WEBVTT - Ep. 82: Turkeys, Ticks and Tactics 0:00:11.880 --> 0:00:14.480 Welcome back to another episode of Cutting the Distance. Today, 0:00:14.480 --> 0:00:17.280 we're live here in Kansas. My guest is a very 0:00:17.320 --> 0:00:19.800 special guy. I've been able to turkey ount with him 0:00:19.840 --> 0:00:22.720 here in Kansas. Dirt Durham, some may consider you a 0:00:22.720 --> 0:00:25.840 turkey hunting pro, expert, aficionado. 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:28.720 Don't forget fitness model and fitness model. 0:00:29.280 --> 0:00:31.560 So no, we were here in Kansas. It's what's become 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:34.720 a yearly trip for us. Anybody listens to the podcast, 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:36.720 it's usually one of our two or three turkey o trips. 0:00:36.720 --> 0:00:39.400 So here's talk about turkey hunting Kansas a lot. So 0:00:39.680 --> 0:00:43.080 we're here. It's been awesome. Brandy and his buddies they 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:45.080 did it for the last fifteen twenty years. They did 0:00:45.120 --> 0:00:48.040 a big turkey camp. All of his college buddies come 0:00:48.080 --> 0:00:50.000 and it was a great time. We got to experience 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:52.360 that for a few days and now we're here on 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:54.560 our own trying to finish it up. I was fortunate 0:00:54.600 --> 0:00:58.080 to kill a herd last night. And Dirk is hunting 0:00:58.120 --> 0:01:01.200 for a monster, not just gonna kill any turkey. He's 0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:02.160 looking for a big one, so. 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:05.400 Not just any turkey, basically Moby Dick of the turkeys. 0:01:05.680 --> 0:01:08.960 Giant. Yeah, we actually Uh, just we had to run 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:11.120 my bird into a taxidermist here and we're on our 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:13.759 way back and we're what half a mile maybe quarter 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:14.280 mile from the. 0:01:14.280 --> 0:01:16.800 House, almost a stone's throw, and uh. 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:19.160 Wouldn't you know what we're we're out dinking around the 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:21.360 middle of day. It's pretty windy here today and just 0:01:21.400 --> 0:01:25.720 a rope dragging across the main county road here. 0:01:26.040 --> 0:01:29.280 Yeah, this big old tom comes walking across the road, 0:01:29.360 --> 0:01:32.399 just casual as can be. And his head was the 0:01:32.440 --> 0:01:35.440 size of my fist, and his neck was longer than 0:01:35.480 --> 0:01:37.840 my forearm and about the same thickness. I mean, I'm 0:01:37.840 --> 0:01:40.039 not a little guy, but I'm not no muscle bound 0:01:40.080 --> 0:01:40.520 guy either. 0:01:40.560 --> 0:01:42.360 I mean maybe some would say you are multiple. 0:01:42.440 --> 0:01:44.440 Well, I'm more of you know, I'm more you know, proportionate. 0:01:44.440 --> 0:01:45.440 I am a fitness model. 0:01:45.760 --> 0:01:50.080 So no, it's it's always been good here in Kansas, 0:01:50.120 --> 0:01:52.200 and I think since we've been coming to Kansas is 0:01:52.200 --> 0:01:55.400 probably the best year for turkey numbers that they've had 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:56.880 in a while. Yeah, it seems to have bounced back 0:01:56.880 --> 0:01:57.360 a little bit. 0:01:57.440 --> 0:02:00.440 Yeah, lots of turkeys here on the property. It's been good. 0:02:00.600 --> 0:02:03.400 We saw seven jakes this morning in one spot. 0:02:03.600 --> 0:02:07.440 Yeah, different this year they've been going through a drought 0:02:07.480 --> 0:02:09.120 here and so normally we don't have a whole lot 0:02:09.120 --> 0:02:11.560 of vegetation. Boy, you step inside the shade line here 0:02:12.400 --> 0:02:14.840 and you can't barely see a turkey's head over the brush. 0:02:14.840 --> 0:02:17.720 It looks a lot different than years past. But turkey 0:02:17.760 --> 0:02:18.480 hunt's really good. 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:20.840 Yeah, it seems like the woods are just like about 0:02:20.880 --> 0:02:24.600 a month ahead of schedule. Things are in bloom. All 0:02:24.680 --> 0:02:28.160 the little bushes and brush are leafed out, and yeah, 0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:30.480 it's tough to see a turkey coming through that stuff. 0:02:30.560 --> 0:02:33.720 Yeah. April twentieth, me and Randy were down spraying one 0:02:33.720 --> 0:02:36.799 of his food plots, getting the grass and the broad 0:02:36.840 --> 0:02:38.560 leaves out of there so the clover can pop through. 0:02:38.600 --> 0:02:41.520 And there was a nest and when they mowed it down, 0:02:41.800 --> 0:02:43.920 the winter wheat was so high the cover crop. They 0:02:43.919 --> 0:02:45.720 had to mow it so they could spray it effectively. 0:02:46.040 --> 0:02:48.200 And they noticed there was a hen sitting on a nest. 0:02:48.240 --> 0:02:52.200 Already in April twentieth she had eleven eggs. I believe, 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:54.880 like April eighteenth she had nine or ten. I think 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:56.760 maybe she laid one more since they had been in there, 0:02:56.800 --> 0:02:58.840 so and she was sitting all day. She wasn't leaving 0:02:58.840 --> 0:03:01.520 that nest. So I mean it's seems to be really early. 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:03.800 I mean, I'm sure people that know more or the 0:03:03.840 --> 0:03:07.320 biology of turkey you say that's completely normal, but seems 0:03:07.320 --> 0:03:11.000 pretty dang early. And they're you know, they're they're more 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.240 advanced this year. You know, it's more like hunting them 0:03:13.240 --> 0:03:15.520 in early May to mid May, these guys felt like 0:03:15.919 --> 0:03:16.760 this year more so. 0:03:17.080 --> 0:03:21.440 Well, one thing I've noticed in pretty years past, a 0:03:21.440 --> 0:03:23.440 lot of times years past, and we're we've hunted this 0:03:23.480 --> 0:03:26.639 saying late in May, even middle to late May, and 0:03:27.560 --> 0:03:30.840 we'll see groups of hens together and Golber's following them around. 0:03:30.880 --> 0:03:33.600 I mean, they won't leave those hens. And this time, 0:03:34.360 --> 0:03:37.040 like I'm seeing a lot of single hens out, you know, 0:03:37.520 --> 0:03:40.120 in the middle of the day or early evening by 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:41.600 themselves for a little bit. They'll come out in the 0:03:41.600 --> 0:03:43.240 field and eat a little bit and then go back. 0:03:43.280 --> 0:03:45.600 So they're probably coming off the nest and gonna go eat. 0:03:45.680 --> 0:03:48.760 Yep. Yea real quiet hens. They're all by themselves. And 0:03:48.880 --> 0:03:51.040 you know, this morning we were on a bird, we 0:03:51.080 --> 0:03:52.840 were trying to be on a bird that was roosted 0:03:52.880 --> 0:03:55.920 all by himself. No hens around anywhere in sight. Just 0:03:56.280 --> 0:04:00.839 seems a little weird, you know, but uh it's been good. 0:04:01.160 --> 0:04:03.920 So we're gonna we're gonna roll into our typical cutting 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:06.560 the distance when I'm the host. We're gonna roll into 0:04:06.720 --> 0:04:10.080 listener questions first. And I do have to apologize. I 0:04:10.120 --> 0:04:13.040 had me and Chris Parish recorded an awesome episode if 0:04:13.080 --> 0:04:15.200 you guys could all hear it. The sad reality is 0:04:15.720 --> 0:04:18.960 we had some technical difficulties and Chris decided the audio 0:04:19.040 --> 0:04:23.120 didn't upload. So what I mean, you go from Chris 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:25.960 Parrish in the Turkey Hunting World to Dirk Duram, You don't. 0:04:26.000 --> 0:04:28.600 You don't drop too many you don't miss a beat. 0:04:28.640 --> 0:04:30.360 So we're gonna we're gonna roll some of the same 0:04:30.360 --> 0:04:32.720 episode I recorded with Chris. We're gonna try to redo it. 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:35.240 I may share a little bit of his answers added 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:37.839 in with me and Dirk's answers. But I really wish 0:04:37.880 --> 0:04:40.080 we could have got that dang episode out. But uh well, 0:04:40.120 --> 0:04:42.359 we'll we'll circle back and meet up with him, you know, 0:04:42.400 --> 0:04:45.000 somewhere else, but you know, another time, and we'll ask 0:04:45.040 --> 0:04:47.120 him these questions. But once again, you have any questions 0:04:47.120 --> 0:04:50.839 for me or my guests, email them to us at 0:04:50.920 --> 0:04:53.880 ct D at Phelps Game Calls dot Com or feel 0:04:53.880 --> 0:04:55.920 free to send us a message on social media and 0:04:56.000 --> 0:04:57.920 we'll do our best to get him included here. So 0:04:58.279 --> 0:05:01.200 I have to thank the Washington State Wilde Tricky Hunting 0:05:01.200 --> 0:05:04.080 Club for this group of questions. The first one comes 0:05:04.080 --> 0:05:07.080 from Tyson Gray. We would love to hear you, guys 0:05:07.120 --> 0:05:10.520 compare your approach on Easterns versus Mariams versus Rios in 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:14.360 the West and how they differ from each other. See 0:05:14.360 --> 0:05:17.440 if Dirk wants to take a crack at that, if 0:05:17.440 --> 0:05:20.240 you hundred rios before or just just Mariams and Easterns. 0:05:20.440 --> 0:05:28.000 So the Meriams in Idaho, there's Miriams and Rios, and 0:05:28.000 --> 0:05:29.640 they seem to be crossed up a lot, if not, 0:05:29.920 --> 0:05:32.640 I don't know if there's any pure, pure lines on 0:05:32.720 --> 0:05:36.480 either one, but so I feel like it's kind of 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:41.040 just a hybrid at that point, and so I'm not 0:05:41.080 --> 0:05:44.520 really sure how to compare that. Definitely, the difference between 0:05:44.560 --> 0:05:48.120 you know, Western birds and Eastern birds are definitely a 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:48.920 big contrast. 0:05:49.200 --> 0:05:54.200 Yeah, these Easterns here, you know, in Kansas, I've got 0:05:54.240 --> 0:05:58.679 the the luxury back when Easterns were doing pretty decent 0:05:58.720 --> 0:06:01.240 around my hometown of pl I've got to hunt a 0:06:01.279 --> 0:06:03.279 lot of Easterns, you know, just similar to you. We 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:05.680 have Rios that are kind of mixed in more so 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:07.280 in the blues, and we got our Miriams that are 0:06:07.320 --> 0:06:10.760 more of those mountain birds and Easterns just more hard headed. 0:06:10.800 --> 0:06:13.160 They don't want to talk as much. It seems like 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:14.800 you can almost let your watch to it. Like on 0:06:14.839 --> 0:06:18.160 this trip, it's eight seventeen and forty three seconds at 0:06:18.200 --> 0:06:20.080 that time of the day right now, like they're done 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.680 talking for the most part. They're just done. They be quiet. 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:26.640 They're hard headed. You can't you Multiple times on this 0:06:26.680 --> 0:06:28.760 trip we've known their birds in an area. You go 0:06:28.800 --> 0:06:31.159 out and hit them with an owl. Scream a hawk, 0:06:31.240 --> 0:06:34.120 scream a crow, call your loudest yelps, and they're just 0:06:34.160 --> 0:06:35.880 not going to talk. They're just not gonna let you 0:06:35.880 --> 0:06:39.359 know they're there. You know, the birds the bird I 0:06:39.440 --> 0:06:42.240 killed last night did not make a sound. We're hen yelp, 0:06:42.240 --> 0:06:44.680 And there was a live hen that came out in 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:47.120 the food plot with them. They didn't care. It was 0:06:47.200 --> 0:06:49.080 it was just it was it's been difficult and it 0:06:49.120 --> 0:06:51.360 was tough to get them to, you know, to make 0:06:51.800 --> 0:06:57.400 a sound, and so Mariams a lot more talkative, you know, Miriams. 0:06:58.760 --> 0:07:00.960 They don't like the rooseness in the same spots. These 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:03.159 birds here seem to want to roost in the same 0:07:03.240 --> 0:07:05.400 general They got their favorite roosting spots. 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:05.599 You know. 0:07:05.640 --> 0:07:07.599 We'll follow a group of birds and they may roost 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:09.440 in one or two, you know, spots, but it's the 0:07:09.480 --> 0:07:11.480 same spots typically every night. You know, they've got the 0:07:11.800 --> 0:07:15.200 trees they want, you know. But other than that, I 0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:17.640 know Parish had kind of alluded to, you know, pressure, 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:21.320 these Easterns have been hunted for longer most you know, 0:07:21.320 --> 0:07:23.520 most of the time than some of the transplanted Merriams 0:07:23.520 --> 0:07:25.800 and rios in certain areas. So he feels like they've 0:07:26.200 --> 0:07:28.880 they've got an edge, are a little smarter sometimes, you know, 0:07:28.880 --> 0:07:31.160 and maybe that's some of the reasons we we think 0:07:31.160 --> 0:07:34.480 that they're they're more hard headed. But well, they have 0:07:34.520 --> 0:07:36.320 a bigger head, like they definitely do. 0:07:36.800 --> 0:07:38.960 The head size. Head size on an Eastern is way 0:07:39.040 --> 0:07:43.080 larger than a a Mirriam or rio. They're in Idaho, 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:45.960 and maybe they have a bigger brain, you know. Maybe 0:07:45.960 --> 0:07:49.000 it's not the size of a chili bean. Maybe it's 0:07:49.040 --> 0:07:52.440 the size of a tangerine. I don't know, but they 0:07:52.480 --> 0:07:56.480 seem a little bit more where intelligence, a little smarter 0:07:56.720 --> 0:07:57.240 if you will. 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:00.560 Yeah, they're they've they're survival and stints seems to be 0:08:00.600 --> 0:08:04.760 at a at a heightened level compared to Miriams and rios. Uh. 0:08:04.760 --> 0:08:06.960 So our second question comes from case and can't uh 0:08:07.000 --> 0:08:09.320 do you need multiple different types of calls or can 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:11.440 one or two calls get the job done consistently? 0:08:12.600 --> 0:08:17.240 Yeah? I consider any kind of animals I'm calling. It's 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:19.360 kind of like going fishing, right, I want to have 0:08:19.400 --> 0:08:22.160 a handful of different different calls in my in my 0:08:22.280 --> 0:08:25.960 pouch or bag or whatever. And no, and that's no 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:29.000 different with turkey hunting, though, I will say I've got 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:32.680 a I've got this one buddy who considers himself quite 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:37.000 the turkey caller, quite quite the turkey hunter. And his 0:08:37.080 --> 0:08:41.920 only call he owns is an old it's an old box, 0:08:42.160 --> 0:08:45.480 a friction box, right, And and he runs that thing 0:08:45.600 --> 0:08:49.000 with no finesse. He just he runs that thing just 0:08:49.080 --> 0:08:53.240 wide open. Just he just starts just hatchet in that thing. 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:55.559 And I'm just like, oh man, you gotta put a 0:08:55.559 --> 0:08:58.920 little finesse on that thing. And he gets them coming 0:08:59.000 --> 0:09:01.480 and and and Idaho so and you know, so we're 0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:05.760 hit hunting those mirriams or hybrids and those those toms 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:08.840 will come in to it really well. I mean I 0:09:08.840 --> 0:09:11.080 don't even think he can even run a turkey diaphragm. 0:09:11.440 --> 0:09:18.599 So with that said here, well, sometimes we throw the 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:20.880 whole the whole book at them. You know, we just 0:09:20.920 --> 0:09:23.439 kind of run through our gam into different calls and stuff, 0:09:23.480 --> 0:09:25.360 and sometimes they're just so hard headed. You're not you're 0:09:25.360 --> 0:09:29.600 not getting an answer for nothing, or one one call 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.120 is not drawn it in better than another one. It 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:34.000 seems like when they want to come, they want to 0:09:34.040 --> 0:09:39.240 come to and it doesn't matter which one. But same 0:09:39.280 --> 0:09:42.560 to be said about diaphragms. To my experience I've had 0:09:43.040 --> 0:09:45.800 sometimes I can't get a get a turkey to answer 0:09:45.840 --> 0:09:47.560 me at all with a diaphragm, and I pick up 0:09:47.600 --> 0:09:49.959 a box or a pot and it's like bam, now 0:09:50.160 --> 0:09:52.800 everything's changed and they're answering and they're coming. 0:09:52.960 --> 0:09:55.160 So yeah, we're gonna get to our best dump here 0:09:55.160 --> 0:09:56.360 in a little bit. So I'm not gonna talk about 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:58.480 every call that I carry, but as far as like 0:09:59.120 --> 0:10:01.280 I think, you can get it done consistently with one 0:10:01.320 --> 0:10:05.480 or two calls. You know, to answer Casen's question directly, like, yeah, 0:10:05.480 --> 0:10:08.120 one or two calls, you're going to probably kill ninety 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:09.560 percent of the birds. Ninety five percent of the birds 0:10:09.600 --> 0:10:12.880 you would kill. But you know, just like any good tradesmen, 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:15.240 you know, uh, you know, if you have a circular saw, 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:19.000 a table saw, and a you know what, a receip saw, 0:10:19.880 --> 0:10:21.640 you can do a lot more work, a lot faster, 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:23.360 and a lot more efficient at times, or do the 0:10:23.440 --> 0:10:26.000 job right instead of having one saw trying to make 0:10:26.040 --> 0:10:28.000 it work on all of them. So, just like any carpenter, 0:10:28.120 --> 0:10:31.320 any tradesman, the more tools and the right specific tools 0:10:31.960 --> 0:10:33.880 you have it at certain times. And what I would 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:35.480 say I would equate that too, is sometimes there are 0:10:35.480 --> 0:10:39.680 birds that just want to gobble at a diaphragm, or 0:10:39.720 --> 0:10:41.560 they just want to gobble at that box sound, or 0:10:41.559 --> 0:10:43.120 they want to gobble at the sharp pitch of a 0:10:43.120 --> 0:10:45.600 crystal you know, over iluminum call, whatever it may be, 0:10:45.679 --> 0:10:48.640 with a certain high pitch striker. So I would say 0:10:48.679 --> 0:10:51.360 there are times where having more calls maybe to your advantage, 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:54.240 but you can definitely get the job done with you know, 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:57.600 being being efficient with any of them. But you know, 0:10:57.679 --> 0:11:01.960 ideally diaphragms are well suited for for turkey hunting. But 0:11:02.000 --> 0:11:03.360 you know, if you're going to a pot caller, a 0:11:03.360 --> 0:11:06.720 box call, you can definitely make make it work. And 0:11:06.760 --> 0:11:09.880 then Case's had a follow up question, are decoy's worth it? 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.360 We've went back and forth on this one. Yesterday I 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:16.839 had to crawl out to our decoy to get the 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:19.800 jakes off of them. They thought that that Dave Smith 0:11:19.880 --> 0:11:24.760 decoy's hen was real and was it was inappropriate what 0:11:24.760 --> 0:11:27.720 they were doing with with the decoy. But I crawled 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:30.600 out multiple times to beat them off of it, and uh, 0:11:31.000 --> 0:11:33.960 it was obviously effective. Those jakes were locked. They were 0:11:34.040 --> 0:11:36.400 convinced it was real. And then there are times where 0:11:36.440 --> 0:11:38.040 you know that Tom just comes strutting right in, and 0:11:38.040 --> 0:11:40.760 there are times where I think, especially we we hinted 0:11:40.800 --> 0:11:42.880 at it already. These birds are a little bit finicky 0:11:42.960 --> 0:11:45.520 right now, a little bit wary, you know, if you 0:11:45.559 --> 0:11:47.360 throw a posturing hint out there and not like an 0:11:47.440 --> 0:11:50.760 uprighter breeding hin like sometimes a hen. You know, we've 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:53.760 seen it in calling right where you're you're that hen 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:55.240 doesn't want to you guys are in a battle, and 0:11:55.240 --> 0:11:56.960 then she'll eventually take the tom away from you. She 0:11:56.960 --> 0:11:59.240 doesn't like if you put a posturing hint out there, like, 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:01.640 it might not be the right move at the right time, 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:04.720 you know, So decoys are definitely worth it. We've been 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:07.040 packing around all week and in certain settings where maybe 0:12:07.040 --> 0:12:09.360 we need to put some visual out there at the 0:12:09.480 --> 0:12:11.320 you know, at the edge of a long cut or 0:12:11.360 --> 0:12:13.360 the edge of a long field so they can get 0:12:13.400 --> 0:12:15.240 a visual and maybe have a reason to come down. 0:12:15.640 --> 0:12:18.439 But there are times like last night, we were a 0:12:18.440 --> 0:12:21.200 little concerned with if these you know, on a night 0:12:21.280 --> 0:12:23.920 time hunt, if these turkeys come out in this field 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:25.880 to feed and the hinges are they are they going 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:27.360 to be you know, have a care in the world 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:29.440 that it's there. So I'm I'm kind of on both 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:31.880 sides of this one. But we we always packed the 0:12:31.920 --> 0:12:36.960 decoys and they work pretty effectively. Yeah, next question from 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:40.120 John Hicks. After you spook a bird or shoot his buddy, 0:12:40.160 --> 0:12:41.640 how long do you have to wait to get back 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:44.560 After him, he mentioned his son had missed a nice 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.280 tom yesterday. Today his whole flock wouldn't even react to 0:12:47.320 --> 0:12:48.200 any amount of calls. 0:12:49.920 --> 0:12:53.360 I had a several several years ago. I had a 0:12:53.360 --> 0:12:55.280 morning where I was on these two gobblers and they 0:12:55.280 --> 0:12:58.120 were just going crazy in the on the roost, and 0:12:58.760 --> 0:13:01.079 I get as close as I can. They fly down 0:13:01.120 --> 0:13:03.640 and they come towards me, but I could not get 0:13:03.679 --> 0:13:06.959 them to break fifty yards. And that was back when 0:13:06.960 --> 0:13:09.720 I had a you know, I'm just shooting a kind 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:12.200 of a full choke, and the turkey loads of the time, 0:13:12.240 --> 0:13:14.960 I think there was like a combo of like fours 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:17.280 and sixes and stuff, and it wasn't nothing like the 0:13:17.840 --> 0:13:20.600 turkey loads we have these days. And I'm like, I 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:23.000 think I can reach out and touch that that turkey 0:13:23.040 --> 0:13:26.880 of fifty yards. So when the time was right, I 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:30.480 put the old shotgun beat on the turkey's head and 0:13:30.960 --> 0:13:32.760 I missed bigger than can be. I mean, I don't 0:13:32.960 --> 0:13:35.679 I don't even know where the pellets went, but they 0:13:35.720 --> 0:13:40.959 took off running. So discouraged, I walked back to the pickup, which, 0:13:42.280 --> 0:13:44.560 by chance, the turkey's kind of walked kind of ran 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:46.360 off back towards the pickup. So I got back to 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:48.560 the pickup is probably about a half mile walk. I 0:13:48.600 --> 0:13:50.600 get it pick up. I'm like, well, I'm I'm gonna 0:13:50.600 --> 0:13:52.400 crow call here and see if I can hear anything. 0:13:52.440 --> 0:13:56.440 And I crow call and I am immediately I get 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:58.960 an answer, and it kind of sounds like kind of 0:13:58.960 --> 0:14:03.760 where those toms had went to. So I grabbed my 0:14:04.040 --> 0:14:05.640 shotgun and went back over there in the woods and 0:14:05.640 --> 0:14:10.520 slipped in and sat down, and I made like four yelps, 0:14:10.720 --> 0:14:14.040 and those toms could not get to me quick enough. 0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:17.040 I shot the one at like five yards or something. 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:20.880 It was. It was incredible. It was like he'd for 0:14:21.120 --> 0:14:25.840 they'd forgotten about what had just happened completely earlier. They 0:14:25.880 --> 0:14:28.400 wouldn't hardly come in close enough. But also I was 0:14:28.440 --> 0:14:30.720 in some heavier timber when they did come in this 0:14:30.840 --> 0:14:33.240 next time, but they were gobling and just running in 0:14:33.320 --> 0:14:35.360 as fast as they could. So I don't know how 0:14:35.400 --> 0:14:38.600 long their memory is. So I would I would think, 0:14:38.720 --> 0:14:40.080 don't give up too quick on him. 0:14:40.480 --> 0:14:42.880 Yep. And I think it's just we've seen it here. 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:44.960 One morning they'll be on fire, you get a little 0:14:45.000 --> 0:14:48.040 weird weather change, or like one night they'll be on fire, 0:14:48.080 --> 0:14:49.800 and next night they don't make You know, we've heard 0:14:49.840 --> 0:14:51.520 we know their birds around us. Well, we'll go back 0:14:51.520 --> 0:14:53.600 the next morning and oh they're gobbling the roofs. Next 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:55.640 morning they didn't gobble it all that night, you know, 0:14:56.160 --> 0:14:58.760 real bad morning, you know, there's mornings where the guys 0:14:58.760 --> 0:15:01.400 all said, for opening morning here, everything was cranking. The 0:15:01.440 --> 0:15:03.920 next morning, nobody heard a bugle or a bugle a 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:06.760 gobble besides besides the one guy, you know. So it's 0:15:06.800 --> 0:15:10.280 like it's the birds were real temperamental, and I wouldn't 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:14.480 equate you know, not hearing them or uh, you know, 0:15:15.080 --> 0:15:17.200 because of the miss I would say, they're they're pretty 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:21.120 short memoried. You know, they're they're gonna they're gonna recreate. 0:15:21.160 --> 0:15:22.840 That's what they're out there for. They're gonna do their 0:15:22.880 --> 0:15:24.880 their their stuff. And so I would just say it 0:15:24.920 --> 0:15:27.120 was more of a coincidence that, you know, the day 0:15:27.160 --> 0:15:30.880 after they maybe quieted down. You know, we've we had 0:15:30.880 --> 0:15:33.080 some neighbors here that shot at some birds and it 0:15:33.240 --> 0:15:34.840 quieted them down and moved them for a day. But 0:15:34.880 --> 0:15:37.520 eventually they came back to their preferred roost and you know, 0:15:37.520 --> 0:15:42.400 settled down. So yeah, we appreciate that. That question. John. 0:15:42.800 --> 0:15:45.960 Next question from Ryan Clark, best calling techniques for early 0:15:46.000 --> 0:15:48.080 season birds when they're hand up. He says sometimes he 0:15:48.120 --> 0:15:50.320 feels like any calling he does is doing more damage 0:15:50.360 --> 0:15:53.360 than good and and maybe sometimes he feels like you 0:15:53.360 --> 0:15:55.880 should be silent and try to sneak in. What's your 0:15:55.880 --> 0:15:56.600 opinion on that. 0:15:57.800 --> 0:15:59.920 I think in the last few years we've we've run 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:06.120 into that a lot here in Kansas, and I feel 0:16:06.120 --> 0:16:11.120 like as we're calling, then those sins are leading those 0:16:11.200 --> 0:16:13.960 those toms away. But if we kind of kind of 0:16:14.000 --> 0:16:15.960 go over to where they kind of went and then 0:16:16.000 --> 0:16:18.000 set up again and start doing some calling and just 0:16:18.720 --> 0:16:21.440 and not overdo the calling, just call a little bit 0:16:21.760 --> 0:16:24.320 just to let them know, hey, there's some hens over here. Well, 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:28.800 those gobblers will get kind of tired or spun out 0:16:28.880 --> 0:16:30.640 or whatever they're trying to do with those other hens, 0:16:31.080 --> 0:16:33.480 and there'll be a lull and whatever they're doing, and 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:35.400 they'll come back and they'll be like, you know, I 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:37.120 remember there was some hens over here. I'm going to 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:39.840 go check those out. So it's a major game of 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:42.280 patients at that point. So you just have to sit 0:16:42.360 --> 0:16:44.400 patiently and have your head on a swivel and be 0:16:44.520 --> 0:16:47.000 very you know, mindful of movement. But we've had that, 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:50.160 you know, an hour later, maybe two hours later, bam, 0:16:50.360 --> 0:16:53.040 you hear a gobble and that that gobbler's right there 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:54.400 at twenty yards from you. 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:57.160 Yeah, Randy's bird. On opening day here, we actually got 0:16:57.200 --> 0:16:59.600 in maybe a little late, didn't know exactly where they roosted, 0:16:59.600 --> 0:17:03.000 maybe miss planned it, and we actually bumped some birds 0:17:03.040 --> 0:17:05.240 off the roost, and that morning had a bunch of goblin, 0:17:05.280 --> 0:17:07.600 three big long beards behind us, goblin some out in 0:17:07.600 --> 0:17:09.200 front of us. You know, it's just one of those mornings. 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:12.080 We were able to just kind of keep calling occasionally 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:14.959 and then maybe more patiently we kind of stop for 0:17:14.960 --> 0:17:16.760 twenty to thirty minutes in the middle, kind of let 0:17:16.760 --> 0:17:19.399 things settle down and let that flock figure out what 0:17:19.440 --> 0:17:21.840 their morning routine was, and then started picking our calling 0:17:21.880 --> 0:17:24.600 back up, and slowly we heard two gobblers break off 0:17:24.640 --> 0:17:26.320 and come towards us. You know, he's able to kill 0:17:26.320 --> 0:17:29.919 one of those. So why it can be very you know, 0:17:31.440 --> 0:17:33.399 it can be discouraging as you're as you're trying to 0:17:33.400 --> 0:17:36.639 call these early hind up birds. But I say, you know, 0:17:36.800 --> 0:17:38.840 be persistent, stick with it, and then just kind of 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:42.120 let the turkeys dictate. Like if if you know they're 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.119 not hammering back at your calls, and if you can't 0:17:44.160 --> 0:17:46.560 tell that they're responding to you, maybe call more sparingly 0:17:46.680 --> 0:17:50.679 or more patiently versus you know, if they're hammering your 0:17:50.680 --> 0:17:52.280 calls and you can kind of keep them going and 0:17:52.320 --> 0:17:54.639 keep them excited. Then I would say stick with them. 0:17:54.680 --> 0:17:57.000 And and you know at times here when this hunting 0:17:57.000 --> 0:17:59.199 gets really tough early when they are flocked up or 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:00.840 hind up, which they don't seem to be as much 0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:03.119 this year. You know, this is where you're scouting and 0:18:03.160 --> 0:18:05.880 patterning or listening, like, hey, that bird keeps going through 0:18:05.920 --> 0:18:08.560 this area, or he keeps you know, going off the 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:11.159 point of this you know, meadow or whatever it may be, 0:18:11.320 --> 0:18:15.000 whatever area you're hunting, you know, use use the patterning. 0:18:15.040 --> 0:18:16.840 It's not as fun of hunting, but you can definitely 0:18:16.920 --> 0:18:18.480 set up and you know, just kind of wait for 0:18:18.560 --> 0:18:19.359 him to come back through. 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:23.440 I've also had you know, good luck after they they 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:27.720 after the hens laid them off, almost said cows after 0:18:27.720 --> 0:18:31.480 the hens laid them off. Later on, if there's like 0:18:31.640 --> 0:18:34.320 an area close by that's kind of an open meadow 0:18:34.440 --> 0:18:37.119 area or maybe a little open knoll or something where 0:18:37.280 --> 0:18:40.159 where the tom's like to strut. Once those hens kind 0:18:40.200 --> 0:18:41.800 of get figured out what they're gonna do for the day, 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:44.119 a lot of times those those those toms will go 0:18:44.160 --> 0:18:46.200