There is something to be said for a firm handshake. It gives an impression that is remembered for life. Am I right? The same goes for friends you’ve had for years, but never met in person, and when the meet finally happens you have a decision to make. Be polite and reserved, or simply let loose, have fun and treat them like family. The Badlands Operative Pro Staff is family and a couple months ago, we were able to participate in a long-awaited meet-up and hunt at the WC Bradley Farms in Omaha, Georgia.
For the newcomers, I have been blessed to be a member of the Badlands OPS for seven years. There are very few pro staffs I am a part of and this one is one of the best. I only promote products and companies I truly believe in. Badlands is one of those companies. As part of the OPS, we are tasked with providing feedback, putting the gear through its paces, and representing the company and the gear. I have loved my Badlands packs for over a decade and the Approach apparel since it was first introduced. I can’t seem to get enough of it because there are so many ways you can use the gear for different hunts, climate, and body type. It’s now an addiction to try out everything!
Back in April of this year about half the staff jumped in their trucks to drive to Georgia while the rest of those who could attend caught red eye flights to the ATL. Those of us who flew to Atlanta loaded into an SUV for the drive down to the WC Bradley Farms. That vehicle had some good shocks, let me tell ya! How do you know you are amongst family? We talked family, hunting and busted each others chops the entire ride. I was feeling everyone out for a while just taking it all in, but it didn’t take long to have a bit of fun with everyone. Laughter, hunt stories, life stories, you name it, we covered it.
Arriving in camp, the first item on the agenda was verifying our bows were still on after the flights. Always a necessary check and adjustment, if needed. Glad we took our shots because some minor adjustment was needed on my sight. Thank you TSA. Yahsti Perkinskiller and Henry Ferguson were slinging darts and destroying arrows before long. That’s why I don’t hit the bullseye fellas. Or maybe I just have a looser definition of a “tight group”.
Introductions were made as we met our hosts and guides and began our game plan for the week. Decisions on what to hunt and who to hunt with were next and I decided I wanted to go after turkey instead of pigs. I can hunt pigs anytime in California, but turkey with a guide? Yeah, I’ll take that any day. My guide, Rusty Drew, and I hit it off right away and it was decided we’d hit a solid patch of timber at first light. Beyond excited, my original plan was to hunt them with a bow, but with no hunting blinds and and these being wary Easterns, I opted to use a shotgun instead. Having never hunted Georgia before, I was just as excited to see the land and enjoy the clean, humid air and no traffic (minus the occasional logging truck).
After an amazing meal, we told more hunt stories and then decided we had better get some rest. I normally don’t sleep well when I am on the road, but I was in dream land before too long right up until my alarm snapped me out of whatever hunt I was dreaming about.
Over morning Dark Timber coffee, I quickly remembered what gear I had left at home. My Badlands Master Gaiters were sitting right next to my snake gaiters on my workbench. Thoughtfully placed so i would not forget them. Thankfully, Henry had his available and lent them to me for the week, for a small fee of course. We drew straws as to who our incredible videographer, Jorden Susewitz, was going to have to film that morning. He was blessed with having to throw on a wide angle lens to film me in all my chubbiness. I joke as the wide angle was already on the camera. Jokes aside, all three of us were excited to hunt!
The turkeys started talking shortly after we parked the truck as we headed along the edge of a field toward the timber. We figured on one tom being close by, but he ended up being a bit closer than we thought and we spooked him. More turkeys were gobbling deeper in the timber, so we set up and Rusty tried to coax them to us. I think Rusty was using his angry turkey call because they kept getting further away. We slowly hunted into the woods, calling here and there before turning around for another chance at the previous gobblers. As soon as we hit an opening, Rusty let out a call and the gobblers fired up again! It was go time!
We set up along the edge of the timber, against a planted field where Rusty set the decoys, so that I would have an open shot into the field right where the sunshine was hitting. Those turkeys love to stay warm and it was a solid plan. It was solid right up until I heard Jorden whisper that there were turkeys just off to my right. The tom and three jakes did hit the sunshine, but they took a line inside the woods along the fenceline, which was beyond my shooting angle. I froze and watched the birds disappear right behind Jorden and then went silent. I can’t remember how long we sat there, but a few minutes later one of the jakes came up the open woods at my 3 o’clock, scratching the dirt, turned around and met up with his buds.
We sat in silence for quite some time, waiting patiently, but the gobblers didn’t come out. With the way they were acting in the early AM, we figured they kept moving down the fenceline. We decided to get up and cut them off further down. Another solid plan, right? Not a chance! They were standing about 20-30 yards behind us in silence and we had no idea. As soon as we got up we heard the telltale flapping of wings as they took off. We had to laugh because those darn birds are tough to hunt!
To spare you the grueling details, we hunted turkey for two and a half days. Rusty called in a jake to 30 yards, but I wanted the big tom he was hanging with. The tom stayed in a spot we couldn’t easily get to and he lived another day. We hiked nearly 22 miles and had a great time! The best part was getting to know Rusty and Jorden, talking about our families, joking around, and seeing the passion both of them have for turkey hunting. Rusty and I did run into a few nope-ropes on the morning of day three. The water moccasin below decided to pose for pictures before we backtracked out of there. I went from walking with like an elephant with leads boots to a ballerina in no time!
We also did our fair share of pig hunting and did some hog irradication at night. I’ll share that in my next article as that was a blast unto itself. Have you ever participated in thermal hog irradication? It isn’t hunting, so I won’t call it that, but let’s just say that Badlands OPS newest member, Henry Ferguson, and I were armed with rifles complete with thermal scopes for two nights of some of the most fun we’ve had in a long time.
Be First to Comment