WEBVTT - Ep. 50: Turkey Tales 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:07.600 M you see that glass deal right there? Yes, Mr 0:00:07.640 --> 0:00:10.080 Will is pointing out a big glass milk jug, probably 0:00:10.080 --> 0:00:13.880 two foot tall. It's full of turkey feats jog of 0:00:13.920 --> 0:00:16.480 some sort, and they're tag every once a while, I'd 0:00:16.480 --> 0:00:19.000 go and I just remember hunts, you know, because forget 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:22.360 a lot of I'll jog your memory. On this episode 0:00:22.360 --> 0:00:26.120 of the Bear Grease Podcast, we're doing something we've never done. 0:00:26.760 --> 0:00:30.720 We've assembled an eccentric flock of turkey hunters to tell 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:34.680 their single favorite turkey hunting story. We'll hear from the 0:00:34.720 --> 0:00:37.559 likes of Steve and Ronella Janice could tell us and 0:00:37.640 --> 0:00:42.040 Will Primos, but we'll also hear from some backwoodsman who 0:00:42.120 --> 0:00:45.600 you ain't seen on the TV, who've influenced me in 0:00:45.640 --> 0:00:49.760 a significant way. Stories are an important part of the 0:00:49.840 --> 0:00:54.680 human experience. The oral stories of those we respect shape 0:00:54.680 --> 0:00:58.960 our lives. On this episode, we're going to let stories 0:00:59.040 --> 0:01:03.360 do what's stories do. And you're not gonna want to 0:01:03.440 --> 0:01:06.000 miss this one. And he said, I called this old 0:01:06.000 --> 0:01:08.319 big gobbler. And he said, but when that dude come in, 0:01:08.480 --> 0:01:10.240 he said, he come in on the other side of 0:01:10.240 --> 0:01:12.880 the log. He said, well, I just richerd that log. 0:01:13.040 --> 0:01:15.280 He should I grabbed him and he said the log 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:17.280 was something I couldn't reach over to get him on 0:01:17.319 --> 0:01:19.600 the other side. And guy said, my god, Doc, what 0:01:19.800 --> 0:01:21.840 you do He said, Well, I did the only thing 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:24.600 I could do. He said, I turned him loose and 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:39.199 called him around the other side. My name is Clay 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:42.759 Nukelem and this is the Bear Grease Podcast, where we'll 0:01:42.760 --> 0:01:48.080 explore things forgotten but relevant, search for insight and unlikely places, 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:51.880 and where we'll tell the story of Americans who lived 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:56.880 their lives close to the land. Presented by f HF Gear, 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:02.120 American made purpose built hunting and fishing gear that's designed 0:02:02.120 --> 0:02:12.600 to be as rugged as the places we explore. Oral 0:02:12.760 --> 0:02:17.120 stories have always been important for humans. They operate using 0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:22.000 the supernatural technology that replays a moment that's been overran 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:25.160 by time. The telling of the story a lots of 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:29.800 a second life, resuscitating it to transcend time and geography 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:33.080 in the mind of another human. You can't tell a 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:35.880 story to a dog or a horse and expect them 0:02:35.919 --> 0:02:38.239 to get much out of it. But that's what makes 0:02:38.320 --> 0:02:42.200 us special. The words of others shape imagery in our minds, 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:45.600 and in many ways it's better than actually being there. 0:02:46.200 --> 0:02:50.880 The storyteller has rendered out the impurities and the valuable details. 0:02:51.000 --> 0:02:54.880 Information and the takeaway of the experience is delivered to 0:02:54.919 --> 0:02:59.160 the listener in a neat, tidy package. That is, if 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:04.520 the person an efficient storyteller, and stories always indicate the 0:03:04.680 --> 0:03:08.400 values of the teller. I'm always looking for where someone 0:03:08.440 --> 0:03:12.200 puts emphasis and shows what's important to them, because it 0:03:12.240 --> 0:03:16.679 will show you something about their insides. Well, that was 0:03:16.720 --> 0:03:18.640 a fancy way to say that. If you like a 0:03:18.680 --> 0:03:22.320 good turkey hunting story, you're gonna love this podcast. Turkey 0:03:22.360 --> 0:03:25.400 stories are different than any other kind of story because 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:30.000 there's always lots of action, hand gestures, ups and downs, 0:03:30.360 --> 0:03:34.240 and turkey sounds being replicated. Told by the right person 0:03:34.639 --> 0:03:37.520 at the right time and the right company of people. 0:03:37.920 --> 0:03:41.800 They're hard to beat. I don't recall a better lineup 0:03:41.840 --> 0:03:45.200 of turkey hunters and storytellers than in this year podcast. 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:48.600 We got them stacked like turkey beards and the cigar box. 0:03:49.200 --> 0:03:52.960 I'd like to invite you to sit back and enjoy 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:57.440 a campfire with some people from my world. Every one 0:03:57.520 --> 0:04:00.360 of them I respect in a unique way, but they've 0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:04.640 all got one thing in common. They live for hunting 0:04:04.720 --> 0:04:10.320 wild turkeys. This first story is told by none other 0:04:10.400 --> 0:04:14.600 than Janice, who tell us of meat Eater. Since time immemorial, 0:04:14.720 --> 0:04:17.960 the South has been the cultural epicenter of turkey hunting, 0:04:18.240 --> 0:04:22.279 but the burgeoning gobbler populations of the West are spawning 0:04:22.400 --> 0:04:26.479 some great Western turkey hunters, and Janice is one of them. 0:04:26.520 --> 0:04:30.000 The man can flat cover some ground and chases some 0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:36.080 turkeys hard. By my request, here's Jonnice's most memorable turkey hunt, 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:43.360 and his emphasis might surprise you, Clay. Here's my hunting story. 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.599 My turkey hunting story isn't necessarily a story about me. 0:04:49.080 --> 0:04:51.640 It's it's more about my wife and where I got 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:55.920 to see her experience through. A turkey hunt takes place 0:04:56.160 --> 0:05:00.160 in Montana about seven years ago, and we're gone out. 0:05:00.160 --> 0:05:01.720 We had just moved to Montana and it was our 0:05:01.760 --> 0:05:05.640 first spring turkey hunting in Montana. I found a spot 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:07.960 on a map that looked good. We drove in there, 0:05:08.400 --> 0:05:11.159 set up a camp, started hunting. I went out first 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:13.720 one day, she stayed back with the kids. I might 0:05:13.720 --> 0:05:16.720 even gotten a gobbler the first day. Um, it was good. 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:19.760 And so when I got back, I said, you should 0:05:19.800 --> 0:05:22.159 go out for an afternoon and just see what you 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:24.120 can do. And she'd maybe been out a couple of 0:05:24.200 --> 0:05:27.120 days with me, but very very early in her turkey 0:05:27.200 --> 0:05:30.880 hunting career, little to no experience. I sent her out 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:35.560 with a slate pot call in a peg, some basic camouflage, 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:38.039 and she was looking at it more like I'm gonna 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:42.479 go out and get away from kids in life and 0:05:42.520 --> 0:05:45.839 the craziness and just go out and enjoy the forest 0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:49.120 and the outdoors for a few hours. This is maybe 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:52.279 two o'clock in the afternoon. She walks out of camp. 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:56.680 So the girls and I we go and hike a 0:05:56.680 --> 0:06:00.400 little mountain nearby with glass. We go pick flower hours, 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:03.880 come back to camp. Maybe it's four now Mom's not 0:06:03.960 --> 0:06:07.120 back yet. We go to leave camp as a pond nearby. 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:10.000 We go to the pond, try to catch some frogs, 0:06:10.120 --> 0:06:12.880 look at turtles, throw rocks in the water. Come back 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:18.640 to camp. No Mom. Make dinner, kind of postpony eating dinner, waiting, 0:06:18.839 --> 0:06:22.320 no Mom. We eat dinner, still no Mom. Starting to 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:25.599 get dark now this is probably May in Montana, so 0:06:25.640 --> 0:06:28.640 the days are long. It doesn't actually get dark until 0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.479 probably close to nine pm. So she's been gone six 0:06:31.520 --> 0:06:34.920 seven hours now, and soon enough the kids are tired. 0:06:35.080 --> 0:06:38.640 So I put them to bed. Eventually, it's like getting dusky. 0:06:38.800 --> 0:06:42.479 I have a beer. Still no mom, no wife. Eventually, 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:44.240 I'm like, well, I'm gonna go to bed. She must 0:06:44.279 --> 0:06:46.960 have gone out for a really long hike and she's 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.880 just really enjoying herself, so I'm not too worried about it. 0:06:49.920 --> 0:06:51.680 I'm just gonna lay down next to the kids in 0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:55.520 the tent, close my eyes. It gets really dusky, and 0:06:55.560 --> 0:06:59.320 I'm just fading into some sleep. When all of a sudden, 0:07:00.600 --> 0:07:04.680 that TenTen door zips open and I hear, like, oh 0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:07.960 my gosh, they was there. I was, and I was 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:10.280 calling and he was calling back. Was that you calling? 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:12.400 I was calling? And then he was calling, and then 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:14.119 I think I spooked him. But then I went around 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:16.160 the hill and then I called some more and he 0:07:16.280 --> 0:07:17.960 called back, and I was making these sounds and I 0:07:18.000 --> 0:07:19.960 was doing this and he was calling in. I'm like 0:07:20.120 --> 0:07:23.240 just waking up, and I'm like, ohoa, whoa what? Who? 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:25.920 Who are you? What have you done with my wife? 0:07:26.120 --> 0:07:31.320 What is going on here right now? And she experienced 0:07:32.040 --> 0:07:36.080 not only one, but gotten to work two different gobblers 0:07:36.120 --> 0:07:39.680 in her whatever seven eight hours that she had spent 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:43.560 out there roaming the hills of Montana looking for Merriam's turkeys, 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:48.280 and twice had gotten to experience like the joy that 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:51.440 we all find in turkey hunting that I especially love, 0:07:51.520 --> 0:07:55.080 and that's like the communication with that gobbler, with that bird, 0:07:56.000 --> 0:08:00.800 and it just bit her so hard, like I hadn't 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:03.240 seen my wife so excited about a certain thing in 0:08:03.520 --> 0:08:06.400 who knows how long, probably since the kids were born. 0:08:07.280 --> 0:08:11.880 But she was so fired up, just like what, asking 0:08:11.920 --> 0:08:14.000 all the questions, what did I do wrong? I should 0:08:14.040 --> 0:08:16.880 have done this? And then she's hyper analyzing it and 0:08:16.960 --> 0:08:19.600 just the excitement of it all, and um, of course 0:08:19.640 --> 0:08:21.800 I'm just like kind of coming out of just almost 0:08:21.800 --> 0:08:24.640 being asleep, and it was all hard to comprehend for 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:27.040 me at the moment. But in the end we saw 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.320 stout that she had been working a bird that had 0:08:29.320 --> 0:08:32.840 actually roosted and it was on a nearby rich from camp. 0:08:32.880 --> 0:08:36.320 It was only maybe three or four yards away, and 0:08:36.360 --> 0:08:38.760 she said, well, I thought he was there. I think 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:41.120 he had roosted, and I figured I should just back 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:42.679 out and then come back to camp, which is the 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:44.600 right thing to do. But when she came out to 0:08:44.679 --> 0:08:47.000 the road that we used to access the hunting zone, 0:08:47.440 --> 0:08:50.320 so she says, I backed out of there, but I 0:08:50.440 --> 0:08:53.800 left a pile of flowers in the road, and if 0:08:53.800 --> 0:08:56.520 you take a left at that pile of flowers, you 0:08:56.600 --> 0:08:59.600 go down the ridge, you'll run into this gobbler. So 0:09:00.120 --> 0:09:03.000 next morning, I get up nice and early, walk down 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:07.280 the road. I see a pile of fresh but wilted 0:09:07.320 --> 0:09:10.240 from being sitting out there overnight air leaf, balsam root, 0:09:10.520 --> 0:09:13.040 bright yellow. You could, even in the dark, you could 0:09:13.040 --> 0:09:16.359 see him from fifty six yards away the pile of flowers. 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:19.800 I take a left, don't go too far, sit down, 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:22.720 and as it cracks flight, I can hear the gobbler 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:26.319 start to gobble in the tree, and uh, there was 0:09:26.360 --> 0:09:29.480 a classic hunt that morning. I worked him for probably 0:09:29.679 --> 0:09:32.440 whatever in the tree for twenty minutes, and then on 0:09:32.480 --> 0:09:35.400 the ground for another minutes until he finally committed and 0:09:35.440 --> 0:09:38.640 came over the hill and I shot him. That's a 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:42.559 story and how my wife got hooked on turkey hunting 0:09:42.559 --> 0:09:46.480 and hooked on communicating with turkeys. Will never forget being 0:09:46.480 --> 0:09:51.680 woken up by a excited, energized, near forty year old 0:09:51.720 --> 0:09:55.199 woman after communicating with a couple of gobblers in Montana. 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:59.800 Good one, and you'll have to wait till the end 0:09:59.840 --> 0:10:03.520 of the podcast to hear the story of his main sidekicks. 0:10:03.559 --> 0:10:07.280 Steve Runella, the next storyteller, is one of the best 0:10:07.280 --> 0:10:10.720 Ozark turkey hunters I know. His name is Mo Shepherd, 0:10:10.840 --> 0:10:13.520 and his family homesteaded in the Ozarks in the mid 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:17.360 eighteen hundreds. There's even a mountain named after him. Some 0:10:17.400 --> 0:10:21.800 people are just turkey hunters, and Mo is one of them. 0:10:21.960 --> 0:10:24.720 I hope you've got some rain gear because we're about 0:10:24.960 --> 0:10:30.240 to get wet. Well, it's been a rough spring. I 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:33.520 hunted hard every day I was able to, and it 0:10:33.640 --> 0:10:35.520 come down to the last two days of season. I 0:10:35.559 --> 0:10:38.960 hadn't hunted in four or five days, and I decided 0:10:38.960 --> 0:10:40.480 to go back up to my mom and dad's old 0:10:40.520 --> 0:10:42.959 place in the mountains. Anyway, I got up there that 0:10:43.080 --> 0:10:45.560 night before spent the night with him. It started storming 0:10:45.640 --> 0:10:49.360 during the night, bad storms, just lighting and thundering, pouring 0:10:49.400 --> 0:10:51.679 down rain. I had my alarms set. I got up, 0:10:51.679 --> 0:10:53.880 and when I woke up it was still this thunder 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:55.719 and lightning and pouring down rain. I just shut my 0:10:55.760 --> 0:10:57.800 alarm off. I thought, I'm gonna go back to sleep 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:00.440 a while, no worry that. I thought that, and the 0:11:00.480 --> 0:11:02.720 door opened on the bedroom. By sleeping in, my dad 0:11:02.760 --> 0:11:05.680 walks in. He says, what you're doing still in bed? 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:07.800 I said, well, it's stormy. He said, you can't kill 0:11:07.840 --> 0:11:10.000 a turkey lander in bed. He said, you've hunted all 0:11:10.000 --> 0:11:11.559 the season. Said you just well get up and go. 0:11:12.280 --> 0:11:14.320 So I got up, got my stuff together and headed out. 0:11:14.960 --> 0:11:16.880 Got to the place I was gonna go, and it 0:11:16.960 --> 0:11:19.320 was still raining and thundering. I sent in the truck 0:11:19.400 --> 0:11:21.200 for a little bit. I thought, well, I'm already out here. 0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:23.240 I just well get out and get wet. Turkey's gonna 0:11:23.280 --> 0:11:26.600 make a living too. And I started rounding old logging 0:11:26.679 --> 0:11:30.679 road and it was just breaking light, and I thought, well, 0:11:30.679 --> 0:11:32.280 I don't know if anything gon goble this morning or 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:34.200 not in this storm and like this, and it was thundering. 0:11:34.400 --> 0:11:37.120 Usually they're goblet thunder and stuff, and I hadn't heard 0:11:37.120 --> 0:11:39.320 a goble or anything. But I got the spot where 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:41.040 I liked the hunt. Right there there was a little 0:11:41.040 --> 0:11:43.839 spot where two three ridges broke down off the big ridge. 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:45.400 Thought I'm gonna get right here and I'm on al 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:49.320 who al hoo did and the turkey answered me. I thought, well, 0:11:49.360 --> 0:11:52.199 that's cool. There's the least one god were left in 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:54.200 here right at the end of the season. So I uh. 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:56.360 I got up there and got up on the hillside 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:59.200 and got set up and made a few soft calls. 0:11:59.400 --> 0:12:01.920 The turkey answered me, and I just waited and I 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:03.560 waited and I waited, and I never did hear him 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:05.319 fly down. A lot of times, you don't. I was 0:12:05.360 --> 0:12:07.280 pretty close to him. I don't noticed how close, but 0:12:07.320 --> 0:12:08.720 I was closing, and I thought I could him fly down. 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:10.839 I never heard him fly down, and it was getting 0:12:10.840 --> 0:12:12.480 pretty good light, and I thought, well, i'll call again. 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:15.480 I made a few soft calls. I didn't hear anything, 0:12:15.800 --> 0:12:17.600 but I looked, and I can see a tail fan 0:12:18.000 --> 0:12:19.360 up on the hill by me. I was in some 0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:22.280 pine country, they're up here in those arcs. And I 0:12:22.320 --> 0:12:25.959 got my gun up and ready, and he finally gobbled 0:12:25.960 --> 0:12:28.120 at me a time or two, and then I seemed 0:12:28.160 --> 0:12:30.319 making his way around towards me. And it was still 0:12:30.320 --> 0:12:32.880 this whole time, it was just raining down, pouring down, 0:12:32.960 --> 0:12:36.440 rain and thunder and lightning, and then he kind of vanished, 0:12:36.640 --> 0:12:39.200 and I thought, well, he's probably had enough of this rain, 0:12:39.800 --> 0:12:41.800 you know. And I sat there a little bit. I thought, well, 0:12:41.800 --> 0:12:43.920 I wanna I'm gonna give you a few more calls. Anyway, 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:46.520 I made a few more calls. Somewhere or another, he 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:48.600 had circled around and he was back on the other 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:50.439 side of I mean, I caught movement and seen him 0:12:50.440 --> 0:12:52.200 and he was in range of me then and my gun, 0:12:52.320 --> 0:12:55.960 My Shotgod, and he started strutting in that rain, and 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:58.200 he come right in. And when he got in good 0:12:58.320 --> 0:13:00.240 range of me, I just clucked at him real out, 0:13:00.240 --> 0:13:02.880 and he stuck his head up and I pulled the trigger. 0:13:02.880 --> 0:13:04.480 And I had a down turkey on the next last 0:13:04.520 --> 0:13:07.800 day of season, and I hadn't had no luck all season. Well, 0:13:07.840 --> 0:13:09.400 I got the turkey and I headed out and I 0:13:09.480 --> 0:13:12.360 went home, or back to my mom and dad's. And uh, 0:13:13.000 --> 0:13:15.719 that's a that's good, said, that's a good deal you 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:17.400 went this morning. I said, well, Dad, I wouldn't win 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:19.040 if you hadn't got me up, because I sure didn't 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:20.600 want to get in this weather. He said, well, it's 0:13:20.600 --> 0:13:22.440 one more day. Are you gonna go to mar And 0:13:22.480 --> 0:13:24.920 I said, well, I probably will. He said where you 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:26.560 gonna go? I said, I don't know. I said, I 0:13:26.600 --> 0:13:28.960 thought I heard one another one goblin there this morning 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:30.480 while I was working this one. But I said, I'm 0:13:30.480 --> 0:13:32.280 not sure because it was so noisy from the rain 0:13:32.280 --> 0:13:35.160 and everything. Well, I went to bed that night, woke 0:13:35.240 --> 0:13:37.319 up next morning to the same scenario. It was storming 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:40.120 and raining, thunder and lightening again, and I thought, man, 0:13:40.160 --> 0:13:41.319 I don't know if I want to do this two 0:13:41.400 --> 0:13:43.360 days in a row. About the time the door swung 0:13:43.360 --> 0:13:45.280 open my dad. He said, better get up, he said, 0:13:45.280 --> 0:13:47.880 if you're gonna get after another turkey, And so I 0:13:47.920 --> 0:13:49.800 got up. He said where you gonna go? And I said, 0:13:49.800 --> 0:13:51.040 I don't know. He said, why don't you go back 0:13:51.040 --> 0:13:53.000 in there where you killed that when heristy? He said, 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:54.640 you said you thought you heard nothing. I saill, I 0:13:54.640 --> 0:13:56.320 don't know if I heard one or not. He said, 0:13:56.360 --> 0:13:58.240 well you said you thought you did. That's better than 0:13:58.280 --> 0:14:00.320 the other place you've been listening to him. So I 0:14:00.440 --> 0:14:03.640 drove back over the same spot, and believe us or not, 0:14:03.880 --> 0:14:06.280 I walked around that old road. Hadn't heard a bird gobble. 0:14:06.360 --> 0:14:09.319 It was raining hard, thundering. In I got the exact 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:12.080 same spot where I heard that one the morning before. 0:14:12.480 --> 0:14:14.520 I alhoo did and another one gobble. He couldn't have 0:14:14.520 --> 0:14:16.920 been fifty yards where the one was the morning before. 0:14:17.240 --> 0:14:19.240 On that same little ridge up above the old road 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:23.040 I'd walked in on and nearly identical scenario. He didn't 0:14:23.040 --> 0:14:25.360 go well, but a couple of times I got set up. 0:14:25.480 --> 0:14:27.760 I didn't hear him fly down. One thing was when 0:14:27.800 --> 0:14:30.720 he finally got fired up, he started gobbling. He gobbled 0:14:30.760 --> 0:14:34.040 quite a bit, and thirty minutes of working maybe less 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:36.120 than that, he didn't come strutting, and he just comes 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:37.920 slipping in like they do sometime, just to ease and 0:14:37.920 --> 0:14:39.480 a long and I finally seen him, and he got 0:14:39.480 --> 0:14:41.640 within about twenty five yards and before I could even 0:14:41.640 --> 0:14:43.240 get a shot at him, And when he got in 0:14:43.280 --> 0:14:45.680 the open, I pulled down my shot and took that 0:14:45.720 --> 0:14:48.080 turkey got him, and that was too big, and they 0:14:48.120 --> 0:14:49.920 were both big tims. I still got one of the 0:14:50.560 --> 0:14:52.400 the last night kill. I still got his tail fan 0:14:52.440 --> 0:14:55.120 and beard mounted in my house that I fixed myself. 0:14:55.240 --> 0:14:57.920 That was probably twenty five or thirty years ago. I 0:14:57.960 --> 0:14:59.800 guess it's been thirty year ago because my dad passed 0:14:59.800 --> 0:15:04.240 away the next year after that. Most stories shows the 0:15:04.280 --> 0:15:07.880 wisdom of age held by his father, encouraging a young 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:11.040 man to stay persistent, and you can take the values 0:15:11.080 --> 0:15:13.880 of that story to the bank. Most of the time. 0:15:14.080 --> 0:15:17.520 What makes a great hunter great is simply that he 0:15:17.680 --> 0:15:23.240 showed up more than others. If you don't recognize the 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:26.800 voice of this next storyteller, you've been living under a 0:15:26.840 --> 0:15:32.359 buzzard roost. This is Wilber Primost telling about his favorite 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:36.760 gobbler hunt. So something that's interesting. You see that glass 0:15:36.880 --> 0:15:38.880 deal right there. Yes, I don't know what year I 0:15:38.920 --> 0:15:41.360 quit putting them in there, but those are feating beers 0:15:41.480 --> 0:15:44.400 and there is an aluminum tag. It's actually a tag 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:46.600 for a rose bush where you could imprint on the 0:15:46.640 --> 0:15:49.440 metal and will never fade away. And their tag. Mr 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:52.120 will is pointing that a big glass looks like a 0:15:52.240 --> 0:15:55.080 big glass milk jug, probably two foot Talllet's full of 0:15:55.120 --> 0:15:59.440 turkey feet jug of some sort. So I would every 0:15:59.440 --> 0:16:01.560 watch while I go, and I just remember hunts, you know, 0:16:01.680 --> 0:16:05.120 because you forget a lot of they'll jog your memory. Oh, 0:16:05.240 --> 0:16:08.680 I was down in Capai County, Mississippi, and I got there. 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:12.000 This is a man who's got eighteen thousand acres, got 0:16:12.160 --> 0:16:15.280 very successful industrialists, was one of my mentors in life. 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:17.600 And I pull up to his big house. He's there 0:16:17.640 --> 0:16:19.840 having a little bit of coffee. He goes, where are 0:16:19.880 --> 0:16:22.800 you gonna go hunting this morning? Will that sad? Mr Hood, 0:16:23.000 --> 0:16:24.760 I'm gonna go wherever you tell me, he goes, I 0:16:24.880 --> 0:16:27.000 know that, but I wanted to know where you think 0:16:27.040 --> 0:16:28.440 you might want to go as a kno, I want 0:16:28.440 --> 0:16:29.760 to go where you And let me tell you what. 0:16:29.800 --> 0:16:31.920 There's a turkey up on the top of Moss Hill 0:16:32.240 --> 0:16:34.600 and we can't kill him and you can have him. 0:16:34.680 --> 0:16:37.040 Oh my god, anytime you give somebody a turkey, you're 0:16:37.080 --> 0:16:39.880 the name. His name was Mr Moss because he lived 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:42.200 on Mass Hill. Here we go, so I said, well, 0:16:42.200 --> 0:16:44.200 tell me about it. He said, well, you know that hill. 0:16:44.280 --> 0:16:46.600 I got gravel on that hill because you can't hardly 0:16:46.600 --> 0:16:49.200 get up it without some traction. It's real, real steep, 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:51.320 he said. We're driving up are the top of that hill. 0:16:51.360 --> 0:16:52.880 We get up on the top and we wait to 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:57.080 leave gobbles and usually gobbles two ridges over right below you. Okay, 0:16:57.320 --> 0:16:59.720 he said, but he won't come. I said, okay. If 0:16:59.760 --> 0:17:02.400 I'm driving over that spot, and I'm thinking, how am 0:17:02.400 --> 0:17:05.280 I gonna hunt this turkey? And by myself. This is 0:17:05.480 --> 0:17:08.879 before the days of strict video truth series, before the 0:17:08.920 --> 0:17:12.280 Truth series, And I went, I'm on park a hundred 0:17:12.359 --> 0:17:14.680 yards from the foot of that hill where the gravel starts, 0:17:15.000 --> 0:17:17.320 and I'm gonna walk up at hill. I started walking 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:19.919 and the gravel was loud under my feet, so I 0:17:20.000 --> 0:17:22.120 moved over to the edge and there was so much 0:17:22.640 --> 0:17:24.879 but oak trees, and there's all hardwood, and they were louds. 0:17:24.960 --> 0:17:27.360 I'm trying to go real slow and trying to be careful. 0:17:27.440 --> 0:17:28.919 I get up to the top of the hill and 0:17:28.960 --> 0:17:31.920 I wait, and that turkey gobbles right where Mr. Hood 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:33.879 said he was gonna be. And I ain't no way. 0:17:33.920 --> 0:17:36.280 I can't get that turkey. All him leaves are dry. 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:38.840 He ain't gonna come over here. I came up with 0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:41.639 a little planning, so I'm gonna get light. I let 0:17:41.720 --> 0:17:43.480 it get light enough that I could see the walk. 0:17:43.840 --> 0:17:47.879 He's gobbling steady, and so I started walking to him. 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:54.000 I scratching the leaves. He started gobbling non stop. He 0:17:54.080 --> 0:18:00.680 was hearing it. And I back up and scratch a 0:18:00.720 --> 0:18:03.480 little bit. Oh, and I'd go. So I got to 0:18:03.720 --> 0:18:06.280 that second reage. He's right over that second one, and 0:18:06.280 --> 0:18:08.600 I'm on the side, and I put my gun right there, 0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:10.560 thinking he's gonna flat in and walk up if he 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:12.359 does come. And I sat down and I'd reached my 0:18:12.400 --> 0:18:14.760 hand out scratching and leave. Ain't said a word, ain't yet. 0:18:14.880 --> 0:18:16.920 One time I had my guns in there. All of 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:20.960 a sudden I heard big, huge wings. He lit in 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:24.320 a hickory tree about fifteen feet off the ground on 0:18:24.320 --> 0:18:27.080 my left side, on the side of the hill that 0:18:27.119 --> 0:18:31.879 I'm sitting on, and hammered it. And you're looking right 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:33.760 down at me. And I got my gun pointed right here, 0:18:34.000 --> 0:18:36.240 so he's to my left, you know. And I got 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:38.359 my eyes cocked like that, you know, so I'm gonna 0:18:38.359 --> 0:18:41.960 buy it. I cannot move. He gobbles again. He jumps 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:45.120 off that limb and lands right below that tree. He's 0:18:45.200 --> 0:18:48.600 thirty yards from when he did that. I got it boom, 0:18:48.640 --> 0:18:52.560 and that was in the Mr Ball. It was incredible. 0:18:52.720 --> 0:18:56.000 I felt like I was in a gun match on 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:58.960 the tree, you know. I had to draw fast and 0:18:59.000 --> 0:19:01.760 I had yeah to shoot before he did. That was 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:05.880 a wonderful, rewarding hunt. Yeah, and you talk about your 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:08.720 chest puffed up. Walk back to Mr Hood's house him 0:19:08.920 --> 0:19:11.159 and wait on Mr Hood to show up and go 0:19:11.240 --> 0:19:13.520 I got him. Oh my god. I was riding that, 0:19:13.840 --> 0:19:16.199 Oh man, you could ride that was putting on a 0:19:16.240 --> 0:19:19.000 clinic for hunting the pressure turkey, wasn't it. I guess 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:21.680 doing doing things have worked another day, But it worked that. 0:19:22.119 --> 0:19:24.159 I'll be done. Didn't call him one time, And I 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:26.760 learned the scratching in the leaves because one day I 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:29.359 was walking in the leaves and I stepped in a 0:19:29.440 --> 0:19:32.960 really loud spot talk and a turkey gobble, and immediately 0:19:33.000 --> 0:19:36.240 hit me. He ain't just gobble, he's gobbling at me 0:19:36.560 --> 0:19:39.400 walking to the league, Yeah, he thinks. And I stood 0:19:39.400 --> 0:19:42.480 there in that one position, standing up, scratching with my foot, 0:19:42.520 --> 0:19:44.720 and I almost killed that trick. I'll be done. I 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:47.080 can probably find Mr Moss's beard and feet in that 0:19:47.480 --> 0:19:52.960 old right there. Will's voice, accent and passion just draw 0:19:53.119 --> 0:19:56.199 you in. His story was chocked full of insight and 0:19:56.359 --> 0:19:59.840 tactics that a young Wilbur learned long before he became 0:19:59.880 --> 0:20:02.960 a legend in the turkey hunting world. But one thing 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:05.320 you can always count on from him is that he 0:20:05.440 --> 0:20:10.880 delivers the excitement. You won't have heard of this next 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:15.000 storyteller unless you're from the same town I'm from. Andy 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:17.719 Brown is a name that has bounced around stories in 0:20:17.720 --> 0:20:20.960 my county my whole life. He's as good a turkey 0:20:21.040 --> 0:20:24.399 hunter as has ever walked these hills. Most people that 0:20:24.440 --> 0:20:28.160 are involved in outdoor media, if they're being honest, will 0:20:28.200 --> 0:20:31.399 admit that the vast majority of the best hunters have 0:20:31.640 --> 0:20:34.560 never been anywhere near a camera. And those are the 0:20:34.640 --> 0:20:39.080