WEBVTT - Ep. 302: Turkey Stories - The Greatest Turkey Story Ever Told 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:07.720 This turkey is coming. Like no if ans or butts 0:00:07.720 --> 0:00:09.000 about it. This turkey is coming. 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:09.680 It was one of those. 0:00:09.760 --> 0:00:12.400 With every gobble he was gaining ground. And I'm sitting there, going, man, 0:00:12.480 --> 0:00:14.760 any second we're going to be looking at him. And 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:17.079 then finally, just like you drawed up in your head, 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:20.560 out he appeared in full strut. And then came all 0:00:20.560 --> 0:00:22.919 the rest of them, and I mean all the rest 0:00:22.960 --> 0:00:25.439 of them. I do not know how we managed to 0:00:25.520 --> 0:00:28.400 yelp up that many turkeys with only one turkey goblin 0:00:28.440 --> 0:00:30.600 the entire time, because we thought we were dealing with 0:00:30.640 --> 0:00:32.400 a single long beard, but it was not. 0:00:32.680 --> 0:00:35.720 It was a wad long beards, Jake's hens. 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:38.519 We had every variety, and they were all march in 0:00:38.560 --> 0:00:40.680 our direction. I'd never seen anything like it. 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:44.080 Just like clockwork, the rotations of the Earth and the 0:00:44.120 --> 0:00:47.560 tilting of its access towards the south have once again 0:00:47.560 --> 0:00:50.400 found the North American continent in the early stages of 0:00:50.479 --> 0:00:54.200 the most glorious and redemptive time of the year, the spring. 0:00:55.200 --> 0:00:59.040 Despite the uncertainty in the world of men, natural systems 0:00:59.120 --> 0:01:03.520 hum along with unfailing consistency, and by our good fortune, 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:06.720 many of us live in places where there are wild turkeys. 0:01:07.400 --> 0:01:10.160 Why everyone in America doesn't hunt a wild turkey, I 0:01:10.200 --> 0:01:12.279 do not know, but I'm glad that they don't. 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:13.920 But I'm grateful that I do. 0:01:14.400 --> 0:01:18.160 And I'm truly thankful for every gobbling, spitting and drumming 0:01:18.240 --> 0:01:22.120 and strutting turkey that I've ever messed around with. Being 0:01:22.160 --> 0:01:24.880 a turkey hunter is but a small ripple in the 0:01:24.880 --> 0:01:28.120 global affairs of men, but in our minds it stands 0:01:28.200 --> 0:01:32.000 like a granite peak, impossible to avoid. You can't go 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.760 around it or under it, but each spring you've got 0:01:35.760 --> 0:01:39.200 to go through it. This is our Turkey Stories episode. 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:41.600 It's one of my favorites of the year, and we've 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:44.120 got a group of turkey storytellers that are as good 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:47.560 as I've ever heard. And I really doubt that you're 0:01:47.560 --> 0:01:50.280 gonna want to miss this one. And I'll leave you 0:01:50.520 --> 0:01:54.559 with just one hint about the next hour of your life. 0:01:55.240 --> 0:01:59.600 Whatever you do, don't miss med Palmer's story at the end. 0:02:00.320 --> 0:02:03.360 It might be the greatest turkey story ever told. 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:14.080 My name is Clay Nukem, and this. 0:02:13.960 --> 0:02:18.040 Is the Bear Grease Podcast, where we'll explore things forgotten 0:02:18.240 --> 0:02:22.480 but relevant, search for insight and unlikely places and where 0:02:22.560 --> 0:02:26.400 we'll tell the story of Americans who live their lives 0:02:26.440 --> 0:02:32.200 close to the land, presented by FHF gear, American made, 0:02:32.360 --> 0:02:36.080 purpose built hunting and fishing gear that's designed to be 0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:47.280 as rugged as the place as we explore. Of all 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:50.760 the things that we hunt and celebrate through story, turkey 0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:54.840 stories are usually the best. The hunts are dynamic, involving 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:57.920 moving and sneaking, and ouling and crowing and yelping and 0:02:58.000 --> 0:03:02.359 listening for the vocalizations or lack thereof, of an old gobbler. 0:03:03.000 --> 0:03:05.520 The decisions of the turkey hunter are more often than 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:08.320 not wrong if the intent is to kill the turkey, 0:03:08.639 --> 0:03:10.280 and the turkeys are usually right. 0:03:11.080 --> 0:03:12.120 But when the hunter. 0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:14.840 Gets it right and he fools that old tom turkey, 0:03:15.320 --> 0:03:19.320 the raw elemental chemical dump of excitement with that side 0:03:19.320 --> 0:03:22.600 of fried wild turkey breast is a scenario without equal. 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:25.240 But it's time to get onto the stories. 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:28.480 And our first one is from Mississippi, and the man 0:03:28.560 --> 0:03:32.200 telling the story his name is Mark Sledge, but in 0:03:32.240 --> 0:03:35.320 this hunt, Mark is rooting for the turkey. 0:03:36.560 --> 0:03:39.560 My name is Mark Sledge. I live in Ridgeland, Mississippi, 0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:44.400 and back a few years ago I was a turkey hunting. 0:03:44.400 --> 0:03:49.440 It was late in the season, and I was just prospecting, 0:03:49.600 --> 0:03:53.280 you know, walking and calling, and I stopped. I was 0:03:53.320 --> 0:03:55.240 way on the north side of my property, and I 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:59.560 stopped and was getting ready to call, and I heard 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:02.640 someone call, and there was no question in my mind 0:04:03.240 --> 0:04:06.840 it was a person and not a turkey, and a 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:09.760 gob berer answer. And so I sat there for a 0:04:09.760 --> 0:04:12.000 minute and tried to try to decide what I was 0:04:12.040 --> 0:04:14.240 gonna do. And I said, you know, I bet I 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:17.800 know where that guy came in here. So I walked 0:04:18.080 --> 0:04:21.440 continued north up to my property line. I got to 0:04:21.480 --> 0:04:23.320 the property line, I was standing there looking at a 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:27.800 turkey vest where the guy had taken his vest off 0:04:27.839 --> 0:04:30.599 when he crossed the ball bar our fence to come 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:34.240 on to us. And so I picked up the vest 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:37.800 and was standing there trying to decide. You know, when 0:04:37.800 --> 0:04:39.760 I found the vest, I knew I was gonna get 0:04:39.760 --> 0:04:42.000 the guy because he was coming back to get the vest. 0:04:42.600 --> 0:04:44.640 But I was trying to decide where I was gonna 0:04:44.760 --> 0:04:48.440 wait on him. And there was a big tree about 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:52.599 probably fifty yards away, a great, big oak tree, and 0:04:52.640 --> 0:04:55.440 I'm talking about a huge one. And so I walked 0:04:55.480 --> 0:04:57.479 over there to sit down next to the tree, and 0:04:57.520 --> 0:05:00.600 before I got to the tree, he shot. And when 0:05:00.640 --> 0:05:03.400 he shot, I realized the oak tree was in a 0:05:03.480 --> 0:05:07.520 straight line, coming right up the ridge from where he 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:10.560 had shot. And I knew he's fixing a walk right 0:05:10.600 --> 0:05:14.040 by me. So I just sat down next to the tree, 0:05:14.120 --> 0:05:16.400 and I had, you know, I was turkey hunting, so 0:05:16.480 --> 0:05:20.320 I had cameo gloves and camo face mask, and I 0:05:20.360 --> 0:05:24.159 put everything on, just laid my gun across my lap 0:05:24.800 --> 0:05:28.200 and sat there. And sure enough, man, it wasn't forty 0:05:28.200 --> 0:05:31.080 five seconds I saw him coming through the woods carrying 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:34.840 the gobbler. He had gotten the gobbler. I sat there 0:05:34.839 --> 0:05:37.040 and I didn't move, and I let him get about 0:05:37.120 --> 0:05:42.159 three feet from me, and I said, boy, ended something, 0:05:42.200 --> 0:05:44.359 how you look and go from being so good to 0:05:44.480 --> 0:05:47.719 so bad in such a short period of time. And 0:05:47.760 --> 0:05:50.560 when I spoke, he like to jumped out of his skin. 0:05:51.320 --> 0:05:53.920 And I stood up and took my face mask off 0:05:54.000 --> 0:05:57.200 and pulled off my right glove, stuck my hand out 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:00.200 and I said, good morning. My name's Mark Sledge. And 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:02.720 he said, hey, how you doing. I said no, I said, 0:06:02.720 --> 0:06:04.760 this is the point of the conversation where you tell 0:06:04.800 --> 0:06:08.280 me your name. He said, oh, I'm John Smith. I said, 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:09.760 come on, man, you got to do better than that. 0:06:09.920 --> 0:06:12.720 You're insulting my intelligence. He said, no, no, that's really 0:06:12.760 --> 0:06:15.359 my name. I said, no, it's not. I said, you 0:06:15.400 --> 0:06:17.960 need to tell me your real name. No, no, I 0:06:18.040 --> 0:06:20.640 promise you that's my real name. And I said it 0:06:20.720 --> 0:06:23.640 is not your real name. I'm not buying that. And 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:25.760 I said, well, what do you do. He said, well, 0:06:26.360 --> 0:06:30.760 I'm in school, community college. And I said you look 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:32.960 too old to be in school. I said where do 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:35.960 you live. He said, well, I kind of live on 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:42.040 the outside of Benonia. I said, so you live around here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 0:06:42.080 --> 0:06:43.520 And I said, man, you might as well tell me 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:45.560 your real name, because I'm going to find out. 0:06:46.160 --> 0:06:46.920 He said no, no, I. 0:06:46.920 --> 0:06:49.640 Swear that's my real name. And I said, well, here 0:06:49.680 --> 0:06:52.200 you go. I pulled one of my business cards out 0:06:52.240 --> 0:06:54.520 of my wallet and I gave it to him, and 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:56.640 I said, that's got my office phone number on it. 0:06:57.440 --> 0:06:59.320 Whenever you decide you want to come, tell me your 0:06:59.400 --> 0:07:01.719 real name and get your turkey vest back, give me 0:07:01.720 --> 0:07:03.359 a call. You can come down to my office and 0:07:03.360 --> 0:07:06.120 we'll sit down and talk about it. And I picked 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:08.159 up his turkey vest walked off. Of course, I was 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:10.200 looking back over my shoulder and make sure it wasn't 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:13.760 dropping down on me while I was walking off. But 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:17.880 I went back to my camp and immediately rode into 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:20.880 ben TONI and it took about one stop to find 0:07:20.920 --> 0:07:24.000 out who the guy was. And so I identified him 0:07:24.680 --> 0:07:28.280 and called the neighbor who he had come off of 0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:31.120 and told him what had gone on. And he said, Mark, 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:34.080 don't you worry. He will never set foot on my 0:07:34.160 --> 0:07:37.600 property again. And I didn't hear from him. That was 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:41.400 on a Friday, and I figured, you know, i'd probably 0:07:41.400 --> 0:07:46.080 hear from next day or to well. On Monday, a 0:07:46.200 --> 0:07:50.360 woman calls me with the exact last name. I thought, wow, 0:07:50.480 --> 0:07:53.320 this kind of strange, you know that for a guy 0:07:53.360 --> 0:07:55.200 to have his wife call me. So I took the 0:07:55.240 --> 0:08:00.520 call and she identified herself and she said, oh, miss Sledge, 0:08:00.680 --> 0:08:04.560 you have my husband's turkey vest. I said, I sure do. 0:08:04.640 --> 0:08:06.400 I said, I'm sitting in my office looking at it. 0:08:06.400 --> 0:08:08.920 It's on a hat rack in my office, hanging right 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:12.800 here now. And she said, is there a handmade turkey 0:08:12.840 --> 0:08:15.400 call in the pocket? I said, I have no idea. 0:08:15.480 --> 0:08:17.680 I've never looked to see what's in it. And she said, well, 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:20.800 I gave. I gave him my handmade turkey call for 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:24.640 our tenth anniversary, and he said it's He said, it's 0:08:24.680 --> 0:08:28.840 in the pocket of his of his turkey vest, and 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:30.680 I just want to make sure it's there. And I said, well, 0:08:30.680 --> 0:08:32.240 hang on a minute. I went over there and looked 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:36.400 and I said, yeah, it's in there, and she said, 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:40.360 she said okay, great. I said wait a minute. I said, 0:08:40.400 --> 0:08:43.320 why are you calling me and he's not calling me. 0:08:43.800 --> 0:08:47.160 I said, that doesn't really make sense to him. She said, oh. 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:50.560 He and his dad and his brother got up early 0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:54.120 Saturday morning, and when they were leaving, I asked him 0:08:54.600 --> 0:08:58.560 where his handmade turkey call was and he said, well, 0:08:58.600 --> 0:09:00.559 I don't have it. And he told me I didn't 0:09:00.600 --> 0:09:02.120 have it and told me it was in his vest 0:09:02.160 --> 0:09:05.480 and you had his vest and I said that's right. 0:09:05.559 --> 0:09:07.160 She said, well, can I come get it? I said 0:09:07.160 --> 0:09:10.280 absolutely not. I said he needs to come down here 0:09:10.320 --> 0:09:13.080 and get it when he gets back into town. And 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:15.800 she said okay. And I said, let me ask you something. 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:18.400 I said, do you have any kids? She said yeah, 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:23.160 I have two boys. I said me too. I said 0:09:23.160 --> 0:09:25.000 how are you boys? And they were a little bitty. 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:28.160 Then I want to say they were three and five 0:09:28.280 --> 0:09:31.600 or something, and I said, think about this. Your husband's 0:09:31.640 --> 0:09:33.840 come sneaking in there, a poaching on us. And I 0:09:33.880 --> 0:09:37.400 got two sons and they loved a turkey hunt, so 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:39.959 they're out there turkey hunt. They have no idea your 0:09:40.000 --> 0:09:43.920 husband's into her. And one of them accidentally shoots your husband. 0:09:44.559 --> 0:09:46.840 I said, my sons have to grow up with the 0:09:46.880 --> 0:09:50.000 fact that they've killed a man, and your sons are 0:09:50.000 --> 0:09:52.800 going to grow on without a dad. And she said, 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:55.679 oh my gosh, I don't even thought about that. And 0:09:55.760 --> 0:09:57.719 I twisted the knife a little bit more and I 0:09:57.760 --> 0:10:00.200 had her pumped up where she was gonna waylame he 0:10:00.240 --> 0:10:06.120 got home. So sure enough, about the middle of that week, 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:11.000 he finally called me and said, uh, missus Sledge, I'd 0:10:11.000 --> 0:10:12.880 like to go get my turkey best. I said, I'd 0:10:12.920 --> 0:10:15.120 like to give it to you. I said, come on 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:18.800 down here, and uh, and I'll be glad to give 0:10:18.840 --> 0:10:20.400 it to you. So he came to my office and 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:21.880 I made him sit down in there and we had 0:10:21.880 --> 0:10:25.959 a little chat for a little while, and Uh. At 0:10:26.000 --> 0:10:28.000 the end of the chat, I gave his vest back. 0:10:28.800 --> 0:10:30.920 And I've never seen the guy again, and i've certainly 0:10:30.920 --> 0:10:33.800 never seen him trespass it again. I think I probably 0:10:33.840 --> 0:10:35.120 made a hotist turkey counter. 0:10:38.400 --> 0:10:40.840 That was a good story, but I was surprised that 0:10:40.880 --> 0:10:44.040 Mark didn't get the law involved. I kept waiting for 0:10:44.040 --> 0:10:46.400 the game morning to show up. I wonder if you 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:49.680 were I respect a man that's willing to take care 0:10:49.679 --> 0:10:52.160 of his own business, and I'd say that that was 0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:57.760 quite merciful, mercy being an admirable human trait. Maybe that 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:01.480 guy that killed that turkey is listening right now, Thank you, Mark. 0:11:02.200 --> 0:11:04.880 But now we're on to the next one, and it's 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:08.880 none other than a bear grease legend from western Arkansas, 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:12.080 Oh Andy Brown. He could tell a story about an 0:11:12.080 --> 0:11:14.680 empty black pot and it would be interesting, but when 0:11:14.679 --> 0:11:17.199 you get him talking about turkeys, it's hard to turn away. 0:11:17.920 --> 0:11:21.080 Most really good turkey hunters that I know, kind of 0:11:21.080 --> 0:11:25.400 in my experience, usually have two or three really great stories. 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:29.640 Andy seems to have an unlimited supply, and this is 0:11:29.679 --> 0:11:33.840 a story about the best gobbler that Andy ever saw killed. 0:11:35.800 --> 0:11:37.679 My brother in law used to come up from Hope 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:42.240 and Bill he he really liked a turkey hunt because 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:43.880 he never got to do any of it. I used 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:46.840 to go down and hunt with him and Debbie down there, 0:11:46.880 --> 0:11:49.160 and they were avid deer hunters. And I used to 0:11:49.200 --> 0:11:50.959 love to go down there because you'd see more deer 0:11:50.960 --> 0:11:54.240 in one day down there. Back in the eighties eighty 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:57.319 two probably so let's been forty years ago, but it 0:11:57.360 --> 0:12:00.600 was nothing but soybean fields and cornfields. But anyway, i'd 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:03.600 go down there and deer hunt with them. And Bill 0:12:03.679 --> 0:12:06.480 got to coming up in Turkey hunting with me. And 0:12:07.679 --> 0:12:09.920 he came up one year and he was always really 0:12:10.000 --> 0:12:12.440 enthused about it because this is something he had never done. 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:15.240 And I took him out on my mountain, did I 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:19.280 out west? I always liked out there. When we pulled 0:12:19.320 --> 0:12:21.360 him out for daylight, got into the low Gap and 0:12:21.440 --> 0:12:23.040 the same thing happened that day as happened to me 0:12:23.080 --> 0:12:26.200 and Scott. I sent Bill west and I went east 0:12:27.559 --> 0:12:30.240 and the man, it was fine one and got out 0:12:30.240 --> 0:12:33.120 there and not a pe never heard of Turkey. And 0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:35.439 I told Bill, I said one meet back at the 0:12:35.480 --> 0:12:38.440 gap at ten o'clock. I walked back into the Low Gap, 0:12:38.440 --> 0:12:40.680 probably about nine thirty, and the Bill was already there, 0:12:40.840 --> 0:12:42.800 and I said to Bill, did you hear anything? He said, yeah, 0:12:42.800 --> 0:12:44.760 I had one all over me this morning. I just couldn't. 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:47.040 He just wouldn't come to me, come in above me. 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:49.400 He'd went out west and kind of dropped over on 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:51.920 the north side, and this turkey come right in on 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.400 top of him, and it just wouldn't come off to it. 0:12:55.200 --> 0:12:57.839 And he said, he gobbled good. He said, just all 0:12:57.880 --> 0:13:00.520 the drumming, I could hear him drumming, and he just 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:03.719 he just wouldn't come. And I said, do you think 0:13:03.720 --> 0:13:05.440 you can take me back out there where he was? 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:07.400 And he said, yeah, I think I ain't take you 0:13:07.440 --> 0:13:08.960 here right where he was. It's he said, he was 0:13:08.960 --> 0:13:10.560 out there where it kind of drops off. So we 0:13:10.640 --> 0:13:13.120 walk out there two hundred fifty yards and he goes 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:15.960 out there, knobs out and kind of drops off, and 0:13:16.040 --> 0:13:18.400 he said, I think we were about right here is 0:13:18.440 --> 0:13:20.400 where I was. Got on the north side, and I 0:13:20.480 --> 0:13:22.960 just walked up there and just walked up on the 0:13:23.000 --> 0:13:25.000 south side, and then the called. When I did, he 0:13:25.120 --> 0:13:26.280 just just broke me off. 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:26.760 This is it. 0:13:27.040 --> 0:13:30.640 This is ten ten o'clock. You know, of course that's 0:13:30.720 --> 0:13:33.160 ever turkey Hunter's dream. You know, you get one to 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:36.560 answer you at ten o'clock in the morning. And I said, 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:38.200 come on, So we we just got over on the 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:40.960 south side, and it just went out there and just 0:13:41.040 --> 0:13:43.000 fell off in kind of a little old Kenyon just 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:46.400 kind of straight off got set up, and I called him. 0:13:46.400 --> 0:13:48.480 When I did, he just broke me off down there. 0:13:48.520 --> 0:13:51.160 And I looked at it and I said, this, this 0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:53.199 is not this is an't gonna work. I mean, because 0:13:53.320 --> 0:13:54.439 I don't know if he's gonna come up with the 0:13:54.480 --> 0:13:55.920 left of the holler or the right of the holler. 0:13:56.040 --> 0:13:58.719 I said, let's back up on top. So we got 0:13:58.800 --> 0:14:00.840 up and walked back up on top of the mountain there, 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:05.720 and there's just a big flat and anyway, I really 0:14:05.760 --> 0:14:08.160 put it in as I got aggressive with him then, and 0:14:08.200 --> 0:14:10.160 he was just I mean, he was eating it up. 0:14:10.679 --> 0:14:13.719 Every time I called him, he gobbled. And that's kind 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:16.200 of way I always did back in those days, early days. 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:18.120 If they wanted to gobble, I wanted to call up, 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:18.360 you know. 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:19.960 And uh. 0:14:20.400 --> 0:14:23.000 Anyway, I tore him up and he come in there 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:24.920 and Bill was I had Bill set up where I 0:14:25.000 --> 0:14:26.880 just knew he was just going to walk up me 0:14:26.960 --> 0:14:30.520 slap well, said that dude coming up to Bill. He 0:14:30.680 --> 0:14:33.640 just come right around to the left of me. And 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:37.480 there was a little old blackjack thicket there he got 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:40.920 right in behind that. He come right up the mountain 0:14:41.360 --> 0:14:43.680 east of me, full strut and got right in on 0:14:43.800 --> 0:14:48.440 top about sixty yards and all the goblining he did. 0:14:48.480 --> 0:14:50.280 Of course I'd shut up then. I hadn't said another 0:14:50.280 --> 0:14:53.560 word to him, and he gobbled and he gobbled and 0:14:53.640 --> 0:14:56.160 gobbled and he gobbled, and directly he just turned and 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:58.480 he come right back off the mountain like he come. 0:14:58.560 --> 0:14:59.960 And he got off down there. And when he got 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:03.320 behind that blackjack thicket from me, I called him again, 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:06.600 and we had a little set in right there, but 0:15:06.680 --> 0:15:09.360 I knew he wasn't going to come. I mean, once 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:11.640 they do that, your chances of calling a turkey back 0:15:11.680 --> 0:15:15.560 where he'd already been is it's slimmed none. At least 0:15:15.560 --> 0:15:18.960 it's always been that way from me. So he kind 0:15:18.960 --> 0:15:21.520 of got over back off on the south side, about 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:24.280 fifty yards from me, and I motioned to Bill. I said, Bill, 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:27.040 come here, and Bill give me one of them. What 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:27.920 are we doing deals? 0:15:27.960 --> 0:15:28.120 You know? 0:15:28.200 --> 0:15:30.520 I said, come on, and he said come on. 0:15:30.680 --> 0:15:33.760 I said come on, And so he comes to me, 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:36.240 he said, what are we doing? I said, we are 0:15:36.320 --> 0:15:39.000 going to move. We just dropped over the north side, 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:40.720 and when we got over the north side. I said, Bill, 0:15:40.720 --> 0:15:42.720 we're going to move on this turkey. We're going to 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:45.160 kill this dude, I think. So we just went east. 0:15:45.200 --> 0:15:47.240 When we talked back over the top of the mountain there, 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:52.040 I said, if this turkey answers me, he's a dead turkey. 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:55.200 We didn't move seventy five yards, but we got a 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.440 little higher and got over on the top. I called him, 0:15:58.440 --> 0:16:01.520 and shit, he is wore me up, you know. I said, 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:05.840 he'd better get ready. And it was so funny. I 0:16:05.920 --> 0:16:07.600 was sitting there and I had my cun across my 0:16:07.680 --> 0:16:10.640 lap in old Bill. I mean, it's pretty open there. 0:16:10.640 --> 0:16:12.000 It kind of comes to the prayer makes a little 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:14.520 old bitch. And there's a there's a pine tree that's 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:18.680 four foot through right there on top, and I look, here, 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:21.160 come out on turkey. I mean, he's coming right to 0:16:21.240 --> 0:16:25.600 us and can be close, I mean fifteen steps. And 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:28.800 when he goes behind that tree, Bill moves his gun. 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:32.960 And when he comes out, Bill didn't quite wait long enough. 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:35.560 He did, but he didn't because he shot about two 0:16:35.640 --> 0:16:39.440 inches of that tree all. But he blowed that turkey. 0:16:39.440 --> 0:16:41.720 He just blowed that turkey down. And when that turkey, 0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:44.600 you know how they are heat. Turkey jumped up and 0:16:44.640 --> 0:16:47.080 when he took off, of course, I was in really 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:50.240 good shape. Then I took off after him, and I 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:54.120 run that turkey. I had face mask and gloves and stuff. 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:56.800 Strode all down the side of that mountain. But I 0:16:56.960 --> 0:17:00.480 run him about one hundred yards down the out there, 0:17:00.520 --> 0:17:04.000 and finally he just stopped and put his head down 0:17:04.040 --> 0:17:06.600 and went to clucking. I mean, I caught up with him, 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:10.359 and anyway, I finished him off. But that turkey was 0:17:10.400 --> 0:17:15.320 the best turkey I've ever seen. He had thirty four 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:17.719 and a half inches of beard on him, He had 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:20.480 a ten and a half, a ten, an eight and 0:17:20.520 --> 0:17:23.679 a six, He had an inch and a quarter spurred, 0:17:23.720 --> 0:17:25.360 and weighed twenty one and a half pounds. 0:17:25.400 --> 0:17:26.480 He was a you know. 0:17:26.560 --> 0:17:28.359 And people said, well, it's not a very big turkey. 0:17:28.359 --> 0:17:30.399 The twenty one and a half pound turkey into Washtaw 0:17:30.480 --> 0:17:34.000 Mountains is a big turkey. But it was the most 0:17:34.080 --> 0:17:36.440 awesome turkey I ever seen. And I told Bill, I said, Bill, 0:17:37.000 --> 0:17:39.359 you'll hunt a lifetime and you will never kill a 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:43.080 turkey like this. I said, I've hunted these things like 0:17:43.160 --> 0:17:45.560 I was mad at him for twenty five years, and 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:48.840 I've killed I've killed several with two beards, but I 0:17:48.840 --> 0:17:52.080 ain't never killed a four beard a turkey. 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:56.480 That's such a good story, and you could learn a 0:17:56.520 --> 0:17:59.919 lot about turkey hunting from that story. Andy is a 0:18:00.160 --> 0:18:03.360 rare combination of a man that's as good a turkey 0:18:03.440 --> 0:18:07.080 hunter as has ever traversed the mountains of western Arkansas. 0:18:07.480 --> 0:18:10.399 And he's the heck of a communicator too, knowing just 0:18:10.440 --> 0:18:14.560 when to include details and humor and internal drama. But 0:18:14.760 --> 0:18:17.960 really it just kind of flows with overt passion, and 0:18:18.000 --> 0:18:21.359 you really can't teach that or copy that. Every step 0:18:21.359 --> 0:18:23.560 of the way, you feel like you're right there with him. 0:18:24.080 --> 0:18:26.920 I've noticed that every region of the country, even down 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:31.320 to specific families and hunting groups, have peculiar aspects to 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:34.240 their storytelling. I wonder if you've ever picked up on 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:34.679 any of. 0:18:34.680 --> 0:18:35.560 Those from Andy. 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:38.880 My old buddy Steve Ranella did, and after he heard 0:18:38.880 --> 0:18:40.720 Andy tell his story one time, he said to me, 0:18:41.520 --> 0:18:45.400 Andy Brown sure has a constant sense of the cardinal directions. 0:18:46.240 --> 0:18:50.000 I laughed, if you're paying attention, Andy's always saying the 0:18:50.000 --> 0:18:52.120 bird was coming up from the east, or we went 0:18:52.200 --> 0:18:54.520 back to the west, or we were looking to the south, 0:18:55.240 --> 0:18:58.800 where I grew up, which is where Andy lives. Always 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:00.879 having a sense of where no is was like the 0:19:00.920 --> 0:19:04.919 eleventh commandment, thou shalt always know which direction is north. 0:19:05.640 --> 0:19:08.399 I was never that great at it, but direction is 0:19:08.440 --> 0:19:11.359 always included in Andy's stories, in the stories of his 0:19:11.440 --> 0:19:15.320 son Scott and all their hunting crew. I like it, 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:27.080 Thank you Andy. The next story is off the Chain. 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:30.879 It involves an ATM and a man wearing a dog collar. 0:19:31.680 --> 0:19:34.239 I first heard this man tell this story as a 0:19:34.280 --> 0:19:38.880 guest on the Hayden Alabama podcast, and I cackled out loud. 0:19:38.720 --> 0:19:39.680 Like a giggling hen. 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:43.639 I'd like to introduce you to a very funny but 0:19:43.840 --> 0:19:50.439 precious man, Mississippi pastor Robin Rischer. You get what I 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:53.320 mean when I say precious, like he's a nice guy. 0:19:54.200 --> 0:19:58.240 I'm Robin Ruscher, and I love turkey. I live in Mississippi, 0:19:58.280 --> 0:20:03.280 but a very short time living in New Orleans, Louisiana. 0:20:04.080 --> 0:20:07.119 I went to seminary down there, and I was a 0:20:07.160 --> 0:20:09.200 fish out of water in a big city as the 0:20:09.359 --> 0:20:12.800 country had come to town, no doubt about that. And 0:20:13.119 --> 0:20:17.920 I got a chance to go turkey hunting. I got 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:22.199 a permission to hunt some land in South Mississippi. I 0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:25.640 told my wife and to let me go, and she said, yeah, 0:20:25.680 --> 0:20:29.440 you can go. And naturally, when you get in your 0:20:29.480 --> 0:20:33.360 wife's car is gonna be on empty every time. That's 0:20:33.400 --> 0:20:38.159 a law of nature. And the seminary I don't know 0:20:38.160 --> 0:20:41.280 about now, but thirty years ago it was in the 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:45.199 worst neighborhood in America, one of the worst. I bopped 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:48.000 out there and got my wife's little car. I was 0:20:48.040 --> 0:20:50.960 gonna go into it because it got good gas mine 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:55.119 and I had a pretty far piece to go, and 0:20:55.160 --> 0:21:01.119 we were rolling pennies for gas broke and no extra money. 0:21:01.440 --> 0:21:04.120 But I had almost stuff laying on the front seat 0:21:04.160 --> 0:21:07.280 of her car. My gun was laying there, My vest 0:21:07.480 --> 0:21:10.480 with the shells in the pocket was laying there. I 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:13.800 come out of seminary in this worst neighborhood in America, 0:21:14.840 --> 0:21:17.880 and I kind of goosed it a little bit. When 0:21:17.880 --> 0:21:20.119 I did, my shelves came out of my pocket and 0:21:20.200 --> 0:21:22.800 I noticed still illegal. I know I wanted so to 0:21:22.880 --> 0:21:26.960 do this. I just took the shells in the magazines 0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:30.960 at over age seventy. Now the gun was loaded, but 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:33.920 it would not fire until you worked the action one time. 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:39.919 And pump shot guns have a very distinctive sound, and 0:21:40.280 --> 0:21:44.480 it sounds something like if you've ever been on a 0:21:44.960 --> 0:21:47.440 bad end of that sound, you recognize it. 0:21:48.600 --> 0:21:48.800 Well. 0:21:48.840 --> 0:21:51.600 I had that gun with bullets in the magazine but 0:21:51.680 --> 0:21:54.720 none in the pipe or none in a barrel. And 0:21:54.840 --> 0:21:57.120 I had to go get some gas because, like I said, 0:21:57.160 --> 0:21:59.760 the car was on empty in the worst neighborhood of America, 0:22:00.200 --> 0:22:03.920 and HTM machines were very different back then. You wanted 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:06.960 on us wipe it and they take a car away 0:22:07.000 --> 0:22:09.640 from him and then access to your counting. There you were, 0:22:10.960 --> 0:22:15.679 and the criminal knew this. But I one thing about that. 0:22:15.800 --> 0:22:17.919 I just went there to give me twenty dollars to 0:22:17.920 --> 0:22:22.119 get some gas. But in this car. And I walked 0:22:22.160 --> 0:22:26.080 in there, this little HTM. It's about two in the morning, 0:22:26.600 --> 0:22:28.520 but I was gonna go Turkey on the Mississippi is 0:22:28.520 --> 0:22:32.240 about three hour drive. And I pulled in there and 0:22:33.480 --> 0:22:36.760 I saw I saw this guy hiding in the AI 0:22:36.800 --> 0:22:40.600 at bushes. By the time I saw this selling the 0:22:40.640 --> 0:22:44.199 bushes there, he he wasn't wearing nothing but a diaper, 0:22:45.600 --> 0:22:48.520 but he was some kind of ugly. I'm telling you, 0:22:48.560 --> 0:22:50.800 he the uggliest hell I've ever seen in my life. 0:22:51.400 --> 0:22:54.359 He was ugly, you g l y he didn't have 0:22:54.440 --> 0:22:58.840 no alibi. He was ugly. M A, m A, how 0:22:58.880 --> 0:23:01.960 you think he got that way his mama? The boy 0:23:02.320 --> 0:23:06.040 was in bad shape. I saw him right after I 0:23:06.119 --> 0:23:09.480 accessed my account. Now looked in front of me, and 0:23:09.480 --> 0:23:12.520 there's a guy with a silver studded four inch dog 0:23:12.680 --> 0:23:17.600 collar on and no shirt, and he was walking towards me. 0:23:18.000 --> 0:23:21.879 I got my rightness, got pink and purple hair, and 0:23:21.960 --> 0:23:25.000 they were all closing in at the rapid rate. And 0:23:25.040 --> 0:23:27.320 they knew what they were doing because they let me 0:23:27.800 --> 0:23:30.440 access my account. Now, I didn't have but eighty six 0:23:30.560 --> 0:23:33.760 dollars in there, but that was eighty six of my dollars, 0:23:34.400 --> 0:23:37.320 and I intended on keeping him. Now, I grabbed the 0:23:37.440 --> 0:23:42.000 abigail there, my old trusty rusty. I shut that shell 0:23:42.119 --> 0:23:45.120 in there, and when that thing went out of eight 0:23:45.200 --> 0:23:51.320 seventy swallowed that copper plated magnum turkey thumping down on walping. 0:23:51.440 --> 0:23:55.600 Mold Joe low old dog collar heard it. He went 0:23:55.640 --> 0:23:57.600 to give him a signal. I don't know if he 0:23:57.720 --> 0:24:00.920 wanted me to blunt, steal or take, but we got 0:24:00.960 --> 0:24:03.199 all the stigna and. 0:24:03.320 --> 0:24:05.040 I sold bad Uga there. 0:24:05.080 --> 0:24:08.240 He was in the bushes there, and he heard it 0:24:08.359 --> 0:24:13.119 Old Pump follow that magnum load too, and they just 0:24:13.240 --> 0:24:15.720 kind of stopped. I got my money. 0:24:15.920 --> 0:24:16.480 I got. 0:24:17.880 --> 0:24:21.080 Out of there and went to the Mississippi and killed turkey 0:24:21.119 --> 0:24:24.680 that morning too. And the more of the stories is, 0:24:25.560 --> 0:24:28.520 they made a decision to take my money. I made 0:24:28.560 --> 0:24:29.680 a commitment to keep it. 0:24:32.640 --> 0:24:34.960 Some of the best turkey hunting stories have little to 0:24:35.000 --> 0:24:38.560 do with actually killing a gobbler. I'd have been scared 0:24:38.560 --> 0:24:41.399 too if i'd have heard Old Trusty Rusty swallow that 0:24:41.560 --> 0:24:46.920 turkey thumping, Dino wopping Mojoe load. And Hey, if you're 0:24:46.960 --> 0:24:50.399 looking for some good country storytelling, go check out the Hayden, 0:24:50.440 --> 0:24:51.600 Alabama podcast. 0:24:51.880 --> 0:24:53.240 They're doing some fun stuff. 0:24:54.560 --> 0:24:57.679 Our next story is from none other than Lake Pickle, 0:24:58.359 --> 0:25:01.800 also from Mississippi, but this story takes place in Old 0:25:01.880 --> 0:25:04.359 Mexico and it's got a shocking ending. 0:25:05.119 --> 0:25:05.640 Here's Lake. 0:25:07.560 --> 0:25:10.680 So it's spring twenty seventeen and I got the opportunity 0:25:10.720 --> 0:25:13.919 to travel down south of the border into Mexico Turkey, 0:25:14.080 --> 0:25:15.520 which is something I'd never been able to do. 0:25:15.880 --> 0:25:18.520 I travel down there with Brad Feris and Troy Ruez. 0:25:18.680 --> 0:25:20.639 I feel the need right now to tell y'all that 0:25:20.760 --> 0:25:22.960 I was there with those two gentlemen, because when I 0:25:23.000 --> 0:25:24.720 get to the point in this story where I talk 0:25:24.760 --> 0:25:28.639 about the actual incident, it is so outrageous and so 0:25:28.800 --> 0:25:33.600 bizarre that, even though I have video evidence that this happened, 0:25:33.840 --> 0:25:35.640 I just want everyone to know that there were also 0:25:35.800 --> 0:25:39.159 two other people there that witness this and can confirm 0:25:39.240 --> 0:25:43.160 that this story is true. But anyway, we travel down there, 0:25:43.400 --> 0:25:46.680 we cross the border, drive for several miles. I think 0:25:46.720 --> 0:25:48.400 we drove for maybe an hour a hour and a half. 0:25:48.480 --> 0:25:51.840 And anyways, we get to this property that we're hunting. 0:25:52.240 --> 0:25:54.199 So the next morning we wake up. It's a pretty 0:25:54.280 --> 0:25:57.600 clear day, and man, did we hear some turkeys, but 0:25:58.400 --> 0:26:01.120 they were in some flo And if you ever dealt 0:26:01.119 --> 0:26:04.119 with big flocks of turkeys, they are really fun to watch. 0:26:04.400 --> 0:26:07.000 They are really fun to listen to. But man, if 0:26:07.040 --> 0:26:09.080 you aren't where they want to be, they can be 0:26:09.160 --> 0:26:11.560 a pain to try to call to you. So we 0:26:11.680 --> 0:26:15.080 spent all morning in turkeys, looking at turkeys, hearing turkeys, 0:26:15.080 --> 0:26:17.400 but we didn't shoot any turkeys. So we go back 0:26:17.440 --> 0:26:19.960 to camp, grab a nap, grab some lunch. We're sitting 0:26:19.960 --> 0:26:22.320 there eating lunch with the landowners, telling them out our morning, 0:26:22.359 --> 0:26:24.840 telling them what we saw, and he says, Hey, you know, 0:26:24.880 --> 0:26:27.560 there's a power line, and every time I'm on that 0:26:27.600 --> 0:26:28.320 power line. 0:26:28.160 --> 0:26:29.800 I see turkeys every time. 0:26:30.240 --> 0:26:33.199 He also mentioned at this same lunch that despite the 0:26:33.240 --> 0:26:35.640 fact that he was not a turkey hunter, he always 0:26:35.680 --> 0:26:38.040 wanted a big, pretty gobbler to mount and put in 0:26:38.080 --> 0:26:41.720 his camp. Remember that that's an important factor of this story. 0:26:42.160 --> 0:26:44.600 So anyways, we head out to this power line. We 0:26:44.680 --> 0:26:47.680 get there and we start walking. Our plan is really 0:26:47.720 --> 0:26:49.720 just to walk until we find something that looks like 0:26:49.800 --> 0:26:51.560 we gets set up calling every once in a while 0:26:51.560 --> 0:26:53.400 along the way. If we hear something, we'll sit down. 0:26:53.400 --> 0:26:55.840 We're just kind of rolling with the punches. We're just 0:26:55.880 --> 0:26:58.080 kind of easing up this power line. I don't remember 0:26:58.119 --> 0:27:00.119 who saw it, but we noticed that there was a 0:27:00.160 --> 0:27:03.679 dead hen turkey just laying kind of right off the 0:27:04.119 --> 0:27:05.920 just right off the side of that power line. 0:27:05.960 --> 0:27:06.600 We look at it. 0:27:07.760 --> 0:27:09.840 That's kind of odd, but we didn't think much about 0:27:09.840 --> 0:27:12.199 it and kept walking. And we walked a couple one 0:27:12.280 --> 0:27:15.960 hundred more yards and there's another dead turkey up under there, 0:27:16.080 --> 0:27:17.960 just off the side of the power line, in the 0:27:17.960 --> 0:27:21.800 same spot. Another hen. We're like, huh, something's to that, 0:27:22.000 --> 0:27:24.200 But again we don't really know and don't make much 0:27:24.200 --> 0:27:24.399 of it. 0:27:24.440 --> 0:27:25.320 We just keep walking. 0:27:25.880 --> 0:27:28.240 We end up setting up and start calling, and sure 0:27:28.320 --> 0:27:30.960 enough a turkey answers us. Turkey gobbles at us, and 0:27:31.040 --> 0:27:33.600 this turkey, unlike the ones we got into this morning, 0:27:33.760 --> 0:27:36.879 starts quickly closing the distance, and I'm back filming, running 0:27:36.920 --> 0:27:39.520 the camera. Troy and Brad are up front, and this 0:27:39.600 --> 0:27:42.320 turkey is coming. Like no if ans or butts about it. 0:27:42.359 --> 0:27:44.040 This turkey is coming. It was one of those. With 0:27:44.119 --> 0:27:44.920 every gobble he. 0:27:44.920 --> 0:27:45.600 Was gaining ground. 0:27:45.600 --> 0:27:47.640 And I'm sitting there, going, man, any second, we're gonna 0:27:47.680 --> 0:27:50.320 be looking at him. And then finally, just like you 0:27:50.440 --> 0:27:53.119 drawed up in your head, out he appeared in full 0:27:53.160 --> 0:27:55.760 strut and then came all the rest of them, and 0:27:55.840 --> 0:27:58.280 I mean all the rest of them. I do not 0:27:58.480 --> 0:28:01.240 know how we managed to yelp up that many turkeys 0:28:01.240 --> 0:28:03.959 with only one turkey goblin the entire time, because we 0:28:03.960 --> 0:28:05.960 thought we were dealing with a single long beard, but 0:28:06.040 --> 0:28:06.639 it was not. 0:28:06.880 --> 0:28:09.959 It was a wad long beards, Jake's hens. 0:28:10.000 --> 0:28:12.720 We had every variety, and they were all march in 0:28:12.760 --> 0:28:13.360 our direction. 0:28:13.520 --> 0:28:14.880 I'd never seen anything like it. 0:28:15.160 --> 0:28:18.680 This entire wad of turkeys makes it within twenty steps 0:28:18.920 --> 0:28:21.760 of Brad Troy. But the problem was is there was 0:28:21.800 --> 0:28:25.040 not a second, I mean, not a single moment where 0:28:25.080 --> 0:28:27.360 either of them could have pulled the trigger and only 0:28:27.440 --> 0:28:30.520 killed one turkey. They were so clumped up together that 0:28:30.600 --> 0:28:32.679 I mean, if any of them would have shot, they 0:28:32.680 --> 0:28:36.240 would have killed multiple turkeys, five turkeys even. I mean, 0:28:36.400 --> 0:28:38.920 it was crazy, and obviously we were not trying to 0:28:38.960 --> 0:28:39.280 do that. 0:28:39.400 --> 0:28:40.840 And it was in the afternoon. 0:28:41.160 --> 0:28:44.959 They stayed there forever, just standing around, strutting, gobling, yelping, looking, 0:28:45.440 --> 0:28:48.160 and it starts getting dark, and these turkeys start getting shifty, 0:28:48.480 --> 0:28:52.160 and all of a sudden, turkeys start flying up. So 0:28:52.280 --> 0:28:54.680 turkeys start flying and roosting in trees to the left, 0:28:54.720 --> 0:28:56.760 to the right, behind us, in front of us. One 0:28:56.800 --> 0:28:59.520 gobbler picks up and flies out of the middle of 0:28:59.520 --> 0:29:02.600 that power road and lands in a tree almost right 0:29:02.640 --> 0:29:05.840 over Troy, which is just off the right side of 0:29:05.840 --> 0:29:09.080 this power line, and that turkey he starts getting kind 0:29:09.080 --> 0:29:12.000 of shifty up in that tree, and for whatever reason, 0:29:12.280 --> 0:29:14.880 he decided that limb he had picked was no longer 0:29:14.880 --> 0:29:18.360 good enough for him, and he picks up and flies 0:29:18.520 --> 0:29:22.200 and tries to cross that power line I'm assuming to 0:29:22.360 --> 0:29:25.080 land in a tree on the other side, but we'll 0:29:25.120 --> 0:29:28.360 never know because he's flying and all of a sudden, Zippi, 0:29:29.080 --> 0:29:31.720 there was this loud, popping noise, this bright flash of 0:29:31.800 --> 0:29:34.080 lights and sparks, and that turkey fell out of the 0:29:34.080 --> 0:29:36.360 sky and thudded on the ground, dead as a rock, 0:29:36.440 --> 0:29:38.280 right on the other side of that road. He had 0:29:38.440 --> 0:29:40.840 hit that power line when he tried to fly across 0:29:40.880 --> 0:29:41.520 the road and. 0:29:41.480 --> 0:29:42.120 It killed him. 0:29:42.200 --> 0:29:44.520 I mean, in all reality, it looked like a giant 0:29:44.560 --> 0:29:47.520 mosquito hitting a bug zapper, I mean, just zap and 0:29:47.680 --> 0:29:48.200 lights out. 0:29:48.240 --> 0:29:51.440 That turkey was gone. He did not flop at all. 0:29:51.760 --> 0:29:54.080 I will never forget the look on bradon Troy's faces, 0:29:54.080 --> 0:29:56.120 which I probably had a pretty dumb founded. 0:29:55.760 --> 0:29:56.760 Look on my face too. 0:29:57.200 --> 0:30:00.680 But we got up, walked into the woods, found that turkey, 0:30:01.120 --> 0:30:04.480 and I remember all you could smell was burnt feathers. 0:30:04.520 --> 0:30:07.080 But other than that, the turkey looked to be fine. 0:30:07.400 --> 0:30:10.680 And if I'm lying, I'm dying. That turkey had four 0:30:10.720 --> 0:30:14.080 beards and an inch into quarterspurs. So we put him 0:30:14.120 --> 0:30:16.280 in the back of that buggy and drove him back 0:30:16.320 --> 0:30:19.400 to camp. Told the landowner what happened, and said, hey, 0:30:19.720 --> 0:30:21.680 you said you wanted a big, pretty gobbler at a 0:30:21.720 --> 0:30:24.000 mountain put in your camp. I think we found the 0:30:24.000 --> 0:30:25.320 perfect one. 0:30:26.000 --> 0:30:28.000 I told you that that was a shocking story. 0:30:28.760 --> 0:30:32.000 Thanks Lake. And by the way they got all that 0:30:32.320 --> 0:30:45.080 on video, pretty cool. Our next story is another Mississippi 0:30:45.120 --> 0:30:47.600 turkey hunter. And if you haven't seen a trend in 0:30:47.640 --> 0:30:50.360 this episode, we got a lot of Mississippi boys and 0:30:50.400 --> 0:30:54.480 I'm quite certain that Mississippi is the cultural epicenter of 0:30:54.560 --> 0:30:58.840 turkey hunting. This gentleman's name is David Huffman, but he 0:30:58.960 --> 0:31:02.480 traveled out well asked to turkey hunt, and I'll be 0:31:02.520 --> 0:31:06.680 interested to hear what you think of this story. 0:31:07.080 --> 0:31:09.160 My name is David hoff and I'm from the Jackson, 0:31:09.160 --> 0:31:12.320 Mississippi area. Turkey hunting my entire life. Done a lot 0:31:12.360 --> 0:31:16.840 of traveling turkey hunting. Without giving too much information on 0:31:16.880 --> 0:31:19.120 where we were in the state we were in. But 0:31:19.440 --> 0:31:22.400 there are several Indian reservations across this country that you 0:31:22.400 --> 0:31:24.120 can hunt on. But when you go to hunt on 0:31:24.160 --> 0:31:26.680 an Indian reservation, you have to have a native god right. 0:31:26.720 --> 0:31:28.040 You have to have somebody to walk you around the 0:31:28.080 --> 0:31:29.640 place and show you where to go, what lands you 0:31:29.640 --> 0:31:31.040 can go on, what's tribal. 0:31:30.720 --> 0:31:31.520 What's not trivel. 0:31:32.040 --> 0:31:35.120 So we had enlisted the help of a local. 0:31:34.840 --> 0:31:38.720 Guy where we were going, and he was very well 0:31:38.720 --> 0:31:41.520 recommended in the area. He had been there for a 0:31:41.560 --> 0:31:45.360 long time, very well respected. So me and three buddies 0:31:45.760 --> 0:31:47.720 went out as our first time traveling to the state 0:31:48.640 --> 0:31:50.680 and got there and we you know, we're young, were 0:31:50.720 --> 0:31:53.280 just fresh out of college, had been traveling around for 0:31:53.320 --> 0:31:56.120 a while, and you know, we were sitting pretty high 0:31:56.120 --> 0:31:57.760 on our horses of you know, we were good turkey 0:31:57.840 --> 0:31:58.960 hunters and we knew what we were doing. 0:31:59.000 --> 0:32:00.800 We were going really didn't need a whole lot of help. 0:32:02.560 --> 0:32:06.640 I come from, you know, a family of my brother 0:32:06.720 --> 0:32:07.720 in law is a guide. 0:32:08.080 --> 0:32:09.000 He owns an outfit. 0:32:09.080 --> 0:32:12.880 So I understand that the saying don't guide the guide, right, 0:32:13.040 --> 0:32:14.720 So if a guy tells you to do something, you 0:32:14.720 --> 0:32:17.200 should probably listen because he knows more than what you 0:32:17.240 --> 0:32:18.240 know about that area. 0:32:18.800 --> 0:32:19.960 So we get there. 0:32:19.880 --> 0:32:22.040 And I meet the guide first, and we start riding 0:32:22.040 --> 0:32:23.800 around his truck and he's like, well, do you want 0:32:23.840 --> 0:32:24.560 to go see some turkeys? 0:32:24.640 --> 0:32:26.200 Like, yeah, absolutely, let's go check some out. 0:32:26.240 --> 0:32:28.440 So he pulled to the top of this hill and 0:32:28.480 --> 0:32:30.280 he says, Okay, they're going to be down this bottom 0:32:30.280 --> 0:32:32.800 and he shuts his truck off, and he reaches into 0:32:32.880 --> 0:32:36.760 center console and he pulls out this old cherry bark 0:32:37.480 --> 0:32:39.880 box call and he reaches out and he makes the 0:32:39.960 --> 0:32:42.480 three most god awful yelps you've ever heard in your life, 0:32:42.520 --> 0:32:43.720 just squawks across it. 0:32:43.840 --> 0:32:46.520 Yep, yep, yep, yep, And sure. 0:32:46.400 --> 0:32:48.640 Enough, pull a little they come out of this bottom 0:32:48.680 --> 0:32:49.960 and walk up this hill, right to the top of 0:32:49.960 --> 0:32:52.400 the hill, twenty yards from the truck. And I'm thinking, 0:32:52.920 --> 0:32:54.800 all right, this is going to be pretty easy. You know, 0:32:54.840 --> 0:32:56.240 this ain't gonna be a whole lot of thought to this. 0:32:56.360 --> 0:32:57.960 Just listening to this guy and we'll be just fine. 0:32:58.720 --> 0:33:01.280 So my three buddy they were a day behind me, 0:33:01.480 --> 0:33:03.000 and they show up and I tell them what happened 0:33:03.040 --> 0:33:04.720 that afternoon, and said, look, you just need to listen 0:33:04.720 --> 0:33:07.000 to this guy and help points in the right direction. 0:33:07.000 --> 0:33:08.480 We'll kill our turkeys and we'll get out of here. 0:33:08.520 --> 0:33:10.960 Well, I've got two buddies that are a little bit 0:33:11.040 --> 0:33:14.840 more headstrong than I am, and so they're big, bad 0:33:14.840 --> 0:33:16.760 turkey hunters and they don't need anybody to tell them 0:33:16.800 --> 0:33:17.160 where to go. 0:33:17.200 --> 0:33:18.800 They to be pointing in the right direction. 0:33:18.960 --> 0:33:21.280 So they go off and they always hunt together and 0:33:21.320 --> 0:33:23.040 me and my other buddy always hunt together when we're 0:33:23.080 --> 0:33:23.680 on these trips. 0:33:24.320 --> 0:33:28.600 And so first morning, the guide, his name is Ken. 0:33:29.160 --> 0:33:31.120 He tells our body and says, okay, look, I'm going 0:33:31.160 --> 0:33:33.200 to send you downe to this creek bottom, and when 0:33:33.240 --> 0:33:35.000 you get down in there, the birds are going to 0:33:35.080 --> 0:33:37.600 be chirping, owls are going to be hooting. Let everything 0:33:37.680 --> 0:33:39.800 calm down. You have to let the creek accept you. 0:33:40.600 --> 0:33:42.800 Very native American thing to say. They're very in tune 0:33:42.800 --> 0:33:44.640 with the earth, very in tune with everything around him. 0:33:44.640 --> 0:33:46.080 He said, you have to let the creek accept you 0:33:46.120 --> 0:33:48.320 before you make a call. He said, do not call 0:33:48.680 --> 0:33:52.040 until everything has quieted down. You'll know the crick has 0:33:52.080 --> 0:33:54.040 accepted and then you can start turkey hunting. So he 0:33:54.080 --> 0:33:57.320 tells them, and I can see that they're just scoffing, like, okay, whatever, 0:33:57.320 --> 0:33:59.680 we're not going to listen to this. So they go 0:33:59.760 --> 0:34:02.920 down in there and he takes us to another spot 0:34:02.920 --> 0:34:04.760 and he tells us the same thing. He says, let 0:34:04.800 --> 0:34:07.400 the creek accept you. People, wait till everything calms down. 0:34:07.440 --> 0:34:10.879 Don't make a call until that happens. And so I'm 0:34:11.000 --> 0:34:13.359 walking down to this creek bottom with my buddy, and 0:34:13.360 --> 0:34:15.880 I said now, I said, let's let's just, you know, 0:34:15.920 --> 0:34:18.600 take what he said to Hart and just see what happens. 0:34:18.640 --> 0:34:21.680 And so sure enough, birds are chirping, owls are hooting 0:34:22.320 --> 0:34:24.440 whole nine yards. We don't hear a single bird gobble. 0:34:24.719 --> 0:34:29.799 As soon as everything calms down, I said, okay, they're here, 0:34:30.000 --> 0:34:33.759 and so I yelp, yep, yelp, yelp, And ten minutes later, 0:34:33.920 --> 0:34:35.839 turkey flies down, walks right to our gun barrel. 0:34:35.920 --> 0:34:39.279 We shoot him. Simple is like, h there's something to this. 0:34:39.719 --> 0:34:42.160 So we get back to the truck and calling our buddies, 0:34:42.160 --> 0:34:45.000 and we see them going across a mountain. They're going 0:34:45.040 --> 0:34:48.160 across his hilltop, probably five hundred yards away, chasing turkeys. 0:34:48.680 --> 0:34:50.959 And we get back to the truck and said, Ken said, 0:34:51.400 --> 0:34:53.520 they didn't let the creek accept them, so they should have. 0:34:53.560 --> 0:34:54.200 Killed by now. 0:34:54.480 --> 0:34:58.760 And so we watched them chase turkeys for probably two hours, 0:34:58.880 --> 0:35:00.680 going across these hills and they get back to the 0:35:00.680 --> 0:35:02.799 truck and said, these turkeys will not work with us 0:35:02.840 --> 0:35:03.200 one bit. 0:35:03.200 --> 0:35:05.560 They keep running from us. They're heading the opposite direction. 0:35:05.600 --> 0:35:07.640 We can't get in front of them. Blah blah blah. 0:35:07.719 --> 0:35:10.680 And Ken said, well, did you call before the creek 0:35:10.719 --> 0:35:14.000 accepted you, and they said yes. He said, that's why 0:35:14.040 --> 0:35:15.960 you won't kill a turkey. We'll try again tomorrow. And 0:35:16.040 --> 0:35:17.839 we backed up in the truck and left. And when 0:35:17.840 --> 0:35:19.279 we got back to the house, I said, you guys 0:35:19.360 --> 0:35:20.880 better listen to him. I said, it happened for us 0:35:20.920 --> 0:35:24.000 in five minutes. Said you better let the crik accept 0:35:24.040 --> 0:35:26.479 you tomorrow. And they went down in there. The same 0:35:26.520 --> 0:35:29.240 thing happened. They let the creek accept them. Two turkeys 0:35:29.239 --> 0:35:31.560 walk in ten minutes later and they shoot them, as 0:35:31.600 --> 0:35:34.640 simple as that. So that is a story of if 0:35:34.640 --> 0:35:36.919 you go traveling turkey hunting and you go with somebody 0:35:36.960 --> 0:35:38.839 that knows the area, you better listen to them. 0:35:39.400 --> 0:35:40.600 They know what they're talking about. 0:35:45.280 --> 0:35:46.920 Let the creek accept you. 0:35:48.160 --> 0:35:52.080 Even if you can't doctrinally accept the animistic element of this, 0:35:52.200 --> 0:35:55.600 Gud's suggestion, if you're a woodsman, I think you kind 0:35:55.600 --> 0:35:58.680 of get it. It doesn't always happen, but there comes 0:35:58.719 --> 0:36:00.879 a point in some hunt when you feel like you're 0:36:00.920 --> 0:36:04.280 a part of the natural system, not just a visitor. 0:36:05.200 --> 0:36:07.319 That was a good story, David, Thank you. 0:36:13.760 --> 0:36:18.040 Our last story is told by another Mississippian named Med 0:36:18.160 --> 0:36:22.040 Palmer met as a biologist for the state and best 0:36:22.080 --> 0:36:25.040 I can tell, he's the greatest turkey hunter who has 0:36:25.080 --> 0:36:28.680 ever lived, period, or at least that's the way that 0:36:28.719 --> 0:36:31.840 people that know him talk about him. And he's no 0:36:31.880 --> 0:36:35.759 stranger to bear grease. If you recall, he lost his 0:36:35.920 --> 0:36:39.040 son in a tragic accident on the Mississippi River in 0:36:39.080 --> 0:36:44.000 December of twenty twenty. This story is about Gunner, his 0:36:44.239 --> 0:36:48.840 son's last turkey hunt and an incredible experience Med had 0:36:48.880 --> 0:36:53.800 the following year. Here's the greatest turkey hnna that ever lived, 0:36:54.600 --> 0:36:55.680 Med Palmer. 0:36:58.440 --> 0:37:03.200 My be had Palmer County, Mississippi. The spring of twenty 0:37:03.400 --> 0:37:06.440 twenty was an unusual year of turkey hunt. It was 0:37:06.920 --> 0:37:10.600 it was a year that COVID had started and school 0:37:10.760 --> 0:37:13.320 was out worked They were pretty much telling us to 0:37:13.360 --> 0:37:17.719 work from home. So basically we could turkey hunt every day. 0:37:17.840 --> 0:37:20.720 Me and my son gone him and uh. The limit 0:37:20.840 --> 0:37:23.480 here in Mississippi's three and I limited out about middle 0:37:23.480 --> 0:37:28.080 to the season, and Gunner, like one turkey limited out. 0:37:28.360 --> 0:37:31.839 So we had got down to the last day of 0:37:31.880 --> 0:37:34.200 the season. I had saved that last day for just 0:37:34.239 --> 0:37:36.560 me and him, you know, did enjoy hunting together and 0:37:36.920 --> 0:37:40.160 hopefully he get his last bird. And there was a 0:37:40.160 --> 0:37:42.759 bird he had hunted through the season that had give 0:37:42.800 --> 0:37:45.320 him bits. I asked him, like for so, where you 0:37:45.360 --> 0:37:46.600 want to go? He said, I want to try that 0:37:46.600 --> 0:37:48.800 bird again. So we go in there that morning to 0:37:48.800 --> 0:37:50.080 get on the bird, and the bird was right on 0:37:50.120 --> 0:37:52.720 the property line. I actually flew up on the property 0:37:52.760 --> 0:37:55.040 next to us. We couldn't hunt got with hens, and 0:37:55.080 --> 0:37:57.279 we just couldn't do nothing with you. I said, well 0:37:57.280 --> 0:37:59.680 next year, I said, opening day, I said, we'll be back. 0:38:00.320 --> 0:38:03.400 So we started heading to the house. I told him, 0:38:03.400 --> 0:38:04.600 I said, I got one more spot. 0:38:05.200 --> 0:38:05.480 I said. 0:38:05.480 --> 0:38:07.319 We've been in there twice this year, but it was 0:38:07.360 --> 0:38:08.680 it's an ordeal to get in there. 0:38:08.719 --> 0:38:09.600 It's like a three. 0:38:09.400 --> 0:38:13.080 Mile drive on a little fire land to get in there, 0:38:13.080 --> 0:38:14.640 and then you got to walk by another quarter of 0:38:14.640 --> 0:38:17.080 a mile to get to where the turkeys are. He said, 0:38:17.080 --> 0:38:19.080 we've been in there twice. We hadn't heard any birds. 0:38:19.080 --> 0:38:20.840 And I said, well that partext for spot's got a 0:38:20.880 --> 0:38:23.120 lot of good nesting. I said, late in the season, 0:38:23.120 --> 0:38:26.080 those hens come in there and started nesting. I said, 0:38:26.080 --> 0:38:28.680 the gobblers, you know, they'll follow them, they'll be with them. 0:38:29.320 --> 0:38:31.480 So we get we start going in there that morning 0:38:31.480 --> 0:38:33.960 about nine o'clock we drive in there and get out 0:38:34.000 --> 0:38:36.479 walked and God, I really didn't think we was gonna 0:38:36.480 --> 0:38:39.080 hear anything. He was standing there kind of with his 0:38:39.160 --> 0:38:41.440 head lord, which we was wore out. It had been 0:38:41.440 --> 0:38:46.359 a long season and uh the first year Turkey. God 0:38:46.480 --> 0:38:49.040 was in the distance about three hundred yards, and he 0:38:49.080 --> 0:38:51.239 looked at me and started grinting, and I said, come on. 0:38:51.360 --> 0:38:54.319 So weave in there, got set up and got set 0:38:54.400 --> 0:38:56.760 up on the birds. And I figured it be maybe 0:38:56.800 --> 0:38:59.560 one or two hens that late season. Man, when I yep, 0:38:59.600 --> 0:39:01.680 after we shut up, it was like seven or eight 0:39:01.719 --> 0:39:05.359 hens cutting up. They started taking him away. Well, they 0:39:05.400 --> 0:39:07.520 got about one hundred and fifty yards and hung up, 0:39:07.719 --> 0:39:10.400 and the gobbler hung up the hens I think they 0:39:10.480 --> 0:39:12.600 was yet and trying to pull him, but he didn't 0:39:12.640 --> 0:39:15.800 want to leave. So we pooled with him, back and forth, 0:39:15.840 --> 0:39:19.520 back and forth, probably for another hour or so. Well 0:39:19.680 --> 0:39:22.160 it was twelve o'clock straight up, because I looked at 0:39:22.200 --> 0:39:24.799 my phone. All of a sudden he broke and he 0:39:24.840 --> 0:39:28.000 starts coming. Well, he's coming up a fire lane and 0:39:28.080 --> 0:39:29.960 we couldn't see him because the road made a bend 0:39:30.000 --> 0:39:32.479 about thirty yards in front of us, and I yep, 0:39:32.520 --> 0:39:34.520 and he gobbled right around the bend. I told Gunner, said, 0:39:34.520 --> 0:39:36.320 you better get your gun up. I come around the curves. 0:39:36.360 --> 0:39:37.680 Matter of practice, I see it and I could see 0:39:37.760 --> 0:39:40.319 him coming gun and couldn't seehim at that time. I said, look, 0:39:40.440 --> 0:39:43.400 just let him come. Let's enjoy the show. He rouns 0:39:43.400 --> 0:39:46.719 a bend, he comes in there, Gunner shoots him, so 0:39:46.760 --> 0:39:49.000 he kills him. We took her to death, went down 0:39:49.000 --> 0:39:52.640 to the wire the last day. You know, he got 0:39:52.640 --> 0:39:56.400 it done well. What I didn't know was that was 0:39:56.440 --> 0:40:02.359 Gunner's last turkey hunt that year, December third, twenty twenty. 0:40:02.440 --> 0:40:06.480 Gun it was an accident on Misissippi River. Actually scout 0:40:06.520 --> 0:40:09.200 in the turkeys for a veteran to take take a 0:40:09.239 --> 0:40:14.520 bean duck hunting the next day, and uh and we looked, 0:40:14.520 --> 0:40:17.799 and you know, to this day, we've never found gun 0:40:17.800 --> 0:40:18.160 of ours. 0:40:18.160 --> 0:40:19.480 Buddy. 0:40:20.320 --> 0:40:23.360 The next year, I didn't even know if I was 0:40:23.360 --> 0:40:25.919 gonna turkey hunt or not. I mean, I'd lost my son, 0:40:25.960 --> 0:40:28.960 I lost my hunting buddy. You know, it's real hard. 0:40:29.320 --> 0:40:33.680 And the day before the season, I decided I'm on hunt, 0:40:33.920 --> 0:40:36.840 you know. And actually nobody had called me that year 0:40:37.080 --> 0:40:40.200 to ask to go turkey hunt, which generally bopening week. 0:40:40.560 --> 0:40:44.640 I've got the first twenty Days book, and that year 0:40:44.719 --> 0:40:48.680 nobody had called. Anyway, I beside was gonna go. I 0:40:48.680 --> 0:40:51.120 was gonna go to the last place where Gunner, me 0:40:51.160 --> 0:40:54.120 and him hunting that bird that we didn't kill that 0:40:54.280 --> 0:40:58.600 last day. He was probably the longest walk of my 0:40:58.719 --> 0:41:01.359 life was that first I am turkey hunt without him. 0:41:01.920 --> 0:41:05.120 But anyway, got in there, turkey come in, and I 0:41:05.200 --> 0:41:09.160 killed it. It rocked on that whole season. I had 0:41:09.160 --> 0:41:11.000 an off season. I don't think I called, but like 0:41:11.120 --> 0:41:15.160 ten turkeys that was killed. To be honest with you, 0:41:15.280 --> 0:41:18.720 I had lost my spirit. In the Bible, it talks 0:41:18.719 --> 0:41:24.080 about somebody losing their spirit. So it rocked on into 0:41:24.120 --> 0:41:28.840 the next year and I had some really exceptional hunt 0:41:28.960 --> 0:41:33.240 with some disabled people, but I was still just amling 0:41:33.280 --> 0:41:35.520 a long turkey hunt. You know, I just didn't have 0:41:35.560 --> 0:41:39.200 that fire i'd had before. You know, I had lost 0:41:39.200 --> 0:41:41.839 my way and I don't know how to put it. 0:41:43.280 --> 0:41:46.239 So finally I decided, I said, I'm gonna go in 0:41:46.360 --> 0:41:49.760 there in the morning. We're gonna kill his last turkey. 0:41:50.239 --> 0:41:52.719 Because I couldn't even think about going that next year, 0:41:52.880 --> 0:41:55.200 right after accident, I said I need to do it, 0:41:55.200 --> 0:41:57.480 and need to get it over with. You know, that's 0:41:57.480 --> 0:41:59.160 where I'm going in the morning. I said, it's early 0:41:59.200 --> 0:42:02.040 in the season. I said, I probably won't hear nothing 0:42:02.560 --> 0:42:05.279 because they hadn't moved in there. They're not nesting yet. 0:42:06.000 --> 0:42:07.759 So I get in there that morning. Had to leave 0:42:07.800 --> 0:42:09.480 real early because, like I said, it's a pretty good 0:42:09.560 --> 0:42:11.120 ride in there. I get in there and then I 0:42:11.200 --> 0:42:13.799 walk and I get there probably about ten minutes before 0:42:13.800 --> 0:42:16.840 gobble time. And he gets about time. Birds starts chirping. 0:42:16.840 --> 0:42:19.840 So I hoop and low and behold a turkey gobbles. 0:42:19.880 --> 0:42:21.759 I said, man, he's right in there, close to where 0:42:21.800 --> 0:42:26.680 Gunner was and it's still, you know, dark. So I 0:42:26.719 --> 0:42:28.799 get in there, and the turkey gobbled early. So I 0:42:28.800 --> 0:42:30.680 get in there and get set up by a hundred 0:42:30.760 --> 0:42:33.239 yard from him, like you want to do. Well, this 0:42:33.280 --> 0:42:35.760 starts getting light, and all of a sudden, I look around. 0:42:35.800 --> 0:42:38.680 I said, I am on the very same tree Gunner 0:42:38.719 --> 0:42:42.440 was on when he shot this turkey. And it starts 0:42:42.480 --> 0:42:45.880 getting lighter. Of course, you know, it's emotional, you know, 0:42:45.920 --> 0:42:48.600 because I said, what is the odds a man coming 0:42:48.640 --> 0:42:54.239 in these woods two years later? A turkey goblin? And 0:42:54.320 --> 0:42:56.520 where I need to set up is the exact same 0:42:56.600 --> 0:42:59.960 tree where Gunner was when he killed his last turn. 0:43:00.760 --> 0:43:05.000 And about that time it dawned on me. I said, 0:43:05.120 --> 0:43:07.840 when Gunner shot, I said, he pumped the shot Gunn's 0:43:07.840 --> 0:43:12.000 shooting at twenty gauge eight seventy. I said his shell 0:43:12.040 --> 0:43:14.480 would be to the right. And I looked over and 0:43:14.600 --> 0:43:16.759 about a foot from me there laid that shell. It 0:43:16.840 --> 0:43:20.160 was pine straw when a lead covering half of it, 0:43:20.200 --> 0:43:22.040 but the yellow part of that twenty gate shell was 0:43:22.080 --> 0:43:26.040 sticking up, and it really got emotional them. And you know, 0:43:26.120 --> 0:43:29.040 I'd quit calling because my mind was somewhere else. And 0:43:29.120 --> 0:43:31.839 that turkey keeps gobbling on his own, like, hey, don't 0:43:31.880 --> 0:43:34.799 forget about ma'am, I'm stealing this tree, you know. And 0:43:34.920 --> 0:43:36.839 it gets about time to fly down. You know how 0:43:36.840 --> 0:43:39.400 they always do. Right before they fly down, they'll be 0:43:39.400 --> 0:43:41.200 godden to head off and then they'll go quiet for 0:43:41.280 --> 0:43:44.000 a minute. He had done that. He guy said, he's 0:43:44.000 --> 0:43:45.560 been a fly down. And by the time I heard 0:43:45.640 --> 0:43:47.360 him fly, it kind of glanced him through the wood. 0:43:47.760 --> 0:43:49.560 Well he flew away from me. So why yep, he 0:43:49.640 --> 0:43:52.960 gobbled in there about one hundred fifty two hundred yard. Well, 0:43:53.120 --> 0:43:56.200 yet again he's gone to bother, and then all of 0:43:56.239 --> 0:43:59.000 a sudden, the next time, I yep, he gobbled about 0:43:59.000 --> 0:44:01.600 seventy five yards over the hill. I said, he's coming. 0:44:02.400 --> 0:44:04.040 So I get my gun up and I'm still in 0:44:04.120 --> 0:44:06.359 most you know, all this is going through my head. 0:44:06.440 --> 0:44:09.520 I said, this ain't been in the hat. I said, 0:44:09.680 --> 0:44:11.759 I'm not gonna kill a turkey sitting on the very 0:44:11.920 --> 0:44:16.239 same tree that Gunner killed his last turkey. I see 0:44:16.239 --> 0:44:20.040 the pan pop up over the hill. He comes right down. 0:44:20.320 --> 0:44:22.600 He gets about twenty five yards on the side of 0:44:22.640 --> 0:44:25.600 a ridge, and all of a sudden, you know how 0:44:25.640 --> 0:44:27.680 the dew in the morning, when the sun comes up, 0:44:27.719 --> 0:44:31.439 it makes raised to the trees. It's like God put 0:44:31.520 --> 0:44:33.600 him on stage. All of a sudden, the sun broke 0:44:33.640 --> 0:44:36.879 out and it was raised, the sun just beaming on it. 0:44:36.880 --> 0:44:39.359 It was the most beautiful sight I've ever seen in 0:44:39.400 --> 0:44:42.200 my life. He strutted there for twenty minute till I 0:44:42.239 --> 0:44:45.920 finally decided, you know, I need to do this. It 0:44:46.000 --> 0:44:48.000 was going through my mind. I'm not gonna kill him. 0:44:48.440 --> 0:44:51.440 I'm gonna let him live. And then I said, no, 0:44:51.680 --> 0:44:53.799 if I don't shoot this turkey, Gunner be so mad 0:44:53.840 --> 0:44:56.920 at me. And finally, and you know, I yep, made 0:44:57.000 --> 0:44:58.600 him raise his head and I killed him. But it 0:44:58.760 --> 0:45:01.880 was being I'm saying, a whole lot of turkeys before 0:45:01.920 --> 0:45:04.040 in my life, but that turkey by boy. I could 0:45:04.040 --> 0:45:06.120 literally see every car he had turned different, and I 0:45:06.160 --> 0:45:09.440 could see a different color. And it happened on the 0:45:09.440 --> 0:45:12.520 bey same trade that Gunner killed his last. I mean, 0:45:12.560 --> 0:45:14.640 there's no doubt in my mind that the Good Lord 0:45:14.680 --> 0:45:19.080 and Gunner said I'm okay, And that day I got 0:45:19.080 --> 0:45:21.719 my fire and my spirit back my turkey hunt now 0:45:21.880 --> 0:45:25.799 just like I always did, and I needed that to 0:45:25.880 --> 0:45:26.719 get me back on. 0:45:31.560 --> 0:45:36.640 That may be the greatest turkey story ever told. What 0:45:36.719 --> 0:45:39.160 a privilege that we get to hear it directly from Med. 0:45:40.280 --> 0:45:42.719 Thank you for sharing that story so that we can 0:45:42.760 --> 0:45:47.360 all celebrate Gunner's life. 0:45:52.560 --> 0:45:55.320 I can't thank you enough for listening to Bear Grease. 0:45:55.840 --> 0:45:58.920 Please share our podcast with a friend this week and 0:45:59.040 --> 0:46:01.919 be watching for me Eater's Turkey Week, which is coming 0:46:02.040 --> 0:46:05.640 up where Brent and I'll be facing off in another 0:46:05.760 --> 0:46:09.680 turkey calling contest. Now, I want you to know that 0:46:09.800 --> 0:46:12.560 I'll be looking for your vote, but not for any 0:46:12.600 --> 0:46:15.839 reason other that I'm just a better color than Brent, 0:46:16.160 --> 0:46:22.040 and I think we all know that and keep watching 0:46:22.160 --> 0:46:26.040 for First Light's new tree line Turkey Best. Yep, first 0:46:26.120 --> 0:46:28.600 Light as a new Turkey Best. We've been using them 0:46:28.600 --> 0:46:32.719 for a couple of years, the prototypes and truly it's 0:46:32.760 --> 0:46:33.760 a great best. 0:46:34.239 --> 0:46:34.799 Check it out. 0:46:35.600 --> 0:46:38.839 Keep the wild places wild because that's where the bears live.