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Speaker 1: This is the Meeater Podcast coming at you shirtless, severely,

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Speaker 1: bug bitten, and in my case, underwear listening podcast.

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Speaker 2: You can't predict any of this.

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Speaker 3: The meat Eater Podcast is brought to you by First Light.

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Speaker 3: Whether you're checking trail cams, hanging deer stands, or scouting

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Speaker 3: for elk, First Light has performance apparel to support every

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Speaker 3: hunter in every environment. Check it out at first light

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Speaker 3: dot com. F I R S T L I T

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Speaker 3: E dot com. Hey y'all, this is Steve and as

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Speaker 3: you know, it's Turkey week here at me Eater, which

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Speaker 3: means lots of great turkey hunting content and also great

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Speaker 3: deals on turkey hunting gear.

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Speaker 1: In addition to this special drop of the Meteater podcast,

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Speaker 1: where we hear from my buddy turkey hunting partner, longtime colleague,

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Speaker 1: the beloved and beautiful Giannis Poutellus, who's going to share

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Speaker 1: with you some very memorable and beautiful turkey hunting stories.

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Speaker 4: Last spring, I attended my first National Wild Turkey Federation

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Speaker 4: Convention in Nashville, Tennessee. I've never heard so many yelps

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Speaker 4: in one place. Joking aside, I had a wonderful time

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Speaker 4: attending the calling contests, walking the floor, checking out new calls,

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Speaker 4: and just enjoying the energy of so many passionate hunters

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Speaker 4: gathered in one place. I highly recommend any Turkey nut

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Speaker 4: to make the pilgrimage to Nashville next February. I was

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Speaker 4: there because I had an idea that we should record

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Speaker 4: everyone's stories to be archived for future generation. I feel

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Speaker 4: that too often good stories die with the orator, and

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Speaker 4: that's a shame. So as an effort to record our

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Speaker 4: hunting heritage, Phil Taylor aka Phil the Engineer, and I

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Speaker 4: set up a makeshift recording studio and invited folks to

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Speaker 4: tell their stories. Thank you to everyone who had the

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Speaker 4: courage to come tell me a hunting story. I know

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Speaker 4: it's not easy getting in front of a mic and

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Speaker 4: reciting your story while Phil listens from the soundboard. In total,

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Speaker 4: we recorded nearly forty stories, all of which will be

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Speaker 4: available in their raw form on the National Wild Turkey

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Speaker 4: Federation website soon, so keep an eye out for that.

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Speaker 4: Here are three stories that stood out to us because

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Speaker 4: they resonated on so many different levels. They are tales

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Speaker 4: of success in the Turkey Woods, sure, but they are

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Speaker 4: so much more than that. There are stories of love

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Speaker 4: and bonding, stories of relationships and shared experiences. Start out

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Speaker 4: with Jeremy Bennett and his son Zeke. I'm a father

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Speaker 4: of two daughters, and hunting with them is by far

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Speaker 4: the highlights of every spring and fall. Hunting with kids

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Speaker 4: gives me the opportunity to pass along, which I love

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Speaker 4: so much. The joy I feel when my young'ins have

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Speaker 4: success is far beyond any joy I've ever felt standing

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Speaker 4: over one of my own kills. Zeke's excitement makes me

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Speaker 4: want to grab one of my kids right now and

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Speaker 4: go for a walk in the woods.

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Speaker 5: My name is Ezekiel oh Coop and Bennette. I'm twelve

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Speaker 5: years old. I'm from Vanilla, Arkansas.

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Speaker 2: My name's Jeremy Bennett, and I'm forty four years old

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Speaker 2: from Vanela, Arkansas. And we're going to talk about a

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Speaker 2: turkey hunt that we had together, me and my youngest

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Speaker 2: son in Arkansas this year. So I'll start out by

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Speaker 2: saying that we wanted for dad to kill a turkey

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Speaker 2: because he never gets to shoot right. Yes, I usually

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Speaker 2: take the kids and I don't even sometimes have to

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Speaker 2: worry about taking a gun, But this is the time

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Speaker 2: that he'd already killed a bird this year, so Zeke

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Speaker 2: wanted me to shoot one, and that was a big deal.

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Speaker 2: He kept saying, I want that, I want you to

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Speaker 2: shoot one. So we got set up on the edge

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Speaker 2: of a big pasture and he got daylight, and we

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Speaker 2: hadn't heard a bird on the roost. We seen some hens,

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Speaker 2: and then all of a sudden, right on the edge

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Speaker 2: of the pasture, just out of eyesight, I heard something

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Speaker 2: and then we saw a hen, a hen come, and

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Speaker 2: then we had a tom come, but out of range,

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Speaker 2: and they made their way off to the side, and

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Speaker 2: my son wanted to go after him. I said, no,

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Speaker 2: let's just wait, Let's be patient. We've still got things

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Speaker 2: happening around us. Luckily, things started working back from the

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Speaker 2: woods back in front of us. A hen was in

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Speaker 2: front of us and got real loud, and I think

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Speaker 2: she was kind of afraid of our decoy. Maybe well,

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Speaker 2: eventually I seen one of the birds coming back in

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Speaker 2: the field, saw his beard, and luckily the bird was

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Speaker 2: on my side.

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Speaker 6: I waited.

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Speaker 2: He got behind a tree, and I waited a little

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Speaker 2: bit more, and then I finally shot and took the bird.

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Speaker 2: And you were afraid that I was going to wait

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Speaker 2: too long, and it was gonna get away, weren't you.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, Because I had my gun up and everything and

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Speaker 5: you were just looking at it. I didn't think you've.

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Speaker 2: Seen it, But you probably didn't think I was gonna shoot.

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Speaker 7: Did you.

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Speaker 5: I did not think you're gonna shoot.

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Speaker 2: So we harvested that bird, went back to camp, cleaned it,

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Speaker 2: ate lunch, and then we went back out that afternoon

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Speaker 2: for another hunt. So we set up in the same

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Speaker 2: spot and it was hot. Didn't hear nothing, And you

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Speaker 2: wanted to go to a different spot. Yeah, And I said,

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Speaker 2: if you go to a different spot, we're not coming

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Speaker 2: back to this one. So you wanted to go to

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Speaker 2: a different spot, and then what happened.

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Speaker 5: So we went out of that spot, and then we

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Speaker 5: had cross a power line and then we looked up

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Speaker 5: on the power line and there was a tom and

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Speaker 5: a hen and the tom was shutting. So we made

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Speaker 5: a plane and so we were going to go about

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Speaker 5: like three miles down that power line, like in the woods,

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Speaker 5: and then around. Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So there's a double power line on the property

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Speaker 2: and they're spaced out by a couple hundred yards, so

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Speaker 2: we knew that we could go all the way around

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Speaker 2: and get on another road, drive around and come to

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Speaker 2: the uphill side of where this bird had a hen.

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Speaker 2: Because I just didn't want to push the bird. I

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Speaker 2: didn't want to push the bird. I was afraid. So

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Speaker 2: we made a plan, and you doubted me. Yeah, So

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Speaker 2: we went all the way around the property and got

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Speaker 2: uphill of this bird.

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Speaker 5: With a hen, and then I got on the wrong

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Speaker 5: ridge that I thought he was on. And then so

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Speaker 5: once I realized he wasn't on that ridge, I went

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Speaker 5: to the next one.

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Speaker 2: And then but you also told me to stay at

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Speaker 2: the at the utving I did. You didn't want me

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Speaker 2: to go with you.

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Speaker 5: I kind of peeked over that ridge. Now I could

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Speaker 5: see just a tip of his fan. So I got

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Speaker 5: down and started crawing. I traveled about like thirty yards

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Speaker 5: and then I popped up and didn't see him, and

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Speaker 5: then I didn't realize he was like on a shelf.

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Speaker 5: And then I seen the hen walk out on the road,

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Speaker 5: and then he like jumped up there, and then he

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Speaker 5: started strutting, and then I shot him. You thought I

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Speaker 5: just shot at flying bird.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, because I was out of eyesight up the hill

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Speaker 2: and I was just hoping he would get close enough.

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Speaker 2: But I was expecting him, probably to just scare the bird.

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Speaker 2: Being a twelve year old turkey stalker, you never know

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Speaker 2: what can happen. So when I heard the shot, then

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Speaker 2: I finally peek over and I hear him kind of

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Speaker 2: in excitement that.

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Speaker 5: He'd got the bird running down to the bird.

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Speaker 2: So that was your second turkey in Arkansas this year

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Speaker 2: or this pastper Yeah, twenty twenty two.

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Speaker 5: Yep.

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Speaker 2: Can you tell him real quick about your first turkey

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Speaker 2: in Arkansas this past year?

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Speaker 5: Oh? Yeah. So we're on a public piece of property

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Speaker 5: and you had to draw and it was a youth hunt.

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Speaker 5: You went out there the day before and scouted and

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Speaker 5: you didn't hear anything on the roost. And then you

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Speaker 5: went to a spot that we previously hunted and you

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Speaker 5: saw two hens across the road. So we went over there,

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Speaker 5: we sat down, got everything ready, you called, We didn't

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Speaker 5: hear anything. A dog started barking behind us, and then

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Speaker 5: right behind us, we just heard a big loud cobble.

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Speaker 5: He came out. Our degree was to the right of us,

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Speaker 5: and we were on a road, so I was facing

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Speaker 5: straight into the road. The turkey was straight behind us,

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Speaker 5: and then it walked out about fifteen yards to.

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Speaker 2: My left, and then well it was two birds.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, two birds, and then they started spitting, drummings, ratting,

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Speaker 5: and then the one that came out first started getting

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Speaker 5: a little nervous, and then it just ran as fast

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Speaker 5: as it could in the woods. And then so I

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Speaker 5: raised up my gun because I.

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Speaker 2: Was on like a little little shooting stick.

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Speaker 5: So I had raised my gun over that as fast

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Speaker 5: as I could, and then the turkey started running, so

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Speaker 5: I shot it.

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Speaker 2: Tell him what we do with the turkey legs? After

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Speaker 2: we clean a.

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Speaker 5: Bird, So we put them in the instapot and then

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Speaker 5: we just.

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Speaker 2: Like what mom cooks them in the instapot and then

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Speaker 2: we pull all the meat off. And then what do

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Speaker 2: we do with it?

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Speaker 5: We make turkey salad. So instead chicken salad, we make

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Speaker 5: wild turkey salad.

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Speaker 2: We put them in insta pot because it's very convenient.

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Speaker 5: And then man just like blended up with like ranch.

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Speaker 2: Celery, yeah, bacon bits sometimes cheddar cheese yep. So real quick,

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Speaker 2: tell them about go back, Tell them about your first turkey,

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Speaker 2: real quick. Your first turkey?

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Speaker 5: Okay, first turkey. So what we did we went to

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Speaker 5: my uncle's.

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Speaker 2: Property and then brother's birthday.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, and he was at like a sleep away camp.

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Speaker 5: And then so we heard some birds, so we went

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Speaker 5: to where we thought they were going, and then we

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Speaker 5: set up and then we started calling to them, and

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Speaker 5: then they were just coming right at us.

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Speaker 2: But it was you, me and my brother on his property.

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Speaker 5: There was probably ten and the turkey in the back

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Speaker 5: was strutting, and you were telling me to shoot that one.

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Speaker 5: And then I just didn't know because I thought that

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Speaker 5: was a shot for four ten. And then so what

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Speaker 5: I did is the closest one to me. I just

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Speaker 5: saw a little like brown spot, orange chest, and I

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Speaker 5: just thought that was a body. So I shot it

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Speaker 5: and it was a bird. And then you asked your brother.

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Speaker 2: So in Arkansas you can shoot a jake, and so

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Speaker 2: these jakes God would like crazy and come right in. Well,

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Speaker 2: I was concentrated on my eight year old. My brother

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Speaker 2: was to my ride, and so I thought, well, you know,

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Speaker 2: if he gets a shot, that's great, and then if

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Speaker 2: you know, my brother may be able to get a

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Speaker 2: shot as well. So after you shot the birds and

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Speaker 2: the birds dispersed, I never heard a shot from my brother,

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Speaker 2: and so I looked at him and said, hey, why

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Speaker 2: didn't you shoot He said, well, they were all jakes

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Speaker 2: and we didn't see his bird fall because everything flew.

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Speaker 2: And my brother said, hey, his bird is dead over here.

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Speaker 2: It flew right beside me and fell out of the air.

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Speaker 6: There.

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Speaker 2: That was his first turkey. So you're twelve years old.

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Speaker 2: Now you've got three turkeys under your belt. Yep, So

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Speaker 2: you're considered an expert in Arkansas, wouldn't you figure?

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Speaker 5: Maybe?

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Speaker 2: Maybe? Well, you're just as good an next bert as

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Speaker 2: your older brother, aren't you. Yeah, because he's killed three turkeys,

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Speaker 2: and how many turkeys has he missed?

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Speaker 5: Like thirty thirty?

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Speaker 2: He's missed a few. So you've killed three turkeys and

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Speaker 2: you've missed how many turkeys year round? There you go.

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Speaker 4: Next, husband and wife team Trey and Elizabeth Laudner walk

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Speaker 4: us through her first turkey hunt. I've been married for

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Speaker 4: twenty years and introducing my wife to turkey hunting resultant

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Speaker 4: in one of my all time favorite turkey stories. Lots

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Speaker 4: of folks told stories about their first turkey. What struck

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Speaker 4: me was that those stories were often more about who

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Speaker 4: took them on their first turkey hunt rather than the

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Speaker 4: hunt itself.

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Speaker 8: All right, So I'm Trey Ladner from pastors Mississippi.

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Speaker 9: Yes, I'm Elizabeth Ladner.

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Speaker 8: So I guess to preface this old story, like I

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Speaker 8: grew up my whole life, my family, hunting, just about everything.

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Speaker 8: Really well, we started dating pretty much had to tell her,

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Speaker 8: you know, hey, this is how my life is, you know,

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Speaker 8: just like you know. Well, she was okay, would it?

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Speaker 8: And then she started showing interest in it, so she

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Speaker 8: wanted to get Well, it got to be Turkey season

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Speaker 8: and we'd already been deer hunting, and that was usually

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Speaker 8: in the evening. You know, well, she's not a big

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Speaker 8: morning person, so not at all.

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Speaker 9: I worked nice shift. I'm a nice you nurse, and

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Speaker 9: mornings are not my thing.

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Speaker 8: So she would go with me every now and then

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Speaker 8: and we'd have some actions. She'd get excited, but she

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Speaker 8: never really had a lot of interest, you know, could

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Speaker 8: never make it happen. And then finally last year, I

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Speaker 8: got home from work.

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Speaker 9: One no no, no back up.

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Speaker 7: Because last season was really whenever, like I don't even know.

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Speaker 7: We started reading Tom Kelly's books and we started listening

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Speaker 7: to him like on the way We're hunting Poperville mostly,

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Speaker 7: and so we started listening to and I'm a big breader,

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Speaker 7: I was obsessed with how Tom Kelly was writing, and

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Speaker 7: I don't know, it just got me fired up for

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Speaker 7: the whole season really, and so we were going and

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Speaker 7: going and going for like three weeks almost every single

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Speaker 7: day that we were off, and we we were having

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Speaker 7: really awesome mornings. We were hearing a lot, We saw

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Speaker 7: a couple of jakes, so we never saw a gobbler.

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Speaker 7: One morning, I was just like, was so exhausted basically

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Speaker 7: from working going every morning. I was like, I'm not

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Speaker 7: going this morning. You go, you have fun, you know,

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Speaker 7: send me a video listening to the turkeys and all

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Speaker 7: the things, you know. But he was like, no, you've

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Speaker 7: got to get up, You've got to get up. I'm like, oh, okay, fine.

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Speaker 7: So I got in the truck. I was like, I'm

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Speaker 7: sleeping the whole way there. We ended up listening to

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Speaker 7: a podcast I don't even remember who we listened probably,

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Speaker 7: and we got there. We listened to this one spot

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Speaker 7: that I was my favorite spot. It was the prettiest spot,

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Speaker 7: right on the edge of a food plot. We don't

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Speaker 7: normally sit on the edge of food plots mostly we

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Speaker 7: normally walk in the bottoms, which is also gorgeous. We

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Speaker 7: didn't hear anything, so we like last ditch effort. I

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Speaker 7: think it was like what ten nine thirty maybe ten o'clock,

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Speaker 7: and we have a spot we call it the buck nest.

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Speaker 7: Granted I've never killed a buck there, but it's called

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Speaker 7: the buck nest because that's where we get the most

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Speaker 7: pictures from.

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Speaker 9: And we're sitting there. No, I don't even think we

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Speaker 9: were sitting yet. We were walking and he yelps and

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Speaker 9: immediately Gobbert.

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Speaker 8: Gobbled and learned fifty yards.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, and so I can hear his heartbeat above mine,

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Speaker 7: and he's like all fired up, and he's telling me

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Speaker 7: what to do and basically be quiet, and then we

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Speaker 7: finally like walk what.

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Speaker 9: Sixty more yards?

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Speaker 7: We sit down and he normally like I'll sit on

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Speaker 7: a tree and he'll get behind me and call I'm

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Speaker 7: not the best caller yet, obviously, but he was gonna

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Speaker 7: go do that, and he just couldn't stand it. So

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Speaker 7: he sat on the same tree as me and he

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Speaker 7: yelled again.

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Speaker 9: He saw him, He saw the gobbler.

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Speaker 7: Shrut and I was looking and I couldn't never see

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Speaker 7: him or whatever, and he was like, can you see him?

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Speaker 9: Do you see him?

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Speaker 7: And I'm like, no, I don't see him yet, and

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Speaker 7: so he stopped, he stopped yelping, and God or just

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Speaker 7: kept gobbling probably what about three more times, and finally

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Speaker 7: I could see him in the line of sight probably

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Speaker 7: what sixty seventy yards away, and Trey was sitting there

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Speaker 7: and he's.

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Speaker 9: Like, well, can you shoot him? Can you shoot him? Like, well,

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Speaker 9: I see him like way far away. I can't shoot

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Speaker 9: it at this point.

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Speaker 8: She can't judge distance at this point, like thirty yards,

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Speaker 8: and I might about to jump out of my skin.

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Speaker 7: Like because you could have had a shot the whole time. Well,

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Speaker 7: I couldn't because I was literally looking in front of it,

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Speaker 7: like out a tree. I'm like, I can't shoot him. Well,

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Speaker 7: I'm Christian, I have all prayers all the time, and

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Speaker 7: so I'm sitting here talking to God. I'm like, God,

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Speaker 7: please please please let me get a shot. Please don't

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Speaker 7: let mess it up. Please don't let me, you know,

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Speaker 7: harm this animal, and please just let my heart rates

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Speaker 7: slow down so I can actually hear and pay attention

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Speaker 7: to what I'm doing. Because I was freaking out and

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Speaker 7: I'm shaking. I was like, there isn't there's no way

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Speaker 7: I'm even would be able to keep the dot on

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Speaker 7: the turkey.

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Speaker 8: And at this point I'm getting impatient, yeah, laggravated. I'm

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Speaker 8: like shooting, you know, shooting, and all of a sudd

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Speaker 8: and the gun goes off.

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Speaker 7: Well because he well hit the gun went off because

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Speaker 7: his head there was literally two trees and it's probably

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Speaker 7: what a foot and a half apart in his head.

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Speaker 7: The redhead popped right in the middle of it.

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Speaker 9: And I shot because I just I don't know it.

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Speaker 8: As soon as the gun went off, I just jumped

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Speaker 8: up and belined it to the turkeys because it was

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Speaker 8: not getting away. I had to grab it.

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Speaker 9: He was dead, like a.

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Speaker 8: Trail of calls all behind me, you know. And I

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Speaker 8: finally grab it and I'm looking around for her and

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Speaker 8: I can't find her, and she finally comes walking up.

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Speaker 8: She's crying, she's shaking. Yeah, I just hand her a turkey.

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Speaker 7: He scared me whenever you ran that fast, because like, hey,

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Speaker 7: it's my turkey, sir, don't do that again. And I

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Speaker 7: like threw the gun down on an accident, just excited,

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Speaker 7: and that made me nervous. So I like finally get

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Speaker 7: up there and I'm tears are streaming down my face

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Speaker 7: and this man pulls out a phone.

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Speaker 8: I actually videoed it.

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Speaker 9: Yeah, he videoed it, and I was a nervous wreck.

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Speaker 9: I could barely talk. It was. It was just so

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Speaker 9: much adrenaline, like I just couldn't. I don't know. It

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Speaker 9: was incredibly emotional, actually, I mean, like.

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Speaker 7: Thinking about it, I mean I took a whole life

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Speaker 7: and it was we worked really freaking hard.

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Speaker 9: In that moment, it was all worth it. You know.

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Speaker 9: I think every time we get to kill an animal

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Speaker 9: is pretty.

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Speaker 8: Emotional, and it was at that moment it clicked in

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Speaker 8: her brain, Yeah, like this is why you do this.

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Speaker 9: Yeah, there was definitely some relief for sure.

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Speaker 8: Especially turkeys is kind of like a sickness, Like I

361
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Speaker 8: can go get my butt handed to me every day,

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Speaker 8: every day of the season and kill one on the

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Speaker 8: last day and it was all worth it to me.

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Speaker 7: Well, I think I really needed that too, because that

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Speaker 7: day I was not going to go. I was like,

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Speaker 7: I'm exhausted, I'm not going to do it, and now

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Speaker 7: I will be getting out of the bed.

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Speaker 9: It's a little different for deer, but turkeys it's a

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Speaker 9: different world.

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Speaker 4: This last story resonates because relationships aren't always easy. I'm

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Speaker 4: a son a son with a great dad, but not

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Speaker 4: a perfect one. No one's the perfect father, certainly not me.

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Speaker 4: Father and son relationships can be tenuous, but we tend

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Speaker 4: to hear the stories that only celebrate these relationships and

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Speaker 4: don't necessarily dig into the times that are fraught. His

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Speaker 4: story reminds me that I'm not the only one he's

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Speaker 4: trying to better my relationship with my father.

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Speaker 10: So my name is Heath Pendergraft and I'm from Exeter, Missouri,

379
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Speaker 10: down in the very far southwest corner of the state.

380
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Speaker 10: I'm forty eight and I've been turkey hunting since i

381
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Speaker 10: was fourteen. So my story is one I like to

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Speaker 10: call it my story of redemption with my dad. Growing up,

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Speaker 10: my dad and I, I mean, we were fine, but

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Speaker 10: we weren't particularly close.

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Speaker 6: We were very different.

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Speaker 10: I always felt that he was a little bit tough

387
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Speaker 10: on me, and he thought that I was.

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Speaker 6: I don't know, just I wasn't. I didn't click with him,

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Speaker 6: you know.

390
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Speaker 10: And growing up my dad he deer hunted, coon hunted,

391
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Speaker 10: did all this. He didn't turkey hunt, but he did

392
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Speaker 10: everything else, and I wanted to be a hunter, to

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Speaker 10: be like him. So I deer hunted, coon hunted, but

394
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Speaker 10: I wanted turkey hunts. I'd seen a lot of videos

395
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Speaker 10: and read and outdoor magazines about turkey hunting, but yeah,

396
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Speaker 10: he didn't do it.

397
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Speaker 6: So I didn't really have anybody to go.

398
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Speaker 10: With, so I basically had to teach myself. I was

399
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Speaker 10: a very hyper and I guess annoying child, and so

400
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Speaker 10: any of the adults that I did know that that

401
00:20:36,280 --> 00:20:39,200
Speaker 10: turkey hunter would not take me. I would beg him

402
00:20:39,280 --> 00:20:41,680
Speaker 10: and they wouldn't do it because I couldn't set still

403
00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:42,440
Speaker 10: or be quiet.

404
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Speaker 6: So I started teaching myself.

405
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Speaker 10: My Papaul he didn't turkey hunt either, but he loved

406
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Speaker 10: me enough that he wanted to feed my passion, so

407
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Speaker 10: he he bought me a little scratchbox cedar scratchbox turkey

408
00:20:53,760 --> 00:20:56,119
Speaker 10: call from Walmart and bought my first tag. And so

409
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Speaker 10: I had to start by watching videos and listening to

410
00:20:59,720 --> 00:21:03,480
Speaker 10: little seventy eight rpm records of turkey calls teach myself

411
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Speaker 10: how to call.

412
00:21:04,880 --> 00:21:06,520
Speaker 6: So I'd go out there and he would take me.

413
00:21:06,600 --> 00:21:08,879
Speaker 10: My Pauppa would take me to the woods and let

414
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Speaker 10: me hunt for a few hours in the morning because

415
00:21:10,880 --> 00:21:12,760
Speaker 10: I couldn't drive yet, and then I wouldn't get a

416
00:21:12,800 --> 00:21:16,080
Speaker 10: thinking he'd bring me home anyway. Long story short, it

417
00:21:16,119 --> 00:21:17,840
Speaker 10: took me years to get to where I could actually

418
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Speaker 10: call a turkey in for myself and kill it. When

419
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Speaker 10: I did, it was the greatest thing ever Dad being

420
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Speaker 10: not being a turkey hunter. You know, he was proud

421
00:21:26,600 --> 00:21:28,560
Speaker 10: of me for doing that, but it just wasn't didn't

422
00:21:28,600 --> 00:21:31,480
Speaker 10: mean that much to him. Fast forward twenty years later,

423
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Speaker 10: and I talked him into finally going on a turkey

424
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Speaker 10: hunt with me. By then, I had matured a lot,

425
00:21:36,119 --> 00:21:38,800
Speaker 10: I'd grown up, I was married, I had kids, and

426
00:21:39,520 --> 00:21:41,840
Speaker 10: our relationship had gotten much stronger than it had in

427
00:21:41,840 --> 00:21:44,080
Speaker 10: the past. So he finally agreed to go turkey hunt

428
00:21:44,200 --> 00:21:48,239
Speaker 10: with me. So the opening morning of that season he

429
00:21:48,280 --> 00:21:51,920
Speaker 10: was going with me. It stormed like crazy all night long,

430
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Speaker 10: and I was really I was really disheartened because I

431
00:21:54,640 --> 00:21:58,040
Speaker 10: thought I was going to have to cancel the hunt

432
00:21:58,359 --> 00:22:01,080
Speaker 10: because it was just, I mean severe storms, really bad ones,

433
00:22:01,280 --> 00:22:05,440
Speaker 10: heavy rain. But daylight broke, it was still raining and thundering,

434
00:22:05,440 --> 00:22:07,320
Speaker 10: but it wasn't as bad as it was. We decided

435
00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:09,639
Speaker 10: to go out to this farm place that we were

436
00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:12,600
Speaker 10: hunting and listen for turkeys, just see if we can

437
00:22:12,600 --> 00:22:16,480
Speaker 10: get anything going. We got out there. It was probably

438
00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:18,520
Speaker 10: about seven thirty because it had been raining as much.

439
00:22:18,560 --> 00:22:22,320
Speaker 10: We just we slept in and ate breakfast, and we

440
00:22:22,359 --> 00:22:24,960
Speaker 10: got out there about seven thirty. Tried to hear, you know,

441
00:22:25,080 --> 00:22:28,119
Speaker 10: tried to locate some birds, couldn't hear anything. We're standing

442
00:22:28,160 --> 00:22:31,520
Speaker 10: by the truck on this knob on top of this field,

443
00:22:32,160 --> 00:22:35,119
Speaker 10: with this big track of timber down below us. And

444
00:22:35,200 --> 00:22:37,239
Speaker 10: this track of timber was really it was shaped kind

445
00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:40,400
Speaker 10: of like a turkey's foot. It had three big branches

446
00:22:40,400 --> 00:22:42,520
Speaker 10: that came off of it. There was one like central area,

447
00:22:42,520 --> 00:22:45,200
Speaker 10: and then three haulers went off of this this turkey foot.

448
00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:48,360
Speaker 10: And while we're standing there trying to decide what we're

449
00:22:48,359 --> 00:22:51,679
Speaker 10: going to do, this huge peel of thunder sounded. And

450
00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:53,440
Speaker 10: when it did, we heard two gobbles.

451
00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:55,040
Speaker 6: It was the coolest thing.

452
00:22:54,960 --> 00:22:57,760
Speaker 10: And they were they were way over like on the

453
00:22:57,800 --> 00:23:01,840
Speaker 10: second hauler. But we didn't really have an approach to

454
00:23:01,840 --> 00:23:03,640
Speaker 10: get over there. So I told him, I said, there's

455
00:23:03,680 --> 00:23:05,240
Speaker 10: one tree in this field. I said, let's go set

456
00:23:05,320 --> 00:23:07,679
Speaker 10: up at this tree and just see if we can

457
00:23:07,760 --> 00:23:10,320
Speaker 10: kind of get an idea of where they're heading so

458
00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,120
Speaker 10: that we can try to get him. And he said, okay,

459
00:23:13,119 --> 00:23:14,359
Speaker 10: So we go down here to this tree, and we

460
00:23:14,400 --> 00:23:16,959
Speaker 10: set up and this tree is probably thirty yards from

461
00:23:17,359 --> 00:23:19,560
Speaker 10: the edge of the timber, and it's the only tree

462
00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:21,520
Speaker 10: in the field. We sit down real quick, we get

463
00:23:21,520 --> 00:23:24,879
Speaker 10: our face masks on, and I started calling and they

464
00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:28,560
Speaker 10: immediately answered us back, both of them. It's like they

465
00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:33,359
Speaker 10: were in stereo. They were just together constantly and we

466
00:23:33,400 --> 00:23:35,880
Speaker 10: could hear him, and they were getting closer as time

467
00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:38,040
Speaker 10: went on. But you know, they were two haulers over.

468
00:23:38,080 --> 00:23:39,960
Speaker 10: I really didn't expect him to come over to where

469
00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:44,639
Speaker 10: we were. Suddenly we seen movement across the first holler.

470
00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:46,320
Speaker 10: They had crossed one of the hallers and were up

471
00:23:46,320 --> 00:23:49,159
Speaker 10: on this ridge, so they were pretty hot. They were

472
00:23:49,160 --> 00:23:52,040
Speaker 10: coming to us, and so I looked over at Dad

473
00:23:52,040 --> 00:23:53,720
Speaker 10: and I said, hey, do you see him? And he

474
00:23:53,760 --> 00:23:56,320
Speaker 10: said yeah, and you could see he was. He was

475
00:23:56,359 --> 00:23:58,040
Speaker 10: getting into it at this point. So it was really

476
00:23:58,119 --> 00:23:59,439
Speaker 10: cool for me to be able to be there with

477
00:23:59,520 --> 00:24:04,880
Speaker 10: him in that month and about that time, behind us,

478
00:24:05,200 --> 00:24:07,880
Speaker 10: kind of where where the three houlers meet, behind us,

479
00:24:08,680 --> 00:24:11,639
Speaker 10: this hen started talking and I say behind us.

480
00:24:11,680 --> 00:24:13,600
Speaker 6: It wasn't directly behind us, it was more to the

481
00:24:13,680 --> 00:24:14,680
Speaker 6: right behind us.

482
00:24:15,240 --> 00:24:18,840
Speaker 10: So she was kind of calling him to her to

483
00:24:18,880 --> 00:24:21,879
Speaker 10: our left, and I was calling him more to us

484
00:24:22,000 --> 00:24:25,879
Speaker 10: to her right, and it kind of became almost like

485
00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:29,399
Speaker 10: a shouting match between me and the hen. I was

486
00:24:29,400 --> 00:24:32,080
Speaker 10: disheartened because I did not think I could call those

487
00:24:32,280 --> 00:24:34,800
Speaker 10: toms away from that hen. And matter of fact, I

488
00:24:34,840 --> 00:24:36,520
Speaker 10: even looked over to Dad one point and I said,

489
00:24:36,600 --> 00:24:38,480
Speaker 10: maybe we should just give it up, because I just

490
00:24:38,520 --> 00:24:41,159
Speaker 10: didn't have the I did not have the confidence at

491
00:24:41,200 --> 00:24:42,800
Speaker 10: that point that I'd be able to pull that off.

492
00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:44,960
Speaker 10: And he said, no, keep at it, we say, He said,

493
00:24:45,000 --> 00:24:46,520
Speaker 10: we're here, we might as well see what we can do.

494
00:24:47,080 --> 00:24:49,840
Speaker 10: So we kept going. It was a solid twenty minutes

495
00:24:49,880 --> 00:24:52,200
Speaker 10: back and forth with that hen, and pretty soon one

496
00:24:52,240 --> 00:24:55,320
Speaker 10: of the toms broke from the top of that ridge

497
00:24:55,320 --> 00:24:58,800
Speaker 10: and came right down that holler, flew over a brush pile,

498
00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:03,040
Speaker 10: which I didn't think was likely at all, and started

499
00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:03,680
Speaker 10: up the ridge.

500
00:25:03,680 --> 00:25:03,840
Speaker 5: Well.

501
00:25:03,960 --> 00:25:06,280
Speaker 10: His buddy when he saw that, he did the same

502
00:25:06,280 --> 00:25:11,360
Speaker 10: thing just shortly thereafter. So my heart's beating a mile

503
00:25:11,400 --> 00:25:13,040
Speaker 10: a minute. I can see him coming, but and I

504
00:25:13,040 --> 00:25:15,159
Speaker 10: can hear him rattle, but I can hear him gobble.

505
00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:17,719
Speaker 10: But it's that rattle on the bottom of their gobble.

506
00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:20,959
Speaker 10: Whenever they got to within, you know, forty yards of us.

507
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:24,159
Speaker 10: That just really got me excited. I whispered out of

508
00:25:24,160 --> 00:25:25,680
Speaker 10: the corner of my mouth. I said, get your gun up,

509
00:25:26,200 --> 00:25:27,880
Speaker 10: and he already had it up, and he said.

510
00:25:27,720 --> 00:25:30,320
Speaker 6: You get yours, You get yours up, and.

511
00:25:30,320 --> 00:25:32,280
Speaker 10: I realized I didn't have it up, so I got

512
00:25:32,280 --> 00:25:35,080
Speaker 10: it up. We're sitting there together, these two birds break

513
00:25:35,119 --> 00:25:35,680
Speaker 10: out of the timber.

514
00:25:35,720 --> 00:25:36,159
Speaker 6: They come up.

515
00:25:36,200 --> 00:25:39,640
Speaker 10: They're drumming, you know, and it's that really intense drum

516
00:25:39,680 --> 00:25:41,760
Speaker 10: that you can feel down in your chest. I mean,

517
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:44,760
Speaker 10: they're so close that when they drum, there's just like

518
00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:48,640
Speaker 10: this warm feeling that just comes right down through your chest.

519
00:25:48,680 --> 00:25:49,520
Speaker 6: And it was.

520
00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:53,520
Speaker 10: It was truly surreal in that moment to be there

521
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:56,520
Speaker 10: with him, of all people, you know, because he had

522
00:25:56,520 --> 00:25:57,639
Speaker 10: never done that before.

523
00:25:58,600 --> 00:26:00,720
Speaker 6: So the birds kind of cut.

524
00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:02,480
Speaker 10: To our our left a little bit, so they're they're

525
00:26:02,560 --> 00:26:04,840
Speaker 10: kind of they're not going to that hen. They're strutting

526
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:07,360
Speaker 10: for us and looking for the hen that we're supposed

527
00:26:07,359 --> 00:26:09,199
Speaker 10: to be. But they kind of cut to our left

528
00:26:09,200 --> 00:26:10,800
Speaker 10: a little bit and give us a perfect shot at

529
00:26:10,800 --> 00:26:15,080
Speaker 10: about twenty five yards, and I kind of whispered, I said,

530
00:26:15,080 --> 00:26:17,000
Speaker 10: on the kind of three, we're gonna shoot.

531
00:26:17,359 --> 00:26:19,520
Speaker 6: And I didn't even have to count loud.

532
00:26:19,560 --> 00:26:22,280
Speaker 10: We both just counted three silently and shot, and it

533
00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:26,800
Speaker 10: sounded like one shot. Both birds fell over dead, and

534
00:26:26,920 --> 00:26:28,840
Speaker 10: those were those were good birds. I mean they had

535
00:26:29,119 --> 00:26:31,200
Speaker 10: one had a ten inch beard, one had ten and

536
00:26:31,200 --> 00:26:33,880
Speaker 10: a half. They both had one of a quarterant spurs.

537
00:26:34,280 --> 00:26:35,240
Speaker 6: They were nice birds.

538
00:26:35,680 --> 00:26:37,720
Speaker 10: I've killed bigger one since, but I've never killed one

539
00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:40,320
Speaker 10: more memorable. I mean, as soon as those birds fell over,

540
00:26:41,119 --> 00:26:43,960
Speaker 10: we jumped up, we hugged, you know, and I hadn't

541
00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,680
Speaker 10: hugged my dad quite a while at that point. It

542
00:26:46,760 --> 00:26:51,320
Speaker 10: was the greatest moment I ever had in the woods.

543
00:26:52,080 --> 00:26:53,919
Speaker 6: And it all goes back to, you know, that.

544
00:26:53,760 --> 00:26:57,600
Speaker 10: That he he didn't do it before, and I couldn't.

545
00:26:57,960 --> 00:26:59,200
Speaker 6: I had to teach myself how to do it.

546
00:26:59,240 --> 00:27:01,760
Speaker 10: I don't know, I guess for me in that moment,

547
00:27:01,840 --> 00:27:06,520
Speaker 10: whenever we both killed our turkeys together him his first,

548
00:27:07,000 --> 00:27:09,760
Speaker 10: and we were right there together, I kind of felt

549
00:27:09,800 --> 00:27:15,520
Speaker 10: like that I had earned his respect, and that was

550
00:27:15,560 --> 00:27:17,280
Speaker 10: the greatest thing in the world to me, still is

551
00:27:17,320 --> 00:27:20,280
Speaker 10: to this day. I mean, I've hunted, I said, I'm

552
00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:22,919
Speaker 10: forty eight years old. I've hunted my whole life. I've

553
00:27:22,960 --> 00:27:24,919
Speaker 10: done a lot of great things in the woods are

554
00:27:25,040 --> 00:27:27,240
Speaker 10: what I think are great and fun things, but nothing

555
00:27:27,280 --> 00:27:28,399
Speaker 10: has ever come close to that.

556
00:27:31,280 --> 00:27:34,000
Speaker 4: If there is a happier ending to a story than

557
00:27:34,119 --> 00:27:38,640
Speaker 4: doubling up on gobblers with your dad, I haven't heard it.

558
00:27:38,760 --> 00:27:41,159
Speaker 4: I hope you all take more time than you should

559
00:27:41,200 --> 00:27:43,879
Speaker 4: to enjoy the Turkey Woods this spring, and that you

560
00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:46,200
Speaker 4: share that time with those you love.