This is the video transcript. To watch the video for this episode click here. 

GRANT: Turkey season opens March 7^th, in south Florida, and we’ll be there ready to chase turkeys. We’ve been getting our gear ready, and we want to show you how.

ADAM: Whew. That baby will sing.

ADAM: Each year, in addition to practicing our turkey calls, we like to test our gear. This year we were extra excited because we had some new gear to play with.

ADAM: See.

ADAM: I have a idea of what it looks like. Strut decoy. First, you have the option to use it as a 2D if you want. The best part is it comes with this other attachment. You just put ‘em together with a couple of magnets. That turns into one of the lightest, probably the lightest, strut decoy on the market. It can actually be folded up just like that. Now, my favorite, Miss Purr-fect. Favorite hen decoy I’ve ever used and I’ll show you why. 3D, it’s got a very versatile head. You can fold it. It’s got a little wire through it, you can bend it. So you’re hunting and there’s a little breeze, it catches these little – these little cuts, looks just like a live turkey with feathers flaring up in the wind. You just fold it together. Stuff that in your vest. It’s lightweight. You’re ready for the spring woods.

GRANT: Last year, we had a lot of fun putting the Long Beard XR ammo to the test for the first time.

GRANT: Oooo. Man. Woo. What a difference.

GRANT: We had even better results on some gobblers.

UNKNOWN: Woo.

UNKNOWN: No. You got him.

TERRY: How about that for a turkey hunt?

GRANT: This year, Winchester also added a new version of the Long Beard XR with slightly more shot, and I was excited to give it a try.

GRANT: (Inaudible)

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GRANT: This year, Winchester came out with a magnum load of the Long Beard XR, and I was really excited to give it a try. I’ve used my same old shotgun for more than a decade. So this year, I got a brand new Winchester shotgun. I was excited to give it a try; paired it up with the new ammo. Last year, I tried out Winchester’s Long Beard, took my old turkey gun from a barely 40 yard gun to a sure fire 60 yard gun. This year, hard to believe, that Winchester tweaked that Long Beard load a little bit – got the Long Beard Magnum. Looking forward to trying it, plus the new gun. Let’s see what happens.

GRANT: That looks good.

GRANT: I’ve done a lot of things outside, but I’m not sure I ever patterned my turkey gun while it was snowing. We’re all patterned at 10 yards, now. We’re aiming right here at the yellow dot. Great pattern. Backed up to 20, see what happens.

GRANT: Some people wonder why I use a scope on my turkey gun, but the Long Beard XR shoots so tight it’s easy to miss – especially at close range – but a scope allows me to shoot with pinpoint accuracy.

GRANT: That looks good.

GRANT: These are #4’s so it just takes one or two, but it’s too many to count. I don’t know how many are right there, and we’re centered in the pattern, top to bottom. I’m ready to go to 30 yards.

GRANT: Gonna try something a little different. Gonna try Winchester’s Rooster XR. It’s got the same technology as the Long Beard, but a little bit lighter load for pheasant hunting. Gonna use it for my daughter, Rae, so she’s not sittin’ behind that three inch shell.

GRANT: Fire in the hole.

GRANT: Woo, baby! It’s interesting, that pattern’s just a little bit right. I’m not gonna change the scope, but rooster’s just a little bit right. Still a dead turkey. The Rooster XR also produced a great pattern with less recoil, and that’ll be a real advantage for Rae, or other youth we take hunting this year.

GRANT: Last year was my first time to try the Long Beard and I was really impressed, but with a slightly new ammo and a new shotgun I didn’t know what to expect. But 30 plus #4’s at 30 yards and a turkey head, that’ll get the job done.

GRANT: Fire in the hole.

GRANT: Fifteen #4’s at 40 yards. That’s not counting these in this part of the neck – #4. That’ll do the job. Man, I’m still looking good. At 50 yards, I changed my aiming point. Instead of putting the scope right where the feathers stop on the neckline, I go up and center the head in the middle of the scope. I know that that shot is gonna drop a little bit by 50 yards.

GRANT: Fire in the hole.

GRANT: Nine pellets in the kill zone at 50 yards. That’s nine #4’s. That baby’s going in the fryer.

GRANT: I don’t plan on shooting a turkey at 60 yards, but while we’re here, it’s no problem to move the bench back and give it a try.

GRANT: Fire in the hole.

GRANT: At 60 yards, I’m not holding high. I’m just centering right here and it looks to be very true.

GRANT: It’s another tagged turkey at 60 yards, so once again, might as well slide the bench on back to 70 yards and see what happens.

GRANT: Fire in the hole.

GRANT: All right. 70 yards. One, two, three, four – not counting these three right here – #4’s, 70 yard, dead turkey. Woo! We’re ready to go to south Florida, get where the snow’s not here. It’s green. Turkey’s are gobbling. Try this stuff out on a real live turkey. Let’s get out of the snow, boys.

GRANT: Now that my shotgun is patterned, I’m ready to pack the truck, roll to south Florida, and kick off the 2015 turkey season.

GRANT: Recently, I’ve been visiting with several neighbors about starting a voluntary deer co-op.

GRANT: A deer co-op is usually just a group of local landowners and hunters that have a common interest in deer hunting and habitat management.

GRANT: I’d casually visited with several hunters in the surrounding area. We decided it’d be a good idea to form the Branson Deer Co-op.

FRED: List of topics here, whether we’d want to have a, a meeting on, on food plots. Whether we’d want to have a meeting on, on forestry management, like timber stand improvement. One of the things I’ve described on my place, for many years, a thing we’ve done to improve habitat management, is all out war on cedars and fescue.

GRANT: Private landowners have always been the backbone of wildlife conservation, here in Missouri, and most other states. Missouri is 93% private land. Without conservation on private land, wildlife would really be in jeopardy.

BRIAN: And so, if you want to do some of the things on your property, then, you know, ins – instead of you just doing one thing, now, you’re gonna have a series, whole series of landowners working together, doing habitat management on all of ‘em.

GRANT: We decided our co-op would be totally voluntary with no dues, or fees, involved. It’s simply a group of landowners sharing information and cooperation to improve the quality of deer and deer hunting for our friends and families to enjoy.

GRANT: There’s never been a registered Boone and Crockett in Stone or Taney County. Those are two big, large counties. If we want bigger deer, we’ve got to back off the trigger and I’m not telling you what to do on your land. On my land, unless you’re my dad – 84 years old – he’s got a green card shooting whatever he wants to. Last thing I want my deer eating is a acorn. They’re almost non-digestible. They’re about 7% protein and really high in non-digestible fibers, so what goes in tends to go out. Our habitat is forested and forested is low quality. We’re low quality habitat. So we’re basically high-graded forest and, and fescue pasture. Deer don’t eat fescue. You see them out in the pastures, they’re eating ragweed, little bit of clover, whatever. They cannot digest fescue. We can still grow pretty good deer. As deer get older, their gut gets bigger. Deer don’t… (Fades out)

GRANT: We’ll keep you posted about the progress of the Branson Deer Co-op and we’ll be glad to share our information, if you’d like to start a co-op in your neighborhood.

GRANT: If we can let our deer get to four will produce bigger antlers on the exact same diet, by far, than two year olds, so in our situation….

GRANT: There’s still snow on the ground and more in the forecast, here at The Proving Grounds. Doesn’t mean it’s not a good time to get outside and enjoy Creation. Hope you have a chance to get outside this week and enjoy Creation, but most importantly, take time everyday and listen to what the Creator is saying to you. Thanks for watching GrowingDeer.tv.