WEBVTT - Ep. 107: THIS COUNTRY LIFE - Turkey Hunting Mentors

0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:09.240
<v Speaker 1>Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Reeves

0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.680
<v Speaker 1>from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living.

0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.040
<v Speaker 1>I want you to stay a while as I share

0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.479
<v Speaker 1>my stories and the country skills that will help you

0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.360
<v Speaker 1>beat the system. This Country Life is proudly presented as

0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.880
<v Speaker 1>part of Meat Eater's podcast network, bringing you the best

0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:30.000
<v Speaker 1>outdoor podcast the airways have to offer. All right, friends,

0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:33.040
<v Speaker 1>pull you up a chair or drop that tailgate. I

0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:38.960
<v Speaker 1>think I got a thing or two the teacher the

0:00:39.080 --> 0:00:44.400
<v Speaker 1>value of a turkey hunting mentor. Lots of folks got

0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:46.720
<v Speaker 1>spring turkey hunting on the mine right now, and so

0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:50.320
<v Speaker 1>do I. This week, I'm talking about what I consider

0:00:50.560 --> 0:00:53.800
<v Speaker 1>to be the most valuable item in anyone's bag of

0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:57.480
<v Speaker 1>turkey hunting tricks. It ain't a call, it ain't camo,

0:00:58.080 --> 0:01:01.080
<v Speaker 1>it ain't even a gun or shells. It's a mentor

0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:05.280
<v Speaker 1>someone that can show the new hunter the basics to

0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:09.119
<v Speaker 1>get started, or answer the questions of a seasoned vet

0:01:09.360 --> 0:01:12.039
<v Speaker 1>who keeps getting the old razzle dazzle put on him

0:01:12.040 --> 0:01:15.679
<v Speaker 1>by a particularly tough nut to crack. There's no more

0:01:15.800 --> 0:01:19.199
<v Speaker 1>valuable skill than getting the straight dope on knowing what

0:01:19.400 --> 0:01:22.920
<v Speaker 1>order yours zigging and zagging needs to be. Knowing when

0:01:23.000 --> 0:01:26.200
<v Speaker 1>to do something and especially when not to can be

0:01:26.319 --> 0:01:29.840
<v Speaker 1>the difference between crackers and buy any sausages for supper

0:01:30.360 --> 0:01:34.200
<v Speaker 1>or a sizzling skillet full of pride wild turn Having

0:01:34.240 --> 0:01:36.880
<v Speaker 1>that knowledge starting out is how we're going to beat

0:01:36.880 --> 0:01:40.319
<v Speaker 1>the system. Lots of good eating uneer them feathers. But first,

0:01:40.920 --> 0:01:45.640
<v Speaker 1>I'm going to tell you a story. One of my

0:01:45.800 --> 0:01:50.040
<v Speaker 1>mentors was mister Leon Garlic, the same mister Leon wound

0:01:50.160 --> 0:01:53.120
<v Speaker 1>up loving black pepper on his eggs. If that don't

0:01:53.160 --> 0:01:55.680
<v Speaker 1>ring a bell, check out a story I told on

0:01:55.760 --> 0:01:59.480
<v Speaker 1>The Bear Grease episode number forty nine. Mister Leon was

0:01:59.480 --> 0:02:02.600
<v Speaker 1>a turkey. He could call turkeys with a green briar

0:02:02.720 --> 0:02:06.120
<v Speaker 1>leaf folded between his lips like a modern day mouthcall.

0:02:06.640 --> 0:02:09.120
<v Speaker 1>And he told me a gobbler could hear you thinking

0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:12.080
<v Speaker 1>and see you change your mind. Now he was talking

0:02:12.120 --> 0:02:14.000
<v Speaker 1>about how good they can see it here, and I'm

0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:16.880
<v Speaker 1>pretty sure he was right. Add that to the fact

0:02:17.160 --> 0:02:20.480
<v Speaker 1>that we're attempting to reverse nature by calling a gobbler

0:02:20.520 --> 0:02:23.040
<v Speaker 1>to the sound of a hen, which is vast acrids

0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:25.720
<v Speaker 1>how it works in the wild. The real script is

0:02:25.800 --> 0:02:30.480
<v Speaker 1>this gobbler's gobble a hen here's it walks to him,

0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:33.640
<v Speaker 1>they go on a date, and next year we get

0:02:33.800 --> 0:02:37.280
<v Speaker 1>more turkeys than the woods. We're doing the opposite. But

0:02:37.480 --> 0:02:41.600
<v Speaker 1>for clarification, at least for Arkansas, our turkey season is

0:02:41.600 --> 0:02:45.079
<v Speaker 1>set to open after the peak breeding cycle, and this

0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:50.000
<v Speaker 1>will maximize the likelihood of increasing the overall population. There's

0:02:50.040 --> 0:02:53.480
<v Speaker 1>the challenge and the reward for making it happen. Good

0:02:53.480 --> 0:02:56.519
<v Speaker 1>things are to be tough. Imagine how boring it would

0:02:56.560 --> 0:02:58.840
<v Speaker 1>be if every time you call to a goblin turkey

0:02:59.000 --> 0:03:03.960
<v Speaker 1>came running in on string. Well, that that may have

0:03:04.040 --> 0:03:06.920
<v Speaker 1>been a bad example. Every time I go hunt, not

0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:11.919
<v Speaker 1>only do I imagine that I expected. However, it rarely happens,

0:03:12.360 --> 0:03:16.480
<v Speaker 1>except for the time I'm fixing to tell you about. Actually,

0:03:16.880 --> 0:03:19.760
<v Speaker 1>this gobbler didn't run in, or walk or even take

0:03:19.800 --> 0:03:22.239
<v Speaker 1>a step. Now, if you're thinking I shot him off

0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.920
<v Speaker 1>the roost negative ghostwrider, that's dirty pool and I wouldn't

0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:28.240
<v Speaker 1>do it. And if you do, you ought to be

0:03:28.320 --> 0:03:32.399
<v Speaker 1>in jail. I was working in the woods back then

0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:35.760
<v Speaker 1>and coming home close to roosting time. One evening I

0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:38.720
<v Speaker 1>drovel by a field on some property that I could hunt,

0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:41.200
<v Speaker 1>and I saw a gobbler strutting with four or five

0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:44.240
<v Speaker 1>hens about two hundred yards away in the edge of

0:03:44.280 --> 0:03:46.840
<v Speaker 1>the woods. I knew they'd be close to there in

0:03:46.840 --> 0:03:49.400
<v Speaker 1>the morning because it was almost dark. So I called

0:03:49.400 --> 0:03:51.840
<v Speaker 1>my older brother Tim and I told him about what

0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:54.160
<v Speaker 1>I had seen. I told him to go hunt there

0:03:54.200 --> 0:03:57.440
<v Speaker 1>the next morning because I had to work. Man, he

0:03:57.600 --> 0:04:00.320
<v Speaker 1>was all fired up. But the longer I thought about

0:04:00.360 --> 0:04:03.000
<v Speaker 1>it that night, the more I regretted telling him where

0:04:03.000 --> 0:04:06.200
<v Speaker 1>that turkey was. So I called my boss and I

0:04:06.240 --> 0:04:08.160
<v Speaker 1>told him that I wasn't feeling good and I wouldn't

0:04:08.160 --> 0:04:11.760
<v Speaker 1>be at work the next day. Now he wasn't no dummy.

0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:13.560
<v Speaker 1>He knew what I was up to, and he told

0:04:13.560 --> 0:04:15.360
<v Speaker 1>me that I could be at work the next morning,

0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:18.279
<v Speaker 1>or I could add a job to the list of

0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:21.000
<v Speaker 1>things I was going to be hunting that day. I

0:04:21.040 --> 0:04:23.200
<v Speaker 1>told him that sounded like a plan, and I hung up.

0:04:23.320 --> 0:04:27.159
<v Speaker 1>I didn't care. I was young, single, living on my

0:04:27.240 --> 0:04:30.040
<v Speaker 1>own and surviving on deer meeting taters. I could always

0:04:30.120 --> 0:04:33.960
<v Speaker 1>get a job, but turkey season. Man, that only lasted

0:04:33.960 --> 0:04:37.240
<v Speaker 1>a little while. Then I called to him and uninvited

0:04:37.279 --> 0:04:40.120
<v Speaker 1>him to shoot my turkey. He was not pleasant, and

0:04:40.200 --> 0:04:43.840
<v Speaker 1>I didn't care. It was pitch black dark when I

0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:45.920
<v Speaker 1>slipped up the creek on the edge of that field.

0:04:46.560 --> 0:04:49.240
<v Speaker 1>Once I got even with where I'd seen them turkeys

0:04:49.279 --> 0:04:52.719
<v Speaker 1>the evening before, I belly crawled across an opening and

0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:55.719
<v Speaker 1>set up against a big pine tree facing into the

0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:58.640
<v Speaker 1>woods and where I'd figured he'd roosted. And then I

0:04:58.680 --> 0:05:06.320
<v Speaker 1>waited for daylight. Finally the sky started to lighten up,

0:05:06.360 --> 0:05:10.000
<v Speaker 1>and the redbirds started singing, and that turkey gobbled on

0:05:10.040 --> 0:05:12.760
<v Speaker 1>a limb less than one hundred yards away. And when

0:05:12.760 --> 0:05:17.440
<v Speaker 1>that joker started gobbling, he didn't stop. Finally it got

0:05:17.520 --> 0:05:19.680
<v Speaker 1>light enough that I could see the tree he was in,

0:05:20.200 --> 0:05:22.320
<v Speaker 1>and when I'd catch a glimpse of him every now

0:05:22.360 --> 0:05:24.320
<v Speaker 1>and then when he run his head out to gobble,

0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:27.560
<v Speaker 1>he stayed on that limb till the sun came up,

0:05:27.600 --> 0:05:31.440
<v Speaker 1>gobling like it was his job. And at that particular time,

0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:34.799
<v Speaker 1>he was the only one between us that had one.

0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:37.960
<v Speaker 1>I ain't made a peep. My old box call laid

0:05:37.960 --> 0:05:40.360
<v Speaker 1>in my lap, and I finally picked it up and

0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.520
<v Speaker 1>squeaked out three soft yeps that sounded more like a

0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:45.800
<v Speaker 1>dying rabbit stuck in a gum boot than a hen

0:05:45.880 --> 0:05:49.240
<v Speaker 1>turkey looking for love. I laid that call down and

0:05:49.279 --> 0:05:52.200
<v Speaker 1>put that Belgium made Autu five on my knee and waited.

0:05:53.400 --> 0:05:56.320
<v Speaker 1>Now as bad as that call sounded to me, old

0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:59.600
<v Speaker 1>Jasper out there was digging it. He let loose a

0:05:59.640 --> 0:06:02.240
<v Speaker 1>serious at gobbles. It sounded like he'd gone berserk up,

0:06:02.760 --> 0:06:06.400
<v Speaker 1>one after another, five or six in a row. And

0:06:06.440 --> 0:06:09.600
<v Speaker 1>then I heard him leave the roofs clapping his wings

0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:12.080
<v Speaker 1>and hitting limbs and leaves as he flew toward me.

0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:15.240
<v Speaker 1>It sounded like he was chopping wood. Then I saw

0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:18.600
<v Speaker 1>him sailing towards me like a jet. I was following

0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:20.640
<v Speaker 1>him in with that shotgun, just like he was a

0:06:20.760 --> 0:06:24.000
<v Speaker 1>duck coming to the decoys. He hit the ground ten

0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:26.200
<v Speaker 1>steps in front of me in a beam of sunlight

0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:28.640
<v Speaker 1>that looked like he was starting in the show. He

0:06:28.680 --> 0:06:31.080
<v Speaker 1>looked dead in my eyes and gobbled so loud I

0:06:31.120 --> 0:06:33.800
<v Speaker 1>could almost feel his breath, and I cut that joker

0:06:33.839 --> 0:06:36.839
<v Speaker 1>of flip. His feed wasn't through the ground long enough

0:06:36.839 --> 0:06:39.839
<v Speaker 1>to get dirty. When I touched off John Moses brown

0:06:39.839 --> 0:06:43.359
<v Speaker 1>In's greatest invention. I stopped by Tim's house on the

0:06:43.360 --> 0:06:46.280
<v Speaker 1>way to work and showed him. He took my picture

0:06:46.320 --> 0:06:49.240
<v Speaker 1>and I didn't have to quit my job. This story

0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:52.280
<v Speaker 1>was in the reference not so much to calling, but

0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:55.800
<v Speaker 1>to the best tip I'd ever gotten from the greatest

0:06:55.839 --> 0:07:00.400
<v Speaker 1>turkey hunting mentor I've ever had, mister Billy bryn Him's

0:07:00.440 --> 0:07:03.760
<v Speaker 1>dad in law. He told me that being where a

0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:07.320
<v Speaker 1>turkey wanted to be was way better than any call

0:07:07.400 --> 0:07:10.160
<v Speaker 1>you could ever make, and the best calling in the

0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:12.920
<v Speaker 1>world wouldn't get him to a place he didn't want

0:07:12.960 --> 0:07:16.520
<v Speaker 1>to go. Now, lots of times it ain't what you say,

0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:20.480
<v Speaker 1>it's how you say it, and more importantly, where you

0:07:20.560 --> 0:07:24.440
<v Speaker 1>say it from. That turkey had been right where I

0:07:24.720 --> 0:07:27.920
<v Speaker 1>was the evening before, and could possibly have flown up

0:07:27.960 --> 0:07:31.400
<v Speaker 1>on the roost from where he lived that morning. I

0:07:31.520 --> 0:07:33.360
<v Speaker 1>punched him in the mouth and told him out of

0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:38.560
<v Speaker 1>the wood. Mister Bryan's mentorship killed that turkey. I just

0:07:38.600 --> 0:07:44.000
<v Speaker 1>pulled a trick to him. So where are you going

0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:47.720
<v Speaker 1>to find your mister Bryant. Well, you can do like

0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:51.200
<v Speaker 1>I did, and when the turkey hunting mentorship lottery by

0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:54.240
<v Speaker 1>having your older brother marry a girl he literally picked

0:07:54.280 --> 0:07:58.040
<v Speaker 1>out in the nursery. My brother and his wife were

0:07:58.080 --> 0:08:02.800
<v Speaker 1>born in the same hospital three days apart, and spent

0:08:02.960 --> 0:08:06.880
<v Speaker 1>one day together. Tim's first day in the nursery and

0:08:06.960 --> 0:08:10.120
<v Speaker 1>Barber Jean's last when they were both less than a

0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:13.440
<v Speaker 1>week old. He said he spied her across the room

0:08:13.480 --> 0:08:15.360
<v Speaker 1>and that's all it took for him, and that choice

0:08:15.360 --> 0:08:18.600
<v Speaker 1>made us all winners. I got an extra good older

0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:22.000
<v Speaker 1>sister and a bona fide died in the wool turkey

0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:25.560
<v Speaker 1>killing Jedi as a coach and her father. He custom

0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.760
<v Speaker 1>made me a box call and a wing bone call,

0:08:29.120 --> 0:08:32.559
<v Speaker 1>and no amount of money could buy I may be

0:08:32.679 --> 0:08:35.080
<v Speaker 1>buried with them. Now. That probably ain't gonna be the

0:08:35.120 --> 0:08:37.880
<v Speaker 1>easiest way for you to get your mentor, so we

0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:41.280
<v Speaker 1>got to figure out how to get you one. First.

0:08:41.360 --> 0:08:44.240
<v Speaker 1>We need to identify what we need in one. They

0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:47.000
<v Speaker 1>have to be willing to share their hard earned knowledge

0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:49.800
<v Speaker 1>with you, So, if possible, you're gonna need to throw

0:08:49.800 --> 0:08:52.599
<v Speaker 1>something in a kitty too. How about a spot with

0:08:52.720 --> 0:08:55.800
<v Speaker 1>the hass turkeys on it. Turkey hunting spots in the

0:08:55.840 --> 0:08:59.320
<v Speaker 1>South are guarded like a bank vault. There is no

0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:02.800
<v Speaker 1>place or sacred to a turkey hunter than the place

0:09:02.840 --> 0:09:07.040
<v Speaker 1>where the object of his obsessions resides, public or private.

0:09:07.559 --> 0:09:09.920
<v Speaker 1>I would feel easier walking up to a stranger and

0:09:09.960 --> 0:09:12.680
<v Speaker 1>asking him for a kidney. It's a medical fact that

0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:15.200
<v Speaker 1>a human only needs one to live, and most folks

0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:18.439
<v Speaker 1>are born with two. And you never know, someone might

0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:21.880
<v Speaker 1>actually say yes to a kidney donation but ask to

0:09:21.920 --> 0:09:25.360
<v Speaker 1>shoot a hunter's gobblin turkey. You better keep your head

0:09:25.400 --> 0:09:27.599
<v Speaker 1>on a swivel because somebody is liable to try to

0:09:27.640 --> 0:09:31.000
<v Speaker 1>slap some sense into you, and they should. That's crazy,

0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:35.240
<v Speaker 1>but it's not impossible, and here's how you do it.

0:09:35.960 --> 0:09:39.520
<v Speaker 1>Put yourself in that circle. Whether it's at the local

0:09:39.559 --> 0:09:43.040
<v Speaker 1>sporting goods store, a church group, a wild turkey banquet,

0:09:43.440 --> 0:09:47.640
<v Speaker 1>or any gathering where turkey hunting folks might be, look

0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:50.360
<v Speaker 1>for the older fellow that everyone makes a point to

0:09:50.400 --> 0:09:53.959
<v Speaker 1>speak to throughout the gathering. He probably ain't going to

0:09:54.000 --> 0:09:56.080
<v Speaker 1>be dressed like he just come from hunting unless he

0:09:56.120 --> 0:09:59.640
<v Speaker 1>actually did. And you won't find the majority of mentors

0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:04.679
<v Speaker 1>running around in vehicles festooned with outdoor related decals and

0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:08.440
<v Speaker 1>sporting the latest greatest hunting equipment. There ain't nothing wrong

0:10:08.480 --> 0:10:11.160
<v Speaker 1>with any of that, but a mentor is usually at

0:10:11.200 --> 0:10:13.880
<v Speaker 1>a stage in their hunting career where they like what

0:10:13.960 --> 0:10:16.600
<v Speaker 1>they like and they see no reason to change, and

0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:19.840
<v Speaker 1>they have plenty of turkey beers to back up their credentials.

0:10:20.600 --> 0:10:23.800
<v Speaker 1>These folks might even be looking and waiting for someone

0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:26.960
<v Speaker 1>interested enough to ask and be glad to pass that

0:10:27.080 --> 0:10:29.760
<v Speaker 1>knowledge down to them. Now I ain't there yet, so

0:10:29.840 --> 0:10:32.640
<v Speaker 1>don't send me no dms. I'm a one man wolf pack.

0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:48.320
<v Speaker 1>Get your own turkey. Just kidding, not really. Sharing misery

0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:52.000
<v Speaker 1>with a friend will lighten the load, share and joy

0:10:52.240 --> 0:10:54.880
<v Speaker 1>multiplies it. Now, I don't know where I heard that.

0:10:55.080 --> 0:10:57.520
<v Speaker 1>I'm pretty sure I made it up. Even a blind

0:10:57.559 --> 0:10:59.280
<v Speaker 1>hog of find an acre and every now and then,

0:10:59.320 --> 0:11:02.280
<v Speaker 1>and that one may be mine. But to my point,

0:11:02.600 --> 0:11:06.520
<v Speaker 1>a friend will share his turkey spot and acquaintance, not

0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:09.840
<v Speaker 1>so much. I turkey hunt on some land in another

0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:12.440
<v Speaker 1>state that is owned by folks that I'm friends with

0:11:12.679 --> 0:11:16.240
<v Speaker 1>all year long, not just turkey season. As a matter

0:11:16.240 --> 0:11:21.160
<v Speaker 1>of fact, they're just like my family. Work on associating

0:11:21.200 --> 0:11:24.480
<v Speaker 1>yourself with people that have land like that full well,

0:11:24.520 --> 0:11:27.120
<v Speaker 1>telling them to begin with what your goal is and

0:11:27.360 --> 0:11:31.720
<v Speaker 1>offer something in return. Sometimes a little de Niro will

0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:35.000
<v Speaker 1>make friends of landowners quicker than having to spark them

0:11:35.000 --> 0:11:38.040
<v Speaker 1>at the local coffee shop. And if private land ain't

0:11:38.080 --> 0:11:41.280
<v Speaker 1>an option for you, get them brogans out on the

0:11:41.280 --> 0:11:45.560
<v Speaker 1>public ground and start doing some scouting. Everybody owns it,

0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.199
<v Speaker 1>and you have just as much right as anyone else

0:11:48.240 --> 0:11:51.160
<v Speaker 1>to scout and hunt as you see fit, but do

0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:54.080
<v Speaker 1>it with respect for those who were there first, and

0:11:55.280 --> 0:11:57.960
<v Speaker 1>be as accommodating to them as you would like them

0:11:58.000 --> 0:12:00.240
<v Speaker 1>to be to you. Now, I'm a hundred percent sun

0:12:00.280 --> 0:12:02.640
<v Speaker 1>sure I didn't make that one up, but I know

0:12:02.679 --> 0:12:05.840
<v Speaker 1>who did, and it's solid advice and just about everything

0:12:05.880 --> 0:12:10.400
<v Speaker 1>you do. I imagine that the definition of a mentor

0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:15.679
<v Speaker 1>is an experienced and trusted advisor. Now that doesn't necessarily

0:12:15.720 --> 0:12:19.360
<v Speaker 1>say old man, but experience doesn't usually come from the

0:12:19.400 --> 0:12:23.200
<v Speaker 1>real young ones. My good friend Michael Meeks started turkey

0:12:23.240 --> 0:12:26.120
<v Speaker 1>hunting at my urging when he was in his mid twenties,

0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:29.720
<v Speaker 1>and I'm only five years older than him, but I'd

0:12:29.760 --> 0:12:33.640
<v Speaker 1>started hunting turkeys a long time before that, and I

0:12:33.760 --> 0:12:37.000
<v Speaker 1>served as his mentor. We actually did a lot of

0:12:37.080 --> 0:12:41.559
<v Speaker 1>learning together, and he learned well. Nowadays, it wouldn't be

0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:43.640
<v Speaker 1>advisable to run out in front of him with a

0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:46.640
<v Speaker 1>turkey suit on. You'll mess around and that joker will

0:12:46.640 --> 0:12:48.440
<v Speaker 1>make your head look like it caught on fire and

0:12:48.480 --> 0:12:51.040
<v Speaker 1>someone beat it out with a golf shoe. He is

0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:54.880
<v Speaker 1>a turkey killer. So if a mister Brian type mentor

0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:58.120
<v Speaker 1>ain't available, slide on down the chain of command to

0:12:58.240 --> 0:13:01.800
<v Speaker 1>mentor number two one that's been successful in the Turkey

0:13:01.840 --> 0:13:05.679
<v Speaker 1>woods with similar interest to yours. That was mine and

0:13:05.760 --> 0:13:10.440
<v Speaker 1>Michael's relationship. We've grown up together, we're friends. We both

0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:14.360
<v Speaker 1>liked to hunt, and we enjoyed hunting together, except the

0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:16.640
<v Speaker 1>time I called a turkey in for that fool and

0:13:16.679 --> 0:13:19.680
<v Speaker 1>told him to shoot and he didn't. Now, his version

0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:22.319
<v Speaker 1>of that story is I told him the turkey was

0:13:22.360 --> 0:13:25.959
<v Speaker 1>too far and not to shoot. My version is he's

0:13:26.000 --> 0:13:28.160
<v Speaker 1>an idiot and should have pulled the trigger because I

0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:32.000
<v Speaker 1>was saying shoot. That turkey's bumping twenty five years old

0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:35.120
<v Speaker 1>now probably got a family of his own. It's the

0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.720
<v Speaker 1>ones that get away that I can't stop thinking about.

0:13:38.480 --> 0:13:42.440
<v Speaker 1>I told him to shoot. Anyway, that's your second type

0:13:42.480 --> 0:13:45.680
<v Speaker 1>of mentor. Now, Michael had an advantage because we'd more

0:13:45.800 --> 0:13:48.160
<v Speaker 1>or less grown up together. But I've met lots of

0:13:48.200 --> 0:13:50.880
<v Speaker 1>folks with similar skill set to my own, some even

0:13:50.920 --> 0:13:53.880
<v Speaker 1>while I was out hunting, and then developed a friendship

0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:57.480
<v Speaker 1>with them. Wound up hunting together some and learned as

0:13:57.520 --> 0:14:00.000
<v Speaker 1>much from them as they did for me. But Michael

0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:01.920
<v Speaker 1>still the only one I ever hunted with. It didn't

0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:04.040
<v Speaker 1>shoot when I told him to. I said, shoot, plain

0:14:04.080 --> 0:14:06.760
<v Speaker 1>as day. But it don't bother me much except when

0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:09.760
<v Speaker 1>I think about it now. The third type of mentor

0:14:09.840 --> 0:14:12.880
<v Speaker 1>can't really be listed as a mentor. He's going to

0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:15.920
<v Speaker 1>be more like an accomplice because y'all are going to

0:14:15.960 --> 0:14:19.560
<v Speaker 1>be messing up and learning together, and those are the

0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:22.520
<v Speaker 1>lessons that come easy and leave a scar that you'll

0:14:22.560 --> 0:14:27.600
<v Speaker 1>remember and not do again. It's success through attrition. You

0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:30.800
<v Speaker 1>remember when and where you messed up, and the next

0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:34.200
<v Speaker 1>time that situation presents itself, you don't do that again.

0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:42.280
<v Speaker 1>Like when I told Michael shoot and he didn't. Jerry

0:14:42.360 --> 0:14:45.640
<v Speaker 1>Huston was a mentor of mine as well. He and

0:14:45.680 --> 0:14:48.640
<v Speaker 1>my father were great friends, and I can really never

0:14:48.760 --> 0:14:51.160
<v Speaker 1>remember a time when he and his family weren't in

0:14:51.200 --> 0:14:54.480
<v Speaker 1>my life. We were all close, but Jerry and I

0:14:54.560 --> 0:14:57.880
<v Speaker 1>were the only turkey hunters. Jerry was like a second

0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:01.800
<v Speaker 1>father and a good turkey hunter. His skill was persistence

0:15:01.920 --> 0:15:05.960
<v Speaker 1>and patience. That cat has zero quit and could worry

0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:08.840
<v Speaker 1>a sitting hen off a nest. I've seen him call

0:15:08.920 --> 0:15:11.560
<v Speaker 1>the turkeys when everyone else would have just hung it.

0:15:11.640 --> 0:15:14.200
<v Speaker 1>Up and moved on to greener pastures. But not Jerry.

0:15:14.560 --> 0:15:18.000
<v Speaker 1>It was like he took it personal. There wasn't anything

0:15:18.040 --> 0:15:21.880
<v Speaker 1>off the table. The old adage of yelping three times

0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:25.640
<v Speaker 1>and laying your call down meant nothing to Jerry Goldwayne Houston.

0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:28.720
<v Speaker 1>He added Go to his middle name because he said

0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:31.600
<v Speaker 1>he wanted everybody to know that he was always ready.

0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:35.480
<v Speaker 1>We were hunting down in the Seleiner Roy Bottoms one

0:15:35.520 --> 0:15:38.760
<v Speaker 1>spring and had missed course to Turkey Goblin and walked

0:15:38.800 --> 0:15:41.520
<v Speaker 1>way down away from our truck, only to find him

0:15:41.560 --> 0:15:45.080
<v Speaker 1>gobbling out of sight and across the river over two

0:15:45.120 --> 0:15:48.560
<v Speaker 1>hundred yards away. He was flat more, telling the world

0:15:48.600 --> 0:15:51.160
<v Speaker 1>he knew how to gobble and was lighting the woods

0:15:51.160 --> 0:15:54.520
<v Speaker 1>on fire. Only trouble was there was more water than me,

0:15:54.760 --> 0:15:57.960
<v Speaker 1>Jerry Goldwayne, or that Turkey could drink running between us. Now,

0:15:58.000 --> 0:16:01.080
<v Speaker 1>if you're not familiar with how Turkey's off raid, allow

0:16:01.160 --> 0:16:04.240
<v Speaker 1>me to give you a brief description. They are dumb

0:16:04.280 --> 0:16:06.960
<v Speaker 1>as a sack of hammers, and I have seen them

0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:09.760
<v Speaker 1>come to a call only to hang up on barriers

0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.440
<v Speaker 1>they could easily step over or go around. I had

0:16:13.440 --> 0:16:15.640
<v Speaker 1>one hang up in a cow pasture once that had

0:16:15.720 --> 0:16:18.480
<v Speaker 1>grass growing it no longer than on a ball field,

0:16:18.960 --> 0:16:22.160
<v Speaker 1>and strut and gobble walking back and forth along a

0:16:22.200 --> 0:16:25.880
<v Speaker 1>cow trail that he wouldn't step across. An eight inch

0:16:26.000 --> 0:16:29.560
<v Speaker 1>smooth dirt path that a crawfish could have sprint across,

0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:32.640
<v Speaker 1>had kept a grown turkey from walking close enough for

0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:35.200
<v Speaker 1>me to shoot. I have seen them hang up on

0:16:35.360 --> 0:16:38.040
<v Speaker 1>small fallen logs in the middle of the woods of

0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:42.160
<v Speaker 1>one strand barboire fence, and an endless list of the

0:16:42.240 --> 0:16:45.480
<v Speaker 1>smallest items that kept them from meeting their maker, And

0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.880
<v Speaker 1>incomparable to the struggles that they went through to get

0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:52.120
<v Speaker 1>to the point where they hung up, they make me crazy,

0:16:52.880 --> 0:16:55.160
<v Speaker 1>almost as crazy as Michael did when I told him

0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:58.560
<v Speaker 1>plainly to shoot and he didn't. So when we get

0:16:58.600 --> 0:17:00.720
<v Speaker 1>to the edge of the river, we're on a high

0:17:00.720 --> 0:17:03.640
<v Speaker 1>bluff bank and the turkey is on the other side,

0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:06.320
<v Speaker 1>which is a lot lower. We sat down to rest

0:17:06.359 --> 0:17:09.439
<v Speaker 1>after that long disappointment walk to a turkey that we

0:17:09.480 --> 0:17:13.560
<v Speaker 1>didn't have a snowballs chance in the oven to kill him. Remember,

0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:17.440
<v Speaker 1>persisted in patient Jerry. Well after we caught our breath,

0:17:17.520 --> 0:17:21.680
<v Speaker 1>he said, caught in The turkey answered, and Jerry said

0:17:21.760 --> 0:17:24.160
<v Speaker 1>pour it on him and mashed the gas and don't

0:17:24.200 --> 0:17:26.840
<v Speaker 1>mind the brakes and pardon, that's just what I did.

0:17:27.480 --> 0:17:30.600
<v Speaker 1>That turkey lost his mind and his breath and goblin.

0:17:31.359 --> 0:17:33.480
<v Speaker 1>We could hear a hen cutting and cacting them back

0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:35.640
<v Speaker 1>at us from over there, and that fired that God

0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:38.800
<v Speaker 1>threw up the demore. I was wearing a groove, and

0:17:38.840 --> 0:17:41.600
<v Speaker 1>that slight as I was using and doubling up with

0:17:41.640 --> 0:17:44.440
<v Speaker 1>a mouth crawled. At the same time, it sounded like

0:17:44.480 --> 0:17:46.960
<v Speaker 1>a tarzan me was all that wild rector going on

0:17:46.960 --> 0:17:52.919
<v Speaker 1>on both sides of the group. Now, from where we

0:17:52.960 --> 0:17:55.600
<v Speaker 1>were sitting, we could see plumb across the river and

0:17:55.680 --> 0:17:58.879
<v Speaker 1>where that turkey was goblin, but we couldn't see past

0:17:58.920 --> 0:18:00.720
<v Speaker 1>the edge of the brush on the bank of the

0:18:00.840 --> 0:18:03.760
<v Speaker 1>river up into the bottom where he was and where

0:18:03.800 --> 0:18:06.919
<v Speaker 1>all that commotion was taking place. Jerry was sitting in

0:18:06.920 --> 0:18:09.080
<v Speaker 1>front of me with a shotgun in his lap, just

0:18:09.640 --> 0:18:11.800
<v Speaker 1>enjoying and listening to the show. When all of a

0:18:11.880 --> 0:18:15.480
<v Speaker 1>sudden I heard wings and watched as that gobler flew

0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:19.119
<v Speaker 1>across the river, straight toward us, and lit fifty yards

0:18:19.160 --> 0:18:22.200
<v Speaker 1>from where we were sitting. To my surprise, that turkey

0:18:22.280 --> 0:18:24.919
<v Speaker 1>hit the ground, went into full strut, and gobbled like

0:18:24.960 --> 0:18:29.120
<v Speaker 1>a roaring lion. Looking right at us. To my greater surprise,

0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:32.320
<v Speaker 1>Jerry quick drawed that shotgun out of his lap and

0:18:32.400 --> 0:18:35.720
<v Speaker 1>missed the turkey I just called across the saline road

0:18:35.840 --> 0:18:39.800
<v Speaker 1>that was fixing the walk closer. We were both disappointed

0:18:39.880 --> 0:18:43.240
<v Speaker 1>we didn't get him, but we were amazed and grateful

0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:46.159
<v Speaker 1>we had the opportunity. It wasn't like I told him

0:18:46.160 --> 0:18:49.760
<v Speaker 1>to shoot and he didn't. Anyway, Jerry bragged about that

0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:53.199
<v Speaker 1>that everyone all season long about how he'd witnessed the

0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:56.760
<v Speaker 1>greatest calling feet in the history of watching me call

0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:00.280
<v Speaker 1>a gobbler across the river now that hunted. On an

0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:03.239
<v Speaker 1>opening day of the season that year, Jerry and I

0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:06.199
<v Speaker 1>both tagged out, and on the last day, Tim and

0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:09.240
<v Speaker 1>mister Bryan had a tag left and were hunting together

0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:12.439
<v Speaker 1>on a different spot up the river. It started calling

0:19:12.480 --> 0:19:16.720
<v Speaker 1>to a gobbler that eventually walked away from them. While

0:19:16.760 --> 0:19:19.320
<v Speaker 1>they sat there desperately calling and trying to get that

0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:25.040
<v Speaker 1>gobbler's attention, Tim amazingly called up eleven turkey polts that

0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:28.880
<v Speaker 1>had obviously hatched early, and they walked up within inches

0:19:28.920 --> 0:19:31.919
<v Speaker 1>of where they sat calling. There wasn't any cell phones

0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:35.080
<v Speaker 1>back then, but we ran a turkey report grapevine on

0:19:35.119 --> 0:19:38.240
<v Speaker 1>the landline every evening to see what everyone in our

0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:41.840
<v Speaker 1>circle had done that day. I'd already talked to Tim

0:19:41.880 --> 0:19:44.679
<v Speaker 1>and mister Bryant and got the report on them seeing

0:19:44.680 --> 0:19:48.119
<v Speaker 1>the baby turkeys when Jerry called me immediately after hearing

0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:51.560
<v Speaker 1>the same baby turkey story from Tim. And here's how

0:19:51.600 --> 0:19:57.160
<v Speaker 1>that conversation went. Brent, I don't know how many folks

0:19:57.240 --> 0:19:59.760
<v Speaker 1>I've told about you calling that turkey across the river,

0:20:00.080 --> 0:20:03.000
<v Speaker 1>but it's been everyone I can make stand still long

0:20:03.119 --> 0:20:05.280
<v Speaker 1>enough to listen to it since the day it happened.

0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:09.359
<v Speaker 1>It was the greatest exhibition of turkey calling I've ever

0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:14.920
<v Speaker 1>seen or heard of until today. Because today I learned

0:20:14.920 --> 0:20:18.120
<v Speaker 1>that your brother is the greatest turkey caller that will

0:20:18.160 --> 0:20:22.159
<v Speaker 1>ever walk this earth. He will never be whooked. You

0:20:22.240 --> 0:20:24.359
<v Speaker 1>may have called one away from a live hen and

0:20:24.400 --> 0:20:27.359
<v Speaker 1>across the river, but he called a dozen out of

0:20:27.400 --> 0:20:33.879
<v Speaker 1>the shelves. If you're new to turkey hunting, find you

0:20:33.960 --> 0:20:37.159
<v Speaker 1>a mentor make the effort and show folks that can

0:20:37.240 --> 0:20:40.600
<v Speaker 1>show you that you're in with both feet and willing

0:20:40.640 --> 0:20:44.639
<v Speaker 1>to learn. If you're old and grizzled, are just either one,

0:20:45.160 --> 0:20:49.399
<v Speaker 1>find someone to mentor mister Bryant turned ninety years old

0:20:49.480 --> 0:20:52.600
<v Speaker 1>on the twenty ninth day of April. We drove two

0:20:52.640 --> 0:20:55.880
<v Speaker 1>hours to his birthday party. I bet there was close

0:20:55.920 --> 0:20:57.720
<v Speaker 1>to one hundred folks that came in and out of

0:20:57.720 --> 0:21:01.000
<v Speaker 1>that event center. I kept looking around counting the Turkey

0:21:01.040 --> 0:21:03.320
<v Speaker 1>hunters in there. There was a bunch of us in

0:21:03.359 --> 0:21:08.120
<v Speaker 1>that building, but there was only one like him. Thank

0:21:08.160 --> 0:21:11.920
<v Speaker 1>you for listening. I appreciate so much the wonderful feedback

0:21:11.960 --> 0:21:14.280
<v Speaker 1>that we got from all y'all that have taken the

0:21:14.320 --> 0:21:17.000
<v Speaker 1>time to reach out. If you have a mind too,

0:21:17.400 --> 0:21:20.000
<v Speaker 1>leave us a review on iTunes. I don't know how

0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:22.119
<v Speaker 1>it works, but when y'all do that, and you have

0:21:22.200 --> 0:21:24.000
<v Speaker 1>to get the word out about our little show to

0:21:24.080 --> 0:21:27.160
<v Speaker 1>other folks that might like to hear. Until next week,

0:21:27.200 --> 0:21:30.080
<v Speaker 1>this is Brent Reeves signing off. Y'all be careful