Ep. 101: Bear Grease [Render] - Mississippi Turkey Camp

In the spring, these woods are flooded in waves by legions of hunters that are cut from a different cloth, a breed born into an obsession otherwise never seen For those sacred few weeks of the year, their state of minds shifts seemingly overnight, carry themselves differently. They become difficult to get in touch with and eventually speak only when spoken to. Jobs are lost, relationships fade, and health becomes

an afterthought within the eyes of a turkey hunter. Beneath the stains of bloodshot that grow with every passing day, there is an inevitable restlessness building by the hour. Some are admired, some are hated. Neither of them care. They know the cost of this lifestyle are to be paid up front or due time and time again, and are exchanged for a single chance. But to them, to us, it's worth it. People know a real turkey hunter when they see one, and the book goes on, this is uh,

that was He's got a way with words. That was the first couple paragraphs of of of a book I've got in my hand to hear called the Ballad of a Turkey Hunter. Hunter. You guys know Hunter, Yeah, we both know him. He's a friend. Mississippi guy. Yeah, young guy, I am Mississippi or something. Our age, yeah, he's he's right around our age. Yeah yeah, our age yea. And Jordan's forty three, man, hey, yeah, he's our age. How old are you, guys? I'm thirty three, okay, thirty one.

I got a decade on you. Yeah. Man. So before this started, I was, well, let me introduce my guests. Got Lake Pickle, the famed, one and only, one and only Lake Pickle. It's great to have you, man. Slightly overstated, but yeah, yeah, he can't be the only person named that. And yeah, have you met another Lake Pickle? I've met another Lake I've met in my lifetime. I've met three other individuals named Lake, but never met another Lake Pickle. Would you have met the other guy's named Lake if

your name wasn't Lake? One of them? Yes, The other two were like, Hey, you got to meet this other person named Lake, And I was like, that's fair. Not too many dads named you Lake because after he was a bass fisherman. He was, he was and is an obsessed bass fisherman, and that's where the name Lake came from. Okay, my wife just yesterday said that she thinks Lake Pickle is the most unique name she's ever heard. Will I mean probably, I think I haven't met another one. I don't.

I don't know if I've told you this, but when we came down last year to meet you, I just assumed it was your Instagram name, And then when I met you in first I was like, oh that's he's Yeah, he took on his handle as his real name. Yeah, there was a there was a guy. Um oh you got answered? Answered, Hey, will that jer hanging from strap? Did you? Uh? He was well a little bit of both. He was hanging by that leather strap. Everybody, Will primost is just called Lake Pickle. Tell Will he's on the

Bear Grease podcast. Will You're currently on the Bear Grease podcast. We were recording and you called, so I answered, good, you can do that podcast. Okay, how could you have a podcast and Mississippi start any better than this? Will Primo show up in the midst of the podcast? Should we just shut it down down? Yeah? We're done this day, This is done. This day just keeps getting better. Why oh man? We so Lake Pickle, which we most people know like from the years that he worked at Primos,

and we'll talk about that a little bit later. Now you work for on X, I do. Yeah, it's been about a year. Yeah, because the first time you and I went Turkey on was right when I started that transition to on X. Yeah, so that's great. To your right is Isaac Neil Bear Grease, assistant to the regional producer, Isaac Neil. Good to have you, Isaac, glad to be here. Yeah. Man, we've had a heck of a twenty four hours. We

have not even twenty four hours. We have we have we have, so you're right, Jordan bliss it, yes, sir? How you doing? Man? Man, I'm wonderful. I couldn't be any better today. Actually, yeah, I mean I'm assuming people kind of get the gist of what's going on after Whal's conversation. Yeah, yeah, Now, Jordan, I would have known you from Primos two, which you don't work at premos now you tell tell me what you're doing now pretty much just doing real estate and I also help people

get healthy, so to doing two things at once. Yeah, but you you met Lake and that's where we would have I would have known your face and voices from some of the premos, like and I worked together at Promos for six years doing a true series there and traveled all over the place and this became best of buddies and and what's the name of the realty company Open Season Properties, and that that factors into where we are right now, right is kind of why. I mean,

while we have access to haunt this place. So what we do is we specialize in like recreation tracks, like developing, you name it. I mean, everything to do with the hunting land. We pretty much do it. And uh, like the place we're on right now is part of our brokerage and it's eventually going to be, you know, up for sale for somebody else looking for a recreation place Clay unless unless say what, let's go in four ways after this morning more in a couple millions claim squatters rights.

Can you describe the room that we're in right now, clay or the building where the So this this house that we're staying in is on the National Historic Register yea of historic Places. Yep, there's the site. There's a little plaque out there. And uh, so the house was built eighteen seventy, that's what it is say as established now. The actual house may have been built for that before they I don't know exactly the whole history on it us. No, it's been here for a minute. Yeah, it's an old

but beautiful, well taken care of house. This room that we're in is is it's all wood, all dark wood. I feel like it's probably pine that's been stained. It could be wrong, but it has very immaculate trim work, very unique immaculate trim work, even on the ceilings. And uh there's a there's an old fireplace. It's almost like a gingerbread house. Not that girly, but like that ornate. Yeah, there's just woodwork everywhere. Yeah, and a big big bookshelf,

Duck Decoy's Dear old Guns. Yes, it's a great Turkey camp. This was the man room, you know, this is in my mind. I imagined I can envision somebody sitting over on that couch smoking us a go are talking about yeah. Yeah. We were out here last week and we had never been inside this thing, and we were starting to put this hunt together for you to come down here. And I was like, Jordan, is that house even livable? He's like,

I don't know, ain't been inside. We walk inside and we see this big wooden room and all this stuff on the wall, and then there's a painting of a bear and her cubs running out of a cabin. And I was like, yeah, clayol like this place just fine. Yeah, oh it's it's incredible. And then that picture right there behind you got what's that too? Grizzly he's looking at a hunter's fisher fisherman okay out fly fishing. He's being wall There's some there's some classic art in this place too.

Really is it's pretty unique? All all across the board, to place, the ground, the house, all of it. Okay, I got a question. I'll start with you Lake and then I'll come back to you, Jordan. All of all the years working at Premost, traveling with Will and all the guys, what's what is? If you had one story to tell that would be most memorable story of traveling and hunting, let's just say with Will. Okay, what would it be? So this just the one that popped right

in my head. It was my first spring at Premos. And when I started at Premos, I started like right

at the beginning. So it was elk and deer season and waterfowl season first, and I was actually I started as like contract work, and I didn't know if I was gonna They were kind of keeping me on as a trial basis and like my whole goal because what kind of hooked me into watching Will and being a Premos fan growing up with spring turkeys, that was like everything, And so I was like, man, I hope they just liked me enough to keep me through at least one spring.

I just wanted to do one spring with Premos. And so you know, I made it through deer season and into January and they, the executive producer, John Gibson at the time, called me, was like, Hey, we'd love to use you through spring if you're interested. I was like, yeup. And so the end of spring, I really hadn't got to hunt with Will that much. At all, and they put together this hunt right around the first of maye

in New Mexico. There's gonna be me, Wilbur and Brad Ferris, if I remember correctly, And I got so excited because I remember watching from being like a you know, a kid growing up in central Mississippi. I would watch these videos of Will hunting these big, just majestic mountains and these big white fan Merriam turkeys, and it just was like it seemed just like almost fantasy like to me, like something that wasn't attainable. And they scheduled this trip and next thing I know, I'm in a truck with

Wilbur and Brad. We're driving out there, and we go out there the first morning and we get in some turkeys and I'm just hearing these Merriams. I mean, we all know how Mariam sounding. Those mountains just oh blah blahlah blah, just echoing the cross and I'm just completely

lost in the moment. And I think it was the second day that we ended up killing one, but it was I'm gonna say early afternoon, probably like two o'clock we spotted this turkey he was in and uh, he was actually in an old like a like a wildfire had come through that place from a strike of lightning, and so he was in that old burn and we circle around, we'd get up above him yelp, and the turkey gobbles immediately and we scramble and we sit down

and classic Wilbur's he's shooting like this old side by side shotgun with hammers on it, you know, just Wilbur loves his old school stuff. But the turkey answers and immediately immediately starts coming. And I just see this white fan break and there's this big, beautiful mountains behind him in the background, and I just remember being just completely

lost in the moment. Turkey comes in, gets to twenty yards, Wilbur shoots him, and he goes out there, he gets the turkey, and he's, you know, standing there looking at Will and Brad and I'm video and and I just remember just having this surreal moment of like, how in the world did I end up here? You know, how did I end up in mountains with Will Primos and Brad Ferris. I just felt like I didn't I didn't know how I got there. I didn't feel like I

deserved to be there. It was just all these mix of emotions and we get through video and and I'll I'll never forget it. We're standing no I hear record, No no, no, no, no, no no, It's is a little bit more I guess, uh, heart string pulling than that. We're staying like we're standing there and and we're done filming everything, and Will says, wait a minute, and I was like, what he said, We're gonna give thanks before we leave right here. So Wilber laid that turkey down.

Me and Brad and Will stood in the circle, took our hats off and prayed right there. And as I'm not I'm not not emotional, but I'm not necessarily an emotional person. But I don't know, it's just like I got just welled up because I just the moment was too much for me, you know. But he sat there, it was like, we gotta give thanks, and he said a prayer and then back down the mountain we went, that's awesome. That's awesome. And that wasn't on film, No,

it was not. I mean, that wasn't That wasn't an act. No, that was just Will being Will Will being Will. Yeah. Man, Yeah, that's that's a good one. That's a good one, Jordan, what about you? Most memorable thing, man, I'm open for like a train wreck story. No, I mean this one was so good. This was this was enough like meat on the bone sentiment, a heart felt, like spiritual son. The first thing that came to my mind was a

turkey hunt. Wheel Or we had a county south of here, probably forty five minutes south where we're at right now, and uh will call me. It was a week day. He called me afternoon before because he knew I'd been chasing some turkeys out there on the National Force. He's like, hey, if you got time in the morning, gonna go with me and we'll try to film a hunt. I got permission to hunt his place over here in Madison County. Like, hey, yeah,

let's go. And uh it was my first spring. That was my second spring at promos and uh, man, I hadn't got to actually sit and hunt with Wheel, just like one on one. Usually a group deal, three or four of us going and like this this was it was pressure like trying to video, but at the same time, it wasn't like we were two states away and trying to under under like a deadline. And we get out there that morning, and he had been hunting these turkeys a couple of days by himself, and he was like, man,

I think I got him somewhat figured out. We all to try to video it, and we get in here is just beautiful hardwood and big old growth pine stand. I mean, lake's been on the place and this is gorgeous. Timor on me, it looks like a park. And we'll get in there that morning, and didn't here the turkeys

where he thought they'd be. So we just go to start, you know, walking around and prospecting a little bit, and finally get about a quarter a mile half mile where he thought they should be, and we yelp and one answers us, all right, well we get closer to him and get in a spot where we think we can yelp him up without him seeing us. We didn't have any decoys particular morning, so we were just like us in the turkey, right and uh, this turkey man. It

went on for two hours. He was standing in his ground, we were standing ours. We did him silent treatment on him, got aggressive with him, yelping, and he never would break and finally uh he uh, we just said, okay, we're gonna go quiet for thirty minutes, which is hard for me and Will because we're like yelping, especially yes and uh. Every time he reached down there, he told me, he's like, hey,

don't let me yelp. And he told me to look at my clock on my phone, like, okay, it's I don't remember what time was this, so it's like it's like nine o'clock, I said. He said, look at time, what time is it? I was like, it's you know, nine o'clock. All right, we aren't you up until nine thirty. And uh, anyway, this it worked if Gobbler finally like cut some distance on us and gobbled, and after that we answered him and he got fired up and started coming.

Then he went quiet on us. And it's just like that anticipation part of it. And we're looking up this ridge expecting him to come down his finger to us and he can shoot the top of it if he comes over. It looks down so to kind of paint a picture of what the scenario is, and there's another finger, Like we're sitting on side of a bowl. There's another finger comes down to our left and we're sitting there.

I mean, wheels, guy's going up We're both like, just scanning everywhere, just expecting this thing to pop up any second, and to our left, we're here. It was a gobbler yelping and he comes running down his heel yelping at us instead of gobbling. The first time I'd ever seen that. I've heard about it, but usually expect the gobbler to fire off and be goblin. But he's yelping looking for

the hen. And anyway, Turkey comes down there and Wilbur shoots him, and the excitement that I got to witness that morning in the Passion, there's a we used the quote that he had that morning and so many videos since then. It's a sound bite, and I don't remember exactly how it went, but if you've listened to any of the truth Open Ends on the YouTube channel that you've heard, we'll talk about what he said that morning.

But the biggest thing that stood out to me and well forever be remembered is he, uh, after he said thanks the Lord for it happened in that morning, he was like, man, I sure do love this, and I was like, I do too, will Bred and we just sat there and talked about that turkey for thirty minutes afterwards. And this one of those deals growing up in the South. I mean, Will promos might as well be Elvis to

a turkey hunter, you know. Yeah, sitting there with him talking about that hunt, and that's one of those deals I'll never forget, just like I've made it. Yeah, my dreams have came true right here. Yeah, got to yelp at a turkey wheel and we killed him and just celebrated it. Yeah, So that was one of stuck out

to me. It is something to see with Wilburt like it, because I mean, think about how much he's turkey hunted since he starts, especially since he started doing the video stuff and Jordan like nothing about what Jordan said was embellish. There's been times we'll be hunting around here and we'd be going all day, walk however many miles and we finally hear a turkey and Wilburt just turns into a different human being, just gets giddy. He just gets so excited.

And it's to see someone like that just get that fired up. It's contagious. Yeah. Yeah, well, you know the thing about and I've not spent a lot of time around Will, but I did get to hunt with him. Last spring with you Lake, and everybody's always wondering, Well, I wondered what he's like off camera? You know, people ask that about people that they know from media some way, and they're like, well, but what's he like when nobody's around? And Will Primos? I like, Will Primos better off camera

than on camera. I mean, he's just a passionate, genuine, caring guy that just just is not We talked about this last night. Is not concerned with fame, like it really. You hear people say stuff like that and you're kind of like, really, but I saw it. I have a couple of stories that it's like he was he was not interested in being famous, and uh, and that's why. That's why he's so authentic. But he he is uniquely

passionate about life and not just about turkeys. That's what I saw behind the scenes with Will Primos's He's a he's a passionate businessman. He's he's passionate about just anything he's doing, hyper passionate about it. Isaac, what's your favorite Will Primo's story? Well, I have very few of them. No. We we came down and recorded that podcast with him last year, and that was just about the only interaction I've had other than I saw him this year at

NWTF and he was making tracks. Well, he made an impression on me and you when we were here for that podcast, we talked about him the whole ELM. Yeah, that guy. He just has such a galvanizing personality, like you just want to be on his team and pull the pull in the same direction as him. Yeah, it's

it's truly remarkable. And these guys have told us both this morning and how how much Will has helped them to to Will's detriment, like he's not He's not just trying to get a bunch of people, yeah, doing stuff that He's been one of those people that come into your life and just a positive influence. It wants to

help you, genuinely wants you to win. Yeah, this is a like super short story about Will, but it's a like a just to chose his character now he only had one Oh yeah, he calls me one morning during the summer night hunting season. He calls me on Saturday and he says, Hey, I guess some stuff going on at going on the house. Can you come help me?

And this was not abnormal as like sure, yes, all right, there knock on his door, expecting we're doing something in his garden or in his barn, and he's just he says, hey, come inside. I'm like okay. He says, you want any coffee. I'm like, uh sure, And he's like, all right, go in my office, just sit down. At this point, I'm like, what are we doing? You know about? Yeah? Am I? Am? I good? Like? Am I in trouble? But I go

in there, his office, him sitting there, his coffee. He walks in, He sits down the chair across from me, and he says, hey, man, he's at the office this week, and I could tell something was bothering you. I don't know if it's work, I don't know if it's personal. But me and you, we're gonna sit in here. We're gonna talk about it till we figure it out because I don't like seeing you that way. It's just wilbur m Wow, So what happened? We want the deets? Man? Man,

I'm kidding. No, that's that's that's a great story. It's pretty Yeah, that's a pretty remarkable experience to have with a boss. Yeah, yeah, it really is. It really is. Well, so we're right in the middle of every year on

Bear Grease. At this time year we focus on turkeys, and so we've now had two Turkey Stories podcasts, and I love those because you just get to hear I love hearing people tell stories, people that are passionate about what they're doing, that are really knowledgeable, and because you you, everybody that tells the story is gonna do something different. The way they the way they saw things happen, the way what they emphasize, what they don't emphasize is always

so interesting to me. But now you listen to that first one, was there a story that stood out to you on that one? Or you just thought it was funny or you thought it was good. Probably the guy was I can't remember the man's name, but he was telling the story about the turkey coming in and he crawled up on the knoll and all he could see was the top of his fan. That. I like that. And then they he has a video, he said he had a video of a turkey goblin in his food

was touching his boot. Oh okay, that was in the render that Steve Phillips. Yeah, he was hunting with his with a with a maybe his grandson. Yeah, he was up above and he could see this turkey so good, but there's a little mound of dirt and his little boy couldn't see the turkey. All he could see the top of the fans. So when he shoots, you know, Steve said the turkey was like just like six or seven feet and it was a different turkey that stepped on his foot. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I need to

get that video from him. That's I was hoping that. When I heard that, I was like, man, I hope they got that video. Yeah, yeah, probably you're right. The one on the actual Turkey Stories podcast, the one where the he was listening to his granddad and he kept calling his grand That was cool. Yeah, his granddad is Steve, the guy who well that was Yeah, it's all the same, all the same vein there. Yeah. But well let's tell

let's tell our story. So we came down here, Isaac and I came down kind of last minute deal and we were gonna hunt two days in Mississippi, but it turns out we only needed one. When you got need, we only needed a couple of hours. Yeah. So it's uh, today is March thirtieth, yep, last day in March, and uh they're thirty one days in March. Yeah, today the thirty first, Yeah, tomorrow is hang, I got a consultant today. It's the thirtieth to a couple of days till April first.

Mississippi is very green right now, very much. Turkeys are really starting to gobble good. I think I sat in a good patch of poison ivy this morning, probably did a little bit about the spring man. This came early our spring. It started greening up here in February, which is apt normal usually right now it's starting. I like, oh, trees are starting blossom and we're having a little small small leaves on them, and they're full full fold. Did

we pass a field with corn sprouting in it yesterday? Yeah, we passed the field yesterday with probably five or six inches tall. Yeah, it's morning that have been planning. They started playing corn this year. Like mid February. Everything feels in the woods. Everything feels about two weeks ahead. Okay for sure. I see up in in northwest Arkansas, I would say we're relatively on track. Like it is not

leaf out yet. The red butt, the red buds have popped some of the faster blooming trees, the maples, and some of those have have are starting to put out leaves, but the oaks are holding tight, so it's still still about right up there. We're probably a little early, but it's it's set up. It's been a fantastic couple of weeks. So it's Missippi Open of Turkey stating usually it's kind of slow, you know, end up super bad, like hard to deal with. Turkeys don't gob a whole lot. But

it's been lights out since open. You told me how many days you've hunted and how many turkeys you've seen killed this year? That's not normal? Okay, yeah, well will you tell me how many think this morning? It's either nineteen or twenty days. We started early marching are and I've been going on just about every day since then, and uh excluding the travel days, and uh yeah, it's been I think best I can remember. I've seen thirteen turkeys get shot at m since uh since marks the

eighth or ninth, so it's been pretty stout. Like you, this is this would have been Dave. I think George has got a few days and a few turkeys on me. I think this is day fifteen or sixteen, and this is the eleventh turkey I've seen getting shot with that's incredible. Man. Yeah, it's been a it's been a very good spring. Which one y'all wants to tell this story or you know, get it started? Uh? Well I get so it starts

yesterday because I was out I came out here yesterday evening. Um, you know, prior, I was like, man, if I can get a roost gobble like find something the evening, awesome, you know I And granted I typically don't have the best of luck getting them to gobble on a limb in the evening, but I was going to be out here, so I was like, I might as well try. And Jordan was up on another piece of the property scouting around, and uh, I walked in about where we walked in

this morning. And it was originally going to go up higher on the Why I call it a hill. You probably don't call it the hill people out there. It's not a hill. It's not even remotely what do you call it. I mean it would be a just a like a like a slight incline. Well, I was going to go up higher on the slight incline and I said, man,

I better check make sure I don't bump anything. And I just out a single note and he gobbled and I was like, there's no way, And that ended up being not to to prep you know that the set of turkeys we set between this morning, it was the single turkey up the sliding, so only one of them. So this morning, well, where you were last night you'd heard one gobble on the roost, we sat in there this morning and I'm not trying to rush your story.

I'm trying to I'm trying to make a connection between how many might gobble on the roosts versus how many are actually there? Right, Yeah, And I, Jordan, I talked about that because again we have hunted this property previously, and we knew there was a lot more than one just one time though, yes, but there was a lot of turkeys, and I was and so I was like, man, I heard one, answer me, but the chances are there's

more than that in there. And then sure enough, like right when we got in there, we heard all of them. And what we had was one single gobbler over here, and then down by the drain there was three or four wadded together still and the game plan this morning was to try to get down by the creek and basically situate ourselves in between the two turkeys, thinking they would converge at some point. Yeah, yeah, was the original game play. Did they converge? They indeed did not Convergeiza,

I'm glad you asked that. It would have been too easy if they did, you know. So we so we get out there, you know, right at gobbling time. We may not have heard us first. Gobble. Maybe maybe he got before we got there. I think it was a little when we walked outside and there was light in the sky. I was like, oh shoot, but it wasn't a big deal. We were there way before flydown time. Al maybe on the second owl we heard him. Gobble

moved into probably one hundred and fifty yards of the turkey. Yeah, we're kind of in between these two groups of turkeys, and and then what happened. We went to battle. Let's right, that's right. We started, I mean we started kind of. Yeah, when we thought it was like right on the verge of flight down time, we decided to let them know that we were there, you know, just yelp a little bit um and they were keen to answer us at first, but Jordan like, tell me if I'm wrong. The way

of turkeys like pretty pretty quickly. I was like, if they're gonna come our direction, and it's not gonna be anytime quick, Like they were very obviously keen with whatever they had going on. Yeah, and from hunting in here last week, we pretty sure everybody's got hens over there, because it was a pile of hens in there last

week when we hunted. And uh, my theory on the way when I started yelping and why I did it when I did it was hey, the first hand on the ground kind of what this many this much competition? You may get an early looker come in there, you know, thinking okay, I'm and go meet Betty over here earlier, and everybody else is so yeah, I saw I started yelping. I did a fly down, like multiple turkeys flying down and just trying to paint a picture of that. God,

they're sitting up on the ridge. It's like, man, I didn't know them hens were down there last night, but apparently they are. I'm hearing them fly down, hearing them yell. And Jordan had a had a wing, like real real turn wing, or at least it was real turkey feathers. Yeah, that's a gobbler. I actually cut it down so it doesn't make a big gobbler of promotion. That's that's small. So it sounds like yeah, so he and then did the fly down cackle. That was you that did that.

We are well, Jordan and I, we've hunted together enough. It was like it was like a symphony. We kind of well, it's like we can be like we've just been spent so much time together in the woods, like we can be separated fifteen yards and just be looking at each other's eyes through our mask and kind of

know what the other one's thinking. And so yeah, like he was flying down, I was, but again, like what George said, like trying to there's obviously a lot of excitement going on already because there's multiple turkeys, and it's like if you try to make it seem like there's you know, a couple of different hens flying down, then

they may drift over. But that didn't happen. Yeah, So we sat there for probably thirty plus minutes really probably yeah, probably thirty maybe forty minutes, and a bird kind of acted like he was gonna come our way, but then just never just never materialized. We still heard these birds slower around. At one point yeah. The single Turkey show started showing some interest and we thought he may come come our direction, but he didn't. Didn't. Yeah, and then

so we move. We we make a move across the creek, Jordan. When he gets across the creek, let's off a very aggressive, really good sounding out hoot. Let us hear your out? Will you out for us? And I don't want to break your speakers. Man, it doesn't it doesn't matter. Hold on, we'll get another one. He don't turn it down right now. I loved it. I love a good out hoot. Let's hear it one note or the whole? Who cooks for you? Yeah? Yeah, give it to us, give us the whole. There we go, beautiful.

If you were from Mississippi, there's a real good chance that you're a good mouth out hooter. It's just the truth. That's this. That was I could not do it forever, and I kept trying and trying to trying because I felt like I was incompetent. If I couldn't do it, my voice Like you go around with these guys at our Turkey hunters, They're like, what you got that out

hooter for? I want quick side note? You know who Paul Busky is no So Paul Busky is like a legendary turkey call or hunter from back in the eighties and nineties. He won all kinds of world championship yelping contest. And we're in Alabama. This has been nineteen years ago. I was filming him for a Mossy Oak show and I had this little hoot too, made by Primos, and we were hunting these turkeys and Paul won like hooting contest too, and I'll still rub this into his face

every time I see him. We were doing the same and overworth this morning. Like turkeys would gobble at a hoot every once in a while and then they finally quit and Paul is getting aggravated. They won't want quick goblin. I was like, Paul, let me try this little hooter thing. I'm telling you. They answer it, and I mean it sounds terrible. It's like who and turkeys gobbled at it, and uh, He's like, you gotta learn how to do that with you avoid. I was like, Paul, they gobbled

at it. Yeah, what where did the breakthrough come from? I just kept trying this cosseverance. I finally figured you were an adult. When he's learned to do it. Yeah, I was pretty much induld when I started on set out hooter. Well, I was pretty much an adult when I started turkey hunting period. Oh really Yeah, So I didn't grow up in a turkey hunting family or around the culture. I knew people that did it, but they weren't gonna take you. I mean, I keep it to

their self, you know. And uh, I just started showing interest and it kind of self taught slash getting to go around with a lot of good people when I started in the film industry outdoors. That's that's what really about put fuel on my fire with turkey hunting is getting to go with really good turkey hunters. Yeah. So we the creek, you al one note al And they answered close or you know, within one hundred and twenty yards probably we'd kind of moved in on this bunch

down by the creek. They answered, we sit down. We we feel like it's gonna be money. Um and uh, you know that situation was interesting to me because it's it's something you always have to deal with. But when you're setting up on a turkey, you're there's some things that are chosen for you and other things you get to choose. The thing chosen for you is where it happens. And in that situation, they were probably a little closer

than we thought they were gonna be. And we couldn't go backwards because the creek was right behind us and we didn't want to try to call them across the creek. So I mean, it's like, we're gonna sit down right and you're gonna sit right here. Yeah, And so when we sat down, about thirty five yards out in front of me was a very big hardwood of some variety

that that had fallen down, making a major obstacle. It had binds on it and brush growing up through it, and it was like probably twenty yards long of obstacle that I felt like it was for sure gonna make the turkeys if they came to us, go around the end of that thing. But I also knew Lake Pickle that if I anticipated them coming around the end of that, but they probably wouldn't. And it's and I was sitting

there thinking what is this thing gonna do? Because it's so obvious that if this turkey's gonna show up, he's gonna be right there. And I was like, he's gonna do something like he's gonna jump up on that law gonna come, or he's gonna come through the cane thick, you know, the cane thicket on the creek right behind us, which is like turkeys don't do that. But when you're set up, you're thinking that's what I'm always thinking. Oh yeah,

I'm like, I think he's coming right there. He's not, even though he's gobbling that way, everything's pointing he's gonna come that way. And the bird at one point I felt like he came maybe thirty yards closer than he was originally, which when you're inside of like one hundred and fifty yards, that that amount of movement makes it that you can hear it. You know, it's like, oh, he's coming closer. And to me inside of turkey hunting, that is the most exciting part of it, probably even

more than pulling the trigger. When a bird is in range and you're pulling the trigger, to me, it's like almost panic. It's not it's not necessarily fun, it's almost panic. Yeah,

it's stressful. It's a stressful to me. The excitement when my heart starts to pound and I get pumped is when I hear one and then you sit there for three or four minutes and c and then the next time, I mean, he's like you just know he's just about to be there, and you're scanning, scanning, scanning, and then when you're half deaf like me and you can't really tell which direction they're coming from, you're scanning from as far as you can see this way to as far

as you can see that way without moving your head, and then all of a sudden you catch that flicker of movement, which is usually their head. I would say most of the time you see that, you see that, you see that head just kind of bopping around, and that's when I But but after that, to me, it's like, oh, it's like why am I even a turkey hunter? What I could have been at home sipping coffee with mister.

It's like, why am I doing this? And then you know, hopefully it works out and you shoot it and it's fine. So which which way did he come? So the turkey didn't come any anyway through he didn't show up, but he came a little bit closer. Yeah, and then Jordan had a good move. I like, I learned stuff every time I'm hunting with good turkey hunters. I mean, I'm really paying attention to what someone else does and comparing it to what I would do, because in any situation,

you have an instinct of what to do. Yeah, and I'm aware of my instinct. But I knew, you know, these guys are I was gonna do? These guys where the masters? Well, what did you want to do? Well, Lake, I'm not gonna tell you what I wanted to do. I just thought I didn't have much of a chance to think about it before Jordan said, Hey, we're gonna we're gonna circle way around these turkeys and come in

from the complete other side. Well. The reason I ask is, like, the most common mistake that you see made often is like a turkey hunter just goes what you know, you

gotta move, like, well, let's just go to them. You just no matter what the topography or the timber is, like, it's just the move is to make a move pretty much going right at them, Yeah, which sometimes can work, but you got some covers or something, yeah, or you know, even if you're aware that you can't get that close, you end up moving like fifty yards and you're essentially in the same position you were before you moved, and so you gotta do something to put the odds more

in your favor. I would say that that is probably that is a really great hip for people. I think is is it's like you're you're trying to solve a problem. You come at it from this way, doesn't work. We'll come at it from a completely different way. See if it works. Go at it from this way, see if it works. So, in my mind, the way we were set up, like we'd been yelping a toast turkeys from that direction for an hour and a half. Yep, they have not moved closer to them. They still haven't broke.

So I'm like, Okay, they obviously do not want to come this way. So whether you moved forty one hundred yards closer, they're not wanting to come that direction. So come in from another side. They're drifting, They're wanting to drift that way. It sounds like anyway, So just like I talked about earlier, if you get where they want

to be, it's a whole lot easier to kill them. Yeah. Yeah, And so so we dropped way away from the turkeys, circled around so we didn't spook them because I think that's something that we do as well as you'll you'll spook birds while you're moving around on them, just thinking

for sure that you're you're safe well. And another thing is it's like a you can it's easy to get complacent or lazy because we could have cut a lot more distance, a lot quicker had we made a less drastic move, Like the move that we made was excessive for the amount for the spot we need to get to. But we walked out on the other side of that ridge where we're like, there's no way of slight incline. We got up on the other side of that slight incline where there's no way in the world they were

going to spot us, and then closed in. Yeah, which makes for more makes for more walking around, but I mean it's we made an exaggerated move to make sure we didn't bump the turkeys came in from the other side.

And the one thing that was great about to set up this morning, which I like about that property is this there's a huge just cattle pasture that borders the whole what the west side of it, and so it's a big block of woods with a huge cattle pasture on one side, of it, and you know, they're going to use that cattle pasture, and we couldn't hunt that cattle pasture. That wasn't our land, so we could just

hunt in the timber. And but you know, most likely those turkeys aren't gonna cross a half a mile through that open field and go somewhere else. If it had all been timber, if that had been a timbered if it had just been a boundary through a big, huge block of timber, I mean, they might have just kept drifting. But I felt like that field was kind of a a boundary of Yeah, man, they they I don't. The whole flock of turkeys are not just gonna vacate the

woods unless you run them out of there. They'll call that home, you know. Yeah, yeah, um, as we made that approach, I would love an explanation of what happened. Uh, you guys heard them at one point, and I didn't hear them the next time. I heard them, but they sounded far off, and we were doing little increments where we'd stop, call listen, edge forward, and we were we were Alan and crow, and we weren't. We weren't yelping at them. We're just trying to get them to call

their own. Yeah, because once we made the big move those turkey, he said that heard zero Ye opening from that direction at all, which is our benefit. Long as they'll start keep gobbling, I'd rather not yelp at him till you really said that treat absolutely, because the second you start hitting, you open, then you got to start thinking. Then you you don't have the luxury of all right, where's can we set up? They like, if they're gobbling out an hour or a crow, you're like, take all

the time, you won't, you know, figure it out. So this factors into what I was wondering about. Is we hear him, and then we make a little bit of move and then they sound much closer. I say, a little foothill over slight closet. It's the slight incline. Okay, that explains everything. I think they had moved a little closer though, don't you touch? But no, really was that's just kind of going over that break. They stay within

the same fifty yard circle for two hours. I'd say, were they were they in a like a creek bed or a depression or a bottom? Yeah, just just yep, just a hardbottle like one of those deep sighted money, I think sometimes too. To answer your question about how a turkey might sound closer, yeah, I mean Andy Brown said it the other day on the Render podcast. He said, I like it when people can pull out nuance from

something that's like very not visible. And Andy said he was on this big ridge calling and there was a big holler in front of him, and on the other ridge a turkey was goblin. And he said he could tell it was goblin the opposite way of him, and and and he knew there was no way that this turkey was coming to him, and so he just took a chance and started getting fairly aggressive on the roost with this turkey. Yeah, which is something he wouldn't have done,

but it was just a turkey that was out of play. Yeah. And he said he could tell that turkey turned around on the limb and started gobbling his direction just because it just got loud. Yeah, you know, just and and and then the turkey. I'm telling the story that he told on the riter. The turkey flies across that valley

and lands like right in his lap kills. But no, so yeah, sometimes just a little less ye make this big long loop and I'm not hearing much, but I don't hear great anyway, and then at the very end it gets pretty exciting. And then at the very end it gets find a tree right now, there's a thicket right there. Go And it didn't it didn't slow down much from there. Yeah. Yeah, so we so we come totally from the opposite direction. Move in jordanals they answer,

we know where they're at. And when they first gobbled, we actually backed up about twenty yards, got set up in a little thicket. I did notice that you guys are are pretty keen on final a lot of cover. You have to because it's it's like cover in shade, cover in shade is everything. Because that's why we backed up, because like everything in front of us, because we couldn't gain a whole lot of ground before we started getting

too close without them spotting us. Yeah, and it's like everything immediately in front of us was highlighted in the sun. So as they turn around, look for something thick, look for something shady. Yeah, because you put you stack the odd like Turkey is Turkey in is a game of like putting small successes in your favor to finally get the grand result incremental gains. Yes, and my main thing you have to remember when you decide you're gonna yelp at a turkey is when he's coming. If he does

decide to come, he's looking for that hen. So he is the more obstacles he asked to guess about where she's at, the better because they keeps him looking, keeps him moving step by a step closer and closer, because I can't tell you how many times and these big open bottoms now here turkey comes eighty yards and he doesn't calm a step closer because he can see everything. Yeah yeah, he's waiting if you want him to come looking yeah yeah. And that's also the reason you gotta

be hyper still, hyper still. That's the reason why we had the luxury, because we had enough folks Jordan could drop back further so because I mean, because that like to Jordan's point, like the same reason if if if I was doing the primary yelping, if you noticed, like when we made that set, I didn't yelp one time because I was like, I don't they were close enough and we were on a good setup enough. It's like if I go to yelping, those turkeys are gonna be look,

you know where where they at. Why why am I not seeing a hen out there? I can hear a hen right there, I can see right there. I'm out of here. That's why I was like Jordan, being seventy yards back is what we need because they'll come through us. Yeah, that far behind us, fifty ordy probably. But the reason it took me a manute to get set down. I looked at two or three different trees back there to sit by, And the one reason I picked the one I did is because it was stick right behind me

and to my left. Also, that little foothill fell off, just fell off just enough for where I'm at a turkey's level, like not standing up. But if I'm a hen's height, I can't see but about forty yards. So a gobbler approaching well from a yelpen coming from he has to get to forty yards to be able to see where the yelpings coming from. Yeah, so that was kind of the reason I decided to sit behind y'all on a little bit over your left shoulder. If so, he'd had to be in gun range to see where

I was yelping from. Man and it and so it ends up working great because the turkeys had gobbled at the at an owl. We get set up, and we get set up facing north right the fields on our left side. I'm twenty five yards from the field edge. Ye, I can see into the field, but you know, we're not thinking the feet the field is the worst case scenario here. We can't shoot over there because we can't

shoot over there. And if a bird gets in that field and starts strutting to him that he thinks is in the woods and it's gonna come out to him, That's what I was thinking. You know, if he's out there, we're in trouble. Because we were I mean, we said it. We were walking up, like he said, we didn't think that they would get in that field and just leave.

But you look at it and you're like, they're using that field at some point, Like turkeys are definitely using that feeling big about themselves in that field for sure. And so two times the turkey gobbles while we were setting down. I felt like he answered you, Jordan, and he was getting closer, but then he kind of you know, like they like they'll do the last one hundred yards.

I would say, he didn't gobble even when you did yelp and so you know, every time that happens, you think, Okay, this this is the start of when this story fades into us not killing the turkey, or or this is the this is the beginning of the end in a good way, because you know, once they come into a certain times sometimes turkeys will just gobble their heads off

all the way in. But then sometimes when they come in, they they after a certain point they're like, see he in my mind he had gobbled like we had, so we had the wad of turkey still, but there was very there was audibly one. At the time. I was like, one is broken off because one's gobbling significantly closer, and he was. He was answering Jordan differently and that, and when he went quiet, I started scanning like crazy because I'm like, he's something's happening, He's moving like something. I

just constantly just scanning back and forth. Yeah, which in which I did. Finally, I it was the turkey that I saw, but I could not confirm that until you were like, I see him, you know, uh, in a spot where he didn't really need to be, but he was there. Yeah, So how do how do you how do you make the approach? Well, he goes into the field like the best case scenario. Yeah, exactly what you wanted. Well, when I so, I saw him, I mean twenty yards

out into the field, coming towards us. But I immediately think this is done, or you know, he's gonna he's gonna come in to the edge of the field, gonna want us to come, want the hen to come to him. He's gonna be strutting out there and eventually and there's there's a very distinct boundary. We knew exactly where it was, we felt, I mean, it wasn't like a guess where the boundary line was. And uh. And he's walking I say, see the turkey, and I think he's gonna walk right

on past us and uh. And when he gets even with us, Lake Pickle is right beside me and he starts moving around making racket back there and I and I go, don't move this. I can't. I can't see him. I just hear leaves moving. Lake is Lake is making

hen noises with his hand. Scolded. Blake was talking about us hunting together so much and kind of being able to do things without talking, like he knew I was in a buying I couldn't yelp from where I was at, because the turkey would have definitely came up out of bound. It just it just takes Like again, Jordan and I are very fortunate to have spent as much time hunting spring turkeys as we have. And I just knew because you know, I caught a glimpse of him coming up

that fence. And to describe how we were sitting, So if Clay's sitting on this tree and his gun is facing twelve o'clock, then I'm sitting on the same tree and I'm facing three o'clock. So I'm facing opposite the field, and I see what's happening. The turkey's walking that field edge and he's bee lining to where George's helping from. And at that point, if Jordan continues to yelp, it does us no good. That's why Jordan's in a buying

It draws the past us. And so I said, I have to do something to bring his attention our way. And I didn't want to yell because he was too close, you know, as like if he if I yelped, I thought he would just foom and just zero right into us. Yeah, And so I and I knew because of the way I was sitting. I had that giant tree between me and the turkey, and I could move, and so I just and rake the leaves, and Clay thinks, I don't

know what good play. Just thought I was moving plays like stay still for some reason, well, because where I was at, I didn't think. I didn't know if you could see the turkey. And you know how it is when you're watching an animal and you're with another person and they don't see it, but you're like, I'm like, oh, he's looking right at us, man, Yeah, and lakes back there, and I just assumed you were talking to me on

the way down here. I was talking to my buddy Drew, and we were just he was just, you know, giving me the giving me the pep talk of like he knows that I'm like the most fidgety guy. I can't sit still at all. And he's like, just sit still,

just don't move, just don't do that. Yeah, And so I'm like this is running through my head and I'm like feeling pretty good, but also nervous because I'm in between you and the turkey, right it sort of yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm further south, but I'm closer to Turkey than you safe shot. But like I'm just leaned out here trying to be so still, and I hear don't move, and I'm like, I can't not move anymore, Like I'm already not moving. I'm so still right now, just not even aware. Yeah,

so it was me that was Yeah. I was willing doing the moving, and Buddy, it worked, it did. I had lost sight of the turkey when out like I knew, because I wanted to wait until I knew that tree blocked me. So right when he went behind that tree is when I raked, And did anybody see this happen? I actually think he was like like scratching his leg or something, just shuffled the leaves a little bit on accident, and now he's the hero of the story. Such a

turkey Jedi. Its sounded like somebody going just gotta moving around back here. What's the phrase? It's not done if it works. But I heard I heard lake. Wait, he's facing towards us, he's walking her direction. I was like, oh, we may be into something. Yeah, well so yeah, so the turkey basically does a ninety degree turn. He's parallel

on the edge of this field twenty yards into the field. Yeah, And when he gets dead even with us, and Lake starts moving around back there, the turkey just does a ninety degree turn and I think he sees he sees our single hend decoy sitting out there. You could see him just he just perked up periscoped and he saw it in the woods and and he just starts moving

towards us. And so there's a barb wire fence. He's got a cross and I mean, as soon as he crosses that fence, he's one percent legal beagle, fair game for us to shoot. I can't really tell where that barbed wire fence is. I see these random pine treated posts, you know, randomly through there, but it's hard to see. And he's got fences like yeah, and he's got his

head down most of the time. And like you like you think if a turkey crossing under fence and just be real obvious going from a field, crossing the fence, going into the woods, just the way he was moving. And I'm watching him and I'm hyper fixated on I cannot shoot that turkey on the other side of the fence, you know, yeah, And and uh, and I whispered a

Lake something like he's got a cross that fence. Yeah, and and and you said, as soon as he crosses that fence, shooting, and uh, he crosses the fence and actually was like a solid twenty feet on our side of the fence. Yeah, because we let him come even further in. Well, and I still, honestly, Lake said, Clay, he's one hundred percent on our side of the fence. And I was looking at a some kind of a stob or something out there that looked like a fence post to me, and I was still just like, yeah,

are we sure? And then I see barbed wire sparkling back behind them, and you know, I'm like, okay, yeah, Lake says one hundred percent. Yeah, but I hesitated, And I mean the turkey was inside of twenty five yards. You know, I want to know what was going through my head while this is that? What's that when I seen the turkey because I was countably not on the fence rails, but I was close to the fence. Yeah, were else ten yards off of it and a brush pile, and uh, I see the turkey due the ninety and

start coming towards y'all. I was like, I hope they see this thing. And then when he comes out of the fence and start keeps on walking like he's to my right. So he's like twenty yards inside to our property. At this point, I'm like, they ain't seen this day turkey. I was like, what I told Clay after is I was like, I watched him kind of dip, like suddenly go under the fence. But I was like, if he's gonna keep coming, I'm gonna make triple sure he's where

he needs to be. And once he cats like, yeah, we're good. While sitting there back, they bound to be looking out in front of you don't know that. Jordan starts going, there's a turkey. Turkey. Uh and you know, so the turkey's we didn't step it off, but I mean he was probably twenty three yards. I don't know he was close. He's close. Turkey goes down and uh and it was a big turkey eleven and a half

inch beard yep. One of the spurs was I'm gonna call it an inch yeah, and it's a great Mississippi turkey. Oh yeah, my first Mississippi long beard. I don't call much finer. And that these parts, yeah, big old, big old thick beard on that turkey. Yeah, which it was a heck of an experience. And what we thought, I mean, and who knows this is mine and Jordan's redneck math.

But we were looking and we were like, man, I think because we could still like in the midst of all that we heard that way a turkey's gobble against still in the bottom. I think that was that single turkey that we that we heard off by himself when we broke day. That's that's the assumption. And he's just hanging around the outskirts that flock because and my other brothers in there have done probably knocked him out of it, and he's kind of hanging around trying to get the

sloppy sloppy seconds on my outskirts. And what's that was? Was not tense? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, well it was a it was a it was a great hunt. It's a great one day in Mississippi. Yeah. One point. I mean you can't that's what you want, like as a turkey hunter, I mean, killing him off the roost is great. I take it every every time I get the opportunity. But to get on him at daylight and then have to maneuver two three times and him gobbling like that,

and that's that's a turkey hunt. I mean it's everything. Yeah, well, um, anything any closing thoughts, like I am very happy because you came down here last spring with me and Wilbur and it we had like three days of monsoon weather and had to send you on without one, and so I was feeling the pressure a little bit, like, man, I want to get Clay a turkey. So I'm very very happy at how this panned out. Yeah, well, it

was a ton of fun, Jordan. Closing thoughts. Man, I'm just glad to get to meet you all fine fellas, and I had a lot of fun this morning, and I hope to do it again one day. Yeah. Man, well I mean now that we're gonna buy this turkey camp yep, I guess come on, we'll just make it a yearly thing here at our turkey camp here. Yeah yeah, no, Isaac, good job man. People will be able to watch this soon. Yeah,

we videoed it maybe even today. Shoot, future, this is the future, Clay, Like, when you're listening to this right now, you can go watch that most likely. No, we'll just say that so then yeah, it'll be it'll be on my Instagram. Yeah, something hold me accountable. It'll put the pressure on him. Yeah. Now for you, that's right, all right. I hope everybody has a great spring. Nah, get do a better outra than that. I hope everyone has a

good spring. Always big, believe in yourself. That was it. Okay, keep the wild placed, keep the wild places wild, because that's where the turns.