American Roots Outdoors w/ Alex Rutledge
Join Alex Rutledge along with Co-Host Wayne Lach & Mike "Redbone" Crase as we cover a variety of topics from Deer Hunting, Turkey Hunting, Fishing and today's top headlines...... all while Sharing our Faith! We will also have Special Guest appearances from some of the Hunting Industry's biggest names and Country Music Stars you all love!
American Roots Outdoors w/ Alex Rutledge
2022 Spring Turkey FB Fan Q&A
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This week is all about our FB Friends and Followers who sent in questions for us to answer on Spring Turkey Hunting and Habitat Improvement! We want to thank everyone who submitted so many great questions as we picked out a handful to answer!
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Also wanna give a big shout out to Jack Fida from Pennsylvania, a guy that ordered some American Roots turkey calls. I got them sent out to him today and he texted me his number and we set had a little short conversation with him. And uh Wayne and I are thinking about leaving Sunday and going to Pennsylvania and hunting until Wednesday. Really? Yeah, you want to go? Uh I gotta work. Yeah, you gotta work. Yeah, they need you here, Redbone. He holds the ship down in the morning.
SPEAKER_04He holds the ship down in the morning. Here we go. Were you saying I'm an anchor? Your opinion. Heavy or what?
SPEAKER_06Hang on. You are the wind in the sail. The wind in the sail.
SPEAKER_02Camel boots on my feet. Bow in my head. Walking in the early dawn to climb up.
SPEAKER_03Hey, Redbone, do you hear about that new deer feed? What new deer feed?
SPEAKER_01Hey, Buck Grits, boys, you ain't heard of that yet? Buggritz! Buggrits.com.
SPEAKER_03Oh, tell us about it. What makes it better than any other deer feed?
SPEAKER_01Well, Buck Grits has got the protein of deer needs, it's got the fat of deer needs, it's got the amino acids, it's got the energy, it's got it all, brother. It's gonna bring them back after the rut and it's gonna put a rack on their head.
SPEAKER_03And it's gonna help the lactate and dough, I assume too, after they have the fawns.
SPEAKER_01That's right. Keep the fawns going and get them for the next crop.
SPEAKER_03Well, where can I get buck grits?
SPEAKER_01Buck grits.com. You can get a sample, you can order it directly from the website, and we're coming to a retailer near you.
SPEAKER_03If you want to help a deer hurt, use buck grits.
SPEAKER_02Take it to a field across the creek of a big old hill. Yeah after year, dumb hunting gear.
SPEAKER_03Wise I hornety ammunition, apex ammunition, amped outdoors, eagle seed, butt grits, neutral plot. We thought forget anybody? Lord, I hope not. Hornady.
SPEAKER_07I'm going through the thing here.
SPEAKER_03I'm just presents American Roots Outdoors. Welcome to the show, everybody. Again, I'm in the studio for the first time in about five weeks, and it feels good. And man, that new soundboard really looks good. Like that? Yeah, I can tell the radio even sounds better.
SPEAKER_04Oh, it does. And Ivens sound better. That's that's saying something. But yeah, nice, nice new studio here. Compliments of the e-communications folks. And uh it was time. We've been using that other board for about 25 years. Yeah, it was time.
SPEAKER_03It's time.
SPEAKER_07Well, you're it he said he sounds better, but he really looked better.
SPEAKER_06He can only go up. There's my joke of the day. There's my joke of the day.
SPEAKER_03So, anyway, let's talk about current events before we get into our subject matter of answering questions. We had a QA post today on Facebook, letting people ask us questions they wanted on the show this week. And also uh we're gonna talk about again the use of fanning and using strutting decoys throughout the show. But we're gonna talk about current events right now, and the first thing I want to talk about is uh Birch Tree has a little league team now. Uh that's good. Yes, yeah, we do. We have teams in Birch Tree now, and we're trying to bring it back in our town. And if you're listening and you'd like to get your kid involved, if it's not too late, uh contact the Birch Tree Park Board to get involved. And any other towns in the area that's got little league peeweed league teams, get involved. Get these kids involved. Let's bring the American roots of what how we grew up back to our communities.
SPEAKER_07That being said, I think there are sixty kids that signed up. How many?
SPEAKER_03Oh my goodness, that is beautiful.
SPEAKER_07That's really good. Was you there? No, no, I I wasn't there. I had my teeth pulled yesterday. Yesterday was the first games, and uh, I am not showing my teeth. Uh, but uh so Renee, she works the uh she runs a concession stand there, my wife, and uh she uh said they had sixty kids signed up beautiful for the league. They got a softball league and t-ball league, so it'll be nice, you know, something good for the kids to do for people that can't travel with their kids. Yeah, keeps it local and gives their kids something to do.
SPEAKER_03Well, it spares your town.
SPEAKER_07Right.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it really is. You know, Thayer Thayer has a very uh a very active little league and has forever. And um, I think I think there are six T ball teams in Thayer. And uh their season's about over already. You know, they start early, they start actually before school gets out and and start playing the T-ball, but uh the coach pitch and and the kids pitch and softball and baseball going gung-ho right now. That's beautiful. And that's good to see.
SPEAKER_03That's beautiful. That's beautiful. Let's talk about St. Louis Cardinals.
SPEAKER_04Well, that's a uh Springfield Cardinal hat that I'm wearing.
SPEAKER_03Well St. Louis Cardinals.
SPEAKER_04St. Louis Cardinals. What is there to say? They're really good one day and the next day they're not. Yesterday, Tuesday, recording on Wednesday, Tuesday is a perfect example. They got shut out in the first game with a doubleheader. Actually, it was three to one, they scored a run in the nine. And then the second game, they win, which is baseball. And it's too early in the season to know if they're gonna be in the playoffs or any of that stuff, but and they need to make some moves. They got a guy in the minor leagues down in Memphis, the Gorman kid, in 33 games has hit 16 homers. He's on a pace to hit 60 and drive in like 175 runs, and that for some reason they're bringing up everybody but him. Well depending on needs, of course, but yeah.
SPEAKER_03I just don't understand the strategy. You know. Uh but anyway.
SPEAKER_04Well, a lot of it has to do with contracts. You got guys that you're paying $18 million, you gotta let them play.
SPEAKER_03Exactly. Exactly.
SPEAKER_04It's all about the money.
SPEAKER_03Exactly. So anyway, the Cardinals are a 500 team, in my opinion, right now. That's my opinion. Your opinion, Wayne.
SPEAKER_04They're actually they're actually eight games. I think they're eight games over 500.
SPEAKER_03So I know they're over 500, but they're 500 team in my eyes.
SPEAKER_04Oh no, they're better than that. Yeah, they're a playoff contender.
SPEAKER_07You're you're talking to the wrong guy about baseball. I don't watch baseball.
SPEAKER_03Mike always disagrees with me.
SPEAKER_04Well, they're a playoff contender. They really are.
SPEAKER_03Anyway, Car River Smallmouth Association, local stuff is coming up. First tournament is June the 4th at Ban Buren, Missouri. If you want to become a member or fish the tournaments, 7 o'clock launch. Watercrest put in, big springs put in, pay your inch fees, pay your memberships there at Watercrest and go fish till 5 o'clock. You weigh your best five smallmouth. You gotta have an aerator in your live well. You gotta have your boat safety inspected and make sure you have everything that's needed to pass inspection. Uh two people, no live lures, and uh CRSA is getting to kick off, guys. June the fourth. Well, I'm looking forward to some smallmouths.
SPEAKER_07I gotta get out on the the river this year with Alex. I got my fishing license, so I I'm ready to go. I just gotta I'd like to get out on the river a couple times with Alex and and do some fishing. See what these uh small mouths is all about that he keeps uh raving every week about.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, well it's a lot of fun. I went I went and pre-fished last Friday. First time I've been on the water, and I went with a friend of mine, and uh we got on the water at 11:30, and we fished from 11:30 to 6:30, and we boated 61 bass. Wow. And of the 61, around 20, 18 to 20 of them was keepers, and we had our best five fish averaged two pounds, and the largest was three pounds. So we had a pretty good stringer, and uh I finally got to fish the back of the boat, which felt good. I usually don't get to do that, so uh got to have a guy that can run the trolling motor so I can fish the back too sometimes. But that being said, uh fish are biting good on the lakes. Yeah, the topwater stripers. Carrie Robbins sent me a picture over at Gainesville, Missouri of some stripers. He's been catching, he guides about every night. They've been loading the boat. My buddy Brandon Miley's been catching uh stripers and hybrids and uh Billy uh boardman guide service over here is catching the crappie every every climb he takes, catches or limit over there on Norfolk.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, the crappie fishing is really, really good. And that topwater bite, if you've never done that, an hour and a half after daylight and about an hour and a half before until it gets dark. Yeah, man. You see those fish bubbling, you just you could you could throw an empty hook on the side. Swirling.
SPEAKER_07I love topwater fishing. I absolutely love topwater fishing. But I've always fished for largemouth up in Ohio. That's what largemouth and walleye, those are the two two things I fish for. Not not really smallmouth, so I'm looking forward to getting on the river here.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. Well, anyway, I uh I'm glad turkey season's over, guiding and filming. Uh last trip, just real quick, uh, went to Nebraska and guided a friend of mine, Lizzie Long, called for her and filmed her. Uh everywhere we went, there was Jakes everywhere. It's very open terrain. Uh it's nothing like what it was when I was there 12 years ago. Uh the turkeys you did hear is on somebody else's land. You couldn't go get on them. And first Steven was there, we caught in two Longbeards, they come up and she's looking straight ahead. We're standing up behind a cedar tree. They come up to the right over within twenty feet of her, and she didn't see them, and they spooked. Uh then we went and she finally killed one there, a super Jake, and she bushwhacked it. Uh it's pretty funny. Then we went to Kansas. Again, Kansas wasn't what I expected. Uh a lot of Jakes, super jakes. We called in eight different jakes the first day we were there. Went back the last day and she killed one of them just so she could fulfill her quest of her slam. So, I mean, hey, she she's sick, and if she wants to shoot a Jake, let her shoot a Jake. That's her right.
SPEAKER_04Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, and you talk about that, Alex, and and I think back to a one of my favorite videos you ever did when you were with Hunter Specialists. And and I think it was it Matt Moret you were with when you guys were doing after the hunt, and Matt Moret says, Let me see your call. And you took your call out. No, it was J.R. Keller. Was it J.R. Keller? JR J.R. Keller. He says, Alex, you're the Jake callingest man I ever saw in my life. And he tore it to Pete. Tore ripped it, my favorite Yelper. And then and then they tried to get up to walk away, and their legs had fallen asleep. They couldn't. One of my favorite videos ever.
SPEAKER_03That was the good old days, man. Good old days. Hunter specialties, we put out some great videos during that time. Everybody, we're going to go to a break. We come back. We're going to talk about the big debate right now on social media about fanning or using strutting decoys. And we're going to answer questions from our Facebook page on American Roots Outdoors. Don't go away. We'll be right back with more right after this. This is Brenda Valentine, and you're listening to American Roots Outdoors with Alex Rutledge and friends. Redbone, what would you say if I could tell you that you could kill a buck on a certain day?
SPEAKER_04I would say you're crazy. There's no way to predict how the bucks are going to move.
SPEAKER_03Well, you're wrong. There's a new camera out called Wise Eye Technologies. These guys can predict the actual deer movement, exact time that a deer is going to come through. Really? Wise Eye Technologies. This camera has five megapixel pictures, has a GPS system built inside, and it's an experience using this camera. It collects data and tells you the movement, wind direction, everything. On a camera. On a camera. Wiseitechnologies.com.
SPEAKER_04And how do I find out more information about these guys?
SPEAKER_03You go to wiseeysmartcam.com. I'm using them. You should too. Make your hunt easier. Use wiseye. Morning the ammunition presents. Welcome back to American Roots Outdoors. Alex Rutledge, your host, in the studio with my other co-host, the director of operations, uh, Mr. Redbone Mike Crace, and our brand manager and director of podcast, Wayne Locke. Show him your teeth, man. I'm not showing my teeth. Come on, man.
SPEAKER_05I'm not showing my teeth. What lack of teeth I have. Waka, waka, waka. Lack of teeth I have.
SPEAKER_03So anyway, we're having fun in the studio. And our subject matter, everybody, you know we're always cutting up joking, having fun. So subject matter is to fan or not to fan. Or not to fan. Or to use gobbler strutting decoys while you turkey at. I want to hear your opinion first, Red Bund.
SPEAKER_04Well, before we get into that, I know Wayne had some information that he wanted to get here. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, we were I was supposed to draw on May 11th. We were supposed to draw the winner for the Memories of Spring, uh book autograph book by Ron Jolly that will be one of our guests. And uh due to sickness, uh basically my teeth were killing me, and I was I couldn't even think straight for a week. Um I did I forgot to do the drawing. So uh we did the drawing today. Uh Mike Rector from Missouri is the Mike Rector!
SPEAKER_03Man, he's one of the best loggers in the country. Oh, Mike won it. That's awesome.
SPEAKER_07Yep, so he's the winner, and we will get that book right out to him. Mike's probably registering us right now.
SPEAKER_03I hope so. Say something to him.
SPEAKER_06Congratulations, Mike.
SPEAKER_03If he's not watching, he's probably listening on Saturday. Oh, yeah. He's listening. He's a loyal listener. He's a good friend. Good friend. Where do you know Mike? That's awesome. Good deal. And we got two hats to give away. Let's talk about that real quick.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, I got uh. Let's see him.
unknownYeah. There we go.
SPEAKER_07For those that are wondering why we're holding stuff up on the radio, it's because we're also doing live on the video. Yeah, while we're recording, we're doing live music.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_07But uh, yeah, we're gonna autograph these hats. We've got a couple hats we're gonna be giving away. I'm gonna get them in stockpiles so that we can give them away to the next listeners and that.
SPEAKER_03Hey, Craig Davidson's watching. Also, I want to give a big shout out to Jack Fida from Pennsylvania, a guy that ordered some American Roots turkey calls. I got them sent out to him today, and he texted me his number, and we set had a little short conversation with him. And uh Wayne and I are thinking about leaving Sunday and going to Pennsylvania and hunting until Wednesday. Really? Yeah, you want to go? I gotta work. Yeah, you gotta work. Yeah, they need you here, Redbone.
SPEAKER_06He holds the ship down in the morning.
SPEAKER_04He holds the ship down in the morning. Here we go. Or are you saying I'm an anchor? Your opinion. Heavy or what?
SPEAKER_06Look at it. Hang on. You are the wind in the sails. The wind in the sail.
SPEAKER_03I think it's a lot of wind. What do you think? Yeah. But anyway, your opinion. Okay, do you think spanning or using strutting decoys should be legal everywhere?
SPEAKER_04Now, are you are you talking about when you're talking about using strutting decoys, just a strutting decoy out in front of your set or to get behind and crawl in? Get behind. Get behind. Yeah, I'm saying no. I think they should be illegal. Okay.
SPEAKER_03Your opinion.
SPEAKER_07I think if you're on private property, I have no problem with it because it's a safety issue. But on public land, I do not like it, and there I think it should be illegal. Just because it's a safety issue for me. There you go.
SPEAKER_04Um I think it's a safety issue and an unfair advantage.
SPEAKER_07Yeah. I don't know. You it'd have to be a pretty big turkey fan for me to get behind and cross.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so here's my opinion. My opinion is I think everybody should be able to use decoys as long as it's passed and legal within your state. However, using a tail fin or a straighting decoy to walk behind or scoot and shoot should not be legal to be used on public land. That's my opinion. Uh safety is the for first and foremost of any aspect of any hunt. So that is our opinion. If you're mad at us, I'm sorry. There's people getting shot using the fanning decoy. And another thing, I have nothing against using decoys, but I'm gonna make a bold statement. And we have a decoy sponsor, Montana Decoys helps us. And decoying helps you close the deal. It's that simple. A gobbler gobbles, responds to your call. You can sound like the ugliest hen in the woods. If he's sad and lonely looking for a hen, he's gonna walk to a spot where he can see where that call comes from. If he sees a realistic hen decoy there, or something that appears to be a hen or a jack or a strut and decoy, it makes him think that there's other turkeys there. What decoying has done is taken away the knowledge from callers how to communicate to a turkey, how to get inside his head to make him look. I wonder how many people not I don't want to hurt decoy sales. How many people can actually call in a turkey without a decoy? There's a good one. Think about that, Redbone. Mike, Wayne.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, I didn't even uh Well I used a decoy one day this year. It was the only day I used a decoy.
SPEAKER_03How many did you kill?
SPEAKER_07I didn't kill any of this, right? But I only got out three times now. So but we're gonna call it. How many times did you work turkeys? All three times.
SPEAKER_03You know how many times I went out to myself? Two and a half times, two and a half days. I never worked a turkey.
SPEAKER_07Really? Yeah. Unfortunately, the turkeys I was working between but by the time I started working them and and by the time I thought they'd be close in range, I heard bang. And it wasn't my gun doing shooting. Right. I was on public land, right?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and and and you know, I guess I'm the only one here to think that the uh the the fans and the the studding decoys should be illegal everywhere. But I just think it may it creates unfair chase, I guess unfair advantage for the hunters.
SPEAKER_03Well, I think again, I want to iterate on that before we go to break. I think decoin has helped uh people close the deal. It's made turkey hunting easier. Decoy is fine. Yeah, decoy is fine. But it's made it easier. Using the fan is very dangerous. Let me tell you right now, I've killed several turkeys using the fan decoy, the Montana, on private land that gobblers got one side of it, and a group of gobblers come right in, you kill them. Yeah. They had nothing to do with calling. They saw the decoy and it was over. So it takes away from the ability to call, but I still think we should be able to use decoys. I'm being wishy-washy, if that's what you want to call it, but I have mixed emotions. So uh that's our take on fanning and using strutting decoys and scooting shoots.
SPEAKER_04And here's here's another thing. Uh, how long is it gonna be before somebody comes up with a a deer decoy on wheels?
SPEAKER_03They're already doing it. They're already doing it. They're already doing it. See, on their advantage. Yeah, yeah. It does change the game. But anyway, you're listening to American Roots Outdoors. We're gonna go get our break. We come back, we're gonna answer the questions that's been asked to us from the American Roots Facebook page. Don't go away. We'll be right back with more American Roots Outdoors right after this.
SPEAKER_02Hey y'all, it's Tyler Four, and you're hanging with me and my good buddy, Alex Rutledge on American Roots Outdoors.
SPEAKER_03How many of you are tired of your batteries running out of energy, out of power? Let me tell you about an amped outdoors. I've changed using the batteries I have had in the past. Amped outdoors, I have the new 80 amp 24 volt, single battery, weighs 46 pounds. This thing has produced energy all day long. Tested for two days, total use 11 hours. Cannot tell the batteries have even lost any energy. Go to amped outdoors if you want to be successful and not run out of power. We are having fun in the studio, everybody. A lot of fun with Red Bone and Mr. Wayne Locke that got two of his teeth pulled. Oh, three. Three. He he knows I'm gonna jab him and mouth him, and because he mouths me back too, he gets me back, and I can take it. But uh, we got a lot of questions asked. Uh let's kick it off. What's the first question we got to ask? And let's start answering them. They're pertaining to turkey hunting uh or land management.
SPEAKER_07Or land management, whatever. So, Wayne, read them to us. Okay, we'll start off. First question is from Corey Fells. Uh, Corey is asking, when gobblers are quiet and don't gobble at all, what are the best ways to hunt them? Alex, go first.
SPEAKER_03Okay. Corey, great question. Thank you so much for that question. First thing is, I want to say if you've done your scouting and you know from using trail cameras, from glassing, from watching, uh, from the knowledge you've obtained of the area that you're hunting, you need to find their strut zones where they're frequenting a lot. When they're frequenting in certain areas and they're strutting with the hens, the best way to hunt them is deer hunt them, uh, which is not the funnest way, but you're setting and you're waiting, you're calling sparingly, soft calling, and with your decoy setups, preferably the perfect pair by Montana, the hen and the Jake, and maybe even a strut and decoy, a three dimensional one. And you set it up and they catch vision of it, they come into sight. So uh that's been a very successful tactic for me and uh taking hunters and filming over it. So find the strut zone, set their decoys up, call easy, set and wait, and it can happen.
SPEAKER_07Uh for me, I would say I'd use the ambush tactic of uh depending upon what hours you're allowed to hunt if it's if you're in an area where you can hunt all day uh try and you know where they're roosting at in the evenings get to where the between the fields that they're in and they're roosting and the eat where they roost in the evening and try and catch them on their way back. Even though they're not gonna gobble they're gonna be going back to those uh general area of the roosting trees may not be the same tree but generally they they do roost in the same area and so I just use the ambush tactic on that one.
SPEAKER_03Great great response. Red bone.
SPEAKER_04Yeah and I'm gonna say the same thing. You hunt them like you're gonna deer hunt.
SPEAKER_03You know five from your knowledge if you use them if you're using wise eye cameras and you got them set in these struts it's going to tell you where you need to be I mean you flash the data all you got to do is click on hunt control and go to Turkey and it's gonna tell you the best times you need to be in that area. So yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah and I'll go back to something that that Wayne talked about a couple weeks ago and I know you weren't here Alex and that was just call to the hens. Try and draw the hens over and maybe the the the the times will follow.
SPEAKER_03But the hens don't always come to call no they don't always but you can try it. But you can try it yeah yeah call easy when they're really hitting up that's the best way to start out and get in tight get inside their comfort zone if you can find them another great tactic uh drive around slip around field to field food plot to food plot if you find them easy and tight to them call softly and try to lure them in that way.
SPEAKER_07Another question Kevin Bowman uh he asked in your experience what is the most effective decoy setup or configuration that you like?
SPEAKER_03Great great great question. I'll answer that first. Okay. Great question Kevin uh what I like to do is use a hen and a jake and Montana makes a great I mentioned it earlier called the perfect pear. It's a a young Jake and he's just a standing Jake and a standing hen. You can adjust the head on the the new perfect pear it's it's like a coil spring. You can turn the head down up to one side or the other make the turkeys look like they're feeding or make the show make them look like they're alert. I like to set them where they're facing directly towards me especially if I'm taking a kit or something what happens is when a gobbler comes in I set them out in front of me and when using decoys you want to make sure you set them up where you can see at least 75 to 100 yards beyond the decoys in every direction. Why? It's because if approaching hunters come to the decoys you can you know shut them down. Hey you know don't wave your hand or go get you shot. But anyway I'm being funny it's not funny getting shot get you get you shot too maybe the line of fire. But anyway you you you yell out a name hey I'm another hunter over here a tactic I like to do I have an orange flag on my vest if from behind me I'll take and pin my orange flag up on a tree right behind me. So if the approaching hunter sees that well they hear the calling then they think oh there's another hunter there. So that's my favorite setup set the hen and Jake uh facing me. That way the turkeys come in they circle and they if they're strutting they raise their tail fan up they're facing decoy and draw my bow or raise the gun for a child and close the deal. How about you, Redbone?
SPEAKER_04Yeah I would say exactly the same thing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah okay Wayne?
SPEAKER_07I would for me it's always been a bedded hen a feeding hen and then I alternate between a Jake and a Tom and the reason I do that is because if I know the area and this goes back to knowing your birds and doing your scouting if you have a ton of jakes in your area I myself tend not to use a Jake decoy because odds are that Tom's have been beat up by the jakes. Yeah and if they see another Jake out there with those hens they're not coming they're not going to close the deal so I'll put a Tom decoy out. But if I know that I don't have a whole lot of jakes in the area uh then I'll I'll use a Jake decoy with no problem because then Tom feels more umbilish to come in because he's gonna feel like hey I'm the boss guy around here I got no problem beating up on you.
SPEAKER_03Yeah so you're not gonna use that configuration uh from what we know now in Nebraska or Kansas no not not for the next couple years that's right not with all them jakes that they were reporting no way yeah it was terrible man you know you didn't want to get out of the truck so many jakes you know and no disrespect to anybody that shoots a jake but no just you know don't turn my crank I want to kill long beards and big spurred turkeys but uh we've all answered that question another question yeah real quick got about two minutes okay this is a quick one uh jimmy Jones asks when hunting turkeys with a bow what is the best setup and how far do you put your decoys if you're using a bow? Okay uh number one another again thanks for the great question uh when I hunt with a bow I set my decoys 15 to 20 yards again I like them facing me and I like to have a squatted hen or a jake decoy always uh you created two things number one is they think oh she's squatted she's ready to be made and that jake's not doing nothing I'll come in and take care of the business uh and number two is if the turkey's dominant that you're calling to and he sees the Jake and he's only one jake decoy there which they can't count but they know there's more not more than one uh it creates a aggression so they'll come into it and again when the turkeys come to it and they're facing you uh the you go to full draw and you can close the deal. That's my setup. What about you, Redbone? You don't bow hunt them but how would you do it?
SPEAKER_04Yeah well I'm getting I'm I'm I'm gonna follow the expert I'm gonna do exactly what you just said.
SPEAKER_07Yeah thank you. And for me I when I bow hunt I bow hunt out of a blind I'm gonna do you want you want for me for me I put my my decoys are anywhere from five to eight yards in front of my blind. Wow yeah because they too many times if they hang up 20 yards past my decoy they're still within bow range at 25 yards that doesn't I mean I'm not I'm just we're debating we got about 30 seconds left do you think you're quiet enough to get away with drawing the shot that close with them at five to eight yards because I'm not I'm already drawn if but if I as soon as I see them at 30 yards I already come to draw and I wait till I get them in as close until I see that they're stopped and if they do hang up at 20 yards they're still within bow range because they're 25 yards away great answer great answer I understand it now everybody you're listening to American Roots Outdoors we're going to go to a break when we come back we're gonna talk more about answering questions and tactics and wildlife management.
SPEAKER_03Don't go away we'll be right back with more right after this hi everybody this is Aaron Tippen and you're listening to my old buddy Alex Rutledge with American Roots Outdoors around your heart so you never gotta worry what the wind might do American roots hey turkey hunters this is Alex Rutledge have you heard about apex ammunition if you haven't they are American owned American made made one at a time hand loaded these turkey loads will give you the confidence that you need to close the deal on that old hook daddy longbeard.
SPEAKER_07For more information go to w.apex ammunition dot comzents welcome back to American Roots Outdoors we are in the studio at K Country95 with Wayne Locke What's up Redbone Mike Crace Mr Sports Authority the Hound Dog Redbone and we've been answering questions from our social media posts what's the next question Wayne all right we've got Mike Collins uh what is some of the easiest most inexpensive ways for one to improve nesting or brooding habitat on private land you want to go first this is something Mike that we when we had uh uh Reen on last week she said was the number one issue for the decline in Missouri yes is is loss of habitat and and needing to create more nesting areas and uh yeah I mean better nesting areas better nesting and more nest best uh more better how about that more better more better more bet more better yeah well I mean and and you know the the thing about the flooding and all that which I thought was very interesting she said really is not an issue uh you know as big an issue as we might think that it would be uh but uh yeah just you know create those brush piles create those places where those turkeys can feel comfortable and then close to ponds close to ponds water holes trees yeah we're gonna want it to flood out yeah no you don't want it to but she said most generally the animals know Alabama Anthony Crowe's on here from Alabama watching this to give to Anthony high yeah roll tide roll tide all right go yeah but I mean that's I mean that's what she said you know this you've got to do something to create the habitat for those turkeys to feel comfortable to nest exactly and you can do you could kill two birds with one stone and that's by just doing some hedge cutting on your property because the hedge cutting if you do do it right the deer absolutely love it uh especially the bucks because it gives them that security in that so do your hedge cutting uh 30 to 70 yards off of your food plot fields and that and somewhere also 30 to 50 or 75 yards to a watering source but it gives them that security field edges tall grass that goes back to like Eagle Seed has a buffalo summer blend for tall grass that you can plant in the spring. They have an Indian grass too that grows really high yep but get that tall grass around the edges give those nesting sites keep sending them we love it. Those nesting sites will be uh protected then they feel secure going in there nesting and it helps with the predators.
SPEAKER_04Yeah and and create some areas where you don't have tall fescue and thick fescue because the pulse cannot get through the fescue right and it makes it hard for them to find anything to eat. Exactly. And I know people I mean fescue is a staple in the cattle industry here in the Ozarks because it grows in about anything and everywhere. But just you know leave 10 or 15 feet around the edge of a field and put something else it'll help.
SPEAKER_03Beautiful beautiful what we do we select cut our timber on my farm as you know Wayne and and uh when we do we take all the treetops and we pile them up into big piles and chicken hawks can't get to them and if you could you do it right uh there you you make a couple of entrance and exits you know in case a predator does come in there. Another thing too is they're saying according to studies that after the hen sets on the nest for 20 some days she becomes a thorn and odor and she you know she's easier to find by predators. So uh coons, predators are the big nemesis as we all know. But again I like to build my brush piles and stuff close to water source uh where they can hurry up get the fawns to water and and I like to let my fields grow up because it creates insects and the the poles eat insects instantly. Oh yeah and if you've watched any of my live feeds my wife we call her old mama hen mama bird rutledge uh we bought us ten baby pulp turkeys broadbreasts and they look just like wild turkeys we're raising them and uh she bought some uh uh dehydrated worms and they go crazy they're high protein yeah so yeah chickens love those too oh they do yeah yeah I'm gonna buy me some crickets my buddy Ricky Green from Kentucky said Alex you want to see some fun go buy you some fishing crickets and turn them loose and watch them chase them all over so two two more pieces of advice I would give also to Mike to answer this is uh burn baby burn.
SPEAKER_07Burn burn burn burn as often as you're supposed to yeah don't burn while they're nesting time right right now this is obviously during the burn season and that goes back to get a hold of your MDC office they will come out any any would depend on your state number right depending on your state yeah so you can get all your states will have uh people that will come out to your property put together a a five year 10 year plan you tell them what it is you're trying to do what you're trying to improve they'll put a plan together for you and you might as well get paid for getting your property improved you know like we put in you know uh uh forest openings is what they call them we call them food plots the state calls them forced openings you get paid for doing that you get paid for putting in a burn line around your property through your property uh I think it's like ponds they'll help you build ponds well nope they won't build a pond but they will build a watering hole and I'm doing this in quotes folks watering hole watering hole but they will not help you build a pond so it's all in the wording but yes they know exactly what you're doing with it get the officers out there they'll put together a plan for you and get you might as well reap the rewards of your property and improve your wildlife. Exactly let the experts do it.
SPEAKER_04Yeah and I like the brush pile because I love to deer hunt out of a brush pile yeah you you blend in. I do I love to get set it sit down on a log and clear me a little spot mill that brushes and hunt out of it.
SPEAKER_03Yeah absolutely but anyway another question how many minutes we got left this segment uh I got about two minutes to go here we'll wrap it up on the radio show um okay how do you use your decoys during a mid midseason long how do I use my decoys during a midseason long depends on the activity that I have seen and experienced during this law uh as the turkeys uh hend up the turkeys not gobbling which you call a little law if they're not gobbling uh where are the turkeys at you know how many jakes are in that area how many long bears are in that area how many hens in that area uh to answer that uh i I got you gotta be more precise I guess in the question uh I just usually go to one hen when it's a law I go to one hen and that's exactly what I was gonna say and I think that's what she was leading to if when they become henned up and they call it the law you know what do you do and that's exactly what I do I I scrap the the Tom and the Jake decoys I scrap the the uh one of my hens and I just carry around one hen with me and that's all I put up.
SPEAKER_07If the gobblers are by themselves I'll tell you something I like to do I like to carry several hens no joke two or three hens and a jake and again he thinks oh man you know there's more than one hen there why I'm gonna have me a party so your answer your response Red Bull yeah the same and you know I'm I'm not a turkey hunter so yeah yeah so he uses one hand uh another guy on here but uh yeah one more quick question well I'll ask a question because it's gonna be a long one and we can think about it on break here but um it's for the bonus this is our last segment for the radio show oh for the radio this is last for the radio show oh then we'll yeah we'll save it for the bonus we'll save the rest of them for the bonus so speaking of bonus so to listen to us and get more questions that we're gonna be asking and to find out about how our seasons went this year uh just tune in to your local podcast your local I mean your favorite podcast carrier whether that be Apple Spotify Stitcher Google podcast whatever uh click like subscribe whatever it asks you to do and then uh you'll hear the bonus segment if you missed any of the radio show today uh from the beginning say you didn't catch on you know right away you got halfway through don't worry about it just go to the podcast you can hear the entirety of the radio show along with the bonus segment that we're gonna be ready to do thank you for all the hearts and the thumbs up and uh thank you for being uh our friends and listening to us uh be sure to go to YouTube and check out ARO productions Alex Rutledge uh follow us on Instagram Twitter uh TikTok we got some funny stuff over there one of our posts I don't know if you saw this before we close I had a post of two of my wife's roosters fighting in the yard and a gobbler comes in there one of my my tame gobbler comes in there and breaks them up starts fighting them had 386000 views it went viral wow and the last time I seen it was last night before dark and I went to watch it this morning it was gone taken down nobody said nothing I've not spent one penny it's all 100% organic so if anybody knows how to help me find that video I'd like to get it back up so thank you again for being a loyal listener and we appreciate each and every one of you thank you all across the country from Illinois Tennessee Kentucky Oklahoma Kansas Iowa Arkansas Missouri for being our friends Ohio Ohio PA New Jersey Alabama Mississippi East Coast to West Coast Oklahoma I mean we got followers everywhere Redbone give them a final word here on the wrap up of the show today what they learned today.
SPEAKER_04What they learned today uh was um I don't know I didn't pay a lot of attention don't pull three teeth Alex will make fun of you right lesson number one right there no I know you know last week Wayne had a a terrible toothache and we recorded early like at noon on Wednesday I said he's like oh this tooth is killing me on the pull and I said hey wanna go to lunch I'll buy he's like yeah notice I did need something soft though I'm trying to come Wayne calling me I'll text it I'll text it once I'll tell you hey Wayne you home no answer Wayne are you there? No answer hey Wayne I got some money I want you hey I'll be right over yeah right yeah that toothache disappeared when we went to lunch yeah all right wrap her up boys remember here at American Roots we say when your roots run deep and strong there's no reason to fear the wind so you never gotta worry what the wind might do American Roots thank you for joining us for today's American Roots Outdoors Radio with Alex Rutledge you can find us on Facebook look us up on the world wide web at American Roots Outdoors dot com. We'll be back again next week on this great radio station Eagle Seed Presents we ought to hire that guy that's doing that intro Eagle Seed Presents Eagle Seed Presents there we go.
SPEAKER_07Hey welcome back to American Roots Outdoors with Alex Rutherford and friends is Wayne Locke got Mike Creason Studio with me. Alex is in the studio this week senior but uh if you're listening to this it means you're listening to the bonus segment and you're listening to us on the podcast we appreciate you hope you enjoyed the first part of the show we're gonna start the podcast off with uh what how our seasons went this year. Um mine will be quick and easy Alex is probably gonna have the the longest uh explanation but we're gonna talk just strictly how our seasons went here in Missouri and and what made our success and what did not make our success.
SPEAKER_03So you kick yours off first Wayne.
SPEAKER_07Mine was pretty easy. I uh I went out four times got a chance to go out four times my last week I worked uh we had birds gobble all four times you and I went out together one day we went out the first time together and then three more times I went out on my birthday that was the last day I went out May 7th uh the season was still open one more day uh but that was Mother's Day and I am not going out on Mother's Day uh to go turkey hunting even though Renee said hey if you want to go out tomorrow morning you know you can go out no that's a that's a catch guys you know that's like saying that's like when she tells ask you do I look fat in this you you know you don't answer that you just even though she said yes I knew if I went she'd probably be mad so I don't go Alex Alex you you know as well as I do and I think it was uh uh oh famous fisherman who was it uh Jimmy uh Jimmy Houston that said if you ask your wife if you can buy a new fishing rod yeah yeah if she says no buy one anyway that's right yeah she's gonna get mad but you'll have a new fishing rod that's true that is so true but so if turkey season's around Mother's Day go hunting anyway go hunt hunting she's gonna get she's gonna get mad but you went turkey hunting but I still got that and I could have got one you're right but my my turkey the last week of turkey season for me really sucked because my truck broke down the week before on a Friday so I had no truck we only had the one vehicle and we had to take our son to school every day so I couldn't hunt in the mornings and since Missouri is a morning only state uh that kind of ruined my entire week last week of hunting so I was able to go out on Saturday May 7th which was my birthday uh got in between three gobblers uh off the roost um started working a couple of them and then heard bang on one ridge and then the other one started uh you know gobbling again so I moved a little closer to him started working him then all of a sudden about 20 minutes later bang heard another so he was off the list and the third one never came in so overall my season wasn't bad because I was hearing them uh I was hunting public land only and uh so that was that was nice to you know be able to hear that many birds on public land to me that was nice uh you know especially with this bad as our numbers have are down here just to hear turkeys out there gobbling those last couple times I went was a nice break but hey it's not about the kill it's about the hunt and I had a blast.
SPEAKER_03Yeah that's what matters you know I mean uh it's your turn Redbone you never even got to go did you yeah no I didn't I didn't I never even bought a tag yeah but what was your overall perspective and on what you heard most people say about their hunts here in Southern Missouri, northern Arkansas it depended on where they were.
SPEAKER_04I mean you know I have lunch at the same place every day and guys had come in and had been hunting that morning some of them were seeing birds all over the place some of them weren't seeing any some people were hearing birds not seeing birds other people were seeing birds not hearing birds.
SPEAKER_03So was people killing birds, a lot of birds killed down here?
SPEAKER_04Uh well, we had 195 in Oregon County, and there's only 10,000 people, and and only and only about probably a thousand hunters, turkey hunters. Those are pretty good numbers, yeah. I think all in all now, I'm not gonna say that the turkey numbers in Oregon County are what they were 10 years ago or 15 years ago. No, they're not. Uh but there were a substantial number of hunters that harvested birds.
SPEAKER_03Well, here's what I faced. I had seven long bears living uh next to you and me, Wayne, three weeks before season. And they was coming into my food plots pretty regular, getting them on the pictures. Uh they started logging all along the east of us. Yep. And all of a sudden all the turkeys was gone.
SPEAKER_07And by logging, we mean annihilating their areas. It's their right. Right, it is, yeah. It is. I would love to see more select cutting than clear cutting, but yeah, that's their right, though.
SPEAKER_03It's their right. It destroyed our hunts. But it it the turkeys went way east. I could hear them gobbling way to the east and way to the north, a mile of us. So it messed up the hunt around my place, but that's okay. Uh I told uh my neighbors, which I get along very good with them, I'm not going to kill none of them because we don't have them.
unknownRight.
SPEAKER_03So we did not hunt them at around my place or yours, did we, Wayne? Nope. Not one time, because we're worried about our numbers. So that being said, I ended up hunting a lot of Mark Twain and going to some other my private honey hosts. And I hunted a total of 17 days with other people. I only hunted two and a half days to myself. I called in uh of the 17 days I sat down on four goblin turkeys that I actually worked that I called in. And two of the four was killed and two misses. So it's pretty bad. Uh the two and a half days by myself and never got on goblin turkey because they was on somebody else's land, or they were so deep that I couldn't get to them. So I had the worst luck of my entire life hunting Missouri. And uh whoever says we do not have a problem, uh, you're not turkey hunters. So the people that was fortunate enough to kill turkeys uh in Missouri, southern Missouri, hey, God bless you, man, we we cheer for you. But uh we got to do something about spring turkey seas next year. We've got to get one of the ideas I come up with, and and I've been thinking about this, and I'm gonna say it on the radio, the podcast show. We are a state that helped other states get started with wild turkeys. We may need to be asking you to bring some of them back to us.
SPEAKER_07And I was talking to the guys from uh Missouri. Yeah, you know, I was talking to the guys from Missouri Woods and Water because they're up north, yeah. Uh where they hunt and that. And they I told them how bad it was down here in the Ozarks because they were always saying, man, you guys are lucky down there. You know, when they had a couple years for the last few years, they were suffering uh because of the weather had totally you know ruined all the hunting and the turkey population up there. Now that we have role reversal. And they told they they flat out said, you know, Wayne, we feel your pain because we were going through the same thing just a few years ago. And now they got turkeys, and now we're hurting.
SPEAKER_03So, you know, it's like it's like the state flip-flopped, you know, DC should ask for some of our turkey, bring us some turkeys back in here, and let's shut us down to one turkey a season, put some monitors on them, let's monitor them, see what happens to them.
SPEAKER_07Ohio went Ohio went to uh one turkey this year. That was the first year they've for a long time.
SPEAKER_03One turkey and two weeks season. Yeah, that's what we need to do. And shut out the fall hunting and no bowl hunting.
SPEAKER_04Uh they've already proven, I think the study showed that the fall hunt has really no one percent. Yeah, one percent is always killed.
SPEAKER_03But what they do kill, majority of them is jakes. Look at that study. That one percent, a majority of them is jakes, that's goblin turkeys for next year. I'm telling you.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, that's what I've looked at the numbers. But yeah, it's uh but it's still not a substantial number.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. But I think I think cutting it down to one turkey.
SPEAKER_04A few hundred turkeys out of the you know, eighty-five thousand or whatever they predict the really not a substandard.
SPEAKER_03They need to divide northern Missouri, central Missouri, southern Missouri. When they do the these studies, not all turkeys are the same because habitat's different, environments different. We need to break us in regions.
SPEAKER_07Well, that's one of the things Rena was talking about is breaking up into regions. Well, was one of the things that you're doing.
SPEAKER_03I'm just saying they're studying, not the able to hunt, but their studies. They need to do different studies.
SPEAKER_07Well, they were she was actually talking about they that they are actually looking at as one of the options breaking the state up into regions because some regions are doing much better. Yes. She had been in Ohio when those studies were done back in the 90s, and uh that's when they Ohio broke them up into regions, and then they said, Okay, this region you're allowed two turkeys, uh, but then like three years later, well, well, that region's starting to get a little low. Now we're just gonna limit that region to one turkey. They actually changed the dates of one of the regions, the Northeast region, because of the one of the studies that uh she was able to participate in showed that the breeding cycle was off by two weeks than the rest of the state because of lake effects snow coming off of Lake Erie. Yeah. And that it actually put them behind two weeks. So they actually changed the for that zone only, was two weeks later in the rest of the state.
SPEAKER_03I think the weather had our turkeys messed up. I think we had turkeys breeding early when it was beautiful, the end of February and early March. Then I think it slowed them back down. They would get hit. I saw hens by themselves the end of March.
SPEAKER_04And then it was just so wet.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. So wet the ground temperature is soaked. So now the hens were setting, you know. So the gobblers actually stay with the hens longer than normal. But anyway, that's our wrap for the season. Uh we've been on here about nine minutes now.
SPEAKER_07So And we actually just answered Cody Dillard's question, which was uh what are the causes of concerns that we think is declining the turkey population? Again, uh Rena said the studies show it's it's the um breeding areas, or not breeding areas, the bedding areas for the nesting areas for the nesting areas for the turkeys, yeah. Um and the predators. And and the predators and along with the uh uh forest um management. The forest management, yeah, the di the decline in in areas for them to go because of all the clear cutting that's going on.
SPEAKER_04And one of the issues, I thought this was very maybe the most the thing I remember best by what she said, when you were talking about the the the predation problem. The problem is the number of predators, one, but number two is the wet weather. Because when turkeys get wet, they stink. And it makes it easier for the predators to find out. I agree.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, that was pretty interesting when she was talking about the other thing.
SPEAKER_04I thought that was really interesting that that that is the biggest reason the predation problem is so prominent, is because the turkeys are easy to find because we've had for five years in a row now record-setting wet springs.
SPEAKER_03Exactly.
SPEAKER_07Yep. Exactly. Okay, I know we are we're down on time here. Let this gonna be a real quick 30-second answer. Besides our home state of Missouri, what is your favorite state to hunt gobblers and why?
SPEAKER_03Okay, and that was from Tracy Henry. Uh Tracy Henry, correct. Everybody, Tracy Henry, a huge Liberty Eagles uh fan and supporter. Uh Tracy, uh beating my home state's hard to beat. Uh I've seen my home state the easiest at times, and I've seen it the hardest at times. But some states that really stick out in my mind like the most gobblers that I've ever heard in my life, and you're gonna laugh at this. New York. New York had gone. I hear New York, I hear New York is a good place to go. New York and Oklahoma is impressive. You know, so it would have to be between uh, you know, in hard states, Mississippi, Alabama, you know, I I love them all. Uh New York was probably the most impressive state I've ever been in.
SPEAKER_04And probably three and and from the footage that we've seen in the years you went to New York, some of the prettiest footage we've ever had.
SPEAKER_07Yeah, yeah.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_07For me, it would be Ohio and uh PA. Uh I got to hump PA with Mark Irwin. Uh, we're getting ready to go back, everybody. And uh PA is just a beautiful state and lots of birds, so Ohio and PA is my two.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, there we go, everybody. Thank you again for listening. Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, TikTok. Uh go to our YouTube channel, support us on our YouTube channels, watch our videos, share them, please. And remember, when your roots run deep and strong, no reason to fear the wind.