Show Notes
In this week’s [UNCENSORED] podcast by GoWild, we’re still talking turkey hunting. Brad got out and tried something new to start the hunt. He talks about a few of the choices he made, for better or for worse. He took a chance but it didn’t quite come together.
Jacob, Dan, and Chris hit a WMA. They set their sights on a pretty remote spot and found out there’s a reason why hunters don’t get back into those areas. They did a bunch of scouting and found a few birds but weren’t being stealthy enough and got busted. They left the area knowing where the birds are and will be coming back.
Brayden got out with his uncle and some buddies too. They got a longbeard to shock gobble on the roost but then he went silent. They got some intel on a few other toms and quickly shifted gears. They planned an ambush and got in between several birds. They brought one in but made one critical mistake … find out what it was to avoid it on your next hunt! After that they decided to chase the other group of birds. They made a move and give a hot tip for keeping gobblers interested. Their sneak paid off and they took a shot, but it was a little too far. It was a great hunt nonetheless. What’s better: killing birds or the chase? We also talk about how much better turkeys can see and hear than we can.
If you like what you’re hearing, please leave us a rate and review!!
[UNCENSORED] by GoWild kicks off your week with shameful nonsense, inappropriate convictions, and unfiltered tales from the woods, waters and whatevers. [UNCENSORED] is a behind the scenes look at our adventures, failures, wins, embarrassing moments at trade shows, hilarious tales from the warehouse, and a good rant or three about the most recent tyranny from the Dark Lord of the Sith himself.
The show launches every Monday morning. Subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.
Check out the Sportsmen's Empire Podcast Network for more relevant, outdoor content!
JOIN GOWILD AND GET $10:
Show Transcript
[00:00:00] I'd like to formally start this off by just saying, Turkey hunting is dumb. Oh, turkeys are a-holes. They're, they're turds. They are not nice. And they completely avoid, they just don't do what you want 'em to do. Do I? Dude, I had a simple game plan. You just, I'm gonna call you, you gonna talk back, you're gonna come out.
I'm gonna shoot you in the face. And it didn't happen. I hadn't scouted at all though. I talked about this a few, like a few months ago that I was trying to get out and hang a camera. Never did it. So I was going out to my normal spot on Sunday. This is probably the only morning hunt I have. I might go on Derby weekend.
I. But you, you guys know, like Derby Day in Kentucky is a long day and I'm going to a derby party and it'll be like, I'm just gonna be tired that night if I go get up at four 30 in the morning, but now I'm probably gonna go cuz I'm a masochist. Uh, no excuses play like a champion. That's right. So, but the, I went out and.
[00:01:00] I was running through all this in my head of like, what am I gonna do? Am I gonna try to get in where I think they're u, where they usually roost? Or am I gonna sit up top where, which is where I always tell myself I shouldn't sit. But that's also where I have seen all of the biggest birds I've seen on that property end up getting up there and feeding on top of the null.
Um, so I hunt in like really typical horse country for anybody that hasn't heard me talk, heard me talk about my property. I hunt, it's 70 acres, it's very narrow and long, and then it kind of forks out into a tee at the back of it and. I decided to roll with the plan of sitting at the top because then I could hear gobbles on either side and I could make a play if I heard anything, and I sat there.
From whatever time I got there. And now I guess I got there at like six ish and sunrise is at seven and I heard nothing until 8 25. I heard a very distant gobble, uh, too far to even pursue, but I was like, screw it. I got nothing going on over here. [00:02:00] And I knew from you guys talking that the birds have been weird.
Kind of, kind of like that. I think it was 2019 when the birds like nationwide just were really. Hin up and quiet and there was like a weird weather pattern that kind, what people kind of thought threw things off. Actually, I think it was the year that that mediar one behind you at Brandon's house, um, that they got Oh yeah.
They had trouble finding birds. They had trouble finding birds and it reminded me of that season. Uh, of what you guys are saying and Derek has been complaining about it. He's like, man, it's just not going well for me. Um, so I knew I was gonna have a hard time cause I'm not world's greatest collar. So I went down chasing that bird and I spent a few minutes down there trying to see if I could elicit a response, which was a totally w I knew it was dumb, but I'm like, what are you gonna do?
Because that bird was probably two properties over and I would've had to pull him back down to where he was likely roosting that morning. And then, Up a hill through a creek, over fences, the whole thing. And I'm just like, it's not gonna happen. So I got down there, I couldn't even elicit a response. And so at nine [00:03:00] o'clock I text my wife, I'm like, this is stupid.
We got a lot to do today. I'm just gonna come on home. Cause I'm just sitting there like mad and then I get up and I'm like, I. This property, like it always makes you think you're gonna see something on the other side of the hill. So I walk back up, look around to see if there's any birds that have popped out, which is also stupid because I'm out in the open.
Like they, they always see you in this scenario. Now deer are a different story. Sometimes I can sneak up on them, but turkeys can hear so well that, um, and, and see so well that you're just not gonna. Bot and stalk up on one in the scenario. So I start walking up, I call, and a few of the, there's like little fingers that come out.
So I'm kind of going into the knuckle, if you wanna think of it that way. I go in, Call, hear nothing. I kinda stand there a few minutes, hear nothing. I walk around the other one call, hear nothing. Um, and then I start walking, text my wife, I'm leaving, and then I hear a hen respond and I'm like, okay, that's a good respon or a good thing that she responded and it was just another dude.
No, I thought about that too. [00:04:00] I thought about that too, man. Uh, I, I walked, but, but back there. I've never run into a. Another Turkey hunter on that side. The other side, there's usually somebody on opening morning. I walk back and there's again, there's two fingers that come out. So I go around and, uh, I'm like, I bet that Turkey was in the closer to where I started.
So I wanted to pull it to me. I'm like, if I set up, I, I, I have cover, I could set up, uh, my decoys over here. And if she comes around and has a tom with her, she'll pull 'em into the decoys. This is my best shot. So I set up, I do the whole thing. I sat there for 30 minutes. I, I heard her, I think, I think I heard her once and tried and.
N you know, I'm sitting here, I'm, I'm like, she's gone. I just, I, I had, again, had stuff to do and I'm sitting there not getting any real action on birds and I stand up and there she is looking at me. Um, she had just gotten over the, she, she double backed. By [00:05:00] herself. By herself. Oh, well I guess that's okay then.
Well, I don't know though, cuz I couldn't see over the hill, so I always like to make my mistakes like less in my mistakes. Oh dude. But she, I mean, screw it up all, it's just a, it's just a, there was no Tom behind her for, but you're right. But I, I stood up and I'm like, maybe she didn't see me cuz I'm an idiot.
Like, you know, she saw you. Of course. She, um, I, because their, their bodies are just like, they're that little head through grass. They, they have such an advantage cuz I can't get up until I have like, Like my eyes aren't high enough up to even be able to see her. She definitely saw me before I saw her, and so I see her and she's like moving her head around.
I kind of pop back down quickly cuz I'm an idiot. And then, um, I call, they always say move fast in those situations. Like if the turkey's looking at you like fast movements usually help. Yeah. Right. Yeah. It's like throw your arms up and, uh, you know, make, make a lot of sounds that aren't Turkey like. So I pop back down.
And I immediately, um, I was like, well, maybe she just saw movement and [00:06:00] didn't, like, didn't identify that it wasn't a Turkey. Right. Because it was very fast. So we're talking like a second. I popped up, turned my head, and then saw her and back down. And so I start yelping at her and she's giving me the business in a bad way.
Yeah. Like she's letting everybody know. Yeah. So I, uh, Say some words to myself, uh, at least in my head, pack up, walk up over the hill, and she is long gone. Yep. And then I left and then spent 30 minutes, uh, driving back thinking how I'm an idiot. And I saw two turkeys, so Yeah, it was, it was a little different on the Indiana side.
I don't know if you want Jacob to, Jacob should probably go first. We're on the Kentucky side again. What'd you do? You, you scouted with Chris, right? Yeah, Chris. Dan and I went out to, uh, Wma, um, close to Louisville, and none of us have ever hunted this area. They had never been to this area. I have fished down there multiple times.
Uh, it's a really cool spot that I think people should utilize more often, but what they've done in this [00:07:00] WMA is. Cut some fields, planted corn. Um, I, I want to say there's probably like soybean beans or something in these fields before too. And so they have, they have done some management on it. It's not just one of these pieces where it's thick hills and brush and, you know, nothing, nothing appealing to, to hunters to be able to get in there.
So, We were going to this one spot. We were gonna go on a little hike from the parking lot across this bridge and into this thicker, more remote part. This is usually the couple times that Dan and I have e scouted. This is what we do. Where's the least likely place that a person's going to go? We're gonna go there.
Well, typically, there's a reason why people aren't going to these really remote spots is because you can't get in there unless you have. Like bush wacky equipment and a helicopter. So helicopter, we, uh, we get to the parking lot where [00:08:00] we were plant across the bridge, and I, I beat them there by about 15 minutes or so.
It's like, well, I'm gonna, there's a big field down here. I'm just gonna walk down there and take a gander. Take a peek. It's next to the river. Looks good on map. So I walk down. Do you, do you bring a gun? No, well, I wasn't one. I'm not gonna go down there and take a shot while they're pulling up in the parking lot.
Like, I mean, I would at a time, I'm, I'm, I'm take, I'm taking these guys or you know, like, going with them and so you could have showed 'em what a bird looks like up close. Well, so anyways, I go down the hill, it's probably like a quarter mile or so, get down to the field edge and just, you know, like peek down to the right.
And there's three birds. Oh man. We were gonna go scout. I'm like, this is in the freaking parking lot. Basically. It's like, this is great. So I run back up the hill, I get up there and Chris pulls in a little bit after I get up the hill and I can't, Hey you guys, I [00:09:00] can't, I can't breathe. And I'm like, dude, there's birds.
It's like all I could get out. And Chris is like, okay, let's go. Yeah. So we're, we're still waiting. Let's, you gotta shoot one. We're still waiting for Dan. Oh, okay. So we decided at this point, let's wait for Dan to get here. We'll go down there together. So when I see these birds, they are working across this field.
So tree line, field, river, they are working from my left to right. My right to left. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Towards the river. Towards the river. And so, When I get back up to talk to Chris, I'm like in my head, I know where they're going. I kind of had an an idea of this undulation in the ground of where we could sneak around and cut 'em off.
Well, we finally walk back down. Once Stan gets there, we get all of our paraphernalia on and ready and get down to that same corner where I first spotted them, looked down, they're not visible. Two more steps out into the field to get in, like where I thought we needed to [00:10:00] go. They're still down there, so they must have like started crossing the field and circled back for some reason.
And were you think they heard you? Uh, I don't know man. I guess they could have heard me running and puffing up the hill, but, um, they definitely didn't see me before. Cause I stood there watching them for a while and they gave no indication that they were alarmed. And so, um, Anyways, we get back down there.
They have obviously seen us at this point cuz we were not at that particular moment. We're not trying to be stealthy. We needed to get across the fields of this other spot and so they gone. Mm-hmm. They, um, It wasn't like a dramatic exit, but they just kind of, yeah. It was almost like we should probably get outta here.
Yeah. Turned, went into the woods. So we, we moved a little bit more around that field. Um, didn't go into the woods so much to pressure them, like chasing them, but eventually worked our way down there. And, [00:11:00] um, We, we did end up going to scout a couple, another spots on the, the same property. I mean, when I, same property, it's like we didn't move our trucks.
It was that close. We just walked to different spots and didn't see any birds. There's one spot that looks like picturesque Turkey hunting. You know, like you see pictures of. The old dudes had been doing it forever down in Mississippi, posted up in Swamp Land. There's a spot like that and, but I didn't see any, no footprints, no feathers, no poop, none of that stuff.
But it just looks perfect. And so we kind of got a couple locations that we're gonna go back and try to hit here in a couple weeks. This was totally a scouting trip. This was not a shooting trip. We left that area and went back over to the original field. It's like, let's. Pop out here. It's getting closer to roosting time.
See if something's back out there. Nothing's in the field. So then we go deep into, um, [00:12:00] honestly, like a deer killing spot. Like you just, you've, you feel the vibe. You can just tell. And so we're, we're hiking around in there a little bit and just kind of scoping it out. Another picture, que swampy kind of area.
Um, bumped some deer while we were down there. And then came through the thickness to get back to that field. Dan goes towards the river. Chris and I kind of go towards the field, like proper in the middle, and there's a hen out there kind of watching here, but we're like, Chris and I are standing up like, do idiots just no cover around us.
We're just standing there and she doesn't see us. And I, you know, I got the bonos up. I'm pointing her out to Chris and we're just kind of watching her for a little bit and I call. Just a little Yelp, and she's on me like, oh yeah. Staring into my soul. And then I'm like, don't move, Chris. Don't move. Put your head down.[00:13:00]
Talking to the bird at this point. Yeah. Put your head down. Put your head back down cuz I wanna move and yeah, so she's scoped us out, bee lined across the field so we know where the birds are. That's cool. That's, that was, you know, five minutes in we found birds. One, one of them was for sure a tom, the other, uh, likely Jake and then a hen.
Um, just the way that the two birds were reacting to each other. It's what made me think that one's a Jake. Uh, but. We're gonna go back. Somebody's gonna shoot a bird. But you know, it's funny, it's like it's the closest spot to the parking lot. Yeah. Wma we're thinking this place is gonna be packed, crowded, and so we may show up Sunday morning and there's six trucks in the, not the morning after.
Well, no, that won't be the morning after derby. No, that's the week before. Yeah. What'd you do? Dingleberry? Well, deal pickle. Deal pickle. I was gonna take, uh, go out with Phil and his, uh, brother Owen. Um, I think he's like 15, but Friday night my uncle [00:14:00] texted me and was like, Hey, I've got something I gotta do.
Saturday morning, could you take chance out? His son, my cousin, and he's like 12. And they like, they live out in the country and he's, you know, better. He doesn't need you to do, he's a better hunter than I am. Like kills. He's the one I showed you that shot that giant buck. Yeah. Um, if y'all remember that, he, I mean he, they.
Just, he's always in the woods. Um, so at this point you're just vehicular transportation, so it's different for Turkey. So he can't call. Um, he's used to like just sitting in a blind Oh, okay. And all that kind of thing. So it was cool because I got to take some of my spoiler alerts, some of my like, public lands and things that I've learned to like running gun hunting and like show him.
But, um, was planning mostly to just show up like. Let off a few Yelps come Tom and he just blasted its head off cuz we were gonna go hunt a lease that they had. Um, it's like 10 minutes from there where they live. So they knew where they were usually and stuff. Uhhuh, right? Yeah. There's blind already brushed in.
Everything's set up. It's [00:15:00] down like basically in this field. There's like a hill on the back of this field where like just great for turkeys. They're kind of hanging out like on the field edge covered by, you know that big hill? Nothing can see 'em. They're just hanging out in that little area. There's a creek that they roost on.
Um. I theorized and. Um, so I show up Saturday morning and we're just kind of talking and Chance had an alcohol, uh, that he was excited to try. They, like, he hadn't messed with it a ton, and so he was like messing with it in the barn. And, you know, my uncle was like, the cadence is who cooks for you. Mm-hmm. I don't know if y'all, have y'all heard that?
Yeah, I hadn't heard that. And so he was, who cooks for you? Um, and so he was, he was practicing or whatever, and I was like, okay, cool. So he'll do that. Um, and he had a gobble tube. And so we're hunting private. I've never like used one in like a strategy situation. I really don't necessarily know what to do with one, but I was like, for sure bring it.
And whenever we get out of the blind, you're just gonna rip off the craziest gole. Dude. He was very excited to try it and I wanted to see how loud it was. So [00:16:00] it's loud then. Yeah. So. So we go get in the UTV and head over there, um, park and get out and walk over. And we were, we were late, like it was, we didn't need our lights to get out there, but it was a foggy gray, kind of like rainy morning.
I was like, it's gonna be like, they're gonna be a little later off the roost this morning. More than likely. So, um, you know, no big deal. We get out there, set up a hen and Jake decoy, like kind of on the field edge and it's just, it's a money spot. It's really pretty. And getting to the blind. And we're just sitting there and I'm like, all right, man.
Let off an alcohol, but really give it the beans. Like, not like you were doing the barn, like let it eat. And he does. And a goler responds and we were both like, oh, I mean it's like 50 yards into the tree line. Um, and I had looked on the map and there was a creek about that area where we figured he was so.
Like, okay. So he's probably roosted, um, you know, along this creek or whatever, and we're kind of in like a field corner sitting on like the edge of one side, like [00:17:00] looking into the woods and out into the field. And did you set up a decoy, did you say that? Yep. So I set up a Jake and a hint. Um, and like, so I, I listened to a lot of, like, this is early, early season.
I, I, I don't get to hunt normally, right? This is youth season in Indiana. So like, normally I'm a week later than this point. I really don't know much about. I don't know much anyway, but I really don't know much about like this early. So I was listening to what folks were saying to do and they were saying, you know, you're gonna try to get in there and talk to them on a tree a little bit.
Do some fly down cackle, have a Jake like right behind a hen. And uh, Uh, chance is 12. So I like, I was like, we're gonna set 'em up like they're mating, you know, like, I don't, I don't know, like, what do these kids talk about? Like, I didn't know. He knows more than you did if me and you were out there. You know, I'm making some jokes, but I was like real mature.
Um, And so anyway, uh, we get set up and so we get that gobble out in the woods. And, um, I'm like, okay, it's kind of on and like, I'm, this is kind of going to the plan that I was hearing that these guys talk about, like he's [00:18:00] on the roost. Like, I'm gonna be, you know, just a, a hint that's kind of just like waking up.
And so I'm just letting off like some real soft yelps, like using a Diap frame call and just like whatever. And then he's kind of, he's kind of gobbling back for a little while. And then he, he stops like 20 minutes later, he just stops. So I'm like, okay, maybe he like just flew down. He's getting like real close to flying down.
And um, I was like, I'm gonna do a fly down cackle, which I've been practicing, um, for my season coming up and. Um, so I do that and like nothing. And so we're sitting there, crows are flying by, going off like crazy, nothing. I'm like, man, this dude really shut up. I don't know if he flew down and went somewhere else, or what's going on.
Well, about the time we're kind of talking about like, you know, what's going on, what we're gonna do. Um, we get a text from his mom, uh, at their property and she's like, there's a hand in our back field. And I'm like, okay. So the sun is still kind of like blocked by the fog. It's still kind of a gray morning and like it's just wet.
Mm-hmm. Like it's humid. Mm-hmm. I'm like, okay, these [00:19:00] birds are soaked. Um, maybe they're gonna be coming out into the field to dry off here soon when the sun comes out. Let's give it some time, give it to about, you know, 8 30, 8 45. Um, and then, so we're sitting there and then 10 minutes later she's like, Tom, in our, you know, this field or whatever over at our property.
And I was like, oh, I kind of look at a chance, text another one. And I'm like, Gets a decoys right here, like, let's go. So, uh, we like, uh, I was like, all right, we're getting outta here. So he grabs a gobble tube? No, no, they're just going crazy. We were cracking up and anyway, got in the UTV headed over there.
And so looking at the map where they were, we couldn't just like pull up their driveway. Like we had to kind of like pull in, go through the woods, like follow this trail. They had cut to one of the, like a barn on their property. And like parked behind it. So then we're parked and I'm like showing 'em on the map.
I'm like, here's what we're gonna do. Um, there's kind of like two peninsulas of trees with like an easement in the middle and there's like a food plot on one end. And where she sent the [00:20:00] picture, I was like, okay, those, those dudes are like working towards the food plot. Like I can just, it just. That makes the most sense that they're gonna be heading that way.
So we have like a lot of ground to cover. And for a dude that's little dude that's been hunting out of a blind for turkeys his whole life, this is different. And we're, I mean, I'm excited too. This is just fun. Like, yeah. So we get out and uh, we're sitting in the UTV still and we hear Paul and I'm like, Oh my gosh.
Like it's going down. So we get out and uh, we kind of like walk a tree line. I'm like low and slow, low and slow. Drop down into like a drainage ditch. It's like real tall on either side. So like nothing can see us and we're moving through there like Daniel Boone and Squire freaking zip around. And uh, I was like, okay, like let's climb up outta here.
Stay low. Indiana guy had to mention Squire. That's all they got. Okay. Oh, thank God. That's just the brother. That's where he went to die. Yeah. R i p. Um, And so we climb out of the drainage ditch and we're on like, kind of basically like, uh, the opposite side of one of the peninsulas of trees of where these, [00:21:00] these Toms are.
So I'm like, we're pretty good and cover where I'm like, stay low. So I'm looking at the map and I'm like, okay, this is where we need to go to. I showed him and I was like, we gotta book it. We're trying to, I was like, we're gonna ambush these dudes at the food plot. And that's our original plan. And so we start running and I mean like we're running across these fields, just like hoofing it and I'm letting him lead the way cuz if, you know, if Tom jumps out, like you don't want him to shoot or whatever, and it's his hunt.
So if anybody gets busted, I want it to be him. And so we're running, we get to the, this other tree peninsula and I'm like, okay, like get down, like, you know, like low and slow. We're gonna walk low and slow and I'm looking like out through the trees into this other field, like real far ahead, like looking for any like.
Any amount of movement. And I'm like behind him looking and he's just kind of like up there, like staying like hidden in this, this brush. And I'd see a tom through the trees walking away from us. I'm like, chance? Get down. And he, he drops down and lays on his back and I'm like, I mean, all right. Like, yeah.
I was like, but you're down. Be ready for shoot. Be ready to shoot. And [00:22:00] so, Um, so I start calling and I like let off my first Yelps, you know, and it's like sun's fully up at this point, and like it's, you know, I th probably like 9 30, 9 15 ish. And, um, so I'm calling and dude, we're getting gobbles all around.
I mean, like every single direction we're getting gobbles and I'm like, Okay, well we're gonna stick to our plan in this food, these food plot dudes. But like, if this doesn't work, like I'm kind of paying attention to where these ones are over here. And so I'm basically being like a hint in the middle. And what I had, what I had heard from these guys talking like real early strategy is that.
The, the Toms will fly down with the hen and the hands will hang out with the toms, like in fields and stuff real early in the morning, and then they'll slip away and go lay an egg. And so during this time of the morning, if you can be a good hen like saying, I'm over here. I'm over here. They're like very zealous, like to come find you because they're losing their hens.
Like they're just, they're just zipping off going to the woods, laying eggs and the hens are moving around like crazy. So I was being the [00:23:00] hen that was very available. Basically it was what I was trying to do. And so I'm looking over at this group of Toms going . Yep. Yep. Looking over at that one. Yep, yep, yep.
Like you do kind of like this, like quieter, fly down, cackle, like just real, like excited, like ba, like letting 'em know I'm right here and these times are going crazy. And we finally get this one. He had come basically like down into the bottom of this drainage easement to our right and just gobbles and like for me and chance, like the thunder chicken gobble, you know?
Yeah. Like it was like he's on you. It was honest, and he like looks over at me with big eyes. I'm looking over at him with big eyes and I'm like bringing my mouth, like, get ready. He's going down and this dude comes up. And he's like five or eight yards away. I'm like, dead still. Face down in the dirt. He's on his back.
And this tom is literally strutting what I find out on the other side of a, basically a giant thorn hedge. And he's just strutting back and forth, back and forth, back and forth and like, we're both sitting here just listening to this dude, just walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk, walk. Did you [00:24:00] hear it? Spitting and drumming?
Uh, no. I, I, he wasn't, I didn't hear, I know what the, you would, if, if he was, but is the, what is the spitting? It's like, It's like a real, there's like a hard sound at the beginning of it, and it kind of rolls through with that. That's, it wasn't a sound I'd ever heard before. Yeah, it was different. Um, you would know if he's doing, I mean, when they're that close, it'll almost vibrate your body.
Yeah. It, it wasn't the, what I had heard before, which was the, like was he a big bird? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. If it was the one I saw through the woods, yes. He was very big. Um, and. Anyway, so he's, he's just like strutting back and forth, walking back and forth. I, I never like actually got eyes on him cuz it was just so thick.
I mean, these thorns and bushes, it was like, it was like a hedge. So cautionary tale there. Like, even though we had to drop down in that situation, it's like, make sure that he can get to you. Yeah. Like our plan was to get to the, basically the end of that peninsula and try and call 'em around. Like to where they didn't have to come through that didn't play out.
Um. He just had no way to get to us and it was like kind of killed that, killed that [00:25:00] particular chance of killing that bird or whatever. So then we're, we got this eye in the sky situation going on. His aunt or my aunt texts me, there's two in this other field. I'm like, this is freaking great. It's like having radar.
And um, so I'm telling him like, okay, dude, like. And he, this one time that was close to us wasn't there anymore. I was kind of calling and stuff and like, no, no Gobbles from that direction, but we're still getting 'em from the field that she said that she saw the Toms. I was like, okay. So the next play is we're gonna go after these guys.
Your Thornbush one probably had a hen with him. Okay. That I had that happen one time. I had one, same thing, but it was behind me. Mm-hmm. And I called this bird back and forth for an hour and it's just, Constant. And I'm like, what is going on? Mm-hmm. And finally, I, I had a hard stop that day. I don't remember what I was doing, but finally I'm like, I gotta go.
I can't wait to kill this bird anymore. I gotta stand up. And there's a Turkey 15, 20 yards behind me. Dang it. He had a hen with him. Okay. And so he was in the thick of it like you were talking [00:26:00] about? Yeah. And there was no direct path to get in front of me and he couldn't see my decoy. Yeah. And, and so he's like, well, I got my hand here.
I'm just gonna say you're still gotta put on a flex. He, well, he was impressing her. Yeah. And he wouldn't come out. I don't know that that's what, but I never heard her the whole time. Yeah. And she was, when I, when I stood up, two turkeys ran out, I'm like, man, it's very possible. But I couldn't turn around to shoot him cuz it was in a.
I thick it like you're talking about. Yeah. I mean, it's possible. I've seen it happen several times though when the, the hen, they'll be with a hing, she's quiet. And he's putting on a show and you just, it's almost impossible to pull him out of Yeah. Out of a thick, like out of that. Yeah. Yeah. It's possible.
We so end of the story, we, we like never saw him, but I mean, it could have, she could have gone somewhere else and he could've, but basically what he did is he ended up, him and this other Tom walked down to the drainage ditch, which is like, I don't know, 80 or 90 yards went up to the easement and then out into that other field, um, which was like a similar setup to where we were on the lease, where there's kind of a corner that like dropped down a hill.
Um, so they were kind of like on that [00:27:00] side of the hill where like nothing could really see him. They were just hanging out and whatever, drying off doing their thing. And, um, So me and chance were like, new game plan, kind of like, let's go after the birds and this other field over here. And, um, there's what we think are two gobbles gobblers that have just been like going crazy all morning.
I've been hearing them and, uh, so I'm, I kind of like call to 'em some more and sure enough they're firing back. I'm like, okay. Like they're still there, like, All right, man. Here's your option. This is your hunt. We can do this, we can do that, and basically decide we're gonna run across the field again. Get to the base of this hill that goes up to this field, and then like crawl across.
And I'm kind of calling the whole time, like being a hen, like moving towards them, basically. But I would turn around away from 'em, and it seemed like I always got the gobbles when I turned away from them and would be like, yep, yep, yep. And then they would gobble like, but if I was doing it to them, They wouldn't do anything at all, which I think to them is like, [00:28:00] you're coming, you're coming.
Anyway. I've, I've heard if you even turn your head while you're doing it to make it sound like you're leaving Yeah. You can get 'em to do the same thing. Yep. And so that, that's really what I was trying to do. And it, it, it worked. I mean it, like they, they kind of stayed there, whatever, and they were gobbling back and all the time I'm feeling pretty bad.
Like I'm feeling good, like I'd never called. Well last year really, like Phil would do most of the calling, I would do kind of the support. Um, but like I was, you know, getting gobbles. Yeah. And it was feeling good. It was awesome. Um, great thing about e season right there, just mm-hmm. Focused on calling the whole time.
Um, And so we get kind of, we're Army crawl, it's like a hundred yards. We're Army crawling up this hill, going, going, going, stopping every little bit, doing some calling, get to the top and I finally, I just can't get 'em to cobble anymore. And I'm like, man, I don't know if they're gone. I don't know what's going on here.
And I'm like, okay. Chance two options again. Like we can get up to the very top of this hill and pop up, shoot what we see. Or we could. Uh, go all the way around these, this wood line and try to [00:29:00] kind of like, they're, they're clearly moving into the woods off the field. Like we could kind of ambush 'em in there.
And I'll say this, that would've been a smarter play like that. We probably would've killed a bird doing that. But it, for him, we're running all over the place. Army crawl. He's, you know, he's not as tall as I am, so when you're Army Crawl, he's probably army crawling, like double what I'm having to, like, he's a little dude and, uh, or compared to me.
I mean, he's a normal 12 year old kid, whatever. Uh, and. Uh, So he's like, let's just, and he's probably getting fed up with it. He's like, let's just do it. Like, let's just go. So, uh, get up and, uh, he gets to the top of the hill and, um, I'm like, okay, like, get ready. I'm like, whatever you see, you know, shoot. You know.
And um, he's like, all right. And he jumps up and looks around and I see him kind of like, Look kind of like down trodden. Like he clearly didn't see a Turkey. Yeah. So I'm like, crap. So then I pop up and as soon as I pop up at the same time, we both look to [00:30:00] look to our left and there's, there's two Toms right there.
Go Turkey. Next thing I know. Boom. And I was like, he just turns his shoes. He just turns his shoes. And I was like, I don't know how far away that was, but I heard him shoot. I saw a bird like clearly get hit flop. And I'm booking it, right? Like I'm running at him going to give him like the thunder heel of death.
Yeah. And uh, he, this Turkey just pops up and takes off running. I didn't see like exactly which direction cuz I'm sp sprinting. And so we get over there and I'm like, I'm not really seeing feathers. And I range the shot. It's probably like 80 yards. I mean it was a absolute bomb. He just peppered this Turkey.
Yeah. Great shot. Yeah. I mean from 80 yards, like, but um, And he has a crack shot. He's a great shot. But, um, so that, that Turkey, we end up like kind of walking through the woods just a little bit and like listening. Didn't hear any flopping around or nothing like that. So he just kind of got scared and got out of there.
But little sprinkle, little sprinkle, little, uh, Pep at his morning. Yeah. Woke him up. He [00:31:00] didn't need coffee that morning. But yeah, it was cool though. And we were both like, man, that was fun. Yeah. Like that was, that was a, that was a fun morning, fun hunting. Um, you know, wish it would've ended in a, in a dead bird.
But, uh, he had another chance last night, uh, but couldn't get like 20 yards from a big Tom and couldn't get, uh, a shot on him, but, He's, he's dancing all around it. I think he, he's gonna get one here soon. Yeah. He'll get one. Yeah. I like chasing him. I mean, I know. Oh yeah. It's like there's a lot of birds killed just sitting in a blind or For sure.
Whatever for, yeah. But it is so fun to just. Try to outsmart them knowing that your odds are like 10%. Yeah. Right. And just trying to get in front of them where they can't see you and it, it's so much fun. Yeah. I did that at a different property a couple years ago. Um, when we did that sweepstakes, Kevin came in and shot Oh yeah.
The absolute monster on my normal property and that year. I had access to a different property, which Jeremiah and Chris and I hunted. Um, and, and Tony hunted that same weekend. Uh, but I went back out the next weekend and Jeremiah [00:32:00] had sent me a pen. He's like, they're in this tree, that's where they're roosting, right above a creek.
Um, and I went out there just directly to his pen, sat down, uh, had a raccoon walk up that morning, almost sit in my lap and all like when, when Sun came up. These birds started exploding, gobbling over my head and I pulled out my rangefinder and I could see the bird in, in the roost. Yeah. And it was really cool.
Yeah. Watching him in the morning. Cause the sun's hitting him. I'm still in the shadows. Yeah. And you know, I could see him coming off of gobbles. See I haven't seen that yet. It, dude, it's pretty cool. It was, it's, it's one of the only times I've. Gotten that close in the morning, cuz my normal property is really tough.
And then when I hump back in eastern Kentucky, we always would be at the top of the mountain and they would come up to us from the river. Um, so I haven't gotten to see it a bunch either. I've seen a couple other, one other time I think, but I was under him and then, and then. Two hens flew down and I'm like, oh, this is gonna be hard.
And I did all that chasing because that that property would come out to a point and then come [00:33:00] back in and come out. It was fall in the creek line. Mm-hmm. And I chased them. Uh, they were on the neighbor's property. They were cutting through cattle. They were cutting in and out of the creek. And I did that for.
Probably two hours running ahead of 'em, calling 'em in, and they would respond, but they weren't coming back across the creek. But it is fun. It's super fun. It's so exciting when they're talking, we're going, me and Phil's, I think Friday morning we're gonna do private, but Saturday morning we're gonna do, um, sh unless we double up, which I doubt we will.
Saturday morning we're going on public, and like last year we would put in like 10, 12 mile days of just, you know, It's public's cool because like if you bugger one up, you just go somewhere else. Yeah. You got enough property to locate 'em and just like you're back in the game and it's, my property's so small that if I bugger it, it's like well exactly.
They're uh, there's no turkeys on this 70 ac acre lot anymore. Exactly. Cuz they don't hang out in the front part really at all. Exactly. So I've really only got about 30 acres that I'm working with where the birds hang out and so, If you flush one off, it's like maybe there's one on the other side, but it's, it's tough.
[00:34:00] They are just so dumb though, because I left that property or whatever to go to Thunder and all that, and. Chance D me, there's two birds in the back field. I mean, it was probably like 40 minutes, like a gunshot had just gone off. They're just like, what was that? Doesn't matter. Back outta the field. Let's go find a hand.
Like, yeah. I don't think they're incredibly smart. Uh, but they are the most perceptive freaking things. I mean, they. You can call 'em, they'll top a hill and they know exactly where that call came from. Cause they can hear so well. Yeah, and then their vision is just insane. Like they can see you blink at 200 yards.
Yeah, I heard another one I hadn't heard before. Listening to the night in hail dudes. Which you've never, if you've never listened to them on YouTube, it's really fun. Cause they're just two old dudes that know everything about Turkey hunting. And they'll pick up a call and do a, you know, this is what I do in this situation, da, da, da.
And they said that a Turkey can see in the woods five times farther than you can. Mm-hmm. And I was like, that's a really, like, puts it into perspective a little bit more for me. Yeah. Like walking into the woods of like, I can see to [00:35:00] there and so I need to be smart about, you know, where I'm moving here.
But yeah, when you can hear them too and you're trying to chase 'em and find 'em in the woods. Yeah. Like keeping that in mind of Yeah. How you're going through there? Yep. Talk. I don't see you so much better. Uh, yeah. Use, use the ridges like that's the key. Like never cresting a ridge and staying kind of like on the side.
That's, see, that's what makes my property hard is cuz you can't top a hill. You're out in the open and you can't top that hill. They're gonna see you before you ever have a chance. I've gotten busted so many times doing that. Yeah. Deer are a little different cuz you know, they, they can't, I don't, they don't have the same range of sight.
Yeah, but tur, I mean, turkeys have that crazy range of sight and their heads are always moving. Yeah, you, it's very difficult. Jacob and I met a guy one time, and I won't say his name cuz I think this is probably not up to, not kosher with, uh, the, the regulations, but he, he is an older dude who had killed more than 200 birds and he's like, I'm just kind of tired of shooting 'em in the face with a shotgun.
What I really want to do is I wanna bayone net one. I said, what? Do what you wanna bayone [00:36:00] net a Turkey? He's like, yeah, I'm just bored. Or you know, it's so easy to just kill 'em, you know, calling 'em in and shooting 'em in the face. Uh, he's like, I've done that at, you know, almost point blank range and I think I really want to get one in close enough to bayone net.
I was like, man, you're really good at Turkey hunting if you were to that point. Cuz I won't even try archery hunting at Turkey cuz I suck so much at the shotgun. Yeah. I don't need an added challenge. Right. But I thought that was funny, bayonet. Yeah. I'd never heard anybody talk about that. He was dead serious.
It was like, I wanna bay smack it. Did you smack him for fun? Yeah. Yeah. Like he's just gonna try to take its head off. Like, why don't I just take a machete at that point? I don't know. Right. But yeah, man, congrats on uh, your calling. That's always fun. I, that's how it is. So funny cuz it's the same story I told last year where I did the evening hunt.
Called in that hen she was from me, tou circled back, started fighting with the other hen and then I took that shot at 50 yards and I, and peppered that bird. Cause I didn't see there was brush in between us. Yeah. Um, and you know, then he ended up living too. Flew off over my head. Scared me to death. Uh, but.
The end of that was a win [00:37:00] because the finesse game with the calling, like there was so much, I, I did two hours of working those birds. Yeah. And get finally that hen when she started. You know, and I'm cutting her off and we're going back and forth, like, to have that many interactions with real animals and they think it's a bird.
Yep. Is hard. Yep. And I, I, I'm not good at it still. Yeah. Um, but that was like my affirmation of like, I can do this now. Yeah. Like, I can actually, it's not just a Yelp. I've got some, like you said, there's some, you know, some of the clucking and stuff, the finesse and, uh, you know, fighting with a hen, you know, getting her convinced that she's gonna come in and.
Whip some tail and then she turned around and fought that other hn cuz I had her so worked up. Yeah, it's fun. Yeah, I, I would say I struggled the most with the finesse stuff because my, the pothole I brought, it was so humid out and I didn't bring chalk, I didn't bring, um, the sandpaper or anything like that and I just could not get a sound out of it.
And, um, actually wearing this hat, um, a buddy, I just. Met, who's a [00:38:00] crazy Turkey hunter, makes amazing Turkey calls. Edward McKeller sent me a box just outta nowhere with a slate call. Mm-hmm. Um, which I had never used before and I was working with it yesterday, dude, it sounds incredible. Yeah. Like in the, like the, on the little purse.
Yeah. The little Yelps that you can do. Like, I'm gonna definitely be bringing that out. And then he gave me the opposite of a, it's a diaphragm that's like the most like nasty, loudest. Like it's, I think it's called like the head cracker or something. And I was doing it in the house and Sav was like, oh my gosh.
Like, yeah, please stop doing that. Yeah, I think those slates, there's already so much texture to 'em. Right. Because it's what helps it. Yeah. Versus the glass where you have to put more of the texture to it. Yeah. Yeah. Tony had. Um, so many calls. Yeah, for all the finesse and just watching him. You know, I never could have pulled that bird down that he got, because we worked that bird for an hour and a half to two hours.
Uh, I've told that story of, you know, yeah. He would call in three Jakes and then that big bird would gobble and the Jakes would run off. Yeah. Um, and then, and then he had a hen with him [00:39:00] and pulled that pinn down, which I've, I've been in that same spot and that same situation with three Tom up there with the hen, uh, actually Chris's first Turkey hunt.
We, we did that and, uh, called in the hen and then she came up and I learned not to use, uh, Cheap blind or cheap decoys. I had one of those flat. Uh, hin, decoys. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. This disappear. The whip the wind blew her and she just disappeared. And that hen was like, wtf, I'm out. Uh, it's a paranormal experience.
Yeah. I was like, this is awesome. Cuz it looks real from a distance and turkeys are kind of dumb and, uh, it worked great up until about 10 yards when the wind hit it. And it, I mean, you can imagine you're sitting here talking to me and I just vanished. She'd be like, something's up, something I'm about to get shot.
Yeah. They may be dumb, but I don't think they're, uh, you know, They're, they're gonna be skeptical of black magic happening, so, right. Yeah. Well, dude, congrats. That's fun. Uh, I hope somebody here gets a Turkey. Uh, we need some more fans on the walls. I wanna see Chris or Dan, shoot one. I'd love that. I have never killed a Turkey.
I've hunted turkeys many times in my [00:40:00] opinion, and never shot one. But I still wanna see one of those two goobers. Hit a bird in just all high fives going nuts. Crazy out there. Like, heck, you, I hope it happens. My, uh, my dad's friend has hunted turkeys a ton. He's got all the gear and he's been doing it for years and he is never shot one either.
And they were traveling with him the other day. They, they travel all the time with this couple and, uh, they were driving past the field. My dad's driving mom's in the front and the other couple's in the back and, uh, They passed a field of turkeys and his wife goes, look, Bob, that's a Turkey over there.
That's what they look like. Oh, poor dude, man. They've, they've been out on some great spots back home and just haven't been able to seal the deal. But, um, all right. Anything, uh, we wanna talk about with Go Wild. We didn't really plan. We just kinda hopped in as we do with Uncensored. Is there anything going on?
Dude, it is Turkey season. That is, that is what's going on with, that's the wild going on. So many dead birds get in there and see everybody's trophies. Yeah. And mourn your own lack of trophy. Yeah, it's [00:41:00] true. I did open up, go wild, uh, go wild's Austin. But sometimes after a bad hunt I open it up and I'm like, oh my God, everybody's killing turkeys but me.
Yeah. Because if my feed was nothing but turkeys. Yeah. Uh, and I just logged like a really. Sad time log of like four and a half hours of my life that I couldn't get back. Uh, you know, normally I like it even when I'm sucking it, but I just, I was just bad. Like, I was just like, I don't know. I was just, Angry.
Like, I'm like, this is dumb. I had one of those deer hunts this past year where it's like I didn't enjoy being out in the woods like I usually did. Oh, well, opening morning a rifle. I think we all had that. Cause we all underdressed. Remember that cold front came in and it was like raining and snowing and everything.
I remember texting all you guys and it's like, this is the worst day of my life kind of feeling. Um, you know, I'm glad I went out. I'm not saying I hate hunting, but, uh, I was, I was definitely just like, This is stupid. Like I'm wasting my time out here and these birds aren't cooperating. They can't even hear 'em.
Don't even know if they're out here. I could be sitting out here on, on nearly a hundred acres by myself. Right. That's when you start to feel real dumb is like I, I can't even be near a bird. We hit this weird cold front [00:42:00] too, that I think it's gotta do something. I mean, like you're talking about, they're coming out in the fields cuz they're dewy and they need to dry off and sun and all that kind of stuff.
Yeah. The temps drop. This weekend's weird swing down to 10 thirties twice. Uh, we had a hard frost last night. Yeah. Actually it's, it's been interesting. But, uh, as Kentucky weather does, I wouldn't be surprised if it's 85 degrees this weekend or, or next, or snow snow's on Derby or snow. You never know. Uh, yeah, it's always, uh, I've got a picture of me one year with snow building up on me the week before Kentucky Derby and then you're like in flip flops that weekend.
You know? It's so nuts. Um, alright. I know we keep saying it, but I think fishing gear is finally hitting the store. Within the next couple weeks here. Right? Like soon, man. I know. I actually tried to get a date this morning. Um, but I would say, you know, within the next couple weeks, probably by the time they hear this, we'll have, yeah, the, a big expansion.
We did have a pretty big expansion recently. Um, we, we've had some good deals on those. Hope you guys are checking your emails that, uh, Eric and Donovan and the team work on Lots of good. Uh, Individual [00:43:00] promotions coming through there. Um, if you're not getting those emails and you want 'em, just message, um, Erica Johnson on with an a a r i c a and she can help you get, get signed up for those.
But, uh, we've been announcing d the things, uh, gears, it hits. Through there. We're also working on a really big gear push. They'll be hitting later this summer. Um, we, the UTV giveaway's done. So I guess right now it's gonna be, uh, after, after fishing season, we'll be talking about archery and some fun brands that we got coming in from there.
But thank you guys for being a part of the platform. Thanks to everybody that shared the platform with the the UTV giveaway. Um, you know, if you, if you haven't checked out the store recently, you can go to shop go wild.com from your computer, or you can hit the shop tab on your app. Make sure you log this podcast episode.
You wanna make sure you log so that you're getting those points, uh, points. Earn new rewards. And there are a metric ton of rewards live right now. Um, we've, we've added a bunch, uh, just recently. We're still adding them, so make sure you're logging, so you're unlocking those. You can go to. Hit the plus sign in your app.[00:44:00]
Um, hit log time once you see that post there. And you can hit, uh, outdoor podcast and you'll see Uncensored. Or you can search for whatever show you wanna log, tap the show and that'll, that'll give you points for listening. You can tag us. I'd love to hear what you thought about Braden's, Turkey stories.
Maybe you guys got some good Turkey advice for us. There's always, uh, always learning to be had, especially on the Turkey front. I feel like this is where one of our in, in terms of the Eastern, uh, Game, big game. Turkey's considered a big game, I think for a lot of states and for us, uh, I think that's where we have the most room for improvement for sure.
Unless you're Dan Johnson. Yeah. People that act like turkeys are easy. I hate 'em. Yeah. I'm glad Dan's not here today because you know, Dan, if Dan was on this show, he would just be rubbing it in our face. We, he told that story last week about how easy his, his Turkey hunt was. Um, and you know, I think, I think Paul Campbell, um, Nearly had a heart attack.
Nearly put a gasket. Yeah. So, um, anyways, make sure you tag us. We got Braden Ware, Jacob Knight and Brad Luk. We're out. Thanks guys. See you.
