March 26, 2025 • 18 mins
Rob and Ben are joined by professional turkey hunter and turkey hunting hall of fame inductee, Matt Wettish, where they discuss all things turkey hunting, his career and the outdoors!
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bag and Fishing, an outdoor show.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
We're joined now by Hall of Famer, that wettish turkey hunter,
champion caller, Turkey Hunting Hall of Fame inductee. Now are
you in or are you getting inducted this year?
Speaker 3 (00:12):
No, I got inducted last year.
Speaker 4 (00:14):
Actually, so are you?
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Like now you're just the Hall of Famer right.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Yeah, I'm something.
Speaker 5 (00:18):
He's just he's never heard your back.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I was thinking, like, you got attacked in the woods
by a bear.
Speaker 6 (00:26):
It could have been man, I think, you know, you
got to tell people that carrying turkey's out, I think,
And it was just it was brutal, you know, I
got to start shooting.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Smaller birds or something.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Oh my god.
Speaker 5 (00:36):
We know we met you like what four or five
years ago, and then your turkey calls. Honestly, I don't
know if we've told you this since, but when you
were doing turkey calls on our show, like it was
flipping people out in their car. They had no idea if.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
They were what's going on exactly?
Speaker 5 (00:52):
And like your your calls and why you're such a
Hall of Famer is you're so realistic. Now I caught
you giving some tricks to the trade a over there
to some of the other turkey callers in the area.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
And you're cool with that, man, absolutely, you know that.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
That's why I come here.
Speaker 6 (01:06):
I mean, I've actually been doing this show, god, twenty
five years maybe, And I love the family, love the
people that have been putting this on for so many years.
And I love the direction.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
They're going with it.
Speaker 6 (01:19):
You know, where they're they're growing this thing. They're a
great focus on the kids. They got their kid Zone
going on this year. And I mean that's the history
of everything we're doing, you know, whether it's baseball, whether
it's fishing, hunting, whatever, kayaking, camping, it's if the kids
don't get involved, man all goes away.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Too. It is the next generation.
Speaker 6 (01:41):
It is man and it's sad to see, you know,
kids sitting inside just wearing out their fingerprints on the screens.
And uh, you know, I'll take my buddy Al al Gago.
He says, you know, forget the xbox, get a tackle box.
That's one of the greatest things ever, you know. And
I love Al the death and he's been doing you know,
youth stuff forever and he does the same thing.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
You know, we've been doing this.
Speaker 6 (02:05):
He remembers when I was doing this as I was
a kid, you know, when I start first started winning
competitions and calling, and it's, uh, it's exciting.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I just love being here and love sharing it because.
Speaker 6 (02:17):
We don't We've got a lot of people that do it,
but we aren't steeped like some steeped in the history
of it the way some other parts of the country are.
And I just got exposed.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
I didn't have a learning curve.
Speaker 6 (02:34):
I had a learning spike, you know, and and being
in the outdoor industry full time, it's kind of like
when you get into the big leagues you realize that
you are not.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
A big league player, you know.
Speaker 6 (02:47):
You know, anybody who thinks they're a good driver get
on a track with a person who's a professional driver,
you get humbled really fast.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
You know, it was probably.
Speaker 6 (02:59):
Not five, you know, ninety five ish, and you know,
you start doing competitions and you're going with world champions,
and you're meeting these guys that you're you know, that
you were idols with, and all of a sudden you're.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Like, wow, I just don't belong here, you know. But
I just soaked it up. I was like a sponge
for it, you know, like I said, I didn't have
a learning curve. I had a learning spike, and and
just I want to pass it on now.
Speaker 6 (03:29):
I want to take all that info and just puke
it up, let people, you know, let people learn from it.
And that's my seminars today are not necessarily just all
the scouting and all that stuff, but I want to
simplify turkey hunting.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
I want all.
Speaker 6 (03:44):
The myths that all these people the quote unquote pros.
I dropped every pro staff position I had quite a
few years ago because that word doesn't.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Mean what it used to do. You know, it's we.
Speaker 6 (03:57):
Earned it back in the day, and now they're learning.
They're they're learning it, not earning it, if that makes sense.
And no, I shouldn't say it because I don't want to.
I don't want to take down people that are that
are learning and excelling at it, because there are people
that do and they make it to the next level
and it's amazing. But we can turn on our computer
(04:22):
and learn in ten minutes, but it doesn't make you,
you know, a pro.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Well, let me ask you about like in the New
England area, because he's from the Midwest, it's from Indiana
and and I know when I would go hunting with
people like they're.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
They're living that every day exactly. There's people that they
have they have to like kill.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Other predators that are killing their livestock and stuff like that.
So it's like, this is how they survive. This isn't
just like you know, a weekend fun thing or whatever
and stuff like that. How do you pass that on
that that love and passion that you have for it
to people say, hey, listen, this is a way of
life for me. This is a way of life for
a lot of these people that are in the woods
all the time.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Do you it's for me?
Speaker 6 (05:02):
It's you got to get the excitement, you know, and
I always try to bring a different level of excitement
to it. And success, you've got to our world is
instant gratification. Now, you know, we don't have the patience
that we used to. You take, you know, three hundred
(05:22):
swings at a ball and don't hit it.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
It doesn't matter, you're going to take another three hundred
until you do.
Speaker 6 (05:27):
Now they don't hit it on their first two shots
are like, yeah, I'm done, I'll see you later. So
you got to kind of gauge it for success and
That's what I'm trying to do, is I'm trying to
cut out all these things that are facades that they're
trying people are trying to be fancy and break it
down simple and let people.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
Know that it's not hard, all right, And so let's
get into it. Sir. By the way, we're talking to
Matt Weddish, Hall of Fame Turkey Collar Extraordinaire. You are
going to be on the Hunting stage that's Room three
tomorrow at one o'clock and four o'clock. I don't know
if I'm breaking news to you on this or if
you haven't.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Noon on Sunday the same stage.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Usually she comes up and says, hey, you're on.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
Then you're also at two o'clock. So a couple of
chances to see Wettish do his thing out here. And
you've done this for us before on the air, and
you can the thing that Weddish has that other people does.
He actually talks to turkeys. He knows turkeys, he lives
with turkeys, he grew up with turkeys. So like you know,
the different calls to use at the different time. Now,
let's say I'm guessing the turkey that's gonna you know,
(06:34):
be the most instant gratification is that mail turkey that
might be looking for that email.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Turkey is exactly that's what you're trying to do.
Speaker 6 (06:42):
It's the breeding season, so and you're just trying to
be sexy, so you're trying to be a sexy turkey.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Now, that's all you're doing.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
Give us the sexy turkey call to bring that mail turkey.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
How did I know this was coming?
Speaker 5 (06:54):
So he's dipping in now tell us your bag of tricks.
It's this is like a tin basically a little plastic pop.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
It's almost like a little snuff.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
Can you know how many of those callers do you
have in that? Just?
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Uh, I've got three different styles.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
Okay, now, and which style are you bringing out right now?
For us?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
This is actually one that we're working on.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
Oh, this is is like a new call. Okay, let's
hear it all right.
Speaker 6 (07:19):
Let's see I watch I watched YouTube yesterday, so I
think I got it down now.
Speaker 7 (07:23):
Okay, Now, is that that that's a male trying to
(07:48):
bring female?
Speaker 4 (07:50):
That's that fails bring a male?
Speaker 1 (07:52):
That's a female thing. Hey, I'm available.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
That's wow, it's some science. Why why was that what
it was like, what do you know that.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Basically, I mean a lot of people try to put
too much into it. The yelp is ninety five percent
of their communication until you get into real I mean,
we as hunters will call it pillow talk.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
You know.
Speaker 6 (08:15):
It's your subtle things that you don't hear unless they're
ten feet away.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
So that's not really part of a repertoire. And that's
what a lot of people think they need to do.
Oh it's that closure call.
Speaker 6 (08:27):
Well, I hate to tell you that bird doesn't hear
it unless you're standing right next to you already. So
the realism of that, you can just cut it out
yelping that that's how they communicate, Hey, I'm over here.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
What are you doing?
Speaker 4 (08:40):
You know?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Are you excited? Are you not excited?
Speaker 4 (08:42):
You know?
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Are you melow? Just hanging out? Are you searching?
Speaker 6 (08:46):
So all those vocalizations are very similar in nature, depending
on how the your cadences when you put them out.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
So how far away can a turkey be to hear
the female.
Speaker 6 (08:57):
I've got birds to, you know, sitting on a boat.
So this is a perfect example. When you're sitting first
thing in the morning on the boat and it's dark out,
you can hear guys talking on the other boat a
half mile away.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
You can hear him clear as day.
Speaker 6 (09:14):
As soon as that, as soon as that sun comes up,
you can't hear them. So there's an inversion. There's an
atmospheric ceiling. And one thing that you realize is that
first thing in the morning. They always say it's always
coldest before the dawn. If you walk out when it's
dark out and there's no frost on your car, but
(09:37):
you come out as soon as that sun starts coming
up and everything is frozen over, that's from the inversion.
So the earth heats up that air and it's a
little warmer. When the sun comes up, it starts to
circulate it. That warm air goes up, the cold air
comes down, and that's.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Why you're sitting there all morning. You can be like, oh,
I'm fine.
Speaker 6 (09:58):
All of a sudden, the sun just starts coming up
and you're like, damn, this sun needs to get on me, man,
because you know, quick get up. So that inversion happens.
So when that atmospheric ceiling is low and you can
hear that boat a half mile away, I've had turkeys
gobble a half mile you know, a third of a mile,
(10:18):
quarter of a mile, you know, from one ridge to
the other, down a valley, whatever it may be.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Once that sun comes up, you're knocking that in a quarter,
you know, a third of that.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
So you're getting birds, I would say, around New England,
you know you're getting birds to three hundred yards maybe,
But that depends on leaves, depends on terrain, depends on wind,
all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Have you ever been calling it some turkeys that they'd like?
Turn around. There's twenty turkeys behind.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
You, absolutely surround it.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
All of a sudden they gobble it like ten steps
behind you and like your hat rattles.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
That's amazing.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
The other thing too, man, anytime you try to pull
a fast one on a fisherman or a hundred, you
got another thing coming out. How smart they are. And
just that I learn every day I'm out there exactly
the how you just pay attention to the world, and
you know, like you're saying, if you want to catch something,
you'll figure it out because it as soon as you,
you know, get tired of it, you'll start learning these
little things.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
You got it.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
I need some more, man, I need some more turkey.
Give me some all right, So that was the prototype.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
That was our wild turkey did like a farmer. Turkey's
like domesticated, like.
Speaker 6 (11:25):
Their their vocalizations obviously sound similar. But those things are
just full of steroids, and you know, they they grow
quicker and all that kind of stuff. So they still gobble,
they still yell that they do all that. Oh yeah,
I can walk out there and you know, cut out
them and they'll you know, they'll gobble off and stuff,
so they still listen.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
All right, So what do we have in our hand?
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Now?
Speaker 3 (11:47):
This is this is actually a call that I designed.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
I was going to ask you how many of these
you do?
Speaker 6 (11:52):
So strike zone calls? The guy I work with I
used to call with against him. In fact, you're a
mass shoot or in Massachusetts I was. We got in
a three time call off for the state championship title.
This is like overtime, Yeah, three overtimes awesome and he
beat well, we're just thrown up tens though, like judges ten.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
It was pretty crazy.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
Mad that's a ten. That's amazing. And now you guys
are friends, and.
Speaker 6 (12:17):
We've been friends the whole time, and he's an extremely
talented call maker. So I sat down with him a
couple of years, and this call actually made twenty twenty
three's Outdoor Life's Top Calls.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Of the Year.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Okay, so this is Hall of Fame stuff. Ladies and gentlemen,
pay attention. If you're driving out there, you're not going
to run into a turkey. This is just audio. Everyone
looks it's unreal that that's coming out of your mouth.
(13:00):
That does not look like a human being. Every I
just every time, both times you've done that, everyone is
turned in their head.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
And at first I honestly quiet.
Speaker 5 (13:07):
Yeah, when you were when you.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Were over there before making I don't know if somebody
was making Was it you doing gooseball?
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Is that you?
Speaker 5 (13:16):
Oh so we got.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Okay, I swear to god, I thought there's fifteen of
them gonna fly in here. Let's get a goose call
for the people. Oh my god, this is loud. This
is my backyard because I have a pond, yep, So purposely.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
You don't get that anywhere else on any any beautiful.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
That was the thing that I heard do that before.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Matt Matt Wade, by the way, Hall of Fame caller,
I swear to god, it's like the morning at my house,
like come in and they land on this pond and
stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Obviously it's in.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
The mid morning morning.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
I got a morning call.
Speaker 6 (14:15):
Is two birds talking to each other, clucking back and
forth before they take off.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
Okay, all right, you're gonna you're gonna hear this is
here that is so perfect due exactly what they like.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
What wakes me up in the morning. My wife's like,
I want coffee.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Like this is a thing of beauty.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
All right, And let me ask you this, why don't
they go south for the winter.
Speaker 8 (15:02):
Well, we can't have some that stay here, So we've
got the birds that migrate through are the the Greater Canadas, Okay, okay,
And there are Canada goose that migrate down from Canada,
Prince Edward Island all.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Nova Scotia, that area, and they migrate down through and.
Speaker 6 (15:19):
They usually stop right around the Maryland area Maryland, Delaware, Jersey.
They'll go further, but that's kind of like the snow
line where they can still get feed. The birds we
have here are non indigenous. They don't belong here. They're
back from the days of market hunting, and they had
these birds like as decoys, live decoys, and they'd put
(15:41):
them in pens so they're bigger.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
They're actually a giganic.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
They sit in the farm area around my house and
they don't do anything.
Speaker 6 (15:47):
And they're called the Giant Canada. So they're bigger than
the greaters, the natural ones that migrate through.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I have them house and the yeah and the giants.
Speaker 6 (15:56):
They go to the shoreline and that's about it when
it gets back and then they come back in. And
I mean the fecal call of form level, basically the
crap level in your pond. They're getting in areas where
you can't haunt.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Them, no, and they're over popular forty eight houses in
our development right and they're right in the middle of
us that we can't kill them.
Speaker 6 (16:14):
To give you an idea, when the birds that actually
are native migrate through, our.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Bag limit is anywhere from two to.
Speaker 6 (16:27):
Three or so, depending on where you are in the state,
per person per day.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
When it comes to early season.
Speaker 6 (16:34):
Before the birds migrate, they call it a resident bird season.
The birds that don't leave, it's fifteen birds. And you
can have as many shells in the gun as you want.
I mean, they just want them out, you know.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
To control that population.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Yeah, what are besides doing seminars and teaching people things.
What else are we doing here? Are we selling calls somewhere?
What are you doing?
Speaker 3 (16:55):
I'm not selling calls. I'm here to just help people.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
You're just walking around with you, Dougwalk.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I love Come see me at the booth.
Speaker 6 (17:03):
I'm here with the guys from the Outdoor Drive podcast.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Great dudes, Trevor and Marty are here.
Speaker 6 (17:11):
Marty I'm sorry that's his nickname, but those guys are
here from the Outdoor Drive and they've got a great
podcast and just fun, fun dudes.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
And we're the loud ones man.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Hell yeah, you know, and we're we're always willing to
help people out.
Speaker 5 (17:27):
Well, we're so glad that you got into the Hall
of Fame man, Like we heard that from Christy and
it was like he's not already been in for ten years. Yeah,
totally deserved obviously. The people that are listening to appreciate that,
and like you, you spot on and like an attention getter.
I'll tell you what, when you were doing that, everybody
is snapping their heads this direction. But yeah, what so
tomorrow a couple of days, you're doing something.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
Today already I'm doing I'm doing a seminar in about
fifteen minutes or so here and then tomorrow I've got
two of them done.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Plus I'm chiming in on the kid zone.
Speaker 6 (17:58):
So I've got some hats and stuff and some duck
calls to give away that the parents will be real
happy that they go.
Speaker 5 (18:03):
How long does it take? How long can I, you know,
spend time and master this where I'm actually attracting birds.
Speaker 6 (18:11):
I could get you know, not with that mouth call,
but you know with a different call, I could I
could teach you in five to ten minutes side of
call turkey.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
Look at that. Look at that, Ladies and gentlemen. So
plenty of reasons to come down here this weekend. You're
definitely one of them.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Man, Absolutely, you guys rock man. I always have a.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
Great tank, you buddy measure coming on our boat.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
We'll take a greatfully right back Connecticut Fishing, an outdoor
show live from the Mohegan sun Expost Center, and it
goes on until Sunday, the twenty third.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
We'll be right back
Bag and Fishing, an outdoor show.
Speaker 2 (00:01):
We're joined now by Hall of Famer, that wettish turkey hunter,
champion caller, Turkey Hunting Hall of Fame inductee. Now are
you in or are you getting inducted this year?
Speaker 3 (00:12):
No, I got inducted last year.
Speaker 4 (00:14):
Actually, so are you?
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Like now you're just the Hall of Famer right.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Yeah, I'm something.
Speaker 5 (00:18):
He's just he's never heard your back.
Speaker 1 (00:23):
I was thinking, like, you got attacked in the woods
by a bear.
Speaker 6 (00:26):
It could have been man, I think, you know, you
got to tell people that carrying turkey's out, I think,
And it was just it was brutal, you know, I
got to start shooting.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Smaller birds or something.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Oh my god.
Speaker 5 (00:36):
We know we met you like what four or five
years ago, and then your turkey calls. Honestly, I don't
know if we've told you this since, but when you
were doing turkey calls on our show, like it was
flipping people out in their car. They had no idea if.
Speaker 4 (00:50):
They were what's going on exactly?
Speaker 5 (00:52):
And like your your calls and why you're such a
Hall of Famer is you're so realistic. Now I caught
you giving some tricks to the trade a over there
to some of the other turkey callers in the area.
Speaker 4 (01:02):
And you're cool with that, man, absolutely, you know that.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
That's why I come here.
Speaker 6 (01:06):
I mean, I've actually been doing this show, god, twenty
five years maybe, And I love the family, love the
people that have been putting this on for so many years.
And I love the direction.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
They're going with it.
Speaker 6 (01:19):
You know, where they're they're growing this thing. They're a
great focus on the kids. They got their kid Zone
going on this year. And I mean that's the history
of everything we're doing, you know, whether it's baseball, whether
it's fishing, hunting, whatever, kayaking, camping, it's if the kids
don't get involved, man all goes away.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Too. It is the next generation.
Speaker 6 (01:41):
It is man and it's sad to see, you know,
kids sitting inside just wearing out their fingerprints on the screens.
And uh, you know, I'll take my buddy Al al Gago.
He says, you know, forget the xbox, get a tackle box.
That's one of the greatest things ever, you know. And
I love Al the death and he's been doing you know,
youth stuff forever and he does the same thing.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
You know, we've been doing this.
Speaker 6 (02:05):
He remembers when I was doing this as I was
a kid, you know, when I start first started winning
competitions and calling, and it's, uh, it's exciting.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
I just love being here and love sharing it because.
Speaker 6 (02:17):
We don't We've got a lot of people that do it,
but we aren't steeped like some steeped in the history
of it the way some other parts of the country are.
And I just got exposed.
Speaker 3 (02:32):
I didn't have a learning curve.
Speaker 6 (02:34):
I had a learning spike, you know, and and being
in the outdoor industry full time, it's kind of like
when you get into the big leagues you realize that
you are not.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
A big league player, you know.
Speaker 6 (02:47):
You know, anybody who thinks they're a good driver get
on a track with a person who's a professional driver,
you get humbled really fast.
Speaker 3 (02:58):
You know, it was probably.
Speaker 6 (02:59):
Not five, you know, ninety five ish, and you know,
you start doing competitions and you're going with world champions,
and you're meeting these guys that you're you know, that
you were idols with, and all of a sudden you're.
Speaker 3 (03:13):
Like, wow, I just don't belong here, you know. But
I just soaked it up. I was like a sponge
for it, you know, like I said, I didn't have
a learning curve. I had a learning spike, and and
just I want to pass it on now.
Speaker 6 (03:29):
I want to take all that info and just puke
it up, let people, you know, let people learn from it.
And that's my seminars today are not necessarily just all
the scouting and all that stuff, but I want to
simplify turkey hunting.
Speaker 3 (03:44):
I want all.
Speaker 6 (03:44):
The myths that all these people the quote unquote pros.
I dropped every pro staff position I had quite a
few years ago because that word doesn't.
Speaker 3 (03:54):
Mean what it used to do. You know, it's we.
Speaker 6 (03:57):
Earned it back in the day, and now they're learning.
They're they're learning it, not earning it, if that makes sense.
And no, I shouldn't say it because I don't want to.
I don't want to take down people that are that
are learning and excelling at it, because there are people
that do and they make it to the next level
and it's amazing. But we can turn on our computer
(04:22):
and learn in ten minutes, but it doesn't make you,
you know, a pro.
Speaker 2 (04:25):
Well, let me ask you about like in the New
England area, because he's from the Midwest, it's from Indiana
and and I know when I would go hunting with
people like they're.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
They're living that every day exactly. There's people that they
have they have to like kill.
Speaker 2 (04:39):
Other predators that are killing their livestock and stuff like that.
So it's like, this is how they survive. This isn't
just like you know, a weekend fun thing or whatever
and stuff like that. How do you pass that on
that that love and passion that you have for it
to people say, hey, listen, this is a way of
life for me. This is a way of life for
a lot of these people that are in the woods
all the time.
Speaker 3 (04:59):
Do you it's for me?
Speaker 6 (05:02):
It's you got to get the excitement, you know, and
I always try to bring a different level of excitement
to it. And success, you've got to our world is
instant gratification. Now, you know, we don't have the patience
that we used to. You take, you know, three hundred
(05:22):
swings at a ball and don't hit it.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
It doesn't matter, you're going to take another three hundred
until you do.
Speaker 6 (05:27):
Now they don't hit it on their first two shots
are like, yeah, I'm done, I'll see you later. So
you got to kind of gauge it for success and
That's what I'm trying to do, is I'm trying to
cut out all these things that are facades that they're
trying people are trying to be fancy and break it
down simple and let people.
Speaker 5 (05:48):
Know that it's not hard, all right, And so let's
get into it. Sir. By the way, we're talking to
Matt Weddish, Hall of Fame Turkey Collar Extraordinaire. You are
going to be on the Hunting stage that's Room three
tomorrow at one o'clock and four o'clock. I don't know
if I'm breaking news to you on this or if
you haven't.
Speaker 4 (06:05):
Noon on Sunday the same stage.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Usually she comes up and says, hey, you're on.
Speaker 5 (06:10):
Then you're also at two o'clock. So a couple of
chances to see Wettish do his thing out here. And
you've done this for us before on the air, and
you can the thing that Weddish has that other people does.
He actually talks to turkeys. He knows turkeys, he lives
with turkeys, he grew up with turkeys. So like you know,
the different calls to use at the different time. Now,
let's say I'm guessing the turkey that's gonna you know,
(06:34):
be the most instant gratification is that mail turkey that
might be looking for that email.
Speaker 3 (06:39):
Turkey is exactly that's what you're trying to do.
Speaker 6 (06:42):
It's the breeding season, so and you're just trying to
be sexy, so you're trying to be a sexy turkey.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
That's it.
Speaker 3 (06:47):
Now, that's all you're doing.
Speaker 5 (06:48):
Give us the sexy turkey call to bring that mail turkey.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
How did I know this was coming?
Speaker 5 (06:54):
So he's dipping in now tell us your bag of tricks.
It's this is like a tin basically a little plastic pop.
Speaker 3 (07:00):
It's almost like a little snuff.
Speaker 5 (07:01):
Can you know how many of those callers do you
have in that? Just?
Speaker 3 (07:05):
Uh, I've got three different styles.
Speaker 5 (07:08):
Okay, now, and which style are you bringing out right now?
For us?
Speaker 3 (07:11):
This is actually one that we're working on.
Speaker 5 (07:13):
Oh, this is is like a new call. Okay, let's
hear it all right.
Speaker 6 (07:19):
Let's see I watch I watched YouTube yesterday, so I
think I got it down now.
Speaker 7 (07:23):
Okay, Now, is that that that's a male trying to
(07:48):
bring female?
Speaker 4 (07:50):
That's that fails bring a male?
Speaker 1 (07:52):
That's a female thing. Hey, I'm available.
Speaker 5 (07:54):
That's wow, it's some science. Why why was that what
it was like, what do you know that.
Speaker 6 (08:03):
Basically, I mean a lot of people try to put
too much into it. The yelp is ninety five percent
of their communication until you get into real I mean,
we as hunters will call it pillow talk.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
You know.
Speaker 6 (08:15):
It's your subtle things that you don't hear unless they're
ten feet away.
Speaker 3 (08:20):
So that's not really part of a repertoire. And that's
what a lot of people think they need to do.
Oh it's that closure call.
Speaker 6 (08:27):
Well, I hate to tell you that bird doesn't hear
it unless you're standing right next to you already. So
the realism of that, you can just cut it out
yelping that that's how they communicate, Hey, I'm over here.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
What are you doing?
Speaker 4 (08:40):
You know?
Speaker 3 (08:40):
Are you excited? Are you not excited?
Speaker 4 (08:42):
You know?
Speaker 3 (08:42):
Are you melow? Just hanging out? Are you searching?
Speaker 6 (08:46):
So all those vocalizations are very similar in nature, depending
on how the your cadences when you put them out.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
So how far away can a turkey be to hear
the female.
Speaker 6 (08:57):
I've got birds to, you know, sitting on a boat.
So this is a perfect example. When you're sitting first
thing in the morning on the boat and it's dark out,
you can hear guys talking on the other boat a
half mile away.
Speaker 3 (09:12):
You can hear him clear as day.
Speaker 6 (09:14):
As soon as that, as soon as that sun comes up,
you can't hear them. So there's an inversion. There's an
atmospheric ceiling. And one thing that you realize is that
first thing in the morning. They always say it's always
coldest before the dawn. If you walk out when it's
dark out and there's no frost on your car, but
(09:37):
you come out as soon as that sun starts coming
up and everything is frozen over, that's from the inversion.
So the earth heats up that air and it's a
little warmer. When the sun comes up, it starts to
circulate it. That warm air goes up, the cold air
comes down, and that's.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Why you're sitting there all morning. You can be like, oh,
I'm fine.
Speaker 6 (09:58):
All of a sudden, the sun just starts coming up
and you're like, damn, this sun needs to get on me, man,
because you know, quick get up. So that inversion happens.
So when that atmospheric ceiling is low and you can
hear that boat a half mile away, I've had turkeys
gobble a half mile you know, a third of a mile,
(10:18):
quarter of a mile, you know, from one ridge to
the other, down a valley, whatever it may be.
Speaker 3 (10:24):
Once that sun comes up, you're knocking that in a quarter,
you know, a third of that.
Speaker 6 (10:30):
So you're getting birds, I would say, around New England,
you know you're getting birds to three hundred yards maybe,
But that depends on leaves, depends on terrain, depends on wind,
all that stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:42):
Have you ever been calling it some turkeys that they'd like?
Turn around. There's twenty turkeys behind.
Speaker 4 (10:46):
You, absolutely surround it.
Speaker 6 (10:48):
All of a sudden they gobble it like ten steps
behind you and like your hat rattles.
Speaker 4 (10:54):
That's amazing.
Speaker 6 (10:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (10:55):
The other thing too, man, anytime you try to pull
a fast one on a fisherman or a hundred, you
got another thing coming out. How smart they are. And
just that I learn every day I'm out there exactly
the how you just pay attention to the world, and
you know, like you're saying, if you want to catch something,
you'll figure it out because it as soon as you,
you know, get tired of it, you'll start learning these
little things.
Speaker 4 (11:14):
You got it.
Speaker 5 (11:14):
I need some more, man, I need some more turkey.
Give me some all right, So that was the prototype.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
That was our wild turkey did like a farmer. Turkey's
like domesticated, like.
Speaker 6 (11:25):
Their their vocalizations obviously sound similar. But those things are
just full of steroids, and you know, they they grow
quicker and all that kind of stuff. So they still gobble,
they still yell that they do all that. Oh yeah,
I can walk out there and you know, cut out
them and they'll you know, they'll gobble off and stuff,
so they still listen.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
All right, So what do we have in our hand?
Speaker 5 (11:47):
Now?
Speaker 3 (11:47):
This is this is actually a call that I designed.
Speaker 5 (11:50):
I was going to ask you how many of these
you do?
Speaker 6 (11:52):
So strike zone calls? The guy I work with I
used to call with against him. In fact, you're a
mass shoot or in Massachusetts I was. We got in
a three time call off for the state championship title.
This is like overtime, Yeah, three overtimes awesome and he
beat well, we're just thrown up tens though, like judges ten.
Speaker 4 (12:13):
It was pretty crazy.
Speaker 5 (12:14):
Mad that's a ten. That's amazing. And now you guys
are friends, and.
Speaker 6 (12:17):
We've been friends the whole time, and he's an extremely
talented call maker. So I sat down with him a
couple of years, and this call actually made twenty twenty
three's Outdoor Life's Top Calls.
Speaker 3 (12:30):
Of the Year.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
Okay, so this is Hall of Fame stuff. Ladies and gentlemen,
pay attention. If you're driving out there, you're not going
to run into a turkey. This is just audio. Everyone
looks it's unreal that that's coming out of your mouth.
(13:00):
That does not look like a human being. Every I
just every time, both times you've done that, everyone is
turned in their head.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
And at first I honestly quiet.
Speaker 5 (13:07):
Yeah, when you were when you.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Were over there before making I don't know if somebody
was making Was it you doing gooseball?
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Is that you?
Speaker 5 (13:16):
Oh so we got.
Speaker 2 (13:17):
Okay, I swear to god, I thought there's fifteen of
them gonna fly in here. Let's get a goose call
for the people. Oh my god, this is loud. This
is my backyard because I have a pond, yep, So purposely.
Speaker 5 (13:54):
You don't get that anywhere else on any any beautiful.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
That was the thing that I heard do that before.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
Matt Matt Wade, by the way, Hall of Fame caller,
I swear to god, it's like the morning at my house,
like come in and they land on this pond and
stuff like that.
Speaker 1 (14:10):
Obviously it's in.
Speaker 5 (14:11):
The mid morning morning.
Speaker 1 (14:14):
I got a morning call.
Speaker 6 (14:15):
Is two birds talking to each other, clucking back and
forth before they take off.
Speaker 5 (14:20):
Okay, all right, you're gonna you're gonna hear this is
here that is so perfect due exactly what they like.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
What wakes me up in the morning. My wife's like,
I want coffee.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
Like this is a thing of beauty.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
All right, And let me ask you this, why don't
they go south for the winter.
Speaker 8 (15:02):
Well, we can't have some that stay here, So we've
got the birds that migrate through are the the Greater Canadas, Okay, okay,
And there are Canada goose that migrate down from Canada,
Prince Edward Island all.
Speaker 3 (15:17):
Nova Scotia, that area, and they migrate down through and.
Speaker 6 (15:19):
They usually stop right around the Maryland area Maryland, Delaware, Jersey.
They'll go further, but that's kind of like the snow
line where they can still get feed. The birds we
have here are non indigenous. They don't belong here. They're
back from the days of market hunting, and they had
these birds like as decoys, live decoys, and they'd put
(15:41):
them in pens so they're bigger.
Speaker 3 (15:43):
They're actually a giganic.
Speaker 2 (15:44):
They sit in the farm area around my house and
they don't do anything.
Speaker 6 (15:47):
And they're called the Giant Canada. So they're bigger than
the greaters, the natural ones that migrate through.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
I have them house and the yeah and the giants.
Speaker 6 (15:56):
They go to the shoreline and that's about it when
it gets back and then they come back in. And
I mean the fecal call of form level, basically the
crap level in your pond. They're getting in areas where
you can't haunt.
Speaker 2 (16:08):
Them, no, and they're over popular forty eight houses in
our development right and they're right in the middle of
us that we can't kill them.
Speaker 6 (16:14):
To give you an idea, when the birds that actually
are native migrate through, our.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
Bag limit is anywhere from two to.
Speaker 6 (16:27):
Three or so, depending on where you are in the state,
per person per day.
Speaker 3 (16:32):
When it comes to early season.
Speaker 6 (16:34):
Before the birds migrate, they call it a resident bird season.
The birds that don't leave, it's fifteen birds. And you
can have as many shells in the gun as you want.
I mean, they just want them out, you know.
Speaker 3 (16:46):
To control that population.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
Yeah, what are besides doing seminars and teaching people things.
What else are we doing here? Are we selling calls somewhere?
What are you doing?
Speaker 3 (16:55):
I'm not selling calls. I'm here to just help people.
Speaker 4 (16:57):
You're just walking around with you, Dougwalk.
Speaker 3 (17:01):
I love Come see me at the booth.
Speaker 6 (17:03):
I'm here with the guys from the Outdoor Drive podcast.
Speaker 3 (17:09):
Great dudes, Trevor and Marty are here.
Speaker 6 (17:11):
Marty I'm sorry that's his nickname, but those guys are
here from the Outdoor Drive and they've got a great
podcast and just fun, fun dudes.
Speaker 3 (17:21):
And we're the loud ones man.
Speaker 6 (17:23):
Hell yeah, you know, and we're we're always willing to
help people out.
Speaker 5 (17:27):
Well, we're so glad that you got into the Hall
of Fame man, Like we heard that from Christy and
it was like he's not already been in for ten years. Yeah,
totally deserved obviously. The people that are listening to appreciate that,
and like you, you spot on and like an attention getter.
I'll tell you what, when you were doing that, everybody
is snapping their heads this direction. But yeah, what so
tomorrow a couple of days, you're doing something.
Speaker 6 (17:48):
Today already I'm doing I'm doing a seminar in about
fifteen minutes or so here and then tomorrow I've got
two of them done.
Speaker 3 (17:55):
Plus I'm chiming in on the kid zone.
Speaker 6 (17:58):
So I've got some hats and stuff and some duck
calls to give away that the parents will be real
happy that they go.
Speaker 5 (18:03):
How long does it take? How long can I, you know,
spend time and master this where I'm actually attracting birds.
Speaker 6 (18:11):
I could get you know, not with that mouth call,
but you know with a different call, I could I
could teach you in five to ten minutes side of
call turkey.
Speaker 5 (18:20):
Look at that. Look at that, Ladies and gentlemen. So
plenty of reasons to come down here this weekend. You're
definitely one of them.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
Man, Absolutely, you guys rock man. I always have a.
Speaker 5 (18:29):
Great tank, you buddy measure coming on our boat.
Speaker 2 (18:31):
We'll take a greatfully right back Connecticut Fishing, an outdoor
show live from the Mohegan sun Expost Center, and it
goes on until Sunday, the twenty third.
Speaker 5 (18:40):
We'll be right back
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