Never to Early to Talk Turkeys

Rain is falling, temperatures are rising, and the days are getting long. All of these things can only mean one thing, spring is here! This week on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast, John is going all in on spring turkeys. Fellow Sportsmens Empire podcaster and National Wild Turkey Federation employee Paul Campbell joins John this week to talk about the excitement of chasing spring gobblers. The passion Paul has for these birds is more than evident as he and John cover a wide variety of topics surrounding one of America's favorite game birds.

Paul and John share one thing in common, neither of them are any good at using a mouth call, one of the most popular turkey calls on the market. Paul does a great job of discussing mouth call alternatives, and why you might use one over the other. The guys also talk about locator calls and when a certain one might be appropriate. Paul and John talk a little bit about the different habitat types that turkeys live in, and how different calling turkeys in deep timber is compared to the open plains. Over all, this is one of the best darn turkey talks the Oklahoma Outdoors podcast has ever had.

John Hudspeth: [00:00:00] Hey guys and gals, welcome to the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast, brought to you by Arrowhead Land Company. Here you'll be educated, entertained, and equipped to get more out of your outdoor experience. So hold on tight because here we go.

What is Kaka Lackin? Folks, welcome to episode 114 of the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast. I am your host, John Husk, and welcome to the show. We have a fantastic one today. We're switching gears. We're switching to a topic that we have not covered this year, but it's about that time. We are going to be talking turkeys and Turkey hunting today.

Basically what happened was Monday. , we had this random warm front, it was like 82 or something on Monday, and it just hit me. It's man, like [00:01:00] Turkey seasons almost here. We're almost into March. And one thing that I like to do with this podcast is obviously I like to share my experiences, what's going on.

But I really like to try to prepare you guys for what is ahead also. And even though it might seem a little early, we're gonna talk some Turkey hunting today. That's the plan. We got Paul Campbell coming on. We got some things to cover before we get there, but yeah, that's still played for today.

It's springtime, it's almost Turkey season. And so we're gonna talk turkeys, but like I said before we get there, got a few things to cover. This last weekend made it out to the ranch and I got a lot of dozing done. Not quite as much as I was hoping for. I ended up having to help my mom keep my brother's kids.

Wasn't really planning on that, but but it worked out and so I got the entire fire line, fire break, whatever you wanna call it, dozed. I think I ended up with 38 acres, I think last week. I might've actually accidentally said 48 at one point, and like 30 in another. I don't know. But 38 is the official number.

I could have done a little [00:02:00] bit more. There was a grassy area I thought about burning, but man, I think that canyon is just gonna it like, even though I. Made this amazing fire line and I've been thinking about it for two years. I'm still so nervous. Just the terrain is what gets me and I know I've talked about it on here before.

I was actually a wildland firefighter back in Idaho when I was in college. . And I think instead of making me more confident, that made me more afraid because I just I know what can go wrong and I know how easily things can get outta hand. And so instead of that making me feel better about myself, I think it makes me feel worse.

And but yeah the dozer, it's got like a, I don't know, seven-ish foot blade on it. And so basically made a full seven foot wide path all the way around this area. There's some steep draws. There's some wet spots. There's some dry spots. There's a, like a creek bed that had a bunch of dry leaves, which is really scary.

And so I think when it comes down time to burn, which I don't have that exact date yet. Obviously I'm gonna have the dozer back there. I'm [00:03:00] gonna have some extra hands, some people, and I think I'm gonna take my leaf blower. Just, anything like that I can use it to, if there's a bunch of leaves, you can use it to clear that.

Or if the fire's getting outta hand, you can use that to fight the fire, can have some shovels, all that type of stuff. But it's very exciting. Like I said, gosh, I don't even know how long we've owned this property now, like six or seven years. And I've dreamed of burning this area basically since we bought it.

I know it's needed. It and I honestly, I probably waited a little bit too long, but I just know it's gonna be so good and so helpful if we can get it. It's just nerve wracking to do it. So anyway, got that done over the weekend. Also got a few coons trapped. I had, I bought four traps, set 'em all around the same feeder that still had some corn in it going off.

And I went three for four, was feeling pretty good about myself. I think I put it on my story that I, went three for four and then I had a few people message me saying one guy caught 90, a couple people had caught like 50 plus. One guy was going from the start of last Turkey season, I think he [00:04:00] was at 250, his goals to get 300.

A lot of those other people. I think that was all since deer season ended. But anyway, I went from like feeling on top of a mountain to like in a cave. So I definitely need to get at it. Keep setting those traps I'm going to this weekend. And one other thing about this upcoming weekend, something exciting.

Had it planned for a few weeks. A good buddy of mine, he has not been on the podcast, but we're probably gonna do an episode. Y'all heard me talking about him a lot. My buddy Randy, the guy who has the least in we in West Texas that I deer hunt on a lot. , he's coming out to the ranch and we are gonna get after some yodi.

So Coyotes, Randy's a huge coyote hunter. He used to do tournaments and stuff back in the day. Doesn't do as as much as the tournament. He did do a big tournament a few weeks ago but he just doesn't more for fun. Just doesn't have the time anymore that he used to. But anyway, he's gonna bring up his calls and all his good stuff and we're gonna just lay the hammer on some coyotes this weekend.

So it's a dual-purpose thing. Obviously it helps with the deer and everything and they're [00:05:00] just overrun. But also we purposely time it out to where we do it right before calving season so that, when out there on the ranch when all the mamas are having their babies the coyotes can be very pesky.

And I, my brother actually thinks he lost a few calves, two coyotes last year. So yeah, we purposely time it out for this time of year right before the calves start dropping. So that's what I have going on this weekend. So trying to think of any other updates. I keep talking about the Backwood show.

I'm gonna be there. That'll be, I think, yeah, that'll be this Saturday as y'all are listening to this. So plan to be up there all day long. Like I said, keep saying, if you see me say hi, introduce yourself. I love talking to you guys. Meeting you guys. I love checking out all the booths. Last year they had some cool speakers.

Jeff Danker spoke. I know I listened to him. They had some like fishing exhibits where they, had professional crappy fishermen and stuff come in and talk about casting and where to find the fish. So it's just a grand old time. If you're around Oklahoma City this weekend, I believe it's Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

Again, I'll be there pretty much all day on Saturday, I [00:06:00] think. So that's my plan. Hope you guys can make it out. Other than that, I think that's going to pretty much do it for this intro. As I mentioned before, today we're gonna be talking turkeys. We have an awesome guest on. We have my Sportsman's Empire brother, Mr.

Paul Campbell, and Paul's from Ohio. He is part of the oh two Podcast and also has just recently started the How to Hunt Turkeys podcast. All available on the Sportsman's Empire. And Paul is a really cool dude. I actually didn't realize till after we were done talking, he actually works for the National Wild Turkey Federation.

That's probably some information I should have had beforehand, but still a great episode. Yeah, Paul's a super cool guy. You can just, you can tell in his voice the excitement he has for wild turkeys and Turkey hunting, so it's really cool. This one, I don't know, it just seemed different than other Turkey episodes that I've done in the past.

Just again, you can tell that Paul's super passionate about. Also just very [00:07:00] knowledgeable and it's not it's not like black and white type stuff. It's like real knowledge, stuff that he's gained from over the years. He talks about how he really started hunting a little bit later in life compared to most people, but turkey's kind of is where it got started, and it's just consumed him ever since.

And so we talk about all kinds of things. We talk about calling, we talk about locator calls. We talk about, just start to finish, from when you leave your truck to where you should start. We talk about walking up on birds, how close you get, what happens if you spook a bird?

We just covered the whole gamut and like I said really good conversation with a really good guy. So that's what we have for this week. I hope you guys are excited about it. I hope you guys are getting ready for Turkey season and spring in general, because it is right around the corner. It was 88 degrees this week.

So when you know, it's, when it's getting that warm spring's not far behind. All right, that's gonna do it for this intro. I've rambled enough. Thank you guys for listening to the podcast. We're gonna get into the episode after a [00:08:00] quick word from our partners. Write this second. With spring right around the corner, it's about time to switch out that Bower rifle for a bait caster spinning reel.

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Hey everybody, welcome to today's show, and today we have my Sportsman's Empire brother, Mr. Paul Campbell. How

Paul Campbell: you doing Paul? Good, John. Thanks for having me, man. I appreciate it.

John Hudspeth: Yeah, man, I've been looking forward to this. We were talking before, hit record. We were on one of the deer Camp episodes together, and you just kept going off about turkeys and didn't wanna talk about deer.

And ever since then, I made a middle note. I was like, man, this spring we gotta have Paul on.

Paul Campbell: So here we are. Yeah. It's it's [00:11:00] my favorite time of year. It's my favorite thing to talk about. Wild Turkey hunting, Turkey hunters, Turkey conservation, all of that. I, that, that particular episode that you're talking about, I told Josh as soon as it started listen man, I'm gonna hijack this.

If you guys wanna talk turkeys, you let me know. And Uhhuh and everyone seemed to be okay with it at the time. So my poor co-host of the O two podcast, Andrew Munz, has to roll his eyes and he'll, he just laughs because I'll inject it. Someone will, during an interview or even not an interview, they'll say something completely unrelated to Turkey hunting and I'll I'll zip it around and just bring it back to tar hunting and he's just oh God, here we go.

John Hudspeth: .

Yeah, it's all good, man. Yeah, I probably like a lot of hunters out there, hardcore deer hunter. When the spring rolls around it's like, all right, maybe I'll do a little Turkey hunting. But honestly, last year that changed for me a little bit. So last year I did two Turkey hunting episodes and then went out and I went out to a buddy's place in West Texas, hunt some Rios, and I had one of those mornings in the Turkey woods that you dream [00:12:00] about, just the dream situation.

And I'm not gonna lie, it got me, like this year I'm actually looking forward to Turkey season and doing little prep. I almost bought a Turkey vest the other day, which, would've been a huge step . So that's where I'm at. I'm looking to get more into it and that's, part of the reason I wanna have you on here cuz you just, you have way more knowledge than I do and I pulled up a few or wrote down a few little stats here I was gonna share with you.

Just kinda let you know where I'm at. Sure. And so yeah, so I, I believe in my life I have called in and killed by myself. Three turkeys. Okay. One of those was last year. Most of the Turkey I've killed more than three turkeys. Most of the Turkey hunting I've done in the past was basically just deer hunting, four turkeys, sure. I was fortunate enough to have some private land. At one time I lived on one of our pieces of land and every single morning I'd see these three or four goers on a hill. So I basically just went and sat there and killed one, stuff like that. We also talked about I don't know what it is.

I guess it's just the shape of my mouth. I've never been able to use a mouth call. Whe whether it's Turkey, elk, whatever. I actually, one day I was in Cabelas [00:13:00] like a long time ago, and there was, I don't know who it was, but he was like a world champion, Turkey collar there, kinda doing demonstrations and I actually went up, had him gimme a quick little d he's move your tongue like this.

Could not get a, could not make a sound. And so he was the one, he's some people just can't do it. So I think that's me. So anyway , I still to this day use a box call that a high school buddy of mine inherited from his grandpa. I don't think it's super nice. But it's worked. I've called in several turkeys with it, never really seen a need to buy a new one.

Cause it's worked for me. It's funny. So that's that. And then I listened to your episode that came out this last week, and y'all are talking about, locator calls, Crow calls, Al Hoots and stuff like that. And I've always heard of that. Like I know what it is. , I know why you do it, but I've never done that.

I've normally been show up a few minutes late set up because I've seen some turkeys there. I've been for normally the places I'm hunting on, I have good Turkey numbers. It's private land. And so yeah, so that, that's basically where I'm coming from as a Turkey hunter. So black. So this last year the cool hunt that I had I was going out to [00:14:00] my buddy's place in West Texas.

When he found out I was coming, he had some people out, like clients. He, it's like a corporate lease type thing. And so I got them set up and then I got to go do my own thing. So I was a little bit late as I was just walking down this little road. I heard gobbler, gobble off the roost. I could tell he was roosted.

Worked my way in, set up my decoy. Called with him for probably five minutes, heard him fly down, called another 10, 15 minutes, watched him strutting everything. He worked his way through the mesquites and ended up shooting him about 40 yards. And so after that I was like, you know what, I can do this.

That was awesome. Having the full interaction. It just made my day. So that's where I'm at. That's the whole, I dunno, I just went on for five minutes about that so that's what, that's where you come in. So I need you to tell me it's, how can I do that

Paul Campbell: again? So it's easy to do, to go on and on about Wild Turkey.

So I'm glad that, I'm glad that you did that. I'm not gonna stop you. I'm happy that you had a good experience with Turkey honey. A lot of deer hunters, they don't have a respect, any respect for the pursuit of Turkey hunting. They don't have any respect for the [00:15:00] animal because it doesn't have horns or antlers on its head.

So when I hear a dedicated deer hunter say that they had a great time. Turkey hunting, and they're looking forward to doing it again. It warms my heart. Good for you, man. I'm, I hope it latches onto you. I know it'll never replace, chasing those the kings of fall, whatever you want to call 'em, but man, it's, it really is, it's a ton of fun.

It's a good, it's a good form of hunting to bring children into, it's a good form of hunting to bring people that have never hunted into the pursuit of hunting because it's interactive. You don't have to worry about the, hunting the wind. You don't have to worry about, hunting massive cold fronts.

And, the weather for the most part can be a little, a little crazy, especially, depending on where you're at in the country. But, it's a great thing to do in the springtime and, if you wanna challenge yourself. So there there's an author, his name is Colonel Tom Kelly.

He is a the poet laureate of Turkey hunting literature. And he is, he's in his nineties, he's been Turkey hunting. for a 75, 80 season, something like that. [00:16:00] And so I don't wanna take anything away from you, but he has this hatred for Rio Grande Turkeys because he thinks that they're like the laziest, dumbest, we'll, gobble, like if a, a car backfires, and so it's, I'm glad that you had that experience.

Yeah. And I think for me, one of the things that keeps me coming back with Turkey hunting is that it's not always, , some seasons are more difficult. You got some population declines, you've got more people getting into the space, so there's, into the pursuit.

So there's more pressure on the birds. And so it just adds different dynamics. And that's what's fun for me is that, I've said this a hundred times, I feel like a wild Turkey can exercise free will more so than any other animal that's out there, dear elk, he might be a little more rigid, a little more routine, a little more set in their ways and dictated by terrain.

Turkeys are like, meh there's a bug. I'm gonna go this way. Oh, there's another bug. I'm gonna go this way. Oh, there's a snake. I'm gonna shake this snake for 15 yards before I catch, and then, and just completely change cores. It's neat in that regard. And it's a hell of a lot of fun, man.

And I'm glad you're getting the Turkey itch, so , I know it'll never replace you, number one, but I'm glad . [00:17:00]

John Hudspeth: Yeah. Yeah. And just so you know you're talking about the Rios, and Yes, those are definitely Rios, but I have killed a few Easterns too, so Yeah. Oklahomas are fun. Yeah.

Oklahoma's kind of on that line, , Eastern Oklahoma, you have some mountains, very lush, green Western Oklahoma's, more of the sand rolling hills type thing. And with that kind of comes to two different species. So it's, yeah, like I 35 basically splits Oklahoma in half, and it's not quite like, east is eastern West is Rios, but it's pretty close to that.

Paul Campbell: That's a really neat, that's a really neat place. Where you get the, you get, a little bit of that in Nebraska. You'll have the two subspecies and I, so I've got, I'm doing my first Florida Turkey hunt this year in March. Obviously I live in Eastern territory and I'm going on Montana Miriam's hunt in May.

So I told my wife, I said, if I'm fortunate enough to kill three subspecies, you best believe I'm going Southwest South. , I'm gonna have to. A Rio. So Yeah. It's it'll just become a, it's gonna be an obsession moment. I kill that Osceola. [00:18:00] The chase starts, man. Yeah. I

John Hudspeth: can probably help you out with that, so that, that gonna be too

Paul Campbell: difficult.

Sounds, sounds good. I'll kill a few hogs for you too. All right. Okay. There you go.

John Hudspeth: There you go. Good deal. Yeah. Cool man. Like I said, I almost want you to take it over at this point cuz you know, I just rambled for a while at the beginning and stuff. And one thing I definitely want to hit it hit on is box calls in particular.

Yeah. I think a lot of people, a lot of people don't think as highly, of box calls, think that they, maybe you're not as good or you're not as good of a Turkey hunter because you use a box call. But I think there's a place for everything. Hundred percent.

So I definitely wanna talk about that. I'd love to talk about some locator calls. So yeah, I'm gonna let you roll with it for a minute on Yeah,

Paul Campbell: man, on those two things. . So I will tell you that I can say this unequivocally. There are two things in the Turkey hunting world realm that I can say unequivocally, and I know that I'm right and there's no way that anyone can prove me wrong.

One is that A, a Remington eight 70 has killed more turkeys than any other firearm in this country. And two, that a box call has called in and been the final [00:19:00] sound that Turkey has ever heard. That, that, those are the two things that I can say without a doubt. I can't use a mouth call either.

I can't do it. I suck. As soon as that sunbed starts, sorry. As soon as that thing starts coming to mouth, Josh start gagging. I just think about it and I gaag . Years ago I'm holding up this is a tube call, so I got really proficient with these. I love a good box call. I wish I had some around.

I use you can't see it here. I've got a trumpet that I use. I like the weird Turkey calls, right? I've slate calls pot, a pot and peg or friction call. As some people say, it doesn't matter if you can't use a, if you can't use a mouth alcohol, it doesn't degrade your ability or your being a call to Turkey hunter if you can't use a mouth call.

That's not, that's that doesn't matter. And so many people, so many new hunters and so many seasoned hunters, they get this thing, they get this mindset that they have to use a mouth, be mouth call, because that's what the hunting public and Dave Owens and all these guys using and the G N C Turkey callers, at the N W TF Convention, everyone's using these [00:20:00] mouth halls and they sound great and they're like, ah, I gotta learn this.

If you're not good at it, you're not good at it, right? You only get so many days a year. To hunt, and you'll get so many days a year to practice Turkey calling because if you're married, your wife is gonna be beside herself, , if you're trying to practice on a mouth call, so use what you're good at, get good at it.

Doesn't matter. You good at, the little push button boxes, where you literally just pull a string across the little tiny box, it costs you 10 bucks. Quaker boy makes 'em, that'll kill turkeys. So that's the number one thing I can, I'll tell people if you can't use a mouth call, try practice, give it your best effort if it doesn't work because of, gag reflexes or, practice constraints or whatever it may be.

Man, any, I, my, my four-year-old John, I can get her to pick. She, she's probably not gonna kill a Turkey, calling 'em in with that, but she can operate it so that you know it, it sounds like a Turkey, . Yeah. Yeah. Use, use what? Use what you're comfortable with. . Like I said, I like the weird calls.

I like tubes, I like trumpets. Tube calls do take in trumpets. They take a they took a little bit of practice[00:21:00] to get, proficient at, but man, a box, call of a slate call, you can pick those up and be ready to kill a Turkey in a matter of hours, and funny story I didn't start hunting generally. I didn't start hunting at all until I was 25, so I'm, I just turned 40. 2007 was my first year hunting and YouTube was around, but it wasn't, people weren't making instructional videos. They sure as heck weren't making instructional videos for Turkey hunting, right?

, that just wasn't a thing. So it was what you saw on outdoor channel was what you saw in the magazines, what you learned. So a, a buddy of mine he grew up deer hunting, never really Turkey hunted. We decided that we were gonna, we were gonna Turkey hunting and he invited me in. So when he did.

first I, and keep in mind never hunted in my life. I said, Hey man, do you wanna go Turkey hunting? And I'm like, what? What the hell's a Turkey? Like people, people do that. Like people hunt wild turkeys. That's not a real thing. So yeah, lo and behold, yes it is. So I go to this, I go to this little hunting store.

I get my primo power [00:22:00] crystal, and it's this little tiny, like $10, like pot and pig. It comes with a couple strikers. And I take it home. And I could not figure out for the life of me, John, how to get this call to work. couldn't do it. I was scratching on it. I couldn't figure it out. It didn't make any noise.

So right before the season, I go back to the store, I'm like, Hey, and I've told this story a lot. It's if any of your listeners have heard me, please forgive me. But so I take it into the story. I'm like, Hey man, I. This Turkey call's broken. I need a Turkey call. And so the store owner's like you, like Turkey on.

I'm like, oh, I love Turkey Island. And John, I've never Turkey on it. , right? . So he's, he like, he gets this call and he can tell that, I'm trying to play tough, and in the box it came with a little tiny piece of sandpaper and he gets it out and he's just real nice, and asked me all these questions about tur gun.

He's you gotta scratch the call up man. He's that's why it's not working. I didn't realize you had to scratch the call up to get it to work. So I'm like I'm like rubbing this striker over this, like perfectly smooth. And as soon as I hit that, I just grabbed the call as fast as I could and was like, thanks man.

And just backed out of the store as [00:23:00] fast as I could. I was so embarrassed. But that was, that was my first run in with Turkey call. All that being said, use what you're good at. Get proficient at it. Don't be embarrassed. Don't let it, some guy calls shame you cuz you know he's doing bubble clocks on a mouth call and you're just yelping on the box hall.

Yeah. You're both gonna kill turkeys. That's what matters.

John Hudspeth: Yeah. Awesome. I like it. Yeah. I messed around with a slate call long time ago, like high school age. And obviously I bought like the cheapest one that Walmart had, and so I, yeah I need to get a newer one now that I could maybe afford a little bit nicer one.

Yeah, it's just something I've never really me messed with, cuz I've had, I typically, I would Turkey, two, three days a year. You usually just in the morning take my box call. Good to go. Yeah. But and then I don't know if I've ever even seen one of the tube col calls that you just hold up.

Held

Paul Campbell: up. Yeah. So this is the primo's foggy bottom. And so there's, for your listeners' listening, we'll play radio here. There's little latex or silicone bands that go over and it's essentially it's a lot like a mouth call, but there's just, there's an area on the tube that you can see [00:24:00] and so you, it's just almost like a duck call.

, you breathe over it and those reads vibrate and it and it makes the noise. So they're exceptionally loud. If you want 'em to be. So they are good locator calls and we'll dive into that. But, you can really, through practice and a little, a little skill I guess.

You can quiet 'em down. And one of the, one of the things that I really, you know, when you've got a tom working in, it's hard to, it's hard to move your hands, running a tube call, putting up in, it's hard to, run a slate call. It's hard to run a box call. So I wish I had the ability to run a mouth call, but I've just adapted to the point that I don't need that stuff, and you just you do the things necessary.

John Hudspeth: So Yeah. That that call you were just showing that's like almost exactly what I have for elk cunning, my, my bugle tube. Cause again I can't work a mouth call for elk cunning. Yeah. And mine's made by Primos. It's like the reed that you pulled off almost the exact same.

Yeah, it's probably the

Paul Campbell: same thing. Yeah.

John Hudspeth: Probably probably cool, man. All right.

Paul Campbell: So we can we you had mentioned locator calls. , and I have this she's [00:25:00] talking about the Scott Ellis show that I did for the How to Hunt Turkeys podcast. Yep. And so this is the Ninja Owl.

This is just this is just an call and there are literally hundreds of calls. So this is, just the call of a Bard Owl is just, it's a very common call to use to get turkeys fired up. And they'll, a lot of guys use it early in the morning when turkeys are still on the limb just to locate 'em and get 'em to gobble.

You'll use it at night if you're roofing them, putting 'em to bed, let 'em fly up and hit that thing. There's something. , there's like a deep set hatred, I feel like, between turkeys and owls. So it's like an hoots and turkey's Hey man, I hate you. And they just like gobble at it,

So I'm sure that's not the reason. So if your a biologist listen to this, don't don't get all over me. But yeah, so that's that. So that's a good I mean if you Turkey hunting and you wanna get serious and y you, you want to have just a fun hunt. The locator calls, the alcohols are a really good way to do it.

Another one, and then that Scott and I talked about is a crow [00:26:00] call. And so a lot of guys will, al hoot early in the morning, it's more natural als don't, necessarily hoot at, noon. And a lot of guys will trans transfer over to a crow call. And same thing.

And that's, this is it's funny if you're with a seasoned Turkey hunter, And, you're moving through the woods. So if you got two, two seasoned Turkey hunters are moving through the woods and they hear a crow go off, they'll both stop. They'll both stop talking.

They'll both stop moving. They won't say a word cause they're gonna listen. And so when you're with, when you're with a Turkey hunter that, a newer Turkey hunter, you're walking through the crow goes off, Al goes off, a hot goes off and they just keep walking. And the other guy's stop.

Yeah. Just listen for the gobbles. Turkeys, man, I've had 'em gobble at car doors. When you close it in the morning, if you're running late, train horns thunder. I'm telling you, man, you get a thunderstorm that rolls in. That is like the great time to locate some turkeys. I don't know what it is about a big old clap of thunder, man.

They get to rip and . I think I, I think the locator calls and one of the, one of the things that we've talked about in this podcast with Scott, [00:27:00] and it's a really good kind of . If you're ever in a, if you're ever in a situation where you're hunting a Turkey, and that Turkey might come in and then move out, come in and move out, and then, and just starts moving or and you don't know where that Turkey is and he's not responding to a hen call.

If you rip off an hoot at noon or one o'clock, there's a good chance that you're gonna get that Turkey to gobble just out. It's a shot, gobble. And so you're gonna have a, you're gonna be able to pinpoint, okay, he's still here. He's, and then you can determine what your, what your next moves are.

Cuz a lot of times, man, those turkeys you're calling to him, they just. , they want you to go to them, , they're just over there strutting and you can't see 'em. They're scratching leaves. And so that's a good way to see it. Kinda buys you some time, buys you the where do I move? And that, that's where that woodsmanship and those tactics come in. Yeah, lo locator calls are good. The best locator call, and this is just me being partial, is this freaking tube call, man, this thing is so loud and so cu Strickland of Moss, yo. He helped Will Prima design some of these [00:28:00] tube calls.

Tube calls is almost as old as they come in terms of like how long hunters have been using them. But he talks about like a Tom is just, imagine like a rubber band. And so you're calling and that rubber band's tighten. And you're calling some more, and he's not gobbling, but that rubber band is just tighten and tighten and tighten and he's just there, like he's wound up and he's not there.

And then you hit him with that tube call and it's a really high frequency, it's a really high pitch. It's just super loud. And that rubber band just snaps and he gobbles and you got him, . And then you move in. So those loud shocking sounds are easy. A good way, not an easy way, but a good way to pull, to pull a pretty intense shot abo out of Turkey.

John Hudspeth: Yeah. And you already taught me something, so I like, when I was listening to that episode, y'all talking about all these different things to make 'em shot, gobble, locate your calls and stuff. And part of me was like, why do you need so many? But like you were just saying, like als usually don't, who once the sun comes up, crows don't crow before the sun comes up.

. And but there you go. Simple as that. See that's how big of a rookie I am. Never even thought

Paul Campbell: about that.[00:29:00] But you know what, man, I've had I've ripped off an hoot in the middle of the day and they gobble at it sometimes. . It's just, they just don't like it. They, it just, there's just, nah.

There's this cranky long beard out there, just yelling at the owls, man. That's what we're doing. But yeah. So you're talking about realism. That's, you, like you said, you won't hear, what is it? A murder? A murder of crows. . That what the technical. I think so.

Yeah. Yeah. You won't hear a murder of crows until, pretty much. After, that first light, they'll get to going. Yeah. But. .

John Hudspeth: Let me ask you this, just, I don't know if this is on the topic or not, but let's say you do your locator call. So you aur a bird responds.

So you hear that bird, obviously you're more than likely gonna move in closer. This is a two-part question. One, how close is two close, how close are you trying to get? And then two how much are you gonna call to that bird while he's still on the roost? Are you trying to get him fired up before he even flies down?

Are you just trying to let him know you're there? How much are you gonna call that bird before he flies down?

Paul Campbell: So there, there are really two, two schools of [00:30:00] thought and I'm sure there's a hundred schools of thought, but two, two pretty prop popular schools of thought is one, you let the woods wake up and so you'll hoot get 'em to gobble, find their location that way and then you let the hens that are inevitably in the area somewhere start talking.

. . And so if I and this is, so just, we'll just walk through like the ideal scenario if I'm on a ridge in southern Indiana and I hit an al an alcohol and I've got a Tom 125 yards, and I've got good terrain, I've got hills, I've got some brush that I can get through and not make a ton of noise.

It's still really dark. I'll try to get as close as I comfortably can, and that is based off of terrain. It's based off of daylight. It's based off how we, the leaves are, how close I can get in. So let's just say I'm a hundred yards from this Turkey, 80 to a hundred yards. If I've got, if I've got a Tom on the limb that's gobbled at a couple hoots, he's gobbling it, cars honking, [00:31:00] and he's, he's just fired up.

He's gobbling to gobble I might call like just real soft to say, Hey I'm right here. Because wild turkey's having an amazing ability to know. Where that those sounds are coming from and how to get to them. And I won't call a ton. I might just do some soft clucking, some soft yelping, very short, maybe right before that fly down time.

And just to let him know that I'm there and that, that's one of those that like, you can definitely overcall in that's that situation. And if you're close to a Turkey like that and they're up in the tree and they're calling and it's daylight and you don't, you don't have a decoy or like you're white, they're going, they're gonna see you without a doubt.

They're gonna look right into you. They're not gonna see a hen there, so they're not gonna go there. They may not suspect that you are there, but they know that you are not there. So they're gonna, they're gonna go somewhere else. . So if I've got, and I've had scenarios.

where I might have a tongue that's just, just booming. I'm [00:32:00] walking in, he starts gobbling. I'm like, oh, it was easy. You get set up. He's still ripping. Then the hints start yapping. Yeah. They're tree they're tree yelping and bubble clucking. And they're sounding freaking beautiful.

And that's where it gets real interesting. If you can one, one tactic that you can use is maybe be a and it's neat because Scott Ellis talks about it. It's if someone comes in, you don't want your neighbor yelling at you, , you're not gonna go, you're not gonna go say hi to your neighbor if they're just over there screaming at you all the time.

So he's just talk sweet to him. Just say, Hey, same thing. Soft. I'm over here. Happy content, purs, cls, all of these different calls. Scratching the leaves, just make it sound like, Hey, this is the place to be. There's food over here. We got some cool stuff. Come check it out.

And those hens might fly down. Those hens come down. There's a real good chance that Tom's gonna come down. And fly down fairly close to them. There's so much nuance to Turkey hunting. The best way to learn it is to get out and do it. And it's, to mess it up is to fail.

That's the best way. That's the, it's a lot like deer hunting. You set up and you [00:33:00] just get blown out because of wind or poor cover, and you're like, I'm not doing that again. And it's the same, it's the same way with Turkey hunting. And I can tell you, you're gonna say, I'm not doing that again about 10 times a year.

And you're not gonna do it, at some point. Yeah. As far as getting close, I will get if I've got Tom's Roci either that morning or like the night before, I know where they're out on, I'm gonna get as close as I comfortably can. . One of the things is, when you're hunting an area that you're familiar with or an area they're not familiar with, look at the maps, understand okay, where does this Turkey want to be?

And so what are the factors of going into that weather? If it's windy, he's not gonna be up on the top of the ridge. If there's good, if there's good food sources, mid, midway up the ridge. And all of these, like I said, can change in a heartbeat.

It's hard to , it's hard to figure 'em out sometimes. . But just determine. I can tell you right now, if you're in, if you're in a hardwood stand, and I can't speak to Rios, I've never hunted Rios. But if you're in, good Eastern territory, and you've got hardwoods [00:34:00] and you've got like a tiny little opening where there's grass or there's like just a flat spot that turkey's gonna end up at that I guarantee it early in the morning.

That's almost a, that's almost a given. They're gonna get there at some point. .

John Hudspeth: So that's how I used to kill turkeys cuz our we sold this place two years ago, but it was. Timber area and then basically along the road there, they actually cut it for firewood back in like the sixties, and they would cut the trees, then they'd haul 'em to the road and people would just drive down the road and that's how they sold the firewood.

But yeah, every once in a while there'd be a big hill along it and they'd clear that hill and now it's pasture. And yeah I could literally, I could just lean up against a tree on the edge of that and I'd have four toms, every morning. I got some they'd get pretty used to the truck cause like I'd usually drive by 'em on the way to work before Turkey season started.

And yeah, they'd be like doing little like voodoo circle up on top, following each other around. And yeah, that part. So Oklahoma, it used to be divided into two regions. They changed it last year, but that region had a later start date than the rest of the state. Okay. So that region didn't [00:35:00] start till April 15th.

But in last year they changed it. Now the whole state doesn't open until April 15th, just cause numbers are down and stuff. So yeah I'd be seeing all these pictures on Instagram and stuff of people killing these turkeys, and I'd be, I'd literally be driving by these four Toms every day, not being able to hunt 'em.

And then by the time I was able to hunt 'em, they weren't, super gone. They weren't coming to the calls. Very good. Yeah. And yeah, a lot of times I can just sit out there on that hill and eventually one would walk by. Yeah. So anyway, yeah I tell people all the time, if you can find a little opening, maybe even mow it get that grass a little shorter.

You'll have some birds in there eventually.

Paul Campbell: Yeah. The turkeys man, they have such an ego and, , that's, they want to be out there, they want to be strutting around. They want to be fanned out and, drumming and spitting and doing their little dance. And it's really neat to see.

It really is. It's it's really a cool thing. But yeah, those open, those small open, it could even be like a quarter acre man if you've just got something that's visible, in a way, like you said, if you got a mode, a little path, power line cut over, you're gonna have Turkey activity there for sure.

Yeah. Yeah. For [00:36:00] sure. .

John Hudspeth: . That's one of the hard parts about my job in this podcast, just with being the Oklahoma's so different, like I was talking about before mostly I hunt Eastern Oklahoma, but Western Oklahoma's just a whole nother, and that's really where the turkeys are, the big population in Oklahoma's out west, which blows my mind cuz I just like the rest of the country.

It seems like turkeys are a timber species, like when you're watching the hunt in public and you guys, it's just cuz a lot of those guys are in the east. It seems like Nebraska seems like there's, that's where you see the flocks of, a hundred and Western Oklahoma's the same thing.

And Yeah it's weird. It's, they're a weird animal, like I say, weird animal, whitetails are also, they live everywhere too, but, . Yeah. I don't know where I was going with that, but they're cool all

Paul Campbell: against website. They, yeah. They are weird. Like you said, we have this perception that the turkeys end deer and, they love the hardwood stands and Yeah, they do.

It's just, but it's like those expanses out west, like you just said, you might have, a thousand acres of grassland, contin, contiguous, and then you get 20 acres of [00:37:00] trees and then there's gonna be 500 turkeys in that 20 acre and they're just gonna be ro in there and you get these huge flocks and that's really neat, man.

That's such a, that's such a cool experience to, to get to hunt, out there. And I've never done it, , I've only hunted Easterns and so I watched those, yeah, I watched those Oklahoma hunts and Kansas and Nebraska and the Dakotas where you've got these big plains turkeys and I'm like, man, This is a different world.

It's not even the same type of hunting. And I get excited when I see it. I'm like, man, this looks cool and . And then you draw and you see the pictures in the videos of, there's like a little stand of trees, in this massive, and there's 50 turkeys in it, they're all gobbling.

I'm like, oh my God. This is amazing. And then I'm like, okay, how far do I have to belly crawl through grass to get with the, range of these guys. But yeah.

John Hudspeth: Another buddy of mine he has a place in the panhandle of Texas and we actually use binoculars, Turkey hunt because it's, like you said, it's wide open wheat fields, and then everywhere there's a creek, there's giant cotton woods.

And so you stand in that wheat field and usually, but even at [00:38:00] night, look, and you just look for the tree that has all the big circles in it. Yeah. And then, get in there early and set up and yeah. It's crazy.

Paul Campbell: Yeah. That's fun stuff, man. Yeah. Fun stuff. Yeah.

John Hudspeth: Let's,

Paul Campbell: oh, go ahead.

I was gonna say, so you've hunted Rios, you've hunted Easterns. . Do you, do you like hunting the woodland birds?

John Hudspeth: What do you prefer, man? Like , the Rios out west, they're definitely easier. You see 'em from a long way. They're super vocal. You get to kinda, you watch the interaction.

So the first Turkey I ever killed, this is gonna sound crazy. I was 16 years old two buddies of mine we got in my truck. I was the one that had a driver's license. They were both 15. We got in my truck at 8:00 PM we drove to the panhandle, Texas. It was that same buddy I was just talking about.

We got there at 3:00 AM I was so excited I couldn't sleep. The next morning we just walked out of the pasture, set up a pop-up blind and two decoys. And I had that box call that I'd like never used before. And I called this Turkey in first time I'd ever called to a Turkey. [00:39:00] called this Tom in from 300 yards across a wide open pasture.

It took me 45 minutes, like I'd, I'd do a little hen call, a few plucks, and he'd take two steps. And he was strutting the whole time. Ended up calling him to 20 yards and shooting him with my bow at 16 years old. Nice. So it's hard to, it's hard, but that was no skill.

I had no idea what I was doing. We just happened to get the right bird at the right time. Hunting back, in Oklahoma and our place, it was way more difficult. And again, like I was saying, there's a reason we had a later season in southeast Oklahoma. There's just not as many birds.

Our place was special. Yeah, we had a few more. But again, with that later season, it made it really difficult. I don't like, honestly, I don't know if I could say I've had a true, like timber hunt. Not like you got, not like you've probably experienced, where the birds are really fired up.

You're up on a ridge top, calling down into the hollers and stuff. I can't say I've ever really experienced

Paul Campbell: that. . It's a beautiful thing, man. It really is. And it's, it's funny cuz I think of, calling a Turkey from, a stand of cotton woods from 300 yards away.

I'm like, man, that would be awesome. It's gotta be exhilarating. [00:40:00] You see 'em coming across these, these beautiful planes and the big sky and all that. And it's just, it sounds really neat. That's the Yes. That's something that I desperately want to experience.

Like I said earlier, I'm doing my first Florida Turkey hunt this year. , and one of the areas that I hunt is it's just six I'm going to be hunting. It's gonna be, it's just six inches of water. It's a swamp. . And then you'll get these little mounds of sand with the palm meadows that make these little islands. And you sit up there and the turkeys never leave it. They're just in this. moving around the entire time. Yeah. And I've heard that like they just start sloshing around and they're making all this noise and they're half wet. . And, it's just, it sounds really neat, man.

I'm just really looking, yeah. Really looking forward to it. Yeah. Yeah.

John Hudspeth: You sound like me. Like, when I was younger I wanted to hunt all these different things. Like I, I went to school in Idaho cause I wanted to hunt elk and mule deer. I'd grown up hunting whitetail and stuff. But as I've gotten older, I found instead of hunting, wanting to hunt more things, I want to hunt the same thing in more places.

Like now I want, last year I went to Nebraska to hunt [00:41:00] Whitetails. This year hopefully I'm gonna draw Iowa to go hunt whitetails and I still have not killed an elk. I've tried and. , but like I would almost rather go to some rain, North Dakota and hunt whitetails there than I would to go to Colorado and hunt elk.

And that sounds like you're the same thing, like hunting turkey's here. Hunting turkey's there, different situations. Yeah, very similar.

Paul Campbell: So it is, and I love I've been fortunate enough the order I get that I've been able to hunt more states every year. And a lot of that's work and a lot of that's, you just, you're comfortable in your job and, financially, I can afford to do things and I get an awesome wife that allows me to do these things and, keep the home front.

And it's funny, people are like what's your favorite place to hunt? And it's dude, I fall in love. Easy man. I hunt like a new state. I'm like, oh man. Upstate New York was my favorite place. All southern Alabama. Oh. Central Indiana. Because it's not home, right? It's just new.

. Yeah. It's not, and, I'm just like, it was awesome. And I may not even kill a Turkey, but it's still it's my favorite place to hunt cuz it was cool, and it was just, it was just different. And [00:42:00] like being from central Ohio, I do all of a majority of my hunting here in the state in southeastern Ohio.

So you've got like the foothills of Appian mountains, it's all big timber. It's all big woods, 25,000 acre, wildlife management areas. And, I go to Alabama and it's, I'm in, the Talladega Mountain. . And there's swamps and there's snakes everywhere. And I'm like this freaking wild man.

There's pine trees, , and there's palm trees. This is so cool. So then I know as soon as I step foot out in the Turkey woods in Florida, I'm like, favorite place to hunt. Barn on fans down. It's the best place to hunt. And then I'll go to Oklahoma and be like, it's my favorite place to hunt.

We love it here. , so yeah, it's just cool. I love seeing the people, in the different areas of the country. I love seeing the terrain and just how, just how vastly different, this great country is man in all the corners. So Yeah.

It's really neat. Yeah. And I've had fleeting thoughts of like spring bear hunting, cause I'll see videos, I'm like, okay, that looks cool. If I'm just gonna do any other form of hunting in the spring, it'd be spring bear. [00:43:00] For sure. ,

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Let Bravado Wireless connect you to your family, friends, and business partners all over the world. Bravado, wireless, the power of connection. I don't wanna take up too much of your time. I think we got a little bit of time here. I wanna do one quick little exercise. It's, I've done this as a lot of my guests.

So let's say you're, pick your own state, whatever your favorite one is at the moment, and you're gonna go on a Turkey hunt. So I just want you to walk me through the hunt, like you pull into the parking lot, gate, whatever it wants to be. Just walk us through. As soon as you close that truck door, walk us through a little hunt real quick.

Paul Campbell: Yeah, man. For sure. So we'll [00:44:00] just, I'll tell you what we'll do my home state here in southeast Ohio. And I know, I do say it's like my fear, but it's home, I love it. . Yeah. I still, even on, on opening day, if, if I'm hunting, Florida or Alabama or Mississippi or whatever it is, before the opener in Ohio, I could get excited.

But there's something special for me about opening day in Ohio. And a lot of times I've got my best friends with me, and so I get like this, just this, it's like nervous energy. It's like this nervous emotion. And I am just like I'm almost sick to my stomach On the way down. I've got about an hour and 20 minute drive from my house to the Turkey hunt woods.

And I'm just, I'm usually like in a, just in just this nervous wreck when I get there. And one of my favorite things, you get down there and in spring it's really, it's really cool still those early spring April warnings. And the first arrival of spring for me is I open that door with my truck and I always hear where we hunt in Benton County here in Ohio, you hear the whipper will, and it's the only time you hear it.

It's just, I don't know if you guys have 'em out there in Oklahoma. It's just [00:45:00] this little nighttime bird. It makes it sound. Whipper will. And that's like the, that's, to me, that's the arrival of spring Man, that cold air hits me. I hear that whipper wheel. I get out and I get this, I'm getting it now, man.

I'm getting this like just this stupid smile on my face. And that's the moment where I'm like, , it's here, man. And I can smell the air. And that's what speaks to my heart. And I've got this, I've got this thing that I've started I stole from Parker McDonald, new Spot Monday.

So if a season opens on a Monday, or I'm hunting on a Monday, I go to a spot that, I don't know, I just pick a spot randomly on the map, a management area here, and I just hop out. So for me, let's just play radio here. I'm hunting a spot I've never been to. I'm gonna look at my maps. I'm gonna find the highest point that I can get to.

That's the first thing I do. I wanna get up above everything. I wanna get there early, so I'm making noise. If I blow anything out, I might be able to sit down. And I get up there and I just listen. I'm not al hooting. I'm not CRO calling. I'm not Turkey calling. I'm just listening.

I'm listening for turkeys. That, that have [00:46:00] the, the Turkey that wants to die, that sucker's gonna start gobbling real early in the morning. , and if no one's ready to die, they want to, they, they wanna be a little more difficult. Around 20 minutes daylight.

I'm gonna, I'm gonna start ripping on that alcohol, and I'm just gonna listen, listen for the echoes. A lot of times if you're in the, if you're in the hills, you'll get that echo and the birds, we'll, we will gobble on that echo, cuz it sounds like there's more of 'em, and one, one of the sweet joys of spraying John is when you're in the woods and you're al hoo.

and you get another alco, an owl, like an owl hooting back at you. . And then you get another owl off your left, hooting back at you, and then you get turkeys down in front of you gobbling. And then the owls are gobbling at the turkeys. And the turkey's gobbling at the owl and the other owl's gobbling at you.

And then you're just like, this is it, this is what you're and so that's the moment, man. You're in the game, you're there. And then the fun begins. If it's a new spot, man I, like I said, I pull that map up. Where does he want to be?

What's the terrain look like? Where's he at best guess if he's a couple hundred yards away where I think he's gonna go, [00:47:00] man, and then I just start slipping in. I think the one, oh, the one thing for new Turkey hunters is don't go barreling in there. It's be cerebral with your movements.

Be quiet with your movements. , especially early in the spring, if there's no vegetation on the ground and it's daylight, you might see something moving before they see you. If you're running, you're not gonna see it, they're gonna take off. But so that's my play, man.

I like to let the woods wake up. I like to listen and, some of the hardest days to hunt are when you're there and nothing's talking. No songbirds, no crows, no owls, no turkeys. And you're like, man, what am I doing here? It's just quiet, you know exactly what I mean.

There's just, there's no life in the woods, , and then you get those spring days where there's a little chill in the air and it's, but it's gonna, be 60 by 10 o'clock in the morning and things are just booming, , and those are the days that you feed off of and you feel the energy.

For me at that point, man if I've got, if I've got someone that's gobbling. He's gobbling in the crow and he is a couple hundred yards away. I'm gonna, I'm gonna cut the distance in half. That seems [00:48:00] to be safely in half. And a lot of that could be, if he's at the point of a ridge, I might go away from him at first to get, on, on the other side of the ridge, depending on how the systems work.

But I wanna cut that distance in half. And if it's really early in the morning, 45 minutes for daylight, and he's feeling motivated and gobbling, you can't move a little quicker. You've got some time, you've got, darknesses of cover. If the leaves are wet or Dewey, you've got silence on your side.

And that's where the fun gets, that's where the fun relate, once you cut that distance, if you're within a hundred yards, like we talked about, man, what's the move there? What's, what are the hens doing? Is he only gobbling at owls? Is he only gobbling at in train whistles and he's ignoring your call?

That's when you know you've got a tough Turkey, don. , you're the goal for Turkey, you're looking for the Turkey that's willing to die. And so the ones that aren't gobbling at you, those are the really tough ones. And those are the ones that are gonna hit the ground. And they've got a mission in their mind that they established at some point is probably the night before left over business.

And they're just gonna [00:49:00] rip right on by ya, . The one thing that I've learned and it's easy to be an inpatient Turkey hunter. Everyone says patients kills Turkey hunter, or, patience kills turkeys. I think discipline is just another skill set, another virtue that kills turkeys and then it gets overlooked.

And it's something that I work on every year and every time I go out and hunt, I fail out at more times than not. But, if those turkeys know you're there in the morning and they hit the ground and they've got somewhere they want to be, or someone they wanna see, and that person ain't you they're probably, they're gonna be back.

If you're calling at 'em, they know that you're there. That's for the discipline to not move, to be patient. Let them go out, do things, do whatever the heck it is those turkeys are doing in the morning. And they're gonna circle back. So I'd say more oftentimes than not, those are the moments.

I've had 'em fly off the roost, man, hit the ground, gobble run to where you're at, and you shoot 'em and you're like, oh, it was freaking cool, man. But the battle man, that's the fun stuff. That's the, that's what keeps me going. And and, man, you just from that moment when he starts coming back, when you get that first call and he's at [00:50:00] a hundred, you hit it again and he's at 60.

Oh, John. That's it, man. That's the moment. That's where my hand starts shaking. And I gotta tell myself, calm down, big fellas. It's gonna be all right. This is what you're here for. It's what you signed up for . And at that point, that's where the discipline comes to shut up, right?

, quit calling so much. Let this play out. That's the

John Hudspeth: tough part for me, man. I, it is.

Paul Campbell: Dude, I like hearing, I like hearing them, man. , I like hearing and there's, that's like the ideal Turkey hunt, but man, I it doesn't always work out that way.

And that's the beauty of it. The nuance of Turkey hunting. It's unlike any other pursuit out there. And it's the it's what keeps me coming back for sure. Go out there, learn it, live it, experience it, fail at it, and you're gonna have a blast, and it's, hopefully it just keeps you coming back and hopefully your listeners go out there and just do it, yeah. Get you that $10, primos jackpot slate call, lucky seven Striker with it. And go to town,

John Hudspeth: man. . So I'm gonna get myself one of those little wooden train whistles too. That's gonna be my locator call instead of the [00:51:00] crow.

Paul Campbell: Yeah, just get those suckers, . Yep.

Man, I'm telling you guys, I know, seeing, watching the tv, you guys get some rage and thunderstorms out there. I can't Oh yeah. Imagine how many Turkey gobbles that, that gets all stirred up. I saw I don't know what state it was in, but like a meteor hit. I wanna somewhere in Florida or Texas, I'm not sure.

I'm not sure. Sure. Just the last couple days and someone had video of this meteor hitting the ground and it was just like this massive rumbling shock. I'm like, oh man, if that would've hit like in the woods, I would've made every Turkey gole for a hundred miles, man. I would've passed out if I have heard all that go off.

Yeah. Yeah. That's good stuff, man. That's awesome. Uhhuh.

John Hudspeth: Yes, sir. Awesome. Like I said, I don't wanna take up too much of your time. I'm trying, I feel like I thought of one more. Maybe I was just thinking of my stupid whistle comment. I thought I had one more question there. But man, I think that's that we're at a pretty good natural

Paul Campbell: stop.

Honestly, a train, if you had one of those train whistles, you'd probably get a Turkey to God. I really do. It would for sure work. Yeah. Aaron Warbritton from hunting [00:52:00] public, he's got the or whatever the heck it is, and he eat turkeys to go all the time, yeah. Yeah.

John Hudspeth: I thought of my question. I thought of my question. We'll try to do it real quick. All right. So you mentioned like you're walking in and you're trying not to spook turkeys. Again, this is coming from a whitetail perspective. Usually if you bump deer, it's typically not a good thing.

With turkeys. Is it also not a good thing, or is it like, Hey, at least I know they're here, they'll come back in an hour. It's what happens if you bump 'em?

Paul Campbell: So if it's daylight, or if it's dark, excuse me. If it's dark and you kick them off the roost, Mo this has been my experience. Most of the time they're gonna fly from one tree to another tree.

Because if if you don't have a headlamp, they just hear movement. They hear something, they don't know what it is that scares 'em. They know it's right there. They're gonna fly to another tree. . I can't tell you how many times that I've done this, John, and it's a ton.

I can't even put a number on it. You're calling a Turkey. You're calling a Turkey, and he's silent. And you sit there for four or five hours and nothing. You're hooting, you're gobbling, you're yelping, [00:53:00] gobbler, yelp and hand. Yelp and clo. You throw in the kitchen and nothing. And you stand up and he's 25 yards behind you.

bol strut puffed out and you didn't know it was there. Yeah. And that turkey's gone. There ain't nothing you can do to get that sucker back. I think it it's really, it's and such a hard, like running a podcast about how to hunt turkeys. I ask questions and I know that the answer's gonna be I don't know, or depends.

It depends. , right? Yeah. Those are the two answers. And so you pull it out and so are they gonna come back? I don't know, man. And like I said, if that turkey's ready to die, like he's just, that rubber band is so tight. There's a good Yeah. He absolutely could come back, , if you guys didn't make eye contact or shake hands, you gotta, you got a good chance that he's gonna come back.

Yeah. Not always, but, it's definitely a possibility. Gotcha. Okay. Thank God they can't smell. That's all I can say. .

John Hudspeth: Yeah. Yeah, I know. Yeah. All right. Like I said, I think I think we're a pretty good [00:54:00] stopping point here. Man, Paul, can't thank you enough. This was awesome. But real quick, if people listen to this Hey, I want to hear more from this guy.

Where should they go find you?

Paul Campbell: If you wanna hear more from me. Thank you. Thank you for listening. So I run two podcasts. I run the Ohio Outdoors Podcast, the O two podcasts with Andrew Munz. That's all things very much like you just, we cover Ohio outdoor stuff, Ohio, and we try to get guests that are nationally relevant and focus on Ohio.

My newest project is the How to Hunt Turkeys podcast, also on the Sportsmans Empire. And that is, man, it is just a collection of the finest Turkey hunters in this country. We got some awesome biologists coming on to talk about the Mind of a Wild Turkey. Talk about weather patterns. Those are really neat.

Wild, wild Turkey Doc Michael Chamberlain's coming on next week. That's been a ton of fun. It really has. It's easy for me to talk about, and I think the name isn't necessarily. , any level of Turkey hunter can listen to this. , I promise you that even if you're the most seasoned, grizzled, old crow, Turkey hunter you're gonna, you're gonna enjoy this.

A lot of [00:55:00] the, one of the, I think the best way to learn for people is to tell stories. . And so I get the guests telling stories again, 'em talking about themselves, their experiences. And I think that's the best the best way to learn, the funnest way to learn is through storytelling. So the guests that, that I've had on so far have just done a really phenomenal job with that.

So the How Hunters podcast on Sportsmans Empire. So those are the two places you can find me.

John Hudspeth: Awesome. Great. Paul, can't thank you enough. Gonna have to have you on again some time. Tell you what, if I kill a Turkey, I'll come on the podcast and, absolutely. Tell everybody how great I am.

And then I

Paul Campbell: learned it all from you. So there you go, man. John, I appreciate you having me, my friend. Yep. Awesome. We'll talk to you later. Yep. Thank you sir.

John Hudspeth: There it is, folks. I hope you guys enjoyed that. I'm telling you. I'm telling you, you need to get out there in the Turkey woods. It is awesome.

Like I said, last year just really made me a believer that Turkey hunting can be a. Maybe not quite as cool as deer hunting, but it can be pretty darn cool. Paul [00:56:00] would argue that thank you Paul for coming on. That was awesome. I learned a ton. And guys, I wanna apologize. I was having some technical difficulties when Paul and I were getting set up and my audio during that kind of sounded like garbage.

So Paul still sounded good. That's what's really important. So I hope you guys could make it through. All right. But I will work on that is definitely my fault. So thank you guys for checking out the show. As always, I wanna throw it out there. If you guys have any topics or questions or things you want to hear on this podcast please hit me up on social media.

Let me know because I, I'm doing this for you guys. So that's gonna do it for this week. Thank you guys for listening. I hope to see you at the Backwood show and until next. I will see y'all right back here on the Oklahoma Outdoors Podcast.[00:57:00]

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