The Ozark Podcast

We got to talk turkey hunting in the Ozarks with the most famous turkey hunter in the world, Mr. Ray Eye. Ray is an Ozark native, master turkey hunter and a titan in the turkey hunting world. Baseball has Babe Ruth, Football has Tom Brady, Basketball has Michael Jordan and turkey hunting has Ray Eye. I’m just saying, this guy is a big deal. Although he's chased gobblers all over the world from Massachusetts to Hawaii and more, Ray says nothing beats the "hand-to-hand combat" that turkey hunting is here in the Ozarks.

In this episode you'll hear stories from Ray's hunts with legendary hunters, why he loves the Ozarks above all other turkey hunting havens, and even learn how to do a proper gobbler yelp, which Ray admits to using 90% of the time over a hen yelp. Enjoy!

Check out Ray's Book 'Turkey Hunting Bible'

WATCH THE EPISODE HERE:
The Ozark Podcast on YouTube

The Ozark podcast sits down with men and women from the Ozarks who have a passion for the outdoors. Our aim is to listen, learn, and pass along their knowledge and experiences to help you become a better outdoorsman.

Our two hosts are Kyle Veit (@kyleveit_) and Kyle Plunkett (@kyle_plunkett)
AND our producer is Daniel Matthews (@datthews)

Theme music by JD Clayton

Follow us on Instagram: @theozarkpodcast

Reach out to us with any recommendations or inquiries: theozarkpodcast@gmail.com

Thanks to our monthly supporters

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Creators and Guests

Host

Kyle Plunkett

Co-host of the Ozark Podcast

Host

Kyle Veit

6th Generation Ozarkan. Host of the Ozark Podcast.

Producer

Daniel Matthews

Rockwell Productions Owner/Operator

What is The Ozark Podcast?

The Ozark Podcast sits down with men and women from around the Ozarks that have a passion for the outdoors.

Our aim is to build relationships with the outdoorsmen of our region and to listen, learn, and pass along their stories and experience to help you become a better outdoorsman.

Our guests and the information they share are especially relevant to men and women in northern Arkansas, southern Missouri, eastern Oklahoma, and southeast Kansas.

Support the show through our patreon: patreon.com/theozarkpodcast

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

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

[Kyle Veit]: Thanks for watching!

[Kyle Veit]: Really?

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

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

[Kyle Veit]: Sure.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yep.

[Kyle Veit]: Hahaha

[Kyle Veit]: Hehehe

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Okay, yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, to the world.

[Kyle Veit]: Laughter

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Right.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Wow.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

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

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, sure.

[Kyle Veit]: Right.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, sure.

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

[Kyle Veit]: No way.

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

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Thanks for watching!

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah. Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Really.

[Kyle Veit]: Dude.

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: That's all right.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Really? Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yep. Yep.

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

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Sure.

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: right? Thanks for watching!

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Wow.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: man.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Sure.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Okay.

[Kyle Veit]: Mm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

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

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Wow.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: No way.

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

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

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, meh.

[Kyle Veit]: Sure.

[Kyle Veit]: Go.

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Okay? Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Hahaha

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Oh yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah

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

[Kyle Veit]: awesome. That is good.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Okay.

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, diversity there.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: turkeys over here.

[Kyle Veit]: Thanks for watching!

[Kyle Veit]: Voilà, merci beaucoup.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: They're the best.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Right.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah. Sure.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah, sure.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

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

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Really? Yeah. Alright.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: No.

[Kyle Veit]: Oh my goodness.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: recommend?

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: entry level.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah. Okay.

[Kyle Veit]: Right.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Oh yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Mm-hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Hmm.

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: Okay, got it.

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

[Kyle Veit]: Hehehe

[Kyle Veit]: Thanks for watching!

[Kyle Veit]: Yeah.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

[Kyle Veit]: you. Bye-bye.

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