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

Episode Date: April 12, 2023

On this episode of the Bear Grease Render, Clay Newcomb travels down south to chase a Mississippi long beard. Joined by Lake Pickle, Jordan Blissett, and assistant to the regional producer, Isaac Neale, the crew talk about their favorite memories from their time at Primos, recount the morning’s hunt, describe the ubiquitous and iconic historic property from which they recorded es, and an unscheduled call in from the one and only Will Primos. You’re not gonna wanna miss this one… Connect with Clay and MeatEater Clay on Instagram MeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube Shop Bear Grease MerchSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. First Lights fieldware collection is made for the work that happens long before opening day and continues when the season ends. Products built for early mornings, full days in real use. Hard wearing where they need to be versatile where it matters. No shortcuts. Just gear designed for the work that earns the season.

Built to perform, built to last. Check out. First Light's new field. Worldware Gear at firstlight.com. My name is Clay Newcomb, and this is a production of the Bear Grease podcast called The Bear Grease Render, where we render down, dive deeper, and look behind the scenes of the actual Bear Grease podcast. Presented by FHF Gear, American Made, Purpose Built, Hunting and Fishing Gear that's designed to be as rugged as the places we explore. Okay, guys, I'd like to read y'all a little something here.

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

there is an inevitable restlessness building by the hour. Some are admired, some are hated. Neither of them care. They know the costs of this lifestyle are to be paid up front, are due time and time again, and are exchanged for a single chance. But to them, to us, it's worth it. People know a real turkey hunter when they see one. the book goes on.

This is, that was, oh, Hunter's got a, he's got a way of words, doesn't he? That was the, that was the first couple paragraphs of a, of a book I've got in my hand to hear called the Ballad of the Turkey Hunter.

Hunter. You guys know Hunter? Yeah, we both know him. He's a friend. Mississippi guy. Yep. Young guy. I'm in Mississippi.

30-something. R. Yeah, he's right around our age. Yeah. Our age. That includes me. Mine and Jordan's age. Oh, do you play?

I'm 43. Man. Yeah. our age. How old are you guys? I'm 33. Okay. 31.

I got a decade on you. Yeah. Man, so before this started, I was, well, let me introduce my guess. We've got Lake Pickle, the famed. One and only. One and only Lake Pickle. It's great to have you, man. It's slightly overstated, but yeah.

He's got to be the only person named that in the United States. Yeah. Have you met another Lake Pickle? I've met another lake. I've met, in my lifetime, I've, met three other individuals named Lake, but never met another Lake Pickle. Would you have met the other guys named Lake if your name wasn't Lake? One of them, yes.

The other two were like, hey, you got to meet this other person named Lake. And I was like, that's fair. Not too many others. And your dad named you Lake after he was a bass fisherman. He was and is an obsessed bass fisherman, and that's where the name Lake came from. Okay. My wife just yesterday said that she thinks Lake Pickle is the most unique name she's ever heard. Well, I mean, probably.

I think I haven't met another one. I don't know if I've told you this, but when we came down last year to meet you, I just assumed it was your Instagram name. And then when I met you in person, I was like, no, that's the name. He's not joking. Yeah, he took on his handle as his real name. Yeah. There was a guy.

Oh, you got to answer it. Answer it. Hey, Will. Did you? He was, well, Libby. bit of both. He was hanging by that leather strap. Everybody, Will Primos, is just called Lake Pickle. Tell

Will he's on the Bear Grease podcast. Will, you're currently on the Bear Grease podcast. We were recording and you called, so I answered. All right. Okay. How could you have a podcast in Mississippi start any better than this?

Will Primo show up in the midst of the podcast. Should we just shut it down? Yeah, we're done. This day just keeps getting better, man. Keep the wild place as wild. Oh, man. So Lake Pickle, which most people know Lake from the years that he worked at Primos. And we'll talk about that a little bit later.

Now you work for Onyx. I do. Yeah, it's been about a year. Yeah. Because the first time you and I went Turkey on was right when I started that transition to Onyx. Yeah. That's great. To your right is Isaac Neal.

Bear Greece assistant to the regional producer, Isaac. Good to have you, Isaac. Glad to be here. Yeah, man. We've had a heck of a 24 hours. We have. Not even 24 hours. We have, we have.

We have. To your right, Jordan Blissitt. Yes, sir. How are you doing, man? Man, I'm wonderful. I couldn't be any better today, actually. Yeah. I mean, I'm assuming people kind of get the gist of what's going on after Will's conversation.

Yeah, yeah. Now, Jordan, I would have known. you from Primos too, which you don't work at Primos now. Tell me what you're doing now. Pretty much just doing real estate and I also help people get healthy. So doing two things at once. Yeah. But you, you met Lake and that's where we would have, I would have known your face and voices from some of the Primos stuff. Lake and I worked together at Primos for six years doing the true series there and traveled all over the place and this became Best of Buddies. Yeah. And what's the name of? the realty company? Open season properties. And that factors into where we are right now.

Right. It's kind of why, I mean, while we have access to hunt this place. So what we do is we specialize in like recreation tracks, like developing, you name it. I mean, everything to do with hunting land, we pretty much do it. And like the place we're on right now is part of our brokerage and it's eventually going to be, you know, up for sale for somebody else looking for a recreation place. Clay, can you... Unless. I tell you what. Let's go in four ways.

Yeah. We got to say, after this morning, Clay, they won't it. It can't be much more than a couple million. I say, claim squatters rights. Can you describe the room that we're in right now, Clay? Yeah. Or the building or the...

So this house that we're staying in is on the national historic register. Yeah. Of historic places. Yep. There's a sign. There's a little plaque out there. and so the house was built. 1870.

That's what it says established. Now, the actual house may have been built for that before they, I don't know exactly the whole history on us, no, it's been here for a minute. Yeah. It's an old but beautiful, well taken care of the house. This room that we're in is, it's all wood, all dark wood.

I feel like it's probably pine that's been stained. It could be wrong. But it has very immaculate trim work. Very unique, immaculate trim work, even on the ceilings. And there's an old fireplace. It's almost like a gingerbread house. Not that girly, but like that ornate. There's just woodwork everywhere.

Yeah. And big bookshelf, duck decoys, deer, old guns. Yeah, it's a great turkey camp. I'm assuming this was the man room. And this is how in my mind, I imagine I can envision somebody sitting over on that couch smoking a cigar or talking about that turkey hunt. Yeah. Yeah. We were out here last week and we had never been inside this thing and we were starting to put this hunt together for you to come down here.

And I was like, Jordan, is that house even livable? He's like, I don't know. I ain't been inside. We walk inside and we see this big woodroom and all the stuff on the wall. And then there's a painting of a bear and her cubs running out of a cabin. And I was like, yeah, Clay will like this place just fine. Yeah. Oh, it's incredible.

And then that picture right there behind you got, what's that, two grizzlies looking at a hunter? It's fly fisherman. Oh, okay. Outfly fishing. He's being watched. Yeah, there's some classic art in this place, too. Really is. It's pretty unique all across the board, to place, the ground, the house, all of it.

Okay, I got a question. I'll start with you, Lake, and then I'll come back to you, Jordan. All right. Of all the years, working at Primos, traveling with, Will and all the guys, what is, if you had one story to tell, that would be the most memorable story of traveling and hunting, let's just say with Will. Okay. What would it be?

So, this is just the one that popped right in my head. It was my first spring at Primos. And when I started at Primos, I started, like, right at the beginning. So it was elk and deer season and waterfowl season first. And I was actually, I started as like contract work, and I didn't know if I was going to, they were kind of keeping me on as a trial basis and like my whole goal because what kind of hooked me into watching will and being a primos fan growing up was spring turkeys that was like everything and so i was like man i hope they just like me enough to keep me through at least one spring i just wanted

to do one spring with primos and so i you know i made it through deer season and into january and the executive producer uh john gibson at the time called me as like hey we'd love to use you through spring if you're interested i was like yup uh And so the end of spring, I really hadn't got to hunt with Will that much at all. And they put together this hunt right around the first of May to New Mexico. There's going to be me, Wilbur, and Brad Ferris, if I remember correctly. And I got so excited because I remember watching, from being like a kid growing up in Central Mississippi, I would watch these videos of Will hunting these big, just majestic mountains and these

big white fan merriam turkeys and it just was like it seemed just like almost fantasy like to me like something that wasn't attainable and they scheduled this trip and next thing i know i'm in a truck with wilbur and brad we're driving out there and we go out there the first morning and we get in some turkeys and i'm just hearing these merriums i mean we all know how merriam sounded those mountains just oh blah blah blah and just echo in the cross and i'm just completely lost in the moment i think it was the second day that we ended up killing one but it was

I'm going to say early afternoon probably like 2 o'clock we spotted this turkey he was in an he was actually in an old like a wildfire had come through that place for a strike of lightning and so he was in that old burn and we circle around we get up above him yelp and the turkey gobbles

immediately and we scramble and we sit down and classic wilbur he's shooting like this old side by side shotgun with hammers on it. You know, just Wilbur loves his old school stuff. But the turkey answers, and immediately starts coming, and I just see this

white fan break, and there's this big, beautiful mountains behind him in the background. And I just remember being just completely lost in the moment. Turkey comes in, gets to 20 yards, Wilbur shoots him, and he goes out there, he gets the turkey, and he's standing there looking at Will and Brad,

and I'm video-in, and I just remember just having this surreal moment of like, how in the world did I end up here. You know, how did I end up in mountains with Will Primos and Brad Ferris? I just felt like I didn't, I didn't know how I got there. I didn't feel like I deserved to be there. It was just all these mix of emotions and we get through video and I'll never forget it. We're standing there with record. No, I hit record. I did it record. I thought that was going to do the punchline. No, no, no, no, no. It's a little bit more, I guess, uh, heartstring pulling than that. We're

standing there and we're done filming everything and Will says, wait a minute. And I was like, what? He said, we're going to give thanks before we leave right here. So Wilbur laid that turkey down. Me and Brad and Will stood in a circle, took our hats off and prayed right there. And I'm not, I'm not not emotional, but I'm not necessarily an emotional person. But I don't know.

It was just like I got just welled up because I just, the moment was too much for me, you know. But he sat there and was like, we got to give thanks. And he said a prayer. And then back down the mountain, we went. that's awesome that's awesome and that wasn't on film no it was not i mean that wasn't that wasn't a act no that was just will be and will that was will be and will yeah man yeah that's that's a good one that's a good one jordan what about you most memorable thing man i'm i'm hoping for like a train wreck story no this one was so good this was this was enough like meat on the bones sentiment heartfelt like spiritual

So, man, the first thing that came to my mind was a turkey hunt with Will. We had a county south of here, probably 45 minutes south where we're at right now. And Will call me, it was a weekday, he called me afternoon before because he knew I'd been chasing some turkeys out

there on a national forest. He's like, hey, if you got time in the morning, you'll go with me. We'll try to film a hunt. I got permission to hunt his place over here in Madison County. Like, heck yeah,

let's go. And it was my first, spring, no, it was my second spring at Primos. And, man, I hadn't got to actually sit and hunt with wheel just like one-on-one. It's usually like a group deal, three or four of us going. And like this, this was, it was pressure, like trying to video, but at the same time, it wasn't like we were two states away and trying to under, under like a deadline. And we get out there that morning and he had been hunting these turkeys a couple days by himself.

and he was like, man, I think I got them somewhat figured out. We ought to try to video it. And we get in here, it's just beautiful hardwood and big old-growth pine stand. I mean, lake's been on the place, and it's just gorgeous timber. I mean, it looks like a park. And we get in there that morning and didn't hear the turkeys where he thought they'd be, so we'd just go to start, you know, walking around and prospecting a little bit. And finally get about a quarter of a mile, half mile, where he thought they should be.

and we yelp and one answers us all right well we get closer to him and get in a spot where we think we can yelp him up without him seeing us we didn't have any decoys this particular morning so we were just like us and a turkey right and uh this turkey man it went on for two hours he was standing his ground we were standing ours we did him silent treatment on him got aggressive with him yelping and he never would break and finally uh he uh we just said okay we're gonna go quiet for 30 minutes which is hard for me and will because we like yelping especially wilbur yes and uh every time he reached down there he told me he's like hey don't let me yelp and he told me to look at my clock on my phone like okay it's i don't remember what time

was just so it's like nine o'clock in the friends don't let friends yell too much. He said, look at time. What time is it? I was like, it's, you know, 9 o'clock. All right, we ain't you up until 9.30. And anyway, this, it worked. The gobbler finally, like, cut some distance on us and gobbled.

And after that, we answered him, and he got fired up and started coming. And then he went quiet on us. And it's just, like, that anticipation part of it. And we're looking up this ridge, expecting him to come down his finger to us. And he can shoot the top of it if he comes. comes over, it looks down. So to kind of paint the picture of what the scenario is, and there's another finger, like, we're sitting on the side of a bowl.

There's another finger comes down to our left. And we're sitting there. I mean, wheels, guys going up. We're both, like, just scanning everywhere, just expecting this thing to pop up any second. And to our left, we hear, it was a gobbler yelping. And he comes running down his hill yelping at us instead of gobbling.

At first time I'd ever seen that, I've heard about it, but usually expect a gobbler to fire off and be goblin, but he's yelping looking for the hen. And anyway, Turkey comes down there and Wilbur shoots him, and the excitement that I got to witness that morning and the passion, we used the quote that he had that morning in so many videos since then. It's a soundbite. I don't remember exactly how it went, but if you've listened to any of the truth, openings on the YouTube channel that you've heard we'll talk about what he said that morning but the biggest thing it stood out to me and will forever be remembered is he after he said thanks to the Lord for it happened in that morning he was like man I sure do love this and I was like I do too Wilbur and we just sat there and talked

about that turkey for 30 minutes afterwards and this one of those deals growing up in the South I mean Will Primo's might as well be Elvis to a a turkey hunter. You know? Yeah, that's a good way to say it. Sitting there with him talking about that hunt and it'll, that's one of those deals I'll never forget. Just like, I've made it.

Yeah. My dreams have came true right here. Yeah. Got to yelp at a turkey wheel and we killed him and just celebrated it. Yeah. So that was one that stuck out to me. It is something to see with Wilbert. Like, because, I mean, think about how much he's turkey hunted since he started, especially

since he started doing the video stuff. And Jordan, like, nothing about what Jordan said was embellished. There's been times we'd be hunting around here, and we'd be going all day, walk however many miles, and we finally hear a turkey, and Wilbert just turns into a different human being, just gets giddy. He just gets so excited. And it's to see someone like that, just get that fired up. It's contagious. Yeah.

Yeah. Well, you know, the thing about, and I've not spent a lot of time around Will, but I did get to hunt with him last spring with you, like. And everybody's always wondering, well, I wondered what he's like off-camera. You know, people ask that about people that they know from media some way. And they're like, well, but what's he like when nobody's around? And Will Primos is, I like Will Primos better off-camera than on-camera. I mean, he's just a passionate, genuine, caring guy that just, just,

is not, we talked about this last night, is not concerned with fame. Like it really, you hear people say stuff like that and you're kind of like, really? But I saw it, I have a couple of stories that it's like, he is, he's not interested in being famous. And that's why he's so authentic.

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

you when we were here for that podcast. We talked about him the whole way home. Yeah, that guy, he just has such a galvanizing personality. Like you just want to be on his team and pull in the same direction as him. Yeah. It's truly remarkable. And these guys have told us both this morning how much Will has helped them to

to Will's detriment. Like he's not just trying to get a bunch of people doing stuff that. He's been one of those people that come into your life and just a positive influence that wants to help you. Genuinely wants you to win. Yeah.

This is a super short story about Will, but it's like just to chose his character. No, you only had one. Oh, yeah. He calls me one morning during the summer, not hunting season. He calls me on Saturday. He says, hey, I got some stuff going on at the house. Can you come help me? And this was not abnormal.

I was like, sure. Yeah, so I ride over there, knock on his door, expect him we're doing something in his garden or in his barn. He says, hey, come inside. I'm like, okay. He says, you want any coffee? I'm like, sure. And he's like, all right, go in my office, just sit down. At this point, I'm like, what are we doing?

Am I about to get fired? Yeah, am I in trouble? But I go in there, his office. I'm sitting there with a coffee. He walks in, he sits down the chair across from me, and he says, hey, man, is that the office this week? And I could tell something was bothering you. I don't know if it's work.

I don't know if it's personal, but me and you, we're going to sit in here. We're going to talk about it until we figure it out, because I don't like seeing you that way. It's just Wilbur. Wow. So what happened? We want the deets, man. Oh, man.

I'm kidding. No, that's a great story. Yeah, that's a pretty remarkable experience to have with a boss. Yeah, yeah, it really is. It really is. Well, so we're right in the middle of every year on Bear Greece at this time of year, we focus on turkeys. And so we've now had two turkey stories podcasts.

and I love those because you just get to hear I love hearing people tell stories people that are passionate about what they're doing that are really knowledgeable and because you everybody that tells the story is going to do something different the way they the way they saw things happen the way what they emphasize what they don't emphasize is always so interesting to me but now you listen to that first one was there a story that stood out to you on that one or you just thought was funny or you thought was good? Probably the guy was, I can't remember the man's name, but he was telling the story about the turkey coming in and he crawled up on the knoll and all he could see was the top of his fan.

I like that. And then he has a video, he said he had a video of a turkey goblin and his foot was touching his boot. Oh, okay, that was in the render. That was Steve Phillips. Yeah, he was hunting with his, with a, you. with maybe his grandson. Yeah. He was up above, and he could see this turkey so good,

but there was a little mound of dirt, and his little boy couldn't see the turkey. All he could see is the top of the fan, so when he shoots, you know, Steve said the turkey was like, just like six or seven feet. And it was a different turkey that stepped on his foot. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I need to get that video from him.

That's, I was hoping that when I heard that, I was like, man, I hope they got that video. Yeah, yeah. Probably you're right, the one on the actual Turkey Stories podcast, the one where the, He was listening to his granddad and he kept calling his granddad. Yeah, Coy House. That was cool.

Yeah, his granddad is Steve, the guy who. Well, that was, yeah, it's all the same vein there. Yeah. But, well, let's tell our story. So we came down here, Isaac and I came down, kind of last minute deal, and we were going to hunt two days in Mississippi, but it turns out we only needed one. When you got your guide.

We only needed a couple hours. Yeah. So it's, today is March 30th. Yep. Last day of March. And the 31 days of March? Yeah. Today the 31st?

Yeah. Tomorrow is the 31st. Hang on. I got to consult the Cal. Today's the 30th. Today's the 30th. A couple days until April. Because Texas opens on the first and we're supposed to live tomorrow.

Mississippi is very green right now. Very much so. Turkeys are really starting to gobble good. I think I sat in a good patch of poise and ivy this morning. Yeah. Probably did. And a little bit about the spring, man, it came early. Like our spring, it started greening up here in February, which is abnormal.

Usually right now, it's starting to, like, oak trees are starting to blossom, and you're having a little small, small leaves on them, and they're full foliage. Did we pass a field with corn sprouting in it yesterday? Yeah, we passed a field yesterday with probably five or six inch tall. Yeah, corn that had been planted. They started planting corn this year, like mid-February. everything feels in the woods everything feels about two weeks ahead okay for sure i see up in in northwest arkansas i would say we're relatively on track like it is not leaf out yet the red buds the red buds

have popped some of the the faster blooming trees the maples and some of those have have are starting to put out leaves but the oaks are holding tight gotcha so it's still still about right up there we're probably a little early yeah it's it's set up it's been a a fantastic couple weeks of Mississippi Open of Turkey City. Usually it's kind of slow, you know, he ended up super bad, like hard to deal with. Turkeys don't gobble a whole lot, but it's been lights out since opening. You told me how many days you've hunted and how many turkeys you've seen killed this year. That's not normal.

Okay. Yeah. Will you tell me how many? I think this morning, it's either 19 or 20 days. We started early March in Florida and have been going just about every day since then. and excluding the travel days. And, yeah, it's been, I think best I can remember, I've seen 13 turkeys get shot at since March the 8th or 9th.

So it's been pretty stout. Like you've seen. This would have been Dave, I think George's got a few days and a few turkeys on me. I think this is day 15 or 16, and this is the 11th turkey I've seen get shot. That's incredible, man. Yeah, it's been a, it's been a. very good spring. Last spring, Clay Newcomb and I collaborated with Jason Phelps at Phelps game calls

in building each of our own favorite turkey diaphragms called Prime Cuts. Now, I'm going to tell you, I love mine because it's easy to use. I'm not going to go, I'm not going to win a turkey calling contest. It's just not going to happen. But when I run this call, I get the sounds that gobblers are looking for. I have a great turkey hunting track record. If you go listen to real turkeys out in the woods, they're not going to, win calling contests, right?

That's who I listen to. I can make those sounds on my cut. I also hunt with Phelps's cut, and I hunt with Clay's cut because they're all three great cuts. Check out Prime Cuts at Phelpsgamecalls.com. I think you'll be glad you did, and you'll find out that the Steve Ronella cut is an easy-to-use cut for beginning callers

who just want to start making good turkey noises and getting action. Which one of y'all wants to tell this story? Or get it started? Well, I get, so it starts yesterday because I was out, I came out here yesterday evening. You know, prior, I was like, man, if I can get a roost gobble, like find something in the evening, awesome. You know, and granted, I typically don't have the best of luck getting them to gobble on a limb in the evening. But I was going to be out here, so I was like I might as well try. and Jordan was up on another piece of the property scouting around,

and I walked in about where we walked in this morning, and it was originally going to go up higher on the, why I call it a hill. You probably don't call it the hill. People out there, it's not a hill. It's not even remotely close to hill. What do you call it? I mean, it would be just like a slight incline.

Well, I was going to go up higher on the slight incline. And I said, man, I better check, make sure I don't bump anything. And I just owled a single note, and he gobbled. And I was like, there's no way. And that ended up being not to prep, you know, the set of turkeys we set between this morning. It was the single turkey up the sliding. So only one of them. So this morning, well, where are you where last night?

You out heard one gobble on the roost. We sat in there this morning. And I'm not trying to rush your story. I'm trying to make a connection between how many might gobble on the roost versus how many are actually there. Right. Yeah. And Jordan and I talked about that because, again, we have hunted this property previously and we knew there was a lot more than one. Just one time, though.

Yes. But there was a lot of turkeys. And so I was like, man, I heard one answer me, but the chances are there's more than that in there. And then sure enough, like right when we got in there, we heard all of them. And what we had was one single gobbler over here and then down by the drain. There was three or four wadded together still. And the game plan this morning was to try to get down by the creek and basically situate ourselves in between the two turkeys,

thinking they would converge at some point. Yeah, yeah. Was the original gameplay. Did they converge? They indeed did not converge. Isaac, I'm glad you asked that question. It would have been too easy if they did, you know. So we get out there, you know, right at gobbling time, we may not have heard his first gobble.

Maybe. Maybe he gobbled before we got there. I would think so. When we walked outside and there was light in the sky, I was like, oh, shoot. But it wasn't a big deal. We were there way before fly-down time. Al, maybe on the second owl, we heard him gobble moved in to probably 150 yards of the turkey. Yeah.

Or we're kind of in between these two groups of turkeys. And then what happened? We went to battle. That's right. That's right. We started, I mean, we started kind of, yeah, when we thought it was like right on the verge of flydown time, we decided to let them know that we were there. You know, just yelp a little bit. And they were keen to answer us at first.

But Jordan, like, tell me if I'm wrong, the wad of turkeys, like, pretty quickly. I was like if they're going to come our direction and it's not going to be anytime quick. Like they were very obviously keen with whatever they had going on. Yeah, and from hunting in here last week, we pretty sure everybody's got hens over there because it was a pile of hens in there last week when we hunted. And my theory on the way when I started yelping and why I did it when I did it was, hey, the first hen on the ground kind of with this many, this much competition, and you may get an early looker come in there, you know, thinking,

okay, I'm going to go meet Betty over here earlier than everybody else is. Yeah. I started yelping and I did a fly down like multiple turkeys flying down. And just trying to paint a picture of that gobber sitting up on a ridge, it's like, man, I didn't know them hens were down there last night, but apparently they are. I'm hearing them fly down, hearing them yelp, you know. Jordan had a wing, like real turkey wing or at least a real turkey.

it was real turkey feathers. Yeah, it's a wing. It's a wing off of a gobler. I actually cut it down so it doesn't make a big gobler commotion. It's smaller, so it sounds like a hand. Yeah, so he, and then did the fly-down cackle. That was you that did that.

Well, Jordan and I, we've hunted together enough. It was like a symphony. We kind of, well, it's like, we can be like, we just spent so much time together in the woods. Like, we can be separated 15 yards and just be looking at each other's eyes through our mask and kind of know what the other one's thinking. And so, yeah, like he was flying down.

But again, like what Jordan said, like trying to, there's obviously a lot of excitement going on already because there's multiple turkeys, and it's like if you try to make it seem like there's, you know, a couple different hens flying down and they may drift over. But that didn't happen. Yeah, so we sat there for probably 30-plus minutes.

really probably yeah probably 30 maybe 40 minutes and a bird kind of acted like he was going to come our way but then just never just never materialized we still heard these birds lower we swung around at one point yeah the single turkey started showing some interest and we thought he may come

our direction but he didn't didn't yeah and then so we move we make a move across the creek Jordan when he gets across the creek lets off a very aggressive, really good sound in Al Hoot. Let's hear your Al. Will you Al for us? I don't want to break your speakers.

Man, it doesn't matter. Oh, man. Hold on. We'll get another one. He'll turn it down. He's better. No, I loved it. I love a good Al Hoot.

Let's hear it. One node or the whole who cooks for you. There you go. One of them, you know. Yeah. Yeah, give it to us. Give us the whole. There we go.

Beautiful. A thing about you. Man, if you're from Mississippi, there's a, a real good chance that you're a good mouth out hooter it's just the truth that's just that was i could not do it forever and i kept trying and trying and trying because i felt like i was incompetent if i couldn't do it my voice uh-huh like you go around with these guys that our turkey hunters are like what you got that aisle hooter for i want quick side note you know who paul busky is no so paul busky is like a legendary turkey caller hunter from back in the 80s 90s he won all kinds of world championship

Yelping contest. And we were in Alabama. This has been nine, ten years ago. I was filming him for Mossie Oak Show. And I had this little hoot to made by Primos. And we were hunting these turkeys, and Paul won, like, hooting contest, too. And I'll still rub this into his face every time I see him. We were doing the same maneuver where this morning, like, turkeys would gobble at a hoot every once in a while.

And then they finally quit. And Paul's getting aggravated. They won't quit gobbling. I was like, Paul, let me try this little Hooter thing. I'm telling you they answer it. And I mean, it sounds terrible. I was like, ooh, woo, woo, ooh. And the turkey's gobbled at it.

And he's like, you got to learn how to do that with your voice. I was like, Paul, they gobbled at it. Yeah. Yeah. Where did the breakthrough come from? I just kept trying. Just perseverance. I finally figured out how to.

You were an adult when he learned to do it? Yeah, I was pretty much an adult when I started. You're an adult onset Al Hooter. Well, I was pretty much an adult when I started. a turkey hunting period oh really yeah so i didn't grow up in a turkey hunting family or around the culture i knew people that did it but they weren't going to take you i mean i keep it to their self you know and uh i i just started showing interest and it kind of self-taught slash getting to go around with a lot of good people when i started in the film industry yeah outdoor that's yeah that's what

really about put fuel on my fire but turkey hunting is getting to go with really good turkey hunter sure Yeah. So we cross the creek, you owl, one note owl, and they answer close, or, you know, within 120 yards probably. We'd kind of moved in on this bunch down by the creek. They answered. We sit down. We feel like it's going to be money. And, you know, that situation was interesting to me because it's something you always have to deal with.

But when you're setting up on a turkey, there's some things that are chosen for you. and other things you get to choose. The thing chosen for you is where it happens. And in that situation, they were probably a little closer than we thought they were going to be. And we couldn't go backwards because the creek was right behind us and we didn't want to try to calm across the creek. So, I mean, it's like, we're going to sit down right here.

You're going to sit right here. Yeah. And so when we sat down, about 35 yards out in front of me was a very big hardwood of some variety that had fallen down. making a major obstacle it had vines on it and brushed growing up through it and it was like

probably 20 yards long of obstacle that I felt like it was for sure going to make the turkeys if they came to us go around the end of that thing but I also knew

Lake Pickle that if I anticipated them coming around the end of that that they probably wouldn't they're going to do something else yeah and I was sitting there thinking what is this thing going to do because it's so obvious that if this turkey's going to show up, he's going to be right

there. Yeah. And I was like, he's going to do something. Like, he's going to jump up on that log. Belly call. Or he's going to come through the cane thick, you know, the cane thicket on the creek right behind us, which is like, turkeys don't do that. Yeah.

But when you're set up, you're thinking, that's what I'm always thinking. Oh, yeah. I'm like, I think he's coming right there. He's not. Yeah. Even though he's gobbling that way, everything's pointing. He's going to come that way. And the bird at one point, I felt like he came maybe 30 yards closer than he was originally.

Yeah. Which when you're inside of like 150 yards, that amount of movement makes it, you can hear it. You know, it's like, oh, he's coming closer. And to me, inside a turkey hunting, that is the most exciting part of it, probably even more than pulling the trigger. When a bird is in range and you're pulling the trigger, to me it's like almost panic. It's not necessarily fun. It's almost panic. Yeah, it's stressful.

It's stressful. It is. To me, the excitement when my heart starts to pound and I get pumped is when I hear one. And then you sit there for three or four minutes and... It is closer. And then the next time... I mean, he's like, you just know he's just about to be there.

And you're scanning, scanning, scan. And then when you're half-deaf like me and you can't really tell which direction they're coming from. You're scanning from as far as you can see this way to as far as you can see that way without moving your head. And then all of a sudden you catch that flicker of movement, which is usually their head, I would say. Most of the time, you see that. Periscope.

You see that head just kind of bopping around. And that's what I, but after that, to me it's like, oh. Terror. It's like, why am I even a turkey hunter? I could have been at home, sipping coffee with Misty. It's like, why am I doing this? And then, you know, hopefully it works out. Then you shoot it and it's fine.

So which way did he come through? So the turkey didn't come any way through. He didn't show up, but he came a little bit closer. Yeah. And then Jordan had a good move. I like, I learn stuff every time I'm hunting with good turkey hunters. I mean, I'm really paying attention to what someone else does and comparing it to what I would do. Because in any situation, you have an instinct of what to do.

Yeah. And I'm aware of my instinct, but I knew, you know, these guys are, I was going to do, these guys were the masters. What did you want to do? Well, Lake, I'm not going to tell you what I want to do. That's a secret. Curious. No, no, no, no. I just thought, I didn't have much of a chance to think about it before Jordan said, hey, we're going to, we're going to circle way around these turkeys and come in from the complete other side of it.

Well, the reason I ask is, like, the most common mistake that you see made often is, like, a turkey hunter just goes, you know, you got to move. Like, well, it's just go to them. Yeah. Just no matter what the topography or the timber is like, it's just the move is to make a move pretty much going right at them. Yeah. Which sometimes can work. But in the... If you got some cover or something.

Yeah. Or, you know, even if you're aware that you can't get that close, you end up moving like 50 yards and you're essentially in the same position you were before you moved. And so you got to do something to put the odds more in your favor. I would say that that is probably, that is a really great tip for people, I think. It's like you're trying to solve a problem. You come at it from this way. It doesn't work. Well, come at it from a completely different way, see if it works.

Go at it from this way, see if it works. So in my mind, the way we were set up, like, we'd been yelping at those turkeys from that direction for an hour and a half. Yep. They have not. And we moved closer to them. They still haven't broke. So I'm like, okay, they obviously do not want to come this way.

So whether you move 40, 100 yards closer, they're not wanting to come that direction. So come in from the other side. They're drifting, they're wanting to drift that way. It sounds like anyway. So just I talked about earlier, if you get where they want to be, it's a whole lot easier to kill them. Yeah, yeah. And so we dropped way away from the turkey, circled around so we didn't spook them. Because I think that's something that we do as well as you'll spook birds.

while you're moving around on them, just thinking for sure that you're safe. Well, and another thing is it's like a, you can, it's easy to get complacent or lazy because we could have cut a lot more distance, a lot quicker had we made a less drastic move. Like the move that we made was excessive for the amount, for the spot we needed to get to,

but we walked, got on the other side of that ridge where we're like, there's no way in the world. It was kind of a slight incline. The slight incline. We got up on the other side of that slight incline, where there's no way in the world they were going to spot us and then closed in. Yeah. Which makes for more walking around, but I mean it's...

We made an exaggerated move to make sure we didn't bump the turkeys. Came in from the other side. And the one thing that was great about the setup this morning, which I like about that property, is this, there's a huge, just cattle pasture that borders the whole whatever, the west side of that. And so it's a big block of woods with a huge cattle. pasture on one side of it.

And, you know, they're going to use that cattle pasture. And we couldn't hunt that cattle pasture. That wasn't our land, so we could just hunt in the timber. And but, you know, most likely those turkeys aren't going to cross a half a mile through that open field and go somewhere else. If it had all been timber, if that had been a timbered, if it had just been a boundary through a big, huge block of timber. I mean, they might have just kept drifting. But I felt like that field was kind of a boundary of. Yeah, I mean, they, I don't, the whole flock of turkeys are not just going to vacate the woods unless you run them out of there.

They're called that home, you know? Yeah, yeah. As we made that approach, I would love an explanation of what happened. You guys heard them at one point, and I didn't hear them. The next time I heard them, but they sounded far off, and we were doing little increments where we'd stop, call, listen, edge forward. We were, we were, owling and crowing. We weren't yelping at them. Yeah.

We're just trying to get them to call on their own. Yeah, because once we made the big move, those turkeys had heard zero yelping from that direction at all. So our benefit, as long as they'll start, keep gobbling, I'd rather not yelp at them until you ready to sit at a tree. Absolutely. Because the second you start hen yelp and then you got to start thinking, then you don't have the luxury of, all right, where can we set up? Like, if they're gobbling at an owl or a crow, you're like, take all the time you won't. You know, figure it out. So this factors into what I was wondering about is we hear them and then we make a little bit of move and then they sound much closer.

That's that little foothill over at topography change. That slight decline. That slight decline. It's the slight incline. Okay. That explains everything. And that was. I think they had moved a little closer though, don't you?

I touch. Yeah. But it really was. That's just kind of going over that break. They stayed within the same. 50-yard circle for two hours, I'd say. Were they in a, like a creek bed or a depression or a waller? Bottom?

Yeah. Just like, just a hardwood little. Not like one of those deep-sided things. I think sometimes, too, to answer your question about how a turkey might sound closer. Turns to Ted. Yeah. I mean, Andy Brown said it the other day on the Render podcast. He said, I like it when people can pull out nuance from something that's like.

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

Yeah. Which is something he wouldn't have done, but it was just a turkey that was out of play. Yeah. And he said he could tell that turkey turned around on the limb and started gobbling his direction. It's just because it just got loud. Yeah.

You know, just and then the turkey, I'm telling the story that he told on the ridder, the turkey flies across that valley and lands like right in his lap. Yeah. He kills it. But, no, so, yeah, sometimes just the littlest rise and making sound real close. We make this big long loop,

and I'm not hearing much, but I don't hear great anyway. And then at the very end, it gets pretty exciting. And then at the very end, it gets find a tree right now. There's a thicket right there, go. And it didn't slow down much from there. Yeah. Yeah.

So we come totally from the opposite direction, move in. Jordan Al's, they answer. We know where they're at. And when they first gobbled, we actually backed up about 20 yards, got set up in a little thicket. I did notice that you guys are pretty keen on finding a lot of cover. You have to. Because it's like cover and shade. Cover and shade is everything.

Because that's why we backed up because everything in front of us because we couldn't gain a whole lot of ground before we started getting too close without them spotting us. And it's like everything immediately in front of us was highlighted in the sun. So it was like turn around, look for something thick, look for something shady. Yeah. Because you stack the odd. Like, Turkey is a game of, like, putting small successes in your favor to finally get the grand result. Incremental gains.

Yes. And the main thing you have to remember when you decide you're going to yelp at a turkey is when he's coming, if he does decide to come, he's looking for that hen. So he is, the more obstacles he has to guess about where she's at, the better. Because it keeps him looking, keeps him moving step by step closer and closer. because I can't tell you how many times and these big open bottoms down here, turkey comes 80 yards and he doesn't come a step closer because he can see everything.

Yeah, yeah. He's just waiting for that. You want him to come looking. Yeah, yeah. And that's also the reason you've got to be hyper still. Hyper still, that's the reason why we had the luxury because we had enough folks Jordan could drop back further. Yep.

So, I mean, because to Jordan's point, like the same reason, if I was doing the primary yelp And if you notice, like, when we made that set, I didn't yell at one time. Because I was like, I don't, they were close enough and we were in our good setup enough. It's like, if I go to Yelp and those turkeys are going to be, you know, where are they at? Why am I not seeing a hen right there? Yeah. Yeah.

I can hear a hen right there. I can see right there. I'm out of here. That's why I was like Jordan being 70 yards back is what we need because they'll come through us. Are you that far behind us? About 50 or 40 probably. But the reason it took me a minute to get set down, I looked at two or three. different trees back there to sit by and the reason I picked the one I did is because

it was thick right behind me and to my to my left also that little foothill fell off just fell off just enough for where I'm sitting at a turkeys level like not standing up but if I'm a hens height I can't see but about 40 yards so a gobbler approaching well from the yelpen coming from he has to get to 40 yards to be able to see where the Yelping's coming from. Yeah, yeah. So that was kind of the reason I decided to sit behind y'all and a little bit over your left shoulder is so he'd have to be in gun range to see where I was Yelping from.

Man, and so it ends up working great because the turkeys had gobbled at an owl. We get set up and... We get set up facing north, right? Yeah. The field's on our left side. Yep. I'm 25 yards. from the field edge.

I can see into the field, but we're not thinking the field, the field is the worst case scenario here. We can't shoot over there. Because we can't shoot over there. And if a bird gets in that field and starts strutting to a hen that he thinks is in the woods

and it's going to come out to him, that's what I was thinking. Oh, yeah. You know, if he's out there, we're in trouble. Because we were, I mean, we said it we were walking up. Like he said, we didn't think that they would get in that field and just leave, but you look at it

you're like they're using that field at some point like turkeys are definitely using that feeling big about themselves in that field for sure and so two times the turkey gobbles while we were setting down i felt like he answered you jordan and and he he was getting closer but then he kind of you know like they like they'll do the last 100 yards i would say he didn't gobble even when you did yelp and so you know every time that happens you think okay this this This is the start of when this story fades into us not killing the turkey. Right. Or, or this is the beginning of the end in a good way.

Because, you know, once they come into a certain time, sometimes turkeys will just gobble their heads off all the way in. But then sometimes when they come in, they, they, after a certain point, they're like. See, he, in my mind, he had gobbled. So we had the wad of turkey still, but there was very, there was audibly one at the time. I was like,

one is broken off because one's gobbling significantly closer, and he was, he was answering Jordan differently. And when he went quiet, I started scanning like crazy. Because I'm like, something's happening. He's moving like something.

I just constantly just scanning back and forth. Yeah. which in which I did finally, it was the turkey that I saw, but I could not confirm that until you were like, I see him, you know, in a spot where he didn't really need to be, but he was there. Yeah, so how do he make the approach? Well, he goes into the field.

Like he, he. The best case scenario. Yeah. Exactly what you wanted. Well, when I, so I saw him, I mean, 20 yards out into the field. Yeah. coming towards us. Yeah.

But I immediately think this is done. Or, you know, he's going to, he's going to come in to the edge of the field, going to want us to come, want the hen to come to him. He's going to be strutting out there and eventually he's going to lose interest. There's a barbed wire fence there. There's a very distinct boundary. We knew exactly where it was, so we felt, I mean, it wasn't like a guess where the boundary line was. And he's walking, I see the turkey.

And I think he's going to walk right on. past us and and when he gets even with us Lake Pickle is right beside me and he starts

moving around making racket back there and I go Lake don't move I can't see him I just hear leaves moving Lake is Lake is making

hen noises with his hand I got verbally scalded yeah Clay's like Lake was talking about us hunting together so much

and kind of being able to do things without talking. Like, he knew I was in a bind. I couldn't yelp from where I was at because the turkey would definitely came up out of bounds. It just takes, like, again, Jordan and I are very fortunate to have spent as much time hunting spring turkeys as we have. And I just knew, because, you know,

I caught a glimpse of him coming up that fence and to describe how we were sitting. So if Clay's sitting on this tree and his gun is facing 12 o'clock, then I'm feeling. sitting on the same tree and I'm facing three o'clock. So I'm facing opposite the field. And I see what's happening.

The turkey's walking that field edge and he's beeline into where Jordan's yelping from. And at that point, if Jordan continues to yelp, it does us no good. That's why Jordan's in a bind. It draws the to phrase. He's just going to walk. Yeah. Slingshot right past us. And so I said, I have to do something to bring his attention our way.

And I didn't want to yell because he was too close. You know, as like if I yelped, I thought he would just foo and just zero right in on us. Yeah. And so I knew because of the way I was sitting, I had that giant tree between me and the turkey and I could move. And so I just whew and rake the leaves. Be quiet. Be quiet. He's right there.

I don't know what. Clay just thought I was moving. Clay's like, be quiet. Stay still. For some reason, because where I was at, I didn't know if you could see the turkey. And you know how it is when you're watching the nans. animal and you're with another person and they don't see it but you're like I'm like oh he's looking right at us man yeah and legs back there where and I just assumed you were talking to me

on the way down here I was talking to my buddy Drew and we were just he was just you know giving me the give me the pep talk of like he knows that I'm like the most fidgety guy I can't sit still at all and he's like just sit still just don't move just don't do that it's easy yeah and so I'm like this is running through my head and I'm like feeling pretty good but also nervous because I'm in between you and the turkey. Right. Sort of. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. I'm further south, but I'm closer to the turkey than you. Safe shot. But like I'm just leaned out here trying to be so still and I hear don't move. And I'm like, I can't not move anymore. Like I'm already not moving. I'm so still right now.

Just not even aware. Yeah. It was me. That was, yeah, I was one doing the moving. And buddy, it worked. It did. I had lost sight of the turkey when I, like, I knew, because I wanted to wait until I knew that tree blocked me. So right when he went behind that tree is when I raked.

Did anybody see this happen? I actually think he was like, like, scratching his leg or something. It just shuffled the leaves a little bit on accident, and now he's the hero of the story. We'll never know. Such a turkey Jedi. We'll never know. It sure sounded like somebody going, oh, wow, I'm just kind of moving around back here. What's the phrase?

It's not dumb if it works. But I heard Clay go, wait, he's facing towards us. He's walking our direction. I was like, oh, we may be into something. Yeah. Well, so, yeah, so the turkey basically does a 90-degree turn. He's parallel on the edge of this field 20 yards into the field. Yeah.

And when he gets dead even with us and Lake starts moving around back there, the turkey just does a 90-degree turn. And I think he sees our single-hand decoy sitting out there. could see him just he just perked up periscoped and he saw it in the woods and uh and he just starts moving towards us and so there's a barbed wire fence he's got to cross and i mean as soon as he crosses that fence he's 100% legal beagle fair game for us to shoot i can't really tell where that barbed wire fence is i see these random pine treated posts you know randomly through there but it's hard to see and he's got it's fence is like

90 years old too. Yeah. And he's got his head down most of the time. Like you'd think if a turkey crossed under a fence would just be real obvious. Going from a field, crossing the fence, going to the woods.

Just the way he was moving and I'm watching him and I'm hyper fixated on, I cannot shoot that turkey on the other side of the fence, you know? Yeah. And I whispered a lake,

something like, he's got to cross that fence. Yeah. And you said as soon as he crosses that fence shooting. and he crosses the fence and actually was like a solid 20 feet on our side of the fence. Yeah, because we let him come even further in.

Well, and I still, like said, Clay, he's 100% on our side of the fence. And I was looking at some kind of a stob or something out there that looked like a fence post to me. And I was still just like, Yeah. Are we sure? And then I seek barbed wire sparkling back behind them.

And, you know, I'm like, okay. Yeah. Lake says 100%. Yeah. But I hesitated. And I mean, the turkey was inside of 25 yards. You know or know what was going through my head while all this was that. What's that?

When I seen the turkey, because I was on, kind of, I mean, not on the fence. I was close to the fence. And y'all were, I was 10 yards off of it and a brush pile. And I see the turkey do the 90 and start coming towards y'all. I hope they see this thing. man. And then when he comes out of the fence and keeps on walking, like, he's to my right. So he's like 20 yards inside our property at this point.

I'm like, they ain't seen this dang turkey yet. He's been a spook. No, I was, like, what I told Clay after is I was, like, I watched him kind of dip, like, suddenly go under the fence. But I was like, if he's going to keep coming, I'm going to make triple sure he's where he, you know, needs to be. And once he, I was like, yeah, we're good. I was sitting there back there. They bound to be looking out in front of him and he's seen this time.

You don't know the tongue lashing. Jordan starts going, there's a turkey. Who, ho, ho. He's a turkey. You know, like, there's a turkey. Turkey gobbled. And, you know, so the turkeys, we didn't step it off, but I mean, he was probably 23 yards.

don't know he was close he's close yeah turkey goes down and uh and it it was a big turkey 11 and a half inch beard yep one of the spurs was i'm gonna call it an inch yeah and it's a great mississippi turkey oh yeah my first mississippi long beard they don't come much finer than that in these parts yeah i mean big old big old thick beard on that turkey yeah which it was a heck of an experience and what we thought i mean and who knows this is my and Jordan's redneck math, but we were looking and we were like, man, I think, because we could still, like in the midst of all that,

we heard that wad of turkey's gobble again, still in the bottom, think that was that single turkey that we heard off by himself when we broke day. That's the assumption. I think he's just hanging around the outskirts of that flock, you know, because them other brothers in there have done,

probably knocked him out of it. He's kind of hanging around trying to get the slug. It's sloppy seconds on the outskirts. Was. What's that? Was. Was. It's not doing much anything.

Has tense, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Well, it was a great hunt. It was a great one day in Mississippi. Yeah, one more. I mean, you can't, that's what you want. Like, as a turkey hunter, I mean, killing them off the roost is great.

I take it every time I get the opportunity. But to get on them at daylight and then have to maneuver two, three times, and then gobbling like that. and that's a turkey hunt. I mean, that's everything. Yeah. Well, anything, any closing thoughts like? I am very happy because you came down here last spring, me and Wilbur,

and we had like three days of monsoon weather and had to send you on without one. And so I was feeling the pressure a little bit. I was like, man, I want to get clay turkey. So I'm very, very happy of how this panned out. Yeah. Well, it was a ton of fun. Jordan, closing thoughts. Man, I'm just glad to meet you all fine fellas,

and I had a lot of fun this morning, and I hope to do it again one day. Yeah, man. Well, I mean, now that we're going to buy this turkey camp, yep. I guess. Come on. We'll just make it a yearly thing here at our turkey camp here.

Yeah, yeah. Isaac, good job, man. People will be able to watch this soon on my Instagram. We videoed it. Maybe even today. Shoot. Dang. This is the future clay.

Future. Like when you're listening to this right now, you can go watch that. Most likely. No, we'll just say that. So then I... 100%. Yeah. It'll be on my...

It'll be on my Instagram. Yeah, something to hold me accountable. It'll put the pressure on him. Yeah. No nap for you. That's right. Woo! All right.

Hope everybody has a great spring. Nah. Do a better outro than that. I hope everyone has a good spring. Always dream big. Believe in yourself. That was it. Okay.

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