WEBVTT - Ep. 100: Spring Turkey Stories 2023 (Part 2) 0:00:05.480 --> 0:00:09.119 And all of a sudden boom. As soon as she shot, 0:00:09.240 --> 0:00:12.600 I jumped up and one of the birds was flying off, 0:00:13.080 --> 0:00:15.520 and the other one had his head up and he 0:00:15.560 --> 0:00:18.520 was just turning his head one eyeball turn another, one 0:00:18.520 --> 0:00:21.480 eyeball turn another, just trying to figure out what's going on. 0:00:21.840 --> 0:00:25.360 And I started screaming, reload, reload, reload, because she's shooting 0:00:25.360 --> 0:00:27.840 this old single shot shotgun and she ain't got but 0:00:27.920 --> 0:00:30.120 one shot. And she's looking at me like, oh no, 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:34.600 what in the world did I do. We've found ourselves 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:38.479 on the rising tide of spring turkey hunting. It's time. 0:00:39.040 --> 0:00:42.240 It's early April, and surely every gobbler in America is 0:00:42.320 --> 0:00:45.800 sounded off in the pre dawn darkness, doing the limbs, strutting, 0:00:45.920 --> 0:00:50.159 drum tight rope walk dance every morning, pitching down with 0:00:50.240 --> 0:00:53.800 the business of love on their mind. The biology of 0:00:53.840 --> 0:00:58.000 turkey breeding is complex yet simple. We understand more than 0:00:58.040 --> 0:01:01.520 we ever have, but much is still a mystery. It's 0:01:01.600 --> 0:01:05.600 fundamental in its purpose pro creation. But to a human 0:01:05.840 --> 0:01:10.720 the spring turkey woods can be poetic, even symbolic. A proud, 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:15.360 beautiful bird strutting his iridescent feathers to the ladies literally 0:01:15.440 --> 0:01:19.440 puffed up, presenting his best self to the world, hoping 0:01:19.520 --> 0:01:23.440 to be appealing, maybe start a family. Isn't that the 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:28.440 story of mankind? A gobble is an excited, hopeful sound 0:01:28.600 --> 0:01:31.800 fitting for the spring. And I do not know whether 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:34.360 the sound of a gobble was made for the spring 0:01:34.680 --> 0:01:37.840 or if the spring was made for it, but goblin 0:01:37.959 --> 0:01:43.160 turkeys create a rare intoxication for many. It's exhilarating to call, 0:01:43.360 --> 0:01:45.480 get a response, and watch a turkey work in the 0:01:45.600 --> 0:01:49.640 shotgun range, and to partake of this ancient ritual. The 0:01:49.760 --> 0:01:52.720 turkey hunter has the opportunity to step into the world 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:56.400 he does not fully understand, and participate in it for 0:01:56.480 --> 0:02:01.960 short windows of time. It's a rare experience. On this episode, 0:02:01.960 --> 0:02:05.680 we've got eight storytellers, one of which is North Carolina 0:02:05.760 --> 0:02:09.799 novelist David Joy. Jim ron Quest also tells us a 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.320 Missouri turkey utton story, and we've got a couple of 0:02:12.360 --> 0:02:16.400 great Mississippi stories again. But also we've got some old 0:02:16.520 --> 0:02:20.640 favorite storytellers and Gary Believer, Nukeam, Brent Reeves, and Andy Brown. 0:02:21.440 --> 0:02:24.760 I really doubt you're gonna want to miss this second 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:27.959 Turkey Stories episode. God, they're just so purty you know, 0:02:28.120 --> 0:02:30.920 some's coming up and kind of backled it through that 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:33.520 tail fan. It's just so per I could see it 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:36.519 like it was yesterday and this has probably been gosh 0:02:36.600 --> 0:02:40.560 nang forty years ago. Holy smoke, that just kind of 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:51.240 did the math in my head. That's that's been a minute. 0:02:52.760 --> 0:02:55.400 My name is Clay Nukem, and this is the bear 0:02:55.480 --> 0:03:00.440 Grease Podcast, where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, search 0:03:00.520 --> 0:03:04.080 for insight and unlikely places, and where we'll tell the 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:08.320 story of Americans who lived their lives close to the land. 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:14.600 Presented by f HF Gear American Maid, purpose built hunting 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:18.160 and fishing gear that's designed to be as rugged as 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:32.480 the place as we explore. Just this week, I killed 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:35.720 a gobbler in Mississippi while hunting with two sure enough 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:39.240 bona fide turkey hunters. You'll meet them next week on 0:03:39.280 --> 0:03:42.680 the bear Grease Render. We all three witnessed the same 0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:45.760 event from slightly different angles, and after the turkey was 0:03:45.800 --> 0:03:50.240 done flopping, we all had three different but very true stories. 0:03:50.920 --> 0:03:53.800 What we all agreed on was the durned thing had 0:03:53.840 --> 0:03:56.600 an eleven and a half inch beard. I ain't even 0:03:56.680 --> 0:04:01.040 lying hearing the interpretation of the event of life through 0:04:01.080 --> 0:04:04.840 the eyes of another is extremely important. It's like using 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:10.520 triangulation and navigation to find an exact location. He saw this, 0:04:11.040 --> 0:04:14.120 the other person saw that, and I know for sure 0:04:14.280 --> 0:04:16.919 what I saw. And you take all that and do 0:04:17.040 --> 0:04:20.080 some mental trigonometry, and you can come away with the 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:24.080 clearer picture of life on this planet. I'm not just 0:04:24.120 --> 0:04:27.200 talking about Turkey stories either, but really the importance of 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:31.240 stories in our human existence. Stories are entertaining fun, and 0:04:31.320 --> 0:04:35.400 we learned stuff. But I believe this sense of entertainment, intrigue, 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:39.440 or interest in listening to stories gives us a biological reward. 0:04:40.080 --> 0:04:44.440 The enjoyment of a story functionally like what actually makes 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:47.200 you like it is a dopamine release in the brain, 0:04:47.360 --> 0:04:51.520 causing us to feel happiness and satisfaction. Something deep in 0:04:51.560 --> 0:04:55.240 our DNA is scripted to reward us for listening. Think 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:57.960 about that and to nerd out, just to touch more, 0:04:58.120 --> 0:05:00.920 just hang on, boys, and further convinced us of how 0:05:00.920 --> 0:05:07.039 we're all addicted to stories. Netflix, sitcoms, the news podcasts, YouTube, 0:05:07.240 --> 0:05:10.680 it's all stories. Human life could almost be broken into 0:05:10.680 --> 0:05:14.080 two categories, the stuff we do ourselves and then the 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:19.839 stories we're told about what others are doing. The good news, though, 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:22.719 is that this podcast we're about to listen to has 0:05:22.760 --> 0:05:26.880 some very important stories, Turkey stories, and I'd like to 0:05:26.920 --> 0:05:32.200 invite you to sit back, relax, pay attention, and listen 0:05:32.360 --> 0:05:38.080 for distant gobbles and drumming. These are good stories, like 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:40.640 a big gobbler pitching down from the limb our first 0:05:40.680 --> 0:05:44.400 storyteller is none other than my dad, Gary Believer knewcom 0:05:44.920 --> 0:05:48.839 It's one of those unique hunts when things work out precisely, 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:53.320 and I mean precisely as he predicted, and he has 0:05:53.360 --> 0:06:00.920 two very unusual guests witness the hunt. Here's Gary. Years 0:06:00.960 --> 0:06:04.359 ago and I don't know how many years ago, I 0:06:04.400 --> 0:06:06.880 went to a kind of a new spot. We all 0:06:06.960 --> 0:06:09.680 knew about it, but very few people hunted in there. 0:06:09.960 --> 0:06:11.719 And you parked right on the side of the highway 0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:15.080 and you walk up an old road, keep getting high 0:06:15.120 --> 0:06:17.400 and higher up on this mountain, one of the highest 0:06:17.400 --> 0:06:21.719 places in that part of the county. And I got 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:23.480 up in there and sure enough got a bird working, 0:06:23.880 --> 0:06:26.159 and I had my bow and I sit down. I 0:06:26.240 --> 0:06:28.240 was on the bird. Things were going good, and all 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:31.000 of a sudden, somebody starts calling, and you know, I 0:06:31.080 --> 0:06:32.920 got my bow, so I put a lot of time 0:06:32.960 --> 0:06:35.159 into this. I found a place I could sit where 0:06:35.240 --> 0:06:37.960 you know, I had a shot if he came in. 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:40.680 It's a lot of work put into it. And all 0:06:40.720 --> 0:06:44.359 of a sudden, this guy below me starts calling. And 0:06:44.480 --> 0:06:47.520 the way this road is laid out, you can hear 0:06:47.600 --> 0:06:50.520 birds from way off, you know, I mean, the road's 0:06:50.560 --> 0:06:53.279 going up, everything down in this little canyon type deal, 0:06:53.360 --> 0:06:57.080 you can hear birds. So I'm working the bird. He 0:06:57.240 --> 0:07:00.599 starts calling, bird leaves. Never heard the bird again. Go 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:04.480 back to the truck, and here he's parked probably five 0:07:04.520 --> 0:07:08.160 feet from my truck, parked right beside it, and he 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:10.960 came up the same road. So anyway, I wasn't too 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:13.320 happy about that, but I mean, you know, it just happens. 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:16.920 He might might have never thought anything about it. So 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:20.680 I looked his truck over and got his license number. 0:07:20.720 --> 0:07:22.640 I wasn't gonna do anything about it. I just kind 0:07:22.680 --> 0:07:25.880 of like to know who he was. And I found him, 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:29.560 found out where he worked, and I never said anything 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:32.360 to him, because I mean, you know, maybe I've done 0:07:32.400 --> 0:07:34.920 somebody like that. I don't know. I surely hadn't. But 0:07:35.200 --> 0:07:39.880 so anyway, in the process, I find the strutting zone 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:43.480 and it's probably where I was setting up. You know. 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:45.440 Once the bird was gone, I just got up and 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:48.360 started walking around, and I go, holy smokes, this is 0:07:48.360 --> 0:07:51.960 a major deal right here. So I go home and 0:07:52.840 --> 0:07:54.600 have lunch and puddle around for a while, and I 0:07:54.640 --> 0:07:56.720 tell Judy, I said, I'm gonna walk back up there. 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:59.800 Want you go with me. It's about I'm gonna guess 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:02.800 half a mile to a mile walk on old road, 0:08:03.440 --> 0:08:06.600 pretty easy walking. I said, we'll get our exercise. I'll 0:08:06.680 --> 0:08:11.040 kill this turkey and get my lab some exercise. We'll 0:08:11.040 --> 0:08:13.280 take Gracie with us. Gracie, you could take her to 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:16.520 church and just go, Gracie, sit stay. You know, you 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:19.280 could park at Walmart parking lot and go sit and 0:08:19.320 --> 0:08:21.560 stay in a parking spot and she'd come. She'd be 0:08:21.560 --> 0:08:25.600 there when you got back. So Gracie, Judy and myself 0:08:25.720 --> 0:08:29.320 Juju took off. So we just we just walked up 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:31.400 that old road. And when we got just to the 0:08:31.480 --> 0:08:35.360 point where I knew that Strutton zone was, I go, Gracie, 0:08:35.360 --> 0:08:38.480 sit and Judy. You know, you guys, get comfortable because 0:08:38.480 --> 0:08:41.880 this could take five minutes. So I ducked down as 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:44.600 low as I could and started walking with my gun ready, 0:08:45.400 --> 0:08:49.960 and I probably walked thirty yards forty at the most, 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:53.360 and I squatted down, and soon as I got to 0:08:53.400 --> 0:08:56.080 where I could almost hear him drumming and stuff, well 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:58.439 I could, I'm sure, you know. I just stood up 0:08:58.520 --> 0:09:01.439 and there he was. You know, I had a thirty 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:05.240 yard shot, and that sucker he was up there strutting. 0:09:05.400 --> 0:09:08.800 He wasn't goblin, but he was strutting. And so as 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:10.880 soon as I got to where I could see him, 0:09:10.880 --> 0:09:13.120 I just stood up. He saw me, and I shot him, 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:14.559 and he was a big bird. You know, he was 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:17.760 a good bird. He was one of those deals where 0:09:18.720 --> 0:09:21.880 you're pretty sure you can pull this off, but it 0:09:21.960 --> 0:09:25.640 never works the way you wanted to. Something always goes haywire, 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:28.440 and there's so many things that could go haywire. You know, 0:09:28.800 --> 0:09:31.680 this is a wild bird. I don't know. I don't 0:09:31.679 --> 0:09:33.760 even think I was all that shocked. I just, for 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:35.960 some reason, I could just tell by the sign that 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:39.439 bird he wanted to be there. So we threw him 0:09:39.440 --> 0:09:43.680 over my shoulder. Juju thought I was Superman and walked out. 0:09:45.960 --> 0:09:48.559 I loved the audacity of bringing your wife and a 0:09:48.640 --> 0:09:51.800 Laborador retriever and having them sit less than seventy yards 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:54.320 from where you think of turkey's gonna be and simply 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:57.600 walking up and killing it. Dad strutted out of there 0:09:57.600 --> 0:10:00.000 with that jelly head thumping on his thigh, while Jude, 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:01.800 you and Gracie must have thought he was the best 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:07.439 turkey hundred in Arkansas. That's a good story. Our next 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:12.600 story is told inside of the Mississippi Wildlife Heritage Museum 0:10:13.040 --> 0:10:18.000 in Leland, Mississippi, by the curator Billy Johnson. Billy has 0:10:18.080 --> 0:10:21.280 just got back from a hunt, and he's wearing some faded, 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:25.840 mismatched camo muck boots, and he's sporting a dashing food 0:10:25.840 --> 0:10:29.320 manchew mustache too melt the grin off a possum. He's 0:10:29.360 --> 0:10:31.959 got a story that will take us deep into Mississippi 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:35.960 turkey hunting history. All right, We're in the Mississippi Wildlife 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:40.040 Heritage Museum this morning, and it's in a converted hundred 0:10:40.120 --> 0:10:44.319 year old two story hardware store building. And I'm sixty 0:10:44.360 --> 0:10:48.760 eight years old. And when I was seventeen, before there 0:10:48.760 --> 0:10:54.640 were walmarts and all these cabellas and bass pro all 0:10:54.640 --> 0:10:57.960 over the South, hunters and fishermen would go to their 0:10:58.000 --> 0:11:04.559 local hardware stores to buy whatever they needed, clothing, ammunition, guns, 0:11:04.840 --> 0:11:08.280 And I was in here happening to be in here 0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:12.040 one day and a man named EO. Mitchell walked in 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:16.360 and he sold turkey calls here. Mister Mitchell and his 0:11:16.480 --> 0:11:23.440 turkey hunting friend, Henry Milner, were telegraph operators for the railroad, 0:11:23.960 --> 0:11:27.199 and they became interested in turkey hunting. And there was 0:11:27.240 --> 0:11:32.720 a country store out on Highway fifty one between Vaden 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:37.640 and Winona, Mississippi, and a widow lady had the store. 0:11:38.520 --> 0:11:43.120 And in that store she had a turkey call that 0:11:43.200 --> 0:11:47.640 came from Montgomery Ward. And mister Milner would go out 0:11:47.679 --> 0:11:50.600 there and play the call, and this and that, and 0:11:51.080 --> 0:11:56.320 his time moved forward. Telephone lines took the place of 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.880 the old telegraph lines. Well, when they took the telegraph 0:12:00.040 --> 0:12:02.960 lines down, they were one hundred year old cedar poles, 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:08.679 and mister Milner and mister Mitchell they got a lot 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:13.319 of those old poles, and through the next sixty years 0:12:13.440 --> 0:12:17.480 they made hundreds of turkey calls using the Montgomery Ward 0:12:17.600 --> 0:12:22.960 pattern and using the gold cedar poles. In those days, 0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:27.080 people like mister Mitchell that sold calls would go out 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:31.800 through the country to different hardware stores and the day 0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:35.200 that I was fortunate enough to run into him. He 0:12:35.320 --> 0:12:38.880 pulled an old polaroid picture out of his pocket, and 0:12:39.240 --> 0:12:42.480 those polaroid pictures had that old black plastic stuff on 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:45.200 the back, and it was all cracked and gone, and 0:12:45.240 --> 0:12:49.600 it was a picture of a mostly white turkey. And I, 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:51.920 you know, ask him, I said, well, I got to 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:54.960 hear this story. Well, come to find out he was 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:59.120 in start from Mississippi. They had a hardware store and 0:12:59.200 --> 0:13:03.360 they had some chairs sat up. People would come in, old, 0:13:03.480 --> 0:13:06.760 old retired guys would come in and they would whittle, 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:11.040 shotten their knives and spit the back and tell stories. Well, 0:13:11.080 --> 0:13:15.520 the story was they told him about this white turkey 0:13:15.559 --> 0:13:20.120 that couldn't be killed, and that all of these fifteen 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:23.200 or twenty people had been out there and tried to 0:13:23.240 --> 0:13:26.280 call a turkey up and couldn't call it and couldn't 0:13:26.320 --> 0:13:29.960 be killed. He said, well, if his turkey can't be killed, 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:33.640 then you fellas probably wouldn't have a problem with me 0:13:33.800 --> 0:13:36.360 hunting it. So one of them took him out there 0:13:36.360 --> 0:13:39.560 and showed him the ridge where the turkey roosted, and 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:43.520 showed him the bottom where he flew down. So he 0:13:43.720 --> 0:13:47.440 surmised that Colin wasn't a way to kill the turkey. 0:13:47.840 --> 0:13:50.800 So he sat down the next morning in the bottom, 0:13:51.280 --> 0:13:55.160 and sure enough, the old turkey started sounding off. So 0:13:55.240 --> 0:13:59.240 he refrained and waited until flydown time. And once fly 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:03.400 down time came, he took his cap and he went 0:14:05.480 --> 0:14:08.560 like a hen, flying down. And he waited a minute 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:12.600 or two, and he got a stick and started scratching 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:17.000 in the leaves, when lowing behold, a big turkey pitched 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:20.880 down and landed within twenty yards of it. He killed 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:24.240 a turkey time. He got the turkey loaded up, got 0:14:24.280 --> 0:14:26.560 back to his truck, got the turkey loaded up, and 0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:29.880 got back to town. The hardware store had opened, and 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:33.640 those old guys were in there, and he goes in 0:14:33.680 --> 0:14:36.960 there and he said, well, you boys want a firsthand 0:14:36.960 --> 0:14:39.560 look at this turkey. Y'all said, couldn't be killed. Come on. 0:14:39.640 --> 0:14:42.080 I got him out of here in my truck. And 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:45.960 those guys couldn't believe it, you know, And one of 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:49.560 them spit his tobacco. He said, mister, I tell you 0:14:49.600 --> 0:14:54.000 what this is. Fifty years ago, he said, I'll give 0:14:54.040 --> 0:14:57.200 you one hundred dollars with a call that you used 0:14:57.200 --> 0:15:00.680 to call this turkey up. He took his cap off 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:06.680 his head. He said, so, you know, less than thirty 0:15:06.720 --> 0:15:10.800 feet from where he showed leaves the picture of that turkey. 0:15:11.160 --> 0:15:15.560 We now have the turkey mounted here in the Mississippi 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:21.000 Wildlife Museum. Those old call makers, I mean EO. Mitchell's 0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:26.240 called Ruther Smithsonian. EO. Mitchell's mounted white turkey is in 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:29.880 the museum, along with several of his famous calls. I 0:15:29.960 --> 0:15:34.080 was really impressed by the Mississippi Wildlife Heritage Museum. If 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:37.440 you're traveling near Greenville or Leland, you ought to stop in. 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:40.400 It's full of big white tails, mounts of all kinds, 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:44.280 lots of waterfowl stuff, unique displays from old call makers, 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:48.600 several turkey beard collections, and incredible photos. It's a template 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:50.520 of what every state ought to be doing to document 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:57.200 their hunting the heritage. Our next storyteller is one of 0:15:57.240 --> 0:16:01.440 my favorites. It's Andy Brown of our Saw. I'd say 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:05.640 for certain this is a one in a million hunt. 0:16:05.640 --> 0:16:08.200 One time I was having to work and we always 0:16:08.200 --> 0:16:12.000 had a turkey camp in uh in April, and uh, 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:13.800 I mean we had a We had a big time, 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:17.000 and I wasn't able to get off early enough that 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:19.360 evening It was the day before season to go rooster Turkey. 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:21.360 So when I when I get to camp, my my 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:24.800 buddy Wayne says, I got you at Turkey roosted and 0:16:25.040 --> 0:16:27.480 he said, he gobbled, he stail office even I said round, 0:16:27.560 --> 0:16:28.920 he said, I said, you know where? He said, I 0:16:29.040 --> 0:16:30.960 know right where he's at. He said, well, we'll go 0:16:31.040 --> 0:16:33.480 up right in the morning. So anyway, next morning we 0:16:33.560 --> 0:16:37.160 got up double early. Ridoran pulled the mountain, got right 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:39.240 in on top and he said, he's just over on 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:43.280 the south side, right here, And sure enough, just a 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:46.360 minute he put in and he was just he wasn't 0:16:46.760 --> 0:16:48.680 I don't. I don't think he was over seventy five 0:16:48.760 --> 0:16:51.440 yards off the top. But all the gobble he does, 0:16:51.560 --> 0:16:53.760 he gobbled, he got one hundred times on the roost. 0:16:54.080 --> 0:16:56.080 And right there where we were at on the end 0:16:56.080 --> 0:16:57.840 of that mountain, there wasn't nothing. I mean, it was 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:00.000 open at the end of that right I only end 0:17:00.160 --> 0:17:01.640 it. It It was just opening there, and there wasn't no 0:17:01.720 --> 0:17:04.080 place to getting. You know, I'm trying to figure out 0:17:04.119 --> 0:17:05.520 where I want to get and how to how to 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:07.760 do all this. So I finally get over on the 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:11.240 north side about fifty yards that on the north side, 0:17:11.560 --> 0:17:15.119 got in a big old bushtop and in a minute 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:17.679 I could tell he hit the ground because he you 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:19.520 know how they do. He couldn't hear him as well. 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:21.680 I never liked to call a turkey on the roof, 0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:23.680 so they un till they dump off, because you never. 0:17:24.040 --> 0:17:25.920 They'll sit there on you a lots of times. But anyway, 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:28.480 he hit the ground, and I hammered him. He right 0:17:28.560 --> 0:17:30.600 back at me, and you can tell here he come, 0:17:31.240 --> 0:17:33.080 and he come right up over the top, just like 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:35.720 he's supposed to. And he got out there and he's 0:17:35.760 --> 0:17:38.159 in full strut, which I don't I just never did 0:17:38.280 --> 0:17:40.080 like shooting way full strut and neither there. But all 0:17:40.080 --> 0:17:41.800 the doing around up there he done, and back and 0:17:41.840 --> 0:17:44.040 forth and back and forth. I couldn't get him to 0:17:44.080 --> 0:17:45.600 come out of strut. I cut at of me. Would 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:48.000 he just staying strut and just back and forth? And 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:50.680 I got a little antsy, probably, and I thought, I 0:17:50.920 --> 0:17:55.280 kill you, you know, So anyway I pulled the trigger. 0:17:55.400 --> 0:17:57.840 I shot at eight seventy pump At those days, two 0:17:57.840 --> 0:18:00.919 and three quarter super X number six is you know, 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:02.920 I mean, that's all you could get back in the day. 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:05.359 I couldn't drive at that dude, and he took off 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:07.760 running and I shot at him again. And this when 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:12.280 he pitched a fly. There was a big canyon that 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:16.359 laid west and I'm talking about a quarter and a 0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.840 half mile wide, maybe a half a mile wide. And 0:18:19.960 --> 0:18:22.200 I stood there and I watched that turkey sail all 0:18:22.200 --> 0:18:25.480 the way across that canyon, and he sailed over there, 0:18:25.680 --> 0:18:28.280 and he just flew in there on the thing and lit. 0:18:29.200 --> 0:18:33.320 So he gets up. He said, out of the world, 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:35.919 you miss that dirt? Yes, I said, there a lot 0:18:35.960 --> 0:18:37.439 of air around him, was all I did, you know, 0:18:37.560 --> 0:18:39.919 But I said, I know, I've been out of shape 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:44.680 and shaking my head. And back in those days, I smoked, 0:18:44.720 --> 0:18:46.560 and so I got me a cigarette out and I 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:49.399 wasn't shaking my head and saiding there, and we're looking 0:18:49.680 --> 0:18:51.480 across the canyon there, and all of a sudden, that 0:18:51.520 --> 0:18:55.639 turkey he just pitches out like he flew in, and 0:18:55.720 --> 0:18:59.600 he sailed right down that canyon south around down there. 0:19:00.720 --> 0:19:03.480 He flew a quarter and flew right into the side 0:19:03.520 --> 0:19:06.080 of the mountain there and just you know, you just 0:19:06.119 --> 0:19:10.280 hear him flat there. So Wayne says, if you didn't 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:12.879 hit him, we'll give him about thirty forty five minutes 0:19:12.920 --> 0:19:14.479 the way that and gob will go over and kill him. 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:17.720 He'll cook put in the gobblin again. So awful mountain 0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:19.159 we went and we went down there and we hit 0:19:19.200 --> 0:19:21.439 a four wheel trail. We went around there and we 0:19:21.480 --> 0:19:23.399 got in there about where we thought he flew in 0:19:23.560 --> 0:19:25.480 and walked up on the side of the mountain there 0:19:26.080 --> 0:19:29.440 dug in and we probably lay there forty five minutes, nothing, 0:19:29.600 --> 0:19:34.520 nothing beautiful more. And I told Wayne, I said, before 0:19:34.520 --> 0:19:36.560 we leave, I said, let's just walk up here on 0:19:36.600 --> 0:19:38.840 the side of the mountain. I said, that turkey. It 0:19:38.840 --> 0:19:41.720 didn't sound quite right where that turkey flew in the 0:19:41.760 --> 0:19:44.600 mountain there. And we walked up there. We didn't walk 0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:48.480 seventy five yards and there late that gobbler dead. I 0:19:48.560 --> 0:19:50.400 never forget it, had red ants on his head where 0:19:50.400 --> 0:19:51.840 the blood was coming. Just hit him a two or 0:19:51.880 --> 0:19:55.720 three shot. But that dude had flown the turkey was. 0:19:55.760 --> 0:19:57.800 He was a half a mile from where from where 0:19:57.800 --> 0:20:02.480 I shot him. We found him dead, laying there just perfect. 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:05.160 You just don't do that, you know, But we got 0:20:05.200 --> 0:20:09.480 him good three year old, I mean a good That 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:13.320 is a wild story. What are the chances of finding 0:20:13.359 --> 0:20:15.600 that turkey a half mile from where they shot it 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:20.119 after watching it fly across the canyon twice. Only Andy 0:20:20.200 --> 0:20:26.280 could have pulled that off. Our next Storyteller is currently 0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:31.320 working as an undercover wildlife agent posing as my dear friend, 0:20:31.440 --> 0:20:34.840 trying to catch me doing crimes that I am completely 0:20:35.000 --> 0:20:38.840 unaware of. He seems to have really dug in because 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:41.360 he's been at this with me for over a decade. 0:20:41.760 --> 0:20:45.560 He's always available, always ready to hunt, and always has 0:20:45.600 --> 0:20:50.680 an unbelievable alibi and ridiculous backstory when he can't. Brent 0:20:50.800 --> 0:20:54.359 Reeves is a Bargreave's favorite, and he's got a good 0:20:54.400 --> 0:20:57.720 one from the Saline River bottoms of Arkansas with his 0:20:57.840 --> 0:21:01.880 brother Tim. You'll laugh and scratch your head on this one. 0:21:03.800 --> 0:21:07.880 This story takes place in the Saline River bottoms where 0:21:07.920 --> 0:21:12.240 a bunch of my brother Tims and I's adventures started 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:15.919 and stopped. Turkey season was the one season that we 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:19.320 didn't hunt together a lot. Probably about sixty percent of 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:22.520 the time in Turkey season we hunted alone because one 0:21:22.560 --> 0:21:24.880 hundred percent of the time that we hunted together there 0:21:24.960 --> 0:21:28.720 was some kind of calamity that ensued. Something happened. On 0:21:28.800 --> 0:21:31.720 this particular time, it was my turn to kill a turkey. 0:21:31.760 --> 0:21:34.280 And we had gone way down in the river bottoms 0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:37.760 before we ever heard the first turkey. We walked in 0:21:37.840 --> 0:21:40.639 way before daylight. We got in there and we waited 0:21:40.640 --> 0:21:43.399 and waiting, waiting, filing turkey gobbles. And he was long 0:21:43.600 --> 0:21:46.040 ways off. I mean, it's about as far as you 0:21:46.080 --> 0:21:49.480 could hear. And we both coursed him pretty good. Knew 0:21:49.480 --> 0:21:52.240 the area well. My family had been hunting this land 0:21:52.280 --> 0:21:56.240 down here for generations. We got there, we took off 0:21:56.240 --> 0:21:59.440 for that turkey. We get about halfway to him, and 0:21:59.480 --> 0:22:02.560 he's goblin. We don't hear anything. We happen to stop 0:22:02.560 --> 0:22:05.080 at this big old deer stand. And at that time 0:22:05.119 --> 0:22:08.160 we didn't have any big tower stands on our where 0:22:08.160 --> 0:22:10.720 we deer hunted. It was all individual stuff, just lean 0:22:10.840 --> 0:22:12.960 up stands, or we'd sit on a bucket or something. 0:22:13.280 --> 0:22:15.199 But this stand was big enough for two people to 0:22:15.240 --> 0:22:18.639 get in, and we were marveling at how much room 0:22:18.760 --> 0:22:21.000 that guy had up there, and we thought, you know, 0:22:21.000 --> 0:22:23.600 if we had one like that, we could sit together 0:22:23.840 --> 0:22:26.320 and make enough racket that we wouldn't kill a deer, 0:22:26.359 --> 0:22:28.719 but we could still be out there hunting and not 0:22:28.720 --> 0:22:32.119 have to worry about skinny one. But while we were 0:22:32.119 --> 0:22:35.359 sitting there marveling at this wonderful tower stand, this guy 0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:39.120 had a turkey gobbled fifty yards from where we were, 0:22:39.600 --> 0:22:42.480 and both of us hit the ground like, oh my gosh, 0:22:42.520 --> 0:22:45.080 we're caughting the balled open. But there was a thicket 0:22:45.160 --> 0:22:47.840 right behind that deer stand and where that turkey gobble. 0:22:48.160 --> 0:22:50.800 And I yelled twice on a call, and that turkey 0:22:50.840 --> 0:22:53.880 gobbled and came straight to me. And I'm looking through 0:22:53.920 --> 0:22:56.320 this thicket. My brother's sitting right there. We're leaned up 0:22:56.359 --> 0:22:59.080 against each other because we're not we're in the balled open, 0:22:59.200 --> 0:23:02.040 not against a tree nothing. I'm leaning against him, he's 0:23:02.119 --> 0:23:05.040 leaning against me. And I am looking through this thicket 0:23:05.040 --> 0:23:06.560 and I can see a hole, and I can see 0:23:06.560 --> 0:23:09.720 that turkey coming. And when he gets to that twenty 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:12.240 five yards, I guess to the edge of that thicket, 0:23:12.600 --> 0:23:14.520