In this episode of The FOXPRO Podcast, Jon Collins sits down with Bo McGuffey to discuss everything turkey hunting
welcome to the fox Pro podcast brought to you by Fox Pro game calls hello everyone John Collins here welcome back to the fox Pro podcast on this episode we have Fox Pro turkey staffer Bo McGuffy on the line and guess what we're talking about turkey hunting what's going on Bo you doing all right not much look forward to this past couple years because I know that means it's time to start chasing turkeys so yeah yeah we're doing so it's here yeah if we're doing turkey hunting podcast it's we're we're uh deep into the scouting and and season is just right around the corner that's for sure and and we are it's uh just uh what it opens up for us here in Kentucky on April 12th and yeah there's some other states that's already open Florida's been getting with it for for a couple weeks at least now and I think maybe another southern state or two have may have opened by now I don't know maybe Alabama maybe maybe Alabama maybe like a part of Mississippi or something because like I said I've seen a few people posting pictures of of other openers so yeah it's it's time yeah so definitely definitely looking forward to it I had some uh which I think I sent you the video I had some gobblers strutting here in the field just right behind my house I mean like 80 yards from from the dick yeah you sent you sent whenever I first saw it it was there one you know out the field and I thought that's neat and then I clicked on it and there's three more coming up over the hill and it was be they were beautiful too in that in that field yeah they I'd been hearing them last few mornings they're you know they've been roosting in the holler behind the house but uh that's the first I've seen seen them in the field in the field you know put put you know I seen them every once a while in the winter come up in here but it's the first time I've seen them you know in their spring routine you might say yeah now there's a lots of people several people at work this week that I've talked to so they've seen birds out just just this week so now they I think they've definitely started feeling pretty good yeah more more and more all the time and it's time you know they need to start busting up a little bit you know always say you know you kind of figure out how many birds you got to hunt when uh when they finally bust out them flocks a little yeah kind of get dispersed out yeah and it's uh well you talking about seasons are not this weekend but next is Our Youth Season yeah yeah so it is yep next next Saturday next Saturday or this coming Saturday time this releases okay yeah we actually got Andrew Meyer uh Fox Pro marketing director he's actually going to be coming down to Kentucky for Youth Season bringing his bringing one of his daughters down they came down last year she killed her very first long beard so hopefully she can have a repeat yeah yeah no they yeah they had a they had a good time last year I remember seeing uh seeing you know you send me few clips of their kids killing them yeah Andrew's girl killed one and and Cody had singer from the office he brought his little boy down and heed boy down he killed a bird after they both got Birds down on the ground we had a little spot down there at dad that uh we had plowed up I was going to put a spring food plot in and uh they went down there and got to looking for arroe heads and they found two or three arrowheads while they was down they had a big weekend that's neat yeah definitely is but hey guys and gals uh just so you guys know Bo he's no stranger to the turkey Woods he's he's filmed and been a host of a couple different turkey hunting shows over the years uh bo and I actually started turkey hunting together back around I don't know 1995 is 96 somewhere the mid 90s anyway uh and my very my very first turkey hunt that I ever filmed uh was well over well over 20 years ago probably 22 or 23 years ago we actually took Bo's little brother out for the Kentucky Youth Season and man what a experience you you remember at Hunt oh yeah it was it was like yeah it was one of the first I mean we you me and you had killed a few Birds but I don't know that we'd ever had one that textbook it was it yeah I hope I never forget that one yeah you don't happen to have the the video around somewhere do you oh man that's I was actually talking some other day about that hunt and a couple others that you and I had filmed and I I can't find them nowhere yeah that was actually on Old tape you know oh yeah it had a little cassette tape that went the video camera and then you'd put it on a VCR tape yeah I know it I really wish we did have some of them old ones I didn't know back then I didn't know to hit record and not hit record we just started hit record soon as they started gobling and and just film and just go whole thing just go yeah yeah got the chasing the turkey down and recovery and all that stuff it was a fun fun morning I guess that was the I guess that was the first one we videoed very first one we ever videoed yeah yeah we I think we maybe done a deer or two or something like that the very first one I think it the first attempt at filming a turkey at filming turkeys yeah yeah and then we F I can still I think that I think the next one which I think was the same year was open morning and youill one up there on Skyline yep yep it wasn't I think that was the next one we filmed um probably it probably was yep that's uh and to this day I think it was one of the prettiest gobblers ever killed yeah it was it was beautiful yeah well it's uh speaking of all that stuff it's and all the hunting we have done over the years it's actually it's actually been a while since we've got to hunt hunt together it it yeah that was you know it's funny um the you know like you mentioned earlier the little show you know couple different shows we've done you know you had started uh the one the strut and blueg grass and I sort of took over and which was awesome and still very very grateful to have the opportunity to do it but the bad part was is you know it it cut in between you and I getting a hunt together and like you said Lord we started turkey hunting together forever ago but the last two years we haven't got to hunt together I I April 22nd 2021 yeah there you go we we actually got together one other time we took uh uh one of your family friends out there but but other than that actually us going out and what I would call us hunting together was April 22nd 2021 so I remember two years ago on opening morning you know my first time actually hosting a show by myself of course obviously wasn't with you um I ain't going to lie when I sat down or even when I was going but we got there and sat down I thought gosh this is weird like I'm I couldn't even recall an opening morning where you and I wasn't sitting together somewhere you know in the woods and it was but it was it was a little bit odd to be honest yeah yep last last two or three years been pretty pretty different from what I know as turkey hunting but we're going to remate that here and just yeah we'll take care of it this year yeah yeah but that that kind of reminds me too talking about that strut in the Bluegrass show I can't remember if it was the first season first season or the second season uh but there was one bird that I remember I was seeing before season started uh through my scouting adventures and I'm pretty sure was probably going to get on that bird at some point and and have opportunity at him but I remember I don't know it was halfway through that week of filming and we were trying to get birds roosted for the following morning's hunt uh you and Kyle Campbell were going to be out and we had a a mutual friend Merl hacker that was coming up and I was going to take him out and and film him uh but I happened to lay eyes on this particular bird that I you know was kind of kind of of keep an eye out for whenever we could get opportunity to get on him and what made this bird so special is he was a triple bearded bird you could you know when I first seen him uh through scouting uh when I glassed him up it was very apparent that he had a lot of beard a lot there was no there was no mistaking in that turkey yeah finally finally when that when that evening came when I spotted him again once season actually came in I'd been scouting Birds on this particular pasture Field Ridge and uh I knew where they like to fly up knew where they would you know they'd be gobbling from right there the following morning I knew how they like to fly down as soon as I seen him out there on that Ridge I knew exactly where he was going to go I just backed out there and let him do his thing and and and sure enough that that following morning you know told you you know this is what you need to do and you had been in that spot before I think we had you had filmed me and another guy killing a double on Pur but anyway worked out just perfect didn't it just T oh my gosh it wasn't I don't know 20 30 minutes after daylight you know he worked perfect and like you said I can remember that year you killed a bird open in morning and you had told me about the turkey but I'd never seen him and we were leaving in the truck if you remember and we drove up on him in the field and spot and but soon as I saw him I thought my gosh what beards and uh but you know you you and I are a lot of like yes NE killing but we're gonna kill the first goblin turkey that comes in and so that next morning you know there was a couple birds in there and all of a sudden he comes over the hill and you know you know I was you know I didn't care if it was him or not but soon as he crested the heel I was like oh that's that's there's no doubt it's him yeah there's no mistaking it talking about a paintbrush it was like paint brushes yeah yeah especially if he gets silhouetted I mean it was just like he had like you said I mean it was just it was wider than your hand you know sticking off his chest so yeah it was that was a that was a pretty neat one I kind of relived that because I saw you posted post a little video clip of Day on on Instagram yeah yeah yeah we were I was going back through old video and pictures and all that stuff and and still had that clip from where you all cut it out from that morning hunt well interesting enough well backing up just a little bit when when I saw that bird in that field that evening where we had Merl coming up of course we was W to get him on a bird pretty bad too but I was pretty confident I was going to be able to roost more than just that one bird I was thinking I was like you know I like Merl but I am not putting him on that turkey if you recall the way he shot it next morning I'm glad we did oh good grief not to not to bring up bad memories for him or nothing but good grief yeah worked out worked worked out just fine but yeah what I was fixing to say is I was actually back out on that property the other day and I didn't see as many birds as I'd like to out there uh but I did find a couple gobblers uh with a small group of hens and one was a Strutter and the other one was strut he was just kind of a looker bird you know yeah but the but the bird that's strutting he's going to he's going to be pretty close to the triple bearded bird oh really I think and of course you never know till you get up to him but I I know he's a double I know he's a double beard he's a very prominent double bearded bird cuz you know a lot of them that you kill they've got one big main beard and then they're second third and even if they have a fourth beard are usually just small they're they can be longer but they're just yeah thin nothing to them just thin yeah y well you know like a lot of times that main beard to be size of your thumb and the the multiple beards the sub beards will be like the size of a pencil you you know absolutely and it's it's so odd over the years how much in that one little area how many multiple bearded turkeys you know you and others have killed I don't know if that's a I don't know if that's a genetic thing yeah or what C what causes that maybe it's the water they're drinking I don't know but you're you're right and that year when you killed that bird we actually killed you know when we were filming that show you know here in Kentucky you only you get two tags so we'd film B killing two birds we film myself killing two birds and what we had to do we had to film seven days worth of hunts so when we were tagged out we would gra gather uh family and friends and start taking them hunting just to you know fill out the rest of the week well the deal was that year for whatever I don't know what was going on but we actually killed more multiple bearded birds that year than we did single bearded Birds single bearded yeah they all doubles and triples yeah and you know we mentioned Merl earlier if you remember the next year he come up and actually killed two turkeys on film and both of them trip both those turkeys had yeah which was crazy now now when we say they were triple they were you know pretty impressive bearded Birds too but they had just one main beard yeah and two smaller beards and that's kind of how the bird was that you killed as well but what's crazy about this this bird I'm talking about that I just found the other day the two beard that I can see really well are both the same size both the same size two big full beards you don't find that often so we've got we've got some dilling coming in for opening weekend and hopefully they don't listen to this podcast they probably will because they own it but uh we might hide that bird from we might say that's right yeah yeah but I'm sure will get on him I'm sure we will get on him he's right there in the heart of that uh you know I ain't going to throw out no names here but right there in the heart of our favorite turkey Place yeah yeah he's in he's in a good spot he is for sure yeah well well speaking speaking of scouting bow um I know you've been doing some scouting and stuff too um what's your favorite what's your favorite way to scout give us some scouting tips what do you look for when you're scouting and how do you go about doing it man the biggest thing for me when scouting especially if anybody's listening to this it's of newer to it is I think sometimes people hear the word scout they automatically think about deer hunting you know deer deer scouting and getting in the woods and looking for sign and stuff but you know you and I learned years ago that uh in my opinion the best scouting is is as least intr Le least intrusive as you can be um listening from a distance and if you're fortunate enough like you talking about pasture Fields uh even if you can just do it from a vehicle uh and glassing is is my favorite but but again my this in the spring my favorite way obviously early in the morning listen you know go around listen in different spots uh you know going back on what you talked about earlier when birds start busting up trying to get an idea of you know the birds that are in an area um you know and listenting and finding out where how many birds you got in area where they're liking Roost and another thing you know one thing I think that is important of that sometimes people Overlook it's easy to go out to a spot and you hear two birds start gobbling like okay they're in um but you know if you got the time to to hang around there for 30 minutes or so and let those birds fly down and see if they got a a particular area that they like to go to off the LM yep because you know you know this the best easiest way to be a good turkey collar is to know where the turkey wants to go exactly exactly you know and so so as far as the Scout like said listening glassing from a distance but but but if you can having a little extra time to to see where that goes once he hits the ground um I think can make a big difference and really pay off 100% you know you can take a world champion turkey CER the best there is and put him in a spot where a turkey don't like to be and take a subar a turkey callar right and and man and put him right where he needs to be where a turkey likes wants to go to man he make it World Champ look pretty rough yeah I mean you know you know how it is sometimes it's just little things for for whatever reason there might just be a corner of a field they prefer there could be there could be two ridges that you know to the eye they look the same but turkey just prefers one of them yeah you know they're just little things that uh that if you can pay attention that they like it can make a really really big difference yeah you talking about listening um you know that's probably my favorite way of scouting you know I love listening to turkeys G it's just it's enjoyable yeah exactly one those infectious sounds that you just can't get enough of yeah yeah yeah I mean it's you know we all look forward to season coming in but I won't lie once season gets here there's a little partment like dang I wish you know I wish we had another week or two where you just rode around and listen to them just enjoy before you know yeah before they start getting chased and and everything yeah and I think it which I always scouted hard but I think once we started filming that that strutting show cuz and just so you guys that's listen know what it it was strutting in the Bluegrass and what that was it was actually owned by Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife and they contracted uh contracted a company to fulfill you know to film it host it produce it and all that type of stuff and uh bo and I co-hosted that together and then I came on with Fox Pro and then uh bo handled it himself here for a year or two but the the premise of that show was we would film the first seven days of turkey season here in Kentucky we would film The shows that morning and then scramble back and take all that footage and produce a show and actually put it out that evening so it was a lot of stuff going on every single day and what made that show be successful and to make sure we were on birds and showing people turkeys every single episode was the preseason scouting yeah I mean it was just so so important and um it kind of changed how I Scout birds today and Y I was I was doing the same things but it's kind of changed in my in my life that I like the turkey scouting in a part of it just as much as I do or maybe more than the h i mean right now I'm in my favorite time of the year it is y keeping tabs on these birds you know yeah and just like listening every morning that I can I'm listening for bird somewhere you know we're lucky enough we got plenty of ground to hunt I'd like to have more you can never have too much you know you can never have too much that's right y but you know just every single morning I can I'm wanting to hear a bird gobble on the roost yeah and you know and we you know whenever we first started TR cting Glory we didn't know what we were doing you know years and years ago but you you hear Scout then you hear you know people say oh you want to find scratching and droppings and yeah you know and all that stuff which you know that's good but man you get in the woods walk and walking around you're just bumping turkeys and ex you know especially whenever whenever we started having some turkeys to hunt you know you you you'd have a season where if you wanted to take you know you might only have two turkeys that you could hunt right you know because there just wasn't many was like Hey I can't bump these things before season starts so I gota you know so yes the distance staying out there and trying to scout from a distance is is huge so that you don't bump those birds just like that you just I mean I that's key just what you said you know scouting from a distance you know that's like listening for Birds you know first off I want to be an area where I can hear good and hear as far as I can you know for birds gobling on the roof but just like you was just talking about there another huge key factor is I want to be in areas um that are safe like a safe area where I don't have to worry about disturbing Birds on the way in the listen and on the way back out on the way out that's right like you said especially if it's smaller properties and then you have other guys that hunt around it man if you bump a bird you might bump him onto the neighbor and he might not ever come back he might find out he likes it over better find likes it better over there that's no you're exactly right yeah so now you gotta be super careful because I like I said you know you know it could be if you're not you know a lot of people talk about hunting public versus private and all that stuff but on priv you know if you're on if you don't if you're on private and it's not a big property all it takes takes for him to take offline and and you're out of the ball game now because you can't go after him right so so no that's a great point no it uh so you know I tell you another another way I love to Scout and you mentioned it earlier is talking about uh talking about the glassing and you know I try to do that from as far off as I can as well you know just like you was talking about earlier we hunted lot of farm country and turkeys do love hitting these Open Fields at some point in the day so if possible you know I want a glass of property not just you know it's kind of like it's kind of like listening you know I want to listen every morning I can you know that's not always easy to do but when it comes to glassing it's the same thing I want to be glassing these properties just as much as I can as many days as I can and also I want to do it multiple times a day if possible you know if you're off on the weekend cuz just like you was talking about you know you got Birds that's going to roost in certain areas they're going to gobble from there and then when they fly down they're they're going to fly down in a certain spot and then they're just going to immediately probably take off to a destination it's already predetermined in their mind and a lot of times you ain't going to change their mind especially if it's a group of birds that's right so it's one say you know I want to Glass like right after fly down midm morning midday in the afternoon any of those times that that's possible for me to uh to do that I'm going to you know and the deal is I'm just Gathering as much Intel on my turkey daily routine as possible Yeah Yeah you mentioned the different times big time for me I think is that mid morning time because like you said they they're gonna go down they're gonna do something when they fly down you know they do their thing but it seemed like they they always have a spot they like to go to midm morning and you know again you see that you know Tom strutting for some H somewhere midm morning three or four different times and then it gets the time of season where he loses those hands and it's midm morning that's where I want to be I want to know you know hey where did it where where did that bird like to you know cord hands at yeah um so yeah no yeah not just the right off the the roof so that's a great Point talking about different times of the of the day yeah well it just like you know when it comes to afternoon I'm not really huge on afternoon um hunting for turkeys CU once it gets past about two or three o' I'm already thinking about roosting birds the foll mornings H but the thing is if if you do glass some in the afternoon like early after know U you'll find where those birds want to be during that time so say if you are hunting and you mess up on your first bird you know whatever happens or maybe you killed a bird and then you get with a buddy or somebody and you want to go try to get on another one you know that that scouting that Intel that you gathered could tell you say Hey you know I got this property right down the road leading up to season I'd glass it in early afternoon them birds like to be on this Ridge over here in the shade I bet we can find one right there and what what'll happen is guess what they're probably in that area you know right there pretty close yeah well and like you said I'm I'm just like you I prefer once especially once it gets mid afternoon to evening I prefer leaving Birds alone hunting them the next morning but going back to the small property thing I've had a couple properties that honestly they were just no good of the morning right and you know after scouting and hunting them for a few years they were just even in spots it was just Farm country a lot of Open Country and and they just they make a circle um and it was just it would you know those spots were evening spots it's just all there was to them so like I said that but but you wouldn't know it without scouting and hun because if you just you didn't Scout it and just went there of the mornings you'd swear up now there was nothing there right right and you wouldn't fool with it but so yeah no absolutely the multiple you know checking spots out different times of day is very very important well you know another thing too about the afternoon hunting you know if you're strapped for time you know your work schedule is pretty hectic and you're not going to be able to get off you just got limited time which you know Turkey season's a short season anyway it's only in for a handful weeks so uh yeah there's nothing wrong with with kill an afternoon afternoon bird you might not have the next morning to hunt you need go bird in so exactly another thing I think we got a touch on talking about the glassing and you mentioned it ter with listening to birds and we was talking about you know being safe making sure you're not bumping any birds um you know we'll talk about being low impact quite a bit and the same thing for glassing you know I want to do it as from far off as possible you know like you said the last thing you want to do while scouting is either make Birds nervous or even worse bump those suckers and the the thing is that if you can if birds will be left alone when they get in their normal routine man you can about set your watch by their routine but if you go and bump them out of it you know you disturb that routine it could be a whole different story it could be a it just it takes so you're right if they're not bothered man they can be predictable and and you know you've heard people say I don't know why y'all think they're hard to kill you know they do this every day but but all it takes is one mess them up one time and it's and it's a different Ball Game Y yep yeah hey do you ever um I don't know if you ever did this in the past or if you do it now I never did do it but I've started doing the last couple years and it's it's really helped out you ever used trail cameras to try Scout for turkeys during the Spring you know I I've started uh I'm like you never really had uh but I do have one property that it's not close it's not easy to get to it's you know 40 minute drive and so I do have a cell camera uh on part of it right now just just to monitor uh if birds are coming through there yeah I think it's a perfect perfect scenario uh for that tactic and another thing that I've done is even some of these properties right here that's close and where I where I'm putting these cameras at are in places that I've you know we've got on turkeys in the past or you know while we're in there hunting we've heard them gobble or whatever but where I'm putting these cameras at is in places it's hard to scout from glassing or listening to them on the roof that's right that's right there's a piece of property right here behind my house you know at willbo you know it's a big long narrow crop rdge uh you know this new property back here and if you go to there's no Tobacco Barn right there at the entrance you go to that Tobacco Barn you can hear about 3/4 of that place and you can see about half of it while glassing it's open so a lot of times you you're seeing birds and you're hearing Birds you know you're hearing birds off the roof and after fly down time you'll see them out there in the in the crop field but the problem is this dog legs on back around and how it lays if there's birds clear back in the back I can't hear them and there's nowhere you can get to hear them uh that we have permission on and the thing is about glassing it man you got to drive you either got to drive through or walk through all your other birds the first half of the property so there a couple weeks ago I went ahead right back here in that back corner and uh put a cell camera out and I've been getting pictures of one gobler that likes to be back there by itself to be there yeah yeah that's right and keep and plus that keeps you you know that keeps you low impact as well I got it out early and hopefully them batteries will last Plum up in in the turkey season yeah yeah but no it's a like you said it's just that's just another tool or tactic that you can use to be low impact and not be bothering those turkeys well after we got our scouting out of the way and opening day comes Ino you're most likely going to be trying to try to be on a roosted bird right yes yep I love roosting turkeys not always sometimes it's hard to do but but man I think it gives you a leg up when's the last time you hunted a opening morning that you didn't have a bird roosted uh last year really and it didn't work good yeah didn't work good it not go what happened did did you not find one or just didn't get time to go or no no spent um it was man it was so odd last year opening there last year opening day is still one of the oddest opening days I've ever had in my life uh on a beautiful piece of property that we felt certain there was Birds there they were there the weekend before whenever we scouted it and uh uh went down there the Friday evening before and like you said you know just barely tiptoed in glass some Fields didn't see nothing but it actually the wind had picked up and weather was sort of you know it was clearing out while we were there and it was coming rain and and check some different fields and never seen nothing um but still thought yeah there'll be Birds here and you know just went and listen the next next morning just to find one and and nothing go or anything but yeah so it was it was odd but uh like you said most generally especially opening day um I try to find one the day before and keep tabs on him through the evening and and find out where he's sleeping yeah and be waiting on even next morning well I know you like to be hedged over to the direction you you scouted that bird where you let you know he likes to go to but y just generally how far do you like to set up from on a roosted roosted bird gosh man sometimes I'm guilty wanting to get a little bit too close um but I want the better yeah that's me yeah I I want to be inside 100 for sure um and sometimes you know when you get in there in the dark it's sometimes you don't always do it but I like to I I like to be be I don't I don't want him to have to travel far to get to me right yeah so so yeah if I can get inside 100 I'm I'm going to do it when do uh when do you usually like to start uh you've got on to me about this before in the past uh when do you usually start sounding off these birds you know do you wake him up do you start calling to him wake him up make him gobble or do you let him do his thing or or what I'll I'll let him I'll I'll let him do his thing but but Lord you know me it don't take much to get me to start calling just because I love to do it um I'm I'm going to let him sound off I want him to wake up on his own now and now he can test my patience I'm not going to lie but but I'll give him a chance to gobble on his own some you know and and I know that some people don't like calling the turkeys on the roost right right and I'm not gonna I'm not gonna Hammer him while he's on the roost but I am personally I'm calling to that turkey once he starts gobling because I want him to know where I am right I don't I I don't want to sit there um and be completely silent and let him you know maybe you know a hands on the other side of him or something and generally he knows if there's hands roasted around him but but I I want him to know that there is a hand you know in my direction and at least try to encourage him to um to come my way or you know again just to know that I'm there is all I want to do and if if I call a couple times on the Lim and he answers me I'm probably good and I'll leave him alone okay so just so just a little bit of soft calling just a couple little small series just to let him know know you're there and then once he hits the ground is when you going to start pouring it to him oh once he gets on the ground he better get ready fair game he ears he better have his ears ready to be filled up with y h he better be ready he better be ready to Gob because that that reminds me of that and it's the last year that that we got to hunt together it was at opening morning down there in houstonville we had roosted like I can't remember was like four or five gobblers that was together yeah there was four I think property yeah and we end up calling them all in it had an awesome hunt I mean shot one right off top of the decoy but I remember we roosted those birds night four filmed them filmed them flying up we knew exactly where they was at exactly where we needed to set up we had the game plan we was going to take a full Strutter in there with a feeder hen off to the side and you know put a hen right on the ground out we had you know just man what you know a game plan had it right I remember walking in you stopped me when we got down in the bottom you said now let's not all of these birds until they hit the ground and I like well do whatever you want whatever you think yeah's let's wait till they get on the ground before we ever call I said sounds good you know awesome bow was on the shotgun we had a boy named Kyle cam on the camera and I was just I was there enjoying the show kind of helping along calling if need be which Bo don't never need me to call but anyway him Burger hammering on the Roose the sun is start you starting to be able to see pretty decent and they're still on the limb and going on and on and on and all a sudden right out in front of me to my right where Bo and Kyle is with the shotgun and camera I hear y y them Birds was hammering I said B couldn't stand it and said so I said you you might forgot about this but uh I said you know what I want to call I want to make you Birds gobble so I get call to them well when I call to them they get the hammer all this stuff well I see you kind of move your body a little bit and turn and say something to Kyle looking back at me with his scow on your face and I what what the Hecker talking about whatever anyway the rest of the morning plays out just perfect birds come up there we had one bird that hit the Strutter and was beating up on it so bad it knocked our fan off the Strutter so then we had this one bird fighting a Strutter we had one bird fighting a fan that was on the ground and then we had a third bird that was up on top of our hand decoy had it mounted well that's the one B ended up shooting awesome morning one of those just epic epic epic you know Turkey hunts well we jump up woohoo and high fiving and stuff and the first thing Bo says to me after we're done celebrating boy you couldn't stand it could you you just had to call to him while they was on a roof I said I said what are you talking about you started calling first he said nope that was a hen that was roosted on down the tree line well I didn't know I thought it was you started calling so I started calling too you don't remember it do you I do remember that I remember I remember it I remember it plain as day yeah I for yeah I remember that and and like you said it was hard it that was one of the few times I've had a hunt where it was hard to shoot one because I was scared to death I was going to kill you know a hen or another gobler or something there because they were in such a pile right in front of us yeah hey I tell you I tell you another thing about that that morning in that instance after I called that bird you know I heard a tur I heard a hen yel I thought it was bow yeah ended up being a real hen just right on down the fence line from where we was at was in a grow up pentro um but anyway after Bo looked over and scalled at me guess what Bo got to calling to him on the roost as well that's I said if if you're going to call I'm calling you w going to get out well let me ask let me ask you that in that scenario let's say let's say somebody has a similar scenario to what we had bird you Roost a turkey and you know he's got hands with him yeah okay so he's you know definitely gonna have hands when he hits the ground and you've seen them hands come to that that field every morning are you that morning are you just going to sit there and let them play out because you're scared the hands might go the other way or you gonna to them I think you got to call to them a little bit you know you got you kind of got to test them uh those situations are are tricky uh for multiple reasons one of the things is you never know one these you always have a can have a jealous hand or two that does not want their gobblers going to another H or another group so they'll they'll U head off the other direction and have them gobblers in toe uh that's happened a bunch uh so I think that's one of the things you kind of got to you got to look at if if you're calling and you can hear them or you can see them and they're hedging your way you know you can let it play out however you want but if you see them you're calling and uh you know the bird the gobler might be fired up but if you can tell they're working away from you you might as well shut up yeah cuz probably the more you call the faster that's going to happen and probably the make it even more certain that it's going to happen but maybe if you calm down that that hen that lead hen might decide to come on over in that feed area that they like to be in and it's like that morning there where we s we scattered those birds like crazy we knew they wanted to come to that little bottom field bottom where we were at and that's the reason we took that full Strutter we took a full Strutter in there because it was a big group of birds they were probably a big group of birds the year before probably Jakes or twoy olds the year before uh so we knew they was going to want to whoop up on something and man it did it worked out perfect but yeah those situations like you're talking about there are are are tough uh yeah they can be they can be really tricky on how you want to handle it yeah uh one thing for me is I'm always going to call to them I I don't want a deer hunt turkeys I want to call the turers up and so I'm I'm going to no matter what's going on I am going to call two birds in that situation but the amount of calling that I do and the type how aggressive I am with that calling might be different uh one way or the other to answer that question yeah I yeah hey speaking speaking of turkey coling and we've got to throw this in here one of these constants of me and Bo hunting over the years and doing these shows and stuff one of the constants is being Fox Pro turkey calls yeah a lot of people don't realize still every single year and I see it on Facebook and stuff I see it on the fox Pro post when we post stuff about turkeys you always have somebody like well you can't use electronic turkey calls in my state well guess what you can't use them in a lot of States you can use them in a handful but we're a lot more than just electronic game call company Foxpro has a huge huge line of turkey calls we've got like it's either five six or seven different diaphragm combo packs we have two separate lines of pot calls and that's one of the things new for 2025 we put out an additional pot call line called the Crimson hen series we've had the honey pot series out for several years it's been a favorite amongst a lot of turkey hunters one of my one of my fa calls that I've ever ran in my life but this year let's go back a little bit the honey pot series watch that is is a honey locust pot and the surfaces that we have available still today are the Slate Crystal uh and there's a a ceramic and a tip over that is glass over slate well this year we come out with the Crimson hen series and it's kind of played right off that pretty similar design but we're using a different wood it's a Brazilian cherry wood it looks it's a they're beautiful calls oh if you just if you just look at if they were just laying there and look at them you you'd almost swear you know one of the custom call makers yeah they're a really really nice looking call yeah and and they and they sound just as good as they look sound very good yeah there was slate Crystal ceramic we added an aluminum this year and that aluminum is is is nice you talk about ringing I mean it's a nice call and then there's a we added another tip over it's glass on top slate on the bottom you know there's you know that tip over idea has been around a little while different people have made that call um and I've always was always want to hesitant to have that type of call because I just thought it wasn't as good a quality just to be honest and that new tip over is it's it's one of my favorites to be honest the Slate on the bottom and the glass on top man that's it sounds so good so easy so easy to use it's so versatile I mean you can it can get loud and piercing and make bird shot gobble then you can get soft on it with that glass and finish them off and if you want to get even softer man you flip it over that that slate disc that's on the bottom man that thing talking about some sweet sounding purs and stuff Pur and cl to finish the bird off it's it's it's it's a great great series I highly suggest you guys go check it out you can find it at gofoxpro.com uh you can find it at a few different big box stores and a few other places as well there's several Pro Shops and small mom and pop shops all over the country is carrying those calls they've been you're going to like them go go see if you can find them on another thing too we've also added four new box calls we've really up the box call game and uh man there's some there's some nice box calls that you need to check out that we've got out there we've even got a all weather one um man and they sound they sound great and then of course we've got all if you're a diaphragm person we've got tons of different uh combo packs for diaphragms my personal favorite is the spur taker combo pack it's got a modified batwing in it it's got a modified combo cut and a modified split V and all three of them in that pack are absolute money I mean do so much with them so versatile you can CL be soft on them cluck and perr and they'll handle a lot of volume too if you really want to get the hard cutting and yeling you know if you need to be aggressive with birds or going out trying to uh try to strike a bird you know running and gunning and stuff yeah the Batwing in that one the gobble was it gobble snatcher I think I think that's that's in the beard that's in the beard taker beard taker okay I really like I've got where like that one yep and then the the Batwing and the other one in the spaker pack is that hanis hen that blw y yes hey it it was still crazy to may this year at nwtf the amount of people course you know in the Predator world you know you all are kings and Lord everybody coming up there W to talk about uh predator calls and they see turkey stuff and theyd say is that fox Pro you know it still amazes me um that you know people just don't realize the amount of turkey turkey lineup That Fox Pro offers yeah the the Predator stuff overshadows it because we've been so Stout in that market for so long but if you're a turkey hunter listen do do not skip over the turkey col Fox Pro you will absolutely love them guarantee it guarantee it all of them made up in Pennsylvania I mean just just check them out you like them hey another one thing I want to add with the turkey cin kind of get back to the main part of the podcast here is I think a lot of people get uh I don't know what what the word would be to use almost like they're uh intimidated with with calling the birds and stuff and because all these videos you know I get on Tik Tok and all the stuff and I'm flipping through here and seeing all these crazy professional turkey collar stage collar and they can make so many awesome sounds with a diaphragm and a friction call and stuff I'm like man how are they producing that type these bubble clucks and whistles and wnes and all this crazy stuff and I think I'm afraid that some of our newer generation that's coming to the sport when they see that stuff like man they think they've got to be able to do that too um which is awesome if you can if you can man more power to you more power to you that's right I want to stress to everybody and you can you can go in on this tuo see what you think um I think you need you can actually just take if you can if you can throw some sweet yels out there really all you need to know how to do is Yelp if you can yel and you can control your yels and you can do different volumes of Ys you gonna call up gobblers you're gonna call up yeah you do not have to be a professional caller to kill turkeys absolutely not do not I think I think first master of yep then a club you then you can string those together to cut at bird you know cut and yel at them and then the last thing is purring and you know I think if you do those three you can do it all you can kill every bird That Ever Walked yeah especially you know again you know say somebody's you know new or like you said younger generation getting into it with you talk about the friction calls the glass calls the Slate calls if you get one in practice man you can so easily Yelp and cluck and purr on those calls and like you said with a mouth cough you can just get to where can yel a little bit you know just so you don't have to move when a bird's coming in y um I you know adding to that I think the big thing with Colin it's not how good you you actually sound but it is uh Rhythm and Cadence you do want to you do want to sound like a turkey you don't want to you know and going back to the Scout and man if you're ever on a flock of turkeys and on a morning and the hands are actually you know the hands are really talking and active spend some extra time and listen to them uh and Lord you can go on YouTube look up you know what I mean look up you know wild turkey hen and uh and listen to how a hen actually sounds but because you're right she's got a rhythm to her Yelps um she she can speed it up or or or you know or be more soft with it uh but it's all about Cadence and Rhythm yes just sounding like an you know it's not I you know this you know Lord we've heard turkey we've heard hens in the woods and they sound awful as far as their actual sound but they still always have that same Cadence Rhythm and and exactly and that's you're you're 100% right right there I mean uh it's just like it's just like our voices everybody's got a different voice and some of them sounds sweeter than the other and that's same thing with with the H with the hens and I mean you know long as you've got that Rhythm and Cadence um you'll be able to call turkeys you don't have to sound just like a world champion no not at all and like I said it's um you know you know like us you know a h she's she's going to have emotion in her in her column there's going to be morning she's excited there's going to be morning she don't talk much you know so U and you hit on volume you know don't you know one thing I think I I see especially newer Hunters do that's a mistake is every time they call it's like the same six yels or you know the same little scenario um change you know you know one time yel a couple times then then you know seven or eight times but don't don't just constantly sit there and do the same call over and over and over change it up and add some realism and it make you know just little things like that going to make a huge difference yes yes for for sure and another thing to add to that when you hear people calling and stuff it's just like I mentioned the spur taker combo pack earler those three those three different diaphragms uh I like all three diaphragms in that pack and I run all three of them what I consider very very well um the thing is B runs them very well and even better than I do but the thing is B can take those same three diaphragms and he's going to sound completely different far as voice and stuff that I do that's right so like you like you might come by and and like say if you come to the nwtf convention you might hear bow over calling like man that sounds awesome I need I want that and then you grab the diaphragm and you you start yeping on it you don't sound the same well you don't have to worry about sounding just like bow you just need to have that same Rhythm and type stuff that Bose's putting out there and you'll still have Birds gobble you'll still have birds come strut right up here into your gun barrel yeah and and like you said it's you have to try different ones because me and you can take the same exact call and we're going to sound different definitely you know what I mean you know our mouths are shaped different our pallets are different U so so yeah absolutely you know don't and don't think just because somebody uses a call you don't think sounds very good Lord that might you know who knows that might be the call you need hey tell you another thing just I said you know they might grab a diaphragm they don't sound as good as you they might grab the diaphragm and sound a lot better than you Bo sound and sound a lot better it ain't gonna take much it ain't gonna take much so I just wanted to throw that out there just because you know I I'm hearing terms in the Colin world now that wasn't even a term just a few years ago you know yeah like what are you what are you talking about I'll have somebody hey like Jon hey Dad you you do this on the diaphragm you know how to do that such and so I was like what are you what are you talking about what are you even talking about well such and so he been doing it on Tik Tok like I don't know I can I can yep at them you know I don't know what you're talking about you know and it's good to watch those you know watch some videos of those guys because you know Lordan they sound like turkeys you know oh go oh my God it's unbelievable how good they sound uh but don't think that you have to sound and and I mean like you said they can they can cut in ways that you know and make those wines and like said Bubble they do they do so much it is very intimidating U and like you you know you were saying ear especially if you were somebody new just getting into it I can't imagine because I don't think I mean yeah they always had Grand National Champion calling contest all that stuff whenever we were knew but didn't nobody call like that no no no and and hey if you can grab diaphragms and do it man send us a video I want to see and hear it yeah because I it's very impressive it's very impressive oh oh yeah no for sure I just want to put on her yeah just to add that you don't have to be able to do bubble clucks and wines and chirps and and crying and all that stuff hey if you y you can kill turkeys and then if you pluck and purr and cut hey even even better better you kill you and to that though you know some you know you whenever you first start calling yeah you're not and who knows you may never be able to call that good but it's like anything else to get better at calling you gotta practice yep yep you know don't don't don't start two days before season trying to learn how to call and and and get frustrated with yourself that you can't sound it's it's like anything else if you want to be good at it you gotta put time in with it and work at it that's right and something that's going to Trump all of it anyway and this is big in the KY Colin world and I always talk about this this is is woodsmanship like we're talkinging about do put your scouting together set up on birds where you need to where they want to be and you don't have to do a whole lot of col get bird get them tagged 100% let's uh let's move on from at B real quick before we had to get off here tell us tell us a little bit about you about some decoy uh tips how you like to run your decoy spreads you don't have to name no brands of decoys or nothing like that just tell us what style of stuff you like to run how many decoys you'll usually pack and how many decoys you'll usually put out and what the pattern is and you know you know heck we can talk about decoys for a long time but but the majority of the time whenever when you know when we do a normal setup it's GNA be a a Jake like a half three4 strut Jake with a h on the ground in front of him and then we usually set a feeder that feeder we might put it 10 15 yards out to the side of the pair Y is generally what what we're running for for the majority of our setups is what we're doing right right y y and and a lot of times you know that's a that's not a very um it's not a dominant look you know all birds most almost 99% of you Birds would feel comfortable come we've run that type of spread for for years for years for several years yeah now sometimes and we've talked about this on past um podcast there is one thing that we'll substitute out every once in a while sometimes we'll St we'll take that half strut three4 strut Jake out we'll put a full strut decoy in there yeah now that full Strutter that we use is actually a jake full strut decoy uh but we put a full fan in it and I'm not saying you have to do that but it's kind of like one of those things that makes it a subdominant gobler what it does it makes it look like a little bitt old two-year-old that any adult bird thinks he can go in there and whoop so that is one thing that we do a lot of times we get on a group of birds seems like it's usually money there but you probably had the same outcome even if you was just running the but it's something a little different yeah yeah it it is a little bit different but going back to running that half strut 3/4 strut Jake with a hand on the ground in front of it and then a feeder or looker or whatever you want to have off to the side of you know 10 15 Steps whatever you're almost like you'll call in two different uh mindset of gobblers you'll have birds that want to come in there and whoop the f out that Jake I mean just whooped the far put on a show well every once in a while you'll have a bird and I don't know if it's happens from birds that have trouble with groups of Jakes or what but they'll start coming in and you can tell the demeanor difference on them you can almost kind of see what's going to happen once they get within you know 20 yards of you but instead of going over and whooping up on that Jake they kind of skirt off to the side and try to strut in between that Jake and that Peter and trying to cut AR they try to push her out of there like Rob so if you yeah no I yeah to to add to that if I if you're doing that and we've done it in the past before messed up with it but yeah take that other decoy and get her get her out there don't be scared to put move on out there pretty good ways so that if that bird is a little bit scared of the Jake you know he feels comfortable cutting in there yeah my my biggest tip with that is is when you're placing that decoy spread I'm usually got that Jake and like the very best shot you know exactly where I want the goer well the next the second best spot to have at gobler is where I'm putting that offset in you want to make sure you can shoot that you don't want have to move hard left or right to get to that offset bird cuz like I said a lot of times instead of come for whooping up on that Jake they're going go try to cut off that uh that side chick can over there that's right yeah that's exactly right and and well you know I know we talked about it a lot but going back to scouting so much of our scouting depend determines what what kind of decoys we're going to use yeah because it does it does you know it's if if we got a spot where there's you know say a pair or three goers running around you know was like yeah let's take that Jake or full Strutter in there because they ain't gonna put up with it but if there's a bridge where there's been a bird ran off and he's timid we're not you know we're just might take one H out there exactly so so so again going back to that Scout if you have the you know if you're lucky enough to have a spot where you can watch birds and see yeah see see their demeer see how they act are they aggressive are they not um and that you know that that could really determine what kind of decoy setup you want to go with had a had a bird just two seasons ago that I just went in there with a lone hen worked out perfect worked out perfect you know and the reason I did it was because we was having we had a gang of Jakes is I can't remember it was a huge group of Jakes it was either six or seven something like that and man they went anytime they'd see a gobler out somewhere they ready to whoop whoop you know you know they just gang up on them and go so I did not want to take a jake Deco in on that place I could I could have put a single Jake I turn it worked out fine but it could have right it could have I know it I know it worked out right what I did do with a single hand yeah that's my second bird last year I killed him last day of season and again lucky enough had a spot where I could watch the turkeys and there was a there was a group of three that I wanted get I just never could get on them uh but there was one Bird by himself that they had ran off and hung closer to uh to where where I was hunting and I went after him that last evening and like you said I was like hey I'm not chance would I love to watch him come in here and whip that Jake decoy AB absolutely but I'm not gonna chance it cuz I knew he' been Whi before so took uh I actually had a feeder and a looker hand two hands y he come in never gobbled come in the field called to him he went to Strutton and you know 15 minutes later he was bumping up against the decoys rest is history so yeah so so yeah now again it goes back to scouting uh don't overlook you know judging attitudes of the birds birds in your area and how they're how they're interacting with one another Bo before we jump off here I want you to uh I'm going ask you one more question just get your opinion what what are what do you think is the biggest mistake or a couple of the biggest mistakes you see turkey hunters make you know you've took a lot of hunters over the last few years especially filming that fish and wildlife show you know we got a pull from you know we might be taking somebody from their office that you don't don't even know uh from taking friends and family or maybe some of the mistakes you've seen me bumble around and do over this many years we've hunted together but what do you see is maybe the biggest mistake you see a turkey hunter make I would say as far as new Hunters people that haven't turkey hunter much I think the biggest thing is um is not respecting how good turkey sea and how good you need to be hid and and to be when a bird is approaching you have to you can't sit there with your gun you know laid across your lap or just laying down to the side you you have to be in a position where you're ready where basically all you got to do is Click your safety lower your head to the stock of the gun and you're ready to go yeah yeah um that's one thing I see and then you know I just you know going back to you you and I love decoys you know just because it's so fun um but I do think turkey hunters and lot people that have gotten into it recently well the decoys are so good it's uh they rely on so much yeah people don't don't take the time to learn yeah yeah yeah and they don't learn turkey you know how how to how turkeys communicate truly how to Turkey call how you know yeah to really uh that that's one thing I think that uh if like I said if I was getting into turkey huntting now and I truly wanted to learn how to turkey hunt if you're really wanting to take your game up to the next level you know hunt without decoys and learn how to call turkeys I tot totally agree with that yeah I mean um your most important asset you have when you're in the turkey Woods is your calls and you you calling uh don't yeah don't get too hung up on your decoys that is a that is a big one you know if yeah it's just like if somebody walked in here right now and said you got to stop taking one of the two out for the rest of your life turkey hunting you need to either lay down all your turkey calls or lay down all your decoys I'm I'll burn them decoys right in front of them no way I'm picking the decoys you got to I'm a caller anyway I want to call coyotes I want to call Bobcats I want to call Fox I want to call deer I want to call turkeys I want to call Elk I don't want to decoy them I want to call them yeah now now the decoys are great they're a great tool to have in you bag great and and and and you know you man we've had a blast with them they're a blast watch put on a show so much fun yeah there's so much fun but it does but I'm go you know when you and I got into it at that time I'm glad we learned to hunt like you said woodsmanship scouting col I'm glad we learned that side of it yeah uh so so like I said I guess that's a couple just small things that uh I've got two little ones and one of them is Right dead on with yours I got one for new Hunters I got one for for people that's been in the game for a little bit for a new Hunter is movement they they move at the wrong time or like you said they don't respect how well they can see and think they can get away with some yeah form of movement and it it bites them in the butt so yeah movement and plus like you said of not being concealed enough people getting out there on a on a tree that that's you know no bigger round than your leg or or no cover around it and they just get picked off get picked off from a long ways off and even if they're set set up in setting up in direct sunshine you know everything glaring that's huge yeah y uh you know and older turkey hunters do that too you know one of those last years we hunted we was behind this we was behind the house here and this was a big double bearded bird too I don't know if you remember this I roosted a bird and he come right out there in front of us sun was coming up behind him man you could see them two beard sticking out just beautiful and he stayed out there about 80 yards we was on a big white oak tree and um just the color difference of that white oak and the camo we were using we stuck out like a sore thumb and he he's nervous he didn't come down there yeah he was not going to have nothing but either that or you move you moved probably what the deal was you just didn't want you just didn't want me to kill him all it was Hey and then my my second part to all that for more of a somebody's been in the game for a little bit doing too much you know I I see people push Birds you know they end up making Birds call shy and then they then they get to complain man all these birds are call shy around here this year I don't know what's going on not realizing they did it theirselves but yeah doing too much if you realize that you ain't going to kill a bird don't push him if you can back out there without bumping him come back and fight him another day and you'll probably get him another day but if you if you push in on him and try to do too much and you end up bumping him you're probably going to have a rough season yeah and and you know I gu I'm sure that you all talk about this with your predator hunting um especially for somebody because you know there's a lot of people out there that might only have one or two spots to hunt if you only got a couple places you man you can you can burn a spot up quick 100 going into the same tree every day and coling you know you have to if you if you only got one spot or twoe it's small properties you got to Baby them you can't you can't run them in the ground the first week I totally agree and that does that goes right along with with coyote hunting that's one of our biggest questions how often can you go back and hunt the same property yeah yeah yeah you can go as many times you want might not be the smartest thing in the world D might you know and you know last thing I know you just said a couple here we are still talking about but one thing that I sometimes I I've actually got to where I quit telling people people just to be honest um but so many people think that with turkeys that after opening week it's just over that that they're done they're not you know it's season's too late blah blah blah um I can't speak for other states but I know here in Kentucky that last week of season it can be absolutely Dynamite because they've lost their hands um and they get almost stupid in my opinion oh it's uh it's 100% I I actually saw a post the other day boy out Miss um somebody that's been in the hunting industry for many many many years uh was going off on you know Missouri's fishing Wildlife saying that the season opens up too late and they need to move it up birds or be done before see all this you know just garbage um yeah yeah if if you can if if you've got birds that don't get messed with if you you know now this is one of those things you know you got some of these Northeastern states and some of those southern states too get AB have so much hunting pressure because get Hamed and so it's a lot of those States it's it's hard to find Birds late in the season that hadn't been fooled with that's true but if you can if you can find a bird that hasn't been hunting and it's a last week of season that's the easiest bird in the world to call up kill oh it's it'll make you feel really good about your call you feel like a champ boy yeah and you know and you know and we've seen also we've had a bird or two open a week that you know maybe we we do bump or we just can't get on him leave him alone rest of the season leave him alone and then and you know like you said if you're in an area where you're fortunate enough nobody's going after him every day yeah that last week he's done cool off now you might have to change your approach on him a little bit but you can go right back in there you know after he's woke up with hands around him for a month and a half or so and all of a sudden he wakes up all by himself man yeah he's lonely let for a few days thinking about it thinking about the good old days when we had ladies all over him oh man it's it's a I think it's such a fun time to hot it definitely definitely is definitely is well Bo we appreciate you coming on here today no like I said I look forward to it ever since you've asked me to do it the first time and um again I just enjoy talking turkey but but uh like like we said earlier we I know that means that we're going ready to start chasing them so yep looking forward looking forward to spending another turkey season with you too yeah that's right just a couple weeks and we'll be doing it hey you guys that's listening if we intrigued you at all with our turkey talk and you looking for some new turkey calls go to gofoxpro.com you will not be disappointed several different turkey diaphragm combo packs to choose from guarantee you'll find something that you like and you'll be able to run great two separate lines of friction pot calls got the honey pot series and the Crimson hen series and then we've got four new box calls if you're a box call type guy go check them out we've got some really awesome new box calls that you will gu that I guarantee you that you'll love go check them out gofoxpro.com we hope everyone enjoyed this episode we hope you join us again right here on the Foxpro podcast