Bonus Episode- Everything Else I Know About Turkey Hunting

In episode 111 I shared what I’d learned at that time from each of my turkey harvests…which wasn’t a ton of information. I started in 2014 and have found some success over the years. I’ve had 3 years I ate tag soup and have killed 12 turkeys in that time.  I decided to give a breakdown of lessons learned since that last episode and throw it into a bonus episode. 

I share thoughts on blinds, decoys, shooting Jake’s, e-scouting, and more. Hope this helps in some way!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Well, hey guys, welcome to the show. This is a bonus episode. I am driving up uh to my hometown, spent some time with my brother and uh my uncle this morning, and thought I'd just record a little episode for you all. Uh turkey season for a lot of states is already in. Um, but for a few states like Ohio and some of the northern states, it's not until middle of this month. So we're talking a couple weeks, and we will be after the Longbeards uh at that point. So, and Jakes, you know, some people like going after Jake's too. So, um a few years ago, uh 2021 recorded an episode called Everything I Know About Turkey Hunting, and that was episode 111. And what I did in that episode is I went through all of uh my previous hunts and kind of just picked apart um some lessons learned through each of those hunts, things that uh I had learned and thought I'd pass on. And as I I really listened to that episode the other day, I'm like, man, there's been a lot more things happened since then. Um in fact, I've kind of been on a roll. I recorded that before that season, and I have not uh ate tag soup since 2020. Now, now that I'm recording this, this will probably be the year. This will be the year that things uh get rough for me. But um, first off, I want to give a disclaimer. Uh, I hunt in southeast Ohio, and um I probably shouldn't even mention the part of the state, but I'll just tell you, we have a healthy turkey population. We have not experienced the decline that a lot of places have. I'm also hunting mostly private farms, although one of these stories is uh a public land hunt. Now, if you go back through, you've probably heard some of these stories before. I usually tell them as I get them as the season unrolls. But what I'm gonna try and focus on in this episode, and the reason it's a bonus episode, is more of the tactics behind the story. Uh, a lot of times this podcast focuses just on the story itself. We don't get too much into tactics, but hey, you know, I'm bored, I'm driving, and I thought I'd share what I know, which is still very limited. I started turkey hunting in 2014, and those first couple years were pretty rough, but once I started putting some things together, uh, and if you go back and listen to episode 111, a lot of that was hunting a field with some decoys. Um, I just knew that birds went to a certain field, and so that's where I wanted to be. Since then, I've been able to get into the timber a little bit more, get better at calling, and figure out a few other things. So I thought I would share that with you. Uh, if you haven't checked out, we do have on YouTube uh we've released all of our footage from last year. And so I encourage you guys, if you haven't checked that out, go check that out right now. Um, I'll drop a link below, but go on our YouTube, and there's some really great videos from last year. Also, we do have plenty of merch if you'd like a hat to support our uh ministry, which is what it is, um our channel. Um, I will drop that link down in the show notes below as well. Also, still have some quarter zips. I know it's not really quarter zip z season. You know, we're going into the spring, warmer days here. It was like 80s this past week, which was awesome. Today it's 50. You know, that's just Ohio. But anyway, I want to jump into some of my hunts and just tell you that first uh episode I would have recorded was right before the 2021 season. Um, and uh that year what I decided to do is I went back to what we called the kill in field. Um, if you've listened to this at all, you know that's just a place historically where we've gotten on a lot of birds. And so my game plan for that uh day was to go out and I we'd hunted with some guys, I think maybe the year before, where they just popped up a blind out in the middle of this field. Um, and so we thought we'd try that. Uh, the way the kill in field roll works is like there's a really, you know, just kind of this knob that birds we can call them up into the field. Uh they don't roost like right on top of it most of the time. Um, and you know, usually we'd have to call them all the way up to where this pine tree used to sit. And you could sit underneath this pine, have really good shade and cover, and you'd call them all the way up the decoys. And that worked multiple times. Well, the landowners ended up cutting down that pine for whatever reason, and so there's not as much cover, and we realized it was pretty tricky to get them all the way up. Um, you know, it sometimes they'd hang out, hang up a little bit, so we decided if we could go halfway down the field, we might be in business. And so that's what we did. Trav and I we threw up a blind, I think maybe the day before or a couple days. Um, that's one of the things that I've learned about turkey hunting, is they just don't seem to care about blinds randomly popping up in the middle of a field. Now, if you put that same blind in the timber, um, from what I've been told, I haven't really tried that a whole lot. Uh, they they do get a little bit more nervous in that that aspect. But if it's out in the open, uh for whatever reason, they just don't care. Um, so that's what we did. Uh, we put the decoys out, and my buddy Trav and I got in there. He was gonna film me shooting first. Um, we called, uh, we had some birds hammering from a long ways off. Finally, uh, we had a hen come in, and then two long beards hit the field, and they came up and absolutely smashed our decoys. Um, one of the things that I've I've come to believe is that um you can call turkeys into a decoy set and have a cheap decoy, you know, from Walmart. And will that work sometimes? Yes, but I've also had some birds come in and see the decoys and just not come in, not commit. So I do think investing in some higher quality decoys um is wise if you're gonna do a lot of decoy hunting. Um, obviously, there's the upper end, you know, the Avian X and the Dave Smith decoys. I've heard great things about them. I have not dropped the dollar on it. It's just hard for me to want to spend over a hundred dollars on a decoy, um, especially since now I'm I'm getting into the timber a little bit more, not doing as much field hunting, but still some. So, what I've kind of found a middle of the ground, um uh middle of the road decoy uh called Lucky Duck Decoys. Uh, they're an inflatable uh half strutter Jake and then also got the inflatable hen. I just leave them inflated. Alright, sorry, I want to pause real quick and let you know that I have just looked up Lucky Duck Jake and Lucky Duck Hen. There are a few Lucky Duck Hens left on the website, but there are no more. Uh, it's out of stock. The Jake is out of stock, and I can't find it on any other websites, which tells me that that uh decoy I'm recommending right now might not be available. So sorry about that. There are probably some other options out there that you could experiment with. Um, you know, your decoy does potentially matter, so do some research on that. Sorry for recommending one that no longer is around. More subordinate pose. A lot of times with your decoys, they're kind of, you know, you'll have a full strutter or you might have a Jake like with his head up, and they're kind of in this aggressive pose. And if you have a gobbler come in that maybe he's been beat up a few times or whatever, they might just see that decoy and tucktail and go the other direction. So I kind of want a Jake to look like he's kind of, you know, this position that looks like he's not as intimidating. Um, got that idea for my buddy Trav. He's been using the lucky duck and it's worked good. So, anyway, these two uh toms they came just barreling into the decoys, uh, beat the snot out of my Jake. At that time, I was using the 410 uh with TSS and uh 20 yard shot, laid him down. Trav pulled up to shoot, probably should have had his gun up already. He was filming me first. We we've not really had a whole lot of situations like this where we could double. Um he shot, missed, it was just kind of a panic shot, and uh his his bird got away. But that was a pretty awesome experience. I think the main lesson there is that decoys definitely can play a part in your hunting, um, and your decoys uh can matter. Also, using a blind, I mean, if you want just a nice way to sit there and drink some coffee, and if you enjoy blind hunting, it's not my preference. I really don't prefer to do that. I like being out in the open, but that is a tactic that you can use if you're hunting on field edges and uh maybe even in the middle of a field someplace. Um that's that's a great spot to throw up a pop-up blind and uh be ready. Um 2022, um, that was more of a year where I scouted more. Um, didn't I've never scouted a ton, but I would go out in the evenings, same property, get up on a ridgetop, and there was always a bird gobbling over on this other hill that was on an adjacent property. And I didn't have permission on it, but I noticed that there was another property that kind of sat above that one. And just year after year, I just I would call and birds would always hammer over there. And then there was a few times that birds on the property I could hunt would end up over on that spot. So I called the landowner and he's like, Yeah, man, if you want to come over, that you're more than welcome. It's only just a little section up there. I'm like, that's all I need. So I went up, and I think the day before I went over and just kind of raked some leaves so I could get in there nice and quiet. I thought they'd be roosted a lot closer than what they actually ended up being roosted, and got in there, got settled in on the opening day. Um, Trav came down and hunted the main farm. He ended up not getting anything that day, but we um, you know, we're kind of texting back and forth, and I heard had a I think a Tom and some Jakes uh gobbling off just over the ridge. So I was in the ball game. It took a little while, but not super long. Um after fly down, I was calling. There was a bird definitely hammering, and then all of a sudden I see these two birds in full strut. They never broke strut, and they're kind of just working their way right into where I need them to be. They got to come across a fence line, come into the decoys, and they do, but it's just slow. And they're I'm looking at them and I can't place a beard on either one of them. But they're in full strut, they're not really gobbling at this point, they're just kind of working their way in. And as they get to the decoys, I wait for them to separate and I shoot. And I get up and I've then realized that I've shot my first Jake. Up to this point, I've never been presented the option. Um, I've always just had long beards come in, um, you know, maybe with a Jake or two, but I've always taken the long beard. It's not like I've had anything against it, but I've just never been put in the position to choose. And in that moment, I could not put a beard on either one of them, but they were in full strut the whole time. Now, if I know what I know now, you can definitely identify a Jake by how many tail feathers they have. The middle tail feathers are gonna stand up higher than the outside edge. Uh, so that's a way to identify, of course, if you don't see a beard sticking out, then they probably are a Jake. Um, this Jake that I shot had probably like a little two-inch beard, little nubbins, and but I tell you what, I was pumped because it was a for me, it was a setup. I was able to set up the hunt. I was able to kind of go in, scout, listen, get to a position. I took a rake and raked out the leaves so I could get there quiet and was able to call them in. Another thing I learned uh from this hunt is you know, you're calling on while you're calling to them on the roost, there's some light calling that you can do, but one of the things that I like to do now is I'll do like a couple light tree yelps, get them to respond, and then I will typically just shut up until I think they've flown down. And I actually saw these birds fly down in the distance, and as soon as they hit the ground, I start calling some yelps, and then I start doing this cluck call on my pot call. My my pre preference is to use my mouth if I can, um, but I'm just better at this little cluck call, I don't know what else to call it. Um, it's like a cluck. Um, it's not a nervous putt, but what I'll do is I'll if you hold a pot call in your hand and you got your striker, I slide all the way up on the striker. So I am, I'm got my it's uh normally you're holding it like it's a pencil. Well, I'm gonna slide all the way up to the handle, and then what I do is I create a ton of pressure between the you know the stick and the slate. And whenever I finally get it to release, like as I'm pushing pressure on it, it makes this pop sound. And it's like a pop, pop, pop, pop, you know, with a cluck noise. And that that little tactic, a guy showed me that one time, it just sounds better than if you were trying to do the same thing uh with your finger down, you know, fingers down like you're holding a pencil. So kind of sliding up uh the shaft of the um striker and kind of creating that pressure. So that's that's kind of my go-to. I've killed a ton of birds using that, and once they're on the ground, I let it rip, I let it go, I keep calling at them, and uh until I can kind of tell that they're coming my way, and then I'll sometimes shut up and just wait till they get into the decoys or whatever. So that's how I uh call that Jake in. And I guess a lesson there is shoot what makes you happy. I mean, if you don't have a ton of turkeys in your area, then you might want to let uh the jakes go so that in the future you know you have a long beard to hunt. Uh also there's legal aspects, you know, make sure you're allowed to shoot a Jake. Um, but there's different people's preferences, and honestly, I think most guys pass on Jakes because they're afraid of what their buddies are gonna think. Uh they I think a lot of people um just would care too much about posting that great picture of a giant long beard hanging over a log, and he's got the you know, 12-inch rope and the spurs, and I mean we just love that glorious picture. And Jake, well, you know, sometimes you get up on him, you're like, Man, this is not a whole lot of bird here. They're like maybe 12 pounds, 15 pounds, and you think, Man, I I maybe I should have held out, and you know, to each their own. I mean, do what makes you happy. I also think you have to think about the circumstance, the location where you're hunting, um, how many birds can you kill in a year, you know, those sorts of things. But to me, I just I always say this this goes to deer hunting as well. Shoot what makes you happy and gets you excited. And in that moment, I was pumped. Just hey, I called in these two Jakes that came in and uh let her rip. Going into the next year, uh, so and and also keep this in mind in Ohio we're only allowed to shoot one turkey at this point, so they've limited our number. I'm kind of glad that they have, honestly, just so that the numbers continue to be good in future years. Um, and I haven't gone out of state a whole lot other than just West Virginia, but that that story's coming up. So following year, um, I'd hunted quite a bit and I'd struck out. I actually didn't kill my turkey until May 3rd. Um, I'm not sure what was going on that year. Probably uh, I think that's the year my daughter Ansley uh got into turkey hunting, and we'd been out a few times and uh she has not still hasn't killed a turkey. Uh this year, I'm hoping to change all that. But uh yeah, so I I think oh yes, the other part of that now that I'm remembering, I went out, I was trying to use a recurve. That's what was going on that year, now that I think about it. Um, so I was in a blind, same spot that I killed that uh, you know, we're in the killing field, and that opening morning uh I was out with my buddy Cody, he was filming, called in a whole bunch of jakes, and they were coming into the decoys, but then a tom beat them to the decoys first. And this Tom comes rolling in, and I knew that those jakes were gonna come in and probably harass the Tom, so I felt a little rushed. Um, I practiced a lot with that recurve, felt pretty confident, drew back, shot, and I hit this thing, and he does like a double backflip and takes running off, and I draw back again and shoot again and I miss. I'm thinking he's gotta be dead up there someplace. I go to look for this turkey and I cannot find him. We searched for like two hours, even came back uh later on that afternoon, searched again, and I mean I looked under every brush, looked, I mean, no blood. I mean, I'm it just was I went back and looked at the footage, and it looks like I hit that turkey in the elbow wing. Um, and so I hunted a few more times with the recurve, and I had birds that were coming around, could have killed multiple birds if I had a gun. I do remember that. Um, they were circling me at like 30 yards, 25 yards, and I'm just I'm just like at a point where I'm like, you know what? This this started off kind of being fun. I got a great rush and adrenaline kick out of shooting that one, but I'm like, I really, after one hunt, I think it was, I went out that morning, I'm like, I am switching over to the 410. I I just I want to kill a turkey, I want it to be enjoyable. This is not uh this is getting harder and harder as the season goes on. I'm hunting more and more, of course, and uh I wanna I want to wrap things up. So I was supposed to meet up with my buddy Nate Root. I hit a property on the way over and actually called in a long beard, and I had my first miss that I can recall at that point. Um bird came in, it was I was just I was shaking like a leaf. Um, and he was above me. I shoot and I miss. So I'm like, man, you know, after switching over to the uh you know the shotgun, I've I've got some action. So we went out to a property uh with my buddy Nate, and uh he had been striking out as well, and it was super windy, and we're calling along uh this cornfield edge and cut cornfield calling as we go and not hearing anything. Nate's calling, I'm calling, and it's just hard to hear. Nate's kind of getting discouraged, and we're getting down to the point where we've got maybe a hundred yards left in this field, and then we kind of hit a property line, and that's probably gonna be it. And I knew that I had seen turkeys out at the far end of this field multiple times. Um, been there a few different times, and so we're kind of calling our way, and we kind of get to that point where we can see the edge, and there's not a there's not a turkey there, there's none out in the field. And so we're calling, and in between the wind gusts, I was I thought I heard a gobble, but Nate didn't hear it. And he's like, What do you think? Go back to the truck. I was like, let's just, I mean, we're here, let's work this all the way out and get out to that edge, and let's just call from there. And so that's what we did. We get out to the edge, and we got maybe about you know 50, 60 more yards of property line in front of us. But once we kind of got into the timber, the wind wasn't as loud. And I did my little uh yelp with the clutch call, and bam, he hammers and he is less than a hundred yards out in front of us, probably. And we're like, holy cow, that was a turkey. And so we sat down real quick. I'm kind of on the left side of the tree. Nate was on the right. I should have, since he was supposed to really be the shooter, I should have gotten behind him and just kind of got in position where he was out in front. I've not filmed a ton of other people uh hunting as much, and so I uh kind of got to the left side of this tree, and Nate was to the right. We called just a few times, and this bird is coming. Pretty soon I'm able to see him and he's working to our left. And Nate isn't really gonna be able to shoot him unless he kind of shoots across my lap. Um, I kind of have more of the angle on this bird, and this bird comes into about 40 and he's kind of hung up, he's looking our direction, he can see out in the field, and I kind of know I've got to take a longer shot here if I'm gonna get him. Nate says, Go ahead, take the shot. He gets him on film, and I fold this bird at 40 yards with the 410. Um, that TSS definitely is awesome, and it was awesome. Big long beard, uh, great experience. Felt a little bad. You know, Nate was supposed to kind of be the shooter on that one, but it just kind of ended up, bird kind of came my side of the tree and wasn't gonna give him a chance. And so, you know, it was he was fine with that, and it was all good, and so that's how I got my long beard. I think a lesson learned on that one um is that don't give up on a property um until you have worked all of it. There's been so many times that I've been almost, uh, in fact, that same property, there's been times where I've almost like headed back to the truck and kind of cut a corner, uh, didn't cover the whole thing, and then you you strike one up like right there in that spot. Um, especially if it's windy, that wind can really make it hard to hear a turkey. So if you're working a property and let's say you have a hundred, maybe two hundred acres, and you've covered all but fifty of it, and there's just one more little knob, but you don't hear anything from where you're at, I'm telling you, go cover that basis. Um, sometimes those turkeys are holed up just over on the other side. Uh, and and it would have made sense that the birds really didn't want to be out in a field with with how gusty the winds were that day. Um, sometimes they'll do that just because also I guess the woods is uh I might backtrack on that statement because there are times that the wind they get a little leery being in the timber because everything's moving. So I guess that that kind of depends on on the bird and what you're dealing with. But really glad we went to the edge of that field, called in the Tom. Um, he came in hot, got some great footage, and that was awesome. Um, the next year, uh that one was more of a situation of uh just trying to get on. I added a few more properties, and one of the properties was a guy at church that has a big long field. Um, his driveway goes right through the middle of this field, and at the far end of it um is his house, and then along the way is this big wide open field with two ridges on both sides. So he kind of lives down in this valley. And he had every day he'd send me pictures of multiple toms out in this field. And this one I'll just tell you, I I don't, it's not my my proudest turkey. I don't feel the greatest about this situation. I hunted that property and covered the ridges, it was super thick, no, wasn't ever to call any, wasn't able to call anything up. Uh, hunted several other properties and uh decided that morning, I was like, you know what, I'm gonna go over there and um see if that bird's out in the field. They're used to people kind of driving down the driveway, and so I am driving down the driveway and I don't see anything over to my right hand side in the field. But as I'm looking up to the left, I see a couple hands, and then I see the gobbler, and he's up on this hill and he's headed toward the field. So I get out at the far end, park by the garage, uh, text guy, hey, I'm headed up to this bird, and I go up and over the ridge. Now, this this hill that this bird is on, there's a bunch of little rolling hills with a little bit of timber, kind of wide open timber throughout. So I'm just I start calling and I'm going up and over each hill, up and over each hill, and I'm waiting for this bird. I'm trying to call him in, but I realize he is headed to this wide open field in below me, and if he gets there, I my only choice at that point is to reap him. And once again, I don't necessarily have anything against reaping. I try, I really prefer to call a bird in. Um, that's my my method. I know a lot of people don't like reaping. One, it can be dangerous if you are hunting in a property where multiple people could be. Two, you know, it's it's um some view it. As almost cheating because you're out in the field and you know the bird has to fight you. I would argue that sometimes they will run away. I've seen that too. But don't know how you feel about it. But for me, I'm wanting to call them in. But in this situation, I'm I'm realizing this bird is going away from me. So I pull out the fan and I just kind of go up and over the ridge with the fan, just kind of waving it a little bit. And I look up and over, and that Tom he sees the fan and he does a 180 from his hens and he's coming up. So I drop the fan, I get the gun up. This is one I never I wasn't able to get it on film either because of the situation. Bird comes up and I pop him. I mean, it was basically a front yard turkey. You know, he I wouldn't say it was domesticated, but he kind of lived in these people's property. That one, I was like, you know, it was cool, but I'll just admit, like, the feeling wasn't as good afterwards. I was like, you know, I killed a turkey and he's a nice Tom, got the meat, that's great. But it just, I was technically in the woods, I was technically using the terrain to my advantage. But sometimes a situation, you just you want it to be different after it's over. And that was one of those I was like, I kind of wish I just would have gone to a different property or played it differently, but um that's what happened, and uh that's that's the way it goes. So I guess lesson learned on that. Um find hunt hunt the way you want to hunt, not the way that you see things on TV. Um, and and also just know that if you go the reaping route, um you might those can be some super exciting hunts, having those birds charge in, but you might not get the satisfaction that you would get as to trying to be a good woodsman, trying to you know call birds in, you know, those sorts of things, but to each their own. That's one that you've got to figure out, but just don't compromise your values and what you're going after. Um, next time, let's get into it here. Oh, that was the same year. So uh yeah, looking down through my list, another thing I'd encourage you to do, um, keep track of how many turkeys you killed. I have a note on my phone that has every deer and every turkey that I've ever killed. Um, I put the date on there, where I was, um, a little bit of details just so I remember it. But I I just I I some people they don't care about that, but for me, I'm like, I like going back and sometimes you forget. You forget hunts that you've been on, you forget situations that you've been in, and then all of a sudden you see this little note on your phone and you're reminded. And uh so I'd encourage you to maybe keep a journal or some sort of way of keeping track. For me, I just log it on my phone in a note and update it as the season goes along. Um, it's also kind of cool to know that since 2014 I've killed 11 turkeys. So there's been a few years where I've killed two whenever I was allowed to do that, and then there's been a few years where I've gotten skunked. Um, but once again, that hasn't happened since 2020. Uh, this same year, this is 2024, um, I had decided to go over to West Virginia. Uh, I think before this season even began in Ohio, I went to West Virginia with my brother and a buddy that I grew up with. Or went to college with, that is. And we got on some birds, didn't kill anything, but I still had that tag in my pocket. I'd gotten on Onyx, um, and also Onyx is a great resource for trying to scout and know where turkeys might be. I got on Onyx and I realized that there was a property, a private, not private, a public piece really not that far away from where I live. Um, I didn't realize there was anything that close over in West Virginia. I already had the tag. So I was kind of looking at, you know, Onyx, looking for some knobs above creeks, um, some spots where I think they might have some strut zones within the timber, things like that. And I had marked this spot on Onyx and thought, you know, if I have time, if I shoot one in Ohio early, whatever, I'll go over after it. Um, so I shoot that that uh Tom and that guy's basically front yard on uh April the 29th. On May 2nd, I'm taking another buddy out to hunt. He was brand new to hunting uh turkeys, my buddy Nate Ru or Nate Godfrey, that is, and uh Nate had been awesome that that year. He's a younger fella, so you know sometimes when you hunt with younger guys, kind of out of college, you you don't go in thinking that they're gonna wake up every time. Maybe they they're used to staying out late, sleeping in, whatever. Um, there's probably some that's a stereotype. There's probably some young guys that get up earlier than me or whatever. But anyhow, Nate had been great that season. We'd gone out a few times, not killed anything, and he had always I'd text him like on my way, he'd text right back, I'm headed that way too. We'd have some great hunts, but just couldn't seal the deal. On this hunt, I text him and he doesn't text back. I get over to this new farm that I just acquired, um, big nice farm. I get over there, I sit, and I'm texting him nothing. I text him one more time, I call him, it goes straight to voicemail. I'm like, uh-oh, I think Nate has slept in. His alarm isn't working, his phone must be off. So I've already tagged out in Ohio, and I'm thinking, you know what? I've got time to get over there just as the sun cracks in West Virginia. It's about a 20-30 minute drive, so I'm like, that's what I'm doing. I text Nate, hey, sorry, buddy, if you wake up, I'm headed over to West Virginia. I get over to this spot, it is just that gray light starting to crack a little bit. I found this parking spot on Onyx, pull in. I get out of the car, I have to walk down uh the county road. I've got to cross this big creek and then go up this hill. And the hill's gonna be pretty steep. As I'm walking down the road, I am less than 60 yards from my my vehicle, and a bird hammers up on the hill right where I'm headed. And I'm just like the the the feeling inside, just to know that I e-scouted this, and a bird is gobbling from where I marked the on X point. I've never been to this property before. I'm going in blind, and a bird gobbles there. Guys, that is an incredible feeling. So I have to cross the creek. The creek was super deep and wide, and I had to do a tight rope walk across a fallen down log. And I'm just praying that I don't slip and get all wet. There really was no other place to cross anywhere close. I just happened to go through this thick stuff and find this log. It was just a kind of a god thing that I found this one crossing of this creek. I get across it, I'm working it up, and I realize there's multiple birds gobbling up on this hill. There's at least three. So I work my way in as close as I can get, get up on this knob, and there's still a little bit of hill above me, and I'm kind of down on this little bit of a path, and out in front of me there's like some big rocks, and I could hear the birds gobbling, and it's it's at the point where I'm like, I cannot get any closer. So I sit down, I'm calling back and forth with them on the roost a little bit, probably calling too much, and then some hens start going off just right in below me, and I see one flies down, another one flies down, and they go to where these birds are at. And then pretty soon I hear uh them start kind of going the other direction. And I'm like, all right, well, maybe I should go after them. About the time I'm thinking about being aggressive and trying to close the distance, a bird flies uh over my shoulder in behind me, and I'm looking up at it and I can see him on the limb. I'm like, dang it, is that is that a Tom or is that or is it just like a vulture? And so I'm calling here and there, trying to call, and I'm trying not to move. Like, I wouldn't think that this late they'd be flying back up, and so I finally am able to get the video camera and zoom in on this thing and realize, oh shoot, I'm I'm dealing with a vulture here. So um, you know, I'm kind of embarrassed by that, but I'm like, oh well, it kind of kept me in that spot for a little bit longer, trying to be patient instead of being stupid, which I'm glad that I did. I decide I'm gonna move up to the spot that the birds were calling from, mark that on Onyx, and just make sure that I've got that for future reference, I know exactly where they're roosted. So I'm kind of working my way up to where they're at, and then there's this little uh flat or bench above me. I mark the spot on Onyx, and then I start just climbing the hill, and I got camera and tripod in one hand, you know, the 410 in the other, and I'm just going up and over this hill trying to get to this flat, and all of a sudden I hear it and I look up and I see here putting and I see three redheads just over cresting and just kind of looking down at me. So I take the camera, slide it underneath one arm, I pull up the gun. Fortunately, my red dot was still on. I'd forgotten to turn off the red dot, and there is one redhead still up there looking down. I don't know what it is, I just know that it is a male turkey, and I shoot. Hear a bunch of commotion, I start moving up the hill, a tom flies over my head. Um, big old bird flies over and goes to uh like the you know other property, you know, he flew away, and I get up there and I and I realize I've shot a Jake. And this Jake is is spinning in circles, and I finish him off, and I've just killed my first public land turkey, and I've just killed my first um yeah, oh, and first turkey in West Virginia. I was like, what was the significance of that? Yeah, first West Virginia turkey, first public land turkey on a spot that I e-scoted. Um, tiny Jake. You know, the pictures aren't great. This thing is not a big bird, um, but it was public land, and I tell you what, I was I was super proud of it, and I was proud of it because of what I mentioned before with the e-scouting. Guys, I want to just tell you that's something you need to learn how to do, especially if you're hitting new property, is recognize where birds might be roosted. That's something that I've and I've done that since then and in several other circumstances. I've been able to get on Onyx, find a ridgetop. Birds love being kind of up on a ridgetop with a creek in below. Um, if it's windy, uh, a lot of times they like roosting down low closer to the creek. If you can find a place that has, you know, you gotta find the timber big enough that they would want to roost in it. They're not gonna usually roost in some little spindly tree. They want an oak or a sycamore or something like that. Um, I've never been great at going in and eat, you know, scouting boots on the ground, trying to find the feathers and where they're pooping and all that. That's something another skill I need to develop better. Um, but on a onyx, you can get on there and kind of put it in 3D mode, look at hills, see where they might be, and um, in this scenario, it worked out. I found myself a spot that just looked really good. Um, there was plenty more property to cover. In fact, I came back two or three more times because in Western you killed two two turkeys, and I don't think I heard a gobble the other two times I was there. Um, I covered a ton of ground, went up higher. Uh, I think we did like two or three miles that one day. My brother came again and my buddy, and um, but that one hunt, they were there and it panned out and it was awesome. So use use Onyx, use that resource. Um, there's other apps out there that's what we prefer to use. Just really love how they have everything in one spot for you, easy to use. And uh, the other thing that I was able to do is I didn't I don't think I would have maybe realized that that public piece was with it that close had I not gotten on to Onyx and just kind of zoomed out a little bit, and you can turn on your filters so that you can see where public lands are. So cool resource, something that I use in that situation, and uh loved that. Alright, we're caught up, we're going into last year. Um, and uh last year got on some birds, but a lot of the the hunts that I had uh were with um uh my daughter trying to get her her first turkey, and once again, um I've talked about that some on here. Um I've just been I always hate being in a blind. You can't hear as well. I prefer to be out in the wide open, it just makes for a more exciting hunt. But I've just come to realize with a kid, uh man, you really need to have them in that blind. Um I've used like a little pop-up blind before, and uh with the tripod kind of hidden behind it, and we've worn leafy suits, and the birds still come in and bust us. Um, I've called in probably, oh, there's a turkey right there. Uh looks like a hen. That's cool. That's always fun to see while you're driving. Um I've probably called in at least 10 turkeys for my daughter, and they just won't fully commit to the decoys. Maybe I need those more expensive decoys, or maybe it's just the two of us getting excited. I'm moving the camera, she's moving the gun. Um, but I have not been able, I've called in so many birds to decoys, and for my daughter, it has not panned out. And so last year, same situation. Uh, we had a whole group of Jakes come in and she tried a longer shot and missed, so she at least got her to pull the trigger. Um, I don't like her taking longer shots, but I really she's just been so afraid in the moment to pull the trigger at times. Um, been trying to get her more comfortable on a 22 and then move into the 410. She's got a shoulder pad to block the recoil, but there's been so many times the birds have been close, but she just is too scared to pull the trigger, and I can't get them to stay at the decoys long enough to get that shot. So this year I'm hoping that that all changes. Uh, introducing, you know, getting into a blind and just hunting a spot over and over. Um, I'll have two blinds out, actually, is the game plan. And here in the next couple weeks, I'm gonna go out, listen, try and find the best spot for those blinds, and see if we can't give her a shot. The last year I went out again with my buddy Nate Root, and uh we I started that morning by myself, and I hunt I the thing that's helped me a ton is I have permission on a lot of properties. It's a lot easier to get turkey permission than it is deer permission. And I've mentioned this before, but what I did uh several years ago, I think probably five years ago now, is I sent out letters introducing myself, you know, saying that I'm an ethical hunter, I use the meat, blah blah blah, I'm safe. Um and I asked for permission to, I think in those cases I was trying to deer hunt, but I also asked for permission to turkey hunt. And I know a buddy, uh Jeremy, who's co-host, uh, he sent out just asking for permission just to turkey hunt. And you write a nice little letter up, uh, also offer to you know, maybe help out if they need any help on the farm, say you might be willing to share the meat. So far, I've not had anybody try and get me to come work their farm or take, you know, take the meat, although I will donate meat to my dear property owners. Um, but anyway, I've I've been able to gain quite a few properties that way. Um and it's it's worked out. The other thing that I've done is once you gain a property, you look at the properties around it and you call them and you say, Hey, I've got permission on so and so. Just didn't know if if we heard a bird gobble over there, would you have any problem with us chasing it? And that's led to at least three, four hundred more acres for me to hunt. I love the gun and run. I don't want to sit there forever and wait. I want to move. And so this one hunt last year, I covered a ton of ground with my buddy Nate. We hit several different properties, and I think we had a few birds gobbling, but just weren't able to close the distance. But it it was definitely a more challenging hunt as far as just putting on the miles. Nate knew of a spot where there was a small piece of public in Ohio that he had hunted and had success on. And we went to this property, um, we start calling, and it is super windy, and we're running out of time. In Ohio, the first two weeks you can only hunt till noon. And I hate that, but um, that's just the way it is. And so it's 11:30, and we're working our way in, and it's so windy, we decide to kind of split up, and he's gonna cover one side of this ridge above a creek, and I'm gonna go to the other side. And as he's calling, I realized, man, he is only 70 yards away just over the hill, but he sounds like he's a mile away. So I get loud on the call, he gets louder, and we go back and forth like two hens, and we're calling back and forth, and finally we got maybe um I think actually at that point it was 11, so it was about 11:30. We get back together, and we're standing there, and he goes, You know, I thought I heard one, but I'm not real sure. So I did a call and we were like, Man, that sounds like a bird. And so we kind of moved down the ridge a little bit closer to the creek. We call again, and he hammers and he sounds like he's coming. So we're in frantic mode trying to get set up. This is one of our most uh recent videos on YouTube if you want to check it out. And once again, I probably should have put Nate out in front of me. I've uh we decided to split up. We're kind of in that moment where we're just being indecisive, and we're going back and forth. He's like, Do we use decoys? Which I'm like, we're in public. I really don't, I'm not comfortable using decoys, we're in the timber. I was like, let's just split, you know, let's he's like, I'm gonna stay up here on this ridge. I'm like, okay, well, I'm gonna bail over to the right here, get a little bit closer to the creek, you know, and kind of get into like these thicker brambles, get in front of it at least. So that's what we do. I no sooner sit down, get the camera on, uh, get the gun up, and I see the bird across the creek over on the other hillside. And he's kind of working down over the hill, and he's gonna be just over the hill from Nate. Nate's actually gonna be closer to this turkey than what I am. I got like a little bit of a rise of a hill in front of me, and then it drops down to the creek. And so got the gun up. I uh I at this moment I'm trying, I'm second-guessing myself on whether or not I've I've got a 12-gauge shotgun now at this point. Bolt, bolt, you know, uh use the bolt to kind of slide one up in and all that. And um never really had a 12-gauge with uh a uh choke in it and all that, so it's uh got a red dot on it, so I'm I'm ready, but I go to just make sure that I've got a shell in my gun. Just keep that in the back of your mind. So I do, I slide the gun back forward, close the bolt, and this bird is gobbling, he's fired up, and I'm thinking I might be able to call this bird right up and over the hill to Nate. So I'm calling some, trying to throw the calls back over to my left-hand side, raking leaves, and he's he's hung up a little bit. I can't really tell where he's at because he's now down in that bottom, and I'm kind of calling, and Nate unfortunately couldn't see over the hill well enough to really see this bird. He saw him initially, and then the bird kind of you know dropped in below him. And so I'm kind of calling. At one point, I thought about like getting up and kind of running back behind Nate, but I just wasn't sure where the bird was, if he was going to go on up and over and give Nate a shot or or what was happening. So I call a little bit more, and all of a sudden, this bird is kind of more out in front of me now, and he's sliding out around the flap in below Nate. So I'm kind of committed at this point to calling, and I got the gun up. This bird is coming, he is hammering. Every time I call, he's cutting me off, and then next thing you know, I see his head pop up, and he's probably 30 yards away, just over the ridge. It's thick, but I can see a clear view of his head, can see his beard, uh, his head's sticking up, and I just roll this dude. I shoot. Oh no, no, back up, hold on, time out. I pull the trigger, clink, nothing happens. My gun doesn't go off. I'm like, what the heck? I with this gun, I'm not used to like how it operates, but if you pull back and check while it's while the safety's off, which I think I'd had the safety off at that point, uh, it disengages. And so I rack another one, uh, up, I pull the slide back, shh, and another one goes up in, and this bird still has his head up, and I'm able to get another shot off or get a shot off, and I roll. Come down over, he's flopping. I I this bird, his head was sticking up, he wasn't in full strut, but must have just hit him a little low, and I blew the middle part of his tail feathers off, which was unfortunate. Uh pictures didn't look great on this guy, but nice big Tom. Nate comes down, he he's happy for me. Nate, I will give Nate Root credit. Um, Nate, uh, this is twice now that I have uh shot a turkey where it wasn't necessarily he was supposed to be the shooter. We're hunting together, we both have tags, but it just worked out both times that the bird kind of went my way and not his. And so if I hunt with Nate this year, I'm gonna put that guy out in front of me. Now, I did call in, we did call in some uh a Jake for Nate that year, and he he had a great hunt, it was fun. Uh, that's also on the channel, but uh I did feel a little bit bad about that, but it was awesome. Um, it was awesome, and that's my first Ohio public land bird, and it was just a small piece of public. What's hilarious about that hunt is we'd hit, I think, four or five private pieces before we went to the public, and we called this bird in. Lesson learned on this hunt, it's the same thing, don't give up until you have to. Um, you know, we we shot that bird, we had 15 minutes of legal time left before noon, and that was just awesome. Um, we were, you know, we were about ready to give up, but we were just like, you know, let's call a few more times, let's might as well stay close to noon. And it's so windy, once again, that wind can really affect what you hear, and so uh just keep calling loud, and you never know whenever a bird's gonna come in. So you're kind of caught up on my hunts. Uh we're coming into 26 and I'm looking forward to it. Um, looking forward to hunting with my daughters. Both of them will be hunting this year. I will say this um from 2014 to 2026, I have gained a ton of confidence. Um, and I I hope that it's not overconfidence. Like going in this year, I really feel confident that I should be able to call in and get on a turkey. But I one thing I know about turkeys is they can't they can definitely humble you. Um you can think that you know what you're doing, and then you get aggressive and you bump turkeys. Um, the weather cannot cooperate at times, sometimes they get hinned up and go the other way. So I'm trying to remind myself of that. I'm also trying to remind myself that I'm I've got two daughters that want to hunt, and I'm trying to help them. So, you know, that's that's all the stuff I'm trying to remember. Um sorry, there's my uncle. We're late, and I just saw my uncle and he's late too, so that's good to know. Um, but anyhow, yeah, so I'm just trying to remind myself uh stay humble. Um, the other thing I'm trying to remember, just go out and have fun. Uh we put so much pressure on ourselves sometimes to go out and kill a giant turkey, and we want to post it. And the thing I'm realizing, especially with turkey hunting, is most people just are they happy for you? Yeah, but most people just don't care. It it's just it's different than deer and elk hunting. It's um for me, just getting out in the spring and you sit out there and you just hear, you know, the birds chirping, the spring woods coming alive, you hear a owl hoot, and the the tom just rips off a nice gobble on the limb. There's nothing cooler than that. Uh it's just I just love it. The weather is warming up. It's beautiful. Some guys can hunt for uh you know ramps and for morels. I'm I'm I'm not real good at the morel thing, but you know it's uh it's a great time to be out there. So I just encourage you, go out, don't put pressure on yourself. If you're a new hunter, you know, YouTube can be your friend, it can also be your enemy. You can think that it's just gonna be easy, and guys, sometimes it is. But there's gonna be some other hunts. I remember those first few hunts that I had. It was hard. In those first few years, I didn't know when to move, I didn't know when to sit, I didn't know when to call, when to shut up. I thought if a bird shut up that maybe I was calling too much. In reality is he probably just had a hen and he wasn't gonna come my way, but he would he would call as he went. Um, there's all kinds of ways to go after turkeys. If you're new to this, I would encourage you find a hunting mentor, find somebody that you can just go with and just experience how they call, experience what they do. Don't I would I would learn all of the tactics. I wouldn't just settle for learning how to call and sitting there and being patient and waiting for hours on end. I'd learn how to run and gun if your properties will allow you to do so. Um I would learn, you know, I'd have a fan in your pack if you're allowed, and and if you're if it's legal and it's something that you want to try, just being able to maybe not fan one and reap one, but to at least give that fan if he's out there just to make him commit. There's a lot of different tactics that you can put up your sleeve. The other thing I will tell you, just a reminder, pattern your darn gun. Pattern that gun. You might think that it shoots great 20, 30, 40, 50 yards. You sometimes you get out that load, you shoot, and it's not what you think. Um, it's maybe hitting a foot high at 40. So make sure you take the time the next week or so, throw up a box, get out the load. I've also heard, I don't remember if it's the TSS or if it's the Longbeard XR, but they coat that um those BBs with something that sometimes um if you have an older box, it does not pattern as well as what it did the year before. So I can't remember which that is. I wish I would have looked it up before this, but take my word for it. I've I've I've experienced that. I've gone out and shot a load that the year before was awesome, but then this year wasn't. The last thought I want to leave with you is this. Um, as I think back, like I mentioned, 2014, whenever I came to the turkey hunting, I really didn't know hardly anything. It was so intimidating. You see the videos, but whenever you get out there and you experience it, it's just sometimes hard. And you sometimes you feel like, man, I don't know what I'm doing. This is terrible, I'm awful on a mouth call, I'm bumping birds, and it's just you're just at a spot where you're like, man, man, I just kind of want to give up. And now I'm at a point where I've had some years and I'm trying to be, like I said, humble, but I have this recognition that there's some things that I do know, and that's what I'm trying to share with you right now. There are people that are way better callers than me, there are people that know way more than what I know about turkey behavior, but I've I've seen some success. Part of it, it like once again is my area that I hunt. Uh, you throw me out in the middle of public land in Missouri or someplace, I might struggle. I don't know. But you know, I've learned enough that I feel like I'm dangerous. And I just think like life is obviously like that as well. There's so many things that we can get ourselves into, um, you know, where it's we're kind of at the deep end of the pool when we start out, and then you learn and you get better at it. And I think the same can be true with our faith. You know, as you come to Jesus, when you you first become a Christian, there's so much that you don't know. You don't know how to read the Bible, you don't know how to pray, you don't know what you're really supposed to do, and in which church do I go through. And there's all these questions, and a lot of people get hung up there. They they never really go too far down the faith line because they just can't figure out those answers. And I just encourage you, find somebody, if that's you, find somebody that you can ask questions to. Maybe it's a preacher or maybe it's just a friend of yours that you know has a little bit deeper faith. And and we just continue to take that next step. All this information that I just dropped on you, if you're a brand new turkey hunter, it might be overwhelming. You might not be able to do or understand all of these things all at once. Um, but you can pick one thing, but you know what? Whatever he said about that decoy thing, I'm gonna try that, or the calling thing, or I'm gonna learn, I'm gonna learn one more thing, I'm gonna try and grow. And I think with our faith, it's similar. The Lord knows what we need. The Lord knows the areas of us that still need some improvement, and we all have room for improvement, myself included. And so what the Lord will do is He sends people into our lives that helps us in those areas. And if we're willing just to take that next step, the Lord is the one that's gonna change us. And that's the beauty of it. Um, it's not always up to us and just self-help and I just gotta have grant and determination. God uh is so patient with us and loving that he doesn't want to leave us in the same spot. He wants us to grow. He wants us to move and grow in our faith because when we do that, we look more like his son. And if we look more like Jesus, then the world around us is a better place. More and more people will come to Jesus, and we have a role, a responsibility of making disciples, and we eventually get to this point where years later we can maybe pass on some of the things that we've learned. I'm at that stage in my life now where I used to, you know, didn't think I was super old. Now I'm I'm pushing 40, and I have a lot of 20-year-olds and 18-year-olds that I get to encourage them in their walk with the Lord now and be like, hey, I don't have it all figured out. There are some 60, 70, 80 year olds that know way more than what I do, but here's what I've learned in the last few years of my faith walk, and I just want to I want to just kind of bring you along and share where I'm at, and hopefully that helps you in your walk. So, however that hit you today, I this is what kind of popped in my head is our job is to pass on our faith and to just to take that next step as we go and and don't get so overwhelmed by it. You're not gonna know at all, and that's the beauty as we just keep growing in our our walk with the Lord. Guys, I want to say thank you listening, thank you for listening to me ramble on this truck episode. Hopefully the background noise wasn't too bad. Hopefully, there's a couple little turkey nuggets there that you're able to fry up and they'll serve you well this year. And uh, whatever you do, go out, be safe, have fun, and remember to shed the light.