The MeatEater Podcast - Ep. 532: BONUS DROP - Turkey Stories with Jani

Episode Date: March 14, 2024

In this special Turkey Week bonus episode of The MeatEater Podcast, our beloved Jani "The Latvian Eagle" Putelis brings us poignant stories from the turkey woods. He attended NWTF's annual convention, where he interviewed dozens of hunters. Here, Jani shares the ones that hit home the most. Enjoy.See 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. The Meat Eater Podcast. You can't predict anything. The Meat Eater Podcast is brought to you by First Light.

Whether you're checking trail cams, hanging deer stands, or scouting for elk, First Light has performance apparel to support every hunter in every environment. Check it out at firstlight.com. F-I-R-S-T-L-I-T-E dot com. apparel to support every hunter in every environment. Check it out at firstlight.com. F-I-R-S-T-L-I-T-E.com. Hey y'all, this is Steve. And as you know, it's Turkey Week here at Meat Eater, which means lots of great turkey hunting content and also great deals on turkey hunting gear. In addition to this special drop of the Meat Eater podcast, where we hear from my buddy, turkey hunting partner, longtime colleague, the beloved and beautiful Yanis

Putelis, who's going to share with you some very memorable and beautiful turkey hunting stories. Last spring, I attended my first National Wild Turkey Federation convention in Nashville, Tennessee. I've never heard so many yelps in one place. Joking aside, I had a wonderful time attending the calling contests, walking the floor checking out new calls, and just enjoying the energy of so many passionate hunters gathered in one place. I highly recommend any turkey nut to make the pilgrimage to Nashville next February. I was there because I had an idea that we should record everyone's stories to be archived for future generations. I feel that too often good stories die with the orator, and that's a shame. So, as an effort to record our hunting heritage, Phil Taylor, a.k.a. Phil the Engineer, and I set up a makeshift recording studio and invited folks to tell their stories. Thank you to everyone who had the courage to come tell me a hunting story. I know it's not

easy getting in front of a mic and reciting your story while Phil listens from the soundboard. In total we recorded nearly 40 stories all of which will be available in their raw form on the National Wild Turkey Federation website soon. So keep an eye out for that. Here are three stories that stood out to us because they resonated on so many different levels. They are tales of success in the turkey woods, sure, but they are so much more than that. There are stories of love and bonding, stories of relationships and shared experiences. We start out with Jeremy Bennett and his son Zeke. I'm a father of two daughters, and hunting with them is by far the highlight of every spring and fall.

Hunting with kids gives me the opportunity to pass along what I love so much. The joy I feel when my youngins have success is far beyond any joy I've ever felt standing over one of my own kills. Zeke's excitement makes me want to grab one of my kids right now and go for a walk in the woods. My name is Ezekiel Cotton Bennett. I'm 12 years old. I'm from Manila, Arkansas. My name is Jeremy Bennett and I'm 44 years old from Manila, Arkansas. And we're going to talk about a turkey hunt that we had together, me and my youngest son, in Arkansas this year. So I'll start out by saying that we wanted for dad to kill a turkey because he never gets to shoot, right? Yes.

I usually take the kids and I don't even sometimes have to worry about taking a gun. But this is the time that he'd already killed a bird this year. So Zeke wanted me to shoot one. And that was a big deal. He kept saying, I want dad, I want you to shoot one. So we got set up on the edge of a big pasture and it got daylight and we hadn't heard a bird on the roost. We've seen some hens, and then all of a sudden, right on the edge of the pasture, just out of eyesight, I heard something. And then we saw a hen come, and then we had a tom come, but out of range.

And they made their way off to the side side and my son wanted to go after him. I said no let's just wait let's be patient we've still got things happening around us. Luckily things started working back from the woods back in front of us. A hen was in front of us and got real loud and I think she was kind of afraid of our decoy maybe. Yeah. Well eventually I seen one of the birds coming back in the field saw his beard and luckily the bird was on my side. I waited he got behind a tree and I waited a little bit more and then I finally shot and took the bird and you were afraid that I was going to wait too long and it was going to get away weren't you? Yeah because I had my gun up and everything and you were just looking at it. I didn't think you'd seen it.

But you probably didn't think I was going to shoot, did you? I did not think you were going to shoot. So we harvested that bird, went back to camp, cleaned it, ate lunch, and then we went back out that afternoon for another hunt. So we set up in the same spot, and it was hot, didn't hear nothing, and you wanted to go to a different spot. Yeah. And I said, if you go to a different spot, we're not coming back to this one.

So you wanted to go to a different spot. And then what happened? So we went out of that spot, and then we had crossed a power line, and then we looked up on the power line, and there was a tom and a hen, and the tom was strutting. So we made a plan, and so we were going to go about like three miles down that power line, like in the woods, and then— Around. Yeah. Yeah, so there's a double power line on the property, and they're spaced out by a couple hundred yards so we knew

that we could go all the way around get on another road drive around and come to the uphill side of where this bird had a hen because I just didn't want to push the bird I didn't want to push the bird I was afraid so we made a plan and you doubted me yeah so we went all the way around the property and got uphill of this bird with the hen. And then I got on the wrong ridge that I thought he was on. And then so once I realized he wasn't on that ridge, I went to the next one. But you also told me to stay at the UTV. Yeah, I did tell you. Yeah, you didn't want me to go with you.

I kind of peeked over that ridge and I could see just the tip of his fan. So I got down and started crawling. I crawled about like 30 yards, and then I popped up and didn't see him. And then I didn't realize he was like on a shelf. And then I seen the hen walk out on the road and then he like jumped up there and then he started strutting and then I shot him. You thought I just shot a flying bird.

Yeah, because I was out of eyesight up the hill and I was just hoping he would get close enough, but I was expecting him probably to just scare the bird. Being a 12-year-old turkey stalker, you never know what can happen. So when I heard the shot, then I finally peek over and I hear him kind of in excitement that he'd got the bird. Running down to the bird. So that was your second turkey in Arkansas this year, or this past spring. Yeah.

2022. Yeah. Can you tell them real quick about your first turkey in Arkansas this past or this past spring yeah 2022 yeah can you tell them real quick about your first turkey in Arkansas this this past year oh yeah so we're on a public piece of property and you had to draw and it was a youth hunt you went out there the day before and scouted and you didn't hear anything on the roost and then you went to a spot that we previously hunted and you saw two hens cross the road so we went over there we sat down got everything ready you called we didn't hear anything a dog started barking behind us and then right behind us we just heard a big, loud gobble.

He came out. Our decoy was to the right of us, and we were on a road. So I was facing straight into the road. The turkey was straight behind us, and then it walked out about 15 yards to my left and then well it was two birds yeah two birds and then they started spitting drumming strutting and then the one that came out first started getting a little nervous and then just ran as fast as it could in the woods and then so I raised up my gun because I was on like a little little shooting stick yeah so I raised up my gun because I was on like a little little shooting stick yeah

so I had to raise my gun over that as fast as I could and then the turkey started running so I shot it tell him what we do with the turkey legs after we clean a bird so we put them in the instant pot and then we just like what mom cooks them in the instant Pot, and then we just like... What? Mom cooks them in the Instant Pot. Yeah. And then we pull all the meat off, and then what do we do with it? We make turkey salad. So instead of chicken salad, we make wild turkey salad.

We put them in the Instant Pot because it's very convenient. And then, man... We just like blended up with like ranch. Celery. Yeah. Bacon bits sometime. Cheddar cheese. Yep. So real quick, tell them about, go back.

Tell them about your first turkey real quick. Your first turkey you ever harvested. First turkey. So what we did, we went to my uncle's property. On your brother's birthday. Yeah. And he was at like a sleepaway camp. And then so we

heard some birds so we went to where we thought they were going. And then we set up and then we started calling to them and then they were just coming right at us. But it was you, me, and my brother on his property. There was probably ten and the turkey in the back was strutting,

and he was telling me to shoot that one. And then I just didn't know, because I thought that was a shot for a.410. And then so what I did is the closest one to me, I just saw a little, like little brown spot on his chest, and I just thought that was a beard, so I shot it, and it was a beard. And then you asked your brother. So in Arkansas, you can shoot a Jake, and so these Jakes gobbled like crazy and come right in.

Well, I was concentrated on my 8-year-old. My brother was to my right. And so I thought, well, you know, if he gets a shot, that's great. And then if, you know, my brother may be able to get a shot as well. So after you shot the birds and the birds dispersed, I never heard a shot from my brother. And so I looked at him and said, hey, why didn't you shoot? And he said, well, they were all jakes. And we didn't see his bird fall because everything flew. And my brother said, hey, his bird is dead over here. It flew right beside me and fell out of the air down there. That was his first turkey. So you're 12 years old. Now you've got three turkeys under your belt. Yep. So you're considered an expert in Arkansas, wouldn't you figure?

Maybe. Maybe. Well, you're just as good of an expert as your older brother, aren't you? Yeah. Because he's killed three turkeys. And how many turkeys has he missed? Like 30. 30? No. He's missed a few. So you've killed three turkeys and you've missed how many turkeys?

Zero. There you go. 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. Well, if you're sick of, you know, sucking high and titty there on x is now in canada

the great features that you love and on x 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 Meat Eater 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. onxmaps.com slash meet. onxmaps.com slash meet. Welcome to the OnX Club, y'all. Next, husband and wife team Trey and Elizabeth Laudner walk us through her first turkey hunt. I've been married for 20 years and introducing

my wife to turkey hunting resulted in one of my all-time favorite turkey stories. Lots of folks told stories about their first turkey. What struck me was that those stories were often more about who took them on their first turkey hunt rather than the hunt itself. All right, so I'm Trey Ladner from Passers-Dan, Mississippi. Yes, I'm Elizabeth Ladner. So I guess to preface this whole story, like I grew up my whole life, my family hunting, just about everything really. Well, we started dating, pretty much had to tell her, you know, hey, this is how my life is, you know to let you know well she was okay with it and then she started showing interest in it so she wanted to get well it got to be turkey season and we'd already been deer hunting and that was usually in the evening you know well she's not a big morning

person so not at all I work night shift I'm an ICU nurse and mornings are not my my thing so she would go with me every now and then, and we'd have some action. She'd get excited, but she never really had a lot of interest, you know? Couldn't ever make it happen. And then finally last year, I got home from work. What? No, no, no, back up. Because last season was really whenever, like, I don't even know.

We started reading Tom Kelly's books, and we started listening to them, like, on the way. We hunt in Poplarville, mostly, and so we started listening to them. And I'm a big reader. I was obsessed with how Tom Kelly was writing. And, I don't know, it just got me fired up for the whole season, really. And so we were going and going and going for, like, three weeks straight, almost every single day that we were off. And we were having really awesome mornings.

We were hearing a lot. We saw a couple of jakes, but we never saw a gobbler. One morning I was just like, was so exhausted basically from work and going every morning. I was like, I'm not going this morning. You go, you have fun, you know, send me a video, listening to the turkeys and all the things, you know. But he was like, no, you've got to get up. You've got to get up.

I'm like, oh, okay, fine. So I got in the truck. I was like, I'm sleeping the whole way there. We ended up listening to a podcast. I don't even remember who we listened to. It was actually the Meat Eater podcast. Probably. And we got there.

We listened to this one spot that was my favorite spot. It was the prettiest spot right on the edge of a food plot. We don't normally sit on the edge of food plots mostly. We normally walk in the bottoms which is also gorgeous. We didn't hear anything so we like last-ditch effort I think it was like what 10 9 30 maybe 10 o'clock and we we have a spot we call it the Buck Nest. Granted I've never killed a buck there but it's called the buck nest because that's where we get the most pictures from and we're sitting there no i don't even think we were sitting yet we were walking and he

yelps and immediately uh gobbler gobbled and 150 yards yeah immediately answers us and so I can hear his heartbeat above mine and he's like all fired up and he's telling me what to do and basically be quiet and then we finally like walk what 60 more yards we sit down and he normally like I'll sit on a tree and he'll get behind me and call I'm not the best caller yet, obviously, but he was going to go do that and he just couldn't stand it. So he sat on the same tree as me and he, uh, uh, yelped again. He saw him, he saw the gobbler strut and I was looking and I couldn't ever see him or whatever. And he was like, can you, can you see him? Do you see him? And I'm like, no, I don't see him yet. And so he stopped, he stopped yelping and the gobbler just kept gobbling probably what about three more times

and finally I could see him in the line of sight probably what 60-70 yards away and Trey was sitting there and he's like well can you shoot him can you shoot him I see him like way far away I can't shoot that well at this point she can't judge distance at this point the turkey's like 30 yards

and I'm like about to jump out of my skin. Because you could have had a shot the whole time. Well, I couldn't because I was literally looking in front of it like I had a tree. I'm like, I can't shoot him. Well, I'm Christian. I have all the prayers all the time. And so I'm sitting here talking to God.

I'm like, God, please, please, please let me get a shot. Please don't let me mess it up. Please don't let me harm this animal. And please just let my heart rate slow down so I can actually hear and pay attention to what I'm doing. Cause I was freaking out and I'm shaking. I was like, there isn't, there's no way I'm even going to be able to keep the dot on the turkey. And at this point I'm getting impatient. So I'm like, shoot him, you know, shoot him. And all of a sudden the gun goes off. Well, cause he, well, the gun went off cause his head, there was literally two trees and it's probably

what a foot and a half apart and his head, the red head popped right in the middle of it. And I shot cause I just, I don't know. It was like an instant. Yeah. As soon as the gun went off, I just jumped up and beelined it to the turkeys. Cause had it was not getting away I had to grab it. He was dead. I had like a trail of calls all behind me you know and I finally grabbed it and I'm looking around for her and I can't find her and she finally comes walking up she's crying she's shaking yeah and I just handed her a turkey. He scared me whenever you ran that fast because I A it's my turkey sir don't do And I, like, threw the gun down on an accident. Just excited.

And that made me nervous. So I, like, finally get up there, and tears are streaming down my face. And this man pulls out a phone. I actually videoed it. Yeah, he videoed it, and I was a nervous wreck. I could barely talk. It was just so much adrenaline. Like, I just couldn't.

I don't know. It was incredibly emotional, actually. I just couldn't, I don't know. It was incredibly emotional, actually. I mean, thinking about it, I took a whole life. We worked really freaking hard. In that moment, it was all worth it. I think every time we get to kill an animal, it's pretty emotional. And it was at that moment, it clicked in her brain. Like, this is why you do this.

Yeah. There was definitely some relief for sure yeah especially turkeys it's kind of like a sickness like I can go get my butt handed to me every day every day of the season and kill one on the last day and it was all worth it to me well I think we I really needed that too because that day I was not gonna go I was like I'm exhausted I'm not gonna do it and now I I will be getting out of the bed. It's a little different for deer, but turkeys, it's a different world. This last story resonates because relationships aren't always easy.

I'm a son, a son with a great dad, but not a perfect one. No one's the perfect father, certainly not me. Father and son relationships can be tenuous, but we tend to hear the stories that only celebrate these relationships and don't necessarily dig into the times that are fraught. Heath's story reminds me that I'm not the only one who's trying to better my relationship with my father. So my name is Heath Pendergraft, and I'm from Exeter, Missouri, down in the very far southwest corner of the state. I'm 48, and I've been turkey hunting since I was 14. So my story is one, I like to call it my story of redemption with my dad.

Growing up, my dad and I, I mean, we were fine, but we weren't particularly close. We were very different. I always felt that he was a little bit tough on me, and he thought that I was, I don't know, just, I wasn't, I didn't click with him, you know? And growing up, my dad, he deer hunted, coon hunted, did all this. He didn't turkey hunt, but he did everything else. And I wanted to be a hunter to be like him. So I deer hunted, coon hunted, but I wanted to turkey hunt because I'd seen a lot of videos and read in outdoor magazines about turkey hunting. But yeah, he didn't do it, so I didn't really have anybody to go with.

So I basically had to teach myself. I was a very hyper and I guess annoying child. And so any of the adults that I did know that turkey hunted would not take me, I would beg them and they wouldn't do it because I couldn't sit still or be quiet. So I started teaching myself. My papa, he didn't turkey hunt either, but he loved me enough that he wanted to feed my passion. So he bought me a little scratch box,

cedar scratch box turkey call from Walmart and bought my first tag. And so I had to start by watching videos and listening to little 78 RPM records of turkey calls, teach myself how to call. So I'd go out there and he would take me, my papa would take me to the woods and let me hunt for a few hours in the morning because I couldn't drive yet. And then I wouldn't get anything. He'd bring me home. Anyway, long story short, it took me years to get to where I could actually call a turkey in for myself and kill it. When I did, it was the greatest thing ever. Dad, not being a turkey hunter, he was proud of me for doing that,

but it just didn't mean that much to him. Fast forward 20 years later, and I talked him into finally going on a turkey hunt with me. By then, I had matured a lot. I'd grown up. I was married. I had kids. And our relationship had gotten much stronger than it had in the past. So he finally agreed to go turkey hunting with me. So the opening morning of that season, he was going with me. It stormed like crazy all night long. And I was really disheartened because I thought I was going to have to cancel the hunt because it was just, I mean, severe storms, really bad ones, heavy rain. But daylight broke. It was still raining and thundering, but it wasn't as bad as it was. So

we decided to go out to this farm place that we were hunting and listen for turkeys, just see if we could get anything going. We got out there. It was probably about 7.30 because it had been raining so much. We just, we slept in and ate breakfast. And we got out there about 7 30 because it had been raining so much we just we slept in and ate breakfast and we got out there about 7 30 tried to hear you know tried to locate some birds couldn't hear anything we're standing by the truck on this knob on top of this field with this big track of timber down below us and this track of timber was really it was shaped kind of like a a turkey's foot it had three big branches that came off of it. There was one like central area and then three hollers went off of this turkey foot. And while we're standing there

trying to decide what we're going to do, this huge peal of thunder sounded. And when it did, we heard two gobbles. It was the coolest thing. And they were way over like on the second holler. But we didn't really have an approach to get over there so i told him i said there's one tree in this field i said let's go sit up at this tree and just see if we can kind of get an idea of where they're heading so that we can try to get them and he said okay so

we go down here to this tree and we set up and this tree is probably 30 yards from the edge of the timber and it's the only tree in the field we We sit down real quick. We get our face masks on. And I started calling. And they immediately answered us back. Both of them. I mean, it's like they were in stereo. They were just together constantly. And we could hear them.

And they were getting closer as time went on. But, you know, there were two haulers over. I really didn't expect them to come over to where we were. Suddenly, we seen movement across the first hauler they had crossed one of the haulers and were up on this ridge so they they were pretty hot they were coming to us and so I I looked over at dad and I said hey do you see him and he said yeah and you could see he was getting he was getting into it at this point so it was really cool for me to be able to be there with him in that moment. And about that time behind us, kind of where the three hollers meet behind us, this hen started talking. And I say behind us, it wasn't directly behind us, it was more to the right behind us. So she was kind of calling them to her to our left and I was calling him more to us to her right and it

kind of became a almost like a shouting match between me and the hen I was disheartened because I did not think I could call those toms away from that hen as a matter of fact I even looked over to dad one point and I said maybe we should just give it up because I just didn't have the I did not have the confidence at that point that I'd be able to pull that off and he said no keep at it we say he said we're here we might as well see what we can do so we kept going it was it was a solid 20 minutes back and forth with that hen and pretty soon one of the toms broke from the top of that ridge and came right down that holler flew over a brush pile which I didn't think was likely at all, and started up the ridge. Well, his buddy, when he saw that, he did the same thing just shortly thereafter.

So my heart's beating a mile a minute. I can see him coming, and I can hear him rattle, or I can hear him gobble, but it's that rattle on the bottom of their gobble whenever they got to within 40 yards of us that just really got me excited. I whispered out of the corner of my mouth, whenever they got to within you know 40 yards of us that just really got me excited i whispered out the corner of my mouth i said get your gun up and he already had it up and he said you get yours you get yours up and i realized i didn't have it up so i i got it up we're sitting there together these two birds break out of the timber they come up they're drumming you know and it's it's that really intense drum that you can feel down in your chest I mean they're so close that when they drum there's just like this this warm feeling that just

comes right down through your chest and it was it was truly surreal in that moment to be there with him of all people you know because he had never done that before so the birds kind of cut to our our left a little bit so So they're kind of, they're not going to that hen. They're strutting for us and looking for the hen that we're supposed to be. But they kind of cut to our left a little bit and give us a perfect shot at about 25 yards. And I kind of whispered to them. I said, on the count of three, we're going to shoot. And I didn't even have to count loud. We both just counted three silently and shot. And it sounded like one shot, both birds fell over dead. Those were, those were good birds. I mean,

they had, one had a 10 inch beard, one had 10 and a half. They both had more than a quarter inch spurs. They were nice birds. I've killed bigger ones since, but I've never killed one more memorable. I mean, as soon as those birds fell over, we jumped up, we hugged, you know, and I hadn't hugged my dad in quite a while at that point. It was the greatest moment I ever had in the woods. And it all goes back to, you know, that he, he didn't do it before. And I couldn't, I had to teach myself how to do it. I don't know, I guess for me, in that moment, whenever we both killed our turkeys together, him his first, and we were right there together, I kind of felt like that I had earned his respect.

And that was the greatest thing in the world to me, still is to this day. I mean, I've hunted, I'm 48 years old, I've hunted my whole life. I've done a lot of great things in the woods or what I think are great and fun things, but nothing has ever come close to that. If there is a happier ending to a story than doubling up on gobblers with your dad, I haven't heard it. I hope you all take more time than you should to enjoy the turkey woods this spring

and that you share that time with those you love. 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. On Axe 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.