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
Let's Talk Turkey pt7 - Closing the Distance on a Gobbler
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You've done everything right and now that Gobbler is heading your way, but what do you do if he hangs up or goes quiet? We will share some tips that will help you close those last few yards in on that Tom!
But first we open the show talking about the Local High School Sports!
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How many times, Alex, have we been out hunting together and I've been filming you where you're working a gobbler and all of a sudden boom another one starts gobbling that was in a totally different direction than you were facing, but you were able to shift yourself because you had already moved those leaves so you made no noise doing it.
SPEAKER_08Exactly. Because if you if you don't have the leaves cleared, it's making a and they can hear that. Oh yeah. You know, and it's not normal.
SPEAKER_04I do the same thing in the deer. You don't want to hunt on the ground.
SPEAKER_02Camel boots on my feet. Bow in my head. Walking in the early dawn to climb up in my face.
SPEAKER_07The movement with direct effort. On a camera. On a camera.com.
SPEAKER_04And how do I find out more information about this guy?
SPEAKER_07You go to wisemartcam.com. I'm using them. You should too. Make your hunt easier. Use wiseye.
SPEAKER_08Wiseye Technologies presents. Welcome to American Roots Outdoors, show number seven. We covered everything from biology, Redbone, all the way to calling techniques, locator calls, scouting, uh biology. And now here we are into we covered scouting, and now we are here into show seven, talking to turkeys, not just calling to them. Right, and there is a share with our listeners, Redbone, calling techniques and explaining to them how to call to a gobbler on the roost by himself, how to call a gobbler with hands. Then we're gonna move into the gobbler on the ground by himself, gobbler with hands on the ground. So we're gonna discuss that in show seven.
SPEAKER_04Alright, very cool. And there is a difference. I mean, I know enough about Turkey to know there is a difference in just calling to turkeys and talking to turkeys. You have taught me that over the last 12 years, or however long we've been doing this for a long time.
SPEAKER_08That's exactly right. That's exactly right. So that's what we're gonna touch on. Before we do that, though, segment one, we always talk about curricular sports, etc. We got Missouri Youth Season and Arkansas youth season coming up in other states as well in Illinois, Kentucky, uh, I believe the 6th and 7th of April. And what we'll do in show nine, we're gonna talk about show nine, talk about what to do and how to entertain and teach your youth how to turkey hunt. That's gonna be show number nine.
SPEAKER_04All right, very good. Yeah, and that's uh that's kind of the key, is keeping them. It's just like taking kids deer hunting. Gotta find a way to keep them entertained.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, there's plenty of stuff. There's plenty of stuff that they can do to keep them entertained if they're in the blind, especially.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. You want to keep them comfortable and keep them quiet. Yeah. And teach them, you know, it ain't just about, we're not going to spend a lot on this subject, but it's not just about uh killing a turkey. It's about them understanding creation and learning about the wild turkey and experiencing the outdoors, you know, like my brothers and my dad took me, guys.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and just making it a complete outdoors experience. That's always dead with my boys when I was taking them when we were deer hunting. You know, make it a complete learning experience and something that they would remember on down the road. Anyway, so we got Major League Baseball getting ready to start, Alex, Cardinals and Royals, and everybody else start to get cranked up.
SPEAKER_08Yes. And you know what? I was in a, I can't remember where I was at a restaurant or somewhere, and somebody from Arkansas said, So you're from Missouri? I said, Yeah, I said, uh, oh I know who it was. Mike Wheeler came up and spent the weekend. I took him fishing and went scouting. He goes, Boy, Arkansas sure did put a whipping on Missoula's college baseball team.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, well, Arkansas's ranked number one in the nation. And last check had won 14 in a row. Yeah, Arkansas's ranked number one. They have been, well, since the second week. Uh they lost a couple of games early, but now they've won 14 in a row, and they did sweep three from the Missouri Tigers, although really putting a whooping on them is is fair because the games were relatively close. At least two of the three.
SPEAKER_08That's good. That's good. Yeah, I can talk about that. What about our high school? What about our high school baseball teams? I know Licking has a good team. Uh Mountain Grove, you got Cruthersville over there. They usually got a good team. Sykeston, Popper Bluff. Yeah. What are you hearing? Are you keeping up with the guys' baseball and the girls' softball?
SPEAKER_04Well, yeah, I mean, the seasons are just starting. I mean, Thayer played their first game yesterday, and uh state rankings came out, and you know, the most anybody's played that is in the state rankings three games. Uh but Portageville over in the boot heel uh looks like a real deal. They're state ranked, I believe licking uh yeah, maybe in the state ranked, and on Mansfield, which is you know it's kind of a baseball town, uh Mansfield is just outside the top ten. They were like at number 11 or 12, and that's to be fair on Tuesday, 5 to 1. Uh but yeah, so it's a good tip. And the softball I mean the fair laid about catch up 3-0, and that's really about all I know about the softball. I just haven't seen much or heard much as far as uh the area of softball goes. But as the season progresses, things start coming together. I know as we record this as we record this on Wednesday, I know Thayer plays at home on Thursday, high school baseball, so I'll get a chance to get over and see them play and see what they'll watch one of them. I know they're I know they are I mean Fayer, the Harrington kid is a pitcher and he's 6'6, closer to 6'7, and throws in the upper eighties.
SPEAKER_03Wow.
SPEAKER_04As a pitcher and plays shortstop. You talk about an armed shortstop.
SPEAKER_03He should play tall stop. Hey, and Alex says, Do you guys say Alex says you know um the uh Liberty High School now has uh soccer that returned to their school system?
SPEAKER_08Let's talk about that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, first time in a couple years, uh Coach Shelley was able to get a team started back again. They were there a couple years ago, and then uh uh they just didn't have enough. Uh apparently I think there was enough enough. Enough girls to play last year. Uh they have enough that signed up this year. Um little bench, you know, that that uh they have for extras, but uh hopefully none of the girls get hurt or anything uh and can make all the games. But uh they had their first game yesterday and uh as expected, you know, they were beat, but uh, you know, it was nice to see them out there. They all had fun, they all were running back and forth and doing their best. Uh but um yeah, it was nice to see Liberty having uh another sport for the girls to participate in.
SPEAKER_04You know, soccer is one of those sports that if you don't have any experience, you are lost. When you play a team that does.
SPEAKER_03It does, right. And that was evident in this one that you know they were playing an experienced team. But what I did like to see is that uh Coach Jilly was on the sidelines, uh, you know, telling the girls where they need to be, make sure they stayed on top of things. And and you could tell they wanted to learn, and they for only the couple weeks of practice that they have had, they've come a long way. Um, our foster daughter um is on there, and uh it it it's kind of funny to watch her because she's six foot tall. Yeah, and all the other players are much shorter than that. So you know when she's on the field. So but uh, you know, she had fun and uh they're gonna learn, and I imagine they're gonna progress as the season goes on. Sure.
SPEAKER_04And uh and the other thing about uh that is I was really surprised when they had trouble getting enough girls out to play soccer because it wasn't but just two or three years ago they won a district championship in soccer.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And then all of a sudden there weren't enough girls to play. And uh I guess it just goes to speak to you know, the girls wanting to play.
SPEAKER_03Right. And there's uh uh quite a few freshmen and sophomores this year. So if it continues, they have time to grow and get better as the time goes on.
SPEAKER_08It's awesome. Awesome that we have those curriculums in our school system. Uh I want to say this before we go to our break. I've been walking since March the first every morning. I've missed two days since March 1st, and I'm trying to lose weight and get in shape for turkey season. I've got hunters coming in from uh all over the country. I'll be guiding here in Missouri, uh, a couple of camps here, and then I'll be doing a camp in Kentucky and a camp in Ohio, West Virginia. And uh the turkeys are just now this morning, I heard three or four, and they gobbled till about 8:30 when I left walking. So they are picking up. I'm seeing hens by themselves. I've seen them for the last week, some of them, and I'm still seeing, seeing, and hearing on my live eye, uh seeing uh James in groups. And I did see a gobber on one of my cameras on one of my other farms that was by himself today. So that's telling me that they've been breeding, and some of these gobblers are getting whooped out from the groups now, and the pecking order's been established. So uh it's happening, and uh, this warm weather's you're gonna kick it in here even more, guys.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and they can't get here soon enough.
SPEAKER_08Yeah.
SPEAKER_04All right, we need to take a break. Let's uh let's go to a break. You're listening to American Roots Outdoors Radio with Alex Rutledge and his friends. We'll be back right after this.
SPEAKER_00This is Brenda Valentine, and you're listening to American Roots Outdoors with Alex Rutledge and friends.
SPEAKER_02Hutting off the farm, wishing on some luck. I've been on a big boar for a while. I can load him in the back of my truck. We can take a do a holler.
SPEAKER_08Legacy Farm and Land Specialist, LLC, presents. Welcome back to America Leads Outdoors. I am on the front porch of my cabin, and Wayne and Redbone are in the studio. And this is show seven, and talking to turkeys, not just calling to them, is our topic. And we're going to talk to you about how to call the turkeys in different situations. Guys, how how do you want to start this off?
SPEAKER_04All right, well, I'll I'll start off as all right, Wayne, and and I'll ask because uh say we went, Alex, and we roosted a turkey the night before. We've got him located, we know where he's on the roof. Where do we go from right there?
SPEAKER_08Well, the first thing, guys, that I do, not that I know at all, just this is what I do, is that I listen. I get in there close to that turkey and listen to him. I try to set up level with him or above him. Now they will come downhill. You can call him downhill across tallers, but it's preferably to get within 75 to 100 yards of that turkey. Well, before I ever make a call of any time uh as a turkey call, I listen. While he's on the limb gobbling, I'm listening for other hens to start talking. So if there's not any hens, I don't hear any hens cucking or tree yelping. Uh and the way the turkey's gobbling, I can tell the way he's spinning on the limb. Spinning means he's turning different directions, gobbling. It also tells you he's sinking hens. So if he okay, if you haven't heard any hens, what I usually like to do, and I'm gonna do it on the American roots uh diaphragm call here, the M150. And I just do some soft tree calls. And all I'm doing is say, hey, big boy. You know, I say over here. Just like this. And he responds to that. He tells me he's made connections. Okay, he said, I hear you. Okay. What I did, I got a little loud with the clutch there because the weed was stuck. But I'll do him again one more time, get wider. As she's waking up, she gets a little louder, like I did at the end there. And if he's cutting you off, he's telling you he likes what he hears. And he's gonna cut you off.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I'm gonna say, and he's gonna cut you off with a gobble, correct?
SPEAKER_08Correct. He'll gobble to you if he likes what he's hearing. Okay? Now, this type of gobbler, if he's responding to you, interrupting your call, he likes what he hears. So once you've done that, what you want to do is do not keep calling. You've made contact with him, he's responding to you. Again, I'm repeating, he's a I hear you. So the name of the game is to get inside his head to make him think you're a receptive hen. Wayne Red Bow.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's there's a lot of technique that goes into uh calling off the roost, uh, like you're saying, because you don't want to um, you know, as you pointed out, do some soft calling. I think that's where most amateurs make their biggest mistake as they get on that, whether it be a slate call, glass call, box call, mouth call, and they just pow right. They just hammer right off the bat. You know, I'm gonna do my my three yelps that I know I know how to do. I've been practicing all winter, you know, and they got those three yelps down, and they just hammer those three yelps out, and uh you're just not gonna get. I mean, he may, he may uh uh gobble because of just you know natural response, but he probably is not gonna be coming towards you. Um I think Alex nailed it on the head when he said, start as soft as you possibly can to make the good make a good sound. But the softer you can go, that's more natural to them, and they're gonna uh respond to that way better than they are of you just going in with those three yelps that you learned all all uh winter long.
SPEAKER_08The quieter you can call to a roosted turkey, the better it is. And again, I want to repeat for the third time, once he responds, he's made that contact with you. You do not call anymore and see what he does. Okay? Now, if you if he's really gobbling hard and there's no other hunters around you, no other turkeys gobbling, uh, something I like to do is I may pick it up with just a soft tree call. And that tree call is adding more realism to a situation that he has experienced or he has experienced in the past. So do the tree puffs, I'm gonna do the tree puffs, go into the tree call, then I'll do a fly down. And when I do with a fly down to add more excitement to it, if I know I'm controlling him, it really fires him up. And he'll interrupt you several times, maybe double gobble, triple gobble as you fly down. So here's what I here I emul how I emulate the sound of a hemp. That's what a real hen does. If she's excited, she's receptive. She's making a statement, you know. I'm real excited, respond to me. I'm flying down over here, or I'm coming to you. So what I like to do is take my hat or a wing and beat it the same time I'm doing it fly down. And I'm gonna do it again with the cat right here close to me. And he can't stand it because you think and you got him pulled. The name of the game is pulling him, making him think you're a real hen over there.
SPEAKER_04Okay. So uh we we've covered that. I mean, they're getting that bird who is not with a hen off the roof. Now, what if he's already got a hen and he's on the roost, or he shows interest in a different hen? Is there a is there another tactic we can use to get him to come our way?
SPEAKER_08You get into a fighting match with them. What you do, you listen to that hen on the roof, that's controlling him. You start copying what she does and emulate exactly what she is doing. And what you do is you get inside his head and it shows competitiveness competitiveness between the hens. So if you're signing like that hen, it'll make her mad because you're copying her. A lot of times that can trigger her to make her fly your direction. If she's just tree putting, you just do tree putting. Don't add anything extra, you know, to the turkey that she he may be gobbling to. So think about that. If you're emulating her, copying her, it can set her off. And then the name of the game on a roosted turkey with hen is to get inside that mama hen, the most dominant hen that's controlling him to make her come. And if she comes, the gobbler will follow.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so I would assume, again, as a as a novice turkey hunter, that uh that would be the perfect scenario. And if she does decide, well, I'm gonna go find out who this other gal is and comes to you, I mean, then it's game on from that point, right?
SPEAKER_08Exactly. And what you want to do when you're working a turkey like that, always try to have the sun to your back or set up level with that turkey on the same elevation. You know, I'm not telling you you can't call them downhill because you can't, but it's best to set up above them. And if you got that sun to your back, it's gonna be harder for them to spot you when that sun comes up. So you want to set up to a tree that's wider than your body, that your camel blends in good with. Okay? You want to wear head neck gloves, never wear the colors red, white, or blue. Or if you got a ground line, set that ground line up before time, quietly. It's gonna be hard to do now if you've got a gobber on the roof and you're trying to get in 75 to 100 yards. Yeah. Especially when there's no foliage on it. So a lot that you can buy these little makeshift uh uh blinds if you can just shove them the ground in front of you to create a barrier that which hides your move if you're running the box call, slate call, or or to go to raise your gun up. So, what I like to do, and Wayne's done it with me many times, I've carry printers with me. If I'm hunting on cedars, I'll cut cedars uh and take them with me and pile them up in front of me. And what it does, it serves as a blind.
SPEAKER_04Very cool. All right, we need to take another break. We'll be back. More American Roots Outdoors Radio with Alex Rutledge and friends in just a moment.
SPEAKER_06Hey folks, it's Richard Young with the Kentucky Headowners down here in Southern Kentucky. You're just listening to American Roots Radio with Alec Rutledge, right down here from Kentucky, but he's out yonder somewhere else. He's way out there. Y'all check it out.
SPEAKER_02Around your park. So you never gotta worry.
unknownWhat the wind might.
SPEAKER_07Hey guys, it's food plot planting time here in the Ozarks and all across the country. What are you planting this year, Wayne? I'm gonna put some smorgasboard in with a whole lot of clover.
SPEAKER_04Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, mortgage board? What is smortgage board?
SPEAKER_03Man, it is a variety of annuals and perennials that'll get you through fall time, wintertime, and all the way into spring.
SPEAKER_07It's awesome. You want to play healthier food plots to track all kinds of games? Go to www.eagleseed.com. It's a smorgasbord. You know, we all get tired of certain things. The smortgage board has everything. Your deer will love it. Eagleseed.com.
SPEAKER_02American R.
SPEAKER_10You like that?
SPEAKER_04Yeah. All right. Here we go. Segment three. In three, two, one.
SPEAKER_08Horny, the ammunition presents. Welcome back to American Roots Outdoors. We are talking about the Wild Turkey Show number seven. Talking to turkeys, not just calling to them. Our topic. And we just talked about calling to turkeys on the roost and whether they're with hens or not with hens. And I want to give a shout out real quick to Legacy Farmland Specialist LLC. If you have a farm that you want to sell or you're interested in buying, reach out to uh the team at Pomper Bluff. These guys can find land, they can sell your land, they'll give you free advice. It doesn't cost you a penny. But these guys are moving a lot of land, Wayne and Redbone. So a lot of places I know.
SPEAKER_04All right, so Alex, we uh we've we've got that Gobbler on the ground and uh he is he's coming our way. All right, whether whether we call the handover or or if he's just interested in us, and he's we know he's coming. I mean, where where do we pick up from there? I mean, I know one school of thought is you don't need to do anything else. Just wait on it.
SPEAKER_08Okay, great question. Uh you're set up, it sunset your back, again, level or above him, and you know the last place he gobbled was 12 o'clock in front of you as an indicator. Okay. The first thing I like to do is if you got a rangefinder, carry a rangefinder, and mark your tree and pattern that shotgun before you ever go, know what your your distance is, shoots the best of that shotgun. So your gun shoots the best at 30 yards, 40 yards, that's where you want to shoot that turkey at. So what I do is mark range, a stump, a tree, a rock, or something to let me know he's within shooting distance. So I mark that before he ever is before he ever flies down or can stay light enough to know my shooting distances. What I do as a right-headed shooter, I have my left knee pointed in the direction the gobbler gobbled rash at. If you're right-headed, you can swing 180 degrees right at 180 from left to right. Okay? And the thing is, when that gobbler starts coming and he gobbles to your drums, you know where he's at, say he's at one o'clock now. You need to slowly ease your body that way. Never making sudden quick moves. Use your eyes constantly painting left to right, looking for that softball white head, red, white, and blue head. And when you're in that direction, and he's coming. And you can see, you anticipate, and you pre-plan in your head as that gobbler's coming, which tree that you can raise your gun up at without being detected. Once you've got your gun raised up, you push your safety off after you see the gobbler's beard, and you got your gun on your knee and your head down on the turn of the gun, and watching until he gets into your shooting distance.
SPEAKER_03You know, uh say, Alex, that's something that's actually not talked about very much. If you, you know, not only by us, I think, in the past, but uh, you know, any other shows I've ever watched or listened to in that, and that is positioning on the ground of how you're supposed to be. And I think you brought up a good point. You know, uh, if you're standing straight and you're looking forward, let's say straight ahead of you is 12 o'clock, you don't want to line yourself up to where your your shoulders are facing directly towards that bird. Because if he does swing to the right, you have no, if you're right, I'm again I'm referring to somebody that's right-handed, um, you have no really ability to swing to the right very far.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, it pins you down. Right, it pins you down.
SPEAKER_03You you eliminated a lot of your area of shooting. So your best bet is to, I've always said, if your shoulders are straight across, your head's going straight, figure a 45-degree between your shoulder and your nose, and that's where you want to have that gobbler, you know, the the uh the last down of the gobbler going that way. So now you can you can swing way to the right. Anybody that's right-handed can swing behind them, and and so if he goes to the left, you're you're good to go. But if you're right-handed, that now gives you a little bit more ability to swing to the right if needed, as opposed to eliminating like a whole half of your shooting area.
SPEAKER_08So what I'm saying is, if your left knee's pointed in the direction of 12 o'clock, that gives you almost 90 degrees to the right to shoot. Some people, some people like to set sideways at the tree and point at 3 o'clock to the gobbler. That way they can shoot almost 90 degrees to the left, which is actually about 60 or 70 degrees, and they can shoot completely 90 degrees to the right. But I always sit up with my left knee facing the gobbler in the direction I last heard him gobble. That way, if I need to move, and you go, I I again mentally tell myself, all right, he's coming. When he gets to that big hickory tree, it's huge. I'm raising my gun up and I'm gonna reposition myself to get in in the angle in the shooting position I need to be to close the deal.
SPEAKER_03Right. You know, and another tip is make sure you clear the leaves all around that you can around that tree. Because how many times, Alex, have we been out hunting together and I've been filming you where you're working a gobbler and all of a sudden, boom, another one starts gobbling that was in a totally different direction than you were facing, but you were able to shift yourself because you had already moved those leaves so you made no noise doing it.
SPEAKER_08Exactly. Because if you if you don't have the leaves cleared, it's making a and they can hear that. Oh, yeah. You know, and it's not normal.
SPEAKER_04You know, I do the same thing in the deer woods when I'm deer hunting. If I want to hunt on the ground and sit against a tree, yeah, about a 10-foot circle. Yeah, I'm clearing all those leaves. So if I do have to move, I'm not rustling leaves or breaking a twig, which of course is the cardinal sin.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_08And you made me you brought up a good point, Wayne, Redbone. Uh I want to add something to this. If you're hunting in a high-pressured area, I say high pressure, high concentration area of deer, it's smart to be set free. I can tell you, I can't tell you how many hundreds of times by not being sent free, deer has went to blowing while gobblers come in and mess the hunt up.
SPEAKER_10Yeah.
SPEAKER_08So that's something to think about. What's your hand closed and be set free just like you're deer hunting while you're turkey hunting? Uh last thing you want is a turkey uh a deer to come in, go to blowing, stomping. And this turkeys rely on the deer to stay alive too.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, well, gee, thanks for answering my question I had for the next segment.
SPEAKER_03Well, how many times have we said in the fall time that hunting a deer is like hunting turkey? And vice versa in the springtime. You know, you after a big buck, I mean. Because what's the worst thing in the fall time when you're trying to hunt a big buck? You get a doe that comes in and starts blowing, standing there, stomping. And it it, you know, they got the the buck's big for a reason. He knows something's up over there. Yeah. Turkey's the same way. Like Alex said, that that doe starts blowing or stomping. Ain't no turkey coming over there. They know the gig's up.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, there's something running in there.
SPEAKER_08These are things that we do that helps create success in our hunt. You know, being set-free, carry the model syllimination product with you that you have faith in and spray yourself down before you turkey up. Believe it or not, I'm not kidding you. I can't tell you how many times when I started doing that, I've had deer walk 10 feet of a swing that would film it. And they never know. And it wouldn't hurt, seriously. I know it's carrying another gadget. If you really hunt in a high concentration area of a lot of deer to carry nozonix with you, they don't pay us a dime. But I'm telling you, it will eliminate until you're older when they can't detect you. So even a predator comes in, if he wins you and and catches a wind of you, I'd have cows to jump out there and go to howling and mess up a hunt after they smelt you. So that's a good tip to share with everybody right there.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and and you also want to keep your human smell because if you're hunting somewhere where there's cattle nearby and they get a whiff of you and they think you're Farmer Jones coming to feed, guess where they're coming? They're gonna come right in and stand around you and look at you.
SPEAKER_08Exactly. Now I want to say this before we go to a break. Uh now that we got the gobbler coming, and you know your shooting distance, you've marked all your shooting distances, and he's coming to you, you visually see him, you push your safety off, you see his beard, and you're anticipating for him to get in shooting distance. Uh again, I want to reiterate it's important to know your gun. It's important to shoot good, different types of shells to pattern that shotgun. Know the effective range of your gun. Never push the safety off until you see the beard on that turkey.
SPEAKER_04And with that being said, it's time for us to take another break. We're back with your final segment of American Roots Outdoors Radio with Alex Rutledge and his friends for this week in just a moment.
SPEAKER_05Hey, y'all, it's Tyler Farn, and you're hanging with me and my good buddy, Alex Rutledge on American Roots Outdoors.
SPEAKER_04Hornity. Each piece is hand-inspected to ensure consistency and quality. Ammunition engineered to perform flawlessly, simply put, the best. Hornady ammunition. Find Hornady Ammunition at a retailerdear you and at Hornity.com.
SPEAKER_08Apex Ammunition presents. Welcome back to America Reach Outdoors Segment 4. Segment 4 of the show. We've been talking about uh how to talk to a turkey, how to position yourself, get ready for the shot. Knowing your shotgun, knowing effective range, and I want a full bone out there to Apex Ammunition. Uh they make some great turkey loads. And last year, my gun shot so tight, and I've self-filmed myself all spring last spring. And I missed three different turkeys because I would let them get in the 15 yards and shoots like the size of a softball at 15 yards, guys. You gotta have it right on their heads.
SPEAKER_03And uh you said softball, it's probably more you're shooting at 410, it's more like a golf ball.
SPEAKER_08It's tight, man. Matter of fact, I'm gonna have my 20 gauge this year because uh I just uh when you're filming by yourself, guys, you gotta be really multitask. You gotta know how to hide and blend in to pull these turkeys, and that's where I use decoys when I'm self-filming. Uh and matter of fact, I had to prove a point, and I've talked about on the show before. About three years ago, I was watching all these guys using decoys, decoys, decoys, decoys. And believe it or not, and this is my opinion, once you call a turkey, he comes and he sees those decoys. The calling's pretty much over. Yeah. But they see the decoys, it helps you close the deal. I wanted to prove the point to myself that I could still do it, call turkeys in in the timber and kill them without decoys and self-film. And I did it. I killed two different robbers, self-filming, no decoys in the woods. And that's the way I was brought up. Never using decoys. You gotta know how to talk to them, and that's the point of this is knowing when to call, when not to call, what rhythm, what volume, what emotion that you present. I know you guys got questions, so see what.
SPEAKER_03Well, I actually find it a little funny that Alex has the misses because they were too close, and most people say, Oh, I pulled the trigger too soon, it was 60 yards, I should have waited until we got in closer. But Alex is one of the few people that can say, you know, they were too close.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, terrible fireball they had. I heard with my buddy Wagner hitting an air last year in Arkansas, and he sat right beside me, and then we were set up on the sky burn, and I called the sky and he actually came from our left, from behind me. He was out in front of us, but I didn't realize it was so thick. So he made a big circle and come into our left and come out in front of us in the clearing. Well, we cedar glades running and strutting. I got it on film, and he comes in there and I'm milking it, milking it, and Shane's right there beside me, about ten foot from the leaning. He's got his back to it, to the tree, he's spitting and drumming it. And I let him strut for about three or four minutes, and he turned away from me. That's one thing you want to do is before you raise your gun and you can't get your gun up when he's close, let him turn away from you. And let him use that fan to obstruct his vision. Then you raise your gun up. Anyway, shooting that 410, I put it on his head, and I was nervous, I ain't gonna lie. That's why I still hung him. And I shot to the right of him. You can see the shotcut go right beside his head, and the turkey runs off. Redbone Wayne. Runs off. And I got that turkey to goblin again with the Margaret slate in conjunction with changing the yelping on the E250 diaphragm. And almost brought him back again to where I missed him. But he stayed out behind those cedar trees, and finally he got tired of the calling and left back up the mountain where he came from. So saying I heard up, jumped up, grabbed the decoys, the ABX decoys, run around and got up on top of the mountain ahead of him, out of breath. And he we could hear him gobbling coming up the ridge, and I hit one call, he interrupts me, the next call, he interrupts closer, the third call, I kill him. The same turkey I missed.
SPEAKER_04Wow. Yeah, so uh the moral to the story is never give up.
SPEAKER_08Don't give up, and and you know, try to get into goblin again. Yeah, you know. Again, I was talking to him. All he knows he heard something loud that scared him. He doesn't know a human can shoot a gun unless he's been shot at ten times, you know. But it was a loud sound. You know, they're really edgy this time of year anyway, you know, because they're trying to take part in this breeding ritual and every predator in the woods is trying to eat them. So good turkey. That turkey that turkey we killed was like twenty-three and a half pounds, had an inch and a quarter spurs, and I think had a ten and a half inch scoop, but that was an Arkansas turkey we shot.
SPEAKER_04Okay, that's a good Arkansas turkey. I saw an interesting uh meme the other day on somebody was circulating on Facebook. It had a picture of a uh a gobbler who had mounted a decoy. Which happens from time to time. And and the the story says the brain the size of a peace will try to breed a rubber decoy. Been outsmarting humans for centuries.
SPEAKER_10Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_04And I thought, you know what? That says a whole lot about us. And I think that's a perfect example here. Uh not trying to be funny, but how difficult it is to kill a turkey and how weary they are just from their natural instincts.
SPEAKER_03Again, we're just trying to make them do opposite what God made them design them to do.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. That's what we're doing when we're turkey. We're reversing Mother Nature now God created the turkey gobbles to attract the hens. And when none of the hens respond to them, and that's why you see is if they're not with hens, these satellite gobblers get whipped out, and right now uh you got jokes and big groups. You watch what I'm telling you guys. Here in Midwest, Southern Missouri, Northern Arkansas, we've had a decent hatch. And these jokes are groups are going to run gobbler to gobbler trying to shut them up. And I'm telling you, I I don't think we'll hear the goblin that we we we should hear. If we do, you better get on him quick. And I wouldn't call real, real loud to keep him gobbling a bunch to have other hunters come in on you, or these jikes come in and mess your hunt up. So that's something to think about right there. Absolutely.
SPEAKER_04All right, we're out of time. And uh, of course, we're gonna do another segment. The bonus that you can only hear by tuning in to the podcast. Wayne, tell people how to go about doing that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, just uh go to your phone, your tablet, your computer, and go to your favorite podcast carrier, whether it be Spotify, Apple, uh you name it, Google Podcasts. We're on all of them. I think we're on uh 14 or 15 different podcast carriers right now. But uh just type in American Roots Outdoors um and click on follow, like, um, and you subscribe, whatever it asks you to do, and you'll get notifications every week that we release them. And uh you'll not only hear the entire uh portion of the radio show if you missed any today, but you'll also get the bonus segment, which can only be heard on the podcast.
SPEAKER_08Yeah, I want to make mention, guys, to the to also if you miss it on the podcast, you can go to our website, www.americanrootsdoors.com, to listen to our shows after Wayne downloads and then places the commercials. But also we'll give a shout out to all of our dealers, and we're gonna have new dealers too. Uh Roy's General Store and Dora, Miller's at Tecumseh, Hurst Farm and Feed, Monty's Outdoors, uh, Current River Trading Post will become a dealer. Uh, Main Street Grocery in Bam Buren will become a dealer. And we're going to also talk to Legacy Farms and Lumber right there in Bam Buren and Guns and Honey about training our calls. And if you're listening, you want to be a dealer, uh, contact us on our website, www.americanreachoutdoors.com, we'll get you set up. We'd love to set you up. And again, Wayne, Redbone, thank you for everything you do, and uh thank you for what you stand for and representing what we're doing here. And guys, teach your boys to become men, teach your girls to become ladies, and always remember.
SPEAKER_04When your roots run deep and strong, there's no reason to fear the wind.
SPEAKER_02So you never gotta worry what the wind might do. American.
SPEAKER_04Thank you for joining us for today's American Roots Outdoors Radio with Alex Rutler. You can find it on Facebook.com. We'll be back again next week on Witch Great Radio.
SPEAKER_07Like, three, five, three, five seventy three, six, seven, three, one, four, four, nine.
SPEAKER_02Around your heart, so you never gotta work.
SPEAKER_08Outdoors and Eagle Seed presents. Welcome back to America Reach Outdoors. This is our bonus segment. Uh, you only get to listen to this if you're a podcast listener, and we're gonna talk more about talking to a turkey, then we're gonna set our last segment up for our final show, show number eight, preparing the wild turkey. There's a few things I want to touch on before we get into uh setting it up for preparation of taking care of your turkey, is that you know, don't when you get out of your truck, locate a turkey at midday or whatever, you gotta be quiet. Don't be slamming your door, give it time to quiet down where you parked at, say 10 minutes, 15 minutes, just sit there and listen. Okay? And if you're listening, once it's all calmed down, I always start off with soft calls, whether it's clutch or soft yells, in case there's birds two or three hundred yards away if I'm not close to him or whatever. Keep that in mind. And that's the way turkeys do. I want you to think about something, uh, listeners, why red phone. How many times have you heard turkeys call as loud as you did? Think about that. Some ends will call loud, but in the majority of the time, they call really quiet. So when you get on the truck to locate a car, you don't make a bunch of human noises, call soft and easy passive to make that initial contact. If they don't respond, then you get more aggressive in your calling with more rhythm, more excitement, and a little louder to get the right frequency that they may want to respond to. That's why it's important to carry a box call with you, an ARO, uh loud lips two call, a slate call, or a glass call. We got all those Maureen Glass, uh, Evelyn Slate, Margaret Slate, and the ARO two call, which is loud lips. So it's good to carry a variety of calls with you to strike that gobbler. Keep that in mind. Learn how to talk as a real hen would do to get that gobbler and give up his location. That's a good tip for everybody.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Or, or I guess, found like multiple hens all in the same location. Exactly.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. Yeah. It takes as a party going on there. I know there's a lot of things we didn't get to cover, but we're going to talk more about Turkey up into Turkey season as well. So we just wanted to do this eight-show series, Wayne Redbone. We talked about it to cover things that we felt that needed to be covered.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and the only time I've ever heard a loud hen in the woods was a lone hen that was obviously searching for company. She was just yelping as loud as she could. And I remember his seeing that one time, and I'm like, oh wow, that's pretty good. You know, I've never didn't realize they were doing they would be that loud throughout. I mean, she did it for like 15 minutes as she was walking around the area. I couldn't believe how loud she was doing it. So that was the only time I've ever seen uh or heard a hen be that loud. But Alex is right. I mean, for 99% of the time, they're they are not cranking on their lungs and their vocal cords to make sounds. So um, Alex in the last segment, you had mentioned something about how you guys moved from one location to another, and it it made me think the other about uh two weeks ago, we were at a restaurant and there was a couple guys sitting behind us, and I could overhear their conversation and they were talking about turkey hunting. So, of course, my ears pick up, perk up a little bit. But the guy was saying that, you know, he he just found this piece of property that he got permission from a farmer to allow him access to this backside of public land that he's never been able to get to before, and he scouted it after deer sister and he found this empty field, but he'd have to walk like for a couple miles to get to it if he came through the front section. And uh, I'm thinking to myself, oh, lucky, you know, lucky this guy. Then he follows it with, I bought one of those big, huge fans that you can hide behind so I can crawl out, and and I'm gonna try that this year on public land. Oh I turned around, I know, I turned around immediately and I said, Hey, I'm I'm not trying to butt into a conversation, but please don't do that on public land. I said, You're gonna get yourself shot. I said, I said, there's too many Yahoos out there that will just see a fan, they'll see a moving and they'll take a shot. I said, Don't ever, please don't ever do that on public land. And um he said he goes, Well, I'm gonna be on the backside. I said, you may be on the backside, but doesn't mean I said doesn't mean there was somebody that said, hey, I don't mind walking two miles to that field that you're in. Um but yeah, guys, if you're out there and you're doing that, uh, you know, where you're gonna go out there and try and use a gobbler decoy or a a big fan decoy and try and work yourself into the field and it looks cool. I would love to try it one day, but don't ever don't ever do that on public land.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, and and speaking of speaking of that, Alex, uh I don't think in this in this uh series what we we've been doing, I've asked you this, but uh this year in Missouri, for the first time, I guess since the inception of Turkey, uh the re-establishment of turkey season and turkey hunting, uh they're gonna allow turkey hunters to hunt all day on private land. Now, not on public land. Uh the old rules apply to the public property, but private property, you can now hunt all day. And I was just interested here before we wrap this up in a couple of minutes, what is your opinion or your take on that?
SPEAKER_08Well, uh I've been asked this several times, and I've I've done another podcast show with some other guys, and we talked about this. You know, southern Missouri here in Shannon County, the southern part of Shannon County, our numbers have not been that strong uh for several years. Uh the northern part of Shannon County has been very strong. And as you move further north, like Franklin County, Texas County, their hatches have been more successful than ours in the past. I think the MDC uh when they make a call like that, say, all right, we're gonna legalize it to hunt all day. I think they need to research it uh more thoroughly to each county. Uh it would not have bothered me if we was allowed to kill one gobber a year in Samuel County for the next two years. So we can get our numbers really strong again like they used to. I think uh I I I mean, I'll hunt all day if I'm taking a kid or taking somebody. I'm not mad at the turkeys like I used to be. I don't feel I need to prove anything to anybody. My focus in turkey hunting right now is to educate, get more kids involved, uh, to pass on our great heritage and God give a right to hunt and bear arms. That's my focus. So uh I I I have missed emotions on all day hunting for Shannon County and Carter County and all this Oregon County.
SPEAKER_10Yeah.
SPEAKER_08Uh because we need to really get our numbers back. Your thoughts, Ribbone Wayne.
SPEAKER_04Well, my my thought is is is I think, and again, maybe I'm putting too much faith in mankind, but I think the turkey hunters, if they know the area they're hunting and they know a population of turkeys in that area, would naturally say, you know what, I can only take one gobbler off this. Or, you know, because I I would hope that hunters are out there trying to be conservationists and trying to preserve the sport for the future. I know there are some that don't.
SPEAKER_03Right.
SPEAKER_04And they're gonna go out there to go shoot their two gobblers. They don't care if it's the only two gobblers within 35 miles. You're right. You're right. But I I I really think that you know, to be an ethical hunter, you you don't want to kill more birds than your population can stand in the area where you are hunting. And as far as all day, I actually think it's a really good idea and here's why. Because for the last 40 years, I've worked in radio. And for most of the turkey season, I was not able to hunt. Now, I got off work at noon. Or maybe there was a while there when I was getting off at two or three o'clock. Well, if I would have been able to hunt all the way up until uh dark, I could have hunted in the afternoon. Right. But the way it was, I wasn't getting off work until after turkey season was done for the day. So it it made it kind of difficult. So I I think maybe that's where MDC is coming from with that as far as private land is gives maybe more hunters an opportunity. Now, to that, again, I think it's up to the hunters to say, you know what, we don't have that many birds, we better just take one.
SPEAKER_03And I I was shocked that it was for the the whole season. From start to end, it's all day hunting. Um like in Ohio, when they introduced all day hunting, it's only on the last two weeks of the season. The first two weeks are only till noon. But the last two weeks are all day, because by then, you know, the the the gobblers are more uh pressured and they feel that um your success rate would be less at the last two weeks than in the first two weeks. Um so they did they felt that even if they did extend it all day, it wasn't gonna make any difference in the in the amount of birds that were taken. But it did give more opportunity, like you said, for people who couldn't do because they worked mornings. Right.
SPEAKER_08I want to add something to what you guys said. Uh again, I got mixed emotions. I understand your point. That's a great valid point, Red Bull. Uh, but I want to add too about if if you're a true turkey hunter and you really, really respect others. You don't want to kill every turkey you sit down on. You don't. You don't. You want to preserve the sport, you want to share it with other people. So they can experience what you've got to experience. I'm 59 years old, I'll be 60 in June. You know? The killing in my eyes is over as far as what kill all I can kill and call as many in for everybody I can. I picked very few hunters. I may die maybe six, seven hunters a year now. Used to, I've got 15 or 20, 30. So it's not in me to be a game hog. Uh, especially if I know there's a kid that ain't ever killed a turkey and there's a turkey goblin over there. I'm not gonna go bother that turkey. That's for that kid. But we got guys going out there right now, killing turkeys right now, and the season ain't even open. And here's one for you. I had seven gobbers on my wise eye cameras here on my farm last year. And I told my surrounding neighbors, I said, guys, I'm not gonna kill one of them. I said, I want to keep them here, I want to try to get them back. And come to find out, five of them was killed.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03So well, maybe that explains why I'm not seeing them on my cameras anymore.
SPEAKER_08Yeah. So that asked yourself, but you know what a lot of those people think. Well, if I don't kill them, someone else says, Well, you gotta make an example, you gotta be the first one to make the first move to be an example to everybody else.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and how many times have you heard uh, you know, and I I've heard in the past, uh, well, it's my land, I can do what I want. Well, that's what they say. Yeah, my land, my turkeys. Right, yeah, my turkeys, right. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_04No, they're not. But anyway, we need to wrap it up, guys. We're running out of time here. And uh uh again, why tell people uh you know, are we doing a giveaway right now? We got anything going?
SPEAKER_03Uh we will after show eight. We'll be doing a eight. Yep, we'll be doing a giveaway then. But I do know uh the next show, just so people have a quick idea of what's coming up on the next show. We're gonna be talking about preparing your bird after you've harvested. Oh, so give me great ready for some recipes.
SPEAKER_04That'd be some I need to look one up. I need to look one. Oh, I got one. Anyway, all right. All right, Alex, thank you very much.
SPEAKER_08All right, guys, thank thank you so much again for what you do and creating our show. Uh, we've got a great show, and I know our ratings have been pretty good. I think people's gonna like it this eight-week series that we've done on understanding the wild turkey. And uh thank you again for everything you do. And remember, share the outdoors with a kid. Uh it's God's creation, it's our God-given right to hunt these animals. And it was passed on to me to my dad, my brothers, and I encourage you to share it with other kids, whoever's listening. And remember, teach your boys to be men, and your girls to be ladies.
SPEAKER_04And always remember when your roots run deep and strong, there is no reason to fear the wind.
SPEAKER_07Hey turkey hunters, this is Alex Relidge. 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 long beard job. For more information, go to www.apex ammunition.com.