Walker Davidson for SPLIT REED
In Alabama, we hold football players and coaches on an almost godly level. And for some Alabamians, they hold the great turkey hunters right up there amongst the football greats. If you are from the South and you grew up around hunting, chances are your grandad knows about a man named Ben Rodgers Lee, and your dad probably knows about guys like Eddie Salter and Ronnie “Cuz” Strickland. All of these guys are the turkey hunting greats of their generation, and in my opinion, the great of today’s time is Dave Owens. Dave is not great because of the number of turkeys he kills, though it is quite a few, he is a great because of the way he does it and how much he cares about it.
Dave grew up in a hunting family, his dad has always been a fanatical deer hunter, and when he was young they also had rabbit dogs. But somehow, someway turkey hunting grabbed him and he grabbed it back and “just became totally infatuated with the song and dance that is turkey hunting.” He learned, every morning he went in the woods he learned, admittedly, mostly from losing the battle with the turkey, but he learned. As this obsession continued to blossom, his freshman year of college he went to south Florida to try his hand. For some reason, even after going all the way down there and getting slapped in the face, traveling to turkey hunt added fuel to the fire.
As far as turkey hunting went, Dave began to realize that he was different than other people who called themselves turkey hunters. He just had always assumed everyone was as fanatic as he is, but the first person he ever met that was as ate up with it as he was is his best friend, Chubbs. If you have watched the Pinhoti Project at all, then you know who Chubbs is, and what a great character he is. After some discussion about what turkey hunting meant to them and the direction they saw turkey hunting headed, the Pinhoti Project was born. Dave said, “I wanted to take an approach to show people our way. I don’t believe in dealing with decoys at all, because it cheapens the process. I was afraid these crutches and gimmicks people were using to kill turkeys was overshadowing the one on one relationship that we build when we spend time with a turkey.” With the YouTube platform, Dave was able to broadcast his episodes of turkey hunting to the masses, and it spread almost as quickly as coronavirus.
Dave went as far as to say that he has killed a turkey every legal way possible, yet he continues to believe that sitting down and calling one up, without a decoy, mono a mono, is the best way to turkey hunt. If you watch a few episodes of the Pinhoti Project, it will be hard to disagree. To understand the kind of man we are talking about here, he drives without the radio, so that he can think about turkeys and turkey hunting and what they mean to him. He told me that the only thing that really worries him, is a turkey having to die and not get his due. So, knowing how important this magnificent bird is to him, it is no wonder he wants to show everyone else the same thing. For a man like Dave, turkey hunting is not something that revolves around the physical act of killing the turkey, yet it revolves around everything else that goes into the killing of that turkey. It is a special moment to see a wary old gobbler slipping in after spending hours calculating the right moves and calls to put yourself in that position.
As the Pinhoti Project has grown and aged, Dave spoke about how many people that it has motivated to get outside their comfort zone and go hunt new places. He told me that knowing one person who loved to turkey hunt loaded up the truck and went somewhere new is one of the most fulfilling things about continuing the Pinhoti Project. He says that has added more fuel to the fire than anything else.
Dave says he is as excited as ever for Pinhoti Project in the future and that he hopes it continues to motivate people to do what he’s done. To hunt the way he does with the methods that he uses. To see a man in his element, or to hear a man speak passionately about the thing he treasures most, is always an amazing thing. And after talking to Dave it is clear what his passion is. For those of your reading this that have not had the pleasure of watching the Pinhoti Project, go to Youtube and check it out. It will be worth your time for sure. Personally, I have seen every episode and probably seen most of them twice. They are as entertaining as any show on Netflix and you may actually learn something about turkey hunting from it. For those of you reading that have never turkey hunted, go watch a few episodes and I bet you will want to, and I bet you will want to do it ‘Dave’s way.’
“To me, dreams are made from doing the grassroots work, and watching it all come together, and holding and animal, that you formulated a plan for from a thousand miles away and watching it go down in the terrain turkeys live in, man, that’s what dreams are made of.” – Dave Owens
