Hunter Farrior

In this Episode of the How to Hunt Turkeys Podcast, Paul gets the chance to speak with Hunter Farrior. Hunter is the Founder of Spring Legion and author of two wonderful books about Turkey hunting, “Ballad of a Turkey Hunter” and his newest book “Any Given Spring Morning”. Paul and Hunter breakdown the creation of Spring Legion, hunting Turkeys from a young age and all that comes with being obsessed with hunting Wild Turkeys. Hunter talks about some of his favorites hunting strategies in the Spring woods. The best way to gain knowledge in the Spring Turkey woods? Failure. Paul and Hunter dive deep into learning lessons taught by a woods wise Tom.

In the intro of the show Paul brings you up to speed on some Turkey hunting news and has an announcement that you don’t wanna miss.

18 Days- Southern Florida. 29 Days Mississipi- HERE COMES SPRING!

NWTF Convention and Sport show is February 15-18 in Nashville, TN

Paul Campbell: [00:00:00] Welcome to the How to Hunt Turkeys podcast. I'm Paul Campbell. Join me as we dive into the world at Turkey hunting. Every episode we'll explore the minds the finest Turkey hunters around. We'll take a look at the people, the places, the tactics, the gear, and the culture that creates the mystique around America's favorite bird.

That's right, I said it. America's favorite bird, the Wild Turkey. Throw on your Turkey vest. Grab your box, call.

Let's talk some Turkey.

Paul Campbell: The How To Hunt Purpose Podcast is brought to you by Go Wild Visit Time to go wild.com or download the app on iOS or. Go Wild has all the gear. The Wild Turkey hunter needs camo clothes, hats, vest, Turkey calls, decoys, and everything else.

Sign up for a free account today and get $10 off your first order. [00:01:00] Time to go wild.com. Wicked North gear, delivering the very best gear. For a life well lived in the great outdoors. From field kits and DIY tax derby solutions to hats, hoodies, stickers, and more. Visit wicked north gear.com. You're listening to this Valentine's Day.

The first day that this episode is available, February 14th, 2023. It is 21 days until you were hunting turkeys. You can hunt. Turkeys in southern Florida 21 days, Mississippi, 32 days. Now this one hurts a little more. 21 or 32 days, 70 days until April 22nd, that's when I'm gonna be hunting turkeys in my home.

State of Ohio, man, I am looking forward to that. I cannot wait. So N W T F Convention, the 47th annual convention in Nashville, wild Turkey Federation starts this week. So if you were in Nashville or close to Nashville, Don't wanna miss that. Hop in your car. Listen to this podcast a couple times on the way down there.

Buy a ticket, become a [00:02:00] member. Go to the sports Show in Nashville. An unbelievable time. If you've never been to the N W D F convention, I'm telling you, it's the kickoff to Turkey season. For everybody. It's a great time, great event. A ton of people there. Really neat. So looking forward to that.

If you guys are gonna be down there, find me, I'll be down there jump jumping around like a freaking mad man. So love to meet you guys. Listen, thank you. To everyone that's listening to this podcast. I really appreciate you. The reception of this show has been great. The guests that we've got, that I've had on have been phenomenal.

Got some really good guests lined up that are coming up. Great show for you today. Really looking forward to that. Thank you so much for just listening to this show, supporting this podcast and wanting to learn to how to hunt Turkey. Or if you already know how to hunt turkeys, you just like the stories that are coming out of the show.

So thank you so much for your support. Something neat that I've been working on putting a lot of effort into this, a lot of energy into this. First week of March. Keep an eye out for this first week of March. I'm gonna put this in your calendars. Turkey [00:03:00] season.com is going to go live. You can check it out on Instagram.

I don't have a ton of stuff up there now. It's the Turkey season on Instagram. But the website is gonna be Turkey season.com. Just think of it as your online resource. For Turkey hunting everything. So I've got awesome content coming from that's gonna be on Turkey season.com. We've got Philip Cole Pepper from Hunt Club tv.

He's gonna have some stuff on there. We're gonna have Brett Morris from Blue River Bow Hunting. We're the Spring Legion guys. Parker McDonald from Southern Ground Hunting has done an excellent job on this website. He's putting a ton of content up there. It's really gonna be, it's gonna be like a, just a site that you can come to, you can check out.

They've got a ton of resources, a ton of information. All of the different rules and regulations in all 49 states that you can hunt turkeys in. It's gonna be really neat. We're gonna have some Turkey calls available. We'll have some merchandise for you. So it's really gonna be a neat a neat website.

A lot of podcasts on there, a lot of articles, blog stuff. So Turkey season.com, that's gonna go live March 1st. It's gonna just continue to evolve [00:04:00] to get better. So I really hope you guys checked that out. So this episode I got Hunter Farrier from Spring Legion Hunter has just released a new book.

We've, he's got any given spring warning, excuse me, hunter. Any given spring morning, I can't wait to read this book. So his other book, his first book that he wrote, ballot of a Turkey hunter. Great read. It's not, if you're not a reader, it's not that long and it's super entertaining and it's about freaking Turkey hunting.

So how great is that, right? So great book. Check them out spring legion.com. You can find 'em on Instagram. It's just Spring Legion. They're putting out some really neat stuff. They got a great podcast. Hunter was great enough to give me give me some of his time during this busy season, getting prepped for N w TF Show and getting prep for hunting season.

So we talk a lot about. Just Turkey hunting stories we've talked about some strategy. Great episode. I think you guys are really like this one. So some of the folks we got coming up, we got Scott Alice, got Philip Culp Pepper. We got a biologist named Ryan Boyer from the N W T F. We talk about the language [00:05:00] of a wild Turkey, what the turkeys are looking for.

Habitat wise in the spring, what the mind of a Tom is like in, in in, in, in those spring months that we're hunting. So really cool show. I've got a ton of people lined up to talk to you guys about, we got Mike Chamberlain and his one of his students come out. We're gonna talk about weather patterns and the effects.

Dave Owens and I talked about that just a little bit. We're really gonna dive into that research. So really neat stuff coming from this How To Hunt Turkey's podcast. Thank you so much for listening. Tell your friends. Really appreciate you guys. Check out our sponsors Wicked north.com or wicked north gear.com.

Excuse me. And time to go wild.com. Download their app. They got a ton of products up there. Wicked North Gear. The kill kits. Awesome. The DIY beard hangers. Awesome. Bobby just came out with his cool Wicked North. Hangar for your Turkey fan. If you kill one this year, check that thing out. Pretty sweet. So thanks again to Hunter for his time and for, and just for his passion and sharing that with all of us and that enjoy this pursuit of Turkey hunting.

So good luck to you guys, 21 days South Florida. If you [00:06:00] were hunting turkeys in South Florida, let me know how doing, I can't wait to hear how you are doing, what your successes are, your failures. Keep me posted. Follow us on Instagram, H two HT podcast. Follow us on Gow Wild, how to Hunt Turkeys. You can follow me on Instagram or go wild.

It's just Paul Campbell on Gow Wild, Paul Campbell 3 22 on Instagram. I've really enjoyed talking to a lot of you communicating back and forth, answering your questions as best as I can about Turkey hunting. Thank you so much for for reaching out to me Turkey season.com. Keep an eye out for that.

That's gonna be really neat. I am really excited about this project that we're working. You guys are gonna love it. So enjoy this episode of the Hound Hunt Turkeys podcast with Hunter farrier from Spring Legion.[00:07:00]

I see those. I see those Greenleaf rope hats back there on the show. Yeah,

Hunter Farrior: we just got a hold to some more. We gotta, this is our little kind of display we use a lot of times for like trade shows and stuff. And then we've got all the boxes of [00:08:00] everything out there and we'll try to just as one goes out, bring another box in and so we keep it as cool, calm, and collected in here as we can.

This is where, this is just kinda like the little office where I've, do work and then half the fulfilling goes on in here. If we got it, if that's all we would have, we'd just do it right here. And most times we just take it out into a bigger room and just one big

Paul Campbell: circle. Gotcha.

Now you're like you're a real estate agent, right?

Hunter Farrior: I do. I got my real estate license in Mississippi and Georgia. So

Paul Campbell: how's that? How's that going? Pretty.

Hunter Farrior: Good. If I could have a little more time, yeah, it's one of those things like I feel like I've gotten it and can have a little bit of time to allocate towards it.

And as soon as I do something, something comes up, Turkey season comes around, then it'll end and then the book came along and, so it's just very, the free time that's where it's spent. But hopefully after after this Turkey season, I'll have a little more. Of a schedule, I moved moved over to Georgia probably February of last year, which of course, right before [00:09:00] Turkey season.

So it was hectic as I'll get out and then so it's been a big adjustment. Not much free time, just aside from all that to yeah, the business and everything but I'm making the most of it. And then just trying to, it's just another hat I try to wear. Not none of 'em, my wear greatly, but try to as much as I can.

There you go.

Paul Campbell: Now, how when did you start? Spring Legion? Was that you and Austin started that together, right?

Hunter Farrior: Correct. I think I met with him in February. Late February of 2019, we worked together at a poultry company in Mississippi going around a bunch of chicken farms, pretty much.

And naturally of course, I met him. One day before work before we went to a farm and went listening for turkeys down to new Hebrew, Mississippi, and I, it been on my mind in the middle of February wanting to start something a way to represent a philosophy more so to speak for the traditional ways of Turkey hunting.

It was everything I'd seen, if you flipped on the TV or I guess nowadays YouTube or something like that, with the exception of a few. [00:10:00] It just wasn't really what I thought Turkey hunting was, and it was just not misrepresented, it was just represented on a broader scale in a way that.

I knew it to be, which wasn't represented on a broad scale at all. So it was just on, on my mind to get something going. And I met with him and talked to him about it. And then we got back to listening to the turkeys. And then pretty much his mom had an embroidery machine.

So we got the embroidered in a couple hats in her guest bedroom and. and now you know it is by the hundreds and thousands of 'em. So it is, it's just grown and it's pretty much, nothing has changed. It's just the same philosophy of just a way to represent Turkey hunting, the way that we know it to be and and just really just paying respect to it and celebrating Turkey hunting.

Cuz there's a lot of, I'm not gonna say a lot of. Folks out there that just are sold waterfowl or solely deer hunters or whatever. But Turkey hunting's the one that talked about, and that's a characteristic of Turkey hunters is to be a little quiet. If we can figure out some way to just subtly represent Turkey hunters across the nation, we wanted to do that.

And yeah, I think [00:11:00] it has. So it's it's been a journey to say the least.

Paul Campbell: Yeah. What, what is like the, your philosophy and the philosophy of Spring Legion, kinda what's the root of.

Hunter Farrior: It's more so yeah, a little phrase we use a lot. I don't think it's necessarily like our slogan or anything, but it's not subject to change.

And that's where I think Turkey hunters are. They're not necessarily those who adapt with, I mean they adapt, but there's a big difference in adapt and advancing technologically and stuff like that. And Turkey hunting is a very special kind of tier of outdoors and always has been in my. It's the only one you can communicate with.

The animal as much as you do. And it's a lot of stuff is based on what you can do and not what you can buy. I know we have a lot of friends here do have, duck camps into your camps and stuff, and pretty much the good ones are the ones who can. On the most acreage and on the most, product to put out there and stuff like that.

And Turkey hunt's just my mind's always been just this, the guy and the gun and turkeys. It's, doesn't a matter what you can do if he's there and there's there an opportunity it's, it's, everything else is based on your ability and [00:12:00] your capability and what you're able to do and accomplish.

And that's how you rank your, priorities in that. And just wanted something to celebrate that before it got. Changed, if that make sense. Before, yeah. Too many things came about in the market and the industry and stuff like that would just, push it under the rug and I don't want it to be pushed under the rug on my watch.

So it is nothing to go against anything that is already out there. It's just a matter of, I wanted something to least represent what I knew to believe it as. So we just, we've created

Paul Campbell: it. Yeah, I think there's, I think there's something very just intensely. Personal and intensely emotional for Turkey hunters and and I think, and I and it's such a, it's such an easy term Turkey hunter. And I think there's just a small, when I say of if there's 10 million people to Turkey hunt, and I always say this, I don't mean it in any disrespect, 9 million of them are deer hunters and duck hunters that like to just hunt stuff.

And then there's a million of them that are Turkey hunters and that's it. And that's and, I, I think people get really protective about all of the hunting that they like, but I think for Turkey [00:13:00] hunters, it is I talked to Brent Rogers on one of these episodes , and he's it is woven.

It's a thread of who I am as a person. And I think that's one thing that's really neat with Turkey hunting. Then a lot of the other forms or styles or pursuits, quite frankly, lack

Hunter Farrior: yeah. Oh yeah. And it, Turkey honors are different. There's no doubting that, and I write about it a good bit, and I think the first chapter of this new book is just titled Turkey Honors.

And it's, it is the difference in. Turkey hunters and those who just happened to hunt turkeys in the springtime. There's a big difference. And then it's just a, I'm not gonna say it's a pride thing, but it's one of those kind of things, like if I grew up as a Turkey hunter and somebody who just happens to hunt, turkeys in the springtime, tries to relate us together, I'm like you don't.

there's certain things you don't get and I, it's hard to explain 'em to you, but yeah. That guy over there, he is a third gun. I don't have to say anything to him. He understands completely. I get it. Just

Paul Campbell: I to, yeah. I to I totally understand what you're trying to say and as and this podcast, it's it's meant for people that, that are one that are new to the pursuit and I want them to understand. Like the [00:14:00] culture and the heritage and just the, like what you just said that surrounds in, in, in the intro of the show, I say the mystique around this bird. Compared to some of the others. And it's hard to explain for people. And I think the more you do it, you just like I, under I know exactly what you mean I get it.

Like Tom Kelly said it, Colonel Tom Kelly, the author, said it best. Why do you hunt turkeys? Cause I have to, and you can't explain it really beyond that. And I've talked with other people and it's just man if I was afforded a deathbed in this life and it was during the springtime, I would crawl out there.

One last time if I could. And I don't know, , it's insane to say out loud, but I guess that's what it, I guess that's what it gets, that's what it comes to for a lot of people. When did you start hunting, like Turkey hunting? Were you, did you grow up Turkey

Hunter Farrior: hunting? Oh yeah. No, I was in my dad's truck riding around with him while he went in Turkey hunting when I was like four.

So I think there was multiple occasions where he just left me in the truck and went Turkey hunting and would come back either with or without a Turkey and I just had to sit there and then he'd lemme tag along into the woods without a gun. I don't know how well that went, turned out. I hadn't heard many stories about that, so I guess it wasn't too good.

And then then I gotta start bringing a gun. I shot my first [00:15:00] Turkey, I think March 11th, I think 2000 oh seven. And now I was hooked from then on. And it was one of those things like, he told me I was gonna be a, welcome me into the kind of the lineage and, you're a Turkey hunter for the rest of your life.

And it wasn't long after that. I figured out what that means. Once you're in it, you're in it, there's no turning back, you're, this will consume your mind for the rest of your days. 365 days a year. It doesn't change at all. And that feeling hasn't changed at all since then.

And now I'm 30, so there, there is no difference between that feeling and the feeling of, I think my last Turkey year, I was in Michigan last year. No different.

Paul Campbell: Yeah. Yeah. That's great. I won't talk about me too much, but I was 25, I didn't grow up in a hundred family. I was 25 before I started.

My dad had just died. And man, my, my life Connie was terrible like oh seven. It was just really bad. And personally, and for all of us in this country, a lot of people were struggling. And a friend of mine who did grow up hunting was like, Hey man, do you wanna go Turkey hunting? And I [00:16:00] was like, what the hell's a Turkey?

I have no I honestly didn't even know that was a thing. And so I bought like the cheapest Walmart camo you can get, you know what I'm talking about? It's like that real thick cotton stuff. It doesn't breathe. It's just, it's 10 bucks for a pair of shirt. Yeah. A shirt and a pair of pants.

And I borrowed a shotgun and I had no idea what I was doing When I went out there. I was just com a complete idiot when I went out there and I heard a Turkey gobble, like the third day we were out there and I was like, oh my God. I mean something in my mind. I like, my brain just melted down and I was just like, I have to see that.

I have to see that. Animal I have touch, have to shoot that. Like I, yeah, I was like standing up like in a panic, like what just happened in my mind. And I can never, like looking back on it, it was really neat that I got to experience that as an adult that's, fully aware of.

My life just totally derailed and it derailed, in a good way. That's, something's been off hill.

Hunter Farrior: I've talked about it with I think on our podcast before, not long ago, was I was on there with my brother and we don't necessarily know of a time when we didn't Turkey [00:17:00] hunt.

So it is a little different for us to relate to those times. But at the same time, like I have friends who did not go Turkey until they were, 25, 26, 27 even. And just seeing them. They're mind just like click. Yeah. It is really cool because we didn't, it is I don't necessarily remember that moment, but I know that it happened.

So it, it's one of those things where I can see that happen is, that beats, I would rather that happen a thousand times where I shot another Turkey. Being able to be there and be part of that and relive it cuz it gives you a chance to relive the wonders and the stuff that you take for granted that I know a Turkey wouldn't do that but them wondering.

Why can't we do this? And I'm like, forgot. You don't know. This is, yeah. This is a good time. Like I get to talk about it and think about it and hear what they think. And sometimes, you'll learn more from somebody who hasn't been Turkey hunting because of the things that have been just hardwired into your mind.

Yeah. That that you kinda just overlook and just not take for granted, but you just pass by and start doing it this way. And, they don't necessarily ask why turkeys gobble sounds this way, but like, why did he gobble? And that's it. And. I didn't think of that part. I'm thinking of which way [00:18:00] he was headed and all kinds of stuff.

How we can get on different elevation and stuff like that. Any barriers between us. And they're wondering like, why did he just gobble at that, , that's all they can think about, that's their stepping stone. So you gotta retract back and think about it and, that'll make you think harder and think more and think more in detail and stuff like that.

And some of the little things you tend to overlook is more important.

Paul Campbell: It's funny that you say that, just, when I was asked to do this podcast. I was like, yeah, absolutely. I'd love to talk about Turkey hunting. And then I was talking with the guy that we do the co-host of my other podcast, Andrew Munz, and he's I've taken him Turkey hunting twice.

. And he's not heard a Turkey gobble yet. It was just, I, other than maybe like really far away, he hasn't been in the game, so to speak. . And I was telling him like, man, I, I don't know what I'm gonna talk about. I can talk about Turkey. And he just listed off like 40 things that he wants to know as a new Turkey hunter.

And I'm like, Oh yeah. No, that makes sense, . And it's just stuff that you learn from you, you learn from experience and you just, I you overlook it. And it's funny, in, in your book, and I'm gonna reference your book ballot of a Turkey hunter you, you have in here.

How do you get knowledge? [00:19:00] Experience, how do you get experience failure? And that is without a doubt, the best way to learn in the Turkey woods. Oh, yeah. And it sucks. It's the, it's like the hardest way to learn, but I think it's the most valuable. As you start, especially as an adult onset hunter, if you will Turkey hunting, that failure's gonna come.

A lot and Oh yeah. So I'm, I guess for you, as you get better as a Turkey hunter, and I think, once you become an adult, you're more aware. You've got experience. So what were some of the, I guess the really easy, like hard lessons that you learned from failure in the Turkey woods?

Who, that's a big question, man. Feel free. Yeah.

Hunter Farrior: I'm still I learned probably just as May last year. Every year. Yep. Yeah. Every year it's one of those things, Let's see. I know, I can think right off the top of my head, I sat in a place I should not have sat last year and had plenty of time to move backwards.

I was just hunting in a steeper terrain that I'm used to in North Georgia if we don't have that in Mississippi. So I positioned myself to to shoot over the kind of the rise and trying to talk a Turkey, down in what I would call a hollow, but really it's like a [00:20:00] valley up here.

They're a lot bigger. Talk him down and come back up and. It was fe shoot, it was the middle of April and it was still, it looked like January out there and where he wound up coming up was not where I thought the horizon was. The horizon was actually like way closer. So he, once I saw like his kind of silhouette, I watched him walk down the hole.

The whole side of that ridge over there and come back up. This one I could time his footsteps and I'm thinking, usually those hills and gullies and stuff are a lot more shallow and he would get here a lot quicker. He wasn't gonna have that much time between, being able to see me.

And I could've easily moved back a little bit if I needed to. but thinking I'm back in Mississippi and it is gonna be about a split second. He's going gonna be down there. You might gonna swing your gun but you can't move back a trigger two. And when he went down I could see like where I thought his, where I thought I could stop seeing him is not, he just kept walking and kept walking.

I'm going, uhoh, that was a middle ridge y'all was looking at. The one he's gonna top is actually eight yards in front of me. And so I just had to sit there and just hope I bend him right. And he popped up about three inches to the yeah, he popped up three inches to my right and it was. [00:21:00] That was enough.

I could not swing over that fast. He was up down and I was like gone. Shoulda known.

Paul Campbell: But yeah, I'm just standing there going, what's that? All

Hunter Farrior: I said, I get humble with left and right. Even now I mean it there. You'll never be better than every Turkey, and there's always gonna be a Turkey out there smarter than you.

If he's not smarter, you lucky than you and you gotta, you gotta outwit 'em in every, every fashion form, everything you think of and some days at your day. Yeah.

Paul Campbell: It's as you, the more I Turkey hunt and the more success I have and the more failures that I have, when you're in the game and you're going back and forth and you walk out empty-handed, those are some of the best hunts. It's just Yeah. Where the Turkey wins and you're like I watched this Turkey for three. Yeah. And he just worked me over men left and right and don't get me wrong, I love shooting turkeys as much as the next day, but those hunts where you get a masterclass about sucking at Turkey, hunting at the hands of a wa Turkey, those are the best man.

Those are the absolute best. Cause you walk out I have the biggest smile on my face. I'm like, man, that was freaking [00:22:00] awesome. People are like, would you, did you catch anything? I'm like, . Okay. No, but it was still awesome. It doesn't ,

Hunter Farrior: and that's good stuff. And I related back to deer hunting, duck hunting, which I used to do a lot of both.

Time is thin now, if you go to deer hunting and don't kill anything, all I can think of is you just sat in the cold instead of the hot and then duck hunting's insane. You just woke up a lot earlier to go eat breakfast instead of, sleeping until 90 breakfast if you didn't kill nothing.

But I know there's, I. There's always solitude and just the camaraderie stuff to all aspects of outdoors. But, Turkey hunting a lot can happen and you not kill Turkey, and it still be a good day. And then there's some times where it just works out perfectly and you're like, I just drove 11 hours to, she wanted 40 minutes.

I wish it would've, willing to work differently. But at the same time, you get to thinking back I earned this one. It might not have been today, but, I got to think back to those 13 straight days where I got my butt whooped and, and just to find him on this one day. When it, when they read the script and you just happen to get on 'em, on the roof and they like the sound of your call better than he, they hear on the other side and it pans out.

You're like, I hate to, you can't ever call it easy cuz you get to thinking about two weeks [00:23:00] you spent prior just getting your butt whooped and it's a lot of hours go into not killing one just as much as, killing one. And it makes it worth it. But it also, at the same time, you go in there with the mindset to learn and It's one of those things like I, I, you strive for perfection, but I hate perfection.

I hope I am never perfect because that means there's nothing left to learn. There's nothing left to do really. Yeah. In anything. Not just Turkey hunting. I like the thought of never being perfect cuz there's always something out there. You can learn someone that's better than you and something to strive towards.

And yeah, Turkey hunters will always be inferior to the bird, I think when it comes to wits and, yeah. Intell.

Paul Campbell: I took a really good friend of mine. He had never hunted before. I took him on his first hunt. It was a Turkey hunt here in Ohio. And I had drawn a lottery hunt at a wildlife refuge here in Northern Ohio.

And I take him out there very and we don't, you, you can't scout this place. It's because it's closed to human traffic except for the hunt. And the morning the hunt goes out and I had just looked at the OnX map and that was it. And I'm like, you know what, we're just gonna start and we're gonna start here.

Yeah. And we sit down and we're listening and we had probably six times that were just hammering [00:24:00] within 150 yards of us. We had a couple Hess and I lean over. This is his first hunt ever. Yeah. And I'm not, I haven't yelled, I haven't called. Once I lean over him like, listen man, it's not always like this.

I don't want this to be, yeah. This is not okay. Just plug your ears. This is not how every target and I'm smiling, he's shaking. It's not always like this, so don't yep. And, you talk about, lessons, that you get and the turkeys are always gonna be better.

And I wanna reference your book here, which I really enjoy man. So if you guys are listening to it, ballad of Turkey Honey was spring legion.com. You can get this thing Amazon. Really good book. You say there's absolutely nothing in this world that a Turkey will never do, nor is there anything on earth that a Turkey will always do.

And I think if you've hunted animals enough, deer, elk, bear, whatever, there's patterns, there's things that, deer always gonna do. You can look at a map and, look at the south end, north facing and the wind thermals all this stuff, and say, okay, there's gonna be a deer here that, they're gonna walk by this path pretty regularly.

And a Turkey. People are like where, how do you find turkeys? [00:25:00] I don't know, man. They're gonna be wherever they want. Like they have, I feel like they have more free will to do whatever they want than any other animal in the woods.

Hunter Farrior: And they're just, then they'll do it. And that's the thing, like a deer can't do anything, but it's usually gonna do this.

A Turkey can't do anything and it might not even do that. It doesn't know what it's gonna do either. And it's one of those things. It is someone thing that'll somehow find a way to go from a hundred yards in front of you to wind up on the tree behind you and be looking at you and you have no idea how it got there or anything like that.

At the same time won't cross the road if the sticks in it so you don't know, a stick will hold it up, but that sticking in the Mississippi River won't. No, it just

Paul Campbell: fly. Yeah. . Yeah. They're the most frustrating. Yep. No, they're so frustrating. And I guess so like when you're hunting and you're up against that.

That Turkey mindset where it's just I, we hunting same, that same hunt I just told you about. We had a Turkey just, he was hanging up and he was checked up and I told my buddy, I'm like, we need him to, if he takes one step towards us, he'll take the rest of them. Yeah.

And we need him to [00:26:00] take one step and he just wouldn't do it. He just wouldn't do it. I'm like one step and that's all he needs. He needs to like, push himself over that hurdle to, to come into where we're hiding. And how do you deal with that man? Just on that. Cuz they're so frustrat. When you feel like you're doing everything right, as a hunter, I'm doing everything right.

I've got, everything that I think is right. Hiding and decoys. With yes or no, or calling, not calling, you're doing everything right, but it's still what more do I do to make this happen? How do you, one, what's the middle battle that you fight with yourself?

Hunter Farrior: There's actually a whole, there's a chapter in the new book.

It's called Chess Not Checkers. So you've heard that term a lot. You're getting whipp cause you're trying to play checkers instead of chess and he's playing chess. So it goes into a lot of that. And it actually, it follows a chapter that's all about it's called Is or isn't.

And it says, saying what the situation is. The first thing you should assess is what the Turkey is and what he isn't. Is he roosted? Is he goblin? Is he coming to you? Is he going away? Is he across the creek? Is he not across the creek? All that good stuff that you tend to overlook a lot of times.

[00:27:00] Just from the fear, I mean from the sheer fact of him. Is he responding or is he just gobbling to gobble? There's a big difference. And then they had to be a whole nother chapter dedicated to the hung up turkeys because if they would either come or go, that's one thing, but it's the 90% of the times when they don't come or go, they just stand right there and they don't come any further.

And a lot of that is I, in my mind, is. Solved, so to speak, by stuff you do before you sit down. So there's nothing there. You can solve that problem by a lot more, I would say more often. About what you do before you even sit down than what you do. Once he does hang up, is eliminating a chance to hang up.

And a lot of that is keeping open areas between you. You I think I do mention if you'll notice, like if you're in the woods and you look out across an open field, you can see the entire field. If you're standing five feet into the woods, if you stand 80 yards into that field, you can always see the edge of that woods like a hardwood curtain.

So in order to look into it, you must walk over to the edge and look into the woods. So a lot of times people will see pretty woods, they'll sit in the middle of [00:28:00] it. And call from the middle of the wide open woods when Turkey only has to walk to the edge of the cover to look into, see the whole wide open woods and he doesn't see a Turkey.

It's one of those things. And for the folks who do use decoys, if he sees a decoy, decoys supposed to walk to him, he, there's no curiosity there for him to continue walking out there to check it out. You got, if you're gonna call to a bird's curiosity, you've gotta make him walk to you, not just answer your calls.

And a lot of times folks sit in the middle of the wide open. And and I'm saying a lot of folks I'm talking about myself too will sit in the middle of the wide open and Turkey, he'll walk to the edge and we'll just call back and forth and just pretty much, I call that I think duplication with higher hopes.

If you don't, if you don't adjust what you're doing, he's not gonna adjust. He's just answering you and you're answering him going back and forth. And that's just what it is. A Turkey, you're supposed to walk to him, but you're not a real Turkey. So you gotta somehow figure out what to make him walk to you and come look.

And a lot of times I'll make sure I position. Probably 30 yards into that cover to make him walk across that open area to come look into it to see, what the heck's going on down there. And it's kind one of those things [00:29:00] that there's, and I think I mentioned that it may be in battle of Jerk Hunter.

If you do on with decoys and you have one hand decoy out there, you can't really move back and try to call or go silent and try to act like two different hands. There's one hand and it's standing right there and he is looking at it. You're not gonna flip a. So to speak. You, but when you don't have a decoy and you are sitting and covered, he can't see you.

You can change calls, you can do this, you can, adjust your tone to go down this holla or this holl and move back. A lot of times moving back will make him move. And I think I do mention in chest spurs chestnut checkers is the kind of the difference in. Two 11 and two 12 degrees Fahrenheit and one's hot water and one's boiling water.

If you can just that one degree is a big difference. And you can, I firmly believe you can change a very theoretical temperature by adjusting the heat and your colon to be. But a lot of times if you'll cut up on the cause and stuff like that and really get him riled up, that will turn his head, but he will not move until.

The calling, so to speak, is what makes him move this in silence, which follows the calling, which makes him really move to come see what happened. Why do I not hear those three ends anymore that I [00:30:00] thought I had in the bag, and now all of a sudden they're gone. What would you do to beat him? If he was gobbling, Golin, go goblin and stopped and he just kept calling to nothing, he's gone.

I better move. You would walk towards where he go. A lot of times Bird would do the exact same if you just. Put yourself in his shoes, how would you, how would, what would piss you off enough to walk over there? .

Paul Campbell: Yeah. No that's a, that's one of those that you learn from experience.

And Oh, yeah. And I, and we've, I've talked about this with a couple of people that, that and you talk about reading the temperature of a Turkey, and Dave Owens talks about that a lot. And Scott Ellis talking to those guys and you and, reading the temperature of where he is at.

And I think that move of if you can do it, like getting up and moving back a little bit. , for me that's one that you're like, Oh man, , he just got 60 yards off is, pretty quick. So I like the different tactics that that hunters have.

So in that kinda that chestnut checkers and don't give away the farm here what are some of the moves that kind of mental things that you'll think through and check through and say, okay, this is the tactic that I'm gonna use here. What's your bag of tricks [00:31:00] that. A lot

Hunter Farrior: of it. The answer you're gonna get every time if you're talking to 300, it depends.

It's every time it does depend on the bird and on his temperature and on the weather and the color socks you're wearing and all the way down to, it does, it depends on everything. But a big factor Is that, is it there is when you're playing chess, not checkers. It is. You don't do the same thing every time.

That's a duplication with higher hopes. There's a big difference in that in chess. So I, I think I do reference a bird. I did wind up shooting this past year in Georgia, courtesy of luck time, and then the prerequisite hours needed outta nearby aviation program. It, it just being aware of your surroundings and using what's going on around you, what would.

Could be of a hindrance can be an advantage. If, just being aware of calling timing, of calling and what he's got on his plate and what you have to offer on your plate. A lot of times you can, you I've killed a lot of turkeys by calling to the hen and not the gobbler at all, ignoring the gobbler and called it the hues, cuz it's hard.

It's one of those kind of old adages, it's hard to beat the real [00:32:00] thing. So if he's. , 30 hens in front of him, twirling around. You might sound really good. Dave might be able to call him over there, but I can't. One of those things, you gotta time it. Do all kinds of stuff. My best hope is calling the hens over there.

Yeah. And however I can And and a lot of times it is kinda when you call if and putting yourself back in the, in different shoes of, I think I referenced if you can imagine like just trying to pry a gobble out of a Turkey at 10 30 in the morning and your your buddy, your little brother's.

With you and decided to send a hail Mary fly down cackle in the middle of the, at noon and that's when the Turkey gobbles and you couldn't hear, you just hear that it gobbled you have no idea where, how far it was. And you wind up bumping him cuz you, you're so honed in on, I hadn't heard a gobble in 150 yards.

We've covered and now we finally got him gobbling. You decided to do it. Fly down cackle at noon. So if you could, if you call during, only during golfs, if you call only during another hinsey open, if you call, if you can lay eyes on 'em, only when their heads are in, eating or some one of 'em are scratching and you call, it makes them wonder.

Anything you [00:33:00] do to make them wonder instead of. A lot of times they're gobbling to let you know where they're at so you can walk to 'em. If you're responding to 'em, you're acknowledging that you hand him the reins by just calling when it's very clear and they can hear you well. If you call when loud things are happening during thunder or during another handsy open, or during him gobbling or airplanes or trains or something like that, a lot of times they'll.

Walk closer to it to see did it come from this way or this way? Just put yourself in. If you're listening for a go and things that would get in the way of you pinpointing it, it is gonna make you wonder, make you walk closer to it and just intrigue you. And once you get, like you said, you get 'em, take one step.

It's a big, it's a big step. It's the second step's a lot easier after the first, it's the first one that it's a pain. You get 'em to do.

Paul Campbell: Yeah. You know how hard it is to do a Turkey hunting podcast. Where it's just so what do you do here? Because I know the answer and the answer, nine times outta 10 is, oh man, that just depends.

I can't and it's, and that's what I want, like the new hunters to really understand that. Every scenario is different and there's so much [00:34:00] nuance to Turkey hunting. Yeah. Because there's so much nuance with the language, with the communication, with the eyesight, with, with all of these things that you're dealing with the hen pressure.

, I've I've been able to call a group of hens in with some toms. One time it was on a youth hunt with my nephew, and I had him at 30 yards to his left, and he was using my, my, my semi-auto, and he gets nervous. This is his first time I'm like I'm here for it, man. Yeah. He's shaking.

I'm. Not to laugh. I'm so pumped up and I tell him like, they're to your left. And he just out of like panic. He turns right. And he cycles one of the shells in the gun . And it just like clacks really loud and all of these, there's six, there's four. Hes and a couple times they take off a running he turns around, he's they coming back.

I'm like, no. Not this. No. But you just, I just did something awesome. Yeah. Like I've been trying this, I've tried this a hundred times and it worked. Yeah. And it didn't work all at the same time. That's one of those humbling moments, but but it's

Hunter Farrior: Yeah. That's stories.

If they walked up and shot one, it would've been cool, but you don't talk about that nearly as much as the times they get, you get humble like that. So[00:35:00] that's such a true, I traded people hand in hand to me.

Paul Campbell: Yeah, and I think that's what's cool about this, about, what we just talked about, like trying to teach people how to Turkey hunt and.

Man, you just gotta do it. You just gotta, yeah. Do it. And it's just, I love hearing the stories and just the different moments of failure, are the best stories for sure. So you talk about making turkeys curious. And one of the, one of the things that I think really makes a Turkey curious and you can see it back here, I've got a Louis St.

Like trumpet. I love, I use tube calls. You get all these weird, wing bones, whatever it may be. You get like some weird sounds. Do you use any of the weird calls or do you use a diaphragm? Do you use a, pod call? What's your go-to?

Hunter Farrior: I call pod calls, slate calls.

I don't know if that's like a coke versus soda type thing, but I've always called.

Paul Campbell: So yeah, I call 'em. I don't know what to call 'em cuz I talk to people from all our country and it's like pod call slate. Call Friction. Paul. Call pot. And Peg is another one that I've heard. I, yeah, I call, yeah, I call 'em pot calls I guess is

Hunter Farrior: the see up until up until three years ago, I thought pot and pig was a whole new call that I just never seen before.

When I hear people say [00:36:00] that, I'm like, I've never seen one of those. They're like, yeah, you do. You have one . Have you

Paul Campbell: had. We're gonna, I just, we're not, I'm not gonna edit this out, but have you seen one of these, A Tom Gaskin's call? Yeah. I found I ju I didn't even know I've been, I had no idea what this was.

I walked by, I was in some store in like middle Southern, middle Tennessee, and I saw this. And I'm like, I gotta buy this. I'm never gonna use it hunting, but this thing looks awesome. I didn't even know what, I didn't know what this is called. Scratch box or something like this. I have no idea.

Hunter Farrior: I call him that and I didn't know that until we had a little 10th legion banquet thing or something in Jeca, Mississippi a couple years ago, and somebody was there, like signed to sell my office, like off his tailgate.

And I got one, or I think I traded him a book for one. Honestly, there's no dollars exchanged, but yeah. No, they're pretty, they sound pretty cool. They sound like a real heat if you know what you're doing, which I. Very mediocre. I'd say I, I practiced it that day and that was it. But I can,

Paul Campbell: yeah, I can ki I, I'll never hunt with it, but it's just, I, it was so cool.

But it's got a really, it has a unique sound and it made me curious, I would imagine that. It would make a, it would make a Turkey [00:37:00] curious too.

Hunter Farrior: See, my brother, he uses a wing bone a lot. And usually, especially if I'm with him, I don't bring anything special. But but I generally, I use this lake call a lot.

It's a glass call. I use it. 85% of the time, and then about 10% would be a mouth call. If they're closer or if I'm, I don't have time to fool with a slate if I'm walking. If I know if a turkey's there, I'm using my slate called most time. And it's one of those things like regardless of how long you've been Turkey hunting, you know what you're good at and what you're not good at.

And the, I promise it's best to trade what you're not good at with silence. If I brought a scratch by trying to make one gobble and use this. If I'm better at slate call, I'm using a slate call. If it comes down to SL and mouth call, I'm better at slate call. I'm using Slate call, not you trying to use both.

I'm trying to, call him in with this and then if I have to use the mouth call to direct him once I can see him or something like that, or he's really close, I'll use it. And then sometimes if I'm, if I'm. Walking, trying to cover, cover ground, keep my mouth going, just use the mouth call just to save on time and stuff like that.

But and I use a box call too. A lot of times I'll the box [00:38:00] call get in the wake carrying around. So if I know I'm gonna be out there for a while, or if I know I'm gonna have to cover some ground and I'm gonna need a box call, probably if it's windy, if anything like that I'll bring you, I try to find the smallest bucks.

Go I can. . And a lot of times a lot of times one or the other will work and when the other one does it and I think a lot of times it's, you don't really need more than one call, but it's good to have two or three. You don't need nine instructors, you need one. But if you have two, sometimes that does make a difference.

So it's kinda, yeah it's preference. And then and, yeah. Trying to find one. And then I don't really, I don't have a coyote thing or a, I do have an alcohol I take with me sometimes. Doesn't sound like an owl, but it does make a Turkey gobble or at least get the aisles going enough to keep a Turkey gobble while I can figure out where I'm going, set up in the morning, in the middle of dark.

But but yeah, I don't have anything. I, I try to, I do have a crow call and I will use the crow call probably more than anything. If it's not early in the morning, if I don't know where turkey's. Or if I'm about to make a move like you mentioned earlier, based off curiosity, not necessarily [00:39:00] persuasion I do not move until I hear that Turkey gobble again, unless I know he is not close.

Cause a lot of times, too many times I have thought he had gobbled 30 times. 65 yards away from me on the other side of this. And then as the 66 gobble was 20 yards, but I also tried to move up 20 yards and we ran into each other, yeah. Just cause he gobbled there 40 times in a road does not mean his 41st gobble is gonna be from right there.

And I learned that too many times the hard way. So if he got, if I know for a fact I'm gonna move, make a position, reposition something like that, I'm gonna let him go one time and I'm not gonna, and I'll sit there and I'm hurrying up and wait, hurry up and wait all day long. But if it takes. 35 minutes. I don't, but I don't even think about moving.

Cause I know I'm not gonna move until he gobbles again. If he cobbs over here, it's gonna change everything. I'll have to reevaluate. But if he, most times he gobbles his same spot and then I'll make the move. Sometimes he'll gobble, he's 35 yards in front of me and I'm, thank God I didn't move.

Paul Campbell: I'll tell you, if you've never Turkey hunted.

The first time that, that you're not patient and you're not disciplined. And we're gonna talk about those two characteristics here in a second. But when you get [00:40:00] up and you scare a Turkey, it's gonna cut your heart out and you're gonna stand there. What have I done? And you know what? You're gonna do it.

I do it. I don't know, by you. I do it every year. Every year I scare a Turkey every year. Last year I scare two at the same time. But I thought they were in front of. Coming behind me. I didn't, I, and I stood up to move forward and here. And , they're just two times took off and I'm like, oh I just sat right back down.

I'm like, you know what? I'm gonna. I'm gonna hate it myself for a few minutes and then get back. One of the, one of the questions that I ask people all the time, what, what what's a good, 60 seconds or less? And we'll do that at the end of you. Gimme your best advice, for a new Turkey hunter.

And it's always, a lot of it is patience. Patience kills turkeys and it's also. The over, and I just mentioned it, the overlooked characteristic that I think is more deadly is discipline. , and that's a big thing for people just as human beings in life. But being disciplined to say, okay, I'm gonna sit here for 40 minutes or however long it takes and not do anything.

, I'm literally just going to sit here and I'm gonna. Being beside my own. That's a tough thing to learn. Yeah. [00:41:00] And failure is the best way to, to become disciplined. So

Hunter Farrior: don't do it one time and see what happens, and you'll get a little more next time.

Paul Campbell: Yep. And that's one of those things, it's that little, the devil and the angels sitting on your shoulder, yep. And there's the devil's go. You can move, take your boots off. Start crawling, and it's just Angel, you should sit there. You're gonna be okay. Yep. Yeah. That's the Spring Legion angel, man. Go ahead and for

Hunter Farrior: real. No that's definitely a thing. And it's hard cause like we said earlier it's hard to be disciplined because there's nothing the Turkey will always do and nothing they will never do.

So it's what are you doing this for? If, he is not gonna necessarily, he might not do that. He might not, but he might. And he might do something he never done before and you might never do it again. You don't know. It's one of those things, just having it is just a rules of thumb.

Like until he gobbles again, don't move. You can move and doesn't matter. That all depend on the situation where you move, but don't move until you know exactly where his feet are, because that's gonna probably adjust where you think you're gonna move to because where you've been planning on moving to, if he does, if his next go is not where he thought it was gonna be, that's one of those.[00:42:00]

Something he'll never do and always do. Usually it is not where you thought, and then we'll readjust what you do next. But if you've already moved, then you gotta do it again, and now he's up to your left and you can't go back. So you wish you would've, wished you would've stayed deal.

Paul Campbell: Yeah. And that's where that's where that crow call comes in.

Yeah. That's where, yeah, I. I'd never thought about this, but I saw Lake Pickle from Primo's and his buddie's Turkey hunting on, I think it was on one of their YouTube shows. It was like one in the afternoon. The guy rips out an alcohol. And I'm like, oh. Oh yeah, that's smart. Oh, they don't care what time it is.

They,

Hunter Farrior: But but a big, you don't want, I don't like to use the protocol is easier to carry, is the only reason I do that instead of an alcohol. If you have a box car, something you're trying to just locate a Turkey or especially if you know of a Turkey and you just can't get into gobble, like I said, if I have to sit there 40 minutes till leave gobbles, if it's 12 o'clock and he's are loafing around, like there's really no reason for him to gobble.

So I don't know what I'm waiting here for, but if you call. Hey you. It's here's a, here's one of my cards. I'm sitting right here and this is where I'm at. So now you have that knowledge and you're [00:43:00] not gonna readjust his way of thinking of being a different hint or something like that if you do move and try to re restart a scenario or something like that.

But also He's not gonna approach a crow call. You can, he can be hung up for an hour and you'd be calling back and forth and then whatever you call last, or if you call and then go silent, that might make him walk to you. Using a crow card or something like that to locate a bird or just to get a better I idea of a mental visual of where he's at.

If you'll use something that's not necessarily a Turkey sound, see if you can get a gobble. I would much rather prefer that than calling him, have him answer me as a Turkey to Turkey conversation because then he might walk towards you and you not know that he's not gonna walk towards the crow call.

And he might not gobble it twice, but he'll usually go light it once if you hadn't heard it all day. So it's one of those like phone of friends who wants to be a millionaire. You got it in your pocket, but don't you only get it once, so don't waste it if you do. Yeah.

Paul Campbell: You don't wanna blow your chance.

Yeah, you don't wanna blow your chance. Chance to move. So when you're in that scenario and okay, he just gobbled, he's been hung up for 45 minutes, he's not coming any quicker. He gobbles at a crow, flying over, where he is at. [00:44:00] What are some of the things that you're looking for to move to, are you looking to.

To move away or and this is one of those it depends, yeah. Play radio here. Are you looking to to get closer? Are you using the terrain? Are you using the brush that's available to you? What are some of the characteristics that stick out in those scenarios?

Hunter Farrior: Yeah. The first thing I would assess is why he's not a lot I've, too many times I know when I was in.

I have this just mental theory of like turkeys and smartest things in the world. They, they just know where I'm sitting. They know not to come here. This is hunting on public land in Mississippi. I promise he's seen five people before opening day. It's one of those things, it's just a very heavily hunted area and.

Too many times I could get up and try to figure out what hung the bird up at 80 yard and it was a freaking creek. Like it wasn't nothing I was doing or not doing it, he just couldn't walk through water. It was one of those things, if I've just known that I'd have went around , and

Paul Campbell: got, but they'll fly over the, they will fly over Mississippi if

Hunter Farrior: they wanted to, [00:45:00] through it, if they need to.

For a Turkey that's not you. But. But no, a lot of times it, and I do try to utilize dream more than anything. The Turkey situation turkeys don't hang up at nothing. They'll hang up at a shadow. I've seen turkeys go 120 yards until they got to a shadow they didn't like, and they'd stop and they would knock cross that shadow.

They'd walk back and forth like it was a fence. No, I think, Hey, you can walk over. It's a shot. Just walk over two steps. You got it. Yep. Nope. They will sit there and after, I guess a six foot fence they'll just, it's just, it's a quirk and it's one of those things that just sometimes there is something like that.

If you can move to the left or right, and there, it could be a wood line, it could be a real fence or something. An old from the forties or something, and it's just hanging 'em up and they don't wanna walk. And you gotta tell them, Hey, you can walk around you some. So moving to the left or the right, instead of directly adding or behind him, we'll just redirect his path to you.

And a lot of times you do have, a map or something like that. It is beneficial to know what might be hanging him up. And a lot of times what was on a map might be a cut over now, and he doesn't wanna walk through a [00:46:00] cut over, you can't really just rely on it. You gotta. Where you can see it or get to a, an area of higher elevation where he might wanna have to travel up or give him a reason to move, so to speak.

If he, if it's a clear shot between you and him and he doesn't see anything between you, he's just, he knows you can walk to him as easily as he walks to you. So if you can. Cloud his judgment on what's hanging her up? Maybe she's trying to get to me too. Maybe I need to make it easier on her and come out here and see what's going on.

Let her see me at least. Cause they wanna be seen to mill wise turkeys, they're very elusive, but they display themselves for a reason. They want the hint to see 'em, they like to be high in the open and where, his can see them show off. Getting to where something might be keeping you from seeing him, and they're pretty arrogant.

They want you to look at 'em. So instead they'll try to, make sure to make it as easy as possible.

Paul Campbell: Yeah. That's a great, that's a great point. That's one of the things that I try to point out to new hunters when I take him out. It's just okay, he's gobbling. We need to have something between him and I.

, it can't be like that. Detrimental to his movement. Yeah. So little brush pie or like a lay down log. [00:47:00] Oh man. Game buddy. That's the best. I. There's a really popular question that people, and I'm not gonna ask it, but it's, what defined success or whatever, and I'm not gonna ask that.

Cause I know the answer. And it's a lazy question, Craig Flank. But I was doing an interview with a guy and he said, success defined by effort, not by fortune and in regards to Turkey hunting. And I'm like, man, that is really, that is smart. , that is a good, that is a good assessment of.

Turkey hunting is, and it sounds like your philosophy could fit into that, and I think it's a really easy way to sum up like Turkey hunting and the heart of a Turkey hunter. As we come into to 2023, man, you've been hunting for, what, 20 years at this point?

, has that definition for you, has that changed?

Hunter Farrior: I don't think it, I. , it really hasn't changed. And it's one of those things very cliche, all mornings are successful. You go out there and hear a bird and stuff. And I like scenarios where I, that I haven't been in before and very few have been too closely similar, whether it's I get my tail whipped in a [00:48:00] different form or fashion, or I wind up, walking out with a Turkey in a different form of fashion.

I like. Because if something was learned, something was, experienced re experiences are very, they just don't fascinate me as much. If I've shot a lot of doze out of the same deer stand. It's all yep. Gotta go get her now. Like this is the routine I do Turkey hunting is, you can sit on the same tree the next morning and have a different Turkey and he's gonna do something totally different.

There's no tell there's just no way of knowing that. So just if you can overcome a lot of different adversities the more, the better kind of, the longer you hunt, the more you start, really respecting those adversities of ways. To reverse nature and you'll start noticing ways that could make it easier, that you could buy or you could do to make, this is, pretty effortless process if you really wanted to.

But the withholding of that, the self-imposed boundaries, you're like, no I've done it this way before. I know that, this is not easy, but I'm gonna do it, you really just man versus bird. It. And then sometimes you hit your butt with a lot more doing that.

And you appreciate the success when you do find it, [00:49:00] if you do kill Turkey and you just, you, you fall in love with the, I've heard like businessmen saying, just embracing the suck part of it. You enjoy the process way more than destination, but the man who.

Who who enjoys walking will walk a heck of a lot further than the guy who just is trying to get to the destination. He's gonna do it regardless, and the other guys are trying to get somewhere. You'll collect a lot of success along the way because you enjoy what you're doing and and the bird over your shoulders is just playing second fiddle and regardless, you would do it anyway.

If there wasn't a bird up there to hunt, I'd probably still go and try to find one, even though knowing that there wasn't one to even haunt just being out there and doing this and that, and. You got the chance. If there's a chance, as long as there's a chance, you got it. And that's what I try to, I think that's where the addiction is really the root of it isn't the chance.

If it wasn't a chance, if it was automatic, if it was easy, I don't think I would enjoy it much. I probably wouldn't even hunt it that much. I'd think of it a lot like deer hunting and duck hunting and stuff like that, or, any, anything that, that's pretty. [00:50:00] Nothing's guaranteed, but it's a, it is a pattern.

Both kind of sport I feel like, and uncontrollables are there, but then the man versus bird the widths of Wild Turkey or Bar nine I think are just you can, you, I could write a thousand books on him and I couldn't cover it all cuz I, a lot of'em I've left to, you have to even learn.

That just the chance of failure. Is equal as success being out there. Is the striving to find out is really all it is I just wanna find out if today's a day or if it ain't and how.

Paul Campbell: Yeah. Just wanna find out Hunter, man I've really enjoyed this talk. Where where can people find, You on social media?

Hunter Farrior: Yep. You can find me on Instagram and all that good stuff. My, my personal handle is Hunter dot farrier, h u n t e r, dot f a r i o r. And then we've got Spring Legion accounts on everything and it's all at Spring Legion. And then everything else you can find on spring legion.com, we'll have, the book should be released in.

First week of February, the new book Ballot Trick Hunter's already on there. We've got a bunch of new apparel. Some of this [00:51:00] stuff is there. You

Paul Campbell: got some live podcasts coming up for the folks? Yes. We Sal what

Hunter Farrior: do you got those? Yep, we got those. February 8th and Auburn, Alabama. Going to be there at mos downtown.

Gonna do a live podcast there that afternoon. I don't know the time. Then we'll go up to Nashville, I think February 15th, if I'm not mistaken, which is the day before the N W T F Convention. We're gonna be at Live Oak Bar down there in downtown Nashville, doing a live podcast there, talking Turkey and answering listeners' questions and live questions and all kinds of good stuff.

We might have some special guests at that one being in the Music City Hub, and then we will have another one in Starkville, miss. Which is where Sales nine went to college at Mississippi State on February 28th. So we at Rick's, which is a, a place we spent many night there when we were in college. So we went back last year with Lake Pickle and Jordan Bli yeah, two of our buddies.

And we had a live podcast there and had a really good time. So we wanted to do it in more places this year. So that's what we're gonna be.

Paul Campbell: Very good. Yeah, those are always a good times. Hunter, [00:52:00] thanks for your time, man. Good luck. To, to you and the spring woods and with Spring Legion and everything going forward, man.

Hunter Farrior: Absolutely, man. I certainly appreciate you having me on. Oh,

Paul Campbell: and real quick, I'm gonna sa I'm gonna, I'm gonna settle this for everyone listening. It's Pop, not Coke. No.[00:53:00]

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