Bear Grease - Ep. 99: Bear Grease [Render] - Turkey Poachers, Devil Horses, and Nerf Footballs

Episode Date: March 29, 2023

On this episode of the Bear Grease Render, Clay Newcomb gathers special crew of turkey chasers and storytellers. Clay is joined by Gary “Believer” Newcomb, veteran Bear Greaser Andy Brown, Cauy House and his grandfather from his turkey story, Steve Phillips, as well as retired United States Forest Service agent and former Arkansas Game and Fish agent Joe Liles. Tune in for stories of first hunts, any swarms, and chasing poachers. Stay tuned for Gary describing his custom modified turkey gun. We really doubt you’re 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 and 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. Well, we've got an eclectic group of turkey hunters here from my hometown of Mina, Arkansas.

And did anybody think it was funny when Coy House, a storyteller on our last turkey stories podcast said, Steve, my grandpa, everybody knows Steve. Well, they do now. Steve Phillips is here. Coy House is Grandpa. Everybody knows Steve. Everybody knows Steve. Glad to be here.

Everybody in the world. Steve Phillips is here. Coy House to my left. Coy, you did a good job, man. Thank you. Didn't y'all think he did a good job? It was an excellent job. I think you're the youngest feature guest on the Bear Grease podcast.

Because you're a feature guest if you're on the actual Bear Grease podcast. So this is the render. For people who maybe have not listened to Bear Grease before, Bear Grie's podcast is a documentary style podcast where we do these kind of in-depth stories. The last one that we're going to talk about today, it was a stories podcast. We had eight different storytellers. And Coy was one of them, 19 years old man. Yes, sir.

You did good. Well, thank you. He did good. That man's taught me just about everything right there. Yep. I guess I better give him credit for it. Yeah. Yeah.

So, to Coy's left is a longtime friend of mine. Joe Liles, who is now a retired Forest Service law enforcement agent. That's correct. The only reason you're here is because you're retired. I am. I'm retired now and retired from United States Forest Service as a full-time law enforcement officer. We're going to come back to you. Let me introduce everybody. Sounds good. Joe Liles, Steve Phillips, and then my dad, Gary, believer, Newcomb. Good to have you, Dad.

Thank you, sir. Good to be here. Dad's got a story on the next podcast. So we're doing two stories podcasts. To Dad's left is Andy Brown. Andy, always good to have you. Good to be here. Man, for real, Andy's a hero on the Bear Grish podcast.

Everybody I talk to, I mean, people not from Arkansas, people from wherever. Renella, Steve Renella, he's like, Andy Brown, man. From the Louisdale Edwards stuff and all the stories. So it's always good to have

to have Andy. But Joe, you're, how long were you in law enforcement for the Forest Service? With the Forest Service, I started in September of 2000. Okay. And I retired at the end of this year. So I had just a little bit over 22 years. And you were a Arkansas game and fish, game warden for a period of time? I was for three and a half years.

And before that, I started under Sheriff Mike Oglesby in 1992, reserve, part-time, worked a little bit with the city PD. and then went to the Arkansas Game and Fish, and from there I went to the U.S. Forest Service. But the other career before that, I was an aircraft mechanic for several years. Okay. But I always knew that I wanted to be in law enforcement,

so that's where I went from there. And a lifelong turkey hunter? Since 1983. That's when I killed my first turkey in the very early 80s. Yeah, yeah. Now, if I recall on the Louis Dell and Charlie Edwards podcast, your name came up because you were involved. You didn't, I think I said that you were the one who gave the ticket to Louisdale for not having a license,

but I was wrong. I was there at that time, yes. And very much I was right there by them. And Terry Lunsford was actually the one who wrote the ticket. At the time, you were gaming fish. I was with the Arkansas game of fish at the time. So tell that story real quick, or just kind of just a short version of what happened, because that's where your name came up on Bear grease before. Joe Liles. You know, we were over east of their camp,

and we pulled up just talking to them. And then we got through talking a little bit and said, well, we've got to see license. And, you know, Louisdale just, you know, he came out and he didn't have it. And then he got to blame him Bertha. He said that Bertha didn't buy his license. So. Bertha does everything. Yeah, that's what it was. He got to, his wife. Yeah, he got to blaming his wife. And so Terry, Terry ended up right in the ticket. But that's the story in itself. Yeah. It was just, it started off as a casual contact.

And then Bertha got blamed for everything. One of the few tickets that Louis Dale Edwards ever got. How many tickets have you given Steve Phillips? Oh, I'm sure I'll be called out on a lot of stuff here. Steve Quiggins said zero. Yeah. Well, Joe and I go way back. Way back.

And it's kind of like what's, what's happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. So that's our, you know, how we are, you know. I met Joe one time during deer season. I was over in my side by side, and I had been over there deer hunting coming back over from two mile. I met Joe. Here he was. And he pulled over and he rode his window down.

He said, what are you doing? I said, I've been hunting over here. He said, is that gun loaded? And I said, well, hey, expect me to kill anything. I didn't. End the story. I drove off. you just don't ask any more

you just don't ask anymore Joe I met you one time in the field do you remember that no I remember you telling me that but you know unless something really stands there I mean you're doing it every day you're like you meet so many people that you know unless even people that you've you know written violation notices to

if something doesn't stand out you just don't remember you know you write so many of them but yeah go on with your story well it's not a great story I was out, I was out, I don't want to say where it was, in National Forest, and I'd been baiting bears, and it was in August probably. It was early in bait and bears, and y'all had a roadblock, came around the corner, and there was just a big Forest Service roadblock. And, you know, two or three trucks and kind of a truck across the road, it felt like, and I pulled up, and you were the guy that checked me. And you just said, you know, you recognize me. And you're like, what are you doing?

Well, bait and bears. I think you checked my registration and stuff. It wasn't hunting season. I didn't have any guns, but anyway. Yep. I have a Joe story. Yeah. Oh, great.

Here we go. Another one that I've known for years. Well, one day, he called me at the office, and he said, Andy, I've got a picture I want to show you. And I said, okay, bring it to the office. So him and Jimmy Martin show up at our office. And he's got a. Who's another game warden? Huh?

He's got an 8-by-10 pitcher. And he said, they come into my office. and he shows it to me and he says who's that guy in that picture right there I said and what we've got we've got a guy walking in front we've got a guy carrying a gun behind him and I said I have no idea I said he ain't very big and he said look at him and I said I really don't know he said look at his hand he had a finger missing but he said but that's not you and I said no that's not me

he said we know who it is yeah we know the story but anyway they brought that to my office to show me that yeah I've never kicked him around about that but I can't hear on live this podcast because they thought it might have been me really so if somebody trespassing or something there's not a lot of people don't have one of those yeah and he's missing is right ring finger. Wasn't it, Joe? No. Was it not?

Let's move on to the next one. We'll talk about that one. We're in a little bit. But anyway, that's my Joe's story. That's a good one. That is a good one. Well, I went on a, the reason I'm dressed the way I am, I went on a nine-mile meal ride today in National Forest.

And didn't see a lick of turkey sign. Found a shed horn. But I'm hoping we'll have a good, you know, a decent turkey season for Arkansas. You know, they say we've lost 60% of our birds from our peak, which probably would have been in the 90s, early 2000s maybe. But maybe more than that in some places. I think probably these guys could all attest to the fact

talking about looking for turkey sign. Guys, I can remember whenever leafing in the woods was turned over back in the 80s, you know, and even up into the 90s. But, I mean, the woods, turkeys made a lot of sign. And, you know, you didn't have to hear turkeys to go turkey hunting. You just went and found the sign. That's what I looked for. It was just scratching. I believe, like you said, it looked like a garden tiller.

It looked like you took a tiller and just went in there and just roll the leaves. And one time I was with my uncle. It's actually during muzzleloading season. Anyway, we was in there north of, in the in-laws. We was in at what we call the Shores Place. And Uncleari got in the first low notch, and I went on up to top of the mountain and walked east out the top of the mountain. I can remember getting out on the east end of that thing.

It's a real briar, you know, top. But I got over on the north side, but I walked over the north side. I'm telling you, as far as you could see, there was turkeys eating devil horses. they was the devil horse the ground was just working alive with them now what's a oh a walking stick walk and walk yes it was devil horse yeah devil horse

okay anyway they would just walk up and just pick those things off them bushes on them low but the whole mountain I have no doubt there was 100 turkeys right there that I was looking at I mean for 150 yards it wasn't nothing but solid turkeys

from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the mountain unbelievable what year was that that would have been about 80 81 somewhere in there. I think you and Mitch went in there one time with, didn't you take Bill Norman in there? Bill Norman. Bill Norman. Bill Norman Lures.

Because Mitch and I were in there, that would have been 1990. March of 1990. I think we heard 18 gobbler. Ain't that crazy. That's still to this day the most I've ever heard one day. I want to say it's 18.

Mitch still talks about that. It was, they were everywhere. Yeah. And, you know, know from years of patrolling they're not there you know i would go months and not see one you know they are not here yeah they're just not here you know when they say 60 percent have disappeared i think that's i think that is light i mean as you know as many as we had and you lose 60 percent you still got 40 would still be really good hunting i would say yeah yeah yeah

yeah so and that's a state line percent that's a statewide that's a statewide that's a statewide figure, you know, which different places would be different. You know, there's still counties in the central Ozarks that have pretty decent turkey hunting. I mean, you can go up there and those guys, they hear us talking and they're kind of like, what's the big deal? But here, yeah, you're right. It's probably way more than that. But it really is, you know, a lot of people have heard me talk about my grandfather, Gary's dad, Lewin, who was a bird hunter, a quail hunter. You know, the last 25 years of his life, all I heard him do was lament that we didn't have quail anymore.

And it really is a bummer because turkey hunting really kind of builds a culture in an area, especially if it's good turkey hunting. I mean, everybody's a turkey hunter and their kids are turkey hunters and it's fun to go. And boy, when they're not here, people aren't turkey hunters. I mean, you just, people just kind of, I mean, I'm talking about myself. It's like it's hard to get up the It's hard to get fired up to go when they're just not there You know and it in like my kids have not had the Exposure to turkey hunting that I had because we just didn't we just didn't have turkeys, you know

But anyway, that's that's not It's a bummer to have to talk about that here But it's kind of the reality of where we're at But we're going to talk about the good the good side of turkey hunting which is it's a lot of fun steve dad was telling me that you told him about a story that you listened to you listened to the podcast it was awesome yeah which which story was your favorite it what i told gary what related to me i don't know that it there was several of them that was my favorite but uh the one about where the guy flicked the cigarette in his pocket and called

him on fire yeah and burned him you know i i don't smoke so that didn't happen but i can tell you Andy Brown and I, we decided to go hunting. We'd heard some turkeys a couple of days before. So we got up bright and early, and we went in and parked, and we had to pull up this. I'm telling you, it takes you 45 minutes to get up it. I mean, it's straight up. So we got there double early that morning,

and we got out and had her little flashlight and little hatlights on. And I always, if I had a dollar forever mile that I followed him in the woods over the years, you know, I'd be a rich man. And so we start up that hill, and we're, you know, we're both in a really good shape. And we're going up that thing, and it'll get your breath. And then all of a sudden, oh, Andy, he gets up there, and he takes a step, and he slides back about two steps. And I thought, what in the world happened? And he said, what was that?

He turned his hat light on. We didn't have her hat light on at the time. We were just kind of going by the moon. He turned that light on and looked, and there was the biggest pile of bear scat that was smoking. It was fresh. I mean, he stepped in it and slid back down the mountain early. And so he said, he's right here somewhere. Anyway, we're both buggered up, you know, going up this thing looking.

We didn't check it. We didn't see it as even warm. It looked warm. We head up to there and we get set in and we set up and we give a call. Old turkey answers us down there in the bottom. I said, well, we're in the chips right here. So we put in on them, and they were gobbling their heads off, just gobbling and gobbling. Well, they came, and as they came to us, instead of coming up that leg to us, they turned and they went around us to our left.

And him and I are sitting side by side, and we have to just watch those turkeys. There's two big gobbels. They just go by us, right up over the top, and off down, and they go. Well, we let them get out of there, and we walk right up on top, and we give it a little bit, We call and they gobble off down in the bottom. And I told Andy, I said, come on, let's go. He said, Steve, we can't eat. Them turkeys are way down there.

Well, he'll tell you, used to, when I first started there hunting, if I could hear one, there wasn't a turkey too far to go to him. If he was two miles, I was going to him. And I said, well, I'm going to him. He said, I'm going to step here on top. I'm not going to go to him. So I headed off down the mountain. It took me about it.

The teacher lets the young grasshopper go out on. on his home. Yeah. So off down through there I go and I get down. Finally, I catch up to that turkey. Both of them. I catch up to them and I catch up to them and I call them and when I do, they just cut me off. And what I didn't realize is when I had sat down, I sat down in a big old ant pile and those big black ants. And here I'm looking about 65, 70 yards down there and here comes these two turkeys and full strut coming, goblin. I've got my gun. I've got my gun, up on my knee, I'm sitting in an ant pile. All of a sudden, I start feeling ants in my pants. I feel ants coming up my shirt. Ants are coming out through my top of my shirt and my head net.

They're running all over my head and my face, and I'm locked in on that turkey. When he gets up there close enough that I think I can kill him, I shoot him, and I do kill him. But I immediately, he goes to flop, and I drop down and strip all of my clothes off. I'm trying to get rid of the ants. And to this day, that's probably the biggest turkey. He had 11.5 inch beard and weighed 22 pounds. You got lied, are you? I'm not lying.

Andy Tadee, that was the biggest turkey. And the other one flew and flew right in there towards Andy, which he didn't get on him, you know. But I had that turkey on my shoulder, and I'm coming up through there, and he owls me up there, and I look, and he said, you get him? I said, no. He said, you're lying.

did these. Yeah. But that was my biggest thing. You had to strip down right there on the side of the mountain. Yeah, yeah. Boy, have you heard that story before? I've heard. I think I've, we've almost covered every single turkey that he's killed.

Why don't you tell me the second story that you told me about taking your little brother? Will you tell me that story? Okay, yeah. Of course, yeah. So my little brother, Ryder, he's on my dad's side. He wanted to go. It was youth opening my brother. morning of the youth season. He wanted to go turkey hunting. And we have this private spot that we

had picked out and we had went and roosted one the evening before, gobbled his head off. I said, this will be chip shot. He's up here on this ridge. We'll get up here and we'll kill us turkey. Well, long story short, we got up there and I set him up. Turkey gobbled good. We got up there just right on the break of that ridge. He was just on the other side. And, uh, now how old your little brother at the time he would have been i'm wanting to say 11 11 11 12 he's he's 14 now so it'd have been two or three two or three years ago um and the turkey gobbled he gobbled i didn't call him i said just get ready he's going to fly down he's probably going to land about right here on top this ridge i said just get ready about that time a turkey just quit gobbled he wouldn't

go wouldn't say a peat wouldn't say a word well i mean nothing we sat there for another hour nothing i heard him i seen him actually fly down and pitch off into the field but once that happened he i mean he left he had some hens with him so i said let's let's go up to another spot this spot uh national forest around it there's a private i have permission to hunt but national for wraps around it and me and him been hunting it for two years for some reason that was a hot spot and they're, I mean, we hear, eight, nine, ten, and just a little hundred yards. Oh, yeah. I mean, I mean, it was.

Yeah, a little pocket. It was awesome. So anyway, so we went in there and drove back in their national forest, and I said, by that time it's 10.30. And I said, rider, I said, if we get one to gobble, I said, we got him, son. I said, by this time, the hens have done left him, I said, we've got him. I get out of the truck, and I grab the old slate call, and I just, he just cussed me off right there and i said let's go let i get excited i mean he can tell you paula can tell you i there's just something i don't if i ever lose the lose the excitement i better

quit hunting because i it's just something that east me up so well you could drive on down and we get out of the truck and we walk down the road we get in there and i called nothing and i called nothing so we're going to dig in we're just going to dig in we didn't have nothing else to do that day. I said, we're going to wait him out. So we dug in, we sat there for, I mean, it felt like a half a century. And we're just kind of talking back and forth, kind of goofing around, you know, and all of a sudden that turkey gobbles. I mean, we're sitting just off on a, on a little break, there's a little road. It kind of goes like yes. They're going to make humps like that, just off the break at turkey gobbles. I mean, you're not, when you're least expecting it like

at it about scares the P-Wod out of you. So I said, get my lap, get my lap. So he gets in my lap. Hey, that's a new word to me, P-Wod. P-Wod? Well, there you go. I have to look that up. So he gets in my lap, and I just turn my head, and I just,

real soft, and he just cuts me off right there. Let me hear your gobble again. He's got a good gobble, doesn't? I said, get ready. I said, he's going to come right down your gun barrel, and I say, when I say, shoot, you shoot him. well that turkey come and hit that sucker put on a show i mean he out there he danced around he drum he spit and he he gobbled right at us and then he drum and he he crossed underneath the dead

log and come up and i told rider as soon as he passes his tree i said shoot him well i little did i know i guess i was shaking a lot more than he was and he was in my lap so i was doing the whole number of shaking you were shaking him oh i was shaking him i guess something terrible and he's shot that bird and I knew he shot him low because that bird flopped and then he started to kind of get up and I threw him out of my lap and I took off running and about that time I got almost to the turkey that turkey got him got underneath his self he got his feet underneath him and off with the races we went and I took off running and he's yelling do you want me to bring you the gun and I said not yet and I was running down the mountain as fast as I could that turkey's doing this and I'm doing this

with you. Well, I leap and I grab a hold of his tail feathers and I pull all of them out. I mean, he didn't have a single tail fan. I grabbed a hold of the turkey, of course, you know, and I, and I rene, you know, stepped on him and held him up and he come running down the mountain. He said, I was trying to catch up to you. I was trying to bring you the gun. I said, don't worry, bud. I said, we got him. I said, we got him. But I said, you ain't going to have no tail feather. You know, have no fan out. But I said, you got a beard. But that was his first turkey, and that was, That was a great moment to be able to share it with him. That's great, man.

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 dad which which story on that series did you stood out to you they were all excellent I mean every stinking one of them but I got to thinking the tie goes to the runner but this isn't baseball is it so whatever you want so I said the tie goes to the kid man I like coy's story Yeah. I mean, really, the fire on, I mean, all of them were just unbelievable stories.

So I just go with Coys because he was, he's such a baby. Look at him. Just a little old bitty guy. Played football, that. Played college football. Look at him. Yeah, you liked Hank Berdyne's story, too. Oh, I did.

I love those Mississippi guys. And, oh, Roy, I love the way he talks. Oh, yeah. Man, you know, he'd go, I can't even repeat how he talks, but it was just, It just made the story. You know, he had this turkey did. I mean, what would he say? Instead of taking it to the taxidervy fixed.

Fixed. He had a turkey fixed. Hey, Roy Clark, Roy Clark is, well, we just did a big film about him that came up this week on the media or YouTube channel, a whole film that he was kind of the star of. He really is a relic. And that's a great descriptor of what he is a relic of. Blatchin culture, and he has the strongest best accent for that East Tennessee that I've ever heard. I love that guy, and he's a, y'all wouldn't know much about it.

I said it on the podcast, but he's a, he's as good a bear hunter. I mean, those guys have killed, I mean, Roy Clark, I don't even want to say how many bears I believe he's killed. I mean, it'd blow your mind legally. I mean, they, but he's a bear hunter. But you didn't even talk about turkey hunting, but I was at his house one day. I said, you know, he had turkey beards and stuff around you. I knew he was a turkey hunter.

I was like, how'd you do last year? I mean, this is when he's in his 70s, and he said, oh, I killed five last year. He killed three in Tennessee and two. From his house, you can see North Carolina. So the North Carolina border is just like a mile from his house. You can kind of see off down the mountains. But yeah, just hearing him talk, it's funny. And like I said in that podcast, when you're talking about stories, people kind of expose different parts of their life like Koi did when he said that his grandparents led him drive to the place when he was 14.

I like that. And then Roy Clark said, yeah, them old boys come up through there and they was a drinking. And I know one of them could tell the truth. Yeah, I knew one of them was pretty truthful. I think that's what he said. Yeah. And, you know, it's just funny the details that, you know, some people would put in there. But then it was a heck of a hunt.

You know, they hunted that white turkey for, you know, for two weeks on public land. Did you see that turkey when you were at his house? Oh, yeah, it's beautiful. It really is a beautiful turkey. I put a picture of it on my Instagram. Yeah, it was a beautiful turkey. But, yeah, Roy Clark, he's just fun here talk. And then Hank Berdine, the guy from Mississippi.

Is he the guy that, well, he shot the gobble. He shot the gobble out. That's crazy. He said he left his window down. You heard me comment on it. He said he left his window down so that his wife would snuggle up next to him. And so you hear those turkeys gobbling the morning. So he'd get out of that.

No, Hank, Hank is, he's, I wasn't joking when I said that he is like an ambassador for Mississippi. He's a big writer. He's written several books all about the South. and those guys, he's from, he's from a suburb of Greenville, Mississippi. Okay, and Greenville, Mississippi, it's on the Mississippi River, is where he said in the, at some point in the last hundred years, there were more riders per capita in Greenville, Mississippi than anywhere in the country. There were a lot of southern riders that came out of Mississippi. and it's kind of a it's kind of unique being around because hankster writer

uh Robert hitnill Jr., the guy that told about the the flaming turkey. He's a he's written 15 books. I don't know they just think different than a lot of the guys I've been around. It was interesting and he had all these writing buddies lined up. A couple of them couldn't come. But, uh, but they, they, they have choreographed stories that they tell. Like Robert Hittnill Jr., he was 81. And I mean, you know, he's told that story his whole life.

But, I mean, they just kind of have the way, you know, the way they tell that story. And Hank tells stories like that, too. But, no, I like those stories. You know, that bird, I'm thinking he said that bird can't, you know, he shoots, he shoots the bird. Somebody shoots the bird, they miss. The bird comes back the next week. And he's doing this shaking his head like he's gobbling, but he's not gobbling. He's going, man, the last time I gobbled, I mean, everybody's shooting at me.

So he wanted to gobble. He's shaking his own head. Yeah. Oh, me, what a story. Oh, Hank. Almost as good as Coys. Mm-hmm. And this is old grandpa right here.

Hey, and you know, you know, I started the, did you notice I started the podcast with Andy's story? Yeah. I did that on purpose, man. I got to get him hooked to get him coming in, man. Well, see, hey, one thing, Steve don't even remember, you know, he's getting old enough to where his brain's getting a little soft. But the first time he ever turkey hunted, I took him. Okay.

And within two weeks, I'm telling you, within two weeks, he was a better turkey hunter than I was. Now, Steve, is that the way you remember it? I don't remember. He don't remember. My brain is not that old. You know, we would scout deer together. And when turkey season rolled around, I said, hey, man, let's go. He didn't know anything about it.

He didn't know anything about it. So I took him. Of course, I taught him a lot more than Andy did, but So, anyway, he don't even remember it, but Claybaby was the same way. I mean, here is a stupid little kid running around school. He didn't know anything, even knowing what a turkey looks like. Well, I take him out and get some goblin, and I take him to my little private area,

and I swear within two weeks, you think I'm kidding. Within two weeks, he can call better than me. He's already killing birds on his own. Steve was the same way, man. I mean, I'm like going, I'm kind of like a ned and a third first reader, I think they used to say, you know, but, you know, they learned real quick.

So Steve, do you remember going hunting with him? Do you remember going to? We went deer scouting. Deer Scout. I can't remember. I can't remember us actually. The only thing I remember about your turkey hunting is that little old goofy looking gun you had that you had that tennis ball or something on the butt of that.

thing. What was that, Clay? Did you ever shoot that? It's a Nerf football. Yeah, he's got a little short, he's got a 20-something-inch barrel gun. It can't be legal. Joe, is that legal? I don't know nothing anymore. The barrel's short. He had a, he had a Nerf football, Nerf football taped and camo-tape to the back of it. So the butt of it's about, you know, four or five inches further. So you got to put it way out here and then bring it into your shoulder. But it, it, It I don't shoot it. I shot it one time and about broke my finger. I think it'll kick you really bad.

Oh man, it's a hoot to shoot, man. You know, I've told your guys this story before, but I went to Little Rock to buy a gun. I don't know why Little Rock, but that's where I was headed. And I walked in the first Bucks and ducks right around Benton. And I walked in and I wanted a 500 Mossburg or 870. The guy said, yeah. He said, I got a turkey gun right here, and he pulled that little, it's like a New England arms, camo, real pretty little old gun. Plastic stock, forearm, pick it up.

I mean, it weighs nothing. And, you know, you can shove a three and a half inch magnum in that sucker. And so I said, hey, that's the gun I want. He said, the guy, it's used. The guy took it, shot it one time, brought it back, said, I mean, you can't shoot that gun. I said, that's what I want. That's the gun I want. So I bought it.

Brought it home, we pulled up right out here. Clay come running out of the house. Did you get a gun? I said, yeah. And Judy and I had to go to a chamber banquet or something. And he said, can I go shoot that, Daddy? And I said, yeah, take it. Well, I came home and his whole face, you know, was shot off, you know, hit him in the face,

lip, almost killed him. True story. I don't like shooting it. More people. I used to take it out with guys. just for the entertainment. Well, he showed me that gun, and that's something a city slicker would do. And I thought he has lost his mind with that little gun.

Zach Nuckham, I remember when he shot it, the thing almost came over his head. But, you know, you put it over your shoulder. You don't know. You have it. You only shoot a couple times a year. You'd only want to shoot it a couple times a year. Pop-gun. When I got that gun sited in,

You can I had to have it worked. I took it to Little Rock had a gunsmith, do a lot of work on it. And he got it where it shot real good and put a red dot scope on it. And to get it sided in, it took, you know, I had to shoot 15, 20 times. And that finger right there, I thought I was going to have to amputate it, you know, that gun had come back. Yeah, and so he put a mole skin all on the trigger guard. Yeah, well, I put a jersey glove on and taped a cigarette butt right there on that. so it'll

bam I just got a charge out of shooting it but I finally got it sided in and it's a good turkey gun yeah you still have it now oh yeah I got it to me right now Joe did any of those stories stand out to you

definitely the one where the boy killed his first turkey there at the end yes Garvin Gibbons yep that's the one and because I can really relate to that like we talked about before that was probably my most memorable hunt my youngest daughter would have been emily would have been 713 years old

and that would have been 2017 we went we went to kansas and you know you watch the weather up there because what is doing there is going to be so much different than here so we we strike out we're going to kansas and the weather's bad going up there but we knew that it's going clear off that afternoon but it was going to come later and so we meet you know my buddy up there and where we go he's at the bowling alley so he's bowling you know his bowling league and he said man y'all know where to go just go on out there so we've got a couple of farms right there we can hunt so here we go is in an alfalfa field and this one place we hunted it's the it's a big trash pile you know i guess everybody around there on that piece of private just dumps their trash right there but we thought well okay

You know, we're going to set up right here. And this is the afternoon. So we get to sitting and just calling and nothing. But we know there's turkeys there because there's at that time. And even Kansas, Kansas numbers are even lower from where we've done. Because where we hunt now, there's only one bird limit. But you could kill two there at the time. So we set up and kind of like Coy says, we just, we get dug in.

We set in behind some cedar trees and cut a few limbs off and get our decoys out there, call for a couple hours. nothing. Just nothing. So we thought, well, it's, it's getting late, so let's go on in. We'll get us something to eat. We'll come back to the morning. We wake up that morning, weather's awful.

You know, it's just what you thought it was not going to be. It's awful. So we're kind of depressed, but we thought, you know, we're nowhere we're going to go. So we just went on out there anyway. But where we went, and the ground was horribly hard. So that night we went to Walmart and bought some boat seats. You know, weird colors, all they had then. I think I still have one of black and white.

But that's what we went out there and sat on. So we're sitting there, and it's getting daylight then. We ain't heard anything. And I'd be thinking if a turkey didn't gobble right above us. I mean, once it got light enough, you could see that turkey. And if we had just sat there that evening, he came in there looking for that hand that evening. So we were sitting there and it finally got light enough, and he just got. I thought he's going to get this turkey.

So about that time he hops off, pitches off right out in front of us. And she could never get on that turkey, never could. And she finally shot at that turkey, misses it. You know, shoot some limbs off. Golly, that was close. And so we were kind of depressed and the weather's getting bad. It's still bad, you know, blowing rain. And I called my buddy.

He was with the sheriff's office up there. and he said, man, just, I know there's turkeys there. We were talking about going to a couple of different places, got off the phone with him, that the turkey didn't go. And we were kind of out in the open field then. So we eased a little bit closer to, you know, there's a drainage up there.

They've got drains and stuff. It's just a lot different country. So about that time, two of them got to go. And so, you know, here we go. So we backed off again, just right against this little creek drainage. and got to call in a little bit, boy, here they come. So I set her down in front of me, and these turkeys come right in there close. And at this time, I'm like I say, she's young.

And I had her shooting my little Benelli M2, that little 12 gauge. It didn't kick a lot. And so she got in there, and she got right in my lap. And these turkeys came right down 30 yards up. So I said, you shoot that first one, you can. So she shoots that thing, and it just folds up. And I'm like, holy cow, she got it. And then that other one ran off.

And dang it didn't start just looking at that one. So I started making some fighting purrs. And it came right back and she killed that turkey. So we went from just a low moment till she killed two of them. Oh, that's great, man. Yeah, and that was 2017. We've been back every year since. And except for the year, COVID, and she's killed turkeys one more time

than we've left some years up there. We didn't kill anything. But, you know, that's my turkey hunter. And she still goes with me. That's great. And she's going to go this year. She is. Going back to Kansas?

Oh, yeah. I'll go to Kansas. Go to Kansas about every year. Since, you know, my turkey hunting buddy, Greg Burns, which y'all knowing well, one of the best turkey hunters that I know, you know, and, you know, I don't think Greg's going to go with me this year, but, you know, we're going to go back. And we talked about going to Oklahoma. You know, we've got a couple of spots in Oklahoma. We go. And you'll see, I've hunted in South Dakota, Nebraska.

Mm-hmm. And South Dakota is beautiful, too. Yeah. You know, Clay and I went to Mississippi with Greg and the pharmacy up there, Terry. Yeah. And we had, you know, we had a lot of fun in Mississippi. One of the best turkey hunters, I know. Yeah, yeah. He's really good. Extremely knowledgeable man. You can ask you anything.

And he knows a little bit about everything. And truly does, you know, not like when Coy says, is that the truth? No, that's the truth. Greg knows a little bit about everything. Yeah, he knows a little bit about everything. The Garvin Gibbon's story at the end of that podcast, I had to include, I mean, that guy, he's killed 23 elk with a bow before his accident, you know. Out of all those. That was what I enjoyed his just because of that.

The think he killed 23 elk in 24 years. In fact, I think maybe, and I don't know this for sure, but he had a brother, I think that worked the same. company I did. And he had told me the story about his brother getting hurt in a tree stand accident. Really? He'd had that conversation. But I think the thing it intrigued me about it the most was the fact when he talked about how he's had to learn to get to a blind and have patience. And he's been killing more turkeys that way than he was, ever was running and gun. Not being patient. Well, and the thing of it is, and I don't think you would disagree with this is there was a time with turkey that you could run and gun but i think the

patient's deal now is just like it was back when i started hunting i had an uncle that would go get in a blind he didn't go anywhere he said in the blind and called every 25 minutes in his theory was if they answer me they'll be over here after a while and he killed lots of turkeys that way and i think it's trended back that way. You know, turkeys, they know the patent. Don't ever call that's out there. I mean, people, you know, you got to do something different. I mean, and of course, like with me, I don't turkey hunt that much anymore.

But I just know I have killed a turkey the last two out of three years, but it was because it's too we need to go fishing. But that's a reason I win. But the trend, I think, is to call. little and have patience i think in his story was that he he learned that that way yeah and i think that was really neat that's a good that's a good observation to think that we're kind of getting back into that with the lower turkey numbers sure you can't just pop along the ridge until you find one that's hot might have to sit on them for a while you know sometimes you think how many

you look back like after even i listened to that and tell that story and everything and i look back and I think, how many turkeys could I have actually killed if I just would have just sat there and been patient? You know, one might start gobbling the way over here and he'd take off after him. But, I mean, just think if I'd have just sat there, you know. So I really, that, you know, that story kind of hit home with me too. And it also, you know, with his deal is you never know when your last thing. Right. Hunt can be, you never know what can happen.

Anything can happen. I mean, you can be out there and just like that. Yeah. You can be over with. Just like her and I. If we just sat there that afternoon, that turkey came in there that afternoon. Right. And he roosted right there.

And I want to add to that, I went back two weeks later and killed that turkey. And after she killed those, when the regular season came in, I came back and killed that turkey. You know, I was with Greg at that time. I didn't have the patience to do that. And I knew, you know, I really knew better. but I'm just not geared to be a good deer hunter or turkey hunter, but I know one day an area that was, just like you said, Andy, just, I mean, tilled up the whole side of a mountain.

And what, the big mountain, but it was still on the mountain. And I called, and I couldn't believe I couldn't get anything to gobble, man. Nothing was gobbling. And so, you know, I piddled around there until about 9 o'clock or so. And finally I just thought, well, I'm going to call and just be patient. and I'm just going to sit here, but I'm going to cheat a little bit. I'm going to take a nap. And so I stretched out on the side of a hill, man.

I went to sleep, man, I was sound asleep. After you called a bunch. Yeah, I called a bunch and went to sleep. And, boy, I mean, I hear footsteps all around me, man, and I opened one eye, and there's two big old gobblers right there. I mean, they're not from here to that red chest. They're looking to me like going, It's a big old acre in there now

So anyway I tried You know I had my gun But you know I was ready to shoot But I couldn't get on On mud anyway

But But patience is really gold Yeah I bet I bet all of us Would have killed Especially with lower numbers More turkeys if you just Yeah

If you sat there for two or three hours Now I'm not going to spoil Andy's story You're on the next one too, Andy, telling about a turkey that did something unique. Mo's story about that turkey flying across the valley. Have you ever had one to do that, Steve? Fly in real far that you could see come in.

Oh, come in to you? Yeah. Oh, yeah. So, Mo's story, one of Mo's stories was he was calling in the evening and had a bird fly across a big canyon and roost, and he came back in the next morning. killed it. Now, have you had,

now you tell a story about a flying turkey. Don't tell that one, because they're going to hear that later. But have you ever seen one fly to you across the big valley? I went one morning, and I don't know if I told you this story or not, but anyway, I had went by myself one morning,

which I've never liked to hunt by myself. I always like some, it's fun to share, you know. But anyway, I went in one morning, pull top of the mountain, and it had come a huge rain the night before. And man, them old watered haulers were just, it just sounded like Niagara Falls.

And when I got right in on top of the mountain, it was, I mean, I was up there double early, early. And just about the time I got up there, right out across a watered holler north of me over there on the top of a little knob,

one put in, and all the goblin he'd done over there. And there wasn't no going to him because the back side of the mountain I'm on, It's just straight off right into a water hauler. You got to cross the holler. And it was just a disaster. And I thought, you know what?

I don't like to call a turkey on the roof, but I'm going to let him know I'm here. Now, this is early. I'm talking early. Okay. And so I stood there and he gobble four or five times. He was gobbling away from me. And finally, I just called real loud to him. and when I did you could tell he turned on the limb he started gobbling right at me

and I thought you know that rascal I mean he's a long ways over there I said that dude might pitch out and come over here so I just backed up there against a big pine tree his little old saddle in the mountain there and I kind of got my gun up on the dean I mean it's it's not even close I didn't think to fly down and all of a sudden I just heard a just right out there just like someone dropped one out of a helicopter I said that gung that sound like that dude

just lit right out there and he was kind of my I had my gun this way and it was kind of my left and about the time the best I could describe it I just seen the white cap you know on his head

he just come right up over the top of the mountain there I said, dang, I said, dang, turkey. I mean, it is early, early. And so it's just wide open. There ain't nothing between me and him, but Huckleberry bushes down through there, you know. And there's a little old tree about, I don't know, three or four inches in diameter down there. And when he, when he walked in by that tree, I moved my gun.

Well, I did, you know, how they'll do. He'd give me one of these back, but, you know, he stepped in and, you know, he wouldn't, he stepped about, looked like that. And about that time he did. He just blew out of there like a coil. really he made a bad mistake though I unwound him I mean I hate him with a whole well no let me back up what he did that I just shot that tree nearly half and two down there I mean I'd ever put a pellet in him he just boiled up what he did I hit him with a whole load when he went out there but he was uh and I know there was people in that country went uh huh that old boy shot that and off the roost but I didn't I mean I shot him on the ground but he was a big it well But he flew, I'm sure he flew a quarter to me across the hogger right there. On Blood Trails, the stories don't end when the hunt is over.

They just get darker. I've seen something in the road. I instantly thought it was a sleeping bed and there was a full of blood. Oh my God, he doesn't have a hit. Blood Trails is a true crime podcast born in the outdoors, where the terrain is unforgiving, the evidence is scarce, and the truth gets buried. under brush and silence. Indications were he should be right there, but he wasn't.

This season, we're going deeper. From cold case files to whispered suspicions, from remote mountains to frozen backwoods. Each story begins in the wilderness and ends in darkness. Because out here, there are no witnesses, no cameras, just fragments and the people left behind trying to piece them back together. He's not an honest person. He's incapable of the best.

being honest. Somebody somewhere knows something. I'm Jordan Sillers. Season 2 of Blood Trails premieres April 16th. Follow now on Apple, I Heart, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, you guys are really good turkey hunters. What's the closest y'all have had a gobber come to you? You know, I told the story here one time about having one right here.

You know, I mean, have y'all had them? How close have you had them? I've had one, Steve Kill one morning. close. Remember that when Steve was gobbler right in my right in his ear? Right in my ear. I couldn't shoot it. I had to let him walk around. He walked up. I don't know why I could get on. He'd bob like this.

He just come right. He was supposed to come up a leg to him. He was supposed to come up a leg to me. Andy's sitting up there calling and there's a blowed down tree and he walked on the wrong side of that blowed down big old tree. And I had to sit there and watch the turkey out of the left of my eye. He walked right up that tree right up to Andy gobbled and blowed his hat off. I had my face back. It's been his right in his face, but he

made the mistake. He turned and he come down my side of the tree. And I killed. It old Steve killed him. I have got video, Gary. I've got video of a turkey goblin when he steps on my boot. I'm laid

down flat, got my video camera, and I had already called his turkey up once and I went around on another mountain and he called him up again and he gobbled and he flicks his on my he gobbles right he about from here to Andy's knee

he ain't mine I'm going to ask if you seen this video I found it the other day going through videos and I said here I showed it to him I'm laid down and that turkey's wings hit my boot when he walks off and he walks about from here to Gary's

side by side there and I call him again and he gobbles and he gobbles off the mountain and that's another story. You all know Kendra Marshall. You all know her. Yeah. When she was probably about 14. Kevin had to work opening day of youth season and so I took her and Steve, I don't remember you took maybe John Barton and there was a whole lot of us out there, you know.

Anyway, Kendra never killed a turkey. before and uh anyway we got in there and i mean we got in on there was there was a whole lot of them and uh i had a single barrel i still got a single barrel i think it's 20 gauge and i had kinder sitting right here and anyway we got set up and they was three big gobbers and i i called them and here they come i mean they just they just hear that i mean they were just coming and kinder was of course you know I mean she was all excited I was too and I'm not kidding you they were it was kind of straight off and when they popped up right there they went no further than Joe I mean they

wasn't 10 foot 10 12 foot and I said I said shoot it doesn't shoot that dude kinder of course of what you know shot what she just slick missed it I mean she never cut a feather out of it and they just blew up whatever where it's a single shot it's a single shot and anyway kender had the long face and you know i was i was just sick for and i said i said just let's just coover jets i said they kind of blowed out in different directions i said let's just sit around a while i said them do's la start goblin again so anyway to make a long story short we sat there about 30 minutes and in a minute right off down the mountain there one god And I said I told Kendra, I said that's in trouble right there.

So we got down there and I got her dug in there and I called him and shoot man here he come just doing his thing and he come up there and he got up at about 30 steps and I mean she killed him dead or an miracle down there you know that dude went to flop and she goes what I do now I said jump up go get him you know she's down there on top of that old turkey but anyway I mean I've had him close but that's about as close as I mean, of course, but she was, it was pretty awesome. One of my other grandsons, Aaron Ferguson, I called his first one up for him. We went out to their place out there and had went the morning before on Saturday,

youth hunt and got after Turkey, had set up a blind, they gobbled, got hens with it, and we couldn't do anything with it. So I told him, I said, we'll go back in the morning. I know exactly what he's going to do. So we got out there double early. and Aaron and I went across this little old cut they got out there and pulled in on his leg and there's a road up and then there's a skitter trail that runs down.

Well, there's a big old oak tree. I mean a great old big oak tree. I set him on the one side there where the skitter trail comes down and I just got on the side of the big oak and I called. When I called him, he flew off and he gobbled up in the main road. Boy, every time he says gobble, I want you to gobble. So I called him. So I called him.

He gobbled two or three times. And a little bit I told Aaron, I said, Now look, I'm going to call him hens up first. They're going to come down that skid trail. And I said, just let them walk by. And I said, when you see that gobbler, I said, he's going to be bad close. He's going to be ten steps or closer.

Well, what I didn't realize when I sat Aaron up, there was a little mound of dirt he was sitting against that oak tree but there was a little mound of dirt about three foot from him that was up so that turkey he he comes down through there and he gets the hens come there was four of them single file and i'm watching i'm sitting there and i'm looking he's right behind him i can see he's fanned out and he's coming and that turkey comes right in there and he gets right there and i hit that slate call this a little bit and he's only about 20 yards out there and he gobbles. Indirectly he starts turn and he's coming right to it. And I'm sitting there like Andy is. I'm going,

shoot him. Shoot him. I close my eyes. You know, I close my eyes. He's bad close. He steps up on that dirt mound and he's about three foot from that end of that gun barrel. And he shoots him and blows his head off.

Kills him dead as a miker right there. I get up and the turkey don't even flop. I mean, he's dead. And I said, what are you waiting on? He said, Pobble, I couldn't see nothing but that fan until he stepped right up on that deal. Look right at me and he said he almost scared. He almost scared me to death. He almost didn't shoot him because he scared.

So he was sitting down lower than you. He couldn't see. He couldn't see nothing but the fan. But the turkey stepped up on the dirt man. And he's like, I mean, he's the gun barrel is right there. and he sticks his head up and he just took his whole head off. Usually that kind of story doesn't end that way, does it? Usually they miss.

They miss, but he was so close and had that gun barrel. It's the first one I, I mean, he cleaned shot his head off. Wow. Oh, that turkey. I thought you were going to say all I could see was his head. I didn't shoot because all I could see was his head. No, but he's seen his head. They didn't either turkey with no head.

Clay, you remember when you were a kid, you first, right when you first learned how to hunt. You started hunting with some of your buddies pretty close to here, you know, 10 miles or so. And he came in one morning saying that this bird came off the roost, sounded like a helicopter. Yeah. Did y'all kill that bird? Do you remember? No, we never did.

No, that was the first time. It was when I first started hunting by myself. And so, you know, when you start hunting by yourself, you start noticing stuff, you never noticed before. because when you're being guided, your mentor is interpreting the world for you, you know. But when you start hunting by yourself, you kind of start noticing stuff. No, we set up way too close.

We heard a bird goblin, set up way too close, but we're in there way before daylight. And so we were set up good, but we didn't know this gobbler had a bunch of hens with it, and we heard, I wouldn't have known it, but I heard several turkeys fly down. And, you know, I just, maybe it's one of the first times I'd ever been that close and heard turkeys fly down.

And so I was like, okay, that's what a turkey sounds like when it flies down. And then the gobbler flew down, and it was like, whoop, pooh, pooh, pw. Yeah, I told that it sounds like a helicopter landing in the woods out there. And the turkey hit the ground and went the other way, and we never even really were in the workings for that turkey. But, yeah, yeah. So I had a guy that I used to work with, he come down.

I invited him down one time. We were living on north of town at the time, so back in the mid-80s. No, that's not true because it had been probably 19, probably 90 or 91, probably. Anyway, he come down from up at, up around Ozark to hunt with me. And spent the night. We got up the next morning, and it was light and then thunder and trying to rain. just a bad, bad morning, you know. But we wasn't going to get a chance to go anymore,

so we went out west, pulled in to the mountain, walked all the way into the low gap in the mountain. And when it got goblin time, it was kind of foggy. No, but nothing gobbling. Nowhere. So I told Conrad, I said, let's walk out here east, and I said, well, just kind of set around a while and see what happens. And anyway, we got out there and we sit out, we sit down side by side.

And I told him, I said, I'm going to call a little bit and see if I get one to answer. So I called North, nothing called again. And about that time, you saw about them flying into you. There was three big Jake's just lit, just like we're sitting right here. I mean, they just lit all around us right there. I mean within five yards. I mean, just three of them walking around clucking, you know, like that. And I was going, Conrad, shoot him, shoot him, you know.

Anyway, to make a long story short, I wound up killing a turkey, you know, instead of him, he wouldn't shoot, he couldn't get on him. So anyway, yeah, I'm telling you, he thought I was a great guy. There was an old boy, I called him off a tree, like a black by you. They don't even have to gobble. Well, guys, we've told some good stories. I appreciate everybody coming. Anybody got any closing thoughts here?

Just one thought from the guy I used to hunt with Greg Burns. You'll always remember the ones you missed or you didn't kill just as much. That's exactly right. Probably more. And that's what he said. He said you'll remember them more than the ones you kill. I remember. Last podcast, well, all the talk that I'd done was turkeys we didn't kill.

And that's the truth. You'll remember the ones that you did not get. I think Greg ran into being Rogers League. He did. He told me that story. And I think Ben told him the story about almost sitting on a rattlesnake that morning. Yeah. And over west.

Yeah, west here. Yeah, pretty good ways. But, yeah. Keep the wild places wild. Keep the wild place as wild. Corey, are you hunting anywhere other than Arkansas this year? I don't think we're going anywhere this year. Paw Paul's not taking you somewhere.

Come on, Paul Paul. I looked at it. We went to Nebraska two years ago. and then we got a plan. We're going to go to Florida, and we're going to try and kind of work on our Grand Slam. Okay. Somewhat.

That's our, that's me and him's goal. Like future years. Yes, that's me and him's goal is to do that together, and we're going to stop. We're going to go to Florida, and I've got to place in Mississippi we can hunt, so we're probably going to stop on our way back and hunting Mississippi. I'll tell you Nebraska, and then I went to Arizona.

That was one of the, I went up and hunted the Indian nations, you know, a couple years ago in Arizona. And I'll tell you what, it was sleeting. That was quite the memory right there. You know, that night we slept in a tent up there, couldn't hardly breathe. You know, the altitude was so, daggum, air thin. We had 40-mile-hour winds, and it was 32 degrees, you know, in that tent, flaps, flapping. But we heard 18 different gobblers.

Wow. And the guys with, he killed one, and I killed one about 9 o'clock. So. Killed them quick, huh? Killed them quick. And, you know, we come back to camp, and we had to drive like three miles. We could see Colorado from where we were up on top of that mountain and to get phone service.

And we come back, and it was about 1 o'clock. And it was supposed to be even worse. And we're sitting there, and I told him, I said, we were going to take a nap, you know, and just rest. And I said, John, is there any reason we're not leaving here? We're going to get up in the morning. And it's going to be 30 degrees, 28 degrees, and wind blowing. And he said, you know, you're right.

We packed up and went to Gallup, New Mexico. Then we got out of there. Oh, hey, we got to end with a poacher story, Joe. Did you ever catch any turkey poachers? And now that wasn't your general job. That wasn't your full time. With the game of fish, you know, I've got a couple of real good ones. It's just, you know, now I can kind of, I can talk about those.

You know, this is a long time ago. This would have been. This is what we needed. This is the kind of energy we needed. Okay. The good poaching story. This is the late 90s, I would say. Probably about 1998.

We were in County North of us. Mm-hmm. And at that time, I was working with the Forest Service LEO. And he's since retired from there. We got an information of a bait site. So me and my partner, we found this bait site, so we knew where it was at. We had real good information. But the problem is, is, you know,

you had to walk pretty good ways into it. And so we've made plans. You know, we knew this guy wasn't coming in there really anytime early. So the day that we decided we were going to go in there and, you know, and catch this guy, you know, it was seasoned at this time. So we rode in there. I rode with the four surface LEO and the undercover vehicle. We get two miles from it.

The vehicle breaks down. I'm thinking. Your government vehicle. it breaks down. I think great. So here we go. He's coming in there, so I'm walking. So I take out walking.

And I get probably within, I don't know, quarter to a half a mile, and I can hear a vehicle coming. So at this time, I take off running. And, you know, I've got my shotgun. Where are you running? You run. I'm running down a road. Towards it?

Yeah, I'm running towards this vehicle because I knew. Is it not coming your way? It was. there was still enough distance that I knew he was coming. We knew which way you come from. Yeah. And he was coming into that bait side. So I'm taking off running and he beats me to it.

So I just back off a little bit and I beat you to the bait side. Yes. He beat me to it, got his truck parked and gets off down into his bait side. And I just pulled back a little bit and I thought, I'm going to give him time to get in there and get good and set up. So probably, I don't know, maybe 10 or 15 minutes. I hear the freaking gun go off. I hear a shotgun go off. So here I take off in there running to him.

And whenever he sees me, he sees me like, I can't believe this. The turkey's sitting there flopping. His guns leaned up against a tree. And he looks around and he just takes off running. And I mean, he just left all of it. He just took off running. You caught him red-handed. Red-handed.

That probably doesn't happen very often, doesn't. Oh, no. And the turkey is sitting up. out there flopping corn everywhere, feathers flying everywhere. Here's his gun leaned up against the tree, and he's gone. You know, you couldn't have caught him if you'd have wanted to. And this is my, oh, maybe. But I mean, it's trucks here.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, it gets good. You know, we're not done yet. So I thought, well, what am I going to do? So I'm a holler at him. So I knew who it was. I said, well, you know, that's fine. We know who you are.

I've got your gun and your truck. You say this. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, because I know he's not out there, you know, maybe 150 yards, but you couldn't caught him. I've done, went two miles and then ran into that or that. I'm out of, heck, I'm out of air by then. So I've got his gun and I've got the turkey.

We come out of the woods to the truck. And by this time, the wrecker comes and picks our truck up. And I holler at him on the radio. So I said, well, come on down here. I said, drop our truck there and load his up. So we loaded his truck up on the record and hauled it. to town and I had the shotgun, the turkey, and then we impounded his truck. So we get up to the jail.

So you just leave him in the woods. Oh, yeah. You know, I didn't know where he's in. He's in a shake, he can run. Yeah. And I can think of another story up there where you love to turkey hunt. A guy hit the woods and caught him the next day, but that's a different story. And so, and we knew he's going to come up there and we figured he's going to report his truck stolen.

You know, that's the big thing. When people flee, well, you know, someone stole my truck. Do you put a warrant out for their arrest if they flee? No, no, not at that time. You know, we knew who his family was. We knew all about it. Did you have to take any pictures or anything? Oh, yeah.

So, like when you had the turkey, had the gun, like you documented everything. And he came up there to jail. You know, we figured he was going to report his truck stolen. And I said, why did you run from me? That was, I wasn't going to give him any other questions. So he just walked in. Yeah, because we knew he would come.

Well, yeah, because he's wanting to. his stuff back. He wants his gun and he wants his truck. And the first question. Yeah, and his turkey, which he didn't get that. And so my first question was, you know, not anything else, but why did you run from him? And then he said, I don't know.

You can come up with some excuse. So then I knew he had him, you know, because he didn't deny it then. So he was caught then. Yeah. So later we went through court and, you know, he was found guilty. And I think he actually pled the case is what. And what would have happened to that guy? Do you remember?

that guy at that time you know he would lose his i don't remember you know exactly what that my meal there you go i don't really remember what the case you know adjudicated as yeah but you know now he would probably i don't know what baiting turkeys is now as far as you know the violation on that as far as points but you know i don't know what tier it is or even and it got to where i didn't work a lot of game and fish stuff we worked more my latter years you know just in last year we work more recreation you know i seen the transition from a lot of different stuff to worked heavy narcotics and right into here you know you work more side by sides recreation which yeah recreational violation stuff you know lots of alcohol but you know i've seen the

transition from where you was fighting a lot of narcotics to where a lot of it's legal now you've seen a complete shift but there's tons of stories you know if you're ever wanted to do this story because I can talk about a lot of them now you know I can't and before you tell us the story about you were saying you had one that you came to mind that

somewhere close um which as far as well you just when you were talking you looked at Andy and said hey I remember a story somewhere over by you I'm the one that you might not remember it was out west of town

I'd went out there scouting turkeys and heard 12 or 15 turkeys like three or four days before season. And I went out there two mornings in a row listening. And Joe came in there the one morning when I was there. And he said, hey, Steve, what he did? And I said, well, I'm going to be in here in the morning, open day. I said, there's turkeys in here. And he said, no, don't come in here in a while. I do remember that one.

He said, that guy's baiting them. And I said, oh, really, you got to be kidding me. There's turkeys ever. He said, that's why they're gobbling. No wonder. He said, don't come in here in the morning. He said, wait 10 days and then come back. And so I said, okay.

And he caught that guy. We got some information on that one. I was with the Forest Service then. And a couple of people called me and said they found that bait. So me and another game of fish officer, we went in there and we found it. And we came in there the next day. And kind of like you said, we got there really, really early. And you know which one we're talking about on this.

And we looked this thing over and we thought, you know, he's got to come up from this way. And so we just get set up there. And sure enough, you know, turkeys go to goblin. And what happens? He comes in the opposite way. And I heard something and turned around and looked at him and he's looking right at me. You know, and I knew who it was at that time. You know, and I'm sitting there with a rifle.

He probably thinks you're a turkey hunter. He thought we were a turkey hunter. You know, and I'm sitting there with a rifle. You know, once I, you know, announce who we are and everything, he's like, well, you know, I don't know what we, you know, I don't know nothing. You know, basically he doesn't know nothing. And then I get consent to search his pouch. You know, it seems like, no, is this backpack? Oh, I don't know nothing. And he gives me consent to search it. And I pull out the top of a corn sack. And then it just, he just, it goes downhill from there. Did he admit to it? Yes. And then we asked where he was staying. So we end up going on the west side over there, talking to his father. And about that time when we pulled up to camp, his father pulls up on the side. It was an ATV at the time and a turkey on the back.

You know, it was just, you know, and I'm sure they'll hear this. It was just a, it was just a hunch. And we said, we know you're baiting the turkeys and you're just going to have to take us to where you killed that one. He just ducks his head and he says, okay. You know, and he took us right to where he was baiting. Oh, what? Yeah. And that's another story. We called the record. We impounded both of those side by sides and everything, and there were ATVs. But it was just a hunch because we knew it.

He had done been baiting turkey, so we knew that one had to be killed over there. And you just came in and just said, I knew you did it. Yep. Take me to it. Yep. That's like a good parenting trick. When you have a hunch, your kid did something, you just hit them hard and they can fast. Well, that's that six cents, that six cents, especially in law enforcement.

Yeah, you cut them open and see corn in their belly. It might be a hint. Let me ask you this, Joe. Years and years ago, a friend of mine and I were hunting west of town here in a pretty popular area. A lot of roads go back in there. And we found a site. I don't remember us calling the game warden because it's probably old, but feathers everywhere.

I mean, it looked like a hundred turkeys have been processed in there. You know, maybe 50. but I mean it just had you know It was like at the back of a camp or something I think I remember that story Yeah you remember me coming home I think it was

Yeah it was it was in the 80s Yeah And it was like a cul-de-sac Where there had been a camp Well I don't know about that This was off in the woods Now we might have come to a cul-de-sac But y'all know where I'm probably talking about

You know there's a big chicken farm there And you go over a hill I mean it's just pig trails everywhere And back in there Not very far from the main road, one of those main roads. It just looked like a bunch of turkeys have been killed. You know, a pretty substantial guy was with me, you know, and he's pretty good turkey hunter, and he couldn't figure out.

It just looked like, you know, at least 25, 30 turkeys been butchered there. Maybe 100. I mean, it was just crazy. So I don't know why we didn't call. He might have called the game warden. I can't remember, but anyway. Have you ever seen a site like that? Not that much.

You know, I interviewed a. a turkey poacher one time. And we knew he was a very early turkey hunter. And he said his favorite time to go, he'd get his wife to drop him off. He wouldn't leave the house till 10 o'clock in the morning. He said, if I can kill one, if I hear it, I'll kill it. If I can get a turkey to gobble, go ahead.

Yeah, there you go. And he said, I'll kill it. And that's how he done it. He hunted in the middle of the day. I wish I'd have known that years ago. I would never have gotten up it. You know, if you get a You got a pretty good chance to kill it.

Oh, yeah. And no one's out there. Oh, yeah. Hey, that was a great, great ending to our podcast. Thanks, guys. Really appreciate everybody being here. First Lights fieldwear collection is made for the work that happens long before opening day and continues when the season ends.

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