WEBVTT - Ep. 447: Backwoods University - Turkey Stamps 0:00:02.440 --> 0:00:06.199 Welcome to Backwoods University, a place where we focus on wildlife, 0:00:06.400 --> 0:00:09.320 wild places and the people who dedicate their lives to 0:00:09.360 --> 0:00:12.239 conserving both dig shout out to onex Hunt for their 0:00:12.240 --> 0:00:15.720 support of this podcast. I'm your host, Lake Pickle, And 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:18.520 on today's episode, we're gonna hear from a turkey hunter 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:21.400 who's been around since some of the original turkey conservation 0:00:21.480 --> 0:00:24.360 works started. We're gonna go on a turkey hunt, and 0:00:24.400 --> 0:00:27.400 then we're gonna sit down in the magical spring Woods 0:00:27.400 --> 0:00:30.360 with one of the individuals who championed the new Mississippi 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:33.839 Turkey stamp. This episode has action from start to finish, 0:00:33.880 --> 0:00:34.760 So y'all settle in. 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:36.159 It's time to get into it. 0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:50.920 Are you, sir? 0:00:53.240 --> 0:00:58.600 Oh, I can't complain. I'm doing just fine. 0:01:00.240 --> 0:01:03.560 Blake Nickles, Jamie Quick good to make you, sir, good 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:05.280 to meet you, Thanks for having me. 0:01:07.280 --> 0:01:09.320 I just pulled into the driveway of a man named 0:01:09.319 --> 0:01:11.800 mister Jamie Quick. And if that name or the voice 0:01:11.800 --> 0:01:14.280 attached to it happens to sound familiar, you may have 0:01:14.319 --> 0:01:16.319 heard mister Jamie tell a story on one of the 0:01:16.360 --> 0:01:19.880 recent Turkey Story Bear Grease episodes. Believe me, he's got 0:01:19.959 --> 0:01:21.479 more stories than just that one. 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:24.827 This mean you've got the shop before we go in 0:01:24.827 --> 0:01:25.040 the house. 0:01:25.120 --> 0:01:25.600 Yes, sir. 0:01:30.600 --> 0:01:33.240 I followed mister Jamie into his shop, where he shows 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:36.240 me a glass case filled with turkey spurs and stacks 0:01:36.280 --> 0:01:37.400 of old Turkey pictures. 0:01:37.720 --> 0:01:39.760 The old school kind of pictures, the ones that you 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:41.400 had to drop a roll of film off at the 0:01:41.440 --> 0:01:43.400 local records and wait for it to be developed. 0:01:44.160 --> 0:01:47.640 Oh yeah, I know, I sense your picture, Yes, sir, 0:01:47.720 --> 0:01:56.080 that's that's that's the collection. That's my dys James W. 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:01.040 Frother the first and she h, what year would this 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:03.760 have been? And you remember, I. 0:02:03.640 --> 0:02:06.360 Don't remember when she she probably can. 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:08.240 Always says I'm back there man. 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:12.680 Ten inch Beard ninety eight, nineteen ninety eight eight. 0:02:13.040 --> 0:02:15.919 Her, Well, we used to take pictures like this. I 0:02:17.360 --> 0:02:20.800 was mad about writing the day told them. Oh yeah, 0:02:20.960 --> 0:02:26.760 and one of the the big spurs is up there. 0:02:27.040 --> 0:02:28.480 Yeah, the one he's sitting me in a picture of. 0:02:28.960 --> 0:02:30.200 That's a great spurre turkey. 0:02:30.760 --> 0:02:38.040 That's alf a little bit years just nineteen eighties. Mighty good. 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:43.840 Like I said, mister Jamie has plenty of Turkey knowledge 0:02:43.880 --> 0:02:46.000 and stories to share with us, and I think it's 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:46.799 time we dove in. 0:02:47.680 --> 0:02:48.840 What year did you start. 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:51.040 Turkey on in the Sprague of nineteen eighties. 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:55.560 Okay, was there Did you have any knowledge Did you 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:57.519 know of anyone turkey hunting and around you or in 0:02:57.560 --> 0:02:58.799 the community prior to that. 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:05.320 Yes. The fellow that got me started, he's from here, 0:03:05.360 --> 0:03:07.960 he was raised here, but he worked for the Sole 0:03:08.080 --> 0:03:12.240 Conservation Agency, all right. He was stationed at Forest, Mississippi. 0:03:13.120 --> 0:03:16.799 He got into big turkey hunt and at Forest well, 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:20.520 he got transferred back to Covnan County and there was 0:03:20.560 --> 0:03:24.760 a few turkeys scattered here there and yonder, but he 0:03:24.760 --> 0:03:28.840 didn't have anybody to talk turkey with. So he got 0:03:29.520 --> 0:03:33.519 another fellow to go with him, and he got hunting, 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:36.680 wanted somebody else, so he got me to go with him. 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:40.360 And that's how I got started. I called him one 0:03:40.440 --> 0:03:42.400 day and told him, I said, look, I want to 0:03:42.440 --> 0:03:45.400 go with you in the morning. He said, well, I'll 0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:48.360 have to check with this other fellow because said he's 0:03:48.400 --> 0:03:51.200 got one roosted. I said, I'm gonna go try to 0:03:51.200 --> 0:03:54.520 get him. So he called him, and the other fellow, 0:03:54.560 --> 0:03:57.840 which is just a next door neighbor, said oh, yeah, 0:03:57.840 --> 0:03:59.760 it's found for him to go. Says let him go, 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:02.240 which I didn't care of. Going or anything. I just 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:06.800 went with them. Well, we checked out that morning. We 0:04:06.840 --> 0:04:10.600 went over on Leaf River. Leaf River was out of 0:04:10.640 --> 0:04:14.400 its banks and it was coming a hurricane that morning, 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:19.720 wind blowing nine into nothing. But we heard a turkey 0:04:20.640 --> 0:04:23.800 and I got hooked from that first morning. 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:27.200 Now, any turkey hunter can relate with this. There's just 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:29.719 something about the sound of a gobbling longbeard that gets 0:04:29.800 --> 0:04:30.680 under your skin. 0:04:30.760 --> 0:04:31.520 And stays there. 0:04:31.920 --> 0:04:33.920 I want to ask mister Jamie about some of what 0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:35.920 it was like turkey hunting back then. 0:04:36.320 --> 0:04:38.120 Were there a lot of turkey hunters around. 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:41.480 Well, I tell you the first year and the second year, 0:04:42.240 --> 0:04:46.560 I see, I delivered fuel for business. I was a 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:51.279 petroleum jobber out of business in Collins. I delivered to 0:04:51.320 --> 0:04:54.680 all these farmers. Well, he was worked for the sole 0:04:54.800 --> 0:04:59.560 conservation army of a department. All the farmers were coming 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:03.679 into him office. So we began to ask questions. County 0:05:03.760 --> 0:05:09.600 turkeys on your place? Yeah, yeah, anybody hunt. Now, ain't 0:05:09.600 --> 0:05:13.679 nobody hunt? But do you care if somebody you plumb welcome? 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:20.920 We hunted the first two years. We hunted from the 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:23.320 north end of the county to the south end, from 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:27.240 the east side to the west side. We run into 0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:30.960 three different hunters, all sizes of ourself. That whole year. 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:34.800 That sounds like a different world compared to today. 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:39.839 It was a different world. But then every year after 0:05:39.920 --> 0:05:46.080 that we had good hatches. Turkeys were multiplying both more 0:05:46.200 --> 0:05:49.760 and more and more and more got into it. 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:52.960 As a listen to mister Jamie tells stories from turkey 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.560 hunting back in the eighties, the ease and getting permission 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.240 to hunt, the lack of other turkey hunters in the area. 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:01.279 I can't help but think about how closely this mirrors 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:03.880 many of the stories that we heard from mister Benny Hearing, 0:06:04.160 --> 0:06:07.200 which shouldn't really seem all that surprising. Although they are 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:09.520 in different parts of the state, both of their early 0:06:09.560 --> 0:06:12.479 turkey hunting years happened around the same time. I just 0:06:12.520 --> 0:06:16.239 find that time frame so fascinating, the history of turkeys. 0:06:17.080 --> 0:06:21.320 But now, the first few years that we hunted, I say, 0:06:21.360 --> 0:06:24.839 the first four or five years, if you heard a 0:06:24.880 --> 0:06:31.480 turkey gobble, you d you've done something. Yeah, they just 0:06:31.760 --> 0:06:36.840 were not that many turkeys. Of course, we didn't have 0:06:36.960 --> 0:06:38.240 the turkey hunters. 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:42.159 Either, right right, So what so you that you kind 0:06:42.160 --> 0:06:45.880 of started in a unique spot then, so when you started, 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:47.920 when there weren't that many, and then you saw it, 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:50.680 saw it, saw it explode, and then you kind of 0:06:50.720 --> 0:06:52.760 saw it kind of level out to where it's at now. 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:58.120 Well, Uh, it hit its peak? Is true? 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:01.400 You participated in the Spring Turkey Star for a long time. 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:04.440 Ever since it comes started every year. 0:07:05.200 --> 0:07:05.960 And when did it start? 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:11.400 I don't remember. I don't remember, but I just happened 0:07:11.440 --> 0:07:13.880 to get on the mailing list. Yeah, I mean there 0:07:13.920 --> 0:07:16.240 was nothing that I did. They just sent me a survey. 0:07:16.440 --> 0:07:17.040 Yeah. 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:20.239 But whatever year they started, I've had one every year. 0:07:20.480 --> 0:07:23.840 Yeah, so they the first year it started, you were 0:07:23.880 --> 0:07:25.920 on the mailing list. What did they have you do 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:28.200 the first year? The same thing they have you doing now. 0:07:28.280 --> 0:07:31.920 Just today, the same same booklet when you started hunting? 0:07:31.960 --> 0:07:38.200 How many gobbles did you hear? Just how many do 0:07:38.320 --> 0:07:41.440 you harvest this year? And you run up on any 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:44.720 hens that were nesting or see anything that will see it. 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:48.760 It's just questions that they asked, want to know, And 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:51.360 you still do it to this year. I still do 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:55.600 it even though I can't Even though I can't hear 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:59.440 the gobbles like I used to, I still fell out 0:07:59.440 --> 0:08:01.440 the survey. What I do is you to hear? 0:08:01.720 --> 0:08:05.280 Yeah, The Spring Gobbler Survey was initiated in nineteen ninety 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:08.360 five by the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks. 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.400 It's a voluntary program used to gain long term data 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:15.080 on wild turkey activity and populations, and it really leaned 0:08:15.120 --> 0:08:18.160 on the hunters for being the citizen scientist, so to speak. 0:08:18.360 --> 0:08:20.960 Mister Jamie would have been fifteen years into his turkey 0:08:21.000 --> 0:08:23.680 hunting career when it started, and he's been doing it 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:27.280 every spring ever since, which I think is just too cool. 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:30.960 We're about to wrap up with mister Jamie, but before 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:33.720 we do, there's one really cool part of his story 0:08:33.720 --> 0:08:35.080 that just can't be left out. 0:08:35.880 --> 0:08:38.440 You made mention to me when we spoke on the 0:08:38.440 --> 0:08:42.480 phone before this. You're talking about your grandson. You said 0:08:42.520 --> 0:08:47.080 something along the lines of I can't remember exactly how 0:08:47.120 --> 0:08:49.240 you worded it, but said something about it. You're teaching 0:08:49.280 --> 0:08:50.920 him how to hunt him right or hunt them. 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:53.120 Old school, old schedule. 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:54.720 What do you mean by that? 0:08:57.400 --> 0:09:01.400 You just you hear that turkey, You go to him, 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:06.280 set up and call him to you. No no bait, 0:09:06.640 --> 0:09:10.679 no nothing. Yes, it's just you and him. 0:09:11.040 --> 0:09:12.120 That's the way you like to do it. 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:14.719 That's the way I like to do it, and the 0:09:14.840 --> 0:09:19.160 lynch box's then earned the cabinet. I carried it with me, 0:09:19.240 --> 0:09:22.520 and I couldn't tell you when you don't. 0:09:22.720 --> 0:09:27.079 So you're not. Let me make sure you're not using calls? 0:09:27.320 --> 0:09:30.920 Oh yes, what are you using? I carry it with 0:09:31.040 --> 0:09:33.160 me three hundred and sixty five days a year. 0:09:35.760 --> 0:09:37.080 Oh you're calling with your voice? 0:09:37.200 --> 0:09:38.240 Call him in my mouth? 0:09:38.320 --> 0:09:39.040 That's all you use? 0:09:39.160 --> 0:09:42.840 That's all I use? Really, if I can't, if I 0:09:42.880 --> 0:09:45.280 get a hold of one, did you give me a 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:48.600 lot of trouble? And I did? I can't call. I 0:09:48.800 --> 0:09:53.280 might take the box, but I I can't remember the 0:09:53.360 --> 0:09:57.920 last time I did carry Really, if he's gonna call 0:09:58.000 --> 0:10:02.280 him back, he'll come to me. But they don't all come, 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:04.440 of course they don't. They don't all come. 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:06.600 Yeah, if they all came, I don't think it'd be 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:11.880 as if no, it wouldn't get you as much. Sure, Yeah, yeah, 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:14.600 how did you figure that out? The whole column with 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:16.040 you voice? How'd you figure out you could do that? 0:10:16.200 --> 0:10:22.440 I just got trying it on my own, and my 0:10:22.520 --> 0:10:25.520 buddy and I we joined the Okatoba Hunting Club. One 0:10:25.600 --> 0:10:30.880 year they had turkeys between Collins and Mount Olive Okatoma swamp. 0:10:31.040 --> 0:10:34.000 It was full of turkeys, so we joined the club 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:39.760 to have more space to hunt, and we went up 0:10:39.800 --> 0:10:42.679 there one morning. He went to one turkey and I 0:10:42.720 --> 0:10:48.800 went to a turkey. Well, his finally just left him, 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:52.760 and I'm up to swamp calling one. He is god 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:57.720 with his head off every time I called to him. Well, 0:10:58.840 --> 0:11:00.800 when my buddy got back to the truck, he could 0:11:00.840 --> 0:11:04.360 hear me. It was and it was supposed it was 0:11:04.520 --> 0:11:08.080 misty rain that morning, I left my box and the 0:11:08.120 --> 0:11:11.360 pickup because I didn't want it to get wet, and 0:11:11.440 --> 0:11:16.880 I didn't tell him. Well, he slept up on me, 0:11:17.000 --> 0:11:20.320 got behind me and just set there and listen. He 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:23.280 wanted to be listened to me called he listed turkey gobble. 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:26.400 I didn't get to turkey because he had hints with him. 0:11:27.600 --> 0:11:29.959 We got back to the truck. He helped me to 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:32.520 see that my box on the dash of the pickup. 0:11:33.559 --> 0:11:37.120 He said, what are you calling that turkey with? I said, 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:39.640 I was calling him with my mouth. He said, well, 0:11:39.679 --> 0:11:41.720 you take that box and stick it under the truck 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:45.360 wheel and run over it. You don't need it. And 0:11:45.480 --> 0:11:48.160 I've been been calling him with my mouth ever since. 0:11:49.600 --> 0:11:51.160 Let me just throw this one out there. 0:11:51.480 --> 0:11:54.440 Me personally, I'm glad they make turkey calls because if 0:11:54.480 --> 0:11:56.480 I had to rely on my natural voice like mister 0:11:56.559 --> 0:11:59.000 Jamie does, I don't think I would ever kill a turkey. 0:11:59.160 --> 0:12:00.360 It's an impressive skill. 0:12:01.880 --> 0:12:04.280 To formally wrap things up with mister Jamie, I want 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:06.360 him to share his thoughts on the current state of 0:12:06.360 --> 0:12:10.120 turkeys as well as the future of turkey out right now. 0:12:11.040 --> 0:12:14.880 They're making a good callback now. We last year we 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:17.720 had the best hatch local to hear that we've had 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:24.959 in years. I called, have you ever met Adam Butler? Oh? 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:26.080 Yeah, he's a good friend. 0:12:26.240 --> 0:12:29.239 I called Adham and told him one day. I said, Adam, 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:33.880 we were fortunate here to County County and he says, well, 0:12:33.880 --> 0:12:36.880 I'm glad you called me. He says, I'm getting calls 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:42.520 from Jeff Davis County, Lawrence County, Simpson County, Smith County, 0:12:42.880 --> 0:12:43.720 big hatches. 0:12:44.440 --> 0:12:47.040 Thank you for the time and for the stories, mister Jamie. 0:12:47.240 --> 0:12:49.959 It sure was a pleasure, and I always love hearing 0:12:49.960 --> 0:12:52.440 the turkey numbers are doing good in an area. It 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:55.760 was also rather perfect that he mentioned Adam Butler right 0:12:55.760 --> 0:12:58.440 there at the end. You see, if y'all remember I 0:12:58.480 --> 0:13:00.520 said at the beginning of this episode that we would 0:13:00.520 --> 0:13:03.360 be going turkey hunting and sitting in the woods having 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:06.080 a conversation with one of the individuals who championed the 0:13:06.120 --> 0:13:09.880 new turkey stamp in Mississippi. And that individual just happens 0:13:09.920 --> 0:13:12.760 to be Adam Butler. So heck, what are we waiting for? 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:14.040 Let's go turkey hunt. 0:13:22.920 --> 0:13:25.160 It all started with a text exchange. 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:27.640 The next thing I know, I'm meeting my good friend 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.760 Adam at four am to rendezvous before heading deep into. 0:13:30.559 --> 0:13:31.360 The Turkey woods. 0:13:31.640 --> 0:13:33.640 It was so dark when we started the trek from 0:13:33.640 --> 0:13:35.880 our trucks into the woods that the stars in the 0:13:35.880 --> 0:13:37.800 sky were the only thing that gave us some sense 0:13:37.840 --> 0:13:40.920 of direction. We reached our preferred listening spot and plenty 0:13:40.920 --> 0:13:42.920 of time, and we sat there in the dark, making 0:13:42.960 --> 0:13:45.720 small talk in a whisper tone, as many turkey hunters do, 0:13:46.160 --> 0:13:48.720 when out of nowhere the woods erupted with a gobble 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:50.120 not two hundred yards away. 0:13:50.760 --> 0:13:51.440 He was early. 0:13:52.000 --> 0:13:54.400 We weren't expecting to hear a turkey for another fifteen 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:56.760 minutes or so, but hey, no one ever gets mad 0:13:56.840 --> 0:14:00.199 about an early gobble. We slipped down about sixty yard 0:14:00.280 --> 0:14:02.280 to make our first set up. The turkeys were in 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:05.480 a small hardwood drain surrounded by pines. I was going 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:07.600 to drop behind Adam and hope to pull one of 0:14:07.600 --> 0:14:09.840 the gobblers just to the edge of the pines so. 0:14:09.760 --> 0:14:10.959 That he could get a shot. 0:14:11.160 --> 0:14:13.640 As we waited for fly down, the turkeys were getting 0:14:13.720 --> 0:14:17.120 really cranked up. One gobbler soon turned into multiple, and 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:19.320 then the hens joined in on the chorus. It was 0:14:19.440 --> 0:14:22.320 quite the springtime commotion, the kind that made you just 0:14:22.320 --> 0:14:24.560 feel thankful that you were there to hear it. When 0:14:24.600 --> 0:14:27.840 the gobblers hit the ground, we started calling, and although 0:14:27.880 --> 0:14:31.120 they did cut significant distance, they never got quite close 0:14:31.240 --> 0:14:33.960 enough to give Adam a shot, and eventually they faded 0:14:33.960 --> 0:14:36.840 back down into the drain. Adam and I backed out 0:14:36.880 --> 0:14:39.800 and formed another game plan. It sounded like the turkeys 0:14:39.840 --> 0:14:42.600 were wanting to head due north up the drain towards 0:14:42.640 --> 0:14:45.360 a fresh cutover. We thought if we made a big 0:14:45.400 --> 0:14:47.720 loop and got in the drain with them, we might 0:14:47.760 --> 0:14:49.880 have a chance, but we were going to have to 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:53.680 move quick. We started walking that direction, dodging briers and 0:14:53.680 --> 0:14:56.120 hearing fat gobbles as we went on. When we made 0:14:56.120 --> 0:14:57.480 it to the end of the drain, where we were 0:14:57.520 --> 0:15:00.400 trying to get to our pace slowed had and heard 0:15:00.400 --> 0:15:02.280 them gobble in a while, and we wanted to be 0:15:02.360 --> 0:15:05.600 cautious and not blow anything out. Thankfully, when we were 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:08.560 about fifty yards away, we heard them gobble, still two 0:15:08.680 --> 0:15:10.440 hundred yards or so away from us. 0:15:10.960 --> 0:15:11.440 Perfect. 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:14.240 We eased into the edge of the drain and made 0:15:14.280 --> 0:15:17.840 a setup. I was sitting roughly thirty yards behind Adam. 0:15:17.560 --> 0:15:18.840 And we commenced calling. 0:15:19.320 --> 0:15:21.720 They answered, and for a minute or two we thought 0:15:21.720 --> 0:15:25.200 they were gaining quick ground. That initial excitement faded when 0:15:25.200 --> 0:15:28.040 they hung up at about one hundred and seventy yards. However, 0:15:28.280 --> 0:15:30.120 both of us felt confident that we were in. 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:33.600 A good location. We continued to call intermittently and they 0:15:33.600 --> 0:15:36.760 would answer us just about every time. It had likely 0:15:36.800 --> 0:15:39.120 been about twenty minutes when I saw Adam gopher his 0:15:39.200 --> 0:15:42.520 binos strutter. He said, right on the edge of the drain, 0:15:42.840 --> 0:15:46.080 still about one hundred and seventy yards good. I thought, 0:15:46.440 --> 0:15:49.320 hopefully they'll work this way. We sat there for a 0:15:49.360 --> 0:15:52.360 few more minutes, calling every so often, thinking it would 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:54.560 still be a while before we had any real action. 0:15:55.160 --> 0:15:57.040 Spoiler alert, we were wrong. 0:15:57.720 --> 0:15:59.840 It had been somewhere between five and ten minutes in 0:16:00.160 --> 0:16:02.840 Adam spotted the strutter with his binos, and I happened 0:16:02.840 --> 0:16:05.040 to catch a black blob of feathers. 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:05.880 Move between two trees. 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:08.440 I focused in on that area when all of a sudden, 0:16:08.600 --> 0:16:10.960 I saw the fan of a long bearded gobbler pop 0:16:11.040 --> 0:16:12.840 up from the green grass headed our direction. 0:16:13.240 --> 0:16:15.200 He was eighty yards and closing. 0:16:18.000 --> 0:16:20.800 Now one important thing to note. When we made this 0:16:20.880 --> 0:16:23.520 set up, Adam did say, I want to sit on 0:16:23.560 --> 0:16:25.600 the other side of that drain, because I think that's 0:16:25.640 --> 0:16:27.720 where they'll come. But I don't think I can get 0:16:27.760 --> 0:16:29.200 there without spooking anything. 0:16:29.720 --> 0:16:32.400 And let me tell you something. He was right about both. 0:16:32.760 --> 0:16:34.960 There was no way he could have gotten there. But 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:38.160 now that gobbler was eighty yards and closing, and he 0:16:38.360 --> 0:16:39.600 was on the other side of the drain. 0:16:39.960 --> 0:16:42.280 If he kept coming, he would be in range. But 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:44.920 finding a hole to shoot through that would be tricky. 0:16:45.720 --> 0:16:48.240 I watched the gobbler go from eighty to sixty, from 0:16:48.320 --> 0:16:51.480 sixty to forty, his bright red head beaming the whole way. 0:16:52.040 --> 0:16:54.560 Forty turned into thirty, and I was looking back and 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:57.120 forth from the turkey to Adam to see when or 0:16:57.240 --> 0:17:00.280 if he was going to shoot the further. The turkey 0:17:00.320 --> 0:17:03.080 walked down the drain closer to being dead even with us, 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:05.720 the smaller the shot opportunity. 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:05.639 Was going to be. 0:17:06.160 --> 0:17:08.560 He was steady walking, and I just kept waiting for 0:17:08.600 --> 0:17:09.480 a gun to go off. 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:12.000 I didn't know it at the time, but Adam never 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:14.840 had a good shot. And now the turkey had walked 0:17:14.840 --> 0:17:17.600 past us behind a huge wall of cover with no 0:17:17.680 --> 0:17:21.040 more opportunity to shoot. My head was reeling. 0:17:21.320 --> 0:17:24.199 This turkey is still under thirty yards away, but he 0:17:24.280 --> 0:17:25.159 has no shot. 0:17:25.600 --> 0:17:27.280 I did the only thing I knew to do, which 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:29.080 was a hell Mary at best. 0:17:29.400 --> 0:17:31.439 I slid my hand up to my mouth and cupped 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:33.639 it on the left side and yelped as softly as 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:36.280 I could, aiming the sounds of my calls back to 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.920 the right in a feudal attempt that the gobbler would 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:41.280 turn around and come back. I could see through the 0:17:41.320 --> 0:17:43.960 thick vegetation that he had stopped walking when I yelped, 0:17:44.200 --> 0:17:47.880 so I did it again. To my absolute dismay, not 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.000 only did that turkey turn around, but he also hopped 0:17:51.000 --> 0:17:53.359 to our side of the drain and walked to about 0:17:53.400 --> 0:17:54.879 twenty five yards and wigan. 0:17:55.560 --> 0:17:58.160 Adam let him have it. As you could. 0:17:58.000 --> 0:18:01.080 Imagine, there was some high fives and celebrating could be had. 0:18:01.200 --> 0:18:04.320 I mean, a picture perfect spring day in the woods, right, 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:07.480 How could it get any better? Well, I'll tell you 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:17.320 how it can get better. As I've told you all before, 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:21.080 I love wild turkeys and I love turkey hunting. I 0:18:21.119 --> 0:18:23.600 love hearing from guys like mister Jamie Quick that saw 0:18:23.640 --> 0:18:25.760 the rise of turkeys and turkey hunting culture in my 0:18:25.840 --> 0:18:29.320 home state of Mississippi, and I especially love hearing about 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:32.919 his involvement in the Spring Gobbler Survey. Anytime that hunters 0:18:32.920 --> 0:18:35.320 can get to be on the front lines of conservation, man, 0:18:35.760 --> 0:18:37.280 it just makes me flat out happy. 0:18:37.720 --> 0:18:39.640 And that's what we're here to talk about right now. 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:42.520 Right after this hunt took place, and I really do 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:45.760 mean right after this hunt took place, Adam and I 0:18:45.920 --> 0:18:48.760 found some trees to sit by, some shade to hide under, 0:18:49.080 --> 0:18:50.879 and a place to lay that gobbler down. 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:53.160 Where we could both look an Admira and we had 0:18:53.160 --> 0:18:56.720 a conversation about one of the newest forms of turkey conservation, 0:18:57.200 --> 0:19:03.119 the turkey sound. This is that conversation. You could probably 0:19:03.160 --> 0:19:06.400 tell just from the background noise that we're sitting outside 0:19:06.440 --> 0:19:11.280 right now and we're reflecting on what was a pretty 0:19:11.359 --> 0:19:12.520 amazing spring morning. 0:19:12.560 --> 0:19:15.320 I would say it was amazing hard not to call 0:19:15.359 --> 0:19:18.360 it amazing. About as good as it could get. 0:19:19.240 --> 0:19:24.320 Today is March twenty seventh. Where are we two weeks 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:26.919 into regular season or close to it? 0:19:27.000 --> 0:19:27.240 Right? 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:30.560 Two weeks tomorrow tomorrow it'll be two weeks of regular 0:19:30.600 --> 0:19:33.919 season open. Let me ask you something because I'm curious 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:36.240 if you feel the same way. And I feel like 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:39.119 this would apply to a lot of people. For me, 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:42.480 like everyone, you know, a lot of folks travel to 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:44.399 Turkey on these days, and that's something that I do 0:19:44.560 --> 0:19:50.000 enjoy doing. And not even talking about Mississippi specifically. I'm 0:19:50.000 --> 0:19:52.840 talking about Mississippi right now because it's yours in my 0:19:53.280 --> 0:19:57.760 home state. To have a morning like we got to 0:19:57.800 --> 0:19:59.840 have this morning at home. 0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:00.400 Mm hmm. 0:20:01.160 --> 0:20:05.480 It doesn't get any better now, it doesn't. And I'm 0:20:05.520 --> 0:20:07.359 a little bit of an odd ball. I do travel 0:20:07.560 --> 0:20:09.600 to Turkey hunt, but not a ton, not as much 0:20:09.600 --> 0:20:11.920 as a lot of people. I mean, I think I've 0:20:11.960 --> 0:20:15.840 killed turkeys and you know, maybe like eight states, which 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.439 is not a lot in this day and time, but 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:21.600 I get after them here. Yeah, and uh, part of 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:26.119 the part of the reason I probably don't put as 0:20:26.200 --> 0:20:32.240 much emphasis on traveling, uh is for me, turkeys and 0:20:32.320 --> 0:20:36.000 other places don't just match, don't match what it means 0:20:36.040 --> 0:20:39.680 to me back home to Yeah, and I'm blessed enough 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:41.679 to hunt a lot of the same places that I've 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:45.719 hunted all my life, and it just it's really special 0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:49.560 to me to think about hunting turkeys that you know, 0:20:49.680 --> 0:20:54.439 we're the descendants great, great, great great offspring of the 0:20:54.480 --> 0:20:56.359 turkeys that made me fall in love with it. 0:20:56.520 --> 0:21:00.320 Yeah, you know, nearly four decades ago now the same too. 0:21:00.400 --> 0:21:03.160 It's so like in this on this show, we've kind 0:21:03.160 --> 0:21:06.600 of done like a we've had a look back at 0:21:06.640 --> 0:21:12.000 like the earliest turkey restoration efforts and talking to mister 0:21:12.000 --> 0:21:13.679 Benny hearing incredible story. 0:21:13.760 --> 0:21:16.240 Yeah he's awesome, my hero, so awesome. 0:21:16.280 --> 0:21:19.400