Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] Speaker A: Here at the Pennsylvania Game Commission, our passion is wild. Tune in to our podcast, call of the outdoors, as we discuss all things related to wildlife hunting, habitat, and conservation across the Keystone state. Hear from men and women who have a passion for the outdoors and who value and work to preserve our state's wildlife resources for current and future generations.
[00:00:25] Speaker B: Hey, I'm Matt Morett with Pennsylvania's call of the outdoors. We got a real special guest today, one that I've had the privilege to share many campfires with. And a lot of you may know who he is, but I want you to know who he is as a hunter and a conservationist. My good buddy, Mister Blake Shelton. What are you doing?
[00:00:43] Speaker C: You know where I am right now? I'm up here on, behind the north field where you said you found the mother lode that time.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:00:53] Speaker C: People are starting to find. Find morels, but I haven't. I've not found the first one yet.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: That's because you sold the best morale place I know. You got a couple minutes? We can talk about some hunting.
[00:01:04] Speaker C: Let's do it.
[00:01:05] Speaker B: I know you're probably sick of talking about the other stuff. I figured we just have a little campfire since we're all quarantined.
[00:01:12] Speaker C: You know what sucks is because of.
Well, it sucks on many different levels, but because of this corona deal, that's the first time me and you have turkey hunted in this is, what, how many years?
[00:01:28] Speaker B: 16.
[00:01:30] Speaker C: This is the first time we're going to miss it. And that might be the only thing that I actually appreciate about this coronavirus, now that I think about it. Hey, you know what? You've killed enough of my Oklahoma turkeys over the years, and I've not once received an invitation from you to hunt one in Pennsylvania. And I'm not even saying that right now because I think you're going to now invite me. I'm just hoping that somebody that's listening to this, that lives in Pennsylvania might invite me to come shoot one of them eastern turkeys, since you're not going to.
[00:02:08] Speaker B: All right, well, I'm sure that invite list will come on strong, but you know that you're welcome to my house anytime you want to come kill something. I know you want to come bear when things slow down, you definitely want to come bear hunting.
[00:02:21] Speaker C: Oh, I definitely want to do that. That's always been on my bucket list. You know, for me, I think bears, because now we're starting to have a few in Oklahoma. Down in southeastern Oklahoma. Actually, I think it's more than a few it's getting to be a lot, but because it's something that is, like, only something I ever saw on magazines or television growing up, I'm just the idea of being able to, you know, walk out your back door and go set up and go bear hunting is there's. I mean, I can't even believe that that's an opportunity, actually.
[00:03:01] Speaker B: It's kind of crazy. I did buy a bear tag this year, and I would have. I would have tried to shoot one if it came by, but it just didn't come by.
But, you know, a lot of people, obviously, Blake, they know what you do for a living. I mean, everybody does. And I know a different Blake that we shared 15 years worth of campfires with. And I'd like our people here in Pennsylvania a little bit about Pennsylvania that you might not know, but then again, you're smart enough and study enough that you probably do know. But, you know, here in Pa, we have real dang close to a million licensed hunters, and we're only number two to Texas. And as you know, Texas.
[00:03:43] Speaker C: Is that, by the way, is that recent? Because I thought you guys used to be number one, right?
[00:03:48] Speaker B: Well, we used to have 1.3 million hunters. We've always fell short of Texas, just the simple size of it. And, you know, there's just a lot of people that enjoy hunting up here in the outdoors. And, you know, obviously, we've been through a whole bunch of my careers together because you've, you know, I met you went back in the days when I worked in Hs and then over to zinc and Avnx, and, you know, now I'm working for the government. And, you know, you and I have had this discussion last spring when this was all going to happen. But I'm not going to lie to you, it's my most favorite job I've ever had in the first twelve months. And if they still will keep me another twelve months, you know, we're doing some cool things and, and, um, you.
[00:04:31] Speaker C: Know, honey, I gotta say, you know, as somebody who I grew up in Oklahoma, really, the only places that I've ever been a resident of are Oklahoma and Tennessee.
And, you know, and I can remember always hearing mostly from you and other people, honestly, that, you know, there was no hunting in Pennsylvania on, on Sundays. And, you know, to me, that was the most, like, I couldn't wrap my head around it. And that's gotta be y'all's greatest accomplishment since you've been, you know, working there. And when you told me that that was coming down the pike, I just, it's the greatest thing because most people, you know, Sunday is the only day they even have a chance to go hunting, you know?
And I think, you know, if the idea is we want to keep introducing more and more people to the outdoors and not let this, let this thing just die off with the generations and help, you know, young people understand. And I think you guys, you know, breaking through the legislation, whatever, you, I don't know how that stuff works, but I know that's the gotta be the greatest gift that you as a state could have given, put back in those hunters hands, you know, and people who've never got a chance to go because they wouldn't have time otherwise, you know.
[00:05:58] Speaker B: Yeah, that's, I mean, it's, it's definitely a big win for us. And, you know, we've always been in support. Obviously, stuff happens downtown that is way over my head. And there's a lot of people that work many, many years to get this done, and there's some, there's some excitement out there, you know, let's get back to you for a second, because I know the story and it's pretty touching to me. I mean, I know part of the story, but, you know, how did you as a young kid in oklahoma, get involved in hunting in the outdoors? Because, like you said, we're trying to get more and more people in it. And when they look at somebody like you that's traveling so much today and doing all kinds of different things. But I know for a fact when you get time off, like you said, right now you're out hunting morel mushrooms because that's what gets you away from a lot of times, everyday life. But how did you get started?
[00:06:47] Speaker C: Well, you know, I grew up in Ada, Oklahoma, and my, my brother, I guess, was really the only influence I had in a big way.
Music and the outdoors, really.
Not that he was a musician, he was just a music fan. And not that he was that great of a hunter. In fact, you know, my brother, who was killed in early in life, he was 24 years old when he was killed in a car accident.
He was eat up with deer hunting. I mean, he just, like all of us have been at one point in our life, and then we kind of settle into, you know, to a normal lifestyle of hunting. But, you know, when you first get hooked on it, it's like, it's like going through puberty, you know, it's like, it's all, you think about it. You just, you just, you dream it, you wake up, you think about it. You draw pictures and school of a buck, you know, so he was going through that when I was probably, I want to say, you know, seven or eight years old. And I remember he had a. He had a bow, and he had it hanging on his wall in his bedroom. He never shot a deer until, you know, the day he passed away. He just. Back then in Oklahoma, if you saw. If you saw a deer, you had a story to tell people, you know, much less if you got a shot at one or actually got one. It just. There just weren't, the numbers just weren't there, you know? And so there were certain areas that had some deer. And you can imagine, you know, everybody was trying to hunt the same spots, and it just wasn't good back then in the eighties.
But anyway, you know, just as a kid, I wasn't old enough to go yet, and. And some people will probably argue with me about that, but, you know, I just, you know, even when I watch some of these hunting shows now, you know, I see kids, you know, they get their, you know, their dad or somebody takes them, they put them in a blind, and they end up shooting a 150 inch deer. That's their first buck. And, you know, I don't know really how I feel about. I don't. Personally, I'm not crazy about that, but I'm not judging anybody. I just, you know, for me, getting hooked on hunting, part of it was, you know, not being able to attain it, you know? And so I was a kid watching my brother. He got to go.
He'd come back, nothing, you know, but, you know, I think I heard one. And so just these stories and these legends back then is really all I had to go on. And even when I did start hunting, I was 14 the year that I went hunting for the first time for deer. And that was at a point when it actually was the fall that my brother was killed in a car wreck. That was going to be our first hunting trip together that year because we were renting a house just northwest of Ada. And with that house came, I think there was 35 acres or something behind it, and. And there were some deer tracks back there. And so me and. Me and Richie were going to hunt that fall back there, and. And I was able to borrow a bow and arrow from a kid down the street that had one just. No, I don't know what. It was probably an old pse or something, whatever they had back then, you know, and got pretty good with that bow. I remember, you know, back then, you remember those you'd go to Walmart and way before the block or these, you know, those morale targets or whatever that brand is.
Back then, there was. You would go buy this silhouette of a buck, and it was like standing in the woods, and it was just made out of styrofoam. Your arrow would just fly right through the.
Through the middle of it and hit the ground on the other side. But that's what you practice with, you know.
[00:11:03] Speaker B: Well, not everybody was 36 inches.
[00:11:07] Speaker C: It's basically just a picture photo of a deer.
[00:11:11] Speaker B: I still got one, I think.
[00:11:14] Speaker C: But anyway, you know, I didn't get a deer that first year, and. Matt, I didn't get a deer the second year. I was six. I was 14. So I was 16 when I finally got my first buck. And I got it with a. With a rifle over in Sasakua, Oklahoma, where there. That was an area back then that had, you know, some pretty good numbers of deer. If you win enough, you'd eventually see one. And so I got my first buck. I think he was a.
Let me rephrase that. I know he was a three point.
I could draw you a picture of that deer my dad had gotten me for Christmas, and mom used, you know, what it was as a 243, those semi automatic Remingtons.
What is that?
[00:12:03] Speaker B: It's a 742.
[00:12:06] Speaker C: Yeah. Which I still have today. Those things, you know, it's not what it was back then, but, you know, back then, I didn't know how to hunt, and. And I was just kind of, you know, I called it stalking, but I was more fast walking through the woods, you know, looking for a deer, and I. And I spooked some. And this $1, you know, he ran, as they do sometimes. He kind of ran the other direction and stopped and looked back at him. And that's when I. That's when I got my first buck. And it's still the greatest. I still. Personally. I know it's not, but personally, for me, one of my top five greatest accomplishments, because, you know, my brother was really the only person in my life that. That hunted, and now he was gone. My dad really wasn't outdoorsy like that. My dad was into cars and things like that. So I just basically, whatever guys that I knew that hunted or cousins that would tell me, hey, go find a good tree where you can see a long way in the wood, kick the leaves out and sit down. You know, it was really the only guidance I had. I didn't have that thing where somebody, you know, brought me into the woods and showed me sign. I just basically did it all by myself. And which is probably why it took me so long to get a deer, you know, because I didn't know what I was doing, and I didn't even own a deer stand, you know, that was $60. Where was I going to get $60 in high school? You know? So that's, uh, that's, I was hooked from then on out. And same way with turkeys, you know, it's just I hunted for a couple of years for turkeys before I ever got one. And the first one I ever got, actually, I only ever shot Jake's my entire life. Until I met you. When you and I went hunting together for the first time down there in Alabama, or was it Georgia? We were right on the line. But anyway, as the first mature turkey I ever got, and I never missed the season, I just, whatever, whatever. The first one that gobbled that came up to me was getting it.
[00:14:20] Speaker B: I remember that day very well because we were doing that event, country goes hunting at Rhett and Darryl and those guys and I had went to bed, and when I woke up, they teamed somebody from the hunting industry with somebody from Nashville. And I come out there, and there's this guy with a ponytail and slick back hair, and, you know, I used.
[00:14:40] Speaker C: To be skinny back then, six foot seven.
[00:14:42] Speaker B: And they're like, this is who you're taking? I'm like, oh, man, I've been down this road. This guy doesn't know crap. And then we sat down there and a turkey started gobbling, and I look, and you're set up and like, rock. I'm like, man, this guy's a hunter. And that's the cool thing with, with, like, what I see, there's lots of people that you, you know, want to be an outdoorsman and a hunter. You've lived that lifestyle your whole life. And, you know, when I talked about what got you into hunting, I know many times you and I have sat by a campfire and pulled your brother's tackle box out. That was his hunting box. And that's why I wanted to talk to you about how you got started, because a lot of people don't have that father figure in their life or somebody to teach them nowadays. And like you said earlier, and I'm guilty of it personally, too, is, you know, taking a kid out and letting them shoot a 150 or, you know, even with my own daughter taking her out turkey hunting and trying to make sure that she has a great experience of pulling the trigger. That's not what hunting's all about. Hunting's about those opportunities that we missed. It take you two or three years to shoot a deer. But, you know, today's world, a lot of people don't realize, too. Like you said, there wasn't, there wasn't deer around in the eighties in Oklahoma, and nobody that went to Oklahoma today would, would understand that, that 20 years ago or 30 years ago, you couldn't find a deer. And that's just what conservation's all about. And that's in our world. That's where we need to leave better than we found it. And that's the cool part about my job here. But, you know, when you look at your favorites, and I probably know these answers, but I'm gonna ask you, what is your favorite hunt? What do you like to go out after the most?
[00:16:18] Speaker C: Well, it's always gonna be whitetails. You know, I've had the opportunity, just because of, you know, what I do, to go on some amazing trips and things that I wouldn't trade for the world and memories, Alaska, all the great elk hunting areas, caribou, just, you name alligators, all the stuff that know you can do in, at least in North America.
But at the end of the day, on every one of those trips I've ever been on, you know, at some point, just like on any hunt, there's a low or there's a. There's a moment where it's raining or, you know, just, you just have sucky days, you know? And every time I have that moment where I go, dang, I wish I'd have just stayed home and went whitetail hunting. I bet there's.
Wish I could check my cameras right now. I wish, you know, I bet I just looked at the weather, and it's, God, it's a perfect morning at home, you know, and that's. I just keep coming back to, you know, whitetails, and for me, that would be whitetails in Oklahoma, because that's, there's just, I'm still trying to settle the score, you know, from. For her, you know, all those years of not even seeing a deer, you know, it just.
And that's what hooked me, you know, and I don't, I'm not even sure what, you know, our topic's supposed to be, but for me personally, it's that it's the screw ups for me that really got me hooked. The fact that I didn't get one, the fact that one was coming, and it saw me and it ran away, and it said, oh, I got it. You know, that's what really hooked me, you know, and so if it's too easy.
I don't think any of us are really get excited about anything in life that's just too easy, you know?
[00:18:23] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:18:23] Speaker C: And now we know about hunting and. And. And with trail cameras and here in Oklahoma, you know, corn piles, you know, just. You can. You got a week. You can get a good, good deer. You know, a good deer that you can be proud of, and.
[00:18:41] Speaker B: That's right. And I know there's one just I don't remember what direction. Probably east of the gate that I saw there in December that I definitely want to see.
[00:18:51] Speaker C: Don't be telling people about my big.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: Deer ground check next year because it might have been the biggest deer I've ever seen in my life.
At least it definitely looked like it that day.
[00:19:02] Speaker C: Well, you know, and my point is, the reason I've even seen any of this is I could probably. And you could take, you know, a kid out there and you had a few days get that buck, but I'm not sure what. What they learned from that, you know?
[00:19:20] Speaker B: Well, that's. That's what amazed me about when we first started hunting, Blake. I mean, I remember in Tennessee, you know, we'd go out and catch minnows and do stuff like, it was like two kids, and that's the kind of stuff we did as kids. And that's kind of where, you know, that I'm asking you to help us out here, because this is what we need the most, is conservation is a word that a lot of people don't understand. And me personally, I didn't understand it till I came. I thought, you know, at Pennsylvania, I thought we were just a bunch of game wardens, you know, trying to write tickets until I walk through those doors and then learn what conservation is. And you as a landowner, and I know you studied it your whole life, because if a duck flies over, you know exactly what kind of duck that is, and you creating habitat on your ground and planting food plots or doing the best you can. And conservation is something that we all need to get a better grip on so we can pass it on better than, than. Than we've had it. We're.
You started, there was no deer. And, you know, does conservation have any special meaning to you that. That you know in your heart?
[00:20:27] Speaker C: Yeah, because I've seen it. You know, Matt, I've actually seen it in motion. You know, it's.
We all know what the word means and what our goal is, but growing up here in Oklahoma, I have seen it, you know, back to what I was saying earlier, you know, it.
And in the eighties, just for instance, I live in Pontock County, Oklahoma. Growing up, I did. And there was an area just south of Ada, Oklahoma. So it was a little community called Fitztown. Well, Fitztown had, it had some deer, and it was mostly, I think, because it was, it was just bigger ranches and it wasn't smaller, chopped up pieces of property. So hunting, you know, the amount of hunters that could even get in there was limited. And, and everybody knew that there was deer there. And it was a big deal. You know, you would, you drove through, down the highway and you went through Fitstown. You, you were looking, you were looking in the woods. You might see it was a big deal to see a deer, you know, and so flash forward to the early two thousands, man. You know, if, if you had, if you had a piece of land that you had access to or owned that was 20 acres that had a little bit of woods on it, maybe some oaks and a creek, you could get a deer that year. That's how no matter where you live in the state of Oklahoma, and that's how quickly the numbers came up, you know, and I know it's because of the work of conservationists and not just by the way, you know, it doesn't just fall on you guys, in my opinion, it falls on guys like me, landowners.
You know, we all have to kind of do our part and make right decisions, you know, when it comes to wildlife, when it comes to what kind of chemicals you spray, if it comes to, you know, doing controlled burns, just things that we've always heard about. But, man, I'm telling you, when you come from where I came from, from a whitetail standpoint and a turkey standpoint, too, that's another entire, another podcast we could do about. There were zero turkeys back then, and, and they actually released them into Pontitauc county. And now you, you'd have to, I don't know how you could even exterminate them. There's so many, you know, it was incredible. And I know that happened across the US with the NWTF.
[00:23:15] Speaker B: The wild turkey's an amazing comeback. But, you know, even when it comes down to, like, even when it comes down to people that don't hunt, that even in their backyard, there's all kinds of things we can do for conservation, you know, even to the fact that, and I helped you do it last year, planting wildflowers just for pollinators and, you know, things like that that are so important, you know, that we can leave it better than we found it. And I'm going to switch gears a second. And you were talking about because I don't want to hold you. I know your time is.
[00:23:45] Speaker C: No, I'm actually literally in the woods walking looking for morales while we're having this conversation.
[00:23:51] Speaker B: Well, you don't have your trusty morale finder with you.
[00:23:55] Speaker C: No. And you brought me zero luck during this conversation, by the way.
[00:24:00] Speaker B: But, you know, and I think about conservation as well, especially at your place. And I'm, you know, it semi relates to what we've got going on here in Pennsylvania is your elk herd because, I mean, the elk that are just visible, you know, in certain parts of the state that are branching out. And here in Pennsylvania, we have a tremendous elk herd of. And, you know, our elk season's gaining really good popularity across the country. Um, you know, this year we had our first archery elk hunt in the rut and I think we, we harvested five bulls and four of them were, you know, in the 400 inch range. And that's, that's a, that's a giant elk, you know, up into the teens and, you know, it's just, it's, it's cool to see that happen and, but, you know, I want to switch gears a little bit here and because this is something that you and I shared together and kind of really brought our passion back is trapping.
And, you know, we, I never had bobcats in Pennsylvania till recently and didn't even hardly see a bobcat until I started hunting with you. And then I think you have some train that tried to attack me a couple times and they like your decoys, that's for sure. Yeah, they dang sure do. But, but you, you've taken a whole new love for trapping and gotten real good at it, which is pretty awesome. And, you know, when we were kids here in Pennsylvania, you couldn't start hunting till you were twelve. So a lot of us as kids trapped that wanted to get outdoors and, you know, now that's changed. But, but trapping is another important tool as conservationists is, you know, to, you know, get rid of the predators or keep them in check, not get rid of them, but, you know, trapping, well.
[00:25:38] Speaker C: You know, and, and, and I think the, the end game of trapping has evolved because, you know, you, back in the days you did it because you get $5 for a raccoon or, you know, whatever the price was for these furs. And the fur market is just kind of, unless you're, unless you're trapping bobcats, it's pretty much non existent, at least over and in our part of the world, you know, it may be different in Pennsylvania.
[00:26:12] Speaker B: It's pretty much a national problem with.
[00:26:15] Speaker C: But I tell you, you know, for me, that trapping is something that I do and specifically target coyotes.
Coyote numbers here are just.
They're just out of control and to the point where, you know, our state guys, our wildlife department guys are constantly looking for ways to, you know, to try to control that number just like they are, you know, lucky for y'all, you don't have that. I know of any wild hogs in Pennsylvania, but that's become a horrifying problem here to the point where, you know, it's starting to threaten, you know, other things. As far as, you know, I remember all things.
[00:27:05] Speaker B: I remember the day we think about. I remember the day when you loved hogs more than anything until you got them.
[00:27:12] Speaker C: Yeah, once you get them, you get over that real quick, you know, but, and it's crazy because everything kind of has a trickle down effect. And so to get, not get away from your topic, because the reason I trap now is specifically for coyotes. And, and, you know, on my piece of ground here, man, I want to say 26 or seven this year, that's a problem. You know, that's a problem if you're, as a conservationist, if my. If my goal is to see my, my whitetail numbers go up, then I've got. There's certain things that I have to do, which is, you know, I gotta control predators, and coyotes are our number one.
[00:28:09] Speaker B: Yeah. Like, we're here in here in Pennsylvania, we have coyotes, but nothing. Nothing. Like I've heard it and saw and witnessed in Oklahoma, and that every time that I run across a hunter or somebody that thinks that ours are out of control, I'd like to sit them up there on an evening and let them just hear what lots of coyotes sound like.
[00:28:28] Speaker C: And, you know, well, you know, as bad as the coyotes are, you know, for us, it's really the hogs, and it's starting to affect, you know, things that you don't really think about until you sit down one day and think about the fact that, man, was the last time I seen a salamander. When's the last time I've seen a horned lizard?
Where are these things going? And then you start to research and you find out, man, you know, these hogs come through like rototillers and nothing is safe. You know, they roll over a log and eat every reptile, every amphibian they can find. And they're invasive, you know, and so it's starting to affect wildlife. You know, in ways that you couldn't imagine, you know, outside of just, man, I put out a feeder and hogs knocked it over, you know, it's a bigger deal now than we could have ever imagined.
[00:29:25] Speaker B: But, and I know, like, for yourself, and I, you know, a lot of folks probably don't realize this, too. You know, you've taken it upon yourself to get involved with your state's department, and, you know, I know you're on one of the boards out there and, and they're pretty darn proud of it, which they should be, you know, just trying to give back as much as enjoyment as you, you've taken out of.
[00:29:48] Speaker C: I'm on the. I'm on the board of the. It's called the Wildlife. Oklahoma Wildlife foundation.
And because, really, that's all I can, you know, I have to offer is fundraising opportunities and things. And because of what I do, you know, it's.
They knew that I could help bring awareness, for one thing, and, you know, could help with fundraisers and, you know, concerts and things like that that are for, you know, beneficial for raising money for the well. And mostly, you know, we push for a lot of different things, but a lot of it has to do with what, you know, raising money for hunting licenses for veterans, you know, raising money for docs to put out on lakes, public docks so kids can go fishing and a lot of stuff like that, so that, you know, everybody has the opportunity to go out and see the outdoors and get involved in it, you know, because it's one thing to, to, you know, drive down a dirt road and look out your window, but if you get the opportunity, especially as a young person, in my opinion, to get your hands in the dirt and get out, you know, one thing that we're going to do here today after I hang up with this conversation course, you know, we're homeschooling the kids because of this coronavirus, which is, you know, not helping my alcoholism to have kids here asking me a million questions about algebra, which I didn't even pass in school, much less try to help them now. But I know you'll play edit that you pass.
[00:31:36] Speaker B: You pass it enough to have your own vodka company.
[00:31:40] Speaker C: Homeschooling is my health. But anyway, I. I'm gonna take the kids because it's their idea. They're asking. They want to go out and the creek today, that, you know, creek that runs right through the middle of the place and set out crawfish traps for the reason they want to eat some crawfish tonight.
[00:32:00] Speaker B: That's awesome.
[00:32:00] Speaker C: Now, now, you and I both know that we'll be lucky to catch, you know, eight or nine crawdads total, so each one will get one crawfish a piece. But at least, at least, I love the fact that they're waking up in the morning and wanting to go do something and outdoors and I, and the fact that these are natural resources and they're here. God, put them on this planet for us, you know?
[00:32:33] Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. To enjoy.
[00:32:35] Speaker C: They want to get out here and do it and, and harvest it, and that's, that's why. That's what it's all about, you know?
[00:32:46] Speaker B: How many crayfish do you think you've caught as a kid?
[00:32:49] Speaker C: As a kid? Man, I put, I put my numbers out up there with, with yours, for sure.
[00:32:58] Speaker B: That's. I mean, that was a pastime. Kids don't do that. And I'm so proud that those three young men that are from Los Angeles are waking up with you, getting homeschooled, how to catch crayfish in a creek in Oklahoma and then having to cook them, you know, that's, that's another side of, of hunting that's, that's coming so far is, you know, the cooking part of it. And I know from, from our turkey camps and our deer camps, that was the most fun thing in the world, is to try new things and just, I mean, you and I can't wait for morels and turkey breast every year.
[00:33:30] Speaker C: Yeah, well, you know, that the good there's, there's, you know, one of the things that I complain about as a guy who's getting old now, you know, I watch these kids and they're constantly on their phones and they're constantly watching YouTube. And there's been a couple of times in the last, I don't know, last two or three months where, you know, I've walked into the room and, you know, the kids are looking at YouTube. I'm just go, what are you doing? You know, and I look over their shoulder and they're watching, you know, people noodling catfish. And they're watching because I've talked about it, you know, cooking up morel mushrooms, how to cook them, and I'm going, okay, maybe YouTube's not so bad because now I'm starting to learn some things about, you know, cooking stuff and things, I guess, that we're kind of meeting in the middle. It's working out so far.
[00:34:28] Speaker B: Well, you know, dang well, you're a pretty good cook, and your grandmother taught you how to make the best biscuits in the world, that's for sure.
[00:34:36] Speaker C: Yeah. I can make a biscuit now.
[00:34:37] Speaker B: Yes, sir. Well, hey, turkey season is right around the corner here in Pennsylvania, and, you know, with what's going on in today, I don't want to brand it too much more, but the virus that's going around, it's changing the way a lot of things are going on. But even though I'm not, I'm not going to be out there opening day. I know you're looking forward to turkey season. And what is your favorite thing about turkey hunting?
I know you like deer hunting better, but, yeah, there's a couple days. There's a couple days a year. You love turkey hunting.
[00:35:12] Speaker C: I'll tell you this.
I'm very specific, as you know, about turkey hunting and how I want the hunt to go down. And I, and you and you and I both, I think, have the same point of view as I don't like it. I don't like to deer hunt turkeys, meaning I don't want one just to walk by me and shoot it. You know, I want one. I want to hear one gobble. I want to see one strutting. I want him to hang up for a minute and then come on in. You know, I want it. I want him to do all the things that, that turkeys do, you know, and so I've gotten pretty particular about it over the years, and now I don't even, you know, I can't even stand to take a shotgun anymore. I just want to take a bow.
Not in a blind. I want to take a bow back up to a tree and try to get a shot. It's not easy. Usually it doesn't work, but I love that. That's a completely, you know, you talk about getting everybody, you know, on equal ground. Yeah, you can have a turkey sitting there, you know, waiting for you to just. That one wrong move. So he's out of there. You know, you got to wait till they turn just right to draw your bow.
I love that. I just get such a rush out of that.
[00:36:41] Speaker B: So I don't think we'll ever top.
[00:36:42] Speaker C: Not really into sitting in a pop up blind and, you know, sitting there all day waiting for one to come out in the field. And I'm not knocking that. It just for me personally, that just doesn't do it for me.
[00:36:55] Speaker B: Right. I don't think we'll ever top last year's bow hunt, though, ever.
[00:36:58] Speaker C: No.
[00:36:59] Speaker B: In life, no.
[00:37:01] Speaker C: I don't even, you know, I don't even tell people about that because I know I sound like one of those guys that has stupid stuff to say, and everybody rolls their eyes. I don't even tell anybody.
[00:37:13] Speaker B: There's not unbelievable that there's nobody that can one up it of hitting a. Hitting a running turkey at 25 yards with a recurve and taking its head off. Nobody. Nobody can one up.
[00:37:27] Speaker C: I know.
[00:37:28] Speaker B: Ever. Ever.
[00:37:29] Speaker C: And I'm glad you said it, because now I don't even have to feel bad because you said it, so it doesn't sound like I'm tooting my own horn.
[00:37:35] Speaker B: Well, I mean, all of us were in disbelief, number one. Number two, I've never laughed so hard in my life. I don't think, you know, I laughed till I threw up. Cause it looked like a NBA players desperation half court shot, and the turkey loses its head. And it was. It was awesome. And, I mean, that's the kind of memories that you make. But, you know, hey, with turkey, and I sent this to you yesterday because I wanted you to practice because, you know, there's some people that say they love to hunt, and there's some people that love to hunt, and I know that that's you. And I think one of your favorite things to do, and, a matter of fact, you're dang good at it, is making turkey's gobble. Can you got one of those famous Blake Shelton now hoots in you?
[00:38:17] Speaker C: Oh, you ready? Are you ready?
[00:38:18] Speaker B: We're ready.
[00:38:24] Speaker C: Hey. But I don't. I don't think you give me enough credit on my actual gobble.
Which is. Which is this.
[00:38:36] Speaker B: Well, there's Pa.
[00:38:38] Speaker C: I think one just answered me.
[00:38:40] Speaker B: Probably did one of these. Pa guys aren't used to hearing that Rio that you got in your gobble, even though your turkeys are a little bit hybrid, but.
[00:38:49] Speaker C: Well, I actually learned my turkey gobble from a CNC that I had as a kid.
I really got it down from that.
[00:38:58] Speaker B: I'll tell you, now that you say that, that's why I got into turkey calling, because I wore out the turkey gobble on my CNC. Everything else would work except the dang turkey.
But, buddy, again, I don't want to take too much your time, and, man, we appreciate it here. And, you know, the door is always open. To come here and kill a turkey. You can come here, and we can go to some state ground. You can see how we have to do it. A lot of times, we got 250,000 turkey hunters. But, you know the cool thing about Pennsylvania, we also own real close to 1.6 million acres of state game lands that our state that the game commission owns, that's open to hunting and the habitat there is pretty tremendous. We got lots of turkeys, but, and I'll tell you what we got. What you would like is lots of places to walk. I don't know if anybody's ever walk behind a guy that's six foot five.
Well, you can't keep up.
[00:39:53] Speaker C: You got hills over there.
I don't know. I don't know if I'd like them as much. I'm not walking as much.
[00:40:01] Speaker B: No, I've been up, I've been uphill with you. You got one leg shorter than the other, just like a lot of us over here in Pennsylvania. You can go ahead and roll with it. But it's amazing as hunters how you change, too. You know, I was with you this past year when you killed a deer on the last day of rifle season, and you were as excited as I've ever seen you, you know, at any other thing that we've had luck at, you had to leave, and you're nice enough to let me freeload and hunt for a couple days with my bow. But, and I've heard you say this, and I agree with it nowadays, too, you know, I was lucky enough to shoot a deer, but when he ran out there and fell over, I really wanted to go out and give him mouth to mouth and have that all over again. And, yeah, it's not about pulling the trigger. I love every second I get out there and, and I think that's my rush in it.
[00:40:48] Speaker C: My rush these days are, I love the chance to film a friend go deer hunting. I love a chance to take somebody turkey hunting that's never been before. And that's, that's where the, the new rush is for me.
[00:41:03] Speaker B: Buddy. We need all that we can get. Cause we've got to pass this thing on and, you know, when we're going to close it out here. And, I mean, do you have any messages you want to tell to our Pa folks, other than buy more music and more Smith works vodka and go to old Red. I mean, I'll go ahead and get them out of the way, but I mean, anything, like from the heart as a hunter to. No.
[00:41:23] Speaker C: You know, the older I get, the more I realize that it's about introducing new people to the outdoors. And it doesn't have to be kids. I mean, I guess mostly it would be kids because if you're an adult, at some point you, you've made the decision along the way that you're either interested in the outdoors or not.
But I think with kids, you know, they can develop a passion that. That they never knew was in there, you know? And so. And it doesn't have. You don't have to wait for turkey season. You don't have to wait for deer season.
Just like today, I'm about to take a group of kids out here into the woods. They're gonna. They're gonna turn over rocks. They're gonna set crawfish traps, and. And they couldn't be more excited about that. And it's all got to begin somewhere, you know?
[00:42:18] Speaker B: And what.
[00:42:19] Speaker C: So whether it's something like that, whether it's, you know, catching, you know, catching butterflies, catching a lizard, looking for morel, mushrooms, whatever it is, just. Just get them out there.
It's one thing to see it on YouTube. It's another thing to get the dirt on your hands, you know?
[00:42:39] Speaker B: That's right, buddy. And just watch out for them rattlesnakes. Is it hot enough for them to be out yet?
[00:42:43] Speaker C: Oh, God, yeah.
[00:42:46] Speaker B: Well, that leaves a lot of.
[00:42:47] Speaker C: Maybe by the end of this homeschooling thing, that might be where they find my body is on top of a rattlesnake, then trying to figure out long division over again.
[00:43:01] Speaker B: Oh, man. Well, buddy, I appreciate it. And like you said, I mean, the kids, we have to get more involvement out there. And I heard a great statement. This was from the director down in Kentucky this past year, and he said, you got to replace yourself out there in the woods. And that's pretty much the facts, you know, in order for us to take it to the next level, to the future, whatever, I. You gotta replace ourselves in that passion. And our hats off to you over here in Pennsylvania for instilling that in so many people, not only Gwen's kids, but just people that you touch. I mean, back when there used to be records, you'd always thank God for, dear, because, you know, it took you through hard times and had some of your best times in life at camps and campfires and so on and so forth.
[00:43:46] Speaker C: But, yeah, you don't need to. You don't need to.
You don't need to take an animal to be passionate and love the outdoors, you know, just get out there. That's it.
[00:43:59] Speaker B: That's right. Well, listen, send me a picture, too, some crayfish. Let me know how they taste.
[00:44:06] Speaker C: I'll let you know what the kids say.
[00:44:09] Speaker B: Please do that. And, buddy, if you'll do it again, we'd love to catch you before deer season or something. And obviously, safe travels. You know, we're all going to get through this deal that's going on together.
I think it'll bring families closer and I honestly think it'll bring more families to the outdoors because a lot of people are enjoying getting out there and getting some fresh air and hiking and that's maybe, maybe everything, everything does happen for a reason. So maybe we're looking at a real positive thing for folks that enjoy it like we do. But safe travels to you and man. If, if the opening comes where you have a day or two to go turkey hunting, I can either head out to Oklahoma or you're welcome here anytime my friend.
[00:44:49] Speaker C: Nah, brother.
[00:44:50] Speaker B: On behalf of the Pennsylvania Game Commission, thank you for tuning in and we hope that every day of field is filled with memories to last a lifetime. We are committed to leave conservation and wildlife better for the future and we hope you can tune in next time to the PGC's call of the outdoors.
