The Ozark Podcast

[Kyle Veit]: So I'll do an intro and then we'll
kick it off. Alright, ladies and gentlemen,

[Kyle Veit]: welcome back to the Ozark Podcast.
Gather around and get ready to meet the man,

[Kyle Veit]: the myth, the legend, the turkey
hunting extraordinaire, master of the Ozarks

[Kyle Veit]: and author of countless hunting
tales, Mr. Ray I. Ray, welcome to the Ozark

[Kyle Veit]: Podcast. It's nice to meet you.

[Kyle Veit]: That's right, man. Make it easy
on you. You only got one name to remember.

[Kyle Veit]: Keeps it real straight. So Ray,
for our audience, if anyone is worth their

[Kyle Veit]: salt in turkey hunting history
or turkey hunting just personalities, they

[Kyle Veit]: already know who you are. You're
kind of a man who needs no introduction. But

[Kyle Veit]: for maybe for some of our younger
listeners who have grown up and they've lived

[Kyle Veit]: in the Ozarks but they don't really
know the history or they don't know how turkey

[Kyle Veit]: hunting has kind of come to be
how it is, do you just want to spend a few

[Kyle Veit]: minutes you know how you came to
be the the turkey hunter extraordinaire that

[Kyle Veit]: you are and kind of talk a little
bit about your background maybe early childhood

[Kyle Veit]: just how you got into turkey hunting.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: No, no, no, no, no.

[Kyle Veit]: Thanks for watching!

[Kyle Veit]: Really?

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Wow, that's way back. Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Sure.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yep.

[Kyle Veit]: Hahaha

[Kyle Veit]: Hehehe

[Kyle Veit]: Mr. I, you're telling me that you
got a turkey credit. Like there was a time

[Kyle Veit]: in American history where you got
a turkey credit in college. That is awesome.

[Kyle Veit]: That's pretty cool. That is so
great.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Okay, yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, to the world.

[Kyle Veit]: Laughter

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Oh man, you just gave me the chills
too, right?

[Kyle Veit]: Golly. There's just nothing like
it.

[Kyle Veit]: Well let me ask you this Ray, with
a guy like you who's hunted really all over

[Kyle Veit]: the world for these birds, what
is it about the Ozarks specifically that just

[Kyle Veit]: makes it, that's the stuff for
you, what is it about this area, is it the

[Kyle Veit]: bird, is it the habitat, what do
you think it is?

[Kyle Veit]: Right.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Wow.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: yeah you're not doing it wrong
it's working

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, sure.

[Kyle Veit]: Right.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, sure.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah. It's kamikaze birds.

[Kyle Veit]: No way.

[Kyle Veit]: No way, he can't write to you.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Mr. Ray, I definitely want to get
into, I mean, start to finish how to kill a

[Kyle Veit]: bird in the Ozarks. But before
we go there, can you touch just a little bit

[Kyle Veit]: on why you think hunting turkeys
in the Ozarks is the best? The reason I say

[Kyle Veit]: that is Mr. Brad Harris was talking
about if you can kill a mature Ozark buck,

[Kyle Veit]: then you can kill a mature buck
anywhere else in the world. That's kind of

[Kyle Veit]: why it stuck with me as I'm trying
to hunt these mature, big timber deer on the

[Kyle Veit]: Ozarks. concept of like if you
can kill the if you can kill the big tom turkey

[Kyle Veit]: on the Ozarks, man you can turkey
hunt anywhere.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Thanks for watching!

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, yeah, man, that is cool.
Drumming is something that, you know, I just

[Kyle Veit]: have learned about in the last
couple years and it's something that, you know,

[Kyle Veit]: I think a lot of people, if your
if your ear's not tuned into it and you're

[Kyle Veit]: not listening for that spitting
and that drumming, you just won't hear it.

[Kyle Veit]: But to be able to pick that out
of the air and know that that's what that is

[Kyle Veit]: and key in on that, how important
is that for you?

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah. Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Really.

[Kyle Veit]: Dude.

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, could you demonstrate maybe
or just explain kind of the difference between

[Kyle Veit]: a gobbler yelp and a hand yelp
and how how

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, yeah, go ahead.

[Kyle Veit]: That's all right.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, right, right. And so you
were talking about when to use that versus

[Kyle Veit]: a traditional hen yelp. So basically
what I'm gathering is a gobbler yelp. You want

[Kyle Veit]: to do that because you're challenging
the older toms. And what scenario would you

[Kyle Veit]: use that versus the hen? You maybe
kind of said it, but just to kind of recap.

[Kyle Veit]: Really? Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yep. Yep.

[Kyle Veit]: Yep. Cutting kills turkeys, I love
that.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Right, right. It makes sense you're
touching on something that I imagine is a pretty

[Kyle Veit]: common theme through hunting and
fishing across really anywhere in the US. But

[Kyle Veit]: if you're looking to kill the dominant
male species of whatever you're targeting,

[Kyle Veit]: it makes sense to push them. You've
got to challenge them a little bit. And challenge

[Kyle Veit]: them. And I mean, you think the
guys who are killing big bucks, they're not

[Kyle Veit]: out there flipping the dough bleat
over and over again. They're doing rattling

[Kyle Veit]: antlers and they're making a bunch
of noise and they're doing the aggressive calls.

[Kyle Veit]: that's what the dominant animal
of that species is going to come into. And

[Kyle Veit]: I've even locked something in my
brain that I haven't thought about before.

[Kyle Veit]: It's like turkeys do the same thing.
So it makes sense.

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah. Man. That's alright. Man,
that is cool. That is a- yeah, I don't think

[Kyle Veit]: I've ever- So you're saying majority
of the time you're gobbler yelping.

[Kyle Veit]: Sure.

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, they went crazy. Man, that
is...

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah. You got him flustered over
there. So Ray, I've got a story for you here.

[Kyle Veit]: Kyle and I, we were out scouting
turkeys down here in Arkansas in Madison County

[Kyle Veit]: this last weekend. We're walking
along and to me it sounds, you can convince

[Kyle Veit]: yourself that anything is a turkey
when you're really listening and you're trying

[Kyle Veit]: to, like, oh, I think that was
a turkey. I think that was something.

[Kyle Veit]: a turkey or a bullfrog. It was
the oddest sounding yelp or just raspy old

[Kyle Veit]: hen. I don't know. I still don't
know. It wasn't until we heard that hen start

[Kyle Veit]: to cut and purr and cluck and she
was doing some different things. We're like,

[Kyle Veit]: okay, well that's obviously turkey
but the tone, it doesn't seem to matter as

[Kyle Veit]: much as the cadence. When you talk
about the gobbler yelp versus a hen yelp, you

[Kyle Veit]: slowed it down. You weren't worried
about the tone quite as much. Is that about

[Kyle Veit]: right? Thanks for watching!

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah. Yeah, they're talking. Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: yeah yeah will they will a tom
cut and purr or is that just a hen noise? well

[Kyle Veit]: then we may have heard a tom. could
have been a tom. mm-hmm

[Kyle Veit]: Wow.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: That's awesome. That's cool. Does
Missouri have a fall season?

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah. They've been doing it.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: man.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm. Yeah, way more than sex drive.
It makes sense. It makes a lot of sense. And

[Kyle Veit]: Missouri has a fall turkey season,
is that correct? Okay, so those...

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah. Yeah. I'm thinking about
my Arkansas, those Arkansas who are sitting

[Kyle Veit]: here going, we don't have a tall,
false turkey season. So it's the guys that

[Kyle Veit]: see the turkey, turkey roll through
in a deer hunting.

[Kyle Veit]: Sure.

[Kyle Veit]: Brushcar. Oh no. The Brushcar.
Oh man, I bet they got after you for that.

[Kyle Veit]: It makes people mad. I love it.
That's great. I love it. Ray, you talked about

[Kyle Veit]: finding a roost, getting in tight.
How do you do that here? Maybe go into a little

[Kyle Veit]: more detail on how exactly you
get in so tight on a roost and how you locate

[Kyle Veit]: not just, oh, they're on this region,
but I want to find this tree. I'm looking for

[Kyle Veit]: this. It kind of during season.

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Okay.

[Kyle Veit]: Mm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, they all do it.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Wow.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: No way.

[Kyle Veit]: Oh my gosh, that's amazing.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah. Man, landed on top of him.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah. That's crazy, man. How do
you know when you're like too close? I mean,

[Kyle Veit]: obviously, you know, you said,
you set him up at 50 yards. What's your line

[Kyle Veit]: that you said? I won't cross this
line.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah. He doesn't need you.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Dude. Yeah, yeah, they've got too
much to get distracted with by the time they

[Kyle Veit]: ever get that get out that far

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, meh.

[Kyle Veit]: Sure.

[Kyle Veit]: Go.

[Kyle Veit]: Wow, that's a stud. The strut zones,
maybe talk a little bit about how to find that.

[Kyle Veit]: Obviously, you're listening, you
kind of went to an area where you thought he

[Kyle Veit]: might be, in terms of...

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Okay? Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Hahaha

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Oh yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah

[Kyle Veit]: Oh man, that's good. Put some woodsmanship
on him. Put some woodsmanship on him. That's

[Kyle Veit]: awesome. That is good.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: No way. That's interesting. It's
important to know your spots, I guess.

[Kyle Veit]: On that note, with habitat, you're
talking about ridges, you're talking about

[Kyle Veit]: where ridges connect and points
and knobs and glaze and stuff like that. What

[Kyle Veit]: might be some other kind of features
of landscape that you look for? People in deer

[Kyle Veit]: hunting, they always talk about
look for a saddle or look for where the points

[Kyle Veit]: and the fingers connect on a ridge.
Similar you looking for kind of travel corridors,

[Kyle Veit]: or is it is it is it a little bit
different?

[Kyle Veit]: Okay.

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, diversity there.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah. You'll find some birds. So
with that diversity of habitat being important

[Kyle Veit]: where you kind of have some different
things that a turkey would need that would

[Kyle Veit]: keep them there in that one area,
in terms of like maybe your properties that

[Kyle Veit]: you own or where you hunt, is that
something that you actually take part in managing

[Kyle Veit]: the land and kind of like improving
yourself? What's important to you in that?

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Right. That makes sense. Yeah.
Down here, you know, Washington County, Benton

[Kyle Veit]: County, up here in extreme Northwest
Arkansas, that you can see actually how they

[Kyle Veit]: have the seasons laid out and the
limits. You know, these two counties are zoned

[Kyle Veit]: differently. Primarily you have
the urban sprawl, but then you also have the

[Kyle Veit]: cattle out towards like Siloam
and kind of Eastern or Western. And it is because

[Kyle Veit]: the habitat just doesn't exist,
like you said, and they have there's so few

[Kyle Veit]: turkeys over here.

[Kyle Veit]: Thanks for watching!

[Kyle Veit]: Voilà, merci beaucoup.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, yeah, that's too bad. Mr.
Ray, you talked a little bit about Tom turkeys

[Kyle Veit]: wanting to be seen, they want to
strut, they want to be heard, all that. Say

[Kyle Veit]: you're talking to a novice turkey
hunter, it's their first season, they're a

[Kyle Veit]: late onset hunter, that kind of
thing, they're trying to figure it out for

[Kyle Veit]: the first time. What's your recommendation
as far as public land, you get out of the truck,

[Kyle Veit]: where do you start? Are you starting
top third of the ridge, you starting on top

[Kyle Veit]: of the mountains, where are you
starting?

[Kyle Veit]: They're the best.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Right.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Right. Yeah, that makes sense.
When it comes to... I know we're hitting a

[Kyle Veit]: lot of different stuff. Obviously
you've got a wealth of information and we want

[Kyle Veit]: to glean some of that as much as
we can. When it comes to calling, maybe talk

[Kyle Veit]: me through early morning throughout
the day, the stages of what gobblers do, how

[Kyle Veit]: those toms act throughout the day
as they come down from the tree. Say you're

[Kyle Veit]: not in tight and you don't know
exactly where they're at. the day look like.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah. Sure.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, sure.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Is that just because they're coming
to the place where they heard you before?

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Wow. Yeah. Just because he was
gobbling when you were yelping. Yeah, man.

[Kyle Veit]: That makes you feel like a dumb
turkey hunter.

[Kyle Veit]: Sure. We have some stories like
that and don't even know it. Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Really? Yeah. Alright.

[Kyle Veit]: Right. Yeah. Yeah. Even Ralph was
just, when we talked to him last week and he

[Kyle Veit]: was just talking about, I mean,
he's got turkeys on his property. He's hearing

[Kyle Veit]: them and scouting them year round.
And he can hear them off his porch and he just

[Kyle Veit]: knows, oh, well they're here at
this time of day and this time of season, they're

[Kyle Veit]: over there and I know where they
go in between. And if you... Exactly.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, which you may not call that
scouting because he lives on the property but

[Kyle Veit]: it's scouting like, you know You
think about the guy who's like I don't have

[Kyle Veit]: I don't have a farm in the middle
of the Ozarks I can't go figure this out. Yeah,

[Kyle Veit]: you know to your point. Mr. Ray.
It's like well go out in the woods and Learn

[Kyle Veit]: what they're doing Yeah, if you
want to be serious about killing a turkey in

[Kyle Veit]: public land Get out there and figure
it out before you're allowed to hunt or as

[Kyle Veit]: you're allowed to hunt but go go
see where they are Yeah, it's been a time.

[Kyle Veit]: It's that kind of thing. So

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: No.

[Kyle Veit]: Oh my goodness.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: He was waiting. He was waiting
for you. He was waiting for that bird.

[Kyle Veit]: Oh my goodness. Will you send us
one of those calls? I need one of those calls.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Oh my goodness. Yeah, Kali. Okay,
I'm going to ask you something then on that.

[Kyle Veit]: You said it's super important,
you got to know how to call. How does somebody

[Kyle Veit]: learn to call? Where do you start?
Do you start with a box call? Do you start

[Kyle Veit]: with a diaphragm? Do you go to
the slate? How do you start? What would you

[Kyle Veit]: recommend?

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Right, actually, yeah, actually
put it to use. But, yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, nothing detailed. Just a
different world. Yeah, now all the information

[Kyle Veit]: is everywhere and whether it's
true or not, people are putting out information

[Kyle Veit]: and telling it like it is. I mean,
it's called the information age. Yeah. So it

[Kyle Veit]: makes sense. Yeah, definitely.
Yeah, you can listen to the Ozark podcast,

[Kyle Veit]: listen to Mr. Ray Eye, do his calling.
The master of the Ozark turkey. But we have

[Kyle Veit]: the truth. So the box call is where
you'd start, just because it is kind of the

[Kyle Veit]: entry level.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Ray,
talk to me a little bit about, I know you've

[Kyle Veit]: got several different books, you're
the author of several different books. Maybe

[Kyle Veit]: just talk me through if someone's
kind of entry level or they're wanting to learn

[Kyle Veit]: more about turkey hunting, what
would be, obviously all three kind of go into

[Kyle Veit]: turkey hunting tactics and stuff
like that, but where would you start, you know,

[Kyle Veit]: maybe just walk us through what
the different options, people can read your

[Kyle Veit]: stuff and different things that
you've written over the years.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah. Okay.

[Kyle Veit]: Right.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Oh yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it really, it's
easy to get too much in your head and psyched

[Kyle Veit]: out and get frustrated and not
have the patience because it is so exciting

[Kyle Veit]: and it is so fun and interactive
to talk with these birds and try to get them

[Kyle Veit]: to come to you, try to sneak up
on them. So I understand the excitement and

[Kyle Veit]: it's hard to be patient but yeah,
it's a good reminder to just relax, have fun,

[Kyle Veit]: get on Turkey time, enjoy the woods.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, absolutely. And you've also
got a radio show, right? How do people, yeah,

[Kyle Veit]: how do people find out if they
don't already know, where do they listen?

[Kyle Veit]: Okay, got it.

[Kyle Veit]: I love it. I love it very well.

[Kyle Veit]: Hehehe

[Kyle Veit]: Thanks for watching!

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Sounds like you got it figured
out. That's awesome, right? Yeah, that's awesome.

[Kyle Veit]: Well, we've really enjoyed it and
honestly it's been a privilege just to get

[Kyle Veit]: to hang out with you, just knowing
your background and just the accolades that

[Kyle Veit]: you've achieved over the years.
Even Google, I was Googling you, kind of researching

[Kyle Veit]: our interview and Google says you
are the most famous turkey hunter in the world.

[Kyle Veit]: So God bless Google. So we, it's...
No, we love talking, so thank you so much.

[Kyle Veit]: We appreciate you, Ray. Alright.

[Kyle Veit]: That's right. That's right. All
right. We'll talk to you later, Ray. Thank

[Kyle Veit]: you. Bye-bye.