On the Hunt with Alpen Optics Jan 6th, 2021

hello everyone and welcome to on the hunt with alpine optics i'm lonnie robinson your host with me tonight my co-host rick white uh he's gonna be talking about a monster buck he just got and joining us tonight is mr wingbone himself mr benjamin edwin shirts [Laughter] be sure to stay with us we'll be talking about our special this evening and tonight we're going to be joking around having fun and talking lots of turkey [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] um [Music] [Applause] welcome back to on the hunt with albino optics tonight like i said we're going to be talking lots of turkey uh and with us is mr wingbone himself mr edwin shirts edwin how you doing tonight oh i'm doing fine um tell us a little bit something about yourself there well i reside in iowa ronald reagan was our president and he uh was tearing down the berlin wall and uh right after the berlin wall came down i got out of the military and came back to the states and went to work in construction and did some steel factory work in 2012 uh i went to uh my first calling contest for the nwtf and uh that's where i met rick white and i'll tell you what it's been a it's been a whirlwind since well awesome awesome awesome calls yes yes sir in 2002 i shot my uh uh first antlered buck that was really nice and uh that fall we were talking uh my cousin's husband dave and i we hunted together and uh he was talking about going turkey hunting that following spring and and i was like uh man i don't know the store and he's like no it's not about that he pulled out this call and he started running this this call and he's like dude check this out so he put this turkey call in my hand and i started running it and i was just like wow there's something to this and uh so that was the spring of 2003 and in iowa you can get two birds in the spring and two birds in the fall and i filled all my tags that very first year being a green horn and and we were sitting there one night eating uh eating the wild turkey and my cousin and her husband dave was over and dave dave's like hey man let's take them wing bones and make a wing bone call so we practiced uh making wing bone calls with chicken wings found out how fragile bones are when you're when you're working with wing bones they're very fragile when you're trying to piece them together you can crack them and ruin them so if somebody wants to have a wing bone call made it's wise to send both wings a lot of times when you're shotgunning that wing gets busted or if you're bow hunting that wing one wing will get busted and and you can still make a two-piece wing bone call that sounds great and so in 2003 we started making the wing bone calls then i i ventured out and started practicing with a dremel and i hollowed out some deer antlers and made some yelpers with that and and then around 2010 uh my cousin my another cousin on my mom's side was with the nwtf and he got me started with the nwtf because he saw my wingbone calls he was like dude these are so cool and uh we got to talk and so i made some wingbone calls for their banquet they did really well i mean it was yeah yeah and so so anyway uh in 2012 i created mr wing bones calls and i built my wood shop and i made my very first turkey calls and i went to my very first turkey calling uh contest that's where i met rick white yeah and yeah rick rick was running my calls that night that day and he just he fell in love with my calls i guess because he he likes running them today i reckon what you kind of specialize in and what you you haven't told us yet is you you specialize in a custom call and a friction type call and you just briefly talk a little bit about your friction calls okay well my my friction calls uh it starts with a block of wood it starts with a block of wood you turn it and show us it starts with a length of wood uh a big old slab of wood from my sawmill guy and i bring it home and i cut it down to blanks and i start with a four by four blank uh and and i'll i'll mark out the holes i've got templates that i mark out the holes we'll drill the holes we chop off the corners we attach it to the wood lathe we turn them all right here in house and we make sure what they look like let's see what the finished product looks like well here's a here's a butternut call this is a very rare call and uh it's just a slate call it's a single-sided call i also do some two-sided calls uh the on my website they're known as the cryptic hen series and you can get several different surfaces i got glass crystal aluminum and slate we're trying to we're venturing out and trying to figure out ceramic and uh ceramic is really high pitched right now so i'm trying to get it so it deepens the yelp because it's just to me it's just too high of a yelp the way i make my calls so i'm trying to get that figured out and there's a lot of different stripe options that you can do on the calls we also do us a one-sided striped call and i'll tell you what these calls they they are phenomenal in the turkey woods and even on the competition stages yeah and we can't really run them on on zoom because it peeks out the audio so they can go onto your website and they can they can listen to them if you want to now i know you've got a new one out uh that came out last year that is one of my favorites the old raspy red and you know i would just tell people if you're looking for a call they're all great calls but check this one out because i'm kind of impartial of that one but you have glass you have slate you know you have different strikers and and the reason for that and you can explain to people is one call and three or four different strikers really is three or four different sounding hens and and why is that important in the woods well in in the springtime the the toms are looking for the end uh sometimes you'll get a satellite uh and that'll break or tom that'll break away from the from the group because the boss the boss toms are guarding all the hens and he can't get near him so he wants to get with a hand so he'll break loose and sounding like a hen with a with a custom call or or whatever you're using is is very beneficial because they they communicate on a daily basis and they like to be together so you know what i tell people edwin you know is as i go to the woods you know years ago when i started hunting back in the back in the 70s uh you know i went to the woods with a with a shotgun and one turkey call well nowadays i go to the woods with multiple turkey calls and people think well you just you know you're walking billboard but that that's not the reason the reason is i'll throw all these different sounds at turkeys and find out what they're responding to best and that's i'm going to set all my other calls down and that's the call i'm going to use to bring them in it's because you're on the show but your calls are so realistic uh that they're kind of my go-to calls uh you know i'm a diaphragm caller by trait but when it comes to calls uh you're the go-to guy really on that well now both of you two have won world championship turkey calling contest correct that's correct dave state contests and uh and i've called and i've called in the world and i've called in in the grand nationals and have placed in those but i have never won the world war you've won states i've won the state 11 times and i think edwin you're in there aren't you i've won the the state championship one time but i've won the friction division in the iowa state turkey calling championship three times so i tell everybody i'm a four-time state champion three of it is with friction only and uh i've done it with my own calls and and the cool thing is i think you told me this rick because i called you the 2014 during the iowa state turkey calling championship you were sitting in an airport in texas and uh i called you and i i believe you told me rick at that time in your head more about how they make it uh how do you maybe it calls uh edwin or you know do you i i've never seen the process of how it's done i start out with a block of wood like this and then uh i've got some templates that i'll put on them and it it makes these holes it'll turn it into this okay and then on my lathe i'm gonna move my phone here if that's all right show you this on my lathe here can you see the chuck right here then i have a screw chuck that there's a block of wood and a screw that goes in here and then i mount this call onto this chuck and then it turns and then i'll shape it and it starts from there starts from there okay now is the i i'll tell you that's a slight call you're talking about well yeah well a lot of people recognize them as a slate call a slate depends on the surface you've got glass crystal aluminum slate there's ceramic some people have even used copper and brass i've seen that from other call makers i haven't ventured into that area of the the brass or the copper yet but i've got people that want me to and i think uh coming up in mr wingbones calls future i was watching a video on youtube on how to make box calls i think we're going to experiment with that and try to get some box calls out there for everybody because i think people like box calls okay well one of you and you know what about diaphragm calls a lot of people talk about them uh are they that good are they bad are they average what what's with the diaphragm calls well rick rick's the diaphragm expert but one thing i'll tell you about diaphragm calls is with your mouth you can you can uh conform your mouth in different uh i don't know arrangements to get different sounds out of that call to make it sound different so you're more versatile with it with a diaphragm call and there's less movement for one because with a with a friction call you're going to be sitting here in the woods and you're going to be running this call and there's this little bit of movement right there and them turkeys have such great eyesight that you got to watch whatever movement you're doing and so a diaphragm call is more beneficial to the guys that's very conscious about movement right so let's so i'll touch just briefly on diaphragm calls you know uh diaphragm calls are there's lots of different kinds there's there's single reads double reach triple reads quadruple reads five reads and it goes and on and there's different thicknesses of latex and then there's different stretches back tension side stretch and everybody's mouth is different and really the shape of their mouth will determine what kind of sound they're able to to give not everybody is a great diaphragm caller but i also tell you this you don't have to sound like these professional callers when you're in the turkey woods because i've heard some real turkeys that sounded like the worst callers in the world however good callers are not afraid to call in fact i call a lot and the confidence in calling will will make you call more and i believe that calling more makes me a more successful turkey hunter but those that are looking to maybe just start off with the diaphragm call i recommend just a plain two reed call it's the easiest one to learn on it doesn't take as much air as some of the others and you don't have to sound like a like this great turkey right out of the gate you really just need to know and learn how to use the call and then you can break into some of the other cuts and different reads and so on and so forth there's so many instructional things out there youtube and all these different things now that you can easily learn how to use a diaphragm called you know that's me several years ago i played around with different turkey calls and you know one of these days we're going to have to get together just so you can help teach me uh and you too edwin we can teach me how to hunt turkey i'd love for that to happen and that's the reason i'm asking some of these questions is i'm a beginning turkey hunter and that's what the peop the public you know a lot of them never hunted before they want to know what what's the first step in getting a turkey call what's the first thing i need to know the first thing you you want to know is i think what what do you want to what weapon do you want to shoot him with whether it's a shotgun a bow or a crossbow whatever your state allows legally you need to look into your state laws first and find out what you can and cannot do as far as hunting turkeys that's the first step is is to to be safe out there uh know what your target is know where you're shooting but look into that first and then after that there man it's it's deep because you got shotguns with so many different chokes and so many different size shot patterns you got two and three quarter sixes fours fives and uh you got three inch you got three and a half inch and and your chokes come in full extra pool double extra pool there's a lot of variables for for someone getting started in turkey hunting now i can tell you is get out there and listen to the birds find out where they're sleeping at night okay 100 yards away in the morning and listen to them wake up listen to how loud they are in the mornings uh if you can get out there in the evenings and listen to them come back and fly up and it'll give you an idea i heard about rick earlier i'm sorry but i heard rick earlier talking about some videos about both of you put videos is there some good videos you know if you've got websites that people can go to and find these videos for sale i'm glad you asked that i'm i'm still old-fashioned yeah we still produce a dvd and i've got three seasons through the eyes of a hunter uh turkey hunting and seasons one two and three we just finished free in fact ed edwin did the editing on this uh he and i together but uh it is a phenomenal video when it comes to turkey hunting so if you're interested in that and i also have my own line of diaphragm calls so anybody that's interested in diaphragm calls we can help you out there too as well okay he's got websites to go to to find these items they can get me through the pressure website on the pro staff page or they can they can email mr wingbone's calls and he'll direct uh direct that to where it needs to go yeah i have a i have a website uh www.mrwingbonescalls.com all lowercase letters or you can find me on facebook edwin shirts or mr wingbone's calls take care of you that awesome send you an invoice you know through an email situation we don't have to use the website for some reason okay uh can we um okay uh paul's sitting back here uh we need to get on down through here uh rick yeah we're just gonna move on to brick i guess at this point muzzleload hunt that you just went on well you know as we talked last week i was just going into my last deer hunt of the season and it was a late season muzzleloader hunt here in my home state of iowa and uh you know i was a little concerned we had the snow cover so that was good and we started off with some cooler weather and that was good but it started to warm up a little bit and when i say warm up maybe by your standards it wasn't that warm but it was in the mid-20s and uh you know what i'd like to see this time here is snow cover and about five below and then the deer really moved but they were moving pretty good they were moving kind of last light but long story short just two nights ago uh after four nights of uh sitting on a food source and i hunt food sources and primarily just in the evening i was able and uh to be successful and shot a really nice uh deer on video uh which i think paul maybe has a photo of it but uh i'll be honest with you i was kind of glad my my deer season's over uh because i'm looking forward to turkey season but one of the things that we did talk about last week and i want to touch a little bit on it again today because people are always asking me about my equipment and i was shooting at thompson center and as i mentioned last week black horn powder with a 250 grain bullet but one of the the scope that i use is a bresser condor uh one and a half by six by 42 and you know i talk to people all the time and they want to put four by twelves and three by nines and you really don't need to because the muzzleloader for the most part you're shooting 200 yards an end and you don't need that high magnification so one and a half by six is the scope i used and i believe a little later in the show here it might be uh the special this weekend uh we're gonna kind of agree with you but we'll talk about that here in just a few minutes they just showed that picture of the buck you got rick i gotta admit that that is one very impressive monster buck you've got right there yeah and that i had a i had a really good season this year and iowa was really good to me i was able to take some deer with my bow this year and then finish it up with with that great deer and i got a i got a i got to go to work for a little while just to pay my taxidermy bill this year so no you know listen anytime you can get out is great and and then taking a deer like that is just icing on the cake for me so i i had a great time and uh now i can sit back we're gonna do a little bit of predator hunting coming up here uh before turkey season and you know just just keeps on rolling you know i like that you know keep going and you know i didn't get to go hunt last weekend but i did get to teach some brand new shooters how to shoot shotguns last weekend uh a couple and their three kids and enjoyed every minute of it while i was doing i mean that's what it's it about bringing them youngsters up and and introducing them to the sport and hopefully they uh they have as much fun as we do oh yeah oh yeah uh you know the whole family had fun uh and that's what that's one of the things that i love doing you know you do too i know uh so we all need to remember keep everybody in mind and introduce new people to the sport yeah that's exactly right that's exactly right um i don't know how much more time we've got but if we've got a minute out uh you know i had someone ask me just the other day you know just kind of end up my deer season and people are kind of always asking what you know how do you cook your your deer and what do you do with them and well first of all i shoot enough deer that i donate several of them to the needy uh because i just can only eat so many beer in a year so i try to donate them to a real good cause but here's an easy to remember recipe if you want to try it it's fantastic but take a back strap and whether it's just a part of it or a whole back strap and cut it right down the middle and make a pocket don't go through the back side of it make a pocket and fill that with with blue cheese and minced garlic and then tie it or toothpick it together and throw it on the grill and cook it however you like it i'm a medium rare type guy yeah and i'm telling you what it's simple maybe a little olive oil on it but it is simple and it is absolutely fabulous everybody that's in anybody that's ever tried this has gotten back to me and said this is so good here's a recipe for you to try that is short sweet and simple uh okay you kind of mentioned about it earlier uh you want to talk about uh our our special tonight it is the scope you were talking about and that you used so you want to go ahead and bring it up and talk about it tonight yep absolutely now listen i this is a scope that i highly recommend for your whether you're a shotgun hunter or a muzzleloader hunter and as you can see lonnie's got it in his hands there it's a bresser condor one and a half by six by 42 now it normally sells for 309.99 309.99 but this week up through sunday i believe at midnight midnight sunday sunday i'm sorry midnight sunday night sunday okay uh we're gonna go half price on this scope so it'll be sold for 155 that's the special and all you need to do when you go to the bresser usa or alpine website is when you go to order it hit the promo code on the hunt with no spaces lower case and it will automatically ring up at that half price so again normally 309.99 this week 155 dollars and i'm telling you it's a great scope so take advantage of it yeah and like i said when you go to check out go to on the hunt that's all lures case letters uh yeah it's a code on the home the code on the hunt o-n-t-h-e h-u-n-t no spaces just on the hunt 50 off this wonderful product right here now rick i this paul the director producer is doing 17 000 things at once i got a question for you yeah um when when you're using this you can put this on basically anything can't you yeah well you can you certainly can but i i recommend it for that 200 yards and in kind of you know i don't know that i would put it on a on a long distance rifle or something that you're shooting white tail or mule deer out at you know four and 500 yards but 200 yards in in muzzleloader shotgun ideal for that very nice so like somebody like myself though who doesn't do a lot of hunting you can put this on a shotgun rifle black powder it doesn't matter it doesn't really matter doesn't it no not at all again again you know kind of keep in mind and i keep saying 200 yards because that's where i think your range is with the shotgun and muzzleloader but but kind of 200 yards and anything over that then you know you may want to look at a higher power and then of course depending on what your eyesight is to begin with we'll determine some of that as well this lower power on your under 200 yards i want to see the animal you know i don't want to look at a spot i want to see the animal this lower power will do that for you well the lower power also you know gathers light so correct a little bit longer and clearer throughout the evening and i could shoot right up until legal shooting time so that's another reason i like it yes i like the you know the look of it too i mean yeah and uh this company also has radicals in it as well for them yeah that particular scope is one of my favorites i got i got another question somebody who's never gone turkey hunting because out where i'm at the turkey hunting we don't have there's not a whole lot going on some of the places are blocked off by the game and fish uh what's the first thing of somebody like myself who's been duck hunting things like that but is going to go out and turkey hunt what's the what's the first thing i need to pay attention what's the first thing i need to do when it goes to turkey hunting for the first time well you know i do turkey hunting seminars all over the united states and and i'm going to talk about this it might not be exactly what you were thinking about the way i was going but the first thing that i have to really instill on people is safety so no know what to wear into the timber what not to wear no no when to move you know if i'm hunting public ground i'm not in there walking and calling because that could be dangerous but um the bottom line is i would i would recommend people you know you're going to go in you're going to wear camouflage from head to toe you're going to call the number one thing i would tell people the beginner turkey hunter is patience have patience patience will make you a more successful turkey hunter than anything else you do and uh especially those that really don't know what they're doing you've got the safety you've got the guns you patterned your guns you know how they shoot there's there's so many things i could talk about but patience is probably one of the bigger things to know okay rick i appreciate it uh good talking to you seeing you again tonight uh benjamin glad to meet you and i'm glad you're on the air mr wingbone himself benjamin's shirts edwin sharks mr edwin again we'll meet in shirts someday hopefully i hope we do hopefully all right close it down for us okay remember on the hunt go to it get your good scope uh and next week we have some good guests for you again yeah yeah next week's guest you're right i forgot to mention that mike dio giovanni from new jersey is going to be on the show next week he's one of our pro staff members but he's going to talk a little bit about late season beer and goose hunting out east awesome that ought to be an awesome show i look forward to seeing everyone and remember send your comments in have a good evening everyone you know good optics are a must for a hunter particularly binoculars not only during hunting season but times like this when it's time to start scouting but there's one thing you need to do when you get your binoculars that a lot of people don't realize you need to set them up for yourself everybody's eyes are a little bit different and here's how i do it it's simple and easy just take the binoculars and just kind of grab good focus on an object and i go and put my hand over the left lens the doctoring which is on the right side i will go ahead and adjust that until that right eye is in focus once it is i take the hand off the other side both eyes in focus and you're ready to go it's simple and easy and it's a must that you do this before you go out and use them you know good optics are a must for a hunter the new alpine tetons they're lighter they're better in low light excellent excellent glass you'll be hard-pressed to find that glass for under a thousand dollars everything that you would want in a pair of optics i know what i'm looking for and once i know what i'm looking for and find what it is that's what i'm interested in buying the bottom line is they're affordable they're lighter and they're great in low light the new alpine tetons [Music] another deer coming out