The MeatEater Podcast - Ep. 264: The Champ of Champs

Episode Date: March 15, 2021

Steven Rinella talks with Preston Pittman, Ryan Callaghan, Phil Taylor, Corinne Schneider, Samantha Bates, and Janis Putelis.Topics discussed: The caviar of the south; the story of Cal's forearm scar; is there such as thing as a Covid tweaker?; the champ has been shot twice, but doesn't call the cops; the beautiful Grim Reaper choking noises that Steve makes when trying to gobble; Jani's talent; David Letterman; breaking down tag team competitive calling scenarios; how life's too damn short not to enjoy it; no shame in being dyslexic; Preston's perspective on trail cams and the new young farts; the difference between hey, heyyy!, and heeeeeeey; running a diaphragm with a big dip in your lip; studying Ma Nature; and more. Connect with Steve and MeatEaterSteve on Instagram and TwitterMeatEater on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and YoutubeShop MeatEater Merch Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey folks, exciting news for those who live or hunt in Canada. You might not be able to join our raffles and sweepstakes and all that because of raffle and sweepstakes law, but hear this. OnX Hunt is now in Canada. It is now at your fingertips, you Canadians. The great features that you love in OnX are available for your hunts this season. Now the Hunt app is a fully functioning GPS with hunting maps that include public and crown land, hunting zones, aerial imagery, 24K topo maps, waypoints and tracking. You can even use offline maps to see where you are

without cell phone service as a special offer. You can get a free three months to try out OnX if you visit onxmaps.com slash meet. This is the Meat Eater Podcast coming at you shirtless, severely bug-bitten, and in my case, underwearless. We hunt the Meat Eater Podcast coming at you shirtless, severely bug-bitten, and in my case, underwearless. We hunt the Meat Eater Podcast. You can't predict anything. Presented by OnX Hunt, creators of the most comprehensive digital mapping system for hunters.

Download the Hunt app from the iTunes or Google Play Store. Know where you stand with Onyx. Cal was trying to show off his catfish grabbing scar. Which may not be showing off because it shows a lack of technique as well. You weren't showing it off. You were illustrating. Demonstrating that I'm part of the club. But did he spin on you? Yes.

Yes. Yeah. And spun hard and fast enough to where the, the pain that I got was from my elbow smacking into the tub. Been there, done that. Now, was it, was it a blue? Into the tub.

Into the tub. That's all you were throwing it into. Well, these guys, they, uh, so they mark, uh. Oh, they put like little. Yeah. They mark natural nesting sites. Yeah. But then they also get super sneaky and hide old cast iron tubs.

Nope. That they cut a nine by 11 sheet out of. Did you say nope? Nope. Not us. You're calling Cal a liar. Well, I think it's illegal in some places now. I'm not calling Cal a liar.

I'm just telling them there's a better way of doing it. And that's the way that we do it. We build wooden boxes. It looks kind of like a coffin. One sec. Why a cast iron tub? Inverted? It's heavy, yep. Oh, flipped. Yep, so the bottom's

on top, pointing towards the sky. And you've got to cut a little entrance hole in there. They cut a 9x11 hole in it. That's all it takes for him to get in there. And I said, why is nine by 11? He's like, well, it's a standard sheet of paper. So everybody knows the measurement and a big alligator. That would be eight and a half by 11.

A big snapping turtle can't get in there. That's right. Okay. Now, how would Cal have done it if he wasn't stupid? Well, from where I'm seeing the scar at, he's just crap out of luck because you actually got past his lip. Yes. He swallowed you is what he did. You're screwed.

Just hold on. What's the farthest you've ever gotten your arm down in one? Not me, but one of my cohorts that was with us literally swallowed him up to his shoulder. He was 97-pound blue. Hmm. And we do it a little bit different than some. I say we. It's actually a gentleman by the name of Mike Willoughby who carries me,

who's been on some of the reality shows. What do you mean he carries you? In his boat. Oh, okay. I'm not that old yet. I was like. I can still get around by God. Come through the door, all right.

But we have spotters on each side. So that literally if you do get into trouble, someone's always there. And it took this boy under, completely under. And two people were trying to hold his head up and they're going, let go, let go, let go. And as his head would come up, they'd pull his head up. He'd go, I can't, I can't, right back down again. That happened three times. And then when he finally got his arm out, he turns around and looks and says,

block the hole. And you're seeing blood going down his arm. We're talking a 97-pound blue. A blue is a mean sucker is what he is. No, it's catfish. It's catfish. Yeah. Yeah.

Mean catfish. You know, me and him is going to get along. I can already see it. But they blocked the hole. He went back, got a little bit of breath, and said, okay, here I come. And we're going, we need to get you to the doctor. He goes. When he said block the hole, did he mean so the catfish can't drag him back into the hole or get himself back into the hole?

No, so that the catfish couldn't get out. You take your feet, and you stick in the hole to block the hole to keep the fish from coming out. Because, see, now you've got him mad. Now he knows that something's trying to catch him. Oh, because he still was intent on catching it. He did. Took him over to the boat, took the old cotton scales, weighed him, 97 pounds, released him, says, now I care about the doctor. Oh, I got you.

Is it kind of just like, I feel like grabbing catfish, it's just like exhibitionism, right? It's kind of like no one's doing it to get catfish. People are just doing it to be like, I grabbed a catfish. Look at this. It's like, it's like, it's like. Wait, wait, look right here. Okay. Yeah. Big old gut.

Do you think I'm going to be throwing a good, what I call the caviar of the south, which is a flathead? I'm going to keep me a mess of fish. Oh, you do? And I'll really, and most of the time we keep the males. Oh, I got you. And release the females. And the male will go up in the hole. Oh, yeah.? And I'll release, and most of the time we keep the males. Oh, I got you. And release the females. And the male will go up in the hole? Oh yeah.

The male will be up in there. Sometimes you'll have two. You'll have a male and a female. Oh, so you guys just keep the males and you don't, then you're not, you still got all your spawners. Right. Because that is what they are doing. They are laying their eggs inside of these wooden boxes.

But it's not like the most productive way to get a fish. Well, it depends on who you're going with. Really? Uh-huh. And where they're at. On a good day, if you've got 20 boxes out, seven or eight fish running anywhere from 20 to 40 pounds is average. Got you.

What's the best time of year for that? There is actually a season in the state of Mississippi. It coincides with the spawn, right? Correct. Yeah. About June 14th, June 15th is when you need to be there if you're not scared. Not scared. Okay.

I'll tell you. I'm going to talk to Cal for a while and find out what he did or didn't do it is eye opening man i i thought it is amazing it's it's just kind of grabs you by the boo-boo huh was it a rush cal it's crazy it's wild i mean all the things it's like the water is very warm you can't see in the water at all. I wore a mask, which I think. Trying to get a look around? Well, just mentally, I think it helps to have your eyes open.

Oh. But you can't see at all, you know, but yeah. So it, you know, it's not like shocking, cool, refreshing water or my situation was it, you know, you're just like wrapped in a warm towel. It's like primordial, primordial feel to it. Very claustrophobic. And then you get You know, you're just like wrapped in a warm towel. It's like primordial feel to it. Very claustrophobic. And then you get in there and you're feeling around into nothing.

And then all of a sudden something wham gets you. Like bites you. You know, not in a friendly sort of testing you out sort of way. You know, it's like. Not nibbling. No, it is like smash. Now when they're doing that, they're defending the nest, right? Correct.

Correct. That's what they're doing. They're not trying to feed. No. What it is, it's like smaller fish, bluegill, brim, stuff like that will come into the nest and try to eat the eggs. So what they're doing is they are protecting that nest. And when that hand goes in, and there's a proper way, and I can promise you this, the boys that I would carry you with

are extremely good and will coach you and tell you everything you do or don't want to do. Got it. Now, how did a turkey collar get on catfishing? Well, because the cow's showing off his arm. Now she's demonstrating his arm. But here's the thing you should have him explain. It seems to me that the bathtub thing,

you'd be limited by how many tubs you could round up. Well, if I may interject, in the old days, they would use old hot water heaters. Got it. They would use bathtubs, which all that stuff is now illegal. You're not supposed to, at least in the state of Mississippi, use and utilize those because they don't deteriorate. That's the reason why we use wood because over a period of time, the wood is going

to rot and deteriorate. Now, there is another group of guys that go strictly in natural stuff. I'm out. I don't do that. You never know when there could be a beaver, a big loggerhead turtle, you know, so on, so on, so forth. They'll back into a beaver den? Like the entrance to a beaver den? How about this?

A big cypress stump. I believe it was on, I'm trying to remember the name of the lake, where one of my buddies went to go into a big cypress stump. And as he was climbing in, here comes a six-foot alligator. I've never seen my move that fast. Right back out. So you got to scout it out when the water's low, huh? Well, with the system that my buddies- No, I mean the all-natural, the purest.

They got to kind of scout, like, how do they become aware of the hidey holes? Reaching their hands like up in a bluff. Just feeling around, really. Or into a log jam. Or over a period of years, they've learned like where the old trees have fallen and that are hollow. Or where a beaver has dug a hole. So they just kind of just over through life, they just kind of find those spots. Yeah.

I used to know a guy that would, I grew up with a guy who's a hunting buddies of my dad and they were kind of like VFW buddies. He would go and feel undercut banks for turtles. Uh-uh. What do you mean he wouldn't? I'm not. Oh. I was like, they wouldn't.

You ain't seen our loggerhead turtles. And you can use a stick to stick up in there too. To feel around for them. To feel around and see if the fish will hit the stick. Yeah, I've seen guys also wade out spook a turtle and then just wade out and feel with your feet until you eventually find. I like my toes too much. Where they go.

Yeah, but you know what? When I was growing up, people, everybody said, I don't have any reason to think this is true, but it was accepted as knowledge that a turtle will not bite you underwater. I don't know why that was a thing that everybody said. That's where they eat, right? Yeah, but it was like a thing people said man they're like no he won't like they won't bite you out of aggression underwater oh yeah and as a kid who wants to swim that's all you need right it's like oh perfect i was pulling up one time on a turtle trap

and my turtle trap is just shaking and there's a turtle in the trap fighting to the death with a turtle out of the trap fighting to the death with a turtle out of the trap, fighting through the mesh. Like he could get his head out of the mesh. They're sure biting each other out of aggression underwater. But it was just a thing people said today. Oh, no, they won't bite you underwater. I don't know.

All I'm going to say is I have known a lot of people who will lie to you too. About what? About biting up underneath the water. That they do bite under the water. Well, how the heck does he eat? No, I understand that.

I don't know why, I don't know why everybody said that, that it won't hit you, it won't attack you. Well, I tell you what, you can find out, I'm not.

Preston, have you ever known anybody to lose a digit? No. From a turtle or? No. No, I have not. But, then I've got a small group that I go with.

I'm not going to find out. I like my fingers and my toes too much. Yeah. You've been shot twice. Yes. I want to get to that in a minute. Okay. Hang tight, though.

Okay. I can't hang loose? You can hang loose. Okay. Yeah, what the hell is that? Why do we have both those things? I don't hang loose? You can hang loose. Okay. Yeah, what the hell is that? Why do we have both those sayings? I don't know. So when you...

You like your fingers and your toes too much when you got shot, were you kind of in a fetal position protecting those things? They didn't hit your fingers, did they? I still got shot in me all over. We'll talk about that. Okay, you tell me when you want to talk about it. Well, I just want, we just got to do something real quick. Okay.

Okay, Corinne, explain, I'll check the audio to explain the deal. One, Corinne's got to tell us about the update about the dude that was eating the dog. Oh, I feel like. But wasn't. I feel like Cal's probably better. We can maybe share that. Well, did you research, continue to research? Corinne's been on it.

She refuses to contact the gentleman. Refuses to contact the gentleman. Feels as though he doesn't feel like talking about it. Yeah. Y'all got a guy who was eating dogs? No, so here's the deal. I'll recap this to the best of my capability. Because I know a guy who eats monkeys.

Listen, there's a guy in New York cooking a dog up, cooking a coyote. His neighbor has a fit. His neighbor has a fit and runs over, videoing him and raising holy hell and calling the police. They come over and they don't give him the benefit of the doubt and confiscate his dinner. Send it off to a lab. Listen, that was a big war on barbecue sigh right there, wasn't it? Yeah. That was a Southern sign at Yankees.

As you probably should. So they send it off to where? Cornell? Yep. To the lab. The lab comes back and says, what? We're 98% sure this gentleman was cooking a coyote. So do they bring him back his thing?

I mean, I don't think so. They better bring him something. I don't know how much they took. That's my thought. So, unfortunately, like, the only news source consistently reporting on this thing is, like, Cornell is 98% certain it's a coyote. But until we really find out for sure, like, these are the actions that could happen. Either, um, the, you know, whoever's in charge of livestock in the state of New York and handles animal cruelty is going to get in touch with this guy on the 2% chance that it is domestic. Or, uh, the state of New York fish and game is going to, uh, talk to this guy further. Right.

And it like leaves it like that. So I called, I called the district, uh, Fish and Game there in, in, uh, whatever county it was. I can't remember now. Um, and. Like you're doing primary research. Yes.

And I talked. This guy's like a journalist. Talked to a warden. And then, um, you know what I mean? He's like all anecdotal, right? He's like, well, yeah. I mean, it's not illegal. He's like, if you want to do it, go for it.

He's like, it is, you know, coyote season. In fact, I saw a TV show once where somebody ate a coyote. And I was like, oh oh all right sounds good and then uh and then i i ended up calling back just to double double check and um spoke with with the regional communications and you got got the the got the impression that they'd fielded quite a few phone calls at this point. They were sick of talking about it. Yep. And they're like, we know what you're getting after.

And yes, it is completely legal to eat a coyote in the state of New York. As long as it's done during coyote season, which is lengthy. Well, no, because you can eat a deer out of deer season. It's not like you got to like quit eating your venison when season ends. That would change the game quite a bit, wouldn't it? Yeah, it wouldn't be a whole lot of time for

eating because you're usually gone. A lot of barbecue, it'd be barbecue season. Huh. Yeah. I still think Crensh should find this guy, but this guy's got to be real sick of this whole occurrence. Oh, for sure.

And like the whole makeshift grill thing that they were talking about. So the guy, you can see in the picture, uh, the, the guy or family gets, gets out in the woods. There's a canoe sitting up there. There's some things that you would attribute to folks that are, are, are, are messing around in the out of doors. And, uh, I think he singed the hair off the, the coyote with the blow torch.

And that was the makeshift grill. Probably. Yeah. Hmm. Uh, it's just a story that, you know, I,

what we need, here's what we need to do. Cren, I want you to get the guy, the lady that told on him and the person from the lab all here in the studio. We're going to hash it out. We won't quit until those two people hug each other. I know where they both live.

They're going to walk out here holding hands and go to dinner. I have Google Maps where they both live. It's a short street. Exactly how I get a hold of the gentleman remains to be seen. Tell them you'll fly the both of them out and want them to just hash it out. I have a challenge for you for the gentleman who ate the coyote. Send him a recipe for the next one. Well, it sounds like he was using my strategy.

I think that he was using that strategy because I, when I cooked a coyote, I just cooked a coyote the way I had seen dogs cooked. That's all. So I think that he was cooking a coyote in the way that he probably knows that that's a traditional dog prep. Now, Corinne, what's the final, we're going to talk about this GoFummy deal. Let's just traditional dog prep. Now, Corinne, what's the final? We're going to talk about this GoFundMe deal. Let's just talk about it.

Now, I realize that we hit everybody up about GoFundMe when Brandon Butler's place got burnt down to the ground and people really poured the coals to his GoFundMe campaign. I don't want, this isn't like every week, it's like, go to this GoFundMe. Not going to be overdoing it on GoFundMe. But as a guy who's a hunter, whose daughter

very ill born ill what what is the she has bronchopulmonary dysplasia which ends severe pulmonary hypertension never even been i think she's spent pretty much her whole existence in a two and a half years in hospitals yeah but this came to our attention because the father of the child was selling, like he was on an archery chat room or Facebook group, selling his hunting equipment to raise money to cover travel

back and forth and all the ancillary and primary expenses involved in this. What is the name of that thing? It's kind of, it's a heartbreaking story, especially if you got kids. I don't know.

I don't think you need to have kids to find that heartbreaking. Cody Griffiths is the dude's name. Bow Hunter. Right? Yep. Cody Griffiths. Uh, we had,

um, a listener of the podcast write in and let us know that he, as a member of, uh, a hunting group on Facebook, he had seen someone post in his hunting group, who is a member of another hunting group on Facebook, that Cody was selling some of his archery gear and this led him to look into Cody's GoFundMe campaign. It's called Help Bobby Griffith and it tells you all about his daughter and I guess he was down to selling some of his hunting equipment to continue to try to raise money for her. I think people should go take a look. One last quick thing. Last night we got done ice

fishing and it was late. So me and my wife took our kids to a bar to get them dinner on the way home. And the bar had a sign on the door as you come in. A new sign that said no tweakers allowed. And I was like, does that mean drugs or COVID tweakers?

Or twerkers? No twerkers. I was like, that mean drugs or covid tweakers or twerkers no twerkers that's i was like i couldn't tell if it meant because like i've never heard of a covid tweaker oh covid tweaker someone's like very dialed on covid precautions this is a thing oh yeah covid tweakers no way but then like no one heard it so you think it meant like no drug people no those guys drink a lot though. Yeah, but a COVID tweaker is not even going to go into a bar. That's what I was thinking. It was like redundant.

Right. It was brand new. And then the only people wearing masks in the bar were my kids. They were shooting pool with masks on because they're so trained up from school. They're comfortable just running around all damn time in a mask. So you think that's what it meant? Yes. Yeah. No drug people. No drug addicts. Oh, for sure. I mean, you don't have to specify exactly where you were, but for example, if you were on the High Line in northern Montana,

that would be a more applicable place for a sign like that. You do see those shirts around everyone. There's anti anti i shouldn't say anti tweaker everybody should be anti tweaker don't do drugs kids if i type in covid tweaker i get a the second hit i get is the article called coronavirus and illicit drug use so this that combines it all right so you got shot twice where was the first time you got shot? Not where, like where and where, meaning where were you and where on your body did you get hit? And did it hurt?

Hell yeah, it hurt. First time. Again, Preston Pittman. The first time I got shot, I was in what we call Camp Shelby or DeSoto National Forest. Tell me the national forest again. DeSoto. DeSoto. DeSoto National Forest, south of Hattiesburg, Mississippi. How did that guy, how does he get one named after himself?

I called it Camp Shelby because there's also an army base that is there, and you're liable to be in the woods hunting. Here comes tanks when they're doing their little army games. But anyway. You ever get any shot gobbles off those tanks? What is it called when you go for so many years and you can't be prosecuted? What is that terminology? Oh, statute of limitations?

Yeah, I think the statute of limitations are over with. Yes. In fact, I was probably one of the first that would go down in his truck, take his bicycle out of the back of his truck, and pedal around the little barriers that they had to get close to the impact ranges because you got in to gobble twice. First, when the big gun went off, and second, whenever the shell hit the ground. Oh.

So you were onto this. Oh, yeah. I mean, that was the best way in the world to hear that. That was him just making that noise. No. I've been known to a time or two. Are you missing teeth up on the top? No, I got split.

I thought maybe you took them out in order to make good gobbles. No. Okay. So you're hunting by the army tanks. Well, on that particular day, I was right across from the Cowpin Road. People in the south of Mississippi don't know exactly. Tell me the name of that road again. Cowpin. Cowpin. Yeah. No, I was right across from the Cowpin Road. People in the South Mississippi don't know exactly. Tell me the name of that road again. Cowpin.

Cowpin. Yeah. No, I'm with you. Yeah, Cowpin Road. And a 16-year-old, basically I'm working a bird. It's a gobbler with three hens. And one thing that I found out a long time ago is that in a last resort, I will gobble at him. Oh, that's how you got shot.

Yeah. So I can't totally blame. So it's true. Both times I got shot, I was gobbling, okay? So it's true. You could get shot for gobbling. Yes, especially in public ground, and that's where I was at. So I guess he saw movement or whatever it may be and heard me gobble and a sense came over did you

know did you know the guy was there no not in the course not actually you wouldn't have done it no not in the beginning no and uh basically just got that sense it came over and something was not right not that i was looking at the bird and he gave me any i just kind of eased my head around and look and there is a young man uh standing by a tree with an old single-barreled 12-gauge. And as I hollered, I balled up into a ball. And the majority of the shot hit my back and, let's just say, my rear end. Did penetrate. I want to back up a second.

How far were you at the a second How far were you At the time How far were you From the turkey You were About 60 yards Do you So it seems like

This guy was kind of like Maybe sneaking in On the gobbles Yes Okay so he wasn't like Set up there coincidentally I got you No no no

So he's hearing all this racket Both times I got shot He's hearing this racket And he's kind of like Coming in to have a look Yeah he's trying to sneak in Okay sorry go ahead Didn't hear him call. Didn't hear anything from him.

So I just balled up into a ball. He shot and it wasn't like a death shot, but it penetrated. Think of about a hundred wasps stinging you at one time. That's about what it felt like. From what range did

he hit you about 45 yards that's when we had lead shot only not copper coated lead and not tss do you feel like um just from your understanding of uh turkey shot at that distance um would that would that have the oomph to get through your skull and get your brain? Well, I had two pellets. The only two pellets that they removed was right beside my back of my neck. Oh, it could have got your spine. And the rest of them, they said, we'll do more damage in taking them out than just letting them stay.

And over a period of about five years, I'd get like a pimple on my back and start scratching it. There'd come a number six shot popping out. Did you save some of those? No. Huh. Why not? Why?

I don't know. Because you'd be like, people come over to your house and be like, see that? Let me put it to you like this. Those type of trophies, I don't want. What, the shooter, did he run off or did he run over to help? Was he helpful? Daddy, if about 40 years ago your son came home without his shotgun, I still have it to this day.

Let's just say we ended up in a confrontation. I don't want to use that strong of a language. We didn't agree with each other. I'm trying to say this politically correct. I confronted him, and he proceeded to tell me that he could hunt anywhere he wanted to as i'm trying to educate the young man to the point of uh recognize your target see the whole animal don't shoot it sound so on so on and he was blaming you for having gobbled? Yes. And I do take part of the blame. I take part of the blame.

But when he swung that old single barrel at me and told me. After he shot you? Oh, yeah. And told me to go to Hades and he would hunt any way he wanted to. I proceeded to disarm him, shall we say. Man, talk about a guy doubling down. You talking about a redneck getting, I just got to say it, pissed talk about a guy doubling down. You talking about, are you reading that getting, I just got to say it, pissed off.

I got pissed off. Now, so he got you over the edge after he shot you. He tried to knock the hell out of me with his gun barrel. Look, you guys, I would feel that if I shot someone, I would run over and sort of be like, boy, am I in the wrong. I would too. Is there anything I can do to be of assistance? Well, the second time I got shot, that's exactly what happened.

Okay. I want us folks. And it was about 300 yards from where I got shot at the first time. And I was doing the same thing. You know, we're kind of hard to educate sometimes. Is that where you plan on taking Steve turkey hunting when he comes down to visit? You're like, I want you to go over to that tree and gobble. No.

I don't even go in that part of the country anymore. The second time I got shot, basically. Hold on. I'm not done with the first time. Okay. No police involvement. Nah. But did you go seek medical treatment?

I finally went to the hospital and they dug those two shots out. How many pills did you get in you? A bunch. Let's just say later on that night after I got back from the hospital, if you want to picture in your mind a funny sight, Imagine someone having a couple of adult beverages and then getting on top of the bathroom counter with a needle, a pocket knife, and a pair of tweezers. And popping as many as you can out of your rear end.

Out. That was just me. The second time I didn't get penetrated that much. And you never said to the cops, hey, I got shot? Yeah. Wow. Well, you'd be to, I think, genuine people do that. Well, let me give you a for instance.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. We called the cops last night. You got to realize, though, how many years ago that was. Okay. Okay. I'm 67, I think. Yeah, 67 years old. I was in my 20s, early 20s, whenever this happened.

And I just didn't see any need to do it. Yeah. Okay, the second time. Second time, and here again, we're going way back, okay? We're going back to when there were not that many turkey hunters. There was not the information that there is out there now with, you know, quality TV shows like yourself and all the others and internet and having any of that crap. Fewer turkeys too probably right then. Oh, I can remember trying to find a track.

I've been through it all. I've seen from basically very little all the way to the rise of what we call the good old days to the steady and off to the decline that we're having. What was the good old days? Late 90s, early 2000s? About, no, before the 2000s. We're going to say 90s. Yeah.

It's going to be in the 90s. But this gentleman I knew, and he was one of the few, what I call good turkey hunters, but he's a creeper too. That's what I say, a creeper. Huh. A sneaker. Like a bushwh too. That's what I say. A creeper. Huh. A sneaker. Like a bushwhacker. That's not bushwhacking.

That's figuring him out by a guy. Because I want to. If I can't call him, I'll crawl him. Okay. So let's. Which I'll teach you. I want to. Listen, I'm real interested in the getting shot thing, but I want to understand the nomenclature

here or the lexicon. What in your mind is a bushwhacker? Somebody who shoots them out the window. Oh, yeah, that's different. Of what? Your vehicle. Okay. And a creeper is a sneaker-upper.

What's your opinion on ground blinds? Where's that falling? I hate them damn things. It's too confining. Now, hang on. Let's stop right here so that I can get this out right. People that are listening, as a general set of rules, you don't walk and call. And you don't sneak.

There are places or tracts of land that you can get away with. We're fixing to get into a whole school. No, no, no. But I don't even know what we're- I want people to hunt safely. Okay. We're talking about safety. I just want to understand, before we do that, I want to get into life lessons about getting shot turkey hunting.

But I'm just curious about this from regional variations. A creeper hears a gobble and sneaks up on it have you ever tried it yeah in the south no okay then you hadn't tried it yet oh don't give me the you're gonna lay on the like these turkeys are so like everyone knows that a missouri turkey no mississippi alabama louisiana the three hardest states there are anywhere in the country. If you can kill a bird in Mississippi and Alabama, you can go anywhere in the United States and kill a bird, I promise you. We have the longest consecutive hunting seasons of any state in the United States. But you won't answer my question.

Okay, question. What is a creeper is someone that if he won't come to you, you go to him. By that time, you have been in on this bird multiple times, and you have figured out what is going on. Either he is homosexual, or either he has all the hens that he wants and is not going to come to you. Now, is that the accepted procedure that most turkey hunters do? Absolutely not. But you are open to it.

I'll put a hen decoy on my head and crawl out in the middle of a cow pasture and kill him. Okay. I'll put a tail chaser on my gun barrel and crawl up and kill him. I'll dig a hole in the ground and bury myself to kill him. Okay. So you're not down on the creeper that shot you? No.

Oh, okay. I thought it was a derogatory term. No. No. All right. So there you are hunting. We're hunting. And a creeper.

Am I going to catch some slack over this? I don't care though. It's my style. It's my way. Okay. Not from this crew. Okay. It was like I said, if I can't call him, I will crawl him.

If it's legal in that particular state. Alabama, for example, just passed a law that like the fanning, that's a creeper. You've seen that. Yeah. That's a creeper, right? Yep. Okay. Fanning is illegal now in the state of Alabama.

Now, how do they, even if you're stationary or how, yeah. Yeah. How do they spell it out? There's multiple states that you can. But how do they describe, you know what I mean? Like, how is it described? Basically, I am guessing, okay? Yeah.

I have to tell you about a couple of different products made by Mojo. There is the Tail Chaser Erect, which has an apparatus that goes on to your gun barrel, okay, that you can crawl and keep in front of you, and it has like a little tripod on it. And then there's the scoot and shoot that has a handle that you can get behind. I've had one of those in my Amazon cart because they were out of stock for a long time. I like those things. Let me know if you need one. I can get you one.

Oh, please. Okay. You need one? Yeah. Okay. Me too. Me me know if you need one. I can get you one. Oh, please. Okay. You need one? Yeah. Okay. Me too. Me too, Preston. Okay.

Terry, are you hearing this? Denman, I need three more. I don't even think it's in my, I think that now and then something's in your Amazon cart so long your wife deletes it because she's like, why has this been in here for like eight months? You just don't know the right people. Yeah. Okay.

But man, we still haven't talked about getting shot, but go on. But go on. I don't know where the heck I was at. But that's a creeper, if you know what I mean. And like normal. And it's a fan that allows you to move. Yes. Up on birds.

Yes. Like partially, at least partially obscured. Yes. Probably more so because their attention is on the fan. So I'm going to explain why this is dangerous. Because. Yeah. What have you got? You've got a gobbler. Probably more so because their attention is on the fan. So I'm going to explain why this is dangerous. Because. Yeah.

What have you got? You've got a gobbler. What are you trying to hunt? A gobbler. I'll repeat. Only do this in places where you know you can do it safely. Yeah. Like very private land in the middle of that private land.

Oh, and Yanni, are you trying to find out how they articulate? Yeah, right now. Okay. That's a tough one to explain and regulate. Yeah, and I can't wait to hear like what exactly, like how they express it. Like, I think that the state of Pennsylvania, you cannot, you have to be stationary, period. That's correct. And I believe you had to walk in with Hunter's orange. And I have also been told that you need to put like a band or whatever hanging on the tree. I'm not sure about that part of it.

Yeah, I believe in Pennsylvania they say you can't stalk a turkey. Right. So it's illegal in some places. Huh. That makes sense. Like if you're mobile, you have to display that you're mobile by wearing Blaze Orange. That would be an easy way to do that. That feels a little Big Brother to me, personally.

I believe that's the only state where Hunter's Orange is required. Interesting. I believe. I don't know that far back. Probably because you had a bunch of ninnies reporting themselves to the cops every time they got shot. That's why it's best to keep quiet. Someone shoots you, just shut up.

Pretty soon you're going to have to wear a blaze orange. Get out your tweezers. Shut up. Let me set the scene for you. Here you are. You're a survivor. You've been shot turkey hunting before. You got shot because you were a goblin. So you go back out to that spot and

commence to gobbling and a gentleman creeps up on me and basically the same thing steps on the twig as he's getting close to me here again i turned and looked and i went oh my god balled up into a ball i thought i was gonna have to carry him out he was upset? He was that upset and he quit hunting. Oh! Now, wait a second. That's not the rest of the story. Oh, I thought you put me in touch with this guy.

Three years later, finally, I kept calling him and talking to him, telling him everything's okay. Honest mistake. I'm to blame as much as you are. And I made him go turkey hunting again. Really?

So you kind of like stuck with him and mentored him through it. Yeah. Not mentored him through it. Yeah. Not mentored him, but. And he was older than I was. And I was a kid back then. I think it was like two years after I got shot the first round. Hell, I might've been 18 or 19 when I got shot the first time.

And the second time I was, I can't remember. Somewhere between 18 and 25. Is he still around? No, he's passed away. Hmm. But he went around? No, he's passed away. Hmm. But he went back turkey hunting again. How did, like, at what point did you, at what point in the getting shot, like, when did the tables turn? Do you know what I mean?

Like, did you immediately, I mean, so you imagine that someone accidentally shoots you and they rush over to comfort you. Yes. How quickly did it become that you're like, oh, he's hurt more than I am? Immediately almost. Is that right? Because he's on the ground. He's holding his chest and he's crying. Really?

You know what I mean? I mean, he come to me immediately whenever I screamed and then he comes me, and when he gets right there on me, I stand up. He falls down to his knees. He's got his head buried in his hands. Was that repentant? Sobbing, apologizing, and I'm going, I'm fine. It stung a little bit. I've been here before.

Yeah. I'll tell you what it did do, though. It made me go find some private land to hunt. Well, if you're dead set on goblins, sure. It taught me a very important lesson about gobbling the woods. It took twice, but it finally got through. Hey folks, exciting news for those who live or hunt in Canada. And boy, my goodness do we hear from the Canadians whenever we do a raffle or a sweepstakes. And our raffle and sweepstakes law

makes it that they can't join. Whew, our northern brothers get irritated. And our raffle and sweepstakes law makes it that they can't join. Whew. Our northern brothers get irritated. Well, if you're sick of, you know, sucking a high and titty there, OnX is now in Canada. The great features that you love in OnX are available for your hunts this season. The Hunt app is a fully functioning GPS with hunting maps that include public and crown land, hunting zones, aerial imagery, 24K topo maps, waypoints, and tracking. That's right, we're always talking about OnX here on the MeatEater podcast.

Now you guys in the Great White North can be part of it, be part of the excitement. You can even use offline maps to see where you are without cell phone service. That's a sweet function. As part of your membership, you'll gain access to exclusive pricing on products and services hand-picked by the OnX Hunt team.

Some of our favorites are First Light, Schnee's, Vortex Federal, and more. As a special offer, you can get a free three months to try OnX out if you visit onxmaps.com

slash meet. onxmaps.com slash meet. Welcome to the OnX Club, y'all. Hit us with that gobble again. Wait a second. I don't understand how you're doing that. Pretty amazing.

It comes and goes now at my age. That's halfway decent. That's pretty interesting. Can we teach you? I don't know, man. Yeah, let's do it Yes At some point

Well But we got some other Instructing to do But yeah Okay But let me Okay Can we get into

Alright we'll do We'll do lesson number one now Okay lesson number one Is real simple Say the word Ow Ow Now say it

Inhaling air Oh There you go Oh Ow Oh it's kind of Kind of like doing The elk bark You will get inhaling air. Oh. There you go. Oh. Ow. Oh, it's kind of like doing the elk bark there. You will get a sore throat. Boo.

Squeeze. Ow. I need a hose. You can see the foundation for it. I need a hose. That's the foundation. Yeah. You do it once, Cal.

Everybody can't do it. Hurts. Oh. Oh. Cal's on it. So it's owl owl and then what? All inhale. All inhale.

Oh, that's tough. Hold on. You're inhaling when you do that. Yes. Can we see it again? Owl. Owl. Nice.

Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl.

Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl.

Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl.

Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. Owl. You got to wag that tongue, Yanni.

It's similar. Like when I do an elk bark, I inhale. You can gobble. Yanni's gifted. He's gifted at making animal noises. Hey, Yanni, show them the way off elk bugle. Listen to this. This is an elk way off.

Yeah, otherwise known as a whistle. That's where you're like, man, I don't know if I want to walk way over there. Somehow there's like a pop in there a little bit. What's making that? I'm getting it strong, and then I'm relaxed. Your larynx is a rubber band. This is the analogy I'm going to use. Hear how my voice now is starting to get a little deeper?

I've stretched mine so much I can't do it like what I used to do it, and it's not dependable. But it's like I'm stretching that rubber band, and then I'm letting off of it. And I'm using my tongue to. He even gets that microphone shaking. How did it come to be, how did you wind up on Letterman doing turkey calling? Well, on November 28th of 1953

I was hatched when I popped out of my mama and the baby doctor grabbed me by my hind legs and hit me on the hiney instead of crying. That's what I did. Some say it was Thanksgiving Day. I'm an old competition caller.

Yeah, I even see that you were the champ of champs. That's a hell of a – I've held all five different world championships, some of them multiple times, state, regional, district, grand national, national. That's what I did. That was my sport. Can you make any money doing that? Like you don't make money – there's like a purse that you win, right? Well, yes and no. Oh, so there's like't make money. There's not like a purse that you win, right? Well, yes and no.

Oh, so there's like a prize money. I didn't mean like all the ancillary industry and all that expertise. But I mean, like, here's some money because you won. Like, the world championship at one point in time paid $5,000 first place. Okay. When I started, you were lucky if you got your entry fees back and maybe a shotgun. And some of the guys now are like the NWTF used to have a big purse, 5, 4, 3, 2, 2, 1. Okay.

Let me hit you with some of these credentials. So you've won. I can't believe there's this many things to win oh it's a sport yeah but I mean if you were like a rodeo guy you couldn't generate a list of wins like this it used to be a giant sport the world turkey calling contest

the world natural voice turkey calling contest now here's like tag team turkey calling the world two man team turkey calling contest. Then here's like tag team turkey calling. The world two-man team turkey calling contest. Like your throat gets so sore you tag your buddy. No, you're doing a scenario. Oh, walk me through that.

The two-man team is basically they will give you a scene like you're walking down an old logging road. Can we do it? I want to do it with you and Yanni. Oh, Lord. This is hard. We practice this stuff. Oh, you got to practice it. Okay. Oh, yeah. I want you to play both parts. Oh, good God. And Steve will give you the scene.

No, yeah, but give me a scenario. Give me like an example of a scene so I know. I'm walking down a logging road in South Alabama. It's late in the season. Birds have been hammered pretty hard. You locate the bird with some type of a locator call. And then you commence to call the bird in.

Required calls. Clucks and purrs. Cutting of a hen turkey. Scratching in the leaves. I didn't bring my flapping scratch. Something similar. And one of the people, one of the two men is playing the gobbler. Whatever.

Whatever. You work the scenario out between the two collars. My team member, for example, in a couple of times I won with Chris Parrish, my team member might do a PVA woodpecker in the bird knot gobble. Oh, so you got to take it from the top. Oh, Lord. You might have a wood duck come whistling overhead. And then I might blow a crow call and the turkey gobbles to it.

What was the wood duck for? It's sitting in a scene. Oh, I'm painting. So you're responsible for the whole- Whatever. I like it. I like it. So there's like a semi that drives by in the distance.

Fire ants. Really? I even broke wind one time. Fuck. I'm a little crazy, though. It's just- Okay. All right. It's just. Okay.

All right. Let me just. Here. We don't need to do the whole elaborate deal. I just want to provide a couple things. So let's do this. Okay. So a wood duck flies by.

Well, I don't have my wood duck whistle call right now. Oh, so it's not. Okay. So you're allowed to bring a. But how do you know what to bring? Because you don't know the scenario. Well, you know what the scenario is ahead of time. and then the two guys get together and we work out. Oh, so you can rehearse. It's not like improv.

No, no, no, no, no. No, it might be the day of the contest. Yep. Gotcha. So that way you can kind of round up what you need. For example, here's a real quick. Oh, Yanni. Yanni, blow your – do yours, Yanni. Yanni, blow your.

Do yours, Yanni. You ought to hear this guy. Go. I'm not that good. Go. You haven't heard this guy. No, you do a better one than that when you're into it. I can do a good crow.

Okay. Do a crow. No, you got a great owl, but you're not bringing it. My little roll at the end is I've forgotten it or lost it or something. I can't. That roll at the end. He's just not feeling it because he's not out in the woods. He can rip one.

And by the way, you're supposed to pay attention to this. I know. You and Clay Newcomb. Yeah. So, no, we'll get to that. We'll get to that. But Yanni, go ahead. He's being bashful.

He gobbles. I test him. What's it? What do you do now? Nothing. Moment for labor. A truck rolls by. Well. Oh, this is my part, man.

Listen to mine. And he goes. I want to hear that one again. I like that drum. Now, what I'm trying to paint, the picture I'm trying to paint is I have a hen. First, she cut, tried to get excited. Okay. He did not respond.

I came back with soft calling, clucking, purring, soft yapping. Then I threw a drum in there. So I'm painting a picture in the turkey that I'm hunting that there is a hen, but she has a non-responsive gobbler with her. This is so nice. So you will mimic. Something that happens in nature. You'll mimic a drum to get a gobbler worked up. Oh, yes. That's one of my favorite calls.

Really? On the hard work. You'll do that one again? Hmm. I've never... Have you, Yanni, have you encountered people doing that? Very few. No, and I'm surprised that we haven't heard that from Guy Zuck.

Yeah. Well, who says hello, Preston? Who's that? Guy Zuck. Yeah. Well, who says hello, Preston? Who's that? Guy Zuck. He used to compete against you in voice calling. Okay, okay. And hello back. You might have whooped him.

He might have whooped you. I don't know. I don't. It don't matter. I haven't even gotten a third of the way through all your credentials. Let me put it to you like this. Nobody else will ever get the chance to. You quit?

I'm retired. Oh, okay. Hung up your spurs. That's right. So to speak. That's right. to speak that's right i don't have to prove it to anybody else anymore uh guys out there a lot better than me right now tell people what that when he's drumming and spitting there tell people what the bird's actually doing human terminology no just like explain like what he's the noise like you made the noise

explain like he's doing a variety of things to make that noise. He is displaying, or he's in full strut, he's blown up is basically what he is. He's trying to make an impression on that hen that I'm the prettiest male that you have ever seen and I want to make love to you. I want to breed you is what I want to do. And by just drumming and not gobbling, and since the bird that I'm hunting is vocal,

and if you heard when I did the clucking purrs and I drummed, he gobbled. So now I've painted that picture in his mind. There's a dude over there trying to steal his girlfriend. Yeah. But I mean, I want you to tell people how the bird makes that noise. You know, I don't think anybody has ever truly figured it out whether it's coming from the body or coming from the mouth. I think it's coming from the actual, from the mouth itself.

I think. Because he's also beating his wings, you know, on the ground. Well, now that's a whole total different sound. Yeah, but it's like a... Where the wingtips are dragging. I think it's coming from inside of the body, and I still think it's coming from the actual mouth itself. He might be sucking in air.

I don't know. I'm not doing that research. Kareem. Mike Chamberlain. Hold on, what about Mike Chamberlain? He'll have to call in and tell us what the turkey's doing. Yeah, I'm sure he knows. Well, I'm sucked into the story now, so where do you go from here?

So you're telling this turkey that's on the approach that there's a male competing for a female, and he better get over here. I'm not going to gobble. I'm going to continue my yelping If he gobbles For example If I'm That's him Okay That's him

That's the one that you're hunting? That's the one I'm hunting. Okay. Okay. Okay. But in the scenario, there's no, okay, in a two-man turkey calling scenario, there's no human. You're supposed to be doing like birds communicating to birds.

You're not replicating a hunter. Well, one is the hunter. Okay. Yes. And one is the bird that I'm after. I got you. Okay. So we're-

I thought you're creating an entirely natural scenario of how this might play out between two turkeys. No, no, no, no. I'm with you. We're trying to harvest the birds, what we're trying to do. In the two-man turkey colony. In the two-man team. Okay. And usually one person is primarily the bird that you're hunting and one person is the hunter, but sometimes they get together also. It just depends on what I'm trying to accomplish. can sort of like their vocabulary of natural noises, including turkey sounds,

and how they might create the cadence and call response. It could be a coyote back in the background. That could be an elk bugling, even though that doesn't happen that time of year, but it's still painting that picture, you know. They do do these weird little bugles in the spring. There you go. You have your partner get real excited and then make a fly down noise and then shut up for like the next two and a half hours. Let's hear a fly down.

That's a tree call. Yeah. All right, Helen. She hit the ground. Let me tell you what the best thing to do right here. I'm kind of lost where we're at. If he is progressively now starting to move towards you and is gobbling that much, you know what the best thing to do with this turkey collar is? Put it in your pocket. Spit it out.

Shut up. You've done enough all you can do is educate him a little bit more now let me keep painting the scene on your credentials so the world man the world two man the the world two-man team turkey calling contest the world gobbling turkey calling contest World Gobbling Turkey Calling Contest. The World All-Call Turkey Calling Contest. You're the only person to hold five different world titles. Other wins include seven national championships, nine national champ of champs, the U.S. Gobbling Champion, the Grand National Gobling Champion, and

Grand National Champ of Champs. Blind hog finds an acre to ever down again. What's a champ of champs? It's like nationals. The world champion of champions or the Grand National NWTF, Grand grand national champion of champions is only open to the former national or grand national winners. So it's like if there's six or seven world champions there or six or seven grand national champions there. They'll duke it out. We duke it out.

And you won that. So you went in and beat whoever had accrued previous wins. Correct. Is there like in the turkey calling world, do you guys all remain chummy or are there like legitimate rivalries where people stop liking each other? I like everybody. So it doesn't get ugly. It doesn't get ugly. Like where you honestly don't like somebody another caller like a professional rivalry i come from the old days and uh let me see if you recognize this name ben rogers lee no sir he is the anyway he he's the father okay it basically is what it breaks down to to

turkey calling to publicizing it so on so forth please do a little research and educate him on that okay great uh there are people who don't like other people, yes. I didn't mean it that way. I meant, I didn't mean that you don't like them. But when you guys get together, are you all sitting at the same table? Some of us. Okay. Or is there like honestly? The vast majority, yes.

Okay. It stays friendly. I'll sit down and have a beer with Chris Parrish or whoever it may be at any point in time. And I have this saying, especially now, pass it on. Please pass it on. And I encourage any and 99% of the competition callers are willing to help someone else. So it's a lot more positive, but very few. Now, there's some that might not show you their call

because it's their, quote, secret cut, you know, like in their diaphragm, and they don't want everybody else to get it. Yes, that goes on, but that's about the extent of it. Got it, yeah. You know. So you won one of these, and then someone from a producer from David Letterman was like, I need to get this guy on the show?

Actually, kind of like, who was it who called? Clay's the one who called, I believe. Called the NWTF, National Wild Turkey Federation. And they set a lot of this stuff up, whether it was Letterman, Leno, Rid ridges and kelly and all the crap that i've done it basically all came through uh nwtf and at one point in time wild turkey bourbon was a sponsor of the adult divisions like the first time that i did uh letterman um i can't remember the young lady's name but it was, her father was the head brewer of Wild Turkey Bourbon in Canada. And she basically flew us all in and took care of everything.

But 90% of it has been from the NWTF, that basically people would get in contact with them and ask about people. And I think I did Letterman three times, something like that. Do you recognize, though, I feel like I've seen some of those segments. I'm sure you have. They're not laughing with you, maybe. I don't care. Yeah.

See, that's the difference between me and a lot of you. Maybe. I don't care. Yeah. See that, that's the difference between me and a lot of people. Yeah. I don't care if you laugh with me or you laugh at me, just laugh and enjoy life. It's too damn short not to enjoy it. Cause like you go on there and they're kind of. Ain't no kind of to it.

I know exactly what I'm getting into. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Like they don't, they don't care about calling in turkeys. Ain't no kind of to it. I know exactly what I'm getting into. Yeah, yeah. They don't care about calling in turkeys. No. No. But it's like a thing. It's a thing that's really hard to do, right?

It's exceptionally hard to do and you dedicate your whole life to it, but then it's like, ah, look at that dumb redneck. I don't care. That's good. Well, I mean, you look at it this way. Football, basketball, baseball, ice hockey, whatever it may be. Turkey calling it is a legitimate sport. I mean, literally, whenever I was actively competing all over the country, I worked out every single solitary day.

I was practicing every day, even whenever I was working. On the way to work, lunchtime, after I got off of work, I was practicing. I was working out. I had it down to where I had calls tuned to a small room like this, to a open room, to a metal-covered room. You say calls tuned to those? Yes. Really? Yes. Like what's going to sound good in a studio?

What's going to sound good in – There you go. Huh. There you go. Do you have like a pretty finely trained ear? Do you feel that you hear music different than people hear music? I'm not going to say music, but I do on turkey calling because now mostly what I do, and I try to get out of it as much as I can, is I judge. And I'm literally listening for someone who can sound better than a wild turkey with absolutely zero mistakes.

And that is very, very hard to accomplish. Because in reality, in wildlife, sometimes your worst sounding caller is a hen herself. Yeah. I mean, she'll miss a note, do notes, what you would say is backwards, whatever it may be. It's just kind of like getting your tongue tied and then being able to talk, just like a human being. The other day we were, on a previous episode, we were playing funny, like natural sounds of very funny sounding turkeys,

or like a hen who yelps 70-some times in a row. Cool. Yeah. I don't think I've ever heard that. Must not have been Eastern. Just never stops. Just doesn't stop. Just doesn't.

And where was this at? Do you remember where that clip was from? It's on YouTube. I don't remember where it was. Yeah, I don't remember. Yeah, you just watch her standing there. Wasn't it 70-some yelps in a row? Non-stop.

It looked like Eastern Woods. Yeah. Hmm. I'll reel the mouth into other words. So you were, like, you're dyslex woods. Yeah. Hmm. I'll rear the mouth, in other words. So you were, like, you're dyslexic. Yes. How bad? Like, to a, I don't know if crippling is the right word, but.

Well, I. I mean, are you able to sit down and read a book now? Yes. Yeah. But it would probably take me five times as long to read as you. Was school hard? 13 years to graduate when it's supposed to take you 12? Yeah.

Yeah. Nobody knew what it was. But. What did they think it was? You weren't trying? Yeah. Oh, you're dumb? Yeah.

Yeah. And may I interject here, if you have a child that has that problem, now they recognize it, they know about it, and they know how to treat it and know how to help people, please get them help. So you were like stigmatized as not being bright? Correct. I ain't got no book learning. I mean, words will flip. I've learned how to combat it on my own. But letters and words will flip on me.

I will still do certain—I'm liable to write a C backwards. But it's only in reading, right? Like, it's not in speaking. No, speaking doesn't bother me. Yeah. So when you're reading, you'll read—that's what I'm saying. It doesn't switch over. But I can't spell.

I cannot spell. Learning to spell always remains difficult when you're dyslexic. I can't spell with me right now today. I mean, I can spell some words, but thank God for that phone. You know, how do you spell sarsaparilla? You know what I mean? Yeah. Just. Do you have siblings what I mean? Yeah. Just.

Do you have siblings? I have one child. I have three stepdaughters. All of them girls. No, but you have brothers and sisters? I have one brother. Was he older or younger? He's older.

So he was smart and you weren't. That was like the way they viewed it. You think I'm going to give Claude Pittman that compliment? You're crazy as hell. Yes, he was very smart. I'm trying to remember the right name. His name's Claude? Claude, yes. He's 10 years older than I am.

That's a big spread between two kids. Oops. Yeah. I'm not going to tell you that story, but anyway. And as you were growing up, your dad had. My dad was a fight for the plumber. Had three heart attacks. Oh, no.

He had four heart attacks, one stroke, and the fifth heart attack killed him. What age were you when that was going on? I would have been in my 20s, late 20s. Yeah. Was he a turkey hunter? No. Was not. Was Claude?

No. He wouldn't walk across the street for the biggest buck or the biggest turkey. But if you give him, he was a draftsman is what he was. If you gave him a basket full of parts to put an automobile or a car together, I mean, or a motorcycle, he's your man. And that was his hobby. Like I said, primarily he was a draftsman in Texas. Who got you into it then?

Here we go. Back in the old days, we had families. I get to preach. I get to stand on my little right now. We had families that did things together. There were no cell phones. There was not internet. It was families getting together and doing things together.

And they had a little day in Carthage, Mississippi, the Fourth of July celebration. And at that celebration, they had a turkey calling contest, duck calling contest a hatchet throwing contest archery contest skate contest uh grease peg contest grease pole old time country day competitive bunch of folks there you go figure that one out uh and my family took me there uh and i was uh oh yeah in a fishing rodeo i was uh 12 years old and i won the fishing rodeo and found out i was two years too old stopped at age 10 and i'm now don't get this wrong my dad was a great hunter but he was a bird hunter quail back when we had quail in the south, and deer hunter. He was a dog man.

We had a thing in our, quail since 1962, down what percent? 83, it said. That's stunning, man. How about 99? 83%. I think it's like a national decline in quail. There's no doubt. There's no doubt.

Yeah. Sorry, but go on. Okay. Met a gentleman by the name of Jack Dudley, who was a natural voice caller, and at that point in time was the state champion. And it was like competition, turkey calling, I love to hunt. I'm going to meet this guy. And I was kind of like a little leech. I attached myself to him. And he mentored me and brought me up to the point to where through telephone and

him doing some very small, you know, instructional, like the Gunnerill Sportsman's Club, turkey hunt is just starting to be talked about. Okay. What year is this? Let's see. I graduated in 72. It would have been in the late 60s. Mid to late 60s

is where it would have been at. And I learned with my natural voice. And at that point in time, if I heard a sound, give me enough time and I could reproduce it. I can't do it anymore, though. So don't go there with me. I'll be throwing up on your mic.

I came back at the age of 16. And I didn't have junior contests. I just had the Mississippi State Turkey Collin Championship. And when I walked off the stage, I was a state champion. Oh, yeah? All the old farts, like I'm an old fart right now, I was going, where did that little shit come from? You were 16?

16 years old. No kidding. How old were you when you killed your first turkey? Nine. Oh, I see. So you didn't, that's what I was curious about. You didn't go like turkey calling, turkey hunting, you went turkey hunting, turkey calling. Like you were already interested in turkeys.

Yes and no. The first bird that I ever killed in the statute of limitations, should have been gone by then, was illegal. God forgive me. Everybody forgive me. I've done some things that I shouldn't have done in my younger days, but I got educated. When you're nine years old, everybody does. Okay. I got my ass tore up too.

At 13, I started trying to turkey hunt. Okay. We're talking about when you got when you were nine. Just out of season or? Yeah. Oh, okay. I ain't going to tell you everything. I mean, come on.

No one's going to hold that. That's more of a parenting issue than a job. Oh, I got my rear end tore up because of that. But at 13, I started trying to turkey hunt. 14, I was somewhat of a turkey hunter. 15, I'm beginning to think I'm a turkey hunter. 16, I win the state championship. Man, I'm a turkey hunter.

God, was I so wrong. I didn't even have the foundation laid good. About the time you think you've got her figured out, you die. Got it. It's a lifetime. It's ever evolving. I still learn stuff, if not every day, every season. Give me a turkey hunting tip, whether it involves calling or not.

If you're going to say, you know, looking back on life, I realize. The most important thing that I have learned in my career is to pay attention to what is going on around you, not only with your eyes, but more so with your ears. Your ears can tell you more of what is happening than your eyes or anybody else or all the YouTubes and everything else that is out there that is available. Example, I'm calling to a bird. He's actively gobbling to me. He's actively getting closer to me. He shuts up. Is he coming or is he going? Because he's doing one of the two things. One rabbit comes running by me real fast. What's going on with the turkey, Steve? He's coming. No, he's not. Ah!

Why is he not coming? He spooked him to you. No, a coyote spooked him and the turkey. Thank you very much. Hey, you're welcome. Kelton's saving. Yes, he did. He figured it out. I threw my voice over there.

A predator is chasing. A predator is. There's a good chance 15 minutes later. That's not what I think happened. If he doesn't show up, a predator is chasing, is in the 15 minutes that's not what i think if he doesn't showed up a predator is chasing is in the area because he's chasing that rabbit the opposite the opposite would apply if two rabbits come by then one's a male and one's the female and you know what's going on hold your ground as long as you need to scratching the leaves a little bit do a little

soft yelp because he's right behind that big brush over there. Another example. And the running rabbits are just a breeding pair. Yeah. Gotcha. Pay attention to that blue jay, that magpie, whatever it may be. Crows, those are talking to you and telling you what's going on and what's happening in

life. Just like Clay's trying to get you better with a crow call. You're welcome. He paid you for that. Huh? He paid you for that. No, no, but he brought, no, he wanted to do that. Seriously, you can use his crow call right here in turkey hunting.

Here's your real quick example. Why do you always put it in backwards and flip it? I'm motioning it. Okay. That's a diaphragm call. I just said a scene in that gobbler's mind and put a lot more realism into it. But now, if you notice, I held the crow call up. I am acting as if a crow is aggravating that hen turkey down here. It can be done with a coil whistle.

It can be done with the squirrel just jumping up on the side of the tree and doing a short bark. Not a long bark and not the old fussing. You know, because that means predator. So he's paying attention to everything that's going on around you will only step you 10 steps ahead. Colin, I ain't worried about it. Heck, they can sound like you. Oh, I've proven that, dude. Yeah.

You haven't got to be. No, yeah. You're welcome, Clay. I've got Clay's digs in there, so I'm going to leave it alone after that. I'm totally with you because I've even heard really good callers say that it's Collins 10% of the game. Yes. Do you think it's higher than that, though?

Because I've seen this dude guys up. There are situations. This dude guys up. I've never been in the woods with you. I'm sure I'd be the same or better. But this dude guys up, I don't know, man. It makes it seem like Colin's a way higher than 10%. There are situations, yes.

But you give me a good woodsman who has great woodsmanship ability and has the basic knowledge of a wild turkey that can go, and that's all he can do. As far as a call, I'll take him 10 times over. I will, a world champion caller who is strictly into the sport and there's not any that I know of, strictly to win a contest and not hunt i'll take that woodsman 10 times over someone who can call the best in the world you know he might take even over that who's that is a person that uh lives on a property and has a shitload of

trail cams out because they're like they hear a gobble like if i'm out with my friend doug on his place like the guy he's tromped around the same patch ground his entire life right they hear a gobble. Like if I'm out with my friend Doug on his place, he's tromped around the same patch of ground his entire life, right? I hear a gobble, and I'm like, oh, it's over yonder. Doug's like, oh, you know where that is? He's standing by that one tree. He usually goes from there over to that other tree. Yes, yes.

Let's run over there, right? And I'm like, is that good turkey hunting, or is that just surveillance? That's the new young farts. I'm not saying it's bad. I'm not saying that. I don't think it's bad. It's just different. There you go.

It's different. That's why I feel like it. But wait a second. Now, you have impressed me as an outdoorsman. You've impressed me as someone who understands woodsmanship. What has that person who is strictly relying on their cameras, what have they learned? Well, I think that they have the joy.

I think that they feel the joy of discovery the same way that I would feel the joy of discovery. I think that they like that they're finding things out and the process pleases them. That makes you want to get your turkey call out. No, it makes you just want to shut up. That's fine. That's not my way.

Yeah. I don't want to steal their humanity. That's fine. I'm being nice. Yeah. I'm not saying I wouldn't use that. No, but you bit your tongue metaphorically To the point where you almost put your turkey call in

You're like the only way to not reply Is with my turkey call in my mouth Hey folks exciting news for those who live or hunt in Canada. And boy, my goodness do we hear from the Canadians whenever we do a raffle or a sweepstakes. And our raffle and sweepstakes law makes it that they can't join. Our northern brothers get irritated. Well, if you're sick of, you know, sucking high and titty there, OnX is now in Canada. The great features that you love in OnX are available for your hunts this season.

The Hunt app is a fully functioning GPS with hunting maps that include public and crown land, hunting zones, aerial imagery, 24K topo maps, waypoints, and tracking. That's right. we're always talking about OnX here on the MeatEater podcast. Now you guys in the Great White North can be part of it. Be part of the excitement. You can even use offline maps

to see where you are without cell phone service. That's a sweet function. As part of your membership, you'll gain access to exclusive pricing on products and services handpicked by the OnX Hunt team. Some of our favorites are First Light, Schnee's, Vortex Federal, and more. As a special offer, you can get a free three months to try OnX out if you visit onxmaps.com slash meet. onxmaps.com slash meet. onxmaps.com slash meet.

Welcome to the OnX Club, y'all. Get Samantha. I want you to get her. You can get anybody to make a call, a sound. No, okay. We're going to do something. Sweetheart, I want you to do me a favor. I want you to lean your head

backwards and open up your mouth and let me look inside your mouth. Oh. Okay. Now, do you know what I'm doing? Checking she's got tonsils. They're gone. I am seeing the size of the roof of her mouth.

Got it. The one major problem that adults have is that a frame or a turkey call is too large. Okay. There are frames that are small frame calls. Okay. That will sit up into the roof of your mouth. Do you want to try the hardest thing that there is, which is diaphragm. No, that's what we're here for.

Okay. Well, I want to understand first what the diaphragm calls for specifically. Okay. The diaphragm calls what you see me right here with. These things. Yes. Put that sucker down. It is an apparatus.

He wants to get you one out of that chew tin he's got there. No. Those are the holy grail. No. The object is for that call to become part of the roof of your mouth. Do not swallow. It hurts when it goes down. It hurts worse when it comes out.

Have you swallowed? Oh, yes. Oh, you've got them stuck in your throat? Oh, yes. Huh. Man, I've never even come close to that. I think I must be not trying hard enough. Like I said, it hurts worse when it comes out.

I bet you. Than when it goes down. So be very careful. Have you ever played with a diaphragm before? A little bit. I want you to throw all that away. Okay, well, he's the one that taught me. I don't care.

When you say throw it all away, like all this prior knowledge. All the bad habits. I gotta grab something. Yep. He's gonna grab a pallet extender. Okay, he just produced a bottle of water. Empty. No, that's for

something a little bit later on. Oh, okay. That's your chew spit bottle? Yep. How many more of those you got in there? Can I have one? I got plenty. Let me see one.

I just want to follow along. He's rummaging through a bag. Oh. Digging diaphragm calls out. It's like Mary Poppins. We don't know how far the bag goes. It's never actually.

A full crystal lampshade. He's got a tooth. He's got a toothbrush in that bag. He's got a giant sack of calls. All right.

So Sam gets a bright new shiny packaged call. The first thing I want you to do is say the word Chuck. Chuck. Chuck. Say it again. Chuck.

Say it the third time. Chuck. Now, when you say it the fourth time, I want you to tell me where the tip of your tongue is at. Chuck. No, it ain't. Where's it at? Where's it at. Chuck. No, it ain't. Where's it at? Where's it at? Chuck.

The roof of my mouth. No, it's not. Chuck. Take the tip of your tongue and put up in the roof of your mouth and try to say Chuck. Chuck. Chuck. Chuck. So it's like behind my teeth.

Right. It's at the bottom behind your teeth. Can you feel how your tongue has a curvature to it? Oh, you're right. Yeah. Chuck. Yeah. Chuck.

You can't do it? It's hard to tell where your tongue is. Okay. It is very. It's hard to like describe where your tongue sits. I know. It's not like an anatomy, piece of anatomy you'd focus on. Now, what I want you to do is I want you to go, not saying the word, but go.

Push the mirror out. There you go. There you go. Now, I want you to tell me. This frame's too big for me. I can solve that. That might be a little bit large, but just the way up. This way. Now, I want you to go in the roof of your mouth.

Now, I want you to do. This way. Now I want you to go in the roof of your mouth. Now I want you to do keep going. Push it up a little bit tighter. In my mouth? In the roof of my mouth? Yes. You want the air to go in between the tongue

and the collar. Okay. You see how your mouth is kind of open like this? Well, I don't see it. Okay, well. Y'all, her mouth is a little bit open. Try to narrow it a little bit more. Oh, I had my tongue in the wrong place.

Okay. But you're well on your way right there. You can do this for me? Spit it on this. Oh, you're going to spit, and you're liable to choke, and you're liable to do everything else just for the fun. Okay. There you go. Nice.

Yeah. You're making a noise now. You're making a higher note. Think of the kid that has gotten a piece of balloon. Y'all, and I'm holding this. I guess you would say, horizontally on each end and stretching it. The more that he or she would stretch it, the higher the note. Now, let's take and imagine if I move that vertically, that's what you're doing with your tongue. You're stretching that piece of rubber.

The basic hand note is a two note a high and a low yep yep yep yep so you're that's the reason why i use the analogy of the word chuck because it starts out with your the mid part of your tongue on the collar and then comes off of it. You may even drop your jaw slightly. Jaw, jaw, jaw, jaw, jaw. If you are losing air and you are losing air on the side. Preston, throw that in and do an exaggerated version of what you're talking about. Let's slow it down. Just for the fun of it, this is not a real good beginner's call.

Not a good beginner call? But I got it in my hand. See if that feels more comfortable. It might be easier. It might be harder. Oh, it's a lot smaller. Correct. Where is it supposed to sit? In my mouth.

Up in the roof of your mouth. I think that call is going to be too small. Let's go back to the other. Okay. Give me one of them small ones. You actually sounded good. I just looked at the phone and was like... I'll get it.

After people use them, I usually like to give them a couple minutes. Fair. And then I feel like everything died. When it's not warm anymore, you're good to go. It's like, what could survive that? Okay.

Eh, on my tongue, up in the roof of my mouth. Correct. There you go. That was a yell. There you go.

Pump that tongue, drop that jaw. Am I still saying Chuck? Basically. Okay. I mean, it will evolve. Yeah. It'll evolve. Once I understand it.

Once you understand it and once you get the feel of it. I want to point out, I've never taught anyone in my life to, to even try. But I remember, um, that I think someone was explaining the Chuck thing. Cause like, uh, you had to move your mouth. Move your mouth and, or either drop your jaw. Yeah.

And that's like a hard, right. Cause you're so focused on like holding that thing there. You got like your jaws moving around. And I thought the, you weren't supposed to move your mouth. No. But obviously I'm not at that level to move your mouth. No. Obviously, I'm not at that level.

It was hard. That was a thing for me when I was first getting it. I was like, I don't understand because I can't move my mouth. I'm holding the damn thing. Some people can. It's confusing. Okay. If you need to drop your jaw, this is why I was saying drop your jaw.

That helps you get that second note. There's a note. I think it's hard because, yeah, I feel like you have to hold everything together, but then you're also, how do you drop your jaw and keep your tongue up? You're doing it every time you talk. Watch me. I'm talking to you right now, aren't I? Look at my jaw. It's not my jaw dropping right now.

It definitely is. Okay. But you're not holding this in your mouth. Oh, do I get another one? Try that. Quite a little stack of those things. Christmas. Now, before you ask, you just played a piano.

I just handed you a trumpet. But I could have handed you a trombone or a set of drums or whatever. What I'm telling you are different calls are made by all manufacturers different ways to produce a particular sound, and I compare it to music, because that is a musical instrument that you have in your mouth. Try the yellow call. Well, real quick, so they have different shapes. No, the tape on the exterior part is the same.

I had you a basic double-reeded nicked call. Okay. I now handed you nicked call. Okay. I now handed you my favorite call. That is a three-weed batwing with a.003 thousandths rubber on it.

And I won't tell you the stretch. That's my secret. Put the call in your mouth. Mm-hmm. Just go... Now go. Is that call sealed

in the roof of your mouth? It looks to me like it's floating all over the place. Does it have to be sealed too? Push it up to the roof of your mouth. You probably need to cut that call down a little bit. Oh, like a fet? Yeah, like no air. No air is supposed to go over it.

Oh. Like I said, the air goes in between the tongue. There you go. Got it. You don't want any air to ride over the top of the call. Absolutely not. I didn't know that. All air has to be funneled between the tongue and the call.

Correct. Somehow I was told that it shouldn't be in the roof of my mouth. No, it goes. Cal told you that. Yeah. There's tension. I mean, I have seen people clamp it in their teeth. I don't like that way, and they're limited in what they can do.

And get a noise out of it. And actually get a noise out of it. I mean, think about the Indians, even. They used to peach lease. Yeah. You know. Awesome. Now you of it. I mean, think about the Indians even though they used the peach leaves. Yeah. You know, they're like, awesome.

Yeah, now you got it. Don't drop it quite as much. There you go. Now do that quickly. Not quite. There you go. Go, go, go, go, go. Give me 15 of those in a row.

Oh, yep. Oh, yeah. Give me 15 of those in a row. Oh, yep. I am. Give me 77. Okay. You're over there now. You're well on your way. Okay. Think about this.

If I talk to you like this right here, or if I open my mouth up a little bit more, I try to talk, my mouth wide open, I'm not funneling the air over the collar. You can create a sound chamber with your mouth. So you are constantly opening your mouth up completely. You're letting the air escape around the collar. Now that you've learned to seal it, learn to use your mouth. Don't do anything else but a yelp, period, until you can put that call in your mouth or either one of those calls in your mouth and do exactly what you want to do.

Don't start trying to learn how to cluck, how to purr, how to fly down a cackle, how to bull crap. Build your base foundation. Just like a human being can use one word and say three totally different things. I can go, hey, or I can go, hey, or I can go, hey. You can do that all with one sound. Just like a human can do that all with one sound just like a human can do it all with one word so just get comfortable learn how to get the sound uh uh right each time you can go to the internet don't think you gotta copy somebody but they'll give you that rhythm hey preston can you me a favor yes sir the hey hey hey thing is interesting to me. Yeah. Can you give me the Yelp equivalent of each hey? Okay, I'll do the hey.

Hey. Then there's hey. And then there's a, how do you don't go? It's like a seductive. It's like a seductive. It's like a seductive. Hey, like, Hey. That's seductive. Yeah.

That's the string. Preston kind of gets a hen neck look to his neck. You got to put your body in there. That's the string bikini walking down the beaches of Florida. Got it. Let me hit with that one again. Oh my God, look at her. Huh.

Or him. Are there more haze? That's your three basic. That's three basic haze. If you were to learn one thing, if Sam was going to learn one thing, she should learn that. Learn to yell. It's the foundation of everything.

Like I told her, until you can pick up a collar, put a collar in your mouth, whatever it may be, until you learn control over that collar, that that collar is doing exactly what you want it to do. You do not need to move on and try to learn either a different collar and or either a different sound. You build upon that is what you do. Because in reality, that basic hand yelp is the most heard note, I said heard by human beings, note that is out there. Because you don't hear all the crazy noises they're making when they walk through the woods.

You don't hear the soft stuff. Yeah. My favorite type of calling is what I call very relaxed. That little wee-wee one is one of the weirdest noises. Yeah. But I'm totally relaxed.

There's no aggression. There's no predators here. I'm not excited. You're just a turkey. I'm a turkey completely. I'm whispering sweet nothings into his ear. I might even occasionally. I might mix a little something in there with it just to pump it up to say, you're the sexiest thing I've ever seen in my life. Come on over here.

I want to date you. I just had a quick question. So if you weren't able to do the diaphragm calls, like this is my second season turkey hunting. Okay. It's very new. What else would I do then? You could use a box call. You could use a box call. You could use a pot call.

Most people would tell you to go with a pot call because of its versatility. But for the ease of use, I still like a box call. Really? Well, I mean, if it's a decent box call, I know I have to paint this picture. I'm going to slide the lid over. Then all I'm going to do is take one finger. Pretty easy. If it's a decent box call, the box call is going to do the work for you.

Okay? Most people take a botch call and they grab it way too hard. Okay? Bam. Yeah, I never thought about that. I'm holding the box and just simply taking a finger and moving the lid. That's correct. And you got a complete yield.

Now, did you hear a difference in the sound? So you learn how to play. We call this the piano. Now, watch what tricks happen. Listen. Pass that over to Sam, right? I just got more excited. And all I did is I put a little bit more pressure on it,

and I completed it all the way over from the right side to the left side. Yeah, play the left side. It doesn't matter. Shoot over this way. Never pick the lid up. Watch. Do the old one finger. There you go. Okay, don't pick it up.

Don't pick it up. No, don't pick it up. Always look for the lid's tip. Watch how far I'm going. You're getting all aggro on it, man. I know. I'm not coming all the way over here. Perfect.

Okay. Perfect, but that'll do. That'll do. I said that's perfect, but that'll do. Don't go beyond that yet. If I was scouting for a turkey, would that be like the noise that I would make to try and find them? I would always start off with a locator call first. Oh, what's that? Now, what that means is I'd use an owl, hoot, or crow call, pileated woodpecker.

You're getting an actual dip out now. You're not supposed to tell everybody that. In other words, I've gone my limit. But I can still do anything I need to do. That's a healthy jaw. Well, that's a bit little one. My face mask has

a hole cut in it right here. So you spit? Yep. Keeps probably sanitized around that edge. Well, no, whenever he gets in real close and I can't spit, I have been known to let it run down too. So let me ask you another turkey question. Hold on, I want to know, can you run a diaphragm with a dip in?

Yes. That's incredible. That's incredible. They should have you on a talk show do that. It might even sound better. It might. Opens it up a little bit. But I do not want any of you kids out there to put this crap in your mouth. No, we tell them all the time.

Maybe you might make the cover of that magazine someday, Dip Aficionado. Probably if I make the cover of that, it'd be probably without a lip. I want to ask you a turkey question. It has to do with turkey calling. Do the, do an alarm putt. What, like,

what is it about? Well, watch. Yeah. What is it about that? You know what I'm saying? Like, what is it about that sound?

That's so like, Oh, you know, when they have other sounds that are like it? Is it like it's isolated, sort of like the intensity and isolation of it? Basically, yes. Do you know what I'm saying? Because it's not that different from a normal sound.

But you can turn that. If I had a gobbler 60 yards in front of me and a hen came in from the left and and all of a sudden she putts. You know what I'm going to do? Hmm. Like turn it back into something. Turn it into cutting. Because cutting and a putt are so close together, you can't hardly tell the

difference yeah that's what that's what that's what i was getting at it's like it's funny that but it rings your ear after you hear it a couple times you're like like that's it you know what it is yeah yeah but then someone sitting there wouldn't know how disappointed you were unless you told them well i i always if something if the situation happens of course if it's a hen because it's like yeah because you're putting the gobbler it's a hen, because it's a gobbler. Yeah, because you're putting the gobbler at ease. But I'll do it to a gobbler if he came in. Oh, you'll?

Oh, yeah. I'll start cutting on top of him, and I'm not liable to even gobble at him. Like, you'll cut on top of his alarm putt? Oh, yeah. Okay. It works about one out of every 25 times. Okay. But in the other scenario you were talking about, you were basically, she comes in and busts you. It's like, that's over with.

But you got to gobbler off in some other direction, and you're trying to put his mind at ease. Yes. Yeah. But now I've turned into a very aggressive hen. Yeah. So he's like, oh, I thought she putted, but she just worked up. I can spook a hen sometimes, purposely. To get her out of there. So she won't go oh, I thought she putted, but she just worked up. I will even spook a hen sometimes, purposely. To get her out of there.

So she won't go to him. I got you. I mean, if you've already got your arm around or past that with a, are you married? Oh, yeah. Before you were married. With a good looking girl, and there's another one over yonder. Are you going to leave her and go to her? I got everything I want right here. Yeah.

You're married. Yes. How long have you been married? About 22 years. 22? We don't keep up with it. 22, 23, something like that. Yeah.

Let me see your ring. That's my dad's ring. Oh, really? Yeah. Oh. It's jeweled. Oh, it's got some little bit of diamonds in it. I mean, very small Yeah. Oh. It's jeweled. Oh, it's got some little bit of diamonds in it. I mean, very small diamonds.

Yeah. But I just feel honored to wear it. I do want to say this, and we started this a while ago a little bit. In the old days, families did things together. We went fishing. We went hunting. We had an old camp that had no running water that you pumped like that, that you used a five-gallon bucket to go to the bathroom and went out into the woods.

And those were great times. My dad was a big hunter, a big fisherman, setting trot lines for flatheads. He's one of the few people that I know that, on the cover of your eyes, I know of him killing three hen quail in his life. He would pick out the cocks and shoot the males only. We were big deer dog hunters back then when I was a kid. My mama went with us.

It was a family outing. My Thanksgivings, my Christmases, were spent in the woods with a pack of dogs and Uncle Lewis, Aunt Dovey, Uncle Dutch, you know, Donald, my cousin. It was a family thing. We did things together. And it wasn't on these blankety-blank cell phones. Yeah. You feel that's going away? I feel like it's almost all gone away.

I don't see it. Do you? Yeah. I feel like I see a version of it. The best thing that a young person. I don't think you're gonna, I don't think you're gonna, the best you're going to shoot for is a version of it. You're not going to like wage a successful war against technology.

Well, but the best thing in the world to do is from time to time, these kids need to put these cell phones down and their iPods and all that crap and go for a walk in the woods, if nothing else, and see God's greatest creation. And that is the outdoors. I agree wholeheartedly, man. And mama and daddy needs to go with them or people, which is what I am. I mean, my greatest challenge this year is one for my 13 year old granddaughter, Caitlin, to be able to harvest her first bird with me. That's what you're going to go do right now, huh?

As soon as I get back, I'll start hunting with her. I want her to get a bird and I want Colonel Tom Kelly to be able to harvest a bird. Do you have any restrictions on what your granddaughter will harvest? Are you like, y'all got to get a big Tom or is Jake okay? Or how do you do it? Do you have any restrictions on what your granddaughter harvests? Are you like, you all got to get a big tom? Or is Jake okay? Or how do you guys do it? Well, there's.

Are you against Jake shooting? I will not purposely shoot a Jake. And in the state of Mississippi, a Jake is illegal. Oh, yeah. Except for the youth. Oh, that's cool. And Caitlin. Sounds like an extra bird dying kids.

It seems like a little unreasonable, man. If he's got a kookaburra, as we say, if he's got a kookaburra on his chest, kill him. But we are hunting Houdini. We have a particular bird, Houdini. She named him. But we went in on, because of COVID, 17 times last times last year now you got to realize i own 48 oh you mean because you were stuck hunting the same spot close to home yes so you just had to keep working the same bird who's like not having it and sometimes he's on my land sometimes he's on somebody else's land no here's a very good tip for adults trying to get the youth into it.

Make sure that they are very comfortable and have maneuverability with that gun. I had her in a 20 gauge and it was a youth 20 gauge. And even though I was toting it in and out of the wood for her, I didn't carry a gun. It was too heavy for her. She's small and petite. And, like, I had the bird in gun range, I think, three different times. One time we had them at 21 steps.

I'm looking at a true trophy bird with over an inch and a half spurs because I'm looking at his spurs going, oh, my God. You know, kill him, sweetie, kill him. Give me that gun, kid. No, no. She's earned. She's earned this bird. And she couldn't move the gun. I tried to make her move the gun.

Of course, you know what happened. See you, bye. Yeah. So we had three opportunities. She did have a shot on granddaddy's land. And it was a little far. i wasn't with her and here again trying to hold the gun on the side of the tree she missed but that's okay you know what i mean everybody misses from time to time it happens uh but we had a good time and she's earned this bird. But whoever comes up that is a legal bird, kill him.

Shoot him. She's earned him. She deserves a turkey. Do you feel that that bird's still alive? Houdini is still alive. Well, you saw him over the winter? I've got pictures of him, yes. Oh, you're one of those guys.

I have two cameras. You're like, listen, sweetheart sweetheart if he's by that tree he always goes over to that tree no comment he comes through here every day every day at 10 57 he's standing out in front of my cameras are down right now and he's not he's not there he wasn't there whenever I left. Steve, you had a situation last year, I think, right? Where you were like, well, were we hunting turkeys or were we hunting what follows this fence? Yeah.

Because what we did was sit next to a fence. Yeah. Well, here are my rules in turkey hunting. I hunt legally, morally, and ethically correct. I just can't help it if my morals get a little bit low during turkey season. I'm with you. That little devil gets on my shoulder. Yeah.

And whenever he kicks my rear end, I do not have time to tell you all the stories that eventually I will put in a book. But I am the, I call myself the new breed. I've got a lot of the old school in me and I've got a lot of the new school in me. Cut and run or sit in one spot. I can do whatever needs to be done. Physically, I can't do everything I want to do. When you say like the. I adapt. You say like the, the, that when you're turkey hunting, it gets the best you mean. And there's, um, there's a desire to, to, to, to, to do it and get the thing.

How about three years on one bird? Years. You spent three years on one bird. One bird. Yeah. One bird. You know, what's funny is I don't look at them that way. I know like, you know, deer and stuff like that for sure.

But I, yeah, I just don't see turkeys that way. You're the cut and run person. Oh yeah. That's why I want you to Mississippi. You might get that, but you might not. Meaning if let's say there's some bird, I'm like, oh, you know, I've tried to get him a bunch of times. And I see some other one over there. I just very easily turn to that one.

You know what I mean? I don't get like a sense of. I'm not saying I won't. Yeah. But I'm going to come back to him because that is the teacher. Sure. That is where you get your education from. Not from me, not from the internet, but from the bird himself.

He will teach you how to hunt. Those are the kind that whenever you harvest them, you want to reach down, grab a hold of his head, open up his mouth and go, and give him mouth to mouth resuscitation and him come back to life and let's do it again. Teach me some more. Those are the birds that I have more. I have respect for all wildlife, but those are the birds, you know, the Houdini's, uh, uh, the Statue of Liberty bird, the snorkel bird.

Yanni's bird, Sneaky Pete. You know, Yanni got obsessed with the bird one time. Yes, yes, yes. To the point where he went back trying to look for it instead of going and doing something else and stuff like that. Uh-huh. But God, did you get a lesson? Whether you killed him or not, didn't you get a lesson?

Didn't you learn some stuff? Oh, it was great. Yeah. It's wonderful. You know, let's bring him back to life. If we couldn't do it all over again, teach me some more. Yeah, I never killed him. Yanni got so desperate, he'd go get by the tree and not do anything.

Done that? He just wants to get him. He's like, I don't care if I call him. It wasn't like he wanted to call him. He just wanted to get him. He's like, the one thing that isn't going to work is calling him, so I'm just going to go sit quiet. Without going through the whole story, I'll give you the finale.

I cut off a piece of reed cane, go to breathe up underneath the water, and get in a creek bed. First thing I did is I sucked the little stuff that's inside a piece of reed cane. Yeah. And I had to stick my head up underneath the water and cough so I wouldn't make too much noise. Then I snorkeled down because during squirrel season, I remembered there was a little point on the creek and he was on the sandbar. I snorkeled down to that little point, eased my head up and looked, and he's way too far.

I knew if I called to him what he would do. He would haul butt the other way because he'd been hunting so, I'd hunted so hard and so had other people. So what I did is I took my fingers and I started flicking leaves up in the air and clucking and purring and scratching in the rhythm that a hen does. So then visually, whenever he looked towards the sound, he saw those leaves and thought there was a real hen just on the other side of that bluff. He walked out my gun barrel, that's an inch and a half bird. And I killed him.

A lot more to that story. Do you carry decoys into the woods, Preston? Yes. You're not afraid of decoys? No. No, I don't mean afraid of them. You don't disapprove of them? No.

Hmm. Now, if Preston goes by himself, which is a rarity now, I normally have my tail chaser in my backpack, and that's about it. I like one-on-one, just me and him, when it's me by myself. But since I hunt with so many different people to accomplish different things, yes, I'm going to carry a hen. If you've got to carry one decoy and one decoy only, take a hen. You know how you want to get your granddaughter a bird?

Yes. What do you think she'll get out of it? Like, why do you want to get your granddaughter a bird? Well, one, she has worked so hard. Two, she is studying mother nature itself and appreciating everything that happens. Like I pointed out to her one morning, look at the spider with the dew still on it, going back and repairing his spider web. And then the sun comes through and all those little droplets of water turns into prisms. She pointed out to her, you know, it's not all about the killing part.

It's about seeing, studying, enjoying, and appreciating Mother Nature. She pointed out to her, you know, it's not all about the killing part. It's about seeing, studying, enjoying, and appreciating Mother Nature. The possum that comes by. Watch the possum. Watch what he does. The skunk. Listen, sweetheart, to that blue jay that's over there. He's about 70 yards away from us right now.

Whispering, why, peepaw? How do you know that? He's not gobb us right now, whispering, why, Peepaw? How do you know that? He's not gobbling right now. I said, that blue jay is telling me he's right there, is where he's at, or the crow, or in this part of the country, magpie, letting you know. So she's studying, whether she realizes it or not, she's studying Mother Nature and appreciating everything that God Almighty made for us. Because that's the hunt. It's the compliments to you on your show. You don't show us a hunting show.

You take us on an adventure. It's what you do with your show, which is why I really enjoy it. Because I'm going on an adventure. I'm a part of that. Not only are we hunting, but we're learning about historical things that are there, habits of different people. And I feel like I'm there with you. And then I get a bonus at the end. I get to see you do what we should all do, which is enjoy or at least try our harvest and eat it. By the way, I want one of your books.

I hear you've got some cookbooks. I want one before I leave from here. I'll mail you a whole stack of them. Okay. I'll give you my address, but I ain't giving it out over there. No, I wouldn't do that. Can we – what's your go-to turkey recipe? Fried turkey breast.

Take the breast out, cut it cross-grain, batter it, a little buttermilk. If you'd like a thicker batter on it, you can dip it in buttermilk. If you'd like a thinner batter, you can dip it in egg, milk, and a little bit of water. I do spice that also. I'm a Tony Sachery's guy. I like a Creole type, you know,

flavor to it. And two ways, deep fry it and just eat it like fried chicken. Or, what I find that a lot of people like is I make a southern gravy out of the same flour

because it's already got spices in it that I spice the turkey up with, take the turkey out, make a gravy, then take and put the turkey breast back in it and just cover it in mushrooms and onions, kind of like a liver. And I don't eat liver or heart. Kind of make it like a liver recipe and then have some biscuits in pour it over biscuits and whatever else you want to go with it. Or I take it and cut it in strips the same way. It's a soy sauce base, but I'll use soy sauce oil. When you think you've got enough pepper, put some more pepper into it.

When you're through with that, add a little bit more pepper with oil, dry mustard, a little bit of red wine vinegar. Beat all that up. Sit it in it. Let it soak for, it doesn't take long because that's a light meat. About 30, 45 minutes. Throw it on the grill and eat it when it's coming off the grill, standing around the grill. Those are my two favorite ways. It's an important part of the recipe.

Yep. Well, you don't need it to cool down. It needs to be hot. Yep. That's my two favorite ways. Screw all this bacon stuff. I'm south on fried. Fried or grill it.

All right, Preston Pittman, how do people find videos of you calling and whatnot? YouTube. Just Google me. You'll find me in a diaper for the spit drum and gobble contest. You'll see me not shaking David Letterman's hand, which I'd already shook it before I went out there. Now, if I type in, if I start typing your name in, you know what the autofill puts in? What?

Gobbling. That's what I would know. But I don't even have to finish your name and it already what the autofill puts in? What? Gobbling. That's what I would know. But I don't even have to finish your name, and it already wants the autofill. Preston Pittman Gobbling. Now, what's this trumpet situation? Trumpet. Different dude? No, no, no, your trumpet call.

Okay. A trumpet call. It also wants the autofill. Preston Pittman Trumpet. A trumpet call is likewise to a wing bone. Okay. I'm looking at it right now. Okay.

I got one somewhere, but anyway. It's the call that is not used that much anymore. And sometimes in turkey calling, especially when you're hunting public land, it's that different sound that he has not heard. Yep. different sound that he has not heard. All beings in life, I'm not saying they're intelligent and reason things out, but all beings in life have the ability to pass traits down. And here's my analogy. I heard you say you went ice fishing yesterday. Mm-hmm.

Should have called me. You wouldn't have. It was not a anyways okay i was mostly trying to get my kids to stop putting their gloves and mittens down the ice hole i've got four grand youngins within walking distance of me uh i'm used to that uh uh have you ever been to a pond or lake that's never been fished yeah i have okay you could probably throw a bear hooky yeah yeah or i could take this turkey like some guy like fills a little fake pond up with, yeah. I could probably take that right there and put a hook on it and catch fish.

You agree? Yes. Okay. Now, two years later, and it's being fished more, I could take this same thing, because now I've been fishing it for a couple of years and been throwing it. It had nothing to do with it. That's correct. Yeah.

Now, I need to paint some red on there and maybe put a spinner in the beginning of it. You agree with that? Yes, sir. You just said that a dumb fish with a brain the size of what? A pea? Has the ability to learn, be educated, and pass traits down. My second analogy is in the deep south, whenever I first started bow hunting with my $19.95 bought from Auto-Lit that's no longer in business, recurve.

Bought from what? Auto Let. That was the name of the store. Deer never looked up. Back then. Back then. Yeah, sure. We had the old timey where you bear hugged a tree or what I used to call the death trap, the old baker stands.

It's no longer in business. And then we copied them and made them, and they're never looked up. Now what happens? Mama, when she comes walking by, more like a bird doll looking up at the trees, that baby is learning from her that now there is danger from above. So animals have the ability to pass traits down, which is why I told you I can carry you to an easy place. But I would love, and I will carry you to an easier place in Mississippi.

But you'll take me to a hard spot too. I'd like for you to experience that at least one day. Even an easy place is a little bit tougher. But those birds have been hunted for so long, for so many years, they have gotten educated is what they have. And the deep south, it's a heritage now to turkey hunt. It ain't like what it used to be. Nothing even close.

The beauty of my career is I've got to see this from basically the ground floor and turn into what it's turned into now. You know, used to, you made a turkey cobbler. Hell, you used an aluminum can when diaphragms first started coming out and you put tape on them. They might last a whole hunt. They might not.

You know what I mean? Yeah. The book that I gave you, Ron Jolly's book, you'll learn like what his daddy used to do. He used to carry parts with him to repair his cow during a hunt. That's real. Couldn't get through the hunt. Yeah.

That's real. Preston's talking about a book, Memories of Spring by Ron Jolly, which he gifted to me. Well, Ron sent that to you. Oh, sorry. That Ron gifted to me. Well, Ron sent that to you. Oh, sorry. That Ron gifted to me. All right, man. Thank you. Thank you very much for what you do.

And as this saying says on here, keep doing what you're doing. You're doing good for me. You're doing good for everyone in this sport and in this industry. You are passing it on and you are bringing people into it who have never hunted. And that's a beautiful thing, Steve. Please keep doing it.

I appreciate you saying that. And I appreciate the game call gift. You're very welcome. All right. I still want to carry you hunting and fishing though. Oh, I want to go. Done. I want to be like, but carried. I ain't going to carry you hunting and fishing though. Oh, I want to go. Done. I want to be like, but carried.

I ain't going to tote you. I'll put you in my damn side by side. No, I'll come next spring. Okay. Done. And then next June for the hand grabbing. Yeah. That's going to be the fun part.

I'll do it. Done. I'm going to put it in my calendar now. Done. Thank you very much. Yes, you can come too. He don't know how. He does it all wrong.

He's got the scar. Gets his arm all hurt. That's all right. I'm the wimp anyway. I go out with a long sleeve shirt and I can't use the word that they use on me or what they call me. I'll tell you when we're off air, but I'm liable to have, I'll have gloves on. You didn't have any gloves on, did you?

No. Dummy. They broke you in the right way. You got to get some welding gloves, Cal, to come up, you know, those leather gloves up to your elbows. We will take care of both of y'all. You can come too.

I don't care. Even Yanni. Thank you. Seriously. You know who will be the best? One of those two. Females will listen to you. They don't have the ego that males have. Oh, those two. Females will listen to you.

They don't have the ego that males have. They will take instruction. I'd much rather teach a female than I would a male. I was a fishing guide for a decade, and you're very true there. They listen to you. So may I tell a quick story? Please. I hope none of the adults mind this, but this is my mission statement besides passing it on.

You know, number one, please, kids, stay in school, get the best education that you can possibly get. If you have problems, find someone that can help you fix those problems like I did not get. Respect everybody that is out there no matter what they do. I know I'm going to use a doctor as an analogy. Everybody wants to be that doctor. But you know what? He or she, that doctor, cannot really do their job this day and time without a nurse's practitioner. You know what? That nurse's practitioner cannot do his or her job without probably an RN. None of those people can do their job if there is not a secretary there keeping them straight. And guess what? There's also a janitor that's got to clean the commode, sterilize the equipment, empty the garbage, whatever it may be. Respect them all.

Who has the most important job? Even that lonely little janitor that nobody looks at is making it possible for everyone to be able to do their job. They carry as much importance as they can. As my daddy used to tell me, he said, son, I don't care if you're a ditch digger, but by God, you better be the best ditch digger that there is out there. Everybody serves a function.

Everybody serves a purpose. Everybody who does a good job deserves respect. And I'll end it with this. There is a God in heaven, and Jesus Christ is my Lord and Savior. Amen. Preston Pittman, thank you very much. Thank you.

Thanks, Preston. Hey folks, exciting news for those who live or hunt in Canada. You might not be able to join our raffles and sweepstakes and all that because of raffle and sweepstakes law, but hear this. OnX Hunt is now in Canada. It is now at your fingertips, you Canadians. The great features that you love in OnX are available for your hunts this season. Now, the Hunt app is a fully functioning GPS with hunting maps that include public and crown

land, hunting zones, aerial imagery, 24k topo maps, waypoints and tracking. You can even use offline maps to see where you are without cell phone service as a special offer. You can get a free three months to try out OnX

if you visit onxmaps.com slash meet.