10:20.200 --> 0:10:23.160 middle of that field. A turkey strutted on past the 0:10:23.200 --> 0:10:25.240 fallen tree and made his way to the creek bed, 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:28.840 where he continued to strut and gobble in full view 0:10:29.120 --> 0:10:29.480 of men. 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:29.840 Hunter. 0:10:31.240 --> 0:10:35.520 Hunter, do you see that blown down tree? Yes, sir, okay, 0:10:35.679 --> 0:10:37.800 do you think you can crawl on your hands and 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:40.960 knees behind me to the base of that tree. Yes, sir. 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:45.240 I took off my hunting vest, leaving at where we sat, 0:10:45.320 --> 0:10:48.080 trying to make a small at signature as I could. 0:10:48.880 --> 0:10:51.960 I got Hunter's twenty gage and we made our way 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:54.600 to the base of that clay root, with Hunter in tow, 0:10:54.679 --> 0:10:58.720 with my heels keeping the tree between the turkey and us. 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:04.360 Finally we arrived. I placed Hunter right beside me where 0:11:04.360 --> 0:11:06.960 he could see that turkey and propped the shot gunn 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:09.800 up on an exposed root, where all he had to 0:11:09.840 --> 0:11:13.000 do was lay across that take steady, aim, and shoot. 0:11:13.040 --> 0:11:16.920 When that turkey got close enough, all we needed him to. 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:21.400 Do was to come twenty yards closer twenty yards and 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:24.920 Hunter would be close enough to take him. We watched 0:11:24.960 --> 0:11:27.920 him for twenty or thirty minutes and gobbled and strutted 0:11:28.000 --> 0:11:30.520 and strutted and gobbled and answered me every time I 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:32.959 called to him, but came no closer. 0:11:34.160 --> 0:11:35.400 Dad, He's beautiful. 0:11:35.920 --> 0:11:37.680 That's the biggest turkey I ever seen. 0:11:38.840 --> 0:11:39.480 He was right. 0:11:40.120 --> 0:11:42.040 He may be in the biggest turkey I'd ever seen. 0:11:42.160 --> 0:11:44.200 His beard was thick and long, and I could see 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:47.160 the huge spurs he was sporting from sixty yards away. 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:51.200 I was lost on what to do. I couldn't figure 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:53.480 out how to get this turkey to close that last 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:55.800 twenty yards for Hunter to get a shot. And I 0:11:55.880 --> 0:12:00.559 tried everything short of letting Hunter whistle jingle bells at him. 0:12:00.960 --> 0:12:03.160 I let him call to him using my old box call, 0:12:03.240 --> 0:12:07.000 and we both grinned and giggled. When that gobbler answered him, 0:12:07.280 --> 0:12:09.920 he was so proud. How come he ain't coming? 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:10.319 Dad? 0:12:11.200 --> 0:12:13.000 Well, I told him, he wants to see the hen 0:12:13.000 --> 0:12:16.840 that's making all these calls. Dad, We need to stick 0:12:16.960 --> 0:12:20.200 up one of our decoys. Now, why hadn't I thought 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:23.720 of that? I took Hunter's shotgun, I unloaded it, and 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:25.560 I placed it on the ground away from where he 0:12:25.640 --> 0:12:28.600 was laying watching the turkey. I said, okay, Son, I 0:12:28.600 --> 0:12:30.520 got a crawl back to where I left my vest 0:12:30.559 --> 0:12:33.240 and get the decoy. Can you wait here and keep 0:12:33.240 --> 0:12:35.720 an eye on that turkey? Yes, sir, you want me 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:38.640 to call at him or whistle to him. I was like, no, No, 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:43.200 don't do that, just be still and watch him. 0:12:43.400 --> 0:12:43.520 Well. 0:12:43.559 --> 0:12:46.040 I crawled back up that hill, not unlike the turtle 0:12:46.080 --> 0:12:50.520 we had seen earlier, and about the same speed. Carefully 0:12:50.679 --> 0:12:53.760 I found every sharp rock that I had somehow missed 0:12:53.800 --> 0:12:57.040 on our way down the hill, but grabbing the vest, 0:12:57.559 --> 0:13:00.679 I slowly inched around on my belly to make my 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:02.920 way back to where Hunter was. And that's when I 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:06.199 saw a sight that will forever be burned in my memory. 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:09.520 I was three quarters of the way up that hill 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:12.520 from the turkey that I could plainly sing down below, 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:15.320 a strutting as he had been all morning. Beside that 0:13:15.400 --> 0:13:20.960 small flowing creek. The blowdown tree lay pointing away from me, 0:13:21.080 --> 0:13:24.880 and there lay my son at the base, dressed in 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:29.320 full camouflage, peeking from around the mount of dirt and roots, 0:13:29.320 --> 0:13:32.360 and watching that turkey as I did from thirty yards 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:36.400 above him. And the morning sun was bright, and the 0:13:36.480 --> 0:13:38.840 green of spring was everywhere, and it was the first 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:41.360 time I had heard all the birds that were singing 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:46.400 that morning. I smelled the yellow jasmine as it wafted 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:50.120 across the hillside, and a cool breeze was moving the leaves, 0:13:50.160 --> 0:13:53.040 and I longed for a camera to capture the moment 0:13:53.080 --> 0:13:57.880 that no artist would ever duplicate. I wanted so badly 0:13:58.080 --> 0:14:00.760 for everyone I knew to see what I was seeing. 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:06.440 A beautiful day, a majestic creature, and my son, who 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:09.760 was now experiencing the sights and sounds, the smells and 0:14:09.800 --> 0:14:13.000 the feelings that I could never explain to anyone that 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:14.959 has never experienced on firsthand. 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:17.080 I didn't want to move. 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:19.880 I wanted to stay right there and watch the whole 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:22.960 thing unfold in front of Hunter and try to interpret 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:26.000 what he was thinking and feeling as he stared so 0:14:26.080 --> 0:14:30.200 intently at that turkey. Hunter glanced back at me and 0:14:30.240 --> 0:14:32.480 gave me a big smile and the thumbs up. 0:14:33.720 --> 0:14:34.479 I returned. 0:14:34.560 --> 0:14:36.800 I returned the signal, and I fought the tears that 0:14:36.840 --> 0:14:39.640 were welling up in my eyes, and I paused a 0:14:39.720 --> 0:14:41.359 moment to thank the Good Lord. 0:14:41.160 --> 0:14:43.080 For all he had given me that morning. 0:14:44.800 --> 0:14:46.880 I made my way back to Hunter's location, and with 0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:48.600 that decoy in the hand, and we sat it up 0:14:48.600 --> 0:14:51.840 and called and Gobble responded as he had all morning. 0:14:51.920 --> 0:14:55.040 But eventually he walked away with a hen that had 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:59.160 come to him from across that little creek. After he left, 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:02.240 we said up against that old tree, and we talked 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:05.680 about what we had seen that morning. Wasn't he pretty daddy? 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:07.200 Did you see him? 0:15:07.240 --> 0:15:08.560 Gobble? When I called to him? 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:12.520 We did our secret handshake that only he and I 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:16.040 know about. That not only makes us both look really cool, 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:18.760 but so we could identify each other should we ever 0:15:18.840 --> 0:15:22.720 be confronted with an imposture of ourselves. He held my 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:25.440 hand as we walked off that heeling and made our 0:15:25.480 --> 0:15:28.680 way back to the truck. I remember that like it 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:32.240 was this morning. He's twenty five now, and I'd hold 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:36.560 his hand right now if he'd let me. I wonder 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:39.840 where that turtle wind? He said, Dad? Do turkeys eat grass? 0:15:40.800 --> 0:15:43.240 I wonder what Miss Harris is reading in my class today. 0:15:43.480 --> 0:15:45.880 This is fun, ain't it. Who do you think would 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:48.880 win if Batman Spider Man got in a fight? 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:53.960 Well, I don't. I don't know who'd win that us so. 0:15:53.960 --> 0:15:57.000 But I do know that that's just how that happened. 0:16:08.120 --> 0:16:10.720 Turkey season is here for some of us, and will 0:16:10.800 --> 0:16:13.720 be for more of us as we finally start easing 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:17.320 into spring. My fall and winter are my favorite times 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:20.040 of year. With the majority of hunting seasons in swing, 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:22.560 I look forward to this time of year as much 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:27.680 as anything. Unfortunately, it doesn't last long down here. Just 0:16:27.720 --> 0:16:30.440 in the last couple of weeks, I've run the heat 0:16:30.680 --> 0:16:34.080 and the air conditioning in the same day of alternated 0:16:34.120 --> 0:16:36.560 coon hunting to night and t shirts and heavy coats. 0:16:37.520 --> 0:16:40.000 Crazy weather comes this time of year too, and when 0:16:40.000 --> 0:16:43.520 you grow up dodging springtime tornadoes, you make a habit 0:16:43.600 --> 0:16:47.040 out of keeping an eye on the weather. But every 0:16:47.120 --> 0:16:50.240 year I make a pilgrimage to central Missouri and hunt 0:16:50.240 --> 0:16:52.880 on land that I've been making tracks on for more 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:56.560 than a score of years. My friends Toby married Jean 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:59.800 and Jolie and Jason have been more than kind to 0:16:59.840 --> 0:17:02.280 an Arkie that fell in love with that whole family 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:06.680 from the moment I met him. Toby and my dad 0:17:06.680 --> 0:17:09.280 were great friends and bought and sold running dogs and 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:13.120 cold honted together. They invited me to come up when 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:17.240 they're now grown girls were just in elementary school. It 0:17:17.320 --> 0:17:19.639 was like for a week each April, I was the 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:22.480 crazy uncle that moved in, and they seemed to look 0:17:22.520 --> 0:17:25.040 forward to it as much as I did and still do, 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:28.959 although I seriously doubt it. But I started going up 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.600 there with my dad, who liked to travel and go 0:17:31.800 --> 0:17:34.679 places and see things and then see how fast he 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.959 could get back home. Now they used to drive me nuts. 0:17:38.480 --> 0:17:41.000 When I go somewhere I want to take it all in, 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:43.320 see all I can see, and hunt till I limit 0:17:43.440 --> 0:17:46.560 out or the season closes. But Dad wasn't a turkey 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:49.720 under He was just hanging out with Toby and knocking around, 0:17:49.760 --> 0:17:52.520 fishing and messing around, hoping I'd hurry up and kill 0:17:52.520 --> 0:17:55.280 the turkey so we could go home. He was with 0:17:55.359 --> 0:17:57.520 me and Hunter on that trip I talked about in 0:17:57.560 --> 0:18:01.240 the opening story. I missed him not being with me 0:18:01.320 --> 0:18:04.000 on the last eleven trips I've made up there, and 0:18:04.160 --> 0:18:08.000 I missed him cooking fish. And every year someone brings 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:09.960 up the story when he put too much salt in 0:18:10.000 --> 0:18:12.160 the corn mill and we were frying fish one time. 0:18:12.560 --> 0:18:15.360 Then when we started eating Marying, Toby and I took 0:18:15.400 --> 0:18:17.840 a bite and felt like we'd all found Jimmy Buffet's 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:22.639 lost shaker assault. We'd laugh at all those things and 0:18:22.720 --> 0:18:25.359 talk about how much we miss him and the others 0:18:25.400 --> 0:18:29.399 who've gone on too, like mister Max. Mister Max was 0:18:29.520 --> 0:18:32.080 ninety when he left us three years ago, and he 0:18:32.240 --> 0:18:35.760 was a turkey killing machine well up into his eighties. 0:18:36.480 --> 0:18:38.480 I got to hunt with him several times, and he 0:18:38.680 --> 0:18:43.120 was something special, to say the least, and I miss him. 0:18:44.080 --> 0:18:47.320 Peyton and Emily Toby's and Mary's little girls who are 0:18:47.359 --> 0:18:50.720 now grown. I watched them grow up from giggling little 0:18:50.760 --> 0:18:54.720 kids to being grown. One of my favorite memories is 0:18:54.760 --> 0:18:57.399 sitting on the front porch in the afternoon waiting on 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:00.199 the girls to get off the bus. I'd hunt it 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:02.720 all morning, right up to quitting time at noon, and 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:05.879 hadn't been back to the house long one they were 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:08.520 due to get home. Toby and I watched as those 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:12.080 little gals ran up the driveway with their backpacks, giggling 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:15.840 and laughing all the way until almost to the porch. Emily, 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:18.760 who couldn't have been more than six or seven, skinny 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:21.200 as a reiling, pretty as a picture and her little dress, 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:23.960 walked over to that fenced in lot that held a 0:19:24.000 --> 0:19:28.200 milk cow named Tea Bone. Sweetly, she called that cow 0:19:28.280 --> 0:19:30.639 to come over to where she stood next to the 0:19:30.680 --> 0:19:33.760 barb wire fence, and in my mind I thought how 0:19:33.800 --> 0:19:37.080 sweet it was that this little angel had missed her 0:19:37.119 --> 0:19:40.440 pet cow while being at school all day and wanted 0:19:40.480 --> 0:19:42.639 to say hello and tell her that she was back home. 0:19:44.600 --> 0:19:47.400 A giant of a cow that towered over Emily slowly 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:50.119 walked over to her. I swear it looked like a 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:53.320 scene out of a Hallmark movie in until that sweet 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.360 little angel reared back with the rock she had hid 0:19:56.400 --> 0:19:58.840 in her hand and drilled that bovine in the top 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:03.680 of the head with a smile confastball that didn't cause 0:20:03.720 --> 0:20:07.679 that cow to blank, much less breakstride. Then she skipped 0:20:07.680 --> 0:20:10.400 the rest of the way up the drive and smiled 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:13.040 at me as she walked in the house. We still 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:17.000 laugh about that. I brought a lot of turkeys home 0:20:17.000 --> 0:20:19.840 from up there. But the best thing I've taken away 0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:22.960 from the show me stayed is the memories and relationships 0:20:22.960 --> 0:20:26.080 with those I look forward to seeing every turkey season, 0:20:26.280 --> 0:20:29.040 and who I stay in contact with all year long. 0:20:30.480 --> 0:20:33.520 It's never been about the turkey hunting, even when I 0:20:33.600 --> 0:20:37.200 thought it was. It was my therapy and it gave 0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:41.000 me the stories and experiences that eventually led me to 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:45.280 sharing them with Robert Neil and others by writing them down, 0:20:45.320 --> 0:20:48.840 which in turn through the most crooked pathway ever conceived 0:20:49.520 --> 0:20:53.919 as me sitting here now sharing them with you. It 0:20:53.960 --> 0:20:57.679 started out as a turkey hunting and morphed into something bigger, 0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:00.320 and it took years for me to see exactly what 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:03.840 it was. I've taken others with me over the years 0:21:03.920 --> 0:21:06.400 up there, and even from the Bear Greece road show 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:11.359 Installmuth that'll be dropping soon on our YouTube channel. The 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:15.240 point of this whole episode is to encourage you to 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:17.280 find your turkey season therapy. 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:19.159 Spoiler alert. 0:21:19.840 --> 0:21:23.199 It doesn't have to be turkey hunting or limited to 0:21:23.240 --> 0:21:28.000 one thing. Just find yourself some good folks and spend 0:21:28.040 --> 0:21:32.879 time with them, regardless of the activity. I'm forever indebted 0:21:32.920 --> 0:21:35.320 to that family up there, and that has done more 0:21:35.359 --> 0:21:38.560 for me than they'll ever know, just by being hospitable 0:21:38.600 --> 0:21:40.679 and allowing me to have a place to gather with 0:21:40.760 --> 0:21:44.840 them and enjoy each other's company and celebrate both of 0:21:44.840 --> 0:21:47.600 our families as one, both past and present. 0:21:49.080 --> 0:21:49.879 That's good stuff. 0:21:58.960 --> 0:22:03.640 Tomorrow, March ninth, is the Black Bear Bonanza in Bentonville, Arkansas, 0:22:03.960 --> 0:22:06.800 where I'll be gathered with Clay bow in a multitude 0:22:06.800 --> 0:22:09.840 of our closest friends, some of which we hadn't even 0:22:09.920 --> 0:22:14.480