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

Published Mar 29, 2023, 9:00 AM

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

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My name is Clay Nukeleman. This is a production of the Bear Grease podcast called the Bear Grease Render, where we render down, dive deeper, and look behind the scenes of the actual Bear Grease podcast, presented by f HF Gear, American Maid, purpose built hunting and fishing gear that's designed to be as rugged as the place. As we explore. Well, we've got an eclectic group of turkey hunters here from my hometown of Mina, Arkansas. And did anybody think it was funny when koy House, a storyteller on our Last Story Turkey Story podcast, said Steve my grandpa. Everybody knows Steve. Steve Phillips is here. Coy House is Grandpa. Everybody knows Steve. Everybody knows everybody in the world. Steve Phillips is here. Koy House to my left, coy you did a good job, man, Thank you. Didn't y'all think he did a good job? Man? I think you're the youngest feature guest on the Bear Grease podcast because you're a feature guest. If you're if you're on the actual bear Grease pot you know. So this is the render for people who maybe have not listened to Bear Grease before Bear Grease podcast is documentary style podcast where we do these kind of in depth stories. The last one that we're gonna talk about today, it was a was a stories podcast. We had eight different storytellers and Coi was one of them. Nineteen years old. Man, Yes, sir, you did good. Thank you, you did good. That man's taught me just about everything right there. Yep, I guess I better give him credit for it. Yeah. Yeah. So to Cooy's left is a longtime friend of mine, Joe Lyles, who is now a retired for service law enforcement agent. That's great. The only reason you're here is because you're retired. I am. I'm retired now and retired from United States for Service as a full time law enforcement officer. We're gonna come back to you. He introduced. Everybody sounds good, Joe Lyles, Steve Phillips, and then my dad, Gary Believer Nukam. Good to have you, Dad, Good to be here. Dad's got a story on the next podcast. So we're gonna we're doing two stories podcasts. Two Dad's left is Andy Brown. Andy always good to have you, good to be here man for real, and he's a hero on the Beargreas podcast. Everybody I talked to, I mean people not from Arkansas, people from wherever. Ronnella, Steve Ronella, He's like Andy brown Man from the from the Louis Delle Edwards stuff, to all the stories. So it's always good, always good to have Andy. But um, Joe, you're you're How long were you in law enforcement for the for Service with the Forest Service? I started in September of two thousand and I retired at the end of this year, so I had just a little bit over twenty two years. And you were a Arkansas Game and Fish game warden for a period of time. I was for three and a half years. And before that, I started under Sheriff Mike Ogglesby in nineteen ninety two reserve part time, worked a little bit with the CDPD, and then went to the Arkansas Game and Fish and from there I went to the US for Service. But the other career before that, I was as an aircraft mechanic for several years, Okay, but I always knew that I wanted to be in law enforcement, so that's where I went from there and a lifelong turkey hunter since nineteen eighty three. That's when I killed my first Turkey in the very early eighties. Yeah. Yeah, Now, if I recall on the Louis Delle and Charlie Edwards podcast, your name came up because you were involved. You didn't I think I said that you were the one who gave the ticket to Louisdale for not having a license, But I was wrong. I was there at that time, yes, and very much. I was right there by them, and Terry Luxford was actually the one who was very lud who was at the time you were gaming fish. I was with the Arkansas Game of Fish at the time. So tell that story real quick or just kind of just a short version of what happened, because that's where your name came up on Bargharas before. Joe Lyles. You know, we were over east to their camp and we pulled up just talking to them, and then we got through talking a little bit and said, well, we've got to see license, and Louisdale just you know, he came out and he didn't have it, and then he got to blame him Bertha. He said that didn't buy his license, so that's what it was. His wife. Yeah, he got the blaming his wife, and so Terry Terry ended up righting the ticket. But that's that's the story in it said, yeah, it was just it started off as a casual contact and then Bertha got blamed for it. One of one of the few tickets that Louis Delle Edwards ever got. How many tickets have you given? Steve Phillips, Oh well, I'm sure I'll be called out on a lot of stuff here zero. Joe and I go way back, and he's kind of like, what's what's happened in Vegas stays in Vegas. So that's that's that's our you know, how we are? You know? I mean Joe? One time during deer season, I was over in my side beside and I had been over there deer hunting, coming back over from Twomle. I met Joe. Here he was and he pulled over and he wrote his window down. He said, what are you doing? I said, I've been hunting weird. He said, is that gun loaded? And I said, well, hey, expect me to kill an ain't it in in the story? I knew you, just don't Joe. I met you one time in the field. I remember that. No, I remember you telling me that. But you know, unless something really stands there I mean, you're doing every day. You meet so many people that you know, unless even people that you've you know, written violation notices too. If something doesn't stand out, you just don't remember, you know, you write so many of them. But yeah, you know, go on with your story. Well there's there. It's not a great story. I was out. I was out, I don't want to say where. It was in National Forest and i'd been baiting bears and it was in August probably it was early on in baiting bears, and y'all had a roadblock. Came around the corner and they were just a big four service roadblock, and you know, two or three trucks and kind of a truck across the road, it felt like. And I pulled up and uh, and you were the guy that checked me. And he just said, you know, you recognize me. Then you're like, what are you doing well bating bears? And he checked my I think you checked my registration and stuff. It wasn't he wasn't hutting season. I didn't have any guns. But anyway, yep, I have a Joe story. Yeah, oh great, here we go another one. And I know for one day he called me at the office, and he said, any I've got a picture I want to show you, and I said, okay, bring it to the office. So him and Jimmy Martin Shaw up at our office and he's got a who's that another game warden? Huh, he's gonna date but ten picture and he said, they come into my office and he said, shows it to me. And he says, who's that who's that gun? That picture right there? I said, and what we've got. We've got a guy walking in front. We've got a guy carrying a gun behind him. And uh, I said, I have no idea. I said, he ain't very big. And he said look at him and I said, I said, I really don't know. He said look at his hand and he finger missing. But he said, but that's not you, and I said, no, that's not me. He said, we know who it is, we know the story. But anyway, they brought that to my office and showed me that. Yeah. I've never kicked him around about that, but I can't hear on live this podcast they thought it might have been me. Really, so somebody trespassed people don't have one of those? Yes, and he's missing? Is I think is actually an um no? Not No, let's move we'll talk about that one. That's that's a good one. That that is a good one. Um well, uh, I went on the reason I'm dressed the way I am. I went on a nine mile mule ride today in National Forest and didn't see a liquid turkey sign, found a shed horn. But I'm hoping we'll have a good, you know, a decent turkey season for Arkansas. You know, they say we've lost sixty percent of our birds from our peak, which probably would have been in the nineties, early two thousands maybe, but maybe more than that in some places. I think probably these guys could all attests to the fact talking about looking for turkey sign. Guys, I can remember whenever leafing in the woods was turned over back in the eighties, you know, and even up into the nineties. But I mean the woods turkeys made a lot of sign and you know, you didn't have to hear turkey used to go turkey hunting and you just went and found side. That's what I looked for, was just scratching. I believe, like you said, it looked like a garden tiller. Took a tiller and just want to just roll the leaves and one time I was with my uncle. He is actually during muzzleloading season. Anyway, we was in there north of in the in Loss. Was in there to what we call Short's Place, and Uncle Larry got in in the first low notch and I went on the top of the mountain and walked east out the top of the mountain. And I can remember getting out on the east end of that thing. It's real briary and on top. But I got over the north side and I walked over to the north side. I'm telling you, as far as you could see, there was turkeys eating devil horses. They was the devil horses. The ground was just working alive with them. Now, what's a walking stovil horse? Okay? Anyway, they would just walk up and just pick those things off the bushes on them. Lolope. But the whole mountain, I have no doubt there was one hundred turkeys right there that I was looking at. I mean, for one hundred and fifty yards, it wasn't nothing but solid turkeys from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the mountain. Unbelievable. What year was that. That would have been about eighty eighty one. Somewhere in there. I think you and Mitch win and there one time with didn't you take Bill Norman and Bill Norman Bill Norman Luers And because Mitch and I were in there, that would have been nineteen ninety March of nineteen nine. I think we heard eighteen gobblers. That's still to this day the most I've ever heard one day. I want to say his eighteen, which still talks about that. It was they were everywhere. Yeah, and you know from years of patrol and they're not there. You know, I would go months and not see one. You know, they're not here. Yeah, they're just not here. You know, when they say sixty percent have disappeared, I think that's I think that is light. I mean, you know, as many as we had and you lose sixty percent, still Corty would still be really good hunting. I would say, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that's a state, that's a statewide you know, which different places would would be different. You know, there's still counties in the central Ozarks that have pretty decent turkey hunting. I mean you can go up there and those guys they hear us talking and they're kind of like, what's a big deal? But here, Yeah, you're right, it's probably way more than that, but it really is. You know a lot of people have heard me talk about my grandfather, Gary's dad, Lewin, who was a bird hunter, a quail hunter. You know, the last twenty five years of his life, all I heard him do was lament that we didn't have a quail anymore. And it's it really is a bummer because turkey hunting really kind of builds a culture in an area, especially if it's a good turkey hunting. I mean, everybody's a turkey hunter and their kids are turkey hunters, and it's it's it's fun to go and and boy, when they're not here, people aren't turkey hunters. I mean, you just people just kind of I mean, I'm talking about myself. It's like it's hard to get up to h It's it's hard to get fired up to go when they're just not there, you know. And it and like my kids have not had the exposure to turkey hunting that I had because we just didn't we just didn't have turkeys, you know. But anyway, that's that's not it's a it's a bummer to have to talk about that here. But it's kind of the reality of where we're at. But we're gonna talk about the good, the good side of turkey hunting, which is it's a lot of fun. Steve. Dad was telling me that you told him about his story. So you listened to Did you listen? It was awesome? Yeah? Which which story was your favorite? It's what I told Gary what related to me, And I don't know that there were several of them. That was my favorite, but the one about where the guy flicked the cigarette in his pocket and caught him on fire. Yeah, and burned him. You know, I don't smoke, so that didn't happen, but I can tell you Andy Brown and I we decided to go hunt and when we'd heard some turkeys a couple of days before, so we got up bright and early and we went in and parked and we had to pull up this I'm telling you, it takes you forty five minutes to get up it. I mean it's straight up. So we got there double early that morning and we got out and had a little flashlight and a little hat lights on. And I always, if I had a dollar forever mile that I followed him in the woods. Over the years. You know, I'd be a rich man. And so we started up that hill and we're, well, you know, we're both in really good shape and we're going up that thing and it'll get your breath. And all of a sudden or andy, he gets up there and he takes a step and he slides back about two steps, and I thought, what in the world happened? And he said, what was that? He turned his hat light on. We didn't have a hat light on at the time. We were just kind of going by the moon. He turned that light on and looked and there was the biggest pile of bear scat that was smoking. It was fresh. I mean, he stepped in it and slid back down the mountain early. And so he said, he's right here somewhere. Anyway, we're both buggered up, you know, going up this saying, look, we didn't check it up to there. And we get set in and we set up and we give a call. Old Turkey answers us down in the bottom. I said, boy, we're in the chips right here. So we put in on them and they were gobbling their heads off, just gobbling and governing. Well, they came and as they came to us, instead of coming up that leg to us. They turned and they went around us to our left, and him and I are sitting side by side, and we have to just watch those turkeys. There's two big gobblers. They just go buy us right up over the top and off down and they go, well, we let them get out there, and we walk right up on top and we give a little bit and we call and they gobble off down in the bottom. And I told Andy, I said, come on, let's go. He said, steep, we can't eat them. Turkeys are way down there. Well, he'll tell you used to when I first started tury hunting. If I could hear one, there wasn't a turkey too far to go to. If he was two miles, I was going to him. And I said, well, I'm going to him. He said, I'm gonna step up here on top. I'm not gonna go to him. So I headed off down the mountain. It took me about teacher lets the young grasshoppers go out on his own. Yeah, So off down through there I go, and I get down. Finally I catch up to that turkey and both of them. I catch up to them, and I set up on him. I call them and when I do they just cut me off. And what I didn't realize is when I had set down, I sat down in a big old ant pile and those big black ants, and here I'm looking about sixty five seventy yards down there, and here comes these two turkeys and full struck coming goblin. I've got my gun up on my knee. I'm sitting in an ant pile. All of a sudden, I start feeling ants in my pants. I feel ants come up my shirt, answer coming out through my top of my shirt and my head net. They're running all over my head and my face, and I'm locked in on that turkey. When he gets up there close enough that I think I can kill him, I shoot him, and I do kill him, but I immediately he goes to flopping. I dropped down and strip all of my clothes off because I'm trying to get rid of the answer. And to this day, that's probably the biggest turry. He had eleven and a half inch beard and weighed twenty two pounds. M I walk out, light, are you Andy? Tail? That was the biggest turry, and the other one flew and flew right in there towards Andy, which he didn't get on him, you know. But I had that turkey on my shoulder and I'm coming up through there and he alls me up there and I looked. He said, you get him. I said no, He said, you're lying. You did to you? So, yeah, but that was my biggest thing. Had to strip down right there on the side. Yeah. Yeah, boy, have you heard that story before? Heard? I think I've We've almost covered every single turkey that he's killed. Why don't you tell me the second story that you told me about taking your little brother? Will you tell me that story? Okay, yeah, of course. Yeah. So my little brother Rider, Um, he's on my dad's side. He he wanted to go. It was youth opening one of the youth season. He wanted to go turkey hunting. And we have this private spot that we had picked out and we had went and roosted one the evening before gobbled his head off. I said, this will be chip shot. He's up here on this ridge. We'll get up here and we'll kill us turkey. Well, long story short, we got up there and I set him up. Turkey Gobble was good. We got up there just right on the break of that ridge. He was just on the other side and now, how is your little brother. At the time, he would have been I'm wanting to say eleven eleven, at the time eleven twelve, he's he's fourteen now, so it'd have been two or three, two or three years ago. Um and a turkey gobbled, he gobbled. I didn't call him. I said, just get ready. It's he's gonna fly down. He's probably gonna land about right here on top of this ridge. I said, just get ready about that time, and turkey's quick go on. He wouldn't go, wouldn't say a pete, wouldn't say a word. Well, I mean nothing. We sat there for another hour, nothing I heard him. I seen him actually fly down and pitch off into the field. But once that happened, he, I mean he left. He had had some hens with him. So I said, let's let's go up to another spot. This spot national forest around it. There's a private I have permission to hunt, but national forts wraps around it. And mean him been hunted for two years for some reason. That was a hot spot. And there how mean we here eight nine ten and just a little hundred yards Oh yeah, I mean, I mean it was a little pocket. It was awesome so anyway, so we went in there and drove back international for US and I said, by the time is ten thirty, And I said, writer, I said, if we getn't one to gobble, I said, we got him, son, I said, and by this time he's the hens have done left him. I said, we've got him. I get out of the truck and I grabbed the old slate call and I just out. He just cussed me off right there, and I said, let's go. Look I get excited. I mean, he can tell you. If Paula can tell you, there's just something I don't if I ever lose the excitement, I better quit hunting, because it's just something that east me up. So we could drive on down and we get out of the truck and we walk down the road. We get in there and I called nothing, and I called nothing. I said, we're gonna dig in. We're just gonna dig in. We didn't have nothing else to do that day. I said, we're gonna wait him out. So we dug in. We sat there for I mean, it felt like half a century, and we're just kind of talking back and forth, kind of goofing around, you know, and and all of a sudden that turkey gobbles. I mean we're sitting just off on a on a little break, there's a little road. It kind of goes like, yes, they're gonna makes humps a little like that, just off the break at Turkey gobbles. I mean, you're not when you're least expecting it like that. It about scares the pe wad out of you. So I said, get my lap, getting my lap, So he gets in my labor. Look that up. So he gets in my lap and I just turned my head and I just real soft, and he just cuts me off right there. Let me hear your gobble again. He's got a good goble. I say, get I said, get ready. I said, he's gonna come right down your gun barrel. And I said, when I say shoot, you shoot him. Let turkey come and hit at sucker. Put on a show. I mean he out there, he danced around, he drum, he spit, and he gobble right at us. And then he drum and he he crossed underneath a deadlog and come up. And I told writers, as soon as he passes his tree, I said, shoot him. Well, little did I know. I guess I was shaking a lot more than he was, and he was in my lap. So I was doing the whole number of shaking. You were shaking him, Oh, I was shaking him. I guess something terrible. And he shot that bird and I knew he shot him low because that bird flopped. And then he started to kind of get up, and I threw him out of my lap and I took off running, and that by that time I got almost to the turkey. That turkey got him, got underneath the self, he got his feet underneath him, and off with the races we went. And I took off running, and he's yelling, do you want me to bring you the gun? And I said not yet, And I was running down the mountain as fast as I could. At Turkey's doing this, and I'm doing this with him. Well, I leap and I grab a hold of his tail feathers and I pull all of them out. I mean, he didn't have a single tail fan. I grabbed a hold of the turkey, and of course, you know, and I ring, you know, stepped on him and held him up, and he come run down them out and said, I was trying to get you up to you. I was trying to bring the gun. I said, don't worry, Bud, I said, we got him. I said, we got him, But I said, you ain't gonna have no tell father. But that was his first turkey, and that was that was a great moment to be able to share with him. That's great, man, Dad. Which which story on that series did you stood out to you? They were all excellent, I mean every stink in one of them. But I got to think, and the tie goes to the runner. But this sit in baseball, is it? So whatever you want? So I said, the tie goes to the kid man. I liked Coy's story, yeah, I mean really, the fire on, I mean, all of them were just unbelievable stories. So I just go with Ki's because he was He's such a baby, look at him, just a little beat. He gay, played football, play college football. Look yeah, you like Hank Berdine's story too, Oh I did? I love those Mississippi guys and oh Roy, I love I love the way he talks. Oh yeah, man, you know he'd go I can't even repeat how he talks. But it was just it just made the story. You know, he had this turkey, did I mean, what would he say instead of take it to the fixed Turkey. Hey Roy Clark. Roy Clark is well. We just did a big film about him that came up this week on the Mediator YouTube channel, A whole film that he was kind of the star of. He really is a relic and that's a great descriptor of what he is. A relic of Appalachian culture. And he has the strongest best accent for that East Tennessee that I've ever heard. He I love that guy, and uh, he's a y'all wouldn't know much about him. I said it on the podcast, But he's a he's as good a bear hunter. I mean those guys have killed I mean Roy Clark. I don't even want to say how many bears I believe he's killed. I mean it'd blow your mind legally, I mean they but he's a bear hunter. But he didn't even talk about turkey hunting. But I was at his house one day. I said, you know, he had turkey beards and stuff around. You know, I knew he's a turkey hunter. Was like, how'd you do last year? I mean, this is when he's in his seventies, And he said, oh, I killed five last year. He killed three in Tennessee in two, and he from his house you can see North Carolina. So the North Carolina border is just like a mile from his house, you kind of see off down the mountains. But yeah, just I like just hearing him talk. It's funny. Yeah, And like I said in that podcast, when you're talking about stories, people kind of expose different parts of their life, like like Coy did when he said that his grandparents led him drive to the to the to the place when he was fourteen. I like that. And then Roy Clark said, yeah, then my boys come up through there and they was a drinking and I know one of them could tell the truth, and I knew one of them was pretty truthful. I thinks what he said. Yeah, And you know, it's just it's just funny the details that that that you know, some people would put in there. But then that was a heck of a hunt. You know, they hunted that white turkey for for for you know, for two weeks on public land. Did you see that turkey when you were at his house. Oh yeah, it's beautiful. It really is a beautiful turkey. I put a picture of it on my Instagram. Yeah, it was a beautiful turkey. But yeah, Roy Clark, he's just fun to hear talk. And then Hank Birdine, the guy from Mississippi, see the guy that he shot the gobble, He shot the gobble. He said he left his window down. You heard me comment out he say, left his window down so that his wife would snuggle up next to him. And so you can hear those turkeys gobbling. Morning said, get out now. Hank Hank is ah, he's ah. I wasn't joking when I said that. He is like an ambassador for Mississippi. He's a big writer. He's written several books all about the South and those guys. So he's from He's from a suburb of Greenville, Mississippi. Okay, in Greenville, Mississippi. It's on the Mississippi River is where he said. In the At some point in the last hundred years there were more writers per capita in Greenville, Mississippi than anywhere in the country. There were a lot of Southern writers that came out of Mississippi. And it's kind of a it's kind of unique being around because Hanks the writer, h Robert Hittneil Junior, the guy that told about the Flaming Turkey. He's a he's written fifteen books. Um, they just think different than a lot of the guys I've been around. It was interesting and he had all these writing buddies lined up. A couple of them couldn't come, but uh, but they they they have choreographed stories that they tell, like Robert hitting Hill Junior. He's eighty one, and I mean, you know he's told that story his whole life. But I mean they just kind of they just kind of have the way, you know, the way they tell that story. And Hank tells stories like that too. But now I like those stories. You know that bird, I'm thinking he said that bird, can't you know he shoots he shoots the bird. Somebody shoots the birthday miss. The bird comes back the next week and and he's he's doing this shaking his head like he's goblin. But he's like God's man. The last time I gob hold, I mean, everybody's shooting at me. So he wanted a gobbling shaking his old head. Yeah, what a story. Old Hank almost as good as coys. And this is old Grandpa. All right, hey, and you know you know I started Did you notice I started the podcast with Andy's story? Yeah? I did that on purpose. Man, I gotta gotta get him hooked to get him coming in. Man, we'll see. Hey, one thing, Steve don't even remember. You know, he's getting old enough to wear his brains getting a little soft. But the first time he ever turkey hunted, I took him, okay, and within two weeks, telling you it was in two weeks, he was a better turkey hunter than I was. And remember it. He don't remember that, you know, we would we would scout deer together, and when turkey season rolled around, I said, hey, man, let's go. He didn't know anything about it. He didn't know anything about it. So I took him. Of course I taught him a lot more than Andy did. But so anyway, he don't even remember it. But Clay Baby was the same way. I mean, here as stupid little kid running around school. He didn't know anything, he even know what a turkey looks like. Well, I take him out and get some goblin, and why take him to my little private area. And I swear, within two weeks, I'm I'm I'm you think I'm kidding. Within two weeks he can call better than me. He's already killing birds on his own. Steve with the same way, man. I mean, I'm like going, I'm kind of like a ned and the third first reader. I think they used to say, you know, but you know they learned real quick. When you remember going hunting with him? Do you know we went deer scouting? We I can't remember. I can't remember us try hunt. Is that a little goofy looking gun you had, if you had that tennis ball or something? Yeah? What was that? Clay NERF football? Yeah, he's got it. He's got a little short, twenty something inch barrel gun. Is that legal? I don't know anymore? Short? He had a he had a Nerf football, NERF ball taped and CAMEO taped to the back of it, so it butt of it's about, you know, four or five inches further than so you gotta put it way out here and then bring it into your shoulder. But it I don't shoot it. I shot at one time and about broke my fat Think you'll kick you really bad. Oh man, it's a hoot to shoot. Man, I've told you, I've told you guys the story before. But I went to a little rock to buy a gun. I don't know why a little rock, but that's where I was headed and uh. I walked into first Bucks and Ducks right around Benton and I walked in, and I wanted a five hundred Mossburg or a eight seventy and uh. The guy said yeah. He said, I got a turkey gun right here, and he pulled that little it's like a New England arms came pretty little gun, plastic stock, fore arm, pick it up. I mean it weighs nothing, and you know you can shove a three and a half inch magnum in sucker. And so I said, hey, that's the gun. I won't he said the guy it's used. The guy took it shot at one time, brought it back to I mean, you can't shoot that gun. I said, that's what I want. That's the gun I want. So I bought it, brought it home. We pulled up right out here. Clay come running out of the house. Did you get a gun? I said yeah. And Judy and I had to go to a chamber banquet or something, and he said, can I go shoot that, daddy? And I said, yeah, I take it. Well. I came home and his whole face, you know, was shot of you know, that hit him in the face the lip almost killed him. And true story. I don't like shooting it more people. I used to take it out with guys just for the entertainment. But he and that's something a city slicker dot. He has lost his mind, Zach Nuker. My remember when he shot at the thing almost came over his head. But it's you know, you put it over your shoulder. You don't know you have it. You only shoot a couple of times a year. You'd only want to shoot it a couple of times a year. When I got that gun sided in, you I had to have it worked. I took it to the little rocket at gunsmith do a lot of work on it, and he got it where it shot real good and put a red dot scope on it. And to get it sided in it took. You know, I had to shoot fifteen twenty times, and that finger right there. I thought I was going to have to amputate it. You know, that gun come back? Yeah, And so he put a moleskin all on the track. Yeah. Well I put a jersey glove on and taped a cigarette but right there on it. So I just got a charge out of shooting it. But I finally got it side it in, and it's a good turkey gun. You still have it now? Oh yeah, yeah, there, Joe. To any of those stories stand out to you, definitely the one where the boy killed his first turkey there at the end. Yes, that's the one. And because I can really relate to that, like we talked about before, that was probably my most memorable hunt. My youngest daughter would have been Emily would have been seventy thirteen years old, and that would have been twenty seventeen. We went. We went to Kansas and you know, you watch the weather up there because what it's done there is gonna be so much different than here. So we strike out. We're going to Kansas and the weather's bad going up there, but we knew that it's going to clear off that afternoon, but it was gonna come later. And so we meet, you know, my buddy up there and where we go. He's at the bowling alley, so he's bowling, you know, his bowling league. And he said, man, y'all know where to go. Just go on out there. So we've got a couple of farms right there we can hunt. So here we go is in an alfalfa field. And this one place we hunted, it's it's a big trash pipe. You know, I guess everybody around there on that piece of private just dumps are trash right there. Well, okay, you know we're gonna set up right here, and this is the afternoon. So we get to setting and just calling and and nothing, you know, but we know there's turkeys there because there's at that time, and even Kansas Kansas numbers are even lower from where we go because where we hunt now there's only one bird limit, but you could kill two there at the time. So we set up and kind of like Cooy says, we just we get dug in. We set him behind some cedar trees and cut a few limbs off and get our decoys out there. Call for a couple hours, nothing just nothing. So we thought, well, it's it's getting laid, so let's go on in. We'll get this something deep. We'll come back in the morning. We wake up that morning. Weather's awful. You know, It's just what you thought it was not going to be. It's awful. So we're kind of depressed. But we thought, you know, we'll know where we're gonna go. So we just went on out there anyway. But where we went and the ground was horribly hard. So that night we went to Walmart and bought some boat seats, you know, weird colors all they had then I think I still haven't one of them black and white, and but that's what we went out there and set on. So we're sitting there and it's getting daylight. Then we ain't hurt anything. And I'd be thinking if the turkey didn't gobble right above us, I mean, we could you once it got light enough, you could see that turkey. And if we had just set there that evening. He came in there looking for that hen that evening. So we were sitting there and it, you know, it finally got light enough and he's just gobbling ever breath. I thought she's gonna get this turkey. So by that time, he hops off, pitches off right out in front of us, and she could never get on that turkey, never could And she finally shot at that turkey, misses it, you know, shoot some limbs off, and I'm like, god, Lee, that was close. And so we were kind of depressed and the weather's getting bad. It's still bad, you know, blowing rain, and I called my buddy, he's with a sheriff's office up there and he's a man. Just I know there's turkeys there, and we were talking about going to a couple of different places. Got off the phone with him taking the turkey didn't go, and we were real we were kind of out and open build then, so we eased a little bit closer to you know, it's a drainage up there. They got drains and stuff. It's just a lot different country. So about that time, two of them got to go up and you know, here we go. So we backed off again, just right as against this little creek drainage and got to call in a little bit. Boy, here they come. So I set her down in front of me, and these turkeys come right in there clothes and at this time I say, she's young and but and I had her shoot my little banel em too, that little twelve gage. It didn't kick a lot. And so she got in there and she got right in my lap, and these turkeys came right down thirty yards office. I said, you shoot that first one you can. So she shoots that thing and it just folds up, and I'm Michael, holy cow, she got it. And then that other one ran off and they give it didn't start just looking at that one. So I started making some fighting purrs and it came right back and she killed that turkey. So we went from just a low moment until she killed two of them. Oh that's great, man. Yeah, And that was twenty seventeen. We've been back every year since and except for the year of COVID, and she's killed turkeys one more time then we've left. Some years up there we didn't kill anything, but you know, that's my turkey hunter, and she she still goes with me, and she's gonna go this year. Is going back to Kansas. Oh yeah, I'll go to Kansas since you know my turkey hunting buddy Greg Burns, which y'all knowing well, one of the best turkey hunters that I know, you know, and you know, I don't think Greg's gonna go with me this year, but you know, we're gonna go back. And we talked about going to Oklahoma. You know, we've got a couple of spots in Oklahoma. We go and you'll see I've hunted in South Dakota, Nebraska. Uh and South Dakota is beautiful too, you know. Yeah, you know, Clay and I went to Mississippi with Greg and the pharmacy up there, Terry. Yeah, and uh, we had you know, we had a lot of fun in Mississippi. One of the best turkey hunters I know. Yeah, yeah, And he's really good, extremely knowledgeable man. You can ask him anything and he knows a little bit about everything. And truly does you know, not like Quincy says, is that the truth? No, that's the truths Yeah, yeah, he knows a little bit about everything. The Garvin Gibbons story at the end of that podcast I had to include. I mean that guy he uh, he's killed twenty three elk with a bow before his accident, you know, at all those That was what I enjoyed his just because of that, um the thank you killed twenty three UK in twenty four years. In fact, I think maybe and I'm not I don't know this for sure, but he had a brother. I I think it worked with the same company I did, and he had told me the story about his brother getting hurt in the Teresa and accident. Had had that conversation. But I think the thing that intrigued me about it the most was the fact when he talked about how he's had to learn to get to a blind and have patience. And he's been killing more turkeys that way than he was ever was running in gun. Well. And the thing of it is, and I don't think you would disagree with this, is there was a time with turkey that you could run a gun. But I think the patience still now is just like it was back when I started hunting. I had an uncle that would go get in a blind. He didn't go anywhere. He said it in the blind and called ever twenty five minutes. And his theory was if they answer me, they'll be over here after a while. And he killed lots of turkeys that way. And I think it's trend did back that way. You know, turkeys they know the patent, don't ever called. It's out there. I mean, people, you know you gotta do something different. I mean, of course, like with me, I don't. I don't turkey, not that much anymore. But I just know I have killed a turkey the last two out of three years. But it was because he's two. We need to go fishing. But anyway, that's that's the reason I went. But but the trend I think is too to call a little and have patience. I think in his story was that he learned that that way. Yeah, and I think that was really neat. That's a good that's a good observation to think that we're kind of getting back into that with the lower turkey numbers. Sure, you can't just pop along the ridge and tall you find one that's hot, might have to sit on him for a while. And sometimes you think how many You look back, like after even I listened to that and tell that story and everything, and I look back and I think how many turkeys could I have actually killed if I just would have just sat there and and been patient. You know, one might start gobbling lay over here and you take off after him. But I mean, just think if I'd just sat there, you know. So I really that you know, that story kind of at home with me too. And and also you know with his deal is you never know when your last thing right hunt can be. You never know what can happen. Anything can happen. I mean, you can be out there and and it just like just like that, and it can be over with just like her. If we just sat there that afternoon, that turkey came in there, that any roosted back there, And I want to add to that, I went back two weeks later and killed that turkey. And after she had killed those I when the regular season came in, I came back and killed that turkey, you know, And I was up with Greg at that time. I didn't have the patience to do that. And I knew, you know, I really knew better. But I'm just not geared to be a good deer hunter or turkey hunter. But I know one day at an area that was just like you said, and he just I mean tilled up the whole side of a mountain and wasn't a big mountain, but it was still on a mountain. And I called and I couldn't believe. I couldn't get anything to gobble, man, nothing's goblin. And so I you know, I piddled around there till about nine o'clock or so, and uh, finally I just thought, well, I'm gonna call and just be patient, and I'm just gonna sit here, but I'm gonna cheat a little bit. I'm gonna take a nap. And so I stretched out on the side of a hill. Man. I was so I went to sleep, man, I was sound to see if you called a bunch, yeah, I called a bunch and went to sleep. Boy. I mean, I hear footsteps all around me, man, and I opened one eye and there's two big old gobblers there. Mean they're not from here to that red chest. They're looking to me like going, it's a big old ancre and there name. So I tried. You know, I had my gun, but you know I was. I was ready to shoot, but I couldn't get on the mood anyway. M But patience is really going. Yeah. I bet, I bet, I bet all of us would have killed, especially with lower numbers more turkeys if you just if you sat there for two or three hours. Um. Now, I'm not gonna spoil Andy's story. You're on the next one too. Andy, tell them about a turkey that did something unique. Mo's story about that turkey flying across the valley. Have you ever had one to do that, Steve, fly in real far that you could see come in, Oh, come in to you. Yeah? It most so, most chef. One of Mo's stories was he had he was calling in the evening and had a bird fly across a big canyon and roost and he came back in the next morning and killed it. Uh. Now have you had you Now you tell a story about a flying turkey. Don't tell that one because they're gonna hear that later. But have you ever seen one fly to you across the big valley? I went I want one morning and I don't know remember if I told you this story or not. But anyway, I had went by myself one morning, which I don't I've never liked to hunt by myself. I always like some it's it's fun to share, you know. But anyway, I went in one morning, pulled top the mountain and become a huge rain the night before, and man, them a water hollers would just it just sound like Niagara Falls. And but when I got right in on top of the mountain, it was I mean I was up there double early, early early, and just about the time I got up there, right out across the water holl or north of me, over there on the top of the little knob, one put in and all the goblin he'd done over there, And there wasn't no going to him because backside of the mountain I'm own, it's just straight off right into a water holler. You got to cross the holler and it was just a disaster. And I thought, you know what, I don't like to call a turkey on rust, but I'm gonna let him know I'm here. Now. This is early, I'm talking early, okay. And so I stood there and he got be four or five times. He was gobbling away from me, and finally I just call real loud to him. And when I did, you could tell he turned on the limb. He started gobbling right at me, and I thought, you know that rascal. I mean, he's a long ways over there. I said that dude might pitch out and come over here. So I just backed up her against the big pine trees a little saddle in the mountain there, and I kind of got my gun up on my knee, and I mean, it's it's not even close. I didn't think to fly down, and all of a sudden I just heard of it's right out there, I said, just like someone dropped one out of a hell. Like I said, I said that, uh, I sound like that dude just live right out there. And he was kind of my I had my gun this way and it was kind to my left, and about the time, the best I could describe it, I just seen the white cap, you know, on his head. He just come right up over the top of them the mountain there, and I said, dang, that's that dang turkey. I mean it is early early, and so it's just wide open. There ain't nothing between me and him. But huckleberry bushes down through there, you know. And there's a little tree about I don't know, three or four inches in diameter down there. And when he when he when he walked in und the tree, I moved my gun. Well, I did, you know how they'll do he'd give me one of these back. But you know he'd stepped in, and you know he wasn't he stepped out looked like that, and about that time he did, he just blew out there like a quail. Really, he made a bad mistake, though I unwound hemmy with oh, well, don't let me back up what he did that. I just shot that tree. He's nearly halving two down there. I bet i'd never put a pelted him. He'd just boiled up what he did. I hit him with a whole load what he would out there. But he was and I know there was people in that country when uh I had a boy shot that off the rust, but I did, dovid, I just want him on the ground. But he was a big wow, but he flew. I'm sure he fell a quarter to me across the hallard right there. Hey, you guys are really good turkey hunters. What's the closest y'all have had a gobbler come to you? You know? I told the story here one time about having one right here. You know what I mean. Have y'all had him? How close have you had him? I've had him. I had one Steve kill one morning that close. Remember that was Steve was gobbler right in my right, in his right in my ear. I couldn't shoot him. I had to let him walk around. He walked up I could get Oldie by black this. He just comes right. He was supposed to come up a leg to him. He was supposed to come up a leg to me. And he's sitting up there calling, and there's a blowdown tree. And he walked on the wrong side of that blow down, big old tree. And I had to sit there and watch the turkey out of the left of my eye. He walked right up that tree, right up to Andy gobbled and blowed his head off right in his face. But he made the mistake. He turned and he come down my side of the tree and I killed. I have got video, Gary, I've got video of a turkey gobbling when he steps on my boot. I'm laid down flat, got my video camera, and I had already called his turkey up once and I went around on another mountain and he caught him up again, and he gobbled and he flicks his on my gobbled right about from here to Andy's knee. I found it the other day going through videos, and I said here, I showed it to him. I'm laid down and that turkey's wings hit my boot when he walks out, and he walks about from here to Gary's side beside there, and I call him again and he gobbles and he gobbles off the mountain. And that's another story the old Kendra Marshall, y'all know, heard when she was When she was she was probably about fourteen. Kevin had to work opening day of youth season, and so I took her and Steve, I'd remember you took baby John Barton. And there was a whole water of us out there. You know. Anyway, Kender never killed a turkey before. And uh, anyway, we got in there, and I mean we got in on there was there was a whole water. And I had a single barrel. I said, got a single barl itthicis twenty gage. And I had Kendra setting right here. And anyway, we got set up and there was three big gobblers and I I called them, and here they come. I mean they just they just hear they. I mean, they were just coming. And Kendra was of course, you know, I mean she was all excited. I was too, and I'm not kidding you. They were. It was kind of straight off. And when they popped up right there, they wasn't no fathom, Joe. I mean, they wasn't ten foot ten twelve foot. And I said, I said, shoot, it doesn't shoot that dude. Kendra, of course, of what, you know, shot what she this slick missed it. I mean she never cut a feather out of it. And they just blew up whatever was single. It's a single shot. And anyway, Kender had long face, and you know, I was, I was just sick far and I said, I said, just let's just coover jets. I said, they kind of blowed out in differrection directions. I said, let's just sit around a while. I said, him, dus liable start gobbling again. So anyway, to make a long story short, we set there about thirty minutes and in a minute, right off down the mountain there one gobble and hum, I said, I told Kendray, I said that AND's in trouble right there. And so we got down there and I got her dug in there and and uh, I called him and shet man here he come, just doing anything. And he come up there and he got up heard about thirty steps and I mean she killed him dead or in the markle down there. You know, that dude went the plopping and she goes, what do I do now, I said, jump back to get him, you know, seeing down there on top of old Turkey. But anyway, I mean I've had him close, but that's about as close as I mean, of course, but she was. It was. It was pretty awesome. One of my other grandsons, Aaron Ferguson, I called his first one up for him. We went out to their place out there and had went to morning before on Sat. We went on Saturday youth hunt and got after Turkey had set up a blind. They gobbled got hens with it and couldn't do anything with it. So I told him, I said, we'll go back in the morning. I know exactly what he's gonna do. So we got out there double early, and Aaron and I went across this little old cut. They got out there and pulled in on his leg. And there's a road up and then there's a skitter trail that runs down. Well, there's a big old oak tree, I mean a great, old, big oak tree. I set him on the one side there where the skitter trail comes down, and I just got on the side of the big oak and I called. When I called him, he flew off and he gobbled up in the main road. Or every time he says goble, I want you to gobble it. So I called him. He gobbled two three times in a little bit. I told Aaron, I said, now look, I'm gonna call him. Hens up first, they're gonna come down that skit trail. And I said, just let him walk by. And I said, when you see that gobbler, I said, he's gonna be bad close. He's gonna be ten steps or closer. Well, what I didn't realize when I sit airing up there was a little mound to dirt. He's sitting against that oak tree. But there was a little mound to dirt about three foot from him that was up. So that turkey he comes down through there and he gets the hens come. There was four of them, single file, and I'm watching him. I'm sitting there and I'm looking. I said, there goes one. He's right behind him. I could see he's fanned out and he's coming. And that turkey comes right in there and he gets right there and I hit that slate, called this a little bit, And he's only about twenty yards right there, and he gobbles indirectly. He starts turning. He's coming right to it, and I'm sitting there, like Andy is. I'm going shoot him shooting, Oh god, shoot him. I closed my eyes, you know, I closed my eyes. He's bad close. He steps up on that dirt mound and he's about three foot from that end of that gun barrel, and he shoots him and blows his head off, kills him dead as a micro right there. I get up and the turkey don't even flop. I mean, said, what are you waiting on? He said, Paula, I couldn't see nothing but that fan until he stepped right up on that deal look right, and he said, he almost scared He almost scared me to death, the old shy because he scared down. He couldn't see nothing but the fan. But the turkey stepped up on the dirt, maun and he's like, I mean, he's the gun barrel is right there, and he sticks his head up and he he took his whole head off. Usually that kind they miss they missed, but he was so close and had that gun barrel. It's the first one. I mean, he cleaned shot his head off. Wow, of that, I thought you were gonna say. All I could see was his head. Like, I didn't shoot because all I could see was he seen his head. Didn't need their turn you with no head, Clay. You remember when you were a kid, you first right when you first learned how to hunt, you started hunting with some of your buddies pretty close to here, you know, ten miles or so. And uh, you came in one morning saying that this bird came off the roosts, sounded like a helicopter. Yeah, yeh, did y'all kill it? Bird? You remember, No, we never did. Now that that was the first time. It was when I first started hunting by myself. And so you know, when you start hunting by yourself, you start noticing stuff you never noticed before, because when you're being guided, you you know your mentor is interpreting the world for you, you you know. But when you start hunting by yourself, you kind of start noticing stuff. And now we set up way too close. We heard a bird. Goblin set up way too close, and but we're in there way before daylight, and so we were set up good. But we didn't know this gobbler had a bunch of hens with it, and we heard. I wouldn't have known it, but I heard. I heard several turkeys fly down, and you know, I just maybe it's one of the first times I'd ever been that close and heard turkeys fly down, and so I was like, okay, that's what a turkey sounds like when it flies down. And then the gobbler flew down, and it was like, yeah, I told it, it sounds like a helicopter landing in the woods out there in the turkey hit the ground and went the other way. And we never even really were in the in the workings for that turkey. But uh yeah, yeah. So I had a guy I used to work with he come down. I invited him down one time. We were living on north of town at the time, so back in the mid eighties. No, that's not true, because it would have been probably nineteen, probably ninety or ninety one probably. Anyway, he come down from up at up around Ozark Hunt with me and spent the night. We got up next morning and it was it was lightning and thundering and trying to rain. Just a bad, bad morning, you know. But we wasn't gonna get a chance to go anymore. So we went out out west, pulled the end of the mountain, walked all the way into the low gap in the mountain, and uh, when he got Goblin time, it was kind of foggy. No, there was nothing Goblin nowhere. So I told Conrad, I said, let's walk out here east and I said, we'll just kind of set around a while. I'll see what happens. And anyway, we got out there and we sit out we sit out side beside, and I told him, I said, I'm gonna call a little bit and see if I get one to answer. So I called north. Nothing called again, and about that time you saw about him flying into you, there was three big jakes just lit just like we're sitting right here. I mean they just lit all around, I mean within five yards, I mean just three of them walking around, clucking, you know, like it. And I was gonna Conrade shoot shoot him, you know. Anyway, to make a long story short, I wound up killing a turkey, you know, instead of him. He wouldn't shoot, he couldn't get on them. So anyway, Yeah, I'm down. He thought I was a great little boy a tree. Well, guys, we've uh, we've told some good stories. I appreciate everybody coming. Anybody, anybody got any closing thoughts here? Just one thought from the guy used to hunt with Greg Burns. You'll always remember the ones you missed or you didn't kill just as much. That's exactly right, probably more. And that's what he said. He said, you will remember them more than the ones you kill. I think the last podcast, well, all the talking I've done, it was turkeys. We didn't kill any. And that's the truth. You'll remember the ones that you did not get. I think Greg ran into Ben rogers Lee, he did. He told me that, and I think Ben told him the story about her almost sitting on a rattlesnake that morning. Door yeah, and over west, Yeah, yeah, but yeah, keep the wild place as well. Keep the wild places wild. Corey. You are you hunting anywhere or other than Arkansas this year? Uh? I don't think we're going anywhere this year, Paul. Paul is not taking you somewhere. I looked at it. We went to Nebraska two years ago and then we got a plan. We're gonna go to Florida and we're gonna try and kind of work on our our grand Slam. Okay, so that's our that's our years. Yes, that's me and him's goal is to do that together. And we're gonna start. We're gonna go to Florida and and I gotta place in Mississippi weekend hunt. So we're probably gonna stop on our way back the Mississippi. I'll tell you Nebraska, and then I went to Arizona. That was one of the I went up in hunting the Indian Nations, you know a couple of years ago and are something and I'll tell you what it was sleeting that that was quite the memory right there. You know, that night we slept my tent up there, couldn't hardly breathe. You know, the altitude was so dad gum air than We had forty mile hour winds and it was thirty two degrees, you know, in that tent flaps flapping, but we heard eighteen different gobblers wow, and the guys with he killed one and I killed one about nine o'clock. So killed them quick, killed him quick, and you know, we come back to camp. We had to drive like three miles. We could see Colorado from where we were up on top of that mountain and to get phone service. And we come back and it was it was about one o'clock and it was supposed to be even worse. And we're sitting there and I told him, I said, we were gonna take a nap, you know, and disrest. And I I said, John, is there any reason we're not leaving here? We're gonna get up in the morning. It's gonna be thirty degrees twenty eight degrees and wind blowing. And he said, you know, you're right. We packed up and went to Gallot in New Mexico. We got out of there. Uh oh, hey, we got to end with a poacher story. Joe, did you ever catch any turkey poachers? And now that wasn't your general job, That wasn't that wasn't your boys. You know, I've I've got a couple of real good ones. It's just you know, now I can kind of I can talk about those. You know, this is a long time ago, this would have been, and this is what we needed. This is the kind of energy we needed. A good poaching story. This is the late nineties. I would say probably about nineteen ninety eight. We were in county north of US and at that time I was working with the Poor Service Leo and he's since retired from there, and we got an information of a bait side. So me and my partner, we've found this bait site. So we knew where it was at. We had real good information. But the problem is is you had to walk pretty good ways into it. And so we've made plans. You know, we knew this guy wasn't coming in there really anytime early. So the day that we decided we were going to go in there and you know and catch this guy, you know, it was season at this time. So we rode in there. I rode with the Fourth Service Elio and the undercover vehicle. We get two miles from it, the vehicle breaks down. I'm thinking, your government vehicle. It breaks down. I'm thinking great, So here we go. He's coming in there. So I'm walking. I take out walking, and I get probably within I don't know, quarter to a half a mile, and I can hear a vehicle coming. So at this time I take off running, and you know, and I've got my shotgun. Where are you running? I'm running down a road towards it. Yeah, I'm running towards this vehicle because I knew it was but there was still enough distance that I knew he was coming. We knew which way you come from, and he was coming into that bayside. So I'm taking off running and he beats me to it. So I just back off a little bit, and I yes, he beat me to it, got his truck parked and gets off down into his baitside, and I just pulled back a little bit, and I thought, I'm a giving time to get in there and get good and set up. So probably, I don't know, maybe ten or fifteen minutes, I hear the freaking gun go off. I hear a shotgun go off. So here I take off in there, running to him, and whenever he sees me, he sees me like I can't believe this. The Turkey's setting there, flopping his guns leaned up against a tree, and he looks around and he just takes off running. And I mean he just left. He just took off running and red handed, and the turkey and the turkeys setting up there, flopping corn everywhere, feathers flying everywhere. Here's his gun leaned up against the tree, and he's gone. You know, you couldn't have caught him if you hadn't wanted to. And this is mine. Oh truck's here, Oh god, yeah, oh yeah, it gets good. Yeah, yeah, we're not done yet. So I thought, well, what am I gonna do? So I'm a hollerrating, so I knew who it was. I said, well, you know, that's that's fine. We know who you are. I've got your gun and your truck. You say this, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, because I know he's not out there, you know, maybe a one hundred and fifty yards, but you couldn't caught him. I've done went two miles and then ran in there. That I'm not a heck, I m out of air by then. So yeah, so I've got his gun and I've got the turkey. We come out of the woods to the truck and by this time, the wrecker comes and picks our truck up, and I holler at him on the radio, so it's we'll come on down here. I said, drop our truck there and load his up. So we loaded his truck up on the record and hauled it to town, and I had the shotgun the turkey, and then we impounded his truck. So we get up to the jail, and so, well, just leave him in the woods. Oh yeah, you know, I didn't know where he is. Yeah, and I can think of another story up there where you loved a turkey hunt a guy hit the woods and call him the next day. But that's a different story. And so, and we knew he's gonna come up there, and we figured he's going to report his truck stolen. You know, that's the big thing when people flee, Well you know someone stolen. I mean, do you put a warrant out for their rest? And I'm not at that time. You know, we knew, we knew who his family was, we knew, we knew all about it. Did you have to take any pictures or anything? But like when you had the turkey, had the gun, Oh yeah, we had all documented everything. And he came up there to the jail. You know, we figured he was gonna report his truck stolen, and I said, why did you run from that? Was I wasn't gonna give you any other just walked in. Yeah, because we knew he turned himself in. Well, yeah, because he's wanting his stuff back. He wants his gun and he wants his truck. And then his first question, which you didn't get that, and so my first question was, you know, not anything else, but why did you run from me? And then he said, I don't know, you didn't come up with some excuse. So then I knew he had him, you know, because he didn't deny it then. So he was caught then. Yeah, So later we went through court and you know, he was found guilty and I think he actually played the case is what and what would have happened to that guy? Do you remember that guy at that time? You know he would lose his I don't remember you know exactly what that there you go, I don't really remember what the case, you know, adjudicated ass but you know now he would probably I don't know what baton turkeys is now as far as you know, the violation on that as far as points but you know, I don't know what tear it is or even And it got to where I didn't work a lot of game and fish stuff. We worked more my latter years, you know, just in last year we worked more recreation. You know, I've seen the transition from a lot of different stuff to worked heavy narcotics and right into here. You know, you work more side by side recreation, which stuff you know, lots of alcohol. But you know, I've seen the transition from where you was fighting a lot of narcotics to where a lot of it's legal. Now you've seen a complete shift. But there's tons of stories. You know, if you want to do the story, I can talk about a lot of them. Now you know I can't. And before you want to tell us the story about you were saying you had one that you came to mind that somewhere close um which as far as well you just when you were talking, you looked at Dandy and said, hey, I remember a story somewhere over by you. I'm the one that you might not remember. It was out west of town. I'd went out there scouting turkeys and heard twelve or fifteen turkeys, like three or four days before season, and I went out there two mornings in a row listening, and Joe came in there the one morning when I was there and he said, hasty we do in I said, well, I'm gonna be in here in the morning. Opening day. I said, there's turkeys in here, and he said, no, don't come in here and them. I do remember that one. He said, that guy's baiting them. And I said, oh, really, you're gonna be kidding me. There's turkeys there. He said, that's one of their governments. He said, don't come in here any more. He said, wait ten days and then come back. And so I said, okay. When he caught that guy, we got some information on that one. I was. I was with the Fourth Service then and a couple of people called me and said they found that bait. So me and another game, the fish officer, we went in there and we found it, and we came in there the next day and kind of like you said, we got in there really really early, and you know which one we're talking about on this, and we looked this thing over and we thought, you know, he's got to come up from this way, and so we just get set up there and sure enough, you know, turkeys go to Goblin, and what happens. He comes in the opposite way and I heard something, turned around, looked at him and he's looking right at me, you know, and he just and I knew who it was at that time. You know, I'm sitting there with a rifle. He probably thinks you're a turkey. He thought we were a turkey hunter, you know, and I'm sitting there with a rifle, you know. And once I, you know, anwunce who we are and everything, He's like, well, you know, I don't know what we know. I don't know nothing, you know, the basically, I didn't know nothing. And then I get consent to search his pouch. You know, it seems like, no, he's his backpack. Oh, I don't know nothing, And he gives me consent to search it, and I pull out the top of a corn sack and then it just he just it goes downhill from there. So yeah, and then we asked where he was staying. So we end up going on the west side over there talking to his father, and by that time, when we pulled up to camp, his father pulls up on it on side by side. It was an ATV at the time, and a turkey on the back. You know. It was just you know, and I'm sure they'll hear this. It was just up. It was just a hunch, and we said, we know you're baiting the turkeys, and you're just gonna have to take us to where you killed that one. He stucks his head and he says, okay you when he took us right to where his bait. And that's another storm. We called the record. We impounded both of those side by sides and everything, and there were ATVs. But it was just a hunch because we knew it. He had done been baiting turkeys, so we knew that one had to be killed over and he just came in and just said, I knew you did it. Take me to it. That's like a good parenting trick when your kid did something, you just hit him hard and they can sixth sense that since sense, especially in law enforcement. You cut them open and see corn in their belly, it might be a hit. Let me ask you this. Joe, years years and years ago, Uh, a friend of mine and I were hunting West Town here in a pretty popular area. A lot of roads go back in there, and we found a site I don't remember us calling the game warm because it's probably old, but feathers everywhere. I mean, it looked like a hundred turkeys have been processed in there. I mean, you know, maybe fifty, but I mean it just had you know, it was like at the back of this camp or something. I think I remember that, Yeah, you remember, because I think I think it was. Yeah, it was. It was in the eighties, yeah, and it was it was like a culvisac where there had been a camp. Well I don't know about that. This was off in the woods. Now we might have come to a culvisack, but y'all know where I'm probably talking about. You know, there's a big chicken farm there and you go over a hill and I mean it's just pick trails everywhere, and back in there, not very far from the main road, one of those main roads. It just looked like, you know, pretty substantial guy was with me, you know when he's pretty good turkey hunter, and he couldn't figure it out. It just looked like, you know, at least twenty five thirty turkeys been butchered there, maybe a hundred. I mean, it was just crazy. So I don't know why we didn't call. He might have called a game ward and I can't remember. But anyway, have you ever seen a sight like that where not that much? You know. I interviewed a turkey poacher one time, and we knew he was a very early turkey hunter. And he said his favorite time to go he could get his wife to dropping off. He wouldn't leave the house at ten o'clock in the morning. He said, if I can kill one, if I hear it, I'll kill it. If I can get a turkey to gobble, oh yeah, there you go. Yeah, And he said, I'll kill it. And that's how he done it. He hunted in the middle of the day. You know, because I wished i'd have known him that years ago. I would never have gotten up, you know, out forget chance killing. Oh yeah, and no one's out there. Oh yeah. That was a great, great ending car podcast. Thanks guys, really appreciate everybody being here.

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