4-27-25 - Fish Spawning, Turkey Strutting and More

Jim and Scott roll out a Spring Special on fish spawning, turkey strutting and Morel mushrooms.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
News Radio eight forty whas welcomes you to Jim Straighter Outdoors,
the area's leading authority on hunting and fishing. Jim Straighter
Outdoors is brought to you by Massioak Property's Heart Realty.
For the outdoor home of your dreams. Call Paul Thomas
at two seven zero five two four one nine zero
eight Lynden Animal Clinic, your pet's best Friend, Sportsman's Taxidermy.

(00:23):
Visit them at Sportsman's Taxidermy dot com. An Roth Heating
and Cooling, a family owned business with over one hundred
years of experience in the Louisville area. Wildlife Habitat Solutions.
Check Jim and his team on Facebook at Wildlife Habitat
Solutions and by SMI Marine. Getting your boat back on
the water in no time. To join in on the conversation,

(00:44):
call us at five seven one eight four eight four
inside Louisville and one eight hundred four four four eight
four eight four outside the Metro. Now sit back and
relax and enjoy the next two hours of Jim Straighter
Outdoors on news Radio eight forty WHAS.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Good evening, everyone, GM Straighter here with my co host
Scott Cronin and Scott, we got a lot of ground
to cover tonight. We're gonna talk about the turkey season
which has been in full swinging Kentucky and Indiana opened,
and you've been out in the woods that had tremendous success.

(01:23):
You're making a real habit of that, buddy.

Speaker 3 (01:25):
Boy, a lot of different field reports coming in. Got
quite a bit of time in the woods hunting with
friends and some industry reps, and it's taken a lot
of different tactics, and there's been a lot of different

(01:45):
scenarios that have been presented to us, and even a
lot of veteran turkey hunters have had some pretty tough situations,
especially with the Indiana season getting started off. I was
fortunate enough to harvest a really good with a great
friend of mine, and we'll share some of the details
on what was going on with the crew that I

(02:05):
was with over the weekend and and kind of what's ahead.

Speaker 4 (02:09):
Jim, Yes, sir, and Uh.

Speaker 2 (02:12):
As far as wood's lower, we're gonna talk a lot
tonight about the changes in vegetation. We're going to talk
about what that meant even on the lake side of things,
which is quite an interesting scenario that developed there we're
going to talk about the fish spawn and what a
lot of the high water did good and bad. We're

(02:34):
going to talk tonight about the early squirrel season, which
is right around the corner, and we're kind of gonna
do a rounds robin on what's been going on all
across the region.

Speaker 4 (02:45):
On fishing side of things.

Speaker 2 (02:47):
In the hunting side, it's obviously the time of year
when folks are really enjoying the spring weather, and the
weather's finally been a little more cooperative. We continue to
have rainy periods, but thank goodness, that's not as bad
as it was, which was pretty bad. And to that point,
I'm gonna give like reports again tonight. Last time we

(03:12):
did so it was two weeks ago. Things haven't changed
a whole lot at some of the lakes. I'm gonna
give the current drawdowns and what they pretend and what
people can hopefully expect going forward. But it's been a
crazy spring. I think it's very fair to say that
in many, many regards. So we're going to report on

(03:32):
all those things during the show tonight. Also, I want
you all to chime in with your reports. If you've
been fishing, I'd love to know and we would love
to know you know where you've been, what you're seeing.
A lot of the ramps are still too high to
get in, so I wish I had some reports on
which ramps were open, but I do not at the

(03:55):
current time. But we'd love to hear your reports about
turkey hunting, what kind of turkey season you're having, And
we'll be talking again a lot about the fishing side
of the equation tonight. So if you want to call
in and chat with us locally, you call us at
five seven one eighty four eighty four. That's five seven

(04:16):
one eight four eight four. Or if you want to
talk cost toll free from out in the region, calls
at eight hundred four four four eighty four eighty four.
So those are the numbers to reach us, and we
would love to hear some field reports and or on
water reports. We've been out and about ourselves as much

(04:38):
as we possibly can, but we always treasure hearing from
your folks and what you're seeing and what your experiences
have been. So get those numbers five seven one eighty
four eighty four or eight hundred four four four eighty
four eighty four. Gonna go to break here and we'll
be back after break with those lake reports. The break

(05:00):
is presented by SMI Marine eleven four on a Westport road.
Got a lot of new boats over there for sale.
You need to go see them. If you're haven't any
problems with you by getting new electronics. They're expert at
all those things. Go see them, and remember you never
get soaked by my friends at SMI Marine. All Right, folks,
has promised I'm gonna do a rundown on these lake levels.

(05:23):
I know a lot of you have not been on
the water yet because the lakes have been extremely high,
and unfortunately a lot of them are still very high. However,
they are doing a draw and I'll kind of give
you a clue to what's happening there.

Speaker 4 (05:41):
Let's kick things off.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
I'm gonna do these and kind of alphabetical order here
as best I can.

Speaker 4 (05:49):
Cave Run is.

Speaker 2 (05:52):
Currently sitting at seven forty eight point seven.

Speaker 4 (05:57):
It is still nineteen feet over pool.

Speaker 2 (06:00):
In the last twenty four hours, they've they've dropped to
the half a foot, so it is dropping, but it's
still nineteen feet over pool. Car Creek is not that high.
It's within boundaries and it's only three tenths of a
foot up, which is kind of a deviation. Buckhorn it's

(06:25):
at set let's see buck horn seven eighty two, excuse me,
and it's.

Speaker 4 (06:35):
A little high.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
Taylorsville is still very high. It's twenty two and a
half feet and they're drawn yet at a rate on
the last twenty four hours of seven tenths of a
foot in Taylorsville is still twenty two and a half.

Speaker 4 (06:49):
Green is still way up.

Speaker 2 (06:52):
It's at twenty six point three, but again they're drawn
yet seven tenths of a foot in the last twenty
four No. L In is thirty four and a half
feet over pool. They've dropped it a good bit one
point two feet in the last twenty four hours, so
that one's on the move in a big way. Barren

(07:13):
thirty one and a half feet. Bus it's hard, it's
it's still way high. They've dropped it half a foot
last twenty four rough twenty one point six over pool.
They've dropped it nine tenths of a foot, so again
it's on the way down. Monroe over in Indiana is
still eleven point eight feet over pool. It's only dropped

(07:37):
two tenths of a foot. Patoca still nine point four
feet over pool and it's only dropped one tenths of
a foot, so these lakes are still very, very high
and Scott, there's a lot of things to talk about
there in terms of what.

Speaker 4 (07:55):
This has done for the fish.

Speaker 2 (07:57):
I think what we need to kick it off with
is croppy because this high water hit right on top.

Speaker 4 (08:04):
Of the croppy spawn.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
As we know, we're rocking along getting ready to kiss
into May here and April is the big month for
the croppy spawn. But the good news is those lakes
stay pretty high and relatively table.

Speaker 4 (08:21):
They got clear, and I'm hoping.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
That the drop wasn't so dramatic that it hurt the spawn.
You know, those lakes are down some from two weeks ago.
But this hopefully will be a year when the croppy
spawn be fantastic for two reasons. One is a lot
of unusual places for them to spawn. Number two a

(08:47):
lack of pressure, fishing pressure that is on the fish
because in a lot of cases, folks either couldn't launch
or they couldn't get to them in the brush. Now
I know you and I talk about that sky.

Speaker 3 (09:01):
Yeah, the high water has done several things that it's
been a scenario in most lakes where we were able
to keep the water levels at a point to where
we didn't have a complete loss of the spawn. That
could have very easily been a disaster if the fish

(09:21):
would have started a little bit early. Not only anglers
that get out every once in a while just to
enjoy some fishing notices a lot of your guides that
have spent years on the lakes too, talking with them,
sharing breakfast with them, They've been pleasantly surprised with how
well the fish held off. And we're not talking about

(09:42):
just the lakes that typically get all the attention. There's
a lot of lakes that have really come onto the
forefront the last few years. Dal Hollow especially as a
lake that you know and I know, is becoming even
more popular to croppie fish on. A lot of our
lakes over in eastern Kentucky and even up in the
Indiana Southern Indiana especially don't always get the most attention.

(10:04):
And for those of us that like the fish, that's
a good thing. But what has it meant what's going
on and where our things were scattered? We're dealing with
disappointed anglers and many outings because there's so much water
to have to filter through, and there's so many different
areas in what these fish can be because they have
more area to make themselves spread out in verse on.

(10:26):
But the croppie have stayed consistent with finding the best
habitat that they have this year in eight to twelve
foot of water, and of course a lot of those
fish are holding, you know, on three or four foot
of water when we're getting to catch them, and the
spawn itself has presented a tougher bite for anglers and

(10:48):
a lot of us that have actually gone out there
and truly capitalized on catching crappie in pretty big numbers.
The spider rigging, for example, is something that has been
extremely effective because they're able to cover quite a bit
of water, and that's what it's taken is trying to
target and find those fish and be on a search

(11:10):
mission form and a lot of times live bait sometimes
people will turn their nose up to it, but a
bobber and a live men have been a deadly tactic
this spring for a lot of folks because there's just
the proven technique of live bait a lot of times
will catch fish when other techniques cannot and when you're
wanting to put a bunch of fish on the end

(11:31):
of your line, and fill your skillet up with some
fresh filets. Sometimes, if they're not biting a way that
you want to, you bite it the way that they
tell you they're.

Speaker 4 (11:39):
Going to bite.

Speaker 3 (11:40):
And that's what we've had to do. We've had to
adapt and utilize quite a bit of live bait under
a bobber well.

Speaker 2 (11:46):
And to your point there, it's a lot easier to
diploment it than it is to cast in those areas
that have been like a jungle, and they definitely have
been because of all the flooding, so it's been a
kind of a weird Now I'm kind of doing a
little save the best for last here, and that is

(12:07):
Kentucky and Berkley. They are only a footover and they
are at peak temperature for really really good fishing, as
are most of the lakes. But they're rocking along in
the mid sixties. And I had predicted two weeks ago
that folks would be catching bass attempting to spawn, boogill

(12:29):
attempting to spawn, and crappie spawning at the same time,
and guess what it's there. Reports have been great on
that and it's a very unique year. I mean, it's
just weird. But in Kentucky and Barkley holding the foot above,
as we all know, that provides a lot of nice

(12:52):
cover for bass fishermen.

Speaker 4 (12:54):
And some of my buddies that have been fishing there.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
Have been doing really really well up in those floods
sections that the mustard flowers everybody calls them the yellow
flowers are up. They're fishing them, they're fishing the brush.
And I know, Scott, you've been fishing there and doing
real well. Talk a little bit about that.

Speaker 3 (13:15):
Well, the percentage of whatever is going down has another
species going up, and that's where we're at right now.
As the crappie fishing begins to maybe die off on
what we would consider a peak spawn, the bluegill fishing
is going to, you know, increase, is that water temperature
gets closer to seventy red. Here are really starting to

(13:37):
be picked up in some of these areas where folks
are fishing traditional you know, crappy statebed areas and as
those fish have moved in, and most folks that have
that secret spot or two, especially along that pea gravel
that those lakes are so well known for, know that
you get there before everybody else knows that the words

(14:00):
out that the red air on the end of the
line and biting that red eir a technique gym is
it's just hard to beat. It's just a good split
shot and a hook and taking that worm and fishing
it just right off the bottom. It's very important that
folks know on these blue gill and these crappie where

(14:22):
you fish and how you fish, and the presentation is
going to be as much or more important than that
water clarity or that water being up just a little
bit higher than what you're used to getting these blue
yill to bite. That bit's going to be coming right
off the bottom as they get ready for this full
moon coming up on May the twelfth, and the crappie

(14:45):
if you're right up into the brush and catching them
and fishing around it and the fish tend to back
off or die off. This is a really important time
to remember the techniques and the tools that some of
our folks before us you used, and when you can
take specific craffee fishing rods and setups and techniques to

(15:05):
where you're not even utilizing casting to get in there
and you're just dropping that bait right there in the
center of that cover. That's where you're still going to
be pulling those fish out one at a time and
smiling ear to ear, and you keep your live wheell
door open on scenarios like that because you're able to
take those fish off and drop right back into that cover.

(15:26):
And if folks haven't done that, it's a prime time
to get in there with an aluminum boat and earn its.
Keep a little bit over the fiberglass that we've talked
about with this high water fishing, because you've got to
get right on top of those fish, and those fish
are holding so tight in and on that cover. It
just makes it great. And for a family that wants

(15:48):
to go fish gym, it's a great time for maybe
somebody to be using a manna or a jig and
somebody else to be fishing with a red worm or
a waxworm, and next thing you know, you're taking a
picture of a mess of fish. It's bigger than the
front of the deck of your boat. Just pay attention
to your crappy, you know limits, and as far as
you're blue gun, you're readier frime right next to the

(16:11):
to the croppy and the skillet and fix some white
beans and fritators and enjoy it because right now, the
next three to four weeks are going to put a
tremendous amount of pan fish into the boat. And it's
refreshing to know that the catfish are already starting to
search into these rocky areas, rocky shorelines, and it's not

(16:35):
just catching one every once in a while. There's quite a
few catfish being caught and and and the bass fishing
on those two lakes. As you talked about, with the
water clear to being good, the top water bite has
started to increase a little bit, which is is always fun.
And you were talking to you know, the amount of
buck bass that you've been seeing out on the lake.
It's just a really fun timing year to catch fish,

(16:58):
whether you're going for a big one or just a
mess to fry up, or just trying to get the
kids or somebody out there to enjoy the day to
put a lot of fish in the boat. Numbers is
not the problem right now. It's it's easier to catch
numbers than it is size. But the size is there
depending on what species you want, as long as you
just take that mental note of what's working and what's

(17:19):
not working and keep that boat moving or keep your
feet moving along the bank shoreline if you're not in
and because the fish will definitely be scooled up and
in those pockets easy kitchen.

Speaker 2 (17:32):
You know, I do have a fear this is the
negative side of all this water that's coming past, and
Bougio obviously are getting ready to try to spawn, and
that's going to come in a wave. By that, I
mean they're going to come up shallow and attempt to
do it, and at some point they're going to have

(17:53):
to pull the trigger on get rid of this water.
And I'm just hoping against hope that it doesn't mess
up the spawn for bass, blue yelling and the shell
cracker already here.

Speaker 4 (18:04):
It's I don't know.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
I'm sketching my head about that one, because as I
mentioned in the report, they are drawing. Some of them
are drawing, you know, a foot in twenty four hours.
No lend they did Baron, they dropped a half a foot,
so rough nine tenths of a foot. So they are
drawing pretty hard and that's gonna definitely scramble the eggs.

Speaker 3 (18:29):
And before we peel out on the break, it seemed
somewhere around April the twenty second seemed to be about
where the fish for the bass large mouth, we're hitting
that peak spawn, so we're gonna be okay.

Speaker 2 (18:39):
Well I hope, so I sure hope. So all right,
folks got to go to break here. This break is
present by Massol Properties Heart Realty. Paul Thomas is the broker.
He's got all kind of outdoor properties for sale. Check
him out at mp H A R T realt dot com.
You know, Scott, we've been talking a good bit about

(19:01):
the spawn and the spawn coming, and again I'm concerned
about the bass and the bluegills spawn of some of
these lakes with the way they're dropping. But we're going
to see what that brings down the road, of course,
but catfish have been extremely active and are going to
escalate pretty rapidly, and that's one that I think we

(19:22):
need to throw into the mix. You mentioned a little
bit there at the start of the program, But there's
a lot of techniques that folks can use to have
a tremendous amount of fun. Because catfish love those high
water situations. They love to get in there and scrouns
around for the insect life, the earthworms, caterpillars, falling off

(19:45):
of trees. There's just a lot of things that they
get after this time of year, and they're definitely moving
shallow now.

Speaker 3 (19:54):
And it could be a perfect storm as well. Because
what we have to remember about so many of our
fisheries that all of us get out and enjoy that
are controlled by dams is that summer pool. And we're seeing,
even on these lakes that don't have these record high
levels and extreme amounts of high water, that summer pool

(20:17):
is being held. And if we know anything at all
about fish and consistency with catching fish, water temperature is
very important, but that fluctuation of water depth is important
because it has so much impact on the clarity of
the water and it also has so much impact on
the current of the water. And when we focus on catfish,

(20:40):
we've got to remember that, yes, they're definitely gonna browse
and they're going to feed, and different species of catfish
feed on different things. But when you can take a
time period when they are capitalizing on this higher of
water and foraging on what's out there for their diet,
us it's being stacked right up against their spawn coming

(21:03):
in on this you know, rocky shoreline and these rocky
cliffs that they get into. It just makes for the
opportunity for anybody. And it doesn't matter. And I've seen
it all. I've seen pontoon boats out there. I've seen
john boats that don't have a solid ribbd in them,
and people are you know, scooping water out the back
to folks out there and kaks, and there's a lot

(21:26):
of fight to these catfish. And sometimes catfish get looked
at as you know, just the big bobber of the
big hook, the big stinky bait species. And that's so
far you know past what they are. They provide an
excellent filet on the table. There's a lot of different
ways that you can fix them, and there's a lot

(21:47):
of different baits and and setups that you can use.
And it puts a lot of fish in folks freezer
and it allows for them to have fish to be
gathered up. And a lot of catfish camps are have
had a lot of families get together and friends get together,
especially down towards Barkling, Kentucky. I'm seeing it grow more
and more over the years as we had that fluctuation

(22:09):
of black and white crappy and some concerns of what
was happening with that, fisheries folks capitalized on what was biting,
and that was catfish, and me and you particularly and
several of my friends that have been out there. Even
when you're you're bass fishing or fishing for whites or
yellows or what have you, it's not uncommon to put

(22:30):
thirty to fifty pounds worth of good eating sized catfish
in the boat when you're not even trying to fish
for them. So if a person goes into it thinking like, well,
I really don't know how to fish for catfish this
time of year, if you know how to tie hook
on and you know how to throw towards the bank,
and you know what a rock looks like, you can
fish from anything from a nightcrawler to a piece of

(22:51):
shrimp to even using some live bait, and pretty much
those fish will let you know where they're at because
they're kind of like these moral mush we're going to
talk about later in the program. Once you find one,
you tend to find a whole bunch more.

Speaker 4 (23:05):
You really do.

Speaker 2 (23:06):
And that's especially true with channel cat, which of course
is the species that comes up first, and it's going
to be really rolling as we move through Maine and
towards June.

Speaker 4 (23:16):
So that's that's something that I.

Speaker 2 (23:19):
Really enjoy when I'm down at Barkley and Kentucky, when
i'm blueio fish and I'm also fish fish at the
same time. This probably is a good place to mention something.

Speaker 4 (23:32):
I see.

Speaker 2 (23:32):
A lot of people turn up their nose that catfish
as far as food value, and you and I both
know it's because no one's shown them the technique that
it takes to properly clean one, because they're a little
bit unique compared.

Speaker 4 (23:49):
To some of the scaly fish.

Speaker 2 (23:52):
But the secret to it is merely to hold the
filate knife up off the skin far enough where the
red meat stays with the skin. A lot of folks
like to eat the smaller catfish, you know, just more
or less cut off the head, gut them and eat
them whole fiddlers, as.

Speaker 4 (24:10):
We like to call them. They skin them and then
fry them.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
But for me, the channel cat from two to four
five pound weight class is an excellent fish for the table.
But you do have to trim out all that red meat.
If you leave it on there, it's gonna taste fishy.

Speaker 4 (24:31):
That's all there is to it. But and I state
doesn't matter.

Speaker 3 (24:36):
That's another Yeah, it doesn't matter if it's flat heads
or or channels or blues and and some of the
things that we've started to do. And it's a technique
that you told me about as far as letting those
catfish go on a stringer and cutting them. We're always learning,

(24:56):
you know, and I think it's important that you share
with folks even what we did last summer on letting
those fish more or less bleed out and what it
can do to the quality of the fleet. But when
you get into these high number counts of catfish, and
of course it's up to you how many you want
to keep and clean and how much time you have
to dedicate to it. But the electric file at knife

(25:19):
is either it's a love hate relationship with people and
between the belly meat that's on the catfish and cutting
out that red line, the bloodline, and to get your
file at it really is a great way to stand
there at to cleaning dock or at your file a
table with two or three people. It's a fantastic way.
If someone doesn't necessarily know how to actually run a

(25:42):
knife and go down the back of that spinal column
or understand the bone structure of the fish. One of
the easiest places to start introducing people how to clean
and prepare fish for the table is just to give
them a good sharp file at knife on a good
solid cutting surface, put cut resistant glove on them. That's
a three or four dollars item that will save you

(26:05):
some stitches and time in the er, and just let
them use the tip of that knife and go down
through there. And it's it deserves the honor tonight on
the program to Jim that you know a lot of
techniques to be in all around outdoorsmen, and whether us
an electric file at knife or still you know, utilizing
that stone with a traditional blade. It doesn't hurt to

(26:29):
introduce a young person or somebody that's new to the
sport or taking in that protein source to learn how
to keep a good edge on a knife and how
to produce the product that we all like. And even
though catfish gets all the attention for it being so
good deep fried with some coast law hushed puppies or

(26:49):
French fries, I'm a big fan of getching some of
these bigger catfish and blacking them in the skillet and
making some fish tacos out of them and a lot
of different Technic's nothing wrong with blackening some catfish and
throwing it on a salad. It's a great product, and
it's right here in our fisheries and our waterways, whether

(27:09):
you're in Indian or Kentucky, and pretty powerful numbers, you're
you're not gonna go hungry if you want to catch.

Speaker 4 (27:15):
A few, absolutely not. And in this high water.

Speaker 2 (27:19):
Uh you mentioned the rocks, and that's always good, but
they're also cruising the edges of some of this flooded
timber that's in shallower areas. By that, I mean you
know where they can move to the bank and move
back out. And as you mentioned, all you need is
a barber a hook at a piece of night crawler
or a piece of shrimp. Shrimps one of my favorites.

(27:41):
I've seldom seen a catfish. It wouldn't race to get
a piece of shrimp. People ask me all the time, Well,
that's right, shrimp or saltwater. Yeah, shrimp is nothing but
a giant crawl fish. Okay.

Speaker 3 (27:54):
And we can really be turned back a couple of
chapters too, and play Huckleberry Finn into it. There's nothing
wrong with doing some some lines, whether that's limb lines
or putting out some some trout lines on these catfish
and trying to capitalize on that. Nothing's nothing wrong with
going and getting your lines off set and baited up,
leaving them alone for a couple of hours while you're

(28:15):
out there on a big blue bill bed, catching them up,
and then going back and checking your lines before you
put the boat back on the trailer at the end
of the day.

Speaker 4 (28:23):
Yeah, and noodles.

Speaker 2 (28:25):
You know, fishing with noodles is an excellent technique at
this time of year. And I am very suspicious that
the bite on that's going to be excellent going forward,
because catfish love changing water, you know, they're not as
sensitive to some of these things away bass and bluegillar,
and they they're on the move right now. So that's

(28:47):
the one thing we need to leave people with in
terms of something that can be really fun to do
and good on the table. I got to go to
break here, folks. This break is presented by SMI Marine.
Go see them gonna take great carry your boat. They've
got all kinds of boats for sale, some used boats
with great deals on them as well.

Speaker 4 (29:07):
Remember you never get soaked at SMI.

Speaker 2 (29:13):
Scott we've been talking about what's happening at the big
lakes around the region.

Speaker 4 (29:18):
But you and.

Speaker 2 (29:21):
I really love stream fishing and pond fishing, and a
whole lot of listeners obviously enjoy that in particular, and
interestingly enough, while there's been challenges at the big lakes,
after this calmed down a little bit, the crappie fishing
and ponds was on fire. It's tailing off a bit now,

(29:44):
but now the bluegill bite's coming on, and the bass
bite has been I could almost say spectacular in the
lakes and ponds that cleared subsequent to all those heavy rains,
and we need to talk.

Speaker 4 (29:58):
About that a little bit.

Speaker 2 (29:59):
Let's start with the streams, because interestingly enough, the high
water tends to cause migration out of bigger volumes of water,
like the rivers that run into the Ohio River, for example.
It's been a huge migration of fish up there, and
wadefishing and our kayaking has been pretty dagone awesome here

(30:22):
in the last week or so.

Speaker 3 (30:25):
Yeah, and there's another twist to it as well. A
lot of duck hunters have put their waiters up that
need to get them out because these higher waters and
these cooler waters because of where we're at in the spring.
It just brings another technique to it in a way
that you can go around and approach on some of

(30:46):
these farm ponds and other areas that got a good
bottom to wade in. Wadefishing has been extremely good in
the ponds, and a lot of the turkey hunting and
a lot of the fishing here this spring has required
waiters to get into some of the best spots and
on the turkeys is to get to the dry land.

(31:07):
But since we're on the fish, a lot of times
we don't look at some of the most obvious things
that are that are right in front of us, and
that has been the case this spring, and waiting is
normally traditionally done in the summertime. Of course, trout fishmen
and stuff have been dealing with cool waters for a
long time. But if you're willing to kind of change

(31:29):
your techniques up, you can really get out there and
have some great days of field and it's a lot
less time consuming to get a boat and trailer over
to the lake. And of course we've got this situation
going off the boat ramps, but we're seeing creeks and
streams that are at good water levels, and we're seeing

(31:50):
where a lot of fish are active, and there's a
lot of theories on maybe why that is, but I
do think that this the normal amount of active that's
increasing with frogs and the crawfish, all of your insect
populations that are starting to boom, a lot of your
wing insects and pollinators are getting out there. It's been

(32:12):
a smortgage board for the fish to have quite a
bit to eat, and those fish are capitalizing on these
higher waters as well. The best part about these waters
Gym though, is and I want to focus on one
particular species that I like the most, and that is
the amount of smallmouth fishing. And we're not talking about great,

(32:36):
big small mouth, but this the amount and the quality
and the fight that a lot of these small mouths
will give you and some of these current type streams
is fantastic. And of course you don't get into that
with your farm pond fishing and your smaller water reservoirs
a whole lot. But that's just something that's overlooked in
our state quite a bit, and I look for things

(32:58):
to really start at being good over I think Elhorn
Creek is going to be a phenomenal place to get
in on and let things come down just a little
bit more. But don't overlook the places that you started
fishing as a kid. Is what we're getting to, and
get back to some of those basics, and it's going
to provide for this late spring early summer a lot

(33:20):
of good opportunity and a lot of places for you
to go back to and fish.

Speaker 2 (33:26):
No doubt about it. And here again, keep it very
very simple. I seldom used light any bigger than six
pound test in a creek. Four I go to most
of the time. And small spinners, whether it's some maps
or Panther Martin, you know your choice there, or a
variety of those straight shafts of spinners.

Speaker 4 (33:47):
The beetle spin is.

Speaker 2 (33:49):
Excellent in these small creeks, and the fish are active
enough now that they will hit little top waters, smaller palace,
little acy shatters, little you know, baits like that that
imitate that injured manner are going to be killer going forward.
And that's going to be really really good during the
times when the streams aren't muddy, and we're going to

(34:12):
I think see a lot of opportunity there in the
creeks here over the next couple of weeks. May is
one of my favorite times of creek fish over just
about any of the month actually.

Speaker 3 (34:24):
And there's so many places that you can take and
use your utility each oiler or the back of the
bed of your truck, or strapping it on top of
utility rack on an suv where a kayak and some
of these smaller boats can get into. Don't be surprised
if you don't run into some great big fish too.
Sometimes a little bit of mud, a little bit of

(34:45):
drunking and pulling and getting everything back in there is
not always the easiest part of the adventure, but it's
a whole lot easier to mustard and stomach some of
that stuff when you lock in to some of these
hidden of water, because those areas a lot of times
don't see the same amount of pressure that the other

(35:06):
lakes do, and you can get away with a whole lot.
You can get away with fish that haven't been disturbed,
and your technique or your bait choice isn't as critical.
It's like if you were fishing in a tournament, and
those bodies of water a lot of times will provide
you with an opportunity to catch multi species of.

Speaker 2 (35:26):
Fish absolutely, And for those of you who realize hear
me for so many years, if you can't catch them,
May you can't catch them.

Speaker 4 (35:37):
And here's where I'm going to leave it.

Speaker 2 (35:39):
This is the big spawn period for the red ear,
blue yell and sunfish in these creeks. And we're sitting
on the dark moon right now, which was the trigger.
But the next one is going to be the full
moon on May twelfth, that Scott mentioned at the beginning
of the program that week is gonna be on fire.
As long as the weather doesn't screw us over, that's

(36:00):
gonna be a magic time to be out there. All right, folks,
gotta go to break here. This break is presented by
SMI Marine.

Speaker 4 (36:07):
Go see it.

Speaker 2 (36:08):
Gonna take great care you remember you never get soaked
at SMI. All right, folks, we've been talking about a
lot of fishing activity in the lake, reports and what's
going on around the region, and in that regard, if
you've got any reports for us a boy fish activity,
what you're experiencing on the water, the numbers are five

(36:28):
seven one eighty four eighty four all outside the metro
eight hundred four four four eighty four eighty four. Getting
that toll Free is eight hundred four four four eighty
four eighty four scott turkey season. It's been a kind
of up and down roller coaster because some of the.

Speaker 4 (36:51):
Wind and the rain and what have you. A lot
of mixed reports.

Speaker 2 (36:55):
I'd like you to talk a little bit about what
your contacts have been seeing and hearing. A lot of
my folks are doing good, some of them not so good.
So let's dive in on the turkey side of things here.

Speaker 3 (37:09):
The turkeys have been turkeys, and that's for some of
the folks that are calling themselves turkey hunters too. There's
so much it has happened with this spring so quickly,
and we've been able to have a lot of time
in the field. And we'll start off with Kentucky, then
jumping Indiana, and then we'll talk a little bit about

(37:30):
what's left for the season where it can be comboed
in both states. The Kentucky season was feast or famine
for the opener, and it took a lot of time
this year to put in the efforts to scout these
birds and be in the areas and what they wanted
to be in. And for folks that did their homework

(37:53):
early and did a lot of scouting listening to birds
guible prior to season opening, and spent the time I'm
roosting birds and watching birds activities in the open areas.
And along with listening to those birds gobble, not just
on the limb, but continuing to hear those gobles as
the birds moved off the roots, hunters were able to

(38:14):
get right in on the x or being the turkey's
bubble and to be in the traditional pathway and what's
there wanting to take. And those hunters had a tremendous
amount of success with just calling and setting up. They
had a lot of success with utilizing decoys, setting blinds,
doing traditional you know, running gun hunting or getting up

(38:34):
against the tree. And so the scouting paid off. And
it's been a really tough year for those folks that
traditionally liked to go out and get on a high
spot and listen and try to hear those birds gobble
and then work the birds with a call. With the
birds in Kentucky and Tennessee in general, it has not

(38:58):
been the year call up turkeys now. Are their birds
getting hot and working to a call, absolutely, But I've
spent the last several days networking with company representatives and
hunters from all across the United States that are chasing
forty nine and guys that I've consistently hunted with that

(39:20):
I'm going to give you some statistics on that may
make a little sense. The Indiana opener started on Wednesday,
and the guys that hunt the public land in Georgia
and Alabama and Florida. In Kentucky, those were the guys
that we were with. And traditionally we'll kill about forty

(39:41):
to sixty percent of us will kill or harvest our
birds on opening day in and around private and public
lands and Indiana and I'm telling you there's twenty four
twenty six guys in the group that we network with
and Jim, we filled five tags in Indiana and no
body had a bad hunt. The birds were gobbling really

(40:04):
hard on the limb. They're doing the same thing in Kentucky.
One day, the next day they're not hardily gobbling at all.
And one day the birds are running over with the call.
The next day they're gobbling to every recall that you
throw at them on the roofs and then going silent.
They're avoiding decoys, they're running into decoys hunters are being

(40:24):
very aggressive and not respecting where people are parked at
gates or trailhead openings on public land. Lots of folks
are running into some trust passing issues with folks crossing
property lines where some of our hunters are getting a
little frustrated and thinking that folks may not be on
this farm or that farm because it's a week day.

(40:45):
I've had more folks complaining about trespassing issues than any
year that I can recall, So that's kind of the
terch report now. Numbers wise, twenty six thousand plus birds
already killed in the state of Kentucky twenty twenty two.
That's all we harvested was twenty six thousand birds. We've

(41:06):
had a couple of years of those thirty three thirty
five thousand harvest in Kentucky, and I would suspect that
with a week left to go, going into Derby weekend,
we'll probably be pecking right around there. We've got some
bad weather coming up, but it's gonna take a lot
of scouting on folks behalf. They're going to need to

(41:26):
use a little bit of patience and we're gonna look
at some strategies. Jim that folks are going to need
to utilize and watching these birds to see if they're
with hens or if gobblers are starting to pair up
a little bit together, and it's going to be more
important for folks to let each and every bird determine
what they do, whether the hunting private or public land,

(41:48):
based on the day that they get the hunt or
the time of day that they go in. It's great
be a great year for folks that don't have a
lot of experience turkey hunting to maybe reach out to
a veteran turkey hunter that already got their tags filled
and maybe inviting them to come along with you to
your farm or your piece of public ground that you
hunt to kind of see what they're they're going to do.

(42:09):
But this turkey season over, absolutely not. These birds are
going to start gobbling u as tillage and agricultural practices change.
There's been a tremendous amount of herbicide in and around
your agricultural areas that have begun to have a kill
on the vegetation. There's going to be more farming activity

(42:29):
with planning and fertilization practices, and it's going to keep
birds bumped around, and of course, as the vegetation changes
and green up happens, and one bird is maybe harvested
here or there, it's going to change the dynamics of
the pecking order of the flock. So stay adaptive, focus
more on your woodsmanship and your scouting than you do
on your calling, and try to tone your calls down

(42:52):
just a little bit, and and and put the time,
energy and effort in because a lot of times is
this part of the season will produce some of your
biggest spurs and your your oldest age class of turkeys
as they start to get a little lonesome, and that
that pecking order changes with the alpha males that are
still out there in the flock. So overall, pretty good

(43:15):
turkey season, just not been a year to yelp them
up and come screaming to the gun barrel. Overall, more
more setting and waiting and maneuverings, the more chest game
style turkey hunting than traditional Just yep, a little bit
and here they come.

Speaker 2 (43:31):
Well, the guys that I've heard the most frustration from
are the folks that normally enjoy calling to a bird
on the limb the bird comes down and comes to them,
and that's not been happening because they've been hemmed up
very badly at the start.

Speaker 4 (43:47):
Of the season. Uh, still that way in some areas.

Speaker 2 (43:52):
The hens have started to nest and peel off, But
most of the guys that I've talked to have killed
their birds late in the morning after lifted the hens.
When a lot of guys give up, you know that
maybe they didn't gobble get on the roost, and they're like,
well they're not gobbling today. Well that's not necessarily true,

(44:12):
as you know. And so it's been a unique season
in that regard because it's just a jumbled report from
people really. But the gobblers on the roost, you call
to him, he flies down, and you kill him boom.
Those reports have been a lot more scarce than the

(44:33):
ones where they had to tough it out and kill
him later in the morning.

Speaker 4 (44:37):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (44:37):
Well, we've got so many different things that are going on.
We've got some weather that's thrown us a little bit
of a curveball here and there in the mornings with
some wind picking up or the wind getting up early
in the mornings and birds coming in silent, a lot
of birds. I had a situation this week where I
had three doblers come in textbook style, but I couldn't

(44:58):
get them to divide up, and I had to watch
just walk off because they were too close together to
take a shot. But then went over to another location
on Saturday yesterday, called a bird up and then he
come in, silent, coming around the backside, didn't want to move.
Birds started acting a little funny. I'm not sure what

(45:19):
was going on, and over to my left a little
that I know there was three long beards coming in
and they were probably fixing to play a game of
who knows who or get out of here, And was
able to get those birds separate enough to finally get
a shot and fill my Indy Ina tag. But there's
been just a whole lot of really good turkey hunters

(45:43):
that have shared a lot of reports where they're not complaining,
they're on birds, they're on birds gobling, but they're just
not working to a call like we want them to
or expect them to. And and a lot of goblin
in areas has been over with right after fly down
and even putting the time in and sitting on a
red or sticking with him has not paid off with

(46:06):
a whole lot of rewards of birds getting fired up
on their own and being able to chase them a
little bit later in today. It's been a grind. It's
been a tough Turkey season, but it's been a very
humbling and a very enjoyable Turkey season. And I still
think the best is yet to come.

Speaker 4 (46:20):
Well, I agree with you.

Speaker 2 (46:21):
The latter part of the season has always been my
favorite for all the reasons we just talked about. The
hens start the nest, the older gobblers get lonesome. It's
a special time, so folks need to stick with it.
Of course, Indiana's got some time to come, got to
go to break here. This break is presented by montil
Property's Heart Realty. Paul Thomas is a broker there. He

(46:44):
is an outdoorsman who totally understands the type of properties
that you are looking for, whether it be a lakefront home,
a wildlife management property, or a farm. He handles all
those different types of outdoor properties. He is a great
to work with. Check out his current listings at mop

(47:04):
h A r T realt dot com. All right, folks, again,
if you want to join the conversation tonight and have
any field reports or on the water reports you'd like
to share with us, The numbers are five to seven
to one eighty four eighty four.

Speaker 4 (47:22):
That's five seven.

Speaker 2 (47:23):
One eight four eight four or toll free eight hundred
and four four four eighty four eighty four. Scott, we're
talking about the Turkey season. Let's talk a little bit
about changes in tactics here, because a little lighter calling,
you know, a lot of things come into play. I

(47:45):
really tone things down all over the board. For example,
I use Jake decoy's more late in the season than
I do the strutters because a lot of the subordinate
birds have been beat up pretty good.

Speaker 4 (48:00):
A lot of times.

Speaker 2 (48:00):
They'll show off a decline many times. I just put
a hen out this time of year.

Speaker 3 (48:05):
Well, decoy will work really well too. As the vegetation changes.
A tail fan style decoy is even good. You know,
we can talk FROs and cons of it either way
the vegetation at Are you a woods hunter, are you
a field hunter? Are you a little bit of both?
And these things are going to play in. It's very

(48:29):
important to continue to scout and just not hunt. And
in where we're getting at. A lot of your pasture
ground where cattle are at, that tends to be a
little bit shorter, while a lot of times those areas
because of the diet that the cattle feed. Sometimes people
will capitalize on where those turkeys will get out and
scratch around cal patties and open areas and dusting bows.

(48:52):
Now is the time to understand why turkeys are going
to be in certain areas, like, for example, if you
do find good dusting bowls, a lot of times these
gobblers will follow those last few hens around because hens
are gonna dust, whether they're bread or they're not bread.
The shorter vegetation is really important. If you have a
field that's really grown up and you have the ability

(49:14):
to go in there and do some type of vegetation
mowing without disturbing turkeys that are already nesting or your
rabbits that are nesting, you can do that areas and
where you scout, there may be a spot of the
field that has a little bit lower vegetation where those
birds are getting into and strutting birds will start to
tuck down into little haulers or into little pockets that

(49:38):
they can't be seen from the road. There's unfortunately a
lot of people that are riding around trying to get
a visual on turkey, and those birds have been aggravated
and pushed from that, and of course shade comes into play.
A lot of times folks don't remember that that temperature
is going to continue to increase as season goes on,

(49:59):
even though it can be pulled back by mother nature.
But birds will a lot of times hang out and
do they're strutting in the areas and what's the shades
it because of the sun and the temperatures. Getting up
and driving back from Indiana today, I noticed that a
lot of the areas that had a lot of flood waters,

(50:21):
the birds are starting to move and migrate back into
and they're strutting and they're in there. And just from
doing a lot of scouting, I was able to walk
a farm with a with a landowner and in Indiana
that we were talking about the tremendous amount of worm
the worm activity from the flood and where the turkeys

(50:41):
were just out there just having a heyday and and
and picking up those worms where they've just basically been,
you know, saturated, And of course turkeys are capitalizing on it.
And that's what's what's going on. So that terrain change
in features can put just as many tags on a
on a gobbler's leg as the calling techniques and the

(51:03):
decoy techniques. So just stay on top of it and
utilize these fresh rains and mud puddles from all the
flooding and the spring rains in general to follow your
tracks and see where turkeys are at. Still a lot
of sign out there. It's easy to find fresh scratchings
in the woods. And don't forget those gobblers like to

(51:24):
be seen up on high places of these fields as well.
They may tuck down in those little spots. But don't
be afraid to put a pop up blind out. I
know that everybody thinks that you're supposed to run and
gun to kill a turkey and be dressed from head
to toe them a'lls the oak bottom land or you're
not a real turkey hunter, but don't be afraid to
try something a little new, you know, be be creative

(51:47):
with where you place your blinds. If birds aren't gobbling,
get somewhere where you can see birds in the open terrain.
And don't be afraid to use good decoys. That we're
all small hard enough to know now that there's a
big difference between the old pham decoys we used to
have versus the taxi germy quality decoys that are available now,

(52:09):
and decoys are very affordable for the most part. They're
fairly light and easy to transport, they're pretty quiet to
put out, and it gives you a technique to you
So there'll be just as many folks that will tell
you decoys are bad in the late season as there
is people will tell them good. In the same way

(52:30):
with Colin. You just you got to fill out your
birds and try to find you a spot. Ask a
friend or a farmer that maybe hasn't had anybody hunting
on their farm, and try to go on and get
some birds that maybe are a little bit fresh. And
if you're out fishing, don't be afraid to go in
on some of these WMA's and public grounds from water access.

(52:50):
Nothing wrong with being dressed and camouflage in your boat
fishing until you here at Turkey Gobble.

Speaker 2 (52:55):
Heck.

Speaker 4 (52:56):
No, I've done a whole lot of that, and I
know you have too.

Speaker 2 (53:00):
You know, one thing that's coming into play, and my goodness,
has it been dramatic. I have seldom seen foliage burst
and that is the right term, burst into leaf like
I've seen here this week. Just all kinds of trees
went for bud to full leaf. I guess the one

(53:21):
that caught my eye the most was the hackberry. I
mean it went from a little bitty bud to a
leaf in three days. And it's providing a lot of
cover for people to move.

Speaker 4 (53:35):
On birds that like to run and guns.

Speaker 3 (53:37):
So that's another that's a good time to loosen up
your choke and not be shooting that great, big, tight
pattern because it's easy to get them in their fifteen
yards real quick, and it's full of vegetation.

Speaker 2 (53:48):
Absolutely all right, folks, got to go to break. The
break is presented by SMI Marine. Remember you never get
sold by my friends at SMI. Hey, Scott, you're quite
the culinary guy when it comes to turkeys. I'm pretty
simple about it. I tend to cut mine into fingers

(54:10):
and I use the meat mallet to tenderize them, and
then I fry them.

Speaker 4 (54:15):
And my favorite way.

Speaker 2 (54:16):
When I say frying, I actually kind of pans seerum
and butter.

Speaker 4 (54:21):
After I bred them, I use.

Speaker 2 (54:22):
Kentucky Colonel seasoned flour because there's not much you need
to add to that. I do put a little garlic
powdering with it, but you got a lot of pretty
unique turkey recipe ideas. I'd like you to share those,
because I guarantee if folks probably hadn't heard of some
of them.

Speaker 3 (54:41):
Well, I'm going to start off with a good old
fashioned turkey camp fan favorite, and that's going to be
in credit to a fast food chain that's so popular,
and that's Chick fil A. And one of the ways
that you can get what I think is as good
or as close to that, is to soak your turkey,

(55:05):
you know, cut it up in your strips or your
your nugget size, whatever you plan to do, and soak
it in a brine and deal pickled juice of your choice,
and normally let that set for at least an hour,
not too long, but anywhere from an hour to two hours.
And then I take Kentucky Colonel. I've tried a ton

(55:27):
of different batters, but I make a beer batter out
a Kentucky Colonel. I'd like to use just a full
flavored beer. I used Budweiser, and I don't do too
much to it other than whatever size box the Kentucky
Kernel I have. I open up the entire package and
put it into a big bowl, and I just add

(55:48):
the beer jim and mix it with a whisk until
it gets just a little bit thicker than what the
consistency of pancake batter would be. And then I place
turkey strips or my nuggets that I've taken out of
my deal, pickled juice and kind of strained off. I
put them into that batter, that wet batter, and then

(56:09):
I'll put it into the refrigerator for thirty or forty
minutes just to kind of let it thicken up just
a little bit more. And whether folks want to use
a cooking oil or a lard, whatever their choice is
to fry that turkey, we just drop it down and
make sure that it's completely surrounded by a hot cooking

(56:29):
grease a liquid cooking surface, and pour a little bit
of time, energy and love and the standing over that
and fighting your friends off because they're gonna be trying
to eat it like you're cooking fresh bacon at breakfast time,
and gather it all up right before you serve it.
There's several different things. Basic seasoning. Salt can be a

(56:50):
little bit sprinkled on top. There's all kinds of smack
your mama or smack your brother or whatever seasoning out
there that sometimes folks like to just finished it off
with and a little bit of fried tators and apple
sauce or whatever you want to go with the sides
is real good and that'll that'll give them something. But
turkey is not always looked at and valued for the

(57:14):
legs and thighs either. And if a person will take
the time to just utilize a crock pot and slow
cook those legs and thighs and then strip that meat
and shred it, you really get into some phenomena eating
with being able to make some enchiladas and casadeas and
burritos and streaked tacos, and it just takes a little time.

(57:38):
I'm not gonna tell anybody that you just throw a
turkey leg and a thigh on a grill and slap
a little barbecue sauce on it and you're gonna have
a pleasant experience at the table, because you're not. It's
gonna be like trying to pull off a piece of meat,
like eating a tire, and it's that's just not a
good experience for people. But that connective tissue and stuff
can be broken down, and unfortunately a lot of folks

(58:01):
don't take the time to remove those size and legs
and it's pretty easy to do so, and for folks
that have never done it before, if you carry a
set of shears like hand cheers bruners in your turkey backpack,
that's a great way to cut those legs off and
remove it. And then you can just simply use your

(58:22):
pocket knife to guide you around that thigh and that
ball and socket there. It will divide very easily and
put that into a crop pote with lifting onion soup
mix and depending if you cook it on higher level.
You just want to cook it till it falls off
the bone and utilize that meat and it turns out
really well. And of course everybody loves the turkey poppers
with hali pinos and cheese and a little bacon wrap.

(58:45):
But probably the one that surprises people the most gym
is to take a turkey breast and to cut it
up in strips, let it soap in your water, your
buttermelt or whatever you traditionally would, and then take it
out to the grill and grill it. You can put

(59:09):
a little bit of i like a loffi esta faheta seasoning.
That's my favorite, and thank my friend Dave Berry for
put me onto that several years ago, and cook my
turkey on the grill, and then I immediately bring it
back in and I use sticks of whole butter. Normally
it takes two sticks of whole butter for each half

(59:32):
side of the breast, and which would be one breast
or the half of breast pen if you counted as
is one or what have you. And then I add
in a pack of taco seasoning, just like you would
use to brown up meat in the skillet. And I
tried to put one pack of taco seasoning per one

(59:53):
pack of turkey breast. Cook turkey breast, so it's best
to weigh it after it's cooked. And and you can
make some of the best street tacos that you've ever
had in your life. And folks that haven't had the
opportunity you yet to harvest a turkey or fix it
for other people think would be presently supply surprised of
how many people you can feed and how simple you
can feed them off of turkeys. And of course if

(01:00:16):
you've got your hat full or a little turkey vest
full of some morell mushrooms or dry land fish to
fry up or saltato go right along with it. You
become the most popular guy at turkey camp or in
your neighborhood, and next thing you know, people may be
asking you to go turkey hunt with them gym and
you not only create a man with a full belly

(01:00:39):
or a family with a bunch of happy kids, you
get more places to go turkey hunt. It's amazing when
you offer your game to landowners how many of them
actually will not take the time to hunt themselves, be
cause they're so busy. But part of the agreement and
the equation is if you hunt there, they'd like to
have some of the turkey meeting. That goes back as

(01:01:03):
early as anything in time. You know, share your harvest
and you may be amazed at how that opens up
opportunities for you to have a place to hunt. Because
a lot of landowners like sincerity a whole lot more
than they like money. And we'll get into that topic
another day.

Speaker 2 (01:01:19):
Yes, sir, you've touched on something we need to talk
about too, because the season is upon us, and that's
morel mushroom season. A lot of folks that turkey hunt
engage in that. A lot of folks that just love
to hike enjoy eating those. It's one of the delicacies
beyond compare that Mother Nature puts out there for us.

Speaker 4 (01:01:41):
Let's talk about them a little bit.

Speaker 3 (01:01:44):
Well, we'll talk honestly, that's what we need to do.
And the honest talk is many miles have been walked
for this spring with some of the best morale mushroom hunters.

Speaker 4 (01:02:00):
I know.

Speaker 3 (01:02:00):
I've spent several hours and miles myself walking side by
side and behind them, and we're scratching our heads because
the conditions were right with a lot of rain. We
maybe has a little bit cooler temperatures in what we
needed and we'll have a present surprise. But it's been
a tough season to find mushrooms, and the mushrooms that

(01:02:23):
we're finding are smaller pockets, eight ten, twelve mushrooms at
a time right now is a pretty good fine and
traditional areas where you can go in here after year
are popping up a little bit dry for us. But
a secret that I want to share because I want
to keep good faith that we're going to have a

(01:02:43):
good season at some point of the spring. To really
gather a lot of morale mushrooms is traditionally cut them
in half like we all do, and soak them in
the water so that you can get rid of the
insects and clean them. Learn the techniques of battering them
and fly or cooking them in salt and pepper with

(01:03:05):
some basic butter. Have them as a side dish, have
them as a whole meal. But when it comes time
to gather these things up, if you do run into
a mess of them. This has been something that I've
been learning about and trying to perfect, and that is
I have landed upon a technique that is a little

(01:03:26):
scary when you do it, because you think that maybe
you've ruined them. But if you want to try to
keep mushrooms all year when you just don't have the
opportunitium when they're in season, is get those mushrooms a
little bit on the wet side after they've soaked, and
try to space them out. We've been putting them in
just corp sized bags because that's about the right eating

(01:03:47):
size for me and my family. When we fix them
as a side dish, and freeze them with a little
bit of moisture onto them after they've soaked, and try
to find a spot in your deep freeze where you
can land down flat. Now when you pull them out
and let them fall. They are gonna be a little
bit flimsier, and they are gonna scare you a little
bit on I guess the slime or the slickness that

(01:04:08):
they have to them. But once you get those jokers
fled up and you get them into some hot butter
or grease or you just saw tam, they're cooking up
this crispy and with just as much flavor as ever before.
And so hopefully that will help a few folks that
maybe run into a big patch or a mess of them.

(01:04:29):
And of course, Jim, I'm sure I can speak for
both of us. If anybody's gotten the extra that they
don't want, they can always just reach out to us
and we'll come. We'll come pick them up by the
five gallon bucket full.

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
So yeah, buddy, some reason I think that probably won't happen.
All right, we gotta go to break here, and this
break is presented by them. Also Old Property's Heart Realty.
Paul Thomas has all kinds of outdoor listings available for you.
Check them out at mop h A R Trealt dot com.

(01:05:04):
Scott talking about these morales, let's give folks a little
overview of the kind of places to hunt farm if
they've never been engaged in it. And one of my
favorites is popular stands, especially in areas that tend to
be a little more moist and shaded. The shady sides

(01:05:25):
of the hills are generally where I do most of
my prowl around, but scarified areas.

Speaker 4 (01:05:31):
Like log yards, old log yards, but.

Speaker 2 (01:05:34):
Kind of trip through some of that because it's really
good to educate people about where.

Speaker 3 (01:05:41):
To start this time of year, where we're at at
this point of spring. My favorite places to look are
areas in which more than one of these factors is
going to be present in that area, and that's going
to be where there's been so disturbance and that ground

(01:06:02):
has not necessarily compacted back down to what you would
consider a normal amount of I guess pressure in what
your foot would feel. So if you feel like you're
kind of walking on a little bit softer dirt or surface,
that's really good. And you'll see a lot of times
where there'll be some moss. You'll see I find tend

(01:06:25):
to find a few more mushrooms in areas which maybe
a little bit of the row of the terrain, whether
that's a ridge or a holler or just the general
slope allows for that morning dew or evening do to
kind of collect a little bit more and it doesn't
put the direct sun into that area. While elm trees

(01:06:47):
boxylter's hickory like you're saying poplar, they all get that.
A lot of areas where you've had, especially with the
emerald ashboard situation, a lot of places where elm trees
have gone down and started to decay and actually break down.
You can look around old log stumps. Those are those
are good areas. And don't be afraid to walk and

(01:07:10):
spread out with folks anywhere that you can kind of
see through the forest where maybe there's a it looks
like it's a little bit grassy and there's not as
much leaf litter as in other areas, and and try
to keep a keen eye out there. For most folks
are going to find the yellows a whole lot easier
than they're going to find the blocks on the burrells.

(01:07:32):
And and don't be afraid to, uh, you know, go
with somebody that's that's got a little bit more of
an open eye. That they may not take you to
their spot, but ask someone that you know that hunts
mushrooms to kind of go in with you and just
start paying attention to your east and west facing slopes,
uh north slopes, the south slopes, because once you find

(01:07:55):
a small pattern on your farm or the area in
what you're looking, a lot of public ground has a
lot of good mushroom hunting, just make note of it,
and where you find success, to stop and pause for
just a minute, look at what the conditions are, the
habitat the vegetation around you, and then try to duplicate that,

(01:08:15):
and that may be the next ridge over, the next
bottom over. But I tell you I find just as
many mushrooms here late in the season and kind of
low bottom ground areas. I love to walk logging roads.
Like you said, I love those old log decks. I
love old home places that maybe were pushed in the

(01:08:36):
dirt's been disturbed, maybe somewhere in some areas where there's
been some select cut of timber back in the day.
And it's one of those deals where mark it on
your map once you find it, and try to go
back year after year. And just because you walk in
area and you don't see any doesn't mean that you

(01:08:57):
don't need to go back. A day or two later,
and if you can get out and go right after
a rainstorm, a sprinkle and the sun's really popping, those
are my favorite days to go. I think there's just
something in general about that bright sun that comes out
in the spring after a little thunderstorm that lights up
the woods and comes through the canopy to where those

(01:09:19):
mushrooms just shine like there's a neon beam on them.
And once you get to the night for it and
you find some, it kind of starts coming natural. And
of course have something with you to gather them up in.
It's easy to utilize a plastic sack or potato sack,

(01:09:39):
whatever it takes to gather them and take them home.
And don't be afraid to go out and just come
back with a mess of six or eight. You can't
be picky about it.

Speaker 4 (01:09:50):
I know.

Speaker 3 (01:09:50):
These social media forms show these pictures of folks with
you know, areas spread out on the ground and morales
the size of your hands. I mean this, This is
not necessarily the best mushroom country around the Kentucky and
Indiana area, but we've got a lot of good areas,
and Indiana tends to be a little bit better than Kentucky.

(01:10:12):
But even my mushroom hunting buddies over there, they're struggling
a little bit right now. So we're just going to
keep after it. We've got some rain coming in this week,
and I'm to walk the edge of the ridge and.

Speaker 2 (01:10:24):
Check the bottoms, Yes, sir, right around the corner. Spring
squirrel season here in Kentucky oltens May seventeenth, ruse through
June fifteenth, and young squirrels that are available in the
bag this time of year about as good as it gets.

Speaker 3 (01:10:41):
Yes, sir, that goes really good with some of them
fresh mushrooms if you can put it all together to
get in a little bit later that time of year.

Speaker 2 (01:10:49):
But that mid.

Speaker 3 (01:10:52):
May squirrel season, I believe it's May the seventeenth that
it runs this year, really really good time to get
out to and harvest a table fare that Unfortunately, I'll
say it, I think a lot of folks have removed
squirrel from their diet, and it provides a great source

(01:11:14):
of protein and a great way to entertain yourself and
get some youngsters and some friends together. But don't overlook
the fact too, that spring squirrel season prevents an awesome
opportunity to get out and hunt around some of your
managed cattle pastures and grass fields where you've got some

(01:11:36):
of your bigger trees, meadow more type areas that have
some areas where squirrels like to get out. They do
a lot of ground foraging, and they do like to
cut a lot on these buds of these trees that
are still hanging around a little bit later. And water
when you're out fishing, keep your shotgun and you're twenty
two and your boat. We're blessed in Kentucky to be

(01:11:58):
able to hunt and harvest squirrel from the water. And
you don't have to go out and kill a limit
to have a good day. A squirrel hunting one or
two in the skillet does real well, Jim.

Speaker 2 (01:12:08):
Yes, sir, all right, folks, Well that's kind of a
roundabout of what's going on right now in this spring
period has moved towards May.

Speaker 4 (01:12:16):
It's going to be special. Remember what I said.

Speaker 2 (01:12:18):
If you can't catch him in May, you probably can't
catch them.

Speaker 4 (01:12:23):
God bless everybody.