WEBVTT - Ep. 321: This Country Life - Wes: 1, Bob: 0 0:00:05.200 --> 0:00:08.640 Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves. 0:00:09.119 --> 0:00:12.680 From coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living. 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:14.680 I want you to stay a while as I share 0:00:14.760 --> 0:00:19.200 my experiences in life lessons. This Country Life is presented 0:00:19.239 --> 0:00:23.240 by Case Knives on Meat Eaters Podcast Network, bringing you 0:00:23.280 --> 0:00:28.240 the best outdoor podcast the airwaves have to offer. All right, friends, 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:31.760 grab a chair or drop that tailgate. I've got some 0:00:31.840 --> 0:00:43.640 stories to share. Weston one, Bob Zero. I hope you 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:46.640 all have enjoyed the last few episodes about turkey hunting, 0:00:46.640 --> 0:00:50.199 because you're in for some more. I may have to 0:00:50.280 --> 0:00:52.800 change the title of this show to This Turkey Life. 0:00:53.360 --> 0:00:56.440 But for those that don't care about hearing about turkey hunting, 0:00:56.480 --> 0:01:01.120 next week's shows about making quilts, ain't. We're gonna be 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:04.360 talking turkey hunting then too. I have had a great 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:06.679 spring and I've got a lot to talk about. As 0:01:06.680 --> 0:01:09.520 a matter of fact, I can't wait any longer, so 0:01:09.640 --> 0:01:18.840 let's get to it. This story comes from This Country 0:01:18.880 --> 0:01:24.040 Life listener Garrett Baker. Garrett is from Smithport, Pennsylvania, which 0:01:24.120 --> 0:01:27.720 is twenty miles from the happiest place on earth, the 0:01:27.800 --> 0:01:31.679 Case Knife Factory in Bradford. I actually met Garrett and 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.280 his son Wes when I was in Bradford last summer 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:37.760 tour in the factory, visiting with all my case family, 0:01:37.880 --> 0:01:43.240 John Pantuso, Tom Taylor, Fred Fener, Marissa McGary and all 0:01:43.400 --> 0:01:46.160 the other Case faithful. We had a good visit and 0:01:46.240 --> 0:01:49.920 Wes walked away with a pocket knife courtesy of John. 0:01:50.840 --> 0:01:54.120 Now Garrett's talking about smashing turkeys, and if someone's willing 0:01:54.160 --> 0:01:57.760 to share a good gobbler beat down, I'm willing to listen. 0:01:58.440 --> 0:02:01.880 So in Garrett's words and my voice, here we go. 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:07.120 Wake up, buddy, it's time to go find you a turkey. 0:02:08.040 --> 0:02:10.919 Wes jumped out of bed like he'd never been asleep. 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:14.440 The excitement had been pouring out of him. In anticipation 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:18.160 of the Youth Turkey Open. He spent just as much 0:02:18.200 --> 0:02:21.920 time as most adults scouting and working on his calling, 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:24.640 and testing different turkey loads and sighting in the red 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:28.640 dot on his Mossburg four ten. Now that's not bad 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:32.000 for a six year old. The twenty three to twenty 0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:35.240 four season had already been good to him. Here in Pennsylvania, 0:02:35.840 --> 0:02:38.880 we bagged his first squirrels, and he helped me trap 0:02:38.960 --> 0:02:42.600 some beavers. Turkeys were next on his list, and that 0:02:42.720 --> 0:02:46.600 boy was bound and determined to get one. We headed 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:49.119 down to our friend Treys, and Trey and I grew 0:02:49.200 --> 0:02:52.000 up together spend the most of our time chasing any 0:02:52.040 --> 0:02:54.799 sort of game that was in season. Trey had more 0:02:54.840 --> 0:02:57.280 experience in the turkey woods of me and was, in 0:02:57.400 --> 0:03:01.200 Weston's mind, the golden ticket to him getting a turkey. 0:03:02.000 --> 0:03:03.679 Now we had permission to hunt a farm on the 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:06.200 edge of town that consisted of a few fields there 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:09.120 in the bottom of a steep valley with a good 0:03:09.200 --> 0:03:12.800 ridge line all around the top. This valley is full 0:03:12.840 --> 0:03:15.480 of soft and hard mass crops and a stream running 0:03:15.520 --> 0:03:19.480 through the center and logging roads branching upward that the 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:23.639 birds really like to travel. Every day we'd see him 0:03:23.639 --> 0:03:26.880 come out to mill around in the field. Tray's dad, Bill, 0:03:26.960 --> 0:03:29.800 a retiree, gets his kicks out of sitting in his 0:03:29.880 --> 0:03:33.400 truck and watching these turkeys every morning. So we had 0:03:33.400 --> 0:03:37.280 a daily turkey report that kept us excited well before 0:03:37.280 --> 0:03:40.280 the season. It makes me wonder how I'll burn time 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:42.520 off the clock at the end of my career and 0:03:42.840 --> 0:03:46.400 I can enjoy the simple things in life. I guess 0:03:46.400 --> 0:03:50.400 there's worse things that a person can do besides watching 0:03:50.440 --> 0:03:53.520 turkeys to pass the time. We were in the blind 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:55.880 as the sun started to creep over the hill and 0:03:55.920 --> 0:03:59.800 Tray's al Hooton had a turkey goblin. Soon after, it 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:03.360 was finally daylight and our turkey callar let out some 0:04:03.440 --> 0:04:08.200 soft yelps, and immediately we had an answer. West's eyes 0:04:08.280 --> 0:04:11.760 lit up. Did you hear that, Dad? Yeah, I heard it, bud. 0:04:12.240 --> 0:04:15.680 Let's hope he decides to tell us a visit. The 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:18.560 time for turkeys to come into the field came and went, 0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:22.440 with sporadic gobbling taking place. Said it started to rain, 0:04:22.520 --> 0:04:26.160 and West recalled that turkeys like to hang out in 0:04:26.240 --> 0:04:29.640 the fields during the rain. Maybe this will make the 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:33.520 turkeys come out of the woods. Not long after, Trey 0:04:33.600 --> 0:04:36.960 called and a turkey replied, right up the hill from us, 0:04:37.480 --> 0:04:40.400 and he was close. We couldn't see him with the 0:04:40.440 --> 0:04:42.800 roll of the field above us, but from his cause 0:04:42.880 --> 0:04:45.440 we could tell he was moving down through that field. 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:48.760 We watched it rain and waited until we could see 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:54.440 eleven turkeys headed towards us and our decoys, now one 0:04:54.520 --> 0:04:57.280 after the other. Their heads started popping up like periscopes 0:04:57.320 --> 0:05:00.040 when they saw our decoys. They stopped for a a 0:05:00.080 --> 0:05:05.280 few minutes, slowly turned and they started walking away, gobbling occasionally, 0:05:05.320 --> 0:05:10.560 making us wonder what we'd done wrong? Why are they leaving? Well, 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:15.520 because their turkeys, and they made zero sense. Turkeys had 0:05:15.520 --> 0:05:18.520 walked back up the hill out of sight. Trey contended 0:05:18.600 --> 0:05:20.720 his calling when we looked across the valley to see 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:24.160 four more making their way down the hill. They were 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:27.200 four hundred yards out and they still had a creek 0:05:27.680 --> 0:05:30.800 barbed wire fence in the dirt road across before they 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:33.599 got to where we were, and Trey said, if they 0:05:33.680 --> 0:05:36.320 crossed that creek, they're coming in. And just like that, 0:05:36.560 --> 0:05:39.640 down the bank, under the fence and across the road 0:05:39.760 --> 0:05:44.320 they came, game on until they hit the spot where 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:48.039 the other turkeys had turned around, and they followed suit, 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:51.799 going out of sight. Now by now it was eleven o'clock, 0:05:51.800 --> 0:05:54.520 and I was impressed that Wes had even stuck it out, 0:05:54.560 --> 0:05:58.280 this long, good thing he did, because just then a 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:01.040 big old redhead popped up a by one hundred yards 0:06:01.040 --> 0:06:04.520 in front of us, then another one right behind it. 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:07.680 Those birds had meandered at a snail's pace, and it 0:06:07.800 --> 0:06:11.960 seemed like they would never get there. Tracy, I don't 0:06:12.000 --> 0:06:14.640 know if I'm nervous or cold, but I'm shaking like crazy. 0:06:14.920 --> 0:06:17.360 Wes said, I was shaking the gun with my shivering. 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:21.000 I had never been more excited for someone else to 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:25.800 succeed at hunting in all my life. The turkeys made 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.080 their way down to forty five yards and I told 0:06:28.160 --> 0:06:31.279 Wes we needed to get one within thirty before he 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:34.800 could shoot. The thirty yard ring of death was marked 0:06:34.839 --> 0:06:38.080 with sticks and ribbons all around the blind for reference. 0:06:38.120 --> 0:06:41.280 When it was okay for him to shoot, and just 0:06:41.360 --> 0:06:45.320 like turkeys do, they did something unexpected. They turned around 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:48.160 to look back the way they came, and now what 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:52.360 are they doing? That's when the whole flock crested the nole, 0:06:52.560 --> 0:06:55.160 going as fast as a group of turkeys could run. 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:58.640 We all started laughing at the sight of these turkeys 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:03.440 jiggling their way towards like bags of feathered jello. The 0:07:03.480 --> 0:07:06.560 mood quickly turned the panic as the turkeys got together 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:09.920 caused him to join the galloping gobblers with a full 0:07:09.960 --> 0:07:12.679 head of steam and started running right by our blind 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:16.120 within twenty yards with no sign to stop. And it 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:20.720 was a turkey stampede. Wes was trying his best to 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:24.240 get his red dot on a red head tray. You 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:28.400 gotta get one of those birds to stop. I'm trying. Then, 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:30.960 in a last ditch effort, Trace took his head out 0:07:31.000 --> 0:07:34.160 of the blind and let out of Hay. The last 0:07:34.200 --> 0:07:36.560 turkey in the group stopped and stared at us at 0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:40.320 about forty yards of young Jake, as confused as we were, 0:07:40.920 --> 0:07:44.000 was giving us a chance. He was right on the 0:07:44.120 --> 0:07:45.880 edge of what I wanted, and I told Wes to 0:07:45.920 --> 0:07:50.440 put it on his head and shoot. That turkey rolled 0:07:50.440 --> 0:07:53.400 backers and jumped back up and ran away. He was 0:07:53.480 --> 0:07:56.840 gone in the woods a couple of hundred yards. We 0:07:56.920 --> 0:07:59.480 walked all over. We looked for sign we wanted to 0:07:59.480 --> 0:08:02.200 heal for hours, even going home to grab the dogs 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:06.320 to see if they could find them. Nothing, not even 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:10.640 a feather on the ground. I hadn't made a bad 0:08:10.760 --> 0:08:13.360 choice to stretch out what I felt was close enough 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:17.800 and came up short with the possibility of a wounded turkey. 0:08:18.760 --> 0:08:20.920 Wess and I talked the rest of the day about it, 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:25.080 how much we wished we had found them well. Later 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:27.480 I received a text from Bill, who'd gone back up 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:30.520 there to see if the turkeys were back. All the 0:08:30.560 --> 0:08:34.000 turkeys in that flock had returned with the luckiest jake 0:08:34.080 --> 0:08:37.480 in the county, with him in his spot bringing up 0:08:37.520 --> 0:08:40.440 the rear. Now Wess and I'd be hunting the next 0:08:40.440 --> 0:08:43.120 weekend in a new spot, but this time I'd be 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:47.040 doing all the calling. That Saturday was much hotter than 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:49.440 the weekend before, and as we drove past Trey's house, 0:08:49.480 --> 0:08:53.920 I heard Wes say I wish Trey was coming with us. Well, 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.920 me too, but we'll have fun and hopefully we'll get 0:08:56.960 --> 0:08:59.600 to send him a picture of a gobbler. We walked 0:08:59.600 --> 0:09:02.000 a few yards and crawled in the blind that we 0:09:02.040 --> 0:09:04.120 set up earlier in the week. When I set out 0:09:04.160 --> 0:09:07.320 the decoys, did my best used my mouth call throughout 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:09.559 the morning, and one gobbler was answering how on the 0:09:09.600 --> 0:09:12.520 hill do I write, but not making any moves. He 0:09:12.600 --> 0:09:15.480 stopped answering, and I chalked it off to him just 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:19.640 going silent. Second gobbler was answering from a neighbor and 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:22.040 properly straight out in front of us. Now he said 0:09:22.080 --> 0:09:24.680 it was much more interested. This was on long enough 0:09:24.720 --> 0:09:27.559 to get us excited, making me wonder if I should 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:29.720 get Wes out of the blind and try to move 0:09:29.760 --> 0:09:33.240 in on that turkey. I talked myself into stay and put. 0:09:33.440 --> 0:09:36.080 It's hard enough to not get busted by a gobbler 0:09:36.160 --> 0:09:38.640 and a blind with a six year old, let alone 0:09:38.880 --> 0:09:43.480 keeping him still by a tree in the open. As 0:09:43.559 --> 0:09:46.920 quick as our excitement came on, though it was squashed, 0:09:47.200 --> 0:09:50.040 what I thought was going to be Wes's first turkey 0:09:50.200 --> 0:09:55.080 was slowly coming closer by the minute went bam, somebody shot, 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:58.760 and it was all over. They had gotten between us 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:04.199 and him on the other property. Well, excitement led to frustration, 0:10:04.320 --> 0:10:06.439 with me thinking that our day had come to an end. 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:10.360 West didn't seem to mind. He had little debies to 0:10:10.440 --> 0:10:13.120 keep him entertained. He just had to wait for dear 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:15.840 old dad to call him in another turkey, No big deal. 0:10:16.920 --> 0:10:19.280 I kept it by routine for another hour or so, 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:22.720 calling occasionally hoping that something would show up or answer 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:27.240 with a gobble. Then two hundred yards in front, I 0:10:27.280 --> 0:10:31.600 caught movement. Three black blobs were running down the edge 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:34.840 of the brush line, straight towards us. West didn't get ready, Bud, 0:10:35.000 --> 0:10:38.080 here comes some turkeys. I got him on my knee 0:10:38.080 --> 0:10:41.199 in a shotgun on our wrist. We had the same 0:10:41.360 --> 0:10:45.560 thirty yard ring of death set up. However, West came 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:49.320 with more firefire. This time Trey let him borrow his 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:52.000 twenty gage, and in his mind there was no turkey. 0:10:52.280 --> 0:10:55.400 They could get away now. They came in on a rope, 0:10:55.480 --> 0:10:59.280 three jakes, and they came within ten yards of the blind, 0:11:00.240 --> 0:11:02.440 black beady eyes that seemed to be looking right at 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:05.560 us and West showing signs of turkey fevers, shaking and breathing. 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:09.120 Ard just put the dot on ahead and squeezed the trigger. 0:11:09.160 --> 0:11:12.600 Fuddy Wes took his time, and that jake started to 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:16.959 get atty and began walking away. We got to shoot soon, Wes. 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:20.360 They got the thirty five yards. When Wes let the 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:24.960 bismus fly fam a turkey in the back of the 0:11:25.040 --> 0:11:28.840 group hit the ground. I grabbed the blind and flipped 0:11:28.840 --> 0:11:31.640 it backwards. I got it, Dad, I shot my first turkey. 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:34.920 We both ran over that bird and hugged and high 0:11:34.920 --> 0:11:37.440 five and took fischers to send the tray and everyone 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:41.840 else that we knew. With a cell phone, Weston retold 0:11:41.880 --> 0:11:44.480 his side of the story, and I watched the adrenaline 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:48.559 pump through him as he did. The excitement we both 0:11:48.600 --> 0:11:53.480 shared is something neither of us ever forget. A great day, 0:11:53.520 --> 0:11:57.120 made even sweeter by the craziness that we'd endure it. 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:01.440 This will always be one of my most cherished memories, 0:12:01.480 --> 0:12:04.560 and I hope it will be one of Weston's, and, 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:09.439 according to Garrett and Wes Baker, of almost the happiest 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:14.280 place on earth. That's just how that happened. Now. I 0:12:14.400 --> 0:12:17.480 love a good turkey killing story, Garrett, and any that 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:22.720 involved family, especially youngins. I'm all in my man, thanks 0:12:22.760 --> 0:12:33.680 for sending it in. Let's slip back about twenty years 0:12:33.720 --> 0:12:37.400 to a farm in Missouri. I was just getting into 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:39.440 filming and the man that taught me the most about 0:12:39.520 --> 0:12:42.199 running a camera was meeting me there to hunt for 0:12:42.280 --> 0:12:45.560 a few days. He shuns the spotlight like he's in 0:12:45.600 --> 0:12:49.200 the Witness Protection program and is happy just playing music 0:12:49.280 --> 0:12:52.160 and enjoys the semi off grid living out towards the 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:56.960 East Coast. So to honor his wishes of anonymity, I'm 0:12:57.000 --> 0:13:01.400 gonna call him Bob. Bob and I hard every morning 0:13:01.480 --> 0:13:04.520 right up until the midday cutoff in Missouri on the 0:13:04.600 --> 0:13:07.400 second of the last day of our trip, I had 0:13:07.520 --> 0:13:10.800 killed a monster. To this day is still the biggest 0:13:10.800 --> 0:13:14.240 turkey I ever killed. But that's a story for another day. 0:13:15.160 --> 0:13:18.920 This story is about getting the cameraman in front of 0:13:18.960 --> 0:13:22.760 the camera, and I talked him into it. We were 0:13:22.760 --> 0:13:25.320 on the back patio bawl and crawfish for a dozen 0:13:25.400 --> 0:13:28.360 kin folks and neighbors of our hosts when I convinced 0:13:28.440 --> 0:13:31.400 him to buy his non resident license and let me 0:13:31.480 --> 0:13:34.839 do the filming. The following morning, we had one day 0:13:34.880 --> 0:13:37.320 to hunt, and he'd been filming me shoot turkeys for 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:39.280 a couple of years, along with a host of other 0:13:39.320 --> 0:13:43.240 folks too. He'd watched more turkeys die in the last 0:13:43.280 --> 0:13:46.600 five years than most will see in a lifetime, but 0:13:47.000 --> 0:13:49.440 none of them he could put a tag on. He 0:13:49.640 --> 0:13:51.920 was like an umpire watching a battery head a walk 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:55.320 off Grand Slam to win the World Series, always close, 0:13:56.120 --> 0:14:01.319 yet so far away. While he caught and played my suggestion, 0:14:01.480 --> 0:14:04.679 he had Toby and Mary's big old Conway in his lap. 0:14:05.400 --> 0:14:08.559 They'd become fast friends, as Conway had shown a special 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:12.439 interest in Bob everywhere he went from the moment we arrived. 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:15.760 You didn't see one without the other around the house 0:14:15.920 --> 0:14:19.120 any time when we were outside, and they both seemed 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:22.960 to enjoy each other's attention. I don't know Brenton you 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:25.400 still got a tag left, and I'd hate to not 0:14:25.600 --> 0:14:30.600 be filming as something truly incredible happened. Now I knew 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:33.200 what he meant without him just coming right out and 0:14:33.240 --> 0:14:37.800 saying that he was a legitimate tier one outdoor cameraman, 0:14:38.240 --> 0:14:41.760 what we would call a cinematographer these days. He was 0:14:41.800 --> 0:14:46.160 an absolute perfectionist on framing, shutter speed, and white balance, 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:50.760 and always shot on manual everything. I was a student, 0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.280 and he was a tyrant of a micro manager when 0:14:54.280 --> 0:14:56.520 it came to filming, not in a route or a 0:14:56.560 --> 0:14:59.760 mean way. He just knew what worked and I didn't. 0:15:00.840 --> 0:15:03.280 A secondary objective of our hunt was for me to 0:15:03.320 --> 0:15:06.200 get some behind the camera time for him to critique. 0:15:06.600 --> 0:15:09.720 But what we planned to do was after I had 0:15:09.760 --> 0:15:12.280 tagged out, we could just sit and call in turkeys 0:15:12.320 --> 0:15:14.800 and he could watch what I was doing over my shoulder. 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.160 But I hadn't filled my last tag and we only 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:21.760 had one day left. My argument for him to be 0:15:21.840 --> 0:15:24.920 the shooter was how incredibly good the footage of my 0:15:25.080 --> 0:15:28.920 hunt had gone. We had absolute gold in the can, 0:15:28.960 --> 0:15:31.880 as they say, so anything else was just gonna be 0:15:32.000 --> 0:15:35.120 gravy on the cat had biscuit we'd already served up, 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:40.600 Bob looked down at Conway and said, Conrad. I'm not 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:43.040 sure why he called him Conrad, but he never called 0:15:43.080 --> 0:15:46.120 him by his actual name. It also didn't seem to 0:15:46.160 --> 0:15:50.800 bother Conway, but he said, Conrad, what do you think 0:15:51.400 --> 0:15:54.840 should I let Brent film me in the morning. Beagle 0:15:54.920 --> 0:15:57.600 just looked up at Bob as he pettied him. He 0:15:57.640 --> 0:16:01.600 didn't say no, Bob. Bob nodded his head and said 0:16:01.640 --> 0:16:04.480 all right, let's go get some license and off the 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:08.520 town we went. And when we got back later that afternoon, 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:11.280 Toby told us about here in a turkey gobling across 0:16:11.280 --> 0:16:13.760 the road right in front of his house. Well, can 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.960 we hunt over there? Yep, I have full permission from 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:19.800 me and anyone I want to go. Well, that's all 0:16:19.840 --> 0:16:22.480 we needed to hear. We'd been driving forty five minutes 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:26.040 away from the house to hunt a different farm, always 0:16:26.040 --> 0:16:29.880 being extra early to account for dealing with cameras and tripods, 0:16:29.960 --> 0:16:33.200 external monitors and everything else that went with how we 0:16:33.240 --> 0:16:36.600 did it back then getting up later and walking across 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:38.760 the road the next morning was going to be a 0:16:38.840 --> 0:16:42.880 real treat. We set out on the front porch Saturday evening, 0:16:43.000 --> 0:16:47.720 me Toby Bob and Bob's pale Conway, we heard the 0:16:47.760 --> 0:16:52.040 turkey Goblin right before roosting time. Toby told us exactly 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:55.160 how the land laid, where he'd roosted, and where we 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:58.520 should start out the next morning. I couldn't wait to 0:16:58.560 --> 0:17:01.640 punch record, and Bob couldn't wait to punch that turkey. 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:05.240 Even Conway was fired up his tail just to blurz. 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.000 He sensed Bob's in all our excitement for what we 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:11.320 knew was going to be an epic hunt. The next morning, 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:14.280 hopped out of bed as quiet as I could, and 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:16.560 Toby and Mary and the girls who were still in 0:17:16.640 --> 0:17:21.200 elementary school were still fast asleep. Bob tiptoed out of 0:17:21.240 --> 0:17:23.120 his room and we met up in the kitchen, where 0:17:23.119 --> 0:17:26.919 the coffee had just finished brewing. Mary had set it 0:17:27.040 --> 0:17:30.240 up for us the night before that lady is a saint. 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:33.720 We each pored a cup and out the door we went. 0:17:34.960 --> 0:17:38.360 Accessing the property was literally as easy as crossing the road, 0:17:38.400 --> 0:17:41.080 and when we did we didn't have to use a light. 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:44.560 The full moon was bright, the grass and the leaves 0:17:44.560 --> 0:17:46.879 were damp, and the whipper wheels helped to mask what 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:50.200 little sound we made as we slipped across the pasture 0:17:50.240 --> 0:17:52.960 to the edge of the woods three hundred yards away. 0:17:54.240 --> 0:17:56.840 Toby is a contractor by trade, but he should be 0:17:56.880 --> 0:18:00.240 a turkey guide. He had told us exactly where he 0:18:00.280 --> 0:18:02.960 thought that turkey would roost and where we should set 0:18:03.040 --> 0:18:05.840 up and listen, and we walked straight to it without 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:10.320 the aid of a light. Thirty minutes early, right on time, 0:18:11.480 --> 0:18:13.639 Bob pulled a jacket out of his turkey vest and 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:15.960 draped it over both of us and the camera that 0:18:16.080 --> 0:18:20.280 sat on the tripod. Bob's small red led light directed 0:18:20.320 --> 0:18:23.240 my attention to camera settings and filters and switches that 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:26.640 I'd be using, and the jacket kept us hidden from 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:30.639 spooking any roost of turkeys that might see us. Felt 0:18:30.640 --> 0:18:34.200 like I was making one last predonn map survey before 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:38.160 we attack the enemy. Bob was as excited as I'd 0:18:38.160 --> 0:18:40.520 ever seen him. He loves the turkey hunt in his 0:18:40.840 --> 0:18:43.359 dang Goodwin and was satisfied up to that point of 0:18:43.400 --> 0:18:46.680 bagging his turkey, so to speak, by being in control 0:18:46.760 --> 0:18:48.919 and the one who said shoot to whoever he was 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:53.040 filming when it was time. I watched him get emotional 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:55.520 when my son killed a big gobbler on camera the 0:18:55.600 --> 0:18:58.520 year before, by how good the footage was, and how 0:18:58.560 --> 0:19:01.200 happy he was to have shared that with the two 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:05.639 of us. It was a special moment this morning, though 0:19:06.160 --> 0:19:09.280 he was on another level. I could hear it in 0:19:09.320 --> 0:19:11.520 his whisper and see the red lid smile on his 0:19:11.600 --> 0:19:13.720 face as he pointed to this and that on the 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:17.199 cameras we stood there under that jacket. I did my 0:19:17.240 --> 0:19:19.680 best to pay attention, but I was distracted by how 0:19:19.720 --> 0:19:22.679 much fun he was having, and it was still fifteen 0:19:22.760 --> 0:19:27.399 minutes before gobbling time. For the next ten minutes, we 0:19:27.440 --> 0:19:30.879 stood silent and motionless, listening to the world as it 0:19:30.960 --> 0:19:34.560 started to wake up. The eastern sky started to glow, 0:19:34.560 --> 0:19:38.359 and a nearby whipper will continued its incessant singing. To 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:43.040 the point of irritation. I whispered to Bob, I wish 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:47.000 that joker would bust wide open now. He muffled a 0:19:47.119 --> 0:19:49.880 laugh as best as he could, but was cut off 0:19:49.920 --> 0:19:53.960 by a gobble hundred yards away. We looked at each 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:56.760 other and pointed at the same time, an automated response, 0:19:56.840 --> 0:20:00.240 but was totally unnecessary. How could we not know where 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:03.320 he was? Toby had told us the night before, and 0:20:03.400 --> 0:20:07.399 the Turkey had just proven, We slipped without making a 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:10.400 sound twenty yards closer, and Bob sat down against a big, 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:13.200 white old tree on the edge of a neglected cow pasture. 0:20:13.760 --> 0:20:16.600 I sat down against a smaller one just behind him, 0:20:16.640 --> 0:20:19.919 allowing me full coverage of water. Was about to happen. 0:20:20.760 --> 0:20:23.800 There hadn't been a cow grazing on this property for years, 0:20:24.200 --> 0:20:29.040 and juniper Us virginiana, the eastern red cedar, had taken 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:33.440 the opportunity to move in. Cattle farmers hate them because 0:20:33.440 --> 0:20:36.560 they compete with grazing by taking up space where grass 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:39.760 could grow and soaking up water that the grass could 0:20:39.800 --> 0:20:43.240 be drinking. Not to us, at that moment in time, 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:47.520 those cedars were worth their weight in gold. Grass was 0:20:47.560 --> 0:20:50.320 still short in that old pasture, and the random placement 0:20:50.359 --> 0:20:52.320 of the cedars was going to keep us out of 0:20:52.359 --> 0:20:55.600 sight of that gobbler, forcing him to come all the 0:20:55.640 --> 0:20:58.560 way to us. Before realizing the yelps he was hearing 0:20:58.760 --> 0:21:01.439 was from a dude, holdless god gun and not a 0:21:01.520 --> 0:21:04.520 gal looking for a fellow. He was gobbling to the 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:07.280 world that he was the king of spring, and off 0:21:07.320 --> 0:21:10.639 in the distance we heard a few faint responses, but 0:21:10.720 --> 0:21:13.800 they didn't dare challenge his authority, and he didn't slack 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:17.840 up Goblin when he hit the ground either. Bob had 0:21:17.960 --> 0:21:21.600 yet to make a sound. The turkey had seemingly dropped 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:24.080 off his roots, straight down to the base of his tree, 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:27.280 and gobbled. When he did. Bob sent three of the 0:21:27.400 --> 0:21:30.200 softest yelps from a slate call I think I've ever heard. 0:21:33.400 --> 0:21:36.280 The response was immediate and forceful. For the next ten 0:21:36.359 --> 0:21:39.840 minutes that gobler stood his ground, gobbling every minute or so, 0:21:40.000 --> 0:21:43.359 demanding that we walked the eighty yards to him like 0:21:43.520 --> 0:21:48.440 nature intended. During that time, Bob squeaked out one more 0:21:48.520 --> 0:21:51.359 set of purs and clucks and laid down his call, 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:56.000 picking up his shotgun and resting it on his knee. 0:21:56.040 --> 0:21:58.560 Three minutes passed and he gobbled again, and this time 0:21:58.760 --> 0:22:02.480 he was closer. He continued gobling, and we could tell 0:22:02.520 --> 0:22:06.440 he was incrementally moving towards us, ever so slowly, as 0:22:06.440 --> 0:22:09.760 he drummed between gobbles, letting us know he was strutting 0:22:10.280 --> 0:22:22.280 all the way. Ah the God. My eyes were darting 0:22:22.359 --> 0:22:24.760 back and forth like a metal man in a shooting gallery, 0:22:24.840 --> 0:22:27.639 checking the monitor, the sentence on the camera, the framing, 0:22:27.920 --> 0:22:31.080 being careful not to squeeze the camera arm and shake 0:22:31.240 --> 0:22:34.560 the camera. The red light is on. I'm recording Furst. 0:22:34.560 --> 0:22:36.760 Thing I can see in my monitor is in focus, 0:22:37.119 --> 0:22:40.239 good ind filter is set where Bob said it should be. 0:22:41.080 --> 0:22:43.359 All I had to do was keep the framing in 0:22:43.400 --> 0:22:45.840 the thirds, give the turkey space to walk on the 0:22:45.880 --> 0:22:49.160 screen when he appeared, and if possible, get Bob and 0:22:49.280 --> 0:22:52.200 him in the frame when the moment the truth arrived, 0:22:52.400 --> 0:22:55.160 when that gobling beast stepped out from behind that cedar 0:22:55.200 --> 0:22:57.879 tree that was twenty yards in front of us and 0:22:58.000 --> 0:23:11.359 directly between us and him, go God, gobble, gobble, drum drum, 0:23:11.640 --> 0:23:14.600 over and over. I glanced over the monitor a definite 0:23:14.720 --> 0:23:17.840 no no, perb Bob's instructions, and saw him tighten his 0:23:17.920 --> 0:23:21.480 grip on his shotgun. Don't ever take your eyes off 0:23:21.480 --> 0:23:24.600 that monitor, he told me. You're running a camera to film, 0:23:24.760 --> 0:23:27.680 not sitting in the audience watching. You can do that 0:23:28.400 --> 0:23:32.399 after the edit. I'd never forgotten that, and it served 0:23:32.480 --> 0:23:35.119 me well a few years ago, when Clay Bow and 0:23:35.160 --> 0:23:37.360 I had the famous barrier on a stick in the 0:23:37.359 --> 0:23:42.080